184 THE PRINCESS OF WALES [1814. 



very excellent pamphlet on the position and rights of 

 the Queen-Consort ; and I had drawn up an elaborate 

 article upon it for the * Edinburgh Keview/ entering 

 a good deal into the subject of the daughter as well 

 as the mother ; and I communicated the substance of 

 the paper to the former. * She had the utmost aver- 

 sion to the proposed match ; and indeed the Prince of 

 Orange had, on more than one occasion, made himself 

 exceedingly disagreeable to her, as by want of ordinary 

 attention in going about to Court balls and other 

 assemblies where she could not appear, not having 

 been formally presented at Court, or was prevented 

 from going by some other cause. The pressure upon 

 her was unceasing; and on her continued refusal, she 

 was told that she had committed herself; and one of 

 the Kegent's law officers, William Adam (Chancellor 

 of the Duchy of Cornwall), gave it as his opinion that, 

 after receiving presents, and making what they repre- 

 sented as a promise, she could be compelled to marry 

 the Prince of Orange .t She then showed great presence 

 of mind, and, I may say, great address. She said that 

 of course she was entirely ignorant of the law ; but as 

 it had been so laid down by her father's lawyers, she 

 would believe it, provided that, to prevent^ all doubt 

 or mistake, it was given her in writing, in order that 

 she might show the opinion to me, with whom she had 

 been advising upon the subject. Of course this was 

 declined, and she heard no more of the Court of Chan- 

 cery either ordering her to marry, or decreeing a specific 



* Keview of a pamphlet entituled ' Some Inquiry into the Constitu- 

 tional Character of the Queen - Consort of England.' 'Edinburgh 

 Review' for September 1814, p. 44. 



t See Miss Knight's < Autobiography,' vol. i. p. 264 et seq. 



