i88 THE PRINCESS OF WALES [1814. 



MISS MERCER ELPHINSTONE * TO LADY 

 CHARLOTTE LINDSAY. 



" HARLEY STREET. 



"MY DEAR LADY CHARLOTTE. I am just returned 

 from Cranbourne Lodge, and I cannot resist the impulse 

 that induces me to trouble you with these few lines 

 to tell you of the wretched state of health and spirits 

 in which I left poor Princess Charlotte. Indeed, I 

 could not let you leave the country without having 

 informed you of the real state of the case. I have 

 long been of opinion that much of the Princess 

 Charlotte's illness depended upon the state of her mind ; 

 and I am now more convinced of it than ever, from 

 the dreadful effect her mother's letter announcing her 

 departure from England had upon her. I really never 

 can forget the distress and agitation she was in at the 

 first moment ; and even when I left her, two days after, 

 her pulse continued at 98. Mr Kente came to her 

 yesterday morning, and Doctor Bailey and Mr Cline 

 were written to immediately by the ladies-in-waiting. 

 Her Eoyal Highness complained of severe pains in her 

 knee, and it was certainly more swelled. I assure you 

 I feel seriously uneasy about it, and am convinced that 

 nothing but good air and tranquillity of mind can 

 afford her the smallest chance of regaining her health. 

 Of the last of these remedies I fear she can have but 

 little hope, and this last blow of the Princess's depar- 

 ture I think she has felt more severely than all the 



* Margaret Mercer Elpliinstone became Baroness Keith on the death 

 of her father, Lord Keith, in 1823, and succeeded to the Scotch Barony 

 of Nairne on the death of William Lord Nairne in 1838. She married 

 in 1817 Auguste-Charles- Joseph, Comte de Flahaut, by whom she had 

 several daughters. Died, November 1865. 



