MRS. FITZHERBERT.* THE farce of "Wife and no Wife, or a Trip to the Continent," was a very fertile subject for the caricaturists of the Regency. The collectors of Gilrays will not fail to remember the representation of the alleged ceremony in a continental chapel. The Prince, supported by Charles James Fox, gives his hand (if we remember rightly, his left hand) to the bride, while a Romanist priest and a row of Jesuit choristers contribute their aid to the morganatic procedure. Another caricature represents Mrs. Fitzherbert as a guardian angel, directing the aspirations of the Princess Charlotte to certain knick-knacks of a Romish origin. Scourges, thumbscrews, relics, rosaries, and other such sweetmeats, are accessory to the illumination of the youthful princess, who is soaring upwards in the arms of her matronly directress. A third caricature represents "Dido Forsaken," with Fox, Sheridan, and the rest, pushing off in their boat, and disclaiming all acquaintance with the deserted matron, while a blast *Memoirs of Mrs. Fitzherbert; with an account of her Marriage with H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, afterwards King George IV." By the Hon. CHARLES LANGDALE. London, Bentley, 1856. [From the Times of March 26, 1856.] from the mouths of Pitt and Rolle is blowing her crown and sovereign paraphernalia to the winds. Such were the popular versions of a story which even then was regarded in a light not unfavourable to its heroine, who, notwithstanding her unpopular creed, was treated with commiseration, and considered to have been, at all events, more sinned against than sinning. At length, her genuine story is made completely public by a relative and a member of her own church, in vindication of her character from certain recent disparagements. The Hon. Charles Langdale received from his brother, Lord Stourton, certain confidential communications which the latter had received from Mrs. Fitzherbert, together with the trust which Lord Stourton had accepted on behalf of her reputation, and to which she had herself referred in the following language:"I trust, whenever it shall please God to remove me from this world, my conduct and character (in your hands) will not disgrace my family and friends." In fulfilment of this duty, and in obedience to a presumed necessity which we shall presently mention, Mr. Langdale first made an unsuccessful appeal to the executor of Lord Albemarle, who, by the death of his brother, Lord Stourton, had exclusive control over certain documents deposited in Coutts's bank; and having failed to obtain the disclosure of this documentary evidence, which had been preserved for Mrs. Fitzherbert's vindication, he has printed the narrative which Lord Stourton drew up from her own communications on the subject of her connection with the Prince, and from which the public will draw one more inference discreditable to the latter, while its judgment will be corroborated in favour of the victim of his selfishness. We may have cause, indeed, to regret that this narrative is confined to the circumstances of Mrs. Fitzherbert's connection with his royal highness; for, unquestionably, in the position which she occupied, and with the opportunities she possessed, she could have thrown light upon some other matters of wider importance. It was her own boast to Lord Stourton that "she could have given the best private and public history of all the transactions of the country, from the close of the American War down to the death of the Duke of York, either from her communications with the duke, or her own connections with the opposite party, through the Prince and his friends." Of this, or rather, of many documents which would have illustrated this account, we presume we have been deprived by the wholesale destruction of her papers, with the exception only of those which were essential to her own vindication, and which still remain in their repository at Coutts's. These latter appear, from the list given on page 87, to be only the formal evidence of the material statements in the narrative of Lord Stourton, which comprises, besides, some amusing anecdotes, and which, as far as it goes, is doubtless more entertaining. Mrs. Fitzherbert was the daughter of a Walter Smythe, of Brambridge, in the county of Hants. She was born in July, 1756, and married in July, 1775, to Edward Weld, Esq., of Lulworth Castle, in Dorset shire, who died in the course of the same year. She was next married to Thomas Fitzherbert, Esq., of Swinnerton, in Staffordshire, but he also only survived their union three years, leaving her a second time a widow before she had reached the age of twenty-five. She had now an independent income of nearly £2,000 a year, and she was residing on Richmond Hill when she became the object of the Prince's attentions. We are told from Lord Stourton that it was at this conjuncture that her beauty was celebrated in a popular song, in which allusion was thus made to the addresses of the heir apparent :— "I'd crowns resign to call her mine, But this is a mistake; for the representatives of the true "Lass" have come forward to vindicate her better title to the compliment. Mrs. Fitzherbert, the lass who had been twice a wife, was well aware of the dangers attending these royal adulations, and evinced the greatest reluctance to meet the Prince's eager advances. Recourse was had at length to a singular attempt, which would be received with incredulity if it was not known to have tallied with the ordinary practices of the royal Mantalini. "For some time her resistance had been availing, but she was about to meet with a species of attack so unprecedented and alarming, as to shake her resolution, and to force her to take that first step, which afterwards led by slow (but on the part of the Prince successful) advances to that union which he go ardently desired, and to obtain which he was ready to risk such personal sacrifices. Keit, the surgeon, Lord Onslow, Lord Southampton, and Mr. Edward Bouverie, arrived at her house in the utmost consternation, informing her, that the life of the Prince was in imminent danger—that he had stabbed himself— and that only her immediate presence would save him. She resisted, in the most peremptory manner, all their importunities, saying that nothing should induce her to enter Carlton House. She was afterwards brought to share in the alarm, but still, fearful of some stratagem derogatory to her reputation, insisted upon some lady of high character accompanying her, as an indispensable condition; the Duchess of Devonshire was selected. They four drove from Park Street to Devonshire House, and took her along with them. She found the Prince pale and covered with blood. The sight so overpowered her faculties that she was deprived almost of all consciousness. The Prince told her, that nothing would induce him to live unless she promised to become his wife, and permitted him to put a ring round her finger. I believe a ring from the band' of the Duchess of Devonshire was used upon the occasion, and not one of his own. Mrs. Fitzherbert being asked by me, whether she did not believe that some trick had been practised, and that it was not really the blood of his royal highness, answered in the negative ; and said, she had frequently seen the scar, and that some brandyand-water was near his bedside when she was called to him on the day he wounded himself." The lady attributed more cogency to the evidence of the brandy-and-water than we should be disposed to accord to it ourselves, but she was nevertheless far from satisfied. On their return to Devonshire House, a deposition of what had occurred was drawn up and signed by each of the party, and the following day Mrs. Fitzherbert sent a protest to Lord Southampton, not accounting herself to have been a free agent in the transaction. She then retired to Aix la Chapelle, and subsequently to Holland, where she met with the greatest civilities from the Stadtholder and his |