DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

( 12 ) half-fancy costume, resembling a peasant’s, was to be seen gracefully taking her share in the labours of hay- making in the meadows of the park of Holland House, in close proximity to London. There she attracted the eyes of the King, who was taking his customary ride down the Kensington Road. Complimentary words soon ripened into a warm affection. The Princess Dowager of Wales and Lord Bute were thrown into a deep state of consternation by the report, for which there seemed to be good founda- tion, that George III. would make her the Queen of England. So little control had the Princess over her feelings, that she threw herself in Lady Sarah’s way and burst out into an offensive laugh in her face. But however intense the King’s feelings may have been, he sacrificed his inclinations to the re- quirements of his position, and submitted to the guidance of his mother in the selection of a consort. Charlotte, Princess of Mecklenburg - Strelitz, was destined to share his throne, and to present him with a family of six daughters and nine sons—the fourth of whom, the Duke of Kent, eventually became the father of our present Queen. In those bygone days, when information was not so general as it is now, there probably were not six men in England who knew that such a Princess existed ; and when the Ambassadors were on their way to her father’s Lilliputian country, it was sarcas-