DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

by the Royal couple in the latter pageant cost 7562/. 5s. 2d., and the diamonds worn by the Queen at the former were valued at 60,0007. Poor Lady Sarah Lennox was one of the Queen’s bridemaids, and it happened that Lord Westmore- land, who was old and partially blind, mistook her for his Royal mistress, and was only prevented from kneeling and doing homage to her by the prompt interference of the bystanders. It may be mentioned that Lady Sarah did not long remain disconsolate. She was eventually married twice, and lived to the mature age of eighty-two. During the last years of her life she was completely blind, an affliction she bore with exemplary cheerfulness and resignation. The splendour of the Royal Court was soon laid aside. During the first twenty years of his reign George III. rarely participated in any public amuse- ment except the theatre. He never frequented masquerades, engaged in play, or wasted hours in convivial relaxation. By the courtiers, however, the homeliness of the King’s life and surroundings were viewed with a feeling akin to dismay, and one of the wags of the day revenged himself for the absence of the customary regal gaieties in the following sarcastic lines ;— ‘ Cxsar, the mighty King who swayed The sceptre, was a sober blade; A leg of mutton and his wife Were the chief comforts of his life.