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THE MARQUIS DE BOISSY.

found in the fact that she was then only seventeen, and had been forced into a marriage with a man older than her father. Her disinterestedness to Byron was proved by her refusing the liberal settlements he offered to make in her favour before his departure from Italy. After his death she displayed the most earnest devotion to his memory, and, though she subsequently married an elderly French nobleman, the Marquis de Boissy, the love that had filled her heart in her youth, glowed with a warmth that death alone can extinguish.

CHAPTER V.

VIRGINIA WATER AND WINDSOR CASTLE.

Life of a courtier-Drawing-rooms and State Balls-The royal household-Penny-wise principles-George IV.'s distaste for Radicalism-Confidential revelations-The Privy Purse (Sir William Knighton, Bart.)-The lady-Caricatures-The cottage and its private grounds-A happy pair-The sofa portrait-Death of Sir Thomas Lawrence-The sick chamber and the Book of Books-Visit of the Bishop-Grand funeral pageant.

I Do not think that the life of a courtier is to be envied. For of what does it consist? In assisting to make a series of grand pageants of a very composite character, the chief elements being gold lace, ostrich feathers, rich satin and fine cloth, delicate cambric and flashing diamonds; the principal colours scarlet and purple, violet and white; and in breathing an atmosphere redolent of fashionable perfumery, yet not sweet, and the reverse of wholesome.

And such delights can now only be indulged in at the expense of much personal inconvenience, for everybody, at any rate, everybody's wife and daughters insist on going to Court; the consequent crowding, stifling, and too frequently scuffling, in the royal apartments, which exist now, were quite unknown in the less ambitious and more exclusive times of George III. and Queen Charlotte, when presentations were limited.

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THE ATTRACTIONS AT COURT.

No doubt, however, the Court has its attractions, even under these unpromising circumstances. A drawing-room must be a beautiful spectacle, as female loveliness is its alpha and omega-a levée must be grand, as all that is great and noble in the country combine to produce it-and a State Ball cannot help being magnificent, for it is composed of the most admirable characteristics of both, rendered more delightful to the senses by a graceful entertainment, assisted by the exquisite music and the brilliant light. A State Ball, however, is not what it used to be, when only the elite of society were admitted; the Whigs now have made it a miscellaneous assemblage, composed of elements whose sole recommendation is the possession of political influence.

To be clothed in purple and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every day, are enjoyments to which few mortals are indifferent, consequently the candidates for employment about the Court are always a great deal more numerous than the offices in the different palaces require. The Court mice do not appear to entertain any idea of coveting "the crust of bread and liberty" of the outsiders. In vain, even for the humblest officials, was written honest Andrew Marvel's self-denying declaration, beginning

"Climb at Court for me who will."

At this particular period of my history, the reigns of George III. and George IV., the chief officers of the Household were quite satisfied that their lines had been set in pleasant places, and generally,

COURT SINECURES AND ABUSES.

93

made the most of the advantage. Every member of the royal establishment seemed to appreciate the command, as well as the truth, published by the Eastern despot-"Eat, drink, and be merry; all the rest's not worth a fillip."

The Beef-eaters flourished luxuriantly, each Exon seemed exonerated from the least responsibility, every page looked as if growing into a Lord Chamberlain, daily and quarterly waiters appeared as though only waiting for quarter-day, Lords of the Bedchamber and Grooms of the Stole rivalled each other in their perfect state of physical enjoyment, and the Clerks of the Green Cloth, of the Kitchen, and of all the other offices that were paid for a little penmanship with capital wages, thanked their stars for having been stationary, and made them and their materials of a like character. As for the royal tradesmen, they literally lived in clover-there was the best understanding between them and the purveyors. In short, St. James's was the Happy Valley in which there was no Rasselas.

From this dream of courtly bliss they were rudely awakened by a retired Scotch surgeon of anything rather than retiring habits, who, having got into Parliament on penny-wise principles, forced them upon the nation in all matters in which he considered pound-foolish opinions prevailed. If extravagance had established itself anywhere it was in the royal household, and from the throne to the scullery the crusade then being preached by this economic Peter the Hermit caused an agitation that was extremely

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GEORGE IV. NOT ALWAYS GRACIOUS.

uncomfortable, for it affected both their tempers and their salaries.

The Cabinet were obliged at last to take the subject into consideration, and having, with much trouble, obtained reliable information from some of the officials, were, after a long delay in reporting the case, officially constrained to recommend a closer scrutiny of the royal expenditure.

It so happened that his Majesty George IV. was not always, as he was styled, gracious— sometimes he was a little the reverse-sometimes a good deal. He did not at all approve, in the first place, of penny-wise principles, and was extremely discomposed by the countenance his ministers had given to them; he had a strong distaste for Radicalism in any shape; and such sentiments every day getting more and more prominently brought under his observation, he grew more and more irritable when obliged to give his attention to politics.

In this state of mind his Majesty found sensible relief in abusing his ministers. Nothing gratified him more than to take advantage of the opportunity afforded by an opposition peer seeking an audience to declaim against them individually and collectively in a style that would have made them shake in their shoes had they heard a tithe of it. This misfortune, however, did not happen, for that considerate sovereign may have had a visit from one or more of his wellabused servants within half-an-hour of the dismissal of his Whig visitor, and been more cordial to them than