afternoon [there was some internal rupture], though the surgeons could not by any probing certainly tell whereabouts the fracture was. The running at the wound was immense. Some ignorant people about her who knew not from what cause this discharge proceeded, told the Queen they hoped this relief would do her good, to which the Queen replied very calmly, she hoped so too, for that it was all the relief she should ever have. Every day once at least, and sometimes oftener, from the first of her being under the surgeons' hands, they were forced, or thought themselves so, to make some new incision; and before every operation of this kind which she underwent, she always used to ask the King if he approved what the surgeons proposed to do; and when he said they had told him it was necessary, and that he hoped she would consent to anything they thought so, she always submitted immediately, and suffered them to cut and probe as deep and as long as they thought fit, with the utmost patience, resignation, and resolution. She asked Ranby once, whilst he was dressing her wound, if he would not be glad to be officiating in the same manner to his own old cross wife that he hated so much; and if any involuntary groans or complainings broke from her during the operations, she used immediately after to bid the surgeons not mind her, and would make them apologies for interrupting them with her silly complaints, when she knew they were doing all they could to help her. On Wednesday some wise, some pious, and a great many busy, meddling, impertinent people about the Court, asking in whispers everybody they met whether the Queen had had anybody to pray by her, and wondering at the irreligion of the Queen for thinking she could pray as well for herself as anybody could pray for her, and at those about her for not putting her in mind of so essential a duty, Sir Robert Walpole desired Princess Emily to propose to the King or Queen that the Archbishop [of Canterbury, Dr. Potter] should be sent for, in order to stop people's impertinence upon this subject; and when the Princess Emily made some difficulty about taking upon her to make this proposal to the King or Queen, Sir Robert (in the presence of a dozen people who really wished this divine physician for the Queen's soul might be sent for, upon the foot of her salvation) very prudently added, by way of stimulating the Princess Emily, 66 Pray, madam, let this farce be played: the Archbishop will act it very well. You may bid him be as short as you will. It will do the Queen no hurt, no more than any good; and it will satisfy all the wise and good fools, who will call us all atheists if we don't pretend to be as great fools as they are." After this eloquent and discreet persuasion-the whole company staring with the utmost astonishment at Sir Robert Walpole, some in admiration of his piety and others of his prudence-the Princess Emily spoke to the King, the King to the Queen, and the Archbishop was sent for, who continued afterwards to pray by her morning and evening, at which ceremony her children always assisted; but the King constantly went out of the room before his episcopal Grace was admitted. But all this was thrown away, for the people that had whispered, and wondered, and clamoured at no prayers, were now just as busy, and as whispering, and as wondering about no sacrament. Some fools said the Queen had not religion enough to ask to receive the sacrament: some other fools said she had asked for it and that the Archbishop had refused to give it her unless she would first be reconciled to her son; and this many idiots believed, and many who were not idiots told, in hopes of finding credit from those that were. There were some who were impertinent enough to ask the Archbishop himself why he would not advise the Queen to be reconciled to the Prince, and more than hinted to him that he would be wanting in his duty if he did not; to which his Grace very decently and properly answered, that whenever the Queen had done him the honour to talk to him upon that unhappy division in the family, she had always done it with so much sense and goodness 8 8 Walpole, after mentioning the influence of " Lady Sundon and the less believing clergy over her," adds, "The Queen, however, was so sincere at her death, that when Archbishop Potter was to administer the sacrament to her she declined taking it-very few persons being in the room. When the prelate retired the courtiers in the ante-room crowded round him, crying, My Lord, has the Queen received?' His Grace artfully eluded the question, only saying most devoutly, Her Majesty was in a heavenly disposition,'-and the truth escaped the public."-Reminiscences. Whatever the motive was, it is now certain that the Queen did not receive the sacrament, though the Archbishop continued to attend her every morning and evening, and that the last word she ever spoke was Pray. And it is remarkable that, when Lord Hervey submitted to the critical judgment of his father his elaborate " Epitaphium Regina Carolina," Lord Bristol hinted that he was afraid the world would not ratify the assertion “Christianem religionem sincerè sanctèque coluit." Lord Hervey, however, adhered to the statement and translated it in his own English version, "the Christian religion she firmly believed and strictly practised." The truth, I suppose, is, that she had read and argued herself into a very low and cold species of Christianity. that he never thought she wanted any advice. The Queen desired the Archbishop, if she died, to take care of Dr. Butler, her Clerk of the Closet; and he was the only body I ever heard of her recommending particularly and by name all the while she was ill. Her servants in general she recommended to the King, saying in general terms he knew whom she liked and disliked, but did not, that I know of, name anybody to him in particular.10 9 The celebrated author of the Analogy. He had been brought to the Queen's personal favour by his merit, set off by a pleasantry. He was rector of the rich but remote living of Stanhope, in Durham, when the Queen, not having for a long time heard of him, happened to ask Blackburn, Archbishop of York, whether he was dead. "No, Madam," the Archbishop replied, "but he is buried." The Queen immediately disinterred him, and made him her Clerk of the Closet; and it is creditable to all parties that the Queen's deathbed recommendation of him was not forgotten. He was made next year Bishop of Bristol, in 1746 Clerk of the Closet to the King, and in 1750 Bishop of Durham. 10 I fear Lord Hervey's silence must be taken as strong evidence against Horace Walpole's apologetical statement-adopted and amplified by Coxe -“that she sent her blessing and forgiveness to her son, and told Sir Robert that she would have seen him with pleasure, but prudence forbade the interview, as it might irritate and embarrass the King." This is certainly probable, and might have passed at the interview which Sir Robert had with the Queen alone, and he may, for obvious reasons, not have repeated it at the time to Lord Hervey; but, as the town had a story of the same kind (Ford's letter to Swift, 22nd Nov., and Mahon, ii. 315), his Lordship could hardly have failed to hear it, and would surely have related it, had it been true. We must therefore admit that his silence countenances, at least, the direct sarcasm of Lord Chesterfield, "And unforgiving, unforgiven, dies!" And Pope's more bitter irony, "Hang the sad verse on Carolina's urn, And hail her passage to the realms of rest, VOL. II. 2 M CHAPTER XL. A mystery now made of the fatal symptoms-The King's panegyric on the Queen-His strange mixture of brutality and tenderness-Princess Emily's disrespect-The Queen grows weaker and weaker-The dying scene-Her death-The King's grief-He sees only his children and Lord Hervey-Conjectures as to who might succeed to the Queen's influence-Walpole's coarseness disgusts the Princesses-Lord Hervey supposed to be in great favour-Knows that it is fallacious-Expostulates with Walpole on his long neglect-Some friends incite him to overthrow Walpole and step into his place-Such projects injudicious and impracticable-Conclusion. FROM the time of the [internal rupture last mentioned,] the physicians and surgeons-who had hitherto, without any disguise or reserve, talked over all the particulars of the Queen's case to anybody that asked them any questions were absolutely forbidden by the King to reveal this circumstance, or to give any other answer for the future, to anybody whatever who inquired concerning the Queen's health, than the general one of her being much as she was. Had these restrictive orders been issued by his Majesty on the first discovery of the Queen's rupture, considering her delicacy on this point, and his passion for a mystery on every point, it would have been easy to account for this edict being given out; but after her case had been talked over for five days, as publicly and as minutely as if she had been dissected before St. James's gate, I own I was at a loss to comprehend why these orders were issued, especially |