MRS. FITZHERBERT'S MEMOIRS. * AMONG the idle, unscrupulous, and sometimes absurd
gossip that the- late Lord Tolland inserted in his Memoirs, was a tale to the effect that it was the Prince and not Mrs. Fitzherbert who insisted on the performance of the marriage ceremony. The story was in- credible upon the face of it, and might have been left to refute it- self,—along with such tales as that Nelson, though he had a sort of fighting knack, was in all other respects a poor creature, who could not even write a letter. Yet it is mainly this loose Lord's tittle-tattle which has occasioned the present publication. The volume consists of a few letters from Mrs. Fitzherbert, dis- playing kindness and a sort of animation ; a narrative of the lady s connexion with George the Fourth from first to last, re- Cerded by the late Lord Stourton from Mrs. Fitzherbert's own statement ; and an explanation by Mr. Langdale of his reasons for undertaking the publication with a long story about five do- cuments that are deposited. at doutts's, under the seals of the late Duke of Wellington, the late Earl of Albemarle, and the late Lord Stourton. From the list in the book it would not appear that those documents have any great literary interest, or could throw any light on a fact which is not disputed, that a ceremony had been performed. ' The documents were sealed up and deposited at Coutts's in 1833, four years before Mrs. Fitzherbert's death, with the under- standing that they were only to be used in case it should. become necessary for the defence of the lady's reputation. Lords Albemarle and Stourton had the power of breaking the seals, and using the papers without the consent but not without the knowledge of the late Duke of Wellington and the late Sir William Knighton. From the time of Mrs. Fitzherbert's death until hi own, Lord Btourton. seems td have had a desire' if not to publish the papers, yet to break the seals ; for he had not made himself acquainted with the memorandum attached by Mrs. Fitzherbert to a letter written by the clergyman who performed the marriage ceremony. The desire might probably originate in the fact that Mrs. Fitzherbert had comnuttd her reputation to his care. It is not impossible but that a Romanist's wish to promulgate a Romanist idea, that the clandestine marriage with Mrs. Fitzherbert was the only real One might also have influenced him. Be this as it may, the late Lord Stourton had a frequent correspondence upon the sub- Sect of these papers ; and when he died he left his task of de- fensor to his brother Charles ; who succeeded no better than him- Self in obtaining the papers. On Lord Albemarle's death, Mr. Langdale applied to Coutts's ; he was referred to the executor of the late Earl, the Hon. and Rev. Edward S. Keppel ; and that gentleman, after taking the opinion of those with most authority in the matter, thus writes- " The friend with whom I have been in conference by letter is the Duke of Bedford ;_ and through him I hate the opinion of the executors of the late Fitzherbert, Sir G. Seymour and Mr. Forster. They are strongly against the production of those papers. They would only prove the marriage of the Prince with Mrs. Fitzherbert ; which is not questioned, as Lord Hol- land's remarks go to the motives and feelings of herself and the Prince, which the evidence in the papers would not touch. The public might, or might not, be interested in the production of the papers; but the revival of the subject would, if it attracted interest, only pander to the bad feelings or the curiosity of the great world, without doing good, where it is sincerely intended. The public mind is at rest on the subject, and might it-not be advisable to let it rest so ? "
This conclusion was the right one. The fact of the ceremony, the lady's reception in society, and the notice she received from some of the Royal Family, (the narrative says all) were well known. The judgment upon the case will differ as opinions differ : those Who take the lax social view will pronounce leniently ; those who conceive that inclination and advantage should. be sacrificed to duty, and that the family is the great object of the sexual con- nexion—which could not in this ease have existed—will decide more sternly. On one point where the strict moralist might feel most inclined to condemn, the lady is exonerated, though at the expense of the Church. It is well known that Lady Jersey superseded Mrs. Fitzherbert in the Prince's liking, before lus legal marriage. After breaking with the wife, the Jersey; and Others., he wished to renew the connexion with Mrs. Fitzherbert ; but the lady demurred on account of his marriage. The case, however, was submitted to the Pope, by special messenger ; and the Church decided in favour of the renewal.
However immoral the conduct of the Prince might be, there is no pretext in this case for charging him with deception. A
• memoirs of Mrs. Fitzherbert; with an Account of her Marriage with IL B. H. the Prince of Woks, afterwards Sing George the Fourth. By the Honourable
Charles Langdale. Published by Bentley. twice-widowed lady of nine-and-twenty, who had lived all her life in the fashionable world, could not be imposed upon as to the state of the law, the consequences as to herself, or the grave public -evils that might arise from the intercourse ; nor indeed- is it pretended that Mrs. Fitzherbert was ignorant of the nature of the ease in its largest extent. It was a lefthanded connexion, no worse than numerous other connexions of the same kind,. and not very much better. But though not remarkably -vicious the royal lover managed to make it so, by the faculty he. had of tainting everything with his own qualities. It is the folly- the falsehood, the meanness, the unmanly terror which he implited into the case, that stamps' its character. If Lord Holland truly reports the ;tatement of Mrs. Armistead, afterwards Mrs. Fox the Prince had not the fortitude Of a whipped schoolboy :he would go to Fox's and " cry by the hOur "—striking his forehead, tearing his hair, and performing other antics of stage distress. The coup d'amour by which he won the lady seems to have been derived from the same re rtcaT ; but that burlesque goes further than the Prince. In rea • it, the scenes at Madrid rise to the mind when Gil Blas fancies • self on the high road to prefer- ment after his confidential conference with the confidant of the heir-apparent. The satire, indeed; is more dramatically dignified than the reality ; the Spanish noble did not appear so actively on the scene as the English lords. * " Keit, the surgeon, Lord Qnslow, 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 Almiger—that he had stabbed himself—and that only her immediate. presence would save him. She re- sisted, 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 deroga- tory to her reputation, 'insisted upon some lady of high character accom- panying 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 hilts to put a ring round her finger. I believe a ring from the hand of the Duchess of Devon- shire was used upon the oce,asion' and not one of his own. Mrs: Fitzher- bert 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 brandy-and-water was near his bedside when she was called to him on the day he wounded himself. ' "They returned to Devonshire Efouse. ' A deposition was drawn up. of ivhat had occurred, and signed and sealed by each one of the party, and„ for all she knew to the contrary, might still be there. On- the neirdhy, pa; left the country, sending a letter to Lord Southampton, protesting against what had taken place, as not being, then a free agent," - For two years Mrs. Fitzherbert remained abroad ; apparently well understanding the nature of her :princely wooer, and that he would value her in proportion to the trouble she cost. The cere- mony finally took place in her own. drawingroom ; her brother and her uncle being present as witnesses, and the service being per- formed by an Anglican divine. The distinct denial of the mar- riage, which the Prince authorized Fox to give in the House of Commons, is well known. Having thud lied out of fear to his party -and the public,—for in strict law we have no doubt that his mar- riage to a Roman Catholic had forfeited the crown,, and the report was making a peat sensationr—he thus insinuates anether he to the lady. "Mrs. Fitzherbert was on a visit with the -Honourable Mrs. Butler,- her friend and relative, and at whose house the Prince frequently met Mrs. Fitzherbert. The Prince called the morning after the denial of the marriage in the House of Commons by Mr. Fox. He went up to Mrs. Fitzherbert; and„ taking hold of both her hands and caressing her, said ' Only conceive,. Maria, what Fox did yesterday : he went down to the House and denied that you and I were man and wife ! Did you-ever hear of such a thing ? ' Mrs. Fitzherbert made no reply, but changed countenance and turned pale."
Lady Hertford finally superseded Mrs. Fitzherbert in the liking of the Prince through a curious -circumstance. lady Seymour, had made Mrs. Fitzherbert guardian of her daughter ; some of the family resisted ; Mrs. Fitzherbert set the Prince to appeal to Lord Hertford, the head of the family ; and this application led to the acquaintance with-the Marohioness. The new pair seem to have been well fitted for each other.
" Lady Hertford, anxious for the preservation of her own reputation, which she was not willing to compromise with the public even when she ruled the Prince with the most absolute sway, exposed Mrs. Fitzherbert at this time to very severe trials, which at last almost, as she said, ruined her health and destroyed her nerves. -Attentions were required from her to- wards Lady Hertford herself; even when most aware of her superior ence over the-Prinee ; and these attentions were extorted by the menace of taking away her child. To diminish her apparent influence, in public as well as private, was now the object. When at Brighton, the Prince, who. had passed part of his mornings with Xis. Fitzherbert on friendly terms at her own house, did not even notice her in the slightest manner at the Pa.- vilion on the same evenings ; and she afterWards 'understood that such at- tentions would have been reported to her rival."
This was cruel enough, for he need not have invited the lady merely to insult her. The following little piece of cruelty was a great deal worse, for it was a mere gratuitous insult, and menda- cious to boot : it does not appear that George the Fourth ever had any serious intentions of a second marriage.
I.7pon one occasion, after the death of Queen Caroline, upon the Prince informing her that he was determined to marry again, she only replied; Very well, air' ; but upon his leaving her she ordered horses, with a reso- lution to abandon the country, and was only prevented from doing so that day by the interposition of a common friend."
But that it was impossible for any mistake to occur on such a delicate communication, we should have thought there must have been some misconception, from a discrepancy of dates and flote difficult to reconcile with this statement. But the matter of the book is very loosely put together, both by Lord Stourton and his brother. Lord Stourton seems to have aimed at throwing various communications from Mrs. Fitzherbert into the form of a con- secutive narrative, but pays little attention to chronology. Mr. dale's management of his materials is equally lax, and his logic of the feeblest. If Mrs. Fitzherbert was fully possessed with the Romanist doctrine that the contracting mind—the intent to marry, expressed in a certain formula, " I take thee," &c.— oonstitutes the sacrament of matrimony, without the presence of a priest or even of a witness, her conduct becomes more excusable in a. religious point of view, though the moral, prudential, and so- cial objections remain untouched. The confident sophism, quoted by Mr. Langdale, touching the illegality- of the marriage—that "the mass," &e. was then " illegal "—also, we should have thought, could not have imposed upon any one. The mass and other offices of the Church are cleemed.by the Romanists necessary to salvation, but few can be foundto fancy that any sort of connexion with George the Fourth would contribute to.that end. Neither, to say the truth, do we implicitly credit all the assertions of the book. Wherever particular facts are in question, they may be truly reported. In general statements that take a colour from the mmd, we suspect the wish is very often father to the thought. Thus, though, Mrs. Fitzherbert was no doubt on friend- ly almost sisterly terms with the Dukes of York and Clarence, we very much doubt whether she had so much influence as she flattered herself she possessed over the King and Queen.-
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