I shall also for ever feel grateful to the Prince for having placed me with you; but should he (from a recollection of the promise he made Lord Moira never to give me up) urge you to retain me in your service, I beg you will not think yourself under any necessity to comply with his request. I may be proud, but I do not think that I am either interested or ambitious. I will stay while I can be of any the slightest service to your Royal Highness, but I will never be a burden to you, or prevent you from filling a place about you more worthily.
I trust your Royal Highness will not consider what I have said as a liberty. I feel it as an urgent though a very painful duty, and must therefore risk the consequences. That every blessing may attend you, will be to my latest hour the prayer of,
I was much overcome, and ill for two days after writing this letter, which I believe hurt her; but she said nothing to me on the subject, and we went on as usual at Windsor, never so comfortable as in town, but no disputes. We had Vacari there and Vitalba (the drawing-master). I persuaded her to invite the Queen and Princesses, with their own society, to some music, and it succeeded very well.
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RETURN TO WARWICK HOUSE—THE PRINCE OF ORANGE—MANœUVRING—THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE BETROTHED—FEELINGS OF THE PRINCESS—THE GREAT FROST.
AFTER Princess Augusta’s birthday, the 8th of November, we returned to town, and the Princess Charlotte seemed to feel happy and comfortable in being restored to the quiet life of Warwick House.
This quiet did not last long. Towards the end of the month Sir Henry Halford urged the business of the hereditary Prince of Orange, insomuch that Princess Charlotte came up much annoyed, after a long interview with him; but Lady Anne Smith was, I believe, more successful, and after a very long conference with her, on the 29th of November, I heard Princess Charlotte say that the Prince of Orange was certainly adored in the army, and that not only Lord Wellington, but all his brother officers, particularly John Fremantle, spoke most highly of him. I saw something was passing in her mind, but I never pressed to obtain her confidence.