assisted me to undress her, or rather I assisted them, for they were firmer from being longer present; my shaking hands and blinded eyes could scarce be of any use. The king, at the instance of Sir George Baker, had consented to sleep in the next apartment; in the middle of the night the king insisted upon seeing if the queen was not removed from the house, and he had come into the room with a candle in his hand, and satisfied himself she was there; he stayed a full half-hour, and the depth of that terror during that time no words can paint." The confirmation of the worst fears that had been apprehended gave now no pretence for keeping from the nation the sad change that had occurred in a monarch who had gradually become popular, and for whom the tenderest solicitude was from that period displayed. The earlier days of the king's reign had not been propitious, and he had incurred displeasure from his obstinate adherence to his own preconceived views; but now all was forgotten, all was anxious affection, and, amid hopes and fears, the nation turned to Parliament to learn from its deliberations what would be the steps which, in consonance with the spirit of the constitution, would be taken. Various were the surmises which were afloat, as to the placing the power in the hands of the heir apparent to the throne, and to whose custody would be committed the person of the afflicted monarch. Upon the first assembling of Parliament, it was resolved that an adjournment should take place for a fortnight, and on the 4th of November a report of the Privy Council was laid on the table, and another adjournment took place till the 8th of December.

The Prince of Wales had, from the previous circumstances of his career, become the centre around

which the opposition of the time revolved; its members looked forward to the day when he should be in possession of power as that on which their triumph would be secured, and they therefore displayed the greatest anxiety that he should be proclaimed unrestricted regent; and the doctrines they upheld were that he at once had a right to assume the royal authority. To these pretensions the administration of the day, headed by Mr. Pitt, was strenuously opposed, and the feelings of the great mass of the people were also decidedly hostile to them. It unfortunately happened that the taste and morals of the party desirous of seeing his Royal Highness at the head of affairs were most questionable. Mr. Fox, its leader, however highly gifted with intellectual power, and loved for his generous and affectionate temper, was too much addicted to those social pleasures which border on folly to be generally esteemed. Sheridan's prudence had begun to be more than doubted, and reports were widely disseminated of the recklessness of those who frequented Carlton House. Hence the slow and protracted steps which were taken by the House of Commons, the caution exercised, and the apparent wisdom of deep reflection (whilst, in fact, intrigue of every description was going forward in various sections of the parties), were quite in consonance with public opinion.

Mr. Fox was sent for from Italy; and when Mr. Pitt came forward to propose that a committee be appointed to examine the journals of the House, and report precedents of such authority as may have been had in cases of the personal exercise of the royal authority being prevented or interrupted by infancy, sickness, infirmity, or otherwise, with a view

to provide for the same, Mr. Fox at once took up the position "that whenever the sovereign, from sickness, infirmity, or other incapacity, was unable to exercise the functions of his high office, the heir apparent, being of full age and capacity, had as clear and express a right to assume the reins of government and exercise the power of sovereignty as in the case of his Majesty's demise." Mr. Pitt's reply kindled a fire throughout the country. In the collection made of the works and the correspondence of Dr. Parr, is to be found a letter upon the subject of the king's illness from Mrs. Sheridan, in which she says: "An unlucky word about right, made use of by Charles Fox in the House, has made some little confusion in the heads of a few old Parliamentaries, who did not understand him, and Pitt has taken advantage of this and means to move a question about it on Tuesday, which our friends wish to avoid by moving the previous question, thinking Pitt's motion mischievous and quite unnecessary." Mr. Pitt said "that the very announcement of a claim of right rendered an inquiry into precedent and history of the greater consequence, for if such an authority should be discovered, all further debate in that House would be unnecessary; but he boldly said that the assertion of such a right in the Prince of Wales or any one else was little short of treason against the constitution of the country. He pledged himself to prove that in the case of the interruption of the personal exercise of the royal authority, without the existence of any lawful provision being previously made for carrying on the government, it belonged to the other branches of the nation at large to provide, according to their discretion, for the temporary

exercise of the regal functions in the name and behalf of the sovereign, as they should deem requisite, and that the Prince of Wales had no more right of himself, without their decision, to assume the government than any other individual in the country." This great constitutional doctrine was generally assented to; neither the replies of Mr. Fox nor the invectives of Mr Burke could shake it.

Upon the assertions of the two heads of parties, it was impossible for Sheridan, who was looked upon in the House as the personal friend of his Royal Highness, to be silent; yet his situation was one of the utmost delicacy. He had, in a letter which still exists, given the most judicious advice to that illustrious personage. He had stated "that it would greatly advance his Royal Highness's credit, and lay the strongest grounds to baffle every attempt at opposition to what he considered the just claims and rights of his Royal Highness, that the language of those who may be in any sort suspected of knowing his wishes and feelings should be of great moderation in disclaiming all party views, and avowing the utmost readiness to acquiesce in any reasonable delay."

When Mr. Pitt moved that the House will, on Tuesday next, resolve itself into a committee to take into consideration the state of the nation, Sheridan began a temperate and cautious speech. He said "that he felt it his duty to contend against the propriety and expediency of putting the abstract proposition of the right of the Prince of Wales. It could not conciliate, but, on the contrary, it might create dissension and animosities, and therefore he insisted it would be unwise, as it was obviously unnecessary,

to agitate it, or to press the House to come to any vote on it." The next sentence called down a long and continued "Hear! hear!" from both sides of the House; by both parties it was hailed as indiscreet at first, but after reflection it was considered to be called for by the circumstances of the case. "He begged leave to remind the right honourable gentleman of the danger of provoking that claim to be asserted (a loud cry of "Hear! hear!")-which he observed had not yet been preferred." (Another cry of "Hear! hear!") He then repeated the words, and asked, "Would the right honourable gentleman choose to have his own proposition put upon the journals, to have it recorded as his opinion, that the Prince of Wales had no more right to exercise the royal authority during the incapacity of the king than any other individual?" If he would not, why would he press an abstract proposition that must throw the nation into anarchy and confusion? Mr. Pitt replied to this, somewhat insidiously, by saying "that he trusted the House would do their duty in spite of any threat, however high the authority from which it might proceed." Mr. Sheridan then denied that his language could be construed into a threat; he had only spoken of the danger which might arise if the prince should be provoked to assert a claim which he had not yet preferred, and the discussion of which he must continue to think as mischievous in its tendency as it was absolutely unnecessary. Resolutions were carried on the 22nd December, on the motion of Mr. Pitt, which virtually brought the matter to a formal decision, taking from the Prince of Wales any claim, as a right, which he might wish to establish of acting as regent of the kingdom. The