On the back of a card, on which Queen Charlotte had copied a short sacred poem, Miss Knight has written:—“_Copied by the Queen, and given by her to E. C. K., December 10, 1805. God Almighty grant, through the mediation of our Lord Jesus Christ, that my sins may be forgiven, and that His will may be the dearest wish of my heart, with gratitude (however imperfect) for the blessings He has deigned to bestow on me!_”
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EXCLUSION OF THE PRINCESS OF WALES PROM THE QUEEN’S DRAWING ROOM—DEATH OF THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE.
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[THE following is the correspondence relative to the exclusion of the Princess of Wales from the Queen’s Drawing-room, to which reference is made at the end of the first and commencement of this volume:]
LETTER OF THE PRINCESS OF WALES TO THE PRINCE REGENT.
“SIR,—I am once more reluctantly compelled to address your Royal Highness, and to enclose, for your inspection, copies of a note which I have had the honour to receive from the Queen, and of the answer which I have thought it my duty to return to her Majesty. It would be in vain for me to inquire into the reasons of the alarming declaration made by your Royal Highness, that you have taken the fixed and unalterable determination never to meet me, upon any occasion, either in public or private. Of these, your Royal Highness is pleased to state yourself to be the only judge. You will perceive by my answer to her Majesty, that I have only been restrained by motives of personal consideration towards her Majesty, from exercising my right of appearing before her Majesty at the public drawing-rooms to be held in the ensuing month.
“But, Sir, lest it should be by possibility supposed that the words of your Royal Highness can convey any insinuation from which I shrink, I am bound to demand of your Royal Highness, what circumstances can justify the proceedings you have thus thought fit to adopt?
“I owe it to myself, to my daughter, and to the nation, to which I am deeply indebted for the vindication of my honour, to remind your Royal Highness of what you know: that after open persecution and mysterious inquiries, upon undefined charges, the malice of my enemies fell entirely upon themselves; and that I was restored by the King, with the advice of his Ministers, to the full enjoyment of my rank in his court, upon my complete acquittal. Since his Majesty’s lamented illness, I have demanded, in the face of Parliament and the country, to be proved guilty or to be treated as innocent. I have been declared innocent; I will not submit to be treated as guilty.