signature to those state warrants, which an- | shower of rain, when a worm crawled upon were written: George King to king George sends his humble petition, His majesty accepted the memorial with the utmost condescension, and an inquiry was immediately instituted into the case of the convict. The result was the commutation of his sentence of death to that of transportation for life. Whenever necessity obliged his majesty to perform that awful part of his duty, the signature of a death-warrant, it had always such an effect upon his feelings, that it was some time before he regained his wonted composure. He was often noticed to walk to and fro in a hurried manner, and to betray other striking symptoms of a heart ill at ease. On one of these sad occasions, during his residence at Kew, when the recorder had taken his leave, the king retreated to an alcove in the garden, immediately after the fall of a mild The approaching marriage of the king now occupied the general attention, and it is a curious fact, that an unforeseen difficulty occurred in settling the form of the ceremonial to be observed, for want of a precedent. The following is an extract of a letter on this subject, from Dr. Birch, librarian of the British Museum, dated 3rd of July, 1761: Upon an hasty consideration of your question, I am inclined to think that no form of marriage suitable to the circumstances of his present majesty can be produced. You will judge of the reasons of my doubts from a review of the several sovereigns of this kingdom ɛince the accession of Henry VIII. to the throne. He was undoubtedly married to every one of his wives, according to the ritual of the church of Rome. His example in this point was followed by his daughter Mary, who was married to Philip, prince of Spain, at Winchester, in July, 1554, by bishop Gardiner, archbishop Cranmer being then in prison. Her brother, Edward VI., and her sister Elizabeth, you know, both died unmarried. James 1. was married several years before he came to England, to the princess of Denmark, at Upstors in Norway, the ceremony being performed by Mr. D. Lindesey, minister of Leith, in the French language. Charles I.'s marriage was solemnized at Paris, the duke of Chareuse being his proxy. Charles II.'s queen scrupling the offices of the church, he only took her by the hand, in the Presence Chamber at Portsmouth, and said the words of matrimony in the Common Prayer Book, "I, Charles, take thee, Catherine," &c., the queen | bourg, her grand-aunt, and the princess Sophia, declaring her consent, and Dr. Sheldon, bishop of Lon- her sister. Her royal highness was served by don, standing forth and declaring them man and wife, in M. de Zesterfleth", grand marshal of the court; the name of the Father, &c. This I have seen a parti- M. de Knesebeck, marshal of the court; and cular account of, in a letter of Weston, earl of Portland, the Misses Seltern and Rauchbar, ladies of to lord Clarendon. The first marriage of James II., (then duke of York), which was to lord chancellor Cla- the court. M. de Dewitz, privy-councillor of rendon's daughter, was a private one, performed at Wor-legation, did the honours of the table standing. cester-house, Sept. 3, 1660, by Dr. Crowther, the duke's His serene highness the duke dined with the chaplain; the second, to the princess of Modena, was English minister, and several ladies and genperformed at Dover, in November, 1673, on the day of tlemen, at a large table in a saloon. Four her arrival, by Dr. Crewe, then bishop of Oxford, and tables of upwards of 160 covers were served afterwards of Durham. The two last kings, George I. in two other apartments. In the In the evening and II., were married before they came to the throne. the gardens of the castle were illuminated with above 40,000 lamps. Castle-street and the market were also illuminated. On the 16th there was a grand festival and entertainment, In the mean time the fleet appointed to bring over her most serene highness put to sea on the 8th of August, and on the 14th lord Harcourt and the other lords and ladies sent on In short, the splendour of the this important embassy arrived at Strelitz. court of Mecklenburg-Strelitz on this occasion These ladies were the duchesses of Ancaster was infinitely beyond the conception of those and Hamilton, two of the finest women in the who attended the important occasion. Lord British court. The next morning at eleven, Harcourt was received there with a grandeur the earl of Harcourt performed the ceremony easier to be conceived than expressed. His of asking in form her serene highness in mar- lordship never stirred without a body-guard to riage for the king his master. The moment attend him, which, it is said, consisted of rethe contract of marriage was signed, the can-markably tall men, called Heidukes, who made non fired. Her royal highness was afterwards a formidable and handsome appearance. complimented by the states of the country, On the 17th, her highness, accompanied by and the deputies of the towns. She dined at the reigning duke her brother, set out for a separate table with the princess of Schwartz- Mirow, amidst the tears and prayers of all ranks * Baron Zesterfleth was a particular favourite of her late majesty. He was an excellent scholar, without any mixture of pedantry, and a sincere Christian, without the least leaven of dissimulation. His innocence of manners was such as could hardly be expected to be seen amidst the pleasures of a court. He always rose at four o'clock-shaved himself without water, and never made use of a glass. No servant ever saw him in an undress. He was so modest in conversing with ladies, that he would not permit them to touch his hands; and when they attempted it out of pleasantry, he always secured them in his breeches pocket. His integrity was almost without a parallel, and no man living ever had a greater contempt for money. The following anecdote will be a sufficient proof of it:-The duchess of Mecklenburg, her late majesty's aunt, knowing that the baron had a fancy for a horse of a particular breed, and that he would not accept of it as a present, ordered a person in her confidence to buy one, and deliver it to his groom, with directions to say, that it was a stray horse. The baron believed the story, but he had the horse cried in the public market; and, as it was not owned, every body concluded that the baron had a right to keep him; but he was of a different opinion himself—the horse, he said, did not belong to him, and, not having a particular owner, was become of course public property, therefore he would sell the horse, and distribute the money amongst the poor, which he accordingly did. of people, the poor in particular, whose zealous | in America, the river St. Laurence with Quebec, patroness she had always shewn herself. The following account of the honours which were paid to her serene highness on leaving Strelitz, is contained in a letter of Mr. Tangatz, who was present on the occasion. The town of Old Strelitz was desirous of expressing its regard to "the illustrious princess Charlotta Sophia, born duchess of Mecklenburg Strelitz, on her espousals to his majesty George III. king of Great Britain, and of wishing her a happy voyage to England, at her setting out from the bounds of its territory. On the 17th of August, 1761, was erected in a plain a triumphal arch thirty-two feet in height, with two pillars in front; and close to it was a platform of 500 paces, on which were drawn up the three companies of the town militia under arms, and their colours flying. On each side of the front of the triumphal arch were two green bowers, and a tent, with variety of refreshments for the spectators; of whom there was a prodigious number from the towns in the neighbourhood, so that they covered the heights near the triumphal arch. The multitude of persons, carriages, and horses, formed a most cheerful prospect, and among the spectators were the worthy magistrates of New Strelitz. The triumphal arch was decorated with natural foliage and festoons, and over it two terrestrial globes in the geographical divisions, viz., in the first Europe, Asia, and Africa, and in the other America. Great Britain and Ireland were encircled with a wreath of laurel. In Europe, was the Elbe with the Havel running into it, and at the source of the latter, Mirow, as the birth-place of the royal bride: in Asia, the river Ganges, with its many mouths, the province of Coromandel and Pondicherry: in likewise the Mississippi: in the Leeward and Windward Islands, Mariegalante, Guadaloupe, and Dominica, all marked in capital letters, as having been reduced by the British fleet. The two globes were surmounted with the arms of Great Britain and Mecklenburg joined. On the back part of the triumphal arch were represented Autumn and Spring, in their attributes of ripe fruits and flowers, with an inscription to the following effect: Pomona soon succeeds to Flora, And the bridal chamber supersedes the grave. On each side, within the triumphal arch, stood six reputable townsmen's daughters, between eleven and twelve tween eleven and twelve years of age, in white jackets and petticoats, with light-blue ribbons, and their hair dressed in natural flowers. Each had in her hand a wreath of myrtle something above the bigness of a crown, thus waiting the princess's coming. On the skirt of our field towards New Strelitz stood a captain of our town horse, in a blue uniform, with sixteen troopers, in order to join the cavalcade attending on her royal highness, and conduct them to the above-mentioned platform. This illustrious procession was headed by marshal Zesterfleth, with two running footmen: then came in coaches and six our beloved sovereign the duke, with his brother prince Charles, attended by several running footmen, and a body of horse-guards; and, as they passed through the triumphal arch, the burghers saluted them with their arms, colours, and music. After the march of the horse came the royal bride herself, in a coach of state drawn by six horses, the princess her sister sitting on her left hand, and in the front of the coach the that name, the eminent lord chancellor of Prussia. Her royal highness was pleased to stop under the triumphal arch; and, after an address delivered by burgomaster Tangatz, in the name of the corporation and citizens, condescended, with the most endearing complacency, to hear the children repeat their congratulatory verses; after which, with a graceful respect and sprightliness, they threw their myrtle wreaths to her highness into the coach. She expressed her satisfaction in those gracious terms which were ever natural to her, and by which, in her tender years, she conciliated the unalterable love and esteem of all ranks. After her royal highness immediately followed a party of twelve of the horse-guards, an empty state coach and six, the earl of Harcourt with his son likewise in a coach and six, and who was observed to view with sensible pleasure both the emblem over the triumphal arch, and the twelve children who had acquitted themselves so handsomely, and gave each of them a ducat; after the earl came Mr. counsellor Hardenburg from Hanover: the cavalcade was closed by nearly thirty coaches, and every thing passed suitably to the joyful occasion. Address of the Burgomasters, Magistrates, and Citizens of Strelitz, to her Royal Highness the most illustrious Princess Sophia Charlotta, Duchess of Mecklenburg, Princess of Wenden, Schwerin, and Ratzeburg, and Countess of Schwerin, and the countries of Rostock and Stargard, on her leaving the territories of the said city, on her way to England, as the Royal Bride of his most potent and most illustrious Majesty George III., King of Great Britain, &c. &c. ILLUSTRIOUS DUCHESS, MOST GRACIOUS PRINCESS AND LADY, Your royal highness is at present leaving that country whose happiness it has hitherto been to admire in you the model of a perfect princess. You leave it to share with the greatest mouarch in Europe a throné respected through every part of the universe. The instant is at hand when your royal highness will, for ever, be withdrawn from our eyes. This affects us the more sensibly from the apprehension that the many great and brilliant objects with which you will henceforth be encircled, will efface so small a place as ours, from your inestimable remembrance; yet that goodness which we have hitherto with transport admired in your royal highness, revives our spirits: it assures us that you will, even from the throne, condescend graciously to look back on our town, and continue the patroness of those, whose happiness it is to be the subjects of your illustrious family. Wa therefore in full confidence give ourselves up to that lively joy excited in us all, on the glorious union to which the Divine Providence has called your royal highness, and beg leave to accompany you with our most cordia! wishes for your safe journey, and continual welfare and prosperity. May the Eternal Ruler of all things, who hath appointed this great event, make your royal highness the most perfect instance of felicity; the delight of that royal family into which you are now entering, the joy of Britain, and the glory of the illustrious house of Meck lenburg. May our illustrious sovereign, the beloved Adolphus Frederick, long and in all earthly happiness, together with his faithful and happy subjects, rejoice in these felicities! Your royal highness will graciously permit that twelve of our daughters, here present in the attire of innocence, may, as a memorial of this fortunate event, second the ardent sentiments of their fathers, and in artless words most humbly wish you a safe and pleasant journey. The young ladies then advanced, and respectively addressed the princess in the following stanzas: 1. Eleonora Dorothea Maria Bertzhoven. 2. Christiana Juliana Elizabeth Berendsen. 3. Dorothea Elizabeth Tettingen. Thy soul with each divinest virtue fraught, 4. Sophia Elizabeth Gradhandlen. When seated by thy royal consort's side, 5. Carolina Henrietta Tangatz. O God, whose mercies through the world abound, 6. Dorothea Gauen. May she with each endearing art possest, 7. Anna Maria Elizabeth Christen. 8. Christina Sophia Soalow. From Ganges to where Mississippi flows, Diffusing wealth and plenty as it goes; From Senegal still scorch'd by Phoebus' beam To where St. Lawrence rolls his silver stream, Proclaim Britannia's bliss the world around, From pole to pole, to earth's remotest bound. 9. Christina Elizabeth Phuelen. Its wish auspicious Havel hastes to bring For fair Charlotta and for Britain's king; On Britain's isle all blessings he implores, And rolls his friendly wave to Albion's shores. 10. Dorothea Christiana Elizabeth Reiseken. Beneath the Lord's anointed may she thrive, Still may his influence keep the palm alive: Still may it flourish, branches still extend, Afford us shelter, and from heat defend. 11. Magdalen Elizabeth Colterjahn. Thrice happy bride, who soon shall cross the main, Whom to behold again we wish in vain; May happiness unceasing with thee dwell; To every age may Fame thy glory tell. 12. Catharina Sophia Bertrowen. Nought can our brothers' ardent zeal restrain; Chorus. Yet for one favour more we must apply, The 18th she arrived at Perleberg, where she was complimented by the count de Gotter, in the name of his Prussian majesty, who had ordered that no post-money should be taken for any of the horses and carriages attending her highness; but when they arrived at the end of his territories, her most serene highness ordered a considerable sum of money to be given to the Prussian hunters who escorted her. On the 19th, her most serene highness continued her journey by Leutzen for Ghorde, where she dined twice in public, and walked in the afternoon in the park. On the 22d, at seven o'clock in the evening, she arrived at Stade, under a general discharge of the cannon of the place, and amidst the acclamations of a vast number of people, both citizens and foreigners. The burgesses of Stade were assembled under arms, and lined the streets through which her most serene highness passed. Some of the principal ladies of the town presented her with verses on her majesty's approaching nuptials on velvet cushions. At nine o'clock the whole town was illuminated, and several triumphal arches were erected in the principal streets, on which were placed many small lamps and inscriptions |