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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY.

ASTOR

TILDEN

PREFACE.

THE object of the Author of these Memoirs has been, to present a correct draught of the amiable character of the late lamented PRINCESS CHARLOTTE. Whatever defects the Reader discovers, he will not, it is hoped, find any attempt to impose the absurd idea, that the Princess was entirely exempt from human weakness; although the noble and benevolent disposition which Her Royal Highness manifested, the numerous and interesting anecdotes, and, above all, the excellence of her moral and religious example, especially during the uninterrupted felicity of her married life, will not only be found worthy of perusal, but of imitation. From the specimens of her more retired life, and of her benevolence, which have been suffered to transpire, the Reader will join the Author in regretting that the wide chasms of so interesting a history could only be closed

up with the less important details of fashionable life but there is, at least, this consolation, that—like the sun-beams breaking forth through the fluctuating clouds which conceal the luminary from our eyes-these specimens convince us, that the Princess Charlotte pursued the same course when hidden, as when revealed; and, had she lived to ascend the Throne, would then have issued with the greater glory from those secluded shades to which she delighted to retire. Since, however, the Divine Providence has been pleased to destroy all these fair expectations, we next turn our attention to the suddenness of her removal from the very summit of earthly happiness, and contemplate it as a signal proof of the utter instability of earthly things. The particulars of her illness, death, and funeral, possess a peculiar interest; and, it may be safely added, that so full and authentic an account has not hitherto appeared.

The histories of the Houses of Brunswick and Stuart are prefixed to these Memoirs; and the present state of the Succession to the

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Throne is subjoined, in order to dissipate the universal alarm which naturally pervaded the public mind on account of this unexpected calamity. The former, also, is especially intended to shew the principles upon which the House of Brunswick ascended the British Throne, and to mark the progressive advancement of our general prosperity, as a nation, since that happy event, which consolidated the Constitution in Church and State. The glorious reign, and private virtues, with many anecdotes, of our present venerable Sovereign, (further interesting particulars of whom will be found, among other valuable matter, in the Appendix,) have been particularly recorded. The history of the House of SaxeCobourg, and the Life of Prince Leopold, with anecdotes of the Prince Regent, &c. are also inserted in their proper order; together with accounts of the universally sorrowful sensation which the Death of the Princess Charlotte produced, and of the solemn manner in which the day of her Funeral was observed.

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