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63 - Mysteries of London Vol I part 1 by George W M Reynolds · Mysteries of London Vol. I part 1

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  Speaker 1: From the very first moment that Victoria was called to
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  Speaker 1: the throne, she manifested a strict determination to exact a
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  Speaker 1: scrupulous observance of all rules, regulations, sad precedents which related
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  Speaker 1: to court etiquette and official dignity. The presence chamber is
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  Speaker 1: never entered by anyone who is not fully conversant with
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  Speaker 1: the laws of the Court and the mode of conduct
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  Speaker 1: and demeanor which they enforce. The rigid maintenance of these
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  Speaker 1: rules is nevertheless calculated to render the Queen an isolated being,
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  Speaker 1: as it were, amidst her court. For no one is
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  Speaker 1: permitted to commence a conversation or make a remark until
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  Speaker 1: first addressed by her Majesty. Then every word must be
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  Speaker 1: so measured, every syllable so weighed, that the mere fact
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  Speaker 1: at conversing with Royalty would be deemed at complete labour
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  Speaker 1: and even a perilous undertaking by those not conversant with
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  Speaker 1: the routine of the court. Holford had seen much to
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  Speaker 1: surprise and astonish him. The image of the Queen ever
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  Speaker 1: haunted his imagination, her voice ever rang in his ears.
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  Speaker 1: He disliked Prince Albert, that low, vulgar, uneducated, despised, obscure,
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  Speaker 1: pot boy entertained of feelings of animosity he scarcely knew
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  Speaker 1: wherefore against the young German who was evidently destined to
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  Speaker 1: become the husband of England's Queen. Again and again did
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  Speaker 1: he ponder upon the mysterious conversation between the two ladies
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  Speaker 1: of the court which he had overheard, and he felt
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  Speaker 1: an ardent and insuperable longing to fantom their meaning to
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  Speaker 1: the bottom. But how was this to be done? He
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  Speaker 1: determined to obtain access to the drawing room once more,
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  Speaker 1: and trust to the Chapter of Accidents to elucidate the mystery. Accordingly,
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  Speaker 1: he contrived that same afternoon to obtain access to the
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  Speaker 1: royal apartments without detection once more, And once more also
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  Speaker 1: did he conceal himself beneath the sofa. Fortune appeared to
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  Speaker 1: favor his views and wishes. Not many minutes had alast
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  Speaker 1: after he had escounced himself in his hiding place, when
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  Speaker 1: the two ladies whose conversation had so much interested him
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  Speaker 1: on the preceding day, slowly entered the yellow drawing room.
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  Speaker 1: The following dialogue then took place. How very awkward the
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  Speaker 1: Vicomte was. Last evening, my dear Duchess, he would insist
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  Speaker 1: upon turning the pages for me when I sat at
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  Speaker 1: the grand Pianoforte, and he was always too soon or
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  Speaker 1: too late, although he pretended to read the Fantasia which
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  Speaker 1: I played, bar by bar. That is very provoking, said
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  Speaker 1: the Duchess. I believe there is to be a drawing
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  Speaker 1: room tomorrow at Saint James. Yes, your Grace must have
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  Speaker 1: forgotten that her Majesty decided last evening upon holding one.
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  Speaker 1: How many a young heart is fluttering now with anxiety
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  Speaker 1: and eager anticipation of tomorrow, observed the Duchess. A drawing
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  Speaker 1: room is most formidable to the novice in court affairs.
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  Speaker 1: But the most entertaining portion of the embarrassment of the
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  Speaker 1: novice is the fear that the gentleman, who bears the
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  Speaker 1: name of the court circular, and who is invariably stationed
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  Speaker 1: in the presence chamber, may omit to mention her presence
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  Speaker 1: in the report which he draws up for the newspapers.
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  Speaker 1: George the Third in his consort held drawing rooms weekly
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  Speaker 1: for many years, said the Countess. George the Fourth held
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  Speaker 1: drawing rooms, but very seldom. William and Adelaide usually held
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  Speaker 1: about five or six in a season, And after all,
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  Speaker 1: what can be more magnificent, what more eminently calculated to
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  Speaker 1: sustain the honor and dignity of the crown, than a
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  Speaker 1: British court drawing room. The tasteful dresses of the ladies,
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  Speaker 1: the blaze of diamonds, the waving ostrich plumes and lapets,
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  Speaker 1: and gold net, and costly truel constitute rather the characteristics
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  Speaker 1: of an Oriental fiction than the reality of the present day.
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  Speaker 1: The most magnificent drawing rooms, in my opinion, observed the Duchess,
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  Speaker 1: are those which are called collar days. The appearance of
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  Speaker 1: the Knights of the Garter, Saint Patrick, the Thistle, the
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  Speaker 1: Cross and Bath, and all English orders in their respective
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  Speaker 1: collars and jewels in the presence of the Sovereign is
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  Speaker 1: splendid in the extreme, and how crowded upon drawing room
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  Speaker 1: days of the passages and quarters of Saint James's Palace
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  Speaker 1: continued the Countess. On the last occasion, many of the
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  Speaker 1: peers and peeresses of the highest rank were compelled to
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  Speaker 1: wait for nearly three hours before their carriages could reach
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  Speaker 1: the palace gates. The most beautiful view of splendid equipage
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  Speaker 1: is found in a glance upon the ambassador's court at
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  Speaker 1: Saint James's, the carriages of the foreign ministers being decidedly
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  Speaker 1: the finest and most tasteful that are seen in the
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  Speaker 1: vicinity of the Palace on those occasions. Of a truth,
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  Speaker 1: this must be the most splendid court in the world,
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  Speaker 1: said the Countess, since France became half Republican, and since
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  Speaker 1: Spain was compelled to copy France. Yes, our court is
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  Speaker 1: the most splendid in the world, echoed the Duchess in
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  Speaker 1: a tone of triumph. As if her Grace were well
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  Speaker 1: aware of that court, she herself formed a brilliant ornament.
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  Speaker 1: And more splendid still will it be when the Queen
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  Speaker 1: shall have conferred her hand upon the interesting young Prince
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  Speaker 1: who arrived yesterday. Have you heard when the Royal intentions
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  Speaker 1: to conduct an union with his serene Highness, Prince Albert
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  Speaker 1: will be communicated to the country not until the close
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  Speaker 1: of the year, and the marriage will therefore take place
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  Speaker 1: at the commencement of eighteen forty. The Prince will pay
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  Speaker 1: but a short visit of upon this occasion, and then
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  Speaker 1: return to Germany until within a short period of the
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  Speaker 1: happy day, God send that union may be a happy one.
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  Speaker 1: Ejaculated the Countess. But oh, my dear, do not relapse
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  Speaker 1: again into those gloomy forebodies which rendered me melancholy all
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  Speaker 1: yesterday evening, interrupted the Duchess. Alas your Grace is well
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  Speaker 1: aware of my devoted attachment to our royal Mistress, And
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  Speaker 1: if there be times when I tremble for the consequences
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  Speaker 1: of breathe it not give not utterance to the bare idea,
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  Speaker 1: cried the Duchess, in a tone of the most unfeigned horror.
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  Speaker 1: Providence will never permit an entire empire to experience so
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  Speaker 1: great a misfortune as this. Maladies of that kind are hereditary,
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  Speaker 1: said the Countess, solemnly. Maladies of that species descend through generations, unsparing, pitiless,
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  Speaker 1: regardless of rank, power or position. Oh, it is horrible
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  Speaker 1: to contemplate, horrible, most horrible, echoed the Duchess. The mind
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  Speaker 1: that thus labors under constant terror of the approach of
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  Speaker 1: that fearful malady requires insistent excitement, prepared nuctual change of scene.
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  Speaker 1: And this restlessness which we have observed on the part
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  Speaker 1: of our beloved Sovereign, and those intervals of deep gloom
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  Speaker 1: and depression of spirits when the craving after variety and
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  Speaker 1: bustle is not indulged, are all? Oh? I compriend you
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  Speaker 1: too well? And marriage in such a case perpetuates the disease. Yes, yes,
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  Speaker 1: we must surround our sovereign with all our love, all
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  Speaker 1: our affection, all our devotion. For bitter, bitter are the
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  Speaker 1: moments of solitary meditation experience at intervals by our adored mistress.
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  Speaker 1: Such is our duty, such our desire, said the Countess.
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  Speaker 1: The entire family of George the Third has inherited the
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  Speaker 1: seeds of disease, physical and mental scrofulla and insanity, said
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  Speaker 1: the Duchess, with a cold shudder, which were inherent in
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  Speaker 1: that monarch. Added the Countess, did your grace ever hear
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  Speaker 1: the real cause and spring of that development of mental
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  Speaker 1: alienation in George the Third? I know not precisely to
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  Speaker 1: what incident your ladyship alludes to, the duchess, That unhappy
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  Speaker 1: sovereign resumed the Countess when Prince of Way Wales fell
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  Speaker 1: in love with a beautiful young quakeress whose name was
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  Speaker 1: Hannah Lightfoot, and whom he first beheld to the wind
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  Speaker 1: of a house in Saint James's Street. For some time
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  Speaker 1: his Royal Highness and the young lady met in secret
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  Speaker 1: and enjoyed each other's society. At length. The passion of
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  Speaker 1: the Prince arrived at that point when he discovered that
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  Speaker 1: his happiness entirely depended upon his union with Hannah Lightfoot.
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  Speaker 1: His Royal Highness confided his secret to his next brother, Edward,
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  Speaker 1: to Doctor Wilmot, and to my mother. Those personages were
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  Speaker 1: the only witnesses of the legal marriage of the Prince
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  Speaker 1: of Wales with Hannah Lightfoot, which was pslemnized by Doctor
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  Speaker 1: Wilmot in Guston Street, Chapel, may Fair, on the year
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  Speaker 1: seventeen fifty nine. I have heard that such a connection
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  Speaker 1: existed to the Duchess, but I never thought until now
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  Speaker 1: that it was of so serious and solemn a nature.
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  Speaker 1: Your grace may rely upon the truth of which I
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  Speaker 1: now tell you. Not long after the Prince came to
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  Speaker 1: the throne, the ministers discovered his connection with the quakereers.
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  Speaker 1: The Royal Marriage Act was ultimately framed to prevent such
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  Speaker 1: a current with regard to future princes, But he did
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  Speaker 1: not annul the union between George the Third and Hannah Lightfoot.
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  Speaker 1: Was there any issue from this marriage inquired the Duchess.
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  Speaker 1: There was issue, answered the Countess, solemnly, a deep gloom
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  Speaker 1: suddenly passing over her countenance. At my mother's death, I
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  Speaker 1: discovered certain papers which revealed to me many, many strange
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  Speaker 1: events connected with the court of George the third, and
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  Speaker 1: in which she was a confident. But the history of
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  Speaker 1: Hannah Lightfoot is a sad one, a very melancholy one.
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  Speaker 1: And positively can I assert that it led to the
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  Speaker 1: subsequent mental aberration of the king? And there was issue
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  Speaker 1: resulting from that union, your ladyship, says exclaimed the Duchess,
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  Speaker 1: deeply interested in these disclosures, Yes there was, there, was,
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  Speaker 1: returned the Countess. But do not question me any more
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  Speaker 1: at present. On a future occasion, I will place in
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  Speaker 1: the hands of your grace the papers which my deceased
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  Speaker 1: mother left behind her, and which I have carefully treasured
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  Speaker 1: up in secret, unknown even to my husband. And are
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  Speaker 1: the revelations so very interesting? Demanded the Duchess. The events
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  Speaker 1: which have taken place in the family of George the
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  Speaker 1: third would make your hair stand on end, replied the Countess,
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  Speaker 1: sinking her voice almost to a whisper. But pray question
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  Speaker 1: me no more at present? Another time. Another time she
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  Speaker 1: added hastily, you shall know all that I know. There
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  Speaker 1: was something so exceedingly mysterious and exciting in the tone
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  Speaker 1: and manner of the Countess that the Duchess evidently burned
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  Speaker 1: with curiosity to make further inquiries. But her fair companion
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  Speaker 1: avoided the subject with terror and disgust, and the conversation
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  Speaker 1: accordingly reverted to the engagement existing between Prince Albert and
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  Speaker 1: Queen Victoria. Nothing more was, however, said, which we deem
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  Speaker 1: it necessary to record. But when the two ladies had
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  Speaker 1: retired from the apartment, Holford had plenty of food for
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  Speaker 1: mental digestion. He had discovered the fatal drawback to the
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  Speaker 1: perfect happiness of his sovereign, and he now perceived that
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  Speaker 1: those who dwell in palaces and wear diadems upon their
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  Speaker 1: brows are not beyond the reach of the sharpest arrows
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  Speaker 1: of misfortune. During the remainder of that evening, Holford was
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  Speaker 1: the uninterrupted possessor of the yellow drawing room. There was
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  Speaker 1: a grand ball in another suite of apartments, but it
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  Speaker 1: was not until between three and four o'clock in the
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  Speaker 1: morning that the pot boy considered it safe to quit
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  Speaker 1: his hiding place. He was now undecided whether to beat
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  Speaker 1: a retreat from the royal dwelling or to favor it
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  Speaker 1: with his presence a little longer. The last conversation which
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  Speaker 1: he had overheard between the Duchess and the Countess had
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  Speaker 1: excited him in the most lively interest, and he was
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  Speaker 1: anxious to hear more of those strange revelations connected with
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  Speaker 1: the family of George the Third, a continuation of which
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  Speaker 1: the Countess had appeared to promise her noble friend. He
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  Speaker 1: was moreover emboldened by the success which had hitherto attended
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  Speaker 1: his adventures in the palace, and he consequently resolved upon
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  Speaker 1: prolonging his stay in a place where the morbid taste
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  Speaker 1: for the romantic encountered such welcome food. Upon leaving the
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  Speaker 1: Yellow Drawing Room at about half past three in the morning,
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  Speaker 1: as before stated, Holford proceeded to the pantry to lay
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  Speaker 1: in a supply of pro vender. As usual, He was
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  Speaker 1: so pressed with hunger upon this oeade that he commenced
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  Speaker 1: an immediate attack upon provisions, and was thus pleasantly engaged, when,
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  Speaker 1: to his hoar and dismay, he beheld a shadow of
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  Speaker 1: a human form suddenly pass along the wall, for it
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  Speaker 1: was standing with his back to the lamp that was
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  Speaker 1: burning in the passage. He turned around, and his eyes
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  Speaker 1: encountered the cadaverous and sinister countenance of the resurrection Man.
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  Speaker 1: Well this is fortunate, said the latter. What you here?
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  Speaker 1: Ejaculated Holfort, trembling from head to foot. Yes, certainly, why not,
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  Speaker 1: said the resurrection Man. It struck me that, as you
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  Speaker 1: never came near me and the Cracksman, you must be
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  Speaker 1: still in the royal crib. And I considered that to
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  Speaker 1: be a sign that all was right. So I mustered
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  Speaker 1: up my courage and came to look after you. The
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  Speaker 1: cracksman is waiting on the hill. Then let us leave
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  Speaker 1: this place, immediately, cried Holfort. We can do nothing at present.
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  Speaker 1: I was going to take my departure within an hour.
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  Speaker 1: Come let us go, and I will tell you everything
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  Speaker 1: when we are in a place of security. What is
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  Speaker 1: the meaning of this, demanded the resurrection Man. You can't
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  Speaker 1: have been here all this while without having found out
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  Speaker 1: where the plate is kept. Listen for one moment, said Holfort,
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  Speaker 1: a sudden idea striking him. The Queen meaves for Windsor
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  Speaker 1: the day after tomorrow, and then will be the time
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  Speaker 1: to do what you require, and I can give you
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  Speaker 1: all the information you will want. At present, nothing can
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  Speaker 1: be done, nothing, And if we stay here much longer,
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  Speaker 1: we will be discovered, well said the resurrection Man, provided
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  Speaker 1: that some good will result from your visit their will,
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  Speaker 1: their will, then I must follow your advice, for of
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  Speaker 1: course you are better able to judge of what can
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  Speaker 1: be done and what can in this crib than me.
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  Speaker 1: The resurrection Man glanced around him, but fortunately there was
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  Speaker 1: no plate left upon the shelves on this occasion. Holford
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  Speaker 1: felt inwardly pleased at the circumstance, for the idea of
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  Speaker 1: abstracting anything beyond a morsel of food from the palace
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  Speaker 1: was abhorrent to his mind. The resurrection Man intimidated that
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  Speaker 1: he was ready to depart, and the pop boy was
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  Speaker 1: only too glad to be the means of hurrying him away.
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  Speaker 1: They left the palace and entered the gardens, which they
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  Speaker 1: treaded in safety. A profound silence reigned round. The morning
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  Speaker 1: air was chill and piercing. The fresh atmosphere was nevertheless
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  Speaker 1: most welcome in cheering to the young pop boy who
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  Speaker 1: had passed so many hours in close and heated rooms.
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  Speaker 1: They reached the wall on Constitution, Hill and Safety, and
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  Speaker 1: in a few moments were beyond the enclosure of the
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  Speaker 1: Royal domains. End of Chapter sixty. Recording by Judy Guynen