e Duke always gets up very early, whatever
time he may go to bed. On Sunday morning he goes to church,
returns to a breakfast of tea and cold meat, and afterwards rides
or walks till the evening. On Monday morning he always sets off
to London at nine o'clock. He sleeps equally well in a bed or in
a carriage. The Duchess seldom goes to bed, or, if she does, only
for an hour or two; she sleeps dressed upon a couch, sometimes in
one room, sometimes in another. She frequently walks out very
late at night, or rather early in the morning, and she always
sleeps with open windows. She dresses and breakfasts at three
o'clock, afterwards walks out with all her dogs, and seldom
appears before dinner-time. At night, when she cannot sleep, she
has women to read to her. The Duchess of York[9] is clever and
well-informed; she likes society and dislikes all form and
ceremony, but in the midst of the most familiar intercourse she
always preserves a certain dignity of manner. Those who are in
the habit of going to Oatlands are perfectly at their ease with
her, and talk with as much freedom as they would to any other
woman, but always with great respect. Her mind is not perhaps the
most delicate; she shows no dislike to coarseness of sentiment or
language, and I have seen her very much amused with jokes,
stories, and allusions which would shock a very nice person. But
her own conversation is never polluted with anything the least
indelicate or unbecoming. She is very sensible to little
attentions, and is annoyed if anybody appears to keep aloof from
her or to shun conversing with her. Her dogs are her greatest
interest and amusement, and she has at least forty of various
kinds. She is delighted when anybody gives her a dog, or a
monkey, or a parrot, of all of which she has a vast number; it is
impossible to offend her or annoy her more than by ill-using any
of her dogs, and if she were to see anybody beat or kick any one
of them she would never forgive it. She has always lived on good
terms with the Royal Family, but is intimate with none of them,
and goes as little as possible to Court. The Regent dislikes her,
and she him. With the Princess Charlotte she was latterly very
intimate, spent a great deal of time at Claremont, and felt her
death very severely. The Duchess has no taste for splendour or
magnificence, and likes to live the life of a private individual
as much as possible.

[8] [Five-pound points and twenty-five pounds