waters."

But if Walpole resisted the temptation to witness a scene so piquant and
remarkable, hundreds of the highest in the land, including Queen
Charlotte herself, the Prince of Wales and many another Royal personage,
ambassadors and statesmen, flocked to Westminster to see the notorious
Duchess on her trial on the charge of bigamy. And the vast Hall was
packed with a curious and expectant crowd when her Grace made her
stately entry with a retinue of _femmes de chambre_, her doctor,
apothecary, and secretary, and proceeded to her seat, in front of her
six bewigged Counsel, with the dignified step and haughty mien of an
Empress.

Hannah More, who was present at the trial, says that hardly a trace of
her once enchanting beauty was visible; and that, had it not been for
her white face, "she might easily have been taken for a bundle of
bombasin."

The trial lasted several days, during the whole of which the Duchess
conducted herself with remarkable dignity and composure, in face of the
damning array of evidence that was brought against her--the evidence of
a maid who had witnessed her midnight marriage in Lainston Church; of
the widow of the parson who officiated at the nuptials; and of Serjeant
Hawkins, who authenticated the birth of her first child by Augustus
Hervey.

"The scene opened on Wednesday with all its pomp," wrote
Walpole, who although not present seems to have followed
the trial with the keenest interest, "and the
doubly-noble prisoner went through her part with
universal admiration. Instead of her usual ostentatious
folly and clumsy pretensions to cunning, all her conduct
was decent, and even seemed natural. Her dress was
entirely black and plain; her attendants not too
numerous; her dismay at first perfectly unaffected. A few
tears balanced cheerfulness enough, and her presence of
mind and attention never deserted her. This rational
behaviour and the pleadings of her Counsel, who contended
for the finality of her Ecclesiastical Court's sentence
against a second trial, carried her triumphantly through
the first day, and turned the stream much in her favour."

The following day proved a much more severe test to her Grace's
composure; and no sooner had the Court risen than "she had to be
blooded, and fell into a great passion of tears." And each succeeding
day added to the tension and anxieties which she struggled so bravely t