ny rate a party from the
Castle, for the man on board the little frigate hoisted all the
colours, and the boatmen on the other side got ready the royal
barge to take us across. We went all over the place on both
sides, and were delighted with the luxury and beauty of the whole
thing. On one side are a number of tents, communicating together
in separate apartments and forming a very good house, a
dining-room, drawing-room, and several other small rooms, very
well furnished; across the water is the fishing-cottage,
beautifully ornamented, with one large room and a dressing-room
on each side; the kitchen and offices are in a garden full of
flowers, shut out from everything. Opposite the windows is moored
a large boat, in which the band used to play during dinner, and
in summer the late King dined every day either in the house or in
the tents. We had scarcely seen everything when Mr. Turner, the
head keeper, arrived in great haste, having spied us from the
opposite side, and very angry at our carriages having come there,
which is a thing forbidden; he did not know of our leave, nor
could we even satisfy him that we were not to blame.

[Page Head: GEORGE IV.'S ILLNESS AND DEATH.]

The next day I called on Batchelor (he was _valet de chambre_ to
the Duke of York, afterwards to George IV.), who has an excellent
apartment in the Lodge, which, he said, was once occupied by Nell
Gwynne, though I did not know the lodge was built at that time. I
was there a couple of hours, and heard all the details of the
late King's illness and other things. For many months before his
death those who were about him were aware of his danger, but
nobody dared to say a word. The King liked to cheat people with
making them think he was well, and when he had been at a Council
he would return to his apartments and tell his _valets de
chambre_ how he had deceived them. During his illness he was
generally cheerful, but occasionally dejected, and constantly
talked of his brother the Duke of York, and of the similarity of
their symptoms, and was always comparing them. He had been
latterly more civil to Knighton than he used to be, and
Knighton's attentions to him were incessant; whenever he thought
himself worse than usual, and in immediate danger, he always sent
for Sir William. Lady Conyngham and her family went into his room
once a day; till his illness he always used to go and sit in
hers. It is true that last year, when she was so ill, she was
ve