h which the young Princes shirt was
saturate when Mrs. Fitzherbert was first induced to visit him at Carlton
House, was merely red paint, or if, in a frenzy of love, he had truly
gashed himself with a razor. Certain it is that his passion for the
virtuous and obdurate lady was a very real one. Lord Holland describes
how the Prince used to visit Mrs. Fox, and there indulge in 'the most
extravagant expressions and actions--rolling on the floor, striking his
forehead, tearing his hair, falling into hysterics, and swearing that he
would abandon the country, forego the crown, &c.' He was indeed still
a child, for Royalties, not being ever brought into contact with the
realities of life, remain young far longer than other people. Cursed
with a truly royal lack of self-control, he was unable to bear the
idea of being thwarted in any wish. Every day he sent off couriers to
Holland, whither Mrs. Fitzherbert had retreated, imploring her to return
to him, offering her formal marriage. At length, as we know, she yielded
to his importunity and returned. It is difficult indeed to realise
exactly what was Mrs. Fitzherbert's feeling in the matter. The marriage
must be, as she knew, illegal, and would lead, as Charles James Fox
pointed out in his powerful letter to the Prince, to endless and
intricate difficulties. For the present she could only live with him as
his mistress. If, when he reached the legal age of twenty-five, he were
to apply to Parliament for permission to marry her, how could permission
be given, when she had been living with him irregularly? Doubtless, she
was flattered by the attentions of the Heir to the Throne, but, had she
really returned his passion, she would surely have preferred 'any other
species of connection with His Royal Highness to one leading to so much
misery and mischief.' Really to understand her marriage, one must look
at the portraits of her that are extant. That beautiful and silly face
explains much. One can well fancy such a lady being pleased to live
after the performance of a mock-ceremony with a prince for whom she felt
no passion. Her view of the matter can only have been social, for,
in the eyes of the Church, she could only live with the Prince as his
mistress. Society, however, once satisfied that a ceremony of some kind
had been enacted, never regarded her as anything but his wife. The day
after Fox, inspired by the Prince, had formally denied that any ceremony
had taken place, 'the knocke