Ceremonies, with the Gentleman Usher, retired to the places assigned them. The Lord Chamberlain, and the Vice Chamberlain, with a Herald, returned to attend the Bridegroom; the senior Herald remaining in the Chapel, to conduct the several persons to their respective places. The BRIDEGROOM'S Procession, In the same order as that of the Bride, with the addition of his Royal Highness's Household. His Royal Highness the PRINCE OF WALES, In his collar of the Order of the Garter, supported by two unmarried Dukes: (viz.) The Duke of Bedford, The Dake of Roxburgh; And his Royal Highness, being conducted to his seat in the Garter principal King at Arms, with his sceptre, between two Gentlemen Ushers. The Earl Marshal, with his staff. His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester, Sword of State, borne by the Duke of Portland, between the Between the Queen's Lord Chamberlain, the Queen's Master of the Horse. Their Royal Highnesses, the Princess Royal, Princess Elizabeth, Princess Mary, Princess Amelia. Her Royal Highness, the Duchess of York, Supported severally by their Gentlemen Ushers, Women of her Majesty's Bed Chamber. Upon entering the Chapel, the several persons in the procession were conducted to the places appointed for them. Their Majesties went to their chairs on the hautpas, the Bridegroom and Bride to their seats, and the rest of the royal family to those prepared for them, as has already been stated. At the conclusion of the marriage service, their Majesties retired to their chairs of state under the canopy, while the anthem was performing. The procession afterwards returned in the following order: Drums and Trumpets, as before. Master of the Ceremonies. The Princess's Gentleman Usher between two Heralds. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, leading the Bride, and supported by two married Dukes: (viz.) Duke of Beaufort, Duke of Leeds. The Ladies of her Royal Highness's Household. The King was attended by the great officers, in the same manner in which his Majesty went to the Chapel; and her Majesty and the Princesses in the order before mentioned. The procession at the return filed off to the privy chamber. Their Majesties, the Bridegroom and Bride, with the rest of the royal family, and the great officers of state, proceeded into the levee chamber, where the registry of the marriage was attested with the usual formalities; after which the procession continued into the lesser drawingroom; and their Majesties, with the Bridegroom and Bride, and the rest of the royal family, passed into the great council chamber; when the great officers, nobility, foreign ministers, and other persons of distinction, paid their compliments on the occasion. The journals of the day describe the royal family, and particularly the Queen, as greatly. pleased with this union: her Majesty is reported to have represented her Serene Highness as "a distinguished ornament of her sex, for grace, beauty, and mental endowments; one, in short, combining every requisite to render her worthy of being the bride of the heir apparent to the crown of Great Britain." Subsequent chroniclers, however, have taken upon themselves, on what authority, except that of their own prurient imaginations, it is impossible to discover, to assert that this approbation of the late Queen, to the marriage of the Prince of Wales with the Princess of Brunswick, was dictated by no other motives than those of state policy; that the heavy debts of her favourite son might be more willingly and promptly discharged by the nation; and that, in fact, being herself not blessed with any extraordinary share of personal beauty, her Majesty's encomiums on that of the Princess Caroline were by no means sincere. Some persons appear to consider the sanctuary of a monarch's breast, as open to every invader; hence the great familiarity with which they speak when describing the motives of the King's or Queen's actions; and the confidence they manifest in the relation of anecdotes, the facts of which it is almost impossible should ever have transpired beyond the secret chambers of royalty itself. However such idle and fallacious gossipping may gratify the taste, or feed the curiosity, of the ignorant and the credulous, the historian, who has the least regard for his own reputation, or respect for the understandings of his readers, will not dare to indulge in it; or to rest the truth of his statements on the apocryphal authority of some discharged servant, or the senseless rumours of a moment. We can only conjecture concerning motives from actions, and here, it must be confessed, her late Majesty, does not appear to very great advantage in the unhappy dispute between her son and daughter-in-law; nor was the sudden application to Parliament for the discharge of his Royal Highness's debts, calculated to make a favourable impression on the public mind, as to the motives which prompted such ready assent to marriage after so many former applications of that nature had been rejected. The subject relative to the payment of the Prince's debts, and of the future establishment of his household, is too important to be passed over with only a slight notice. It shall be fully detailed farther on. For the present, let us proceed with our account of the royal marriage. The appearance of the Princess at court was said to have been majestic, but accompanied by at sweetness and affability of manners, which riveted the admiration of all that beheld her. Her eyes intelligent, her countenance highly animated, and her teeth white and regular; her hair, of which she had an amazing quantity behind, of a light auburn colour, and dressed in a simple but elegant style. Her other dress was equally elegant, so that no doubt was entertained but that her Royal High ness would soon become the standard of fashion. After the first drawing-room had closed, the |