Having remained abroad
about three years, she returned to England in 1784. The prince on her
return declared the continuance and repeated the sincerity of his
attachment, with, it would appear, more success. Their intimacy for some
time was known only to the initiated in high life; they moved and met
in the same society, apparently on terms rather of formal than familiar
acquaintance. The secret was divulged shortly before the prince's
quarrel with the king, and base advantage was taken of it to wound the
private feelings of the prince where manly feelings are the most
vulnerable. She was of a Catholic family, herself a Catholic; and this
was easily turned against the Prince of Wales, at a period of religious
bigotry, and political alarm, especially in the mind of George
III.--_Ibid._
* * * * *
A GREAT SLEEPER.
The Stadtholder, who had recently fled from Holland, was also the
prince's guest, and afforded amusement by the whimsical incongruity
with which he chose his occasions for going to sleep. The princess
commanded a play for his entertainment: in spite of her vivacity
and utmost efforts, he slept and snored in the box beside her, and was
roused with some difficulty when the curtain fell.
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