THE QUEEN AND THE BISHOP.

43

holy man was inspired with these sentiments, the snug See of St. Asaph had just become vacant; which would be in the prince's power to bestow when he came into full authority. Nothing daunted by this action so objectionable to Her Majesty, the bishop made his episcopal appearance at an early drawing-room after the recovery, to offer her his congratulations. He had indeed, in the meantime, in conjunction with his clergy, presented addresses to their Majesties expressive of his gratitude to God for the restoration to health which had been so mercifully vouchsafed to his gracious sovereign, and of his admiration for Her Majesty's 'amiableness and purity as a queen, as a wife, and as a mother.'

So much eloquence had not, however, the effect of soothing the royal lady's wrath, and she received the holy man, as he tells us, 'with a degree of coldness which would have appeared to herself ridiculous and ill-placed, could she have imagined how little a mind such as mine regarded, in its honourable proceedings, the displeasure of a woman, though that woman happened to be a queen.'

The Prince of Wales was standing by on this occasion, and knowing Her Majesty's reasons for slighting the bishop, he went forward, spoke to him in a manner more than usually friendly, and invited him to dinner. But his Grace, though flattered by such extreme courtesy, hesitated before consenting to step within the threshold of such a disreputable mansion as Carlton House; when His Royal Highness turned to Sir Thomas Dundas and desired him to give a dinner at his residence, which the good bishop duly attended, and where he had the pleasure of meeting His Royal Highness of York, and several of his boon companions, and of being spoken of by the prince as a man whose talents should never be lost to the public. And mind

who it is that tells you so,' said His Highness, in the excess of his after-dinner friendship and condescension.

But this was by no means the only slight which Her Majesty administered to those who had supported the opposition; none such were invited to her parties at Buckingham House, a discourtesy which on one occasion at least was extended to her sons, to whom she wrote that

THE QUEEN AND HER SONS.

45

they would be welcome to her concert, but that the entertainment to follow was intended for those who had supported the king on a late occasion. The princes in return abused their gracious mother in round terms, and, according to Lady Harcourt's diary, slandered the princesses in a manner too gross to be repeated in these pages. The ill-feeling between the royal mother and her sons was strengthened on the occasion of the duel fought between the Duke of York and Colonel Lennox of the Coldstream Guards, nephew and successor of Charles, Duke of Richmond.

The royal duke had, at a public masquerade, said that 'language had been used at D'Aubigny's Club towards Colonel Lennox to which no gentleman ought to submit.' This imputation of cowardice was made to a masque,' upon the supposition that it covered the person of Colonel Lennox. Next day, May 15, being a field-day of the Coldstream Guards, Colonel Lennox stepped up to the duke, and asked him for an explanation of his words. In answer, His Royal Highness, who was his superior officer, briefly ordered him to return

to his post. After parade, he summoned Colonel Lennox, and, in the orderly-room, before the officers, asked him to state his complaint; upon this the colonel demanded an explanation, which the duke refused. Colonel Lennox then wrote to every member of the club, desiring each of them to let him know if he could recollect any expression to have been used in his presence which could bear the construction put upon it by the duke. No member remembering to have heard such, Colonel Lennox once more demanded either an explanation or satisfaction. His Royal Highness being unable to give the former, was-unless he wished to brand himself as a coward-compelled to give the latter.

A duel was therefore arranged to take place on Wimbledon Common. Lord Rawdon, the Prince of Wales's friend, acted as the duke's second, and the Earl of Winchelsea, one of the lords of the king's bed-chamber, attended Colonel Lennox. The duke did not discharge his pistol, but a ball from his adversary's grazed a curl at the side of his royal head. After this narrow escape, Lord Winchelsea strove to

THE DUKE OF YORK'S DUEL.

47

induce the duke to give Colonel Lennox an explanation of his words; but this he doggedly refused, and even declined to repeat the usual phrase, that he believed his antagonist to be a man of honour and courage. He had not fired, he said, nor was it his intention to fire; but the colonel might repeat his fire, if he chose. This was, of course, out of the question. They therefore left the common, and this duel, which ended in this unsatisfactory manner, had the effect of lowering the royal duke in the eyes of his friends and the people generally.

When the duel was over, the gallant duke returned to Carlton House, where he found the prince walking about the yard in great agitation, impatiently waiting news of the result. 'It is all over,' the duke said, coming up to him coolly, and all is quite well; but I have not time to tell you the particulars; for I must go to the tennis-court.' The prince expressed his desire that the tennis-court might go to regions uncomfortably warm, and wished to hear the full details. When he received these, he set off for Kew, where the king was, and