OF DR. DORAN VOLUME III. LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND OF THE HOUSE OF HANOVER VOL. I. REDFIELD 34 BEEKMAN STREET, NEW YORK 1857 INTRODUCTION. In the reign of George II. there lived a Wiltshire gentleman, named Paul Methuen, who had a passion for reading the weary, dreary novels of his time. Queen Caroline loved to rally him on this weakness, and one day asked him what he had last been reading. "May it please your Majesty," said Paul, “I have been reading a poor book on a poor subject,—the kings and queens of England. As far as the quality of the book is concerned, I shall, perhaps, be found to have furnished one which might be catalogued in Paul Methuen's words to Caroline. If any portions of its contents escape such characterizing, it will probably be those which I have cited in the words of writers who were sometimes the witnesses of, at others the actors in, the scenes they describe. Whatever there is of merit, it is only there to be found, and I have no part therein. I am not like those dull old Roman gentlemen, who nightly attended sociable parties, whither, being witless themselves, they took their wittiest slaves to amuse the company, and set down all the laughter and applause as compliments paid to their own wit. Wherever I could find an eye-witness, I have allowed him to speak, and occasionally at some length, for I question if one could narrate what Ulysses saw, better,that is, more truly,-than Ulysses himself. It is hardly necessary for me to add that I have not, without some feeling of alarm at my own boldness, taken up a theme which has been so gracefully treated by Miss Strickland, and, in the " Queens before the Conquest," so spiritedly, by Mrs. Matthew Hall. When I think of the classical groups in the volumes of the latter, and the pictorial procession, if I may so speak, in those of the former lady, and compare with them my own scenes, anecdotes, and incidents, I am reminded of what Saladin said to the gossiping knight and the well-read monk whom he had taken prisoners :-" I asked you both to tell, by turns, the history of your own native land. You, sir Priest, describe it wisely and well; while you, sir Knight, tell me only tales and stories, and leave a world of matter still untold." Doubtless, there remains much to be told of the royal ladies whose names are inscribed on the pages of these volumes; and should the long-desired but not-yet-discovered diary of Sophia Dorothea, the journal of Queen Charlotte, and the day-book of the second Caroline, fall into the hands of so accomplished a reader of |