to chant the solemn service of “I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVETH:" the Canopy followed moving at a very slow space: under this was the Royal Coffin, carried by eight Yeomen of the Guard, and enveloped by the magnificent pall which was supported by four Baronesses, Prince LEOPOLD followed the Corpse as Chief Mourner; and his appearance created the utmost interest;-His countenance was dejected; and though he made evident efforts to preserve calmness and fortitude, yet he frequently burst into a flood of tears. His Serene Highness walked along with onsteady steps, and took the seat provided for him at the head of the Coffin. During the whole time of the Funeral Service he preserved one fixed but downcast look towards the Coffin of his beloved wife: and never once raised his eyes to the Congregation: so totally was he absorbed in his grief. The Royal Dukes who sat or stood beside him, watched with much solicitude, as if they were afraid he would sink under his affliction. His distress, however, was tolerably subdued till the moment when the Coffin was gradually lowered into the grave; at this awful crisis he was alarmingly moved, though by a strong effort he seemed also to conquer even this emotion; and the rest of the service passed on without requiring any particular notice. The usual Anthems were chanted with proper solemnity; and the Dean of WINDSOR read the awful ceremony with dignity and pathos. The Music was generally the same as is usually performed at Publie Funerals in St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, with the addition of Dr. Blake's favourite anthem, from the 16th Psalin-" I HAVE SET GOD ALWAYS BEFORE ME." That part of the service before the interment being read, the Body was again raised on the shoulders of the yeomen, and followed by the Procession in its original order: the whole proceeded up the side aisle to the mouth of the vault immediately behind the altar, where the Body being lowered into the vault, and the Mourners standing around, the Burial Service was completed. Sir ISAAC HEARD then proclaimed the titles of the deceased Princess in a voice much more broken by grief than age; and the Mourners returned back without the State accompaniments, the Organ playing the "DEAD MARCH IN SAUL. The melancholy solemnity was terminated about eleven o'clock, but the chapel and the avenues were not completely cleared until after twelve. At that hour the whole town of Windsor was full of bustle and confusion. The carriage-ways were all blocked up with vehicles of every description, and the footpaths were impassable for the multitude of spectators. Prince LEOPOLD returned to Claremont almost immediately after the mournful ceremonial. He had made in the morning a short call at the QUEEN'S Lodge, and walked for a short space in the Little Park with the Duke of CLARENCE. The QUEEN and PRINCESSES kept themselves closely confined to their chambers, as did the PRINCE REGENT at Carlton-House. And thus, thus has our Country lost its recent pride, and boast, and ornament. Thus, ere scarcely two and twenty Summers had rolled over her head, the Princess CHARLOTTE has descended to the tomb, wept, beloved, and honoured. The Royal Mother, and her unconscious little one have been committed to the silent grave, and all those fond antici pations which pointed to them as the future security of the realm, are deeply buried in their sepulchre. It is rare to see the bosom of a great country so deeply agitated, and the heart of a noble nation, moved, by a burst of emotion, at once so generous, so powerful, and so various But that manly heart, and those warm emotions, ought now to be relieved from too. intense a pressure. Sensi. bility was given by the wise Creator, not merely for the ornament, but for the use of man; and our best affections are often wounded, that we may be roused more forcibly to a sense of our duties to think, to resolve, and to reform. This national movement has assumed a character unexampled in the history of nations. Foreigners, indeed, may well stand amazed, when we are alarmed at the solemnity of our own impressions. Esteem, affection, pity, for the illustrious object, who vanished like a spirit, while the eye still gazed upon her form; disappointment of her own ardent hopes; solicitude for our future, though not immediate prospects;—the combined operation of all these feelings it is difficult, perhaps, to understand. The grief arising out of them is a graceful sentiment in the breast of any individual: when it pervades an entire nation, it becomes elevated and majestic. The English have now displayed an ardour of temperament, in its nature always noble; but if abused or perverted, not at all times safe. They have shewn such attachment to the virtues of the Royal House, as must shame and repudiate the charge of unprovoked or general disaffection. Let their Sovereigns cherish this ardent people; they are an impregnable defence of a constitutional and lawful throne,-let their enemies beware of such a people; for whatever course their passions take, their vigour will render them irresistible. They have wept over the memory of their Princess with that ardency with which they loved her, and though time will calm the agony of their regret, the purity of its affection will remain unmoved and undiminished. At no distant period a Memoir of her late Royal Highness graced our pages with the splendour attached to her illustrious name, but doubly interesting as every circumstance connected with her is now become,-sacred as every circumstance is now rendered by her death, a repetition of some few particulars of her contracted life will require no apology to introduce them. The Princess CHARLOTTE AUGUSTA, the only child of the Prince and Princess of WALES, was born in Carlton House, on the 7th of January, 1796. The long period during which the Prince of WALES had remained unmarried, and the disastrous prospects of a broken succession, turned the general eye with peculiar anxiety to the birth of a Royal Heir, and the earlier years of the young Princess were spent in probably the most advantageous manner for a constitution naturally infirm, and a mind, which, from all that has transpired of it, seems to have been vigorous, original, and fond of acquirement. At a more advanced period she was put under the iminediate superintendance of LADY DE CLIFFORD. The Bishop of Exeter was nominated to direct her studies, and a sub-preceptor was also chosen among the English Clergy. Those studies were urged with singular assiduity, and such as look upon Royal life as up mixed indulgence, may be surprised to know, that with the Heir-Apparent of England, the day's tuition generally began at six in the morning, and continued, with slight intermission, till quite evening. Her acquirements were certainly of an order much superior to those of females in general society. We have understood that she was acquainted with the principal writers of the classic languages; that she was solidly informed in the history and policy of the European governments, and peculiarly of the constitution and distinguishing features of her native history; and while she spoke French, German, Italian, and Spanish, with considerable fluency, the lighter accomplishments were not forgotten, and she sang and performed on the piano, the harp, and the guitar, with more than usual skill. Those were fine and singular acquisitions. And it may be a lesson from her grave, to the youth and rank who turn away from exertion through fear of its difficulty, or through the pride that looks upon their station as exempt from the necessity of knowledge, that this mass of intellectual enjoyment and preparation for the deeper duties of life, was acquired by a girl who died at twenty-two, and that girl heiress to the first throne in the world. The usual epochs of high life passed over the Princess without anyfpeculiar effect on her habits. Her birth day was for the first time kept in Court in 1815, on her commencing her twentieth year; and on May the 18th of the same year, she was introduced to the Queen's Drawing-room. The private life of the highest rank seldom transpires in its truth. But the anecdotes of her youth all give the same impression of a judgment fond of deciding for itself, of a temper hasty but generous, of a disregard of personal privation, and of a spirit peculiarly, and proudly English. She frequently spoke of Queen Elizabeth as the model for a British Queen; and it has been remarked that in her ample forehead, large blue eye, and steady, stately countenance, there was a strong similitude to the portraits of Elizabeth in the days of her youth and beauty. In 1814, the Prince LEOPOLD of SAXE-COBURG visited England. He had distinguished himself in the French war, and came over in the train of the Allied Sovereigns. His graceful manners attracted the young Princess, and he was permitted to become a suitor for the honour of her alliance. This marriage, an union of free-will rare among the great, was solemnized on the 2d of May, 1816. The favours of the Court were crowded upon the man whose merit had obtained the heart of the general hope of the Royal family, and the Garter, and a Regiment of horse, were given to the Prince. The popular bounty was not less generous, and an annuity of 50,0001. a year was, with an ominous provision, settled on him, in case of surviving his wife. The settlement for the marriage pair was munificent, 50,0001. a year, with 60,000l. as an outfit; 10,000l. a year for the independent use of the Princess, a splendid suit of jewels, and Claremont purchased by the nation as their résidence. This offered a happy prospect. The Prince was an amiable and bonourable man, and he loved his wife. The Princess increased day by day in fondness for him whom she had chosen from the world. The morning sun beheld her happy in herself-happy in her Cousort, happy in her home: and its declining beams still witnessed the enjoyment of domestic bliss in the Paradise of her retirement. Their time was spent in the duties of active, private life, and they were seldom asunder; they rode together, visited the neighbouring cottages and relieved the peasantry together, and seemed made and prepared for the truest and most unchanging happiness of wedded life. The melancholy details of the fatal illness which at once doubly deprived us of a sovereign, we have described with the minuteness that deep sorrow demands for its sad satisfaction, and within our memory no public misfortune has stricken so deep. Even the death of NELSON had its consolations. His was a great spirit released after he had gone his round of glory, and he parted upward in the thunder and whir!. wind of victory! His grandeur had ascended through all the steps of earthly renown. Like the ancient demigod, building his funeral pile upon the mountain, he had completed his labours, before he flung himself into that splendid extinction; and felt the touch of death only to spring upward in an immortality of fame. But this fair and gentle being lived only in promise. Her goodness and beauty, her spirit and public heart, rose upon us like the purple clouds of a summer's dawn, to be suddenly turned to chillness and gloom :-like infancy with its bloom and its softness, to be stricken before our eyes into frightful decay ;-like the forms of a delightful dream, leading us through prospects of loveliness and joy, suddenly sinking into the fresh and timeless grave. She was, indeed, an anchor of hope, to which the nation clung with all their mind, and heart, and soul, and strength. How agonising then, must be the pang that tears them asunder! How heart-sickening the sorrow which bewails a loss so apparently irreparable! But a few months are past since it was our delightful duty to announce her nuptials, and to add our wishes to the wishes of every loyal heart for her long enjoyment of that felicity which she so well deserved, and long had we hoped to record the continuance of that happiness which was conducive to a nation's welfare. In Heaven that bliss is perfected, and our task is finished. We have contemplated the last moments of her existence. We have scattered the last tributary handful of consecrated earth over her endeared remains, and we retire mourning the bereavement of one so justly dear to us,-of a Princess who will be regretted when the present generation sleep unconscious with their ancestors, and mourned and mourn ers rest together in undisturbed repose! In the preceding pages the heart has spoken, and to the hearts of our readers they will speak in all the bitterness of grief, and in all the agony of sorrow. They will inspire the affliction which we feel, and a silence more interesting than eloquence must complete those sentences we find ourselves inadequate to finish.-THE PRINCESS CHARLOTTE IS NO MORE! "THAT EYE IS DARK, THAT GENTLE BREAST November 20th, 1817. T. |