[[A.D. 1795.]] There was a delay of several days at Osnaburg, and Lord Malmesbury relates an anecdote as an illustration of the princess's lack of judgment. There were a great many poor French emigrants at this place, some of them actually dying of hunger and exposure. When Caroline saw them she was filled with compassion, but did not know how to set about assisting them. "I tell her liberality and generosity are an enjoyment, not a severe virtue," says the lord mentor in his notes. "She gives a louis for some lottery tickets; I give ten, and say the princess ordered me to do it. She looked surprised, and I told her that I was sure she did not mean to give only the value of the ticket, and that I merely forestalled her intention. Next day an emigrant with a pretty child draws near the table; the Princess Caroline immediately, of her own accord, puts ten louis in a paper and gives it to the child. The duchess, who goes with us as far as the sea, observes it, and inquires of me what it was. I tell her a demand on her purse; she looks embarrassed, and says, in French, 'I have only my pretty double Brunswick louis, which would look prettier in the hands of that child than in your {215}pocket,' I answered. She felt ashamed, and gave three of them. In the evening, Princess Caroline, to whom this sort of virtue was never preached, on my praising the coin of the Brunswick money, offers me very seriously eight or ten double louis, saying (in French, which we translate): 'Oh, I beg of you to take them; they are a mere trifle--of no consequence whatever.' This shows how little she could distinguish between benevolence and the mere act of throwing away money like a child. I took an opportunity at supper of defining to her what real charity was, and I recommended it to her as a quality that would, if rightly employed, make her more admirers and give her more satisfaction, than any that human nature could possess. The idea was perfectly new to her, but she felt the truth of it; and she certainly is not fond of money, as both her parents are." On the 18th of January the escort wrote: "Princess Caroline was very miss-ish at supper. I much fear these habits are irrevocably rooted in her. She is naturally curious and a gossip; she is quick and observing, and she has a silly pride of finding out everything.. She thinks herself particularly acute in discovering likings, and this leads her at times to the most improper remarks and conversation. I am determined to take an opportunity of correcting her, cost what it may."