{147}His task was an easy and pleasant one, and his testimony regarding the bride runs thus: "Our queen that is to be has seen very little of the world; but her good sense, vivacity, and cheerfulness, I dare say, will recommend her to the king, and make her the darling of the British nation. She is no regular beauty; but she is of a very pretty size, has a charming complexion, very pretty eyes, and is, in short, a very fine girl." The two duchesses who were sent to conduct the bride to England were such splendid-looking women that they excited the greatest amount of admiration in Germany, and Charlotte began to have some misgivings as to her own personal appearance when compared with them. "Are all the women in England as beautiful as you are?" she asked when first she saw them. The treaty of marriage was concluded on the 15th of August, the Earl of Hardwicke acting as the king's ambassador; and then there were two days of state-banquets, balls, fireworks, and illuminations in the city of Strelitz, and everybody seemed wild with joy. On the seventeenth, the princess took leave of her family and began her journey towards the sea-coast, being received with demonstrations of delight from the populace wherever she stopped. When she embarked at Cuxhaven all the ships fired a salute of twenty-one guns each, and the young bride was so overcome that she exclaimed, "Is it possible that I can be worthy of these honors?" The weather was so unfavorable that the squadron did not proceed to sea until the twenty-eighth. At length, on Sunday, September 6, the royal yacht entered Harwich Roads; but, as it was not possible to guess at the length of the voyage, no preparations had been made for the reception of the princess, and she could not land until the next day. Even then the king was not present, and she was received by no higher dignitary than the mayor. In the {148}afternoon she proceeded to Colchester, where she was entertained at the house of a private gentleman. On the eighth the princess arrived at Romford, where she alighted at the house of Mr. Dalton, a wine-merchant, and waited an hour for the royal carriages and servants, sent from London to meet her. She then took her seat in one of the carriages with the two Duchesses of Ancaster and Hamilton. "She wore a fly-cap," say the chroniclers, "with rich lace lappets, a stomacher ornamented with diamonds, and a gold brocade suit, with a white ground." Three carriages containing ladies from Mecklenburgh and lords from St. James's preceded that of the princess, and they all passed in procession through lines of people, militia, and horse and foot-guards to London. The young bride had been very gay and self-possessed throughout the journey, but as soon as she came in sight of St. James's Palace her courage failed; she trembled and turned pale. The Duchess of Hamilton smiled; whereupon the princess said: "My dear duchess, you may laugh,--you have been married twice,--but it's no joke to me."