Although, however, the Clitherows were frequent guests at Windsor and St. James's, they were not courtiers in the common acceptation of that term. They sought neither place nor preferment, and received no signal mark of Royal favour. Miss Clitherow never even attended a Drawing Room, and the Colonel and his wife only appear to have done so on one occasion, when the Queen remarked: 'I knew Miss Clitherow would not come; it is too public. She had almost left off going out till we made her come to St. James's.' Miss Clitherow was naturally of a quiet and retiring disposition, while her own account of her introduction to the Court, and of the independent spirit which pervaded the family, is interesting not only in itself but as illustrating the kindly sincerity of the King and Queen. Writing to an old friend in November, 1830, she says: 'I can hardly believe that I feel as much at home in the Royal presence as in any other first society, but it is the fact. It is seven years that my brother and Mr. [sic] Clitherow have been noticed, but I am only just _come out_ now. For many years my health did not allow of my dining out, and I got so out of the habit that I avoided it, and quite escaped being asked to Bushey till the Duke became King. Before George IV. was buried they were invited; no party but the Royal brothers and sisters and the Fitz-Clarences. They did me the honour to talk of me, the King calling me my brother's Princess Augusta, in allusion to my being the old maid of the family, and then added: "I can't see why she does not some out; you must dine here Tuesday, and bring her." So the deed was done. Refuse I could not. I dined at Bushey, then twice at St. James's, then on the Queen's birthday at Bushey, and then went to Windsor Castle on Friday and stayed till after church on Sunday, and now to dinner at St. James's last Monday. So that actually [in less than five months] the little old maid of Boston House has dined seven times with King William IV., and honestly I have liked it. There is a kindness and ease in their manner towards us that must be gratifying . . . and when we come home what a feeling of comfort we have in not being obliged to live in that circle, with all the insincerity so often belonging to courtiers! I am very sure my dear Jane's honest manner and the sound judgment which she ventures to express to Her Majesty makes her such a favourite. Much as we are noticed, we do not court them, and never have asked the slightest favour. When they first went to Windsor our friends said: "You must drive over and put your names down." "No," Mrs. Clitherow said, "we were asked to the Queen's birthday; I will not go before the King's, it will look like pushing to be asked." And we received our invitation to Windsor before we had called. When we came away, the King expressed a hope to see us at Brighton, as he knew we frequently went into Sussex. Our friends all were for sending us thither, but it did not suit us.