hovering over him with a smelling-bottle; but in two minutes his curiosity got the better of his hypocrisy, and he ran about the chapel with his glass, to spy who was or who was not there, spying with one hand and mopping his eyes with the other. Then returned the fear of catching cold; and the Duke of Cumberland, who was sinking with heat, felt himself weighed down, and turning round, found it was the Duke of Newcastle standing upon his train to avoid the chill of the marble. It was very theatrical to look down into the vault, where the coffin lay attended by mourners with lights. Clavering, the groom of the chamber, refused to sit up with the body, and was dismissed by the King’s order.’ Speaking of the last year of the life of George II., Walpole remarks, with a truth that cannot be gainsaid: ‘It was glorious and triumphant beyond example; and his death was most felicitous to himself, being without a pang, without tasting a reverse, and when his sight and hearing were so nearly extinguished that any prolongation could but have swelled to calamities.’ _CHARLOTTE SOPHIA_, WIFE OF GEORGE III. CHAPTER I. THE COMING OF THE BRIDE. Lady Sarah Lennox, the object of George the Third’s early affections--The fair Quaker--Matrimonial commission of Colonel Græme--Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburgh--Her spirited letter to the King of Prussia--Demanded in marriage by George the Third --Arrival in England--Her progress to London--Colchester and its candied eringo-root--Entertained by Lord Abercorn--Arrival in London, and reception--Claim of the Irish Peeresses advocated by Lord Charlemont--The Royal marriage--The first drawing-room--A comic anecdote---The King and Queen at the Chapel Royal--At the theatre; accidents on the occasion--The coronation--Incidents and anecdotes connected with it--The young Pretender said to have been present--The coronation produced at the theatre. The eldest son of Frederick, Prince of Wales, was yet young when his grandfather began to consider the question of his marriage; and, it is said, had designed to form a union between him and a princess of the royal family of Prussia. The design, if ever formed, entirely failed; and while those most anxious for the Protestant succession were occupied in naming princesses worthy to espouse an heir to a throne, that heir himself is said to have fixed his young affections on an English lady, whose virtues and beauty might have made her eligible had not the accident of her not being a foreigner barred her way to the throne. This lady was Lady Sarah Lennox; and a vast amount of gossip was expended upon her and the young prince by those busy persons whose chief occupation consists in arranging the affairs of others. It is impossible to say how far this young couple were engaged; but the fact, as surmised, rendered the friends of the prince, now George III., more anxious than ever to see him provided with a fair partner on the throne.