Settled down at last at Amorbach, the time hung heavily on the Duke's hands. The establishment was small, the country was impoverished; even clock-making grew tedious at last. He brooded--for in spite of his piety the Duke was not without a vein of superstition--over the prophecy of a gipsy at Gibraltar who had told him that he was to have many losses and crosses, that he was to die in happiness, and that his only child was to be a great queen. Before long it became clear that a child was to be expected: the Duke decided that it should be born in England. Funds were lacking for the journey, but his determination was not to be set aside. Come what might, he declared, his child must be English-born. A carriage was hired, and the Duke himself mounted the box. Inside were the Duchess, her daughter Feodora, a girl of fourteen, with maids, nurses, lap-dogs, and canaries. Off they drove--through Germany, through France: bad roads, cheap inns, were nothing to the rigorous Duke and the equable, abundant Duchess. The Channel was crossed, London was reached in safety. The authorities provided a set of rooms in Kensington Palace; and there, on May 24, 1819, a female infant was born.[17] [1] Greville, II, 326-8; Stockmar, chap. i, 86; Knight, I, chaps. xv-xviii and Appendix, and II, chap. i. [2] Grey, 384, 386-8; _Letters_, II, 40, [3] Grey, 375-86. [4] _Letters_, I, 216, 222-3; II, 39-40; Stockmar, 87-90. [5] Stockmar, _Biograpische Skizze_, and cap. iii. [6] Creevey, I, 264, 272: 'Prinny has let loose his belly, which now reaches his knees; otherwise he is said to be well,' 279. [7] Greville, I, 5-7. [8] Greville, IV, 2. [9] Stockmar, 95; Creevey, I, 148; Greville, I, 228; Lieven, 183-4. [10] Crawford, 24. [11] _Ibid._, 80, 113. [12] Stockmar, 112-3; _Letters_, I, 8; Crawford, 27-30; Owen, 193-4, 197-8, 199, 229. [13] Creevey, I, 267-71. [14] Creevey, I, 276-7. [15] _Letters_, I, 1-3: Grey, 373-81, 389; Crawford, 30-4; Stockmar, 113. [16] Creevey, I, 282-4. [17] Crawford, 25, 37-8. {18} CHAPTER II CHILDHOOD I The child who, in these not very impressive circumstances, appeared in the world, received but scant attention. There was small reason to foresee her destiny. The Duchess of Clarence, two months before, had given birth to a daughter; this infant, indeed, had died almost immediately; but it seemed highly probable that the Duchess would again become a mother; and so it actually fell out. More than this, the Duchess of Kent was young, and the Duke was strong; there was every likelihood that before long a brother would follow, to snatch her faint chance of the succession from the little princess.