him by the name of General Goldsworthy. He has had three or four more strokes of apoplexy since I saw him.

I fancy he had a strong consciousness of his alteration for he seemed embarrassed and shy, and only bowed to me, at first, without speaking. But I wore that off afterwards, by chatting over old stories with him.

The Princess breakfasted alone, attended by Mrs. Cheveley. When this general breakfast was over, Lady Albinia retired. But in a very few minutes she returned, and said, "Her Royal Highness desires to see Madame d'Arblay and her little boy."

The Princess was seated on a sofa, in a French gray riding-dress, with pink lapels, her beautiful and richly flowing and shining fair locks unornamented. Her breakfast was still before her, and Mrs. Cheveley in waiting. Lady Albinia announced me, and she received me with the brightest smile, calling me up to her, and stopping my profound reverence, by pouting out her sweet ruby lips for me to kiss.

She desired me to come and sit by her; but, ashamed of so much indulgence, I seemed not to hear her, and drew a chair at a little distance. "No, no," she cried, nodding, "come here; come and sit by me here, my dear Madame d'Arblay." I had then only to say 'twas my duty to obey her, and I seated myself on her sofa. Lady Albinia, whom she motioned to sit, took an opposite chair, and Mrs. Cheveley, after we had spoken a few words together, retired.

Her attention now was bestowed upon my Alex, who required not quite so much solicitation to take his part of the sofa. He came jumping and skipping up to her Royal Highness, with such gay and merry antics, that it was impossible not to be diverted with so sudden a change from his composed and quiet behaviour in the

other room. He seemed enchanted to see her again, and I was only alarmed lest he should skip upon her poor knee in his caressing agility.

I bid him, in vain, however, repeat Ariel's 'Come unto these Yellow Sands,' which he can say very prettily; he began, and the Princess, who knew it, prompted him to go on; but a fit of shame came suddenly across him—or of capriciousness-and he would not continue.

Lady Albinia soon after left the room; and the Princess, then, turning hastily and eagerly to me, said, "Now we are alone, do let me ask you one question, Madame d'Arblay-Are you are you-[looking with strong expression to discover her answer] writing anything?"

I could not help laughing, but replied in the negative. "Upon your honour?" she cried earnestly, and looking disappointed. This was too hard an interrogatory for evasion; and I was forced to say-the truth-that I was about nothing I had yet fixed if or not I should ever finish, but that I was rarely without some project. This seemed to satisfy and please her.

I told her of my having seen the Duke of Clarence at Leatherhead fair. "What, William?" she cried, surprised. This unaffected, natural way of naming her brothers and sisters is infinitely pleasing. She took a miniature from her pocket, and said, "I must show you Meney's picture," meaning Princess Mary, whom she still calls Meney, because it was the name she gave her when unable to pronounce Mary-a time she knew I well remembered. It was a very sweet miniature, and extremely like. "Ah! what happiness," I cried, "your Royal Highness will feel, and give, upon returning to their Majesties and their Royal Highnesses, after such an absence, and such sufferings!" "O! yes!-[ shall be so glad!" she cried, and then Lady Albinia

VOL. VI.

P

came in and whispered her it was time to admit Lady Rothes, who then entered with Lady Harriet and the Miss Leslies.

When she was removing, painfully lifted from her seat between Sir Lucas and Mr. Keate, she stopped to pay her compliments and thanks to Lady Rothes with a dignity and self-command extremely striking.

Dr. Burney to Madame d'Arblay.

F. D'A.

December 10th, 1798.

HERSCHEL has been in town for short spurts, and back again, two or three times, leaving Mrs. Herschel behind (in town) to transact law business. I have had him here during two whole days. I read to him the first five books without any one objection, except a little hesitation at my saying, upon Bailly's authority, that, if the sun was to move round the earth, according to Ptolemy, instead of the earth round the sun, as in the Copernican system, the nearest fixed star in every second must constantly run at the rate of " near a hundred thousand miles."-"Stop a little," said he; "I fancy you have greatly underrated the velocity required-but I will calculate it at home." And at his second visit he brought me a slip of paper, written by his sister, as I suppose he had dictated" Hence we see that Sirius, if it revolved round the earth, would move at the rate of 1426 millions of miles per second. Hence the required velocity of Sirius in its orbit would be above 7305 times greater than that of light." of doctrine in the

This was all that I had to correct first five books: and he was SO

humble as to confess that I knew more of the history of

astronomy than he did, and had surprised him with the mass of information I had got together.

He thanked me for the entertainment and instruction I had given him-" Can anything be grander?"—and all this before he knows a word of what I have said of himself—all his discoveries, as you may remember, being kept back for the twelfth and last book. Adad! I begin to be a little conceited.

Mrs. M. Montagu has been singing our ditty at home and abroad. I have been at one bit of blue there. Mrs. M. so broke down as not to go out-almost wholly blind, and very feeble.

Did you know of Princess Amelia being at Sir Lucas Pepys's, in your neighbourhood, time enough to pay your respects to her Royal Highness? I hear a good account of her going on, which gratifies me much.

You will probably see in last week's papers that Lord Macartney is dead at the Cape of Good Hope. But I called myself at his house in town on Saturday, to inquire if any news had lately been received from his Lordship; and Lady M., who happened to be at home, sent her compliments and thanks for inquiring; and, supposing it occasioned by the report, said that what had appeared in the newspaper was not true; there had been no such account come to the India House as had been said—nor to any one else.

God bless you, and the dear gardener, and the Alexandretto !

C. B.