Really, Dear Reader, Your Inquisitiveness Has Got Beyond All Bounds; And
Were Prince Edward To Revisit Those Shores, We Venture
To say, that you
would in a frenzy of curiosity or loyalty even do what was charged by De
Cordova,
When Edward's grandson, Albert of Wales, visited, in 1860, Canada
and the American Union: -
"They have stolen his gloves and purloined his cravat -
Even scraped a souvenir from the nap of his hat."
Be thankful if we satisfy even one or two of your queries. He had indeed
to live here on the niggardly allowance of L5,000 per annum. The story
[220] about censuring an officer for cutting off his pig-tail refers not
to his stay in Canada, but to another period of his life. He lived rather
retired; a select few only were admitted to his intimacy; his habits were
here, as elsewhere, regular; his punctuality, proverbial; his stay amongst
us, marked by several acts of kindness, of which we find traces in the
addresses presented on several occasions, thanking him for his own
personal exertions and the assistance rendered by his gallant men at
several fires which had occurred. [221] He left behind some warm admirers,
with whom he corresponded regularly. We have now before us a package of
his letters dated "Kensington Palace." Here is one out of twenty; but no,
the records of private friendship must remain inviolate.
The main portion of the "Mansion House," at Montmorenci, is just as he
left it. The room in which he used to write is yet shown; a table and
chair - part of his furniture - are to this day religiously preserved. The
lodge is now the residence of the heirs of the late G. B Hall, Esquire,
the proprietors of the extensive saw mills at the foot of the falls.
THE DUKE OF KENT, THE QUEEN'S FATHER, AT QUEBEC, 1791-4.
Of the numerous sons of King George III., none, perhaps, were born
with more generous impulses, none certainly more manly - none more true
in their attachments, and still none more maligned neglected - traduced
than he, who, as a jolly Colonel of Fusileers spent some pleasant
years of his life at Quebec from 1791 to '94, Edward Augustus, father
of our virtuous and beloved Sovereign.
We wish to be understood at the outset. It is not our intention here
to write a panegyric on a royal Duke; like his brothers, York and
Clarence - the pleasure-loving, he, too, had his foibles; he was not an
anchorite by any means. His stern, Spartan idea of discipline may have
been overstretched, and blind adherence to routine in his daily habits
may have justly invited the lash of ridicule. What is pretended here,
and that, without fear of contradiction, is that his faults, which
were those of a man, were loudly proclaimed, while his spirit of
justice, of benevolence and generosity was unknown, unrecognized,
except by a few. No stronger record can be opposed to the traducers of
the memory of Edward, Duke of Kent, than his voluminous correspondence
with Col.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 223 of 451
Words from 116640 to 117150
of 236821
