brought on, by domestic sorrow for the loss of his beloved daughter Amelia, on the second of November, the last act of whose filial tenderness evinced that it was not in the power of sickness, severely as it operated on her, to lessen the amiable temper of her mind; for, languid as she was at some periods, and tortured by pain at others, a desire of testifying her affection for the best of fathers was one of the strongest feelings of her heart.

She wished to present that royal parent with a token of her filial duty and affection; and she had the satisfaction of placing on his finger a ring, made by her own directions for the express purpose, containing a small lock of her hair, inclosed under a chrystal tablet, set round with a few sparks of diamonds. The effect of that present on His Majesty's heart, after so many trials during the progress of her illness, the public had too soon cause to lament; for the circumstance of an amiable and beloved daughter, in the prime of life, passing rapidly on to her dissolution, in the midst of the most acute sufferings, naturally preyed on the mind and the parental feelings of the good old King. Indeed, it seemed that his whole soul became absorbed in the fate of his daughter he dwelt on it with harassing and weakening grief and despair; till at length the powers of his understanding gave way, and he fell a prey to that mental disorder, under which he had suffered so much about twenty years before.

On some occasions he kept the physicians, when

they made their reports, two or three hours in minute inquiries: indeed, so restless was his anxiety, that he was accustomed to receive a report every morning at seven o'clock, and afterwards every two hours of the day. At three o'clock regularly he went to her lodge to visit her; and the effect of these visits upon his heart was visible in his tears.

We may add, also, that every member of the royal family suffered much from the long and painful state of anxiety connected with the princess's illness, alternately raised into hope or plunged into despair. But still that was nothing in comparison with the feelings of the royal parent himself, who, from the very first, shewed that the lively interest which he took in these vicissitudes had an alarming influence upon his mind. Three weeks before the demise of his beloved child, he received the physician's afflicting report, that her life was so uncertain as not to be insured for an hour, though she might languish many days; a sentence on which his agitation became most manifest, as he passed some days in excessive grief, whilst at intervals his gleams of hope seemed to be equally elevated by flattering expectation.

But the best picture we can give of the venerable monarch at that moment was drawn by a worthy divine, after having asked a gentleman, who was in the habit of close and official attendance on the Princess Amelia, during her whole protracted ill

ness, of what nature were the interviews and conversations held between her and His Majesty, and who replied: "They are of the most interesting kind." The divine inquired: "Are they of a religious tendency?" "Yes," said the gentleman, "decidedly so; and the religion is exactly of that sort, which you, as a serious christian, would approve of. His Majesty speaks to his daughter of the only hope of a sinner being in the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. He examines her as to the integrity and strength of that hope in her own soul. The princess listens with calmness and delight to the conversation of her venerable parent, and replies to his questions in a very affectionate and serious manner. If you were present at one of those interviews, you would acknowledge with joy, that the gospel is preached in a palace, and that under highly affecting circumstances. Nothing," added he, " can be more striking than the sight of the King, aged and nearly blind, bending over the couch on which the princess lies, and speaking to her about salvation through Christ, as a matter far more interesting to them both than the highest privileges, and most magnificent pomps of royalty."

The effect which such conversations must have had upon the expiring princess is fully illustrated by the following stanzas, which, upon incontestable evidence, are known to have been the effusion of her parting spirit.