Page:Ethel Churchill 2.pdf/30

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28
ETHEL CHURCHILL.

in the last extremities of royal condescension. It was enough to make domestic felicity the fashion from one end of the British empire to the other, just to see the august couple walking arm in arm through the gardens; Mrs. Howard a little in advance, pointing out the beauties, and the favourites of the suite close behind. The king was fond of walking; and it is a singular instance of that feminine courage, endurance, how the queen contrived, subject as she was to the gout, to accompany him.

Queen Caroline must have been a very handsome woman; her eyes were still fine, and her smile peculiarly sweet. No one understood the science of temporising better than she did, or of

"If she rule him, not to shew she rules."

Give a strong mind the advantage of habit, and its dominion over the weak one is absolute. It is a strong proof of Sir Robert Walpole's sagacity, that he never for a moment mistook the real source of power. Others might court