Page:The Queens of England.djvu/572

 520 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. England by the death of her kind protector and friend, George the Third. In vain did his successor, George the Fourth, offer inducements to her to remain abroad, proposing to her an in- creased income if she would forego the title of queen. Im- mediately that the news reached her, Caroline has resolved to return to England, and assert her rights, and she rejected with indignation the proposal made by the new king. She had now lived apart from her husband three and twenty years, and not only did he refuse to acknowledge and receive her as his queen, but by his orders her name was erased from the Liturgy. Caroline, nevertheless, landed at Dover, June 5, 1820 where she was met by multitudes of people who were eager to make up to her by their tokens of loyalty and affection, for the slights she had endured. Throughout her progress to London, every place poured forth its inhabitants to meet her with a welcome, and jn approaching the metropolis the throngs were immense. Having been denied the use of Buckingham House, the queen took up her abode temporarily at the residence of Alderman Wood, in South Audley street. What a situation was this for one of royal descent, and queen, by right of marriage, of the first country in the world ! Affecting to the extreme must have been the hom- age of the people, the true-hearted English, who would not see the weaker sex injured or ill-treated without interposing in her behalf. Caroline received, from the sympathy of the public, strength to prosecute the vindication of her rights ; but of all men in English history, except it were Henry the Eighth, George the Fourth was least likely to be influenced by the ex- pressed disapprobation of the people. The king's dislike was only further increased by the popularity of the consort he sought to cast off, and when many persons of rank and wealth took the part of the queen it still further aggravated his feel- ings against her. The natural disposition of Caroline of Brunswick, independ- ent of her trying situation, called forth the affections of the English. She was generous to an extreme, but not extravagant, and a total absence of the pride and stateliness of rank, which at times is even said to have bordered on vulgarity, rendered her the exact opposite of her stately and ceremonious husband, who delighted in every ostentation of rank and power. It was asserted that the queen's manners abroad had not been so consistent with feminine propriety as was considered req- uisite in a woman under her peculiar circumstances, especially as queen of England ; and there can be little doubt but that the