The Mysteries of the Court of London — page 148: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE ROYAL BROTHER AND SISTER = 127 dear George, that the press has been recently more busy than ever with your name — ”’ “A truce to all this recapitulation of evils! ’’ exclaimed his Royal Highness, suddenly. ‘“‘ You are in a melancholy mood, Sophia, your spirits are depressed, and therefore you are giving way to the gloomiest forebodings. Was it to entertain me with your miseries and make me as miserable as yourself that you have sent for me hither? ”’ ‘“ How unkind of you to speak thus! ”’ cried the unhappy princess, bursting into tears, for the conduct of her brother on the present occasion seemed more than usually heartless, especially as she herself was more than ever in need of affec- tionate sympathy. ‘“ Well, well,’’ said the prince, somewhat softening toward his sister, ‘‘ tell me what advice you seek at my hands, or what service you require of me.” ‘“ Listen to me patiently for a few minutes, and you will then understand wherefore I am thus unhappy,’ said the princess, wiping the tears from her eyes. ‘‘ You are aware, dear George,’’ she continued, with looks slightly averted, as if she dared not meet his gaze while touching upon the present topic, ‘‘ you are aware that upwards of nineteen years have now elapsed since I became a mother. The babe was entrusted to a surgeon of the name of Thurston, the same who has since risen to such eminence and acquired so great a renown as a physician. About two months ago, yielding to an irresistible impulse, I called upon Lady F'lorimel and besought her to institute inquiries relative to the fate of that son whom from its very birth I had thus abandoned to the care of strangers. My dear friend Pauline at once undertook the commission, and she called upon Doctor Thurston, from whose lips she learned that the child had been stolen in its infancy. Indeed, it was in the month of June, 1795, when the child was between five and six months old, that it was thus stolen from the arms of its nurse in Hyde Park. Doctor Thurston knows that the child was mine, has known it, indeed, for a very long time; but he has kept the secret inviolable. His honesty, his integrity, in this respect at once convinced Pauline that he was telling the truth when he stated that the child had been stolen. More- over, he showed her a printed hand-bill which was circulated at the time, bearing the date I just now mentioned, and Cconniclooolkks (C(O)