In this dilemma I was sent off from England to the Queen of France.  I left Her Highness at Bath, but when I returned she had quitted Bath for Brighton.  I am unacquainted with the nature of all the papers she received, but I well remember the agony they seemed to inflict on her.  She sent off a packet by express that very night to Windsor.

The Princess immediately began the preparations for her return.  Her own journal is explicit on this point of her history, and therefore I shall leave her to speak for herself.  I must not, however, omit to mention the remark she made to me upon the subject of her reception in Great Britain.  With these, let me dismiss the present chapter.

“The general cordiality with which I have been received in your country,” said Her Highness, “has made a lasting impression upon my heart.  In particular, never shall I forget the kindness of the Queen of England, the Duchess of Devonshire, and her truly virtuous mother, Lady Spencer.  It gave me a cruel pang to be obliged to undervalue the obligations with which they overwhelmed me by leaving England as I did, without giving them an opportunity of carrying their good intentions, which, I had myself solicited, into effect.  But we cannot command fate.  Now that the King has determined to accept the Constitution (and you know my sentiments upon the article respecting ecclesiastics), I conceive it my duty to follow Their Majesties’ example in submitting to the laws of the nation.  Be assured, ‘Inglesina’, it will be my ambition to bring about one of the happiest ages of French history.  I shall endeavour to create that confidence so necessary for the restoration to their native land of the Princes of the blood, and all the emigrants who abandoned the King, their families, and their country, while doubtful whether His Majesty would or would not concede this new charter; but now that the doubt exists no longer, I trust we shall all meet again, the happier for the privation to which we have been doomed from absence.  As the limitation of the monarchy removes every kind of responsibility from the monarch, the Queen will again taste the blissful sweets she once enjoyed during the reign of Louis XV. in the domestic tranquillity of her home at Trianon.  Often has she wept those times in which she will again rejoice.  Oh, how I long for their return!  I fly to greet the coming period of future happiness to us all!”

POSTSCRIPT: 

Although I am not making myself the historian of France, yet it may not be amiss to mention that it was during this absence of Her Highness that Necker finally retired from power and from France.