CHAPTER IV.

Caroline of Brunswick.--Levity of her Character.--Result of the Commission to Inquire into her Conduct in 1806.--Her Letter to the Regent.--Result of the Commission of 1813.--Caroline rebels.--Wrath of Lord Ellenborough.-"A Key to the Investigation, or Iago distanced by odds."--Refusal of the Regent to meet her in 1814.--Her Protest.--Applies for Permission to Travel Abroad.--Rumours prejudicial to her Moral Conduct.--"Paving the way for a Royal Divorce."--The Milan Commission.--Ministers averse to the Prosecution of the Queen.--Their False Step.--Arrival of Caroline in London.--Opening of the "Green Bag."--Arrival of the Witnesses.--Strange Appearance of Caroline at the Trial.--Satire upon Her and her Supporters.--"City Scavengers Cleansing the London Streets of Impurities."--Practical Failure of the Prosecution.--"The Queen Caroline running down the Royal George."--"The Steward's Court of the Manor of Torre Devon."--Popularity of the King.--"Grand Entrance to Bamboozlem."--Public Events of 1822-1825.--Greek War of Independence.--Battle of Navarino.--"Russian Bear's Grease, or a Peep into Futurity."--"The Descent of the Great Bear, or the Mussulmans in a Quandary."--"The Nest in Danger."--"The Porte presenting a Bill of Indemnification."--"Burking old Mrs. Constitution, aged 141."--Caricature Declines after 1830, and why.--William Heath and other Caricaturists of the Period.--Theodore Lane. _pp._ 62-88.