she should quit England, and reside wherever she chose on the Continent.
To all this she consented, and, in the first instance, went to Brussels,
where her previous history being scarcely known, she was well received;
and she married her daughters without any inquiry as to the fathers
to whom she might ascribe them.

Mrs. Clarke afterwards settled quietly and comfortably in Paris, receiving
occasionally visits from members of the aristocracy who had known her
when mingling in a certain circle in London. The Marquis of Londonderry
never failed to pay his respects to her, entertaining a very high opinion
of her talents. Her manners were exceedingly agreeable, and to the
latest day she retained pleasing traces of past beauty. She was lively,
sprightly, and full of fun, and indulged in innumerable anecdotes of
the members of the royal family of England - some of them much too scandalous
to be repeated. She regarded the Duke of York as a big baby, not out
of his leading-strings, and the Prince of Wales as an idle sensualist,
with just enough of brains to be guided by any laughing, well-bred individual
who would listen to stale jokes and impudent ribaldry. Of Queen Charlotte
she used to speak with the utmost disrespect, attributing to her a love
of domination and a hatred of every one who would not bow down before
any idol that she chose to set up; and as being envious of the Princess
Caroline and her daughter the Princess Charlotte of Wales, and jealous
of their acquiring too much influence over the Prince of Wales. In
short, Mary Anne Clarke had been so intimately let into every secret
of the life of the royal family that, had she not been tied down, her
revelations would have astonished the world, however willing the people
might have been to believe that they were tinged with scandal and exaggeration.


The way in which Colonel Wardle first obtained information of the sale