The oldest son of a king of England receives the title of Prince of
Wales; and there was an ancient custom of the realm, that an infant
prince of Wales should be under the care, in his earliest years, of
a Welsh nurse, so that the first words which he should learn to speak
might be the vernacular language of his principality. Such a nurse was
provided for Charles. Rockers for his cradle were appointed, and many
other officers of his household, all the arrangements being made in
a very magnificent and sumptuous manner. It is the custom in England
to pay fees to the servants by which a lady or gentleman is attended,
even when a guest in private dwellings; and some idea may be formed
of the scale on which the pageantry of this occasion was conducted,
from the fact that one of the lady sponsors who rode to the palace in
the queen's carriage, which was sent for her on this occasion, paid
a sum equal to fifty dollars each to six running footmen who attended
the carriage, and a hundred dollars to the coachman; while a number
of knights who came on horseback and in armor to attend upon the
carriage, as it moved to the palace, received each a gratuity of two
hundred and fifty dollars. The state dresses on the occasion of this
baptism were very costly and splendid, being of white satin trimmed
with crimson.

The little prince was thus an object of great attention at the very
commencement of his days, His mother had his portrait painted, and
sent it to _her_ mother in France. She did not, however, in the letters
which accompanied the picture, though his mother, praise the beauty
of her child. She said, in fact, that he was so ugly that she was
ashamed of him, though his size and plumpness, she added, atoned for
the want of beauty. And then he was so comically serious and grave in
the expression of his countenance! the queen said she verily believed
that he was wiser than herself.