CHAPTER XII.

Queen Charlotte—Miss Burney—The New House in Portman Square—Improvements in Her Property—Character of the French, Dutch, and English—Lord Edward Bentinck—Miss Cumberland—Lord Bristol—Mr. Brown’s Improvements at Sandleford—Bishop of Durham—Madame de Genlis—Mrs. Montagu’s “New Palace”—The Harcourts—Mrs. Montagu’s Advice to a Niece—Johnson’s “Lives of the Poets”—Sir Richard Jebb—Mrs. Montagu Sets Up a New Sort of Carriage by the Advice of Sir Richard Jebb—Miss Gregory—Letter to Morris Robinson’s Widow—Air-Balloons—The Prince of Wales—Is Hissed at the Theatre—The French Ambassador—French Bribery in England—Doctor Johnson’s Testimony to Mrs. Montagu 218