THE END OF A TRAGEDY.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 242, 6 July 1908, Page 5

THE END OF A TRAGEDY.

The Countess do Boigno's memoirs furnish a very unprepossessing glimpse of the ill'starrcd consort of George IV., Queen Caroline. In 1815 the- Countess was iu Genoa, and writing.of her visit, she says:— / "Tho next day wo saw in the streets of Genoa a sight which I ■ shall never forget. There was a kind of phaeton constructed like a sea-shell, covered with gilding and mother-of-pearl, coloured outside ; lined with blue velvet, and decorated With silver fringes ; this was drawn by two very small piebald horses, driven by a child, who- was dressed like an operatic cherub, with spangles and flesh-coloured tights, and within it lounged a fat woman of 50 years of age, short, plump, and high-coloured ._ Sho woro a pink hat with seven or eight pink feathers floating in tho wind, a pink bodice cut, very low, and a short white' skirt, which hardly came bptaw her knees, showing two stout legs, with pink top-boots; a rose-coloured sash, which sho was continually draping, completed this costume. Tho carriage was preceded by a tall and handsome man, mounted upon a little horso, liko those which drew tli<i carriage; he was. dressed precisely liko King Murat, whose gestures and attitude ho attempted toMmitato. The carriage was followed by two grooms in English livery and upon horses of tho'same kind. This Neapolitan- turn-out was a gift from Murat to tho Princess of Wales, who exhibited herself in this ridiculous costume, and in this strango carriage."