The Mysteries of the Court of London by Pauline Clarendon — page 307: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

304 THE COURT OF LONDON rusal of this letter to an end; “‘ and it does not prove a mar- riage. On the contrary, it shows that the present king and your aunt were never united by any legal ceremony, — at ieast up to the period when that paper was signed.” ‘“ Let us put our original half against the copy of the other one,”’ said Julia, ‘‘ and see how the whole reads.” “We will,” returned Page; and, having followed his wife’s suggestion, he found that the memorandum or cer- tificate ran in the ensuing terms: ‘Take notice, all ye whom it may concern, and know ye, all men, by these presents, that I the undersigned, George Prince of Wales, do hereby declare and: acknowledge that I do now take and solemnly consider to be my wife in the sight of an all-seeing heaven and before God, the likewise under- signed Miss Hannah Lightfoot, whom I sincerely, tenderly and devotedly love with all my heart and with all my soul, and who fully as sincerely, tenderly, and devotedly loveth me in return, with all her true heart and all her soul: and know likewise, all persons whom it may concern, that I do solemnly and sacredly bind and pledge myself, before God and in the sight of an all-seeing heaven, that when the will of the Almighty shall so dispose the heart of my august and well-beloved father as to grant his royal and paternal assent and most gracious permission to the proper celebration of my marriage with the undersigned Miss Hannah Lightfoot, — or, In case of perseverance in that refusal which so very sorely erieves me, — then, on my accession to the royal throne of these realms, on my sire’s demise (which God long prevent!) { declare that I will, without delay, make her my wite and Queen: — and in token that we do already consider ourselves to be husband and wife, we have jointly and severally set our hands to this document, in the presence of a competent witness this third day of oe One Thousand seven hundred and fifty-seven. “Witness, , GEORGE P. “WILLIAM STAMFORD, Bart. HaNNan LIGHTFOOT.” “ Well,’ remarked Page, as soon as he had read aloud this singular document, ‘it is no wonder that the king is sometimes crazy. A pretty load of perjury he has got upon his conscience. The whole country would raise its voice in ECORNIELOOOKS (E() m