The Divine couple then drove in solemn
procession to town. From the park corner for three-quarters of a
mile or so was a line of private carriages, filled with most
fashionable people, the ladies all standing on the seats. The French
Royalist flag waved everywhere. All along the Kilburn Road, then
thinly lined with houses, it was triumphant, and even the trees were
decorated with it. Arriving by way of Cumberland Gate at Piccadilly,
Lewis was escorted, amidst uproarious rejoicing, to Grillon's Hotel
in Albemarle Street. There, in reply to an address from the Prince,
he "ascribed, under Providence," to his Royal Highness and the
British people his present blissful condition; and soon afterwards,
being extremely tired, went to bed. This was on a Wednesday. The
next day, Thursday, His Sacred Majesty, or Most Christian Majesty, as
he was then called, was solemnly made a Knight of the Garter, the
Bishops of Salisbury and Winchester assisting. On Friday he received
the corporation of London, and on Saturday the 23rd he prepared to
take his departure. There was a great crowd in the street when he
came out of the hotel and immense applause; the mob crying out, "God
bless your Majesty!" as if they owed him all they had, and even their
lives.
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