No
direct notice was taken of this allusion at the moment, Fox himself, who
had the chief share of the Prince's confidence, being accidentally
absent; but a day or two afterward he referred to Rolle's speech with
great indignation, declaring that it referred to a "low, malicious
calumny" which had no foundation whatever, and "was only fit to impose
on the lowest order of persons." Being pressed as to the precise force
of his assertion, and being asked whether it meant more than that under
the existing laws, such as the Royal Marriage Act, there had been no
marriage, because there could have been no _legal_ marriage, he declared
that he meant no such evasion, but that no marriage ceremony, legal or
illegal, had ever taken place; and farther, that in saying this he was
speaking on the direct authority of the Prince himself. No more
degrading act stains the annals of British royalty. For the fact was
true--the very next evening Fox learned the deceit which the Prince had
practised on him from a gentleman who had been one of the witnesses to
the marriage, which had been solemnized by a Protestant clergyman
fifteen months before.[114] And his indignation was such that for some
time afterward he abstained from all interference in the Prince's
affairs; while the language held by the Prince's other confidant, Mr.
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