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 A FORGOTTEN 
 PRINCE OF WALES 
 
 CAPTAIN HENRY CURTIES 
 
 Author of " When England Slept," 
 etc., etc. 
 
 LONDON 
 EVERETT & CO., LTD. 
 
 42 ESSEX STREET, STRAND, W.C
 
 Dedicated by permission 
 
 to 
 
 His Grace the Duke of Argyll, K.G.
 
 STACK 
 ANNEX 
 
 DA 
 
 50 1 
 
 CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Which Seizes upon the Prince as he comes into the World . . 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 The Falling in of a Great Legacy . . . . . . . . . . 12 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Prince at the Age of Nine . . 18 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 In which England gets a new King and Queen 25 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 A Double Event which did not come off . . . . . . . . 41 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 The Prince and the London of 1728 . . . . . . . . . . 50 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Peter Wentworth's Letters on the Prince's Life . . . . . . GO 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 The Prince's Embarrassments . . . . . . *. . . 73 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Tbe Duchess of Marlborough Throws for a Big Stake . . . . 88 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 The Beautiful Vanilla 92 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 The Prince Asserts Himself . . . . . . . . . . . . 104 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 A Child Bride 121 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 The Nuptials 141 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 Lady Archibald 147
 
 vi< CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 A Rope Ladder and Some Storms 153 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Parliament and the Prince's Income 173 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 A New Favourite and a Settlement 198 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 A Most Extraordinary Event 203 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 Which Contains a Great Deal of Fussing and Fuming and a little 
 
 Poetry 221 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 The Prince is Cast Forth with His Family 247 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 The Death of the Queen 261 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 The Year of Mourning ■ . . . 282 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 A Husband and a Lover 294 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 The Reconciliation . . . . • • • • • • • • • • 306 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 The Battle of Dettingen 312 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 Bonnie Prince Charlie 321 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 Summer Days . . . . • • 344 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 Finis 354 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 The Final Scene 362 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 The Residuum 378
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 FREDERICK, PRINCE OF WALES, AND HIS 
 SISTERS 
 
 LEINE PALACE, HANOVER 
 
 MARY BELLENDEN 
 
 GEORGE II 
 
 LORD HERVEY 
 
 MARY LEPEL 
 
 PRINCESS AUGUSTA 
 
 MARY BELLENDEN, DUCHESS OF ARGYLL 
 
 THE PALACE OF HERRENHAUSEN, HANOVER 
 
 SIR ROBERT WALPOLE 
 
 SARAH, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH 
 
 QUEEN CAROLINE, AND THE YOUNG DUKE 
 OF CUMBERLAND 
 
 PRINCE GEORGE AND PRINCE EDWARD 
 BUBB DODDINGTON 
 
 Fkontisi 
 
 IECE 
 
 Facing 
 • > 
 
 n 
 
 page 
 
 10 
 
 28 
 40 
 96 
 108 
 136 
 146 
 156 
 192 
 240 
 
 262 
 346 
 
 368
 
 A FORGOTTEN 
 PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 CHAPTER 1. 
 
 Which Seizes upon the Pmnoe as be comes 
 INTO THE World. 
 
 On the fourth day of cold February in that cold 
 town of Hanover, in the year 17o7. of a brilliant and 
 beautiful young mother, in the great palace on the 
 
 little river Leine, was born— perhaps it would be 
 more correct t" siy crept into the world, for there 
 was so little noise about it — a Prince of whom in 
 after years his father remarked : " My dear first-! torn 
 is the greatest ass and the greatest liar and the 
 greatest canaille and the greatest beast in the 
 whole world, and I heartily wish he was out of it."* 
 If this worthy parent — who by-the-bye was no less 
 a personage than King George the Second of 
 England at the time of speaking — had any reason 
 or truth in this most fatherly comment with its 
 charitable tail-piece by way of benediction, then 
 
 * Dictionary of National Biography, Vol. XX., p. 235. This remark is 
 attributed to both his father and mother.
 
 2 A FOKGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 must this little German potentate — 'by accident 
 King of England — have been gifted in addition to 
 his other fine and gentlemanly qualities of per- 
 ception, with the power of divining the future, for 
 his dislike, nay, his inveterate hatred, of this little 
 vaunted first-born son commenced at his earliest 
 years. Why, the good God alone knows, for 
 certainly none of His creatures have ever up to 
 the present time succeeded in discovering the 
 cause. 
 
 The beautiful young mother then, Caroline, a 
 Princess of Brandenburg- Ansbach, commonly called 
 " Caroline of Ansbach," married but a year to her 
 George Augustus — only the Electoral Prince* at 
 that time — lay happy in her bed in the palace, 
 with her baby beside her, whilst the cold river 
 ran without and the winter winds blew among the 
 dear orange trees in the gardens she was so fond of 
 two miles away at Herrenhausen, and very few 
 people in Hanover and still fewer in England knew 
 that a possible future Prince of Wales had been born 
 into the world, for perhaps after all, very few people 
 very much cared. Anne of England was still on 
 the throne. 
 
 So quiet had this matter been kept and so great 
 a surprise was the event that Howe, the English 
 Envoy, wrote home in the following strain : — 
 
 " This Court having for some time past almost 
 despaired of the Princess Electoral being brought 
 
 * The Electoral Prince was the eldest son of the elector.
 
 HE COMES INTO THE WORLD. 3 
 
 to bed, and most people apprehensive that her 
 bigness, which has continued for so long, was 
 rather an effect of a distemper than that she was 
 with child, her Highness was taken ill last Friday 
 at dinner, and last night, about seven o'clock, the 
 Countess d'Eke, her lady of the bedchamber, sent 
 me word that the Princess was delivered of a son."* 
 
 On the 25th February Howe writes again com- 
 plaining bitterly like a wicked fairy in a children's 
 tale, that he has not been invited to the christenin<_ r 
 which had taken place a few days after the birth in 
 the young mother's bedroom, when the child had 
 received the names of Frederick Louis. Fuither- 
 more, he had not been allowed to see the baby — and 
 presumably to kiss it — until ten days later! This 
 visit, however, appears to have mollitied him, for he 
 bursts forth into description : "1 found the women," 
 he says, " all admiring the largeness and strength 
 of the child." 
 
 One can see them doing it, and the dry old 
 Envoy — it is presumed he was a bachelor as he 
 makes no mention of his wife —looking on, and as 
 much at sea with regard to the "points" of a tine 
 baby as a midwife would be at a horse show. 
 
 But this unusual secrecy about the birth — which 
 was attributed to the child's grandfather the Elector, 
 afterwards George the First of England, who was 
 not on the best of terms with Anne our reigning 
 
 •Howe's Despatch. Hanover, 5th Feb., 1707. From this it must be 
 seen clearly that the Prince was born on February 4th, not on February 5th, 
 as it has been stated.
 
 4 A FOKGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 Queen — had another aspect. It was an age of 
 suspicion, suspicion especially of substituted heirs, 
 and the foolishness of not inviting the English 
 Envoy to the birth according to custom, revolting as 
 it would have been to a young modest wife, might 
 have seriously prejudiced the child's future had he 
 not been born with, and had to struggle against, so 
 many of those distinctive bad qualities so carefully 
 nurtured and indulged by his father and grand- 
 father. On a later occasion his father remarked to 
 his mother a propos of these : "Mais vous voyez 
 mes passions ma chere Caroline. Vous connaissez 
 mes foiblesses." Yes, that affectionate and lonii- 
 suffering lady did know his " foiblesses " before she 
 had been his wife very long. Thoroughly to appre- 
 ciate the nest into which this unfortunate little 
 Prince was born and christened, it is necessary to 
 turn for a moment to the habits and customs of his 
 father and grandfather. 
 
 Taking the latter first, the Elector and future 
 King of England was in the habit of retaining 
 without any concealment whatever a minimum of 
 three mistresses. These ladies, this considerate old 
 father-in-law expected his son's wife to receive and 
 treat with civility, and strange to say Caroline the 
 Princess Electoral did it. Poor soul ! She had 
 much more than that to wink at on her own 
 account before long owing to the before-mentioned 
 " foiblesses" of her little husband. 
 
 The chief of her father-in-law the Elector's little
 
 HE COMES INTO THE WORLD. 5 
 
 harem was a lady of the name of Schulemburg, of 
 an ancient but poor family, who had occupied her 
 exalted position almost from a very plain girlhood, 
 and whose name became subsequently very well 
 known in England. 
 
 The first George never distinguished himself as a 
 seeker after beauty. The Schulemburg is described 
 as a tall, thin person, quite bald, wearing a very 
 ugly red wig, and with an uncomely face much 
 marked with the smallpox. This disfigurement she 
 endeavoured to cover with paint with shocking 
 results. 
 
 The ladv occupying the second position in the 
 seraglio who bore the euphonic name of Kielman- 
 segge, and was the separated wife of a Hamburg 
 merchant, was of exactly opposite dimensions, 
 bulking large with great unwieldiness, she, however, 
 had no need to redden her cheeks, being gifted by 
 Nature with a plenteous colour which she vainly 
 endeavoured to assuage with layers of white powder. 
 
 The advent of this Ruler in public with either or 
 both of these fascinating ladies under his immediate 
 protection must have added considerably to his 
 Electoral dignity. 
 
 The third of this honourable trio was, strange to 
 say, a beautiful young woman, the Countess Platen, 
 married to a man whose family seems to have 
 provided courtesans for princes for generations, but 
 it was so far to the Count Platen's credit that when 
 his wife openly became the Elector's mistress he
 
 6 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 separated from her. This lady seems to have simply 
 thrust herself into the old Elector's arms, and 
 appears for a time, at least, to have absorbed most 
 of his superfluous elderly affection. 
 
 But about the time that little Prince Frederick 
 Louis, the subject of these Memoirs, was about two 
 years old, a little sister — Anne, named apparently 
 after the Queen of England — having joined him in 
 the nursery, a certain couple of adventurers — for 
 they were nothing better — Henry Howard, third 
 son of the Earl of Suffolk, with his pretty but 
 unscrupulous wife Henrietta, made their appearance 
 at the Court of Hanover. They had come, like 
 manv others from England, to throw in their lot 
 with the Elector and his chances of becoming King 
 of England, which at that time were none too sure, 
 but still a good sporting chance. 
 
 Henry Howard and his wife had come like the 
 others to better their fortunes, which apparently in 
 their case had arrived at that stage when they 
 could not well be much worse. 
 
 It is reported that so short of money were they 
 on their arrival that Mrs. Howard had to cut off 
 her beautiful hair and sell it — her glory ! — to 
 provide a conciliatory banquet for some powerful 
 Hanoverian acquaintances. One can almost add a 
 tear to those she surely shed over the shorn locks in 
 private. But the loss of her hair does not appear 
 to have handicapped her in any way from the point 
 of view of fascination. She quickly ingratiated
 
 HE COMES INTO THE WORLD. 7 
 
 herself with the Elector's aged mother, Sophia, 
 granddaughter of James the First of England, and 
 Protestant heiress of England by Act of Parliament, 
 talked English with her, and became one of her 
 intimate friends. From this, it was but a step to 
 the favour of Caroline, the wife of the Electors son, 
 and Mrs. Hettie Howard was by no means the kind 
 of lady to let grass grow under her feet. She was 
 said to be a great adept at flattery, knowing just 
 how much to tickle the ears of Royalty with ; 
 Electoral Royalty. She tickled to such effect that 
 she soon became one of the Princess's ladies-in- 
 waiting, and as such no doubt had the privilege of 
 dandling our Prince Frederick as an infant in her 
 arms. 
 
 But apparently she had not as yet hit her 
 mark ; it was at the heart of the little Prince's 
 father that her darts were aimed, and certainly 
 never was a target more ready to receive them. 
 George Augustus had ever posed as a lady's man, 
 yet this incident was possibly the first which opened 
 the eyes of his young wife to his subsequently 
 deplored " foiblesses." The Electoral Prince fol- 
 lowed in the exemplary footsteps of his father, the 
 Elector ; he started the nucleus of a harem, and 
 Mrs. Hettie Howard obligingly became the nucleus ! 
 One more good example to set before the little 
 Prince when his eyes — and ears — should open to 
 understand the wicked things of this world ! 
 
 The comment of George Augustus's aged grand-
 
 8 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 mother the Electress on this arrangement — with 
 which, by-the-bye, she was rather pleased — was 
 quite German and appropriate. " Ah ! " she 
 remarked, "it will improve his English." 
 
 Though the position of the House of Hanover at 
 this time with regard to the throne of England 
 was considered to be good, yet it was by no means 
 sure. The two following letters will, perhaps, throw 
 some light on the period. 
 
 The first is from Leibnitz, a savant attached to 
 the Court of Hanover, but at that time in Vienna, 
 and is addressed to Caroline, the Electoral Princess, 
 whom he had known as a brilliant girl under the 
 wing of her aunt Sophia Charlotte, sister of George, 
 at the Court of Berlin. 
 
 " Vienna, 
 
 "December 16th, 1713. 
 
 " I have not troubled your Highness with letters 
 since I left Hanover, as I had nothing of interest to 
 tell you, but I must not neglect the opportunity 
 which this season gives me of assuring your 
 Highness of my perpetual devotion, and I pray 
 God to grant you the same measure of years as the 
 Electress enjoys, and the same good health. And 
 I pray also that you may one day enjoy the title of 
 Queen of England so well worn by Queen Elizabeth 
 which you so highly merit. 
 
 " Consequently, I wish the same good things to 
 his Highness, your Consort, since you can only 
 occupy the throne of that great Queen with him.
 
 HE COMES INTO THE WORLD. 9 
 
 Whenever the gazettes publish favourable rumours 
 concerning you and affairs in England, I devoutly 
 pray that they may become true ; sometimes it is 
 rumoured here that a fleet is about to escort you 
 both to England, and a powerful alliance is being 
 formed to support your claims. I have even read 
 that the Tsar is only strengthening his navy in 
 order to supply you with Knights of the Round 
 Table. It is time to translate all these rumours 
 into action, as our enemies do not sleep. Count 
 Gallas, who is leaving for Rome in a few days, tells 
 me that well-informed people in England think that 
 the first act of the present Tory Ministry will be 
 to put down the Whigs, the second to confirm 
 the peace, and the third to change the law of 
 succession. I hear that in Hanover there is strong 
 opposition to all this. I hope it may be so with 
 all my heart." 
 
 The Princess Caroline's reply. 
 " Hanover, 
 
 "December 27th, 1713. 
 
 " I assure you that of all the letters this season 
 has brought me, yours has been the most welcome. 
 You do well to send me your good wishes for the 
 throne of England, which are sorely needed just 
 now, for in spite of all the favourable rumours you 
 mention, affairs there seem to be going from bad to 
 worse. For my part (and I am a woman and like 
 to delude myself) I cling to the hope that, however 
 bad things may be now, they will ultimately turn
 
 10 A FOEGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 to the advantage of our House. I accept the com- 
 parison which you draw, though all too flattering, 
 between me and Queen Elizabeth as a good omen. 
 Like Elizabeth, the Electress's rights are denied her 
 by a jealous sister with a bad temper*, and she will 
 never be sure of the English crown until her 
 accession to the throne. God be praised that our 
 Princess of Wales t is better than ever, and by her 
 good health confounds all the machinations of her 
 enemies." 
 
 Poor young Princess Caroline, " the Pure, the 
 Great, the Illustrious," as Mr. Wilkins calls her. 
 She must, but for her children, have found it none 
 too cheerful in that dreary old Leine Schloss by the 
 river, about which clung the then unsolved mystery 
 of the disappearance of Konigsmarck, the lover 
 of the Princess Sophie Dorothea — her husband's 
 mother — as he left that lady's chamber and was 
 seen no more. A mystery which remained a 
 mystery until years after when, the floor of an 
 adjoining room being taken up, his body was found 
 beneath. 
 
 But apart from this it must have been a dreary 
 life for a young girl, a life of looking on at much 
 over-eating, and over-drinking perhaps, too. A life 
 of low sordid immorality going on under her very 
 nose in which her husband and his father played 
 leading parts ; a life in which the higher side of her 
 
 * Queen Anne. 
 
 t The Electress Sophia, her husband's grandmother.
 
 y § 
 
 y. » 
 
 ~ C3
 
 HE COMES INTO THE WORLD. 11 
 
 nature was never called upon, except for the almost 
 habitual display of charity and forbearance to 
 others. 
 
 Yet the higher nature was there despite her 
 faults which were many; she possessed the pure 
 gold of a good heart, which saw her through many 
 trials and temptations, and left her, but for her 
 conduct to her eldest son— and some of her cor- 
 respondence—a clean name in history. 
 
 But other more stirring thoughts soon filled the 
 young mothers head than the frailties of her 
 husband's family, for when the sum of her nursery 
 reached four and the little Prince Frederick was 
 in his eighth year, the fruit of her hopes ripened, 
 Queen Anne of England died, and a lucky turn of 
 politics in favour of the Whigs, laid open to her the 
 road to a throne.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Falling in of a Great Legacy. 
 
 On the 18th of June, 1714, the Heiress of 
 England, the Electress Sophia of Hanover, the aged 
 mother of that Prince Elector, who afterwards 
 became George the First of England, and grand- 
 daughter of James the First having dined in public 
 with her son, that is to say having taken her big 
 German mid-day meal in the presence of the Court, 
 went forth on the arm of her granddaughter-in-law, 
 the Electoral Princess Caroline, to take the summer 
 air in the beautiful gardens of the Palace of 
 Herrenhausen. 
 
 Much had occurred during the previous twenty- 
 four hours to upset the " Heiress of Britain " as she 
 was proud to be called, far too much worry for an 
 old lady in her eighty-fourth year. Even at that 
 advanced age the glamour of the English crown 
 fascinated her. Perhaps it was the long drawn out 
 hope of many years, the hope that possibly had been 
 ever before her eyes since the flight of James the 
 Second. 
 
 She had received a letter on the previous day 
 written by the hand of Queen Anne herself in which 
 
 (12)
 
 THE FALLING IN OF A GEEAT LEGACY. 13 
 
 that royal lady had distinctly told her in the most 
 peremptory manner in answer to a supplication to 
 that effect, that she objected to have any member 
 of the Electoral family in her dominions during her 
 lifetime. 
 
 This had been a crushing blow. The old 
 Electress had schemed, and schemed as she 
 imagined successfully, to establish her grandson 
 George Augustus, the Electoral Prince, with his 
 wife in England. This would have been a masterly 
 stroke worthy of the universal reputation for policy 
 of so grand an old lady, and would have been as it 
 were the planting of one foot on the land she looked 
 upon as her rightful heritage, but fate and Queen 
 Anne decided differently. The latter had left no 
 room for doubt about her intentions. Writing to 
 her confidant Leibnitz, on the 17th June, the 
 Electoral Princess Caroline said on the subject of 
 this letter and others : 
 
 " We were in a state of uncertainty here until 
 yesterday, when a courier arrived from the Queen 
 with letters for the Electress, the Elector, and the 
 Electoral Prince, of which I can only say that they 
 are of a violence worthy of my Lord Bolingbroke."* 
 
 It is perfectly certain that Queen Anne had made 
 herself exceedingly objectionable as even a Queen 
 can at times, and had not possibly stayed to choose 
 her words. Be that as it may, she had succeeded 
 
 * The Electoral Princess Caroline to Leibnitz, Hanover, 17th June, 1714. 
 From Wilkins' " Caroline."
 
 14 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES 
 
 in entirely upsetting the equanimity of her " good 
 cousin " the Electress. 
 
 The old lady issuing from the Palace, where 
 possibly she had dined more amply than was 
 judicious — for she was a great eater — leant on the 
 arm of her beloved Catherine and harped as ladies of 
 her age will do on the string of her treatment by 
 her kinswoman Anne. It is said that she became 
 greatly excited and walked very fast, as she spoke 
 of her imagined wrongs. They bent their steps 
 towards the celebrated orangery, where the Princess 
 and the attendants with them noticed the Electress 
 turn very white ; then the next moment she fell 
 forward in a swoon. 
 
 The cries of the attendants quickly brought to her 
 aid her son the Elector who was not far off, and he 
 placed some poudre d'or — evidently a restorative — 
 in her mouth. But she was beyond the power of 
 earthly restoratives ; she was carried into the 
 Palace and in the barbarous custom of the time bled, 
 but very little blood came* ; she was dead ! as the 
 doctors said, from apoplexy. 
 
 Thus did this great Princess, to whom our own 
 late Queen, Victoria, her descendant, has been so 
 often likened, miss by a little over six weeks the 
 great goal of all her long years of ambition, the 
 throne of England, for Queen Anne died on the 1st 
 of August following. 
 
 It is extraordinary that after the lapse of six 
 
 * D'Alais's Despatch. Hanover, 22nd June, 1714. Wilkins' " Caroline."
 
 THE FALLING IN OP A GEE AT LEGACY. 15 
 
 generations a descendant so like her should fill that 
 throne after which she had striven so long and so 
 wisely for her family. 
 
 Her son George was now the "Heir of Britain" 
 in her place ; an heirship which was to very soon 
 resolve itself into possession, for within a few weeks 
 began that celebrated crisis in England between 
 Oxford and Bolingbroke which from the virulence of 
 the discussions at the Councils absolutely broke 
 down Queen Anne's health and killed her. 
 
 She departed this life on the 1st of August, 1714, 
 almost her last intelligible words being of her 
 brother, the Pretender : " My brother ! Oh ! my 
 poor brother. What will become of you ? " 
 
 On July 31st, Craggs, a creature of the Whig 
 Government, had been despatched to Hanover to 
 convey the news that the Queen of England was 
 dying. 
 
 Craggs reached Hanover on August 5 th — a 
 journey then apparently of six days — but his 
 performance, though accomplished, one can imagine, 
 with all haste, was entirely eclipsed by that of one 
 Godike, secretary to Bothmar, the Hanoverian 
 Envoy to England, who, despatched by his master 
 on August 1st, the day of the Queen's death, 
 arrived at Hanover on the 5th, the same day as 
 Craggs, and proceeding direct to the Palace of 
 Herrenhausen, conveyed the news to the Elector 
 before any of the other messengers from England 
 arrived.
 
 16 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 It was this enterprising Bothmar who really 
 decided George in accepting the British Crown, for 
 had not his reports from London been satisfactory 
 as to the feeling of the people, or at any rate as to 
 the absence of hostility to the Elector on their part, 
 it is very unlikely that George would have left his 
 beloved Herrenhausen at all, and England might 
 to-day have been ruled by a Stuart King. 
 
 " The late King," wrote Dean Lockier after the 
 death of George the First, " would never have 
 stirred a step if there had been any strong opposi- 
 tion."* 
 
 But there was no disturbance, the people of 
 London at any rate were quiet, probably in a state 
 of expectancy, and the preparations of the Elector 
 and his family for a move to England commenced 
 forthwith . 
 
 Nevertheless, the new King of England did not 
 hurry himself to take possession of his dominions ; 
 he had been there thirty-four years before on a 
 matrimonial venture, of which the late Queen Anne, 
 then Princess of York, was the object, and he 
 apparently cherished no pleasant recollections of the 
 visit, which had proved a dismal failure. 
 
 However, he started a month after the death of 
 Queen Anne for the Hague, there to embark for 
 England, and he took with him a numerous following 
 of Hanoverians in which was Bernstorff, his Prime 
 Minister, and two-thirds of his seraglio, i.e., the 
 
 •Wilkins' "Caroline."
 
 THE FALLING IN OF A GREAT LEGACY. 17 
 
 Ladies Schulemburg and Kielmansegge. It is not 
 surprising that with his Eastern proclivities he took 
 also a couple of Turks by name Mustapha and 
 Mahomet, but whether these two last were eunuchs, 
 in attendance on the two ladies of the harem or not 
 is not mentioned in history. 
 
 To his son, the Electoral Prince, George gave 
 the command to travel with him, the Princess 
 Caroline was to follow in a month with all her 
 children except one. Little Prince Frederick Louis, 
 the subject of these Memoirs, by his grandfather's 
 command, was to remain behind in Hanover, a child 
 of seven, alone and separated from the rest of his 
 kindred.
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Prince at the Age of Nine. 
 
 The new King, George the First of England, 
 having departed with his train, and a month after 
 the Princess Caroline — soon to become Princess of 
 Wales — following with all the other children, little 
 Frederick Louis, then in his eighth year, was left 
 alone at Herrenhausen under the guardianship of 
 his great-uncle Ernest Augustus and controlled by- 
 various governors and tutors. 
 
 One can imagine the little lonely boy wandering 
 through the deserted corridors of the Palace of 
 Herrenhausen and picturing the figures of those 
 dearest to him, those who had left him and whose 
 faces he was not to see again for many a long year. 
 In the early days of that separation one can picture 
 the child in the orange walks of the beautiful 
 grounds in the warm autumn time and looking 
 and longing for his mother — she was a good and 
 affectionate mother to him then — whose face he 
 was not to see again for nearly fourteen years. 
 During the next two years while the excitement of 
 the Pretender's invasion was passing in England, 
 the little Prince lived the ordinary life of a child, 
 but with the difference from ordinary children that 
 
 (18)
 
 THE PRINCE AT THE AGE OF NINE. 19 
 
 he must have been an exceedingly lonely child. 
 That he was without companions of his own age is 
 quite certain from what followed. From his great - 
 uncle it is unlikely that he received much sympathy, 
 if that Prince partook of the nature of his brother 
 the King-Elector George. But there was one left 
 behind there who possibly showed him some kind- 
 ness — although there is not a vestige of evidence 
 to show that she did— and that was the beautiful 
 Countess Platen, the mistress of the Kinji who was 
 left behind on account of the religion she professed, 
 and because Bernstorff, the Hanoverian Prime 
 Minister, was jealous of her influence over the 
 King. 
 
 So for two years the little Prince lived his child's 
 life and nothing was recorded of him. Then we 
 hear of him from two sources : from Lady Mary 
 Wortley-Montagu, who visited Hanover in 1716, 
 like many other English in the train of the King, 
 and from his governor who reported upon his 
 conduct to his mother about this time. 
 
 The former of these who could be trusted— for 
 Lady Mary was no Court sycophant and lied to no 
 one — writes as follows of Frederick : — 
 
 ' ; Our young Prince, the Duke of Gloucester "— 
 he had just received that title from his grandfather, 
 but the patent never passed the Seal—" has all the 
 accomplishments which it is possible to have at his 
 age, with an air of sprightliness and understanding, 
 and something so very engaging and easy in his
 
 20 A FOEGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 behaviour that he needs not the advantage of his 
 rank to appear charming. I had the honour of a 
 long conversation with him last night before the 
 King came in. His governor retired on purpose, 
 as he told me afterwards that I might make some 
 judgment of his genius by hearing him speak 
 without constraint, and I was surprised by the 
 quickness and politeness that appeared in every- 
 thing that he said, joined to a person perfectly 
 agreeable, and the fine fair hair of the Princess." 
 
 So much for little Prince Frederick at the age of 
 nine. It may be here explained that his mother 
 Caroline, Princess of Wales, had beautiful fair hair 
 and a lovely skin ; she was said also to possess the 
 ifinest bust in Europe. 
 
 But from the very favourable account of Lady 
 Mary we have to turn to the other, that of his 
 governor, and that is far from nattering. Indeed, 
 in this record we shall be continually turning from 
 good report to evil report, and from evil report back 
 again to the good. It will be necessary later to 
 draw a line and divide the makers of these 
 reports into two distinct parties, the prejudiced 
 and interested, the unprejudiced, those who had 
 nothing to gain by vilifying him. 
 
 But on the occasion we refer to, the governor of 
 the young Prince had a good deal to say ; he spoke 
 with feeling, as one who had suffered, and most 
 probably he had : he reveals a very pitiable state of 
 affairs.
 
 THE PRINCE AT THE AGE OF NINE. 21 
 
 His complaints were embodied in a letter to 
 Prince Frederick's mother, and were as follows ; he 
 was a precocious youth — it must be remembered 
 he was only nine years old — he already gambled and 
 drank. 
 
 The Princess of Wales, however, made light of 
 the matter. 
 
 " Ah," she answered, " I perceive that these are 
 the tricks of a page." 
 
 To which his irate governor responded : 
 
 "Plut a Dieu, madame," he virtuously answered, 
 "these are not the tricks of a page ; these are the 
 tricks of a lacquey and a rascal ! " 
 
 It is pretty certain that young as the boy was his 
 life was developing on the same lines as his father 
 and grandfather, for which their bad example and 
 the lonely state in which he lived was undoubtedly 
 accountable. 
 
 George the First, however, when he visited 
 Hanover in 1716 found no fault with his grandson. 
 He appears to have been one of the few friends the 
 boy had. He evidently approved of him in every 
 way whether he knew of the child's growing bad 
 habits or not. He was especially pleased that he 
 held courts and levees at Herrenhausen in his 
 absence and as a* mark of his general approval 
 created the boy Duke of Gloucester, but as it has 
 been already stated the patent never passed the 
 Seal, probably because the title chosen had proved 
 a very unlucky one in former cases.
 
 22 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 A propos of this visit of King George to 
 Hanover — the first since his accession to the 
 English throne two years before — Lady Mary 
 Wortley- Montagu writes : — 
 
 " This town is neither large nor handsome, but 
 the palace capable of holding a greater Court than 
 that of St. James's. The King has had the kind- 
 ness to appoint us a lodging in one part, without 
 which we should be very ill-accommodated, for the 
 vast number of English crowds the town so much 
 it is very good luck to get one sorry room in a 
 miserable tavern. . . . The King's company of 
 French comedians play here every night ; they are 
 very well dressed, and some of them not ill actors. 
 His Majesty dines and sups constantly in public. 
 The Court is very numerous, and its affability and 
 goodness make it one of the most agreeable places 
 in the world."* 
 
 Lady Mary writes again to another friend : 
 " I have now got into the region of beauty. All 
 the women have literally rosy cheeks, snowy fore- 
 heads and bosoms ; jet eyebrows and scarlet lips, 
 to which they generally add coal black hair. These 
 perfections never leave them until the hour of their 
 deaths, and have a very fine effect by candle-light. 
 But I could wish them handsome with a little more 
 variety. They resemble one of the beauties of 
 Mrs. Salmon's Court of Great Britain, t and are in 
 
 ♦Lady Mary Wortley - Montagu to the Countess of Bristol, 
 25th November, 1716. Wilkins' " Caroline." 
 
 t A celebrated waxwork show in London at that time.
 
 THE PEINCE AT THE AGE OF NINE. 23 
 
 as much danger of melting away by approaching 
 too close to the fire, which they for that reason, 
 carefully avoid, though it is now such excessive cold 
 weather that I believe they suffer extremely by 
 that piece of self-denial." 
 
 This bit of satire apparently was directed at the 
 Hanoverian ladies' excessive fat. 
 
 But Lady Mary was charmed with Herrenhausen. 
 
 " I was very sorry," she writes, " that the ill 
 weather did not permit me to see Herrenhausen in 
 all its beauty, but in spite of the snow I think the 
 gardens very fine. I was particularly surprised at 
 the vast number of orange trees, much larger than 
 any I have ever seen in England, though this 
 climate is certainly colder. "§ 
 
 It appears from the account in Mr. Wilkins' 
 " Caroline the Illustrious." that King George 
 enjoyed himself immensely during this 1716 visit to 
 Hanover, and that he found much pleasure in the 
 society of the beautiful but unscrupulous Countess 
 Platen, from whom he had been separated for two 
 years. Lady Mary Montagu herself, too, was not 
 without favour in His Majesty's eyes. The King- 
 Elector, however, had also brought with him the 
 remainder of the harem, viz., Schulemburg and 
 Kielmansegge, with the two Turks presumably to 
 look after them. 
 
 Yet with all this trouble around him King 
 
 §Lady Mary Wortley- Montagu to the Lady Rich, Hanover, 
 1st December, 1716. From Wilkins' "Caroline."
 
 24 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 George found life pleasurable. In the above 
 account Lord Peterborough, who was in his suite, is 
 represented as remarking of him that "he believed 
 he had forgotten the accident which happened to 
 him and his family on the 1st August, 1714." 
 
 But time passed on, and the King returned once 
 more to England, leaving his little nine-year-old 
 grandson to the tender care, officially, of his brother 
 Ernest Augustus and his governors, but unofficially 
 to the society of such grooms and hangers-on of the 
 palace who could throw themselves, to the boy's 
 ruin, in his way.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 In which England gets a New King and Queen. 
 
 George the First died on the 10th of June, 1727 , 
 while in a travelling carriage ascending a hill near 
 Ippenburen on the road to Hanover, of a fit brought 
 on by a too-free indulgence in melons. These he 
 unfortunately ate on the previous night while 
 supping at the house of a local nobleman, the 
 Count de Twittel. 
 
 He was succeeded by his son George, Prince of 
 Wales, who was born at Hanover the 30th October, 
 1683, of Sophia, Princess of Luneberg Zell, his 
 father's uncrowned Queen. Thus Caroline, the 
 mother of our Prince Frederick, exchanged her 
 position of Princess of Wales for that of Queen 
 of England. 
 
 The Princess of Wales had been a success in 
 England from the very first ; a success which was 
 not to be wondered at if the following description 
 of her is correct : — 
 
 " She still retained her beauty. She was more 
 than common tall, of majestic presence, she had 
 an exquisitely-modelled neck and bust, and her 
 hand was the delight of the sculptor. Her smile 
 was distinguished by its sweetness and her voice 
 
 25)
 
 26 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OP WALES. 
 
 was rich and low. Her lofty brow, and clear, 
 thoughtful gaze showed that she was a woman of 
 no ordinary mould. She had the royal memory, 
 and, what must have been a very useful attribute 
 to her, the power of self-command ; she was an 
 adept in the art of concealing her feelings, of 
 suiting herself to her company, and of occasionally 
 appearing to be what she was not. Her love of 
 art, letters and science, her lively spirits, quick 
 apprehension of character, and affability were all 
 points in her favour. She had, too, a love of state, 
 and appeared magnificently arrayed at Court 
 ceremonials, evidently delighting in her exalted 
 position and fully alive to its dignity."* 
 
 To the Princess's attractions were added those of 
 her maids of honour : all " Well-born, witty and 
 beautiful, and not out of their teens." 
 
 First of these, par excellence, was Mary Bellenden, 
 daughter of John second Lord Bellenden. To the 
 fascinating charms of her person which were 
 undeniable was added an exceedingly lively dis- 
 position. She is thus referred to in an old ballad 
 dealing with the quarrel between George the First 
 and the Prince of Wales, when the Prince and all 
 his household received notice to quit St. James's : 
 
 " But Bellenden we needs must praise 
 Who as down the stairs she jumps ; 
 Sings over the hills and far away, 
 Despising doleful dumps." 
 *Wilkins' "Caroline the Illustrious."
 
 ENGLAND GETS A NEW KING AND QUEEN. 27 
 
 She did not escape the unwelcome attentions of the 
 Prince of Wales to whom sprightly fresh young 
 English girls were a novelty after the heavy Fraus 
 of Hanover, though his wife Caroline was certainly 
 an exception. 
 
 It is stated by Coxe in his " Memoirs of Sir 
 Kobert Walpole" that he sent his abominable 
 propositions to Mary Bellenden by Mrs. Howard, 
 the before-mentioned " nucleus " of his harem who 
 had accompanied him to England, and that the 
 pure-minded Mary very properly snubbed both him 
 and his messenger — who was nothing more than a 
 procuress if she really carried the message — for 
 their pains. 
 
 Coxe then states that the Prince being rejected 
 by Miss Bellenden fell in love with Mrs. Howard, 
 but he could not, of course, have been aware that 
 the liaison between the Prince and this lady began 
 in Hanover. 
 
 This seduction or attempted seduction of the 
 maids of honour appears, as will be seen later, to 
 have been quite a recognised pastime at Court, in 
 which the Prince of Wales of the moment took an 
 active part ; but all honour be to sweet Mary 
 Bellenden who preserved her good name, became 
 Duchess of Argyle, and handed a pure record down 
 to posterity. 
 
 This young lady appears to have possessed a 
 particular charm and fascination, both from her 
 beauty and her sparkling wit and high spirits.
 
 28 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OP WALES. 
 
 Horace Walpole states that the palm was awarded 
 " above all for universal admiration to Miss 
 Bellenden. Her face and person were charming, 
 lively she was even to etourderie, and so agreeable 
 that she was never afterwards mentioned by her 
 contemporaries but as the most perfect creature 
 they had ever seen." 
 
 Gay, the poet, refers to la belle Bellenden more 
 than once. 
 
 So well I'm known at Court 
 
 None asks where Cupid dwells : 
 But readily resort 
 
 To Bellendens or Lepels. 
 
 — Gay's Ballad of " Damon and Cupid.' 
 
 It has been said that this young lady was the 
 subject of improper advances from the Prince of 
 Wales, which were rejected. Snubbing, however, 
 seemed to have but little effect on the Heir- 
 Apparent ; he pressed his attentions upon her in 
 the following elegant and gentlemanly manner. 
 
 Mary Bellenden, like many others who live in the 
 atmosphere of Courts, suffered almost chronically 
 from what is called " Living in Short Street" ; she 
 was always hard up. 
 
 The refined George being well aware of this, in 
 common, probably, with most of the household, took 
 upon himself one evening to sit beside the beautiful 
 Bellenden, and taking out his purse— one of those 
 long silk net affairs, no doubt — commenced to count 
 out his guineas as a gentle hint that he was pre-
 
 MARY BELLENDEN, 
 4th Duchess of Argyll. 
 
 Copied for this book by the kindness of the present Duke from the 
 Gallery at Inveraray.
 
 ENGLAND GETS A NEW KING AND QUEEN. 29 
 
 pared to settle Mary's outstanding bills — which 
 may have been particularly pressing at the time — 
 a quid pro quo being understood. 
 
 Miss Bellenden bore the telling of his guineas 
 once, but when he began to count them again she 
 remonstrated. 
 
 " Sir," she cried, " I cannot bear it ; if you count 
 your money any more, I will go out of the room." 
 
 The delicate-minded George, fresh from the 
 mercenary and accommodating ladies of Herren- 
 hausen, was not abashed at this rejoinder ; he 
 jingled his guineas against Mary's pretty little 
 ear. The result was exactly what it should have 
 been. Mary rose with sparkling eyes and cheeks 
 aflame, and with one well-directed blow, sent his 
 purse and his guineas flying across the room ; then 
 Mary, probably aghast at her act, ran away. 
 
 Another way of showing her contempt of her 
 royal admirer was to stand with crossed arms in 
 his presence. Later she wrote on this subject to 
 Mrs. Howard, with whom she appeared to have 
 formed a close intimacy ; she was recommending a 
 new maid-of-honour to her care : 
 
 " I hope you will put her a little in the way of 
 behaving before the Princess, such as not turning 
 her back ; and one thing runs mightily in my head, 
 which is, crossing her arms, as I did to the Prince, 
 and told him I was not cold but liked to stand 
 so. * 
 
 •Suffolk Letters. Wilkins.
 
 30 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 But Miss Bellenden was in love, which is the 
 greatest safeguard against such persons as the little 
 German Prince of Wales. She loved a certain 
 groom of the bedchamber to the Prince, Colonel 
 John Campbell, some years later Duke of 
 Argyle. But here George showed a little of the 
 noblesse which one expects from a descendant of 
 Edward the Third. 
 
 Finding that Mary Bellenden was in love, though 
 he did not know the object of her affections, he 
 showed no ill-feeling, but asked a pledge from her 
 that she would not marry without informing him, 
 and in return he would give her and her future 
 husband his favour. But Mary had lived much at 
 Court, and mistrusted princes. 
 
 A year or two later she secretly married Colonel 
 Campbell, and was no doubt very happy, but 
 certainly impecunious in that long interval before 
 she became a Duchess. In 1720 she writes to her 
 friend Mrs. Howard, from Bath, and good and pure 
 woman and loving wife though she was, her letter 
 is a fair sample of the free and easy, not to say 
 broad, style of even virtuous ladies of the period. 
 
 " Oh ! God," she writes, "I am so sick of bills ; 
 for my part I believe I shall never be able to hear 
 them mentioned without casting up my accounts — 
 bills are accounts you know. I do not know how 
 your bills go in London, but I am sure mine are 
 not dropped, for I paid one this morning as long as 
 my arm and as broad as my ....
 
 ENGLAND GETS A NEW KING AND QUEEN. 31 
 
 " I intend to send you a letter of attorney, to 
 enable you to dispose of my goods before I may 
 leave this place — such is my condition." 
 
 But there were other maids-of-honour only a little 
 less charming. There was Margaret Bellenden, of 
 whom Gay wrote.* Mary's sister or cousin, almost 
 as beautiful, and Mary Lepel who was raved about 
 by such excellent critics as Gay, Pope and Voltaire, 
 not to mention the courtiers Chesterfield and Bath. 
 
 She appears to have been of a more stately style 
 of beauty than Mary Bellenden, and of a more staid 
 disposition. 
 
 Then there was Bridget Carteret, niece of Lord 
 Carteret, who was fair and -petite. The oldest of 
 them all was " prim, pale Margaret Meadows," who 
 seems to have done her best to keep them all in 
 order, but had terrible difficulty with giddy Sophia 
 Howe, who was the daughter of John Howe by 
 Ruperta, a natural daughter of Prince Rupert, 
 brother of the old Elect ress Sophia, which fact was 
 probably the reason of her appointment as maid-of- 
 honour to the Princess of Wales. She was up to all 
 sorts of mischief, and among other enormities was 
 given to laughing in church, which is not to be 
 wondered at when we consider that the King and the 
 other Royalties were accustomed to talk all the time. 
 
 Sophia Howe was, however, reproached for her 
 laughing by the Duchess of St. Albans, who told 
 her " she could not do a worse thing." To this she 
 
 * " Madge Bellenden, the tallest of the land, and smiling Mary soft and 
 fair as down." J
 
 32 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 pertly answered — and one can almost hear her 
 saying it — " I beg your Grace's pardon, I can do 
 a, great many worse things." 
 
 This conduct of the maids-of-honour — accompanied 
 by much ogling and smiling at gallants, however, 
 at last aroused the ire of Bishop Burnet, who 
 complained to the Princess of Wales, and requested 
 that their pew should be boarded up so that 
 they could not see over. This from the Bishop's 
 importunity being at last done, provoked the 
 following verses in retaliation from one of the young 
 ladies' admirers, supposed to be Lord Peterborough : 
 Bishop Burnet perceived that the beautiful dames 
 Who nocked to the Chapel of hilly St. James 
 On their lovers alone their kind looks did bestow, 
 And smiled not on him while he bellowed below. 
 To the Princess he went with pious intent, 
 This dangerous ill to the Church to prevent ; 
 " Oh, Madam," he said, " our religion is lost, 
 If the ladies thus ogle the knights of the toast. 
 These practices, Madam, my teaching disgrace, 
 Shall laymen enjoy the first rights of my place ? 
 Then all may lament my condition so hard, 
 Who thrash in the pulpit without a reward. 
 Then, pray, condescend such disorders to end, 
 And to the ripe vineyard the labourers send 
 To build up the seats that the beauties may see 
 The face of no bawling pretender but me." 
 The Princess by rude importunity press'd, 
 Though she laughed at his reasons, allowed his request ; 
 And now Britain's nymphs in a Protestant reign 
 Are box'd up at prayers, like the virgins of Spain.
 
 ENGLAND GETS A NEW KING AND QUEEN. 33 
 
 It is not surprising to find that during the reign 
 of George the First his mistresses Schulemburg and 
 Kielmansegge were much in evidence. They were 
 particularly hated by the populace, also the Turks 
 Mustapha and Mahomet, possibly on account of 
 their association with them ; but these latter 
 infidels also appear to have had the honour of 
 dressing and undressing their master the King. 
 
 The Court of George the First had not by any 
 means been a refined one ; the old King greatly 
 loved the society of ladies who were not over 
 particular in their conversation. 
 
 The following, taken from Mr. Wilkins' " Caroline," 
 will illustrate this. Lady Cowper, who was ex- 
 tremely proper, writes of an entertainment at 
 Court : 
 
 " Though I was greatly diverted and there was 
 a good deal of music, yet I could not avoid being 
 uneasy at the repetition of some words in French 
 which the Duchess of Bolton said by mistake, 
 which convinced me that the two foreign ladies" 
 (presumably Schulemburg and Kielmansegge) "were 
 no better than they should be." 
 
 It appears that the Court of this King was 
 graced or disgraced by the presence of many such 
 ladies. One night three mistresses of former Kings 
 met there : the Duchess of Portsmouth, the par- 
 ticular lady of Charles the Second ; Lady Orkney, 
 who occupied a similar position with regard to 
 William the Third ; and old Lady Dorchester, the
 
 34 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 favourite of James the Second. The latter was 
 evidently a lady to her finger tips. 
 
 " Who ! " she exclaimed, " would have thought 
 that we three w . . . . s should have met here ? " 
 
 Of the Duchess of Bolton, who was a lady also 
 rather free of speech, the following anecdote is 
 related. 
 
 She was very fond of the play, and recommending 
 anything especially good to the old King. On this 
 occasion she was telling him of Colley Cibber's 
 " Love's Last Shift," the title of which conveyed 
 nothing to His Majesty. He asked her to put it 
 into French. The Duchess, who was fond of a joke, 
 replied gravely : " La dernier e chemise de l' amour," 
 whereat the King laughed heartily. 
 
 The lovely Duchess of Shrewsbury was another 
 of the King's favourite companions, of whom the 
 prim Lady Cowper— herself much admired by His 
 Majesty, who did not always express his admiration 
 in the most refined terms — said as follows : 
 
 " Though she had a wonderful art of entertaining 
 and diverting people, would sometimes exceed the 
 bounds of decency." 
 
 But as it has been before stated, the favourites of 
 the Kino- who excited the most resentment of the 
 populace — who were very free in expressing their 
 opinion — were Schulemburg and Kielmansegge. 
 
 On one occasion Schulemburg was so beset by the 
 crowd that she ventured to argue with them, and 
 thrust her red wig and painted face out of her
 
 ENGLAND GETS A NEW KING AND QUEEN. 35 
 
 coach to address them in the best English she had. 
 
 " Goot pipple," she exclaimed, " what for you 
 abuse us, we come for all your goots ? " 
 
 "Yes, d. . n ye," added a man in the mob, "and 
 for all our chattels, too." 
 
 When the Duke of Somerset, in 1715, resigned 
 the Mastership of the Horse as a protest against 
 the arrest of his son-in-law, Sir William Wyndham, 
 Schulemburg, who was nothing if not a daughter of 
 the horse-leech, suggested that the office should be 
 left vacant and the salary, £7,500 per annum, paid 
 to her. To the disgust of the nation the King 
 complied with her wish. 
 
 It does not say much for the dignity of the 
 Court in those days that some of the leading 
 Whig nobility and even their wives and daughters 
 filled the rooms of these two old harridans at St. 
 James's, which apartments were placed respectively 
 at opposite ends of the Palace, with those of the 
 King conveniently between them to keep peace, for 
 they hated each other as much as their friend the 
 Devil detests holy water. 
 
 The lives of the Prince and Princess of Wales had 
 been exceedingly gay, especially during the absence 
 of George the First in Hanover. 
 
 They extended a liberal hospitality, keeping 
 almost open house, with the object no doubt of 
 securing popularity against the time when they 
 should be King and Queen. 
 
 Hampton Court appears to have been a very
 
 36 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 favourite summer residence of theirs, the river 
 offering a convenient mode of progression. In the 
 summer of 1716 they proceeded to Hampton Court 
 in state barges hung with crimson and gold, and 
 preceded by a band of music. 
 
 Here at this riverside Palace they collected a 
 brilliant throng of the wittiest, the most learned, 
 and most important of all from the point of view of 
 a Court, the most beautiful. 
 
 At the death of George the First the kingdom 
 was ruled by his minister, Sir Robert Walpole, son 
 of a Norfolk squire, Walpole of Houghton, to which 
 estate they had in comparatively recent years 
 removed from Walpole in the Marshland of 
 Norfolk, from which latter place they evidently 
 had originally derived their name. 
 
 George the First being able to speak little or no 
 English, and Sir Robert Walpole being innocent of 
 French, Latin proved to be the only tongue in 
 which they could converse, so that Walpole was in 
 the habit of remarking that he governed the 
 kingdom by means of bad Latin, the bad Latin 
 possibly of his Eton days, though he certainly 
 completed his education at King's College, Cam- 
 bridge. 
 
 At about the age of twenty-five Walpole had 
 married a beautiful girl, Catherine, daughter of 
 John Shorter, Esquire, of Bybrook, Kent, and very 
 soon after succeeding his father, old hard-drinking 
 Squire Walpole, in the family estate he entered
 
 ENGLAND GETS A NEW KING AND QUEEN. 37 
 
 Parliament for the rotten borough of Castle Rising, 
 which used to return two members to Parliament 
 to half-a-dozen electors. 
 
 He soon made a name in the House of Commons, 
 and from that time forward it was indelibly stamped 
 upon the politics of England. 
 
 Unfortunately, Walpole was much given to wine 
 and women, despite his beautiful wife ; in fact, she 
 was not far behind him on her part in receiving 
 the attentions of the opposite sex. She is said to 
 have had liaisons with Lord Hervey, and also with 
 the little Prince of Wales, adding one more to his 
 long list of " foiblesses." It is almost incredible to 
 believe, as it has been stated, that Robert Walpole 
 lent himself to this intrigue of his wife's to curry 
 favour with the Prince. 
 
 Be this as it may, it stood him in poor stead 
 on the death of George the First, for when he 
 presented himself to the new King, who was at the 
 time at the Palace of Richmond, and having broken 
 the news of the old Kind's death and kissed hands, 
 asked who should draw up the declaration to the 
 Privy Council, he was abruptly told by the new 
 monarch to go to Sir Spencer Compton, who was his 
 treasurer as Prince of Wales. 
 
 It was not until after some days of very painful 
 suspense that Walpole, through the good offices of 
 the new Queen, Caroline, who had a great belief 
 in his talents as a financier, was sent for and re- 
 appointed First Lord Commissioner of the Treasury
 
 38 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 and Chancellor of the Exchequer. As a matter of 
 fact of course they could not do without him. 
 
 But in all the years that passed from the accession 
 of the Hanoverian dynasty in 1714 to the death of 
 George the First, in 1727, it is almost incredible to 
 believe that Caroline could have forgotten her first- 
 born son in Hanover, whom at this time she had not 
 seen for thirteen years. 
 
 Whatever the origin of the dislike — nay hatred — 
 was which unnaturally grew up between this son 
 and his parents, it must have begun at an early 
 period. Its nature will now be never known in 
 all probability, but it must have been a most 
 extraordinary revulsion of feeling which caused 
 such a woman as Caroline, kind-hearted, intellectual, 
 in every other respect a perfect mother, to 
 turn against the first child she had held to her 
 bosom. 
 
 Some say that Caroline's affection had been 
 absorbed by her younger son William, Duke of 
 Cumberland, who was born in England, and who 
 extraordinarily resembled her, and this theory 
 takes colour when considering the fact that the 
 Prince and Princess up to the time of his birth had 
 continually urged George the First to allow Prince 
 Frederick to come to England, but after the arrival 
 of the new Prince no further requests were made in 
 this direction, but all their hopes and ambitions 
 for the future seemed centred in Prince William, for 
 whom it is said they would gladly have secured the
 
 ENGLAND GETS A NEW KING AND QUEEN. 39 
 
 throne of England if they had been able, leaving the 
 Electorate of Hanover for Frederick. 
 
 It was very unnatural, but such freaks do occur, 
 though they do not reflect any honour upon those 
 by whom they are affected, but even this answer 
 would be no solution to the question of the reason 
 for the deep-seated hatred for their eldest son which 
 took possession of King George the Second and his 
 Queen at a later period. It will ever remain a 
 mystery. 
 
 Lord Hervey, with a great deal of parade, affected 
 to be in possession of the secret, and left certain 
 directions to those who came after him about its 
 disclosure in his papers, but it is very difficult to 
 believe that this nobleman was cognizant of the 
 reason which caused a father and mother — the 
 latter certainly of an affectionate nature — to turn 
 against a child of nine. 
 
 The reason probably lies far deeper. 
 
 But if Prince Frederick was forgotten by his 
 father and mother, he was certainly not overlooked 
 by the English people. 
 
 " Clamours," it was said soon after the accession 
 of George the Second, " were justly raised in 
 England that the Heir-Apparent had received a 
 foreign education and was detained abroad as if to 
 keep alive an attachment to Hanover in preference 
 to Great Britain. 
 
 "The Ministers at length ventured to remonstrate 
 with the King on the subject, and the Privy Council
 
 40 A FOKGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 formally represented the propriety of his residence 
 in England."* 
 
 George the Second, however, and his Queen — who 
 with Walpole really ruled the kingdom — stuck out 
 as long as they possibly could against bringing 
 Prince Frederick over, and in the King's case there 
 was an additional reason for obstinacy. He had 
 been a most undutiful son himself, and realised 
 what an exceedingly sharp thorn in his side 
 Frederick might become if he took that same line 
 also. 
 
 But while the King and Queen were trying to 
 make up their minds to send for their first-born, 
 certain events occurred in Hanover which materially 
 hastened their decision. 
 
 *Coxe's "Walpole."
 
 National Portrait Gallery. 
 
 GEORGE IT. 
 
 Sjiooner & Co.
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 A Double Event Which Did Not Come Off. 
 
 In the reign of George the First there had 
 commenced an important negotiation between that 
 King and Frederick William, King of Prussia, 
 having for its object the union of the two royal 
 houses by a double marriage, Prince Frederick 
 Louis, King George's grandson, was to wed with 
 Wilhelmina, the Princess Royal of Prussia ; the 
 Prince Royal of Prussia was to marry the Princess 
 Amelia, sister of Prince Frederick, afterwards 
 Frederick the Great. 
 
 This arrangement had been most eagerly fostered 
 by Sophia Dorothy, daughter of George the First, 
 who had espoused the King of Prussia ; the negotia- 
 tions had reached such a successful stage that King 
 George had promised that the nuptials of his 
 grandson with the Princess Wilhelmina should be 
 celebrated at his next visit to Hanover, but his 
 death had prevented the fulfilment of his promise. 
 
 There had also been another reason which had 
 tended to delay the marriage, and this had been 
 the sudden secession of King Frederick William of 
 Prussia from the Treaty of Hanover, and this had 
 
 (41)
 
 42 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 greatly offended his father-in-law, King George of 
 England. 
 
 Other obstacles cropped up, too, at the accession 
 of George the Second, who had, from his earliest 
 years, conceived an intense dislike for his cousin, 
 the Prussian King. This was the subject of a most 
 intense regret on Queen Sophia Dorothy's part, 
 who had schemed for the union of her daughter 
 Wilhelmina with Prince Frederick for years. 
 
 As for Prince Frederick himself, there is little 
 doubt that although he had never seen her, yet he 
 had in a romantic way fallen in love with his cousin 
 Wilhelmina. This was quite a natural phase of his 
 sanguine, artistic character. One can quite under- 
 stand that his aunt, the Queen of Prussia, had not 
 neglected any of those little manoeuvres by which 
 the hearts of young men are moved. She was 
 simply a match-making mother, and was quite 
 cognizant of the fact that Frederick would, if he 
 lived, inherit the Crown of England. 
 
 In addition, there was another very strong reason 
 why she should use every endeavour to get her two 
 children settled and away, and that was the extreme 
 brutality of their father, the Prussian King, towards 
 them, who even did not scruple to beat them 
 severely. 
 
 If, however, Prince Frederick had fallen in love 
 with the Princess Wilhelmina's miniature — no doubt 
 the Prussian Queen saw that he had a good one — 
 the Princess, if her Memoirs are to be believed, had
 
 DOUBLE EVENT WHICH DID NOT COME OFF. 43 
 
 conceived no passion for him, but against this she 
 certainly showed feeling when the denouement came, 
 as women will when they lose a lover. 
 
 Her mother had argued with her as to the 
 advantages of the match, as no doubt royal mothers 
 will : 
 
 " He is a good-natured Prince," she urged, " kind- 
 hearted, but very foolish ; if you have sense enough 
 to tolerate his mistresses, you will be able to do 
 what you like with him." 
 
 This art of " tolerating mistresses " seems to be 
 an accomplishment which has been much sought 
 after both by ancient and modern Queens. But 
 this was hardly the kind of argument to foster a 
 romantic passion ; yet, on the other hand, Frederick 
 had not exactly constituted himself by reputation 
 the perfect lover. 
 
 Left alone in Hanover, almost in regal state, as it 
 was understood there, for he held all the Levees and 
 Courts in the absence of his grandfather, he had 
 run very wild, which was no more than could have 
 been expected under the circumstances. 
 
 But for the periodical visits of his grandfather 
 from England, Frederick seems to have been left 
 very much to himself, and with such brilliant 
 examples before him as his father and grandfather, 
 it is not at all to be wondered at that he had 
 mistresses and made a fool of himself generally. 
 
 He appears, however, to have been very good 
 friends with his grandfather, King George, and to
 
 44 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 have taken his part against his father and mother 
 in the quarrels which arose between them and 
 which formed one of the principal scandals of the 
 Court of St. James's. This conduct on his part did 
 not tend to endear him to his parents, but no doubt 
 he felt himself aggrieved at being left so long 
 neglected in Hanover, and, in addition, he only 
 heard his grandfather's version of the quarrels. 
 
 Prince Frederick then being turned twenty-one, 
 and imagining himself to be passionately in love 
 with his cousin Wilhelmina, could ill brook the 
 diplomatic delays of his father and grandfather. 
 
 It must have been a heavy blow to his hopes 
 when the latter died on his way to Hanover, 
 and his promise to have the nuptials of Frederick 
 and Wilhelmina celebrated on his arrival of course 
 fell to the Ground. Neither did his successor, 
 George the Second, seem at all in a hurry to have 
 the marriage solemnized, and the delay to a young 
 man of Frederick's temperament must have been 
 very galling. 
 
 It is not at all surprising, therefore, that after 
 waiting more than a year after the death of George 
 the First, he took the matter into his own hands. 
 He determined to get married to his cousin without 
 consulting anyone. For this purpose he contrived 
 an elaborate scheme, and eventually despatched to 
 Berlin a certain trusty Hanoverian officer named 
 La Motte or La Mothe. 
 
 This man was charged with a mission to a certain
 
 DOUBLE EVENT WHICH DID NOT COME OFF. 45 
 
 Sastot, a chamberlain of the Queen of Prussia, and 
 probably one who had acted as an agent for her in 
 this matter before. The story cannot be better 
 given than in the very words of the young lady 
 herself, Princess Wilhelmina, as recorded in her 
 diary. La Motte made his appearance at the house 
 of Sastot, and communicated to him the following 
 intelligence : 
 
 "lam the bearer of a most important confidential 
 message. You must hide me somewhere in your 
 house that my arrival may remain unknown, and 
 you must manage that one of my letters reaches the 
 King." 
 
 Sastot promised, but asked if his business were 
 good or evil. 
 
 " It will be good if people can hold their tongues," 
 replied La Motte, " but if they gossip it will be 
 evil. However, as I know you are discreet, and as I 
 require your help in obtaining an interview with the 
 Queen, I must confide all to you. 
 
 " The Prince Frederick Louis intends being here 
 in three weeks at the latest. He means to escape 
 secretly from Hanover, brave his father's anger, 
 and marry the Princess." 
 
 Surely this was a most romantic proposal for the 
 good Sastot to listen to ! 
 
 " He has entrusted me," proceeded La Motte, 
 " with the whole affair, and has sent me here to 
 find out if his arrival would be agreeable to the 
 King and Queen, and if they are still anxious for
 
 46 A FORGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 this marriage. If she is capable of keeping a 
 secret, and has no suspicious people about her, 
 will you undertake to speak to the Queen on the 
 subject ? " 
 
 That very night the Chamberlain Sastot went to 
 the Queen and confided the weighty secret to her 
 as he had promised La Motte. 
 
 To the Queen, who had been scheming for years 
 for this very object, Sastot could not well have 
 brought better news. 
 
 " I shall at length see you happy and my wishes 
 realized at the same time ; how much joy at once." 
 
 Such are the words which the Princess Wilhel- 
 mina records of her mother when breaking the news 
 to her. 
 
 But the Princess, according to her own account, 
 was by no means overjoyed at the intelligence : 
 
 "I kissed her hands," says Wilhelmina, "which 
 I covered with tears ! " 
 
 " You are crying ! " my mother exclaimed, " what 
 is the matter ? " 
 
 Here Wilhelmina becomes a little double-faced. 
 
 " I would not disturb her happiness," she writes, 
 " so I answered : 
 
 " ' The thought of leaving you distresses me more 
 than all the crowns of the world could delight me. 
 
 " The Queen was only the more tender towards 
 me in consequence, and then left me. I loved this 
 dear mother truly, and had only spoken the truth 
 to her," she continues, " she left me in a terrible
 
 DOUBLE EVENT WHICH DID NOT GOME OFF 47 
 
 state of mind. I was cruelly torn between my 
 affection for her and my repugnance for the Prince, 
 but I determined to leave all to Providence, which 
 should direct my ways." Very pious of the 
 Princess indeed ! 
 
 The Queen, however, went on her way rejoicing, 
 knowing, perhaps, rather more of her daughter's 
 disposition and therefore troubling less about her 
 tears. 
 
 She was evidently brimming over with high 
 spirits at the Reception which she held that very 
 evening, a most unlucky Reception for her schemes 
 as it turned out, This excellent match-making 
 aunt of Prince Frederick was fated to suffer a 
 terrible disappointment that evening. In a burst 
 of almost incredible confidence she told Bourguait, 
 the English Envoy, the whole plan of Prince 
 Frederick ! 
 
 The Envoy was astounded at the communication, 
 and asked if it were true. 
 
 "Certainly," replied the Queen, "and to show 
 you how true it is, he has sent La Motte here, who 
 has already informed the King of everything." 
 
 " Oh, why does Your Majesty tell me this ? I am 
 wretched, for I must prevent it ! " exclaimed 
 Bourguait. 
 
 " Why ? " asked the dismayed Queen. 
 " Because I am my Sovereign's Envoy ; because 
 my office requires of me that I should inform him of 
 so important a matter. I shall send off a messenger
 
 48 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 to England this very evening. Would to God I 
 had known nothing of all this ! " 
 
 He was as good as his word, and the messenger 
 went off that night despite the Queen's tears. 
 
 A good strong man this Bourguait ; one not to be 
 moved from his duty by even a Queen, for she no 
 doubt left no stone unturned to divert him from a 
 purpose which would render abortive her years of 
 scheming. 
 
 The effects of the message to England were startling. 
 
 King George the Second and his Queen Caroline, 
 who had kept then- eldest son away from England 
 for fourteen years, and had resisted every persuasion 
 of their Ministers to bring him over, hesitated no 
 longer ; a Colonel Lome was despatched at once to 
 Herrenhausen to bring the Prince to London. He 
 lost no time on the journey, and appeared at 
 Herrenhausen while a ball given by Prince 
 Frederick was in progress. This function, how- 
 ever, interfered in no way with Colonel Lome's 
 commands ; he induced the Prince to leave 
 Herrenhausen that very night with but one 
 attendant, and Frederick turned his back upon a 
 home which had sheltered him for many years, 
 although it was in a sense no home at all, and in 
 this life saw it no more. 
 
 But when the news of the King of England's coup 
 and the departure of the Prince reached Berlin, the 
 Royal Palace became no fit place for Christians to 
 live in.
 
 DOUBLE EVENT WHICH DID NOT COME OFF. 49 
 
 The Queen took to her bed, and the Princess 
 Wilhelmina, like other young ladies when they lose 
 their lovers, fainted away, only to come to, apparently 
 and write in her diary " the whole thing was a plot 
 of George the Second," which sounds very much like 
 the remark of an angry and disappointed young- 
 lady, instead of one who wished us to believe that 
 she was inspired with repugnance for Prince 
 Frederick. 
 
 Her father, the King, however, who was in a 
 towering rage at the course events had taken, was 
 evidently not in the habit of wasting a good fit of 
 temper on mere fuming. He appeared on the scene 
 and soundly thrashed both Wilhelmina and her 
 brother Frederick, Mr. Wilkins says, "in a 
 shocking manner." 
 
 And the double marriage scheme ended thus 
 ignominiously !
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Prince and the London of 1728. 
 
 Prince Frederick, accompanied by Colonel Lome 
 and a single servant, traversed Germany and 
 Holland as a private gentleman, and embarked at 
 Helvetsluis for England in the first days of 
 December, 1728. 
 
 Never has a tamer arrival of an Heir-apparent 
 been chronicled in history than this coming of the 
 Prince to London. Here is the brief notice of it in 
 the Daily Post of the 8th December, 1728 : 
 
 " Yesterday His Royal Highness Prince Frederick 
 came to Whitechapel about seven in the evening, 
 and proceeded thence privately in a hackney coach 
 to St. James's. His Royal Highness alighted at the 
 Friary, and walked down to the Queen's backstairs, 
 and was there conducted to Her Majesty's apart- 
 ment." 
 
 There ! no reception of any sort, no guards 
 turning out, no escort, no tap of drum ! It was 
 more like the coming of the Court hairdresser to 
 curl Her Majesty's wig ! 
 
 It is said, however, that his mother received him 
 amiably, — after fourteen years' separation ! His 
 
 (50)
 
 THE PRINCE AND THE LONDON OP 1728. 51 
 
 father, however, treated him with great harshness. 
 " George," says Mr. Wilkins, " had an unnatural 
 and deep-rooted aversion to his eldest son, whom he 
 regarded as necessarily his enemy." 
 
 Certainly the boy — for he was little more — had 
 come home in a sort of disgrace, he had been 
 detected in scheming to run away with a young 
 lady, but he had been checkmated, and the matter 
 was ended. Certainly if there grew up in the 
 aftertime a feeling of resentment against his parents 
 in the Prince's heart, he had some reason for it. It 
 is agreed on all hands that he never had a chance, 
 and that which might have proved a loving nature 
 — and it was a loving nature as will be shown later 
 on — was warped by ill-treatment and neglect into 
 callousness and depravity. 
 
 To a Prince naturally of a nervous and shy dis- 
 position this reception in a strange land must have 
 been most painful, especially when one remembers 
 that most of the slights were received from those 
 who ought to have shown him the most affection 
 and consideration. 
 
 Lord Hervey gives an insight into the kind of 
 life he led when he first arrived. He says : 
 
 " Whenever the Prince was in the room with him 
 (i.e., the King) it put one in mind of stories that 
 one has heard of ghosts that appear to part of 
 the company but are invisible to the rest ; and in 
 this manner, wherever the Prince stood, though the 
 King passed him ever so often, or ever so near, it
 
 52 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 always seemed as if the King thought the Prince 
 filled a void of space." 
 
 According to Mr. Wilkins, " the Prince did not 
 dine in public at St. James's the Sunday after his 
 arrival, but the Queen suffered him to hand her into 
 her pew at the Chapel Royal, and this was his first 
 appearance at the English Court." 
 
 One can imagine those naughty maids-of-honour 
 in their boarded-up pew in the gallery — perhaps 
 poor Anne Vane there with them — saying anything 
 but their prayers at their enclosed condition, which 
 prevented them having a good look at the Prince. 
 But if they did happen to catch a glimpse of him 
 this is what they saw according to a contemporary 
 yetter of Lady Bristol, who describes him as " the 
 most agreeable young man it is possible to imagine, 
 without being the least handsome, his person little, 
 but very well made and genteel, a loveliness in his 
 eyes which is indescribable, and the most obliging 
 address that can be conceived." 
 
 Her account of him, however, falls far short of that 
 which is generally accepted as being a description 
 of his appearance in Smollett's " Peregrine Pickle," 
 which depicts him at a Court ball ; but as this was 
 evidently some time after his arrival — as it is an 
 event connected with his intrigue with Miss Vane — 
 it is quite likely that he may have had time to add 
 to his stature by natural growth. At a later period 
 lie was distinctly and creditably described as being 
 tall. This is Smollett's version :
 
 THE PRINCE AND THE LONDON OF 1728. 53 
 
 " He was dressed in a coat of white cloth, faced 
 with blue satin embroidered with silver, of the same 
 piece with his waistcoat ; his fine hair hung down 
 his back in ringlets below his waist ; his hat was 
 laced with silver and garnished with a white 
 feather ; but his person beggared all description : 
 he was tall and graceful, neither corpulent nor 
 meagre, his limbs finely proportioned, his counte- 
 nance open and majestic, his eyes full of sweetness 
 and vivacity, his teeth regular, and his pouting 
 lips of the complexion of the damask rose. In short, 
 he was formed for love and inspired it wherever he 
 appeared ; nor was he a niggard of his talents, but 
 liberally returned it, at least what passed for such ; 
 for he had a flow of gallantry for which many ladies 
 of this land can vouch from their own experience." 
 
 It must be remembered in reading above des- 
 cription of him, that he inherited his mother's 
 beautiful fair hair and complexion. 
 
 The Court poets were not behindhand with their 
 fulsome verses concerning him, of which this is a 
 sample : 
 
 " Fresh as a rosebud newly blown and fair 
 As opening lilies : on whom every eye 
 With joy and admiration dwells. See, see, 
 He rides his docile barb with manly grace. 
 Is it Adonis for the chase arrayed ? 
 Or Britain's second hope ? 
 
 Britain's first hope apparently was George II. 
 But probably as regards his appearance when he
 
 54 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OP WALES. 
 
 first came to England, Lady Bristol was nearest the 
 mark, though there is no doubt that from this time 
 forward he steadily improved both in stature and 
 in handsomeness of person. Another description of 
 him which will appear in due course will give an 
 idea of the dignity and stateliness to which he 
 attained in his maturer years. 
 
 Prince Frederick came from the obscure old town 
 of Hanover with its narrow streets and tall gabled 
 houses to what was then, as it is now, one of 
 the great capitals of the world, London. But yet 
 a very different London to that of our own time. A 
 London of streets narrow and paved with cobbles, 
 unlit save for a few dim swinging oil lamps held 
 across the streets by ropes, leaving the intervening 
 spaces in darkness, so that in winter time a man 
 with a link or torch was an absolute necessity. 
 
 The busy London, the shopping London lay 
 principally between Fleet Street and the end 
 of Cheapside. Ludgate Hill was an especially 
 favourite place for dress-buying ladies. As for 
 what we call the " West End " it did not exist, 
 Westminster being a separate town, and between it 
 and London City large expanses of waste land. 
 
 Mr. Wilkins gives a good account of the Court 
 and its environs. He says : 
 
 "The political and fashionable life of London 
 collected round St. James's and the Mall. St. 
 James's Park was the fashionable promenade ; it 
 was lined with avenues of trees, and ornamented
 
 THE PRINCE AND THE LONDON OF 1728. 55 
 
 with a long canal and a duck pond. St. James's 
 Palace was much as it is now, and old Marlborough 
 House (the residence at that time of Sarah, Duchess 
 of Marlborough) occupied the site of the present 
 one ; but on the site of Buckingham Palace stood 
 Buckingham House, the seat of the powerful Duke 
 of Buckingham, a stately mansion which the Duke 
 had built in a ' little wilderness full of blackbirds 
 and nightingales.' In St. James's Street were 
 the most frequented and fashionable coffee and 
 chocolate houses, and also a few select ' mug houses.' 
 Quaint signs, elaborately painted, carved and gilded, 
 overhung the streets and largely took the place of 
 numbers ; houses were known as v The Blue Boar.' 
 ' The Pig and Whistle,' ' The Merry Maidens,' ' The 
 Red Bodice,' and so forth." 
 
 Piccadilly was practically a country road with a 
 few mansions here and there. It ended in Hyde 
 Park, then a wild heath. 
 
 Marylebone on the west, and Stepney on the 
 east, were distinct villages some distance away ; 
 while as for the south, London appears to have 
 ended at London Bridge, although the " Old 
 Tabard " Inn in the Borough must certainly have 
 existed at that time. 
 
 Bloomsbury, Soho and Seven Dials were fashion- 
 able suburbs, occupying, perhaps, much the same 
 position as Kensington did fifty years ago. 
 Grosvenor Square had been begun some twelve 
 years, and was probably fairly covered by houses.
 
 56 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 The most popular and agreeable mode of com- 
 munication between London and the Court was by 
 the Thames, and a stately barge with liveried 
 rowers was as much a part of a nobleman's equip- 
 ment as his carriage or his " chair." Very pretty 
 must have been the appearance of the Thames at 
 that time, although there was no Thames Embank- 
 ment to view it from. 
 
 The streets at night were manifestly unsafe, 
 being infested by a description of drunken young 
 blackguards known as " Mohocks," who apparently 
 "squared" the equally drunken watchmen, and 
 insulted women with impunity. 
 
 The public conveyance seems to have been of 
 much the same description as that which one 
 recollects in one's youth in the shape of the ancient 
 growler, musty and full of damp straw to keep the 
 feet warm, but represented then by a rumbling old 
 disused coach, very mouldy, with straw as above, 
 and in which it must have been a great treat to 
 traverse the irregular cobbles of the metropolitan 
 streets. But with all its drawbacks London of 
 1728 rose immeasurably superior to London of the 
 twentieth century in one respect, and one respect 
 only. It had no fogs. 
 
 The streets apparently rang with more or less 
 agreeable cries of itinerant traders, among which the 
 still familiar cry of the milkman — or perhaps milk- 
 girl — and the tinkle of the muffin bell must even 
 then have been well established. There were,
 
 THE PRINCE AND THE LONDON OF 1728. 57 
 
 however, other street cries which are unknown to 
 us in the present day, those of the professional 
 rat-catcher and the street gambler, which latter 
 apparently stood in the gutter and rattled a dice- 
 box as an invitation to passers by to come and have 
 a throw, an invitation which, in all probability, 
 ended in disaster to the unwary who accepted it. 
 
 Drunkenness, too, was very rife among all classes, 
 the following inscription on a public-house being a 
 fair sample of the tastes of the people : 
 " Drunk for one penny. 
 Dead drunk for two pence. 
 Clean straw for nothing."* 
 As regards the time for meals in fashionable 
 circles in those days, there was really little difference 
 between those times and our own except that the 
 meals were called by different names. 
 
 Dinner was taken in the middle of the day or a 
 little later, which would very well correspond to our 
 luncheon. As for the afternoon, why ladies of 
 quality did very much the same then as they do 
 now ; they were trotted about in their sedan-chairs 
 or coaches from one friend's house to another 
 drinking " dishes " of tea at each and destroying 
 their nervous systems just as they do in 1911. 
 Supper was the most pleasant meal of the day, and 
 might well be set down to correspond with the very 
 late dinner hour of the fashionable world at the 
 present time. 
 
 * From the " Old Whig " newspaper 26 Feb., 1736. This inscription was 
 afterwards introduced by Hogarth in his caricature of Gin Lane. Wilkins.
 
 58 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 So the world — the beau monde at any rate — 
 has gone on for nearly two hundred years with but 
 very little variation in its feeding time at any rate. 
 
 Very much the same might be said of the life in 
 St. James's Street as it is lived at the present time. 
 There was no electric light, but the scene must have 
 been very much more brilliant especially at night. 
 The men-about-town of those days dressed in silks, 
 satins, and velvets of varied colours, heavily laced 
 with gold. Their sword hilts were either of gold or 
 silver and very often jewelled. They carried in 
 their hands long canes frequently jewelled too, and 
 to add to the stateliness of their appearance they 
 either wore white wigs or had their own hair 
 powdered. The coffee and chocolate houses of 
 St. James's Street of those days, when full of their 
 patrons, must have presented scenes worth looking 
 upon. White's Chocolate House was the principal, 
 and the Cocoa Tree its rival, both represented at 
 the present time by clubs of almost identical names. 
 Of clubs, as we understand them, there were none 
 in the year 1728, if we except such as the " October 
 Club" and the "Hell Fire Club," the former 
 composed of old Jacobite squires who probably met 
 at an inn, and the latter the drunken desecrators of 
 Medmenham Abbey on the Thames, neither of 
 which societies had a club house as we understand 
 it. 
 
 As for the ladies, they outrivalled the sterner 
 sex, as they should do, in the splendour of their
 
 THE PRINCE AND THE LONDON OF 1728. 59 
 
 attire. They wore powder, patches and hoops — the 
 latter a revival apparently of Elizaheth's day — which 
 grew in size with the progression of the Georges, 
 until fashion took a sudden revulsion in the days of 
 the last, and left them off altogether, which was 
 considered at the time highly indelicate. 
 
 In the earlier period referred to ladies did not 
 scruple to walk ahroad with their dresses even more 
 than decolletee, a custom which possibly was not 
 long persevered in on account of the climate. 
 Ladies of the present day will rejoice to hear that 
 enormous muffs were carried. 
 
 To sum up this topic so interesting to the softer 
 sex, ladies at that time wore just as many furs and 
 feathers, silks and satins, jewels and fine laces, as 
 they do at the present day, and the craving after 
 them, the debts incurred in their procuring, wrought 
 them, possibly, quite as much harm, and were the 
 cause, no doubt, of just as many broken marriage 
 vows. 
 
 The world is very much the same at all times, 
 except that now and then we take on a little extra 
 enamel, which we call civilization, to hide our 
 natural barbarism for a time, as the Greeks and 
 the Romans and the Egyptians before them did — 
 these latter even to having their hollow teeth gold- 
 crowned as we do — until some upheaval from within, 
 or a crushing blow from without, breaks the thin 
 crust, and leaves us just the natural savages we 
 were at first.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Peter Wentworth's Letters on the Prince's Life. 
 
 Floating in and out of English history of this 
 period are the letters of a person who apparently 
 was furnished by Providence to write tittle-tattle of 
 his times for the information of posterity. These 
 are the letters of the Honourable Peter Wentworth, 
 mostly addressed to his brother, Lord Strafford, 
 but others to his sister-in-law, Lady Strafford. To 
 these we have to look for the first little insights into 
 the Prince's life in England. 
 
 Through the insistence of the Privy Council, not 
 of the King's own freewill, Frederick had been 
 created Prince of Wales soon after his arrival in 
 England, but the King had made no provision for 
 him, although £100,000 per annum of the King's 
 income — he received no less than £900,000 a year 
 from the country — had been earmarked for the 
 Prince's use, subject to his father's pleasure. He 
 preferred to keep him in the Palace like his other 
 younger children, and under very much the same 
 restrictions. The young Prince of Wales appears 
 at this time to have had a good friend in his 
 mother, even if she had forgotten her natural love 
 for him. It was she who urged the King to 
 
 (60)
 
 LETTEES ON THE PEINCE'S LIFE. 61 
 
 provide a separate establishment for him becoming 
 his rank, even going as far as to look at a house for 
 him in George Street, Hanover Square, but her 
 solicitations produced no effect whatever upon the 
 King, who would not make him any sufficient 
 allowance. So Frederick, though over twenty-two, 
 and Prince of Wales, had to remain at his mother's 
 apron strings. 
 
 He appears, however, at this time to have lived 
 on very pleasant terms with the Queen, and to have 
 steadily grown in the public favour. He had 
 learned English in Hanover, and spoke it fairly well 
 on his arrival in this country. 
 
 In a letter dated July 28th, 1729 — a few months 
 after the Prince's coming — written by Mr. Peter 
 Wentworth to Lord Strafford, his brother, we get a 
 little glimpse of what the Prince's life was like at 
 this time. 
 
 " Kensington. 
 
 " 1 have been at Richmond again with the Queen 
 and the Eoyal Family, and I thank God they are all 
 very well. We are going there to-day, and the 
 Queen walks about there all day long. I shall be 
 no longer her jest as a lover of drink at free cost, 
 not only from her own observation of one whom she 
 sees every morning at eight o'clock and in the 
 evening again at seven, walking in the gardens, and 
 in the drawing-room until after ten, but because she 
 has, my Lord Lifford* to play upon, who this day 
 
 * A French refugee, named Roussie, who was given an Irish peerage.
 
 62 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 sennight got drunk at Richmond. His manner of 
 getting so was pleasant enough, he dined with my 
 good Lord Grantham, who is well served at his 
 table with meat, but very stingy and sparing in his 
 drink, for as soon as his dinner is done, he and his 
 company rise, and no round of toasts. So my lord 
 made good use of his time whilst at dinner, and 
 before they rose the Prince (of Wales) came to them 
 and drunk a bonpere to my Lord Lifford, which he 
 pledged, and began another to him, and so a third. 
 
 "The Duke of Grafton, to show the Prince he 
 had done his business, gave him (Lord Lifford) a 
 little shove and threw him off his chair upon the 
 ground, and then took him up and carried him to 
 the Queen. 
 
 " Sunday morning she railed at him before all the 
 Court upon getting drunk in her company, and 
 upon his gallantry and coquetry with Princess 
 Amelia, running up and down the steps with her. 
 When somebody told him the Queen was there and 
 saw him, his answer was : ' What do I care for the 
 Queen ? ' 
 
 " He stood all her jokes not only with French 
 impudence, but with Irish assurance. For all you 
 say I don't wonder I blushed for him, and wished 
 for half his stock. I wonder at her making it so 
 public. 
 
 " Nobody has made a song ; if Mr. Hambleton 
 will make one that shall praise the Queen and the 
 Royal Family's good humour, and expose as much as
 
 LETTERS ON THE PRINCE'S LIFE. 63 
 
 he pleases the folly of Lord Grantham and Lord 
 Lifford, I will show it to the Prince, and I know he 
 won't tell whom he had it from, for I have lately 
 obliged him with a sight of Mrs. Fitzwilliains 
 Litany ; and he has promised he will not say he 
 had it from me. So I must beg yon to say nothing 
 of this to Lady Strafford, for she will write it for 
 news to Lady Charlotte Boussie, and then I shall 
 have Mrs. Fitz. angry with me, and the Prince 
 laughing at me for not being able to be my own 
 counsellor, as I fear you laugh now. But if you 
 betray me, I make a solemn vow I will never tell 
 you anything again. 
 
 " The Queen continues very kind and obliging in 
 her sayings to me, and gave me t'other day an 
 opportunity to tell her of my circumstances. As we 
 were driving by Chelsea, she asked me what that 
 walled place was called. I told her Chelsea Park, 
 and in the time of the Bubbles 'twas designed for 
 the Silkworms.* She asked me if I was not in the 
 Bubbles. With a sigh I answered : ' Yes ; that and 
 my fire had made me worse than nothing.' Some 
 time after, when I did not think she saw me, I was 
 biting my nails. She called to me and said : ' Oh, 
 fie! Mr. Wentworth, you bite your nails very 
 prettily.' I begged her pardon for doing so in her 
 presence, but I said I did it for vexation of my 
 circumstances, and to save a crown from Dr. Lamb 
 for cutting them. She said she was sorry I had 
 
 * One of the South Sea Bubble Schemes.
 
 64 A FOEGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 anything to vex me, and I did well to save my 
 money. The Prince told her I was one of the most 
 diligent servants he ever saw. I bowed and smiled 
 as if I thought he bantered me. He understood me, 
 and therefore repeated again that he meant it 
 seriously, and upon his word he thought that the 
 Queen was happy in having so good a servant. I 
 told him it was a great satisfaction to me to meet 
 with His Royal Highness's approbation. He 
 clapped his hand on my shoulder, and assured me 
 that I had it. 
 
 " As we went to Richmond last Wednesday our 
 grooms had a battle with a carter that would not go 
 out of the way. The good Queen had compassion 
 for the rascal, and ordered me to ride after him and 
 give him a crown. I desired Her Majesty to recall 
 that order, for the fellow was a very saucy fellow, 
 and I saw him strike the Prince's groom first, and if 
 we gave him anything for his beating 'twould be an 
 example for others to stop the way a-purpose to 
 provoke a beating. The Prince approved what I 
 said, for he said much the same to her in Dutch, and 
 I got immortal fame among the liverymen, who are 
 no small fools at this Court. I told her if she would 
 give the crown to anybody it should be to the 
 Prince's groom, who had the carter's long whip over 
 his shoulders. She laughed, but saved her crown." 
 
 ' ' Kensington, 
 
 "Aug. 14th, 1729. 
 
 " The Queen has done me the honour to refer me
 
 LETTERS ON THE PRINCE'S LIFE. 65 
 
 for my orders to Her Royal Highness Princess 
 Anne, and what is agreed by her will please Her 
 Majesty ; the height of my ambition is to please 
 them all. I flatter myself I have done so hitherto, 
 for Princess Anne has distinguished me with a 
 singular mark of her favour, for she has made me 
 a present of a hunting suit of clothes, which is blue, 
 trimmed with gold, and lined and faced with red. 
 The Prince of Wales, Princess Anne, the Duke of 
 Cumberland, Princess Mary and Princess Louisa 
 wear the same, and look charmingly pretty in them. 
 Thursday sen night Windsor Forest will be blessed 
 with their presence again, and since the forest was 
 a forest it never had such a line set of hunters, for a 
 world of gentlemen have had the ambition to follow 
 
 His Royal Highness's fashion " 
 
 " Kensington, 
 
 "Aug. 21st, 1729. 
 " Yesterday the Queen and all the Royal Family 
 dined at Claremont,* and I dined with the Duke (of 
 Newcastle) and Sir Robert (Walpole), etc. The, 
 Prince of Wales came to us as soon as his and our 
 dinner was over, and drank a bumper of sack punch 
 to the Queen's health, which you may be sure I 
 devoutly pledged, and he was going on with 
 another, but Her Majesty sent us word that she was 
 going ' to walk in the garden,' so that broke up the 
 company. We walked till candlelight, being enter- 
 tained with very fine French horns, then returned 
 
 * Claremont was one of the Duke of Newcastle's seats.
 
 66 A FOKGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 to the great hall, and everybody agreed never was 
 anything finer lit. 
 
 " Her Majesty and Princess Caroline, Lady 
 
 Charlotte Roussie and Mr. Schiltz played their 
 
 quadrille. In the next room the Prince had the 
 
 fiddles and danced, and he did me the honour to 
 
 ask me if I would dance a country dance. I told 
 
 him ' Yes,' and if there had been a partner for me, 
 
 I should have made one in that glorious company — 
 
 the Prince with the Duchess of Newcastle, the 
 
 Duke of Newcastle with the Princess Anne, the 
 
 Duke of Grafton with Princess Amelia, 1 Sir 
 
 Robert Walpole with Lady Catherine Pelham — who 
 
 is with child — so they danced but two dances. The 
 
 Queen came from her cards to see that sight, and 
 
 before she said it, I thought he (Sir Robert 
 
 Walpole) moved surprisingly genteelly, and his 
 
 dancing really became him, which I would not have 
 
 believed had I not seen, and, if you please, you may 
 
 suspend your belief until you see the same. Lord 
 
 Lifford danced with Lady Fanny Manners ; when 
 
 they came to an easy dance my dear Duke took her 
 
 from my lord, and I must confess it became him better 
 
 than the man I wish to be my friend, Sir Robert, which 
 
 you will easily believe. Mr. Henry Pelham 2 danced 
 
 with Lady Albemarle, Lord James Cavendish with 
 
 Lady Middleton, and Mr. Lumley with Betty Spence. 
 
 i These two were much attached to one another. The Duke was a 
 grandson of Charles II., but hardly an Adonis, as he weighed 20 stone. 
 
 2 The Right Hon. Henry Pelham, son of Lord Pelham, and brother of 
 Thomas Pelham, Duke of Newcastle, whose title had been revived in his 
 favour by George the First.
 
 LETTEES ON THE PRINCE'S LIFE. 67 
 
 " I paid my court sometimes to the carders, and 
 sometimes to the dancers. The Queen told Lord 
 Lifford that he had not drunk enough to make him 
 gay, ' and there is honest Mr. Wentworth has not 
 drunk enough.' I told her I had drunk Her 
 Majesty's health. 'And my children's, too, I hope ? ' 
 I answered ' Yes.' But she told me there was one 
 health I had forgot, which was the Duke and 
 Duchess of Newcastle's, who had entertained us so 
 well. I told her I had been down among the coach- 
 men to see they had obeyed my orders to keep 
 themselves sober, and I had had them all by the 
 hand, and could witness for them that they were so, 
 and it would not have been decent for me to 
 examine them about it without I had kept myself 
 sober, but now that grand duty was over, I was at 
 leisure to obey Her Majesty's commands 
 
 ' The Queen and the Prince have invited them- 
 selves to the Duke of Grafton's hunting seat which 
 lies near Richmond, Saturday. He fended off for 
 a great while, saying his home was not fit to receive 
 them, and 'twas so old he was afraid 'twould fall upon 
 their heads. But His Royal Highness, who is very 
 quick at good inventions, told him he would bring 
 tents and pitch them in his garden, so his graces 
 excuse did not come off; the thing must be Saturday. 
 " I have sent you enclosed a copy of my letter I 
 wrote to Lord Pomfret, which will explain to you 
 how I am made Secretary to the Queen,* and before 
 
 He'r Ma^ s Ty' S ToL" ade SeCretary t0 the QueGn - This WaS P robab ^ °* e of
 
 €8 A FOKGOTTEN PEINCE OP WALES. 
 
 dinner, under pretence to know if T had taken Her 
 Majesty's sense aright, Her Royal Highness (the 
 Princess Royal) being by when I received the 
 orders I desired leave to show it her. She 
 smiled and said : ' By all means let me see it.' She 
 kept it till she had dined, read it to the Queen, 
 her brothers and sisters, and then sent for me from 
 the gentlemen ushers' table, and gave it to me, 
 again thanked me, and said it was very well writ, 
 and she saw, too, that I could dine at that table 
 without being drunk at free cost." 
 " Kensington, 
 
 "September 22nd, 1729. 
 " Yesterday, when the Queen was just got into 
 her chaise, there came a messenger who brought her 
 a packet of letters from the King, with the good 
 news that His Majesty was very well. He had left 
 him at the play this day sennight. It also said the 
 guards of Hanover were not to march, for all 
 differences were accommodated between the King and 
 the King of Prussia, so that I hope now the matcht 
 will go forward, and that we shall soon have the 
 King here. The Queen opened the letter and read 
 it as she went along ; the Princess (Anne) and the 
 Duke (of Cumberland) were riding on before, and 
 neither saw nor heard anything of this. Therefore 
 I scoured away from the Queen to tell them the 
 good news, and then I rode back and told the Queen 
 what I had done, and that I had pleasure to be the 
 
 t The double marriage scheme which had come up again for a little time.
 
 LETTEES ON THE PKINCE'S LIFE. 69 
 
 messenger of good news. She and they thanked 
 me and commended what I had done. I have sent 
 you a copy of the orders I have been given to-day, 
 that you may see we go in for a continual round 
 of pleasure." 
 
 " Kensington, 
 
 "Sept. 16th, 1729. 
 
 " There was one Mr. W(entworth) who had a 
 very agreeable present from the Queen. As he 
 went over with her in the ferry boat Saturday 
 sen'night she gave a purse to Princess Anne, and 
 bade her give it to Mi-. W(entworth). Then she 
 told him she wished him good luck, and in order 
 that she might bring it to him, she had given him 
 silver and gold, a sixpence, a shilling and a half- 
 guinea. 
 
 " He took the purse and gave Her Majesty a 
 great many thanks. 
 
 " ' What,' said she, ' will you not look into 't ! ' 
 His answer was : ' Whatever comes from Your 
 Majesty is agreeable to him ' ; though had he not 
 felt in the purse some paper, he could not have 
 taken the royal jest with so good a grace. There 
 was a bank bill in 't, which raised such a contention 
 between him and his wife that in a manner he had 
 better never have had it. He was willing to give 
 her half, but the good wife called in worthy Madam 
 Percade to her assistance, and she determined to 
 give a third to her. 
 
 " All this was told the Queen the next day, and
 
 70 A FOEGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 caused a great laugh, but poor Mr. W(entworth) 
 upon the thought of soliciting the great Lord 
 L(ifford) for a sum of £15 he had forgotten to pay 
 him in the South Sea. When the chase was over, 
 the Prince clapped Mr. W(entworth) upon the back 
 and wished him joy of his present, and told him now 
 he would never be without money in his pocket. 
 He replied that if His Highness had not told him 
 so publicly of it, it might have been so, but now his 
 creditors would tease every farthing from him." 
 
 From above it will be seen that these letters of 
 Mr. Wentworth were written during the period of 
 Queen Caroline's first Regency, when George the 
 Second was abroad, and consequently the Prince of 
 Wales had more freedom of action. From what 
 little can be gathered from them the Prince seems 
 to have been leading a harmless and happy life with 
 his mother, but unfortunately there is another of 
 Mr. Wentworth's letters which tells a different tale. 
 
 It has been said that the position imposed on 
 him by his father, the King, would have tried the 
 most dutiful and virtuous of sons, but then un- 
 fortunately Frederick was neither, certainly not the 
 latter. Mr. Wentworth's letter throws a strong 
 light on this part of the Prince's life : 
 
 " Thursday morning, as the King and Queen 
 were going to their chaise through the garden, I 
 told them the Prince had got his watch again. Our 
 farrier's man had found it at the end of the Mall 
 with the two seals to 't. The Queen laughed, and
 
 LETTERS ON THE PRINCE'S LIFE. 71 
 
 said : ' I told you before 'twas you who stole it, and 
 now it is very plain you got it from the woman who 
 took it from the Prince and you gave it to the 
 farrier's man, to say he had found it to get the 
 reward.' (This was twenty guineas, which was 
 advertised with the promise of no questions being 
 asked). I took Her Majesty's words for a very 
 great compliment, for it looked as if she thought 
 I could please a woman better than His Highness. 
 Really his losing his watch and its being brought 
 back in the manner it has been is very mysterious, 
 and a knotty point to be unravelled at Court, for 
 the Prince protests he was not out of his coach in 
 the Park on the Sunday night it was lost. But by 
 accident I think I can give some account of this 
 affair, though it is not my business to say a word of 
 it at Court, not even to the Queen, who desired me 
 to tell her all I knew of it, with a promise that she 
 would not tell the Prince (and I desire, also, the 
 story may never go out of Wentworth Castle again). 
 " My man, John Cooper, saw the Prince that 
 night let into the Park through St. James's Mews 
 alone, and the next morning a Grenadier told him 
 the Prince was robbed last night of his watch and 
 twenty-two guineas, and a gold medal, by a woman 
 who had run away from him. The Prince bid the 
 Grenadier run after her, and take the watch from 
 her, which, with the seals were the only things he 
 valued ; the money she was welcome to, he said, 
 and he ordered him when he had got the watch to let
 
 72 A FOKGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 the woman pfo. But the Grenadier could not find 
 her, so I suppose in her haste she dropped it at the 
 end of the Mall, or laid it down there for fear of 
 being discovered by the watch and seals, if they 
 should be advertised." 1 
 
 1 The Hon. Peter Wentworth to Lord Strafford, London, 1734.
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Prince's Embarrassments. 
 
 The Prince of Wales having for the few years 
 immediately succeeding his coming to England 
 occupied his exalted position with a totally in- 
 adequate income had, as might reasonably have 
 been expected, become exceedingly involved in debt. 
 
 Though possessing no separate establishment of 
 his own (except as will be seen later an illicit one), 
 yet he was placed in a position of much difficulty 
 and temptation. 
 
 He appears to have received from his father a 
 small and uncertain allowance, and when pressed 
 by his creditors was absolutely refused assistance by 
 the King. 
 
 The intervention of the Queen in favour of 
 Frederick at this period seems to have been quite 
 useless, and from that time forth grew up that sad 
 state of affairs which eventually compassed the 
 total estrangement of the Prince from his father and 
 mother. 
 
 It has been said that this treatment would have 
 tried the best of sons, but Frederick's early training 
 and environment had not been of a nature to breed 
 many of the filial virtues in him. It is quite certain. 
 
 (73)
 
 74 A FOKGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 that he felt his humiliating position most acutely, 
 and that the slights and snubs he was subjected 
 to by his father rankled considerably. Not the 
 least of these was the fact that his mother was 
 constituted Regent during the absences of his father 
 in Hanover. 
 
 It is not surprising, therefore, that he began to 
 look for at least friendship and support in another 
 direction and found it among the opponents of his 
 father's Government. 
 
 Among the first of this faction to pay court to 
 the Prince was the polished St. John, Viscount 
 Bolingbroke, a Secretary of State of Queen Anne, 
 and one who, with the Duke of Ormond and the 
 Earl of Oxford, had been impeached at the accession 
 of George the First at the instigation of Sir Robert 
 Walpole for a supposed plot to place Prince James 
 Stuart on the throne. He had fled the country, 
 some say unwisely, at the time, and had remained 
 abroad for nine years. His pardon had been 
 arranged by his devoted French wife Madame de 
 Vilette, whom he had married whilst in exile, and 
 who came to England and secured the services of 
 that rapacious mistress of George the First, 
 Schulemburg — who had been created Duchess of 
 Kendal — at the price of £12,000. 
 
 Though pardoned, his attainder remained in force, 
 his title was still withheld, and he was precluded 
 from inheriting estates and excluded from the House 
 of Lords.
 
 THE PRINCE'S EMBARRASSMENTS. 75 
 
 Though deprived of any outward power, yet this 
 brilliant statesman simply ruled the Tory party and 
 moved its principals like so many puppets. It was 
 this talented politician who offered his services to 
 the Prince of Wales, and their first meeting took 
 place at the house of a gentleman acquainted with 
 both. It is said that Bolingbroke came first, and 
 amused himself by reading a book until the Prince's 
 arrival. This took place somewhat unexpectedly, 
 and before Bolingbroke could replace his book, in 
 the hurry to kneel to the Prince it fell to the floor, 
 and Bolingbroke was within an ace of following it 
 as he slipped in making his obeisance. 
 
 What followed gives an insight into the amia- 
 bility aud undoubted charm of the Prince's nature 
 and his excellent tact. He caught Bolingbroke as 
 he fell, and restoring him to his feet said : " My 
 lord, I trust this may be an omen of my succeeding 
 in raising your fortunes." 
 
 It is said that the Prince inherited his charm of 
 manner from his mother ; doubtless he was like her 
 in this respect, and did receive from her this gift. 
 That he did not receive it from his father is certain, 
 as George the Second was uncouthness itself, and 
 was commonly called the " Gruff Gentleman." 
 
 From the day of the meeting of the Prince and 
 Bolingbroke their acquaintance grew, until the 
 statesman became the Prince's guiding spirit, not 
 always urging him, as may be imagined, under the 
 circumstances, on the road of duty to his parents
 
 76 A FOBGOTTEN PEINCB OF WALES. 
 
 and his parents' wishes. There is no doubt that 
 through the Prince Bolingbroke paid back many a 
 wrong and slight received in the years past from 
 Walpole and the Whigs. 
 
 Of this influence of Bolingbroke — " the all-accom- 
 plished St. John, the Muses friend," as he was 
 styled by the principal poets of the time — upon the 
 young Prince, Coxe makes the following comment : 
 
 " The Prince was fascinated by his conversation 
 and manners. His confident assertions and popular 
 declarations, his affected zeal to reconcile all ranks 
 and conditions, the energy with which he decried 
 the baneful spirit of party, and his plausible theories 
 of a perfect Government without influence or cor- 
 ruption, acting by prerogative, were calculated to 
 dazzle and captivate a young Prince of high spirit 
 and sanguine disposition, and induce him to believe 
 that the Minister (i.e., Walpole) was forming a 
 systematic plan to overthrow the Constitution, and 
 that the cause of opposition was that of honour and 
 liberty."* 
 
 The first political matter in which these two were 
 actively engaged was the Excise Act, which was 
 a strong measure of Walpole's directed against 
 smuggling. In espousing the side of the Opposition, 
 the Prince was certainly making a strong bid for 
 popular favour, for the increased price of tobacco 
 and wines, which would undoubtedly have followed 
 its passage through the two Houses of Parliament, 
 
 * Coxe's Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole.
 
 THE PEINCE'S EMBARRASSMENTS. 77 
 
 would have been by no means acceptable to the 
 multitude at large. 
 
 The Prince's amiability towards the people had 
 already endeared him to them. He was accustomed 
 to walk abroad accompanied by only one servant, 
 and he was never known to neglect the salute of 
 even the humblest of his father's subjects, but 
 always had a smile, sometimes a kind word for 
 them. 
 
 Walpole introduced his new act into the House of 
 Commons in a very moderate manner on March 14th, 
 1733, the Prince of Wales sitting under the gallery 
 and listening to the debate. The arguments were 
 heated and prolonged, and adjournments were ex- 
 tended to April 9th, when the Bill was eventually 
 dropped, having regard to the storm of opposition 
 it provoked in the country and especially in the 
 City of London. 
 
 During the speeches of the Leaders of the Opposi- 
 tion, which included those of the well-known 
 Pulteney, Wyndham and Barnard, the following 
 point was made by Wyndham against Walpole : 
 he denounced corruption and tyranny, and recalled 
 the favourites of past monarchs. 
 
 " What was their fate ? " he asked. " They had 
 the misfortune to outlive their master, and his son, 
 as soon as he came to the throne, took off their 
 heads." 
 
 This allusion was cheered to the echo by the 
 Opposition, and was subsequently a grave cause of
 
 78 A FORGOTTEN PEINCB OF WALES. 
 
 offence to the King and Queen, whose interests were 
 greatly bound up in the passing of the Act by their 
 favourite minister, Walpole. It is said that if their 
 being sent back to Hanover had depended on the 
 Bill they could not have shown more agitation. 
 
 It was therefore not surprising that the failure of 
 the Bill aroused the King's indignation, especially 
 the support which his son, the Prince of Wales, had 
 given the Opposition sub rosa it is true, but still a 
 sympathy which was very evident. 
 
 The Honourable William Townshend, son of the 
 celebrated politician, Viscount Townshend, and 
 Groom of the Bedchamber, and Privy Purse to the 
 Prince of Wales, very nearly lost his appointment 
 and that of A.D.C to the King through his temerity 
 in voting against the measure. 
 
 The Townshend family seem always to have been 
 sympathisers with the Prince, and to have been his 
 good friends, and this association led to incidents 
 which will be dealt with later. 
 
 Another of the Prince's followers at this time, and 
 one who was given much credit for the failure of the 
 Excise Act, was the celebrated Bubb Doddington, a 
 man of great wealth and a very large landowner, 
 but the real credit for this rebuff to the King and 
 Walpole must be given to the brilliant genius of 
 Bolino-broke, which worked behind the Leaders of 
 the Opposition and moved them like so many chess- 
 men on a board. Bolingbroke's hatred of Walpole 
 was of that intense nature, that it is related by the
 
 THE PEINCE'S EMBARRASSMENTS. 79 
 
 latter's brother Horace that upon Bolingbroke's 
 return to England after his exile an attempt was 
 made to reconcile the two enemies, and Bolingbroke 
 so far mastered his pride as to accept an invitation 
 to dine with Sir Robert at Chelsea, but it is further 
 stated by the same authority that Bolingbroke rose 
 from the table at the first course and left the room ; 
 his detestation of the great Minister could no longer 
 be repressed. 
 
 Bolingbroke, therefore, was ever working against 
 Walpole and the Court Party (by whom he was 
 intensely hated), and there can be little doubt that 
 he was responsible for the state of affairs between 
 the Prince of Wales and his father and mother 
 which existed at this time, and by so fanning their 
 smouldering distrust and jealousy that it burst into 
 the subsequent flame, which became a visible scandal 
 to the whole country. 
 
 The Prince, however, had many other friends 
 among the Opposition beside Bolingbroke and 
 Doddington ; his artistic temperament was gratified 
 with the society of the witty Chesterfield (who had 
 recently celebrated his marriage with Schulemburg's 
 daughter, the Countess of Walsingham, by taking 
 another mistress), Pulteney and the eloquent 
 Wyndham. 
 
 It cannot, however, be said that the Prince chose 
 his companions for their virtues ; it was rather for 
 the absence of them ; but possibly his young mind 
 received as much harm from the crafty and un-
 
 80 A FOBGOTTEN PEINCB OF WALES. 
 
 scrupulous Doddington as all the others put 
 together, who, after all, were, most of them, mere 
 posers in their vices ; but Doddington appears to 
 have been a kind of fat Mephistopheles, always 
 pouring into the Prince's ear advice which on the 
 surface had the appearance of being ingenuous and 
 good, but had ever for its aim the aggrandisement 
 of the giver. 
 
 Such is the opinion of Doddington's character 
 written by one of his connections who published 
 his celebrated diary some years after his death. 
 
 George Bubb Doddington was the nephew of a 
 great landowner — one of the wealthiest in England 
 — whose sister had been picked up by an Irish 
 apothecary of the name of Bubb, who practised 
 some say at Carlisle, others at Weymouth, possibly 
 at both places at different times. He appears to 
 have been excluded from the family circle of the 
 Doddington's, but upon his death his widow seems 
 to have been forgiven and her son George adopted by 
 her rich brother, who eventually bequeathed to him 
 the whole of his vast estates. 
 
 The young George Bubb added by royal licence 
 to his own simple and somewhat common designa- 
 tion his uncle's name and arms, and apparently from 
 that time forth had but one object in life, viz., to 
 obtain a peerage. 
 
 He had commenced his career by entering Parlia- 
 ment for one of the two boroughs which he owned, 
 and attaching himself to Walpole. Being, however,
 
 THE PRINCE'S EMBARRASSMENTS. 81 
 
 refused a peerage by that leader, he forsook him 
 and deserted to the Opposition. 
 
 In due course, on the arrival of the Prince in 
 England, and the manner of his reception by the 
 King driving him to seek friends among his father's 
 opponents, Doddington was very pleased to bend 
 the knee to him, and offer him not only his political 
 support, which was considerable, but later his purse 
 also. This lending of money to the Prince was the 
 origin of the well-known unscrupulous remark, 
 whether truthfully related or otherwise, which has 
 been recorded against Frederick, and if made at all 
 was probably a bit of boastfulness over wine cups to 
 his boon companions, and it must not be forgotten 
 that gentlemen were not at all above boasting in 
 those days : " This is a strange country this 
 England," the Prince is said to have remarked, " I 
 am told Doddington is reckoned a clever man, yet I 
 got £5,000 out of him this morning, and he has no 
 chance of ever seeing it again." Another account, 
 however, states that the Prince won it of him at 
 play. Doddington, however, got the full value of 
 the money he lent the Prince of Wales in the social 
 distinction which the position of intimate adviser of 
 the Heir-apparent conferred upon him. 
 
 Horace Walpole states that he even allowed 
 himself to be wrapped in a blanket and rolled 
 downstairs for the Prince's amusement, when that 
 young man was apparently indulging in a drunken 
 frolic with his intimates. But even in his blanket
 
 82 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 bumping down the stairs it is very probable that he 
 had in his mind's eye that peerage which he no 
 doubt considered certain when the Prince came to 
 the throne. But much water rolled under London 
 Bridge before George Bubb Doddington's head was 
 compassed by the golden circlet of a peer, and then 
 only for a little time.
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Duchess of Marlborough Throws for a 
 Big Stake. 
 
 We now pass from the Prince's political and 
 financial entanglements to the softer theme of his 
 love, or rather loves, for alas ! there were several of 
 them ! 
 
 This subject, however, cannot be entered upon 
 without a reference to one of two great ladies 
 whose personalities overshadowed St. James's at the 
 time of Frederick's coming to England. These were 
 the Duchesses of Marlborough and Buckingham, 
 near neighbours and rivals, one living at Bucking- 
 ham House, which, as before stated, had been built 
 amid a grove of trees celebrated for its singing 
 birds — the site of the present Buckingham Palace — 
 the other occupying a house bearing her name on 
 the other side of the Park, which was pulled down to 
 make room for the present Marlborough House, up 
 till recently the residence of the Prince of Wales. 
 
 These two great ladies lived in fair amity, but 
 had their little differences like the rest of woman- 
 kind, of which the following incident is a fair 
 sample. 
 
 The Duchess of Buckingham had had the mis- 
 fortune to lose her son, who had died in Rome, and 
 
 (83)
 
 84 A FOKGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 whose body she caused to be brought to England for 
 sepulture in Westminster Abbey. 
 
 She sent across the Park to the widowed Duchess 
 of Marlborough to borrow the hearse or funeral car 
 on which the body of the great Duke had been 
 borne to the grave some years before. 
 
 Sarah of Marlborough, in her none too refined 
 manner, refused her request in the following terms : 
 
 " It carried my Lord Marlborough," she replied, 
 " and it shall never be used for any meaner mortal." 
 
 This was hardly a consoling message to send to a 
 sorrowing mother, but her Grace of Buckingham 
 rose to the occasion even in her grief: 
 
 " I have consulted the undertaker," she rejoined, 
 " and he tells me I can have a finer for twenty 
 pounds." 
 
 The two seem to have outrivalled one another in 
 pride and arrogance, and both affected to despise 
 the House of Hanover, though they at times 
 dissembled and attended the drawing-rooms " over 
 the way," which they considered doing the King and 
 Queen an exceeding honour, and perhaps it was. 
 
 Both were enormously wealthy, she of Bucking- 
 ham posing as an adherent of the House of Stuart, 
 and no doubt using some of her wealth to support it, 
 although it is said that she was mean enough to 
 allow the pall covering the unburied coffin of James 
 the Second in Paris to fall into rags, though she 
 was in the habit of going there to weep over it. 
 
 " I believe I may sometime or other have com-
 
 THE DUCHESS THROWS FOR A BIG STAKE. 85 
 
 plained of Sir Robert Walpole's treatment of me," 
 observed Sarah Duchess of Marlborough to her 
 friend and dependent Dr. Hare in one of her letters, 
 " but I never went through with it, believing that it 
 was not easy to him." 
 
 If the Duchess had reason to complain of that 
 distinguished statesman in that month of August, 
 1726, in which she wrote, she had considerably more 
 reason to do so a few years later, when he wrecked 
 one of her pet schemes as completely as he had that 
 of Her Majesty the Queen of Prussia concerning 
 Prince Frederick, which latter endeavour had, 
 perhaps, set the brains of the astute Sarah working 
 on the very same subject. 
 
 The Duchess was, as it has been said, enormously 
 rich, powerful, and, in addition, exceedingly 
 ambitious, so enterprising, indeed, in this latter 
 respect that she made a bold bid to make her grand- 
 daughter, Lady Diana Spencer, Queen Consort of 
 England. It came about in this wise : 
 
 Though the Prince of Wales had established 
 himself as a kind of power by his alliance with 
 Bolingbroke and his party, yet he had gained 
 nothing by it financially. 
 
 The King remained perfectly obdurate on the 
 subject of increasing his allowance, and meanwhile 
 the sum of the Prince's debts mounted higher and 
 higher. 
 
 The story of the Prince's embarrassments very 
 soon travelled across that little space of thoroughfare
 
 86 A FOKGOTTEN PKINCE OF WALES. 
 
 dividing St. James's Palace from Marlborough 
 House, and reached the ever open ears of the 
 Duchess Sarah, always ready to hear any news from 
 " over the way " the residence of " neighbour 
 George " as she was in the habit of calling him. 
 
 The wily old Duchess must have brooded long 
 before she took her next step ; old diplomatiste .as 
 she was, it was a matter that could not have been 
 entered upon without the deepest thought. It was 
 about the boldest step " Sarah Jennings " had ever 
 taken. When she had settled the matter in her 
 mind, she sent a message to the Prince of Wales 
 and asked him to favour her with an interview. 
 
 No record of this most interesting meeting has, 
 unfortunately, been preserved ; one would have 
 liked to have seen a detailed account of it in 
 Doddington's diary, but there is nothing of it there. 
 
 There is no doubt, however, what was the nature 
 of the interview ; the wonderful old stateswoman 
 there and then offered the Prince her favourite 
 grand-daughter Lady Diana Spencer in marriage, 
 and with her the sum of one hundred thousand 
 pounds, which she no doubt calculated would come 
 in very handy to the Prince in his involved 
 condition. 
 
 It is necessary to make a comparison between 
 the status of Lady Diana and that of the lady — 
 the daughter of a petty German Prince — whom the 
 Prince eventually married to understand that the 
 Duchess's offer was not by any means so outrageous
 
 THE DUCHESS THROWS FOR A BIG STAKE. 87 
 
 as one would imagine. Indeed, there are those who 
 think that Lady Diana's birth and position, com- 
 bined with her wit and beauty, were far superior to 
 those of the German Princess. Lady Diana was 
 the youngest daughter of Charles, Earl of Sunder- 
 land, by Anne, daughter of the great Duke of 
 Marlborough and Sarah his wife, and was un- 
 doubtedly a young lady of exceptional wit and 
 beauty. 
 
 Although there is strong evidence to prove that 
 the Prince had not forgotten his love for his 
 cousin, the Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia, yet he 
 accepted the Duchess of Marlborough's offer. Some 
 say it was to annoy his royal father and mother — 
 things had reached that stage by then — others said 
 as they naturally would say, Lord Hervey, the 
 Queen's confidant and really a bitter enemy of her 
 son the Prince, no doubt among the number, that 
 the hundred thousand pounds put into the scale 
 against the Prince's debts decided the matter, but 
 possibly the young lady's bright eyes — she was 
 evidently a .consenting party — and the persuasions 
 and arguments of the experienced Duchess had 
 something to do with it, at any rate the marriage 
 was arranged to take place secretly in the Duchess's 
 lodge in Windsor Park, and was to be celebrated by 
 her private chaplain. The very day was fixed. 
 
 If the old Duchess had acquired the vulgar habit 
 of rubbing her hands, there is no doubt she did so 
 over this matter, for it promised a repayment of old
 
 88 A FOBGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 debts and slights which had been heaping up interest 
 for years. 
 
 No Royal Marriage Act existed or had been 
 thought of at that time, and Lady Diana would 
 have been the Prince's lawful wife in the face of all 
 England beyond question if the ceremony had taken 
 place, but this time the Duchess Sarah had counted 
 without her host, she had either left out of her 
 calculations or ignored a very important personage 
 indeed, viz., Sir Robert Walpole. 
 
 It is not at all surprising, when we consider the 
 extraordinary little space which divided the resi- 
 dences of the two young people, that the fact that 
 there was marriage in the air, and that a Royal 
 one to boot, should creep out. Perhaps a con- 
 fidential maid let the secret out — for there must 
 have been a great question of dresses going on — or 
 the young Prince betrayed it in a burst of confidence 
 over a bowl — he was very good at drinking hon 
 peres as we know — to some boon companion, but at 
 any rate it reached the ears of Sir Robert Walpole, 
 and Sir Robert stretched out his hand — and the 
 arm belonging to it was a long one and could reach 
 all over England and even across the Channel to 
 foreign parts — and behold ! the Royal Marriage 
 Scheme of the great Sarah crumbled and was no 
 more. " Sir Robert Walpole was able to prevent 
 the marriage," history records. 
 
 It must have been a dangerous act to have 
 approached Her Grace of Marlborough during the
 
 THE DUCHESS THROWS FOR A BIG STAKE. 89 
 
 few days following upon her disappointment. 
 History gives us no information as to what she 
 remarked upon the frustration of her hopes at the 
 time, neither is it recorded what course Lady 
 Diana's grief took at the disappointment. It is 
 safe to assert that both ladies had a " good cry " 
 in private ; but how the old Duchess of Buckingham 
 must have chuckled over it ! 
 
 Lady Diana evidently soon dried her tears, and 
 apparently took the matter as lightly as the Prince 
 did, for very shortly after she became the Duchess 
 of Bedford, viz., on October 12th, 1731, but, un- 
 fortunately, died young (on the 27th of September, 
 1735). But the great Duchess Sarah was not ox 
 the nature to forget Sir Robert Walpole's part in 
 this affair, and it is interesting to read her opinion 
 of him written to Lord Stair in her old age ; this 
 opinion was written by the Duchess avowedly for 
 the use of future historians. 
 
 "In another book," she writes, "are a great 
 many particulars which the historian may like to 
 look into ; but I have omitted these to relate 
 something of Sir Robert Walpole, which shows that 
 he betrayed the Duke of Marlborough, even at a 
 time when he made the greatest professions to him. 
 
 "The Duke of Marlborough was made so uneasy 
 at the end of the Queen's reign, by turning men of 
 service out of the Army to put in Mr. Hill and Mr. 
 Masham over the heads of people improperly, that 
 Mr. Walpole was employed to show the Queen how
 
 90 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 detrimental to her service such steps must he. He 
 had many opportunities of doing it. The Duke of 
 Marlborough having obtained of the Queen that 
 Cardonnel should be Secretary of War as a reward 
 for his services, when the war was ended, which he 
 hoped would be soon, and the Queen having allowed 
 Mr. Cardonnel to kiss her hand upon that promise, 
 but to let him go over with the Duke of Marl- 
 borough, that campaign or another, if the war 
 happened to be not concluded. Mr. Walpole was 
 so low then that he executed this place for Mr. 
 Cardonnel, and attended the Duke of Marlborough 
 when he was in England with a bag of writings like 
 Mr. Cardonnel. He managed it so that to make 
 the Duke of Marlborough believe that he had donn 
 all he could with the Queen, and at the same time 
 gained all the points Mrs. Masham had desired for 
 her husband and brother ; and I had incontestable 
 proofs afterwards that Mr. Walpole had acted this 
 double part to oblige Mrs. Masham, and the Duke 
 of Marlborough at that time had no reason to 
 believe he could be so false. 
 
 " Sir Robert also had a great obligation to me ; 
 for by my interest wholly he was made Treasurer of 
 the Navy when Sir T. Lyttleton died, though there 
 were solicitations from many people for that employ- 
 ment, whom they thought it of more consequence to 
 oblige. But I prevailed, and he had then only a 
 small estate, and that much encumbered. And I 
 have letters of acknowledgment to me, in which he
 
 THE DUCHESS THROWS FOR A BIG STAKE. 91 
 
 says ' he is very sensible that he was entirely 
 obliged to me for it.' 
 
 "Notwithstanding which at the commencement 
 of his great power with the present family, he used 
 me with all the folly and insolence upon every 
 occasion, as he has treated several since he has 
 acted as if he were King, which would be too 
 tedious to relate. 
 
 " I am not sure that some account of this has not 
 been given before. But if it has the truth is always 
 the same. And it is no great matter, since what I 
 write is only information of the historian to give 
 character. 
 
 " For being perpetually interrupted, it is im- 
 possible to remember what I may have formally 
 written on these subjects." 
 
 All of which above tends to show that in her old 
 age Duchess Sarah had grown testy, and not 
 forgetful of her old enemies.
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 The Beautiful Vanilla. 
 
 An early marriage with a beautiful girl such as 
 Lady Diana Spencer would probably have been the 
 best thing which could have happened to the young 
 Prince of Wales ; it would possibly have obliterated 
 the scars of his old love for his cousin Wilhelmina, 
 which wounds certainly broke out again at a later 
 period, and it might have kept him from disgraceful 
 liaisons ; at any rate it would have left him without 
 excuse for them. The first of these affaires du 
 casur, began in a flirtation and ended in a tragedy 
 as so many of these unfortunate attachments do. 
 Who knows its beginning ? Perhaps a kiss in the 
 dark corridors of St. James's Palace ! 
 
 The object of it was Miss Anne Vane (the 
 "beautiful Vanilla"), daughter of Gilbert, 2nd Lord 
 Barnard, a maid-of-honour to the Queen, and sister 
 to the 1st Lord Darlington. 
 
 This young lady was possessed of much beauty, 
 but is not credited with cleverness as we under- 
 stand it, which was all the worse for her, as she 
 found herself among a set of unscrupulous courtiers, 
 such as Lords Harrington and Hervey, the latter of 
 whom was not at all above boasting of conquests 
 
 (92)
 
 THE BEAUTIFUL VANILLA. 93 
 
 over the opposite sex which he had not achieved, if 
 such a word can be used in connection with the 
 meanest act on earth. 
 
 Miss Vane is said to have been full of levity which 
 was the result of her want of cleverness, perhaps, 
 and possessed, no doubt, the usual quantity of vanity 
 which is allotted to a pretty girl with plenty of 
 admirers, but on the whole it cannot be doubted 
 that she was fond of the Prince, and, as a result of 
 it, paid that penalty for a love which many young 
 ladies do who place their affections on a man who is 
 unable to marry them — she became a mother. The 
 Prince of Wales, however, did a man's duty, and at 
 once acknowledged the child. 
 
 The whole matter appears to have been very 
 deplorable. The birth of the child — a boy — took 
 place in her apartments as maid-of-honour in the 
 palace of St. James's, and the baby was baptized 
 in the Chapel Royal, and given the name of Fitz 
 Frederick Vane, evidently with the Prince's full 
 concurrence. (1732). He made no denial of his 
 blame in the matter either in public or in private, 
 but took the whole responsibility upon his own 
 shoulders. In addition, as will be seen, he loved 
 children. 
 
 The Queen, of course, lost very little time in 
 turning her unfortunate maid-of-honour out of the 
 Palace as soon as she was fit to go, and her family 
 accentuated the Queen's action by at once turning 
 their backs upon her. The Prince did what little
 
 94 A FOEGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 he was able to do to atone in a way for the great 
 injury he had done her. He took a house for her and 
 her child in Grosvenor Street, and provided her with 
 an income out of the uncertain allowance he received 
 from the King. This affair, there is no doubt, laid 
 the foundation of those debts which grew to be 
 such a weight round his neck later on. 
 
 This state of affairs having continued for some 
 time, there however appeared on the scene a 
 remarkable person in the shape of Lady Archibald 
 Hamilton, who from that time forth exerted a strong 
 — and baneful — influence on the Prince's life.* 
 
 Lady Archibald was five-and-thirty, the mother 
 often children, and is said not to have possessed any 
 special good looks, but she must, however, have 
 been possessed of a strong will and a subtle power of 
 fascination — which many plain women have — for she 
 in a very short time subjugated the Prince of Wales 
 and tied him, in the public gaze, at any rate, to her 
 chariot wheels. 
 
 The very first act of this woman as is so often the 
 case, was to turn the power she had gained against 
 the poor girl, her rival, whose reputation the Prince 
 had ruined. She urged him to get rid of her. 
 
 There is no question whatever that the Prince 
 
 ♦Jane, daughter of Lord Abercorn, and wife of Lord Archibald 
 Hamilton, was Mistress of the Robes to the Princess of Wales, and for 
 some years governed absolutely at the Prince's Court, and had planted 
 so many of her relations about her that one day at Carlton House, Sir 
 William Stanhope called everybody there whom he did not know " Mr. or 
 Mrs. Hamilton." Lady Archibald quitted that Court soon after Mr. 
 Pitt accepted a place in the administration. Walpole's Memoirs, vol. I., 
 p. 75.
 
 THE BEAUTIFUL VANILLA. 95 
 
 was at this time thoroughly fascinated by Lady 
 Archibald. Lord Hervey, who plays a wretched part 
 in this episode, comments on his infatuation as 
 follows : 
 
 " He," the Prince, " saw her often at her own 
 house, where he seemed as welcome to the master 
 as the mistress ; he met her often at her sister's ; 
 walked with her day after day for hours together 
 tete-a-tete in a morning in St. James's Park ; and 
 whenever she was at the Drawing Room (which was 
 pretty frequent) his behaviour was so remarkable 
 that his nose and her ear were inseparable." 
 
 Lord Hervey, it has been said, played a despicable 
 part in this affair, more despicable perhaps because 
 he had been the Prince's friend — a very false one. 
 
 John, Lord Hervey, was the eldest son of the 
 first Earl of Bristol, had been Gentleman of the 
 Bedchamber to George the Second when Prince or 
 Wales, and was a great favourite with Caroline the 
 Queen. 
 
 It is difficult to estimate the amount of mischief 
 this wretched man made between the Queen and 
 her son, the Prince of Wales ; one thing is quite 
 certain, and that is, that from the time a coolness 
 sprang up between the Prince and Lord Hervey — 
 and there was good reason for it as will be seen — 
 things began to take a much worse turn between 
 the former and his royal parents. 
 
 Hervey was the Queen's devoted companion, and 
 bearer of tittle tattle. She did not scruple to even
 
 96 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 allow him to sit by her bed when she was ill and 
 amuse her with gossip, and to this arrangement the 
 King seems to have offered no objection, though he 
 was devoted to Caroline. The Prince of Wales, 
 however, expressed himself strongly on the subject 
 of Hervey's association with his mother and sisters. 
 
 The Queen appears to have selected a strange 
 companion. The following is a description of his 
 appearance and character : 
 
 " He was considered an exquisite beau and wit, 
 and showed himself in after life to be possessed of 
 considerable ability both as writer and orator." (He 
 was the author of the well-known " Memoirs of the 
 Reign of George the Second "). " He was an 
 accomplished courtier, and possessed some of the 
 worst vices of courtiers ; he was double-faced, un- 
 trustworthy, and ungrateful. He had a frivolous 
 and effeminate character ; he was full of petty spite 
 and meannesses, and given to painting his face and 
 other abominations, which earned for him the nick- 
 name of ' Lord Fanny.' " 
 
 He is described by some of the poets of the time 
 as being possessed of great personal beauty ; the 
 Duchess of Marlborough was of an opposite opinion : 
 " He has certainly parts and wit," she writes, 
 " but is the most wretched profligate man that ever 
 was born, besides ridiculous ; a painted face and 
 not a tooth in his head."* 
 
 He appears, however, to have been a favourite 
 
 * Wilkins' " Caroline the Illustrious," vol. I.
 
 National Portrait Gallery. 
 
 LORD HERVEY. 
 
 Emery Walker.
 
 THE BEAUTIFUL VANILLA. 97 
 
 with the fair sex, even to marrying the beautiful 
 Mary Lepel, maid-of-honour to the Queen when 
 Princess of Wales. 
 
 Poor Mary ! 
 
 Lord Hervey had been a married man over ten 
 years when the first rumours of the Vane scandal 
 began to permeate St. James's about the end of 
 1731. It was then that the estrangement between 
 the Prince of Wales and Lord Hervey began, and 
 the reason for it is not far to seek. 
 
 Lord Hervey had been talking of Miss Vane, and 
 his remarks had reached the ears of Frederick. 
 
 Horace Walpole gives the key to the whole 
 matter in his " Reminiscences" ; he states that the 
 Prince of Wales, Lord Hervey and the 1st Lord 
 Harrington each came to his brother, Sir Robert, 
 and confided the fact of being the father of Miss 
 Vane's child ! 
 
 As far as the Prince of Wales was concerned, it is 
 to be understood ; he had committed a grave fault, 
 he had incurred a grave responsibility, he had 
 no wish to shirk it, although as we know he 
 was kept very short of money by his father. He 
 knew that as a man he was bound to see this 
 poor girl through her trouble at any cost, and he 
 did it. 
 
 But how about the cur Hervey with the painted 
 face, and his finicking woman's tittle-tattle ? How 
 about Lord Harrington, who was little better ? 
 
 Either these two were lying, or they were
 
 98 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 playing the most despicable parts that men could 
 play, viz., boasting of their prowess in ruining a 
 young girl, deserting her in her trouble, and shifting 
 the public blame on to some one else. 
 
 But as far as Lord Hervey is concerned, it is 
 more probable that he was lying ; the circumstances 
 look very much like it. He had evidently been an 
 admirer of the beautiful Miss Vane before the 
 Prince devoted himself to her; it is more than 
 probable that the Prince cut him out, and that the 
 reason of their quarrel was simply jealousy, 
 accentuated by Hervey's spiteful tongue. Certainly 
 hereafter the Prince had no more bitter enemy than 
 Lord Hervey, and, unfortunately, the latter was 
 placed in a position about the Queen which enabled 
 him to fan the embers of their quarrel, and to do the 
 Prince's cause an infinity of harm. Certainly no 
 one can read the history of that period without 
 coming to this conclusion. 
 
 It has been seen that the Prince of Wales, 
 however, had formed an attachment to another 
 lady, much older than himself, a woman of the 
 world, the mother of ten children, Lady Archibald 
 Hamilton, and this lady had availed herself of her 
 ascendancy over him to urge him to break with 
 Miss Vane. It may be very fairly surmised that 
 the boastings of Hervey and Hamilton were pretty 
 well dinned into his ears ; at any rate Lady 
 Archibald succeeded in persuading him, probably in 
 a fit of jealous anger, to send one of his lords in
 
 THE BEAUTIFUL VANILLA. 99 
 
 waiting, Lord Baltimore, to Miss Vane with an 
 insulting message. 
 
 This message, as it is recorded in history, does 
 not read like a man's message at all ; it savours far 
 more of the composition of a spiteful woman. In it 
 the Prince is represented as desiring her to go 
 abroad for two or three years, and to leave her son 
 to be educated in England. If she agreed, she was 
 to receive from the Prince her usual allowance ot 
 £1,600 a year for life. The message is said to have 
 concluded in the following words: " If she would 
 not live abroad, she might starve for him in 
 England." 
 
 A most unlikely ending to have come from the 
 Prince, having regard to his known habits of kind- 
 heartedness and courtesy. 
 
 It is needless to say that Miss Vane was deeply 
 hurt at this message, and declined to answer it by 
 Lord Baltimore. 
 
 It is here that Lord Hervey comes again upon 
 the scene. 
 
 He states that Miss Vane sent for him and telling 
 him of the Prince's message asked his advice as a 
 friend ; the result was the following letter, which, if 
 Miss Vane wrote it, certainly Lord Hervey composed 
 it, with a view, as it can easily be seen, to its future 
 publication ; it ran as follows : 
 
 " Your Royal Highness need not be put in mind 
 who I am, nor whence you took me ; that I acted 
 not like what I was born, others may reproach me,
 
 100 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OP WALES. 
 
 but you took me from happiness and brought me to 
 misery, that I might reproach you. That I have 
 long lost your heart I have long seen, and long 
 mourned ; to gain it, or rather to reward the gift 
 you made me of it, I sacrificed my time, my youth, 
 my character, the world, my family, and everything 
 that a woman can sacrifice to a man she loves ; 
 how little I considered my interest you must know 
 by my never naming my interest to you, when I 
 made this sacrifice, and by my trusting to your 
 honour, when I showed so little regard, when put 
 in balance with ray love to my own. I have 
 resigned everything for your sake but my life ; and 
 had you loved me still, I would have risked even 
 that, too, to please you ; but as it is I cannot think 
 in my state of health" of going out of England, far 
 from all friends and all physicians I can trust, and of 
 whom I stand so much in need. My child is the only 
 consolation I have left, I cannot leave him, nor shall 
 anything but death ever make me quit the country 
 he is in." 
 
 When the Prince received this letter, strangely 
 enough, he did not dissolve into tears at its pathos ; 
 he was on the contrary exceedingly angry. He said 
 at once that Miss Vane— or " the minx " as it is 
 reported — " was incapable of writing such a letter, 
 and that he would punish the ' rascal ' who had 
 dictated it to her." 
 
 He was probably well acquainted with her 
 
 * She was undoubtedly very ill at this time.
 
 THH HEAUTIFUL VANILLA. 101 
 
 capabilities in this respect, and possibly knew her 
 modes of expression very well ; as a rule the ladies 
 of the Court of that time were nothing: like so 
 refined in their correspondence ; this was evidently 
 the composition of a man and one indeed skilled in 
 letters. All this would be extremely strange if one 
 element which prevailed at the time were not well 
 known, viz., that the clever, diplomatic, Queen 
 Caroline was exceedingly anxious that the Prince, 
 her son, should break with Miss Vane, as she had a 
 strong wish that he should many, and this well- 
 known liaison might form an obstacle, though 
 apparently she had no particular Princess in view. 
 
 There is another point, also, which must not be 
 lost sight of, and that is that during the three years 
 and more that the Prince had been in England, he 
 had grown year by year in popular favour, and had 
 entirely eclipsed the Queen's favourite son, the 
 Duke of Cumberland, whom as we know the King 
 and Queen would gladly have seen in his brother 
 Frederick's place as heir to the English throne. 
 
 It is impossible to say how far the crafty Hervey 
 with his great influence over the Queen may have 
 worked upon this feeling of jealousy at her eldest 
 son's popularity. 
 
 Unnatural as it seems, unless we read it in the 
 light of later events, the Queen may have been 
 induced to take a hidden part in this affair of Miss 
 Vane to decrease the Prince of Wales's growing 
 popularity with the people.
 
 102 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 For what followed ? Very soon the details of 
 this affair began to leak out among the public, a 
 series of scurrilous songs and pamphlets began to 
 make their appearance : " Vanilla, or the Amours 
 of the Court " ; " Vanessi, or the Humours of the 
 Court of Modern Gallantry " ; and a particularly 
 offensive one " Vanilla on the Straw." 
 
 Knowing as we do that Lord Hervey composed 
 Miss Vane's answer to the Prince's message, that the 
 copy of it was soon made public, and the Prince's 
 cruel message widely disseminated by Miss Vane, 
 who apparently was at this time entirely under Lord 
 Hervey's influence, it is impossible to doubt for a 
 moment that Hervey was striking a very heavy 
 blow at the Prince's popularity. 
 
 At this juncture, however, the mature judgment 
 of Pulteney, the leader of the Opposition, came to 
 the Prince's aid, as it did at a later time also, and 
 under his advice Miss Vane received the provision 
 which the Prince had originally intended for her, 
 viz., a settlement of £1,600 a year for life, a gift of 
 the house in Grosvenor Street in which she had 
 resided since her dismissal from Court, and that 
 which she doubtless prized more than all, the custody 
 of her child. All this without any request to her to 
 leave the country. 
 
 And so the matter faded away, out of the public 
 eye, and out of the public knowledge, for Miss Vane, 
 with her child, went away to Bath, where very 
 soon after both died ; the child first, the mother after.
 
 THE BEAUTIFUL VANILLA. 103 
 
 Perhaps, as it is said, this poor girl had a true 
 affection for the Prince, and the separation broke 
 her heart ; certainly after the death of the child she 
 could have very little left to live for ; forsaken by 
 the man who had wronged her, robbed by death of 
 the little one on whom possibly all her hopes and 
 love were then centred. 
 
 But it was not the poor broken-hearted mother 
 who bore the whole of the sorrow at this little 
 child's death, the Queen, and the Princess Caroline, 
 her daughter, both bear testimony " that they 
 never believed it possible that the Prince of Wales 
 could show such grief as he did at the death of 
 the boy." Perhaps a fitting conclusion to this 
 chapter will be an Extract from the Register of 
 Westminster Abbey, 26th February, 1735-6 : 
 
 " Fitz Frederick, natural child of the Prince ot 
 Wales by Anne Vane, daughter of Gilbert, Lord 
 Barnard, buried, aged four."
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 The Prince Asserts Himself. 
 
 The Court life of the reign of George the Second 
 was far from being gay ; it was very different from 
 what his life had been during the reign of his 
 lather when he was Prince of Wales. About the 
 time of the Vane scandal Lord Hervey writes to his 
 friend Mrs. Clayton and complains of the dulness of 
 the routine. 
 
 " I will not trouble you," he says, " with any 
 account of our occupations at Hampton Court. No 
 mill horse ever went in a more constant track, or a 
 more unchanging circle, so that by the assistance of 
 an almanac for the day of the week, and a watch for 
 the hour of the day, you may inform yourself fully, 
 without any other intelligence but your memory, of 
 every transaction within the verge of the Court. 
 Walking, chaises, levees, and audiences fill the 
 morning ; at night the King plays commerce and 
 backgammon, and the Queen at quadrille, where 
 poor Lady Charlotte (de Roussie) runs her usual 
 nightly gauntlet — the Queen pulling her hood, Mr. 
 Schtitz sputtering in her face, and the Princess 
 Royal rapping her knuckles, all at a time. It was 
 in vain she fled from persecution for her religion ; 
 
 she suffers for her pride what she escaped for her 
 
 10*
 
 THE PRINCE ASSERTS HIMSELF. 105 
 
 faith, undergoes in a drawing-room what she 
 dreaded from the Inquisition, and will die a martyr 
 to a Court though not to a Church. The Duke of 
 Grafton takes his nightly opiate of lottery and 
 sleeps, as usual, between the Princesses Amelia and 
 Caroline ; Lord Grantham strolls from one room to 
 another (as Dry den says) like some discontented 
 ghost that oft appears, and is forbid to speak, and 
 stirs himself about, as people stir a fire, not with 
 any design, but in hopes to make it burn brisker, 
 which his lordship constantly does to no purpose, 
 and yet tries as constantly as if he had ever once 
 succeeded. 
 
 " At last the King comes up, the pool finishes, 
 and everybody lias their dismission ; their Majesties 
 retire to Lady Charlotte and my Lord Lifford ; the 
 Princesses to Bilderbec and Lorry ; my Lord 
 Grantham to Lady Francis and Mr. Clark ; some to 
 supper, and some to bed, and thus (to speak in the 
 Scripture phrase) the evening and the morning make 
 the day." 
 
 Things had been very different in the former days 
 referred to. Mrs. Howard, the King's mistress, to 
 whom reference has been made, was a shining light 
 at that time. She had been complacently made 
 Woman of the Bedchamber by Queen Caroline, with 
 a view apparently to please the King, and keep her 
 about the palace ; but she must have been a woman 
 of great tact as she seems to have got on very well 
 with the Queen, except that at one time there was
 
 106 A FOEGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 some little difficulty about getting her to kneel 
 down and hold the Queen's basin while she washed 
 her hands, which under the circumstances is not to 
 be wondered at. 
 
 Mrs. Howard, however, despite her immorality — 
 which was looked upon apparently as a fashionable 
 weakness — was a great favourite with the other 
 ladies of the Court. A companion of sweet Mary 
 Bellenden and her friend Mary Lepel, both maids-of- 
 honour. 
 
 Here is a description of the celebrated Henrietta 
 Howard by Horace Walpole who knew her inti- 
 mately in her widowhood when she lived at Marble 
 Hill, Twickenham, and he at Strawberry Hill : he 
 says of her appearance that she was " ladylike." 
 She was of good height, well made, extremely fair, 
 with the finest light brown hair, was remarkably 
 " genteel," and — a great recommendation and 
 interesting to ladies — was always dressed with 
 taste and simplicity. He concludes his description : 
 " For her face was regular and agreeable, rather 
 than beautiful, and those charms she retained with 
 little diminution to her death, at the age of seventy- 
 nine " (in July, 1767). He states that she was 
 grave and mild of character, a lover of truth, and 
 circumstantial about small things. She lived in a 
 decent and dignified manner after her retirement 
 from Court, and was considered and respected by 
 those around her in her old age." 
 
 King George the Second has often, when Mrs.
 
 THE PEINCE ASSEETS HIMSELF. 107 
 
 Howard, his mistress, was dressing the Queen, come 
 into the room, and snatched the handkerchief off, 
 and cried, "Because you have an ugly neck your- 
 self, you like to hide the Queen's." Her Majesty 
 (all the while calling her " My good Howard ") took 
 great joy in employing her in the most servile 
 offices about her person. The King was so com- 
 municative to his wife, that one day Mrs. Selwyn, 
 another of the bedchamber women, told him he 
 should be the last man with whom she would have 
 an intrigue, because he always told the Queen. 
 
 Mrs. Howard was celebrated for her agreeable 
 supper parties, which were often attended by the 
 King. At Hampton Court the maids- of- honour 
 used to call her rooms the " Swiss Cantons," because 
 they were neutral ground on which all could meet. 
 Henrietta Howard wisely mixed herself up with no 
 factions, and was a woman naturally, without spite 
 or jealousy, and though slightly deaf, a wonderful 
 hostess. 
 
 On account of the name given to her rooms, she 
 was known as the " Swiss." 
 
 Many years after Mary Bellenden, when a married 
 woman, looked back with pleasure to the pleasant 
 time spent with Mrs. Howard. " I wish we were all 
 in the ' Swiss Cantons ' again," she writes. 
 
 And later still Molly Lepel, then Lady Hervey, 
 writes in the same strain to Mrs. Howard : 
 
 "The place your letter was dated from (Hampton 
 Court) recalls a thousand agreeable things to my
 
 108 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 remembrance, which I flatter myself I do not quite 
 forget. I wish that I could persuade myself that 
 you regret them, or that you could think the tea- 
 table more welcome in the morning if attended, as 
 formerly by the ' Scliatz ' (a pet name for herself). 
 I really believe frizelation (flirtation) would be a 
 surer means of restoring my spirits than the exercise 
 and hartshorn I now make use of. I do not suppose 
 that name still subsists ; but pray let me know if 
 the thing itself does, or if they meet in the same 
 cheerful manner to sup as formerly. Are ballads 
 and epigrams the consequence of these meetings? 
 Is good sense in the morning and wit in the evening 
 the subject, or, rather, the foundation, of the con- 
 versation ? That is an unnecessary question ; I can 
 answer it myself, since I know you are of the party, 
 but in short, do you not want poor Tom, and 
 Bellenden, as much as I want ' Swiss ' in the first 
 place, and them ? " But all that was now changed, 
 and the state of affairs, as depicted by Lord Hervey, 
 prevailed. 
 
 Mrs. Howard also writes herself on the subject to 
 Lady Hervey as far back as September, 1728 (the 
 year of the Prince's coming to England). 
 
 " Hampton is very different from the place you 
 knew ; and to say we wished Tom Lepel, Schatz 
 and Bella-dine at the tea-table is too interested to 
 be doubted. Frizelation, flirtation and dangleation 
 are now no more, and nothing less than a Lepel can 
 restore them to life ; but to tell you my opinion
 
 MARY LEPEL, 
 Lady Hervey. 
 In middle life.
 
 THE PRINCE ASSERTS HIMSELF. 109 
 
 freely, the people you now converse with " (books) 
 " are much more alive than any of your old 
 acquaintances." 
 
 These letters from dainty hands long since of the 
 earth, seem to bring vividly before one's eyes the 
 trio of fair women, "The Swiss," " Bella-dine" ; and 
 the scarcely less beautiful Mollie Lepel. "The 
 Schatz," their tea-table, their " frizelation " and 
 " dangleation," and other pet names for love-making, 
 and it seems hard to believe it was nearly two 
 hundred years ago! 
 
 Mrs. Howard appears to have separated from her 
 husband in 1718, and devoted herself entirely to the 
 service of the Queen — and the King. 
 
 Some may be curious to know what was her 
 recompense for this position of degradation. Tt was 
 not very great. 
 
 Queen Caroline stated that she received twelve 
 hundred pounds a year from the King while he was 
 Prince of Wales, and three thousand two hundred 
 pounds a year when he became King. He gave her 
 also twelve thousand pounds towards building her 
 villa at Marble Hill, near Twickenham, in addition 
 to several " little dabs " (the Queen's expression) 
 before and after he came to the throne. She had 
 expected much more when the King came to the 
 throne, and so had her friends, but they were dis- 
 appointed. She obtained a peerage for her brother, 
 Sir Henry Hobart, but Horace Walpole says of her : 
 
 " No established mistress of a sovereign ever
 
 110 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 enjoyed less brilliancy of the situation than Lady 
 Suffolk." 
 
 This state of affairs appears to have prevailed 
 until the year 1731, when Mrs. Howard's brother- 
 in-law, the Earl of Suffolk, died, and her husband 
 succeeded to the title. Becoming a Countess, she 
 could no longer hold the place of bedchamber woman 
 to the Queen ; she resigned her post at Court. 
 
 Despite her position, however, with regard to 
 the King, Queen Caroline seems to have had some 
 sort of affection for her, and wished to retain her 
 about her person. Caroline could not have been 
 much troubled with jealousy of her spouse, but 
 possibly her intense passion for politics and all 
 belonging to the world of diplomacy, had long since 
 wiped out the other passion. Indeed, at times, she 
 seems to have taken a keen and appreciative interest 
 in the recitation of her husband's infidelities, which 
 facts little George appears to have had a mania for 
 communicating to her. 
 
 The Queen, however, offered the new Countess of 
 Suffolk the position of Mistress of the Robes, which 
 post she held in conjunction with that of Mistress to 
 the King until the year 1734. 
 
 She was delighted with her change of office, and 
 wrote to the poet Gay in June, 1731, anent it : 
 
 " To prevent all future quarrels and disputes, I 
 shall let you know that I have kissed hands for the 
 place of Mistress of the Robes. Her Majesty did 
 me the honour to give me the choice of Lady of the
 
 THE PEINCB ASSEKTS HIMSELF. m 
 
 Bedchamber, or that which I find so much more 
 agreeable to me that I did not take one moment to 
 consider it. The Duchess of Dorset resigned it for 
 me ; and everything as yet promises for more 
 happiness for the latter part of my life than I have 
 yet had the prospect of (she was then forty-five). 
 Seven nights quiet sleep, and seven easy days, have 
 almost worked a miracle in me." 
 
 Lady Suffolk, however, was not content to live 
 the placid life which her letter indicates, she appears 
 to have forsaken her old wise course of holding aloof 
 from politics. 
 
 In 1733 her husband, the Earl of Suffolk died, 
 and she found herself a free woman with a moderate 
 competence. She wished to resign her office of 
 Mistress of the Robes, and retire from Court, but 
 this the Queen would not hear of, fearing, perhaps, 
 to get a younger woman in her place who would not 
 understand her ways, nor the King's. 
 
 This feeling, however, the King by no means 
 shared ; he had long since tired of the Countess and 
 wanted to get rid of her. He expressed himself to 
 the Queen in the following refined and gentlemanly 
 terms : — 
 
 " I do not know," he reasoned, " why you will not 
 let me part with the deaf old woman of whom I am 
 weary." 
 
 The Countess, however, who was by this time forty- 
 eight, and thoroughly weary also, it is stated, of her 
 degradiDg position, very soon gave the King the
 
 112 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 opportunity be wanted by meddling in politics. 
 She appears to have entered into some sort of a job 
 in obtaining a favour for Lord Chesterfield, in which 
 she slighted the Queen by getting the favour 
 granted by the King over the Queen's head. 
 
 This gave George the opportunity he required to 
 be very rude to his former favourite, and to Lord 
 Chesterfield too, as a result of which Lady Suffolk 
 retired to Bath, and Lord Chesterfield shortly after 
 was dismissed from Court, when of course he became 
 a partisan of the Prince of Wales, as might be 
 ■expected. 
 
 The mode of Lord Chesterfield's dismissal was 
 rather amusing. He had grievously offended 
 Walpole and the King by his opposition to the 
 Excise Scheme. Of all those Avho had done like- 
 wise, Lord Chesterfield, who held the office of Lord 
 Steward of the Household, was the first to suffer. 
 Two days after the extinction of the Excise Bill, he 
 was going up the great staircase of St. James's 
 Palace — which is not so very great — when an 
 attendant stopped him from entering the presence 
 chamber, and handed him a summons requesting 
 him to surrender his white staff. In this was the 
 hand of the Queen, who had never forgiven him for 
 his little deal with Mrs. Howard. There was also 
 another reason. The Queen had a little window of 
 observation overlooking the entrance to Mrs. 
 Howard's rooms. One Twelfth Night Lord Chester- 
 field had Avon a large sum of money at play, some
 
 THE PKINCE ASSERTS HIMSELF. 113 
 
 say fifteen thousand pounds, and being afraid of 
 being robbed of it in the none too safe streets of 
 London, determined to deposit it with Mrs. Howard. 
 The Queen, through her little window of observa- 
 tion, saw him enter the apartments of the fair 
 Howard, and drew her own conclusions. Thence- 
 forward Lord Chesterfield obtained no more favours 
 at Court, for the Queen controlled them. 
 
 Lady Suffolk went to Bath, but was not content, 
 however, with drinking the waters in the kingdom 
 of Beau Nash, she met there Bolingbroke, and is 
 credited with a political intrigue with him, the 
 person most detested by the Court. Whether this 
 political intrigue existed or not, King George 
 availed himself of the rumour of it, and upon her 
 return to Court ignored her. He was an adept at 
 ignoring people, especially his own son and heir, the 
 Prince of Wales. This not being deemed sufficient, 
 the King publicly insulted the Countess of Suffolk, 
 and this had the desired effect ; she resigned her 
 post, and finally retired from the Court. 
 
 There is a curious memorandum in the Manuscript 
 Department of the British Museum of an interview 
 which took place between Queen Caroline and the 
 Countess, written apparently by the latter, from 
 which it seems that the Queen was even then very 
 loth to lose her services. But not so the King. 
 
 Lady Suffolk shortly afterwards married the 
 Honourable George Berkeley," fourth son of the 
 
 * He was Master of St. Catherine in the Tower, and had stood in two 
 Parliaments as member for Dover.
 
 114 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OP WALES. 
 
 second Earl of Berkeley, and found a good husband, 
 only to lose him soon by death ; but this was the 
 comment of the King to the Queen upon hearing 
 of the union, the news of which reached him in 
 Hanover : 
 
 " J' etais extrement surpris de la disposition que 
 vous m'avez mande que ma vielle maitresse a fait de 
 son corps en mariage a ce vieux goutteaux George 
 Berkeley, et je m'en rejouis fort. Je ne voudrois 
 pas faire de tels presents a mes amis ; et quand mes 
 ennemis me volent, plut a Dieu que ce soit toujours 
 de cette facon." 
 
 Which, though rather witty, shows that the little 
 man's pride was hurt, even when an old mistress 
 was made an honest woman. 
 
 It may be imagined that in the differences which 
 had arisen between the Prince of Wales and his 
 parents, the rest of his family had not played a 
 neutral part. His brother William Augustus, Duke 
 of Cumberland, born April 25th, 1721, was of 
 course but a boy at his first coming to England, but 
 old enough to resent such an eclipse of his own 
 importance by the elder brother whom he had never 
 before seen, and whom, perhaps, he may have been 
 taught to regard as a rival. 
 
 The fact has already been referred to, that George 
 the Second and his Queen are credited with the 
 intention of endeavouring to make their second son, 
 the Duke of Cumberland — the idol of his mother — 
 heir to the English throne, without giving any
 
 THE PRINCE ASSERTS HIMSELF. 115 
 
 consideration to the fact that the throne was not 
 theirs to give. 
 
 Such a determination which could not but have 
 become known to the brothers was not likely to 
 foster much fraternal love. As regards the Prince 
 of Wales's sisters, the two elder Princesses Anne and 
 Amelia, cannot be said to have ever been his friends. 
 Amelia exhibited some signs of affection at first, but 
 when the Prince discovered that she was betraying 
 his confidences to his father, he very naturally 
 would have no more to do with her, as a result 
 of which perfidy she became despised both by her 
 brother and the King. 
 
 Anne, the elder Princess, had apparently never 
 exhibited anything but dislike for her elder brother, 
 whom neither she nor her sister could have had any 
 distinct recollection of in their infancy when they 
 left Hanover, and whom they both regarded as a 
 stranger and interloper. 
 
 This state of unfortunate enmity which existed 
 between the Prince and his sisters took an active 
 form in a peculiar way. Anne, the Princess Royal, 
 was devoted to music, and had had the advantage 
 of the great Handel as her instructor, to whom she 
 was much attached. 
 
 Handel at one time became the manager of the 
 Opera House at the Haymarket, — one can imagine 
 it with its hundreds of wax candles, its powder, 
 patches, and orange girls — this undertaking the 
 Princess Royal aided by every means in her power,
 
 116 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 inducing the King and Queen to not only subscribe 
 to a box, but to frequently visit the theatre. This 
 must have been an infliction upon King George, 
 whose dislike for "bainting and boetry," together 
 with the other arts is proverbial. 
 
 It cannot be denied that Frederick, Prince of 
 Wales, had the attribute of combativeness, and a 
 natural power of enraging others by his mode of 
 opposition. No sooner had his sister's protege 
 established his opera at the Haymarket theatre than 
 he forthwith started an opposition opera at the 
 theatre in Lincolns Inn Fields, possibly not very far 
 from the present Gaiety. 
 
 Then commenced a state of affairs which can 
 only be regarded as extremely comical. All the 
 adherents of the Prince — and he was very 
 popular among the nobility as well as the people — 
 ceased their patronage of Handel's theatre, and 
 transferred it to the Prince's undertaking in Lincolns 
 Inn Fields. Excitement between the two parties 
 was high at the time, and the Prince's theatre was 
 crowded. 
 
 Lord Chesterfield, who by this time was becoming 
 a strong partisan of Frederick's, wittily commented 
 on the state of affairs one evening at the Lincolns 
 Inn Fields establishment. He had, he informed the 
 Prince, just looked in at the Haymarket theatre on 
 his way down, and found nobody there but the King 
 and Queen, " and as I thought they might be talk- 
 ing business," he concluded, airily, " I came away."
 
 THE PRINCE ASSERTS HIMSELF. 117 
 
 Much as this joke pleased the Prince it cannot be 
 expected that its repetition gave much satisfaction 
 to the King and Queen, and the Princess Royal, the 
 latter of whom spoke bitterly of the whole affair. 
 She commented with a sneer that " she expected in 
 a little while to see half the House of Lords playing 
 in the orchestra at the Prince's Theatre in their 
 robes and coronets," which was a remark truly 
 worthy of a spiteful young lady, and the anger of 
 the King, her father, can be understood when it is 
 considered that he had been dragged to witness a 
 performance he did not care a bit about, to be 
 snubbed by his nobility and made a public spectacle 
 of. 
 
 The King's appreciation of a theatrical per- 
 formance was not of a very high order ; of an opera 
 it was probably much worse. The following anecdote 
 is related of one of his visits to a theatre when the play 
 was Richard the Third, and Garrick sustained the 
 title role. 
 
 Notwithstanding the talent of the great actor, 
 King George's fancy was captured by the man who 
 played the part of Lord Mayor. 
 
 During the remainder of the performance the 
 little monarch continually worried his attendants 
 with the following questions : " Will not that lor- 
 mayor come again ? I like dat lor-mayor. When 
 will he come again ? " 
 
 But the resentment engendered by the slights and 
 ill-treatment the Prince had received from his
 
 118 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 family — what a family to live in the same house 
 with ! — which resentment was shared and fostered 
 by his party, especially Bolingbroke, the moving 
 spirit of it, began to assume a definite form about 
 this time, till at last the Prince, no doubt inspired 
 by Bolingbroke, determined to address his father 
 personally on the subject of his wrongs. He took a 
 step against which Bubb Doddington in his diary 
 says he did his best to dissuade him. 
 
 One morning in the early summer of 1734, the 
 Prince of Wales presented himself without 
 previous notice at the King's ante-chamber and 
 requested an immediate audience. The King, 
 upon whom this presumptuous request no doubt 
 produced an instant fit of fuming, delayed admitting 
 him until he had sent for Sir Robert Walpole, a 
 very wise proceeding as it turned out. The King 
 no doubt scented danger in the air. 
 
 On the arrival of Sir Robert, the King boiling 
 with rage, expressed his indignation at the Prince's 
 audacity, but the Minister counselled moderation 
 and at last persuaded the King to receive his son 
 reasonably. 
 
 On his admittance the Prince made three requests : 
 
 The first to serve a campaign on the Rhine in the 
 Imperial army ; the second related to an augmen- 
 tation of his revenue, with a broad hint that he 
 was in debt ; and the third, a very reasonable 
 suggestion, that he should be settled by a suitable 
 marriage. He was then twenty-seven.
 
 THE PRINCE ASSERTS HIMSELF. 119 
 
 To the first and last of these three propositions 
 the Kino- made no answer, to the second he seemed 
 inclined to agree. Here the interview appears to 
 have ended. 
 
 But although under the cool advice of his 
 Minister Walpole the King had controlled himself, 
 his anger broke out with redoubled fury when he 
 heard for the first time, and it must have been a 
 blow, that the Prince of Wales intended bringing 
 the matter of his income before Parliament. This 
 was particularly inopportune to the King, as it was 
 a well-known fact that out of his immense income 
 of £900,000 per annum, £100,000 was intended by 
 Parliament for the Prince of Wales, though the 
 King's discretion in dealing with his children was 
 not hampered in any way. But here the Queen 
 stepped in ; despite Lord Hervey ; s weak but spiteful 
 satire, the Queen and her son were still on the terms 
 of mother and child ; she used her best endeavours 
 to make peace between the father and son, and had 
 her ears not been systematically poisoned against 
 Frederick by Hervey and others, and had not the 
 Prince on the other hand been controlled by the 
 strong hand of Bolingbroke, she might have con- 
 tinued her natural office of peacemaker between 
 these two. 
 
 On the present occasion, however, she succeeded 
 in at least patching up a truce ; her influence over 
 the weaker nature of the King was at this time, as 
 it always had been and in fact continued to the day
 
 120 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 of her death, boundless. She could mould him in 
 those soft white hands of hers, of which she was no 
 doubt naturally proud, into any form she chose, and 
 with the Prince she took the business line of telling 
 him he would gain nothing by trying to force the 
 King's hand through Parliament. 
 
 But at the same time she induced George to 
 advance his son a sum of money with which to 
 liquidate his most pressing debts, and so with this 
 little sacrifice on the King's part, the matter ended, 
 — for the time.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 A Child Bride. 
 
 Just about this time (1735), a very important 
 event indeed occurred ; the King took a new 
 mistress ! 
 
 He made his triennial visit to Hanover this year, 
 and became smitten with the charms of a young 
 German lady named Walmoden. This middle-aged 
 Don Juan — he was getting on, he was fifty-two — 
 induced this estimable lady to leave her husband for 
 the trifling consideration of a thousand ducats. 
 
 Madame Walmoden was a great niece of the 
 Countess von Platen who had been one of the 
 mistresses of George the First, and consequently 
 had a good strain of the courtesan in her blood 
 before she disposed of herself for the aforesaid 
 thousand ducats. 
 
 Little George at once wrote off to his wife in 
 England and told her all about it, just as if he had 
 bought a new horse ; he did not scruple to describe 
 the person of his new purchase to his wife, minutely. 
 He even solicited his wife's affection for her ! A 
 curious race these Hanoverian Kings ! 
 
 Further, George did not scamp the details of his 
 amour in his letters to his wife, which were 
 immensely long and always written in French, which 
 
 (121)
 
 122 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 he apparently considered a language more fitted for 
 descriptions of love affairs ; his sort of love affairs at 
 any rate. This is a sample of one of his letters 
 written concerning the inviting to England by the 
 Queen (which he besought her to contrive) of a 
 certain Princess of Modena, a daughter of a late 
 Regent of France, to whom he had the greatest 
 possible inclination to pay his addresses, particularly 
 because he understood she was not at all particular 
 from whom she received such marks of favour. 
 " Un plaisir," he wrote, "que je suis sur, ma chere 
 Caroline, vous serez bien aise de me procurer, quand 
 je vous dis combien je le souhaite ' " 
 
 According to Lord Hervey, the Queen's confidant, 
 the general opinion was that Madame Walmoden, 
 the King's new mistress, would oust the Queen from 
 her influence, but the diplomatic Caroline rose to 
 the occasion. She, to retain her power, expressed 
 the utmost interest in the King's new mistress, and 
 awaited further details with impatience. She got 
 them.* Not in such a manner as a profligate husband 
 would write in our days, even to a mistress debased 
 enough to read such letters, but hot and strong in 
 the terms of Shakespeare expressed in French. 
 
 So far from being offended, the Queen replied in 
 the same strain, equalling in every respect her 
 husband's flights of fancy in the regions of Venus. 
 
 *" Old Blackboum, the Archbishop of York, told her," i.e., the Queen, 
 " one day, that he had been talking to her Minister, Walpole, about the 
 new mistress, and was glad to find that Her Majesty was so sensible a 
 woman as to like her husband should divert himself." Walpole 's Memoirs, 
 App., p. 446.
 
 A CHILD BRIDE. 123 
 
 It is this correspondence between Caroline and 
 the King, coupled with her very objectionable letters 
 to the Duchess of Orleans, which have caused many 
 writers to take exception to the remark of Lord 
 Mahon, which described this Queen's character as 
 "without a blemish." At any rate it gives us an 
 insight into the private life of the mother of our 
 Prince Frederick, and accounts perhaps for some of 
 her unnatural conduct towards him, for where there 
 is not purity of mind, how can there be purity of 
 motherly affection ? 
 
 Again, a mind which could take pleasure daily in 
 the conversation of such a man as Lord Hervey — 
 epigrammatic though that conversation mi^ht be — 
 could not be expected to contain the natural 
 solicitude which a loving parent would have for her 
 first-born son. 
 
 The little Kin*:;, however, was having a par- 
 ticularly effulgent time in Hanover with his new 
 light o' love, a time which he kept up, not exactly 
 religiously, until the very night before he left for 
 England, when standing glass in hand at a supper 
 party on that eventful evening he pledged himself 
 to Madame Walmoden and the other demireps form- 
 ing the company to return without fail on the 
 following 29th May. 
 
 Upon hearing of which promise some short time 
 after, Sir Robert Walpole, his sturdy Prime 
 Minister, remarked : " He wants to go to Hanover, 
 does he " ? he asked, when Lord Hervey told him
 
 124 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 of it, " and to be there by the 29th May? Well, 
 he shan't go for all that." 
 
 So much did the King enjoy his revels in Hanover 
 that he had paintings made of them, each containing 
 portraits, sent them to England and had them hung 
 up in his wife's dressing room ! She must have 
 enjoyed the privilege ! 
 
 So George returned to England and made himself 
 exceedingly disagreeable to his wife when he got 
 there, as a testy love-sick gentleman of fifty-two 
 might be expected to do who had recently left a 
 new and youngish lady-love hundreds of miles 
 behind. For the time being Caroline and the 
 English bored him ; with regard to the latter he 
 expressed himself as follows : " No English, or 
 French cook could dress a dinner ; no English con- 
 fectioner set out a dessert ; no English player could 
 act ; no English coachman could drive, no English 
 jockey ride, nor were any English horses fit to be 
 drove or fit to be ridden ; no Englishman knew how 
 to come into a room, nor any English woman how 
 to dress herself."* 
 
 How this particular strain of English King must 
 have degenerated since James the First's daughter 
 made a mesalliance and married the King of 
 Bohemia ! 
 
 But the little King had not wasted all his time in 
 Hanover, he had seen a Princess — the Princess 
 Augusta of Saxe-Gotha — whom he thought would 
 
 *Hervey's Memoirs.
 
 A CHILD BKIDE. 125 
 
 do for a daughter-in-law, and had straightway com- 
 municated this fact to his Queen, mixed up with 
 accounts of his own prowess on the field of love, in 
 a less innocent direction. 
 
 No sooner, however, had the King set foot in 
 England, than the Prince of Wales, urged to this 
 filial act of duty by Doddington, put in an appear- 
 ance at one of his father's first Levees, from which 
 functions he had absented himself for a con- 
 siderable time. His father, however, once more 
 scented mischief in the air, and once more his 
 olfactory nerves had not led him astray. Frederick 
 at once renewed his demands, this time asking for 
 his full allowance of £100,000 a year, a separate 
 establishment, and — a wife. The Prince was 
 insistent. 
 
 There can be little doubt from an incident which 
 followed that in this demand for a wife, the Prince 
 had in his mind his old love, his cousin Wilhelmina, 
 still unmarried. 
 
 The King, his father, however, had no intention 
 whatever of uniting his son with that Princess ; he 
 and the King of Prussia had been quarrelling for 
 years, even going the length of challenging one 
 another to single combat, an encounter which 
 would have been exceedingly grotesque but for the 
 redeeming point that though George the Second was 
 very little, yet he was undoubtedly plucky for his 
 size, and would have given a good account of himself 
 in any case. But, "unfortunately," as some
 
 126 A FORGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 historians put it, no mortal combat came off, and 
 Europe had to put up with the two sovereigns for 
 some years longer. The King, as usual, talked the 
 matter of his son's request over with his Queen, 
 especially the part about the £100,000 a year, which 
 her Majesty was dead against, she had all along 
 resisted the demand of the Prince of Wales for a 
 regular income, and this opposition being persevered 
 in on her part had undoubtedly made matters worse 
 between them. 
 
 The King and Queen's talk resulted in the con- 
 clusion that it would be cheaper to marry him off 
 and make him an allowance than to keep on paying 
 some of his debts, therefore having put their heads 
 together for the last time on the subject, they sent a 
 message by five of the Privy Council, proposing to 
 the Prince of Wales a marriage with the Princess 
 Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, the young lady whom the 
 King had seen when abroad. But this was evidently 
 not what the Prince expected, for this is what 
 happened. 
 
 In the first place more than a year after his 
 coming to England, when there had been a spark of 
 revival in the double marriage scheme, Frederick 
 had written to Hotham, the Special Envoy in Berlin, 
 on the subject of Wilhelmina : 
 
 " Please, dear Hotham, get my marriage settled, 
 my impatience increases daily for I am quite foolishly 
 in love ! "* 
 
 •End of 1729.
 
 A CHILD BRIDE. 127 
 
 There is something plaintive in this message, for 
 whatever were his faults, and they were numerous, 
 vet this constancy to the girl he wished to make his 
 wife was honest and admirable, and had he been 
 given her, he might have become a different man. 
 But Wilhelmina was a strange girl, and in her diary, 
 written long after, affects to think it was only his 
 characteristic obstinacy which caused the Prince to 
 evince such affection. Perhaps it was the old tale 
 of the sourness of the fruit which had not come her 
 way. 
 
 When therefore the deputation of the live Privy 
 Councillors from the King waited upon the Prince 
 of Wales and proposed to him a marriage with the 
 Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, they evidently 
 threw him into a state of consternation. It was not 
 Augusta he wanted, but Wilhelmina, his cousin. 
 
 He appears to have remonstrated with some heat* 
 and then to have sent for Baron Borck, the Prussian 
 Minister. 
 
 To him he complained that his father, the King, 
 was forcing him to marry a lady he had never seen 
 and to renounce all hopes of " a Prussian Princess " 
 — there could not be much doubt about the identity 
 of this Princess. 
 
 He requested him to lay this statement before the 
 King of Prussia. He expressed his heartfelt grief 
 at not being allowed to take a wife from a family 
 which he loved more than his own, and to which, 
 
 * Coxe's Walpole.
 
 128 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 from infancy, all his desires had been directed. 
 He begged for the King of Prussia's favour and 
 friendship notwithstanding, and deplored that he 
 should be denied his support. He complained, too, 
 that he should still be under the control of his 
 father and mother, for it was a part of King George's 
 scheme that the young married couple should live 
 with him, presumably to save expense. 
 
 All this and much more the excited young Prince 
 appears to have said, and he seems to have deplored 
 the fact of the King of England disdaining the 
 friendship of such a great monarch as the King of 
 Prussia, which could only lead to the ruin of his, 
 Prince Frederick's, house. 
 
 This impassioned appeal to his feelings affected 
 «ven that astute old diplomatist, Baron Borck, who 
 with Lord Townshend, had gained notoriety, by 
 preventing the comic duel between the King of 
 Prussia and King George. 
 
 It is more than probable that Baron Borck gave 
 the distressed young Prince some fatherly advice 
 and impressed upon him the hopelessness of thinking 
 any more of his cousin Wilhelmina. None knew 
 better than the Baron that such a marriage could 
 never take place. In addition the Queen informed 
 her son — they still had some confidence in each 
 other left — that the King of Prussia had definitely 
 refused to give him the hand of his daughter. 
 
 Soon after, the Prince gave in, and accepted the 
 marriage his father had arranged for him, apparently
 
 A CHILD BEIDE. 129 
 
 in sheer desperation, and no doubt in consequence of 
 a little pressure being put upon him financially, for 
 his father gave him no fixed allowance then as it has 
 been said, but simply as much or as little as he chose. 
 
 The young man's pleadings to Baron Borck, how- 
 ever, were not without effect ; the Baron wrote off at 
 once to his master the King of Prussia, and reported 
 all the Prince of Wales' messages, but as luck 
 would have it the letter fell into the hands of 
 Walpole, who was not at all above tampering with 
 the Ambassador's post bags, and the whole of the 
 Prince's love ravings were communicated to the 
 King, his father, whose auger passed comprehension, 
 especially about that part which referred to his 
 " disdaining the support of such a great monarch as 
 the King of Prussia" whom he hated, and his own 
 ruin speedily following. 
 
 All this was no doubt stored up by the Royal couple 
 against their troublesome son, who seemed to be in 
 ill-luck's way. His parents were determined. They 
 had married off their daughter Anne, the Princess 
 Royal, in 1733 to the Prince of Orange, an amiable 
 but deformed gentleman who apparently married 
 his royal wife — he was only Serene himself — on the 
 traditions of another Prince William of Orange who 
 had preceded him. A marriage the English King 
 and Queen would have now. Frederick was to 
 marry the Princess Augusta, or go short, and it is 
 not at all surprising, considering all things, that he 
 gave in.
 
 130 A FOKGOTTEN PKINCE OF WALES. 
 
 With regard to the above-mentioned marriage of 
 Frederick's eldest sister with the Prince of Orange, 
 the way in which this unfortunate man was treated 
 could not have been a better testimony to the bad 
 breeding of King George and his wife. The poor 
 Dutchman fell ill when he landed in England, and 
 lay in that state for months, during which time the 
 whole of the Royal Family were forbidden to go 
 near him, lest they should make him proud by 
 having such an attention from a " Royal " House as 
 a sick visit. He was to be taught by little George 
 to understand that if he ever should receive any 
 dignity at all, it was not to be his own but a 
 reflection from his marriage with a Royal Princess 
 of England. In addition, to make things more 
 pleasant all round — especially for the bride — he was 
 given the name of "the Baboon" by the King in 
 the family circle, and the Queen generally graciously 
 referred to him as " that Animal." All this was 
 calculated to establish the future happiness of the 
 young couple on a firm and sound basis. 
 
 But to return to Frederick, it is very evident that 
 he hesitated long before he accepted the marriage 
 his father proposed for him, until in fact it was 
 demonstrated to him that the desire of his heart 
 was unattainable ; then he agreed in the following 
 words : " whoever His Majesty thought a proper 
 match for his son would be agreeable to him," and 
 the negotiations went forward forthwith. 
 
 The King, after an unusual struggle, had
 
 A CHILD BRIDE. 131 
 
 intimated — undoubtedly on the initiative of the 
 Queen, for she suggested everything, or at any rate 
 sanctioned everything before it passed through her 
 hands — that he intended to allow the Prince 
 £50,000 per annum, which seems a large sum to us 
 considering the fact that the young couple were to 
 live with " his people," but when the sum is 
 dissected, and the huge taxes deducted, the amount, 
 as will be seen later, was not by any means too 
 great an income for a Prince of Wales at that time. 
 The sum that the young princess was to receive 
 from her father's grateful subjects of Saxe-Gotha 
 by way of income, did not transpire. 
 
 The Prince having given his reluctant consent to 
 the marriage —and there was something pitiable 
 about it — little time was lost. Walpole was most 
 anxious to get the Prince married, perhaps he was 
 glad to put a final stop on the double marriage 
 scheme which had worried him at intervals for years. 
 Lord Delaware was selected, principally on account 
 of his ugliness, to demand the hand of the Princess 
 of Saxe-Gotha. King George had recollections, 
 perhaps, of a certain handsome Count Konigsmarck, 
 who had played havoc in his father's family, and was 
 taking no risks in that respect in the present 
 instance. This long, lank, unpolished nobleman 
 shambled off to fetch the Princess Augusta, leaving 
 no jealous feeling in anybody's heart, that he would 
 play the part of Pao.o to the Princess's Francesca. 
 
 There is no doubt whatever that the Princess
 
 132 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 Augusta was handsome ; certainly she was only 
 seventeen, but gave promise of great beauty, she 
 was tall, slender, but naturally unformed and fresh 
 from the schoolroom. 
 
 Now commenced a somewhat humorous episode. 
 The little King George was due to meet his dear 
 Walmoden in Hanover on the 29th of the following 
 May according to promise — how he had endured the 
 intervening months in his state of middle-aged 
 infatuation it is difficult to conceive — and the staid, 
 leisurely formalities of the marriage contract over 
 which the ungainly Delaware presided on behalf of 
 the Prince in Saxe-Gotha, were one long drawn out 
 agony to the amorous little King of England, whose 
 deep-drawn sighs of love for his far-away German 
 courtesan must have been exceedingly gratifying to 
 his wife, the Queen, to listen to, she being perfectly 
 informed from his own lips how matters stood. At 
 last King George sent word to Lord Delaware that 
 if the Princess could not arrive in England by the 
 end of April, the marriage would either have to 
 be put off till the winter or take place without his 
 presence. 
 
 This had the desired effect of hurrying the 
 Princess, who was at the time saying good-bye to 
 her numerous girl friends, and of course having her 
 trousseau made. She forthwith set out alone, under 
 the care of that plain-featured nobleman who had 
 been sent for her. 
 
 Poor child ! It was a cheerless beginning to the
 
 A CHILD BEIDE. 133 
 
 festivities of a marriage, coming alone without 
 father or mother or relative of any sort to a strange 
 land to wed with a man she had never seen, and 
 who did not love her. 
 
 The etiquette of King George's Court did not 
 admit of a Prince of Wales going to woo a Princess 
 of such an inferior state as Saxe-Gotha ; on the 
 contrary, she had to come to him, but it is said that 
 the young Princess came joyfully, dazzled by the 
 prospect of becoming Queen of England. 
 
 She arrived at Greenwich in the royal yacht, 
 " William and Mary," on Sunday, April 25th, 1736, 
 and was duly handed ashore by Lord Delaware, who 
 not being a lady's man was no doubt glad to be rid 
 of his charge. 
 
 There was, however, nobody there to meet her. 
 King George did not believe in, as the Irish say, 
 c< cocking up" these small "Serenities" with too 
 much attention, so she spent the night at Greenwich 
 Palace alone. 
 
 One is confused at this time with the number of 
 royal palaces ; St. James's, Richmond, Kew, 
 Hampton Court, Leicester House, Kensington, 
 Greenwich, and Windsor Castle, which latter seemed 
 to be very little used. 
 
 The young Princess created a very favourable im- 
 impression on the people on landing ; she was exceed- 
 ingly amiable and engaging, and possessed all the 
 charm of youth. She showed herself to the people on 
 the balcony of the Palace and was very warmly received.
 
 134 A FOEGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 The poets were ready with plenty of verses for 
 the young couple, of the description following : 
 
 That pair in Eden ne'er reposed 
 Where groves more lovely grew ; 
 
 Those groves in Eden ne'er enclosed 
 A lovelier pair than you. 
 
 Which somehow reminds one of the verses of Mr. 
 Feeder, B. A., in " Dombey and Son." 
 
 Walpole made the following amusing remark 
 upon it : — " I believe the Princess will have more 
 beauties bestowed upon her by the occasional poets 
 than even a painter would afford her. They will 
 cook up a new Pandora, and in the bottom of the 
 box enclose Hope — that all they have said is true. 
 A great many, out of excess of good breeding, 
 who have heard that it was rude to talk Latin 
 before women, proposed complimenting her in 
 English ; which she will be much the better for.* 
 I doubt most of them instead of ftaring their com- 
 positions should not be understood, should fear they 
 should ; they wish they don't know what, to be read 
 by they don't know who." 
 
 The next day after the landing of the Princess 
 Augusta came the Prince, and the meeting must 
 have been an exceedingly interesting one to those 
 about them, especially to the populace who loved 
 them both for their amiability, and who cheered 
 themselves hoarse in consequence whenever they 
 caught sight of the pair. 
 
 *She could not understand a word of English.
 
 A CHILD BRIDE. 135 
 
 It is said that the Prince was very pleased with 
 her, as indeed he might well have been, for there is 
 no doubt that she was a very charming young girl, 
 and what man— especially one of the Prince's 
 temperament— would not have been pleased under 
 the circumstances ? 
 
 But after his impassioned appeal to Baron Borck, 
 which occurred only a few days before, it is impos- 
 sible to believe that this child from abroad— who 
 by the bye brought a doll with her, poor dear- 
 could have effaced from Frederick's heart the passion 
 for his cousin Wilhelmina, which had burned there 
 for so many years, almost from his childhood. 
 
 And now the hour had come when she was to lose 
 him for ever ; perhaps there were some tears shed in 
 the private chamber of Wilhelmina in far-away 
 Berlin, for what girl likes to lose a devoted lover ? 
 
 Meanwhile, the young Princess waited patiently 
 at Greenwich Palace for something to occur ; she 
 remained there it is said for forty-eight hours 
 without anyone coming near her, except the Prince, 
 this being a result, without doubt, of the King's 
 orders. 
 
 His Majesty, however, came down so far from his 
 great altitude as to send the poor little Princess a 
 message from himself and his family : 
 
 "Their compliments, and they hoped she was 
 well." 
 
 This was being taken to the warm bosom of a 
 loving family with a vengeance ! And yet the little
 
 136 . A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 Princess seemed to put up with it without a 
 murmur. Perhaps she confided all her disappoint- 
 ments to her doll, and wept over them in secret 
 with it, or what was still more probable, they did 
 things differently in Germany and it was no surprise 
 to her. Certainly the Royal Family could not have 
 sent a barer message if the Prince had been going 
 to marry Cinderella. 
 
 The Prince, however, was a gentleman and 
 certainly did his best to make up for the coldness of 
 his relatives whose excuse was that they were so 
 bound up with etiquette that until Augusta became 
 Princess of Wales they did not know upon what 
 footing to treat her. 
 
 Frederick came down to Greenwich the next day 
 after his first visit in his state barge and dined with 
 his bride elect ; then he did the exact thing to please 
 a girl. He took her out for a row in his flag- 
 bedecked barge on the Thames, with a band playing 
 sweet music before them, guns firing from the river 
 craft, and the people cheering them on the bank ; 
 these seeing their bright young faces, thought how 
 happy the Prince of Wales must be, not knowing 
 of course anything about his cousin Wilhelmina 
 over in Berlin. 
 
 It is not a far-fetched idea to imagine that the 
 Prince thought of his lost-love on that journey on 
 the river — they went as far as the Tower and back 
 again — and wondered how she would have looked in 
 the same place beside him. It is just what a
 
 From "Caroline the Illustrious,'" by permission oj Messrs. Lour/mans, 
 Green & Co. 
 
 PRINCESS AUGUSTA. 
 Wife of Frederick, Prince of Wales.
 
 A CHILD BRIDE. 137 
 
 lover under such circumstances could not well help 
 doino. 
 
 The account in the Gentleman's Magazine for 
 April, 1736, concludes by saying that the happy 
 couple returned to Greenwich together, and " supped 
 in public," which meant that the young people took 
 their meal near an open window for the people to 
 see them. 
 
 Certainly this must have been an enjoyable day 
 for the young Princess, during which probably she 
 did not miss the presence of the King and Queen, 
 whose personality was pretty well known on the 
 Continent. 
 
 The next day after this excursion, one of the 
 Royal coaches was sent down to C4reenwich to bring 
 the Princess up to Lambeth, where she embarked in 
 a royal barge and was rowed across the river to 
 Whitehall. Thence she was carried in one of Queen 
 Caroline's sedan chairs to the garden entrance of 
 St. James's Palace, by a couple of stout carriers, to 
 the great content no doubt of the inhabitants of 
 Westminster, who were assembled there to see her. 
 
 Her reception at the palace is said to have been 
 magnificent and tasteful. Certainly the meeting 
 itself of Frederick and Augusta was very pretty and 
 likely to impress the public and increase the young 
 people's popularity with them. 
 
 On the arrival of the bride, Frederick was there 
 to meet her and gallantly assisted her from her 
 chair. Then when she attempted to kneel and kiss
 
 138 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 his hand, he prevented her, but instead drew her to 
 him and kissed her twice upon the lips before every- 
 body, a proceeding no doubt which gave satisfaction 
 to all, including the Princess. 
 
 The picture of confusion and happiness, it is said 
 the young couple ascended the broad staircase of 
 the Palace together hand in hand. Thus they 
 proceeded into the Presence Chamber crowded with 
 courtiers of both sexes. 
 
 Here, according to Lord Hervey, the Princess 
 " threw herself all along the floor, first at the 
 King's, then at the Queen's feet," and by so doing 
 greatly pleased little George, whose kingly brow had 
 been disfigured by wrinkles when she arrived, for 
 she was a little late. 
 
 This act was considered by the Court as being so 
 exceedingly tactful that she was given the credit at 
 once of being a girl of " propriety and sense." 
 
 But the King graciously raised her up and kissed 
 her on both cheeks with his royal arm round her. 
 The Queen embraced her too, and the remainder of 
 the family did their best to make up for then- 
 neglect of her at Greenwich. 
 
 This must have been a trying ordeal for the young 
 Princess considering that her wedding was to take 
 place that very night at nine o'clock ! 
 
 To avoid the question of precedence before 
 Augusta became Princess of Wales, the King and 
 Queen decided that she should dine with the 
 younger members of the family, and this incident
 
 A CHILD BEIDE. 139 
 
 gave rise to a scene which can only be regarded as 
 exceedingly comic, and which gave the bride an idea 
 of what sort of a family she was marrying into. 
 
 Of course it must be remembered that the actors 
 in this absurd scene were all young, though the 
 Prince was the eldest and certainly twenty-nine. 
 
 For some reason, possibly by way of a joke, for he 
 was extremely fond of joking, vide the Bubb 
 Doddington incident, the Prince decreed that at this 
 meal, his brother and all his sisters should sit on 
 stools without any backs, whilst he and his bride 
 luxuriated in arm-chairs at the head of the table. 
 Upon this the Duke of Cumberland, who was fifteen, 
 and the Princesses, refused to go into the Dining 
 Chamber until the stools were all removed — there 
 ought to have been one for the Princess Augusta's 
 doll — and chairs substituted in their place. 
 
 This formality being complied with, exception was 
 taken by these young royalties to the fact that the 
 Prince of Wales and the bride were being served on 
 bended knee and they were not. This difficulty was 
 got over by their being allowed to be waited on 
 by their own servants, who it is presumed served 
 them also on bended knee or in any other position 
 in which it pleased them to have their food handed 
 to them. 
 
 But these young sticklers remained firm on one 
 point, they would not receive coffee from the 
 Prince's servants for fear they should " pass some 
 indignity upon them with the cups." Altogether it
 
 140 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 was a scene which was well fitted for a nursery, and 
 no doubt heartily enjoyed by Augusta who had just 
 come away from one. 
 
 It is notable that the King, perhaps having an 
 idea what this dinner party of his children was 
 likely to be, commanded that they were to dine 
 "undressed," that is in their ordinary clothes, and 
 not in the grand paraphernalia of the wedding. This 
 was probably a wise precaution. 
 
 The dinner and the various objections and 
 counter-objections concerning the etiquette to be 
 observed at the meal occupied nearly all the after- 
 noon, so that when the time came for uprising, 
 Augusta had barely time to withdraw to her rooms, 
 and commence that most important dressing of a 
 girl's life, whether she be a princess or a 'prentice, 
 her wedding toilette.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Nuptials. 
 
 How the Prince and his friends passed the 
 interval between dinner and the ceremony is not 
 stated in history, but if they spent it over their wine 
 certainly the Prince came up to time looking his 
 best when the procession was formed in the great 
 drawing-room of St. James's Palace at eight o'clock ; 
 then, the great crowd of peers and peeresses were 
 marshalled into order of precedence. 
 
 The ceremony took place in the Chapel of the 
 Palace and was performed by the Bishop of London 
 to a running accompaniment of artillery in the 
 neighbouring park. Here is an account of* it all 
 from the Gentleman s Magazine for April, 1736, 
 which must also have been a Ladies' Magazine in 
 the reading at any rate, from the elaborate descrip- 
 tions of the dresses worn ; no doubt this accurate 
 journal issued a double wedding number to o-ive 
 room for the information, and greatly increased its 
 circulation thereby. 
 The account : 
 
 " Her Highness was in her hair, wearing a crown 
 with one bar, as Princess of Wales, set all over with 
 diamonds ; her robe, likewise, as Princess of Wales, 
 being of crimson velvet, turned back with several 
 
 (141)
 
 142 A FOEGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 rows of ermine, and having her train supported by- 
 four ladies, all of whom were in virgin habits of 
 silver, like the Princess, and adorned with diamonds 
 not less in value than from twenty to thirty 
 thousand pounds each. Her Highness was led by 
 His Royal Highness the Duke of Cumberland, and 
 conducted by His Grace the Duke of Grafton, Lord 
 Chamberlain of the Household, and the Lord 
 Hervey, Vice- Chamberlain, and attended by the 
 Countess of Effingham, and the other ladies of her 
 household. 
 
 " The marriage service was read by the Lord 
 Bishop of London, Dean of the Chapel ; and after 
 the same was over, a fine anthem was performed 
 by a great number of voices and instruments. 
 
 " When the procession returned his Royal 
 Highness led his bride ; and coming into the 
 drawing-room, their Royal Highnesses kneeled 
 down and received their Majesties' blessing. 
 
 " At half-an-hour after ten their Majesties 
 sat down to supper in ambigu, the Prince and the 
 Duke being on the King's right hand, and the 
 Princess of Wales and the four Princesses on 
 the Queen's left. 
 
 " Their Majesties retiring to the apartments of 
 the Prince of Wales, the bride was conducted to her 
 bedchamber, the bridegroom to his dressing-room, 
 where the Duke undressed him, and his Majesty 
 did his Royal Highness the honour to put on his 
 shirt.
 
 THE NUPTIALS. 143 
 
 " The bride was undressed by the Princesses, and 
 being in bed in a rich undress, his Majesty came into 
 the room, the Prince following soon after in a night- 
 gown of silver stuff, and cap of the finest lace. 
 
 11 The quality were admitted to see the bride and 
 bridegroom sitting up in bed surrounded by all the 
 Royal Family." 
 
 That must have been an engaging sight which 
 the little King came upon, when due intimation 
 had been conveyed to his royal ears that the 
 bride had been undressed, and re-dressed by her 
 royal maids ; the spectacle of a pretty Princess, in 
 very becoming night attire, sitting up in bed and 
 blushingly awaiting her bridegroom, must have been 
 a taking sight indeed. 
 
 It seems to have been the custom in those days for 
 a Royal bride and bridegroom to have held a formal 
 reception in their bedroom, while sitting up in bed, 
 before finally saying good-night. As a matter of 
 fact, this was not an English tradition at all, but a 
 ceremony borrowed from Versailles, where it might 
 have been better understood. 
 
 On the occasion of the previous marriage in the 
 family when the Princess Royal had wedded the 
 Prince of Orange, the latter, never a favourite with 
 the Queen — as has been stated already — did not 
 make much of a show sitting up in bed without his 
 peruke and gorgeous wedding-clothes, which had 
 certainly toned down his deformities and want of 
 good looks.
 
 144 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 Commenting on the following day upon the sight 
 of this royal couple, the Queen cried : — 
 
 " Ah ! mon Dieu ! quand je voiois entrer ce 
 monstre pour coucher avec ma fille, j'ai pense 
 m'evanouir. Je chancelois auparavant mais ce coup 
 la m'a assommee." 
 
 The Princess, however, did not share this view, 
 and in her way really appeared to be fond of her 
 husband, and was dutiful to him according to her 
 lights. 
 
 It may be well to mention that the four brides- 
 maids referred to in the foregoing account were : 
 Lady Caroline Lennox, daughter of the Duke of 
 Richmond ; Lady Caroline Fitzroy, daughter of the 
 Duke of Grafton ; Lady Caroline Cavendish, 
 daughter of the Duke of Devonshire. 
 
 It will be seen that all these ladies bore the name 
 of the Queen, the fourth, Lady Sophia Fermor, 
 daughter of the Earl of Pomfret, bore the name of 
 the King's mother, whom he had always regarded 
 as Queen of England. 
 
 It is said that the King had grumbled at the 
 scarcity of new clothes at his birthday drawing- 
 room, certainly he could not with reason have 
 complained of the display at his son's wedding. 
 
 This is a description of some of them from that 
 excellent journal the Gentleman 's Magazine, and 
 which seems to have fulfilled, and fulfilled well, the 
 double functions of the Queen newspaper and the 
 Court Circular of our day :
 
 THE NUPTIALS. 145 
 
 " His Majesty was dressed in a gold brocade 
 turned up with silk, embroidered with large flowers 
 in silver and colours, as was the waistcoat ; the 
 buttons and stars were diamonds. 
 
 " Her Majesty was in plain yellow silk, robed and 
 faced with pearls, diamonds, and other jewels of 
 immense value. 
 
 " The Dukes of Grafton, Newcastle and St. 
 Albans, the Earl of Albemarle, Lord Hervey, 
 Colonel Pelham, and many other noblemen were in 
 gold brocades of from three to five hundred pounds 
 a suit. The Duke of Marlborough was in a white 
 velvet and gold brocade, upon which was an 
 exceedingly rich point (VEspagne. The Earl of 
 Euston and many others were in clothes flowered 
 or sprigged with gold ; the Duke of Montagu in a 
 gold brocaded tissue. 
 
 " The waistcoats were universally brocades with 
 large flowers. 
 
 " 'Twas observed most of the fine clothes were 
 the manufactures of England, and in honour of our 
 own artists. The few which were French did not 
 come up to these in richness or goodness or fancy, as 
 was seen by the clothes worn by the Royal Family, 
 which were all of British manufacture. The cuffs 
 •of the sleeves were universally deep and open, the 
 waists long, and the plaits more sticking out than 
 ever. The ladies were principally in brocades of 
 gold and silver, and wore their sleeves much lower 
 than hath been done for some time."* 
 
 * Gentleman's Magazine, April, 1736. l,
 
 146 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 One account states that the Prince in his night 
 attire of " silver stuff" — which must have been most 
 uncomfortable — passed gaily among the guests at 
 his bedroom reception, whilst his pretty young wife 
 sat bolt upright in the heavily-draped four-poster. 
 That he exchanged quips and retorts with the ladies 
 and gentlemen of the Court, in the broad style 
 which then was fashionable, and that a general air 
 of levity and frolic prevailed over all without 
 restraint. 
 
 One could have wished that those two joyous 
 maids-of-honour, Mary Bellenden and Mollie Lepel, 
 could have been there, with their bosom friend, Mrs. 
 Howard, to add their witty congratulations to the 
 crowd of compliments which floated round the fair 
 young girl wife sitting up in bed ; if those good- 
 humoured jokes were perhaps a little stronger than 
 they ought to have been, we may rest assured that 
 judging from their letters which are still extant, 
 that beautiful merry trio, " Bella-dine," " the 
 Swiss" and "the Schatz" would have been quite 
 equal to the occasion.* 
 
 And so the stiff brocades and the powdered heads 
 having made due obeisance to the four-poster and 
 its sacred contents, someone discreetly pulled the 
 curtains, and the crowd withdrew. 
 
 * Alas ! Poor Mary Bellenden, then fourth Duchess of Argyle, died on 
 the 18th September, that year, still young. 
 
 Lightly rest, thy native Scottish soil upon thee, Mary, 
 Sweet be thy soul's eternal rest !
 
 MARY BELLENDEN, 
 
 4th Duchess of Argyll. 
 
 Copied for this book from the Gallery at Inverary by the 
 kindness of the present Duke.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Lady Archibald. 
 
 After the marriage nobody seems to have been 
 able to find sufficiently superlative expressions in 
 which to convey their appreciation of the Princess's 
 conduct at the wedding. Lord Waldeorrave stated 
 that she distinguished herself "by a most decent 
 and prudent behaviour, and the King, notwith- 
 standing his aversion to his son, behaved to her not 
 only with great politeness, but with the appearance 
 of cordiality and affection. " The aged Duchess of 
 Marlborough, who was by no means in love with the 
 Royal Family, said of her " that she always appeared 
 good-natured and civil to everybody." 
 
 While Sir Robert Walpole paid her a greater 
 compliment than all when he observed how she had 
 conquered the gruff old King and attracted her 
 husband's esteem, he declared that there were 
 " circumstances which spoke strongly in favour of 
 brains which had but seventeen years to ripen." It 
 may be said here that the Princess's future conduct 
 fully justified these favourable comments. She had 
 indeed a most difficult and painful part to play, 
 considering the state of affairs which existed 
 between the Prince of Wales, her husband, and his 
 
 (147)
 
 148 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 father, and this at the very threshold of her married 
 life was greatly complicated by a most disagreeable 
 episode which ought never to have occurred. This 
 was a dispute between the Queen and Frederick as 
 to whether Lady Archibald Hamilton, the lady of 
 thirty-five with ten children, who had obtained a 
 strong ascendency over the Prince, should be 
 appointed one of the ladies-in-waiting upon the 
 Princess. 
 
 The Queen very properly argued that scandal had 
 linked the Prince's name with this lady's, and it was 
 invidious to appoint her to his household, but to 
 this, of course, the Prince retorted very improperly — 
 but que voulez-vous with such a father ? — that " Lady 
 Suffolk had been appointed to his mother's house- 
 hold under similar circumstances." Lady Archibald 
 Hamilton, however, had her way in the end. It was 
 arranged by the astute Queen Caroline that only 
 three ladies-in-waiting on the Princess of Wales 
 should be appointed, leaving Lady Archibald out, 
 and that the fourth should be left to the Princess's 
 choice. The Queen, no doubt, had a pretty shrewd 
 idea who the fourth lady-in-waiting would be, but 
 was anxious to avoid the responsibility of her 
 appointment ; as a matter of fact, later events point 
 to Lady Archibald really being a creature of Queen 
 Caroline's. 
 
 Frederick's influence over his girl-wife very soon 
 became apparent and was very natural. Lady 
 Archibald's influence over the Prince also soon
 
 LADY ARCHIBALD. 149 
 
 became a patent fact, with the result that may be 
 easily imagined, "the Hamilton woman," as she was 
 called, filled the vacant fourth place among the 
 ladies-in-waiting. Not only was this piece of finesse 
 easily accomplished by her, but she at once began to 
 exert a strong influence over the seventeen-year-old 
 Princess of Wales, which was not to be wondered at. 
 This influence was not exerted for the young 
 Princess's benefit by any means ; it would almost 
 seem that Lady Archibald set herself to work to 
 make this pretty young girl ridiculous in the eyes of 
 the people. Augusta was wholly ignorant of the 
 customs of the country, and of course very easily 
 led by such a person of experience as Lady 
 Archibald. 
 
 Under the advice of this lady she was persuaded 
 to walk abroad in Kensington Gardens, preceded by 
 two gentlemen ushers, a chamberlain leading her by 
 the hand, a page in attendance on her train, and the 
 rear brought up by ladies-in-waiting, among whom 
 it is pretty certain the instigator of this absurdity 
 was not present. 
 
 The Queen is said to have met this pageant in 
 Kensington Gardens and to have burst into peals of 
 laughter, which very naturally surprised the child 
 Princess. Queen Caroline, however, enlightened her 
 there and then, and compared her to a tragedy 
 queen. 
 
 To whose interest was it that this pretty young 
 Princess should be made ridiculous in the eyes of
 
 150 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 the English people, upon whom she had made a 
 favourable first impression ? 
 
 Had there not also been another Princess of 
 Wales who had made an equally favourable impres- 
 sion upon the English people and who now was 
 Queen ? Had not this lady reigned unrivalled from 
 1714 to that year 1736, for her daughters were 
 never attractive enough to become popular favourites, 
 and they knew that fact very well and resented it. 
 
 Is it not a very plain conclusion to draw, that in 
 this making Augusta absurd in the people's eyes, 
 Lady Archibald was simply acting under orders 
 from the Queen, who feared her own fading attrac- 
 tions — she was very fat — were likely to suffer by 
 comparison with the youthful radiance of the new 
 Princess of Wales ? 
 
 In addition, Lady Archibald introduced into the 
 Prince's household as many of her husband's 
 relatives as she possibly could, so that his apart- 
 ments were said to be peopled by Hamiltons. But 
 despite the evil influence of this woman, the Prince 
 and Princess of Wales greatly gained in popularity 
 after their marriage, and very uncomplimentary 
 comparisons were drawn by the public between the 
 affability and courtesy of the young Prince and his 
 bride, and the distinctly phlegmatic German manners 
 of the King. The Queen had always made herself 
 agreeable to the people ; she was far too wise to do 
 anything else. 
 
 Within a few weeks of her marriage the Princess
 
 LADY AKCHIBALD. 151 
 
 was witness of a fight in a theatre for the first time, 
 when the celebrated riot of the footmen in Drury 
 Lane took place, these brothers of the shoulder knot 
 and long cane objecting to be shut out of the gallery 
 to which they claimed to be admitted free, and 
 emphasizing their objections by storming the doors 
 of the theatre and starting a free fight within, in 
 which several persons were injured. In the sequel, 
 many of the footmen were marched off to Newgate. 
 
 At this time, too, the great William Pitt — 
 " Cornet Pitt," and afterwards Earl of Chatham — 
 made his first speech in the House of Commons, in 
 seconding the Address of Congratulation to the 
 King on the marriage of his son, which address was 
 moved by Lyttleton. So laudatory was Pitt of the 
 virtues of the son that he mortally offended the 
 father, who never forgave him, and as an instalment 
 of future spite deprived him of his commissions of 
 Cornet. 
 
 But little George the King had other fish to fry ; 
 he was due at Hanover on the 29th May, and 
 whether Sir Robert Walpole approved or not he 
 intended to go, and keep his tryst with Madame 
 Walmoden and the other members of her select 
 circle. From the King's point of view it was high 
 time he went to look after his interests in this 
 direction, as there was a certain Captain von der 
 Schulemburg about in connexion with whom a rope 
 ladder was discovered dangling from Madame 
 Walmoden's bedroom window during the King's
 
 152 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 visit. But George had made up his mind to go, and 
 go he would, and did. 
 
 Sir Robert Walpole, however, by way of asserting 
 his authority in some shape or form, got him to take 
 his brother Horace with him as Minister in 
 Attendance. 
 
 But before departing the King appointed the 
 Queen as his Regent, as usual ignoring his eldest 
 son ; at the same time he sent a message to 
 Frederick intimating that wherever the Queen was, 
 there w r ould be provided apartments for him and the 
 Princess. The Prince of Wales very naturally 
 resented this order, which practically constituted 
 him and his wife prisoners in whichever of the Royal 
 palaces the Queen happened to be living. The fact 
 of the Queen being appointed Regent was also a 
 subject of bitter discord between the mother and 
 son, creating a gap which widened day by day.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A Rope Ladder and Some Storms. 
 
 It has been already stated that there was at 
 Hanover a certain Captain von der Schulemberg, 
 whose name became very much coupled with that 
 of the King's mistress, Madame Walmoden, and it 
 came about in this wise. 
 
 Madame Walmoden inhabited certain grand 
 apartments in the old Leine Schloss in the town of 
 Hanover — in which palace it will be remembered 
 that Prince Frederick was born. 
 
 The King lived at Herrenhausen Schloss two 
 miles away, and thither the Walmoden was 
 accustomed to drive every morning and spend the 
 day with the King. The King, too, would some- 
 times return with her to the Leine Palace. 
 
 Another important fact must also be mentioned 
 and that is that Madame Walmoden had presented 
 the King with a fine boy, which she, of course, 
 declared to be his. The King was fifty-three, 
 fatuous and ready to believe anything she told him ; 
 the birth of this child attached him more to the 
 Walmoden than ever, a consummation she had no 
 doubt calculated upon. Now it came about that one 
 night, when the King was away at Herrenhausen, 
 a muddle-headed gardener with no knowledge of 
 the courtly world and its pretty little ways, 
 
 (153)
 
 154 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 stumbled over a ladder in the small hours placed 
 immediately under Madame Walmoden's window, 
 which looked upon the gardens of the old Leine 
 Schloss, those gardens through which it is said 
 Sophie Dorothea, the mother of George the Second, 
 stole disguised to meet her lover Konigsmarck at 
 his lodgings hard by. 
 
 The obtuse gardener, instead of leaving the ladder 
 where it was and going his way, officiously thrust 
 his nose into other people's business, and having 
 carefully examined the ladder — some say it was a 
 rope ladder and fixed to the Walmoden's window- 
 sill — proceeded to search the gardens, believing as 
 subsequently stated that a robber was planning the 
 removal of the mistress's jewels. As might have 
 been expected by one less dense he presently dis- 
 covered a man hiding in some bushes near. This 
 man he seized, and at the same time alarmed the 
 palace guard. This man being placed in the guard 
 room and examined proved as it is stated iu one 
 account, " to everyone's astonishment," to be a 
 certain officer in the Austrian service named 
 Schulemberg ; Captain von der Schulemberg, and 
 certainly not a robber in the ordinary sense of the 
 word. In addition, he was a relative of the Duchess 
 of Kendal — old Melusine von der Schulemberg — 
 the mistress of George the First. How these 
 Hanoverian courtesans and their belongings got 
 mixed up ! 
 
 Von Schulemberg protested vigorously against
 
 A HOPE LADDEE AND SOME STORMS. 155 
 
 his treatment, which he, perhaps, rightly considered 
 a violation of his dignity as a diplomatic envoy from 
 the Court of Vienna, but he did not explain how his 
 diplomatic mission had brought him to the foot of 
 the rope ladder in the Leine Schloss gardens, which 
 ladder led into the bedroom of Madame Walmoden. 
 He, however, made so great a noise in the guard 
 room, striking terror into the heart of the captain of 
 the guard by referring to the vengeance his master, 
 the Austrian Emperor, would exact for this insult to 
 his envoy, that the officer let him go, and he 
 departed into the night, no doubt cursing the 
 gardener. 
 
 The story, as may be imagined, was very soon in 
 everybody's mouth, and Madame Walmoden was 
 thoroughly alarmed ; she knew there were plenty to 
 carry the story to the King. But she took her 
 courage in both hands, and did what every woman 
 has done in similar circumstances and will no doubt 
 continue to do as long as women exist on this earth, 
 beloved by natures weaker than their own. She 
 ordered her coach soon after daylight, and by six 
 o'clock was on the road to Herrenhausen to be the 
 first to tell her version of the story to her elderly 
 royal lover. 
 
 At Herrenhausen she passed the royal guards 
 who knew her, and went straight to the King's 
 bedroom. Here she cast herself on her knees by 
 the bed in which little George lay half awakened 
 rubbing his eyes.
 
 156 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 She besought him to protect her from insult or 
 allow her to retire from his Court ; in a torrent of" 
 tears she declared that she loved him, not as a 
 kincr but as a man and for himself alone. He must 
 have looked far from loveable at the moment, 
 unshaven and in his nightcap, but these things are 
 never remembered when a pretty and designing- 
 woman is making love to a man the wrong side of 
 fifty. George the King rubbed his eyes, and asked 
 for an explanation. 
 
 She told him amid her sobs that she was the 
 subject of a dastardly plot, that a certain Madame 
 d'Elitz had caused a ladder to be placed beneath 
 her window, with a view to ruining her with the 
 King. 
 
 Now Madame d'Elitz was herself a von der 
 Schulemburg, and was credited by scandal with 
 having been the mistress successively of George the 
 First, George the Second, and Prince Frederick 
 before he came over to England. These achieve- 
 ments, however, are doubted by historians as far as 
 the Prince was concerned, but it is pretty certain 
 she had been the mistress of the two first Georges,, 
 father and son. This bringing in of Madame 
 d'Elitz was a stroke of genius, as it opened the door 
 for the Walmoden to tell the King of the arrest of 
 Captain von Schulemberg in the Leine Schloss 
 gardens. It need hardly be said that her story 
 was accepted by King George, who ordered the 
 captain of the Leine Palace Guard to be placed in
 
 - 
 
 s 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 S 
 o
 
 A ROPE LADDER AND SOME STORMS. 157 
 
 arrest, and search to be made for von der Schulem- - 
 berg, that he might be again made prisoner. 
 
 But here Horace Walpole, the English minister 
 in attendance, secretly interposed ; he sent word 
 privately to Schulemberg to be off across the frontier 
 as quickly as he could, and he took care that no 
 obstacles should be put in the way of his doing so, 
 for the last thing, he knew very well, that his 
 brother, Sir Robert, wanted, was trouble with the 
 Austrian Emperor. 
 
 And so Madame Walmoden triumphed ; but the 
 story spread, even to England, and in Hanover the 
 infantine features of Madame Walmoden s fine boy 
 were scanned more eagerly than ever for traces of 
 his paternity. 
 
 And now, for Queen Caroline in England, a very 
 painful period had commenced. In the first place 
 the Prince of Wales and his wife had taken very 
 unkindly to the restrictions put upon them most 
 unreasonably like two children by the absent King, 
 and not even the influence of Lady Archibald 
 Hamilton could prevent them from showing it. 
 
 The commands concerning moving about with the 
 Queen from palace to palace were not complied with, 
 and a very ingeniously arranged succession of ill- 
 nesses of the Princess utterly defeated the King's 
 intention. So keenly had the Prince felt the 
 humiliations put upon him by his father in appoint- 
 ing the Queen as Regent instead of himself, that he 
 did not attend the opening of the Commission —
 
 158 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 which was invariably held when news arrived of 
 the King's landing on the Continent — but came 
 designedly when the proceedings were over. In 
 this and in many other ways the breach between the 
 Prince and his mother widened, though it must be 
 said that at this time the Queen showed both to 
 him and his wife the utmost patience under very 
 trying circumstances. This was no doubt owing to 
 Walpole, who was, as Prime Minister, very naturally 
 her constant attendant at this time ; the patience 
 and good sense of Walpole no doubt kept peace in 
 the Poyal Family for a much longer period than it 
 would have been maintained under the counsels of 
 a less sagacious minister, and it is much to be 
 wondered at, that Sir Kobert did not use his 
 influence to persuade the King to give the Prince of 
 Wales the full allowance of £100,000 a year to 
 which he was so clearly entitled by the vote of 
 Parliament. 
 
 But there was another matter, which was the 
 subject of much discussion at Court and of much 
 pain to the Queen, and this was the hopeless 
 infatuation of the King for Madame Walmoden. It 
 was well known to all the Court that the King had 
 hastened back to Hanover after an interval of only 
 eight months, instead of three years, and that, 
 moreover, he showed no signs of coming back 
 again. But now the Queen was not taking his 
 infidelity with the same calmness which she had 
 shown in former cases ; there were signs that her
 
 A EOPE LADDER AND SOME STORMS. 159 
 
 patience was giving out, and that she was losing 
 heart. Her letters were abridged, from the usual 
 four dozen pages to seven or eight ; it was this 
 circumstance particularly which alarmed Walpole 
 and others, till at last the rough, uncouth Sir 
 Robert spoke out to her on the subject in perhaps 
 the plainest language in which a subject has ever 
 addressed a King's wife. He naturally feared with 
 the rest of the Court that her power over the King 
 might die out altogether, especially if she showed 
 any resentment to the infamous conduct of her 
 husband which strangely enough she had never 
 done before. Walpole did not spare her feelings ; 
 he reminded her of her age and the beauty of her 
 rival, the Walmoden ; he did not scruple to say that 
 the Queen's attractions had faded, and that she 
 could never expect to regain the ascendency over 
 the King which she had for so long enjoyed. He 
 urged her to resume her long letters to her husband, 
 and to write them in a spirit of humility and sub- 
 mission. Finally, he made the most extraordinary 
 request that has ever been made to a wronged and 
 angry wife ; he advised her to write and invite the 
 King to bring back his new mistress to England 
 with him. 
 
 No wonder the tears sprang to the Queen's eyes ; 
 but it is said she at once suppressed them, and 
 attracted by the bait of fresh power over her 
 husband temptingly held out by the wily Sir Robert 
 — who wished to get this new mistress of the King
 
 1G0 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 into his own power, and under his own eye — the 
 Queen consented to follow his advice. 
 
 Then came a time of doubt and apprehension ; 
 it was questioned whether the woman in the Queen's 
 nature would not get the ascendency, and that she 
 would revolt from this vile thing. But she did 
 nothing of the sort ; in a few days Walpole had the 
 satisfaction of knowing that the very letter he 
 desired had been sent off to the King. Still 
 Walpole had some distrust of the Queen ; she was 
 too calm and too compliant to satisfy him, and he 
 confided to a friend that he could stand the Queen's 
 anger and reproof, but he was afraid of her when 
 she "daubed" (I.e., flattered). 
 
 But the Queen spoke quite calmly of her rival, 
 and actually allotted her rooms in the palace. 
 Moreover, to Walpole's amazement, she proposed 
 to take her into her own service, no doubt with a 
 view to keeping an eye upon her, as she had done in 
 the case of the King's former mistress, Lady Suffolk. 
 
 But this arrangement Walpole opposed, and she 
 in reply quoted the case of Lady Suffolk ; to this 
 Sir Robert rejoined that "there was a difference 
 between the King making a mistress of the Queen's 
 servant, and making a Queen's servant of his 
 mistress ! " 
 
 "The people," he continued, "might reasonably 
 look upon the first as a very natural condition or 
 things, whilst popular feelings of morality might be 
 outraged by the second."
 
 A ROPE LADDER AND SOME STORMS. 161 
 
 The King's reply to his wife's letter was just 
 what the old minister had calculated upon ; it was 
 full of admiration at his wife's amiability, and he 
 forthwith proceeded to give her by way of reward 
 glowing descriptions of her rival's attractions, botli 
 of the mind and body. Principally the latter, 
 and he finished up with a fervent tribute to his 
 wife's virtue, which he longed to imitate, but he 
 excused himself pitifully : " You know my passions, 
 my dear Caroline" — he prided himself on his 
 passions — "you know my weaknesses," and he 
 finished up with a semi-blasphemous appeal to God 
 that Caroline might cure him of them. But as the 
 Queen had failed to do this as a beautiful young 
 woman, it was rather hopeless to look for a cure 
 that way now that she was fat, getting wrinkled, 
 and nearly fifty- four. 
 
 The King about this time also took an oppor- 
 tunity of consulting the Queen on the subject of 
 that very convincing rope ladder which had been 
 discovered dangling from Madame Walmoden's 
 bedroom window with Captain von der Schulemberg 
 hiding in very close proximity to its earthly end, by 
 which it is supposed that he intended to mount to a 
 very carnal Elysium. Little George w T as anxious to 
 hear what his wife thought of the matter, which 
 looks very much as if he had not entirely swallowed 
 that very ingenious story sobbed out by the 
 implicated fair one that early morning at Herren- 
 hausen. But much as he valued her opinion, still
 
 162 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 he advised her to take further advice on the point, 
 as if it were a subject of State importance. He 
 asked her to consult Walpole — who must have been 
 intensely amused, and probably had a good laugh 
 over it with the Queen. Walpole " le gros homme" 
 as he called him, " who," continued the simple 
 little King, " has more experience in these sort of 
 matters, my dear Caroline, than yourself, and who, 
 in the present affair, must necessarily be less 
 prejudiced than I am." How they must have 
 roared ! 
 
 But while the King was wasting his time in 
 Hanover, the Prince and Princess of Wales were 
 growing in popular favour at home, and it must be 
 said that the young couple did their best to further 
 this feeling of the people. 
 
 There was slowly and surely growing among the 
 public a feeling of disgust at the King, and it was 
 said by some that it would be better if he remained 
 away in Hanover with his German mistress 
 altogether. Another matter which brought George 
 the Second into disrepute was that it was said he 
 kept several important commissions in the Army 
 vacant, and pocketed the pay attached to them.* 
 This was the kind of thing very popular with his 
 late father's mistresses, Schulemburg and others. 
 
 The Queen was greatly commiserated, and indeed 
 was to be pitied under the circumstances, although 
 she had to a great extent brought the trouble 
 
 * This has been denied.
 
 A EOPE LADDER AND SOME STORMS. 163 
 
 on herself by her abominable pandering to her 
 husband's vices. 
 
 Insulting pasquinades now began to make their 
 appearance directed against the King. A lame, 
 blind and aged horse with a saddle and a pillion 
 behind it was sent to wander loose through the 
 streets— in which, of course, there were no police— 
 with a placard tied to its head asking that no one 
 should stop him as he was " the King's Hanoverian 
 
 equipage going to fetch His Majesty and his w 
 
 to England." 
 
 But the most insulting of these public notices 
 was that affixed to St. James's Palace itself and 
 which read as follows : 
 
 " Lost or strayed out of this house a man who 
 has left a wife and six children on the Parish. 
 Whoever will give any tidings of him to the 
 Churchwardens of St. James's Parish so as he 
 may be got again, shall receive four shillings and 
 sixpence reward. N.B.— This reward will not be 
 increased, nobody judging him to deserve a crown." 
 Strangely enough the little King was not 
 exasperated with these public satires on his 
 immorality and neglect of bis wife. He liked to 
 be considered a Don Juan and a bit of a rake ; the 
 only jokes which angered him were those in which 
 he was referred to as a senile libertine, past the age 
 for gallantry. 
 
 _ Meanwhile the friction between Frederick and 
 his mother increased, and was much added to by
 
 164 A FOKGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 the conduct of the Princess in arriving late for 
 church on several Sundays, and causing Her 
 Majesty to cease her devotions, rise from her knees, 
 and permit the Princess to squeeze by her — the 
 Queen was very stout and the pew small — to her 
 seat. 
 
 This conduct was attributed by those about the 
 Queen to the Prince of Wales, who had designed a 
 studied insult by it, to make his mother look 
 ridiculous, but it is much more likely to have been 
 the thoughtless act of a young girl. However, after 
 two or three Sundays of it, the Queen made 
 arrangements for the Princess to come in at another 
 door. Lord Hervey appears to have been very 
 active in fomenting the disagreement between 
 Queen Caroline and the Prince and Princess of 
 Wales at this time, particularly during a squabble 
 which occurred concerning the removal of Frederick 
 and his wife from Kensington to St. James's, when 
 they found the dulness of the former place intolerable. 
 The Queen was greatly upset by this, as it is pretty 
 certain that she had received definite orders from 
 her husband not to let the Prince of Wales live in 
 any other palace but that which she inhabited, for 
 the very good reason that he did not want him to 
 set up a separate Court, which would have been 
 in opposition to his own, and in addition, an 
 exceedingly popular one. 
 
 The Prince's letter in reply — written in French — 
 seems to have been a very dutiful one, but was
 
 A ROPE LADDER AND SOME STORMS. 165 
 
 thought to have been written for him by Lord Ches- 
 terfield. Lord Hervey unintentionally paid a great 
 compliment to Lord Chesterfield's accomplishments 
 by saying that the letter might have been written 
 by " Young Pitt," but was certainly not sufficiently 
 elegant for Lord Chesterfield. It was about this 
 time that the Prince began to sink deeper and 
 deeper into debt, a consequence no doubt of his 
 marriage, and very foolishly began to raise money 
 at enormous interest to be repaid on the death of 
 his father. 
 
 This, of course, very soon reached the ears of the 
 Queen, and Lord Hervey appears to have made 
 himself particularly active about the matter. 
 During a discussion which ensued between them 
 the Queen seems to have remarked that she 
 considered the Prince of Wales far too unambitious 
 to wish for the death of his father, to which Hervey 
 replied that if that were so, certainly the feeling did 
 not extend to the Prince's creditors, who would be 
 immensely benefited by the King's death. He went 
 so far as to point out that the Sovereign's life was 
 in jeopardy as a result of the post obits of the Prince 
 of Wales, and suggested that a Bill should be 
 brought into Parliament making it a capital offence 
 for any man to lend money for a premium at the 
 King's death, and so worked upon the Queen's 
 feelings that she replied : 
 
 "To be sure it ought to be so, and pray talk a 
 little with Sir Robert Walpole about it."
 
 166 A FOKGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 But Walpole very wisely ignored the suggestion, 
 being, no doubt well aware of the source from which 
 it came ; he was far too sagacious to bring the 
 private disputes of the Royal Family before the 
 public. 
 
 The Queen then approached the Princess of 
 Wales with a view to engaging her influence to 
 prevent the Prince borrowing money, but the 
 Princess showed her wisdom by declining to take 
 sides against her husband, for which dutiful decision 
 she gained but small thanks from her mother-in- 
 law. But now the King at last decided to tear 
 himself away from Hanover, and at the same time 
 to accept the Queen's very kindly offer that he 
 should bring his lady love, Madame de Walmoden, 
 to England with him. What an offer from a wife ! 
 What a married state for any unfortunate woman to 
 have lived in ! King George was in deadly earnest 
 about bringing over his paramour with him, and 
 ordered the apartments lately occupied by Lady 
 Suffolk to be prepared for her, and this it appears, 
 under the Queen's directions, was done. 
 
 This letter of the King was shown to Walpole by 
 Caroline : 
 
 "Well now, Sir Robert," she said, "I hope you 
 are satisfied. You see this minion is coming to 
 England." 
 
 Walpole, however, had evidently received private 
 information from his brother who was Minister in 
 Attendance on the Kin g- in Hanover ; he shook
 
 A KOPE LADDEE AND SOME STOKMS. 167 
 
 his head in answer to the Queen's remark, and said 
 he did not believe that the Walmoden would come, 
 and that, in his opinion, she was afraid of the 
 Queen. 
 
 He was quite right ; at the last moment, Madame 
 de Walmoden changed her mind— if she really had 
 had any intention of coming— and decided to remain 
 in Hanover ; she had no fancy for crossing swords 
 with Caroline. So King George set off in a huff by 
 himself for Helvetsluis en route for home. 
 
 The Prince of Wales, meanwhile, had been steadily 
 gaining in popular favour, while it was known that the 
 King had been squandering large sums of money- 
 English money for the most part— in Hanover" on 
 German women, a fact which greatly disgusted his 
 English subjects. Frederick very judiciously gave 
 £500 to the Lord Mayor for the purpose of releasing 
 poor freemen of the city from debtors' prisons. 
 This was particularly exasperating to the Queen, 
 Hervey and other members of the Court party, who 
 knew that this £500 was probably borrowed at 
 usurious interest on a post obit of the King. Frederick 
 and his wife, however, went placidly on their way, 
 leaving their suite at Kensington, where the Queen 
 was, and themselves coming into town and holding a 
 little Court of their own, which was the very thing 
 the little King had tried to prevent. 
 
 It may have been reports of these matters, and 
 the growing discontent at his absence which caused 
 the King to hasten to Helvetsluis— he left Hanover
 
 168 A FOKGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 on December 7 th after a ball and farewell supper at 
 Herrenhausen, without even stopping at the Hague 
 to see his daughter Anne, Princess of Orange, who 
 was at that time at death's door after the death of a 
 still-born daughter, and had sent him an urgent 
 message to come to her. But George was not a 
 feeling parent, and, above all, disliked anything to 
 do with children. 
 
 And now occurred an event which caused in 
 England both consternation and satisfaction ; cons- 
 ternation to the Queen and the Court party — 
 Hervey and his like particularly felt it — and satis- 
 faction to the bulk of the English people, who had 
 had quite sufficient of George the Second and his 
 doings and who ardently desired the accession to the 
 throne of their favourite the Prince of Wales. 
 
 The wind being fair, and the King being reported 
 arrived at Helvetsluis and about to embark, a terrific 
 hurricane arose in the channel in which it was 
 considered impossible that the Royal Yacht could 
 have lived. Wagers were freely laid in London 
 against the King ever setting foot in his kingdom 
 of England again. The possibilities of the future 
 began to be very freely discussed, even in the Royal 
 Family, and the Queen's confidant showed decided 
 signs of trimming. The Queen was greatly alarmed, 
 and even imagined that she saw in Frederick signs of 
 satisfaction ; she now roundly abused her son to Hervey, 
 saying : " Mon Dieu ! Popularity always makes 
 me feel sick, but Fritz's popularity makes me vomit."
 
 A ROPE LADDER AND SOME STORMS. 169 
 
 The Prince, however, appears to have conducted 
 himself very moderately during this period, and to 
 have had every consideration for his mother. Not 
 one infilial remark is recorded of him at this crisis, 
 and if he had made one it is pretty certain to have 
 been noted by his enemy Hervey in his letters, 
 which did not omit much, true or false, which was 
 to the Prince's discredit. 
 
 The Princesses, his sisters, who had been his 
 enemies also, were appalled at the prospect of his 
 becoming King, and one of them declared that it 
 was her intention to depart " au grand c/alop." 
 The state of uncertainty as to the King's safety 
 continued for over a week, during which the fears 
 of the Queen and her party were increased by the 
 news that the sound of guns booming far away in 
 the channel as if fired by ships in distress had been 
 heard from Harwich. 
 
 Things began to look very black indeed, and it 
 was thought necessary for the Prince to prepare his 
 mother for the worst, and Lord Hervey also hinted 
 that he thought the King's case was hopeless. 
 
 But the citizens of London who idolized the 
 Prince and Princess of Wales were secretly 
 delighted, and would not have been averse to 
 hearing that the Walmoden was on Board the 
 Royal Yacht with the King. But at the gloomiest 
 moment, a courier who had risked his life in the 
 awful tempest with the crew of the vessel in which 
 he sailed especially to carry a letter to the Queen
 
 170 A FOEGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 was "miraculously," as it was excitedly stated, 
 flung ashore at Yarmouth, and came post haste to 
 London with the news that the King had not em- 
 barked at all, but was waiting for fine weather at 
 Helvetsluis. This courageous messenger and the 
 still more courageous crew of the vessel had been 
 three days at sea with the wind in their teeth and 
 their opportune landing was spoken of by mariners 
 in the terms mentioned above. 
 
 The Queen showed great joy at hearing every- 
 body cry " The King is safe ! the King is safe ! " 
 when the courier in his muddy boots arrived, but it 
 was a terrible shock to the partisans of the Prince, 
 and his friends in the City could with difficulty 
 muster up the necessary congratulations. 
 
 The Queen who had shown an outward calm 
 during the crisis now expressed herself joyously in 
 characteristic terms : — 
 
 " J'ai toujour s dit que le Roi netait pas 
 embarque ; " she exclaimed. " On a beau voulu 
 m'effraier cet apres-diner avec leur Utters, et leur 
 sots, gens de Harwich; fai continue a lire mon 
 Rollin, et me moquois de tout cela." 
 
 This was a hit at Frederick who had brought her 
 the news from Harwich in a letter. Rollin was one 
 of her favourite books. But strange to say the 
 matter by no means ended here. Fine weather 
 came with an easterly wind which was just what 
 the King wanted, and matters looked perfectly 
 settled for his return, but it was not so. Scarcely
 
 A HOPE LADDEE AND SOME STORMS. 171 
 
 had this fine spell lasted long enough to allow the 
 King time to embark when the wind veered to the 
 north-west and blew again an awful hurricane, 
 worse if possible than the former one which had 
 caused such grave anxiety at the Court. This was 
 on the 20th of December, 1736, and no doubt 
 whatever was now held that the King had em- 
 barked as indeed he had. From the 20th to the 
 24th there was no news of him at all, but on the 
 latter date tidings arrived which were far from re- 
 assuring. A shattered mastless sloop was thrown 
 up on the coast, having on board a party of clerks 
 from the Secretary's office of the King, and these 
 stated that they had sailed with His Majesty from 
 Helvetsluis on the previous Monday, and that they 
 had remained with the rest of the fleet until the 
 storm arose when the Admiral, Sir Charles Wager, 
 had made the signal for each ship to look after 
 itself. When the passengers of the sloop last saw 
 the Royal Yacht, she was " tacking about " with a 
 view apparently to make an endeavour to return to 
 Helvetsluis. So grave was this news considered, 
 that Sir Robert Walpole prevented the Queen from 
 interviewing these shipwrecked clerks. Once more 
 were the hopes and exultations of the Court Party 
 ruthlessly shattered ; once more did the partisans 
 of the Prince with his stout friends in the city rub 
 their hands in dark corners. This time the Queen 
 was thoroughly alarmed, and showed it in her 
 countenance. The next day, Christmas Day, was
 
 172 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 perhaps the gloomiest in men's knowledge at that 
 time. On this day, probably in the early morning, 
 four ships of the King's convoy were thrown up in 
 a mastless condition on the coast, and the only 
 account of the King which they could give, was 
 that about six o'clock on the Monday night, the 
 20th December, a gun was fired by Sir Charles 
 Wager's order as a signal for the fleet to separate ; 
 a kind of sauve qui pent. That the wind continued 
 in its full violence for forty-eight hours after this. 
 One of the letters containing this intelligence was 
 brought by Lord Augustus Fitzroy, second son of 
 the Duke of Grafton, who, though only twenty 
 years of age, was Captain of a man-of-war, " The 
 Eltham," which had succeeded with great difficulty 
 in getting into Margate that Christmas morning. 
 
 This further news was kept from the Queen 
 altogether, and that evening a sad party sat down 
 in the Palace of St. James's to pretend to play 
 cards, while every ear was strained to catch the 
 least sound which might be the precursor of the 
 news of the King's death. In basset and cribbage was 
 that Christmas night passed by the Queen, while 
 Sir Robert Walpole, the Dukes of Grafton, New- 
 castle, Montagu, Devonshire and Richmond, with 
 Lord Hervey, talked of everything they could think 
 of, but the King's danger, or walked moodily up 
 and down in the shadows. 
 
 But the next morning, the 26th, Sir Robert 
 Walpole came to the Queen at nine o'clock and told
 
 A EOPE LADDER AND SOME STORMS. 173 
 
 her all. Then her fortitude gave way and she 
 wept, but not for long. She dried her tears and 
 expressed her intention of going to church — it was a 
 Sunday. This resolve Sir Robert considered most 
 injudicious as it would make the Queen an object of 
 curiosity in public, which in her disturbed state was 
 not desirable. It did not seem to strike this old 
 heathen that she went there to pray, and even if it 
 had, he would have been quite wrong, as the 
 Queen's own expressed reason was that she would 
 not give up hope, and believe her husband drowned 
 until it became a certainty. That her stopping 
 away from Church would have been construed into 
 an admission of the King's death. However, all her 
 doubts were ended during the service, as once more 
 an express arrived from the King to tell her he was 
 safe and sound, but had been terribly sea-sick. 
 That after setting sail from Helvetsluis on the 
 previous Monday morning at eight o'clock, he had 
 with difficulty regained that port at three on the 
 following afternoon. 
 
 The King blamed Sir Charles Wager for the 
 whole business, and said the Admiral had hurried 
 him on board against his will, whereas, in truth it 
 was the King who was impatient, and who had said 
 that unless the Admiral would sail, he would go 
 over in a packet boat rather than endure Helvetsluis 
 any longer. 
 
 " Be the weather what it may," concluded the 
 irascible little King, "lam not afraid."
 
 174 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OP WALES. 
 
 " 1 am" laconically responded the Admiral. 
 
 George persisted. 
 
 " I want to see a storm," continued the King, 
 "and would rather be twelve hours in one than 
 shut up twenty-four in Helvetsluis." 
 
 " Twelve hours in a storm," replied the rough and 
 ready Admiral, " four hours would do your business 
 for you." 
 
 The Admiral refused to sail until the wind was 
 fair, clinching the argument by remarking that 
 though the King might make him go, "I," con- 
 cluded Sir Charles with satisfaction, " can make you 
 come back again." 
 
 And he did bring him back again, for which the 
 King ought to have been eternally grateful to him, 
 for it was only the splendid seamanship of the 
 Admiral which saved him. 
 
 " Sir," remarked Sir Charles, when they did get 
 back, " you wished to see a storm, how did your 
 Majesty like it ? " 
 
 " So well," answered the King, no doubt with a 
 most rueful countenance, for he had been fearfully 
 sick, " that I never wish to see another ! " 
 
 The Admiral remarked in a letter to a friend at 
 the time : " His Majesty was at present as tame as 
 any about him." 
 
 " An epithet," comments Lord Hervey who had 
 read the letter, " that his Majesty, had he known it, 
 would, I fancy, have liked, next to the storm, the 
 least of anything that happened to him."
 
 A KOPE LADDER AND SOME STORMS. 175 
 
 But there were many of these letters came to the 
 Court by the same ship which brought the King's, 
 and the above passage of words between George 
 and the Admiral was well known in the King's 
 suite at Helvetsluis, therefore when the Queen 
 walked about with the King's letter in her hand 
 praising her husband's patience, and condemning 
 Admiral Wager as the cause of all their appre- 
 hension, it was somewhat difficult for the couriers 
 to keep their countenances when they realized the 
 King's wilful mendacity to his wife. 
 
 All the hopes of the Prince's party were now 
 crushed, but it is not recorded by Lord Hervey that 
 Frederick gave vent to any other remark but that 
 of thankfulness for his father's return. 
 
 His followers, and especially those in the city, 
 while expressing their thankfulness, qualified it ; the 
 common expression in referring to the King's escape 
 was — "It's the mercy of God, but a thousand 
 pities ! " 
 
 It is to be feared that had they heard that the 
 Eoyal Yacht with the King and Madame Wal- 
 moden on board, had sunk in mid-Channel, the 
 expression of their thanks might have been the 
 same without the concluding sentence. 
 
 The catch query at the time of this voyage was : 
 
 " How's the wind for the King ? " 
 
 And the popular answer was : — " Like the 
 nation, against him." 
 
 The danger over, the Queen confided her feelings
 
 176 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 to her almost inseparable companion the Vice- 
 Chamberlain, Lord Hervey ; after telling him of her 
 affection for him — it was a motherly affection, she 
 was fifty-three, — and the pleasure his society gave 
 her she added : 
 
 " You and yours should have gone with me to 
 Somerset House" and though I have neither so good 
 an apartment there for you as you have here, nor 
 an employment worth your taking, I should have 
 lodged you as well as I could, and given you at 
 least as much as you have now from the King." 
 
 The Queen, however, wrote a very dutiful and 
 tender letter to the King, full of art and flattery, 
 but it seems to have touched George's heart deeply ; 
 perhaps in those twelve hours of tossing in the 
 storms of the Channel, the little man had thought 
 seriously of the foolishness of leaving so good a wife, 
 that in the search after happiness, he was leaving 
 the substance in Caroline — and she was certainly 
 substantial — for the elusive shadow in the Wal- 
 moden ; anyhow he wrote his Queen a most remark- 
 able letter of thirty pages, more the effusion of an 
 eager lover than an old man for his wife. 
 
 " In spite of all the danger I have incurred in 
 this tempest, my dear Caroline," he wrote, " and 
 notwithstanding all I have suffered, having been ill 
 to an excess which I thought the human body could 
 not bear, I assure you that I would expose myself 
 to it again and again to have the pleasure of hearing 
 
 * Her jointure House.
 
 A ROPE LADDER AND SOME STORMS. 177 
 
 the testimonies of your affection, with which my 
 position inspired you. This affection which you 
 testify for me, this friendship, this fidelity, the in- 
 exhaustible goodness which you show for me, and 
 the indulgence which you have for all my 
 weaknesses, are so many obligations, which I can 
 never sufficiently recompense, can never sufficiently 
 merit, but which I also can never forget." 
 
 Certainly the storm had shaken the little man 
 very much and left him in a condition which would 
 have proved weak in the crisis which arose after his 
 return, had he not been supported on the one hand 
 by Walpole and on the other by his ever scheming 
 <^ueen. 
 
 * This is tlie pretty original French : — 
 
 "Malgre tout le danger que j'ai essuie dan3 cctoe tempete ma chere 
 Caroline, et malgre tout ce que j'ai souffert en etant malade a un point que 
 je ne croisois, pas quel le corps humain pourroit souffrir, je vour jure que 
 je m'exposorois encore et encore pour avoir le plaisir d'entendre les marques 
 de votre tendresse que cette situation m'a procure. Cette affection que 
 vous temoignez, cette amitie, cette fidelite, cette bonti inepuisable que vous 
 avez pour moi, et cette indulgence pour toutes mes foiblesses sont des 
 obligations que je ne s«,aurai, jamais recompenses que je ne scaurai 
 meriter, mais que je ne scaurai jamais oublier non plus."
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Parliament and the Prince's Income. 
 
 It has been stated that the Prince of Wales's 
 popularity had been steadily growing ever since his 
 marriage. It was much increased about this time, 
 just before the King's return, by his determined 
 action at a fire which occurred near the Temple, the 
 latter cluster of old buildings being said to have 
 been saved by his timely intervention, which limited 
 the loss to five or six houses. 
 
 He appears to have worked among the crowd, and 
 to have excited its admiration to a remarkable 
 degree. Some unwise persons raised a cry of 
 " Crown him ! Crown him ! ! " and this being duly 
 reported to his mother, the Queen, caused her the 
 gravest anxiety, and the most unreasonable anger. 
 
 Hervey, as usual, poured oil, not upon the 
 troubled waters, but upon the fire of her wrath ; he 
 suggested that owing to the King being so much 
 hated and the Prince so popular, the latter believed 
 that his favour with the people helped to keep his 
 father on the throne. 
 
 (178)
 
 PARLIAMENT AND THE PRINCE'S INCOME. 179 
 
 To this the Queen replied bitterly that owing to 
 the reports of the Prince's popularity — brought to 
 her principally by Lord Hervey, who was her news- 
 carrier-in-chief — that popularity, instead of keeping 
 the King upon the throne, was likely to depose 
 him. But a far greater cause of dissension between 
 the Prince of Wales and his parents was now 
 looming very near. It cannot be doubted that 
 when Lord Bolingbroke, to use his own words, " left 
 the stage," he gave to the Prince detailed in- 
 structions for a move to be made in Parliament 
 for an increase of his income ; that increase which 
 he, together with the bulk of the nation, considered 
 he was fully entitled to under the settlement of the 
 Civil List on his father ascending the throne of 
 England. The subtle talent of the great dip- 
 lomatist had mapped all this out long before he 
 left these shores, possibly as a Parthian shaft at 
 his enemies whom he left behind triumphant. Be 
 this as it may, a glance at the Prince's position 
 will, however, fully justify the course he took. 
 
 Before his marriage, it appears that he received 
 from his father £24,000 a year, not in any fixed or 
 settled income, but as the King chose to give it to 
 him. It must be remembered that the cost of living 
 for royal personages was then much more than it is 
 at present, the expenses for dress and the personnel 
 of the Household were far in excess of anything we 
 know of in our day. In those times as much as five 
 hundred pounds were given for one court suit, and
 
 180 A FOKGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 the ladies' dresses were in proportion as regards cost. 
 
 On the Prince's marriage, no jointure was settled 
 on his wife, who brought him a paltry dowry of five 
 thousand pounds, but the King increased his allow- 
 ance to £50,000 a year. 
 
 This on the face of it appeared a wonderful 
 addition, but it must be remembered that the Prince 
 was very much in debt, and that the expenses of 
 the marriage itself were enormous ; they could not 
 possibly have been otherwise in the case of a Prince 
 of Wales. 
 
 As regards the increase in his household, the 
 expenses were at once doubled, as the Princess had 
 practically a new household of her own, with ladies- 
 in-waiting, gentlemen-in-waiting, women of the 
 bedchamber, gentlemen ushers, and a host of others 
 required by the Court etiquette of the time. What 
 would have been a large income for a nobleman was 
 totally inadequate for the Prince of Wales, and as a 
 result he commenced at once to fall deeper and 
 deeper into debt. It is not surprising with these 
 facts facing him, and with the knowledge that his 
 father — who most of this time was engaged in 
 squandering enormous sums of good English gold on 
 German women — received from George the First, 
 the full sum of £100,000 per annum allotted by 
 Parliament as the income of the Prince of Wales. 
 These thoughts, together with the prospect of 
 greatly increased expenses in the future must have 
 been very galling — for the probability of a child
 
 PARLIAMENT AND THE PRINCE'S INCOME. 181 
 
 being born to them must have been known to the 
 Prince and Princess at this time, though not 
 disclosed until later. It is not to be wondered at 
 then that the Prince thought over Bolingbroke's 
 counsels, and eventually decided to take a strong 
 step to obtain that increase in his income to which 
 he was evidently fully entitled by Act of Parliament, 
 and which he would have received in the ordinary 
 way but for the fact of the hatred and meanness of 
 his parents towards him. For the hatred at least a 
 good reason will be shown in its proper place. 
 
 The Prince then having consulted with his 
 advisers — and the principal of these were the Duke 
 of Marlborough, Lord Carteret and Mr. Pulteney — 
 decided to appeal to Parliament to petition the King 
 to grant him that same income as Prince of Wales, 
 which he himself received from George the First. 
 
 The first sign of the King's return home was a 
 letter received on the early morning of Saturday, 
 January 14th, by express from his Majesty stating 
 that after a delay of five weeks at Helvetsluis, he 
 had at last embarked, and after encountering a 
 contrary wind all the way, they had tacked until at 
 last they made Lowestoft, at which port the King 
 had landed about noon on the previous day. 
 
 The news seems to have been held back in the 
 ante-room while the Queen slept, and here Sir 
 Robert Walpole and the Prince of Wales appear to
 
 182 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 have met and had a two hours' chat, whilst they 
 waited for the Queen to wake. 
 
 According to Hervey, most of the talking appears 
 to have been carried on by Sir Robert, who seems to 
 have grasped the opportunity to lecture the Prince 
 in that fatherly manner adopted by old men towards 
 young ones when their pockets are not affected. 
 As reported by Hervey, Walpole's discourse was a 
 string of sleepy platitudes — he had been roused out 
 of his bed — peculiarly irritating to the Prince under 
 the circumstances, which he seems to have listened 
 to with exemplary patience, but the vital subject of 
 the increase in his income does not appear to have 
 been^touched upon at all. The next day the King 
 arrived at St. James's Palace, and the Queen and 
 the whole of the Boyal Family went down into the 
 Colonnade to receive him. 
 
 Contrary to all expectation he was in an excellent 
 humour, but suffering from a terrible cold. 
 
 He kissed everybody, including the Prince of 
 Wales, and was at once marched off to bed by his 
 solicitous spouse, to be doctored for his cold, which 
 by this time, from long neglect, required careful 
 nursing. Here in his bedroom he was kept a close 
 prisoner by the Queen, and very few people were 
 allowed to see him ; those that did, did not come 
 away with any great opinion either of his health or 
 his temper, which had not improved by confinement. 
 Any allusion to his ro}-al health irritated him 
 beyond measure. Lord Dunmore, one of his Lords
 
 PARLIAMENT AND THE PRINCE'S INCOME. 183 
 
 of the Chamber, offended in this respect, and was 
 ordered out. To Lord Pembroke, whom he called to 
 take his place, he spoke of the erring nobleman as a 
 troublesome inquisitive " puppy," a designation very 
 much in the royal favour at that time ; he added 
 that he and others were always plagueing him about 
 his health like a parcel of old nurses. 
 
 Sir Robert Walpole and others got very anxious 
 about the King at this time, mainly on account of 
 the seclusion in which he was kept by the Queen. 
 He was certainly unwell, suffering undoubtedly 
 from the reaction after the excitement of his escape 
 from shipwreck, and perhaps his excesses in 
 Hanover, for he was getting old; but his indispo- 
 sition was but a slight one, and when he came out 
 from his apartments, which he did just at the time 
 it suited the Queen to let him, it was found that 
 his recovery was very rapid indeed. 
 
 It is more than probable that the Queen had a 
 strong reason for keeping up at this time the idea of 
 his ill-health, and a reason may be easily found for 
 it, in the following incident. 
 
 There can be no doubt whatever, although, accord- 
 ing to Hervey, she strenuously denied it, that 
 during the summer of 1736, the Prince of Wales 
 soon after his marriage appealed to his mother on 
 the subject of his financial position, and that at the 
 same time he informed her of his intention to seek 
 the aid of Parliament to obtain his full allowance of 
 £100,000 a year as Prince of Wales, and a jointure
 
 184 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 for the Princess. The circumstance is recorded both 
 by Lord Hardwicke, the Lord Chancellor, in his 
 papers, and by Doddington in his diary. 
 
 The Queen affected to receive the announcement 
 airily, and to laugh it off, according to the Prince's 
 description of the interview, but nevertheless she 
 may have taken the matter to heart more seriously 
 than she pretended, and knowing that Parliament 
 was to meet almost immediately after the King's 
 return ; it is quite possible that she made the most 
 of the King's indisposition to keep the Prince and 
 his Party from bringing the matter of the income 
 forward. If she did, she made a miscalculation, for 
 many votes probably went the Prince's side on 
 account of this supposed uncertainty of the King's 
 life, and the probable accession of the Prince to the 
 throne. 
 
 It was, however, only a few days before the 
 motion was made in the House of Commons that 
 definite information reached the Court, through 
 Lord Hervey, as usual, that the Prince intended to 
 lay the dispute between himself and his father con- 
 cerning his income before Parliament. 
 
 Lord Hervey begged the Queen not to tell the 
 King that night as it might disturb his rest and set 
 him fuming, but to break it gently to him in the 
 morning ; this she did, when the King took the 
 news much more calmly than was expected, and in 
 fact showed much less concern than the Queen all 
 through.
 
 PAELIAMENT AND THE PRINCE'S INCOME. 185 
 
 Then began a state of excitement which divided 
 the country into two great parties, those for the 
 King, and those for the Prince, which latter was by- 
 far the larger party. 
 
 But as in the present day, but still a great deal 
 more so then, the House of Commons was divided 
 by many interests, principally the interests of the 
 individuals who sat there. 
 
 For a King to be sending about in the House, 
 bribing members with actual hard cash to vote for 
 him, seems a very shocking thing in our eyes, but it 
 was not uncommon then. In addition there was a 
 strong party among the Tories — at whose head was 
 Sir William Wyndham- — who regarded the Prince's 
 application to Parliament as a motion injurious to 
 the constitution, and who, while sympathizing with 
 him and determined not to vote against him, yet 
 hesitated to commit themselves by voting for him. 
 But the Prince and his Party lost no opportunity to 
 secure votes ; Mr. Pulteney, the leader of the 
 Opposition was with them hand and glove, and it 
 certainty appeared, if the Tory party could be 
 counted upon, that the Prince would gain the 
 victory, which would have been a crushing blow to 
 the Court and Walpole. So serious did matters 
 begin to look that Sir Robert counselled a com- 
 promise, and with great difficulty persuaded the 
 King — and Queen — to send a message to the Prince 
 offering to settle Fifty Thousand a year upon him 
 certain, instead of the present voluntary allowance
 
 186 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 and to give the Princess a jointure — amount not 
 stated. The following is the text of this document 
 with which the Lord Chancellor (Lord Hardwicke, 
 who had only received the Great Seal that morning, 
 and who did not relish this message to the Prince as 
 the first act of his Chancellorship), Lord President, 
 Lord Steward, Lord Chamberlain, Dukes of Rich- 
 mond, Argyll* and Newcastle, Earls of Pembroke 
 and Scarborough and Lord Harrington, were sent to 
 the Prince of Wales : 
 
 " His Majesty has commanded us to acquaint your 
 Royal Highness, in his name, that upon your Royal 
 Highness's marriage, he immediately took into 
 his Royal consideration the settling a proper 
 jointure upon the Princess of Wales ; but his 
 sudden going abroad and his indisposition since his 
 return had hitherto retarded the execution of these 
 his gracious intentions ; from which short delay His 
 Majesty did not apprehend any serious incon- 
 venience could arise! ; especially since no application 
 had in any manner been made to him upon this 
 subject by your Royal Highness ; and that His 
 Majesty hath now given orders for settling a jointure 
 upon the Princess of Wales, as far as he is enabled 
 by law, suitable to her rank and dignity ; which he 
 will in proper time lay before his Parliament in 
 order to be made certain and effectual for the benefit 
 
 *Commander-in-Ghief, husband of Mary Bellenden, who had died the 
 previous autumn. 
 
 | He was well aware the Prince was hard pressed for money, and he was 
 away from England eight months.
 
 PARLIAMENT AND THE PRINCE'S INCOME. 187 
 
 of Her Royal Highness. The King has further 
 commanded us to acquaint your Royal Highness 
 that though your Royal Highness has not thought 
 fit, by any application to His Majesty, to desire that 
 your allowance of fifty thousand pounds per annum, 
 which is now paid you by monthly payments, at the 
 choice of your Royal Highness, preferably to 
 quarterly payments, might by His Majesty's further 
 grace and favour be rendered less precarious. His 
 Majesty, to prevent the bad consequences which he 
 apprehends may follow from the undutiful pleasures, 
 which His Majesty is informed your Royal Highness 
 has been advised to pursue, will grant to your 
 Royal Highness for His Majesty's life, the said fifty 
 thousand pounds per annum, to be issuing out of 
 His Majesty's Civil List Revenues, over and above 
 your Royal Higlmess's revenues arising from the 
 Duchy of Cornwall, which His Majesty considers a 
 very competent allowance, considering his numerous 
 issue and the great expenses which do and must 
 necessarily attend an honourable provision for his 
 whole family." 
 
 Such was the message which the Lord Chancellor, 
 by command of King George, read over to his son, 
 in the presence of the nine other noblemen who 
 accompanied him. 
 
 According to the circumstantial account of the 
 interview given by Lord Hervey, the Prince stepped 
 up to Lord Hardwicke, who had kissed hands and 
 been congratulated by him on his appointment as
 
 188 A FOKGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 Chancellor, and made the folio wi no- communication 
 in a " sort of whisper " : 
 
 " That he wondered it should be said in the 
 message that he had made no sort of communication 
 to the King on this business, when the Queen knew 
 he had often applied to him through her, and that 
 he had been forbidden by the King ever since the 
 audience he asked of his Majesty two years ago 
 at Kensington, relating to his marriage, ever to 
 apply to him again any way but by the Queen." 
 
 Upon this communication being repeated to the 
 Queen, she flew into a violent rage, and called the 
 Prince a liar ! 
 
 To this she added, according to Lord Hervey's 
 account — which looks very much like his own cook- 
 ing — a great deal of special pleading to endeavour 
 to show that there were no witnesses to prove the 
 Prince's assertion. But the plain answer to this is 
 that it was hardlv the sort of communication, 
 especially passing between mother and son, at which 
 the Prince would have been likely to have provided 
 himself with witnesses. Against the Queen's denial, 
 we have the record of such a communication having 
 taken place in the papers of Lord Hardwicke, the 
 Lord Chancellor, who gives circumstances and the 
 nature of the interview, and we have also the same 
 fact mentioned in Doddington's Diary (Appendix). 
 In the celebrated interview which took place 
 between Doddington and the Prince there recorded, 
 it is clearly shown that the Prince made this state-
 
 PAELIAMENT AND THE PRINCE'S INCOME. 189 
 
 ment concerning the communication to his mother, 
 to Doddington on February 8th, 1737, long before 
 the deputation of his fathers noblemen waited on 
 him, and that to Doddington he stated that the 
 interview with the Queen had taken place during 
 the previous summer. This seems to be a very strong 
 piece of evidence that the Prince was speaking the 
 truth and his mother the reverse. In fact from this 
 time forth her hatred of him seemed to grow 
 stronger day by day. 
 
 But to return to the deputation to the Prince 
 with the King's terms of settlement. 
 
 If these had not been communicated privately to 
 him before, Frederick must have known that the 
 King's offer really meant very little, and he seemed 
 quite prepared with his reply. It was at once 
 taken down as he spoke it, and was as follows : — 
 " That His Royal Highness desired the Lords to lay 
 him with all humility at his Majesty's feet, and to 
 assure his Majesty that he had, and ever should 
 retain, the utmost duty for his Royal person ; that 
 His Royal Highness was very thankful for any 
 instance of his Majesty's goodness to him or the 
 Princess, and particularly for his Majesty's 
 intention of settling a jointure upon Her Royal 
 Highness ; but that as to the message, the affair was 
 now out of his hands, and therefore he could give no 
 answer to it." After which His Royal Highness 
 used many dutiful expressions towards his Majesty ; 
 and then added : " Indeed, my Lords, it is in other
 
 190 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OP WALES. 
 
 hands — I am sorry for it," or to that effect. His 
 Royal Highness concluded with earnestly desiring 
 the Lords to represent his answer to His Majesty in 
 the most respectful and dutiful manner. 
 
 There does not seem much in this answer to hnd 
 fault with in the direction of respect at any rate, 
 under the circumstances. The interview, however, 
 ended there, and the Lords withdrew to convey the 
 Prince's answer back to his Royal Father in another 
 part of the same Palace of St. James's. 
 
 Both the King and Queen were enraged at the 
 reply, and the former commenced at once to abuse 
 rather roughly Sir Robert Walpole for persuading 
 him to send it, but the minister sagely answered 
 that he expected the good result of it not that day 
 but on the morrow — the day of the Motion in the 
 House of Commons. He was not wrong for he made 
 the utmost use of it himself on that occasion in his 
 speech. 
 
 So the agreement between father and son having 
 fallen through, and everybody being worked up to 
 the required pitch of excitement, the matter went 
 forward, and on the next day, February 22nd, 
 Pulteney made his motion before the House of 
 Commons, for an address to be presented to the 
 King, humbly asking for a settlement of £100,000 a 
 year on the Prince of Wales and the same jointure 
 on the Princess, as the Queen had when she was 
 Princess of Wales, giving the King the assurance 
 that the House would support him in this measure.
 
 PAELIAMENT AND THE PRINCE'S INCOME. 191 
 
 The strong points of Pnlteney's speech were, the 
 claim the Prince had to the increase of income, 
 which he said was founded on equity and good 
 policy, and a legal right founded on law and 
 precedent. 
 
 He contended that the revenue of the Civil List 
 had been granted to George the First, and after- 
 wards added to in the case of George the Second, on 
 the express — or at any rate implied condition— that 
 out of the revenue a sum of £100,000 a year should 
 be set aside for the Prince of Wales. Pulteney is 
 said to have spoken on the subject with great 
 ability for an hour and a half, Lord Hervey adding 
 in his account that in the speech there was " a great 
 deal of matter and a great deal of knowledge, as 
 well as art and wit, and yet I cannot but say I have 
 often heard him speak infinitely better than he did 
 that day. There was a languor in it, that one 
 almost always perceives in the speeches that have 
 been so long preparing and compiling." 
 
 Sir Robert Walpole at once answered and, as 
 might have been expected almost at the commence- 
 ment of his speech, conveyed to the House the 
 orders he had received from His Majesty to com- 
 municate to them the message he had sent his son 
 on the previous day. This of course was the reason 
 of his advising the King to send the message at all. 
 Sir Robert read aloud the whole of the King's 
 message to his son, this magnanimous offer of 
 something he could not get out of giving, and after
 
 192 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 it the Minister made all he could of the Prince's 
 answer : 
 
 "Indeed, my Lords, it is in other hands; I am 
 sorry for it." 
 
 Walpole's speech was an able one, and for the 
 most part went to show that the King could really 
 not afford — out of an income of nearly a million — to 
 give his son the extra .£50,000 per annum, and if he 
 could, he was not bound to give it by the Settle- 
 ment made by Parliament of his Civil List. 
 
 But of all the speeches that were made that 
 evening, by far the most telling was one by a 
 supporter of the Prince, of which the following 
 is a summary : 
 
 " By the regulation and Settlement of the 
 Prince's Household, as made sometime since by His 
 Majesty himself* the yearly expense comes to 
 £63,000 without allowing one shilling to His Royal 
 Highness for acts of charity and generosity. 
 
 " By the message now before us, it is proposed to 
 settle upon him only £50,000 a year, and yet from 
 this sum we must deduct the Land Tax, which, at 
 two shillings in the pound, amounts to £5,000 a 
 year, we must likewise deduct the sixpenny duty to 
 the Civil List Lottery, which amounts to £1,250 a 
 year, and we must also deduot the fees paid at the 
 Exchequer, which amount to about £750 a year 
 more. All these deductions amount to £7,000 a 
 
 *This was denied afterwards, but it was probably tbe Household of 
 George the Second when Prince of Wales.
 
 National Portrait Gallery. 
 
 SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. 
 
 Spooiier <£ Go.
 
 PARLIAMENT AND THE PRINCE'S INCOME. 193 
 
 year, and reduce the £50,000, proposed to be settled 
 upon him by the message to £43,000 a year. 
 
 " Now, as His Royal Highness has no other 
 estate but the Duchy of Cornwall, which cannot be 
 reckoned, at the most, above £9,000, his whole 
 yearly revenue can amount but to £52,000, and yet 
 the yearly expense of his Household, according to 
 His Majesty's own regulations, is to amount to 
 £63,000, without allowing Hie Royal Highness one 
 shilling for the indulgence of that generous and 
 charitable disposition with which he is known to be 
 endued in a very eminent degree. Suppose then 
 we allow him but £10,000 a year for the indulgence 
 of that laudable disposition, his whole yearly 
 expense, by His Majesty's own acknowledgment, 
 must then amount to £73,000, and his yearly 
 income, according to this message, can amount to no 
 more than £52,000. Is this, sir, showing any 
 respect to his merit ? Is this providing for his 
 generosity ? Is it not reducing him to real want, 
 even with respect to his necessities, and conse- 
 quently to an unavoidable dependence too upon his 
 father's Ministers and servants. 
 
 " I confess, sir, when I first heard this motion 
 made, I was wavering a good deal in my opinion ; 
 but this message has confirmed me. I now see, that 
 without the interposition of Parliament, His Royal 
 Highness the Prince of Wales, the Heir Apparent 
 to our Crown, must be reduced to the greatest 
 straits, the most insufferable hardships."
 
 194 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 However, despite this statement, after a few more 
 speeches from Lord Baltimore, Mr. Hedges — both of 
 the Prince's Household, and the Master of the Rolls, 
 who was neither one way nor the other, the House 
 divided at eleven o'clock, with the result that the 
 motion in favour of the Prince was negatived by 
 234 votes to 204. A very close majority con- 
 sidering, and that was entirely owing to forty-five 
 Tories rising and leaving the House in a body 
 without voting. 
 
 But the King and Queen were delighted and 
 heaped renewed abuse upon their son, the very 
 mildest terms of which were " Puppy " and 
 " scoundrel." Congratulations poured in upon the 
 Royal Parents from the Court Party, not only upon 
 the rejection of the motion, but upon the small 
 amount of money it had cost the King in bribes to 
 the Members of the House of Commons — the matter 
 seemed to be quite public property, for it was 
 known that the King had only disbursed £900 in 
 all ; £500 to one man, and £400 to another, and this 
 in any case would have had to have been given them 
 at the end of the Session — 'for selling their constitu- 
 ents' interests apparently— but they clamoured for 
 it then. One would have liked to have seen these 
 two clamouring members of the House. 
 
 But the Prince nothing daunted, consented 
 to the wishes of his friends, and had the same 
 motion made two days after (February 23rd)
 
 PAELIAMENT AND THE PRINCE'S INCOME. 195 
 
 in the House of Lords by Lord Carteret — who was 
 a double-faced man, and apologized to the Queen 
 before he made it, urging that he was forced to 
 make it, which was not the truth. In the Upper 
 House, however, the Prince was even less fortunate, 
 and the motion was lost there by a majority of 103 
 against 40. But in all the excitement which 
 prevailed at this time we may be certain of one 
 thing, and that is that the victorious little King, 
 with his strong German accent always spoke of the 
 sum asked for by his son as " dat Puppy's fifty 
 sousand pound." 
 
 The Prince, on his part, however the adverse vote 
 of the House of Commons may have affected him, 
 certainly did not desire the increase in his income to 
 come out of the pockets of the British Taxpayer, for 
 when a suggestion of that nature was made to him 
 by Doddington at his interview already referred to 
 on February 8th, that the Fifty Thousand Pounds 
 should be voted by Parliament apart from the 
 King's income, Frederick made the following fine 
 answer : 
 
 " I think the nation has done enough, if not too 
 much, for the family already ; I would rather beg 
 my bread from door to door than be a further 
 charge on them." 
 
 The following is the comment of Sarah Duchess 
 of Marlborough on this affair, written to Lord Stair 
 at the time : 
 
 " 1736. A great battle in the Houses of Parlia-
 
 196 A FOKGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 ment concerning the revenue which the public pays 
 to the King to support the Prince of Wales. The 
 Court carried it by a majority of thirty, not without 
 the expense of a great deal of money, and a most 
 shameful proceeding to threaten and fetch sick men 
 out of their beds to vote, for fear of losing their 
 bread. But notwithstanding this, the minority for 
 the Prince was two hundred and four ; and a great 
 many other members who would have been in it if 
 they had been in town. A great many charming 
 truths were said on that side ; no justice or common 
 sense was expressed on the other. The speakers on 
 the majority were Sir Robert, Horace, Sir W. Yonge, 
 Pelham, and somebody of the Admiralty that I 
 have never heard of before. I am confident that 
 though the Prince lost the question, the ministers 
 were mightily frighted, and not without reason, for 
 it is a heavy-weight two hundred and four, who 
 were certainly on the right side of the question — 
 and I am apt to think, that men who have been so 
 base with estates and so mean as to act against the 
 interests of their country, will grow very weary of 
 voting to starve the next heir to the crown ; 
 since the generality of the majority has a view only 
 to their own interest, and it is apprehended that the 
 King is in so bad a state of health, that though he 
 has got over his illness so far as sometimes to appear 
 in public, yet we shall not be so happy as to have 
 him live long ; and everybody that sees him tells me 
 that he looks at this time extremely ill. The
 
 PARLIAMENT AND THE PRINCE'S INCOME. 197 
 
 Prince in all this affair has shown a great deal of 
 spirit and sense, and the intolerable treatment 
 which he has had for so many years will no doubt 
 continue him to be very firm, and to act right. 
 
 " House of Lords : — Proxies and all but forty for 
 the Prince, and a majority of near three to one on 
 the other side. Nobody surprised at that. I really 
 think that they might pass an Act there, if they 
 pleased, to take away Magna Charta. 'Tis said 
 they don't intend to turn out anybody in the King's 
 service who voted in this question for the Prince in 
 either House. If they don't, I think that shows 
 some fear. 
 
 " I am never very sanguine, and for a long time 
 could not imagine which way the liberties of Eng- 
 land could be saved. But I really do think now 
 there is a little glimmering of daylight."
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 A New Favourite and a Settlement. 
 
 The King and Queen in the jubilation of their 
 victory over the Prince of Wales had a mind to 
 celebrate it by turning him and his young wife out 
 of St. James's Palace, but they -were dissuaded from 
 this benevolent intention by the judicious Sir Robert 
 Walpole. Instead the Prince retained his position 
 — though no doubt he would have much preferred a 
 house of his own — but the state of affairs under 
 these circumstances must have reached the limit of 
 painfulness to the young Princess and her husband. 
 
 Each night " he led the Queen by the hand to 
 dinner," says Doran, "and she could have stabbed 
 him on the way ; for her wrath was more bitter 
 than ever against him, for the reason that he had 
 introduced her name, through his friends, in the 
 Parliamentary debate." 
 
 This referred presumably to his mention of the 
 fact that he had told his mother of his embarrass- 
 ments. 
 
 The Prince still attended his father's levees 
 occasionally, but the King never acknowledged his 
 presence in any way whatever. Very soon, however, 
 at the conclusion of the session of Parliament, the 
 Court moved to Richmond, and there the little 
 
 (198)
 
 A NEW FAVOURITE AND A SETTLEMENT. 199 
 
 King, now quite restored to health, distinguished 
 this year 1737 by another gracious act; he took 
 still another mistress. This time the object of his 
 Royal selection was the children's governess, Lady 
 Deloraine. 
 
 The lady in question was Mary Howard -the 
 King seemed to favour the name of Howard in his 
 amours-of the Suffolk family, who had married 
 Henry Scott, first Earl of Deloraine ; but at this 
 penod he was dead and she had remarried William 
 Wyndham, Esq., of Cassham. 
 
 She was an extremely pretty woman, but cele- 
 brated for the looseness of her talk in that age of 
 looseness. She was not a woman of much brain 
 power and a fair estimate of her character may be 
 formed from the following incident. 
 
 Sir Robert Walpole came across her one day in 
 the Hall at Richmond while she was dangling her 
 tttle boy of about twelve months in her arms! and 
 made the following characteristic remark— " That's 
 a very pretty boy, Lady Deloraine, whose is it?" 
 Her ladyship, nothing abashed, took the enquiry in 
 the spirit in which it was offered, and replied before 
 a group of people-" Mr. Wyndham's, upon honour ; " 
 and then laughingly continued, "but I will not 
 promise whose the next shall be ! " 
 
 Continuing the discourse later in private with Sir 
 Robert Walpole, she pretended that she had not 
 yet yieded to the King's importunities, and 
 remarked that "she was not of an age to act like
 
 200 A FOEGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 a vain or a loving fool, but if she did consent she 
 would be well paid." She added naively to Sir 
 Robert — who himself had a mistress, the well known 
 Miss Skerrett, whom he adored and afterwards 
 married — " nothing but interest should bribe her ; 
 for as to love she had enough of that, as well as a 
 younger man at home ; and that she thought old 
 men and Kings ought always to be made to pay 
 well ! " Her empty head and want of morals led 
 her to boast freely at this time ; she confided in the 
 well known Lady Sundon, with whom she had a 
 very slight acquaintance, that the King had been 
 very importunate these two years, and had often 
 told her how unkind she was to refuse him, that it 
 was mere crossness, for that he was sure her 
 husband (Mr. Wyndham, who was sub-governor to 
 the Duke of Cumberland) would not take it at all ill. 
 
 She made a similar communication to Lord 
 Hervey, abruptly one day at Richmond, at this time 
 before a room full of people : " Do you know the 
 King has been in love with me these two years?" 
 she queried. 
 
 At which Lord Hervey, rather taken aback, 
 answered, to turn the conversation, " Who is not in 
 love with you ? " 
 
 He himself certainly was not, for this is how he 
 sums her up in his Memoirs : 
 
 " Her Ladyship was one of the vainest as well as 
 one of the simplest women that ever lived ; but to 
 this wretched head there was certainly joined one of
 
 A NEW FAVOUKITE AND A SETTLEMENT. 201 
 
 the prettiest faces that ever was formed, which, 
 though she was now live and thirty,* had a bloom 
 upon it too, that not one woman in ten thousand 
 has at fifteen." This was Horace Walpole's opinion 
 of Lady Deloraine : " A pretty idiot, with most of 
 the vices of her own sex, and the additional one of 
 ours — drinking. 
 
 " Yet this thine: of convenience on the arrival of 
 Lady Yarmouth, Madame Walmoden, put on all 
 that dignity of passion, which even revolts real 
 inclination." 
 
 Lady Deloraine, however, went on her way 
 rejoicing at this time, and as the summer wore 
 on and the King showed no signs of returning to 
 Hanover and Madame de Walmoden, openly boasted 
 that she was keeping him in England. 
 
 She did not, however, appear to derive much 
 substantial profit from her position, as the following 
 incident, related by Sir Robert Walpole to the 
 Queen, will show ; neither had the King forgotten 
 Madame de Walmoden. 
 
 George had ordered Walpole one day to buy one 
 hundred lottery tickets, and to charge the amount, 
 £1,000, to the Secret Service Fund, an atrocious 
 robbery of the public ! 
 
 Walpole, having carried out his commission with- 
 out a murmur, confided the transaction to Lord 
 Hervey, mentioning that it was for the King's 
 favourite. 
 
 * She was thirty-seven at this time, having been born in 1700.
 
 202 A FOKGOTTEN PKINCE OF WALES. 
 
 Hervey, thinking he meant Lady Deloraine, com- 
 mented : " I did not think he went so deep there," 
 referring to the amount. 
 
 " No," Walpole corrected, " I mean the Hanover 
 woman. You are right to imagine that he does not 
 go so deep to his lying fool here. He will give her 
 a couple of the tickets and think her generously 
 used." 
 
 By which it seems that the King's German 
 women had by far the better knack of getting 
 money out of him than the English favourites. 
 
 But Walpole's sagacity had, just previous to this, 
 at the end of the Parliamentary Session, brought 
 the question of the Prince of Wales's income 
 adroitly into something of a settlement. He had 
 with the greatest difficulty induced the King and 
 Queen to agree to a settlement of the £50,000 a 
 year, mentioned in the King's celebrated message to 
 the Prince, and the difficulty of the other £50,000 
 a year claimed by Frederick was got over by 
 Parliament being persuaded to settle an extra large 
 jointure on the Princess of Wales, £50,000 a year in 
 fact. So the parsimonious little King got out of 
 paying it after all.
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 A Most Extraordinary Event. 
 
 We now approach some of the most extraordinary- 
 events of the Prince's life, those circumstances 
 surrounding the birth of his first child. 
 
 There had been a great deal of speculation, which 
 was very natural under the circumstances, as to the 
 probability of the Princess of Wales bearing a 
 child, and the Queen and the Princess Caroline are 
 said to have formed an opinion, for reasons un- 
 known, that she never would. In all probability 
 the wish in this case was father to the thought, for 
 the coming of a lineal heir to the crown through the 
 Prince of Wales, was an event not desired by the 
 King or Queen, who it was well known desired the 
 crown for the Duke of Cumberland, now a hand- 
 some boy of sixteen. 
 
 It was therefore no doubt owing to this reason 
 that neither the Prince or Princess of Wales ap- 
 peared to be in any hurry to publicly announce this 
 event. As a matter of fact the first formal inti- 
 mation of it was conveyed in the following letter 
 from the Prince to his royal mother, sent by Lord 
 North, his Lord of the Bedchamber then in waiting. 
 
 (203
 
 204 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 De Kew ce 5 de juillet. 
 Madame, 
 
 Le Dr. Hollings et Mrs. Cannons vient de me dire 
 qu'il n'y a plus a douter de la grossesse de la 
 Princesse d'abord que j'ai eu leur autorite, je n'ai 
 pas voulu manquer d'en faire part a votre Majeste, 
 et de la supplier d'en informer le Roi en meme 
 tems. 
 
 Je suis avec tout le respect possible, Madame, 
 De Votre Majeste 
 
 Le tres humble et tres obeissant fils et serviteur 
 
 Frederick. 
 
 Lord Hervey relates in his Memoirs that on the 
 occasion of the next visit of the Princess to the 
 Court she was subjected by the Queen to a series of 
 questions, perhaps quite natural under the circum- 
 stances. To these questions she received from the 
 Princess of Wales but one answer throughout : — " I 
 don't know." 
 
 Being at last wearied with this continual re- 
 petition of the same response, she changed the 
 subject. But in the light of other events it is 
 perfectly clear that the Princess had her answer 
 prepared beforehand, and was determined she would 
 give the Queen as little information on the subject 
 as possible. There cannot be a doubt that the 
 Prince and Princess had made their minds up 
 together on this point, and that they had some very 
 good reason for it. 
 
 What was that reason ? 
 
 &
 
 A MOST EXTRAORDINARY EVENT. 205 
 
 A study of the events that followed will probably 
 disclose the answer. 
 
 The most circumstantial record of these events is 
 undoubtedly that given by Lord Hervey, though 
 written with great bias, and his usual endeavour to 
 blacken the Prince's character as much as possible. 
 
 There appears to have been a strong desire on the 
 part of the King and Queen that the Princess's 
 lying-in should take place at Hampton Court, and 
 an equally strong determination on the part of the 
 Prince and Princess that it should not. This intense 
 desire of the King and Queen that the young 
 Princess should lie-in at Hampton Court seems to 
 have exceeded all bounds. 
 
 So much did the Queen work upon the feelings of 
 the King and Sir Robert Walpole — she seems to 
 have been the Prime mover — that it was decided to 
 send a message to the Prince of Wales commanding 
 that the Princess should lie-in at Hampton Court. 
 They seem to have had some insane idea that there 
 would be a supposititious child, though why this 
 should be needed, in the case of a healthy young 
 man and woman, never transpired. The message, 
 however, was never sent, according to Lord Hervey, 
 though some writers say it was. If it was not it 
 was certainly owing to the wisdom of Walpole. 
 
 " At her labour I will positively be," remarked 
 the Queen, " for she cannot be brought to bed 
 as quick as one can blow one's nose, and I will be 
 sure it is her child."
 
 206 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 What was the reason of this absurd anxiety ? 
 
 It is impossible to say with certainty what was 
 passing in the minds of these young people at this 
 time ; the girl wife of eighteen, and her husband 
 who, among all his many relatives, could not rely 
 upon one as a friend. There must, however, have 
 been some very strong motive — a feeling which they 
 held in sympathy, to have caused them to have 
 acted as they did. 
 
 The Court in the meantime had removed from 
 Richmond — the old palace down by the river near 
 Kew* to Hampton Court, and with it the Prince 
 and Princess of Wales with their household as 
 usual. The Court had gone on its usual humdrum 
 way, one long summer's day being, in its regular 
 routine of walks, drives, bowls and cards in the 
 evening, as much like another as possible, in the 
 manner so bitterly complained of by Lady Suffolk in 
 her last days at Court. 
 
 Everything went on as usual, and the accouch- 
 ment of the Princess was looked upon by everyone 
 as being a yet far off event. 
 
 So matters stood until Sunday, the 31st of July, 
 1737. This is the account given by Lord Hervey 
 of the amusements on the evening of that day : 
 
 "The King played at commerce below stairs, the 
 Queen above at quadrille, the Princess Emily at her 
 commerce table, and the Princess Caroline and Lord 
 Hervey at cribbage, just as usual, and separated all 
 
 •Demolished in 1772.
 
 A MOST EXTRAORDINARY EVENT. 207 
 
 at ten o'clock ; and what is incredible to relate, went 
 to bed all at eleven, without hearing one single 
 syllable of the Princess's being ill, or even of her not 
 being in the house." 
 
 So the whole household retired to rest and peace 
 reigned over the ancient mansion of Cardinal 
 Wolsey. But not for long. At half-past one a 
 courier arrived at the Palace, and eventually suc- 
 ceeded in arousing one of the Queen's Women of the 
 Bedchamber, a certain Mrs. Tichborne, who forth- 
 with, on hearing what the courier had to say, went 
 straight off to their Majesties' sacred bedroom, and 
 awakened them. 
 
 The Queen, on her entering the chamber, started 
 up, and very naturally enquired whether the house 
 was on fire. 
 
 Mrs. Tichborne, having eased the Royal mind on 
 this point, proceeded to give the Queen, as best she 
 could, information on a very delicate subject. She 
 said the Prince had sent to let their Majesties know 
 the Princess was in labour. 
 
 The suddenness of this communication produced 
 the effect upon the Queen which might have been 
 expected. 
 
 " My God ! " she cried, starting up, " my night 
 gown, I'll go to her this moment." 
 
 " Your night gown, Madam ? " repeated Mrs. 
 Tichborne, thinking it about time she should know 
 all, " and your coaches too ; the Princess is at St. 
 James's."
 
 208 A FOBGOTTEN PKINCE OF WALES. 
 
 " Are you mad," interrupted the Queen, " or are 
 you asleep, my good Tichborne ? You dream ! " 
 
 Mrs. Tichborne, however, confirmed her first 
 assertion, and an excited little nightcap popped up 
 from the King's side of the bed, and there came 
 from beneath it a torrent of very guttural German, 
 of which the following is a translation : 
 
 " You see now, with all your wisdom, how they 
 have outwitted you. This is all your fault. There 
 is a false child which will be put upon you, and how 
 will you answer it to all your children ? This has 
 been fine care and fine management for your son 
 William — he is mightily obliged to you. And for 
 Ann I hope she will come over and scold you her- 
 self. I am sure you deserve anything she can say 
 to you." 
 
 This allusion to the Princess Royal referred to an 
 idea she had that she might succeed to the throne 
 of England if neither of her brothers married. But 
 the poor Queen was far too anxious and excited to 
 pay any attention to her wrathful little royal 
 spouse ; apparently during most of the tirade she 
 was getting into her clothes the best way she could, 
 with the assistance of Mrs. Tichborne. While 
 dressing as fast as possible, she ordered her coaches 
 and sent messages to the Duke of Grafton and Lord 
 Hervey to go with her. For to St. James's she was 
 going as fast as she could. 
 
 At half-past two, the great coaches containing the 
 Queen, the two eldest Princesses with their ladies,
 
 A MOST EXTRAORDINARY EVENT. 209 
 
 the Duke of Grafton, Lord Hervey and Lord Essex, 
 who was to be sent back with news to the Kino-, 
 rumbled out of the gateway of Hampton Court 
 Palace and drove off through the summer night 
 towards London. 
 
 ***** 
 
 An account is now desirable of what took place 
 earlier in the evening in the Princess's apartments 
 at Hampton Court. 
 
 It appears that the Princess of Wales, having 
 decorously dined in public— in presence of the 
 household — that Sunday evening, was, on her return 
 to her own rooms, taken very ill ; it soon became 
 apparent that the pains she was suffering from were 
 those of labour. 
 
 Despite the strong endeavour of Lord Hervey in 
 his account of this affair to make it appear that the 
 Prince was forcing his wife to go in the state she 
 was to St. James's Palace, it must be distinctly 
 remembered that the Princess herself stated that the 
 removal to St. James's Palace was made at her own 
 request, and her reason for taking this course will be 
 shown later. 
 
 When it became apparent beyond all doubt that 
 the Princess was enduring the pains of labour, the 
 Prince ordered a coach to be secretly got ready ; 
 there is no doubt whatever that provision for this 
 had been made beforehand. 
 
 It appears that by the time the coach was ready 
 the Princess was suffering a good deal, and had to
 
 210 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 be supported by the Prince, a Mr. Bloodworth, one 
 of the Prince's equerries, and by a Monsieur 
 Desnoyer, a dancing master above all people, who 
 appears to have been a sort of privileged person, 
 allowed to roam free over the Palaces. 
 
 The whole proceeding was highly indelicate, and 
 what followed more so ; Lady Archibald Hamilton, 
 and Mr. Townshend, one of the Prince's Grooms-in- 
 Waiting, are both said to have protested against 
 the proceeding, and to have done so very properly. 
 But why were these young people so anxious to get 
 away from Hampton Court Palace, that their child 
 might be born elsewhere ? It is perfectly plain that 
 they had a very strong motive indeed. What was 
 that motive ? 
 
 The poor young Princess seems to have been got 
 down stairs and into the waiting coach with the 
 greatest difficulty, and was in a terrible plight when 
 she arrived there, as one might very well expect, 
 considering her age and the novelty of her condition. 
 There entered into the coach with her, Lady 
 Archibald Hamilton and two of her dressers, Mrs. 
 Clavering and Mrs. Paine. Reid, the Prince's Valet- 
 de-Chambre, who also appears to have been a 
 surgeon, and a man midwife, mounted upon the box, 
 and Bloodworth the Equerry, and two or three more 
 mounted behind the coach. 
 
 After enjoining secrecy on all his household con- 
 cerning his removal — which injunction seems to have 
 been faithfully heeded — the Prince entered the
 
 A MOST EXTRAOEDINARY EVENT. 211 
 
 coach and gave the order to drive at a gallop to 
 St. James's Palace. 
 
 There must have been a pretty scene inside the 
 coach, considering the Princess's state, and the 
 condition of mind, under the circumstances, of 
 the three ladies in attendance. The Prince seems to 
 have been in a high state of excitement, and to have 
 divided his time between trying to comfort his 
 young wife and using strong language. 
 
 About ten o'clock "this cargo," as Lord Hervey 
 elegantly describes it, arrived at St. James's Palace, 
 where, of course, nothing whatever was ready for the 
 Princess's accouchement. The only attendant there, 
 and that a very necessary one, was the mid- wife, 
 and she appeared in a few minutes, having evidently 
 been warned beforehand. There were not even 
 sheets ready for the Princess, and it is said 
 that the Prince and one of the ladies aired two 
 tablecloths, between which the Princess was put 
 to bed. 
 
 There should, of course, have been present at this, 
 the birth of a direct heir to the Crown, some of the 
 Lords of the Council, but Lord Wilmington, and 
 Lord Godolphin, Privy Seal, somehow appeared 
 mysteriously upon the scene. It seems, however, 
 that Lord Wilmington had received a message from 
 the Prince at his house at Chiswick, and came at 
 once. At a quarter before eleven, within three 
 quarters of an hour of her arrival, the Princess 
 was delivered of what Lord Hervey delicately
 
 212 A FOEGOTTEN PKINCE OP WALES. 
 
 describes as " a little rat of a girl, about the bigness 
 of a good large tooth-pick case." 
 
 Mark the hearty welcome extended to this little 
 stranger by the King and Queen's confidant ! 
 
 It may be here mentioned that the "little rat" 
 grew into an exceedingly pretty girl, but with a 
 peculiar gift of unintentionally upsetting people, 
 which was supposed to be a result of her mother's 
 trials at her birth. She became Duchess of Bruns- 
 wick, and died in 1813. 
 
 It was four o'clock before the Queen's Party 
 reached St. James's Palace, and then being told, in 
 answer to an enquiry, that the Princess was very 
 well, concluded that nothing had happened, How- 
 ever, the Queen, to whom this whole affair must 
 have been a great trial — for she was in very bad 
 health — ascended the stairs to the Prince's apart- 
 ments, and Lord Hervey considerately promised to 
 get her a fire and some chocolate in his own room. 
 As she parted from him she made this most extra- 
 ordinary remark, which can be taken as a sample of 
 the unreasonable fear and hatred towards their son 
 which had obsessed the minds of the King and 
 Queen. 
 
 "To be sure," replied the Queen, referring to the 
 chocolate and the fire, " I shall not stay long ; I 
 shall be mightily obliged to you " ; then winked and 
 added : " nor you need not fear my tasting anything 
 in this side of the house."
 
 A MOST EXTRAORDINARY EVENT. 213 
 
 The Prince received his mother and sisters in 
 what is described by Lord Hervey as his night gown 
 and night cap, but what we should more correctly 
 describe as a dressing gown perhaps ; he kissed the 
 Queen's hand and cheek in German fashion, and 
 then broke the news to her of the birth of his 
 daughter. 
 
 Then there appears to have ensued a passage of 
 words between mother and son as to why a 
 messenger had not been sent to Hampton Court 
 before to acquaint the King and herself of the 
 happy event, as she had not left until more than 
 three hours after the birth of the child. 
 
 To this the Prince replied that he had sent a 
 messenger as soon as lie could write the news, and 
 this may very well have happened, as the journey 
 took the Queen an hour and a half, with no doubt 
 four horses to each coach. 
 
 The Queen went into the Princess's bedchamber, 
 and seems to have greeted her kindly and congratu- 
 lated her. 
 
 " Apparrement, Madame," she observed, " vous 
 avez horrible ment souffert." 
 
 " Point de tout," answered the Princess ; " ce 
 n'est rien." Then the "little rat" was brought in 
 by Lady Hamilton and duly kissed by the royal 
 grandmother : 
 
 "Le bon Dieu," she remarked, piously, "vous 
 benisse pauvre petite creature ! Vous voila arrivee 
 dans un disagreable monde ! "
 
 214 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 The little one had not then been dressed, and was ■ 
 wrapped up in a red mantle. 
 
 The Prince appears to have excitedly but 
 perfectly openly narrated to his mother the circum- 
 stances of the journey, freely admitting that on the 
 previous Monday and Friday he had also carried the 
 Princess to London, thinking then that the event 
 was imminent. 
 
 The birth having taken place he seems to have 
 made no secret of their desire that the accouchement 
 of the Princess should take place in London. 
 
 Lord Hervey, in his account, goes very fully into 
 details, too much so, perhaps, to suit modern ideas 
 of delicacy, but the Prince made no secret to his 
 mother that at one time he thought that he should 
 have had to take his wife into some house on 
 the road, so imminent did the event seem. 
 
 To his long account the Queen answered not a 
 word, but turned the shafts of her wrath upon Lady 
 Hamilton, who was standing by with the baby. 
 
 " At the indiscretion of young fools who knew T 
 nothing of the dangers to which this poor child and 
 its mother were exposed, I am less surprised ; but 
 for you, my Lady Archibald, who have had ten 
 children, that with your experience, and at your 
 age, you should suffer these people to act such a 
 madness, I am astonished, and wonder how you 
 could, for your own sake as well as theirs, venture to 
 be concerned in such an expedition." 
 
 Lady Archibald made the Queen no answer to
 
 A MOST EXTRAORDINARY EVENT. 215 
 
 this address, which sounded rather like a rebuke 
 to one of her own dependents, which Lady Archi- 
 bald probably really was. The latter turned to the 
 Prince and simply remarked : 
 
 "You see, sir." 
 
 Lord Hervey appears to have received an account 
 of this interview direct from the Queen and 
 Princesses when they were partaking of the 
 chocolate he had had prepared for them in his room, 
 and we may take it that any conversation un- 
 favourable to them was discreetly left out. 
 
 The Duke of Grafton, Lord Essex and Lord 
 Hervey, were then admitted to see the baby, and 
 the Queen withdrew with this very considerate 
 remark to the Princess of Wales after embracing her : 
 
 " My g°°d Princess, is there anything you want, 
 anything you wish or anything you would have me 
 do ? Here I am, you have but to speak and ask, 
 and whatever is in my power that you would have 
 me do, I promise you I will do it." 
 
 The Prince accompanied her to the foot of the 
 stairs where he parted from his mother, who walked 
 across the courtyard to Lord Hervey s lodgings. 
 Arrived there she made the following characteristic 
 and elegant observation to the two Princesses and 
 the Duke of Grafton, and Lord Hervey who acccom- 
 panied her : 
 
 'Well, upon my honour, I no more doubt this 
 poor little bit of a thing is the Princess's child than 
 I doubt of either of these two being mine ; though
 
 216 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 I own to you I had my doubts upon the road 
 that there would be some juggle, and if instead of 
 this poor little ugly she-mouse there had been a 
 brave, large, fat, jolly boy, I should not have been 
 cured of my suspicions." 
 
 And now comes the great question which has 
 puzzled everybody from that day to this, and to 
 which only the feeblest and most unsatisfying 
 answers have been given. 
 
 Why did the Prince and Princess take all this 
 trouble in removing from Hampton Court in order 
 that their child might be born in London ? 
 
 That they had made their preparations beforehand 
 in providing the nurse who appeared at a few 
 minutes' notice cannot be doubted, and that, like the 
 careless young people that they were, they left out 
 many of the essentials — such as the sheets — is also 
 evident. Why did they take all this trouble ? 
 
 Some historians state that it w T as simply a studied 
 act of disobedience to the King and Queen. 
 
 If that were so, then it was a most inconvenient 
 mode of showing it, and the same end might have 
 been achieved at much less trouble to themselves. 
 
 Others — and Lord Hervey amongst them — 
 describe it as a pure act of bravado and arrogance to 
 show the Prince's independence. If this were the 
 true reason then the Prince must have been an 
 inhuman brute, and we know from a great many 
 instances of his kindness and undoubted affection 
 for his young wife, that he was not.
 
 A MOST EXTRAORDINARY EVENT. 217 
 
 No, to venture an opinion of the real reason for 
 this most extraordinary proceeding, we must review 
 a few simple facts. In the first place the true 
 position of the Prince of Wales with regard to his 
 parents and the rest of the Royal Family, must 
 have been well known to the Princess Augusta 
 before she came to England at all. She knew full 
 well, in common with most continental Princesses, 
 that the heir to the throne of England was by no 
 means a favourite with his parents and that he was 
 only brought over from Hanover because the 
 English people demanded it. He was not wanted 
 by the Royal Family, they wanted the crown of 
 England for the handsome second son, William 
 Duke of Cumberland, afterwards adorned with the 
 additional title of " The Butcher of Culloden." 
 
 Frederick was not handsome though he had a 
 charm of manner, chieliy owing to his amiability 
 and kind-heartedness which endeared him to the 
 people. William had none of these attributes, he 
 was handsome, and very like his mother — a glance 
 at their portraits will show that — and he also had 
 an exceedingly cruel nature, which perhaps the 
 people soon found out. 
 
 Any doubt which may exist in a reader's mind as 
 to the preference of King George the Second and 
 his Queen for their second son, may be set at rest by 
 a glance at the following account of certain events 
 which took place in the reign of George the First : 
 
 " George I. in his enmity to George II. enter-
 
 218 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 tained some idea of separating the sovereignty of 
 England and Hanover (Coxe's Walpole, p. 132) and 
 we find from Lord Chancellor King's Diary, under 
 the date of June, 1725, 'a negotiation had been 
 lately on foot in relation to the two young Princes, 
 Frederick and William. The Prince (George II.) 
 and his wife were for excluding Prince Frederick, 
 but that after the King and the Prince, he would be 
 Elector of Hanover and Prince AVilliam, King of 
 Great Britain ; but that the King said it would be 
 unjust to do it without Prince Frederick's consent, 
 who was now of an age to judge for himself, and so 
 the matter now stood." (Campbell's Chancellors 
 IV. 318). Sir Robert Walpole, who communicated 
 this to the Chancellor, added that he had told 
 George I. that ' if he did not bring Prince Frederick 
 over in his lifetime, he would never set his foot on 
 English ground.'"" 
 
 This early enmity of his parents to Frederick, 
 Lord Campbell cannot explain. 
 
 So that it is quite clear that but for the inter- 
 vention of his grandfather, George the First (about 
 the only disinterested friend he ever had) Frederick 
 would have been left to the tender mercies of his 
 father and mother who would very certainly have 
 deprived him of his birthright in favour of their 
 handsome second boy. The Princess of Wales's 
 reception in England had not been of that warm 
 description to convey to her the idea that her 
 coming had been particularly desired. It will be 
 
 ♦Footnote to page 216. Hervey's Memoirs. Cunningham Edition.
 
 A MOST EXTRAORDINARY EVENT. 219 
 
 remembered that she remained at Gravesend for 
 forty-eight hours without any of the Royal Family 
 coming near her at all except Frederick. She very 
 soon realized the state of affairs, and there is some- 
 thing pitiable about the young girl of seventeen, 
 casting herself at the feet of George the Second and 
 his wife as if to propitiate them, in spite of their 
 disinclination to receive her. 
 
 No, it was very soon made plain to the young 
 Princess of Wales that her husband was not wanted 
 here at all, nay that he was hated for standing in 
 the way of his handsome brother, and that she, too, 
 this despised Prince's wife, was not wanted either. 
 
 To a girl of her keen perception, for it was shown 
 by her conduct on her arrival that she was exceed- 
 ingly intelligent, it cannot be for a moment doubted 
 that as those anxious moments of imminent mother- 
 hood drew near she painfully realized too, that 
 her baby was not wanted either, to be another 
 stumbling block in the way of the favourite son. 
 
 It is not at all an uncommon thing for young 
 married people to have this overstrung sense of 
 anxiety for their coming little one, and to conjure up 
 in their minds fears for which, perhaps, there is no 
 reason. It cannot be said for a moment that the 
 King and Queen had any designs on the life of the 
 coming grandchild, although it was a barbarous age, 
 when life was held much cheaper than it is now, and 
 the life of a little baby — especially a " little rat " — 
 did not count for much. Even King George himself
 
 220 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OP WALES. 
 
 used to say there were not half enough hangings, 
 and that if they came into his hands he would not 
 spare them, although God knows at that time men 
 and women were strung up in rows outside the gaols 
 in numbers sufficient to satisfy the most bloodthirsty 
 advocate of capital punishment. 
 
 No, there cannot be a reasonable doubt that this 
 night journey of the Prince and Princess was under- 
 taken in an unreasoning panic maybe, but in an 
 honest fear that the life of their coming little one was 
 not safe at Hampton Court Palace, and that at any 
 risk to themselves they would have the birth of the 
 child take place in surroundings over which they 
 had entire control, even though, as it happened, the 
 royal child should be born between two tablecloths 
 instead of sheets.
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Which Contains a Great Deal of Fussing and 
 Fuming and a Little Poetry. 
 
 This act of the Prince and Princess of Wales was 
 construed into such a flagrant violation of the Royal 
 Will, that the enraged little King at once took steps 
 to assert his authority. Fortunately in these days 
 Princesses of Wales are not peremptorily ordered to 
 arrange their accouchements in places agreeable to 
 the Royal Will. 
 
 They arrange them just wherever they like. 
 
 A brisk interchange of letters took place between 
 the King and his eldest son, which ended in a some- 
 what abrupt command from the King to the Prince 
 to remove himself and his family out of St. James's 
 Palace, which possibly was an order which the 
 Prince and his wife were not at all sorry to obey ; it 
 gave them the opportunity of setting up their own 
 home. 
 
 (From the King at Hampton Court Palace to the 
 Prince of Wales at St. James's, by Lord Dunmore, 
 August 20th, 1737). 
 
 " It being now near three weeks since the Princess 
 was brought to bed, his Majesty hopes that there 
 can be no inconvenience to the Princess if Monday, 
 the twenty-ninth, be appointed for baptising the 
 
 (221)
 
 222 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OP WALES. 
 
 Princess, his grand-daughter ; and having deter- 
 mined that His Majesty the King, the Queen and 
 the Duchess-Dowager of Saxe-Gotha shall be god- 
 father and godmothers, will send his Lord Chamber- 
 lain to represent himself and the Queen's Lady of 
 the Bedchamber to represent the Queen, and desires 
 that the Princess will order one of the Ladies of her 
 Bedchamber to stand for the Duchess-Dowager of 
 Saxe-Gotha, and the King will send to the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury to attend and perform the 
 ceremony." (p. 225, Hervey.) 
 
 To which the Prince dutifully replied : 
 " The Prince to the King, 
 
 "August 20th, 1737. 
 " Sire, 
 
 " La Princesse et moi prenons la liber te de 
 remercier tres humblement votre Majeste de 
 l'honneur quelle veut bien faire a notre fille d'en 
 etre parrain. Les ordres que my Lord Dunmore 
 m'a apporte sur ce sujet seront executes point a 
 point. Je me conterois bien heureux si a cette 
 occasion j'osois venir moi raeme me mettre a vos 
 pieds ; rien ne m'em pourroit empecher que la seule 
 defense de votre Majeste. D'etre prive de vos 
 bonnes graces est la chose du monde la plus affli- 
 geante pour moi, qui non seulement vous respect, 
 mais, si j'ose me sefvir de ce terme, vous aime tres- 
 tendrement. Me permettez vous encore une fois de 
 vous supplier tres-humblement de me pardonner une 
 faute dans laquelle du moins l'intention n'avoit pas
 
 SOME SATIRICAL POETRY. 223 
 
 de part, et de me permettre de vous refaire ma cour 
 a votre levee. J'ose vous en conjurer instamment, 
 comme d'une chose qui me rendra le repos. 
 
 " Je suis, avec toute la soumission possible. 
 " Sire, de votre Majeste 
 
 ''Le tres-humble et tres-obeissant fils, 
 " Sujet et serviteur, 
 
 " Frederick." 
 Which does not read much like the letter of a 
 disobedient and contumacious son, but rather that of 
 one who owns a fault which he never intended to 
 commit and asks for pardon. 
 
 These are some of the letters which passed 
 between the King and Queen and the Prince of 
 Wales ; the two first the Queen found at Hampton 
 Court Palace on her return from her night journey 
 to St. James's. 
 
 " To the Queen. 
 
 " St. James's, 
 
 "de Juillet 31, 1737. 
 " Madame, 
 
 " La Princesse s'etant trouvie fort mal a Hampton 
 Court cette apredinne, et n'ayant persone la pour 
 l'assister je l'ai amene direct ment en ville pour 
 sauver le temps que j'aurois perdu en faisant 
 chercher Mrs. Cannon. Elle a ete delivree une 
 heure apres, fort heureusement, d'une fille, et tou 
 deux se portent, Dieu merci, aussi bien qu'on peut 
 attendre a cette peur. 
 
 " La Princesse m'a charge de la mettre avec son
 
 224 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 enfant aux pieds de votre Majeste, et de la supplier 
 de nous honneur tous trois de ses bontees mater- 
 nelles, etant, avec beuacoup de soumission. 
 " Madame, 
 
 " Votre tres humble, et tres obeiesant fils 
 et serviteur, 
 
 " Frederick.'' 
 "To the King. 
 " Sire, 
 
 " C'est avec tout le respect possible que je prends 
 la liberte de mander a votre Majeste que la Princesse 
 est Dieu merci, aussi bien qu'on peut etre, depuis 
 qu'elle a ete delivree d'une fille, qui se port bien 
 aussi. Elle me charge de la mettre avec son enfant 
 aux pieds de votre Majeste, et de la supplier de nous 
 honorer tous les trois de ses bontez paternelles etant, 
 avec tout la soumission possible. 
 " Sire, De votre Majeste, 
 
 " Le tres humble, tres obeissant fils, 
 et serviteur et sujet. 
 
 " Frederick. 
 " De St. James's, 
 
 "le 31 Juillet 1737."' 
 These letters are written, as the Prince wrote 
 them in bad French badly spelt. 
 
 Lord Hervey states that the morning after these 
 two epistles were received, was occupied with con 
 versation between the King and Queen and Sir 
 Robert Walpole, which on the part of His Majesty 
 consisted largely of the following epithets which he
 
 SOME SATIEICAL POETEY. 225 
 
 applied to his son the Prince of Wales : " Scoundrel 
 and Puppy V "Knave, and Fool!" " Liar and 
 coward ! " and no doubt many choice German 
 expletives thrown in where English failed. 
 
 The King, eventually, however, commanded the 
 following answer to be sent by the hands of Lord 
 Essex, to his son's happy announcement of the birth 
 of his daughter. This is what Lord Essex read out 
 to the Prince : 
 
 " The King has commanded me to acquaint your 
 Royal Highness that His Majesty most heartily 
 rejoices at the safe delivery of the Princess ; but 
 that your carrying away her Royal Highness from 
 Hampton Court, the then residence of the King, the 
 Queen and the Royal Family, under the pains — and 
 certain indication of immediate labour to the 
 imminent danger, and hazard both of the Princess 
 and her child, and after sufficient warnings for a 
 week before to have made the necessary pre- 
 parations for the happy event without acquainting 
 his Majesty or the Queen with the circumstances 
 the Princess was in, or giving them the least notice 
 of your departure, is looked upon by the King to 
 be such a deliberate indignity offered to himself and 
 the Queen, that he has commanded me to acquaint 
 your Royal Highness that he resents it to the 
 highest degree, and will not see you." 
 
 But this time the worry proved too much for the 
 Queen, whose health was fast failing, and she was 
 seized with a violent attack of the gout.
 
 226 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 However, she had her comforter in her close 
 attendant, Lord Hervey ; and this time she broke 
 through all rules of etiquette and admitted him to 
 the sick room to sit by her bed. Here he made 
 himself agreeable and amusing as usual, and did not 
 forget to keep alive the Queen's resentment against 
 her son. 
 
 The Prince of Wales very dutifully sent Lord 
 North to inquire after his mother's health. This 
 message seemed to annoy Lord Hervey, who, in his 
 petty way, was probably jealous. He offered to 
 write a much more sincere message — from his point 
 of view — than the Prince had really sent. 
 
 He went into the next room with the Princess 
 Caroline and wrote the following abominable dog- 
 gerel rhymes. 
 
 The Griff* to the Queen : 
 " From myself and my cub and eke from my wife 
 I send my Lord North notwithstanding our strife, 
 To your Majesty's residence called Hampton Court 
 Pour savoir au vrai, comment on se porte. 
 For 'tis rumoured in town — I hope 'tis not true 
 Your foot is too big for your slipper or shoe. 
 If I had the placing your gout, I am sure 
 Your Majesty's toe less pain should endure ; 
 For whil'st I've so many curs'd things in my head 
 And some stick in my stomach as in Proverbs 'tis said. 
 So just a good reason your good son can see 
 Why, when mine are so plagued, 
 Yours from plague should be free 
 Much more I've to say, but respect bids be brief 
 And so I remain your undutiful Griff." 
 
 * " The Griff " was one of the contemptuous titles bestowed at an early 
 date on the Prince of Wales by his father.
 
 SOME SATIE1CAL POETEY. 227 
 
 And yet Lord Hervey considered himself a poet ! 
 
 Of course the gentle insinuation intended in his 
 lines was that the Prince hoped that the gout would 
 fly to the Queen's head or stomach and kill her. 
 
 Poor soul ! she had a much more fatal malady, 
 which she bore in secret, and which even Lord 
 Hervey, her constant companion, knew nothing of. 
 
 It is said that the Queen was greatly entertained 
 by these verses ! 
 
 Lord Hervey and Pope the Poet were by no means 
 good friends. 
 
 Pope very savagely attacked both his verses and 
 his character. The former he refers to in speaking 
 of a supposed charge of weakness against his own 
 verses. He says : 
 
 " The Lines are weak another's pleased to say 
 Lord Fanny spins a thousand such a day." (*) 
 and 
 
 " Like gentle Fanny's was my flow'ry theme 
 A painted mistress or a purling stream." 
 
 These allusions stung Lord Hervey's shallow feel- 
 ings. This was his idea of a refined and witty rejoinder. 
 " To the imitator of the Satires of the Second 
 Book of Horace." 
 
 " Thus whilst with coward hand you stab a name 
 And try at least t' assassinate our fame ; 
 Like the first bold assassins be thy lot ; 
 And ne'er be thy guilt forgiven or forgot ; 
 But as thou hat'st, be hated by mankind 
 And with the emblems of thy crooked mind 
 Marked on thy back, like Cain, by God's own hand, 
 Wander like him accursed through the land." 
 •Lord Fanny was the nick-name given to Hervey.
 
 228 A FOKGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 Which reminds one, somehow, of the lines one 
 used to hear in the old-fashioned Christmas panto- 
 mimes given out by the Demon. But these were 
 very cruel and in bad taste considering Pope was a 
 cripple. 
 
 But in the same poem, Lord Hervey refers to the 
 
 poet's affliction again : 
 
 " None thy crabbed numbers can endure 
 Hard as thy heart, and as thy birth obscure." 
 
 Pope, as will be seen was, however, quite equal to 
 a rejoinder in the same strain. 
 
 It is stated by Lord Hailes that Lord Hervey 
 having suffered some attacks of epilepsy dieted 
 himself — or rather starved himself — after in the 
 following extraordinary manner ; his daily food 
 consisted of a small quantity of asses' milk and 
 a flour biscuit. This stayed the progress of the 
 terrible disease, but it gave him a very ghastly 
 complexion. He is also stated to have used emetics 
 daily, which, under the circumstances, appeared 
 hardly necessary. Once a week he took the indul- 
 gence of an apple. 
 
 To hide his cadaverous appearance, he painted his 
 face as it has been already stated. 
 
 None of these weaknesses seem to have been 
 overlooked by Pope in his reply to Hervey whom he 
 satirized as " Sporus " : 
 
 " Let Sporus tremble ! what ! that thing of silk ! 
 Sporus that mere white curd of asses' milk ! 
 Satire or sense, alas ! can Sporus feel ? 
 Who breaks a butterfly upon a wheel 
 Yet let me flap this bug with gilded wings
 
 SOME SATIEICAL POETRY. 229 
 
 This painted child of dirt that stinks and stings 
 
 Whose buzz the witty and the fair annoys 
 
 Yet wit ne'er tastes and beauty ne'er enjoys ; 
 
 So well bred spaniels civilly delight 
 
 In mumbling of the game they dare not bite, 
 
 Eternal smiles his emptiness betray 
 
 As shallow streams run dimpling all the way 
 
 Whether in florid impotence he speaks 
 
 And as the prompter breathes, the puppet squeaks ; 
 
 Or at the ear of Eve, familiar toad 
 
 Half froth, half venom, spits himself abroad. 
 
 In puns or politics, in tales or lies 
 
 Or spite, or smut or rhymes, or blasphemies ; 
 
 His wit all see-saw between that and this 
 
 Now high, now low, now master up, now miss. 
 
 And he, himself, one vile antithesis. 
 
 Amphibious thing ! that acting either part 
 
 The trifling head or the corrupted heart 
 
 Fop at the toilet, flatterer at the Board 
 
 Now trips a lady, and now struts a lord. 
 
 Eve's tempter thus the Rabbins have expressed 
 
 A cherub's face and reptile all the rest 
 
 Beauty that shocks you, parts that none will trust 
 
 Wit that can creep and pride that licks the dust." 
 
 To this apparently Lord Hervey vouchsafed no 
 
 retort, so Pope was adjudged to have been the 
 
 victor in the affair. But not content with this, he 
 
 wrote an open letter in prose to Lord Hervey. But 
 
 this was suppressed, as Queen Caroline got hold of 
 
 a copy of it, and desired Pope not to publish it, as 
 
 it held her dear friend and companion up to the 
 
 most cutting ridicule. She hated Pope for this, but 
 
 concealed her rage lest worse should come of it. 
 
 But Lord Hervey's duels were not all confined to 
 
 poetry ; he had one with Pulteney, and the weapons 
 
 were not words but swords. This occurred in 1730. 
 
 It was a squabble over the authorship of a pamphlet
 
 230 A FOKGOTTEN PKINCE OF WALES. 
 
 called " Sedition and Defamation Displayed," which 
 attacked both Pulteney and Bolingbroke very 
 severely, and with the writing of which Hervey was 
 credited, and unjustly as it turned out eventually. 
 
 The heated Pulteney, however, rushed into print, 
 and published another pamphlet "A Proper Reply 
 to a late Scurrilous Libel " in which he abused 
 Walpole and Hervey, referring to the latter by his 
 nickname of " Lord Fanny," and depicted him half 
 man and half woman, dragging in, as was usual, in 
 those days with execrable taste, certain of Hervey's 
 infirmities. 
 
 This pamphlet created a perfect fury of anger at 
 Court, and very naturally aroused the resentment 
 of Hervey peculiarly susceptible, like many who 
 indulge in cruel satire about others. He wrote to 
 Pulteney and demanded to know whether he had 
 written the pamphlet, and upon Pulteney replying 
 that he would tell him, when he admitted the 
 authorship of " Sedition and Defamation Displayed," 
 Hervey worked himself up into such a fury, and 
 was so egged on by the other courtiers — he was not 
 a fighting man — that he got at last entangled in a 
 duel with Pulteney. 
 
 They met on a fine June afternoon between three 
 and four o'clock in Upper St. James's Park, just 
 behind Arlington Street, Hervey being accompanied 
 by Fox, and Pulteney by Sir J. Rushout. 
 
 There appears to have been some pretty sword 
 play, and both got slightly wounded — which shows
 
 SOME SATIRICAL POETRY. 231 
 
 that Hervey had some pluck-" but," writes Mr. 
 Thomas Pelham, a witness of the affray, " Mr. 
 Pulteney had once so much the advantage of Lord 
 Hervey that he would have infallibly run my Lord 
 through the body if his foot had not slipped, and 
 then the seconds took the occasion to part them." 
 
 Pulteney, then, in a very magnanimous manner, 
 appears to have embraced Hervey, and expressed 
 sorrow at " the accident of their quarrel." 
 
 At the same time he very unnecessarily added 
 that he would never attack Lord Hervey again 
 either with his pen or his lips. 
 
 Hervey, however, showed his quality by not re- 
 ciprocating his kindly feeling, but merely bowed 
 and sulked. 
 
 " ^ t0 use a common expression," concludes 
 Mr. Pelham, " thus they parted." 
 
 Sir Charles Hanbury Williams wrote some lines 
 on this duel addressed to Pulteney. 
 
 " Lord Fanny once did play the dunce 
 And challenged you to fight 
 And he so stood to lose his blood 
 But had a dreadful fright." 
 Which effusion stamps Sir C. Hanbury Williams 
 as a poet at once ! 
 
 But Lord Hervey soon had something more 
 agreeable to do than even writing poetry or fighting 
 
 There had been a series of letters from the 
 Prince, already published above, craving his father's 
 pardon, and these had, in no way, abated the King's
 
 232 A FOEGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 wrath. Neither was the Queen touched. But the 
 King's message still remained to be agreed upon. 
 It was at last settled and arranged — in fact a notice 
 to quit — the Queen being the prime mover and 
 prompter of Sir Robert Walpole, who, of course, 
 acted for the King in the matter. 
 
 Concerning the final interview between the King 
 and the Minister, the Queen had stipulated that she 
 should have the last word with Sir Robert before he 
 went in to the King, so it may be taken for granted 
 that the terms of the message to be sent to the 
 Prince were practically her terms. 
 
 Upon leaving the King, Sir Robert Walpole en- 
 countered Lord Hervey whom he told that the 
 resolution of his Majesty was to leave the child with 
 the Princess, and not to take it away as George the 
 First had taken the children of his son, when he 
 quarrelled with him and turned him out of St. 
 James's Palace. The reason given was this : 
 
 " Lest any accident might happen to this little 
 Royal animal, and the world in that case accuse the 
 King and Queen of having murdered it, for the sake 
 of the Duke of Cumberland"* Sir Robert continued 
 that he liked to hear other people's opinions as well 
 as his own, and then and there desired Lord Hervey 
 to sit down and write exactly what he would advise 
 the King to say if he stood in his — Sir Robert's 
 — position. This Lord Hervey was overjoyed to do 
 
 *Hervey's Memoirs Vol. iii., p. 231, This gives a very fair idea of public 
 opinion on the subject.
 
 SOME SATIRICAL POETRY. 233 
 
 as it gave him an opportunity to show his resent- 
 ment against the Prince. 
 
 It was drawn up in the form of a letter to be 
 signed by the King as follows, in Lord Hervey's 
 words : 
 
 "It is in vain for you to hope that I can be so far 
 deceived by your empty professions, wholly in- 
 consistent with all your actions, as to think that 
 they in any manner palliate or excuse a series of 
 the most insolent and premeditated indignities 
 offered to me and the Queen, your Mother. 
 
 " You never gave the least notice to me or the 
 Queen of the Princess's being breeding or with 
 child till about three weeks before the time when 
 you yourself have owned you expected her to be 
 brought to bed, and removed her from the place of 
 my residence for that purpose. You twice in one 
 week carried her away from Hampton Court with 
 an avowed design of having her lie-in in town, 
 without consulting me or the Queen, or so much as 
 communicating your intention to either of us. At 
 your return you industriously concealed everything 
 relating to this important affair from our know- 
 ledge ; and last of all, you clandestinely hurried the 
 Princess to St. James's in circumstances not fit to 
 be named, and less fit for such an expedition. 
 
 " This extravagant and undutiful behaviour in a 
 matter of such great consequence as the birth of an 
 heir to my crown, to the manifest peril of the 
 Princess and her child (whilst you pretend your
 
 234 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 regard for her was your motive) inconsistent with 
 the natural right of all parents, and in violation of 
 your double duty to me, as your father and as your 
 King, is what cannot be excused by any false plea, 
 so repugnant to the whole tenor of your conduct, of 
 the innocence of your intentions, or atoned for by 
 specious pretences or plausible expressions. 
 
 " Your behaviour for a long time has been so 
 devoid of duty and regard to me, even before this 
 last open proof you have given to all the world of 
 your contempt for me and my authority, that I 
 have long been justly offended at it ; nor will I 
 suffer any part of any of my palaces to be any 
 longer the resort and refuge of all those whom dis- 
 content, disappointment or disaffection have made 
 the avowed opposers of all my measures ; who 
 espouse you only to distress me, and who call you 
 the head, whilst they make you the instrument of a 
 faction that acts with no other view than to weaken 
 my authority in every particular, and can have no 
 other end in their success but weakening the 
 common interest of my whole family. 
 
 " My pleasure therefore is, that you and all your 
 family remove from St. James's as soon as ever the 
 safety and convenience of the Princess will permit. 
 
 " I will leave the case of my grand-daughter to 
 the Princess till the time comes when I shall think 
 it proper to give directions for her education. 
 
 " To this I will receive no reply. When you 
 shall, by a consistency in your words and actions,
 
 SOME SATIRICAL POETRY. 235 
 
 show that you repent of your past conduct, and are 
 resolved to return to your duty, parental affection 
 may then and not till then, induce me to forgive 
 what parental justice now obliges me to resent." 
 
 So much for Lord Hervey's idea of what he 
 considered a just punishment for his enemy the 
 Prince of Wales. 
 
 Coxe, in his " Walpole," refers to the expressions 
 in this draft as " harsh, improper and indecorous." 
 The Chancellor, Lord Hardwicke, was the chief 
 reviser of this abominable letter of Hervey's, and 
 even when several amendments had been made, 
 considered it in its completed form too strong, but it 
 was practically that letter of Lord Hervey's, though 
 some of the words were softened, which was 
 eventually delivered to the Prince of Wales, and 
 upon which he and his family had to turn out of 
 St. James's Palace. 
 
 But there is one incident which occurred at this 
 time and which has been much used by Lord 
 Hervey, Horace Walpole, and other enemies of the 
 Prince. 
 
 On the ninth day after the confinement of the 
 Princess of Wales, the Queen, with her two eldest 
 daughters, drove from Hampton Court to St. James's 
 to pay another visit to the mother and child. 
 
 It is said that this visit was a very painful one, 
 because the Queen and her son — who met her only 
 at the door of his wife's bedchamber, whether by 
 accident or design it is not stated — did not speak.
 
 236 A FORGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 It is very evident that from this time forward, the 
 Prince, whether rightly or wrongly, regarded his 
 mother as the cause of the King's anger against 
 him, and did not conceal his feelings on the point. 
 
 During the hour which his mother spent with the 
 Princess and the Royal baby, not a word passed 
 between mother and son, and exception is taken to 
 the fact that when the Queen observed that " she 
 feared she was troublesome," nobody had the 
 politeness to say she was not. At the conclusion of 
 the visit, the Prince very properly led his mother 
 down to her coach, and arriving at it, did something 
 which greatly exasperated Lord Hervey and Horace 
 Walpole ; he knelt down in the dirty street and 
 kissed his mother's hand ! 
 
 What a terrible thing for a son to do ! What an 
 outrage ! 
 
 Both Hervey and Horace Walpole try to make 
 out that he did it for effect, and to inspire the 
 people who were looking on ; but is it not much 
 more likely that both Hervey and Walpole — and 
 perhaps the people in the street, too, would have had 
 a great deal more to say if he had not done it, for 
 it was the common etiquette of the Court, and 
 remains very much the same to the present day. 
 But there was another interest about this parting, 
 too. It was the last time that mother and son 
 ever met on earth. 
 
 In such fashion were the sayings and doings of 
 this Prince, who was not wanted, continually
 
 SOME SATIRICAL POETRY. 237 
 
 distorted by those around the King and Queen, and 
 yet they never succeeded in shaking his popularity 
 with the people. 
 
 Lord Hardwicke, the Lord Chancellor, has left an 
 account behind him of an interview with the Prince 
 about this time, which throws some light on the 
 reason for the secret removal of the Princess from 
 Hampton Court. 
 
 " On the fourth day of August," writes Lord 
 Hardwicke, " the day of proroguing the Parliament, 
 I went to St. James's in my way to Westminster in 
 order to inquire after the health of the Princess of 
 Wales and the new-born Princess. After I had 
 performed that ceremony, I went away, and was 
 overtaken at the further end of Pall Mall by one 
 of the Prince's footmen, with a message that His 
 Royal Highness desired to speak with me. Being 
 returned, I was carried into the nursery, whither 
 the Prince came immediately, out of the Princess's 
 bedchamber, and turned all the ladies out of the room." 
 
 Shade of Earl Cairns ! what should we think 
 in these days if we heard of the Lord High 
 Chancellor of England being: shown into the 
 nursery at Marlborough House when on a visit 
 of ceremony, and " all the ladies being turned 
 out," and apparently the baby too, to give 
 the Prince of Wales an opportunity of talking 
 serious State matters with his lordship ? 
 
 The room, however, being at last clear, the Prince 
 took Lord Hardwicke into his confidence, evidently
 
 238 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 with the object of persuading him to soften the hearts 
 of the King and Queen and inter alia referring to the 
 removal of the Princess from Hampton Court in 
 much the same terms used in his first letter to his 
 father, but with this significant addition : " What if 
 the King, who was apt sometimes to be pretty 
 quick, should have objected to her going to London, 
 and an altercation should have arisen, what a 
 condition would the poor Princess have been in ! " 
 
 The two sat and discoursed for some time, and 
 the old Chancellor gave Frederick just the sort of 
 advice an old lawyer would naturally give a young 
 man under the circumstances, urging submission and 
 dutiful behaviour to bring about a union of the 
 family, and adding that it would be the " zealous 
 endeavour of himself with the other servants of the 
 King," to bring about this end. 
 
 " He answered," continued Hardwicke, " ' My 
 Lord, I don't doubt you in the least, for I believe 
 you to be a very honest man,' and as I was rising 
 up embraced me, offering to kiss me. 1 instantly 
 kneeled down and kissed his hand, whereupon he 
 raised me up and kissed my cheek. 
 
 " The scene had something in it moving, and my 
 heart was full of the melancholy prospect that I 
 thought lay before me, which made me almost burst 
 into tears. The Prince observed this, and appeared 
 moved himself, and said : ' Let us sit down, my 
 Lord, a little, and recollect ourselves, that we may 
 not go out thus.'
 
 SOME SATIRICAL POETEY. 239 
 
 " Soon after which I took my leave, and went 
 directly to the House of Lords." 
 
 Minutes of Lord Harrington and Sir Robert 
 Walpole's conversation with the Prince by his 
 bedside, August 1st, about Jive in the morning, and 
 taken down in writing about three hours after. 
 
 "August 1, 1737. 
 
 " The Prince of Wales this morning about five 
 o'clock, when Lord Harrington and Sir Robert 
 Walpole waited upon him at St. James's, among 
 other things said : he did not know whether the 
 Princess was come before her time or not. That she 
 had felt great pain the Monday before, which it 
 being apprehended might prove her labour, of 
 which opinion Lady Archibald Hamilton and Mrs. 
 Payne declared themselves to be, but the physicians 
 were then of another opinion, he brought her from 
 Hampton Court again. That on the following 
 Friday the Princess's pains returning, the Prince 
 carried her again to St. James's, when the 
 physicians, Dr. Hollings and Dr. Broxolme, and 
 Mrs. Cannons, were of opinion it might prove 
 her labour, but those pains likewise going off, they 
 returned again to Hampton Court on Saturday ; 
 that he should not have been at Hampton Court on 
 Sunday, but it being public day, he feared it might 
 be liable to some constructions ; that the Princess 
 growing ill again on Sunday, he brought her away 
 immediately, that she might be where proper help 
 and assistance could be had."
 
 240 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 The opinion of that remarkably sensible woman of 
 the time, Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, on this 
 event, can but be read with interest. 
 
 " There has been an extraordinary quarrel at 
 Court. The 31st of last month, July, 1737, the 
 Princess fell in labour. The King and Queen both 
 knew she was to lie in at St. James's, where every- 
 thing was prepared. It was her first child, and so 
 little a way to London that she thought it less 
 hazard to go immediately away from Hampton 
 Court to London, where she had all the assistance 
 that could be, and everything prepared, than to 
 stay at Hampton Court, where she had nothing, and 
 might be forced to make use of a country midwife. 
 There was not a minute's time to be lost in debating 
 this matter, nor in ceremonials, the Princess begging 
 earnestly of the Prince to carry her to St. James's 
 in such a hurry that gentlemen went behind the 
 coach like footmen. They got to St. James's safe ; 
 and she was brought to bed in one hour after. Her 
 Majesty followed them as soon as she could, but did 
 not come until it was all over. However, she ex- 
 pressed a great deal of anger to the Prince for 
 having carried her away, though she and the child 
 were very well. I should have thought it would 
 have been most natural for a grandmother to have 
 said, she had been mightily frighted, but she was so 
 glad it was so well over. The Prince said all the 
 respectful and dutiful things imaginable to her and 
 to the King, desiring her Majesty to support the
 
 National Portrait Gallery. 
 
 SARAH, DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH 
 
 Emery Walker.
 
 SOME SATIEICAL POETRY. 241 
 
 reasons which made hiui go away as he did, without 
 acquainting his Majesty with it. And I believe 
 that all human creatures will allow, that this was 
 natural for a man not to debate a thing of this kind, 
 nor to lose a minute's time for ceremony ; which 
 was very useless, considering that it is a great while 
 since the King has spoken to him, or taken the least 
 notice of him. The Prince told her Majesty he 
 intended to go that morning to pay his duty to the 
 King ; but she advised him not. This was Monday 
 morning, and she said Wednesday was time enough. 
 And, indeed, I think in that her Majesty was in the 
 right. The Prince submitted to her counsel, and 
 only writ a very submissive and respectful letter to 
 his Majesty, giving his reasons for what he had 
 done ; and this conversation ended, that he hoped 
 that his Majesty would do him the honour to be 
 godfather to his daughter, and that he would be 
 pleased to name who the godmothers would be ; and 
 that he left all the directions of the christening 
 entirely to his Majesty's pleasure. The Queen 
 answered that it would be thought the asking the 
 King to be Godfather was too great a liberty, and 
 advised him not to do it. 
 
 " When the Prince led the Queen to her coach, 
 which she would not have had him have done, there 
 was a great concourse of people ; and notwith- 
 standing all that had passed before, she expressed 
 so much kindness, that she hugged and kissed him 
 with great passion. The King after this sent a
 
 242 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 message in writing by my Lord Essex in the 
 following words : 
 
 " ' That his Majesty looks upon what the Prince 
 had done in carrying the Princess to London in such 
 a manner, as a deliberate indignity offered to 
 himself and to the Queen, and resented it in the 
 highest degree and forbid him the court.' 
 
 " All the sycophants and agents of the Court 
 spread millions of falsities on this occasion, and all 
 the language there was that this was so great a 
 crime that even those that went with the Prince 
 ought to be prosecuted. How this will end nobody 
 yet knows, at least I am sure I don't." 
 
 Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough to Lord Stair, 
 August, 1737. 
 
 A pretty satire written before August 29th, 1737, 
 by Dr. Hollings, who attended the Princess of 
 Wales, concerning the baby Princess, but really 
 directed against the Queen. 
 
 It is by comparison, not difficult to see on which 
 side Dr. Hollings's sympathies were. This writing 
 was found among the papers of Sarah, Duchess of 
 Marlborough. 
 
 " I am sensible how difficult it really is to be im- 
 partial, and how much more difficult it is to seem so, 
 in drawing the characters of persons of the highest 
 path and rank. The praise or the blame which 
 they may justly deserve, is severally ascribed to the 
 interested views or the private resentment of the 
 author. I should therefore not have attempted the
 
 SOME SATIRICAL POETRY. 243 
 
 character of this most excellent Princess, could 
 there have been the least room for suspicions of that 
 nature. But having no obligation or disobligation 
 whatsoever to her, I shall speak the truth in the 
 sincerity of my heart, and I likewise call upon all 
 and everyone of those who have the honour to know 
 her as well as I do, to contradict me if they can in 
 any one particular. I have observed her with 
 attention almost from the hour of her birth, and 
 have carefully marked the progressive steps of 
 nature. I have seen her in her most unguarded 
 moments, and have seriously and critically con- 
 sidered whatever fell from her ; so that I may, 
 without vanity, assert that nobody is better 
 qualified to tell the truth than myself, though 
 others might be much more capable of adorning it. 
 
 " I shall say nothing of the beauty of this in- 
 comparable Princess, it is her mind, and not her 
 person, which we intend to delineate. Neither 
 shall I dwell upon her high birth and station any 
 longer than to observe that she seems to be the 
 only person ignorant of that superiority. She has 
 never been heard to give the most remote hint of it, 
 much less has she ever been observed to assume 
 even that degree of state which others, much in- 
 ferior to her in birth, are so foolishly fond of. 
 
 " It would be saying but little in praise of this 
 excellent lady to observe, that she had early ac- 
 quired many friends ; for who in that high station 
 has not, where the power of obliging and doing
 
 244 A FOBGOTTEN PEINCE OP WALES. 
 
 good is so extensive, it must be the weakest head, 
 as well as the worst heart, that does not exert it, 
 and make many happy friends. But, what is much 
 more rare in her station, she has not one enemy. 
 
 " Equally humane to all who approach her, she 
 neither stoops to meannesses, nor insolently insults, 
 in proportion as she imagines the persons may be 
 useful or useless ; for having nothing to fear, ask, 
 or conceal, from any, she behaves herself with un- 
 concern to all. 
 
 " She was never known to tell a lie, or even to dis- 
 guise a truth ; uncorrupted nature appears in every 
 motion, and honestly declares the present sentiment. 
 Her smiles are the immediate results of a contented 
 and innocent heart. They are never prostituted to 
 disguise inward rancour and malice, nor insidiously 
 displayed to betray the unwary into a fatal 
 confidence. 
 
 " The tears she sometimes sheds are not less 
 sincere ; they flow only from justifiable causes, and 
 not from disappointed avarice, ambition or revenge. 
 Nor are they the forced tears of simulated com- 
 passion, but real harshness of heart. Moreover she 
 never cries for joy. 
 
 " She is a rare instance of liberality and economy ; 
 for though her income be but small, she retains no 
 more of it than is absolutely necessary for her 
 subsistence, and properly and privately disposes of 
 the rest ; free from the ostentation of little or sordid 
 minds, who by profusion in trifles, hope to conceal
 
 SOME SATIRICAL POETEY. 245 
 
 the insatiate avarice and corruption of their 
 hearts. 
 
 " Though born and bred in Court, she never 
 engages in the intrigues and whispers of it, nor 
 concerns herself in public matters. Far from 
 retailing or inventing lies, promoting scandal and 
 defamation, and encouraging breach of faith and 
 violation of friendship, one would think of her 
 behaviour that she had never heard of such things. 
 
 " Her silence, considering her sex, is not the least 
 admirable of her many qualifications. She never 
 speaks when she has nothing to say, nor graciously 
 tires her company with frivolous, improper and 
 unnecessary tattle. 
 
 " She is entirely free from another weakness of 
 her sex, attention to dress. And it is observable, 
 that if she is ever out of humour, it is in those 
 moments when she is obliged to conform to custom 
 in that particular. 
 
 " Having thus finished this imperfect sketch of 
 this inimitable character, I shall only add for the 
 information of the curious, that this most in- 
 comparable Princess was given to us on the 
 31st July, 1737. Name indeed she has none. But 
 had ever such a Princess a name ? Or can any 
 man name me such a Princess ? " 
 
 " This paper," comments the Duchess of Marl- 
 borough, "made me laugh, for I think there is a 
 good deal of humour in it, and two very exact 
 characters."
 
 246 A FOKGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 Lord Hailes, who published the Duchess's papers, 
 comments as follows on this essay of Dr. Hollings : 
 
 "It is curious to see the various shapes which 
 party resentment can assume. We have already 
 met with a satire on Queen Caroline, in the form 
 of an inscription to the honour of Queen Anne. 
 And here more virulent satire appears under a 
 quibbling character of the infant daughter of the 
 Prince of Wales."
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 The Prince is Cast Forth with His Family. * 
 
 If that phenomenon, the soft-hearted old lawyer, 
 Lord Hardwicke, was moved to tears at the Prince's 
 position, that feeling did not extend to the King and 
 Queen. On the morning of the 13th of September, 
 the day before the Prince was to leave their roof, 
 the following edifying remarks were made by them 
 as they sat at breakfast : 
 
 " I hope in God," piously repeated the Queen 
 several times as she proceeded with her meal, "I 
 shall never see him again." 
 
 " Thank God ! " responded the King in the same 
 pious strain — no doubt with his mouth full and 
 talking very quickly, " to-morrow night the Puppy 
 will be out of my house ! " 
 
 The Queen replied that she thought the Prince 
 would rather like to be made a martyr of; but it 
 was pointed out to her that the ignominy of being 
 turned out of doors obscured any martyr-like attri- 
 butes in the Prince's opinion. 
 
 This beautiful scene appears to have been a lively 
 one, for the King, getting excited, gave the company 
 his opinion on the companions of his eldest son 
 whom he referred to as " boobies, fools and 
 
 * George the Second was himself kicked out of St. James's Palace by his 
 father, George the First, with all his family in 1717. 
 
 (247)
 
 248 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 madmen," and their unlikelihood to represent any- 
 thing to him in its proper light. 
 
 The King enumerated a few of the Prince's house- 
 hold with what he considered appropriate remarks 
 concerning each of them : 
 
 "There is my Lord Carnarvon,* a hot-headed, 
 passionate, half-witted coxcomb, with no more sense 
 than his master ; there is Townshend,+ a silent, 
 proud, surly, wrong-headed booby ; there is my 
 Lord North,+ a very good poor creature, but a 
 very weak man ; there is my Lord Baltimore, who 
 thinks he understands everything and understands 
 nothing, who wants to be well with both Courts and 
 is well at neither, and entre nous is a little mad, 
 and who else of his servants can you name that he 
 listens to, unless it is the stuttering puppy, Johnny 
 Lumley ? " § 
 
 The ejection of the Prince and his family from 
 St. James's Palace had not been viewed without 
 remonstrance ; the Duke of Newcastle had begged 
 the Princess Emily " for God's sake " ; that she 
 would use her influence with her mother to prevent 
 the last message going to the Prince. 
 
 But this request being conveyed to the Queen, by 
 the Princess, did the Duke more harm with her than 
 "all the stories his enemies could put together." 
 
 * Lord of the Prince's Bedchamber. 
 
 | Colonel Willm. Townshend, Groom of the Bedchamber. 
 
 I Lord of the Bedchamber. 
 
 § The " stuttering puppy " was Groom of the Bedchamber and brother of 
 Lord Scarborough.
 
 THE PRINCE IS CAST FORTH. 249 
 
 So the message went, and the Prince and his 
 family had to turn out on the 14th of September. 
 
 But even in this turning out, the little King, with 
 his million a year * income, could not behave like a 
 gentleman. 
 
 Not only were all foreign Ambassadors notified 
 that it would be agreeable to the King if they kept 
 away from the Prince's house, but a written message 
 was sent round to all peers, peeresses and privy 
 councillors, stating that whoever waited on the 
 Prince by way of attending his levees should not be 
 received at Court. 
 
 The Guard was taken away from the Prince's 
 house, and, meanest of all. when Sir Robert Wal- 
 pole, prompted by the Dukes of Newcastle and 
 Grafton, tried to persuade the King and Queen 
 to give the Prince and his wife the furniture of 
 their apartments, the very reasonable request was 
 refused. 
 
 The excuse the King made was that he had given 
 the Prince Five thousand pounds out of his own 
 pocket when he married to "set out" with, and, 
 in addition, he had his wife's fortune, another 
 Five thousand pounds. (It does not seem clear, 
 however, what this had to do with the King.) 
 
 " The wedding of the Prince of Wales," the King 
 added, " had cost him, one way and another, Fifty 
 thousand pounds, and therefore he positively 
 declined to let his son and his wife take any 
 
 * The original £700,000 a year had been much augmented.
 
 250 A FOEGOTTEN PKINCE OF WALES. 
 
 of their furniture away from their apartments, 
 and he instructed the Lord Chamberlain, the Duke 
 of Grafton, to see that none was removed. 
 
 Lord Hervey, who was standing by at the time 
 these orders were given, appears to have remons- 
 trated and to have pointed out that chests and 
 things of that nature could not be regarded as 
 furniture, but were conveniences in which to pack 
 the Prince and Princess's clothes, otherwise they 
 would have to carry them away in baskets like 
 dirty linen. 
 
 " Why not ? " broke in the large-minded little 
 King, " a basket is good enough for them ? " 
 
 Which was a piece of meanness, which would have 
 disgraced a cobbler. The Queen seems to have 
 aided and abetted the King in this mean conduct. 
 
 But the Prince and Princess with their House- 
 hold and the baby, went their way, and in the 
 first place took up their quarters at Kew, the Prince 
 had despatched messengers to the heads of his 
 party, the "Patriots." Lord Chesterfield was ill 
 of a fever at the time, and Pulteney was shooting in 
 Norfolk ; but there appears to have been a meeting of 
 these two eventually with Carteret at Kew, and 
 all three plainly told the Prince that they considered 
 he had made a false step, and that his best course 
 would be to endeavour to patch up a peace with his 
 father and mother, and this he appears to have 
 earnestly tried to do as the two following letters 
 will show
 
 THE PKINCE IS CAST FOETH. 251 
 
 Copy of a letter from Lord Baltimore to Lord 
 Grantham. 
 
 "London, September 13th, 1737. 
 " My Lord, 
 
 " I have in my hands a letter from his Royal 
 Highness to the Queen, which I am commanded 
 to give or transmit to your Lordship ; and as I am 
 afraid it might be improper for me to wait upon you 
 at Hampton Court, I must beg you will be so good 
 as to let me know how and in what manner I may 
 deliver or send it to you. 
 
 " If I may presume to judge of my Royal Master's 
 sentiments, he does not conceive himself precluded 
 by the King's message from taking this, the only 
 means of endeavouring as far as he is able to remove 
 his Majesty's displeasure. 
 " I am, 
 
 " Your Lordship's very humble Servant, 
 
 " Baltimore." 
 
 This letter caused a considerable flutter at 
 Hampton Court, and a consultation was held as to 
 what was to be done. It was said the Queen was 
 anxious to refuse her son's letter, but Sir Robert 
 Walpole finished the matter by forbidding her to 
 receive it, or to become mediatrix between the Prince 
 and his father, in which there is no doubt he was simply 
 doing the Queen's will and taking the blame on his 
 own shoulders. 
 
 The I following letter was sent in reply to Lord 
 Baltimore's, and was dictated to Lord Grantham
 
 252 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 by Sir Robert Walpole. The Queen was on this 
 occasion most anxious that Lord Grantham, who 
 was a notoriously bad writer, should be carefully 
 watched lest he made mistakes, and she was most 
 desirous that the Prince should quite understand 
 her intentions. This is the letter : 
 
 " Lord Grantham to Lord Baltimore. 
 
 " Hampton Court. 
 
 "Sept. 15th, 1737. 
 " My Lord, 
 
 " I have laid your Lordship's letter before the 
 Queen, who has commanded me to return your 
 Lordship the following answer : — 
 
 " ' The Queen is very sorry that the Prince's 
 behaviour has given the King such just cause of 
 offence, but thinks herself restrained by the King's 
 last message to the Prince from receiving any appli- 
 cation from the Prince on that subject.' 
 
 " I am, my Lord, 
 
 " Your Lordship's, etc., 
 
 " Grantham." 
 
 So thus ended the Prince's further attempt at 
 reconciliation by means of his mother. 
 
 He was, however, soon busy in finding a town 
 house for himself and his family, whilst Carlton 
 House — which stood near where the Duke of York's 
 Column now is — was being decorated and altered. 
 
 Carlton House had been purchased by him in 
 1732, through Lord Chesterfield, from the Countess 
 of Burlington.
 
 THE PEINCE IS CAST FOETH. 253 
 
 The house derived its name from Henry Boyle, 
 Lord Carlton who probably built it, aud who dying 
 unmarried in 1725, it passed to his nephew, Lord 
 Burlington, who gave it to his mother, from whom 
 the Prince bought it. The Prince must at this time 
 have had some idea of making a home for himself 
 and again in 1735 when he altered and much 
 enlarged it. 
 
 But while Carlton House was being repaired he 
 looked around for a temporary residence, and at first 
 thought of Southampton House, which stood in a 
 court and garden between what are now Bloomsbury 
 and Russell Squares : the site is at the present 
 time covered with houses. This residence was 
 refused him by the owner, the Duke of Bedford, who 
 was afraid to offend the King and Queen. 
 ^ He then turned his attention to Norfolk House in 
 St. James's Square, but here again the owner, the 
 Duke of Norfolk, had fears of getting into hot water 
 and sent the Duchess to Hampton Court to interview 
 the Queen on the subject. 
 
 Finding there were no difficulties in the way the 
 Duke of Norfolk placed his house at the Prince's 
 disposal, and the latter shortly moved into it with 
 his family. It may here be mentioned that it was 
 m Norfolk House, in an old very ordinary looking 
 bed with green hangings, that George the Third of 
 England was bom on the 4th June following, less 
 than eleven months after the birth of his sister. 
 At Norfolk House the Prince, though he
 
 254 A FOKGOTTEN PKINCE OF WALES. 
 
 materially reduced his expenses and " farmed his 
 tables" — i.e., was catered for at so much a head — 
 yet soon gathered around him a Court, small, 
 but brilliant. The Prince's wit and great amia- 
 bility, and the beauty and youth of his Princess, 
 very naturally formed an attraction to many, and 
 those principally of the most refined circle of the 
 aristocracy, and their followers, the men of letters. 
 
 The King had previously expressed his opinion of 
 his son's supporters when they had gathered round 
 him at Kew after his expulsion, and had added in 
 anger and some jealousy : "They will soon be tired 
 of the puppy." 
 
 But still the Prince drew around him all the 
 rising young men of the Tory Party and many of 
 the wits of the day. 
 
 Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, thus speaks of 
 him at this time : — 
 
 " There is a great deal of very good company goes 
 to Norfolk House, but if I were to advise, I would 
 have more play, to make more people easy by sitting 
 down, as it used to be in all the Courts, that ever I 
 knew, either by a basset-table, or at other games, 
 letting people of quality go halves. But they 
 begin, to my thinking, with the same forms the late 
 Queen did, only to leave room to entertain a few of 
 the town ladies, and I think it don't lessen one's 
 greatness, but the contrary, to make everybody, one 
 can, easy." 
 
 There was an incident one night at a theatre
 
 THE PRINCE IS CAST FORTH. 255 
 
 which caused the King and Queen much chagrin. 
 
 The play was " Cato," and the Prince of Wales 
 and his party were present ; and the lines : 
 
 " When vice prevails, and impious men bear sway, 
 The post of honour is a private station." 
 The audience, noting the application, broke out into 
 cheers for the Prince, which he suitably acknow- 
 ledged and joined in the applause for the actor. 
 
 But the most exasperating incident for the King 
 and Queen was when the Prince and Princess of 
 Wales received their good friends the Lord Mayor 
 and Aldermen of London at Carlton House, to which 
 mansion they went for the occasion. 
 
 The Lord Mayor and Aldermen had, very soon 
 after thej birth of the Princess, expressed a hope to- 
 the Prince that he would receive them to express 
 their congratulations, and the Prince had character- 
 istically replied that as soon as the Princess was 
 well enough, he would communicate a date to them, 
 when they could both receive them. The date 
 eventually fixed upon was Thursday, the 22nd 
 September, and the place Carlton House, the Duke 
 of Norfolk's house probably not being sufficiently 
 large to contain such a deputation. 
 
 The Prince and Princess were attended on this 
 occasion by Lord Carteret, Lord Chesterfield, the 
 Duke of Marlborough and many others of the 
 Household and Council. 
 
 To every member of the City deputation was 
 given a printed copy of the King's last message to
 
 256 A FOBGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 his son — that originally written by Lord Hervey — 
 turning the Prince and his family out of St. James's. 
 
 The noblemen and gentlemen standing by the 
 Prince, added their comments to the copies of the 
 letter, especially Lord Carteret. 
 
 " You see, gentlemen," he said, " how the Prince 
 is threatened if he does not dismiss us ; but we are 
 here still for all that. He is a rock. You may 
 depend upon him, gentlemen. He is sincere. He 
 is firm." 
 
 The Prince was a wordy man, and perhaps more 
 beloved by the City on that account. The citizens 
 had come out to enjoy themselves, and would have 
 gone away disappointed if the Prince had not ad- 
 dressed them at length ; besides it was an honour 
 thus to be taken into his confidence over such a 
 private affair. 
 
 The Prince did not disappoint them as regards the 
 speech. He explained his great interest in the 
 affairs of the City of London, and gave them a great 
 idea of their importance, which was very acceptable 
 to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen. He claimed 
 their friendship, and told them he should never look 
 upon them as beggars. 
 
 This last was a terrible blow at Sir Robert 
 Walpole, who in the Excise year had given the 
 greatest offence to the City of London by having 
 been reported to have said " that the citizens were 
 a party of sturdy beggars." 
 
 Even Sir Robert Walpole was angered when the
 
 THE PRINCE IS CAST FORTH. 257 
 
 report of these proceedings reached the Court. The 
 condition of the irate little King and his Queen can 
 best be imagined. 
 
 " The Prince is firm, he is a rock," sneered Sir 
 Robert, " the Prince can never be more firm in 
 maintaining Carteret than I am in my resolution 
 never to have anything to do with him. / am a 
 rock," he raved. " I am determined in no shape will 
 I ever act with that man." 
 
 But there appeared to be a considerable mystery 
 about the printing of the King's letter of expulsion, 
 as Lord Hervey states that Sir Robert Walpole had 
 told him fully a week before that he intended to let 
 this message " slip into print." So that it is possible 
 that Lord Carteret was only carrying out his 
 intentions — for it was Carteret who had the letter 
 printed — but not quite in the way which he intended 
 or wished. About this time there was an amusing 
 little passage between the Princess Caroline and her 
 brother, the Prince of Wales. The two had never 
 been friends. 
 
 It was by w T ay of a message delivered by the 
 Princess through the medium of Monsieur Desnoyer, 
 that ubiquitous and much favoured dancing-master, 
 who is continually hopping in and out of the history 
 of this period. 
 
 The Princess instructed Desnoyer that when the 
 Prince, who kept the dancing-master in his house- 
 hold, asked Avhat they were saying about him at 
 Hampton Court, concerning his adventure on the
 
 258 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 night of his daughter's birth, Desnoyer was to reply- 
 that the Princess Caroline declared that all of them, 
 excepting the Princess, deserved to be hanged. 
 
 " I know," concluded the Princess, " you would 
 tell this again, Monsieur Desnoyer, though I did not 
 give you leave ; but I say it with no other design 
 than that you should repeat it." Monsieur Desnoyer 
 bowed and departed ; but the next time he came to 
 give his dancing lesson at Hampton Court the 
 Princess Caroline hastened to ask him like a woman, 
 full of curiosity, if he had delivered her message to 
 the Prince of Wales. 
 
 " Yes, Madame," responded the man of figures. 
 
 " And in the same words ? " demanded the Princess. 
 
 " Yes, Madame, I have said : Monseigneur, do you 
 know what Madame la Princesse Caroline has 
 charged me to tell you ? She said, Monseigneur, 
 saving the respect that I bear you, that your Royal 
 Highness ought to be hanged." 
 
 " And what did he answer ? " gasped the Princess, 
 in an agony of expectation. 
 
 " Madame," replied the dancing-master, " he spat 
 in the fire, and then presently replied. ' Ah ! you 
 know what Caroline is, she is always like that.' ' 
 
 " When you see him again," replied the Princess, 
 bridling, " tell him that his answer is as foolish as 
 his conduct." 
 
 Just like a loving brother and sister ! 
 
 Thus writes Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, of 
 events at this time, 1737 :
 
 THE PKINCE IS CAST FOETH. 259 
 
 " They have printed all the letters and messages 
 that have passed between the King, Queen, Prince 
 and Princess. This shows that the Minister thinks 
 he has been in the right ; but I don't find any- 
 reasonable body of that opinion. And I observe 
 that they have left out in this printed paper a 
 message from his Majestv to the Prince, which was 
 brought in writing by my Lord Dunmore ; in which 
 they judged very well, for it was certainly a very 
 odd one, as I think it is, my Lord Harrington's and 
 Sir Robert Walpole's evidence concerning the 
 Prince, some part of which is certainly untrue. 
 
 " But upon the whole matter nobody can think 
 that the Prince designed to hurt the Princess or the 
 child, which was of much more consequence to him 
 than it can be to her Majesty, who has so many 
 children of her own. If the Prince had not had good 
 success in what he ventured to do ; and if it had 
 been a real crime, the submissions the Prince has 
 made, one would think ought to have been accepted, 
 for the omission of a ceremony that was not natural 
 for the Prince to think of at the time ; and especially 
 as he was treated at Court. But I suppose that Sir 
 Robert did not think it a proper thing to say that 
 the true cause of the quarrel was the Prince's 
 seeming; to have a desire to have the whole of the 
 allowance which the public pays for his support ; 
 and, indeed, I do think it would not have been 
 becoming to have given that reason for what has 
 been done. But if I may presume to give my
 
 260 A FOKGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 opinion against Sir Robert's, I should rather in his 
 place have chose to have sent the message to the 
 Prince, that he must leave St. James's, because the 
 King was dissatisfied with his behaviour in general ; 
 and not have given such strange reasons for the 
 quarrel, and then publish a printed account with so 
 many reflections upon the Prince, which no man that 
 has any notion of honour can ever forgive." 
 
 With regard to the publication of these letters, 
 which was a kind of set-off against the Prince's 
 address to the Lord Mayor, Lord Hervey was 
 employed to translate the Prince's, and in the midst 
 of his task went off to London. On his return he 
 was greeted by the Queen, who was most anxious 
 about the letters, in the following terms : — 
 
 " Where the devil are you, and what have you 
 been doing ? You are a pretty man to have the 
 justification of your friends committed to your 
 hands ! There are the letters which you have had 
 this week to translate, and they are not yet ready to 
 be dispersed, and only that you must go to London 
 to divert yourself with some of your nasty guenipes* 
 instead of doing what you have undertaken. 
 
 Hervey made her a quotation from Shakespeare 
 in reply : — 
 
 " Go tell your slaves how choleric you are, and 
 
 make your bondmen tremble. Your anger passes 
 
 bv me like the idle wind which I regard not." 
 
 * Trulls.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 The Death of the Queen. 
 
 But now over the squabblings and disagreements 
 of this Royal Family, with their enormous wealth 
 and power, was gathering a dark cloud from which 
 presently descended a greater Power than theirs, 
 the Power which one day touches all, and which the 
 riches of a Palace are as impotent to resist as the 
 poverty of a poor man's dwelling— the Power of 
 Death. 
 
 For some time past the Queen's health had been 
 steadily failing ; possibly the excitement of the last 
 few months, Madame de Walmoden, the King's 
 danger in the storm, the affair of the Prince's 
 income, and lastly the tmeute at the birth of his 
 child, had been all too much for her, yet her death 
 as will be seen was mainly the result of her own 
 fault, the foolish concealment of a malady. 
 
 On Wednesday, the 9th of November, 1737, the 
 Queen was taken ill while superintending the 
 arrangements of her new library attached to St. 
 James's Palace— the library is now pulled down. 
 She described her complaint as the cholic and 
 suffered great pain, Doctor Tesier, the German 
 Physician to the Household, gave her some of a 
 concoction called " Daffy's Elixir," and ordered her 
 to bed. 
 
 (261)
 
 262 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 Nevertheless, that being a Drawing Room day, 
 and fearing to disappoint the King, and the com- 
 pany, she rose, dressed and attended the function. 
 
 Lord Hervey describes the following conversation 
 with her when he entered the rooms : 
 
 " Is it not intolerable," she said, " at my age to be 
 plagued with a new distemper ? Here is that nasty 
 cholic I had at Hampton Court come again." 
 
 She looked extremely ill, and telling him the 
 incidents of the morning Lord Hervey became 
 alarmed. 
 
 " For God's sake, Madam," he said, "go to your 
 room, what have you to do here ? " 
 
 She went and talked a little to the people and 
 then came back again to Hervey. 
 
 " I am not able to entertain people," she said. 
 
 '• Would to God," he replied, impatiently, " the 
 King would have done talking of the ' Dragon of 
 Wantley,' and release you ! " 
 
 This was a new silly farce, which no doubt just 
 suited the King who was for ever talking about it. 
 It was a burlesque on the Italian Opera, by Henry 
 Carey, and first played at Covent Garden the 26th 
 October, 1737. 
 
 At last the King had said his last word on this 
 entertaining subject and left, giving the Queen the 
 chance which both she and Lord Hervey desired, for 
 her to get away. 
 
 The King, however, as he passed her, reminded 
 her that she had not spoken to the Duchess of
 
 CAROLINE, QUEEN OF GEOEGE II, AND THE YOUNG 
 DUKE OF CUMBERLAND
 
 THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN. 263 
 
 Norfolk, and she went back and said a few words to 
 her. This was the last person she ever spoke to in 
 public. She retired, went at once to bed, and grew 
 steadily worse. 
 
 The King, however, was not at all alarmed, indeed 
 his courageous wife did all she could to reassure him, 
 and he went off in the evening to play cards with 
 Lady Deloraine. When, however, he returned late, 
 the condition of the Queen so alarmed him that he 
 sent off for another physician, Doctor Broxholme, 
 Ranby, the King's house surgeon, being already 
 there, principally for bleeding purposes appar- 
 ently. 
 
 These learned doctors, who all along regarded her 
 symptoms as those of cholic, could think of nothing 
 better to give her than usquebaugh, i.e., whiskey — 
 which seemed to do her as much good as the many 
 nostrums which were afterwards administered. 
 Having tried such things as Daffy's Elixir, mint 
 water, usquebaugh, snake root, and " Sir Walter 
 Raleigh's Cordial" — which appears to have been 
 some remedy of the great explorer's which had 
 survived to that time — the doctors, in the fashion of 
 the day, decided to bleed the Queen, and the ever- 
 ready Ranby was ordered to draw off twelve ounces 
 of blood. 
 
 The King, now thoroughly alarmed, commenced 
 to show great anxiety, and insisted on lying in his 
 night-gown, i.e., dressing gown, outside the Queen's 
 bed all night, so that he greatly inconvenienced
 
 264 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 both her and himself, as he could not sleep, and the 
 poor sufferer could not turn in bed. 
 
 The diary of the Queen's illness may be sum- 
 marised as follows : 
 
 Thursday, November 18th. 
 
 The Queen was bled again early in the morning, 
 and lost twelve ounces, which abated her fever. As 
 the King left her to go to his own side of the 
 Palace, she grew very despondent, and told her 
 daughter Caroline that no matter what they did she 
 would die. " Poor Caroline," she added to her 
 daughter, who was ailing, " you are very ill, too ; 
 we shall soon meet again in another place." 
 
 Growing better in the morning the King 
 determined to hold a Levee, and was very particular 
 about having his new lace cuffs sewn on his shirt, as 
 the Foreign Ministers were coming. Sir Robert 
 Walpole was at his country seat, Houghton, in 
 Norfolk, and knew nothing of the Queen's illness. 
 This day there was some talk of sending for him, 
 and the Duke of Newcastle and Lord Hervey both 
 
 wrote. 
 
 This evening the Queen said to her daughter 
 Caroline and Lord Hervey, who was with her — he 
 seems to have hardly left her — " I have an ill which 
 nobody knows of." No particular significance was 
 however attached to this remark. 
 
 This night, two more physicians were called in, 
 Sir Hans Sloan, and Dr. Hulst, who, still treating 
 her for cholic and an internal stoppage, ordered her
 
 THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN. 265 
 
 blisters and aperients ; the latter, like everything 
 else she took, she brought up. 
 
 Friday, November 11th. 
 
 Early in the morning the Queen was again 
 " blooded " for fever. Her bad symptoms remained 
 the same. This day the Prince of Wales, hearing 
 of his mother's illness, came to Carlton House in 
 Pall Mall from Kew, and Lord Hervey, hearing of 
 this, became much alarmed lest he should call at the 
 Palace and ask for his mother. He flew to the 
 King to ask for instructions — he was the only Lord 
 of the Court allowed near the King and Queen. 
 These were instructions which no doubt gladdened 
 the heart of Lord Hervey : 
 
 The King said : 
 
 " If the puppy should, in one of his impertinent, 
 affected, airs of duty and affection, dare to come to 
 St. James's, I order you to go to the scoundrel and 
 tell him I wonder at his impudence to come here ; 
 that he has my orders already and knows my 
 pleasure, and bid him to go about his business." 
 
 Very fatherly conduct under the circumstances ! 
 
 Shortly afterwards while Lord Hervey was sitting 
 with the Duke of Cumberland drinking tea in the 
 Queen's outer apartment, Lady Pembroke ap- 
 proached and informed them that Lord North had 
 just been there from the Prince of Wales, who had 
 desired her in the Prince's name to let the King and 
 Queen know that his Royal Highness was greatly 
 distressed to hear of the Queen's illness and had
 
 266 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 come to London to be near her. The only thing 
 which could alleviate his concern was the favour of 
 being allowed to see her. 
 
 The Duke, then seventeen, made the following 
 formal answer : 
 
 " I am not a proper person, Madam, to take the 
 charge of this message, but there is Lord Hervey, 
 who is the only one of papa's servants that sees him 
 at present, and is just going to him ; if you will 
 deliver it to him, he will certainly let the King 
 know." 
 
 Accordingly, Lady Pembroke repeated the mes- 
 sage to Lord Hervey, who took it to the King. 
 
 " This," raved his Majesty, when he received it, 
 "is like one of the scoundrel's tricks," and he 
 forthwith sent the following kind answer to his son's 
 message — written at the suggestion of Lord Hervey, 
 and probably at his dictation also — per Lord North, 
 to whom Lord Hervey read it from the paper, to 
 prevent any of " Cartouche's Gang'' as the Queen 
 called her son's party, from garbling it. The 
 message was as follows : — 
 
 " I have acquainted the King with the message 
 sent to Lady Pembroke, and his Majesty has ordered 
 me to say that in the present situation and cir- 
 cumstances his Majesty does not think fit that the 
 Prince should see the Queen, and therefore expects 
 that he should not come to St. James's." 
 
 This was considered far too mild by the King. 
 
 But the state of the Queens mind towards her
 
 THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN. 267 
 
 son, even at this unfortunate time, may be gauged 
 by the following incident : 
 
 On this Friday afternoon she asked the King 
 whether "The Grirf" bad sent to ask to see her. 
 11 But sooner or later," she continued, " I am sure 
 we shall be plagued with some message of that kind, 
 because he will think it will have a good air in the 
 world to ask to see me ; and perhaps hopes I shall 
 be fool enough to let him come, and give him the 
 pleasure to see the last breath go out of my body, by 
 which means he would have the joy of knowing I 
 was dead five minutes sooner than he could know it 
 in Pall Mall." 
 
 Fine sentiments these, for a mother on her death 
 bed to hold towards her eldest son ! 
 
 But the whole of this Friday the Queen grew 
 worse hour by hour. But it was on Saturday that 
 the true nature of her illness was discovered, and 
 this by a hint given to Ranby, the Court Surgeon 
 by the King, who then, for the first time, stated 
 that he believed the Queen was suffering from an 
 umbilical rupture, incurred at the birth of Princess 
 Louisa thirteen years before. Incredible as it ap- 
 pears, there is not a question of a doubt but that 
 the Queen had concealed this rupture for all those 
 years simply and solely because if the knowledge of 
 this ailment was bruited about, it would tend to 
 render her objectionable to the King — though it 
 appears he was aware of it — and that she would 
 have died rather than disclose it.
 
 268 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 Her motive was plainly jealousy of his mistresses. 
 
 However, once the hint was given, Ranby, the 
 Surgeon, would not be denied, and insisted on an 
 examination, which she strove by every means in 
 her power to avoid. 
 
 When this had been conducted and Ranby was 
 whispering to the King in a corner, she started up 
 in bed : 
 
 " I am sure now, you blockhead," she cried, " you 
 are telling the King I have a rupture." 
 
 " I am so," answered Ranby, " and there is no 
 more time to be lost, your Majesty has concealed it 
 too long already, and I beg another surgeon may be 
 called in immediately." 
 
 The Queen did not answer, but, lying down, 
 turned her face to the wall and wept. The only 
 time she shed a tear, as the King stated, during her 
 illness. 
 
 As Dr. Ranby stated there was little time to be 
 lost ; the King sent at once for Dr. Busier,* a 
 French surgeon, eighty years old, in whom they all 
 had great confidence, but he not being to be found, 
 Ranby was sent out to bring in the first surgeon of 
 note he could find. The celebrated Cheselden, 
 Surgeon to the Queen, appears to have been absent. 
 
 Ranby returned however with Shipton, an 
 eminent City surgeon, and shortly after, Busier, the 
 French surgeon, arrived, who advised an immediate 
 operation. This was objected to by the other two, 
 and thus probably the Queen's last chance went. 
 
 * P.R.S. The first lecturer on Surgery in England.
 
 THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN. 269 
 
 The following may be taken as an example of the 
 hatred which had grown up in the King's heart against 
 his eldest son. The ever-ready Hervey whispered 
 a suggestion to him on this day which enraged him. 
 
 He told him " that he had heard it mentioned 
 among some lawyers " that Richmond Gardens — the 
 Queen's private estate — would go to the Prince of 
 Wales if his mother died. 
 
 So furious did the King become at this sug- 
 gestion, that he was not satisfied until the Lord 
 Chancellor had been fetched off the Bench to give 
 an opinion on it, which being against the Prince, he 
 communicated it to the Queen to comfort her. 
 
 This Saturday evening an operation of a minor 
 character was performed upon the Queen. 
 
 The next day, Sunday, the 1 3th, was a black day ; 
 the Queen's wound began to mortify and all hope 
 was abandoned. 
 
 This day she practically took leave of her 
 favourite son : 
 
 "As for you, William," she said, "you know I 
 have always loved you tenderly and placed my chief 
 hope in you." 
 
 She bade him be a support to the King, and not 
 go against his brother. 
 
 But it was on this Sunday afternoon that the 
 celebrated interview took place between the King 
 and Queen, which perhaps was the most extra- 
 ordinary, valedictory conversation between man and 
 wife the world has ever heard of.
 
 270 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OP WALES. 
 
 The Queen had been taking leave of her family ; 
 she turned sadly to her husband and drew from her 
 finger a fine ruby ring he had given her at her 
 coronation, and gave it to him back again. 
 
 " This is the last thing I have to give you," she 
 said. " Naked I came to you, naked I go from you. 
 I had everything I ever possessed from you, and to 
 you whatever I have I return. My will you will 
 find a very short one ; I give all I have to you." 
 
 She then very solemnly repeated to him advice 
 which she had often given him before ; that he 
 should marry again. 
 
 The King had been sobbing before ; this advice 
 brought on a passion of weeping, amidst which he 
 made this remarkable and most characteristic re- 
 sponse : 
 
 " Non, j'aurai des maitresses." 
 
 One would have thought that, King as he was, 
 some one would have hushed him down, but the 
 Queen seems to have very calmly answered : 
 
 " Mon Dieu ! cela n'empeche pas." 
 
 What can one say of a man and wife who talked 
 thus over a death bed ? 
 
 The Queen was thought to be dying that day, 
 but she lingered on. On Monday morning, Sir 
 Robert Walpole arrived post haste from Houghton ; 
 he had only heard of the Queen's illness on the 
 previous day owing to the Duke of Newcastle's 
 neglect in sending the messenger round to the 
 Duke of Grafton first.
 
 THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN. 271 
 
 All Sir Robert's enemies seemed to have 
 concluded that his power would wane, when the 
 Queen, his patroness and friend, was dead ; they 
 did their best to keep him from her at the last. 
 Bat he arrived long before the Queen died, and one 
 of his first remarks on the situation to Lord Hervey 
 was the following : " Oh, my Lord ? " cried Sir 
 Robert, greatly distressed, " if this woman should 
 die what a scene of confusion will here be ! 
 Who can tell into what hands the King will fall ? 
 or who will have the management of him ? I defy 
 the ablest person in this kingdom to foresee what 
 will be the consequence of this great event." 
 
 There was a particularly scandalous rumour 
 prevalent at the Court during this sad time con- 
 cerning the Prince, which emanated, as usual, from 
 Lord Hervey, who said he heard it from the Duke 
 of Marlborough through one of his — Lord Hervey 's 
 — particular friends, Harry Fox. 
 
 The rumour was that the Prince used to sit up 
 half the night at Carlton House, sending messengers 
 continually to the Palace to make enquiries, and 
 eagerly awaiting his mother's death with remarks 
 like the following : — 
 
 " Well, sure, we shall soon have good news ; she 
 cannot hold out much longer ! " 
 
 It may be said at once that Mr. Hamilton, one of 
 the Prince's Household, contradicted these reports 
 immediately he heard them, and added that the 
 Prince was in the greatest concern for his mother.
 
 272 A FOKGOTTEN PKINCE OF WALES. 
 
 which seems by far the more natural and likely 
 state for him to be in. 
 
 He was irritated, there can be no doubt, and no 
 wonder at it ; the very fact of his being excluded, 
 not only from his mother's death bed, but from the 
 Palace itself, and every one belonging to his house- 
 hold as well, was calculated to fill him with the 
 bitterest thoughts. The contemplation of the fact 
 that all her other children were there, and that 
 Lord Hervey, his bitterest enemy, was occupying 
 his place by his mother's pillow, was not likely to 
 bring much calm to his feelings. The only wonder 
 is that he did not insist upon forcing himself into 
 her room. 
 
 When Lady Archibald Hamilton was consulted 
 as to the above rumours concerning the Prince's 
 behaviour, her answer was, " he is very decent." 
 
 But a question was raised — by Lord Hervey 
 again — about the members of the Prince's House- 
 hold coming even to the Palace to inquire and 
 remain in the general ante-room in which all 
 inquirers waited for news. The King was at last 
 moved to send a message, by Lord Hervey, to Sir 
 Robert Walpole to ask what was to be done about 
 these messages from the Prince. 
 
 Lord Hervey, eager for an additional insult to 
 those the Prince had recently received, was strongly 
 in favour of their being excluded from the Palace. 
 He maintained that they were evading the King's 
 order not to come into his presence.
 
 THE DEATH OP THE QUEEN. 273 
 
 Sir Robert, however, was far too wise to interfere 
 with them, and sagely advised that they should be 
 left alone. 
 
 All through that Monday, and Tuesday, and 
 Wednesday, the Queen grew worse and worse, 
 until, among the people, questions were continually 
 being asked as to whether she had seen a clergy- 
 man. 
 
 The echoes of these questions reached the Palace, 
 and those about the Queen's bed began to consider 
 what was to be done. The King in his character of 
 head of the church, had deputed his duties in re- 
 gard to the appointment of the Bishops to the 
 Queen ; he took no interest in such things. Indeed 
 his opinion of Bishops in general, which he freely 
 expressed, was not a high one. He strongly 
 objected to their incomes, which he stated were in- 
 consistent with their preaching. 
 
 It appears therefore that the Queen, Sir Robert 
 Walpole — who had no religious convictions what- 
 ever — and Mrs. Clayton — Lady Sundon — did most 
 of the appointing of the Spiritual Peers. The 
 Queen herself is described as a Protestant of very 
 broad views. 
 
 When then the question began to be canvassed 
 between the King, Sir Robert Walpole, and Lord 
 Hervey as to what was to be done to provide the 
 Queen with a spiritual adviser to see her comfort- 
 ably out of the world, neither seemed very well 
 prepared to give an opinion on the point, though
 
 274 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 all three clearly saw that something must be done 
 to satisfy public opinion and prejudice. 
 
 Sir Robert Walpole, however, summed up the 
 matter in the following directions to Princess 
 Amelia : — 
 
 " Pray, Madam, let this farce be played : the 
 Archbishop will act it very well. You may bid 
 him be as short as you will. It will do the 
 Queen no hurt, no more than any good ; and it 
 will satisfy all the wise and good fools, who will 
 call us all atheists if we don't pretend to be as great 
 fools as they are." 
 
 So much for Sir Robert's opinion of the con- 
 solations of religion. As for the King, he never 
 waited to see Archbishop Potter, the Primate, but 
 fled hastily from the Queen's chamber when he 
 heard he was approaching. The observances for 
 which the Bishop was responsible, conveyed nothing 
 to his mind whatever. Potter attended the Queen, 
 night and morning after this Wednesday, but what 
 passed between them is not known. 
 
 There was a great deal of inquiry as to whether 
 the Queen would receive the sacrament, "some 
 fools," according to Lord Hervey, " said the Queen 
 had not religion enough to ask to receive the 
 sacrament." 
 
 The Archbishop maintained a discreet silence on 
 the point, when asked as he came from the sick 
 chamber : 
 
 " Has the Queen received ? " he parried the
 
 THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN. 275 
 
 question by replying : " Gentlemen, Her Majesty is 
 in a most heavenly frame of mind." 
 
 But that the visit of the Archbishop had resulted 
 in any reconciliation between the Queen and the 
 Prince of Wales, there is not a trace of evidence, 
 indeed the testimony is all the other way. She 
 could not bear at this time to think that even the 
 gentlemen of his household were in her ante-room, 
 and at last had it cleared of all strangers. 
 
 " Will nobody turn these ravens out of the 
 house ! " she cried, " who are only there to watch 
 my death, and would gladly tear me to pieces 
 whilst I am alive ! " 
 
 No, there was, unhappily, no forgiveness nor wish 
 for reconciliation there. 
 
 Thursday, Friday, Saturday passed in much the 
 same way as the preceding sad days except that the 
 Queen grew steadily weaker. The King dis- 
 tinguished himself by a mixture of brutality and 
 tenderness towards the dying woman. He scarcely 
 ever left her room, night or day, except when the 
 Archbishop came to offer spiritual consolation. 
 
 " How the devil should you sleep when you will 
 never lie still a moment ! " he exclaimed on one 
 occasion, when her continual shifting in bed, owing 
 to her ailment and her wound, worried him. But 
 he was equally annoyed when she would lie quite 
 still ; looking straight before her as sick persons 
 will at nothing;: " Mon Lieu ! " he exclaimed 
 irritably, exasperated at her quietness. " What
 
 276 A FORGOTTEN PEINCB OF WALES. 
 
 are you looking at ? What makes you fix your 
 eyes like that ? Your eyes look like a calf's when 
 it is going to have its throat cut ! 
 
 All this, of course, was very suitable to the 
 decorum of the death-bed of a Queen, but perhaps 
 after all the little man was worn out with the 
 continuous watching. 
 
 Then came Sunday, and each hour the Queen 
 grew weaker, so that it came to be a wonder that she 
 had survived the last ; but she lingered on until 
 the evening, and then asked Dr. Tesier, her 
 physician : 
 
 " How long can this last ? " 
 
 41 1 think," he replied, " that your Majesty will 
 soon be relieved from suffering." 
 
 " The sooner the better," she answered. 
 Lord Hervey thus describes the last scene : 
 " About ten o'clock on Sunday night — the King 
 being in bed and asleep on the floor at the foot 
 of the Queen's bed, and the Princess Emily in a 
 couch-bed in a corner of the room — the Queen 
 began to rattle in her throat ; and Mrs. Purcel, 
 giving the alarm that she was expiring, all in 
 the room started up, Princess Caroline was sent 
 for and Lord Hervey, but before the last arrived 
 the Queen was just dead. Ail she said before she 
 died was : 
 
 " I have now got an asthma. Open the window." 
 Then she added : 
 " PrayT
 
 THE DEATH OP THE QUEEN. 277 
 
 Upon which the Princess Emily began to read 
 some prayers, of which she scarcely repeated ten 
 words when the Queen expired. The Princess 
 Caroline held a looking-glass to her lips, and, 
 finding there was not the least damp upon it, 
 cried : " Tis over ! " 
 
 The King kissed the face and hands of the life- 
 less body several times, but in a few minutes left 
 the Queen's apartment. 
 
 Thus died Caroline, by some called " The Illus- 
 trious," by some even " The Great," but whose 
 character was such a mixture of great and little 
 things that it is most difficult to give an accurate 
 estimate of its virtues or vices. 
 
 That she began well as a young girl cannot be 
 doubted ; she was beautiful and brilliant, and 
 entered life with the very best iutentions. Indeed, 
 not one word has ever been said against her charac- 
 ter as a wife. 
 
 Perhaps the very greatest misfortune which ever 
 happened to her was to have married George Augus- 
 tus, Electorial Prince of Hanover, and therefore in 
 due course to have become Queen of England. 
 
 Perhaps as the consort of the Prince of some petty 
 German State she might have shone as a wife 
 and mother, and brought up her children with 
 good honest affection. 
 
 As it was, she early fell under the influence of 
 such men as Sir Robert Walpole — soulless, godless. 
 No, not godless, because their God was Ambition,
 
 278 A FOKGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 before which no sacrifice was too great, Honour, 
 Truth, or even the lives of men. 
 
 Surely poor Caroline must have fallen far, when 
 she adopted as her constant companion, such a man 
 as Lord Hervey. 
 
 But whatever good there was in her — and there 
 was much — seems to have been choked and hidden 
 by her greed for Power, which even led her to 
 pander to her little contemptible husband's vices. 
 
 Her conduct to her eldest son was without excuse, 
 unless her separation of fourteen years from him can 
 be regarded in that light ; but it is much more 
 likely that the arrival of the handsome boy, 
 Prince William, had more to do with her for- 
 getfulness. 
 
 Unhappily, there is very little doubt that she 
 died unreconciled to Frederick, and that moreover 
 she desired no reconciliation. Had there been any 
 such reconciliation, it would have been made public 
 at the time when such verses as the following were 
 floating about. 
 
 Lord Chesterfield wrote an epitaph to the Queen 
 
 in these words : — 
 
 " Here lies unpitied both by Church and State, 
 The subject of their flattery and hate ; 
 Flattered by those on whom her favours flovv'd, 
 Hated for favours impiously bestow'd ; 
 Who aimed the Church by Churchmen to betray, 
 And hoped to share in arbitrary sway. 
 In Tindal's and in Hoadlev's path she trod, 
 An hypocrite in all but disbelief in God. 
 Promoted Luxury, encouraged vice — 
 Herself a sordid slave to avarice.
 
 THE DEATH OP THE QUEEN. 279 
 
 True friendship's love ne'er touched her heart, 
 Falsehood appeared in vice disguised by art 
 Fawning and haughty ; when familiar, rude 
 And never civil, seem'd but to delude. 
 Inquisitive in trifling, mean affairs, 
 Heedless of public good or orphan's tears. 
 To her own offspring mercy she denied, 
 And, unforgiving, unforgiven, died." 
 
 The above bitter lines, in exceedingly bad taste, 
 are only valuable as regards the two last, which 
 clearly state — and Lord Chesterfield was in a 
 position to know — that she did not forgive her 
 son at the last. 
 
 Pope, too, who seems, like the majority, to have 
 been on the side of the Prince, concludes another 
 poem on the subject in the following ironical 
 words : 
 
 " Hang the sad verse on Carolina's urn, 
 And hail her passage to the realms of rest. 
 All parts performed and all her children blest." 
 These are sage Sarah of Marlborough's reflexions, 
 none too charitable, on the Queen's death : 
 
 ' 1737. Our Bishops are now about to employ 
 hands to write the finest character that ever was 
 heard of— Queen Caroline ; who, as it is no treason, 
 I freely own that I am glad she is dead. For to get 
 money, that has proved of no manner of use to her, 
 and to support Sir Robert in all his arbitrary 
 injustice, she brought this nation on the very 
 brink of ruin, and has endangered the succession 
 of her own family, by raising so high a dissatisfaction 
 in the whole nation, as there is to them all, and by 
 giving so much power to France, whenever they
 
 280 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 think fit. to make use of it, who will have no mercy 
 upon England. 
 
 " 1737. His Majesty thinks he has lost the 
 greatest politician that ever was born, and one 
 that did him the greatest service that was possible. 
 Though everybody else that knows the truth must 
 acknowledge that it was quite the contrary. For 
 my own part it is demonstration to me, that nothing 
 could have put this nation and family in danger but 
 the measures of the Queen and Sir Robert. To my 
 knowledge, most of the weeping ladies that went to 
 the King, have expressed the same opinion of the 
 Queen formerly that I have described. 
 
 "1737-8. Upon her great understanding and 
 goodness there comes out nauseous panegyrics every 
 day, that make one sick, so full of nonsense and 
 lies, that there is one very remarkable from a 
 Dr. Clarke, in order to have the first bishoprick that 
 falls, and I daresay he will have it, though there is 
 something extremely ridiculous in the panegyric ; 
 for after he has given her the most perfect character 
 that ever any woman had or can have, he allows 
 that: 
 
 " ' She had sacrificed her reputation to the great 
 and the many, to show her duty to the King, and 
 her love to her country.' These are the clergy- 
 man's words exactly, which allows she did wrong 
 things, but it was to please the King; which is 
 condemning him. I suppose he must mean some 
 good she did to her own country, for I know of none
 
 THE DEATH OF THE QUEEN. 281 
 
 she did in England, unless raking from the public 
 deserves a panegyric. 
 
 " 1737-8. It seems to me as if her ghost did every- 
 thing by their saying, whatever is to be done, was 
 the Queen's opinion should be so ; and everything is 
 compassed by that means by Sir Robert, without 
 
 any trouble at all ; but if * should happen to 
 
 have an opinion of any person that is living, 
 perhaps they may get the better of the ghost." 
 
 * The King no doubt.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 The Year of Mourning. 
 
 Caroline was buried with great pomp in a new 
 vault in Henry the Seventh's Chapel, in West- 
 minster Abbey, on Saturday, the 17th of December, 
 1737. By her side when his time came was also 
 laid George the Second. An interesting incident in 
 this connection was related to the Right Honourable 
 J. Wilson, compiler of " Hervey's Memoirs," by a 
 Mr. Milman, Prebendary of Westminster. 
 
 " George the Second, as the last proof of his 
 attachment," he said, " gave directions that his 
 remains and those of Queen Caroline should be 
 mingled together. Accordingly the two coffins were 
 placed in a large stone sarcophagus, and one side of 
 each of the wooden coffins withdrawn. This was a 
 tradition at Westminster Abbey, of which I myself 
 have seen the confirmation, in my opinion conclu- 
 sive ; and as the Royal vault in Westminster Abbey 
 may never be again opened, it may be curious to 
 preserve the record. 
 
 "On the occasion of the removal, in 1837, of a 
 stillborn child of the Duke of Cumberland (King of 
 Hanover) to Windsor, a Secretary of State's 
 Warrant (which is necessary) arrived empowering 
 the Dean and Chapter to open the vault. I was 
 
 (282)
 
 THE YEAE OF MOUENING. 283 
 
 requested by the Dean to superintend the business, 
 which took place by night. 
 
 " In the middle of the vault, towards the farther 
 end, stands the large stone sarcophagus, and against 
 the wall are still standing the two sides of the 
 coffins which were withdrawn. I saw and examined 
 them closely, and have no doubt of the fact. The 
 vault contains only the family of George the Second." 
 H. H. Milman. 
 
 The King seems to have shown the utmost grief 
 for his wife, and at first to a great extent to have 
 secluded himself. A weird incident in connection 
 with this period is related by Wentworth in a letter 
 to Lord Strafford after the Queen's funeral. 
 
 "Saturday night, between one and two o'clock, 
 the King waked out of a dream, very uneasy, and 
 ordered the vault, where the Queen is, to be broken 
 open immediately, and have the coffin also opened ; 
 and went in a hackney chair through the Horse 
 Guards to Westminster Abbey and back again to 
 bed. I think it is the strangest thing that could be." 
 He speaks of it again in another letter. 
 ' The story about the King was true, for Mr. 
 Wallop heard of one who saw him go through the 
 Horse Guards on Saturday night, with ten footmen 
 before the chair. They went afterwards to West- 
 minster Abbey." 
 
 There is no doubt whatever from the above 
 account that the King was suffering from that 
 awful visitation which comes so often to persons
 
 284 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 who have recently lost a dear one by death ; the 
 terrible fear that the beloved has been buried alive. 
 Only those who have been victims to this haunting 
 fear — which is far more common than is imagined — 
 can give an adequate description of its terrors. 
 
 Morbid as the thought is, the outcome no doubt 
 of an exhausted nervous system, where deep grief 
 has followed perhaps the wearing anxiety of 
 watching a long illness, still it is not by any means 
 restricted to those of an imaginative tendency, but 
 comes to all temperaments alike. It would be 
 perhaps quite safe to say that this was what made 
 King George undertake his midnight journey, and 
 give the order for the opening of the Queen's tomb. 
 
 But deep as his sorrow was for his wife, it did not 
 keep him from his old ways. In a very short time 
 Walmoden was brought over, and pending her 
 arrival Lady Deloraine acted the part of understudy. 
 " People must wear old gloves until they can get 
 new ones," was Sir Robert Walpole's comment to the 
 Princesses on this arrangement, to which he had not 
 only given his hearty approval, but as far as 
 Madame Walmoden was concerned, strongly urged 
 upon the King, as a duty he owed to his people to 
 save his health breaking down under his grief, to 
 bring her over. 
 
 To Lord Hervey Sir Robert expressed himself 
 more fully on this subject. " I'll bring Madame 
 Walmoden over," he said, " and I'll have nothing to 
 do with your girls," i.e., the Princesses. " I was
 
 THE YEAR OF MOURNING. 285 
 
 for the wife against the mistress, but I'll be for the 
 mistress against the daughters." 
 
 It is needless to say that after this remark Lord 
 Hervey and Sir Robert Walpole fell out. 
 
 Meanwhile the Prince of Wales appears to have 
 remained in his position of ostracism, and apparently 
 took no part in his mother's funeral ceremonies. 
 The Princess Amelia acted as chief mourner, and the 
 King did not appear at all. 
 
 With the Princess, Frederick seems to have lived 
 at Norfolk House very comfortably, coining over to 
 Carlton House for any occasion of ceremony. 
 
 The popularity of the Prince seemed to grow, as 
 he lost favour with his father, and it is not at all to 
 be wondered at, as he possessed a natural geniality 
 which endeared him to all. A story is related of 
 him in connection with a Lord Mayor's Show, which 
 is very typical. 
 
 Waiting to see the pageant— which was the 
 occasion probably which occurred during the year of 
 mourning— the Prince of Wales went among the 
 crowd in Oheapside to see the procession return to 
 the Guildhall. Being recognised by some members 
 of the Saddlers' Company, he was invited into their 
 stand hard by, and there made himself so agreeable 
 that he was, there and then, elected their Master 
 for the year; an honour which he accepted with 
 much pleasure. 
 
 This period of mourning was, however, after a 
 time relieved of much of its tristness as far as the
 
 286 A FOEGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 King was concerned, by the lively society of his 
 mistresses, with whom the Princesses appeared to 
 have associated in perfect harmony. 
 
 One night at Kensington Palace, just as Lady 
 Deloraine was about to sit down to cards with the 
 King, one of the Princesses pulled her chair away 
 and she came down with a bump on the floor. 
 
 It was bad enough to be laughed at by the 
 Princesses, but far worse to have little George 
 guffawing at her with the knowledge in her mind 
 that she was only playing second fiddle to the 
 Walmoden. 
 
 Lady Deloraine waited her opportunity, and later, 
 when the King was about to sit down, pulled his 
 chair away, with the view of getting her own back 
 ao-ain. The result, however, was not at all what 
 she expected ; the sacred person of his Majesty is 
 said to have been much bruised, and so far from 
 regarding the performance as a joke, he excluded 
 Lady Deloraine from his Court from that time forth, 
 and the Walmoden, now created Countess of Yar- 
 mouth, reigned henceforth supreme till the King's 
 death many years after. Many will recollect a 
 similar anecdote in similar circumstances in our own 
 
 day. 
 
 The next event, however, in the life of the Prince 
 of Wales, following quickly on the death of his 
 mother, was the birth of his eldest son, afterwards 
 to fill the throne of England as George the Third. 
 This took place at Norfolk House, St. James's, on
 
 THE YEAE OP MOURNING. 287 
 
 the 4th of June (new style), 1738, while Carlton 
 House was still under repair. 
 
 The birth was premature, and the child very frail, 
 so much so that he was baptized on the day of his 
 birth. 
 
 The Poet Laureate seized this opportunity of the 
 birth of a Prince in the direct line of succession to 
 the throne to become drivelling. He congratulated 
 Nature that she had first amused herself by sketch- 
 ing a girl— Princess Augusta— by which bit of 
 practice she had enabled herself to produce the 
 wonderful baby George ! 
 
 Truly this Laureate was a person of some imagi- 
 nation ! 
 
 The Corporation of London appear to have gone 
 to the King direct and in a talented addreas pointed 
 out to him the tact -which perhaps otherwise might 
 have been overlooked— that this joyful occasion was 
 the result of the alliance of the baby's parents ! 
 
 The Bath Municipality seem to have also done 
 something in this way to distinguish themselves, by 
 congratulating the Prince of Wales on his own 
 birth, to which they owed the sight of the royal 
 presence in which they stood. 
 
 It may be mentioned here that on his first birth- 
 day little Prince George was the object of a curious 
 attention. 
 
 Sixty of the children of the aristocracy, dressed as 
 little soldiers with;drums beating and colours flying, 
 entered the Palace and " elected their little Princi
 
 288 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 as their Colonel." This important event concluded, 
 they kissed the baby's hand and departed. 
 
 The Prince and his wife — to whom he was de- 
 voted —seem to have had a variety of residences. 
 Norfolk House, Leicester House — formerly the 
 residence of his father when Prince of Wales — 
 situated in Leicester Square on a site very near 
 where the Empire Theatre now stands ; Carlton 
 House in Pall Mall, a house at Kew, and a Palace 
 at Cliefden, built by Villiers, situated on a terrace 
 overlooking the River Thames. 
 
 Here at this latter house the Prince seems to 
 have lived the life of a country squire, and a lover 
 of the river. He distributed prizes at rowing 
 matches, and mixed freely with the people of the 
 part. His dignity did not prevent him stopping to 
 chat with a labourer at his cottage door, or even to 
 enter in, and do what few Princes would condescend 
 to do, sit down and share the cottager's plain meal 
 with him. 
 
 He would play cricket on the lawn at Cliefden 
 with his children, when they were old enough, or 
 stroll along the banks of the river of which he was 
 very fond, and his companions were not always of 
 the exalted order one would expect. 
 
 He was devoted to art, and loved talent wher- 
 ever he found it. 
 
 ' ' Lord Sir," exclaimed a simple country servant 
 to his master one day at Maidenhead, "I have 
 seen the Prince of Wales accompanied by his nobles."
 
 THE YEAR OF MOURNING. 289 
 
 The " nobles " in question were two Scottish 
 authors, Thompson and Mallett, neither of them 
 distinguished by the neatness of their attire. 
 
 It was alas ! on the lawn at Cliefden, that 
 Frederick received a blow, some say from a cricket 
 ball, others while at a game of tennis, which was the 
 indirect cause of his death some years after. 
 
 Here at Cliefden, and at his other residences, 
 were to be seen his boon companions ; the Earl of 
 Chesterfield, courtier, politician, satirist and mimic. 
 Lady Huntingdon, who left his world for Whit- 
 field's, and whose name may be seen in almost every 
 town in England on Dissenting Chapels to the 
 present day ; Bathurst, Queensberry, the clever 
 Pulteney, Cobham, Pitt, the Granvilles, Lyttleton, 
 the prig Bubb Doddington, whose one aim in life 
 was to be a lord. There were the two Hedges — 
 (Charles, who wrote epigrams) — erratic Lord Balti- 
 more and peevish Lord Carnarvon, Townshend, whom 
 George the Second much objected to, and his wife 
 as well — the Townshends seem to have been very 
 staunch to the Prince — chatty Lord North, the Earl 
 of Middlesex, who allowed his wife's name to be 
 coupled with the Prince's, although the lady's 
 descriptions " short and dark, like a winter's day," 
 and " as yellow as a November's morning," were 
 hardly those to fascinate an artistic nature such as 
 Frederick's. Yet she certainly took part in the 
 "Judgment of Paris" in 1745 as one of the Graces. 
 Last of all to be mentioned, there was that " stut-
 
 290 A FOEGOTTEN PRINCE OP WALES. 
 
 tering puppy," as George the Second called him, 
 Johnny Lumley, brother of the Earl of Scarborough. 
 
 The maids of honour in attendance on the Princess 
 of Wales, however, must have been very different to 
 that charming trio, " the Swiss," " Belladine," and 
 the " Schatz," who waited upon Queen Caroline 
 when Princess of Wales. 
 
 They do not appear to have been popular in the 
 Prince's household at any rate, for his head coach- 
 man made a most curious will concerning them, in 
 which he left his considerable savings to his son, 
 on condition that he never married a maid of 
 honour ! A compliment to those ladies which they 
 no doubt appreciated. 
 
 Among the many amusements with which the 
 Prince and Princess delighted their friends, private 
 theatricals had their place, Cato being played on 
 one occasion at Leicester House, when the young 
 Prince George Frederick had grown sufficiently into 
 boyhood to take the part of Portius, in which he 
 was coached by Quin, who boasted he " had taught 
 the boy to speak " ; the boy who was afterwards to 
 be George the Third. 
 
 For the little theatre at Cliefden, Thompson, a 
 pensioner of Frederick's — and he had many — wrote 
 his play "Alfred." 
 
 The Prince's children came quickly, and Frederick 
 showed himself to be a tender father. There had been 
 that sad episode years before, when he had grieved 
 so deeply — so deeply that his mother and sisters had
 
 THE YEAR OF MOURNING. 291 
 
 6aid they had not believed him capable of such 
 sorrow — over the death of that little child who had 
 no right to have been there at all, Anne Vane's and 
 his son. 
 
 That sad note had struck the one most tender 
 chord in the despised Prince's nature, the depths of 
 which his mother and sisters could not sound ; the 
 love of little children. When his own grew up 
 around him, that great fount of love welled up and 
 covered many of his sins, as we know that love 
 will do. 
 
 This is what is said of him at that time : 
 
 " Notwithstanding this, he played the father and 
 husband well. He loved to have his children with 
 him, always appeared most happy when in the 
 bosom of his family, left them with regret, and met 
 them again with smiles, kisses and tears." 
 
 And this was the nature which Queen Caroline 
 could not understand ; was it not one full of love to 
 shower on some one ? Had he but had the chance of 
 a mother's full love in those cold years of his child- 
 hood spent in Hanover, is it not reasonable to think 
 that his whole nature would have been altered, and 
 that he might have so wound himself around 
 Caroline's heart that even her handsome younger son 
 could never have loosened those tendrils of affection. 
 
 But alas ! there were those fourteen years of 
 separation, when the boy was left practically to his 
 own resources to grow up without the tenderness of 
 a mother's love to guide him.
 
 292 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 How different was his conduct as a father to that 
 of his own father, who candidly admitted that he 
 could not bear to have his children playing about 
 in the same room with him. 
 
 But in this happy time of a young father's life, 
 there were black clouds gathering over the Prince's 
 household and this is how the old Duchess of Marl- 
 borough speaks of them in her matter of fact way : 
 
 " They have found a way in the City to borrow 
 thirty thousand pounds for the Prince at ten per 
 cent, interest to pay his crying debts to trades- 
 people. But I doubt that sum won't go very far. 
 But they have got it though great pains was taken 
 to hinder it. 
 
 " The salaries in the Prince's family are twenty- 
 five thousand pounds a year, besides a good deal of 
 expense at Cliefden in building and furniture. And 
 the Prince and Princess's allowance for their clothes 
 is six thousand pounds a year each. I wish his 
 Boyal Highness so well that I am sorry there is 
 such an increase of expense more than in former 
 times, where there was more money a great deal, 
 and really I think it would have been more for the 
 Prince's interest, if his counsellers had thought it 
 proper to have advised him to live only like a great 
 man, and to give the reasons for it ; and in doing so 
 he would have made a better figure, and have been 
 safer ; for nobody that does not get by it themselves 
 can possibly think the contrary method a right one." 
 The Duchess of Marlborough to Lord Stair, 1738.
 
 THE YEAR OF MOURNING. 293 
 
 But though the pall of debt hung heavy over the 
 Prince, yet there was hope ahead, for even as far 
 back as 1737 — it must have been the very end of 
 the year — Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, writes to 
 Lord Stair : — 
 
 "The courtiers talk much of a reconciliation. If 
 there is any design to compass that, surely it was as 
 ill-judged as everything else to publish such a 
 character of the King's son all over England."* 
 
 From a wall of an alcove in the Prince of Wales's 
 garden at Cliefden, Bucks. 
 
 " Say, Frederick, fixed in a retreat like this, 
 Can ought be wanting to complete thy bliss ? 
 J i ere, where the charms of Art with Nature join 
 Each social, each domestic bliss is thine. 
 Despising here the borrowed blaze of state 
 Thou shin'st in thy own virtues truly great, 
 By them exalted, with contempt look down 
 On all earth's pomps, except Britannia's crown." 
 
 M.L. 
 Nov. 2nd, 1749. 
 
 * She alludes to the correspondence printed and published by Walpole, 
 after the Prince's expulsion from England.
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 A Husband and a Lover. 
 
 It has been said that Frederick possessed artistic 
 tastes and loved to gather round him men of talent 
 and wit. He was also devoted to music, and gave 
 frequent private concerts at Leicester House in 
 which he himself took part. 
 
 One of Frederick's favourites, a man devoted to 
 music like himself, was Horace Walpole's brother, 
 Ed\vard — afterwards Sir Edward — who frequently 
 performed with him at these concerts. The Prince, 
 however, made the mistake of introducing politics 
 at these meetings, and on one occasion while walking 
 about the room with his arm round Edward 
 Walpole's shoulder, he endeavoured to persuade him 
 to keep from the House of Commons when a certain 
 Army Bill was under discussion, this being a 
 measure the Prince's party wished to defeat. 
 Walpole, however, declined to give the required 
 promise, and when the Prince pressed him for his 
 motive answered : — 
 
 " You will forgive me, sir, if I give you my 
 
 reasons ? " 
 
 " I will," replied the Prince with an oath, 
 
 according to the prevailing fashion. 
 
 " Sir, you will not," replied Walpole with another 
 
 (294)
 
 A HUSBAND AND A LOVER. 295 
 
 oath, " yet I will tell you. I will not stay away 
 because your father and mine are for the question." 
 This was just the answer the Prince might have 
 expected from a son of the man who, perhaps, was 
 one of his greatest enemies. Nevertheless, he flung 
 away from Walpole, while one of the Princesses who 
 was at the harpsichord cried out; "Bravo Mr 
 Walpole." 
 
 This made matters worse, and the Prince was 
 thoroughly incensed. Nevertheless, Mr. Edward 
 Walpole duly appeared at the next concert with his 
 violoncello, but the Prince had not apparently 
 forgiven him. At any rate, no doubt, bv way of a 
 joke, he affected to regard him as one of the hired 
 musicians at the concert. 
 
 Edward Walpole, however, did not take the 
 matter as a joke, but rushed to the bell and ordered 
 his servants to be called to take away his violon- 
 cello. He would be slighted, he remarked, by no 
 man. 
 
 The Prince, seeing that he had gone too far, tried 
 to pacify him, but Walpole would listen neither to 
 him nor to the peers and commoners who tried to 
 bring him back. 
 
 As might be expected, the Prince apologised, 
 and Walpole was at last persuaded to bring his 
 violoncello to the concerts. 
 
 But the house, of course, reeked with the politics of 
 the Opposition, and in a very short time Edward 
 Walpole was again solicited by some follower of the
 
 296 A FOKGOTTEN PKINCE OF WALES. 
 
 Prince to join his party. Edward Walpole then 
 wrote his well-known letter to the Prince in which 
 he asks him, how he would wish him to behave 
 when he himself was King ? In the same manner 
 would he behave while George the Second reigned. 
 
 " He is an honest man," the Prince commented as 
 he read it, " I will keep this letter." 
 
 He did keep it, and it was given many years 
 after to George the Third by his mother. 
 
 The Princess of Wales, it cannot be doubted, was 
 very much beloved by her husband. He had quite 
 forgotten that early love affair with his cousin, 
 Wilhelmina, and it is said was never tired of 
 appearing in public with Augusta, that the people 
 might frequently see and admire her ; and admire 
 her they certainly did. 
 
 Even sharp-tongued old Sarah of Marlborough 
 had a kind word for her. 
 
 " The Princess speaks English much better than 
 any of the family that have been here so long," she 
 wrote to her confidant, Lord Stair, " appears good- 
 natured and civil to everybody : never saying 
 anything to offend, as the late Queen did per- 
 petually, notwithstanding her great understanding 
 and goodness."* 
 
 Among other artistic accomplishments Frederick 
 wrote poetry, and the following verses addressed to 
 his wife under the name of " Sylvia " could only have 
 been written by a very devoted husband and lover : — 
 
 * Opinions of the Duchess of Marlborough, 1737-8.
 
 A HUSBAND AND A LOVER. 297 
 
 SONG. 
 The Charms op Sylvia.* 
 
 By the Prince of Wales on the Princess. 
 
 'Tis not the liquid brightness of those eyes 
 
 That swim with pleasure and delight, 
 Nor those heavenly arches which arise 
 
 O'er each of them to shade their light. 
 
 'Tis not that hair which plays with every wind 
 
 And loves to wanton round thy face, 
 Now straying round thy forehead, now behind, 
 
 Retiring with insidious grace. 
 
 'Tis not that lovely range of teeth so white, 
 
 As new-shorn sheep, equal and fair ; 
 Nor e'en that gentle smile, the heart's delight, 
 
 With which no smile could e'er compare. 
 
 'Tis not that chin so round, that neck so fine, 
 Those breasts which swell to meet my love, 
 
 That easy-sloping waist, that form divine, 
 Nor ought below, nor ought above. 
 
 'Tis not the living colours over each 
 
 By Nature's finest pencil wrought 
 To shame the full-blown rose, and blooming peach, 
 
 And mock the happy painter's thought. 
 
 No — 'tis that gentleness of mind, that love 
 
 So kindly answering my desire ; 
 That grace with which you look and speak and move, 
 
 That thus has set my soul on fire. 
 
 • Sylvia was the well-known name by which he designated his wife in 
 verse. Vide Walpole's " Memoirs of the Reign of George the Second." 
 Vol. I., p. 434.
 
 298 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 The following song, according to Horace Walpole, 
 was written immediately after the Battle of 
 Fontenoy, and was addressed to Lady Catherine 
 Hanmer, Lady Falconberg, and Lady Middlesex, 
 who were to act the three goddesses with Frederick, 
 Prince of Wales, in Congreve's mask " The 
 Judgment of Paris," whom he was to represent, and 
 Prince Lobkowitz, Mercury. 
 
 SONG. 
 By Frederick, Prince of Wales. 
 
 1. 
 
 Venez, mes cheres Deesses, 
 
 Venez, calmer mon chagrin ; 
 Aidez, mes belles Princesses 
 
 A le noyer dans le vin 
 Poussons cette douce ivresse 
 
 Jusqu' au milieu de la nuit 
 Et n'ecoutons que la tendresse 
 
 D'un charmant vis-a-vis. 
 2. 
 Quand le chagrin me devore, 
 
 Vite a table je me mets, 
 Loin des objets que j'abhorre, 
 
 Avec joie j'y trouve la paix. 
 Peu d'amis, restes d'un naufrage 
 
 Je rassemble autour de moi 
 Et je me ris de l'etalage, 
 
 Qu'a chez-lui toujours un Roi. 
 
 3. 
 
 Que m' importe que 1' Europe 
 
 Ait un ou plusieurs tyrans ? 
 Prions seulement Calliope 
 
 Qu'elle inspire nos vers, nos chants. 
 Laissons Mars et toute la gloire 
 
 Livrons nous tous a l'amour 
 Que Bacchus nous donne a boire ; 
 
 A ces deux faisons la cour.
 
 A HUSBAND AND A LOVER. 299 
 
 4. 
 Passons ainsi notre vie, 
 
 Sans rever a ce qui suit ; 
 Avec ma chere Sylvie,* 
 
 Le terns trop vite me fuit. 
 Mais si par un malheur extreme 
 
 Je perdois cette objet oharmante ; 
 Oui, cette compagnie meme 
 
 Ne me tiendroit un moment. 
 5. 
 Me livrant a ma tristesse, 
 
 Toujours plein de mon chagrin, 
 Ne n'aurois plus d' allegresse 
 
 Pour mettre Bathurstf en train 
 Ainsi pour vous tenir en joie 
 
 Invoquez toujours Tes Dieux, 
 Quelle vive et qu'elle soit 
 
 Avec nous toujours heureux. 
 
 It may here be stated that in the year 1735 there 
 appeared in Paris a silly book which was attributed 
 —by his enemies— to Prince Frederick, or said to 
 be " inspired " by him, if that term could be applied 
 to a children's fairy tale, for so it was regarded for 
 many years in France. It was translated into 
 English and published under the title of " The 
 Adventures of Prince Titi," and was supposed to be 
 a travestie of the King and Queen. 
 
 As, however, no evidence exists to connect it with 
 the Prince of Wales, it deserves no further com- 
 ment. 
 
 As an example of the way in which Prince 
 Frederick has been misrepresented in history, Dr. 
 Doran's comment on the latter of the two above 
 songs in his "Queens of the House of Hanover" 
 
 * The Princess. 
 
 t Allen, Lord Bathurst.
 
 300 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 will be instructive ; he says with reference to the 
 French song addressed by the Prince to the ladies 
 with whom he was going to act in "The Judgment 
 of Paris " : 
 
 " It was full of praise of late and deep drinking, 
 of intercourse with the fair," an expression liable to 
 be misunderstood, " of stoical contempt for mis- 
 fortune, of expressed indifference, whether Europe 
 had one or many tyrants, and of a pococurantism for 
 all things and forms, except his chere Sylvie, by 
 whom he was good-naturedly supposed to mean his 
 wife." 
 
 Now Horace Walpole records the fact that 
 " Sylvie " was the Princess of Wales, and he 
 certainly cannot be credited with an abundance of 
 good-natured feeling towards the Prince. 
 
 If Dr. Doran thought all he wrote, then — Dr. 
 Doran's knowledge of French — at least the Prince's 
 French — could not have been perfect. 
 
 The English verses are not good ; he was bred 
 abroad ; but it is quite clear that the object of the 
 Prince's love-rhapsodies in the French song is his 
 wife, though those rhapsodies are expressed in the 
 language of the time, none too delicately. Still for 
 a Prince to fall into passionate verse over the 
 delightful attractions of his wife is not a matter to 
 be jeered at ; as far as we are permitted to search 
 into the private doings of such exalted personages, 
 history certainly conveys the impressions in divers 
 places, that their habit was usually to fall into
 
 A HUSBAND AND A LOVER. 301 
 
 passionate rhapsodies over somebody else's wife, a 
 custom which has not been without honour in our 
 own time. 
 
 As regards our unfortunate Prince, nobody 
 appears to have thought him of sufficient import- 
 ance to write any sort of connected history about, 
 him. When he had to be mentioned, the faithful 
 historian appears to have dived either into Hervey's 
 " Memoirs " or those of Horace Walpole, and to 
 have taken all he found there as Gospel truth 
 without waiting to consider that both those 
 gentlemen were reckoned among the Prince's 
 enemies ; enemies who were not sufficiently gentle- 
 men to treat him with common fairness. 
 
 We have but to read the satires and pamphlets of 
 the time, many of them written or inspired by at 
 any rate one of the above staunch adherents of the 
 Prince's parents, to see how much of fairness and 
 11 noblesse" was meted out to a political enemy in 
 those days even by men of education and supposed 
 refinement. 
 
 Under the date of 1748-9, Sarah Duchess of 
 Marlborough writes as follows to Lord Stair : — 
 
 " The Prince of Wales has done, I think, a very 
 right thing, for he has declared to everybody that 
 though he did design to bring the business of his 
 revenue into the House, he is now resolved not to 
 do it, it being but a trifle, and what could not 
 succeed after losing a question of so much 
 consequence for the preservation of the nation.* 
 
 'Respecting the Convention with Spain.
 
 302 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 " But I think all this prudence will be of no use to 
 prevent France settling this country as that King 
 pleases, after we are still made poorer by what Sir 
 Robert has done, and will do further." 
 
 It is much more likely that the Prince gave up 
 the idea of appealing to Parliament concerning his 
 income, because he had come to, or was about to 
 come to, some agreement with his father on this 
 much worried subject. 
 
 The Duchess writes again to Lord Stair in 1739 
 about the Prince : " I hear some people find fault 
 with the Prince's having voted in the House of 
 Lords with the minority ; but I can see no reason 
 for that. For surely he was as much at liberty to 
 do it as any other Peer ; and I can't comprehend 
 why he should not give his vote in anything that so 
 manifestly was for the good of England." 
 
 This apparently concerned the Convention with 
 Spain. 
 
 The following is a word picture of the Prince at 
 the period of 1740, which appears a very vivid one. 
 It was contributed anonymously about the year 
 1830 to the New European Magazine, and was 
 evidently culled from some older publication. It 
 depicts the Prince during a visit to old " Bartlemy 
 Fair" in Smithfield. 
 
 " The multitude behind was impelled violently 
 forwards, and a broad blaze of red light, issuing 
 from a score of flambeaux, streamed into the air. 
 Several voices were loudly shouting " Room there
 
 A HUSBAND AND A LOVEE. 303 
 
 for Prince Frederick ! make way for the Prince ! " 
 And there was that long sweep heard to pass over 
 the ground which indicates the approach of a grand 
 and ceremonious train. Presently the pressure 
 became much greater, the voices louder, the light 
 stronger, and as the train came onward, it might be 
 seen that it consisted firstly of a party of the 
 Yeomen of the Guard, clearing the way ; then 
 several more of them bearing flambeaux, and 
 flanking the procession ; while in the midst of all 
 appeared a tall, fair, and handsome young man, 
 having something of a plump foreign visage,, 
 seemingly about four and thirty years of age, 
 dressed in a ruby-coloured frock coat, very richly 
 guarded with gold lace, and having his long flowing 
 hair curiously curled over his forehead and at the 
 sides, and finished with a very large bag and 
 courtly queue behind. The air of dignity with 
 which he walked ; the blue ribbon and Star and 
 Garter with which he was decorated ; the small, 
 three cornered, silk court-hat which he wore while 
 all around him were uncovered ; the numerous 
 suite as well of gentlemen as of guards, which 
 marshalled him along ; the obsequious attention of a 
 short stout person who, by his flourishing manner, 
 seemed to be a player ; all these particulars in- 
 dicated that the amiable Frederick, Prince of Wales, 
 was visiting Bartholomew Fair by torchlight, and 
 that Manager Rich was introducing his royal guest 
 to all the amusements of the place."
 
 304 A FOKGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 To turn to another subject, it will be interesting 
 at the present time to note the strength of the 
 British Navy in this year 1740. Also those of 
 France and Spain. The information is contained 
 in " Minutes of the Cabinet " volume 4 of Lord 
 Hervey 's Memoirs, page 552 (Edition 1848). 
 
 An Account of the present Naval Strength 
 of England. 
 
 With Mr. Haddock * in the Mediterranean thirty- 
 two ships — twenty-two of the line, five twenty-gun 
 ships, three fire ships, two bomb vessels. All these 
 are at present with Haddock to defend Minorca 
 except four left at Gibraltar with Captain William 
 Hervey, brother to Lord Hervey, which properly 
 belong to (Sir Challoner) Ogle's squadron of ten, 
 who went with the other six to join Haddock. 
 Balchen and Maine had ten to cruise on the 
 north-west of Spain, near Cape Finisterre and 
 Ferrol ; but Maine's live are returning home to 
 refit. 
 
 At home there are thirty ships for the Channel, to 
 guard our own coasts and protect this country ; but 
 twenty only being manned, one third of the nominal 
 strength is absolutely useless. 
 
 In the West Indies there are now with Vernon 
 nine ships of the line, five fire ships, and two bomb 
 vessels ; and dispersed in the West Indies about 
 sixteen ships more of different sizes. 
 
 * A distinguished officer : he had been many years a Lord of the 
 Admiralty, was now Admiral of the Fleet, and was appointed in the sum- 
 mer to the command of the Channel Fleet.
 
 A HUSBAND AND A LOVER. 305 
 
 SPANISH STRENGTH IN EUROPE. 
 
 At Carthagena five ships of the line, commanded 
 by Clavijo, who commanded the Cales (Cadiz) 
 squadron last year. The Cales squadron, nine ships 
 of the line, three frigates, commanded by Pintada. 
 
 The Ferrol Squadron, six ships of the line, and 
 the three Assogne ships refitting, and sixteen 
 thousand men in Galicia.* 
 
 On the Catalonia side of Spain several transport 
 ships, three men of war, seven thousand men in 
 Majorca ; and another body of troops, commanded 
 by Count Celemis, in Catalonia, ready for an embar- 
 cation at Barcelona, which Spain dare not hazard for 
 fear of Haddock's Squadron ready in those seas to 
 intercept them. Their strength, or rather their 
 weakness in Spain, uncertain. 
 
 FRENCH STRENGTH IN EUROPE. 
 
 France has at Brest, ready to sail, commanded by 
 Monsieur D'Antin, a squadron of twenty-two 
 ships ; the lowest accounts say eighteen ; and at 
 Toulon twelve, all great ships from fifty-four to 
 seventy-four guns. 
 
 * The Azogne (quicksilver) ships, which plied annually between Vera 
 Cruz and Cadiz, and the interception of which had been an early object of 
 the British Government, but having heard of the hostilities, they left their 
 usual track, made for the coast of Ireland, and thence ran down the coast 
 of France, and got safe into Santander.
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 The Reconciliation. 
 
 In 1741 the antagonism between the Prince and 
 his father had not subsided and party spirit was 
 strong, the followers of the King, such as Hervey 
 and others, did not scruple, as they had never 
 scrupled, to malign the Prince. There were, in 
 theory, two Courts, the King's and the Prince's, the 
 followers of both using the term " going to Court " 
 in speaking of their visits to their respective 
 masters. Walpole tells a story which bears upon 
 the point. 
 
 " Somebody who belonged to the Prince of Wales 
 said he was going to Court. It was objected, that 
 he ought to say ' going to Carlton House ' : that 
 the only Court is where the King resides. Lady 
 Pomfret, with her paltry air of learning and 
 absurdity, said : ' Oh, Lord ! is there no Court in 
 England but the King's ? sure there are many more ! 
 There is the Court of Chancery, the Court of 
 Exchequer, the Court of King's Bench, etc' ' Don't 
 you love her ? Lord Lincoln does her daughter.' ' 
 
 He refers to Lord Lincoln, one of the King's 
 party, and a nephew of the Duke of Newcastle, one 
 of the Ministers. 
 
 (306)
 
 THE EECONCILIATION. 307 
 
 "Not only his uncle-duke," continues Horace 
 Walpole, speaking of Lord Lincoln, " but even his 
 Majesty is fallen in love with him. He talked to 
 the King at his levee without being spoken to. That 
 was always thought high treason, but I don't know 
 how the gruff gentleman liked it." 
 
 The "gruff" gentleman was of course the King. 
 The faction fever between the King's party and 
 that of his son reached its height, however, in the 
 year 1742, when the Prince's party combined with 
 other opponents of the Government and overthrew 
 the great Sir Robert Walpole after his many years 
 of office. So Queen Caroline's trusted minister and 
 adviser fell at last. 
 
 He was succeeded by Lord Wilmington, who 
 practically carried on the same policy as his prede- 
 cessor. 
 
 In this year died Lady Sundon, who had been 
 Mistress of the Robes to Queen Caroline and one of 
 her confidantes. 
 
 " Lord Sundon is in great grief," writes Horace 
 Walpole. "lam surprised, for she has had fits of 
 madness ever since her ambition met such a check 
 by the death of the Queen. She had great power 
 with her, though the Queen affected to despise her, 
 but had unluckily told her, or fallen into her power, 
 by some secret. I was saying to Lady Pomfret ' to 
 be sure she is dead very rich,' she replied with some 
 warmth, ' She never took money.' When I came 
 home I mentioned this to Sir Robert. 'No,' said
 
 308 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 he, ' but she took jewels. Lord Pomfret's place of 
 Master of the Horse to the Queen was bought of her 
 for a pair of diamond earrings, of fourteen hundred 
 pounds value.' 
 
 " One day she wore them at a visit at old 
 Marlboro's ; as soon as she was gone, the duchess 
 said to Lady Mary Wortley, ' How can that woman 
 have the impudence to go about in that bribe ? ' 
 
 " ' Madam,' said Lady Mary, ' how would you 
 have people know where wine is to be sold unless 
 there is a sign hung out ? ' 
 
 " Sir Robert told me that in the enthusiasm of 
 her vanity, Lady Sundon had proposed to him to 
 unite with her and govern the kingdom together ; 
 he bowed, begged her patronage, but, he said, he 
 thought nobody fit to govern the kingdom but the 
 King and Queen." 
 
 About the period of 1742 rumours of a fresh 
 Stuart rebellion began to permeate the country, and 
 it was probably this fact, together with the Prince 
 of Wales's popularity with the public, which decided 
 the King to come to a reconciliation with him. 
 There was, however, now no Sir Robert to apply his 
 wonderful statesmanship in bringing about the 
 matter with the finesse and forethought he always 
 displayed in cases of this sort, though it must be 
 admitted that his arts had always been directed 
 against the Prince. 
 
 However, the matter was done, though clumsily. 
 It was commenced by a gentle hint given to the
 
 THE RECONCILIATION. 309 
 
 Prince that a letter from him to his father would be 
 acceptable. 
 
 This proposition does not appear to have met at 
 first with the Prince's favour, he, possibly, thinking 
 that the King owed him some reparation, and that 
 the first step should come from him. But he 
 eventually put his feelings in his pocket and wrote 
 his father the desired letter. 
 
 This letter reached the King late at night, and 
 he lost no time in responding to it ; he expressed 
 his wish to receive the Prince on the following day. 
 
 Frederick repaired to St. James's as desired, 
 attended by five of his suite. He was received by 
 his father in one of the drawing-rooms, and the 
 interview must have been an exceedingly interesting 
 one for the onlookers from its importance, but its 
 duration was bound within the limits of the strictest 
 formality. 
 
 " How does the Princess do ? I hope she is well," 
 was the sole scrap of conversation which passed 
 King George's lips, if chroniclers of the time can be 
 credited. The Prince kissed his father's hand, 
 answered the question concerning his wife's health, 
 and — withdrew. 
 
 There appears, however, to have been a little 
 burying of the hatchet on both sides. The King 
 spoke to one or two of the Prince's followers. The 
 Prince unbent, and addressed a few courtesies to his 
 father's attending Ministers, and the thing was 
 over.
 
 310 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 The reconciliation, however, appears to have been 
 universally regarded as an accomplished fact, and 
 the Gentleman's Magazine, in its next issue, thus 
 records it : — 
 
 Wednesday, February 17th, 1742. 
 
 " Several messages having passed yesterday 
 between his Majesty and the Prince of Wales, his 
 Royal Highness waited on his Majesty at St. James's 
 about one o'clock this day, and met with a most 
 gracious reception. Great joy was shown in all 
 parts of the kingdom upon this happy reconciliation." 
 
 This reconciliation is said to have been worth an 
 additional fifty thousand pounds a year to the 
 Prince, and Horace Walpole remarks on it. 
 
 " He will have money now to tune Glover and 
 Thompson and Dodsley again, et spes et ratio 
 studiorum in Ccesare tantum." 
 
 The whole of the Royal Family went after this 
 together to the Duchess of Norfolk's — the old house 
 by the river, no doubt — the streets being " illuminated 
 and bonfired." There were pageants and reviews to 
 celebrate the reconciliation, and the Prince and 
 Princess made a sort of triumphal progress through 
 the city to show themselves to their good friends 
 the Corporation ; then entering their barges at the 
 Tower steps they finished up the day in a very 
 sensible manner by dining at Greenwich, where they 
 no doubt partook of whitebait and turtle. 
 
 Those processions of gilded barges on the Thames, 
 accompanied as they generally were by music, must
 
 THE RECONCILIATION. 311 
 
 have been stately sights for the citizens to view, and 
 much missed when the river became too crowded 
 and dirty to be used as a royal highway. 
 
 In 1743 died Schulemberg,- the mistress of George 
 the First, whom he created Duchess of Kendal. 
 The Emperor of Germany had also for some 
 unstated reason conferred on her the dignity of 
 Princess of Eberstein. 
 
 She died at the age of eighty-five, possessed of 
 great wealth, which she bequeathed to Lady 
 Walsingham, generally supposed to be her daughter 
 by George the First. 
 
 Lady Walsingham had previously married Lord 
 Chesterfield. 
 
 " But, I believe," remarks Horace Walpole, " that 
 he will get nothing by the Duchess's death but his 
 wife. She lived in the house with the Duchess " — 
 next door in Grosvenor Square, " where he had played 
 away all his credit." 
 
 But at this time war clouds were hanging over 
 Europe, and King George had espoused the cause of 
 Queen Maria Theresa of Hungary. Very soon his 
 attention was drawn from his eldest son to be 
 centred in this cause, in which his favourite son 
 William took a part.
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 The Battle of Dettingen. 
 
 On the 21st of April, 1743, King George pro- 
 rogued Parliament, and almost immediately hastened 
 over to Hanover accompanied by his son, William, 
 Duke of Cumberland, and Lord Carteret as Secre- 
 tary of State, in attendance. The object of this 
 departure was to aid Queen Maria Theresa of 
 Hungary in her struggle against the French and 
 Bavarians, and in so doing to gratify an ambition 
 long cherished by King George to place himself 
 at the head of an allied army. For whatever 
 failings the little King is credited with, and we 
 know he had many — those foiblesses of which we 
 have been so frequently reminded — he was certainly 
 a soldier, and a brave one. 
 
 Probably also he had a great desire to establish a 
 reputation as a soldier for his favourite son William, 
 also, that young man having at a very early period 
 displayed a considerable penchant for the military 
 art. 
 
 This preference for his brother was very far from 
 gratifying to the Prince of Wales, who would have 
 much liked to have gone to the wars himself, 
 although his training had never been in that 
 direction. 
 
 (312)
 
 THE BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. 313 
 
 But to give him a command was about the last 
 thing that King George would have thought of 
 doing. Such an act would have given his eldest 
 son fresh popularity, which he was far from desiring. 
 
 Not ouly was Frederick denied a command, but 
 he was also excluded from the regency which his 
 father left behind him. Sir Robert Walpole 
 remarked as follows upon it : 
 
 " I think the Prince might have been of it, when 
 Lord Gower is. I don't think the latter more 
 Jacobite than his Royal Highness." So once more, 
 as far as any active participation in the affairs of 
 the state were concerned, the Prince of Wales was 
 left in the galling position of being on the shelf. 
 
 Meanwhile the British troops under the Earl of 
 Stair, had commenced their march towards the end 
 of February into Germany, but appear to have 
 moved with incredible slowness as it was the 
 middle of May before they crossed the Rhine. 
 
 Lord Stair — the celebrated correspondent of 
 Sarah Duchess of Marlborough, — appears to have 
 been a very poor sort of a general, and in addition 
 was hampered for want of a proper commissariat, 
 which was not understood in thdse days. 
 
 There appeared to be the same happy-go-lucky 
 state of affairs — which seems to be national and 
 chronic — to which the great Marlborough referred 
 in 1702, by calling his native country : " England 
 that is famous for negligence."" 
 
 * Marlborough to Lord Godolphin, September, 1702. To Sir H. Mann 
 July 19th, 1743.
 
 314 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 Lord Stair's army, however, struggled onward, and 
 was joined on the way by some sixteen thousand 
 Hanoverians in British pay, who had been in winter 
 quarters in Liege, and by a few Austrian regiments. 
 Eventually they all arrived at Hochst, between 
 Mayence and Frankfort, and here Lord Stair's 
 command numbered about forty thousand men. 
 
 Meanwhile, the French commander-in-chief, the 
 Marechal de Noailles, with sixty-thousand men, 
 crossed the Rhine and approached the Southern 
 bank of the River Maine, the northern bank of 
 which was occupied by the British. 
 
 It is an extraordinary thing that although these 
 two armies stood facing one another, prepared for 
 battle — a battle which came off very soon — their 
 respective countries had not broken off diplomatic 
 relations with one another. 
 
 Horace Walpole refers to it as follows : 
 
 11 A ridiculous situation ! we have the name ot 
 War with Spain without the thing, and War with 
 France without the name. ' 
 
 Lord Stair appears to have entirely lost his head 
 under these circumstances and to have made a series 
 of imbecile marches and countermarches, which 
 thoroughly tired out his horses and men and left him 
 and his army at their conclusion in a worse position 
 than they were before, with the addition that they 
 were exceedingly short of food and forage. The 
 French General had entirely out-nianoeuvred Stair. 
 
 At this juncture — 19th July, 1743 — King George
 
 THE BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. 315 
 
 and his son, the Duke of Cumberland, joined the 
 English army, which was at that time hemmed in 
 in a narrow valley extending from Aschaffenberg to 
 the considerable village of Dettingen on the north 
 bank of the River Maine. 
 
 Here, after several counsels of War, it was 
 decided to fall back on Hanau, a town where a 
 magazine of provisions had been established. At 
 this period the horses had but two days' rations of 
 forage left, all other supplies being cut off by the 
 French. 
 
 The difficult retreat was commenced in face of the 
 enemy — on the other bank of the River Maine — who 
 immediately, us might have been expected from such 
 a celebrated General as de Noailles. pontooned the 
 river, and sent twenty-three thousand men across, 
 under his nephew the Due de Grammont to stop the 
 retreat of the British and their allies at the defile of 
 Dettingen, through which they must pass to reach 
 their supplies at Hanau, sixteen miles further on. 
 
 So that the battle of Dettingen may be referred 
 to as a " bread-and-butter " fight on the part of the 
 British, who fought possibly all the better on 
 that account. 
 
 The march of the English on Dettingen began 
 before daylight on the 27th of June, the King at 
 first commanding the rear guard, which was con- 
 sidered through ignorance of the movements of the 
 French, to be the point of danger. 
 
 When, however, the advance guard was driven in
 
 316 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 at Dettingen and French troops came pouring 
 across the river, King George and his son rode 
 along the column to the front, where they appear to 
 have taken supreme command at once. 
 
 Now the British Army was in a very tight corner 
 indeed ; no sooner had they marched than the 
 Marquis de Noailles, perfectly alive to the situation, 
 sent twelve thousand men to occupy Aschatfenberg 
 in their rear ; thus with twenty-three thousand men 
 in a strong entrenched position in their front 
 between them and their stores of food, the river on 
 their left, and a force of twelve thousand in their 
 rear, the position of the British looked pretty hope- 
 less, hemmed in as they were in addition by hills on 
 the right. Across the river a strong force of 
 artillery was posted, which commenced a heavy fire 
 into the left flank of our regiments, mowing down 
 whole ranks. It was a position which at any 
 moment might have been turned into a panic. That 
 it was not turned into a panic and a rout is entirely 
 owing to the courage and military skill of George 
 the Second. 
 
 As far as courage was concerned, he was ably 
 seconded by his son the Duke of Cumberland, but 
 as this was his first fight, his military knowledge 
 was nil, and it never shone particularly at any time 
 after. 
 
 With all his faults and frailties and "foiblesses" 
 little King George on this day showed himself to be 
 a skilled soldier, and a brave man. His previous
 
 THE BATTLE OF DETTINGEN. 317 
 
 reputation gained at Oudenarde had not been for- 
 gotten by our own poets when he came to England 
 and became Prince of Wales; one of them had thus 
 addressed him on a birthday :— 
 
 " Let Oudenarde's field your courage tell 
 \\ ho looked so martial, or who fought so well 9 
 Who charg d the foe with greater fire or force ? 
 Who felt unmoved the trembling falling horse'? 
 
 AH Un i m ™t\ ° Fame ' the trUm P et loud a°d true, 
 All, al , this blaze to my Prince George is due 
 
 In early life such deeds in arms were done ' 
 
 As prove you able to defend the throne." 
 
 He had then a well-established reputation for 
 courage, which was no doubt well known to the men 
 he commanded. 
 
 The King and his son rode from their station in 
 the rear to the front, and there the former at once 
 deployed the columns into line with the left resting 
 on the nyer and the right on the slopes of the hills 
 at the other side of the valley. The infantry were 
 m front with the half-starved cavalry in reserve 
 
 Ihe British Army was in presence of perhaps the 
 
 most accomplished general of his time, Marechal 
 Noaill eSi and he had se , ecte(J ^ ^ 
 
 Dett.ngen-a„ old post village-with consummate 
 judgment. 
 
 It had a ravine, the course of a small rivulet 
 running across its front, while its right flank rested 
 on a morass and the river. The only mistake the 
 Marechal had made was in placing his hot-headed 
 nephew the Due de Grammont in command of it 
 this circumstance led to a big stroke of luck in
 
 318 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 King George's favour at the very commencement of 
 the action. 
 
 The Due de Grammont committed the common 
 and deadly error of despising his enemy ; believing 
 the advancing force to be but a part of the British 
 Army, he left his entrenchments with the object 
 apparently, of crushing it before its main body came 
 up, but it was in fact the main body, which he had 
 to engage. This advance had a double effect in 
 favour of King George ; the French guns across the 
 river, which had been making fearful play on the 
 English ranks, had to cease fire, as the French very 
 soon came in close proximity to their foes, and were 
 as likely to be hit by their own gunners as the 
 English. Therefore our men were relieved from this 
 demoralizing flank fire. This movement of the Due 
 de Grammont rendered the excellent dispositions of 
 his uncle valueless. 
 
 But an untoward incident, at the very com- 
 mencement, delayed for a time the fruits of this 
 error being gathered and very nearly deprived the 
 British Army of its royal commander ; King 
 George's horse ran away with him in the direction 
 of the enemy. 
 
 This was a paralysing spectacle for our own 
 men ! 
 
 Fortunately, however, the King succeeded in 
 pulling him round before he got close enough for the 
 French to grab him, and he returned in safety if not 
 in triumph to his own lines. This incident,
 
 THE BATTLE OP DETTINGEN. 319 
 
 however, determined the brave little man to take a 
 certain course ; he got off his horse. 
 
 " I vill go on my legs," he remarked cheerfully, 
 " dey cannot run away with me ! " 
 
 But the enemy's cavalry, composed of the elite of 
 the French Army, were now advancing ; the King 
 drew his sword and placed himself at the head of 
 his Grenadiers. Waving his sword, he cheered 
 them on, the last King of England who led his 
 soldiers into battle. 
 
 " Now boys," he cried, " now for the honour of 
 England ; fire and behave bravely, and the French 
 will soon run ! " 
 
 All this was very fine, but the French did not 
 run, at first ; they came on in a wild charge and 
 considerably shook our infantry, so much so, that it 
 required all the energy of the King and his son — 
 who, with the rank of Major-General, led the left 
 wing — to get them steady again. The father and 
 son certainly did not spare themselves on this day ; 
 even when the Duke was wounded in the leg he 
 refused to leave the field. No wonder that poor 
 Frederick at home was boiling with jealousy. 
 
 Marechal Noailles from the other side of the river, 
 where he was organizing a supporting movement, 
 saw his nephew's error, and hastened back to 
 Dettingen ; but he arrived too late. 
 
 King George, at the head of a brigade of infantry, 
 had swept the French from their position and 
 cleared the road to Hanau and the much needed
 
 320 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 food and stores. The French loss in the retreat was 
 frightfully heavy, and the French Marechal very 
 wisely drew off the remainder of his troops to the 
 other side of the river, with a list of killed and 
 wounded which totalled up to six thousand men. 
 
 Thus ended the Battle of Dettingen, concerning 
 King George's part in which, Justin McCarthy in 
 his " Four Georges," makes the following com- 
 ment : — 
 
 " George behaved with a great courage and spirit. 
 If the poor, stupid, puffy, plucky little man did 
 but know what a strange, picturesque, memorable 
 figure be was as he stood up against the enemy at 
 the Battle of Dettingen ! The last King of England 
 who ever appeared with his army in the battle- 
 field. There, as he gets down off his unruly horse, 
 determined to trust to his own stout legs — because 
 as he says, they will not run away — there is the 
 last successor of the Williams, and the Edwards, 
 and the Henrys ; the last successor of the Con- 
 queror, and Edward the First, and the Black Prince, 
 and Henry the Fourth, and Henry of Agincourt, 
 and William of Nassau ; the last English King who 
 faces a foe in battle."
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Bonnie Prince Charlie. 
 
 King George returned to England covered with 
 glory in September, 1743, and finding himself 
 popular took that opportunity of snubbing once more 
 the Prince of Wales, and ignoring his presence as 
 heretofore. This was particularly ungracious, as the 
 Princess was at the time lying ill. 
 
 The King must have sadly missed his Minister, 
 and trusty adviser of twenty-one years, Sir Robert 
 Walpole, now created Earl of Orfbrd, Viscount 
 Walpole and Baron of Houghton, but none the less 
 " Sir Robert Walpole " to the people and posterity. 
 Though the great statesman— the peaceful states- 
 man, despite his other faults — had retired 
 immediately on his fall in February, 1742, to his 
 estate at Houghton, yet it is perfectly clear that his 
 old master frequently consulted him, on the many 
 points of trouble which were now arising around 
 him, and that meetings took place between them, 
 notwithstanding the fact that determined efforts 
 were being made to impeach the Earl; attempts 
 which signally failed. There is no doubt that in 
 responding to a call from the King to come and 
 advise him on some knotty point — the coming 
 Scottish rebellion it may be— Walpole met his 
 
 (321) ,
 
 322 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 death. The house of a Mr. Fowler, a Commissioner 
 of Excise, in Golden Square, was the rendezvous 
 where Walpole received the King's messages. 
 
 For there had long been unrest in the North, and 
 rumours of the coming of the Pretender's son. 
 
 It was in answer to such a summons from King 
 George that Walpole left Houghton for London, 
 though suffering from a painful malady, and greatly- 
 increased it by the journey. So great was his pain 
 that he had to be kept under the influence of opium 
 for the greater part of the day, but it is said that 
 during the few hours that his mind was clear, his 
 conversation had all the life and brilliancy of former 
 times, which during his retirement to Norfolk, a 
 lonely old man, had entirely left him. However, 
 these moments were but the last expiring flashes of 
 his great intellect. He died on the 18th March, 
 1745, just at the time when he was most needed by 
 the King, at the commencement of that fateful year 
 for England, when Bonnie Prince Charlie came over 
 the water, raised an army in Scotland, and made a 
 victorious march on air, almost to London itself, 
 
 Charles Edward Louis Philip Casimir, son of the 
 Old Pretender, James Stuart, and his wife 
 Clementine Sobieski — granddaughter of John 
 Sobieski, King of Poland — and grandson of James 
 the Second of England, was born in Rome in 1720, 
 consequently when he started on his expedition to 
 Scotland he was about twenty-five. 
 
 Lord Mahon describes him as follows : —
 
 BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE. 323 
 
 " The person of Charles (I begin with this for the 
 sake of female readers) was tall and well formed ; 
 his limbs athletic and active. He excelled in all 
 manly exercises, and was inured to every kind of 
 toil, especially long marches on foot, having applied 
 himself to field sports in Italy, and become an 
 excellent walker. 
 
 "His face was strikingly handsome, of a perfect 
 oval and a fair complexion ; his eyes light blue ; his 
 features high and noble. Contrary to the custom of 
 the time which prescribed perukes, his own fair hair 
 usually fell in long ringlets on his neck.* This 
 goodly person was enhanced by his graceful 
 manners ; frequently condescending to the most 
 familiar kindness, yet always shielded by a regal 
 dignity ; he had a peculiar talent to please and to 
 persuade, and never failed to adapt his conversation 
 to the taste, or to the station of those whom he 
 addressed." 
 
 (At the age of thirteen, Pope Innocent the XII 
 pronounced Prince Charlie, dressed in a little bright 
 cuirass and a rich point lace cravat, " truly an 
 angel.") 
 
 Such was the man who came secretly from France 
 in August, 1745, with but two ships, to challenge 
 Frederick's right to the title of Prince of Wales. 
 
 The two aforesaid vessels of Prince Charlie being 
 chased by men-of-war and somewhat roughly 
 handled, they had to separate, so that it was simply 
 an unconvoyed little merchant ship which at last 
 
 * This was also a custom adopted by Prince Frederick.
 
 324 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 brought the Stuart to the western isles. There at 
 first he passed as a young English clergyman come 
 to see the Highlands ; but on the 19th of that 
 month of August, he threw off his clerical garb 
 and raising his standard at Glenfinnan called the 
 clans to assemble round it. 
 
 Here he was joined by six hundred of the 
 Camerons under their chief Lochiel, Keppoch with 
 three hundred of his men, and many other smaller 
 parties. 
 
 With a war chest of but four thousand louis d'or, 
 which he had brought with him, and a very varied 
 collection of arms, Prince Charlie the next morning 
 commenced a march which ended only at Derby, 
 one hundred and twenty miles from London, and 
 which, if persevered in, would have led him in all 
 probability, to the steps of the English throne. 
 
 At this time King George the Second was in 
 Hanover, but so alarming were the reports which 
 reached him of the Stuart Prince's doings, that he 
 set out at once, and on the 31st of August reached 
 London. 
 
 This absence of the King in Hanover, is pretty 
 strong evidence that the movements of the young 
 invader had been conducted in absolute secrecy. 
 
 The King on his arrival found, however, that the 
 Regency — which apparently did not include the 
 Prince of Wales — had not been idle. Warrants had 
 been issued against the Duke of Perth and Sir 
 Hector Maclean, but the former escaped.
 
 BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE. 325 
 
 The Dutch had also been called upon to supply- 
 six thousand auxiliaries according to contract, a 
 decision had been come to to recall some of the 
 regiments from Flanders, the nucleus of an army 
 was being formed at Newcastle under Marshal 
 Wade, and some of the militia had been called 
 out. 
 
 The spirit of the people, however, remained per- 
 fectly passive ; probably they looked upon the 
 incursion of Prince Charlie as a sort of filibustering 
 expedition similar to that of his father in 1715, 
 which would soon fizzle out. 
 
 Henry Fox, who was at the time a member of 
 the Government, thus records this apathy on the 
 part of the public in confidential letters to Sir C. H. 
 Williams. He writes on September 5th, 1745 : 
 
 " England, Wade says, and I believe, is for the 
 first comer ; and if you can tell whether the six 
 thousand Dutch and the ten battalions of English, 
 or five thousand French or Spaniards will be there 
 first, you will know our fate ..." 
 
 He continues on September 19th : 
 
 " God be thanked ! But had five thousand landed 
 on any part of this island a week ago, I verily 
 believe the entire conquest would not have cost 
 them a battle." 
 
 The King, however, was persuaded that the affair 
 was of no importance, and promptly snubbed the 
 Prince of Wales when he asked for a command. 
 Even a regiment was denied him, while his younger
 
 326 A FOKGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 brother was given a brigade straight away in 
 Flanders two years before ! 
 
 Frederick upon this stood apart as it were, with 
 his arms folded, and contemplated the preparations 
 cynically. 
 
 Matters stood in this wise until well on into 
 September, when news arrived of the total defeat of 
 Sir John Cope's army at Preston Pans on September 
 20th. 
 
 What was more surprising than this, however, was 
 the news of the Prince's exceeding moderation and 
 kindness to the vanquished. 
 
 He showed himself on this occasion of victory, as 
 indeed he did at all times in the campaign, a kind- 
 hearted and honourable gentleman, who could have 
 taken his place among the knights in the days of 
 chivalry. 
 
 Had Charles been able to pursue his victory, and 
 to have made a forced march into England, he might 
 soon have ended the matter, but most of his High- 
 landers disappeared for the time to put their share 
 of the spoil of the battle in safe places in the 
 mountains. 
 
 However, within six weeks he had an army of six 
 thousand men again round his standard at Holyrood, 
 and with these he presently set forth again towards 
 England. 
 
 To his credit be it said that his army was an 
 orderly one ; all irregularities he repressed with a 
 firm hand. True it might have happened .some-
 
 BONNIE PEINCE CHARLIE. 327 
 
 times that his Highlanders would stop some 
 prosperous looking traveller on the road and level 
 their firelocks at him, but when the trembling victim 
 inquired what they wanted the answer generally 
 was " a baubee," i.e., a halfpenny.* 
 
 But the march to England was an exceedingly 
 unpopular one with the Highlanders, and many of 
 them deserted during the first few days and went 
 home ; the remainder were difficult to deal with, 
 and it is said that one morning Prince Charles had 
 to argue with them for an hour and a half before he 
 could get them to march at all. 
 
 However, they reached Kelso and there halted for 
 two days. In the accounts of this extraordinary 
 march what strikes one particularly is the wonder- 
 fully good generalship displayed by Lord George 
 Murray, who commanded the first division, and who, 
 time after time, out-manoeuvred the best of King 
 George's generals, evading and misleading them with 
 the greatest ease, until he finally placed the mobile 
 little army which he commanded between the King's 
 forces and London. 
 
 From Kelso Lord George made the first of his 
 excellent feints. He sent forward messengers to 
 prepare quarters for his troops at Wooler ; this 
 was to deceive Marshal Wade, and draw oif his 
 attention from Carlisle, which was really the object 
 of Murray's attack. 
 
 Wade fell into the trap, while the Prince's forces 
 
 * Mahon's History of England.
 
 328 A FOEGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 made a forced march down Liddisdale and entered 
 Cumberland and laid siege to Carlisle. 
 
 This important frontier fortress was in a bad state. 
 The garrison of the Castle consisted of about a 
 company of invalid soldiers, while the defences of 
 the town itself were old and mouldering. Neverthe- 
 less there was here a large body of Cumberland 
 militia raised for King George, while the attacking 
 force had only a few four-pounder cannon to bring 
 against it. But in five days, though the Mayor 
 beo-an by a good show of resistance, the town and 
 Castle surrendered to Prince Charles, providing him 
 with an abundance of arms and ammunition. 
 
 With regard to this siege of Carlisle, a great deal 
 has been made by the enemies of Frederick, Prince 
 of Wales, of an incident which occurred concerning 
 it at this time. 
 
 It so happened that a representation of the 
 Castle of Carlisle — in pastry — was served up at the 
 Prince's table — it must be remembered that his 
 table was supplied by a caterer — no doubt it was 
 intended by the cook as a surprise, such as cooks 
 are very fond of preparing for their masters. 
 
 Great exception has been taken to the fact that 
 the Prince and the Maids of Honour — these Maids 
 of Honour seemed prone to evil — bombarded the 
 sham castle with sugar plums ! What else could be 
 expected from a parcel of Maids of Honour and a 
 lighthearted Prince who rolled Bubb Doddington, 
 in all his priggish solemnity, down a flight of
 
 BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE. 329 
 
 stairs in a blanket ? Yet the Prince's traducers 
 endeavoured to give the incident a political signifi- 
 cance as a sign of the Prince's indifference to the 
 sufferings of the besieged ! 
 
 As a matter of fact it was a most bloodless siege, 
 and only lasted five days, the garrison marching out 
 and going home unmolested. 
 
 From Carlisle, with four thousand five hundred 
 men, Prince Charlie marched by Shaw, Kendal and 
 Lancaster to Preston, where he arrived on November 
 27th. Very different marching this to the progress 
 of our army under Lord Stair, when moving from 
 Flanders to the banks of the Maine in 1743, which 
 progress took, as we have seen, four months ! 
 
 Preston was regarded by the Highlanders as a 
 fatal barrier, beyond which they could not pass, as 
 the Duke of Hamilton had been defeated there in 
 the Civil Wars, and Brigadier Macintosh surren- 
 dered at the same spot in 1715. 
 
 To break this tradition Lord George Murray 
 marched across and beyond the Ribble bridge. 
 
 From Preston, Prince Charlie pushed on to 
 Wigan and Manchester, still unopposed, for the 
 aged Marshal Wade had withdrawn to Newcastle 
 on finding the mountain roads around him blocked 
 with snow. 
 
 The following is a description of Charles's entry 
 into Manchester, given in the letter of a spy 
 stationed there and sent to the Duke of Cumber- 
 land :
 
 330 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 "28th November. 
 
 "Just now are come in two of the Pretender's 
 men, a sergeant, a drummer, and a woman with 
 them. I have seen them ; the sergeant is a Scotch- 
 man, the drummer is a Halifax man, and they are 
 now going to beat up. These two men and the 
 woman, without any others, came into the town 
 amidst thousands of spectators. I doubt not we 
 shall have more to-night. They say we're to have 
 the Pretender to-morrow. They are dressed in 
 plaids and bonnets. The sergeant has a target.'' 
 
 " 29th November. 
 
 " The two Highlanders who came in yesterday 
 and beat up for volunteers for him they called His 
 Royal Highness Charles, Prince of Wales, offered five 
 guineas advance ; many took on ; each received one 
 shilling to have the rest when the Prince came. 
 
 " They do not appear to be such terrible fellows 
 as has been represented. Many of the foot are 
 diminutive creatures, but many clever men among 
 them. The Guards and officers are all in a Highland 
 dress, a long sword and stuck with pistols ; their 
 horses all sizes and colours. 
 
 " The bellman went to order all persons charged 
 with excise, and innkeepers forthwith to appear, 
 and bring their last acquittance, and as much ready 
 cash as that contains on pain of military execution. 
 It is my opinion they will make all haste possible 
 through Derbyshire to evade fighting Ligonier. I 
 do not see that we have any person in town to give
 
 BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE. 331 
 
 intelligence to the King's forces as all our men of 
 fashion are Bed, and all officers under the govern- 
 ment. A party came in at ten this morning, and 
 have been examining the best houses, and have 
 fixed upon Mr. Dicconson's for the Prince's quarters. 
 Several thousands came in at two o'clock ; they 
 ordered the bells to ring, and the bellman has been 
 ordering us to illuminate our houses to-night, which 
 must be done. The Chevalier marched by my door 
 in a Highland dress, on foot, at three o'clock, sur- 
 rounded by a Highland guard ; no music but a pair 
 of bagpipes. 
 
 " Those that came in last night demanded 
 quarters for ten thousand men to-day. 
 
 Prince Charlie, however, did nut beat up many 
 recruits in Manchester, and altogether the military 
 outlook began to appear very ominous. 
 
 This was the position in which the invading 
 Army found itself. On their rear, Marshal Wade 
 was slowly crawling after them through Yorkshire. 
 In front was the Duke of Cumberland with eight 
 thousand men, his head-quarters at Lichfield. Out- 
 side London, at Finchley, was another army, which 
 although it contained the Iloyal Guards, was com- 
 posed chiefly of newly raised troops. This, it was 
 said, was to be commanded by the King in person. 
 Chester was held by Lord Cholmondeley, its 
 neighbour Liverpool by the citizens for King 
 Oeorge ; and the bridges over the Mersey were 
 
 •State Paper Office, Scotland, 1745, vol. i., VII.
 
 332 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 broken down. Admiral Vernon cruised with a 
 strong Fleet in the Channel to prevent a French 
 invasion or landing of supplies, whilst Admiral Byng 
 was off the East coast of Scotland with a squadron 
 with the like intention. 
 
 Despite, however, all these obstacles to his 
 success, Prince Charlie was for going on to London, 
 and in this intention he was to a certain extent 
 supported by Lord George Murray, who in his 
 usual consummate way, hoodwinked the enemy and 
 picked his way through them with the greatest 
 ease to Derby, where he was joined by the Prince 
 with his division on the 4th of December. Here 
 the advance into England came to a dead stop, even 
 Lord George Murray advised a retreat into Scot- 
 land again, whence news had just arrived that Lord 
 John Drummond had landed at Montrose with the 
 Regiment of the Royal Scots and other supports 
 and supplies. 
 
 It is a moot question still whether, if Prince 
 Charlie had had his own w r ay — which he insisted 
 pretty strongly upon for some time, and marched 
 straight on London where he had mostly new levies 
 of militia to deal with, he might not have attained 
 his object. 
 
 He was but one hundred and twenty-seven miles 
 from London, and the state of affairs in the capital 
 can best be judged by the following account of a 
 loyal writer who was in London at the time : 
 
 " When the Highlanders, by a most incredible
 
 BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE. 333 
 
 march, got between the Duke's army and the 
 metropolis, they struck a terror into it scarcely to 
 be credited." 
 
 An immediate rush was made upon the Bank of 
 England which only escaped bankruptcy by paying 
 in sixpences to gain time. Shops were shut and 
 business suspended. The Duke of Newcastle, the 
 Minister who occupied Sir Robert Walpole's place, 
 "stood trembling and amazed." It is also stated 
 that King George had some of his " most precious 
 effects — did these include the Walmoden '? " — re- 
 moved on board his yachts, which were ordered to 
 remain at the Tower Quay ready to sail at a 
 moment's notice. It is not thought likely that he 
 offered the Prince of Wales a passage in either of 
 these, neither is Frederick mentioned at this time 
 although no doubt he was with the troops at 
 Finchley. 
 
 But all these fears in London were groundless. 
 Prince Charles's officers had determined among 
 themselves to retreat from Derby back to Scotland, 
 and the broken-hearted Prince at last reluctantly 
 consented. 
 
 By the same road they returned, hotly pursued a 
 part of the way by the Duke of Cumberland with 
 some thousands of horse ; but after a rear-guard 
 action at the village of Clifton, near Penrith, in 
 which he lost a hundred men, killed and wounded, 
 the Duke drew off leaving the Chevalier to retreat 
 
 * Chevalier Johnstone's Memoirs, p. 73, 8vo ed.
 
 334 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OP WALES. 
 
 in peace to Glasgow, which he reached on the 26 tb 
 of December, concluding this marvellous winter's 
 march of eight hundred and eighty-two miles in 
 fifty-six days, some of which were of course resting 
 days. 
 
 From this time forward the struggle was really 
 one between the Prince and the Duke of Cumber- 
 land as the aged Marshal Wade was superseded, 
 and Henry Hawley, one of the Duke of Cumber- 
 land's generals, took his place. Prince Charles, 
 however, having been reinforced by Lord Strath- 
 allan and Lord John Drummond, easily defeated 
 General Hawley at Falkirk, on the 17th January, 
 1746, taking many prisoners, one of whom, probably 
 an Irishman, is recorded to have remarked : 
 
 " By my soul, if Charlie goes on in this way, 
 Prince Frederick will never be King George." 
 
 The authorities in London were soon thoroughly 
 aroused by this victory of the Highlanders, and 
 determined upon sending the Duke of Cumberland 
 to take supreme command in Scotland, all danger of 
 an invasion of England being over. Thus began 
 that memorable campaign of Cumberland's, which 
 culminated in Culloden, and— from his savage 
 cruelty to the wounded at that place — covered his 
 name for evermore with infamy. 
 
 William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland at this 
 time, was only in his twenty-fifth year, having been 
 born on April 15th, 1721, and was just four months 
 younger than Prince Charlie.
 
 BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE. 335 
 
 He possessed, however, none of the graces of 
 person of his Stuart cousin. Though not yet 
 twenty-five, he was exceedingly corpulent and un- 
 wieldy, and had a rough uncouth manner and a 
 savage temper ; in fact he looked exactly what he 
 was afterwards called, "The Butcher."' It was into 
 such a man as this, that the handsome idolized son 
 of Caroline had grown. 
 
 There could not possibly have been a greater 
 contrast between any two persons than between 
 these two young men who were destined to fight to 
 a finish this contest for the throne of England. 
 
 Despite the fact that Cumberland he„d lost the 
 battle of Fontenoy, the military authorities seemed 
 to feel sufficient confidence in him to send him to 
 Scotland to take the supreme command at such a 
 critical period. Certainly his father believed in his 
 military talents such as they were. 
 
 He received his appointment very soon after the 
 arrival in London of the news of the defeat of 
 Falkirk, and left, as he was requested to do, without 
 delay, and travelled night and day, arriving un- 
 expectedly at Holyrood on the 31st of January ; 
 here he chose the very bed in which Prince Charlie 
 had slept. 
 
 In Edinburgh he found his favourite, General 
 Hawley, busily engaged in hanging his own men, 
 right and left, for having run away from the 
 Highlanders at Falkirk. He had prepared the gallows 
 for the Prince's followers, and was using it for his own.
 
 336 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 These executions Cumberland at once stopped. 
 
 An incident, which occurred in Flanders, will 
 give an idea of the nature of this brute Hawley, a 
 very fit second-in-command, for such a man as 
 Cumberland afterwards proved himself to be. 
 During the campaign in the Low Countries when 
 Hawley commanded a regiment, one of his own men, 
 a deserter, had been hanged before his windows. So 
 pleasant a sight did he find it, that when the 
 surgeons came to beg the body for dissection he 
 was very loth to part with it. 
 
 "At least," he said at last, "you shall give me 
 the skeleton to hang up in the guard -room ! " 
 
 Fancy a spruce Colonel of a line-battalion of our 
 own day ordering a guard -room to be decorated 
 in this fashion ! Cumberland remained little more 
 than twenty-four hours in Edinburgh, then moved 
 out to find the Prince's army, which he understood 
 lay at Falkirk ; his men appeared to have advanced 
 with every confidence in him. 
 
 Charles had, however, much against his will, 
 commenced a retreat towards the Highlands, where 
 his generals had persuaded him with much difficulty 
 to pass the remainder of the winter. 
 
 This retreat appears to have been conducted with 
 carelessness and disorder, and much baggage was 
 lost to the pursuing English troops. However, 
 Crieff was reached, and here the two divisions 
 marched by different roads towards Inverness. 
 
 It seems pitiable to contrast the position of the
 
 BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE. 337 
 
 Prince's army from this time forth, sown with 
 dissension, wandering about in the cold northern 
 winter and spring among barren mountains from 
 which it was impossible to break forth, without 
 food or money. 
 
 Charles at this period was reduced to his last 
 five hundred louis d'or and had to pay his troops in 
 meal, which course ended as might have been 
 expected, in many desertions. 
 
 Meanwhile, the Duke of Cumberland's army was 
 well fed and clothed and reiuforced by five 
 thousand Hessians, who had been hired by the 
 government. These troops, however, did not take 
 part in the subsequent battle, but held the line 
 of communications. 
 
 But the end came at last. Cumberland having 
 fixed his Headquarters at Aberdeen, moved out of 
 that place on the 8th of April, 1746, with about 
 eight thousand infantry, and nine hundred cavalry 
 and marched via Banff and the river Spey on Nairn, 
 which town he entered on the 14th April. 
 
 That night, Charles, who had come up with his 
 Guards, slept at Culloden House, the seat of Presi- 
 dent Forbes, one of his principal enemies, his men 
 to the number of about five thousand bivouacing on 
 the moor using the heath during the bitter night 
 both for bed and fuel. 
 
 There seems to have been an excellent project 
 formed in the Prince's Council, by Lord George 
 Murray, to make a night attack upon Cumberland,
 
 338 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 which would have stood a good chance of success 
 as the 15th April, being the Duke's birthday, his 
 soldiers had spent it in drink and carousing, supplies 
 being plentiful, as a fleet laden with provisions 
 followed them along the coast. 
 
 The night march, however, from a proper want of 
 direction, proved a lamentable failure, and only 
 served to further exhaust the half-starved High- 
 landers, who returned worn out, to Drummossie or 
 Culloden Moor. 
 
 There, on the 16th, with the ration of one biscuit 
 per man, they stood up to meet the well-fed, well- 
 equipped army of Cumberland twice their number. 
 The result is not to be wondered at. 
 
 Their ranks, ploughed by the superior artillery of 
 the English, with a storm of snow and hail blowing 
 full in their faces, the starved Highland men 
 endured their position without a murmur, until 
 the order was given by Lord George Murray to 
 charge. 
 
 The Clan of the Macdonalds refused the order ; 
 but the right and centre in one wild rush, swept 
 down on Cumberland's men and broke through 
 the first line, capturing two guns. 
 
 But there were two lines beyond, and these 
 closing up, and standing three deep, poured such 
 a volley into the Highlanders that their charge 
 was shattered by it. That ended the matter ; 
 the Prince's army, which had never before suffered 
 defeat, broke and fled.
 
 BONNIE PEINCE CHAELIE. 339 
 
 Had the Macdonalds taken part in the charge, 
 the battle might have ended differently ; but after 
 one volley, they remained spectators of the action, 
 sulking because they were not placed on the 
 right wing. 
 
 No sooner was the charge of the Highlanders 
 broken than the English regiments closed in upon 
 them with the bayonet. Cumberland had, with 
 some skill, instructed his men not to use then- 
 bayonets on the adversaries immediately in front 
 of them in a melee, who were protected by their small 
 shields, but to stab sideways at the assailants of 
 their right hand men ; what was to become of the 
 unfortunate man on the extreme left of the line 
 apparently was not stated in the Duke's order. 
 Against the solid press of the well-fed English 
 soldiers, at least two to one, the broken half- 
 starved Highlanders could make no way, and for 
 the first time in the whole campaign fell back 
 before them ; the Macdonalds on the left wing 
 being the only part of the line which retreated 
 in anything like order. So far the battle had 
 been fairly fought, and the Scots fairly beaten ; 
 had the Duke of Cumberland treated them with 
 the ordinary humanity of civilized war, even as 
 civilized war was understood in those brutal da vs. 
 not one word would have been said against him, 
 and he might have handed a clean name down to 
 posterity. As it was, he preferred to give full
 
 340 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 play to the most brutal instincts that a man was 
 ever cursed with. 
 
 The chief charge against the Duke of Cumberland, 
 and the charge is fully substantiated by undeniable 
 testimony — is that in cold blood he ordered the 
 enemy's wounded to be butchered. 
 
 Nay that a barn into which twenty poor wounded 
 Highland men had crept was deliberately set on 
 fire, adding to the agony of their wounds the 
 intolerable pain of death by fire. 
 
 That he allowed no sort of attention to be given 
 to the wounded Scots, but, returning to the field 
 two days after from the pursuit, and finding still 
 some poor wounded wretches lying where they 
 had fallen, he fiendishly ordered them to be put 
 to death, some by the bullet, some by the bayonet, 
 some by the clubbed musket. 
 
 It is said that he ordered General Wolfe, then a 
 young officer, to kill a wounded man, but that 
 Wolfe told him, to his credit, that he would sooner 
 resign his commission. 
 
 And this was the man for whom King George and 
 his Queen, Caroline, wished to put aside their first- 
 born son, Frederick, Prince of Wales, whose greatest 
 fault in their eyes perhaps was his gentleness of 
 nature ; his kindness to the poor and needy ! 
 
 For this great bloated Butcher, Frederick was 
 exiled from his family, insulted in public and in 
 private, and his character assailed in such a way 
 that his name has been handed down in history as
 
 BONNIE PEINCE CHARLIE. 341 
 
 one to be scoffed at ; though this latter injustice is 
 mainly the work of one man, Lord Hervey, perhaps 
 after all his bitterest enemy ; certainly the meanest 
 and most contemptible. 
 
 But the details of Cumberland's inhuman cruelty 
 did not come out for years after, and meanwhile on 
 his return to London, he was feted, received the 
 thanks of Parliament, and was given a pension of 
 twenty-five thousand pounds per annum for himself 
 and his heirs, but fortunately he had none. Truly 
 the wicked flourish in this world like the bay tree ! 
 
 But truth will out, magna est Veritas et prevale- 
 nt ; little by little came to England the evidence of 
 eye witnesses, to the savage cruelty of this royal 
 Prince of five-and-twenty to the poor, half-starved, 
 maimed Scots ; bit by bit the reputation of the 
 " Butcher" was built up, and it will stand while the 
 memory of Culloden lasts. 
 
 As for Prince Charlie, he was forced from the 
 field, whilst trying to charge with the remnant of 
 his men, by an Irish officer in the French service, 
 named O'Sullivan ; he fled to Gortuleg, where that 
 ancient sinner, Lord Lovat, was residing at the 
 time, and who gave him but a cold welcome so that 
 they parted in anger, the Prince not even receiving 
 a meal. 
 
 On to Glengarry's Castle of Invergarry, rode 
 Charles through the night with the last few of his 
 followers, arriving before dawn, only after a brief 
 rest, to go on and on, with the shadow of the axe
 
 342 A FOKGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 ever hanging over him, till, five months after, he 
 was taken off by a French ship at Lochnenuagh, the 
 very same spot where he had landed over a year 
 before. 
 
 But it would not be possible to conclude even this 
 imperfect sketch of the Prince's campaign without 
 paying a tribute to Flora Macdonald, " a name," says 
 Dr. Johnson, " which will ever live in history." 
 The ''little woman of genteel appearance, and un- 
 commonly well bred."* 
 
 When Charles was being run down on Long 
 Island with a price of thirty thousand pounds upon 
 his head, did not this noble young lady, at the risk 
 of her life, obtain a pass from her stepfather, a 
 captain in King George's militia, for herself, a man- 
 servant and a maid, and did she not smuggle away 
 the Prince under the very eyes of his pursuers in 
 the character of the latter, dressed in petticoats? 
 An achievement on Charles's part which called forth 
 from old Macdonald of Kingsburgh the following dry 
 remark when he saw him crossing a brook and in 
 difficulties with his petticoats : 
 
 " Your enemies call you a Pretender, but if you 
 be, you are the worst of your trade I ever saw ! " 
 
 It is a pleasure to know that when Flora Mac- 
 donald paid the penalty of her heroic act, and was 
 brought a prisoner to London, our Prince Frederick 
 obtained her release.! 
 
 *" Tales of a Grandfather." 
 +Mahon, vol. 2, p. 203.
 
 BONNIE PRINCE CHARLIE. 343 
 
 What a different disposition to his brother, the 
 Butchers ! 
 
 "And would not you, Madam," asked Frederick 
 of his wife, who had spoken against Flora in the 
 fashion of the time, " would not you in like circum- 
 stances have done the same ? I hope — I am sure 
 you would." 
 
 It is pleasant to think that Flora Macdonald went 
 home from London with a present of fifteen hundred 
 pounds from the Jacobite ladies of that place in her 
 pocket.
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 Summer Days. 
 
 All fear of the Pretender being dispelled, the 
 Court turned to gaiety again, and the principal 
 social event of the year 1746 was the marriage of 
 the Princess Mary, the King's second daughter, to 
 the Prince of Hesse. 
 
 To celebrate this event there were a series of 
 Royal entertainments, concerning one of which 
 Horace Walpole relates a humorous incident. " A 
 most ridiculous tumble t'other night at the Opera. 
 They had not pegged up his," — the Prince of 
 Hesse's, " box tight after the Ridotto, and down he 
 came on all fours. George Selwyn says he carried 
 it off with unembarrassed countenance." 
 
 The marriage, however, proved a sad one for poor 
 Princess Mary. She was back again in England in 
 a year, under the excuse of having to drink the 
 Bath waters, but really to escape from the cruelty 
 of her husband. She was glad enough to get back 
 to her favourite brother and sister, the Duke of 
 Cumberland and the Princess Caroline ; the former 
 just in the full enjoyment of his new title, " the 
 Butcher." So common had this sobriquet become 
 among the public, that when the Duke lost his 
 
 (344)
 
 SUMMER DAYS. 345 
 
 sword one night at the opera, the people remarked : 
 " The Butcher has lost his knife ! " 
 
 However, the troubles of his newly-married 
 daughter did not much affect the King. He was 
 particularly annoyed about this time — 1747 — -by a 
 new opposition created by the Prince of Wales, 
 which it was declared was to last until he ascended 
 the throne. Father and son, despite their fussy 
 reconciliation, were as far apart as ever, and the 
 reception given by the King to the Duke of 
 Cumberland after his bloody errand in the North, 
 had not tended to mend matters. 
 
 Horace Walpole thus comments on the Prince's 
 new opposition : — 
 
 " He began it pretty handsomely the other day," 
 he remarks, "with one hundred and forty -three to 
 one hundred and eighty-four, which has frightened 
 the Ministry like a bomb. This new Party wants 
 nothing but heads/' he continues, " though not 
 having any, to be sure, the struggle is fairer." 
 
 The Party was led by Lord Baltimore, "a man 
 with a good deal of fumbled knowledge." 
 
 An anecdote is related of the Prince of Wales's 
 second son, Edward Duke of York, whom Horace 
 Walpole describes as " a very plain boy with 
 strange loose eyes, but was much the favourite. He 
 is a sayer of things." 
 
 This is one of the " things " recorded of him : — 
 
 Baron Steinberg, one of the King's Hanoverians, 
 was sent by His Majesty to inform him of the
 
 346 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 progress of the Princes George and Edward in their 
 studies. 
 
 Prince Edward showed considerable knowledge of 
 his Latin Grammar, but Steinberg told him that it 
 would please the King if he made himself more pro- 
 ficient in German. 
 
 " German, German," repeated Edward, " any dull 
 child can learn that." Saying which he squinted 
 with his " loose " eyes at the German Baron, who no 
 doubt went back to the grandfather with a very 
 unfavourable report. 
 
 But the old man was fond of his grandchildren — 
 as far as it was in his nature to be — and determined 
 to distinguish his heir at an early age, by conferring 
 upon him the Order of the Garter ; this was done 
 in 1749, privately in the Palace. 
 
 The fact of the Prince of Wales having united his 
 Party with that of the Jacobites in opposition to the 
 Government did not interfere with King George 
 bestowing this honour on his son. Perhaps the old 
 man was softening a little, and becoming kinder at 
 any rate to his grandchildren. 
 
 The relations existing between the King and the 
 Prince of Wales at this time are very clearly shown 
 by the maimer in which the Order of the Garter 
 was conferred on Prince George. The Prince of 
 Wales carried the child, he was then eleven, in his 
 arms to the door of the King's Chamber ; there he 
 was taken in the arms of the Duke of Dorset and 
 carried within the chamber to the King, the Prince
 
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 « HZ 
 
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 SUMMER DAYS. 347 
 
 of Wales remaining where he was, outside the door, 
 which was half open. 
 
 The child Prince, arriving in the presence of the 
 King, commenced to repeat a speech which had been 
 taught him by his tutor,. Dr. Ayscough, Dean of 
 Bristol. No sooner did the Prince of Wales hear 
 his son commence his oration than he called out 
 loudly, " No ! No ! " 
 
 The boy stumbled and stopped and then after an 
 effort went on again, but his father for some reason 
 would have none of it, and this time a more 
 determined " No " stopped little Prince George 
 altogether, and his fine speech was wasted. 
 
 But nevertheless he was duly invested with the 
 Garter, an honour the magnitude of which it is 
 doubtful whether he appreciated at that age. 
 
 Here is an extract from the Gentleman's Magazine 
 recording an event about the same time. 
 
 Thursday, 25th May, 1749 (O.S.). 
 
 " Being the birthday of H.RH. Prince George, 
 who entered into his twelfth year, the nobility and 
 gentry paid their compliments at Leicester House. 
 About seven in the evening the silver cup, value 
 twenty-five guineas, given by the Prince, was rowed 
 for by seven pairs of oars, from Whitehall to 
 Putney. Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and 
 Princess of Wales, with the nobility, were rowed in 
 their barges ahead of the wager-men, followed by 
 Prince George, the young Princesses, etc., in a 
 magnificent new barge, after the Venetian manner,
 
 348 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 and the watermen dressed in Chinese habits, which, 
 with the number of galleys attending, rowed by 
 young gentlemen in neat uniforms, made a splendid 
 appearance. 
 
 " The Prince has also given a plate to be sailed for 
 by six or seven yachts, or pleasure boats, to the 
 Nore, and back again." 
 
 This last prize was sailed for on Tuesday, 1st 
 August, 1749, and was won by the "Princess 
 Augusta" belonging to George Bellas, Esq., a 
 "register" of Doctor's Commons. 
 
 The Prince of Wales attended in his Venetian- 
 Chinese barge (the rowers in Chinese habits) being 
 greatly cheered by the people, " at which he pulled 
 off his hat." 
 
 Turning to other matters, there was an accident 
 at Kensington Palace which occurred when Lady 
 Yarmouth — our old acquaintance Madame Wal- 
 moden — took up her quarters there, very nearly 
 causing the demolition of the building, which would 
 have been an event much to be regretted from the 
 point of view of picturesqueness. 
 
 The Walmoden was installed in the same rooms 
 which the King's former mistress the Countess of 
 Suffolk occupied, and they were exceedingly damp, 
 a drawback which apparently was not heeded by 
 Lady Suffolk. The Walmoden, however, was a 
 chilly person, and contracted ague, which was rather 
 to be wondered at on such a well-known gravel soil. 
 
 However, to counteract this complaint, she made
 
 SUMMER DAYS. 349 
 
 up such huge fires that the woodwork of the 
 building caught and the palace was nearly burnt 
 down. 
 
 There were plenty of other less damp rooms, but 
 the King would not allow them to be used, and com- 
 menting on this Horace Walpole remarks : 
 
 "The King hoards all he can, and has locked up 
 half the Palace since the Queens death, so he does 
 at bt. James's, and I believe would put the rooms 
 out at interest if he could get a closet a year for 
 them." 
 
 But as the King grew older, there were no further 
 signs of a rapprochement between himself and his 
 eldest son, and no doubt the latters lavish expendi- 
 ture-on such things as Venetian barges with 
 Chinese crews-tended to set the father as he grew 
 more avaricious, more against the son. But the 
 riches hoarded by King George did not endure, but 
 were swallowed up in that disastrous Hanoverian 
 campaign, which also swallowed up the military 
 reputation of the Duke of Cumberland, and put a 
 final period to his war experiences. 
 
 The Mowing extracts from the Gentleman's 
 Magazvne, for the year 1750, are pathetic when 
 read by the light of an event which followed but too 
 quickly. 
 
 They represent the Prince, in fine summer 
 weather, with his wife and children, happily 
 making a "Progress" and visiting certain English 
 country towns. There is a holiday air of peace and
 
 350 A FOKGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 relaxation about them all, and the Prince is shown 
 in those circumstances in which he loved best to live, 
 with a devoted and beautiful wife, for whom without 
 doubt he had a tender affection, by his side, and a 
 bevy of loving children surrounding them both. 
 
 So in the balmy summer air, rent by the plaudits 
 of the people who loved him also, it is better to leave 
 him so depicted in the last public scene in which he 
 appears in these pages, for that happy summer of 
 1750 was the last he spent on earth. 
 Wednesday, July llth, 1750. 
 
 Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess 
 of Wales, and Lady Augusta, eldest daughter of 
 their Royal Highnesses, arrived at Bath, attended 
 by the Lords Bathurst, Middlesex, Bute and 
 Inchiqnin, and four or five gentlemen and ladies. 
 The Mayor, Aldermen and Common Council of Bath 
 waited on their Royal Highnesses, to congratulate 
 them on their arrival ; when Mr. Clutterbuck, 
 Deputy Town Clerk, made the following speech : 
 
 " May it please your Royal Highnesses to permit 
 us the Mayor, aldermen and citizens of this city to 
 approach your Royal Highnesses with hearts full of 
 joy on your safe arrival here, an addition of your 
 many favours to us, of which we retain the most 
 grateful sense. It gives us the greater satisfaction 
 when we consider that this indulgent visit is not on 
 the occasion of your Royal Highnesses' health, and 
 that it affords us this happy opportunity of con- 
 gratulating you on the birth of another Prince, an
 
 SUMMER DAYS. 351 
 
 increase of his Majesty's family. We beg leave to 
 assure your Royal Highnesses that the power we 
 enjoy as magistrates shall, on this and all other 
 occasions, be exercised in strict loyalty and obedience 
 to his Majesty and his family." 
 
 To which his Royal Highness returned the 
 following answer 
 
 " I and the Princess thank you for this mark of 
 duty to the King and regard to us ; the city of Bath 
 may always depend on my good wishes." 
 
 Friday, July 13th. 
 
 Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess 
 of Wales, with the Princess Augusta and some of 
 the nobility, went on wherries about four miles down 
 the river from Bath to Salford, and dined in publick 
 under two tents in a large mead, where abundance 
 of the country people resorted, and to whom his 
 Highness gave several hogsheads of beer. A band 
 of musicians attended the whole time. 
 
 Letter from Gosport, August 17th, 1750. 
 
 On the 15th, in the afternoon, their Royal 
 Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, with 
 the Princes William and Henry and Princess 
 Augusta, arrived in the harbour in the Com- 
 missioner's yacht. Before they went on shore they 
 did Sir Edward Hawke the honour of a visit on 
 board the " Monarch " man-of-war ; from thence 
 they went on shore to the Commissioner's house, 
 where they lodged that night. 
 
 Next morning his Royal Highness surveyed the
 
 352 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 dock and yard, then went on board the guard-ships, 
 which were all made clear to receive him ; there the 
 exercise of the great guns was performed in his 
 presence, at which he expressed much satisfaction. 
 
 His Highness afterwards landed at the Sally 
 Port of Portsmouth, and walked round the fortifica- 
 tions, attended by one of the engineers with a plan 
 of them. From whence he went in the Com- 
 missioner's coach, attended by Sir Edward Hawke, 
 the Commissioner and engineer, to see Cumberland 
 Fort, and about three o'clock he embarked on board 
 the yacht at South sea Castle. Words cannot 
 express the joy and pleasure all ranks and degrees 
 of people expressed at his presence amongst us. 
 
 Saturday, \%th August, 1750. 
 
 The Prince and Princess of Wales arrived in the 
 Isle of Wight, and after viewing Carisbrooke Castle, 
 came to Newport, and were met by the Mayor and 
 Corporation in their formalities, and conducted with 
 great acclamations to the Guildhall, where his Royal 
 Highness did the Corporation the honour to accept 
 the freedom of the town, and at five in the evening 
 departed for Southampton. 
 
 Southampton, August ISth. 
 
 About nine in the evening their Royal Highnesses 
 the Prince and Princess landed at our Key. Our 
 Mayor being confined to his bed by sickness, they 
 were met by his deputy, Robert Sadlier, Esquire, and 
 the rest of the Corporation, in their scarlet robes, 
 and by Mrs. Mayoress, and several ladies of the
 
 SUMMEE DAYS. 353 
 
 town, and conducted to the Council Chamber where 
 a collation of sweetmeats and wines of divers kinds 
 were prepared, preceded by the town trumpets, and 
 the sergeants bearing the maces and silver oar 
 attended with flambeaux and torches, in the midst 
 of loud acclamations of the populace, the bells in 
 every church ringing, and the houses being illumi- 
 nated all the time of their continuing in the town 
 
 On their Royal Highnesses' arrival in the Council 
 Chamber the Prince saluted tin- ladies present, and 
 the Corporation and gentlemen had the honour of 
 kissing their hands (sir) ; and afterwards, their Royal 
 Highnesses having taken their seats, Mr Godfrey 
 the Town Clerk, in the name of the Corporation' 
 made a speech to them, concluding with a humble' 
 request that his Royal Highness would accept the 
 freedom of the town ; with which he complied 
 assuring them that he should be always ready to 
 promote the happiness of the town. His Royal 
 Highness also upon his being solicited that the 
 Princes present should be made free, not only 
 consented thereto, but also directed his two eldest 
 sons, the Princes George and Edward, to be 
 enrolled with them. Their Royal Highnesses then 
 set out for the seat of William Midford, Esquire • 
 where the two Princes reside for the benefit of the 
 salt water. 
 
 The Duke of Queensberry was also presented 
 with his freedom and took the usual oath.
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Finis. 
 
 Under the date of March 6th, 1751, Bubb Dod- 
 dington — who had entered the Prince's household 
 in July, 1749 — writes in his Diary : 
 
 " Went to Leicester House where the Prince told 
 me he had catched cold the day before at Kew, and 
 had been blooded."* 
 
 The full history of the catching of the cold was as 
 follows : — 
 
 It seems that at the commencement of this year 
 the Prince had had an attack of pleurisy from which 
 he had not entirely recovered. Nevertheless he was 
 most careless of his health, a habit he had derived 
 from his father, who on one occasion, when he 
 refused to nurse himself was asked by Walpole : 
 
 "Sir, do you know what your father died of? 
 Thinking he could not die ! " 
 
 Frederick in this way certainly partook of this 
 attribute of George the Second. 
 
 In addition to the attack of pleurisy, the Prince 
 had during the previous year had a severe fall from 
 his horse, which had left him ailing. It cannot be 
 doubted that his constitution had been showing 
 
 *Just previous to this visit, Doddington had been much engaged in a 
 Motion made n the House of Commons by Townshend, the Prince's 
 Groom of the Bedchamber, and seconded by a Colonel Haldane concerning 
 a military scandal, which shows that the name of Haldane was not 
 unknown in military debates then. 
 
 (35*
 
 FINIS. 355 
 
 signs of breaking down for some months before the 
 attack of pleurisy in the winter. 
 
 However, on the 5th of March, 1751, he attended 
 at the House of Lords to hear his father give his 
 sanction to some Acts of Parliament. 
 ^ This ceremony concluded, the Prince left the hot 
 Chamber, no doubt overcrowded and stuffy, and 
 came out into the cold March wind, proceeding to 
 Carlton House in his chair with the windows down. 
 In other words sitting in a thorough draught. This 
 was not sufficient ; at Carlton House he took off his 
 heavy ceremonial suit, and replaced it by light 
 unaired clothing. He appears then to have hurried 
 off to Kew, and there walked about the Gardens in 
 a cold wind for three hours. Returning to Carlton 
 House he lay upon a couch in a room without a 
 fire, with the windows open. 
 
 It appears that the Earl of Egmont, who was a 
 member of his household, came into the room, and 
 finding him there reasoned with him on the risk he 
 was running, no doubt knowing full well that the 
 Prince was in a weak state of health. 
 
 Frederick simply laughed at the idea of danger, 
 and finally went over to Leicester House 
 
 It is not surprising that when Mr. Doddington 
 called there the next day, he found him very ill. 
 
 But not so ill as to warrant him calling there 
 again the day following. 
 
 He went, however, on March 8th, and this is the 
 entry he made of the visit in his diary :
 
 356 A FORGOTTEN PKINCB OF WALES. 
 
 " March 8th. The Prince not recovered. Our 
 passing the next week at Kew put off." 
 
 Doddington did not consider the Prince ill enough 
 for a visit on the 9th, but he went there again on 
 the 10th. 
 
 " At Leicester House. The Prince was better 
 and saw company.'' 
 
 Incredible as it may appear, the Prince seems to 
 have gone out to supper at Carlton House on the 
 12th, and relapsed of course. 
 
 Doddington did not go again until the 13th, and 
 then he recorded the following : — 
 
 "At Leicester House. The Prince did not 
 appear, having a return of a pain in his side." And 
 no wonder ! 
 
 This pain in his side was the worst symptom 
 of the Prince's illness, had the doctors but known 
 it ; but the diagnosis of a case in those days must 
 have. been a very rough and ready affair. 
 
 It has been mentioned that some years before 
 Frederick had received a blow on the chest from a 
 cricket ball — some say a tennis ball — while playing 
 on the lawn at Cliefden. It had caused him some 
 pain, but, as usual, he had neglected it, and some 
 trouble had formed there ; trouble perhaps, fostered by 
 the abundance of the bons-peres the Prince was in the 
 habit of drinking: in the custom of the time. Now 
 on the 13th of March Doddington records that the 
 Prince had a return of a pain in his side. This was 
 doubtless the old spot injured by the cricket ball.
 
 FINIS. 357 
 
 Doddington was evidently now getting alarmed — 
 and he had reason for it, for all his hopes and many 
 ambitions were centred in the Prince — he went to 
 Leicester House the next day and writes down 
 carefully the result of his visit. 
 
 "14. At Leicester House. The Prince asleep — 
 twice blooded, and with a blister on his back, as 
 also on both legs, that night." 
 
 He was there again on the 15th. 
 
 " The Prince and was out of all 
 
 danger." 
 
 " 16. The Prince without pain or fever." 
 
 It is told that in this painless interval, Frederick 
 did that, which perhaps he had been longing to do 
 in those weary days and nights of suffering. He 
 sent for his eldest son George. Then when the boy 
 came, in his state of weakness, his mind seemed to 
 revert to the unkindness of his own father and the 
 bitterness that unkindness had mingled with his 
 life. With his arms round the child he dearly 
 loved, and with the boy's fair head drawn down to 
 his own, he said these touching words : — 
 
 " Come, George, let us be good friends while we 
 are permitted to be so." 
 
 He had evidently, in his mind, the fear that his 
 father would sooner or later come between him and 
 his boy. 
 
 The Prince is said to have had three physicians 
 in attendance on him, of whom Dr. Lee was one, 
 and two surgeons, Wilmot and Hawkins, to do the
 
 358 A FOEGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 copious blood letting, which doubtless drained away 
 his strength. 
 
 But of these five doctors not one saw the 
 imminent danger he w 7 as in. 
 
 Doddington, however, was still anxious, and was at 
 the Prince's again on the 17th. 
 
 " Went twice to Leicester House. The Prince 
 had a bad night, till one this morning, then was 
 better, and continued so." 
 
 He was there again on the 1 8th. 
 " The Prince better and sat up half an hour." 
 The general impression then was that Frederick 
 was recovering, and Doddington did not call again 
 the next day at all. Cards were indulged in by 
 the members of the Prince's family and some of the 
 household in an adjacent room, and Frederick's 
 faithful follower Desnoyers, the French dancing- 
 master and violinist, was admitted to soothe the 
 invalid with his beautiful music. He sat by the bed 
 and played to him with that wonderful touch for 
 which he was celebrated. 
 
 It is not difficult to reconstruct that scene on the 
 evening of the 20th of March. Doddington had 
 called at Leicester House at three o'clock in the 
 afternoon, and had been told that the Prince was 
 much better and had slept eight hours the night 
 before. Doddington had gone off quite satisfied to 
 the House of Commons. 
 
 But now it is evening, late evening, past nine 
 o'clock, the Prince is lying thoughtful in his high
 
 FINIS. 359 
 
 four-post bedstead. The room is lighted by wax 
 candles, their glare shaded from his eyes by the 
 curtains of the bed ; by his bedside is the old 
 French dancing-master, violin in hand playing some 
 soft melody which Frederick loves ; this soft strain 
 is broken occasionally by the voices of the card 
 players in an adjoining room. 
 
 Stealing about the large room with soft tread are 
 the pompous doctors, the ignorant doctors, who 
 declared their patient to be getting well. 
 
 Stately bewigged powdered men these, with 
 silver topped canes carried almost as wands of office ; 
 ready at a moment's notice to draw the lifeblood 
 from their patient, or to order their dispensers in 
 attendance on them in a room hard by to pound up a 
 nauseous drug, in a great mortar, to be administered 
 crude in a revolting draught without any attempt 
 to conceal its horrid taste, for medicine was not 
 administered in those days, in attractive tinctures, 
 with every bitterness covered by some subtle 
 flavouring ; it was taken usually in the form of a 
 gritty, stringy draught which turned the stomach 
 of the patient. 
 
 But around the sick chamber flitted the young 
 wife of Frederick ; she was only thirty-two then, 
 and the mother of eight children, which number was 
 very soon to be increased to nine. She was a most 
 devoted wife and scarcely left him, it is said, during 
 his illness. 
 
 There Frederick lay thinking, with the soft notes
 
 360 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 of the violin floating around him, and the jarring- 
 laughter of the card players breaking in upon him 
 at times. Perhaps he was thinking of his boy 
 George as the music moved him, as it will an 
 artistic nature. 
 
 " Come, George, let us be good friends while we 
 are permitted to be so ! " 
 
 A clock has just struck the half hour after nine ; 
 perhaps the last thought in Frederick's mind, as he 
 is lying there listening to Desnoyer's music, is of the 
 God he is so soon to meet. The hand of the clock 
 creeps on to the quarter ; it is nearly a quarter to 
 ten. 
 
 Suddenly the music stops. Frederick is taken 
 with a violent lit of coughing ; when it ceases. Dr. 
 Wilmot comes to the bedside. 
 
 " I trust Your Royal Highness will be better 
 now, and pass a quiet night." 
 
 The Princess comes to the foot of the bed and 
 leans over it ; Dr. Hawkins approaches the Prince 
 with a candle and gazes anxiously at him ; at last 
 he sees something which alarms him, the cough 
 breaks out again with increased violence, Desnoyer 
 places his arms round the Prince and raises him in 
 the bed to relieve him, as he does so the Prince 
 shivers and cries out : — 
 
 " Je sens la mort ! " (I feel death.) 
 
 Desnoyers alarmed, cries out to the Princess at 
 the foot of the bed : — 
 
 " Madame, the Prince is going."
 
 FINIS. 361 
 
 She rushes round to the head of the bed and 
 bends over her husband. 
 
 It is over ; he is dead. 
 
 And from the next room comes a burst of 
 laughter from the card players.
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 The Final Scene. 
 
 Under this date of March 20th, Doddington 
 continues his entry in his diary : — 
 
 " I suppose the mortification was forming, for he 
 died this evening a quarter before ten o'clock, as I 
 found by a letter from Mr. Breton at six o'clock 
 the following morning." 
 
 Doddington continues on the 21st : — 
 
 " I came immediately to town," he lived at 
 Hammersmith, "and learned from Mr. Breton, who 
 was at Leicester House when the Prince died, that 
 for half an hour before he was very cheerful, asked 
 to see some of his friends, ate some bread and butter, 
 and drank coffee ; he had spit for some days, and 
 was at once seized with a fit of coughing and 
 spitting, which last was so violent that it suffocated 
 him. Lord North was sent to the King. This 
 morning the King ordered the body to be opened — 
 an abscess was found in his side, the breaking of 
 which destroyed him. 
 
 " His physicians, Wilmot and Lee, knew nothing 
 of his distemper, as they declared half an hour 
 before he died ' that his pulse was like a man's in 
 perfect health.' They either would not see or did 
 not know the consequences of the black thrush 
 
 (362)
 
 THE FINAL SCENE. 363 
 
 which appeared in his mouth and quite down into 
 his throat. Their ignorance, or their knowledge of 
 his disorder, renders them equally inexcusable for 
 not calling: in other assistance. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 Augusta, his wife, remained by his corpse for 
 four hours, steadfastly refusing to believe that he 
 was dead. Her position was pitiable, as she was 
 about to become the mother of her ninth child, and 
 felt all the desolation of a woman in her condition 
 at being left to battle with her trouble alone. 
 
 " It was six in the morning before her ladies 
 could persuade her to go to bed, and even then she 
 remained there but two hours. Some long ago 
 exacted promise given to her dead husband seems 
 to have disturbed her mind : she rose and went 
 back into Frederick's chamber, and there burnt the 
 whole of the Prince's papers. 
 
 So it was given out, but it is possible that she 
 retained some, and that they had a bearing upon 
 certain events which occurred later, and which will 
 be spoken of in their place. 
 
 Doran comments on this fact as follows : — 
 
 " By this action the world lost some rare supple- 
 mentary chapters to a Chronique Scandaleuse." 
 
 That might have been so, or not. 
 
 " When Lord North arrived at Kensington 
 Palace with the news of the death of the Prince, he
 
 364 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OP WALES. 
 
 found the King looking over a card table at which 
 sat his daughter, the Princess Amelia, the Duchess 
 of Dorset, the Duke of Grafton, and the Countess of 
 Yarmouth — the Walmoden ; the Georges seemed 
 fond of giving Norfolk titles to their improper 
 belongings — vide Walsingham. Lord North entered 
 quietly and stood beside the King ; in a whisper he 
 told him of his son's death. 
 
 " ' Dead, is he ? ' he remarked turning to the 
 messenger, ' why, they told me he was better.' 
 Then he went round and leant over his mistress's 
 shoulder : 
 
 " ' Countess,' he said very casually, ' Fred is gone/ 
 
 That was all ! 
 
 * * * * 
 
 " Father of Mercy ! Thy hand that wounds alone 
 can save ! " wails poor Doddington in his diary, on 
 the 21st ; and he appears to have been genuinely 
 grief-stricken at the death of his patron. 
 
 " I went to Leicester House," he continues on the 
 22nd. " The Princess afflicted, but well. Went to 
 Council at night, which was very full. The 
 common prayer altered, but Prince George left as 
 he now stands. The physicians made a report and 
 delivered a paper, being an account of the body 
 when opened — I have a copy of it — ordered the 
 bowels to be put into a box covered with red velvet, 
 and carried in one of the Prince's coaches by such 
 attendants as his Groom of the Stole should appoint, 
 and buried in Henry the Seventh's Chapel. Ordered
 
 THE FINAL SCENE. 365 
 
 a Committee to settle the ceremonies of the 
 funeral." 
 
 ^ On the 27th he made another entry concerning 
 his dead master : — 
 
 " Went to Council. Orders to the Lord Steward 
 and Chamberlain to issue orders for black cloth, 
 wax lights, etc., for the rooms at Westminster 
 where the body is to be laid, etc. To the Groom of 
 the Stole and master of the horse to his late Royal 
 Highness to regulate the inarch of the servants, etc. 
 Orders to the Earl Marshal to direct the Heralds to 
 prepare, for the consideration of the Council, a 
 ceremonial for the funeral of his Royal Highness, 
 upon the plan of those of the Duke of Gloucester 
 and of Prince George of Denmark, which were 
 formed upon the plan of the funeral of Charles the 
 Second." 
 
 April 3rd : — 
 
 " At Council about the funeral, ceremonial from 
 the Heralds read— their orders were to form it on 
 the plan of the Duke of Gloucester's and Prince 
 George's of Denmark. But they had different 
 orders privately, which then I did not know. I 
 thought there was very little ceremony, and 
 therefore said that I supposed that they had 
 complied with the orders which their lordships gave 
 about the plans on which the funeral was to be 
 formed. The lords said: 'To be sure'; and none 
 seemed to have any doubts, or concerned themselves 
 about it ; so I said no more, though I am satisfied
 
 366 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 that it is far short of any funeral of any son of a 
 King. After the Council was up, I asked the Lord 
 Chancellor about it, who said that he supposed the 
 Heralds had complied with their orders, but he 
 knew nothing of it, and had never seen any of the 
 plans. I told him that I mentioned it, because if it 
 should appear that any mark of respect to the 
 deceased should be wanting in this funeral, it would 
 certainly give great distaste. I think the plan 
 must be altered." 
 
 Doddington was not aware of the meanness of 
 the King and Court party towards the Prince's 
 memory, but he had a good opportunity of 
 realising it a little later on. 
 
 April 4th : 
 
 " The King was at Leicester House" 
 
 George seems to have shown some kindness to 
 the widowed Princess, and to have done what he 
 could to comfort her as far as it was in his nature, 
 but no doubt her greatest comfort was in her 
 children, especially the eldest boy. 
 
 When George heard of the death of his father 
 — to whom he was devoted — he very naturally 
 turned white and sick. 
 
 " I am afraid, sir, you are not well," pompously 
 remarked his tutor, Ayscough, who was present 
 when the news was broken, instead of comforting 
 the boy. 
 
 " I feel," answered George, with his hand on his 
 heart, "I feel something here, just as I did when I
 
 THE FINAL SCENE. 367 
 
 saw the two workmen fall from the scaffold at 
 Kew." 
 
 And no doubt the poor fellow did feel a pain at 
 his heartstrings, for he loved his father. 
 
 Doddington's diary is almost a chronicle of the 
 events which followed : 
 
 April 13th. " Lord Limerick consulted with me 
 about walking at the funeral. By the Earl 
 Marshal's order, published in the common news- 
 paper of the day (which with the ceremonial not 
 published till ten o'clock I keep by me), neither he 
 as an Irish peer nor I as a Privy Councillor, could 
 walk. He expressed a strong resolution to pay 
 his last duty to his royal friend, if practicable. I 
 begged him to stay till I could get the ceremonial ; 
 he did, and we there found in a note that we might 
 walk. Which note, published seven or eight hours 
 before, the attendance required was all the notice 
 that lords, their sons, and Privy Councillors had 
 (except those appointed to particular functions) that 
 they would be admitted to walk." 
 
 April 13th. "At seven o'clock I went, according to 
 the order, to the House of Lords. The many slights 
 that the poor remains of a much-loved master and 
 friend had met with, and was now preparing the 
 last trouble he could give his enemies, sunk me 
 so low, that for the first hour I was incapable of 
 making any observation. 
 
 " The procession began, and (except the lords 
 appointed to hold the pall and attend the chief
 
 368 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 mourner, and those of his own domestics) when 
 the attendants were called in their ranks, there was 
 not one English lord, not one bishop, and only one 
 Irish lord (Limerick), two sons of dukes (Earl of 
 Drumlanrig and Lord Robert Bertie), one Baron's 
 son (Mr. Edgecumbe), and two Privy Councillors 
 (Sir John Rushout and myself), out of these great 
 bodies to make a show of duty to a prince, so great 
 in rank and expectation. 
 
 " While we were in the House of Lords it rained 
 very hard, as it has done all the season ; when 
 we came into Palace Yard, the way to the Abbey 
 was lined with soldiers, but the managers had 
 not afforded the slightest covering over our 
 heads ; but, by good fortune, while we were 
 from under cover, it held up. We went into the 
 south-east door, and turned short into Henry the 
 Seventh's Chapel. The service was performed 
 without either anthem or organ. So ended the sad 
 day. Quern semper acerbum — semper honoratum. 
 
 " The corpse and bowels were removed last night 
 to the Prince's lodgings at the House of Lords; 
 the whole Bedchamber were ordered to attend them 
 from ten in the morning till the enterrement. There 
 was not the attention to order the Green-Cloth to 
 provide them a bit of bread ; and these gentlemen, 
 of the first rank and distinction, in discharge of their 
 last sad duty to a loved and a loving master, were 
 forced to bespeak a great cold dinner from a common 
 tavern in the neighbourhood. At three o'clock,
 
 BUBB DODDINGTON. 
 Lord Melcorabe.
 
 THE FINAL SCENE. 369 
 
 indeed, they vouchsafed to think of a dinner, and 
 ordered one — but the disgrace was complete ; the 
 tavern dinner was paid for and given to the poor. 
 
 "N.B. — The Duke of Somerset was Chief 
 Mourner, notwithstanding the flourishing state of 
 the Royal Family." 
 
 So ends Bubb Doddin^ton's account of the 
 Prince's illness, death and burial, and it will be 
 seen from his description of the latter that King 
 George the Second's hatred for his eldest son did 
 not cease with death, but that his petty animosity 
 went beyond it to the grave, and touched those who 
 stood around it. 
 
 On such a nature it would be vain to waste good 
 English words, his own reflections on the events 
 of this year are the best comment and explanation 
 of it, and it is a sort of pleasure to think that these 
 words suggest some ring of sorrow in them for his 
 actions past. 
 
 Touched by the death of his daughter, the Queen 
 of Denmark, George the Second made the following 
 soliloquy. 
 
 " This (1751) has been a fatal year to my family," 
 he said " I have lost my eldest son, but I 
 was glad of it. Then the Prince of Orange 
 died and left everything in confusion. Poor 
 little Edward has been cut open for an imposthume 
 in his side, and now the Queen of Denmark is gone ! 
 I know I did not love my children when they were 
 young. I hated to have them coming into the
 
 370 A FORGOTTEN PEINCE OF WALES. 
 
 room. But now I love them as well as most 
 fathers."* 
 
 After a long description of the sepulture of the 
 viscera of the Prince, which appears to have been 
 attended with almost as much ceremony as his 
 funeral, and seems to have attracted a ghoulish 
 interest, the Gentleman's Magazine ibr April, 
 1751, proceeds as follows, with an account of the 
 latter function. 
 
 The procession began half-an-hour after eight at 
 night, and passed through the old Palace Yard to 
 the south-west door of Westminster Abbey, and so 
 directly to the steps leading to Henry the Seventh's 
 Chapel. 
 
 The Ceremonial was as follows : 
 
 Knight Marshals, men, with black staves, two and two. 
 
 Gentlemen Servants to his Eoyal Highness . 
 
 two and two, viz. : — 
 
 Pages of the Preference. 
 
 Gentlemen ushers, quarter waiters, two and two. 
 
 Pages of Honour. 
 
 Gentlemen ushers, daily waiters. 
 
 Physicians : Dr. Wilmot and Dr. Lee. 
 
 Household Chaplains. 
 Clerk of the Closet : Eev. Dr. Ayscough. 
 
 Equerries, two and two. 
 Clerk of the Household or Green Cloth : 
 James Douglas, Esq., and Sir John Cust, Bart. 
 Master of the Household : Lord Gage. 
 Solicitor-General : Auditor : and Attorney General : 
 Paul Joddrel, Esq., Charles Montague, Esq., 
 the Hon. Henry Bathurst. 
 Secretary : Henry Drax, Esq. 
 
 * Doran's Queens of the House of Hanover.
 
 THE FINAL SCENE. 
 
 371 
 
 Comptroller and Treasurer to his Royal Highness : 
 
 Robert Nugent, Esq., and the Earl of Scarborough, 
 
 with their white staves. 
 
 Steward and Chamberlain to his Royal Highness 
 
 with their white staves. 
 
 Chancellor to H.R.H. Sir Thomas Bootle : 
 
 An Officer of Arms. 
 
 The Master of the Horse to his Royal Highness : 
 
 The Earl of Middlesex. 
 
 Clarencieux King-at-Arms 
 
 Gentleman 
 Usher. 
 
 Stephen Martin Leake. Esq. 
 bearing the coronet on a 
 
 Gentleman 
 Usher. 
 
 >> 
 
 g Supporters 
 J of the Pall. 
 
 black velvet cushion. 
 
 Supporters of 
 the Pall. 
 
 o 
 
 CI 
 ci 
 O 
 
 J Earl of 
 
 «~ Portmore. 
 
 o 
 
 THE BODY 
 covered with black velvet, 
 
 Earl of 
 Macclesfield. 
 
 
 CO 
 
 jg Earl Fitz- 
 
 pall adorned with Eight 
 
 Earl of 
 
 GO 
 S-l 
 CD 
 
 o william. 
 
 escutcheons and under 
 
 Stanhope. 
 
 U 
 
 o 
 
 oq Earl of 
 
 
 Earl of 
 
 3 
 CO 
 
 g Bristol, 
 o 
 ft 
 
 a canopy of black velvet, 
 
 Jersey. 
 
 3 
 o 
 
 borne by Eight of his 
 
 Gentleman 
 Usher 
 
 Supporter to 
 the Chief 
 Mourner. 
 
 Duke of 
 Rutland 
 
 Royal Highness's Gentlemen. 
 
 Garter King-at-Arms : 
 John Anstis, Esq. 
 
 The Chief Mourner : 
 DUKE OF SOMERSET, 
 
 Gentleman 
 Usher 
 
 Supporter to 
 the Chief 
 Mourner. 
 
 Duke of 
 Devonshire. 
 
 his train borne by 
 
 a baronet, 
 
 Sir Thomas Robinson. 
 
 Assistants to the Chief Mourner. 
 Marquis of Tweeddale, Marquis of Lothian, Earls of 
 Berkeley, Peterborough, Northampton, Cardigan, 
 Winchester, Carlisle, Murray and Norton.
 
 372 A FORGOTTEN PBINCE OF WALES. 
 
 The Gentleman Usher of his Royal Highness's 
 
 Private Chamber : Edmund Bramston, Esquire. 
 
 The Groom of the Stole to His Eoyal Highness : 
 
 Duke of Chandos. 
 
 The Lords of the Bedchamber to His Royal Highness : 
 
 Lord North and Guildford, Duke of Queensberry, Earl of 
 
 Inchiquin, Earl of Egmont, Lord Robert Sutton, 
 
 Earl of Bute, two and two. 
 
 The Master of the Robes to His Royal Highness : 
 
 John Schiitz, Esq. 
 
 The Grooms of the Bedchamber to His Royal Highness : 
 
 John Evelyn, Esq., Samuel Masham, Esq., Thomas 
 
 Bludworth, Esq., Sir Edmund Thomas, Bart., Daniel 
 
 Boone, Esq., William Bretton, Esq., Martin Madden, 
 
 Esq., William Trevanion, Esq., Colonel Powlet, 
 
 two and two. 
 
 Yeomen of the Guard to close the Procession. 
 
 The corpse of His Royal Highness was met at 
 the Church door by the Dean and Prebendaries 
 attended by the gentlemen of the Choir and King's 
 Scholars, who fell into the Procession immediately 
 before the Officer of Arms, with wax tapers in their 
 hands and properly habited, and began the Common 
 Burial Service (no Anthem being composed on this 
 occasion) two drums beating a Dead March during 
 the service. 
 
 Upon entering the Chapel, the Royal body was 
 placed on trestles, the crown and cushion at the 
 head, and the canopy held over, the supporters of 
 the pall standing by ; the chief mourner and his 
 two supporters seated in chairs at the head of the 
 corpse ; the Lords Assistants, Master of the Horse,
 
 THE FINAL SCENE. 373 
 
 Groom of the Stole, and Lords of the Bedchamber 
 on both sides ; the four white staff officers at the 
 feet, the others seating themselves in the stalls on 
 each side the chapel. 
 
 The Bishop of Rochester, Dean of Westminster, 
 then read the first part of the Burial Service, after 
 which the corpse was carried to the vault, preceded 
 by the white staff Officers, the Master of the Horse, 
 Chief Mourner, his supporters and Assistants, 
 Garter King of Arms going before them. 
 
 When they had placed themselves near the vault, 
 the corpse being laid upon a machine even with the 
 pavement of the Chapel, was by degrees let down 
 into the vault when the Bishop of Rochester went 
 on with the service ; which being ended, Garter 
 proclaimed his late Royal Highness's titles in the 
 following : — 
 
 " Thus it hath pleased Almighty God to take out 
 of this transitory life to His Divine Mercy, the 
 illustrious Frederick, Prince of Wales," etc., etc. 
 
 The nobility and attendants returned in the 
 same order as they proceeded, at half-an-hour after 
 nine ; so that the whole ceremony lasted an hour. 
 
 There was the utmost decorum observed, and, 
 what is remarkable, though the populace were 
 extremely noisy before the procession began, there 
 was during the whole a silence that, if possible, 
 added to the solemnity of so awful a sight. 
 
 The Guards, who each of them held two lighted 
 flambeaux during the whole time, behaved so well,
 
 374 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 that we do not hear of any accident happening 
 among the spectators that are remarkable. As soon 
 as the procession began to move, two rockets were 
 fired off in Old Palace Yard, as a signal to the guns 
 in the Park to fire, which was followed by those of 
 the Tower, during which time the great bells of 
 Westminster and St. Paul's Cathedral tolled, as did 
 those of most of the churches in London. 
 
 The soldiers were kept on guard all Saturday 
 night, and on Sunday, at the South Door of the 
 Abbey, and on the scaffolding in Palace Yard. And 
 yesterday the workmen began to take down the 
 scaffolding. 
 
 The following inscription was engraved on a silver 
 plate, and affixed to the coffin of His Royal High- 
 ness the Prince of Wales. 
 
 Depositum. 
 Illustrissimi Principis Frederici Indovici Principes Walliae, 
 Principis Electoralis Hereditarii Brunvici et Lunenbergi, 
 Ducis Cornubiae Rothsaye et Edinburgu, Marchionis Insulae 
 de Ely, Comitis Cestrias Carrick et Eltham Voce Comitis 
 Launceston, Baronis Renfrew et Snowdon, Domini Insularum, 
 Senechalli Scotiae, Nobillimini Ordinis Pericelidis Equites, 
 et a Sanctoribus Conciliis Majistati Regias, Academiae 
 Dubliencis Cancellarii Filii primogeniti Cessissimi Polentissimi 
 et Excellentissimi Monarchae Georgii Secundi, Dei Gratia 
 Magnii Britanniae Franciae et Hiberniae Britanniae Regis 
 Fidei Defensoris obiit Vicessimod ie Martu Anno. MDCCL. 
 Eatatis suae XLV. 
 
 So was poor Frederick borne into that Church in 
 which his little son by Anne Vane already lay.
 
 THE FINAL SCENE. 375 
 
 The following rough sketch of the arrangements 
 for the Prince's funeral was found in the State 
 Paper Office and differs somewhat from the actual 
 ceremony. 
 
 It was probably curtailed by George the Second. 
 
 State Papers— 1751. Bundle 116. No. 34. 
 Thus it hath pleased Almighty God to take out of this 
 transitory life unto His Divine mercy, the Most High, Most 
 Mighty and Most Illustrious Prince Frederick Louis Prince of 
 Wales, Prince Electoral and Hereditary Prince of Brunswick 
 and Lunenberg, Duke of Cornwall, Rothsay and Edingburg, 
 Marquis of the Isle of Ely, Earl of Chester, Carrick and 
 Eltham, Viscount Launceston, Baron Renfrew and Snaudon, 
 Lord of the Isles, Steward of Scotland, Knight of the Most 
 Noble Order of the Garter, one of His Majesty's most honour- 
 able Privy Council, Chancellor of the University of Dublin, 
 Eldest Son of the Most High, Most Mighty and Most Excellent 
 Monarch George the Second, by the grace of God King of 
 Great Britain, France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, 
 whom God bless and preserve with long life, health and 
 honour and all worldly happiness. 
 
 Supporters of the Pall : 
 
 Right side — to carry the Canopy, 
 
 Mr. Scott, Mr. Ridley, Mr. Pennant, Hon. Mr. Cornwallis, 
 
 Mr. Hawley. 
 
 Left Side— to carry the Canopy, 
 
 Mr. Palmer, Mr. Legrand, Mr. Durell, Mr. Philpot. 
 
 Supporters of the Pall : 
 
 Earl Fitzwilliam. Earl of Macclesfield. 
 
 Earl Stanhope. BODY. Earl of Bristol. 
 
 Earl of Portmore. Early of Mora y- 
 
 Mr. Wentworth. Garter.
 
 376 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 Supporter : Chief Mourner : Supporter : 
 
 Duke of Rutland. Duke of Somerset. Duke of Devonshire. 
 Bart, to support the Train. 
 Ten Assistants : 
 Marquis of Lothian. Marquis of Tweeddale. 
 
 Earl of Peterborough. Earl of Northampton. 
 
 Earl of Cardigan. Earl of Winchelsea. 
 
 Earl of Berkeley. Earl of Carlisle. 
 
 Earl of Moretown. Earl of Jersey. 
 
 Gent. Usher of the Privy Chamber : 
 Mr. Bramston. 
 Groom of the Stole : 
 Duke of Chandos. 
 Lords of the Bedchamber : 
 Duke of Queensberry. Lord North and Guildford. 
 
 Earl of Egmont. Earl of Inchiquin. 
 
 Earl of Bute. Lord Robert Sutton . 
 
 Master of the Robes : 
 Coll. Schiitz. 
 
 Grooms of the Bedchamber : 
 Mr. Evelyn (alone). 
 Mr. Bludworth. Mr. Masham. 
 
 Mr. Boone. Mr. Edmund Thomas. 
 
 Mr. Madden. Mr. Bretton. 
 
 Coll. Powlett. Mr. Trevanion. 
 
 Yeomen of the Guard to close the Ceremony. 
 Knights of the Bath : 
 Sir John Savill. Sir John Mordaunt. 
 
 Sir Charles Powlett. Sir Charles Howard. 
 
 Sir Ed. Hawke. Sir Peter Warren. 
 
 Sir Chas. W T illiams. Sir Wm. Morden Harbord 
 
 Sir H. Calthorpe. Sir Thomas Whitmore. 
 
 Lord Fitz william. Sir John Ligonier, P.C. 
 
 Sir John Cape. Sir Ph. Honywood. 
 
 P.C. Sir Tho. Robinson.
 
 THE FINAL SCENE. 
 
 377 
 
 Vise. Tyrconnell. 
 P.C. Sir Wm. Younge. 
 Sir E. Clifton. 
 P.C. Sir P. Methuen. 
 P.C. Sir Conyers Darcy are to go before. 
 Privy Councillors not Peers 
 
 Henry Legg. 
 
 Sir Tho. Robinson. 
 
 Judges before. 
 Knights of the Bath. 
 
 Arthur Onslow, Esq. 
 
 Sir Conyers Darcy. 
 
 Wm. Finch. 
 
 Hen. Pelham, Esq. 
 
 Sir Wm. Lee, Chief Justice. 
 
 Sir John Strange, M. of R. 
 
 Sir John Willis, Ch. J.C.P.C. 
 
 Sir Paul Methuen. 
 
 Horatio Walpole. 
 
 Sir Wm. Younge. 
 
 Sir John Rushout. 
 
 George Doddington. 
 
 Wm. Pitt, Esq., Paymaster-General. 
 
 Henry Fox, Secretary of War. 
 
 Sir John Ligonier. General of Companie (?).
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 The Residuum. 
 
 And for the rest, what remains ? What flotsum 
 did this apparently wasted existence leave upon the 
 surface of the tide of life as it sank beneath it ? 
 
 Indeed, it is little ; little that is reliable, little 
 that can be trusted as unbiased testimony of his 
 virtues or his vices. 
 
 Horace Walpole and Lord Hervey are the leaders 
 of his vilifiers, both King's men, both hating him. 
 
 What does Walpole say ? 
 
 "Thus died Frederick, Prince of Wales, having: 
 resembled his pattern the Black Prince in nothing 
 but in dying before his father." 
 
 " His chief passion was women . . ." 
 
 " He was really childish, aifectedly a protector of 
 arts and sciences, fond of displaying what he knew ; 
 a mimic, the Lord knows what a mimic — of the 
 celebrated Duke of Orleans, in imitation of whom he 
 wrote two or three silly French songs. His best 
 quality was generosity ; his worst, insincerity and 
 indifference to truth, which appeared so early that 
 Earl Stanhope wrote to Lord Sunderland from 
 Hanover, what I shall conclude his character with, 
 1 He has his father's head and his mother's heart.' " 
 
 (378)
 
 THE RESIDUUM. 379 
 
 No great compliment either to his father or 
 mother if this latter assertion be true ! 
 
 Lord Hervey, in summing up the Prince's 
 character, goes much farther than this, so much 
 farther indeed that his assertions take the colour of 
 a very bitter display of personal animosity and 
 spite. These are his words : 
 
 " And when I have mentioned his (the Prince's) 
 temper, it is the single ray of light I can throw on 
 his character to gild the otherwise universal 
 blackness that belongs to it, and it is surprising how 
 any character made up of so many contradictions 
 should never have the good fortune to have stumbled 
 (par contre-coup at least) upon any one virtue ; but 
 as every vice has its opposite vice as well as its 
 opposite virtue, so this heap of iniquity to complete 
 at once its uniformity in vice in general, as well as 
 its contradiction in particular vices like variety of 
 poisons — whether hot or cold, sweet or bitter — was 
 still poison, and had never an antidote." 
 
 These stilted passages of Lord Hervey seem to 
 have been put together with a double object ; first 
 to show his hatred for Prince Frederick ; secondly 
 to display his own learning. Though succeeding 
 admirably in one, he seems to have failed in the 
 other. No man of learning would ever commit 
 himself to assertions which he was not in a position 
 to substantiate, and Lord Hervey was certainly 
 never in a position to prove any of the assertions he 
 put forward against the Prince, or he most assuredly 
 would have done so.
 
 380 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 He was no more able to prove these vague charges 
 — they were always vague, even to the cowardly 
 hints which he gave in his Memoirs that he knew 
 something ; something very detrimental to the 
 Prince's character — than he was able to prove his 
 boastful assertion to Sir Robert Walpole that he 
 was the father of Anne Vane's child, the child which 
 had been acknowledged by the Prince as his 
 own. 
 
 He stated in his Memoirs that he was aware of 
 certain facts very damaging to the Prince of Wales, 
 which accounted for the King and Queen's hatred of 
 him. If so then he must have been acquainted with 
 some crime committed in Frederick's childhood, say 
 at the age of seven, for that was about the time 
 when his father and mother began to hate him. 
 
 But what are Lord Hervey's and Horace Walpole's 
 charges against the Prince ? 
 
 Hervey says he was vicious ; Hervey of whom 
 Sarah of Marlborough remarked : — 
 
 " He has certainly parts and wit, but is the most 
 wretched profligate man that ever was born . 
 
 If Frederick possessed vices, where is there any 
 record of them in history ? 
 
 Lord Hervey's are very thinly veiled, vide Pope's 
 verses on him. 
 
 It is acknowledged that Frederick made a fool of 
 himself with women when he was a young unmarried 
 man, and that this foolishness began over in 
 Hanover, where he was left a mere boy to his own
 
 THE EESIDUUM. 381 
 
 resources in an atmosphere permeated with the vices 
 of his father and grandfather. 
 
 There was the Vane episode ; true, and he 
 behaved as honourably as a man could under such 
 circumstances. 
 
 Then there was the affair of Lady Archibald 
 Hamilton, and that is exceedingly doubtful ; doubt- 
 ful in the extreme whether there was any guilt 
 between this young man of seven and twenty and 
 the plain lady of thirty-five, mother of ten children. 
 The more one reads of his inner life, the more one 
 doubts it. 
 
 He was certainly vain, and fond of having women 
 about him, clever women especially, but there cannot 
 be a scintilla of a doubt that he loved his wife 
 devotedly, and, moreover, that she possessed the 
 feminine attribute of attracting him through his 
 senses, and holding him. The surest way of holding 
 a husband. 
 
 If, therefore, he was devotedly in love with his 
 pretty wife, and she satisfied him in every way, as 
 he admits in his verses to her, that she did, what 
 attraction would two plain women — Lady Archibald 
 Hamilton and Lady Middlesex have for him, one 
 eight years older than himself and the mother of ten 
 children; the other "short and dark like a winter's 
 day," and as " yellow as a November morning ? " 
 
 " Ah, yes," remarks one of his enemies, " beauty in 
 the case of mistresses was never a necessity in the 
 Prince's family ! "
 
 382 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OP WALES. 
 
 This assertion is quite wrong ; George the 
 Second's mistresses, Mrs. Howard, Lady Deloraine, 
 the Wahnoden, were all exceedingly pretty, the 
 little man, though coarse and vulgar, had a great 
 eye for beauty, and if he could have got her — but he 
 could not, she was a pure woman — he would have 
 had one of the most beautiful girls in England, 
 Mary Bellenden. 
 
 In the Prince's case, Miss Vane, the only 
 mistress he was known to have had, was described 
 as a very pretty girl, therefore he was not un- 
 acqainted with beauty. 
 
 That Lady Archibald, and Lady Middlesex were 
 bright, clever, witty women, useful to have in the 
 Household can be understood ; but to say that 
 the Prince had turned his house into a seraodio as 
 his grandfather George the First had done, is 
 absurd. 
 
 He was not the same kind of person ; his tastes, 
 his disposition, his feelings were utterly different. 
 
 He lived in loose immoral times, and in all 
 probability was not immaculate, but to say that 
 he kept two plain mistresses in the same house 
 as the pretty wife to whom he was absolutely 
 devoted, and among the children he adored, is 
 a vile calumny which emanated from persons who 
 hated him for other reasons, and either could not, 
 or would not, understand his nature. 
 
 Walpole accuses him of lying, but as usual gives no 
 proof. Where are the lies ? We know his father
 
 THE RESIDUUM. 383 
 
 lied ; it caD be traced in history, but where are 
 Frederick's lies ? 
 
 In the numerous letters he wrote and which have 
 appeared in these pages, especially those excusing 
 the removal of his wife from Hampton Court, 
 surely there would have been traceable some of 
 these gross falsehoods of which he is accused. 
 
 But there are none. Excuses, fencing apologies — 
 and we can guess the reason — yes ; but lies ; no. 
 
 Let us now turn to the other side, and hear 
 what the impartial witnesses of his life say 
 about him : 
 
 Here is an extract from a letter written by the 
 Duchess of Somerset to Dr. Doddridge : 
 
 " Providence seems to have directed the blow 
 where we thought ourselves the most secure ; for 
 among the many schemes of hopes and fears which 
 people were laying down to themselves, this was 
 never mentioned as a supposable event. The 
 harmony which appears to subsist between His 
 Majesty and the Princess of Wales, is the best 
 support for the spirits of the nation under their 
 present concern and astonishment. He died in 
 the forty-fifth year of his age, and is generally 
 allowed to have been a prince of amiable and 
 generous disposition, of elegant manners and 
 considerable talent." 
 
 " When the Rambler appeared, he so enjoyed 
 its stately wisdom," says Dr. Doran, " that he sought 
 after the author in order to serve him if he needed
 
 384 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 service. His method of serving an author was not 
 mere lip compliment. Pope indeed might be satis- 
 fied with receiving from him a complimentary visit 
 at Twickenham. The poet there was on equal 
 terms with the Prince ; and when the latter asked 
 him how it was that the author who hurled his 
 shafts against kings could be so friendly towards 
 the son of a King, Pope somewhat pertly answered, 
 that he who dreaded the lion, might safely enough 
 fondle the cub. But Frederick could really be 
 princely to authors, and what is even more, he could do 
 a good action gracefully, an immense point where 
 there is a good action to be done. 
 
 "Thus to Tindal he sent a gold medal worth forty 
 guineas ; and to dry and dusty Glover, for whose 
 ' Leonidas ' he had much respect, he sent a note 
 for five hundred pounds, when the poet was in 
 difficulties. This handsome gift, too, was sent 
 unasked. The son of song was honoured, and not 
 humilated, by the gift. 
 
 " It does not matter whether Lyttelton or any 
 one else taught him to be the patron of literature 
 and literary men ; it is to his credit that he 
 recognised them, acknowledged their services, and 
 saw them with pleasure at his little court, often 
 giving them precedence over those whose greatness 
 was the mere result of accident of birth." 
 . And this little anecdote of Lady Huntingdon. 
 
 He missed her from his circle one day, and asked 
 Lady Charlotte Edwin where she was.
 
 THE KESIDUUM. 385 
 
 " Oh ! I dare say," exclaimed Lady Charlotte, 
 who was not pious then, but became so after, " I 
 dare say she is praying with her beggars ! 
 
 Frederick the " childish," " whose passion was 
 women," turned and looked at her. 
 
 " Lady Charlotte," he answered, " when I am 
 dying T think I shall be happy to seize the skirt 
 of Lady Huntingdon's mantle to lift me up to 
 Heaven ! " 
 
 Finally, listen to what Dr. Doran says of him a 
 hundred years after, summing up his character. 
 
 " He walked the streets unattended to the great 
 delight of the people ;* was the presiding Apollo 
 at great festivals, conferred the prizes at rowings 
 and racings, and talked familiarly with Thames 
 fishermen on the mysteries of their craft. He 
 would enter the cottages of the poor, listen with 
 patience to their twice-told tales, and partake 
 with relish of the humble fare presented to him. 
 So did the old soldier find in him a ready listener 
 to the story of his campaigns and the subject of 
 his petitions ; and never did the illustrous maimed 
 appeal to him in vain. He was a man to be loved 
 in spite of all his vices. He would have been 
 adored had his virtues been more, or more real." 
 
 And had he any other quality which perhaps 
 has been forgotten ? Some memory of a kindly, 
 tender feeling, which, maybe, has covered many of 
 
 * At his death the popular cry was : " Oh ! that it was but his brother ! 
 Oh ! that it was but the butcher I "
 
 386 A FORGOTTEN PRINCE OF WALES. 
 
 his sins ? Let us think, who have read these pages. 
 Yes; there was one quality; one which can come 
 only from the heart of a good man or woman, and 
 which he possessed in great fulness ; a quality much 
 despised in those da} r s and in these, 
 
 HE LOVED LITTLE CHILDREN. 
 
 " Not all unhappy, having loved God's best." — Tennyson. 
 
 THE END.
 
 SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY 
 
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