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 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.
“I have been at Richmond again with the Queen and the Royal 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[17]
to play upon, who this day sen’night 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 _bonpère_ 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 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.
Fitzwilliam’s Litany_; and he has promised he will not say he had it
from me. So I must beg you to say nothing of this to Lady Strafford,
for she will write it for news to Lady Charlotte Roussie, 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.[18] 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 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 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 fine 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,[19]
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 entertained with very fine French horns, then returned 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,[20] 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[21] danced with Lady Albemarle, Lord James Cavendish with
Lady Middleton, and Mr. Lumley with Betty Spence.
“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 themselves 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 grace’s 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,[22]
and before dinner, under pretence to know if I 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 sen’night. 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 match[23] 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 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
Mr. 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 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
unfortunately 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 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 the woman go. 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.”[24]
FOOTNOTES:
[17] A French refugee, named Roussie, who was given an Irish peerage.
[18] One of the South Sea Bubble Schemes.
[19] Claremont was one of the Duke of Newcastle’s seats.
[20] 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.
[21] 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.
[22] He never was made Secretary to the Queen. This was probably one of
Her Majesty’s jokes.
[23] The double marriage scheme which had come up again for a little
time.
[24] The Hon. Peter Wentworth to Lord Strafford, London, 1734.