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 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 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 proficient 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 manner 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 of Wales
remaining where he was, outside the door, which was half open.
[Illustration:
_National Portrait Gallery._ _Emery Walker._
PRINCE GEORGE (afterwards George III) AND PRINCE EDWARD, HIS BROTHER,
SONS OF PRINCE FREDERICK, WITH THEIR TUTOR, DR. AYSCOUGH.]
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.R.H. 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, 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
Walmoden--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 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 commenting on this Horace Walpole remarks:
“The King hoards all he can, and has locked up half the Palace since
the Queen’s death, so he does at St. 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
latter’s lavish expenditure--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 following extracts from the _Gentleman’s Magazine_, 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 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 11th, 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 Inchiquin, 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 congratulating you on the birth of another
Prince, an 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 Commissioner’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 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 fortifications, attended by one of the engineers
with a plan of them. From whence he went in the Commissioner’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 Southsea Castle. Words cannot express the joy and pleasure all ranks
and degrees of people expressed at his presence amongst us.
_Saturday, 18th 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 18th._
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 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 illuminated all the time of their
continuing in the town.
On their Royal Highnesses’ arrival in the Council Chamber the Prince
saluted the ladies present, and the Corporation and gentlemen had the
honour of kissing their hands (_sic_); 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.