As a note of illustration on this dance at the Prussian nuptials of the
duke and duchess of York, reference may be had to a slight mention of
the same observance on the marriage of the prince royal of Prussia with
the princess of Bavaria, in the _Every-Day Book_, vol. i. p. 1551. Since
that article, I find more descriptive particulars of it in a letter from
baron Bielfeld, giving an account of the marriage of the prince of
Prussia with the princess of Brunswick Wolfenbuttle, at Berlin, in 1742.
The baron was present at the ceremonial.
“As soon as their majesties rose from table, the whole company returned
into the white hall; from whence the altar was removed, and the room was
illuminated with fresh wax lights. The musicians were placed on a stage
of solid silver. Six lieutenant generals, and six ministers of state,
stood, each with a white wax torch in his hand, ready to be lighted, in
conformity to a ceremony used in the German courts on these occasions,
which is called ‘_the dance of torches_,’ in allusion to the torch of
Hymen. This dance was opened by the new married prince and princess, who
made the tour of the hall, saluting the king and the company. Before
them went the ministers and the generals, two and two, with their
lighted torches. The princess then gave her hand to the king, and the
prince to the queen; the king gave his hand to the queen mother, and the
reigning queen to prince Henry; and in this manner all the princes and
princesses that were present, one after the other, and according to
their rank, led up the dance, making the tour of the hall, almost in the
step of the Polognese. The novelty of this performance, and the sublime
quality of the performers, made it in some degree agreeable. Otherwise
the extreme gravity of the dance itself, with the continual round and
formal pace of the dancers, the frequent going out of the torches, and
the clangour of the trumpets that rent the ear, all these I say made it
too much resemble the dance of the Sarmates, those ancient inhabitants
of the prodigious woods of this country.”
* * * * *
On the 7th of June, 1794, about four o’clock in the morning, a fire
broke out at the duke of York’s palace at Oatlands. It began in the
kitchen, and was occasioned by a beam which projected into the chimney,
and communicated to the roof. His royal highness’s armoury was in that
wing of the building where the fire commenced, in which forty pounds of
gunpowder being deposited, a number of most curious war-like
instruments, which his royal highness had collected on the continent,
were destroyed. Many of the guns and other weapons were presented from
the king of Prussia, and German officers of distinction, and to each
piece was attached its history. By the seasonable exertions of the
neighbourhood, the flames were prevented from spreading to the main part
of the building. The duchess was at Oatlands at the time, and beheld the
conflagration from her sleeping apartment, in the centre of the mansion,
from which the flames were prevented communicating by destroying a
gateway, over the wing that adjoined to the house. Her royal highness
gave her orders with perfect composure, directed abundant refreshment to
the people who were extinguishing the flames, and then retired to the
rooms of the servants at the stables, which are considerably detached
from the palace. His majesty rode over from Windsor-castle to visit her
royal highness, and staid with her a considerable time.
* * * * *
On the 8th of April, 1808, whilst the duke of York was riding for an
airing along the King’s-road towards Fulham, a drover’s dog crossed, and
barked in front of the horse. The animal, suddenly rearing, fell
backwards, with the duke under him; and the horse rising, with the
duke’s foot in the stirrup, dragged him along, and did him further
injury. When extricated, the duke, with great cheerfulness, denied he
was much hurt, yet two of his ribs were broken, the back of his head and
face contused, and one of his legs and arms much bruised. A gentleman in
a hack chaise immediately alighted, and the duke was conveyed in it to
York-house, Piccadilly, where his royal highness was put to bed, and in
due time recovered to the performance of his active duties.
* * * * *
On the 6th of August, 1815, the duke of York, on coming out of a
shower-bath, at Oatlands, fell, from the slippery state of the oilcloth,
and broke the large bone of his left arm, half way between the shoulder
and the elbow-joint. His royal highness’s excellent constitution at that
time assisted the surgeons, and in a fortnight he again attended to
business.
* * * * *
On the 11th of October, in the same year, his royal highness’s library,
at his office in the Horse-guards consisting of the best military
authors, and a very extensive collection of maps, were removed to his
new library (late her majesty’s) in the Green-park. The assemblage is
the most perfect collection of works on military affairs in the kingdom.
* * * * *
It appears, from the report of the commissioners of woods, forests, and
land revenues, in 1816, that the duke of York purchased of the
commissioners the following estates: 1. The manor of Byfleet and
Weybridge, with Byfleet or Weybridge-park, and a capital messuage and
offices, and other messuages and buildings there. 2. The manor of Walton
Leigh, and divers messuages and lands therein. 3. A capital messuage
called Brooklands, with offices, gardens, and several parcels of land,
situated at Weybridge. 4. A farm-house, and divers lands, called
Brooklands-farm, at Weybridge. 5. A messuage and lands, called Childs,
near Weybridge. 6. Two rabbit-warrens within the manor of Byfleet and
Weybridge. To this property was to be added all lands and premises
allotted to the preceding by virtue of any act of enclosure. The sale
was made to his royal highness in May, 1809, at the price of £74,459.
3_s._; but the money was permitted to remain at the interest of 3½ per
cent. till the 10th of June, 1815, when the principal and interest
(amounting, after the deduction of property-tax, and of the rents,
which, during the interval, had been paid to the crown, to £85,135.
5_s._ 9_d._) were paid into the Bank of England, to the account of the
commissioners for the new street. His royal highness also purchased
about twenty acres of land in Walton, at the price of £1294. 2_s._ 3_d._
* * * * *
While the duke was in his last illness, members on both sides of the
House of Commons bore spontaneous testimony to his royal highness’s
impartial administration of his high office as commander-in-chief; and
united in one general expression, that no political distinction ever
interfered to prevent the promotion of a deserving officer.
A statement in bishop Watson’s Memoirs, is a tribute to his royal
highness’s reputation.
“On the marriage of my son in August, 1805, I wrote,” says the bishop,
“to the duke of York, requesting his royal highness to give him his
protection. I felt a consciousness of having, through life, cherished a
warm attachment to the house of Brunswick, and to those principles
which had placed it on the throne, and of having on all occasions acted
an independent and honourable part towards the government of the
country, and I therefore thought myself justified in concluding my
letter in the following terms:--‘I know not in what estimation your
royal highness may hold my repeated endeavours, in moments of danger, to
support the religion and the constitution of the country; but if I am
fortunate enough to have any merit with you on that score, I earnestly
request your protection for my son. I am a bad courtier, and know little
of the manner of soliciting favours through the intervention of others,
but I feel that I shall never know how to forget them, when done to
myself; and, under that consciousness, I beg leave to submit myself
‘Your Royal Highness’s
‘Most grateful servant,
‘R. LANDAFF.’
“I received a very obliging answer by the return of the post, and in
about two months my son was promoted, without purchase, from a majority
to a lieutenant-colonelcy in the Third Dragoon Guards. After having
experienced, for above twenty-four years, the neglect of his majesty’s
ministers, I received great satisfaction from this attention of his son,
and shall carry with me to my grave a most grateful memory of his
goodness. I could not at the time forbear expressing my acknowledgment
in the following letter, nor can I now forbear inserting it in these
anecdotes. The whole transaction will do his royal highness no discredit
with posterity, and I shall ever consider it as an honourable testimony
of his approbation of my public conduct.
‘_Calgarth Park, Nov. 9, 1805._’
------ ‘Do, my lord of Canterbury,
But one good turn, and he’s your friend for ever.’
‘Thus Shakspeare makes Henry VIII. speak of Cranmer; and from the bottom
of my heart, I humbly entreat your royal highness to believe, that the
sentiment is as applicable to the bishop of Landaff as it was to
Cranmer.
‘The _bis dat qui cito dat_ has been most kindly thought of in this
promotion of my son; and I know not which is most dear to my feelings,
the matter of the obligation, or the noble manner of its being
conferred. I sincerely hope your royal highness will pardon this my
intrusion, in thus expressing my most grateful acknowledgments for them
both.
‘R. LANDAFF.’”
[31] Hist. of House of Austria. Rapin. Favine.
~Mr. Charles Lamb.~
_To the Editor._