Brighton becomes fashionable--Duke of Cumberland there--His
character--The Royal Marriage Act--His influence over the Prince of
Wales--The Duke and the King--Bad conduct of the Prince of Wales.
Brighton rapidly became fashionable, and we find the announcement
on June 1, 1761, of Lord Abergavenny, Lord Bruce, Mr. and Lady Jane
Evelyn, Lady Sophia Egerton, etc.; and on June 25, 1775, arrived here
the Duke and Duchess of Richmond, Duke and Duchess of Marlborough,
Ladies Caroline and Eliza Spencer, etc. In 1782 it was patronized by
Royalty, for the somewhat eccentric Princess Amelia Sophia Eleonora,
the second daughter of George II., paid the town a visit, and Henry
Frederick, brother to George III. and Duke of Cumberland, took up
his residence there at Grove House. An extract from a letter from
Brighthelmstone published in the _Morning Herald_, September 28, 1782,
describes the state of society there at that time:
'_Sep. 26._--This place is, at last, as full as an egg, but the company
is a motley groupe, I assure you. The Duke of C---- is at the head of
the whole, and condescendingly associates with all, from the _Baron_
down to the _Blackleg_!--_Play_ runs high, particularly at Whist;
his Royal Highness has touched a few hundreds by betting adverse to
Major B----gs, who, apparently, is not like to make a very profitable
campaign of it. We have every kind of amusement that fancy can desire
for the train of folly and dissipation; and all are crowded beyond
measure! _Barthelemon_ has had two or three _boreish concerts_ entirely
of _his own_ music, by which he has made much more than he merited.
Lady _Worsley_, who is among us, is the life and soul of _equestrian
parties_, riding _sixteen miles within the hour_ every morning with
all imaginable ease! Her Ladyship made a match the other day to ride
over our revived course for fifty guineas, p. or p. against her aide
du camp, Miss V----rs, and mounted her buckskins and half boots
accordingly; but, to the mortification of a great number of spectators,
who assembled to see this exhibition of _female jockeyship_, she
declared off at the moment they were expected to start! Few people
think of stirring from hence at present, so that it is probable we
shall have a jolly season till the staghounds come down, about the
middle of next month.'
This Duke of Cumberland (born 1744, died 1790) was the reverse of
estimable in character. He was a confirmed gambler, and never missed a
great horse-race when he was in England. In 1770 Lord Grosvenor brought
an action against him, and obtained £10,000 damages from him on account
of Lady G.; and in 1771 he married Lady Anne Luttrell, the widow of Mr.
Christopher Horton, of Derbyshire, a lady much older than himself.
This so enraged George III. that he forbade them the Court, and he
sent a message to Parliament, recommending a legislative provision for
preventing any of the Royal Family marrying without the consent of the
King. Hence arose The Royal Marriage Act (12 George III., c. xi.),
which was passed in 1772. By this Act none of the descendants of George
II., unless of foreign birth, can marry under the age of twenty-five
without the consent of the King. At and after that age, after twelve
months' notice given to the Privy Council, they may contract such
marriage, which shall be good unless both Houses of Parliament
disapprove. Walpole gives us a ballad on the Marriage Act, a few verses
of which I reproduce:
'THE MARRIAGE ACT NOT MADE BY THE LATE KING.
'A NEW BALLAD.
* * * * *
'The Duke was restored to his brother's high favour,
And continued, as usual, his wanton behaviour;
For adultery at Court was not thought an unfitness,
As a twice married maiden of honour can witness.
'But Hymen, indignant to see his laws broke,
Determined to bend the loose youth to his yoke;
So a votary true, a bright widow, he chose,
And the pert little Prince was soon caught in the noose.
'But, oh! all ye Gods, who inspire ballad-singers,
Ye Muses, with nine-times-ten ivory fingers,
I invoke ye to guide both my voice and my pen,
While I sing of the fury that seized King and Queen.
'King and Queen, when they heard how th'undutiful whelp
Had disgraced the great houses of Mecky and Guelp,
Swore and cried, curs'd and fainted, and calling for Bute,
Of your Luttrell connexion, cried George, see the fruit.
'This Irish alliance my projects all bilks,
I'd as lief he had married the daughter of Wilkes;
While to humour my mother and you I conspire,
I am out of the frying-pan into the fire.
* * * * *
'From the Duke's breach of duty, my act shall receive
The highest-flown doctrines of prerogative;
Plantagenets, Tudors, nay, Stuarts I'll quote,
And what law cannot prove, shall be proved by a vote.
'To marry, unmarry, son, brother, or heir,
Has been always his right, our good King shall declare;
Though as far from the truth as the north from the south,
It is not the first lie we have put in his mouth.
'They may burn and be damn'd, but they never shall marry:
George the Third as despotic, shall be, as Eighth Harry:
He shall cut off the heads of his sons and his spouses,
For we'll have no more war between red and white roses.'
* * * * *
The Duke was ultimately reconciled to the King, but, during the time of
his displeasure, the former was a very bad Mentor to the young Prince
of Wales, with whom he was most intimate to the day of his death. We
learn a great deal about them from Walpole. The following occurred in
1780, when the Prince was eighteen years old:[20] 'Two days afterwards
the Duke told me the Prince of Wales had said to him: "I cannot come to
see you now without the King's leave, but in three years I shall be of
age, and then I may act for myself. I will declare I will visit you."'
Again[21] (1781): 'But an event soon happened that changed that
aspect, and made Cumberland House naturally the headquarters of at
least part of the Opposition. The Duchess of Cumberland and the
Luttrells openly countenanced the amour of the Prince of Wales, and
Mrs. Armstead ... joined that faction, and set themselves in open
defiance of the King.
'The first project was to make a ball for the Prince at Cumberland
House; but the King forbad his servants going thither. The Duke then
made a great dinner for the Prince's servants, to which, as I have
said, the King would not permit them to go. The Duke was so enraged,
that he wrote a most insolent letter to the King, in which he told
him he would go abroad, for this country was not fit for a gentleman
to live in. The Duke, however, went to the Drawing-room again, and
continued to go, the Duchess having certainly told him that if he
absented himself he would lose his influence over the Prince of Wales.
'To the Queen's ball, as I have said, the Duke was not invited, yet
went to Court the next day. At that ball the Prince got drunk, which
threw him into a dangerous fever, but such a general irruption over
his whole face and body of the humours in his blood came out, that it
probably saved his life.
'At this moment the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester came to town from
Weymouth. The King, as usual, vented his complaints to the Duke of
Gloucester. The King told the Duke that though, on the reconciliation,
he had told the Duke of Cumberland that all his doors would be opened
to him, "yet," said the King, "he comes to the Queen's house fourteen
times a week to my son, the Prince, and passes by my door, but never
comes in to me; and, if he meets me there, or when we are hunting,
he only pulls off his hat, and walks, or rides away. I am ashamed,"
continued he, "to see my brother paying court to my son." The King
resented it, and, though he invited the principal persons who hunted,
to dinner, he never invited the Duke of Cumberland. The Prince of Wales
seemed to be very weak and feeble. He drank hard, swore, and passed
every night in----: such were the fruits of his being locked up in the
palace of piety!
'The King further informed the Duke of Gloucester of his brother
Cumberland's outrageous letter, and said, "He has forced himself every
day into my son's company, even when he was at the worst." The Duke
said he wondered his Majesty had suffered it. "I don't know," replied
the King, "_I do not care to part relations_."'
'_May 4, 1781._[22]--The conduct of the Prince of Wales began already
to make the greatest noise, and proved how very bad his education had
been, or, rather, that he had had little or none; but had only been
locked up, and suffered to keep company with the lowest domestics;
while the Duke of Montague, and Hurd, Bishop of Lichfield, had thought
of nothing but paying court to the King and Queen, and her German
women. The Prince drank more publicly in the Drawing room, and talked
there irreligiously and indecently, in the openest manner (both which
were the style of the Duchess of Cumberland). He passed the nights in
the lowest debaucheries, at the same time bragging of intrigues with
women of quality, whom he named publicly. Both the Prince and the Duke
talked of the King in the grossest terms, even in his hearing, as he
told the Duke of Gloucester, who asked him why he did not forbid his
son seeing his brother. The King replied that he feared the Prince
would not obey him.
'The Duke of Cumberland dropped that he meant by this outrageous
behaviour to force the King to yield to terms in favour of his Duchess,
having gotten entire command over the Prince. The latter, however, had
something of the duplicity of his grandfather, Prince Frederick, and,
after drawing in persons to abuse the King, would betray them to the
King. Nor in other respects did his heart turn to good. In his letters
to Mrs. Robinson, his mistress, he called his sister, the Princess
Royal, a poor child, "_that bandy-legged b--- h, my sister_;" and,
while he was talking of Lord Chesterfield in the most opprobrious
terms, he was sending courier after courier to fetch him to town. That
Lord's return produced a scene that divulged all that till now had been
only whispered.
'One night, as soon as the King was gone to bed, the Prince, with
St. Leger and Charles Windham, his chief favourites, and some of his
younger servants, the Duke of Cumberland, and George Pitt, son of Lord
Rivers, went to Blackheath to sup with Lord Chesterfield, who, being
married, would not consent to send for the company the Prince required.
They all got immediately drunk, and the Prince was forced to lie down
on a bed for some time. On his return, one of the company proposed as
a toast, "_A short reign to the King_." The Prince, probably a little
come to himself, was offended, rose and drank a bumper to "_Long
live the King_." The next exploit was to let loose a large fierce
house-dog, and George Pitt, of remarkable strength, attempted to tear
out its tongue. The dog broke from him, wounded Windham's arm, and
tore a servant's leg. At six in the morning, when the Prince was to
return, Lord Chesterfield took up a candle to light him, but was so
drunk that he fell down the steps into the area, and, it was thought,
had fractured his skull. That accident spread the whole history of the
debauch, and the King was so shocked that he fell ill on it, and told
the Duke of Gloucester that he had not slept for ten nights, and that
whenever he fretted, the bile fell on his breast. As he was not ill
on any of the disgraces of the war, he showed how little he had taken
them to heart. Soon after this adventure, the King being to review a
regiment on Blackheath, Lord Chesterfield offered him a breakfast, but
the late affair had made such a noise that he did not think it decent
to accept it.
'FOR THE "PUBLIC ADVERTISER," 1782.
MODERN WIT--(BLACKHEATH).
'Drink _like_ a Lord, and _with_ him, if you will.
Deep be the bumper: let no liquor spill;
No _daylight_ in the glass, though through the night
You soak your senses till the morning light;
Then stupid rise, and with the rising sun
Drive the high car, a second _Phaeton_.
Let these exploits your fertile wit evince:
_Drunk as a Lord, and happy as a Prince!_'
'_Nov. 28, 1781._[23]--The Duke of Gloucester had come to town, as
usual, on the opening of Parliament, and stayed five days, in which
he was three times with the King, who, as if he had not used the Duke
ill, opened his mind to him on his son, the Prince of Wales, and his
own brother, the Duke of Cumberland, the latter of whom, he said,
was governed by Charles Fox and Fitzpatrick, and governed the Prince
of Wales, whom they wanted to drive into opposition. "When we hunt
together," said the King, "neither my son nor my brother speak to me;
and, lately, when the chace ended at a little village where there was
but a single post chaise to be hired, my son and brother got into it,
and drove to London, leaving me to go home in a cart, if I could find
one." He added, that when at Windsor, where he always dined at three,
and in town at four, if he asked the Prince to dine with him, he always
came at four at Windsor, and in town at five, and all the servants saw
the father waiting an hour for the son. That since the Court was come
to town, the Duke of Cumberland carried the Prince to the lowest places
of debauchery, where they got dead drunk, and were often carried home
in that condition.'
[Illustration: GEORGE IV. AS PRINCE OF WALES, 1 FEB. 1782.]
'_Feb. 20, 1782._[24]--The hostilities of the Prince of Wales were
supposed to be suggested by his uncle, the Duke of Cumberland, who
had now got entire influence over him. The Prince, though, at first,
he did not go openly to her, frequently supped with the Duchess of
Cumberland; and, in a little time, they openly kept a faro bank for
him--not to their credit; and the Duke of Cumberland even carried
bankers and very bad company to the Prince's apartments in the Queen's
house. This behaviour was very grating to the King, and the offences
increased. The Duke of Cumberland twice a day passed by the King's
apartment to his nephew's, without making his bow to his Majesty; and
the brothers, at last, ceased to speak. On hunting-days the Duke was
not asked to dine with the King. He returned this by instilling neglect
into his nephew. The King complained of this treatment to the Duke of
Gloucester, who asked why he bore it. "What can I do?" said the King;
"if I resent it, they will make my son leave me, and break out, which
is what they wish."
'But it was not long before the folly and vulgarity of the Duke of
Cumberland disgusted the Prince. His style was so low that, alluding
to the Principality of Wales, the Duke called his nephew _Taffy_.
The Prince was offended at such indecent familiarity, and begged it
might not be repeated--but in vain. Soon after, Mr. Legge, one of the
Prince's gentlemen, and second son of the Earl of Dartmouth, growing a
favourite, inflamed the Prince's disgusts; and the coolness increasing,
the Duke of Cumberland endeavoured to counteract the prejudice by
calling Legge to the Prince "Your _Governor_"--but as the Governor had
sense, and the uncle none, Legge's arrows took place, the others did
not. Yet, though the Prince had too much pride to be treated vulgarly,
he had not enough to disuse the same style. Nothing was coarser than
his conversation and phrases; and it made men smile to find that in
the palace of piety and pride his Royal Highness had learned nothing
but the dialect of footmen and grooms. Still, if he tormented his
father, the latter had the comfort of finding that, with so depraved
and licentious a life, his son was not likely to acquire popularity.
Nor did he give symptoms of parts, or spirit, or steadiness. A tender
parent would have been afflicted--a jealous and hypocritic father might
be vexed, but was consoled too.'
One more quotation from Walpole,[25] which shows us the Prince of Wales
after he had attained his eighteenth year, when he had his own suite of
apartments in the Queen's House (now Buckingham Palace):
'_Feb., 1781._--A new scene now began to open, which drew most of the
attention of the public, at least of the town. Since the family of
the Prince of Wales had been established, and that he was now past
eighteen, it was impossible to confine him entirely. As soon as the
King went to bed, the Prince and his brother Prince Frederick went to
their mistresses, or to----. Prince Frederick, who promised to have
the most parts, and had an ascendant over his brother, was sent abroad
on that account, and thereby had an opportunity of seeing the world,
which would only make him more fit to govern his brother (contrary to
the views of both King and Queen) or the nation, if his brother should
fail, and which was not improbable.
'The Prince of Wales was deeply affected with the scrofulous humour
which the Princess of Wales had brought into the blood, and which
the King kept down in himself by the most rigorous and systematical
abstinence. The Prince, on the contrary, locked up in the palace,
and restrained from the society of women, had contracted a habit of
private drinking, and this winter the humour showed itself in blotches
all over his face. His governor, the Duke of Montague, was utterly
incapable of giving him any kind of instruction, and his preceptor,
Bishop Hurd, was only a servile pedant, ignorant of mankind. The Prince
was good-natured, but so uninformed that he often said, "I wish anybody
would tell me what to do; nobody gives me any instructions for my
conduct." He was prejudiced against all his new servants, as spies set
on him by the King, and showed it by never speaking to them in public.
His first favourite had been Lord Malden, son of the Earl of Essex, who
had brought about his acquaintance with Mrs. Robinson.'
[Illustration: Decorative motif]
FOOTNOTES:
[20] 'Journal of the Reign of King George the Third, from the Year 1771
to 1783,' by Horace Walpole, London, 1859, vol. ii., p. 416.
[21] _Ibid._, p. 449.
[22] Walpole, vol. ii., p. 457.
[23] Walpole, vol. ii., p. 480.
[24] Walpole, vol. ii., p. 502.
[25] Vol. ii., p. 446.
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