by Reeve and Jones.--The picture represents a scene of domestic
felicity of the most touching completeness. The husband is browning
a muffin for tea; his wife's arm is wound round his neck during this
delicate operation; his children are enjoying their peaceful meal; an
infant is tranquilly slumbering in the cradle; and a cat, surrounded by
her family of kittens, carries out the unity of the subject. Another of
the series partly published in 1808, in which a rude facsimile of the
original drawings has been attempted, without much success.
_The Tables Turned. Miseries of Wedlock._ A pendant to the
preceding.--The domestic horizon is clouded by storms. The late happy
pair are only kept from demolishing each other by the table placed
between them, which is being wrecked in the struggle. The wife, in a
fury, is holding on to her husband's hair with all her force, while
he has a firm grasp of his unfortunate spouse's head, at which he is
aiming a pewter-pot; children, chairs, crockery, cutlery, and food,
are alike devoted to destruction; the infants are frantic, and general
misery prevails. The execution of these subjects is commonplace, and
the engraver has not done justice to the originals.
_April 29, 1809._ _Oh! you're a Devil. Get along, do!_ Published by
Reeve and Jones, 7 Vere Street, New Bond Street.--A dashing young
officer, a gallant adventurer, probably crippled with debts, and with
nothing but his commission to support his extravagances, is laying
ardent siege to the ordinary person of a rich dowager, fat, _not_ fair,
and decidedly forty; indeed, the lady is more than old enough to be the
mother of her insidious admirer, who is probably looking forward to
the possession of the foolish inamorata's fortune to 'whitewash' his
liabilities, and exchange him from one slavery to another; preferring
the fetters of Hymen to the captivity of a debtor's prison. The lady,
a vain piece of antiquated and frivolous vulgarity, is loaded with
massive jewellery, which her hopeful lover no doubt looks forward
to melting for his own purposes, after he has staked the relict's
money-bags on the gambling-table; her feathers are profuse, and she
wears a boa of an extinct kind, famous in the annals of contemporary
fashions, known as a _rattle-snake_.[10]
_June 20, 1809._ _A Tit-bit for a Strong Stomach._
_July 31, 1809._ _The Huntsman Rising. The Gamester going to bed._
Published by T. Rowlandson, 1 James Street, Adelphi. (See 1811.)
1809. _Rowlandson's Caricatures upon the Delicate Investigation, or the
Clarke Scandal_ (Mrs. Mary Anne Clarke and the Duke of York).--In order
to make the caricatures, published by Rowlandson, on the Clarke scandal
intelligible, it is desirable to recapitulate the circumstances, which
are given in condensed form from the writer's 'Life of James Gillray
the Caricaturist.'[11]
[Illustration: OH! YOU'RE A DEVIL. GET ALONG, DO!]
George the Third's darling son, the favourite Frederick, on whom he
doted, and who was so popular out of doors that he was hailed as 'the
soldier's friend'--a compliment which no soldier would be likely to
utter concerning a commander who had not taken the right method to
render himself the object of general affection--began to attract
unenviable notoriety at the beginning of 1809. On January 27 Colonel
Wardle charged the Duke with corrupt administration of the Half-Pay
Fund, the sole control of this provision having been vested in the
Commander-in-Chief.
The produce of the fund arose from the sale of commissions fallen in
by the death or dismissal of officers in the army, and amounts thus
realised were applied to the purchase of commissions for meritorious
officers, and other beneficial purposes.
Colonel Wardle stated he should prove that the Duke of York had a
mistress, Mrs. Clarke, living in great splendour in Gloucester Place,
from 1803 to 1806. This lady had a scale of prices for the sale of
commissions, and he would lay before the House Mrs. Clarke's prices and
the Regulation prices.
Mrs. Clarke's Regulation
Prices. Prices.
A Majority £900 £2,600
A Company 700 1,500
A Lieutenancy 400 550
An Ensigncy 200 400
Every sale effected by Mrs. Clarke was a loss to the Half-Pay Fund of
the difference between her price and the Regulation price. He then made
a statement of a list of sales effected by her, the sums paid, the
names and ranks of the officers, a list of exchanges, &c.
Her patronage, it was stated, extended also to ecclesiastics. He moved
for a Committee of the whole House to investigate the subject. The
motion was agreed to, and the witnesses were ordered to be summoned.
On February 1, Mrs. Clarke stood at the bar of the House--a lovely
Thaïs, eminently self-possessed, armed with ready wit, and with charms
of person and address which dazzled the gravest members. She contrived
to turn all questions put to her with the object of giving annoyance,
or for her degradation, into the means of exposing the Duke of York,
who, it appears, had withdrawn his 'protection,' stipulating to pay her
an annuity of 400_l._ per annum, which had been suffered to fall into
arrears, and her applications for payment had been met with threats of
the 'pillory' and the 'Bastille.'
Wilberforce, who, as we have seen, had been active in bringing
forward the impeachment of Lord Melville, for corruption in his
office, when at the Admiralty, as far as misappropriation of the Navy
Fund was concerned; and Whitbread, who, as a leader of the Radical
Reformers, was foremost in exposing state intrigues and corruptions at
Court--were active in bringing forward and proving the case against the
Commander-in-Chief.
Wilberforce has made the following entry in his diary, touching the
investigation before the Parliamentary Committee: 'This melancholy
business will do irreparable mischief to public morals, by accustoming
the public to hear without emotion shameless violations of decency. The
House examining Mrs. Clarke for two hours, cross-examining her in the
Old Bailey way, she, elegantly dressed, consummately impudent and very
clever, got clearly the better of the tussle.'
Two officers who endeavoured to shield their chief during the
investigation by giving evidence contrary to the truth, were committed
to Newgate for equivocation.
After an examination which lasted some while, during which facts
damaging to both sides were elicited, while Mrs. Clarke's allegations
remained unshaken in the main, Colonel Wardle summed up the evidence,
and concluded by moving 'that the Duke of York had been guilty of
corrupt practices and connivance. He accordingly prayed for his
dismissal from the command of the army.'
Mr. Banks moved an amendment acquitting the Duke of York of personal
corruption, but petitioning the King to remove him for gross
irregularities and negligence.
Mr. Percival moved and carried a resolution absolving the Duke of all
personal corruption or criminal connivance.
It was evident that the resignation of the Commander-in-Chief would
alone stop further proceedings. Wilberforce and his party succeeded in
forcing him to retire from the command of the army, and the inquiry was
dropped.
Sir David Dundas succeeded the Duke of York, and after holding the
appointment for two years, resigned, and the Duke was reinstated.
Mrs. Clarke was not appeased by the results of the parliamentary
investigation, which had, in fact, effected nothing for her, and
all for others. These disgraceful exposures would have been escaped
if the Duke had paid her annuity. Her motives in the matter were of
course entirely personal; the public were on her side, and she made
the notoriety serve her purpose. She announced a _Memoir of her Life_,
and of her transactions with the Duke of York, accompanied by a series
of his letters; these latter would have been eagerly read, the fervid
specimens which came out in the course of the investigation were
republished, versified, and circulated in various forms, to the delight
of the public. The consequences, and the ridicule apprehended from
this exposure, effected the purpose which a mere regard for good faith
could not accomplish: negotiations were opened for the suppression
and destruction of these memoirs, which were said to be actually in
print. An indemnity of 7,000_l._ is believed to have secured Mrs.
Clarke's silence, and the annuity of 400_l._ was guaranteed her for
life. This outline of the facts will be found substantially followed
by the caricaturist's series, although the details differ in certain
respects from over-colouring inseparable from satirical versions. Mrs.
Clarke[12] stated that she had been under the protection of the Duke of
York since the years 1802 or 1803, but her establishment in Gloucester
Place did not commence till 1804; it consisted of two carriages, eight
horses, nine men servants, &c., to defray the expenses of which the
Duke allowed her 2,000_l._ per annum, to be paid monthly. That she
had also a small establishment at Weybridge; the house belonged to
His Royal Highness. That the sums she received from the Duke were
barely adequate to pay the servants their wages and liveries; and
when she informed him of it, he replied that 'if she were clever, she
would not ask him for money.' That the applications for her interest
in military promotions were very numerous; she mentioned them to His
Royal Highness, who told her which were likely to be successful. At one
period she had a long list of applicants, procured either by Captain
Sandon or Mr. Donovan, which she gave his Royal Highness, who said
he would procure the appointments by degrees; she stated to him at
the same time the sums which she should receive for her interest in
procuring them; that the appointment of Mr. Dowler to the Commissariat
was through the influence of the Duke of York, who knew that she was to
receive 1,000_l._ for it. That two applications were made through the
medium of Mr. Donovan, for promotions in the Church, one for a deanery,
the other a bishopric; and Dr. O'Meara, who expected one of them,
applied to her for a letter of introduction to His Royal Highness. That
the Duke was fully acquainted with the extent of her establishment as
he visited her every day; paid some incidental debts which she had
incurred; but, at the time of separation, had not made any advances of
cash for three months, and, in consequence, left her involved more than
2,000_l._ in debt. She resided in Gloucester Place about three years.
Mrs. Clarke also stated that she obtained for Major Shaw the
appointment of Deputy Barrack-Master-General of the Cape of Good Hope,
for which he was to pay her 1,000_l._; she, however, only received
500_l._, and, on complaining to His Royal Highness, he warned her to
be more careful, and not to suffer herself to be duped again, adding
that he would put Major Shaw on half-pay. Major Shaw sent her several
letters in consequence, complaining of being put upon half-pay, but she
paid no attention to them.
Mrs. Clarke also stated that she had in her service as footman, a young
man, named Samuel Carter; he lived with her about twelve months, and
was in the habit of attending upon her when in company with the Duke of
York. She at length obtained for him a commission in the 16th Foot, by
applying to the Duke, who conversed with him on the occasion. At the
time of the investigation he was a staff officer in the West Indies.
Carter was recommended to her by Captain Sutton, and was indebted to
her alone for his commission.
It appeared from later disclosures that this Carter, who was by
no means a person without education, was the natural son of the
deceased Captain Sutton, a most meritorious officer, and a personal
friend of the Prince's, and that his son's appointment was an act of
well-deserved benevolence. Carter's age at the date of his appointment
was, according to Mrs. Clarke's account, about eighteen, but on account
of his short stature he looked a mere boy.
Mrs. Clarke was asked whether she intended to abide by the statement
of her having pinned up at the head of the bed a list of the friends
whom she wished to be promoted, and which list the Duke of York took
away? She answered affirmatively, and said that His Royal Highness
took it down the second morning, drew up the curtain, and read it. She
afterwards saw it in His Royal Highness's pocket-book, with scratches
through several of the names of those who had been promoted.
Miss Mary Ann Taylor, who was in the habit of visiting Mrs. Clarke,
when she was under the Duke's protection, very frequently, stated that
she heard the Duke of York speak to Mrs. Clarke about Colonel French's
levy, and that what passed, as nearly as she could recollect, was as
follows. 'I am continually worried by Colonel French. He worries me
continually about the levy business, and is always wanting something
more in his own favour.' Turning then to Mrs. Clarke (Miss T. thinks),
he said, 'How does he behave to you, darling?' or some such kind words
as he was wont to use. Mrs. Clarke replied, 'Middling; not very well;'
on which the Duke said, 'Master French must mind what he is about, or I
shall cut him up and his levy too!'[13]
Large sums, it is certain, had been supplied by the Duke to his
mistress--upwards of 5,000_l._ in notes, and in payments to tradesmen
for wine, furniture, and a variety of articles, to the amount, in the
whole, of between 16,000_l._ and 17,000_l._, and all within the space
of little more than two years. The extent of Mrs. Clarke's debts was
likewise to be considered.[14]
_Mrs. Clarke's Memoirs._--Mrs. Clarke called on Sir Richard Phillips
for the purpose of making some arrangement respecting the publication
of her _Memoirs_; this offer was declined for several reasons of a
private and political nature: the unqualified reproaches to which
Sir Richard Phillips had lately been exposed had probably taught him
some lessons of reserve, or at least he did not choose to expose
himself to public notice as the publisher of a work which was likely
to create much political interest, at least while the novelty of the
thing lasted. Though this gentleman declined to become the purchaser
of Mrs. Clarke's MS., he promised to recommend her to a publisher, who
would treat her justly and liberally. At the same time, Sir Richard
told Mrs. Clarke he conceived if she could obtain the arrears of her
annuity from the Duke, and a legal settlement for the payment of it
in future, together with the payment of all debts contracted during
her late connection with His Royal Highness, it would better answer
her purpose to suppress the publication altogether. To this reasonable
proposition Mrs. Clarke consented; negotiations were opened with the
Commander-in-Chief's advisers, and a projected plan of accommodation
made known. This was followed by a string of propositions on the other
side, which were drawn up, and assented to by Mrs. Clarke, and the
famous threatened _Memoirs_ of this lady, 'written by herself,' were
consigned to the flames on the premises of Mr. Gillet, the printer, of
Salisbury Square.
Eighteen thousand copies, with the perusal of which the country was to
have been indulged, were actually destroyed, and the entire publication
was effectually suppressed. Besides destroying the _Memoirs_ Mrs.
Clarke gave up ninety private letters, containing, it is said,
anecdotes of illustrious and noble personages, of the most curious
description.
_April 29._--'Mrs. Clarke's _Memoirs_ are said to have been suppressed,
in consequence of her receiving 7,000_l._ down, and an annuity of
400_l._ for her own life, and an annuity of 200_l._ each for her
respective daughters, with a promise that her son shall be provided
for. The printer of the work has also received 500_l._ of the
indemnification money.'[15]
It is difficult to discriminate between the alleged motives of Colonel
Wardle's action and his real object; public spirit was the mainspring
which directed the mover of the investigation, if we may trust his own
account, and for awhile the populace seems to have been of the same
opinion, as addresses of thanks from various corporations acknowledged
his patriotism. Somewhat later his disinterestedness began to be
questioned; then the ugly evidence of the house at Westbourne Place
was found difficult to argue away.[16] The absence of Major Dodd and
Mr. Glennie at the action--where their presence was of the utmost
importance--brought against the Colonel by one Wright, an upholsterer,
to recover the expenses of furnishing this house, looked suspicious;
the evidence was against the plaintiff, and Wardle was cast in the
suit, and had to pay 2,000_l._ and costs.
In the course of the trial it began to be hinted that the chief
instigator of these proceedings was no less than a royal Duke, the
brother of the Commander-in-Chief.
It seems tolerably clear, on sifting the motives of the several actors
and puppets in this matter, who had personally nothing to gain by the
Duke's dismissal, and who were obviously, with one or two exceptions,
corrupt agents in the first instance by their own confessions, and
therefore likely to be actuated by no higher principles in the
proceedings at issue, that they were (involuntarily in some cases)
exposing their own misdeeds to forward the purpose of a greater
personage, who did not appear, but to whose influence and purse they
looked for their reward.
Mrs. Clarke was, as everyone recognised, acting from the common
impulse of personal aggrandisement, and she frankly acknowledged her
principles. The year following the investigation, and the destruction
of her _Memoirs_, she thought proper to revenge the want of faith
which, according to her account, had characterised the proceedings of
the 'conspirators' in her own case, by exposing the true intentions
of the Duke's assailants; her motives, as she admitted, were in this
second exposure prompted by the same interested spirit which had
actuated the previous prosecution of her late friend and protector.
According to her account Colonel Wardle was simply a tool in the hands
of the Duke of Kent; his allies were Major Dodd and Mr. Glennie, the
former being the Duke of Kent's secretary--who engaged himself without
scruple to forward the projects of his employer. According to all
accounts Colonel Wardle had bribed the assistance of an ambitious
woman who fancied herself aggrieved, and who was, above all, amenable
to sordid incentives: the Duke had left her in debt, had broken his
word in more than one instance, and had used threats of the pillory
and the Bastille in reply to her applications; she was tired of living
in obscure retirement, and was irritated by the menaces of creditors,
whose demands she had no means of satisfying. The chief temptation held
out to her was, however, a promise that she should once more enjoy
that command of ease, and power of shining in the world of fashion,
which had been Mrs. Clarke's weakness through life. The arrears she
claimed were to be made up, her debts were to be paid, the allowance
she sought from the Duke of York (400_l_. per annum), was to be
doubled by his brother; she was to have a carriage and four, with a
residence and state in proportion; and she was to exercise her own
taste in furnishing a house with the elegance and splendour which had
marked her late establishment at Gloucester Place. To do the lady
justice, she hesitated before inflicting the grave injuries which
must attend the public exposure of her whilom benefactor, although
she was by no means habitually given to sentimentality. She wrote to
the Commander-in-Chief, asked for the allowance which, as she avowed,
she had done nothing to forfeit, and at the same time mentioned the
overtures which two factions were making her: one party for political
purposes--the Radical Reformers to wit, headed by Sir Francis Burdett
(who she declared had proposed to treat for the papers and letters in
her possession, some sixty of which, as she informed the Duke, were
in his own handwriting); the other influence brought to bear on her
was of a more subtle and covert description, and she went so far as to
indicate the disastrous consequences to himself which would inevitably
follow if she lent herself to the schemes of his personal antagonists.
The Duke of York remained obdurate, and thus played into the hands
of his personal and political enemies. Colonel Wardle seized the
opportunity. He gave Mrs. Clarke 100_l_. for present necessities, to
induce reliance in those liberal promises which were later repudiated.
The lady's natural sagacity, and her experience of life, furnished
her with strategic abilities almost equal to the combined talents of
the respective factions between which she found herself; and on the
strength of the assistance which she finally consented to afford to
Colonel Wardle and his supporters through Major Dodd--who, though
less seen, was the more active agent in organising the attack on the
Commander-in-Chief--she secured the house in Westbourne Place as an
earnest of the benefits she was to receive hereafter, and succeeded
in making Colonel Wardle become security for the furniture. In her
disappointment it must have proved at least somewhat of a consolation
to have out-manoeuvred the Colonel; who, for his reward, reaped in
the end the obloquy attending exposure and ridicule instead of the
glorification which at first appeared likely to crown his exertions.
Thus the combination was successfully set in motion, and, in spite of
all its discordant elements, compelled to work with something like
consistent unison, or its individual members were left to take the
consequences of any attempted retrogression, as in the instances of
Captain Sandon (Mrs. Clarke's ally), on the one hand, and General
Clavering,[17] whose sympathies were with his chief, on the other. The
opponents of the Duke of York were thus prepared to open the campaign
in the manner we have seen.
In 1810 Mrs. Clarke took up her pen to endeavour to prove that the Duke
of York's fall was actually brought about by the successful ingenuity
and masterly tactics of his brother the Duke of Kent. In a pamphlet
entitled _The Rival Princes_ she argued there was feud between the two
Dukes, a fact which was sufficiently accepted out of doors, before
the appearance of her publication, and that of the refutation which
followed it under the title of _The Rival Dukes_. It will be remembered
that early in 1802 the Duke of Kent obtained the governorship of
Gibraltar, and that when possessed of the supreme command he determined
to introduce all the rigour of German discipline, in accordance with
the school in which he had received his military education. His efforts
to remodel the existing regulations, and to substitute a system of
severer subordination and rigid restraint, were not attended with
auspicious results; on the contrary, a mutiny took place, December 24,
1803, in which, it is said, the Governor's life was actually aimed
at. On this occasion several officers distinguished themselves by
their zeal and activity; while the timely arrival of a detachment of
artillery under Captain Dodd, not only endeared that officer to his
royal highness through the remainder of his life, but contributed not
a little to restore order in the garrison. The Duke of Kent was soon
after recalled, and although he requested that the Commander-in-Chief
should hold a court-martial on his conduct, the Duke of York declined
to sanction the proceedings--Mrs. Clarke alleged out of fraternal
kindness, as he declared to her, that if he had acceded to his
brother's wishes, the Duke of Kent would certainly have been dismissed,
which would have resulted in the loss of his emoluments, and this would
have occasioned a reduction of some 2,000_l._ per annum in his income,
at a time too when he was in sufficiently straitened circumstances.
From the date of his return his royal highness remained unemployed, and
all efforts to obtain a restoration to his governorship, or attain any
command in the army, proved unavailing, although he had received the
baton of a field-marshal in 1805.