XVII. 1737. racter of a man of intrigue: this reputation, and CHAP. not beauty, appears to have been his aim; and his principal favourite, Lady Middlesex, is described as "very short, very plain, and very yellow, and "full of Greek and Latin ! " * He professed a love of literature, and a patronage of men of talents; partly, I believe, from opposition to his father, who had always despised the first, and neglected the latter. Thus it had happened, at last, that nearly all the wit and genius were ranged on the side of Opposition. To these the Prince's house was always open: Pulteney, Chesterfield, Wyndham, Carteret, and Cobham became his familiar friends, and the "all accomplished St. "John," the Mentor of his political course. It was with a view to his future reign, and as an oblique satire on his father's, that the fine "Patriot King," was essay of Bolingbroke, the composed. The rising men of talent, also (Pitt and Lyttleton especially), were taken into his confidence, and afterwards into his household. The marriage of Frederick, in April, 1736, to Augusta of Saxe Gotha, a Princess of beauty and excellent judgment, did not, as was hoped, restore Horace Walpole's Memoirs, vol. i. p. 65. In the Appendix (p. 500.) are printed some French and English songs of the Prince on the Princess, whom he calls his Sylvia. One stanza ends thus: "Peu d'amis, reste d'un naufrage, "Je rassemble autour de moi, "Et me ris de l'étalage "Qu'a chez lui toujours un Roi!" XVII. CHAP. union to the Royal Family. It is remarkable, that the address to the King on this occasion was moved 1737. by Pulteney, and that the principal speakers rose from the ranks of Opposition. Pitt and Lyttleton both made their first speeches that evening; and the performance of the former is highly praised by a contemporary; yet the subject seems to admit of little eloquence, and less variety; and the comparison with Demosthenes and Cicero is evidently an anticipation. So much are men mistaken at their outset, that Lyttleton appears to have been considered the greater of the two; and Pope calls him "the rising genius of this age."+ * Immediately after the Prince's marriage, his narrow income became the constant theme of his complaints. His father, as Prince of Wales, had been allowed 100,000l. from a Civil List of 700,000l. a year; how unjust, therefore, that he should receive only 50,000l. from a Civil List of 800,000! It might have been observed that George the Second, when Prince, had to maintain a large family in suitable splendour; but all such considerations are usually leapt over by self-interest. The Prince's mind continually reverted to a scheme which Bolingbroke had first suggested two years before, and which, on leaving England, had been his parting' advice -to set the King at defiance, and apply to Parliament for a permanent income of 100,000l. a year. Some of his best friends remonstrated warmly Tindal's Hist. vol. viii. p. 301. + See Swift's answer to Pope, May 10. 1739. XVII. 1737. against this violent measure; amongst others, Dod- CHAP. ington, afterwards Lord Melcombe, a man of some talent, and, as patron of two boroughs, of considerable influence, who has left a curious and minute account of this transaction.* He earnestly endeavoured to dissuade Frederick from thus dragging his private differences into public view, and forcing every one to declare either against the King or against the Prince; but His Royal Highness remained immovable, and used only what an acute traveller has called the Italian mode of argument; that is, repeating again and again the same original assertion!t In general, however, the Opposition were far from displeased at the prospect thus afforded of perplexing the monarch and defeating the minister. Pulteney consented to bring the question forward; Sir John Barnard promised his support; and Sir William Wyndham answered for the Tories, declaring that they had long desired an opportunity of showing their attachment to the Prince, and proving that they were not, as falsely represented, Jacobites. The question derived still more interest from the ill health of the King, who was at this time suffering under a low fever, and by many • Dodington's Diary. Appendix. His first name had been Bubb; and he has already been mentioned as minister at Madrid in 1715. See vol. i. p. 423. 66 "Il répond aux objections à la manière Italienne; c'est de "répéter en criant un peu plus la phrase à laquelle on vient "de répondre." (Stendhal, Rome et Naples, p. 99.) XVII. CHA'P. persons not expected to survive. This circumstance, while it aggravated the undutiful conduct of the Prince, induced many more politicians to approve it. 1737. The King, on his part, at last hearing of his son's design, was persuaded by Walpole to send him a message, promising to settle a jointure upon the Princess, and, though not augmenting the Prince's income, to make it independent, and out of His Majesty's control. This message was delivered by several great officers of state, especially Lord Hardwicke, who had just succeeded Lord Talbot as Chancellor; but it produced only some civil expressions from Frederick, without any change of purpose.t On the very next day, the 22d of February, 1737, Pulteney made his motion in the House of Commons, in the form of an Address, beseeching the King to settle upon the Prince 100,000l. a year, and promising that the House would enable him effectually to perform the same. He was seconded by Sir John Barnard. Their arguments, couched in very moderate and cautious terms, turned chiefly on historical precedents of heirs apparent and presumptive, who, it was maintained, had a right to a sufficient and settled income. Walpole began his reply by de "I heard this day, from a pretty good hand, that His "Majesty has been worse than they cared to own.... 66 .... The physicians say, that if he does get over this illness, he cannot "live a twelvemonth." Opinions of the Duchess of Marlborough, February 6. 1737. See also Dodington's Narrative. + Lord Hardwicke's Narrative. Hardwicke Papers. XVII. 1737. claring that he had never risen to speak with more CHAP. pain and reluctance; but that, from his personal knowledge of the two great characters concerned, he was convinced that neither of them would think himself injured because any gentleman gave his opinion or vote freely in Parliament. He said that he had the King's commands to acquaint them with the particulars of the message delivered to the Prince on the preceding day, and of His Royal Highness's answer; that 50,000l. a year, with the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall, amounting to about 10,000l. more, formed a competent allowance for the heir apparent; and that the King could afford no more from the Civil List; that to interfere between father and son would be highly indecorous; and that no real precedent for it could be adduced, except under Henry the Sixth, a prince so weak, that the Parliament found it necessary to assume several rights and privileges to which they were not properly entitled. The King's ill health, however, made more impression than the minister's arguments, and greatly reduced the usual majority of the latter: nay, he would even have been left in a minority, had Wyndham been able to fulfil his promise when he answered for his friends. But the more ardent Tories were unwilling to give any vote in favour of the heir of Hanover, or against the authority of the Crown, and they left the House in a body, to the number of forty-five; a secession which, as it appears to me, exactly measures the strength of the |