Soon after his return to England the king was much annoyed about the income of the Prince of Wales, but the manner in which it was settled by parliament gave both his majesty and Queen Caroline perfect satisfaction. This means, of course, that the prince did not get what he asked for, because, if he had, their majesties would have been very much displeased. Queen Caroline was so anxious for her son William to succeed to the throne that she would have given anything if Frederick could have been put out of the way; but she was not to be gratified, {124}and even if she had been, the little daughter born to the Princess of Wales on the thirty-first of July, would have stood in William's path. The child was named Augusta, and the Prince of Wales had behaved so badly towards his parents about the time when she appeared in the world that he was requested to leave St. James's Palace. He removed with his wife and baby to Kew, and from that time he and his mother never spoke to each other. In September the Prince and Princess of Wales held a levee at Carlton House, when the lord mayor and other officials of the city offered congratulations on the birth of the Princess Augusta, and many friends gathered about the prince, anxious to show him that they considered him oppressed, and wished to prove themselves his partisans. He invariably discussed his father's treatment of him, but always blamed the queen for it. Probably this was because she was unwomanly, and unlike a mother enough to call him by the harshest and most disgraceful names whenever she had occasion to speak of him at all, and these were no doubt repeated to him. If the prince's levees were crowded so were the king's, for his birthday drawing-room, on the thirtieth of October, was the most splendidly attended of any that had been celebrated since his accession. This was very gratifying to King George, and put him in a most amiable mood, but it was not long to continue; for the queen, whose health had been poor for many months, though she had endeavored to conceal it, now grew visibly worse. Yet such was her love for the king, and so anxious was she to gratify every desire of his, that even when suffering from an attack of gout she would often plunge her whole leg in cold water, in order that she might be able to attend him in a walk of three or four miles. But such treatment only {125}aggravated the disease, and in the month of August Queen Caroline was so ill that a report was circulated of her death, and all the London shop windows displayed mourning materials in place of the gay ones that had decorated them before. The mourning was premature, however, for the royal patient rallied, and was able to walk with the king in the gardens of Hampton Court several times. [Illustration: 0131]