Queen Caroline held firmly to the principle that the welfare of the people should be the first care of princes, and she strove in every way to ameliorate their lot. Parliament did little for them in Caroline’s day, the era of social legislation had scarcely begun to dawn. The wars of nations, the conflicts of dynasties, the strife of creeds absorbed all energies, and in the noise and heat thus engendered the needs of the people were thrust aside and forgotten. The condition of the poor not only in the large towns, but in the country districts, was deplorable in the extreme. Many of them were sunk in ignorance and vice, and treated like beasts of burden. There was much talk about the liberties of the nation, but the lower classes of the people were little better than serfs. Neither Whig nor Tory did anything for them; they had no votes and the politician passed them by. Under such conditions the influence of one woman, however highly placed, could do little. Let it be recorded that in an epoch when the duty of man to his fellow-man was least understood, when the national selfishness was greatest and the national ideals were lowest, Queen Caroline did what she could. FOOTNOTES TO BOOK III, CHAPTER VI: [53] Coxe’s _Life of Walpole_. [54] This daughter was eventually given the rank of earl’s daughter, and married Mr. Churchill, a son of General Churchill. Walpole married Maria Skerrett after his wife’s death, but she died soon after her marriage. [55] Dr. King’s _Anecdotes of My Own Time_. [56] _Parliamentary History_, vol. viii., p. 1,185. [57] Dr. King’s _Anecdotes of My Own Time_. [58] _Daily Courant_, 2nd February, 1730. [59] _Hooker’s Miscellany_, 6th August, 1735. [60] _Daily Post_, 1st September, 1736. [61] _Weekly Journal_, 8th May, 1736. [62] _Stamford Mercury_, 11th January, 1728. [63] _Daily Post_, 30th January, 1728. [64] _Fog’s Weekly Journal_, 7th December, 1728. [65] _Weekly Journal_, 20th July, 1728. [66] _London Journal_, 24th April, 1731. [67] _Daily Post_, 23rd September, 1731. [68] _Daily Courant_, 1st October, 1733. [69] _Hooker’s Miscellany_, 20th April, 1734. [70] _Reed’s Weekly Journal_, 15th June, 1734. [71] _Daily Journal_, 26th October, 1734. [72] _Hooker’s Miscellany_, 17th June, 1735. [73] _General Evening Post_, 17th June, 1735. [74] _Hooker’s Miscellany_, 12th July, 1736. [75] _Reed’s Weekly Journal_, 31st July, 1736. [76] _Universal Spectator_, 11th September, 1736. [77] _Reed’s Weekly Journal_, 18th September, 1736. CHAPTER VII. THE QUEEN AND LITERATURE.