[216] It was said that the Queen's economy was due partly to the fact that she came from a Court where money was scarce and expenditure consequently strictly regulated, and partly because she felt it her duty, as it was her pleasure, to give financial assistance to the members of her family. The King helped her in this matter; the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was given a pension on the Irish establishment, her brother Charles was appointed Governor of Zell, and Prince George was given a lucrative command in the Hanoverian army. The Queen's pin-money was settled by Parliament at £40,000 a year, and, in the event of her surviving her husband, she was to receive £100,000 a year and the use of Richmond Old Park and Somerset House. The lack of hospitality shown to those who attended at Court was combined with an equal penury in connexion with those who were summoned to amuse the royal circle, and of some disgraceful examples of this unroyal miserliness Peter Pindar again is the historian. "For, not long since, I heard a forward dame Thus, in a tone of impudence, exclaim, Good God! how kings and queens a song adore! With what delight they order an _encore_! When that same song, _encor'd_, for _nothing_ flows! This Madam Mara to her sorrow knows! To Windsor oft, and eke to Kew, The r-y-l mandate Mara drew. No cheering drop the dame was asked to sip-- No bread was offer'd to her quivering lip: Though faint, she was not suffer'd to sit down-- Such was the _goodness_--grandeur of the crown. Now tell me, will it ever be believ'd, How much for song and chaise-hire she receiv'd? How much pray, think ye? Fifty guineas. 'No.' Most surely forty. 'No, no.' Thirty. 'Poh! Pray, guess in reason, come again!'-- Alas! you jeer us!--twenty at the least; No man could ever be so great a b--st As not to give her twenty for her pain.-- 'To keep you, then, no longer in suspense, For Mara's chaise-hire and unrivall'd note, Out of their _wonderful_ benevolence, Their bounteous M----ies gave--not a groat.'"[217] [217] _Ode upon Ode; or, A Peep at St. James's._ The pecuniary treatment accorded to Madame Mara was meted out also to Mrs. Siddons, who, appointed preceptress in English reading to the Princesses, but without salary,[218] was summoned frequently to read or recite at Court, and came out of the palace "as rich as she went in." [218] Mrs. Delany: _Autobiography and Correspondence_. "Such are the stories twain! Why, grant the fact, Are _princes_, pray, like _common folks_ to act? Should Mara call it cruelty, and blame Such r-y-l conduct, I'd cry, Fie upon her! To Mrs. Siddons freely say the same, Sufficient for _such people_ is the _honour_."[219] [219] _Ode upon Ode; or, A Peep at St. James's._ CHAPTER X THE PRIVATE LIFE OF THE KING AND QUEEN