With regard to this mortgage on the Pavilion, Lord Stourton says:[47] 'To the Duke of York and the Queen, Mrs. Fitzherbert was indebted for £6,000 a year in a mortgage deed, which they procured for her on the Palace at Brighton; being aware, as she said, that till that period, she had no legal title to a single shilling should she survive the Prince. Indeed, at one period, she had debts upon her own jointures, incurred principally on account of the Prince; and, when the Duke of Wellington, as executor to George IV., asked her if she had anything to show, or claim upon the personalty of the deceased Sovereign, she told him she had not even a scrap of paper, for that she had never, in her life, been an interested person.' We have seen that the marriage took place on December 21, 1785; but it was noised about before then, as we may see by the two following cuttings from the _Morning Post_, December 16, 1785: 'It is whispered in the circles of gallantry, that a certain illustrious character has made a delicate and honourable engagement with a Lady of superior accomplishments; that she is to have the full direction of his household, with a settlement of £8,000 a year, the ---- 's liveries, with an engagement to create her a Duchess, if ever he should have the power.' _December 17, 1785._--'A very extraordinary treaty is on the tapis, between a beautiful young Widow, who resides about ten miles from London, in the county of Surrey, and a Gentleman of _high rank_, in the neighbourhood of St. James's. Fame speaks highly of the Lady's virtues, and her accomplishments; and, as conscious of her value, she has taken care to set a very high price upon her person: the terms are that she should be the mistress of the young Gentleman's town house, to preside at his table, to have a settlement of Six thousand pounds per annum: her equipages and liveries to be the same as her lover's; and, when it shall be _in his power_, the Lady to be created a Duchess in her own right:--These conditions, it is said, are already agreed to; and, in a very short time, the amorous treaty will be signed and sealed.' The caricaturist did not linger long afterwards, and the earliest of the satirical prints bearing on this subject is one dated March 13, 1786, supposed to be drawn by 'Fitz,' called 'The Follies of a Day, or the Marriage of Figaro.' The Prince is just putting the ring on Mrs. Fitzherbert's hand. They are being married by a sham parson--Weltje, in fact, as is evidenced by the corkscrew which he wears in lieu of a crucifix, whilst out of his pocket appears a scroll endorsed 'Weltjie's Nat(uralizatio)^n Bill.' The book from which he reads is 'Hoyle's Games,' and the page is headed 'Matrimony.' George Hanger is the sole witness. Others follow, and they are all as wide of the real facts of the case as is this one.