There was as much discussion touching the reply which should be sent to this grievously offending note as if it had been a protocol of the very first importance. One was for having it smart, another formal, another so shaped that it should kindly treat the princess as blameless, and put an end to further correspondence, with some general wishes as to the future conduct of ‘Fritz.’ This was done, and the letter was despatched. What effect it had upon the conduct of the person alluded to may be discerned in the fact that when, on Thursday, the 22nd of September, the prince and princess received at Carlton House the Lord Mayor and Corporation of London, with an address of congratulation on the birth of the Princess Augusta, the lords of the prince’s present council distributed to everybody in the room copies of the King’s message to the prince, ordering him to quit St. James’s, and containing reflections against all persons who might even visit the prince. The lords, particularly the Duke of Marlborough and Lords Chesterfield and Carteret, deplored the oppression under which the Prince of Wales struggled. His highness also spoke to the citizens in terms calculated--certainly intended--to win their favour. He did not acquire all the popular favour he expected. Thus, when, during the repairs of Carlton House, he occupied the residence of the Duke of Norfolk, in St. James’s Square--a residence which the duke and duchess refused to let to him, until they had obtained the sanction of the King and Queen--‘he reduced the number of his inferior servants, which made him many enemies among the lower sort of people.’ He also diminished his stud, and ‘farmed all his tables, even that of the princess and himself.’ In other words, his tables were supplied by a cook at so much per head. His position was one, however, which was sure to procure for him a degree of popularity, irrespective of his real merits. The latter, however, were not great nor numerous, and even his own officers considered their interests far before those of him they served--or deserted. At the theatre, however, he was the popular hero of the hour, and when once, on being present at the representation of ‘Cato,’[37] the words-- When vice prevails and impious men bear sway, The post of honour is a private station-- were received with loud huzzas, the prince joined in the applause, to show how he appreciated, and perhaps applied, the lines.