Lives of the Queens of England of the House of Hanover, volume 1 (of 2)Doran, Dr. (John)
History
Lives of the Queens of England of the House of Hanover, volume 1 (of 2)
Doran, Dr. (John)
Hanover, House of; Queens -- Great Britain -- Biography
In the following year the divisions between the King and the prince
made party-spirit run high, and he who followed the sire very
unceremoniously denounced the son. To such a one there was a court at
St. James’s, but none at Carlton House. Walpole tells a story which
illustrates at once this feeling and the sort of wit possessed by the
courtiers of the day. ‘Somebody who belonged to the Prince of Wales
said he was going to court. It was objected, that he ought to say
“going to Carlton House;” that the only _court_ is where the King
resides. Lady Pomfret, with her paltry air of learning and absurdity,
said, “Oh, Lord! is there no _court_ in England but the King’s? sure,
there are many more! There is the _Court_ of Chancery, the _Court_ of
Exchequer, the _Court_ of King’s Bench, &c.” Don’t you love her? Lord
Lincoln does her daughter.’ Lord Lincoln, the nephew of the Duke of
Newcastle, the minister, was a frequenter of St. James’s, and, says
Horace, ‘not only his uncle-duke, but even Majesty is fallen in love
with him. He talked to the King at his _levée_ without being spoken to.
That was always thought high treason, but I don’t know how the gruff
gentleman liked it.’ The gruff gentleman was the King, and the phrase
paints him at a stroke, like one of Cruikshank’s lines, by which not
only is a figure drawn, but expression given to it.
The prince’s party, combined with other opponents, effected the
overthrow of Caroline’s favourite minister, Walpole, in 1742. The
succeeding cabinet, at the head of which was Lord Wilmington, did not
very materially differ in principles and measures from that of their
predecessors. In the same year died Caroline’s other favourite, Lady
Sundon, mistress of the robes.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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