The marriage took place on the 16th with something, if not of maimed rites, at least of diminished ceremony. The ‘Lady Augusta’ was wedded with as little formality as was observed--under the same roof too--at her birth. The latter vexed Queen Caroline because so little etiquette was followed at it. The wedding troubled Queen Charlotte lest there should be too much and of too costly a sort. Not a gun was fired by way of congratulatory salute, as had been done when Anne, the daughter of Caroline, married the Prince of Orange. More trifling testimonies of respect were denied on this occasion, even when the bride had petitioned for them, on the ground that there was no precedent for them in the ‘Orange marriage.’ The bride, fairly enough, complained at quotation of precedent in one case which had been followed in no other. The servants of the King and Queen were not even permitted to put on their new attire, either for the wedding ceremony or the drawing-room next day. They were ordered to keep their new suits for the Queen’s birthday. The ceremony performed, the bridal pair betook themselves to Leicester House, where they presided at a right royal supper; and this was the last time that Kings, Queens, Princes, Princesses, and half the peerage met together in Leicester Square to hold high festival. Political party spirit ran very high in the early years of King George’s reign; and such especial care was taken to keep the Prince from encountering any of the Opposition that, as Walpole remarks, he did nothing but take notice of them. He wrote to fidgety Newcastle, and called on fiery Pitt, and dined twice with ‘_the_ Duke’--of Cumberland. On the evening of the second dinner he was engaged to attend a concert given in honour of himself and wife by the Queen. As he did not appear inclined to leave the table when the hour was growing late, Fironce, his secretary, pulled out his watch. The ducal host took the hint, and expressed a fear, which sounded like a hope, that the hour had come when his guest must leave him. ‘_N’importe!_’ said the Prince; and he sat on, sipped his coffee, and did not get to the Queen’s concert until after eight o’clock, at which hour, in those days, concerts were half concluded. Fironce, the Duke’s secretary, who sought to influence his master thus early, long continued to aim at exercising the same power. In 1794 Fironce was the Duke of Brunswick’s prime minister, when the command of the Austrian army against France was offered to the Duke. The latter was inclined to accept, and Fironce had nothing to say against it; but Fironce’s wife (who was a democrat) had, and she forbade her husband furthering the object of Austria.