Such were some of the altercations which disturbed the Duchess in her widowhood. She was likewise generally on indifferent terms with the court. Queen Caroline, though much commended by the Duchess as Princess of Wales, became, in process of time, everything that was disagreeable in the eyes of the Duchess; and as her grace “could not deny herself the pleasure of speaking her mind upon any occasion,” to use her own words, and as there are always a number of people who trade in retail upon the speeches of others, Queen Caroline, that pattern of prudence and forbearance, and her very uninteresting consort, were soon aware of the animosity, for to that it at last amounted, that the Duchess bore to them, and to their court and administration. For this dislike there was, it must be allowed, considerable reason on the part of the Duchess; and in her letters to Mr. Scrope, secretary to the minister, Mr. Pelham, she unfolds her wrongs, and reflects great discredit on the character of the Princess. Years afterwards, when the Duchess was so aged and infirm that she had forgotten the dates of the occurrence, she thus writes to her polite correspondent, Mr. Scrope. “You have not,” she says, “forgot the time that his Majesty’s name was made use of to pay no more six hundred pounds a year: this was done by Queen Caroline, who sent me word, if I would not let her buy something of mine at Wimbledon, that would have been a great prejudice to my family, and that was settled upon them, I was in her power, and she would take away what I had for Windsor Lodge.” This threat, equally ungracious and fruitless, roused all the Duchess’s spirit of resistance. In the first place she did not believe that the Queen had the power to do what she threatened, or if she had, she would, as she declared, have valued a smaller thing of her own much more than one which depended on the crown; and she sent her Majesty a respectful refusal.[333] The affairs of Windsor Park occupied much of her time. As ranger, she could not but lament, as well as remonstrate against, the pitiful economy, if such a word can be applied to Walpole, or the shameful neglect of that source of pride to our country which was permitted during his administration. She wrote, perhaps, as much for the purpose of annoying Sir Robert, as of getting repairs done to the park; and, as her custom was, as she said, “to tumble out the truth just as it came out of her head,” her manner of stating her opinion was not the most gracious that could be adopted.[334]