Florizel's Folly

'They returned to Devonshire House. A deposition was drawn up of what had occurred, and signed and sealed by each one of the party; and, for all she knew to the contrary, might still be there. On the next day, she left the country, sending a letter to Lord Southampton, protesting against what had taken place, as not being then a free agent. She retired to Aix la Chapelle, and, afterwards, to Holland. The Prince went down into the country to Lord Southampton's, for change of air.

'In Holland, she met with the greatest civilities from the Stadtholder and his family, lived upon terms of intimacy with them, and was received into the friendship of the Princess of Orange, who, at that time, was the object of negotiation with the Royal Family of England, for the Heir apparent. Frequent inquiries were made about the Prince and the English Court, in confidential communications between her and the Princess, it being wholly unknown to the Princess that she was her most dangerous rival. She said she was often placed in circumstances of considerable embarrassment; but, her object being to break through her own engagements, she was not the hypocrite she might have appeared afterwards, as she would have been very happy to have furthered this alliance. She afterwards saw this Princess in England, and continued to enjoy her friendship, but there was always a great coolness on the part of the Stadtholder towards her.

'She left Holland in the Royal Barge, and spent above another year abroad, endeavouring to "fight off" (to use her own phrase) a union fraught with such dangerous consequences to her peace and happiness. Couriers after couriers passed through France, carrying the letters and propositions of the Prince to her in France and Switzerland. The Duke of Orleans was the medium of this correspondence. The speed of the couriers exciting the suspicion of the French Government, three of them were, at different times, put into prison. Wrought upon, and fearful, from the past, of the desperation of the Prince, she consented, formally and deliberately, to promise that she would never marry any other person; and, lastly, she was induced to return to England, and agree to become his wife, on those conditions which satisfied her own conscience, though she could have no legal claim to be the wife of the Prince.

'I have seen a letter of thirty-seven pages, written, as she informed me, not long before this step was taken, entirely in the handwriting of the Prince; in which it is stated by him that his Father would connive at the union. She was then hurried to England, anticipating too clearly and justly, that she was about to plunge into inextricable difficulties; but, having insisted upon conditions, such as would satisfy her conscience, and justify her in the eyes of her own Church, she abandoned herself to her fate. Immediately after her return, she was married to the Prince, according to the rites of the Catholic Church in this country; her uncle Harry Errington and her brother Jack Smythe being witnesses to the contract, along with the Protestant clergyman who officiated at the ceremony.45 No Roman Catholic priest officiated. A certificate of this marriage is extant in the handwriting of the Prince, and with his signature and that of Maria Fitzherbert. The witnesses' names were added; but, at the earnest request of the parties, in a time of danger, they were afterwards cut out by Mrs. Fitzherbert herself, with her own scissors, to save them from the peril of the law.46

'This, she afterwards regretted; but a letter of the Prince, on her return to him, has been preserved, to supply any deficiency, in which he thanks God, that the witnesses to their union were still living; and, moreover, the letter of the officiating clergyman is still preserved, together with another document with the signature and seal, but not in the handwriting, of the Prince, in which he repeatedly terms her his wife.'

As a matter of fact, these papers are now deposited in Coutts's Bank, sealed up in a cover under the seals of the Duke of Wellington, Sir William Knighton, the Earl of Albemarle, and Lord Stourton. All other correspondence was destroyed, on the death of George IV., by Mrs. Fitzherbert herself in the presence of the Duke of Wellington and the Earl of Albemarle. The packet consists of:

1. The mortgage on the palace at Brighton.

2. The certificate of the marriage, dated December 21, 1785.

3. A letter from George IV. relating to the marriage (signed).

4. A will written by George IV.

5. Memorandum written by Mrs. Fitzherbert, attached to a letter written by the clergyman who performed the marriage ceremony.

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.

March 20, 1786 – 'The Royal Toast – Fat, Fair, and Forty,' is a fancy portrait of Mrs. Fitzherbert, very stout, a fact as truthful as her age, which was but thirty.

March 21, 1786 – 'Wedding Night, or the Fashionable Frolic.' The Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert are dancing, and George Hanger is playing the 'Black Joke' on a fiddle. A marriage certificate, torn up, lies on the floor.

March 21, 1786 – 'The Lovers' Leap.' The Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert are preparing to jump over a broom (which is said to be the gipsies' marriage ceremony), which lies on the floor between them. George Hanger is pushing the Prince on, and a cat is jumping out of a bag.

Another version of this, by Gillray, was published on the same date, and is thus described in Wright and Grego's 'Gillray':

'21 Mar., 1786. – 'Twas nobody saw the Lovers' Leap and let the Cat out of the Bag. This title, which refers to the first disclosure of the scandal, is literally treated in the print. Fox appears as "nobody," and a cat is seen escaping from a bag. The Whig chief, with whom, as the occasional companion of the young Prince's excesses, the public were not slow to connect the transaction, is encouraging Florizel to "leap over the broomstick" with Mrs. Fitzherbert. The ex favourites, in a second apartment, surmounted by the Prince's crest, tranquilly regard the coming change. "All I desire of mortal man is to love whilst he can," says Perdita. "Well said, Robby," remarks a gentleman at table: "his father will broomstick him!"'

The best etching on the subject is dated March 27, 1786, and is called 'Wife and no Wife; or, A Trip to the Continent.' The Prince is about to put the ring on Mrs. Fitzherbert's hand, and Fox is giving her away. Hanger and Sheridan are witnesses. Burke, as a Jesuit, is reading the marriage service, and Lord North, as a coachman, is fast asleep.

Then we have on May 1, 1786, 'The April Fool, or the Follies of a Night, as performed at the Theatre Royal, C – n House, for the Benefit of the Widow Wadman.' The Prince, Mrs. Fitzherbert, and George Hanger are dancing, while Fox is drumming with a pistol on a warming-pan, exclaiming, 'Damme, but 'tis sublime;' and Burke, who says, 'Burn the pan, is it not beautiful?' plays on a gridiron with a pair of tongs. On the walls are two scenes from Hamlet: one where Polonius says to the King, 'I will be brief, your noble son is mad;' the other where Hamlet says to Ophelia:

'He may not, as inferior persons do,Carve for himself, for on his choice dependsThe sanity and health of the whole state.'

On the ground lie two plays, 'A Bold Stroke for a Wife'48 and 'The Clandestine Marriage.'49

May 1, 1786. – 'An Extravaganza, or Young Solomon besieging Fitzhubbub, the Governess of the Fort and Garrison of Fitzhubbub, after a political resistance of time proper, surrenders to the besieger, as by the articles of capitulation.' The Prince is kneeling before Mrs. Fitzherbert, who, seated on a sofa, points to 'Articles of Capitulation, £8,000 per annum. A Duchess in my own right. The mockery of Marriage by a Priest and a Parson.'

May 3, 1786. – 'The Introduction of F – to St. James's.' A view of the gateway of St. James's Palace. The Prince is carrying Mrs. Fitzherbert on his shoulders, preceded by George Hanger beating a drum, and by Fox and Captain Morris playing on trumpet and horn, whilst Burke brings up the rear playing on a flageolet.

The Prince, personally, took no heed of these pictorial satires; but others thought differently of them, as we learn by the Morning Post, April 24, 1786: 'His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales has been frequently entreated to take legal cognizance of the numerous libellous prints, and other scandalous reports, which have lately been in circulation; but, with a magnanimity of soul congenial with the spirit of British freedom, he constantly declined it, with expressions of jocularity: at the same time, thinking the authors unworthy of his notice. The laws of his country have, at last, interfered, and common decency requires that the most rigorous measures should now be pursued to punish the offenders. – Indictments have been preferred, and the Bills were found, on Friday last, at the Guildhall, Westminster, against – Ford, of Piccadilly, for having published and circulated some infamous prints, with an intent to satyrize and libel his Royal Highness, the Prince of Wales; which prints, we understand, were shown to a great law Lord, by an indifferent person; and, in consequence, his Lordship pronounced them most infamous libels, and ordered the present prosecutions to be instituted against the publishers thereof.'

The newspapers notice the new opera-box of Mrs. Fitzherbert, and also her new house in St. James's Square, formerly in the occupation of Lord Uxbridge.

CHAPTER VIII

The Prince's debts – Appeal to the King – His retrenchments – 'The Jovial Crew, or Merry Beggars' – Satirical prints – Help from Parliament – Schedule of his debts

EARLY in 1786 matters financial came to a crisis with Florizel. Notwithstanding his income of nearly £70,000, he had managed in less than three years to get some £300,000 in debt. Harassed by his creditors, he had no resource left but to apply to his father, but from him he got naught but good counsel. In this dilemma Pitt was applied to, and asked to furnish £250,000. This not being forthcoming, the King was written to, who replied, asking for a detailed statement of liabilities. This was furnished, and so astonished the King that he declined the proposal, and declared that he would never sanction an increase to his son's income. Then Florizel wrote another letter to his father, announcing his determination to retrench violently, and set aside £40,000 a year towards the payment of his debts. To which the King replied, that if he chose to take a rash step, he must likewise take the consequences. Then the Prince once more took his pen in hand, and wrote a letter to his father, which closed the correspondence:

'Sir,

'I have had the honour of receiving your Majesty's written message, transmitted to me by Lord Southampton, and am greatly concerned that my poor sentiments cannot coincide with those of your Majesty, in thinking that the former message which I had the honour of receiving, in your Majesty's own hand, was not a refusal. After having repeatedly sent in various applications to your Majesty, for two years successively, representing that a partial reduction out of so incompetent an income as mine, was to no purpose towards the liquidation of a debt, where the principal and interest were so considerable, I, this year, humbly requested your Majesty that you would be graciously pleased (having previously laid my affairs before you, Sir, for your inspection, and painted them in the distressed colours which they so justly merited), whenever it suited your conveniency, to favour me with a decisive answer; as the various delays which have occurred, through the course of this business, have, in reality, proved more pernicious to me in the situation in which I have been for some time past involved, than the original embarrassment of the debt. To not only these, but to any future delays, would I have, most willingly, submitted, had they really rested upon my own patience; but the pressing importunities of many indigent and deserving creditors (some of them whose very existence depends upon a speedy discharge of their accounts), made too forcible an appeal to the justice becoming my own honour, and to the feelings of my heart, to be any longer delayed. Another consideration is, that any further procrastination might have exposed me to legal insults, as humiliating to me, as, I am persuaded, they would be to your Majesty. I, therefore, previously to my having the honour of receiving that message, had determined, that, should I not be so fortunate as to meet with that relief from you, Sir, with which I had flattered myself, and which I thought I had the greatest reason to expect, I would exert every nerve to render that just redress and assistance to my creditors, which I cannot help thinking is denied to me. These are the motives, Sir, that have actuated my conduct in the step I have taken, of reducing every expence in my family, even those to which my birth and rank entitle me (and which, I trust, will ever continue to be the principle and guide of my conduct), till I have totally liberated myself from the present embarrassments which oppress me; and the more so, as I am persuaded that such a line, when pursued with consistency, will meet with the approbation of every candid and dispassionate mind.

'I will not trespass any further on your Majesty's time, but have the honour to subscribe myself,

'Sir,'Your Majesty's most dutiful and obedient'Son and Subject,'George, P.'

'July 9, 1786.'

After the despatch of this letter he immediately acted on it; gave orders to curtail his household, to stop all building and decoration of Carlton House, and to sell his race and carriage horses, with a very few reservations, and go and ruralise at Brighton, which he reached on July 11. The newspapers and caricaturists, of course, immediately made capital out of it, vide the Morning Post, July 13, 1786: 'A morning paper of yesterday says that the Prince of Wales set off for Brighton in a hired chaise and hack horses; but we are informed by authority, which we trust will meet with equal credit, that his Royal Highness was an outside passenger by the Brighton Dilly.'

And the caricaturist followed quickly in the wake of the newspaper men with a satirical print published on July 15, called 'A Trip to Brighton, or the P – and his reduced Household returning for the summer season.' The Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert are inside the carriage, and the latter is studying the 'Principles of Œconomy.' The carriage is laden with household effects, vegetables, meat, etc., and with small beer and raisin wine. One of the footmen is Fox, the other George Hanger, who is reading, 'For Sale, at Tattersall's, the Prince's Stud.' Weltje, 'Purveyor, Coachman, Cook and Butler,' is driving.

There is another, which, although not dated, is evidently of the same period, called 'The Brighton Stud,' in which is seen a groom leading three donkeys – George Hanger, Fox, and Sheridan. The Prince rides another donkey (Mrs. Fitzherbert), and Lord Derby (as another) looks on. This evidently refers to the sale of the Prince's stud, which realized somewhat over £7,000. Mrs. Fitzherbert went to Brighton immediately after the Prince.

There is a very amusing satirical print dated August 23, 1786, the best part of which is the verse attached. It is called 'The Jovial Crew, or Merry Beggars. A Comic Opera, as performed at Brighton by the Carleton Company.' The Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert occupy the centre of the picture. The Prince has a hat full of money, '£7,586. By sale of the Stud,' and Mrs. Fitzherbert carries a child on her back. The other beggars, who are mostly on crutches, are on either side.

'1st Beggar,} I once was a poet at London, Mr. S – . }    I kept my heart still full of glee; (Sheridan.)      There's no man can say that I'm undone,For begging's no new trade to me.'2nd Beggar,} In London I once shone with eclat, The – . }    A Stud and brave Household could boast;(Prince of Wales.) Give me a brisk wench in clean straw,And I value not who rules the roast.'3rd Beggar,} A widow I was, buxom and bold, Mrs. F – . }   So clos'd with a Royal attack; (Fitzherbert.)  Tho' 'tis said the marriage won't hold,But, ecod, I'll stick to his back.'4th Beggar,} Here comes a patriot polite, Sir, Mr. F – . }    Who flatter'd the K – to his face; (Fox.)              Now, railing is all his delight, Sir,Because he's turn'd out of his place.'5th Beggar,} I was a Jesuitical preacher, Mr. B – . }    I turn'd up my eyes when I pray'd; (Burke.)           But my hearers half starved their teacher,For they believ'd not a word that I said.'6th Beggar,} I still am a merry song maker,Cap. M – . }    My heart never yet felt a qualm;(Morris.)          Tho' poor, I can fiddle and caper,And sing any tune but a psalm.'7th Beggar,} Make room for a soldier in buff,Col. H – . }    Who valiantly strutted about;(Hanger.)         And, if the Peace should be breaking off,Why, then he'll, most wisely, sell out.'8th Beggar,} De Beggar vos I in Germany,Mr. W – . }    But alms vos here better agree;(Weltje.)           For, by begging in coot company,Begging vos de making of me.'9th Beggar,} Since, Beggars, then, we are happy and free,L. N – .  }    Pray talk no more of state axes;(North.)            For, by the War, you'll surely agree,That, all, I have beggar'd with Taxes.'

There is a very clever satirical print which refers to the breaking up of the Prince's establishment. It is called 'The School for Scandal,' and parodies the scene from Sheridan's play, in which Charles Surface helps to knock down the portraits of his ancestors. George Hanger is the auctioneer, and Lot 1 is a picture of the King and Queen, 'Farmer George and his Wife.' Hanger cries out, 'Going for no more than one Crown!' and the Prince thus encourages the Colonel, 'Careless, knock down the Farmer.' One of the audience bids five shillings for the royal pair. Lot 2 is a portrait of Mrs. Fitzherbert, and Lot 3 one of Perdita. Through the open door is seen Tattersall's, where the Prince's stud, etc., were sold. A carriage is numbered Lot 1,000 to show the extravagance of the Prince's stable arrangements.

A piece of gossip about the Prince at Brighton appears in the Morning Post of September 25, 1786: 'We hear that the Prince of Wales, a few days since, was suddenly indisposed at Brighthelmstone; and, at the same time, several gentlemen who had dined with the Prince at a friend's table, the preceding day, were seized with symptoms similar to those of his Royal Highness. They were all more or less affected, according to the quantity each eat of a particular dish at table. Happily for his Royal Highness, he eat but moderately; and we have the pleasure to add, he has now quite recovered. Mr. Keate, the Prince's surgeon, has been sent for from London; and the business terminated so favourably, no other assistance was called in.'

During his stay this year he was very quiet, only going to the races, and superintending the alterations to his house, which were completed the ensuing spring. He left Brighton for the season on October 17.

The Prince kept his promise of retrenchment for nine long months, and was sorely put to it for money – a fact of which the caricaturist took full advantage. Thus, on January 18, 1787, we have 'The Prodigal Son,' in which the Prince is depicted as seated on the bare ground, feeding swine; his coat is out at elbows and breeches unfastened; his Garter has gone, and his three feathers lie on the ground.

Then, on February 26 there is 'Love's Last Shift,' which represents the Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert in the last stage of poverty. The Prince sits before a fire, turning a sheep's head, which hangs by a string, and rocking a cradle in which a child lies sleeping, an event which, happily, did not occur during his connection with Mrs. Fitzherbert. He has no breeches on, because Mrs. Fitzherbert is mending them. Weltje has just brought in some potatoes, and George Hanger has a small measure of beer.

The Prince's friends felt that this could not go on longer. It was resolved to appeal to Parliament for aid, and Mr. Nathaniel Newnham, a merchant, Alderman, and an M.P. for the City of London, was chosen to open the matter, which he did on April 20, 1787, by asking Mr. Pitt whether it was his intention to bring forward any proposition to rescue the Prince of Wales from his embarrassed and distressed situation. Being answered by the Minister that he had no commands to that purpose from the King, the Alderman gave notice that, on Friday, May 4, he would bring forward a motion upon that subject for the consideration of the House.

As a matter of fact, the motion was brought before the House on April 27, and again on April 30, when Fox supported the Prince, and in the course of his speech, referring to the rumour of the Prince being married to Mrs. Fitzherbert (a Roman Catholic), said: 'With respect to the allusion to something full of "danger to the Church and State," made by the hon. gentleman, one of the members of the County of Devon, till that gentleman thought proper to explain himself, it was impossible to say with any certainty to what that allusion referred; but he supposed it must be meant in reference to that miserable calumny, that low, malicious falsehood, which had been propagated without doors, and made the wanton sport of the vulgar. In that House, where it was known how frequent and common the falsehoods of the times were, he hoped a tale, only fit to impose on the lowest order of persons in the streets, would not have gained the smallest portion of credit; but, when it appeared that an invention so monstrous, a report of a fact which had not the smallest degree of foundation, a report of a fact actually impossible to have happened, had been circulated with so much industry, as to have made an impression on the minds of the members of that House, it proved, at once, the uncommon pains taken by the enemies of his Royal Highness to propagate the grossest and most malignant falsehoods, with a view to depreciate his character, and injure him in the opinion of his country… The whole of the debt the Prince was ready to submit to the investigation of the House; and he was equally ready to submit the other circumstance to which he had alluded, to their consideration, provided that the consideration of a House of Parliament could, consistently with propriety and decency, be applied to such a subject. Nay, his Royal Highness had authorised him to declare that, as a Peer of Parliament, he was ready in the other House to submit to any of the most pointed questions which could be put to him respecting it, or to afford his Majesty, or his Majesty's ministers, the fullest assurances of the utter falsehood of the fact in question, which never had, and which common sense must see, never could have happened.'