XV. to her enemies she could show favour, if they CHAP. could show merit: through her intercession were Carte the historian and Lord Lansdowne the poet recalled from exile, and the former enabled to show his gratitude by renewing his intrigues for the Pretender. In fact, so great was the influence of Queen Caroline over her husband, that neither in the Church nor in the State were any appointments made without her having at least some share in them, and during ten years she may be said to have governed England. But she was one of those "who if she rules him, never shows she rules." Her power was felt, not displayed. She had the art of instilling ideas into the King's mind, which after a time he found there, and believed to be his own. It was her plan always to affect to retire. when the Minister came to the King, declaring that she did not understand business, and only remaining as it seemed to obey His Majesty's commands. By her management he never became jealous, nor she boastful, of authority. Nay, so ready was she to consult and comply with all his inclinations that she lived on a friendly footing with his mistress, one of her bed-chamber women. This was Henrietta, daughter of Sir Henry Hobart, and married to Mr. Howard, who afterwards succeeded to the Earldom of Suffolk. The Queen used to call her in banter her sister Howard, and was pleased to employ her at her toilet, or in menial offices about her per 1727. XV. 1727. CHAP. son.* Lady Suffolk was placid, good-natured, and kindhearted, but very deaf, and not remarkable for wit. Though the King passed half his time in her company, her influence was quite subordinate to that of the Queen; she could obtain from George but little attention and less pay, and at length weary of a post so unprofitable as that of a favourite without favour, she left him and withdrew from Court in 1734. † It seemed, however, so difficult to believe that the wife should be always preferred to the mistress, that Lady Suffolk received a large share of homage and solicitation. All the wits in Opposition courted her friendship, and celebrated her perfections. Pope, Gay, Arbuthnot, the eloquent Bolingbroke, and the chivalrous Peterborough, formed a galaxy of genius around her, and she shines in history with a lustre not her own. Even the moody Swift declares, "I know no person of your sex for whom I have so great an esteem,"‡ * Memoirs of Horace Walpole, vol. i. p. 513. Horace Walpole, and after him Archdeacon Coxe, state that Gay, Swift, and Chesterfield all fell into disgrace at Court by supposing Lady Suffolk's influence to be greater than the Queen's, and leaning only on the former. But the falsehood of these stories and surmises is well shown by the editor of the Suffolk Letters. (See especially his note, vol. ii. p. 84.) All the stories of Horace Walpole are to be received with great caution; but his Reminiscences, above all, written in his dotage, teem with the grossest inaccuracies and most incredible assertions. To Lady Suffolk, November 21. 1730. and even her deafness becomes modesty and merit CHA P. in the graceful lines of Pope.* The despatch from Lord Townshend, announcing the King's death, reached London on the 14th of June. Walpole immediately hastened to the palace of Richmond, where he was told that the Prince, according to his usual custom, had retired to bed for an afternoon slumber. His Highness (so we may call him for the last time) being awakened, at Walpole's desire, started up and made his appearance half-dressed. Walpole knelt down and kissed his hand; but the King was at first incredulous, nor convinced of the truth, until Townshend's letter was produced. The minister then inquired whom his Majesty would be pleased to appoint to draw up the necessary declaration to the Privy Council, fully hoping that the choice would fall upon himself. " Compton," answered the King shortly, and Walpole withdrew in the deepest disappointment.† Sir Spencer Compton, the second surviving son of the Earl of Northampton, was chosen Speaker in 1715, and a Knight of the Bath, on the revival of that Order. He and Lord Scarborough had been * After a long panegyric, he concludes: "Has she no faults then, Envy says, Sir? "When all the world conspires to praise her, These lines have also been ascribed to Lord Peterborough. + Minutes of Conversation with Mr. Scrope, Coxe's Walpole, vol. ii. p. 519. XV. 1727. XV. CHAP. the chief favourites of the King as Prince of Wales. He was respectable in his private, regular in his 1727. public, character. In the Speaker's chair, where form rather than substance is required, he had fulfilled his duty well, but the seals of office were too heavy for his hands. So little acquainted was he with real business, that when Walpole conveyed to him the King's commands, he avowed his ignorance, and begged Walpole to draw up the Declaration for him. Sir Robert willingly complied, and the Declaration which he wrote was carried by Compton to the King. Seeing the weakness of his rival, Walpole with his usual sagacity said to his friend Sir William Yonge, "I shall certainly go out, but let me ad"vise you not to go into violent opposition, as we "must soon come in again." It was not easy (such was the jealousy between them) for any minister of George the First to stand well with the Prince of Wales. Pulteney, moreover, had taken care to repeat, or perhaps to exaggerate, some disrespectful expressions which Walpole had used in 1720.* Yet Sir Robert, on returning to office, had not * According to Pulteney, this conversation passed on the reconciliation in the Royal Family in 1720. Pulteney asked Walpole what terms he had made for the Prince. "To which you "answered, with a sneer, Why he is to go to Court again, and "he will have his drums and his guards and such fine things." But said Pulteney, Is the Prince to be left Regent again as he had been when the King left England? "Your answer was this: "He does not deserve it. We have done too much for him, " and if it was to be done again, we would not do so much!" See Pulteney's " Answer to an Infamous Libel." XV. 1727. neglected to found his future, as far as he could CHAP. venture without hazarding his present favour. He had obtained from the King the Garter for Lord Scarborough, and had often gratified with places other personal adherents of the Prince.* Above all, Walpole had now Queen Caroline on his side. He had gained her regard by his attentions, her esteem by his abilities; she perceived that no one could surpass him in financial skill, and that the late King was scarcely mistaken, when he said to her one day in chapel, that Walpole could change stones into gold!t At this crisis also, he fixed and secured her favour, by a well-timed offer to obtain from Parliament a jointure for her Majesty of 100,000 a year, while Compton only ventured to propose 60,000l. What better proof could be required that Walpole was fittest for Prime Minister? Under these circumstances, the triumph of Compton endured but a few days. Caroline, without openly opposing the King's resolution, represented to him the rashness and danger of dismissing a prosperous and well-established government; she made him acquainted with the incapacity of Compton, in applying for assistance to the very minister whom he displaced; and she added, that Walpole had agreed to carry through the House of Commons an increase of 130,000l. to the Civil List. Such arguments had their due weight with George, * Count de Broglie to the King of France, July 24. 1724. + Minutes of Conversation with Mr. Scrope. |