CHAPTER XIII
The émigrés – Duchesse de Noailles – The nuns – Camp at Brighton – The Prince as a soldier – His debts – Interview with the King – Breaks with Mrs. Fitzherbert – Her account – Satirical prints – Newspaper paragraphs
ABOUT this time the émigrés poured into Brighton, and happy were those who could thus save their lives. Here is a contemporary account, given in the Sussex Weekly Advertiser, September 3, 1792:
'Brighton once favoured the escape of a sovereign from his enraged subjects. The former town is now become the refuge of the persecuted noblesse of a neighbouring state. The former returned to his country and kingdom, untaught by affliction, and ungrateful to loyalty that had bled in his service. And it is to be feared, that if the bayonets of combined despotism restore the latter to their late rank and power, petty tyranny will revive, and human nature, exhausted in the unequal struggle for freedom, again lick the feet of her oppressors, in debility and despair.
'On Wednesday last (Aug. 29) Madame (Duchesse de) Noailles arrived at Brighton from France, and was received with the most polite and cordial hospitality, by his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, and Mrs. Fitzherbert. Her husband being a counter revolutionist, she found it very unsafe to remain any longer in Paris, or any other part of France, and sent her child and nurse before her, who took their passages from Dieppe to Brighton, where they arrived about a week ago. The lady, herself, had more difficulty in leaving her native land; but we are far from vouching for the reality of all the sufferings which are said to have attended her emigration. Travelling in breeches68 was no very great distress; but the coil of cable which is said to have enclosed her for fourteen hours, smells not less of the marvellous, than the tar. This, in the hands of a novelist, might be spun out to something monstrous pathetic.
'It is also said that the Marchioness de Bouillé (? Beaulé), whose safety in France might have been no less precarious than that of the other fair fugitive, hired an open boat at Dieppe, in which she committed herself to the mercy of the winds and waves; and, after a very tempestuous passage, arrived safe, on Wednesday last, at Brighton.
'Some Frenchmen, seemingly of distinction, landed last Wednesday morning, after a very rough passage, in an open boat, at Newhaven; and, on Friday, went post from this town for the Capital.'
September 10. – 'On Wednesday and Thursday last, no less than one hundred and seventy French emigrants, mostly priests, were landed from the packets, and an open boat at Brighton. More are daily arriving; and, many of them being observed to labour under very distressed circumstances, we hear a subscription has been opened for their relief, at Mr. Crawford's library.
'On Friday and Saturday last, near three hundred unfortunate Frenchmen of the above description were put on shore at Eastbourne, many of whom were hospitably received by Lord George Cavendish, Lord Bayham, A. Piggott, Esqre, and many other of the Nobility and Gentry of that place. They, afterwards, took different routes for the Metropolis. Many, from the above place and Brighton, came to this town, and such as could not get places on the stage coach, hired carts for their conveyance. Five of them, seemingly of a superior order, who brought a letter of recommendation to a gentleman of this town, have fixed their abode there.
*****
'Mrs. Fitzherbert, the Duchess de Noailles, and many other ladies of distinction, were present at the Cricket match, and dined in a marquee pitched on the ground, for that purpose. The Prince's band of music attended, and played during the whole time the ladies were at dinner. In the evening, Mrs. Fitzherbert, the Duchess, Lady Clermont, and Miss Piggott, walked round the ground, seemingly the better to gratify the spectators with a sight of the French lady.
'The Duchess de Noailles appears to be 21, or 22 years of age, is very handsome, and her figure and deportment are remarkably interesting.'
September 17, 1792. – 'Upwards of five hundred unfortunate emigrants were, last week, landed on our coast, who have had the fury of the elements to contend with, after escaping that of their barbarous countrymen. The Brighton packets, heavily laden with them, were driven by the winds far eastward of their usual track; and, with difficulty, made Hastings, Pevensey, and Eastbourne. At the former place, on Wednesday morning, seventy six, all ecclesiastics, came on shore; among whom were the Bishop of Avranches, the Dean of Rouen, and several other dignitaries. The Bishop, with great difficulty, escaped from Avranches with the assistance of one of his Grand Vicars, who, with one of his domestics, accompanied him to Rouen, where they were, for some days, concealed. The populace, however, having discovered them, they were, again, obliged to fly. They travelled thence, on foot, in disguise, to Dieppe, at which place they arrived in the night, and took refuge, for a few hours, at a hotel. Thence, at the time appointed for the departure of the packet, they ran to the sea side, and, as it was, providentially for them, high water, they were enabled to put off, and instantly get out of the reach of the rabble, who, in less than one minute afterwards, pursued them to the shore, and, with savage fury, declared that it was their intention to have murdered them on the spot.
'The Bishop and his Grand Vicar were hospitably received at Hastings by the Rev. Mr. Whitear, who entertained them till Saturday, when they left that place for London. It is the duty of every Magistrate and Gentleman to prevent the lower classes in this country from imposing upon these poor fugitives. We are sorry to learn that, at Hastings, the exactions of the boatmen, on Wednesday last, were shameful in the extreme. They refused to bring any of the Frenchmen on shore for less than four shillings a man; and some even raised their fare to five shillings. – Among English mariners, we thought that such unjust and unfeeling wretches were not to be found.'
A notice of the nuns who took refuge here must close this episode:
October 29, 1792. – 'The Nuns, whose arrival at Brighthelmstone was mentioned in our last paper, were driven from a convent at Lisle. At the time of their debarkation they had only about thirty pounds in specie remaining, all the valuables of their convent having been seized on by the regenerate French. The Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert paid them a very long visit at the New Ship Inn; after which, his Royal Highness set on foot a subscription for their relief, which, in a short time, amounted to upwards of one hundred pounds.
'The above ladies, on the evening of their arrival, celebrated High Mass, with great solemnity, in an apartment at their inn.
''Twas remarkable that no two of the above nuns could be prevailed on to sleep in one bed.'
October 1, 1792. – 'The Prince, we hear, has it in contemplation, to take down, and entirely rebuild, on a much larger scale, his Marine Pavilion at Brighthelmstone;' but he did not do it just then, as he was woefully hard up.
Of course, during the year the Prince did not escape the pencil of the satirist, and there was a print published on May 23, to understand which it must be premised that formerly, at the opening of Courts of Assize and Quarter Sessions in England, a proclamation against vice and immorality was always read. This print is called 'Vices overlooked in the New Proclamation,' in which are depicted the King and Queen as Avarice, the Prince as Drunkenness, the Duke of York as Gambling, and the Duke of Clarence and Mrs. Jordan as Debauchery.
Another, published July 2, is 'A Voluptuary under the Horrors of Digestion.'
This is an excellent likeness of the Prince, who, with unbuttoned waistcoat, lolls in an armchair, picking his teeth with a fork. On the ground are dice, a Newmarket List, Debts of Honour unpaid, and Faro partnership Account, Self, Archer,69 Hobart and Co.
In February, 1793, war was declared between France and England, and volunteers were enrolled for the defence of their country. Camps were formed at different parts of the coast, and there was one at Brighton in August of that year. Needless to say that the Prince's regiment was quartered there, and he himself showed in great force. A contemporary70 gives us an account of this camp, written by a volunteer:
'Brighton Camp, August 22. – On the Monday, whatever mistakes (if commanders can make any) had prolonged the order of march from Waterdown, they were removed, and the line reached Chailey in good time. With equal glee and regularity, they set off, the next morning, for Brighton: about four miles before they arrived on their ground, their regiments were formed in battalions, in which order they moved, keeping good wheeling distance. The irregularity of the Downs frequently gave an opportunity of seeing every regiment with a coup d'œil. Numbers of people came out to meet us. The town, with the sea and the music, and the universal animation around, somewhat dissipated the fatigue of a long march. Conspicuous among the spectators, was the Prince of Wales, in the honourable garb of his regiment, looking both the Soldier and the Prince. We marched by his Royal Highness by divisions, officers saluting, and then wheeled round the town to our new ground, which appeared a little Paradise, in comparison.
'The water at our former stations had too much chalybeate in it to be pleasant. On Chailey common it was good; and, on our arrival here, we had the luxury of finding it could not be better. This necessary part of the comforts of life, with the delightful ground we are encamped upon, a full advantage of the sea breeze, and the lively scene continually passing and repassing in our front, make us hope we shall have more opportunities of frequenting the Steine Parade than we had of visiting Tunbridge Wells. Besides, the Commander in Chief wonderfully gave us an overslaugh from Wednesday until Monday; on which day we were out six hours and a half; five of the hours dragged on with the usual having nothing to do. We then began to form columns and lines. This intention was by way of drilling in the new system. General Dundas, the modeller of it, gave his personal assistance; and I could not help remarking how gracefully and expeditiously he moved his sun burnt hand, explanatory of his formation of the divisions into battalion. I dare say, when we have brought his theory to practical perfection, we shall never be a hair's breadth out. Old officers, who have been accustomed to fight after the old school, find great fault with many parts of this celebrated system.'
This camp consisted of about 10,000 men, regulars, militia, and volunteers, and was situated at Hove, where it continued till October 28. Two new batteries were built, one on the west cliff, which mounted eight twenty-four pounders, and the other on the east cliff, where were four guns of the same weight.
The Annual Register, August 21, gives the following: 'Last Sunday, the Rev. Dr. Knox (a gentleman well known in the literary world as the author of several essays) preached at Brighton church. He took his text from St. Luke; "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and good will towards men!" In enlarging on this subject, he spoke in very strong terms of the calamities of war, and said that the tinsel of military parade was but a poor compensation for the innumerable miseries that were the too sure attendants upon a state of warfare; that the voice of religion was but little heard amidst the roar of cannon, the shouts of conquerors, and the splendour of victory. In another part of his discourse, he said that religion and philosophy seemed to have but little weight in the councils of the rulers of the world.
'Several military officers in the church, officiously took upon themselves to think that the sermon was an attack upon the constitution of the country, and that it contained improper reflections upon the profession to which they belonged.
'Last night, Dr. Knox and his family being in one of the boxes at the theatre, there were, also, several officers in the house. At the end of the play, a note was handed by the boxkeeper, to Dr. Knox, stating that it was the desire of several gentlemen then present, that he should withdraw. The note being without a signature, Dr. Knox took no notice of it. Several officers then stood up, and insisted on his leaving the house immediately.
'A scene of much confusion, nearly bordering on personal violence, ensued. Dr. Knox attempted to speak, but was, absolutely, forcibly hindered from proceeding; and himself, Mrs. Knox, and two or three of their little children, were compelled to leave the house, to avoid military coercion.'
Florizel, commanding his regiment, and playing at soldiers, was in his element, as the following extracts from the St. James's Chronicle show:
August 13-15. – 'Monday, being the anniversary of the Prince of Wales' birth, the same was celebrated at Brighton; the morning was ushered in by the ringing of bells; and, at one o'clock, the guns of the salute battery were fired. Several of the nobility, who went down to pay their compliments to the Prince, visited his Royal Highness in the Pavilion, who gave a very superb entertainment to the officers of his regiment, etc., in his Marquee. In the evening there was a grand ball in the Castle, which was numerously attended.'
September 5-7. – 'In the high winds of Wednesday night, the Prince of Wales's Marquee, in the Camp at Brighton, was blown down; his Royal Highness, however, suffered nothing; for, except on the nights when he is Colonel of the Camp, his residence is in the Pavilion. Many of the officers and men had their tents blown down on the same night.'
This marquee was a very splendid and spacious affair, with a kitchen and all sorts of conveniences attached. Indeed, Florizel was ever attentive to his own comfort, vide the following account of his new travelling-carriage:
August 22-24. – 'The Prince of Wales has just built a long carriage for travelling – it is so constructed, that, in a few moments, it forms a neat chamber, with a handsome bed, and every other convenience for passing the night in it, on the road, or in a camp.'
It is all very nice to have travelling-carriages and marquees, and whatever one's soul desires, but if the income is a fixed one, albeit over £70,000 a year, there must be a limit to expenditure. Poor Florizel was deeply in debt, and one of his best friends, the Earl of Malmesbury, tells us about it:71
'Landed at Dover on Saturday, June 2nd, 1792… Saw Prince of Wales early the 4th – he was very well pleased with what I had done at Berlin, thanked me for it, etc. – Stated his affairs to me as more distressed than ever – Several executions had been in his house – Lord Rawdon had saved him from one – that his debts amounted to £370,000. He said he was trying, through the Chancellor, to prevail on the King to apply to Parliament to increase his income.
'On the Wednesday following, I was with him by appointment. He repeated the same again; said that if the King would raise his revenue to £100,000 a year, he would appropriate £35,000 of it to pay the interest of his debts, and establish a Sinking fund. That, if this could not be done, he must break up his establishment, reduce his income to £10,000 a year, and go abroad. He made a merit of having given up the turf, and blamed the Duke of York for remaining on it. He said (which I well knew before), that his racing stable cost him upwards of £30,000 yearly. He was very anxious, and, as is usual on these occasions, nervous and agitated. He said (on my asking him the question), that he did not stand so well with the King, as he did some months ago, but that he was better than ever with the Queen – that she had advised him to press the King, through the Chancellor, to propose to Mr. Pitt to bring an increase of the Prince's income before Parliament, and that, if this was done, she would use her influence to promote it.
'I strongly recommended his pressing the Queen. He suggested the idea of going to Mr. Pitt directly through the Chancellor, etc. I doubted both the consent of the Chancellor to such a step, at the moment he was going out, and his influence and weight if he did consent to it. I took the liberty of disapproving his going abroad, on any terms, and, particularly, under the circumstances he mentioned; said, that if he should, unfortunately, be reduced to the necessity of lowering his income to the degree he had mentioned, it would be much better to live in England, than out of it. That the showing, in England, that he could reduce his expences, and live economically, would do him credit, prove him in earnest, and if he kept up to such a plan, would, in the event, be much more likely to induce the public to take his situation into consideration, than any attempts through Ministry, Opposition, or even the Queen herself.
'I saw the Prince again on the 7th June, at Carlton House, as before. He repeated the same things, and added, that, if he could not obtain some assurance from the King that he would apply to Parliament in the next Session of Parliament, before this ended, that he should be ruined, and must go abroad – I, again, combated this idea; but he appeared to have a wish and some whim about going abroad, I could not discover. – He talked coldly and unaffectionately about the Duke and Duchess of York, and very slightingly of the Duke of Clarence.
'Colonel St. Leger called on me on the 8th June. He said the Prince was more attached to Mrs. Fitzherbert than ever; that he had been living with Mrs. Crouch72; that she (Mrs. Fitzherbert) piqued him by treating this with ridicule, and coquetted on her side. This hurt his vanity, and brought him back; and he is, now, more under her influence than ever.'
And yet he could sacrifice her, in order to get his debts paid, and himself have a larger income to squander. There was but one way out of his mess: that he must commit bigamy, and deliberately repudiate his wife.
On August 24, 1794, the King wrote thus to Pitt from Weymouth:
'Agreeable to what I mentioned to Mr. Pitt before I came here, I have this morning seen the Prince of Wales, who has acquainted me with his having broken off all connection with Mrs. Fitzherbert, and his desire of entering into a more creditable line of life, by marrying; expressing, at the same time, that his wish is that my niece, the Princess of Brunswick, may be the person. Undoubtedly she is the person who, naturally, must be most agreeable to me. I expressed my approbation of the idea, provided his plan was to lead a life that would make him appear respectable, and, consequently, render the Princess happy. He assured me that he perfectly coincided with me in opinion. I then said that till Parliament assembled, no arrangement could be taken, except my sounding my sister, that no idea of any other marriage may be encouraged.
'G. R.'
At this time Lady Jersey, a lady of mature age, had great influence over the Prince, and this probably made his rupture with Mrs. Fitzherbert the easier. The caricaturist (this time J. Cruikshank), who always seems to have been as well posted up in any Court scandal as one of our Society papers, has a picture, August 26, 1794, 'My Grandmother, alias the Jersey Jig, alias the Rival Widows.' Old Lady Jersey, who is taking snuff, sits on the knee of the Prince, who says:
'I've kissed & I've prattled with fifty Grand Dames,
And changed them as oft, do you see;
But of all the Grand Mammys that dance on the Steine,
The Widow of Jersey give me.'
Mrs. Fitzherbert, one hand clasping her forehead, and in the other holding a bond for £6,000 per annum, cries distractedly: 'Was it for this Paltry Consideration I sacrificed my – my – my – ? for this only I submitted to – to – ? Oh! shame for ever on my ruin'd Greatness!!!'
It came very suddenly. Both Mrs. Fitzherbert and the Prince were to dine with the Duke of Clarence; the lady was there, but Florizel was not; instead, a letter from him was handed to his wife repudiating her. Lord Stourton had the story from her own lips. Let him tell it:
'Her first separation from the Prince was preceded by no quarrel, or even coolness, and came upon her quite unexpectedly. She received, when sitting down to dinner at the table of William the Fourth, then Duke of Clarence, the first intimation of the loss of her ascendancy over the affections of the Prince; having, only the preceding day, received a note from his Royal Highness, written in his usual strain of friendship, and speaking of their appointed engagement to dine at the house of the Duke of Clarence. The Prince's letter was written from Brighton, where he had met Lady Jersey. From that time she never saw the Prince, and this interruption of their intimacy was followed by his marriage with Queen Caroline; brought about, as Mrs. Fitzherbert conceived, under the twofold influence of the pressure of his debts on the mind of the Prince, and a wish on the part of Lady Jersey to enlarge the Royal Establishment, in which she was to have an important situation.
'Upon her speaking to me of this union (confiding in her own desire that I should disguise from her nothing that I might conceive to be of doubtful character as affecting her conduct to the Prince), I told her I had been informed that some proposals had been made to her immediately preceding the marriage of the Prince, of which her uncle, Mr. Errington, had been the channel, offering some terms upon which his Royal Highness was disposed to give up the match. She told me there was no truth whatever in the report; that a day or two preceding the marriage, he had been seen passing rapidly on horseback before her house at Marble Hill, but that his motive for doing so, was unknown to her; and that, afterwards, when they were reconciled, she cautiously abstained from alluding to such topics; as the greatest interruptions to their happiness, at that period, were his bitter and passionate regrets and self accusations for his conduct, which she always met by saying – "We must look to the present and the future, and not think of the past."
'I ventured, also, to mention another report, that George the Third, the day before the marriage, had offered to take upon himself the responsibility of breaking off the match with the Princess of Brunswick, should the Prince desire it. Of this, too, she told me, she knew nothing; but added, that it was not improbable, for the King was a good and religious man. She owned, that she was deeply distressed and depressed in spirits at this formal abandonment, with all its consequences, as it affected her reputation in the eyes of the world.
'One of her great friends and advisers, Lady Claremont, supported her on this trying occasion, and counselled her to rise above her own feelings, and to open her house to the town of London. She adopted the advice, much as it cost her to do so; and all the fashionable world, including all the Royal Dukes, attended her parties. Upon this, as upon all other occasions, she was principally supported by the Duke of York, with whom, through life, she was always united in the most friendly and confidential relations. Indeed, she frequently assured me, that there was not one of the Royal family who had not acted with kindness to her. She particularly instanced the Queen; and, as for George the Third, from the time she set foot in England, till he ceased to reign, had he been her own father, he could not have acted towards her with greater tenderness and affection. She had made it her constant rule to have no secrets of which the Royal Family were not informed by frequent messages, of which, the Duke of York was, generally, the organ of communication, and, to that rule, she attributed, at all periods, much of her own contentment and ease in extricating herself from embarrassments which would, otherwise, have been insurmountable.'
Compare this paragraph with the ideas of the pictorial satirist on her abandonment. Take, for instance, 'The Rage,' published November 21, 1794. Here we see Mrs. Fitzherbert, having thrown off her Princess of Wales's coronet, with clenched fists and dishevelled hair, sparring at the new Princess of Wales.
Another, which is of the same date, and is called 'Penance for past Folly,' shows Mrs. Fitzherbert weeping, and on her knees, before a Roman Catholic priest, who holds a birch rod in his hand.
The newspapers had an early inkling of the state of affairs between Mrs. Fitzherbert and the Prince, and the following cuttings from the Times of 1794 do not redound much to the paper's credit, or knowledge:
July 21. – 'A certain lady has not been so improvident as the beauteous harlot in the days of Edward. She has, wisely, laid up ample provision for a rainy day; and, therefore, her approach, unlike to that of Shore, is still as likely as ever to make "a little holiday!"'
July 23. – 'We have, hitherto, forborne to mention the report in circulation for many days past, of the final separation between a Gentleman of the most distinguished rank, and a Lady who resides in Pall Mall, until we had an opportunity to ascertain the fact beyond all doubt.
'We are now enabled to state from the most undoubted authority, that a final separation between the parties in question has actually taken place; that the agreements formerly entered into, have been given up by mutual consent; that a new contract has been signed, by which the lady is secured in the possession of £4,000 per annum, for her life, besides retaining her house in Pall Mall, plate, jewels, etc.
'Mrs. Fitzherbert has no intention of retiring into Switzerland, as has been reported. She is looking out for a house at, or near, Margate, where she means to reside for six months, in the society of the Duchess of Cumberland, Lady E. Luttrell, Mrs. Concannon,73 and others of her old acquaintance.'
August 5. – 'Mrs. Fitzherbert, we learn, wished to have a title and £4,000 annuity settled on her, but this was peremptorily refused.'
August 7. – 'Much has been said respecting the jointure settled on Mrs. Fitzherbert, in consequence of a late separation; but the precise fact has never been hitherto stated. – The truth is this: – When the incumbrances of a certain great personage were put in a state of settlement, two, or three years since, £3,000 a year was allotted out of his revenues, for Mrs. Fitzherbert, which has been punctually paid by Mr. Coutts, the banker. This sum has been lately settled on the lady for life; which, with her own private fortune of £1,800 annually, will make her present income £4,800 a year. Unincumbered as she now is, the lady will, probably, be a happier woman than she has ever been.'