The fact is that Sir Robert had very unwisely offended the queen when she was Princess of Wales by speaking of her as "that fat beast, the prince's wife." Nevertheless, he was determined, if possible, to retain his position, and knowing the queen's influence over her husband, it was through her that he decided to manage it. So he ascertained that Sir Spenser Compton intended to propose to
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parliament an allowance of sixty thousand pounds per annum for the queen, and then informed her, through a friend, that if he were retained in office he should make it one hundred thousand pounds.
Caroline was delighted, and intimated that Sir Robert might be sure "the fat beast" had kindly feeling enough towards him to induce her to secure for herself the extra forty thousand pounds; so she hastened to the king, and pointed out to him the advantages of retaining in office so able a man as Sir Robert, and the utter incompetency of Compton.
The king was soon convinced, Sir Robert was reappointed prime minister, and Sir Spenser was made president of the council. Not only did Sir Robert secure the promised sum for the queen, but he persuaded parliament to add a hundred and thirty thousand pounds a year to the king's revenue besides. This made him a most popular officer with the royal couple, of course.
At the queen's first drawing-room, before the office of prime minister had been decided upon, Lady Walpole was among the guests; but as her husband was not supposed to be a candidate for royal favor, nobody made way for her, as they had done on previous occasions, when he occupied his lofty position, and she could not approach her majesty nearer than the third or fourth row. With her usual amiability, Queen Caroline no sooner espied Lady Walpole, than she said, aloud: "Ah, there I am sure I see a friend!" Thereupon the crowd made way for the lady, who declared that, "as she came away, she might have walked over their heads had she pleased."
When George I. died he left a will which he certainly supposed his successor would respect; but he made a mistake; for when Dr. Wake, Archbishop of Canterbury, appeared before the king with the precious document that had been intrusted to him, and prepared himself to hear the instructions contained therein, George II. astonished him by quietly putting the paper in his pocket without looking at it, and then walking out of the room. Afterwards he dropped it into the fire. This was only following the example of his sire, who had treated in like manner the wills of the Duke of Zell and Sophia Dorothea. George I. must have suspected that his son would imitate him in this matter, for he left two copies of his will in Germany, but both were in course of time secured by the son and consigned to the flames, as the original had been.