“I have been at Richmond again with the Queen and the Royal Family, and I thank God they are all very well. We are going there to-day, and the Queen walks about there all day long. I shall be no longer her jest as a lover of drink at free cost, not only from her own observation of one whom she sees every morning at eight o’clock and in the evening again at seven, walking in the gardens, and in the drawing-room until after ten, but because she has, my Lord Lifford[17] to play upon, who this day sen’night got drunk at Richmond. His manner of getting so was pleasant enough, he dined with my good Lord Grantham, who is well served at his table with meat, but very stingy and sparing in his drink, for as soon as his dinner is done, he and his company rise, and no round of toasts. So my lord made good use of his time whilst at dinner, and before they rose the Prince (of Wales) came to them and drunk a bonpère to my Lord Lifford, which he pledged, and began another to him, and so a third.
“The Duke of Grafton, to show the Prince he had done his business, gave him (Lord Lifford) a little shove and threw him off his chair upon the ground, and then took him up and carried him to the Queen.
“Sunday morning she railed at him before all the Court upon getting drunk in her company, and upon his gallantry and coquetry with Princess Amelia, running up and down the steps with her. When somebody told him the Queen was there and saw him, his answer was: ‘What do I care for the Queen?’
“He stood all her jokes not only with French impudence, but with Irish assurance. For all you say I don’t wonder I blushed for him, and wished for half his stock. I wonder at her making it so public.
“Nobody has made a song; if Mr. Hambleton will make one that shall praise the Queen and the Royal Family’s good humour, and expose as much as he pleases the folly of Lord Grantham and Lord Lifford, I will show it to the Prince, and I know he won’t tell whom he had it from, for I have lately obliged him with a sight of Mrs. Fitzwilliam’s Litany; and he has promised he will not say he had it from me. So I must beg you to say nothing of this to Lady Strafford, for she will write it for news to Lady Charlotte Roussie, and then I shall have Mrs. Fitz. angry with me, and the Prince laughing at me for not being able to be my own counsellor, as I fear you laugh now. But if you betray me, I make a solemn vow I will never tell you anything again.
“The Queen continues very kind and obliging in her sayings to me, and gave me t’other day an opportunity to tell her of my circumstances. As we were driving by Chelsea, she asked me what that walled place was called. I told her Chelsea Park, and in the time of the Bubbles ’twas designed for the Silkworms.[18] She asked me if I was not in the Bubbles. With a sigh I answered: ‘Yes; that and my fire had made me worse than nothing.’ Some time after, when I did not think she saw me, I was biting my nails. She called to me and said: ‘Oh, fie! Mr. Wentworth, you bite your nails very prettily.’ I begged her pardon for doing so in her presence, but I said I did it for vexation of my circumstances, and to save a crown from Dr. Lamb for cutting them. She said she was sorry I had anything to vex me, and I did well to save my money. The Prince told her I was one of the most diligent servants he ever saw. I bowed and smiled as if I thought he bantered me. He understood me, and therefore repeated again that he meant it seriously, and upon his word he thought that the Queen was happy in having so good a servant. I told him it was a great satisfaction to me to meet with His Royal Highness’s approbation. He clapped his hand on my shoulder, and assured me that I had it.
“As we went to Richmond last Wednesday our grooms had a battle with a carter that would not go out of the way. The good Queen had compassion for the rascal, and ordered me to ride after him and give him a crown. I desired Her Majesty to recall that order, for the fellow was a very saucy fellow, and I saw him strike the Prince’s groom first, and if we gave him anything for his beating ’twould be an example for others to stop the way a-purpose to provoke a beating. The Prince approved what I said, for he said much the same to her in Dutch, and I got immortal fame among the liverymen, who are no small fools at this Court. I told her if she would give the crown to anybody it should be to the Prince’s groom, who had the carter’s long whip over his shoulders. She laughed, but saved her crown.”
“Kensington,
“Aug. 14th, 1729.
“The Queen has done me the honour to refer me for my orders to Her Royal Highness Princess Anne, and what is agreed by her will please Her Majesty; the height of my ambition is to please them all. I flatter myself I have done so hitherto, for Princess Anne has distinguished me with a singular mark of her favour, for she has made me a present of a hunting suit of clothes, which is blue, trimmed with gold, and lined and faced with red. The Prince of Wales, Princess Anne, the Duke of Cumberland, Princess Mary and Princess Louisa wear the same, and look charmingly pretty in them. Thursday sen’night Windsor Forest will be blessed with their presence again, and since the forest was a forest it never had such a fine set of hunters, for a world of gentlemen have had the ambition to follow His Royal Highness’s fashion....”
“Kensington,
“Aug. 21st, 1729.