[215] The "beautiful Miss Twysden" who married in 1770 George Bussy, fourth Earl of Jersey, and was subsequently a mistress of the Prince of Wales.
[216] It was said that the Queen's economy was due partly to the fact that she came from a Court where money was scarce and expenditure consequently strictly regulated, and partly because she felt it her duty, as it was her pleasure, to give financial assistance to the members of her family. The King helped her in this matter; the Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was given a pension on the Irish establishment, her brother Charles was appointed Governor of Zell, and Prince George was given a lucrative command in the Hanoverian army.
The Queen's pin-money was settled by Parliament at £40,000 a year, and, in the event of her surviving her husband, she was to receive £100,000 a year and the use of Richmond Old Park and Somerset House.
[217] Ode upon Ode; or, A Peep at St. James's.
[218] Mrs. Delany: Autobiography and Correspondence.
[219] Ode upon Ode; or, A Peep at St. James's.
[220] Launcelot Brown (1715-1783), the reviver of the natural style of landscape-gardening, earned his nickname by the frequent use of the words, "This spot has great capabilities." He was very independent, and would never accept a commission unless it was likely to reflect credit on him. "My lord, there is nothing to be done here," he said to a sad possessor of dreary grounds, "unless you plant one-half of your estate and lay the other half under water." Brown was high in the confidence of the King, who sometimes employed him on confidential political errands; yet an amusing story is told that as soon as George heard of his death he went over to Richmond Gardens and, in a tone of great relief, said to the under-gardener, "Brown is dead. Now, Millicant, you and I can do what we please."
[221] "His Majesty, desirous that better and more suitable accommodation should be made for the residence of the Queen, in case she should survive him, and being willing that the palace in which his Majesty now resides, called the Queen's House, may be settled for that purpose, recommends (to both Houses of Parliament) to take the same into consideration, and to make provision for settling the said palace upon her Majesty, and for appropriating Somerset House to such uses as shall be found most beneficial to the public."—The King's Message to Parliament, April 12, 1775.
[222] Papendiek: Journals.
[223] Ode written after the great Crashes and Falls at Somerset House.