Inform the World they’re poor, ah! very poor!”
As a rule, however, Wolcot directed his lampoons against the King, whose foibles he most unmercifully laid bare. He was never weary of decrying a monarch who preferred farming to art, and whose economies were a source of scandal to the whole nation. It is said that the bitterness on this latter score arose from the King having purchased a picture from a friend of the satirist and having given him only half the market value. This, indeed, was only one instance out of many of George’s meanness. He would put an artist to the expense of bringing his pictures to Windsor, and not offer to pay the carriage, even when, in the case of one such command, the cost was twenty-five pounds. He would invite eminent singers and actors to perform at Court functions and give them never a sou, thinking the honour sufficient reward.
“At length the Actress ceased to read and spout,
Where Generosity’s a crying Sin:
Her curtsey dropp’d, was nodded to; came out.
So rich! How rich? As rich as she went in.
Should Mara call it cruelty, and blame
Such royal conduct, I’d cry, Fie upon her!
To Mistress Siddons freely say the same:
Sufficient for such people is the honour.”