Wolcot was never weary of harping upon this unroyal quality that was common to both the sovereigns. He returned to it in the “Odes to Kien Long, Emperor of China.”
“Give nothing from the Privy Purse away, I say:
Nay, should thy coffers and thy bags run o’er;
Neglect, or pension Merit on the Poor.
Give not to Hospitals; thy Name’s enough:
To death-face Famine, not a pinch of snuff.
On Wealth, thy Quarry, keep a Falcon-view,
And from the very children steal their due!”
The King’s love of farming for profit—a king with a Civil List of eight hundred thousand pounds and occasional special grants amounting to millions—was a subject much discussed, and not likely to escape the attention of our satirist.
“... the note is, ‘How go sheep a score?