At eight o'clock, after the usual loyal toasts, and taking tea and coffee in the great parlour, his Majesty and retinue took coach, and returned to St. James's Palace amid the same crowd and acclamations, with the addition of illuminations in almost every window, so that the people might have the pleasure of seeing his Majesty as much as possible.
On the 24th, the poor king, who could hardly have digested the good things of which I have just given a list, was entertained at Richmond Lodge, by order of his Majesty King George. Some attempt at taste seems to have been made on this occasion, for we read of a splendid temple with festoons of flowers and emblematical pictures alluding to the arts and sciences. The fireworks were the finest ever exhibited, and "their Majesties and the nobility present were pleased to express their entire satisfaction." The whole road from London to the Lodge was illuminated by upwards of fifteen thousand Italian lamps, from three in the afternoon till the next morning.
On October 1, the Princess of Wales gave a grand entertainment at Carlton House in honour of Christian. It consisted of three tables, one for their Majesties and the Princess Dowager of Wales; a second for the King of Denmark: and fifty of the nobility; and the third for H.R.H. the Prince of Wales and his attendants, &c. The princess dowager and the King of Denmark had not got on at all well together, and he entirely lost her good graces by the following piece of impertinence. The princess was amusing herself one day with a lady of her court, to whom the King of Denmark had presented a superb set of jewels, with telling fortunes by the cards, and Christian said to her, "My dear mother, how do you designate my Majesty in your pasteboard court?" "Lady ——," said the princess with an arch smile, "calls you the King of Diamonds." "And what do you call Holck?" Christian continued. "Oh, by a title far more flattering; that rake is called the King of Hearts." "Then pray, my dear mamma," said Christian, piqued by her ironical allusions, "under which of the suits do you designate Lord Bute?" This repartee, severe as it was unexpected, crimsoned the face of the princess, who rallied soon after, evidently offended with her incorrigible son-in-law.[68]
While Christian was at Newmarket races, a deputation arrived from Cambridge, begging him and his suite to accept the same degrees from that university as from Oxford. On October 10, Christian gave a superb masked ball at the Opera House in the Haymarket, at which no less than two thousand five hundred of the nobility and gentry were present. Even staid George III. could not resist the temptation, but remained in a private box with transparent shutters. The Princess Amelia also sat the whole time in one of the boxes, masked. Christian opened the ball with the Duchess of Ancaster, and any one who wishes to know what characters were represented, I can refer to the "Gentleman's Magazine," which contains an engraving of the ball. There was an awful squeeze and a magnificent supper, and the value of the jewels worn on this occasion amounted to upwards of £2,000,000. Still, the company must have been rather mixed, for a noble duke lost his snuff-box, on which was a portrait of the King of France, set with brilliants. The ball cost Christian £3,000.
On the 11th, Christian held a levee at St. James's, when the nobility took leave of him, and on the following day he bade farewell to the royal family. On the evening before his departure, the king made a present to the Earl of Hertford, Lord Chamberlain, and to Lord Talbot, Lord Steward, of a ring each, valued at £1,500, and left 1,000 guineas to be distributed among the domestics of the king's palace. The Earl of Holderness, Constable of Dover Castle, was appointed to attend his Majesty until his embarkation. As a pleasing relief to this royal extravagance, we read that just before Christian's departure, Garrick had the honour of an interview, when the king gave him a very elegant gold box studded with diamonds, begging him to receive it as a small mark of the regard he had for his extraordinary talents.
On October 13, Christian went up the Medway to Chatham in the Victory, man-of-war, and inspected the British fleet. Chance decreed that the young officer who commanded the ship was the same Gambier who, in 1807, as Admiral of the Blue, commanded the English fleet with thirty thousand men aboard, who landed in Zealand, carried off the Danish fleet, plundered the arsenals, and laid one-seventh of Copenhagen in ashes.
On October 14, the king again went on board the Mary yacht at Dover, which was to convey him to Calais. Just as he was escaping, a parting shot was fired at him by an officer on board, in the shape of the most execrable and mendacious verses ever written, and that is saying a good deal. For that reason I shall quote them:—
"The mighty Peter as the public cause
Pursu'd with zeal, arts, sciences and laws,
In search of knowledge travell'd Europe round,