In England born, my inclination,
Like yours, is wedded to this nation:
And future times, I hope, will see
Me General in reality.[5]
Indeed, I wish to serve this land,
It is my father’s strict command;
And none he ever gave shall be
More cheerfully obeyed by me.
[5] Prince Edward, Duke of York, became a Vice-Admiral of the Blue.
We get many pleasant glimpses, in contemporary letters and memoirs, of the domestic felicity of the royal household at Kew and Leicester House; of games of baseball and “push pin,” with the children in the winter, of gardening and cricket in the summer, and of little plays, sometimes composed by the Prince, staged by the Princess and acted by their sons and daughters all the year round. “The Prince’s family,” Lady Hervey writes, “is an example of innocent and cheerful amusement,”[6] and her testimony is corroborated on all sides.