Sweet Lass of Richmond Hill - Plaidy Jean - Страница 47

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The Prince nodded and looked expectantly at Sheridan. He was very fond of Sherry, who was so charming and handsome, although beginning to look a little jaded. When he had first met him, only a few years ago at the time he was involved with Perdita, Sheridan had not been the politician he was today—merely manager of Drury Lane. But he had had an enviable reputation, having made his name with The Rivals and The School for Scandal. They had been a trio—he, Fox and Sheridan; and Burke was a friend of theirs too. How he had valued those friendships! And how he had delighted in their wit and erudition! They had stood together for the Whigs. Those were good old days, but the coming of Maria had changed them. For one thing he was too devoted to Maria to have as much time as he had had in the past for his old friends, and Maria's definite antagonism to Fox had affected the Prince's feelings.

But now Sheridan was an influential politician and such a close associate of Fox that the Prince's diminishing affection for the latter seemed to touch Sheridan too.

Yet on this day when he had gone to Sheridan for help, he felt as affectionate towards him as he ever had.

Sheridan looked into his glass and said: 'It must be ended ... with all speed.'

'How so?'

'Does Your Highness know the extent of your debts?'

'I have no idea, Sherry, and the calculation of them would so depress me that I have put off making it.'

'Parliament should settle them.'

'Is it possible?'

'It would not be the first time.'

4 No, and I am really kept very short.' 'I think it should be talked over with Fox.' The Prince nodded gloomily. It seemed now as always that he could not manage without Fox's help.

When Maria heard that the bailiffs had been to Carlton House she was aghast.

'My darling, what are you going to do?' she demanded.

'Oh, it will be settled, never fear.'

'But, dearest, we will have to consider in future. You spend far too much on me.'

'I could never spend too much on you.'

'I should be most unhappy to be an encumbrance.'

'The most delightful encumbrance in the world,' he assured her.

'But, my dearest, what are you going to do?'.

'Fox is coming to see me. You can trust that wily old fellow to come up with the answer.'

'Fox.' Her long aquiline nose wrinkled in disgust.

'Dearest, I know you don't like him but he'll know what should be done.'

'May I be there when you speak to him?'

The Prince hesitated, but she looked so appealing that he agreed.

Thus when Fox came with Sheridan to discuss the Prince's debts he found Maria present.

'Maria is fully aware of the situation,' explained the Prince.

Fox bowed and Maria returned his greeting coolly. Sheridan she accepted more graciously. She thought he was a bad influence for the Prince because he was a drinker and a gambler and had numerous affairs with women, but he was at least clean and so more tolerable.

'Maria thinks the debts must be paid at once,' said the Prince, looking at her fondly. 'She has been lecturing me on my extravagance and says that at the earliest possible moment my creditors must be paid and economies made.'

'A view,' said Fox, 'with which I am in entire agreement.'

The Prince smiled from one to the other rather wistfully. He G*

would have liked them to be good friends—these two whom he loved more than any other human beings.

'The question,' put in Sheridan, 'is how?'

'Has Your Highness a rough estimate of the amount?' asked Fox.

The Prince thought that somewhere in the neighbourhood of ?250,000 might see him through.

Fox was taken aback. It was a very large sum.

'There are two alternatives,' he said. Tour Highness can either approach the King or the Parliament.'

'Neither appeals,' replied the Prince. 'The Parliament means Pitt—and he has never been a friend of mine. And the idea of going to my father and asking him for money is completely repulsive to me.'

'It may be the only answer,' warned Fox.

'He'll crow. He'll jeer. Eh, what? What? You've no idea what an old fool he has become in the heart of his family. I would do a great deal to avoid going to him and begging for his help.

'That leaves Parliament.'

'And Mr. Pitt.'

'It's worth a try,' said Sheridan.

And so it was agreed.

When Pitt received the request to settle the Prince's debts, he decided that he would do nothing about it.

Why should his Ministry help support a young man who was clearly the tool of the Opposition? The Prince was extravagant. Very well, let the public know how extravagant he was, but that was no concern of Mr. Pitt and his Ministry.

To tell the Prince of Wales—who might very well be King at any time—that he would do nothing to help him would have been a foolish and reckless act; and Mr. Pitt though a young man could not be accused of folly or recklessness.

He prevaricated; he asked for details; he shelved the matter for a few days, a few weeks. It was a large sum of money, he pointed out. It was a matter which could not be settled overnight.

Family Conflict 203

Meanwhile the creditors were growing impatient, and the Prince fearing that the bailiffs might return to Carlton House, went again to Fox.

'There is no help for it,' said Fox. 'Your Highness will have to ask the King. After all, it is your due. Your allowance is not large enough. As Prince of Wales you are not expected to live like a pauper.'

So the Prince wrote to the King telling him that he had debts and that a sum of ?250,000 would cover them.

The King replied that he was considering the matter. Nothing happened for a few weeks; then the Prince wrote again.

The Prince must understand, replied the King, that before the money could be advanced to him, it must be known how it was spent. There was one item for ?54,000. What could have been the reason for spending such a large unspecified sum?

The money had been spent on furniture, plate and jewellery which the Prince had insisted on giving Maria and he was not going to give the King details of that.

The King wrote a curt note that he would not pay the Prince's debts nor would he give his sanction to an increase in his son's allowance.

When the Prince received this letter he was so angry, realizing now that all the time neither the King nor Pitt had any intention of paying his debts, that he declared he would make his own arrangements. He would shut up Carlton House; he would live like a private gentleman and he would pay ?40,000 a year out of his allowance to his creditors. And the country should know how he was treated by his father and his father's

Government.

# # #

When the King received tliis letter from the Prince he was disturbed. If the Prince shut up Carlton House the people would soon know it. It was not becoming for a Prince of Wales to live like a private gentleman. The people had always been on the Prince's side; they would be so now; particularly as the King himself had had debts which the Parliament had had to settle.

He summoned Pitt to ask his advice.

Pitt read the letters and did not like the tone of them.

'It would not be good,' he said, 'for the Prince to become a martyr.'

'I agree,' replied the King; 'I will write to him without delay and let him know that I have not given him an absolute refusal.'

'I think that an excellent idea, Your Majesty,' said Pitt. 'I suppose these debts should be paid, but at the same time His Highness should be made to realize that Your Majesty's Government does not look with pleasure on his extravagant way of life.'

'He shall be made to understand that, Mr. Pitt, I promise you.'

When Pitt had left the King immediately wrote to the Prince. He had not made a complete refusal, he explained, but if the Prince proposed taking any rash steps he should remember that he himself would be the one who would be obliged to take the consequences of them.

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