And he had succeeded. It was by no means finished; he doubted it would be for years for he would always be thinking of some new improvement, but it was certainly very different from the Carlton House he had inherited. The architect, Henry Holland, had made an excellent job of the rebuilding, and that clever Frenchman, Gaubert, had decorated the interior with exquisite taste, superintended, of course, by the Prince himself. It was now beginning to look like a royal residence. His drawing room was hung with yellow Chinese silk; the dining room had been considerably extended; the ceilings heightened, the walls panelled and gilded, and columns of yellow and red granite added to give dignity. The ballroom in which he was now entertaining his guests was the most grand of all the rooms. Twelve lustres hung from the ceiling and the same number of branched chandeliers projected from the walls at intervals. There was an orchestra at either end of the room set up on platforms hung with crimson silk.
Members of the highest families of the nobility were present, including the Prince's special friends—Charles James Fox, Richard Sheridan, Edmund Burke, Mrs. Crewe and the Duchess of Devonshire. The Prince led his aunt, the Duchess of Cumberland, in the minuet and talked with her about his recent visit to Brighton.
"I vow" he said, "that as soon as the weather permits me I shall be there again."
"Then I am delighted that I introduced Your Highness to sea bathing. Has it proved beneficial?"
"Undoubtedly. I find it invigorating. The place is small however. There is scarcely one building in it that is not a hovel. But I like the sea. Now if we could have the sea here in London..."
"Alas, even princes cannot divert the sea"
"No, but they might divert the town. Why not?"
"A possibility"
"I like that place. I like it even more now that it has changed its name."
"Brighton. Charming. Well, if Your Highness decides to take advantage of the sea next summer, all the ton will do the same."
The Prince danced with other ladies—including Lady Melbourne who was such a favourite at this time. He paid the usual compliments, but he was thinking of next year's sea bathing, and how amusing it would be to have a house in Brighton where he could entertain his friends. He talked to her of Brighton and she was as enthusiastic as he was.
He danced with Georgiana. How beautiful she was on that night, always so different from all the other women, the true leader of fashion.
"My dearest Georgiana," sighed the Prince, "how can you persist in being cruel to me?"
"My dearest Highness, I am in truth being kind to us both."
How could that be when you know that my most urgent wish is to have you love me as I love you."
"I intend to be Your Highness's friend through life. It is so much easier to be a constant friend than a constant mistress."
"I would be constant for ever."
"Your Highness, I think Lady Melbourne is regarding you a little anxiously."
"You have but to say the word and there should be no one but you."
Georgiana laughed and did not take him seriously. Her husband the Duke was not interested in her, nor she in him; but Georgiana had no intention of becoming the mistress of the Prince of Wales. It was a position which she did not think any woman could hold for any length of time; and it was surely better not to set oneself on such a slippery perch. Their relationship was far more satisfactory as it was.
"I see Charles is there with Sherry and Amoret. What a beautiful creature she is. I'm not surprised that Sherry adores her."
"All beauties pale before your own," said the Prince.
And Georgiana laughed. "Exactly what I would have expected my gallant Prince to say. Sherry would not agree with you."
"He adores you, too."
"Dear Sherry, he is my very good friend. And Charles ... I do declare his frock-coat is threadbare. How dare he come to Carlton House dressed in such a slovenly manner."
"Charles knows that he may dare what he will as far as I am concerned. It is not his coat I welcome here but the man inside it."
"Right royally spoken. Fortunate Charles! I should have thought Lizzie Armistead would have taken better care of him."
"You must admit that he looks a little cleaner since being in her care."
"Let us come and talk to them. It is always such fun to talk to Charles. His great merit is his amazing quickness in seizing any subject. He seems to have a talent for knowing more of what he is talking about than anyone else. His conversation is like a brilliant player at billiards—the strokes follow one another— piff-paft"
"And you suggest I should frown on his coat!"
"No, no, I do not. I merely wonder that he should wrap so much that is charming in such a disreputable package."
The Prince and Georgiana had paused at the little group who bowed ceremoniously in recognition of royalty; and then immediately relaxed.
Sheridan, Georgiana noticed, had been drinking heavily. It saddened her; he was not as capable of carrying his drink as Charles.
"Sherry," she admonished, "if you drink so much you will destroy the coat of your stomach."
"Then my stomach must just digest in its waistcoat," retorted Sheridan.
Oh, yes, it was pleasant to be with these people who so amused him and flattered him with their attention. They talked politics, for they were all Whigs together, until it was time for supper. Five rooms were used for this purpose and the Prince with his special guests was accommodated in the grand escaglio room. He had Georgiana on his right and had arranged that Fox and Sheridan were not far away so that they could enjoy some enlivening conversation.
"Your Highness must be living beyond your means," whispered Fox.
"I hadn't given the matter a thought," admitted the Prince.
"Ah, what will be the end of this riotous living? Methinks we should see that the means fit the end."
The Prince laughed. He could trust Fox. It was Fox who had tried to get £100,000 a year for him and no fault of his that he had had to be content with a miserable £62,000; it was Fox who had extricated him from that affair with Perdita when she had demanded he honour the bond he had given her and wanted £5,000 for those revealing letters.
Oh, yes, he could trust Fox.
Over supper the conversation turned to the eccentric conduct of Major Hanger at one of the balls at St. James's Palace a few evenings earlier. The Prince was telling Charles Fox about it.
"Stab me, but he came in the uniform of an officer of the Hessian service—and mighty strange he looked among all the satins and brocades. His short blue coat was ornamented with gold frogs and there was a band across his shoulders from which his sword hung. What a spectacle! Even the King could not suppress a smile ... and it is no mean achievement, I do assure you, to make my father smile. But the Major did it when he put on his Kevenhiiller hat with two huge feathers—black and white—and invited Miss Gunning to join him in a minuet. Poor lady! Such a graceful, beautiful creature, but what could she do? She simply gave up. We laughed. I was convulsed ... and as I said the King smiled and my mother came as near to it as she's able. But that wasn't the end. You should have seen the gallant Major in a country dance."
The Prince continued to laugh at the memory of it and stopped suddenly. "Why should we not write a letter of congratulations to the Major. Say it was written in the name of the whole company who saw him perform. I will compile it and it shall be written in a handwriting the Major will not know."