"God bless the Prince of Wales!" cried the people of Brighthelmstone.

And when they had retired into the drawing room the Duchess lifted her green eyes, so miraculously black-fringed, to his face and echoed: "God bless you, my dearest Prince of Wales. How kind of you to take pity on us and visit us here in our little sea village."

"Dearest Aunt, I could not resist the temptation to see how you amused yourself here."

"This is what you shall discover, gracious nephew. Wait until you have taken a dip in the sea water. I can assure you it is most refreshing. But there is one drawback which I know will cause Your Highness some concern. The ladies and gentlemen do not bathe together. The ladies take possession of the shore west of the Steyne and the gentlemen to the east. In any case the ladies all wear long and hideous flannel gowns and the gentlemen bathe much more charmingly naked."

"I am sure your flannel gown is most becoming."

"But of what use, since there are no gentlemen to see it ... only the fat old fishwife who dips me."

"What a fantastic pastime. Does the sea really benefit you enough to make the performance worth while?"

"I believe it does; and I am certain that once you have tried it you will wish to repeat it."

"And when shall I take my sea bathe, pray?"

"Tomorrow, of course."

"I trust the whole town will not turn out to see me."

"My beloved nephew, since so many people turn out to see Your Highness in his clothes, how many more would arrive to see you without them. But have no fear. It is all very discreet and the old fellow who dips you knows his job perfectly."

The Prince was amused; and since the Duke and Duchess had naturally brought with them many of their most entertaining friends, his first evening in Brighthelmstone was most pleasantly spent.

The Prince stayed for eleven exciting and interesting days. He took to the sea bathing and found it most invigorating, and every day went into his bathing machine and undressed. It was then taken down to the edge of the sea by the bathing machine attendant and his horse, when the Prince would emerge and enjoy immersing himself. He hunted on the downs beyond Rottingdean, danced in the Assembly Rooms, strolled about the town meeting the people and accepting their loyal greetings with affable smiles and comments—changing the place in those eleven days from a little fishing village to a fashionable seaside resort, for naturally after the Prince's visit it was fashionable to visit Brighthelmstone; sea bathing became a craze; bathing machines lined the shingle; the strong men and women dippers made a fortune it was said; owners of the little houses in Black Lion, Ship, East, West, Middle and North Streets let lodgings, and there was a steady stream of carriages and other conveyances on the road from London.

"Nothing will ever be the same," said the sages of Brighthelmstone.

They were right. Even the name was changed—to Brighton.

In Carlton House the Prince was entertaining. He was proud of Carlton House; and he had every reason to be when he considered the ruin it had been when it had come into his hands. It had not been lived in since the death of his grandmother, Augusta, the Dowager Princess of Wales, and he imagined that it was because his father had believed it to be uninhabitable that he had given it to him. Oh yes, the old man would have liked him to continue in his rooms at Buckingham House. But Carlton House had offered a challenge; it had given him a chance to show what he could make of a house, dilapidated though it might be.

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."

The Prince gazed round the table. "You, Sherry. He does not know you. You shall be the writer of our letter."

"It has always been my aim to write for Your Majesty's pleasure."

"This will be as good as a play, I promise you."

"Other men's plays, perhaps Highness. Not mine."

"But other men's plays can be highly diverting sometimes, Sherry. And as you will have a hand in this affair you may lend us a touch of your genius."

"How can I repay your graciousness, sir, but by complying with Your Highness's desires."

"It shall be done after supper and delivered to the Major first thing tomorrow morning." The Prince laughed, thinking of the Major's reactions when he received the note.

He talked of the Major through supper and as soon as it was over left his guests and taking Fox, Sheridan and a few favourite companions with him retired to an ante-room to write the letter.

Writing had always given him great pleasure and he could never see a pen without wanting to pick it up and compose flowery sentences. It was this habit which had proved so disastrous in the Perdita affair.

Now he sat down and with his friends looking over his shoulder wrote:

"St. James's, Sunday morning "The company who attended the ball on Friday last at St. James's present their compliments to Major Hanger and return him their unfeigned thanks for the variety with which he enlivened the insipidity of the evening's entertainment. The gentlemen want words to describe their admiration of the truly grotesque and humorous figure which he exhibited; and the ladies beg leave to express their acknowledgments for the lively and animated emotions that his stately, erect and perpendicular form could not fail to excite in their delicate and susceptible bosoms. His gesticulations and martial deportment were truly admirable and have raised an impression which will not soon be effaced at St. James's."