DEAETH OF HUNTING INTELLIGENCE, KEIGN OF GEOKGE I. 261 



the King, accompanied by the "young princesses," and all the 

 Court officials, paid a visit to, and dined with, the Earl of 

 Orkney at Cliefden. On his return, all the villages through 

 which the Iloyal cortege passed were illuminated ; and, on 

 entering the Home Park, it was met there by the inhabitants 

 of the Royal Borough, who turned out en masse, and thence 

 His Majesty, T.R.H., and suite, were conducted to the Castle 

 surrounded by a torch-light procession, which is described to 

 have produced a novel and picturesque effect. We cannot find 

 the slightest allusion to hunting, from his arrival at Windsor 

 till his departure for Kensington on October 1, "in perfect 

 health." 



In 1725 the Ministry submitted a royal message to Parlia- 

 ment, requiring 508,367/. 19s. 4(i., to discharge the debts of 

 the Civil List. This enormous arrear had been incurred in 

 the short space of three years, because, as the message stated, 

 his Majesty had found it impossible to make any considerable 

 retrenchments. The nation was amazed at this demand, but, 

 notwithstanding Pulteney's plucky protest, the grant was 

 passed by 239 votes against 119. Probably not one farthing 

 of this sum went into the King's pocket; most of it was 

 gobbled up by the corrupt administrators of the state and 

 their hungry hangers-on. At any rate, the only arrears out- 

 standing on account of the Royal Buckhounds were for one 

 year and a quarter, amounting to 1250/. Consequently this 

 department of the Civil List was free from extravagance and 

 innocent of peculation. Disgusted with the management of 

 state affairs in his new dominions, which he could not under- 

 stand, George L left England for Hanover in August. He 

 spent most of the ensuing month hunting at Gohrde, in the 

 company of Prince Friedrich and some of the English nobility 

 of his suite. There the chase usually commenced at 7 a.m. 

 and continued till 5 p.m. 



In the meantime the Prince of Wales had proceeded to 

 Richmond, where he held his court amid the most enjoyable 

 surroundings. As usual, hardly an item of hunting intelli- 

 gence was mentioned in the chronicles of the time; nevertheless 



