1736 : EECOEDS of the euns. 309 



•offended, the hunting ticket might have been withheld, so far, 

 at least, as the meets in Richmond Park were concerned. 



The official record of sport with the pack for this season 

 shows that 54 stags, 36 hinds, and 2 bucks were hunted and 

 killed, and the fees paid thereon to the keepers amounted to 

 145^. 



1736. — The Parliamentary Session having closed in May, 

 the King proceeded to visit his German dominions, as he had 

 likewise done in the preceding year, taking with him Mr. 

 Horace Walpole as Deputy Secretary of State, and leaving 

 the Queen as Regent in England. During his absence, the 

 tranquillity which England had now enjoyed for so many 

 years was slightly ruffled. A great number of poor Irish 

 having come over in the summer, not merely worked at the 

 hay and corn harvest as was usual, but engaged themselves at 

 the Spitalfields looms at two-thirds of the ordinary wages. 

 The cockney weavers, declining to have their wages reduced 

 from lOs. and 12s. to 6s. or 8s. a week, raised riots on several 

 nights during the first week of the buck-hunting season, and 

 attacked a public-house where the Irish resorted. Similar 

 riots occurred about Michaelmas, when the new Gin Act came 

 into operation. But the presence of Sir Robert Walpole on 

 both of these occasions checked these riots without bloodshed 

 or injury or damage. In Edinburgh, however, a serious dis- 

 turbance took place, culminating in the well-known Porteous 

 riots, by which the Queen was greatly irritated, as she construed 

 them to be an insult to her person and authority. There is a 

 tradition that Her Majesty, in the first burst of her resentment, 

 petulantly exclaimed to the Duke of Argyle, that, sooner than 

 submit to such things, she would make Scotland a huatiuoj 

 field. " In that case. Madam," answered Argyle, with a pro- 

 found bow, but with no courtly spirit, " I will take leave of 

 your Majesty, and go down to my own country to get my 

 hounds ready ! " Eventually these difficulties were overcome, 

 and domestic affairs again ran smoothly in the old grooves. 



Unfortunately another obstacle had arisen in Che bosom of 

 the Court. Frederick, Prince of Wales, was now in open 



