1810, and was buried in Hammersmith Churchyard. His name still exists in the neighbourhood in Weltje Road, which runs from the Upper Mall to King Street West, and consists of sixty-eight houses.
We have seen that Fox was at Brighton in 1784. Fox, who was the 'guide, philosopher, and friend' of Prince Florizel, was at this time a man of about thirty-five or thirty-six, having been born in 1749. By his birth, education, and talents he should have been a fitting companion for the Prince, but he was lax in his morals, an inveterate gambler, and a hard drinker, and a worse comrade for a young man could scarcely be found. Indeed, at the end of the Westminster election of 1784 Gillray caricatured him in a satirical print entitled 'Preceptor and Pupil' as a loathsome toad with a fox's brush, who is whispering into the ear of the sleeping (or drunken) Prince: 'Abjure thy country and thy parents, and I will give thee dominion over many powers. Better to rule in Hell than serve in Heaven!'
Apropos of this election, which lasted forty days, and brought Fox in second at the poll, it is perhaps as famous as any in our electoral history. Much to the disgust of his parents, the Prince threw himself heart and soul into the fray, wearing a 'Fox cockade' at Ranelagh, and allowing members of his household to canvas for his boon companion. During the election, Gillray produced a satirical print (April 18, 1784) called 'Returning from Brooks's,' where the Prince, exceedingly drunk, and wearing the 'Fox cockade,' is being helped along by Fox and Sam House, a publican who kept a house, called The Intrepid Fox, at the corner of Peter Street and Wardour Street. 'Honest Sam House,' as he was called, was a violent politician and Whig, and during this election kept open house at his own expense. House figures in many caricatures of the time, and his fame was even enshrined in verse:
'See the brave Sammy House, he's as still as a mouse,
And does canvas with prudence so clever;
See what shoals with him flocks, to poll for brave Fox:
Give thanks to Sam House, boys, for ever, for ever, for ever!
Give thanks to Sam House, boys, for ever!
'Brave bald-headed Sam, all must own, is the man,
Who does canvas for brave Fox so clever:
His aversion, I say, is to small beer and Wray:37
May his bald head be honour'd for ever, for ever, for ever!
May his bald head be honour'd for ever!'
There is another satirical print, which is dated January, 1785, by an unknown artist, called 'Fox singing a Song to the P – e of W – l – s.' Fox and the Prince are playing cards and drinking. Fox sings:
'Tho' matters at present go cross in the realm,
You will one day be K – g, Sir, and I at the helm;
So let us be jovial, drink, gamble and sing,
Nor regard it a straw, tho' we're not yet the thing.
Tol de rol, tol, tol, tol de rol.
'The proverb informs us, each dog has his day,
So those that oppose us, this fate must obey;
But time's on our side, Sir, and now on the wing,
To make me a statesman, and you, Sir, the K – g.
Tol de rol, etc.
'In vain are harangues, I as well may be dumb,
And let motions alone, till our day, Sir, is come;
Then Thurlow and Pitt from their state we will fling,
They may go below stairs, Sir, so we are the thing.
Tol de rol, etc.
'Thus seated in state, Sir, we'll fill all our soul,
At the fountain of Venus, at Bacchus's bowl;
In all that we please, Sir, we'll take a full swing,
For who's to controul a Prime Statesman and K – g?
Tol de rol, etc.'
The Prince remarks: 'Fox, are you not the shuffler?'
'The Prince of Wales has again taken a house at Brighton for the season,' says the Morning Post of June 11, 1785, and he left London for his seaside residence on the 22nd of the same month. The same newspaper of June 28 reports that 'the visit of a certain gay, illustrious character at Brighton, has frightened away a number of old maids, who used constantly to frequent that place. The history of the gallantries of the last season, which is in constant circulation, has something in it so voluminous, and tremendous to boot, that the old tabbies shake in their shoes whenever his R – l H – ss is mentioned.'
'Lewes, July 2. – The Prince of Wales, on Monday last, at Brighthelmstone, amused himself for some time, in attempting to shoot doves with single balls, but with what success, we have not learnt; though we hear that his Royal Highness is esteemed a most excellent shot, and seldom presents his piece without doing some execution. The Prince, in the course of his diversion, either by design, or accident, lowered the tops of several of the chimnies of the Hon. Mr. Wyndham's house.'38
A few paragraphs from the Morning Post of this year will give us a good insight into the Brighton of the period.
July 6. – 'The Brighthelmstone intelligence has no novelty to recommend it; merely a repetition of the old story; morning rides, champaigne, dissipation, noise and nonsense: jumble these phrases together, and you have a complete account of all that's passing at Brighthelmstone!'
July 8. – 'A correspondent says, Brighthelmstone is much altered from what it was last season. Neither money, nor any speculating jewellers who give good tick, and discount upon a gentle feeling. The – has been tried and found wanting – all about him is not sterling – but one good endorser in the whole set, and he abroad. Times are bad.
'Mrs. Johnson and Windsor have undertaken to provide for the necessities of Brighton this year. The female adventurers of last season were totally ruined: even Bet Cox, who made as good a hand of it as any, swears she will not run the risk again, and that, though as how she was with the Prince, one night when he was drunk, yet that did not compensate her for the wear and tear with his attendants. We have not yet heard Mrs. Smith's opinion on the subject; but, as she was nearer the fire, she could not well escape being scorched.'
August 4. – 'Brighthelmstone is at present very thin of company, few females arriving there but the corps d'amour. Women of virtue and character shun these scenes of debauchery and drunkenness, ever attendant on the spot which is the temporary residence of a – .'
August 18. – 'His Royal Highness the Prince is so attached to his bathing residence, Brighthelmstone – he has so many sea nymphs there, rising from Old Ocean every morning to greet him; that, in the true spirit of an English Prince, his sole desire appears to rule the waves: and, when he comes to Town, he is actually like a fish out of water.'
August 25. – 'Plague upon the skippers that they do not understand the navigation of their own coasts! for, surely, some of the Margate Hoys have blundered by both the North and South Foreland, and landed their cargoes on the Sussex Shore. Never were there such a set of curmudgeonly knaves and dowdies, before, in Brighton, say the conscientious keepers of the subscription books! The lodging-houses are full, the streets well frequented, and the Steyne crowded – but who bathes, who raffles, and who subscribes? They vow that they never had so little Gold in their Autumn crop, since they were obliged to content themselves with the profits of their fishing, to wash their smocks upon the beach, and to live on
Sir Cecil Wray, one of the candidates.
