BIB_ID
137591
Accession number
MA 4088
Creator
Sheridan, Richard Brinsley, 1751-1816.
Display Date
undated [May 25, 1787 or later].
Credit line
Gift of Charles Ryskamp in honor of John F. Fleming, 1982.
Description
1 item (4 pages) ; 23.1 x 18.2 cm
Notes
Sheridan wrote this letter on behalf of, and in the voice of, the Prince of Wales (the future George IV) to his father, King George III.
There are many edits and crossings-out, apparently in Sheridan's hand. The letter is unsigned.
In the letter, the prince refers to a message sent by the king to the Houses of Parliament on May 25, 1787, which suggests that this must have been written after that date. Discussions over the cost of renovating Carlton House occurred during 1787 and 1788, at which time Sheridan was close to the prince and could have drafted a letter on his behalf. This particular letter, however, is not recorded in Cecil Price's Letters of Richard Brinsley Sheridan (Oxford University Press, 1966).
There are many edits and crossings-out, apparently in Sheridan's hand. The letter is unsigned.
In the letter, the prince refers to a message sent by the king to the Houses of Parliament on May 25, 1787, which suggests that this must have been written after that date. Discussions over the cost of renovating Carlton House occurred during 1787 and 1788, at which time Sheridan was close to the prince and could have drafted a letter on his behalf. This particular letter, however, is not recorded in Cecil Price's Letters of Richard Brinsley Sheridan (Oxford University Press, 1966).
Summary
Saying that His Majesty's intention of renovating Carlton House appears to have been frustrated by "the Delay in knowing the Estimates then required by Parliament and the inadequacy of the sums since issued"; assuring the king that he (the Prince of Wales) has done everything in his power to "obtain proper estimates to be formed, to check extravagance in the Plans and to ensure the due application of the Public money to the Purpose for which his Majesty was graciously pleased to apply to his Parliament"; lamenting the "great inaccuracy" of an estimate delivered to William Pitt before May 1787; submitting for the king's consideration the information that "various respectable Tradesmen" working on the renovations have gone into debt and are in "the greatest Distress and even in Danger of [ruin] in consequence."
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