highest in rank sharing the common peril, would compensate for other deficiencies.* Considering how thorough a soldier George the Second was by nature, one might have imagined that an appeal of this kind would have warmed his heart towards his heir and destined successor. One might have imagined that he would have recalled to mind how he himself in the flower of life, when serving under the great Marlborough, had led his famous cavalry charge at the battle of Oudenarde; how, in middle age, he had challenged his brother monarch, Frederick William of Prussia, to meet him in single combat on the plains of Hildesheim; how, at a still later date, bidding his men fire for the honour of England, he had dashed, with his gallant son the Duke of Cumberland by his side, into the thickest of the fight at the battle of Dettingen, † and that, under these circumstances, he would have encouraged the military aspirations of his youthful grandson. But whatever may have been his reasons, such was not the case. When, a short time after the old King had received the Prince's letter, the Duke of Newcastle entered the royal closet, his Majesty placed the document in his hands, and, having made him read it twice over, inquired of him what kind of answer he would recommend him to return. The Prince, he said, was evidently intent upon elevating himself: monter un pas was his expression. "I told his Majesty," writes the Duke, "that I hoped he would return a kind answer; that the letter was very respectful and submissive." Whether this friendly suggestion was heeded, or indeed whether the Prince's letter was ever answered at all, appears to be a matter of uncertainty. The real fact would seem to have • Harris's Life of the Earl of Hardwicke, vol. iii. pp. 182, 183. + Respecting the gallantry displayed by George 2 at the battle of Dettingen, see in the Gentleman's Magazine for July, 1743, (vol. 13, pp. 381-387), two letters, the one from a General Officer in the British Army, and the other from an officer of the name of Kendal, who fought in Lord Ashburnham's troop. Also Coxe's Pelham Administration, vol. i. p. 69. been that the jealous monarch either misconstrued, or pretended to misconstrue, the intention of his grandson's application. "Though the command-in-chief," observes the Duke of Newcastle, "was not named, or anything like it, the King took it to mean that; and, indeed, that did seem to be the purport of the letter."* Advanced as George the Second was in years, he had apparently reserved, in the event of foreign invasion, the foremost post of honour and peril for himself. "The King's tents and equipage," writes Gray to Warton on the 21st of July, "are ordered to be ready at an hour's warning." † Harris's Life of the Earl of Hardwicke, vol. iii. pp. 182-4. + Gray's Works, edited by Mitford, vol. iii. p. 218. With the exception of James the First, George the Third would seem to have been the first adult King of England since the Norman Conquest, or possibly since the Heptarchy, who had not on some occasion risked his life in battle. The further fact is also remarkable, that George the Second was the first King of England since the Conquest who reached the age of seventy. Since his death two other English sovereigns, George the Third and William the Fourth, have attained that age. CHAPTER III. Sudden Death of George II.-Accession of the Prince of Wales as George III.-Condition of Public Affairs-The King's first speech in Council, supposed to be inspired by Lord Bute-Chagrin of Mr. Pitt and the Duke of Newcastle-No change in the Ministry-Proclamation against "vice, profanity, and immorality”—Attention of George III. to the last wishes of his Grandfather—Funeral of George II.-Friendly bearing of the King to the Duke of Cumberland and other members of the Royal Family-Testimonies to the good disposition and good sense of the King-A royal chaplain rebuked-Lord Bute's share in preparing the King's first speech to Parliament-Career and character of ButeBute's influence at Court renders the King and his mother unpopular. GEORGE THE SECOND expired at Kensington Palace on the 25th of October 1760, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. His death His death was, for his own sake, in many respects a desirable one. Not only had he been fortunate enough to recover the popularity which he had lost by the blunders and disasters that had clouded the morning of his reign, but, owing mainly to the glorious military successes which had emblazoned its setting, he had latterly become beloved and esteemed by his people. Moreover, during the last two years his sense of hearing, as well as his eyesight, had become more and more impaired. It seemed to him, he said, as though every one's face was covered with black crape. From the afflictions, therefore, of total deafness and blindness he was mercifully preserved. He was * spared, too, the misery of a long illness and expired, apparently, without a pang. On the night preceding his death, the aged King had retired to bed to all appearance in perfect health, and on the following morning rose at his usual hour of six, made an inquiry respecting the wind, and expressed his intention. of walking in the gardens. Having drunk his chocolate, he retired to a small apartment adjoining his bedchamber, from which his German valet-de-chambre presently heard a deep sigh or groan proceeding, followed by a further sound as if something heavy had fallen within. He rushed into the room, and found his royal master extended on the floor with the blood trickling from his forehead. The right ventricle of the King's heart had burst, and in falling he had struck his forehead against a bureau. With a single gasp he expired. Lady Yarmouth was immediately sent for; but the time had arrived when the presence of a mistress was more than ever indecorous, and accordingly she desired that the King's daughter, the Princess Amelia, should be summoned to take her place in the chamber of death. The scene which followed the entrance of the Princess into the apartment is described as having been a very painful one. The royal attendants had neglected to close the eyes of the dead. The Princess was both deaf and near-sighted. Some imaginary sound or other had led her to fancy that her father spoke to her, and accordingly she bent her face close to his, in hopes to catch his words. Her feelings may be more easily imagined than described when she discovered that he was a corpse. * "The King is dead;" writes Gray the poet to the Rev. J. Brown: "he rose this morning about six-his usual early hour-in perfect health, and had his chocolate between seven and eight. An unaccountable noise was heard in his chamber. They ran in and found him lying on the floor. He was directly bled, and a few drops came from him, but he instantly expired." † Walpole's Letters, vol 3, pp. 350, 354. Ed. 1857. Annual Register for 1760, pp. 139, 141. + Gray and Mason Corresp., p. 226, 2nd Edition. At the period of George the Third's accession to the crown of England he was in his twenty-third year. Seldom had a sovereign of this country ever ascended the throne under more advantageous circumstances. Instead of being an alien in the land-ignorant of its laws and almost of its language, as his father and grandfather had been before him-he had happily first seen the light on British soil, and had been nurtured and educated among its people. His predecessors, preferring the interests of their German Electorate to those of the great country over which they had been invited to rule, had not only rendered themselves unpopular with the English people, but had with difficulty succeeded in defending their throne against the influence and machinations of the House of Stuart. George the Third, on the contrary, was encumbered neither by the disadvantages of foreign birth, nor scarcely by those of a disputed succession. His only formidable rival for the throne, Charles Stuart, the darling of Scottish song, had sunk into an ignominious voluptuary, contenting himself with shooting wolves by day in the forest of Ardennes, and indulging in disreputable orgies at night. The once powerful Jacobite party in England, who formerly, under any favourable circumstances, would readily and chivalrously have ventured their lives and fortunes in his cause, had not only become disgusted with his selfishness and sensuality, but were prepared at the first propitious moment to flock to St. James's and salute the rising sun. Other advantages befriended George the Third on his accession. Great Britain, instead of groaning under the calamities, domestic as well as foreign, which had saddened the reigns of his immediate predecessors, had been restored by the genius of the illustrious Pitt to the highest state of prosperity and greatness. Under his auspices her commerce had been rendered prosperous beyond all precedent; colony had been added to colony; while victory, gained |