MEMOIKS OF THE LIFE AND EEIGN OF KING GEOKGE THE THIKD. BY J. HENEAGE JESSE, AUTHOR OF "memoirs OF THE COURT OF ENGLAND UNDER THE STUARTB J ' •'memoirs of king RICHARD HI.," ETC. IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. "» . ^ ■ » LONDON: TINSLEY BROTHERS, 18, CATHERINE ST., STRAND. 1867. [The RkjIU o/ Translation is 'fCsaved.] LONDON : BRADBURY, EVANS, AND CO., PRINTERS, WHITBFRIARS. «. « « c c C C < K > etc I ^ 3o5 V. I CONTENTS. "^ CHAPTER I. ^ PAOR Birth of Prince George, afterwards George III. — Characteristics of his parents, j^ the Prince and Princess of Wales — Juvenile Tlieatricals at Leicester House — j2; Death of Frederick Prince of Wales— Position of his Widow and family — ^ Kindness of George II. to the Princess of AVales and Prince George — The >• Prince created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester — Officers of his house- < hold — Plans for the Prince's education — His tutors and governors — Quari'els !.T3 and changes among them .......... 1 ex, CHAPTER II. ?>■-... 2 Earl of Waldegrave governor of the Prince — The Prince's habits and disposition J3 —His slow progress in education — His ignorance of the world — Visit to the Archbishop of Canterbury — Princess of Wales named Regent — Unpopularity of William Duke of Cumberland — Influence of tlie Earl of Bute on the Princess Dowager and on the Prince of Wales — Failure of the King's pro- ^ posal to marry the Prince to a Princess of Wolfenbuttel — Proposed separate ca establishment on coming of age — Declined by the Prince — Lord Bute placed <^ at the head of the Prince's household— The Prince's passion for Hannah ^ Lightfoot, the fair Quakeress — The Prince's re(iuest for military employ- ment declined by the King . . . . . . . . .19 CHAPTER III. Sudden Death of George II. — Accession of the Prince of Wales as George III. — Condition of Public Affairs— Tlie King's first speech in Council, supposed to be inspired by Lord Bute — Chagrin of Mr. Pitt and the Duke of New- castle — No change in the iliuistry— Proclamation against " vice, profanity, and immorality "—Attention of George III. to the last wishes of his Grand- father — Funeral of George II. — Friendly bearing of the King to the Duke of Cumberland and other members of the Koyal 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 Bute — Bute's influence at Court renders the King nnd his mother unpopular .......... 39 42a458 vi CONTENTS. CHAPTER lY. PAGE The King and the great "Whig aristocracy — Eight Dukes, five Earls, and one Commoner in the Cabinet— Exchision of Tories from place in all depart- ments of administration — Bolingbroke's Ideal " Patriot King " — The King's leaning to the Tories — AVhig jealousy of Bute's influence at Court — The King's passion for Lady Sarah Lennox, youngest daughter of the second Duke of Richmond — The King's personal feelings subdued by considerations of public policy — Subsequent history of Lady Sarah Lennox . . .58 CHAPTER V. The Princess Dowager's efforts to preserve her influence on the King's mind — Bute's political intrigues — Changes in the Government, and accession of Bute to ofl3ce as Secretary of State— Weakness of the AYhig party, owing to dissensions among the "Great Families" — Career of William Pitt, after- wards Earl of Chatham — Success of Pitt's policy as Secretary of State and AVar Minister — His efficiencj' as an administrator — Public confidence in his abilities and patriotism — His personal influence in the House of Commons and the Cabinet — Pitt's opposition to the Bourbon "Family Compact" defeated by Bute — Fall of Pitt — His popularity impaired by his acceptance of a peerage for his wife and a pension for himself — His emotion on deliver- ing the Seals of Office to the King . . .... 70 CHAPTER YI. Negotiations for the Marriage of the King with Princess Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg Strelitz — Episode of the Duke of Roxburgh and Princess Christina— Marriage by Proxy at Mecklenburg — Simple manners of the Mecklenburg Court — Preparations in England — Landing of the Princess Charlotte at Harwich — Enthusiastic rece[)tion by the populace in London — Wedding at Midnight in St. James's Palace — Antiquated Nuptial observ- ances — Letter of George III. to the King of Prussia — The Coronation in AYestminster Abbey — Incideuts and omens of the splendid ceremonial . 87 CHAPTER YIT. Changes in the Ttlinistry— Mr. Pitt recovers the popular favour— The King and Queen dine at Guildhall, where tlie King meets a cool reception — Lord Bute mobbed, and Mr. Pitt cheered— Pitt's views of the Bourbon " Family Compact" found to be correct — AVar declared against Sjiain — Unregretted retirement of the Duke of Newcastle, who declines a pension off"ered him by the King— Dangerous illness of the King— Birth of a Prince, afterwards George lA^ — The King's kindly recollections of Eton School . . .112 CONTEXTS. vii CHAPTER Yin. I'AGF. Bute appointed Premier — Programme of his policy— N'ecessity for extraordinary efforts to secure a majority — Heni-y Fox, afterwards Lord Holland, induced to join the ilini.stry, and made Leader of the House of Commons in place of George Grenville — Terms of the Coalition of Henry Fox with the Court party — Failure of his attempts to ohtain "Whig support — "Wholesale bribery, corruption, and intimidation— Duke of Devonshire, "Prince of the Whigs," dismissed from Office and from the Privy Council — Parliament opened by the King in person — Pitt too ill to attend in his place — Ministers obtain a majority— Pitt's eloquence — His position and power in the House of Com- mons — Dr. Franklin's opinion of Pitt 132 CHAPTER TX. Great Popular excitement — Debate in Parliament on Preliminaries of Peace — Pitt, though seriously ill, speaks on the question — Triumph of the Govern- ment — Exidtation of the Court — Bute personally unpopular — Financial diffi- culties of the Government — Sir Francis Dashwood, Chancellor of the Ex- chequer, and his Budget — Resignation of Bute -His character and disposi- tion — His patronage of Literature, Science, and Art — Bute's intimacy with the Princess of Wales— Resignation of Fox — Fox created Baron Holland . 156 CHAPTER X. George Grenville appointed Premier — Grenville in the House of Commons — John Wilkes, and Liberty of the Press — The Xew Orderof "Franciscans " — ■ The " Xorth Briton" Newspaper— " General Warrants"— Wilkes com- mitted to the Tower, but released on writ of Habeas Corpus — Popular excitement in London — The King's dissatisfaction with the Grenville Ministry ......... . . . 17S CHAPTER XL Attempt of the King to recunstriict the Ministry — Failure of negotiations with Mr. Pitt — The Grenville Ministry insist on Lord Bute retiring from London— The Duke of Bedford in the Cabinet — Proceedings against John Wilkes, moved in the House of Lords by the Earl of Sandwich — Popular judgment on Lord Sandwich — General Warrants judicially condemned — Wilkes expelled from the House of Commons 195 CHAPTER XII. Personal feeling of the King in Wilkes's case — Parliament iry provision for the Queen — Birth of Prince Frederick, afterwards Duke of York — Domestic life viii CONTENTS. PAOK of the Eoyal Family — The King's kindness to Lady Moleswortli's family in a season of great affliction — Simple tastes and benevolent disposition of the Queen —Marriage of Princess Augusta with the Prince of Brunswick — Cool- ness of the Court towards the Prince and Princess — Enthusiasm of the People — Gaming at Court prohibited — Diplomatic Duel prevented by the King 22i CHAPTER XIII. The Colonial Stamp Act — Strenuously opposed by the North American Colonists — Passed with little discussion — Manifestations of the King's mental malady — Intrigaes to exclude the name of the King's Mother from the Regency Bill^ Her name inserted 250 CHAPTER XIV. Dislike of the King to the Grenville Ministry — Negotiations with Mr. Pitt broken off by Lord Temple's refusal to co-operate in forming a Govern- ment—Harsh conditions imposed on the King by the Grenville Ministry on their resuming ofhce — Unfavourable effect on tlie King's health . , 269 CHAPTER XV. The King's coolness to his Ministers — "Want of unanimity in the Government — The Spitalfields Weavers have an interview with the King — The "Weavers' Riots" — Bedford House attacked— The King's seasonable promptitude — The King again unsuccessfully negotiates with Mr. Pitt— Earl Temple's refusal to take office — Perplexities of the King— Abruptness of the dismissal of Grenville and the Duke of Bedfonl— Formation of the Rockingham Admi- nistration ............. 2S5 CHAPTER XVI. Marquis of Rockingham, Premier— Death of the Duke of Cumberland -Unhappy married life of the Duchess of Brunswick (Princess Augusta) — Ministerial jealousy of the influence of Lord Bute — Arrival of alarming intelligence from North America — First symptoms of Revolutionary feeling — Diminution of Colonial Trade— Debates in Parliament -Tiie " Declaratory Act " — Repeal of the Stamp Act 309 CHAPTER XVI I. Debates on the l{e[)eal of the Stamp Act— First Speech of Edmund Burke— The King's private opinion on the question of Kepeal — Tlis bearing towards his Ministers— Alleged continued influence of Bute — Ministers and Opjiosition alike imjiroperly use the King's name to influence votes— The King's displeasure with Ministers on this ground — Unsuccessful intrigue of the Bedford and Grenville Whigs to gain tlie car of tlie King .... 335 CONTEXTS. ix CHAPTER XVIII. PAGE The King's health suffers from mental excitement— PopuLirity hunting of the Rockingham Administration — Ministers disinterested in their conduct of public affairs — Further unsuccessful attempts to induce Pitt to enter the Cabinet — The King, on the advice of Lord Chancellor Northington, reopens negotiations with Pitt — Idle attempt of Princess Amelia to bring the King and Lord Bute together — Consequences of the popular opinion that Lord Bute continued to influence the King's mind . .... 352 CHAPTER XIX. The King's letter to Mr. Pitt — Interview at Pichmond — Pitt receives a carie- blanche for forming an Administration — Earl Temple, after negotiations, declines to take part — General satisfaction at Pitt's return to power — Dis- satisfaction at his acceptance of a peerage as Earl of Chatham — Diminution of his influence on Continental politics in consequence of his elevation in rank — His pomjious manner in transacting ymblic business — Bread Kiots — Suspension of exportation of grain by Order in Council — Challenged in Parliament — Lord Chatham's defence — I'.ill of Indemnity — The King's attention to business . .......... 3tJ7 CHAPTER XX. Lord Chatham's haughtiness offensive to his Colleagues — Changes in the Ministry — Decline of Chatham's influence — Weakness of the Government — Anxiety of the King — Prostration of Chatham's health^Charles Townshend, Chan- cellor of the Exchequer— His proposal to re-impose taxes on the Colonies — Carried in both Houses — Death of Mr. Townshend — Death of the King's brother, Prince Frederick — Career and Death of the Duke of York — Pieturn of John Wilkes as Member for Middlesex — Wilkes committed to the King's Bench Prison — Attempt of the populace to force the prison — Riot and Loss of Life — AVilkes at the Bar of the House of Commons — Elected a second, third, and fourth time for Middlesex — Not allowed to take his Seat — Popular Tumults — Lord Bute retires to the Continent. .... 389 CHAPTER XXI. Death of the King's sister, Princess Louisa- Anne — Birth of Princess Augusta — Christian VII. of Denmark, brother-in-law of the King, visits England — Received with coolness at Court, and warmly by the People — Lord Chatham recovers his mental faculties — Resigns office — Is succeeded as Premier by the Duke of Grafton — Lord Chatham takes part in the Debate on the Address — Pesignation of Lord Chancellor Camden — SuecLcded by the Honourable Charles Yorke— Distressing death of the new Lord Chancellor . 449 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XXII. PAGE Resignation of the Duke of Graftou — Perplexity of the King — Lord North appointed Premier — His qualities as a ^Minister — Dej)utations to the King — Lord Mayor Beckford — His celebrated Speech to the King — Contest be- tween the City of London and the House of Commons — The Lord Mayor and Alderman Oliver committed to the Tower — The proceedings against Alderman "Wilkes abandoned by the House — Wilkes's subsequent career . 476 CHAPTER XXIII. Connexion of the North American Colonies with Englaiid — The Americans, and especially Massachusetts, take their stand against taxation by the Home Government — Arbitrary behaviour of Lord Hillsborough, Secretary of State — Assembly of Massachusetts abruptly dissolved by Sir John Bernard, the Governor — " Committees of Correspondence " established in the Provinces — — Infatuation of the English Ministers in reference to Colonial affairs — Customs Riots at Boston — Coercion continued by Government — Organized resistance in the American Provinces — Public feeling in England . .512 CHAPTER XXIV. Recall of Governor Bernard — Conflict in Boston, with loss of life — Repeal of Co- lonial Import Duties, except on Tea — Publication of Secret Correspondence of the Governor and Lieutenant-Governor of Massachusetts with friends of Ministers in England — Proceedings against Franklin thereon — Scene before the Privy Council — Tax on Tea entering the ports of the American Pro- vinces—The first cargoes thrown into Boston harbour — Boston Port Bill and Massachusetts Government Bill passed through Parliament . , . 539 CHAPTER XXV. Excitement in the American Colonies— Strenuous resistance to the coercive mea- sures of Parliament — Closing of Boston Port — Severe Distress in conse- quence — Sympathy in the Provinces and in England — General Congress held at Philadelphia — Military preparations — Lord Chatham's Speech on moving an Address to the Crown to remove the troops from Boston — His Speech on proposing Conciliatory measures — Rejection of his motion — Defeat of the motion to hear Franklin, and two other American agents, at the Bar of the House of Commons — State of opinion in the Provinces . dG'J, APPENDIX. Ad Serenissimum Georgium Walliw Principcm in obitum Frederici Walliie Principis ............. Original Letters from the Hon. Horace Walpole 597 — 601 'in MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND EEIGN OF GEOKGE THE THIED. CHAPTER I. Birth of Prince George, afterwards George III. — Characteristics of his parents, the Prince and Princess of "Wales — Jiivenile Theatricals at Leicester House — Death of Frederick Prince of Wales — Position of his Widow and fiimily — Kindness of George IL to the Princess of Wales and Prince George — The Prince created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester— Officers of his household — Plans for the Prince's education — His tutors and governors — Quarrels and changes among them. GeoPvGE William Frederick, eldest son of Frederick Lewis, Prince of Wales, by Augusta, daughter of Frederick the Second, Duke of Saxe Gotha, w^as born in Norfolk House St. James's Square, London, at half-past seven o'clock on the 4th of June 1738.* He is said to have been what is familiarly styled a "seven-months' " child. So prematurely and unexpectedly had the Princess been taken in labour that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Potter, was the only • 24th May, 0, S. London Gazette from 23rd to 27th JLiy, 1738. The fact of the Prince of Wales having been at this time an occupant of Norfolk House, was occa- sioned by his discreditable quarrel with his father the preceding year, when the irritated King had ejected him from St. James's Palace. Norfolk House was pulled down in 1742, when the present mansion was erected on its site. " I saw, not much more than a year ago," writes Wraxall in 1781, "the identical bed in which the Princess of Wales was delivered [of George the Third], now removed to the Duke of Norfolk's seat, of Worksop, in the county of Nottingham." Wraxall further mentions that, Avith the exception of the furniture being of green silk, the bed was of a very ordinary description. — Historical Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 5, 3rd Edition. VOL. I. B 2 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1738. great personage of State wlio arrived in time to be present at the birth. At five o'clock in the morning Lord Baltimore, one of the Prince's Gentlemen of the Bedchamber, was despatched to Kensington Palace to acquaint George the Second of the interesting state of the Princess, and about eight o'clock the Marquis of Carnarvon set out in state to apprize him of her safe delivery. So weak and sickly was the royal infant, and so little prospect did there seem of its long surviving its birth, that at eleven o'clock the same night it was deemed expedient to send for Dr. Seeker, Bishop of Oxford, as Rector of St. James's parish, by whom it was privately baptized. Subsequently, on the 2nd of July, the child was publicly baptized by the Bishop of Oxford at Norfolk House ; the sponsors being the King of Sweden, the Duke of Saxe Gotha, and the Queen of Prussia. * Of the father of the future King of England a passing notice may not be uninteresting. Of his mother much will hereafter have to be told. Frederick Prince of Wales, ac- cording to his contemporaries, had little in his character to be loved, and still less to be admired. His capital faults consisted of vanity, obstinacy, irresolution, and a not very scrupulous regard for truth. A passion for women and the * The following are copies of the MS. entries in the Registers of Births of St. James's Parish, recording the Birth and Baptism of George 3 ; — i/a?/1738. [0. S.] Bapt. 24. His Royal Highness George, son of their Royal Highnesses Frederick and Augusta Prince and Princess of Wales, was born this 24th day of May 1738, between seven and eight in the morning at Norfolk-house in St. James's Square, and was privately baptized the same day by the Lord Bishop of Oxford— Rector of this Parish. June 1738. [0. S.] Bapt. 21. This evening the ceremony of publishing y» Baptism of y* son of their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of Wales was performed, and the office completed by the Lord Bp. of Oxford at Norfolk House, and the name pronoiniccd upon this occasion was George-William- Frcderick. EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 3 gamiug-table constituted his principal vices. The story of his e very-day Hfe — of his love of buffoonery, of his frivolous amusements and pursuits, of his pilgrimages to consult for- tune-tellers in Norwood Forest — ^of his suppers m Jermyn Street, at Mrs. Cannon's, the Princess's midwife — and of his stolen visits in disguise to bull-baits at Hockley-in-the- Hole — seems to afford tolerably conclusive evidence that the Prince's untimely death was no great loss to the people of England. According to Horace AYalpole, he had taken Edward the Black Prince as his model, although he re- sembled him in no other respect than that of dying before his father.* Yet,, riotwithstanding the vanity and frivolity of Frederick, Prince of Wales, he was not devoid of more amiable (pialities. He was at least affable and good-tempered. He cultivated a taste for literature which, light as it was, Avas creditable to him ; he courted the society of men of genius, and on more than one occasion stood their friend. He was also an affectionate and indulgent father, and, though apparently a faithless, was a complaisant and attentive hus- band. George Lord Lyttelton, who knew him intimately, described him to Philip Yorke as a Prince of a singularly easy disposition ; never saying a harsh word to his family or servants, and disposed to make them happy by kind actions, " especially where it would do him credit."']' it was in the bosom of his family that the Prince was to be seen in the most advantageous light. Of the interior of his small court a pleasing picture has been bequeathed to us by the accomplished Mary Lepel, Lady Hervey — the passion of the poets of the earlier Georgian period — " Youth's youngest daughter, sweet Lepel." On the 10th of November, 1748 — alludhig to the un-' * Walpole's Memoirs of the Reign of George 2, vol. i. p. 72. 2nd Edition, t Hardwicke Papers ; Harris's Life of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, vol. ii. p. 438. n 2 4 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1748. happy passion for gambling whlcli had been contracted by many ladles of rank, Lady Hervey writes — "In spite of these irregularities, the Prince's family is an example of innocent and cheerful amusements. All this last summer they played abroad, and now in the winter. In a large room, they divert themselves at base-ball, a play all who are, or have been school-boys, are well acquainted with. The ladies as well as gentlemen join in this amusement ; and the latter return the compliment in the evening, by playing for an hour at the old and innocent game of push-pin." * Private theatricals were another favourite diversion at Leicester House. The Prince delighted in dramatic per- formances, and endeavoured to instil the same taste into his children. More than once we find the little Princes and Princesses fretting their hour upon the stage, their In- structor being the celebrated actor, James Quin, who was also the stage-manager. In after years the old actor took a pride in referring to the days when he was a court-favourite. The first speech which his former pupil delivered from the throne being much commended for the graceful manner in which it was spoken — " Ay ! " said Quin, " it was I who taught the boy to speak." At the time of Quin's death he was In the receipt of a pension from George the Third. | The first of the juvenile dramatic performances to which we have referred appears to have taken place on the 4th of January 1749. The piece selected for representation was Addison's play of " Cato," the character of Cato being one of those in which Quin was most famous. By the following dramatis per some it will be seen that the future Sovereign performed the part of Portius, and his little sisters, the * Lady Ilcrvoy's Letters, p. 139. + Life of Jaiucs Quia, Corucdiiiii, p. 8(J, Loudon, 17/0 ; Annual Register for 176(5, ' p. 79. JEr. 10.] TvEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 5 Princesses Augusta and Elizabctli, the parts of Marcia and Lucia. Cato Master Nugent. Fortius Prince George. Jiiha Prince Edward. Sempronins Master Evelyn. Lucius Master Montague. Decius ...... Lord Milsington. Si/phax Master North. Marcus Master Madden . Marcia ...... Princess Augusta. Lucia Princess Elizabeth.* The prologue, spoken by Prince George, and also the epilogue, spoken by Prince Edward and his sister the Princess Augusta, were apparently composed by their royal father, and certainly they are of sufficiently indifferent merit to render it probable that they were his productions. The epilogue concludes with the following miserable doggrel : — ■ Prince Edward. In England born, my inclination, Like yours, is wedded to this nation ; And future times, I hope, will see Me General in reality, f Indeed, I wish to serve tliis land ; It is my father's strict command ; And none he ever gave shall be More cheerfully obeyed by me. X Frederick Prince of Wales on one occasion showed some of his poetical trash to John, Earl Poulett, and inquired of him what he thought of their merits, " Sir," * The Princess Elizabeth Carolina died ontlie 4th of September, 1759, in the nine- teenth year of her age. Horace Walpolo writes to Sir Horace Mann on the 13th : — " We have lost another princess, Lady Elizabeth. She died of an inflammation in her bowels in two days. Her figure was so very unfortunate, that it would have been difficult for her to bo happy, but her parts and application were extraordinary. I saw her act in ' Cato ' at eight years old when she could not stand alone, but was forced to lean against the side-scene. Slie had been so unhealthy, that at that age she had not been taught to read, but had learned the part of Lucia by hearing the otliers studying their parts.. She went to her father and mother, and begged she miglit act. They put her off as gently as they could ; she desired leave to repeat her part ; and, when she did, it was with so much sense, that there vras no denying her." • — Vi'aljwlc's Letters, vol. iii. p. 248, Edition, 1857. t Prince Edward died a Vice-Admiral of the Blue, September 17, 1707, at the age of twenty-eight. t Lady Hcrvey's Letters, pp. 147, 14S, note. 6 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1750. was the liappy reply, " tliey are worthy of your Royal Highness!"* The last occasion of the performance of juvenile thea- tricals at Leicester House appears to have been on the 11th of January, .1750, on which day Bubb Dodington mentions in his diary, that he was invited to witness the representa- tion of Rowe's tragedy of "Lady Jane Grey" by the Royal children.f The nature of Augusta of Saxe Goth a, like that of her husband, was stamped with the royal failing of insincerity. Her husband's friend, Lord Cobham, having been asked by Henrietta Countess of Suffolk what he considered to be the real character of the Princess, " Why," he answered, " she is the only person I could never find out : all I could ever discover was that she hated those persons the most to whom she paid the most court. ":j: In other respects the private character of the Princess presents but few blemishes. Her manners were conciliating ; she was generous, charitable, and accomplished, a devoted wife, and a tender mother to her numerous oftspring. Lord Waldegrave speaks with deserved praise of her "most decent and prudent behaviour" during her husband's life-time ; § and even the cynical Sarah Duchess of Marlborough pays a tribute to her good-nature and civility to all who approached her person. |i So long as her husband lived she wisely confined her political prejudices and predilections within her own breast, although at a later period she not only broke through this wholesome rule which she had laid down for the guidance of her conduct, but, by her ill-advised interference in affairs of State, proved to be the occasion of inany mischievous consequences. Her chief misfortune, in fact, lay in her * Lady Hervey's Letters, p. 147. t Bubb Dodington's Diary, p. 31. Edition, 1784. t Walpolo's Keigu of George 3, vol. i. p. 17, no/r. 2ik1 Edition. § Earl of Waldegrave's Memoirs, p. 36. II Correspondence of Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, vol. ii. ]\ 218. Mt. 11.] EEIGN OP GEOEGE THE THIRD. iguorance of the laws of England and of the character of its people ; her chief error in believing herself competent to manage their affairs. The lofty notions of the royal Pre- rogative, and the exclusive and narrow-minded principles with which she sought to impregnate the mind of her son, were not the less pernicious from their having been well- intentioned. She succeeded, indeed, in making him a pious Christian, but no means could be more injudicious than those which she adopted in the hope of making him a good king. Frederick Prince of Wales expired on the 20th of March 1751, in the forty-ninth year of his age.* The grief of his family, as well as the consternation of his political adherents, were rendered the greater in conse- quence of the calamity having been altogether unexpected. He had recently, indeed, been suifering from a severe cold, but for some days past had been declared to be conva- lescent. On the day on which he died, Dodington inserts in his Diary — " I was told at Leicester House at three o'clock that the Prince was much better, and had slept eight hours in the night before. Before ten o'clock at night the Prince was a corpse." He was lying in bed listening to the performance on the violin of Desnoyers, a fashionable dancing-master, when, in the midst of a fit of coughing, he suddenly laid his hand upon his stomach, as if in pain, and exclaimed, " Je sens la mort!"' The Princess, who was in the apartment, flew to his assistance, but before she could * The tleatli of Frederick Prince of Wales has been variously represented to Lave taken place at Kew, Carlton House, and at Leicester House, Leicester Square. There can be no doubt, however, that it occurred in the latter mansion, the same in which, ninety years previously, expired his interesting and ill-fated ancestress, Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia ; the same in which Prince Eugene lodged during his secret visit to England in 1712, and in wliich the Queen of George the Second gave birth to her second son, the hero, or, as some would have it, the "Butcher" of Culloden. — See CunningJimn' s Handbook of London, articles Carlton House and Leicester House ; Dodincjton'' s B-iary, pp. 96, 97 ; Wali^oWs £eig7i of George 2, vol. i. p. 71 ; and Gentleman's Marjazinciox 1751, p. 140. 8 MEMOIES or THE LIFE AND [1751. reach his pillow life had become extinct. According to Wraxall, he expired in Desnoy5rs' arms.* The grief of the Princess at the death of her husband was excessive. Suddenly deprived of the splendid prospect of becoming Queen of England — left the widowed mother of eight children and with the expectation of shortly giving birth to another — it was long before she could be induced to comprehend the terrible reality of her bereavement. For hours no arguments could convince her that life was extinct ; for hours she persisted in remaining with the dead body of her husband. When at length, however, she was prevailed upon to retire to her own apartment, her natural fortitude of mind gradually returned to her assist- ance. Rising from her bed at eight o'clock in the morning, she calmly performed the painful duty of examining the papers of her late consort, and of committing to the flames such as she deemed it impolitic to preserve. | George the Second, though he had hitherto shown but little partiality for his daughter-in-law, nevertheless behaved towards the Princess, in the first days of her widowhood, with great and unexpected kindness. Lord Lincoln, the Lord in Waiting, was immediately despatched to Leicester House with a message of condolence, and in due time the Mai. 31. King himself visited the afflicted widow. Refusing to make use of a chair of state which had been provided for him, he • Coxc's Memoirs of tlie Ailministration of the Eight Hon. Heury Pelham, vol. ii. pp. 164 — 6 ; Dodington's Diary, pp. 96 — 8 ; Walpolo's Eeign of George 2, vol. i. p. 77; Wraxair.s Historical Memoirs of his Own Time, vol. 2. p. 46, 3rJ edition. On opening tlie Prince's body, the cause of his death was found to have been an abscess, M'hich had suddenly burst, and occasioned suffocation. It was on tlie occasion of tho Prince's death that Dr. William George, Provost of Eton, addressed to the youthful Heir Presumptive those admirable Latin Iambics, commencing — " Spes nupcr altera, prima nunc Britanniie" — of wliich Pope Benedict the 14t]i observed, that had the auth(U' of them been a Catholic, instead of a Protestant Divine, he would have made him a Eoman Cardinal. — I^ichols's Illustmtioiis of the Literary History of the ISth Century, vol. 9, p. 575. A copy of Dr. George's Iambics will be found in the Appendix, t Walpole's Picigu of George 2, vol. i. p. 77. ^T. 12.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 9 seated himself on the sofa beside the Princess, and at the sight of her sorrow is said to have been affected even to tears. When his eldest grandchild, the Princess Augusta, attempted to kiss his hand, he not only refused the proffered homage, but, taking her in his arms, embraced her with great apparent affection. To his grandsons he said, " Be brave boys ; be obedient to your mother, and endeavour to do credit to the high station to which you are born." The King, moreover, subsequently paid his daughter-in-law the compliment of selecting her to be the guardian of the heir to the throne, and also of awarding her, on her re- appearance in public, the same honours that had formerly been enjoyed by the late Queen Caroline. To his grandson, Prince George, who was now in his thirteenth year, George the Second behaved with no less kindness. " The King," writes the Duke of Newcastle to the Lord Chancellor on the 9tli of April, " continues to be perfectly satisfied with the Princess, and is in raptures with - the young Prince."* He, who had never acted the tender father, delighted, according to Walpole, in playing the " tender grandfather." f Within three weeks after the death of his father, the household of the young Prince ^p^"-^*^- was declared. The Earl of Sussex, ^ Lord Downe, § and Lord Robert Bertie || were appointed Lords of his Bedchamber, and Colonel John Selwyn ^ Treasurer of his Household. On the 25tli of April the Prince kissed hands on being created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester.** * HarJwicke Papers ; Harris's Life of Lord Cliaucellor Hardwickc, vol. ii. p. 436. + Eeigii of George 2, voL i. p. 78. t George Augustus Yelvertoii, second Earl of Sussex, liad formerly been a Lord of the Bedchamber to Frederick, Prince of Wales. He died, unmarried, January 8, 1758. § Henry Pleydell, third Viscount Downe, subsequently commanded the 25th Regi- ment at the battle of ilinden in 1759. He was mortally wounded the following year at the Battle of Campen, near Wesel, and died, unmarried, December 9, 1760, II Fourth son of Piobert, first Duke of Ancaster. He was a general officer in the army. M Father of the celebrated George Selwyn, and formerly au aide-de-camp to the great Duke of Marlborougli. He died November 5, 1751. ♦* "*SY. James's, April 20. — His Majesty has been pleased to order Letters Patent .10 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [ITol. The Prince, to tlie close of his life, entertained a tender regard for the memory of his father. AVhen his death was first announced to him the child cried bitterly.* Ayscough, his tutor, observing him lay his hand upon his breast, expressed his apprehension that his Royal Highness was unwell. " 1 feel," said the young Prince, " something here, just as I did when I saw the two workmen fall from the scaffold at Kew." To Viscount Cobham we find him writing shortly after his father's death : — " Leicester House, A^ml 26, 1751. ■ " My Lord, " I am obliged to yon for your affectionate expressions of concern for my misfortune in losing the best of fathers. " Your attachment to me gives me great pleasure, and I am, with great regard, '' George P." f Again, many years after the Prince had ascended the throne — on an occasion of the celebrated Countess of Hunt- ingdon waiting upon him to complain of the balls and routs which, under the primacy of Archbishop Cornwallis, were permitted in Lambeth Palace — we find him alluding in veiy feeling terms to his father's untimely death. " I remember seeing your ladyship," he said, "when I was young. You then frequented the Court circle, and I cannot forget tliat you were a favourite with my revered father." :j: Towards his grandfather, the Prince entertained no such affectionate feelings. It was a circumstance well known to the sons of George the Third, that George the Second, in to pass iimler the Orcat Seal of Great Britain, for creating His Eoyal Hi::;hneKS George William Frederick, (the Prince of Great Britain, Electoral Prince of Bruns- wick Lunenbnrgl), Duke of Edinburgh, Marquis of the Isle of Ely, Earl of Elthani, Viscount of Laneeston, Baron of Snaudon, and Knight of the Most Noble Order of the Gaiter) Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester." — London Gazette from Ai)ril 16 to April 20, 1751. * Walpole's Reign of George 2, vol. ii. p. 78. + Grenvillc Papers, vol. i. p. 96. X Life and Times of Selina Countess of Huntingdon, vol. ii. \). 283. .^T. 12.] rtEICrX OF GEOEGE THE TIIIED. U a moment of imgovernablc rage, so far forgot himself as actually to strike his high-spirited grandson. "I wonder,"' was an observation of the late Duke of Sussex, while passing through the apartments of Hampton Court, "in which of these rooms it was that George the Second struck my father. The blow so disgusted him with the place, that he could never afterwards be induced to think of it as a residence." * The fact that Frederick Prince of Wales, notwithstanding his frivolity, took a deep and laudable interest in the education of his sons, is evinced by the following schedule of instruc- tions, drawn up by him for the guidance of their governor, Lord North, of which the original, in the Prince's own handwriting, is In the possession of Baroness North at AYroxton Abbey: — "CliWen, Octb'- the 14"', 1750. " The Hours for the Tiro Eldest Princes. " To get up at 7 o'clock. "At 8 to read with Mr. Scot till 9, and he to stay with 'em till the Doctor f coine.s. " The Doctor to staj'- from 9 till Eleven. " From Eleven to Twelve, J\Ir. Funej. " From Twelve to half an hour past Twelve, Rupcrtij Lut Mr. Fung to remain there. " Then to be Their Play hour till 3 o'clock. "At 3 Dinner. " Three times a week, at half an hour past four, Dcnoyer comes. " At 5, Mr. Fung till half an hour past 6. " At half an hour past 6 till 8, Mr. I'^'cot. "At 8, Supper. " Between 9 and 10 in Bed. " On Sunday, Prayers exactly at half an hour past 9 above stairs. Then the two Eldest Princes, and the two Eldest Princesses, are to go to Prince George's apart- ment, to be instructed by Dr. Ayscough in the Principles of Religion till 11 o'clock. " For my Lord North." [Endorsed in the handwriting of Lord North.] " Tlie Prince of Wales's Eegulation of the Studies of Prince George and Prince Edward. Deliver'd to me October, 1750, upon my being appointed their Governor ; written by his own hand." + Nevertheless, both previously to, as well as after, the * This anecdote was related to the author by the person to whom the Duke of Sussex addressed the observation. t The Prince's preceptor, Dr. John Thomas. See post, p. IS. X Notes and Queries, Third Series, vol. vi. p. 7. 12 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [ITol. death of Frederick Prince of Wales, the education of the heir to the throne had evidently been much neglected. He had entered Into his seventh 3^ear when Dr. Francis Ayscough, afterwards Dean of Bristol, was nominated his preceptor. Ayscough was apparently Indebted for the ap- pointment to his having married Anne, daughter of George Lord Lyttelton, the poet and historian, whose tutor he had formerly been. He was thus closely allied by marriage to the powerful house of Grenville, to which connection he was beholden for the further post which he held as clerk of the closet to Frederick Prince of Wales.* By Ayscough himself we are apprised that when he entered upon his duties as preceptor to the heir to the throne, he was fully sensible of the liigh importance of the trust confided to him. "I thank God," he writes to Dr. Doddridge on the 16tli of February 1745, "I have one great encouragement to quicken me In my duty, which is, the good disposition of the children entrusted to me. As an Instance of It, I must tell you that Prince George, to Ms honour and my shame, had learned several pages hi your little book of verses, without any directions from me. And I must say of all the children — for they are all committed to my care — that they are as conformable, and as capable of receiving instruc- tion as any I ever yet met with. How unpardonable then should I be In the sight of God and man if I neglected my part towards them ! All I can now say Is that no care or diligence shall be wanting In me, and I beg the prayer of you and every honest man for the Divine blessing on my endeavours." | Yet, notwithstanding these fair professions, apparently a worse appointment than that of Ayscough could scarcely have been made. When, at a later period, Lord Jjyttelton interfered to prevent his dismissal, the reply * Grenville Papers, vol. i. p. 32. t Life and Times of Sclina, Conntes.i of Huntingdon, vol. i p. 175-G ; Annual Ke(^isler, vol. Ixii. p. 701. JEt. 12.] EEIGN OF GEOUGE THE THIRD. IJ wliicli lie received from Mr. Pelham, tlieii Prime Minister, was not a very complimentary one. " I know notliing of Dr. Ayscougli," lie said. — " Oli yes " — lie added after a pause — " I recollect a very worthy man told me in this room two years ago that he was a great rogue." * Ayscough's manners are said to have been insolent, and his brother clergy accused him of heterodoxy. In vain the Princess of Wales taxed him with her son's backwardness In his studies. His reply was, that the Prince was able to make Latin verses. In vain, too, she complained to her husband of Ayscough's remissness. Ayscough had ren- dered himself much too useful to the Prince, in managing his privy purse and his election affairs, to admit of his services being dispensed with. The heir to the throne at eleven years of ao'e is said to have been unable to read English. I It was under these circumstances that the Princess con- trived to secure the services — as sub-preceptor to her sons — of one George Scott, who owed the selection. It has been said, to the recommendation of Lord Bollngbroke. J The little that has been recorded of Scott is in his favour. He seems to have conscientiously discharged the important duties entrusted to him, and, notwithstanding he was bold enough to speak disparagingly of the understanding of the young Prince, and hardy enough to argue on learned topics with Lord Bute, he long continued to be a favourite with the Princess of Wales. More than fifty years afterwards, we find George the Third speaking In high terms of com- mendation of his former sub-preceptor. § * Waljiole's Reign of George 2, vol. i. p. 79. t ii''?-, vol. i. p. SO. J Coxe's relliaiii Adniiiiistrution, vol. ii. pp. 1G7, 1G8. § Diaries and Correspondence of the Kiglit Hon. George Rose, vol. ii. p. ISS. ^'I never knew a man," •writes Rose, "more entirely blameless in all the relations of life ; amiable, honourable, temperate, and one of the sweetest dispositions 1 ever knew." Ibid. note. See also Lord Waldegravc's Memoirs, p. 10, and Coxe's Pelham Administration, vol. ii, p. 167. Jlr. Scott was afterwards a Commissioner of Exc'se. U MEMOIRS OP THE LIFE AND [17 j]. The death of Frederick Prince of Wales completely revo- lutionised the fortunes and the social position of his eldest son. The young Prince had now become Heir-Presumptive to a Crown, the present wearer of which had entered Into his sixty-eighth year. Under these circumstances, it was only to be expected that the Prime Minister, Mr. Pelham ; and his brother In blood and power, the Duke of Newcastle, should have endeavoured to establish a guiding, if not exclusive Influence, over the mind of the future Sovereign. In order to accomplish this purpose It was necessary, in the first Instance, to effect an almost entire change among those who had the present charge of the Prince's education. Hitherto he had had for his governor Francis Lord North, * whose chief qualifications for that responsible post would seem to have been amiability, and good moral conduct. In his room the Pelhams obtained the appointment of Simon Lord Harcourt, a nobleman whom Walpole sarcastically describes as "a civil sheepish " peer, more In want of a governor himself than qualified to be the governor of others. Devoted to the pleasures of the table and of the hunting-field. Lord Harcourt is said to have been perfectly satisfied that he had done his duty, so long as he was unremitting In his exhortations to his royal pupil to turn out his toes. He was intended, indeed, to be a mere puppet in the hands of the Pelhams. "He is a cipher," said Lord Mansfield to the Bishop of Norwich ; "he must be a cipher, and was put in to be a cipher." | Simultaneously with the removal of Lord North, the services of Ayscough were also dispensed with; Dr. Thomas Hayter, Bishop of Norwich, being appointed In his * Created Earl of Guilford In 1773. Lord North, who was the father of the cele- Lratcd Premier, died August 4, 1790. His appointment as Governor to the Prince had taken place in 1750. t Walpole's Memoirs of the lU'igii of George 2, vol. i. pp. S6, 284, 290 ; Co.xc's Pelham Administration, vol. ii. p. 236. 2Et. 12.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 15 room.* Altlioiigli we find George tlie Third, in after life, speaking in no very complimentary terms of Bishop Hayter,! he was nevertheless a man of sense, learning, and refined breeding. Moreover, he seems to have discharged the duties of his important calling with shigular zeal and fidelity. Resisting all interference on the part of the Princess and her friends, he persevered, despite the fi'owns of the one and the remonstrances of the latter, in carrying out the s^'stem of discipline which he had prescribed.:!: The person selected for the post of snb-governor was Andrew Stone, an elder brother of Dr. George Stone, Archbishop of Armagh. Stone had formerly been private secretary to the Duke of Newcastle, and was still the con- fidant of that nobleman. Walpole, at the same time that he admits his superior abilities, denounces him as having been a morose, proud, and mercenary man. These charges, how- ever, appear to be altogether undeserved. Lord Walde- grave has done justice to Stone's integrity, and his friend. Bishop Newton, regrets that his abilities were lost to the Church. Stone was in fact a fine scholar, and at Oxford, where he had been the friend and rival of the celebrated Lord Mansfield, had succeeded in carrying off some of the first honours of the University. § The services of Scott were retained as sub-preceptor. * According to Horace Walpole, (Memoirs of George 2, vol. i. p. 87), Bishop Hayter was tlie natural son of a "jolly old" prelate, Dr. Blackburn, Archbishop of York, " who had all the manners of a man of quality, though he had been a Buccaneer, and was a clergyman." We believe, however, that there is gr-eat exaggeration in this statement. Bishop Hayter, about a year before his death, was translated to the See of London. He died in 1762, at the age of fifty-nine. + Rose's Diaries, vol. ii. p. 1 88. J Walpole's Reign of George 2, vol. i. p. 284 ; Coxe's Pelham Administration, vol. ii. p. 236. § Stone was a personal favourite of George the Second, to whom lie had acted as private secretary in Hanover in 1748, during the absence of the Duke of ISTewcastle. — Coxe's Pelham Administration, vol. i. p. 423. At a later period he held the ap2:)oint- ments of Treasurer to Queen Charlotte and Keeper of the State Paper office. He died in December, 1773, at the age of seventy-two. " Andrew Stone," writes Bishop IG MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1752. Happily, with tlie change of preceptors, some improve- ment seems to have taken place in the scholarship of the heir to the throne. " The Bishop of Norwich," writes Mr. Philip Yorke to the Lord Chancellor, " was with the King m his closet this morning, in relation to the improvements made by his royal pupils in their studies. He is disposed, as I find by Lord Anson, to speak favourably of their application, and of the progress they have made since they have been under his care." * But, although the change in the Prince's establishment was undoubtedly for the better, the new governor and preceptors were unluckily unable to agree among themselves. Certain misunderstandings which had occurred between Lord Harcourt and the Bishop on the one side, and between Stone and Scott on the other, terminated at length in an open rupture. The Princess not only sided with the sub-governor and sub-preceptor, but, on her own account, complained of the Earl and Prelate. The former, she said, avoided her card-parties ; the latter puzzled her sons with logic. f The Bishop charged Stone with being a Jacobite, while Stone, on his part, accused the Bishop, not only with having habitually treated him in a very slighting manner, but with having, on one occasion, lain violent hands upon him, with the design of ejecting him from the royal schoolroom. At length, formal charges were drawn up by Lord Harcourt and the Bishop against Stone, which charges, without any previous communication with the Princess, were Dec. G. ijjij before the King. Stone, they insisted, had not only repeatedly drunk the health of the Pretender in former Newton, "was a most excellent scholar. At school and at college he distinguished himself by his compositions ; and the knowledge, not only of Greek and Latin, but of tlio Hebrew language, which he had first learned at school, he retained and improved to tlie last ; and was withal a man of grave deportment, of good temper, and of the most consummate prudence and disciction." — Bishop Nciviori's Life of Himself, Works, vol. i., p. 134. Sec also Lord Waldegrave's Memoirs, p, 10, and Coxe's relham Administration, vol. i. p. 430, and note. <»^ * Hardwicke Papers ; Harris's Life of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, vol. ii. p. 155. ^ t Dodingtou's Diary, pp. 190, 1D2. iEr. 14.] EEIGN OF 'GEOEGE THE TniRD. 17 days, but had also been recently guilty of the glaring im- propriety of permitting the heir to the throne to peruse the "Revolutions d'Angleterre, by Pere d'Orleans," a work expressly ^Yritten in defence of the unconstitutional measures of James the Second. In the same sweeping charges of Jacobitism, and of systematic intents to infect the mind of the heir to the throne with arbitrary principles, wxre included the sub-preceptor Scott, and the Princess's secretary and favourite, Cresset.* The latter, by the way, was connected by blood with the royal family, being related to the King's maternal grandmother, Eleanor d'Emiers, wife of George William Duke of Zell, a lady of the French family of d'Olbreuse.'l' George the Second very properly referred the matter to his constitutional advisers, by whom, after a due investi- gation, the charges were declared to be without foundation. Even the timid and suspicious old Duke of Newcastle could see no gi'ounds for consternation. Dissatisfied with this judgment. Lord Harcourt and the Bishop again preferred an appeal to the throne for the dismissal of their subordi- nates, and, on its being rejected, adopted the only alternative that seems to have been left them, namely that of tendering their resignations, which were unhesitatingly accepted.:}: Some months afterwards, the conduct of Stone was made the subject of Parliamentary investigation ; the Duke of Bedford taking upon himself to move in the House of Lords an address to the throne, for the production of the papers connected with the late investigations. This second attack, however, proved as unsuccessful as the previous one. Only three peers and one prelate accompanied the * Walpole's Reign f.f George 2, vol i. pp. 289, 290 ; Dodington's Diary, p. 197 ; Coxe's Pelham Administration, vol ii. pj). 2-35, 236, 237, 238. + Pelham Administration, vol. ii. p. 168, note. Walpole's Eeign of George 2, vol. i. p. 92. X AValpole's Pieign of George 2, vol. i. pp. 289, 290 ; Pelham Administration, vol. ii. p. 238. vol.. I. 18 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1752. Duke below tlie bar, and accordingly the motion was negatived without the House coming to a division.* Lord Harcourt was succeeded, as governor of the Prince Dec. 18. of Wales, by the Earl of Waldegrave, a man of the w^orld and a votary of pleasure.f Many years afterwards, we find George the Third speaking in no very flattering terms of either of his former governors. " Lord Waldegrave," he said, " was a depraved, worthless man," the other " well- intentioned, but w^iolly unfit for the situation in which he was placed." '\. Yet Lord Waldegrave, despite the freedoms which he took with strict morality, was a man of strong sense and of the highest integrity. Enjoying the pleasures and amusements, which an ample fortune enabled him to indulge in, and shrinking from incurring the trouble and responsibilities of a thankless office, it had only been at the earnest entreaty of George the Second, that he was induced to sacrifice his inclinations and pursuits to what he considered to be the calls of duty. " I am too young," he observed to a friend, " to govern ; I am too old to be governed." § At the same time that Lord Waldegrave was appointed governor of the Prince, Dr. John Thomas, Bishop of Peterborough, and subsequently Bishop of Salisbury, was selected to be his preceptor. The Bishop, a gentle and unassuming per- son, I| was, whether justly or not, charged by his contem- poraries with being too Tory in his principles ; but in other respects the selection would seem to have been an unexceptionable one. * Walpole's Eeign of George 2, vol. i. pp. 310, 332 ; Coxe's Pelham Adminis- tration, vol. ii. p. 257, &c. + James, second Earl of Waldegrave, K. G., subseipiently the husband of the beau- tiful Maria Walpole, who, after the Earl's death, became Duchess of Gloucester. He died April 28, 1763, at the age of 48, + Rose's Diaries, vol. ii. p. 188. § Walpole's Reign of George 2, vol. i. p. 291. II Coxe's rdham Administration, vol. ii. p. 2o8. iET. 14.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 19 CHAPTER 11. Earl of Waklegrave governor of the Prince — The Prince's h.abits and disposition — His slow progress in education — His ignorance of the world — Visit to the Archbishop of Canterbury — Princess of Wales named Regent — Unpopularity of William Duke of Cumberland — Influence of the Earl of Bute on the Princess Dowager and on the Prince of Wales — Failure of the King's proposal to marry the Prince to a Princess of Wolfenbuttel — Proposed sepamte establishment on coming of age — Declined by the Prince — Lord Bute placed at the head of the Prince's household — The Prince's passion for Hannah Lightfoot, the fair Quakeress — The Prince's request for military employment declined by the King. If the lieir to the throne were prejudiced against his new governor, Lord Waldegrave would seem to have been no less prejudiced against his royal charge. In the House of Lords, indeed, we find him " speaking highly of the young Prince," * yet in his private Memoirs he adopts a very dif- ferent tone. " I found his Royal Highness," he writes, " uncommonly full of princely prejudices contracted in the nursery, and improved by Bedchamber Women and Pages of the Back Stairs."! No less indolent in his habits, than docile in his disposition, the future sovereign, at the age of fourteen, would seem to have been perfectly content with remaining a cipher in the hands of his mother, so long as he was allowed to enjoy his favourite inaction. According to Horace Walpole, when, on one occasion, his sub-preceptor, Scott, remonstrated with him on his want of applica- tion, the only excuse which he could make for himself was constitutional idleness. " Idleness ! sir," retorted * Walpole"s Picign of George 2, A'ol. i. p. 828. t Lord Waldegrave's Memoirs, p. 63. c 2 i^ 20 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1752. Scott ; " yours is not idleness : your brother Edward is idle ; but you must not call being asleep all day being idle." The Prince's indolence and want of scholarship were alike admitted and lamented by his mother. When, on one or two occasions, Dodington ventured to interrogate her in regard to the true character of his future sovereign, the Princess freely spoke her mind to him. He was honest, she said ; he retained a pious and affectionate regard for his father's memory, and had hitherto given no indication of an immoral tendency. His passion, if he had any, was for his brother Edward. He was childish, said the Princess, - in his habits, and backward for his years. What his pre- ceptors had taught him, she said, she knew not ; but, " to speak freely, she feared, not much." * This conversation, it is true, took place as early as October 1752 ; and yet nearly three years afterwards, when the heir to the throne had attained the age of seventeen, we find his mother repeating similar complaints to Dodington. The Prince's education, she said, had caused her great pain ; his " book-learning " she was no judge of, but she supposed it was small or useless, and, as to his real character, those about him were as ignorant of it as if they had never known him. On the other hand she admitted tliat, if not quick, he was at least intelligent, and that, though his mind had a tendency to seriousness, he was both good-natured and cheerful, f Another point in which the young Prince was defective, was in a want of knowledge of society and mankind, a draw- back regarding which Dodington, a thorough man of the world, was well qualified to advise the Princess. It was in vain, however, that he urged upon her the importance of enlarging the circle of her son's acquauitance. The young people of quality, she said, were so ill-educated and so * Dodington's Diary, p. 171. + Ibid., pp. 356, 357. ^T. 14.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THTRD. 21 vicious tliat tliey fiiglitened her. She was sure their bad examjile would contaminate her children.* Dodington undoubtedly was in the right. " To tell you the honest truth," writes the late King of Hanover in 1845, " the impression on my mind has ever been that it was a very unfortunate circumstance for my father that he was kept, as it were aloof, not only from his brothers, but almost from all young men of his own age ; and this I saw evident marks of almost daily." | Yet, on the other hand, the exclusive system pursued by the Princess had at least the happy effect of keeping his early youth unspotted from the world, and of fixing those strong religious principles which influenced all ' his actions in after life. Years afterwards, his youngest brother, the Duke of Gloucester, W'hilst sauntering with Hannah More among the flower-beds of the Bishop of London at Fulham, reverted with singular gratification to the pure and sinless home of his boyhood. " No boys," he said, " were ever brought up in a greater Ignorance of evil than the King and myself. At fourteen years old we retained all our native Innocence." It was a period of life, added the Duke, which he always recalled with peculiar satisfaction. ^ Among the few occasions on which, about this period, we find the heir to the throne allowed to mingle with the great world, were those of a launch of one of the royal ships in 1754, and a visit paid by the Prince to the Archbishop of Canterbury at Croydon the following year. On the former occasion he w^as attended by his brothers, and by his celebrated uncle the Duke of Cumberland. " The Duke accompanied the Princes," writes ]\Ir. John Yorke to Lord Ptoyston, " and showed himself a very dutiful uncle, much to the edification of the multitude, who thought he ex- pressed great fondness towards them. His behaviour to * Dodington's Diary, pp. 172, 258. t MS. Letter to the late Eight. Hon. J. W. Croker. X Life aud CoiTespondeuce of Haunah More, vol. iii. p. 211. 22 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1755. tlie company. was miicli spoke of; and In particular liIs en- gaging Sir Percy Brett,* wlio dined with them on board the yacht, to tell the Prince of Wales the story of his engaging the ' Elizabeth ; ' now and then throwing in a circumstance from his own memory with great attention and polite- ness."! The particulars of the Prince's visit to the Archbishop of Canterbury, on which occasion he was accompanied by his mother and her court, are thus related by the Archbishop himself in a letter to the Lord Chancellor, dated September 4, 1755: — "They were escorted, if I say right, through the court by a company of the Buffs, and the regiment was drawn up in the town with all the officers attending, so that all military honours were paid them. I met the Princess at the coach-door, and conducted her by her hand up to the apartment. She stayed a little in the drawing-room, and then moved to the coffee and tea in the gallery, with which the table was partly furnished; but a dessert of the best fruit I could get, completed the figure, such as it was. She was * On the 9tli of July, 1745, Captain Percy Brett, then in command of the *' Lion," 60 gunship, came in sight of the "Elizabeth," French man-of-war, carrying 66 guns ; the latter being convoy to the "Doutelle" brig, on lioard of which was the " Young Pretender," on his way to raise his father's standard in the Highlands of Scotland. The " Lion" without hesitation bore down upon them, on which an action took place between her and the " Elizabeth," which was maintained with great fury and obstinacy for nine hours ; when, night setting in, the " Elizabeth," in an almost disabled state, made good her retreat to Brest. The " Lion" suflcred a loss of no fewer than forty-five men killed and one hundred and seven wounded, of whom seven subsequently died of their wounds. The loss of life on board the " Elizabeth" was considerably greater. In the meantime the "Young Pretender " had not only watched the progress of the conflict from the deck of the "Doutelle " witli feelings of the most intense anxiety, but is said to have been so ardent in his importunities to induce her captain to take a part in the engagement, as to compel the latter to threaten he would order him to his cabin. By the return of the "Elizabeth" to France, the Prince had the mortification of being deprived of the greater portion of tlie arms and ammunition whicli he had provided for his memorable expedition. It was of Captain Brett's conduct during this most gallant action that Admiral Vernon two years afterwards observed in the House of Commons : — "Did he not at tack a shi]) of s\iperior force to his own, and with such courage and skill as brought honour to himself, his country, and the Britisli flag?" — CJiarnocTc's Naval Biography, vol. V. pp. 240, 241, and note; Duncan Cameron! s Narrative; ^' Jacobite Memoirs," j). 7. t Ilardwicke Papers ; Harris's Life of Lord Hardwicke, vol. iii. p. 15. iET. 17.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE TIIIED. 23 SO gracious as to order us to sit, but nobody Ij^d an ell)ow- cliair but the Prince of Wales and the Princess. They ate a good breakfast and I was glad of that. After some little pause her Royal Highness desired to walk round the garden, and we took the opportunity of a gilded moment. She then returned to the house and received the compliments of Colonel Howard and the officers. I reconducted her to her coach in my very best manner." * There was one illustrious member of the royal family who, had he been permitted to associate on intimate terms with the youthful heir to the throne, might, by his saga- cious advice and by his example of strong sense, incor- ruptible integrity, and unselfish patriotism, have neutralised, to a great extent, the pernicious consequences of the educa- tional system pursued by the Princess Dowager. That person was William, Duke of Cumberland, the second and only surviving son of George the Second. Unfortunately, however, not only had the Duke been for some years estranged from his sister-in-law, but, more recently, the circumstance of the King having preferred her to be Regent of the kingdom in the event of his own demise during his grandson's minority, had further widened the breach, "j" Moreover, the Duke's great unpopularity at this period furnished additional grounds for excluding him from his nephew's society. Men, who had formerly lauded to the skies his gallantry at Fontenoy, and who had half wor- shipped him after his victory at Culloden, now remembered * Hardwicko Papers ; Harris's Life of Lord Hardwiclie, voL iii. p. 39. + " Next Tuesday the Bill for settling the Regency will he moved for in the ITouso of Lords ; the Princess of Wales to he Regent ; a Coimcil of great officers to he named ; the Duke to be one, and the King empowered to appoint, or rather add, four more by an instrument under his hand ; affairs to be decided, especially peace and war, by the majority of the Council. I do not hear how the vacancies are to be filled up. The Parliament, in case of the death of the King, to continue till the Prince comes of age (eighteen). It is thought there will be some opposition, as the Princess of Wales's power is V\m\tcd.'"— Letter from John Laror.he, Esq., M.P., to Robert Lee, Esq., dated May 4, 1751, Downshire MS, 24 MEMOIES OF TIIE LIFE AND [1755, only Ills loss^of the former battle, and the severities which he had practised after the other. When, on some occasion, it was proposed to confer on him the freedom of one of the Companies of the City of London, a facetious Alderman suggested that it should be the Butchers' Company. Nurses frightened their infant charges into obedience with the name of the " Butcher Cumberland;" and even statesmen, when they spoke of his revised Mutiny Act, denounced it as a com- position worthy of Draco. Not only did the mere vulgar believe him capable of acting the part of the wicked uncle in the tale of the Babes of the Wood, but even in the House of Commons, during the discussions on the Regency Bill, more than one member had made dark allusions to the nephews of John Lackland and Richard Duke of Glouces- ter; at the same time deducing, from their example, the danger of placing at the head of the army so influential and accomplished a soldier as the Duke of Cumberland. Unhappily these "base and villanous " insinuations, as Lord W^aldcgrave justly styles them,* were allowed to reach, and poison the ears of the royal children. For instance, it is recorded of the Heir-Presumptive, that happening, when a child, to pay a visit to his uncle, the Duke, in order to amuse him, took down one of the swords which hung in his apart- ment and drew it from its sheath. To the great distress of the high-minded soldier, the child, imagining that his uncle was about to take away his life, trembled and turned pale. So unmistakable, indeed, was the cause of emotion, that sub- sequently the Duke, with great bitterness, complained to the Princess Dowager of the shocking impressions which had been instilled into the mind of his nephew.l Li the meantime, the Pelhams had not only failed to acquire their hoped-for influence over the mind of the heir to the throne, but there had appeared on the stage another person, whose increasing credit with the future sovereign * Memoirs, p. 24. t Walpole's Reign of George 2, vol. i. pp. 105-6. ^T. 17.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIED. 25 tlireatened to become more formI(lal)le tlian even that of tlie Princess Dowager. That person was John Earl of Bute, between whom and the Princess it was almost universally believed that a connexion of a tender nature existed. " The Princess Dowager and Lord Bute," writes Lord Chesterfield, " agreed to keep the Prince entirely to them- selves. None but their immediate and lowest creatures were suffered to approach him. Except at his levees, where none are seen as they are, he saw nobody and none saw him."* Ministers on a former occasion had, to their great discomfiture, vainly endeavoured to separate the Prince from his mother ; and now they had to contend against the further difficulty of removing him from the influence and authority of Lord Bute. At length the King suggested a remedy for the evil, which his jMinisters seem to have highly approved. " Bigoted, young, and chaste," writes Walpole, " what influence might not a youthful bride obtain over the Prince?"! These words, as will have been conjectured, refer to a project of marrying the heir to the throne to an eligible Princess, and by her agency removing him out of the way of his mother and of Lord Bute. The King, it appears, had, during a visit which he had recently paid to his Hano- verian dominions, been thrown into the society of the two charmino: dauirhters of the Duchess of Brunswick-Wolfen- buttel. The eldest — beautiful, sensible, modest, and ac- complished — had especially fascinated the old monarch, and accordingly, although the Heir-Presumptive was still a mere boy, he had set his heart upon uniting them w^ith as little delay as possible. He only regretted, he gallantly observed, that he was too old to offer to marry her himself. " The Prince of Wales," writes Lord Waldegrave, " was just entering into his eighteenth year, and being of a modest, sober disposition, with a healthy, vigorous constitu- * Lord Chcstei-rieU's Letters, edited by Earl Stanhope, vol. ii. p. 472. + Walpolu's Reign of George 2, vol. ii. p. 3G. 26 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1755. tion, it miglit reasonably be supposed that a matrimonial companion would be no unacceptable amusement."* Such also was the conviction of the well-meaning monarch, and accordingly he invited the fair sisters to pay him a visit in England ; his object, as he said, being to make two young persons happy, and to see his grandson married during his own lifetime. The Princess Dowager, however, entertained other views in regard to her son. Not only was she in dread of the influence which a beautiful and accomplished young Princess might obtain over his mind, but she also hoped to advance the interests of her family by marrying him to a Princess of the House of Saxe Gotha. Moreover she was the mother — as she told Dodington — of eight other children, for whom she trusted the King would make some provision before he disposed of her eldest son in marriage ; in addition to which her son might possibly himself become the father of as nume- rous a family, and in such case would naturally prefer their interests to those of his brothers and sisters. As yet, she said, the King had not condescended to speak to her on the subject, but should he do so, she should certainly tell him " how ill she took it." t That the Princess had instilled into the mind of the Heir- Presumptive a strong aversion to a match with a daughter of the House of Brunswick Wolfenbuttel, there can be little question. "The young Princess," writes Lord Waldegrave, " was most cruelly misrepresented. Many even of her perfections were aggravated into faults, his Royal Highness implicitly believing every idle and improbable aspersion, till his prejudice against her amounted to aversion itself." ^ "Her ladyship's boy," writes Walpole, "declares violently against being hewolfenhuttled — a word which I do not * Lord Waldcgrave's Memoirs, p. 39. t Dodington's Diary, pp. 354, 355, 356. X Lord Waldegrave's Memoirs, p. 41. Mr. 17.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 27 pretend to understand, as it is not in Mr. Jolmson's new Dictionary," * Under these circumstauces the King, greatly to his annoyance and disappointment, was compelled to relinquish his favourite project. " I remember," writes Lord Waldegrave, " his telling me with great eagerness that had he been twenty years younger, she should never have been refused by a Prince of Wales, but should at once be Queen of England." f Still, the King and his Ministers were not without further hope of being able to effect their purpose of separating the Prince from his mother. He was to be of age on the 4th of June 1756, on the completion of his eighteenth year; an event which would necessitate the formation of a sepa- rate establishment for him, and accordingly, as the time approached. Lord Waldegrave was deputed by the King to communicate to the Prince his intended removal from Leicester House, as well as the provision which his Majesty proposed to make for liis future maintenance, and for the support of his dignity as Prince of Wales. The King — as the Earl told the Prince — being moved by the affection which he had ever conceived for him, had graciously con- sented to settle on him an income of 40,000/, a year ; in addition to which the apartments in St. James's Palace, which had been occupied by the late Queen, as well as those of the late Prince of Wales in Kensington Palace, had been ordered to be put in a state of preparation for his reception. This announcement, however, afforded but little satisfaction to the young Prince. He expressed, indeed, a dutiful and grateful sense of the King's kind intentions towards him ; but at the same time dwelt feelingly on the great affliction which a separation from his mother would entail upon both, and expressed an earnest desire that his * Walpole's Letters, vol. ii. p. 457. Edition, 1S57. t Lord Waldegi-ave's Memoirs, p. 40. 28 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1756. Majesty miglit be graciously pleased to reconsider liis resolution. The Prince's reply placed the Government in an awkward dilemma. To revoke the King's bounty was out of the question ; to incur the resentment of the heir to the throne was, to say the least, inexpedient ; and, lastly, to have insulted the future sovereign, by having recourse to violent measures, would have covered the ministry with odium. True it is, that the King himself, when Prince of Wales, had supplied a precedent of an heir to the throne having been put under arrest, but, in the present instance, the person proscribed was not, as in his grandfather's case, a rebellious son, but an amiable and unsophisticated young Prince whose only crime was an excess of filial love. Moreover the Prince was of age by Act of Parliament, and consequently had a perfect right to consult his own incli- nations. Under these circumstances. Ministers not only withdrew their opposition, but, in order to ingratiate them- selves with their future sovereign and his mother, persuaded the King, though not without much difficulty, to consent to Lord Bute being placed at the head of the Prince's new establishment. * " Sir," once observed the petulant old monarch to Henry Fox, " it was you made me make that puppy, Bute, Groom of the Stole." Not less ungracious was the manner in which, unaccompanied by either com- ment or remark, the King caused the gold key of office to be delivered to the aspiring favourite. The Duke of Grafton, however, as he quietly slipped the bauble into the Earl's pocket, whispered to him not to resent the affront ; a piece of advice which the other very prudently followed. j" In addition to the appointment of Lord Bute as Groom • Lord Waldcgrave's Memoirs, p. Q^. t Walpole's Keign of George 2, vol. ii. pp. 207, 208, 25G. Lord Waldegrave's Memoirs, pp. 79, 80. iEx. 18.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE TUE THIRD. 29 of the Stole, the Earl of Huntingdon * was selected to be Master of the Horse m the Prince's new establishment ; the Earls of Pembroke j" and Euston, and Lord Digby were appointed Lords of his Bedchamber, and Lord Bathurst J Treasurer of his Household. Happily, we find those who were admitted to the Prince's society speaking in much more favourable terms of him as he advanced towards manhood. For instance, it was just when he had completed his eighteenth year that an accom- plished lady, Mrs. Calderwood of Polton, received the following pleasing account of him from his late sub- preceptor Scott : — " I had frequent opportunities," she writes, " of seeing George Scott, and asked many questions about the Prince of Wales. He says he is a lad of very good principles, good-natured, and extremely honest ; has no heroic strain, but loves peace and has no turn for extravagance ; modest and has no tendency to vice, and has as yet very virtuous principles ; has the greatest tempta- tion to gallant with the ladies, who lay themselves out in the most shameful manner to draw him in, but to no purpose. He says if he were not what he is they would * Francis Hastings, tenth Earl of Huntingdon, celebrated by Akenside in a noble ode : — " But thee, progeny of heroes old, Thee to severer toils thy fate requires ; Tlie fate which formed thee in a chosen mould, The grateful country of thy sires. Thee to sublimer paths demand." Ode to Francis, Earl of Huntingdon, 1747. Lord Huntingdon died, unmarried, 2nd October, 1790. + Henry tenth Earl of Pembroke. On the 13th of the preceding month of March, the young earl had married a beautiful girl of eighteen— for whom George the Third, at .some period of his youth, certainly entertained a pas.sion— Lady Elizabeth Spencer, daughter of Charles, third Duke of Marlborough. Further mention of lier will be found in the course of these pages. % The celebrated Allen, afterwards first Earl Bathurst, the chosen friend of the poets and wits of the reigns of Queen Anne and George the First. " Wlio then shall grace or who improve the soil ? AVlio plants like Bathurst, or who builds like Boyle ? " Lord Bathurst died ICth Sept., 1775. 30 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1756—8. not mind liim. Prince Edward is of a more amorous complexion, but no court is paid to him, because he has so little chance to be King." * Only on one occasion, whether at this or at any other period of the Prince's life, is there evidence that his con- stitutional warmth of temperament, and susceptibility to the fascinations of female loveliness, tempted him to outstep the strict boundaries of continence and chastity. That single exception — it is needless perhaps to remark — was his early and notorious passion for the fair Quakeress, Hannah Lightfoot, a passion to which a peculiar interest attaches itself, derived partly from the exalted rank of one of the lovers, partly from their youth and the previous purity of their lives, but, still more, from the strange mystery which hangs over the fate of a beautiful girl who, whatever may have been her secrets or her sorrows, carried them apparently unshared and uncomplainingly to her grave. The family of Hannah Lightfoot originally came to London from Yorkshire. Her father, a respectable trades- man, resided at Execution Dock, Wapping in the East, a district sufficiently obscure and remote, one would have thought, to have preserved his daughter from the temp- tations and perils of a court. Unfortunately, however, she had an uncle, a prosperous linendraper of the name of Wheeler, who resided in the more fashionable vicinities of Leicester House and St. James's Palace ; and as his children were nearly of the same age as herself, it was only natural that she should occasionally become a guest in his house. The house in question — interesting perhaps as having been the last in which she was destined to press the pillow of innocence — stood at the south-east corner of Carlton Street, and of "what is now called St. Alban's Place ; but which was then a continuation of * The " Coltucss Collections," printed for the Maitland Club, 1842, p. llC iET. 18—20.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE TIIE THIED. 31 Market Street, wliich ran, and still runs, soutliwarcl out of Jermyn Street, St. James's. It seems to have been early in tlie year 1754, that the heir to the throne first accidentally encountered, and became enamoured of Hannah Lightfoot. His confidante and agent on the occasion is said to have been his mother's maid of honour. Miss Chudleigh, afterwards the too celebrated Duchess of Kingston,* a lady whose intimate experience in the intrigues and gallantries of a court enabled her to obtain the ear, and dazzle the imagination, of her intended victim. Unhappily, the fair girl listened to her, and was persuaded to forsake the home of her youth. Her parents advertised for her in the newspapers, but to no purpose. According to the account of one of her relations, her mother died of grief, the result of her daughter's disappearance. "j" It has been asserted — and in fairness to Hannah Light- foot the assertion deserves to be repeated — that when she quitted her uncle's roof in Market Street, it was for the purpose of becoming, not the mistress, but the wife of the Prince of Wales. As the Royal Marriage Act was not at this time in existence, the consequences of such a marriage, had it really taken place, might have proved most momentous to the royal flimily. If for instance, as has been confidently stated, Hannah Lightfoot became more than once a mother, her children by the Prince of Wales, and not those wliich Charlotte of Mecklenburgh-Strelitz subsequently bore him, would have been the rightful and legitimate heirs to the crown. Nay, even had she remained childless, the fact o her having been alive at the time of the marriage of George the Third and Queen Charlotte would have rendered that marriage null and void, and have bastardised its issue. The first occasion, we believe, on which this very im- * Monthly Magazine, vol. li. p. 532. + See a letter from a surviving cousin of Hannah Lightfoot in the Monthly Maga- zine, vol. lii. pp. loy, 1!)7 ; vol. li. p. 532. P2 , MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1T56— 8. probable marriage was positively asserted to have taken place, was in a scandalous work — afterwards suppressed — entitled, " Authentic Records of the Court of England." It is there confidently asserted that the Prince was legally married to Hannah Lightfoot in Curzon Street Chapel, May Fair,* in the presence of his brother, the Duke of York ; that, after the death of George the Second, the discovery of the young King's secret spread great consternation amongst his Ministers ; that subsequently they found means of " dis- posing" of the fair Quakeress by inducing her to marry a person of the name of Axford ; and that from this time her royal lover, notwithstanding his diligent and anxious inquiries, was never able to discover the place of her retreat. Lastly, it is stated, that in 17G5, at the time when Queen Charlotte was in the family-Avay with the late King William the Fourth, so alarmed was she, on the secret of her consort's former engagement being revealed to her, that she insisted upon the nuptial ceremony being performed anew between them, which was accordingly done at Kew.| Most of these state- ments, it may be mentioned, are repeated in another scan- dalous and suppressed work, published in 1832, entitled, " A Secret History of the Court of England, from the Ac- cession of George the Third to the death of George the Fourth ; " this latter work being professedly from the pen of Lady Anne Hamilton, lady of the bedchamber to Caroline, Princess of Wales. :[: These two unworthy literary produc- tions, though evidently composed by persons not ill-informed in the secret history of the court, are nevertheless so un- mistakably distorted, cither by invention or exaggeration, that at first our impulse is to dismiss them as utterly worth- * " She clo]ipd in 1754, and was married to Isaac Axford at Keith's Chapel, which iny father discovered about three weeks after."— Zrc. 361. Ed. 1857. iET. 2l'.] EEIGN or GEORGE THE THIED. 40 Then returned tlie fear of catcliino- cold : and the Duke of Cumberland, who was sinking with heat, felt himself weighed down and, turning round, found it was the Duke of Newcastle standing upon his train to avoid the chill of the marble. It was very theatric to look dowai into the vault, where the coftin lay attended by mourners with lights." * Another amiable trait, which, immediately after the acces- sion of the young King, distinguished his behaviour, was the marked kindness and delicate consideration with which — not- withstanding their long estrangement from one another — he conducted himself towards his uncle, the Duke of Cumber- land, He not only did all in his power to spare him any mortification, to which he was liable from having ceased to be the first Prince of the Blood, but, in a private interview to which he invited him, expressed an earnest hope that hereafter they might associate on the best of terms. He was well aware, said the King, that hitherto unanimity had not been a characteristic of the royal family, but he intended to introduce a new system into it, and at least it should not be his fault if future discords should take place. I Many are the tributes which, at this time, we find the King's contemporaries paying to his good disposition and good sense. Among those who had known him earliest and best was the charming Mary, Lady Hervey, whose praise or blame are alike of moment. Whatever ill effects might have been produced by his faulty education, she at least knew him to be at heart amiable, straightforward, unaffected, and honest. Accordingly, on the 30tli of October, five days after the accession of the " charmihg young King," as Walpole styles him, she writes — " Every one, I think, seems to be pleased with the noble behaviour * Walpole's Letters, vol. 3, jip. 3Gl-'2. Ed. 1S57. t Walpole's Eeign of George 3, vol. i. ]>. 7. Walpole's Letters, vol. 3, p. 357. VOL. I. i: 50 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1760. of our young King, and, indeed, so mucli unaffected good nature and propriety appears in all he does or says, that it cannot but endear him to all ; but whether anything can long endear a King, or an angel, in this strange, factious country I cannot tell. I have the best opinion imaginable of him ; not from anything he does or says just now, but because I have a moral certainty that he was in his nursery the honestest, true, good-natured child that ever lived, and you know my old maxim, that qualities never change. What the child was, the man most certainly is, in spite of temporary appearances." * — " He has many amiable and virtuous qualities," writes General Yorke to Sir Andrew Mitchell ; "is rather timid, but since his accession, I am told, he represents well,! and spoke his speech with great grace and dignity. He received all his grandfather's servants with great goodness, and pressed them to continue in his service, which they consented to, though some of them, particularly the Duke of Newcastle, was inclined to retire." J Even the most fastidious persons, as well as those who were the most likely to be prejudiced against him, hastened to do justice to the dignity, grace, and propriety, which distinguished the conduct and deportment of the youthful Monarch. Among the first to kiss his hands was Horace Walpole who, to use his own expression, was " not apt to he enamoured with royalty." The King, he says, is "good and amiable in everything, having no view but that ot. contenting all the world." To Sir Horace Mann, Walpole also writes, on the 1st of November, 17G0 — " His person is tall and full of dignity, his countenance florid and good- natured, his manner graceful and obliging. He expresses no warmth or resentment against anybody, at most, cold- ness. To the Duke of Cumberland he has shown even a * Lady llervcy's Letters, jip. 271, 272, i Sic orig. J Ellis's Original Letters, vol. iv. p. 426, 2ikI Series. iEx. 22.] REIGN OF GEOEGE TRE TIIIED. 51 delicacy of attention." Again, twelve days after\Yards, Walpole writes to the same correspondent — " For tlie King himself, he seems all good nature and wishing to satisfy everybody. All his speeches are obliging. I saw him yesterday and was sm-prised to find the levee-room had lost so entirely the air of the lion's den. The Sovereign does not stand in one spot with his eyes fixed royally on the ground, and dropping bits of German news. He walks about and speaks freely to everybody. I saw^ him after- vrards on the throne, where he is graceful and genteel, sits with dignity, and reads his answer to addresses well." * The King's voice and dehvery, unless when he happened to be excited, are described by others as having been remarkably pleasing. "The King reads admirably," writes Madame D'Arblay ; " with ease, feeling, and force. His voice Is particularly full and fine. I was very much sur- prised at Its effect." f Among other persons who have borne pleasing testimony to the virtues of the young King is the celebrated Mrs. ]\Ion- tagu. " There is a decency and dignity In his character," she wi'Ites to Mrs. Carter, "that could not be expected at his years ; mildness and firmness mixed ; religious sentiments, and a moral conduct unblemished ; application to business ; afiiibillty to every one ; no bias to any particular party or faction ; sound and serious good sense In conversation ; and an elevation of thought and tenderness of sentiment. There hardly passes a day in which one does not hear of some- thing he has said, or done, which raises one's opinion of his imderstanding and heart." :j: About this time one of his chaplains, Dr. Wilson, having ventured to eulogise him from the pul})it while he was present in the Chapel Royal, the King at once took steps to prevent a recurrence of such • Walpole's Letters vol. 3, pp. 3G0-1. VA. 1857. f Diary and Letters, vol. iii. p. 97. t Mrs. Montagu's Letters, vol. iv. p. 355. E 2 p2 MEMOIES of the LIFE AND [1760. mistimed flatteries. He desired, lie said, that his chaplains might be informed that he went to clnirch to hear the praises of God and not his own. " Tliank Heaven ! " writes Mrs. Montagu, " that our King is not like his brother of Prussia, a hero, a wit, and a freethinker, for in • the disposition of the present times w^e should soon' have seen the whole nation roaring blasphemy, firing cannon, and jesting away all that is serious, good, and great. But religious as this young monarch is, we have reason to hope God will protect him from the dangers of his situation, and make him the means of bringing back that sense of religion and virtue, which has been wearing off for some generations."* A violent fall from his horse, which befell the King a few weeks after his accession, appears to have excited considerable consternation in the public mind. On recover- ing himself, his first considerations were for his mother, to wdiom, in order to prevent her being alarmed by exag- gerated reports of what had happened, he immediately wrote an account of the accident. It was with difficulty that his physicians could induce him to be bled, and to less purpose that they endeavoured to dissuade him from attending the theatre in the evening. He had promised, he said, to appear in public at the performances, and he was resolved not to disappoint his subjects. On a previous occasion, when he witnessed the representation of " Richard the Third," at Drury Lane, we find the theatre completely filled before three ocloch.'\ On the 18th of November the young monarch delivered his first speech in Parliament. Never, perhaps, on any similar occasion had the House of Lords contained a more brilliant company ; seldom had St. James's Park and the streets leading to Westminster been more crowded ; never * !Mr.s. Jfoiitai^u's Letters, vol. iv. p. 3o7. t Aniinnl liciristev for ]7^<1, p. 14". iEr. 22.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE TRIED. do perhaps liad a royal speech from the throne been hailed with more miiversal approbation,* The Ministers, indeed, listened to it with feelings of jealousy and alarm, it being only too evident to them that Lord Bute had had a hand in its pre- paration. True it is, that the speech was the composition of the Earl of liardwicke, who had forwarded it in due ofticial course to the Duke of Newcastle for the King's considera- tion and approval, but, on the other hand, on its being re- turned by the King to the Duke, it was found to contain certain additional "words" which could not tail to give great dissatisfoction to the Cabinet — " words," wTites Lord Bute to the Prime Minister, " which his Majesty will have inserted and has for that purpose wrote out himself" Those memorable words were as follow : — " Born and educated in this country, I glory in the name of Briton; and the peculiar happiness of my life will ever consist in promoting the welfare of a people, whose loyalty and warm affection to me I consider the greatest and most perma- nent security of my throne." There is one word hi this passage which was curiously significant. The King, it is said, had originally written the word " Englishman " but Bute had induced him to alter it to " Briton." The Duke of Newcastle writes to Lord Hardwicke — " There must be some notice taken of these royal loords both in the Motion and Address. I suppose you will think Briton remarkable. It denotes the author to all the wojld." "f To Lord Hardwicke these "royal words" — inasmuch as they were supposed to reflect on the foreign birth and foreign prejudices of his late royal master — are said to have been no less offensive than they were to the Duke of Newcastle, * '* Her royal highness, the Princess of Wales, with great part of the royal family, were in the Octagon Room at Carlton House, which looks into the Park, to see his Jtlajesty. The Countess of Harrington's favourite room iu the Park was also filled with ladies, and all tlie garden-walls lined witli the genteclcst company, as well as all the windows, quite to the House of Peers."— Annual Register, for 1760, p. 147. t Harris's Life of the Earl of Hardwicke, vol. iii. p. 231. 54 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1760. as being indicative of secret and Scottish influence behind tlie throne. They were, however, as Lord Hardwicke writes to his son, " by command," and he felt it was best therefore to allow them to stand without remonstrance. Newcastle on the other hand was furious. Accustomed as he had so long been to dictate the speeches and to direct the political conduct of his Sovereign, his pride no less than his fears were aroused. To Lord Hardwicke he writes — on return- ing the speech to him — " I make no observation, but that this method of proceeding cannot last, though we must now^ I suppose, submit." * Unquestionably, nothing but the King's youth and inexperience could in any degree excuse so unconstitutional an -'exercise of the royal pre- rogative. Unhappily, George the Third retained but for a brief period the favour of his subjects. The great misfortune of his public life — the source in fact of most of his political errors and of his consequent unpopularity — was unquestion- ably the bigoted and exclusive system under which he had been educated. By nature unsuspicious and affectionate, diffident in regard to his own abilities, conscious of his own inexperience in public affairs, entertaining a pious and duti- ful reverence for his only surviving parent, and accustomed from childhood to cherish very exaggerated notions of Lord Bute's administrative talents, it was perhaps only natural that he should have been too easily content to become a cipher in the hands of others. " Like a new Sultan," writes Lord Chesterfield, " he was dragged out of the Seraglio by the Princess and Lord Bute, and placed upon the throne." "f The systematic seclusion in which he had been brought up, and which after his accession he preferred to what is called society, produced the double and unfortunate effect of keeping his subjects in ignorance of his many estimable qualities, and * Harris's Life of the Earl of Hardwicke, vol. iii. p. 231. t Lord Chesterfield's Letters, Edited by Earl Stanhope, vol. ii. p. 472. ^T. 22.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE TILE THIRD. bo of entailing' on him, for a time, an amount of unpopularity which, though frequently unmerited, was not the less preju- dicial to his interests. His only associates in youth had been the creatures of his mother and Lord Bute. All his political notions liad been derived from the same exceptionable source. " Secluded from the world," writes Junius, " and attached from his infancy to one set of persons, and one set of ideas, he can neither open his heart to new connexions nor his mind to better information," * John, third Earl of Bute, was the son of James, the second Earl, by Lady Anne Campbell, daughter of Archi- bald, iirst Duke of Argyle. A mere accident — a shower of rain, which by interrupting a cricket match at Clifden, had led to his services being required to make up a rubber of whist for the amusement of Frederick Prince of Wales — had been the occasion of his becoming a favourite at Leicester House and Kew. Cold and unconciliating in his manners, proud and sensitive in his nature, and solemn and sententious in his discourse, we find ourselves at a loss to conceive by what means, or by what arts, he contrived to obtain that paramount influence over the minds of the Princess Dowager, and of the Heir-Presumptive, which subsequently effected so important a revolution in the politics of their day. With the exception of a redeeming taste for poetry, antiqui- ties, and the fine arts, a leg of unrivalled symmetry, and a talent for shining in drawing-room theatrical performances. Lord Bute's contemporaries would appear to have discovered in him but little merit, and few accomplishments.! As for his claims to political judgment and foresight, even his friend and patron, Frederick Prince of Wales, is said to have derided them. " Bute," once observed the Prince, " is a * Letter to the Public Advertiser, May 28, 1770. + Horace Walpole speaks of tlie beauty of Lord Bute's leg, which, he says, lie took every opportunity of displaying, and more especially to "the jioor captivated Princess," — Memoirs of George 2, vol. ii. ]). 205. See also WraxalVs Hist, Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 63, 3rd Edition, and Smith's Life of Nollckens, 03 . MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [17(30. fine showy man, and would make an excellent ambassador in a Court where there is no busmess." * Even so late as the time of George the Third's accession, Lord Bute's influence over his mind seems to have been notorious only to the few ; indeed it was not till the leaders of the Whig- party found it essential to their interests, as well as to those of the country, to denounce him as the apostle of arbitrary power, that the world in general learned to regard him as the secret and dangerous adviser of his youth- ful Sovereign. Then it was that, at the instigation of the Whig grandees, a popular clamour, as fierce as any recorded in the annals of party virulence, was raised against him and the Princess Dowager. The middle classes were taught to tremble for their liberties, and the lower orders for the political existence of their idol Pitt; till one and all became agreed that the German Princess and the Scottish Earl w^ere the bitterest of England's enemies. Placards, con- taining the words — "No Petticoat Government! No Scotch Favourite ! " — w^re affixed to the walls of Westminster Hall and the Royal Exchange ; the name of the Princess was publicly and indelicately associated wath that of her putative paramour ; she was driven from the theatres by the vol. ii. p. 296. Walpole, speaking of Lord Bute's appearance at the Court of Frederick Prince of Wales, observes : — " Its chief ornament ■was the Earl of Bute, '>. oS MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1760. CHAPTER IV. The King and the great Whig aristocracy — Eight Dukes, five Earls, and one Commoner in the Cabinet— Exclusion of Tories from place in all departments of administration— Bolingbroke's Ideal "Patriot King" — The King's leaning to the Tories — \Yhig jealousy of Bute's influence at Court — The King's passion for Lady Sarah Lennox, youngest daughter of the second Duke of Richmond — The King's personal feelings subdued by considerations of public policy — Subsequent history of Lady Sarah Lennox. So closely connected is the domestic history of George the Third with the political events of his reign, as to render it almost impossible to dissociate the one from the other. Fortunately, however, in the war of party and in the animated struggle for ascendancy which he so long carried on with the great Whig aristocracy, there is ample and stirring interest. We shall find the Sovereign himself heading the party of reaction. We shall find him reviving hopes and aspirations among the Tory clergy and gentry, which had been dormant since the days when Atterbnry had threatened to put on his lawn sleeves and proclaim the Pretender at Charing Cross, and when Bolingbroke had written to the Bishop — " The grief of my soul is this — I see plainly that the Tory party is gone." * We shall find him, not only rebelling against the powerful political party which, for nearly half a century, had dictated to his grandfather and great-grandfather, but eventually triumphing over them, supported though they were by the first statesmen and orators of the aire. "O" * Cooke's Memoirs of Lord Bolingbroke, vol. i., p. 294, 2nd Edition. Mr. 22.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 59 At this early period of George the Third's reign, Great Britain may be said to have been ruled over, not by the Sovereign of the House of Brunswick, but by a Whig oli- garchy composed principally of the powerful houses of Russell, Lennox, Fitzroy, Cavendish, Manners, Bentinck, Wentworth, and Pelham. The Cabinet was constructed almost entirely from this great aristocratic cabal. It con- sisted of fourteen members of whom, at one time, no fewer than eight were of ducal rank — namely, the Dukes of Newcastle, Argyle, Bedford, Devonshire, Grafton, Richmond, Montagu, and Dorset. It numbered, moreover, in its ranks the Earls of Harrington, Sandwich, Gower, and Bath. The Earl of Hardwicke was the only member of the Cabinet of plebeian birth. The only Commoner Avas Henry Pelliam, brother of the Duke of Newcastle. The great Tory party had long been at a discount. Tory rectors, whose fathers had preached the doctrine of passive obedience in the days of James the Second, and who themselves still sighed for the goodn)ld times of Convocation and the Star Chamber — Tory landholders, whose fathers had fought at Edgehill and whose sons still drank in secret to the " King over the water " — w^ere severally paying the penalty of their long and fruitless devotion to the unhappy and misguided House of Stuart. The Whigs in fact were entirely the lords of the ascendant. For more than forty years the vacancies in the peerage had been filled up by Commoners of their selection ; and not only had they monopolised all the chief appointments in the Army and the State, but almost all the subordinate offices in the different public departments were occupied by their retainers or friends. On the other hand, the Tory gentry had not only been overlooked in the appointments to Deputy- Lieutenancies and the Commission of the Peace, but had had the mortification of seeing the places, which they regarded as their birth-right, conferred, one by one, on men of obscure birth and plebeian occupations. The Tory clergy GO MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1760. fared even worse. The great ecclesiastical dignities of the Church had been conferred entirely upon Whigs. To such an extent, indeed, had this principle been carried, that, at the time when George the Third ascended the throne, there was not a single bishop, it is said, who was not indebted, either for his lawn sleeves, or else for subsequent promotion to a richer diocese, to the Duke of Newcastle. This undue amount of influence and power had been the natural consequence of the Revolution which placed William of Orange on the throne of England. During the brief reign of Queen Anne, the Whigs had submitted, un- easily enough, to the temporary ascendancy of the Tories. The advent, however, of a new reign revived their hopes. The favourable terms which they had formerly obtained from William the Third, added to the support which it was only natural that George the First should extend to the powerful party who had been mainly instrumental in placing him on the throne, produced the almost immediate effect of restoring the Whigs to the position which they regarded as their legitimate right. Well would it have been for them had they known how to appreciate and use their victory. No sooner, however, did they find them- selves masters of the field — no sooner had the Jacobites been crushed, and the Tories humbled to the dust — than the victors began to squabble for the spoils. The former violent dissensions between Whig and Tory had, at all events, involved questions of great national and Constitu- tional importance, and had consequently been conducive to the public weal. To that honourable rivalry, however, had succeeded confederacies still more bitterly hostile to one another, disputes no less acrimonious, and intrigues fiir more contemptible. The party, which still advocated what were called "Revolution principles," was not only divided against itself, but the leaders of the rival sections were engaged in ignoble contentious whether the country was to be governed JEt. 22.] EETGN OF GEORGE THE THIP^P. 61 by a Pelliani, a Iliissell, or a Grenville, and wlietlier tlie minor spoils of office were to fall to the lot of a Dodington, a Rigby, or a Calcraft. The modern Whig — though he inveighed as loudly as ever against popery and political slavery, and still drank l)umpers to the revolutionary toasts of the Calf's Head Club — was only too often a systematic corrupter of popular constituencies, a keen barterer in the traffic for patronage and power, and as little liberal in his political views as the most bigoted Tory. Under the long rule of the great Whig families, the purity of popular re- presentation had become almost a dead letter ; the votes of members of the House of Commons were bargained for, almost as openly as any other commodity. During the last ten years of Sir Robert Walpole's administration, the cost to the country for secret service money had amounted to little less than a million and a half of money ; * in addition to which, there is said to have been scarcelv a member of the House of Commons who, if he happened to dine with Sir Robert at a time when his vote was w\anted by the Govern- ment, Avould not have felt himself aggrieved unless he had discovered a 500?. bank-note secreted in the folds of his dinner-napkin. It was even admitted by Sir Robert Walpole himself, that there were only three members of the House of Lords, of whose " price " he was ignorant. "f Indeed so shamelessly was the trade of corruption carried on, that even so late as the accession of George the Third, we find the borough of Sudbury, in Suffcdk, actually advertised as to be sold to the highest bidder, j^ That these were crying evils, which required a stringent remedy, there are few persons perhaps who will feel inclined to dispute. That remedy, as Lord Macaulay points out, clearly '"' Quarterly Ttevicw vol. 90, p. ,'ilL + Dr. Kings Anecdotes of his own Time, p. 44, 2nd Edition. + Sudbury escaped the proscription of 1832, but was subsequently disfranchised in l^U.— See WaJpole's lieicjn of Gcor'je ?>, vol. i. p. 42. G2 MEMOIPtS OF THE LIFE AND [1760. lay in a sweeping reform of tlie representative system ; in a wholesome extension of the elective suffrage, and in throwing open the doors of Parliament to the reporters for the public journals ; thus allowing the constituent bodies to learn on which side of a question their representatives spoke and voted. As yet, however, neither Whigs nor Tories were prepared to advocate so enlightened a policy. The Court, on the other hand, was prepared with a remedy of its own. To emancipate the new Sovereign from the humiliating thraldom in which his grandfather and great-grandfather had been kept by the gi'eat Whig Lords, to render the Crown in future respectable and respected, and to restore to the Tory party a fair, if not dominant share, of political influence, were among the first principles which George the Third had imbibed from the advisers of his youth. The young King, be it remembered, had been early and deeply impregnated with the brilliant follacies of that fantastic political school of which Lord Boling- broke may be said to have been the founder. That school not only held up to reprobation the overgrown tyranny of the Whig party, but proposed to restore to the Crown the powers which had been usurped by the " Great Families." The King of Great Britain, argued Bolingbroke and his proselytes, ought to be the King of his people and not the King of Whigs and Tories ; he ought to be alike the supreme chief, as well as the friend and father of his people ; he was in fiict to be a " Patriot King ; " his principal duties should consist in settnig his face against all political factions ; in selecting as his Ministers, independent of their being Whigs or Tories, the wisest, the most upright, and the most ex- perienced statesmen of his time ; and lastly, in maintaining the purity of Parliament, and trampling bribery and corrup- tion under foot.* • Sir Joscpli Yorko wi'itcs to Sir Amlrew Mitcliell, sliortly after the King's acces- sion : — " 111 what way the new ParHanieut will be clioscn we sliall soon see. I hear the fashion at Court is to say, it shall be a Parliament of the people's own choosing ; JEr. 22.] REIGN OP GEORGE THE THIRD. 63 Tlieoretically speaking-^ these liypotlieses were plausible enough. Practically speaking, they were fraught with immi- nent peril to the State. Had they unhappily been carried into effect, the proper balance of power between King, Lords, and Commons, would have been at an end. The standard axiom, " Vox populi^ vox Bei^' would have be- come a dead letter. That the young King, in adopting the Utopian fallacies of the Princess Dowager and Lord Bute, proposed to extend the royal Prerogative beyond the limits prescribed by his Coronation oath, and much more that he deliberately contemplated the enslavement of his people, we are far from being inclined to believe. But, on the other hand, admitting him to have possessed all the good inten- tions and all the virtues requisite to constitute a perfect "Patriot King," where was the guarantee that his successors would practise a similar forbearance ? It is not often that a Marcus Aurelius succeeds to an Antoninus Pius. That a vast amount of political profligacy and corruption would liave been swept away can scarcely be doubted ; but, on the other hand, had the Court carried its point, there was the risk of incurring a despotism as intolerable as that which had existed in the days when Strafford and Archbishop Laud delivered their hateful judgments in the Star Chamber at AVestminster, and cut off' the ears of far better citizens than themselves. In the mean time, the majority of the Whigs, confident in their own long-established power, appear to have awaited with curiosity, rather than alarm, the development of the new political system. Lord Bute they regarded, or affected to regard, with the profoundest contempt. That a Scottish Representative peer — who had not only never served any official apprenticeship under the State, but who was also imconnected with the great English Whig lords by the ties wliicli, in these times, naay open the door to new cahals and difficulties, though the principle of it may be wise and honest."— C/(«//(«?;i Corrcsp.^ vol. ii. p. 83, note. Gl MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1760. of blood or family interest — should liave the presumption to enter the lists against them, was a contingency which was long in forcing itself upon their convictions. Moreover, least of all men could Pitt have imagined that, in the height of his power and popularity, he was destined to be thrust on one side, in order to make room for one whom he regarded as a mere pedantic Groom of the Stole, a led captain of the Princess Dowager, the mere fortunate hanger-on of a Court. In former days, when Pitt had held the appointment of Groom of the Bedchamber to Frederick Prince of Wales, he and Bute had doubtless been thrown a good deal into each other's society. For some time, how- ever, as we learn from Horace Walpole, they had "been on the coldest terms."* Deep as was the interest which the young King took in passing political events, he was not the less predisposed to be influenced by the romantic feelings which are natural to youth. His passion for the fair Quakeress, Hannah Light- foot, had passed away. A nobler-born, and perhaps lovelier girl, had taken her place in his heart. Lady Sarah Lennox, the lady alluded to, was the youngest daughter of Charles, second Dake of Richmond. At the period when she captivated her Sovereign, she was only in her seventeenth year. Her contemporaries not only unani- mously accord her the meed of surpassing loveliness, but assign to her a bewitching fascination of manner, which is said to have characterised her even in extreme old age. "Lady Sarah Lennox," writes Horace Walpole in describing the fair forms which subsequently walked in the nuptial train of Char- lotte of Mecklenburg — " was by far the chief angel." f And again, in chronicling her })erformance of the part of Jane Shore at some private theatricals at Holland House, he writes — " Lady Sarah was in white, with her hair about her ears, * IJeign of George the Third, vol. i. p. 10. \- Walpole's Letters, vol. ?>, \\ 4.']3. ^T. 22.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 65 and on the ground. No Magdalen by Correggio was ever half so lovely and expressive." * As may be readily imagined, the King's predilection for this beautiful girl could not long be kept a secret from the lynx-eyed denizens of a Court. The laws of England opposed no obstacle to their union, and accordingly the most ambi- tious hopes began to be entertained by the House of Lennox. On the other hand, the Princess Dowager and Lord Bute were thrown into a corresponding state of consternation. Whenever the King and Lady Sarah were together, it was e\^dent that Lord Bute was under orders to interrupt their tete-a-tetc conversations. So little control, indeed, had the Princess over her feelings, that more than once she is said to have thrust herself in Lady Sarah's way, and to have burst out into an offensive laugh in her face. What pro- vision, indeed, could she expect for her children — what con- sideration cojuld she hope for for herself — in the event of the King becoming a cipher in the hands of a lovely girl and her aspiring relatives ? The family of Lady Sarah Lennox, and especially her ambitious brother-in-law, Henry Fox, afterwards Lord Holland, missed no opportunity of throwing her in the King's way. So long as the Court remained in London, so long w^as Lady Sarah detained at Holland House, the proximity of which to St. James's was a favourable cir- cumstance for the intriguers. There, on the fine summer mornings, in the broad meadow which lies in front of that mteresting old mansion, Lady Sarah, attired in a halt- fancy costume, resembling a peasant's, was to be seen grace- fully taking her share in the labours of the haymakers. Thither likewise, on those fine mornings, the King was to be seen directing his horse's head, in the hope of find- ing an opportunity of exchanging a few words with the object of his affections, who doubtless greeted her * Walpole'.s Letters, vol. iii. p. 374. VOL, I. F 66 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1761. royal admirer with lier sweetest smiles. The King was young and handsome, and Lady Sarah — notwithstanding she is said to have been in love at the time with Lord Newbottle, afterwards Marquis of Lothian — had no objec- tion to become a Queen.* The fourth of June, 1761 — the first anniversary of the King's birth since his accession — was kept by him with considerable magnificence. On that day, amidst the brihiant company which he had assembled at St. James's, Lady Sarah was the observed of all observers. "The birth- day," writes Horace Walpole to Lady Ailesbury, " exceeded the splendour of Haroun Alraschid and the ' Arabian Nights,' when people had nothing to do but to scour a lantern and send a genie for a hamper of diamonds and rubies. Do you remember one of those stories where a prince has eight statues of diamonds, which he overlooks because he fancies he wants a ninth, and, to his great surprise, the^iinth proves to be pure flesh and blood, which he never thought of ? f Somehow or other. Lady Sarah is the ninth statue ; and, you will allow, has better white and red than if she was made of pearls and rubies.":]: The King would seem to have made but little secret of his passion. His confidante was Lady Susan Strangways, Lady Sarah's friend and kinswoman. § According to an account of the King's attaclmient which, more than six years * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. pp. 63, 64, 66, and 67. Wraxall's Hist. Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 37. GrenviUe Papers, vol. iv. p. 209. + See the beautiful story in the "Arabian Nights " of Prince Zejm Alusuian and the King of the Genii. J Walpole's Letters, vol. iii. p. 405. § Lady Susannah Sarah Louisa Strangways, daughter of Stephen, first Earl of Ilclicster, and niece to Mr. Fox, was at tliis period in her nineteenth year. In April, 1764, she married William O'Brien, a popular actor. "A melancholy affair," writes Walpole, "has happened to Lord Ilchester. His eldest daughter. Lady Susan, a very pleasing girl, though not handsome, married herself two days ago at Covent Garden Church, to O'Brien, a handsome young actor. Lord Ilchester doated on her, and was the most indulgent of fathers. 'Tis a cruel blow." — Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. pp. 119-120. Mt. 22.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 67 afterwards, Mr. Thomas Pitt related to George Greuville — " His Majesty came to Lady Susan Strangways in tlie Drawing Room, asked lier in a whisper if she did not think the Coronation [would be] a much finer sight if there was a Queen. She said ' Yes.' He then asked her if she did not know somebody who would grace that ceremony in the properest manner. At this she was much embarrassed, thinking he meant herself: but he went on and said — 'I mean your friend, Lady Sarah Lennox. Tell her so ; and let me have her answer the next Drawing Room day.' " * Lady Susan happening, on one occasion, to mention that she was about to leave London — " I hope not," said the King ; and immediately afterwards he added ; — " But you return in the summer for the Coronation?" — "I hope so, Sir," replied Lady Susan. " But," continued the King, " they talk of a wedding. There have been many proposals, but I think ,an Enghsh match would do better than a foreign one. Pra?/ tell Lady Sarah I say so^ No wonder, after such conversations, that the hopes of Lady Sarah and of her family should have been raised to the highest pitch. A marriage, however, between George the Third and the loveliest of his subjects was not an event wdiich was destined to take place. "It is well known," writes Sir Nathaniel Wraxall, " that before his marriage the King distinguished by his partiality Lady Sarah Lennox, then one of the most beautiful young women of high rank in the kingdom. Edward the Fourth or Henry the Eighth, in his situation, would have married and placed her on the throne. Charles the Second, more Hcen- tious, would have endeavoured to seduce her. But the King, who, though he admired her, neither desired to make her his wife nor his mistress, subdued his passion by the strength of his reason, his principles, and his sense of pubHc * Grenville Papers, vol. iv. p. 209. F 2 68 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1761. duty."* That George tlie Third had no desire to marry Lady Sarah was certainly not the case. Indeed, there can- not be a doubt but that it was the ardent wish of his heart to make her his wife. Exercising, however, that admirable command over his passions, which more than once distin- guished him during the difficulties of his subsequent career, he resolved on rendering the gratification of his desires de- pendent upon the interests of his subjects, and subsequently succeeded in alienating himself from her society. Jealousy of Lord Newbottle — according to the further account in the Grenville Papers — was another cause of the King breaking off with Lady Sarah, and of his offering his hand to Charlotte of Mecklenburg Strelitz. " Whilst this was in agitation," writes Mr. Grenville, " Lady Sarah used to meet the King in his rides early in the morning, driving a little chaise with Lady Susan Strangways ; and once, it is said, that wanting to speak to him, she went dressed like a servant- maid, and stood amongst the crowd in the Guard Room, to say a few words to him as he passed by." In Mr. Grenville's further words. Lady Sarah, at one and the same time, " found herself deprived of a Crown and of her lover Lord Newbottle, who complained as much of her, as she did of the King." I Of the passion of George the Third for Lady Sarah Lennox, the few particulars that remain to be told, may be here related. Of the ten unmarried daughters of Dukes and Earls who were subsequently the bridesmaids to Charlotte of Mecklenburg on her marriage with the King, Lady Sarah was one ; her friend, Lady Susan Strangways, another. During the ceremony the courtiers watched the countenance of the King, which, however, betrayed no emotion, till the Archbishop of Canterbury came to the words in the Marriage Service — " And as Thou didst send Thy blessing upon Abra- ham and Sarah to their great comfort, so vouchsafe to send • Historical Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 37. t Grenville Papers, vol. iv. p. 210. IEt. 22.] EEIGX OF GEORGE THE TIIIED. G9 Thy blessing upon these Thy servants " — when the Kmg's uneasiness was perceptible to every one. Not less embarrass- ing to him was an incident which occurred at the Drawing Room on the following day. Among the persons who ap- peared for presentation was John, Earl of Westmoreland, who in his youth had fought under the great Marlborough, but who was now advanced in years and afflicted with partial blindness.* Unluckily he chanced to mistake Lady Sarah for her royal mistress, and was only prevented kneeling and doing homage to her, by the prompt interference of the bystanders. I The depth of the King's attachment to Lady Sarah Lennox cannot admit of a doubt. Many years afterwards, he happened to attend the theatre during one of the perfor- mances of the charming actress, Mrs. Pope, who, both in face and manner, was thought to bear a strong resemblance to Lady Sarah. The events of days gone by rushed back to his memory ; the presence of the Queen was forgotten, and, in a moment of melancholy abstraction, he was heard to murmur to himself: — " She is like Lady Sarah still 1'^ Lady Sarah, it may be mentioned, married first, on the 2nd of June, 1762, Sir Thomas Charles Bunbury, Bart., who in our own time figured so conspicuously as the patron and father of the Turf; and secondly, in 1781, the Hon. George Napier, by whom she became the mother of Sir "William Napier, the author of the History of the Peninsular War, and of his not less distinguished brother, Sir Charles. Her death took place on the 20th of August 182G, in the eighty-second year of her age. During the last years of her life she was completely blind ; an infliction which she endured with the most exemplary cheerfulness and resignation to the will of Providence. Lady Sarah was great-grand-daughter — per- haps the last surviving one — of Charles the Second. * The Earl died on the 26th of August, the following year. t Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. pp. 66, 67. 70 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1761. CHAPTER V. The Princess Dowager's efforts to preserve her influence on the King's mind — Bute's political intrigues — Changes in the Government, and accession of Bute to office as Secretary of State — "Weakness of the Whig party, owing to dissensions among the "Great Families" Career of William Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham — Success of Pitt's policy as Secretary of State and War Minister — His efficiency as an administrator — Public confidence in his abilities and patriotism — His personal influence in the House of Commons and the Cabinet — Pitt's opposition to the Bourbon "Family Compact" defeated by Bute — Fall of Pitt — His popii- larity impaired by his acceptance of a peerage for his wife and a pension for himself — His emotion on delivering the Seals of Office to the King. In the mean time, the Princess Dowager, elated at the successful result of her opposition to the King's marriage with Lady Sarah Lennox, was quietly pursuing her favourite project of obtaining a paramount influence over the mind of her son ; while Lord Bute, on his part, was no less deeply intent on maturing measures for driving the Whigs from power, and procuring his own aggrandisement in the event of their fall. During the first five months of the King's reign, the Earl had contented himself with being sworn a Privy Councillor and holding the subordinate post of Groom of the Stole ; but the time, in his opinion, had now arrived when a blow might be struck at the " Great Families " with impunity. Accordingly, as a preliminary measure, the King, by the Earl's advice, was induced to dismiss from the March post of Chancellor of the Exchequer an efficient statesman, Henry Bilson Legge, a younger son of William, first Earl of Dartmouth, who, in addition to being a Whig, appears to have given other, and graver offence to the Court. For instance when, on delivering up the Seals to the King in the royal closet, he happened to intimate that his future life should testify to ^T. 22.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 71 his zeal for liis Majesty's service — " I am glad of it — " replied the King, " for nothing but your future life can eradicate the ill impressions which I have received of you." * The post of Chancellor of the Exchequer, vacated by Legge, was forthwith filled up by William, Viscount Barrington, at this time Secretary at War, whose removal from that situation made room for the celebrated Charles Townshend. These changes were followed, only three days afterwards, by another and far more important arrangement, the removal of the Earl of Holderness from the post of Secretary of State, and the appointment of Lord Bute in his room. The excuse ^^-'^J^^ given for the dismissal of Lord Holderness was his inca- pacity ; a charge which would seem to have been not alto- gether undeserved. The King even included Pitt in the reprehensions which escaped him on this occasion. " I have two Secretaries of State," he said ; " one who can do nothing, and one who icill do nothing." "As if," observes Walpole significantly, "subduing Europe was to be reckoned nothing! " f That the great Whig lords should not only have sub- mitted without a struggle to these significant changes, but that more than one of them sliould have actually recommended Lord Bute to the King for the office of Secretary of State, :j: appears, on first reflection, to be almost * Walpole's Eeign of George 3, vol. i. p. 49. — " I esteem and love Legge,' writes Mr. Pitt in one of liis letters to Earl Temple.— C^rair/We Correspondence, vol. i. p. 120. Mr. Legge had been three times Chancellor of the Exchequer, and in February, 1748, was appointed Envoy Extraordinary to the King of Prussia. His death took place on the 21st of August, 1764. "Old Sir John Barnard is dead, which he has been for some time," writes Horace Walpole to Sir Horace ilann, "and Mr. Legge. The latter, who was heartily in the Minority, said cheerfully before he died, 'that he was going to the Majority.'" — icCfera, vol. iv. p. 264. Another dying pleasantry of Mr. Legge's is related by Gilly Williams in a letter to George Selwyn. " Mr. Legge," writes the former, " told a very fat fellow who came to see him the day before he died, ' Sir, you are a great weight, but let me tell you you are in at the dcath..^"—Selwi/)i Correspondence, vol. i. pp. 295—6. With reference to the causes of Legge's dismissal, see History of the late Minority, pp. 17, &c., and vote. + Walpole's Reign of George S, vol. i. p. 43. t The King told Rose in 1804 that it was owing to the solicitations of the Dukes 72 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1761. incomprehensible. Certainly the game, had they chosen to play it out, would seem to have been entirely in their hands. Lord Bute, it should be borne in mind, was at the head of no party in the State ; his manners were cold and ungracious ; he was without the advantage of political experience and, although he was in his forty-eighth year, he had never once, we believe, risen to speak in Parliament. Previously to the present reign his name had been unknown beyond the pre- cincts of the Court, and since then, owing to his having been a Scotchman, a Tory, and a Favourite, it had become familiar only to be reprobated. On the other hand, Ministers were backed by the vast wealth and enormous Borough interest of the great Whig party ; the secret service-money was at their disposal ; the Church and State, in consequence of their long tenure of office, w^ere filled with their creatures and partisans ; and, lastly, they had the advantages of the commanding talents and unbounded popularity of Pitt. But unfortunately, the " Great Families " had become more than ever divided amongst themselves. The powerful Rus- sell and Pelham factions had ceased to be allies ; the Duke of Rutland was dissatisfied with his office of Steward of the Household ; the Duke of Bedford was angry at General Conway having been selected to command in Germany, in preference to General Waldegrave ; the Duke of Newcastle was stealthily intriguing to get Mr. Pitt out of the Ministry ; and lastly. Fox was more than suspected of being engaged in a plot to turn out Newcastle. Another subject of disagreement among the Whig leaders was the policy of continuing or discontinuing the war. To Pitt personally this was a question of the most lively interest. A period of warfare, which, to the great majority of official of Newcastle and Devonsliire, tliat he had been induced to consent to Lord Bute's appointment as Secretary of State. — Rose's Diaries, vol. ii. jip. 191, 192. According also to the King's sister, the Duchess of Brunswick, the persons who most eagerly- pressed Lord Bute upon the King at this time were the Duke of Devonshire and the jUarquis of iiockingham. — Lord Mahneshury's Diaries, vol. iii. p. 158. ^T. 22.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 73 men is naturally a source of inquietude, was to Pitt a season of pleasurable excitement. It was the late war, with its long series of triumphs by sea and land, which had rendered his name illustrious over the world ; peace, moreover, at this period, he believed to be diametrically opposed to the inte- rests of his country, and accordingly in the Cabinet he brought all his eloquence and all his influence into play in support of the continuance of hostilities. On the side of Pitt were arrayed his brothers-in-law, Lord Temple and James Grenville ; while, on the other hand, the Duke of Bedford, the Earl of Hardwicke, George Grenville, and Fox, were as strenuously in favour of peace. As regarded the public in general, the lower classes — grate- ful to Pitt for the exhilarating spectacles Avhich he had so often afforded them of French banners carried in triumph to St. Paul's, and French cannon dragged to the Tower — appear to have been almost unanimously in favour of war, while, among the upper and middle classes, opinion seems to have been more nearly divided. At all events, a large portion of the community — composed in part of persons who were moved by reason and conviction, and in part of those who held the opinion of Franklin that a bad peace is preferable to no peace at all — was anxious by any safe and honourable means to bring the war to a close. The Treasury, argued the peacemakers, had become very nearly drained by the enormous cost of the war ; the armies of France had been routed in every quarter ; her resources were very nearly exhausted ; and accordingly now — they said — was the proper and propitious moment for Great Britain to dictate terms to her humbled enemy. It was on the support of the powerful peace party that Bute, in a great measure, relied for the success of his double and daring design of ejecting the Whigs from power, and introducing into the political system his own notions of good government and good laws. The chief obstacle that stood 74 MEMOIES OF TUE LIFE AND [1761. in liis way was Pitt. It was calculated with mucli reason by Bute, that could Pitt be either induced or forced to retire from the Government, peace would become a measure of comparatively easy accomplishment ; that with the cessa- tion of hostilities much of the influence and popularity of that illustrious man would necessarily cease ; that the present Government, of which Pitt's genius, eloquence, and virtues were the mainstays, might then with little difficulty be overthrown ; that Bute's own elevation to the Premiership would be the almost certain consequence of that event ; that, by bringing a long and costly war to an honourable close he should earn the gratitude, and establish himself in the affections, of his fellow-countrymen; and lastly, that enjoying, as he did, the full confidence and support of his Sovereign, he should be enabled to render his adminis- tration a durable as well as a popular one. Bute, it is needless to say, accomplished his object of becoming first Minister of the Crown, but it was by means singularly impolitic. Instead of entering, as he did, into personal rivalry with the greatest statesman of his age ; instead of forcing his own incapacity and insignificance into glaring contrast with the brilliant genius of his antagonist; instead of making a martyr of Pitt by driving him from an office which he had filled with a skill and success beyond all former precedent, Bute should have patiently waited, and watched the progress of events. So unnatural an alliance as that which existed between Pitt and Newcastle promised to be of no very long continuance. Newcastle, moreover, was advanced in years ; Pitt was a martyr to disease. Death, therefore, might remove the one : increased infirmities might incapacitate the other. Greatly as Pitt was loved by his countrymen, a single defeat, or even a doubtful victory, might rob him of his popularity. Bute, however, waa fated to commit a series of irreparable errors. True it is that he contrived to achieve a temporary triumph, but it ^T. 22.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 75 was destined to be dearly purchased by tlie disgrace and danger which accompanied his fall When Pitt fell, it was with the proud satisfaction of knowing that he still filled as large a space in the affections of his countrymen as in the days when, in the midst of storm and tempest, Hawke swept the French fleet from the waters in Quiberon Bay, or when the British standard first floated in triumph on the citadel of Quebec. Far different was the fall of Bute. When he fell, it was with the miserable conviction that his blunders had entailed on his Sovereign an amount of unpopularity, and on himself a degree of popular hatred, such as will be found rarely paralleled in the annals of Court Favouritism. William Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham, was born in 1708. He was educated at Eton, and afterwards at Utrecht* and at Trinity College, Oxford. After having served a short period In the army, as a cornet In the "Blues," he obtained a seat in Parliament, In 1735, as member for Old Sarum. In the House of Commons, his abilities and oratorical powers speedily rendered him eminent. In 1746, he was appointed Vice-Treasurer of Ireland, and afterwards Paymaster-General of the Forces, and In 1756, George the Second, yielding to the universal outcry of the nation, delivered to him the seals as Secretary of State. At this period Great Britain had been reduced almost to the lowest ebb of national degradation. For a considerable time past, defeat had been followed by defeat, and disaster by disaster. The unfortunate expedition of General Braddock against Fort Duquesne ; the unsuccessful attempt against Ticonderoga ; the failure of the expedition against Roche- fort, and the unsatisfactory result of the naval engagement * The fact of Lord Chafham having received a part of liis education at the Univer- sity of Utrecht has apparently not been noticed by any of his biographers. He liim- self, however, records the fact in a letter to the Earl of Shelburne, dated October 12, 1766. — Chatham Corrcsp., vol. iii. p. 107, and note. 76 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1761. between Admiral Byng and Gallssoni^re, had alike grievously tarnished the public honour, and fiercely exasperated the people of England against their leaders. It was under these circumstances that England demanded the services of Pitt as the wisest, the most eloquent, and one of the most virtuous of her sons. Tlie wisdom of the selection was very shortly made manifest. Scarcely had Pitt taken the helm before the tide of national ignominy rolled back. As if with the wand of a magician, he stirred up the spirit of a gallant people ; in every part of the globe success attended the British arms ; the fleets which had formerly threatened England were swept from the seas ; before the close of the "war no fewer than thirty-six sail-of-the-llne, fifty frigates, and forty-five sloops-of-war had been either captured or destroyed ; France and Spain had been humiliated, and Canada and half of Hindostan had been added to the territorial possessions of Great Britain. Mr. Pitt, in fact, lived to see England the most powerful nation in Europe, and his own name dreaded over the world. " II faut avouer^' said Frederick the Great, King of Prussia, '"''que V Angleterre a ete long-tems en travail^ et qiielle a heaiicoup sovfferte pour produire M. Pitt; mats enjin elle est accouchee dun liomnner* Despite of a few foibles, Pitt was a great man. He possessed a mind singularly fertile In resources ; a percep- tion as clear in devising expedients as he was prompt in carrying them into execution ; an undaunted courage which never shrank from incurring responsibility ; an originality of genius which led him to despise precedents, and to re- gard as trifling hindrances such obstacles as to inferior intel- lects appeared to be impossibilities ; and lastly, he possessed a mind superior to all selfish considerations. To him the smiles or frowns of his Sovereign, the applause or censure of the multitude, the loss of oflice or the tenure of power, * Chatham C'orrcsii., vul. i. pp. 444-5. ^T. 22.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE TIIIED. 77 were as iiotliing compared with the one noble and all- absorbmg object of his Hfe — the aggrandisement and pro- sperity of his native country. In the noblest sense of the word he was a patriot. He loved his country, and in the dark hours of her declining grandeur is said to have been impressed with the prophetic conviction that he was destined to save her. " My Lord," he once said to the Duke of Devonshire, " I am sure that I can save this country, and that nobody else can." Pitt had no sooner been installed as Secretary of State and War Minister, than he began to establisli a severe despotism over every naval and military department of the State. He not only exacted obedience from those who served under him, but prompt, tacit, implicit obedience. In the different offices connected with the War Department, not only the Under-Secretaries and the heads of depart- ments, but even the subordinate clerks, were taught to feel that they were under the e3^e of a severe taskmaster — one who was almost as conversant with their duties as they were themselves. On one occasion, when confined to his bed by the gout, he sent a message to the Master-General of the Ordnance, Sir Charles Frederick, to attend him immediately. "The battering-train from the Tower," he told him, " must be at Portsmouth by to-morrow morning at seven o'clock." The Master-General attempted to explain to him that it was impossible. " At your peril, sir," said the great Minister, "let it be done; and let an express be sent to me from every stage till the train arrives." By seven o'clock the train was at Portsmouth.* Over the minds of such naval and military men as were brought into communication with him, Pitt acquired a still more remarkable influence. The dignity of his demeanour, the grandeur of his views, and the clearness with which he * Seward's Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons, vol. ii. p. 364, note, Fifth Edition. 78 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1761, explained tliem, impressed them at once with the conviction that they were in the presence of a great man. When they left him to obey his orders in a foreign land, they felt that he had uistilled into them a portion of his own sanguine and indomitable spirit ; that they were about to serve under the eye of one who had both the genius to appreciate great deeds, and the power and generosity to reward them ; that his clear and piercing eye would be ever upon them ; that they would receive from him every assistance and encou- ragement which a commander could expect fi-om his em- ployer ; that their glory would be his glory ; that though he might forgive rashness and w^ant of judgment, he would never pardon over-caution ; that in his eyes adventurous gallantry was a virtue, and timidity a crime. Civilian though he was, they felt that the ablest commander might not only obey his instructions without a blush, but adopt his sugges- tions with advantage. " He was possessed," said Colonel Barre on one occasion in the House of Commons, "of the happy talent of transfusing his own zeal into the souls of all those who were to have a share in carrying his projects into execution ; and it is a matter well known to many officers now in the House, that no man ever entered the Earl's closet who did not feel himself, if possible, braver at his return than when he went in."* To those who were employed by him he ever extended his fullest support. A general officer having on one occasion been asked by Pitt what number of men he would require to enable him to succeed in carrying out a certain expedition, the reply was — " Ten thousand." " Then you shall have twelve thousand," said the Minister, " and if you do not succeed it will be your own fault." f — " To push expense," he once said in defending the Army Estimates, "is the best policy." "The war," writes Lady Hervey, " has cost us a great deal, it is true ; but then we * S[)C(.'cli, May 13, 1778: Parliamentary History, vol. xix. p. 1227. + Seward's Anecdotes, vol, ii. jip. 362-3. ^T. 22.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 79 have had success and honour for our money. Before Mr. Pitt came in we spent vast sums only to purchase disgrace and infamy." * Irresokition — that weakness so often fatal to the reputation of eminent men and to the success of great measures — it was not in his nature to feel, nor was he ready to pardon it in others. " Irresolution," once observed his rival, Henry Fox, " has been a general and is surely a fatal fault. I think Pitt almost the only man that I have seen in power who had not that fault, though he had many others." f Thus by degrees did Pitt instil his own adventurous and undaunted spirit, his own love of country, and his own passion for glory and confidence of success, not only into the breasts of every naval and military commander, but into that of each soldier of the army and each sailor in the fleet. No minister of this country was ever served with such promptitude and cheerfulness. That he was, to a great extent, indebted for the success of his measures to the large supplies of money which his countrymen placed at his disposal, there can be no question. Fully sensible of the false economy of waging cheap wars ; of the folly and cruelty of sending out insufficient numbers of men, defective artillery, and half-manned ships, he was resolved that, so long as he remained War Minister of England, no single individual, either in the army or the navy, should plead want of sufficient support as an excuse for failure or defeat. Moreover, whenever he had an enterprise in contem- plation, he ever selected the individual whom he believed to be the most competent to achieve success. The patron- age which accrues to Office he gave up to his country. For the claims of political friends, or the pleadings of pretty women, he had no ear. For high family connexion and its pretensions he entertained the profoundest contempt. * Lady Hervey's Letters, p. 282. t Earl Kussell's Memorials of Fox, vol. i. p, 53. 80 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1761. Nobly, Indeed, did "tlie Great Commoner " — as his coun- trymen loved to style him * — concentrate his energies, his talents, and his virtues, to restore the fallen credit of his country. Nobly did he conduct towards a glorious con- clusion a war which, had it been managed by a statesman of inferior genius, might have been protracted for twenty years longer at tenfold the expense, and probably with a tenth only of the success with wdiich it was crowned. So invariable indeed, under the auspices of Pitt, became the trumph of the British arms, that during the later encounters between England and her foes, the one, when they met, looked for victory as a matter of course, while the other appeared already panic-struck by the prospect of defeat. "There is scarcely more credit to be got," said a con- temporary, " in beating a Frenchman than in beating a woman." The influence which Pitt exercised over the minds of his countrymen was nowhere more remarkably displayed than in the House of Commons. Its members, forced to acquiesce in the supremacy of his genius, accepted him as a dictator in everything except in name. The deference which they paid him was manifested, not only in the vast sums wdiich they voted him without inquiry and without a murmur, but also in the awe in which each individually stood of his impassioned denunciations and withering taunts. On one occasion, it is said, a Member, somewhat bolder than his fellows, arose to prefer a charge of incon- sistency against the great Minister. Pitt fixed on him a single look of mingled astonishment and scorn. That single look was sufficient. After having muttered a few unin- telligible words, the unfortunate man gladly resumed his seat, and his insignificance. * The a]i]icllatioii of " tlic Great Coiiiiiionei- " was not originally given tu Pitt, but hy Viit to the eminent citizen and senator, Sir John VmnyM-ii.— ScwarcV s Anecdoks, vol. ii. p. 353. JET. 22.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 81 ' Tlie coufidence in Pitt's genius and patriotism whicli per- vaded the Army, the Navy, and the Senate, was equalled if not surpassed by the love and veneration with which he was regarded by the masses of the People. They loved him, not only because he had provided them with conquests and triumphs, instead of humiliation and defeat — not only because under his auspices the commerce of England had kept pace with her ancient military renown — but because he was also the " Great Commoner," the IMinister of their own creation and choice, because it was his boast that he derived his power, not from the favour of Kings, but from the middle classes of his countrymen, and, lastly, because — notwithstanding the vast services which he had conferred on the State — notwithstanding he had rendered himself the terror of France and the admiration of Europe — he was still simply Mr. Pitt, without a sinecure, and above a bribe ; w^itli- out a Garter upon his knee, or even a riband across his breast. In the Cabinet, as elsewhere, Pitt's ascendancy was paramount ; so much so, indeed, that latterly he appears to have manifested an assumption of superiority in his intercourse with his colleagues, which amounted almost to rudeness. On one occasion, for instance, we find the Duke of Newcastle groaning at his bullying propensities, and at another time Lord Bute complaining of the insolent treat- ment whicli he had experienced from him. To Rigby, New- castle freely admitted "the dread the whole Council used to be in, lest Mr. Pitt should frown." * Such was the statesman whose eminent services the King and Lord Bute proposed to dispense with at the earliest convenient opportunity. Pitt, who had witnessed the dismissal of Leo-o'e with satisfaction, and even the removal of Holderness without alarm, began at last to perceive that the days of his own official existence were numbered. The * Bedfonl Corresp., vol. iii. pp. G, 19, 56. See also Sir George Colebrooke's Memoirs, quoted in Walpole's Memoirs of the Eeign of George 3, vol. 1, pp. SO, 81, note. VOL. I. G 83 MEMOIRS OF THE LIEE AND [1761. growing' influence of Bute in the Cabinet, the coldness of the King's manner towards himself, the removal of more than one of his colleagues, and the intrigues and desertion of others, would probably ere long have induced him to throw up the Seals, when the following events occurred which left him no choice but to tender his resignation. France, weakened and humiliated, had induced Charles the Third, King of Spain, to join with her in a secret treaty, known afterwards by the name of the " Family Compact," by which the two Princes of the House of Bourbon engaged to make common cause against England. By some means or other Pitt had become cognisant of the treaty, and accordingly he proposed, by the immediate adoption of certain vigorous measures, to anticipate the hostile intentions of Spain. It was his earnest advice to the Cabinet that orders should be forthwith despatched to the Earl of Bristol, the British ambassador at Madrid, instructing him to demand a sight of the treaty, and, in the event of the requisition not being acceded to, that war should immediately be declared against Spain. Moreover, simultaneously with this bokV stroke of policy, he proposed that a fleet, consisting of not less than twelve or fourteen sail-of-the-line, should at once be despatched to Cadiz. To use his own words — " I submitted to a trembling Council my advice for an immediate declaration of war with Spain." * Had this advice been followed Pitt would in all probability have earned fresh laurels for himself, and laid his country under deeper obligations than ever. Spain might have lost her American fleet and its golden cargoes ; Havannah, Mar- tinique, and the Philippine Islands would probably have been at the mercy of Great Britain. But Bute was now all-powerful in the Cabinet, and accord- ingly he was not only the first person to raise his voice against the measures proposed by Pitt, but had even the "* Debate in the House of Lords, November 22, 1770, Pari. Hist., vol. xvi. col. 1094. Mr. 23.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE TIIIED. 83 temerity to denounce tliem as " rasli and unadvisable." Lord Temple alone of all the Ministers warmly supported the policy of his illustrious brother-in-law. The remainder — some of them from timidity, some perhaps from motives of envy and self-interest, and others from doubting, or affect- ing to doubt, the authenticity of Pitt's information — re- corded their votes against their despotic colleague. Pitt therefore had no choice but to resign. He was grateful — he said at the Council-table — to those Members of the Cabinet who had given him their support during the war. As for him- self, he added, he had been called to the Ministry by the voice of the People ; it was to them that he looked upon himself as responsible, and in justice to them it was impossible for him to continue in a situation which made him answerable for mea- sures over which he had no longer any control. Indignant at the solemn and intrepid deference paid by Pitt to the will of the people, the President of the Council, Earl Granville, rose from his seat. "When the gentleman," he said, "talks of being responsible to the people he talks the language of the House of Commons and forgets that at this Board he is only responsible to the King. However, though he may possibly have convinced himself of his infallibility, still it remains that we should be equally con- • vinced, before we can resign our understandings to his direction, or join with him in the measure he proposes." * Thus fell Mr. Pitt after having performed greater services Oct. 5. for his King and country than ever, before or since, have been rendered by a British statesman. No sooner was it publicly known that he had ceased to be a Minister of the Crown, than the nation, in the words of AValpole, was " thunderstruck, alarmed, indignant." The City of London boldly proposed an address to the King, desiring to be acquainted with the cause of his dismissal. Others sug- gested a vote of public thanks and condolence to the fallen * Annual Register for 1761, pp. 43, 44. G 2 84 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1761. Minister. Many went so far as to propose a general monrn- iuo; as in a time of national affliction.* Such was the excited state of the public mind when, only four days after Pitt's resignation, it was announced, to the indignation of many, and to the astonishment of all, that the " Great Commoner " had stooped to accept a peerage for his w^ife, and a pension of 3000/. a year for himself That so illustrious a statesman, and hitherto so pure a patriot, should have condescended to become a pensioner of the State w^ill probably be ever related of him as a matter of regret. But, after all, that Pitt merited one-half of the obloquy wdiich w\as cast upon him, may very fairly be ques- tioned. "It is a shame," said Burke, "that any defence should be necessary. What eye cannot distinguish the difference bet^veen this, and the exceptional cases of titles and pensions. What Briton, with the smallest sense of honour and gratitude, but must blush for his country if such a man retired unrew^arded from the public service, let the motives for that retirement be wdiat they would. It was not possible that his Sovereign should let his eminent services pass unrequited. The sum that was given was undoubtedly inadequate to his merits ; and the qiiantum was rather regulated by the moderation of the great mind that received it, than by the liberality of that wdiich bestowed it."| Lord Temple also WTites to Wilkes on the 16th of October 1761— "The Duke of Marlborough, Prince Ferdinand, Sir Edward Hawdve, &c., &c., did not disdain to receive pecuniary and honorary rewards for thcii- services, perhaps of a very inferior kind to the deserts of Mr. Pitt. I think therefore he would have been the most insolent, factious, and ungrateful man living to the King, had he w\iived an offer of this sort, which binds him to nothing but to love and to honour his Majesty." \ * Walpolc's Eeign of George 3, vol. i. ]). 82. t Aiiuual llegistcr for 1701, p. 48. :J; Groiivillc rujiers, vol. i. j). 404. JEt. 23.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIED. 85 It lias been cliarged against the King and Lord Bute tliat, in pressing favours upon tlie fallen Minister, tlieir real and sinister ol)ject was to exhibit him in the invidious light of a pensioner and a patrician, and thus roll him of his great popularity with his fellow-countrymen. " The King," writes Walpole, " was advised to heap rewards on his late Minister: the Princess pressed it eagerly."* According to a modern writer whose judgment is of value — "it was an artful stroke of policy, thus at once to conciliate and weaken the popular statesman whose opposition was to be dreaded — and it succeeded." f Such may possibly have been the state of the case, but, at all events, Pitt hunself apj^ears to have been the last person to suspect the imposition which, if it had existed, could scarcely have escaped the observation of one so well acquainted with human nature, as well as with party expedients and devices. As regards the grant of a peerage to Lady Chatham, we learn from no less well-informed a person than her brother, George Grenville, that so far from its having been forced upon the retiring Minister, it Avas " earnestly pressed " by Pitt, and "with great difficulty" acquiesced in by the King ; the truth of which state- ment seems to be borne out by Pitt's own words, in a letter to Bute dated the 7th of October, that he should be, " above all, doubly happy could he see those dearer to him than himself comprehended in his Majesty's monuments of royal approbation and goodness." :j: Pitt, in fact, was at this time all gratitude for the favours conferred upon him. To the King, personally, he not only expressed himself as sincerely and deeply grateful ; l)ut, on delivering up the Seals in the royal closet, was singularly and painfully affected. " Yesterday," writes the Duke of Newcastle to * AValpole's Reigu of George 3, vol. i. p. 82. t May's Constitutional History of England, vol. i. p. 18. See GreuviUc Tapers, vol. i. p. 413, and Cliatliam Corrcsp., vol. ii. pp. IIG — 152. 86 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1T61. the Duke of Bedford on the Cth, "Mr. Pitt waited upon the Kmg, and resigned the Seals. He expressed great con- cern that he was obhged to take that step from his differ- ences of opinion with all the rest of the Council ; that he thought his remaining in office would only create difficulties and altercations in his Majesty's councils, and that out of office he iDoidd do everything in his 'power to support his Majesty^ and recommended himself to his goodness." * He almost wished, he told the King, that his services had been left unrewarded, in order that, as an entirely inde- pendent man, he might have opportunities of showing how deep was his gratitude, how disinterested was his zeal and affection for his Sovereign. | When the young King- expressed his regret at losing the services of so able a servant : — " Sir," said Mr. Pitt, " I confess I had but too much reason to expect your Majesty's displeasure : I did not come prepared for this exceeding goodness : pardon me, Sir, — it overpowers, — it oppresses me," and he burst into tears.:]: " Are you not amazed at Mr. Pitt," writes Mrs. Montagu to Mrs. Carter, " for throwing up the Seals just before the meeting of a new Parliament ? I pity the young- King, who, in the season of life made for cheerfulness, and most exempt from care, has such a weight thrown upon him as the Government at present. Dangers alarm the experienced, but must alarm and terrify the inex- perienced." § * Bedford Corresp., vol. iii. p. 48. + Grcnville Papers, vol. i. p. 413. J Burko ; Annual Register for 17G1, p. 45. § Mrs. Montagu's Letters, vol. iv. p. 348. JEt. 23.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE TniED. CHAPTER yi. Negotiations for the Marriage of the King with Princess Sophia Charlotte of Mecklen- burg Strelitz — Ejiisode of the Duke of Koxburgh and Princess Christina — Marriage by proxy at Mecklenburg — Simple manners of the Mecklenburg Court — Preparations in England — Landing of the Princess Charlotte at Harwich — Enthusiastic reception by the populace in Loudon — "Wedding at Midnight in St. James's Palace— Antiquated Xuptial observances — Letter of George III. to the King of Prussia — The Coronation in Westminster Abbey — Incidents and omens of the splendid ceremonial. In tlie mean time, the King, disappointed in his hopes of sharing his throne with Lady Sarah Lennox, began to seek in other quarters for a suitable consort. Accordingly, one Colonel David Gramme, or Graham, was confidentially instructed by him to visit the different Protestant Courts of Germany, for the purpose of reporting on the relative mental and personal accomplishments of the various un- married Princesses to whom he might succeed in obtaining an introduction. Gramme would seem to have discharged his delicate mission with singular tact and judgment. The Princess who pleased him most, and who was thus indebted to him for a sceptre, was Sophia Charlotte, youngest daughter of Lewis Frederick Duke of Mecklenburg Strelitz, at this time in her eighteenth year. The favourable report of the Princess's person and disposi- tion, which Gramme transmitted to St. James's, was subse- quently confirmed by the result of inquiries in other quarters ; and accordingly he received orders to place in the hands of the Duchess of Mecklenburg a letter from the Princess Dowager of Wales, containing a demand on the part of the King of Great Britain for the hand of her daughter. The 88 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1761. proposal, as may be supposed, was unliesltatingly and gratefully accepted.* One untoward incident, only, ruffled tlie even tenor of tlie negotiation. John Duke of Roxburgh, in the course of his travels, had chanced to pay a visit to Mecklenburg, where he had fallen in love with the Princess Christina, the elder sister of the future Queen of England. As the Duke was handsome, graceful, accomplished, and only in his twenty- first year, it was natural that the young Princess should return his affection ; and accordingly, but for the inoppor- tune arrival of Gramme, their mutual predilection for each other would in all probability have ended in marriage. Unhappily, it was one of the conditions stipulated for by the Court of St. James's, that the sister of the destined Queen of England should on no account unite herself to a British subject, and consequently the lovers were com- pelled to forego the happiness which they had promised themselves. It may be mentioned that the Princess and the Duke both died unmarried. I * Colonel David GrKine had formerly not only been a staunch Jacobite, but had been deeply implicated in the plots to restore the House of Stuart to the throne. Alluding to this circumstance, on his return Hume, the historian, wittily congratu- lated him on having exchanged the dangerous employment of making Kings, for the more lucrative trade of making Queens. — Waljoole's Ecign of Gcorcjc 3, vol. i. p. 65. Of the personal liistory of Colonel Gramme, almost as little appears to be known as of the qualifications which led to his being selected to conduct this peculiarly delicate mission. Shortly after tlie arrival of the young Queen in England, Kigby writes to the Duke of Bedford :— " Eleven new regiments are ordered to be raised ; Grahame^ the Queen's secretary, to have one." — Bedford Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 53. His subsequent commissions bore date : — ]\Iajor-General, July 10, 1763 ; Lieutenant- General, May 26, 1772 ; and General, February 9, 1783. In 1761 he was appointed Secretary to Quoon Cliarlotte, and in 1765 Controller of her Household ; both of which appointments he held till 1774. — Beatson's Political Index, \ol. i. p. 453, vol ii. p. 120. The Eev. A. Carlylc, who was thrown into General Gramme's society in 1769, intimates that he was at that time partially under a cloud at Court, on account of " tampering with her Majesty, and using political freedoms which were not long afterwards the cause of his disgrace." — "Colonel Graham," he continues, "was a shrewd and sensildc man ; but the Queen's favour and his prosperity had made him aiTogant and presumptuous, and he blew liimself up. Not long after this time he lost his office near the Queen, and retired into obscurity in Scotland for the rest of his days." — Autohiorjrapliy, pp. 515—6. General Granne died in 1797. t John third Duke of Roxburgh, from whose " Bibliothcca" the Eoxburgh Club JET. 23.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 89 With SO much secrecy had the negotiations for the King's marriage been condncted tliat, with the exception of the Princess Dowager and Lord Bnte, tliere was perhaps no individual in EngUxnd who suspected that such an event was in contemphation. At length, however, at the com- mencement of July, the interesting secret was confidentially communicated by Lord Bute to the Dukes of Bedford and Newcastle, Lord Hardwicke, and ]\Ir. Pitt. To the Duke of Bedford, Bute writes on the 3rd of that month : — " The very great regard I have for your Grace has made me quite uneasy till I obtained his Majesty's permission to communi- cate to you the business of the Council to which your Grace is summoned on Wednesday next. I d(j it, my Lord, under the seal of the strictest secrecy. The King intends that day to declare his resolution of taking a consort to his bed. The lady pitched upon to be our future Queen is the Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg Strelitz ; one whose character appears everything we could wish, and that not taken upon very slight grounds." * The Council referred to by Lord Bute had been summoned for the 8th of July, for the despatch of " tlie most urgent and imjiortant husiness;''^ and accordingly, on that day — to the surprise of most of the members, who had anticipated the discussion of graver topics than a marriage — the King apprised them that his hand had been accepted by a foreign Princess, and that the youngest daughter of the House of Mecklenburg Strelitz was to be their Qaeen. | " Perhaps," writes Walpole, " there were not six men hi England who knew that such a Princess existed." Again, Walpole ™tes :— " The hand- kerchief has been tossed a vast wav. It is to a Charlotte, afterwards took its rise, -was Iwni in 1740. His attacliment to the Princess Christina is mentioned in the newspapers of the day. Pie afterwards liecame a great favonrile with George the Third, was appointed a Lord of the Bedchamber in 17(37, and Groom of the stole in 17'J6. He died on the 19th of March, 1804. * Bedford Corresp., vol. iii. pp. 17, 18, 20. + Annual Eegister for 1701, pp. 205, 20G. 90 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [17G1. Princess of Mecklenburg. Lord Harcourt is to be at lier father's Court, if he can find it^ on the 1st of August, and the coronation of both their Majesties is fixed for the 22nd of September." * It was not till the negotiations for the hand of the Princess had been entirely completed, that she was made acquainted with the brilliant destiny which awaited her, and then under circumstances of considerable interest, which, a few years afterwards, she herself related to an accomplished lady for whom she entertained a high esteem and regard. " In the latter years of Queen Charlotte's life " — writes the lady referred to — | "I used often to spend some days at the Castle, and in one of these visits heard her Majesty describe her own wedding. She described her life at Mecklenburg as one of extreme retirement. They dressed only en robe de chamhre except on Sundays, on which day she put on her best gown, and after service, which was very long, took an airing in the coach and six, attended by guards and all the state she could muster. She had not ' dined at table ' at the period I am speaking of. One morning, her eldest brother, of whom she seems to have stood in great awe, came to her room in company with the Duchess, her mother. He told her to prepare her best clothes, for they were to have grand convert to receive an ambassador from the King of England, and that she should for the first time dine with them. Ho * Walpolc's Letters, vol. iii. pp. 410, 411. Eil. 1857. t Sophia, wife of Dr. William Stuart Archbishop of Armagh, fifth son of John Earl of Bute. "My mother" — writes her son, William Stuart, Esq., who has most kindly allowed the author to avail himself of her very interesting reminis- cencea— "My mother, who was the daughter of Thomas and Lady Juliana Penn, and granddaughter of the founder of Pennsylvania, was at an early age associated with the Court of George the Third, in consequence of her aunt, the Lady Charlotte Finch, being governess of the royal children ; and her subsequent marriage with my father, who was the younger son of John Earl of I'ute, the favourite minister of George the Third, again brought her in contact with the most celebrated persons of her time." — The occasional extracts from Mrs. Stuart's llemiuiscences, which will be met with in these pages, will, for the sake of brevity, be distinguished as " Stuart MSS." JEt. 23.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE TIIIEl). 91 added : — ' You will sit next liim at dinner : mind wliat you say, and ne fai'tes pas V enfant ' — a favourite expression of his — ' and try to amuse liim, and show him that you are not a fool.' She then asked her mother if she was to put on her blue tabby — ' et mes hijoux 9 ' — ' Mo7i enfant^' said the Duchess, ' tu 7i'en as point.' And the Queen produced her garnet ear-rings, which were strings of beads sown on a plate, about the size of a half-crown, and were then in fashion ; but which, as she said, a housemaid of these days would despise. Thus attired, she followed her mother into the saloon, and ]\Ir. Drummond was introduced to her. To her great surprise her brother led her out first, which she supposed he did because it was her first appearance. Mr. Drummond sat at her right hand. She asked him about his journey, and of England, and then added : — ' On me dit que votre Roi est tres extremement heau et tres aimahk\' which seemed to raise a smile both in him and the Duke. A little frightened, she next added : — ' Apparemment voiis etes venu demander la Princesse de Prusse. On dit c[uelle est tres helle et qiCelle sera votre Peine 9 ' — ' Je demande pardon a voire Altesse; je nai aucune commission j^oiir cela.' And the smiles were so striking that she had not courage to open her lips again. In a few minutes, however, the folding-doors flew open to the saloon, which she saw splendidly illuminated ; and there appeared a table, two cushions, and everything prepared for a wedding. Her brother then gave her his hand ; and, leading her in, used his favourite expression : — ' Allons, ne faites pas V enfant — ■ tu vas etre Peine d' Angleterre' Mr. Drummond then advanced. They knelt down. The ceremony, whatever it was, proceeded. She was laid on the sofa, upon which he laid his foot ; * and they all embraced her, calling her ' la * Either this must have been in jest, wliich at a stiff court and on a solemn oceasion is very unlikely to have been the case, or otherwise it would seem to have been a modest substitute for the vicarious ceremonial, anciently practised at espousals 92 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1761. Reine.^ Mr. Drunimond then gave lier a magnificent ecrin of diamonds, one jewel of wliicli was a little crown which I have often seen her wear. The evening passed in admir- ing the jewels and putting them on. She declared from that moment she saw and knew nothing, and was quite bewildered. Mr. Drummond pressed for immediate de- parture. She begged for one Aveek, that she might take leave of every person and spot, and particularly of her mother, of whom she was very fond. She told me that she ran about from morning till night visiting the poor, and in particular a small garden with medical herbs, common fruit, and flowers, which she cultivated mostly herself, and exclusively for the use and comfort of the poor, to whom, she said, a nosegay or a little fruit were more acceptable than food. And wherever she lived she had a garden made for this purpose. She kept poultry also for the same object. When the day for her departure came, she set out for the sea-coast accompanied by her mother, who consigned her to the hands of the Duchess of Ancaster and Lady Effing- ham ; and she spoke of the agony of that parting, even after so many years, in a manner that showed what it must have been. Her mother was in bad health, but promised to come over in the Spring, which, however, she never lived to fulfil." — " She w^as an excellent French scholar," according to the same high authority ; " well read in her own language ; wrote a very pretty hand ; played on the by proxy, of the representative of the bridegroom introducing his leg into the bride's bed. For an iUustration of this remarkable rite sec Lord Bacon's account of the marriage by proxy of the Arch-Duke Maximilian -with Anne, Heiress of Brctagnc. " She was not only publicly contracted, but stated as a bride, and solemnly bedded ; and, after she was laid, there came in Maximilian's Ambassador with letters of pro- curation ; and, in the presence of sundry noble personages, men and women, put his leg, stripped naked to the knee, between the espousal-sheets, to the end that the ceremony might amount to a consummation." — Life and Reign of King Ucnr\j 7, in KennetGs Co>n2>lctc History, vol. 1, p. 598. Sec also Mr. Brewer's Calendar of State Papers in the Reign of Henry 8 (vol, 1, p, 8G1), where there is a no less curious account of a royal marriage by pi-oxy — viz., that of the Princess Mary, daughter of Henry 8, with Louis 12, King of France. JET. 23.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE TIIE THIED. 93 guitar and piano, or ratlier spinette, having learned of Bacli, and sung A'ery sweetly and correctly. Slie also danced a very line minuet, tlie dance of the day ; liad a lovely complexion, fine hair and teeth, and the neatest Wttle jMt if e figure, with a peculiar elegance." In the mean thne, the preparations in England for the approaching nuptials were proceeding with as little delay as possible. The King's former Governor, Lord Harcourt, was despatched to IMecklenburg to make the usual formal demand for the hand of the Princess. The Duchess of An- caster, the Duchess of Hamilton, and the Countess of Effingham were selected to conduct her to England. The royal yacht, which was to convey her across the Channel, was re-painted, re-decorated, and re-named the " Charlotte." " Will not her stomach be turned by the paint of the vessel? " asked some one of Horace Walpole. " If her head is not tmiied," he rephed, "she may compound for anything else." " Thhdv," he writes to Sir Horace Mann, " of the Crown of England and a handsome young King dropping from the clouds into Strelitz ! The crowds, the multitudes that are to stare at her ! The swarms to kiss her hand ! The pomp of the Coronation ! She need be seventeen to bear it ! " * Althouo-h the Kin^-'s thouo-hts are said to have been still straying towards Lady Sarah Lennox, he nevertheless dis- played a becoming impatience to behold and embrace his future consort. On the 1st of Auo-ust the Duke of New- castle writes to Lord Hardwicke : — "Lord Harcourt sets out this day ; Lord Anson goes the middle of next week. His Majesty seems highly pleased, and showed me the pre- sent he has sent the Princess by my Lord Harcourt, of his own picture, richly and most prettily set round with dia- monds, and a diamond rose."| A week afterwards, Lord * Walpolc's Letters, vol. 3, i>. 428. Etl. 1857. t Hardwicke Papers ; Harris, vol. iii. p. 2iG. 94 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1761. Hardwicke writes to his son, Lord Royston : — " The King is got extremely well, and in haste for his new Queen. He has given Lord Anson, who went away on Thursday even- ing for Harwich, a paper of instructions — a full sheet — all writ with his own hand." Again, Lord Hardwicke writes to Lord Royston on the 22nd of August : — " As to our future Queen, they are in daily expectation of her. She was to embark at Stade yesterday. Her future progress will depend on the wind, which, as it is in London, is at present contrary ; hut that is not always a rule to judge what it is at sea. Some are so hasty as to make her land on Monday, others on Tuesday or Wednesday. The King intends to meet her at Greenwich, and to go only with his usual atten- dants, without any extraordinary parade. The Duke of Devonshire, as Lord Chamberlain, goes as far as Gravesend. His Grace told me yesterday, that his Majesty said to him — ' Nobody shall kiss her hand till she is Queen except my Lord Chamberlain, and you must, when you first see her.' His Grace told me further, that it is expected that all Peers, Peeresses, and Privy Councillors, shall be at St. James's to walk at the wedding, which is to be the first night. I thought to have excused myself from the crowd on the w<3ddino:-ni2:ht, but fear I must be an old beau at that ceremony." * Lord Harcourt, on his arrival at Mecklenburg, seems to have been not only satisfied, but even charmed, with the person and manners of his destined Queen. To Sir Andrew IMitchell he writes on the 17th of August: — " Our Queen, that is to be, has seen very little of the world, but her very good sense, vivacity, and cheerfulness, I dare say, will recom- mend her to the King and make her the darling of the British nation. She is no regular beauty ; but she is of a very pretty size, has ' a charming complexion, very * Hardwicke Papers; Harris, vol. iii. pp. 217—8. 2E'£. 23.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 05 pretty eyes, and [is] finely made. In short, slie is a very fine girl,"* Not since tlie time when a still younger bride, Henrietta ]\Iaria of France, had passed up the Thames amidst the waving of banners and the roaring of the Towner guns, had the river been more crowded with pleasure-boats, or the barges and the banks of the river been more densely thronged with spectators, than was the case on the 7th of September, the day on which the royal yacht was expected to make its appearance off Greenwich. The public, however, was destined to be disappointed. In the course of the afternoon, it became knoT^m that the yacht had entered Harwich road, and that, in consequence of the tempestuous state of the weather, the Princess in- tended to disembark at that place. Unfortunately, the voyage from Cuxhaven to Harwich had proved a most unpropitious one. For ten days, owing to adverse and violent gales, the royal yacht had been baffled in its attempts to make an English harbour. At one time it was in danger of being driven on the coast of Norway. The Duchesses of Ancaster and Hamilton, both of them invalids, had suffered agonies from sea-sickness. The Princess, however, was only slightly indisposed, and then scarcely for half an hour. During the voyage she maintained her usual gaiety, some- times talking freely with the officers, but principally amusing herself with playing English tunes upon her harpsichord. | " They had a most hazardous voyage," continues Mrs. Stuart in her charming narrative, " and at one time feared not mak- ing England ; but while the other ladies were crying, she was undaunted; consoled them, prayed, sang Luther's hymns, and, when the tempest a little subsided, played ' God save the King ' to her guitar. This I learned from Lady Effing- ham. I asked her if it was true ? She simply said, ' Yes ;' * Ellis's Original Letters, vol. iv. p. 439. 2ik1 Edition. t Walpole's Letters, vol. iii. pp. 430, 431. Ed. 1857. 96 MEMOIES OP THE LIFE AND [1761. tliat slie felt God had not singled her out for nothing; but that if she did perish, His mercy allowed it to save her greater trials." * It was on the 7th of September that the illustrious lady, who, for nearly sixty years to come, was destined to set an example of piety and virtue to the people of this country, first set her foot upon British soil. The first night of her journey was passed at Witham, the seat of James Earl of Abercorn, a nobleman whose reserve and silence were such that, according to Walpole, the Princess must have imagined herself destined to rule over a realm of taciturnity. Walpole elsewhere speaks of Witham as the " Palace of Silence." At twelve o'clock on the following day the Princess resumed her journey. A stranger in a foreigj'T land, and destined to be married, the same night, to a man whom she had never set eyes upon, her feelings may be more readily imagined than described. At Romford she was met by the royal coaches, into one of which she was handed with the Duchesses of Ancaster and Hamilton. She was dressed, we are told, in the English fashion ; in a fly cap with rich laced lappets, a stomacher ornamented with diamonds, and a gold brocade suit with a white ground. " On the road," writes Walpole, "they wanted her to curl her toiipct. She said she thought it looked as well as that of any of the ladies sent to fetch her. If the King bid her, she would wear a periwig ; otherwise she would remain as she was." f Ac- cording to Queen Charlotte's own account in later years — • " She was much amused at the crowds of people assembled to see her, and bowed as she passed. She was hideously dressed in a blue satin quilted Jesuit, which came up to lier chin, and down to her waist ; her hair twisted up into knots called a tete de moufon, and the strangest little blue coif on * ^' Les JRcines ne se noyent pas,''^ \va.s the calm remark of Queen Hcm-ictta Maria wlicu iu similar clanger from a tempest at sea. t Walpolu's Letters, vol. iii. \u 432. Ed. 1857. iEx. 23.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 97 the top. She had a great jewel like a Sevi'gne^ and earrmgs like those worn now with many drops, a present from the Empress of Russia, who knew of her marriage before she did herself." * Passing through Islington and along the New Road, the royal carriages entered Hyde Park from Oxford Street, and from thence proceeded, down Constitution Hill, to St. James's Palace. The mass of persons who flocked to bid her welcome was enormous. " The noise," writes Walpole, " of coaches, chaises, horsemen, mob, that have been to see her pass through the parks, is so prodigious, that I cannot distinguish the guns. I am going to be dressed, and before seven shalj be launched into the crowd." The acclamations of the popu- lace were . gracefully acknowledged by the young Princess. Observing the eagerness of the people to catch a view of her person, she desired that the postilions might be directed to drive at a slower pace. It was not till she caught a sight of the gloomy walls of St. James's Palace, that a slight tremor passed over her frame. Perceiving the beautiful Duchess of Hamilton smiling at her fears — " You may laugh," she said; "?/o?^ have been married twice ; but to me it is no joke." "j* It was a quarter past three o'clock when the Princess reached St. James's. At the garden-gate of the palace she sept. was met by the King's brother, the Duke of York, who handed her from her carriage. As she gave him her hand, it was remarked that her lips trembled ; yet she alighted with apparent alacrity. In the garden she was received by the King, who, anticipating an attempt on her part to kneel and kiss his hand, gallantly embraced her and then led her into * Stuart MSS. t Elizabeth Gunning, widow of James sixth Duke of Hamilton, was at this period the wife of John Lord Lorn, afterwards fifth Duke of Argyle. During her widowhood, this beautiful woman had refused the hand of a third Duke — the Duke of Bridgewater. At a later period her charms and her coquetries are said to have afforded gi'ounds for jealousy and uneasiness to the Queen. — Walpolc's Last Joiirnals, vol. ii. p. 296 ; Quarterly Rcviev), vol. cv. p. 477. VOL. I. H 98 lilEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1761. the palace, where he mtroduced her to the Princess Dowager and his sister, the Princess Augusta. While she was dres- sing for dinner, one of her ladies happening to remark that the King preferred some particular mode of dress ; — " Let him dress himself," she replied-; " I shall dress as I please." Being told that the King liked keeping early hours, she replied that she had no partiality for them, adding, — " qu'elle ne voulait pas se couclier avec les poules.'' At dinner the royal party consisted, besides herself, of the King, the Princess Dowager, and the Princess Augusta. The Queen's own account of her arrival at St. James's is curious and interesting. "Just," she said, "as they en- tered Constitution Hill one of the ladies said to the other, looking at her watch — We shall hardly have time to dress for the wedding. ' Wedding ! ' — said the Queen. ' Yes, Madam, it is to be at twelve.' Upon this she fainted. Lady Effingham, who had a bottle of lavender-water in her hand, threw it in her face, and the carriage almost immediately stopped at the garden-gate of St. James's Palace. Here stood the King, surrounded by his Court. A crimson cushion was laid for her to kneel upon, * and mistaking the hideous old Duke of Grafton for him, as the cushion inclined that way, she was very near prostrating herself before the Duke ; but the King caught her in his arms first, and all but carried her * Tliis mention of tlie cushion is curious, as showing that, although the King gal- lantly refused to allow his betrothed to kneel to him, still ancient custom and etiquette had not been dispensed with. The last two foreign Princesses who had arrived in this country to be married to Kings of England, were Henrietta Maria and Catherine of Braganza. Of these ladies, we find the former permitted to kneel to Charles the First, on the occasion of his first meeting her at Dover ; the King, however, raising her, " wrapping her up in his arms, and kissing her with many kisses." — Ellis's Orig. Letters, vol. iii. p. 196, 1st series. With regard to Catherine of Braganza — as she was in bed when Charles the Second first saw her on her landing at Portsmouth — "by reason," as he writes to Lord Clarendon, " of a little cough and some inclination to a fever" — her case of course affords no second precedent. This allusion to Charles's first interview with his future consort, reminds us of a well-known saying of his to Colonel Legge, that lie thought they had brought him a hat instead of a woman. Not less insulting was liis remark of German Princesses, that he could not marry one of them — " tkcy toere all fof/i/;/.'" JEt. 23.] REIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 99 upstairs, forbidding any one to enter. Here she found break- fast, wliicli slie much needed, and, looking up, saw a very dif- ferent face from the black old Duke.* From this moment, she said, she never knew real sorrow until his illness." f In the mean time, those who had been appointed to figure in the nuptial procession began to assemble in the royal apartments. When desired to kiss the peeresses the Princess seemed to be pleased, but at the sight of the bridesmaids looked somewhat disconcerted. " Mon Dieu^' she said, " il y en a tant; il y en a tantV " The King," wTites Wal- pole, " looked very handsome, and talked to her continually with great good-humour. It does not promise as if they two would be the most unhappy persons in England." \ Between nine and ten o'clock at night the procession began to move towards the chapel-royal. The bride was preceded by the peeresses and the unmarried daughters of peers. The King's brothers, the Duke of York and Prince William, walked one on each side of her. The King's uncle, the Duke of Cumberland, gave her away. " The Queen," writes Walpole, " was in white and silver. An endless mantle of violet-coloured velvet — lined with ermine and attempted to be fastened on her shoulder by a bunch of huge pearls — dragged itself, and almost the rest of her clothes, half-way down her waist. On her head was a beautiful little tiara of diamonds worth three-score thousand pounds, which she is to wear at the coronation." Walpole elsewhere writes ; — " She looks very sensible, cheerful, and is remarkably genteel. Her tiara of diamonds was very pretty, her stomacher sumptuous ; her violet-velvet mantle and ermine so heavy that the spectators knew as much of her upper half as the King himself" § This inconvenient train was supported by the bridesmaids, ten in number, who * This is apparently an error. The Duke of Grafton of this time, Augustus Henry, afterwards Prime Minister, was only in his twenty-sixth year. + Stuart MSS. X Walpole s Letters, vol. iii. p. 482. Ed. 1857. § lUd. pp. 432, 434. H 2 100 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1761. were dressed in robes of white and silver, witli diamond coronets on their heads. They consisted of Lady Sarah Lennox, Lady Carohne Russell, Lady Caroline Montagu, Lady Harriot Bentinck, Lady Anne Hamilton, Lady Essex Kerr, Lady Elizabeth Keppel, Lady Louisa Greville, Lady Elizabeth Harcourt, and Lady Susan Fox Strangways. " Lady Caroline Russell," writes Walpole, " is extremely handsome. Lady Elizabeth Keppel very pretty ; but nothing ever looked so charming as Lady Sarah Lennox." * The marriage ceremony was performed by Dr. Seeker, Arch- bishop of Canterbury, by whom the King had been baptized, and by whom he was subsequently crowned. At the termination of the marriage-ceremony the guests returned to the drawing-room at St. James's, where the Royal Family remained for about ten minutes. They then retired to a more private apartment, where, supper not being quite ready, the Queen sat down to the harpsichord, and sang and played till it was announced. Owing appa- rently to her timidity, it was not till between three and four o'clock in the morning that the royal party manifested any sign of breaking up, when the Duke of Cumberland having plainly intimated that the Princess Augusta and himself were be- coming completely overpowered by sleep, the young Queen took the hint, and expressed her readiness to retire to rest. She had previously stipulated that no one should accompany her to her dressing-room but the Princess Dowager and her two German waiting- women, and also that no other person should be admitted to the nuptial chamber but the King. | • Walpole's Letters, vol. iii. pp. 434, 435. Ed. 1857. + Walpole's Reigii of George 3, vol. i. p. 72 ; Walpole's Letters, vol. iii. p. 435. Ed. 1857. No doubt the object of the young Queen was to avoid the licence which was formerly permitted even in the bridal chambers of royalty. The last occa- sion in England on which the company ap]iear to have been admitted to see the bride and bridegroom in bed on the night of their nuptials, was at the subsequent marriage, on the 18th of May, 1797, of the Queen's own daughter, the Princess Koyal, to the hereditary Prince of Wirtemburg. The late King WUliam the Fourth, who was present at his sister's wedding, used to relate the fact. — From ;privalc informalion. ^T. 23.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 101 On the following day, tlie King lield a levee. To Lord Hardwicke he happened to remark that it was " a very fine day." "Yes, Sir," said the old ex-chancellor, "and it was a very fine night." Even Lord Bute, despite his natural pomposity, indulged in a jest with his sovereign. His daughter, Lady Margaret Stuart, had been married, on the preceding day, to Sir James Lowther, afterwards the first Earl of Lonsdale.* "My Lord Oxford," said Lord Bute to the King, "has laid a bet that your Majesty will be a father before Sir James." " Tell my Lord Oxford," said the King, "that I shall be glad to go him halves." It may be mentioned that had the King's offer been accepted, he would have been the winner. After the levee, the Queen, stand- ing under the canopy of the throne, held a drawing-room. The ladies were presented to her by the Duchess of Hamilton ; the men by the Duke of Manchester. At night there w^as a court-ball. On the 10th of September she again held a drawing-room, and on the Monday — seated on the throne and surrounded by her bridesmaids — she received the Address of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London, f T/ie King to the King of Prussia. " Monsieur mon Frere, '' Ayant trouve convenable de demander en mariage la Serenissime Princesse Charlotte, sceiu" de mon cousin le Due de Mecklenl)urg Strelitz, et mes noces avec cette Princesse s'en etant ensuivies par la celebration qui s'en est faite dans la Cbapelle de ma Cour le 8*^ de ce mois ; Je m'empresse de faire part d'un evenement aussi imj)ortant a votre Majeste; et je suis persuade d'avance que Pheureuse reussite, et conclusion d'une affaire qui interesse autant que le fait ce mariage, tant mon propre bonheiu-, que celui de mes fideles sujets, ne sauroit etre vii d'un ceuil indifferent par votre Majeste. Mon attention invariable a cultiver * Sir James Lowther, afterwards first Earl of Lonsdale, died May 24th, 1802, without issue. t Walpole's Letters, vol. 3, p. 435. Ed. 1857. 102 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND ' [1761. la plus etroite amitie et union avec elle, me repond d'un retour sincere de sa part ; ne doutant done aucunement, que vous ne preniez un veritable interot a une nouvelle aussi joyeuse, Je I'annonce avec une satisfaction particuliere a votre Majeste ; et comme il n'y a rien qui me tienne plus a coeur que votre prosp^rite, et celle de votre famille, Je vous recommande tres instamment a la Providence Divine, etant toujours avec les sentimens d'une parfaite amitie. *' Monsieur mon Frere, " De votre Majeste " le bon Frere, " George R." * " A St. James's, cg 10" Septemhrc, 1761." Though the Queen was short In stature, and her figure thinner than It might have been, she was not ill-made. The paleness of her face was set off to advantage by her silken and dark-brown hair, and though her mouth was somewhat large, still a good set of teeth, and a countenance charmingly expressive of goodnature and good sense, made amends for the want of positive beauty. In addition to these latter qualities, her affability, and lively and graceful manner, left a very pleasing Impression on all who approached her person. " She Is not tall nor a beauty," writes Walpole. " Pale and very thin ; but looks sensible, and Is genteel. Her hair is darkish and fine ; her forehead low, her nose very well, except the nostrils spreading too wide. Her mouth has the same fault, but her teeth are good. She talks a good deal and French tolerably."! " I hear," writes Mrs. Montagu, "the Queen has a most amiable disposition, and I believe one may say In vulgar phrase they will be a happy couple." J The coronation of the King and Queen took place on the * Rrit. Mus. Add. MS. 6819, f. 74. + Walpole's Letters, vol. iii. p. 434. See also Gray and Mason Correspondnnco, p. 263, wliero Gray, the poet, draws a very similar picture of the young Queen. X Mrs. i\rontagu's Letters, vol. iv. p. 363. ^T. 23.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 103 22nd of September, a fortnlglit after tlieir marriage. Never slione a more beautiful morn on seas of heads, on tapestried balconies, on glittering troops, on waving plumes and blazoned heraldry. Thousands of persons slept all night in the open air, and all London poured forth to greet their young King and his gentle consort. That part of the cere- mony which took place in ^Yestminster Abbey passed off with its usual solemnity and more than its usual tediousness. But when, later in the day, the King and Queen entered the great hall of AVilliam Rufus — when, at their entrance, a thousand lights, as if by enchantment, suddenly illuminated the colossal banqueting-room of the Norman Kings — when the eye fell upon long galleries filled with gorgeous beauty — on peers and peeresses robed in velvet and ermine — on the plumed hats of the Knights of the Bath — off the judges in their scarlet robes, and on prelates in their vestments — on pursuivants and heralds — then indeed was presented as magnificent a spectacle as the mind can well imagine. " The instant the Queen's canopy entered," writes Gray, the poet, " fire was given to all the lustres at once by trains of prepared flax that reached from one to the other. To me it seemed an interval of not half a minute before the whole was in a blaze of spendour. It is true that for that half-minute it rained fire upon the heads of all the spectators, the flax falling in large flakes ; and the ladies, Queen and all, were in no small terror, but no mischief ensued. It was out as soon as it fell, and the most magni- ficent spectacle I ever beheld remained. The King, bowing to the Lords as he passed, with his Crown on his head and the sceptre and orb in his hands, took his place with great majesty and grace. So did the Queen, with her Crown, sceptre, and rod. Then supper was served on gold plate. The Earl Talbot, Duke of Bedford, and Earl of Effingham, in their robes, all three on horseback, prancing and curvet- ing like the hobby-horses in the ' Rehearsal,' ushered in 104 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [17G1. the courses to the foot of the Jiaut-pas. Between the courses, the Champion performed his part with applause. The Earl of Denbigh 'carvecl for the King ; the Earl of Hoklerness for the Queen."* There, too, looking clown from one of the galleries, sat one w4io, in a disguised habit and with his face half concealed, was no unconcerned spectator of that brilliant scene. This person was no other than the young hero of Preston Pans and Falkirk; he who had rendered himself the idol of the rude and devoted Highlanders ; he who, by the right of legitimate descent, was entitled to sit upon that very throne which he now had the mortification to behold occupied by another. The fact of Charles Edward having been present at the coronation of George the Third, was related by Earl Maris- chal to Hume, the historian, only a few days after the ceremony had taken place. " I asked my lord," says Hume, " the reason for this strange fact. ' Why,' says he, ' a gentleman told me that saw him there, and that he even spoke to him, and whispered in his ears these words, " Your Royal Highness is the last of all mortals whom I should expect to see here." " It was curiosity that led me," said the other, "but I assure you," added he, "that the person, who is the object of all this pomp and magnificence, is the person I envy the least." ' You see this story is so nearly traced from the fountain-head, as to wear a great face of probability. What if the Pretender had taken up Dymoch's gauntlet f " "j" " The King's whole behaviour at the Coronation," writes Bishop Newton, " was justly admired and commended by every one, and particularly his manner of ascending and seating himself on his throne after his coronation. No * Letter to tlie Rev. James Brown ; Gray and Mason Correspondence, pp. 274—5, 2nd Edition. t LettiT to Sir John Pringle, dated 10 Feln'uaiy, 1773; Nicliols's Literary Anec- dotes of tlie 18lli Century, vol. ix. p. 401. Mr. 23.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 105 actor in the character of Pyrrhus in the ' Distressed Mother,'* — not even Booth himself who was celebrated for it in the ' Spectator,' — ever ascended the throne with so much grace and dignity. There was another particular which those only could observe who sat near the Com- munion Table, as did the Prebendaries of Westminster. When the King approached the Communion Table in order to receive the Sacrament, he inquired of the Archbishop whether he should not lay aside his Crown? The Archbishop asked the Bishop of Rochester, but neither of them knew or could say what had been the usual form. The King determined within himself that humility best became such a solemn act of devotion, and took off his Crown and laid it down during the Administra- tion."! — "His countenance," writes Mrs. Montagu, who saw the King pass from the Abbey to the Hall, " expressed a benevolent joy in the vast concourse of people and their loud acclamations, but there was not the least air of pride or insolent exultation. In the religious offices his Majesty behaved with the greatest reverence and deepest attention. He pronounced with earnest solemnity his engagement to his people, and when he was to receive the Sacrament he pulled off his Crown. How happy that in the day of the greatest worldly pomp he should remember his duty to the King of Kings ! " According to the same authority, the King's knowledge of precedents and his retentive memory enabled him more than once during the day to set, not only the Peers, but the Heralds right, in the exercise of their respective duties — "which he did with great good humour." J Horace Walpole, who was a spectator of the Coronation * A once popular tragedy by Ambrose Tliilips, first acted at Drury Lane in 1712. Tliis -was the " new tragedy" to which Sir Roger de CoVerley is represented to have been carried b}' the "Spectator." t Life of Bisliop Newton by Himself, —Works, vol. i. ])p. 83—4. X Mrs. Montagu's Letters, vol. iv. pp. 3G7, 3G8. 106 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1761. of George the Third, has also described the scene in one of the most graphic of his charming letters. " For the Coro- nation," he writes, " if a puppet-show could be worth a million, that is. The multitudes, balconies, guards, and processions, made Palace Yard the liveliest spectacle in the world. The hall was the most glorious. The blaze of lights, the richness and variety of habits, the ceremonial, the benches of peers and peeresses, frequent and full, was as awful as a pageant can be ; and yet, for the King's sake and my own, I never wish to see another." — " My Lady Harrington," continues Walpole, "covered with all the diamonds she could borrow, hire, or seize, and with the air of Roxana, was the finest figure at a distance. She com- plained to George Selwyn that she was to walk with Lady Portsmouth, who would have a wig and a stick. 'Pho,' said he, ' you will only look as if you were taken up by the constable.' She told this everywhere, thinking the reflec- tion was on my Lady Portsmouth. Lady Pembroke, alone at the head of the countesses, was the picture of majestic modesty ; the Duchess of Richmond as pretty as nature and dress, with no pains of her own, could make her ; Lady Spencer, Lady Sutherland, and Lady Northampton, very pretty figures ; Lady Kildare, still beauty itself, if not a little too large. The ancient peeresses were by no means the worst party : Lady Westmoreland, still handsome, and with more dignity than all ; the Duchess of Queensbury looked well, though her locks milk-white ; Lady Albemarle, very genteel ; nay, the middle age had some good repre- sentatives in Lady Holderness, Lady Rochfort, and Lady Strafford, the perfectest little figure of all* My Lady • Two daj's afterwards Gray, the poet, writes to the Eev. J. Brown;— "The noblest and most graceful figures among the ladies were the Marchioness of Kildare, Viscountess Spencer, Countesses of Harrington, Pembroke, and Strafford, and the Duchess of Kichmond. Of the older sort— for there is a grace that belongs to age too — the Countess of Westmoreland, Countess of Albemarle, and Duchess of Queensbury. "—6Va>/ and Mason C(jTra>jt., pp. 270 — 1. "The ladies," writes Mrs. ^T. 23.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIED. 107 Suffolk ordered her robes, and I dressed part of her head, as I made some of my Lord Hertford's dress ; for, you know, no profession comes amiss to me, from a Tribune of the People to a habit-maker. Do not imagine that there were not figures as excellent on the other side : old Exeter, who told the King he was the handsomest man she ever saw ; old Effingham, and a Lady Say and Scale, with her hair powdered and her tresses black, were an excellent contrast to the handsome. Lord B put on rouge upon his wife and the Duchess of Bedford in the Painted Chamber ; the Duchess of Queensbury told me of the latter, that she looked like an orange-peach, half red and half yellow. The coronets of the peers and their robes disguised them strangely. It required all the beauty of the Dukes of Richmond and Marl- borough to make them noticed. One there was, though of another species, the noblest figure I ever saw, the High Constable of Scotland, Lord Errol. As one saw him in a space capable of containing him, one admired him. At the wedding, dressed in tissue, he looked hke one of the Giants in Guildhall, new gilt. It added to the energy of his person, that one considered him acting so considerable a part in that very Hall, where, so few years ago, one saw his father, Lord Kilmarnock, condemned to the block. The Champion acted his part admirably, and dashed down his gauntlet with proud defiance. His associates. Lord Effingham, Lord Talbot, and the Duke of Bedford, were woeful." * It may Montagu, " made a glorious appearance. Wherever there was any beauty of coun- tenance, or shape, or air, they were all heightened by the dress. Lady Talbot was a fine figure." — Mrs. Montagues Letters, vol. iv. p. 364. * Walpole's Letters, vol. iii. pp. 437 — 8. "Of the men," \vrites Gray, "doubtless the noblest and most striliing figure was the Earl of Errol and after him the Dukes of Ancaster, Richmond, Marlborough, Kingston ; Earls of Northampton, Pom- fret, Viscount Weymouth, &c. — GrciT/ and Mason Corrcsp., p. 27L James Earl of Errol was the eldest son of the unfortunate Earl of Kilmarnock, who, only fifteen years previously, had been tried by his peers in that very Hall and sent from thence to the scaffold on Tower Hill. The ffither suffered on the scaffold on the 18th August 1746, at the age of forty-one. The son died on the 3rd of July 1778, at the age of fifty-two. 108 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1761. be mentioned, that the white horse, on which the champion rode into Westminster Hall, was the same which George the Second had ridden at the battle of Dettingen.* During the day, there occurred one or two trifling inci- dents which disturbed the equanimity of the great officers of the Household. For instance, in the Hall no chairs of state had been provided for the King and Queen ; the sword of state had been forgotten, and that of the Lord Mayor had to be borrowed for the occasion. When the King complained of these omissions to the Deputy Earl Marshal, the Earl of Effingham, — " It is true. Sir," was his lordship's blundering reply, "that there has been some neglect, but I have taken care that the next coronation shall be regulated in the exactest manner possible." Instead of being offended by the remark, the King insisted on the Earl's repeating it several times for his amusement, f A similar awkward observation had formerly been made by the beautiful Lady Coventry to George the Second. " The only sight," she said, " which she was eager to see was a coronation." The old king laughed heartily, and at supper repeated the story in high good-humour to the royal family. The individual who would seem to have been the most to blame for the mishaps which took place at the coronation, was the Lord Steward of the Household, William Earl Talbot. Of this nobleman little more need be said than that he was a man of pleasure and a patron of pugilists, distinguished as much by personal strength and beauty, as by his swaggering manners and rude demeanour. Having recently, to the great dissatisfaction of the Equerries and Maids of Honour, introduced a sweeping system of economy into the royal household, he appears to have deemed it his duty to carry out the same parsimonious principle at the coro- * Animal P.ef^i.ster for 17G1, p. 232. t Walpolc's letters, vol. iii. p. 445. Ed. 1857. iEx. 23.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 109 nation. Accordingly, at the great banquet In Westminster Hall, the Knights of the Bath, the Aldermen of the city of London, and the Barons of the CInqne Ports, severally found themselves deprived of the tables which It had been usual to provide for them on such occasions. " To?^5," said Su' Wil- liam Stanhope, a Knight of the Bath, " It is an affront, for some of us are gentlemen." The Aldermen were indignant in the extreme. " We have Invited the King," said Alderman Beckford, "to a banquet which will cost us ten thousand pounds, and yet, when we come to court, we are to be given nothing to eat." The argument was unanswerable, and a table was set apart for them. The Barons of the Cinque Ports were less fortunate. "If you come to me," said Lord Talbot, " as Lord Steward, I tell you It Is impossible ; If as Lord Talbot, I am a match for any of you." * Considering the unpopular character of this nobleman, it was only natural that a misadventure, which happened to him at the coronation, should have been witnessed with satisfaction. As Lord High Steward for the day, It had been part of his duty during the banquet to ride on horseback up to the dais, and, after having made his obeisance to the sovereign, to back his horse out of the hall. The animal, as a matter of course, had been trained for the purpose, and unfortunately had been trained only too well. To the great amusement of the spectators and to the Infinite discomfiture of the Lord High Steward, It persisted In entering the hall backwards ; nor was it without ■^^ Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 75. " Next," writes Gray, "I must tell you that the Barons of the Cincjue Ports, who by ancient right should diue at a table on the haut-2ms at the right hand of the throne, found that no pro- vision at all had been made for them, and, representing their case to Earl Talbot, he told them, — ' Gentlemen, if you speak to me as High Steward I must tell you there was no room for you ; if as Lord Talbot, I am ready to give you satisfaction in any way you think fit.' They are several of them gentlemen of the best families ; so this has bred ill blood. In the next place, the City of London found they had no table neither ; but Beckford bullied my Lord High Steward till he was forced to give them that intended for the Knights of the Bath, and, instead of it, they dined at the enter- tainment prepared for the Great Officers." — Gray and Mason Corrcsp., pp. 276—7. 110 MEMOIRS OF THE LIEE AND [1761. much difficulty that it was prevented advancing with its hindquarters turned towards their Majesties.* One mcident occurred at George the Third's coronation which occasioned some alarm to the superstitious. In Westminster Hall, the finest of the royal jewels fell from the crown. I "When first, portentous, it was known Great George had jostled from his crown The brightest diamond there, The omen-mongers one and all Foretold some mischief must befall ; Some loss beyond compare. " + When, in 1782, the British Crown was dispossessed of its proudest appanage, the North American Colonies, there were many persons who eagerly called to mind the warn- ing portent of 1761. § Of course, in our time, there are few who will be inclined to attach any importance to the incident, yet it seems at least as well worth recording as Sir Edward Zouch's blunder on the death of James the First in proclaiming Charles the First at the " court-gate " at Theobalds not as the "indubitable," but '"'' dubitahle heir to the throne " II — at least as curious as the well-known fact * When, some time afterwards, the celebrated John WUkes made himself merry with this incident in the North Briton, Lord Talbot was so incensed as to challenge him to single combat. Wilkes was not the person to disappoint an adversary on snch an occasion, and accordingly it was settled that on a certain evening they should sup together, with their seconds, at the Eed Lion Inn at Bagshot, with the view of fighting on the following morning. By the express desire, however, of Lord Talbot it was agreed that they should settle their differences at once. Accordingly after supper — the moon shining at the time with imusual brightness — they repaired with their seconds to the garden of the iim. Each fired a .shot at the other ; neither hitting Jiis adversary. *' Lord Talbot," writes Wilkes to his friend, Lord Temjjle, "desired that we might now be good friends and retire to the inn to drink a bottle of claret together, which we did with great good-humour and much laughter." — Wilkc^s Corrcsp. vol. iii. pp. 29—39, + Fortunately it was recovered. — Annual Register for 1761, p. 234. + Wright's "England under the House of Hanover," vol. i. p. 393, 2nd Edition , § Hughes's History of England, vol. i. p. 238, 3rd Edition. II Howell's Letters, p. 184, Edition 1753. Howell was himself an inmate of Theobalds at the time of James the First's death and of the proclamation of his unfortunate successor. Mt.23.'\ EEIGN of GEOEGE THE THIED. Ill of the blood of the wounded falcon fallmg on Charles's famous bust by Bernini on its way to the palace of Whitehall — as the undoubted incident of the gold head of that monarch's stick falling to the ground at his trial in Westminster Hall* — and lastly, as noteworthy as the strange circumstances of James the Second's crown not only tottering on his head at his coronation in Westminster Abbey, but that the person who prevented its falling off should have been Henry, the brother of the great patriot, Algernon Sidney. "It was not the first occasion," he said, " of his family having supported the Crown." — " I saw," writes an eye-witness of the latter incident, " the tottering of his [James's] crown upon his head, the broken canopy over it, and the rent flag hanging upon the White Tower over against my door, when I came home from the Coronation. It was torn by the wind, at the same time the signal was given to the Tower that he was crowned. I put no great stress upon omens, but I cannot despise them. Most of them I believe come by chance, but some from superior intellectual agents, especially those which regard the fate of Kings and nations." | From another contemporary. Archdeacon Echard, we learn that on this same day the royal arms, beautifully stained in glass, fell without any ascertainable cause from the windows of one of the principal London churches,:]: * Sir Philip Warwick's Memoirs, p. 339. King Charles himself related this fact to Bishop Juxon; adding that although he "seemed uuconcerued," the incident " shocked him very much." — Ibid. + Letter from Dr. Hickes to Dr. Chartlett, dated 23 January, 1711 ; Aubrey's Letters of Eininent Persons, vol. i. p. 213. J Echard's History of England, vol. iii. p. 735. 112 MEMOIK OF THE LIFE AND [1761. CHAPTER VIL Changes in the Ministry— Mr. Pitt recovers the popular favour — The King and Queen dine at Guildhall, where the King meets a cool reception — Lord Bute mobbed, and Mr. Pitt cheered — -Pitt's views of the Bourbon " Family Compact " found to be correct — War declared against Spain — Unregretted retirement of the Duke of Newcastle, who declines a pension offered him by the King — Dangerous illness of the King — Birth of a Prince, afterwards George IV. — The King's kindly recollections of Eton School. Let us turn for awhile from the incidents and frivohties of a Court, to more important and instructive events. Lord Bute, as we have seen, had accomphshed the paramount object of his ambition. Pitt had ceased to be a Minister of the Crown. The harpies and sycophants, who chmg to the favourite Earl and his fortunes, were loud in congratulating him on his ephemeral triumph. " I sincerely wish your lordship joy," writes Bubb Dodington, " of being delivered of a most impracticable colleague, his ]\Iajesty of a most imperious servant, and the country of a most dangerous Minister." * Dodington, six months previously, had been raised to the peerage by the title of Baron Melcombe, an honour for which he had long been sighing in vain.| 'When for some time he'd sat at the Treasury Board, And the clerks there with titles had tickled his ear. From every day liearing himself called a lord He begged of Sir Kobert to make him a peer. * Adolphus's History of England, vol. i. p. 464, Appendix, 4th Edition, t The patent, creating him Baron Mehombc of Melcombe Regis, in the county of Dorset, is dated in .\]iiil 17<;i. lie died the following year. JET. 23 ] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 113 But in an ill hour — • For Walpole looked sour — And said it was not in his wiU or his power. ' Do you think, Sir, the King would advance such a scrub, Or the peerage debase with the name of a Bubb ? ' " * At tlie same time that Pitt resigned the seals as Secre- tary of State, Earl Temple also threw up his appointment Oct. 9. of Lord Privy Seal and retired with his illustrious brother- in-law into private life. Lord Temple was succeeded by John Duke of Bedford ; Pitt by a nobleman of Tory princi- ples, Charles Earl of Egremont. "It is difficult," says Walpole, speaking of Pitt's resignation, "to say which exulted most, France, Spain, or Lord Bute, for Mr. Pitt was the common enemy of all three." But of all men probably the Duke of Newcastle was the most elated. " I never," writes Sir George Colebrooke, in his MS. Memoirs, " saw the Duke in higher spirits than after Mr. Pitt, thwarted by the Cabinet in his proposal of declaring war against Spain, had given notice of resignation." f Blind to every consideration except a pompous conception of his own importance, the intriguing old statesman was unable to perceive that his own disgrace was mevitably involved in the downfall of his dreaded colleague. Even a blunt speech made to him by Lord Talbot was unable to disturb his equanimity. "Do not," said the Earl, " die for joy on the Monday, nor for fear on the Tuesday." :j: • Mr. Pitt, in the meantime, had succeeded in recovering the popularity which his acceptance of a pension had par- tially lost him. In vain his enemies accused him of having betrayed his country for gold. In vain the lampooners, the pamphleteers, the caricaturists of the day — hounded on by Bute and his agents — pelted him with a pitiless storm of personal invective and abuse. The very virulence of their * " A Grub upon Bubb," by Sir C. Hanbury AVilliams ; Works, vol. i. p. 26. + Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 82, note. J Ibid., p. 81. ■ VOL. I. I 114 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1761. attacks promoted the reaction in liis favour,* while the hatred, in which Bute was held, rendered it complete. The middle and lower classes had not forgotten the glories and triumphs which Pitt had achieved for his country. They still remembered that he had been the Minister of their choice. If proof had been required by the King and Bute of Pitt's extraordinary hold on the affections of the people, it was amply furnished on the 9tli of November this year, on which day the young King and his newly-married con- sort dined in State at Guildhall. It was the King's first visit to the City since his accession, and, being also " Lord Mayor's day " — the great pageantry-day of the citizens of London, — the streets were, as may be readily imagined,' crowded almost to suffocation. Among the guests invited to the banquet were Pitt and Bute. The friends of the former never doubted but that his progress to Guildhall would prove an ovation ; while the friends of Bute, on the other hand, trembled for his personal safety. Bute himself was only too well aware of the danger which he ran, and accordingly had consented to the hiring of a number of prize-fighters for the protection of his person, to and from the city. " My good Lord," he writes to Lord Melcombe, " my situation, at all times perilous, has become much more so ; for I am no stranger to the language held in this great city — ' Our darling's resignation is owing to Lord Bute, who might have prevented it with the King, and he must answer for all the consequences.' " f It was fortunate for Bute, that on the day of the great entertainment, it was not till his equipage had proceeded to within a quarter of a mile of Guildhall that it was identified. On Ludgate Hill it was mistaken for that of Mr. Pitt, * For an accotint of the scurrilous attacks on Pitt at this period, see Wright's "Eng- land under the House of Hanover," vol. i. p. 395. t Adolphus's Historj' of Eugland, vol. i. p. 465, Appendix, 4tli Edition. Mr. 23.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 115 and accordingly the courtier was greeted with the phiu- dits which were intended for the patriot. At St. Paul's, however, the crowd discovered its error. Suddenly a sten- torian voice from the multitude exclaimed, — " By G — , this is not Pitt. This is Bute, and be d d to him ! " A terrible outroar followed the announcement. Groans, hisses, yells, shouts of — " No Scotch rogues ! — no. Butes ! — no Newcastle salmon ! — Pitt for ever ! " — resounded from all sides. A rush was made at the coach. Not only the rich liveries of the coachman and footmen, but the lace-ruffles of the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Lord Barrington, who had the courage to accompany his friend, were bespattered with mud. The hired bruisers fought their best for their employer, but just as the coach was turning down King Street they were overpowered and driven back. The mob, thus victorious, now turned its whole attention towards Bute, who was, in fact, in a most critical situation. The leaders of the outrage were in the act of cutthig the traces of the carriage ; in a moment or two more he would probably have been dragged from it, when a large force of constables and peace-officers rushed to his assistance. Even then it was with difficulty that they were able to escort him in safety into Guildhall ; nor was it till after some time had elapsed, that he became sufficiently composed to enable him to face the company which was assembled in the reception-room. At night, he wisely accepted the Lord Chancellor's invitation to return with him in his state coach, and thus eluded the vigilant look-out of the rabble.* Soon after the equipage of Bute had entered the crowded streets, there appeared that of Pitt. The reception which he met with was very different from that which had greeted the recognition of his rival. As he passed along, seated in the same carriage with his brother-in-law Lord Temple, * Chatham Corresp., vol. ii. 166—8 ; Harris's Life of Lord Hardwicke, vol. iii. pp. 291 and 321 ; Walpole's Eeign of George 3, vol. i. p. 90. I 2 116 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1761. handkerchiefs were waved from balconies and windows ; the people applauded him ' to the very echo ; ' many persons were seen forcing their way through the crowd, contented so long as they were able to shake hands with one of his footmen, or kiss the head of one of his horses. Lastly came the King. Anxious, as he ever was, to possess the affections of his subjects, the cold reception which they gave him must have been mortifying to him in the extreme. As the cumbrous gilt state-coach * rolled on between the avenues of the people, scarcely a handkerchief was waved ; scarcely a voice cheered. Not less chilling was the reception which he en- countered in the great Hall as, preceded by the Lord Mayor, ♦ There may be persons to wliom it may be interesting to be informed, that the present state-coach of the sovereign was built in 1762, at no less an expense than 7,5621. is. 3d. Unwieldy and ridiculous-looking as it is, to the antiquarian it pre- sents a curious link between the cumbrous gilt equipages of the sixteenth century, and the light and simple carriages of our own time. Rut the state coach of the Speaker of the House of Commons affords perhaps a still better specimen ; containing, as it does, what was formerly called the hoot, — the seat, or stool, facing each of the side windows,— on which, back to back, severally sit the Speaker's chajilain and Secre- tary. The vast size of the coaches of former days, and the number of persons they were capable of containing, are almost matters of astonishment. For instance, when Queen Elizabeth went to St. Paul's to return thanks for the defeat of the Spanish Annada, we find her seated "in a chariot-throne with four pillars behind to bear a canopy ; on the top whereof was a crown imperial, and two lower pillars before, whereon stood a lion and a dragon, supporters of the arms of England." When Henry the Fourth of France, in 1610, was stabbed by Ravaillac, there were in the coach with him no fewer than seven persons, and yet no one witnessed the blow. Again, when Charles the First was entertained at the court of Madrid in 1623, we find in one of the royal equipages the King of Spain, the Queen, the Infanta, and the Infants Don Carlos and Don Fernando, — "the Infanta," writes Howell, " sitting in the boot, with a blue ribbon about her arm, on purpose that the Prince might distinguish her." In another carriage on the Prado were Charles, the Duke of Buckingham, the Earl of Bristol, Count Gondomar, Sir Walter Aston, and api)arently the Duke of Cea, to whom the carriage belonged. Again, in 1700, when Louis the Fourteenth accompanied his grandson, the Duke of Anjou, towards the frontiers, on his departure to assume the sovereignty of Spain, we find the whole royal family sociably seated in the enormous vehicle. " The two Kings," writes St. Simon, " and the Duchess of Burgundy, sat on one side ; the Dauphin and the Dukes of Burgundy and Berry opposite, and the Duke and Duchess of Orleans at Ike two doors." Lastly, as late as 1789, when the mob dragged the unfortunate Louis the Sixteenth from Versailles to Paris, there were in the coach as many as eight per- sons, — namely, the King, the Queen, the Dauphin, the Duchess of Angouleme, Louis the Eiglitceuth, then Count de Provence, his wife, Madame Elizabeth, and Madame de Tourgel. Coaches were of French invention. In the reign of Francis the First, ^T. 23.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 117 he passed to his seat at the banquet-table. Even when tlie trumpet sounded, and when the toastmaster, advancing to the front of the ro}^^! table, intimated that " our Sovereign Lord the King " drank the " loving cup " to the health and prosperity of the Corporation of London, scarcely a murmur of applause was elicited by the announcement. Pitt, on the contrary, had been welcomed at his entrance with a l)nrst of huzzas, and an enthusiastic clapping of hands, in which the Members of the Corporation, headed by the impetuous Alderman Beckford, were among the first to join. On that day, in the famous Hall from which his statue still frowns do^\^l — as if denouncing the misgovernment of Kings — the triumph of the " Great Commoner " was complete. Pitt's conduct, in thus personally entering into a competi- tion with his sovereign for popularity, was not only much censured at the time, but he himself subsequently lamented it as having been a grave indiscretion. " My old friend," writes Lord Lyttelton, " was once a skilful courtier ; but since he himself has attained a kind of royalty^ he seems more attentive to support his own majesty than to pay the necessary regards to that of liis Sovereign." * The fact is, that in accepting the Lord Mayor's invitation Pitt had been influenced, not by his own judgment, but by those of his turbulent contemporaries. Lord Temple and Alderman Beckford. \ But a triumph, nobler and far more creditable than the applause of huzzamg crowds and patriotic aldermen, awaited the flxllen minister. We have seen him discovering the there were but two in Paris ; one belonging to the Queen, the other to Diana, natural daughter of Henry the Second. Even as late as 1550, Paris could boast but of three coaches. * Phillimore's Memoirs of Lord Lyttelton, vol. ii. p. 646. + A letter from Alderman Beckford to Pitt, urging him to attend the banquet, is .still extant. "Men's hopes and fears," ho writes, "are strangely agitated at this critical juncture ; but all agree universally, that you ought to make your appearance at Guildhall on Monday next with Lord Temple ; and, upon the maturcst reflection, I am clear you ought not to refuse this favour to those who are so sincerely your friends." This letter is thus indorsed by Lady Chatham ; — "Mr. Beckford, 1761 ; 118 MEMOIRS OP THE LIFE AND [n62. existence of tlie secret treaty between France and Spain, and urging tlie policy of an immediate declaration of war against the latter country ; we have seen the correctness of his information discredited, his advice disregarded, and him- self in consequence driven from the Administration. From whatever source he may have derived that information — whether, in the words of Walpole, by " a masterpiece of intelligence," or whether, as has been confidently asserted, it was communicated to him by Lord Marischal in grati- tude for the reversal of his attainder — are questions of minor importance. It is sufficient to observe, that before the end of three months from the date of Pitt's retirement, a series of events had occurred which manifested alike how wise had been his counsels, and how completely Bute and his colleagues had been made the dupes of Spanish intrigue. For some time past the language of the Court of Spain had become more and more peremptory ; a temperate request of the Court of England to be furnished with information respecting the Family Compact had been haughtily refused ; and thus a war with Spain as well as with France became obviously inevitable. Accordingly, nearly at one and the same time, the British Ambassador, the Earl of Bristol, received orders from his Court to retire from Madrid, and the Spanish Ambassador, De Fuentes, quitted London for Paris. On tlie 2nd of January, 1762, the King in full council announced that peace was no longer maintainable ; on the 4th Great Britain declared war against Spain, and on the IGtli Spain declared war against Great Britain. Peace, as has been already mentioned, was at this time the great object both of the King and Bute, and accordingly it may be readily imagined how unpalatable this new state of affairs must have been to the Court. True it is, that the to press my lord to appear with Lord Temple : to \vhicli lie, yielded for his friend's sake ; but, as he always declared^ both tlicu and after, against his better judgment." '—Chatham Corre.ip., vol. ii. 11. 105. Mr. 23.] REIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 119 contest wliicli followed proved a glorious one for England. Martinico, Granada, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Havanna, and the Philippine Islands, were, one after the other, captured from the enemy. It must be remembered, how^ever, that it was not to Bute and to his short-sighted colleagues, but entirely to the great statesman wdiom they had driven from power, that the country Tvas indebted for these glorious results. He it was wdio had predicted, and had made pre- parations for the day of peril ; indeed, had his advice been followed, the treasure-ships of Spain, instead of lying safely at anchor in the Bay of Cadiz, would long since have been towed in triumph up the Thames, and their golden cargoes been deposited in the vaults of the Bank of England. As it was, the world awarded all the credit where it was really due. Among his owni countrymen the name of Pitt w^as rendered more popular, and throughout Europe more formidable, than ever. * Parliament assembled on the 19th, and as it was known that Bute w^as to deliver his maiden speech on the occasion, the House of Lords w^as crowded with an eager audience. Of those who listened to him, there were probably but few wdio did not anticipate, still fewer who did not desire, a failure. Each and all, however, w^ere destined to be disap- pointed. His speech, if not a triumjDh, was at least a suc- * "Give me leave," writes Bishop Warkirtou to Pitt, on the 26th of March, 1762, "to congratulate you on the success at Martinico. I do it with singuLir propriety ; for it is the effect of an impulse, (I hope not yet ceased,) which your glorious admi- nistration had imparted to the whole political machine. " Sir Richard Lyttelton also writes to Pitt from Piome on the 14th of April; — "I cannot forbear congratu- lating you on the glorious conquest of Martinico, which, whatever effect it may have in England, astonishes all Europe, and fills every mouth with praise and com- mendation, — with applause and admiration, I may say, — of the noble perseverance and superior ability of the planner of this great and decisive undertaking." — Chatham Corresp., vol. ii. 172 — 3. "Do you think," writes Walpole to George Montagu, " Demosthenes or Themistocles ever raised the Grecian stocks two per cent, in four-and-twenty hours ? I shall burn all my Greek and Latin books ; they are histories of little people. The Romans never conquered the world till they had conquered three parts of it, and were three hundred years about it. We sub- due the globe in three campaigns ; and a globe, let me tell you, as big again as it was in their days." — Wal2}olc's Corrcsp., vol. iv. p. 219. 120 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1762. cess. Even the prejudiced Walpole admits that it was not " quite so ridiculous " as his enemies wished. A manner somewhat pompous and theatrical, and an affected habit of making long pauses after having delivered a passage which he imagined to be particularly telling, are said to have been the chief faults of his oratory. Charles Townshend amused his contemporaries by styling them " minute-guns." In the mean time, Bute had become first Minister of the Crown in everything except in name. One impediment only prevented his at once assuming the Premiership. The Duke of Newcastle — the timid, time-serving old Duke ot Newcastle — still stood in his way. As Bute had so recently succeeded in displacing the most popular minister and commanding orator of his age, it might naturally have been supposed that he would have encountered little diffi- culty in triumphing over a despised and querulous old man, who enjoyed neither the confidence of the people nor the sup- port of the Crown. But, in spite of hint after hint and insult after insult, Newcastle continued to cling to office with a morbid pertinacity which was almost as despicable as it was incomprehensible. Deeply steeped though he was in perfidy himself, and accustomed as he had been to plot against others, it was nevertheless long before he could be brought to comprehend that intriguers as faithless as himself were counterplotting against his own power. The King had apparently never liked Newcastle. So early as the 6th of November, 1760, we find the old states- man plaintively writing to the Earl of Hardwicke — " The King has been remarkably cold and ungracious, insomuch that I could hardly get one word, or the least mark of approbation, at my proposal of raising twelve millions for him." Again, he writes on the following day — "For myself, I am the greatest cipher that ever appeared at court. The young King is hardly civil to me ; talks to me of nothing, and scarce answers me upon my own Treasury Mr. 23.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 121 affairs." * To a statesman — who for nearly half a century had not only filled the highest offices in the State, hut who, with the interval only of a few months, had for eight years been Prime Minister of England — one might have thought that so undisguised a manifestation of contempt, and w^ant of confidence, would have induced him to fling the Seals of Office at the feet of his Sovereign. So all-absorb- ing, however, was his passion for power and place, that neither the contumely of his sovereign, the advice of his friends, nor the slights put upon him by his colleagues, proved of the slightest avail. With the dregs of life, ob- serves Walpole, he clung to the dregs of power. The more he was neglected or affi'onted, the more the old statesman cringed, flattered, and endured. It has even been asserted that two of the subordinate Lords of the Treasury — Sir Gilbert Elliot and James Oswald — were instructed to insult him at his own Board. Some truth there probably was in the assertion, inasmuch as we find the Duke himself com- plaining to the Duke of Bedford that " some late transac- tions " at the Treasury — more especially with the Secretary, Samuel Martin — must make him appear insignificant there, and are " a plain declaration of the little regard and con- fidence " reposed in him by his colleagues in the Govern- ment. " Except in the case of the Proberts," he writes, " I don't remember one single recommendation of mine which has taken place since his Majesty's accession to the Crown." I Even insults, put personally upon him by his own colleagues, seem, to have been borne without remon- strance. From Bute he is said to have received " the most unkindest cut of all." For instance, the Duke having preferred a strong recommendation to the King for the promotion of a certain .prelate to the Archbishopric of York — "Why," asked Bute, "if your Grace has so high * Harclwicke Papers, Harris, vol. iii. p. 230. t Bedford Corresp., vol. iii. p. 80. 122 J^IEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1762. an opinion of him did you not promote liim when you had the power 9 " But tlie crowning indignity offered to liim was the unprecedented measure of creating seven new Peers without any previous consultation with him as First Minister of the Crown. Now, it was thought, he must infalhbly resign ; but, on the contrary, he not only put up with the affront, but plaintively requested that his own cousin, Thomas Pelham,* might be added to the number. It is extraordinary, remarked Walpole, how many shocks will be endured by an old Minister, or by an old mistress, before they can be shaken off.| From his sovereign the Duke continued to meet with as little consideration as he did from his colleagues. When, on the 14th of May, the Duke for the first time hinted to the King an intention of retiring into private life — " Then, my Lord," was the cold reply, " I must fill your place as well as I can." A similar intimation made by the Duke to Bute was received by the latter in the same chilling manner. His Lordship, said the Duke, " answered drily that if I resigned the Peace might be retarded ; but never requested me to continue in office nor said a civil thing to me afterwards while we remained together." J Nevertheless, believing his services to be in- dispensal)le, he continued to hang about the Treasury ; nor was it till the 26th, after further pressure had been put upon him, that his resignation was formally tendered to, and accepted by his Sovereign. Thus fell the once-courted, flattered, dreaded Thomas Pelham, Duke of Newcastle, he who with impunity had insulted one heir to the Crown, and had carried off the Chancellorship of the University of Cambridge from * Thomas Pelham, on the death of the Duke of Newcastle in 1768, succeeded him as Baron Pelham of Stanmer, and in 1801 was created Earl of Chichester. He died Januaiy 8, 1805. t Walpole's Pieign of George 3, vol. i. ]>. 155, ^ Adolphus's Historj' of England, vol. i. p. C>r>, 4lh EditioUi iET. 23.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 123 another! No Brltisli Minister i^erliaps ever fell with less dignity, or was less regretted. The fact is little credit- able to human nature and still less flattering to human greatness, that, notwithstanding the ranks of the Church, the State, the Navy, and the Army were filled with his nominees and dependents — notwithstanding that half the House of Commons had either pocketed his bribes, or were indebted to him for making the fortune of a son, a nephew, or a cousin — notwithstanding that many of the Judges were indebted to him for their ermine, and so many of the Bishops for their lawn sleeves — yet, when he fell, " no man cried God save him ; " not a single colleague paid him the compliment of retiring with him into private life. The Parliamentary majorities which he had so long commanded glided unscru- pulously over to the standard of Bute. The Duke's splendid saloons in Lincoln's Inn Fields were deserted by his flat- terers, and even his hospitable talkie and beautiful groves at Clermont were deserted by his fi-iends. " The sinking statesman's door Poured in the m^uiug-'worshijiper no more." " The Duke of Newcastle," writes his contemporary, Dr. King, " has spent half a million, and made the fortunes of five hundred men, and yet is not allowed to have one real friend." * However hurt and mortified the Duke may have felt at the general neglect and ingratitude which he experienced on his quitting office, it was the conduct of the Bench of Bishops in particular which affected him the most deeply and bitterly. He had long since taken the Church into his especial favour ; the dispensation of its patronage had for years been his pecu- liar province. With scarcely an exception, as has already been mentioned, the Bishops were indebted to him, either fur their mitres or else for advancement to a wealthier * Dr. King's Anecdotes of liis Own Time, p. 109, 2ud Edition. 124 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1762. diocese. IMany of tliem lie liad raised from obscurity. And yet, at tlie farewell levee held by the retiring Minis- ter, one Prelate only, Dr. Cornwallis, Bishop of Lich- field, repaired to Newcastle House to tender him his condolence. The Duke was not only mortified and hurt, but was deeply and lastingly offended. His language, usually so poor and ungrammatical, rises almost to elo- quence when he descants on the behaviour of the Episcopal Bench. Thus for instance he pours out his indignation to Lord Hardwicke ; — " Can Christian Bishops, made and promoted to the highest stations in the Church by me, — see [ing] such repeated acts of cruelty, uncharitableness, and revenge to one who has been their benefactor, sit still with- out publicly declaring against, and resenting, such mea- sures ? If that was the case, these villanies would be soon stopped, and, if it had been originally the case, would never have been attempted." * It is but fair, however, to observe that Dr. Philip Young, Bishop of Norwich, had not only the excuse of being out of town at the time of the Duke's dis- grace, but that to the last he remained staunch and grateful to the fallen founder of his fortunes. At the parting interview between the Duke of Newcastle and his sovereign, when kind words could no longer be con- strued into an invitation to remain in power, the King, not- withstanding Newcastle's subsequent complaints to the con- trary, appears to have done his utmost to soften the fall and assuage the distress of the veteran statesman. To George Grenville, Bute writes on the 25th ; — " The King's conduct to the Duke of Newcastle to-day was great and generous." | He feared, said the King, in the course of their interview, that his Grace's private fortune had been diminished by his zeal for the House of Hanover ; he proposed therefore to confer on him a pension corresponding with his long * Hardwicke Papers, Harris, vol. iii. p. 334. t Grenville Papers, vol. i. p. 448. JET. 23.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIED. 125 services and liigli rank ; It would be doing no more, deli- cately remarked the young King, tlian discharging a debt due to his Grace from the Crown. To the intinite credit of the Duke the boon was declined by him. If his private fortune, he told the King, had suffered by his loyalty, it was a source to him both of pleasure and pride. If no longer able to serve his country he would at least not be a burden to her. His Majesty's approbation, he added, was the only reward which he asked.* To Sir Andrew Mitchell Mr. Symner writes on the 31st of December ; — " It moves one to compassion to think of the poor old Duke. A man once possessed of 25,000?. per annum of landed estate, with 10,000/. in emoluments of Government, now reduced to an estate of scarcely 6,000/. per annum, and going into retire- ment, — not to say sinking into contempt — with not so much as a feather in his cap." | When, shortly after the Duke's retirement from office, he happened accidentally to encounter Lord Bute, the latter is said to have sarcastically congratulated him on his release from the responsibilities and cares of office — cares which, in fact, had constituted the happiness of his life. The Duke's reply was not without both point and dignity; — " Yes, yes ! my Lord," he said, " I am an old man ; but yesterday was my birth-day, and I remembered that it was just at my age that Cardinal Fleury began to be Prime Minister of France." :|: In the mean time, the King's domestic life appears to have been far from a happy one. His former excellent spirits liad evidently forsaken him. Instead of that easy, good-natured, ingratiating familiarity, which had hitherto distinguished him in his intercourse with others, his man- ner had become distant and cold, and his countenance * Ellis's Grig. Letters, vol. iv. p. 445. t Ibid., vol. iv. p. 454. X The Duke entered on his seventieth year on the 21st July, about seven weeks after he resigned office. Cardinal Fleury was born 22 June 1653, became first Minister of France in June 1726, and died 29 January 1743, in his ninetieth year. 126 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1762. expressive of melanclioly. It was evident to all who approached him that his mind was ill at ease.* Shutting himself up with the Queen either at Buckingham House or else at Richmond Lodge, and approached by no one but domestic servants, it was seldom that — except at a Drawing- room or at a Levee — he was visible to his subjects. His younger brothers were kept in the same rigid seclusion by their mother. One of them, Prince William, afterwards Duke of Gloucester, being asked whether he had not lately been confined by a cold — "Confined?" he answered; " why, yes ! but without any cold." "j" The King's loss of spirits was attributed by his subjects to the gloomy con- dition of public affairs, and his seclusion, whether justly or not, to the influence of the Princess Dowager. But whatever the cause may have been, this system of exclu- siveness — far more suited to the habits of an Oriental monarch than becoming the King of a free and affec- tionate people — naturally increased the unpopularity which his dismissal of Pitt, and the favours heaped by him upon Bute, had already entailed upon the youthful sovereign. * ' Our sons some slave of greatness may beliold, Cast in the genuine Asiatic mould, Who of these realms shall condescend to know No more than he can spy from Windsor's brow." Heroic Epistle to Sir William, Chambers. And again, in the same clever poem — " Be these the rural pastimes that attend Great Brunswick's leisure. These shall best unbend His royal mind, whene'er, from state withdrawn, He treads the velvet of his Richmond lawn. These shall prolong his Asiatic dream, Tliough Europe's balance trembles on its beam." If the King was unhappy, the young Queen appears to have been even more so. Such was the thraldom, according to Walpole, in which she was kept by the Princess Dowager, that for some time after her marriage her condition was little * Ilardwicke Papers, Harris, vol. iii. p. 283. t Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 159. JEt. 23.] REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 127 preferable to a gilded captivity. Not only, he tells us, were her most innocent pleasures interfered with, but a spy was set to watch her actions.* Much as she delighted in society, the ladies of her household were forbidden to con- verse with her. At Mecklenburg card-playing had been her favourite amusement ; yet now with the exception of mono- tonous tete-a-tete games with the King in private, the diversion was denied to her. Out of her deep affection for her husband she endured her thraldom uncomplainingly ; yet, says Walpole, " now and then a sigh stole out, and now and then she attempted, though in vain, to enlarge her restraint." Nevertheless to gratify her wishes and render her happy was evidently the earnest object of her consort's heart. Among other pleasing acts of attention he took a pleasure in presenting her with jewels and in seeing her wearing them. Once only did she beg to be allowed to lay them on one side. It had been one of the injunctions of her late mother, whom she had lost only a few weeks pre- viously, that, on the first occasion of her being a communi- cant at the Altar as Queen of England, she should receive the Sacrament unadorned with jewels, and without parade. " The King," says Walpole, " indulged her ; but Lady Augusta carrying this tale to her mother, the Princess obliged * This person is said to have been the once celebrated Miss Katharine DashAVOod, the "Delia" of the Love Elegies of James Hammond, and an intimate friend of Lord Bute. She was a ward of John Lord Hervey — the "Lord Fanny" of Pope's satire — who, being prejudiced against Hammond on account of his political principles, refused his consent to her marriage with the poet, who died disordered in his intel- lects, on the 7th of June, 1742. As a quarter of a centiiry had elapsed since Miss Dashwood had been last a denizen of the Court, as Woman of the Bedchamber to the queen of George the Second, her rc-appearauce at Court after so long an interval naturally created some sensation. "It ie comical," writes Walpole, "to see Kitty Dashwood, the famous old beauty of the Oxfordshire Jacobites, living in the palace as Duenna to the Queen. She and Mrs. Boughton, Lord Lyttelton's ancient Delia, are revived again in a young court that never heard of them," — Waljwlcs Letters, vol. iii. p. 435, Edition, 1857. " When Delia on the plain ajipears, Awed by a thousand tender fears I would approach, but dare not move ; Tell me, my heart, if this be love 1" — Lyttelton. 128 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1762. the King to insist on the jewels, and the poor young Queen's tears and terrors could not dispense with her obedience." * A dangerous illness with which the King was attacked about this time — an illness probably of longer duration and of a more delicate and distressing character than the Court deemed it prudent to disclose — may have occasioned much of that gloom which in the summer of this year clouded the hearth of Majesty. " Your account of the King alarms me," writes Lord Hardwicke to Lord Royston early in June, " and makes me impatient for the next account. I fear his Majesty was very ill, for physicians do not deal so roughly with such patients without necessity. God grant him a speedy reco- very." "f Walpole also writes, on the 20th June, 1762 ; — . "Have you not ielt a pang in your royal capacity? Seri- ously, it has been dreadful, but the danger is over. The King had one of the last of these strange and universally epidemic colds, which, however, have seldom been fatal. He had a violent cough and oppression on his breast, which he concealed, just as I had ; but my life was of no conse- quence, and having no Physicians in Ordinary, I was cured in four nights by James's powders, without bleeding. The King was blooded seven times and had three blisters. Thank God, he is safe, and we have escaped a confusion beyond what was ever known, but on the accession of the Queen of Scots." ^ The King's sudden illness, in fact, threatened the public with a crisis of peculiar difficulty and danger. The Queen was known to be in the family-way, yet unhappily no pro- vision had been made for a Regency. Had the King's ill- ness, therefore, proved fatal, great indeed would have been the confusion. According to the old axiom "the King never dies ; " yet here was a contingency in which the Sovereign * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. pp. 71, 72, 73. t Iliinhvicko Papers, Harris, vol. iii. p. 283. J Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 1. Ed. 1857. JET. 24.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 129 might be no more, and yet liis heir and snccessor be still unborn. " Fitzakerley," * writes Walpole — " who has lived long enough to remember nothing but the nonsense of the law, maintained, that, as the King never dies, the Duke of York must have been proclaimed King, and then been unproclaimed again on the Queen's delivery. We have not even any standing law for the Kegency. But I need not paint to you all the difficulties there would have been in our situation." | Fortunately, the King's youth and excellent constitution befriended him. Moreover, not only had the nation the satisfaction of seeing him restored to health, but, a few weeks afterwards, the birth of an heir to the throne put an end to their fears in respect to a disputed succession. The Queen was taken in labour, at St. James's Palace, on the 12th of August 1762, and soon after seven o'clock in the morning was delivered of her first-born cliild, afterwards King George the Fourth; "the Princess of Wales, several Lords of his Majesty's most honourable Privy Council, and the * Nicholas Fitzakerley, though described by Walpole as a "tiresome Tory lawyer," would seeiii iu his social hours to have been a tolerably jovial conipauiou. Some verses of the day, the authorship of which was attributed to Pulteney, Earl of Bath, accost him ; — ' ' How oft, dear Faz ! have we been told That Paul and Faz are both grown old By young and wanton lasses ! Then since our time is now so short, Let us enjoy the only sport Of tossing off our glasses. From Wliite's we'll move the expensive scene, And steal away to Richmond Green : There, free from noise and riot, Polly each morn shall fill our tea, Spread bread and butter, and then we Each night get drunk in quiet. Unless perchance Earl Leicester comes As noisy as a dozen drums," &c., &c. Sir a II. Williams' Wm-Jcs, vol. i. p. 244. + Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 1, Edition, 1857. VOL. 1. J' 130 IVIEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1762. Ladies of her Majesty's Bedcliamber, being present." * On the 8th of September following, the ceremony of baptism was performed by the Archbishop of Canterbury in the great council-chamber of the palace ; the sponsors being the Duke of Cumberland, the Duke of Mecklenburg Strelitz, and the Princess Dowager. Ketired as were the King's habits at this, and up to a still later period of his hfe, we nevertheless discover from time to time evidences of that social benevolence and genial good- humour which, in after years, when he had shaken off his constitutional shyness and diffidence, so entirely gained him the affections of his subjects. Of this amiable character were his well-known affection and reverence for Eton School. Even at this early period, the pride and satisfaction with which we find him conducting the Queen over the venerable seminary, evince the interest which he took in the place. On this occasion, after the usual speeches and ceremonies were over, the King good-naturedly placed the sum of two hundred and thirty pounds in the hands of the Provost, for the purpose of being distributed at his discretion among the scholars."!" Many years afterwards — at the commencement of the last of those terrible mental disorders with which Providence thought fit to afflict him — he was standing at one of the windows of his apartments in Windsor Castle with the late Marquis Wellesley — who, like the King, was enthusiastically attached to — " the schoolboy spot We ne'er forget, though there we are forgot " — when his eye caught a view of the — " Distant spires and antique towers, That crown the watery glade, Where grateful Science still adores Her Henry's holy shade. " * Annual Register for 1 762, p. 96. See also the Edinburgh Review, vol. xxiii. p. 449. t Auiiual Register for 1762, p. 105. iEx. 24.] REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 131 Calling Lord Wellesley's attention to the prospect ; — " Look my Lord ! " he said, with a tone of reverential affection, "there is the noble school where we were all educated! " * Surrounded by smiles, such as seldom beam but on happy boyish faces — listening to the cheers and acclamations of the young, the joyous, and the loyal — George the Third never appeared so happy or to so much advantage, as when, on a regatta evening, he drove Queen Charlotte in his pony-carriage over the Brocas at Eton, or when, at the close of Montem Day, he was to be seen mingling with the Eton boys in their fancy costumes, on the crowded Terrace at Windsor. More than a century has passed away since he visited Eton in 1762 ; yet still his name Is reverenced there as Its kindest patron ; still his birth-day, the 4th of June, is celebrated with the same rejoicings as when the King himself delighted to be present. So great, it may be observed, was the interest which the King took in Eton, and such the retentiveness of his memory, that, more than once in after life, he was known to recall to the recollections of the eminent statesmen with whom he became associated, the number of times they had been " sent up for good " at school, f * From private information. Lord Chatham, Lord Camden, Lord Bute, Henry- Fox Lord Holland, Lord Sandwich, the Marquis of Granby, Earl Temple, George Gren- ville. Lord North, Lord Cornwallis, Charles James Fox, Lord Howe, Lord Grenville, Lord Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, Earl Grey, Canning ; in fact almost all the eminent men who held office during the reign of George 3, were educated at Eton. t Annual Register for 1820, p. 708. K 2 132 MEMOIRS OP THE LIFE AND [1762. CHAPTER VIII. Bute appointed Premier — Programme of his policy — Necessity for extraordinary efforts to secure a majority — Henry Fox, afterwards Lord Holland, induced to join the Ministr}', and made leader of the House of Commons in place of George Grenville — Terms of the Coalition of Henry Fox with the Court party — Failure of his attempts to obtain AVhig support — Wholesale bribery, corniption, and intimi- dation—Duke of Devonshire, " Prince of the Whigs," dismissed from Office and from the Privy Council — Parliament ojiened by the King in person — Pitt too^ ill to attend in his place — Ministers obtain a majority — Pitt's eloquence — His position and power in the House of Commons — Dr. Franklin's opinion of Pitt. Immediately on the resignation of tlie Duke of New- castle, Lord Bute was advanced to be First Lord of the Treasury ; George Grenville was appointed Secretary of May 29. State in his room ; and Sir Francis Dash wood, a dissolute man of pleasure, Chancellor of the Exchequer. Four months Sep. 22. afterwards Bute was installed a Knight of the Garter, an unmerited distinction which naturally entailed upon him the sarcasms of the wits, and especially of Wilkes — " The King gave but one, but t' other Scot, Chartres,* All England to hang him would give him both garters ; And, oh ! how tlie rabble would laugh and would hoot. Could they once set a swinging this John Earl of Bute."t At the same time that the King gave the Garter to Bute, he also conferred a blue riband upon his younger brother, Prince William Henry. " I suppose," said the youngest of • The notorious Colonel Francis Charteris — " Now deep in Taylor and the Book of Martyrs, Now drinking citron with his Grace and Cliartres." Poik's Essay on the characters of Women. + Grenville Papers, vol. i. p. 487. ^T. 24.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 133 the royal brothers, Prince Henry Frederick, "that Mr. Mackenzie * and I shall have green ribands." | To obtain an honourable and lasting peace — to establish a pure government on a firm basis — and at the same time to strengthen the Royal Prerogative by rendering the Sovereign independent of party-faction, constituted, as we have already mentioned, the primary objects of Bute's Ministerial policy. Owing to the disasters which Pitt had inflicted on the enemies of his country, the first of these objects was rendered a task of no very difficult attainment. Accordingly, under the auspices of the Duke of Bedford, who was despatched as Ambassador to Paris, the prelimi- naries of a Treaty of Peace were agreed upon with the Nov. 3. French Government, the conditions of which, at any other period in the annals of Great Britain, would have been regarded as highly to her honour. The consent of Parlia- ment, however, had yet to be obtained for the ratification of those conditions; and, accordingly, as the day drew near on which the two Houses were to re-assemble, Bute began to tremble, as much for the success of his favourite policy, as for the consequences which might personally befall him- self. Not only were the preliminary articles of the Treaty certain to be the subject of furious opposition and stormy debate — not only must he be prepared to encounter the vin- dictive taunts and accusations of the powerful and exaspe- rated Whig phalanx arrayed under the awful banner of Pitt — but, as he well knew, he must make up his mind to be assailed by the prejudices, the hatred, and the rage of the great popular party, throughout the length and breadth of the land. Moreover, in addition to these grounds for disquiet, doubts of his own talents, and capacity for business, had begun to force themselves on the conviction of the lately so self-opinionated and self-confident Minister. He was "inexperienced; " lie * Lord Bute's only brother, the Hon. James Stuart Mackenzie. t AValpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. pp. 159, 160. 134 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1762. admitted to Charles Yorke on tlie 3rd of September. " The weight and labour of his office," he said, " were too much for him." * But still stronger are the complaints which, on the 11th of October, w^e find him pouring forth to his "dear George," as he usually addresses George Grenville at this time. It had been entirely, he said, in compliance with the earnest entreaties of his Sovereign that he had been induced to accept the seals of Secretary of State and afterwards the Premiership. He had soon become tired of the former post, and was now heartily weary of the other. For some weeks past, he said, he had been urging the King to allow him to retire into private life, but so afflicted was His Majesty, whenever he repeated the entreaty, that for hours afterwards he had known him sit with his head reclining on his arm, with- out speaking a word. Moreover, added Bute, a lady of the highest rank — one who was most deservedly dear to the King I — had preferred her most earnest solicitations to him to restore tranquillity to the mind of his royal master, by remaining at his post, and most reluctantly he had yielded to their several importunities. Certainly, neither with justice to his Sovereign nor with credit to himself, could Bute, at this critical period, have taken a step, which must necessarily have consigned the young King to the thraldom of the " Great Families." Accordingly, as Bute told Grenville, he had resolved to confront the worst, in hopes, in due time, of being able to rescue from the domination of a " wicked fac- tion " the most amiable Prince that ever sat upon a throne. In this state of affairs, the whole attention of the Court was turned on the means of obtaining an effectual majority in Parliament. Unless this object could be obtained, -neither the Peace, nor the deliverance of the King from the tyranny of the Great Houses, nor perhaps the immunity of * Hardwicke Papers, by Harris, vol. iii. p. 308. t It does not appear whether this lady was the Queen or the Prinoess-Dowagcr. Grenville was innlined to think it was tlic former. JEt. 24.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 135 Bute from j^roscription, could by any possibility be guaran- teed. But, by what means, asked the perplexed Minister of himself, was this desirable consummation to be effected? Former Ministers, it is true, had made little scruple of car- rying their measures through Parliament by means of bribery and corruption. But how could Bute have the face to resort to similar expedients ? With what conscience could the im- maculate politician — he whose boast it had been that Parlia- mentary purity should be the pride and mainstay of his Administration — imitate the foul practices which had been a disgrace to preceding Governments ? In the opinion of the Court, however, necessity knew no law, and accordingly it was resolved, by means however unconstitutional and however costly, to organise the required majority. The first and great difficulty lay in the procurement of an agent suffi- ciently fearless, unprincipled, and skilled in the arts of political corruption, to carry into successful operation the desperate service required of him by his employers. These qualifications, however, were in Bute's opinion to be met with in Henry Fox, afterwards Lord Holland, a states- man who, on account of the conspicuous part which, in his day, he played both in society and in politics, demands a passing notice at our hands. Henry Fox was a younger son of Sir Stephen Fox,* who, during the exile of Charles the Second, had held the * Of Sir Stephen Fox's two elder sons, Charles, a godson of Charles 2, died with- out issue in 1713 : Stephen was created Earl of Ilchester. It used to be related as a remarkable fact by the late Lady Holland, that notwithstanding nearly two cen- turies had passed away since the execution of Charles 1, thei'e was still li\-ing a great-grandson of the page who attended him on the scaffold. — From jjrivatc infor- mation. The page in attendance wa.s Sir Stephen Fox : the great-grandson alluded to was Henry Stephen, third Earl of Ilchester. Nearly twenty years elapsed after the death of Lady Holland, yet, curiously enough, the anecdote still held good as late as January, 1865 ; not, indeed, in reference to the third Earl, but to his brother, William Thomas, the fourth Earl. Lady Holland might have mentioned, as a still more remarkable circumstance, that between two of the most important events in the lives of the two brothers, Charles and Stephen, an interval of no fewer than seventy- seven years should have taken place. Charles was appointed Joint Paymaster of the Forces in December 1679 ; Stephen was created Earl of Ilchester in June 1756. 136 MEMOIRS OP THE LIFE AND [1762. unprofitable appointment of Cofferer of the Household to that monarch, but who, after the Kestoration, advanced himself by his industry, his talents, and his virtues, to a high place in the favour of two successive Sove- reigns. The younger Fox was educated at Eton, where he was the schoolfellow of his future rival for fame and power, William Pitt. Another of their Eton contempo- raries was George Grenville, who, however, was nearly four years younger than either Fox or Pitt. The youth of Henry Fox, very different from that of his father, had been principally distinguished by dissipation, wild frolic, and extravagance. Libertine, however, as he was, the desire of knowledge, a taste for the classical writings of antiquity, and a love of the fine arts, went far to preserve his character from entire reprobation. No one called in question either his natural talents or his administrative abilities. As an orator, his speeches were remarkable rather for close reason- ing, for sound argument, for quickness in reply and keenness of repartee, than for that brilliant and overpowering flow of diction, metaphor, and invective, which distinguished the orations of his rival, Pitt. "Fox," writes Walpole, "always spoke to the question, Pitt to the passions ; Fox to carry the question, Pitt to raise himself : Fox pointed out ; Pitt lashed the errors of his antagonists : Pitt's talents were likely to make him soonest. Fox's to keep him Prime Minister longest." In private life it would have been difficult to discover a more delightful companion than Fox. His wit was playful and sparkling ; his conversational powers considerable. " Such are the niglits that I have seen of yore ; Such are the nights that I shall sec no more ! AVhcu Winniiigton and Fox, with flow of soul, With sense and wit, drove round the cheerful howl. Our hearts were opened, and our converse free, ^ But now they hoth arc lost, iiuite lost to me. One to a mistress gives up all his life, And one from mc flies wisely to his wife." * * Sir C. Hanhury Williams, Works, vol. ii. p. 60. .'Et. 24.] EEIGN OP GEOEGE THE THIRD. 13/ Frank and engaging manners, a singular sweetness of disposition, and a temper which it was ahnost impossible to ruffle, had, up to a late period of Fox's life, obtained for him a legion of friends. He was a kind and attached husband, and as a ffxther was indulgent even to weak- ness. Unfortunately, however, these amiable qualities were obscured by other faults besides personal profligacy. If he was a staunch friend, he was also a bitter enemy. To those who opposed him in politics, he showed himself — more especially towards the close of his political career — cruel, imperious, and unforgiving. Eeckless as he had formerly been in wasting his health and his fortune, during the last years of his life he became singularly niggard of both. The bitter impromptu lines, suggested to Gray by the sight of Fox's favourite, but desolate, marine residence atKingsgate, in Kent, are probably familiar to the reader ; — " Old, and abandoned by each venal Mend, Here Holland formed the pious resolution' To smuggle a few years, and strive to mend A ruined character and constitution. On this congenial spot he fixed his choice ; Earl Goodwin trembled for his neighbouring sand ; Here sea-gulls scream, and cormorants rejoice. And mariners, though shipwrecked, dread to land. Here reign the blustering north and blighting east ; No tree is heard to whisper, bird to sing ; Yet Nature could not furnish out the feast ; And he invokes new horrors still to bring. Here mouldering fanes and battlements arise ; Turrets and arches nodding to their fall ; Unpeopled monast'ries delude our eyes, And mimic desolation covers all." &c. Whether Lord Holland was guilty of the sweeping pecu- lations with which he has been charged — whether, in the nervous language of the Corporation of the City of London, he was really a "public defaulter of unaccounted millions" — may reasonably be questioned. On the other hand, that 138 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1762. he availed liimself in a very undue manner of the perquisites and advantages of office — that he enriched himself by means which a high-minded statesman would have blushed even in contemplating — can scarcely, we think, admit of a doubt. The personal importance which Fox had deservedly achieved by means of his eminent abilities, he had after- wards improved by marrying Lady Georgiana Caroline Lennox, sister of Charles, third Duke of Eichmond. The match, which was a runaway one, had originally given deep offence to the House of Lennox, btit a reconciliation had long since taken place between the Duke and his plebeian brother- in-law. ^^ His father," writes Walpole, "was a footman; her great-grandfather a King. Hi7ic illce lacrymcE!'' * Such were the antecedents of that irregular man of genius, to whom, the Court proposed to entrust the business of carrying the Treaty of Peace through Parliament. " We must call in bad men," said the King to George Grenville, "to govern bad men." | Properly speaking, it was Gren- ville to whom, as Leader of the House of Commons, the task of vindicating the Peace against the attacks of the Opposition should have been committed. To ensure suc- cess, however, needed the combined qualities of tact, good temper, eloquence, and complete agreement with his col- leagues ; none of which requirements Grenville was at all likely to bring into play. On the contrary, however consi- derable may have been his abilities, not only were his manners unconciliating, and his elocution usually tedious and imimpressive, but there were one or two articles in the Treaty of Peace on which he and Bute were known to be at variance. Moreover, although Grenville, like Pitt and more than one other statesman of the time, had no great objec- tion to profit indirectly by the corrupt practices of others, he was a most unlikely person to risk his reputation for • Walpole's Letters, vol. i. p. 303, Ed. 1857. t Grenville Papers, vol. i. p. 452. iEx. 24.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 139 honesty by directly resorting to those practices himself. Fox, on the other hand, was singularly daring, insinuating, and unscrupulous. Utterly regardless of the opinion of the world, and repudiating the very existence of political virtue, when he undertook the dirty work required of him, it was with the full conviction that there was scarcely a member of Parliament who was not as likely to be influenced by unworthy pecuniary considerations as he was himself. For the purpose of placing Fox in a position to carry out the designs of the Government, it was necessary in the first instance to prevail upon George Grenville, not only to exchange his post of Secretary of State for that of First Lord of the Admiralty, but to yield to Fox, whom he detested, the leadership of the House of Commons. To a man so vain, and at the same time of so implacable a nature as Grenville, such a proposition was calculated to give the deepest offence ; and accordingly, if Walpole's statement be correct, he listened to it with an " unspeakable astonish- ment, and with a rage not to be described." * Grenville, however, had many reasons for preferring to put up with the affront, rather than quit the Ministry in disgust. Bute, for instance, had recently flattered him with hopes of his being selected to succeed him in the Premiership, j" and it was only by remaining in office that he was likely to attain that great object of his ambition. Moreover, he was fond of official business for its own sake — his private means were not so considerable but that the emoluments of office were of im- portance to him — and, lastly, had he retired from his post, he must have sat on the Opposition benches with his brother- in-law, Pitt, with whom, not only was he at present on the worst of terms, but whose commanding genius would have thro^m him entirely into the shade. It was apparently * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 195. t Grenville Papers, vol. i. p. 484. 140 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1762. for these reasons that Grenvllle was mduced to resign the leadership of the House of Commons to Fox, and to remove with his private secretary and his despatch- boxes from Downing Street to the Admiralty. The Seals, thus vacated, were conferred upon the Earl of Halifax ; Fox preferring to retain the lucrative post of Paymaster-General instead of accepting the more distin- guished one of Secretary of State. " I was with difficulty," Oct 13. wTites Fox to the Duke of Bedford, " excused from being Secretary of State. The rest w^as insisted upon, or rather asked, in such terms and in such a manner, that — in short — I was brought to feel it a point of honour to obey." * Fox had many motives for listening with satisfaction to the overtures of Bute. Obnoxious as he was to the King on account of his private vices, and detested by the Princess- Dowager, with wdiom he had long been out of favour, it must have been a matter of no trifling self-congratulation to the offended statesman to be thus invited by the Court to join its councils, and to aid his Sovereign in Oct. 13. his hour of difficulty. " His Majesty," writes Fox, " was in great concern lest a good peace, in a good House of Commons, should be lost, and his authority disgraced for want of a proper person to support his honest measures and keep his closet from that force with which it was so threatened. / was that person wlio could do it'''\ Fox, moreover, had long been impatient for a seat in the House of Lords ; and accordingly it w^as stipulated by him, as a reward for the dirty and flagitious work which he was ex- pected to perform, that at the close of his labours he should receive a coronet. Lastly, he was anxious to measure weapons once more with his old antagonist, Pitt. Superior to that illustrious man as a debater, though not as an • Bedford Corrcsp. vol. iii. p. 134. • + Ihkl. ^T. 24.] EEIGN or GEORGE THE THIRD. IH orator, and believing himself to be at least his equal in administrative talents, it had been with no ordinary feelings of jealousy and mortification tliat Fox had seen his rival preferred above himself to the highest position in the State, as well as to the foremost place in the affections of his fellow-countrymen. He now, however, beheld a prospect of better times. What if Parliament could be prevailed upon to cast a censure on the war, and to pronounce the peace to be a Avise and righteous measure? In such a case the laurels would be stripped from the brow of his rival. Fox's triumph would be complete. Personally speaking, Fox had everything to gain by a victory, and little to lose by defeat. If successful, he would have the option of either continuing the foremost person in the House of Commons, or else of exchanging the bustle and excitement of St. Stephen's for the easy dignity of the House of Lords. At all events, he Avould be able to fall back upon his present occupation as Paymaster- General, a post sufficiently lucrative in time of peace, and likely to be still more remunerative in case of a renewal of the war. In urging Fox to join the Ministry, Bute had doubtless calculated that the intimacy which had long existed between his new colleague and many of the leaders of the Whig party, might be the means of inducing the latter to support the Crown in its present difficulty. Those hopes were certainly entertained by Fox himself, and were as certainly disappointed. The first person to whom he applied for assistance was his former powerful friend and patron, the Duke of Cumberland. The Duke, however, not only received him with coldness but listened to his overtures with manifest disdain. The result of an interview with the Duke of Devonshire was not more satisfactory. He trusted, said the Duke, that their private friendship might continue undisturbed, but with Fox, in his new 142 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1762. capacity of a Minister of the Crown, he must decline all communication whatever. Even the unscrupulous old Duke of Newcastle, when appealed to by Fox, is said to have denounced, in scornful terms, the unnatural coalition between his former colleague and the Court. Thus disappointed in his appeals to the great AVhig lords, Fox proceeded to employ his solicitations, his arguments, his bribes, and his promises, in other and less scrupulous quarters. Reckless of consequences, and inflamed, as we have said, by the powerful motives of self-interest, ambition, and revenge, he entered upon his scandalous task w^th all that earnestness and energy, which was to be expected from his fearless and unprincipled character. Without the slightest apparent compunction, he plunged at once into a wholesale system of bribery and corruption, with a tithe of which even the jobber Newcastle would have shrunk from sullying his Administration. Places were reck- lessly multiplied in the royal household, and pensions no less profligately and unmeritedly conferred. " Leaving the grandees to their ill-humour," writes Walpole, " Fox directly attacked the separate members of the House of Commons, and with so little decorum on the part of either buyer or seller, that a shop was publicly opened at the Pay Office, whither the members flocked, and received the wages of their venality in bank-bills, even to so low a sum as two hundred pounds." It was subsequently admitted by Martin, Secretary of the Treasury,* that no less a sum than twenty- five thousand pounds had been issued from the public * Samuel Martin, a West Indian, had formerly held an appointment in the house- hold of Frederick Prince of Wales. He is now best remembered from his duel with Wilkes in 1763, and Churchill's bitter verses on him in "The Duellist : "' — " May lie ! — but words are all too weak The feelings of my heart to speak ; — May he ! — oh, for a noble curse Which might his very marrow pierce ! — The general contempt engage. And be the Martin of his age ! " 2Et. 24.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE TIIIED. 143 exchequer in one morning for the basest purposes of corruption."' In addition to this thorough-going system of pohtical vena- Hty and bribery, Fox made no scruple of resorting to inti- midation even in the highest quarters. The great Whig lords continuing refractory, Fox soon made it manifest to them that the Court was not less ready to punish opposition than to reward apostacy. The first assault upon the great aristocratic stronghold was made in the person of the Duke of Devonshire — the " Prince of the Whigs," as he was styled by the Princess-Dowager — who, notwithstanding his high rank and character and the long-tried devotion of his family to the House of Brunswick, was suddenly and igno- miniously dismissed from his post of Lord Chamberlain. f It was on his return from a short visit to the country, Oct. 28. that the Duke repaired to the palace to pay his respects to his Sovereign. Availing himself of his privilege as a great Officer of State, he at once proceeded to the back- stairs, where he desired the page-in-waiting to inform His Majesty that he was in attendance. " Tell hhn," said the King, peremptorily, "that I will not see him ! " The page was thunderstruck, and hesitated. "Go to him," said the King, " and tell him in these very words, that I will not see him." Such a message from his Sovereign was of course tanta- mount to a dismissal ; and accordingly the Duke, still more astonished than the page, desired to know to whom it was His Majesty's commands that he should deliver the Chamber- lain's key ? " Tell him," said the King " that orders shall be given him on the subject." Instead of waiting for these * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 199. t William, fourth Duke of Devonshire, K.G., had formerly held the appointment of Lord- Lieutenant of Ireland. "The late Duke of Devonshire," writes Lord Walde- gi-ave, "had great credit with the Whigs, being a man of strict honour, true courage, and unaffected affability. He was sincere, humane, and generous ; plain in his manners, negligent in his dress ; had sense, learning, and modesty, with solid rather than showy parts. "^ — Lord Waldajravc s Memoirs, p. 2G. The Duke died 2nd October, 1764, at the age of 44. H4 MEMOIES OP THE LIFE AND [1762. orders, the Duke Imrrled to liis own house, and, havmg snatched up the key, repaired with it to the Secretary of State, Lord Egremont, into wdiose hands he thrust it, almost over- powered by his feeHngs. On tlie following morning, the Duke's brotlfer. Lord George Cavendish, resigned his post of Comptroller of the Household, and his brother-in- law, the Earl of Besborough, that of joint Postmaster- General.* In justification of the King's treatment of the Duke of Devonshire on this occasion, it was insisted by the courtiers that His Majesty had just and ample grounds for being incensed against his Grace. Not only, they said, had the Duke for some time past habitually absented himself from the meetings of the Privy Council, but he was even now, they believed, engaged in caballing with the Duke of Newcastle against the Government. Unluckily, that very morning, the King, on his way from Richmond, had himself seen the two Dukes together in the same chariot, f But whatever grounds the young King may have had for resent- ment, his anger was evidently not a mere ebullition of the moment. Six days afterwards, at a meeting of the Privy Council, the King, to the astonishment of the mernbers present, not only ordered the Duke's dismissal from the list of Privy Councillors, but actually erased his name with his own hand. The following is the entry in the MS, Council Book of the day : ''At St. James's, 3 November, 17G2. — This day His Majesty in Council called for the Council Book, and with • Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 200, &c. + If any faith could lie placed in a popular anecdote of the day, it would seem that the repugnance, which the Duke entertains] for Lord Bute, induced him on oue occasion to be personally wanting in rcsjiect to the King. "The mob," writes Lady Temple to lier husband, on the I7th December, "have a good story of the Duke of Devonshire ; that he went first to light the King, and the King f(jllowcd loaning upon Lord Bute's shoulder, upon which tlic Duke of Devonshire turned about, and desired to know ivluch he ^oas icaiting upon V — Grcnvillc Papers, vol. ii. p. 22. -^T. 24.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 145 his own hand stnick the name of WilKam Duke of Devon- shire out of the List of Privy Councillors." The two last occasions on which similar summary proceedings had taken place had been in the cases of William Pulteney, who was struck off the List in 1731, on account of his political con- duct, and of Lord George Sackville, in 1759, in consequence of a sentence of Court-Martial having found him guilty of pusillanimous conduct at the battle of IMinden. As regards the conduct of Fox on this occasion, the fact of his having previously lived on terms of the most friendly inthnacy with the Duke of Devonshire naturally subjected him to very heavy animadversions. He wrote, indeed, to the Duke, positively denying that he had had any share in the affronts which had been put upon his Grace, but the Duke, it is said, did not even make a pretence of believing him.* Moreover, the house of Cavendish, to the close of Fox's career, never ceased to resent the indignity which they believed had been offered by him to the head of their family. In the mean time the emissaries of Fox had been at work in all quarters. For the j^urpose of securing the desired majority in Parliament, no expedient was left untried and no influential individual overlooked. Some w^ere bribed, and others frightened into submission. The Earl of Orford was tempted with the rangership of St. James's and Hyde Park. Messengers were stationed at the different sea-port towns to w^aylay the Marquis of Granby on his return from the Continent, and to tempt him with the choice of either the Ordnance or the command of the Army. Marshal Conway, whose integrity rendered him superior to a bribe, was got rid of by being selected to conduct the Army to England ; and, lastly, in order to silence the tongue of the King's brother, the Duke of York, whose boyish abase of Bute and the Scotch appears to have given great offence to * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 202. VOL. I. L Ue MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1762. tlie King, his royal highness was despatched on an idle expedition to Italy.* But, unjustifiable as were these proceedings, far more reprehensible was the persecution which was subsequently made to fall upon the heads of those who either opposed, or else refused to support, the Court. The Dukes of New- castle and Grafton, and the Marquis of Rockingham, were deprived of the Lord-Lieutenancies of their several comities, and but for the personal interposition of Fox, the same insult would have been offered to the Duke of Devonshire. The Duke, however, preferred sharing the fate of his friends to being under an obligation, and consequently flung up his Lieutenancy in disgust. Still more shameful was the system of oppression which was carried by Fox into the second, and sometimes into the third and fourth ranks of the State. It amounted, in many cases, not only to persecution but to positive cruelty. A Mr. Schultz, who for seven years had been a gentleman of the bedchamber, was dismissed merely because he was with- out a seat in Parliament ; and a worthy and gallant officer, Admiral Forbes, was removed from the Board of Admiralty, to enable Fox to make room for one of his own friends. I Far from being satisfied with dismissing Lord-Lieutenants of counties, and removing Tellers of the Exchequer and Lords of the Admiralty, Fox and his inquisitors extended their searching scrutinies and their inhumanity even to the humblest departments of the State. It was only ne- cessary to ascertain that a clerk in a Government Office owed his situation to being related to an opposition Member of Parliament, or that a Whig opposition Peer had obtained a messenger's place for his wife's footman, or an exciseman's situation for the son of his gamekeeper, and these unfortunate underlings were frequently sent about their business, in order to provide places for the friends * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. pp. 208-0, 235. t Ibid., p. 234. ^T. 2i.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 147 and relatives of the advocates of Peace. " I hope," writes Rigby to his friend the Duke of Bedford, " no military men may be turned out ; but I would clear away in tlie Civil emplo}Tnents." And again the heartless cjourmand writes, — "I have reason to believe there will be a general dewiite from the Duke of Grafton's Lieutenancy of the county of Suffolk to the underlings in tlie Custom House ; and I think, if military men arc excepted, as I trust they will be, tlie measure entirely right."'"' It was happily said on this occasion that Bute had turned out every one whom Whig influence had brought into oftice, with the exception of the King.f A more nefarious and cruel system of politics could scarcely be conceived. A poor man in Sussex, who had distinguished himself by his gallantry in a desperate affray with smugglers, was deprived of his pension for no better reason than that it had been procured for him by the Duke of Grafton. A still meaner affront was offered to the house of Cavendish. A lady of that name, the Avidow of an Admiral,! instead of having been placed on the pension-list at the time of her husband's decease, had been appointed housekeeper of one of the public offices. Probably her place was wanted for another. At all events. Fox's agents chose to presume that her late husband had been related to the Duke of Devonshire, and accordingly orders were given for her instant dismissal. § * Bedford Corresii., vol. iii. p. 171. + Earl llussell's ]\Ieuiorials of Fox, vol. i. p. 50, note. X Admiral Philip Cavendish. He died in 17^3. § AValpole's Keign of George 3, vol. i. pp. 233-5. ]\raeanlay's Essays, vol. iii. p. 567, 10th edition. Nine years after this cruel persecution, Horace Walpole writes;— "On the 10th of April, 1771, when Lord North opened tlie Budget, T. Townshend reflected on Lord Holland as author of the proscrijitions at tlie be- ginning of the reign. Charles Fox sai 1 he did not believe his father had any hand in them; but if he had it icas riijld to Ireak the 2}0wer of the Aristoemcij that had governed in the name of the late King. Charles Fox asked me afterwards in private if the aecu.sation against his father was just ? I replied I could not but say it wa.fi."— Memoirs of the Reign of George 3, vol. iv. p. 309. Charles Fox, let it be remembered, was in 1771 a Lord of the Admiraltj", and a Tory. See also Lord Eoekingham's Speech in the House] of Lords, January 22, 1770.— Parliamcutarii History, vol. xvi. col. 7-12. 148 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [17G2. The amount of misery, wliicli was entailed on private fomilies by the poHcy of Bute and the sweeping bnitahty of Fox, it woidd 1)0 difficult to exaggerate. For the conduct of the former, some slight excuse presents itself. With all his fluilts of incompetency and self-sufficiency, and oppressive and cruel as his polic}^ may have been, he was at least actuated by the conscientious conviction that he was w^orking out certain grand principles which were to eman- cipate the Crown from the domination of a selfish and tyrannical oligarchy, and to deliver his country from the horrors of an unprofitable war. But for Fox, apparently, no such excuses can be discovered. Ambition, revenge, and the desire of a coronet, seem to have been the ruling incentives for his conduct. " Fox," said the Duke of Cumberland, " has deceived me grossly, for I thought him good-natured, but in all these transactions he has shown the bitterest revenge and inhumanity."* The Court had been promised a triumph by Fox, and he did not disappoint them. As the day appointed for the meeting of Parliament drew near, the mingled feelings of interest and curiosity, which had for some time prevailed throughout the country, increased almost to intensity. At length, on the 25tli of November, Parliament assembled. On that day the King on his way to Westminster was received by the populace with an ominous silence, while Bute on the same occasion was not only hissed and pelted, but on his return encountered much rougher usage. " To avoid the like treatment he had met hi going," writes Pigby, " he returned in a hackney-chair ; but the mob dis- covered him, followed him, broke the glasses of the chair, and, in short, by threats and menaces, put him, very rea- sonably, in great fear. If they had once overturned the chair, he might very soon have been demolished."! Fortu- * Walpolc's Pieigu of George 3, vol. i. p. 241. t Bedford Corrcsp,, vol, iii. p. IGO. Mr. 24.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE TIIIED. 149 nately for liini, aftairs witliiii the walls of Parliament went more smoothly than without. On the oOtli the preli- minaries of peace were laid before both Houses, and in each House it was decided to take them into considera- tion on the 9th of December. One name — the magic name of Pitt — was now on every lip. To Pitt alone the great masses of the people looked for delivery from the tyranny and o])pression which they were told were impending over them. From his eloquence alone they hoped for a vic- tory over the Court. But, to the dismay of the popular party no less than to the satisfaction of the Court, Pitt was ill — too ill, it was whispered in political circles, to render it likely that he would be able to take a part in the approaching contest. Under these circumstances, Nicolson Calvert, Llember for Tewkesbury, supported by other friends of Pitt, moved for an adjournment of the House of Commons till such time as the great statesman should be able to attend in his place. The motion, how- ever, was made to little purpose. Ministers put forth all their strength to eifect its defeat ; the result being that they carried their point by an overwhelming majority of two hundred and thirteen votes against seventy-four. Unquestionably Pitt in his place in Parliament was what Lord Chesterfield described him — " zj^se af/men, a host in himself."* He was gifted by nature with almost all the qualities which are requisite to constitute a great orator. His figure was imposhig and graceful ; his eye was sin- gularly eloquent and full of fire ; his features were capable of every variety of expression ; his full, rich, silvery voice was no less capable of every variety of intonation. Great, liowever, as were his natural advantages as an orator, he was not without his defects. His style was occasionally too florid and his action too theatrical. His speeches were at *" Chesteifaeld's Letters, edited by Earl Stanhope, vol. iv. p. 353. Dlc. 1. 150 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1762. times wanting in close reasoning and acnte arguments ; liis expositions were occasionally prolix and verbose. As a debater, lie was certainly inferior to more than one of liis contemporaries, and in tlie art of reply he was confessedly deficient. But, on the other hand, his eloquence was distinguished by passionate and heart-stirring appeals to the feelings ; by bold flights of fancy ; by striking and appro- priate metaphors ; by varied and copious knowledge ; by the occasional and happy introduction of anecdote ; by ani- mated allusions to past historical events ; by clear and manly statements of his views and sentiments ; and, lastly, when it suited his purpose, by fierce denunciations and bitter invectives. To these qualities must be added the evidence which his speeches afforded of a noble and generous eleva- tion of sentiment ; a loathing of all that is mean and sordid ; and a deep appreciation of all that is good and beautiful. In powers of invective Pitt was witliout a rival. In such terror, indeed, Avas he held, by the House of Commons, that usually a mere glance of his eye, whether expressive of contempt, defiance, or aversion, was sufficient to daunt the boldest. At other times, when the offence given hhn was very great, it was his practice to bear down upon the cul- prit with such a vehemence of indignation, contemptuous ridicule, and insulting sarcar.in, that the exhibition is said to have been almost terrifying. On one occasion, for instance, after having spoken in the House of Commons without receiving a reply, he was slowly walking out of the House wdien, just as he reached the lobby-door, his ear caught the words — " I rise to reply to the right honourable member " — words delivered by a member who usually stood in especial awe of him, and who would never have dreamed of address- ing the House, but that he imaghied Innihielf to be relieved of the presence of the magician. Pitt turned round, and, as he walked leisurely back to his place, re2)eated with formid- able deliberation from Virgil — ^T. 24.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 151 " At Danaura proceres, Agamemnoniiei|ue phalanges, Ut videre vinim, fulgentiaque arma per umbras, Ingenti trepidare metu : pars vertere terga, Ceil quondam petiere rates ; pars tollere voccni Exiguam : iuceptus clamor friistratur hiantes."* JEneid, lib. vi., ver. 489. Tlie vox exigua was at once liuslied. Pitt, on reacliing his seat, looking disdainfully at the discomfited delinquent, exclaimed, " Islow let me hear what the honourable member has to say to me ! " Butler, who relates this anecdote in his "Reminiscences," inquired of his informant, who was present, whether the House did not laugh at the ridiculous figure cut by the unfortunate member. " No," replied the other; "we were all too much overawed to laugh." f AVilkes has borne witness to the " keen lightnings " Avhich flashed from Pitt's eyes. " They • spoke," he said, " the haughty fiery soul before his lips had uttered a syllable." Pitt's set and studied speeches were usually fixilures. Such for instance, was the case when he delivered his prepared eulogium on the death of Wolfe — an occasion on which his contemporaries had anticipated an outburst of eloquence worthy alike of the living and of the dead. On the contrary, it was vapid and commonplace. It was only, in fact, when he spoke from the impulse of the moment, and when he was entirely natural, that his eloquence blazed forth in its full splen- dour. It was usually some merely accidental circumstance — the ironical laugh of a political opponent, the expression of some illiberal sentiment, or some imagined affront to him- self or to his country — which elicited from him those impas- • " Appalled, dismayed, Tlie hostile chiefs the god-like man survej'ed. Some turned and fled, astonished at the view. As when before him to their fleets they flew. Some raised a cry ; tlie fluttering accents hung And died imperfect on the trembling tongue." Pitt's Translation of the ^Encid. t Butler's Eeininisceuccs, pp. 153-4. 152 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1762. sioiied outbursts of eloquence, on wliicli his great fame as an orator mainly rests. On sucli occasions it was, that his ideas flowing faster than his words, he gave vent to those heart-stirring appeals to the patriotism of his listeners, those withering denunciations of the living, and mournful and eloquent panegyrics on the dead, which half im- pressed his audience with the conviction that he was an inspired being. No finer debate was ever listened to in the House of Commons, than on the occasion when, in the month of November, 1755, the well-known "Single-Speech" Hamil- ton, achieved his first and last great parliamentary success. George Grenville had far surpassed himself in a speech of uncommon merit, and, after him, William Murray, afterwards Lord Mansfield, had delivered a masterpiece of artful and Jesuitical eloquence, when there arose a young man whose features were almost new to the House, and whose voice was now for the first time raised within its walls. His articulation was strong and clear ; his delivery spirited ; his manner had all the ease of an habitual and accomplished debater. The speech which he delivered was full of antithesis, and his antitheses were full of argument. He proved, moreover, to be as ready in reply as he had been fluent in delivery. " He spoke for the first time," writes Walpole, who was present, " and was at once perfection." This person was William Gerard Hamilton. " You will ask me," adds Walpole, "what could be beyond this? Nothing; but what was be- yond what ever was, and that was Pitt ! He spoke at past one, for an hour and thirty-five minutes. There was more humour, wit, vivacity, finer language, more boldness, in short more astonishing perfections, than even you, who are used to him, can conceive. He was not abusive, yet very attack- ing on all sides. He ridiculed my Lord Hillsborough, crushed poor Sir George, terrified the Attorney, lashed my Lord Granville, pahited my Lord of Newcastle, attacked 2Et. 24.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 153 Mr. Fox, and even lilnted up to the Duke." * It was on this occasion that Pitt — in comparing the unnatural coaHtion between Newcastle and Fox to the junction of the Rhone and the Saone — delivered one of his most celebrated metaphors. " At Lyons," he said, " I was taken to see the place where the two rivers meet ; the one gentle, feeble, languid, and though languid, yet of no depth; the other a boisterous and impetuous torrent. But, different as they are, they meet at last." Of the famous orations of Pitt, fragments only, with one exception,! have been handed down to us. Those frag- ments, however, are worth one of the missing Books of the " Fairy Queen" which he loved so well. We are indebted for their preservation to the forcible language, the epigrannnatic point and singular felicity of expres- sion, which, combined with his half-inspired majesty of look and manner, so impressed themselves on the minds of his listeners as to enable them to carry away his words in their memories, doubtless to be repeated over and over again to their friends and acquaintances. True it is that, in forming our estimate of Pitt's oratorical powers, we are compelled to draw largely on tradition. Nevertheless, from the exquisite specimens of his eloquence which have been handed down to us, as avcU as from the extraordinary effect which we know that he produced on the minds of his con- temporaries, it would perhaps not be paying him too high a compliment were we to compare him, if not as a debater, at least as an orator, with the greatest masters of eloquence, whether of ancient or of modern times. Pitt's peculiar method of crushing an adversary in the House of Commons may be illustrated by the following* anecdote. Mr. Morton, Chief Justice of Chester, a * Walpulc'b Letters, vol. ii. p. 484. Ed. 1857. "'Sir George" means Sir George Lyttelton ; "the Duke," the Duke of CiimberlauJ. + On tlie employment of Indians in the American AVar. It is said to have been revised and corrected Ly Pitt himself. 154 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1^62. barrister of some eniiiience, happened, in tlie course of a speech, to introduce the words, " King, Lords, and Com- mons — " to which he added, with his glance fixed pointedly on Pitt, " or, as that right honourable gentleman would call them. Commons, Lords, and King." Astounded at his boldness, Pitt deliberately rose from his seat, and called him to order. "I have frequently," he said, "heard in this House doctrines which have surprised me ; but now my blood runs cold. I desire the words of the honourable member may be taken down." The Clerks of the House having taken them down — " Bring them to me! " he said, in a voice of thunder. Morton by this time appears to have been frightened out of his senses, and began to stammer out his apologies. He meant nothing, he said ; indeed he meant nothing. Pitt sank his voice almost to a whisper. "I do not wish," he said, "to push the matter further." Then, assuming a louder tone of voice, he added — " The moment a man acknowledges his error, he ceases to be guilty. I have a great regard for the honourable member, and as an instance of that regard, I give him this advice" — here he paused for a few moments, and then fixing upon the delinquent a look of withering contempt, he added — " When that member means nothing, I recommend him to say nothing." * On another occasion, when Sir William Young happened to interrupt him during one of his speeches by calling out, " Question, question," Pitt fixed on hhn the same look of indescribable scorn. " Pardon, Mr. Speaker," he said, "my agitation ; but when that member calls for the question, I fear I hear the knell of my country's ruin." f It was observed by the celebrated Dr. Franklin, that he had * l^utlcr's riomiiiiscenccs, pp. 152-3. t Ibid, p. 153. "It is related," writes Lord Brougliam, "that once in the House of Commons ho began a !5i)eech with the words, — ' Sugar, Mr. Speaker,' — and then perceiving a smile to pervade the audience, he paused, looked fiercely around, and with a loiul voice, rising in its notes and swelling into vehement anger, he is said to have pronounced again the word 'Sugar !' three times; and JEi\ 24.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIED. 155 sometimes met with eloquence without wisdom, and often with wisdom without eloquence ; but in ]\Ir. Pitt only had he seen them both united, and then both, he thought, in the highest degree.* having thus quelled the house, nnd extinguished every appeavnuee of levity or laughter, turned round and disdainfully asked, — ' Who will laugh at sugar now 2 ' " —Statesmen of the Time of George 3, vol. i. p. 34. Ed. 1858. • Franklin's AVorks, vol. i. p. 494, 3rd Edition. 1^6 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1762. CHAPTER IX. Great Popular excitement— Debate in Parliament on Preliminaries of Peace— Pitt, though scriousl}' ill, speaks on the rpiestion— Triumph of the Government- Exultation of the Court— Bute personally unpopular— Financial difficulties of the Government— Sir Francis Uaslnvood, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and his I'udget— Iiesignation of Bute— His character and disposition— His patronage of Literature, Science, and Art— Bute's iutimacj^ -svith the Princess of "Wales— llcsignation of Fox— Fox created Baron Holland. The 9 til of December — the day fixed upon for tlie dis- cussion of the Preliminaries of the Peace — at length arrived. Outside, as ^Yell as within the Avails of Parliament, impatience and curiosity were raised to the highest pitch. Palace Yard was crowded by dense masses of people who, as Bute and the advocates of the Peace from time to time made their appearance, greeted them with yells and execrations. It was still a matter of un- certainty whether Pitt would be well enough to be pre- sent, and the doubt increased the* general excitement. The eleventh hour had arrived and the debate had already commenced, and yet no sign of the approach of the " Great Commoner " had gladdened the hearts of his friends. Only too well they were aware, that unless upheld by his pre- sence and aided by his eloquence, any crusade against the Court must prove a fruitless one, and, accordino-lv de- spondency was beginning to take possession of their hearts. In the mean time, within the walls of the House of Com- mons the friends of Government found themselves breathino- more freely. Already they had begun to believe them- JET. 24.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE TUIED. 157 selves exempt for a season from the bitter taimts, the fierce demmciations, and the contemptuous sneers of tlieir great pohtieal opponent. Already, to their imaginations, the majority on which they had calculated was swelled into an overwhelming triumph, when suddenly there arose from the dense crowd in Palace Yard a shout of exultation, which pealed through every part of the ancient palace of the Con- fessor. The voice of the member who was addressino- the House was drowned by the noise. The advocates of the Peace were seized with consternation. After the lapse of a few seconds, a concourse of people, shouting and huzzaing, were heard ascending the stairs. The doors of the House were thrown open, and the striking figure of the " Great Commoner" — supported by two attendants, and pale almost to giiastliness — presented itself before the astonished assem- bly. He was dressed in a suit of black velvet ; his legs and thighs were wra])ped in flannel ; his feet were covered with buskins of l)lack cloth. His servants having set him down within the bar, several of his friends hurried to liis assistance, with Avliose aid and with that of his crutch he reached his accustomed seat. " He had the appearance," writes AValpole, who was present, " of a man determined to die in that cause, and at that hour." The langour which pain had imprhited on his emaciated countenance, tlie recol- lection of the great and brilliant services which he had ren- dered to his country, the place, the occasion, and the attire so well timed and so artistically arranged, made a lasting impression on those who happened to be witnesses of this memorable scene.* By means of having frequent recourse to cordials, Pitt * Walpole's George 3, vol. i. pp. 223-4-6. Tlic sick statesman on this occasion was allowed the almost nii]irece(lented indulgence of delivering his sentiments seated ; an indulgence which had formerly been accorded to Lord Oriery in De- cember, 1G69, and which was afterwards extended to Mr. Wickham, in July, 1805, and to Mr. T. Wyndham in ISll. — IlatscU's Precedents of Proceedings in the House of Commons, vol. ii. p. 104. 158 MEMOIES OP THE LIFE AND [1762. Avas enabled to speak for three hours and forty minutes. Notwithstanding, he said, the excruciating tortures to which he was a martyr, he had resolved, at the hazard of his life, to attend Parliament upon that day, in order to lift up his voice, his hand, his arm, against a measure which not only threatened to rob the war of half its glory, but which, in his opinion, was opposed to the best interests of the nation. He beheld, he said, in the proposed Peace Preliminaries the seeds of future hostilities. The Peace would prove an insecure one, inasmuch as it would rein- state France and Spain in their former greatness, and power of doing mischief; it was inadequate, hiasmuch as the territorial conquests which Great Britain intended to retain would afford no equivalent for those she proposed to surrender.* Towards the termination of his speech his strength failed him, and he was compelled to desist. Like most of Pitt's premeditated orations, his speech on this occasion was not one of his happiest. It was deficient, indeed, neither in argument,, nor in occasional beauties of thought and language ; but in many parts it was tedious and uninteresting, and was altogether wanting in that fiery grandeur, and those impassioned bursts of eloquence, which had so often, on less momentous occasions, disconcerted his opponents. His voice, moreover, which had formerly been so thrilling and sonorous as to peal through the furthest lobbies of the old Saxon palace, was now so faint and feeble as at times to be inaudible even in the House itself f Pitt had no sooner concluded his speech than Fox rose to reply to him, on which, to the infinite surprise of all present, the great orator raised himself from his seat, and with the help of his crutch and the assistance of his friends, withdrew from the assembly. Whether, in thus yielding: the battle- ground to his dexterous and unprincii)led adversary, Pitt • Pari. Hist., vol. xxv. pp. 12.59-70. t Walpole'.s George 3, vol. i. p. 22G. JEt. 24.] EEIGX OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 15 was desirous of conveying an Impression to tlie House that lie despised Fox too much to care about waiting to listen to his arguments, or whether, as his ])iographer supposes, he was really completely exhausted and in " an agony of pain,"* appears to he a matter of doubt. At all events, his withdrawal threw a fatal damp over his party, and left Fox an easy victory. On the Illustrious invalid again making his appearance in Palace Yard, the former huzzas were redoubled. As his chariot drove off between the opening masses of people, the crowd, affected by his emaciated appearance, Increased their clamour ; many of them shouting out, in reference to the length of his speech, — " Three hours and a-half ! three hours and a- half!"t In the House of Commons, the PreHmlnaries were even- tually approved of by a large majority of three hundred and nineteen against sixty-five. In the House of Lords, wdiere Bute agreeably surprised his friends by speaking with admirable good sense, temper, and propriety, there was no division, t Not only was he satisfied, said Bute, ~ 1/ 7 7 that all the dearest interests of his country required peace, but, he added, somewhat theatrically, that he trusted that a record of the share which he might have in putting an end to hostilities might be engraved upon his tomb. § * Thackeray's Life of Lord Chatham, vol. ii. ]}. 23. t Walpoln's Eeign of George 3, vol. i. p. 231. J Iji the Address wliich the Lords voted to tlie King, they thanked him for the "Immane disposition and paternal affection to his subjects," wliicli had been shown liy him in "putting a safe and liouourable end to a burthensome and expensive war." — Journals of the House of Lords, vol. xxx. p. 308. The Duke of Cumberland, much as he was prejudiced against Lord Bute, pronounced his speech to have been " one of the finest he ever heard in his life." — Bedford Corresp., vol. iii. p. 170. § Pari. Hist., vol. xxv. p. 1251. Lord Chesterfield's Letters, edited by Earl Stanliope, vol. ii. p. 470. This sentimental observation of Lord Bute gave rise to the following ejiigi-am, wliicli, at the time, was in everybody's mouth; — " Say, when will England be from faction freed? > When will domestic quarrels cease ? jSTe'er till that wished-for epitaph we read, — ' Here lies the man that made the Peace.' " Wright's " Enfjlaud under the House of Hanover,'' vol. i. p. 410. 160 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1762. The Court liad acliieved a great triumpli. The King made no scruple of speaking of himself as one providentially emancipated from an oppressive thraldom ; the Princess Dowager was heard to exclaim exiiltingly — '.' Now my son is King of England ! " * The conrtiers joined of com'se in the cry of exultation. His Majesty, they boasted, was at last a King. The Whig magnates — that aristocratic Cabal which for so many years had insolently domineered over their Sovereign — were at last humbled and rendered power- less. The royal prerogative was ajjoiit to shine out in its proper lustre. In other words, the Court had now the leisure, as well as the money and the power, to carry out its dangerous, however well-intentioned projects. So entire, indeed, was the discomfiture of the leaders of the great AVliig party, that when Parliament re-assembled after Christinas they scarcely ventured even upon a show of resistance. That the young King, whatever other motives he may have liad, was for humanity's sake very desirous of peace it w^ould be unjust to him to deny. Pighy has recorded the singular joy which he manifested when the accession of the Duke of Bedford to the peace-party was first announced to him. " I have heard much," ho Avrites to the Duke, " of the Duke of Newcastle's kisses, but never had one from him till to-day, and I thought His Majesty and Lord Bute would have kissed me too, I was so received by them both at St. James's." f To the Duke of Bedford the King himself writes on the 2Gth of October — "The best despatch I can receive from you, and the most essential to my service, will be these Preliminaries signed. May Pro- vidence, in compassion to human misery, give you this * Walpole's Eeiyn of Gcov^^o 3, vol. i. p. 233. "George bo King!" is said to liavc been the freqvieiit monition of tlie Princess to lier son ; an expression, liowever, very unlikely to have been ever uttered ; and if uttered, still more unlikely to have been repeated by the courtiers. — See Nichols' RecollccHons of tlic Rci(jn of George 3, vol. vi. pp. C, 11. + Bedford Corresp., mA. iii. p. 7. ^T. 24,] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 161 means of executing this great and noble work, and be assured I will never forget the duty and attachment you show to me in this important crisis."* Yet, signal as was the triumph which Bute had obtained, and high as he stood in the good graces of his Sovereign, he had become both a discontented and an unhappy man. Success instead of diminishing had increased his difficulties. The public had been taught by the Opposition that the Peace was only the first step towards a despotism ; and accordingly, instead of the popularity which Bute had promised himself as the reward for his having terminated an expensive and sanguinary war, he found himself the object of almost general abuse and dislike. At the theatres, every offensive word, spoken by the actors, that could be made applicable to him, was immediately caught up, and vociferously responded to by the audience. A line reflect- ing on Favourites, spoken by Mrs. Pritchard in Gibber's comedy of " The Careless Husband," was received with rounds of applause, f On all sides, the unlucky Minister was assailed by the lampooners, the caricaturists, and pamphleteers, from the caustic prose of Wilkes and the fierce and powerful verse of Churchill, to the low and scurrilous effusions of Grub Street. In one caricature of the time he is delineated as scourging Britannia with thistles ; others represent the high-roads to London as crowded with ragged Scotchmen ; another, entitled " The Royal Dupe," pictures the young King as being lulled to sleep in his mother's lap, unconscious of the presence of Bute and Fox, the former of whom is engaged in stealing his sceptre and the latter in picking his pocket. J But the form of popular attack which naturally afforded the greatest pain to the Court, was the public and indelicate manner in • Bedford Corresp., vol. iii. p. 140. + Lady Easy : "Have a care, Madam! An undeserving Favourite has been the ruin of many a Prince's empire." — " The Careless Husband," Act 4, Scene 1. t Wright's " England under the House of Hanover," vol. i. pp. 402—3. VOL. I. M 1G2 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1762. which the wits and lampoonei'S continued to associate the name of the First Lord of the Treasury with that of the mother of the Sovereign. On one occasion the mob was bold enough to carry about the streets of London a gallows, from which were suspended — previously to their being com- mitted to the flames — a jack-hoot and a woman's petticoat ; the former being a miserable play upon the Earl's Christian name and title, and the petticoat typical of course of the Princess Dowager. Not less offensive was a paper which appeared in Wilkes's famous periodical the "North Briton," in which, under the names and in the characters of Queen Isabella and " the gentle Mortimer," the writer symbo- lizes the tender connexion which was presumed to. exist between Bute and the royal foundress of his fortunes. But grossest of all was a frontispiece to one of the numbers of "Almon's Political Register," in which Lord Bute is repre- sented as being secretly introduced into the bedchamber of the Princess of Wales ; the identity of which is rendered unmistakable by a widow's lozenge, which, with the royal arms delineated upon it, is suspended over the head of the bed.* These and other libellous attacks — whether they were levelled against the Scots as a nation, or whether against individuals, as in the case of the Princess Dowager and Lord Bute — were, of course, in the highest degree dis- graceful, not only to the hireling authors f and limners of the day, but also to the age which encouraged their * Walpole's Eei^n of George 3, vol. iii. p. 199. + As an instance of the utterly unprincipled dealings of some of these Grub Street maligners may be related an anecdote of the well-known and really highly-gifted Gilljert Stuart, whom his countryman, Somerville the historian, mentions meeting in 1769, at the hospitable table of ]\Iurray, the publisher, in Fleet Street. "I was astonished," wrote Somerville, "at the effrontery as well as the imjiudence with which he dared to avow a want of all principle and honour. He showed me two contrasted characters of Alderman Beckford, the idol of the mob, which he was to insert in the antagonist newspapers most in circulation ; one a panegyric and the other a libel, for each of wliich he expected to receive the reward of a guinea." — "Ml) own Life and Times," by the Kev. T. SoniciTille, p. 149. ^T. 24.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIED. 163 scurrilities. That one, at least, of the members of the late Cabinet — Lord Temple — warmly aided and abetted the cowardly slanderers, is a fact as certain as it is dis- creditable. It should be remembered that, In the opinion of many of the wisest and the best, Bute, by bringing the war to a conclusion, had done the State good service. "The war," said the dying Carteret, " had been the most glorious, and the peace was the most honourable this nation ever saw."* Bute's enemies, however, not only denied him the credit even of good intentions, but continued to raise so fierce an outcry against liim, that it had become perilous for him to appear in the streets except in disguise by night, or else protected by pugilists by day. " He went about the streets," writes Lord Chesterfield, " timidly and disgrace- fully, attended at a small distance by a gang of hridsers, the scoundrels and ruffians that attend the Bear Gardens."! — "A gentleman, who died not many years ago," writes Lord Macaulay, "used to say that he once recognised the favourite Earl in the piazza of Covent Garden, muffled In a large coat, and with a hat and wig drawn over his brows." J Not since Lord Chancellor Jefferles had been seized In a sailor's dress in Wapping, had a British statesman been reduced to more ignominious straits, or been in greater danger from the fury of the mob. On one occasion, when on liis way to the House of Lords in a sedan-chair, it was only by the timely arrival of the Horse Guards tluit he was rescued fi'om the violence of the populace. In the mean time, although the Court had been tri- umphant on one most important occasion, there were still other questions pending, which were fraught with difficulty, if not with danger to theMInister. It was a period of great * Wood's Essay on Homer, Preface. + Chesterfield's Letters, edited by Earl Stanliope, vol. ii. p. 477. t Lord Macaulay's Essays, vol. iii. p. 561, tenth edition. M 2 164 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1762. fincancial embarrassment. The cost of the war had been enormous. The odious task of imposing fresh taxes had become a matter of absohite necessity. Never had the country stood in more need of an able financial Minister, yet seldom had there been a more inefficient Chancellor of the Exchequer than Sir Francis Dashwood, the statesman who was now preparing his Budget for the consideration of Parliament. Sir Francis was the only son of Sir Francis Dashwood, Baronet, by Lady Mary Fane, daughter of Vere, fourth Earl of Westmoreland. In his political opinions he was a Tory ; he had formerly been an uncompromising Jacobite. Although gifted neither with eloquence nor with eminent administrative ability, his blunt and hearty manner of speaking in the House of Commons had obtained for him a reputation for political honesty and strong sense. In his youth he had travelled over many countries, and in private life was an eminently entertaining and agreeable companion. Here, however, our encomiums of him must cease. Lax as were the morals of the age in which he lived, it may be questioned whether he was surpassed by any one of his contemporaries in profaneness, obscenity, and vice. His wild and irreverent frolics were the constant talk of his time. One of them, which occurred at Rome, will suffice to satisfy the curiosity of the reader. Formerly, it seems, on a Good Friday in the Holy City, it was the custom for a devotee, on entering the Sistine Chapel for the purpose of performing self-penance, to receive from the attendant at the door a small whip, with which, at a certain signal, he was required to scourge himself The chapel was lighted by three candles only, which were extinguished one by one, at brief intervals of time, by the priest. On the blowing out of the first candle, the penitents divested themselves of their upper garments. A second candle was then extinguished, on which a further JET. 24.] EEIGN OF GEOBGE THE THIRD. 165 disrobement took place ; and lastly, on the blowing out of tlie third candle, which left the chapel in complete darkness, the several penitents commenced flagellating themselves, giving vent at the same time to appropriate groans and lamentations. It was on one of these occasions, that Sir Francis, having provided himself with a formidable riding- whip, which he concealed beneath his upper coat, took the small scourge from the attendant and, advancing to the further end of the chapel, placed himself demurely among the devotees. On the extinction of the third candle he proceeded to put in practice the unjustifiable joke which he had projected. Drawing his riding-whip from beneath his coat, he commenced lajdng it about him right and left till he reached the chapel door ; the penitents all the while believing that the Evil One was among them, and shrieking out " II diavolo ! II diavolo /" In the confusion. Sir Francis contrived to effect his escape. The outrage, however, was subsequently traced to him, and accordingly no choice was left to him but to make the best of his way out of the Papal dominions. * Sir Francis, it should be related, founded on his return to England the once well-known Dilettanti Club, an eccentric association composed chiefly of young men who had made the tour of Europe, and who had acquired a taste for anti- quities and the fine arts. The nominal qualification, accord- ing to Walpole, was having been in Italy ; the real one w^as getting drunk, t Each of the members sat for his portrait, which was ornamented with peculiar symbols and devices. That of their founder represented him in the habit of St. Francis, at his devotions before a copy of the statue of Venus de' Medici, from which issued a stream of light, that shed its rays upon the kneeling libertine. X * Walpole's Reigii of George 3, vol. i. p. 172, note by Sir Denis Le Marchant. t Walpole's Letters, vol. i. p. 240. Ed. 1857. + During many years in the last century this infamous picture — for utterly infamous 166 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1762 Such were the character and habits of the statesman to whose lot it fell, at this critical period, to discharge the intri- cate and onerous duties of Minister of Finance. Of everything connected with commercial matters he seems to have been as ignorant as Bute himself. According to one of the Wits of the day, he was a "man to whom a sum of five figures was an impenetrable secret." Sir Francis, indeed, laughed at his o^\^l incompetency. "People," he said, "will pomt at me in the streets, and cry, ' There goes the worst Chancellor of the Exchequer that ever appeared!'"* Nevertheless, 1763. he had the hardihood to lay his Budget before the House of Commons, when not only did it prove as signal a failure as the world had anticipated, but many of his expositions were received with shouts of derision. One of his proposi- tions was to lay a tax upon cider, an impost so hateful to the country gentlemen, that, before many days had passed, the cider-counties, hitherto the most loyal in England,! had spirited themselves up almost to a state of insurrection. It was during an exciting discussion on this unpopular item, that George Grenville received a memorable buffet from his brother-in-law, Pitt. It was the late war, said Grenville, or rather it was the profligate extravagance with which it had been carried on, that had occasioned the necessity for it was — hung openly in the great room of the King's Arms Tavern, in New Palaoe-yard, where the Dilettanti Club had at one time held their nleetings. — Appen- dix to the North Briton, vol. iv. p. 277, edition, 1772. — Walpok's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 174. * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 250. See also the Bedford Con-espondence, vol. iii. p. 222. His predecessor. Lord Barrington, though a much better man, had given, as he himself candidly admits, small promise of turning out a much better Chan- cellor of the Exchequer. " The same strange fortune," he writes to Sir Andrew Mitchell, on the 23rd of March, 1761, " which made me Secretary at War, five years and a half ago, has made me Chancellor of tlie Exchequer. It maj', perhaps, at last make me Pope. I thiidc 1 am equally fit to be at the head of the Church as of the Exchequer." — ElWs Orig. Letters, vol. iv. p. 433. t " Yet was the Cider-laud unstained with guilt ; The Cider-laud, obsequious still to thrones. Abhorred such base, disloyal deeds, and all llir pruning-hooks extended into swords." Philips' "Cider," Book 2. 2Et. 24.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE TIIIED. 167 additional taxation.* " I call upon tlie honourable gentle- men opposite to me," he repeated in his usual querulous style, " to say ivhere they would wish to have a tax laid ? I say, sir, let them tell me wJiere ! I repeat it, sir ! I am entitled to say to them, — tell me loliereV Pitt, to whom any reflection on the conduct of the w^ar was tantamount to an insult offered to himself, instantly and indignantly rose from his seat. Every eye in the House w^as fixed upon him and presently every member was convulsed with laughter, as, fixing his eye contemptuously on his brotlier-in-law, and mimicking his languid and monotonous tone of voice, he repeated the words of a popular song by Howard, then familiar to every ear — • " Gentle Slieplierd, tell me where ! " This sarcasm Pitt followed up by a terrific volume of invective, which he had no sooner concluded than Grenville in a transport of fury sprang on his feet. " If gentlemen," he commenced, " are to be subjected to such contemptuous treatment" — Pitt, however, was satisfied with his triumph, and accordingly, making a bow to Grenville, accompanied by a glance of the most withering disdain, he again rose from his seat, and walked deliberately out of the House. It was the " most contemptuous look and manner," writes Rigby to the Duke of Bedford, "that I ever saw." And again Pigby adds : "So much ingenuity and insolence I never saw or heard before."! From that day, Grenville was never able to shake off the nickname of " The Gentle Shepherd." Notwithstanding the unpopularity of the Cider Bill, and the strenuous opposition which it met wdth in both Houses of Parliament, so great was the influence of the Court at this * " In 1714, the rublic Deht was 54,14f;,363/., hearing an interest of 3,351,358?. Upon the close of the war in 1762, it amonnted to 146,683,814?., bearing an interest oi i,d,iO,S'-ni:'— Cooke's Historii of Pa^^ty, vol. ii., y. 408, note. + Bedford Corrcsp , vol. iii. p. 219. Walpole's Keign of George 3, vol. i. p. 251. 168 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1763. period that it was carried by large majorities, and in due time became part of the law of the land. Two protests against it were entered on the Journals of the House of Lords ; this having been the first instance, it is said, of the Peers having divided on a Money Bill.* Thus had Bute achieved his second triumph. England, as Walpole observes, was lying " submissively prostrate " before him. "Those," as Dodington had prophesied, "who had been at his throat were now at his feet." f Yet it was at this very time, when the favourite of fortune was in the full possession, and apparently in the full enjoy- ment of power, that the world was amazed at the announce- Apr. 8, i^^Q^^ ii^^i i^Q \y^^ ceased to be Minister. To his friends, Bute notified that ill health, and the unpopularity which he had been the means of entailing on his Sovereign, were the causes of his retirement. His physicians — he wrote to the Duke of Bedford — had warned him that any constant applica- tion to business might prove fatal to him. Some time since, he added, he had received a " solemn promise " from the King that he should be allowed to retire as soon as Peace might be obtained, and his Majesty had now been reluctantly induced to fulfil that promise. " And now, my dear Lord," he continues, "need I make use of many arguments to prevail on the Duke of Bedford to assist his young Sovereign with his weight and name — that sovereign who has not a wish but what terminates in this country's happiness, and who, since he mounted the throne, has shown ever the highest regard and predilection for the Duke of Bedford." | — "Lord l^ute," writes Lord Barrington to Sir Andrew Mitchell, " resigned last Friday. He will have no office, and declares he will not be a Minister behind the curtain, but give up business entirely. The reasons he gives for * "History of thn Late Minority,'" p. 123. + LcUcr to Lord Bute, dated Oct. 8, 1761 ; Adolpliii.s'.s Ilist. of England, vol. i. p. 466. X Bedford Corrnsp., vol. ill. pp. 223—225. iEx. 21.] REIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 169 this step are that lie finds the dishke taken to hini has lessened the popularity which the King liad and ought to have ; that he hopes his retirement will make things quiet and his ^Majesty's Government easy. He says that he unwillingly undertook the business of a Minister, on the King's absolute promise that he might retire when the peace should be made."* Instead of sharing the astonishment which w^as felt by Bute's contemporaries at his voluntary retirement from power, there would, we conceive, have been much more reason for surprise had he deemed it prudent to remain. Increasing doubts in his own mind, in regard to his capacity to conduct the affairs of a great nation — vexation at the hatred and contempt with which he was regarded by the middle and lower classes — disgust at the scandalous scur- rilities to which he was exposed in common with the second lady in the realm — fear of personal violence at the hands of the rabble f — and lastly, fear of impeachment by Parliament in the event of the Whig Lords recovering their former despotic authority — were, in addition to the reasons assigned by himself, motives quite powerful enough to induce a much bolder and less sensitive man than Bute to desire to quit the liehn. Moreover, already the "Great Families" were engaged in re-organising their divided forces. Early in the preceding month, there had taken place at Devonshire House a " great Coalition dinner," at which Pitt and Lord Temple had been ominously present, and at which a joint plan of action against the insolent upstart and Tory interloper, as the Whigs regarded Bute, had been enthusiastically agreed upon. " Their countenances," writes Rigby to the Duke of Bedford, " are quite cleared up since they have put them- * Ellis's Original Letters, vol. iv., p. 461. Second series. t " The fact mnst be certain," writes the Duke of ^Xewrastle to Pitt, on tlie 9th of April, 1763, "that the Minister was thoroughly frightened from the universal re- sentment of the whole nation which he has drawn upon himself." — Cluitkam, Corresj}. , vol. ii. p. 221. 170 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1763 selves under Pitt's management." * The Coalition is said to have been composed of the Dukes of Devonshire, Bolton, and Portland ; the Marquis of Rockingham ; the Earls of Albemarle, Ashburnham, Hardwicke, and Besboroiigh ; Earls Temple and Cornwallis ; Lords Spencer, Sondes, Grantham, and Villiers ; Sir George Savile, Pitt, and James Grenville.f Rigby further mentions the Duke of Grafton as having been present at the "great Coalition dinner" at Devonshire House.J George Grenville, it will be observed, kept aloof from his former friends. Another source of vexation to Bute was the timid and lukewarm support which he received from his own col- leagues. " Single in a Cabinet of my own forming," he writes to a friend ; "no aid in the House of Lords to support me except two Peers ; § both the Secretaries of State silent, and the Lord Chief Justice, whom I brought myself into office, || voting for me but speaking against me — the ground I stand upon is so hollow that I am afi'aid not only of falling myself, but of involving my royal master in my ruin. It is time for me to retire." As far as his per- sonal interests were concerned, tlie Earl had but few inducements to tempt him to remain in power. His vanity had been gratified by his having filled the highest office to which the most ambitious sul)ject can aspire. He had secured the Order of the Garter for himself, and an English peerage for his son. He had succeeded in accom- plishing the two great objects of his political existence, tlie bringing the war to a close, and the overthrow of the Whig oligarchy. By the death of his father-in-law, Mr. Edward AVortley Montagu,^ he had become the possessor of a * Bedford Correap., vol. iii. p. 219. + " History of the Late Minority," p. 91. t Bedford Corrosp., vol. iii. p. 219. § The Earls of Denbigh and Ponifret. || Lonl Mansfield. H Lord Bute had married, in 1736, Mary, dauffhter of Mr., and th« celebrated Lady Wortloy Montagu. Horace Walpolc writes to George Montagu, on the 7th of ^T. 24.] REIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 171 noble fortune, and consequently the emoluments of office had ceased to he any longer of miportance to the princely proprietor of Cardiff Castle and Luton. Lastly, he had the good fortune to be blessed with those redeeming tastes and accomplishments, which alike afford occupation to, and throw a grace over, retirement. " I never knew a man," writes his frequent guest M. Dutens, " with whom one could be so long tete-a-tete without being tired, as Lord Bute. His knowledge was so extensive, and consequently his con- versation so varied, that one thought oneself in the company of several persons, with the advantage of being sure of an even temper in a man whose goodness, politeness, and attention, were never wanting towards those who lived ■uith him."''' Bute, writes Lord Chesterfield, " had honour, honesty, and good intentions. He was too proud to be respectable or respected ; too cold and silent to be amiable ; too cun- ning to have great abilities." t Bishop Warburton also says of him in one of his letters: — "Lord Bute is a very unfit man to be Prime Minister of England. First, he is a Scotch- man ; secondly, he is the King's friend ; and thirdly, he is an honest man." j " The great cry against Lord Bute," writes Lord Chesterfield, " was on account of his being a Scotchman ; the only fault which he could not possibly correct." § That Lord Bute was cold and proud by nature — that he February, 1761 : — "Have you heard what immense riches old Wortley has left? One million, three hundred and fifty thousand pounds ! It is all to centre in my Lady Bute : her husband is one of fortune's prodigies." — Walpole's Letters, vol. iii. p. 377. Gray also writes about the same period: — "You see old Wortley Montagu is dead at last, at eighty-three. He has left better than half a million of money." — Grays Work^, vol. iii. p. 272. According to Lord Chesterfield, Lady Bute, by the death of her father and mother came into possession of " five or six hundred thousand pounds."— Zftora, edited hij Earl Sfanhope, vol. ii. p. 470. * "Memoirs of a Traveller now in Retirement," vol. iv. pp. 177 — 8. t Letters, edited by Earl Stanhope, vol. ii. p. 482. J Seaward's Anecdotes of Distinguished Persons, vol. ii. p. 860. § Letter.*, vol. ii. p. 473. 172 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1763. was a narrow-minded politician, and an inefficient Minister, — may be asserted without much fear of contradiction. But, on the other hand, that he was the harsh, austere, inaccessible domestic tyrant, such as his political opponents have represented him to be,* may, we think, be with equal safety denied. Lady Hervey, whose praise is of value, writes on the 15th December, 1760: — "So much I know of him, though not personally acquainted with him, that he has always been a good husband, an excellent father, a man of truth and sentiments above the common run of men. They say he is proud. I know not. Perhaps he is. But it is like the pride they also accuse Mr. Pitt of, which will always keep them from little, false, mean, frivolous ways ; and such pride may all that I love, or interest myself for, ever have!"t That his heart was susceptible of the kindest natural feelings, more than one anecdote might be adduced to prove. On the 27th of May, 1756, Mr. G. Elliott writes to George Grenville : — " I passed all yesterday with Lord Bute, whom I found deeply affected with the death of Bothwell, his old tutor, to whom, more from habi- tude than on any other account, he was much attached." J To the poor and the deserving the purse of Lord Bute was ever open. " He employed me often," writes M. Dutens, " to assist industrious artists Avho might be saved from ruin by a little sum given in the moment of want ; and I have been many times employed by him to visit the prisons, in order to release insolvent debtors whom he did not per- sonally know, and who never knew their benefactor. "§ There was one public measure of which Bute is said to have been the suggester — namely the securing the uprightness and independence of the Judges by obtaining * See Wraxall's Historical Memoirs of his Own Time, vol. ii. p. 64, 3nl edition. t Lady Ilervey's Letters, p. 275. J Grenville Papers, vol. i. p. 162. § "Memoirs of a Traveller now in Eetirement," vol. iv. p. 185. iET. 24.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE TIIIED. 173 an Act of Parliament continuing to them their commissions notwithstancUng the demise of the Crown — for which much credit has been awarded him.* Far greater credit is his due on account of the conscientious manner in which he dispensed the patronage of the Church. To George Gren- ville he writes on the 9th of January, 17G2, — " There is no part of my situation, arising from the King's partiality to me, that I prize more than ecclesiastical patronage ; not for the sake of making friends or forming party, but from conviction that a proper choice of the Clergy, especially of those in the higher preferments, is rendering to my King and country a most essential service. "t According to Lord Waldegrave, Lord Bute, though pos- sessing but a trifling stock of learning, was anxious to be thought " a polite scholar and a man of great erudition." j " The Earl," writes Walpole, "had so little knowledge and so little taste, that his own letters grew a proverb for want of orthography." § These statements, however, would seem to be greatly exaggerated. When M. Dutens visited him at Luton in 1773, he found the Earl's library consisting of thirty thousand volumes. His cabinet of mathematical instruments and astronomical and philosophical apparatus was considered one of the most complete in Europe ; || he certainly possessed a taste for architecture and painting ; he was the collector of that noble gallery of pictures which is now in the possession of his representative ; % and, lastly, * Lord Hardwicke, in a speech in the Honse of Lords, eulogises this measure "as truly worthy the most renowned legislators of antitj^uity. " On the other hand one of his successors in the Chancellorship, Lord Camphell, pooh-poohs it as a trumpery act of legislation, — in fact as no boon at all. — Lives of the Chancellors, vol. v., p. 150, 2ml edition. "We owe," writes HaUam, "this important provision to the Act of Settlement ; not, as ignorance and adulation have perpetually asserted, to his late Majesty, George 3." — Constitutional History of England, vol. ii. p. 357, 5th edition. f Greiiville Papers, vol. i. p. 419. :;: Lord Waldegrave's Memoirs, p. 38. § Reign of George 3, voh i. p. 18. II " Memoirs of a Traveller now in Retirement," vol. ii. j). 114. H Charles Fo.x was of opinion that Lord Bute was a " still more magnificent 174 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1763. it seems to liaA^e been owing to tlie taste for floricul- ture which he early instilled into the mind of his royal master, that the public are now indebted for the unrivalled national botanical gardens at Kew. Neither should the debt of gratitude, which Kew owes to Queen Charlotte, be forgotten. According to Sir James E. Smith, President of the Linnasan Society, " few persons cherished the study of nature more ardently, or cultivated it so deeply." * Even Walpole admits that Bute extended his patronage to artists and men of letters. True, indeed, it is, that the per- sons whom he patronised were chiefly his own countrymen — as, for instance. Mallet, Smollett, Murphy, Macpherson, the professed translator of Ossian, and Home, the author of Douglas — but stfll, exceptionable as the selection may have been, it was creditable to him as a Minister to have succoured genius at all. " The mighty Home, bemired in prose so long, Again shall stalk upon the stilts of song : AVhile bold Mac-Ossian, wont in ghosts to deal, Bids candid Smollett from his coffin steal ; Bids Mallet quit his sweet Elysian nest, Sunk on his St. John's philosophic breast, And, like old Orpheus, make some strong effort To come from Hell, and warble truth at Court, "f Frederick Prince of Wales, for some time previously to his death, would seem to have set less and less value on the friendship and judgment of Bute. The Princess of Wales, on the contrary, retained her friendship — or, as some would have it, her love for him — to the last. " The Princess Dowager," writes Lord Waldegrave, " discovered other accomplishments, of which the Prince, her husband, may man," as regarded a taste for, and as a collector of, " jiictures or fine tilings," than another noble vii'tuoso of tlie time. Lord La.nsdov,'ne. — Eecolleciions by tSaviuel Rogers, p. 34. * "Kew Gardens," by Sir W. J. Hooker, p. 9. Lord Bute printed, at his own expense, a splendid work on Botany, in nine volumes quarto. Only twelve copies were printed, one of which is in tlie Boyal Library. In 1813, a copy was sold for 82?. 19s. — See Loinidcs' Bihlingrnphers' Manual, art. Bute. t Heroic Epistle to Sir William Chambers. JEt. 24.] REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 175 not, perhaps, have been the most competent to judge."* The visits of Lord Bute to Carlton House are said to have been usually made of an evening and with great secrecy ; the Earl, on such occasions, borrowing the sedan-chair of one of the ladies of the Princess's household, Miss Van- sittart, and drawing the curtains close, in order to avoid detection.! " The eagerness," writes Walpole, " of the pages of the back-stairs to let the Princess know whenever Lord Bute arrived, and some other symptoms, contributed to dispel the ideas that had been conceived of tke rigour of her widowhood." And again Walpole writes : — " I am as much convinced of an amorous connexion between Bute and the Princess Dowa^-er as if I had seen them to2:etlier." Y jt, after all, these bold opinions are founded on no tan- gible facts. " It is certain, on the one hand," WTites Lord Chesterfield, " that there were many very strong indications of the tenderest connexion between them ; but, on the other hand, when one considers how deceitful appearances often are in those affairs, the capriciousness and incon- sistency of women, which make them often be unjustly suspected, and the improbability of knowing exactly what passes in tete-a-tetes^ one is reduced to mere conjectures."! Since so shrewd and well-informed a man of the world as * Lord Waldegrave's Memoirs, p. 39. + WraxalFs Hist. Memoirs of" his Own Time, vol. ii. p. 73. That suspicions of the existence of a tender connexion between the Princess and Lord Bute, were cur- rent even in the life-time of her hushand is shown by the well-known retort addressed to her by her maid of honour. Miss Chudleigh, when — on the occasion of the latter appearing in a half- nude state as Iphigenia at a masked ball at Somerset House — the Princess pointedly rebuked her immodesty by throwing a veil over her person — " Voire AUesse Royale sail que chacunc a son But."' — Wraxcdl's Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 74. The ball in question took place on the first of May, 1749. " Miss Cliudleigli's dress, or rather undress," writes Mrs. Montagu to her sister, "was remarkable. She was Iphigenia for the sacrifice, but so naked the high priest might easily in.spect the entrails of the victim. The maids of honour, not of maids the strictest, were so offended they would not speak to her." Walpole also writes — " Miss Chudleigh was Iphigenia, but so naked that you would have taken her for Andromeda." — Mrs. Montagus Letters, vol. iii. p. 158. Walpole s Ldtcrs, vol. ii. p. 153. X Lord Chesterfield's Letters, edited by Earl Stanhope, vol. ii. \). ill. 176 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1763. Lord Cliesterfiekl was unable to solve the mystery, it would surely be presumption on our part to pronounce any opinion on this difficult as well as delicate question. Whether, however, Lord Bute's connexion with the Princess was of a tender nature or not, it was certainly blended with a friend- ship, which death only was able to terminate. If, for instance, the reader of these pages should chance to visit Luton in Bedfordshire, his attention will, in the park, be attracted to a plain Tuscan pillar surmounted by an urn, which, according to tradition, was raised by Lord Bute in honour of ,his royal mistress, but which in fact was erected in the days of the former possessor's of Luton, the Napiers, to the memory of some lamented scion of their house. But, if the visitor will raise his glance to some height up the pillar, he will be able to detect a touching inscrip- tion, bearing date the year in which the Princess died — a silent yet eloquent memorial of the grateful attachment of a fallen ]\Iinister to the royal lady whose friendship had so often consoled him in the hours of difficulty and danger, and when his name had become a by-word of reproach and contempt. DUM MEMOR IPSE MET DUM SPIRITUS HOS REGIT ARTUS. A — o N 1772.* Lord Bute's resignation took place on the 8th of April 17G3; that of Fox immediately followed. The latter claimed the peerage which had been guaranteed to him as the reward of his political apostacy, and accordingly on the IGtli he was advanced to the dignity of Baron Holland. About the same time, Sir Francis Dashwood was * From private information. " Duiii niemor ipse mei, dum spiritus lios regit artus." Jiiicid, Lib. 4, v. 337. JSt. 24.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE TIIIED. 177 raised to tlie Peerage as Baron Le Despencer, a title wliicli Apr. 19, had been for some years in abeyance in liis family.* Notwithstanding' the general conviction which existed — • and, indeed, which still exists- — to the contrary, there is reason to believe, not only that Bute's influence over his Sovereign had been for some thne on the wane, but that, so soon as the Earl had succeeded in securhig a Parliamentary majority in favour of the Peace, the King with no great reluctance accepted his resignation. "I believe," writes Walpole, "that, even before his accession, the King was weary both of his mother and of her favourite, and wanted to, and did early shake off, much of that influence, "f Bute — as the Duchess of Brunswick, George the Third's eldest sister, afterwards as- sured Lord Malmcsbury — had flattered himself that the King would have entreated him to remain in office ; but, added the Duchess, the King accepted the Seals from him in silence. J A like presumption may be gathered from a remarkable conversation which, forty years after Bute's resignation, the King held with George Rose at Cuffiiells. Bute, he said, was unhappily deficient in political firmness ; a most essen- tial quality in a First Minister of the Crown. " This," writes Rose, " led his Majesty to remind me of the anecdote re- lated by him, in 1801, of his Lordship while Minister — when surrounded in his carriage by a mob near the House of Lords — coming to him in a panic, followed by the mob to St. James's, to dissuade his Majesty from going to the Play, and of the rebuke he gave his Lordship for that proceeding. He said, however, that his Lordship did not want talents, and that Lord Mansfield had assured him he never knew any one, who came so late into business, take to it and do it so well." § ■* Lord Le Despencer died December 9, 1789, when the Barony devolved upon hi.s kin.sman Sir Thomas Stapleton, Bart. t Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. iv. p. 133, note. i Lord Malmesbury's Diaries, vol. iii. p. 158. § Rose's Diaries, vol. ii. p. 192. See also Walpole's Memoirs of Uic Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 255. VOL. r. N 178 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1763. CHAPTER X. George Grenville appointed Premier — Grenville in the House of Commons— John Wilkes, and Liberty of the Press — The New Order of " Franciscans "—The "North Briton" Newspaper — "General "Warrants" — Wilkes committed to the Tower, but released on writ of Habeas Corpus— Popular excitement in Loudon — The King's dissatisfaction with the GrenviUe Ministry. It was at the recommendation of Lord Bute — as lias been generally supposed — that the King sent for George Grenville, and conferred upon him the honour which he most coveted — the Premiership.* In offering this advice to his Sovereign, it was Bute's intention, according to his enemies, to make use of Grenville as a mere political puppet ; he himself continuing to enjoy the solid advan- tages of poAver, exempt from its perils and responsibilities, while he left to his delegate the empty title of Premier. If such were the case, and if Bute really looked upon Grenville as the mere complaisant and tractable being which this supposition implies, he was destined to be signally disappointed. Not that, in thus forming a low estimate of Grenville's character and abilities, Bute was singular in his error. Probably there was not one of Grenville's own colleagues — possibly not one even of his * George Grenville, second son of Richard Grenville, Esq. of Wotton, by his marriage with Hester Countess Temple, M-ns born October 14tli, 1712. He was educated at Eton and afterwards at Clnist Church, Oxford. Mr. Grenville repre- sented the town of Buckingham in Parliament continuously from 1741 till his death on the 13th of November 1770. He married, in 1710, Elizabeth sister to Charles Earl of Egremont and daughter of Sir AV'illiam Wyndham, by whom he became the father of George Grenville, first IMarquis of Buckiugham, of AVilliam, created Baron Grenville, and of the late Eight Hon. Thomas Grenville. Mr. 24.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 173 own nearest relations — wlio had discovered liow deep-rooted and all-absorbing- was tlic ambition wliicli lurked beneatli the cold nature and uninviting asj^ect of this remarkable man.* " He had hitherto," writes Walpole, " been known but as a fatiguing orator and indefatigable drudge, more likely to disgust than to offend." f Even after he had risen to be First Minister of the Crown, the House of Commons seems to have treated him with no great respect. " I wish," said Sir Fletcher Norton one day to him in the House, " that the Eight Honourable gentleman, instead of shaking his head, would shake an argument out of it." j: Even those, who were capable of appreciating the ability of his financial and commercial expositions, seem to have regarded him in a not much higher light than as a pains- taking bore. I George Grenville usually figures as one of the most sliort- sio-lited and inefficient Premiers of modern times. Never- theless he possessed many of the qualifications requisite to fill hidi office with credit. His abilities were much above mediocrity; his personal courage was unquestionable, and the interests of his country were ever near to his heart. His private and political integrity were equally unim- peachable. As a man of business, he was punctual * The Duke of Newcastle, however, was wise enough to see through Bute's design, if such existed, as well as to discover Grenville's real character. On the day after Bute's resiguatiou Ave find his Grace writing to Mr. Pitt ;— " I suppose he [Bute] liopes to retain the same power and influence out of employment that he luid in it ; but he may find that difficult. I (piestion whether he has chosen the best person to act under him for that purpose." Chatham Corrcsj}., v. ii. 222. Lord Chancellor Hardwieke, on the contrary, seems to have anticipated that Bute would retain to the full his former influence. To Lord Royston he writes on the 4th September 1763 ; — "I have been very credibly informed that both Lord Halifax and George Grenville have declared that he [Bute] is to go beyond sea, and reside for a twelvemonth or more. You know Cardinal ]\Iazarine was twice exiled out of France, and governed France as absolutely whilst he was absent as when he was present." Uarris's Life of llanlwkke, vol. iii. 381. t Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 271. t Chatham Corrcsp., vol. iii. p. 358, note. "Sir Fletcher," writes Lord Temple to Lady Chatham, "was brutal and impertinent to George Grenville last night." N 2 180 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1763 and indeftitlgable. Having been called to the Bar, lie liad the advantage of carrying with him into public life a competent knowledge of law. In his youth, instead of having associated with the hazard-players at White's, the Macaronis at the Cocoa Tree, or the jockies at Newmarket, the future Premier had lived laborious days in gloomy chambers in one of the Inns of Court. Since then he had served a long and diligent apprenticeship in various offices of the State. From having been a junior Lord of the Admiralty, in 1744, and of the Treasury in 1747, lie had risen to be Treasurer of the Navy in 1754, Secretary of State in 1762, and, the same year, to be First Lord of the Admiralty. While employed in these several Departments he is said to have made himself completely master of the business and duties of each. Lastly, a well-deserved reputation for religion and strict morality raised him high in the estimation of an influential party in the State. " Mr. Grenville," writes Bishop Newton, " was not only an able Minister, but was likewise a religious good man, and regularly attended the Service of the Church every Sunday morning, even when he was hi the highest offices." * On the other hand, Grenville was afflicted M'ith infirmi- ties of mind and temper Mdiicli were certain to mar his suc- cess as First Minister of the Crown. He was a fatio-uino; talker and a bad listener. In his intercourse with others there was no amenity ; no openness, no geniality, no tact. His nature was suspicious and unforgiving ; his manners cold and ungracious, his countenance unprepossessing. He was distinguished by a self-conceit and a self-confidence which were proof against the most persuasive arguments and the most incontrovertible facts, f To persuade him * Bishop Kcwtou's Autobiograplij', Works, vol. i. pp. 115—6. t Yet it was more tlian whispered at tlie time that his political conduct was too much infhienced by his wife, a strong-miuded, and most probably ambitious woman Sec tho Bedford Corrcsp., vol. iii. p, 324, note by Earl llussell. iEr. 24.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE TIIE THIED. 181 that on any occasion lie liad been in tlie wrong in his pnhhc capacity, is said to have been next to an impos- sibiHty. As a statesman there was no grandeur in Grenville's poHcy. Though at times he was a powerful speaker, there was nothing ennobling in his eloquence, nothing enlightened in his conceptions, and no expansion in his views. When called upon to direct the helm of Govern- ment, he carried with him to the service of the State quali- fications which would have been invaluable in a manager of a great mercantile establishment, but which were often rendered worse than barren when brought to bear on the interests of a great empire. Economy, in his opinion, Avas the first of virtues. It was a virtue, however, which, laudably as he may have cultivated it in the management of his domestic concerns, was often turned to a very ill account by this short-sighted Minister, when applied to the affairs of the public. For instance, there occurred an opportunity during his Administration, wdien the expenditure of a few hundred pounds would have cleared the suburbs and thoroughfares of the metropohs of the cut-purses and footpads by which they were then infested, yet he refused to sign the Treasury Minute which would have remedied the crying evil. Again, wdien the King and Queen remonstrated that their domestic privacy at Buckingham House was about to be disturbed by the erection of the houses which now form a part of Gros- venor Place, Grenville refused to purchase — although for the comparatively trifling sum of £20,000 — a tract of ground which would have added another healthy area to the metro- polis, and of Avhich the pecuniary value is now incalculable.* On the more famous and ruinous consequences of his petti- fogging endeavour to wring a paltry tax from the Americans, it would at present be premature to dwell. Grenville's » Walpole's Eeigu of George 3, vol. ii. p. 160. 182 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1763. proper element was in the House of Commons. He was a firm believer in its infallibility as a national senate. He was ready enough to accept the axiom that all power is derived from the people, yet the people having once delegated that power to their representatives, he held that the com- munity had ceased to have any voice or concern in the administration of affairs.* It was in the House of Commons that his financial knowledge, and thorough acquaintance Avith the business of the State, gave him a pre-eminent advan- tage over his contemporaries. Of the duties, the precedents, and Constitution of that Assembly he was intimately cogni- sant. Even after the longest and most fatiguing debate it seems to have been no effort to him to sit down and write a long account of it to the King. As Burke said of him — " He took public business, not as a duty he was to fulfil, but as a pleasure he was to enjoy." f He seemed in fact to have no delight out of the House of Commons. Once, when he was taken ill and fainted in the House, George Selwyn, amidst loud cries from the Members for ammonia and cold water, was overheard exclaiming — ■" Why don't you give him the Journals to smell to ! " | Grenville, following a precedent furnished him by Sir Robert Walpole and afterwards by Mr. Peiham, combined in his own person the two offices of First Lord of the Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer. His principal supporters in the Government were the Earls of Egre- mont and Halifax. His two most formidable opponents were his brother Earl Temple, and his brother-in-law Mr. Pitt, both of them recently his colleagues in office, and both of them formerly among the most trusted of his friends. * " In Lis discourse," writes Walpole, "I thought liim a grounded Republican." Hcirjii of George 3, vol. i. p. 839. + Speech on American Taxation, April 19, 177-1. Burke's Speeches, vol, i. p. 205. J Farl Russell's Life of Moore, vol. ii. p. 213 ; narrated by the late Lord Lansdownc. ^T. 24.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 183 Grenville had scarcely been a montli at the head of the Treasury, before his near-sighted views and intolerant tempe- rament induced him to commit his famous and fatal blunder of declaring war against the celebrated Wilkes and the Press. John Wilkes, whose name figures so prominently in the social and political history of these times, w^as the son of a wealthy distiller in Clerkenwell, from whom he had inherited a considerable property in Buckinghamshire.* He was at this period Member for Aylesbury, and Lieutenant-Colonel of the Buckinghamshire Militia. Long previously to his having achieved a reputation as a political waiter, he had made himself conspicuous. In the gay world, by the charm of his conversation, by the fastidious luxuriousness of his repasts, by his lively and ready wit, and by his wild frolics and Bacchanalian debaucheries. He was a scholar. He was endowed with the easy address and engaging manners of an accomplished man of fashion ; his presence of mind and self-possession had never been known to fail him ; his personal Intrepidity had been proved on many trying, though not always on very creditable occasions. " He was a delightful and instructive companion," writes his friend, Butler, the Reminiscent, " but too often offensive In his freedom of speech when religion or the sex was mentioned. In his manner and habits he was an elegant Epicurean, yet it was evident to all his Intimates that he feared — ' Manes aliquos et sabterranea regna.' " So ready was his wit that, according to the same authority, wagers were laid that from the time of his leaving his house In Great George Street, till he reached Guildhall, there would not be a person, whom he might meet and converse with, but would leave him either with a smile or a * Wilkes was born, at bis father's house in St. John Street, Clerkenwell, on tbo 17tli of October 1727, and cousciiuently, at the time of his famous collision with tho Grenville Ministry, he was in his thirty-sixth year. 184 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1763. liearty laugli.* Gibbon, the historian, who passed in his society the evening of the 23rd of September 1762, has done full justice to the fascination of his conversational powers. " I scarcely," he writes, "ever met with a better companion. He has inexhaustible spirits, infinite wit and humour, and a great deal of knowledge. He told us himself, that in this time of public dissension he loas resolved to make his fortuned — "This," adds Gibbon, "proved a very debauched day. We drank a good deal, both after dinner and supper, and when at last Wilkes had retired, Sir Thomas [Worsley] and some others, of which I was not one, broke into his room and made him drink a bottle of claret in bed."t — "In pri- vate society, particularly at table," writes his acquaintance, Sir Nathaniel Wraxall, "Wilkes was pre-eminently agreeable ; abounding in anecdote ; ever gay and convivial ; converting his very defects of person, manner, or enunciation, to purposes of merriment or entertainment. If any man ever was pleasing who squinted, who had lost his teeth and lisped, Wilkes might be so esteemed." J Wilkes's squint, which has been immortalized by Hogarth, was once conspicuous on a tithe of the tavern sign-boards in England. One day, as he him- self used to relate, his attention was attracted towards an old lady who was intently looking up at one of these evidences of his popularity. " Ah ! " at last he heard her murmur to herself, "he hangs everywhere but where he ought to hang." But, whatever agreeable or redeeming qualities Wilkes may have possessed, they were completely thrown into the shade by the unblushing licentiousness of his private life. His profligacy shocked even the i)rofligate. He was one of that debauched fraternity, consisting of men of wit and fashion, who, having restored and fitted up the ruins of * Butler's Eeniiniscciices, pp. 73, 75. t Gibbon's Miscellaneous Works, p. 64. Edition, 1837. + Wraxall's Hist. Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 297, Srd Edition. -^T. 24.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 185 Medmcnliaiii Al)l)ev, near Mario w, adopted the monastic garb at tlieir convivial meetings, and instituted the most immodest rites and ribald mysteries within its sacred walls. The ruins of the old Abbey, formerly a convent of Cistertian ]\Ionks, still stand, surrounded by rich meadows, by hanging woods, and venerable elms, in a beautiful and secluded spot on the banks of the Thames. Over the principal entrance was the inscription, borrowed from Rabelais' Abbey of Theleme, Fay Ce Que Voudras. In the pleasure-grounds, the temples, statues, and inscriptions, all savoured of the impure tastes and irreverent wit of the modern denizens of the Abbey. The members of the new order styled them- selves Franciscans in honour of their Father Abbot, Sir Francis Dashwood. " Daslnvood shall pour from a Communion cup Libations to the Goddess without ej'es, And liol) and nob in cider and excise.'"* Each monk had his cell and appropriate name. In the chapel — the embellishments of which were of so immodest a character that none but the initiated were permitted access to it — the monks not only adapted the sacred rites of the Roman Catholic Church to the profane worship of Bacchus and Venus, but are said to have carried their blasphemy to such a pitch as to administer the Eucharist to an ape.f The members of the Medmenham Club, whose names have been handed down to us were — besides Sir Francis Dash- wood and Wilkes — Bubb Dodington, afterwards Lord Melcombe, Sir Thomas Stapleton, father of the twenty- second Lord Le Despencer, Paul Whitehead the poet, who was secretary to the brotherhood, and Thomas Potter, son of the then late Archbishop of Canterbury, one whose rare and promising abilities as an orator and man of letters unhappily succumbed to habits of debauchery and an early grave. * Churchill. " The Candidate." t Lord Brougham's Statesmen of the Time of George 3, vol. i. pp. 435-6. Ed. 1858. 186 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1703. Laurence Sterne has been named as one of tlie fraternity,* but apparently on no very sufiicient grounds. Lord Sand- wich's connexion with the Chib is more than once referred to in a clever poem of the time entitled " Ode to the Earl of Sandwich;" — " The midnight orgies you reveal, Nor Dashwood's cloistered rites conceal " &c. And again, - " In vain yon tempt Jack Wilkes to dine, By copious draughts of chaliccd tvine, And a?i<7ic?)!S to Moll's Rose" &c.t Such was the society of which the celebrated Wilkes was the idol. Such was the man who, instead of being held up to scorn and detestation by his contemporaries, was not only worshipped by the populace, but courted by the grave and the great. The sober-minded — fascinated by his wit and conversational powers — found excuses for his licentiousness ; while w^omen overlooked his exceeding ugliness in the charm of his gallantry, his wit, and his good humour. The particulars of Wilkes's married career furnish another scandalous page to the curious story of his life. Brought up in the persuasion of the Dissenters, he had married, at the age of twenty-two, an amiable woman professing the same persuasion. As the lady was many years older than himself, the presumption seems to be that he married her solely for the sake of her fortune which was a considerable • Quarterly Review, vol. cvi. p. 223. t "New Foundling Hospital of AVit," vol. ii. pp. 97, 100 ; vol. iii. p. 134. See also, M'itli reference to the Medmenham Abbey Club, the appendix to the North Briton, vol. iv. pp. 271 — 280. Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 174. Lord Stanhope's History of England, vol. v. pp. 2G — 7 ; edition 1851. ClmrchiU's poem, " The Candidate.'' Notes to " Chrysal or Adventures of a Guinea," in Ballan- tync's Collection of Novels, edited by Sir Walter Scott. Notes and Queries, vol. iv. p. 42, and vol. viii. p. 851 ; and Sheaham's History of Buckinghamshire, pp. 905 and 906, note, in which work Charles Churchill, the poet, Robert Lloyd, the poet, Sir John Dash wood King, Bart., Henry Lovebond Collins, Sir William Stanhope, Sir Benjamin Bates, and Francis Duffield, the proprietor of the Abbey, are also named as reputed members of the fraternity. ^T. 24.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE TIIE TIIIED. 1S7 one. At all events, before many years had passed away, Ins dissipated habits, and the dissolute society which he mtroduced into his house, compelled her to seek a separation from him. By this time all that remained to her, of her former ample means, was an inconsiderable annuity ; and even of this pittance he is said to have endeavoured to deprive her by an appeal to the Courts of Law. Baffled in this attempt, and possessing no longer the means of supporting his expensive tastes for women and the table, Wilkes now thought of betaking himself to the thriving trade of patriotism, which has been so often, as Dr. Johnson wittily defines it, the " last refuge of a scoundrel." His success, which it is needless to say was complete, was rendered the more remarkable owing to the mediocrity of his oratorical powers. His elocution was cold, insipid, and occasionally flippant. His rhetoric was usually composed of declamations on behalf of Liberties and Rights for which he cared but little, and against corruptions, in the fruits of which he would willingly have participated. According to Walpole, who was his contemporary in the House of Commons, so deficient was he in " quickness or talent for public speaking," that he was scarcely listened to with patience.* Once, when the House seemed resolved not to hear him, and a friend urged him to desist — ■" Speak," he said, "I must! — for my speech has been in print for the news- papers this half-hour." Fortunately for him, he was gifted with a coolness and effrontery which were only equalled by his intrepidity ; all three of which qualities constantly served his turn in the hour of need. As an instance of his audacity, it may be mentioned that on one occasion he and one other person put forth, from a private room in a tavern, a Proclamation commencing — " AVe, the People of England" &c., and concludhig — " By order of the Meeting ! " Another * Walpole's Letters, vol. v. p. 145. 18S ME^IOIES OP THE LIFE AND [1763. amusing instance of liis effrontery occurred on tlie liustings at Brentford, wlien lie and Colonel Luttrell were standing there together as rival candidates for the representation of the County of Middlesex in Parliament. Looking down with great apparent apathy on the sea of human beings, consisting chiefly of his own votaries and friends, which stretched beneath him — " I wonder," he whispered to his opponent, "whether among that crowd the fools or the knaves predominate?" — "I will tell them what you say," replied the astonished Luttrell, " and thus put an end to you." Perceiving that Wilkes treated the threat with the most perfect indifference — "Surely," he added, "you don't mean to say you could stand here one hour after I did so?" — " Why not ? " replied Wilkes ; — " It is ijou who would not be alive one instant after." — "How so?" inquired Luttrell. " Because," said Wilkes, " I should merely affirm that it was a fabrication, and they would destroy you in the twinkling of an eye." * As a political writer, Wilkes achieved a much greater success than as a Parliamentary speaker. Not long after the accession of George the Third appeared the first number of his famous periodical, the North Briton. Its easy and impudent style of composition, the caustic humour which it displayed, and the racy attacks which it contained upon Lord Bute and the Scotch, very speedily rendered the new Gazette popular, and its author celebrated. " The highest names," writes Walpole, "whether of statesmen or magistrates, were printed at length, and the insinuations Avent still higher." f The merits of Wilkes as an author this is not the place to discuss. When Walpole, however, speaks of his writings as being merely suited to " the mob and the moment," \. he certainly does injustice to the * Lord Brougliani's Statesmen of tlic Time of George 3, Vol. i. p. 429. Ed. 1858. t AValpolc's Pvcign of George 3, vol. i. p. 179. X Walpole's Letters, vol. v. p. 145. iET. 24.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 1S9 real liumonr, and tlie pleasant style and satire, to wliicli Wilkes's writings may unquestionably lay claim. The cleverest of his literary productions are generally admitted to have been his Dedication to Lord Bute of " RoQ-er IMortimer, a Tragedy "; his notes upon Bishop Warburton, and his ironical criticism upon the Speaker's reprimand to the Printers. AVilkes himself greatly preferred the first. In the opinion of Lord Brougham, the last is by far the best.* The wit and acrimony, with which Wilkes had lately assailed Lord Bute, he now hurled against Grenville. The new Minister had only been a fortnight in Office, when the 45tli number of the North Briton made its memorable appearance. It contained, indeed, some severe comments on the Speech from the Throne, and even charged the Ministers with placing a falsehood in the mouth of their Sovereign ; and yet, compared with the audacious contents of some of its predecessors, tliis par- ticular paper was a comparatively harmless one. Under all the circumstances of the case, Grenville should either have followed the example set him by Bute, and treated the patriot with real or assumed contempt, or else he might have secured his silence and his services by con- ferring on him a lucrative appointment. That Wilkes had his price, is now sufficiently well known. Not only, during the time that IMr. Pitt was in office, had he twice made application for employment under the Government, — once for a seat at the Board of Trade and on another occasion for the Ambassadorsliip at Constantinople — but he had recently caused it to be intimated to Lord Bute that he had only to appoint him to the Government of Canada, in order to render him for the future a devoted servant of the Crown. But it was not in Grenville's nature to resort to gentle measures when there were arbitrary ones at * Lord Brougliam's Statesmen of the Time of George 3, vol. i. l^. 430, Ed. 1858. 190 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1763. hand, and accordingly lie resolved on setting tlie wliole power of the law at work against Wilkes, even at the double risk of involving himself in a profitless and hazardous war with the Press, and of converting a pseudo-patriot into a political martyr. But, if the prosecution of AYilkes was an impolitic act, still more indefensible were the means by which it was carried into effect. We allude of course, more especially, to the famous arrest of Wilkes, and of the persons associated with him in the publication of the North Briton by a Gene- ral Warrant — that is to say by a warrant which empowered those entrusted with its execution to seize, not only any person or number of persons, but also their respective papers, without any specification of the names of the accused, or of the crimes wath which they were charged. This most arbitrary process, although not unprecedented, Avas unquestionably illegal ; * and, except in seasons of imminent national peril — such as had induced the Govern- ment to issue them on two occasions during the Rebellion of 1745 — was utterly indefensible. " To enter," argued the great Lord Camden, "a man's house by virtue of a name- less warrant, in order to procure evidence, is worse than the Spanish Inquisition ; a law under which no Englishman would wish to live an hour. It is a daring public attack upon the liberty of the subject, and in violation of the 29th Chapter of Magna Cliarta, which is directly pointed against that arbitrary power." Again the illustrious lawyer observed ; — " If the other Judges and the highest tribunal in this Kingdom, the House of Lords, shall prove my opinions erroneous, I submit, as will become ine, and kiss the rod ; but I must say that I shall always consider it as a rod of iron for the chastisement of the people of Great Britain." * Sec Stephen's Corameutaiies on the Laws of Engh^nd, vol. iv. p. 385 and note. • JET. 24.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 191 It was by virtue of this infamous warrant tliat, on tlie night of the 29th April, AVilkes's house in Great George Street Westminster was suddenly entered by three messen- gers from the Secretary of State's Office, and his papers seized. At the same time, no fewer than forty-nine other persons were taken into custody. Wilkes himself was arrested on the following morning in the streets, and carried, in the first instance, to his own residence. Here, among other friends, he was promptly visited by his ultimate asso- ciate in licentiousness and wit, Charles Churchill the poet, who, as Wilkes had been apprised, was among the persons proscribed. Hap})ily the quick intelligence of Wilkes enabled him to perceive that Churchill's person was unknown to the messengers, and accordingly, by addressing him as J/y. Thomson^ he contrived to save him from a prison.* From Great George Street Wilkes was conducted into the formidable presence of the Earls of Halifax and Egremont, the former of whom had signed the order for his arrest. The latter, a well-bred but proud and obstinate peer, is said to have had his dignity much discomposed by the effrontery with which Wilkes demeaned himself towards him person- ally, as well as by the easy indifference with which he treated the whole proceeding, even though the result was his com- mittal to the Tower. " Your Lordship," he plainly told the Earl, " is very ready to issue orders which you have neithei the courage to sign, nor, I believe, to justify."! Subse- cpiently Wilkes challenged Egremont to single combat ; but before the day was fixed for their meeting the haughty Earl had ceased to exist. To Lord Temple Wilkes writes on the 19th of August; — " The account I had to settle with Lord Egremont is at length in another way put an end ■ to ; •" Letter from AVilkes to the Duke of Grafton, Dec. 12, 1707 ; Almon's Memoirs of Wilkes, vol. iii. \\ 199. t Alnion's Memoirs of Wilkes, vol. iii. p. 207. 192 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1763. and, as a Frencliman would say, — " // ma joiie un vilain Both during AVilkes's imprisonment, and while he was under examination before the Secretaries of State, his conduct Avas far more likely to exasperate than to con- ciliate the Government. His wit flashed as sportively as ever. He should prefer, he said, occupying the same apart- ment In the Tower in which Lord Egremont's father. Sir William Wyndham, had been confined when committed for high treason. The only favour he intended to ask was not to be consigned to quarters in which a Scotchman had been lodged, lest he might become Infected by the national disorder of the North. f To his young daughter, then in a Convent in France, he sent a letter open through Lord Halifax's office, in vvhich he congratulated her on llvuig in a free country. | During the first day or two of Wilkes's imprisonment he was treated with great rigour. Not only his friends, but even his counsel, were refused admittance to him. These restrictions, however, having been at length relaxed, he was visited in the Tower by the Duke of Grafton, Lord Temple, and other Influential men in opposition ; an honour which greatly enhanced his importance in the eyes of the public. At length, having succeeded in obtaining a writ of May G. Habeas Corpus, he was brought before Lord Chief Justice Pratt, afterwards Lord Chancellor Camden, who, without entering into the primary question of the legality of General Warrants, pronounced it to be the unanimous opinion of himself and his brother Judges, that inasmuch as Wilkes was a member of the House of Commons he was exempt from arrest for libel, and was consequently entitled to be released from confinement. * Grcnvillc Papers, vol. ii. p. 99. Walpolc's Memoirs of George 3, vol. i. pp. 282, 283. f AValpolc's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 277. t Il>i<-l.y vol. i. p. 278. ^T. 24.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 193 In the mean time London had been in a state of the most feverish excitement. Even those who were the most inchned to regard with abhorrence the private and poUtical character of Wilkes, felt indignant at the circumstances of his arrest and imprisonment. Accordingly, on the day on which the Chief Justice delivered his judgment, not only were Westminster Hall and New Palace Yard thronged with anxious and excited thousands, but the result no sooner was announced to them, than the old Hall rang with such a shout of exultation, as had not been heard within its walls since the acquittal of the Seven Bishops. Ministers, as they speedily discovered to their cost, had committed a most suicidal act. They had not only converted the dan- gerous demagogue into a political martyr, but had invested him with an importance which, for several years to come, enabled him to set the Government at defiance. The unwise prosecution of Wilkes, or rather the humilia- tion which his victory entailed upon the Crown, was neces- sarily highly annoying to the young King. Moreover, he had other reasons for being dissatisfied with the Grenville Ministry. The first wish of his heart was to establish a firm, painstaking, and vigorous Administration; yet the Grenville Ministry was weakness itself " There is not a man of the Court side in the House of Commons," wTites Lord Chesterfield, " who has either abilities or words enough to call a coach." * Again, mob-patriots and mob- dictation were the King's especial aversion, yet seldom had popular licentiousness been carried to a more intolerable extent. For instance, in the cider counties, a figure of Bute, clad in tartan and decorated with the blue riband of the Order of the Garter, was paraded about, leading a donkey distinguished by the insignia of royalty ; f while, at * Lord Chesterfield's Letters, edited by Earl Stanhope, vol. iv. p. 371. t Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 280. " The King," writes Adams the American Envoy, at a much later period, " has an habitual contempt of patriots and VOL. I. o 194 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1763. Exeter, so friglitened were the magistrates at the attitude of the people, that they allowed an effigy of the Earl to hang for a fortnight from a gibbet near one of the principal gates of the city.* In the metropolis, affairs wore a still more threatening aspect. A criminal, on his way to execu- tion on Kennington Common, was all but rescued by a mob ; nor was it till the military had been sent for, and that night had nearly set in, that the officers of justice were enabled to carry the sentence of the law into effect. It was time — said the King to his first Minister — that a remedy should be found for such evils, or the mob would try to govern Mm next, j" patriotism ; at least for what are called in this country [England] by those names." Works of Adams, vol. viii. p. 258. * HaiTis's Life of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke, vol. iii. p. 371. t Grenrille Corresp., vol. ii. p. 193. Mt. 25.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 195 CHAPTER XL Attempt of the King to reconstruct the Ministry — Failure of negotiations with Mr. Pitt — The Grenville ministry insist on Lord Bute retiring from London— The Duke of Bedford in the Cabinet — Proceedings against John Wilkes, moved in the House of Lords by the Earl of Sandwich — Popular judgment on Lord Sand- wich — General Warrants judicially condemned — Wilkes expelled from the House of Commons, It was under the circumstances which we have stated, that the King, to the dismay and anger of Grenville, not only intimated to him his intention of " strengthening his Government," but, in opposition to the " positive and re- peated" advice of his Ministers, commenced a negotiation with the Earl of Hardwicke, to whom he proposed to assign juiy. the Presidency of the Council. The Ex-Chancellor, how- ever, declined to act apart from the Duke of Newcastle, and Newcastle refused to act apart from the other "Great Whig Lords." Most willingly Lord Hardwicke would have persuaded the King at once to reinstate the Whig party in power. Not only, he sent word to the King, had his Majesty's grandfather been compelled to accept Administra- tions which were personally obnoxious to him, but even so great a monarch as William the Third had been similarly con- strained. The King, however, manifested the greatest reluct- ance to follow the Earl's advice. His honour, he said, was at stake. He could never consent to accept a party " in gross." * The King was still hesitating how he ought to act, when the royal closet was invaded by Grenville and his two * Harris's lAie of the Earl of Hardwicke, vol. iii. p. 371, &c. Grenville Papers, vol. i. p. 191. Walpole's Keign of George 3, vol. i. p. 285. o 2 196 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1763. colleagues, Lords Halifax and Egremont, who came to remonstrate with him on his conduct, as well as to demand guarantees for his future good behaviour. Halifax, the most amiable member of the triumvirate, and the most fluent speaker, broke the ice. He was followed by Gren- ville, who, in language such as Kings are rarely compelled to listen to, not only accused him of treason to his Minis- ters, but of having violated an assurance he had given them, that Lord Bute should no longer have secret access to the royal closet. The King, impatient and irritated, demanded ten days for deliberation, promising that if, at the end of that period, he should decide on retaining his present advisers, he would extend to them his fullest confi- dence and support.* That interval Grenville, with the King's permission, passed in the country. " I have heard Mr. Grenville is at Wotton," writes the celebrated Charles Towns- hend, " relieving his vast mind from the fatigue of his omnipotent situation ; and that for some weeks. Atlas has left the globe to turn upon its own axis. Surely he should be prompt when public credit labours, and he either mistakes the subject or slights the difficulty. This man has crept into a situation he cannot fill. He has assumed a personage his limbs cannot carry. He has jumped into a wheel he cannot turn. The summer- dream is passing away. Cold winter is coming on ; and I will add to you that the storm must be stood, for there will be no shelter from Coalition, nor any escape by compromise. There has been too much insolence in the use of power ; too much injustice to others; too much calumny spread at every turn."f * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. pp. 285-6 ; Grenville Papers, vol. ii. p. 192. + Townshcnd MS. formerly in the possession of the late Right Hon. J. W. Croker. Grenville had recently offered Charles Towusheud the post of First Lord of the Admiralty. Mt. 25.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 197 Grenville, as appears by his Diaiy, quitted London for Wot ton on Wednesday the 3rd of August, and returned upon Tuesday the 18th. Thus, the stipulated interval had passed away, and, on the 21st, the King had intimated to Grenville his intention of retaining his present Ministers in power, when the unexpected death, on that very day, of Lord Egremont gave rise to fresh hesitation in the royal mind.* The change, which this event occasioned in the language and manner of the King, escaped not the jealous watchfulness of Grenville, who accordingly deputed Halifax to reason and remonstrate w^ith their royal master. But, when Halifax entered the royal closet it had only just been quitted by a far more Aug. 23 influential person than himself. The Duke of Bedford, on being apprised of Lord Egremont's death, had hurried up to London, and, having obtained an interview with the King, had represented to him in forcible terms the feebleness of the present Ministry, and urged him at once to send for Mr. Pitt. Although the return of the great Whig Lords to power w^as dreaded as much as ever by the King, yet, as he entertained some hope of * Charles, second Earl of Egreinont, expired at Cholmondely House, Piccadilly, on the 21st of August 1763, at the age of fifty-three. Slight as was the opinion which the King seems to have entertained for his abilities as a statesman, it would appear by the following extracts from Mr. Grenville's Diary, that his Majesty was not a little affected by his death. ^'Sunday, 2\st August. The King sent many times in the day to enquire after Lord Egremont ; at eight o'clock he expired, and Mr. Grenville went with Lord Halifax to the King to give him notice of it. His Majesty lamented the loss of his servant, and spoke in very high commendation of him." " Monday 22nd. The King spoke of nothing but Lord Egremont and his familj' to Mr. Grenville, and told him his thoughts must be too much disturbed by this misfor- tune to allow him to turn them to business, that therefore he did not expect it from him." " Tuesdau 22rd. The King again talked of nothing but Lord Egremont, made Mr. Grenville give him a veiy particular account of his will, and enquired much after all the family." — Grenville Corresp., vol. ii. p. 194. " He [Lord Egremont]," writes Bishop Newton in his autobiogi-aphy, "was observed to be remarkably cheerful several days before, and the veiy morning, he died : and it was while he was sitting at breakfast with his Lady, and reading a letter, that the fatal stroke was struck. He called for a glass of water, but before it could be given him he was insensible, and so continued till he died." Bishop Newton's Works, vol. i. p. 89. 198 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [i763. being able to detach the " Great Commoner " from the alhance, the proposition was not an unpalatable one to him. Accordingly, Lord Bute was authorized by the King to seek an interview with Pitt ; not one of those imaginary clandestine ones, such as the suspicious Grenville was for ever picturing to himself, but one, in the open day, at Pitt's own residence in Jermyn Street. During their interview, which took place on the 25th of August, Pitt, after some hesitation, was induced to express his opinion at considerable length on the present state of public affairs. And what, inquired Bute, was there to prevent his expressing himself in similar terms to the King ? " My Lord," replied Pitt, " I am not of his Majesty's Council : I hold no office in his service, and how therefore can I presume to demand an audience? The presumption would be too great." — "But suppose," said Bute, " that his Majesty should order you to attend him? You would not, I imagine, refuse?" — " The King's command," rephed Pitt, " would make it my duty, and I should have no choice but to obey."* On the following day, Friday the 26th, Pitt received from the King a note open and unsealed^ requiring him to attend him on Saturday at noon at the Queen's palace in St. James's Park. Accordingly, at the appointed hour, the sedan-chair of Mr. Pitt — rendered conspicuous by a pro- jecting leathern boot which gave ease to his gouty foot — was seen passing through the gateway of Buckingham House. Pitt himself remarked of this peculiar palanquin that it was as familiar to the public as if his name had been painted upon it.f The King received him very graciously, and not only listened attentively to him during an interview which lasted for three hours, but appointed a second meeting for the following Monday. According to * Harris's Life of the Earl of Hardwicke, vol. iii. p. 377. + Ibid., vol. iii. p. 378. Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 228. ^T. 25.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 199 Pitt, the King's manner on parting with him was that of a person apparently half convinced by the arguments and reasons to which he had been hstening. So satisfied indeed was Pitt that he had satisfactorily paved the way for the return of the Whigs to power, that on reaching his own home he actually sent off despatches to the Dukes of New- castle and Devonshire, preparing them for the probable event of their being immediately summoned to the royal presence.* In the mean time, Grenville, having some business to trans- act with the King, had been confounded — on approaching the palace — on perceiving the " gouty chair " of his formid- able brother-in-law waiting at the entrance. To add to his mortification, he was kept waiting for two hours in an ante- chamber, while his rival was closeted with the King. At length, Mr. Pitt having withdrawn, Grenville — who was no less offended with the Duke of Bedford on account of his interference, than with the King because of this his second revolt against his Ministers — was ushered into the royal presence. He found the King, as he himself informs us, " confused, flustered," and uncommunicative. "My recep- tion," he writes to Halifax, "was a cold one; and no propo- sition was made, or seemed likely to be made, either relative to you or to myself." f Neither by the King nor by Grenville was any allusion made to the recent visit of Pitt. To Grenville, it aflbrded an opportunity of expatiating on his own grievances and those of his colleagues, till the King, apparently quite worn out by his tedious diffusiveness, drily intimated to him, by an allusion to the lateness of the hour, that he considered the audience at an end. Yet it was not without emotion that he saw his Minister depart from his presence. Twice he said impressively at parting — " Good * Harris's Life of the Earl of Hardwicke, vol. iii. pp. 377-9. Ellis's Original Letters, vol. iv. p. 469, 2ii(l Sei-ies. t Gi-eiiville Corresp., vol. ii. p. 97. 200 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1763. morrow, Mr. Grenvllle ! " — " It was a phrase," writes Gren- ville, " that the King had never used to him before."* The King, indeed, notwithstanding Grenville's tiresome lectures and perpetual jealousies, would seem to have conceived something like a personal regard for his painstaking Minister. When Pitt, at their second conference, pro- posed to the King to confer on Lord Halifax the lucrative post of Paymaster of the Forces, his Majesty interfered on behalf of Grenville. "But, Mr. Pitt," he said, "I had designed that for poor George Grenville : he is your near relation, and you once loved him."t The second interview between the young King and the veteran statesman, which took place on the appointed day, Monday the 29th, unhappily proved far less satisfactory than the former one. " All tongues," according to Walpole, " were let loose to enquire, guess, invent, or assign causes" for the rupture. J Lord Chesterfield, in a letter to his son, admits his inability to discover the truth. "Would you know," he writes, "what it broke off upon you must ask the newsmongers, and the coffee-houses, who, I dare say, know it all very minutely ; but I, who am not apt to know anything that I do not know, humbly and honestly confess that I cannot tell you. Probably one party asked too much, and the other would grant too little." § In the unsupported opinion of Lord Shelburne, the negotiation on the part of the Court had alike commenced and ended in in- sincerity. Pitt, however, who was better informed, was of a different opinion. He was not only satisfied, as he told Lord Hardwicke, that the King and Bute were sincere when the latter opened the negotiation, but that the King was even " earnest " for its success. " Were he exa- mined upon oath," he added, " he could not pretend to say * Grenville Corresp., vol. ii. p. 196. + HaiTis's Life of the Earl of Hardwicke, vol. iii. p. 379. t Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 290. § Lord Chesterfield's Letters, Edited by Earl Stanhope, vol. iv. pp. 369-70. JEt. 25.] REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 201 upon what tliis negotiation broke off; whether upon any particular point or upon the general complexion of the whole." The King, he said, listened patiently to his argu- ments in favour of reinstating the Whig party in power, only occasionally making use of interjections to the effect that his honour was at stake. At length the King suddenly broke up the conference : "I see, (or I fear) Mr. Pitt," he said, " this will not do. My honour is concerned, and I must support it."* In the mean time, Grenville, on the day which inter- Aug. 28 vened between Pitt's two audiences, had received a sum- mons from the King to attend upon him that evening at eight o'clock. On entermg the royal closet, he found his Majesty in a state of great perturbation of mind. Mr. Pitt, said the King, had endeavoured to impose terms to him which, rather than submit to, he would prefer to die on the spot on which he stood, f He then explained the circumstances which had induced him to send for that imperious states- man. It w^as not, he said, that he had any wish to rid him- self of his present Ministers, whose general conduct he approved, and who had " served him well," but the Government, he complained, was a weak one, and he desired to recruit it from the ranks of Opposition. As an instance of its weakness, he alluded with evident soreness • Harris's Life of the Earl of Hard-\Ticke, vol. iii. p. 380. Adolphus's History of England, vol. i. p. 120, 4tli Edition. The discrepancies in the accounts which the King and Mr. Pitt severally gave of what took place at their lirst interview are con- sidered by Adolphus to have been in some degree owing to Pitt's "rapid and com- manding eloquence," which prevented the King's fully comprehending at the time the "inevitable tendency of Pitt's an-angement, — that of subjecting the throne to the domination of certain powerful families." On the otlier hand, the well-known rapidity, and somtimes even confusion, of the King's utterance, when in a state of great excitement, may possibly have induced a like misconception on the part of Mr. Pitt. •f" " You must have heard," writes the Duke of Bedford on the 5th of September, "that Mr. Pitt has been sent for, and his friends, the discontented great lords, have followed him to Court ; but their demands were so exorbitant — I may say insolent — that the King, after having found what ill use they would have made of his mode- ration, has determined to do without them, and I doubt not his conduct will be approved by the most considerable, and indeed all the considerate part of the nation." Bedford C'orresp., vol. iii. p. 240. 202 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1763. to the shameful manner in which the lower orders had of late been allowed to set the laws at defiance. He had intimated, he said, to Mr. Pitt his wish to confer on him the Secretary's seals vacant by the death of Lord Egre- mont ; to appoint the Duke of Newcastle to some high office in the State, and to concede to each statesman a fair share of the distribution of power and place. Pitt, how- ever, according to the King, would assent to no such compromise. He was " a poor, infirm man," he said, ''declining in years as well as in health;" his infirmi- ties disqualified him from constant attendance in Parliament ; he owed his influence to the good opinion of his friends and of the powerful party with which he was associated ; neither he nor his friends would "come into Government" except as a party ; the vessel of State, freighted as it at present was with Tories, must necessarily sink ; it ought at once to be broken up, and an Administration formed on true Whig Revolution principles.* The demands pressed upon the King by Pitt at their second conference, were, according to his Majesty's further account, even more exorbitant than those which had been submitted to him at the first. They were such, he told Grenville, that he had plainly intimated to Pitt that under no circumstances would he accede to them.f What those demands precisely were, it would be now no easy matter to ascertain. According to the high authority of the Duke of Bedford, the Whig Lords, through their spokesman Pitt, not only went to such lengths as to insist upon the dismissal from the King's service of such of his servants as had voted in Parliament in favour of the Peace with France, but even of those who there was reason to believe were favourable to the measure, J " Should I consent to ♦ Grenville Corresp., vol. ii. pp. 197, 198, 199. t Ibid., vol. ii. p. 201, X Bedford CJoi'resp., vol. iii. p. 241. Ellis's Original Letters, vol. iv. p. 470, 2ud Series. Mt. 25.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 203 these demands of yours, Mr. Pitt," said the King, " there would be nothing left for me to do but to take the Crown from my own head and place it upon yours, and then patiently submit my neck to the block." * At this second conference, according to another well-informed contempo- rary, " the style of a dictator was assumed by Pitt ; terms were no longer proposed but prescribed, and conditions exacted that nothing but the most abject meanness, or most absolute despondency, could assent to. A total houleverse- ment of the Government was demanded ; an universal pro- scription of all who had served it boldly threatened, with a few invidious exceptions." f — " It is hardly conceivable," writes the Duke of Bedford, " how they could have the insolence to propose to the King to turn out, by a general sweep, every one that had faithfully stood by him, and to take in all those who had acted the direct contrary part." In the mean time, the King, by the failure of his over- tures, had placed himself in a very humiliating as well as painful position. " My heart," Avrites Charles Townshend, " bleeds for my sovereign, who is thus made the sport of wrestling factions."! The Sovereign, as Lord Chesterfield points out, should on no account figure as sole Plenipo- tentiary in a negotiation, in which success is uncertain. * Ellis's Original Letters, vol. iv. p. 471, 2ik1 Series. The demand which is said to have heeu most unpalatahle to the King was the appointment of Wilkes's friend — Lord Temple — to be first Lord of the Treasury. " The Treasury for Lord Temple," writes Walpole, "was the real stone of offence." Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 289. Yet when Pitt quitted the royal closet it was with the im- pression that the King had himself proposed Lord Temple for the Treasury. Harris's Life oj Hardwicke, vol. iii. p. 379. See also GrenvilU Corresp., vol. ii. p. 198. t Lord Barrington also writes to Sir Andrew Mitchell ; — " All treaty is at an end ; the King deeming Mr. Pitt's demands unreasonable, though he was ready to have gone a great way to make everything easy." Ellis's Original Lelkrs, 2nd Series, vol. iv. pp. 466, 469-70. See likewise Waljwle's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 289. " Pitt," writes Walpole, " went back to the King with a schedule of terms greatly enlarged." — "In talking over the system," writes Lord Lyttelton, "Pitt's demands w^ere thought too high and rejected." — Philimore's Memoirs of Lord Lyllelton, vol. ii. p. 642. X MS. Letter to Dr. Brocklesby, dated 11 September 1763. 204 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1763. Loss of dignity must of necessity be the result of failure "Louis the Fourteenth," adds his lordship, "never sat down before a town in person, that was not certain to be taken." * In every respect the King's position was a most unenviable one. Only a few months had passed, since he had emphatically averred that no consideration should ever again induce him to submit to the dominion of the " Great Families," yet, as his affairs now stood, he was reduced to the unbecoming alternative, either of retracting his words, or else of courting back to power the tedious and inexorable Grenville. Bent as the Whigs of the last century may have been on enslaving their sovereign, they nevertheless entertained a respect for the kingly office, which almost invariably rendered them personally deferential to their royal master. In the closet, even the haughty Pitt was respectful almost to servility, and the powerful Newcastle humble even to cringing. Grenville, on the contrary, instead of endeavouring to win over his sovereign by cour- tesy and conciliation, had learned to look upon him as a school-boy. The Sovereign, according to his political creed, ought to be nothing more than a mere pageant of state ; and he certainly acted up to that democratic axiom. Yet notwithstanding the little consideration which the King had reason to expect from Grenville, he apparently never for a moment regretted his rejection of Pitt's demands. Rather — he told his assembled Ministers when he reinstated them ■ — than consent to be enslaved by any class of his subjects, he would endure any extremities ; he would even retire to his German Electorate.! In the mean time, if the King had committed a grave error, so also had the several leaders of the two great parties in the State been entirely mistaken in respect to the character and motives of their sovereign. As yet, appa- * Chesterfield's Letters, edited by Earl Stanhope, vol. iv. p. 370. t Ellis's Original Letters, vol. iv. p. 471, 2ud Series. ^T. 25.] EEIGN OF GEORGE TUE THIED. 205 rently, not one of tliem had formed an adequate cc nceptlon of that strong will, that unflinchmg personal courage, that earnest anxiety to do what was right, and that resolute determination to resist injustice, which afterwards — in many a crisis of political or personal peril — so eminently cha- racterized the conduct of George the Third, but which for the present were unfortunately counteracted by the drawbacks of a rapid utterance, and a nervous manner, as well as by the effects of secluded habits, and an im- perfect education. On his accession to the throne, as he himself confessed to Lord North in 1778, he had been "quite ignorant of public business."* No sooner, however, did he discover his deficiencies, than he appears to have set himself diligently and anxiously to work to recover lost time ; thus acquiring — not only those business-like habits, and knowledge of state affairs and official duties, in which he was subsequently surpassed by none of his successive Ministers — but also that familiarity with books, which enabled him to converse, on no unequal terms, with the many eminent men of literature and science, with whom, during his long life, it was his fortune to come into con- tact. Even at so early a period as the 5th of January 1761, we find one of his Ministers, William Lord Harrington, writing to Sir Andrew Mitchell — " Nothing can be more amiable, more virtuous, better disposed, than our present Master. He applies himself thoroughly to his affairs ; he understands them to an astonishing degree. His faculties seem to me equal to his good intentions, and nothing can be more agreeable or satisfactory than doing business with him. A most uncommon attention, a quick and just con- ception, great mildness, great civility, which takes nothing from his dignity, caution and firmness, are conspicuous in the highest degree."! In equal terms of praise, another of * Lord Brougham's Statesmen of the Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 118. t Ellis's Original Letters, vol. iv. p. 430. 206 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1763- his Ministers, Charles Townshend, speaks of his good inten- tions and inestimable virtues.* In the mean while, the King's distress at having to re- ceive back the Grenville Administration had evidently been acute. The chief obstacle to the revival of a better under- standing between him and his Ministers, was Bute. The prominent part, which that nobleman had played in the late negotiation with Pitt, had rendered him more than ever the object of Grenville's jealousy and suspicion. It was in fact Grenville's firm conviction that, so long as Bute was allowed to remain within a day's journey of Buckingham House or Kew, no Administration could calculate on being secure for an hour. It was to no purpose that the King pro- mised Grenville his future and fullest confidence and support, assuring him that henceforth he would " take his advice, and his alone." In vain he showed him a letter from Bute, " speaking with the greatest regard imaginable of Mr. Gren- ville, and advising the King to give his whole confidence to him." In vain he explained to him, that Bute himself had become convinced of the mischief occasioned to the King's affairs by the constant association of his name with that of his Sovereign, and had consequently volunteered to "retire absolutely from all business." | Nothing would satisfy Grenville, till thirty miles lay between Bute and the scenes of his former influence and intrigues. Moreover, in this undignified crusade against the King and his early friend, Grenville w^as only too zealously hounded on by his colleagues, the Earls of Halifax and Sandwich. | It was only on the condition of Bute's retreat into the * MS. Letter to Dr. Brocklesby. + Grenville Corresp., vol. ii. pp. 200, 201. X See two letters from Lord Saudwicli to the Duke of Bedford, dated severally 26 and 28 September 1763, in the Bedford Corresp., vol. iii. pp. 250, 251. "The retiring from the King's presence and councils," writes Sandwich, "is an absolute condition on v:hich this Administration stands.'' — " I hope, when your Grace comes to town the middle of the week, that you will press this point with Mr. Grenville, ^T. 25.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 207 country tliat tliey consented to continue in office. No consideration whatever was shown him. The ]\Iinistiy gi'udged him every hour that he remained in London. Less obdurate foes would have taken into account that the fallen Earl had a large establishment to break up ; that Lady Bute had no fewer than six daughters to remove from South Audley Street ; and further that he urgently needed the privilege of a short sojourn in London, to enable him to complete the purchase of his future princely residence, Luton. It was to no purpose that the King condescended to interfere on behalf of his former ]\Iinister. Grenville and his colleagues were inexorable. Scarcely more than ten days after they had compounded for his banishment, we find them — at a Cabinet dinner at Lord Sandwich's — arriving at the unanimous resolution that Bute's "retreat must be Sept. 9. immediately carried into eifect."* Nevertheless Bute con- tinued to linger in London for another month ; a delay which, added to his refusal to take up his residence on the Continent, afforded a pretext for depriving him of the post of Keeper of the Privy Purse to the King, which hitherto he had been permitted to retain, f The appointment, thus vacated, the King had hoped to have the satisfaction of offering to one whom he had known as a child, and whom he highly respected — Sir William Breton, one of the Grooms of his Bedchamber. But even this graceful testimony of personal regard was cavilled at by the imperious Grenville. Sir William, he insisted, was a friend of Lord Bute, and the world would attribute the appointment to the backstairs influence of the Earl. This additional demand on the who wants a little spurring in this single article." Again — " Lord Halifax is warm, if that can be, to a faiilt, with regard to Lord Bute's retreat." One would have thought, from the haughty demands pressed by these persons upon their sovereign, that instead of the Grenville Administration being one of the worst and weakest on record, its existence was absolutely necessary for the salvation of the country. * Grenville Corresp., vol. ii. p. 206. + Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 293. 208 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1763. King's forbearance seems to have been beyond what human patience could endure. "Good God! Mr. Grenville," Sept.30. exclaimed the King, "am I to be suspected after all I have done? " — " Not by me ; " replied Grenville ; — " I cannot doubt your intentions after all you have said to me ; but such is the present language and suspicion of the world."* At length Bute really turned his back upon London, and Gren- ville breathed freely again. The day of the month, and even of the week, are duly recorded by him in his Diary ; — " Wednesday^ Octohei% 5th, Lord Bute went out of town to Luton in Bedfordshire." f Happily, Bute's departure reconciled Grenville to his Sovereign. Henceforth we find repeated notices in the Minister's private Diary, of the " openness and confidence," and "gi'eat ease and confidence," with which the King con- versed with him; of his Majesty's "extreme approbation of his conduct," as well as of the pleasure which the King seemed to take in promoting his relatives and friends. \ In the mean time, Grenville had succeeded in strength- ening his Administration by the accession of the powerful Bedford party. The Duke of Bedford was appointed Presi- dent of the Council in the room of the veteran Earl Granville, Sept. 9. and the Earl of Sandwich Secretary of State in the room of Lord Egremont. One might have thought that the com- pletion of these desirable arrangements, combined with Grenville being now in possession of the full confidence and support of his Sovereign, would have been sufficiently satisfactory to him. But, unhappily, jealousy of Bedford now took possession of his mind. The King did his utmost to remove his apprehensions and fortunately succeeded. He would uphold him, he said, to the utmost of his power ; not only against his open political opponents, but against his * Grenville Corresp., vol. ii. p. 210, f Ihid., vol. ii. p. 211. X Ibid., vol. ii. pp. 217, 222, 224, 239, 498, 505, 512, 514. iET. 25.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 209 colleagues ; against tlie Duke of Bedford himself* When, about this time, Grenville, with no very good taste, chose to revert to the King's recent untoward overtures to Mr. Pitt, his Majesty's rebuke to his Minister was alike a mild and a dignified one. "Mr. Grenville," he said, " let us not look back, but let us only look forward : nothing of that sort shall ever happen again."! The public, too, by degrees began to do justice to the rectitude of the motives which had influenced the recent political conduct of the King. To Sir Andrew Mitchell, Mr. Erskine writes on the 27th of September ; — " The exorbitant demands of the Great Man were generally condemned ; the spirit of the King univer- sally applauded. Even the City begin to change their style, and the three Lords, taken in, have the approbation of the Public." I Most unfortunately, Grenville had by this time made up his mind to open a fresh campaign, not only in the House of Commons but in the House of Lords, against Wilkes and the Press. Wilkes, it will be remembered, was the reputed, if not the real, author of an obscene and blas- phemous poem, entitled "An Essay on Woman," composed in imitation of Pope's "Essay on Man." As Pope had inscribed his poem to Lord Bolingbroke, commencing it with the words — '"Awake, my St. John!" &c., so was this impure production inscribed to a beautiful courtesan of the day: — " Awake, my Fanny,'' &c. § * Grenville Corresp., vol. ii. ji. 209. t Ibid., vol. ii. p. 205. X Ellis's Original Letters, vol. iv. p. 472. Second Series. The third Lord referred to was John JEarl of Egmout, who had been appointed First Lord of the Admiralty on the 10th of September. § Fanny Mnrray, daughter of a musician at Bath, was successively mistress of the honourable John Spencer, better known as "Jack Spencer," and of Beau Nash. She was married to a person of the name of Ross, and died in 1770. See Notes and Queries, Second Series, vol. 4, pp. 1, 41. The spurious editions of the " Essay on Woman " make the poem commence — " Awake, my Sandwich ! leave all meaner joys," &c. VOL. 1. y 210 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1763. The grossest part of this gross production were the notes, written in imitation of Warburton's commentaries upon Pope's Works, and most irreverently professing to be from the pen of that right reverend prelate. To obtain a copy of this work, and by its means to pro- secute and crush the popular demagogue as a convicted blasphemer and libeller, was the paramount object of Grenville and his colleagues. Had their zeal, instead of having for its object the ruin of a troublesome political foe, been prompted by a true regard for the interests of religion and morality, one might have half forgiven even the un- worthy means by which the Ministry attempted to secure his conviction. But, as it happened, nothing could be more unjustifiable than those means. Wilkes, it should be borne in view, had made no attempt to foist his obnoxious "Essay " upon the public. No single innocent mind had been tainted by its lasciviousness ; no single Christian faith had been disturbed by its profaneness. Only thirteen copies had been printed, the circulation of which had been restricted to a few intimate congenial spirits, doubtless as hardened in debauchery as Wilkes himself. Moreover, to prevent publicity, he had printed the work at a private press of his own in Great George Street, which, so long as private documents only issued from it, he had a right to expect would remain unin- terfered with by the law. Under the circumstances, the Government, as may easily be imagined, had encountered no slight difficulty in obtaining a copy of the work. Sand- wich had in all probability received a presentation copy, but even Sandwich, we presume, would have shrunk from converting into a legal instrument of oppression, the con- fidential gift of a friend. Another copy had fallen into the hands of Government at the time of the seizure of Wilkes's papers, but, in this case, the means by which it had been obtained had been denounced to be illegal, alike in too high a quarter and at too recent a period, to admit of its being iEx. 25.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 211 turned to the arbitrary account for which it was required. In this dilemma one Kidgell, chaplain to the profligate Lord March, afterwards Duke of Queensberry, came to the assistance of Ministers, and by means of bribing one of the printers employed by Wilkes, obtained a copy of the poem which he placed in the hands of the Solicitor of the Treasury.* Of the men of rank and pleasure who had recently courted Wilkes's company and enjoyed his social wit, one of the most intimate with him, as well as one of the most licen- tious, was the new Secretary of State, the Earl of Sand- wich, f Yet Sandwich it was, who, with inconceivable baseness and effrontery, now undertook the sorry business of bringing the "Essay on Woman" under the notice of the House of Lords, with the avowed object of blasting the reputation and ruining the fortunes of his friend. Par- liament assembled on the 15th of November, up to which time no suspicion seems to have been entertained by Wilkes of the pitiless storm which was about to burst over his head. On that day, even before the King's Speech could be taken into consideration, Sandwich placed his friend's poem upon the table of the House ; at the same time denouncing it in a pharisaical speech as a most blasphemous, obscene, and abominable libel. Among those who listened to him with astonished ears was his old Medmenham Abbey • Walpole's Eeigii of George 3, vol. i. pp. 310, 311. t Joliu, fourtli Earl of Sandwich, is reported to have been born in 1718. If the peerages have correctly reported the year of his birth, he must have filled the high situations of Plenipotentiary to the States General, and First Lord of the Admiralty, either before, or shortly after, he had completed his twenty-ninth year. His first appointment, as First Lord of the Admiralty, took place in December 1748 ; in April 1763 he was reappointed to that office ; in September 1763 he was appointed Secre- tary of State, and again in December 1770. In January 1771 he was placed for the third time at the head of the Board of Admiralty, over which Board he presided till the mouth of March 1782. Beatsons Political Index, vol. i. pp. 387, 389, 391, 404. "He was a most profligate, abandoned character," writes Lord Chesterfield, "but with good abilities." Lord Chesterfield'' s Letters, vol. 2, p. 479, edited by Earl Stanhope. Besides his fame as a boon companion. Lord Sandwich was distinguished by his passion for music, and was also the author of a "Voj^age to the Mediterra- nean." He died April 20, 1792. 1- 2 212 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1763. associate, Sir Francis Dasliwood, now Lord Le Despencer. Never before, he said, had he heard the Devil preach.* At the requisition of Lord Sandwich, several of the most offensive passages were read aloud to the great disgust of many of the Peers, and of Lord Lyttelton in particular, who is described as groaning in spirit, and entreating that the House might hear no more. But it was the Bishop of Gloucester, the pretended author of the infamous notes, who naturally displayed the greatest anger and disgust. His rage indeed was such as to be little in keeping with his sacred profession. The blackest fiends in Hell, he said, would not keep company with Wilkes ; at the same time he begged pardon of Satan for comparing them together. It was to the credit of Pitt that, although no one could have a greater horror of vice and impiety than himself, he was the first to raise his voice against the scandalous means which had been resorted to by Ministers in order to entrap their adversary. "Why," he exclaimed, "do not they search the Bishop of Gloucester's study for heresy ? "| Subsequently the Lords pronounced the "Essay on Woman" to be a "most scandalous, obscene, and impious libel," and the author guilty of a breach of privilege towards the Bishop. In the House of Commons, the Ministerial attack on Wilkes was based on different grounds. Agreeably with a message from the throne, the House took into its considera- * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 311, note. f Ibid., vol. i. pp. 311, 312. Charles Churchill, the poet, not long aftenvavds avenged the Bishop's attack on his friend Wilkes by some verses of almost frightful severity. " He, in the highest reign of noon. Bawled bawdy songs to a Psalm tune ; Lived with men infamous and vile ; Trucked his salvation for a smile ; To catch their humour caught their plan, And laughed at God to laugh with man : Praised them when living with each breath. And damned their memories after death." The Duellist. Book 3. ^T. 25.1 EEIGX OF GEOEOE THE THIED. 213 tion the celebrated Number 45 of the North Briton^ which they forthwith pronounced to be a false, scandalous, and seditions libel ; at the same time ordering it to be burned by the hands of the common hangman. Wilkes, on his part, detailed, to the indignation of every true lover of freedom who listened to him, the circumstances of his recent arrest, and the seizure of his papers ; insisting, as he proceeded, that the privileges of Parliament had been grossly outraged in his person. " On the 30th of April," he said, " I was made a prisoner in my own house by some of the King's messengers. I demanded by what authority they had forced their way into my room, and was shoAvn a warrant, in which no person was named in par- ticular, but, generally, the authors, printers and publishers of a ' seditious and treasonable paper, entitled The North Briton^ No. 45.' The messengers insisted on my going before Lord Halifax, which I absolutely refused, because the warrant was, I thought, illegal, and did not respect me. I applied, by my friends, to the Court of Common Pleas for the Habeas Corpus, and I enlarged on this subject to Mr. Webb, the Solicitor of the Treasury. I was, however, hurried away to the Tower by another warrant, which declared me the author and publisher of a most scandalous and seditious libel. The word treasonable was dropped, yet I was detained a close prisoner, and no person was suffered to come near me for almost three days, although my counsel, and several of my friends, demanded admittance in order to concert the means of recovering my liberty. My house was plundered, my bureaus broken open by order of two of your Members,* and all my papers carried away. After six days' imprisonment, I was discharged by the unanimous judgment of the Court of Common Pleas that the privilege of this House extended to my case." f Wilkes's protests * Robert Wood, Under Secretary of State, and Webb, Solicitor of the Treasury, t Almoa's Memoirs and Corresp. of Wilkes, vol. ii. pp. 5, 6. 214 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1763. and appeals, however, proved of little avail. It was only too evident that his enemies would prove too strong for him. Ruin and disgrace, in fact, stared him in the face. It was during this day's proceedings in Parliament that a scene took place in the House of Commons which occasioned considerable excitement among the members, and which was very nearly being productive of tragical consequences. It had happened, that in one of the earlier numbers of the North Briton^ Samuel Martin, Member for Camelford and formerly Secretary of the Treasury under the successive adminis- trations of Newcastle and Bute, had been grossly stigmatized as a "low fellow and dirty tool ■ of power." This gross affront had not been resented by him at the time ; nor was it till the House of Commons commenced their crusade against Wilkes as the author of the North Briton^ that Martin thought proper to lay before them any complaint of his personal wrongs. He now, however, rose from his seat trembling with rage, and having called the attention of the House to the attack upon himself, denounced the author of it, twice over, as a cowardly, scandalous, and malignant scoundrel. It was confidently asserted at the time that Martin had been incited by Ministers to act as he did with the deliberate object of taking away Wilkes's life in a duel; nor could it be denied that for many months past Martin, while residing in the country, had been constantly practising at pistol- firing.* But, on the other hand, had Martin really desired * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. iii. pp. 317, 318. " Should some villain, in support And zeal for a despairing Court — Placing in craft his confidence, And making honour a pretence To do a deed of deepest shame, Whilst filthy lucre is his aim — Sliould such a wretch, with sword or knife. Contrive to practise 'gainst the life ^T. 25.] EEIGN OP GEOEGE THE THIRD. 215 to fix a duel upon AVilkes, the House of Commons, in which the power of the Speaker to prevent hostilities is paramount, would scarcely, one would think, have been selected by him to be the scene of provocation. As it happened, Wilkes made no reply at the time, and conse- quently the House had no excuse for interfering. Wilkes, however, had no intention of allowing the matter to drop at this stage. " The next day," writes Walpole, " when I went down to the House, I found all the members standing on the floor in great hubbub ; questioning, hear- ing, and eagerly discussing I knew not what. I soon learned that Wilkes about two hours before had been dan- gerously wounded by Martin in a duel." * Lords Halifax and Sandwich instantly hurried off with the news to the palace, where they found the King closeted with his First Minister. " Somebody scratched at the closet-door," wi'ites Grenville, "and Lord Halifax and Lord Sandwich came in to acquaint his Majesty that Mr. Wilkes and Mr. Martin had fought a duel upon words which had passed in the House of Commons ; that Mr. Wilkes w^as wounded but not dangerously." | The leading circumstances of the encounter may be briefly related. A correspondence had taken place early in the morning on the day of the duel, in the course Of one, who, honoitred tlirough the land, For Freedom made a glorious stand, Whose chief, perhaps his only, crime Is, (if j)lain truth at such a time May dare her sentiments to tell,) That he his country loved too well : May he — but words are all too weak The feelings of my heart to speak— May he — for a noble curse Which might his very marrow pierce — The general contempt engage, And be the Martin of his age ! " The Duellist, Book 1. * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 317. See also a letter from Lord Barriiigton, dated the 17th of November, in Ellis's Original Letters, vol. iv. p. 473. Second series. t Grenville Corresp., vol. ii. p. 224. 216 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1763. of which AVilkes not only avowed himself the author of the obnoxious paper in the North Briton^ but added his conviction that Martin's tardy vindication of his honour would never have been made but that he had anticipated the interference of the Speaker. Martin, on his part, re- torted by again applying to Wilkes the words of " malignant and infamous scoundrel ;" adding that, as far as the further epithet " cowardly " was concerned, he was willing to afford him an opportunity of proving whether it was justly applic- able to him or not. He further desired that Wilkes would immediately meet him with pistols in the Ring in Hyde Park, where he would wait for him for one hour. Wilkes was only too well aware how little mercy he had to expect from the Government in the event of his killing his adversary, and accordingly, in order to have at hand the means of immediate flight, he proceeded to the ground in a postchaise. Martin was waiting for him in the Ring, where, so soon as the preliminary arrangements could be made, they took their respective places. At the first exchange of shots Martin's ball went wide of his adversary. Wilkes's pistol flashed in the pan. At the second fire the latter was on the point of discharging his weapon, when the ball from Martin's pistol lodged in his side, and his own pistol dropped to the ground. The profusion of blood which flowed from him created the impression that the wound was a mortal one, and accordingly Martin, much distressed, rushed to his assistance. Wilkes, however, in spite of Martin's repeated entreaties to be allowed to remain with him, insisted on his instantly seeking safety by flight ; adding that he had behaved like a man of honour and that he would never betray him. No less magnanimous was Wilkes's conduct on reaching his home in Great George Street. In order that no evidence, in the event of his death, might appear against Martin, he returned his adversary the written challenge which he had received from him in the morning ; refused to divulge the ^T. 25.] REIGN OF GEOEGE THE TIIIED. 217 name of the person from wliose hands he had received his wound, and further enjoined tliat should it prove a mortal one, no prosecution should be instituted by his fomily. Neither, prostrated as he was by pain and harassed by difficulties of every description, did his accustomed wit and good humour abandon him. When his medical attendant insisted upon the exclusion of all company from his sick chamber — " I will not admit," he said slyly, "even my own wife." * Stretched on a bed of sickness, Wilkes had now ample leisure to concert his present plans and consider his future prospects. With a prosecution impending over him in the House of Commons, as well as in the House of Lords ; threatened with an adverse judgment in the Court of King's Bench, and with the prospect before him of a long and irksome imprisonment, it was plain that England no longer afforded either a safe or an agreeable asylum for the discom- fited patriot. Thus Grenville, backed by the authority of Parhament and the power of the Crown, had succeeded in defeating him for a time — but the final battle had yet to be fought. AVilkes, it is true, was on his departure to encounter poverty and exile ; yet it was difficult for his triumph to have been greater than at the present moment. He had stood alone in the breach when an infatuated Administration had attempted to sap one of the corner-stones of the Constitution. Every true lover of freedom felt himself to be his debtor. AVhatever may have been his individual faults, he was, as Lord Chesterfield observes, " an intrepid defender of our rights and liberties." Not only did the great mass of the people of England remain true to him, but even those who most lamented his private vices, and disapproved of his political violence, continued to overlook his backslidings in the disgust which they felt at the treatment he had received from the Government. The evident and notorious fact that revenge, and not the interests of religion, had prompted the * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 3-35. 218 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1763. late prosecution in the House of Lords ; the needless inde- cency with which the ears of that grave assembly had been polluted by the revelation of impurities which had been intended solely for the private entertainment of a dozen graceless men of pleasure ; and lastly the very indifferent private reputations of Sandwich, and of the other Govern- ment informers, enlisted advocates on behalf of Wilkes even among the most virtuous of the community. It was upon Sandwich, indeed, that the main torrent of public indignation and disgust very righteously poured. Even his own friends and supporters, on any allusion being made to his canting philippic in the House of Lords, were scarcely able to suppress a titter. Some time afterwards, Thomas Townshend proceeded to such lengths in the House of Commons as to denounce him as the " most profligate sad dog in the kingdom." The wicked Earl was in the House at the time ; a fact of which Townshend seems to have been cognisant. "He hoped," he added, "that he was present, and, if he was not, he was ready to call him so to his face in any company."* Yet not only was Sandwich himself about this time expelled the Beaf Steak Club for blasphemy, but within little more than a fortnight — at a club to which Wilkes and he severally belonged, " composed of players and the loosest revellers of the age" — they had sat together bandying ribald wit and listening to obscene catches.^ It was at one of these debauched jollifications that Lord Sandwich put the impudent and well-known question to Wilkes whether he expected to end his career by being hanged or from the effects of a scandalous disorder which he tersely named ? " My Lord ! " was the admirable reply, " that might much depend upon whether I embraced your lordship's mistress or your principles." :|: Whenever Sandwich appeared in public, • Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. pp. 317, 325. Ed. 1857. + Ibid., vol. iv. p. 134. Keign of George 8, vol. i. p. 313. X The credit of having originated this once celebrated witticism was formerly ^T. 25.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIED. 219 popular scorn followed liim. It happened that a few daj^s after the debate in the House of Lords, the " Besro-ars' Opera " was performed at Co vent Garden Theatre. The play passed off quietly till towards its close, when Macheath exclaims — " That Jemmy Twitcher should peach me I own surprised me." * It would have been a dull audience not to have comprehended at once the affinity between Jemmy Twitcher and the renegade Secretary of State, and accord- ingly there arose simultaneously from gallery, and pit, and boxes, a cry of "Jewm?/ Twitcher! Jemmy Twitcher!'' — a name by which, during the remainder of his days, Lord Sand- wich was as familiarly known as by the title which he had de- rived from his forefathers. I In the eyes of College Dignitaries alone, he seems to have found favour. When, in March follow- ing, he was a competitor, with a highly accomplished and respectable nobleman, Philip second Earl of Hardwicke, for the honour of being elected High Steward of the University of Cambridge, he was defeated only by one or two doubt- ful vptes. Happily the youth of the University in some degree retrieved its credit. The Earl having, in the course of the following month, been invited to dine at Trinity Col- lege, the undergraduates made his appearance the signal for retiring from the hall. X If anything was wanted to com- claimed by the French. It was a retort, according to French authority, of Mirabeau to Cardinal Maury, while seated next to him in the National Assembly. Wilkes's prior claim to it has, however, been established by Lord Brougham. "I heard it myself," he writes, ' ' from the Duke of Norfolk, who was present when the dialogue took place many years before the French Revolution." SketclKS of the Statcsvien of the Time of George 3, vol. i. p. 431. Edition, 1858. Dutcus in his Memoirs of a Traveller iww in Retirement, erroneously attributes the witticism to Foote. Vol. v. p. 26. * "That Jemmy Twitcher should peach me I own surprised me. 'Tis a proof that the world is all alike, and that even our gang can no more trust one another than other people." Act 3. Scene 4. t Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. pp. 313, 314. :J: Ibid., vol. i. p. 396. The conduct of the undergraduates naturally gave much offence to their superiors. The following were the names of the recusants— Phillips, Davies, Cotton, Keale, Fox, Jones, Wilbraham, Marwood, Shippcrsdon, Spranger, Cobbold, Norris, Paddey, Bennett, Frank, Clowes, Campbell, Uardinge, Graham, Brisco, Abbot, Ellis, Kershaw, Mattey, Harrison, Pinnock, Popham, RidgilljTwisden, 220 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [17G3. plete tlie popular odium whicli rested on Sandwicli at tliis period, it was effected by the powerful and withering verse of Churchill.* In the mean time, Wilkes had not been forgotten in his sick chamber. Every opportunity was seized by the people of deifying their idol, and at the same time of throwing insult on the Government. A significant proof of this state of the public feeling was afforded on the 3rd of December, the day appointed for the unwise measure of publicly burning Number 45 of the North Briton. The hangman was about to commit the paper to the flames, when sud- denly a universal shout of "Wilkes and Liberty" arose from the dense crowd of persons who had assembled in front of the Royal Exchange. Almost as suddenly the peace-officers were put to flight. Men, evidently of superior birth and education, goaded on the mob from the balconies and windows of the neighbouring houses. One of the glass- Smyth, Kreyk, Clutterbiiek, Daniel, Hills, Panton, Dobson, Davidson, Chnrchill, Carter, Scafe, Butcher, Langley, Bird, Green, Lake, Wright. ChurchilVs ''Works, hy W. Tooke, vol. iii. p. 161, note. Ed. Boston, 1854. It was on the occasion of Lord Sandwich coming forward as candidate for the High Stewardship of the University of Cambridge, that Gray, the poet, composed his bitter verses, entitled— "The Candidate, or, the Cambridge Courtship" : — " When sly Jemmy Twitcher had smugged up his face, With a lick of court white-wash, and pious grimace, A wooing he went," &c. * See The Duellist, Books 1 and 3. " Nature designed him in a rage To be the Wharton of his age ; But, having given all the sin, Forgot to put the virtues in. To run a horse, to make a match, To revel deep, to roar a catch ; To knock a tottering watchman down. To sweat a woman of the town ; " &c. " His bills sent in, too great to pay, Too proud to speak to, if he meets The honest tradesman whom he cheats. Too infamous to have a friend, Too bad forbad men to commend." — Book 3, JET. 2J.] REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 221 windows of tlie Sheriff's coach was smashed and he himself wounded in the face by a burning brand ; and lastly, in lieu of the North Briton, which was wrested from the hangman, a jack-^oo^ and a petticoat were flung into the flames amidst the exulting cheers of the multitude.* Three days afterwards, in Westminster Hall, Wilkes gained a victory of a more creditable kind. After a hear- ing which lasted for fifteen hours, a special jury returned a verdict against the Under Secretary of State, Robert Wood, for the illegal seizure of W^ilkes's papers ; at the same time awarding the plaintiff one thousand pounds damages and Dec 6, full costs, t It was on this occasion that Lord Camden con- firmed his famous judgment against the legality of General Warrants. The righteousness of that judgment was appre- ciated throughout the length and breadth of the land. The Corporations of Dublin, Bath, Exeter, and Norwich, en- rolled the name of the Lord Chief Justice among those of their freemen ; while the citizens of London not only pre- sented him with its freedom, but, under a portrait of him by Sir Joshua Reynolds, which they suspended from the walls of Guildhall, they placed the following graceful and flattering inscription — " /m honorem tanti viri Atigh'ce lihertatis lege, asser'torts" — "in honour of so eminent a man, the assertor by the law of English liberty. "J Some months previously to Wilkes gaining his celebrated verdict, one of the printers of the North Briton obtained three hundred pounds damages in the Court of Common Pleas against the Messengers of the Secretary of State's Office, on account of the illegal seizure of his person by General Warrant. At a later period, the abstract question of the legality of General Warrants came before Lord Mansfield, * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 330. Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 144. Annual Register for 1763, p. 144. t state Trials, vol. xix. cols. 1153—1108. Annual Register for 1763, p. 145. J 17 May 1765, State Trials, vol. xix. col. 1023, &c. 222 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1763. who affirmed the judgment previously pronounced by Lord Camden. In the mean tmie, Grenvllle and his colleagues, too infatuated to profit by these unmistakable and alarming demonstrations of public opinion, continued to persist in their untoward persecution of Wilkes. From both Houses of Parliament they obtained the fullest support. The Com- mons cited him to appear at the bar of their House, and, on his pleading his inability to obey the summons, on account of the severity of his wound. Dr. Heberden, the physician, and Hawkins, the surgeon, were ordered to visit him. Wilkes, however, by boldly refusing to admit the Parlia- mentary doctors into his presence, put a fresh affront upon the Government. The House, he said, had ordered them to attend him, but it had forgotten to order him to receive them. Accordingly, Ministers were about to propose more stringent measures to enforce his appearance, when, leaving his enemies to wreak their vengeance upon him in the form of outlawry and confiscation, he suddenly made Dec. 24. good liis cscape to France.* On the 20th of January, 1764, Wilkes was expelled the House of Commons with scarcely a dissentient vote ; a measure which was followed up, four days afterwards, by the House of Lords voting him to be the author of the " Essay on Woman," and issuing orders for the seizure of his person. That he was not forgotten in his exile, any more than he had been in his sick chamber, is certain. For instance, * The House of Commons evidently entertained strong doubts in regard to the serious nature of Wilkes's wound, — doubts which his, apparently easy, flight to the Continent tended to confirm. Yet it was in opposition to tlie remonstrances of his medical attendants that he even quitted the house. To Lord Temple he writes on the 25th December, immediately after his arrival at Calais ; — "Even here I will breathe tlie free sjnrit of an Englisliman. I sufl'ered a good deal, by the rude jolting of the chaise, through the cursed town of Rochester, and through Dover;" and he adds, — " If I may talk of myself for a moment, like a true Frenchman, I should say that I am better than 1 feared for this poor carcase yesterday. The lips of my wound are much inflamed by the violent exercise, and I was so extremely sick in the passage, that 1 have strained myself greally." Grenvllle Papers, vol. ii. p. 185. ^T. 23.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIED. 223 when, fourteen months after his flight, Wilhams the printer was placed in the pillory for daring- to re-publish Number 45 of the North Briton^ the spectators not only presented him with two hundred guineas, which they had subscribed amongst themselves, but, after having erected a gibbet on which they suspended a boot and Scotch bonnet, carried off the delinquent in triumph in a hackney-coach correspond- ingly numbered, 45.* In a despotic country like France, the arrival of so bold an enemy to courtiers and courts as Wilkes, must necessarily have excited some sensation. Madame de Pompadour once put the question to him how far he considered that a libeller in England could with impunity abuse the royal family? "Madam," he replied, "this is exactly what I am trying to find out." f * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 80. t Grose's Olio, p. 187. L'24 MEMOIRS OF TIIE LIFE AND [1763. , , CHAPTER XII. Personal feeling of the King in Wilkes's case — Parliamentary provision for the Queen— Birth of Prince Frederick, afterwards Duke of York — Domestic life of the Royal Family — The King's kindness to Lady Molesworth's family in a season of great affliction — Simple tastes and benevolent disposition of the Queen— Mar- riage of Princess Augusta with the Prince of Brunswick — Coolness of the Court towards the Prince and Princess — Enthusiasm of the People — Gaming at Court prohibited — Diplomatic Duel prevented by the King. At tlie liead of those wlio instigated the unjustifiable proceedings against Wilkes in Parliament was now, it is to be feared, the young King himself. He not only com- pletely approved of the dismissals from the army and civil service of such members of Parliament as had voted against Government on the questions of Wilkes and General War- rants, but, in the particular instances of the removal of General Henry Conway, brother of the Earl of Hertford, from his office of Groom of the Bedchamber and the com- mand of his regiment of Dragoons, and of Mr. Fitzherbert from his seat at the Board of Trade, he was the person who proposed and occasioned those measures being carried into execution.* To his First Minister he writes on the 18th of February, 1764 : — " Firmness and resolution must now be shown, and no one's friend saved who has dared to fly off. This alone can restore order, and save this country from anarchy ; by dismissing, I mean not till the question is decided ; but I hope in a fortnight that those who have deserted may feel that I am not to be neglected unpunished." f It is true that the King had • Grenville Papers, vol. ii. pp. 162, 166, 223, 229, 267, 296, 297 ; Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 403. + Grenville Papers, vol. ii. pp. 267, 297, and note. iEx. 25.] EEIGX OF GEORGE THE THIED. 225 every reason to feel abhorrence of Wilkes, as well on account of his blasphemies and profligacies, as his being the inciter of nisurrection and riot, and the cruel defamer of his mother's reputation. True also it is, that Sir Robert Walpole had formerly dismissed Lords Westmoreland and Cobham from the command of their regiments, and had deprived Pitt — "that terrible cornet of Blues," as he styled him — of his commission, on account of theu' opposi- tion to the Government of the day. In those cases, how- ever, the provocation had been much greater ; nor, even if they had been precisely similar, would it have justified the King's unconstitutional attempt to influence the proceed- ings of Parliament, or the personal part which he took in instituting an arbitrary proscription. In the mean time Parliament had settled 100,000/. a year on the Queen in the event of her surviving her consort, and the Queen had personally curtseyed her thanks to Par- Dec 2, liament.* In addition to this magnificent dowry, Richmond Old Park and Lodge on the banks of the Thames — the retreat of Wolsey in the days of his disgrace, and after- wards the last home on English ground of the rebel Duke of Ormond — were set apart as her suburban residence in the event of a demise of the Crown. The London residence apportioned to the young Queen was the old palace of the Protector Somerset in the Strand, the same which, since the days of Anne of Denmark, had been set apart as the join- ture-house of the Queens of England. | Subsequently the King exchanged it for what had been formerly the residence of the Sheftields, Dukes of Buckingham, in St. James's Park, the fair lawns and shrubberies of which bordered, in 1763, on the open country. It may be here stated, that whenever the King's private letters and notes — many of which will, from time to time, be introduced into these pages — bear the • Annual Register for 1761, p. 182. t Statutes at Large, vol. 8, pp. 575 — 7. VOL. I. . Q 226 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1763. superscriptions of "Richmond Lodge" and the "Queen's House," they denote severally " Ormond Lodge," at Kich- mond, and the old red brick mansion of the Sheffields, long since demolished, which many persons will remember standing on the site of the present Buckingham Palace.* Henceforth the " Queen's House " became the favourite and constant London residence of the King and Queen. Here, during the first years after their marriage, they lived in comparative retirement; and here, on the 16th of August, 1763 — in the presence, we are told, of several Lords of the Privy Council and Ladies of the Bedchamber — the Queen was delivered of her second son, Frederick, afterwards Duke of York. The letters, which next follow, announce the birth of the Prince of Wales, an event which we have already recorded. The King to the King of Prussia. " Monsieur mon Frere, " L'heureux accouchement de la tres chere Heine, ma Femme, qui a mis au monde un Prince hier a sept henres et demie du matin, m'ayant rempli d'une juste Joye et Satisfaction, Je n'ai pas vonln prendre du temps a vous en faire part, ne doutant pas que Votre Majeste ne prenne un interet sincere a cette veritable Benediction, qu'il a plu au Tout Puissant de repandre sur moy, et sur mes Boyaumes. Je vous prie d'etre assure que vous me trouverez toujours dans la meme disposition par rapport a tout ce qui pent contribuer a votre prosperite, etant avec les sentimens de la plus jmrfaite amitie, " Monsieur mon Frere, " De votre Majeste, " le bon Frere, " George R." f " A St. James, ce 13e AoUt 1762." * Buclvingliam House, which had been purchased of Sir Charles Sheffield b}-- George 3 for tlie snin of 21,000/. was settled on Queen Charlotte in lieu of Somerset House by an Aet of Parliament passed in 1/75, 15 Geo. 3. c. 33. Cunningham's JIandbook of London, Art. Buckingham House. t Brit. Mu9. Add. MS. 6820. f. 103. iET. 25.] REIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 227 The King to the Queen of Prussia. " Madame ma Soeur, " Je n'ai rien cle plus empresse que de vous faire part de la naissance du Prince, dont la Reine ma tres cliere Epouse accoucha heureusement bier matin a sept beures et demie. L'amitie que vous me portez, ne me permet pas de douter que Votre Majeste ne s'enteresse a la Joye vive que je ressens d'un fivenement aussi lieureux^et important, comme je vous prie d'etre persuadee d'un sincere retour de ma Part pour tout ce qui poui-ra regarder Votre bonliem' et prosperite, etant avec autant d'estime que d' affection. '' Madame ma Soeur, " De Votre Majeste, " le bon Frere, " George R." * "A St. James, cc 13* AoM 1762." The Right Hon. George Grenville to Sir Andrew Mitchell. "St, James's, 13th August 1762. " Sir, " You will see by tbe enclosed Gazette tbe bappy News of tbe safe Delivery of tbe Queen yesterday morning ; wbo, by tbe blessing of God, tben brougbt forth a Prince, to tbe bearty and unfeigned joy of all His Majesty's faitbful subjects, wbicb was testified last nigbt in tbese two great cities by all tbe demonstra- tions tbat could express tbeir sense of sucb an important event. ^' Her Majesty and tbe young Prince continue botb, God be praised, in good bealtb. ^' I send you berewitb tbe letter, by wbicb tbe King is pleased to notify tbe birtb of tbe Prince to tbe King and Queen of Prussia, witb Copies, as usual. " I cannot conclude tbis letter witbout adding my most sincere congratulations upon tbe great and joyful news wbicb I bave tbe pleasure of conveying in it to you. * Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 6820. f. \C,'k O 2 228 ^klEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1763. " Two mails, wliicli arrived yesterday, Lrouglit me your De- spatch of the 21st past, which I have laid before the King, but have no particular commands at present from His Majesty upon the contents of it. " I am, with great truth and regard, <' Sir, " Your most obedient " Humble servant, " George Grenville." " p. S. — I have just received your letter of the 28th past." * It was one of the misfortunes of George tlie Third that, in the earlier period of his reign, his true character was as little understood by his subjects in general, as it was by his Ministers. The retired life which he continued to lead was attributed partly to pride, and partly to jealousy of his youth- ful Queen. In like manner, the King's preference of a simple diet, and the laudable economy practised in the royal house- hold, were construed into a niggardly penuriousness, which was undoubtedly never one of the failings of George the Third. According to the prejudiced statement of Walpole, such was the " excess of privacy and economy " in which the King and Queen passed their time at Richmond, that the beef required for their soup was restricted to four pounds, and the Queen's hairdresser waited on them when they dined.| The best answers to these and similar charges of illiberality lie in the numerous instances of unostentatious charity, and munificent support of the arts and sciences, which will be found from time to time recorded in these pages. Of the benevolence of the King's disposition it would • Brit. Mus. Add. MS. C820. f. 161. t Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 269. Ed. 1857. iEx. 25.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 229 be difficult to find a more interesting example than was afforded, about this time, by his conduct to the family of the late Lady Moles^Yorth, on their having been suddenly visited by one of the most terrible domestic calamities on record. When, on the night of the 5th of May, 1763, Lady Moles- worth * retired to rest at her house in Upper Brook Street, Grosvenor Square, her family and household consisted altogether of some fifteen or sixteen persons, including six young unmarried daughters. Before daybreak eight of these persons had perished by a miserable death. Lady Molesworth was in bed with her eldest daughter, Henrietta, in a front room on the second floor, when about four o'clock in the morning she was roused from her sleep by the alarm of fire. Escape by the stairs was rendered impossible. Before any of the inmates of the house had notice of the fire they were enveloped in flames and smoke. In the agony of her fright, ]\Iiss Molesworth threw up the sash of the window, and, flinging herself towards the street, fell on the pointed iron railings beneath, and thence into the area. It was sub- sequently ascertained that she had fi-actured her leg in two places. Whether Lady Molesworth met her death from suffocation, or whether she sank with the falling floor, amongst the ruins of which her bones and ring were sub- sequently discovered, was never ascertained. For some seconds she was seen standing in her night-dress at the window, evidently in a dreadful state of terror and despair, and then, while in the act of lifting up her hands, she suddeidy disappeared and was seen no more.| In a back room on * Mary, daughter of tlie Eeverenrt William Usher, Archdeacon of Clonfcrt, had married in 1743 Richard, third Viscount Molesworth, an union between a beautiful girl of nineteen and a bridegroom of sixty-three. Lord Molesworth in his youth had been aide-de-camp to the great Duke of Marlborough, whose life he saved at the battle of Kamillies at the risk of losing his own. Coxc's Life, of Marlborough, vol. ii. p. 25. He died, holding the rank of Field-Marslial, on the 12th of October 1758, leaving one son and eight daughters, of whom two of tlio latter were by a previous marriage. t The fate of Ivady Molesworth excited universal sympathy. Horace Walpole 230 IMEMOIES OE THE LIFE AND [1763. the same floor slept a brother of the late Viscount, Dr. Molesworth, and his wife. The latter flung herself out of window, and happily alighted on a mattress which her husband had previously had the presence of mind to throw into the yard below. The Doctor, who was advanced in years, appears to have wanted sufficient resolution to take the leap, and accordingly, while the flames were raging within, he clung to a hook affixed to the outward wall, till, just as his strength was beginning completely to fail him, a ladder was brought by which he was enabled to effect his escape. Every apartment in the house presented a scene of distress and dismay. The second and third daughters of Lady Molesworth, Melosina and Mary, aged severally about sixteen and fifteen years, perished in the flames. In the mean time, the neighbours had spread mattresses and feather-beds on the pavement in the front of the house, at one of the upper windows of which — watched with intense interest by the crowd — appeared two younger sisters, Louisa, afterwards successively Baroness Ponsonby and Countess Fitzwilliam, and Elizabeth. " Sister," said the eldest, frightened at the height from which she had to leap, " push me and jump after me, for I have not courage to jump myself" The other did as she was bid and immediately followed her ; the result being that, though they both fell upon feather-beds, the elder sister had her thigh broken, while the other escaped with some unimportant bruises. At the same time, a scene of similarly exciting interest was taking writes to General Conway, 6 May 1763,— "The catastrophe is shocking beyond what one ever heard ; and poor Lady Molesworth, whose character and conduct were the most amiable in the world, is nniversally lamented."— Again Walpole writes to Sir Horace Mann on the 10th :— "The general compassion on this dreadful tragedy is much heightened by the very amiable character of Lady Molesworth. She had been a very great beauty, and was still a most pleasing woman, not above forty."— " 1 have wept," writes Countess Cowper on the lOtli, "over poor Lady Molesworth and her children. What a dreadful Catastrophe ! I did not visit her, but knew her and her eldest daughter very well by sight. 'Tis really too shocking : I shall be more afraid of fire than ever:'— Memoirs of Mrs. Delany, edited by Lady Llanover, vol, i. p. 15, 2ud Series. iEx. 25.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIED. 231 place at the back part of the house. In one of the rooms in the garret slept the French governess with Lady Moles- worth's youngest daughter, Charlotte, a child less than eight years of age. On the alarm being given, the latter, with a presence of mind beyond her years, contrived to reach the roof of the house from the window, but finding her further progress prevented by chimneys and s})ikes, was compelled to make good her retreat to the apartment. There was now no chance of escape for either, but to leap from the window. The governess was the first to throw herself out and was killed on the spot. The child followed, fell on the mattress which had been thrown down by Dr. Molesworth, and fortunately escaped without having suffered any very material injuries. Some one endeavouring to assure her that her governess was safe — "Do not," she replied, "pretend to make me believe that, for I saw her dead on the pavement and her brains scattered about." A similar attempt was made to keep her in ignorance of her mother's death, but also to no purpose. Unluckily the poor child overheard some of the servants speaking of it in an adjoining apartment, and was so affected as to refuse food for two days. In addition to these casualties, a brother of Lady Molesworth, Captain Usher, and three servants, lost their lives ; one of the latter, a noble fellow, perishing in the gallant attempt to save others. Fortunately Lord Moles- worth, a youth of fifteen, who had passed the preceding night in Brook Street, had on the following morning returned to Westminster School. This terrible catastrophe, as we have already repre- sented, excited the generous sympathies of the young King. Having learned that, with the death of Lady Molesworth, had ceased the pension which she had enjoyed as the widow of a Field Marshal, and consequently that her sur- viving cliildren were left but ill provided for, the King not r 232 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1763. only sent them a considerable sum of money for their present use, but also ordered a house to be procured for them, which he took a pleasure in furnishing at his own expense. Moreover, not satisfied with securing to them the same amount of pension as had been enjoyed by their late mother, he increased it by an additional 200/. a year. With reference to the fate of the survivors of this painful tragedy, the story of the eldest — who, it will be remembered, had fractured her leg in two places — alone possesses any remarkable interest. The adjoining house, into which she was received, happened to be that of Lady Grosvenor, whose son. Lord Grosvenor, was supposed to have formed an attachment for the young lady. Lord Gros- venor having been informed that a fire was raging in Upper Brook Street, had lost no time in hurrying to his mother's residence, which he reached just as the mutilated girl was being carried into the hall. She partially recognised him, and prayed him to take care of her. A surgeon was sent for, who, on his arrival, found her insensible, and while she was in this state deemed it expedient to amputate her leg. For some weeks, she continued in so precarious a condition that it was found necessary to deceive her, not only in respect to the fate of her mother and sisters, but also to conceal from her, if possible, the fact of the operation which she had undergone. With this object, a false leg of bandaged pasteboard was attached to the remains of the severed limb ; a device which fortunately answered the pur- pose intended. Once only, a little sister, who was permitted to approach her bedside, very nearly allowed the truth to escape. " Oh, poor Harriet ! " she exclaimed, " they tell me your leg is cut off." But even this blunt announcement of the fact failed to undeceive the invalid. "No," she replied, " it is not." The truth, however, could not always be kept a secret, and accordingly it was at length broke to Mr. 2j.] reign OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 233 her by an affectionate female relative, in a manner equally ingenious and delicate. Having by degrees taught her to believe that the wound was getting worse, and that ampu- tation might probably be necessary, she was at last brought to express a wish that the operation was over. Some natural tears followed the announcement ; but her predo- minant feelings were those of gratitude and satisfaction. " Thank God ! " she said, "it is not my arm, for now I can still amuse myself." During these days of pain and sadness. Lord Grosvenor not only behaved with the greatest kindness and attention towards his mother's guest, but, it is said, placed in the hands of her guardian a considerable sum of money for her use ; at the same time insisting that she should never be informed of the source whence it was derived. Here, however, his attentions ended. The following year, he gave his hand to a daughter of the house of Vernon, whose name also happened to be Henrietta. For some time, dis- appointment and misfortune seem to have pursued Miss Moles worth. She was riding, a year or two afterwards, with a young nobleman to whom she was engaged to be married, when to her horror she beheld him thrown from his horse and killed on the spot. She subsequently, in 1774, married the Right Honourable John Staples, grand- son of Sir Robert Staples, Baronet, by whom she became the mother of several children.* Having had occasion to attract attention to the better qualities of George the Third, it is but right that similar justice should be done to his consort. Virtuous, prudent, amiable, and unostentatiously pious, her pure example went far to effect that amendment in public morals, and espe- cially hi the tone of high society, for which even her * The foregoing details are dorived for the most part from Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. pp. 77 — 80. M. Duten's Memoirs of a Traveller now in Retirement, vol. ii. pp. 24 — 33 ; Annual Register for 1763, p. 75. 234 MEMOIES OP THE LIFE AND [1763. maligners have given her the highest credit. " You do not know the character of the Queen ; "—writes Lord Chester- field to his son ; — " Here it is. She is a good woman, a good wife, a tender mother, and an unmeddHng Queen. The King loves her as a woman, but, I verily believe, has never yet spoken one word to her about business." * In acts of charity and benevolence, the Queen followed in the footsteps of her husband. In the course of the year 1763, we find her purchasing a house and grounds in Bedford- shire, which she subsequently endowed as an asylum for the daughters of decayed gentlemen ; nor let it be for- gotten that she was not only a subscriber to the Magdalen Hospital ; but, overcoming the prejudices which many of her sex had conceived against that asylum for female frailty, nobly consented to become its patroness. Devoted to the King, and formed for the enjoyment of domestic life, the Queen had readily fallen into the habits which were most congenial to him. With almost incredulous eyes, the young and the gay beheld a fair and youthful Queen preferring simplicity to splendour, and retirement to a round of vanity and pleasure. With the exception of a taste for dancing, with which she always indulged herself at her entertainments, all her amusements as well as her pursuits were of a domestic character. In the morning she occupied herself with needlework and reading; later in the day she either rode or walked with the King, and in the evening either played a game of cards with him or sang to her own accompaniment upon the harpsichord. Much of her time, too, in the early days of her marriage, was passed in learning the English language, which she not only mastered so as to enable her to speak it with fluency and correctness, but also to write it with elegance. Her instructor was the Reverend Doctor Majendie, father of * Chesterfield's Letters, edited by Earl Stanhoiic, vol. iv. p. 400. ^T. 25.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 235 the late Bishop of Chester, the King himself frequently ^ assisting at her studies. In another respect the Queen differed materially from the majority of her sex. Many years afterwards she assured ]\liss Burney that, not even in her earliest days, had jewels or dress had any fascination for her. She admitted, indeed, that for the first week or fortnight after she had become a Queen, the adornment of her person had not been an un- pleasing task ; but at that time, she added, she was only seventeen, and besides it was not her reason but only her eyes which were dazzled. " She told me, with the sweet- est grace imaginable," writes Miss Burney, " how well she had liked at first her jewels and ornaments as Queen ; ' but how soon,' she cried, ' was that over ! Believe me. Miss Burney, it is a pleasure of a week — a fortnight at most — and to return no more. I thought, at first, I should always choose to wxar them ; but from the fatigue and trouble of putting them on, and the care they required, and the fear of losing them, believe me, in a fortnight's time I longed again for my own earlier dress, and wished never to see them more ! ' " * Of the mmierous brothers and sisters of George the Third the eldest was the Prnicess Augusta, who on the 31st of July 1763 had completed her twenty-sixth year. Her manners were lively and engaging ; her complexion beautiful. In childhood her loveliness had been remark- able, but before she attained to womanhood its bloom had passed away. " Lady Augusta," writes Horace Walpole, " was not handsome, but tall enough and not ill-made, with the German whiteness of hair and complexion so remarkable in the Royal Family, and with their precipitate, yet thick Westphalian accent."! The ruling defect of the Princess was a love of meddling hi politics, in which her * Madame D'Arblay's Diary and Letters, vol. i. pp. 202—3. t Memoirs of the Keigu of George 3, vol. iii. p. 3-A7. 236 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1763. opinions diametrically differed from those of lier mother. While Bute, on the one hand, was the idol of the Princess Dowager, the yomiger Princess, on her part, not only lavished all her admiration upon Pitt, but, like her brother the Duke of York, boldly and openly inveighed against the policy of the Court. So ardent a politician was likely to set a troublesome example to her younger brothers and sisters ; nay the Queen herself, it was feared, might pos- sibly be infected with the zeal of her sister-in-law. Under these circumstances, the Princess Dowager resolved to look out for a foreign husband for her daughter, and thus remove her to a distance fi'om the scene of her present political vagaries.* The Prince whom the British Court fixed upon as the most eligible consort for the Princess Augusta, was Charles AVilliam Ferdinand, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick Wol- fenbuttel, a favourite nephew, and pupil in the art of War, of Frederick the Great of Prussia. Though only in his twenty-ninth year, he had long since earned for himself a considerable military reputation at the battle of Hasten- beck, which more recently he had improved by the courage and ability displayed by him at the siege of Crefeld. His manners were remarkably prepossessing ; his figure slight and graceful ; his countenance, which wore a weather-worn and soldier-like look, was remarkably handsome. This is the same Duke of Brunswick who, forty-three years after- wards, died of the wounds which he received at the battle of Jena, and the father of the no less gallant Duke Frederick William, who lost his life at the battle of Quatre-Bras. The hereditary Prince landed in England on ihe 12tli of January 17G4. A marriage-portion of 80,000/., an an- nuity of 5000/. — with which the Irish Revenue was made * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. pp. 346, 347. JET. 25.] BEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 237 chargeable — and another of 3000/., derived from Hanover,* certainly held out no trifling inducements for a German Prince to visit England. The Prince, who, up to the time of his arrival at St. James's, had not even seen a portrait of his betrothed, expressed himself highly charmed with her person on his being introduced to her. Had it been otherwise, he observed, he should certainly have returned to Brunswick without a wife.f The Princess, on her part, seems to have been equally well satisfied with her future husband. Interesting as was the occasion of the Prince's visit to England, and notwithstanding his being a stranger in the land, he was treated by the English Court with a coldness and neglect, which could scarcely fail to attract the attention of the pubhc. The Prince, it seems, had been for some time past in the habit of making use of very impru- dent language in discussing English politics. More espe- cially his enthusiastic encomiums on the character and liberal principles of Pitt, are said to have given offence at St. James's. At all events, whatever grounds for complaint his conduct may have afforded, the King was evidently resolved to render his visit to England as brief, if not as uncomfortable to him, as possible. According to Walpole, almost every precedent of ceremony, which should have done him honour, was omitted. The custom for the ser- vants of the King and Queen to appear in new clothes at a royal wedding was dispensed with ; no sentinel was placed at the entrance of the royal apartments which he occupied in Somerset House ; no guest sat at his table except with the cognisance of the King, and at the formal invitation of the Lord Steward. If, however, the Prince met but with a churlish reception from his new connexions, very different was the welcome accorded him by the people of England. His reputation as • Walpole's Keign of George 3, vol. i. p. 347. t Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 164. Ed. 1857. 238 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1764. a gallant soldier had preceded his arrival ; while the further fact of his approaching nuptials with a Princess of England invested him with an additional interest. At Harwich, where he landed, the town was in an uproar. " Mrs. Bos- cawen tells me," WTites Lady Chatham to her husband, "they almost pulled down the house in which he was, in order to see him." At Chelmsford, where he rested a short time, an incident occurred which seems to have flattered and amused him extremely. A Quaker so pertinaciously insisted upon being admitted to his presence, that at last his request was complied with. Taking off his hat — for the first time perhaps in his life to any one but his Maker — " Noble friend," he said, " give me thy hand : although I do not fight myself, I love a brave man that will fight. Thou art a valiant prince, and art to be married to a lovely princess : love her, make her a good husband, and the Lord bless you both !" * The next morning, observing in the crowd a soldier in the uniform of Elliot's Light-Horse, a regiment with which he had formerly served in action, the Prince kissed his hand to the man. Every eye of course became fixed upon the soldier, who at once became a per- son of importance. " What! " exclaimed the crowd, " does he know you?" — "Yes," replied the man, "he once led me into a scrape, which nobody but himself could have brought me out of again." — "You may guess," writes Walpole, who relates the anecdote, " how much this added to the Prince's popularity, which was at high-water mark before." j Naturally indignant at the treatment he met with from the Court, the Prince retahated by seeking the society of the leaders of the Opposition ; this being the very object which the King and the Princess Dowager were chiefly anxious to prevent. Twice he dined with the Duke of * Chatham Corrcsp., vol. ii. p. 271 ; Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 16i. t Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 164. ^T. 25.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIED. 239 Cumberland, who was at this thne on the worst terms with the King ; and, moreover, he not only paid marked attention to the Duke of Newcastle, who was equally out of favour at Court, but arranged that the chiefs of the Opposition should assemble and be presented to him at Newcastle House. Accordingly, on the appointed day, about twenty persons of high rank paid their respects to him in Lincoln's Inn Fields, and at his departure attended him without their hats in the rain to his coach. * But the circumstance, which more than any other was calculated to give offence to the Court, was a visit of respect paid by the Prince to Mr. Pitt, at his country seat at Hayes. Of this fact, notwithstanding that it was confidently denied in the newspapers of the day, there exists not the shadow of a doubt. He proceeded thither, it appears, in a hired post-chaise, accompanied only by his chief secretary, M. de Feronce, and two servants. For some reason or other he directed the driver to pull up his horses short of their desti- nation, when, having opened the door of the chaise himself and alighted, he proceeded on foot to the great man's resi- dence, where he was closeted with him for about two hours."]" The marriage of the Duke of Brunswick and the Princess Augusta took place in the great Council Chamber in St. James's Palace on the 16th of January 1764, attended, apparently, with but little splendour. Thirty years after- wards, the Princess told Lord Malmesbury at Brunswick that the only diamonds which she had carried with her out of England were a fine one set in a ring, given* her as a bague de manage by the King her brother, and a pair of diamond bracelets. The Queen, she insisted, was extremely jealous of the former gift. :|: * Mrs. Carter's Letters, vol. iii. p. 88. + Chatham Corresp., vol. ii. p. 271 ; Mrs. Carters Letters, vol. iii. p. 83 ; Wal- pole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 348 ; Annual Register for 17C4, p. 46. % Lord Malmesbury's Diaries, vol. iii. p. L'55, 2ud Edition. 240 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1764. The fact, which had now become notorious, that the Prince, hke liis bride, was violently opposed to the politics of the Court, rendered the new-married couple more popular, if possible, than they had previously been. When, two days after the marriage, the royal family attended the performances at Covent Garden Theatre, the King and Queen took their places amidst a sullen silence, whilst the appearance in the theatre of the Prince and Princess was the signal for more than one round of rapturous applause. " The shouts, claps, and huzzas to the Prince," writes Walpole to Sir Horace Mann, "were immoderate. He sat behind his Princess and her brothers. The galleries called him to come forward. In the middle of the play he went to be elected a member of the Royal Society and returned to the Theatre, when the applause was renewed."* — " The acclamations of the theatre at the appearance of the Prince of Brunswick," writes James Grenville to Lady Chatham, " exceeded anything that ever happened." f Again, when on the following Saturday the royal family attended the Opera, the House was no less crowded, and the reception of the Prince no less enthusiastic. " The crowd," writes Walpole, " is not to be described. The Duchess of Leeds, Lady Denbigh, Lady Scarborough, and others, sat on chairs between the scenes. The doors of the front boxes were thrown open, and the passages were all filled to the back of the stoves ; nay, women of fashion stood on the very stairs till eight at night." j: One might have supposed that the Hereditary Prince, satisfied with these triumphs, would have refrained from seeking to humiliate his royal brother-in-law, in a still more painful manner, in the eyes of his subjects. Whether, however, angry feelings got the better of his sounder * Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 166. + Chatham Corresp., vol. ii. p. 277. t Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 170. Mr. 25.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIED. 211 judgment — wlietlier his head had been turned by tlie homage and plaudits of the vulgar — or whether he was eager to ingratiate himself with the Chiefs of the Opposi- tion — it appears to be certain that, at least on two different occasions, he put affronts on the King of England which no treatment he had met with could possibly justify. Both these occasions are recorded by Walpole. "The Duke," he writes, "has dined twice with the Duke of Cumberland ; the first time on Friday last when he was appointed to be at St. James's at half an hour after seven to a concert. As the time drew near, de Feronce pulled out his watch. The Duke took the hint and said, — ' I am sorry to part witli you, but I fear your time is come.' He replied, — N'importe; sat on, drank coffee, and it was half an hour after eight before he set out from Upper Grosvenor Street for St. James's." * The other occasion, which took place on the Saturday evening that the royal family attended the opera, savours so much of vulgarity, if not vindictiveness, that we would willingly entertain a hope that it was un- intentional. " In the middle of the Second Act," writes Walpole, " tlie Hereditary Prince, who sat with liis wife and her brothers in their box, got up, turned his hack to King and Queen, pretending to offer his place to Lady Tankerville and then to Ladv Susan. You know enouo-h of Germans and their stiffness to etiquette, to be sure that this could not be done inadvertently." "j" The fact is, that the King and the Prince were both to blame. If little ex- cuse is to be found for the King's churlish treatment of his intended brother-in-law, still less justifiable was the Prince's impertinent interference with the party-politics of a country in which he was a stranger, and his daring to insult a King of England in the midst of his own subjects. But still more reprehensible than the conduct either of the * Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 170. t Ibid., vol. iv. p. 170 ; Memou's of the Reign of George 3, vol. i. p. 318. VOL. I. K 242 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1764. King or the Duke was that of the great Whig Lords, both in aiding and abetting the Prince in his hostiUty to the Court, and in converting his ephemeral popularity into political capital. The latter object, as far as party purposes were concerned, could avail them little, while on the other hand it was calculated, as they must have been well aware, to inflict a painful amount of annoyance and mortification upon their Sovereign. In the mean time the Duke of Brunswick, gratified by the cheers of the multitude, and by the court paid to him by the great Opposition Families, would willingly have prolonged his stay in a country in which popularity was so easily achieved, and royal merit so immediately discovered. The King however, as we have seen, had ample reasons for desiring the absence of his sister and brother-in-law, and accordingly it was resolved to fix them to the day which had been originally named for their departure. That day, the 26tli of January, was a gloomy one and the weather tempestuous, yet when the carriage, containing the bride and bridegroom, emerged from the gateway of St. James's Palace, a crowd of kind faces had assembled to smile farewell on them, while prayers and blessings accompanied them on their route to the Coast. That night they slept at Witham, Lord Abercorn's seat in Essex, the same mansion which had entertained Queen Charlotte on her first arrival from Mecklenburg. Their quarters would seem to have been most uncomfortable. On the 3rd of February Mrs. Carter WTites to her friend Miss Talbot ; — " Very pathetic are the lamentations made over the Prince and Princess and their distresses on the road to Harwich. It seems Lord Abcrcorn had desired the honour of entertain- ing them, but nothing was accepted but his house. Care was to be taken of all the rest. Such care was taken that when the Princess arrived at midniixht at Witham, as dark and as cold and as hungry belike as a Princess might be, iET. 2o.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 243 they found neither candle, nor fire, nor food." * At sup- per the Princess looked so woe-begone as to attract the attention of her husband. Eh quavez vous clone ma chere Pnncesse? Est-ce que vous manquez vos gardes? Nous sommes tous egaux ici. Mais consolez-vous ; quand vous serez a Brunswick vous en aurez^ The Princess, it is said, smiled and soon recovered her cheerfulness. | The discomforts which the royal couple had to put up with were doubtless much exaggerated by what ]\lrs. Carter styles " Minority invention." As a matter of course, they were ascribed to private instructions deliberately issued by the Court. The yacht which carried the Prince and Princess from Harwich set sail in inclement weather, and before long was Jan. 29. overtaken by a tempest. From the end of January till nearly the middle of February no tidings of them reached London, and consequently the most lively apprehensions began to be entertained for their safety. Party malice attributed their peril to the Court having driven them away at such a season ; and accordingly when, on the 7th, rumours reached London that the yacht had foun- dered on the Coast of Holland, the indignation of the public was exceeded only by its lamentations. " The basket- women in St. James's Market," writes Mrs. Carter on the 9th, — "have been most intemperately vociferous in their wishes that all who sent the Prince and Princess away in such weather were in their places." The Opposition as usual made the most of the popular clamour. " Various and ingenious," continues Mrs. Carter, "have been the political inventions of every day. The Minority, to have a fair pre- tence of hanging the Ministry, have sunk the yacht and drowned the Prince and Princess." J That there had been real danger, however, was unquestionable. Horace Walpole * Mrs. Carter's Letters, vol. iii. p. 88. t I hid., p. 91. t Hid., p. 92. R 2 244 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1764 writes to Lord Hertford on the 7tli ; — " I tremble while I continue my letter, having jnst heard such a dreadful story. A captain of a vessel has made oath before the Lord Mayor this morning that he saw one of the yachts sink on the Coast of Holland ; and it is believed to be the one in which the Prince was. The City is in an uproar ; nor need one point out all such an accident may produce, if true, which I most fervently hope it is not." * Fierce, however, as had been the tempest, the yacht which canied the Prince and Princess escaped uninjured, and safely landed them at Helvoetsluys in Holland.| The King to the King of Prussia. " Monsieur mon Frere, " Les sentimens de votre Majeste pour tout ce qui regarde les interets de ma Maison, me sont trop hien connus, pour douter im moment de la part qu' Elle prendraal'heureuxaccomplissement du mariage, qui vient d'etre celebre, entre ma tres chere soeur La Princesse Augusta, et mon cousin Le Prince Hereditaire de Bruns- wick-Luneburg. Votre Majeste me fera la justice de considerer mon empressement a Lui communiquer cet evenement, comme une nouvelle preuve de I'estime et de I'amitie invariables, avec les- quelles Je suis, " Monsieur mon Frere, " De votre Majeste " le bon Frere "George ll."$ "St. James's, cc Vl' Janvier 1764." The King to the Queen of Prussia. " Madame ma Soeur, " Je m'empresse de faire part a votre Majeste de I'heureux accomplissement du mariage entre ma tres chere Soeur La Princesse Auguste, et mon cousin Le Prince Hereditaire de Bruns- * Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 181. t Annual Register for 1764, pp. 45 — 6, 52. X Brit. Mus. Addit. MS. 6821. f. 111. iEx. 25.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 245 wick-Lunebiirg, dont la celebration s'est faite Hier, et je me per- suade que voire Majeste apprendra, avec une vraie satisfaction, la nouvelle d'un fivenement si interessant pour les Illustres Per- sonnes, qui lui appartiennent de si pros. Je saisis avcc plaisir cette nouvelle occasion de reiterer a votre Majeste tons les Sentimens de I'amitie cordiale, avec laquelle, Je suis, " Madame ma Soeur, " De votre Majeste " le bon Frcre, ''George R."* " A St. James's cc 17* Janvier 176i." It was at Christmas this year, that the Immemorial custom of playing at Hazard at Court on Twelfth Night was, by the King's orders, for the first time discon- tinued. This ruinous game, it seems, used formerly to be played indiscriminately throughout the palace ; large sums having been lost or won, either by, or else in the presence of the sovereign.! Card-playing was in the first instance sub- stituted for the dice-box ; ^but the evil of high play was found to continue notwithstanding the change of pastime, and accordingly the King issued a subsequent order, that for the future, no gaming whatever should under any circum- stances be allowed in the royal palaces. The following account of a fi-acas which took place at Court somewhat early in the reign of George the Third, reads rather like a passage from the pages of one of the Tudor Chroniclers than an event of modern times. " I think it necessary," writes Lord Rochfort to Sir Andrew Mitchell, "to acquaint your Excellency of a disagreeable affair which passed at the ball at Court on the 5th instant,:): and which you will no doubt have heard of through other * Brit. Mu.s. Add. MS. 6821. f. 113. t More than one Imndred and thirty years previously, (9 Jannary 1G33,) a corre- spondent writes to the Earl of Strafford—" I had ahnost forgot to tell your Lordship tliat the dicing-night [Twelftli Night] the King [Charles 1] carried away in James Palmer's hat £1850. The Queen was his half and brought him that luck ; she shared presently £900." Htrafford Letters, vol. i. p. 207. X 5 June 1769, Lord Rochfort's letter is dated the 13th. 248 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1764. channels. The Russian Ambassador [Count Czei'nicheff] commg in first, placed himself on the bench next the ladies. The Imperial Ambassador [Coimt Seilern] coming in soon after, Count Czernicheff very politely gave him the upper hand. Some time afterwards the French Ambassador, coming in, stood before the Envoys' bench behind the Ambassadors. Count Czernicheff, turning round, entered into conversation with him, when, on a sudden, the French Ambassador [the Count du Chatelet] * stepped over the bench and pushed himself in with some violence between the Imperial and Russian Ambassadors. Some very warm words passed between Count Czernicheff and the French Ambas- sador. The former particularly treated him as an Imperti- nent. The Spanish Ambassador then coming in, and set- tling himself quietly amongst the ladies, Count Chatelet beckoned to him to come and place himself next tlie Imperial Ambassador, on which the Russian Ambassador got up and seated himself between Madame Maltzan and Madame Very. At going away, some w\arm words again passed, and the Russian Ambassador following Count Chatelet, more high words ensued upon the staircase, and they both went together in the Russian Ambassador's coach." I The result of the two Ambassadors seating; themselves together in the same coach was such as may perhaps have been anticipated. "Du Chatelet," writes Walpole, "pro- posed that they should decide the quarrel with their swords, and they endeavoured to go into St. James's Park, but the gates wxre closed." \ Accordingly they agreed to defer the encounter till the following morning, when it was happily • "Du Chatelet," writes Walpole, "was enough disposed to assume any airs of superiority. At Vienna, on a former occasion, he had embroiled his Court with the Imperial Ly wrong-headed insolence." Walpoles Memoirs of the Reign of George 3, vol. iii. p. 368. t Ellis's Original Letters, vol. iv. pp. 519, 520. X Memou-s of the Reign of George 3, vol. iii. pp. 36f). 2Et. 2j.] EEIGN of GEOEGE THE THIED. 247 prevented by the prompt interference of tlie young King. "The King," continues Lord Rochfort, "out of his great tenderness and huinanity, ordered Lord AYeymouth and myself to wait on the French and Russian Ambassadors to prevent any mischief, which was accordingly done. On Tuesday morning Count Chatelet made a visit to the Russian Ambassador, and said how sorry he was such an affair had happened. The Russian Ambassador appears personally satisfied with the excuses made for the personal incivility, but considers his Court as highly insulted." In conse- quence of this stupid and bullying affair, the Lord Cham- berlain, by the King's orders, intimated to the difterent foreign Ambassadors that, on future occasions of Balls at Court, it was his desire that the practice of claiming pre- * cedency should be dispensed with The King not only took a deep and unceasing interest in the prosperity of his subjects in general, but the welfare of the very meanest of them was not indifferent to him. There is extant, for instance, among the Mitchell MSS. in the Biitish Museum, a letter superscribed,- — •" For his Prescent Mayjesty King George y^ third, London," in which the writer, an English sailor, states that in the month of May 1766, while enjoying himself on shore near Memel, he was kidnapped and enlisted against his will into the Prussian military service. Four times over, he informs the King, he has represented his hard case to "his Mayjisty King of Prows in Berlien," but no notice having been taken of his letters, he now, by the advice of "a verry honorowble ould gentleman, a marchant from Ingland," ventures to address " tow or three lines " to his own Sovereign. " This letter," tlie writer concludes, " imust smugle away in toan inglish- mans hands that none of the Offiscears catsh me with this * Ellis's Original Letters, vol. iv. p. 521, 2ml Series. 24S MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1764. letter, iam 28 years of agge and 5 foot aleaven in liiglit, and so no more at prescent, but remain, in prays to the All mighty for your Mayje sty's long rean, and in peace with all men. "James Richardson." "From the re vow in camps "in Cenesbourgh May the 31th 1767." * Long as is the letter, from which the foregoing is an extract, and difficult as it is to read from the badness of the writing as well as of the spelling, the King nevertheless not only took the trouble to decipher it, but ordered an imme- diate investigation into the truth of the statements which it contained. " His Majesty," writes one of his Secretaries of State, General Conway, to the British Ambassador at Berlin, "has received a letter by the Post from one James Richardson, an English Sailor, who, above a twelvemonth ago was, partly by force and partly by terror, enlisted in the Prussian Service. As the King's disposition inclines him to lend an ear to the complaints of the meanest of his subjects, he perused this letter with attention ; and finding in it a remarkable air of truth and sincerity, he directed me to transmit it to you, that you may inquire concerning its grounds and foundation. If the poor man's narrative be found conformable to fact, and if he be enlisted otherwise than from his free choice, it is his Majesty's pleasure that you make application in his behalf to the King of Prussia, and recover him his liberty." The man's story proved to be connect, and accordingly, within six weeks from the date of General Conway's letter, he obtained his discharge.f The following is a copy of Richardson's Certificate of his release : — • Mitchell Tapers, vol. xx. fol, 223 ; Ellis's Original Letters, vol. iv. pp. 509 — .512, 2nd Series. t Kllis's Original Letters, vol. iv. pp. 507 — 8, 2nd Series. 2Et. 25.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE TRIED. 249 " This is to sertify that I James Richardson liath got my discharge from hxllenbomi ridgiment on foot, and hath got one dalhir to bear my expences on my way, and a pass, and make the best of my way to owld ingland. " RassUinbourg September 18th 17G7."* * Ellis's Original Letters, vol. iv. p. 512. 250 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1764. CHAPTER XIII. The Colonial Stamp Act — Strenuously opposed by the North American Colonists — Passed with little discussion — Manifestations of tlie King's mental malady — In- trigues to exclude the name of the King s Mother from the Regency Bill — Her name inserted. In tlie mean time, Grenvllle had been Intent npon that most important and indefensible measure of his Administra- tion, — the imposition of his famous Stamp Act on the North American Colonies, At the time when the short-sighted Minister was employed with his clerks at the Treasury in arranging his forthcoming Budget, how little could he have anticipated the long and bloody war which his financial policy was destined to entail upon his country ! How little could he have imagined that there was one schedule in that Budget wdiich was doomed to effect a Revolution unparalleled in importance in the annals of the human race — that he was lighting up a conflagration which ere long was to blaze from the Hudson to the Mississippi, and the sparks of which, descending upon the thrones of the Old World, were destined to accelerate the great Revolution in France, and to induce those terrible proscriptions, massacres, and wars, which disorraced the cause of freedom at its birth ! How little could he have foreseen that from his shortsightedness would spring up that spirit of freedom which was destined to ])roduce a Washington and a Franklin in the New World, and which sent back Lafayette as the apostle of Liberty to the Old! Still less could he have imagined that his petti- fogging policy was about to give birth to a mighty and ^T. 25.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 251 rival empire — not an empire feebly struggling into exist- ence — but at once springing forth, like IMinerva from the head of Jupiter, armed with the wisdom and thunders of her sire, and desthied to bear her giant part in extending over the greater portion of the Globe the lan- guage, the industry, and indomitable energy of the Anglo- Saxon race. Such claims on the part of the mother-country, as those set forth by Grenville — namely that she had not only a prescriptive right to tax her Colonies, but that she was justified in appropriating the revenue so raised to her own purposes, and for her own benefit — were certainly not those to which a free and gallant people like the Americans could be expected to submit without a struggle. Grenville, how- ever, who was as devoid of fear as he was of foresio:ht, could perceive no obstacle to the success of his daring and favourite policy. Very difi^erent had been the convictions of Sir Robert Walpole, when the project of taxing America had formerly been suggested to that sagacious Minister. " No ! " he said, "it is too hazardous a measure for me ; I shall leave it to my successors." Again, when Lord Chesterfield discussed the subject Avitli him, he replied — " I have Old England against me, and do you think I will have New England likewise?" * Grenville, on the contrary, could discover no direct enactment in the Statute Book agauist American Taxation, and he looked little further. It must be admitted, indeed, as some excuse for Grenville, that the amount of sovereign authority which Great Britain had a constitutional right to exercise over her Colonies, had as yet never been clearly defined. To what extent, the prero- gative of the Crown, the powers vested in Parliament, and the jurisdiction of the Law Courts, authorized them severally to interfere with, or control the affairs of the Colonists, had * Coxc's Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole, vol. i. p. 753. 252 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AXD [1761. liitlierto involved a problem which, till Grenville took upon himself to sever the Gordian knot, no British Minister had had the hardihood to attempt to solve. Moderation in the dealings which Great Britain had carried on with her Colonies, and a desire to render their national interests identical, had up to this time been the prudent policy of former Governments. Of past neglect, indeed, of their affairs, the Americans had a right to complain ; but, to use the words of Burke, it had sometimes proved a " salutary- neglect." When the Duke of Newcastle quitted office as Secretary of State, it was found that he had left behind him a closet full of unopened American despatches ; * while of Grenville it was said, that he lost America by reading them.f It was late in the night of the 10th of March 1764, in a thin House of Commons and just as it was on the point of rising, that Grenville introduced his memorable plan for imposing Stamp Duties on the American People. Although it amounted in the first instance to little more than a pro- position, still it was quite sufficient to arouse the natural fears and indignation of the Colonists. The bare fact of its being designated by Grenville an "experiment towards further aid," J manifested to what doubtful and intolerable lengths such an innovation might hereafter be carried. The Americans at once perceived the vast importance of the precedent which was sought to be established. They were satisfied that justice was on their side. They felt that the question admitted of no compromise with the mother- country, and that now or never was the time for action, for if the principle of right were once to be conceded by them, future resistance might be rendered utterly unavailing. Accordingly, in their numerous memorials and * Walpoliana, p. 70. + Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. ii. p. C9 ; note by Sir Denis Le Marchant. + Ibid., vol. ii. p. 71. Mt. 25.] EEION OF GEORGE TUE THIRD. 253 petitions, they urgently inveighed against Grcnville's measure, botli as a grievous and unsupportablc innovation, and as diametrically opposed to the spirit, if not to the letter of the Constitution. They were notoriously, they said, Avithout representatives in the British Pai'liament, and it v^as a fundamental principle of the British Constitution, that taxation and representation were inseparable. What concern had they, they asked, in the continental squabbles of Europe ? If the sovereigns of England chose to embark in costly wars on account of their German Electorate, why should they, tlie inhabitants of the far West, be called upon to pay their share of the expenses? Hitherto, as they reminded the mother-country, their loyalty to their Sove- reign had never been disputed. In former wars, whenever the interests of the two countries had been identical, they had never failed to contribute, to the utmost of their ability, to the public Exchequer. Even now, they added, they were ready, at the receipt of a constitutional requisition, to furnish, as a voluntary offering, appliances which otherwise no force should ever WTing from them. Unhappily, not only were these arguments and protests entirely thrown away upon the impracticable Grenville, but the earnest petitions of the different Provincial Assemblies were not unfrequently either stifled or ignored. For instance, memorials from the important provinces of Massachusetts and New York, though ordered by the King in Council to be laid before Parlia- ment, were actually suppressed.* At all events, Grenville * This almost incredible circumstance was doubted at first by the author ; but on examining the MS. books of the Privy Council Office he discovered, under date 14 December 1764, the order fur the memorials in question to be placed before Par- liament ; whereas he has in vain searched the Journals of the Houses of Lords and Commons for any evidence of the King's commands having been obeyed. " Dutiful petitions" — was one of the complaints of the Americans at a later period — "have been prefeiTcd to our most gracious Sovereign, wliicli, to the great consternation of the people, we now learn liave been cruelly and insidiously prevented from reaching the royal presence." Documents relating to the Disjjutc between Great Britain and Ame- rica, prior to 1776, pp. 5, 263. Burke, too, in his famous "Speech on American 2oi MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1765. carried his point. Early in the month of February 1765 he formally introduced his fatal Stamp Duty Bill into the House of Commons, and on the 22nd of March it received the royal assent. Considering the vast importance of this celebrated measure, the little attention which it provoked at the time, both in and out of Parliament, becomes matter of interest as well as surprise. In vain w^e search through the ample contemporaneous correspondence of Horace Walpole for any evidence to the contrary. Although his letters, both to the Earl of Hertford and Sir Horace Mann, profess, to use his own words, to give an " account of our chief debates,"* yet they contain but one allusion, and that an unimportant one, to the American Stamp Act. Walpole himself subse- quently admits that it was a question which, at the time, was " little understood and less attended to."! Colonel Barre Feb. 7. alone, in a most eloquent speech, vehemently raised his voice against the fatal proposition. " Children planted by your care! " were among his words — "No! your oppres- sions planted them in America : they fled fi'om your tyranny to a then uncultivated and inhospitable country. They nourished by youi' indulgence ! They grew by your neglect of them. They protected by yoiir arms ! They have nobly taken up arms in your defence." :|: Yet Burke could scarcely have been very far in the wrong, when, nine years afterwards, he stated in the House of Commons that he Taxation," thus speaks of the fate of the Massachusetts and New York memorials — "They were suppressed; they were put under the table, notwithstanding an Order of Council to the contrary, by the Ministry which composed the very Council that made the order." Burke's Workst, vol. i. p. 165. Edition 1841. * Letters, vol. iv. p. 322. Edition 1840. + Reign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 63. X The authenticity of this memoralde pro^ ,t against American taxation appears to be doubted both by Mr. Adolphus {Hht. 'sf England, vol. i. p. 165, 4th Ed.) and by Lord Stanhope {Hist, of England, vol. v., p. 131). See, liowever, Ingersoll's Letters, pp. 14 — 17, quoted in the North American Revicvj for July 1852, and " Bocuvicnts, Prior to 1776, relating to the BisjnUe between Great Britain aiid America," p. 5. ^T. 26.] EEIGN OF GEOllGE THE THIED. 255 never remembered " a more languid debate" within its walls, than that which provoked the dismemberment of the empire. Only three or four members, he reminded the House, had spoken against taxing the Colonies ; nor had the minority exceeded thirty-nine or forty. " In the House of Lords," added Burke, " I do not recollect that there was any debate or division at all."* The fact is, that the great mass of the people of England troubled themselves very little about the matter ; while within the walls of Parliament, a measure that promised to shift the cost of the late war from the shoulders of the taxpayers of Great Britain to those of the unrepresented Colonists, was pretty certain to meet with favour. Attempts have from time to time been made to transfer from Grenville to others, the odium of having originated the fatal Stamp Act. When, a few yeai^ after his death, Charles Jenkinson, afterwards first Earl of Liver- pool, stood up in the House of Commons and manfully battled the question on behalf of his former patron and friend, there were those present who believed that Jenkinson hhnself was the real culprit, and that Grenville had been prevailed upon by him to carry the project into law. There were three other persons also on whom it has been attempted to fix this unenviable honour — the one, Gren- ville's colleague Lord Halifax; the second, one Huske an American,'!' and the third an individual whose identity it has been found impossible to establish. Among the Gren- ville Papers was discovered a remarkable letter — dated Turnham Green July 5 17G3 — in which the writer not only proposes to George Grenville to impose "a Stamp Duty on vellum and paper in America," but actually en- closes the draughts of two Bills for carrying the proposition * Speech on American Taxation, 19 April 1774 ; Bin-ke's Works, vol. i. \k 1^9. + Gordon's History of the American liovolution, vol. i. p. 1.57. 256 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1765. into operation. These documents are in the ordinary hand- writing of a clerk ; the signature only of the projector, one " Henry McCulloh," being in original — a signature, by the way, tremulously ominous of the awful consequences of the policy which it advocated.* But, after all, whether the idea of imposing a Stamp Act upon America originated in Grenville himself, or whether it was suggested to him by others, is a question of very secondary importance. Grenville unquestionably it was, who first introduced the project to the consideration of Parliament ; he it was who, after having devoted twelve months to the deliberate inves- tigation of the merits of this most momentous question, had urged the Parliament of Great Britain to adopt it as law ; and, lastly, he it was who, to the close of his existence, persisted in defending it as a sagacious and salutary policy. If Grenville, then, was not the author of the Stamp Act, in what other quarter are we to search for the real projector ? f On the 12th of January 1765 the King was seized with an alarming illness, which, as will be seen by the following extracts from Mr. Grenville's Diary, lasted till the beginning of April. ""Sunday^ January l?)th. — Sir William Duncan j: came to let Mr. Grenville know that he had been with the * Grenville Papers, vol. ii. p. 374, note. t The King himself has been more thaii once named as the person who suggested to Grenville the taxation of America. See May's Constitutional History, vol. i. p. 24, and Buckle's History of Civilization, vol. i. pp. 435 — 6, note. Neither of these accomplished writers, however, would appear to have any higher authority for what they advance than a statement of Sir Nathaniel Wraxall's {Hist. Memoirs, vol. ii. pp. Ill — 2, 3rd edition), whose testimony, unless when corroborated by other evi- dence, is notoriously open to suspicion. Mr. Buckle indeed refers also to Niciiolls's Recollections (vol. i. pp. 205, 386) ; but on turning to Nicholls's jxiges Ave find the question treated by him merely as a "matter of doubt" ; indeed Mr. Buckle himself scarcely professes to do more. + William Duncan, M. D., one of the King's physicians, married, 5 September 1763, Lady Mary Tufton, daughter of Sackville seventh Earl of Thanet, a connexion which proljably was the occasion of his beiiig created a baronet on the 9th of August following. Lady Mary was born in 1723. " I must tell you," writes Walpole to ^T. 2G.] EEIGN OF GEOEOE THE THIRD. 257 King, who had a violent cold, had passed a restless night, and complained of stitches in his breast. His Majesty was blooded 14 ounces." ^^ Monday^ 14ih. — The King is better, but saw none of his Ministers." " Tuesday^ lijfJi. — Mr. Grenville went to the King, and found him perfectly cheerful and good-humoured, and full of conversation." " Monday^ Feb. ^otli. — The King was blooded, and kept his bed with a feverish cold. Mr. Grenville was confined at the same time." " Sunday^ March Srd. — The King had a good night, but waked in the morning with a return of fever and pain upon his breast ; he was blooded in the foot." " Tuesday, March htli. — The King sees nobody what- ever, not even his brothers. Lord Bute saw him on Monday for a quarter of an hour, for the first time, though he [Lord Bute] had desired and pressed to see him before." " Wednesday, March 6th. — The King was not so well as he had been ; his pulse rose in the morning, but sunk again at night, and he was much better and quite cheerful in the evening." " Sunday, March 17 fh. — The King sent a note to Mr. Grenville (differently worded from what they usually were,) to appoint him at two o'clock the next day.* Mr. Gren- ville went to the Drawing Room, where the Queen told, him she was afraid he would not agree with her in wish- Montaj^u in April 1761, "an admirable hon-mot of George Selwyn, though not a new one. When there was a malicious report that the eldest Tufton was to marr}^ Dr. Duncan, Selw}^ said — ' How often will she repeat that line of Shakespeare — Wake Duncan with thy knocking : would thou couldst.' " Wuliiolcs Corresp., vol. iii. p. 397. Ed. 1857. * The note was as follows ; — " Sunday, 10 p.m. "Mr. Groiiville. — I M'ould have you attend mc to-morrow at two." — Grenville Papers, vol. iii. p. 121. VOL. I. s 258 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1165. ing that the King would not see his servants so often, nor talk so much upon business, Mr. Grenville told her Majesty, that for his part he never wished to break in upon his Majesty. She again repeated that she thought he had better not speak much upon business." " Monday^ March ISth, — Mr. Grenville found the King's countenance and manner a good deal estranged, but he was civil, and talked upon several different subjects." " Friday^ March 22nd. — Mr. Grenville went to the Queen's House to carry a written note for his Majesty, in case he did not see him. The page told him the King was not so well as he had been, and that the physicians had seen him in the morning, and desired him to keep quiet. Mr. Grenville sent up the note, and received the answer in writing. The King was cupped the night before." ''Monday, March 25th.— The King sent Mr. Grenville a note to appoint him at two o'clock : he found his Majesty well to all appearance ; he had been out to take the air." " Wednesday, April Srd. — Mr. Grenville received notice from Lord Sandwich that the King was to have a levee. Mr. Grenville went to it : the King spoke civilly to him, and took notice of his having a very bad cold." * To the world it was given out that the King's illness at this time was a cough and fever ; that he had caught cold in coming out of the House of Lords ; and lastly that, owing to the unskilfulness of his physicians, a humour, which ought to have appeared in his face, had settled upon his chest. His malady, however, — notwithstanding the truth was kept so profound a secret by the Court as apparently not to have been suspected even by the Prime Minister — is now known to have been of the same distressing nervous character as those which at intervals deranged his reason in after years. f * Grenville Papers, vol. iii. jip. 115—125. t Adolphus, ill allusion to the painful nature of the King's disorder, observes — 2Et. 26.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 2.59 Tlie Kinor's illness occasioned a general consternation. Not that he had become more popular ^yith his subjects, but tliat the times were pregnant with dangers and dis- contents. No provision had been made for a Regency in the event of his demise, and unfortunately the heir to the throne was only an infant of two years old. The settlement of a Regency had, in fact, been most culpably postponed. In vain Lord Holland had formerly urged the importance of the question both on Lord Bute and Lord Mansfield : Grenville and his colleagues had motives of their own for keeping it in abeyance.* Fortunately, how- ever, the King had not only good sense enough to appre- ciate the urgency of the case, but also sufficient strength of mind not to shrink from taking the initiative on the occasion. No sooner, therefore, was he well enough to transact business with his Ministers, than he called their attention to the uncertainty of life, as exemplified by his own recent illness; at the same time desiring them to frame such a measure for carrying on the Government in the event of his decease, as would be likely to meet with the approval of Parliament.| Another person, whom the King sent for, to consult with, was the Duke of Cum- berland. "I rejoiced," writes the Duke, "in seeing his Apr. 7. Majesty thoroughly recovered. He said he was ; but that yet his late illness had been an additional reason for him to desire to speak to me ; for that, though he was now well, yet God alone knew how soon an accident might befall liim." ^ In Parliament, the King's disinterested conduct "I did not mention this fact in former editions of this work, because I knew that the Kin. 193. + Ibid., vol. i. p. 188. X Ellis's Original Letters, vol. iv. p. 481. 2nd Series. § See the Bedford Corresp., vol. iii. p. 280, aa^poat, pp. 295, 297—300. II Earl Staiih()]ie's History of England, vol. i. p. 159. Lord Temple had assured the Duke of Cumberland that his reconciliation with his brother was only a " })ri- ^T. 26.] REIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 277 In the mean time, while the negotiations with Pitt had been still pending, the conduct of the King, as well as of those who were supposed to be aiding and abetting him in his object of changing the Government, had been highly resented by Ministers and their friends. For instance, hitherto the Houses of Percy and Russell had associated on the most affectionate terms ; yet no sooner was it rumoured that Lord Northumberland was the person employed in con- veying the necessary communications between the King and the Duke of Cumberland — and further, that, late in the evening of the 18th, his Majesty, had admitted him with his own hand by a private entrance into his gardens at Richmond — than the Earl found himself exposed to the rudest possible treatment, of which what follows may be taken as an example. The Duke and Duchess of Bedford happened to be in affliction, and accordingly, for the amiable purpose of paying them a visit of condolence, Lord North- umberland carried his Countess to Bedford House, where they had a right to expect, if not a cordial, at least a civil reception. George Grenville, however, who had been pre- viously announced, appears to have communicated to the company the apocryphal incident of the Earl's mysterious admission into Richmond Gardens, and accordingly, when Lord Northumberland made his appearance, not only was he suffered to remain standing — not only was not a syllable addressed to him — but the Duke of Bedford even went so far as to turn on his heel and contemptuously quit the apart- ment. " Words," writes Walpole who was present, " can- not describe the disdainful manner in which they were received." The Duchess and her friends even condescended to the vulgarity of talking at their guests. " The language which passed," writes Grenville, who still lingered in the vate " one, and did not " extend to political connection." — "But that, my Lord," said tlie Duke drily, "will I suppose soon follow." — WaliJole's Rciijn of Gcorrje 3, vol. ii. p. 171. 278 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1765. apartment, " could not be very pleasing." According to Walpole, the Earl " was kept standing an hour exposed to all their raillery." — " Faith ! " whispered Lord Waldegrave to one of the company, " This is too much." * By the morning of Tuesday, the 21st, it seems to have been pretty generally understood that the negotiation with Pitt had miscarried ; and accordingly, at eight o'clock on the even- ing of that day. Ministers held a meeting at Bedford House, for the express purpose of fixing the conditions which it would be expedient to impose upon their royal master, in the probable event of his soliciting them to retain their places. "The King," writes Walpole to Lord Hertford, "is reduced to the mortification — and it is extreme — of taking his old Ministers again. They are insolent enough you may believe. Grenville has treated his master in the most impertinent manner, and they are now actually discussing the terms that they mean to impose on their captive." — " You have more than once," continues Walpole, " seen your old master f reduced to surrender up his Closet to a Cabal ; but never with such circumstances of insult, indignity, and humilia- tion ! " t It was on the afternoon of this day that, previously to the meeting at Bedford House, the King again received Gren- ville in the royal closet. The haughty Minister, as he him- self hiforms us, found his sovereign " in great disorder and agitation." Concealment being no longer necessary on the part of the King, he freely admitted the utter failure of his recent overtures to the 0})position. As far as Grenville was personally concerned, the King's language to him was sufficiently kind and conciliatory. He knew, he told him, that he had " served him faitliFully, al)ly, and * Waljinle's Letters, vol. iv. ]>. 366. Grenville Papers, vol. iii. p. 176. Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 158. t (Jeorge the Second. J Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. pp. 365, 366. Edition, 1857. JEt. 26.] REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 279 witli attachment." But very different was tlie language in wliicli he spoke of the other members of the Administra- tion. "In other parts of his Government," said the young King, " there had been slackness, inability, precipitation, and neglect* — " a fact, he added, which no one knew better than Grenville himself He was then constrained to put the humiliathig question to Grenville, whether he was again "willing to serve him?" Grenville affected to hesitate. Bute, he intimated, was evidently the real Minister behind the scenes ; all the world, he said, per- ceived that he was the author of the late " unhaj^py step." This the King denied, though, in the present state of his Minister's feelings, with little chance of his word being credited. The world, continued Grenville, would with difficulty be induced to believe otherwise. The tedious Minister then began to dilate upon his own services and merits. He had " sacrificed hitherto," he said, " every con- sideration of interest, pleasure, leisure, and happiness, nay of health too, to his willingness and desire to serve his Majesty." Under circumstances, he said, of great difficulty he had conducted the Government in a manner far surpass- ing his most sanguine expectations ; he had succeeded in " managing the Chancellor's mind ; " and, though the Duke of Bedford was his enemy, he had " united himself with his Grace for his Majesty's service." Was it not, then, cruel and mortifying to him, he asked, to find himself less accept- able to his Majesty than two years previously had been the case ? Furthermore, he doubted whether the King, by his recent course of action, had not put it out of the power of his Ministers to resume office. At all events, he said, he could return no answer to his Majesty till he had consulted with his colleagues. The King, distressed and anxious beyond all measure, pressed him for a " categorical answer," but to no * Grenville Papers, vol. iii. p. 177. 280 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1765. purpose. Accordingly, he \Yas left with no other alternative but to urge his Minister to employ " all haste " in commu- nicating with his colleagues ; enjoining him to return to him at an early hour, which he named, in order that he might be relieved as soon as possible from his present painful state of suspense.* The great impatience with which the King awaited the return of his Minister to Buckingham House, may be gleaned from the following note, Avhich was placed in the hands of GrenviHe while still seated in council with his colleasrues. o The King to Mr. GrenviUe. " 15 min. past 9, p.m. " Mr. GrRENVILLE, " I am surprised that you are not yet come, when you know it was my orders to be attended this evening. I expect you therefore to come the moment you receive this."t Grenville, of course, had no choice but to hasten to his Sovereign, who, w^ith " great impatience," enquired the result of the conference. The arrival of the King's note, replied Grenville, had abruptly broken up the meeting, before Ministers had been afforded sufficient time to come to a decision on the momentous question which his Majesty had submitted for their consideration. The King, under these circumstances, had again no alternative but to prescribe expedition to his Minister, who, accordingly, at an early May 22. hour ou the following morning, again met his colleagues in council. At twelve o'clock he waited on the King to apprise him of the result. Ministers, he said, had four requisitions to make. First, that they should be empowered to announce the total exclusion, for the future, of Lord Bute from all interference whatever in public affairs ; secondly, the dismissal of Lord Bute's brother, Mr. James Stuart Mackenzie, from • Grenville Papers, vul. iii. pji. 177—180. t IhiJ., pp. 40, 180. iET. 26.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 281 his office of Lord Privy Seal in Scotland ; thirdly, the removal of Lord Holland from the post of Paymaster of the Forces ; and fourthly, the appointment of the Marquis of Granby to be Commander in Chief of the Army. There was also a further requisition relative to the affairs of Ireland. In answer to the King's dry enquiry whether Ministers had been unanimous in adopting these resolutions, Grenville replied in the affirmative. And your opinions, My. Grenville, enquired the King, coincide with those of your colleagues ? Had it been otherwise. Sir, was the answer, I should not have been the bearer of them. And they are absolutely " si7ie qua non^' asked the King? LTn- less they had been considered indispensable, continued Grenville, Ministers would not have troubled his Majesty by submitting them to his judgment. I will consider of them, said the King, and give you my answer in the evening. Grenville bowled and retired. * Accordingly, at eleven o'clock the same night, the King sent for Grenville. With regard, he said, to the first of the demands made upon him, he w^as ready to " promise and declare " that neither directly nor indirectly, neither publicly nor privately, should Bute either influence or advise him in affairs of State. To the dismissal of Lord Holland he also gave his consent. The appointment of Lord Granby to the head of the Army w^ould probably have been strongly opposed by the King, but, in this case, the difficulty was happily removed by Lord Granby waiving his claims during the life-time of the Duke of Cumberland, for whom the King was bound in honour to reserve the appointment. The last and great difficulty lay in the pertinacious demand of ^Ministers for the removal of Mr. Stuart Mackenzie from * Oienville Papers, vol. iii. pp. 180, 183, 184. Walpole's Eeigu of George 3, vol. ii. p. 174. Ill the Grenville Papers, (vol. iii. p. 41), will be found the actual Minutes of the conference headed, — "At a meeting at Mr. GrenviUe's in Downing Street, Wednesday, May 22, 1765— Present Lord Chancellor, Duke of Bedford, Lord Halifax, Lord Sandwich, Mr. Grenville." 282 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1765. office.* With the exception of his relationship to Lord Bute, no charge could be brought against this faithful and accom- plished servant of the Crown. In former days, in order to accommodate the Government, Mr. Mackenzie had consented to exchange a lucrative appointment for that which it was now proposed to take from him ; the King, at the same time, volunteering a promise that, during the remainder of his reign, Mr. Mackenzie should be secure in the tenure of his new office.! ^^^ ^^^^^ deliberate covenant Ministers now cruelly called upon their Sovereign to break. The effect which this last-named demand produced upon the mind of the King Avas inexpressibly distressing. In vain, however, Grenville was a witness of his Sove- reign's affliction. In vain his Majesty, to use Gren- ville's own words, " fell into great agitation," and, " strove in every manner possible " to save his honour and his ser- vant. In vain he pointed out to Grenville that he should be disgraced if he yielded. J The cold man of business obsti- nately and obdurately held out. " I informed him," Grenville himself writes, " that Mr. Mackenzie's absolute removal was considered as too essential an object to be waived ; a circumstance which evidently appeared to pain and distress him. He then asked me if I concurred with those gentlemen in thinking the whole indispensably neces- sary ; to which I answered he should do me the justice to suppose I never would offer to him any proposition of which * The Hon. James Archibald Stuart, only brother of Lord Bute, liad assumed the name of Mackenzie on succeeding to the estate of his great-grandfather, Sir George Mackenzie of Kosehaugh. lie had formerly been Minister at the Court of Sardinia from 17f'9 to 1762, on which occasion he had as his Secretary the well-known M. Dutens, who in his "Memoirs of a Traveller now in Retirement," more than once speaks in terms of high commendation of his patron and friend. See especially his character of him, in vol. i. p. 164, &c. Mr. Mackenzie married Lady Betty Campbell,^ daughter of John second Duke of Argyle, by whom he had no issue, and died Ai)ril 6tli 1800, at tlie age of eighty-two. + Waljioles IJeign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 175. X Grenville I'aper.s, vol. iii. p. 187. ^T. 26.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIED. 283 I did not approve. Upon this he told me, but with the greatest seeming rekictance, that he woukl give way to it. Observing that he continued to show marks of the greatest uneasiness, I most humbly entreated him to permit me to kiss his hand and leave his service, as I could not bear to be tlie channel of urging anything which so evidently dis- tressed him. He answered — ' I have said I will do it : can you expect more?' My entreaties to retire, and these expressions in return, were more than once repeated."* — " I will not" exclaimed the King, " throw my kingdom into confusion. You force me to break my word, and must be responsible for the consequences."! And again the King added — ■" ]\Ir. Grenville, I have desired you to stay in my service ; I see I must yield. I do it for the good of my people.":}: At so late an hour as four o'clock on the morning of the 23rd, we find Grenville writing to the Lord Chan- cellor that he has " only just returned from the Queen's House." § Some satisfaction there is in being able to state, that the King's conduct at this trying juncture was not only forgiven, but was highly approved of, by the amiable and right- minded gentleman who was made the scapegoat on the occasion. AVhen, on the evening of the 23rd, the King received Mr. Mackenzie in his closet, "^a very affecting scene," according to Sir Gilbert Elliot, " passed between them." II " His Majesty," writes Mr, Mackenzie to Sir Andrew IMitchell, " sent for me |o his closet, where I was a very considerable time with him, and if it were possible to love my excellent Prince now, better than I ever did before, I should certainly do it ; for I have every reason that can induce a generous or a grateful mind to feel his goodness to * Townshend MS. t Sir Gilbert Elliot's MS. Diary : Bedford Corrcsp., vol. iii. p. 284. X Grenville Papers, vol. iii. y. 187. § Ibid., p. 44. II Bedford Corrcsp., vol. iii. p. 284. 284 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1765. me. But such was lils Majesty's situation at that time, that had he absohitely rejected my dismission, he would have put me in the most disagreeable situation in the world, and, what was of much higher consequence, he would have greatly distressed his affairs."* The King, however, though thus handsomely released from his engagement, appears to have found much difficulty in forgiving either his Ministers or himself. For some days he lived in almost entire seclusion. A Drawing Room, which was to have been May 26. held, was postponed. On the following Sunday it was remarked that he abstained from receiving the Holy Sacra- ment.! The excitement, indeed, of the last three weeks threatened a return of the distressing malady by which he had so recently been prostrated. When, on the 24th, Grenville entered the royal closet, he found him " very gloomy and with an air of great dissatisfaction." Before night he found it necessary to consult the royal physicians. " They waited," writes Grenville, " a considerable time while the Dukes of York and Gloucester were with the King. At last the King opened the door himself, and called them in. He gave Sir William Duncan his hand to feel his pulse, which was quick ; but bid him not mind it, because he had been hurried for some days past, but that he had eaten very little and had no fever. He en- quired earnestly of Sir Clifton AVintringham J; how the Duke of Cumberland fared after all his fixtigue, and if he stood it well, and that for lias part he never had slept above two hours for several days past." ^ • Ellis's Original Letters, vol. iv. pp. 482-3, 2nd Scrica. t Bedford Corresp., vol. iii. p. 284. :J: See post, p. 316. § Grenville Papers, vol. iii. p. 189. ^T. 2G.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 28^ CHAPTER XV. The King's coolness to his Ministers— "Want of unanimity in the Government — Tlie Spitalfields Weavers have an interview with the King — The "Weavers' Riots" — Bedford House attacked — The King's seasonable promptitude — The King again unsuccessfully negotiates with Mr. Pitt — Earl Temple's refusal to take office — Perplexities of the King — Abruptness of the dismissal of Grenville and the Duke of Bedford — Formation of the Rockingham Administration. The indifferent grace with which the King received back his okl Ministers, must have been apparent even to the youngest courtier. He not only, both in his personal and official communications with them, showed himself distant and uncompliant, but even at his levees made no scruple of encountering them with cold looks, while their political opponents were received by him with smiles and gracious words.* Such conduct may have been impolitic, and even unconstitutional, but, at the same time, the great provoca- tion which the King had experienced from his Ministers must be taken into full account. Not only had he reason to reproach them with their insolent conduct towards him in the closet — with the cruel insult which they had offered to his mother, and the no less cruel manner in which they had compelled him to break his word, but he had other and more popular grounds for complaint. Anxious as he was to discharge, to the best of his ability, his obligations to his people, and — with this object in view — constantly * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 180. Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 377 Bedford Corresp., vol. iii. p. 285, note. I 286 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1765. and diligently employing himself in mastering a knowledge of the affairs of State and of the duties and details of the different Public Offices, the young King had a right to expect from his Ministers something like a corresponding amount of zeal and assiduity. On the contrary, to repeat his own words, he met for the most part with nothing but " slackness, inability, precipitation, and neglect." * At one time we find him complaining of the " hurry and precipitancy " witl which Halifax discharged his public duties ; t at another time lamenting the negligence of the Duke of Bedford in attending Cabinet Councils ;| on a third occasion he is "ever complaining of Lord Halifax and Lord Sandwich ;"§ and again, some time afterwards, we find him preferring complaints to the Duke of Cumberland that neither of these two lords " do any business," and that each is " extremely dilatory in public affairs." || For Sandwich, on account of his personal profligacy, the King seems to have entertained an especial aversion. "The King," writes Grenville, "speaks daily with more and more averseness to Lord Sandwich, and appears to have a settled dislike to his character."^ Another complaint, which the King preferred against his Ministers, w^as a want of that unanimity and concert among themselves, in the absence of which no Administration could possibly establish a character for dignity and vigour. They had scarcely been installed in office, before they had begun to squabble respecting the distribution of patron- age.** The Duke of Bedford and Grenville, observed the King, agreed on no other point but that of laying down the law to him. If Li November 17G3 Grenville is angry with ♦ See antf, p. 279. + Grenville Papers, vol. ii. p. 490. t Grenville Papers, vol. ii. p. 513. § Ibid. II Rockingham Papers, vol. i. p. 195. Grenville Papers, vol. iii. p. 193. H Grenville Papers, vol. ii. p. 495. *• Grenville Papers, vol. ii. pp. 207, 211, 213, 216, 485. tt Grenville Papers, vol. iii. p. ]93. The Duke, in August 1763, had certainly ^T. 26.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE TTIIED, 287 Sandwich for attempting to " steal " tlie Higli Stewardship of Cambridge, and to return a member to Parhament for that county.* In January 1764 Hahfax is "heated and eager " with Grenville on the subject of Colonial appoint- ments and salaries.! In March following we find the Duke of Bedford writing an " angry letter" to Grenville for con- ferrina" a Red Ribbon on Lord Clive instead of on Colonel Draper.:]: In July 1764 Ministers are disagreed among themselves relative to the time to be allowed to France for discharging the debt due by her to Great Britain for the maintenance of French prisoners during the war.§ During the same month Grenville is dissatisfied with Halifax and Sandwich on account of the undecided language held by them to the French Ministers. He complains, also, that Halifax's general conduct and behaviour to him are very unsatisfactory. II In September, Grenville receives " a rather angry letter" from Halifax for refusing to consent to the recall of Lord Hertford from being ambassador at Paris. ^ During the same month the Lord Chancellor and the Duke of Bedford complain to the King of Halifax's " deadness in Council." ** In December, Grenville is forced to admit to the King that Halifax and Sandwich are in the habit of deliberately thwarting him in business relating to the Trea- sury.ft 111 May 1765, the Duke of Bedford is "greatly heated and incensed " against the Lord Chancellor for his conduct during the Regency Bill.:|;:j: A few days afterwards, at a dinner at Lord Sandwich's, we find Grenville and Halifax mutually charging each other with unkindness. Grenville, about the same time, acknowledges to the King recommended the King to dismiss Grenville from the premiership and send for Pitt, a fact which Grenville had not forgotten nor probably forgiven. Grenville Papers, vol. iii. p. 178. * Grenville Papers, vol. ii. p. 228. 1 Ibid., pp. .'51 4, 515. + Ibid., p. 481. •* Ibid., p. 515. t Ibid., p. 501. tt Jbid., p. 532. § Ibid., p. 510. Jt Ibid., vol. iii. p. 148. 11 Ibid., pp. 511, 512. 288 MEMOIES OP THE LIFE AND [1765. that til ere had been " uneasiness among his servants."* Lastly, the only occasion on which we find the First Lord of the Admiralty, Lord Egmont, opening his lips at the council- table, is to use warm words to Halifax. f In the charges of negligence and incapacity, which the King brought against his other Ministers, Grenville was not included. Unbending and domineering as the well-meaning statesman was in his intercourse with his Sovereign — tire- some as were his lectures, and cold and suspicious as was his nature — the King had never failed to do justice to his laborious industry, his personal integrity, and his sincere zeal for the public service. It was not till Grenville had completely identified himself with his colleagues — not till he had dictated to his Sovereign those cruel and insolent terms on which he had consented to retain office — that the King seems to have thought of sacrificing him with the rest of his ]\Iinisters. The King, moreover, not only did fall justice to Grenville's administrative abilities, but up to a certain period of their intercourse seems, as has been already stated, to have felt as much personal regard for him as he could entertain for a man so phlegmatic and so determined to play the despot. Certainly, during the whole existence of Grenville's ill-assorted Administration, the King and his First Minister seem to have been the only individuals, between whom there prevailed any steady concert and co-operation. Grenville's own Diary, moreover, is replete with instances of kindness to him on the part of the King, and of evidences of his Sovereign's fullest confidence in his ungenial Minister. From the date, however, at which Grenville compelled his master to break his royal word, these kindly traits no longer occur in the Diary. On the contrary, the King's manner towards his IMinister in the Closet is described as being merely " easy and civil." • Grenville Papers, vol. iii. pp. 178, ICG. t Ibid., p. 195. Mr. 2G.] REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 289 Unfortunately, it was not in the suspicious nature of the offended Minister to attribute his Sovereign's civility to any other but an unworthy motive. " He has no reason," he writes, " to think that it proceeds from anything but dis- guise." * This unmistakable charge of duplicity on the part of Grenville, w^e cannot i^ut consider as being most unfair. The King, indeed, so far from playing a part, never for a moment appears to have concealed the dislike which he had latterly begun to entertain for Grenville as well as for his colleagues. According to Walpole, who was a close and well-informed observer of passing events, his Majesty, from the day that Parliament had been prorogued, had taken " all opportunities of frowning on his tyrants and thwarting their desires." "f" Entries, in fact, in Grenville' s own Diary corroborate the truth of this statement. For instance, Grenville happening to allude to the King's " goodness " in having conferred upon Lord Lorn the post of Privy Seal in Scotland, lately held by Mr. Stuart Mackenzie, his Majesty sarcastically replied — "It is your goodness, Mr. Grenville, not mine." X Similarly uncon- ciliating was his reply to Grenville when the latter pro- posed to him to confer, either upon Lord Waldegrave or upon Lord Suffolk, the vacant post of Master of the Horse to the Queen. It was no office of State, said the King. It was reasonable that her Majesty should like to please herself, and accordingly she had that morning nominated the Duke of Ancaster for the appointment. § Again, when, at Grenville's solicitation, the King consented to the ap- pointment of Lord Robert Manners to a vacant Colonelcy of Dragoons, he took the opportunity of marking his dis- like to Grenville, by sending for Lord Granby and letting * Grenville Papers, vol. iii. p. 193. + Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 180. t Greu\alle Papers, vol. iii. p. 189. § Ibid., p. 191. Walpole'^ Reign of George 3, voL ii. p. 181. VOL. I. u 290 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1765. him know that his uncle, Lord Robert, " owed the grace singly to him," and not to the influence of his Minister.* And yet it is in the face of these facts, that Grenville coolly charges the King with dissimulation! George the Third may not have been unversed in the arts of king- craft ; yet, on the present Occasion, he seems to have been much too angry with Grenville to render it likely that the " civility," with which he treated him, was intended to imply more than the ordinary courtesy, with which one gentleman usually behaves towards another. " The King," writes Lord Chesterfield in allusion to Grenville and his colleagues, " shows them all the public dislike possible, and at his levee hardly speaks to any of them, but speaks by the hour to anybody else." I Another reason given by the King for being dissatisfied with his Ministers lay, in the formidable insurrectionary tumults, known as the " Weavers' Riots," which, in the month of May, frightened the metropolis from its propriety. In the opinion of the King, it was to the unpopularity of his servants that the disturbances were mainly attributable, and, owing to their timidity, that they were so long in being suppressed. For some time past, the Spitalfields weavers, unable to compete with foreign manu- facturers, had been in a condition of unprecedented distress. Great numbers had been thrown out of employment, and many were almost without food. Li order to remedy the evil, a Bill had been carried through the House of Com- mons, which, while it promised to improve the condition of the English weavers, threatened, on the other hand, the very serious consequence of excluding foreign silks alto- gether from the British market. This great objection the Duke of Bedford had the sagacity to discover ; and accord- ingly, mainly by liis arguments and efforts, the Bill, to the • Grenville Papers, vol. iii. p. 193. t Lord Chesterfield's Letters, edited by Earl Stanhope, vol. iv. p. 400. ^T. 26.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIED. 291 bitter disappointment of the weavers, was thrown out of the May 13. House of Lords.* To appeal personally to their Sovereign for redress was now the object of the sufferers, and consequently, on the day after the Bill had been rejected by the Lords, about four thousand " pale and emaciated " creatures presented them- selves before the King's Lodge at Richmond, where their sudden appearance and formidable numbers occasioned no slight alarm to the Queen, who happened at the time to be walking in the paddocks. Here they learned that the King had gone to Wimbledon to review some troops, and accord- ingly thither they proceeded, where they were kindly and graciously listened to by their Sovereign, and, on his dis- missing them, returned in a very orderly manner, and appa- rently much gratified, to London, f But the following day, whatever may have been the cause, the late peaceful aspect of affairs became entirely changed. Li the course of the afternoon a vast concourse of unruly persons, carrying red and black flags, assembled in the neighbourhood of the Houses of Parliament. The members of the House of Commons, as from time to time they made their appearance in Palace Yard, were received with cheers, while the Lords were greeted with hisses and groans. The carriages of many of the Peers were stopped, and among them that of the Lord Chancellor, of whom the mob menacingly enquired whether he had not been an opponent of the recent Bill. The stout and unhesitating manner in which he replied in the affirmative induced his interrogators to alter their tone, and to content them- selves with expressing a hope that he would do them * Walpole's Eeign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 154. t Ihid., vol. ii. p. 155. Colonel Dalrymple, who saw the poor fellows on their march to Eiclnnond, describes them, in a letter to the Duke of Bedford, as "rather like a parcel of recruits going to their Regiments than a populace following the dictates of rage and passion." Bedford Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 283. u 2 292 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [17G5. justice. " Always," lie answered, " and everywhere ; and whoever does so need fear nothing."* The King, though followed to the House of Lords by a vast number of half-starved artisans, was treated with marked deference and respect, t The Duke of Bedford, as might have been anticipated, was the principal object of the people's rage. Not only was he hooted and pelted, but one large stone — weighing, as Grenville informs ns, five or six pounds — cut him in the hand with which he endeavoured to parry it, and then bruised his temple. :|: On his return to his house in Bloomsbury Square, finding himself still followed by a large body of the rioters, he boldly addressed them from the window of his chariot ; at the same time inviting any two of their leaders to accompany him into the house, and there discuss with him their grievances. The invitation was accepted. Two of the rioters followed the Duke into his mansion, and, after having conferred with him for some time, returned to their friends, evidently gratified with his grace's courtesy if not convinced by his arguments. § Unluckily, the insults offered to the Peers proved but the prelude to worse disorders. For three days London may almost be said to have been in the hands of the mob. During this period the members of the Legislature were again insulted on their way to AYestminster ; large bodies of men, who had previously been assembled by beat of drum, paraded the streets with their colours flying ; on the after- noon of the 16th the standard of the mob was to be seen floating side by side with the royal standard at the entrance to the House of Lords ; the windows of persons suspected to be venders of French silks were demolished, and even armourers' shops were broken into and the arms carried * Walpolc's Reiffii of George 3, vol. ii. p. 155. f Rockingham Papers, vol. i. p. 199. J Greuville Papers, vol. iii. p. 1G4. § Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 156. 2Et. 26.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 293 away.* But it was on the Duke of Bedford and his pro- perty that the mob was principally bent on venting its fury. During the three days referred to, Bedford House was not only garrisoned with soldiers and subjected to a state of siege, but, at one time so bold w^as the attitude of the rioters, that while the military were engaged in repelling an attack on the front of the mansion, another detachment of the rabble very nearly succeeded in effecting an entrance at its rear. Even so late as Sunday the 19th, when order had, comparatively speaking, been restored, and when Bed- ford House was thronged with the great and the fashionable wdio came to condole with the Duke and Duchess, we find a large number of idlers and ill-disposed persons still surround- ing the gates, and occasionally resorting to acts of outrage. The glass of Lady Grosvenor's coach, for instance, was broken, and the windows of Lady Cork's chair completely demolished.! " I hope," writes the Duke of Bedford to the Duke of Marlborough, " that all is now partly subsided, though I am yet obliged to keep garrison here with an hundred Lifantry and thirty-six Cavalry ; and, it being Sunday night, the concourse of people is still very great though not very dangerous ; it consisting chiefly of such as mere curiosity has brought liere."j: Walpole, who was one of those who had hastened to wait upon the Duke and Duchess, has left us a graphic sketch of his visit. " I found," he says, "the Square crowded, but chiefly with persons led by curiosity. As my chariot had no coronets, I was received with huzzas ; but when the horses turned to enter the court, dirt and stones were thrown at it. AVhen the gates opened, I was surprised with the most * Grenville Papers, vol. iii. pp. 168, 169. Walpole's Eeign of George 3, vol. ii. pp. 156, 157. Annual Register for 1765, pp. 41, 42. t AValpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 364. t Bedford Corresp., vol. iii. p. 279. " Let them be a mob or any other demon- stration," writes Colonel Dalrymple to the Duke, "they are dangerous weapons when directed against any individual." Ibid., p. 283. 294 I^IEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1765. martial appearance. The Horse Guards were drawn up in the Court, and many officers and gentlemen were walking about as on the platform of a regular citadel. The whole house was open, and knots of the same kind were in every room." * In a letter to the Earl of Hertford, Walpole gives a nearly similar account of his visit. " There is," he adds, " such a general spirit of mutiny and dissatisfaction in the lower people, that I think we are in danger of a rebellion in the heart of the capital in a week."f Walpole 's fears of a rebellion fortunately were unfounded. A large public su])scription, which was raised for the suffering artisans — ■ added to a guarantee on the part of the master-weavers to revoke the- orders which they had given for foreign silks — went far to arrest the progress of the tumults. But it was to the promptitude and decision of the King, that society was mainly indebted for the restoration of order and the prevention of bloodshed. For instance, at one time we find him giving directions for a regiment at ]\ray20. Qliatham to advance nearer to London, and at another time writing to the Duke of Cumberland to be ready at a moment's notice to take command of the troops as Captain General. " I have sent this," he writes to his uncle, " to one who has my orders not to deliver it to any one but yourself, and to bring an immediate answer, and also your opinion when and how soon we can meet ; for if any dis- turbance arises in the night, I should think the hour proposed May 21. fQ J. tomorrow too late.":|: On the following day we find the King at St. James's, seemingl}^, in Grenville's language, " in great disorder and agitation." He was hurt, he told his Minister, that people should think he had kept out of the way from fear. He was ready " to put himself * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. ii. pp. 157-8. t Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 364. t Rockingham Papers, vol. i. pp. 208, 209. See also the Quarterly Review, vol. xc. p. 525. ^T. 26.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIED. 295 at the head of his army, or do anything to save his country."* That these, and other popuhxr tumults which disgraced the earlier period of the reign of George the Third, were fomented by men of high rank and powerful political influence, little doubt seems to exist. "What" — was the significant observation of that veteran trafficker in agitation, Lord Holland, in allusion to the Weavers' riots — " What might not an artful man do with these mobs!"| The present riots, m the opinion of Walpole, had been " blown- up " by the friends of Wilkes ; while the Duchess of Bed- ford, on the contrary, insisted "with warmth and acrimony" to Walpole, that the real culprit was Bute.:]: So also thought the Duke of Bedford ; who even w^ent so far as to prefer a charge against that nobleman to the King to this effect — a charge as unjust as it was preposterous. A mob, as Walpole shrew^lly observes, was a kind of edged tool which so detested a public character as Bute was not very likely to summon to his assistance. The Duke, however, as we learn fi'om the high authority of his colleague, Gren- ville, persisted in pressing his convictions upon his incredu- lous Sovereign "with terms of reproach to Lord Bute for his perfidy." § We have now brought to its close our summary of the causes of the King's obvious unhappiness, as well as his reasons for endeavouring to get rid of an Administration that seems to have been scarcely less unpopular with his subjects, than it w^as obnoxious to himself. We have seen also how signal had been his discomfiture; how complete had been the triumph of his tyrants ; and how painful con- sequently had been his mortification. " The King," writes * Grenville Papers, vol. iii. p. 177. t Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 167. t Ibid., p. 158. § Grenville Papers, vol. iii. p. 171. 296 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1765.' Walpole — " insulted and prisoner, liis mother stigmatized, his Favomite persecuted — it is again a scene of Bohuns, Montforts, and Plantagenets."* "The King," swore Bed- ford's creature, Rigby, " shall not be allowed to appoint one of his own footmen. "f Means of escape, indeed, the King had at hand, but those means, in his opinion, were fraught with humiliation if not with disgrace. It will be remem- bered how great had been his exultation when he emanci- pated himself from the thraldom of the great Whig magnates ; how loud had been the vaunt of the courtiers that their royal master was now a King indeed ; how boastfully they had proclaimed that the Crown would never again be enslaved by an insolent Cabal. Yet so helpless now was the King's condition, and so ' deep his distress, as to impel him to turn his thoughts once more towards the powerful and arrogant party which he had found in office' at the time of his accession. It will be remembered how harsh and impolitic had been the King's treatment of the Duke of Devonshire ; how summary had been his Grace's dismissal from the Lord Chamberlainship, and the erasure of his name from the books of the Council Office.^ Had the Duke been still living, the advice and influence of so upright and highminded a nobleman might have proved of the utmost service to the King, in this his hour of necessity. But the tomb had closed over the princely Devonshire in the prime of his days : his power and his titles had been transmitted to his son, a youth in his seventeenth year. To conciliate the powerful house of Cavendish was of course of considerable import- ance to the Court. Not only had the present Duke three uncles in the House of Commons, but two of them were persons of talent and political weight. The King there- * Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 371. t Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 17C, note. t See ante, p. 143-5. Mt. 27.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE TUE THIRD. 297. fore was Induced to express his regret for what had passed, and to invite the noble boy to St. James's. Thither accordingly he went, accompanied by his uncles ; doubtless to be received by the King with marked consideration and kindness.* Such a procedure as this, combined with the King's un- concealed dislike for his present Ministers, could scarcely fail to excite their high displeasure, and consequently it was determined to bring him a second time to account. By June. this time the Parliamentary Session was at an end ; the Duke of Bedford was in a hurry to set off for Woburn ; Grenville had fixed upon the 15th as the day of his de- parture for Wotton; wherefore little time was to be lost in coming to an understanding with their royal master. The person, deputed by the Cabinet to be their spokesman on the occasion, w^as the Duke of Bedford, who, having introduced himself into the royal closet, at once commenced June 12, one of those long and dictatorial lectures which were the King's especial abhorrence. He was going into the country for a fortnight, he told the King, perhaps for three weeks, perhaps for a month, and if upon his return he and his colleagues were not received " with greater expressions of favour and confidence " they were resolved to resign their offices. The King replied in language equally haughty. As for confidence, he said, he had extended to them as much as was requisite for the despatch of public business, and, "as to favour, they had not taken the way to merit it."t If Junius — who wrote under the impression that the Duke's remonstrance was a written one — is to be credited, the Duke reproached the King " in plain terms with his duplicity, baseness, falsehood, treachery, and hypo- crisy ; repeatedly gave him the lie and left him in con- * Wiilpolc's Reign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 181. + MS. Diary of Sir Gilbert Elliot, quoted in the Bedford Corresp., vol. iii. p. 290, Sir Gilbert in all probability received this account from the King himself. 298 MEMOIES OF THE LIPE AND [1765. viilslons." * Walpole's account differs In no material degree from that of Junius. " The King had the greatest difficulty to command himself enough to hear It read to the end. It tended to give him a month to consider whether he woukl take a new Ministry or retain the old. In the latter case he was told he must smile upon his Mlnlsters^j and frown on their adversaries, whom he was reproached In no light terms with having countenanced, contrary to his promise. Invectives against the Princess were not spared, nor threats of bringing Lord Bute to the block. The King made no answer, but made a bow as a signal for them to retire." f If, said the King when the Duke had gone, he had not broken out into a most profuse perspiration, his indignation would have suffocated him.j The justice of the charges, thus brought against the Duke of Bedford, has occasionally been disputed. That, on the one hand, the account of Junius Is greatly exagge- rated, and that of Walpole overcoloured, there seems to be little question. But, on the other hand, that the Duke of Bedford made use of language to his Sovereign, which * Junius's Letter to the Duke of Bedford of 19 September 1769, note. + Walpole, in using the word "them," wTote under the double and erroneous impression that Grenville, Sandwich, and Halifax accompanied the Duke of Bedford into the royal closet, and further that the remonstrance to which the King was com- pelled to listen was not a verbal but a written one. Lord Macaulay also writes, {Essays, vol. iii. pp. 588-9, 10th Edition), "Grenville and Bedford demanded an audience of him and read him a remonstrance of many pages which they had drawn up with great care." Notwithstanding, however, these high authorities, the Duke of Bed- ford certainly seems to have been the only person closeted with the King ; indeed Gren- ville, in his Diary expressly intimates that when he " went in " to the King it was after the Duke had quitted the royal presence. Orcnville Papers, vol. iii. pp. 194 — 5. Walpole also, in a letter written by him . 425, 7th Edition ; ]*ail. Hist., vol. xvi. col. 97. t Almon's Anecdotes of Chatham, vol. i. p. 427. X Ibid., vol. i. pp. 427, 428 ; Tarl. Hist., vol. xvi. cols. 98, 99. iEx. 27.J EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 325 From the deep impression wliicli Pitt's eloquence liacl evidently made on the House, it must have been sufficiently manifest to Ministers that, unless they either shaped their policy according to his views, or at least secured his forbear- ance, if not his full support, their tenure of power would become more precarious than ever.* Accordingly, when General Conway, the leader of the Ministerial party, rose to address the House, his language to Pitt was singularly deferential. He was happy and proud, he said, in being able to declare that his own sentiments were conformable with those of the right honourable gentleman. Accident alone, he added, had raised him to the high post which he so unworthily filled, and happy should he feel it to resign it to that gentleman, whenever he should think proper to receive it from his hands. "But two things," he said, "fell from that gentleman which give me pain, as whatever falls fi'om that gentleman falls from so great a height, as to make a deep impression." He then proceeded to exonerate Ministers from a charge which Pitt had preferred against them, of having kept Parliament too long in ignorance of the distracted state of the Colonies ; and, lastly, spoke to a bold insinuation of the great statesman that the King was governed by the secret agency of Bute. "An overruling influence," he said, " has been hinted at. I see nothing of it ; 1 feel nothing of it : I disclaim it for myself, and, as far as my discernment can reach, for all the rest of His Majesty's Ministers." t Every eye was now fixed on Grenville, who proceeded, in a laboured but able speech, to defend the justice and * Lord Rockingham writes to the King on the following day; — "That your Majesty's present Administration will be shook to the greatest degree, if no further attempt is made to get Mr. Pitt to take a cordial part, is much too apparent to be disguised." And he adds — "The events of yesterday in the House of Commons have shown the amazing powers and influence which Mr. Pitt has, whenever he takes part in debate." — JiocHngJiam Papers, vol. i. p. 270. + Pari. Hist., vol. xvi. col. 101. AValpole's Eeign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 262. Chatham Con-esp., vol. ii. p. 368. 326 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1766. wisdom of his favourite measure. The tumults in America, he asserted, already bordered on actual rebellion, and if the pernicious doctrines, to which the House had that day listened, were allowed to go forth unrefuted to the world, he feared that those tumults would soon assume the form of Revolution. What, he asked, was the real purport of those doctrines, but an invitation to America to draw the sword ? Taxation, he insisted, was a part of the sovereign power : it had been exercised not only over the East India and other chartered companies, and over the pro- prietors of stock, but also over many of the great manufac- turing towns, and over the Palatinate of Chester and the Bishopric of Durham, long before those towns and districts had been allowed to send representatives to Parliament. When he had proposed to introduce the Stamp Act, no one had questioned the right of taxing America. Protection and obedience, he said, ought to be reciprocal, and, in return for the protection which Great Britain extended to her Colonies, she was entitled to expect and enforce submission to her will. Had not England, he enquired, incurred a vast debt in protecting America ? Had not the Act of Navigation — that Palladium of British commerce — been generously relaxed in her favour? And now, he exclaimed, when she is required to contribute a small amount to the public fund, what is the consequence? — "They renounce your authority, insult your officers, and break out, I might almost say, into open rebellion." One passage in Grenville's speech seems to have greatly offended Pitt. " Tell me," he said, " when the Americans were emanci- pated. The seditious spirit of the Colonies owes its birth to the factions in this House."* With a countenance strongly expressive of resentment and disdain, Pitt rose to reply ; but having already spoken, • Pari. Hist., vol. xvi. cols. 101, 102. ^T. 27.] REIGN OF GEORGE THE TUIED. 327 the rules of tlie House precluded his speakmg a second time, and consequently those Members, to whom his argu- ments were unpalatable, loudly called him to order. So great, however, was his authority in that Assembly — so eager was the House to hear his reply to so able a decla- mation as that of Grenville, that precedents were for the time forgotten, and amidst almost universal cries of "Go on," he again rose to address his audience. His look, his voice, his attitude, were never effaced from the memories of those then present. Many of the words which he uttered will ever be famous. " The gentleman " — as he contemp- tuously designated Grenville, who sat next but one to him, — " The gentleman J' he said, " tells us that America is obstinate ; that America is almost in open rebellion. Sir, I rejoice that America has resisted. Three millions of people so dead to all the feelings of liberty, as voluntarily to submit to be slaves, would have been fit instruments to make slaves of all the rest. I come not here armed at all points with law-cases and Acts of Parliament, with the statute-book doubled down in dog's -ears, to defend the cause of liberty. If I had, I myself would have cited the two cases of Chester and Durham. I would have cited them to show that, even under arbitrary reigns. Par- liaments were ashamed of taxing a people without their consent, and allowed them representatives." Then, repeat- ing his former contemptuous expression, he proceeded — " The gentleman asks when were the Colonies emancipated? But I desire to know when they were made slaves ? " He knew, he said, the valour of British troops. He knew the skill of British officers. In a good cause, and on a sound bottom, the force of this country could crush America to atoms ; but, in such a cause as the present one, success would be hazardous. " America," he exclaimed, " if she fall, will fall like the strong man. She will embrace the pillars of the state, and will pull down the Constitution 328 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1766. along witli her. Is this your boasted peace? Not to sheathe the sword in its scabbard, but to sheathe it in the bowels of your fellow-countrymen !" * The debate f termi- nated without the House coming to a division. Similar arguments and language to those of Pitt, were Feb. 24. subsequently made use of in the House of Lords by Chief Justice Pratt, now Lord Camden ; language, by the way, which proved so offensive to Grenville that he denounced it in the Commons as a libel upon Parliament, and threatened to have the printer brought to their bar. " My position," said the great lawyer and patriot, " is this. I repeat it. I will maintain it to my latest hour. Taxation and represen- tation are inseparable. This position is founded on the laws of nature. It is more. It is itself an eternal law of nature ; for whatever is a man's own is absolutely his own. No man has a right to take it from him without his consent, either expressed by himself or his representatives. Whoever attempts to do it attempts an injury. Whoever does it commits a robbery. He throws down and destroys the distinction between liberty and slavery." \ "I would ask," writes King Stanislaus of Poland to General Lee, " why it is that the right of sending representatives to the British Parliament is not accorded to the Colonies. Representation and taxation would then go together, and the mother and daughters would be indissolubly united. Otherwise I see no alternative but oppression or complete Independence." § But, on the other hand, Lord Mansfield, Burke, and most of the ablest statesmen and lawyers of the day, took a very different view of this important question. In their • Almon's Anecdotes of Chatham, voh i. pp. 440, 443, 444. Pari. Hist., voh xvi. cols. 104—7. + On the Address of Thanks to the Throne. t Almon's Biographical Anecdotes of Eminent Persons, vol. i. p. 377. Parlia- mentary History, vol. xvi. p. 178, and note § Life of General Charles Lee : Sparks' s American Biography, vol. viii. p. 33, 2nd Series. iET. 27.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 329 opinion, the autliority of the British Legiskiture over the entire empire was supreme and illimitable. According to Lord Mansfield, with whom Ave find Lord Campbell fully concurring, there can be no distinction, as far as power is concerned, between a law to tax and a law for any other purpose. Junius was of the same opinion as Lord Mans- field.* " The Stamp Act," writes Lord Macaulay, " was indefensible, not because it was beyond the constitutional competence of Parliament, but because it was unjust and impolitic, sterile of revenue, and fertile in discontents." f Supposing, for instance, that the Sovereign, the Lords, and the Commons, were agreed in passing an Act of Parliament for burning the shipping at Liverpool, or sending the Lord Chancellor to the block, such acts would no doubt be atrocious and indefensible, but they would nevertheless be as valid as any other enactments in the Statute-book. In like manner, it was argued, the Stamp Act might be a very unwise measure, but of the right of Parliament to pass it there could be no reasonable doubt. Li the mean time, a meeting of Ministers, which had taken place at Lord Rockingham's residence during the Christmas recess, had broken up without their having arrived at any final and definite resolution in regard to their American policy. The bold language, however, and high authority of Pitt, appear to have decided them, and accordingly it was determined so far to meet his views, as to introduce into Parliament a Bill for the absolute repeal of the Stamp Act ; preceded, however, and qualified by another measure — sub- sequently known as the Declaratory Bill — which asserted the supreme sovereignty of the British Legislature over the Colo- nies. The wisdom of this supplemental Bill has been often, and with good reason, called in question. J Indeed, when we * Letter to the Printer of tli« Public Advertiser, 5 October 1771. t Macaulay's Essays, a^oI. iii. p. 595. Edition 1860. X It is but fair to the King and to the Rockingliam Ministry to state, that no less high an authority than Benjamin Franklin— in the evidence given by him before 330 MEMOIHS OF THE LIFE AND [1766. consider ]iow calculated it was to alarm and irritate the Americans, without conferring any corresponding advantages upon the mother-country, it certainly bears the appearance of a somewhat Irrational measure. To insist, as an abstract right, upon that which we admittedly dare not maintain. Is, to say the least, an anomaly. Moreover, had Ministers adopted, and carried, Pitt's celebrated proposition that the taxation of the Colonies was an illegal measure, it would at once have swept away every difficulty from their path, and no doubt have satisfied the minds of the Americans. But, before we accuse the Rockingham Administration of a gross and palpable error, we should in the first instance enquire whether Pitt's proposition was sound in law, and secondly, whether, even if Ministers had been inclined to adopt it as a part of their policy, it would have been in their power to carry such a Resoltition through Parliament ? The first of these questions has already met with a negative answer, and so also, in the opinion of many unbiassed per- sons, ought the second to be met. So recently, and so daringly, had the Americans disputed the authority of the British Legislature ; so many aggravating and deliberate insults had attended their resistance to the laws, that unless the national honour had been propitiated by a vehement legislative assertion of inherent right, neither the Lords nor Commons, we imagine, and much less the King, would have been prevailed upon to revoke their former untoward enact- tlie House of Commons — in February 1766, delivered it as his opinion that no ill consecjuences need be apprehended in America from an assertion of abstract Eight on the part of the mother-country. Question. — "As to the right, do you think, if the Stamp Act is repealed, that the North Americans vviU be satisfied ? " Answer. — '* I believe they will." Qiics^ton.— "Why do you think so? " Aiiswer. — " I think the resolutions oi right will give them very little concern if they are never attempted to be carried into iiractice. The Colonies will probably consider themselves in the same situation in that respect with Ireland. They know you claim the same right with regard to Ireland, but you never exercise it." Franklin's WorkSf vol. ii. pp. 366 — 7. JEr. 27.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE TIHED. 3:31 inent. The mere fact, that when, at a later period, Pitt for- mally submitted his proposition to the House of Commons, only two members voted in its favour, and that he himself forbore to press for a Division, appears to be sufficiently suggestive of the probable fate which would have attended it, under whosesoever auspices it might have been brought under the consideration of Parliament. The fact is, that the Declaratory Act created but little sensation in the country. It was carried in the House of Commons without a Division. " I am just out of bed, my dearest wife," writes Pitt to Lady Chatham, after one of the exciting debates of this time, " and considering the gi-eat fatigue, and not getting to bed till past four, tolerably well ; my hand not worse, my country not better. We debated strenuously the rights of America. The resolution passed, for England's right to do what the Treasury pleases with three millions of free men. Lord Camden, in the Lords, divine." * Lord Camden divided the Upper House, but only four peel's- — Lords Shelburne, Paulet, Cornwallis, and Torrington — supported him with their suffrages. Hitherto there had been no violent conflict, in either House of Parliament, between the different parties in the State ; but very different promised to be the scene, when, on the 21st of February, General Conway rose from his seat in the House of Commons, and formally moved for pennis- sion to bring in a Bill for repealing at once the obnoxious Stamp Act. The House was crowded with members ; the galleries and lobby were filled with merchants from the principal sea-port towns, waiting with intense anxiety the result of the impending debate. Seldom, within the walls of St. Stephen's, had party feeling run higher ; never had a question of more vital national importance been under dis- cussion beneath its roof. Many and specious were the * Chatham Corresp., vol. ii. \>. 363. 332 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [176G. arguments made use of by tlie speakers on both sides of the House. What authority, demanded the members of the Opposition, or what dignity would remain to Parhament and the Crown, if for the future their enactments were to be regarded as mere temporary measures, to be flung aside at the first yell of popular discontent, or on the first out- break of mob-insurrection ? Would not the national honour, they asked, be sacrificed by such an unworthy concession ? Would it not be universally ascribed by the American people to pusillanimity on the part of the British Legislature ? Would not a repeal of the Navigation Act be the next demand of the Colonists, and a recognition of their national Independence the next ? On the other hand, the arguments adduced by Ministers and their friends were far more weighty. By the con- tinued exaction, they said, of the present obnoxious impost, the trade of Great Britain must be irretrievably ruined. Not only, they argued, were its proceeds of comparatively trifling consideration, but the tax itself was the more oppressive, inasmuch as the burden of it fell chiefly upon the poorer classes. It amounted, according to the best computation, to little more than 100,000/. a year ; whereas, not only had the repudiated debts of the Colonists to the British merchants reached the large sum of 950,000/., but already orders for British manufactures had been countermanded, to the additional amount of 400,000/. America, it was further insisted, might, at any moment she pleased, place herself under the protection of France or Spain ; or, even should she abstain from contracting either of these fatal alliances, it was in her power, in the event of a civil war, to summon no fewer than one hundred and fifty thousand armed men into the field, whereas the British military force in America consisted of only five thousand men, who, moreover, laboured under the serious disadvantage of being scattered over three thousand miles Mr. 27.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 333 of difficult territory.* ReLellioii in the Colonies — insur- rection in the principal manufacturing towns at home — the destruction of British commerce — such, in the opinion of Ministers, would be the consequences of permit- ting Grenville's fatal measures to remain upon the Statute- book. Happily, when the House of Commons divided at half- past one o'clock in the morning. Ministers were declared to have a large majority ; the numbers being 275 to IGT.f The members dispersed in a state of great excitement. As the well-known chiefs of the two great political parties passed through the crowd of merchants, and other persons, who thronged the avenues leading to the House of Com- mons, they were individually greeted with expressions of applause or disapprobation, according to the part which they had played in the memorable debate. Conway was the first to make his appearance ; his countenance radiant with satisfaction at the triumph which he had achieved for his party, and at the essential service which he had rendered to humanity and to his country. Burke, in a misplaced quota- tion from the Scriptures, describes it "as it had been the face of an angel." :[: The crowd, as they formed an avenue to allow him to pass, not only thanked and congratulated him, but, as his carriage drove off, honoured him with three several rounds of huzzas. But if the reception of Conway by the bystanders had been enthusiastic, far more so was their reception of Pitt. As soon as he appeared, every head was uncovered ; the huzzas were redoubled ; the more zealous of his admirers attended Inm to his sedan-chair; numbers followed him to his house in Bond Street with shouts and blessings. Grenville, on the contrary, was * Walpole's Memoirs of tlie Reign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 29G. See also vol. i. pp. .389—90. t Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 298. t Acts, chap. vi. verse 15. 334 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1766. received with groans and hisses. Exasperated beyond all power of self-control, he seized one of the most vociferous by the throat. But for the man's pusillanimity, the conse- quences might have been serious. "Well!" said the offender, " if I may not hiss, at least I may laugh." Gren- ville shook the fellow from his grasp, and allowed him to go about his business.* * Walpole's Eeign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 299. ^T. 27.] REIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. ;}3o CHAPTER XVIL Debates on the Repeal of the Stamp Act — First Speech of Edmund Burke — The King's private opinion on the question of llepeal — His bearing towards his Ministers — Alleged continued influence of Bute — Ministers and Opposition alike improperly use the King's name to influence votes — The King's displeasure with Ministers on this ground — Unsuccessful intrigue of the Bedford and Grenville Whigs to gain the ear of the King. Indignant at the successful attempt to bastardize tlie favourite offspring of his financial policy, Grenville con- tinued to oppose the repeal of the Stamp Act, in its different stages through the House of Commons, with a courage, a pertinacity and an abihty, deserving a better cause. " It was too much," writes the sarcastic Walpole, " to give up his favourite bill and his favourite occupation, talking, both at once." * On the occasion of the third reading, he had another unpleasant altercation with his brother-in-law, Pitt. Happily it was their last. Pitt, in expressing the satisfac- tion which he felt in voting for the repeal of so hateful a tax, had added in his usual impressive language — " I have my doubts if any member could have been found, who would have dared to dip the royal ermine in the blood of the American people." Grenville, enraged beyond measure, rose to reply. " I am one," he said, " to declare, that if the tax were to be laid on again, I would do it." He then proceeded to charge Pitt with the enormous expense of the German AVar, which he insisted had rendered the tax * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 299. 336 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1766. necessary. " But," lie added, " I do not envy liim, his popularity ; let him enjoy the bonfire : I rejoice in the hiss. Was it to do again, I would do it." Pitt's rejoinder seems to have inflicted a deep wound upon his irritable brother-in-law. " I am charged," he said, "with the expense of the German War. If the honourable gentleman had such strong objections to that war, let me ask why he did not resign his post of Treasurer of the Navy?" Grenville sat abashed and silent.* It was during the debates on the repeal of the Stamp Act, that Edmund Burke made his first appearance, and delivered his first speech, in the House of Commons. In the preceding December he had been returned by Lord Verney for his borough of Wendover, in Buckingham- shne, at the instance of Lord Rockingham, who, fore- seeing the valuable acquisition which his abilities were J"iy ^7' likely to prove to the Whig party, had also selected him to be his private Secretary. In vain the timid and suspicious Duke of Newcastle endeavoured to dissuade Lord Rockiner- ham from associating himself with this illustrious man. The author of the noble Essay on the " Sublime and Beau- tiful" was actually denounced by his Grace as a wild Irishman, a low adventurer, whose real name was O'Bourke. He knew him, said his Grace, to be a Jacobite, a Papist, a Jesuit in disguise. Lord Rockingham, however, instead of allowing himself to be influenced by these ridiculous calum- nies, contented himself with putting a few questions to Burke, with whose explanation he expressed himself per- fectly satisfied, and thenceforth, to his dying day, extended to him his full confidence and friendship.| Burke's suc- cess as a speaker fully answered the expectation of his * Walpole's Ecign of George 3, vol. ii. pp. 306, 307. + Hardy's Memoirs of the Earl of Cliarlemont, vol. ii. pp. 281, 282, 2nd Edition. Prior's Life of Burke, vol. i. p. 135. JEt. 27.] REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 337 friends. Pitt publicly complimented him in the House on the success of his first speech. Dr. Johnson informs us that it "filled the town with wonder."* His associates in the famous Literary Club gloried in the triumph of their friend. " Sir," — replied Johnson to one who expressed surprise at Burke's becoming so suddenly famous — " Sir, there is no wonder at all. We, who know Mr. Burke, know that he will be one of the first men in the country." It has been asserted, as a proof of the arbitrary and unbending character of George the Third, that his views on the Stamp Act coincided with those of Grenville, and that he would willingly have enforced those views at the point of the bayonet.! But the Grenville and Rockingham papers recently published seem entirely to refute this assertion. That the King regarded the Repeal of the Stamp Act as an unwise and unnecessary measure, was undoubtedly the case. It was his private opinion, as we have already mentioned, that the Act ought to be retained on the Statute-book, but so far modified as to render it as little as possible obnoxious to the Colonists. To this view, however, of the question, he added a very important proviso which must not be disregarded. Should there be no middle course, he said, between repealing the Act and enforcing it by the sword, he should in that case be in favour of repeal. Such was the principle which we find him maintaining, at different times, in conversation with Lord Harcourt, Lord Strange, and the Duke of York,:]: and which, in fact, is recorded in the following note addressed by him to his First Minister: — '' Lord Rockingham, '' I deshe you would tell Lord Strange, that I am * Letter to Bennet Langton ; Crokers BoswelVs Life of Johmon, p. 177. Ed. 1848. + Macaulay's Essays, vol. iii. p. 594, lOtli Edition. t Grenville Papers, vol. iii. pp. 353, 3G2, 365, 370. VOL. I. z 338 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1766. now, and have been heretofore, for modification ; but that when many were for enforcing, I was then for a repeal of the Stamp Act."* The policy which the King proposed to adopt may, or it may not, have been either feasible or wise. But, at all events, it has met with able advocates in our own time ; and, moreover, was the line of policy, which, even at the eleventh hour. Ministers themselves seem to have been inclined to adopt. f But a still graver charge has been brought against George the Third, in reference to his conduct during the progress of the Repeal Bill through Parliament. It has been confidently asserted, on high authority, that Ministers had not only to contend against open and powerful enemies, but also against the "insidious hostility " J: and " notorious treachery " § of their royal master — that, in fact, at the very time when the King was professing to give them his full support, he was secretly employed in conspiring against his Constitutional advisers, and in instigating his servants to vote against them in Parliament. An obstinate attachment to the Stamp Act, and a desire to get rid of an Admi- nistration which had become obnoxious to him, were of course the motives assigned by the King's accusers for the asserted duplicity of their Sovereign. That, on the one hand, the King was not altogether satisfied with his present Ministers, it would be fruitless to dispute. Even at their first entering upon office — by their conduct in refusing to do justice to Mr. Mackenzie, and by treating their Sovereign as a mere puppet in the hands of Bute — they had wounded him in the tenderest points. More- * Rockingham Papers, vol. i. pp. 301-302. t See the Quarterly Review, vol. xc. p. 529, and Adolphus's Hist, of England, vol. i. p. 187. Ed. 1817. t Macanlay's Essays, vol. iii. p. 596. Edition 18G0. § AValpole's Reign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 288. iET. 27.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 3.39 over, there were questions on which ]\linisters were noto- riously disagreed among themselves, and the King especially disliked a divided Administration. As a party, they were lamentably weak, and the King entertained no less an aver- sion for weak Administrations. They had pandered to popular favour, and of all the King's prejudices his strongest perhaps was against popularity hunting. But, admitting that the King was dissatisfied with his Ministers, from what ranks, it may be asked, was he to fill up their places, and consequently what motives could he have had for caballing agamst them ? Assuredly, past experience must have taught him the folly and inconvenience of getting rid of one Administration, before he had made himself tolerably certain of having secured the services of another. Having so recently emancipated himself from the tyranny of Grenville, surely he had no intention of delivering himself up bound hand and foot to the tender mercies of that inexorable task- master. As the King himself observed, he " would sooner meet Mr. Grenville at the end of his sword than let him into his closet."* "Never speak to me of that man!" — were his words, shortly afterwards, when advised by the Duke of Grafton to send for Grenville — " for I never my life long will see him."f To apply to Bute — detested as he was by the public, and certain as he -was to encounter the crushing hostility both of Grenville and Pitt — was not to be thought of for a moment. There remained, then, only Pitt to whom the King could have appealed ; but as the views of the " Great Commoner," in regard to the Piepeal of the Stamp Act, were far more unpalatable to him than those of his Ministers, his return to office at this particular period could scarcely have been desired by the King. Indeed, he had only to follow Lord Rockingham's advice and send * Walpolo's Reign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 290. + M. Duiaud to the Duke de Choiseul, September 11, 1767. BamrofCs American Revolvlion, vol. iii. p. 110, Z 2 340 MEMOIES OP THE LIFE AND [1760. openly for Pitt, and he would have precluded the necessity of any such double-dealing as has confidently been laid to his charge. ' As usual, whatever went amiss in the administration of public affairs was attributed by the Opposition to the secret machinations and obsolete influence of Bute. "What a pic- ture of weakness!" exclaims AValpole ; "a King — to humour a timid yet overbearing favourite — encouraging opposition to his own Ministers ! " Fortunately, however, posterity has access to superior means of information than any Walpole pos- sessed. It is now, we believe, generally conceded, even by the most prejudiced writers, that from the time when Grenville had quitted office there had been no communication what- ever on political matters between the King and Bute; and further, that from and after that period, if not from a much earlier date, the latter had ceased to exercise the slightest influence over his Sovereign. We have the solemn and repeated assurance to this effect of the King himself; we have Conway's word — a word which was never doubted — that neither he nor his colleagues could discover any " overruling influence " behind the throne ; we have Bute's own denial of the charge, as publicly delivered by him in the House of Lords ; and, lastly, we have his solemn word of honour, as published to the world by bis son, Lord Mount- stuart, in 1778, that, from the period when the Duke of Cumberland succeeded in organizing the Rockingham Mi- nistry in July 1765, he had not only held no communication with the King, directly or indirectly, on any political subject, but that he had never once been in the King's presence except at a Levee or a Drawing Room.* * Almon's Anecdotes of Lord Chatham, vol. iii. p. 314. The last occasion of the King having seen Lord Bute in private, is stated by Mr. Dutens, who was Secretary to Mr. Mackenzie, the Earl's brother, to have been in 1766 ; no doubt a mistake for 1765. Lord Bute himself assured Dutens that since that time he had never inter- fered, directly or indirectly, with public affairs ; that he had never privately seen the King during that period ; and that, though he continued to visit regularly the Prin- Mt. 27.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 341 So far, Indeed, from George the Third having conspired against his Ministers, we have evidence that, during the progress of the Repeal Bill through Parliament, he identi- fied himself with their measures, and was gratified when they met with success. To Conway, for instance, we find him complaining of " the very ungentlemanlike conduct of Mr. Grenville" during one of the debates;* and again he writes to Lord Rockingham — " Talbot Is as right as I can desire In the Stamp Act — strong for our declaring our right, but willing to repeal, and has handsomely offered to attend the House daily, and answer the very inde- cent conduct of those who oppose with so little marmers or candour. "f The signal success of Ministers, on the occasion of the first Division in the House of Commons, Is a subject of congi'atulation on the part of the King. To Lord Rocking- ham he writes — " The great majority must be reckoned a very favourable appearance for the repeal of the Stamp Act in that House ;" and again — " I am much pleased that the appearance was so good yesterday." :j: The King's corre- spondence with General Conway Is in the same strain. " Nothing," he writes, " can in my eyes be more advanta- geous than the debate In the House of Commons this day." § Can It be believed that these professions were insincere, and that. In fact, the King was at this very time caballing against his own Ministers ? If such were really the case, no language could too severely reprobate such unparalleled duplicity. But If any grounds for the charge existed, they must have been known to the Ministers, and cess of Wales, yet, when the King came to see his mother, he always retired by a back staircase." — " Notwithstanding which," adds Dutens, " I have known pcojile, who onght to have been better informed, maintain that Lord Bute directed imblic affairs, and jireserved the greatest influence, twenty years after he liad resigned all his places. I have even seen letters of solicitation addressed to him, as well as anonymous threatening letters, which he made me read, and then threw into the fire." Memoirs of a Traveller noiv in Retirement, voL iv. pp. 182-4. * Rockingham Papers, vol. i. p. 259. + Ibid., p. 271. J Ibid., vol. ii. p. 276. § Ibid., vol. i. p. 277. 342 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1766. Ministers appear to have entertained not tlie slightest doubt of the good faith of their royal master. Lord Shelburne, for instance, speaks of Lord Rockingham and his colleagues as being perfectly satisfied that they possessed " the confidence of the Court," * and even the suspicious old Duke of Newcastle entertained no fears on the subject. " I myself," he writes to Lord Rockingham, " or any of these Lords, have not the least doubt of his Majesty's inclinations, but there is at present so much industry in propagating every- thing that makes against us, that his Majesty's own inclinations upon such an occasion cannot be too well known."! It has been adduced, as proof of the King's presumed duplicity towards the Rockingham Ministry, that several individuals, whose suffrages he had the power of influencing, had voted against the Administration — that Lord Rockingham had in vain remonstrated with him on the subject — and that, notwithstanding those persons had thus acted in direct opposition to the Government, the King's friends remained unrebuked, and his servants un- dismissed. Doubtless these are undeniable facts. Yet, after all, to what graver offence do they apparently amount than that the King, under very peculiar and delicate circumstances, refrained from biassing his servants either one way or the other — that, in fact, he very properly allowed them to vote, each according to the dictates of his conscience. If some of the King's servants voted against the repeal of the Stamp Act, others, let it be borne in mind, voted with the Ministry. Let it be remembered, too, how short a time had elapsed since many of the very persons, whom the King was now expected to influence or dismiss, had re- corded their votes in favour of taxing America, and conse- quently how great would have been the injustice of calling * Chatham Corresp., vol. ii. p. 357. •+ Jlockiiighaiii PaperS; vol. i. p. 203. JEt. 27.J EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 343 upon them, at a moment's notice — in order to meet the requirements of a feeble Ministry — to stultify tlieir former line of conduct, and to act hi direct opposition to their moral convictions. These persons, in fact, had a right to the same forbearance which Lord Rockingham had notoriously extended to one of his own colleagues. Lord Barrington, who, on accepting the post of Secre- tary at War, aj)pears to have made it a sine qua non that he should be permitted to vote against the Ministry, both on the question of the Stamp Act and of General AVarrants.* Moreover, with what conscience, it may be asked, could the present Ministers have "pressed " the King to dismiss his servants at their beck ? They of all persons, as Walpole pertinently remarked to his friend Conway, had complained the most bitterly of such summary dismissals. | The out- cry which they had formerly raised against the King and Grenville, on account of the removal of Conway from his employments, had been loud and vehement ; yet Conway, be it remembered, had been dismissed for weightier rea- sons,|: whereas the persons, whom the King was called upon by his present Ministers to discard, had voted against them but on one question, and that question one of consis- tency and conscience. On another point, the conduct of the Ministers seems to have been contradictory. We have seen how fierce, at the outset of their Administration, had been their denuncia- tion of Bute ; yet no sooner did they find themselves in * Political Life of Viscount Barrington, p. 101. + Wiilpolo's Reign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 331. X It has been adduced as a peculiar hardship, in the case of General Conway's dis- missal, that "he gave but one vote" against Ministers on the question of General Warrants, having voted with theiu on every other motion against Wilkes. Ilistonj of the late Minority, p. 293. See, however, the Grenville Papers (vol. ii. p. 223), where it appears that Conway voted " both times with the Minority ;" also May's Co)tstitiUional History, vol. i. ]i. 2.^, note. 344 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1766. need of his aid and countenance, tlian tliere is reason to believe that they caused application to be made to the King to solicit the Earl's support in Parliament. He knew nothing, said the King, of what Lord Bute was doing, and must decline sending for him.* The real fact, as has been already represented, would seem to have been, that if the King showed any bias, either on one side or the other, it was not in opposition to, but in behalf of his Ministers. His allusion to Lord Talbot's opinions certainly seems to imply that he had attempted to influence that nobleman ; and again he writes to Lord Rockingham — " I have received your resolution of standing firmly by the fate of the American question, which will certainly direct my language to the Chancellor."! Lideed, so powerful was the influence of the Crown at this period, that had the King, either openly or clandestinely, acted a hostile part against his Ministers, the Repeal Bill, we cannot but think, would never have passed the House of Commons, and much less the House of Lords. It has been laid down by Junius as a constitutional doc- trine, that the personal authority of the Sovereign should never be interposed in public affairs. Unhappily, this wholesome axiom was lost sight of, alike by Ministers and by the Opposition, who, on this question, seem to have been severally and equally to blame on account of the undue use which they made of the King's name, for the purpose of influencing votes in Parliament. By the Opposition, it was bruited about that the Sovereign was personally and warmly opposed to the Repeal of the Stamp Act ; while, on the opposite side, the friends of the Administration made no scruple of asserting that the King had extended to the measure his cordial and unqualified approval. This improper and unconstitutional state of things could scarcely, ' Eoikingham Papers, vol. i. p. 2G2. t Ibid., p. 297. Mt. 27.] REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 345 for any length of time, be kept from the royal ear, and consequently no sooner was the offended monarch ap- prised of the liberty which had been taken with his name, than he took an opportunity of Lord Strange being alone with him in the royal closet, to question him as to the extent to which he considered the impertinence had been carried. The double circumstance of Lord Strange being a friend of Grenville, and an advocate of the Stamp Act, may possibly have prejudiced his answer. Not only, he said, had a report been successfully propagated that his Majesty personally desired a repeal of the Stamp Act, but it had been mainly the occasion of the advantage which Ministers had hitherto obtained in Parliament. It was then, that the King explained to Lord Strange his private views on the subject of repeal — views which we have already attempted to explain, and which he had neither endeavoured to conceal from his Ministers, on the one hand, nor to force upon them, on the other. He was for retaining the Act, he said ; but with such modifications as Parliament might think proper to adopt. As Lord Strange took care to repeat this conversation to all whom he chanced to meet with, it was naturally the occasion of much commotion in political quarters. On quitting the closet, " Lord Strange," writes Grenville, " told everybody he met, of the discourse His Majesty had held to him, which was in direct contra- diction to what had been propagated for the last two days by Ministers." Before night it was circulated, in all the fashionable clubs and coffee-houses in London, that the King had expressed himself opposed to the Repeal Bill, the result of which was, that Lord Rockingham, alarmed at the ill effect which such a report might produce in Parlia- ment, wrote directly to Lord Strange requesting him to meet him at the King's levee at St. James's, where, after some warm words had passed between them, they entered the royal closet together. Lord Strange was the first to 346 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1766. speak. Repeating the words which the King had addressed to him, he enquired respectfully whether he had rightly understood his Majesty, to which the King answered in the affirmative. Lord Rockingham then drew forth a written document, and enquired of his Majesty whether, on such a day, he had not determined in favour of repeal ? " My Lord," said the King, " this is but half." Then, taking out a pencil, he wrote at the bottom of the paper, which he took from Lord Rockingham's hands, words to the following effect — " The question asked me by my Ministers was, whether I was for enforcing the Act by the sword, or for the repeal? Of these two extremes I was for the repeal ; but most certainly preferred modification to either."* The King in fact, throughout the violent contest which attended the progress of the Repeal Bill through Parliament, appears to have carefully withheld, from both parties, all permission to quote his sentiments or to make use of his name. Moreover, as regards his behaviour to his Ministers, he seems to have acted precisely in the way which Lord Brougham — certainly no friend to the King's memory — has attributed to him as a virtue, namely, that he "refused to be made a state-puppet in his Ministers' hands, and to let his name be used either by men whom he despised, or for * See Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 289 ; Rockingham Papers, vol, i. p. 301 ; Grenville Papers, vol. iii. pp. 362, 364-5, 374. The King's condnct, accord- ing to the Quarterly Review, "was alike frank and dignified : he avowed what he had said to Lord Strange, rebuked Lord Rockingham for telling but Imlf the story, and boldly, and, we dare say, somewhat indignantly, wrote so as to admit of no misrepresentation, on Lord Rockingham's paper, the important qualification of his opinion, which Lord Rockingham had suppressed. Which was the double-dealer ? " Quarterly Review, vol. Ixxvii. p. 286. See also the Rockingham Papers, vol. i. ]). 301. According to Walpole, the King intimated to his servants, that " they were at liberty to vote against him and keep their places, which was, in effect, ordering them to oppose his Ministers" (vol. ii. p. 258). Had this been the case, it could scarcely fail to have been notorious in all political circles ; whereas the extraordinary sensa- tion, which was excited by Lord Strange's gossip, indicates that this was the first intimation to the world that the King's private ojiinions were at variance with the policy of his Ministers. Mr. 27.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIED. 347 purposes wliicli he disapproved."* His replies to those whose opinions agreed with his own, and who would willingly have induced him to interfere in support of their views, were to the same effect as his answers to those who differed fi'om him in opinion. He would never, he told Lord Harcourt, influence persons in their " Parliamentary opinions." His reply to Lord Mansfield was to the same laudable purport. When a question, he said, was under the consideration of Parliament, any attempt to bias the votes of the members, by making use of the name of the Sovereign, he considered as a most unwar- rantable proceeding. All who kneAv him, he added, were aware that such were his sentiments ; yet his name, he complained, had been "bandied about" in a most im- proper manner. Lastly, when an application was preferred to him by his brother, the Duke of York, to allow his sentiments on the Repeal Bill to be made known, he at once refused his assent. When a measure, he said, was once before Parliament, it ought to abide the decision of Parliament. He considered it improper and unconstitutional in anv way to interfere. t In the mean time. Lord Temple had entered into a close alliance with his brother George Grenville, and the Duke of Bedford. The primary object of the Triumvirate was the defeat of the Repeal Bill in Parliament, an event which, if accomplished, must of necessity occasion the down- fall of the Rockingham party. As a preliminary procedure, therefore, every possible attempt was made by them to obtain access to the King's ear. The Duke of York was enlisted into their raidvs, and endeavours were even made to tamper with the Queen, j Bute himself was not over- looked. Despised as he was by Temple, and personally * Statesmen of the Time of George 3, vol. i. p. 17. Ed. 1858. t Grenville Papers, vol. iii. pp. 353, 371, 374. J Hid., vol. iii. p. 360. Walpole's Kuign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 293. 348 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1766. detested as he was by the Duke of Bedford and Grenville, they nevertheless made no scruple of endeavouring to unite with him in an unnatural coalition against the present Government, Accordingly, through the medium of Lord Eglinton, it was arranged, that a meeting should take place at the house of that nobleman, to be composed of Bedford, Temple, Grenville, and Bute, the three former being evi- dently impressed with the conviction that the King was alike cognisant of their intentions, and fully approved of their proceedings. When, however, the appointed day arrived, Feb. 12. Temple was unaccountably absent. It has been suggested, not without good reason, that the reports of the spies whom he was in the habit of employing to watch the movements of Bute,* had convinced him how entirely that nobleman had become estranged from his Sovereign. But, whatever may have been the occasion of his absence, he was at all events spared the ridicule and humiliation which awaited his brother George and the Duke of Bedford. " The Favourite," writes Walpole, " had the triumph of beholding the Duke of Bedford and George Grenville prostrate before him; suing for pardon, recon- ciliation, and support. After enjoying this spectacle of their humiliation for some minutes, the lofty Earl, scarce deign- ing to bestow upon them half a score of monosyllables, stiffly refused to enter into connexion with them."')' For the disappointment thus encountered by Bedford and Gren- ville, Bute was in no respect to blame. The meeting, as he plainly told them, had not been of Ms seeking, and if Lord Eglinton had led them to believe so, it must have been either "ignorantly" or from good intentions on the part of that nobleman. As regarded his Majesty, he knew • See Grenville Papers, vol. iii. p. 360, and note ; and Almon's Anecdotes of Chat- ham, vol. ii. p. 20, 7th Edition. t AValpole's Reign of George G, vol. ii. p. 294. ^T. 27.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 349 nothing of lils opinions. In fact lie never saw liim.* At parting, the Duke of Bedford condescended to express a hope that their meeting would be kept a secret. " There is nothing of which I am ashamed," was the cold reply of Bute ; f and thus terminated this unsatisfactory conference. Disappointed at the result of their appeal to Bute, the next endeavour of the Triumvirate was to find the means of prevailing upon the King to grant a personal interview either to Bedford or Temple, for the purpose, to use Gren- ville's words, of " representing to him the distressed situa- tion of his affairs.":]: Considering the high rank of these two lords, one would have imagined that they would have encountered but little difficulty in gaining their object. But such was not the case. It affords, indeed, the strongest presumptive evidence of the King's good faith and loyalty towards the Rockingham Administration, that, among the many persons who were allowed daily access to him, not one could be found bold enough to broach the proposition to their royal master. There was no one who knew his character better than the Princess Dowager, yet she not only shrank from speaking to him herself, but when it was pro- posed that the Duke of York should be the go-between on the occasion, we find her in a state of alarm lest her favourite son, by taking such a step, should incur his brother's serious displeasure. In so dangerous a crisis, Lord Temple said it was his duty to hasten to the rescue of his royal Master. If his Majesty should send for him he * Grenvillc Papers, vol. iii. p. 363. Grenville, it seems, liatl heard from some quarter or another that on the preceding Saturday, the 8th, Bute had been for four hours with the King. (Ibid., p. 361.) Surely, however, if this were the truth, Bute would never have ventured to utter the deliberate, false, and uncalled-for statement which Grenville has placed in his mouth. According to the Duke of Bedford, Bute's words were, that he could "give no positive answer, not having seen the King for many montlis past" {Bedford Corrcsp., vol. iii. ]). 329) ; and, with all his faults, Bute was at least a man of veracity. + AValpole, vol. ii. p. 295.— See also the Bedford Corresp., vol. iii. pp. 328, 329. X Grenville Papers, vol. iii. p. 368. 350 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1766. would obey the summons ; or if the King felt any delicacy in taking that step he would "save him the blush" by demanding an audience. The Queen was requested to communicate Lord Temple's proposition to the King, but very properly, and very decidedly, declined the mission. Lord Denbigh, a Lord of the Bedchamber, at last volun- teered his services, but had scarcely given his consent before his heart failed him. The King, he told Lord Temple, dis- liked to be talked to upon such subjects, and as he was the person who would certainly be made the victim, he earnestly requested that the only letter which he had written on the subject might be destroyed. * At length, at the request of the Duke of Bedford, the Duke of York undertook to lay the views of the Grenville party before his royal brother, and at the same time to demand an audience for the Duke. But the season for such a negotiation had gone by. The measure, said the King, was under the consideration of Parliament, and must abide its decision. With regard to admitting the Duke of Bedford to a private audience, it had ever been a rule with him, added the King, to grant an interview to any nobleman who made the request to him. At the present moment, however, as he told the Duke of York, were he to admit the Duke of Bedford into his closet it would in all proba- bility be construed into treating with his Grace, f The Duke of York again discussed the subject with his brother on the following morning, but to no better purpose ; and thus fell to the ground, the united efforts of the Grenville and Bedford sections of the Whig party to expel the Rock- ingham Administration from power. The Bill for the repeal of the Stamp Act was triumph- antly carried in the House of Commons by a large majority. * Grenville Papers, vol. iii. pp. 360, 368, 369, 372. t Ibid., vol. iii. pp. 370, 371. iEx. 27.] REIGN OF GEORGE TELE THIRD. 351 " It was clear," said Grenville, " that both England and America were now governed by the mob." * The bill, though it met with a violent opposition from the Lords, was finally carried in that House by a majority of 34, and on the 18th of March received the royal assent ; an event which in the words of Burke, caused more universal joy throughout the British dominions, than perhaps any other that could be remembered. * Walpole's Keign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 300. 3o2 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1766. CHAPTER XVIII. Tlie King's health suffers from mental excitement — Popularity hunting of the Rockingham Administration — Ministers disinterested in their conduct of public affairs — Further unsuccessful attempts to induce Pitt to enter the Cabinet — The King, by the advice of Lord Chancellor Northington, reopens negotiations with Pitt — Idle attempt of Princess Amelia to bring the King and Lord Bute together — Consequences of the popular opinion that Lord Bute continued to influence the King's mind. In the mean time, the King's health had again given way under the mental excitement occasioned by the con- tinued embarrassment of his affairs. On the morning of the 1st of February he was observed to be flushed and heated. In the course of the day it was thought necessary to bleed him. His agitation on the following morning was exces- sive ; it was evident to all who approached him that his mind was very ill at ease ; in the afternoon it was announced that he was too unwell to be present at the Drawing Room. "I am willing," he said to his physicians, "to do anything for my people, if they would but agree among themselves." * Happily on the 4th he was considerably better. The frequent charge which has been brought against the members of the Rockingham Administration of having paid an undue deference to public opinion was assuredly not undeserved. In fact, the King on one occasion very plainly told them that he feared their yearning after popu- larity would be the ruin of themselves, if not of their country. I It was the error of young and inexperienced * Grenville Papers, vol. iii. p. 357. t Ibid., p. 370. Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 207. JEt. 27.] REIGN OP GEORGE THE THIRD. 353 men ; the almost natural consequence of a feeble Admi- nistration ; yet though we may admit the justice of the charge, we are not necessarily to infer that every popular measure which they introduced into Parliament was fraught with danger to the Commonwealth. It may possibly be true, as has been asserted, tliat the negotiations which they entered into with the popular idol, Wilkes, were the effect of pusillanimity, and also that the restoration of Lord George Sackville to the Privy Council was a somewhat unworthy concession to powerful family influence. It may also be true that certain measures wliicli they carried through Parliament owed their existence quite as much to a yearning for popular favour, as to any intrinsic advan- tages comprehended in the measures themselves. But on the other hand, to use the words of Burke, they at least "treated their Sovereign with decency; they discounte- nanced the dangerous and unconstitutional practice of removing military officers for their votes in Parliament ;" and lastly, the notable facts that they prevailed upon the House of Commons to condemn the use of General AVarrants and the seizure of papers in cases of libel, are sufficient to endear tlie Rockingham Ministry to every Englishman who has the love of liberty or of his country at heart. But still higher praise remains to be awarded them. In an age of great political profligacy, they were the first to set the example of that purity and dis- interestedness which have since become the distinguishing characteristics of British statesmen. No act of corruption ever tainted their Administration. They w^ere the first to discountenance the disgraceful practice of purchasing the votes of Members of Parliament ; and, moreover, be it ever remembered to their credit that, when they quitted office, not one of them had enriched himself by a pension or a sinecure. Even the hardened old placeman, Newcastle, VOL. I. A A 354 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1766. refused for the second time a pension at the hands of his Sovereign. The Rockingham Ministry had scarcely been seven months in power, before unmistakable symptoms of its approaching dissolution had begun to manifest themselves. Ministers, indeed, had never ceased to entertain a hope that, sooner or later, Pitt would be induced to coalesce with them, either as a colleague or as their leader, and conse- quently they had shown him a consideration which, taking into account the contempt with which he had treated them, amounted, according to their enemies, almost to subser- viency. They had raised his friend, Lord Chief Justice Pratt, to the peerage, by the title of Baron Camden ; one of the Treasurerships of Ireland had been offered to his brother-in-law, James Grenville ; his friend, Lord Lyttelton, had had the refusal of the appointment of Cofferer of the Household ; and, lastly, his confidential legal adviser, Mr. Nuthall, had been appointed one of the Secretaries of the Treasury.* Moreover, Ministers, during the period that the Repeal Bill had been passing through Parliament, had suggested to the King the propriety of making direct over- tures to Pitt himself, but great as was his Majesty's anxiety to establish a vigorous administration, he very naturally objected to the fruitless and humiliating overtures which he was repeatedly called upon to make to the popular idoLj* To Lord Rockingham he writes on the 9th of January, 1766 ; — " I have revolved, most coolly and atten- * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 198. Nutliall was famous in liis day for his encounters with highwaymen, one of whom died of the wounds which he received at his hands. He Idmself was destined to perish by the hands of another of the fraternity. In March 1775, while crossing Hounslow Heath on his return from Bath, his carnage was stopped by a highwayman who demanded his purse, and, on its being refused, fired at and wounded him mortally. On reaching the inn at Hounslow, he sat down to write a description of the fellow to the chief magistrate for "\Vestminster, Sir John Fielding, but had scarcely finished his letter when he expired. t Walpole's Rejgn of George 3, vol. ii. p. 321. Mt. 27.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 355 tively, the business now before me, and am of opinion, that so loose a conversation as that of Mr. Pitt and Mr. Towns- hend is not sufficient to risk either my dignity or the con- tinuance of my Administration, by a fresh treaty with that gentleman, for if it should miscarry, all public opinion of this Ministry would be destroyed by such an attempt." '"' Ministers, however, were resolved that the King should yield to their demands. " I wish," writes Lord John Caven- dish to the Premier, " nothing may be done to confirm him [the King] in his aversion to sending for Pitt, for, as he must sooner or later swallow the pill, the fewer wry faces he makes the better." f Lord Rockingham also writes to the King on the 15th of January — " That your Majesty's present Administration will be shook to the greatest degree, if no further attempt is made to get Mr. Pitt to take a cordial part, is much too apparent to be disguised." ^ At length a reluctant consent was wrung from the King by his Ministers, whereupon, three days afterwards, we find the Duke of Grafton addressing the following laconic epistle to the great Commoner : — "Grosvenor Sqttaee, January 18, 17G6. " Sir, — Lord Rockinghani and myself are charged to deliver to yon a message from His Majesty, which I think and hope will be preliminary to great good to this country. I have the honour to be, with all possible esteem and respect, Sir, " Your most obedient and most humble Servant, "Grafton." <. 153. Earl Stanhope's Hist, of England, vol. v. p. 261. t On Tuesday, the 9th, Alderman Beckford, at the instigation of Lord Chatham, made a motion in the House of Commons for the production by the East India Com- pany of certain papers connected with the Government and Kevenue of Bengal. It was met by George Grenville with a counter-motion for an adjournment, which, as he himself informs us, {Grenville Papers, vol. iii. p. 396,) was defeated by a majority of 164 to 54. c c 2 3S8 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1766. will convince the world that, whilst Administration has no object but the procuring what may be of solid advantage to my People, it is not in the power of any men to prevent it. Indeed, my great reliance on its success in the House of Commons is in your abilities and character ; and I am certain I can rely on your zeal at all times to carry on my affairs, as I have no one desire but what tends to the happiness of my people. « George R"* In the summer of this year the King and Queen gratified Horace Walpole by paying a visit to his celebrated villa, Strawberry Hill. " The King and Queen," he writes to Sir Horace Mann on the 9th of June, " have been here this week to see my castle, and stayed two hours. I was gone to London but a quarter of an hour before. They were exceedingly pleased with it, and the Queen so much, that she said she would come again." | Nearly thirty years afterwards, — when Walpole was in his seventy -ninth year, — the Queen was as good as her word. To General Conway, Walpole playfully writes on the 7th of July, 1795 — "The Queen was un- commonly condescending and gracious, and deigned to drink my health when I presented her with the last glass, and to thank me for all my attentions. Indeed my memory de la vieille cour was but once in default. As I had been assured that her Majesty would be attended by her cham- berlain, yet was not, I had no glove ready when I received her at the step of her coach ; yet she honoured me with her hand to lead her up stairs ; nor did I recollect my omission when I led her down again. Still, though gloveless, I did not squeeze the royal hand, as Vice-Chamberlain Smith did to Queen Mary." X * Egert. MS. 982, f. 26. f W.-ilpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 504. Ed. 1857. t Letters, vol. ix. pp.456, 457. Walpole evidently alludes to a well-known question, said to have been put by Queen Mary II. to one of the ladies of her Court — what a squeeze of the hand denoted ? Being told that it meant "love " — "Then," she said, "my Vice- Chamberlain must be violently in love with me, for he always squeezes my hand," ^T. 28.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 389 CHAPTER XX. Lord Chatham's haughtiness offensive to his Colleagues — Changes in the Ministry — Decline of Chatham's influence — Weakness of the Government— Anxiety of the King — Prostration of Chatham's health — Charles" Townshend, Chancellor of the Exchequer — His proposal to re-impose taies on the Colonies — Carried in both Houses — Death of Mr. Townshend— Death of the King's brother, Prince Frederick — Career and Death of the Duke of York — Return of John "Wilkes as Member for Middlesex — Wilkes committed to the King's Bench Prison — Attempt of the popu- lace to force the prison— Riot and Loss of Life —Wilkes at the Bar of the House of Commons — Elected a second, third, and fourth time for Middlesex — Not allowed to take his Seat — Popidar Tumults — Lord Bute retires to the Continent. Among the personal defects wliicli throw a shade over the otherwise exalted character of Lord Chatham, were an imperiousness of manner, and an almost msolent assumption of superiority in his political communications with others, which could scarcely fail to give offence to his party, and consequently tend to weaken his Administration. Such haughty, such despotic language as he used, said Conway, had never been heard west of Constantinople.* Thus, his arrogance had already given great offence to his colleagues, and especially to such of them as had served under Lord Rockingham, when the arbitrary dismissal of Lord Edge- ^°^' ^i. combe from the Treasurership of the Household completed their disgust. It was in vain that the usually pliant Conway in a letter very creditable to his feelings, as well as in an ^^'^^ 22- angry interview with his chief, remonstrated with him on the " repeated hijuries " which he had inflicted upon his supporters, f The great Earl remained intractable. The result was, that the Duke of Portland haughtily resigned the appointment of Lord Chamberlain ; the Earl of Besborough * AValpole's Reign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 382. + Chatham Corresp., vol. iii. p. 126, &c. ; Greuville Papers, vol. iii. p. 345. 390 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1766. Kov. 27. tliat of Postmaster-General, and the Earl of Scarborough that of Cofferer of the Household. Sir Charles Saunders quitted his post of First Lord of the Admiralty, and, at the same time, Sir William Meredith and Admiral Keppel resigned their seats as his subordinate Lords. " Your friend, yellow Saunders," writes Gilly Williams to George Selwyn, " gave up yesterday. He gave for the only reason that, at his time of life, he could not think of living without the Keppels." * Lord Chatham, in his difficulty, proposed to fill up the vacancies in his motley Administration from the ranks of the powerful Bedford party, with which object he caused several tempting overtures to be made to the Duke of Bedford, two of which were to create his son. Lord Tavistock, a peer, and to confer on Lord Gower the appointment of Master of the Horse. So exorbi- tant, however, were the demands of the " Bloomsbury Gang" for Garters, peerages, and places, that the King with good reason declared their terms to be too extravagant, and the negotiation was in consequence broken off. Accordingly Lord Chatham was left to patch up his Ministry as best he 9 to 29 might. Sir Edward Hawke was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty ; the Earl of Hillsborough and Lord Le Despencer joint Postmaster-General, and the Duke of Ancaster Master of the Horse in the room of the Earl of Hertford, who was appointed Lord Chamberlain. The present epoch was a humiliating one in the career of the illustrious Chatham. From having been the most popular, he had become one of the most unpopular ministers of liis age. The haughty dictator of former days had not only sunk into an ordinary bolsterer-up of a sickly Admi- nistration, but of an Administration as incompetent as any that had formerly trembled at his denunciations, or depre- cated his contempt. The aristocracy hated him for his insolence. The people imagined he had sold them for a coronet. The King alone remained his friend — his staunch, * Sehvyn Oorresp., vol. ii. p. 91. Dec. ^T. 28.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 391 fearless, and ever-encoiiraging friend. As miglit liave been expected, the many difficulties by which he was beset — his sense of altered greatness, his estrangement from Lord Temple, as well as the constant and harassing attacks of a formidable Opposition — produced their worst effects upon a body which had been long diseased, and upon a mind which appears to have been constitutionally hypochondriacal. In vain, on the Prorogation of Parliament taking place, he sought relief from the air and waters of Bath, On his road back to London he was again prostrated by his disorder, which for more than a fortnight kept him a prisoner at the Castle Inn at Marlborough. One of his weaknesses at the time was the assumption of a pompous parade, which scarcely seems to have been consistent with a sane, and much less with an ele- vated mind. AA liile at IMarlborough the streets are said to have swarmed with his liveries.* The same parade had charac- terized his sojourn at Bath. " Lord Chatham is here," writes Gilly Williams to George Selwyn, " with more equipage, household, and retinue, than most of the old patriarchs used to travel with in ancient days. He comes nowhere but to the Pump Room. Then he makes a short essay and retires." f " He has been at Bath : " writes Walpole ; " they stood up the whole time he w^as in the Rooms." J: In the mean time. Parliament had re-assembled, and his col- 17g7, leagues had been thrown into despair at the absence of their leader. In vain the Duke of Grafton and Lord Shelburne wrote to him for advice and instructions. The answers which * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. ii. p. 416. "The trntli was," writes Lord Macaulay, " that the invalid had insisted that, during his stay, all the waiters and stahle-boys of the Castle should wear his livery." Essays, vol. iii. p. 612, lOtli Edition. According to Lord Stanhope, this story has no foundation in fact. "It used to be told," he says, "by the late Lord Holland ; and most clearly, as I think, arose from his imperfect recollection of a passage resembling, but really quite different, in Lord Orford's, then MS., Memoirs." Hist, of England, vol. v. p. 267, iiote. Lord Russell, however, on the authority of Lord Chatham's friend. Lord Shelburne, seems to entertain little doubt of the truth of the story. Memorials of Fox, vol. i. p. 117. t Selwyn Corresp., vol. ii. p. 60. Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. p. 503. + 392 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1767. they received were almost Invariably either In the hand- writing of Lady Chatham or of his private secretary, and Invariably to the same purport, that he was in much too wretched a state of health to attend to business. To the same effect was his reply to the Duke of Grafton, when Feb. 22. his Gracc offered to "run down" to Marlborough, and dis- cuss the King's affairs with him. " It was by no means practicable for him," he wrote back, "to enter into the discussions of business." * At length, early in March, his health had so far Improved as to enable him to proceed to London, from whence, in May, he removed to North End, Hampstead. So far, however, as his change of residence was of any concern to his country or his party, he might just as well have remained at Bath. The consequences of this state of things may be readily imagined. His col- leagues, no longer overawed by the presence of their Chief, began to disagree among themselves ; while the attacks of the Opposition upon the Government became correspondingly bolder and more effective. For instance, the fate of the first measure brought forward by Minis- ters on the re-assembling of Parliament, very nearly pro- duced the consequence of overthrowing the Government. Charles Townshend, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, having introduced Into the House of Commons a Bill for keeping up the Land Tax at four shillings in the pound for another year, an amendment was proposed by Dowdeswell, on the part of the country gentlemen, which, meeting with the Feb. 26. powerful support of George Grenville, was carried against the Government by a majority of eighteen. The story of Lord Chatham's existence, from the date of the prorogation of Parliament In December 1766, till his retirement from office In October 1768, contains little more than the painful annals of a sick chamber. During this period the King not only frequently wrote to his prostrated Minister, * Chatham Corresp., vol. iii. p. 218. ^T. 28.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 393 "but nothing could be more considerate, more kind, nay, we might ahnost say, more affectionate, than his letters. Doubtless the horror entertained by George tlie Third of receiving back George Grenville as his Minister, may more or less have had to do with his continued staunch support of the most despotic, although now one of the most helpless of his subjects. He was resolved, as he told Lord Bristol, not Mar. 2. to surrender himself " a prisoner and bound " to his former inexorable task-masters. " As for losing questions in Parlia- ment," he said, " it did not intimidate him. He would stand his ground, and be the last to yield, although he stood single." * To the Duke of Grafton his language was even stronger. He would almost rather, he said, resign his Crown than receive Grenville back again as his Minister.! Such being the state of the King's feelings, his anxiety for Lord Chatham's recovery may be readily conceived. It was in vain, however, that he despatched letter after letter to Hampstead ; in vain that he proposed to visit him in his sick chamber ; in vain that he expressed the most earnest desire to consult with him, though only for a quarter of an hour. He " would not talk of business," wrote the King, " but only wanted to have the world know that he had attended him." if Disappointed in the result of these repeated and gracious appeals to his Minister, the King's next endea- vour was to induce him to receive the Duke of Grafton. "Your duty and affection for my person," he writes to the May 30. prostrated statesman — " your own honour, call on you to make an effort. Five minutes' conversation with you would raise his spirits, for his heart is good. Mine, I thank Heaven, wants no rousing. My love to my country, as well as what I owe to my own character and to my family, prompt me * Cliatliam Corresp., vol. iii. pp. 226 — 7. t Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. iii. p. 52. X Chatham Corresp., vol. iii. p. 226. 394 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1767. not to yield to faction. Though none of my Ministers stand by me, I cannot truckle." * Overpowered at length by these urgent appeals to his loyalty and better feelings, the Earl reluctantly consented to receive the Duke of Grafton in his sick chamber at North End. " Penetrated," he writes to May 30. the King, " and overwhelmed with your Majesty's letter, and the boundless extent of your royal goodness — totally inca- pable as illness renders me, I obey your Majesty's com- mands, and shall beg to see the Duke of Grafton to-morrow morning, though hopeless that I can add weight to your Majesty's gracious wishes. Illness and affliction deprive me of the power of adding more, than to implore your Majesty to look with indulgence on this imperfect tribute of duty and devotion." "j" June 1. The interview between Lord Chatham and the Duke of Grafton proved to be a most painful one to both. " Though I expected," writes the Duke, " to find Lord Chatham very ill indeed, his situation was different from what I had ima- gined. His nerves and spirits were affected to a dreadful degree, and the sight of his great mind, bowed down and thus weakened by disorder, would have filled me with grief and concern, even if I had not long borne a sincere attachment to his person and character. The confidence he reposed in me demanded every return on my part, and it appeared like cruelty in me to have been urged b}^ any necessity to put a man I valued to so great suffering." J No less amiable a con- sideration for the Earl's feelings was shown by the King. The King to the Earl of Chatham. " Richmond Lodge, Jic7ie 2, 1767, 10m. past 10, a.m. " Lord Chatham, '' My sole purpose in writing, is the desire of knowing whether the anxiety and hurry of the last week has not affected * Chatham Corrcsp., vol. iii. p. 261. t Ibid., p. 262. t MS. Memoirs, quoted in Walpole's licign of George 3, vol. iii. p. 51, note. Mt. 28.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 395 your health. I should have sent yesterdaj^ had I not thought a day of rest necessary previous to your being able to give an answer. " If you have not suffered, which I flatter myself, I think with reason I may congratulate you on its being a good proof you are gaining ground. " George R." * The interview between Lord Cliatham and the Duke of Grafton was so far of advantage to the King's government, that the Duke, who liad previously intended to retire from office, was prevailed upon to remain at the head of the Treasury ; a concession on the part of his Grace which, in consequence of the continued illness of his chief, rendered him from this time virtually, if not nominally. Prime Minister of England. Of the distressing mental and bodily condition of Lord Chatham during the summer of 1767, we have other contemporary accounts besides that of the Duke of Grafton. " Lord Chatham's state of health," writes Mr. WhatelytoLordLyttelton on the 30th of July, "is certainly the lowest dejection and debility, that mind or body can be in. He sits all the day leaning on his hands, which he sup- ports on the table ; does not permit any person to remain in the room ; knocks when he wants anything ; and having made his wants known, gives a signal, without speaking, to the person who answered his call to retire." f General Lee also writes to the King of Poland — " He has fits of crying, Dec. i. starting, and every effect of hysterics. It is affirmed, in- deed, that ten years ago he w^as in the very same condition — that therefore a possibility remains of his recovenng once more his nerves, and with them all his functions." \ At * Chatliain Corresj). , vol. iii. p. 265. + Phillimore's Memoirs of Lord Lyttelton,vol. ii. p. 7-9. J Langworthy's Life of General diaries Lee, p. 293. 396 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1767- times, Indeed, lie is said to have been " conversible and even cheerful." No sooner, however, was any allu- sion made to politics, than, according to Walpole — "he started, fell into tremblings, and the conversation was broken off." * In the month of September, Lord Chatham removed from North End to Burton Pynsent. Hopes had been entertained that his health might be benefited by the change, but, instead of alleviating, it would seem to have aggravated his mysterious disorder. There were even moments, it is said, when the sight of a neigh- bour's house in the distance, the sound of mirth issuing from his children's play-room, or a casual allusion to a debate in Parliament, produced an irritation in his mind amounting almost to frenzy. A certain bleak hill more especially offended his morbid fancy, and accordingly he ordered his gardener to plant it with evergreens. The man inquired of what description ? " With cedars and cy- presses," was the reply. The gardener was unable to conceal his surprise. " Why, my lord," he remonstrated, " all the nursery-gardens in the county would not supply a hundredth part." — "No matter; " was the peremptory re- joinder, "send for them from London;" and accordingly the trees were brought from London by land-carriage, at a vast expense. " His sickly and uncertain appetite," writes Wal- pole, " was never regular, and his temper could put up with no defect : thence a succession of chickens were boiling and roasting at every hour, to be ready whenever he should call" t Another of Lord Chatham's morbid fancies was to recover possession of Hayes, a seat wdiicli, on his becoming the * Walpole's Eeign of George 3, vol. iii. p. 44. Walpole elsewhere wi'ites ; — "So childish and agitated was his whole frame, that if a word of business was men- tioned to him, tears and tremblings immediately succeeded to cheerful, indifferent conversation." Ibid. vol. ii. p. 451. t Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. iii. pp. 41 — 2. Mt. 29.] BEIGN OF GEOEGE TUE THIED. 397 possessor of Burton Pynsent, he liad sold to Mr. Thomas Walpole. At Hayes, he had passed some of the liappiest years of his Kfe. It was associated in liis mind with the many glorious triumphs of former days. The sums which he had lavished on the place, in purchasing and pulling down neighbours' houses, in building and in rebuilding, in planting trees by torchlight, and in otherwise indulging his capricious humour, had been almost ruinous. He now imagined that its accustomed air would restore him to health, and conse- quently Lady Chatham was induced to write to Mr. Walpole, earnestly entreating him to dispose of the place to its former owner. Upon his answer, she said, depended alike her husband's health, her own happiness, and that of her children. The reply which she received drew a sigh from the suffering Earl. " That," he exclaimed, "would have saved me." Mr. Walpole, it seems, had himself expended a considerable sum in improving the place, and had become as attached to it as Lord Chatham had ever been. He was willing, he wrote back to Lady Chatham, to remove at once from Hayes with his family, and place it at the Earl's disposal during the summer months ; but graceful as this concession was it was very far from satisfying the invalid. Not only did the disappointment render him irritable in the extreme, but his brother-in-law, James Grenville, describes his language, when he spoke to him on the subject, as having been even "ferocious." Under these circumstances Lady Chatham addressed a second and still more pathetic appeal to Mr. Walpole, who, touched by her arguments and entreaties, very generously consented to surrender his purchase. " I can no longer," he writes to Lord Chatham, "resist such Oct. 3o. affecting motives for restoring it to your Lordship, who I desire will consider yourself master of Hayes from this moment." How deeply distressed he was at making the concession, his friend. Lord Camden, has recorded. " I oct. 30. do assure your Ladyship " — the latter writes to Lady 398 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1767, Cliatliam — " I have never been more affected with any scene I have ever been witness to, than what I felt upon this occasion, and am most sensibly touched with Mr. Wal- pole's singular benevolence and good-nature. The applause of the world and his own conscience will be his reward."* The arrangements for the removal of the invalid from Burton Pynsent were made with as little delay as possible, and in the month of December he again took possession of Hayes. In the mean time, the other members of the Admini- stration, persuaded that the health of their chief was such as to render him permanently incapable of resuming the reins of office, had not only ceased to consult him, but had begun to act in direct opposition to his w^ell-known prin- ciples and wishes. " If ever Lord Chatham," said Burke, " fell into a fit of the gout, or if any other cause withdrew him from public cares, principles, directly the contrary of his own, were sure to predominate. When his face was hid but for a moment, his whole system was on a wide sea, without chart or system." f " During his absence," writes Lord Chesterfield, " Charles Townshend has talked of him, and at him, in such a manner that henceforwards they must be either much worse or much better together, than ever they were in their lives." J Unquestionably, with the single exception of Lord Chatham, the most gifted and brilliant statesman of his day was Charles Townshend. In eloquence, in natural abilities, and in the influence which he acquired over the House of Commons, he was admittedly inferior only to his illustrious chief. It was in allusion to the simultaneous decline of Lord Chatham's powers, and to the dazzling dawn of Charles * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. iii. pp. 42 to 44. Chatham Corresp., vol. iii. pp. 289 to 291. + Speech on American Taxation, in 1774 : Burkes Works, vol. i. p. 171. :|: Lord Chesterfield's Letters, vol. iv. p. 447. Edited by Earl Stanhope. iEx. 29.] EEIGN OF GEORGE TIIE THIED. 399 Townshcnd's genius, that Burke delivered one of tlie finest metaphors witli which he ever delighted the ears of the House of Commons. " Even then," he exclaimed — " even before this splendid orb was entirely set, and wdiile the western horizon was in a blaze with his descending glory, on the opposite quarter of the Heavens arose another lumi- nary, and for his hour, became lord of the ascendant. That light too is passed and set for ever. You understand, to be sure, that I speak of Charles Townshend." * Charles Townshend was the second son of Charles, third Viscount Townshend, by the celebrated Audrey Harrison, whose wit and irregularities he inherited. His countenance was handsome and expressive ; his figure commanding and admirably well-proportioned. Every society into which he entered delighted in him. In the House of Commons he was almost idolized. " There are many young members in the House," said Burke, " who never saw that prodigy Charles Townshend, nor of course know what a ferment he was able to excite in everything by the violent ebullition of his mixed virtues and failings — for failings he had undoubtedly. Many of us remember them. We are this day considering the effect of them. But he had no failings which were not owing to a noble cause ; to an ardent, gelfierous, perhaps an immoderate passion for ftxme ; a passion which is the instinct of all great souls. | He worshipped that goddess wheresoever she appeared ; but he paid his particular devotions to her in her favourite habitation — in her chosen temple, the House of Commons." ^ Never perhaps has there been exhibited a more remark- * Speech on American Taxation : Bicrke's Works, vol. i. p. 171. + " Fame is tlie spur that the clear spirit doth raise — That last infirmity of noble mind — To scorn delights and live laborious days."— ZycuZrtS. X Burke's "Works, vol. i. p. 171. 400 ]\£EMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1767. able compound of talent, levity, wit, ambition, learning, and vanity, than was centred in tliis irregular genius. In eloquence he was inferior only to Lord Chatham. In humour and mimicry neither Garrick nor Foote surpassed him. In wit and repartee Selwyn alone was his superior. It was after a brilliant combat of wit between these two celebrated men at Earl Gower's dinner-table that, on the party breaking up, Townshend carried Selwyn with him in his chariot as far as the door of White's. " Good night! " said the for- mer, as they parted; — "Good night!" rephed Selwyn; " and remember this is the first set-doicn you have given me to-day." It was in the Spring of this year, on the occasion of a debate on the affairs of the East India Company, that Charles Townshend delivered one of the most brilliant May 8. speeclics that had ever been listened to in the House of Commons. Earher in the day he had spoken with great calmness and judgment, and, at the conclusion of his speech, retired to dinner with two of his friends. Sir George Yonge and Sir George Colebrooke. About eight o'clock in the evening he made his re-appearance in the House — "half drunk," according to Walpole, "with champagne, and more intoxicated with spirits." * But, whatever may have been the source of his inspiration, he had scarcely risen to address the House before there flowed from his lips such bursts of impassioned eloquence, such flashes of wit, such bitterness of invective, so varied a torrent of mingled ribaldry and learning, of happiness of allusion, imagery and quotation, that even those who were best * That he was at least half intoxicated on this occasion, rests not only on the mere assertion of Walpole, but seems to have been the impression of all who listened to his wonderful eloquence. The fact, however, is confidently denied by Sir George Colebrooke. " 1 write with certainty," he says, "for Sir George Yonge and I were the only persons who dined witli him, and we had but one bottle of champagne after dinner." Walpole s Reign of Oeorge 3, vol. iii. p. 26, note. iEx. 29.J REIGN OF GEOEGE THE TIIIED. 401 acquainted witli his extraordinary powers seem ti3 have been no less astonished and enchanted at the display, than the youngest member in the House. In the words of Walpole, who Hstened to this memorable oration — " Such was the wit, abundance, and impropriety of this speech, that for some days men could talk or inquire of nothing else. ' Did you hear Charles Townshend's champagne speech ? ' was the universal question. For myself, I protest it was the most singular pleasure of the kind I ever tasted. The bacchanalian enthusiasm of Pindar flowed in torrents less rapid and less eloquent, and inspired less delight than To^vnshend's imagery, which conveyed meaning in every sentence. It was Garrick wTiting and acting extempore scenes of Congreve." After the House had broken up, Walpole had the good fortune to sup with this universal genius at General Conway's. " To me," he says, " the entertainment of the day was complete. The flood of his gaiety not being exhausted, he kept the table in a roar till two in the morning by various saUies and pictures, the last of which was a scene in which he mimicked inimitably his own wife,* and another great lady with whom he fancied himself in love, and both whose foibles and manner he counterfeited to the life. Mere lassitude closed his lips at last ; not the want of wit and new ideas." f Thus idolized by the House of Commons and released from restraint by the illness of the only one of his contemporaries of whom he stood in awe — entertaining also a very contemp- tuous opinion of the administrative abilities of his associates in office and very exaggerated notions of his own — Charles Townshend began to assume an independence and authority, * His wife, to wliom he was married on the 15th of August, 1755, was Lady aroness Greenwich, with limitation of the title to her sons by Charles Townshend. Charles Townshend was the father of two sons by Lady Greenwich, neither of whom left issue. t Walpole's Keign of George 3, vol. ilL pp. 23 to 27. VOL. 1. D D 402 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1767. both at the Coimcll-table and in Parhament, which were no less offensive than they were embarrassing to his colleagues, " His behaviour," writes the Duke of Grafton on the 13th of March, " was on the whole such as no Cabinet will, I am confident, ever submit to." * It was in vain that the Duke and Lord Shelburne severally wrote to complain of his conduct to their chief. Either Lady Chatham considered her husband too ill to justify her in laying their letters before him, or else he was in too nervous a state to heed their remonstrances. Townshend in fact was already aspiring after the premiership. Such insubordinate conduct as that of this mercurial Minister — conduct which under any circumstances would have been productive of great inconvenience to the Govern- ment — threatened, in the present critical condition of public affairs, to be fatal, not only to his party, but to his country. One question there was — and this no less vital a one than that of re-imposing taxes upon the American people — which even so reckless a Minister as Charles Townshend, one would have thought, might have hesitated to revive. But common sense and common prudence were none of the characteristics of this brilliant person. "He knew," Avas his famous expression in the House of Commons, " the mode by which a Revenue might be drawn from the Americans, without giving them offence." Whether these words had been premeditated, whether they were uttered in a moment of caprice, or whether they were meant to conciliate George Grenville and his friends, are questions of no very mate- rial importance. The mischief, however, which resulted from them was irremediable. Grenville, deeply interested in the question, instantly started up and vehemently called upon the incautious Minister to pledge himself to • Chatham Corresp., vol. iii. p. 232. And again, Lord Shelburne writes to Lord Chatham, on the same day, that Mr. Townshend's conduct "really continues exces- sive on every occasion." Jhid., p, 235, ^T. 29.] REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 403 the execution of his project. The challenge, to the incon- ceivable surprise and dismay of Townshend's colleagues, was at once accepted by him. " j\Ir. Conway," writes the Duke of Grafton, " stood astonished at the unauthorized proceeding of his vain and imprudent colleague." The Cabinet, of course, had the option either of adopting his measure, or of demanding the King to dismiss him from his Councils. Unfortunately, in the absence of Lord Chatham, they chose the former course. "No one of the Ministry," writes the Duke of Grafton, " had authority sufficient to advise the dismission of Mr. Charles Townshend, and nothing less could have stopped the measure ; Lord Chat- liam's absence being, in this instance as well as others, much to be lamented." * Thus, in order to obtain a paltry revenue of some £35,000 or £40,000 a-year, was America once more set in flames, and England destined to be robbed of her noblest colony. It was on the 13th of May that Charles ToT\Tishend formally brought under the consideration of the House of Commons his famous and fatal measure for drawing a revenue from the American Colonies. In that assembly it was tolerably certain to meet with favour. So long as money flowed into the Treasury from any other quarter than from the purses of the Members, it was probably a matter of indifference to one half of them whether it was wrung from America or came from the Anti- podes. ]\Ioreover, many were disgusted at what they regarded as the ungrateful conduct of the Colonists, in return for the Repeal of the Stamp Act. " Repeal," according to Burke, " began to be in as bad odour in the House of Commons as the Stamp Act had been the Session before." f * Earl Stanhope's Hist, of England, vol. v. p. xviii. Ai>pendix. Belsham's SIc- moirs of the Eeign of George 3, vol. i. p. 202, t Speech on American Taxation, in 1774 : Burkes WorJcs, vol. i. p. 172. The Tt 11 2 404 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1707. The principal proposition submitted by Townsliend to Parliament, was to impose certain duties on glass, paper, paste-board, white and red lead, painters' colours and tea, imported into the American Colonies. These taxes, it will be observed, were entirely external; that is to say, they were laid on no article of produce either of American labour or of American soil. " An excise," said Franklin, in his evidence before the House of Commons, " the Americans think you have no right to levy within their country. But the sea is yours ; you maintain by your fleets the safety of navigation in it, and keep it clear of pirates. You may have, therefore, a natural and equitable right to some toll or duty on merchandize carried through that part of your dominions, towards defraying the expense you are at in ships to maintain the safety of that carriage." * By Franklin's reasoning, as much apparently as from any other single cause, the English Parliament was induced to lend a favourable ear to Townshend's untoward mea- sure. AVith the single exception of a strong protest from Lord Camden, the bill was carried in both Houses, not only with little opposition, but almost without a remonstrance. In the mean time, the suffering leader of this disor- ganized Administration appears to have been kept in entire ignorance of what was happening at head quarters. Lord Shelburne, indeed, had written to him on the 1st of February to the effect that " general conversation " attributed to Mr. Townshend a plan for producing " a revenue on hnports " in America ; | but, on the other unhappy conse(iuences of the conthniod insubordination in America had been foretold by Lord Chatham. To Lord Shelburne we find liini writing on the 3rd of Febniary, 1767, — "Tlie torrent of indignation in Parliament will, I apprehend, become irresistible, and they will draw upon their heads national resentment by their ingra- titude ; and ruin, I fear, u^jon the whole State by the consequences." Chatham Corresp., voh iii. p. 189. * Memoirs and Writings of Franklin, vol. ii. p. 371. t Chatham Conesp., vol. iii. p. 185. ^T. 29.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE TniRD. 405 hand, that one of his own subordinates — witliont any sanction from himself and contrary to the judgment of his colleagues — should have the hardihood to bring before Par- liament a measure of such vital importance, could scarcely have entered into the imagination of one so accustomed to meet with passive obedience as Lord Chatham had ever been. The die, however, had been cast; and accordingly there had remained but the unpleasant task of breaking to the invalid, so soon as his nerves were able to bear the communication, this, the most momentous of the political events which had occurred during his mysterious malady. The person, to whose unenviable lot it had fallen to enlighten him on the subject, was the Duke of Grafton. " I had to relate," writes the Duke, "the struggles we had experienced in carrying some points, especially in the House of Lords ; the opposition, also, we had encountered in the East India business from Mr. Conway, as well as Mr. Town- shend, together with the unaccountable conduct of the latter gentleman, who had suffered himself to be led to pledge himself at last, contrary to the knoimi decision of every member of the Cabinet, to draw a certain revenue from the Colonies." * The astonishment of Rip Van Winkle when he awoke from his long sleep in the Kaatskill mountains, or of Abou Hassan when he found himself in the couch of the Caliph Haroun Alraschid, could scarcely have exceeded that of Lord Chatham, as the Duke of Grafton unfolded to him the events of the last few months. But prevention was no longer possible. The sick Earl, indeed, might have recom- mended to the King the removal of the refractory Chan- cellor of the Exchequer from his Councils, but such a procedure might have sadly weakened the Administration, without effecting any corresponding advantage. Moreover, even if it had been expedient, he was not in a condition to * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. iii. p. 51, note. 406 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1767. make the effort. He not only speedily relapsed into his late cruel state of mental distemper, but it was not till nearly a year and a half had elapsed, that he was again capable of taking any interest in State affairs. It was in the midst of Charles Townshend's dreams of greatness, and while he was actually engaged in a secret project for constructing a new Administration which was to Sept. 4. have acknowledged him as its chief, that death laid its hand upon that most gifted though erratic genius. He had, to all appearance, recovered from a slow fever, which had at- tacked him in the summer, when a relapse took place which turned into a putrid fever, that hurried him to his grave at the early age of forty-two.* The effect which his premature death produced on the minds of those who had listened to his wonderful eloquence in the House of Com- mons, as also on those who had enjoyed the charms of his wit and conversational powers, is best exemplified by the tributes of those who survived him. "What genius!" writes Lord Buckinghamshire ; " What imagination ! What knowledge ! What abilities ! What occasionally exquisite feelings ! How greatly the first were misused ! How soon he forgot the last ! " | In like manner Lady Hervey writes two days after his death ; — " One of the brightest stars in our hemisphere is now set. Mr. Townshend will be missed as a speaker in the House of Commons, and as an inexhaus- tible fund of entertainment in all company ; but no party or set of men will want him, because none ever knew when they had him. When I was told of his death I could hardly forbear saying — ' Alas, poor Yorick ! where be now your gibes, your flashes of merriment that set the table in a roar?' 'Twas only in that light I could think of him. * " But, the fair guerdon when we hope to find, And think to burst out into sudden blaze. Comes the blind Fury with the ablion-ed shears And splits the thin-spun life." — Lycidus. t Townshend MS. inedited. iET. 29.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIED. 407 Great is the difference between his real death and the political demise of Lord Chatham. Certain companies at certain times will regret the one ; but a nation suffers in the loss of the other. Mr. Townshend was a shining, sparkling star ; Lord Chatham is an invigorating, vivifying sun. We miss the one ; but can hardly subsist ^\ithout the other."* Although equanimity had never been a virtue of Cliarles Townshend, he met his approaching dissolution with the greatest fortitude and even cheerfulness. "Charles Towns- hend," writes Walpole to Sir Horace Mann, "is dead. All those parts and fire are extinguished ; those volatile salts are evaporated ; that first eloquence of the world is dumb ; that duplicity is fixed ; that cowardice terminated heroically. He joked on death as naturally as he used to do on the living, and not with the affectation of philosophers who wind up their works with sayings which they hope to have remembered." f In consequence of the death of Charles Townshend, " several changes took place in the Ministry. The vacant post of Chancellor of the Exchequer was conferred, or rather forced upon Lord North, and Mr. Thomas Townshend was Dec. lo. appointed to succeed him as Paymaster of the Forces. Subsequently, in consequence of the resignations of Lord Northington and of General Conway, Lord Gower was appointed President of the Council, and Lord Weymouth Dec 22. Secretary of State. At the same time, the creation of a third Secretaryship of State having been found neces- sary, in consequence of the great increase of business con- * Lady Hervey's Lotter.s, p. 325. The reader can scarcely have failed to take notice how remarkably, in this passage, Lady Hervey has anticipated the beautiful simile which, seven years afterwards, Burke introduced into the eulogy which he pronounced on Charles Townshend in the House of Commons. See ante, p. 399. t Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. iii. p. 100 ; Letters, vol. V. p. 65. Some interesting particulars relating to the early life of Charles Townshend are to be found in the "■Autobiography of the Rev, Alexander Carhjle," pp. 180, &c., 386, &c. 108 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [ITG?. nected with tlie American Colonies, tlie appointment was Feb. 27- conferred upon Lord Hillsborough with the title of Secretary of State for America. The following brief letters written by the King in the course of the year, are not without interest : — The Ki7ig to the King of Prussia. . " Monsieur mon Frere, " C'est avec la plus grande satisfaction que J'ay appris par la lettre de votre Majeste du 7^ du courant I'heureux ac- couchement de la Princesse de Prusse, sa Niece. Le vif interet que Je prends a tout ce que pent contribuer au bonheur de votre Majeste et de sa Famille me fait partager la joye q'elle ressent de cet dvenement, et m' engage a faire les voeux les plus ardens pour la continuation de la felicite de Votre Majeste et pour la prospe'rite de toute sa Maison Royale ; et Je profite avec bien du plaisir de cette occasion de r^iterer les assurances de I'estime et de I'amitie invariable avec lesquelles Je suis, " Monsieur mon Frere, " de Votre Majeste, " Le bon Frere, "George R."* " A St. James, ce 29 Mai, 1767." The King to the King of Prussia. *' Monsieur mon Frere, " Je partage bien sincerement et cordialement I'afBiction de votre Majesty pour la mort du Prince Frederic Henry Charles de Prusse, son Neveu, que Je viens d'apprendre par votre lettre du 27™^ du passe. La perte d'un Prince a la fleur de son age, dont Votre Majestd avoit, a si juste titre, con^u les esperances les plus flatteuses, est un evenement des plus affligeants, et en parti- cipant a Votre douleur en cette occasion, J'offre les vceux les • Brit. Mu3. Add. MS. 6821* f. 218. iET. 29.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 409 plus ardens pour la prospdritd de Votre Majeste, et celle de sa Maison Royale, etant avec les sentimens d'amiti(^ et de conside- ration les plus parfaits, " Monsieur mon Frere, " de Votre Majeste, " Le Bon Frere, " George R." "A St. James, cc 23 Juin, 1767." Endorsed — " Copie de lalettre de condoldance de S. M. Britan- nique a S. M. Le Roi de Prusse sur le mort de S. A. R. le Prince Frederic Henry Charles de Prusse." * The Ki7ig to tJie King of Prussia. ^' Monsieur Mon Frere, " J'ai re<^u la lettre que Votre Majestd a bien voulu m'ecrire en date du 26*^ Juillet pour me communiquer la celebra- tion du mariage de sa Cousine la Princesse Louise Henriette "VVilhelmine avec le Prince regnant D'Anhalt Dessau. Je par- tage la joye que Votre Majesty ressent a cette occasion, et en meme terns que Je lui en fait mes felicitations J'ofFre les voeux les plus ardens pour la prosperite de cette heureuse Union, et Je prie Votre Majeste d'etre persuadee que Je prendrai une part bien sincere a tout ce qui pourra contribuer a son bonbeur, et a celui de sa Maison, ^tant avec les sentiments d'estime et d'amitie les plus parfaits, " Monsieur mon Frere, " Votre Bon Frere, "George R." "A St. James, ce 14 AoM, 1767." Endorsed by Sir Andrew Mitchell — '' His Majesty's Letter to the King of Prussia on the marriage of the Princess Louisa of Brandenburg with the reigning Prince of Anhalt Dessau.* | » Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 6821. f. 222. t IMd., G821. f. 230. 410 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1767. The King to the King of Prussia. " Monsieur mon Frere, '' C'est avec une satisfaction bien sensible que J'ai appris par la lettre de Votre Majesty, que le marriage entre sa Niece la Princesse Frederique Sophie Guillelmine de Prusse et le Prince d' Orange et de Nassau, Stadliouder Hdreditaire des Provinces Unies, a etd heureusement celebrt^ le 4^ du pass^ ; et Votre Majesty rend bien justice a mes sentiments en pensantque Je prends toute la possible a cet evenement. J'offre les vceux les plus ardens pour le bonheur et pour la prosjDerite de cette heureuse Union, et Je prie Votre Majeste d'etre persuadde du vif int^ret que Je ne cesserai de prendre a tout ce qui pourra contribuer a sa felicity, et a celle de sa Maison Royale, comme Je suis avec les sentimens d'estime et d'amitie les plus parfaits. " Monsieur mon Frere, " de Votre Majeste', " Le Bon Frere, '' George R"* " A St. James, cc 3 Novemhrc, 1767." Endorsed by Sir Andrew Mitchell — " Copy of His Majesty's tter to t Oranofe." letter to the King of Prussia on the Marriage of the Prince of 'O' An interval of more than three years has now elapsed since we last parted with the King and Queen in their un- popular seclusion. During that period the Queen had continued to add to the Royal Family. On the 21st of August 1765 her Majesty had been delivered of her third son, Prince William Henry, afterwards King William the Fourth ; on the 29th of September 1766 she gave birth to her eldest daughter, the Princess Charlotte Augusta Matilda, after- wards Queen of Wurtemberg ; on the 2nd of November 1767 was born her fourth son Edward, afterwards Duke of Kent ; and on the 8th of November 1768 her second daugh- * Brit. Mu3. Add. MS. 6821. f. 252. ^T. 29.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIED. 411 ter, the Princess Sopliia Augusta. On the hh-tli of the hitter Princess the King writes as follows : — The King to Lieutenant- General Conway. " f p' one, p.m. " Lieiitenant-General Conway, " In my hurry this morning I omitted reminding the Archhishop to prepare the usual Thanksgiving, on account of the Queen's happy delivery, for Sunday next. I would have you there- fore send to him for that jmrpose."* The next letters communicate the birth of the Duke of Kent, the father of her present Majesty. The King to the King of Prussia. " Monsieur mon Frere, " La Reine, ma chere Epouse, ayant accouch^e heureuse- ment hier a midi et demi d'un Prince, Je n'ai pas voulu differer de communiquer cet evenement a Votre Majeste convaincu qu'elle partagera sincerement la joye que J'en ressens. De mon cote Je vous prie d'etre j)ersuadee que Je suis dans les memes dispositions a regard de tout ce qui pent contribuer a Votre prosperity et a celle de Votre Maison Rovale. Etant avec les sentimens d'estime et d'amitid les plus parfaits, " Monsieur mon Frere, " de Votre Majeste, *' Le Bon Frere, " Geokge R." "A St. James, ce 3 Nomhre. 1767." Endorsed by Sir Andrew Mitchell — " Copy of His Majesty's letter to the King of Prussia on the Birth of a Prince of England." f The King to the Queen of Prussia. " Madame ma Soeur, " Je m'empresse il communiquer a Votre Majesty la naissance d'un Prince dont la Reine, ma chere Epouse^ accoucha heureusement hier a midi ct demi. L'experience que J'ai de la * Brit. Mus. Egert. MS. 982. f. 3. + Brit. Mus. Add. MS. 6821. f. 243. 412 MEMOmS OF THE LIFE AND [1767. part que Votre Majesty prend a tout ce qui me regarde me fait esperer qu'elle s'interessera a la satisfaction que Je ressens d'un dven^ment aussi heureux. Je prie Votre Majeste d'etre persuadee du plus sincere retour de ma part, et des voeux que Je fais pour la continuation de son bonheur et de la prosperity de sa maison. Etant avec les sentimens d'afFection et d'amitie les plus invariables, '' Madame ma Sa3ur, " de Votre Majesty " Le Bon Frere, '' George E."* "A St. James, c3 3 Nov^% 1767." Endorsed by Sir Andrew Mitchell — " Coi)y of His Majesty's letter to the Queen of Prussia on the birth of a Prince of England." But, if Heaven had blessed the King with a beautiful and increasing progeny, death, on the other hand, had not omitted to pay his visitations to the home of royalty as well as to the cottages of the poor. Less than two months after the death of that severe disciplinarian but high-minded gentleman, William Duke of Cumberland,! the funeral torches were re-lighted, the drums were again muffled, and again the organ pealed forth the " Dead March in Saul" along the vaulted roof and fretted aisles of Westminster Abbey. On this occasion, the royal tomb in the Chapel of Henry the Seventh opened to receive the remains of the fairest and most promising of his race. Prince Frederick William, the youngest son of the late Frederick Prince of Wales. Debarred by ill health and by a frail constitution from en- joying the sports and amusements congenial to his age, the gifted boy had happily found, in the society of books and in the acquirement of knowledge, a gratification which amply compensated for the absence of ruder and more sensual pleasures. Prince Frederick died on the 29th of Decem- ber 1765, at the age of fifteen ; and on the 17th of Septem- * Brit. Mus. Add. MS., 6821. f. 250. t October 31, 17G5., ^T. 29.] EEIGN OP GEORGE THE THIRD. 413 ber 17G7, liis elder brother the Duke of York, a Prmce of " fine lively parts " as Bishop Newton describes him,* fol- lowed him to the tomb in Westminster Abbey. Edward Augustus Duke of York — second son of Fre- derick Prince of Wales, and, previously to his brother's marriage with Charlotte of Mecklenburg Strelitz, heir-pre- sumptive to the throne — was born on the 14th of March 1739. The principal events which marked the brief youth and manhood of this fortunate offspring of royalty may be cursorily recounted. On the 18th of March 1752, at the age of thirteen, he was elected a Knight of the Garter ; on the 5th of July 1758 he entered the Navy as a Midshipman on board the "Essex;" on the 19th of June 1759, after little more than eleven months' experience at sea, he was appointed Captain of a 44-gun Frigate, the "Phoenix;" on the 9th of May 1760 he took his seat in the House of Lords as Duke of York and Albany; on the 31st of March 17G1, at the age of twenty-three, he was promoted to be a Rear- Admiral, and, on the 23rd of June 1762 hoisted his Flag on board the "Princess Ameha" at Spithead.| * Bishop's Kewton's Works, vol. i. p. 126. t Admitting the Prince's advancement in the Navy to have been somewhat too rapid, thus much at least may be said in favour of George II., that when he sent his gi-and- son to sea it was with no provision that he should be exempted from the hardships incident to ordinary Midshipmen. Some years afterwards. Admiral Earl Howe, under whose command the Prince had first entered the Navy, writes as follows to Admiral Sir Roger Curtis ; — " It is true I was not told how to provide for His Eoyal Highness ; and all the answer I could obtain from Ministerial authority respecting the treatment of, and conduct towards, the Prince, was limited to an instruction that I was to act respecting him just as if I had not any such person on board the ship. He came, not only without bed and linen almost of every kind, but I paid also for his Uniform clothes, which I provided for him with all other necessaries, at Ports- mouth." — "Captain Howe," writes Sir John Barrow, "having equipped his young deve in the true Portsmouth fashion, the captains of the Navy then present attended him in their boats on board, where they were severally introduced to the young Mid- shipman. An anecdote is told, which, being highly characteristic of the true simpli- city of seamen, is not unlikely to have occurred. A sailor, standing with some others on the forecastle, and observing what was going on, whispered his messmate, — ' The younff gentleman a'nt over-civil as I thinks : look if he don't keep his hat on before all the captains ! ' — ' Why, you stupid lubber,' replied the other, ' where should he learn manners, seeing as how he never was at sea before ?' " Barrow's Life of Earl 414 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1767. Though far less tractable than his more serious brother, George the Third, the Duke of York seems in his boyhood to have been much more popular with his family. As he advanced in years, indeed, his open ridicule of his mother's favourite, Lord Bute, and his precocious interference in politics, seem to have given equal offence to the Princess Dowager and to the King.* Nevertheless, we have not only evidence that George the Third continued to enter- tain a strong affection for his volatile brother, but, nearly thirty years after the death of the Duke, we find his sister, the Duchess of Brunswick, speaking affectionately of him as her " favourite brother." f Brief as was the career of the Duke of York in the Navy, it was not an undistinguished one. On the 1st of Augfust 1758 he sailed under Commodore Howe in the " Essex " for Cherbourg, where he bore a part in the cap- ture of that town and the destruction of its strongly fortified basin. " The fleet," writes AValpole to Sir Horace Mann on the 24th, " is now off Portland, expecting orders for landing or proceeding. Prince Edward gave the ladies a ball, and told them he was too young to know what was good-breeding in France, therefore he should behave as he should if meaning to please in England — and kissed them all." t In the following month the young Prince was engaged in the disastrous affair at St. Cas, where he behaved with the proverbial valour of his race. The British army, after the capture of Cherbourg, had been successfully re-landed about two leagues to the westward of St. Malo, but, in con- Howe, pp. 58 — 9. With regard to the views of George III. on this subject -when he placed his third son, William Henry, afterwards King William IV., in the Navy at the age of thirteen, see Sir John Barrow's Antohiocjra2)hij, p. 379. * Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. i. pp. 63, 140 ; Wal pole's Letters, vol. v. p. 50. Ed. 1857. t Lord Malmeshury's Diaries, vol. iii. p. 150, 2nd Edition. X Walpole's Letters, vol. iii. p. 165. Mt. 29.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 415 sequence of the rapid approach of a superior French force under the connnand of the Due d'Aiguillon, found it expe- dient to return to their ships with as httle delay as possible. While thus employed, the enemy suddenly descended from the high grounds and fell upon the rear-guard, most of whom, after the performance of heroic acts of gallantry, were cut to pieces. General Dury and ten other officers Sept. ii, lost their lives. The total loss in killed and prisoners ' ^' amounted to a thousand men, including four naval captains who, while assisting in the re-embarkation, fell into the hands of the enemy. Before the Duke of York had completed his eighteenth year, we find him not only launched into the gay vortex of pleasure and fashion, and pursuing one libertine amour after another, but indulging in every kind of dissipation which was calculated either to ruin his health or to impair the credit of the Royal Family. The lady whose charms first attracted his roving fancy appears to have been Charlotte Countess of Essex, daughter of the celebrated poet and wit. Sir Charles Hanbury Williams. On the 30th of January 1757, AValpole writes to Sir Horace Mann ; — " Sir Charles's daughter, Lady Essex, has engaged the attentions of Prince Edward, who has got his liberty, seems extremely disposed to use it, and has great life and good humour : she has already made a ball for him." Again, AValpole writes on the 13th of February following ; — " Prince Edward's plea- sures continue to furnish conversation. He has been rather forbid by the Signora Madre^* to make himself so common • and he has been rather encouraged by his grandfather to dis- regard the prohibition. The other night the Duke [of Cum- berland] and he were at a ball at Lady Rochford's. She and Lady Essex were singing in an inner chamber when the princes entered, who insisted on a repetition of the song. My Lady Essex, instead of continuing the same * The Princess Dowager. 416 MEMOIRS OP THE LIFE AND [1767. addressed herself to Prince Edward In tins ballad of Lord Dorset ; — ' I'alse friends I have, as well as you, Who daily counsel me Fame and ambition to pursue. And leave off loving thee.' " * From Lady Essex the Duke transferred his affections to the youthful Duchess of Richmond, f the sister-in-law of his brother's passion, Lady Sarah Lennox. To George Montague Horace Walpole writes on the 26th of April 1759 ;— "The ball at Mr. Conolly's X was by no means delightful. The house is small : it was hot, and composed of young Irish. I was retiring when they went to supper, but was fetched back to sup with Prince Edward and the Duchess of Rich- mond, who is his present passion. He had chattered as much love to her as would serve ten balls. The conversa- tion turned on the ' Guardian. ' Most unfortunately the Prince asked her if she should like Mr. Clackit? 'No, indeed, Sir,' said the Duchess. Lord Tavistock burst out into a loud laugh, and I am afraid none of the company quite kept their countenances." § Of the Prince's many love-affairs, the most serious would seem to have been his attachment for the once celebrated Lady Mary Coke, to whom it has been asserted that he was under an engagement of marriage. Lady Mary Campbell, daughter of John second Duke of Argyle, had at an early age become the wife of Edward Viscount Coke, only son of * Walpole's Letters, vol. iii. pp. 60, 62. Lady Essex survived the date of this letter only seventeen months. She died in childbed at an early age on the 19th of July 1759. t Mary, daughter of Charles Bruce, third Earl of Aylesbury. She married, 1 April 1757, Charles third Duke of Richmond, and died, without issue, Stli November 1796. J Thomas Conolly, Esq., of Castletown in the county of Kildare, had married, on the 30th of the preceding December, Lady Augusta Louisa Lennox, sister of the Duke of Richmond. § Walpole's Letters, vol. iii. p. 221. 2Et. 29.] EEIGN OF GEOLGE THE THIED. 417 Tliomas Earl of Leicester. Lord Coke had left her a widow ill 1755, when, in the words of Lady Mary AVortley Mon- tague, she found herself " the envy of her sex, in the pos- session of youth, health, wealth, wit, beauty, and liberty." * Distinguished among her contemporaries, by her many eccentricities, her inordhiate ambition, and a strong propen- sity to play the part of a tragedy-queen, she nevertheless appears to have been a generous, virtuous, high-spirited, and warm-hearted woman. According to some extempore verses composed by her friend, Lady Temple — " She sometimes laughs, but never loud ; She's handsome too, but somewhat proud ; At court she bears away the bell ; She dresses fine, and figures well : With decency she's gay and airy ; Who can this be but Lady Mary ? " t Another of Lady Mary's weaknesses was the extravagant courtship which she paid to royal personages. " If all the sovereigns in Europe," writes Walpole, " combined to slight her, she still would put her trust in the next generation of princes." :j: It was probably this passion for royalty which mduced her to encourage the dangerous addresses of a young and ardent Prince of the Blood, of whom, during his life-time, she always spoke as being her betrothed, and at whose early death she displayed every appearance of immo- derate grief. § The latest passion of the fickle Duke appears to have Ijcen Anne, sister of Sir Francis Blake Delaval, and wife of Sir William Stanhope, whom she ^eems to have detested, and from whom she lived apart. The last occasion appa- rently on which they ever met Avas on their return from the * Lady M. Wortley Montngue's Letters, vol. iii. p. lOS. t Grenville Papers, vol. ii. p. 42. t Walpole's Letters, vol. vi. p. 21. Ed. 1857. See also the Life and Corre- spondence of Mrs. Delany, vol. ii. p. 2.3, 2nd Series. § Walpole's Kcign of George 3, vol. iv. p. 301. Lady Mary survived till 1811. VOL. I. K E 418 MEMOIBS OF THE LIFE AND [1767. Continent, when Sir William took leave of lier at Black- heath, being engaged to pay a visit to his brother. Lord Chesterfield. " Madam," he said, as he alighted from the carriage, "I hope I shall never see your face again." — " Sir," was the lady's reply, " I will take all the care I can that you shall not." * The passion of the Duke of York for Lady Stanhope was encouraged by her profligate and mtriguing brother. Sir Francis Delaval, who, believing his brother- in-law. Sir William, to be in a dying state, had formed the am- bitious project of marrying her to the brother of his Sovereign. Accordingly, taking advantage of the taste of the Duke and his sister for private theatricals, he caused a pretty little theatre to be constructed at Westminster, as the means of throwing them constantly into each other's society. The favourite piece was the " Fair Penitent," in which the Duke performed the part of Lothario ; Sir Francis that of Horatio, and Lady Stanhope, it is needless to add, that of Cahsta. | This ambitious project, however, was unexpectedly cut short by the death of the Duke, who expired at Monaco under the following melancholy circumstances. The young Prince was enjoying the hospitalities and festivities of Paris, on his intended route to the military camp at Compiegne, when, information having reached him that a lady whom he affected to admire was at Genoa, he suddenly altered his intentions and forthwith took his departure for Italy. On the road he was entertained by the Due de Villars with a ball at his country-house between Aix and Marseilles. The Prince, it appears, danced all night, and as soon as the ball was finished, although in a violent perspiration, insisted on getting into * Walpole's Letters, vol. iv. pp. 110-1. t Memoirs of William Lovell Edgeworth, by himself, vol. i. p. 119, 2nd edition. In these Memoirs will be found a curious account of Sir Francis Delaval, vol. i. p. 116, &c. See also, in relation to Lady Stanhope and the gay society in which she moved, Cradock^s Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 82 ; Sehvyn Corres})., vol. ii. pp. 49, 117 ; Kirkman's Life of Macklin, vol. i. pp. 336, 463; Qray and Mason Corresp., pp. 385, 529. JEt. 29.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 419 his carriage and proceeding on liis journey. The following day, on reaching Marseilles, he was seized with chilliness and shivering, notwithstanding which he continued his journey to Monaco. The day after his arrival at that place he was unable to leave his bed. His immoderate addiction to pleasure, the excitement produced in his system, partly by the succession of balls and banquets with which he had been entertained at Paris, and partly by the rapidity with which he was in the habit of travelling from place to place, had aggravated a disorder which might not otherwise have proved fatal. For fourteen days he continued to linger in a state of great suffering, alleviated in some degree, by the affectionate offices, not only of the gentlemen of his House- hold, Colonels St. John and Morison and Captain Wrottes- ley,* but by the most touching kindness on the part of the Prince of Monaco. Colonel Morison being ill himself, it was not without much difficulty that the dying Prince could be prevailed upon to accept his services. " Your life, Morison," he said, " is of more importance than mine. You have a family. Be careful of your health for their sakes." When, two days before his death, the Duke sent for the Prince of Monaco to thank him for all his attentions, the latter was not only so overcome by his feelings as to burst into tears, but was compelled to withdraw from the apart- ment without speaking, f The Duke met his end with pious resolution. On the day preceding his death he dictated to Colonel St. John a penitential letter to the King his brother, in wliicli he prayed his forgiveness for any act of disobedience which he midit have committed, and entreated him to take his ser- vants under his protection. Colonel St. John he would have especially recommended by name, but the latter * Afterwards Sir John Wrottesley, Baronet ; M.P. for the county of Stafford, and a Major-Geueral in the Army. He died April 23, 1787. t Annual Register for 1767, pp. Vol— 2 ; London Gazette for 29 September, 1767. !■: 10 2 420 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1767. modestly begged to be exempted from inditing bis own eulogiums. " Sir," be said, " if tbe letter were written by your Royal Higlmess yourself, I sbould feel your kindness most deeply ; but I cannot name myself." Tbe next day, tbe Duke, feeling bis dissolution drawing near, took an affec- tionate farewell of tbe gentlemen of bis Housebold wbom be bad ordered to be summoned to bis bed-side. Tbe last words wbicb be uttered seem to bave been addressed to Murray, bis page. " Ab! Murray," be said, "you will soon lose your master." * Tbe Duke of York expired on tbe 17tb of September 1767, at tbe early age of twenty-eigbt. On tbe evening of tbat day bis remains were removed on board tbe Britisb sbip of war, "Montreal;" tbe batteries of Monaco saluting tbem with tbe same number of guns witb wbicb it was customary to bonour a Marsbal of France. On Colonel St. Jolm devolved tbe dismal duty of attending bis master's corpse to AVestminster Abbey; Colonel Wrottesley baving preceded bim overland for tbe purpose of announcing tbe melancboly intelligence to tbe royal family. Notwithstanding tbe libertinism and folly wbicb marked tbe brief career of tbe Duke of York, be was evidently not devoid of more amiable qualities. Bisbop Newton, wbo bad been intimately acquainted witb bim, and wbo pauses in bis Memoirs to lament over bis premature death, expresses bis conviction that bad be " outlived tbe years of dissipation, he would have proved an bonour to his King and country."! By bis personal friends and followers he was certainly much beloved. "I am sure you felt for me," writes Colonel St. John to George Selwyn, " on hearing of the whole melancholy transaction. How much the dis- * Annual Register for 1767, pp. 133 — 4; Walpole's Letters, vol. v. pp. 65—66 ; Walpolc's Keign of George 3, vol. iii. p. 103. See also Grcnvillc Papers, vol. iv. pp. 168, 169. + Bishop Newton's Works, vol. i. p. 126. ^T. 29.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 421 agreeable reflection of the loss I had sustained must have been heightened by the remains of my master being con- stantly under my eyes, during a voyage of eight hundred leagues — the whole time of which I was constantly out of order, and vomited almost every day — I will leave you to form a competent guess."* Colonel Wrottesley, too, is said to have been constantly in tears during his mournful journey from Monaco to London. " The Papers," writes Miss Mary Townshend, " are full of pathetic accounts of the Duke of York's death. He wrote a letter to the King expressing great uneasiness at their having parted on ill terms, which I hear the King was very much moved with reading ; but I know nothing of his will. It is said Calista has been in fits ever since the sad news came."t The principal event which marked the month of February 17G8, was the return to England, after an absence of nearly five years in France, of the celebrated John Wilkes. In the interim he had been convicted of the double offence of pub- j'eb. 21, lishing Number 45 of the North Briton and printing his in- •^'*''^- famous poem the Essay on Woman ; and, having foiled to make his appearance and receive judgment, sentence of outlawry had been passed upon him. During the period which had since elapsed, he had twice made ineffectual appeals — once to Lord Rockingham and the second time to the Duke of Grafton — for a reversal of the sentence. Twice also, during that time, he had been bold enough to visit England for the purpose of personally pressing his suit, and on each occasion had been allowed by the Government to return to the Continent unmolested. The Rockingham Administration, indeed, had been complaisant enough to pur- chase the forbearance of the demagogue by subscribing for him a few hundred pounds among themselves, which were presented to him by Edmund Burke, then private Secretary to * Selwyn Corresp., vol. ii. p. 192. t Ibid., vol. ii, p. 187, 422 MEMOIKS OF THE LIFE AND [1768. tlie first Lord of the Treasury, Lord Rocklngliam. * Even so late as the year 1773, we find Wilkes still drawing on the purses of at least three of the great Whig Lords, the Dukes of Devonshire and Portland, and the Marquis of Rockingham, f The cherished object of Wilkes, — next to obtaining a par- don from the Crown and a reversal of his outlawry — was to wring from Ministers a lucrative appointment under Government. To his friend Humphrey Cotes he coolly writes on the 4th of December 1765 — "If the Ministers do not find employment for me, I am disposed to find em- ployment for them." J Failing, however, in this object — his pecuniary means being almost exhausted, and his credi- tors in Paris becoming inconveniently urgent for the liqui- dation of their claims — the adventurer resolved at all hazards to fix his abode in his native country, although with no higher object, it is to be feared, than that of refill- ing his empty coffers, by betaking himself to his former profitable calling of a patriot. It was his opinion, as he wrote to his friend Humphrey Cotes, that Ministers " dare not to let law take place," inasmuch as persecution in his case would inevitably lead to popular tumults, far more formidable than the "Weavers' Riots." The patriot, on his arrival in England, addressed three several communications to three very different persons. To his friend Almon he writes on the 7th of February — " I am at Mr. Hayley's, in Great Alie Street, Goodman's-fields, where I shall be glad to see you." To the Solicitor of the Treasury he sent a written notice pledging his word as a gentleman to present himself at the Court of King's Bench on the first day of the ensuing term ; and lastly he addressed a letter, to his Sovereign in which he attributed his misfor- * Prior's Life of Burke, vol. i. pp. 152, 153. t Kockiiiffliam Papers, vol. ii. pp. 236, 237. J Almon's Memoirs of Wilkes, vol. ii. ]i. 218. ^T. 29.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 423 tunes to the oppressive and vindictive treatment wliicli he had experienced from former Ministers, and entreated his Mar. i. ]\Iajesty to pardon and permit him to remain in his native country. This hitter communication was in itself sufficiently respectful and even submissive, but, whether by design or from ignorance of etiquette, it was not only addressed to the King in the first person, but, instead of being transmitted through the proper channel, the Secretary of State, was delivered by Wilkes's footman at the door of Buckingham House.* In the mean time, notwithstanding Wilkes had recently published a very offensive attack upon Lord Chatham, in the form of a letter to the Duke of Grafton, | no attempt had as yet been made to take him into custody. The time selected by the half-forgotten demagogue for his return to England was the eve of a general Election ; a season alike well adapted to recall him to the recollection of his fellow-countrymen and to afford him an opportunity of recovering his former popularity. With his usual audacity he plunged at once into the thick of politics. Notwithstand- ing there were already in the field six candidates for the representation of the City of London, he commenced his canvass as a seventh. He failed, indeed, in carrying the election, but in other respects his defeat was almost tanta- mount to success. The show of hands on the day of nomination was in his favour ; nearly thirteen hundred liverymen voted for his election ; and, lastly, at the close of the poll, the populace removed the horses from his carriage, and drew him in triumph fi'om Guildhall to his residence. J Mar. 21. Encouraged by these evidences of po])ular favour, Wilkes now declared himself a candidate for the representation of the county of Middlesex in Parliament. By the masses of * Almon's Memoirs of Wilkes, vol. iii. pp. 237, 263, 269. Animal Register for 1768, pp. 83, 84. + 12 December 1767 ; Almon's Memoirs of Wilkes, vol. iii. p. 184. t Annual Kcgister for 1768, p. 82. 424 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1768. the people, the announcement was greeted with enthusiasm, and by the majority of the electors with satisfaction. On the day that the election commenced, an extraordinary Mar. 28. excitement prevailed. At an early hour in the morning the turnpike roads, and other thoroughfares leading to Brentford, were taken possession of by his admirers. Those persons only were permitted to pass, who either wore in their hats a blue cockade, or else a ticket inscribed with "Wilkes and No. 45." One of the rival candidates, Sir William Beau- champ Proctor,* had his carriage broken to pieces, while another obnoxious person, Mr. Cooke, son of the City Marshal, was pelted at Hyde Park Corner and thrown from his horse. " Squinting Wilkes and Liberty," writes Gilly Williams to George Selwyn, " are everything with us. It is scarce safe to go to the other side of Temple Bar without having that obliquity of vision." So familiar were the words " Wilkes and Liberty " to every ear, that a wit of the day commenced one of his letters — " I take the Wilkes and Liberty to assure you," (fecf But, if the attitude of the mob had been threatening during the day-time, it became much more alarming at night. Every available constable had been despatched to keep order at Brentford, and consequently, when darkness set in, London may almost be said to liave been at the mercy of the rabble. Li Piccadilly many private carriages were stopped. "No. 45" was scratched upon the panels, and even ladies were forced to alight and shout for Wilkes and Liberty. In each street that was visited by the mob, the windows of every house that was not illuminated were broken. The mansions of Lord Bute in South Audley Street, and of Lord Egmont in Pall Mall, were furiously * Sir William Beaiichamp Proctor, K.B., of Langley Park, Norfolk, had repre- sented the county of Middlesex in Parliament since the year 1747. His death took jdace in 1773, at the age of fifty-one. t Selwyn Corresp., vol. ii. p. 275 ; Walpole's Letters, vol. v. p. 111. 2Et. 29.] REIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 425 attacked, but liappily without tlie assailants being able to effect an entrance. At Northnml)erland House, the mob not only compelled the Duke to treat them with liquor, but forced him to make his appearance and to drink the health of their idol. This licentious conduct on the part of the populace, and the repeated insults offered to the King's Government and Crown, could scarcely fail to excite the indignation of the young and high-spirited monarch. When some one about his person expressed apprehension lest the Queen's House should be attacked in the course of the night — " He only wished," he said, " that the ! rioters would make the attempt, in order that he might have an opportunity of dispersing them at the head of his Guards."* On the following night, although the streets were some- what better protected, the greatest alarm continued to pre- vail. In consequence of the beautiful Duchess of Hamilton boldly refusing to illuminate, the doors and shutters of her residence were battered for three hours, though happily with- out effect. Another outrage perpetrated by the mob was on the person of the Austrian Ambassador, the stiff and pompous Count Seilern, who to his great indignation was forced from his coach, and subjected to the affront of having " No. 45 " chalked upon the soles of his shoes. " He complained in form of the insult,", writes Walpole, " but it was as difficult for ]\Iinisters to help laughing as to give him redress." | In the mean time, the Guards on dutv at St. James's had been kept in readiness to march at beat of drum. Happily, however, the wise precautions taken by the new Secretary of State, Lord Weymouth, prevented the necessity of shed- ding blood. * Gronville Papers, vol. iv. p. 268. t Walpole's Reign of George 3, vol. iii. pp. 186 — 190. 426 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1768. Tlie King to Viscount Weymouth.* "Queen's House, llarch 29th, 1768, f^ p' 4. " Lord Weymoutli, " I am this moment returned, and cannot resist express- ing my approbation at the discretion you have used that mischief may be prevented this evening-. I shall be glad to see you when- ever most convenient to you." f The result of the Middlesex Election was the triumphant return of Wilkes to Parliament at the head of the Poll. About ten weeks had elapsed since the arrival of the pseudo-patriot in England when, on the 20th of April, agreeably with his promise, he surrendered himself at the Court of King's Bench. It was, however, objected by the Court that the accused had not been brought under its cognis- ance conformably with the usual and proper legal process, and accordingly, notwithstanding his identity was freely admitted by Wilkes himself — notwithstanding the fact of his outlawry was unquestioned, and that the Attorney-General on the part of the Crown pressed for his commitment — he was ordered to be set at liberty. " Westminster Hall," writes Walpole, " was garrisoned by constables, and Horse and Foot Guards were ready to support them." No attempt, however, to break the peace was made by the vast multi- tude which had assembled in the neighbourhood. | The events of the next few days were looked forward to by the King and the Government, as well as by the public, with the greatest interest. It had been conjectured by many persons that Wilkes, if not previously arrested by the myrmidons of the law, would again surrender himself on the 2Gth ; but the day passed away without his making his appearance. The Sheriffs' officers, it seems, had been afraid * Thomas Tliynne, third Viscount Weymouth, born September 13th, 1734, had previously held the appointment of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland from April 30, 1765, to July following. On June 3rd, 1778, he was elected a Knight of the Garter, and on August 18th, 1789, was created Marquis of Bath. He died November 19th, 1796. t MS. original. X Walpole's Letters, vol. v. p. 98. Ed. 1857. Annual Register for 176S, p. 96. ^T. 29.] EEIGN OF GEOEG-E THE TIIIED. 427 to execute tlieir warrant, while Wilkes, on his part, ap- pears to have had private reasons of his own for keeping out of the way of Justice for a day or two. In the mean time we find the King addressing the following communi- cations to his Ministers : — The King to Viscount Weymouth. "Queen's House, April 2Uh, 1768, ~ p. 7, p.m. " Lord Weymouth, " Your caution in renewing the former directions for the j^eace of the town is most seasonahle, as the jDarties might other- wise have fallen into their usual state of negligence. The Attorney- General's letter makes me imagine that Mr. Wilkes will not surrender himself; therefore your having afresh insisted on the utmost being done to seize him, seems absolutely necessary. I cannot conclude without expressing my sorrow that so mean a set of men as the Sheriffs' Officers can, either from timidity or interestedness, frustrate a due exertion of the law. If he is not soon secured, I wish you would inquire whether there is no legal method of quickening the zeal of the Sheriffs themselves." * The King to Lord North. "25ih April, 1768. " Though entirely confiding in your attachment to my person, as well as in your hatred of every lawless proceeding, yet I tliink it highly proper to apprize you that the expulsion of Mr. Wilkes [from the House of Commons] appears to be very essential, and must be effected. The case of Mr. Ward,f in the reign of my great-grandfather, seems to point out the proper method of pro- ceeding. If any man were capable of forgetting his criminal writings, his speech in court last Wednesday would be reason enough, for he declared [No.] 45 a Paper that the Author might glory in, and the blasphemous Poem a mere ludicrous production." | * MS. original, t John Ward, having been convicted of forgery, was expelled from tlie House of Commons in the montli of May 1727. + Lord Broiigliam's Statesmen of the Time of George 3, vol. i. ]^. C>7. Ed. 1858. AVilkcs had been allowed to address the Court of Queen's Bench in his self- defence on his being set at liberty on the 20th of April. 428 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1768. Tlie King to Viscount Weymouth. "Queen's House, A-pril TiiJi, 1768, ^" p' 7, p.m. " Lord Weymouth, " Your having sent immediately to the Attorney-General to know what subsequent steps ought to be taken on Mr. Wilkes being secured, is highly proper. I shall be impatient to see his answer."* Apr. 27. It was In the course of the day, on which this note was written, that Wilkes thought proper to allow himself to be arrested by the Officers of Justice, by whom he was formally carried as a prisoner before the Court of King's Bench. Bail to an ample amount was offered as security for his re-appearance by his friend Humphrey Cotes, but the Court, instead of accepting it, ordered his committal to the Kinsf's Bench Prison. ^& The King to Viscount Weymouth. " Queen's House, A'pril 11th, 1768, |^ p' 7, p.m. " Lord Weymouth, '' Though I am conscious of your having taken every prudential measure to secure the peace of the Town during the whole of this strange affair, yet I cannot help suggesting your directing a very careful eye to be kept on the King's Bench Prison, as I see by your note that Mr. Wilkes has been sent there by the Court."t The King to Viscount Weymouth. [No date.] " Lord Weymouth, '' The aversion Mr. Wilkes has publicly declared to being imprisoned, added to his not possessing one grain of prudence, makes me strongly of opinion that he will not be very active in attempting to persuade the mob to suffer him to be conducted to the King's Bench Prison. Your conduct on this day deserves great commendation, as well as during the whole of this unheard- of proceeding." X * MS. original. + Ihid. % JbicL JEt. 29.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIED. 429 In the mean time, the Duke of Grafton and his colleagues had committed a grievous error. Either they should have taken into their consideration the services which AVilkes had formerly rendered to the cause of liberty, as well as his long exile and the consequent ruin of his affliirs, and have recommended the King to extend to him a full and gracious pardon, or else, if satisfied that his offences against religion and good government merited condign punishment, they should have arrested him immediately on his return to England, and, without allowing him a single day to ply his old trade of agitation, have handed him over to the legal powers. Unquestionably of the two alternatives the former was the preferable one. Of late, for instance, during Wilkes' exile in France his name had almost sunk into oblivion. When, on his return to England, he had visited Bath, his arrival had scarcely attracted the slightest attention ; * and, lastly, when he had been put in nomination to represent the city of London in Parliament, although the number of votes which he commanded was considerable, only one citizen of eminence and wealth, Alderman Baker, had come forward to urge his claims. " When Wilkes," writes Walpole, " first arrived in town I had seen him pass before my window in a hackney-chair attended but by a dozen children and women. Now all Westminster was in a riot." Nor, if Ministers had chosen the merciful side of the question, would they have laid themselves open to any very heavy charges of incon- sistency. Wilkes, in former days, had lived on intimate terms with Lord Chatham ; Lord Sandwich had been his boon companion and intimate friend ; and, lastly, the Duke of Grafton, while the demagogue, in 1763, was undergoing imprisonment for a libel on his Sovereign, had made no scruple of honouring him with a personal visit. | " Re- * Walpole'sReigu of George 3, vol. iii. p. 194. t Ibid., vol. i. p. 278. 430 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1768. member, my Lord," writes Junius to tlie Duke, " that you continued your connexion with Mr. Wilkes long after he had been convicted of those crimes, which you have since taken pains to represent in the blackest colours of blas- phemy and treason." * The arguments in favour of pardoning Wilkes — argu- ments which the Duke of Grafton freely admits in his Memoirs that neither he nor his colleagues had the sagacity to perceive,! — ought to have been sufficiently apparent. Not only would a pardon have robbed him of that popularity which was destined to prove so perilous to the State, but Ministers, by meriting the gratitude of Wilkes, might have converted a formidable foe into a con- venient friend. But even assuming that Wilkes, notwith- standing the mercy extended to him, would have persisted in advocating democratic principles and .measures, the impending conflict between order and disorder would at least have been fought — not, as afterwards happened, in the blood-stained precincts of the King's Bench Prison, nor under the windows of the King's palace — but in the peaceful arena of St. Stephen's Chapel, a place in which experience had already shown that, neither as an orator nor as a debater, was Wilkes likely to prove a very formidable opponent.:!: Ministers, however, as we have seen, were bent on a suicidal policy, the fatal effects of which were • Letter to the Duke of Grafton, 10th April, 1769. + Walpole's Reign of George 3, p. 199, iwte. J Horace Walpole writes to Sir Horace Mann on the 31st of March ; — " In my own opinion, the House of Commons is the place where he can do the least hurt, for he is a wretched speaker, and will sink to contempt, like Admiral Vernon, who I remem- ber just such an illuminated hero, with two Lirth-days in one year." Walpole's Letters, vol. v. p. 93. It may be mentioned that, at a later period, a proposition was made by the Duke of Grafton to the King to extend a fi-ee pardon to Wilkes. But it was now too late. The dignity of the Crown had become compromised by the pretensions and lawless proceedings of Wilkes and his followers, and consequently a boon which, if granted in the first instance, would have been regarded as a gracious act of royal clemency, would have been attributed by the public to the fears and weak- ness of the Government. See the Grcnvilk Papers, vol. iv. p. 273. ^T. 29.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 431 almost immediately made manifest. For instance, no sooner was the fact of Wilkes' committal to prison announced to the vast crowd of people which, on the day of that event, filled the precincts of Westminster Hall, than they assumed an attitude which was significant enough of the disorder and anarchy which were destined to follow. The hackney-coach, in which he was driven off, in custody of the Marshal of the King's Bench, was followed by an excited crowd, heaping blessings on his head, and venting curses and revilings against Ministers. The King proved to be right in his conjecture that the people would interpose to prevent their idol being carried to prison ; though he was wrong in his presumption that Wilkes would take advantage of their interference. He per- mitted the mob, indeed, to remove the horses from his coach on Westminster Bridge and to draw him to a tavern on Cornhill, which he entered ; but, so soon as an oppor- tunity offered, he eftected his escape in disguise by a back door, and, to the great satisfaction of the Marshal of the King's Bench," delivered himself up a prisoner at the gate. The King, however, would seem to have given him little credit for good intentions. The King to Viscount Weymouth. " Lord Weymouth, " I thank you for the attention of sending me the Attor- ney-General's letter. I am surprised Mr. Wilkes should be so ill- advised as to let violence be used to prevent the officers of Justice performing the duties of their office."* From this period till the assembling of Parliament, when May lo. affairs grew much worse, London continued to be in a state of constant fermentation and alarm. Tumultuous crowds assembled daily in front of the King's Bench Prison. On ♦ MS. original. 432 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1768. one occasion the Guards had to disperse them by the light of a bonfire composed of the wooden railings wrenched from the neighbouring foot-ways. Moreover, many other breaches of the peace took place in different parts of the metropolis. The King to Viscount Weymouth. "Queen's House, A;^ril 30 of the Forces, one of the Joint Postmasters General, and other individuals, holding office, including two Lords of the Bedchamber and a junior Lord of the Treasury. So large * Prior s Life of Burke, vol. i. pp. 258, 2n(l Edition. t Letter from Dr. Priestley to the Editor of the Monthly Ma,^azine, dated 10 November 1802 : quoted in FranMin^s Life cvnd Writings, vol. i. pp. 356 — 7. 550 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1774 an attendance of persons, notoriously opposed to the claims of the people of Massachusetts, augured, of course, no very favourable reception for their memorial. Calm and erect, in a conspicuous part of the room near the fire-place, stood Franklin, the " observed of all observers." Not far from him stood his chief accuser, the Solicitor General, Alexander Wedderburn, whose brilliant eloquence, and withering abuse of Franklin on this occasion, were never forgotten by those who were present. Assuredly Wedderburn, as Counsel for Governors Hutchinson and Oliver, had a right to put as unfavourable a construction as he could on Franklin's con- duct in regard to the stolen letters ; but, on the other hand, the gross insults which he put upon him, and, in his person, upon the four important Colonies, of which Franklin was the representative, were such as it seems impossible to excuse. Moreover, Wedderburn's address to the Privy Council had all the appearance of being prompted by the bitterest personal aversion. It was the object of the " hoary-headed traitor," he exclaimed, to embroil Great Britain with America. Either Franklin, he argued, had obtained the letters by "fraudulent or corrupt means" or he had " stolen them from the person who stole them." — "I hope, my Lords," he said, "that you will mark and brand the man for the honour of this country, of Europe, and of mankind. Private correspondence has hitherto been held sacred in times of the greatest party-rage, not only in politics but religion." This man, however, he continued, "has forfeited all the respect of societies and men." * In such language as this, did the insolent lawyer speak of the profound philosopher, of the noble-hearted patriot, of the delightful social companion, of the tolerant politician, of the most illustrious, next to Washington, of the founders of the great American Republic, of the " new * Franklin's Life and Writings, vol. ii. p. 401, Appendix. Third Edition. Mr. 35.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. o5l Prometheus " who, in the words of a beautiful modern Latin verse, — " Eripuit ccclo fulmen, sceptnmique tyrannis."* "From Heaven snatched lightning, and from Kings their sceptres." But, still more reprehensible than the language of Wed- derburn, still more calculated to complete the exasperation of the people of America, was the conduct of the members of the Privy Council themselves. Forgetting the solemnity of the occasion which had brought them together, they not only hounded on the King's Solicitor General to fresh vituperations, by greeting him with cries of "Hear him! Hear him!" and other indecent expressions of applause, but several of them, including the President, Earl Gower, were observed to laugh outright. The countenance of the Prime Minister alone is said to have worn an expression of becoming gravity. Thus encouraged, Wedderburn launched forth into still more disgraceful scurrilities. Into what companies, he asked, will Dr. Franklin in future enter with an unembarrassed face ? Men will watch him with a jealous eye. They will hide their papers from him, and lock up their escritoires. He even went to the cruel length of charging Franklin with having foreknowingly permitted the duel to take place between Temple and Whately. " Here is a man," he exclaimed, " who, with the utmost insensibility of remorse, stands up and avows him- * The famous inscription on a medal snbseqiiently struck in France in honour of Franklin, when Ambassador from the United States to the Court of Versailles. " While Franklin's quiet memory climbs to Heaven, Calming the lightning which he thence hath riven ; Or drawing from the no less kindled earth Freedom and peace to that which boasts his birth. " Lord Byron ; The Age of Bronze. These passages of course allude to Franklin's discoveries and experiments in electricity. 552 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1774. self the autlior of all. I can compare lilm only to Zanga in Dr. Young's ' Revenge,' — * Know then 'twas I — I forged the letter, I disposed the picture, I hated, I despised, and I destroy. ' * I ask, my Lords, whether the revengeful temper, attri- .buted by poetic fiction only to the bloody African, is not surpassed by the coolness and apathy of this wily American." f ' ' While Peers enraptured hail the unmanly wrong See Ribaldry, vile prostitute of shame, Stretch the bribed hand and prompt the venal tongiie. To blast the laurels of a Franklin's fame. But will the sage — whose philosophic soul Controlled the lightning in its fierce career, Heard unappalled the aerial thunders roll, And taught the bolts of vengence where to steer — Will he — while, echoing to his just renown. The voice of kingdoms joins the loud applause — Heed the weak malice of a Courtier's frown, Or dread the coward insolence of laws ? " J For a season the high-prerogative party enjoyed their triumph. But the day of retribution was not far off. " I remember " — said Charles Fox, many years afterwards, in the House of Commons — " the prodigious effect produced by that splendid invective. So great was it that when the Privy Council went away they were almost ready to throw up their hats for joy, as if by the vehement and eloquent philippic they had obtained a triumph. Yet we paid a pretty dear price for it." § Franklin listened to that " splendid invective," to all appearance unabashed and unconcerned. " I should think myself," he said to a friend who was standing near him, " meaner than I have been described, if anything coming from such a ♦ Act 5, Scene 3. + Franklin's Life and Writings, vol. ii. pp. 401, 402. t Extract from a poem, entitled "An Elegy on the Times," printed in tlie Mas- snchusdls Sjnj newspaper, for S(^ptember 22, 1774. § Fox's Speeches, vol. vi. p. .027. ^T. 3o.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 553 quarter could vex me." — "He stood," writes another bystander and friend, Dr. Bancroft, " close to the fire- place, on that side which was at the right hand of those who were looking towards the fire ; in the front of which, though at some distance, the members of the Privy Council were seated at a table. I obtained a place on the opposite side of the fire-place, a little further from the fire ; but Dr. Franklin's face was directed towards me, and I had a full and uninterrupted view of it and his person, during the whole time in which Mr. Wedderburn spoke. The Doctor was dressed in a full dress suit of spotted Manchester velvet, and stood conspicuously erect^ without the smallest move- ment of any part of his body. The muscles of his face had been previously composed, so as to afford a placid tranquil expression of countenance, and he did not suffer the slightest alteration of it to appear during the continuance of the speech in which he was so harshly and improperly treated." * " Sarcastic Sa-wney, swoll'n with pride and prate, On silent Franklin poured his venal hate ; The mute philosopher without reply Withdrew — and gave his country liherty."f Yet, notwithstanding Franklin's outward placidity of demeanour, there Is evidence that he both deeply felt, and highly resented, the gross indignity to which he had been exposed. "It required," writes his friend Burke, "all his philosophy, natural and acquired, to support him against it." :|: As Franklin, on the breaking up of the Council, passed into an adjoining apartment, in which Wedderburn was standing the cynosure of a circle of admiring and con- gratulating friends, the significant manner in which the philosopher held out his hand to, and pressed that of. Dr. * Franklin's Life and Writings, vol. i. pp. 357 — 8. + Contemporary Epigram, quoted in ira/^wZe's Last Journals, vol. ii. p. 166. X Prior's Life of Burke, vol. i. p. 258. Second Edition. * 554 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1774. Priestley, seems to have spoken more eloquently than words could have done the true state of his feelings. Happily in his own conscience he was able to find full justification for his conduct. \¥hen, on the following morning, Dr. Priestley breakfasted with him in Craven Street, the conversation naturally turned upon the memo- rable scene of the preceding day. " I never before," said Franklin to his brother philosopher, " was so sensible of the power of a good conscience. If I had not considered the thing for which I was so insulted as one of the best actions of my life, and what I should certainly do again in the same circumstances, I could not have supported it." Within twenty-four hours after he had quitted the council- chamber, two other affronts, as provoking as they were injudicious, were put upon him, and upon the American people. In the first place, the memorial from Massachusetts was represented to the King by his Council as " ground- less, vexatious, scandalous, and calculated only for the seditious purpose of keeping up a spirit of clamour and discontent;"! and secondly Franklin received his dismissal from his situation as Deputy Postmaster General for America. J In connexion with the treatment of Franklin by the Privy Council a remarkable anecdote has been recorded. In anticipation of the anxiously looked-for day, which was ♦ Franklin's Life and Writings, vol. i. pp. 359, 360. + MS. entry in the Privy Council Book, 29 January. The same entry furnishes the names of the " thirty-five " members who were present at this Council, viz., — The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Duke of Qiieensberry, Earl Gower, the Earls of Suffolk, Denbigh, Sandwich, Kochfort, Marchmont, Dartmouth, Buckinghamshire, Harcourt, Hillsborough, Viscounts Townshend and Falmouth, Lords North, Le Despencer, Cathcart, Hyde, Lord George Sackville, the Bishop of London, Sir Gilbert Elliot, Sir Jeffrey Amherst, Sir John Eardley Wilraot, Sir Lawrence Dundas, Sir Thomas Parker, Lord Chief Justice De Grey, General Conway, James Stuart Mac- kenzie, Welbore Ellis, Hans Stanley, Kichard Eigby, Thomas Townshend, Jun., George Onslow, George Rice, and Charles Jcnkinson, afterwards Eai-1 of Liverpool. :J: Annual Register for 1774, p. 86. This situation is said to have been barren of revenue till Franklin was appointed to it, and to have ceased to yield any receipts so soon as he was dismissed. Bancroft's Hist, of the American Bcvolution, vol. iii. p. 553. ^T. 35.] EEIGN OF GEOBGE THE THIRD. 555 destined alike to secure Independence to America and to complete tlie humiliation of his patrician deriders, Franklin carefully laid by the "full-dress suit of Manchester velvet" which he had worn when laughed to scorn by the Lords of the Council at Whitehall. Only on one more occasion, according to his friends, he wore it, when, four years after- wards, as Commissioner from the United States to the Court of Versailles, he signed the famous treaties of Commerce and Alliance with France.* In the mean time, another change, introduced by Lord 1773. North into the Revenue code, was about to give birth to fresh discontents and fresh disturbances in the Province of Massachusetts. In consequence of the trade of the East India Company having fallen into an almost stagnant condition, it was resolved by Ministers, among other remedial mea- sures, to allow the Company to carry their tea direct to the American ports, and there land it, subject to a trifling duty of threepence a pound to be paid by the Colonists. At the same time, it was proposed to take off the Customs duty in England, amounting to one shilling in the pound, a concession which — inasmuch as it would diminish the cost of tea in the Colonies — would, it was hoped, not only afford gratification to the Americans, and induce them to break up their non-importation societies, but * Respecting the truth of this anecdote, see, on the one hand, the evidence of Doc- tors Priestley and Bancroft, as given in Franklin's Life and Writings, vol. i. pp. 358, 360, note, third edition, and Earl Stanhope's Hist, of England, vol. v. p. 495, note ; and, on the other hand, see Sparks s Edition of Frankliii's Works, vol. i. p. 488, note, and the North Aynerican Review for Jiily 1S52. There is even reason for be- lieving that Franklin wore the "full-dress suit of Manchester velvet " on a second and still more important occasion ; namely, when, in 1782, he signed the prelimi- naries of the Treaty by which Great Britain acknowledged the Independence of America. This latter presumption, according to the late Mr. Allen, "rests on autho- rity not slightly to be rejected. It was related to Lord Holland by Lord St. Helens, one of the Plenipotentiaries employed in negotiating the Treaty, and the lasting im- pression it made on Lord St. Helens leaves little doubt of the accuracy of his recol- lection. He could not speak without indignation of the triumphant air with which Franklin told them he had laid by and preserved his coat for such an occasion." Earl RusseWs Memorials of Fox, vol. i. pp. 384 — 5. See also Sir G. Cornewall Lewis's " Administrations of Great Britain,'" p. 49, note. 556 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1774. would produce the further effect of putting an end to the smuggling trade with Holland, which, in the article of tea, was being carried on to a very injurious extent. The measure, although its judiciousness as a commercial expe- dient was afterwards called in question, was nevertheless accepted with gratitude by the East India Company, and in due course passed into law without opposition, and almost without comment. Very different, however, from what had been anticipated, was the effect which this well-intentioned measure produced upon the minds of the Colonists. The word " tax " still grated as harshly as ever on American ears. Great Britain, they insisted, had evidently some sinister object in view. If they accepted the measure, they said, the consequences might prove fatal to their liberties. A window-tax, a hearth-tax, a land-tax, even a poll-tax, would in all proba- bility follow. Accordingly, for some time previously to the Company's ships making their appearance off the American coast, it was evident that a violent opposition would be offered to the landing of their cargoes. In many places the consignees of tea were compelled to fling up their agencies ; at Philadelphia the pilots were warned not to conduct the tea-ships into port ; at New York it was given out that they were freighted — not with tea, but with fetters. Such was the excited state of public feeling in America when the first tea-ship made its appearance in the port of Boston. A project for destroying its cargo was speedily organized and matured. At a time, when the town was to all appearance in a state of perfect tranquillity, a vast concourse of people were all at once to be seen wending Dec. 16. their way in the direction of the quay. Interspersed with ^^'^^-: the crowd were a number of individuals disoruised and painted as Mohawk Indians, who, suddenly separating themselves from their companions, flung themselves on board the tea-ships, mastered the crews, and took posses- JEt. 35.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 557 sion of the cargoes. Witliin tlie space of two hours, three hundred and forty-two chests of tea were broken open, and their contents, valued at £18,000, flung into the sea. The authors of the outrage then quietly dispersed to their homes, leaving Boston to the enjoyment of its accustomed tranquil- lity. "Last evening between 6 and 7 o'clock," writes Rear-Admiral Montagu * from Boston to the Secretary of the Admiralty, " a large mob assembled with axes, &c., encouraged by Mr. John Hancock, Samuel Adams, and others, and marched in a body to the wharf where the tea- ships lay, and there destroyed the whole by starting it into the sea. During the whole of this transaction neither the Governor, Magistrates, owner, or the Revenue Officers of this place, ever called for my assistance. If they had, I could easily have prevented the execution of this plan, but must have endangered the lives of many innocent people by firing upon the town." f The same dogged determination to prevent the purchase and landing of tea prevailed in other States. At New York it was only under the protection of the fort guns that the tea-ships could land their cargoes. At Charleston a large quantity of the obnoxious article perished in damp cellars for want of purchasers ; while in many places, in consequence of the want of consignees, the masters of the tea-ships were compelled to put to sea again with their valuable cargoes. That the news of the outrage committed by the people of Boston should have excited considerable indignation in the mother-country was only to be expected. Even their stanchest friends and well-wishers were unable to defend their conduct. " The violence committed upon the tea- cargo," writes Chatham to Shelburne, " is certainly cri- • Rear-Admiral John Montagu, Commander in Chief on the North Coast of America. He died an Admiral of the White in 1795. + Admiralty Kccord.s, MS. 558 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1774. minal ; nor would it be real kindness to the Americans to adopt their passions and wild pretensions, when they mani- festly violate the most indispensable ties of society."* On the people of Boston themselves fell the worst consequences of their recent lawless proceedings. It was absolutely ne- cessary, was the language of Ministers in Parliament, that more rigorous measures should be resorted to, in order to secure the proper execution of the laws in the Colonies, and their dependence upon the Crown and Parliament of Great Britain. Accordingly, in due time. Lord North brought forward his famous Boston Port Bill, one of the ordi- Mar. 14. nances of which was the removal of the Custom House of Boston to the sea-port town of Salem, about sixteen miles distant, and the closing of the former flourishing port against all commerce, until such time as compensation should be made to the East India Company for the destruction of their tea, and the Crown be satisfied that for the future full and dutiful obedience to the laws would be rendered by the refractory Colonists. A certain amount of opposition was offered to the Bill in the Lords as well as Commons, but eventually it passed through both Houses without a division in either House. However reprehensible may have been the conduct of the rioters at Boston, it seems to be pretty generally admitted that the Boston Port Bill was both an ill- advised and a tyrannical measure. It was obviously ill- advised, because it created a precedent which was calculated to spread universal alarm and anger over America ; and it was tyrannical, not only because it condemned the accused without affording them a hearing, but because it punished the innocent in common with the guilty. " Reparation," writes Chatham to Shelburne, " ought first to be de- manded in a solemn manner and refused by the town • Chatham Corrosp., vol. iv. p. 336. M[. 35.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 559 and magistracy of Boston, before such a bill of pains and penalties can be called just."* The illustrious Washington was of the same opinion. " The conduct of the Boston people," he wrote, " could not justify the rigour of the measure, unless there had been a requisition of payment, and refusal of it."! While the Boston Port Bill was still under consideration in the House of Lords, Lord North was engaged in bring- ing forward another important and no less arbitrary mea- ^p^^- sure, the Massachusetts Government Bill. The Governor of the province, he insisted, had no power to uphold the authority with which he was invested. " There must be something radically wrong," he said, " in that constitution, in which no magistrate for a series of years had done his duty in such a manner as to enforce obedience to the laws." :j: Under these circumstances, he not only pro- posed that the Council of the Province, instead of being elected by the people as heretofore, should be appointed by the Crown, but also that the Governor should have the nomination of the Judges, the Magistrates, and Sheriffs. So gross a violation of the liberty of the subject — so unscru- pulous an invasion of constitutional rights — had not been attempted by a British Minister since the day when Massa- chusetts had received its charter from the hands of William of Orange. At once, every right-minded American resident in England, without waiting to learn the sentiments .of his countrymen on the other side of the Atlantic, raised his voice against so infamous a proposal to render justice sub- servient to the Crown. Li Parliament also it met with violent opposition. The people of Massachusetts, said Governor Pownall, instead of being a set of thankless, discontented, and turbulent rioters, such as their enemies * Chatham Corresp., vol. iv. p. 337. t To B. Fairfax, July 20, 1774 : Washington's Works, vol. ii. p. 303. t Pari. Hist., vol. xvii. col. 1192. 580 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1774. had represented them, were, as a community, as rehgious, conscientious, and peaceable a people, as any in his Majesty's dominions. Lord North, however, was not to be diverted from his purpose. " The Americans have tarred and feathered your subjects," he said, " have plundered your merchants, burned your ships, denied all obedience to your laws and authority ; yet so clement, and so long-forbearing has our conduct been, that it is incumbent on us now to take a different course. Whatever may be the consequence, we must risk something. If we do not, all is over." Once more the * experienced ex-governor endeavoured to induce Ministers to listen to reason, but again with httle effect. If they persisted, he told them, in their present arbitrary policy, then indeed " all ivas over." " I tell you," he exclaimed emphatically, " that the Americans will oppose the measures, now proposed by you, in a more vigorous way than before. The Committees of Correspondence in the different provinces are in constant communication. They trust not in the conveyance of the post-office. They have set up a constitutional courier, who will soon grow up and supersede your post-office. As soon as intelligence of these affairs reaches them, they will judge it necessary to communicate with each other. It will be found inconvenient and ineffectual to do so by letters. They must confer. They will hold a Conference ; and to what these committees, thus met in congress, will grow up, I will not say. Should recourse be had to arms, you will hear of other officers than those appointed by your gover- nor. Should matters once come to that, it will be, as it was in the late civil wars of this country, of little conse- quence to dispute who were the aggressors. That will be merely matter of opinion." * Pownall's prophetic words shared the fate of many similar warnings. Ministers not * Pari. Hist., vol. xvii. cols. 1280, 1283, 1284. iET. 35.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIRD. 561 only triumphed in both Houses of Parliament, but were enabled, in the course of the Session, to carry another tyrannical measure, which empowered the Governor of Mas- sachusetts, in cases of murder or any other capital offence, to send the accused for trial, either to Great Britain or to one of her Colonies, on his own individual authority. To this measure also considerable opposition w^as offered in each House of Parliament, yet it was carried into law by May 6. large majorities. VOL. I. O O 662 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1774. CHAPTER XXV. Excitement in the American Colonies — Strenuous resistance to the coercive measures of Parliament — Closing of Boston Port— Severe Distress in consequence — Sjtii- pathy in the Provinces and in England — General Congress held at Philadelphia — Military preparations — Lord Chatham's Speech on mo'snng an Address to the Crown to remove the troops from Boston — His Speech on proposing Conciliatory measures — Rejection of his motion — Defeat of the motion to hear Franklin, and two other American agents, at the Bar of the House of Commons — State of opinion in the Provinces. It would be difficult to exaggerate the grief and con- sternation wliicli pervaded the population of Massachusetts, so soon as the intelligence reached them that their ancient charter had been violated, and that the noble Port of Boston, of whose rising commerce they w^ere justly proud, was about to be closed. Nor was the consternation confined to the people of Massachusetts. The tidings flew with an electric effect over the length and breadth of the land. Before a month had elapsed, the people of America from Lake Huron to the Gulf of Mexico had made the cause of Massachu- setts their own. In many places the Boston Port Bill was printed with a black border round it, and cried in the streets as "A barbarous, cruel, bloody, and inhuman murder." If, said the Americans, they permitted one Province to be robbed of its charter without remonstrance and opposition, who would guarantee that the charter of his own Province would not be the next violated? The inhabitants of Baltimore were the first to encourage their brethren in Massachusetts, by advocating a suspension of trade with Great Britain, and by declaring in favour of sending delegates to a general Continental Congress. New Hampshire, though still affec- ^T. 35.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIED. 563 tionately attaclied to the motlicr-country — New Jersey, des- tined to be tlie scene of more than one hard-fought struggle in the impending contest — and even South Carohna, though scarcely strong enough to defend herself against the fierce Creek and Cherokee Indians who hovered in formidable numbers along her frontiers, — nevertheless declared them- selves, through their several Assemblies, prepared to stand by Massachusetts and by one another even unto death. Not less ardent was the spirit which animated the people of Virginia, that romantic region which had given birth to Washington, to Patrick Henry, and to Jefferson, and which w^as destined to be the scene of the crowning success which gave America her Independence. There, the majority of the House of Burgesses, averse as they were to sever the ties wdiich bound them to the land of their forefathers, nevertheless passed a resolution that, rather than surrender their liberties, they would take up arms and leave their cause to be decided by the God of Battles. That resolu- tion Washington hesitated not to forward to his constituents. Let us, said the men of Williamsburg, implore the Almighty to inspire the people of America with one heart and soul in resisting, by all just and legitimate means, the invasion of our rights ! North Carolina spoke the same language, and adopted the principles of Virginia. Even in Pennsylvania, the most peaceful, and in New York, the most loyal of the Colonies, it was resolved that all constitutional expedients should be resorted to for the defence of their civil rights ; and further that the proper means of defending those rights lay In sending delegates to a Continental Congress. It was on the 1st of June 1774, as the different belfries of Boston struck twelve, that its inhabitants witnessed the mournful spectacle of their port being closed, their custom- house shut up, and their city placed in a state of blockade. Thus arbitrarily and irrationally was the most prosperous commercial city in America reduced to a state of w^ant and o o 2 564 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1774. dependence, if not of despair ! From this time, month after month passed away, and not a sail was allowed to be im- furled in its lately cheerful and busy harbour. Not a ship was to be seen discharging its cargo on its noble wharves. The warehouses of the merchants were closed. Their mer- chandise had been rendered valueless. The cheerful voice of the sailor, and the hammer of the shipwright, were to be heard no more.' Their figures, as they scowled upon the quays, or wandered listlessly along the streets, told too plainly that their occupation was at an end. As for their fellow-citizens, they had little but sympathy to offer them. They themselves were threatened with want. The miseries of an inclement winter were at hand. • " Oh Boston ! late witli every pleasure crowned, Where Commerce triumj)hed on the favouring gales, And each pleased eye that roved in prosj^ect round Hailed thy bright spires and blessed thy opening sails ; Thy plenteous marts with rich profusion smiled, The gay throng crowded in tliy spacious streets ; From either Ind thy cheerful stores were filled, Thy ports were gladdened with unnumbered fleets ; Forests, more fair than in their native vales, Tall groves of masts, arose in beauteous pride ; The waves were whitened by the swelling sails, And plenty waited on the neighbouring tide. Alas, how changed ! the swelliug sails no more Catch the fair winds, and wanton in the sky, But hostile beaks affright the guarded shore, And pointed thunders all access deny. No more the merchant greets his promised gains ; No busy throngs obstruct the mournful way ; O'er the sad marts a glooui}'^ silence reigns. And through the streets the sons of rapine stray."* Neither were the desolating consequences of British legislation confined to the town of Boston alone. The whole Province of Massachusetts groaned under the effects of oppression and misrule. The provisions of the "Massa- chusetts Government Bill " had been carried into operation * Extract from a poem, entitlc. 401. ^T. 3G.] EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. 589 our forefathers for freedom, else they had died on the scaffold as traitors and rebels, and the period of our history, which does us the most honour, would have been deemed a rebellion against lawful authority, not a resistance sanc- tioned by all the laws of God and man," * It was to no purpose that petitions from the American merchants, and from the West India sugar-planters resident in London, were laid on the table of the House. It was to no purpose that similar appeals poured in from the great cities of Liverpool, Bristol, and Glasgow. Should the present state of affairs, they said, be permitted to continue, it must entail commercial ruin both on Great Britain and] on her Colonies. Yet the House of Com- mons, instead of taking these urgent remonstrances into full and instant consideration, contented itself with referring them to a separate committee — a " Coventry committee " — as Burke styled it — " a committee of Obli- vion." It was in vain also that Franklin, and two other American Agents in London, appealed to be heard at the Bar of the House of Commons, in order that they might be able to explain the objects and desires of their clients. Ministers, chiefly on the infa- tuated plea that the Congress was an illegal Assembly, at once opposed the application. Thus, upon a mere point of etiquette, was this rare opportunity of re- pairing the errors and misunderstandings of the past not only thrown away, but thrown away for ever. Only sixty-eight members voted that Franklin should be heard * " Rebellion ! foul dishonouring; word, Whose wrongful bliglit so oft has stained The holiest cause that tongue or sword Of mortal ever lost or gained. How many a spirit, born to bless, Hath sunk beneath the withering name, AVhom but a day's, an hour's success, . Had wafted to eternal fame ! " Lalla Rookh. 590 MEMOIES OF THE LIFE AND [1775. at tlie Bar of tlie House, in opposition to a majority of two liundred and eighteen. In the mean time, Ministers were devising other irri- tating measures, which were destined to complete the alarm and exasperation of the Colonists. They not only pro- Feb. 2. posed a vote for a large augmentation of the sea and land- forces of the mother-country — a most offensive measure since its unmistakable object was the reduction of America by force of arms — but also, in retaliation for the non- importation and non-exportation agreement adopted on the other side of the Atlantic, carried a Bill through Parliament which, calculated as it was to ruin the trade and commerce of America, was certainly a measure of excessive severity. Not only did its provisions impose a cruel restraint upon the commerce between the New England Provinces and Great Britain, Ireland and the West Indies, but it endea- voured to starve them into submission by excluding them from the privilege of fishing in the Newfoundland waters. It was during the progress of this measure through the House of Peers, that Lord Camden once more warned his Feb. 18. audience of the perils and disasters which they were provoking. So vast, he said, was the extent of America ; so inexhaustible were its internal resources ; so united were the inhabitants among themselves, and so righteous was their cause, that any attempt on the part of the mother- country to coerce her Colonies must not only end in a signal failure, but would ultimately and inevitably lead to their Independence. It w^as on this occasion that Lord Mar. 15. Sandwich — tlie notable "Jemmy Twitcher " — delivered that cruel and insolent tirade against the valour and honour of the American people, which, more than weightier wrongs, tended to confirm their undying aversion to the British Aristocracy. " Suppose," he said, "the Colonies to abound in men, of what importance is the fact? They are raw, undisciplined, and cowardly. I wish, instead of forty or fifty 2Et. 36.] REIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIED. 591 thousand of these brave fellows, they would produce at least two hundred thousand. The more the better. The easier would be the conquest. At the siege of Louisburg, Sir Peter Warren found what egregious cowards they were. Believe me, my Lords, the very sound of a cannon would send them off as fast as their feet could carry them." * Such was the language made use of by the great-great- gi*andson of that sturdy Earl, who, in the same noble cause which was now the cause of the American people, had led the storming-party at the siege of Lincoln, who had fought under the republican banner at the battles of Marston Moor and Naseby, and who had been the colleague and associate of the men who dyed the scaffold with the blood of Charles the First. But if Lord Sandwich was descended from Edward Montagu, so also was he the hneal descendant, by a generation the fewer, of the libertine Rochester. Very different from his language was that in which it was responded to by the virtuous and unsophisticated * Tlie siege of Louisburg iu 1745 — which was carried on conjoiutly by an American land-force commanded by one of their own countrymen, General William Pepperell, and a naval force commanded by Commodore, afterwards Vice Admiral, Sir Peter Warren — is kno\\'n to have been one of the most brilliant exploits performed during the last century. What authority Lord Sandwich may have had for asserting that Sir Peter found the Americans " egregious cowards," it would apparently not be very easy to ascertain. Unfortunately the British Commodore's despatch, giving an account of the capture of Lcmisburg, cannot be discovered at the Admiralty. In a subsequent despatch, however, dated in October 1745, he exj^resses his gratifi- cation at certain honours and other rewards, having been conferred by George II. upon General Pepperell and the American troops engaged on the occasion. Happily in the House of Commons their conduct was spoken of in very different language than in the House of Lords. "In that war," said Mr. Hartley in his speech on American alfairs, March 27, 1775, "they took Louisburg from the French single-handed, without any Euro])ean assistance ; as mettled an enterprise as any in our history ; an everlasting memorial of tlie zeal, courage and perseverance of the troops of New England. The men themselves dragged the cannon over a morass which had always been thought impassable, where neither horses nor oxen could go and they carried the shot iipon their backs." Parliamentary History, vol. xviii. col. 556, For the great service which General Pepperell rendered to England by the capture of Louisburg he was created a Baronet of the Kingdom of Great Britain. London Gazette, 6 to 10 August 1/45. He died at his seat, Kittcry, Maine, July 6, 1759. 592 MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE AND [1775. sons of America. "Independence of Great Britain," said the eloquent and amiable Joseph Warren * to his countrymen, " is not our aim. No ! our wish is that Great Britain and the Colonies, like the oak and the ivy, may grow and increase together. But ' if these pacific measures are ineffectual, and if it appears that the only way to safety is through fields of blood, I know you will not turn your faces from your foes, but will undauntedly press forward until tyranny is trodden under foot." | Still more heart-stirring were the words addressed by Patrick Henry to the Virginian Assembly in the old church of Richmond. " If we wish to be free," he exclaimed ; " if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending ; if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained — we must fight. I repeat it. Sir — we must fight ! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all that is left us." \ — " We feel ourselves bound to you," wrote the Committee of New York to the general Committee of South Carolina, — "by the closest ties of interest and affec- tion. We consider this season as big with American glory * This gallant soldier, descended from an early settler in Boston, was killed at the battle of Bunker's Hill, 17 June 1775, at the early age of thirty-five, whilst serving in the trenches as a volunteer. t Bancroft's Hist, of the United States, vol. vii. p. 255. J Wir-t's Life of Patrick Henry, p. 122. Third Edition. " ' Thrice is he armed that hath his quarrel just ' " exclaimed Richard Henry Lee on the same occasion. Gralmme^s Hist, of the United S'.aies, vol. iv. p. 370, note. When the gallant Israel Putnam was asked by an English officer whether he did not think that five thousand British veterans would be able to march from one end of the Continent to tlie other—" No doubt," was the reply, " if they conducted themselves properly, and paid for what they wanted ; but should they attempt it in a hostile manner the American women would knock them on the head with their ladles." Life of Israel Putnam, in Sjxtrks's American Biography, vol. vii. p. 1*54. ^T. 36.] EEIGN OF GEORGE THE THIED. 593 or American infamy ; and therefore most ardently wish you the direction and aid of that Almighty Being who presides over all." * And of the same mind also had become Benjamin Franklin. Every recent proceeding of the British Legis- lature had only too clearly shown him that prejudice and bigotry were too strong for the cause of humanity and truth. He had attended the debates in the House of Lords, as we have seen, on each occasion of Lord Chatham Introducing his conciliatory propositions, and when it was evident that the splendid eloquence of the great orator was lost upon his insensible hearers, the American had turned away in bitter disappointment and disgust. " Hereditary legislators ! " he exclaimed ; " there would be more propriety, because less hazard of mischief, in having hereditary professors of mathematics." "f These are the men, was his bitter remark, who, though apparently without sufficient intelligence to manage a herd of swine, nevertheless arrogate to themselves the right of directing the destinies of three millions of virtuous and enlightened Americans ! To James Bowdoin of Boston we also find him writing — " The eyes of all Christendom are upon us, and our honour as a people Is become a matter of the utmost consequence. If we tamely give up our rights in this conquest, a century to come will not restore us in the opinion of the world. We shall be stamped with the character of dastards, poltroons, and fools, and be despised and trampled upon, not by this haughty and insolent nation only, but by all mankind." " Believe me, dear Sir," writes Jefferson on the 29th of November, " there is not in the British Empire a man who more cordially loves a union * Moore's Diary of the American Eevolution, vol. i. p. 60. t Fraukliu's Life and Writings, vol. i. p. 504. VUU 1. Q Q o94 EEIGN OF GEOEGE THE THIRD. [1775. with Great Britain than I do. But, by the Power that made me ! I will cease to exist before I yield to a connexion on such terms as the British Parliament propose. And in this, I think, I speak the sentiments of America." * * Memoirs and Correspondence of Thomas Jefi'erson, vol. i. p. 153. APPENDIX. AD SERENISSIMUM GEORGIUM WALLI^ PRINCIPEM IN OBITUM FREDEPtlCI WALLI^ PPJNCIPIS. Spes, nuper altera, prima nunc Britannia) ! Sic Ille Yoluit summus omnium Arbiter, Potens vel ipsis imperare regibus. Qui, regna justo ponderans examine. Hie ponit apices, inde sublatos rapit : Dature seris jura quondam posteris ! Dum facilis ffitas patitur, et animus sequax Artes in omnes, disce nunc pra^ludere Sorti faturas ; disce nunc quid debeas PatrifB, quid ilia debitura sit tibi. En ! quanta sese laudis aperit area ! Persona quanta sustinenda te manet ! Desideretur ut minus tandem pater, Gentis voluptas, lieu ! brevis, longiis dolor : Hfereditatis jm'e cum sceptro ut simul Avita virtus in nepotem transeat. Tu, destinatus imperare liberis, Parere priiis assuesce ; iaofFenso pede Dum lubricas per semitam puer'tiai ; Ducens Toleutem leniter Mentor tuus, Primum esse civem, deinde principem docet s Generosum et indolem, insitamquc vim boui Cultu salubris disciplinge roborat. Procul, ! facessat ; sed tamen veniet dies, Acerba, quamvis sera ; sed aderit dies, Quando ille plenus gloriae, et vita; satur, Cailo receptus, graude depositum tibi 596 APPENDIX. Tradet tuendum : in te gemens Britannia Recumbet inclinata : tu pectus tibi Casus in omnes et virile, et regium, Ac par secundis, majus adversis, para ; Utrobique constans, et simile semper sui. Custosque juris civium, et tui tenax, Eegnare doctus ; nee sacri fastigii Oblitus unquam, nee tamen nimis memor : Ingredere cselis, auspicantibus, duce Virtute, famula sorte, comite gloria* GuLiELMus George. These once famous verses would seem to have been for the first time printed in a scarce volume, of which there is a copy in the King's Libraiy at the British Museum, entitled " Academite Cantabrigiensis Luctus in obitum Frederici celsissimi Wallise Principis, Cantab. Mense Mali MDCCLI." Dr. George's Iambics are also to be found in an edi- tion, by J. Prinsep, of the Musas Etonenses, " Londini Typis Caroli Rivington MDCCLV." The former collection consists of ninety-four copies of verses, of difiFerent metres, in the English, Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Arabic languages. The same year, Oxford, not to be out- done in loyalty by the sister University, printed a similar volume at the Clarendon Press — entitled "Epicedia Oxoniensia in obitum celsis- simi et desideratissimi Frederici Principis Wallige," also composed in different metres, and written in no fewer than the English, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Phoenician, Etruscan, Ai-abic, Syiiac and Welsh languages. Had Prince Frederick, instead of frequenting bull-baits and supping with royal midwives, held out, at the time of his death, the promise of * The edition of tlie Musse Etonenses by Prinsep, Rivington, MDCCLV., contains the following dedication : — Vivo rcvcrendo Gulielmo George S. T. P. Decano Lincoluiensi Noc non Collcgii regalis pra'posito dignissimo Etonae atque Cantabrigia?. per omnes literarum liumaniorum gradiis aUv apicTTivovTi ; liajc Etonensium suoriini carmiiia Ipsius plevaque auspiciis coudita, dat dicat dcdicat Optimo quondam pneceptori. Discipulus, devinctissinius. J. PUINSEP. APPENDIX. 597 the Black Prince or of Henry Prince of Wales— or even of Marcellus himself— his loss could not have been commemorated by more exagge- rated eulogiums. Men of the world celebrated the event in briefer, perhaps in truer elegies, than those of men of the cloister : — " Here lies Fred, "Who was alive and is dead. Had it been his father, I had much rather. Had it been his brother. Still better than another. Had it been his sister, No one would have missed her. Had it been the whole generation. Still better for the nation. But since 'tis only Fred, Who was alive and is dead, There's no more to be said." ♦ II. [The " Battle" referred to in the next letter,* was the Battle of Minden. " Lord George," of course, means Lord George Sackville, who was sub- sequently cashiered for his conduct during the action. The " Duke," who is described as " sinking " under the effect of the news, was Lord George's father, the Duke of Dorset, whom Walpole, in another of his letters at this time mentions as having been " so unhappy in his sons and loving this so much." Mrs. Leneve, Avhose death is recorded, was long an honom'ed inmate of Sir Eobert Walpole's, and aftei-wards of his son's, Horace Walpole's, house. " King of Ciistrin" refers to the raising of the siege of the fortress of tliat name, a few days previously, by Frederick the Great of Prussia ; and, lastly, the " invasion," spoken of, has reference to certain rumours, which caused considerable alarm at the time, that England was about to be invaded by a French army of fifty thousand men.] * This, ami the other letters from Walpole which follow, are now for the first time published. 598 APPENDIX. The Hon. Horace Waif oh to George Augustus Selwyn, Esq. "Strawberry Hill, Aiigiist2Q, 1759. " All I know you shall know, though I dare to say, not a jot more than you know already. Just as the Battle turned. Prince Ferdinand sent Mr. Ligonier to order Lord George to bring up all the cavalry. That message was scarce delivered, before Fitzroy came to order only the British Cavalry. Lord George said there must be a mistake, and that he would go and ask Prince Ferdinand what he really would have. The Horse were not can-ied up ; Lord George was coldly received after the Battle, Lord Granby warmly ; they all dined together, and next day came out the famous order of thanks. Lord George was enraged, sent over for leave to resign and to return, has leave : has written an expla- natory letter to the Duke of Richmond, which I have not seen, and is not come that I know. He is as much abused as ever poor Admiral Byng was, and by nobody so much as by my Lord Tyrawley. The Duchess imputes it all to malice, the Duke sinks under it. I seriously don't know a word more, nor have been in town, except a very few hours, since Mrs. Leneve's death. " The great King is reduced to be king of Ciistrin ; the King of Spain is dead ; regiments of light horse swarm as the Invasion dis- appears. This is all the Gazette knows, till General. Yorke mistakes some other defeat for a victory. Adieu ! " Yours ever. li H. W. in. The Hon. Horace Waljjole to George Augustus Selwyn, Esq. " Thursday night, 10 o'clock, [1759.] " I wrote Mr. Williams * a very ignorant letter this evening ; I just hurry a few lines to you, very little more informed, but to prepare you for some very bad Prussian news.f The day before yesterday Mr. Yorke \ had sent a victory over the Russians, the second time such a * George James Williams, the gay and witty friend both of Selwyn and Walpole, better known as " Gilly Williams." t The defeat of the King of Prussia at Kunersdorf on the 12th of August. X The Hon. Joseph Yorke, K.B., third son of Lord ClKincellor Hardwicke, was emi)loyed as Ambassador at the Hague fronr 1751 to 1780. Ho died, a Field Marshal, in 1792, having been created, in 1788, li:iron Dover. APPENDIX. 599 victory has been a defeat ! Yesterday, at past three, Lord Holdemess received a mysterious letter ; I don't know from whence ; not a word of it was told ; upon which the Stocks took it into their head that the King of Prussia was killed, and in their panic tumbled down a hundred pair of stairs. Betty * says all the Germans are in tears ; my Lady Townshend has been with Hawkins f to know if it is possible for the King of Prussia to live after his head is shot off. But here is a little comfort. General Ellison tells me that my Lord Anson, half an hour ago, received a letter from a very sensible man — his Lordship says — at Ostend, which says the action was very bloody, but not decisive, except that it appeared by the consequences that the Russians had the advan- tage, and that this account is rather a French one. Wliere the goodness or sense of this account lies, General Ellison does not tell me — I sup- pose my Lord did not tell him. Adieu ! " P.S. — The D. of D. carried a letter from his son to the King yester- day. Townshend's Advertizer." IV. Tlie Hon. Horace Waljiole to George Augustus Selwgn, Esq. "Paris, Jan. 31st, 1766. " I go step by step with the British Ambassador. He has achieved the payment of the Canada bills : I have obtained leave from Madame GeoflFrin for you to have a copy of her Picture. His Excellence has not demolished Dunkirk, but has made great progress towards it. I have * A fruiterer in St. James's Street, whose shop — in consequence of her engnging manners, her knowledge of all that was passing in the gay world, and the fund of anecdote of which she was the mistress — was long rendered the favourite resort of the witty, the high-born, and the fashionable. Her real names were Mrs. Elizabeth Nualc. Mason has 2ier[tutuated her fame in the "Heroic Epistle :'* " And patriot Betty fix her fruit-shop there," Her death took place, August P>0, 1797, at the age of sixty-seven, " at her house facing St. James's Street at the top of Park Place "; — this being tlie same street in which she had been born, and which she was accustomed to say that she had never slept out of but twace in her life ; once when she went to pay a visit to a friend in the countrv, and the second time at an Installation of the Knights of the Garter at Windsor. See Walpolcs Letters, vol. ii. p. 213 and note by Cunningluim ; GcnilcmmCs Magazine for 1797, p. 891 ; and Sehoyn Correspondence, vol. i. p. 230. t Caesar Hawkins, the eminent surgeon of the last centur}'. •> r-v, ^tl^ ur'^' n, iTHFRNl REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY AA 000 426 656 5