Lord George

“ If any person, of what degree soever, high or low, shall deny or gainsay our Sovereign Lord George the Fourth of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Son and next Heir to our Sovereign Lord King George the Third, the last King, deceased, to be right Heir to the Imperial Crown of this United Kingdom, or that he ought not to enjoy the same, here is his Champion, who saith that he lieth, and is a false traitor ”

“ George looked very suspicious-like at him, and thought to himself, Now I could bet any man two gold guineas that this is the Duke of Northumberland, another enemy to our town; but I'll not be cowed by him neither, only I could have wished I had been singing another song when his Grace came into the shop.—These were the thoughts that ran through George's mind in a moment, and at length he made answer—"We reckon it a good sang, my lord, and ane o' the auldest." ”

“ George entered therein, by the virtue of our Lord it seemed that he was in a bath well at ease. Then Dacian seeing this began to assuage his ire, and to flatter him by fair words, and said to him: George, the patience of our gods is over great unto thee which hast blasphemed them, and done to them great despite, then fair, and right sweet son, I pray thee that thou return to our law and make sacrifice to the idols, and leave thy folly, and I shall enhance thee to great honor and worship. ”

“ George II. was better than this training would suggest.193 His first ambition indeed was to be a Lovelace, but his second was to be a soldier. As a soldier he had the unaffected courage of the princes of his race. George, red and angry, fighting on foot at the battle of Dettingen, is a figure that is memorable and congenial to his British subjects.
As a Lovelace he lives to this day, for his portraits are generally in the posture of a coxcomb, with his face in outline wearing an irresistible smile, only comical to the beholder now, but with which he goes smirking into the eternities. ”

“ They all knew that King George was their lawful sovereign, and every fourth of June they met in the nearest town, to shout his name and drink his health on his birth-day, and felt very loyal and very proud of their sovereign. But they had never seen this famous king, and only knew of him by hearsay.
It was after all the great man of the [Pg 234] parish, the lord of the manor, to whom their real homage was given, whom they regarded as their legitimate ruler. ”

“ When George was twenty years old his father died, and he rose up and went to the Emperor Dodyanos so that he might received the appointment, which his father had held. And he found that the emperor was setting up idols, and worshipping them, and that he was compelling all men to worship idols. And George divided all the goods, which were his among the poor and the needy, and set free his slaves, and he stood up before the emperor, and confessed our Lord Jesus Christ. ”

“ APRIL 23. SAINT GEORGE, MARTYR.
Heretics have written falsehoods in their books
about the holy man who is called George.
Now will we tell you that which is true about him, that their error may not secretly harm any one.
The holy George was in heathen days
a rich noble under the cruel emperor,
who was called Datian, in the province Cappadocia.
Then Datian bade men gather the heathen
to his devil-worship, as an insult to his Lord,
and, with many threats, frightened the people
so that they offered their sacrifices to the false gods with him. ”

“ Lord George Sackville had made the apology of Lord Loudun, whose idle conduct in America was much censured; yet where Lord George wished to have him remain, lest, on a change of commanders, he himself should be named. Pitt said, “In what hands were we?—in those of a most gracious King:” on whom he made a panegyric, and of which the least part was not his Majesty’s goodness to him since he last took the Seals. [89] How the King had listened even to him, though least in Administration—though least, he hoped to continue in it with honour: and he spoke of the great concord among the Ministers. ”

“ Surely, when the books are opened and the last log is read, when the overlooker calls our names and reads out the indictment “Lacking culture,” we may stand up manfully and answer as clearly as we can, “Lord, we had our business in great waters.”
XII
In such wise, I imagine, will George the Fourth reply. He is an admirable foil to the Most Wonderful Man on Earth. He regales you with no false sentiment; he is five feet ten in his socks, and he is clamorously indignant when you suggest that he will one day “get married.” He considers love to be “damned foolishness,” and despises “womanisers.” ”

“ Every door there was open to France. Though Lord George had excused, he could not; he would not condemn, yet he believed against Lord Loudun, who might have recovered our affairs if he had not loitered from the 9th of July to the 5th of August, inquiring whether or no the French were superior: indeed, for himself, our ill success had hurt his quiet and tainted his health. He then burst out into an Eastern panegyric. There he found Watson, Pococke, and Clive:—what astonishing success had Watson had with only three ships, which had been laid up for some time on land! ”

“ Now I [Pg 163] would not for the world say anything disrespectful of our gracious sovereign; he is not to be blamed for the errors of those who had charge of him during his minority,—he is to be commiserated rather; but you will observe that it was not a course of education calculated to enlighten a dull intellect. That he is good at heart every one knows, but his ministers also know that he is narrow-minded and obstinate.”
“We must not forget that our most gracious majesty, King George, is one of the Lord’s chosen instruments to carry out the plan of the divine mind,” said the rector. ”

“ Then Datian became fiendishly angry,
and bade seize on the sorcerer, who had there believed in God,
and bring him out of the city, and instantly behead him.
Again on the second day the wicked emperor commanded
George to be bound on a broad wheel,
and two sharp swords to be set against him,
and so to be drawn up, and shoved backwards.
Then George commended himself boldly to God;
Deus in adiutorium meum intende; domine, ad adiuuandum me festina.
'Give heed, O God, to deliver me, make haste now to help me, O Lord' [Ps. lxx. i] . ”

“ But George 3rd consonant to Lord North's averment on a quite different occasion, [1] "would have lived on bread and water," had there been no other way to redeem his pledge: and many a poor fellow who has been buffeted in the world—whom fortune has dealt unkindly by, who is more conversant with her frowns than her smiles, will, with a sigh acknowledge the value of such an active and consistent friend. ”

“ Lord George replied with great spirit and sense; and the Motion was agreed to by 259 to 92. The next day this resolution was communicated at a conference to the Lords, who agreed to it, after a severe speech from Lord Winchelsea against the new patriots. [58]
The consideration of this danger, and of the measure of bringing over foreigners, always obnoxious, at least as a precedent, was often interrupted by one of those trifling affairs with which the wisdom of this grave nation is so apt to be occupied. ”

“ George, eldest son of the Viscount Townshend, whom he succeeded in the title, afterwards Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.—A.
Our Author, who had no objection to satirical jokes, should have been more indulgent to a man whose chief offence was his success in them. A love of fun may be mischievous, but is rather a proof of levity than of sullenness, pride, or a contemptuous temper.—E.
[43] The King of Prussia melted the gold coin which we furnished for our subsidy, and recoined it with much more alloy. ”

“ Whether his councils and plans were ill-grounded, impolitic, or unwise, or whether the recovery of America was unattainable when he entered on the office, it is certain that not only ill success attended almost every one of the measures he recommended or promoted, but two disgraces [108] (unparalleled so far, that two similar never happened to any country in any one war) befell the British arms, sufficient to blast, if not demolish any Minister so unauspiciously seconded by fortune. Yet misfortune and disgrace were not entirely the causes of Lord George’s fall. ”

“ When ministers and factions awe the sovereign, their passions, not his, prescribe their conduct. Never was this truth so elucidated as in the first years of George the Third. Having no predominant passion of his own, but hypocrisy enough to seem to approve whatever his Ministers for the time being willed, almost every year of his reign wore a different stamp. It began with popularity under Lord239 Bute, but veered as suddenly to Majesty at home. Lord Chatham, had he had time, would have dictated to Europe. ”

“ The whole civilized world was filled with his fame. His course of policy had made England stronger than she had ever been since the death of the younger Pitt. Even King George could not venture to believe in the possibility of passing him over, and King George's chief objection to him was found in the fact that Canning was in favor of the Catholic claims. George thought the matter over a few days, consulted Lord Eldon and other advisers, and found that nobody could inspire him with any real hope of being able to form an enduring Ministry without Canning. ”

“ There is a life for you! You get up at nine; play with Raton your dog till twelve, in your dressing-gown; then creep down to White's; are five hours at table; sleep till supper-time; and then make two wretches carry you in a sedan-chair, with three pints of claret in you, three miles for a shilling.” Occasionally, instead of sleeping at White's, George went down and snoozed in the House of Commons by the side of Lord North. He represented Gloucester for many years, and had a borough of his own, Ludgershall, for which, when he was too lazy to contest Gloucester, he sat himself. ”

“ Lord Mar was a man of much courage and some capacity. He had held high office under Queen Anne. One of the biographers of that period describes Mar as a devoted adherent of the Stuarts. His career is indeed a fair illustration of the sort of thing which then sometimes passed for devoted adherence to a cause. When King George reached England he dismissed Mar from office, suspecting him of sympathy with the Jacobite movement. ”

“ Sir George Lee, Knight, Doctor of Laws, Dean of the Arches, Judge of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, member of Parliament for Launceston, in Cornwall, and one of his Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council.
Sir George Lee was the fifth son of Sir Thomas Lee, of Hartwell, in Buckinghamshire, Bart., by Alice, daughter and heir of Mr. Hopkins, of London, merchant; and youngest brother to the late Lord Chief Justice Lee. ”

“ This was the third death within twelve months that happened to aggrandize Lord Bute. The decease of his uncle, the Duke of Argyle,46 left Scotland open to his power; and that of the late King put the Crown itself into his hands. The estate of his father-in-law was all he37 was qualified to enjoy. What could be expected from a boy47 locked up from the converse of mankind, governed by a mother still more retired, who was under the influence of a man that had passed his life in solitude, and was too haughty to admit to his familiarity but half a dozen silly authors and flatterers? ”

“ The name of his lordship was always to be found among those who supported the people's rights. His virtues and his talents placed him at the head of civil and religious liberty; he advocated every measure, both in and out of parliament, which had for its object the welfare of man,—of the meanest peasant as well as of the greatest lord. ”

“ Thou had'st to answer for the baseness of that thought to the King of Kings, George, when thou wentest forth—alone, no subject, courtier, friend, wife, or child to do thee service, journeying—not en prince George, no, not en prince! but as a naked soul to God. Thou said'st to me: "Get thee gone, John York, where I shall no more see thee." And when I returned: "Would'st thou have me leave thy country, sir?" thou answered'st, "Blow thy quarrelsome soul to the stars where my farthest bugle cries." ”

“ Afterwards he had, undoubtedly, confidence in none of his Ministers; which according with his extreme indolence and indifference to all men, his Ministers found little obstruction to their views from the closet, till the greater indolence of the Duke of Grafton and Lord North taught his Majesty to act on his own judgment, assisted by the secret junto of the creatures of Lord Bute. The sensible disgrace that fell on the Crown from so frequent a change of Ministries, had, at last, alarmed the King, and made a lasting impression. ”

“ He had great experience in business, and was eminently adroit and persuasive; qualities to which he owed his nomination to this difficult post. Formerly he had been private secretary to the Duc de Richelieu, through whose interest he was employed on a mission to George the Second in Hanover in 1754. Flassan, Hist. de la Diplomatic Française, vol. vi. p. 388. See more respecting him in Mr. Stanley’s Correspondence in the Appendix to the Life of Lord Chatham.—E.
93 Memoirs of George the Second, vol. ”

“ George meanwhile, with his hat on one side, his elbows squared, and his swaggering martial air, made for Bedford Row, and stalked into the attorney's offices as if he was lord of every pale-faced clerk who was scribbling there. He ordered somebody to inform Mr. Higgs that Captain Osborne was waiting, in a fierce and patronizing way, as if the pekin of an attorney, who had thrice his brains, fifty times his money, and a thousand times his experience, was a wretched underling who should instantly leave all his business in life to attend on the Captain's pleasure. ”