CHAPTER II.

Personal habits and tastes of George the Second.-His love

of punctuality.-Cause of his dislike to the Duke of Newcastle.

-His fondness for hunting.-His personal appearance.-His

social character.-His cold and phlegmatic manners.—Anec-

dote of his generosity.-Account of his last interview with Sir

R. Walpole as minister. His sensibility on that occasion.—Sin-

gular story related by Hume.-George the Second's toleration

in religion and politics. His belief in vampires.—His military

tastes.-Challenges his brother-in-law, the King of Prussia, to

single combat. Successful interference of the Prussian ambas-

sador.-George the Second's bravery at the battle of Dettingen.

-Enthusiasm of the English on the occasion.-Amusing anec-

dote. His overwhelming attachment to his German possessions.

-His general severity towards his children.-His grief for

their loss. His occasional irritability.-Strikes his grandson,

George the Third. His mistresses. His affectation of gal-

lantry in his old age.—Vast sums expended by him in defence

of Hanover. His kindness to Voltaire.-His contempt for Li-

terature and the Fine Arts.-Anecdotes.-George the Second's

love of a joke.- Characteristic anecdotes.-The King's popu-

larity in his declining years. His sudden death in 1760.—

Summary of George the Second's character.

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CAROLINE,

QUEEN OF GEORGE II.

Born in 1683.-Educated at the court of Berlin.-Her per-

sonal attractions.-Refuses the hand of the Archduke Charles.

-Her marriage to George the Second.-Seized soon after-

wards with the small-pox.-George the First's dislike of the

Princess. Dignity and decorum of the Princess as Queen.-

Her patronage of men of wit and learning. Her levees.-The

Queen patronizes Butler, Savage, and Stephen Duck.-Philoso-

phical disputation between Clarke and Leibnitz referred to the

Queen as arbitress.-Her fondness for divinity.-Promotes the

Arian doctrines. Her patronage of Dr. Clarke.-Offers him

the See of Canterbury, which he declines.-Curious interview

on the subject between Clarke and Walpole.-The Queen's

dislike of fashionable masquerades. Her uniform support of

Sir R. Walpole.-The Queen dines frequently with Sir R. Wal-

pole, at Chelsea.-Strict etiquette on these occasions.-Causes

of Walpole's great influence over the Queen's mind. The

Queen's adroit management of the King, and commanding in-

fluence over him.-Anecdote of the King and Queen.-The

King's affection for his wife.-Her toleration of his mistresses.

-Evenness of the Queen's temper.-Her conduct on the Por-

teus riot.-Generosity of the Queen. Her unostentatious

charities. Her fondness for ornamental gardening. Her

scheme of converting St. James's Park into a private garden

to the palace.-Letter from the Duke of Newcastle to Wal-

pole respecting the Queen's health. The Queen conceals the

nature of her disorder from the physicians. - Fatal conse-

quences of her concealment.-The Queen's courage and resig-

nation during her last illness.-Her death.-Her refusal to see

her son on her death-bed.-Speaker Onslow's portrait of the

Queen.-General estimate of her character.

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FREDERICK,

PRINCE OF WALES.

His birth.-Created Duke of Gloucester and Duke of Edin-

burgh. His love of drinking and gaming. - Kept by his

father at Hanover, and reluctantly recalled to England in

his twenty-second year. Created Prince of Wales. His

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attachment to the Princess-Royal of Prussia. Romantic

proposal to her mother.-Mutual dislike between George the

Second and the Prince. -The latter heads the Opposition

against Walpole and the Court. Insidious advice of Lord

Bolingbroke to the Prince. - Duchess of Marlborough offers

him the hand of her grand-daughter. Scheme defeated by

Walpole. Prince married, in 1736, to the daughter of the

Duke of Saxe-Gotha.-Proposes to apply to Parliament for an

increase of income.-King's message to him in consequence.

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His reply. Debate in the House of Commons on Pul-

teney's motion to allow the Prince 100,000l. per annum.

Walpole speaks against it.-Motion negatived. - Brutal con-

duct of the Prince on his wife's accouchement.-The Queen's

remonstrance.-Efforts of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke to effect

a reconciliation between the King and Prince.-Sir R. Wal-

pole averse to such attempts. Prince ordered to quit St.

James's. Popularity of the Prince.-His affability and con-

descension. Anecdotes. - Overtures made by the King to

the Prince, through Secker, Bishop of Oxford.-The Prince's

reply. Visits his father, after Walpole's resignation.—Chief

vices of the Prince. His respect for literature and literary

men. Specimens of his poetry in French and English. - He

is attacked with pleurisy-recovers-and suffers a relapse from

imprudently exposing himself. Particulars of his last mo-

ments. The King's grief for his son's death.-General regret

for the Prince.-Unpopularity of the "butcher" Cumberland.

Ironical elegy on the Prince. Sketch of the Prince of

Wales's character.

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AUGUSTA,

PRINCESS OF WALES.

Daughter of the Duke of Saxe-Gotha.-Born in 1709.-Mar-

ried to the Prince of Wales in her twenty-eighth year.-Nup-

tial ceremonies.

Her good conduct as a wife and mother.

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Her agony on witnessing the Prince's sudden death.

George the Second's kindness to her, and her children.-His

visit to the Princess.-Discreet behaviour and popularity of the

Princess. Her subsequent unpopularity, after the accession

of her son, George the Third, to the Throne.-Her presumed

liaison with Lord Bute.-Horace Walpole's and Wraxall's re-

marks on the subject. The Princess pays off her deceased

husband's debts. Her strength of mind. Her sudden death

in 1772.

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Page 160

WILLIAM,

DUKE OF CUMBERLAND.

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Born in 1721.-Created Duke of Cumberland in his sixth

year.-Anecdotes of his early precocity. His dislike of the

marriage state. His respect for the kingly office-His con-

tempt for his brother, Prince Frederick, and partiality for the

military profession. He exacts strict submission from his infe-

riors. Fights side by side with his father at the Battle of

Dettingen.-Appointed commander-in-chief of the British forces

in Flanders. His defeat, with the loss of ten thousand men,

at Fontenoy.-Marshal Saxe's contempt for the Duke's military

capacity. The Duke's gallantry at Fontenoy.-The Duke sent

to oppose the Pretender.- Panic in the metropolis on the

advance of the rebels to Derby.-Defeated by the Duke at

Culloden. - Ridiculous praises heaped on the Duke for his

victory. Parliament raises his allowance from 15,000l. to

40,000l. per annum.-His barbarous treatment of the rebels.

-Gains the nick-name of the "Butcher."-Singular ferocity

exhibited in his revised Mutiny Bill.-Anecdotes of his cruel

and tyrannical nature. -His personal courage.-Popular appre-

hensions of his cruelty.-His interview with Prince George,

afterwards George the Third.--His rage and vexation at not

being nominated Regent on the death of the Prince of Wales.

-Meets with a severe fall while hunting.--The King's grief

for his son's serious indisposition, occasioned by his refusal to

be bled. The Duke's remark on the subject of the Regency

Bill. Takes the command of the allied forces in Germany, in

1757.-Defeated by Marshal D'Estrées at Hastenbech.—Disas-

trous consequences of the defeat.-Popular indignation in Eng-

land at the Convention of Closter-Seven.-Recal of the Duke.

-The King's reception of him.-The Duke resigns all his

appointments. Is present at the marriage of George the Third

with the Princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and gives away the

bride. Is struck with palsy in 1760.-Attends his father's

interment in Westminster Abbey.-His death in 1765.—Sketch

of his character.

Page 171

ANNE,

PRINCESS OF ORANGE.

Eldest daughter of George the Second and Queen Caroline.

-Born in 1709.-Extract from the Suffolk Correspondence.-

Accomplishments of the Princess. Her vanity and ambition.

-Anecdote. Married in 1733 to the Prince of Orange.

His personal ugliness. His death. Lord Holderness sent

by George the Second to condole with the Princess. Her

insulting treatment of him. - Her dislike of her father, and

the cause. Her death in 1759.

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