This work is intended to comprise Memoirs of the most eminent
characters who have flourished in Great Britain during the reigns
of the four Georges: the present volume being only a fourth of its
extent, and containing the Royal Family, the Pretenders and their
adherents, churchmen, dissenters, and statesmen. The importance of the
chosen period is prefatorily urged by the editor: "In comparison with
the Elizabethan or the Modern Augustan, (as the reign of Anne has been
designated) that which may be appropriately termed the Georgian Era,
possesses a paramount claim to notice; for not only has it been
equally fertile in conspicuous characters, and more prolific of great
events, but its influence is actually felt by the existing community
of Great Britain."
The several memoirs, so far as a cursory glance enables us to judge,
are edited with great care. Their uniformity of plan is very superior
to hastily compiled biographies. Each memoir contains the life
and labours of its subject, in the smallest space consistent with
perspicuity; the dryness of names, dates, and plain facts being
admirably relieved by characteristic anecdotes of the party, and a
brief but judicious summary of character by the editor. In the latter
consists the original value of the work. The reader need not, however,
take this summary "for granted:" he is in possession of the main facts
from which the editor has drawn his estimate, and he may, in like
manner, "weigh and consider," and draw his own inference. The
anecdotes, to borrow a phrase from Addison, are the "sweetmeats" of
the book, but the caution with which they are admitted, adds to their
worth. The running reader may say that much of this portion is not
entirely new to him: granted; but it would be unwise to reject an
anecdote for its popularity; as Addison thought of "Chevy Chase," its
commonness is its worth. But, it should be added, that such anecdotes
are not told in the circumlocutory style of gossip, nor nipt in the
bud by undeveloped brevity. We have Selden's pennyworth of spirit
without the glass of water: the quintessence of condensation, which,
we are told, is the result of time and experience, which rejects what
is no longer essential. Here circumspection was necessary, and it has
been well exercised. The anecdotes are not merely amusing but useful,
since only when placed in juxtaposition with a man's whole life, can
such records be of service in appreciating his character.
Let us turn to the volume for a few examples, and take George the
Fourth and Sheridan, for their contemporary interest; though the
earlier characters are equally attractive. In the former the reader
may better compare the editor's inference with his own impression.
_GEORGE THE FOURTH_.
"Endowed by nature with remarkably handsome features, and a form so
finely proportioned, that at one period of his life it was deemed
almost the best model of manly beauty in existence, George the Fourth,
during the early part of his manhood, eclipsed the whole of his gay
associates in fashion and gallantry, as much by personal attractions,
as pre-eminence in birth. Byron describes him as having possessed
"fascination in his very bow;" and it is said, that a young peeress,
on hearing of the prince's attentions to one of her fair friends,
exclaimed, "I sincerely hope that it may not be my turn next, for to
repel him is impossible." Towards the middle period of his life, he
became so enormously fat, that four life-guardsmen could not, without
difficulty, lift him on horseback; but, as he advanced in years,
although still corpulent, his inconvenient obesity gradually
diminished.
"He scarcely ever forgot an injury, an affront, or a marked opposition
to his personal wishes. The cordiality which had previously subsisted
between his majesty and Prince Leopold, entirely ceased, when the
latter volunteered a visit to Queen Caroline on her return to this
country, in 1820: Brougham and Dentrum, for the zeal with which they
had advocated the cause of their royal client, were, during a long
period, deemed unworthy of those legal honours to which their high
talents and long standing at the bar, justly entitled them: and Sir
Robert Wilson was arbitrarily dismissed from the service, for his
interference at her majesty's funeral. On account of his unpopular
reception, by the mob, when he accompanied the allied sovereigns to
Guildhall, in 1814, he never afterwards honoured the city with his
presence; and when Rossini rudely declined the repetition of a piece
of music, in which the king had taken a conspicuous part, at a court
concert, his majesty turned his back on the composer, to whose works,
from that moment, he displayed the most unequivocal dislike. But, on
the other hand, some cases have been recorded, in which his conduct
was unquestionably tolerant and forgiving. He allowed Canning, an
avowed supporter of the queen, to retain office, without taking any
part in the ministerial proceedings against her majesty; and at the
last stage of his earthly career, sent the Duke of Sussex, with whom
he had long been at variance, his own ribbon of the order of St.
Patrick, with an assurance of his most sincere affection. Erskine,
while attorney-general to the prince, had so offended his royal
highness, by accepting a retainer from Paine, on a prosecution being
instituted against the latter for publishing the Rights of Man, that
his immediate resignation was required. But, sometime afterwards,
Erskine was desired to attend at Carlton house, where the prince
received him with great cordiality, and, after avowing his conviction
that, 'in the instance that had separated them, his learned and
eloquent friend had acted from the purest motives, he wished to give
publicity to his present opinion on the subject, by appointing Mr.
Erskine his chancellor.' On one occasion, at the opening of a session
of parliament by George the Third in person, his royal highness, who
was then very much in debt, having gone down to the house of lords
in a superb military uniform with diamond epaulettes, Major Doyle
subsequently remarked to him, that his equipage had been much noticed
by the mob. 'One fellow,' added the major, 'prodigiously admired, what
he termed 'the fine things which the prince had upon his shoulders.'
'Mighty fine, indeed,' replied another; 'but, mind me, they'll soon be
_upon our shoulders_, for all that.' 'Ah, you rogue!' exclaimed the
prince, laughing, 'that's a hit of your own, I am convinced:--but,
come, take some wine.'
"He had some inclination for scientific pursuits, and highly respected
those who were eminent for mechanical inventions. He contributed
largely towards the erection of a monument to the memory of Watt. Of
his medical information, slight as it undoubtedly was, he is said
to have been particularly proud. Carpue had demonstrated to him the
general anatomy of the human body, in his younger days; and for a
number of years, the ingenious Weiss submitted to his inspection all
the new surgical instruments, in one of which the king suggested some
valuable improvements.
"His talents were, undoubtedly, above the level of mediocrity: they
have, however, been greatly overrated, on the supposition that several
powerfully written documents, put forth under his name, but composed
by some of his more highly-gifted friends, were his own productions.
His style was, in fact, much beneath his station: it was inelegant,
destitute of force, and even occasionally incorrect. He read his
speeches well, but not excellently: he possessed no eloquence,
although, as a convivial orator, he is said to have been rather
successful.
"At one time, while an associate of Sheridan, Erskine, Fox, &c., he
affected, in conversation, to be brilliant, and so far succeeded,
as to colloquial liveliness, that during their festive intercourse,
according to the witty barrister's own admission, 'he fairly kept up
at saddle-skirts' even with Curran. Notwithstanding this compliment,
his pretensions to wit appear to have been but slender; the best
sayings attributed to him being a set of middling puns, of which the
following is a favourable selection:--When Langdale's distillery was
plundered, during the riots of 1780, he asked why the proprietor had
not defended his property. 'He did not possess the means to do so,'
was the reply. 'Not the means of defence!' exclaimed the prince,
'and he a brewer--a man who has been all his life at _cart_ and
_tierce_!--Sheridan having told him that Fox had _cooed_ in vain to
Miss Pulteney, the prince replied, 'that his friend's attempt on the
lady's heart was a _coup maoquè_.'--He once quoted from Suetonius, the
words, '_Jure_ caesus videtur,' to prove, jestingly, that trial
by jury was as old as the time of the first Caesar.--A newspaper
panegyric on Fox, apparently from the pen of Dr. Parr, having been
presented to his royal highness, he said that it reminded him of
Machiavel's epitaph, 'Tanto nomini nullum _Par_ eulogium.'--A cavalry
officer, at a court ball, hammered the floor with his heels so loudly,
that the prince observed, 'If the war between the mother country and
her colonies had not terminated, he might have been sent to America as
a republication of the _stamp_ act.'--While his regiment was in daily
expectation of receiving orders for Ireland, some one told him, that
country quarters in the sister kingdom were so filthy, that the rich
uniforms of his corps would soon be lamentably soiled: 'Let the men
act as dragoons, then,' said his royal highness, 'and _scour the
country_.' When Horne Tooke, on being committed to prison for treason,
proposed, while in jail, to give a series of dinners to his friends,
the prince remarked, that 'as an inmate of Newgate, he would act more
consistently by establishing a _Ketch_-club.'--Michael Kelly having
turned wine-merchant, the prince rather facetiously said, 'that Mick
_imported_ his music, and _composed_ his wine!'"
We reluctantly break off here till next week.
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