"O! loss of sight, of thee I most complain!*****O, dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon,Irrecoverably dark, total eclipseWithout all hope of day!O, first created Beam, and thou great Word,'Let there be light, and light was over all';Why am I thus bereaved thy prime decree?"
"O! loss of sight, of thee I most complain!
*****
*****
O, dark, dark, dark, amid the blaze of noon,Irrecoverably dark, total eclipseWithout all hope of day!O, first created Beam, and thou great Word,'Let there be light, and light was over all';Why am I thus bereaved thy prime decree?"
In 1810 the King was greatly worried by the failure of the Walcheren expedition, and the notorious "Duke and Darling" scandal that brought disgrace upon the Duke of York and resulted in his resignation of the office of Commander-in-Chief. On October 24 he was very unwell, and at the Drawing-room on the next day every one noticed his excited manner. On the 29th the Prime Minister and the Lord Chancellor visited him at Windsor, where they came to the conclusion that he was not in a fit state to discharge his kingly duties, and orders were given thatonly physicians and medical attendants should have access to the royal apartments. Then came the crowning blow in the form of the death of his youngest and favourite daughter, Amelia, on November 2. She was deeply attached to him, and placed on his finger a ring, containing a lock of her hair, enclosed under a crystal tablet and inscribed "Remember me." Even that inveterate opponent of royalty, "Peter Pindar," was touched, and commemorated the event in some of the worst lines he ever wrote.
"With all the virtues blent, and every grace,To charm the world and dignify her race,Life's taper losing fail its feeble fire,The fair Amelia, thus bespoke her sire:Faint on the bed of sickness lying,My spirit from its mansion flying,Not long the light these languid eyes will see:My friend, my father, and my King,O, wear a daughter's mournful ring,Receive the token, and 'Remember me.'"
"With all the virtues blent, and every grace,To charm the world and dignify her race,Life's taper losing fail its feeble fire,The fair Amelia, thus bespoke her sire:Faint on the bed of sickness lying,My spirit from its mansion flying,Not long the light these languid eyes will see:My friend, my father, and my King,O, wear a daughter's mournful ring,Receive the token, and 'Remember me.'"
On November 7, Sir Henry Halford, Dr. Reynolds and Dr. Baillie were called in, and, with the approval of the Queen, in spite of his Majesty's known wish, Dr. Willis was sent for. Prayers were publicly offered for his recovery, and though once or twice he was a little better, there was little or no hope of permanent improvement and on December21 Perceval introduced a Regency Bill, which became law on February 4, 1811.
Hitherto all the attacks had been of short duration, none of them continuing much beyond six months, but when deprived of his reason in 1810, he was never again in a fit state to be entrusted with the cares of sovereignty. He had made his last appearance at a social function at Windsor on the anniversary of his accession in 1810, haggard, infirm, nearly blind and almost deaf, leaning on the arm of the Queen, and speaking in the hurried, almost unintelligible manner that was an invariable sign of a forthcoming illness. On May 20, 1811, he was seen for the last time by any one outside his immediate family andentourage. "On Sunday night, May 20, our town was in a fever of excitement at the authorized report that the next day the physicians would allow his Majesty to appear in public," an inhabitant of Windsor wrote. "On that Monday morning it was said that his saddle-horse was to be got ready. This truly was no wild rumour. We crowded to the park and the castle-yard. The favourite horse was there. The venerable man, blind but steady, was soon in the saddle, as I had often seen him, a hobby groom at his side with a leading rein. He rode through the Little Park to the Great Park. The bells rang. The troops fired afeu de joie. TheKing returned to the Castle within an hour. He was never again seen without those walls."[322]
It was thought that the King could not long survive. "The general opinion is that the King will die before the 22nd inst., (the date to which Parliament was prorogued),"[323]Creevey wrote on July 12; and a fortnight later Lord Grenville expressed the same opinion when writing to Lord Auckland: "It is, I believe, certainly true that the King has taken for the last three days scarcely any food at all, and that, unless a change takes place very shortly in that respect, he cannot survive many days."[324]Lord Buckinghamshire, however, was able to state on August 13, "The King, I should suppose, is not likely to die soon, but I fear his mental recovery is hardly to be expected."[325]
According to Mrs. Papendiek, who obtained her information from "private sources," the King's malady was caused more by a loss of mental power than an aberration of intellect, and it never assumed a condition of actual insanity.[326]There was some hope in February 1811 that the King would recover, and some members of the Councilwere actually of opinion that at this time he was in full possession of his faculties, so calmly and sensibly had he spoken on various topics, and they were prepared to pronounce him restored and able to resume his power, Lord Ellenborough using the words of Pilate, "I find no fault at all in that just person." To this opinion Sir Henry Halford could not subscribe, for, knowing the cunning of mad persons, he was aware that often only the greatest vigilance could detect the existence of the delusions from which the patient suffered.
"One day when the King fancied himself surrounded by servants only, and when a medical attendant was watching unseen, he took a glass of wine and water and drank it to the healthconjugia meæ dilectissimæ Elizabethæ, meaning Lady Pembroke. Here was a delusion clearly established and noted down immediately: the use of Latin, which was not to be understood by those whom he supposedonlyto hear him, affording a singular proof of the old cunning of insanity. A few days later, Sir Henry was walking with him on the Terrace; he began talking of the Lutheran religion, of its superiority to that of the Church of England, and ended with growing so vehement that he really ranted forth its praises without mentioning that which Sir Henry believes to have beenthe real motive of this preference—the left-handed marriages allowed. He was very anxious to see whether traces of this delusion would appear again, and went to the Duke of York to ask for information as to the tenets, practices, etc., etc., of the Lutheran Church. The Duke said, "Watch him in Passion Week; if he fancies himself a Lutheran, you will see an extraordinary degree of mortification and mourning," etc., etc. When Sir Henry returned to the assembled physicians he wrote down the substance of this conversation, and without communicating it to anybody, requested those present to seal the paper and keep it in a chest where their notes and other papers of importance are kept, under locks of which each had a separate key. When the Monday in Passion Week arrived, and Sir Henry had nearly forgotten the conversation, he went into the King's dressing-room while he was at his toilet, and found the attendants in amazement at his having called for and put on black stockings, black waistcoat and breeches, and a grey coat with black buttons. It was curious to hear that his delusions assumed, like those of other madmen, the character of pride, and that a Sovereign ever fancied himself in a station more elevated than his own. He would sometimes fancy himself possessed of a supernatural power, and when angrywith any of his keepers, stamp his foot and say he would send them down into hell."[327]
It was during the lucid interval to which reference has just been made that Sir Henry Halford was deputed to broach an awkward subject to the King. George had known of the death of Princess Amelia, and every day his attendants dreaded lest he should ask questions as to her property and her will. There had been a close intimacy between the Princess and General Fitzroy—there was the rumour of a secret marriage—and the trouble was that she had left everything to him. The Queen was afraid to mention this to the King, and Perceval and the Lord Chancellor successively undertook the disclosure and shrunk from it, imposing it upon Sir Henry. "Never," said the latter subsequently, "could I forget the feelings with which, having requested some private conversation with the King, after the other physicians were gone, I was called into a window with the light falling so full on my countenance that even the poor nearly blind King could see it. I asked whether it would be agreeable to him to hear now how Princess Amelia had disposed of her little property. "Certainly, certainly, I want to know," with great eagerness. I reminded him at the beginning of his illness he had appointed Fitzroyto ride with her at Weymouth; how it was natural and proper she should leave him some token for these services; that, excepting jewels, she had nothing to leave, and had bequeathed them all to him; that the Prince of Wales, thinking jewels a very inappropriate bequest for a man, had given Fitzroy a pecuniary compensation for them (his family, by the bye, always said it was very inadequate) and had distributed slight tokens to all the attendants and friends of the Princess, giving the bulk of the jewels to Princess Mary, her most constant and kindest of nurses. Upon this the poor King exclaimed, "Quite right, just like the Prince of Wales," and no more was said."[328]
It was in the summer of 1814 that the Queen entered the King's apartment during one of these lucid intervals, and found him singing a hymn and accompanying himself on the harpsichord. When he had concluded, he knelt down and prayed aloud for his consort, for his family, for the nation, and, lastly, for himself, that it might please God to avert his heavy calamity, or, if not, give him resignation under it. Then his emotions overpowered him, he burst into tears, and his reason fled. He was never again sane.[329]
"The public bulletins which have been issued for some months past, have all stated that his Majesty's disorder remains undiminished; and we understand that it is the opinion of the medical gentlemen attending him that nothing far short of a miracle can bring about a recovery from his afflicting malady, "so runs a contemporary account. "At times, we are happy to learn, he is tolerably composed. The number of persons specially appointed by the doctors is reduced from six to two, and his principal pages are admitted, and have been for some time, to attend upon him, as when he enjoyed good health. His Majesty dines at half past one o'clock, and, in general, orders his dinners: he invariably has roast beef upon the tables on Sundays. He dresses for dinner, wears his orders, etc.
"He occupies a suite of thirteen rooms (at least, he and his attendants) which are situated on the North side of Windsor Castle, under the State rooms. Five of the thirteen rooms are wholly devoted to the personal use of the King. Dr. John Willis sleeps in the sixth room, adjoining, to be in readiness to attend his Majesty. Dr. John attends the Queen every morning after breakfast, and about half-past ten o'clock, and reports to her the state of the afflicted monarch; the Doctor, afterwards, proceeds to the Princesses, andother branches of the Royal family, who may happen to be at Windsor, and makes a similar report to them. In general the Queen returns with Dr. Willis, through the state rooms, down a private staircase, leading into the King's suite of rooms, appropriated to this special purpose. Sometimes she converses with her Royal husband. The Queen is the only person who is admitted to this peculiar privilege, except the medical gentleman, and his Majesty's personal attendants. In the case of Dr. John Willis's absence, Dr. Robert Willis, his brother, takes his place. The other medical gentlemen take it in rotation to be in close attendance upon the King.
"The suite of rooms which his Majesty and his attendants occupy, have the advantage of very pure and excellent air, being on the North side of the terrace round the Castle; and he used to occasionally walk on the terrace; but, we understand, he now declines, owing to the bad state of his eyes, not being able to enjoy the view. The Lords and Grooms of the King's Bedchamber, his Equerries and other attendants are occasionally in attendance at Windsor Castle, the same as if the King enjoyed good health. Two King's Messengers go from the Secretary of State's offices daily to Windsor, and return to London, as they have been accustomed to do for a number of years past.The messenger who arrives at noon brings a daily account of the King's health to the Prince Regent, and the Members of the Queen's Council. His Majesty has never been left since his afflicting malady, without one of the Royal Family being in the Castle, and a member of the Queen's council, appointed under the Regency Act."[330]
During his last years George III was subject to harmless and not unpleasing delusions. "The good King's mania consists in pleasant errors of the mind,"[331]said Lady Jerningham; and this statement was confirmed by Princess Elizabeth: "If anything can make us more easy under the calamity which it has pleased God to inflict on us, it is the apparent happiness that my revered father seems to feel."[332]He found much comfort in religion, and on one occasion declared, "Although I am deprived of my sight, and am shut out from the society of my beloved family, yet I can approach my Blessed Lord," and thereupon administered to himself the Sacrament.[333]Indeed, he was unhappy only when he could not have his favourite dinner of cold mutton and salad, plover's eggs, stewed peas, and cherry tart; and fearful—he whoin his senses had never known fear—only when it was proposed to shave his beard. "If it must be," he said, "I will have the battle axes called in."[334]
GEORGE III IN HIS STUDYGEORGE III IN HIS STUDY
GEORGE III IN HIS STUDY
The King loved to wander through the corridors, a venerable figure with long silvery beard, attired in a silk morning gown and ermine night cap, holding imaginary conversations with ministers long since dead, "rationally as to the discourse, but the persons supposed present"; and so pleasantly did he while away the time that sometimes his dinner was ready before he expected it. "Can it be so late?" he would ask. "Quand on s'amuse le temps vole."[335]He was fully convinced that Princess Amelia—"my poor Am"—was alive and happy at Hanover, enjoying perennial youth and beauty; and believed that he was prosecuting an amorous intrigue with Lady Pembroke, whom he often believed to be his wife, and whose absence angered him. "Is it not a strange thing, Adolphus," he said to the Duke of Cambridge, "that they still refuse to let me go to Lady Pembroke, although every one knows I am married to her; but what is worse, that infamous scoundrel Halford was at the marriage, and has now the effrontery to deny it tomy face."[336]He considers himself no longer an inhabitant of this world, and often, when he had played one of his favourite tunes, observes that he was very fond of it when he was in the world. He speaks of the Queen and all his family, and hopes they are doing well now, for he loved them very much when he was with them," Princess Elizabeth remarks, and the belief that he was dead was one of his regular delusions. "I must have a new suit of clothes, he said one day, "and I will have them black in memory of George the Third, for he was a good man."[337]
The King lived on, recognizing no one, and knowing nothing of contemporary events. Waterloo was fought and won, and Napoleon overthrown; Princess Charlotte of Wales married and died, his consort went down to her grave, and his sons and daughters contracted matrimonial alliances, yet he lived on. Indeed, his constitution was so sound that, in spite of all infirmities, his physical health continued good. "In 1818, however, he had ceased even to walk, being conveyed in his chair from his bed to another room, and placed near an old harpsichord of Queen Anne's, said not to have been tuned since her time. On this hewould play for hours, in the belief that he was making music."[338]
QUEEN CHARLOTTEFrom a portrait by H. EldridgeQUEEN CHARLOTTE
From a portrait by H. Eldridge
QUEEN CHARLOTTE
Queen Charlotte had been ailing for a long time. "The severe affliction and constant anxiety she was in was probably the cause, and from this time (1789) her Majesty's health was less uniformly good," wrote Mrs. Papendiek. "The dropsy, which had been floating in her constitution since the birth of Prince Alfred, now made its deposit, and caused her at times much suffering." She had been much upset by the King's various outbreaks of violence in 1804, and was, indeed, so alarmed that thereafter she saw little of him. "The Queen lives upon ill terms with the King. They never sleep or dine together; she persists in living entirely separate," wrote Lord Colchester; and Lord Malmesbury recorded: "The Queen will never receive the King without one of the Princesses being present; never says in reply a word. Piques herself on this discreet silence, and when in London, locks the door of her white-room—her boudoir—against him." On April 23, 1817, she was seized with a severe spasmodic attack, but with indomitable endurance she continued to hold Drawing-rooms and was present at the royal weddings that took place during the year. She was anxious to be taken to Windsor, but thestep was long delayed, and she never got further than Kew, where she died after a lingering and painful illness, on November 16, 1818.
In that year Byron wrote, "the poor good King may live to 200; he continues in good bodily health, and is perfectly happy, conversing with the dead, and sometimes relating pleasant things. They say it is a most charming illusion."[339]
Early in January, 1820, it became known that the old King was unwell, and though a reassuring bulletin was issued—"His Majesty's disorder has undergone no sensible alteration. His Majesty's bodily health has partaken some of the infirmities of age, but has been generally good during the last month"—it was still believed that he would not recover. He could not get warm, his food did not nourish him, and his frame grew more and more emaciated; but it was not until January 27, when for the first time he kept his bed, that the physicians pronounced his life in danger. Two days later death claimed him. "A few minutes before this venerable monarch expired, he extended his arms, and bade his attendants raise him up—the doctors signified to his attendants not to do so, in the supposition that the effort would extinguish life,—but upon his repeating the request, they obeyed, and he thanked them.His lips were parched, and occasionally wetted with a sponge. He, with perfect presence of mind, said: 'Do not wet my lips but when I open my mouth.' And when done he added, thank you, it does me good.'"[340]
So on January 29, 1820, died George III in the sixtieth year of his reign, and at the patriarchal age of eighty-one, unhonoured and unsung, the monarch of the greatest country that the world has yet seen, yet unenvied by the lowest of his subjects. "What preacher need moralize on this story; what words save the simplest are requisite to tell it? It is too terrible for tears." So runs Thackeray's exquisite passage on the downfall of George III, with which this work may fittingly conclude. "The thought of such misery smites me down in submission before the Ruler of kings and men, the Monarch supreme over empires and republics, the inscrutable Dispenser of Life, death, happiness, victory.... Low he lies, to whom the proudest used to kneel once, and who was cast lower than the poorest: dead, whom millions prayed for in vain. Driven off his throne, buffeted by rude hands; with his children in revolt; the darling of his old age killed before him untimely; our Lear hangs over her breathless lips and cries, 'Cordelia, Cordelia, stay a little!'
'Vex not his ghost—Oh! let him pass—he hates himThat would upon the rack of this tough worldStretch him out longer!'
'Vex not his ghost—Oh! let him pass—he hates himThat would upon the rack of this tough worldStretch him out longer!'
Hush! Strife and Quarrel, over the solemn grave! Sound, trumpets, a mournful march! Fall, dark curtain, upon his pageant, his pride, his grief, his awful tragedy!"
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O.: The Early History of Charles James Fox. 1880.---- The American Revolution. 3 vols. 1905.Twiss, Horace: The Public and Private Life of Lord Chancellor Eldon, with Selections from his Correspondence. 3 vols. 1844.Tytler, Sarah: Six Royal Ladies of the House of Hanover. 1898.Waldegrave, James, Earl: Memoirs from 1754 to 1758. 1821.Walpole, Horace: Letters. 16 vols. Edited by Mrs. Toynbee. 1905.---- Memoirs of the last Ten Years of the Reign of George II. Edited by Lord Holland. 2 vols. 1822.Walpole, Horace:[Pg 301]Memoirs of the Reign of George III. Edited by Sir Denis le Marchant, and re-edited by G. F. Russell-Barker. 4 vols. 1894.---- Journals of the Reign of George III from the year 1771 to 1783. Edited by Dr. Doran. 2 vols. 1859.---- Walpoliana. With a Biographical Sketch of Horace Walpole. 2 vols. N.D.Watkins, John: Memoirs of Sophia Charlotte, Queen of Great Britain. 2 vols. 1819.Whibley, Charles: William Pitt. 1906.Williams, Sir Charles Hanbury: Works. With Notes by Horace Walpole. 2 vols. 1822.Willis, Francis: A Treatise on Mental Derangement. Second Edition. 2 vols. 1843.Windham, William: The Diary of the Right Honourable William Windham, 1748-1810. Edited by Mrs. Baring. 1866.Withers, Philip: History of the Royal Malady, with Variety of Entertaining Anecdotes, to which are added Strictures of the Declaration of Horne Tooke, Esq., respecting "Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales," commonly called Mrs. Fitzherbert. With Interesting Remarks on a Regency. By a Page of the Presence (Philip Withers, 1789).Wolcot, John(i.e., "Peter Pindar"): Works. 5 vols. 1812.Wraxall, Sir Nathaniel: The Historical and Posthumous Memoirs. Edited by H. B. Wheatley. 5 vols. 1884.Wright, Thomas: Caricature History of the House of Hanover. London. 1867.Wynn, F. W.: Diaries of a Lady of Quality. Edited by A. Hayward. 1864.Yonge, C. D.: The Life and Administration of Robert Banks, Second Earl of Liverpool. 3 vols. 1868.
Adolphus, John: History of England from the Accession to the Decease of King George the Third. 8 vols. 1840-1845.
Aikin, John: Annals of the Reign of George the Third. 2 vols. 1820.
Albemarle, George Thomas, Earl of: Memoirs of the Earl of Rockingham and his Contemporaries. 2 vols. 1852.
Almon, John: Anecdotes and Speeches of Chatham. Sixth Edition. 1797.
---- Anecdotes of Eminent Persons. 3 vols. 1797.
Andrews, John: History of the War with America. 4 vols. 1783.
Anonymous: Anecdotes of his late Majesty George the Third. 1822.
---- The Festival of Wit. 1783.
---- An Historical Fragment relating to her late Majesty Queen Caroline. 1824.
---- Important Facts relative to George III. 1783.
---- Memoirs of his late most excellent Majesty, King George III, chiefly illustrative of his private, domestic and Christian virtues. Second Edition. 1820.
---- The New Foundling Hospital for Wit. New Edition. 1784.
---- On the Death of his late Majesty, George the Third, with interesting Anecdotes and Reflections. 1820.
---- Some Particulars of the Royal Indisposition. 1804.
---- Vanelia, or, The Amours of the Great. 1732.
Auckland, William, Baron: Journals and Correspondence. 4 vols. 1861-2.
Baines, Edward(the Elder): History of the Reign of George III. 4 vols. 1793.
Bancroft, George:[Pg 294]History of the United States. 6 vols. 1885-6.
---- History of the American Revolution. 4 vols. 1861.
Bedford, John Russell, Fourth Duke of: Correspondence. Edited by Lord John Russell. 3 vols. 1846.
Belsham, William: Memoirs of the Reign of George III. 4 vols. 1793.
Berry, Mary: Journals and Correspondence. 1783-1852. Edited by Lady Theresa Lewis. 3 vols. 1865.
Bissett, Robert: History of the Reign of George III. 7 vols. 1820.
---- Memoirs of Sir Andrew Mitchell. 2 vols. 1850.
Boswell, James: Life of Samuel Johnson. 1867.
Bright, J. Franck: History of England. Constitutional Monarchy, 1689-1839.
Brodrick, Hon. G. C., andFotheringham, J. K.: Political History of England. Vol. XI. 1801-1837. 1906.
Brougham, Henry, Lord: Historical Sketches of Statesmen who flourished in the Time of George III. 2 vols. 1839.
Buckingham and Chandos, Richard, Duke of: Memoirs of the Court and Cabinets of George the Third. From original family documents. 1853-5.
Burke, Edmund: Works and Correspondence. Edited by Lord John Russell. 3 vols. 1846.
Byron, George, Lord: Letters and Journals. 1832.
Campbell, John, Baron: Lives of the Lord Chancellors. 8 vols. 1848-1869.
Carlyle, Thomas: History of Frederick II of Prussia, called Frederick the Great. 10 vols. 1888.
Chatham, William Pitt, Earl of: Correspondence. 4 vols. 1840.
Chesterfield, Philip, Earl of: Letters. Edited, with Notes, by Lord Mahon. 5 vols. 1845.
Clarke, ——: The Georgian Era. Memoirs of Eminent Persons. 4 vols. 1832.
Cobbin, Ingram: Georgiana, or, Anecdotes of George the Third. 1820.
Coke, Lady Jane:[Pg 295]Letters to her Friend Mrs. Eyre, at Derby (1747-1758). Edited by Mrs. Ambrose Rathbone.
Colchester, Charles Abbot, Lord: Diary and Correspondence. 3 vols. 1861.
Cornwallis, Marquis: Correspondence. Edited by C. Ross. 3 vols. 1859.
Coxe, William: Memoirs of Sir Robert Walpole. 1798.
Craik, G. L., andMacfarlane, C.: Pictorial History of the Reign of George III. 4 vols. 1842.
Creevey, Thomas: The Creevey Papers. A Selection from the Correspondence and Diaries of the late Thomas Creevey, M.P. Born 1766. Died 1838. Edited by Sir Herbert Maxwell, Bart. 2 vols. 1904.
D'Arblay, Frances: Diary and Letters. With Notes by W. C. Ward, and prefaced by Lord Macaulay's Essay. 3 vols. 1890-1.
Delany, Mrs.: Autobiography and Correspondence, with Interesting Reminiscences of King George the Third and Queen Charlotte. Edited by the Right Hon. Lady Llanover. 3 vols. 1861. Second Series. 3 vols. 1862.
Dodington, George Bubb;Baron Melcombe: Diary. Edited by Henry Penruddocke Wyndham. Fourth Edition. 1809.
Doran, John: Lives of the Queens of England of the House of Hanover. 2 vols. 1855.
Doyle, J. A.: The Colonies under the House of Hanover. 1907.
Fiske, John: The American Revolution. 2 vols. 1891.
Fitzgerald, Percy: The Good Queen Charlotte. 1899.
---- The Royal Dukes and Princes of the Family of George III. A View of Court Life and Manners for Seventy Years. 1760-1830. 2 vols. 1882.
---- John Wilkes. 2 vols.
Fitzmaurice, Lord E.: Life of the Earl of Shelburne. 3 vols. 1875-6.
Fox, Charles James:[Pg 296]Memorials and Correspondence. Edited by Lord John Russell. 1853.
Franklin, Benjamin: Works. 10 vols. 1887-8.
Galt, John: George the Third, his Court and Family. New Edition. 2 vols. 1824.
George II: Letters in the original, with translation, and Messages that passed between the King, Queen, Prince and Princess of Wales on the occasion of the birth of the young Princess. 1737.
George III: The Correspondence of King George the Third with Lord North from 1768 to 1783. Edited, with an Introduction and Notes by W. Bodham Donne. 2 vols. 1867.
---- Correspondence between his Majesty, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, and Mr. Addington, on the Offer of Military Service made by his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, 1803.
---- Letters of his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and the Right Hon. William Pitt, on the Proposed Regency, 1788-9, to which is added the Declaration and Protest of the Royal Dukes against the Regency now proposed. 1810.
---- History and Proceedings of the Lords and Commons with regard to the Regency, containing all the Speeches on the proposed Regency Bill, the three reports of the Physicians, etc.
Gibbon, Edward: Autobiography and Correspondence. 2 vols. 1869.
Gifford, William: The Baviad and The Mæviad. Sixth Edition. 1800.
Gordon, William: History of the Rise of the Independence of the United States. 4 vols. 1788.
Grafton, Augustus, Third Duke of: Autobiography and Political Correspondence. Edited by Sir William Anson. 1898.
Grahame, James: History of the United States. 4 vols. 1836.
Green, J. R.:[Pg 297]History of the English People. 4 vols. 1877-80.
Green, William: Annals of George the Third. 2 vols. 1808.
Grenville Papers: Correspondence and Diaries of Richard Grenville, of Earl Temple, and of the Right Hon. George Grenville, their Friends and Contemporaries. Edited by William James Smith. 4 vols. 1852-3.
Hamilton, Lady Anne: Secret History of the Court of England from the Accession of George the Third to the Death of George the Fourth. 1832.
Harris, George: Life of Lord Hardwicke. 3 vols. 1847.
Henderson, T. F.: Frederick, Prince of Wales (Dictionary of National Biography).
Hervey, Mary Lepel, Lady: Letters. With a Memoir and Illustrative Notes. 1821.
Hervey, John, Lord: Memoirs of the Reign of George the Second from his Accession to the Death of Queen Caroline. Edited by John Wilson Croker. 2 vols. 1848.
Hitchman, Francis: Eighteenth Century Studies. 1881.
Holland, Henry, Third Lord: Posthumous Memoirs of the Whig Party. 1852.
---- Further Memoirs of the Whig Party, 1807-21. With some Miscellaneous Reminiscences. Edited by Lord Stavordale. 1905.
Holt, E.: The Public and Domestic Life of George III. 1820.
Horner, Francis: Memoirs and Correspondence. Edited by his brother, Leonard Horner. 2 vols, 1843.
Huish, Robert: Historical Gallery, 1830.
---- The Public and Private Life of George the Third. 1821.
Hunt, Leigh: The Town. St. Paul's to St. James's. 1906.
Hunt, William: Political History of England, Vol. X, 1760-1801. 1905.
Jerningham: The Jerningham Letters (1780-1843). Being excerpts from the Correspondence and Diary of the Hon. Lady Jerningham and of her daughter, Lady Bedingfield. Edited by Egerton Castle. 1869.
Jesse, John Heneage:[Pg 298]George Selwyn and his Contemporaries. New Edition. 4 vols. 1882.
---- Memoirs of the Life and Reign of King George the Third. Second Edition. 3 vols. 1867.
"Junius": Letters. Edited by John Wade. 2 vols. 1890.
King, William: Political and Literary Anecdotes of his Own Times. 2nd Edition. 1819.
Knight, Charles: Passages from a Working Life.
Lecky, W. E. H.: A History of England in The Eighteenth Century. 8 vols. 1886-90.
Lennox, Lady Sarah: The Life and Letters of Lady Sarah Lennox, 1745-1826. Edited by the Countess of Ilchester and Lord Stavordale. 2 vols. 1901.
Macaulay, Lord.Essays.
McCarthy, JustinandJustin Huntley: A History of the Four Georges and of William the Fourth. 2 vols. 1905.
Mahon, Lord: History of England, 1713-1783. 1839-54.
Malmesbury, James Harris, First Earl of: Diary and Correspondence of James Harris, First Earl of Malmesbury. Edited by his Grandson, the third Earl. 4 vols. 1844.
Massey, Right Hon. William: A History of England during the Reign of George the Third. Second Edition. 4 vols. 1865.
Minto, Lord: Life and Letters of Gilbert Elliot, First Lord Minto. Edited by the Countess of Minto. 3 vols. 1784.
Molloy, J. Fitzgerald: Court Life Below Stairs. 4 vols. 1882-3.
Nichols, John: Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century. 9 vols. 1812-5.
Nicholls, John: Recollections and Reflections, Personal and Political. 2nd Edition, 1822.
Papendiek, Mrs.: Court and Private Life in the time of Queen Charlotte; being the Journals of Mrs. Papendiek, Assistant-Keeper[Pg 299]of the Wardrobes and Reader to Her Majesty. Edited by her Granddaughter, Mrs. Vernon Delves Broughton. 2 vols. 1887.
Parkes, J.: Memoirs of Sir Philip Francis. 2 vols. 1867.
Paston, George: Little Memoirs of the Eighteenth Century. 1901.
---- Sidelights on the Georgian Period. 1902.
---- Social Caricature in the Eighteenth Century. 1905.
Phillimore, J. G.: History of England during the Reign of George III, vol. I. 1863.
Phillimore, Sir R. J.: Memoirs and Correspondence of George Lord Lyttelton. 2 vols. 1845.
Pickering, Anna Maria Wilhelmina: Memoirs. Edited by her son, Spencer Pickering. Together with Extracts from the Journals of his Father, John Spencer Stanhope. 1903.
Pierce, E.: A Concise Biographical Memoir of George III. 1820.
Rae, W. Fraser: Wilkes, Sheridan and Fox; the Opposition under George III. 1784.
---- Sheridan: A Biography. With an Introduction by Sheridan's Grandson, the Marquis of Dufferin and Ava. 2 vols. 1896.
Ray, Dr.: The Insanity of George III. ("American Journal of Insanity," 1855.)
Rose, George: Diary and Correspondence. Edited by L. V. Harcourt. 2 vols. 1860.
Rowley, William: Truth Vindicated ... with facts extracted from the Parliamentary reports, and reasons for declaring the case of a Great Personage to have been only a feverish or symptomatic delirium.
Ryves, L. J. H.: An Appeal for Royalty. 1858.
Selwyn, George: His Letters and his Life. Edited by E. S. Roscoe and Helen Clergue.
Seward, William: Anecdotes of some Distinguished Persons. 4 vols. Fourth Edition. 1798.
Sidmouth, Henry Addington, Viscount:[Pg 300]Life and Correspondence. Edited by the Hon. George Pellew. 3 vols. 1847.
Southy, Robert: Authentic Memoirs of George the Third. 1820.
Stanhope, Lord: Life of Pitt. 4 vols. 1861-2.
Stedman, C.: History of the American War. 2 vols. 1794.
Story, Joseph: The Constitution of the United States. 3 vols. 1833.
Taylor, Joseph: Relics of Royalty, or, Remarks, Anecdotes and Conversations of his late Majesty, George the Third. 1820.
Thackeray, Francis: History of the Earl of Chatham. 2 vols. 1827.
Thackeray, W. M.: The Four Georges. 1861.
Thoms, William J.: Hannah Lightfoot. Queen Charlotte and the Chevalier D'Eon. Dr. Wilmot's Polish Princess. Reprinted, with some additions, fromNotes and Queries. 1867.
Tomline, G. P.: Memoir of William Pitt. 3 vols. 3rd Edition. 1821.
Trail, H. D.(edited by): Social England. Vol. 5. 1896.
Trevelyan, Sir G. O.: The Early History of Charles James Fox. 1880.
---- The American Revolution. 3 vols. 1905.
Twiss, Horace: The Public and Private Life of Lord Chancellor Eldon, with Selections from his Correspondence. 3 vols. 1844.
Tytler, Sarah: Six Royal Ladies of the House of Hanover. 1898.
Waldegrave, James, Earl: Memoirs from 1754 to 1758. 1821.
Walpole, Horace: Letters. 16 vols. Edited by Mrs. Toynbee. 1905.
---- Memoirs of the last Ten Years of the Reign of George II. Edited by Lord Holland. 2 vols. 1822.
Walpole, Horace:[Pg 301]Memoirs of the Reign of George III. Edited by Sir Denis le Marchant, and re-edited by G. F. Russell-Barker. 4 vols. 1894.
---- Journals of the Reign of George III from the year 1771 to 1783. Edited by Dr. Doran. 2 vols. 1859.
---- Walpoliana. With a Biographical Sketch of Horace Walpole. 2 vols. N.D.
Watkins, John: Memoirs of Sophia Charlotte, Queen of Great Britain. 2 vols. 1819.
Whibley, Charles: William Pitt. 1906.
Williams, Sir Charles Hanbury: Works. With Notes by Horace Walpole. 2 vols. 1822.
Willis, Francis: A Treatise on Mental Derangement. Second Edition. 2 vols. 1843.
Windham, William: The Diary of the Right Honourable William Windham, 1748-1810. Edited by Mrs. Baring. 1866.
Withers, Philip: History of the Royal Malady, with Variety of Entertaining Anecdotes, to which are added Strictures of the Declaration of Horne Tooke, Esq., respecting "Her Royal Highness the Princess of Wales," commonly called Mrs. Fitzherbert. With Interesting Remarks on a Regency. By a Page of the Presence (Philip Withers, 1789).
Wolcot, John(i.e., "Peter Pindar"): Works. 5 vols. 1812.
Wraxall, Sir Nathaniel: The Historical and Posthumous Memoirs. Edited by H. B. Wheatley. 5 vols. 1884.
Wright, Thomas: Caricature History of the House of Hanover. London. 1867.
Wynn, F. W.: Diaries of a Lady of Quality. Edited by A. Hayward. 1864.
Yonge, C. D.: The Life and Administration of Robert Banks, Second Earl of Liverpool. 3 vols. 1868.
(Also numerous pamphlets, lampoons, etc.; the Dictionary of National Biography;Notes and Queries;The Annual Register; and reports of the Historical Manuscripts Commission, etc.)