nothing. The substance of it was, an assurance that in paternal solicitude for the welfare of the nation, and an increasing attention to the public interest, the King would follow the great example of his father; peace with foreign powers; economy in the estimates, but no reduction in the army; a generous assurance (but broken on the very first occasion) that the regal dignity should be supported without addition to the burdens of the people; confidence restored throughout the country by the vigilance of the magistrates and the firmness of the House; a determination to maintain the public peace and tranquillity; the pressure of distress unhappily aggravated, and the period of relief deferred, by turbulence and intimidation; but not a word respecting the reduction of taxation, or the erasure of a few human leeches from the Pension List; a spirit of loyalty (to be found only in the heads of the ministers and the conceit of the Monarch); submission to the laws, and attachment to the constitution inculcated; and the concluding hope expressed, that the misguided might be brought to see the error of their ways. On this occasion a new throne was erected in the House of Lords, according to the old political principle-a new king a new throne; and other improvements were made in that edifice. His Majesty was dressed in purple, embroidered with gold; and looked in good spirits, but not in good health. His first levee was held on the 10th of May, and was attended by one thousand eight hundred persons. On the 6th of June following, an act was passed for the support of his Majesty's dignity; and in a short time afterwards the Gazette announced a commission for hearing and determining claims for suit and service at the approaching coronation. The announcement of this event gave an immediate and important stimulus to trade. Great preparations were made in Westminster Abbey, from which strangers began to be excluded even during divine service. On the 12th of July, the coronation was postponed by proclamation, no ostensible cause being given, but the existing one soon displayed itself in the person of the Queen of England. No definitive day was fixed for the performance of the ceremony; and it was a question, whether, under the then existing circumstances, it would take place at all.

In a previous part of this work, we have had the unpleasant

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task imposed upon us of frequently alluding to the debts of the late King when Prince of Wales, and also to the loans which he obtained from several foreign Princes. At the time of his succession to the crown, many of these loans were still unliquidated, particularly that which had been obtained from the Duke of Orleans, the father of the present King of the French. This loan amounted to several millions of livres, the interest of which even had not been regularly paid; but considering that the circumstance of a King of England being in debt to a foreign Prince might form rather a curious subject for future historians, it was judged politic to liquidate the debt of the Duke of Orleans, and accordingly it was one of the first acts which George IV. performed after his accession to the throne. We have reason to know that some other obligations given when Prince of Wales were also cancelled; but no trace is existing of any part of those debts being liquidated which were known under the title of the foreign bonds, and which George IV., when Prince of Wales, bound himself to pay on his accession to the throne.

Six months had scarcely elapsed from the demise of George III., before another death occurred in the royal family, in the person of the Duchess of York. She had lived for some time in a state of separation from her husband, but they always entertained for each other a gentle regard; their mutual attentions were marked by kindness and politeness, which grew up into something strongly resembling affection as her illness increased. The Duke was present at her last moments. The illness which death relieved had been of long and painful continuance. Her life was chiefly passed in retirement. Her Royal Highness was amiable, agreeable, and of unbounded charity. The poor, and sick, and aged blessed her for support, relief, and comfort, while their children owed to her the establishment of useful endowments for their education. She was merciful to the beast, almost bordering on eccentricity. The tameness and plenty of game, and the number of wild creatures on the demesne of Oatlands, became proverbial. To the canine species she was particularly attached, her apartments resembling a dog-kennel, rather than the abode of a British Prin

cess.

She was supposed to have the least foot of any female

in England. She was a great favourite of George III. as well as of the late King; and it was at a ball at Oatlands, in the year 1812, that the Prince of Wales sprained his ankle in dancing with his daughter the Princess Charlotte. Another and a different change in the royal family occurred at the latter end of this year, a Princess being born to the Duke of Clarence. At his Majesty's desire she received the name of Elizabeth, but her life was only of three months duration.

The actors in the forthcoming tragedy of the Milan Commission were now nearly perfect in their parts, and they hastened back to England to rehearse them before the King in person. Orders were immediately issued to prepare the necessary machinery, as no doubt was now entertained that materials sufficient had been collected to bring about the much-desired catastrophe.

In regard to the Princess of Wales herself, she was placed in a state of the greatest embarrassment. By the demise of George III. she became, by marriage, the Queen-Consort of England, and was accordingly invested with all the rights and privileges attached to that exalted station. But whether she would ever have claimed them, or whether she would have renounced that mode of life to which she had so long accustomed herself, appears to be uncertain; and had it not been for indignities and affronts which she conceived were offered to her, and to which she could not conscientiously submit, without compromising her dignity as Queen of one of the first kingdoms of the world, and her general character as a female, it is perhaps probable that she would have remained in a state of comparative obscurity, nor again have entered into the presence of those individuals by whom she conceived herself to be so openly insulted and degraded. At the death, however, of George III., measures inimical to her peace were immediately adopted with vigour and promptitude, and a longer residence on the Continent was impossible.

A few days after the death of George III.. Mr. Brougham despatched Mr. Sicard with the intelligence to the Princess of Wales, and with directions as to the conduct it would be proper for her to manifest. Public anxiety, as to the nature of such advice, and the conduct she would adopt, now began