attend upon sovereign power. Being one day surrounded by those Ladies whose duty it was, generally, to be near the Queen, Lady Mary

launched out into high encomiums on the personal accomplishments and eminent virtues of the King. When she had finished, Her Majesty answered, with great sweetness, "I can allow you to speak highly of my friends, or of those that I love it is gratifying to my heart, and I have my own knowledge of the persons to compare with your praises, so that I shall not be likely to form a wrong judgment; but I wish, most earnestly, to request that whenever you speak to me of those whom I do not know, you would be very correct, lest I should be guilty of an injustice by forming a wrong opinion of them from your representations."

If this be compared with the celebrated reproof of King Canute to his courtiers, it will be found to display the same love of truth, the same wisdom, expressed with the softness and delicacy of an accomplished female.

Having thus prepared some of the Nobility, Her Majesty, at the King's suggestion, decided to hold a series of Drawing Rooms every year, at which the Nobility and Gentry of the country might come into personal contact with their Sovereigns; and both deemed it a fit occasion for promoting domestic manufactures. With this view, and to accomplish the great object of the Queen's wishes, it was intimated, though privately, that Her Majesty would not receive any lady at the Drawing Room, on whose character there might be any public blemish; and it was also an understanding, that no lady or gentleman should come in the same dress to any two Drawing Rooms in the same year. The beneficial effects of the last principle were soon felt by the silk weavers, embroiderers, and various other manufacturers and workmen in the kingdom; and the result of the whole arrangements soon

made the British Court the most correct and splendid Court in Europe.

Under the former reign, even while the Queen was living, the assemblies at Court were dull and uninteresting. The King and Queen, and, latterly, the King only, came into the Drawing Room, spoke to such as they knew, walked about for a few minutes, and then retired. Those who had the privilege of being admitted, came or not, as they chose, but generally for the purpose of being thought visitors at Court, which gave many a currency with the public that they could not otherwise have obtained; but at the new Court, as thus arranged, the King, or the Queen, appeared as the splendid irradiating sun of a crowded circle of planets, shining with diffused brilliancy; but, differing from the planetary system, the King and Queen made a custom of going round the circle of their visitors, speaking and saying something gracious, enlivening, or instructive, to every one, not omitting the lowest individual present. This kind, this acceptable, this judicious condescension, soon brought all the better sort of persons of the country to pay their homage at Court; and, in the end, established that fervent attachment of the people of England to his present Majesty, which, by a hundred fold, surpasses the loyalty of any former reign.

The King, in the mean time, with a truly British heart, endeavoured to make himself acquainted with the situations and characters of his subjects. It is true he did not make nocturnal perambulations in various disguises, like the highly celebrated Arabian Calif, Haroun Alraschid; but he rode out, almost daily, through the different suburbs of the Metropolis, and even further, in the dress of a private English gentleman, and attended by a single equerry. This was a practice with the King, whether residing in town or in the country, as long as

his health permitted, and from the most amiable of motives. The distresses he alleviated, the deprivations he removed, are known only to those who have since been able to trace the progress of his little journeys; but they are impressed in characters of deep thankfulness on the hearts of hundreds, and they are entered in a register where such deeds only can find admittance. Yet have these transactions, and the apparently frivolous pretences by which His Majesty obtained intercourse with many poor cottagers, in order to learn their circumstances, been satirized and held up to ridicule, by one of the most profligate and blasphemous men of the present age (g) Poet I will not call him, though he sometimes elicited sparks that were of incomparable brightness. To such representations, of such a man, I would oppose one only of the many facts that are in my possession.

The second time that the King went to Weymouth for the benefit of his health, he arrived there early in the day, and, having taken a slight refreshment, walked out alone into the neighbouring country. It appeared to be deserted of its inhabitants; but, in a remote corn-field, the King saw a poor solitary woman gleaning: he passed the fence, and went up to her, asking how she came to be so entirely alone in her employment? and whether she had not a husband or children? The poor woman answered, that her husband and children were gone to Weymouth to see the King; but, as they were in great distress, she thought it a good opportunity to try to gather something for their support. His Majesty was touched with this reply, and, after a short hesitation, said to the gleaner, "Well, as you could not go to Weymouth to see the King, the King has come to see you; and, for fear you should not know him again, he gives you his likeness." He gave the poor woman five guineas, and walked away, shining with celes

tial enjoyment. This instance of private, unostentatious benevolence, would never have been thus known to the public, but for the overflowing and loquacious gratitude of the woman who was its object.

The Queen's wishes were equally charitable and benevolent; but her opportunities were less frequent, and more liable to deception. As a female, she was compelled to distribute her benefactions, in most cases, by means of agents; and the almoners of Her Majesty's bounty to others frequently took upon themselves the merit of the assistance, because it was always given in strict charge, that the name of the benefactor should not be mentioned. It was a particular object of the Queen's attention to find some decent support for the destitute females of noble British families, that had been brought low by the fluctuations of property. The long continued pensions issued in numerous instances from the Queen's privy purse, and the asylums granted by her interference to very many such persons, will be long remembered with sentiments of the most lively gratitude.

It is easy to conceive that a young, an accomplished, and gracious female on the throne, would be assailed by innumerable presents and applications, from the various classes of persons in this enterprising nation. Some presented their literary compositions, some their proofs of imitative talent, and some their ingenious mechanical devices, hoping to draw reward or sanction from this fountain of patronage. These applications, indeed, soon became so multitudinous, and the expectations of the parties so vast, that it became necessary to lay down a general principle for such cases. It was therefore established, (and such rule was dictated by the soundest wisdom,) that the Queen would graciously receive all presents, but that no return would be made. This judicious resolution

has been acted upon invariably ever since, though it has given apparent ground to many disappointed applicants to charge the kind-hearted Queen with. unreasonable parsimony.

But the Queen had already a source of beginning uneasiness, in her domestic relations; to convince her, no doubt, that human felicity is not without powerful abatements. I grieve that I am obliged to record this; but as it led to circumstances of great public importance, even two generations afterwards, I am bound to state it with as much delicacy as the nature of the subject will allow.

The Princess Augusta, the King's sister, had a high notion of her importance as a British Princess; and she felt disposed, and did not hesitate in shewing the disposition, to look down on the sister of a German Duke, whose territories were not larger than Yorkshire. She felt, too, and grieved, as she felt it, that she was superseded in her rank, and in the King's affections, by the newly-arrived, foreigner; and her exasperation was increased by the conviction. But this imperious disdain, this improper jealousy, might have subsided, and even have disappeared in time, under the correction of sedate and deliberate judgment, had not new circumstances occurred to furnish fuel to the burning flame.

When it was known how desirous the King was for a general peace, the opposition writers of the day laboured to malign all those whom they suspected of encouraging this disposition in the Royal mind. They insinuated, that the Queen had used all her influence for that purpose, out of resentment toward the King of Prussia, whose armies had ravaged and laid waste her Brother's dominions: they asserted, that she urged the re-establishment of peace, on any terms, in order to check the rising glories of Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, the successful leader of the British armies in Germany,