WITH CORROBORATIVE AUTHORITIES, DRAWN FROM THE SECRET ARCHIVES OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM. New York: PUBLISHED BY THE LITERARY AND ART PUBLISHING COMPANY, 806 BROADWAY. 1875. w PREFACE. AMERICANS, in the contemplation of royalty, are led into the estimate of kingly character as presented to them through the medium of political history, and generally written by sympathizers of royalty, and often under its direct influence. The sacred precincts of the palace are rarely invaded by the vulgar, and the secret misdoings there are carefully screened by the satellites who cater to the sensual pastimes of a king. We think the time has now arrived when royalty should be exhibited as it is, in all its deformity. The world moves, and the times demonstrate that man and government can do without a king, especially such a one as he whose character is portrayed in these pages; that man is capable of governing himself; that the monarchical system is on its decline. During the late civil war in the United States we heard repeatedly, and in many forms of expression, from monarchical Europe that the experiment of the republican form of government had failed, that the Great Republic had exploded, and it was so exultingly announced on the floor of the English Parliament; and the various Governments of Europe acted upon this belief, and conducted their policy regarding the United States accordingly. But how egregiously they were mis. taken, the haste with which imperial Napoleon left Mexico to save the ignominy of being driven out after the "Great Republic" hinted he had better leave, and how readily monarchical England paid over the fifteen millions of dollars on account of her spoliation on republican commerce on demand, testify. A common man may have vices or virtues, and these may be hidden, and when he dies all the good and evil of his moral character will find oblivion in the grave; not so with a king, for the effect of his accidental existence lives after him, and is, for good or bad, the property of the historian. In illustration of this we have, therefore, seized upon the private character of George the Fourth, as it is public historical property, and we shall endeavor to work what good we can out of it for the benefit of our fellow man and in the interest of the REPUBLICAN FORM OF GOVERNMENT; and perchance, though not expected, our writing may fall beneath the royal eye of some European prince-perhaps the present heir to that throne once occupied by the subject of these memoirs-and remind him that his transient life, be it virtuous or sinful, will live after him; and never mind how dark he thinks he keeps his secret vices, they will be shown up in all their hideousness by some future historian, as we now do those of his defunct titular namesake's. A king is, in the truest sense of the word, a public man; not only so to his own people but to the world at large-for his "foreign policy" affects the remotest nations of the earth, and we have a right to examine and record his existence and its results as affecting our republican interests as we judge proper for the good of our fellow citizens. The chronicles of England exemplify the fact that the tone of the people's mind ever harmonized with the character of the ruling monarch. The vigorous character of Elizabeth formed the minds of her subjects to earnest actions, while Charles II, by audacious profligacy, transplanted almost every foreign vice into his country; and if England to-day enjoys the purest Court she ever possessed, it is the reflex of the beautiful life and character of her pure and virtuous monarch. J. B. CONTENTS. Introductory. Birth of George III. How George II regarded the marriage rite. Han- nah Lightfoot. George III and a strange mystery. Secret history suppressed. Private theatricals at Holland House. Marriage of George III. Bacchanalian Birtn of George IV. The Stamp Act. Invested with the title Prince of Wales. Bap- tism. His skill as a youthful musical amateur. First failure in love making. Two future Kings of England arrested in disguise. The beautiful maid of Honor. Mrs. Robinson, the actress. The sylvan beauty of Richmond's groves. The Perdita and Florizel romance. The Oxford students. The flower girl. The Prince attains his majority. Introduced to the House of Peers, November 11, 1783. Burke, Fox, and Sheridan the great triumvirate. Festive wit. A beautiful meteor in the social sky. The English nation tired of the American War. Mrs. Billington the celebrated singer. Questionable associates. Dealings with money lenders. Love letter to the Duchess of Devonshire. The contested Westminster Mrs. Fitzherbert. Her history. Desperate love of the Prince. Her departure for Holland. Their marriage. MARY ANNE FITZHERBERT THE LEGal wedded WIFE OF THE PRINCE OF WALES. The mysterious sealed box in Coutt's bank. Generosity of the Prince. His enormous debts. Loan of the Duke of Orleans. First illness of George III. The Regency Bill. The Prince of Wales initiated into the mysteries of Freemasonry. Amateur theatricals at Richmond House. Old An unnatural Mother. Titled ladies as gamesters. The Breakfast. A Prince's opinion of female virtue. Brilliant Court at Carlton Palace. The Pavilion at Brighton. Bon mot of Sheridan. The famous horse "Escape" of the Prince. Fraud at the gaming table. Secret agents. Marriage of the Duke of York. The Post Obit Bonds. Royal swind- lers. The mysterious wreck. Anecdotes of the servants of Carlton House. The influence of the Press. Jeffery's negotiations for the marriage jewels. Birth of Princess Charlotte. A separation proposed of the Prince from Caroline. The history of M'Mahon, the infamous panderer. The Royal Marriage Act. George III paid the Prince of Hesse Cassel for the Hessians to put down Brother Jonathan. Accession of Fox to ministerial power in 1806. Innocence secking |