A History of the Four Georges, Volume IIMcCarthy, Justin
History
A History of the Four Georges, Volume II
McCarthy, Justin
Great Britain -- History -- 1714-1837; Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1714-1837
Walpole, however, was for strengthening himself after the old fashion.
He was determined to put the King into the hands of some woman who
would play into the hands of the minister. The Duke of Grafton and the
Duke of Newcastle tried to persuade Walpole to make use of the
influence of the Princess Emily. They insisted that she was sure to
succeed to the management of the King, but that if Walpole approached
her at once he might easily make her believe that she owed it all to
him, and that she might thus be induced to stand by him and to assist
him. Walpole would have nothing of the kind. He only believed in the
ruling power of a mistress now that the {126} Queen was gone. He gave
his opinions in his blunt, characteristic way. He meant, he said, to
bring over Madame de Walmoden, and would have nothing to do with "the
girls." "I was for the wife against the mistress, but I will be for
the mistress against the daughters." Accordingly he earnestly advised
the King not to fret any longer with a vain sorrow, but to try to
distract himself from grief, and urged him, for this purpose, to send
over at once to Hanover for Madame Walmoden. Walpole's way of talking
to the young princesses would seem absolutely beyond belief if we did
not know that the reports of it are true. He told the princesses that
they must try to divert their father's melancholy by bringing women
round him; he talked of Madame Walmoden, and repeated to them what he
had said to Lord Hervey, that, though he had been for the Queen against
Lady Suffolk and every other woman, yet now he would be for Madame
Walmoden, and advised them in the mean time to bring Lady Deloraine, a
former mistress, to her father, adding with brutal indecency that
"people must wear old gloves until they get new ones." He offended and
disgusted the Princesses Caroline and Emily, and they hated him forever
after. Walpole did not much care. He was not thinking much about "the
girls," as he called them. He believed he saw his way.
{127} CHAPTER XXX.
THE WESLEYAN MOVEMENT.
[Sidenote: 1738--John Wesley]
In 1738 John Wesley returned to London from Georgia, in British North
America. He had been absent more than two years. He had gone to
Georgia to propagate the faith to which he was devoted; to convert the
native Indians and to regenerate the British colonists. He did not
accomplish much in either way. The colonists preferred to live their
careless, joyous, often dissolute lives, and the stern spirit of Wesley
had no charm for them. The Indians refused to be Christianized; one
chief giving as his reason for the refusal a melancholy fact which has
kept others as well as him from conversion to the true faith. He said
he did not want to become a Christian because the Christians in
Savannah got drunk, told lies, and beat men and women. Wesley had,
before leaving England, founded a small religious brotherhood, and on
his return he at once set to work to strengthen and enlarge it.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account