William IV. could not comprehend etiquette, and appeared at the House of Lords without his crown, because he found it less irksome when carried in the hands of Lord Hastings than on his own head. He wanted to take the King of Wurtemberg, who was visiting England, in his coach with him, but that was beyond all precedent, and could not be allowed; however, nobody could prevent his sitting backwards in his private carriage, or making any man who accompanied him sit by his side instead of opposite. After the session at the House of Lords, William drove all over town in an open barouche with the queen, Princess Augusta, and the King of Wurtemberg; but that was not the worst of it: he actually stopped at a hotel to set down his guest, and that was a sample of simplicity and good-nature never before witnessed in a sovereign of England. He had immense dinners every day at the palace, often inviting the same people three or four times hand-running. At eleven o'clock he dismissed his guests thus: "Now, ladies and gentlemen, I wish you a good-night. I will not detain you any longer from your amusements, and shall go myself to bed; so come along, my queen." One of the reviews made by his majesty was succeeded by a breakfast at Apsley House, the home of the Duke of Wellington, about fifty members of the council and foreign ministers being present, and that same evening he sat at a state dinner between the King of Wurtemberg and the {287} [Illustration: 0293] {289}duke. When his health was drunk, he returned thanks briefly, saying that he should give a toast by-and-by. So after a while he sent a message to his band to play the merriest waltz they could, and as soon as he was obeyed, he gave "The Queen of Wurtemberg," and praised her tremendously. He next ordered them to play "See the Conquering Hero Comes;" then he rose and said he had been so short a time on the throne that he did not know whether etiquette required him to speak sitting or standing; but he wished to propose the health of the Duke of Wellington, whom he compared with the Duke of Marlborough, and, after making a long speech, concluded by declaring that he gave him his fullest confidence, and should continue to do so as long as he remained upon the throne. While King William was keeping himself busy with dinners, drives, reviews, breakfasts, etc., Paris was in a state of siege, and no end of reports--some true, some false--were constantly arriving in England, where the result was watched with the greatest anxiety. Three days brought the French Revolution to a climax, and established the Duke of Orleans--Louis Philippe--on the throne. But it did not tranquillize Europe; for there was every prospect of a general war, and much alarm was felt in England in consequence. The First Napoleon said that a revolution in France was a revolution of Europe; and so it proved, for there was fighting in all the principal towns before peace was really established.