[[A.D. 1835.]] Of the various changes that took place in the government from year to year we have scarcely made mention, because they would not be interesting to our readers. It is enough to know that they occurred, and, as some of them were extremely distasteful to the king, he became so ill-humored and low-spirited that it seemed almost impossible for him to rally. Lord John Russell, secretary of the home department at this time, was an object of special odium; but his majesty so thoroughly hated all of his ministers this year that when he was told he ought to give a dinner for the Ascot races, he said, "I cannot give any dinners without inviting the ministers, and I would rather see the devil than any one of them in my house." The king's ill-feeling towards his ministers would have rendered their position excessively disagreeable if they had considered themselves really _his_ ministers; but they were working, they thought, for the good of the country, and had so little regard for the intellect or judgment of William that they treated him as a cipher. Indeed, his outbursts of temper often led to the belief that he was losing what little mind he had. At one of his levees he made a disgraceful scene with Lord Torrington, a gentleman of the bed-chamber. A card {306}was handed to Torrington of somebody to be presented. He read the name, and added, "Deputy-governor." "Deputy-governor?" asked the king, angrily, "Deputy-governor of what?" "I cannot tell, your majesty," replied the gentleman, "as it is not upon the card." "Hold your tongue, sir," roughly retorted the king; "you had better go home and learn to read." This was so public an insult that Torrington ought to have resented by instantly resigning, but he probably was a daily witness to just such scenes; for the king could not bridle his temper, and lost no opportunity of showing dislike of everybody who surrounded him. He was so absurd as to admit only Tories to his private society, and no member of the Whig cabinet was ever entertained at Windsor. [[A.D. 1836.]] The Duchess of Kent came in for her share of his ill-humor at a birthday-dinner. She and Princess Victoria were invited to go to Windsor on the twelfth of August, to celebrate the queen's birthday, and to stay there until after that of the king, on the twenty-first. She sent word that she wanted to keep her own birthday on the fifteenth, at Claremont; took no notice of the queen whatever, in her reply, but said she would go to Windsor on the twentieth. This put the king in a perfect fury, but he made no reply. He was in town on the day the duchess had named for her arrival, for the purpose of assembling parliament, and having desired them not to wait dinner for him at Windsor, marched off to Kensington Palace to spy into the state of affairs there.