"He lives at the castle, yonder: but he does no good for I." The king immediately gave the lad employment on his farm, and told him if he were a steady lad, "Georgy" might be a friend to him. He thus addressed a stable-boy one morning: "Well, {186}boy! What do you do? What do they pay you?" "I help in the stable, but they only give me victuals and clothes," said the lad. "Be content; I have no more," was the king's reply. He could be generous, though, on occasion; for two boys who did not know him fell on their knees one day, and asked relief, saying that their mother had been dead three days, and their father was too ill to rise from his bed of straw. The king went with them to their miserable hovel, and, finding that they had not exaggerated their distress, gave them a liberal sum of money, and then went to the castle, whence he sent a plentiful supply of food and clothing. He did more. When the sick father recovered, the boys were educated and provided for at his majesty's expense. Visiting the stable one morning, King George found the grooms disputing so loudly that his arrival was not noticed. "I don't care what you say, Robert," said one, in a very loud tone, "but everybody else agrees that the man at the Three Tuns makes the best purl in Windsor." "Purl! purl!" exclaimed the king. "What's purl, Robert?" The manner of making the beverage was explained to him, and he said, "Very good drink, no doubt; but too strong for breakfast." Five years later, George, who had such a good memory that he knew the names, numbers, and uniform of every regiment in the service, entered the stables, shortly after daylight, one morning, and asked a boy to whom he was unknown, where all the men were. "I don't know, sir, replied the lad; "but they will soon be here, for they expect the king." "Ah! oh! Then run, boy, to the Three Tuns and say that the king expects _them_;--to the Three Tuns, boy, d' ye hear? They are sure to be there, for the landlord makes the best purl in Windsor." {187} CHAPTER VI. |There was great excitement in the palace when the king entered Queen Charlotte's apartments one day, and exclaimed quite joyously, "Well, here I am, safe and well, though I have had a very narrow escape from being stabbed." He then proceeded to tell how a woman had presented him with a paper, just as he was about to enter his carriage at the gate of St. James's Palace, and as he proceeded to open it she struck at him with a knife, which pierced his clothing, but fortunately did him no injury. She was about to repeat the thrust, when a yeoman of the guard caught her arm and wrenched the knife from her grasp. She was proved to be insane in the examination which followed, and sent to an asylum; but Queen Charlotte was so alarmed for the safety of her husband that she could not bear to see him go about unattended, as he often did, and every time he went to London she watched for his return with the utmost anxiety.