Politest of epistolary Horaces, of the many sins you have to answer for, the worst is surely your deliberate attempt to blacken the character of an unoffending woman, who tried to do her duty according to her lights, and to whose fostering care we at any rate owed one George, who stands out as a shining and burning example among the four who bore the name. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 1: Wraxall's "Historical Memoirs," vol. ii. p. 46, &c.] [Footnote 2: Or Britain, as the king originally wrote it.] [Footnote 3: How admirably "Lord Fanny" hits this off, when he says, in his "Memoirs of George II.:" "The king, talking of the people who had governed this country in other times, said: 'King Charles, by his mistresses; King James, by his priests; King William, by his men; and Queen Anne, by her women--favourites. His father, he added, had been by anybody who could get at him.' And at the end of this catalogue the heir of Dettingen asks: 'And who do they say governs us now?' Sporus answers the question to himself and his own satisfaction, by quoting four lines from a current lampoon, which are handed down to posterity, and smash the small king's prestige:-- "You may strut, dapper George, but 'twill all be in vain, You govern no more than Don Philip of Spain; Then, if you would have us fall down and adore you, Lock up your fat wife, as your dad did before you." ] [Footnote 4: At the time when the "Historical Memoirs" were published, the critics fell foul of the king's remark, and denied its authenticity. But, I possess the letter in which Lord G. Sackville stated it. So the invention, be it one, rests with that nobleman, and not with my grandfather.] [Footnote 5: "Walpole's Letters," vol. ii, p. 248.] [Footnote 6: For this word I am indebted to Miss Prudence B--r--h--d, in "The New Bath Guide:" Brother Sim has turned a rake-hell; Balls and parties every day. Jenny laughs at tabernacle. Tabby Runt has gone astray. Since writing this, however, it has occurred to me that Mr. Anstey may have merely invented the word for the sake of the rhyme.] [Footnote 7: Proof that my statements are not too strong, will be found in the following works:--Letters of Lady M. W. Montagu; Junius; Gibbon's Miscellaneous Works and Memoirs; Walpole's Memoirs and Letters to Sir H. Mann; Burke's Anecdotes of the Aristocracy; Wraxall's Historical Memoirs; and a very curious German work, recently published, Chrysander's Händel, vol. ii.] [Footnote 8: For convenience of reference, I will give here, once for all, a list of the children, as I shall have to allude to some of them pretty frequently in the course of my narrative. The list is taken from the "Gentleman's Magazine," 1772:-- 1. Augusta, born July 31, 1737, O.S.; married to the Hereditary Prince of Brunswick. 2. GEORGE, born May 24, 1738, O.S.; king of Great Britain. 3. Edward, Duke of York, born March 14, 1739; died Sept. 7, 1767, at Monaco.