Memoirs of the Court of George IV. 1820-1830 (Vol 1): From the Original Family DocumentsBuckingham and Chandos, Richard Plantagenet Temple Nugent Brydges Chandos Grenville, Duke of
History
Memoirs of the Court of George IV. 1820-1830 (Vol 1): From the Original Family Documents
Buckingham and Chandos, Richard Plantagenet Temple Nugent Brydges Chandos Grenville, Duke of
Great Britain -- History -- George IV, 1820-1830
The King's intention to visit the northern portion of his kingdom, made
there as great a stir as had been created by his previous one to
Ireland. Sir Walter Scott was at the time in Edinburgh, and took a
prominent part in the preparations that were making in the Scottish
capital to receive its Sovereign, and on the royal yacht coming to
anchor in Leith Roads, he was the first Scotsman to venture on board,
on a very rainy day (August 15th), to present his Majesty with a St.
Andrew's Cross in silver, from the ladies of "Auld Reekie." The King,
much gratified, invited the novelist to drink his health in a bumper of
whisky, which having done, the latter requested permission to keep the
glass as a relic to hand down to his posterity. This having graciously
been granted, he put it very carefully in his pocket, and took his
leave. On returning home, he found Crabbe the poet, who had just
arrived from his English home, to pay a long promised visit; and Sir
Walter was so earnest in welcoming his guest, that the precious relic
was forgotten, till sitting down suddenly he crushed it to atoms, not
without inflicting on himself a severe scratch from the sharp
fragments.[91]
[91] Lockhart's "Life," vol. v. p. 195.
The King delighted his Scottish subjects by wearing the Highland garb,
in which he was very carefully dressed by the Laird of Garth, but the
pride of the Macgregors and Glengarries who thronged around the royal
person, suffered a serious blow when a London alderman entered the
circle clothed in a suit of the same tartan. The portly figure and
civic dignity of Sir William Curtis gave to the costume too much the
appearance of a burlesque to pass unnoticed either by the Sovereign or
his loyal admirers, and it was some time before they recovered their
gravity. On the 24th, the magistrates of "the gude town" entertained
the King with a banquet in the Parliament House, in the course of which
his Majesty gave as a toast, "The Chieftains and Clans of Scotland, and
prosperity to the Land of Cakes." The King did not quit his Scottish
dominions till the 29th, when he embarked from Lord Hopetoun's seat on
the Firth of Forth, previously directing a letter to be written to Sir
Walter Scott by Sir Robert Peel, expressing his warm personal
acknowledgments for the deep interest he had taken in every ceremony
and arrangement connected with his Majesty's visit.[92]
[92] Lockhart's "Life," vol. v. p. 215.
THE RIGHT HON. CHARLES W. WYNN TO THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.
East India Office, Friday.
MY DEAR B----,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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