Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Second, Volume 3 (of 3)Walpole, Horace
History
Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Second, Volume 3 (of 3)
Walpole, Horace
Great Britain -- History -- George II, 1727-1760
[60] John, younger brother of James, Earl of Waldegrave (the author
of the Memoirs), whom he succeeded in the title in 1763, died Oct.
15, 1784.
[61] Lord Chesterfield wrote and published a letter to expose that
infamous conduct.
[62] Barbara, a Princess of Portugal.--E.
[63] His name was Serras. He urged, “That the Prince was not an
incurable changeling; and that age, strengthening his constitution,
might strengthen his intellects.”
[64] The rejected Prince lived several years after at Naples, but
never attained any degree of understanding. He was allowed to take
the air in his coach constantly and publicly, and every body could
perceive his insensibility. The next Prince, become Prince of
Asturias,[65] was violent and brutal. The third, King of Naples,
was not void of symptoms of the malady of his family, though it was
doubtful whether his intellects were weak or deranged. Like his
father, he was indefatigable in hunting, and passed many more hours
of every day with his dogs than with his Ministers--such a sinecure
is royalty! Had the eldest Prince been capable of passing his whole
time in hunting, he might have been King.
[65] And afterwards Charles IV. of Spain. He never renounced his
right to the kingdom of Naples; and though he acquiesced in his
brother’s possession of it, always disputed his title, which, as it
was in violation of the law of primogeniture, was never distinctly
admitted by any government of Spain till the revolution of 1820.--E.
[66] Our author treats Charles III. with undue severity. He was no
hero or statesman, but yet not devoid of good qualities. Probity,
justice, consistency, and humanity, were among his virtues. On his
accession to the Crown of Spain he submitted to great inconvenience,
from a principle of honesty--he deemed it wrong to divert any portion
of the treasure of Naples from the service of that kingdom; and he
adhered so religiously to his scruple, that he not only left the
public funds untouched, but divested himself of all private wealth,
even to pictures, gems, and rings, considering them as the property
of the people whose resources had enabled him to purchase them. He
engaged, indeed, in two wars--one manifestly unjust, and both perhaps
unnecessary; but he protected literature and the arts of peace.
Though a bigoted Catholic, he suppressed the Jesuits, abolished,
or at least discountenanced, torture, and mitigated religious
persecution by his neglect and dislike of the Inquisition. In short,
few absolute Kings, and none of his race and country, have been more
free from the reproach of extravagance, injustice, or inhumanity. His
reign was less oppressive and less inglorious than any under which
Spain languished during the long suspension or evasion of her ancient
free institutions.--E.
[67] Edward Boscawen was second son of Hugh, the first Viscount
Falmouth.
[68] Jeffery Amherst, afterwards Knight of the Bath, and made a Peer
and Commander-in-Chief in the next reign.
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