Like George I., his successor, George II., had a certain amount of humour, and his fondness for Hanover occasioned all sorts of rough jokes among his English subjects. He thought there were no manners out of Germany, and on one occasion when her Royal Highness “was whipping one of the roaring royal children,” George, who was standing by, said to Sarah Marlborough, “Ah, you have no good manners in England, because you are not properly brought up when you are young.” A smart retort was that of his Majesty to the French ambassador. The regiment that principally distinguished itself at the battle of Dettingen was the Scots Greys, who repulsed the French _gens d’armes_ with much loss. Some years afterwards, when the King was reviewing some English regiments before the French ambassador, the latter, after admitting that they were fine troops, remarked disparagingly, “But your Majesty has never seen the _gens d’armes_.” “No,” replied the King, “but I can tell you, and so can they, that my Scotch Greys have.” When George II., too, was once expressing his admiration of General Wolfe, some one remarked that the general was mad. “Is he, indeed?” said his Majesty. “Then I wish he would bite some of my other generals.” Queen Caroline thought she had the foolish talent of playing off people, and, after Sir Paul Methuen had left the Court, she frequently saw him when she dined abroad during the King’s absence at Hanover. On one occasion, when she dined with Lady Walpole at Chelsea, Sir Paul was there as usual. The Queen still harped upon the same string--her constant topic for teasing Sir Paul being his passion for romances--and she addressed him with the remark: “Well, Sir Paul, what romance are you reading now?” “None madam! I have gone through them all.” “Well, what are you reading then?” “I am got into a very foolish study, madam--the history of the kings and queens of England.” Her Majesty was fond of surrounding herself with men of wit, and her levees, it is said, “were a strange picture of the motley character and manners of a queen and a learned woman. She received company while she was at her toilette; prayers and sometimes a sermon were read; the conversation turned on metaphysical subjects blended with repartees, sallies of mirth, and the tittle-tattle of a drawing-room.” Many anecdotes have been handed down of George III. and his love of humour. When the “Temple Companies” had defiled before him, writes Earl Stanhope in his “Life of Pitt,” his Majesty inquired of Erskine, who commanded them as lieutenant-colonel, what was the composition of that corps. “They are all lawyers, sire,” said Erskine. “What, what!” exclaimed the King, “all lawyers, all lawyers? Call them ‘The Devil’s Own’; call them ‘The Devil’s Own.’” And “The Devil’s Own” they were called accordingly.