"London, July 16.--I returned here on the 6th of this month, and have waited these ten days to look about me, and see and hear what is passing. The present King and his proceedings occupy all attention, and nobody thinks any more of the late King, than if he had been dead fifty years, unless it be to abuse him and rake up all his vices and misdeeds. Never was elevation like that of William IV. His life has, hitherto, passed in obscurity and neglect, in miserable poverty, surrounded by a numerous progeny of bastards, without consideration or friends, and he was ridiculous from his grotesque ways and little meddling curiosity. Nobody ever invited them into their house, or thought it necessary to honour him with any mark of attention or respect; and so he went on for about forty years, till Canning brought him into notice by making him Lord High Admiral at the time of his grand ministerial schism. In that post he distinguished himself by making absurd speeches, by a morbid official activity, and by a general wildness which was thought to indicate incipient insanity, till shortly after Canning's death and the Duke's[4] accession, it is well known, the latter dismissed him. He then dropped back into obscurity, but had become, by this time, somewhat more of a personage than he was before. His brief administration of the Navy, the death of the Duke of York, which made him heir to the throne, his increased wealth and regular habits, had procured him more consideration, though not a great deal. Such was his position when George IV. broke all at once, and after three months of expectation, William finds himself King." [Footnote 4: Wellington.] CHAPTER II. 1830. Proclamation of William IV.--The Beer Act--The Queen and gas--Burial of George IV.--The King and the Duke of Cumberland--The King as a soldier--He meddles with the uniforms of the army. On Monday, June 28, 1830, the king came at an early hour to St. James's Palace to witness the ceremony of his proclamation, which was duly done at 10 a.m., with the usual pomp, the heralds giving forth that, with the acquiescence of everybody-- "We do now hereby, with one voice and consent of tongue and heart, proclaim that the High and Mighty Prince William, Duke of Clarence, is now, by the death of the late Sovereign, of happy memory, become our only lawful and rightful Liege Lord William the Fourth, by the Grace of God, King of Great Britain and Ireland;" and so forth. It was a gay sight, for people had not had time to get into mourning costume, and the bright summer dresses of the ladies made it a brilliant show.