countrymen to the manners of France." I was surprised at this, because I thought it an indiscretion, and a descent from his dignity. I was a little embarrassed, but determined not to deny the truth on one hand nor leave him to infer from it any attachment to England on the other. I threw off as much gravity as I could, and assumed an air of gaiety, and a tone of decision, as far as was decent, and said, "That opinion, sir, is not mistaken; I must avow to your majesty, I have no attachment but to my own country." The king replied, as quick as lightning, "An honest man will never have any other.”

The king then said a word or two to the secretary of state, which being then between them, I did not hear, and then turned round and bowed to me, as is customary with all kings and princes when they give the signal to retire. I retreated, stepping backwards, as is the etiquette, and making my last reverence at the door of the chamber, I went my way. The master of the ceremonies joined me the moment of my coming out of the king's closet, and accompanied me through all the apartments, down to my carriage, several stages of servants, gentlemen porters, and under porters, roaring out like thunder, as I went along, "Mr. Adams's servants, Mr. Adams's carriage," &c.

I have been thus minute in these details, because they may be useful to others hereafter to know. The conversation with the king, I should not dare to withhold from Congress, who will form their own judgment of it. I may possibly expect a residence from it here less painful than I once expected, because so marked an attention from the king will silence many grumblers; but we can infer nothing from all this con

cerning the success of my mission. There is a train of other ceremonies to go through, in presentations to the queen, and visits to and from ministers and ambassadors, which will take up much time, and interrupt me in my endeavours to obtain all that I have at heart, the objects of my instructions. Thus it is that the essence of things is lost in ceremony, in every country of Europe; we must submit to what we cannot alter patience is the only remedy.

With great and sincere esteem, I have the honour to be, dear sir, your most obedient and humble servant, His Excellency John Jay, Esq., Secretary of State for the department of Foreign Affairs.

JOHN ADAMS.

FAITHFUL SENTINEL.

His majesty one day parading the terrace at Windsor, in 1787, with the Duke of York, rested his arm on the sun dial, which is near the end of the walk; the duke did the same, and continued in conversation with some gentlemen with whom they had for some time before been walking. During this parley, a sentinel upon duty there walked up to the king, and desired him to remove from the dial, as it was under his particular charge. His majesty removed accordingly, observing, at the same time, that the man's rigid adherence to his orders was highly commendable; and a few hours afterwards, he was graciously pleased to recommend him to the colonel of the regiment, as an object worthy of promotion, and one who ought to be provided for in as eligible a manner as the nature of the service would admit.

GIFT TO SALISBURY CATHEDRAL.

During the visit of the king to Salisbury, and while the improvements in the Cathedral, under the direction of Mr. James Wyatt, were going on, his majesty enquired one day in private of Bishop Barrington, what these improvements were, and by what means the expence was to be defrayed? The bishop stated the several alterations, and that a new organ was much wanted, though he feared it would greatly exceed the means, which depended solely on the voluntary contributions of the gentlemen in the counties o Berks and Wilts, of which the diocese consists. The king immediately replied, “I desire that you will accept of a new organ for your Cathedral, being my contribution as a Berkshire gentleman.' A new organ, built by Green, of the value of £1500, was forthwith sent to Salisbury.

QUEEN'S INFLUENCE ON THE FEMALE CHARACTER OF BRITAIN.

The unsullied purity of her majesty's private life, and the noble example she afforded to the women of Great Britain, was attended with an effect, the benefit of which was deeply felt through the whole of her reign, and may, as we trust it will, extend to ages yet unborn, since upon the conduct of the female sex, mainly rest the edifice of the public as well as private morals. No woman, however elevated her rank, or powerful her connexions, if her reputation was known to have suffered the slightest taint, was per

mitted to appear in the presence of her majesty. Her fine reply to Lady, when soliciting permission to present Lady, and when refused, saying, she did not know what to tell her disappointed friend, will long be remembered and repeated: "Tell her," said the queen, "you did not dare to ask me." In a conversation which passed between the queen and the Duchess of, her majesty expressed her astonishment that ladies entrusted their children, when they took an airing, to the care of servants, and were so seldom seen with them themselves. The duchess seemed inclined to vindicate the practice; bnt was interrupted by her majesty with this sensible admonition : "" You," said she, "are a mother; you now converse with a mother; and I should be sorry you would compel me to suppose that you were callous, where you ought to be most susceptible."

PETER PINDAR.

From the habitual self-possession with which the king was blessed, arising chiefly from his conviction that he acted conscientiously, he was in general very

different to the shafts of ridicule or callumny. He thought with St. Evremond, that "if what is alleged of us to be true, it is our business rather to reform ourselves, than for others to hold their tongues; if false, that by showing a concern about it, we are apt to make it suspected for truth." "The contempt of such discourses," as the same writer adds, "is the surest way to discredit them, and takes away the pleasure from those that indulge them. If you resent them more than you ought to do, it is in the power of the

most contemptible enemy, of the most pitiful rascal, to disturb the repose of your life, and all your power cannot defend you from perpetual vexation."

We see in these sentiments the rule of conduct which appears to have invariably guided the conduct of George III. Perhaps no writer ever carried the licence of political satire to more unwarrantable, ungenerous, and unmanly lengths, than the late Dr. Wolcot, who, under the assumed name of Peter Pinder, deluged the town for several years with publications, the avowed object of which was to expose the domestic affairs of the royal family to derision, as if the dwelling of the sovereign were the only one in England, the household gods of which may be insulted with impunity. On the king, however, they produced no other effect, than a smile of wonder at the perverse ingenuity of the man; and the most serious thing he was ever known to say of them, was on the occasion of Peter's lampooning General Carpenter, when his majesty observed, that "for himself he cared nothing; but he was hurt to see a worthy man calumniated, because he happened to be one of his servants.' As far as they were capable of exciting a good-natured laugh, the king enjoyed that laugh as much as any man; and when they were otherwise, as was but too often the case, he observed a dignified forbearance, leaving the author to enjoy all the triumph there might be, in making a base attack on a party whom he knew to be precluded, by his dignity, from descending into the arena in his own defence.

A letter from Dr. Wolcot is extant, in which he alleges, that "it was agitated in the privy council to attack him for his writings, particularly the Lousaid;