On the 17th of August, his royal highness was by letters patent created Prince of Wales.

TITLE OF PRINCE OF WALES.

The first creation of the title of Prince of Wales in the royal family of England, occurred in the reign of Edward I. This sovereign, to conciliate the affections of the Welch, whom he had subdued, removed his queen, Eleanor, to Caernarvon Castle, in North Wales in which place, on the 25th of April, 1284, she was delivered of a sou. On this, the sagacious Edward summoned the Welch barons, and demanded if they would be willing to subject themselves to a native prince. Happily they consented; and having sworn to yield him obedience, he nominated the royal infant, in a subsequent charter, Edward Prince of Wales; since which auspicious event, the eldest son and heir-apparent of the King of England has retained that title. His present majesty is the twentieth prince of the royal family of England that has borne the title. The last Prince of Wales, except his present majesty, who was born during the reign of his father, was Prince Charles, afterwards Charles II. now one hundred and ninety years ago.

HOUSE WARMING.

On the marriage of their majesties, some difficulties existed as to a suitable residence; St. Jame's Palace was falling fast to decay; Buckingham House required great repairs; and Windsor Castle was actually

in a state of dilapidation. After due consideration, the little palace at Kew was adopted as the temporary residence of the royal pair, while the necessary repairs were made on Buckingham House and Windsor Castle.

When the latter was put in a state fit for their reception, their majesties gave what is called a house warming. The king shewed on this occasion his real kindness of disposition, by the activity which he displayed in making ready for his guests-exploring kitchen, store-rooms, and every apartment, to see that all was going on right, and that proper cheer was provided, not merely for the higher orders, but even for the soldiers in attendance. No host could receive all his visitors in a more friendly, familiar, courteous, and hospitable manner. He had an abundance of civil things to say to every body-pithy observations to the men, and agreeable compliments to the ladies. He kept every one in a good humour, and always spared them the trouble of making long ceremonious

answers.

The royal family dined at a separate table, a little elevated. This etiquette of a distinct table was kept up all through the reign, though in some of the proudest courts of Europe it is by no means strictly adhered to. It was observed also when his majesty visited any of his subjects. He commenced the dignity of his habits early, and preserved it to the end. His predecessors of the Brunswick line were more familiar on this point, and court anecdotes mention the fears entertained by a certain German lady of the convivial effects of Sir Robert Walpole's punch on a monarch's conversation. Her fears were, by the way, not alto

L

gether unreasonable, for Sir R. Walpole himself used to say, that he governed the king with good punch and bad Latin.

The love of punch was one of the German faults of the old monarch; and was strikingly contrasted with the extreme abstemiousness which distinguished his successor, George the Third, who seldom indulged in more than a glass of weak wine at a time. When calling it a German fault, we must at the same time do the German character the justice of observing, that it is a fault of old date, and one from which at more recent times it has almost wholly redeemed itself. The queen used to tell on this head a pleasant anecdote, which the king took great pleasure in repeating. The Duke of Mecklenburg, father of the queen, being once in familiar conversation with the late Pope, he was asked by his holiness, "whether his countrymen, the Germans, continued to drink as hard as they used to do." "Oh no," replied the duke! "the sottish custom is quite given over, except in the ecclesiastical electorates!"

QUEEN ANNE'S BED.

In the king's state bed chamber at Windsor Castle, formerly the public dining room, there is an old fashioned article of furniture within a recess, viz. the bed of Queen Anne, of illustrious memory. Being highly valued, it has always been preserved with great care, a crimson curtain being drawn over it, and a screen interposed in front, to guard it from the approach of idle curiosity. His majesty, being solicited

to permit a more magnificent bed to occupy its situation, answered, "that he would not displace this venerable relic, for the most splendid bed in the universe."

THE WAR.

In his majesty's first speech from the throne, he declared his resolution to support the King of Prussia with his warmest concurrence, and to maintain the war with firmness and vigour, till the enemy should be brought to just terms of accommodation. This clause is said to have been inserted not spontaneously by the king, but at the earnest instigation of Mr. Pitt. The King of Prussia had always been a great favourite with the English nation, whose generous sympathy in his fortunes seemed to rise in proportion to the increasing number and success of his enemies. With the English court, however, Frederick was so much the reverse of being on friendly terms, until the two last years of George the Second's reign, there were no two courts in Christendom, who hated each other more cordially than those of St. James and Berlin. Frederick, among other means which he took to gall the feelings of the British monarch, had for his ambassador at Paris, an attainted peer of Britain, the Earl Marischal; and would receive no other in return from France but one of the same stamp, the Earl Tyrconnel; both of whom wore the order of the garter, given them by the Chevalier, and the former always with great ostentation, when in the presence of Lord Albemarle, the British ambassador, who appeared

with the same order, duly conferred on him by George II. It was owing to the wise counsels of Mr. Pitt, that a reconciliation was at length brought about between the two courts; and to his bold and well concerted measures, that the alliance was followed up with a degree of success, which flattered the proudest hopes of the British people; and made a declaration of perseverance in the same course, one of the most acceptable assurances they could possibly receive from their new sovereign.

THE FAMILY COMPACT.

The same Earl Marischal, whom the King of Prussia made the instrument of his spite toward George II., was afterwards the secret means of giving his successor, George III. the first information of the celebrated family compact between the houses of Bourbon. At the request of Frederick, the Earl had been allowed to resume possession of the property in Scotland which he had forfeited by his rebellion; and having got early intelligence of the compact from some grandees of Spain, who imagined that he was wholly in their interest, he thought he could not better shew his gratitude to the British court, than by apprising it of the secret. When Mr. Pitt, acting on the knowledge of this fact, proposed the seizing of the Spanish galleons to the council he was opposed and sneered at particularly by Lord Bute; and being questioned as to his information, he shewed with reluctance, the letters from the Earl Marischal. On this, Lord Hardwicke observed, that a halter was once round that nobleman's neck, but now more sure than ever; al