Lord Thurlow should not retain the great seal; to which the King was obliged to submit: but Lord North, though it was his duty as secretary of state for the home department, refused to write to that effect to the chancellor, saying, that on his own retirement from office, in the preceding year, Thurlow was the man who prevented his retreat from being inconvenient to him, and therefore he would not give pain to Thurlow. This circumstance both pleased and amused the King and Mr. Fox was obliged to undertake the ungracious office.

Mr. Nicholls thinks that the abuse of power by those men was ultimately beneficial to His Majesty. The King was now busied in forming arrangements for the establishment of the heir-apparent; and on the 23rd of June sent a message to the House of Commons by the chancellor of the exchequer, recommending the consideration of the measure to parliament. At the same time it was officially announced that the King had determined not to lay any additional burthens on the people, but to take on himself the annual charge of his son's establishment, to the amount of £50,000. to be paid out of the Civil List. All, therefore, required from the house was a sum of £60,000. as a temporary aid to equip him on his outset in life, which sum was accordingly voted, with 40,000. additional; and an address of thanks presented to His Majesty, in approbation of this new domestic regulation.

This establishment of the household of his Royal Highness took place on his coming of age, at which time the coalition ministry was still in power, with the principal members of which party the Prince had been long and intimately associated. The greatest exertions were then made by the majority of the cabinet to procure a yearly settlement for His Royal Highness of one hundred thousand pounds; but this was opposed by others, and most strongly by the King, who assigned as his reason, that an inexperienced youth ought not to be entrusted with an extravagant income, the diffusion of which would only gratify the cravings of numerous parasites and panders, without adding to his own personal comfort, virtue, or dignity. In proportion, however, as the sovereign was firmly bent upon consenting only to a moderate establishment,

were the persons who called themselves the friends of the Prince resolved to carry their point for the magnificent settlement which they had projected.

When things were driven to an extremity, that almost approximated to a change of administration, the Prince interposed, and insisted, with a spirit which did him infinitely more honour than the utmost grant would have yielded pleasure, that the settlement should be left solely to the discretion of the sovereign. But while he signified his earnest wish that the whole business should be left to the King, and declared his readiness to accept what

ever His Majesty might think most proper, he, at the same time, manifested his regard for those who had so zealously and imprudently advocated his cause, by urging his entreaty that no farther misunderstanding should subsist between the King and his ministers.

The effects of these political contentions were soon visible upon the equanimity of the King's mind and it is said that he now become a prey to habitual dejection; appearing silent, thoughtful, and uncommunicative, instead of his former habits of equality of temper, suavity of manners, and cheerfulness of deportment. He resided principally at Windsor, and would sometimes mount his horse, attended only by an equerry and footman, and ride ten or twelve miles without speaking; perhaps dismount to examine his hounds, or inspect his agricultural improvements, and return to the Lodge in the same unusual pensive manner. received very few visitors, the late Lord Liverpool and Lord Thurlow being the only two confidentially admitted; the latter being always careful to buoy up his mind with the hopes that Fox's impetuosity or imprudence would speedily put an end to the coalition, which now domineered over the King, lords, and nation at large. Thus the King still preserved his real firmness of opinion; and the ministers found it impossible to persuade him to create a single English peer. The opportunity predicted by Thurlow was soon presented by Fox's

He

India Bill, to which the King was decidedly adverse, though His Majesty, at first, with great prudence, concealed his sentiments, until the bill came before the House of Lords, after the minister had forced it triumphantly through the lower house. It must not be omitted, that Mr. Nicholls expressly charges Burke with being the author of this bill, instead of Fox. But such was certainly not the public feeling

at the moment.

That the King would have refused his assent cannot be doubted; but a decided majority of peers against the measure had already been ascertained, of which Fox was not aware; and the bill was thrown out on the seventeenth of December, by a majority of nineteen out of one hundred and seventy voting peers and proxies. In fact, the true import of the bill was not at first understood; but Lord Thurlow emphatically declared, that if it passed, the King would thereby take the diadem from his own head, and place it upon that of Mr Fox: and Lord Abingdon asserted, that Fox was really animated by the same criminal ambition as Cromwell, and actu ally aimed at sovereign power. Fortunately for the nation, the bill did not pass the second ordeal; and the King was relieved from a proper but most ungracious measure; on which, however, he was determined, having made up his mind to dismiss ministers, dissolve parliament, and thus to seek for support in the opinions and loyalty of his people.

But Fox's intemperate conduct soon rendered

more active measures necessary; and the King, with his usual personal activity, manifested how well qualified he was to support his prerogatives, even when ruling over a free nation; for he, on the very day after the rejection of the bill, was sedulously employed in making arrangements for a new ministry; and in the evening sent to acquaint the two secretaries of state, North and Fox, that he had no further need of their services, ordering them to be acquainted that a personal interview would be disagreeable, and requiring them instantly to deliver up their seals. Some delay took place about Lord North's seal; but the King waited quietly at St. James's until one in the morning, and then having received it, he returned to the Queen's Palace, after entrusting it to the care of the late Marquis of Buckingham. On the ensuing day Mr. Pitt became prime minister.

It was on the eighteenth of December that Mr. Frazer, and Mr. (now Sir Evan) Nepean, the undersecretaries of state, by command of the King, delivered into His Majesty's hands the seals of Lord North's and of Mr. Fox's departments, on their dismissal from office.

It was indeed confidently affirmed that the King himself, having been made acquainted with Lord Temple's strong and decided opposition to the bill, actually commanded his attendance in the closet on the eleventh of December; when he signified to his