The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-12-22 00:00:00

MR. THACKERAPS LECTURES-
GEORGE THE FOURTH.

Mr. Thackeray delivered the fourth and concluding
lecture of his course at the Philharmonic, on Saturday,
at half-past two o'clock. The lecture was more nume-
rously attended than any of the preceding, the hall being
crowded in every part. The lecturer was received en-
thusiastically.
Mr. Thackeray commenced by saying : —ln Mr. Twiss'
excellent life of Lord Eldon, we read how, on the death
of the Duke of York, the Lord Chancellor became
possessed of a lock of the defunct Prince's hair ; and so
careful was he respecting the authenticity of the relic,
that Bessy Eldon, his wife, sat in the room while a young
man from Howell and James' was distributing the relic
into several locks, which each of the Eldon family after-
wards wore. When George the Fourth came to Edin-
burgh, a better man than he went on board the royal
yacht to welcome his majesty to his kingdom of Scotland,
seized the goblet from which the king had just drank, and
vowed it should ever remain an heirloom in his family,
clamed the precious glass in his pocket, and sat down
upon it when he got home—(laughter.) Suppose the
good shariff's prize unbroken now, at Abbotsford, should
we not smile in somet' ing like pity as we beheld it ?
Suppose one of the locks of hair I have spoken of were
offered for sale, riot libras in' surnmo duce in vemies? How
many pounds would you fetch, for the relic of the illus-
trious Duke ? Madame Tussaud has got King George's
very coronation robes. Is there any man alive who would
kiss the hem of that trumpery ? He sleeps since twenty
five years Do not any of you who remember him wonder
how yorm ever respected attcl humeri, and admired him ?
To make a portrait of him seemed at first a matter of
small difficulty. There was his coat—his star—his wig,
and then the countenance, ever simpering under it.
Had he (Mr. Thackeray) a piece of chalk, he could then i
and there draw a recognisable likeness of him. Let
them read through scores of volumes, and all the old
magazines and newspapers, and they would hear nothing
of George the Fourth but of his coat, his wig, and his
countenance smiling under it. William the Fourth, his
successor, was a man. The Duke of York, his brother.
was a man. Both of those were men, big, burly, jolly,
and ever-swearing, but in the George they recognised
nothing but a bow and a grin. Take him to pieces, and
they found silk stockings, padding, a coat with frogs,
and a fur collar, a handkerchief prodigiously scented,
one of Truefitt's best fitting nut brown curly wigs,
reeking with oil, waistcoats, more waistcoats, under
waistcoats, and then—nothing. (Applause.) Mr.
.Thackeray then described the innumerable porTaits
painted of George the Fourth in a marshal's coat, in a
frogged coat, with fair hair, brown hair, and black hair,
in a wig with a pigtail, and In a wig without a pigtail,
and. finally, in his coronation robes, a portrait of which
the King himself was very fond, and of which he pre_
aented copies to all the European courts, members of the
nobility. and several clubs. There was not a drawing-
room in the country in which his portrait was not to be
seen, and innumerable also were the stories of his pro •
digious cleve•ness when a youth. One deserved men-
tion, It was said that Lord Bruce, his governor, was
readily-, Greek to him, and using a false quantity, the
youthful Prince immediately corrected him. Lord
Bruce, of course, could no longer remain his governor,
. hut as a salve to his wounded feelings, his lordship was
elevated to the peerage. A most extraordinary reason,
observed Mr. Thackeray for making a man a peer; hut
Lord Bruce was made an earl for one error in prosody,
and Nelson was made a baronet for the victory of
the Nile. (Laughter) The extravagance of George the
Fourth was then described. One would not wonder, the
lecturer said, if the money were expended for a public
good—for the support and improvement of an im-
poverished country district, but what bad that one
solitary stout man done to merit such generosity ? What
had be done that he should be so pampered, that he
should spend £IO,OOO a year on the very coats on his
back, and yet his bills be paid ? It is said " the child
is father of the man." It was so with George—he
entered on life as a youag man by inventing a shoe-
- buckle, " a sweet invention," continued Mr. "I hackeray,
"as lovely and useful as the prince on whose foot it
sparkled " (Laughter and applause) Did the audience
think these details trivial ? Thee were the great inci-
dents of George's life. Would they turn to his other
life, and did they wish that he (Mr. Thackeray) should
play the part of L' porello, and follow him in his
amours ? What purpose would it answer? What
purpose to know how Perdita was pursued, when
deserted, and by whom succeeded ? What good to
know that he married Mrs Fitzherbert according to the
rives of the Roman Catholic Church ? That sere of
vice presented no new features. Men of dissolute
habits, of foul passions, and of heartlessness had been
ever since the world began. George was such a man,
- but be had much temptation, and much might be said
in extenuation of him. It was an unlucky thing for
him that besides being very handsome, so that all
women were fascinated by him, and being heir apparent.
.so that all the world flattered Lim, he should also have
a. beautiful and a prodigious appetite, (laughter)
which led him to take pleasure in a " jolly
lift,'' and to be the boon companion of all
its votaries. Heartlessness was most apparent in
him, and no more characteristic trait, Mr. Thackeray
pbserved, could be given of the two men, George the
Fourth and Charles Fox, than their observations on the
death of the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire. When
informed of it, George said : " We have lost the best-
bred woman in all England ;" Fox : " We have lost the
• kindest heart in all England." Historians claimed for
George the bravery of his race —the courage of the
House of Brunswick. He (Mr. Tbackeray) doubted if
be had possessed it. He could not see •how the low
• sensualist could have retained that quality. There was
ne temptation which he had resisted, and how could the
nerves be strong in a life frittered away in the company
of dancing-masters, tailors, and ballet girls ? It was an
endless Capra without .any campaign. (Applause.)
1 he lecturer then quoted from Sir Robert Peel's memoirs
to show the treachery and double-dealing of George with
his ministers, Peel and Wellington, on the question of
Catholic emancipation—to-day caressing them, the next
day betraying them. "Fancy," said Mr. Thackeray,
" old Arthur's grim countenance and eagla beak '
• its his Monarch kisses him. (Laughter.) Having
• described the mission of Lord Malrnesbury at the
1Z Court of Brunswick, the arrival of Caroline in England,
her reception by George, and her marriage, the lecturer
asked What could be expected from such a beginning,
such a bridegroom, and such a b ide ? I run not going
• to carry you through the subsequent scenes—to follow
the poor princess through her vagaries, her balls and her
ee dances, her travels to Jerusalem and to Naples, her jigs,
0.• her junkettings, and her tears. As I read her history, I
• vow she was not guilty, Ido not say that that was an
C: Impartial verdict, but her story pleads for the kindly,
generous, outraged creature. If wrong was done-by her,
let it Ile at his door who cruelly thrust her from him.
(Cheers.) In spite of her follies the great hearted people
• of England loved, protected, and pitied her ; " God bless
ye, we will bring your husband back to you," said a
poor mechanic one day—she told the tale herself to lady
CharlAte Bury with tears in her eyes. They could not
bring her husband back—th -y could not cleanse that
selfish heart, steeped in selfishness, impotent for faithful.
attachment and manly endearing love ; had he not sur-
vived remorse, had he not grown accustomed to betrayal
and desertion ? (Applause,) This was the " first gentle-
man" of Europe ! There is no stranger satire upon the
proud English society of that day, than, that they ad-
' mired George. (Applause.) Yet, thank heaven, we
can tell of better gentlemen, and while our eyes turn
. away from that monstrous image of pride, vanity, and
weakness, we see in England, even in that reign, some
who merited indeed the title of gentlemen—some
who make our hearts leap when we hear their names,
:end whose memory we shall fondly salute, when that of
yerider imperial mannikin was tumbled into oblivion.
• (Applause) The lecturer then paid an exalted tribwe
to the life and memory of Walter Scott, whose defence
of the monarch be likened to that of the brave High-
lander 31) his own story who fought around his craven
chief, unworthy of grace a champion—of Mkt Southey,
who, althotigh he had left his political land- mark
miles and miles behind, would ever be remembered as
- sublime in his simplicity, his honour, and his affection.
Of the true knight, Cuthbert Collingwood, than whom,
since heaven made gentlemen, were no better name
recorded—and of Reginald Heber, the beloved parish
priest in his own home, counselling the poor in trouble,
advising in difficulties, exhorting and encouraging where
there was need ; where there was strife, a peacemaker ;
and where there was want a free giver. (Cheers.) He
pointed out in all these men the prevailing princip'es of..
love and duty, and declared that without love there
could he no gentleman. The lecturer then read torn a
magazine of the day an absurdly magniloquent descrip-
thin of a ball given at the opening of Carltoe-house,
and contrasted with it a scene which took place on the
same day in Philadelphia, when George Washing-on
publicly resigned his post at the head-of his country's
government. Which," asked the lecturer, "-was the
most splendid spectacle ever witnessed ?"—(quoting the
words of the ball-describer)—the opening of time career
of George in London, or the resignation of Washington