Star.
London, England, 1821-08-13 00:00:00

ANECDOTES OF GEORGE IV.

MEETING AT FREEMASONS' TAVERN.

Saturday night, a numerous Meeting of Gentle-
men was held at the Freemasons' Tavern, for the pur-
pose of consulting on the hest means of paying their
last tribute of respect to the remains of her MAJESTY.
It was proposed that Mr. Hume, who was with
some Members of the Committee in another• apart-
ment, should be requested to take the Chair, and the
proposition was promptly and unanimously adopted.
Upon the suggestion of some Gentlemen, it was
agreed, that on his entrance into the room, instead
of the usual applause, Mr. Fltme should be received
in solemn silencer as best suited to the melancholy
occasion by which they were assembled. The com-
pany, standing and uncovered, received Mr. HUMZ'
and his friends in silence.
Mr. HUME said, that having been called to the
Chair, he would endeavour to discharge the duties of
that station to the best cf his power. In the first
place, he had to observe, that the object of this Meet-
ing appeared to have been much mistaken. When
her late Majesty visited St. Paul's, a Committee of
Gentlemen was formed for making arrangements to
facilitate the attendance of the many hundreds ofl
horsemen who joined the procession on that occasion.
That Committee had never been dissolved, although
it was little anticipated that they would have so coon
to meet on so different an occasion. The advertise-
ment which had been published by the Committee
was only to call together the Members whose resi-
dences were not known. Had a Public Meeting been
intended, perhaps there was no edifice in the metro-
polis that could contain the numbers that would have
come forward; but although the Mee.ing was more
numerous, and of a different nature from what had
been anticipated, as they were now•together, they
would proceed to consider the measures that should
be taken to enable them to testify to the world' the
last respect to tire remains of her Majesty which they
would have an oppoitunity.of paying. There would
tee few of the se who came forward on the occasion
before alluded to,• who would not be anxious to tes-
_

tify the same respect to her who was now no mote,
as when alive; and the ulterior object of the Meeting
would be to make arrangements for such as chose to
assemble at Brandenburgh House, and to accom-
pany the remains through the City, and as fir on the
road to Harwich as might be deemed necessarf. To
effect this, they ought to he aware what were the in-
tentions of those who Managed the removal, as to
time and place—whether the body would be re-
moved on 'Wednesday ur Thursday. His Majesty's
Government had been pressing tliat the removal
should take place even on this day—f-This statement
excited considerable feeling amongst the Meeting.]
The applications made by numbers' of private Gen-
tlemen had been so numerous as to lead to expect
that the attendince would be very great indeed;
consequently an extended Committee would be re-
luired to carry into effect the requisite regulations:.
but as the body of the Committee was composed of
thoie who arranged the procession to St. Paul's, the
Public might expect similar regularity on this occa-',
sion. It was necessary to 'state, that the various bo-
dies in the Metropolis and its vicinity who had pre-
sented Addresses to her Majesty,, had communi-
cated their wish to attend the proposed procession.—
It was also, he understood, the &she of the Lord
Mayor and Corporation of London to receive the
Funeral Procession at Temple Bar, and to accompany
it in its passage through the City. This he knew to
be the wish of the Lord Mayor himself, as well as
that of several other of the most respectable Mem-
bers of the Corporation ; but a Common Council was
to be held upon this subject on Monday or Tuesday,
when the of the City would be ascertained. It
had been said that this was not a proper occasion to
, testify respect for the Queen. But, with deference
to those who made that observation, he must declare
his o-inion that he could not imagine a case in which