The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-11-05
r..c.,ray,. george Nv.

heavyweight years ago, when GEORGE ~.
WAS but new King, upon the occasion OF his
visit TO Ireland, BYRON wrote;
"soread-spreaa for VIrgLLIus the ROYAL rerast,
AN the suttonous Gespot be stuffed to the gorge.
And the roar of his dsanxsrds procialms hi"'' a.
The. Fourth Of the fools and oppressor' called
6KeRsE,"
Bitter as this language is-exceeded in bitter
ness only by what precedes and follows IL IN INC
Same nosn-nosterity has endorsed the Juds-
mani pronounced upon the royal glutton py 'he
indiSnaut hard MIR. THACKERAf Is tue last
who has spokeu. and the only difference be-
,u,aan the contemporary satirist and the es-
.avist of the present day, Is, that tie former
.+,.cks The living monarch with the stern in
d;snatton OF a patriot, while the latter treats
1he dead King AS fl subject for no sentiment
stronger than derision. All the laughing
devils under Mr. THAcKEgAy's control-and
,LcIr name is legion--are let loose upon the
memory OF the dead yoluptuary. "ro make
,,sr.rait OF him" he says, "at first seemed
matter vi small difficulty. There is his coat,
LIS siar, bis wig, his conatenance simpering
lindsr j.; with a slate and piece Of chalk, l
could II this very desk perform a recogniza-
h{auEeUess OF him. Aud yet, after reading OF
him IN scores of volumes, hunting him
through old magazines aud newspapers; hay
lur him here at q ball, there 1T races, and SO
forth. you Had you have nothing-nothing
but Il coat and wig, and mask SMILING
below iL-pothing but great slnuiaeueu-
His sire aud grandslre were msn. One knows
what they were like; what they wonld do IN
given circumstances; that on occasion they
fought, and demeaned themselves like tough,
good soldiers. They had friends whom they
liked according 10 their natures; enemies
whom they hated fercely passions, ana &C
tions and indiyidualities OF their own. Inc
sailor King who came after GEORGE was
man: the Duke of York was man, big, bur!y,
loud, Jolly, cursing, courageous. But this
GEORGE what was he l look through all
his lite and recognize but bow and grim
I try and take him to pieces, and lind SILK
stockings, padding, stays, coat win frogs
and q FUR collar, star and blue ribbon,
pocket. handkerchief prodigiously scented, one
of TRUEFITT's best nutty- wigs TeeRing
with OIL set of teeth and huge black STOCK,
under. wais tcoats, more unGer-Waisicoats, an d
then nothing. L know OF no sentiment that
he ever distinctly uttered. documents are
published under his name, but people wrote
then-private letters, bat people spelled ihem'
He put q great GEORGE Z. or GEORGE 'Nt
the bottom of the page, and tancled ne haa
written the paper. Some booksellers clerk,
some poor author, some man did the WORK
saw to the spelling; cleaned up the sloSeniy
sentences. ana gave The lax, mauolin, snip
slop q sort of consistency. lie must have haa
al individuality; the dancing master whom
he emuiated, nay, surpassed-tne Wlg'maRer
who curled his toupee for him-the tailor VINO
cut his coats. had that. But, about GEORGE,
one can get at nothing actual. The outside
am certain, is pad and taiior's work. there
may be something behind, but what We
caunot get at the character; no doubt never
shall. VIII men of the future have nothing
better to do than to unswathe and interpret
that royal old mummy l own l once used
t. think il would be good sport TO pursue MIN,
fasten on him, and pull him down. But now
am ashamed to mount and lay good dogs on,
to summon a full field, and then to hunt the
poor game"
And vet this poor creature had among his
friends and intimates some of the most dis
tinguished men of his day, while he was still
but Prince OF Wales, and had not even as
sumed the reins as Regent. Heartless and
treacberous as be was known to be, utterly
destitute of all principle, and profiigate TO
degree too scandalous even TO be alluded to,
he had not only such men as BURKE, PITT and
SHERIDAN among his friends, but even such
as WILBERFoRCE and Sir WALTER SCOTT.
bringing was the besetting weakness of the
last, and his abject flattery of GEORGE ".
leaves a blot upon his memory which it is
painful to all men to contemplate. Well
do we recollect the feeling Of contemp-
tuous indignation with which his admirers
read of his conduct in the newspapers, when
GEORGE ". visited Edinburgh-how the
monarch drank his heai,h-how he took the
glass and put it liz his pocket, declaring that
it should be transmitted to his latest posteri-
ty-and how he sat down upon it and crushed
it to the infinite am usement of everybody but
himself and to the serious danger of the sit
ting portion of his body. They held down their
heads in silence, or vented their indignation
In curses-for their ideal OF the man was
formed upon the model which he had himself
furnished in the numerous characters he had
drawn. Never theless, it is but proper to say,
that IN his own person, SCOTT was man of
sterling independence. He asked nobody TO
give him anything for which he was not will
ing &c work. He asked fayors OF no man, least
OF all Of the King. He would be silent tor
whole evening, if the merest numskull OF
peer Glanced 10 be OF the company, bat he
would not consent 20 be patroniZed by any
peer hat ever existed.
TIE peculiar turn OF SCOTS mind brought
him 10 his knees whenever 4 nobieman was
present. That accounts for his subserviency.
Bat how TO account for Fox and SHERIDAN
There lies tie difficulty. Perhaps il was to
be found in the personal destinations Of the
man {; for that he possessed great powers of en-
pertaining his friends, In his younger days, is
incor testable, in spite OF all BYRON and
THACKERAY have said. Among other talents
RAIKEs tells us, upon the authority of the
Duke sf WELLINGTON, that he possessed the
power OF nmicry in an almost unequaIed de-
gree, and though this is very low, still 1t is
a very entertaining talent. But besides, he
was the best raeOnte9r Of his day, and his bud
get of anecdotes was uncommonly large.
la the course of this lecture, MIR. THACK-
KRAY alludes TO well known circumstance
in the life Of GEORGE ", upon which
RAIKEs, on the authority, We believe, of Sir
HENRY HALFeRD is much more explicit. He
was certainly deranged-as mad as his father
had been-during the greater part of the last
years OF his life. When in this situation he
fancied that he had personally commanded in
ali the campaigns of the PeninsuIa-in other
words, had filled the place of WELLINGTON
ana actually related anecdotes of battles
Sieges, and marches, as of events that occurred
under his own eye. His ministers kept the
secret from the world and reigned for him as
PITr'had done for his father. Mr. THAcKypAv
does not aliude 10 his general madness. but
contents himself with alleging a sort of mo.
homania. lie says: IL believe it is certain
about GEORGE ". that be had heard so much
u inc war, knighted SO many people, and
worn such prodigious quantity of Marshal,s
Uniforms, cooked hats, cocks gathers, and
scarlet and bullion in general, that he actually