one of prosperity for
England. He did not love England--never, up to the very end, cared for
the country over which destiny had appointed him to rule. His soul to
the last was faithful to Hanover. England was to him as the State wife
whom for political reasons he was compelled to marry; Hanover, as the
sweetheart and mistress of his youth, to whom his affections, such as
they were, always clung, and whom he stole out to see at every possible
chance. George behaved much better to his political consort, England,
than to the veritable wife of his bosom. He managed England's affairs
for her like an honest, straightforward, narrow-minded steward. We
shall see hereafter that England came to be governed much worse by men
not nearly so bad as George the First. To do him justice, he knew when
he ought to leave the business of the State in the hands of those who
understood it better than he; this one merit redeemed many of his
faults, and, perhaps, may be regarded as having secured his dynasty.
Frederick the Great described George as a prince who governed England
by respecting liberty, even while he made use of the subsidies granted
by Parliament to corrupt the Parliament which voted them. {271} He was
a king, Frederick declares, "without ostentation and without deceit,"
and who won by his conduct the confidence of Europe. This latter part
of the description is a little too polite. Kings do not criticise each
other too keenly in works that are meant for publication. But the
words form, on the whole, an epitaph for George which might be
inscribed on his tomb without greater straining of the truth than is
common in the monumental inscriptions that adorn the graves of less
exalted persons.

{272}

CHAPTER XVIII.

GEORGE THE SECOND.

[Sidenote: 1727--Death of Newton]

The year when George the First died was made memorable forever by the
death of a far greater man than any European king of that generation.
When describing the events which led to the publication of the "Drapier's
Letters," we mentioned the fact that Sir Isaac Newton had been consulted
about the coinage of Wood's half-pence. That was the last time that
Isaac Newton appeared as a living figure in public controversy of any
kind. On March 20, 1727, the great philosopher died, after much
suffering, at his house in Kensington. The epitaph which Pope intended
for him sums up as well as a long discourse could do his achievements in
science--

"Na