on Sir Robert Walpole; the
abortive Jacobite rising of 1715, the South Sea Bubble (1720), and the
institution of Septennial Parliaments (1716), are among the main events
of his reign; in 1694 he divorced his wife on account of an amour with
Count Koenigsmark, and kept her imprisoned abroad till her death in 1724,
while he himself during these years lived in open profligacy with his
mistresses (1660-1727).

GEORGE II., king of Great Britain from 1727 to 1760, and Elector of
Hanover, born in Hanover, son of preceding; in 1705 he married Caroline
of Anspach, and in 1714 was declared Prince of Wales; he joined his
father in the struggle with Louis XIV., and distinguished himself on the
side of the Allies at the battle of Oudenarde; the period of his reign is
one of considerable importance in English history; Walpole and
subsequently Pitt were the great ministers of the age; war was waged
against Spain and France; the last Jacobite rising was crushed at
Culloden (1746); English power was established in Canada by the brilliant
victory of Wolfe at Quebec (1759); an empire was won in India by Clive;
the victory of Minden (1759) was gained in the Seven Years' War;
Methodism sprang up under Wesley and Whitfield; while a great development
in literature and art took place; against these, however, must be set the
doubling of the National Debt, mainly due to the Seven Years' War, and a
defeat by the French at Fontenoy (1745) (1683-1760).

GEORGE III., king of Great Britain from 1760 to 1820, and king of
Hanover (Elector from 1760 to 1815), eldest son of Frederick Lewis,
Prince of Wales, and grandson of preceding, born in London; in 1761 he
married Princess Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, by whom he had
fifteen children; more English in sentiment and education than his two
predecessors, George's main interest was centred in his English kingdom,
and never during his long life did he once set foot in his Hanoverian
possessions; the purity of his domestic life, his devotion to England,
and the pathos attaching to his frequent fits of insanity, won him the
affections of his people, an affection, however, sorely tried by his
obstinate blundering; the 60 years of his reign present a succession of
domestic episodes, far-reaching in their consequences to England and to
the civilised world; the conclusion of the Seven Years' War left England
predominant in North America, and with increased colonial possessions in
the West Indies