and then, suddenly recoiling, he whispered
to one of his friends:

"For God's sake, George, give me a glass of brandy!"

Such an utterance was more brutal and barbaric than anything his bride
could have conceived of, though it is probable, fortunately, that she
did not understand him by reason of her ignorance of English.

We need not go through the unhappy story of this unsympathetic,
neglected, rebellious wife. Her life with the prince soon became one of
open warfare; but instead of leaving England she remained to set the
kingdom in an uproar. As soon as his father died and he became king,
George sued her for divorce. Half the people sided with the queen,
while the rest regarded her as a vulgar creature who made love to her
attendants and brought dishonor on the English throne. It was a sorry,
sordid contrast between the young Prince George who had posed as a sort
of cavalier and this now furious gray old man wrangling with his
furious German wife.

Well might he look back to the time when he met Perdita in the
moonlight on the Thames, or when he played the part of Florizel, or,
better still, when he enjoyed the sincere and disinterested love of the
gentle woman who was his wife in all but legal status. Caroline of
Brunswick was thrust away from the king's coronation. She took a house
within sight of Westminster Abbey, so that she might make hag-like
screeches to the mob and to the king as he passed by. Presently, in
August, 1821, only a month after the coronation, she died, and her body
was taken back to Brunswick for burial.

George himself reigned for nine years longer. When he died in 1830 his
executor was the Duke of Wellington. The duke, in examining the late
king's private papers, found that he had kept with the greatest care
every letter written to him by his morganatic wife. During his last
illness she had sent him an affectionate missive which it is said
George "read eagerly." Mrs. Fitzherbert wished the duke to give up her
letters; but he would do so only in return for those which he had
written to her.

It was finally decided that it would be best to burn both his and hers.
This work was carried out in Mrs. Fitzherbert's own house by the lady,
the duke, and the Earl of Albemarle.

Of George it may be said that he has left as memories behind him only
three things that will be remembered. The first is the Pavilion at
Brighton, with its absurdly oriental decorations, its minarets and
flimsy towers.