The Project Gutenberg EBook of Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3,
July, 1851, by Various

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Title: Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol. 3, July, 1851

Author: Various

Editor: Harper and Brothers

Release Date: April 18, 2008 [EBook #25093]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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HARPER'S

NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

NO. XIV.--JULY, 1851.--VOL. III.

[Illustration: ADAMS, SHERMAN, LIVINGSTON, JEFFERSON, FRANKLIN.

THE COMMITTEE APPOINTED TO PREPARE THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.]

OUR NATIONAL ANNIVERSARY.

BY BENSON J. LOSSING.

On the morning of a brilliant day in October, 1760, the heir apparent to
the British throne and his groom of the stole, were riding on horseback
near Kew Palace, on the banks of the Thames. The _heir_ was George, son
of the deceased Frederick, Prince of Wales; the _groom_ was John Stuart,
Earl of Bute, an impoverished descendant of an ancient Scottish
chieftain. The prince was young, virtuous, and amiable; the earl was in
the prime of mature manhood, pedantic, gay, courtly in bearing, and
winning in deportment. He came as an adventurer to the court of George
the Second, for he possessed nothing but an earldom, a handsome person,
and great assurance; he lived in affluence in the royal household of
Frederick, because he played Lothario well not only in the amateur
theatre, but in the drawing-room of the princess, and soon became her
petted favorite.

The Prince of Wales died, and rumor with her half-lying tongue often
whispered in the public ear the suspicion that the earl and the dowager
princess were unmindful of the requirements of virtue. Public credulity
believed the scandal, and the public mind became troubled because the
pupilage of the future sovereign was under the guidance of the shallow
earl. He was