he stole, assumed
"a magisterial air of authority," and was universally recognised as the
king's confidant and mouthpiece.

The king opened parliament on November 19, wearing his crown. His speech
was settled by his ministers, and was sent to Bute for his perusal,
Newcastle intending himself to lay it before the king, as it was his
right to do.[13] Bute, however, took it to the king, and Newcastle to
his amazement received it back from the earl with an additional clause
written by the king's hand, and a message that the king would have it
inserted in the speech which was to be laid before him next day in
cabinet council.[14] The clause began: "Born and educated in this
country, I glory in the name of Britain" [_sic_], and went on to express
the king's confidence in the loyalty of his people and his desire to
promote their welfare.[15] The words were unexceptionable, but the
absolute command to insert them in the speech for which the ministers,
not the king, were responsible, was unwise. The use of the word Britain
was attributed to the Scotsman Bute. In later life the king declared
that he had written the clause without suggestion from any one.[16] His
command was obeyed, and the manner in which his words were received
illustrates the adulation then customarily rendered to the sovereign.
Hardwicke, who was in the habit of composing addresses for his
colleagues, seems to have taken "Britain" for "Briton," as indeed it
usually appears in print, and inserted a clause in the lords' address
ending with--"What a lustre does it cast on the name of Briton when you,
Sir, are pleased to esteem it among your glories!" When whig lords could
adopt such words as these, a young king might well be encouraged to
think over-highly of the royal prerogative. The incident has a special
interest. The cabinet council of the 17th, in which the speech was read
in its final form, was held by the king in person. By the end of the
last reign it had become unusual that the king should preside at cabinet
meetings. With one doubtful exception, George III. never again presided
at a meeting, and so the absence of the sovereign from the deliberations
of the cabinet became an established constitutional usage. Thus at the
time when the king was preparing to assume a preponderance in the
government, the crown finally abandoned one of the few remaining customs
which indicated a right to govern as well as to reign.

[Sidenote: _THE CIVIL LIST._]

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