"The praying," she
observed, "makes me very hungry, and when I am in the Liturgy I
shall be famished."

[25] Ibid. p. 58.

In a discussion on the subject in the House of Commons, he thus refers
to the principal speakers: "Burdett, violent and bitter, but very able;
Tierney, mischievous; Denman, strong and straightforward; Brougham,
able; Canning, clever, but not letting himself out."

A deputation, of which Wilberforce was the head, proceeded from the
House of Commons to the Queen, dressed in full Court costume; but her
Majesty's turbulent admirers did not appreciate their good intentions,
and they were roughly greeted by the mob. The reception they met with
from the Queen was not much more courteous. Her answer was a refusal.
"Her manner was extremely dignified," observes the principal
negotiator, "but very stern and haughty." In a letter which he wrote at
the time, he gives all the details of the question,[26] from which it is
clear that the members of Government had agreed to resign their offices
if the restoration of the Queen's name to the Liturgy was carried
against them in the House of Commons; and that, seeing the
improbability of obtaining this demand, the Queen would have accepted
an equivalent proposed by the Government, had not some sinister
influence been exercised which brought about her refusal. Mr.
Wilberforce shared the general fate of peace-makers in getting terribly
abused; but he evidently had the authority of the Queen's most able
counsellor for the steps he took. "She will accede to your address," he
wrote on the 22nd of June, "I pledge myself."[27]

[26] Letter to Samuel Roberts, Esq., "Life," vol. v. p. 62.

[27] Letter to Samuel Roberts, Esq., "Life," vol. v. p. 65.

Cobbett published a letter addressed to Mr. Wilberforce, made up of
declamation and invective, in the style that then took the public
taste. This composition is described as "very clever, but very
mischievous, and full of falsehoods." He was attacked so frequently,
and with such violence, by the Queen's partisans, that it forced him to
exclaim, "What a lesson it is to a man not to set his heart on low
popularity, when, after forty years' disinterested public service, I am
believed to be a perfect rascal!"[28]

[28] "Wilberforce's Life," vol. v. p. 68.

He complained bitterly of the conduct of the leaders of Opposition.
Their language to the Queen, especially that of Lord Grey, Mr. Tierne