or the
pleasure they took in hurting. One might admire such a declaration if
it could be thought to come from a too refined and sensitive humanity.
An eccentric, but undoubtedly benevolent, member of the House of
Commons declared, in a speech made in that House some years ago, that
he only once joined in a hunt, and then it was only in the interest of
the fox. George had no such feeling; he simply could not understand
the tastes or the sports of English country life.

[Sidenote: 1736--To Hanover at all hazards]

George came back from an expedition to Hanover in a very bad humor. He
hated everything in England; he loved everything in Hanover. It was
with the uttermost reluctance that he dragged himself back from the
place of his amusements and his most cherished amours. He had lately
found in Hanover a new object of adoration. This was a Madame
Walmoden, a fashionable young married woman, with whom George had
fallen headlong into love. He wrote home to his wife, telling her of
his admiration for Madame Walmoden, and describing with some minuteness
the lady's various charms of person. He induced Madame
Walmoden--probably no great persuasion was needed--to leave her husband
and become the mistress of a king. George, it is said, paid down the
not very extravagant sum of a thousand dollars to make things pleasant
all round. During his stay in Hanover he and his new companion behaved
quite like a high-Dutch Antony and Cleopatra. They had revels and
orgies of all kinds in the midst of a crowd of companions as refined
and intellectual as themselves. George had paintings made of some of
these scenes, with portrait likenesses of those who took a leading part
in them, and these paintings he brought home to England, and was
accustomed {49} to exhibit and explain to the Queen, or to anybody else
who happened to be in the way. But he did not as yet venture to bring
Madame Walmoden to England; and his having to part with her threw him
into a very bad temper. The curious reader will find an amusing, but
at the same time very painful, account of the manner in which George
vented his temper by snubbing his children and insulting his wife. The
Queen bore it all with her wonted patience. George had made a promise
to get back to Hanover very soon to see his beloved Madame Walmoden.
Walpole restrained him for a long time, which made the King more and
more angry. Once, when the Queen was urging him to be a little more
consi