ed nothing in him to be hated--neither
anything great nor anything vicious; his behavior was something that
gained one's good wishes though it gave one no esteem for him. If his
best qualities prepossessed people in his favor, yet they always
provoked contempt for him at the same time; for, though his manners
were stamped with a good deal of natural or habitual civility, yet his
habit of cajoling everybody, and almost in an equal degree, made what
might have been thought favors, if more sparingly bestowed, lose all
their weight. "He carried this affectation of general benevolence so
far that he often condescended below the character of a prince; and, as
people attributed this familiarity to popular and not particular
motives, so it only lessened their respect without increasing their
good-will, and, instead of giving them good impressions of his
humanity, only gave them ill ones of his sincerity. He was indeed as
false as his capacity would allow him to be, and was more capable in
that walk than in any other, never having the least hesitation, from
principle or fear of future detection, of telling any lie that served
his present purpose. He had a much weaker understanding and, if
possible, a more obstinate temper than his father; that is, more
tenacious of opinions he had once formed, though less capable of ever
forming right ones. Had he had one grain of merit at the bottom of his
heart, one should have had compassion for him in the situation to which
his miserable poor head soon reduced him, for his case in short was
this: he had a father that abhorred him, a mother that despised him,
sisters that betrayed him, a brother set up against him, and a set of
servants that neglected him, and were neither of use nor capable of
being of use to him, nor desirous of being so."

[Sidenote: 1736--Resolved on a marriage]

The King's eldest daughter, Anne, was married soon after Frederick's
coming to England. Up to the age of twenty-four she had remained
unmarried, a long time for a princess to continue a spinster. Many
years before, she had had a good chance of marrying Louis the Fifteenth
{41} of France. George was anxious for the marriage; the Duc de
Bourbon, then minister to Louis, had originated the idea; Anne was only
sixteen years old, and would no doubt have offered no objection. But
the scheme fell through because when it was well on its way somebody
suddenly remembered, what every one might have thought of befor