about her sister, Madame de Bernstein, and the Old
Chevalier, she tossed away from her with scorn the recollection of that
odious circumstance, asserting, with perfect truth, that the two first
monarchs of the House of Hanover were quite as bad as any Stuarts in
regard to their domestic morality. But the king de facto was the king,
as well as his Majesty de jure. De Facto had been solemnly crowned and
anointed at church, and had likewise utterly discomfited De Jure, when
they came to battle for the kingdom together. Madam's clear opinion was,
then, that her sons owed it to themselves as well as the sovereign to
appear at his royal court. And if his Majesty should have been minded
to confer a lucrative post, or a blue or red ribbon upon either of them,
she, for her part, would not have been in the least surprised. She made
no doubt but that the King knew the Virginian Esmonds as well as any
other members of his nobility. The lads were specially commanded, then,
to present themselves at court, and, I dare say, their mother would have
been very angry had she known that George took Harry's laced coat on the
day when he went to make his bow at Kensington.

A hundred years ago the King's drawing-room was open almost every day
to his nobility and gentry; and loyalty--especially since the war had
begun--could gratify itself a score of times in a month with the august
sight of the sovereign. A wise avoidance of the enemy's ships of war, a
gracious acknowledgment of the inestimable loss the British Isles would
suffer by the seizure of the royal person at sea, caused the monarch to
forgo those visits to his native Hanover which were so dear to his
royal heart, and compelled him to remain, it must be owned, unwillingly
amongst his loving Britons. A Hanoverian lady, however, whose virtues
had endeared her to the prince, strove to console him for his enforced
absence from Herrenhausen. And from the lips of the Countess of Walmoden
(on whom the imperial beneficence had gracefully conferred a high title
of British honour) the revered Defender of the Faith could hear the
accents of his native home.

To this beloved Sovereign, Mr. Warrington requested his uncle, an
assiduous courtier, to present him; and as Mr. Lambert had to go
to court likewise, and thank his Majesty for his promotion, the
two gentlemen made the journey to Kensington together, engaging a
hackney-coach for the purpose, as my Lord Wrotham's carriage was now
wanted by it