of office, as effectually as he would have been, if he had found them turned out of office before the end of the year? A reply to this was impossible; every man of sense said that there was great dissimulation somewhere, that the true cause of keeping PERCEVAL in power was carefully kept out of sight.

103. Nevertheless the Whig faction, always greedy of gain, always cormorants after the public money, still nourished and cherished the fond hope that, at the end of the year, the prince would take them into power; and that, as there was every reason to believe that his own power would be of considerable permanence, they should be able at last to fasten themselves upon the public for a generation at least. They, therefore, conjured up all sorts of stories tending to encourage the belief that the month of February, 1812, was to see them in possession of the public purse. Through their newspapers they related that the PRINCE merely tolerated PERCEVAL and ELDON and the rest of the ministers, that he saw them as seldom as possible, and only just for that length of time which was necessary for the signing of papers; that, at his levees, he turned his back upon them, seemed hardly to know them, while he received Lords GRENVILLE and GREY, and all the persons of that party, in the most cordial manner, shook them by the hand, and as much as said to the whole court, and to the

it had been printed, in a considerable edition, by Mr. Edwards, printer, in the Strand; the whole edition had been put into the hands of a bookseller; the day of publication was named, that being the 9th of March, 1807; but on the 7th of March, or thereabouts, the KING determined upon turning out the Whigs and taking in PERCEVAL. Instantly PERCEVAL suppressed THE BOOK; took the edition out of the hands of the bookseller, thinking that he had every copy in his own possession. The story has been in print about his having burned the books in the courtyard of his country house; but, be this as it may, he certainly appears to have thought that no one but himself had a copy of THE BOOK. In this, however, he was deceived; for several copies of this book, as many as four or five, at least, were in the hands of private individuals. This must have been a source of great trouble to PERCEVAL; for if the book were once published, his power was gone. The PRINCESS he might be able to keep quiet, but the public was a less manageable being. To be sure the publication of the book, he must have been aware, would cover the Whig faction with monstrous odium; but it would at the same time have rendered the PRINCE independent of him. God knows what the effect might have been at that time, while NAPOLEON was the master of the greater part of Europe! God knows what

might have been the effect with regard to the stability of the throne itself; but of the effect with regard to the PRINCE in the eyes of the people, no one could doubt. Still, however, a publication of the book at that time would have rendered the PRINCE quite careless as to the friendship of PERCEVAL. To prevent that publication was, therefore, a matter of great consequence with the latter; and accordingly, every possible exertion was made to prevent the possibility of such publication.

105. When a book is put into the hands of a printer, there is required in order to prevent a surplus copy from being printed, or several surplus copies, uncommon vigilance and exaction. In ordinary cases, no such pains are required, because the temptation is not great. In this case, it is probable that every possible precaution was taken; but still, there must have been many compositors into whose hands the manuscript was necessarily put; and there must have been many persons too within whose reach the sheets would come. In short, in spite of all the vigilance that was employed, or that might have been employed, four or five copies of the book, an octavo volume of about 350 pages, got into private hands. To get at these copies advertisements appeared in all the public papers, as soon as the PRINCE had determined to keep PERCEVAL as his minister. These advertisements plainly enough described the con

tents of the book, and contained offers of high price for the book to such persons as might have a copy to dispose of. In this manner the copies were bought up: one was sold for 300%., one or two for 5007. each, one for 1000%., and the last for 15001. As mentioned in paragraph 90, PERCEVAL thought he had destroyed the whole in 1807, but he now thought, at any rate, that he had the whole in his possession that had not been destroyed. The public paid great attention to these curious advertisements; and they wondered, upon learning what the nature of the book was, that the PRINCESS herself should still remain silent. PERCEVAL, however, found the means to amuse her in the manner that the Whigs had been amused by her husband. At present the queen was alive and therefore there was a queen to hold drawing-rooms, if necessary; and then the PRINCESS CHARLOTTE was growing up, and was heiress-apparent to the throne; and her mother would surely enjoy distinction suited to her rank if she had but patience to wait a little while.

106. Thus was the secret kept locked up in the hands of PERCEVAL and ELDON, and their immediate associates; thus was the PRINCESS amused during the year 1811; and thus were Whigs amused, though more impatient than any party, always looking forward to power and emolument with more greediness than any other; thus, too, were the public amused, not however

without looking forward with uncommon curiosity to see what would take place when the PRINCE should be in possession of what were termed his "full powers." The Irish, never the first to discover duplicity practised upon them, looked forward with great anxiety to the arrival of the full powers. The PRINCE had always professed his anxiety to see what was called the emancipation of the Catholics. The Whigs had made that a great test of their liberality and justice. The Irish regarded the old king as the great obstacle to their obtaining of that inestimable blessing. They were a little chagrined, indeed, when they found that PERCEVAL and ELDON, who had put out the Whigs upon that very question, were still retained in power by the PRINCE. But, never mind," they said, we have only about "eleven months to wait till the prince gets his "full powers; and he will then fulfil his pledges

to Ireland." In the meanwhile the PRINCE, having been installed as REGENT, and having taken the oaths according to the act, proceeded on the 12th of February, 1811, to open the parliament, or rather, to commence his legislative functions, by a speech to both Houses, which speech, however, he did not go to deliver in person, but issued a commission for the purpose. The speech was as follows:

MY LORDS AND GENTLEMEN,-In execution of the commission which has now been read to you, we are commanded