ANNUAL BIOGRAPHY AND OBITUARY, OF 1820. PART I. MEMOIRS OF CELEBRATED MEN, WHO HAVE DIED WITHIN THE YEARS 1819-1820. HIS LATE MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY GEORGE III. KING OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND; DEFENDER OF THE FAITH; KING AND ELECTOR OF HANOVER; ARCH-TREASURER OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE; DUKE OF BRUNSWICK AND LUNENBURGH, &c. &c. DURING URING the latter end of the reign of George II. the court of St. James's appears to have been in a state of distraction. Family quarrels had been carried to a great and alarming height; while the eldest son and heir-apparent was not only excluded from the presence and councils of his father, but was forced to reside in a private mansion in St. James's Square. It was at Norfolk House that Prince George, afterwards George III., the eldest son of Frederick Prince of Wales, by the Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, was born, May 24. 1738. O.S. The accouchement of Her Royal Highness was premature, having taken place at the conclusion of seven months; but this circumstance, usually considered as an indication of weakness, never appears to have affected the health, strength, or stature, either of the child or the future man. In consequence of the sudden death of his father, the Prince of Wales, the charge of the royal infant devolved almost solely on the Princess-dowager, who was a fond mother, and appears to have united considerable good sense with a certain portion of German stateliness. The education of the heir-apparent to the crown of England was a subject of the utmost consequence to the nation at large. Accordingly, the conduct of the Princess-dowager on this occasion was viewed with a scrutinising eye; and such a jealousy at length prevailed, that great and frequent changes took place in the inferior departments of the young prince's household. Of some of his instructors, the capacity was doubted; while others were accused of being adherents to the Pretender, and, consequently, enemies to the Protestant succession in the house of Brunswick. It is to the famous "Diary" of George Bubb Doddington, afterwards Baron of Melcombe Regis, who, abjuring the service of the old King, entered into that of Frederick Prince of Wales, and paid his respects daily at the court of Leicester House, to which His Royal Highness had removed, that we are to look for authentic information. Under the date of Oct. 16. 1749, we find the following entry: "The Princess talked to me about Lord North for a governor to Prince George, which I approved of." In 1750, we find the following memorandum: "Lord Bute kissed hands for the bed |