Random recollections of fHE house of lords. 363 



very classical term, but in the present case it is peculiarly expressive. His 

 face is round and full. His complexion is something between dark and sal- 

 low. What the colour of his hair is I cannot positively say, as on every occa- 

 sion on which I have seen him he had either the crown or a hat on his head. 

 As far as I could form a judgment, it is of a light brown. His features are 

 small and not very strongly marked, considering his advanced age. His nose 

 is short and broad, rather than otherwise. His forehead is pretty ample both 

 in breadth and height, but has a flatness about it which deprives it of any 

 intellectual expression. His large light-gray eyes are quick in their move- 

 ments, and clear and piercing in their glances. His countenance is highly 

 indicative of good nature blended with bluntness. You see nothing, either 

 in his appearance or manners, that would lead you to infer that he was other 

 than a plain country gentleman. That he is good-hearted and unaflFectedly 

 simple in his demeanour is a fact of which you are convinced the very first 

 glance you get of him. The beadle of a parish, when clothed in his cloak 

 of oflSce, struts about at the church door with an air of immeasurably greater 

 self-importance than William the Fourth exhibits when he meets, in state, 

 the Nobles and Commoners of the land. You cannot help thinking that he 

 wishes in his heart he could either dispense with the prescriptive ceremonies 

 }i« has to go through, at the opening and closing of each Session, or that, in 

 the overflowing kindness of his soul, he forgets, at the time, he is the Sove- 

 reign of these realms. His every look and movement furnish evidence, not 

 to be mistaken, of the man triumphing over the Monarch. It is clearly with 

 difficulty that, in the midst of the procession to the throne, he restrains him- 

 self from suddenly stepping aside to shake hands with every nobleman he sees 

 around him. As it is — contrary to the usual practice of Kings on sucli occa- 

 sions — he nods, and evidently says in his own mind, ' How do you do ? ' to 

 every Peer he passes. Of his extreme good-nature and simplicity of manners 

 he gave several striking proofs at the opening of the present Session. The 

 day was unusually gloomy, which, added to an imperfection in his visual 

 organs, consequent on advanced years, and to the darkness of the present 

 House of Lords, especially in the place where the throne is situated — rendered 

 it impossible for him to read the Royal Speech with facility. Most patiently 

 and good-naturedly did he struggle with the task, often hesitating, somstimes 

 mistaking, and at others correcting himself. On one occasion he stuck al- 

 together, when, after two or three ineffectual efforts to make out the word, 

 he was obliged to give it up, when, turning to Lord Melbourne, who stood 

 on his right hand, and looking him most significantly in the face, he said, in 

 a tone sufficiently loud to be audible in all parts of the House, ' Eh ! what is 

 it?' The infinite good-nature and bluntness with which the question was 

 put, would have reconciled the most inveterate republican to monarchy in 

 England, so long as it is embodied in the person of William the Fourth. 

 Lord Melbourne having whispered the obstructing word, the King proceeded 

 to toil through the speech ; but by the time he got to about the middle, the 

 Librarian brought him two wax tapers, on which he suddenly paused, and 

 raising his head, and looking at the Lords and Commons, he addressed them, 

 on the spur of the moment, in a perfectly distinct voice, and without the 

 least embarrassment or the mistake of a single word, in these terms : — 



" ' My Lords and Gentlemen, 

 " ' I have hitherto not been able, from want of light, to read this speech 

 in the way its importance deserves ; but, as lights are now brought me, I will 

 read it again from the commencement, and in a way which, I trust, will com- 

 mand your attention.' 



" He then again, though evidently fatigued by the difliculty of reading in 

 the first instance, began at the beginning, and read through the speech in a 

 manner which would have done credit to any professor of elocution — though 

 it was clear he laboured under a slight hoarseness, caused most probably by 

 cold. The sparkling of the diamonds in the crown, owing to the reflection 



