KEW IN FAVOUR 63 



thence seeing the royal pair walking arm-in- 

 arm in Richmond Gardens. Next day, the 

 King came to tea with his family in the draw- 

 ing-room ; then, a few days later, meeting Miss 

 Burney in the Queen's dressing-room, he said 

 that he had waited on purpose to tell her "I 

 am quite well now I was nearly so when I 

 saw you before but I could overtake you 

 better now." After four months of royal 

 misery and public excitement, the evergreen 

 sneerer, Horace Walpole, could note "The 

 King has returned, not to what the courtiers 

 call his sense, but to his non-sense." 



The news called forth an outburst of public 

 joy, that hit the Prince's party hard. A thanks- 

 giving prayer was read in every church ; and 

 later on the King, to the dread of his advisers, 

 would not be satisfied without the excitement 

 of attending a solemn service at St. Paul's, 

 where he and the princesses were moved to 

 tears, while his graceless sons attracted attention 

 by their irreverent chattering. There is some 

 slight palliation for the Prince of Wales's con- 

 duct throughout this trying time, in the fact 

 that the King had showed a dislike to him, and 

 even a want of fairness to his shortcomings ; 



