64 KEW GARDENS 



but the Duke of York, always the father's 

 favourite son, has no excuse for backing up 

 his undutiful brother. Soon after the recovery 

 was announced, London had hailed it with a 

 general illumination, from rushlights in the 

 humblest cottage window to blazing devices 

 on the clubs. It was witnessed by the Queen 

 and all her daughters except the youngest, 

 while, in their absence till the, for them, most 

 unwonted hour of 1 A.M., Kew House too was 

 lighted up and adorned with a transparency 

 displaying The King Providence Health 

 Britannia ; and on either side of the gates, in 

 gold letters on a purple ground, shone these 

 most loyal lines : 



Our prayers are heard, and Providence restores 

 A patriot King to bless Britannia's shores . 

 Nor yet to Britain is this bliss confined, 

 All Europe hails the friend of human kind ! 

 If such the general joy, what words can show 

 The change to transport from the depth of woe, 

 In those permitted to embrace again 

 The best of fathers, husbands, and of men ? 



Inside the house also the Muse was not 

 silent. His darling Princess Amelia came to 

 kneel before him, presenting her father with 

 verses in the Queen's name, from the pen of her 

 novelist-attendant. 



