GEORGE. 



vailed between Spain and England, on account of the trade the (iifety of liis German dominions, was imputed tlic allianc* 

 earned on in the Well Indies by their refpeftive fubjedls. formed with tlie king of Pruffia, and the employment of a 

 In 17^9, the matters in debate were compromifcd by a con- large force in continental warfare. This was the lead 

 vention fettled by the refpeftive courts, but its terms were glorious part of the public tranfaii\ions : and during the 

 lo little fatisfaftory to the traders, tliat Walpole found him- early years of the conteft events were very unfavourable to 

 lelf obliged by their clamours to prepare for hoflilities. England; but when, at the demand of the people, the king 

 V\ ar was declarec^ and Portobello taken by admiral Vernon, fummoned to his councils the great William Pitt, after- 

 The war^ifowever, did'not turn out fo luccefsful as the ;xo- wards earl of Chatham, the tide of fuccefs fet full in upon 

 pie expefctfl.fo that a clamour was railed againft the minifter, the meafures of government. The French power in the 

 and fir R. Walpole was obliged to refign in the year 1742. Eail Indies was annihilated ; and in America the rednftion 

 At the fameflpriod France, and the other .powers in league of LouiRnirg was followed by that of Canada. The illand 

 with lier, feemed determined, on the death of the emperor of Guadabirpe, and the Britifli fettlement of Senegal, fell 

 Cliarles VI., to ftrip his daughter Maria Therefa of fcr under the Britith dominion, and th.e famous battle of Min- 

 inheritance, whicfl had been guaranteed to her by the Prag- den exalted the reputation of the Britilh foldiery. The 

 matic fanCtion. In defence of her juft rights, George fent navy of England reigned triumphant over the feas, while 

 an Eij^hni army to the continent, and alio a large body of that of France was reduced to infignificance, from which it 

 forces from his eleftorate, who were taken into Britilh pay. never after completely recovered. Notwithftanding all this 

 J. he king himfelf joined the army, wlfijh was under the fuccefs the German war was unpopular, and minitters were 

 commaed of tlie earl of Stair, and difpfayed great braver^', rep'foached for the facrifices wliich they had made, or were 

 Vidory declared itfelf in favour of the Britilh, bat they were fuppofed to have made, to the perfonal «ilhes of the king. 

 forced to leave their wounded to the care of tlie enemy. In this ftate of affairs George II. fuddenly died from a 



ruptui-e of the right ventricle of the heart, which, without 

 any previous il'nefs or fuffering, terminated his life on the 

 251)1 of Ottober 1760, in his feventy-third year, and in the 

 thirty-third of his reign. During this long period he had 

 experienced many viciflitudes of fortune, but he lived to fee 

 himfelf the moll fuccefsful of all the Englifh monarchs. He 



Soon after, the command of the allied army devolved on the 

 king's fecond fon, tlie duke of Cumberland, who was 

 reckoned very deficient in talents as general of a great 

 army. Und»;r him was loft 'ihe bloody battle of Fontenoi in 

 '74+> 3nd tlie French maintained an undoubted fuperiority 



in Flanders during the remainder of the war. In the fol- ^ _.. 



lowing year the adherents of the pretender encouraged him was endowed by nature with an underftanding by no mean,^ 

 to try his fortune by a defcent, in the northern past of the 

 kingdoni, where he njight expedl an immediate and decifive 

 declaration to be made in his favour. His Ion, accordingly, 

 under the protection of the court of France, landed on the 

 co^J of Scotland, in the month of July. He was received 

 with much relpeft and affeftion, and was immediately joined 



by feveral of the clans, with whom he proceeded to the yet a natural goodnefs of heart, a love of juft ice, and an 

 fouth, enlarging his fmall army with all thofe who would ' " r r ,r -.■ -i- . 1 .1 n- n- r,- 



join in his caufe. At Perth he proclaimed his father king, 

 and immediately after took polfeffion of Edinburgh, de- 

 feated a body of the royal troops at Prefton Pans,, and 

 m-rched into England, where he had the ftrongefl atfuranccs 

 of being powerful]^ reinforced. He proceeded to Deity, 

 but found the people no where zealoufly incHnedto fupport 

 his caufe ; at length th& duke of Cumberland arrived from 



comprehenlive, and he had taken little pains to improve and 

 expand his original powers by intelleftual cultivation. 

 Equally a llranger to learning and the arts, he faw the rapid 

 increafe of both under his reign, without contributing in the 

 remotell degree to accelerate the prcgrefs by any mode of 

 encouragement. He was hally and obllinate in his temper. 



honeft opennefs of difpontion, conciliated the affeftion of his 

 people, aTid have infpired refpeft and veneration for his 

 memory. He was a lirm friend to the ellabliilied laws aWd 

 liberties of the kingdom, and it mull be admitted, highly to 

 his lionour, that the general principles of his adminillration, 

 both civil and religious, vi-ere liberal and jull. Many of the 

 penal llatutass^ which Hill remain unrepeakd, were in the 

 reign of this prince meliorated, and virtually fufpended, ' 



Flanders, with fe%-eral Englilh regiments, engaged and de- by the mildnefs and equity of tlie executive government. 



feated the rebels, and thus put an end to the hopes of the And he will long be remembered for his declaration, " that 



pretender, who coidd no longer be confidered as an objeA during his reign, there fliould be no perfecution for con- 



of terror or alarm. The government of the houfe of fcience fake." On various occalions he had given fignal 



Brnnfwick was from this period more firmly ellablilhed ; demonllrations of perfonal bravery, nor did the general 



and it appeared that the greater part of the nation had in- tcnour of his condntt afford proofs lefs linking of his retti- 



diiTolubly connefted the interefls of religion and liberty with tude and integrity. If he cannot be ranked among the 



the fupport of thofe principles which called the family of the greateil, he is certainly entitled to be claiTed with the moll 



reigning prince to the throne. 10^174% peace was ncgo- refpeftable princes of the age in which he lived. 



ciated, and eftablifhed by the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ; 

 this treaty did not correfpond with the expetlations of tlie 

 people, but it was welcomed as a relief from the burthens 

 neceflarily impofed by a ftate of warfare. In 1751, the 

 king !oil his eldell fon Frederic, who had lived a co!;fider- 

 able time at variance with his father, but whti had made his 

 peace with the court after the difmiHion of Walpole. This 

 prince, the father of our prefent lovereign, was amiable and 

 well difpoied, and the fondell hopes had been entertained of 

 the patriotifin which he would have exhibited on the throne 

 to which he was heir, and of which he was deprived by an 

 early death. In 17J5, a war broke out between Great 



George, Si. a name whereby feveral ordeis, both military 

 and religious, are denominated. It took its rife from a faint 

 fa.-Bous through.out all the Eaft, called by the Greeks 

 MtvaA^fiajTvf, q. d. great marfyr. 



On iome medals of the emperors John and Manuel Com- 

 neni, we have the figure of St. George armed, hold- 

 ing a fword or javelin in one hand, and in the other a 

 buckler, v.ith this infcription ; an O, and therein a httle 



P 

 A, and If; — rior, making O AFIOS rEOPriOI, Holy 



O 

 George. He is generally reprefented on horfeback, as being 



Britain and France, the events of which, thoiigii truly im- fuppofed to have frequently engaged in combats in that 

 portant to the kingdom, are in no great degree connedled manner. 



with the charafter of the king. To his apprehcaiions for He is highly venerated throughout Armenia, Mufcdvy, 



3 • and 



