DOI Artikel:
Beerbohm, Max: A note on George the Fourth
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.27812#0271
By Max Beerbohm 267
Mr. Coates would not refuse to come and " view the decorations,
nevertheless." Though he does not appear to have treated his
inferiors with that extreme servility that is now in vogue, George
was beloved by the whole of his household, and many are the little
tales that are told to illustrate the kindliness and consideration he
showed to his valets and his jockeys and his stable-boys. That
from time to time he dropped certain of his favourites is no cause
for blaming him. Remember that a Great Personage, like a great
genius, is dangerous to his fellow-creatures. The favourites of
Royalty live in an intoxicant atmosphere. They become
unaccountable for their behaviour. Either they get beyond them-
selves, and, like Brummel, forget that the King, their friend,
is also their master ; or they outrun the constable, and go bankrupt,
or cheat at cards in order to keep up their position, or do some
other foolish thing that makes it impossible for the King to
favour them more. Remember, too, that old friends are generally
the refuge of unsociable persons, and how great must be the
temptation besetting the head of Society to form fresh friendships,
when all the cleverest and most charming persons in the land are
standing ready, like supers at the wings, to come on and please
him. At Carlton House there was a constant succession of wits.
Minds were preserved for the Prince of Wales, as coverts are
preserved for him to-day. For him Sheridan would say his best
bon-mot, and Theodore Hook contrive his most practical jokes,
his swiftest chansonette. And Fox would talk, as only he could,
of Liberty and of Patriotism, and Byron would look more than
ever like Isidore de Lara as he recited his own bad verses, and Sir
Walter Scott would " pour out with an endless generosity his
store of old-world learning, kindness, and humour." Of such men
George was a splendid patron. He did not merely sit in his chair,
gaping princely at their wit and their wisdom, but quoted with the
scholars
Mr. Coates would not refuse to come and " view the decorations,
nevertheless." Though he does not appear to have treated his
inferiors with that extreme servility that is now in vogue, George
was beloved by the whole of his household, and many are the little
tales that are told to illustrate the kindliness and consideration he
showed to his valets and his jockeys and his stable-boys. That
from time to time he dropped certain of his favourites is no cause
for blaming him. Remember that a Great Personage, like a great
genius, is dangerous to his fellow-creatures. The favourites of
Royalty live in an intoxicant atmosphere. They become
unaccountable for their behaviour. Either they get beyond them-
selves, and, like Brummel, forget that the King, their friend,
is also their master ; or they outrun the constable, and go bankrupt,
or cheat at cards in order to keep up their position, or do some
other foolish thing that makes it impossible for the King to
favour them more. Remember, too, that old friends are generally
the refuge of unsociable persons, and how great must be the
temptation besetting the head of Society to form fresh friendships,
when all the cleverest and most charming persons in the land are
standing ready, like supers at the wings, to come on and please
him. At Carlton House there was a constant succession of wits.
Minds were preserved for the Prince of Wales, as coverts are
preserved for him to-day. For him Sheridan would say his best
bon-mot, and Theodore Hook contrive his most practical jokes,
his swiftest chansonette. And Fox would talk, as only he could,
of Liberty and of Patriotism, and Byron would look more than
ever like Isidore de Lara as he recited his own bad verses, and Sir
Walter Scott would " pour out with an endless generosity his
store of old-world learning, kindness, and humour." Of such men
George was a splendid patron. He did not merely sit in his chair,
gaping princely at their wit and their wisdom, but quoted with the
scholars