DEATH and CHARACTER of KING GEORGE II.

While the arms of Great Britain still prospered in every effort tending to the real interest of the nation, an event happened which for a moment obscured the splendour of her triumphs, and could not but be very alarming to those German allies, whom her liberality had enabled to maintain an expensive and sanguinary war of humour and ambition. On the twenty-fifth day of October, George II. king of Great Britain, without any previous disorder, was in the morning suddenly seized with the agony of death, at the palace at Kensington. He had risen at the usual hour, drank his chocolate, and inquired, about the wind, as anxious for the arrival of the foreign mails; then he opened a window of his apartment, and perceiving the weather was serene, declared he would walk in the garden. In a few minutes after this declaration, while he remained alone in his chamber, he fell down upon the floor; the noise of his fall brought his attendants into the room, who lifted him on the bed, where he desired, in a faint voice, that the princess Amelia might be called; but before she could reach the apartments he had expired. An attempt was made to bleed him, but without effect: and indeed his malady was far beyond the reach of art; for when the cavity of the thorax or chest was opened, and inspected by the sergeant-surgeons, they found the right ventricle of the heart actually ruptured, and a great quantity of blood discharged through the aperture into the surrounding pericardium; so that he must have died instantaneously, in consequence of the effusion. The case, however, was so extraordinary, that we question whether there is such another instance upon record. A rupture of this nature appears the more remarkable, as it happened to a prince of a healthy constitution, unaccustomed to excess, and far advanced beyond that period of life, when the blood might be supposed to flow with a dangerous impetuosity.

Thus died George II. at the age of seventy-seven, after a long reign of thirty-four years, distinguished by a variety of important events, and chequered with a vicissittide of character and fortune. He was in his person rather lower than the middle size, well shaped, erect, with eyes remarkably prominent, a high nose, and fair complexion. In his disposition he is said to have been hasty, prone to anger, especially in his youth, yet soon appeased; otherwise mild, moderate, and humane; in his way of living temperate, regular, and so methodical in every branch of private economy, that his attention descended to objects which a great king, perhaps, had better overlook. He was fond of military pomp and parade; and personally brave. He loved war as a soldier—he studied it as a science; and corresponded on this subject with some of the greatest officers whom Germany has produced. The extent of his understanding, and the splendour of his virtue, we shall not presume to ascertain, or attempt to display; we rather wish for opportunities to expatiate on his munificence and liberality—his generous regard to genius and learning—his royal encouragement and protection of those arts by which a nation is at once benefited and adorned. With respect to his government, it very seldom deviated from the institutions of law, or encroached upon private property, or interfered with the common administration of justice. The circumstances that chiefly marked his public character, were a predilection for his native country, and a close attention to the political interests of the Germanic body; points and principles to which he adhered with the most invincible fortitude: and if ever the blood and treasure of Great Britain were sacrificed to these considerations, we ought not so much to blame the prince, who acted from the dictates of natural affection, as we should detest a succession of venal ministers, all of whom in their turns devoted themselves, soul and body, to the gratification of his passion, or partiality, so prejudicial to the true interest of their country.

GEORGE II., 1727-1760