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A History of the Four Georges and of William Iv,
A History of the Four Georges and of William Iv Author:Justin McCarthy Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: CHAPTER XXIII. ROYAL FAMILY AFFAIRS. George, and his wife Caroline Wilhelmina Dorothea, had a somewhat large family. Their eldest son, Frederick Lewis, Pri... more »nce of Wales and Duke of Gloucester, was born on January 20, 1707. Two other sons died, one the moment after his birth, the other after scarcely a year of breath. William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, was born in 1721. There were five daughters : Anne, Amelia or Emily, Caroline, Mary, and Louisa. The Princess Caroline seems to have been by far the most loveable of the whole family. She inherited much of her mother's cleverness without her mother's coarseness. ' Princess Caroline,' says Lord Hervey, ' had affability without meanness, dignity without pride, cheerfulness without levity, and prudence without falsehood.' Her figure indeed is one of the bright redeeming visions in all that chapter of Court history. She stands out among the rough, coarse, self-seeking men and women somewhat as Sophy AVestern does among the personages of ' Tom Jones.' Her tender inclination towards Lord Hervey makes her seem all the more sweet and womanly; her influence over him is always apparent. He never speaks of her without seeming to become at 1729. ' FRED.' 51 once more manly and gentle, strong and sweet. Of the other princesses, Emily had perhaps the most marked character, but there would appear to have been little in her to admire. Hervey says of her that she had the least sense of all the family, except indeed her brother Frederick ; and we shall soon come to appreciate the significance of this comparison. Frederick, the eldest son, like George the Second himself, had not been allowed to come to England in his early days. The young prince had just entered his twenty-second year when, on the accession of his father to the throne,...« less