must conclude that PERCEVAL went, at the last moment, with the book in his hand, and that that produced the decision which filled the whole country with surprise.

102. The decision having been taken, and the communication made to the world, the Whig faction put the best face upon the matter that they could. They said, and they published in all sorts of shapes, that the PRINCE had, in keeping in PERCEVAL and his set, been actuated solely by filial affection for his revered father, whose recovery, he was afraid, might have been retarded, if, upon return to the use of his reason, he found his old and faithful servants turned out of his offices; but that if he found at the end of the year that the derangement of the king still con tinued, then he would put an end to the power of these men, and put his own friends in their places; and that this was the true meaning of his letter to PERCEVAL. To this it was answered, that supposing the KING to return to his reason before the termination of the year, must not his recovery be retarded as effectually, by learning that his son had intended to turn out his servants at the end of the year, as by finding that he had actually turned them out? and supposing the king to return to his reason after the expiration of the year; must not his complete recovery be retarded, must he not be replunged into his dismal situation, upon finding his servants turned out

fice, as effectually as he would have been, if ad found them turned out of office before the of the year? A reply to this was impossible; man of sense said that there was great dissition somewhere, that the true cause of keepERCEVAL in power was carefully kept out of

3. Nevertheless the Whig faction, always ly of gain, always cormorants after the puboney, still nourished and cherished the fond that, at the end of the year, the prince take them into power; and that, as there very reason to believe that his own power be of considerable permanence, they should le at last to fasten themselves upon the for a generation at least. They, therefore, red all sorts of stories tending to encouthe belief that the month of February, 1812,

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see them in possession of the public purse. ugh their newspapers they related that the CE merely tolerated PERCEVAL and ELDON he rest of the ministers, that he saw them dom as possible, and only just for that of time which was necessary for the signpapers; that, at his levees, he turned his upon them, seemed hardly to know them, he received Lords GRENVILLE and GREY, ll the persons of that party, in the most cormanner, shook them by the hand, and as as said to the whole court, and to the

it had been printed, in a considerable edition, by Mr. Edwards, printer, in the Strand; the whole edition had been put into the hands of a bookseller; the day of publication was named, that being the 9th of March, 1807; but on the 7th of March, or thereabouts, the KING determined upon turning out the Whigs and taking in PERCEVAL. Instantly PERCEVAL suppressed THE BOOK; took the edition out of the hands of the bookseller, thinking that he had every copy in his own possession. The story has been in print about his having burned the books in the courtyard of his country house; but, be this as it may, he certainly appears to have thought that no one but himself had a copy of THE BOOK. In this, however, he was deceived; for several copies of this book, as many as four or five, at least, were in the hands of private individuals. This must have been a source of great trouble to PERCEVAL; for if the book were once published, his power was gone. The PRINCESS he might be able to keep quiet, but the public was a less manageable being. To be sure the publication of the book, he must have been aware, would cover the Whig faction with monstrous odium; but it would at the same time have rendered the PRINCE independent of him. God knows what the effect might have been at that time, while NAPOLEON was the master of the greater part of Europe! God knows what

ht have been the effect with regard to the ility of the throne itself; but of the effect

regard to the PRINCE in the eyes of the ple, no one could doubt. Still, however, a lication of the book at that time would have dered the PRINCE quite careless as to the ndship of PERCEVAL. To prevent that publion was, therefore, a matter of great consence with the latter; and accordingly, every sible exertion was made to prevent the possi-y of such publication.

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05. When a book is put into the hands of a ter, there is required in order to prevent a surcopy from being printed, or several surplus es, uncommon vigilance and exaction. In orary cases, no such pains are required, because temptation is not great. In this case, it is le that every possible precaution was taken; still, there must have been many compositors whose hands the manuscript was necessarily ; and there must have been many persons too in whose reach the sheets would come. In t, in spite of all the vigilance that was emed, or that might have been employed, four ive copies of the book, an octavo volume of it 350 pages, got into private hands. To get at e copies advertisements appeared in all the papers, as soon as the PRINCE had detered to keep PERCEVAL as his minister. These ertisements plainly enough described the con

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tents of the book, and contained offers of high

price for the book to a copy to dispose of. were bought up: one two for 5007. each, one for 10007., and the last for 1500%. As mentioned in paragraph 90, PERCEVAL thought he had destroyed the whole in 1807, but he now thought, at any rate, that he had the whole in his possession that had not been destroyed. The public paid great attention to these curious advertisements; and they wondered, upon learning what the nature of the book was, that the PRINCESS herself should still remain silent. PERCEVAL, however, found the means to amuse her in the manner that the Whigs had been amused by her husband. At present the queen was alive and therefore there was a queen to hold drawing-rooms, if necessary; and then the PRINCESS CHARLOTTE was growing up, and was heiress-apparent to the throne; and her mother would surely enjoy distinction suited to her rank if she had but patience to wait a little while.

such persons as might have In this manner the copies was sold for 300l., one or

106. Thus was the secret kept locked up in the hands of PERCEVAL and ELDON, and their immediate associates; thus was the PRINCESS amused during the year 1811; and thus were Whigs amused, though more impatient than any party, always looking forward to power and emolument with more greediness than any other; thus, too, were the public amused, not however