Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/303

 CHAPTER XXI

Circa 1727—1742

COUNTRY LIFE

"I fancy it was a merrier England, that of our ancestors, than the island which we inhabit,"—.

HE death of George I. in 1727 and the accession of his son as George II., made little difference in the social life of England. The new King could speak English indifferently and with a strong accent, and was only a foreigner in his tastes and prejudices. Hence he exercised no influence in the Cabinet Councils, which, like his father, he did not even trouble to attend. And, indeed, so independent of the King did the Government grow that, since the reign of Queen Anne, no English ruler has been present at a Cabinet Council or refused assent to any Act of Parliament passed by the representatives of the English people. It was the first 283