Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/358

338 his purple gown ornamented with the star of his famous Order, he was still a King, and his worthless son had been Regent for ten years before death released the old monarch and the Regent became King of England. It was fortunate for the country that the Sovereign no longer possessed the personal influences of former days. Though the new King rivalled his predecessor Charles II. in wanton and riotous living, yet the social conditions of the age continued unchanged under the new régime. Indeed, "the last night of the Regency passed into the first morning of the reign of George IV. as an event that would be scarcely marked as an epoch in English history." But the new King was an expensive luxury to the nation. His coronation alone cost £243,000, though his unhappy wife was refused admission to the Abbey, and took no part in the proceedings. She mercifully died a few weeks later. Besides receiving a large annual income, he required his debts to be constantly paid, and large sums of money mysteriously disappeared. "If he had been a manufacturing town or a populous rural district, or an army of five thousand men, he could not have cost more," reflected Thackeray.