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George III, Diary, ii. 398), and though he took interest in the foundation of the Royal Academy and liked pictures, he preferred West to Reynolds. He was fond of music, had a good ear, and at one period of his life was constantly at the opera; Handel was his favourite composer. (For notices of the king's concerts see, Court and Private Life, passim.) Mechanics and agricultural science pleased him, and he took delight in models of ships and dockyards. He had a liking for books, and in 1762 bought the library of Consul Smith, who resided at Venice (, Lit. Anecd. viii. 230). This was the nucleus of a collection which grew into the 'King's Library,' now in the British Museum. Shortly after he came to the throne he appears to have studied experimental philosophy (Life of Hardwicke, iii. 291). He was sincerely pious, his morality was strict, and he invariably acted according to the dictates, erroneous or otherwise, of his conscience. He was always remarkably calm in moments of danger. The sullenness of his youth appeared in later life in the form of an implacable disposition. Conscious of the rectitude of his intentions, and with an over-weening opinion of his own wisdom and dignity, he considered all opposition as an affront to himself and an evidence of moral turpitude. Some of his petulancy must be attributed to the morbid excitability of his brain, which broke out from time to time in attacks of insanity. His leading characteristic was described by himself as firmness, and by those who were opposed to him as obstinacy. Although slow and prejudiced, George was not without ability; he had considerable insight into men's characters, and no small knowledge of kingcraft. He carried on, certainly with some peculiar advantages, a long and bitter conflict with the most powerful party in the state, and was on the whole successful, though at a terrible cost both to himself and the country. This conflict was waged with the great whig families and their political adherents. Ever since the accession of the house of Hanover the crown had leant on the support of the whigs. The first two Georges were foreigners, and the right of both was disputed. The weakness of the crown increased the importance of its supporters; political power was vested exclusively in a few noble families which claimed to represent the principles of the revolution. The affairs of the nation were thus controlled by a party which had almost wholly ceased to represent principles, was held together by connection, and was strengthened by bribery and other corrupt practices, while the crown was fast becoming a mere ornament, adding lustre to a powerful oligarchy. The power of the people at large was as yet non-existent; the House of Commons was not, except in name, a representative body, and the dominant faction had the advantage of distributing the patronage of the crown. George began his reign with a determination to break the yoke of the whig oligarchy, and to recover for the crown the power which it had lost since 1688. There was no need for him to depend on whig support; he was an Englishman, and his title was undisputed. He had been taught that the royal authority could be best asserted by disregarding ties of connection, and breaking up parties, and that a king should choose his ministers without yielding to the dictates of a faction. He had seen in the success of Pitt the triumph of a statesman who disregarded party connection. He therefore resolved to overthrow the system of exclusion, to open office to the tories, and not to allow any party to dictate to him. In his struggle with the whigs and his work of building up the prerogative he used the services of a number of politicians who attached themselves to him personally, rather than to any minister or faction, and were called by those who opposed his policy the 'king's friends.' He thus renounced the proper sphere of a constitutional monarch in favour of that of a party leader. The king's friends do not seem to have been an organised body or kind of secret cabinet, as Burke believed, but they were not the less a formidable party. They were recruited and bound to their master by self-interest, for George took the crown patronage out of the hands of his ministers, and dispensed it himself, and by this means maintained a crown influence in parliament which was apart from, and often opposed to, the ministerial influence. For the first ten years of his reign George was engaged in a struggle, which was often unsuccessful, to break down the whig factions, and find a minister who would, and could, carry out his political views.

The accession of the young king was popular, and a proclamation against immorality which he caused to be published was generally approved. He found the ministry of Newcastle and Pitt in office, but he told Newcastle at his first interview that Bute would inform him 'of my thoughts at large,' and wrote his declaration to the council without reference to Pitt; it contained words which threw a slight on the conduct of the war, and Pitt had some trouble to persuade Bute to allow alterations to be made before it was printed (ib. iii. 215, 216). The speech for the opening of parliament was drawn up by Lord-chancellor Hardwicke, and was sent back by the king,