Page:Memoirs of a Trait in the Character of George III.djvu/132

Rh, were indeed amply merited by a conduct the singular perseverance of which seems more characteristic of the professors chair than of the diadem:unlimited in number, duration and exactness, than the Landlord had to turn the course of the stream by which the Miller was to get his bread. The desire of doing justice to an injured subject may be divided between these potentates, but how great is the disparity seen in what cost Frederic no further trouble than the perusal of the sufferer's case, enquiring into its authenticity, and affixing his signature to an order consequent; and the surprising self constraint by which George 3rd, to redeem his pledge, attended fourteen weeks at the meridian hour; and afterwards condescended, every Tuesday to examine and give an opinion on the several written or printed tracts which the junior Harrison laid before him, to know his advice, pending the application to Parliament. The trouble to the descendant of Albert the Achilles was not a ten-thousandth part of that incurred by the Elector of Hanover; he could, by the stamp of his booted foot, order matters instanter as he deemed fitting. In Germany, George 3rd could have imitated his neighbour, but in England he may be said to have toiled through the obstacles in the way to the redeeming of his pledge; and he was treated by the Commissioners, in November, 1772, as has been seen, and they have themselves recorded. His virtue was its own reward, except the recording Angel transmitted it to the Eternal Throne: while, on the contrary, the eclat of the Miller's affair soon passed the frontiers of Frederic's domains; and such respectable natives of Prussia as happened to be in London, or its vicinity, were convened by advertisement to celebrate this signal triumph of justice with a convivial dinner. But with the exception of the venerable Mechanician, his friends, and descendants, it does not appear that any set of Englishmen, fellows of the Royal Society, or others, ever drew a cork to honour the love of justice, the humanity, the