Page:Memoirs of a Trait in the Character of George III.djvu/134

Rh resembled to that of Bellarmine, though it is not easy to say which was the most intolerant in his way. If his sentiments of George 3rd are estimated by the tangible materials with which the public are furnished herewith, they are of no more value than "the gross of spectacles, with copper rims and shagreen cases, that Moses brought from the fair, and," at which Mr. Primrose exclaimed as we do, "a murrain take such trumpery." The case brought forward in these indubitably offered as fine a field for operations as an accomplished courtier could desire, "who trusted to the vehemence of his expressions to convince the monarch of his sincerity." It was susceptible of being magnified into something superhuman, by some skilful adulatory adept, who would have been wrapt into the third heaven, if his feathered unction had quickened the royal ear; but who they were that mounted by this ladder to preferment, or dreamed of kissing hands, or were enabled to mark one day with a white stone (if they were classically cognizant) could be known only to "that sage enchanter Merlin, who knew a point more than the Devil himself" or—to Junius, who knew better still. Neither could indirect praises pass for staunch encomiums with our Sovereign, for both the one and the other were a losing speculation;