Page:Memoirs of a Trait in the Character of George III.djvu/141

Rh was thought indispensably necessary in the way of explanation, it cannot be expected to excite the same interest, notwithstanding the extraordinary figure which a Nobleman unknown to fame cuts in the bustle of the scenery. In proportion as plain and substantial matters of fact may be conceived to convey a moral lesson better than the best romance, from Crusoe to the Waverleys, the Author would persuade himself he has stepped on high ground in an abstract view, and exclusive of his mode of dealing with the subject, on which it behoves him to observe a decorous silence. Like the mythological Novel of Telemachus, his production is primarily addressed to those persons usually of distinguished rank, and conspicuous for their learning, who are engaged in moulding the ductile thought of some illustrious pupil, and "teaching the young idea how to shoot"—when the mark, as may happen, is identified with the welfare of myriads of the population of some extended empire. But as those destined to wear the diadem, and their heirs, apparent or presumptive, with the branches of their House inclusively, constitute but a very small proportion of mankind, and as the details given are illustrative in no ordinary degree of a perseverance and humanity seldom supported with such consistency in private life; they become an example of virtuous self-denial, which all gradations in society, but especially the middle and the higher