Page:Memoirs of a Trait in the Character of George III.djvu/64

Rh to quote, had he thought it came under the description of common, or prophane swearing; a weakness, which, amidst the most gross and exaggerated pervertions of his colloquial intercourse, the low satirist Wolcot, otherwise, Peter Pindar, never imputed to this injured monarch: whose well known christian piety, we should add, sufficiently indicates that the words were not lightly used, but became, in their intention (Deo volente) a pledge, the redemption of which may justly excite the curiosity of the public.—This gracious interview, by the encouragement it afforded, was retained in memory to a late period by William Harrison, whose longevity exceeded that of his Father. It showed that the loftiest station in the community, and the most remote disparity of relative circumstances prevented not "George the good" from participating in the well founded anxiety of two individuals situated as these were, by having sacrificed every other prospect in life to that of accomplishing this national desideratum.

The application for a trial of the Timekeeper at the Observatory in Richmond Park, coinciding with his Majesty's desire to appreciate the merits of the machine by his own inspection, he chose it should be of six weeks duration, the usual period of a voyage to the West Indies, that having been the standard prescribed by the Act of 1714, which he reprobated so sinister a deviation from, without the consent of the Candidate. Nor was he more