Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/723

 GEORGE I. (GREECE) was no flatterer, said of him after his death : " He was the most extraordinary compound of talent, wit, buffoonery, obstinacy, and good feeling in short, a medley of the most oppo- site qualities, with a great preponderance of good that I ever saw in any character in my life." His short reign had been remarkable for the advance made in liberal sentiments, and for the many practical reforms which it had witnessed ; changes with which the sovereign had little to do. The England of 1830 bore but small resemblance to the England of 1820, and still less to that of 1810, when as regent George IV. had commenced the life of a sov- ereign. He left no legitimate children, and was succeeded by the duke of Clarence, third son of George III., as William IV. GEORGE I., king of Greece, born in Copen- hagen, Dec. 24, 1845. He is the second son of Christian IX., king of Denmark, and brother of the princess of Wales. On June 6, 1863, he accepted the crown of Greece under the title of king of the Hellenes, relinquishing (Sept. 12) his rights of precedence in Den- mark in favor of his younger brother Walde- 'mar, and was permitted to remain a Lutheran on condition of his children being brought up in the Greek faith. In 1866 his sister the princess Dagmar married the Russian cezare- vitch ; and on Oct. 27, 1867, he married the grand duchess Olga, a daughter of the grand duke Constantine and a niece of the reigning czar, who has borne him a son (Aug. 2, 1868), the crown prince Constantine, duke of Sparta, and three other children. The principal event of his reign was the Cretan insurrection of 1866-'9, which led to serious complications with Turkey. (See GREECE.) GEORGE V., ex-king of Hanover, born in Berlin, May 27, 1819. He is a son of King Ernest Augustus and of a sister of Queen Louisa of Prussia, and married in 1843 the princess Mary of Saxe-Altenburg. Although an early weakness of the eyes ended in total blindness, he succeeded to the throne on the death of his father, Nov. 18, 1851, and soon created dissatisfaction by his affiliations with eccentric and unpopular courtiers, and by his ultra-conservative principles. Although he was a Protestant and a grand master of free- masons, his Roman Catholic minister Windt- horst persuaded him to favor ultramontanes, while he engaged a tutor of the same faith for his elder son, and the ex-queen was report- ed in 1871 to have joined the church of Rome. His unstable policy resulted in a perpetual change of ministers, and in 1865 he restored a reactionary cabinet under Bacmeister. De- spite his relationship with the Prussian dynas- ty, and the remonstrances of his most influ- ential favorite, the secretary general Zimmer- mann, he showed a deep aversion for Prussia ; and as he ostentatiously sided with Austria at the outbreak of the war of 1866, his territo- ry was invaded by the Prussians in June, and annexed by King William Sept. 20. He fled to SAINT GEORGE 711 Vienna, where he kept up an incessant agita- tion against Prussia ; and as even after he had agreed, in February, 1868, to accept 16,000,000 thalers as an indemnity for his lost kingdom he persisted in his spiteful attitude, the Prussian government ordered (March 2) the provisional suspension of the payment of that amount. GEORGE, prince of Denmark, born April 21, 1653, died Oct. 28, 1708. He was the second son of Frederick III. and Sophia of Liineburg. On the death of his father in 1670 war was re- newed with Sweden, and the prince took part in the campaign of his brother Christian V. against Charles XL, when the rival kings com- manded and fought in person. On July 28, 1683, he married the princess Anne of Eng- land, second daughter of the duke of York af- terward James II. She bore him 17 children, all of whom died before their mother's acces- sion to the throne. The prince was wholly de- void of talent, as of ambition. u I have tried him drunk," said Charles II., " and I have tried him sober ; and drunk or sober, there is noth- ing in him." But he was brave, good-natured, and humane ; taking no part in politics, and deserting his unhappy father-in-law in the hour of need, chiefly by the desire and after the example of his wife. He had been brought into the conspiracy through her subserviency to Churchill, the future duke of Maryborough, but his extreme insignificance rather excited the raillery of the king, even on this sad oc- casion. "After all," said James, hearing of his defection, "a good trooper would have been a greater loss." After the triumph of the prince and princess of Orange, Prince George was naturalized by act of parliament and cre- ated by the new king duke of Cumberland, in acknowledgment of his cooperation in the great measure which had been achieved. He accompanied the king to Ireland, and was present at the battle of the Boyne. On the accession of his wife, the " good Queen Anne," to the throne, in 1702, he was made lord high admiral of England. He had previously been invested with the title of generalissimo of all the queen's forces. As admiral he was assisted by a council consisting of four members. The legality of this board was much doubted, but parliament was so obsequious to the queen, that it was suffered to act without question. GEORGE. I. The patron saint of England, born, it is supposed, at Lydda or at Ramleh in Palestine in the latter half of the 3d century, said to have died in Nicomedia, April 23, 303. He appears to have been brought up in Cappa- docia and to have embraced the military pro- fession. It is the prevailing opinion of critics that Eusebius refers to him in his " Ecclesias- tical History " (B. viii., c. 5), in speaking of "a man of no mean origin, but highly esteemed for his temporal dignities," who, when Dio- cletian's edict against the Christians was post- ed up in Nicomedia, " took it down and tore it in pieces." As the emperor was then present in the city, this deed of one of his officers en-