repel him is impossible." Towards the middle period of his life, he
became so enormously fat, that four life-guardsmen could not, without
difficulty, lift him on horseback; but, as he advanced in years,
although still corpulent, his inconvenient obesity gradually
diminished.

"He scarcely ever forgot an injury, an affront, or a marked opposition
to his personal wishes. The cordiality which had previously subsisted
between his majesty and Prince Leopold, entirely ceased, when the
latter volunteered a visit to Queen Caroline on her return to this
country, in 1820: Brougham and Dentrum, for the zeal with which they
had advocated the cause of their royal client, were, during a long
period, deemed unworthy of those legal honours to which their high
talents and long standing at the bar, justly entitled them: and Sir
Robert Wilson was arbitrarily dismissed from the service, for his
interference at her majesty's funeral. On account of his unpopular
reception, by the mob, when he accompanied the allied sovereigns to
Guildhall, in 1814, he never afterwards honoured the city with his
presence; and when Rossini rudely declined the repetition of a piece
of music, in which the king had taken a conspicuous part, at a court
concert, his majesty turned his back on the composer, to whose works,
from that moment, he displayed the most unequivocal dislike. But, on
the other hand, some cases have been recorded, in which his conduct
was unquestionably tolerant and forgiving. He allowed Canning, an
avowed supporter of the queen, to retain office, without taking any
part in the ministerial proceedings against her majesty; and at the
last stage of his earthly career, sent the Duke of Sussex, with whom
he had long been at variance, his own ribbon of the order of St.
Patrick, with an assurance of his most sincere affection. Erskine,
while attorney-general to the prince, had so offended his royal