The Leading Facts of English History

| I

Charles I Elizabeth, m. Frederick,

| Elector-Palatine,* and

---------------- later King of Bohemia

| | | I

Charles II James II Mary, m. Sophia, m. the Elector

| William II of of Hanover+

------------ Orange I

| | | | George, Elector of

Mary, m. Anne James William III of Hanover, became

William III Edward Orange, became George I of England,

of Orange, Stuart, William III of 1714

afterward (the so- England, I

William III called "Old 1689 George II

of England Pretender, I

b. 1688, Frederick, Prince of

d. 1765 Wales (died before

| coming to the throne)

Charles Edward I

Stuart (the so-called ============================

"Young Pretender"), I I I

b. 1720, d. 1788 George IV William IV Edward,

Duke of Kent,

d. 1820

*Elector-Palatine: a prince ruling over the I

territory called the Palatinate in Victoria

western Germany, on the Rhine. I

+Elector of Hanover: a prince ruling over the Edward VII

province of Hanover, a part of the German I

Empire, lying on the North Sea. The elector George V

received his title from the fact that he was

one of a certain number of princes who had

the right of electing the German Emperor.

The new sovereign was a selfish, coarse old man, who in private life would, as Lady Montagu said, have passed for an honest blockhead. He neither knew anything about England, nor did he desire to know anything of it. He could not speak a word of the language of the country he was called to govern, and he made no attempt to learn it; even the coronation service had to be explained to him as best it might, in such broken Latin as the ministers could muster.

Laboring under these disadvantages he wisely declined to take any active part in the affairs of the nation. He trusted everything to his Whig friends (S532) and let them, with Sir Robert Walpole at their head, manage the country in their own way.

Forunately, the great body of the English people were abundantly able to take care of themselves. A noted French writer said of them that they resembled a barrel of their own beer, froth at the top, dregs at the bottom, but thoroughly sound and wholesome in the middle. It was this middle class, with their solid practical good sense, that kept the nation right.

They were by no means enthusiastic worshipers of the German King who had come to reign over them, but they saw that he had three good qualities: he was no hypocrite, he did not waste the people's money, and he was a man of unquestioned courage. But they also saw more than this, for they realized that though George I might be as heavy, dull, and wooden as the figurehead of an old-fashioned ship, yet, like that figurehead, he stood for something greater and better than himself,- for he represented Protestantism, with civil and religious liberty,- and so the people gave him their allegiance.

In addition, a certain number of other officers are frequently included, making the whole number about twelve or fifteen.