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The Four Georges
English BooksWhale Edition by William Makepeace Thackeray
A witty historical portrait of Britain under the four Hanoverian kings named George, linking court manners with political and cultural change.
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Book introduction
The Four Georges
Thackeray’s lectures turn royal biography into social history. George I, George II, George III, and George IV become gateways to the politics, fashions, literature, and public scandals that shaped eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century Britain.
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Why this edition can be shared
Published in 1860; Thackeray died in 1863. The original English text is public domain under the United States term and life-plus-70 rules.
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The Four Georges
William Makepeace Thackeray
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The Georges
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[Punch, October 11, 1845]
As the statues of these beloved Monarchs are to be put up in the Parliament palace—we have been favoured by a young lady (connected with the Court) with copies of the inscriptions which are to be engraven under the images of those Stars of Brunswick.
Table of contents
Inside this edition
- 01Full text
- 02The Georges
- 03The Poems
- 04GEORGE I—STAR OF BRUNSWICK
- 05GEORGE II
- 06I was false to my wife and I hated my son:
- 07I butchered the Scotch, and I bearded the French:
- 08I neither had morals, nor manners, nor wit;
- 09I wasn't much missed when I died in a fit.
- 10GEORGE III
- 11I let loose flaming Nelson on his fleets;
- 12I met his troops with Wellesley's bayonets.
- 13I was a conqueror, but yet not proud;
- 14GEORGIUS ULTIMUS
- 15George The First
- 16I know a thing that's most uncommon—
- 17I know a reasonable woman,
- 18I had much rather.
- 19I laughed, and danced, and talked, and sung:
- 20I said, “Sir, had you not better have a glass of water?”
- 21I miss thee at the dawning grey, when, on our deck reclined,
- 22I miss thee when by Gunga's stream my twilight steps I guide;
- 23I spread my books, my pencil try, the lingering noon to cheer;
- 24I feel, though thou art distant far, thy prayers ascend for me.
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