William IV. (brother of George IV.).
Victoria (the niece of William IV. and George IV.).
Kings of England. Three seems to be a kind of ruling number in our English sovereigns. Besides the coincidences mentioned above, connected with the number, may be added the following:—(1) That of the four kings who married French princesses, three of them suffered violent deaths, viz., Edward II., Richard II., and Charles I. (2) The three longest reigns have been three threes, viz., Henry III., Edward III., and George III. (3) We have no instance, as in France, of three brothers succeeding each other.
Kings of France. The French have been singularly unfortunate in their choice of royal surnames, when designed to express anything except some personal quality, as handsome, fat, of which we cannot judge the truth. Thus, Louis VIII., a very feeble man in mind and body, was surnamed the Lion; Philippe II., whose whole conduct was overreaching and selfish, was the Magnanimous; Philippe III., the tool of Labrosse, was the Daring; Philippe VI., the most unfortunate of all the kings of France, was surnamed the Lucky; Jean, one of the worst of all the kings, was called the Good; Charles VI., an idiot, and Louis XV., a scandalous debauchee, were surnamed the Well-beloved; Henri II., a man of pleasure, wholly under the thumb of Diane de Poitiers, was called the War-like; Louis XIII., most unjust in domestic life, where alone he had any freedom of action, was called the Just; Louis XIV., a man of mere ceremony and posture, who lost battle after battle, and brought the nation to absolute bankruptcy, was surnamed the Great King. (He was little in stature, little in mind, little in all moral and physical faculties; and great only in such littlenesses as posturing, dressing, ceremony and gormandizing). And Louis XVIII., forced on the nation by conquerors, quite against the general will, was called the Desired.
Kings of France. The succession of three brothers has been singularly fatal in French monarchism. The Capetian dynasty terminated with three brothers, sons of Philippe, le Bel (viz., Louis X., Philippe V., and Charles IV.). The Valois dynasty came to an end by the succession of the three brothers, sons of Henri II. (viz., François II., Charles IX., and Henri III.). The next or Bourbon dynasty terminated in the same manner (Louis XVI., Louis XVIII., and Charles X.).
After Charles IV. (the third brother of the Capetian dynasty), came Phillipe de Valois, a collateral descendant; after Henri III. (the third brother of the Valois dynasty), came Henry de Bourbon, a collateral descendant; and after Charles X. (the third brother of the Bourbon dynasty), came Louis Philippe, a collateral descendant. With the third of the third the monarchy[monarchy] ended.
Kings Playing with their Children.
[F1: not a paragraph line break?]The fine painting of J. D. Ingres, represents Henri IV. (of France) carrying his children pickaback, to the horror of the Spanish ambassador.
Plutarch tells us that Agesiläos was one day discovered riding cock-horse on a walking-stick, to please and amuse his children.
George III. was on one occasion, discovered on all fours, with one of his children riding astride his back. He is also well remembered by the painting of “George III. Playing at Ball with the Princess Amelia.”