Personal gossip about the King, is not the scheme of this book; but, as it formed the main topic of general conversation at the time, it cannot be passed over. His brother, the greatly disliked Duke of Cumberland, afterwards King of Hanover, had usurped the functions of the other colonels of the guards, and had elected himself a permanent Gold Stick, but the new monarch said his rank was too high for him to perform such service, and relegated the office to its former footing, that each colonel should share the office in turns.
Nor was this the only friction between the brothers. The Duke of Cumberland's horses had hitherto occupied the stables allotted to the Queen, and when Lord Errol, her Master of the Horse, asked her where she would have her horses stabled, she replied, she "did not know, but he was to put them in their proper place." Accordingly, the King was asked for an order to remove the duke's horses, which was given through the Duke of Leeds, who went to the Duke of Cumberland, and received for answer that "he would be d—d if they should go;" but on its being represented to him that if he did not remove them, they would be turned out, he sulkily gave way.
The King, who, as every one knows, had been brought up as a sailor, now turned his attention to things military, and his first review is thus described by Greville—
"July 20.—Yesterday was a very busy day with his Majesty, who is going much too fast, and begins to alarm his Ministers and astonish the world. In the morning he inspected the Coldstream Guards, dressed (for the first time in his life) in a military uniform, and with a great pair of gold spurs half way up his legs like a game-cock, although he was not to ride, for, having chalk stones in his hands, he can't hold the reins."
He next began to meddle with the uniforms, etc. in the army, doubtless with a view to save the pockets of the officers, for army dress, under George the Magnificent, had become very much gold belaced and expensive; but of all the orders issued on August 2nd from the Horse Guards, we will only take two.
"The moustachios of the Cavalry (excepting in the Life Guards, the Horse Guards, and the Hussars) to be abolished, and the hair of the non-commissioned officer and soldier throughout the regular force to be cut close at the sides and back of the head, instead of being worn in that bushy and unbecoming fashion adopted by some regiments."
The illustration on the opposite page is taken from a contemporary song called "Adieu, my Moustachios!" Words by T. Haynes Bayly; music by J. Blewitt, and the first verse runs thus—
"Adieu, my moustachios! farewell to my tip!
Lost, lost is the pride of my chin and my lip!
When Laura last saw me she said that the world
Contain'd no moustachois so charmingly curl'd!
But razors are ruthless, my honours they nip,
Adieu, my moustachois! farewell to my tip!"
