Evening Republican, Volume 23, Number 91, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 April 1920 — HAS BOOKS OF KING WILLIAMIV. [ARTICLE]

HAS BOOKS OF KING WILLIAMIV.

Navy Lists, With Comments on Superior Officers, in New York Library. WASHINGTON GREATEST MAN < King of England So Termed Him In a Speech Long After His Visit to New York—Eighteenth Century Slang. New York. —Under the title “A King’s Books,” attention Is Invited by the New York Public library to the very human personal comments and titles bestowed on his superior officers by a British prince, in annotations made by his own hand, during his service afloat in one of his majesty’s ships. In the Bulletin, recently published, are described some old volumes of British navy lists, once the property of William IV, “the sailor king." A number of the volumes have his autograph signature, “William HCnry,” on the title page, with his naval rank at that date, and the name of his ship. Such Is the case with the list of 1785, when, in addition to his name, he has signed himself “Lieutenant” of the “Hebe.” “The youpg prince had amused himself,” according to the Bulletin’s editor, by annoting certain volumes of the set, “which he seems to have had tn his cabin , . . and. if the. comment opposite the name of his grace the duke of Bolton, admiral of the White, looks suspiciously like the word *mad,’ it may be that the prince, even as a lieutenant, was in a position to know whereof he wrote. ... It was by no means the only comment at his disposal. The Right Hon. George Lord Viscount Mount Edgecumbe. admiral of the White. is tersely described as Mamned miser.’ This is in the list for 1786.” Eighteenth Century Slang. Reference is made to other expressions “mysterious today to every one excepting those familiar with sailors’ slang of the eighteenth century; others whose significance has no shade of doubt —the blunt language of the quar-ter-deck or the barracks." And there is at least one, which some “discreet hand,” his own, when he hnd succeeded to the throne, “had seen fit to cut out with a sharp penknife.” . “All are in keeping with the character of the man who, when he became king, over forty years later, was known for his good humor —but also

for his seafaring manners," says the writer. In stressing his “bluff and hearty nature” the library publication cites the fact that, “at the most solemn moment In his life, as he acceded to_the throne, and spoke of his late sovereign and brother, George IV, with as much feeling as anyone not a trained actor could put into his voice for that monarch,” he “instantly added in his usual easy-going gruffness, as he affixed his first signature as king to some papers of state: “This Is a damned bad pen you Wive given me.” Of more vital Interest to New Yorkers is the prince’s connection with their own city of Manhattan. “As Prince William Henry the king stayed for some time in New York, with the British military and naval forces then (1782) occupying the city, contrary to the wishes of General Washington and the American army, encamped in Nejv Jersey. The prince had his quarters in Hanover square, and skated, according to tradition, on the Collect pond. Colonel Ogden of the First Jersey regiment formed an elaborate and welf-matured plan to capture the

prince and his.admiral and take them into camp. General Washington approved the plan. Thought Washington Greatest Man. “Something seems to have affected the prince favorably toward this country and its first president He had, throughout life, an extraordinary weakness for making speeches, some of which were not remarkable for their tact. ... A happier example of his oratory was afforded when he was king and happened-to be entertaining a group of gentlemen which included the- American minister. He was 'seized with his fatal habit of making a speech,’ and said that It had always been with him a matter of serious regret that he had not been born a free. Independent American, so great was his respect for that nation. He said that die considered Washington the greatest-man that ever lived. “Coming as this did from the king of England, compliment could go no further.” „ The acquiring by the library of a set of “British Army Lists,” beginning with the year 1755 pnd ended with 1842, dates back to the Astor library and the time when Doctor Cogswell, its first librarian, was tn Europe “with his princely endowment in his pocket.” “These books,” says the Bulletin, “had been the property of William IV, king of Great Britain and Ireland, and of one or another of his sons, and they bear the bookplates of one or more of these personages.”