to any of his domestics assisting him, and hence arises the circumstance of his beard having grown so long. It was always with the greatest reluctance that he permitted the hair-dresser to perform his operations, and he has frequently in consequence let his beard grow for several days, and sometimes weeks, until it became unpleasant to him, and then he submitted very unwillingly to the necessity of removing it. His meals were extremely temperate and simple: he usually dined at one, and retired to bed at eight o'clock. One of the physicians in waiting always attended him on these occasions. Before his deafness he frequently amused himself at the harpsichord, and seldom played any thing but the music of his favourite Handel. The royal patient seemed never to forget that he was still a king, and this was strikingly observable in his demeanor towards his attendants, which exhibited the same mixture of dignity and affability which had always characterized his conduct to all around him. A few months ago it was deemed advisable that he should use one of Merlin's chairs, with which he was so pleased, that he has since constantly been removed from one room to the other in it. FIRST ACTS OF THE REIGN OF GEORGE IV. 31. At 2 o'clock on Sunday the present king held his first court at his palace in Pall-mall. The court consisted of all the male branches of the royal family now in England, most of the cabinet ministers, the great officers of state, the members of the privy council of the late king, and a numerous assemblage of the nobility, members of the two houses of parliament, the lord mayor of London, and of the court of aldermen, &c. His majesty having first declared himself successor to his father (our late sovereign), the oaths of allegiance were administered by wiscount Chetwynd, the clerk of the council, who afterwards took the same himself, which were administered by Mr. Buller. His majesty then commanded a privy council to be holden, when all those (present) of his late majesty's council were re-sworn privy-councillors to his present majesty king George IV; among those present were their royal highnesses the dukes of York, Clarence, Sussex, Gloucester, and prince Leopold, the archbishop of Canterbury, and lord Eldon, and the chiefs of the other law courts. The following form of proclamation was then agreed upon, for proclaiming his present majesty king George the IVth, sovereign of the United Kingdom of Great Britain : "Whereas it hath pleased Almighty God to call to his mercy our late sovereign lord, king George the Third, of blessed memory, by whose decease the imperial crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland the high and mighty prince, is solely and rightfully come to George, Prince of Wales; we, therefore, the Lords spiritual and temporal of this realm, being here assisted with those of his late majesty's privy council, with numbers of other principal gentlemen of quality, with the lord mayor, aldermen, and citizens of London, do now hereby, with one voice and consent of tongue and heart, publish and proclaim, that the high and mighty prince, George Prince of Wales, is now, by the death of our late sovereign, of happy memory, become our only lawful and rightful liege lord, George the Fourth, by the grace of God, king of Great Britain and Ireland, defender of the faith, and so forth; to whom we do acknowledge all faith and constant obedience, with all hearty and humble affection; beseeching God, by whom kings and queens do reign, to bless the royal prince, George the Fourth, with long and happy years to reign over us. Given at the court at Carltonhouse, this thirtieth day of January, 1820. "GOD SAVE THE KING." This proclamation was signed by the privy councillors present, and also by the following noblemen and gentlemen, who were specially summoned for the occasion by lord Sidmouth, as secretary of state for the home department: The earl of Besborough, the attorney-general, the solicitorgeneral, sir Henry Hotham, the chief justice of Chester, Mr. Bankes, lord Ellenborough; the deans of Westminster, Chester, and Canterbury; Mr. Croker, sir George Clarke, the earl of Aylesbury, the bishop of Carlisle, the lord mayor of London; aldermen Curtis, Eamer, Perring, Shaw, Scholey, Domville, Birch, Wood, C. Smith, Atkins, Magnay, Cox, Thorp, and Rothwell, sir John Silvester, the common sergeant, the remembrancer, the chamberlain, and the town clerk. The lord mayor was attended by the sword bearer and chaplain. All the cabinet ministers of his late majesty, now in town, on Sunday morning resigned their credentials of office to viscount Sidmouth, at his office at Whitehall. His lordship afterwards presented them to his present majesty, at court, when the new king was graciously pleased to re-appoint them to their former situations. The lord chancellor appeared in a plain dress, only carrying the purse containing the seals of the United Kingdom, which his lordship resigned to his present majesty, when the king was graciously pleased to return them, and re-appoint him to his fornier office. On Monday the following Gazette was published : LONDON GAZETTE EXTRAORDINARY, MONDAY, JAN. 31. Whitehall, Jan. 31. On Saturday afternoon, at 35 minutes past 8 o'clock, our late most gracious Sovereign, King George the Third, whose strength had gradually declined for some weeks, expired without the least apparent suffering, at his castle of Windsor, in the 82nd year of his age and the 60th of his reign. No sovereign ever possessed in a higher degree the veneration and affection of his subjects, and their grief for his loss is only abated by the unhappy malady which has precluded his majesty from directing the measures of his government during the nine latter years of his glorious reign. Upon the news of this melancholy event arriving in London, the lords of the privy council assembled yesterday at Carltonhouse, and gave orders for proclaiming his present majesty, who made a most gracious declaration to them, and caused all the lords and others of the late king's privy council, who were then present, to be sworn of his majesty's privy council. And this day, about noon, his majesty was proclaimed, first before Carlton-house, where the officers of state, nobility and privy councillors were present, with the officers of arms, all on foot. The officers, being mounted on horseback, the like was done at Charing-cross, within Templebar, at the end of Wood-street, in Cheapside, and lastly at the Royal Exchange, with the usual solemnities; the principal officers of state, a great number of the nobility, and of other persons of distinction, attending during the whole ceremony. At the court at Carlton-house, the 30th day of January, 1820: Present, the King's Most Excellent Majesty in Council. His majesty being this day present in council, was pleased to make the following declaration, viz : "I have directed that you should be assembled here, in order that I may discharge the painful duty of announcing to you the death of the king, my beloved father. "It is impossible for me adequately to express the state of my feelings upon this melancholy occasion, but I have the consolation of knowing, that the severe calamity with which his majesty has been afflicted for so many years, has never effaced from the minds of his subjects the impressions created by his many virtues, and his example will, I am persuaded, live for ever in the grateful remembrance of his country. "Called upon, in consequence of his majesty's indisposition, to exercise the prerogatives of the crown on his behalf, it was the first wish of my heart to be allowed to restore into his hands the powers with which I was intrusted. It has pleased Almighty God to determine otherwise, and I have not been insensible to the advantages which I have derived from administering in my dear father's name the government of this realm. "The support which I have received from parliament and the country, in times the most eventful, and under the most arduous circumstances, could alone inspire me with that confidence which my present station demands. "The experience of the past will, I trust, satisfy all classes of my people, that it will ever be my most anxious endeavour to promote their prosperity and happiness, and to maintain unimpaired the religion, laws and liberties of the kingdom." At Whereupon the lords of the council made it their humble request to his majesty, that this his majesty's most gracious declaration to their lordships might be made public: which his majesty was pleased to order accord. ingly. JAS. BULLer. the court at Carlton-house, the 30th of January, 1820: Present, the King's most excellent Majesty: His R. H. the Duke of York; his R. H. the Duke of Clarence; his R. H. the Duke of Sussex; his R. H. the Duke of Gloucester; his R. H. the Prince Leopold of Saxe Cobourg; Archbishop of Canterbury; the Lord Chancellor; &c. &c. His majesty, at his first coming into the council, was this day pleased to declare, that understanding that the law requires he should, at his accession to the crown, take and subscribe the oath relating to the security of the church of Scotland, he was now ready to do it this first opportunity, which his majesty was graciously pleased to do according to the forms used by the law of Scotland, and subscribed two instruments thereof, in the presence of the lords of the council, who witnessed the same; and his majesty was pleased to order, that one of the said instruments be transmitted to the court of session, to be recorded in the books of sederunt, and afterwards to be forthwith lodged in the public register of Scotland; and that the other of them remain among the records of the council, and be entered in the council book. ceremony was deferred till Monday. By ten o'clock in the morning, the space fronting the palace of Carlton-house was occupied by great numbers of spectators. Mr. Lee, the high constable of Westminster, with a considerable number of assistants, kept an open passage to the court-yard of Carlton-house, to secure ingress for the different persons who were to compose the procession, and who began to assemble before 11 o'clock. Small parties of the horse guards then appeared, and took their station before Carltonhouse, and along Pall-mall to the Opera-house. Many of the nobility and gentry began to take their stations round the steps of the grand entrance of Carltonhouse. The view at this time was grand and imposing in the extreme, especially when the eye was directed over the elevated space before Carlton-house. The variegated colours; the fineness of the day, the sun shining at this period with peculiar brilliancy; the arrival of the royal dukes and the nobility in their carriages; all contributed greatly to increase the general effect. The crowd in Pall-mall by half past 11 became immense, but all proceeded with the utmost tranquillity. A little before twelve o'clock the procession was completely formed, and advanced in front of Carlton-house in the following order: CEREMONIAL OF THE PROCLAMATION. The proclamation of the accession of his present majesty, George the Fourth, would have taken place on Sunday, but the 30th of January being the anniversary of the martyrdom of Charles I., which is observed by statute as a solemn fast in the ritual of the church service, the Farriers of the Life Guards, with axes erect. The Beadles of the different Parishes, in their long Cloaks. Two Knight-Marshal's Officers. Household Drums. Kettle Drums. Trumpets. Blue Mantle-William Woods, Esq. King of Arms-Garter Sir Isaac Heard, Knt. supported by Heralds in their full Dress. Several officers of state, nobility, and privy councillors at tended. Many members of parliament followed; and the dukes of York, Clarence, and Gloucester, and the prince Leopold, next appeared. The arrangement on this station was most effective, and it was improved on looking into the splendid hall of the palace, for there were large parties of the officers of state, &c. Surrounded by these, and supported by his royal brothers and prince Leopold, appeared his majesty, George 4th. The duke of Gloucester stood immediately in the grand entrance. Precisely at twelve o'clock, a royal salute was fired in St. James's-park, announcing the accession of George 4th to the throne of England. At the same time, the above distinguished personages having assembled under the portico of the grand entrance to the palace, and being all uncovered, sir Isaac Heard, the garter king at arms, appeared in the full dress of his office, on the right of his royal highness the duke of York, holding his official staff and the proclamation agreed upon by his majesty in council on Sunday, which he read aloud, and the concluding sentence of God save the King was repeated by the royal and distinguished personages surrounding him. Sir Isaac Heard is now 90 years of age, and it is a remarkable circumstance, that this venerable gentleman acted in his official capacity at the funeral of George 2nd, and also at the proclamation and coronation of George 3rd. Immediately after the reading of the proclamation, the trumpets and trombones, to the number of 20, played the Jubilee March. The trumpeters were habited in their splendid gold lace dresses, and preceded by the deputy sergeant trumpeter: after which, the band of the guard of honour played God save the King; and at its conclusion the drums played King George's March. During the performance of the above national music, the whole of the military, both horse and foot, presented arms, accompanied by repeated shouts of "God save |