MEMOIRS OF SIR WILLIAM KNIGHTON, BART. G. C. H. KEEPER OF THE PRIVY PURSE DURING THE REIGN OF HIS MAJESTY KING GEORGE THE FOURTH. INCLUDING HIS CORRESPONDENCE WITH MANY DISTINGUISHED PERSONAGES. BY LADY KNIGHTON. IN TWO VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET, Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. 1838. 1073. ADVERTISEMENT. THOUGH the Editor was assured by many attached friends of the late Sir William Knighton that a Memoir of his Life would not be unacceptable to the public, still numerous difficulties would have prevented the undertaking, had not his posthumous papers, on examination, furnished such ample materials in the form of journals, notes, and letters, that a history of his Life, with some slight additions, might be collected from his own words, and although advised to place these manuscripts in more experienced and abler hands, the Editor has thought it more desirable to send the work into the world in its present unpretending form, from a belief that its evident authenticity will thus afford greater interest to the reader than a more elaborate Memoir, and that a truer estimate may be formed of the sentiments and character of an individual from his unreserved correspondence, written without the slightest view to publication, than from a biographical narrative of more methodical arrangement. Of the professional life of Sir William Knighton, his success is the best criterion. As regards his services to his Majesty George the Fourth, there are probably few who will now deny that they were fulfilled to the utmost of his power, in the spirit of devoted attachment and integrity to his royal Master. To the young and inexperienced, just |