[231] Wraxall: _Historical Memoirs of His Own Times_.
When Mrs. Delany praised George III for his moderation, "No, no, it is no virtue," replied the monarch, "I only prefer eating plain and little, to growing diseased and infirm."--_Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay._
[233] _Reminiscences of the fifth Earl of Carlisle._
[Illustration: _From a caricature by Gear, 1788_
Although wine was recommended to him to assist digestion, he declined to believe in its efficacy;[234] and it is amusing to read that he desired the members of his _suite_ to be as abstemious as himself. Miss Burney has narrated a story of that quaint wag, Colonel Goldsworthy, who, after his return from hunting with the King, damp, muddy, and tired, was called by the King. "'Sir,' said I, smiling agreeably, with the rheumatism just creeping all over! but still, expecting something a little comfortable, I wait patiently to know his gracious pleasure, and then, 'Here, Goldsworthy, I say,' he cries, 'will you have a little barley water?' Barley water in such a plight as that! Fine compensation for a wet jacket, truly!--barley water! I never heard of such a thing in my life! barley water after a day's hard hunting." "And did you drink it?" Miss Burney asked. "And did the King drink it himself?" "Yes, God bless his Majesty!" replied the equerry, "but I was too humble a subject to do the same as my King."[235]
[234] Papendiek: _Court and Private Life_.
[235] _Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay._
Wraxall and many other contemporaries have stated that the King enjoyed almost perfect health until 1788, but this only shows with what success the truth was hidden, for, as we have seen, he was seriously ill in 1762, and in danger of losing his life and reason three years later; while in 1766 his health temporarily gave way under the mental excitement occasioned by affairs of state,[236] and, a little known chronicler states, in 1782 he was again "extremely indisposed".[237]
[237] "On the day previous to the celebration of the Queen's birthday in 1782 [the Queen's birthday was officially recognized in the middle of January], the King was extremely indisposed, and was twice let blood. At the Drawing-room next day his Majesty was seized with a bleeding at the nose, and was obliged to retire very soon after three o'clock; and his Majesty continued so much indisposed that he did not appear in the ball-room in the evening. In a few days his Majesty was so much recovered as to be deemed entirely out of danger."--Southy: _Authentic Memoirs of George the Third_.