“The Crescent at whose gleam the Cambrian oft,
    Cursing his perilous tenure, wound his horn,”

so that, as a gentleman, I may stand on as good a footing as other new creations."[46] Why the honour was any greater for coming from such a king as George, than it would have been if it had been suggested by Lord Sidmouth, or even Lord Liverpool,—­or half as great as if Mr. Canning had proposed it, it is not easy to conceive.  George was a fair judge of literary merit, but not one to be compared for a moment with that great orator and wit; and as to his being the fountain of honour, there was so much dishonour of which the king was certainly the fountain too, that I do not think it was very easy for two fountains both springing from such a person to have flowed quite unmingled.  George justly prided himself on Sir Walter Scott’s having been the first creation of his reign, and I think the event showed that the poet was the fountain of much more honour for the king, than the king was for the poet.

When George came to Edinburgh in 1822, it was Sir Walter who acted virtually as the master of the ceremonies, and to whom it was chiefly due that the visit was so successful.  It was then that George clad his substantial person for the first time in the Highland costume—­to wit, in the Steuart Tartans—­and was so much annoyed to find himself outvied by a wealthy alderman, Sir William Curtis, who had gone and done likewise, and, in his equally grand Steuart Tartans, seemed a kind of parody of the king.  The day on which the king arrived, Tuesday, 14th of August, 1822, was also the day on which Scott’s most intimate friend, William Erskine, then Lord Kinnedder, died.  Yet Scott went on board the royal yacht, was most graciously received by George, had his health drunk by the king in a bottle of Highland whiskey, and with a proper show of devoted loyalty entreated to be allowed to retain the glass out of which his Majesty had just drunk his health.  The request was graciously acceded to, but let it be pleaded on Scott’s behalf, that on reaching home and finding there his friend Crabbe the poet, he sat down on the royal gift, and crushed it to atoms.  One would hope that he was really thinking more even of Crabbe, and much more of Erskine, than of the royal favour for which he had appeared, and doubtless had really believed himself, so grateful.  Sir Walter retained his regard for the king, such as it was, to the last, and even persuaded himself that George’s death would be a great political calamity for the nation.  And really I cannot help thinking that Scott believed more in the king, than he did in his friend George Canning.  Assuredly, greatly as he admired Canning, he condemned him more and more as Canning grew more liberal, and sometimes speaks of his veerings in that direction with positive asperity.  George, on the other hand, who believed more in number one than in any other number, however large, became much more conservative after he became Regent than he was before,