well educated in the court of his father, nor did the death of that parent improve his prospects in that way. He was brought up more as a Stuart prince might have been than as the heir apparent to the throne of a constitutionally governed state. His disposition was both arbitrary and crafty, and the whole of his long reign, until the time that he lost his intellect, was passed in a continual combat against liberal ideas and institutions. At first he was popular. Young, a native of the country, and but little known to the people, his accession (Oct. 25, 1760) was hailed with loud rejoicings. This fair dawn was soon overcast, and for more than 20 years he was the most unpopular monarch of his time. He was married, Sept. 8, 1761, to the sister of the duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Charlotte Sophia, the Queen Charlotte of 57 years, a marriage from which proceeded 15 children, all but two of whom grew up. The new king was averse to the system which his two predecessors had pursued, and was resolved upon being a king in fact as well as in name. To afford an opportunity to attempt the inauguration of the new system, it was necessary that peace should be restored, though the war was very popular, and Pitt, the war minister, was at the height of his power. The earl of Bute, long connected with the king's father and mother, was introduced into the cabinet, and ultimately became premier, and put an end to the war, though not until a new war had been made, in consequence of Spain having joined France. When the family compact was made between France and Spain, Pitt was for anticipating the latter, and commencing the war, but was overruled in the cabinet, where almost every man hated him because of his inordinate egotism and arrogance. He resigned his office, but the event showed the wisdom of his advice, for the conduct of Spain was such that England was compelled to declare war against her, Jan. 4, 1762. This war was a series of successes on the part of England. Havana was captured, with a large part of the island of Cuba, the Philippines were reduced, and treasure ships of immense value were taken from the Spaniards. The effect was to make the minister more determined than ever upon peace, which was finally brought about at Paris in 1763, on terms that were honorable to England, though party spirit caused them to be denounced as treacherous, insecure, and disgraceful. The king became unpopular, and the minister was the object of violence. The restoration of peace enabled the king to seek the development of his political plans, and for many years he was engaged in a warfare against those principles to uphold which his house had been called to the British throne, to the exclusion of the legitimate line. Ministry succeeded to ministry, the king hating all alike, with this difference, that he was more treacherous in his conduct toward the whigs than toward the tories. Then it was that "the king's friends" were first heard of, a class of politicians who were neither whigs nor tories, but who did the

king's work without inquiry, and constituted a political militia. The parliament was generally with the king, but the people were not; and so ready were the latter to oppose the monarch, that they made an idol of the worthless John Wilkes. It was while George Grenville was minister, in 1765, that the stamp act was passed, which threw the North American colonies into a blaze, and was the first in that series of acts which in their entirety make up the American revolution. At length, at the beginning of 1770, Lord North became premier, having been chancellor of the exchequer for some time, and he held the place for 12 years. The modern tory party dates from that time as a powerful and efficient organization. The king ruled as well as reigned, and the attacks on American liberty were his acts, the guilt of the minister consisting in his being the tool, against his own convictions, of a master who was not always in possession of his reason. The dreariest period of modern English history is the time in which Lord North was prime minister. The American war began in the spring of 1775, and for 7 years the most desperate efforts were made to conquer the colonies, which in 1776 declared themselves independent states. Beside large bodies of English troops, and tories and Indians recruited in America, thousands of German mercenaries were employed in the war, which was marked by just enough of success to encourage the king to persevere. Gradually other countries were drawn into the contest, until it had assumed a European character. War between France and England began in 1778, and Spain and Holland were soon ranked in the number of England's active enemies. The northern powers formed the armed neutrality. The combined fleets of France and Spain obtained command even of the English channel. Gibraltar was beleaguered by an immense fleet. The army of Burgoyne surrendered to the Americans in 1777, and 4 years later that of Cornwallis capitulated to the allied forces of America and France. The fortunes of England were never before so low, and though the successful defence of Gibraltar, and the naval victory won by Rodney over De Grasse, closed the war with some flashes of glory, the contrast between the state of things then and 20 years before was most humiliating to all reflecting Englishmen. The king was compelled to submit to a whig ministry, headed by the marquis of Rockingham and Charles James Fox. Lord Rockingham's death caused the new ministry to fall to pieces, and power passed into the hands of the earl of Shelburne and the younger William Pitt. American independence was acknowledged, and peace restored, though the king was even then resolute to continue the contest, and talked of retiring to Hanover because of the coercion to which he was subjected. The Shelburne ministry was driven from power by the famous coalition of the Foxite whigs with the tories who followed Lord North. The king hated this ministry intensely, and talked of going to Hanover more than ever, and

probably did not go because of the hint that while it would be easy to reach that country, it would not be so easy to get back to England. His submission was short-lived. The coalition broke down in an attempt to put a stop to the misgovernment of India. Its India bill passed the commons, but was thrown out by the lords in consequence of royal influence having been brought to bear on the minds of some of the peers. The king then dismissed the ministry, and placed Pitt at the head of his councils. After the new ministry had carried on a conflict with the coalition party in the commons until the latter had lost its majority, parliament was dissolved, and in the elections that followed the coalition was annihilated. The king was now as popular as formerly he had been odious, and the tory party commenced a reign of more than 40 years. The prince of Wales was now of age, and had commenced that loose life which has made his name and title bywords, and which was all the more distasteful to the king because the prince's associates were mostly whigs. As George I. had hated his eldest son, and George II. followed his father's example, so did George III. hate the heir apparent. Public affairs went on smoothly, save that the impeachment of Hastings, who was patronized by the king, was brought about by the aid of Pitt. In 1788 the king was severely assailed by that illness to which he was liable throughout his long life, and which finally rendered him incapable of attending to business. A fierce struggle was commenced between parties, the object of the whigs being to have the prince of Wales made king under the title of regent, should the royal illness continue, while the tories were determined materially to abridge the powers of the regent. The recovery of the king put an end to the contest. Immediately after his recovery occurred the commencement of the French revolution, an event that arrested his attention; and that great movement found in him the most determined of its enemies. Before the breaking out of the war with France, a dispute took place with Russia, the object being to prevent the conquest of Turkey by Catharine II. The opposition rallied and gained strength, but Turkey was saved. Another dispute occurred with Spain, but did not lead to war. The war with revolutionary France began in 1793; and though the English maintained their naval character, defeating the French on June 1, 1794, at the Nile on Aug. 1, 1798, and elsewhere, the Spaniards at Cape St. Vincent, Feb. 14, 1797, and the Dutch at Camperduin, Oct. 11, their military character was not raised by its events. The most arbitrary rule was established at home, and nothing but the firmness of English juries prevented the establishment of as complete a reign of terror in Great Britain as existed in France. Ireland was oppressed until she was goaded into rebellion, which was suppressed by measures as cruel and bloody as any perpetrated by the French republicans in La Vendée and Brit

tany. The union between Great Britain and Ireland was effected in 1800, the parliament of the latter ceasing to exist, while she was allowed to send 100 members of the house of commons and 30 representative peers to the imperial parliament. Peace was made with France in 1801, though against the king's wishes, his opinion always being in favor of bloodshed, unless his enemy should unconditionally submit. The French had been driven out of Egypt, and Malta captured from them. The peace was but a hollow truce, and the refusal of the English to give up Malta led to the renewal of the war in 1803. The Pitt ministry had broken down, really on the question of peace with France, but ostensibly because of the king's bigotry, he refusing relief to the Catholics, though it had been understood it was to be granted as one of the conditions of the Irish union. Henry Addington became premier, and kept his post until after the renewal of the war, when Pitt returned to office. The threats of Napoleon to invade England, and the vast preparations he made for that purpose, caused the people to rally around the throne, and an immense force was on foot, of regulars, militia, and volunteers, while the navy was much increased. Spain was drawn into the war on the side of France, and their united fleets were destroyed at Trafalgar, which made England irresistible on the ocean, and settled the invasion question for that generation. For some time the war on the part of England was principally confined to the ocean, though she assisted the enemies of France with money. Such military expeditions as she fitted out were on a small scale, and mostly failed. In South America, in Egypt, in the north of Europe, her armies were either beaten or accomplished nothing; and it was not until the breaking out of the Peninsular war in 1808 that, under the command of Moore and Wellesley, they performed any thing worthy of the high name of their country. Pitt died in 1806, and the government passed into the hands of a coalition ministry, of which Lord Grenville and Mr. Fox were the chiefs. The object of the latter was the restoration of peace with France, but he died before any thing could be done. The coalition endeavored to grant some relief to the Catholics, but the king got rid of them, and a ministry of tories was formed, headed by the duke of Portland. This ministry was probably the worst England ever had, and though it succeeded in the attack on Denmark, taking possession of the Danish fleet, the immorality of that attack more than balanced its success. Operations in Spain and Portugal were badly conducted; and the Walcheren expedition in 1809, which might have struck a deadly blow at Napoleon's power while he was combating Austria on the Danube, was probably the worst managed undertaking mentioned even in English history. This failure led to the breaking up of the Portland ministry, for which the Perceval ministry was substituted, an improvement on its predecessor, inasmuch as Mar

century between the disciples of Aristotle and those of Plato, born in the island of Crete, April 4, 1396, died in Rome in 1486. He arrived in Italy in 1430 upon invitation of Francesco Barbaro, a noble Venetian, and became professor of Greek literature and philosophy at Venice. Pope Eugenius IV. invited him to Rome in the same capacity, and made him his secretary; and he was continued in these functions by Nicholas V. Though he was famous throughout Italy, some of his hasty translations of the Greek authors into Latin drew upon him attacks from Lorenzo Valla and Theodore Gaza, and his eulogies of Aristotle and attacks upon Plato provoked the enmity of the Florentine admirers of Plato, and particularly of Cardinal Bessarion. His subsequent life was a series of disputes with the contemporary scholars, and his writings are less remarkable for philosophic insight than for violent personalities.

GEORGE, LAKE, or HORICON, a picturesque sheet of water in Warren and Washington cos., N. Y., 36 m. long, from of a m. to 4 m. wide, and in some places 400 feet deep. It is remarkable for the transparency of its water, its multitude of little islands, popularly supposed to correspond in number with the days of the year, and the beautiful scenery of its banks. Black mountain, on the E. shore, has an elevation of 2,200 feet above the surface of the lake, and 12 m. distant from it is an almost perpendicular rock rising 200 feet from the water, down which it is said Major Rogers, when pursued by Indians during the French war, slid and landed safely on the ice. Not far from this spot is the place where the English under Lord Howe landed previous to their attack on Fort Ticonderoga. The ruins of that fort can be seen at the E. end of the narrow channel through which the waters of Lake George are conveyed to Lake Champlain. Lake George was discovered by the French from Canada in 1609, and was named by them Lake St. Sacrament. Its pure waters were regularly transported to Canada to be consecrated for use in the Roman Catholic churches for baptism and other sacred purposes. The English subsequently named it after King George I. By the Indians it was called, among other names, the Horicon. It bears a conspicuous place in American history. For more than a century it was the channel of communication between Canada and the settlements on the Hudson. In the 7 years' war it was repeatedly occupied by large armies, and was the scene of several battles. On Sept. 6, 1755, occurred engagements between the French and English, near the S. end of the lake, in which Col. Williams of Massachusetts, the founder of Williams college, was killed, Baron Dieskau, the French commander, severely wounded, and the French totally defeated. In 1757 Fort William Henry, at the same end of the lake, was besieged by the French general Montcalm, at the head of 10,000 men. The garrison, after a gallant defence, capitulated, and were barbarously massacred by the Indian allies of the French. In July,

1758, the army of Gen. Abercrombie, 16,000 strong, passed up the lake in 1,000 boats, and attacked Ticonderoga without success. In July, 1759, Gen. Amherst with an almost equal force also traversed the lake and took_Ticonderoga and Crown Point. The head of Lake George was the depot for the stores of the army of Gen. Burgoyne before he began his march to Saratoga.

GEORGE, SAINT, the patron saint of England, a personage whose character and very existence are surrounded with much obscurity. According to Papebroche, Heylyn, and others, he was a soldier in the army of Diocletian, and suffered death for the Christian faith. He was canonized before the 6th century, and was held in special reverence by warriors. The eastern Christians gave him the surname of the Victorious. The English crusaders brought the knowledge of him into their own country, and Edward III. made him the patron of the order of the garter, whence he came to be regarded as the tutelar saint of chivalry and the protector of England. Many writers regard him as identical with a native of either Cappadocia or Cilicia, who raised himself by flattery of the great from the meanest circumstances to be purveyor of bacon for the army. He acquired wealth by peculation, and fled from justice to Alexandria in Egypt, where he embraced Arianism, and on the expulsion of Athanasius was made patriarch of that see. His spoliations and violence so exasperated the people that they drove him from the city, and it required all the civil and military power of the province to reinstate him. On the accession of the emperor Julian he was cast into prison, whence he was forcibly taken by a mob and put to death with two of his ministers (A. D. 361). St. George is commonly represented on horseback with a dragon vanquished at his feet, this attribute probably having reference to the monster mentioned in the book of Revelation.

GEORGETOWN, an E. district of S. Carolina, bordering on the Atlantic, bounded S. W. by Santee river, and intersected by the Great Pedee, Black, and Waccamaw, which unite just above the seat of justice, and enter the ocean through the estuary called Winyaw bay; area, 813 sq. m.; pop. in 1850, 20,647, of whom 18,253 were slaves. The surface is level and partly occupied by marshes and pine forests. The soil is generally fertile, and admirably suited for rice, more of which was produced here in 1850 than in any other county or district of the United States except Beaufort, S. C. The productions that year were 46,765,040 lbs. of rice, 136,312 bushels of Indian corn, 209,800 of sweet potatoes, and 81 bales of cotton. There were 6 grist mills, 2 saw mills, 1 iron foundery, 2 newspaper offices, 26 churches, 281 pupils in academies, and 170 pupils attending public schools. Capital, Georgetown.

GEORGETOWN. I. A city and port of entry of Washington co., D. C., situated at the head of navigation on the left bank of the Potomac, 125 m. from its mouth and 2 m. W. of