A. D. 1727.-Lord Townshend, who had accompanied George I. to the continent, but who had been left behind on the road, did not reach Osnabruck till his master was dead. He instantly dispatched a courier for England, whither he soon followed himself. Townshend's messenger and dispatch arrived at his brother-in-law's, Sir Robert Walpole's house, in Chelsea, on the 14th of June. Walpole instantly repaired to the palace at Richmond to salute the new sovereign. He found that George was retired, according to his usual custom, to take his afternoon's nap. When he was roused and informed that his father was dead he could scarcely credit the news; but when they told him that the prime minister was in his antechamber with the express, he started up and rushed out of his bedroom only half dressed. It is said that he could scarcely credit the fact until Lord Townshend's dispatch was produced and read. Walpole knelt at his feet, kissed his hand as his king, and inquired whom his majesty would be pleased to appoint to draw up the usual speech or declaration to the council? "Sir Spencer Compton," replied the new monarch abruptly. The answer seemed decisive-and implied Sir Robert's dismission. That minister left the apartment and Richmond with the conviction that his reign was over, and immediately waited upon

The

Compton with the king's commands. "Sir Spencer Compton," says Walpole's son, "was speaker of the House of Commons, and treasurer, I think, at that time, to his royal highness, who by that first command implied his intention of making Sir Spencer his prime minister. He was a worthy man, of exceedingly grave formality, but of no parts-as his conduct immediately proved. poor gentleman was so little qualified to accommodate himself to the grandeur of the moment, and to conceive how a new sovereign should address himself to his ministers, and he had also been so far from meditating to supplant the premier, that in his distress it was to Sir Robert Walpole himself he had recourse, and whom he besought to make the new draft of the king's speech for him."* The speech which Walpole wrote was delivered

Reminiscences.-Horace adds, "Sir Spencer Compton, afterwards Earl of Wilmington, was so far from resenting Sir Robert's superior talents, that he remained steadfastly attached to him; and when the famous motion for removing Sir Robert was made in both Houses, Lord Wilmington, though confined to his bed, and with his head blistered, rose and went to the House of Lords, to vote against a measure that avowed its own injustice by being grounded only on popular clamour." This Spencer Compton was second surviving son of James Earl of Northampton. He had been treasurer to Queen Anne's husband and one of the managers at the trial of Doctor Sacheverel. At the accession of George I. he was appointed treasurer to the Prince of Wales. His intimacy with Walpole and his steady adherence to the Whigs led to the speakership; and he had also been paymaster of the forces, and treasurer of Chelsea Hospital.