Would any true friend have advised His Majesty, infirm in health as he was, to expose himself, not only to the dangers of war, but to the malignity of a climate which had recently been fatal to thousands of men much stronger than himself?
In private the King sneered bitterly at this anxiety for his safety.

It was merely, in his judgment, the anxiety which a hard master feels lest his slaves should become unfit for their drudgery.

The Whigs, he wrote to Portland, were afraid to lose their tool before they had done their work.

"As to their friendship," he added, "you know what it is worth." His resolution, he told his friend, was unalterably fixed.

Every thing was at stake; and go he must, even though the Parliament should present an address imploring him to stay, [565] He soon learned that such an address would be immediately moved in both Houses and supported by the whole strength of the Whig party.