A letter written in slightly rushed copperplate handwriting. An archivist has marked the top right corner 'MED/16/1/6'. Faint lines are visible where the page has been folded. It reads: 'Sir Lucas Pepys has the Honor to inform His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales that His Majesty was all yesterday evening in a Goodnatured deranged state talking as he Used to do at Windsor & on the same subjects, that he has had a very Indifferent night with only 3 hours & a Half's sleep - that this Morning he is nearly in the same state he was in the evening, but is more agitated & confused, perhaps from having been permitted to read King Lear, which he is now Reading & talking about. - Kew House. Friday 11 o'clock - December 18th 1788.'

Letter to the Prince of Wales

Sir Lucas Pepys

1788

handwritten letter

Royal Archives MED/6/1/16

Image credit: Royal Archives / © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II 2021

During George III's first serious bout of mental illness, one of his doctors writes to the Prince of Wales informing him that the king is distracted and animated, perhaps ‘as a result of having been permitted to read King Lear.’

This incident caused a disagreement between the doctors about who had permitted the king to have access to such an upsetting text, and became a well-known story after the doctors’ grievances were aired in Parliament.

In testimony to the House of Commons, it transpired that when the king asked for a copy of King Lear his doctors refused to provide one, fearing the psychological impact it would have.

Instead, George got hold of a volume of plays by the contemporary dramatist George Colman, which contained - unbeknown to his doctors - an adaptation of King Lear. Colman's version followed an earlier seventeenth-century adaptation by Nahum Tate in giving the play a happy ending.

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A handwritten page, in black ink copperplate handwriting on slightly aged paper. An archivist's pencil has added the reference 'GEO ADDL MSS 32 110' in the top right corner. The main text reads: 'Edward V. Edward succeeded his Father, but by ye intrigue of his Uncle ye D. of Gloucester, he did not live to be crown'd, for he & his Brother were smother'd in ye Tower. Richard III. Richard came to ye Throne after having spilt much innocent Blood, 'tis unknown how long he had form'd his ambitious designs, but most authors seem to lay ye D. of Clarences death & attainder (which disabl'd his Children from succeeding to ye Crown) to Richard's door, as well as ye having Edward IV children declar'd illegitimate, & afterwards murder'd. When these acts of cruelty were committed he was ye only remaining Male Heir of ye York family, Edward IV had left a daughter whom Richard, to secure all things, intended to marry, but was first forc'd to put his Wife out of ye Way. Ye 1st year of his Reign was chiefly taken up in quelling a very great Rebellion which was rais'd by ye D. of Buckingham (who had been his chief assistant in getting ye throne, & either broke with him on being refus'd ye Earldom & Possessions of Hereford, or on his Putting ye two Young P.s to death) & others to dethrone him & put ye E. of Richmond, ye last of ye Lancastrian family, in his place. But this was soon put an end to ye D. of Buckingham being taken & beheaded at Salisbury.

False Liberty Rejected or Fraternizing & Equalizing principles discarded

Isaac Cruikshank, published by S W Fores

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A comic print showing the Prince of Wales, standing, who gestures dismissively toward two kneeling men, Charles James Fox and Richard Brinsley Sheridan. He turns away from them toward the distant figure of King George III. The Prince wears a fashionable blue coat with red collar and cuffs, white waistcoat, breeches and stockings, and black buckled shoes. In a speech bubble, he says: 'I Know you not Vain Profligates. Fall to your prayers; how ill White hairs become a fool & a jester; I have long Dream'd of such kind of men, so surfeit swell'd Seditious and Profane; but being awake I do despise my dream, Know: the grave doth gape for such, thrice wider than for other men, Reply not to me with a fool born jest, Presume not that I am the thing I was, for heaven doth know, So shall the World perceive, that I have turn'd away my former self, so will I those that kept me company, when ye do hear I am as I have been approach me, & ye shall be as ye were the Tutors & the Feeders of my Riots; I will return to my Father & say unto him Father I have Sinned against heaven & in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be Called thy Son make me as One of thy Hired Servants.' Fox and Sheridan kneel behind a fence marked 'Hitherto shall ye go & no further.' Both are weeping and bare-legged; Fox is dark-haired and unshaven, wearing a blue coat with a rosette pinned to the pocket bearing the label 'Your affectionate brother, Egalité.' Sheridan has a red nose and powdered hair, and wears a brown coat. A letter spills from his pocket, reading '...after you have caused the same Disturbances in your country that we have long enjoyed here, fly to the Arms of your Dear Brother Condorcet.' A speech bubble attached to both men reads 'We have often Devised matter enough to keep him in Continual Laughter, the wearing out of Six fashions, which is four terms, or two Actions; & he has Laughed without Intervalliums, a lye with a strong Oath & a Jest with a Sad Brow, has done with a Fellow that never had the ache in his Shoulders, we have seen him Laugh, till his Face has been like a Cloak ill laid up.' On the far left, George III stands under a signpost labelled 'To the Treasury.' His costume is identical to that of the Prince. He says 'Bring hither the fatted calf, we will rejoice & make merry for I have found the Sheep that was lost.' The title is printed below: 'False Liberty Rejected or Fraternizing and Equalizing Principles Discarded: No more Coalitions with French Cut Throats.' Other lettering advertises this print as part of an exhibition of caricatures relating to the French Revolution, including a model guillotine. An annotation in pencil identifies the first kneeling figure as 'C J Fox.'