Divine service being ended, their Majesties returned with the same state to the Queen'spalace, at about half an hour after three o'clock. The guns in the Tower and in the Park were fired three times: first, upon the King's setting out; secondly, at the singing of Te Deum; thirdly, upon his Majesty's return: after which, the brigade of foot-guards fired a feu de joie in St. James's-park, being drawn up in front of the Queen's-palace.

The public demonstrations of joy and loyalty by the inhabitants of London and Westminster, on the occasion of his Majesty's first appearance in public since his happy recovery, exceeded all expression; and yesterday evening, the illuminations in all parts of this metropolis, surpassed in splendour and magnificence all former exhibitions.

GRAND ENTERTAINMENTS GIVEN BY HIS MAJESTY.

GRAND entertainments, in the character of Royal banquets, were not frequent at Windsor; but when they were given, they were in a noble style, and the King was as anxious to enter into all the bustle of the preparations, as he was, afterwards, to promote the cheerfulness of the feast. After the completion of the partial improvements in the castle, he gave what he goodhumouredly called a house-warming. Here he showed his real, kindness of disposition by the activity which he displayed in making ready for his guests,-exploring kitchen, store-rooms, and every apartment, to see that all was going on right, and that proper cheer was provided, not merely for the higher orders, but even for the soldiers in attendance. The Royal gold plate, brought out on these occasions, is mostly old, but massive and costly. No host could receive all his visitors in a more friendly, familiar, courteous, and hospitable manner. He said an abundance of civil things to every body -observations a propos to the men, and agreeable compliments to the ladies. The Royal Family dined at a separate table, a little elevated. This etiquette of a distinct table was

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kept up all through the reign, though in some of the proudest Courts of Europe, it is by no means strictly adhered to. It was observed also when his Majesty visited any of his subjects: as at the Marquis of Salisbury's, at Hatfield, and Lord Romney's, at the Mote; where he reviewed respectively the volunteers of Herts and Kent; and at Lord Harcourt's, at Nuneham; Lord Petre's, at Thorndon; and on other less public occasions. His predecessoss of the Brunswick line were more familiar on this point; and Court anecdotes mention the fears entertained by a certain German lady of the convivial effects of Sir Robert Walpole's punch on a Monarch's conversation. Her fear, by the way, was not altogether unreasonable, for Sir R. Walpole himself used to say, that he governed the King with good punch and bad latin. The practice of the late King might have arisen partly from the King's accession to the throne, and his marriage, at so early a period of life, before he had entered the labyrinth of sumptuous dinner parties and fascinating evening festivities among his nobility. He commenced the dignity of his habits early, and preserved it to the end.

The last exhibition of regal munificence was the installation of the Knights of the Garter at Windsor, which occasioned a sort of court gala for several days, wherein were displayed all the

crested, plumed, and bannered honour of the chivalrous knighthood of the warlike days of the Edwards and Henries waving in St. George's Chapel, under

"The high embower'd roof,

With antique pillars, massy proof,
And storied windows richly dight,
Casting a dim religious light."

And these were succeeded by the gorgeousness and ponderous pomp of an ancient royal banquet; which, however, was afterwards relieved by all the improvements of modern tastes and fashions, in open feasting under the captured tents of Tippoo, at Frogmore; by promenades, amidst illuminated gardens, lakes, covered walks, and rural saloons, lined and over-arched with the natural folioge of the oak, the laurel, and the arbutus, and embellished and perfumed by the sweetest flowers of the parterre; and the whole sylvan scene thrown open to the crowds of loyal gazers. But even amidst these sportive relaxations of a British court, festivity was so chastened, that the severest mind could see no cause to say that any irregularities were encouraged. All bore the stamp of the master, cheerfulness and dignity. No sons of jollity "outwatched the bear" in their copious compotations within the royal walls.

An observer of the King's life may be excused in being somewhat minute in inserting recollections of departed greatness. It was quite delightful to witness, on the occasion to which we are referring, the ceaseless activity of the Sovereign, though even then advanced in age. In chapel, his Majesty rolled up the printed form, and with it accompanied the time of the music. He kindly called the attention of his train bearers, the young Marquises of Worcester and Tavistock, to the ceremonies, and repeatedly turned over the leaves of the service book, to point out the immediate passages to an illustrious Duke, who sat on his left hand. One incident provoked a half-suppressed smile within the sacred walls:-Sir Sydney Smith, who had been shifting his seat from bench to bench, took his stand, unwittingly, immediately before the Royal desk, under the organ. The King, master of all the etiquette, instantly perceived the indecorum, and good-humouredly gave the Knight of the Polar star, with his hollow paper scroll in his hand, two or three taps on the back part of the head, which resounded; and the Knight, amid a universal gaze, speedily sought his retreat on a back bench, between the present and the late Dowager Duchess of Rutland, where he was canopied over by the bending plumes of those lovely ladies, who alone on that day wore