The signboard of a wayside inn near Goring Heath in Oxfordshire long bore a portrait of the king with couplets reciting how his majesty "drank from the bowl, and bowl'd for what he drank."
His intense application to affairs is noted by the English minister, John Robinson (1650-1723), who informed his court that there was every prospect of a happy reign in Sweden, provided his majesty were well served and did not injure his health by too much work.
The admiralty advocate or advocate to his majesty in his office of admiralty represented specially the lords of the admiralty.
The prime minister, Lord Melbourne, submitted to the king a choice of names for the chancellorship of the exchequer and leadership of the House of Commons; but his majesty announced that, having lost the services of Lord Althorp as leader of the House of Commons, he could feel no confidence in the stability of Lord Melbourne's government, and that it was his intention to send for the duke of Wellington.
This pronounced him guilty of disobedience, and adjudged him "unfit to serve his Majesty in any military capacity whatsoever."
