and gone, I know not what my brother will do. I am much afraid that when he comes to the crown he will be obliged to travel again."[1]
He observed, in allusion to the amours of the Duke of York and the plain looks of his mistresses, that "he believed his brother had his favourites given him by his priests for penance."[2]
After taking two or three turns one morning in St. James's Park, the King, attended only by the Duke of Leeds and Lord Cromarty, walked up Constitution Hill into Hyde Park. Just as he was crossing the road, where Apsley House now is, the Duke of York, who had been hunting that morning on Hounslow Heath, was seen returning in his coach, escorted by a party of the Guards, who, as soon as they perceived the King, suddenly halted, and stopped the coach. The Duke being acquainted with the occasion of the halt, immediately got out, and after saluting the King, said he was greatly surprised to find his Majesty in that place, with so small an attendance, and that he thought his Majesty exposed himself to some danger. "No kind of danger, James," was the reply: "for I am sure no man in England will take away my life to make you King."
