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Introduction
In addition to playing cricket for the MCC, Charles Greville kept a diary. When it came out in 1874, it drew alarm and outrage from the highest in the land, but the public loved it, not for any salacious gossip (which Greville shunned) but for the intimate insight into English society and policy that each scene gave them. This anecdote of George II is as curious as any.
Duncannon* in the evening told me the story of George II’s robbery in Kensington Gardens,* which I had heard before, but remembered imperfectly. He was walking with William IV,* he said, in Kensington Gardens one day, and when they got to a certain spot the King said to him, “It was here, my Lord, that my great-grandfather, King George II,* was robbed.
“He was in the habit of walking every morning alone round the garden, and one day a man jumped over the wall, approached the King, but with great respect, and told him he was in distress, and was compelled to ask him for his money, his watch, and the buckles in his shoes. The King gave him what he had about him, and the man knelt down to take off his buckles, all the time with profound respect. When he had got everything, the King told him that there was a seal on the watch-chain of little or no value, but which he wished to have back, and requested he would take it off the chain and restore it.
* John William Ponsonby (1781-1847), 4th Earl of Bessborough, was known as Viscount Duncannon from 1793 to 1844; this conversation took place in December 1843. Ponsonby was a Whig politician, who served as Home Secretary in 1834 and as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland between 1846 and 1847, the early years of the Great Hunger or Potato Famine.
* Kensington Gardens adjoin Kensington Palace, one of the chief residences of the Royal Family.
* King William IV succeeded his brother George IV in 1830, and ruled until 1837.
* William IV was the younger brother of George IV, and William and George were the sons of George III. George III’s father Frederick was never crowned, as he had predeceased his own father George II in 1751.
Précis
One day (so William IV told a friend) King George II was walking in Kensington Gardens when he was accosted by a robber, who firmly but very politely asked for the King’s cash, watch and shoe-buckles. George complied, but asked his assailant to spare a small seal on his watch chain which, he said, was of negligible monetary value. (59 / 60 words)
One day (so William IV told a friend) King George II was walking in Kensington Gardens when he was accosted by a robber, who firmly but very politely asked for the King’s cash, watch and shoe-buckles. George complied, but asked his assailant to spare a small seal on his watch chain which, he said, was of negligible monetary value.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, despite, if, may, must, otherwise, whereas, whether.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
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