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[Illustration: William IV.]




  When

  WILLIAM IV.

  was King.




  BY
  JOHN ASHTON,

  AUTHOR OF
  "SOCIAL LIFE IN THE REIGN OF QUEEN ANNE," ETC., ETC., ETC.

  WITH FORTY-SEVEN ILLUSTRATIONS.




  LONDON: CHAPMAN & HALL, LD.
  1896.




[Illustration: Decoration.]




PREFACE.


Several "Life and Times of William IV." have been written, but they
all contain a great deal of "Life," and very little "Times." The
present book reverses this, and deals, primarily, with the chief
topics of conversation during the seven years of King William's reign,
and, afterwards, with the social aspect of the times.

Although I treat of a period but sixty years since, it is a time of
which much is to be said which is unknown to the present generation,
and one which has had a deep and la