King William IV

Famous quotes containing the words king william and/or king:

    When Prince William [later King William IV] was at Cork in 1787, an old officer ... dined with him, and happened to say he had been forty years in the service. The Prince with a sneer asked what he had learnt in those forty years. The old gentleman justly offended, said, “Sir, I have learnt, when I am no longer fit to fight, to make as good a retreat as I can” —and walked out of the room.
    Horace Walpole (1717–1797)

    Not Solomon, for all his wit,
    Nor Samson, though he were so strong,
    No king nor person ever yet
    Could ‘scape, but death laid him along:
    Robert Southwell (1561?–1595)