Memoirs of the Life and Reign of King George the Third, Volume 2 (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

George III (1738-1820) was on the throne when England lost its American colonies and when it defeated Napoleon. Jesse, an influential British historian, sketches here the monarch’s life and times, from childhood and marriage through political struggles and mental illness—a story enlivened by the presence of such figures as Benjamin Franklin, William Pitt, and Edmund Burke. The second volume begins with the birth of George’s daughter, Princess Elizabeth, in 1770, and the banishment of the Queen; it ends with the arrival of John Adams as envoy from the United States and Margaret Nicholson’s attempt on the King’s life in 1786.