ABSTRACT
In 1761 an anonymous pamphlet entitled The History of the man after God’s own heart was published by R. Freeman.2 The pamphlet complained of ‘some reverend panegyrists’ who had been fond of comparing the late King George II ‘with a monarch in no respect resembling him’.3 The monarch that King George was being compared to was David. The author went on to note that the primary reason for this comparison was due to the lucky coincidence that the duration of both monarchs reign had been thirty-three years. This comparison of George II with David had clearly caused the author great distress and there seemed only one way to deal with it. He would have to trouble the world with a ‘new history of David’ because ostensibly he believed that David was not worthy of comparison with the recently deceased British monarch.4
