clared he had been laid aside without notice. Courts do not always punish their own profligates so justly.

There is no new public event at home or from abroad. The Spanish negotiation does not seem to advance at all. Prince Frederic, the Bishop, is going to Germany; and then the Prince of Wales is to have something of a family.

Our old acquaintance Lord Pomfret, whose madness has lain dormant for some time, is broken out again; I mean, his madness is. He went down to Euston last week, and challenged the Duke of Grafton for an affront offered to him, he said, when the Duke was Minister you know what an age ago that was. The Duke declared his innocence, and advised him to consider on it. He did for two days; then said he was now cool, yet insisted on satisfaction. The Duke gave both letters to a magistrate, and then swore the peace against him; the only rational thing to be done. The Earl some years ago had many of these flippancies, and used to call out gentlemen in the playhouse, who he pretended had made faces at him. As madmen are generally cunning and malicious, it was generally such as looked unlikely to resent, whom he picked out. Once he unluckily selected General Moyston, and, drawing his curtains early in the morning, bade him rise and follow him into Hyde Park, for having laughed at him at Court. Moyston denied having even seen him there. Oh, then, it is very well," said my lord. "No, by God, is not it," replied the general;

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you have disturbed me when I had been in bed but three hours, and now you shall give me satisfaction:" but the Earl begged to be excused. There was a Mr. Palmes Robinson, who used to say publicly that he had often got Lord Pomfret as far as Hyde Park Corner, but never could get him any farther.

He is wonderfully re

He said ten thou

Mr. Windham I have seen. covered, and looks robust again. sand fine things in your praise. Oh! thought I; but said nothing. Mr. Morrice I have not yet seen: he is confined in the country by the gout, and I hear looks dreadfully.

I have seen lately in the Abbé Richard's Voyage d'Italie, written in 1762, that in the Palais Pitti were preserved two large volumes of the Travels of Cosimo III., with views of the houses he had been at; and he names England amongst them, where he certainly was.* Could you find out if there is such a thing, and get a sight of it? I should be very curious to know what English seats are there. Old English mansions are great objects with me-but do not give yourself much trouble about this request.

3rd.

You perceive that I am not likely to have great Parliamentary news to tell you. This week they are only being sworn in. The first debate in the Commons was to be next Monday, but probably will not, for last night Lord North was very ill of a fever. They

* A translation of the Travels of Cosmo the Third, Grand-Duke of Tuscany, was published in a quarto volume in 1820.-ED.

can no more go on without their Treasurer, than without their pensions. Sir Horace the second, I take for granted, will tell you of the common debates. I do not mean to relax myself, but seldom know much of their details, which I think of little consequence; and rather reserve myself for confirming or contradicting reports of considerable events.

LETTER CCCXXXIX.

Berkeley Square, Nov. 20, 1780.

As I apprised you that the new Parliament did not promise to be very active, you will account for my having told you none of its proceedings. It has been more confined to personalities than divisions. The latter have proved much in favour of the Court: but then some of the chiefs of the Opposition have in a manner seceded, not from their party, but from action; and less from change than from disagreement. Lord Pomfret, after a week's imprisonment in the Tower, made his submission, has been reprimanded, and released on giving his honour (a madman's honour!) not to repeat his offence. The grand jury have found the bill of high treason against his fellow-prisoner Lord George Gordon, who, however, will not be tried till after Christmas. I do not know why. -So much for Parliament.

The newspapers have told you as much as I know of Arnold's treachery, which has already cost the life

of a much better man, Major Andrée*-precipitated probably by Lord Cornwallis's cruelty. You hear on the Continent, but too much of our barbarity; the only way in which we have yet shown our power! Rodney found Rhode Island so strongly fortified that he returned to the West Indies; and yet we still presume on recovering America!

Do you wonder that, witness to so much delusion and disgrace, it should grow irksome to me to be the annalist of our follies and march to ruin? I cannot, like our newspapers, falsify every event, and coin prophecies out of bad omens. My friendship for you makes me persist in our correspondence; but tenderness for my country makes me abhor detailing its errors, and regard to truth will not allow me to assert what I do not believe. I wait for events, that I may send you something; and yet my accounts are dry and brief, because I confine myself to avowed facts, without comments or credulity. My society is grown very narrow, and it is natural at sixty-three not to concern myself in the private history of those that might be my grandchildren. Even their sallies become less splendid as opulence is vanished; and, though national follies forerun and contribute to the decline of

*This unfortunate gentleman, having been employed by Sir Henry Clinton to carry on a negotiation with the noted American general Arnold, about to betray the trust reposed in him by his countrymen, was, in the performance of his hazardous duty, taken prisoner by the Americans, and, owing to his disguise and the nature of his mission, was tried by a court-martial and executed as a spy. A monument, by order of the King, was erected to his memory in Westminster Abbey.-Ed.

a great country, they stop with it, not from repentance, but impotence. 'Tis insolent power that tramples on laws and morals. Poverty is only vicious by imitation, or refractory from oppression. Robbery, indeed, continues at high-water mark, though the army and navy have drawn off such hosts of outlaws and vagrants. That they have successors, proves the increase of want.

22nd.

There was an odd interlude yesterday in the House of Commons. Some of the Opposition proposed to thank the late Speaker, Sir Fletcher. Lord North had promised not to gainsay it. Neither side could admire such a worthless fellow those he has left, less than those that have adopted him; and yet the vote of thanks passed by a majority of 40 :—and so one may be thanked for being a rogue on all sides! * If thanks grow cheaper, they will at least be more striking when bestowed on the worthy; for every one will say, "Such an one does deserve praise."

It looks a little as if we should quarrel downright with the Dutch. I do not wonder that we mind so little an enemy more or less; for, numerous as our foes are, they certainly are very awkward. We hurt ourselves a thousand times more than they do. We have done nothing that signifies a straw; but they have done less.

* The motion was proposed by Mr. Thomas Townshend, and supported generally by the Opposition, but warmly resisted on the Court side, although the Ministers themselves took no direct part. It was, however, carried on a division, by a majority of 136 to 96.-Ed.

VOL. III.-NEW SERIES.

T