worth, that it may rather wait for you, than you for it, if it should go into Cheshire and not find you there. As I should ever be sorry to give you any pain, I hope I shall not be the first to tell you of the loss of poor lady Charlotte Johnstone, who, after a violent fever of less than a week, was brought to bed yesterday morning of a dead child, and died herself at four in the afternoon. I heartily condole with you, as I know your tenderness for all your family, and the regard you have for colonel Johnstone. The time is wonderfully sickly; nothing but sore throats, colds, and fevers. I got rid of one of the worst of these disorders, attended with a violent cough, by only taking seven grains of James's powder for six nights. It was the first cough I ever had, and when coughs meet with so spare a body as mine, they are not apt to be so easily conquered. Take great care of yourself, and bring the fruits of your expedition in perfection to Strawberry. I shall be happy to see you there whenever you please. I have no immediate purpose of settling there yet, as they are laying floors, which is very noisy, and as it is uncertain when the parliament will rise; but I would go there at any time to meet you. The town will empty instantly after the king's birth-day; and consequently I shall then be less broken in upon, which I know you do not like. If, therefore, it suits you, any time you will name after the fifth of June will be equally agreeable; but sooner if you like it better.

We have little news at present, except a profusion of new peerages, but are likely I think to have much greater shortly. The ministers disagree, and quarrel with as much alacrity as ever; and the world expects a total rupture between lord Bute and the late king's servants. This comedy has been so often represented, it scarce interests one, especially one who takes no part, and who is determined to have nothing to do with the world, but hearing and seeing the scenes it furnishes.

The new peers, I don't know their rank, scarce their titles, are lord Wentworth and sir William Courtenay,3 viscounts

1 Sister to the earl of Halifax. [Or.]

2 Edward lord Wentworth, created 1st May 1762, viscount Wentworth, of Wellsborough, Leicestershire. [Ed.]

3 Sir W. Courtney, Bart. created 1st May 1762, viscount Courtney, of Powderham Castle, Devon, [Ed.]

8

lord Egmont, lord Milton,5 Vernon of Sudbury, old Fox-lane,7 sir Edward Montagu, barons; and lady Caroline Fox, a baroness; the duke of Newcastle 10 is created lord Pelham, with an entail to Tommy Pelham; and lord Brudenel is called to the House of Lords, as lord Montagu.11 The duchess of Manchester was to have had the peerage alone, and wanted the latter title; her sister, very impertinently, I think, as being the younger, objected and wished her husband marquis of Monthermer. This difference has been adjusted, by making sir Edward Montagu lord Beaulieu, and giving the title of the family to lord Brudenel. With pardon of your Cu-blood, I hold, that lord Cardigan makes a very trumpery figure by so meanly relinquishing all Brudenelhood.

Adieu! let me know soon when you will keep your Strawberry tide. Yours ever.

P.S. Lord Anson 12 is in a very bad way; and Mr. Fox, I think, is not in a much better.

The Rt. Hon. John Percival, earl of Egmont in Ireland, was created baron Lovel and Holland, of Enmore, Somersetshire. [Ed.]

5 The right hon. Joseph, lord Milton, baron Milton of Shrone Hall in Ireland, was created baron Milton of Milton Abbey, Dorset. [Ed.]

6 George Venables Vernon, of Sudbury, Derbyshire, esq. created lord Vernon, baron of Kinderton, Cheshire. [Ed.]

7 George Fox Lane, esq., of Bramham, Yorkshire, and his heirs male by Harriot, his then wife, baron Bingley, in Yorkshire. [Ed.]

8 Sir Edward Montagu, of Ditton Park, Bucks., and his heirs male by his wife Isabella, duchess dowager of Manchester, baron Beaulieu of Beaulieu, Hants. [Ed.]

9 Lady Caroline Fox, created lady Holland, baroness of Holland, county Lincoln, with the dignity of lord Holland to her heirs male. [Ed.]

10 His grace the duke of Newcastle, created baron Pelham of Stanmer, with remainder, in default of issue, to Thomas Pelham of Stanmer, Sussex. [Ed.]

1 John Montagu, commonly called lord Brudenell, created baron Montagu of Broughton, Northamptonshire. [Ed.]

12 The death of his lordship, who was at the time first lord of the Admiralty, commander-in-chief of His Majesty's fleet, &c. took place at his seat, Moor Park, Herts., June 6th, 1762. [Ed.]

To GEORGE MONTAGU, Esq.

Arlington-street, May 14, 1762.

It is very hard, when you can plunge over head and ears in Irish claret, and not have even your heel vulnerable by the gout, that such a Pythagorean as I am should be subject to it! It is not two years since I had it last, and here am I with my foot again upon cushions. But I will not complain; the pain is trifling, and does little more than prevent my frisking about. If I can bear the motion of the chariot, I shall drive to Strawberry tomorrow; for I had rather only look at verdure and hear my nightingales from the bow-window, than receive visits and listen to news. I can give you no certain satisfaction relative to the viceroy, your cousin. It is universally said that he has no mind to return to his dominions, and pretty much believed that he will succeed to lord Egremont's seals, who will not detain them long from whoever is to be his successor.

I am sorry you have lost another Montagu, the duke of Manchester. Your cousin Guildford is among the competitors for chamberlain to the queen. The duke of Chandos, lord Northumberland, and even the duke of Kingston,3 are named as other candidates; but surely they will not turn the latter loose into another chamber of maids of honour! Lord Cantelupe has asked to rise from vice-chamberlain, but met with little encouragement. It is odd that there are now seventeen English and Scotch dukes unmarried, and but seven out of twenty-seven have the garter.

It is comfortable to me to have a prospect of seeing Mr. Corway soon; the ruling part of the administration are disposed to recal our troops from Germany. In the meantime, our officers and their wives are embarked for Portugal-what must Europe think of us when we make wars and assemblies all over the world?

1 The earl of Halifax was gazetted first lord of the admiralty on the 19th June, 1762, in the room of lord Anson. [Ed.]

2 Robert Montagu, third duke of Manchester, lord chamberlain to the queen, died 10th May, 1762, and was succeeded by his eldest son George, fourth duke, who dying in 1788, was succeeded by his eldest son William, the present and fifth duke. [Ed.]

3 The earl of Shelburne was named to that office. [Ed.]

I have been for a few days this week at lord Thomond's; by making a river-like piece of water, he has converted a very ugly spot into a tolerable one. As I was so near, I went to see Audley Inn' once more; but it is only the monument now of its former grandeur. The gallery is pulled down, and nothing remains but the great hall, and an apartment like a tower at each end. In the church I found, still existing and quite fresh, the escutcheon of the famous countess of Essex and Somerset. Adieu! I shall expect you with great pleasure the beginning of next month.

Yours ever.

DEAR SIR,

TO THE REV. MR. COLE.

Strawberry-hill, May 20, 1762.

You have sent me the most kind and obliging letter in the world, and I cannot sufficiently thank you for it; but I shall be very glad to have an opportunity of acknowledging it in person, by accepting the agreeable visit you are so good as to offer me, and for which I have long been impatient. I should name the earliest day possible; but, besides having some visits to make, I think it will be more pleasant to you a few weeks hence (I mean any time in July,) when the works, with which I am finishing my house, will be more advanced, and the noisy part, as laying floors, and fixing wainscots, at an end, and which now make me

In Essex, formerly the largest palace in England. It was built out of the ruins of a dissolved monastery, near Saffron Walden, by Thomas, second son of Thomas, duke of Norfolk, who married the only daughter and heir of lord Audley, chancellor to king Henry VIII. This Thomas was summoned to parliament in queen Elizabeth's time as lord Audley of Walden, and was afterwards created earl of Suffolk by James I., to whom he was lord chancellor and lord high treasurer. It was intended for a royal palace for that king, who when it was finished was invited to see it, and lodged there one night on his way to Newmarket: when, after having viewed it with great surprise and astonishment, he was asked how he approved of it,—he answered, "very well, but troth man, it is too much for a king; but it may do for a lord high treasurer," and so left it upon the earl's hands. It was afterwards purchased by Charles II., but, he never being able to pay the purchase-money, was restored to the family by William III. [Ed.]

in a deplorable litter. As you give me leave, I will send you notice.

I am glad my books amused you;5 yet you, who are so much deeper an antiquarian, must have found more faults and omissions, I fear, than your politeness suffers you to reprehend; yet you will, I trust, be a little more severe. We both labour, I will not say for the public, (for the public troubles its head very little about our labours,) but for the few of posterity that shall be curious; and therefore, for their sake, you must assist me in making my works as complete as possible. This sounds ungrateful, after all the trouble you have given yourself; but I say it to prove my gratitude, and to show you how fond I am of being corrected.

For the faults of impression, they were owing to the knavery of a printer, who, when I had corrected the sheets, amused me with revised proofs, and never printed off the whole number, and then ran away. This accounts, too, for the difference of the ink in various sheets, and for some other blemishes; though there are still enough of my own, which I must not charge on others.

Ubaldini's book I have not, and shall be pleased to see it; but I cannot think of robbing your collection, and am amply obliged by the offer.

The Anecdotes of Horatio Palavicini are extremely entertaining.

In an Itinerary of the late Mr. Smart Lethiullier, I met the very tomb of Gainsborough this winter, that you mention; and, to be secure, sent to Lincoln for an exact draught of it. But what vexed me then, and does still, is, that by the defect at the end of the inscription, one cannot be certain whether he lived in CCC, or CCCC, as another C might have been there. Have you any corroborating circumstance, sir, to affix his existence to 1300 more than to 1400? Besides, I don't know any proof of his having been architect of the church: his epitaph only calls him Cæmentarius, which, I suppose, means Mason.

I have observed, since my book was published, what you mention of the tapestry in Laud's trial: yet, as the Journals were my authority, and certainly cannot be mistaken, I have con

On Painting. [Or.]