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The Duke de Chartres is going to Constantinople. It was asked, why? Answer,-pour apprendre à être grand seigneur.

We have a report, that Minorco is taken: had the news arrived a few hours sooner, it might have been thrown into the vote of approbation.

LETTER CCCLXIX.

Berkeley Square, Feb. 25, 1782.

THERE are certain moments in politics which excite eager curiosity, but in which it is least easy to satisfy it. This means a crisis, in which the scales are so nicely balanced as to fluctuate, and consequently to puzzle the prophetic eye even of calculators. On Wednesday last, Mr. Fox renewed the attack on Lord Sandwich,† who was saved by a majority but of nineteen. On the next day but one, General Conway moved to address the King to take steps for peace with America. I believe the calculating prophets had been at work with their arithmetic, and had found that when a plurality of twenty

nagement in the administration of naval affairs during the year 1781." The motion was strongly supported by Admiral Keppel and Lord Howe, and the defence of the Earl of Sandwich was undertaken by Lord Mulgrave. After a debate which lasted till three in the morning, it was negatived by 205 to 183. Admiral Keppel, in a letter to Captain Jervis, written the morning after the debate, says: "The evidence was sufficient to condemn a far better character than Lord Sandwich. The proof against him was upon the table, in the face of his advocates. Lord North, I conceive, did not think well of the ground he was fighting upon, if I am to judge by the tenor and insufficiency of his arguments. Every thing was on our side but numbers; and in that particular, considering the ministry, management, and delay. ing the papers, we had enough, I believe, to stagger the First Lord. A little better management on our side, and less assiduity on theirs, and we should have carried our question clear." Life, vol. ii. p. 367.-ED.

1785.

Louis-Philippe-Joseph, only son of the Duc d'Orleans, whom he succeeded in

+ On the 20th of February, Mr. Fox brought the same question before the House which he had already moved in a committee, relative to the mal-administration of Baval affairs. Like the former, the debate was protracted to a late hour; in the course of which, Walpole's friend, Sir Horace Mann the younger, declared, that we were every where disgraced, and that it was the universal language on the Continent, that the affairs of our navy were badly conducted. Mr. William Pitt greatly distinguished himself upon this occasion. He pointed out in what particu Jars there had been neglect, and declared that he supported the motion from motives of a public nature, and from those motives alone. Mr. Dunning, in allusion to this speech, said, that almost all the sentiments he had collected in his own mind upon the subject had vanished away like a dream, on the bursting forth of a torrent of eloquence behind him, from the greatest prodigy that ever perhaps was seen in this or any other country-an honourable gentleman possessing the full vigour of youth, united with the experience and wisdom of the maturest age. On the division, the numbers were, for the motion 217, against it 236. Thus the majority was decreased, although the number of members present was greater than upon the former occasion.-ED.

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two was sunk to nineteen, it was a decreasing fund; and thence they contributed to make it so-for at two in the morning the majority appeared to be fallen to a single figure. The question was rejected but by one voice.*

As I do not make use of any table of interest, I shall not pretend to prophesy what will happen. Formerly, a sinking Minister was soon gone; but as circumstances cannot always be the same, no more can times, which take their colour from them. One opinion I have, more fixed, which is, that the longer the Administration can maintain itself, the heavier will be its fall; for, as this success of the Opposition is less owing to their abilities than to the calamities of the war, I see no prospect of victories to mend the situation of the Ministers; and therefore, though they may divert their present danger, the temper of the nation, that is much soured, will not sweeten in their favour.

This is a brief sketch of the present aspect. I could not by a million of words tell you more yet. You will understand as much as is necessary, and I do not at all desire to be more intelligible to postmasters.

I have received two letters from you since my last; one the moment that was set out. Yours came by Mr. Grenville with the prints of the Medici, for which I give you many thanks. In your second, you say that the Emperor had consented to receive the Pope, from whom he has taken at least a third of his tiara. We had heard that

*The appointment of Mr. Welbore Ellis to the office of Secretary of State for the Plantation Department, and of Sir Guy Carleton to succeed the Commander-inchief of the forces in North America, having occasioned general alarm that there still existed a determination to prosecute the war, the Opposition resolved to make another attempt to bind up the hands of the Government. Accordingly, on the 22nd, General Conway moved an address to his Majesty, imploring him to take into his consideration the great calamities which had attended the unfortunate war on the continent of North America, and beseeching that it might no longer be pursued for the impracticable purpose of reducing the inhabitants of that country to obedience by force; and that the public tranquillity might be restored by a happy reconciliation with the revolted colonies. On this evening, the American war may be said to have virtually terminated. Sir Samuel Romilly, who was in the gallery, gives the following account of what passed upon this important occasion: "The Ministers opposed the motion with all their strength, and disclosed to the House their design for carrying on the war. They said they meant to keep the posts; and when it was asked what they meant by a war of posts? the Secretary at War said, they meant to keep the posts they had already, and to take more if they saw occasion. This expression produced a roar of Hear, hear!' from the Opposition. Fox siad, it was evident, from this and many similar expressions dropped inadver tently, that the plan of the war was changed only for the moment, and that the faintest glimmering of success would awaken all the vain projects of the Ministers. The argument which the Court party seemed to rely on most was this: the Opposition, they said, to act in a fair and manly manner, ought not to have made such a motion, but to have moved at once for a change of Ministers; for that was the effect which the resolution must directly have if it were carried. The motion was lost by a majority of only a single vote; the numbers being 193 for the resolution, and 194 against it. The House did not rise till three in the morning." Life, vol. i. p. 204.-ED.

Cæsar added, that his Holiness's visit would be to no manner of purpose. Perhaps the Monarch would not dislike to return the super aspidem et Basilicum calcabis,-yet he may find an aspic under his feet. There is more than metaphoric poison still left in the vipers of the Church.

Accustomed as you are to our newspapers, you will read in them with astonishment the detail of a late trial for adultery, between Sir Richard Worseley and his wife, sister of the Countess of Harrington. To save her last favourite, she summoned thirty-four young men of the first quality to depose to having received her favours; and one of them, a duke's son, to having bestowed an additional one on her. The number was reduced to twenty-seven, and but few of them were examined; and they blushed for her. A better defence for her was the connivance of the husband who was proved to have carried one of the troop on his back to the house-top, to view his fair spouse stark naked in the bath. The jury was so equitable as to give the plaintiff but one shilling damages.†

This trial happened on the very Friday of the drawn battle in the House of Commons. Sir Richard Worseley was missing; Lord North, inquiring for him, was told the cause of his absence, "Oh," replied the Minister pleasantly, "if all my cuckolds desert, I shall be beaten indeed."

Tuesday night, late..

At my niece, Lady Cadogan's, this evening, I met Mr. Langley, Lord Stormont's secretary; who gave me great pleasure, by telling me that you are made Minister Plenipotentiary.. I am glad you are a little richer, when you must be at oxtraordinary expense; but I am much more delighted that your own merits and zeal have obtained this recompense, and that they are rewarded so speedily. It does honour to the Government too; yet I doubt you will not have the fuller satisfaction of seeing your labours terminated by the success you wish. I feel for those brave unrescued men !§

Poor Mr. Morrice is not come to town, nor can he come, though he has had an urgent call. Old Lady Brown, who was formerly at Venice, is dead, and has left him for his life an estate of 15007. a

This year Pius VI. paid a visit to Joseph II., to endeavour to dissuade him from the prosecution of the ecclesiastical reforms which he had set on foot. The Pontiff reached Vienna on the 23rd of March, and was received by the Emperor with great respect but returned to Rome without being able to effect the object of his journey.-ED.

The trial took place in the Court of King's Bench on the 22nd of February, before Lord Chief-Justice Mansfield.

Sir Richard Worseley was at this time Member for Newport, Controller of the King's household, and Governor of the Isle of Wight; of which island, in the preceding year, he had published a History, in one quarto volume, with engravings of the principal views, seats, &c., by a jointure of 70,000l. reverted to his lady, who was the daughter and co-heiress of Sir John Fleming.-ED.

Besieged in Fort St. Philip at Minorca.

|| Margaret Cecil, widow of Sir Robert Brown, formerly a merchant of Venice

year. I told you how little prospect Cavalier Mozzi has of obtaining assistance from him. It is plain this delay is welcome to my Lord; for I have not heard a syllable from his lawyers. I was indeed, surprised the other day by a letter from his Lordship. It was to desire the favour of me to go and see a large picture that Cipriani has painted for him for the saloon at Houghton-a most engaging sight to me, to be sure! though such a request provoked me, I really believe it was madness and folly dictated it, rather than insult; though the latter is not impossible. I would not trust a pen in my own hand, lest it should be warm; and so have made no manner of answer. He has now bespoken another piece, frantic enough; for the subject is both indecent and shocking. Perhaps you have forgotten the story; it is that of Theodore and Honoria, from Dryden's Fables, where the naked ghost of a scornful mistress is pursued by demons and worried by blood-hounds.* The subject, were it indurable, could only be executed by Salvator or Spagnolet. Imagine it attempted by modern artists, who are too feeble to paint any thing but fan-mounts!

I believe I never told you, that, since his Lordship sold his collection of pictures, he has taken to design himself, and his scratches are pinned up about the stripped apartments. But I am foolish to repeat instances of his deliriums; though, indeed, the nation is so lunatic, that my nephew is no phenomenon. I saw your nephew last night at Gloucester-House, and wonder he did not mention your new appointments; but, indeed, it was but for a moment: nor, in truth, though he is very obliging to me, and though I often see him at our little Court, have I had any conversation with him for a long time. The play there begins late, for every thing begins late, every body arrives late every where, and I retire early; for I avoid all public places, and go to no other. A court-life was never my object,

Of Dryden's story of the spectre huntsman and his blood-hounds, and of the scene of it, the pine-forest of Ravenna, Lord Byron makes beautiful mention in the third canto of Don Juan

"Sweet hour of twilight!-in the solitude

Of the pine-forest, and the silent shore,

Which bounds Ravenna's immemorial wood

Rooted where once the Adrian wave flow'd o'er

To where the last Cæsarean fortress stood,

Evergreen forest! which Boccacio's lore
And Dryden's lay made haunted ground to me,
How have I lov'd the twilight hour and thee!

"The shrill cicalas, people of the pine,

Making their summer lives one countless song,
Were the sole echoes, save my steed's and mine,

And vesper bell's, that rose the boughs along;
The spectre huntsman of Oresti's line,

His hell-dogs and their chase, and the fair throng,
Which learn'd from this example not to fly

From a true lover,-shadow'd my mind's eye."-ED.

nor would have been my choice for this end of my course, any more than it was for the commencement, though fate has connected both periods with such an attachment; yet trust I have acquired as little of the esprit des cours as if I had never been within one. How strange are the accidents of life! At ten years old I had set my heart on seeing George the First, and, being a favourite child, my mother asked leave for me to be presented to him; which to the First Minister's wife was granted, and I was carried by the Lady Chesterfield to kiss his hand as he went to supper in the Duchess of Kendal's apartment. This was the night but one before he left England the last time; and now, fifty years afterwards, one of his great-grandsons and one of his great-grand-daughters are my great-nephew and niece! Yet how little had the first part to do with bringing about the second! When one considers these events abstractedly, as I do, the reflection is amusing; it makes the politician's arts trifling and ridiculous: no plan, no foresight, no industry, could have ranged or accomplished what mere chance has effected. It would not be less entertaining, if a politician would talk as frankly on the projects he had planned and been disappointed of effecting; but a politician would not look on the dénouement with the same indifference.

LETTER CCCLXX.

Berkeley Square, March 1, 1782. You know I deem myself a bad political prophet. I certainly did not expect that the Opposition (no longer the minority) would have such rapid success as to have gained a complete victory already. I wrote to you on Tuesday, that on the Friday preceding they had been beaten but by one. On Wednesday last, General Conway renewed. his motion for an address of pacification with America, and carried the question by a majority of nineteen.* His speech was full of wit,

* The result of the late division was considered by the Opposition so satisfactory, that it was resolved to bring the question again before the House. Accordingly, on the 27th of February, General Conway moved, "That it is the opinion of the House, that the further prosecution of offensive war on the continent of North America, for the purpose of reducing the rebel colonies to obedience by force, will be the means of weakening the efforts of this country against her European enemies; tends, under the present circumstances, dangerously to increase the mutual enmity, so fatal to the interests both of Great Britain and America; and, by preventing a happy reconciliation with that country, to frustrate the earnest desire graciously expressed by his Majesty to restore the blessings of public tranquillity." The arguments urged in support of the motion were nearly the same as those employed on the former occasion. Lord North said, it would be his duty, if the House should withdraw their confidence from him, to deliver up to his Sovereign the seal of his office, and say to him, "I have served your Majesty with diligence, zeal, and fidelity; but your Parliament have withdrawn from me their confidence; let me therefore resign those employments, which I ought to keep only as long as I can

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