himself again under the wing of Grenville, replied on American affairs; but totally forgot your brother.  Beckford, in his boisterous Indian style, told Charles, that on a single idea he had poured forth a diarrhoea of words.  He could not stand it, and in two minutes fairly stole out of the House.  This battery being dismounted, the whole attack fell on Grenville, and would have put you in mind of former days.  You never heard any minister worse treated than he was for two hours together, by Tommy Townshend, Sir George Saville, and George Onslow—­and what was worse, no soul stepped forth in his defence, but Rigby and Lord Strange, the latter of whom was almost as much abashed as Charles Townshend; conscience flew in his black face, and almost turned it red.  T. Townshend was still more bitter on Lord Sandwich, whom he called a profligate fellow—­hoped he was present,(741) and added, if he is not, I am ready to call him so to his face in any private company:  even Rigby, his accomplice, said not a word in behalf of his brother culprit.  You will wonder how all this ended—­what would be the most ridiculous conclusion to such a scene’! as you cannot imagine, I will tell you.  Lord Harry Paulet(742) telling Grenville, that if Lord Cobham was to rise from the dead, he would, if he could be ashamed of any thing, be ashamed of him; by the way, every body believes he meant the apostrophe stronger than he expressed it:  Grenville rose in a rage, like a basket-woman, and told Lord harry that if he chose to use such language, he knew where to find him.  Did you ever hear of a prime minister, even soi-disant tel, challenging an opponent, when he could not answer him?  Poor Lord Harry, too, was an unfortunate subject to exercise his valour upon!  The House interposed; Lord Harry declared he should have expected Grenville to breakfast with him next morning; Grenville explained off and on two or three times, the Scotch laughed, the opposition roared, and the treasury-bench sat as mute as fishes.  Thus ended that wise Hudibrastic encounter.  Grenville however, attended by every bad omen, provoked your brother, who had not intended to speak, by saying that some people had a good opinion of the dismissed officers, others had not.  Your brother rose, and surpassed himself:  he was very warm, though less so than on the first day; very decent in terms, but most severe in effect; he more than hinted at the threats that had been used to him—­said he would not reveal what was improper; yet left no mortal in the dark on that head.  He called on the officers to assert their own freedom and independence.  In short, made such a speech as silenced all his adversaries, but has filled the whole town with his praises:  I believe, as soon as his speech reaches Hayes, it will contribute extremely to expel the gout, and bring Mr. Pitt to town, lest his presence should be no longer missed.  Princess Amelia told Me the next night, that if she had heard nothing of Mr. Conway’s