very handsome, not a girl, and of Lady Schaub’s mould; the Comte de Caraman, nephew of Madame de Mirepoix, a Monsieur de Clausonnette, and General Schouallow,(845) the favourite of the late Czarina; absolute favourite for a dozen years, without making an enemy.  In truth, he is very amiable, humble, and modest.  Had he been ambitious, he might have mounted the throne:  as he was not, you may imagine they have plucked his plumes a good deal.  There is a little air of melancholy about him, and, if I am not mistaken, Some secret wishes for the fall of the present Empress; which, if it were civil to suppose, I could heartily join with him in hoping for.  As we have still liberty enough left to dazzle a Russian, he seems charmed with England, and perhaps liked even this place the more as belonging to the son of one that, like himself, had been prime minister.  If he has no more ambition left than I have, he must taste the felicity of being a private man.  What has Lord Bute gained, but the knowledge of how many ungrateful sycophants favour and power can create?

If you have received the parcel that I consined to Richard Brown for you, you will have found an explanation of my long silence.  Thank you for being alarmed for my health.

The day after to-morrow I go to Park-place for four or five days, and soon after to Goodwood.  My French journey is still in suspense; Lord Hertford talks of coming over for a fortnight; perhaps I may go back with him; but I have determined nothing yet, till I see farther into the present chase, that somehow or other I may take my leave of politics for ever; for can any thing be so wearisome as politics on the account of others?  Good night! shall I not see you here?  Yours ever.

(845) The Comte de Schouwaloff.  See ant`e, p. 382, letter 245.  Walpole says, in a note to Madame du Deffand’s letter to him of the 19th of April, 1766, “Il fut IC favori, l’on croit le mari, de la Czarine Elizabeth de Russie, et pendant douze ans de faveur il ne se fit point un ennemi."-E.

Letter 255 To The Right Hon. Lady Hervey.  Strawberry Hill, June 11, 1765. (page 408)

I am almost as much ashamed, Madam, to plead the true cause of my faults towards your ladyship, as to have been guilty of any neglect.  It is scandalous, at my age, to have been carried backwards and forwards to balls and suppers and parties by very young people, as I was all last week.  My resolutions of growing old and staid are admirable:  I wake with a sober plan, and intend to pass the day with my friends—­then comes the Duke of Richmond, and hurries me down to Whitehall to dinner-then the Duchess of Grafton sends for me to loo in Upper Grosvenor-street—­before I can get thither, I am begged to step to Kensington, to give Mrs. Anne Pitt my opinion about a bow-window—­after the loo, I am to march back to Whitehall to supper-and after that, am to walk with Miss Pelham on the terrace