(73) Sir Thomas Wyatt “the younger,” son of the preceding, who is presumed to have received that designation from having been knighted in the lifetime of his father.  Having joined in the effort to place Lady Jane Grey on the throne, he was condemned and executed for high treason, on the 11th of April 1554.-E.

(74) The editor was W. Huddersford, fellow of Trinity College.-E.

(74) Browne Willis, the antiquary, and author of “A Survey of the Cathedrals of England;” “Notitia Parliamentaria,” etc.  He was born at Blandford in 1682, and died in February 1760.  Dr. Ducarel printed privately, immediately after his death, a small quarto pamphlet, entitled " Some Account Of Browne Willis, Esq.  LL.  D.”  One of Willis’s peculiarities was his fondness for visiting cathedrals on the saints, days to which they were dedicated.-E.

Letter 43 To The Hon. H. S. Conway.  Strawberry Hill, Monday, June 22, 1772. (page 68)

It is lucky that I have had no dealings with Mr. Fordyce;(75) for, if he had ruined me, as he has half the world, I could not have run away.  I tired myself with walking on Friday:  the gout came on Saturday in my foot; yesterday I kept my bed till four o’clock, and my room all day-but, with wrapping myself all over with bootikins, have scarce had any pain-my foot swelled immediately, and today I am descended into the blueth and greenth:(76) and though you expect to find that I am paving the way to an excuse, I think I shall be able to be with you on Saturday.  All I intend to excuse myself from, is walking.  I should certainly never have the gout, if I had lost the use of my feet.  Cherubims that have no legs, and do nothing but stick their chins in a cloud and sing, are never out of order.  Exercise is the worst thing in the world, and as bad an invention as gunpowder.

Apropos to Mr. Fordyce, here is a passage ridiculously applicable to him, that I met with yesterday in the letters of Guy Patin:  “Il n’y a pas long-temps qu’un auditeur des comptes nomm`e Mons. Nivelle fit banqueroute; et tout fra`ichement, c’est-`a-dire depuis trois jours, un tr`esorier des parties casuelles, nomm`e SanSon, en a fait autant; et pour vous montrer qu’il est vrai que res humanae faciunt circulum, comme il a `et`e autrefois dit par Plato et par Aristote, celui-l`a s’en retourne d’o`u il vient.  Il est fils d’un paysan; il a `et`e laquais de son premier m`etier, et aujourd’hui il n’est plus rien, si non qu’il lui reste une assez belle femme.”—­I do not think I can find in Patin or Plato, nay, nor in Aristotle, though he wrote about every thing, a parallel case to Charles Fox:(77) there are advertised to be sold more annuities of his and his society, to the amount of five hundred thousand pounds a-year!  I wonder what he will do next, when he has sold the estates of all his friends!