The day before yesterday the lords had a great day:  Earl Stanhope(771) moved for an address to his Britannic Majesty, in consideration of the heavy wars, taxes, etc. far exceeding all that ever were known, to exonerate his people of foreign troops, Hanoverians,) which are so expensive, and can In no light answer the ends for which they were hired.  Lord Sandwich seconded:  extremely well, I hear, for I was not there.  Lord Carteret answered, but was under great concern.  Lord Bath spoke too, and would fain have persuaded that this measure was not Solely Of one minister, but that himself and all the council were equally concerned in it.  The late Privy Seal(772) Spoke for an hour and a half, with the greatest applause, against the Hanoverians:  and my Lord Chancellor extremely well for them.  The division was, 90 for the Court, 35 against it The present Privy Seal(773) voted with the Opposition:  so there will soon be another.  Lord Halifax, the Prince’s new Lord, was with the minority too; the other, Lord Darnley,(774) with the Court.  After the division, Lord Scarborough, his Royal Highness’s Treasurer, moved an address of approbation of the measure, which was carried by 78 to the former 35.  Lord Orford was ill, and could not be there, but sent his proxy:  he has got a great cold and slow fever, but does not keep his room.  If Lord Gower loses the Privy Seal, (as it is taken for granted he does not design to keep it,) and Lord Bath refuses it, Lord Cholmondeley stands the fairest for it.

I will conclude abruptly, for you will be tired of my telling you that I have nothing to tell you-but so it is literally-oh! yes, you will want to know what the Duke of Argyle did-he was not there; he is every thing but superannuated.  Adieu!

(771) Philip, second Earl Stanhope, born in 1714.  He succeeded his father when he was only seven years old, and died in 1786.  His character is thus sketched by his great-grandson, Viscount Mahon, in his History of England, vol. iii. p. 242.-"He had great talents, but fitter for speculation than for practical objects of action.  He made himself one of the best-Lalande used to say the best-mathematicians in England of his day, and was likewise deeply skilled in other branches of science and philosophy.  The Greek language was as familiar to him as the English; he was said to know every line of Homer by heart.  In public life, on the contrary, he was shy, ungainly, and embarrassed.  From his first onset in Parliament, he took part with vehemence against the administration of Sir Robert Walpole.”  Bishop Secker says, that Lord Stanhope “spoke a precomposed speech, which he held in his hand, with great tremblings and agitations, and hesitated frequently in the midst of great vehemence."-E.

(772) Lord Hervey.

(773) Lord Gower.

(774) Edward Bligh, second Earl of Darnley, in Ireland, and Lord of the Bedchamber to Frederic Prince of Wales.-D.