(486) Anthony Chute, Esq. of the Vine, Hants; who had been member for Newport, Hants.-E.

210 Letter 102 To Sir Horace Mann.  Strawberry Hill, May 23, 1754.

Pray continue your M`emoires of the war of the Delmontis;(487) I have received two tomes, and am delighted with them.  The French and Irish Parliaments proceed so heavily, that one cannot expect to live to the setting up the first standard; and it is so long since the world has furnished any brisk event, that I am charmed with this little military entremets.  My Lady Orford will certainly wish herself at Florence again on the behalf of her old friend:(488) I always wish myself there; and, according to custom, she and I should not be of the same party:  I cannot help wishing well to the rebellious.  You ask, whether this Countess can deprive her son of her estate?-by no means, but by another child, which, at her age, and after the variety of experiments which she has made in all countries, I cannot think very likely to happen.  I sometimes think her succession not very distant:  she is very asthmatic.  Her life is as retired as ever, and passed entirely with her husband, who seems a martyr to his former fame, and is a slave to her jealousy.  She has given up nothing to him, and pays such attention to her affairs, that she will soon be vastly rich.  But I won’t be talking of her wealth, when the chief purpose of my writing to-night is, to announce the unexpected riches and good fortune of our dear Mr. Chute, I say our dear Mr. Chute, for though you have not reason to be content with him, yet I know your unchangeable heart-and I know he is so good, that if you will take this occasion to write him a line of joy, I am persuaded it will raccommode every thing; and though he will be far from proving a regular correspondent, we shall all have satisfaction in the re-establishment of the harmony.-In short, that tartar his brother is dead:  and having made no will, the whole, and a very considerable whole, falls to our friend.  This good event happened but three days ago, and I wait with the utmost impatience for his return from the Vine, where he was at the critical instant.  As the whole was in the tyrant’s power, and as every art had been used to turn the vinegar of his temper against his brother, I had for some time lived persuaded that he would execute the worst purposes-but let us forgive him!

I like to see in the Gazette that Goldsworthy(489) is going to be removed far from Florence:  his sting has long been out-and yet I cannot help feeling glad that even the shadow of a competitor is removed from you.

We are going to have a week of Parliament-not to taste the new one, of which there is no doubt, but to give it essence:  by the Regency-bill, if the King had died before it had sat, the old one must have revived.

There is nothing else in the shape of news but small-pox and miliary fevers, which have carried off people you did not know.  If I had not been eager to notify Mr. Chute’s prosperity to you, I think I must have deferred writing for a week or two longer:  it is unpleasant to be inventing a letter to send so far, and must be disappointing when it comes from so far, and brings so little.  Adieu!