out his dissatisfaction in Parliament, and was seconded
by Fox. The event was exactly what I dare say
you have already foreseen. Pitt was to be turned
out; overtures were made to Fox; Pitt is not turned
out: Fox is quieted with the dignity of cabinet-counsellor,
and the Duke of Newcastle remains affronted—and
omnipotent. The commentary on this text is too
long for a letter; it may be developed some time or
other. This scene has produced a diverting interlude;
Sir George Lyttelton, who could not reconcile his
content with Mr. Pitt’s discontents, has been
very ill with the cousinhood. In the grief of
his heart, he thought of resigning his place, but
somehow or other stumbled upon a negotiation for introducing
the Duke of Bedford into the ministry again, to balance
the loss of Mr. Pitt. Whatever persuaded him,
he thought this treaty so sure of success that he
lost no time to be the agent of it himself; and whether
commissioned or noncommissioned, as both he and the
Duke of Newcastle say, he carried carte blanche, to
the Duke of Bedford, who bounced like a rocket, frightened
away poor Sir George, and sent for Mr. Pitt to notify
the overture. Pitt and the Grenvilles are outrageous;
the Duke of Newcastle disclaims his ambassador, and
every body laughs. Sir George came hither yesterday,
to expectorate with me, as he called it. Think
how I pricked up my ears, as high as King Midas, to
hear a Lyttelton vent his grievances against a Pitt
and Grenvilles! Lord Temple has named Sir George
the apostolic nuncio; and George Selwyn says, “that
he will certainly be invited by Miss Ashe among the
foreign ministers.” These are greater storms
than perhaps you expected yet; they have occasioned
mighty bustle, and whisper, and speculation; but you
see
Pulveris exigui jactu composta quiescunt.
You will be diverted with a collateral incident.
* * * * met Dick Edgecumbe, and asked him with great
importance, if he knew whether Mr. Pitt was out.
Edgecumbe, who thinks nothing important that is not
to be decided by dice, and who, consequently, had
never once thought of Pitt’s political state,
replied, “Yes.” “Ay! how do
you know?” “Why, I called at his door
just now, and his porter told me so.” Another
political event is, that Lord E. comes into place:
he is to succeed Lord Fitzwalter, who is to have Lord
Grantham’s pension, -who is dead immensely rich:
I think this is the last of the old Opposition, of
any name, except Sir John Barnard. If you have
curiosity about the Ohio, you must write to ]France:
there I believe they know something about it; here
it was totally forgot till last night, when an express
arrived with an account of the loss of one of the
transports off Falmouth, with eight officers and sixty
men on board.
My Lady Townshend has been dying, and was wofully
frightened, and took prayers; but she is recovered
now, even of her repentance. You will not be
undiverted to hear that the mob of Sudbury have literally
sent a card to the mob of Bury, to offer their assistance
at a contested election there: I hope to be able
to tell you in my next, that Mrs. Holman(531) has sent
cards to both mobs for her assembly.