yet I know you will be unhappy not to hear from me, which makes me write now.  Our Parliament was suddenly put off to the first of next month), on news that the King Of Prussia had made a separate peace with France;- as the Speech was prepared to ask money for him, it was necessary to set it to a new tune; but we have been agreeably surprised with his gaining a great victory over the Prince de Soubize;(844) but of this we have only the first imperfect account, the wind detaining his courier or aide-de-camp on the other side still.  It is prodigious how we want all the good news we can amass together!  Our fleet dispersed by a tempest in America, where, into the bargain, we had done nothing, the uneasiness on the convention at Stade, which, by this time, I believe we have broken, and on the disappointment about Rochfort, added to the wretched state of our internal affairs; all this has reduced us to a most contemptible figure.  The people are dissatisfied, mutinous, and ripe for insurrections, which indeed have already appeared on the militia and on the dearness of corn, which is believed to be owing to much villany in the dealers.  But the other day I saw a strange sight, a man crying corn, “Do you want any corn?” as they cry knives and scissors.  To add to the confusion, the troubles in Ireland, which Mr. Conway had pacified, are broke out afresh, by the imprudence of the Duke of Bedford and the ambition of the primate.(845) The latter had offered himself to the former, who rejected him, meaning to balance the parties, but was insensibly hurried into Lord Kildare’s,(846) to please mr.  Fox.  The primate’s faction have passed eleven resolutions on pensions and grievances, equal to any in 1641, and the Duke of Bedford’s friends dared not say a word against them.(847) The day before yesterday a messenger arrived from him for help; the council will try to mollify; but Ireland is no tractable country.  About what you will be more inquisitive, is the disappointment at Rochfort, and its consequences.  Sir John Mordaunt demanded an inquiry which the city was going to demand.  The Duke of Marlborough, Lord George Sackville, and General Waldegrave have held a public inquest, with the fairness of which people are satisfied; the report is not to be made to the King till to-morrow, for which I shall reserve my letter.  You may easily imagine, that with all my satisfaction in Mr. Conway’s behaviour, I am very unhappy about him:  he is more so; having guarded and gained the most perfect character in the world by the severest attention to it, you may guess what he feels under any thing that looks like a trial.  You will see him more like himself, in a story his aide-de-camp, Captain Hamilton,(848) tells of him.  While they were on the isle of Aix, Mr. Conway was so careless and so fearless as to be trying a burning-glass on a bomb—­yes, a bomb, the match of which had been cut short to prevent its being fired by any accidental sparks of tobacco.  Hamilton snatched the glass out of Mr. Conway’s