had that morning sent the Prince of Wales notice of it. It is understood from the heads of the party, that nothing more is to be pursued against him. Yesterday (Wednesday) the King adjourned both Houses for a fortnight, for time to settle things. Next week Sir Robert resigns and goes into the House of Lords. The only change yet fixed, is, that Lord Wilmington is to be at the head of the Treasury-but numberless other alterations and confusions must follow. The Prince will be reconciled, and the Whig-patriots will come in. There were a few bonfires last night, but they are very unfashionable, for never was fallen minister so followed. When he kissed the King's hand to take his first leave, the King fell on his neck, wept and kissed him, and begged to see him frequently. He will continue in town, and assist the ministry in the Lords. Mr. Pelham has declared that he will accept nothing that was Sir Robert's; and this moment the Duke of Richmond has been here from court to tell Sir R. that he had resigned the mastership of the horse, having received it from him, unasked, and that he would not keep it beyond his ministry. This is the greater honour, as it was so unexpected, and as he had no personal friendship with the duke.

For myself, I am quite happy to be free from all the fatigue, envy, and uncertainty of our late situation. I go every where; indeed, to have the stare over, and to use myself to neglect, but I meet nothing but civilities. Here have been Lord Hartington, Coke, and poor Fitzwilliam, and others crying: here has been Lord Deskford and numbers to wish me joy; in short, it is a most extraordinary and various scene.d

sition, to sit near him, spoke to him with great complacency, animadverted on the ingra. titude of several individuals who were voting against him, on whom he had conferred great favour, and declared he would never again sit in that House."-E.

Sir Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, knight of the garter, and at this time lord president of the council.

b William, Baron, and afterwards Earl Fitzwilliam; a young lord, much attached to Sir R. W.

James Ogilvy, Lord Deskford succeeded his father, in 1764, as sixth Earl of Findlater, and third Earl of Seafield. He held some inconsiderable offices in Scotland, and died in 1770.-D.

d The peculiar antipathy to Lord Hardwicke manifested by Horace Walpole on all occasions is founded, no doubt, upon the opinion which he had taken up, that the resignation of Sir Robert Walpole at this moment had been rendered necessary by the treachery and intrigues of that nobleman and the Duke of Newcastle. In his "Memoires" he repeatedly charges him with such treachery; and the Edinburgh reviewer of that work (xxxvi. p. 29) favours this view, observing, "It appears that, unless there was a secret understanding of Newcastle and Hardwicke with Pulteney and Carteret, before Sir Robert's determination to resign, the coalition was effected between the 31st of January and 2d of February; for on the 2d of February it was already settled that Lord Wilmington should be at the head of the Treasury in the new administration. So speedy an adjustment of a point of such consequence looks somewhat like previous concert.” However much appearances might favour this opinion, another writer has shown most satisfactorily that no such previous concert existed. The reviewer of the "Memoires" in the Quarterly Review (xxvii. p. 191) proves, in the first place, that it was Sir Robert himself who determined the course of events, and, as he emphatically said, " turned the key of the closet on Mr. Pulteney; so that, if he was betrayed, it must have been by himself; and secondly, that we have the evidence of his family and friends, that he was lost by his own inactivity and timidity; in other words, the great minister was worn out

There are three people whom I pity much; the King, Lord Wilmington, and my own sister; the first, for the affront, to be forced to part with his minister, and to be forced to forgive his son; the second, as he is too old, and (even when he was young,) unfit for the burthen and the poor girl," who must be created an earl's daughter, as her birth would deprive her of the rank. She must kiss hands, and bear the flirts of impertinent real quality.

I am invited to dinner to-day by Lord Strafford, Argyll's son-inlaw. You see we shall grow the fashion.

My dear child, these are the most material points: I am sensible how much you must want particulars; but you must be sensible, too, that just yet, I have not time.

Don't be uneasy; your brother Ned has been here to wish me joy: your brother Gal. has been here and cried; your tender nature will at first make you like the latter; but afterwards you will rejoice with your elder and me. Adieu! Yours, ever, and the same.

TO SIR HORACE MANN.

Feb. 9, 1741-2.

You will have had my letter that told you of the great change. The scene is not quite so pleasant as it was, nor the tranquillity arrived that we expected. All is in confusion; no overtures from the Prince, who, it must seem, proposes to be King. His party have persuaded him not to make up, but on much greater conditions than he first demanded: in short, notwithstanding his professions to the Bishop, he is to insist on the impeachment of Sir R., saying now, that his terms not being accepted at first, he is not bound to stick to them. He is pushed on to this violence by Argyll, Chesterfield,

with age and business." And these views are confirmed by extracts from the "Walpoliana," written, be it remembered, by Philip, second Earl of Hardwicke, son of the chancellor, from the information of the Walpole family, and even of Sir Robert himself; who, after his retirement, admitted his young friend into his conversation and confidence -a fact totally inconsistent with any belief in his father's treachery;-by Sir Robert's own authority, who, in a private and confidential letter to the Duke of Devonshire, dated 2d of February, 1742, giving an account of his resignation, and the efforts of his triumphant antagonists to form a new ministry, distinctly states "that he himself prevented the Duke of Newcastle's dismissal;" and lastly, by Horace Walpole's own pamphlet, "A Detection of a late Forgery," &c., in which he speaks of "the breach between the King and the Prince, as open, the known, avowed cause of the resignation, and which Sir Robert never disguised"-and again, among the errors of the writer he notices, "Sir Robert Walpole is made to complain of being abandoned by his friends. This is for once an undeserved satire on mankind-no fallen minister ever experienced such attachment from his friends as he did."-E.

* Maria, natural daughter of Sir R. W. by Maria Skerret, his mistress, whom he afterwards married. She had a patent to take place as an earl's daughter.

b William Wentworth, second Earl of Strafford, of the second creation. He married Lady Anne Campbell, second daughter of John, Duke of Argyle.-D.

c Secker, Bishop of Oxford.

The first

Cobham, Sir John Hind Cotton, and Lord Marchmont. says, "What impudence it is in Sir R. to be driving about the streets!" and all cry out, that he is still minister behind the curtain. They will none of them come into the ministry, till several are displaced; but have summoned a great meeting of the faction for Friday, at the Fountain Tavern, to consult measures against Sir R., and to-morrow the Common Council meet, to draw up instructions for their members. They have sent into Scotland and into the counties for the same purpose. Carteret and Pulteney pretend to be against this violence, but own that if their party insist upon it, they cannot desert them. The cry against Sir R. has been greater this week than ever; first, against a grant of four thousand pounds a-year, which the King gave him on his resignation, but which, to quiet them, he has given up. Then, upon making his daughter a lady; their wives and daughters declare against giving her place. He and she both kissed hands yesterday, and on Friday go to Richmond for a week. He seems quite secure in his innocence-but what protection is that, against the power and malice of party! Indeed, his friends seem as firm as ever, and frequent him as much; but they are not now the strongest. As to an impeachment, I think they will not be so mad as to proceed to it: it is too solemn and too public to be attempted, without proof of crimes, of which he certainly is not guilty. For a bill of pains and penalties, they may, if they will, I believe, pass it through the Commons, but will scarce get the assent of the King and Lords. In a week more I shall be able to write with less uncertainty.

I hate sending you false news, as that was, of the Duke of Richmond's resignation. It arose from his being two hours below with Sir R., and from some very warm discourse of his in the House of Lords, against the present violences; but went no farther. Zeal mag

Richard Temple, Viscount Cobham, so created in 1717, with remainder to the issue male of his sister, Hester Grenville. He had served in Flanders under the Duke of Marlborough, and was upon the overthrow of Sir Robert Walpole's administration promoted to the military rank of field marshal. He is now best remembered as the friend of Pope and the creator of the gardens at Stowe.-D.

Sir John Hinde Cotton, Bart. of Landwade, in Cambridgeshire; long a member of parliament, and one of the leaders of the Jacobite party. He died in 1752, and Horace Walpole, in his Memoires, in noticing this event, says, "Died Sir John Cotton, the last Jacobite of any sensible activity."-D.

e Lord Carteret and Mr. Pulteney had really betrayed their party, and so injudiciously, that they lost their old friends and gained no new ones.

d Sir Robert, at the persuasion of his brother, Mr. Selwyn, and others, desisted from pursuing this grant. Three years afterwards, when the clamour was at an end, and his affairs extremely involved, he sued for it; which Mr. Pelham, his friend and élève, was brought with the worst grace in the world to ask, and his old obliged master the King prevailed upon, with as ill grace, to grant. ["February 8. Sir R. Walpole was presented at Court as Earl of Orford. He was persuaded to refuse a grant of four thousand pounds a-year during the King's life and his own, but could not be dissuaded from accepting a letter of honour from the King, to grant his natural daughter Maria, precedence as an earl's daughter; who was also presented this day. The same thing had been done for Scrope, Earl of Sunderland, who left no lawful issue, and from one of whom Lord Howe is descended."-Secker MS.

nified this, as she came up stairs to me, and I wrote to you before I had seen Sir Robert.

At a time when we ought to be most united, we are in the greatest confusion; such is the virtue of the patriots, though they have obtained what they professed alone to seek. They will not stir one step in foreign affairs, though Sir R. has offered to unite with them, with all his friends, for the common cause. It will now be seen whether he or they are most patriot. You see I call him Sir Robert still! after one has known him by that name for these threescore years, it is difficult to accustom one's mouth to another title.

In the midst of all this, we are diverting ourselves as cordially as if Righteousness and Peace had just been kissing one another. Balls, operas, and masquerades! The Duchess of Norfolk' makes a grand masquing next week; and to-morrow there is one at the Opera-house.

Here is a Saxe-Gothic prince, brother to her Royal Highness: he sent her word from Dover that he was driven in there, in his way to Italy. The man of the inn, whom he consulted about lodgings in town, recommended him to one of very ill-fame in Suffolk-street. He has got a neutrality for himself, and goes to both courts.

Churchill asked Pultney the other day, "Well, Mr. Pultney, will you break me too?"-" No, Charles," replied he, "you break fast enough of yourself!" Don't you think it hurt him more than the other breaking would? Good night! Yours, ever.

Thursday, Feb. 11, 1741-2.

P. S. I had finished my letter, and unwillingly resolved to send you all that bad news, rather than leave you ignorant of our doings; but I have the pleasure of mending your prospect a little. Yesterday the Common Council met, and resolved upon instructions to their members, which, except one not very descriptive paragraph, contains nothing personal against our new earl; and ends with resolutions" to stand by our present constitution." Mind what followed! One of them proposed to insert "the King and Royal Family" before the words, our present constitution;" but, on a division, it was rejected by three

66

to one.

But to-day, for good news! Sir Robert has resigned; Lord Wilmington is first lord of the treasury, and Sandys has accepted the seals as chancellor of the exchequer, with Gibbon and Sir John Rushout, joined to him as other lords of the treasury. Waller was to have been the other, but has formally refused. So, Lord Sundon,

Mary, daughter of Edward Blount, Esq. and wife of Edward, ninth Duke of Norfolk.-D. b The Princess of Wales.-D. c General Charles Churchill.-D.

d Philip Gibbons, Esq.-D.

Sir John Rushout, the fourth baronet of the family, had particularly distinguished himself as an opponent of Sir R. Walpole's excise scheme. He was made treasurer of the navy in 1743, and died in 1775, at the advanced age of ninety-one. His son was created Lord Northwick, in 1797.-D.

Earle, Treby, and Clutterbuck' are the first discarded, unless the latter saves himself by Waller's refusal. Lord Harrington, who is created an earl, is made president of the council, and Lord Carteret has consented to be secretary of state in his room-but mind; not one of them has promised to be against the prosecution of Sir Robert, though I don't believe now that it will go on. You see Pultney is not come in, except in his friend Sir John Rushout, but is to hold the balance between liberty and prerogative; at least, in this, he acts with honour. They say Sir John Hind Cotton and the Jacobites will be left out, unless they bring in Dr. Lee and Sir John Barnard to the admiralty, as they propose; for I do not think it is decided what are their principles. Sir Charles Wager has resigned this morning: he "We shall not die, but be all changed!" though he says, a says, parson lately reading this text in an old Bible, where the c was rubbed out, read it, not die, but be all hanged!

To-morrow our earl goes to Richmond Park, en retiré; comes on Thursday to take his seat in the Lords, and returns thither again. Sandys is very angry at his taking the title of Orford, which belonged to his wife's great uncle. You know a step of that nature cost the great Lord Strafforde his head, at the prosecution of a less bloodyminded man than Sandys.

I remain in town, and have not taken at all to withdrawing, which I hear has given offence, as well as my gay face in public; but as I had so little joy in the grandeur, I am determined to take as little part in the disgrace. I am looking about for a new house.

I have received two vast packets from you to-day, I believe from the bottom of the sea, for they have been so washed that I could scarce read them. I could read the terrible history of the earthquakes at Leghorn: how infinitely good you was to poor Mrs. Goldsworthy! how could you think I should not approve such vast humanity? but you are all humanity and forgiveness. I am only concerned that they will be present when you receive all these disagreeable accounts of your friends. Their support is removed as well as yours. I only fear the interest of the Richmonds with the Duke of Newcastle; but I will try to put you well with Lord Lincoln. We must write circumspectly, for our letters now are no longer safe.

I shall see Amorevoli to-night to give him the letter. Ah! Monti

George Treby, Esq.-D.

Thomas Clutterbuck, Esq. He left the Treasury in February 1742, and was made treasurer of the navy.-D.

"February 11. Lord Orford and Sir Charles Wager resigned. Mr. Sandys kissed hands as chancellor of the exchequer: Lord Wilmington declared first commissioner of the Treasury: offers made to the Duke of Argyle, but refused: none to Lord Chesterfield."-Secker MS.-E.

d Lady Sandys was daughter of Lady Tipping, niece of Russel, Earl of Orford.

Sir Thomas Wentworth, the great Earl of Strafford, took the title of Raby from a castle of that name, which belonged to Sir Henry Vane, who, from that time, became his mortal foe.

f Sir Charles Wager. In the following December Sir Charles was appointed treasurer of the navy, which office he held till his death, in May 1743.]

3 Mrs. Goldsworthy had been a companion of the Duchess of Richmond.