Thus stood affairs when his majesty came from abroad. The duke of Newcastle flattered himself that his grace of Bedford would willingly quit the seals to be master of the horse, or president, and perhaps he would, if the duke would permit the duke of Newcastle to carry such a point. The duke of Newcastle flattered himself with the assistance, which he certainly has, of lady Yarmouth, that he had brought his majesty to that temper, that if the duke of Bedford would not go de bon gré, he would force the seals from him. But in this too he was disappointed. His majesty, very wisely considering, I suppose, that nothing was more silly than for his ministry to risk so great, so sure a majority as we have, only to satisfy the peevish or personal resentment of the duke of Newcastle, took the part of shewing that whoever was the aggressor would have his majesty against him, and has postponed the giving away of all places, for fear of disputes, till at least the end of the sessions. The dukes of Newcastle, then, and Bedford, are trying which can keep their temper best and longest. The duke of Newcastle has the power, which I should think a great help.”*

The king was no less desirous than the duke of Newcastle to part with lord Sandwich; but

Mr. Fox to Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, Feb. 7-18. 1750-1.- Hanbury Papers.

wished to retain the duke of Bedford, though not in the office of secretary of state, which he had destined for the earl of Holdernesse. While this scheme was agitating, Mr. Fox, from his attachment to the duke of Cumberland, advised the duke of Bedford to offer the resignation of the seals, and to accept for himself and lord Sandwich such places in the cabinet as his majesty should approve, and to which his ministry would not object; but the duke, over-ruled by the cabals of what was called the Bedford-house party, rejected the advice, and resigned the seals in disgust, at a time when the death of the prince rendered his defection of little consequence; in his audience of leave he expatiated on the duke of Newcastle's conduct in terms of the highest indignation and contempt.

The seals were given to lord Holdernesse ; lord Sandwich was succeeded in the admiralty by lord Anson, the son-in-law of lord Hardwicke; lord Trentham, another of the duke's friends, was removed, and the whole Bedford party entered the lists of opposition. The post of master of the horse, which had been vacant since the death of the duke of Richmond, and was destined for the duke of Bedford, was granted to the marquis of Hartington, who was called up to the house of peers.

By the kindness of my noble friend lord Braybrooke, I am enabled to close this chapter with two extracts from the correspondence of lord Walpole with his father Mr. Neville, then private secretary to the duke of Bedford.

"Wolterton, Nov. 12. 1750.

"The treaty lately concluded with Spain, which as far as I have heard of it is a good one, rebus sic stantibus, but of this more when I see you. I am not at all surprised at what you say of my old friend Don Benjamin (Sir Benjamin Keene); it is no more than what I have by experience known of him, (and of which I suppose greater men than you and I are, now, whatever they may have thought in their greener years, fully convinced,) and however unable I may have been in my foreign negotiations, I have the satisfaction at last to find that those that are now avowedly the most able to serve abroad have either been educated in that business or recommended to it by me."

"Wolterton, Aug. 19. 1749. "Before I went to Chatsworth I troubled you with a short letter. I found there the most magnificent place in the wildest country, the roads so unpleasant and rocky as to be almost impracticable; and yet I found no manner of symptom of my complaint during my whole journey thither and back again, which makes

me conclude, that soap and lime-water have absolutely cured me of the stone.

"Have you never observed, that after a great bell has done ringing, yet there remains for some time a sort of a humming sound or buz in your ears? This is my case as a politician; for although I am happily retired from all business, yet I cannot forbear having some small attention to accidents that seem to affect the good of my country; and therefore I was touched with the news I observed in the public prints, that several artificers in the woollen manufacture here had sent over utensils to Spain, and were ready to embark for that country themselves to establish looms there, which if it should take place, would be a great detriment to this country. It might stop the importation of their wool hither, and by degrees cause ours to be run thither; and I don't see well how it can be prevented. My only comfort is, that our John Trots, used to freedom of speech and action here, a temperate climate and good living, will not long endure the heats and restraint and meagre diet, as well as the stiffness among the spanish dons, but will soon come back again. This was the case of the english artificers that Mr. Law invited to France, which must be a much more agreeable country than Spain to an English

man.

"I am afraid this scheme has been set on foot by the spanish minister, Mr. Wall, on which occasion you will give me leave to trouble you with an observation I could not forbear making, when I was told by a minister of state that this Mr. Wall, who I take to be an Irishman, was a very agreeable, clever, sensible man, and that our ministers are very fond of him. I say, I could not forbear observing, as a very unfashionable and antiquated minister, that I was very sorry he was to stay here, and that an old grave spanish grandee that could speak no language but his own would be more to our purpose.