"I went, who'd no engagement, any share, "To th' opera."-" Were there many people

there?"

The Dutchess cry'd :-"Yes, madam, a great many,
Says Lovel" There was Ch-d and Fanny.
In that eternal whisper, which begun

Ten years ago, and never will be done;
For tho' you know he fees her ev'ry day,
Still he has ever fomething new to fay;
There's nothing upon earth fo hard to me,
As keeping up difcourfe eternally;
He never lets the converfation fall,
And I'm fure Fanny can't keep up the ball;
I saw that her replies were never long,

And with her eyes, fhe anfwered for her tongue.
Poor I am forc'd to keep my distance now,
She won't ev'n curt'fy if I make a bow."

"Why, things are strangely chang'd, the Gen'ral
cry'd;

Ay, fortune de la guerre," my Lord reply'd :
"But you and I, Charles, hardly find things fo,
As we both did some twenty years ago.
"And take off twenty years, reply'd her Grace,
'Twould do no harm to Lady Fanny's face;
My Lord, you never fee her but at night,
By th' advantageous help of candle-light :
Dreft out with every aid that is adorning,
Oh, if your Lordship faw her in a morning,
It is no more than Fanny once fo fair;
No roses bloom, no lillies flourish there :
But hollow eyes, and pale and faded cheek,
Repentance, love and disappointment speak."
The General found a lucky minute now

To fpeak-"Ah, ma'am, you did not know Mifs
How.

I'll tell you all her history, he cry'd

At this Charles S-e gap'd extreamly wide; Poor Dicky fat on thorns; her Grace turn'd pale,

0 4

And

And L trembled at th' impending tale.
"Poor girl! faith fhe was once extreamly fair,
Till worn by love, and tortur'd by despair:
Her pining cheek betray'd her inward fmart;
Her breaking looks foretold her breaking heart.
At Leicester-house her passion first began
And Nanty L- -er was a pretty man;
But when the Pefs did to K-w remove,
She could not bear the absence of her love;
Away fhe flew."-But here the clock ftruck three;
So did fome pitying deity decree;

The Dfs rings to drefs-and fee her maid
With all the aparatus for her head,

Th' adorning circle can no longer stay,
Each rifes, bows, and goes his different way.
To antient Boothby's antient C-ill's flown;
Home to his dinner Spe goes alone:
Dicky to faft with her, her Grace invites,
And L-l's coachman drives unbid to White's.

1746

16

232

27

[Upon Mr. Pitt's acceptance of a place, and a peerage
in July 1766, the public papers teemed with fe-
vere reflections on bis conduct: From them we have
felected the following, which perhaps are fufficient
to fhew the vein and tendency of the whole.]

A worthy friend of mine, among fome other ma-
nufcripts of the late Earl of Orford, has found
the following copy of a letter to his late M-
and has been so kind as to permit me to tranf-
cribe it to fend to your paper, in which I doubt
not but it will be pleasing to many of your rea-

ders.

TH

G. O.

SIR, Wednesday noon. HE violence of the fit of the ftone, which has tormented me for fome days, is now fo far abated, that although it will not permit me to

have the honour of waiting on your Majefty, is yet kind enough to enable me fo far to obey your orders, as to write my fentiments concerning that troublefome man Mr. Pulteney; and to point out (what I conceive to be) the most effectual method to make him perfectly quiet.

Your Majefty well knows how, by the dint of his eloquence, he has fo captivated the mob, and attained an unbounded popularity, that the most manifeft wrong appears right, when adopted and urged by him. Hence it is, that he is become not only troublesome, but even dangerous. The unthinking multitude believe he has no one object but the public good, although, if they would reflect a little, they would foon perceive, that spleen against thofe your Majefty has honoured with your confidence has greater weight with him than real patriotifm; fince, let any measure be proposed, however falutary, if he thinks it comes from me, it is fufficient for him to oppofe it. Thus, Sir, you fee that affairs of the most momentous concern are fubject to the caprice of that popular man, and he has nothing to do but to declare it a minifterial project, and bellow out the word favourite, to have an hundred pens drawn against it, and a thousand mouths open to contradict it. Under thefe circumftances he bears up against the miniftry, (and let me add againft your Majefty yourself) and every ufeful scheme muft be either abandoned, or, if it is carried in either house, the public is made to believe it is done by a corrupt majority.

Since then things are thus circumstanced, it is become abfolutely neceffary for the public tranquillity that he should be made quiet, and the only method to do that effectually, is to destroy his popularity, and ruin the good belief the people have in him. In order to do this he must be invited to court; your Majefty muft condefcend to speak to

him in the most favourable and diftinguishing man ner; you must make him believe that he is the only perfon upon whofe opinion you can rely, and to whom your people look up for useful measures. As he has already several times refused to take the lead in the adminiftration, unless it was totally modelled to his fancy, your Majefty should close in with his advice, and give him leave to arrange the administration as he pleases, and put whom he chufes in office (there can be no danger in that, as you can difmifs him, then when you think fit.) When he is got thus far, (to which his extreme felf love, and the high opinion he entertains of his own importance will easily conduce,) it will be neceffary that your Majefty fhould feem to have a great regard for his health; fignify to him that your affairs will be ruined if he fhould die; that you want to have him constantly near you, to have his fage advice; and that, therefore, as he is much difordered in body, and fomething infirm, it will be neceffary for his prefervation, for him to quit the Houfe of Commons (where malevolent tempers will be continually fretting him, and where indeed his prefence will be needless, as no step will be taken but according to his advice) and that he will let you give him a diftinguishing mark of your approbation, by creat ing him a peer. This he may be brought to; for, if I know any thing of mankind, he has a love for honours and money, and notwithstanding his great haughtiness, and feeming contempt of honour, he may be won, if it is done with dexterity; for, as the poet Fenton faid,

Flattery's an oil, foftens the toughest fool.

If your Majefty can once bring him to accept of a coronet, all will be over with him; the changing multitude will cease to have any confidence in him; and when you see that, your Majefty may turn your back on him, difmifs him from his poft, turn out