Mr. Dundas[1] has kissed hands for Secretary of State; and Bishop Barrington, of Salisbury, is transferred to Durham, which he affected not to desire, having large estates by his wife in the south—­but from the triple mitre downwards, it is almost always true, what I said some years ago, that “nolo episcopari is Latin for I lie.”  Tell it not in Gath that I say so; for I am to dine to-morrow at the Bishop of London’s at Fulham, with Hannah Bonner, my imprimee.[2] This morning I went with Lysons the Reverend to see Dulwich College, founded in 1619 by Alleyn, a player, which I had never seen in my many days.  We were received by a smart divine, tres bien poudre, and with black satin breeches—­but they are giving new wings and red satin breeches to the good old hostel too, and destroying a gallery with a very rich ceiling; and nothing will remain of ancient but the front, and an hundred mouldy portraits, among apostles, sibyls, and Kings of England.  On Sunday I shall settle at Strawberry; and then woe betide you on post-days!  I cannot make news without straw.  The Johnstones are going to Bath, for the healths of both; so Richmond will be my only staple.  Adieu, all three!

[Footnote 1:  Mr. Dundas, President of the Board of Control, subsequently raised to the peerage as Lord Melville.  In Pitt’s second administration he became First Lord of the Admiralty, but in 1805 was impeached by the House of Commons on a charge of malversation while Treasurer of the Navy in Pitt’s first Ministry.  Of that he was acquitted; but it was proved that some of the subordinate officers of the department had misapplied large sums of the public money, which they could not have done if he had not been grossly negligent of his duties as head of the department, and he was consequently removed from the Privy Council.]

[Footnote 2:  Miss Hannah More is meant; but I do not know what peculiar cruelty of temper or practice entitled her to the name of Mary’s persecuting and pitiless Bishop.]

SIR W. AND LADY HAMILTON—­A BOAT-RACE—­THE MARGRAVINE OF ANSPACH.

TO THE MISS BERRYS.

BERKELEY SQUARE, Tuesday, Aug. 23, 1791.

I am come to town to meet Mr. Conway and Lady Aylesbury; and, as I have no letter from you yet to answer, I will tell you how agreeably I have passed the last three days; though they might have been improved had you shared them, as I wished, and as I sometimes do wish.  On Saturday evening I was at the Duke of Queensberry’s (at Richmond, s’entend) with a small company:  and there were Sir William Hamilton and Mrs. Harte[1]; who, on the 3rd of next month, previous to their departure, is to be made Madame l’Envoyee a Naples, the Neapolitan Queen having promised to receive her in that quality.  Here she cannot be presented, where only such over-virtuous wives as the Duchess of Kingston and Mrs. Hastings[2]—­who could go with a husband in each hand—­are