more from cool and friendly advice from him than from anybody, and to make me, as I have told him, quite reconciled to measures.  I must, besides, seeing they have not all the evil tendency which I expect, be persuaded that he will be considered as he ought to be, and that they think one person of character, as well as rank, is no disparagement to their connection, but on the contrary will give some credit to it.  I shall say no more to you upon this matter.

The K. is so much in the same state he was, and there is so little appearance of any immediate change, that I am not, for the present, solicitous about it.  There must be a new Government I see, and it may be a short or a lasting one, for it will, or ought to depend entirely upon his Majesty’s state of mind.  For my own part I am free to confess, that if I only see his hat upon the Throne, and ready to be put upon his head, when he can come and claim it, and nothing in the intermediate time done to disgrace and fetter him, as in the [year] 1782, I shall be satisfied.  It is a sad time indeed, and if the Arch(bishop)p pleases, I will call it by his affect(ted?) phrase, an awful moment.

I pity the poor Queen, as you do, most excessively, and for her sake, I hope that a due respect will be paid to the K., and while he and she were grudged every luxury in the world, by those mean wretches Burke, Gilbert,(238) and Lansdown, all kind of profusion is not thought of to captivate his R(oyal) H(ighness).(239) In short, I shall be glad, if his Majesty has lost his head, to hear that the P. has found it.  I have given him as yet more credit than I would own, for I will not be accused of paying my court to him while, I say, I see the K.’s hat only upon the Throne.

I know that you will say that I am heated with a zeal that in three months’ time may be out of fashion.  It may be so; but I rather believe myself that this misfortune will add greatly to the veneration which the public has of late had for his Majesty, and make it more necessary for his successor to be cautious with whom and how he acts.  He has beau jeu, I hope he will make a right use of it.  The K. will be soon removed and in a carrosse bourgeoise but whether to the Q(ueen’s) House or to Kew I cannot learn for certain.  I should prefer Kew, if the physicians did not by that sacrifice too much of the care which is due in their profession to the public.

I cannot get sight of the D.,(240) the P(rince) will have him to himself.  I am now confined; my cough must be attended to, or it will increase, and perhaps destroy me.  Mie Mie is an excellent nurse, and a most reasonable girl indeed.  If her mother was so, I should hear no more of her.  But there will be still du management necessaire a avoir; however, I have no fears of the issue of it.