This ridiculous administration is patched up for the present; the detail is delightful, but that I shall reserve for Strawberry-tide.  Lord Bath has complained to Fanshaw of Lord Pulteney’s(277) extravagance, and added, “if he had lived he would have spent my whole estate.”  This almost comes up to Sir Robert Brown, who, when his eldest daughter was given over, but still alive, on that uncertainty sent for an undertaker, and bargained for her funeral in hopes of having it cheaper, as it was possible she might recover.  Lord Bath has purchased the Hatton vault in Westminster-abbey, squeezed his wife, son, and daughter into it, reserved room for himself, and has set the rest to sale.  Come; all this is not far short of Sir Robert Brown.

To my great satisfaction, the new Lord Holland has not taken the least friendly, or even formal notice of me, on Lord Waldegrave’s death.  It dispenses me from the least farther connexion with him, and saves explanations, which always entertain the world more than satisfy.

Dr. Cumberland is an Irish bishop; I hope before the summer is over that some beam from your cousin’s portion of the triumvirate may light on poor Bentley.  If he wishes it till next winter, he will be forced to try still new sunshine.  I have taken Mrs. Pritchard’s house for Lady Waldegrave; I offered her to live with me at Strawberry, but with her usual good sense she declined it, as she thought the children would be troublesome.

Charles Townshend’s episode in this revolution passes belief, though he does not tell it himself.  If I had a son born, and an old fairy were to appear and offer to endow him with her choicest gifts, I should cry out, “Powerful Goody, give him any thing but parts!"(278) Adieu!

(276) “the Memoirs, from 1754 to 1758, by James Earl Waldegrave,” which were published in 1821, in a small quarto volume.-E.

(277) Son Of the Earl of Bath.  He was a lord of the bedchamber and member for Westminster.  He died on the 16th of February.-E.

(278) Lord Barrington, in a letter to Mr. Mitchell of the 19th of April, says,—­“Charles Townshend accepted the admiralty on Thursday, and went to kiss hands the next day; but he brought Peter Burrell with him to court, and insisted he likewise should be one of the board.  Being told that Lords Howe and Digby were to fill up the vacant seats at the admiralty, he declined accepting the office destined for him, and the next day received a dismission from the King’s service."-E.

Letter 153To The Hon. H. S. Conway.  Strawberry Hill, May 1, 1763. (page 213)

I feel happy at hearing your happiness; but, my dear Harry, your vision is much indebted to your long absence, which Makes

bleak rocks and barren mountains smile.