The Duke of Devonshire is gone to Spa; he was stopped for a week by a rash, which those who wished it so, called a miliary fever, but was so far from it that if he does not find immediate benefit from Spa, he is to go to Aix-la-Chapelle, in hopes that the warm baths will supple his skin, and promote another eruption.

I have been this evening to Sion, which is becoming another Mount Palatine.  Adam has displayed great taste, and the Earl matches it with magnificence.  The gallery is converting into a museum in the style of a columbarium, according to an idea that I proposed to my Lord Northumberland.  Mr. Boulby(652) and Lady Mary are there, and the Primate,(653) who looks old and broken enough to aspire to the papacy.  Lord Holland, I hear, advises what Lord Bute much wishes, the removal of George Grenville, to make room for Lord Northumberland at the head of the treasury.  The Duchess of Grafton is gone to her father.  I wish you may hear no more of this journey!  If you should, this time, the Complaints will come from her side.

You have got the Sposo(654) Coventry with you, have not you?  And you are going to have the Duke of York.  You will not want such a nobody as me.  When I have a good opportunity, I will tell you some very sensible advice that has been given me on that head, which I am sure you will approve.

It is well for me I am not a Russian.  I should certainly be knouted.  The murder of the young Czar Ivan has sluiced again all my abhorrence of the czarina.  What a devil in a diadem!  I wonder they can spare such a principal performer from hell!

September 9th.

I had left this letter unfinished, from want of common materials, if I should send it by the post; and from want of private conveyance, if I said more than was fit for the post. being Just returned from Park-place, where I have been for three days, I not only find your extremely kind letter of August 21st, but a card from Madame de Chabot, who tells me she sets out for Paris in a day or two. and offers to carry a letter to you, which gives me the opportunity I wished for.

I must begin with what you conclude-your most friendly offer,(655) if I should be distressed by the treasury.  I can never thank you enough for this, nor the tender manner in which you clothe it:  though, believe me, my dear lord, I could never blush to be obliged to you.  In truth, though I do not doubt their disposition to hurt me, I have had prudence enough to make it much longer than their reign Can last, before it could be in their power to make me feel want.  With all my extravagance, I am much beforehand, and having perfected and paid for what I wished to do here, my common expenses are trifling, and nobody can live more frugally than I, when I have a mind to it.  What I said of fearing temptations at Paris, was barely serious:  I thought it imprudent, just now, to throw away my money; but that consideration, singly, would not keep me here.  I am eager to