So, my Lord Grandison(957) is dead!  Does the General inherit much?  Have you heard the great loss the church of England has had?  It is not avowed; but hear the evidence and judge.  On Sunday last, George Selwyn was strolling home to dinner at half an hour after four.  He saw my Lady Townshend’s coach stop at Caraccioli’s(958) chapel.  He watched, saw her go in; her footman laughed; he followed.  She Went up to the altar, a woman brought her a cushion; she knelt, crossed herself, and prayed.  He stole up, and knelt by her.  Conceive her face, if you can, when she turned and found his close to her.  In his demure voice, he said, “Pray, Madam, how long has your ladyship left the pale of our church!” She looked furies, and made no answer.  Next day he went to her, and she turned it off upon curiosity; but is any thing more natural?  No, she certainly means to go armed with every viaticum, the church of England in one hand, Methodism in the other, and the Host in her mouth.

Have you ranged your forest, and seen your lodge yourself?  I could almost wish it may not answer, and that you may cast an eye towards our neighbourhood.  My Lady Shelburne(959) has taken a house here, and it has produced a bon-mot from Mrs. Clive.  You know my Lady Suffolk is deaf, and I have talked much of a charming old passion I have at Paris, who is blind; “Well,” said the Clive, “if the new Countess is but lame, I shall have no chance of ever seeing you.”  Good night!

(956) When the Duke of Grafton quitted the seals, they were offered first to Lord Egmont, then to Lord Hardwicke, who both declined them; “but, after their going a-begging for some time,” says Lord Chesterfield, " the Duke of Richmond begged them, and has them, faute de mieux."-E.

(957) John Villiers, fifth Viscount Grandison.  He had bee n elevated to the earldom in 1721; which title became extinct, and the viscounty devolved upon William third Earl of Jersey.-E.

(958) The Marquis de Carraccioli, ambassador from the court of Naples.-E

(959) Mary Countess of Shelburne, widow of the Hon. John Fitzmaurice, first Earl of Shelburne.  She was likewise his first cousin, being the daughter of the Hon. William Fitzmaurice, of Gailane, in the county of Kerry.-E.

Letter 307 To George Montagu, Esq.  Strawberry Hill, June 20, 1766. (page 481)

I don’t know when I shall see you, but therefore must not I write to you?  Yet I have as little to say as may be.  I could cry through a whole page over the bad weather.  I have but a lock of hay, you know; and I cannot get it dry, unless I bring it to the fire.  I would give half-a-crown for a pennyworth of sun.  It is abominable to be ruined in coals in the middle of June.