Gideon, whose expenses for this month have been enormous, beyond all belief.  Sending my servant on a particular message to Sir Sampson, he found him in bed, not well, and probably half asleep; for he not only wrote the direction to two covers which I sent him, but sealed them both, though they were only covers.  I wonder, indeed, that he is alive, considering the immense fatigue and necessary drinking he must undergo—­a miserable hard task to get into Parliament!” The contest terminated in the return of Lord Robert Manners, who died, in April 1782, of the wounds he received in the great sea-fight in the West Indies; and of Mr. Philip Yorke, who, in 1790, succeeded his uncle as Earl of Hardwicke.-E.

Letter 197 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.  Strawberry Hill, July 4, 1780. (page 254)

I answer your letter the moment I receive it, to beg you will by no means take any notice, not even in directly and without My name, of the Life of Mr. Baker.  I am earnest against its being known to exist.  I should be teased to show it.  Mr. Gough might inquire about it—­I do not desire his acquaintance; and above all am determined, if I can help it, to have no controversy while I live.  You know I have hitherto suppressed my answers to the critics of Richard iii. for that reason; and above all things, I hate theologic or political controversy-nor need you fear my disputing with you, though we disagree very considerably indeed about Papist’s and Presbyterians.  I hope you have not yet sent the manuscript to Mr. Lort, and if you have not, do entreat you to deface undecipherably what you have said about my Life of Mr. Baker.

Pray satisfy me that no mention of it shall appear in print.  I can by no means consent to it, and I am sure you will prevent it.  Yours sincerely.

Letter 198 To The Earl Of Strafford.  Strawberry Hill, Sept. 9, 1780. (page 255)

I am very happy at receiving a letter from your lordship this moment, as I thought it very long since we had corresponded, but am afraid of being troublesome, when I have not the excuse of thanking you, or something worth telling you, which in truth is not the case at present.  No soul, whether interested or not, but deafens one about elections.  I always detested them, even when in Parliament; and when I lived a good deal at White’s, preferred hearing of Newmarket to elections; for the former, being uttered in a language I did not understand, did not engage my attention; but as they talked of elections in English, I could not help knowing what they said.  It does surprise me, I own, that people can choose to stuff their heads with details and circumstances. of which in six weeks they will never hear or think more.  The weather till now has been the chief topic of conversation.  Of late it has been the third very hot summer; but refreshed by so little rain, that the banks of the