Peasant*.' The former makes the latter give an account of his Saturday box club, and then applies it to the British State.

"Get if possible Dean Tucker's last piece addressed to the Earl of Shelburne; † it is better written than most of his former ones, and exposes admirably the subtlety and nonsense of the intended change of representatives. "Your Lordship's ever faithful, "M. LORT. "To the Bishop of Dromore, Carlisle."

"MY DEAR LORD,

Saville Row, Jan. 28, 1783.

"I hope you will have found that I have received and obeyed your commands by the receipt of three packets, containing Dean Tucker's pamphlet, sent by the post on Saturday, Monday, and this evening. Mr. Paley's Consecration Sermon shall follow, but I can get no intelligence of his Visitation Sermon, which, I believe, was printed in the country some years ago.

"As for newspapers, your Lordship probably sees a greater variety of them than I do, for I scarce ever go to a coffee-house, being contented with the Morning Chronicle at breakfast, and only accidentally seeing any of the other papers, for which my appetite has been some time cloyed; when at Lambeth I had the reading of four or five papers every day, and was often induced to purchase some of them on account of paragraphs that struck my fancy in them, but I have other calls now for my money; I will inclose two or three that possibly you may not have seen, one for Mrs. Percy and her female friends. She will be sorry to hear what reform is going forward at St. James's, under Mr. Gilbert's direction. Lady Charlotte Finch's table to be abolished, a kitchen to be built for her, which she is to furnish herself, and to have 8007. a year to find her own table.* Fire and candle to be taken away from most, and it is supposed the Chaplains' table will be wholly suppressed. So much for the reform here, in which I am but a little or not at all concerned; but I tremble for the consequences which the reform of the constitution pushed on by some hot zealots may produce, per

* By Sir W. Jones. See p. 452.

+Four Letters to Lord Shelburne. By Josiah Tucker, D.D. Dean of Gloucester, 1783." See Gent. Mag. LIII. 60. Dr. Tucker died Nov. 4, 1799, aged 85. See an account of him and his writings in Gent. Mag. LXIX. 1000-1003; a character of him in vol. LXX. 819; and his epitaph, in vol. LXXI, 880.

haps the subversion of it. As to the Peace I shall say nothing; you will have it thoroughly discussed in the speeches from both houses next week. I wish that peace abroad may may not afford leisure and opportunity to factious spirits to raise war at home, and I wish also that our neighbours in Ireland may rest satisfied with what they have got. I see there are some strings and stars to be be held out to quiet some of the froward children. The papers have got all the establishment* but the motto, which is to be Quis separabit?' Used formerly, I think, on some medal on the union of England and Scotland.

"Dr. Johnson is much better. I saw him the other evening at Madam Thrale's in very good spirits.

"I congratulate you on having received so good an account of Mr. Percy; I hope the subsequent ones will be still better.

"I have not yet had the curiosity of seeing Mrs. Siddons, whom all the world is running after. Charles Fox gets into the orchestra every night she acts, and sits with the first fiddle; the Queen has sent her son to the Charter House, and Lord Hardwicke has wrote verses on her; and, still better, given her a handsome present.

"This is a long letter from me, who am not of late in the habit of writing long ones, for I can neither make nor mend a pen, nor use it well when made by others. "Your Lordship's ever faithful,

"MY DEAR LORD,

M. LORT."

Feb. 25, 1783.

"I had your letter yesterday, and was glad to find that all my conveyances came safe to your Lordship; for I doubted much whether some of the more bulky ones might not have escaped from their confinement and gone rambling somewhere else. Last night I began to send to you the debates of the Lords and Commons, just published, which probably you may have seen already in the papers; but, I presume, will be glad to have them in more durable form. Lord Shelburne is no longer Premier, but how he is to be succeeded is not yet known to me. It is much easier to pull down than build up. He is blamed in the first place for soliciting the approbation of Parliament, and in the next for applying to Charles Fox rather than to Lord North for a coalition. The latter has made a public

*i, e. of the Order of St. Patrick.

declaration against all reform of the constitutional representation in Parliament; and it is not supposed that it will be carried in either House of Parliament. But then, what will the Association say? many of whom are of weight and consequence, and seem determined to go all lengths to carry their favourite point. I think this change of ininistry may put a stop to some other reforms; and particularly I am informed that the Chaplains' table will not be abolished.

"Mrs. Thrale has discarded her intention of going to Italy, and I am told means to take up her residence at Bath. Dr. Johnson is much better. I wish you could have informed me that your son was so. Whatever may be the event of his journey, you will have the consolation of knowing that you will have done all in your power to restore his health.

"There is a scurrilous pamphlet against your AntiRowleians, entitled, A Letter found near Strawberry Hill,' the author of which is not guessed at. If you wish to see it, I believe it will go in a single cover. You may keep all the parcels sent you. I am told there is a good parody on the Preliminary Articles handed about relative to the coalition between North and Fox. I suppose it will soon get abroad.

"There is no other topic of conversation but these changes at present, in which being very little interested, I therefore wish they were once settled, that we might have some other.

"I can afford only this half-sheet, in order to make room for more important ones. With my compliments to the ladies, I remain your Lordship's respectful

"M. LORT."

London, March 11, 1783.

"MY DEAR LORD, "I delivered your request to the Bishop of Chester,* and he promised me to send you the covers you wanted by Saturday's post. I would also then have written, if the news I had heard in the morning of Lord Gower accepting the Premier's place had not been contradicted in the evening. Nor do I find to-day that this place is a bit the nearer to be filled up. Fox says he must have it at last; but the Chancellort swears that he will sooner take it

*Dr. Porteus.

Lord Thurlow.

himself. Such are the present reports; but Dr. Hudson can tell you more of these matters than I, if so be that you correspond with him. If Lord Gower is prevailed on to stand forward, Lord Temple continues in Ireland, and the Parliament here will probably be dissolved.

"Inclosed you will see a curious account of the meeting of the Independent Electors of Westminster. How angry some of them are that Mr. Fox has joined Lord North! I am told there is a good parody handed about of Horace and Lydia, applied to this Coalition. If I get a sight of it you shall partake. We want some humour of this sort to enliven dry politics; there is far too much of the latter and too little of the former stirring.

"Did you ever see or hear of Franklin's Reformed Common Prayer? it was printed by him in London, in 1773, in 8vo., and given to a few friends only. With some difficulty I procured one to shew the Archbishop. It is, indeed, an abridgment only of our Common Prayer, in which I believe many parts are omitted, and all the remaining shortened, except the Lord's Prayer. His belief is confined to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and to Life Everlasting. The absolutions are omitted, and so is the consecration prayer in the communion service. It is said that some of the Thirteen States mean to adopt this Liturgy. This is all at present from your Lordship's ever faithful, "M. LORT."

"MY DEAR LORD,

March 13, 1783.

"The report of to-day is, that the King has surrendered at discretion to the Coalition party, and that Mr. Pitt has acceded to it, and that Lord Temple is to continue in his government; but the latter part of this news I do not find to be so certain as the former; but I heartily wish it may be so, for Mr. Pitt's abilities and integrity will be a strong support to any party.

"The Empress of Russia has removed the President of the Imperial Academy of Sciences at Petersburgh, and appointed the Princess Daskew* in his room, whose speech to the assembly on that occasion I have seen, and you

* Sometimes written Dashcoff. Her Memoirs have been published in two volumes 8vo., in which is a long account of her appointment to the Academy.

and all the world will see soon. I write this in haste to save the post. Your Lordship's ever faithful, M. LORT.

"To the Lord Bishop of Dromore, Carlisle."

"MY DEAR LORD,

March 18, 1783.

"I had almost determined to leave it to the Gazette to announce to you a new Ministry, but it is to-day so positively asserted, that the Duke of Portland and his party have had all their wishes gratified, that I cannot help telling you what I hear, though to-morrow, perhaps, may produce some new arrangement. Mr. Pitt, it is said, will travel abroad and gain a little more knowledge and experience, and then, perhaps, take a place in the new administration with better grace than he can at present, considering how closely he was connected with Lord Shelburne; as to Ireland, I hear nothing particular, but I suppose Lord Temple may continue if he please.

"Inclosed in this, and under Sir Henry Fletcher's cover, goes a pamphlet* which will make much noise, and if it ends in that only will end better than I now expect. Mines have been laying for some time past to overturn the constitution in Church and State, and it seems to me as if this pamphlet was the match to set fire to the former.

"The poor Archbishop, to whom it is addressed, was taken very ill on Sunday; he is better to-day, but I do not think him out of danger. Pray God preserve him a little longer to ward off the storm that seems gathering round us! "Pray let me know the sentiments of people in your neighbourhood on this extraordinary performance. "Your Lordship's ever faithful, “M. LORT.”

"MY DEAR LORD,

Saville Row, March 24, 1783.

"Since I wrote to you last, my old master Archbishop Cornwallist is gone, and I paid a short tribute to his

"Letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury," respecting the revenues of the Bishops and of the inferior clergy. By Dr. Watson, Bishop of Llandaff. See Gent. Mag. LIII. 328. The Bishop's plan for rendering the bishoprics more equal in income has lately been carried out by Parliament.

The Hon. Frederick Cornwallis, Archbishop of Canterbury, died March 19, 1783. See an account and character of him in Literary Anecdotes, VIII. p. 14, and Index, VII. 95, 452. In the Literary Illustrations, III. 300-505, are printed several letters of Archbishop Cornwallis.