MR. PITT TO THE EARL OF BUTE. [From a draught in Mr. Pitt's hand-writing.] October 8, 1761. I HAVE not words to express the sentiments of veneration and gratitude with which I receive the unbounded effects of beneficence and grace, which the most benign of sovereigns has condescended to bestow on me, and on those most dear to me. Your Lordship will not wonder if the sensations which possess my whole breast refuse me the power of describing their extent, and leave me only to beg your Lordship will be so good as to lay me and Lady Hester at the King's feet, and to offer for us to his Majesty the genuine tribute of the truly feeling heart; which I will dare to hope, the same royal benevolence which showers on the unmeritorious such unlimited benefits may deign to accept with equal condescension and goodness. I am, &c., W. PITT. THE EARL OF BUTE TO MR. PITT. SIR, St. James's, Friday, 40m. past one. [October 9, 1761.] I HAVE laid your letter before his Majesty, as no words I could use can exceed the warmth and dutiful respect of your expressions. The King was extremely pleased with the perusal, and has directed me to enquire, Sir, of you, what title you would choose, and what names you would wish inserted in the grant; his Majesty having already given directions to the Duke of Newcastle concerning it. I, with the utmost sincerity, congratulate you, Sir, and Lady Hester, on this eminent mark of his Majesty's regard and approbation, and am, Sir, with great respect, Your most obedient BUTE. THE BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER (1) TO MR. PITT. HONOURED SIR, Prior Park, October 8, 1761. IF, in a general distress, it be permitted to proclaim one's joy for the accumulated glory of a (1) In December, 1759, Dr. Warburton, through the interest of Mr. Allen with Mr. Pitt, was elected to the see of Gloucester. "In the common estimation," says Dr. Hurd, in his memoir of the bishop, "this was a preferment suitable to his merit. Mr. Pitt himself gloried in it, as what did honour to his administration. I remember to have seen a letter of his, in which he said, that nothing of a private nature, since he had been in office, had given him so much pleasure as his bringing Dr. Warburton upon the bench.' This virtuous self-gratulation became the minister, and others may be of his mind; but I have sometimes doubted with myself, whether the proper scene of abilities like his be not a private station, where only great writers have the leisure to do great things." In the course of particular, your just resentment of ingratitude would afford me abundant occasion. The envy of base men which your amazing services have so inflamed, the glory which now accompanies your declining further service will inflame the more. All that I mean by this trouble, which needs your pardon, is only to profess my most inviolable attachment to your person and interests, in all stations, and in every way it may be acceptably expressed; having the honour to be, Sir, Your most obliged and most devoted servant, W. GLOUCEster. -: his conversation with Lord Monboddo, in 1773, on the decrease of learning, Dr. Johnson made the following remarks: "Learning has decreased in England, because learning will not do so much for a man as formerly. There are other ways of getting preferment. Few bishops are now made for their learning to be a bishop, a man must be learned in a learned age, factious in a factious age, but always of eminence. Warburton is an exception; though his learning alone did not raise him. He was first an antagonist to Pope, and helped Theobald to publish his Shakespeare; but, seeing Pope the rising man, when Crousaz attacked his Essay on Man, Warburton defended it: this brought him acquainted with Pope, and he gained his friendship: Pope introduced him to Allen, Allen married him to his niece; so, by Allen's interest and his own, he was made a bishop: but then his learning was the sine quâ non he knew how to make the most of it, but I do not find by any dishonest means: he is a great man, has great knowledge, great power of mind; hardly any man brings greater variety of learning to bear upon his point." See Boswell's Johnson, vol. iv. p. 79. ed. 1835. LORD FEVERSHAM (1) TO MR. PITT. Barford, October 10, 1761. I KNOW not whether I am to congratulate you, or condole with myself and country, upon the event which has so lately and unexpectedly happened, - your having no longer the seals. I can hardly believe it, because I cannot see what this poor country can do in this critical situation, without the head and the heart that have conducted it to this point, when we only seemed to want a wise and happy ending of all we ought to desire-a peace founded upon justice and equity; which, indeed, I thought you had in your hands, as a reward of all the anxious cares and disagreeable oppositions which you have met with. I cannot be suspected of flattery, from the very distant communications we have ever had. I have honoured the disinterested manner with which you have carried on the King's affairs; which has made me do every thing in my power to support the plans you adopted. As a private man, I do lament the distractions with which divided councils, in the infancy of his Majesty's reign, may cloud the future (1) Anthony Duncombe, nephew of Sir Charles Duncombe, banker, of London. On coming of age, he was chosen member of parliament for Salisbury, and afterwards for Downton; and, in 1747, was raised to the peerage, by the title of Baron Feversham. By his third wife, Anne, daughter of Sir Thomas Hales, he had a daughter, the mother of the present Earl of Radnor. On his lordship's death in 1763, the barony became extinct. glory and happiness of a prince, whose heart seems bent only upon doing right; and which nothing can prevent, if those about him do not bias the rectitude of his own good dispositions, to answer the private views of particular individuals. Long may you enjoy all the blessings domestic happiness can give; which overbalances every other the world, with all its glory, can bestow. These are the sincere wishes of him who has the honour to be, with great esteem and attachment, Sir, Your most obedient and FEVERSHAM. MR. PITT TO PRINCE FERDINAND OF BRUNSWICK. MONSEIGNEUR, Hayes, ce 13 Octobre, 1761. Il n'y a que le suffrage que votre Altesse Sérénissime a daigné m'accorder, qui puisse me servir d'excuse si, comme particulier, j'ose la détourner un moment pour lui rendre compte d'un événement qui m'est personnel. Une différence de sentimens rélativement à l'Espagne, où tout le reste du conseil s'est trouvé d'un avis contraire, à l'exception de milord Temple, au mien('), m'a mis dans le cas, ou de demeurer (1) Lord Chesterfield, in a letter of the 21st of November, says:"I have now good reason to believe that Spain will |