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clouds, was actually at Leutmeritz in Bohemia, with his corps; Lehwald in Pomerania, driving the Swedes before him, and re-enforcing the Prince of Bevern by detachments. The army of observation was before Harburg, on the Elbe, and operations actually begun.

Here's enough to make one giddy. Corn, meal, and bread kept us at the House till a six o'clock dinner; which, however, with such cordials as the day affords, I bore very well.

W. PITT.

MR. PITT TO LADY HESTER PITT.

Thursday, past 6 in the evening.
July 13, 1758.

I AM going to Hayes, with my thoughts turned to Wotton; but business is more overwhelming than ever. Troops to get out, post haste, to join Prince Ferdinand; perhaps too late for the action expected. This is most anxious, and at the same time, to do justice to the offices, the despatch is uncommon, half the horse being to embark on Tuesday or Wednesday. The five regiments of foot will follow in a few days. Next, a returned expedition to get out again ('): hoc opus, hic labor

(1) The expedition against St. Maloes, which had returned, re infecta, to St. Helen's on the 1st of July. Upon the 1st of August it again set sail, under the command of commodore Howe, for Cherburg, which it took possession of on the 8th.

est. This Mr. Grenville will construe to you; but out it will go, if I am alive, and retain the honour I now bear; to what effect, the sword, not the pen, must be responsible. I return to-morrow, by ten o'clock, to my oar; and am not without a glimmering hope of sending you an account of myself in a post-chaise, flying to Stowe, on Saturday.

W. PITT.

MR. PITT TO LADY HESTER PITT.

Half past six.

I HAD Some hope of bringing myself millions of thanks for your note of yesterday, but inexorable business forbids, and binds me this evening to a conference with the Duke of Argyle and Lord Ligonier. Suspense, painful suspense, holds us still in the midst of solicitudes and gloomy doubts; councils abound, while resources present themselves but slowly. The great and only sure refuge, I trust, will supply all, and Providence preserve a nation, in order to render it one day less undeserving of the divine protection.

Kiss the loved babes for papa; and may I find you all in perfect health to-morrow night!

W. PITT.

MR. PITT TO LADY HESTER PITT.

St. James's Square, Tuesday night.

July 17, 1759.

I TRUST this will find you arrived safe and well at Wotton('); and may you have found the dear brother and sister with health unshaken under their heavy load of grief! (2) How will your own spirits and scarce-restored strength have borne the sad meeting? My whole heart follows you, my dearest love, and shares your feelings, in a scene so many ways interesting to me, that I must pass from the subject or put an end to writing.

Our meeting last night, long and fatiguing as it was, made not the least impression on my ailments; nor has the business of this day, together with a review, of no short duration, brought back any disagreeable symptom. Nothing could make a better appearance than the two Norfolk battalions.

(') Wotton became the property of Richard de Grenvylle, about the year 1097, and from him it has descended, through twenty generations, to the present Duke of Buckingham. The mansion in which Mr. George Grenville resided was built in 1705, after the model of Buckingham House. The staircase and saloon were painted by Sir James Thornhill; for which he received a thousand pounds annually, for three years. In October, 1820, the whole of the interior of the house, including the library and pictures, was destroyed by fire. It has since been rebuilt and refitted by the Marquis of Chandos, who now resides there.

(2) On the morning of the date of this letter, Lady Hester had hastened to Mr. and Mrs. George Grenville at Wotton, on receiving intelligence of the death of their eldest son, Richard Percy Grenville, in his eighth year.

Lord Orford ('), with the port of Mars himself, and really the genteelest figure under arms I ever saw, was the theme of every tongue. The King was extremely pleased, and the public so much so, that the Park, through which the militia passed to Kensington, was hardly pervious to my coach at half-past twelve, and the multitude retarded the march of the battalions above half an hour, the King waiting under the portico of the palace. This warlike spectacle-pleasing, and particularly interesting as it is to me (2)-could engage but in part the attention of such of the spectators as expect, on pretty certain grounds, the accounts of two decisive battles; Prince Ferdinand having moved so

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(1) George, third earl of Orford, grandson of Sir Robert Walpole, at this time lord-lieutenant and custos rotulorum of the county of Norfolk. He died in 1791, and was succeeded by his uncle Horace Walpole; who, on the 19th of July, thus writes to Mr. Montagu: "The militia passed just by us yesterday; the crowds in Hyde Park, when the King reviewed them, was inimaginable. My lord Orford, their colonel, I hear looked gloriously martial and genteel; and I believe it: his person and air have a noble wildness in them; the regiments, too, are very becoming-scarlet faced with black, buff waistcoats, and gold buttons. How knights of shires, who have never shot any thing but woodcocks, like this warfare I don't know; but the towns through which they pass adore them; every where they are treated and regaled."

(2) On the 30th of May, three days previous to the close of the session, Mr. Pitt had brought down a message from the King to the House of Commons, desiring to be enabled to march the militia out of their several counties, on the apprehension of an invasion from France. 66 Though it ended in smoke," says Walpole, "it was seriously projected, and hung over us for great part of the summer; nor was it radically baffled till the winter following."

as to bring on an action, and Dohna having been almost up with the Russians some days since.

Your loving husband,

W. PITT.

LADY HESTER PITT TO MR. PITT.

Wotton, July 19, 1759.

WHAT a charming account of our militia! By your description of Lord Orford, I think it cannot fail of growing into fashion; for the ladies must certainly grow partial to it, and then who will venture to slight it? But, to be serious; I do really rejoice that he was the military figure you describe, since it shows that that is to be acquired out of the army, and without long practice ;-the true British soul will give the rest. (') The approbation it received from the King and from the public are happy circumstances, and such as, I trust, will spread the ardour which prevails already so nobly in some.

What

(1) "My principal obligation to the militia," says Gibbon-at this time a captain in the Hampshire regiment-"was the making me an Englishman, and a soldier. In this peaceful service, I imbibed the rudiments of the language, and science of tactics, which opened a new field of study and observation. The discipline and evolutions of a modern battalion gave me a clearer notion of the phalanx and the legion; and the captain of the Hampshire grenadiers (the reader may smile) has not been useless to the historian of the Roman empire.". Misc. Works, vol. i. p. 136. ed. 1814.

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