able to send me a satisfactory account of your health by the return of this messenger. I would not presage any thing unfavourable to my warmest wish; but should lameness as yet continue to disable you from the present commission, you have the consolation to know, that you live in the mind of his Majesty for some other agreeable occasion, when your health shall be better restored; which will not be long, if the wishes and vows of true friendship can prevail. 1 am, &c., W. PITT. SIR RICHARD LYTTELTON TO MR. PITT. DEAR SIR, Leghorn, June 17, 1761. HAVING inclosed my most dutiful and sincere acknowledgments to his Majesty, for the great honour he has been pleased to do me, in the gracious offer (1) of succeeding Mr. Mackenzie at Turin, I beg leave to return you my warmest and most grateful thanks for again thinking of me upon this occasion; but as I know your extreme delicacy, I will only say, that to have been thought worthy of filling so important a situation at a juncture so critical as this must be, and to receive so eminent a mark of Mr. Pitt's friendship and esteem, is more glorious to me, and will do more (1) Which offer Sir Richard declined, on the ground of ill health. honour to me, both now and hereafter, than the most ambitious wish of my heart could ever have aspired to. Allow me, dear Sir, to congratulate you on the birth of your son ('): great and fortunate I hope they will all be, and dear to their country; happy, at least, in having such a father. Adieu, dear Sir, and believe me ever entirely yours, RICHARD LYTTELTON. (Private.) HANS STANLEY, ESQ. TO MR. PITT. DEAR SIR, approve. Paris, June 9, 1761. I SHALL be very happy to know, by a single line from you, that my proceedings are such as you You I have nothing more at heart. will yourself judge better than I can of the sincerity shown here, by comparing what I have sent you with M. de Bussy's conduct. (2) I think I can be very sure, that a peace is here the general wish of the people; it is most excessively wanted. (1) Mr. Pitt's third son, James Charles, born April 24, 1761. (2) M. de Bussy, contrary to arrangements expressly agreed upon, did not reach Calais till two days after Mr. Stanley had arrived there; a circumstance which produced so unpleasant an impression on the mind of Mr. Pitt, that he instructed Mr. Stanley to suspend the delivery of his credentials, until the Duc de Choiseul had disowned the proceeding of his agent. The Duc de Choiseul has been informed by some persons, that you are ill-disposed to it. I assured him, that I had heard your ideas upon that subject very fully; that there was nothing in them, but what appeared to me reasonable and practicable; that I spoke to him very much according to your opinions; and that I believed he did not think I advanced any thing I could not show by fair reasons to be candid and equitable. He expressed, both in words and in his looks, great satisfaction at these assurances. I took thence an opportunity of saying to him, that besides your unblemished probity, it was the interest of every established minister to wish for a settled state of affairs; that war, and the extraordinary changes produced by those incidents which often attend it, were rather for the advantage of ambitious adventurers after power than of those who actually possessed it. I reasoned upon more ancient and late instances, both in their ministry and our own; to all which discourse he gave a deep and most serious attention. His note, which I enclose to you, will at least show that he thinks me worthy his notice. The Duchess of Grammont ('), his sister, told me to-day, that he had (1) Beatrix de Choiseul-Stainville,-born in 1730, married in 1759 to the Duc de Grammont, and distinguished at the courts of Louis the Fifteenth and Sixteenth for the affability of her manners, her obliging disposition, and her excellent mental qualities—was one of the numerous victims of the revolutionary government. Being, in April 1794, dragged, with her friend the Duchesse de Chastelet, before the bloody tribunal, she gave, to been greatly struck with my conversation. She does the honours of his house, and showed me all the real preferences: ceremonies were for their excellencies, but I had her company, while they were staring on us at a distance. I could see that MM. Stahremberg and Grimaldi (1) are extremely uneasy. The Duc de Choiseul has expressed himself very highly pleased with me. In all other respects, few things have equalled my reception. Ladies of the first quality have called to visit me. I am courted, caressed, and invited on all sides. I do not think it will be impracticable for me to comply with the second clause of the ninth article of my instructions(); but I must represent to the interrogatories of Fouquier Tinville, this affecting reply:"Que ma mort soit decidée, cela ne m'étonne pas: j'ai, en quelque sorte, occupé l'attention du public; et quoique je ne me sois jamais mêlée d'aucune affaire depuis le commencement de la révolution, mes principes et ma manière de penser sont connus: mais," continued she, pointing to her friend, "pour cet ange, en quoi vous a-t-elle offensé ; elle qui n'a jamais fait tort à personne, et dont la vie entière n'offre qu'un tableau de vertu et de bienfaisance?" Both were led from the tribunal to the scaffold. (1) The Austrian and Spanish ambassadors. (2) "You will give a watchful attention to the conduct and motions of the Spanish ambassador, and of all matters which may be of consequence and worthy our knowledge." That the conduct of M. de Bussy, while in this country, was regarded with suspicion, and that his motions were, in consequence, pretty narrowly watched, appears evident by the following reports made to the secretary of state, endorsed "Movements of M. de Bussy:" — "Tuesday, July 14. At ten o'clock went (the Bourdeaux merchant being with him) to a merchant in Throgmorton you, that the executing it to any real effect will be attended with a vast expense. You are to consider whether it is worth it. I am, with the most affectionate respect, Your obliged, obedient humble servant, street, left a card, then to Coleman-street to one Mr. Bryan'sthence to a paper-hanging shop in Holborn, thence to a shop in Chandos-street, thence to a cabinet-maker's, the corner of Newport-street, Long Acre, then to a milliner's across the way, - thence home, where he dined. At seven in the evening, went to M. Borel, (the new Dutch ambassador) at Whitehall, staid about ten minutes, - thence to Russell's the toy-shop, staid about half an hour, then to the Countess of Yarmouth's, and so home. staid there two hours, "Wednesday, July 15. About ten o'clock went to the Duke of Newcastle's office, staid there an hour and came home. Between twelve and one went to Brompton to Lady Browne's, who was not at home,-then to her town-house in Upper Brookstreet, but not at home there, then went home and dined. At eight in the evening went to Mr. Cleland's, but not at home, - thence to Baron Hop's (the Dutch ambassador), staid two hours, and then home." (1) A letter from Mr. Stanley to Mr. Pitt, of the 9th of June, contains the following passages: "The Duchesse d'Aiguillon is most grateful for his Majesty's gracious condescensions in favour of the convent founded by her ancestors at Quebec. She has recommended to my care. some holy oils, to be used in the sacraments at Canada. If they reach you, I do not doubt of their being treated with that respect which she deserves, and which even a mistaken religion has a right to claim. "Since the affair of Damien, the King has never been easy in his mind. If, when he is hunting, or on any occasion, he meets a person whom he is not used to see, he starts, and is extremely agitated. The Jesuits are charged by the vulgar as promoters of that attempt. The Dauphin is esteemed much |