The Duke of Grafton, like Lord Rockingham, was a man of pleasure, happier with his dogs and his books than in political life;[83] and he would rather have abandoned politics than his mistress, to whom his attachment was notorious, although, according to "Junius," she was at this time, "a faded beauty," and according to Walpole, "one of the commonest creatures in London." It seems that she had influence over him, and he was certainly proud of the connexion. "He brings everybody to dine with him," Lady Temple has recorded. "His female friend sits at the upper end of his table; some do like it, and some do not. She is very pious, a constant Church-woman, and reproves his Grace for swearing and being angry, which he owns is very wrong, and, with great submission, begs her pardon for being so ill-bred before her." He appeared with her at Ascot, and even at the Opera when the King and Queen were present, a piece of bad taste that gave "Junius" an opening, of which he was not slow to avail himself. "If vice could be excused, there is yet a certain display of it, a certain outrage to decency, a violation of public decorum which, for the benefit of society, should never be forgiven," wrote the great satirist. "It is not that he kept a mistress at home, but that he constantly attended her abroad. It is not the private indulgence, but the public insult of which I complain. The name of Miss Parsons would scarcely have been known, if the First Lord of the Treasury had not led her in triumph through the Opera House, even in the presence of the Queen. When we see a man act in this manner we may admit the shameless depravity of his heart, but what are we to think of his understanding?"[84] [83] "The account of the Cabinet Council being put off--first for a match at Newmarket, and secondly because the Duke of Grafton had company in his house--exhibits a lively picture of the present administration."--George Grenville to Whately, October 20, 1767. [84] Letter signed "Philo-Junius," June 22, 1769. The Duke undoubtedly intended to pursue the policy of Lord Chatham, but, falling under the influence of the King--who was willing enough to forgive, for his political ends, such a flagrant insult to his consort as that narrated above--it so happened that whenever the ministry moved it was in the opposite direction to that which the Earl would have desired. CHAPTER XVI THE KING'S RULE