Burke(?) said in the House the other day that he had so little credit that his evidence was not good even against himself. All this may be, but he is the last of all his Majesty's Ministers which I shall give up. He has experience, assiduity, e(t) du zele. Whether he has blundered or not I cannot tell, or been obliged to adopt the blunders of others. He has judged right in one thing, if he ever had it in his head to make a friend of me. For he has been always extremely civil, and indeed that is not only a sine qua non with me, but all that I have to ask of any of his Majesty's Ministers, and that I am intituled to at least. Now do I wish that my coachman was come back, that I may hear how my dear little friend is, and at night I will let you know. (180) See Storer's letter of December 1, below. (181) John Robinson, Secretary to the Treasury. (182) William, fifth Duke of Devonshire (1748-1811), married, in 1774, Georgina, daughter of John, Earl Spencer, the well-known beautiful Duchess of Devonshire; their daughter, Georgina Dorothy, married George, successor to the fifth Earl of Carlisle. (183) Lord Robert Spencer? (184) Caroline, only daughter of John, fourth Duke of Bedford. Anthony Storer to Lord Carlisle. 1781, Dec. 1.--I received your short note with an enclosed letter for Boothby, which I sent into the country to him. You laugh at me when you talk about the tears at the Drawing Room. I confess to you that I left Ireland with a great deal of regret. If you had not packed me off to Parliament, I suppose that by Christmas I should almost have thought myself happy to have established myself in Dublin. There is a great misfortune in your being Lord Lieutenant, not only to yourself, but to your friends--for en fait des femmes, you can neither do anything for yourself, nor can you for me; so that (I) having no confidant but yourself, all my tender messages are perfectly put a stop to. I hope Trentham has made greater advances amongst them since I left Ireland than he did whilst I was there. He takes time to consider and moves but slowly on to the siege. During the few days I have been in town, I have had as much of Parliament, Levee, and Drawing Room as if I had been in Dublin. I have been nothing but proper things. Lord Loug(h)borough, whom I called upon, has got the gout; but that is what I need not tell you, for he said that he should write. We had no Irish conversation, for the Duke of Queensberry was with me, and we made but a short visit. I understand from Delmc, who came up the first day of the meeting of Parliament, that Lady Betty is coming up to town next week to lay in. Town is very full, and the Opera is really infinitely better in every respect than ever I yet saw it or ever expected it to be. Perhaps coming from what is very bad in Dublin makes me find what was only moderate before exceedingly good now. The roof of the theatre has been raised, and the loftiness at present of the house makes it look really well.