He [the King] complained much of flying gout, with which he had been extremely unwell during the last week, but was in excellent spirits, and kept me sitting with him more than an hour. He was lame, and moved with difficulty, and told me (at nine P.M.) that he had only been up for two hours. Not a soul in the palace but Lord Conyngham, Lord Francis, and Sir William K----n. His face was deeper sunk in the lines than I have yet seen it, but the colour was better than I expected--a dark brown, instead of the dead, tallowy colour which I have sometimes seen. The Speaker has made the most stupid and unpardonable mess at Cambridge ever made by man. He wrote to Lord Liverpool, who answered him that he thought his situation created much difficulty, and advised his consulting Lord Sidmouth and Lord Colchester, both of them having, when in the Chair, been intended candidates for Oxford. He asked neither, but talked to the Attorney and Solicitor-General and his own clerks, declared himself a candidate without ever communicating with a single Minister in the House of Commons. As soon as I found that he had declared, I was convinced of the impossibility of his being re-elected Speaker if he vacated his seat, after the decision of the House in 1801 in favour of Pitt's objection to C. Dundas, and therefore went to Canning, who begged me to write to Liverpool, who in return wished Canning to write to the Speaker about it. Canning begged me to go to Peel. There I met the Speaker, who had not in the least adverted to this difficulty, but allowed that it would be unreasonable to expect the Government to fight his battle against such an authority, and finally agreed to retire from the contest! Fremantle tells me that he is quite in the hands of a sister of Lady B----, with whom he passes all his time, so I suppose Miss H---- wears the willow. Some suspicion had been excited by the numerous stacks burnt in Ireland, some of them the property of persons by no means obnoxious to the Rockites. A search was therefore made in a small district, in which no less than thirty were found prepared for the flames, the wheat having been threshed out and the straw re-stacked for the convenience of charging the barony for the bonfire. You will see that Wellesley has, on the authority of the law officers, taken steps to prevent the dressing up Old Glorious on Monday at Dublin. I shall be curious to see the result, which I expect will be only some offensive speeches in the Quarterly Assembly, &c. Lloyd of Aston, after declaring himself a candidate for Shropshire, has again retired. The only candidates now are Childe and mad Cresset Pelham. I trust that the former will carry it, and that then B. Thompson will come in on Watkins's interest for Wenlock. Ever affectionately yours, C. W. W.