Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Second, Volume 2 (of 3)Walpole, Horace
History
Memoirs of the Reign of King George the Second, Volume 2 (of 3)
Walpole, Horace
Great Britain -- History -- George II, 1727-1760
Lord Duplin and Lord Darlington were made joint Paymasters:
Doddington, again a Courtier, returned to his old office of
Treasurer of the Navy: Lord Bateman and Mr. Edgecombe, the one
nephew of the Duke of Marlborough, the other equally attached to
Mr. Fox, were placed in the Admiralty. The Duke of Newcastle, the
Duke of Bedford, the Chancellor, and a little time afterwards
Mr. Fox, had each a nomination to the Board of Trade, and placed
there their friends, Judge Talbot, Mr. Rigby, Soames, Jenyns the
poet-laureate of the Yorkes, and young Hamilton. Lord Hilsborough
was made Treasurer of the Chambers; Lord Hobart succeeded him
as Comptroller of the Household: Lord Gage was made Paymaster
of the Pensions; George Selwyn Paymaster of the Board of Works.
That old rag of Lord Bath’s foolish quota to an administration,
the mute Harry Furnese, was made a Lord of the Treasury, because
he understood the French actions. To him was suddenly joined Mr.
O’Brien, on the very morning that Mr. Ellis was to have kissed
hands; but the Duke of Newcastle, who had recovered his insolence
now the treaties were over, would not suffer a creature of Mr.
Fox at the Board of Treasury. Ellis was put off with a portion of
the Vice-Treasurer of Ireland: it was usually in two persons: Sir
William Yonge was just dead; Lord Cholmondeley, the other, received
as associates, Ellis and Lord Sandwich, who was destined for Chief
Justice in Eyre by the Duke and Mr. Fox, but the same authority
which had set Ellis aside marked Lord Sandwich too; and as if there
was a choice between the outcasts of former silly Administrations,
gave the preference to Lord Sandys.
It has been mentioned that Lord Barrington was appointed Secretary
at War in the new system: he and Ellis may easily be described
together; they were shades of the same character; the former a
little brighter by better parts, the other a little more amiable
by less interestedness. Lord Barrington was always assiduous to
make his fortune; Ellis, meaning the same thing, was rather intent
on not hurting his. The former did not aim at making friends,
but patrons; the latter dreaded making enemies. Lord Barrington
had a lisp and a tedious precision that prejudiced one against
him; yet he did not want a sort of vivacity that would have shone
oftener, if the rind it was to penetrate had been thinner. Ellis
had a fluency that was precise too, but it was a stream that
flowed so smoothly and so shallow, that it seemed to design to
let every pebble it passed over be distinguished. Lord Barrington
made civility and attention a duty; Ellis endeavoured to persuade
you that that duty was a pleasure. You saw that Lord Barrington
would not have been well-bred, if he had not been interested: you
saw that if Ellis had been a hermit, he would have bowed to a
cock-sparrow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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