[10] He himself took a cutter and twenty marines and went to survey the coast. A battery fired on them; and one of the rowers said, “Sir, we are in great danger.” He replied, coolly, “Pho, they can’t hurt us;” and turning to young Fitzroy (Charles, afterwards Lord Southampton, from whom I received this relation), he said, “Now, if they would not say I was boyish, I would land with these twenty marines, to show them we can.” I have already mentioned his gallant behaviour at Fontenoy, at Laffelt, and at Culloden, at the first of which battles he was taken prisoner; but I cannot help repeating an unsuspected, because disinterested testimonial in his favour. When this miscarriage at Rochfort made so much noise, and the courage of the Generals was questioned, Lord Chesterfield said to Mr. Fox these words: “I am sure Conway is brave; I remember when I was praising George Stanhope (a young man of remarkable spirit, brother of Earl Stanhope), he replied, ‘Faith, my Lord, I believe I have as much courage as other people; indeed, I don’t pretend to be like Harry Conway, who walks up to the mouth of a cannon with as much coolness and grace, as if he was going to dance a minuet.’” [11] Lord George Sackville, who was privy to this negotiation, and who hated the Speaker on former injuries, said, “Ponsonby is a dirty fellow; we have nothing to do but rub his nose against a Devonshire.” [12] The conduct of one of his friends was not quite so judicious; Potter, then ill at Bath, sent the Mayor of the place an account of a private letter he had received from Mr. Pitt, lamenting his disappointment, _which had broken his heart_. This letter was left for public perusal in a bookseller’s shop, till getting into the Bath Journal, Potter thought proper to advertise that this had been done contrary to his intention. [13] The Duke was much diverted on hearing that Pitt, who had drawn the plan for the Militia, urged against the Generals that there had been no force on the coast of France, but twenty thousand of the Militia! [14] It appears by Mr. Gray’s Letters, published with his Life by Mr. Mason in 1795, that the laurel was actually offered to Mr. Gray, and was refused by him. [15] Eldest son of John Earl of Bristol, and Lord Privy Seal: a great favourite of Queen Caroline, and a principal object of Pope’s satire. 1758. _Punch._ Who is that? _Luckless._ That is an orator, Master Punch. _Punch._ An orator!--what’s that? _Luck._ Why, an orator is--egad, I can’t tell what: he is a man that nobody dares dispute with. FIELDING’S _Pleasures of the Town_. CHAPTER IV.