[246] Richard Aldworth Neville, of Billingbere, Berkshire, [son of Mr. Aldworth of Stanlake, by Catherine sister of Mr. Henry Neville Grey of Billingbere, whose estate he subsequently inherited. He filled for some years the office of Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, which occasioned his being employed at Paris; and he represented Wallingford, Reading, and Tavistock in different Parliaments. The Barony of Braybrooke descended on his only son (the late Lord) by a special limitation in the patent obtained by his relative, Sir John Griffin, Lord Howard de Walden, whose large estates he also inherited.--History of Audley End, p. 54.--E.] [247] This statement rests on Walpole’s unsupported testimony. The facts that I have been able to collect on the subject, in the quarters likely to be the best informed, are these:--On the 7th of September Lord Egremont wrote to the Duke of Bedford, informing him of the King’s commands that he should not sign the preliminaries without first sending them over for his Majesty’s approbation. On the 18th the Duke wrote to M. de Choiseul that he was ready to sign, and that he only _waits his answer to send his messenger to London_. On the 28th or 29th Lord Egremont wrote by the French courier of M. de Nivernois that the Havannah was taken. On the 30th he repeats the news, and promises fresh instructions. The Duke never pretended to sign against the King’s orders, though he complained of their tenor. Thus Walpole’s story becomes very improbable.--E. [248] William Ponsonby, Earl of Besborough, one of the Postmasters-General, had married Lady Caroline Cavendish, eldest sister of the Duke of Devonshire. [249] Mr. Fox did _not_ go to Devonshire House to “protest his utter ignorance of any such design.” He wrote to the Duke at Chatsworth on the 2nd of November, to express his sorrow at what had happened; and in a subsequent letter of the 9th assured his Grace that “he neither knew nor had the least suspicion” of the intention to strike his Grace’s name out of the Privy Council.--_Note by the late Mr. Allen_, on the manuscript copy of these Memoirs. [250] Turned out for his opposition to the Excise Scheme in 1733. [251] Robert Harley, Earl of Oxford, Prime Minister to Queen Anne. [252] William Keith, Earl Marichal, engaged in the rebellion of 1715. When he came out of the King’s closet, and was asked what the King had said, he replied in the words of the old ballad, “The King looked over his left shoulder, And a grim look looked he, And cried ‘Earl Marshal, but for my oath, Or hanged thou should’st be.’”