[169] “The vacillation of this eminent person was so decided as materially to lessen his influence and general consideration.” (See Charles Townshend’s singular Letter to Mr. Dowdeswell. Cavendish’s Debates, i. p. 576.) It eventually drew him to that fatal step which ruined his peace of mind and hurried him to the grave.--E. [170] John Yorke. He died in 1769.--E. [171] The Marchioness of Grey, wife of Philip Yorke, second Earl of Hardwicke, was the eldest daughter of the Earl of Breadalbane by his first wife, eldest daughter and co-heiress of the last Duke of Kent. [172] Mr. Pitt’s reply, however, was cold and ungracious, and the Ministers must have been men of a very sanguine temperament to derive any comfort from it. His repudiation of the charge is clogged by such a distinct avowal of want of confidence in the Government, as must have defeated the object for which the letter was most wanted. It could hardly have been shown, except to friends.--Chatham Correspondence, ii. 319. It does more credit to the Duke than to Mr. Pitt.--E. [173] Henry Lord Digby, an Irish baron, nephew of Lord Holland. [174] The fact was this: Grenville, afraid of publishing his rapaciousness before he was sure of success, had forborne to mention the business to his brethren, the Commissioners of the Treasury, and even to inquire if the reversion was not already granted; but, going directly to the King, asked for the reversion. The King was very loth to bestow it on him; and, on being much pressed, said, “Mr. Grenville, I thought you were a severe enemy to all reversions!” Instead of being abashed, he had the confidence to reply: “Sir, if your Majesty will grant me this, I will take care you shall never give away another.” The King yielded. When Grenville notified the boon at the Treasury, he learned, to his inexpressible mortification, that the reversion was already engaged. Yet in the year 1770 he had the front, in Parliament, to censure a lucrative grant for life to Dyson! [175] John Duke of Argyle, father of the Marquis, of Lord Lorn, of Lord Frederick Campbell, and of the Countess of Ailesbury, wife of Mr. Conway. [176] Groom of the Bedchamber to the Duke, and conqueror of Belleisle. [He had been aide-de-camp to the second Earl of Albemarle at Dettingen and Fontenoy, and all the principal actions in Flanders. He was subsequently transferred to the family of the Duke, whom he attended at Culloden.--(Life of Lord Keppel, i. 298.) Several of his letters during the expedition to Belleisle are published in Mr. Keppel’s work. They are very well written, and their frankness, vivacity, and good feeling, make it a subject of regret that more is not known of the writer. He died a field marshal.--E.]