“Duchess told me,” says Lord Malmesbury,[217] “that in 1762, when Lord Bute came in, it was in consequence of the Duke of Devonshire and Lord Rockingham going to the King, and saying that if his Majesty meant to be directed by Lord Bute’s counsels and advice, he had better bring him forward at once. This he (the King) did, and that when Lord Bute went out early in 1763, it was because he thought, by offering his resignation to the King, that his Majesty would press him to remain in and add to his power and influence; but the contrary arrived: and the Duchess said her mother and the King used to laugh together at the Rockinghams and Lord Bute having been the dupes of their cunning. The first lost their offices, which they wanted to keep, and the latter the office he was ambitious of retaining.”--Dec. 4th, 1794. When the Duchess of Brunswick spoke of events which had happened thirty years back, strict accuracy of recollection could not be expected from her, and she is hardly entitled to belief in opposition to contemporary authorities. Lord Bute’s letters--his declarations to his friends--his known disposition--all combine in furnishing the strongest evidence that his wish to quit office was perfectly sincere. Letters are still extant in private repositories, amply sufficient to prove that for some time at least after his accession, the King placed unbounded confidence in Lord Bute; and the power exercised by that nobleman in providing for his dependants on his retirement, as well as the universal impression at the time, not only of the public but of the persons likely to possess the best information of what was passing at Court, betray no indication of any change in the King’s feelings. Indeed, whatever might have been his Majesty’s defects, inconstancy was not one of them. II. DR. THOMAS, BISHOP OF WINCHESTER. (Vol. i. p. 75.) He was the son of a Colonel in the Guards, who died poor. In early life, he had to struggle with many difficulties and disappointments. “By much exertion,” to use his own words, somewhat abridged, “he became a popular preacher in the City. He had a turn at St. Paul’s, when Bishop Hare was present. The Bishop liked his sermon, sent for him, heard him a second time, and then gave him a prebendal stall. Having thus got his foot on the ladder, he mounted rapidly.”[218] He was a man of sense and learning, and of unexceptionable character. He gained little influence or weight at Court; perhaps he had the prudence not to seek it. The King certainly liked him, and paid him frequent visits at Farnham Palace, after his promotion to Winchester. He died in 1781. III. GEORGE THE THIRD AND MR. MACKENZIE. (Vol. ii. p. 175.)