[209] About the same time the Lieutenancy of Glamorganshire was refused to Lord Mount Stewart, Lord Bute’s son, for the same reason. Yet that the Favourite retained his influence with the Princess of Wales, and that she still retained some over her son, came out by the indiscretion of Mrs. Anne Pitt, privy-purse to the Princess, and intimate friend of Lady Bute. Endeavouring to persuade her cousin, the young Lord Villiers, only son of the Countess of Grandison, to marry a younger and homely daughter of Lord Bute, she engaged that if he would, the Princess Dowager would procure him an English peerage--he preferred a pretty daughter of Lord Hertford. [210] I cannot help taking notice of a faulty expression of Bishop Burnet. He says Lord Clarendon “had too much levity of wit.” One would think he was rather speaking of the Duke of Buckingham’s buffoonery, when he carried the fire shovel and tongs to mimic the Chancellor’s mace and purse. Burnet meant Lord Clarendon’s want of judgment in venting his satiric humour too incautiously against his enemies. (Burnet’s History of His Own Time, vol. i. p. 95.) I am disposed to think that Burnet referred to Clarendon’s freedom in private, especially at his own table, for he was always of very convivial habits. This interpretation is rather strengthened by the words which follow the passage quoted, viz., “and he did not always observe the decorum of his post.”--E. [211] Sir John afterwards received a Peerage from Mr. Pitt. He died without male issue in 1808.--E. [212] “The Princess Dowager was a woman of strong mind. When she was very ill she would order her carriage and drive about the streets to show that she was alive. The King and Queen used to go and see her every evening at eight o’clock; but when she got worse they went at seven, pretending they mistook the hour. The night before her death they were with her from seven to nine. She kept up the conversation as usual, went to bed, and was found dead in the morning.”--(Pinkerton’s Walpoliana, vol. i. p. 65.--E.) [213] Elliot MSS. [214] Duke of Grafton’s MS. Memoirs. [215] Pinkerton’s Walpoliana, vol. i. pp. 2, 3. [216] See his works by Lord Mahon, vol. ii. p. 470. [217] Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 162. [218] Cassan’s Lives of the Bishops of Winchester, vol. ii. p. 272. [219] Elliot MSS. [220] A beautiful letter from the Duchess (when Lady Ossory), on the death of Lady Holland, is published in Selwyn’s Correspondence. [221] Belsham, Discourse on the Decease of the Duke of Grafton, p. 39, _note_. Transcriber’s Notes Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed. Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced quotation marks were corrected when the omission was obvious, and otherwise retained. Two missing closing parentheses and two missing right brackets were added.