"I have this moment received the honour of your letter, whilst Mr. Wedderburn was with me, to whom I have executed your commission. He is extremely sensible of this great mark of your Lordship's esteem and regard, and still more so of the very honourable manner in which you have made the proposition for rechoosing him into Parliament, which he desires me to assure your Lordship shall certainly remain a secret with him, till you give him leave to disclose it, though, as the offer which you made when this extraordinary measure of forcing him out of Parliament was first talked of, is already known to five or six different persons, that secret is not so entire as I now wish it was; however, I hope it will not get out, so as to be attended with the least inconvenience to you. If any thing could give me a higher opinion of your character and conduct than that which I entertained before, it would be your behaviour upon this occasion, which I am fully persuaded, as soon as it is proper to be known, the world will see with the same sentiments of approbation, though not with the same feelings of your constant friendship and kindness, which fill the mind of, "My dear Lord, "Your Lordship's most affectionate "and most devoted humble servant, "George Grenville." Mr. Grenville's health had already began to decline, and soon after rapidly failed. His last exertion in the House, that of carrying through the Act which goes under his name for regulating the proceedings in the House of Commons in contested elections, was of itself a great public service. It was passed in April, 1770, and he died on the 13th of November following. This event was communicated to Lord Clive, then at Bath, by Mr. Wedderburn, in the following letter, which is also interesting in other respects:-- "My dear Lord, "The misfortune we dreaded has at last happened. I could not prevail upon myself to send you the first account of it, knowing from my own experience how much you would feel upon such an occasion. I had it immediately in my view for three days together, and yet I was shocked with the event that I had expected.