So if any be spared, it will probably be the former, though he had a pension of £600 a-year from the government, and the order for giving quarter to no Englishman was found in his pocket. As to Balmerino,1 he never had any hopes from the beginning. He is an old soldier-like man, of a vulgar manner and aspect, speaks the broadest Scotch, and shews an intrepidity, that some ascribe to real courage, and some to brandy. You have heard perhaps, that the first day (while the Peers were adjourned to consider of his plea, and he left alone for an hour and a half in the bar) he diverted himself with the axe, that stood by him, played with its tassels, and tryed the edge with his finger and some lord, as he passed by him, saying he was surprised to hear him alledge anything so frivolous, and that could not possibly do him the least service; he answered, that as there were so many ladies present, he thought it would be uncivil to give them no amusement. The Duke of Argyle, telling him, how sorry and how astonished he was to see him engaged in such a cause. My Lord (says he) for the two Kings and their rights I cared not a farthing, which prevailed; but I was starving; and by God if Mahomet had set up his standard in the Highlands, I had been a good Mussulman for bread, and stuck close to the party, for I must eat. The Solicitor-General came up to speak to him too, and he

:

1 Arthur Elphinstone, sixth and last Lord Balmerino in Scotland. He was beheaded at the same time and place with Lord Kilmarnock.

turns about to old Williamson. Who is that Lawyer, that talks to me? My Lord, it is Mr. Murray. Ha! Mr. Murray, my good Friend (says he, and shook him by the hand) and how does your good mother? oh! she was of admirable service to us; we should have done nothing without her in Perthshire. He recommends (he says) his Peggy1 ('tis uncertain 2 the favour of the Government, for she has. . . .

I have been diverted with an account of Lord Lovat in his confinement at Edinburgh. There was a Captain Maggett, that is obliged to lie in the room every night with him. When first he was introduced to him, he made him come to his bed-side where he lay in a hundred flannel waistcoats and a furred nightgown, took him in his arms, and gave him a long embrace, that absolutely suffocated him. He will speak nothing but French; insists upon it, that Maggett is a Frenchman and calls him, mon cher Capitaine Magot (you know Magot is a monkey); at

1 Margaret, Lady Balmerino, daughter of Captain Chalmers. 2 The MS. has here been torn. -[Ed.]

3 Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, beheaded on Tower Hill the 9th of April 1747. Thus mentioned in one of Walpole's Letters, April 16, 1747.

"You have heard that old Lovat's Tragedy is over. I must tell you an excessive good thing of George Selwyn. Some women were scolding him for going to see the execution, and asked him how he could be such a barbarian, to see the head cut off? Nay (says he), if that was such a crime, I am sure I have made amends, for I went to see it sewed on again.' When he was at the undertaker's, as soon as they had stitched him together, and were going to put the body into the coffin, George, in my Lord Chancellor's voice, said,—' My Lord Lovat, your lordship may rise.'”—[Mit.]

his head lie two Highland women at his feet two Highland men. By his bed-side is a close-stool to which he rises two or three times in a night, and always says,-Ah, mon cher Capitaine Magot! vous m'excuserez, mais la Nature demande que je chie! He is to be impeached by the House of Commons, because not being actually in arms, it would otherwise be necessary, that the jury of Inverness should find a Bill of Indictment against him, which it is very sure they would not do. When the Duke returned to Edinburgh they refused to admit Kingston's Light Horse and talked of their privileges. But they came in sword in hand, and replied, that when the Pretender was at their gates, they had said nothing of their privileges. The Duke rested some hours there, but refused to see the magistracy.

I believe you may think it full time, that I close my budget of stories: Mr. W[alpole] I have seen a good deal, and shall do a good deal more, I suppose, for he is looking for a house somewhere about Windsor1 during the Summer. All is mighty free, and even friendly more than one could expect. remember a paper in the Museum on Message-Cards which he told me was Fielding's, and asked my opinion about it was his own, and so was the Advertisement on Good Breeding, that made us laugh so.

You

1 See Walpole's Letters to Mann, vol. ii. p. 172. I have taken a pretty house at Windsor, and am going there for the remainder of the Summer. I have taken a small house here within the Castle !-[Mit.]

Mr. A[shton] I have had several conversations with, and do really believe he shews himself to me such as he really is: I don't tell you, I like him ever the better for it; but that may be my fault, not his. The Pelhams lie very hard at his stomach: he is not 40 yet, but he is 31, he says, and thinks it his duty to be married. One thing of that kind is just broke off; she had [£]12,000 in her own hands. This is a profound secret, but I not conceiving that he told it m[e as]1 such, happened to tell it to Stonhewer, who told it to Lyne, who told it Asht[on]: again, all i[n the]1 space of three hours whereby I incurred a scolding; so pray don't let me fall under [a]1 second, and lose all my hopes of rising in the church. He is still, as I said, resolute to m[arry]1 out of hand; only two things he is terrified at, lest she should not breed, and lest she should love him: I comforted him by saying, there was no danger of either.

The Muse, I doubt, is gone, and has left me in far worse company: if she returns, you will hear of her. You see I have left no room for a catalogue, which is a sort of policy, for it's hardly possible my memory should supply one: I will try by next time, which will be soon, if I hear from you. If your curiosity require any more circumstances of these tryals 2. will see. .. find some gre.. My best compliments

1 The words in brackets have been supplied by Mitford, a piece being torn from the edge of the MS.-[Ed.]

2 After "tryals" three-quarters of a line is lost, and "will see are only the first words of the next line, and "find some gre" of the next following. -[Ed.]

to the little man of the world. Adieu, my dear Wharton.-Believe me very truly yours,

Stoke, Sunday [post-mark 13th August] [endorsement 1746].

T. GRAY.

LVII. TO THOMAS WHARTON.

MY DEAR WHARTON-What can one say to these things? if it had been in the power of lawyers to interpret into common sense statutes made by old monks, or monk-directed old women, we might have hoped for a more favourable answer to our queries? as it is, I fear they may have done more hurt than good: all I know, is this, that I should rejoice poor T[uthill] had some place to rest the sole of his foot in; and I flatter myself you will never omit anything in your power to support his little interest among a people, with whom you first raised it. I would gladly know the time of your audit, for I would be at Cambridge by that time, if I could. Mr. Walpole] has taken a house in Windsor and I see him usually once a week; but I think, that will hardly detain me beyond the time I proposed to myself. He is at present gone to town to perform the disagreeable task of presenting and introducing about a young Florentine, the Marquis Rinuccini,1 who comes recommended to him. The D[uke]2 is

1 A young "cub," the son of an elder Marquis of the same name, who had been Tuscan Envoy in England.—[Ed.] 2 The Duke of Cumberland.

VOL. II.

L