regulate my future operations by your advice and judgment; but I cannot flatter myself so much as to think it possible to enjoy that comfort, until you have first procured for your country a safe, honourable, and lasting peace. I am, my dear Sir, Your ever faithful and

affectionate humble servant,

W. BECKFORD.

THE REV. LAURENCE STERNE TO MR. PITT.

SIR,

Friday, Mr. Dodsley's, Pall-Mall. [January, 1760. (1)]

THOUGH I have no suspicion that the inclosed Dedication can offend you, yet I thought it my duty to take some method of letting you see it, before I presumed to beg the honour of presenting it to you next week, with the Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy. I am, Sir,

Your most humble servant,

LAURENCE STERNE.

SIR,

TO THE RIGHT HON. MR. PITT.

NEVER poor wight of a dedicator had less hopes from his Dedication, than I have from this of mine;

(1) This letter, which is without date, was probably written in the first week of January, as the two first volumes of the Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy were published by Dodsley on the 10th of that month.

for it is written in a by-corner of the kingdom, and in a retired thatched house, where I live in a constant endeavour to fence against the infirmities of ill-health and other evils of life, by mirth; being firmly persuaded, that every time a man smiles, but much more so, when he laughs, — that it adds something to this fragment of life.

I humbly beg, Sir, that you will honour this book by taking it (not under your protection, it must protect itself, but) into the country with you; where, if I am ever told it has made you smile, or can conceive it has beguiled you of one moment's pain, I shall think myself as happy as a minister of state perhaps much happier than any one (ONE only excepted) that I have ever heard or read of. I am, great Sir, and, what is more to your honour, I am, good Sir,

Your well-wisher, and

most humble fellow-subject,

THE AUTHOR.(')

(1) "Tristram Shandy," says Gray, in a letter to Dr. Wharton, of the 22nd of June, "is a great object of admiration, the man as well as the book; one is invited to dinner, where he dines, a fortnight before. As to the volumes yet published, there is much good fun in them, and humour sometimes hit and sometimes missed. Have you read his Sermons, with his own comic figure, from a painting by Reynolds, at the head of them? They are in the style I think most proper for the pulpit, and show a strong imagination and a sensible heart; but you see him often tottering on the verge of laughter, and ready to throw his periwig in the face of the audience."

ANDREW MITCHELL, ESQ. TO MR. PITT.

(Private.)

Head-Quarters at Friburg, January 15, 1760. ) ACCEPT, Sir, of my most hearty congratulations on the glorious and unbounded success of his Majesty's arms, in every part of the globe. The events of last year are the most glorious and the most important in English history, and cannot fail to

(1) Lord Barrington, in a letter to Mr. Mitchell, of the 14th of January, draws the following picture of the political state of affairs at the opening of the new year: "If I were to give you an account of the past and present state of things here since I wrote last, I should compose a volume. For the present it may suffice that I assure you of the union, cordiality, and good-will which reign at present among the King's servants. It, fortunately for them, our master, and the public, is such, that there never was more at any period of our time. I could not have said this three months ago, but I can safely assert it now; and I think there is every appearance that the same happy temper will continue. I verily believe that the Duke of Newcastle and his brother did not more cordially wish each other to continue in their respective stations, than the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Pitt do now; and there are less disputes and coldness by a great deal, than there used to be between the two brothers This union, great and extraordinary as it may seem, is nothing in comparison with that of the parliament and the nation; which seem to have one mind and one object. What is most astonishing, the object in which the whole people is united is wise and good. Do not, however, imagine, my dear Mitchell, that this proceeds from any improvement made by our countrymen either in wisdom or in virtue; for it arises solely from this, who can raise any sort of disturbance finds it either convenient or agreeable to be out of humour at this time. These are happy conjunctures, my dear friend, and I hope and believe the proper use will be made of them."- Mitchell MSS.

no man

transmit to posterity the King and his ministers in the fairest and most amiable lights. His Majesty's generous offer of peace, in the midst of accumulated victories, surpasses every thing that can be done by the sword; as it joins to conquest, humanity and moderation.

The situation I am in, as well as the late distinguished instance I have had of your friendship, encourages me to ask the favour of your interest and recommendation to his Majesty, that I may have the honour of being named one of the plenipotentiaries, in case a congress to treat of peace should be agreed upon. I will make use of no arguments to support my pretensions. If they are solid they will occur to yourself, and I am too much concerned to judge with impartiality.

My other letters will inform you of our situation. here. I think it my duty to speak the truth, and without disguise; it belongs to you to judge what is fit to be done in this most critical conjuncture. Wishing you health and many years to enjoy the glory, and to re-establish on a solid and lasting foundation the happiness, of your country, I have the honour to be, with most sincere respect and affection, dear Sir,

Your most obliged and most

obedient and humble servant,

ANDREW MITCHELL.

THE EARL OF HARDWICKE TO MR. PITT.

DEAR SIR,

Grosvenor Square, January 15, 1760.

You do me a great deal of honour in sending for my perusal the draughts of instructions for the Earl of Kinnoul. (') I should have given you no trouble but by returning them, had you not required me to transmit to you any observation that might occur to me. These draughts are, in my humble opinion, very judiciously adapted to the occasions of his lordship's mission; and there is but one observation which occurs to me: that arises upon the distinction, allowed by many of the best writers on the laws of nations, between the beginning of an aggression against an enemy, or continuing a mere chace within the territory of a neutral friend; and continuing the pursuit of a flying enemy, after a battle fairly begun, and carried on in the open sea, even within gunshot of the forts, or to the entrance of the port of a neutral friend.

That you may see how far this is allowed, I have (to save you the trouble of looking for it in

(1) Thomas, eighth earl of Kinnoul, and second Lord Hay. See vol. i. p. 161, note. He had been recently appointed ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the court of Portugal, to remove the misunderstanding which had arisen between the two crowns, in consequence of admiral Boscawen's squadron having attacked and destroyed some French ships under the Portuguese fort, in the bay of Lagos.