and trust I shall soon be able to try my luck again upon a horse.

As for the political scene, far removed from my corporeal eye, it is too much involved in darkness as yet, for the mental eye to pretend to pry into it (1);

Curry-Rivel is a bold ridge of hills, which rises, with a steep
ascent, four hundred feet from West-Sedgmoor; the slope being
finely waved, indented, and clothed with beautiful hanging
woods: these woods alternately swell into bold projections, and
recede into fine hollows, forming a grand profile, when viewed
from the east or west. Within a cove, open to Sedgmoor, on
the very top of this ridge, is Burton-Pynsent. The house is
a large, irregular building, erected at different periods, and
composed of various materials. The apartments are elegant,
and contain some excellent pictures. The principal front is to
the north, commanding a rich and very extensive prospect of all
the flat country between Mendip and the Quantock hills, the
channel, and Welch mountains. Immediately under the eye
a beautiful moor, level as a bowling-green, and covered with
the finest verdure, to the extent of nearly six miles in length,
and one to three miles in width, skirted thick with villages.
From this point more than thirty churches may be distinctly
seen. On the north-west point, at the distance of about two
furlongs from the house, is a fine column of white stone, one
hundred and forty feet high, built on a smooth green projecting
knoll, with a steep declivity of more than three hundred feet
down to the edge of the moor. This pillar was erected by the
Earl of Chatham, to the memory of Sir William Pynsent. On
one side of the pedestal, is the following inscription: -

'Sacred to the Memory of Sir William Pynsent.
Hoc saltem fungar inani munere.'

is

"The south or back front of the house, looks into a park, perfectly level, finely wooded with large elm and other trees, and commanding a very fine view to the south, south-east, and south-west, bounded by that high ridge of land, which stretching from pleasure-grounds on the brow of the hill are elegantly disposed, and admit of great variety."

(1) "I never remember in all my time," says Lord Chesterfield, writing in this month to his son, "to have seen so proble

nor am I in the least curious concerning it. I desire
you will assure Mr. Thomas Walpole of my sincere
and constant regard, and that if any chance should
ever bring him westward, I shall be proud and
happy to have the honour of seeing him.
I am always, with true esteem, dear Nuthall,
Very faithfully yours,

W. PITT.

MR. PITT TO THE HON. THOMAS WALPOLE.(')

MY DEAR SIR,

November 5, 1765.

ABOUT to part with a place, endeared to me by many circumstances, I assure you I have a real pleasure, that it is to pass into your hands, and am

not a little proud, that its future master has the goodness to allow me to think, that he will not like it the less, for the sake of its old possessor. I have now troubled you enough, my dear Sir, upon my small private concerns:

matical a state of affairs; and a man would be much puzzled which side to bet on. If Mr. Pitt does not come in to the assistance of the ministers, they will have much to do to stand their ground. Charles Townshend will play booty; and whom else have they? Nobody but Conway; who has only good sense, but not the necessary talents nor experience, Ære ciere viros, Martemque accendere cantu.'

(1) Second son of Horatio, first Lord Walpole of Wolterton. He was an eminent merchant and banker in London, in partnership with Sir Joshua Vanneck, whose daughter he married. He sat in various parliaments; and died in 1803.

upon public and great things (if great any longer belongs to the affairs of so distracted a country), what remains for one so strangely circumstanced as I am, to say to a friend? You fully know how I was frustrated in my views for the public good; and the repetition of any part of so unaccountable a story could have neither utility nor entertainment. All I can say is this, that I move in the sphere only of measures. Quarrels at court, or family reconciliations, shall never vary my fixed judgment of things. Those who, with me, have stood by the cause of liberty and the national honour, upon true Revolution-principles, will never find me against them, till they fall off, and do not act up to those principles.

This letter will probably find you amidst additional perplexities of court and city, from the late melancholy but long foreseen event. (') Many, no doubt, are the speculations upon the consequences of it; but I am too far off from the scene, and you are too near to it, and too clearsighted, for me to hazard any of mine.

I propose going to Bath in about a week; for which place I was on my way last Saturday, when I was stopped by the melancholy news of the

(1) The death of the Duke of Cumberland. On the 31st of October, having appointed to assist that evening at a council, the Duke came to town from Windsor, and went to court. At eight in the evening, being then at his house in Upper Grosvenorstreet, just as the Duke of Newcastle and the Lord Chancellor came to the council, he was suddenly seized with a shivering fit; upon which, he said to the Earl of Albemarle, "'tis all over," and sank lifeless into his Lordship's arms. He was privately interred, but with military honours, in Westminster Abbey.

event, which broke the hereditary Prince's journey thither. Wherever I am, I beg you will be assured, that you have there have there a very sincere friend and servant, who does justice to the steady spirit with which you stand for a shaken country, feels all the value of the friendship with which you honour him, and has a particular satisfaction in assuring you, with how true esteem and perfect consideration I am always, my dear Sir, &c.,

W. PITT.

MR. PITT TO LADY CHATHAM.

Bath, Sunday, one o'clock,
November 17, 1765.

My dearest love knows my diary as far as Wells. It continued quite prosperous as far as Bath, where I arrived in the face of day. I passed a much better night for my fatigue, and I am better this morning; foot much swelled, hand less weak, and easier. Thank the Almighty, that I am able to send you such an account as your kind thoughts will repose on with comfort.

Brother James much better, but shattered and pale enough from having dispersed the gout, by bathing. I have the pleasure to tell you, that his mind is just in the reasonable posture that I could wish. Would to Heaven, he could impart some of his right spirit somewhere else! The great of this world seem not to have forgotten the Somersetshire hermit, if the mighty names of Newcastle,

Norfolk, Bedford, Rockingham &c., are flattering to the pride of man. I was interrupted here by a kind visit from Mr. Collibee, the mayor; a less sounding name, but an honest and steady friend. How I shall sustain these honours, I know not; but while I am relating them to my love, the spirits flow, and the hand obeys. I must however check my own career, and despatch the servant before another interruption. Heaven bless and protect the noble mother and the promising little flock! For this time, adieu, and think with some comfortable hope of the health of

Your ever loving husband,

W. PITT.(1)

MR. PITT TO LADY CHATHAM.

Bath, Monday night, November 18, 1765.

THANK Heaven that I am able to hold a

pen, and tell my love the feats I have this day performed. I have visited the fair down of Claverton, with all its piny forests, and have drunk one glass of water as I returned, sitting in my coach of state, in Stall

(1) In her reply to this letter, written on the same evening, from Burton Pynsent, Lady Chatham says: :-"Nine o'clock come, the duties of our Sunday evening done, and the little ones retired to bed, I musing by the fire, comes in my dearest love's letter. What a charm did it immediately spread over my whole mind, and with what delight and gratitude to the Almighty did I read that my prayers had been answered! The honours paid to the dear Hermit are natural. Superstition leads a few, and true devotion the other part."