I find the last of mine that you had received when Charles wrote his
was a month ago; that makes me afraid Sir J. L[ambert] keeps them.
There [they] are no more worth his keeping than your receiving, but
they give me the pleasure of assuring you, which I can, with great
truth, that I am ever most truly and most affectionately yours.

(60) The Duke of Grafton made no secret of his relations with Mrs.
Horton.

(61) Elizabeth, Duchess of Buccleugh, daughter of George, Duke of
Montagu. She was married in 1767.

(62) Sir William Musgrave.


Intermixed with the personal news which fills the next letter there
are allusions to some social and political incidents very
characteristic of the time. The Indian nabob, or millionaire as we
should now call him, had begun to desire a seat in Parliament for
his own purposes, just as the sinecurist did for his, and he was
able to outbid the home purchaser. The jealousy with which the Court
party regarded the encroachments of these returned Anglo-Indians in
their preserves is amusing, especially when we recollect that so
great was the venality of the age that a respectable corporation
such as that of Oxford did not hesitate to offer the representation
of their borough for sale for a fixed sum.

1768, January 26, Tuesday night, at Almack's.--I received last night
yours of the 9th of this month, for which I thank you most heartily.