397.
To Colonel Holroyd.
July 25th, 1780.
*As your motions are spontaneous, and the stations of the Lord Chief[458] unalterably fixed, I cannot perceive the necessity of your sending or receiving intelligence. However, your commands are obeyed. You wish I would write, as a sign of life. I am alive; but, as I am immersed in the decline and fall, I shall only make the sign. It is made. You may suppose that we are not pleased with the junction of the fleets; nor can an ounce of West India loss be compensated by a pound of East India success; but the Circuit will roll down all our news and politics of London. I rejoyce to hear that the Sussex Dragoons are such well-disciplined Cannibals; but I want to know when the chief Cannibal will return to his den. It would suit me better that it should happen soon. Adieu.*