410.
To J. B. Holroyd, Esq.
[Dec. 9th], Saturday Night, 1780.
Succeed—and may you say, such another victory would ruin us! The messenger has returned from the Bog, but Lord B[uckinghamshire][472] has not yet sent the necessary forms and titles for his creatures; it will not however be in his favour to delay, that or any other business much longer, and I wish your entrance into one house was as secure as the other.
An express has just arrived in nine days from Vienna; the Empress is dead,[473]—and the Austrian Eagle may soar.—It is confidently said that the two great fleets are in sight, and expectation is high and eager. For my own part I do not believe that there ever can be a sea-fight.