[70] He had a great many quarrels, and at last he fought a duel, in which Admiral Rous was his second, who knows all the details of it.
[71] Some years before he had lost 11,000l. at Doncaster, which he could not pay. The Duke was greatly annoyed, but paid the money for him, exacting a promise that he would not bet any more on the turf. Of course, he never dreamt of his keeping racehorses.
[72] It was not long after this that a very important incident in his turf life occurred. The Duke, his father (the most innocent of men), had his curiosity awakened by seeing a great number of horses running in the names of men whom he never saw or heard of. These were all his son's aliases. He asked a great many questions about these invisible personages, to the amusement of all the Newmarket world. At last it was evident he must find out the truth, and I urged George to tell it him at once. With reluctance and no small apprehension he assented, and mustering up courage he told the Duke that all those horses were his. The intimation was very ill received; the Duke was indignant. He accused him of having violated his word; and he was so angry that he instantly quitted Newmarket and returned to Welbeck. For a long time he would not see George at all; at last the Duchess contrived to pacify him; he resumed his usual habits with his son, and in the end he took an interest in the horses, tacitly acquiesced in the whole thing, and used to take pleasure in seeing them and hearing about them.
[73] [Here follow, in Mr. Greville's manuscript, several details of racing transactions in which Lord George Bentinck took a part, which Mr. Greville strongly disapproved; but they have now lost their interest, and are omitted.]
[74] [Afterwards a Baron of the Court of Exchequer.]
[75] He told Martin that he had carefully and elaborately got up the case, but he could not make the speech, and he begged him to find a man who would use his materials and speak for him. The man found, he undertook to provide him with a seat in Parliament. The first man they applied to was Humphry. George saw and conversed with him, and immediately said he would not do. They then went to Serjeant Byles. He was delighted with the Serjeant, and would gladly have taken him, but, after at first consenting, the Serjeant drew back and declined the task. After this, Martin asked Frederick Robinson if he knew of a man, when he replied, 'It is all nonsense, looking out for a man; he must make the speech himself. Do you think the House of Commons would listen to a hired orator, brought down for the purpose? They will listen to him and to nobody else.' This Martin repeated to him, telling him it was very true; and then he added what I had said about his speech at the Jockey Club. He said, 'Did he really say so? I thought it very bad, and I was disgusted at doing it so ill, and making such bad use of the good materials I had.' The next day he wrote word to Martin that he had made up his mind to make the attempt himself. This was ten days or a fortnight before the night on which he spoke.
[76] [M. Dumon had been Minister of Finance in M. Guizot's Cabinet.]
[77] [This sounds strange, but it was believed by those who were acquainted with the chronique scandaleuse of a former generation, in the last century, that William Lamb and Lady Cowper (afterwards Lady Palmerston) were not the children of their putative father, the Lord Melbourne of that day, but of Lord Egremont, who never married, but had numerous illegitimate offspring. William, Lord Melbourne, whose death is here recorded, was the husband of Lady Caroline, a daughter of the Earl of Bessborough, the authoress of 'Glenarvon,' celebrated for her passion for Lord Byron and her subsequent quarrel with him.]
[78] I read this to Lord Lansdowne, and he told me what had occurred about himself. When the Whigs came in, in '30, Lord Grey proposed to him to be First Lord of the Treasury, and offered to take the office of Privy Seal himself. Lord Lansdowne told him the Government must be his Government, that he should only be his First Lord, and that it was fitter and better he should take the post himself: besides that, for various reasons, he had no disposition for it, and he would rather take some other office. When Lord Grey retired, and the King sent for Melbourne, Melbourne spoke to Lord Lansdowne and said, 'I believe you do not wish to take Lord Grey's place, is not that the case?' Lord Lansdowne said it was so, and that he might make himself quite easy as far as he was concerned. He had no objection to remain where he was, but would not be at the head of the Government.
[79] [The passage occurs in the 'Annals of Tacitus,' book iii. ch. 30. Sallustius Crispus was a descendant of the sister of Caius Sallustius, the historian who allowed him to assume the name of Sallust. Horace addressed to him the second Ode of the second book of Odes.]