An unpedantic moral gay," etc.
He had been employed in diplomatic work by Lord Malmesbury at the Hague in 1784, and accompanied him for the same purpose to the Lille Conference in 1797. He was at this time travelling on the Continent with Lord and Lady Malmesbury. The lines on Pitt in Number ii. of the Rolliad are attributed to him—
"Pert without fire, without experience sage,
Young, with more art than Shelburne glean'd from age,
Too proud from pilfer'd greatness to descend,
Too humble not to call Dundas his friend,
In solemn dignity and sullen state,
This new Octavius rises to debate!" etc., etc.
[132] De la monarchie Prussienne sous Frédéric le Grand (1788, 4o); and Histoire Secrète de la Cour de Berlin, ou Correspondance d'un voyageur Français (1789, 8o). Both books were by Honoré Gabriel Riquetti, Comte de Mirabeau.
[133] His stepmother, Mrs. Gibbon.