[155] Charles Pratt was a younger son of Lord Chief Justice Pratt, and became afterwards Lord Chancellor and Baron Camden, as will appear in these memoirs. Pratt had been made Attorney-General by Pitt in 1757, and their connection was too close for the Government to feel easy at his continuing any longer in office.—E.
[156] He nevertheless made a favourable impression on the Duke of Newcastle, at their first interview; and at a later period we find him very handsomely mentioned by Lord Rochford. Some of his private letters in the Chatham Correspondence, as well as his public dispatches in the Parliamentary Papers, are those of an ambassador who understood his duty, and performed it. He laboured hard, in conjunction with his friend the Marquis of Grimaldi, to restore the old connection of his country with France; and one result of their success was, the appointment of Grimaldi to succeed Wall as First Minister of Spain. Fuentes, then, for some time, replaced Grimaldi at Paris; and subsequently returning to Spain, he employed all his influence, which was considerable, in supporting Grimaldi’s administration, until the latter imprudently allowed his son, the Prince of Pignatelli, to accompany the expedition to Algiers, under the Count O’Reily, in 1777, where the Prince perished; and Fuentes, who had refused his consent to his going, was so deeply offended, that he immediately joined the opposition to Grimaldi, and contributed essentially to his retirement from office. Coxe’s History of the Kings of Spain of the House of Bourbon, vol. v.—E.
[157] George William Hervey, Earl of Bristol, son of the famous John Lord Hervey, and grandson of John Earl of Bristol, whom he succeeded in the title. His dispatches prove him to have acted with great prudence as long as the disposition of the Spanish Court was doubtful and with great spirit afterwards. His connection with Mr. Pitt was in no degree of a servile character. It appears to have strengthened as that great minister was losing his ascendancy in the Cabinet, and it stood the test of his downfall. Lord Bristol died unmarried, in March 1775, aged 54.—E.
[158] Amelie Sophie de Walmoden, Countess of Yarmouth, mistress of George the Second.
[159] Philip Yorke, Earl of Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor in the preceding reign.
[160] William Murray, Lord Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice of the King’s Bench.
[161] John Carteret, Earl Granville, President of the Council, and formerly Prime Minister to George the Second.
[162] George Lord Anson, first Lord of the Admiralty.
[163] James Lord Tyrawley, formerly Ambassador at Lisbon, Governor of Port Mahon and Gibraltar, and Colonel of a regiment of Guards.
[164] George Keppel, third Earl of Albemarle, one of the Lords of the Bedchamber to William Duke of Cumberland.