[28] The account given in the Princess Dashkau’s Memoirs of this transaction, presents strong internal evidence of the guilt of Mirowitz. The Princess otherwise would not have taken such pains to exculpate herself from the charge of having been his accomplice. He appears to have been virtually insane.—E.
[29] Translator of Horace and Demosthenes.
[30] Robert Henley, Earl of Northington.
[31] There was another reason given, and probably a more efficacious one. This was the number of suits commenced against the General Warrants, with which he did not care to meddle.
[32] The patent of precedence could not be over the Solicitor-General, whose official rank necessarily placed him next to the Attorney, and above all other members of the bar. The elevation of Mr. Yorke was of greater advantage to the senior barristers than to himself, for otherwise they could not have held briefs with him; though the Government cared, in those days, too little for the bar to have attached much weight to that consideration, unless they had desired to please Mr. Yorke.—E.
[33] Philip Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, the famous man of wit.
[34] Mr. Cumberland says elegantly of the Primate, “No man faced difficulties with greater courage, none overcame them with more address: he was formed to hold command over turbulent spirits in tempestuous seasons, for if he could not absolutely rule the passions of men, he could artfully rule men by the medium of their passions. He had great suavity of manners when points were to be carried by insinuation and finesse; but if authority was necessary to be enforced, none could hold it with a higher hand: he was an elegant scholar, a consummate politician, a very fine gentleman, and in every character seen to more advantage than in that, which, according to his sacred function, should have been his chief and only object to sustain.” Cumberland’s Mem. vol. i. p. 229.—E.
[35] Henry Boyle, a grandson of Roger, first Earl of Orrery. His hypocrisy could not be very deep, if the saying ascribed to him be true—“that he would not accept an honour whilst there was a shilling in the Treasury.” He has been described as “a warm, sincere friend, and undisguised enemy.” His peculiar sphere was the House of Commons, not as an orator, but as manager; and few country gentlemen, we are told, would continue a canvass in their respective counties without a certainty of Mr. Boyle’s support, if petitioned against.—Hardy’s Life of Lord Charlemont, vol. i. p. 88. He would have made an admirable Secretary of the Treasury in corrupt or turbulent times.—E.
[36] Sir George Yonge, Bart., was the only surviving son of Sir William Yonge, the eloquent and well-known supporter of Sir Robert Walpole. He was appointed Secretary at War in Lord Shelburne’s Administration, and subsequently became Master of the Mint. His last office was that of Governor of the Cape of Good Hope. He had many of his father’s parts as well as failings, being kind, persuasive, industrious, reckless, scheming, and dissipated. His last years were embittered by the failure of a speculation into which he had entered in the neighbourhood of Honiton, which borough he had long represented in Parliament. He died at an advanced age at the beginning of the present century, and, having no children, the baronetcy became extinct.—E.
[37] The Duke of Newcastle’s letter and Mr. Pitt’s reply are printed in the Chatham Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 293–8.—E.