[300] Lord Edgcumbe had great weight in Devonshire and Cornwall.
[301] It was a wise intention in no light. Parties are the preservative of a free Government. The King and Lord Mansfield succeeded, though Lord Chatham did not, in breaking all parties; and what was the consequence? that everybody ran to Court, and voted for whatever the Court desired. Lord Chatham, who forfeited his popularity, and set all parties at defiance, sank into an individual of no importance.
[302] It did avail so much, that Grenville fabricated, during his opposition, the famous bill for trying elections by select Committees, likely to give a sore wound to the influence of the Crown, but which, hoping to return to power, he limited in its duration; but it has since been made permanent.
[303] The Duke of Grafton.
[304] Lord Chatham did not long preserve his power, and Lord Edgcumbe soon came into place again, having first revenged himself on the Earl in this humorous epigram:
Says Gouty[B] to Gawkee,[C] pray what do you mean?
Says Gawkee to Gouty, to mob King and Queen.
Says Gawkee to Gouty, pray what’s your intention?
Says Gouty to Gawkee, to double my pension.
[B] Lord Chatham.
[C] Lord Temple.
[305] By Mr. Richard Bentley, son of Dr. Bentley.
[306] According to Mr. Flood, there was little concert, and not much ability shown by the Government in this debate, except in the speech of Townshend, which was “very artful, conciliatory, able, and eloquent. He stated the matter quite anew, disclaiming the officious expressions used by Beckford.”—(Chatham Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 144, note.)—E.