[287] Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay.
"Windsor, November 24, 1794.
"Mr. Pitt cannot be surprised at my being very much hurt at the contents of his letter. Indeed, he seems to expect it, but I am certain that nothing but the thinking it his duty could have instigated him to give me so severe a blow. I am neither in a situation of mind, nor from inclination, inclined to enter more minutely into every part of his letter; but I am fully ready to answer the material part, namely, that though loving very much my son, and not forgetting how he saved the Republic of Holland in 1793, and that his endeavours to be of service have never abated, and that to the conduct of Austria, the faithlessness of Prussia, and the cowardice of the Dutch, every failure is easily accounted for, without laying blame on him who deserved a better fate, I shall not now think it safe for him to continue in the command on the Continent, where every one seems to conspire to render his situation hazardous, by either propagating unfounded complaints against him, or giving credit to them. No one will believe that I take this step but reluctantly, and the more so since no successor is proposed to take the command. Truly I do not see where any one is to be found that can deserve the name now the Duke of Brunswick has declined; and I am certain he will fully feel the propriety of the resolution he has taken when he finds that even a son of mine cannot withstand the torrent of abuse."—Stanhope: Life of Pitt.
[289] See the present writer's The First Gentleman of Europe, Vol. I, pp. 309-316.
[290] Charles Knight: Passages from a Working Life.
[291] Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay.
[292] Quoted in Fitzgerald: The Good Queen Charlotte.
[293] Southy: Authentic Memoirs of George III.
[294] Diary and Letters of Madame D'Arblay.
[295] Recollections and Reflections.