mouth's motives, suspect a secret intelligence with
Lord Chatham. Oh! let us have peace abroad before we quarrel any more at
home!

Judge Bathurst is to be Lord Keeper, with many other arrangements in the
law; but as you neither know the persons, nor I care about them, I shall
not fill my paper with the catalogue, but reserve the rest of my letter
for Tuesday, when I shall be in town. No Englishman, you know, will
sacrifice his Saturday and Sunday. I have so little to do with all these
matters, that I came hither this morning, and left this new chaos to
arrange itself as it pleases. It certainly is an era, and may be an
extensive one; not very honourable to old King Capet,[1] whatever it may
be to the intrigues of his new Ministers. The Jesuits will not be
without hopes. They have a friend that made mischief _ante Helenam_.

[Footnote 1: Louis XV.--WALPOLE.]

_Jan._ 1, 1771.

I hope the new year will end as quietly as it begins, for I have not a
syllable to tell you. No letters are come from France since Friday
morning, and this is Tuesday noon. As we had full time to reason--in the
dark, the general persuasion is, that the French Revolution will produce
peace--I mean in Europe--not amongst themselves. Probably I have been
sending you little but what you will have heard long before you receive
my letter; but no matter; if we did not chat about our neighbour Kings,
I don't know how we should keep up our correspondence, for we are better
acquainted with King Louis, King Carlos, and Empresses Katharine and
Teresa, than you with the English that I live amongst, or I with your
Florentines. Adieu!

_PEACE WITH SPAIN--BANISHMENT OF THE FRENCH PARLIAMENT--MRS. CORNELYS'S
ESTABLISHMENT--THE QUEEN OF DENMARK._

TO SIR HORACE MANN.

ARLINGTON STREET, _Feb._ 22, 1771.

Two days ago there began to be an alarm at the delay of the Spanish
courier, and people were persuaded that the King of Spain had refused to
ratify his ambassador's declaration; who, on the warrant of the French
King, had ventured to sign it, though expecting every hour to be
recalled, as he actually was two days afterwards. However, the night
before last, to the great comfort of Prince Masserano and our Ministers,
the ratification arrived; and, after so many delays and untoward
accidents, Fortune has interposed (for there has been great luck, too,
in the affair), and peace is again established. With you, I am not at
all clear that Choiseul was in earnest