(62) Sir William Musgrave.

Intermixed with the personal news which fills the next letter there
are allusions to some social and political incidents very
characteristic of the time. The Indian nabob, or millionaire as we
should now call him, had begun to desire a seat in Parliament for
his own purposes, just as the sinecurist did for his, and he was
able to outbid the home purchaser. The jealousy with which the Court
party regarded the encroachments of these returned Anglo-Indians in
their preserves is amusing, especially when we recollect that so
great was the venality of the age that a respectable corporation
such as that of Oxford did not hesitate to offer the representation
of their borough for sale for a fixed sum.

1768, January 26, Tuesday night, at Almack's.--I received last night
yours of the 9th of this month, for which I thank you most heartily.
It is really so much pleasure to me to have a letter from you, that
it makes me wish away five days out of seven, and at my age that is
too great an abatement. I intended to have called to-day upon Sir
W[illiam] Musgrave in consequence of it, but neither he [n]or Lady
Carlisle having received any letters (if they are come, he might not
have received them), that (sic) he prevented me, and called upon me
at three o'clock to know if I had had any account of you.

Mr. Ward did not set out the Sunday he intended, that is the 17th
inst., but he gave the letter which he was to carry to Sir J.
L[ambert] to Mr. Hobart,(63) who was to set out for Paris the day
after, that is, the 18th.

Lord Clive did not sail, as Sir W[illiam] M[usgrave] tells me, till
last Sunday, so the Ribband and Badge, &c., will not arrive at Paris
till next Saturday, or Sunday probably; but Sir J. L[ambert] will be
prepared to have sent these things, by a safe hand to you either at
Turin, or Nice. I shall write to him to-night again with a full
explanation of all, that no time may be lost.

I conclude you came to Turin last Saturday, according to the letter
which I received yesterday, unless Lady Carlisle's letter about the
epidemical disorder prevented you, which was wrote the 5th inst.,
upon seeing Monsieur Viri(64) at the Princess Dow[age]r's Drawing
Room. According to the usual course of the post you must then have
received that the 19th, the evening of your intended departure, and
whether it prevented you or not, is still for me a scavoir. I hope
it did, all things considered. But if you