it is a friend.

Gerard Hamilton is among the rats, which is no small amusement to
me, who have frequently been abused by Pitt for my bad opinion of
him, at the time that he was swallowing toads _a toute outrance_.
There are one or two more individual members in the House of
Commons, but nobody of any consequence but the Duke of Queensbury,
which, though everybody expected it, is nevertheless a thing that
raises my indignation in no small degree.

The popular opinion shows itself every day more and more, and I
have no doubt you will hear of addresses, &c. Fox's declaration of
the Prince of Wales's right has been of no small service to us. Is
it not wonderful that such great talents should be conducted with
so little judgment?

Our mode of proceeding will now be to communicate these
resolutions to the Lords; and when they have concurred in them,
then to bring forward the plan; and lastly, to authorize the Lord
Chancellor to put the Great Seal to a commission to His Royal
Highness, to empower him to open the Parliament, and afterwards to
another (at least, _I_ think they should be separate), authorizing
him to give the royal assent to the Bill appointing him Regent.

You will easily see, that all this will be no very short
proceeding. In the meantime, the prospect of the King's recovery is
daily growing more favourable. Willis and Addington have both said,
_separately_, that his emotion at seeing the Queen for the first
time, and his subsequent agitation, instead of being discouraging,
were symptoms highly favourable. He is now quite calm; and at three
o'clock yesterday, the account which came from Willis was, that he
was better than at any time since his illness.

It will be ridiculous if he should recover just in time to give the
royal _dissent_ to the Regency Bill--which is not impossible. The
more probable supposition is, that they will just have time to
parcel out the spoils, to dismiss us, and to hold their offices
about a month; and so will end (if this should happen) the third
reign of King Charles III.

So little was said about Ireland, that it would have been an
affectation in me to have talked about it; besides this, I had no
opportunity of speaking that pleased me.

Ever most affectionately yours,
W. W. G.