terate animosity displayed against him,
fearing for the consequences to the monarchy, alarmed at the virulent
attacks of the _North Briton_, and suffering from ill-health, Bute resigned
office on the 8th of April. "Fifty pounds a year," he declared, "and bread
and water were luxury compared with what I suffer." He had, however, before
retiring achieved the objects for which he had been entrusted with power.

He still for a short time retained influence with the king, and intended to
employ George Grenville (whom he recommended as his successor) as his
agent; but the latter insisted on possessing the king's whole confidence,
and on the failure of Bute in August 1763 to procure his dismissal and to
substitute a ministry led by Pitt and the duke of Bedford, Grenville
demanded and obtained Bute's withdrawal from the court. He resigned
accordingly the office of privy purse, and took leave of George III. [v.04
p.0878] on the 28th of September. He still corresponded with the king, and
returned again to London next year, but in May 1765, after the duke of
Cumberland's failure to form an administration, Grenville exacted the
promise from the king, which appears to have been kept faithfully, that
Bute should have no share and should give no advice whatever in public
business, and obtained the dismissal of Bute's brother from his post of
lord privy seal in Scotland. Bute continued to visit the princess of Wales,
but on the king's arrival always retired by a back staircase.

The remainder of Bute's life has little public interest. He spoke against
the government on the American question in February 1766, and in March
against the repeal of the Stamp Act. In 1768 and 1774 he was again elected
a representative peer for Scotland, but took no further part in politics,
and in 1778 refused to have anything to do with the abortive attempt to
effect an alliance between himself and Chatham. He travelled in Italy,
complained of the malice of his opponents and of the ingratitude of the
king, and determined "to retire from the world before it retires from me."
He died on the 10th of March 1792 and was buried at Rothesay in Bute.

Though one of the worst of ministers, Bute was by no means the worst of men
or the despicable and detestable person represented by the popular
imagination. His abilities were inconsiderable, his character weak, and he
was qualified neither for the ordinary administration, of public business
nor for the higher sphere of