she has been at the Opera, the
Beggar's Opera and the Rehearsal, and two nights ago carried the King to
Ranelagh.

Some of the peeresses were so fond of their robes, that they graciously
exhibited themselves for a whole day before to all the company their
servants could invite to see them. A maid from Richmond begged leave to
stay in town because the Duchess of Montrose was only to be seen from
two to four. The Heralds were so ignorant of their business, that,
though pensioned for nothing but to register lords and ladies, and what
belongs to them, they advertised in the newspaper for the Christian
names and places of abode of the peeresses. The King complained of such
omissions and of the want of precedent; Lord Effingham, the Earl
Marshal, told him, it was true there had been great neglect in that
office, but he had now taken such care of registering directions, that
_next coronation_ would be conducted with the greatest order imaginable.
The King was so diverted with this _flattering_ speech that he made the
earl repeat it several times.

On this occasion one saw to how high-water-mark extravagance is risen in
England. At the Coronation of George II. my mother gave forty guineas
for a dining-room, scaffold, and bedchamber. An exactly parallel
apartment, only with rather a worse view, was this time set at three
hundred and fifty guineas--a tolerable rise in thirty-three years! The
platform from St. Margaret's Roundhouse to the church-door, which
formerly let for forty pounds, went this time for two thousand four
hundred pounds. Still more was given for the inside of the Abbey. The
prebends would like a Coronation every year. The King paid nine thousand
pounds for the hire of jewels; indeed, last time, it cost my father
fourteen hundred to bejewel my Lady Orford.

_A COURT BALL--PAMPHLETS ON MR. PITT--A SONG BY GRAY._

TO THE COUNTESS OF AILESBURY.

ARLINGTON STREET, _Nov._ 28, 1761.

Dear Madam,--You are so bad and so good, that I don't know how to treat
you. You give me every mark of kindness but letting me hear from you.
You send me charming drawings the moment I trouble you with a
commission, and you give Lady Cecilia [Johnston] commissions for trifles
of my writing, in the most obliging manner. I have taken the latter off
her hands. The Fugitive Pieces, and the "Catalogue of Royal and Noble
Authors" shall be conveyed to you directly. Lady Cecilia and I agree how
we lament the charming suppers there, every