k in the King's health appears in June,
soon after the birthday. "The King," writes Mr. Grenville, "has been a
good deal out of order, but is recovered." The heavy calamity impending
over the country, the seeds of which were already sown, was little
suspected at that moment.

The meditated arrangements in the Administration came to nothing.
Personal obstacles first interrupted, and finally frustrated them
altogether. As usual, whenever a difficulty sprang up, Thurlow was found
the most impracticable man in the Cabinet.

MR. W. W. GRENVILLE TO THE MARQUIS OF BUCKINGHAM.

Whitehall, June 23rd, 1788.

My dear Brother,

I mentioned to you in my other letter of this date, that it
appeared to me most probable that the arrangement by which I was
to succeed to Lord Sydney's office will not take place till some
new opening is made. The fact is, that the plan, as it was
originally formed, depended on Lord Mulgrave's taking Sir
Charles Middleton's office, and thereby opening the whole
Pay-Office for Lord Sydney. But this has been found
impracticable, both from the difficulty of placing Sir C.
Middleton at the Admiralty, and from the great improbability
that Mulgrave could be induced in his present frame of mind to
undertake the Comptrollership. It has, therefore, been
determined that Lord Chatham should take the Admiralty for the
present, with no other alteration in the Board except
substituting Lord Hood instead of Brett. Leveson Gower and
Middleton are on such bad terms, that it would have been
impossible for them to have acted at the same Board; and
considering Gower's conduct, his professional character, and his
connections, it seemed equally impossible to drive him from it.

This being the case, there will no longer be any opening by
which Lord Sydney could have an adequate provision made for him
in case of his retiring. You know that I was never desirous, nor
indeed should I choose, to press his being removed to make room
for me unless it could be done in a manner perfectly
satisfactory to himself, or at least satisfactory to Pitt's
mind; and, even as things now stand, it seems impossible but
that some such occasion must soon occur. Any vacancy of a
sinecure office in England would immediately hold out a retreat
for him; any such vacancy in Scotland might be given to Dundas,
who would the