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upon the account (as he was pleased to say) of my diligent and able services; I think you will be glad to hear that I am very high in his majesty's favour. I am going to a very difficult court, but as it is the last legation that I will undertake, unless I am made ambassador, so I intend to exert my utmost endeavours to answer those ideas which the king has conceived of me. If ever I should go to Holland, or any other court in the quality of an ambassador, you would if you liked it, most certainly be my chaplain, which would not be the least agreeable part to me of my embassy. Mr. Legge the late English minister at Berlin, had a chaplain allowed him by the government with a salary of one hundred pounds a year, if that could be obtained for you should you like it?

I beg my hearty service to every body at Newland, whose name is Probyn, and tell my friend Will, that there is a very good stock of old bucks in the park at Coldbrook, which I hope will tempt him to come and see a person that

loves and esteems him. I should be glad, if you could prevail upon Kit Bond to be of the Coldbrook party, tell him it is the Temple of Idleness, and that he never shall be desired to do one thing that he does not like, during the whole time he is there, my best services attend Mrs. Birt.

I am most sincerely,

And affectionately yours,

C. HANBURY WILLIAMS.

P. S. After having talked of venison, it would be barbarous not to send a warrant to a Forester.

TO THE SAME.

MY DEAR FRIEND;

Dresden, 20th April, 1755.

You are acquainted by this time with the great honours which the king has been pleased to confer upon Lord Essex and myself. We both owe them to the king and to the king alone. I was not surprized so much at his preferment, as at my own. Ambassador is the highest pitch one can arrive at in foreign affairs; and it has yet never failed of carrying those who have borne that title, to something great at home. All this will please you, because it pleases me. My embassy will not be a long one; and then I shall return to my country, my children and my friends.

Tum noctes cœnæque Deum.

I shall eat mutton at Coldbrook, and drink cyder at Newland.

My brother Hanbury has thought fit, at last, to be reconciled to his nieces, with whom he

had never any quarrel. I am not yet restored to his good graces; but continue to labour, or rather to caper, under the weight of his displeasure. I love Mrs. Hanbury with the greatest esteem, joined to my affection. Lady Essex loves her as well as I do : you cannot imagine how happy the Monmouth turnpike makes me. I hope some of the substantial people in the neighbourhood will take care of the work, that will enable me to fly between Newland and Coldbrook.

The hurry I am in is not to be expressed; and the expense I must go through incredible. Think of me, my dear friend, in a state coach, with pages, &c. I hate form and ceremony, and am plunged into such a degree of them both, that I must measure every step I take. Placing myself on the wrong side of a person, is a great crime; and going half a yard too far to meet him is almost high treason. But you will be surprized when I tell you, that I understand all these things, and have studied them.

I suppose you know that Lord and Lady Essex have resolved to come into Monmouthshire this summer; and I am pleased to find that Fanny still retains a great affection for that part of the world. She seems quite happy about her journey, and will fly about in her post chaise, for her lord will go upon the hills, as he is very fond of shooting. I must now tell you a story Superstition and Ignorance go together, and Cruelty generally follows them. Poland is still as dark as England was four hun

dred years ago. The people there have a notion, that a Jew's child will never see, unless his eyes are rubbed with Christian blood. I inquired upon what foundation such a belief had been introduced; and was told by a bishop, that about two hundred years ago, a ship that belonged to some Jews, freighted with wine, was stranded upon the coast of Crim Tartary, and the Tartars plundered it. In one of the hogsheads was found a small runlet filled with blood, which these Jews confessed to be Chris

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