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 eloquence—always carefully premeditated—gave him at once a commanding position. After the king's death, on 11 June 1727, he moved the address of condolence, congratulation, and thanks in reply to the speech of George II on his accession to the throne. He was confirmed in his post of lord of the bedchamber, and on 26 Feb. 1728 George II nominated him a privy councillor. But Walpole strongly deprecated the bestowal of any high office. The king insisted that something more must be done for him, and Walpole reluctantly offered him the English embassy at the Hague. It was accepted with alacrity. Chesterfield set out on 23 April 1728, and arrived on 5 May. His brother John went with him as secretary; and Richard Chenevix (1698-1779) (afterwards bishop of Waterford) was his chaplain. While attending to his official duties, and studying the constitution of the Dutch republic, he ingratiated himself with its ministers by magnificent hospitalities. At the same time he did not neglect his pleasures. 'He courted the good opinion of the Dutch people,' wrote Horace Walpole, 'by losing immense sums at play.' The intimacy he formed with a beautiful young lady named Mile, du Bouchet had a marked influence on his life. By her he became in 1732 the father of the son whose education and progress subsequently became his main interest. He kept Mrs. Howard regularly informed of his diversions, and he well maintained himself in the king's favour.

Early in 1730 Chesterfield opened negotiations for the marriage of William, prince of Orange, with Anne, princess royal of England, which reached a successful issue. At the end of May Boerhaave, the great physician of Leyden, attended him for a fever. He corresponded with Lord Townshend, who was involved in differences with Walpole, and canvassed the possibility of becoming Townshend's colleague as secretary of state. On 18 May 1730 he was elected a knight of the Garter, and on 18 June he came home to be installed at Windsor. Next day the staff of the lord steward of the household was given him. Walpole's magnanimity in waiving objections temporarily overcame Chesterfield's dislike. 'Lord Chesterfield,' says Lord Hervey, 'made the warmest professions to Sir Robert Walpole, acknowledging that his attachment this winter to Lord Townshend gave him no right to expect this favour, and saying, "I had lost the game, but you have taken my cards into your hand and recovered it."'The duties of the office were mainly honorary, and Chesterfield returned to The Hague, where George II visited him in August. In October Chesterfield was again in England on leave of absence. Early next year Chesterfield was busily occupied in delicate negotiations which were needed to preserve the peace of Europe. George II was willing to join Spain and Holland in guaranteeing the pragmatic sanction, if by so doing he could prevent the emperor from disturbing the balance of European ,power. The States delayed their adhesion, and taught Chesterfield a lesson, he says, in the Christian virtues of patience, forbearance, and long-suffering. But at length, on 16 March 1731, Chesterfield signed at The Hague, with the pensionary and Count Zinzendorf, the second treaty of Vienna (, Memoirs of Walpole, i. 346). Later in the year a persistant fever compelled him to apply for leave of absence. His ill-health rendered him reluctant to resume his post at The Hague, and on 26 Feb. 1732 he was formally relieved of it.

To parliament he now redirected his energies. His distrust and dislike of Walpole rapidly revived. But on 6 March 1733, in the debate on the mutiny bill, he warmly supported the government's proposal to maintain the standing army at the number of seventeen or eighteen thousand men. The unpopularity of Walpole's excise scheme, however, drew Chesterfield into the hue and cry against the minister. His three brothers voted against the bill in the House of Commons, and on 11 April Walpole, owing to the threatening decline of his majority, abandoned it before a second reading. Walpole's temper was roused. He held Chesterfield responsible for many defections in the lower house, and the king made no resistance to his proposal that Chesterfield should be dismissed from the office of lord steward. Doubtless the queen, who regarded Chesterfield with growing abhorrence as the confidant of the king's mistress, Lady Howard, silenced the king's scruples. On 13 April the dismissal was effected. Chesterfield's composure was seriously disturbed. In a letter (now lost) he protested to the king against the indignity. No reply was sent. Thenceforth Chesterfield absented himself from court, and his friendly relations with the king came to an end. Relieved of official responsibility, he vented his pique in anonymous contri- butions to the newspapers, and early in 1734 three amusing essays in 'Fog's Journal' entitled respectively 'An Army in Waxwork' (17 Jan.), 'An Essay upon Ears' (24 Jan.), and 'An Essay upon Eyes' (10 April), caused Walpole and his friends much discomfort.

On 5 Sept. 1733 Chesterfield gave further