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viii printed in connection with the events of 1761, to which it more properly belongs.

Besides the above chapter, Lord Shelburne, as already stated, left an incomplete Memorandum on the events of 1762, which will be found Volume I. Chapter III. To understand the events of that time, it is necessary to have a clear notion of the characters of Lord Bute and Mr. Henry Fox. Of these two characters Lord Shelburne has left a description. The former is contained in one of the editions of the Autobiography mentioned above. The character of the latter occupies a separate paper. I have printed both in connection with the events of 1762, at the same time warning the reader that when Lord Shelburne wrote them he was no doubt under the influence of subsequent transactions.

The other papers are in their proper position in the narrative of events.

The first edition of this book appeared in three volumes published separately in 1875 and 1876.

In the chapter of Autobiography, Lord Shelburne describes his object as being "to illustrate the new epoch which appeared with George III., and to state, in the first place, the new impulse which was imperceptibly given to things and to trifling incidents which afterwards originated the greater events." It is probable that he intended to write an account of his life, but did not live to complete it, and that most of these papers and memoranda are the disjecta membra of a larger undertaking.

The author of the obituary notice which appeared in the Gentleman's Magazine in 1805 states that Lord