Page:Life of William Shelburne (vol 2).djvu/94

72 "I am here for the first time leading the life I ought to do for the sake of my health, fortune, and character, and happier than ever, and certainly will follow your advice, till I have most explicit reasons for re-embarking.

"You are such a bad visitor, that I know you to be capable of forgetting to call on the Duke of Grafton, and I know his temper enough, to be sure he will imagine some reason for it if you do forget.

"I would be vastly glad to see Dunning take up the matter of elections. I wish to God, it occurred to him, to sow seed as long as we cannot reap fruit. I have a strong prepossession, that regulations might be fallen upon, relative to the expense of county elections, the poll, &c., and the Shoreham Act reduced to a principle, which might in time and gradually correct the administration. But I mention this loosely and only to you, not to Dunning, for to propose anything of a measure, would be vain and ridiculous in our present state.

"Is it not almost incredible that the head of the Whigs, as he styles himself, should not be moved by resentment, rivalship, the call of his country, the conduct of his friends, particularly Sir George Savile, to be a whit more decisive than when he set out, and still there he stands obstinately stopping the free course of popular spirit, which alone can ever oppose the Court." Amid recriminations such as these, did the eventful year 1780 draw to a close.