_Sir Francis Molyneux._ Sir Francis Molyneux (d. 1812), Knt.; succeeded
his father as seventh Baronet, 1781.
_the Speaker._ Sir Fletcher Norton (1716-1789), Knt.; M.P. for Guildford;
Speaker of the House of Commons, 1770-80; cr. Baron Grantley of
Markenfield, 1782.
_the merit of those speeches._ Since the speech from the throne rarely
contains more than generalities, Tickell was able to approximate its
substance fairly closely. In the debate on the opening day John Wilkes
had the temerity to say that there were only two particulars in the
King’s speech to which he could assent: “They are, that we are called
together in a conjuncture, which demands our most serious attention, and
that a restoration of the blessings of peace ought to be our first wish”
(_Parliamentary History_, XIX, 1334).
_the new Attorney General._ Alexander Wedderburn (1733-1805), M.P. for
Bishop’s Castle; succeeded Edward Thurlow as Attorney-General, June
1778; elevated to the Chief Justiceship of the Common Pleas as Baron
Loughborough of Loughborough, 1780; cr. Earl of Rosslyn, 1801. In the
spring of 1778 Sir Fletcher Norton, by a threat of impeachment, had
blocked Wedderburn’s intrigue to obtain the Chief Justiceship; see
Walpole to Mason, 31 May 1778 (_Letters_, ed. Toynbee, X, 254).