Stanlake, Tuesday, Nov. 11th, 1788.
My dear Lord,
It was my intention to have left this place yesterday for
Baronhill, but the most natural and justifiable anxiety keeps me
here until Thursday or Friday. We have been at Windsor the last
three mornings, and sorry am I to tell you that poor Rex's state
seems worse than a thousand deaths; for unless God interposes by
some miracle, there is every appearance of his living with the
loss of his intellects. Yesterday the fever, which had raged the
day before, was abated; but the lucid intervals were few, and
lasted a very short time. I saw the General, who was exceedingly
guarded, as they all are who really love poor Rex; the real
state, however, of his melancholy condition seems now to have
transpired, and my letters from London are full of the greatest
consternation. The Queen sees nobody but Lady Constance, Lady
Charlotte Finch, Miss Burney, and her two sons, who, I am
afraid, do not announce the state of the King's health with that
caution and delicacy which should be observed to the wife and
the mother, and it is to them only that she looks up. I
understand her behaviour is very feeling, decent, and proper.
The Prince has taken the command at Windsor, in consequence of
which there is _no command whatsoever_; and it was not till
yesterday that orders were given to two grooms of the bedchamber
to wait for the future and receive the inquiries of the numbers
who inquire; nor would this have been done, if Pitt and Lord
Sydney had not come down in person to beg that such orders might
be given. Unless it was done yesterday, no orders have been
given for prayers in the churches, nor for the observance of
other forms, such as stopping the playhouses, &c., highly proper
at such a juncture. What the consequences of this heavy
misfortune will be to Government, you are more likely to know
than I am; but I cannot help thinking that the Prince will find
a greater difficulty in making a sweep of the present Ministry,
in his quality of Fiduciary Regent, than in that of King. The
Stocks are already fallen 2 per cent, and the alarms of the
people of London are very little flattering to the Prince. I am
told messenger after messenger has been sent for Fox, who is
touring with Mrs. Armstead on the continent; but I have not
heard whether the Prince has sent for him, or given any orders
to Fox's friends to that effect. The system of favouritism is
much changed since Lord Bute's and the Princess-Dowager's time,
for Jack Payne, Master Leigh, an Eton schoolboy, and Master
Barry, brother to Lord Barrymore, and Mrs. Fitz, form the
Cabinet at Carlton House.
I am, my dear Lord,
Sincerely yours,
B.