[202] A tax had been proposed in the Irish Parliament of two
shillings in the pound on the estates of absentee landlords. The
motion was lost by 122 to 102.
[203] Mrs. Holroyd, through her sister-in-law, Miss Holroyd, who
lived at Bath, had apparently hinted to Mrs. Gibbon at a possible
attachment between Edward Gibbon and Miss Fuller, niece to Mr.
Rose Fuller, of Rosehill, Sussex, M.P. for Rye.
[Sidenote: UNFOUNDED RUMORS OF HIS ENGAGEMENT.]
180.
_To his Stepmother._
Bentinck Street, December 7th, 1773.