I have delayed answering your kind enquiry about my seat in
Parliament, till I should be able to say something satisfactory and
positive. Had Mr. Eliot been explicit some months since, another
arrangement would have been made without difficulty. His silence has
occasioned some delay, but I have the strongest reason to believe
that I shall be again in the House of Commons before Christmas. I
expect the event with the most tranquil indifference: I am heartily
tired of the place, and if such indulgence were compatible with my
situation and prospects I should be glad to find myself released
from such troublesome attendance. Your anxiety lest any coldness
should arise between Mr. E. and me will, I hope, prove groundless. I
have nothing to reproach myself, I do not reproach him, and from the
letters which have passed between us, I should imagine that we shall
meet next winter on proper terms of friendship and civility. You see
by the Gazette that Langlois[469] is dismissed; and he himself has
not received any other information from Cornwall. You may easily
suppose that in my present state of suspence and attendance, it is
not in my power to leave town: but I am almost offended that you are
not angry! I think I may venture to promise not you but myself, that
no considerations human or divine shall prevent me from eating my
Christmas dinner at the Belvedere.
I am, Dear Madam,
Most truly yours,
E. GIBBON.
We need not trouble Sir Stanier; three shillings (no very
considerable sum) pay twelve letters. The economy of the age on the
subject of Franks and postage has always amazed me.
[469] Benjamin Langlois, M.P. for St. Germains in the last
Parliament, made room for Mr. Dudley Long. He was made keeper of
his Majesty's stores, ordnance, and ammunition of war in June,
1778, and was appointed a Commissioner for Trade and Plantations
_vice_ Soame Jenyns.
407.
_To Mrs. Holroyd
(announcing that Colonel Holroyd was created Lord Sheffield[470])._
Bentinck Street, Nov. 27th, 1780.
Mr. Gibbon presents his respectful compliments to Lady Sheffield and
hopes her Ladyship is in perfect health, as well as the Honble. Miss
Holroyd, and the Honble. Miss Louisa Holroyd. Mr. Gibbon has not had
the honour of hearing from Lord Sheffield, since his Lordship reached
Coventry, but supposes that the election begins this day.
Be honest? How does this read? Do you not feel some titillations of
vanity? Yet I will do you the justice to believe that they are as
faint as can find place in a female (you will retort, or a male)
heart, on such an auspicious event. When it is revealed to the
Honble. Miss, I should recommend the loss of some ounces of noble
blood. You may expect, every post, a formal notification, which I
shall instantly dispatch. The birds, as well as I now recollect their
taste, were excellent. I hope the _Voyages_ still amuse. I had almost
forgot to say that my seat in parliament is deferred. Stronger and
more impatient rivals have stepped before me, and I can wait with
chearful resignation till another opportunity. I wish the Baron's
situation (and temper) were as placid as mine. No news--we are very
dull. Adieu--I shall go to Bath, about the 15th of next month--But
silence.
[470] The _Gazette_ for December, 1780, announces that the grant
of the dignity of a baron of the kingdom of Ireland was conferred
on John Baker Holroyd, Esq.--Baron Sheffield, of Dunamore, in the
county of Meath. "I had a long conversation," writes Miss Burney
in 1781, "with the new Lord Sheffield. He gave me a long account
of his Coventry affairs, and of the commitment of the sheriffs to
Newgate. He is a spirited and agreeable man, and, I doubt not,
will make himself conspicuous in the right way."
[Sidenote: THE COVENTRY ELECTION.]
408.
_To Colonel Holroyd._
Brookes's, November 28th, 1780.
*Perhaps the sheriffs, the tools of your enemies, may venture to
make a false and hostile return, on the presumption that they shall
have a whole year of impunity, and that the merits of your petition
cannot be heard this session.[471] Some of your most respectable
friends in the house of Commons are resolved, (if the return should
be unfavourable) to state it forcibly as a special and extraordinary
case; and to exert all proper strength for bringing on the tryal
of your petition without delay. The knowledge of such a resolution
may awe the sheriffs; and it may be prudent to admonish them of the
_impending_ danger, in the way that you judge most advisable. Adieu.
God send you a good deliverance.*
[471] At the general election in September, 1780, Colonel
Holroyd's re-election for Coventry was prevented by no return
being made. After a hearing before the House, the sheriffs of
Coventry were committed to Newgate, and a new election ordered.
The poll began towards the end of November, and remained open
for thirty days. At the close, though a large majority voted for
Colonel Holroyd and Mr. Yeo, Sir Thomas Hallifax and Mr. Thomas
Rogers were declared duly elected. The unsuccessful candidates
petitioned against the return. The first day on which a committee
could be balloted for was June 26, 1781. But on the motion of
Lord Beauchamp (January 23) the petition of Lord Sheffield and
Mr. Yeo was referred to a committee for February 15. The return
was amended by an order of the House, dated February 27, 1781, by
substituting for Hallifax and Rogers the names of Colonel Holroyd
(who in the interval had been created Lord Sheffield) and Mr.
Edward Roe Yeo.
409.
_To his Stepmother._
December the 7th, 1780.