Government. The Cabinet Council was composed of the Duke of Newcastle, Mr. Pitt Secretary of State, Lord Keeper Henley, Lord Hardwicke, Lord Mansfield, Lord Granville, Lord Holdernesse, Lord Anson, and Lord Ligonier.[1] There were no party politicks and consequently no difference of opinion. I have heard Lord Chatham say they were the most agreeable conversations he ever experienced. The Duke of Newcastle, a very good-humoured man, was abundantly content with the whole patronage being left to him, in consequence of which he enjoyed full levees, promised and broke his word, cajoled and flattered all mankind, and, like the fly upon the chariot-wheel, imagined that he carried on the Government. Lord Keeper Henley was kept down by Lord Harwicke, whose great ambition was to see his son Charles Yorke Chancellor. He inspired his son with the same passion who, after his death, abandoned all his friends to accomplish it, and cut his throat the night he had accepted.[2] Lord Hardwicke again was kept in order by Lord Granville's wit, who took advantage of the meeting of the balance of all parties to pay off old scores, and to return all that he owed to the Pelhams and the Yorkes. He had a rooted aversion to Lord Hardwicke and to all his family, I don't precisely know for what reason; but he got the secret of cowing Lord Hardwicke, whose pretensions to classical learning gave Lord Granville, who really was a very fine classical scholar, a great opportunity. To this was added his knowledge of civil law, in which Lord Hardwicke was deficient, and above all his wit, but whatever way he got the key, he used it on all occasions unmercifully. In one of the shortlived administrations at the commencement of the war, Lord Granville, who had generally dined, turned round to say, 'I am thinking that all over Europe they are waiting our determination and canvassing our characters. The Duke of Newcastle, they'll say, is a man of great fortune, who has spent a great deal of it in support of the present family; Fox, they'll say, is an impudent fellow who has fought his way here through the House of Commons;
