The colonel[1] and his friends give the game for lost on their side; and I believe by next week we shall see lord Bolingbroke at the head of affairs. The bishop of Rochester is to be lord privy seal. They talk of several other alterations, as that my lord Trevor is to be president of the council; lord Abingdon, chamberlain: lord Anglesey, lord lieutenant of Ireland; that Mr. Bromley[2] is to go out, and a great many more in lesser employments. I fancy these reports are spread to draw in as many as they can to oppose the new scheme. I can hardly think any body will be turned out of the cabinet, except the treasurer and the privy seal[3]. Perhaps my lord Poulet[4] may lay down. Certainly the secretary may continue in, if he pleases, and I do not hear that he is disposed to resign, or that he is so attached to any minister, as to enter into their resentments. What has John of Bucks[5] done? and yet the report is very strong, that he is to be succeeded by my lord Trevor[6]. The duke of Shrewsbury was one out of eight or nine lords, that stood by my lord Bolingbroke yesterday, in the debate about the Spanish treaty, and spoke with a good deal of spirit. Is it likely he is to be turned out of all? The lords
- ↑ Lord Oxford.
- ↑ Secretary for the northern provinces.
- ↑ Lord Dartmouth.
- ↑ Lord steward.
- ↑ John Sheffield, duke of Buckinghamshire.
- ↑ Lord chief justice of the common pleas.
for the beauty of the passage, are not to be found in the copy printed in the dean's works; nor is it easy to determine where they originally stood." The tract, however, alluded to by Mr. Ford, we may venture to assert, was not the 'Free Thoughts;' but much more probably some pamphlet that was then actually published. N.
