theatre at Verona, the church of St. Peter's at Rome, and Mr. Pitt in the House of Commons.

A brother of mine (1) is just arrived from our colonies of East and West Florida, and gives me but a very unfavourable account of the capabilities of those countries. He brought me likewise a curious account of a negro conqueror, who has subdued a great part of Africa lying near our settlements, and has occasioned the building of our new fort on that coast. He carries eight Arabic secretaries, who record his feats in that language. My brother has also conversed with Commodore Byron's officers, and confirms the accounts of the Patagonian giants. (2)

(1) This brother was the hon. Thomas Erskine, the future lord high chancellor of England. He was born in 1748, and at a very early age was allowed to enter the naval service as a midshipman. After a service of four years, he quitted the navy, and entered the army as an ensign. "On Monday, April 6, 1772," says Boswell, "I dined with Dr. Johnson at Sir Alexander Macdonald's, where was a young officer in the regimentals of the Scots Royal, who talked with a vivacity, fluency, and precision so uncommon, that he attracted particular notice. He proved to be the honourable Thomas Erskine, who has since risen into such brilliant reputation at the bar in Westminster-hall. He told us, that when he was in the island of Minorca, he not only read prayers, but preached two sermons to the regiment."

(2) Commodore Byron had just returned to England from his disastrous voyage round the world. His "Narrative of his Sufferings on the Coast of Patagonia" appeared in 1768. To his proverbial ill-luck his illustrious grandson alludes, in his beautiful Epistle to his Sister

"A strange doom is thy father's son's, and past
Recalling, as it lies beyond redress;

Revers'd for him our Grandsire's fate of yore -
He had no rest at sea, nor I on shore."

I was much delighted by the accounts of the Duke of Grafton's spirited apology in the House of Lords. It appears to me to have been such a testimony as I should have wished to have given in that assembly. I am, with the most sincere regard and respect,

Your most faithful and

obedient servant,

CARDROSS.

GENERAL BURGOYNE(') TO MR. PITT.

SIR,

Pay-office, Whitehall, June 27, 1766.

IN addressing myself to you, I am aware how commonly it is the error of a sanguine temper to

(1) In 1762, general Burgoyne acted as brigadier-general of the British forces sent out for the defence of Portugal against France and Spain. At this time, he was member for Midhurst, and in 1768 was chosen for Preston, which town he represented during five successive parliaments. In 1775, he was appointed to a command in America; and in 1777, distinguished himself by the capture of Ticonderoga, but was afterwards compelled to surrender to General Gates, at Saratoga. "Dreadful news indeed!" writes Gibbon to Mr. Holroyd, on the 4th of December, an English army of nearly ten thousand men laid down their arms, and surrendered prisoners of war. They had fought bravely, and were three days without eating: Burgoyne is said to have received three wounds." In 1779, he was dismissed the service, for refusing to return to America, pursuant to the terms of his convention, by which he did not consider himself bound in honour to abide; but in 1782, he was restored to his rank, appointed commander-in-chief in Ireland, and sworn of the privy-council. He married Lady Charlotte Stanley, daughter of Edward, eleventh Earl of Derby; and died at an advanced age, in 1792. Besides some pamphlets, in defence of his public conduct, he wrote several popular dramatic pieces.

overlook, in the eagerness of expectation, the pretensions upon which the expectation is founded; but, overpowered by my own zeal and confident in your candour, I presume to lay before you a design I am about to execute, and with a due sense of the honour I solicit, to make my very humble suit to you, for a mark of your favour.

I have long thought that the most desirable employment for a soldier, next to that of serving under great men with a participation of their councils, was to visit the scenes where extraordinary military talents have been exerted. Men of genius in their profession, like the poet or the orator, will catch the ideas and the style of the works they study, with this advantage which the closet cannot afford, that the presence of objects where signal transactions have passed sets every cir cumstance of them before the eyes, and leaves an indelible impression upon the mind. Those of an inferior cast, and who like me must fail of high attainments, have at least in such contemplation the consciousness of a good intention, and reap delight with an effort towards utility.

Upon this principle, Sir, I have obtained his Majesty's consent, to take a view of the theatre of the late war in Germany. In the course of my progress, I shall probably have an opportunity to

His comedy of" The Heiress," which appeared in 1786, obtained for him a flattering notice in the Baviad and Mæviad'—

"Burgoyne, perhaps, unchill'd by creeping age,
May yet arise, and vindicate the stage;
The reign of nature and of sense restore,
And be whatever Terence was before,"

pay my respects to Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick; and I am inexpressibly earnest in my ambition to carry an introduction to the first general of the age, from the statesman under whose auspices he conquered. In this part of the world, as in every other, the most honourable credential an Englishman, in my opinion, can carry about him is a testimony of being thought worthy of the countenance of the first citizen of his country, by whose councils she was retrieved, when sinking in debility and despondency, and rose to a state of strength and glory, by as rapid a progress as that whereby, since his withdrawing, her credit and her powers have declined. This sort of pride, Sir, has long been so near my heart, that I have seldom thought of my regiment being raised under your protection, without finding it imposing upon my understanding; and I have been very apt to consider a measure of government as a mark of personal patronage.

I could add, Sir, a long strain of professions, without deviating from sincerity. I might expatiate on the diffidence I have felt, almost amounting to self-reproach, when from the compulsion of my mind, I have differed from you in parliament; and on the pride with which, under another conviction, I should have faced the frowns or persecution of men in power to be enrolled among your friends. But my design was only so far to express the profound respect I bear you, as to make my request for your recommendation

to Prince Ferdinand pertinent; and if I have troubled you beyond those bounds, I intreat you, Sir, to impute what I have written to the overflow of my heart. I have the honour to be, Sir,

Your most obedient, and

most humble servant,

J. BURGOYNE.(')

PRINCE FERDINAND OF BRUNSWICK TO MR. PITT.

MONSIEUR,

'A Veihelde, ce 30 Juin, 1766.

Ce n'est pas parmi les moindres avantages que j'ai remporté durant ma vie publique, que je compte le suffrage dont vous m'avez honoré: maintenant particulier, je le désire avec le même empressement de Monsieur Pitt particulier. C'est ce qui ne me permet point de laisser ignorer à votre Excellence le parti qu'après bien de reflexions j'ai pris, de me retirer du service de sa Majesté Prussienne. (2)

Après vingt-six ans d'attachment personnel, (1) Prince Ferdinand, in a letter to Mr. Pitt, of the 3d of August says:“ J'ai été bien flatté de recevoir de M. le Général Burgoyne la lettre dont votre Excellence l'a chargé pour moi. Je connoissois M. Burgoyne par la belle réputation qu'il s'est acquis en Portugal; mon estime pour lui ne peut qu'augmenter par le suffrage que M. Pitt lui accorde, et je suis très charmé d'avoir cette occasion de le lui marquer personellement."

(2) The causes which induced the Prince to take this step will be found detailed in the following letter from Sir Andrew Mitchell to Mr. Conway, dated Berlin, 12th of July

"As I know the friendship and high value you have for Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, I take the liberty to acquaint you, in confidence, with some particulars which I learn, con