' Mr. Seward records (_Anec_. ii.
395):--'Mr. Cummins, the celebrated American Quaker, said of Mr. Pitt
(Lord Chatham):--"The first time I come to Mr. Pitt upon any business I
find him extremely ignorant; the second time I come to him, I find him
completely informed upon it."'
[306] See _ante_, i. 232.
[307] See _ante_, i. 46.
[308] 'From the windows the eye wanders over the sea that separates
Scotland from Norway, and when the winds beat with violence, must enjoy
all the terrifick grandeur of the tempestuous ocean. I would not for any
amusement wish for a storm; but as storms, whether wished or not, will
sometimes happen, I may say, without violation of humanity, that I
should willingly look out upon them from Slanes Castle.' Johnson's
_Works_, ix. 15.
[309] See _ante_, p. 68.
[310] Horace. _Odes_, i. 2.
[311] See _ante_, ii. 428.
[312] Perhaps the poverty of their host led to this talk. Sir Walter
Scott wrote in 1814:--'Imprudence, or ill-fortune as fatal as the sands
of Belhelvie [shifting sands that had swallowed up a whole parish], has
swallowed up the estate of Errol, excepting this dreary mansion-house
and a farm or two adjoining.' Lockhart's _Scott_, ed. 1839, iv. 187.
[313] See _ante_, ii. 421, note 1.
[314] Since the accession of George I. only one parliament had had so
few as five sessions, and it was dissolved before its time by his death.
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