Note 74 — Chapter III

The first was on a petition for setting aside Mr. W. Pitt’s election at Seaforth, where the Duke of Newcastle had appeared at the poll, contrary to the resolution of the House of Commons against Peers interfering in elections. It was printed in the London Magazine, and old Horace Walpole published a letter to him upon it. The other speech was on the famous bill for removing the Assizes from Aylesbury to Buckingham, on a contest between the Lord Chief Justice Willes and the Grenvilles. Potter talking upon his plan for suppressing Gin, told a near relation of Sir Robert Walpole, that he would imitate that Minister, and expose himself to all the unpopularity of the Excise Scheme. When Mr. Fox was told of this speech, he said it put him in mind of Sir Godfrey Kneller, who, when his gardener was cursing himself, said to him, “God d—n you! God d—ns Kings and Princes and great men; God no d—n such poor fellows as you.”