Note 203 — Chapter X
Reading edition
This subtle, insinuating Italian had paid his Court to Lord Bute in the preceding reign, and obtained a great ascendancy over him. Though a man of quality, he had been a monk, and the world and the cloister had united to make him an accomplished statesman. He eventually rose to be first minister of Sardinia. His main fault was that he used too much finesse and precaution, and attached too great importance to trifles. Some amusing anecdotes of him are told in Memoirs of a Traveller now in Retirement, vol. ii. p. 63.—E.