Note 79 — LORD BOLINGBROKE AT BATTERSEA.

Horace Walpole tells us that Sir Robert Walpole, against the earnest representations of his family and most intimate friends, had consented to the recall of Bolingbroke ("that intriguing Proteus") from banishment, excepting only his re-admission to the House of Lords. "Bolingbroke, at his return [1723], could not avoid waiting on Sir Robert to thank him, and was invited to dine with him at Chelsea; but whether tortured at witnessing Walpole's serene frankness and felicity, or suffocated with indignation and confusion at being forced to be obliged to one whom he hated and envied, the first morsel he put into his mouth was near choking him, and he was reduced to rise from table and leave the room for some minutes. I never heard of their meeting more."—Walpole's Reminiscences.