He was
very angry, but I persisted; I mentioned the uniform support of our three
votes in, the house, touched modestly on services abroad, though valuable
only in his Royal Highness's having been pleased kindly to accept them,
and founded pretty strongly on his own expressions of friendship and
good-will. He was embarrassed, but obstinate. I hinted the policy of
detaching, on all future occasions, the heir of such a fortune as your
uncle's from the machinations of the disaffected. But I made no
impression. I mentioned the obligations which I lay under to Sir Everard
and to you personally, and claimed, as the sole reward of my services,
that he would be pleased to afford me the means of evincing my gratitude.
I perceived that he still meditated a refusal, and, taking my commission
from my pocket, I said (as a last resource) that, as his Royal Highness
did not, under these pressing circumstances, think me worthy of a favour
which he had not scrupled to grant to other gentlemen whose services I
could hardly judge more important than my own, I must beg leave to
deposit, with all humility, my commission in his Royal Highness's hands,
and to retire from the service.
Pages:
821
822
823
824
825
826
827
828
829
830
831
832
833
834
835
836
837
838
839
840
841
842
843
844
845