responsibilities of office had so little effect; he would put off a
cabinet meeting for a race meeting, and even in the presence of the king
and queen appeared at the opera by the side of his mistress, Nancy
Dawson, afterwards Lady Maynard.

[Sidenote: _ACCESSIONS TO THE MINISTRY._]

Yet, uncongenial as official work was to him, Grafton was unwilling to
desert the king and disappoint Chatham. He fully intended to carry out
Chatham's policy. He failed to do so, for he allowed himself to be
swayed by the king; and he let things slide in a wrong direction,
because he would not take the trouble to make any strenuous effort to
check their course. In Chatham's absence the king gradually gained
complete control of the ministry, and on every important question the
ministers followed a line wholly contrary to that which Chatham would
have adopted. Townshend died in September and North became chancellor of
the exchequer. North was an able financier, personally popular, and a
successful leader of the house of commons. He was a strong tory and was
prepared to uphold the king's policy whether he approved it or not. At
the end of the year an agreement was made with the Bedford party. The
duke, whose sight was failing and who was mourning the loss of his only
surviving son, would not himself take office, but bade his followers do
as they pleased. Lord Gower became president of the council in place of
Northington; Conway resigned the seals of secretary, though he remained
in the cabinet, and Lord Weymouth was made secretary of state for the
northern department. Lord Hillsborough was appointed as a third
secretary of state for the colonies which, in consequence of the
increase of colonial business, were removed from Shelburne's department,
and other members of the "Bloomsbury gang" received minor offices. These
changes were held to amount to the formation of a fresh administration.
George did not at first like the junction with the Bedfords, which
seemed contrary to his policy of destroying connexions, but the new
ministers were so ready to carry out all his wishes that he was soon
delighted with them.

The ministry showed its bias by its action with reference to a dispute
between the two chief magnates in Cumberland and Westmorland, the Duke
of Portland, a prominent member of the Rockingham party, and Sir James
Lowther, Bute's son-in-law, who commanded nine seats in the house of
commons. The duke's estate in the north came to him b