action might be, that you had not been drawn in to insure
it. I think that you are more obliged to what he thinks upon that
subject (for he said that he did not believe in fire) than to your
own prudence. I am in daily expectation of the arrival of these late
sufferers at Holl[an]d H(ouse). I wish them all arrived there, I
own, and that they may stay there, and that there may be no real
sufferers by the fire, which there would be if any workmen had begun
to rebuild the House. That would be a case of true compassion.

You desire me to tell you something of Hare and Storer,(99) &c.
Storer, the Bon ton, is still at Lord Craven's. I supped with the
Mauvais ton at Harry St. John's last night. I do not dislike him: he
does not seem to be at all deficient in understanding, and has
besides de la bonne plaisanterie. Hare is in town, and, if I was to
credit his own insinuations, upon the point of bringing his affair
to a conclusion. But I think that he prepares the world too much for
some change in his condition, for he drives about in an old chariot
of Foley's,(100) as I am told, with a servant of his own in livery;
and this occasions so much speculation, that his great secret diu
celari non potest. I would advise him to conclude as soon as he can
this business; sans cela la machine sera d'erangee; elle ne peut
aller jusques au printemps, cela est sur.

The Duke of Buccleugh has said nothing to us as yet about our
anniversary dinner, but I hope that so good a custom will not be
laid aside. If it is, Richard must take it up, as it is his
birthday, and so I shall tell him. I have myself, by all which I
have said upon the history and fate of that unfortunate Prince,
excused myself from giving any sort of fete at my own house; but I
do not carry my rigour so far, as not to accept one on that day at
the house of another person. Voila le point ou ma devotion se prete
un feu. Your letter to Lord Grantham shall be sent to the
Secretary's Office this evening, and some compliments from me at the
same time. I wish that he was here, that I might talk with [him] for
half an hour upon your subject.

(97) Sister of Henry Pelham, niece of Duke of Newcastle (1728-1804).
died at her estate at Esher, in Surrey, leaving a large fortune.

(98) Thomas Foley, second baron (1742-1793). He was noted for his
sporting proclivities; Fox was his racing partner, and the money
they lost, which included a hundred thousand pounds for Lord Foley,
and its re