at dares not quarrel with him; but some of the
Corps Diplomatique here assure me it is only a pretense to recall his
envoy, and to send, when matters shall be made up, a little secretary
there, 'a moins de fraix', as he does now to Paris and London.

Comte Bruhl is much in fashion here; I like him mightily; he has very
much 'le ton de la bonne campagnie'. Poor Schrader died last Saturday,
without the least pain or sickness. God bless you!

LETTER CCLXXV

LONDON, April 22, 1765

MY DEAR FRIEND: The day before yesterday I received your letter of the 3d
instant. I find that your important affair of the ceremonial is adjusted
at last, as I foresaw it would be. Such minutiae are often laid hold on
as a pretense, for powers who have a mind to quarrel; but are never
tenaciously insisted upon where there is neither interest nor inclination
to break. Comte Flemming, though a hot, is a wise man; and I was sure
would not break, both with England and Hanover, upon so trifling a point,
especially during a minority. 'A propos' of a minority; the King is to
come to the House to-morrow, to recommend a bill to settle a Regency, in
case of his demise while his successor is a minor. Upon the King's late
illness, which was no trifling one, the whole nation cried out aloud for
such a bill, for reasons which will readily occur to you, who know
situations, persons, and characters here. I do not know the particulars
of this intended bill; but I wish it may be copied exactly from that
which was passed in the late King's time, when the present King was a
minor. I am sure there cannot be a better.

You inquire about Monsieur de Guerchy's affair; and I will give you as
succinct an account as I can of so extraordinary and perplexed a
transaction: but without giving you my own opinion of it by the common
post. You know what passed at first between Mr. de Guerchy and Monsieur
d'Eon, in which both our Ministers and Monsieur de Guerchy, from utter
inexperience in business, puzzled themselves into disagreeable
difficulties. About three or four months ago, Monsieur du Vergy published
in a brochure, a parcel of letters, from himself to the Duc de Choiseul;
in which he positively asserts that Monsieur de Guerchy prevailed with
him (Vergy) to come over into England to assassinate d'Eon; the words
are, as well as I remember, 'que ce n'etoit pas pour se servir de sa
plume, mais de son epee, qu'on le demandoit en Angleterre'. This
accusation of assa