APPENDIX to the CHRONICLE. 567 



tieman distinguished himself by a 

 song in favour of Sir Edward and 

 his friends, which so captivated 

 either the taste or the gratitude of 

 the baronet, that he introduced him 

 to the earl of Bute, then flourish- 

 ing in all the plenitude of power. 

 It is known but to few, perhaps, 

 that his lordship, who placed Mr. J. 

 at first in an inferior office, was not 

 at all captivated with him ; for it 

 was entirely owing to the repeated 

 solicitations of the member for Ox- 

 fordshire, that he extended his fur- 

 ther protection. After a longer 

 trial, he became the premier's pri- 

 vate secretary, and in some respect 

 a member of his family, participat- 

 ing in his friendship and favour, 

 and living with him in an unre- 

 strained and confidential inter- 

 course. Such a connexion as this 

 could not fail to prove advanta- 

 geous ; and, accordingly, in March, 

 1761, we find him appointed one 

 of the under secretaries of state, a 

 station which presupposes an inti- 

 mate acquaintance with the situa- 

 tion of foreign affairs, and a pretty 

 accurate knowledge in respect to 

 the arcana imperii in general. He 

 now became a declared adherent 

 of what was then called " the 

 Leicester-house party," by whose 

 influence he was returned to par- 

 liament at the general election 

 (in 1761) for the borough of 

 Cockermouth, on the recommen- 

 dation of the late earl of Lons- 

 dale, his patron's son-in-laiv. He, 

 however, did not remain long in 

 this station ; for he soon veceiv- 

 ed the lucrative appointment of 

 treasurer of the ordnance. This 

 • he relinquished in 1763, for the 

 more confidential office of joint se- 

 cretary of the treasury; a situation 

 for which he was admirably quali- 

 fied, by his knowledge of the state 



of parlies, and the niani;.'cment of 

 a House of Commons, of which he 

 liimseir had been some time a mem- 

 ber. To the Rockingham admi- 

 nistration, which succeeded ia 

 1765, he was both personally 

 and politically odious, and 'he 

 accordingly lost all his appoint- 

 ments; but in the course of the 

 same year, he had one conferred 

 on him by the king's mother, the 

 late princess dowager of Wales, 

 which no minister could bereave 

 him of; this was the auditorship 

 of her Royal Highness's accounts. 

 That circumstance, added to his 

 close intimacy with the discarded 

 minister, awakened the jealousy of 

 the patriots; and, if we are to 

 credit their suspicious, he be- 

 came, in the technical language of 

 that day, the " go-between'' to the 

 favourite, the princess-mother, and 

 the throne. When lord Bute re- 

 tired into the country in disgust, 

 promising to relinquish public af- 

 fairs, a great personage is said to 

 have construed it into an abandon- 

 ment, and to have looked out for 

 advice elsewhere ; from that mo- 

 ment Mr. Jenkinson was rauktd as 

 one of the leaders of tlie party cA\- 

 ed " the king's friends," ar.d Ins 

 majesty everafterdistingui.-hedhu-n 

 by a marked partiality. Honours 

 and employments now fell thick 

 upon him. In 1766, he was nomi- 

 nated a lord of the admiralty, and 

 in 1767, a lord of the treasury, in 

 which place he continued during 

 the Grenville and Grafton adminis- 

 tration. But under that of lord 

 North, we find him aspiring to 

 some of the higher offices of go- 

 vernment; for in 1772, he was ap- 

 pointed one of the vice-treasurers of 

 Ireland, on which occasion he was 

 introduced into the privy council. 

 In 1775, he purchased of Mr. Fox, 



the 



