 was his affair to fulfil his engagements of his own accord. M- being tired of
the manner of living at this place, made an excursion to Bath, where he staid
about a fortnight, to partake of the diversions; and, upon his return, found his
lordship making dispositions for another journey to Paris.
    Surprised at this sudden resolution, he endeavoured to dissuade him from it;
but his remonstrances were rendered ineffectual by the insinuations of a
foreigner, who had come over with him, and filled his imagination with
extravagant notions of pleasure, infinitely superior to any which he could enjoy
while he was in the trammels, and under the restraints of a governor. He,
therefore, turned a deaf ear to all M-'s arguments, and intreated him to
accompany him in the journey: but this gentleman, foreseeing that a young man,
like my lord, of strong passions, and easy to be misled, would, in all
probability, squander away great sums of money, in a way that would neither do
credit to himself, or to those who were concerned with him, resisted all his
solicitations, on pretence of having business of consequence at London; and
afterwards had reason to be extremely well pleased with his own conduct in this
particular.
    Before he set out on this expedition, M-, in justice to himself, reminded
him of the proposal which he had made to him at Marseilles, desiring to know if
he had altered his design in that particular; in which case, he would turn his
thoughts some other way; as he would not in the least be thought to intrude or
pin himself upon any man. My lord protested, in the most solemn manner, that he
still continued in his former resolution; and again beseeching him to bear him
company into France, promised that every thing should be settled to his
satisfaction, upon their return to England. M-, however, still persisted in his
refusal, for the abovementioned reasons: and tho' he never heard more of the
annuity, he nevertheless continued to serve his lordship with his advice and
good offices ever after; particularly in directing his choice to an alliance
with a lady of eminent virtue, the daughter of a noble lord, more conspicuous
for his shining parts than the splendor of his titles, (a circumstance upon
which he always reflected with particular satisfaction, as well on account of
the extraordinary merit of the lady, as because it vested in her children a
considerable part of that great estate, which, of right, belonged to her
grandmother) and afterwards put him in a way to retrieve
