William Godwin: his Friends and Contemporaries
Ch. II. 1785-1788
Thomas Holcroft to William Godwin, 4 August 1788
“London, August 4th, 1788.
“As I know, Dear Sir, you interest yourself in the
present desperate (I had almost said despicable) contest, I take it for ![]()
| THE WESTMINSTER ELECTION. | 53 |
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granted you will be glad to
hear that your favourite, Lord John
Townshend, is elected. I have sent to know the exact state of
the poll, but it was impossible to obtain it with certainty. I hear the balance
is 823 in favour of Lord John. The universal cry of the
Hood party at present is bad votes and
Parliamentary scrutiny. I imagine this scene is soon again to be renewed, i.e., at the General Election. The Hoodites publish such
long lists of bad votes, and exclaim so loudly, that the vulgar opinion is that
the present election will be declared void, which, however, I think improbable.
I imagine you received the strange olio I wrote before in the form of a letter.
Affairs took another turn, I believe the very day after I wrote. The cry of the
mob has uniformly gone with the majority, but this is no newly discovered
principle in man. Though my letter required no answer, I begin to fear lest,
wanting a more accurate direction, you have not received it; pray be so much of
an Irishman as to write an answer to this, whether you receive it or no. I
intend to ride down and pay you a visit, if I can, in the course of next week;
but I do not suppose it will be more than the visit of a day.—I am, dear Sir,
very sincerely yours,
T. Holcroft.”
“Mr Godwin,
at
Mr ——, Upholsterer,
Guildford, Surrey.”
Samuel Hood, first viscount Hood (1724-1816)
British naval officer and peer; after serving in the American war he was a lord of the
Admiralty (1788-93); as commander in the Mediterranean he captured Corsica in 1794. In 1804
he married the Hon. Mary Elizabeth Frederica Mackenzie, friend of Walter Scott.
Lord John Townshend (1757-1833)
The son of George Townshend, first Marquess Townshend; he was educated at Eton and St
John's College, Cambridge and was a Whig MP for Cambridge, Westminster, and Knaresborough.
He was a denizen of Holland House and Sheridan's literary executor.
