| Contents |
Robert Walpole, first Earl of Orford : "All these men have their price" -- Spencer Compton, first Earl of Wilmington, "George II's favourite nonentity" -- Henry Pelham : pragmatic heir to Walpole -- Thomas Pelham-Holles, Duke of Newcastle : mighty panjandrum, feeble premier -- William Cavendish, fourth Duke of Devonshire : "I have no motive but the king's service" -- John Stuart, third Earl of Bute : the king's "dearest friend" -- George Grenville : able premier, undetermined by his own prolixity -- Charles Watson-Wentworth, second Marquess of Rockingham : the conscience of the Whigs -- William Pitt, the Elder, first Earl of Chatham : "I am sure that I can save this country, and that nobody else can" -- Augustus Henry Fitzroy, third Duke of Grafton : well-intentioned dilettante -- Frederick North, styled Lord North : outstanding parliamentarian, pity about the colonies ... -- William Petty, second Earl of Shelburne : too clever by half? -- William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, third Duke of Portland : twice a figurehead premier -- William Pitt, the Younger : peacetime prodigy, less successful in war. |
