tion of ministers. Thurlow, who was Weymouth's protege, haying replied ironically, Fox rose to excuse himself, but 'launched out still more severely against Weymouth' (Walpole). In the House of Lords, Shelburne (while professing sincere respect for Weymouth) also commented very severely upon his conduct (Parl. Hist. xx. 1-42). During 1778-9 Lord North's anxiety to resign office led to frequent negotiations, in which Weymouth took a leading part. The king always stipulated that he was to have any office which suited his inclination, and that his friend Thurlow should become lord chancellor (Letters to North, 13 and 20 March 1778).
Negotiations with both the Grafton and Rockingham sections of the opposition were set on foot. Weymouth himself began the latter in the early summer of 1778 by passing a night drinking with Fox (Walpole). The treasury and great seal were to be reserved by the king, 'the first in a great measure, if not wholly, for Weymouth' (Portland to Buckingham, 29 May 1778). The negotiation was resumed towards the end of the year, when it was proposed that Weymouth should have the treasury and Thurlow the chancellorship, while North, with the more unpopular of his colleagues, was to retire in favour of the opposition leaders. The troops were to be withdrawn from America, 'as from necessity or prudence,' and a vigorous war carried on with France. The retiring ministers were not to be attacked, and were to have the three vacant Garters. Weymouth was consequently invested with the order of the Garter on 3 June 1778. Fox was willing to acquiesce in the arrangement, but negotiations were broken off early in 1779 because Rockingham insisted on being head of the coalition (Corresp. of Charles James Fox, i. 213-23; Albemarle, Memoirs of Rockingham, ii. 371, &c.)
In February 1779 the king empowered Weymouth to negotiate with Grafton. He met him on the 3rd, but 'found no reason to ground any hopes of coalition' (George III to North, 1 and 4 Feb. 1779). In March 1779, on the resignation of Suffolk, Weymouth took charge of the northern department in addition to his own seals. On 11 May he opposed Rockingham's motion for remedial measures in Ireland on the ground that a repeal of laws restricting trade must originate in the lower house (Parl. Hist. xx. 642). On 2 June, in speaking upon a similar proposal by Shelburne, he denied that ministers were averse from giving relief to Ireland (ib. p. 671). On the 17th he announced to the peers the rupture of relations with Spain, and moved an address of support to the crown (ib. pp. 876 et seq.) In the autumn Weymouth and Gower, dissatisfied with their failure to effect a coalition and disliking the continuance of the war with America, resigned office. On 21 Oct. Weymouth gave up the seals of the northern department, and he resigned those of the southern department a month later (25 Nov.)
Weymouth never again held an important office, though in May 1782 he was appointed groom of the stole when Rockingham took office for the second time. He refused to give any active support to the whig ministers, and when the coalition of Fox and North was formed, the king wrote to Weymouth 'to desire his support against his new tyrants' (Walpole). In June he was acting in concert with Thurlow and Dundas to effect a new change, and on the 30th inst., when Temple moved for an account of the fees received in offices, he absented himself, though he had promised ministers his support unless the king forbad him.
Notwithstanding the king's favour, Weymouth received no office from Pitt in 1783, though he supported him on the regency question. He and his wife retained their court offices for the rest of his life. He was created LL.D. by Cambridge University in July 1769. In June 1770 he became master of the Trinity House, and in May 1778 a governor of the Charterhouse.
On 25 Aug. 1789 he was created Marquis of Bath. In August 1793 he was appoints a member of the board of agriculture. He died at his house in Arlington Street on 19 Nov. 1796, and was buried at Longbridge Deverell, where there is a handsome marble record and inscription on the north side of the chancel. A portrait of him was painted by Lawrence and engraved by Heath.
Horace Walpole in his 'Memoirs of George III' twice sketches elaborately Weymouth's character. In spite of his indolence and love of dissipation, he was able to present a dignified appearance in public, and to express himself in the House of Lords with elegance, quickness, and some knowledge, his tall and handsome figure aiding the effect. He could reason acutely and had a retentive memory, and 'a head admirably turned to astronomy and mechanics.' But he neither had nor affected any solid virtue. Ambition, his only passion, could not surmount his laziness; his timidity was womanish, the only thing he did not fear being the opinion of mankind. To panic Walpole mainly attributes his first sudden resignation. Wraxall describes his conversation in convivial moments as delightful; and
