THE  FALL  OF  GRAFTON  273

the  Grenvilles  were  gathered  together  in  the  same
division  lobby,  Dowdeswell  seized  the  occasion  to
suggest  that  they  should  dine  together  on  the  following
day  at  the  Thatched  House  Tavern.  The  proposal
was  agreed  to,  and  on  May  9th  more  than  seventy  of
the  opposition  met  at  the  appointed  tavern,  George
Grenville,  as  well  as  the  leaders  of  the  Rockingham
party,  being  included  in  the  number.  A  formidable  list
of  twenty-one  toasts,  beginning  with,  "  The  king  and
constitution  ;  the  right  of  electors  ;  the  law  of  the  land,"
and  ending  with  "  To  our  next  happy  meeting,"  was
conscientiously  worked  through ;  and  under  the
mellowing  influence  of  good  food  and  drink,  old
hostilities  were  forgotten  and  new  hopes  born.  "  The
whole  meeting,"  in  the  words  of  Temple  who,  though
not  present,  probably  received  an  account  of  what
passed  from  Grenville,  "appeared  to  be  that  of  brothers,
united  in  one  great  constitutional  cause  "  ;  and  another
opponent  of  the  government  remarked,  in  a  letter  to
a  friend,  that  "it  is  to  be  hoped  from  the  occurrences
of  the  day  that  all  the  sub-divisions  of  the  minority
will  be  consolidated  into  one  grand  constitutional
party."  »

Such,  indeed,  was  the  hope  of  many  ;  but  serious
obstacles  would  have  to  be  overcome,  before  it  could  be
brought  even  near  to  realisation.  The  need  for  such
an  union  was  certainly  greater  than  it  had  ever  yet
been ;  for,  the  parliamentary  session  having  ended
on  May  9th,  the  time  had  now  come  for  the  defenders
of  Wilkes  to  appeal  to  the  country  against  a  law-
breaking  house  of  commons,  and  to  bring  popular
pressure  to  bear  upon  the  ministry  and  its  supporters.
