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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:38:50 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:38:50 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/12074-0.txt b/12074-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f68f2d4 --- /dev/null +++ b/12074-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9279 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12074 *** + +[Illustration] + + + + +LETTERS + +OF + +HORACE WALPOLE + + +SELECTED AND EDITED BY + +CHARLES DUKE YONGE, M.A. + +AUTHOR OF "THE HISTORY OF FRANCE UNDER THE BOURBONS," "A LIFE OF MARIE +ANTOINETTE," ETC., ETC. + + +WITH PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS + + +VOLUME II + + +London + +T. FISHER UNWIN + +PATERNOSTER SQUARE + +NEW YORK: G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS + +MDCCCXC + + + + +CONTENTS. + +1764-1795. + + +81. TO MANN, _Dec._ 20, 1764.--Madame de Boufflers at Strawberry--The +French Opinion of the English Character--Richardson's Novels--Madame de +Beaumont + +82. TO THE EARL OF HERTFORD, _Feb._ 12, 1765.--Debate on American +Taxes--Petition of the Periwig-Makers--Female Head-dresses--Lord Byron's +Duel--Opening of Almack's--No. 45 + +83. TO COLE, _March_ 9, 1765.--His "Castle of Otranto"--Bishop Percy's +Collection of Old Ballads + +84. TO THE EARL OF HERTFORD, _March_ 26, 1765.--Illness of the +King--French and English Actors and Actresses: Clairon, Garrick, Quin, +Mrs. Clive + +85. TO MANN, _May_ 25, 1765.--Riots of Weavers--Ministerial +Changes--Factious Conduct of Mr. Pitt + +86. TO MONTAGU, _July_ 28, 1765.--Prospects of Old Age when joined to +Gout + +87. TO LADY HERVEY, _Sept._ 14, 1765.--Has reached Paris--The French +Opera--Illness of the Dauphin--Popularity of Mr. Hume + +88. TO MONTAGU, _Sept._ 22, 1765.--Is Making New Friends in Paris--Decay +of the French Stage--Le Kain--Dumenil--New French inclination for +Philosophy and Free-Thinking--General Admiration of Hume's History and +Richardson's Novels + +89. TO CHUTE, _Oct._ 3, 1765.--His Presentation at Court--Illness of the +Dauphin--Description of his Three Sons + +90. TO CONWAY, _Jan._ 12, 1766.--Supper Parties at Paris--Walpole Writes +a Letter from Le Roi de Prusse à Monsieur Rousseau + +91. TO GRAY, _Jan._ 25, 1766.--A Constant Round of Amusements--A Gallery +of Female Portraits--Madame Geoffrin--Madame du Deffand--Madame de +Mirepoix--Madame de Boufflers--Madame de Rochfort--The Maréchale de +Luxemburg--The Duchesse de Choiseul--An old French Dandy--M. de +Maurepas--Popularity of his Letter to Rousseau + +92. TO MANN, _Feb._ 29, 1766.--Situation of Affairs in England--Cardinal +York--Death of Stanilaus Leczinski, Ex-King of Poland + +93. TO CONWAY, _April_ 8, 1766.--Singular Riot in Madrid--Changes in the +French Ministry--Insurrections in the Provinces + +94. TO MONTAGU, _June 20_, 1766.--The Bath Guide--Swift's Correspondence + +95. TO CHUTE, _Oct._ 10, 1766.--Bath--Wesley + +96. TO MANN, _July_ 20, 1767.--Ministerial Difficulties--Return of Lord +Clive + +97. TO THE SAME, _Sept._ 27, 1767.--Death of Charles Townshend and of +the Duke of York--Whist the New Fashion in France + +98. TO GRAY, _Feb._ 18, 1768.--Some New Poems of Gray--Walpole's +"Historic Doubts"--Boswell's "Corsica" + +99. TO MANN, _March_ 31, 1768.--Wilkes is returned M.P. for +Middlesex--Riots in London--Violence of the Mob + +100. TO MONTAGU, _April_ 15, 1768.--Fleeting Fame of Witticisms--"The +Mysterious Mother" + +101. TO MANN, _June_ 9, 1768.--Case of Wilkes + +102. TO MONTAGU, _June_ 15, 1768.--The English Climate + +103. TO VOLTAIRE, _July_ 27, 1768.--Voltaire's Criticisms on +Shakespeare--Parnell's "Hermit" + +104. TO THE EARL OF STRAFFORD, _Aug._ 16, 1768.--Arrival of the King of +Denmark--His Popularity with the Mob + +105. TO MANN, _Jan._ 31, 1769.--Wilkes's Election--The Comtesse de +Barri--The Duc de Choiseul's Indiscretion + +106. TO MONTAGU, _May_ 11, 1769.--A Garden Party at Strawberry--A +Ridotto at Vauxhall + +107. TO MANN, _June_ 14, 1769.--Paoli--Ambassadorial Etiquette + +108. TO CHUTE, _Aug._ 30, 1765.--His Return to Paris--Madame Deffand--A +Translation of "Hamlet"--Madame Dumenil--Voltaire's "Mérope" and "Les +Guèbres" + +109. TO MONTAGU, _Sept._ 17, 1769.--The French Court--The Young +Princes--St. Cyr--Madame de Mailly + +110. TO MANN, _Feb._ 27, 1770.--A Masquerade--State of Russia + +111. TO THE SAME, _May_ 6, 1770.--Wilkes--Burke's Pamphlet--Prediction +of American Republics--Extravagance in England + +112. TO MONTAGU, _May_ 6, 1770.--Masquerades in Fashion--A Lady's Club + +113. TO MANN, _June_ 15, 1770,--The Princess of Wales is gone to +Germany--Terrible Accident in Paris + +114. TO THE SAME, _Dec._ 29, 1770.--Fall of the Duc de Choiseul's +Ministry + +115. TO THE SAME, _Feb._ 22, 1771.--Peace with Spain--Banishment of the +French Parliament--Mrs. Cornelys's Establishment--The Queen of Denmark +116. TO THE SAME, _April_ 26, 1771.--Quarrel of the House of Commons +with the City--Dissensions in the French Court and Royal +Family--Extravagance in England + +117. TO CONWAY, _July_ 30, 1771.--Great Distress at the French Court + +118. TO CHUTE, _August_ 5, 1771.--English Gardening in +France--Anglomanie--He is weary of Paris--Death of Gray + +119. TO COLE, _Jan._ 28, 1772.--Scantiness of the Relics of +Gray--Garrick's Prologues, &c.--Wilkes's Squint + +120. TO MANN, _April_ 9, 1772.--Marriage of the Pretender--The Princess +Louise, and her Protection of the Clergy--Fox's Eloquence + +121. TO COLE, _Jan._ 8, 1773.--An Answer to his "Historic Doubts"--His +Edition of Grammont + +122. TO MANN, _July_10, 1774.--Popularity of Louis XVI.--Death of Lord +Holland--Bruce's "Travels" + +123. TO THE SAME, _Oct._ 6, 1774.--Discontent in America--Mr. +Grenville's Act for the Trial of Election Petitions--Highway Robberies + +124. TO THE SAME, _Oct._ 22, 1774.--The Pope's Death--Wilkes is returned +for Middlesex--A Quaker at Versailles + +125. TO THE COUNTESS OF AILESBURY, _Nov._ 7, 1774.--Burke's Election at +Bristol--Resemblance of one House of Commons to Another--Comfort of Old +Age + +126. TO MANN, _Nov._ 24, 1774.--Death of Lord Clive--Restoration of the +French Parliament--Prediction of Great Men to arise in America--The +King's Speech + +127. TO CONWAY AND LADY AYLESBURY, _Jan._ 15, 1775.--Riots at Boston--A +Literary Coterie at Bath-Easton + +128. TO GEM, _April_ 4, 1776.--Opposition of the French Parliaments to +Turgot's Measures + +129. TO CONWAY, _June_ 20, 1776.--His Decorations at "Strawberry"--His +Estimate of himself, and his Admiration of Conway + +130. TO MANN, _Dec._ 1, 1776.--Anglomanie in Paris--Horse-Racing + +131. TO COLE, _June_ 19, 1777.--Ossian--Chatterton + +132. TO MANN, _Oct._ 26, 1777.--Affairs in America--The Czarina and the +Emperor of China + +133. TO THE SAME, _May_ 31, 1778.--Death of Lord Chatham--Thurlow +becomes Lord Chancellor + +134. TO COLE, _June_ 3, 1778.--Exultation of France at our Disasters in +America--Franklin--Necker--Chatterton + +135. TO MANN, _July_ 7, 1778.--Admiral Keppel's Success--Threats of +Invasion--Funeral of Lord Chatham + +136. TO CONWAY, _July_ 8, 1778.--Suggestion of Negotiations with +France--Partition of Poland + +137. TO MANN, _Oct._ 8, 1778.--Unsuccessful Cruise of Keppel--Character +of Lord Chatham + +138. TO THE SAME, _March_ 22, 1779.--Capture of Pondicherry--Changes in +the Ministry--La Fayette in America + +139. TO THE SAME, _July_ 7, 1779.--Divisions in the Ministry--Character +of the Italians and of the French + +140. TO THE SAME, _Sept._ 16, 1779.--Eruption of Vesuvius--Death of Lord +Temple + +141. TO THE SAME, _Jan._ 13, 1780.--Chances of War with Holland--His +Father's Policy--Pope--Character of Bolingbroke + +142. TO THE SAME, _Feb._ 6, 1780.--Political Excitement--Lord G. +Gordon--Extraordinary Gambling Affairs in India + +143. TO THE SAME, _March_ 3, 1780.--Rodney's Victory--Walpole inclines +to Withdraw from Amusements + +144. TO THE SAME, _June_ 5, 1780.--The Gordon Riots + +145. TO DALRYMPLE, _Dec._ 11, 1780.--Hogarth--Colonel +Charteris--Archbishop Blackburne--Jervas--Richardson's Poetry + +146. TO MANN, _Dec._ 31, 1780.--The Prince of Wales--Hurricane at +Barbadoes--A "Voice from St. Helena" + +147. TO THE SAME, _Sept._ 7, 1781.--Naval Movements--Siege of +Gibraltar--Female Fashions + +148. TO THE SAME, _Nov._ 29, 1781.--Capitulation of Lord +Cornwallis--Pitt and Fox + +149. TO COLE, _April_ 13, 1782.--The Language proper for Inscriptions in +England--Fall of Lord North's Ministry--Bryant + +150. TO MANN, _Sept._ 8, 1782.--Highwaymen and Footpads + +151. TO THE SAME, _Dec._ 2, 1783.--Fox's India Bill--Balloons + +152. TO CONWAY, _Oct._ 15, 1784.--Balloons + +153. TO PINKERTON, _June_ 22, 1785.--His Letters on +Literature--Disadvantage of Modern Writers--Comparison of Lady Mary +Wortley with Madame de Sévigné + +154. TO THE SAME, _June_ 26, 1785.--Criticism on various Authors: Greek, +Latin, French, and English--Humour of Addison, and of +Fielding--Waller--Milton--Boileau's "Lutrin"--"The Rape of the +Lock"--Madame de Sévigné + +155. TO MANN, _Aug._ 26, 1785.--Ministerial Difficulties--The Affair of +the Necklace in Paris--Fluctuating Unpopularity of Statesmen--Fallacies +of History + +156. TO THE SAME, _Oct._ 4, 1785.--Brevity of Modern Addresses--The old +Duchess of Marlborough + +157. TO THE SAME, _Oct._ 30, 1785.--Lady Craven--Madame Piozzi--"The +Rolliad"--Herschel's Astronomical Discovery + +158. TO MISS MORE, _Oct._ 14, 1787.--Mrs. Yearsley--Madame +Piozzi--Gibbon--"Le Mariage de Figaro" + +159. TO THE SAME, _July_ 12, 1788.--Gentlemen Writers--His own Reasons +for Writing when Young--Voltaire--"Evelina"--Miss Seward--Hayley + +160. TO MANN, _Feb._ 12, 1789.--Divisions in the Royal Family--The +Regency--The Irish Parliament + +161. TO MISS BERRY, _June_ 30, 1789.--"The Arabian Nights"--The +Aeneid--Boccalini--Orpheus and Eurydice + +162. TO CONWAY, _July_ 15, 1789.--Dismissal of Necker--Baron de +Breteuil--The Duc D'Orléans--Mirabeau + +163. TO THE SAME, _July_ 1, 1790.--Bruce's "Travels"--Violence of the +French Jacobins--Necker + +164. TO MISS BERRYS, _June_ 8, 1791.--The Prince of Wales--Growth of +London and other Towns + +165. TO THE SAME, _Aug._ 23, 1791.--Sir W. and Lady Hamilton--A +Boat-race--The Margravine of Anspach + +166. TO THE SAME, _Oct._ 15, 1793.--Arrest of the Duchesse de Biron--The +Queen of France--Pythagoras + +167. TO CONWAY, _July 2_, 1795.--Expectations of a Visit to Strawberry +by the Queen + +168. TO THE SAME, _July_ 7, 1795.--Report of the Visit + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + +I. LADY MARY WORTLEY-MONTAGU + +II. THOMAS GRAY, THE POET + +Photographed from a drawing in the National Portrait Gallery, made by +JAMES BASIRE, the engraver, from a sketch from life by Gray's friend, +the Rev. WILLIAM MASON. + +III. STRAWBERRY HILL, FROM THE NORTH-WEST + +IV. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE + +From a mezzotint by J. SIMON, after a picture by Sir GODFREY KNELLER. + +V. VIEW OF GARDEN, STRAWBERRY HILL, FROM THE GREAT BED-CHAMBER + +VI. REPRODUCTIONS OF HANDWRITING OF THOMAS GRAY AND HORACE WALPOLE + + + + +A SELECTION + +FROM THE + +LETTERS OF HORACE WALPOLE. + + +VOLUME II. + + +_MADAME DE BOUFFLERS AT STRAWBERRY--THE FRENCH OPINION OF THE ENGLISH +CHARACTER--RICHARDSON'S NOVELS--MADAME DE BEAUMONT._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Dec._ 20, 1764. + +... My journey to Paris is fixed for some time in February, where I hear +I may expect to find Madame de Boufflers, Princess of Conti. Her husband +is just dead; and you know the House of Bourbon have an alacrity at +marrying their old mistresses. She was here last year, being extremely +infected with the _Anglomanie_, though I believe pretty well cured by +her journey. She is past forty, and does not appear ever to have been +handsome, but is one of the most agreeable and sensible women I ever +saw; yet I must tell you a trait of her that will not prove my +assertion. Lady Holland asked her how she liked Strawberry Hill? She +owned that she did not approve of it, and that it was not _digne de la +solidité Angloise_. It made me laugh for a quarter of an hour. They +allot us a character we have not, and then draw consequences from that +idea, which would be absurd, even if the idea were just. One must not +build a Gothic house because the nation is _solide_. Perhaps, as +everything now in France must be _à la Grecque_, she would have liked a +hovel if it pretended to be built after Epictetus's--but Heaven forbid +that I should be taken for a philosopher! Is it not amazing that the +most sensible people in France can never help being domineered by sounds +and general ideas? Now everybody must be a _géomètre_, now a +_philosophe_, and the moment they are either, they are to take up a +character and advertise it: as if one could not study geometry for one's +amusement or for its utility, but one must be a geometrician at table, +or at a visit! So the moment it is settled at Paris that the English are +solid, every Englishman must be wise, and, if he has a good +understanding, he must not be allowed to play the fool. As I happen to +like both sense and nonsense, and the latter better than what generally +passes for the former, I shall disclaim, even at Paris, the +_profondeur_, for which they admire us; and I shall nonsense to admire +Madame de Boufflers, though her nonsense is not the result of nonsense, +but of sense, and consequently not the genuine nonsense that I honour. +When she was here, she read a tragedy in prose to me, of her own +composition, taken from "The Spectator:" the language is beautiful and +so are the sentiments. + +There is a Madame de Beaumont who has lately written a very pretty +novel, called "Lettres du Marquis du Roselle." It is imitated, too, from +an English standard, and in my opinion a most woful one; I mean the +works of Richardson, who wrote those deplorably tedious lamentations, +"Clarissa" and "Sir Charles Grandison," which are pictures of high life +as conceived by a bookseller, and romances as they would be +spiritualized by a Methodist teacher: but Madame de Beaumont has almost +avoided sermons, and almost reconciled sentiments and common sense. Read +her novel--you will like it. + + +_DEBATE ON AMERICAN TAXES--PETITION OF THE PERIWIG-MAKERS--FEMALE +HEAD-DRESSES--LORD BYRON'S DUEL--OPENING OF ALMACK'S--NO. 45._ + +TO THE EARL OF HERTFORD. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Feb._ 12, 1765. + +A great many letters pass between us, my dear lord, but I think they are +almost all of my writing. I have not heard from you this age. I sent you +two packets together by Mr. Freeman, with an account of our chief +debates. Since the long day, I have been much out of order with a cold +and cough, that turned to a fever: I am now taking James's powder, not +without apprehensions of the gout, which it gave me two or three years +ago. + +There has been nothing of note in Parliament but one slight day on the +American taxes,[1] which, Charles Townshend supporting, received a +pretty heavy thump from Barré, who is the present Pitt, and the dread of +all the vociferous Norths and Rigbys, on whose lungs depended so much of +Mr. Grenville's power. Do you never hear them to Paris? + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Grenville's taxation of stamps and other articles in +our American colonies, which caused great discontent, and was repealed +by Lord Rockingham's Ministry.] + +The operations of the Opposition are suspended in compliment to Mr. +Pitt, who has declared himself so warmly for the question on the +Dismission of officers, that that motion waits for his recovery. A call +of the House is appointed for next Wednesday, but as he has had a +relapse, the motion will probably be deferred. I should be very glad if +it was to be dropped entirely for this session, but the young men are +warm and not easily bridled. + +If it was not too long to transcribe, I would send you an entertaining +petition of the periwig-makers to the King, in which they complain that +men will wear their own hair. Should one almost wonder if carpenters +were to remonstrate, that since the peace their trade decays, and that +there is no demand for wooden legs? _Apropos_ my Lady Hertford's friend, +Lady Harriot Vernon, has quarrelled with me for smiling at the enormous +head-gear of her daughter, Lady Grosvenor. She came one night to +Northumberland House with such display of friz, that it literally spread +beyond her shoulders. I happened to say it looked as if her parents had +stinted her in hair before marriage, and that she was determined to +indulge her fancy now. This, among ten thousand things said by all the +world, was reported to Lady Harriot, and has occasioned my disgrace. As +she never found fault with anybody herself, I excuse her. You will be +less surprised to hear that the Duchess of Queensberry has not yet done +dressing herself marvellously: she was at Court on Sunday in a gown and +petticoat of red flannel.... + +We have not a new book, play, intrigue, marriage, elopement, or quarrel; +in short, we are very dull. For politics, unless the ministers wantonly +thrust their hands into some fire, I think there will not even be a +smoke. I am glad of it, for my heart is set on my journey to Paris, and +I hate everything that stops me. Lord Byron's[1] foolish trial is likely +to protract the session a little; but unless there is any particular +business, I shall not stay for a puppet-show. Indeed, I can defend my +staying here by nothing but my ties to your brother. My health, I am +sure, would be better in another climate in winter. Long days in the +House kill me, and weary me into the bargain. The individuals of each +party are alike indifferent to me; nor can I at this time of day grow to +love men whom I have laughed at all my lifetime--no, I cannot +alter;--Charles Yorke or a Charles Townshend are alike to me, whether +ministers or patriots. Men do not change in my eyes, because they quit a +black livery for a white one. When one has seen the whole scene shifted +round and round so often, one only smiles, whoever is the present +Polonius or the Gravedigger, whether they jeer the Prince, or flatter +his phrenzy. + +[Footnote 1: In a previous letter Walpole mentions the duel caused by a +dispute at cards, in which Lord Byron was so unfortunate as to kill his +cousin, Mr. Chaworth.] + +_Thursday night, 14th._ + +The new Assembly Room at Almack's[1] was opened the night before last, +and they say is very magnificent, but it was empty; half the town is ill +with colds, and many were afraid to go, as the house is scarcely built +yet. Almack advertized that it was built with hot bricks and boiling +water--think what a rage there must be for public places, if this +notice, instead of terrifying, could draw anybody thither. They tell me +the ceilings were dropping with wet--but can you believe me, when I +assure you the Duke of Cumberland was there?--Nay, had had a levée in +the morning, and went to the Opera before the assembly! There is a vast +flight of steps, and he was forced to rest two or three times. If he +dies of it,--and how should he not?--it will sound very silly when +Hercules or Theseus ask him what he died of, to reply, "I caught my +death on a damp staircase at a new club-room." + +[Footnote 1: Almack was a Scotchman, who got up a sort of female club in +King Street, St. James's, at the place since known as Willis's Rooms. In +the first half of the present century the balls of Almack's were the +most fashionable and exclusive in London, under the government of six +lady patronesses, without a voucher from one of whom no one could obtain +admittance. For a long time after trousers had become the ordinary wear +they were proscribed at Almack's, and gentlemen were required to adhere +to the more ancient and showy attire of knee-breeches; and it was said +that in consequence of one having attempted unsuccessfully to obtain +admission in trousers the tickets for the next ball were headed with a +notice that "gentlemen would not be admitted without breeches and +stockings."] + +Williams, the reprinter of the _North Briton_, stood in the pillory +to-day in Palace Yard.[1] He went in a hackney-coach, the number of +which was 45. The mob erected a gallows opposite him, on which they hung +a boot[2] with a bonnet of straw. Then a collection was made for +Williams, which amounted to near £200. In short, every public event +informs the Administration how thoroughly they are detested, and that +they have not a friend whom they do not buy. Who can wonder, when every +man of virtue is proscribed, and they have neither parts nor characters +to impose even upon the mob! Think to what a government is sunk, when a +Secretary of State is called in Parliament to his face "the most +profligate sad dog in the kingdom," and not a man can open his lips in +his defence. Sure power must have some strange unknown charm, when it +can compensate for such contempt! I see many who triumph in these bitter +pills which the ministry are so often forced to swallow; I own I do not; +it is more mortifying to me to reflect how great and respectable we +were three years ago, than satisfactory to see those insulted who have +brought such shame upon us. 'Tis poor amends to national honour to know, +that if a printer is set in the pillory, his country wishes it was my +Lord This, or Mr. That. They will be gathered to the Oxfords, and +Bolingbrokes, and ignominious of former days; but the wound they have +inflicted is perhaps indelible. That goes to _my_ heart, who had felt +all the Roman pride of being one of the first nations upon earth!--Good +night!--I will go to bed, and dream of Kings drawn in triumph; and then +I will go to Paris, and dream I am pro-consul there: pray, take care not +to let me be awakened with an account of an invasion having taken place +from Dunkirk![3] Yours ever, H.W. + +[Footnote 1: This was the last occasion on which the punishment of the +pillory was inflicted.] + +[Footnote 2: A scandal, for which there was no foundation, imputed to +the Princess of Wales an undue intimacy with John Earl of Bute; and with +a practical pun on his name the mob in some of the riots which were +common in the first years of his reign showed their belief in the lie by +fastening a _jack-boot_ and a petticoat together and feeding a bonfire +with them.] + +[Footnote 3: One article in the late treaty of peace had stipulated for +the demolition of Dunkirk.] + + +_HIS "CASTLE OF OTRANTO"--BISHOP PERCY'S COLLECTION OF OLD BALLADS._ + +TO THE REV. WILLIAM COLE. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _March_ 9, 1765. + +Dear Sir,--I had time to write but a short note with the "Castle of +Otranto," as your messenger called on me at four o'clock, as I was going +to dine abroad. Your partiality to me and Strawberry have, I hope, +inclined you to excuse the wildness of the story. You will even have +found some traits to put you in mind of this place. When you read of +the picture quitting its panel, did not you recollect the portrait of +Lord Falkland, all in white, in my Gallery? Shall I even confess to you, +what was the origin of this romance! I waked one morning, in the +beginning of last June, from a dream, of which, all I could recover was, +that I had thought myself in an ancient castle (a very natural dream for +a head filled like mine with Gothic story), and that on the uppermost +banister of a great staircase I saw a gigantic hand in armour. In the +evening I sat down, and began to write, without knowing in the least +what I intended to say or relate. The work grew on my hands, and I grew +fond of it--add, that I was very glad to think of anything, rather than +politics. In short, I was so engrossed with my tale, which I completed +in less than two months, that one evening, I wrote from the time I had +drunk my tea, about six o'clock, till half an hour after one in the +morning, when my hand and fingers were so weary, that I could not hold +the pen to finish the sentence, but left Matilda and Isabella talking, +in the middle of a paragraph. You will laugh at my earnestness; but if I +have amused you, by retracing with any fidelity the manners of ancient +days, I am content, and give you leave to think me idle as you +please.... + +Lord Essex's trial is printed with the State Trials. In return for your +obliging offer, I can acquaint you with a delightful publication of this +winter, "A Collection of Old Ballads and Poetry," in three volumes, many +from Pepys's Collection at Cambridge. There were three such published +between thirty and forty years ago, but very carelessly, and wanting +many in this set: indeed, there were others, of a looser sort, which the +present editor [Dr. Percy[1]], who is a clergyman, thought it decent to +omit.... + +[Footnote 1: Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore, in Ireland, was the heir male +of the ancient Earls of Northumberland, and the title of his collection +was "Reliques of English Poetry." He was also himself the author of more +than one imitation of the old ballads, one of which is mentioned by +Johnson in a letter to Mr. Langton: "Dr. Percy has written a long ballad +in many _fits_ [fyttes]. It is pretty enough: he has printed and will +soon publish it" (Boswell, iii., ann. 1771).] + +My bower is determined, but not at all what it is to be. Though I write +romances, I cannot tell how to build all that belongs to them. Madame +Danois, in the Fairy Tales, used to _tapestry_ them with _jonquils_; but +as that furniture will not last above a fortnight in the year, I shall +prefer something more huckaback. I have decided that the outside shall +be of _treillage_, which, however, I shall not commence, till I have +again seen some of old Louis's old-fashioned _Galanteries_ at +Versailles. Rosamond's bower, you, and I, and Tom Hearne know, was a +labyrinth: but as my territory will admit of a very short clew, I lay +aside all thoughts of a mazy habitation: though a bower is very +different from an arbour, and must have more chambers than one. In +short, I both know, and don't know what it should be. I am almost afraid +I must go and read Spenser, and wade through his allegories, and +drawling stanzas, to get at a picture. But, good night! you see how one +gossips, when one is alone, and at quiet on one's own dunghill!--Well! +it may be trifling; yet it is such trifling as Ambition never is happy +enough to know! Ambition orders palaces, but it is Content that chats +for a page or two over a bower. + + +_ILLNESS OF THE KING--FRENCH AND ENGLISH ACTORS AND ACTRESSES: CLAIRON, +GARRICK, QUIN, MRS. CLIVE._ + +TO THE EARL OF HERTFORD. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _March_ 26, 1765. + +Three weeks are a great while, my dear lord, for me to have been without +writing to you; but besides that I have passed many days at Strawberry, +to cure my cold (which it has done), there has nothing happened worth +sending across the sea. Politics have dozed, and common events been fast +asleep. Of Guerchy's affair, you probably know more than I do; it is now +forgotten. I told him I had absolute proof of his innocence, for I was +sure, that if he had offered money for assassination, the men who swear +against him would have taken it. + +The King has been very seriously ill, and in great danger. I would not +alarm you, as there were hopes when he was at the worst. I doubt he is +not free yet from his complaint, as the humour fallen on his breast +still oppresses him. They talk of his having a levée next week, but he +has not appeared in public, and the bills are passed by commission; but +he rides out. The Royal Family have suffered like us mortals; the Duke +of Gloucester has had a fever, but I believe his chief complaint is of +a youthful kind. Prince Frederick is thought to be in a deep +consumption; and for the Duke of Cumberland, next post will probably +certify you of his death, as he is relapsed, and there are no hopes of +him. He fell into his lethargy again, and when they waked him, he said +he did not know whether he could call himself obliged to them. + +I dined two days ago at Monsieur de Guerchy's, with the Count de +Caraman, who brought me your letter. He seems a very agreeable man, and +you may be sure, for your sake, and Madame de Mirepoix's, no civilities +in my power shall be wanting. I have not yet seen Schouvaloff,[1] about +whom one has more curiosity--it is an opportunity of gratifying that +passion which one can so seldom do in personages of his historic nature, +especially remote foreigners. I wish M. de Caraman had brought the +"Siege of Calais," which he tells me is printed, though your account has +a little abated my impatience. They tell us the French comedians are to +act at Calais this summer--is it possible they can be so absurd, or +think us so absurd as to go thither, if we would not go further? I +remember, at Rheims, they believed that English ladies went to Calais to +drink champagne--is this the suite of that belief? I was mightily +pleased with the Duc de Choiseul's answer to the Clairon;[2] but when I +hear of the French admiration of Garrick, it takes off something of my +wonder at the prodigious adoration of him at home. I never could +conceive the marvellous merit of repeating the works of others in one's +own language with propriety, however well delivered. Shakespeare is not +more admired for writing his plays, than Garrick for acting them. I +think him a very good and very various player--but several have pleased +me more, though I allow not in so many parts. Quin[3] in Falstaff, was +as excellent as Garrick[4] in Lear. Old Johnson far more natural in +everything he attempted. Mrs. Porter and your Dumesnil surpassed him in +passionate tragedy; Cibber and O'Brien were what Garrick could never +reach, coxcombs, and men of fashion. Mrs. Clive is at least as perfect +in low comedy--and yet to me, Ranger was the part that suited Garrick +the best of all he ever performed. He was a poor Lothario, a ridiculous +Othello, inferior to Quin in Sir John Brute and Macbeth, and to Cibber +in Bayes, and a woful Lord Hastings and Lord Townley. Indeed, his Bayes +was original, but not the true part: Cibber was the burlesque of a great +poet, as the part was designed, but Garrick made it a Garretteer. The +town did not like him in Hotspur, and yet I don't know whether he did +not succeed in it beyond all the rest. Sir Charles Williams and Lord +Holland thought so too, and they were no bad judges. I am impatient to +see the Clairon, and certainly will, as I have promised, though I have +not fixed my day. But do you know you alarm me! There was a time when I +was a match for Madame de Mirepoix at pharaoh, to any hour of the night, +and I believe did play with her five nights in a week till three and +four in the morning--but till eleven o'clock to-morrow morning--Oh! that +is a little too much, even at loo. Besides, I shall not go to Paris for +pharaoh--if I play all night, how shall I see everything all day? + +[Footnote 1: Schouvaloff was notorious as a favourite of the Empress +Catharine.] + +[Footnote 2: Mdlle. Clairon had been for some years the most admired +tragic actress in France. In that age actors and actresses in France +were exposed to singular insults. M. Lacroix, in his "France in the +Eighteenth Century," tells us: "They were considered as inferior beings +in the social scale; excommunicated by the Church, and banished from +society, they were compelled to endure all the humiliations and affronts +which the public chose to inflict on them in the theatre; and, if any of +them had the courage to make head against the storm, and to resist the +violence and cruelty of the pit, they were sent to prison, and not +released but on condition of apologising to the tyrants who had so +cruelly insulted them. Many had a sufficient sense of their own dignity +to withdraw themselves from this odious despotism after having been in +prison in Fort l'Evêcque, their ordinary place of confinement, by the +order of the gentlemen of the chamber or the lieutenant of police; and +it was in this way that Mdlle. Clairon bade farewell to the Comédie +Française and gave up acting in 1765, when at the very height of her +talent, and in the middle of her greatest dramatic triumphs." The +incident here alluded to by Walpole was that "a critic named Fréron had +libelled her in a journal to which he contributed; and, as she could not +obtain justice, she applied to the Duc de Choiseul, the Prime Minister. +Even he was unable to put her in the way of obtaining redress, and +sought to pacify her by comparing her position to his own. 'I am,' said +he, 'mademoiselle, like yourself, a public performer; with this +difference in your favour, that you choose what parts you please, and +are sure to be crowned with the applause of the public; for I reckon as +nothing the bad taste of one or two wretched individuals who have the +misfortune of not adoring you. I, on the other hand, am obliged to act +the parts imposed on me by necessity. I am sure to please nobody; I am +satirised, criticised, libelled, hissed; yet I continue to do my best. +Let us both, then, sacrifice our little resentments and enmities to the +public service, and serve our country, each in our own station. Besides, +the Queen has condescended to forgive Fréron, and you may therefore, +without compromising your dignity, imitate Her Majesty's clemency'" +("Mem. de Bachaumont," i. 61). But Mdlle. was not to be pacified, nor to +be persuaded to expose herself to a repetition of insult; but, though +only forty-one, she retired from the stage for ever.] + +[Footnote 3: Quin was employed by the Princess of Wales to teach her son +elocution, and when he heard how generally his young sovereign was +praised for the grace and dignity of his delivery of his speech to his +Parliament, he boasted, "Ah, it was I taught the boy to speak."] + +[Footnote 4: Garrick was not only a great actor, but also a great +reformer of the stage. He seems to have excelled equally both in tragedy +and comedy, which makes it natural to suppose that in some parts he may +have been excelled by other actors; though he had no equal (and perhaps +never has had) in both lines. He was also himself the author of several +farces of more than average merit.] + +Lady Sophia Thomas has received the Baume de vie, for which she gives +you a thousand thanks, and I ten thousand. + +We are extremely amused with the wonderful histories of your hyena[1] in +the Gevaudan; but our fox-hunters despise you: it is exactly the +enchanted monster of old romances. If I had known its history a few +months ago, I believe it would have appeared in the "Castle of +Otranto,"--the success of which has, at last, brought me to own it, +though the wildness of it made me terribly afraid; but it was +comfortable to have it please so much, before any mortal suspected the +author: indeed, it met with too much honour far, for at first it was +universally believed to be Mr. Gray's. As all the first impression is +sold, I am hurrying out another, with a new preface, which I will send +you. + +[Footnote 1: A wolf of enormous size, and, in some respects, irregular +conformation, which for a long time ravaged the Gevaudan; it was, soon +after the date of this letter, killed, and Mr. Walpole saw it in Paris.] + + +_RIOTS OF WEAVERS--MINISTERIAL CHANGES--FACTIOUS CONDUCT OF MR. PITT._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _May_ 25, 1765, _sent by way of Paris_. + +My last I think was of the 16th. Since that we have had events of almost +every sort. A whole administration dismissed, taken again, suspended, +confirmed; an insurrection; and we have been at the eve of a civil war. +Many thousand Weavers rose, on a bill for their relief being thrown out +of the House of Lords by the Duke of Bedford. For four days they were +suffered to march about the town with colours displayed, petitioning the +King, surrounding the House of Lords, mobbing and wounding the Duke of +Bedford, and at last besieging his house, which, with his family, was +narrowly saved from destruction. At last it grew a regular siege and +blockade; but by garrisoning it with horse and foot literally, and +calling in several regiments, the tumult is appeased. Lord Bute rashly +taking advantage of this unpopularity of his enemies, advised the King +to notify to his Ministers that he intended to dismiss them,--and by +this step, no _succedaneum_ being prepared, reduced his Majesty to the +alternative of laying his crown at the foot of Mr. Pitt, or of the Duke +of Bedford; and as it proved at last, of both. The Duke of Cumberland +was sent for, and was sent to Mr. Pitt, from whom, though offering +almost _carte blanche_, he received a peremptory refusal. The next +measure was to form a Ministry from the Opposition. Willing were they, +but timid. Without Mr. Pitt nobody would engage. The King was forced to +desire his old Ministers to stay where they were. They, who had rallied +their very dejected courage, demanded terms, and hard ones +indeed--_promise_ of never consulting Lord Bute, dismission of his +brother, and the appointment of Lord Granby to be Captain-General--so +soon did those tools of prerogative talk to their exalted sovereign in +the language of the Parliament to Charles I. + +The King, rather than resign his sceptre on the first summons, +determined to name his uncle Captain-General. Thus the commanders at +least were ready on each side; but the Ministers, who by the Treaty of +Paris showed how little military glory was the object of their ambition, +having contented themselves with seizing St. James's without bloodshed. +They gave up their General, upon condition Mr. Mackenzie and Lord +Holland were sacrificed to them, and, tacitly, Lord Northumberland, +whose government they bestow on Lord Weymouth without furnishing another +place to the earl, as was intended for him. All this is granted. Still +there are inexplicable riddles. In the height of negotiation, Lord +Temple was reconciled to his brother George, and declares himself a fast +friend to the late and present Ministry. What part Mr. Pitt will act is +not yet known--probably not a hostile one; but here are fine seeds of +division and animosity sown! + +I have thus in six words told you the matter of volumes. You must +analyse them yourself, unless you have patience to wait till the +consequences are the comment. Don't you recollect very similar passages +in the time of Mr. Pelham, the Duke of Newcastle, Lord Granville, and +Mr. Fox? But those wounds did not penetrate so deep as these! Here are +all the great, and opulent noble families engaged on one side or the +other. Here is the King insulted and prisoner, his Mother stigmatised, +his Uncle affronted, his Favourite persecuted. It is again a scene of +Bohuns, Montforts, and Plantagenets. + +While I am writing, I received yours of the 4th, containing the +revolutions in the fabric and pictures of the palace Pitti. My dear sir, +make no excuse; we each write what we have to write; and if our letters +remain, posterity will read the catastrophes of St. James's and the +Palace Pitti with equal indifference, however differently they affect +you and me now. For my part, though agitated like Ludlow or my Lord +Clarendon on the events of the day, I have more curiosity about Havering +in the Bower, the jointure house of ancient royal dowagers, than about +Queen Isabella herself. Mr. Wilkes, whom you mention, will be still more +interested, when he hears that his friend Lord Temple has shaken hands +with his foes Halifax and Sandwich; and I don't believe that any amnesty +is stipulated for the exile. Churchill, Wilkes's poet, used to wish that +he was at liberty to attack Mr. Pitt and Charles Townshend,--the moment +is come, but Churchill is gone! Charles Townshend has got Lord Holland's +place--and yet the people will again and again believe that nothing is +intended but their interest. + +When I recollect all I have seen and known, I seem to be as old as +Methuselah: indeed I was born in politics,--but I hope not to die in +them. With all my experience, these last five weeks have taught me more +than any other ten years; accordingly, a retreat is the whole scope of +my wishes; but not yet arrived. + +Your amiable sister, Mrs. Foote, is settled in town; I saw her last +night at the Opera with Lady Ailesbury. She is enchanted with +Manzuoli--and you know her approbation is a test, who has heard all the +great singers, learnt of all, and sings with as much taste as any of +them. Adieu! + + +_PROSPECTS OF OLD AGE WHEN JOINED TO GOUT._ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 28, 1765. + +The less one is disposed, if one has any sense, to talk of oneself to +people that inquire only out of compliment, and do not listen to the +answer, the more satisfaction one feels in indulging a self-complacency, +by sighing to those that really sympathise with our griefs. Do not think +it is pain that makes me give this low-spirited air to my letter. No, it +is the prospect of what is to come, not the sensation of what is +passing, that affects me. The loss of youth is melancholy enough; but to +enter into old age through the gate of infirmity most disheartening. My +health and spirits make me take but slight notice of the transition, +and, under the persuasion of temperance being a talisman, I marched +boldly on towards the descent of the hill, knowing I must fall at last, +but not suspecting that I should stumble by the way. This confession +explains the mortification I feel. A month's confinement to one who +never kept his bed a day is a stinging lesson, and has humbled my +insolence to almost indifference. Judge, then, how little I interest +myself about public events. I know nothing of them since I came hither, +where I had not only the disappointment of not growing better, but a bad +return in one of my feet, so that I am still wrapped up and upon a +couch. It was the more unlucky as Lord Hertford is come to England for a +very few days. He has offered to come to me; but as I then should see +him only for some minutes, I propose being carried to town to-morrow. It +will be so long before I can expect to be able to travel, that my French +journey will certainly not take place so soon as I intended, and if Lord +Hertford goes to Ireland, I shall be still more fluctuating; for though +the Duke and Duchess of Richmond will replace them at Paris, and are as +eager to have me with them, I have had so many more years heaped upon me +within this month, that I have not the conscience to trouble young +people, when I can no longer be as juvenile as they are. Indeed I shall +think myself decrepit, till I again saunter into the garden in my +slippers and without my hat in all weathers,--a point I am determined to +regain if possible; for even this experience cannot make me resign my +temperance and my hardiness. I am tired of the world, its politics, its +pursuits, and its pleasures; but it will cost me some struggles before I +submit to be tender and careful. Christ! Can I ever stoop to the regimen +of old age? I do not wish to dress up a withered person, nor drag it +about to public places; but to sit in one's room, clothed warmly, +expecting visits from folks I don't wish to see, and tended and nattered +by relations impatient for one's death! Let the gout do its worse as +expeditiously as it can; it would be more welcome in my stomach than in +my limbs. I am not made to bear a course of nonsense and advice, but +must play the fool in my own way to the last, alone with all my heart, +if I cannot be with the very few I wished to see: but, to depend for +comfort on others, who would be no comfort to me; this surely is not a +state to be preferred to death: and nobody can have truly enjoyed the +advantages of youth, health, and spirits, who is content to exist +without the two last, which alone bear any resemblance to the first. + +You see how difficult it is to conquer my proud spirit: low and weak as +I am, I think my resolution and perseverance will get the better, and +that I shall still be a gay shadow; at least, I will impose any severity +upon myself, rather than humour the gout, and sink into that indulgence +with which most people treat it. Bodily liberty is as dear to me as +mental, and I would as soon flatter any other tyrant as the gout, my +Whiggism extending as much to my health as to my principles, and being +as willing to part with life, when I cannot preserve it, as your uncle +Algernon when his freedom was at stake. Adieu! + + +_HAS REACHED PARIS--THE FRENCH OPERA--ILLNESS OF THE DAUPHIN--POPULARITY +OF MR. HUME._ + +TO THE RIGHT HON. LADY HERVEY. + +PARIS, _Sept._ 14, 1765. + +I am but two days old here, Madam, and I doubt I wish I was really so, +and had my life to begin, to live it here. You see how just I am, and +ready to make _amende honorable_ to your ladyship. Yet I have seen very +little. My Lady Hertford has cut me to pieces, and thrown me into a +caldron with tailors, periwig-makers, snuff-box-wrights, milliners, &c., +which really took up but little time; and I am come out quite new, with +everything but youth. The journey recovered me with magic expedition. My +strength, if mine could ever be called strength, is returned; and the +gout going off in a minuet step. I will say nothing of my spirits, which +are indecently juvenile, and not less improper for my age than for the +country where I am; which, if you will give me leave to say it, has a +thought too much gravity. I don't venture to laugh or talk nonsense, but +in English. + +Madame Geoffrin came to town but last night, and is not visible on +Sundays; but I hope to deliver your ladyship's letter and packet +to-morrow. Mesdames d'Aiguillon, d'Egmont, and Chabot, and the Duc de +Nivernois are all in the country. Madame de Boufflers is at l'Isle +Adam, whither my Lady Hertford is gone to-night to sup, for the first +time, being no longer chained down to the incivility of an ambassadress. +She returns after supper; an irregularity that frightens me, who have +not yet got rid of all my barbarisms. There is one, alas! I never shall +get over--the dirt of this country: it is melancholy, after the purity +of Strawberry! The narrowness of the streets, trees clipped to resemble +brooms, and planted on pedestals of chalk, and a few other points, do +not edify me. The French Opera, which I have heard to-night, disgusted +me as much as ever; and the more for being followed by the Devin de +Village, which shows that they can sing without cracking the drum of +one's ear. The scenes and dances are delightful: the Italian comedy +charming. Then I am in love with _treillage_ and fountains, and will +prove it at Strawberry. Chantilly is so exactly what it was when I saw +it above twenty years ago, that I recollected the very position of +Monsieur le Duc's chair and the gallery. The latter gave me the first +idea of mine; but, presumption apart, mine is a thousand times prettier. +I gave my Lord Herbert's compliments to the statue of his friend the +Constable; and, waiting some time for the concierge, I called out, _Où +est Vatel_? + +In short, Madam, being as tired as one can be of one's own country,--I +don't say whether this is much or little,--I find myself wonderfully +disposed to like this. Indeed I wish I could wash it. Madame de Guerchy +is all goodness to me; but that is not new. I have already been +prevented by great civilities from Madame de Brentheim and my old +friend Madame de Mirepoix; but am not likely to see the latter much, who +is grown a most particular favourite of the King, and seldom from him. +The Dauphin is ill, and thought in a very bad way. I hope he will live, +lest the theatres should be shut up. Your ladyship knows I never trouble +my head about royalties, farther than it affects my interest. In truth, +the way that princes affect my interest is not the common way. + +I have not yet tapped the chapter of baubles, being desirous of making +my revenues maintain me here as long as possible. It will be time enough +to return to my Parliament when I want money. + +Mr. Hume, that is _the Mode_, asked much about your ladyship. I have +seen Madame de Monaco, and think her very handsome, and extremely +pleasing. The younger Madame d'Egmont, I hear, disputes the palm with +her; and Madame de Brionne is not left without partisans. The nymphs of +the theatres are _laides à faire peur_, which at my age is a piece of +luck, like going into a shop of curiosities, and finding nothing to +tempt one to throw away one's money. + +There are several English here, whether I will or not. I certainly did +not come for them, and shall connect with them as little as possible. +The few I value, I hope sometimes to hear of. Your ladyship guesses how +far that wish extends. Consider, too, Madam, that one of my +unworthinesses is washed and done away, by the confession I made in the +beginning of my letter. + + +_IS MAKING NEW FRIENDS IN PARIS--DECAY OF THE FRENCH STAGE--LE +KAIN--DUMENIL--NEW FRENCH INCLINATION FOR PHILOSOPHY AND +FREE-THINKING--GENERAL ADMIRATION OF HUME'S HISTORY AND RICHARDSON'S +NOVELS._ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +PARIS, _Sept._ 22, 1765. + +The concern I felt at not seeing you before I left England, might make +me express myself warmly, but I assure you it was nothing but concern, +nor was mixed with a grain of pouting. I knew some of your reasons, and +guessed others. The latter grieve me heartily; but I advise you to do as +I do: when I meet with ingratitude, I take a short leave both of it and +its host. Formerly I used to look out for indemnification somewhere +else; but having lived long enough to learn that the reparation +generally proved a second evil of the same sort, I am content now to +skin over such wounds with amusements, which at least leave no scars. It +is true, amusements do not always amuse when we bid them. I find it so +here; nothing strikes me; everything I do is indifferent to me. I like +the people very well, and their way of life very well; but as neither +were my object, I should not much care if they were any other people, or +it was any other way of life. I am out of England, and my purpose is +answered. + +Nothing can be more obliging than the reception I meet with everywhere. +It may not be more sincere (and why should it?) than our cold and bare +civility; but it is better dressed, and looks natural; one asks no +more. I have begun to sup in French houses, and as Lady Hertford has +left Paris to-day, shall increase my intimacies. There are swarms of +English here, but most of them are going, to my great satisfaction. As +the greatest part are very young, they can no more be entertaining to me +than I to them, and it certainly was not my countrymen that I came to +live with. Suppers please me extremely; I love to rise and breakfast +late, and to trifle away the day as I like. There are sights enough to +answer that end, and shops you know are an endless field for me. The +city appears much worse to me than I thought I remembered it. The French +music as shocking as I knew it was. The French stage is fallen off, +though in the only part I have seen Le Kain I admire him extremely. He +is very ugly and ill made, and yet has an heroic dignity which Garrick +wants, and great fire. The Dumenil I have not seen yet, but shall in a +day or two. It is a mortification that I cannot compare her with the +Clairon, who has left the stage. Grandval I saw through a whole play +without suspecting it was he. Alas! four-and-twenty years make strange +havoc with us mortals! You cannot imagine how this struck me! The +Italian comedy, now united with their _opera comique_, is their most +perfect diversion; but alas! harlequin, my dear favourite harlequin, my +passion, makes me more melancholy than cheerful. Instead of laughing, I +sit silently reflecting how everything loses charms when one's own youth +does not lend it gilding! When we are divested of that eagerness and +illusion with which our youth presents objects to us, we are but the +_caput mortuum_ of pleasure. + +Grave as these ideas are, they do not unfit me for French company. The +present tone is serious enough in conscience. Unluckily, the subjects of +their conversation are duller to me than my own thoughts, which may be +tinged with melancholy reflections, but I doubt from my constitution +will never be insipid. + +The French affect philosophy, literature, and free-thinking: the first +never did, and never will possess me; of the two others I have long been +tired. Free-thinking is for one's self, surely not for society; besides +one has settled one's way of thinking, or knows it cannot be settled, +and for others I do not see why there is not as much bigotry in +attempting conversions from any religion as to it. I dined to-day with a +dozen _savans_, and though all the servants were waiting, the +conversation was much more unrestrained, even on the Old Testament, than +I would suffer at my own table in England, if a single footman was +present. For literature, it is very amusing when one has nothing else to +do. I think it rather pedantic in society; tiresome when displayed +professedly; and, besides, in this country one is sure it is only the +fashion of the day. Their taste in it is worst of all: could one believe +that when they read our authors, Richardson and Mr. Hume should be their +favourites? The latter is treated here with perfect veneration. His +History, so falsified in many points, so partial in as many, so very +unequal in its parts, is thought the standard of writing. + +In their dress and equipages they are grown very simple. We English are +living upon their old gods and goddesses; I roll about in a chariot +decorated with cupids, and look like the grandfather of Adonis. + +Of their parliaments and clergy I hear a good deal, and attend very +little: I cannot take up any history in the middle, and was too sick of +politics at home to enter into them here. In short, I have done with the +world, and live in it rather than in a desert, like you. Few men can +bear absolute retirement, and we English worst of all. We grow so +humorsome, so obstinate and capricious, and so prejudiced, that it +requires a fund of good-nature like yours not to grow morose. Company +keeps our rind from growing too coarse and rough; and though at my +return I design not to mix in public, I do not intend to be quite a +recluse. My absence will put it in my power to take up or drop as much +as I please. Adieu! I shall inquire about your commission of books, but +having been arrived but ten days, have not yet had time. Need I say?--no +I need not--that nobody can be more affectionately yours than, &c. + + +_HIS PRESENTATION AT COURT--ILLNESS OF THE DAUPHIN--DESCRIPTION OF HIS +THREE SONS._ + +TO JOHN CHUTE, ESQ. + +PARIS, _Oct._ 3, 1765. + +I don't know where you are, nor when I am likely to hear of you. I write +at random, and, as I talk, the first thing that comes into my pen. + +I am, as you certainly conclude, much more amused than pleased. At a +certain time of life, sights and new objects may entertain one, but new +people cannot find any place in one's affection. New faces with some +name or other belonging to them, catch my attention for a minute--I +cannot say many preserve it. Five or six of the women that I have seen +already are very sensible. The men are in general much inferior, and not +even agreeable. They sent us their best, I believe, at first, the Duc de +Nivernois. Their authors, who by the way are everywhere, are worse than +their own writings, which I don't mean as a compliment to either. In +general, the style of conversation is solemn, pedantic, and seldom +animated, but by a dispute. I was expressing my aversion to disputes: +Mr. Hume, who very gratefully admires the tone of Paris, having never +known any other tone, said with great surprise, "Why, what do you like, +if you hate both disputes and whisk?" + +What strikes me the most upon the whole is, the total difference of +manners between them and us, from the greatest object to the least. +There is not the smallest similitude in the twenty-four hours. It is +obvious in every trifle. Servants carry their lady's train, and put her +into her coach with their hat on. They walk about the streets in the +rain with umbrellas to avoid putting on their hats; driving themselves +in open chaises in the country without hats, in the rain too, and yet +often wear them in a chariot in Paris when it does not rain. The very +footmen are powdered from the break of day, and yet wait behind their +master, as I saw the Duc of Praslin's do, with a red pocket-handkerchief +about their necks. Versailles, like everything else, is a mixture of +parade and poverty, and in every instance exhibits something most +dissonant from our manners. In the colonnades, upon the staircases, nay +in the antechambers of the royal family, there are people selling all +sorts of wares. While we were waiting in the Dauphin's sumptuous +bedchamber, till his dressing-room door should be opened, two fellows +were sweeping it, and dancing about in sabots to rub the floor. + +You perceive that I have been presented. The Queen took great notice of +me; none of the rest said a syllable. You are let into the King's +bedchamber just as he has put on his shirt; he dresses and talks +good-humouredly to a few, glares at strangers, goes to mass, to dinner, +and a-hunting. The good old Queen, who is like Lady Primrose in the +face, and Queen Caroline in the immensity of her cap, is at her +dressing-table, attended by two or three old ladies, who are languishing +to be in Abraham's bosom, as the only man's bosom to whom they can hope +for admittance. Thence you go to the Dauphin, for all is done in an +hour. He scarce stays a minute; indeed, poor creature, he is a ghost, +and cannot possibly last three months. The Dauphiness is in her +bedchamber, but dressed and standing; looks cross, is not civil, and has +the true Westphalian grace and accents. The four Mesdames, who are +clumsy plump old wenches, with a bad likeness to their father, stand in +a bedchamber in a row, with black cloaks and knotting-bags, looking +good-humoured, not knowing what to say, and wriggling as if they wanted +to make water. This ceremony too is very short; then you are carried to +the Dauphin's three boys, who you may be sure only bow and stare. The +Duke of Berry[1] looks weak and weak-eyed: the Count de Provence is a +fine boy; the Count d'Artois well enough. The whole concludes with +seeing the Dauphin's little girl dine, who is as round and as fat as a +pudding. + +[Footnote 1: The Duc de Berri was afterwards Louis XVI.; the Comte de +Provence became Louis XVIII.; and the Comte d'Artois, Charles X.] + +In the Queen's antechamber we foreigners and the foreign ministers were +shown the famous beast of the Gevaudan, just arrived, and covered with a +cloth, which two chasseurs lifted up. It is an absolute wolf, but +uncommonly large, and the expression of agony and fierceness remains +strongly imprinted on its dead jaws. + +I dined at the Duc of Praslin's with four-and-twenty ambassadors and +envoys, who never go but on Tuesdays to Court. He does the honours +sadly, and I believe nothing else well, looking important and empty. The +Duc de Choiseul's face, which is quite the reverse of gravity, does not +promise much more. His wife is gentle, pretty, and very agreeable. The +Duchess of Praslin, jolly, red-faced, looking very vulgar, and being +very attentive and civil. I saw the Duc de Richelieu in waiting, who is +pale, except his nose, which is red, much wrinkled, and exactly a +remnant of that age which produced General Churchill, Wilks the player, +the Duke of Argyll, &c. Adieu! + + +_SUPPER PARTIES AT PARIS--WALPOLE WRITES A LETTER FROM LE ROI DE PRUSSE +À MONSIEUR ROUSSEAU._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +PARIS, _Jan._ 12, 1766. + +I have received your letter by General Vernon, and another, to which I +have writ an answer, but was disappointed of a conveyance I expected. +You shall have it with additions, by the first messenger that goes; but +I cannot send it by the post, as I have spoken very freely of some +persons you name, in which we agree thoroughly. These few lines are only +to tell you I am not idle in writing to you. + +I almost repent having come hither; for I like the way of life and many +of the people so well, that I doubt I shall feel more regret at leaving +Paris than I expected. It would sound vain to tell you the honours and +distinctions I receive, and how much I am in fashion; yet when they come +from the handsomest women in France, and the most respectable in point +of character, can one help being a little proud? If I was twenty years +younger, I should wish they were not quite so respectable. Madame de +Brionne, whom I have never seen, and who was to have met me at supper +last night at the charming Madame d'Egmont's, sent me an invitation by +the latter for Wednesday next. I was engaged, and hesitated. I was told, +"Comment! savez-vous que c'est qu'elle ne feroit pas pour toute la +France?" However, lest you should dread my returning a perfect old +swain, I study my wrinkles, compare myself and my limbs to every plate +of larks I see, and treat my understanding with at least as little +mercy. Yet, do you know, my present fame is owing to a very trifling +composition, but which has made incredible noise. I was one evening at +Madame Geoffrin's joking on Rousseau's affectations and contradictions, +and said some things that diverted them. When I came home, I put them +into a letter, and showed it next day to Helvetius and the Duc de +Nivernois; who were so pleased with it, that after telling me some +faults in the language, which you may be sure there were, they +encouraged me to let it be seen. As you know I willingly laugh at +mountebanks, _political_ or literary, let their talents be ever so +great, I was not averse. The copies have spread like wild-fire; _et me +voici à la mode_! I expect the end of my reign at the end of the week +with great composure. Here is the letter:-- + +LE ROI DE PRUSSE A MONSIEUR ROUSSEAU.[1] + +MON CHER JEAN JACQUES, + +Vous avez renoncé à Génève votre patrie; vous vous êtes fait chasser de +la Suisse, pays tant vanté dans vos écrits; la France vous a décreté. +Venez donz chez moi; j'admire vos talens; je m'amuse de vos rêveries, +qui (soit dit en passant) vous occupent trop, et trop long tems. Il faut +à la fin être sage et heureux. Vous avez fait assez parler de vous par +des singularités peu convenables à un véritable grand homme. Démontrez à +vos ennemis que vous pouvez avoir quelquefois le sens commun: cela les +fachera, sans vous faire tort. Mes états vous offrent une retraite +paisible; je vous veux du bien, et je vous en ferai, si vous le trouvez +bon. Mais si vous vous obstiniez à rejetter mons secours, attendez-vous +que je ne le dirai à personne. Si vous persistez à vous creuser +l'esprit pour trouver de nouveaux malheurs, choisissez les tels que vous +voudrez. Je suis roi, je puis vous en procurer au gré de vos souhaits: +et ce qui sûrement ne vous arrivera pas vis à vis de vos ennemis, je +cesserai de vous persecuter quand vous cesserez de mettre votre gloire à +l'être. + +Votre bon ami, + +FRÉDÉRIC. + +[Footnote 1: Rousseau was always ready to believe in plots to mortify +and injure him; and he was so much annoyed by this composition of +Walpole's, that, shortly after his arrival in England, he addressed the +following letter to _The London Chronicle_:-- + +"WOOTTON [IN DERBYSHIRE], _March_ 3, 1766 + +"You have failed, Sir, in the respect which every private person owes to +a crowned head, in attributing publicly to the King of Prussia a letter +full of extravagance and malignity, of which, for those very reasons, +you ought to have known he could not be the author. You have even dared +to transcribe his signature, as if you had seen him write it with his +own hand. I inform you, Sir, that the letter was fabricated at Paris, +and what rends my heart is that the impostor has accomplices in England. +You owe to the King of Prussia, to truth, and to me to print the letter +which I write to you, and which I sign, as an atonement for a fault with +which you would doubtless reproach yourself severely, if you knew to +what a dark transaction you have rendered yourself an accessory. I +salute you, Sir, very sincerely, + +"ROUSSEAU."] + +The Princesse de Ligne, whose mother was an Englishwoman, made a good +observation to me last night. She said, "Je suis roi, je puis vous +procurer de malheurs," was plainly the stroke of an English pen. I +said, then I had certainly not well imitated the character in which I +wrote. You will say I am a bold man to attack both Voltaire and +Rousseau. It is true; but I shoot at their heel, at their vulnerable +part. + +I beg your pardon for taking up your time with these trifles. The day +after to-morrow we go in cavalcade with the Duchess of Richmond to her +audience; I have got my cravat and shammy shoes. Adieu! + + +_A CONSTANT ROUND OF AMUSEMENTS--A GALLERY OF FEMALE PORTRAITS--MADAME +GEOFFRIN--MADAME DU DEFFAND--MADAME DE MIREPOIX--MADAME DE +BOUFFLERS--MADAME DE ROCHFORT--THE MARÉCHALE DE LUXEMBURG--THE DUCHESSE +DE CHOISEUL--AN OLD FRENCH DANDY--M. DE MAUREPAS--POPULARITY OF HIS +LETTER TO ROUSSEAU._ + +TO MR. GRAY. + +PARIS, _Jan._ 25, 1766. + +I am much indebted to you for your kind letter and advice; and though it +is late to thank you for it, it is at least a stronger proof that I do +not forget it. However, I am a little obstinate, as you know, on the +chapter of health, and have persisted through this Siberian winter in +not adding a grain to my clothes, and going open-breasted without an +under waistcoat. In short, though I like extremely to live, it must be +in my own way, as long as I can: it is not youth I court, but liberty; +and I think making oneself tender is issuing a _general warrant_ +against one's own person. I suppose I shall submit to confinement when I +cannot help it; but I am indifferent enough to life not to care if it +ends soon after my prison begins. + +I have not delayed so long to answer your letter, from not thinking of +it, or from want of matter, but from want of time. I am constantly +occupied, engaged, amused, till I cannot bring a hundredth part of what +I have to say into the compass of a letter. You will lose nothing by +this: you know my volubility, when I am full of new subjects; and I have +at least many hours of conversation for you at my return. One does not +learn a whole nation in four or five months; but, for the time, few, I +believe, have seen, studied, or got so much acquainted with the French +as I have. + +By what I said of their religious or rather irreligious opinions, you +must not conclude their people of quality atheists--at least, not the +men. Happily for them, poor souls! they are not capable of going so far +into thinking. They assent to a great deal, because it is the fashion, +and because they don't know how to contradict. They are ashamed to +defend the Roman Catholic religion, because it is quite exploded; but I +am convinced they believe it in their hearts. They hate the Parliaments +and the philosophers, and are rejoiced that they may still idolise +royalty. At present, too, they are a little triumphant: the Court has +shown a little spirit, and the Parliaments much less: but as the Duc de +Choiseul, who is very fluttering, unsettled, and inclined to the +philosophers, has made a compromise with the Parliament of Bretagne, the +Parliaments might venture out again, if, as I fancy will be the case, +they are not glad to drop a cause, of which they began to be a little +weary of the inconveniences. + +The generality of the men, and more than the generality are dull and +empty. They have taken up gravity, thinking it was philosophy and +English, and so have acquired nothing in the room of their natural +levity and cheerfulness. However, as their high opinion of their own +country remains, for which they can no longer assign any reason, they +are contemptuous and reserved, instead of being ridiculously, +consequently pardonably, impertinent. I have wondered, knowing my own +countrymen, that we had attained such a superiority. I wonder no longer, +and have a little more respect for English _heads_ than I had. + +The women do not seem of the same country: if they are less gay than +they were, they are more informed, enough to make them very conversable. +I know six or seven with very superior understandings; some of them with +wit, or with softness, or very good sense. + +[Illustration: THOMAS GRAY, THE POET. + +_From a drawing in the National Portrait Gallery by James Basire, after +a sketch by Gray's friend and biographer, the Rev. William Mason._] + +Madame Geoffrin, of whom you have heard much, is an extraordinary woman, +with more common sense than I almost ever met with. Great quickness in +discovering characters, penetration in going to the bottom of them, and +a pencil that never fails in a likeness--seldom a favourable one. She +exacts and preserves, spite of her birth and their nonsensical +prejudices about nobility, great court and attention. This she acquires +by a thousand little arts and offices of friendship: and by a freedom +and severity, which seem to be her sole end of drawing a concourse to +her; for she insists on scolding those she inveigles to her. She has +little taste and less knowledge, but protects artisans and authors, and +courts a few people to have the credit of serving her dependents. She +was bred under the famous Madame Tencin,[1] who advised her never to +refuse any man; for, said her mistress, though nine in ten should not +care a farthing for you, the tenth may live to be an useful friend. She +did not adopt or reject the whole plan, but fully retained the purport +of the maxim. In short, she is an epitome of empire, subsisting by +rewards and punishments. Her great enemy, Madame du Deffand,[2] was for +a short time mistress of the Regent, is now very old and stoneblind, but +retains all her vivacity, wit, memory, judgment, passions, and +agreeableness. She goes to Operas, Plays, suppers, and Versailles; gives +suppers twice a week; has everything new read to her; makes new songs +and epigrams, ay, admirably, and remembers every one that has been made +these four-score years. She corresponds with Voltaire, dictates charming +letters to him, contradicts him, is no bigot to him or anybody, and +laughs both at the clergy and the philosophers. In a dispute, into which +she easily falls, she is very warm, and yet scarce ever in the wrong: +her judgment on every subject is as just as possible; on every point of +conduct as wrong as possible: for she is all love and hatred, passionate +for her friends to enthusiasm, still anxious to be loved, I don't mean +by lovers, and a vehement enemy, but openly. As she can have no +amusement but conversation, the least solitude and _ennui_ are +insupportable to her, and put her into the power of several worthless +people, who eat her suppers when they can eat nobody's of higher rank; +wink to one another and laugh at her; hate her because she has forty +times more parts--and venture to hate her because she is not rich.[3] +She has an old friend whom I must mention, a Monsieur Pondeveyle, author +of the "Fatpuni," and the "Complaisant," and of those pretty novels, the +"Comte de Cominge," the "Siege of Calais," and "Les Malheurs de +l'Amour." Would you not expect this old man to be very agreeable? He can +be so, but seldom is: yet he has another very different and very +amusing talent, the art of parody, and is unique in his kind. He +composes tales to the tunes of long dances: for instance, he has adapted +the Regent's "Daphnis and Chloe" to one, and made it ten times more +indecent; but is so old, and sings it so well, that it is permitted in +all companies. He has succeeded still better in _les caractères de la +danse_, to which he has adapted words that express all the characters of +love. With all this he has not the least idea of cheerfulness in +conversation; seldom speaks but on grave subjects, and not often on +them; is a humourist, very supercilious, and wrapt up in admiration of +his own country, as the only judge of his merit. His air and look are +cold and forbidding; but ask him to sing, or praise his works, his eyes +and smiles open and brighten up. In short, I can show him to you: the +self-applauding poet in Hogarth's Rake's Progress, the second print, is +so like his very features and very wig, that you would know him by it, +if you came hither--for he certainly will not go to you. + +[Footnote 1: _"The famous Mme. Tencin._" "Infamous" would be more +appropriate. She had been the mistress of Dubois, and was the mother of +D'Alembert.] + +[Footnote 2: His description of her on first making her acquaintance was +not altogether complimentary. In a letter of the preceding October he +calls her "an old blind debauchée of wit." In fact, she had been one of +the mistresses of the Regent, Duc d'Orléans, and at first his chief +inducement to court her society was to hear anecdotes of the Regent. But +gradually he became so enamoured of her society that he kept up an +intimacy with her till her death in 1783. There must be allowed to be +much delicate perception and delineation of character in this +description of the French fine ladies of the time.] + +[Footnote 3: To the above portrait of Madame du Deffand it may be useful +to subjoin the able development of her character which appeared in the +_Quarterly Review_ for May, 1811, in its critique on her Letters to +Walpole:--"This lady seems to have united the lightness of the French +character with the solidity of the English. She was easy and volatile, +yet judicious and acute; sometimes profound and sometimes superficial. +She had a wit playful, abundant, and well-toned; an admirable conception +of the ridiculous, and great skill in exposing it; a turn for satire, +which she indulged, not always in the best-natured manner, yet with +irresistible effect; powers of expression varied, appropriate, flowing +from the source, and curious without research; a refined taste for +letters, and a judgment both of men and books in a high degree +enlightened and accurate."] + +Madame de Mirepoix's understanding is excellent of the useful kind, and +can be so when she pleases of the agreeable kind. She has read, but +seldom shows it, and has perfect taste. Her manner is cold, but very +civil; and she conceals even the blood of Lorraine, without ever +forgetting it. Nobody in France knows the world better, and nobody is +personally so well with the King. She is false, artful, and insinuating +beyond measure when it is her interest, but indolent and a coward. She +never had any passion but gaming, and always loses. For ever paying +court, the sole produce of a life of art is to get money from the King +to carry on a course of paying debts or contracting new ones, which she +discharges as fast as she is able. She advertised devotion to get made +_dame du palais_ to the Queen; and the very next day this Princess of +Lorraine was seen riding backwards with Madame Pompadour in the latter's +coach. When the King was stabbed, and heartily frightened, the mistress +took a panic too, and consulted D'Argenson, whether she had not best +make off in time. He hated her, and said, By all means. Madame de +Mirepoix advised her to stay. The King recovered his spirits, D'Argenson +was banished,[1] and La Maréchale inherited part of the mistress's +credit.--I must interrupt my history of illustrious women with an +anecdote of Monsieur de Maurepas, with whom I am much acquainted, and +who has one of the few heads which approach to good ones, and who +luckily for us was disgraced, and the marine dropped, because it was his +favourite object and province. He employed Pondeveyle to make a song on +the Pompadour: it was clever and bitter, and did not spare even Majesty. +This was Maurepas absurd enough to sing at supper at Versailles. +Banishment ensued; and lest he should ever be restored, the mistress +persuaded the King that he had poisoned her predecessor Madame de +Chateauroux. Maurepas is very agreeable, and exceedingly cheerful; yet I +have seen a transient silent cloud when politics are talked of. + +[Footnote 1: The Comte d'Argenson was Minister at War.] + +Madame de Boufflers, who was in England, is a _savante_, mistress of the +Prince of Conti, and very desirous of being his wife. She is two women, +the upper and the lower. I need not tell you that the lower is gallant, +and still has pretensions. The upper is very sensible, too, and has a +measured eloquence that is just and pleasing--but all is spoiled by an +unrelaxed attention to applause. You would think she was always sitting +for her picture to her biographer. + +Madame de Rochfort is different from all the rest. Her understanding is +just and delicate; with a finesse of wit that is the result of +reflection. Her manner is soft and feminine, and though a _savante_, +without any declared pretensions. She is the _decent_ friend of Monsieur +de Nivernois; for you must not believe a syllable of what you read in +their novels. It requires the greatest curiosity, or the greatest +habitude, to discover the smallest connexion between the sexes here. No +familiarity, but under the veil of friendship, is permitted, and Love's +dictionary is as much prohibited, as at first sight one should think his +ritual was. All you hear, and that pronounced with _nonchalance_, is, +that _Monsieur un tel_ has had _Madame une telle_. + +The Duc de Nivernois has parts, and writes at the top of the mediocre, +but, as Madame Geoffrin says, is _manqué par tout; guerrier manqué, +ambassadeur manqué, homme d'affaires manqué_, and _auteur manque_--no, +he is not _homme de naissance manqué_. He would think freely, but has +some ambition of being governor to the Dauphin, and is more afraid of +his wife and daughter, who are ecclesiastic fagots. The former +out-chatters the Duke of Newcastle; and the latter, Madame de Gisors, +exhausts Mr. Pitt's eloquence in defence of the Archbishop of Paris. +Monsieur de Nivernois lives in a small circle of dependent admirers, and +Madame de Rochfort is high-priestess for a small salary of credit. + +The Duchess of Choiseul, the only young one of these heroines, is not +very pretty, but has fine eyes, and is a little model in waxwork, which +not being allowed to speak for some time as incapable, has a hesitation +and modesty, the latter of which the Court has not cured, and the former +of which is atoned for by the most interesting sound of voice, and +forgotten in the most elegant turn and propriety of expression. Oh! it +is the gentlest, amiable, civil little creature that ever came out of a +fairy egg! so just in its phrases and thoughts, so attentive and +good-natured! Everybody loves it but its husband, who prefers his own +sister the Duchesse de Granmont, an Amazonian, fierce, haughty dame, who +loves and hates arbitrarily, and is detested. Madame de Choiseul, +passionately fond of her husband, was the martyr of this union, but at +last submitted with a good grace; has gained a little credit with him, +and is still believed to idolize him. But I doubt it--she takes too much +pains to profess it. + +I cannot finish my list without adding a much more common character--but +more complete in its kind than any of the foregoing, the Maréchale de +Luxembourg. She has been very handsome, very abandoned, and very +mischievous. Her beauty is gone, her lovers are gone, and she thinks the +devil is coming. This dejection has softened her into being rather +agreeable, for she has wit and good-breeding; but you would swear, by +the restlessness of her person and the horrors she cannot conceal, that +she had signed the compact, and expected to be called upon in a week for +the performance. + +I could add many pictures, but none so remarkable. In those I send you +there is not a feature bestowed gratis or exaggerated. For the beauties, +of which there are a few considerable, as Mesdames de Brionne, de +Monaco, et d'Egmont, they have not yet lost their characters, nor got +any. + +You must not attribute my intimacy with Paris to curiosity alone. An +accident unlocked the doors for me. That _passe-par-tout_ called the +fashion has made them fly open--and what do you think was that +fashion?--I myself. Yes, like Queen Eleanor in the ballad, I sunk at +Charing Cross, and have risen in the Fauxbourg St. Germain. A +_plaisanterie_ on Rousseau, whose arrival here in his way to you brought +me acquainted with many anecdotes conformable to the idea I had +conceived of him, got about, was liked much more than it deserved, +spread like wild-fire, and made me the subject of conversation. +Rousseau's devotees were offended. Madame de Boufflers, with a tone of +sentiment, and the accents of lamenting humanity, abused me heartily, +and then complained to myself with the utmost softness. I acted +contrition, but had liked to have spoiled all, by growing dreadfully +tired of a second lecture from the Prince of Conti, who took up the +ball, and made himself the hero of a history wherein he had nothing to +do. I listened, did not understand half he said (nor he either), forgot +the rest, said Yes when I should have said No, yawned when I should have +smiled, and was very penitent when I should have rejoiced at my pardon. +Madame de Boufflers was more distressed, for he owned twenty times more +than I had said: she frowned, and made him signs; but she had wound up +his clack, and there was no stopping it. The moment she grew angry, the +lord of the house grew charmed, and it has been my fault if I am not at +the head of a numerous sect; but, when I left a triumphant party in +England, I did not come here to be at the head of a fashion. However, I +have been sent for about like an African prince, or a learned +canary-bird, and was, in particular, carried by force to the Princess of +Talmond,[1] the Queen's cousin, who lives in a charitable apartment in +the Luxembourg, and was sitting on a small bed hung with saints and +Sobieskis, in a corner of one of those vast chambers, by two blinking +tapers. I stumbled over a cat and a footstool in my journey to her +presence. She could not find a syllable to say to me, and the visit +ended with her begging a lap-dog. Thank the Lord! though this is the +first month, it is the last week of my reign; and I shall resign my +crown with great satisfaction to a _bouillie_ of chestnuts, which is +just invented, and whose annals will be illustrated by so many +indigestions, that Paris will not want anything else these three weeks. +I will enclose the fatal letter[2] after I have finished this enormous +one; to which I will only add, that nothing has interrupted my Sévigné +researches but the frost. The Abbé de Malesherbes has given me full +power to ransack Livry. I did not tell you, that by great accident, when +I thought on nothing less, I stumbled on an original picture of the +Comte de Grammont. Adieu! You are generally in London in March; I shall +be there by the end of it.[3] + +[Footnote 1: The Princess of Talmond was born in Poland, and said to be +allied to the Queen, Marie Leczinska, with whom she came to France, and +there married a prince of the house of Bouillon.] + +[Footnote 2: The letter from the King of Prussia to Rousseau.--WALPOLE.] + +[Footnote 3: Gray, in reference to this letter, writes thus to Dr. +Wharton, on the 5th of March:--"Mr. Walpole writes me now and then a +long and lively letter from Paris, to which place he went the last +summer, with the gout upon him; sometimes in his limbs; often in his +stomach and head. He has got somehow well (not by means of the climate, +one would think) goes to all public places, sees all the best company, +and is very much in fashion. He says he sunk, like Queen Eleanor, at +Charing Cross, and has risen again at Paris. He returns again in April; +but his health is certainly in a deplorable state."--_Works by Mitford_, +vol. iv. p. 79.] + + +_SITUATION OF AFFAIRS IN ENGLAND--CARDINAL YORK--DEATH OF STANILAUS +LECZINSKI, EX-KING OF POLAND._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +PARIS, _Feb._ 29, 1766. + +I have received your letters very regularly, and though I have not sent +you nearly so many, yet I have not been wanting to our correspondence, +when I have had anything particular to say, or knew what to say. The +Duke of Richmond has been gone to England this fortnight; he had a +great deal of business, besides engagements here; and if he has failed +writing, at least I believe he received yours. Mr. Conway, I suppose, +has received them too, but not to my knowledge; for I have received but +one from him this age. He has had something else to do than to think of +Pretenders, and pretenders to pretensions. It has been a question (and a +question scarcely decided yet) not only whether he and his friends +should remain Ministers, but whether we should not draw the sword on our +colonies, and provoke them and the manufacturers at home to rebellion. +The goodness of Providence, or Fortune by its permission, has +interposed, and I hope prevented blood; though George Grenville and the +Duke of Bedford, who so mercifully checked our victories, in compassion +to France, grew heroes the moment there was an opportunity of conquering +our own brethren. It was actually moved by them and their banditti to +send troops to America. The stout Earl of Bute, who is never afraid when +not personally in danger, joined his troops to his ancient friends, late +foes, and now new allies. Yet this second race of Spaniards, so fond of +gold and thirsting after American blood, were routed by 274; their whole +force amounting but to 134. The Earl, astonished at this defeat, had +recourse to that kind of policy which Machiavel recommends in his +chapter of _back-stairs_. Caesar himself disavowed his Ministers, and +declared he had not been for the repeal, and that his servants had used +his name without his permission. A paper was produced to his eyes, +which proved this denial an equivocation. The Ministers, instead of +tossing their places into the middle of the closet, as I should have +done, had the courage and virtue to stand firm, and save both Europe and +America from destruction. + +At that instant, who do you think presented himself as Lord Bute's +guardian angel? only one of his bitterest enemies: a milk-white angel +[Duke of York], white even to his eyes and eyelashes, very purblind, and +whose tongue runs like a fiddlestick. You have seen this divinity, and +have prayed to it for a Riband. Well, this god of love became the god of +politics, and contrived meetings between Bute, Grenville, and Bedford; +but, what happens to highwaymen _after_ a robbery, happened to them +_before_; they quarrelled about the division of the plunder, before they +had made the capture--and thus, when the last letters came away, the +repeal was likely to pass in both houses, and tyranny once more +despairs. + +This is the quintessence of the present situation in England. To how +many _North Britons_, No. 45, will that wretched Scot furnish matter? +But let us talk of your _Cardinal Duke of York_[1]: so his folly has +left his brother in a worse situation than he took him up! _York_ seems +a title fated to sit on silly heads--or don't let us talk of him; he is +not worth it. + +[Footnote 1: Cardinal York was the younger brother of Charles Edward. He +lived in Italy; and, after the death of his brother, assumed the title +of King of England as Henry IX. After the confiscation of the greater +part of the Papal revenues by Napoleon, his chief means of livelihood +was a pension of £4,000 a year allowed him by George IV. out of his +private purse.] + +I am so sorry for the death of Lady Hillsborough, as I suppose Mr. +Skreene is glad of his consort's departure. She was a common creature, +bestowed on the public by Lord Sandwich. Lady Hillsborough had sense and +merit, and is a great loss to her family. By letters hither, we hear +miserable accounts of poor Sir James Macdonald; pray let him know that I +have written to him, and how much I am concerned for his situation. + +This Court is plunged into another deep mourning for the death of old +Stanislaus,[1] who fell into the fire; it caught his night-gown and +burnt him terribly before he got assistance. His subjects are in +despair, for he was a model of goodness and humanity; uniting or rather +creating, generosity from economy. The Poles had not the sense to +re-elect him, after his virtues were proved, they who had chosen him +before they knew him. I am told such was the old man's affection for his +country, and persuasion that he ought to do all the good he could, that +he would have gone to Poland if they had offered him the crown. He has +left six hundred thousand livres, and a _rente viagere_ of forty +thousand crowns to the Queen, saved from the sale of his Polish estates, +from his pension of two millions, and from his own liberality. His +buildings, his employment of the poor, his magnificence, and his +economy, were constant topics of admiration. Not only the court-tables +were regularly and nobly served, but he treated, and defrayed his old +enemy's grand-daughter, the Princess Christina, on her journey hither to +see her sister the Dauphiness. When mesdames his grand-daughters made +him an unexpected visit, he was so disturbed for fear it should derange +his finances, which he thought were not in advance, that he shut himself +up for an hour with his treasurer, to find resources; was charmed to +know he should not run in debt, and entertained them magnificently. His +end was calm and gay, like his life, though he suffered terribly, and he +said so extraordinary a life could not finish in a common way. To a lady +who had set her ruffle on fire, and scorched her arm about the same +time, he said, "Madame, nous brulons du même feu." The poor Queen had +sent him the very night-gown that occasioned his death: he wrote to her, +"C'étoit pour me tenir chaud, mais il m'a tenu trop chaud." + +[Footnote 1: Stanislaus Leczinski was the father of the queen of Louis +XV. On the conclusion of peace between France and the Empire it was +arranged that the Duke of Lorraine should exchange that duchy for +Tuscany, and that Lorraine should be allotted to Stanislaus, with a +reversion to his daughter and to France after his death.] + +Yesterday we had the funeral oration on the Dauphin; and are soon to +have one on Stanislaus. It is a noble subject; but if I had leisure, I +would compose a grand funeral oration on the number of princes dead +within these six months. What fine pictures, contrasts, and comparisons +they would furnish! The Duke of Parma and the King of Denmark reigning +virtuously with absolute power! The Emperor at the head of Europe, and +encompassed with mimic Roman eagles, tied to the apron-strings, of a +bigoted and jealous virago. The Dauphin cultivating virtues under the +shade of so bright a crown, and shining only at the moment that he was +snatched from the prospect of empire. The old Pretender wasting away in +obscurity and misfortune, after surviving the Duke of Cumberland, who +had given the last blow to the hopes of his family; and Stanislaus +perishing by an accident,--he who had swam over the billows raised by +Peter the Great and Charles XII., and reigning, while his successor and +second of his name was reigning on his throne. It is not taking from the +funereal part to add, that when so many good princes die, the Czarina is +still living! + +The public again thinks itself on the eve of a war, by the recall of +Stahremberg, the Imperial Minister. It seems at least to destroy the +expectation of a match between the youngest Archduchess and the Dauphin, +which it was thought Stahremberg remained here to bring about. I like +your Great Duke for feeling the loss of his Minister. It is seldom that +a young sovereign misses a governor before he tastes the fruits of his +own incapacity. + +_March_ 1_st_. + +We have got more letters from England, where the Ministers are still +triumphant. They had a majority of 108 on the day that it was voted to +bring in a bill to repeal the Stamp Act. George Grenville's ignorance +and blunders were displayed to his face and to the whole world; he was +hissed through the Court of Requests, where Mr. Conway was huzza'd. It +went still farther for Mr. Pitt, whom the mob accompanied home with "Io +Pitts!" This is new for an opposition to be so unpopular. Adieu! + + +_SINGULAR RIOT IN MADRID--CHANGES IN THE FRENCH MINISTRY--INSURRECTIONS +IN THE PROVINCES._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +PARIS, _April_ 8, 1766. + +I sent you a few lines by the post yesterday with the first accounts of +the insurrections at Madrid.[1] I have since seen Stahremberg, the +imperial minister,[2] who has had a courier from thence; and if Lord +Rochford has not sent one, you will not be sorry to know more +particulars. The mob disarmed the Invalids; stopped all coaches, to +prevent Squillaci's[3] flight; and meeting the Duke de Medina Celi, +forced him and the Duke d'Arcos to carry their demands to the King. His +most frightened Majesty granted them directly; on which his highness the +people despatched a monk with their demands in writing, couched in four +articles: the diminution of the gabel on bread and oil; the revocation +of the ordonnance on hats and cloaks; the banishment of Squillaci; and +the abolition of some other tax, I don't know what. The King signed +all; yet was still forced to appear in a balcony, and promise to observe +what he had granted. Squillaci was sent with an escort to Carthagena, to +embark for Naples, and the first commissioner of the treasury appointed +to succeed him; which does not look much like observation of the +conditions. Some say Ensenada is recalled, and that Grimaldi is in no +good odour with the people. If the latter and Squillaci are dismissed, +we get rid of two enemies. + +[Footnote 1: The Spanish Government had taken on itself to regulate +dress, and to introduce French fashions into Madrid--an innovation so +offensive to Spanish pride, that it gave rise to a formidable +insurrection, of which the populace took advantage to demand the removal +of some obnoxious taxes.] + +[Footnote 2: Prince Stahremberg was the imperial ambassador at Madrid.] + +[Footnote 3: Signor Squillaci, an Italian, was the Spanish Prime +Minister.] + +The tumult ceased on the grant of the demands; but the King retiring +that night to Aranjuez, the insurrection was renewed the next morning, +on pretence that this flight was a breach of the capitulation. The +people seized the gates of the capital, and permitted nobody to go out. +In this state were things when the courier came away. The ordonnance +against going in disguise looks as if some suspicions had been +conceived; and yet their confidence was so great as not to have two +thousand guards in the town. The pitiful behaviour of the Court makes +one think that the Italians were frightened, and that the Spanish part +of the ministry were not sorry it took that turn. As I suppose there is +no great city in Spain which has not at least a bigger bundle of +grievances than the capital, one shall not wonder if the pusillanimous +behaviour of the King encourages them to redress themselves too. + +There is what is called a change of the ministry here; but it is only a +crossing over and figuring in. The Duc de Praslin has wished to retire +for some time; and for this last fortnight there has been much talk of +his being replaced by the Duc d'Aiguillon, the Duc de Nivernois, &c.; +but it is plain, though not believed till _now_, that the Duc de +Choiseul is all-powerful. To purchase the stay of his cousin Praslin, on +whom he can depend, and to leave no cranny open, he has ceded the marine +and colonies to the Duc de Praslin, and taken the foreign and military +department himself. His cousin is, besides, named _chef du conseil des +finances_; a very honourable, very dignified, and very idle place, and +never filled since the Duc de Bethune had it. Praslin's hopeful cub, the +Viscount, whom you saw in England last year, goes to Naples; and the +Marquis de Durfort to Vienna--a cold, dry, proud man, with the figure +and manner of Lord Cornbury. + +Great matters are expected to-day from the Parliament, which +re-assembles. A _mousquetaire_, his piece loaded with a _lettre de +cachet_, went about a fortnight ago to the notary who keeps the +parliamentary registers, and demanded them. They were refused--but given +up, on the _lettre de cachet_ being produced. The Parliament intends to +try the notary for breach of trust, which I suppose will make his +fortune; though he has not the merit of perjury, like Carteret Webb. + +There have been insurrections at Bourdeaux and Toulouse on the militia, +and twenty-seven persons were killed at the latter; but both are +appeased. These things are so much in vogue, that I wonder the French do +not dress _à la révolte_. The Queen is in a very dangerous way. This +will be my last letter; but I am not sure I shall set out before the +middle of next week. Yours ever. + + +_THE BATH GUIDE--SWIFT'S CORRESPONDENCE._ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 20, 1766. + +I don't know when I shall see you, but therefore must not I write to +you? yet I have as little to say as may be. I could cry through a whole +page over the bad weather. I have but a lock of hay, you know, and I +cannot get it dry, unless I bring it to the fire. I would give +half-a-crown for a pennyworth of sun. It is abominable to be ruined in +coals in the middle of June. + +What pleasure have you to come! there is a new thing published, that +will make you burst your cheeks with laughing. It is called the "New +Bath Guide."[1] It stole into the world, and for a fortnight no soul +looked into it, concluding its name was its true name. No such thing. It +is a set of letters in verse, in all kind of verses, describing the life +at Bath, and incidentally everything else; but so much wit, so much +humour, fun, and poetry, so much originality, never met together before. +Then the man has a better ear than Dryden or Handel. _Apropos_ to +Dryden, he has burlesqued his St. Cecilia, that you will never read it +again without laughing. There is a description of a milliner's box in +all the terms of landscape, _painted lawns and chequered shades_, a +Moravian ode, and a Methodist ditty, that are incomparable, and the best +names that ever were composed. I can say it by heart, though a quarto, +and if I had time would write it you down; for it is not yet reprinted, +and not one to be had. + +[Footnote 1: By Christopher Anstey. "Have you read the 'New Bath Guide'? +It is the only thing in fashion, and is a new and original kind of +humour. Miss Prue's conversation I doubt you will paste down, as Sir W. +St. Quintyn did before he carried it to his daughter; yet I remember you +all read 'Crazy Tales' without pasting" (_Gray to Wharton.--Works by +Mitford_, vol. iv. p. 84).] + +There are two new volumes, too, of Swift's Correspondence, that will not +amuse you less in another way, though abominable, for there are letters +of twenty persons now alive; fifty of Lady Betty Germain, one that does +her great honour, in which she defends her friend my Lady Suffolk, with +all the spirit in the world,[1] against that brute, who hated everybody +that he hoped would get him a mitre, and did not. There is one to his +Miss Vanhomrigh, from which I think it plain he lay with her, +notwithstanding his supposed incapacity, yet not doing much honour to +that capacity, for he says he can drink coffee but once a week, and I +think you will see very clearly what he means by coffee. His own journal +sent to Stella during the four last years of the Queen, is a fund of +entertainment. You will see his insolence in full colours, and, at the +same time, how daily vain he was of being noticed by the Ministers he +affected to treat arrogantly. His panic at the Mohocks is comical; but +what strikes one, is bringing before one's eyes the incidents of a +curious period. He goes to the rehearsal of "Cato," and says the _drab_ +that acted Cato's daughter could not say her part. This was only Mrs. +Oldfield. I was saying before George Selwyn, that this journal put me in +mind of the present time, there was the same indecision, irresolution, +and want of system; but I added, "There is nothing new under the sun." +"No," said Selwyn, "nor under the grandson." + +[Footnote 1: The letter dated Feb. 8, 1732-3.] + +My Lord Chesterfield has done me much honour: he told Mrs. Anne Pitt +that he would subscribe to any politics I should lay down. When she +repeated this to me, I said, "Pray tell him I have laid down politics." + +I am got into puns, and will tell you an excellent one of the King of +France, though it does not spell any better than Selwyn's. You must have +heard of Count Lauragais, and his horse-race, and his quacking his horse +till he killed it.[1] At his return the King asked him what he had been +doing in England? "Sire, j'ai appris à penser"--"Des chevaux?"[2] +replied the King. Good night! I am tired and going to bed. Yours ever. + +[Footnote 1: In a previous letter Walpole mentioned that the Count and +the English Lord Forbes had had a race, which the Count lost; and that, +as his horse died the following night, surgeons were employed to open +the body, and they declared he had been poisoned. "The English," says +Walpole, "suspect that a groom, who, I suppose, had been reading Livy or +Demosthenes, poisoned it on patriotic principles to secure victory to +his country. The French, on the contrary, think poison as common as oats +or beans in the stables at Newmarket. In short, there is no impertinence +which they have not uttered; and it has gone so far that two nights ago +it was said that the King had forbidden another race which was appointed +for Monday between the Prince de Nassau and a Mr. Forth, to prevent +national animosities."] + +[Footnote 2: Louis pretending to think he had said _pansen_.] + + +_BATH--WESLEY._ + +TO JOHN CHUTE, ESQ. + +BATH, _Oct._ 10, 1766. + +I am impatient to hear that your charity to me has not ended in the gout +to yourself--all my comfort is, if you have it, that you have good Lady +Brown to nurse you.[1] + +[Footnote 1: In a letter of the preceding week he mentions having gone +to Bath to drink the waters there, but "is disappointed in the city. +Their new buildings, that are so admired, look like a collection of +little hospitals. The rest is detestable, and all crammed together, and +surrounded with perpendicular hills that have no beauty. The river [the +Avon] is paltry enough to be the Seine or the Tiber. Oh! how unlike my +lovely Thames!"] + +My health advances faster than my amusement. However, I have been to one +opera, Mr. Wesley's. They have boys and girls with charming voices, that +sing hymns, in parts, to Scotch ballad tunes; but indeed so long, that +one would think they were already in eternity, and knew how much time +they had before them. The chapel is very neat, with true Gothic windows +(yet I am not converted); but I was glad to see that luxury is creeping +in upon them before persecution: they have very neat mahogany stands for +branches, and brackets of the same in taste. At the upper end is a broad +_hautpas_ of four steps, advancing in the middle: at each end of the +broadest part are two of _my_ eagles, with red cushions for the parson +and clerk. Behind them rise three more steps, in the midst of which is a +third eagle for pulpit. Scarlet armed chairs to all three. On either +hand, a balcony for elect ladies. The rest of the congregation sit on +forms. Behind the pit, in a dark niche, is a plain table within rails; +so you see the throne is for the apostle. Wesley is a lean elderly man, +fresh-coloured, his hair smoothly combed, but with a _soupçon_ of curl +at the ends. Wondrous clean, but as evidently an actor as Garrick. He +spoke his sermon, but so fast, and with so little accent, that I am sure +he has often uttered it, for it was like a lesson. There were parts and +eloquence in it; but towards the end he exalted his voice, and acted +very ugly enthusiasm; decried learning, and told stories, like Latimer, +of the fool of his college, who said, "I _thanks_ God for everything." +Except a few from curiosity, and _some honourable women_, the +congregation was very mean. There was a Scotch Countess of Buchan, who +is carrying a pure rosy vulgar face to heaven, and who asked Miss Rich, +if that was _the author of the poets_. I believe she meant me and the +"Noble Authors." + +The Bedfords came last night. Lord Chatham was with me yesterday two +hours; looks and walks well, and is in excellent political spirits. + + +_MINISTERIAL DIFFICULTIES--RETURN OF LORD CLIVE._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 20, 1767. + +You have heard enough, even in the late reign, of our +_interministeriums_, not to be surprised that the present lasts so +long. I am not writing now to tell you it is at an end; but I thought +you might grow impatient. + +The Parliament was scarcely separated when a negotiation was begun with +the Bedfords, through Lord Gower; with a view to strengthen the remains +of Administration by that faction,[1] but with no intention of including +George Grenville, who is more hated at Court than he is even in other +places. After some treaty, Lord Gower, much against his will, I believe, +was forced to bring word, that there was no objection made by his +friends to the Treasury remaining in the Duke of Grafton; that Grenville +would support without a place; but Lord Temple (who the deuce thought of +Lord Temple?) insisted on equal power, as he had demanded with Lord +Chatham. There was no end of that treaty! Another was then begun with +Lord Rockingham. He pleaded want of strength in his party, and he might +have pleaded almost every other want--and asked if he might talk to the +Bedfords. Yes! he might talk to whom he pleased, but the King insisted +on keeping the Chancellor, "and me," said the Duke of Grafton; but +added, that for himself, he was very willing to cede the Treasury to his +Lordship. Away goes the Marquis to Woburn; and, to charm the King more, +negotiates with both Grenvilles too. These last, who had demanded +everything of the Crown, were all submission to the Marquis, and yet +could not dupe him so fast as he tried to be duped. Oh! all, all were +ready to stay out, or turn their friends in, or what he pleased. He took +this for his own talents in negotiation, came back highly pleased, and +notified his success. The Duke of Grafton wrote to him that the King +meant they should come in, _to extend and strengthen his +Administration_. Too elated with his imaginary power, the Marquis +returned an answer, insolently civil to the Duke, and not commonly +decent for the place it was to be carried to. It said, that his Lordship +had laid it down for a principle of the treaty, that the present +Administration was at an end. That supposed, _he_ was ready to _form_ a +comprehensive Ministry, but first must talk to the King. + +[Footnote 1: The difficulties were caused by Lord Chatham's illness. He, +though Prime Minister, only held the office of Lord Privy Seal, the Duke +of Grafton being First Lord of the Treasury; consequently, when Lord +Chatham became incapable of transacting any business whatever, even of +signing a resignation of his office, the Duke became the Prime Minister, +and continued so for three years.] + +Instead of such an answer as such a _remonstrance_ deserved, a very +prudent reply was made. The King approved the idea of a comprehensive +Administration: he desired to unite the hearts of _all_ his subjects: he +meant to exclude men of no denomination attached to his person and +government; it was such a Ministry that _he_ intended to _appoint_. When +his Lordship should have _formed a plan_ on such views, his Majesty +would be ready to receive it from him. The great statesman was wofully +puzzled on receiving this message. However, he has summoned his new +allies to assist in composing a scheme or list. When they bring it, how +they will bring it formed, or whether they will ever bring it, the Lord +knows. There the matter rests at present. If the Marquis does not alter +his tone, he sinks for ever, and from being the head of a separate band, +he must fall into the train of Grenville, the man whom he and his +friends opposed on all the arbitrary acts of that Ministry, and whom +they have irremissibly offended by repealing his darling Stamp Act. +_Apropos_, America is pacified, and the two factions cannot join to fish +in troubled waters, there, at least. + +Lord Clive[1] is arrived, has brought a million for himself, two diamond +drops worth twelve thousand pounds for the Queen, a scimitar dagger, and +other matters, covered with brilliants, for the King, and worth +twenty-four thousand more. These _baubles_ are presents from the deposed +and imprisoned Mogul, whose poverty can still afford to give such +bribes. Lord Clive refused some overplus, and gave it to some widows of +officers: it amounted to ninety thousand pounds. He has _reduced_ the +appointments of the Governor of Bengal to thirty-two thousand pounds a +year; and, what is better, has left such a chain of forts and +distribution of troops as will entirely secure possession of the +country--till we lose it. Thus having composed the Eastern and Western +worlds, we are at leisure to kick and cuff for our own little island, +which is great satisfaction; and I don't doubt but my Lord Temple hopes +that we shall be so far engaged before France and Spain are ripe to +meddle with us, that when they do come, they will not be able to +re-unite us. + +[Footnote 1: It is hardly necessary to point out that this is the taker +of Arcot, the victor of Plassey, and even now second to none but Warren +Hastings in the splendid roll of Governors-General.] + +Don't let me forget to tell you, that of all the friends you have shot +flying, there is no one whose friendship for you is so little dead as +Lord Hillsborough's. He spoke to me earnestly about your Riband the +other day, and said he had pressed to have it given to you. Write and +thank him. You have missed one by Lord Clive's returning alive, unless +he should give a hamper of diamonds for the Garter. + +Well! I have remembered every point but one--and see how he is +forgotten! Lord Chatham! He was pressed to come forth and set the +Administration on its legs again. He pleaded total incapacity; grew +worse and grows better. Oh! how he ought to dread recovering! + +Mr. Conway resigns the day after to-morrow. I hope in a week to tell you +something more positive than the uncertainties in this letter. +Good-night. + + +_DEATH OF CHARLES TOWNSHEND AND OF THE DUKE OF YORK--WHIST THE NEW +FASHION IN FRANCE._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +PARIS, _Sept._ 27, 1767. + +Since you insist on my writing from hence, I will; I intended to defer +it a few days longer, as I shall set out on my return this day +se'nnight. + +Within the five weeks of my being here, there have happened three +deaths, which certainly nobody expected six weeks ago. Yet, though the +persons were all considerable, their loss will make little impression on +the state of any affairs. + +Monsieur de Guerchy returned from his embassy with us about a month +before my arrival. He had been out of order some time, and had taken +waters, yet seeing him so often I had perceived no change, till I was +made to remark it, and then I did not think it considerable. On my +arrival, I was shocked at the precipitate alteration. He was emaciated, +yellow, and scarcely able to support himself. A fever came on in ten +days, mortification ensued, and carried him off. It is said that he had +concealed and tampered indiscreetly with an old complaint, acquired +before his marriage. This was his radical death; I doubt, vexation and +disappointment fermented the wound. Instead of the duchy he hoped, his +reception was freezing. He was a frank, gallant gentleman; universally +beloved with us; hated I believe by nobody, and by no means inferior in +understanding to many who affected to despise his abilities. + +But our comet is set too! Charles Townshend[1] is dead. All those parts +and fire are extinguished; those volatile salts are evaporated; that +first eloquence of the world is dumb! that duplicity is fixed, that +cowardice terminated heroically. He joked on death as naturally as he +used to do on the living, and not with the affectation of philosophers, +who wind up their works with sayings which they hope to have remembered. +With a robust person he had always a menacing constitution. He had had a +fever the whole summer, recovered as it was thought, relapsed, was +neglected, and it turned to an incurable putrid fever. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Townshend was Chancellor of the Exchequer; and he +might have been added by Lord Macaulay to his list of men whom their +eloquence had caused to be placed in offices for which they were totally +unfit; for he had not only no special knowledge of finance, but he was +one of the most careless and incautious of mankind, even in his oratory. +In that, however, after the retirement of Lord Chatham, he seems to have +had no rival in either house but Mr. Burke. It was to his heedless +resumption of Grenville's plan of taxing our colonies in North America +that our loss of them was owing. In his "Memoirs of the Reign of George +III." Walpole gives the following description of him: "Charles +Townshend, who had studied nothing with accuracy or attention, had parts +that embraced all knowledge with such quickness that he seemed to create +knowledge, instead of searching for it; and, ready as Burke's wit was, +it appeared artificial when set by that of Townshend, which was so +abundant that in him it seemed a loss of time to think. He had but to +speak, and all he said was new, natural, and yet uncommon. If Burke +replied extempore, his very answers that sprang from what had been said +by others were so pointed and artfully arranged that they wore the +appearance of study and preparation; like beautiful translations, they +seemed to want the soul of the original author. Townshend's speeches, +like the 'Satires' of Pope, had a thousand times more sense and meaning +than the majestic blank verse of Pitt; and yet the latter, like Milton, +stalked with a conscious dignity of pre-eminence, and fascinated his +audience with that respect which always attends the pompous but often +hollow idea of the sublime." Burke, too, in one of his speeches on +American affairs, utters a still warmer panegyric on his character and +abilities, while lamenting his policy and its fruits: "I speak of +Charles Townshend, officially the reproducer of this fatal scheme [the +taxation of the colonies], whom I cannot, even now, remember without +some degree of sensibility. In truth, Sir, he was the delight and +ornament of this House, and the charm of every private society which he +honoured with his presence. Perhaps there never arose in this country, +nor in any country, a man of a more pointed and finished wit, and (where +his passions were not concerned) of a more refined, exquisite, and +penetrating judgment. If he had not so great a stock, as some have had +who flourished formerly, of knowledge long treasured up, he knew better +by far than any man I was ever acquainted with how to bring together +within a short time all that was necessary to establish, to illustrate, +and to decorate that side of the question he supported. He stated his +matter skillfully and powerfully. He particularly excelled in a most +luminous explanation and display of his subject. His style of argument +was neither trite nor vulgar, nor subtle and abstruse. He hit the House +between wind and water; and, not being troubled with too anxious a zeal +for any matter in question, he was never more tedious nor more earnest +than the preconceived opinions and present temper of his hearers +required, with whom he was always in perfect unison. He conformed +exactly to the temper of the House; and he seemed to lead because he was +always sure to follow it."] + +The Opposition expected that the loss of this essential pin would loosen +the whole frame; but it had been hard, if both his life and death were +to be pernicious to the Administration. He had engaged to betray the +latter to the former, as I knew early, and as Lord Mansfield has since +declared. I therefore could not think the loss of him a misfortune. His +seals were immediately offered to Lord North,[1] who declined them. The +Opposition rejoiced; but they ought to have been better acquainted with +one educated in their own school. Lord North has since accepted the +seals--and the reversion of his father's pension. + +[Footnote 1: Lord North succeeded Townshend as Chancellor of the +Exchequer; and, when the Duke of Grafton retired, he became First Lord +of the Treasury also, and continued to hold both offices till the spring +of 1782.] + +While that eccentric genius, Charles Townshend, whom no system could +contain, is whirled out of existence, our more artificial meteor, Lord +Chatham, seems to be wheeling back to the sphere of business--at least +his health is declared to be re-established; but he has lost his +adorers, the mob, and I doubt the wise men will not travel after his +light. + +You, my dear Sir, will be most concerned for the poor Duke of York,[1] +who has ended his silly, good-humoured, troublesome career, in a piteous +manner. He had come to the camp at Compiègne, without his brother's +approbation, but had been received here not only with every proper mark +of distinction, but with the utmost kindness. He had succeeded, too, was +attentive, civil, obliging, lively, pleased, and very happy in his +replies. Charmed with a Court so lively in comparison of the monastic +scene at home, he had promised to return for Fontainebleau, and then +scampered away as fast as he could ride or drive all round the South of +France, intending to visit a lady at Genoa, with whom he was in love, +whenever he had a minute's time. The Duc de Villars gave him a ball at +his country-house, between Aix and Marseilles; the Duke of York danced +at it all night as hard as if it made part of his road, and then in a +violent sweat, and without changing his linen, got into his postchaise. +At Marseilles the scene changed. He arrived in a fever, and found among +his letters, which he had ordered to meet him there, one from the King +his brother, forbidding him to go to Compiègne, by the advice of the +Hereditary Prince. He was struck with this letter, which he had +ignorantly disobeyed, and by the same ignorance had not answered. He +proceeded, however, on his journey, but grew so ill that his gentlemen +carried him to Monaco, where he arrived on the third, and languished +with great suffering until the seventeenth. He behaved with the most +perfect tranquillity and courage, made a short will, and the day before +he died dictated to Colonel St. John, a letter to the King, in which he +begged his forgiveness for every instance in which he had offended him, +and entreated his favour to his servants. He would have particularly +recommended St. John, but the young man said handsomely, "Sir, if the +letter were written by your Royal Highness yourself, it would be most +kind to me; but I cannot name myself." The Prince of Monaco, who +happened to be on the spot, was unbounded in his attentions to him, both +of care and honours; and visited him every hour till the Duke grew too +weak to see him. Two days before he died the Duke sent for the Prince, +and thanked him. The Prince burst into tears and could not speak, and +retiring, begged the Duke's officers to prevent his being sent for +again, for the shock was too great. They made as magnificent a coffin +and pall for him as the time and place would admit, and in the evening +of the 17th the body was embarked on board an English ship, which +received the corpse with military honours, the cannon of the town +saluting it with the same discharge as is paid to a Marshal of France. +St. John and Morrison embarked with the body, and Colonel Wrottesley +passed through here with the news. The poor lad was in tears the whole +time he stayed.... + +[Footnote 1: The Duke of York was the King's younger brother.] + +You tell me of the French playing at whist;[1] why, I found it +established when I was last here. I told them they were very good to +imitate us in anything, but that they had adopted the two dullest things +we have, Whist and Richardson's Novels. + +[Footnote 1: Walpole here speaks of whist as a game of but new +introduction in Paris, though it had been for some time established with +us. And the great authority on that scientific and beautiful game, the +late Mr. James Clay, writing about twenty years ago, fixes "thirty or +more years" before that date as the time when first "we began to hear of +the great Paris players. There was," he says, "a wide difference between +their system and our own," the special distinction being that "the +English player of the old school never thought of winning the game until +he saw that it was saved; the French player never thought of saving the +game until he saw that he could not win it;" and "if forced to take his +choice between these systems carried to their extremes." Mr. Clay +"would, without hesitation, prefer the game of rash attack" (that is, +the French system) "to that of over-cautious defence." And he assigns to +a French player, M. Des Chapelles, "the credit of being the finest +whist-player, beyond any comparison, the world has ever seen."] + +So you and the Pope are going to have the Emperor! Times are a little +altered; no Guelphs and Ghibellines[1] now. I do not think the Caesar of +the day will hold his Holiness's stirrup[2] while he mounts his palfrey. +Adieu! + +[Footnote 1: "_Guelfs and Ghibellines._" These two names were first +heard in the latter part of the twelfth century, to distinguish the +partisans of the Emperor and the Pope. "The Guelfs or Welfs were the +ancestors of Henry the Proud, who, through his mother, represented the +ancient Dukes of Saxony. The word Ghibelin is derived from Wibelung, a +town in Franconia, from which the emperors of that time are said to nave +sprung. The house of Swabia were considered in Germany as representing +that of Franconia" (Hallam, "Middle Ages," ii. p. 101).] + +[Footnote 2: "_His Holiness's stirrup._" This refers to the humiliation +imposed on the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa by Pope Alexander III., as +related by Byron in his note on "Childe Harold," c. iv. st. 12.] + + +_SOME NEW POEMS OF GRAY--WALPOLE'S "HISTORIC DOUBTS"--BOSWELL'S +"CORSICA."_ + +TO MR. GRAY. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Feb._ 18, 1768. + +You have sent me a long and very obliging letter, and yet I am extremely +out of humour with you. I saw _Poems_ by _Mr. Gray_ advertised: I called +directly at Dodsley's to know if this was to be more than a new edition? +He was not at home himself, but his foreman told me he thought there +were some new pieces, and notes to the whole. It was very unkind, not +only to go out of town without mentioning them to me, without showing +them to me, but not to say a word of them in this letter. Do you think I +am indifferent, or not curious about what you write? I have ceased to +ask you, because you have so long refused to show me anything. You could +not suppose I thought that you never write. No; but I concluded you did +not intend, at least yet, to publish what you had written. As you did +intend it, I might have expected a month's preference. You will do me +the justice to own that I had always rather have seen your writings than +have shown you mine; which you know are the most hasty trifles in the +world, and which though I may be fond of the subject when fresh, I +constantly forget in a very short time after they are published. This +would sound like affectation to others, but will not to you. It would be +affected, even to you, to say I am indifferent to fame. I certainly am +not, but I am indifferent to almost anything I have done to acquire it. +The greater part are mere compilations; and no wonder they are, as you +say, incorrect, when they are commonly written with people in the room, +as "Richard"[1] and the "Noble Authors" were. But I doubt there is a +more intrinsic fault in them: which is, that I cannot correct them. If I +write tolerably, it must be at once; I can neither mend nor add. The +articles of Lord Capel and Lord Peterborough, in the second edition of +the "Noble Authors," cost me more trouble than all the rest together: +and you may perceive that the worst part of "Richard," in point of ease +and style, is what relates to the papers you gave me on Jane Shore, +because it was tacked on so long afterwards, and when my impetus was +chilled. If some time or other you will take the trouble of pointing out +the inaccuracies of it, I shall be much obliged to you: at present I +shall meddle no more with it. It has taken its fate: nor did I mean to +complain. I found it was condemned indeed beforehand, which was what I +alluded to. Since publication (as has happened to me before) the success +has gone beyond my expectation. + +[Footnote 1: He is here alluding to his own very clever essay, entitled +"Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of Richard III." It failed to +convince Hume; but can hardly be denied to be a singularly acute +specimen of historical criticism. It does not, indeed, prove Richard to +have been innocent of all the crimes imputed to him; but it proves +conclusively that much of the evidence by which the various charges are +supported is false. In an earlier letter he mentions having first made +"a discovery, one of the most marvellous ever made. In short, it is the +original Coronation Roll of Richard, by which it appears that very +magnificent robes were ordered for Edward V., and that he did or was to +walk at his uncle's coronation." The letter, from which this passage is +an extract, was to a certain extent an answer to one from Gray, who, +while praising the ingenuity of his arguments, avowed himself still +unconvinced by them.] + +Not only at Cambridge, but here, there have been people wise enough to +think me too free with the King of Prussia! A newspaper has talked of my +known inveteracy to him. Truly, I love him as well as I do most kings. +The greater offence is my reflection on Lord Clarendon. It is forgotten +that I had overpraised him before. Pray turn to the new State Papers, +from which, _it is said_, he composed his history. You will find they +are the papers from which he did _not_ compose his history. And yet I +admire my Lord Clarendon more than these pretended admirers do. But I do +not intend to justify myself. I can as little satisfy those who complain +that I do not let them know what _really did_ happen. If this inquiry +can ferret out any truth, I shall be glad. I have picked up a few more +circumstances. I now want to know what Perkin Warbeck's Proclamation +was, which Speed in his history says is preserved by Bishop Leslie. If +you look in Speed perhaps you will be able to assist me. + +The Duke of Richmond and Lord Lyttelton agree with you, that I have not +disculpated Richard of the murder of Henry VI. I own to you, it is the +crime of which in my own mind I believe him most guiltless. Had I +thought he committed it, I should never have taken the trouble to +apologize for the rest. I am not at all positive or obstinate on your +other objections, nor know exactly what I believe on many points of this +story. And I am so sincere, that, except a few notes hereafter, I shall +leave the matter to be settled or discussed by others. As you have +written much too little, I have written a great deal too much, and think +only of finishing the two or three other things I have begun--and of +those, nothing but the last volume of Painters is designed for the +present public. What has one to do when turned fifty, but really think +of _finishing_? + +I am much obliged and flattered by Mr. Mason's approbation, and +particularly by having had almost the same thought with him. I said, +"People need not be angry at my excusing Richard; I have not diminished +their fund of hatred, I have only transferred it from Richard to Henry." +Well, but I have found you close with Mason--No doubt, cry prating I, +something will come out....[1] + +[Footnote 1: "_Something will come out._" Walpole himself points out in +a note that this is a quotation from Pope: "I have found him close with +Swift." "Indeed?" "No doubt, (Cries prating Balbus) something will come +out" (Prologue to the "Satires").] + +Pray read the new Account of Corsica.[1] What relates to Paoli will +amuse you much. There is a deal about the island and its divisions that +one does not care a straw for. The author, Boswell, is a strange being, +and, like Cambridge, has a rage of knowing anybody that ever was talked +of. He forced himself upon me at Paris in spite of my teeth and my +doors, and I see has given a foolish account of all he could pick up +from me about King Theodore.[2] He then took an antipathy to me on +Rousseau's account, abused me in the newspapers, and exhorted Rousseau +to do so too: but as he came to see me no more, I forgave all the rest. +I see he now is a little sick of Rousseau himself; but I hope it will +not cure him of his anger to me. However, his book will I am sure +entertain you. + +[Footnote 1: Boswell, Dr. Johnson's celebrated biographer, had taken +great interest in the affairs of Corsica, which, in this year (1768), +Choiseul, the Prime Minister of France, had bought of Genoa, to which +State it had long belonged. Paoli was a Corsican noble, who had roused +his countrymen to throw off the domination of Genoa; and, on the arrival +of French troops to take possession of their purchase, he made a +vigorous resistance to the French General, the Comte de Marboeuf; but +eventually he was overpowered, and forced to fly. He took refuge in +England, where George III. granted him a pension, which he enjoyed till +his death in 1807, when he was buried in Westminster Abbey. One of his +relations was M. Charles Buonaparte, the father of Napoleon, who was +only prevented from accompanying him in his abandonment of Corsica by +the persuasion of his uncle, the Archdeacon of Ajaccio. Boswell, who was +apt to be enthusiastic in his hero-worship and anxiety for new +acquaintances (whom, it must be admitted, he commonly chose with +judgement, if with little dignity), introduced him to Johnson, who also +conceived a high regard for him, and on one occasion remarked that "he +had the loftiest port of any man he had ever seen."] + +[Footnote 2: After several outbreaks within a few years, the Corsicans +in 1736 embarked in a revolt so formal and complete that they +altogether threw off their allegiance to Genoa, and chose as their king +Theodore Neuhof, a Westphalian baron. But Cardinal Fleury, the French +Prime Minister, from a belief that Theodore was an instrument of +Walpole, lent the Genoese a force of three thousand men, which at last +succeeded in crushing the insurrection and expelling Theodore. (See the +Editor's "France under the Bourbons," iii. 157.) Theodore is one of the +six ex-kings whom, in Voltaire's "Candide," his hero met at a hotel in +Venice during the carnival, when he gave a melancholy account of his +reverse of fortune. "He had been called 'Your Majesty;' now he can +hardly find any one to call him 'Sir.' He had coined money; now he has +not a penny of his own. He had had two Secretaries of State; now he has +but one valet. He had sat on a throne; but since that time he had laid +on straw in a London prison." In fact, his state was so doleful, that +the other ex-kings subscribed twenty sequins apiece to buy him some +coats and shirts ("Candide," c. 26).] + +I will add but a word or two more. I am criticised for the expression +_tinker up_ in the preface. Is this one of those that you object to? I +own I think such a low expression, placed to ridicule an absurd instance +of wise folly, very forcible. Replace it with an elevated word or +phrase, and to my conception it becomes as flat as possible. + +George Selwyn says I may, if I please, write Historic Doubts on the +present Duke of G[loucester] too. Indeed, they would be doubts, for I +know nothing certainly. + +Will you be so kind as to look into Leslie "De Rebus Scotorum," and see +if Perkin's Proclamation is there, and if there, how authenticated. You +will find in Speed my reason for asking this. I have written in such a +hurry, I believe you will scarce be able to read my letter--and as I +have just been writing French, perhaps the sense may not be clearer than +the writing. Adieu! + + +_WILKES IS RETURNED M.P. FOR MIDDLESEX--RIOTS IN LONDON--VIOLENCE OF +THE MOB._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Thursday, March_ 31, 1768. + +I have received your letter, with the extract of that from Mr. +Mackenzie. I do not think any honours will be bestowed yet. The Peerages +are all postponed to an indefinite time. If you are in a violent hurry, +you may petition the ghosts of your neighbours--Masaniello and the +Gracchi. The spirit of one of them walks here; nay, I saw it go by my +window yesterday, at noon, in a hackney chair. + +_Friday._ + +I was interrupted yesterday. The ghost is laid for a time in a red sea +of port and claret. The spectre is the famous Wilkes. He appeared the +moment the Parliament was dissolved. The Ministry despise him. He stood +for the City of London, and was the last on the poll of seven +candidates, none but the mob, and most of them without votes, favouring +him. He then offered himself to the county of Middlesex. The election +came on last Monday. By five in the morning a very large body of +Weavers, &c., took possession of Piccadilly, and the roads and turnpikes +leading to Brentford, and would suffer nobody to pass without blue +cockades, and papers inscribed "_No. 45, Wilkes and Liberty_." They tore +to pieces the coaches of Sir W. Beauchamp Proctor, and Mr. Cooke, the +other candidates, though the latter was not there, but in bed with the +gout, and it was with difficulty that Sir William and Mr. Cooke's cousin +got to Brentford. There, however, lest it should be declared a void +election, Wilkes had the sense to keep everything quiet. But, about +five, Wilkes, being considerably ahead of the other two, his mob +returned to town and behaved outrageously. They stopped every carriage, +scratched and spoilt several with writing all over them "No. 45," +pelted, threw dirt and stones, and forced everybody to huzza for Wilkes. +I did but cross Piccadilly at eight, in my coach with a French Monsieur +d'Angeul, whom I was carrying to Lady Hertford's; they stopped us, and +bid us huzza. I desired him to let down the glass on his side, but, as +he was not alert, they broke it to shatters. At night they insisted, in +several streets, on houses being illuminated, and several Scotch +refusing, had their windows broken. Another mob rose in the City, and +Harley, the present Mayor, being another Sir William Walworth, and +having acted formerly and now with great spirit against Wilkes, and the +Mansion House not being illuminated, and he out of town, they broke +every window, and tried to force their way into the House. The Trained +Bands were sent for, but did not suffice. At last a party of guards, +from the Tower, and some lights erected, dispersed the tumult. At one in +the morning a riot began before Lord Bute's house, in Audley Street, +though illuminated. They flung two large flints into Lady Bute's +chamber, who was in bed, and broke every window in the house. Next +morning, Wilkes and Cooke were returned members. The day was very +quiet, but at night they rose again, and obliged almost every house in +town to be lighted up, even the Duke of Cumberland's and Princess +Amelia's. About one o'clock they marched to the Duchess of Hamilton's in +Argyle Buildings (Lord Lorn being in Scotland). She was obstinate, and +would not illuminate, though with child, and, as they hope, of an heir +to the family, and with the Duke, her son, and the rest of her children +in the house. There is a small court and parapet wall before the house: +they brought iron crows, tore down the gates, pulled up the pavement, +and battered the house for three hours. They could not find the key of +the back door, nor send for any assistance. The night before, they had +obliged the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland to give them beer, and +appear at the windows, and drink "Wilkes's health." They stopped and +opened the coach of Count Seilern, the Austrian ambassador, who has made +a formal complaint, on which the Council met on Wednesday night, and +were going to issue a Proclamation, but, hearing that all was quiet, and +that only a few houses were illuminated in Leicester Fields from the +terror of the inhabitants, a few constables were sent with orders to +extinguish the lights, and not the smallest disorder has happened since. +In short, it has ended like other election riots, and with not a quarter +of the mischief that has been done in some other towns. + +There are, however, difficulties to come. Wilkes has notified that he +intends to surrender himself to his outlawry, the beginning of next +term, which comes on the 17th of this month. There is said to be a flaw +in the proceedings, in which case his election will be good, though the +King's Bench may fine or imprison him on his former sentence. In my own +opinion, the House of Commons is the place where he can do the least +hurt, for he is a wretched speaker, and will sink to contempt, like +Admiral Vernon,[1] who I remember just such an illuminated hero, with +two birthdays in one year. You will say, he can write better than +Vernon--true; and therefore his case is more desperate. Besides, Vernon +was rich: Wilkes is undone; and, though he has had great support, his +patrons will be sick of maintaining him. He must either sink to poverty +and a jail, or commit new excesses, for which he will get knocked on the +head. The Scotch are his implacable enemies to a man. A Rienzi[2] cannot +stop: their histories are summed up in two words--a triumph and an +assassination. + +[Footnote 1: In 1739 our Government had declared war against Spain. +"There was at the time among the members of the Opposition in the House +of Commons a naval captain named Vernon, a man of bold, blustering +tongue, and presumed therefore by many to be of a corresponding +readiness of action. In some of the debates he took occasion to inveigh +against the timidity of our officers, who had hitherto, as he phrased +it, spared Porto Bello; and he affirmed that he could take it himself +with a squadron of six ships. The Ministry caught at the prospect of +delivering themselves from his harangues, and gave him half as many +ships again as he desired, with the temporary rank of Vice-admiral; and +on July, 1739, he sailed for the American coast. When he reached it he +found that the news of the rupture of the peace had not yet reached the +governor of the city, and that it was in no condition to resist an +attack. Many of the guns were dismounted; and for those that were +serviceable there was not sufficient ammunition. A fire of musketry +alone sufficed to win the fort that protected the entrance to the +harbour, and an equally brief cannonade drove the garrison from the +castle. The governor had no further means of defence; and thus in +forty-eight hours after his arrival Vernon had accomplished his boast, +and was master of the place." In a clever paper in the "Cambridge Museum +Philologicum" Bishop Thirlwall compared the man and his exploit to Cleon +and his achievement at Sphacteria in the Peloponnesian War. (See the +Editor's "History of the British Navy," c. 9.)] + +[Footnote 2: "_Rienzi._" + + Then turn we to her latest tribune's name, + From her ten thousand tyrants turn to thee, + Redeemer of dark centuries of shame, + The friend of Petrarch, hope of Italy, + Rienzi; last of Romans. + +("Childe Harold," iv. 114.) + +His story is told with almost more than his usual power by Gibbon (c. +70). Born in the lowest class, "he could inherit neither dignity nor +fortune; and the gift of a liberal education, which they painfully +bestowed, was the cause of his glory and his untimely end." He, while +still little more than a youth, had established such a reputation for +eloquence, that he was one of the deputies sent by the Commons to +Avignon to plead with the Pope (Clement VI.). The state of Rome, +aggravated by the absence of the Pope, was miserable in the extreme. The +citizens "were equally oppressed by the arrogance of the nobles and the +corruption of the magistrates." Rienzi recalled to their recollection +"the ancient glories of the Senate and people from whom all legal +authority was derived. He raised the enthusiasm of the populace; +collected a band of conspirators, at whose head, clad in complete +armour, he marched to the Capitol, and assumed the government of the +city, declining "the names of Senator or Consul, of King or Emperor, and +preferring the ancient and modern appellation of Tribune.... Never +perhaps has the energy and effect of a single mind been more remarkably +felt than in the sudden, though transient, reformation of Rome by the +Tribune Rienzi. A den of robbers was converted to the discipline of a +camp or convent. Patient to hear, swift to redress, inexorable to +punish, his tribunal was always accessible to the poor and the stranger; +nor could birth, nor dignity, nor the immunities of the Church protect +the offender or his accomplices." But his head was turned by his +success. He even caused himself to be crowned, while "his wife, his son, +and his uncle, a barber, exposed the contrast of vulgar manners and +princely expense; and, without acquiring the majesty, Rienzi degenerated +into the vices of a king." The people became indignant; the nobles whom +he had degraded found it easy to raise the public feeling against him. +Before the end of the same year (1347) he was forced to fly from Rome, +and lived in exile or imprisonment at Avignon seven years; and returned +to Rome in 1354, only to be murdered in an insurrection.] + +I must finish, for Lord Hertford is this moment come in, and insists on +my dining with the Prince of Monaco, who is come over to thank the King +for the presents his Majesty sent him on his kindness and attention to +the late Duke of York. You shall hear the suite of the above histories, +which I sit quietly and look at, having nothing more to do with the +storm, and sick of politics, but as a spectator, while they pass over +the stage of the world. Adieu! + + +_FLEETING FAME OF WITTICISMS--"THE MYSTERIOUS MOTHER."_ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _April_ 15, 1768. + +Mr. Chute tells me that you have taken a new house in Squireland, and +have given yourself up for two years more to port and parsons. I am very +angry, and resign you to the works of the devil or the church, I don't +care which. You will get the gout, turn Methodist, and expect to ride to +heaven upon your own great toe. I was happy with your telling me how +well you love me, and though I don't love loving, I could have poured +out all the fulness of my heart to such an old and true friend; but what +am I the better for it, if I am to see you but two or three days in the +year? I thought you would at last come and while away the remainder of +life on the banks of the Thames in gaiety and old tales. I have quitted +the stage, and the Clive[1] is preparing to leave it. We shall neither +of us ever be grave: dowagers roost all around us, and you could never +want cards or mirth. Will you end like a fat farmer, repeating annually +the price of oats, and discussing stale newspapers? There have you got, +I hear, into an old gallery, that has not been glazed since Queen +Elizabeth, and under the nose of an infant Duke and Duchess, that will +understand you no more than if you wore a ruff and a coif, and talk to +them of a call of Serjeants the year of the Spanish Armada! Your wit and +humour will be as much lost upon them, as if you talked the dialect of +Chaucer; for with all the divinity of wit, it grows out of fashion like +a fardingale. I am convinced that the young men at White's already laugh +at George Selwyn's _bon mots_ only by tradition. I avoid talking before +the youth of the age as I would dancing before them; for if one's tongue +don't move in the steps of the day, and thinks to please by its old +graces, it is only an object of ridicule, like Mrs. Hobart in her +cotillon. I tell you we should get together, and comfort ourselves with +reflecting on the brave days that we have known--not that I think people +were a jot more clever or wise in our youth than they are now; but as my +system is always to live in a vision as much as I can, and as visions +don't increase with years, there is nothing so natural as to think one +remembers what one does not remember. + +[Footnote 1: Mrs. Clive was a celebrated comic actress and wit, and a +near neighbour of Walpole at Twickenham.] + +[Illustration: STRAWBERRY HILL, FROM THE NORTH-WEST.] + +I have finished my Tragedy ["The Mysterious Mother"], but as you would +not bear the subject, I will say no more of it, but that Mr. Chute, who +is not easily pleased, likes it, and Gray, who is still more difficult, +approves it. I am not yet intoxicated enough with it to think it would +do for the stage, though I wish to see it acted; but, as Mrs. +Pritchard[1] leaves the stage next month, I know nobody could play the +Countess; nor am I disposed to expose myself to the impertinences of +that jackanapes Garrick, who lets nothing appear but his own wretched +stuff, or that of creatures still duller, who suffer him to alter their +pieces as he pleases. I have written an epilogue in character for the +Clive, which she would speak admirably: but I am not so sure that she +would like to speak it. Mr. Conway, Lady Aylesbury, Lady Lyttelton, and +Miss Rich, are to come hither the day after to-morrow, and Mr. Conway +and I are to read my play to them; for I have not strength enough to go +through the whole alone. + +[Footnote 1: Mrs. Pritchard was the most popular tragic actress of the +day. Churchill gives her high praise-- + + In spite of outward blemishes, she shone + For humour fam'd, and humour all her own. + +("Rosciad," 840.)] + +My press is revived, and is printing a French play written by the old +President Hénault.[1] It was damned many years ago at Paris, and yet I +think is better than some that have succeeded, and much better than any +of our modern tragedies. I print it to please the old man, as he was +exceedingly kind to me at Paris; but I doubt whether he will live till +it is finished. He is to have a hundred copies, and there are to be but +a hundred more, of which you shall have one. + +[Footnote 1: M. Hénault was President of the Parliament of Paris. His +tragedy was "Cornelie." He died in 1770, at the age of eighty-six.] + +Adieu! though I am very angry with you, I deserve all your friendship, +by that I have for you, witness my anger and disappointment. Yours ever. + +P.S.--Send me your new direction, and tell me when I must begin to use +it. + + +_CASE OF WILKES._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 9, 1768. + +To send you empty paragraphs when you expect and want news is +tantalising, is it not? Pray agree with me, and then you will allow that +I have acted very kindly in not writing till I had something to tell +you. _Something_, of course, means Wilkes, for everything is nothing +except the theme of the day. There has appeared a violent _North +Briton_, addressed to, and written against Lord Mansfield, threatening a +rebellion if he continued to persecute Mr. Wilkes. This paper, they say, +Wilkes owned to the Chevalier de Chastelux, a French gentleman, who went +to see him in the King's Bench, and who knew him at Paris. A rebellion +threatened in print is not very terrible. However, it was said that the +paper was outrageous enough to furnish the Law with every handle it +could want. But modern mountains do not degenerate from their ancestors; +their issue are still mice. You know, too, that this agrees with my +system, that this is an age of abortions. Prosecutions were ordered +against the publishers and vendors, and there, I suppose, it will end. + +Yesterday was fixed for the appearance of Wilkes in Westminster Hall. +The Judges went down by nine in the morning, but the mob had done +breakfast still sooner, and was there before them; and as Judges stuffed +out with dignity and lamb-skins are not absolute sprites, they had much +ado to glide through the crowd. Wilkes's counsel argued against the +outlawry, and then Lord Mansfield, in a speech of an hour and a half, +set it aside; not on _their_ reasons, but on grounds which he had +discovered in it himself. I think they say it was on some flaw in the +Christian name of the county, which should not have been _Middlesex to +wit_,--but I protest I don't know, for I am here alone, and picked up my +intelligence as I walked in our meadows by the river. You, who may be +walking by the Arno, will, perhaps, think there was some timidity in +this; but the depths of the Law are wonderful! So pray don't make any +rash conclusions, but stay till you get better information. + +Well! now he is gone to prison again,--I mean Wilkes; and on Tuesday he +is to return to receive sentence on the old guilt of writing, as the +Scotch would _not_ call it, _the_ 45,[1] though they call the rebellion +so. The sentence may be imprisonment, fine, or pillory; but as I am +still near the Thames, I do not think the latter will be chosen. Oh! but +stay, he may plead against the indictment, and should there be an +improper _Middlesex to wit_ in that too, why then in that case, you +know, he did _not_ write _the_ 45, and then he is as white as milk, and +as free as air, and as good a member of Parliament as if he had never +been expelled. In short, my dear Sir, I am trying to explain to you +what I literally do not understand; all I do know is, that Mr. Cooke, +the other member for Middlesex, is just dead, and that we are going to +have another Middlesex election, which is very unpleasant to me, who +hate mobs so near as Brentford. Sergeant Glynn, Wilkes's counsel, is the +candidate, and I suppose the only one in the present humour of the +people, who will care to have his brains dashed out, in order to sit in +Parliament. In truth, this enthusiasm is confined to the very mob or +little higher, and does not extend beyond the County. All other riots +are ceased, except the little civil war between the sailors and +coal-heavers, in which two or three lives are lost every week. + +[Footnote 1: "_The_ 45" here serves for the Scotch rebellion of 1745, +and for No. 45 of the _North Briton_.] + +What is most disagreeable, even the Emperor of Morocco has taken courage +on these tumults, and has dared to mutiny for increase of wages, like +our journeymen tailors. France is pert too, and gives herself airs in +the Mediterranean. Our Paolists were violent for support of Corsica, but +I think they are a little startled on a report that the hero Paoli is +like other patriots, and is gone to Versailles, for a peerage and +pension. I was told to-day that at London there are murmurs of a war. I +shall be sorry if it prove so. Deaths! suspense, say victory;--how end +all our victories? In debts and a wretched peace! Mad world, in the +individual or the aggregate! + +Well! say I to myself, and what is all this to me? Have not I done with +that world? Am not I here at peace, unconnected with Courts and +Ministries, and indifferent who is Minister? What is a war in Europe to +me more than a war between the Turkish and Persian Emperors? True; yet +self-love makes one love the nation one belongs to, and vanity makes one +wish to have that nation glorious. Well! I have seen it so; I have seen +its conquests spread farther than Roman eagles thought there was land. I +have seen too the Pretender at Derby; and, therefore, you must know that +I am content with historic seeing, and wish Fame and History would be +quiet and content without entertaining me with any more sights. We were +down at Derby, we were up at both Indies; I have no curiosity for any +intermediate sights. + +Your brother was with me just before I came out of town, and spoke of +you with great kindness, and accused himself of not writing to you, but +protested it was from not knowing what to say to you about the Riband. I +engaged to write for him, so you must take this letter as from him too. + +I hope there will be no war for some hero to take your honours out of +your mouth, sword in hand. The first question I shall ask when I go to +town will be, how my Lord Chatham does? I shall mind his health more +than the stocks. The least symptom of a war will certainly cure him. +Adieu! my dear Sir. + + +_THE ENGLISH CLIMATE._ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 15, 1768. + +No, I cannot be so false as to say I am glad you are pleased with your +situation. You are so apt to take root, that it requires ten years to +dig you out again when you once begin to settle. As you go pitching your +tent up and down, I wish you were still more a Tartar, and shifted your +quarters perpetually. Yes, I will come and see you; but tell me first, +when do your Duke and Duchess [the Argylls] travel to the North? I know +that he is a very amiable lad, and I do not know that she is not as +amiable a _laddess_, but I had rather see their house comfortably when +they are not there. + +I perceive the deluge fell upon you before it reached us. It began here +but on Monday last, and then rained near eight-and-forty hours without +intermission. My poor hay has not a dry thread to its back. I have had a +fire these three days. In short, every summer one lives in a state of +mutiny and murmur, and I have found the reason: it is because we will +affect to have a summer, and we have no title to any such thing. Our +poets learnt their trade of the Romans, and so adopted the terms of +their masters. They talk of shady groves, purling streams, and cooling +breezes, and we get sore-throats and agues with attempting to realise +these visions. Master Damon writes a song, and invites Miss Chloe to +enjoy the cool of the evening, and the deuce a bit have we of any such +thing as a cool evening. Zephyr is a north-east wind, that makes Damon +button up to the chin, and pinches Chloe's nose till it is red and blue; +and then they cry, _This is a bad summer_! as if we ever had any other. +The best sun we have is made of Newcastle coal, and I am determined +never to reckon upon any other. We ruin ourselves with inviting over +foreign trees, and making our houses clamber up hills to look at +prospects. How our ancestors would laugh at us, who knew there was no +being comfortable, unless you had a high hill before your nose, and a +thick warm wood at your back! Taste is too freezing a commodity for us, +and, depend upon it, will go out of fashion again. + +There is indeed a natural warmth in this country, which, as you say, I +am very glad not to enjoy any longer; I mean the hot-house in St. +Stephen's chapel. My own sagacity makes me very vain, though there was +very little merit in it. I had seen so much of all parties, that I had +little esteem left for any; it is most indifferent to me who is in or +who is out, or which is set in the pillory, Mr. Wilkes or my Lord +Mansfield. I see the country going to ruin, and no man with brains +enough to save it. That is mortifying; but what signifies who has the +undoing it? I seldom suffer myself to think on this subject: _my_ +patriotism could do no good, and my philosophy can make me be at peace. + +I am sorry you are likely to lose your poor cousin Lady Hinchinbrook: I +heard a very bad account of her when I was last in town. Your letter to +Madame Roland shall be taken care of; but as you are so scrupulous of +making me pay postage, I must remember not to overcharge you, as I can +frank my idle letters no longer; therefore, good night! + +P.S.--I was in town last week, and found Mr. Chute still confined. He +had a return in his shoulder, but I think it more rheumatism than gout. + + +_VOLTAIRE'S CRITICISMS ON SHAKESPEARE--PARNELL'S "HERMIT."_ + +TO MONSIEUR DE VOLTAIRE. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 27, 1768. + +One can never, Sir, be sorry to have been in the wrong, when one's +errors are pointed out to one in so obliging and masterly a manner. +Whatever opinion I may have of Shakspeare, I should think him to blame, +if he could have seen the letter you have done me the honour to write to +me, and yet not conform to the rules you have there laid down. When he +lived, there had not been a Voltaire both to give laws to the stage, and +to show on what good sense those laws were founded. Your art, Sir, goes +still farther: for you have supported your arguments, without having +recourse to the best authority, your own Works. It was my interest +perhaps to defend barbarism and irregularity. A great genius is in the +right, on the contrary, to show that when correctness, nay, when +perfection is demanded, he can still shine, and be himself, whatever +fetters are imposed on him. But I will say no more on this head; for I +am neither so unpolished as to tell you to your face how much I admire +you, nor, though I have taken the liberty to vindicate Shakspeare +against your criticisms, am I vain enough to think myself an adversary +worthy of you. I am much more proud of receiving laws from you, than of +contesting them. It was bold in me to dispute with you even before I had +the honour of your acquaintance; it would be ungrateful now when you +have not only taken notice of me, but forgiven me. The admirable letter +you have been so good as to send me, is a proof that you are one of +those truly great and rare men who know at once how to conquer and to +pardon. + +I have made all the inquiry I could into the story of M. de Jumonville; +and though your and our accounts disagree, I own I do not think, Sir, +that the strongest evidence is in our favour. I am told we allow he was +killed by a party of our men, going to the Ohio. Your countrymen say he +was going with a flag of truce. The commanding officer of our party said +M. de Jumonville was going with hostile intentions; and that very +hostile orders were found after his death in his pocket. Unless that +officer had proved that he had previous intelligence of those orders, I +doubt he will not be justified by finding them afterwards; for I am not +at all disposed to believe that he had the foreknowledge of your +hermit,[1] who pitched the old woman's nephew into the river, because +"ce jeune homme auroit assassiné sa tante dans un an." + +I am grieved that such disputes should ever subsist between two nations +who have everything in themselves to create happiness, and who may find +enough in each other to love and admire. It is your benevolence, Sir, +and your zeal for softening the manners of mankind; it is the doctrine +of peace and amity which you preach, that have raised my esteem for you +even more than the brightness of your genius. France may claim you in +the latter light, but all nations have a right to call you their +countryman _du côté du coeur_. It is on the strength of that connection +that I beg you, Sir, to accept the homage of, Sir, your most obedient +humble servant.[2] + +[Footnote 1: The idea of Voltaire's fable in "Zadig," c. 20, is believed +to have been borrowed from Parnell's "Hermit," but Mr. Wright suggests +that it was more probably taken from one of the "Contes Devots, de +l'Hermite qu'un ange conduisit dans le Siècle," which is published in +the "Nouveau Recueil de Fabliaux et Contes."] + +[Footnote 2: The letter of Voltaire to which the above is a reply, +contained the following opinion of Walpole's "Historic Doubts";--"Avant +le départ de ma lettre, j'ai eu le tems, Monsieur, de lire votre Richard +Trois. Vous seriez un excellent attornei général; vous pesez toutes les +probabilités; mais il paroit que vous avez une inclination secrete pour +ce bossu. Vous voulez qu'il ait été beau garçon, et même galant homme. +Le bénédictin Calmet a fait une dissertation pour prouver que Jesus +Christ avait un fort beau visage. Je veux croire avec vous, que Richard +Trois n'était ni si laid, ni si méchant, qu'on le dit; mais je n'aurais +pas voulu avoir affaire à lui. Votre rose blanche et votre rose rouge +avaient de terribles épines pour la nation. + +"Those gracious kings are all a pack of rogues. En lisant l'histoire des +York et des Lancastre, et de bien d'autres, on croit lire l'histoire des +voleurs de grand chemin. Pour votre Henri Sept, il n'était que coupeur +de bourses. Be a minister or an anti-minister, a lord or a philosopher, +I will be, with an equal respect, Sir, &c."] + + +_ARRIVAL OF THE KING OF DENMARK--HIS POPULARITY WITH THE MOB._ + +TO THE EARL OF STRAFFORD. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Aug._ 16, 1768. + +As you have been so good, my dear lord, as twice to take notice of my +letter, I am bound in conscience and gratitude to try to amuse you with +anything new. A royal visitor, quite fresh, is a real curiosity--by the +reception of him, I do not think many more of the breed will come +hither. He came from Dover in hackney-chaises; for somehow or other the +Master of the Horse happened to be in Lincolnshire; and the King's +coaches having received no orders, were too good subjects to go and +fetch a stranger King of their own heads. However, as his Danish Majesty +travels to improve himself for the good of his people, he will go back +extremely enlightened in the arts of government and morality, by having +learned that crowned heads may be reduced to ride in a hired chaise.[1] + +[Footnote 1: The King, travelling, as is usual with kings, _incognito_, +assumed the title of the Comte de Travendahl.] + +By another mistake, King George happened to go to Richmond about an hour +before King Christiern arrived in London. An hour is exceedingly long; +and the distance to Richmond still longer; so that with all the dispatch +that could possibly be made, King George could not get back to his +capital till next day at noon. Then, as the road from his closet at St. +James's to the King of Denmark's apartment on t'other side of the palace +is about thirty miles, which posterity, having no conception of the +prodigious extent and magnificence of St. James's, will never believe, +it was half an hour after three before his Danish Majesty's courier +could go and return to let him know that his good brother and ally was +leaving the palace in which they both were, in order to receive him at +the Queen's palace, which you know is about a million of snail's paces +from St. James's. Notwithstanding these difficulties and unavoidable +delays, Woden, Thor, Friga, and all the gods that watch over the Kings +of the North, did bring these two invincible monarchs to each other's +embraces about half an hour after five that same evening. They passed +an hour in projecting a family compact that will regulate the destiny of +Europe to latest posterity: and then, the Fates so willing it, the +British Prince departed for Richmond, and the Danish potentate repaired +to the widowed mansion of his Royal Mother-in-Law, where he poured forth +the fulness of his heart in praises on the lovely bride she had bestowed +on him, from whom nothing but the benefit of his subjects could ever +have torn him.--And here let Calumny blush, who has aspersed so chaste +and faithful a monarch with low amours; pretending that he has raised to +the honour of a seat in his sublime council, an artisan of Hamburgh, +known only by repairing the soles of buskins, because that mechanic +would, on no other terms, consent to his fair daughter's being honoured +with majestic embraces. So victorious over his passions is this young +Scipio from the Pole, that though on Shooter's Hill he fell into an +ambush laid for him by an illustrious Countess, of blood-royal herself, +his Majesty, after descending from his car, and courteously greeting +her, again mounted his vehicle, without being one moment eclipsed from +the eyes of the surrounding multitude.--Oh! mercy on me! I am out of +breath--pray let me descend from my stilts, or I shall send you as +fustian and tedious a History as that of [Lyttelton's] Henry II. Well, +then, this great King is a very little one; not ugly, nor ill-made. He +has the sublime strut of his grandfather, or of a cock-sparrow; and the +divine white eyes of all his family by the mother's side. His curiosity +seems to have consisted in the original plan of travelling, for I cannot +say he takes notice of anything in particular. His manner is cold and +dignified, but very civil and gracious and proper. The mob adore him and +huzza him; and so they did the first instant. At present they begin to +know why--for he flings money to them out of his windows; and by the end +of the week I do not doubt but they will want to choose him for +Middlesex. His Court is extremely well ordered; for they bow as low to +him at every word as if his name was Sultan Amurat. You would take his +first minister for only the first of his slaves.--I hope this example, +which they have been so good as to exhibit at the opera, will contribute +to civilize us. There is indeed a pert young gentleman, who a little +discomposes this august ceremonial. His name is Count Holke, his age +three-and-twenty; and his post answers to one that we had formerly in +England, many ages ago, and which in our tongue was called the lord high +favourite. Before the Danish monarchs became absolute, the most +refractory of that country used to write libels, called _North Danes_, +against this great officer; but that practice has long since ceased. +Count Holke seems rather proud of his favour, than shy of displaying it. + +I hope, my dear lord, you will be content with my Danish politics, for I +trouble myself with no other. There is a long history about the Baron de +Bottetourt and Sir Jeffery Amherst, who has resigned his regiment; but +it is nothing to me, nor do I care a straw about it. I am deep in the +anecdotes of the new Court; and if you want to know more of Count Holke +or Count Molke, or the grand vizier Bernsdorff, or Mynheer Schimmelman, +apply to me, and you shall be satisfied. But what do I talk of? You will +see them yourself. Minerva in the shape of Count Bernsdorff, or out of +all shape in the person of the Duchess of Northumberland, is to conduct +Telemachus to York races; for can a monarch be perfectly accomplished in +the mysteries of king-craft, as our Solomon James I. called it, unless +he is initiated in the arts of jockeyship? When this northern star +travels towards its own sphere, Lord Hertford will go to Ragley. I shall +go with him; and, if I can avoid running foul of the magi that will be +thronging from all parts to worship that star, I will endeavour to call +at Wentworth Castle for a day or two, if it will not be inconvenient; I +should think it would be about the second week in September, but your +lordship shall hear again, unless you should forbid me, who am ever Lady +Strafford's and your lordship's most faithful humble servant. + + +_WILKES'S ELECTION--THE COMTESSE DE BARRI--THE DUC DE CHOISEUL'S +INDISCRETION._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Jan._ 31, 1769. + +The affair of Wilkes is rather undecided yet, than in suspense.[1] It +has been a fair trial between faction and corruption; of two such common +creatures, the richest will carry it. + +[Footnote 1: Wilkes had been elected a member of the Common Council.] + +The Court of Aldermen set aside the election of Wilkes on some +informality, but he was immediately re-chosen. This happened on Friday +last, the very day of his appearance at the House of Commons. He went +thither without the least disturbance or mob, having dispersed his +orders accordingly, which are obeyed implicitly. He did not, however, +appear at the bar till ten at night, the day being wasted in debating +whether he should be suffered to enter on his case at large, or be +restrained to his two chief complaints. The latter was carried by 270 +to 131, a majority that he will not easily reduce. He was then called +in, looked ill, but behaved decently, and demanded to take the oaths and +his seat. This affair, after a short debate, was refused; and his +counsel being told the restrictions imposed, the House adjourned at +midnight. To-day he goes again to the House, but whatever steps he takes +there, or however long debates he may occasion, you may look upon his +fate as decided in that place. + +We are in hourly expectation of hearing that a nymph, more common still +than the two I have mentioned, has occasioned what Wilkes has failed in +now, a change in an administration. I mean the Comtesse du Barri.[1] The +_grands habits_ are made, and nothing wanting for her presentation +but--what do you think? some woman of quality to present her. In that +servile Court and country, the nobility have had spirit enough to +decline paying their court, though the King has stooped _à des +bassesses_ to obtain it. The Duc de Choiseul will be the victim; and +they pretend to say that he has declared he will resign _à l'Anglaise_, +rather than be _chassé_ by such a creature. His indiscretion is +astonishing: he has said at his own table, and she has been told so, +"Madame du Barri est très mal informée; on ne parle pas des Catins chez +moi." Catin diverts herself and King Solomon the wise with tossing +oranges into the air after supper, and crying, "_Saute, Choiseul! saute, +Praslin_!" and then Solomon laughs heartily. Sometimes she flings powder +in his sage face, and calls him _Jean Farine_! Well! we are not the +foolishest nation in Europe yet! It is supposed that the Duc d'Aiguillon +will be the successor. + +[Footnote 1: This woman, one of the very lowest of the low, had caught +the fancy of Louis XV.; and, as according to the curious etiquette of +the French Court, it was indispensable that a king's mistress should be +married, the Comte du Barri, a noble of old family, but ruined by +gambling, was induced to marry her.] + +I am going to send away this letter, because you will be impatient, and +the House will not rise probably till long after the post is gone out. I +did not think last May that you would hear this February that there was +an end of mobs, that Wilkes was expelled, and the colonies quieted. +However, pray take notice that I do not stir a foot out of the province +of gazetteer into that of prophet. I protest, I know no more than a +prophet what is to come. Adieu! + + +_A GARDEN PARTY AT STRAWBERRY--A RIDOTTO AT VAUXHALL._ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _May_ 11, 1769. + +You are so wayward, that I often resolve to give you up to your humours. +Then something happens with which I can divert you, and my good-nature +returns. Did not you say you should return to London long before this +time? At least, could you not tell me you had changed your mind? why am +I to pick it out from your absence and silence, as Dr. Warburton found a +future state in Moses's saying nothing of the matter! I could go on with +a chapter of severe interrogatories, but I think it more cruel to treat +you as a hopeless reprobate; yes, you are graceless, and as I have a +respect for my own scolding, I shall not throw it away upon you. + +Strawberry has been in great glory; I have given a festino there that +will almost mortgage it. Last Tuesday all France dined there: Monsieur +and Madame du Châtelet, the Duc de Liancourt, three more French ladies, +whose names you will find in the enclosed paper, eight other Frenchmen, +the Spanish and Portuguese ministers, the Holdernesses, Fitzroys, in +short, we were four and twenty. They arrived at two. At the gates of the +castle I received them, dressed in the cravat of Gibbons's carving, and +a pair of gloves embroidered up to the elbows that had belonged to James +I. The French servants stared, and firmly believed this was the dress of +English country gentlemen. After taking a survey of the apartment, we +went to the printing-house, where I had prepared the enclosed verses, +with translations by Monsieur de Lille, one of the company. The moment +they were printed off, I gave a private signal, and French horns and +clarionets accompanied this compliment. We then went to see Pope's +grotto and garden, and returned to a magnificent dinner in the +refectory. + +In the evening we walked, had tea, coffee, and lemonade in the Gallery, +which was illuminated with a thousand, or thirty candles, I forget +which, and played at whisk and loo till midnight. Then there was a cold +supper, and at one the company returned to town, saluted by fifty +nightingales, who, as tenants of the manor, came to do honour to their +lord. + +I cannot say last night was equally agreeable. There was what they +called a _ridotto al fresco_ at Vauxhall,[1] for which one paid +half-a-guinea, though, except some thousand more lamps and a covered +passage all round the garden, which took off from the gardenhood, there +was nothing better than on a common night. Mr. Conway and I set out from +his house at eight o'clock; the tide and torrent of coaches was so +prodigious, that it was half-an-hour after nine before we got half way +from Westminster Bridge. We then alighted; and after scrambling under +bellies of horses, through wheels, and over posts and rails, we reached +the gardens, where were already many thousand persons. Nothing diverted +me but a man in a Turk's dress and two nymphs in masquerade without +masks, who sailed amongst the company, and, which was surprising, seemed +to surprise nobody. It had been given out that people were desired to +come in fancied dresses without masks. We walked twice round and were +rejoiced to come away, though with the same difficulties as at our +entrance; for we found three strings of coaches all along the road, who +did not move half a foot in half-an-hour. There is to be a rival mob in +the same way at Ranelagh to-morrow; for the greater the folly and +imposition the greater is the crowd. I have suspended the vestimenta[2] +that were torn off my back to the god of repentance, and shall stay +away. Adieu! I have not a word more to say to you. Yours ever. + +P.S.--I hope you will not regret paying a shilling for this packet. + +[Footnote 1: The ridotto was a Venetian entertainment-- + + They went to the _Ridotto_--'tis a hall + Where people dance, and sup, and dance again; + Its proper name, perhaps, was a masqued ball, + But that's of no importance to my strain; + 'Tis (on a smaller scale) like our Vauxhall, + Excepting that it can't be spoilt by rain; + The company is "mix'd"--the phrase I quote is + As much as saying, they're below your notice. + +Beppo, st. 38.] + +[Footnote 2: "_Vestimenta._" Imitating Horace, who relates of himself-- + + Me tabulà sacer + Votivâ paries indicat uvida + Suspendisse potenti + Vestimenta maris Deo (Od. i. 5).] + + +_PAOLI--AMBASSADORIAL ETIQUETTE._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 14, 1769. + +I thank you for the history of the Pope and his genealogy, or, rather, +for what is to be his genealogy; for I suppose all those tailors and +coachmen his relations will now found noble families. They may enrich +their blood with the remaining spoils of the Jesuits, unless, which +would not surprise me, his new Holiness should now veer about, and +endeavour to save the order; for I think the Church full as likely to +fall by sacrificing its janissaries, as by any attacks that can be made +upon it. _Deme unum, deme etiam unum._ + +If I care little about your Roman politics, I am not so indifferent +about your Corsican. Poor brave Paoli!--but he is not disgraced! We, +that have sat still and seen him overwhelmed, must answer it to history. +Nay, the Mediterranean will taunt us in the very next war. Choiseul +triumphs over us and Madame du Barri; her star seems to have lost its +influence. I do not know what another lady[1] will say to Choiseul on +the late behaviour of his friend, the Ambassador, here. As the adventure +will make a chapter in the new edition of Wiquefort, and, consequently, +will strike _you_, I will give you the detail. At the ball on the King's +birthday, Count Czernichew was sitting in the box of the Foreign +Ministers next to Count Seilern, the Imperial Ambassador. The latter, +who is as fierce as the Spread Eagle itself, and as stiff as the chin of +all the Ferdinands, was, according to his custom, as near to Jupiter as +was possible. Monsieur du Châtelet and the Prince de Masserano came in. +Châtelet sidled up to the two former, spoke to them and passed behind +them, but on a sudden lifted up his leg and thrust himself in between +the two Imperials. The Russian, astonished and provoked, endeavoured to +push him away, and a jostle began that discomposed the faces and curls +of both; and the Russian even dropped the word _impertinent_. +Czernichew, however, quitted the spot of battle, and the Prince de +Masserano, in support of the family-compact, hobbled into the place +below Châtelet. As the two champions retired, more words at the door. +However, the Russian's coach being first, he astonished everybody by +proposing to set Monsieur du Châtelet down at his own house. In the +coach, _it is said_, the Frenchman protested he had meant nothing +personal either to Count Czernichew, or to the Russian Minister, but +having received orders from his Court to take place on all occasion +_next_ to the Imperial Ambassador, he had but done his duty. Next +morning he visited Czernichew, and they are _personally_ reconciled. It +was, however, feared that the dispute would be renewed, for, at the +King's next levée, both were at the door, ready to push in when it +should be opened; but the Russian kept behind, and at the bottom of the +room without mixing with the rest of the Foreign Ministers. The King, +who was much offended at what had passed, called Count Czernichew into +the middle of the room, and talked to him for a very considerable time. +Since then, the Lord Chamberlain has been ordered to notify to all the +Foreign Ministers that the King looks on the ball at Court as a private +ball, and declares, _to prevent such disagreeable altercations for the +future_, that there is no precedence there. This declaration is +ridiculed, because the ball at Court is almost the only ceremony that is +observed there, and certainly the most formal, the princes of the blood +dancing first, and everybody else being taken out according to their +rank. Yet the King, being the fountain of all rank, may certainly +declare what he pleases, especially in his own palace. The public +papers, which seldom spare the French, are warm for the Russian. +Châtelet, too, is not popular, nor well at Court. He is wrong-headed, +and at Vienna was very near drawing his Court into a scrape by his +haughtiness. His own friends even doubt whether this last exploit will +not offend at Versailles, as the Duc de Choiseul has lately been +endeavouring to soften the Czarina, wishes to send a minister thither, +and has actually sent an agent. Châtelet was to have gone this week, but +I believe waits to hear how his behaviour is taken. Personally, I am +quite on his side, though I think him in the wrong; but he is extremely +civil to me; I live much at his house, admire his wife exceedingly, and, +besides, you know, have declared war with the Czarina; so what I say is +quite in confidence to you, and for your information. As an Englishman, +I am whatever Madam Great Britain can expect of me. As intimate with the +Châtelets, and extremely attached to the Duchess of Choiseul, I detest +Madame du Barri and her faction. You, who are a Foreign Minister, and +can distinguish like a theologian between the _two natures_ perfectly +comprehend all this; and, therefore, to the charity of your casuistry I +recommend myself in this jumble of contradictions, which you may be sure +do not give me any sort of trouble either way. At least I have not +_three_ distinctions, like Châtelet when he affronted Czernichew, but +neither in his private nor public capacity. + +[Footnote 1: The Czarina.] + +This fracas happens very luckily, as we had nothing left to talk of; for +of the Pope we think no more, according to the old saying, than of the +Pope of Rome. Of Wilkes there is no longer any question, and of the war +under the Pole we hear nothing. Corsica, probably, will occasion +murmurs, but they will be preserved in pickle till next winter. I am +come hither for two months, very busy with finishing my round tower, +which has stood still these five years, and with an enchanting new +cottage that I have built, and other little works. In August I shall go +to Paris for six weeks. In short, I am delighted with having bid adieu +to Parliament and politics, and with doing nothing but what I like all +the year round. + + +_HIS RETURN TO PARIS--MADAME DEFFAND--A TRANSLATION OF "HAMLET"--MADAME +DUMENIL--VOLTAIRE'S "MEROPE" AND "LES GUÈBRES._" + +TO JOHN CHUTE, ESQ. + +PARIS, _Aug._ 30, 1769. + +I have been so hurried with paying and receiving visits, that I have not +had a moment's worth of time to write. My passage was very tedious, and +lasted near nine hours for want of wind.--But I need not talk of my +journey; for Mr. Maurice, whom I met on the road, will have told you +that I was safe on _terra firma_. + +Judge of my surprise at hearing four days ago, that my Lord Dacre and my +lady were arrived here. They are lodged within a few doors of me. He is +come to consult a Doctor Pomme who has prescribed wine, and Lord Dacre +already complains of the violence of his appetite. If you and I had +_pommed_ him to eternity, he would not have believed us. A man across +the sea tells him the plainest thing in the world; that man happens to +be called a doctor; and happening for novelty to talk common sense, is +believed, as if he had talked nonsense! and what is more extraordinary, +Lord Dacre thinks himself better, _though_ he is so. + +My dear old woman [Madame du Deffand] is in better health than when I +left her, and her spirits so increased, that I tell her she will go mad +with age. When they ask her how old she is, she answers, "J'ai soixante +et mille ans." She and I went to the Boulevard last night after supper, +and drove about there till two in the morning. We are going to sup in +the country this evening, and are to go to-morrow night at eleven to the +puppet-show. A _protégé_ of hers has written a piece for that theatre. I +have not yet seen Madame du Barri, nor can get to see her picture at the +exposition at the Louvre, the crowds are so enormous that go thither for +that purpose. As royal curiosities are the least part of my _virtù_, I +wait with patience. Whenever I have an opportunity I visit gardens, +chiefly with a view to Rosette's having a walk. She goes nowhere else, +because there is a distemper among the dogs. + +There is going to be represented a translation of Hamlet; who when his +hair is cut, and he is curled and powdered, I suppose will be exactly +_Monsieur le Prince Oreste_. T'other night I was at "Mérope." The +Dumenil was as divine as Mrs. Porter[1]; they said her familiar tones +were those of a _poissonnière_. In the last act, when one expected the +catastrophe, Narbas, more interested than anybody to see the event, +remained coolly on the stage to hear the story. The Queen's maid of +honour entered without her handkerchief, and her hair most artfully +undressed, and reeling as if she was maudlin, sobbed out a long +narrative, that did not prove true; while Narbas, with all the good +breeding in the world, was more attentive to her fright than to what had +happened. So much for propriety. Now for probability. Voltaire has +published a tragedy, called "Les Guèbres." Two Roman colonels open the +piece: they are brothers, and relate to one another, how they lately in +company destroyed, by the Emperor's mandate, a city of the Guèbres, in +which were their own wives and children; and they recollect that they +want prodigiously to know whether both their families did perish in the +flames. The son of the one and the daughter of the other are taken up +for heretics, and, thinking themselves brother and sister, insist upon +being married, and upon being executed for their religion. The son stabs +his father, who is half a Guèbre, too. The high-priest rants and roars. +The Emperor arrives, blames the pontiff for being a persecutor, and +forgives the son for assassinating his father (who does not die) +because--I don't know why, but that he may marry his cousin. The +grave-diggers in Hamlet have no chance, when such a piece as the Guèbres +is written agreeably to all rules and unities. Adieu, my dear Sir! I +hope to find you quite well at my return. Yours ever. + +[Footnote 1: Mme. Dumenil, as has been mentioned in a former note, was +the most popular of the French tragic actresses at this time, as Mrs. +Porter was of the English actresses.] + + +_THE FRENCH COURT--THE YOUNG PRINCES--ST. CYR--MADAME DE MAILLY._ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +PARIS, _Sunday night, Sept._ 17, 1769. + +I am heartily tired; but, as it is too early to go to bed, I must tell +you how agreeably I have passed the day. I wished for you; the same +scenes strike us both, and the same kind of visions has amused us both +ever since we were born. + +Well then; I went this morning to Versailles with my niece Mrs. +Cholmondeley, Mrs. Hart, Lady Denbigh's sister, and the Count de Grave, +one of the most amiable, humane, and obliging men alive. Our first +object was to see Madame du Barri. Being too early for mass, we saw the +Dauphin and his brothers at dinner. The eldest is the picture of the +Duke of Grafton, except that he is more fair, and will be taller. He has +a sickly air, and no grace. The Count de Provence has a very pleasing +countenance, with an air of more sense than the Count d'Artois, the +genius of the family. They already tell as many _bon-mots_ of the latter +as of Henri Quatre and Louis Quatorze. He is very fat, and the most like +his grandfather of all the children. You may imagine this royal mess did +not occupy us long: thence to the Chapel, where a first row in the +balconies was kept for us. Madame du Barri arrived over against us +below, without rouge, without powder, and indeed _sans avoir fait sa +toilette_; an odd appearance, as she was so conspicuous, close to the +altar, and amidst both Court and people. She is pretty, when you +consider her; yet so little striking, that I never should have asked who +she was. There is nothing bold, assuming or affected in her manner. Her +husband's sister was along with her. In the Tribune above, surrounded by +prelates, was the amorous and still handsome King. One could not help +smiling at the mixture of piety, pomp, and carnality. From chapel we +went to the dinner of the elder Mesdames. We were almost stifled in the +antechamber, where their dishes were heating over charcoal, and where we +could not stir for the press. When the doors are opened, everybody +rushes in, princes of the blood, _cordons bleus_, abbés, housemaids, and +the Lord knows who and what. Yet, so used are their highnesses to this +trade, that they eat as comfortably and heartily as you or I could do in +our own parlours. + +Our second act was much more agreeable. We quitted the Court and a +reigning mistress, for a dead one and a Cloister. In short, I had +obtained leave from the Bishop of Chartres to enter _into_ St. Cyr; and, +as Madame du Deffand never leaves anything undone that can give me +satisfaction, she had written to the abbess to desire I might see +everything that could be seen there. The Bishop's order was to admit me, +_Monsieur de Grave, et les dames de ma compagnie_: I begged the abbess +to give me back the order, that I might deposit it in the archives of +Strawberry, and she complied instantly. Every door flew open to us: and +the nuns vied in attentions to please us. The first thing I desired to +see was Madame de Maintenon's apartment. It consists of two small rooms, +a library, and a very small chamber, the same in which the Czar saw her, +and in which she died. The bed is taken away, and the room covered now +with bad pictures of the royal family, which destroys the gravity and +simplicity. It is wainscotted with oak, with plain chairs of the same, +covered with dark blue damask. Everywhere else the chairs are of blue +cloth. The simplicity and extreme neatness of the whole house, which is +vast, are very remarkable. A large apartment above (for that I have +mentioned is on the ground-floor), consisting of five rooms, and +destined by Louis Quatorze for Madame de Maintenon, is now the +infirmary, with neat white linen beds, and decorated with every text of +Scripture by which could be insinuated that the foundress was a Queen. +The hour of vespers being come, we were conducted to the chapel, and, as +it was _my_ curiosity that had led us thither, I was placed in the +Maintenon's own tribune; my company in the adjoining gallery. The +pensioners, two and two, each band headed by a man, march orderly to +their seats, and sing the whole service, which I confess was not a +little tedious. The young ladies, to the number of two hundred and +fifty, are dressed in black, with short aprons of the same, the latter +and their stays bound with blue, yellow, green, or red, to distinguish +the classes; the captains and lieutenants have knots of a different +colour for distinction. Their hair is curled and powdered, their +coiffure a sort of French round-eared caps, with white tippets, a sort +of ruff and large tucker: in short, a very pretty dress. The nuns are +entirely in black, with crape veils and long trains, deep white +handkerchiefs, and forehead cloths, and a very long train. The chapel is +plain but very pretty, and in the middle of the choir under a flat +marble lies the foundress. Madame de Cambis, one of the nuns, who are +about forty, is beautiful as a Madonna.[1] The abbess has no distinction +but a larger and richer gold cross: her apartment consists of two very +small rooms. Of Madame de Maintenon we did not see fewer than twenty +pictures. The young one looking over her shoulder has a round face, +without the least resemblance to those of her latter age. That in the +royal mantle, of which you know I have a copy, is the most repeated; but +there is another with a longer and leaner face, which has by far the +most sensible look. She is in black, with a high point head and band, a +long train, and is sitting in a chair of purple velvet. Before her +knees stands her niece Madame de Noailles, a child; at a distance a view +of Versailles or St. Cyr,[2] I could not distinguish which. We were +shown some rich reliquaires and the _corpo santo_ that was sent to her +by the Pope. We were then carried into the public room of each class. In +the first, the young ladies, who were playing at chess, were ordered to +sing to us the choruses of Athaliah; in another, they danced minuets and +country dances, while a nun, not quite so able as St. Cecilia, played on +a violin. In the others, they acted before us the proverbs or +conversations written by Madame de Maintenon for their instruction; for +she was not only their foundress but their saint, and their adoration of +her memory has quite eclipsed the Virgin Mary. We saw their dormitory, +and saw them at supper; and at last were carried to their archives, +where they produced volumes of her letters, and where one of the nuns +gave me a small piece of paper with three sentences in her handwriting. +I forgot to tell you, that this kind dame who took to me extremely, +asked me if we had many convents and relics in England. I was much +embarrassed for fear of destroying her good opinion of me, and so said +we had but few now. Oh! we went too to the _apothecairie_, where they +treated us with cordials, and where one of the ladies told me +inoculation was a sin, as it was a voluntary detention from mass, and as +voluntary a cause of eating _gras_. Our visit concluded in the garden, +now grown very venerable, where the young ladies played at little games +before us. After a stay of four hours we took our leave. I begged the +abbess's blessing; she smiled, and said, she doubted I should not place +much faith in it. She is a comely old gentlewoman, and very proud of +having seen Madame de Maintenon. Well! was not I in the right to wish +you with me?--could you have passed a day more agreeably. + +[Footnote 1: Madame du Deffand, in her letter to Walpole of the 10th of +May, 1776, encloses the following portrait of Madame de Cambise, by +Madame de la Vallière:--"Non, non, Madame, je ne ferai point votre +portrait: vous avez une manière d'être si noble, si fine, si piquante, +si délicate, si séduisante; votre gentilesse et vos graces changent si +souvent pour n'en être que plus aimable, que l'on ne peut saisir aucun +de vos traits ni au physique ni au moral." She was niece of La Marquise +de Boufflers, and, having fled to England at the breaking out of the +French Revolution, resided here until her death, which took place at +Richmond in January, 1809.] + +[Footnote 2: St. Cyr was a school founded by Mme. de Maintenon for the +education of girls of good families who were in reduced circumstances. +Mme. de Maintenon was the daughter of M. D'Aubigné, a writer of fair +repute both as a historian and a satirist. Her first husband had been a +M. Paul Scarron, a comic poet of indifferent reputation. After his +death, she was induced, after an artful show of affected reluctance, to +become governess to the children of Louis XIV. and Mme. de Montespan. +Louis gave her the small estate of Maintenon, and, after the death of +his queen, privately married her. She became devout, and, under the +tuition of the Jesuits, a violent promoter of the persecution of the +Huguenots. It was probably her influence that induced Louis to issue the +Edict revoking the Edict of Nantes promulgated by Henry IV. in 1598. She +outlived the King, and died in 1719.] + +I will conclude my letter with a most charming trait of Madame de +Mailly,[1] which cannot be misplaced in such a chapter of royal +concubines. Going to St. Sulpice, after she had lost the King's heart, a +person present desired the crowd to make way for her. Some brutal young +officers said, "Comment, pour cette catin là !" She turned to them, and +with the most charming modesty said--"Messieurs, puisque vous me +connoissez, priez Dieu pour moi." I am sure it will bring tears into +your eyes. Was she not the Publican and Maintenon the Pharisee? Good +night! I hope I am going to dream of all I have been seeing. As my +impressions and my fancy, when I am pleased, are apt to be strong, my +night perhaps may still be more productive of ideas than the day has +been. It will be charming indeed if Madame de Cambis is the ruling tint. +Adieu! + +Yours ever. + +[Footnote 1: Mme. de Mailly was the first of the mistresses of Louis XV. +She was the elder sister of the Duchesse de Chateauroux and Mme. de +Lauragais. She has the credit, such as it is, of having been really in +love with the King before she became acquainted with him; but she soon +retired, feeling repentance and shame at her position, and being +superseded in his fancy by the more showy attractions of her younger +sisters.] + + +_A MASQUERADE--STATE OF RUSSIA._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Feb._ 27, 1770. + +It is very lucky, seeing how much of the tiger enters into the human +composition, that there should be a good dose of the monkey too. If +Aesop had not lived so many centuries before the introduction of +masquerades and operas, he would certainly have anticipated my +observation, and worked it up into a capital fable. As we still trade +upon the stock of the ancients, we seldom deal in any other manufacture; +and, though nature, after new combinations, lets forth new +characteristics, it is very rarely that they are added to the old fund; +else how could so striking a remark have escaped being made, as mine, on +the joint ingredients of tiger and monkey? In France the latter +predominates, in England the former; but, like Orozmades and +Arimanius,[1] they get the better by turns. The bankruptcy in France, +and the rigours of the new Comptroller-General, are half forgotten, in +the expectation of a new opera at the new theatre. Our civil war has +been lulled asleep by a Subscription Masquerade, for which the House of +Commons literally adjourned yesterday. Instead of Fairfaxes and +Cromwells, we have had a crowd of Henry the Eighths, Wolseys, Vandykes, +and Harlequins; and because Wilkes was not mask enough, we had a man +dressed like him, with a visor, in imitation of his squint, and a Cap of +Liberty on a pole. In short, sixteen or eighteen young lords have given +the town a Masquerade; and politics, for the last fortnight, were forced +to give way to habit-makers. The ball was last night at Soho; and, if +possible, was more magnificent than the King of Denmark's. The Bishops +opposed: he of London formally remonstrated to the King, who did not +approve it, but could not help him. The consequence was, that four +divine vessels belonging to the holy fathers, alias their wives, were at +this Masquerade. Monkey again! A fair widow,[2] who once bore my whole +name, and now bears half of it, was there, with one of those whom the +newspapers call _great personages_--he dressed like Edward the Fourth, +she like Elizabeth Woodville,[3] in grey and pearls, with a black veil. +Methinks it was not very difficult to find out the meaning of those +masks. + +[Footnote 1: "_Orozmades and Arimanius._" In the Persian theology +Orozmades and Ahriman are the good and bad angels. In Scott's "Talisman" +the disguised Saracen (Saladin) invokes Ahriman as "the dark spirit." In +one of his earlier letters Walpole describes his friend Gray as +Orozmades.] + +[Footnote 2: "_A fair widow._" Lady Waldegrave, a natural daughter of +Walpole's uncle, married the King's favourite brother, the Duke of +Gloucester, the _great personage_. The King was very indignant at the +_mésalliance_; and this marriage, with that of the King's other brother, +the Duke of Cumberland, to Mrs. Horton, led to the enactment of the +Royal Marriage Act.] + +[Footnote 3: Elizabeth Woodville was the daughter of a Sir Richard +Woodville, and his wife, the Duchess of Bedford, the widow of the +illustrious brother of Henry V. Her first husband had been Sir John +Grey, a knight of the Lancastrian party; and, after his death, Edward +IV., attracted by her remarkable beauty, married her in 1464.] + +As one of my ancient passions, formerly, was Masquerades, I had a large +trunk of dresses by me. I dressed out a thousand young Conways and +Cholmondeleys, and went with more pleasure to see them pleased than when +I formerly delighted in that diversion myself. It has cost me a great +headache, and I shall probably never go to another. A symptom appeared +of the change that has happened in the people. + +The mob was beyond all belief: they held flambeaux to the windows of +every coach, and demanded to have the masks pulled off and put on at +their pleasure, but with extreme good-humour and civility. I was with my +Lady Hertford and two of her daughters, in their coach: the mob took me +for Lord Hertford, and huzzaed and blessed me! One fellow cried out, +"Are you for Wilkes?" another said, "D--n you, you fool, what has Wilkes +to do with a Masquerade?" + +In good truth, that stock is fallen very low. The Court has recovered a +majority of seventy-five in the House of Commons; and the party has +succeeded so ill in the Lords, that my Lord Chatham has betaken himself +to the gout, and appears no more. What Wilkes may do at his enlargement +in April, I don't know, but his star is certainly much dimmed. The +distress of France, the injustice they have been induced to commit on +public credit, immense bankruptcies, and great bankers hanging and +drowning themselves, are comfortable objects in our prospect; for one +tiger is charmed if another tiger loses his tail. + +There was a stroke of the monkey last night that will sound ill in the +ears of your neighbour the Pope. The heir-apparent of the House of +Norfolk, a drunken old mad fellow, was, though a Catholic, dressed like +a Cardinal: I hope he was scandalised at the wives of our Bishops. + +So you agree with me, and don't think that the crusado from Russia will +recover the Holy Land! It is a pity; for, if the Turks kept it a little +longer, I doubt it will be the Holy Land no longer. When Rome totters, +poor Jerusalem! As to your Count Orloff's[1] denying the murder of the +late Czar, it is no more than every felon does at the Old Bailey. If I +could write like Shakspeare, I would make Peter's ghost perch on the +dome of Sancta Sophia, and, when the Russian fleet comes in sight, roar, +with a voice of thunder that should reach to Petersburg, + + Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow! + +[Footnote 1: Count Orloff was one of the Czarina's earlier lovers, and +was universally understood to have been the principal agent in the +murder of her husband.] + +We have had two or three simpletons return from Russia, charmed with the +murderess, believing her innocent, _because_ she spoke graciously to +_them_ in the drawing-room. I don't know what the present Grand +Signior's name is, Osman, or Mustapha, or what, but I am extremely on +his side against Catherine of Zerbst; and I never intend to ask him for +a farthing, nor write panegyrics on him for pay, like Voltaire and +Diderot; so you need not say a word to him of my good wishes. Benedict +XIV. deserved my friendship, but being a sound Protestant, one would +not, you know, make all Turk and Pagan and Infidel princes too familiar. +Adieu! + +[Illustration: SIR ROBERT WALPOLE + +_From a mezzotint by J. Simon after a picture by Sir Godfrey Kneller_] + + +_WILKES--BURKE'S PAMPHLET--PREDICTION OF AMERICAN +REPUBLICS--EXTRAVAGANCE IN ENGLAND._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _May_ 6, 1770. + +I don't know whether Wilkes is subdued by his imprisonment, or waits for +the rising of Parliament, to take the field; or whether his dignity of +Alderman has dulled him into prudence, and the love of feasting; but +hitherto he has done nothing but go to City banquets and sermons, and +sit at Guildhall as a sober magistrate. With an inversion of the +proverb, "Si ex quovis Mercurio fit lignum!" What do you Italians think +of Harlequin Potesta?[1] In truth, his party is crumbled away strangely. +Lord Chatham has talked on the Middlesex election till nobody will +answer him; and Mr. Burke (Lord Rockingham's governor) has published a +pamphlet[2] that has sown the utmost discord between that faction and +the supporters of the Bill of Rights. Mrs. Macaulay[3] has written +against it. In Parliament their numbers are shrunk to nothing, and the +session is ending very triumphantly for the Court. But there is another +scene opened of a very different aspect. You have seen the accounts from +Boston. The tocsin seems to be sounded to America. I have many visions +about that country, and fancy I see twenty empires and republics forming +upon vast scales over all that continent, which is growing too mighty to +be kept in subjection to half a dozen exhausted nations in Europe. As +the latter sinks, and the others rise, they who live between the eras +will be a sort of Noahs, witnesses to the period of the old world and +origin of the new. I entertain myself with the idea of a future senate +in Carolina and Virginia, where their future patriots will harangue on +the austere and incorruptible virtue of the ancient English! will tell +their auditors of our disinterestedness and scorn of bribes and +pensions, and make us blush in our graves at their ridiculous +panegyrics. Who knows but even our Indian usurpations and villanies may +become topics of praise to American schoolboys? As I believe our virtues +are extremely like those of our predecessors the Romans, so I am sure +our luxury and extravagance are too. + +[Footnote 1: Podesta was an officer in some of the smaller Italian +towns, somewhat corresponding to our mayor. The name is Italianised from +the Roman Potestas-- + + Hajus, quo trahitur, praetextam sumere mavis, + An Fidenarum, Gabiorumque esse Potestas. + +(Juv., x. 100).] + +[Footnote 2: The pamphlet is, "Thoughts on the Present Discontents," +founding them especially on the unconstitutional influence of "the +King's friends."] + +[Footnote 3: Mrs. Macaulay was the wife of a London physician, and +authoress of a "History of England" from the accession of James I. to +that of George I., written in a spirit of the fiercest republicanism, +but long since forgotten.] + +What do you think of a winter Ranelagh[1] erecting in Oxford Road, at +the expense of sixty thousand pounds? The new bank, including the value +of the ground, and of the houses demolished to make room for it, will +cost three hundred thousand; and erected, as my Lady Townley[2] says, +_by sober citizens too_! I have touched before to you on the incredible +profusion of our young men of fashion. I know a younger brother who +literally gives a flower-woman half a guinea every morning for a bunch +of roses for the nosegay in his button-hole. There has lately been an +auction of stuffed birds; and, as natural history is in fashion, there +are physicians and others who paid forty and fifty guineas for a single +Chinese pheasant; you may buy a live one for five. After this, it is +not extraordinary that pictures should be dear. We have at present three +exhibitions. One West,[3] who paints history in the taste of Poussin, +gets three hundred pounds for a piece not too large to hang over a +chimney. He has merit, but is hard and heavy, and far unworthy of such +prices. The rage to see these exhibitions is so great, that sometimes +one cannot pass through the streets where they are. But it is incredible +what sums are raised by mere exhibitions of anything; a new fashion, and +to enter at which you pay a shilling or half-a-crown. Another rage, is +for prints of English portraits: I have been collecting them above +thirty years, and originally never gave for a mezzotinto above one or +two shillings. The lowest are now a crown; most, from half a guinea to a +guinea. Lately, I assisted a clergyman [Granger] in compiling a +catalogue of them; since the publication, scarce heads in books, not +worth threepence, will sell for five guineas. Then we have Etruscan +vases, made of earthenware, in Staffordshire, [by Wedgwood] from two to +five guineas, and _ormoulu_, never made here before, which succeeds so +well, that a tea-kettle, which the inventor offered for one hundred +guineas, sold by auction for one hundred and thirty. In short, we are at +the height of extravagance and improvements, for we do improve rapidly +in taste as well as in the former. I cannot say so much for our genius. +Poetry is gone to bed, or into our prose; we are like the Romans in +that too. If we have the arts of the Antonines,--we have the fustian +also. + +[Footnote 1: _"A winter Ranelagh._"--the Pantheon in Oxford Street.] + +[Footnote 2: Lady Townley is the principal character in "The Provoked +Husband."] + +[Footnote 3: West, as a painter, was highly esteemed by George III., +and, on the death of Sir J. Reynolds, succeeded him as President of the +Royal Academy.] + +Well! what becomes of your neighbours, the Pope and Turk? is one Babylon +to fall, and the other to moulder away? I begin to tremble for the poor +Greeks; they will be sacrificed like the Catalans, and left to be +impaled for rebellion, as soon as that vainglorious woman the Czarina +has glutted her lust of fame, and secured Azoph by a peace, which I hear +is all she insists on keeping. What strides modern ambition takes! _We_ +are the successors of Aurungzebe; and a virago under the Pole sends a +fleet into the Aegean Sea to rouse the ghosts of Leonidas and +Epaminondas, and burn the capital of the second Roman Empire! Folks now +scarce meddle with their next door neighbours; as many English go to +visit St. Peter's who never thought of stepping into St. Paul's. + +I shall let Lord Beauchamp know your readiness to oblige him, probably +to-morrow, as I go to town. The spring is so backward here that I have +little inducement to stay; not an entire leaf is out on any tree, and I +have heard a syren as much as a nightingale. Lord Fitzwilliam, who, I +suppose, is one of your latest acquaintance, is going to marry Lady +Charlotte Ponsonby, Lord Besborough's second daughter, a pretty, +sensible, and very amiable girl. I seldom tell you that sort of news, +but when the parties are very fresh in your memory. Adieu! + + +_MASQUERADES IN FASHION--A LADY'S CLUB._ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _May_ 6, 1770. + +If you are like me, you are fretting at the weather. We have not a leaf, +yet, large enough to make an apron for a Miss Eve of two years old. +Flowers and fruits, if they come at all this year, must meet together as +they do in a Dutch picture; our lords and ladies, however, couple as if +it were the real _Gioventù dell' anno_. Lord Albemarle, you know, has +disappointed all his brothers and my niece; and Lord Fitzwilliam is +declared _sposo_ to Lady Charlotte Ponsonby. It is a pretty match, and +makes Lord Besborough as happy as possible. + +Masquerades proceed in spite of Church and King. That knave the Bishop +of London persuaded that good soul the Archbishop to remonstrate against +them; but happily the age prefers silly follies to serious ones, and +dominos, _comme de raison_, carry it against lawn sleeves. + +There is a new Institution that begins to make, and if it proceeds, will +make a considerable noise. It is a club of _both_ sexes to be erected at +Almack's, on the model of that of the men of White's. Mrs. Fitzroy, Lady +Pembroke, Mrs. Meynell, Lady Molyneux, Miss Pelham, and Miss Loyd, are +the foundresses. I am ashamed to say I am of so young and fashionable a +society; but as they are people I live with, I choose to be idle rather +than morose. I can go to a young supper, without forgetting how much +sand is run out of the hour-glass. Yet I shall never pass a triste old +age in turning the Psalms into Latin or English verse. My plan is to +pass away calmly; cheerfully if I can; sometimes to amuse myself with +the rising generation, but to take care not to fatigue them, nor weary +them with old stories, which will not interest them, as their adventures +do not interest me. Age would indulge prejudices if it did not sometimes +polish itself against younger acquaintance; but it must be the work of +folly if one hopes to contract friendships with them, or desires it, or +thinks one can become the same follies, or expects that they should do +more than bear one for one's good-humour. In short, they are a pleasant +medicine, that one should take care not to grow fond of. Medicines hurt +when habit has annihilated their force; but you see I am in no danger. I +intend by degrees to decrease my opium, instead of augmenting the dose. +Good night! You see I never let our long-lived friendship drop, though +you give it so few opportunities of breathing. + + +_THE PRINCESS OF WALES IS GONE TO GERMANY--TERRIBLE ACCIDENT IN PARIS._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _June_ 15, 1770. + +I have no public event to tell you, though I write again sooner than I +purposed. The journey of the Princess Dowager to Germany is indeed an +extraordinary circumstance, but besides its being a week old, as I do +not know the motives, I have nothing to say upon it. It is much +canvassed and sifted, and yet perhaps she was only in search of a little +repose from the torrents of abuse that have been poured upon her for +some years. Yesterday they publicly sung about the streets a ballad, the +burthen of which was, _the cow has left her calf_. With all this we are +grown very quiet, and Lord North's behaviour is so sensible and moderate +that he offends nobody. + +Our family has lost a branch, but I cannot call it a misfortune. Lord +Cholmondeley died last Saturday. He was seventy, and had a constitution +to have carried him to a hundred, if he had not destroyed it by an +intemperance, especially in drinking, that would have killed anybody +else in half the time. As it was, he had outlived by fifteen years all +his set, who have reeled into the ferry-boat so long before him. His +grandson seems good and amiable, and though he comes into but a small +fortune for an earl, five-and-twenty hundred a-year, his uncle the +general may re-establish him upon a great footing--but it will not be in +his life, and the general does not sail after his brother on a sea of +claret. + +You have heard details, to be sure, of the horrible catastrophe at the +fireworks at Paris.[1] Francèes, the French minister, told me the other +night that the number of the killed is so great that they now try to +stifle it; my letters say between five and six hundred! I think there +were not fewer than ten coach-horses trodden to death. The mob had +poured down from the _Etoile_ by thousands and ten thousands to see the +illuminations, and did not know the havoc they were occasioning. The +impulse drove great numbers into the Seine, and those met with the most +favourable deaths. + +[Footnote 1: The Dauphin had been married to the Archduchess Marie +Antoinette on May 16th, and on May 30th the city of Paris closed a +succession of balls and banquets with which they had celebrated the +marriage of the heir of the monarchy by a display of fireworks in the +Place Louis XV., in which the ingenuity of the most fashionable +pyrotechnists had been exhausted to outshine all previous displays of +the sort. But towards the end of the exhibition one of the explosives +set fire to a portion of the platforms on which the different figures +were constructed, and in a moment the whole woodwork was in a flame. +Three sides of the Place were enclosed, and the fourth was so blocked up +with carriages, that the spectators, who saw themselves surrounded with +flames, had no way to escape open. The carriage-horses, too, became +terrified and unmanageable. In their panic-stricken flight the +spectators trampled one another down; hundreds fell, and were crushed to +death by their companions; hundreds were pushed into the river and +drowned. The number of killed could never be precisely ascertained; but +it was never estimated below six hundred, and was commonly believed to +have greatly exceeded that number, as many of the victims were of the +poorer class--many, too, the bread-winners of their families. The +Dauphin and Dauphiness devoted the whole of their month's income to the +relief of the sufferers; and Marie Antoinette herself visited many of +the families whose loss seemed to have been the most severe: this +personal interest in their affliction which she thus displayed making a +deep impression on the citizens.] + +This is a slight summer letter, but you will not be sorry it is so +short, when the dearth of events is the cause. Last year I did not know +but we might have a battle of Edgehill[1] by this time. At present, my +Lord Chatham could as soon raise money as raise the people; and Wilkes +will not much longer have more power of doing either. If you were not +busy in burning Constantinople, you could not have a better opportunity +for taking a trip to England. Have you never a wish this way? Think what +satisfaction it would be to me?--but I never advise; nor let my own +inclinations judge for my friends. I had rather suffer their absence, +than have to reproach myself with having given them bad counsel. I +therefore say no more on what would make me so happy. Adieu! + +[Footnote 1: Edgehill was the first battle in the Great Rebellion, +fought October 23, 1642.] + + +_FALL OF THE DUC DE CHOISEUL'S MINISTRY._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Saturday evening, Dec._ 29, 1770. + +We are alarmed, or very glad, we don't know which. The Duke de Choiseul +is fallen! but we cannot tell yet whether the mood of his successors +will be peaceable or martial. The news arrived yesterday morning, and +the event happened but last Monday evening. He was allowed but three +hours to prepare for his journey, and ordered to retire to his seat at +Chanteloup; but there are letters that say, _qu'il ira plus loin_. The +Duke de Praslin is banished too--a disagreeable man; but his fate is a +little hard, for he was just going to resign the Marine to Châtelet, +who, by the way, is forbidden to visit Choiseul. I shall shed no tears +for Châtelet, the most peevish and insolent of men, our bitter enemy, +and whom M. de Choiseul may thank in some measure for his fall; for I +believe while Châtelet was here, he drew the Spaniards into the attack +of Falkland's Island. Choiseul's own conduct seems to have been not a +little equivocal. His friends maintained that his existence as a +minister depended on his preventing a war, and he certainly confuted the +Comptroller-General's plan of raising supplies for it. Yet, it is now +said, that on the very morning of the Duke's disgrace, the King +reproached him, and said "Monsieur, je vous avois dit, que je ne voulois +pas la guerre;" and the Duke d'Aiguillon's friends have officiously +whispered, that if Choiseul was out it would certainly be peace; but did +not Lord Chatham, immediately before he was Minister, protest not half a +man should be sent to Germany, and yet, were not all our men and all our +money sent thither? The Chevalier de Muy is made Secretary-at-War, and +it is supposed Monsieur d'Aiguillon is, or will be, the Minister. + +Thus Abishag[1] has strangled an Administration that had lasted fourteen +years. I am sincerely grieved for the Duchess de Choiseul, the most +perfect being I know of either sex. I cannot possibly feel for her +husband: Corsica is engraved in my memory, as I believe it is on your +heart. His cruelties there, I should think, would not cheer his solitude +or prison. In the mean time, desolation and confusion reign all over +France. They are almost bankrupts, and quite famished. The Parliament +of Paris has quitted its functions, and the other tribunals threaten to +follow the example. Some people say, that Maupéou,[2] the Chancellor, +told the King that they were supported underhand by Choiseul, and must +submit if he were removed. The suggestion is specious at least, as the +object of their antipathy is the Duke d'Aiguillon. If the latter should +think a war a good diversion to their enterprises, I should not be +surprised if they went on, especially if a bankruptcy follows famine. +The new Minister and the Chancellor are in general execration. On the +latter's lately obtaining the _Cordon Bleu_,[3] this epigram appeared:-- + + Ce tyran de la France, qui cherche à mettre tout en feu, + Mérite un cordon, mais ce n'est pas le cordon bleu. + +[Footnote 1: Madame du Barri.--WALPOLE.] + +[Footnote 2: Maupéou was the Chancellor who had just abolished the +Parliaments, the restoration of which in the next reign was perhaps one +of the causes which contributed to the Revolution.] + +[Footnote 3: The _Cordon Bleu_ was the badge of the Order of St. Louis, +established by Louis XIV.; the _cordon not_ blue was the hangman's +rope.] + +We shall see how Spain likes the fall of the author of the +"Family-compact."[1] There is an Empress[2] will not be pleased with +it, but it is not the Russian Empress; and much less the Turks, who are +as little obliged to that bold man's intrigues as the poor Corsicans. +How can one regret such a general _Boute-feu_? + +[Footnote 1: Choiseul was the Minister when the "Family Compact" of 1761 +was concluded between France and Spain. The Duc de Praslin, who shared +his fall, had been Secretary at War, and for some little time neither +his office nor that of Choiseul was filled up, but the work of their +departments was performed by Secretaries of State, the Duc d'Aiguillon, +in spite of the contempt in which he was deservedly held, being +eventually made Secretary for Foreign Affairs through the interest of +Mme. du Barri (Lacretelle, iv. 256).] + +[Footnote 2: "_An Empress._" The Empress-Queen Maria Theresa, who +considered herself and her family under obligations to Choiseul for his +abandonment of the long-standing policy of enmity to the house of +Austria which had been the guiding principle of all French statesmen +since the time of Henry IV., and for the marriage of her favourite +daughter to the Dauphin.] + +Perhaps our situation is not very stable neither. The world, who are +ignorant of Lord Weymouth's motives, suspect a secret intelligence with +Lord Chatham. Oh! let us have peace abroad before we quarrel any more at +home! + +Judge Bathurst is to be Lord Keeper, with many other arrangements in the +law; but as you neither know the persons, nor I care about them, I shall +not fill my paper with the catalogue, but reserve the rest of my letter +for Tuesday, when I shall be in town. No Englishman, you know, will +sacrifice his Saturday and Sunday. I have so little to do with all these +matters, that I came hither this morning, and left this new chaos to +arrange itself as it pleases. It certainly is an era, and may be an +extensive one; not very honourable to old King Capet,[1] whatever it may +be to the intrigues of his new Ministers. The Jesuits will not be +without hopes. They have a friend that made mischief _ante Helenam_. + +[Footnote 1: Louis XV.--WALPOLE.] + +_Jan._ 1, 1771. + +I hope the new year will end as quietly as it begins, for I have not a +syllable to tell you. No letters are come from France since Friday +morning, and this is Tuesday noon. As we had full time to reason--in the +dark, the general persuasion is, that the French Revolution will produce +peace--I mean in Europe--not amongst themselves. Probably I have been +sending you little but what you will have heard long before you receive +my letter; but no matter; if we did not chat about our neighbour Kings, +I don't know how we should keep up our correspondence, for we are better +acquainted with King Louis, King Carlos, and Empresses Katharine and +Teresa, than you with the English that I live amongst, or I with your +Florentines. Adieu! + + +_PEACE WITH SPAIN--BANISHMENT OF THE FRENCH PARLIAMENT--MRS. CORNELYS'S +ESTABLISHMENT--THE QUEEN OF DENMARK._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Feb._ 22, 1771. + +Two days ago there began to be an alarm at the delay of the Spanish +courier, and people were persuaded that the King of Spain had refused to +ratify his ambassador's declaration; who, on the warrant of the French +King, had ventured to sign it, though expecting every hour to be +recalled, as he actually was two days afterwards. However, the night +before last, to the great comfort of Prince Masserano and our Ministers, +the ratification arrived; and, after so many delays and untoward +accidents, Fortune has interposed (for there has been great luck, too, +in the affair), and peace is again established. With you, I am not at +all clear that Choiseul was in earnest to make it. If he was, it was +entirely owing to his own ticklish situation. Other people think, that +this very situation had made him desperate; and that he was on the point +of striking a hardy stroke indeed; and meditated sending a strong army +into Holland, to oblige the Dutch to lend twelve men-of-war to invade +us. Count Welderen,[1] who is totally an anti-Gaul, assured me he did +not believe this project. Still I am very glad such a _boute-feu_ is +removed. + +[Footnote 1: The Dutch Minister in England. He married a sister of Sir +John Griffin, Maid of Honour to Anne Princess of Orange.--WALPOLE.] + +This treaty is an epoch; and puts a total end to all our preceding +histories. Long quiet is never probable, nor shall I guess who will +disturb it; but, whatever happens, must be thoroughly new matter, though +some of the actors perhaps may not be so. Both Lord Chatham and Wilkes +are at the end of their reckoning, and the Opposition can do nothing +without fresh fuel. + +The scene that is closed here seems to be but opening in France. The +Parliament of Paris banished; a new one arbitrarily appointed;[1] the +Princes of the Blood refractory and disobedient; the other Parliament +as mutinous; and distress everywhere: if the army catches the infection, +what may not happen, when the King is despised, his agents detested, and +no Ministry settled? Some say the mistress and her faction keep him +hourly diverted or drunk; others, that he has got a new passion: how +creditable at sixty! Still I think it is the crisis of their +constitution. If the Monarch prevails, he becomes absolute as a Czar; if +he is forced to bend, will the Parliament stop there? + +[Footnote 1: "_A new one appointed._" This is a mistake of Walpole's. A +new Parliament was not, nor indeed could be, appointed; but Maupéou +created six new Sovereign Courts at Arras, Blois, Chalons sur Marne, +Clermont, Lyon, and Poitiers, at which "justice should be done at the +sovereign's expense" (Lacretelle, iv. 264).] + +In the mean time our most serious war is between two Operas. Mr. Hobart, +Lord Buckingham's brother, is manager of the Haymarket. Last year he +affronted Guadagni, by preferring the Zamperina, his own mistress, to +the singing hero's sister. The Duchess of Northumberland, Lady +Harrington, and some other great ladies, espoused the brother, and +without a license erected an Opera for him at Madame Cornelys's. This is +a singular dame, and you must be acquainted with her. She sung here +formerly, by the name of the Pompeiati. Of late years she has been the +Heidegger of the age, and presided over our diversions. Her taste and +invention in pleasures and decorations are singular. She took Carlisle +House in Soho Square, enlarged it, and established assemblies and balls +by subscription. At first they scandalised, but soon drew in both +righteous and ungodly. She went on building, and made her house a fairy +palace for balls, concerts, and masquerades. Her Opera, which she called +_Harmonic Meetings_, was splendid and charming. Mr. Hobart began to +starve, and the managers of the theatres were alarmed. To avoid the act, +she pretended to take no money, and had the assurance to advertise that +the subscription was to provide coals for the poor, for she has +vehemently courted the mob, and succeeded in gaining their princely +favour. She then declared her Masquerades were for the benefit of +commerce. I concluded she would open another sort of house next for the +interests of the Foundling Hospital, and I was not quite mistaken, for +they say one of her maids, gained by Mr. Hobart, affirms that she could +not undergo the fatigue of managing such a house. At last Mr. Hobart +informed against her, and the Bench of Justices, less soothable by music +than Orpheus's beasts, have pronounced against her. Her Opera is +quashed, and Guadagni, who governed so haughtily at Vienna, that, to +pique some man of quality there, he named a minister to Venice, is not +only fined, but was threatened to be sent to Bridewell, which chilled +the blood of all the Caesars and Alexanders he had ever represented; nor +could any promises of his lady-patronesses rehabilitate his courage--so +for once an Act of Parliament goes for something. + +You have got three new companions;[1] General Montagu, a West Indian +Mr. Paine, and Mr. Lynch, your brother at Turin. + +[Footnote 1: As Knights of the Bath.--WALPOLE.] + +There is the devil to pay in Denmark. The Queen[1] has got the +ascendant, has turned out favourites and Ministers, and literally wears +the breeches, actual buckskin. There is a physician, who is said to rule +both their Majesties, and I suppose is sold to France, for that is the +predominant interest now at Copenhagen. The Czarina has whispered her +disapprobation, and if she has a talon left, when she has done with the +Ottomans, may chance to scratch the little King. + +[Footnote 1: The Queen was Caroline Matilda, a sister of George III., +and was accused of a criminal intimacy with Count Struenzee, the Prime +Minister. Struenzee, "after a trial with only a slight semblance of the +forms of justice" (to quote the words of Lord Stanhope), was convicted +and executed; and the Queen was at first imprisoned in the Castle of +Cronenburg, but after a time was released, and allowed to retire to +Zell, Hanover, where she died in 1774.] + +For eight months to come I should think we shall have little to talk of, +you and I, but distant wars and distant majesties. For my part, I reckon +the volume quite shut in which I took any interest. The succeeding world +is young, new, and half unknown to me. Tranquillity comprehends every +wish I have left, and I think I should not even ask what news there is, +but for fear of seeming wedded to old stories--the rock of old men; and +yet I should prefer that failing to the solicitude about a world one +belongs to no more! Adieu! + + +_QUARREL OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS WITH THE CITY--DISSENSIONS IN THE +FRENCH COURT AND ROYAL FAMILY--EXTRAVAGANCE IN ENGLAND._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _April_ 26, 1771. + +You may wonder that I have been so silent, when I had announced a war +between the House of Commons and the City--nay, when hostilities were +actually commenced; but many a campaign languishes that has set out very +flippantly. My letters depend on events, and I am like the man in the +weather-house who only comes forth on a storm. The wards in the City +have complimented the prisoners,[1] and some towns; but the train has +not spread much. Wilkes is your only gun-powder that makes an explosion. +He and his associates are more incensed at each other than against the +Ministry, and have saved the latter much trouble. The Select Committees +have been silent and were forgotten, but there is a talk now of their +making some report before the session closes. + +[Footnote 1: The prisoners were Crosby, the Lord Mayor, and Oliver, one +of the aldermen, both members of Parliament. The selection of the Tower +for their imprisonment was greatly remarked upon, because hitherto that +had never been so used except for persons accused of high treason; while +their offence was but a denial of the right of the House of Commons to +arrest a liveryman within the City, and the entertaining a charge of +assault against the messenger who had endeavoured to arrest him. These +riots, which for the moment appeared likely to become formidable, arose +out of the practice of reporting the parliamentary debates, a practice +contrary to the Standing Orders of Parliament, passed as far back as the +reign of Elizabeth, but the violation of which had lately begun to be +attempted.] + +The serious war is at last absolutely blown over. Spain has sent us word +she is disarming. So are we. Who would have expected that a courtesan at +Paris would have prevented a general conflagration? Madame du Barri has +compensated for Madame Helen, and is _optima pacis causa_. I will not +swear that the torch she snatched from the hands of Spain may not light +up a civil war in France. The Princes of the Blood[1] are forbidden the +Court, twelve dukes and peers, of the most complaisant, are banished, or +going to be banished; and even the captains of the guard. In short, the +King, his mistress, and the Chancellor, have almost left themselves +alone at Versailles. But as the most serious events in France have +always a ray of ridicule mixed with them, some are to be exiled _to_ +Paris, and some to St. Germain. How we should laugh at anybody being +banished to Soho Square and Hammersmith? The Chancellor desired to see +the Prince of Conti; the latter replied, "Qu'il lui donnoit rendezvous à +la Grève."[2] + +[Footnote 1: The "Princes of the Blood" in France were those who, though +of Royal descent, were not children of a king--such, for instance, as +the Dukes of Orléans and Bourbon; and they were reckoned of a rank so +inferior to the princes of the Royal Family, that, as Marie Antoinette +on one occasion told the Duke of Orléans, in a well-deserved reproof for +his factious insolence, Princes of the Blood had never pretended to the +honour of supping with the King and herself. (See the Editor's "Life of +Marie Antoinette," c. 10). Their offence, in this instance, was having +protested against the holding and the proceedings of a _Lit de Justice_, +which had been held on April 15th, about three months after the +banishment of all the members of Parliament (Lacretelle, c. 13).] + +[Footnote 2: La Grève was the place of execution in Paris. + + Who has e'er been at Paris must needs know the Grève, + The fatal retreat of th' unfortunate brave; + Where honour and justice most oddly contribute + To ease hero's pains by a halter and gibbet (PRIOR).] + +If we laugh at the French, they stare at us. Our enormous luxury and +expense astonishes them. I carried their Ambassador, and a Comte de +Levi, the other morning to see the new winter Ranelagh [The Pantheon] in +Oxford Road, which is almost finished. It amazed me myself. Imagine +Balbec in all its glory! The pillars are of artificial _giallo antico_. +The ceilings, even of the passages, are of the most beautiful stuccos in +the best taste of grotesque. The ceilings of the ball-rooms and the +panels painted like Raphael's _loggias_ in the Vatican. A dome like the +pantheon, glazed. It is to cost fifty thousand pounds. Monsieur de +Guisnes said to me, "Ce n'est qu'à Londres qu'on peut faire tout cela." +It is not quite a proof of the same taste, that two views of Verona, by +Canaletti, have been sold by auction for five hundred and fifty guineas; +and, what is worse, it is come out that they are copies by Marlow, a +disciple of Scott. Both master and scholar are indeed better painters +than the Venetian; but the purchasers did not mean to be so well +cheated. + +The papers will have told you that the wheel of fortune has again +brought up Lord Holdernesse, who is made governor to the Prince of +Wales. The Duchess of Queensberry, a much older veteran, is still +figuring in the world, not only by giving frequent balls, but really by +her beauty. Reflect, that she was a goddess in Prior's days![1] I could +not help adding these lines on her--you know his end: + + Kitty, at Heart's desire, + Obtained the chariot for a day, + And set the world on fire. + +This was some fifty-six years ago, or more. I gave her this stanza: + + To many a Kitty, Love his car + Will for a day engage, + But Prior's Kitty, ever fair, + Obtained it for an age! + +And she is old enough to be pleased with the compliment. + +[Footnote 1: Prior died in 1721.] + +My brother [Sir Edward Walpole] has lost his son; and it is no +misfortune, though he was but three-and-thirty, and had very good parts; +for he was sunk into such a habit of drinking and gaming, that the first +ruined his constitution, and the latter would have ruined his father. + +Shall I send away this short scroll, or reserve it to the end of the +session? No, it is already somewhat obsolete: it shall go, and another +short letter shall be the other half of it--so, good night! + + +_GREAT DISTRESS AT THE FRENCH COURT._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +PARIS, _July_ 30, 1771. + +I do not know where you are, nor where this will find you, nor when it +will set out to seek you, as I am not certain by whom I shall send it. +It is of little consequence, as I have nothing material to tell you, but +what you probably may have heard. + +The distress here is incredible, especially at Court. The King's +tradesmen are ruined, his servants starving, and even angels and +archangels cannot get their pensions and salaries, but sing "Woe! woe! +woe!" instead of Hosannahs. Compiègne is abandoned; Villars Coterets[1] +and Chantilly crowded, and Chanteloup still more in fashion, whither +everybody goes that pleases; though, when they ask leave, the answer is, +"Je ne le défends ni le permets." This is the first time that ever the +will of a King of France was interpreted against his inclination. Yet, +after annihilating his Parliament, and ruining public credit, he tamely +submits to be affronted by his own servants. Madame de Beauveau, and two +or three high-spirited dames, defy this Czar of Gaul. Yet they and their +cabal are as inconsistent on the other hand. They make epigrams, sing +vaudevilles,[2] against the mistress, hand about libels against the +Chancellor [Maupéou], and have no more effect than a sky-rocket; but in +three months will die to go to Court, and to be invited to sup with +Madame du Barri. The only real struggle is between the Chancellor +[Maupéou] and the Duc d'Aiguillon. The first is false, bold, determined, +and not subject to little qualms. The other is less known, communicates +himself to nobody, is suspected of deep policy and deep designs, but +seems to intend to set out under a mask of very smooth varnish; for he +has just obtained the payment of all his bitter enemy La Chalotais' +pensions and arrears. He has the advantage, too, of being but +moderately detested in comparison of his rival, and, what he values +more, the interest of the mistress. The Comptroller-General[3] serves +both, by acting mischief more sensibly felt; for he ruins everybody but +those who purchase a respite from his mistress. He dispenses bankruptcy +by retail, and will fall, because he cannot even by these means be +useful enough. They are striking off nine millions from _la caisse +militaire_, five from the marine, and one from the _affaires +étrangères_: yet all this will not extricate them. You never saw a great +nation in so disgraceful a position. Their next prospect is not better: +it rests on an _imbécille_ [Louis XVI.], both in mind and body. + +[Footnote 1: Villars Coterets was the country residence of the Duc +d'Orléans; Chantilly that of the Prince de Condé; and Chanteloup that of +the Duc de Choiseul: and the mere fact of their being in disgrace at +Court was sufficient to make them popular with the people.] + +[Footnote 2: The following specimen of these vaudevilles was given by +Madame du Deffand to Walpole:-- + + "L'avez-vous vue, ma Du Barry, + Elle a ravi mon áme; + Pour elle j'ai perdu l'esprit, + Des Français j'ai le blâme: + Charmants enfans de la Gourdon, + Est-elle chez vous maintenant? + Rendez-la-moi, + Je suis le Roi, + Soulagez mon martyre; + Rendez-la-moi, + Elle est à moi, + Je suis son pauvre Sire. + L'avez-vous vue," &c. + + "Je sais qu'autrefois les laquais + On fêté ses jeunes attraits; + Que les cochers, + Les perruquiers, + L'aimaient, l'aimaient d'amour extrême, + Mais pas autant que je l'aime. + L'avez-vous vue," &c.] + +[Footnote 3: The Comptroller-General was the Abbé Terrai, notoriously as +corrupt as he was incompetent. One of his measures, reducing the +interest on the Debt by one-half, was tantamount to an act of +bankruptcy; but the national levity comforted itself by jests, and one +evening, when the pit at the theatre was crowded to suffocation, one of +the sufferers carried the company with him by shouting out a suggestion +to send for the Abbé Terrai to reduce them all to one-half their size.] + + +_ENGLISH GARDENING IN FRANCE--ANGLOMANIE--HE IS WEARY OF PARIS--DEATH OF +GRAY._ + +TO JOHN CHUTE, ESQ. + +Paris, _August_ 5, 1771. + +It is a great satisfaction to me to find by your letter of the 30th, +that you have had no return of your gout. I have been assured here, that +the best remedy is to cut one's nails in hot water. It is, I fear, as +certain as any other remedy! It would at least be so here, if their +bodies were of a piece with their understandings; or if both were as +curable as they are the contrary. Your prophecy, I doubt, is not better +founded than the prescription. I may be lame; but I shall never be a +duck, nor deal in the garbage of the Alley. + +I envy your _Strawberry tide_, and need not say how much I wish I was +there to receive you. Methinks, I should be as glad of a little grass, +as a seaman after a long voyage. Yet English gardening gains ground here +prodigiously--not much at a time, indeed--I have literally seen one, +that is exactly like a tailor's paper of patterns. There is a Monsieur +Boutin, who has tacked a piece of what he calls an English garden to a +set of stone terraces, with steps of turf. There are three or four very +high hills, almost as high as, and exactly in the shape of, a tansy +pudding. You squeeze between these and a river, that is conducted at +obtuse angles in a stone channel, and supplied by a pump; and when +walnuts come in I suppose it will be navigable. In a corner enclosed by +a chalk wall are the samples I mentioned; there is a strip of grass, +another of corn, and a third _en friche_, exactly in the order of beds +in a nursery. They have translated Mr. Whately's book,[1] and the Lord +knows what barbarism is going to be laid at our door. This new +_Anglomanie_ will literally be _mad English_. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Whately, the Secretary to the Treasury, had published +an essay on Gardening.] + +New _arrêts_, new retrenchments, new misery, stalk forth every day. The +Parliament of Besançon is dissolved; so are the _grenadiers de France_. +The King's tradesmen are all bankrupt; no pensions are paid, and +everybody is reforming their suppers and equipages. Despotism makes +converts faster than ever Christianity did. Louis _Quinze_ is the true +_rex Christianissimus_, and has ten times more success than his +dragooning great-grandfather. Adieu, my dear Sir! Yours most faithfully. + +_Friday 9th._ + +... It is very singular that I have not half the satisfaction in going +into churches and convents that I used to have. The consciousness that +the vision is dispelled, the want of fervour so obvious in the +religious, the solitude that one knows proceeds from contempt, not from +contemplation, make those places appear like abandoned theatres destined +to destruction. The monks trot about as if they had not long to stay +there; and what used to be holy gloom is now but dirt and darkness. +There is no more deception than in a tragedy acted by candle-snuffers. +One is sorry to think that an empire of common sense would not be very +picturesque; for, as there is nothing but taste that can compensate for +the imagination of madness, I doubt there will never be twenty men of +taste for twenty thousand madmen. The world will no more see Athens, +Rome, and the Medici again, than a succession of five good emperors, +like Nerva, Trajan, Adrian, and the two Antonines. + +_August_ 13. + +Mr. Edmonson has called on me; and, as he sets out to-morrow, I can +safely trust my letter to him. I have, I own, been much shocked at +reading Gray's[1] death in the papers. 'Tis an hour that makes one +forget any subject of complaint, especially towards one with whom I +lived in friendship from thirteen years old. As self lies so rooted in +self, no doubt the nearness of our ages made the stroke recoil to my own +breast; and having so little expected his death, it is plain how little +I expect my own. Yet to you, who of all men living are the most +forgiving, I need not excuse the concern I feel. I fear most men ought +to apologise for their want of feeling, instead of palliating that +sensation when they have it. I thought that what I had seen of the world +had hardened my heart; but I find that it had formed my language, not +extinguished my tenderness. In short, I am really shocked--nay, I am +hurt at my own weakness, as I perceive that when I love anybody, it is +for my life; and I have had too much reason not to wish that such a +disposition may very seldom be put to the trial. You, at least, are the +only person to whom I would venture to make such a confession. + +[Footnote 1: Gray died of gout in the stomach on July 30th. He was only +fifty-five.] + +Adieu! my dear Sir! Let me know when I arrive, which will be about the +last day of the month, when I am likely to see you. I have much to say +to you. Of being here I am most heartily tired, and nothing but this +dear old woman should keep me here an hour--I am weary of them to +death--but that is not new! Yours ever. + + +_SCANTINESS OF THE RELICS OF GRAY--GARRICK'S PROLOGUES, ETC.--WILKES'S +SQUINT._ + +TO THE REV. WILLIAM COLE + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Jan._ 28, 1772. + +It is long indeed, dear Sir, since we corresponded. I should not have +been silent if I had anything worth telling you in your way; but I grow +such an antiquity myself, that I think I am less fond of what remains of +our predecessors. + +I thank you for Bannerman's proposal; I mean, for taking the trouble to +send it, for I am not at all disposed to subscribe. I thank you more for +the note on King Edward; I mean, too, for your friendship in thinking of +me. Of Dean Milles I cannot trouble myself to think any more. His piece +is at Strawberry: perhaps I may look at it for the sake of your note. +The bad weather keeps me in town, and a good deal at home; which I find +very comfortable, literally practising what so many persons pretend they +intend, being quiet and enjoying my fire-side in my elderly days. + +Mr. Mason has shown me the relics of poor Mr. Gray. I am sadly +disappointed at finding them so very inconsiderable. He always +persisted, when I inquired about his writings, that he had nothing by +him. I own I doubted. I am grieved he was so very near exact--I speak +of my own satisfaction; as to his genius, what he published during his +life will establish his fame as long as our language lasts, and there is +a man of genius left. There is a silly fellow, I don't know who, that +has published a volume of Letters on the English Nation, with characters +of our modern authors. He has talked such nonsense on Mr. Gray, that I +have no patience with the compliments he has paid me. He must have an +excellent taste! and gives me a woful opinion of my own trifles, when he +likes them, and cannot see the beauties of a poet that ought to be +ranked in the first line. + +I am more humbled by any applause in the present age, than by hosts of +such critics as Dean Milles. Is not Garrick reckoned a tolerable actor? +His Cymon, his prologues and epilogues, and forty such pieces of trash, +are below mediocrity, and yet delight the mob in the boxes as well as in +the footman's gallery. I do not mention the things written in his +praise; because he writes most of them himself. But you know any one +popular merit can confer all merit. Two women talking of Wilkes, one +said he squinted--t'other replied, "Squints!--well, if he does, it is +not more than a man should squint." For my part, I can see how extremely +well Garrick acts, without thinking him six feet high.[1] + +[Footnote 1: He is quoting Churchill's "Rosciad"-- + + When the pure genuine flame, by nature taught, + Springs into sense, and every action's thought; + Before such merit all objections fly, + Pritchard's genteel, and Garrick six feet high-- + +the great actor being a short man.] + +It is said Shakespeare was a bad actor; why do not his divine plays make +our wise judges conclude that he was a good one? They have not a proof +of the contrary, as they have in Garrick's works--but what is it to you +or me what he is? We may see him act with pleasure, and nothing obliges +us to read his writings. + + +_MARRIAGE OF THE PRETENDER--THE PRINCESS LOUISE, AND HER PROTECTION OF +THE CLERGY--FOX'S ELOQUENCE._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _April_ 9, 1772. + +It is uncommon for _me_ to send _you_ news of the Pretender. He has been +married in Paris by proxy, to a Princess of Stolberg. All that I can +learn of her is, that she is niece to a Princess of Salm, whom I knew +there, without knowing any more of her. The new Pretendress is said to +be but sixteen, and a Lutheran: I doubt the latter; if the former is +true, I suppose they mean to carry on the breed in the way it began, by +a spurious child. A Fitz-Pretender is an excellent continuation of the +patriarchal line. Mr. Chute says, when the Royal Family are prevented +from marrying,[1] it is a right time for the Stuarts to marry. This +event seems to explain the Pretender's disappearance last autumn; and +though they sent him back from Paris, they may not dislike the +propagation of thorns in our side. + +[Footnote 1: In a previous letter Walpole mentions the enactment of the +Royal Marriage Act by a very narrow majority, after more than one +violent debate. It had been insisted on by the King, who was highly +indignant at his brothers, the Dukes of Gloucester and Cumberland, +having married two subjects. Singularly enough they were both widows, +Lady Waldegrave and Mrs. Horton. And this Act made the consent of the +sovereign indispensable to the marriage of any member of the Royal +Family except the descendants of princesses married to foreign princes.] + +I hear the credit of the French Chancellor declines. He had strongly +taken up the clergy; and Soeur Louise,[1] the King's Carmelite daughter, +was the knot of the intrigue. The new Parliament has dared to +remonstrate against a declaration obtained by the Chancellor for setting +aside an _arrêt_ of 1762, occasioned by the excommunication of Parma. +The Spanish and Neapolitan Ministers interposed, and pronounced the +declaration an infringement of the family compact: the _arrêt_ of 1762 +has been confirmed to satisfy them, and the Pope's authority, and +everything that comes from Rome, except what regards _the Penitential_, +(I do not know what that means,) restrained. This is supported by +d'Aiguillon and all the other Ministers, who are labouring the +reconciliation of the Princes of the Blood, that the Chancellor may not +have the honour of reconciling them. Perhaps the Princess of Stolberg +sprung out of my Sister Louise's cell. The King has demanded twelve +millions of the clergy: they consent to give ten. We shall see whether +Madame Louise, on her knees, or Madame du Barri will fight the better +fight. I should think the King's knees were more of an age for praying, +than for fighting. + +[Footnote 1: The Soeur Louise was the youngest daughter of Louis XV.; +and, very different from her sisters, who were ill-tempered, political +intriguers. She, on the contrary, was deeply religious, and had, some +years before, taken the vows of the Carmelite order; and had fixed her +residence at the Convent of St. Denis, where she was more than once +visited by Marie Antoinette.] + +The House of Commons is embarked on the ocean of Indian affairs, and +will probably make a long session. I went thither the other day to hear +Charles Fox, contrary to a resolution I had made of never setting my +foot there again. It is strange how disuse makes one awkward: I felt a +palpitation, as if I were going to speak there myself. The object +answered: Fox's abilities are amazing at so very early a period, +especially under the circumstances of such a dissolute life. He was just +arrived from Newmarket, had sat up drinking all night, and had not been +in bed. How such talents make one laugh at Tully's rules for an orator, +and his indefatigable application. His laboured orations are puerile in +comparison with this boy's manly reason. We beat Rome in eloquence and +extravagance; and Spain in avarice and cruelty; and, like both, we shall +only serve to terrify schoolboys, and for lessons of morality! "Here +stood St. Stephen's Chapel; here young Catiline spoke; here was Lord +Clive's diamond-house; this is Leadenhall Street, and this broken column +was part of the palace of a company of merchants[1] who were sovereigns +of Bengal! They starved millions in India by monopolies and plunder, and +almost raised a famine at home by the luxury occasioned by their +opulence, and by that opulence raising the price of everything, till +the poor could not purchase bread!" Conquest, usurpation, wealth, +luxury, famine--one knows how little farther the genealogy has to go. If +you like it better in Scripture phrase, here it is: Lord Chatham begot +the East India Company; the East India Company begot Lord Clive; Lord +Clive begot the Maccaronis, and they begot poverty; all the race are +still living; just as Clodius was born before the death of Julius +Caesar. There is nothing more like than two ages that are very like; +which is all that Rousseau means by saying, "give him an account of any +great metropolis, and he will foretell its fate." Adieu! + +[Footnote 1: "_A company of merchants._" "A mighty prince held +domination over India; his name was Koompanee Jehan. Although this +monarch had innumerable magnificent palaces at Delhi and Agra, at +Benares, Boggleywallah, and Ahmednuggar, his common residence was in the +beautiful island of Ingleez, in the midst of the capital of which, the +famous city of Lundoon, Koompanee Jehan had a superb castle. It was +called the Hall of Lead, and stood at the foot of the mountain of Corn, +close by the verdure-covered banks of the silvery Tameez, where the +cypresses wave, and zendewans, or nightingales, love to sing" +(Thackeray, "Life of Sir C. Napier," iv. p. 158).] + + +_AN ANSWER TO HIS "HISTORIC DOUBTS"--HIS EDITION OF GRAMMONT._ + +TO THE REV. WILLIAM COLE. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Jan._ 8, 1773. + +In return to your very kind inquiries, dear Sir, I can let you know, +that I am quite free from pain, and walk a little about my room, even +without a stick: nay, have been four times to take the air in the Park. +Indeed, after fourteen weeks this is not saying much; but it is a worse +reflection, that when one is subject to the gout and far from young, +one's worst account will probably be better than that after the next +fit. I neither flatter myself on one hand, nor am impatient on the +other--for will either do one any good? one must bear one's lot whatever +it be. + +I rejoice Mr. Gulston has justice,[1] though he had no bowels. How +Gertrude More escaped him I do not guess. It will be wrong to rob you of +her, after she has come to you through so many hazards--nor would I hear +of it either, if you have a mind to keep her, or have not given up all +thoughts of a collection since you have been visited by a Visigoth. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Gulston now fully remunerated Mr. Cole in a valuable +present of books.--WALPOLE.] + +I am much more impatient to see Mr. Gray's print, than Mr. +What-d'ye-call-him's [Masters's] answer to my "Historic Doubts."[1] He +may have made himself very angry; but I doubt whether he will make me at +all so. I love antiquities; but I scarce ever knew an antiquary who knew +how to write upon them. Their understandings seem as much in ruins as +the things they describe. For the Antiquarian Society, I shall leave +them in peace with Whittington and his Cat. As my contempt for them has +not, however, made me disgusted with what they do not understand, +antiquities, I have published two numbers of "Miscellanies," and they +are very welcome to mumble them with their toothless gums. I want to +send you these--not their gums, but my pieces, and a "Grammont,"[2] of +which I have printed only a hundred copies, and which will be extremely +scarce, as twenty-five copies are gone to France. Tell me how I shall +convey them safely. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Masters's pamphlet, printed at the expense of the +Antiquarian Society in the second volume of the +"Archaeologia."--WALPOLE.] + +[Footnote 2: He had just published a small edition of Grammont's +Memoirs, "Augmentée de Notes et éclaircissemens nécessaires, par M. +Horace Walpole," and had dedicated it to Mme. du Deffand.] + +Another thing you must tell me, if you can, is, if you know anything +ancient of the Freemasons. Governor Pownall,[1] a Whittingtonian, has a +mind they should have been a corporation erected by the popes. As you +see what a good creature I am, and return good for evil, I am engaged to +pick up what I can for him, to support this system, in which I believe +no more than in the pope: and the work is to appear in a volume of the +Society's pieces. I am very willing to oblige him, and turn my cheek, +that they may smite that, also. Lord help them! I am sorry they are such +numskulls, that they almost make me think myself something; but there +are great authors enough to bring me to my senses again. Posterity, I +fear, will class me with the writers of this age, or forget me with +them, not rank me with any names that deserve remembrance. If I cannot +survive the Milles's, the What-d'ye-call-him's [Masters's], and the +compilers of catalogues of Topography, it would comfort me very little +to confute them. I should be as little proud of success as if I had +carried a contest for churchwarden. + +[Footnote 1: Thomas Pownall, Esq., the antiquary, and a constant +contributor to the "Archaeologia." Having been governor of South +Carolina and other American colonies, he was always distinguished from +his brother John, who was likewise an antiquary, by the title of +Governor.] + +Not being able to return to Strawberry Hill, where all my books and +papers are, and my printer lying fallow, I want some short bills to +print. Have you anything you wish printed? I can either print a few to +amuse ourselves, or, if very curious, and not too dry, could make a +third number of "Miscellaneous Antiquities." + +I am not in any eagerness to see Mr. What-d'ye-call-him's pamphlet +against me; therefore pray give yourself no trouble to get it for me. +The specimens I have seen of his writing take off all edge from +curiosity. A print of Mr. Gray will be a real present. Would it not be +dreadful to be commended by an age that had not taste enough to admire +his "Odes"? Is not it too great a compliment to me to be abused, too? I +am ashamed. Indeed our antiquaries ought to like me. I am but too much +on a par with them. Does not Mr. Henshaw come to London? Is he a +professor, or only a lover of engraving? If the former, and he were to +settle in town, I would willingly lend him heads to copy. Adieu! + + +_POPULARITY OF LOUIS XVI--DEATH OF LORD HOLLAND--BRUCE'S "TRAVELS."_ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 10, 1774. + +The month is come round, and I have, besides, a letter of yours to +answer; and yet if I were not as regular as a husband or a merchant in +paying my just dues, I think I should not perform the function, for I +certainly have no natural call to it at present. Nothing in yours +requires a response, and I have nothing new to tell you. Yet, if one +once breaks in upon punctuality, adieu to it! I will not give out, after +a perseverance of three-and-thirty years; and so far I will not resemble +a husband. + +The whole blood royal of France is recovered from the small-pox. Both +Choiseul and Broglie are recalled, and I have some idea that even the +old Parliament will be so. The King is adored, and a most beautiful +compliment has been paid to him: somebody wrote under the statue of +Henri Quatre, _Resurrexit_.[1] + +[Footnote 1: "_Resurrexit._" A courtly picture-dealer, eager to make a +market of the new sovereign's popularity, devised even a neater +compliment to him, issuing a picture of the three sovereigns--Louis +XII., Henri IV., and the young king--with an explanation that 4 and 12 +made 16.] + +Lord Holland is at last dead, and Lady Holland is at the point of death. +His sons would still be in good circumstances, if they were not _his_ +sons; but he had so totally spoiled the two eldest, that they would +think themselves bigots if they were to have common sense. The +prevailing style is not to reform, though Lord Lyttelton [the bad Lord] +pretends to have set the example. Gaming, for the last month, has +exceeded its own outdoings, though the town is very empty. It will be +quite so to-morrow, for Newmarket begins, or rather the youth adjourn +thither. After that they will have two or three months of repose; but if +they are not severely blooded and blistered, there will be no +alteration. Their pleasures are no more entertaining to others, than +delightful to themselves; one is tired of asking every day, who has won +or lost? and even the portentous sums they lose, cease to make +impression. One of them has committed a murder, and intends to repeat +it. He betted £1,500 that a man could live twelve hours under water; +hired a desperate fellow, sunk him in a ship, by way of experiment, and +both ship and man have not appeared since. Another man and ship are to +be tried for their lives, instead of Mr. Blake, the assassin. + +Christina, Duchess of Kingston, is arrived, in a great fright, I +believe, for the Duke's nephews are going to prove her first marriage, +and hope to set the Will aside. It is a pity her friendship with the +Pope had not begun earlier; he might have given her a dispensation. If +she loses her cause, the best thing he can do will be to give her the +veil. + +I am sorry all Europe will not furnish me with another paragraph. Africa +is, indeed, coming into fashion. There is just returned a Mr. Bruce,[1] +who has lived three years in the Court of Abyssinia, and breakfasted +every morning with the Maids of Honour on live oxen. Otaheite and Mr. +Banks are quite forgotten; but Mr. Blake, I suppose, will order a live +sheep for supper at Almack's, and ask whom he shall help to a piece of +the shoulder. Oh, yes; we shall have negro butchers, and French cooks +will be laid aside. My Lady Townshend [Harrison], after the Rebellion, +said, everybody was so bloodthirsty, that she did not dare to dine +abroad, for fear of meeting with a rebel-pie--now one shall be asked to +come and eat a bit of raw mutton. In truth, I do think we are ripe for +any extravagance. I am not wise enough to wish the world reasonable--I +only desire to have follies that are amusing, and am sorry Cervantes +laughed chivalry out of fashion. Adieu! + +[Footnote 1: When Bruce's "Travels" were first published, his account of +the strange incidents which had occurred to him was very generally +disbelieved and ridiculed; "Baron Munchausen" was even written in +derision of them; but the discoveries of subsequent travellers have +confirmed his narrative in almost every respect.] + + +_DISCONTENT IN AMERICA--MR. GRENVILLE'S ACT FOR THE TRIAL OF ELECTION +PETITIONS--HIGHWAY ROBBERIES._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Oct._ 6, 1774. + +It would be unlike my attention and punctuality, to see so large an +event as an irregular dissolution of Parliament, without taking any +notice of it to you. It happened last Saturday, six months before its +natural death, and without the design being known but the Tuesday +before, and that by very few persons. The chief motive is supposed to be +the ugly state of North America,[1] and the effects that a cross winter +might have on the next elections. Whatever were the causes, the first +consequences, as you may guess, were such a ferment in London as is +seldom seen at this dead season of the year. Couriers, despatches, +post-chaises, post-horses, hurrying every way! Sixty messengers passed +through one single turnpike on Friday. The whole island is by this time +in equal agitation; but less wine and money will be shed than have been +at any such period for these fifty years. + +[Footnote 1: "_America_"--the discontents in that country were caused by +Mr. Charles Townshend's policy, who, before his death, had revived Mr. +Grenville's plan of imposing taxes on the Colonies, and by the +perseverance in that policy of Lord North, who succeeded him at the +Exchequer, and who had also been First Lord of the Treasury since the +resignation of the Duke of Grafton.] + +We have a new famous Bill,[1] devised by the late Mr. Grenville, that +has its first operation now; and what changes it may occasion, nobody +can yet foresee. The first symptoms are not favourable to the Court; +the great towns are casting off submission, and declaring for popular +members. London, Westminster, Middlesex, seem to have no monarch but +Wilkes, who is at the same time pushing for the Mayoralty of London, +with hitherto a majority on the poll. It is strange how this man, like a +phoenix, always revives from his embers! America, I doubt, is still more +unpromising. There are whispers of their having assembled an armed +force, and of earnest supplications arrived for succours of men and +ships. A civil war is no trifle; and how we are to suppress or pursue in +such a vast region, with a handful of men, I am not an Alexander to +guess; and for the fleet, can we put it upon casters and wheel it from +Hudson's Bay to Florida? But I am an ignorant soul, and neither pretend +to knowledge nor foreknowledge. All I perceive already is, that our +Parliaments are subjected to America and India, and must be influenced +by their politics; yet I do not believe our senators are more universal +than formerly.... + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Grenville's Act had been passed in 1770; but there had +been no General Election since till this year. It altered the course of +proceeding for the trial of election petitions, substituting for the +whole House a Select Committee of fifteen members; but after a time it +was found that it had not secured any greater purity of decision, but +that the votes of the Committee were influenced by considerations of the +interest of the dominant party as entirely as they had been in the days +of Sir R. Walpole. And eventually, in the present reign, Mr. D'Israeli +induced the House to surrender altogether its privilege of judging of +elections, and to submit the investigation of election petitions to the +only tribunal sufficiently above suspicion to command and retain the +confidence of the nation, namely, the Judges of the High Court of Law. +(See the Editor's "Constitutional History of England, 1760-1860," pp. +36-39.)] + +In the midst of this combustion, we are in perils by land and water. It +has rained for this month without intermission; there is sea between me +and Richmond, and Sunday was se'nnight I was hurried down to Isleworth +in the ferry-boat by the violence of the current, and had great +difficulty to get to shore. Our roads are so infested by highwaymen, +that it is dangerous stirring out almost by day. Lady Hertford was +attacked on Hounslow Heath at three in the afternoon. Dr. Eliot was shot +at three days ago, without having resisted; and the day before +yesterday we were near losing our Prime Minster, Lord North; the robbers +shot at the postillion, and wounded the latter. In short, all the +freebooters, that are not in India, have taken to the highway. The +Ladies of the Bedchamber dare not go the Queen at Kew in an evening. The +lane between me and the Thames is the only safe road I know at present, +for it is up to the middle of the horses in water. Next week I shall not +venture to London even at noon, for the Middlesex election is to be at +Brentford, where the two demagogues, Wilkes and Townshend, oppose each +other; and at Richmond there is no crossing the river. How strange all +this must appear to you Florentines; but you may turn to your +Machiavelli and Guicciardini, and have some idea of it. I am the +quietest man at present in the whole island; not but I might take some +part, if I would. I was in my garden yesterday, seeing my servants lop +some trees; my brewer walked in and pressed me to go to Guildhall for +the nomination of members for the county. I replied, calmly, "Sir, when +I would go no more to my own election, you may be very sure I will go to +that of nobody else." My old tune is, + + Suave mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis, &c. + +Adieu! + +P.S.--ARLINGTON STREET, _7th_. + +I am just come to town, and find your letter, with the notification of +Lord Cowper's marriage; I recollect that I ought to be sorry for it, as +you will probably lose an old friend. The approaching death of the Pope +will be an event of no consequence. That old mummery is near its +conclusion, at least as a political object. The history of the latter +Popes will be no more read than that of the last Constantinopolitan +Emperors. Wilkes is a more conspicuous personage in modern story than +the Pontifex Maximus of Rome. The poll for Lord Mayor ended last night; +he and his late Mayor had above 1,900 votes, and their antagonists not +1,500. It is strange that the more he is opposed, the more he succeeds! + +I don't know whether Sir W. Duncan's marriage proved Platonic or not; +but I cannot believe that a lady of great birth, and greater pride, +quarrels with her family, to marry a Scotch physician for Platonic love, +which she might enjoy without marriage. I remember an admirable +_bon-mot_ of George Selwyn; who said, "How often Lady Mary will repeat, +with Macbeth, 'Wake, Duncan, with this knocking--would thou couldst!" + + +_THE POPE'S DEATH--WILKES IS RETURNED FOR MIDDLESEX--A QUAKER AT +VERSAILLES._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Oct._ 22, 1774. + +Though I have been writing two letters, of four sides each, one of which +I enclose, I must answer your two last, if my fingers will move; and +talk to you on the contents of the enclosed. + +If the Jesuits have precipitated the Pope's death,[1] as seems more than +probable, they have acted more by the spirit of their order, than by its +good sense. Great crimes may raise a growing cause, but seldom retard +the fall of a sinking one. This I take to be almost an infallible maxim. +Great crimes, too, provoke more than they terrify; and there is no +poisoning all that are provoked, and all that are terrified; who +alternately provoke and terrify each other, till common danger produces +common security. The Bourbon monarchs will be both angry and frightened, +the Cardinals frightened. It will be the interest of both not to revive +an order that bullies with arsenic in its sleeve. The poisoned host will +destroy the Jesuits, as well as the Pope: and perhaps the Church of Rome +will fall by a wafer, as it rose by it; for such an edifice will tumble +when once the crack has begun. + +[Footnote 1: Pope Benedict XIV. had died in September; but there was not +any suspicion that his death had not been entirely natural.] + +Our elections are almost over. Wilkes has taken possession of Middlesex +without an enemy appearing against him; and, being as puissant a monarch +as Henry the Eighth, and as little scrupulous, should, like him, date +his acts _From our Palace of Bridewell, in the tenth year of our reign_. +He has, however, met with a heroine to stem the tide of his conquests; +who, though not of Arc, nor a _pucelle_, is a true _Joan_ in spirit, +style, and manners. This is her Grace of Northumberland [Lady Elizabeth +Seymour], who has carried the mob of Westminster from him; sitting daily +in the midst of Covent Garden; and will elect her son [Earl Percy] and +Lord Thomas Clinton,[1] against Wilkes's two candidates, Lord Mahon[2] +and Lord Mountmorris. She puts me in mind of what Charles the Second +said of a foolish preacher, who was very popular in his parish: "I +suppose his nonsense suits their nonsense." + +[Footnote 1: Second son of Henry, Duke of Newcastle.--WALPOLE.] + +[Footnote 2: Only son of Earl Stanhope.--WALPOLE.] + +Let me sweeten my letter by making you smile. A Quaker has been at +Versailles; and wanted to see the Comtes de Provence and D'Artois dine +in public, but would not submit to pull off his hat. The Princes were +told of it; and not only admitted him with his beaver on, but made him +sit down and dine with them. Was it not very sensible and good-humoured? +You and I know one who would not have been so gracious: I do not mean my +nephew Lord Cholmondeley.[1] Adieu! I am tired to death. + +[Footnote 1: He means the Duke of Gloucester.--WALPOLE.] + +P.S.--I have seen the Duchess of Beaufort; who sings your praises quite +in a tune I like. Her manner is much unpinioned to what it was, though +her person remains as stately as ever; and powder is vastly preferable +to those brown hairs, of whose preservation she was so fond. I am not so +struck with the beauty of Lady Mary[1] as I was three years ago. Your +nephew, Sir Horace, I see, by the papers, is come into Parliament: I am +glad of it. Is not he yet arrived at Florence? + +[Footnote 1: Lady Mary Somerset, youngest daughter of Charles Noel, Duke +of Beaufort. She was afterwards married to the Duke of +Rutland.--WALPOLE.] + + +_BURKE'S ELECTION AT BRISTOL--RESEMBLANCE OF ONE HOUSE OF COMMONS TO +ANOTHER--COMFORT OF OLD AGE._ + +TO THE COUNTESS OF AILESBURY. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Nov._ 7, 1774. + +I have written such tomes to Mr. Conway,[1] Madam, and so nothing new to +write, that I might as well, methinks, begin and end like the lady to +her husband; "Je vous écris parceque je n'ai rien à faire: je finis +parceque je n'ai rien à vous dire." Yes, I have two complaints to make, +one of your ladyship, the other of myself. You tell me nothing of Lady +Harriet [Stanhope]: have you no tongue, or the French no eyes? or are +her eyes employed in nothing but seeing? What a vulgar employment for a +fine woman's eyes after she is risen from her toilet? I declare I will +ask no more questions--what is it to me, whether she is admired or not? +I should know how charming she is, though all Europe were blind. I hope +I am not to be told by any barbarous nation upon earth what beauty and +grace are! + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Conway and Lady Aylesbury were now at Paris +together.--WALPOLE.] + +For myself, I am guilty of the gout in my elbow; the left--witness my +handwriting. Whether I caught cold by the deluge in the night, or +whether the bootikins, like the water of Styx, can only preserve the +parts they surround, I doubt they have saved me but three weeks, for so +long my reckoning has been out. However, as I feel nothing in my feet, I +flatter myself that this Pindaric transition will not be a regular ode, +but a fragment, the more valuable for being imperfect. + +Now for my Gazette.--Marriages--Nothing done. Intrigues--More in the +political than civil way. Births--Under par since Lady Berkeley left off +breeding. Gaming--Low water. Deaths--Lord Morton, Lord Wentworth, +Duchess Douglas. Election stock--More buyers than sellers. +Promotions--Mr. Wilkes as high as he can go.--_Apropos_, he was told the +Lord Chancellor intended to signify to him, that the King did not +approve the City's choice: he replied, "Then I shall signify to his +lordship, that I am at least as fit to be Lord Mayor as he is to be Lord +Chancellor." This being more Gospel than everything Mr. Wilkes says, the +formal approbation was given. + +Mr. Burke has succeeded in Bristol, and Sir James Peachey will miscarry +in Sussex. But what care you, Madam, about our Parliament? You will see +the _rentrée_ of the old one, with songs and epigrams into the bargain. +We do not shift our Parliaments with so much gaiety. Money in one hand, +and abuse in t'other--those are all the arts we know. _Wit and a +gamut_[1] I don't believe ever signified a Parliament, whatever the +glossaries may say; for they never produce pleasantry and harmony. +Perhaps you may not taste this Saxon pun, but I know it will make the +Antiquarian Society die with laughing. + +[Footnote 1: Walpole is punning on the old Saxon name of the National +Council, Witangemot.] + +Expectation hangs on America. The result of the general assembly is +expected in four or five days. If one may believe the papers, which one +should not believe, the other side of the waterists are not _doux comme +des moutons_, and yet we do intend to eat them. I was in town on Monday; +the Duchess of Beaufort graced our loo, and made it as rantipole as a +Quaker's meeting. _Loois Quinze_,[1] I believe, is arrived by this time, +but I fear without _quinze louis_. + +[Footnote 1: This was a cant name given to a lady [Lady Powis], who was +very fond of loo, and who had lost much money at that game.] + +Your herb-snuff and the four glasses are lying in my warehouse, but I +can hear of no ship going to Paris. You are now at Fontainbleau, but not +thinking of Francis I., the Queen of Sweden, and Monaldelschi. It is +terrible that one cannot go to Courts that are gone! You have supped +with the Chevalier de Boufflers: did he act everything in the world and +sing everything in the world? Has Madame de Cambis sung to you "_Sans +dépit, sans légèreté_?"[1] Has Lord Cholmondeley delivered my pacquet? I +hear I have hopes of Madame d'Olonne. Gout or no gout, I shall be little +in town till after Christmas. My elbow makes me bless myself that I am +not in Paris. Old age is no such uncomfortable thing, if one gives +oneself up to it with a good grace, and don't drag it about + + To midnight dances and the public show. + +[Footnote 1: The first words of a favourite French air.--WALPOLE.] + +If one stays quietly in one's own house in the country, and cares for +nothing but oneself, scolds one's servants, condemns everything that is +new, and recollects how charming a thousand things were formerly that +were very disagreeable, one gets over the winters very well, and the +summers get over themselves. + + +_DEATH OF LORD CLIVE--RESTORATION OF THE FRENCH PARLIAMENT--PREDICTION +OF GREAT MEN TO ARISE IN AMERICA--THE KING'S SPEECH._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Nov._ 24, 1774. + +... A great event happened two days ago--a political and moral event; +the sudden death of that second Kouli Khan, Lord Clive.[1] There was +certainly illness in the case; the world thinks more than illness. His +constitution was exceedingly broken and disordered, and grown subject to +violent pains and convulsions. He came unexpectedly to town last Monday, +and they say, ill. On Tuesday his physician gave him a dose of laudanum, +which had not the desired effect. On the rest, there are two stories; +one, that the physician repeated the dose; the other, that he doubled it +himself, contrary to advice. In short, he has terminated at fifty a life +of so much glory, reproach, art, wealth, and ostentation! He had just +named ten members for the new Parliament. + +[Footnote 1: Lord Clive had committed suicide in his house in Berkeley +Square. As he was passing through his library his niece, who was writing +a letter, asked him to mend a pen for her. He did it, and, passing on +into the next room, cut his throat with the same knife he had just used. +It is remarkable that, when little more than a youth, he had once tried +to destroy himself. In a fit, apparently of constitutional melancholy, +he had put a pistol to his head, but it did not go off. He pulled the +trigger more than once; always with the same result. Anxious to see +whether there was any defect in the weapon or the loading, he aimed at +the door of the room, and the pistol went off, the bullet going through +the door; and from that day he conceived himself reserved by Providence +for great things, though in his most sanguine confidence he could never +have anticipated such glory as he was destined to win.] + +Next Tuesday that Parliament is to meet--and a deep game it has to play! +few Parliaments a greater. The world is in amaze here that no account is +arrived from America of the result of their General Congress--if any is +come it is very secret; and _that_ has no favourable aspect. The +combination and spirit there seem to be universal, and is very alarming. +I am the humble servant of events, and you know never meddle with +prophecy. It would be difficult to descry good omens, be the issue what +it will. + +The old French Parliament is restored with great _éclat_.[1] Monsieur de +Maurepas, author of the revolution, was received one night at the Opera +with boundless shouts of applause. It is even said that the mob +intended, when the King should go to hold the _lit de justice_,[2] to +draw his coach. How singular it would be if Wilkes's case should be +copied for a King of France! Do you think Rousseau was in the right, +when he said that he could tell what would be the manners of any capital +city from certain given lights? I don't know what he may do on +Constantinople and Pekin--but Paris and London! I don't believe Voltaire +likes these changes. I have seen nothing of his writing for many months; +not even on the poisoning Jesuits. For our part, I repeat it, we shall +contribute nothing to the _Histoire des Moeurs_, not for want of +materials, but for want of writers. We have comedies without novelty, +gross satires without stings, metaphysical eloquence, and antiquarians +that discover nothing. + + Boeotûm in crasso jurares aere natos! + +[Footnote 1: In 1770 the Chancellor, Maupéou, had abolished the +Parliament, as has been mentioned in a former note. Their conduct ever +since the death of Richelieu had been factious and corrupt. But, though +the Sovereign Courts, which Maupéou had established in their stead, had +worked well, their extinction had been unpopular in Paris; and, on the +accession of Louis XVI., the new Prime Minister, Maurepas, proposed +their re-establishment, and the Queen, most unfortunately, was persuaded +by the Duc de Choiseul to exert her influence in support of the measure. +Turgot, the great Finance Minister--indeed, the greatest statesman that +France ever produced--resisted it with powerful arguments, but Louis +yielded to the influence of his consort. The Parliaments were +re-established, and soon verified all the predictions of Turgot by +conduct more factious and violent than ever. (See the Editor's "France +under the Bourbons," iii. 413.)] + +[Footnote 2: A _Lit de Justice_ was an extraordinary meeting of the +Parliament, presided over by the sovereign in person, and one in which +no opposition, or even discussion, was permitted; but any edict which +had been issued was at once registered.] + +Don't tell me I am grown old and peevish and supercilious--name the +geniuses of 1774, and I submit. The next Augustan age will dawn on the +other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at +Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a +Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit +England and give a description of the ruins of St. Paul's, like the +editions of Balbec and Palmyra; but am I not prophesying, contrary to my +consummate prudence, and casting horoscopes of empires like Rousseau? +Yes; well, I will go and dream of my visions. + +_29th._ + +... The Parliament opened just now--they say the speech talks of the +_rebellion_ of the Province of Massachusetts; but if _they-say_ tells a +lie, I wash my hands of it. As your gazetteer, I am obliged to send you +all news, true or false. I have believed and unbelieved everything I +have heard since I came to town. Lord Clive has died every death in the +parish register; at present it is most fashionable to believe he cut his +throat. That he is dead, is certain; so is Lord Holland--and so is not +the Bishop of Worcester [Johnson]; however, to show you that I am at +least as well informed as greater personages, the bishopric was on +Saturday given to Lord North's brother--so for once the Irishman was in +the right, and a pigeon, at least a dove, can be in two places at once. + + +_RIOTS AT BOSTON--A LITERARY COTERIE AT BATH--EASTON._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY AND LADY AYLESBURY. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Jan._ 15, 1775. + +You have made me very happy by saying your journey to Naples is laid +aside. Perhaps it made too great an impression on me; but you must +reflect, that all my life I have satisfied myself with your being +perfect, instead of trying to be so myself. I don't ask you to return, +though I wish it: in truth, there is nothing to invite you. I don't want +you to come and breathe fire and sword against the Bostonians,[1] like +that second Duke of Alva,[2] the inflexible Lord George Germaine.... + +[Footnote 1: The open resistance to the new taxation of the American +Colonies began at Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, where, on the +arrival of the first tea-ship, a body of citizens, disguised as Red +Indians, boarded the ship and threw the tea into the sea.] + +[Footnote 2: The first Duke of Alva was the first Governor of the +Netherlands appointed by Philip II.; and it was his bloodthirsty and +intolerable cruelty that caused the revolt of the Netherlands, and cost +Spain those rich provinces.] + +An account is come of the Bostonians having voted an army of sixteen +thousand men, who are to be called _minutemen_, as they are to be ready +at a minute's warning. Two directors or commissioners, I don't know what +they are called, are appointed. There has been too a kind of mutiny in +the Fifth Regiment. A soldier was found drunk on his post. Gage, in his +time of _danger_, thought rigour necessary, and sent the fellow to a +court-martial. They ordered two hundred lashes. The General ordered them +to improve their sentence. Next day it was published in the _Boston +Gazette_. He called them before him, and required them on oath to abjure +the communication: three officers refused. Poor Gage is to be scapegoat, +not for this, but for what was a reason against employing him, +incapacity. I wonder at the precedent! Howe is talked of for his +successor.--Well, I have done with _you_!--Now I shall go gossip with +Lady Aylesbury. + +You must know, Madam, that near Bath is erected a new Parnassus, +composed of three laurels, a myrtle-tree, a weeping-willow, and a view +of the Avon, which has been new christened Helicon. Ten years ago there +lived a Madam Riggs, an old rough humourist who passed for a wit; her +daughter, who passed for nothing, married to a Captain Miller, full of +good-natured officiousness. These good folks were friends of Miss Rich, +who carried me to dine with them at Bath-Easton, now Pindus. They caught +a little of what was then called taste, built and planted, and begot +children, till the whole caravan were forced to go abroad to retrieve. +Alas! Mrs. Miller is returned a beauty, a genius, a Sappho, a tenth +Muse, as romantic as Mademoiselle Scudéri, and as sophisticated as Mrs. +Vesey. The Captain's fingers are loaded with cameos, his tongue runs +over with _virtù_, and that both may contribute to the improvement of +their own country, they have introduced _bouts-rimes_ as a new +discovery. They hold a Parnassus fair every Thursday, give out rhymes +and themes, and all the flux of quality at Bath contend for the prizes. +A Roman vase dressed with pink ribbons and myrtles receives the +poetry,[1] which is drawn out every festival; six judges of these +Olympic games retire and select the brightest compositions, which the +respective successful acknowledge, kneel to Mrs. Calliope Miller, kiss +her fair hand, and are crowned by it with myrtle, with--I don't know +what. You may think this is fiction, or exaggeration. Be dumb, +unbelievers! The collection is printed, published.--Yes, on my faith, +there are _bouts-rimes_ on a buttered muffin, made by her Grace the +Duchess of Northumberland; receipts to make them by Corydon the +venerable, alias George Pitt; others very pretty, by Lord Palmerston; +some by Lord Carlisle: many by Mrs. Miller herself, that have no fault +but wanting metre; an Immorality promised to her without end or measure. +In short, since folly, which never ripens to madness but in this hot +climate, ran distracted, there never was anything so entertaining or so +dull--for you cannot read so long as I have been telling. + +[Footnote 1: Four volumes of this poetry were published under the title +of "Poetical Amusements at a villa near Bath." The following lines are a +fair sample of the _bouts-rimes_. + + The pen which I now take and brandish + Has long lain useless in my standish. + Know, every maid, from her own patten, + To her who shines in glossy sattin, + That could they now prepare an oglio + From best receipt of book in folio, + Ever so fine, for all their puffing, + I should prefer a butter'd muffin; + A muffin Jove himself might feast on, + If eat with Miller at Batheaston. + +The following are the concluding lines of a poem on Beauty, by Lord +Palmerston:-- + + In vain the stealing hand of Time + May pluck the blossoms of their prime; + Envy may talk of bloom decay'd, + How lilies droop and roses fade; + But Constancy's unalter'd truth, + Regardful of the vows of youth-- + Affection that recalls the past, + And bids the pleasing influence last, + Shall still preserve the lover's flame + In every scene of life the same; + And still with fond endearments blend + The wife, the mistress, and the friend! + +"Lady Miller's collection of verses by fashionable people, which were +put into her vase at Bath-Easton, in competition for honorary prizes, +being mentioned, Dr. Johnson held them very cheap: '_Bouts-rimés_,' said +he, 'is a mere conceit, and an old conceit; I wonder how people were +persuaded to write in that manner for this lady.' I named a gentleman of +his acquaintance who wrote for the vase. JOHNSON--'He was a blockhead +for his pains!' BOSWELL--'The Duchess of Northumberland wrote.'--'Sir, +the Duchess of Northumberland may do what she pleases; nobody will say +anything to a lady of her high rank: but I should be apt to throw ... +verses in his face." (Boswell, vol. v. p. 227.)] + + +_OPPOSITION OF THE FRENCH PARLIAMENTS TO TURGOT'S MEASURES._ + +TO DR. GEM.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Dr. Gem was an English physician who had been for some time +settled in Paris. He was uncle to Canning's friend and colleague, Mr. +Huskisson.] + +ARLINGTON STREET, _April_ 4, 1776. + +It is but fair, when one quits one's party, to give notice to those one +abandons--at least, modern patriots, who often imbibe their principles +of honour at Newmarket, use that civility. You and I, dear Sir, have +often agreed in our political notions; and you, I fear, will die without +changing your opinion. For my part, I must confess I am totally altered; +and, instead of being a warm partisan of liberty, now admire nothing but +despotism. You will naturally ask, what place I have gotten, or what +bribe I have taken? Those are the criterions of political changes in +England--but, as my conversion is of foreign extraction, I shall not be +the richer for it. In one word, it is the _relation du lit de justice_ +that has operated the miracle. When two ministers are found so humane, +so virtuous, so excellent, as to study nothing but the welfare and +deliverance of the people; when a king listens to such excellent men; +and when a parliament, from the basest, most interested motives, +interposes to intercept the blessing, must I not change my opinions, and +admire arbitrary power? or can I retain my sentiments, without varying +the object? + +Yes, Sir, I am shocked at the conduct of the Parliament--one would think +it was an English one! I am scandalised at the speeches of the +_Avocat-général_,[1] who sets up the odious interests of the nobility +and clergy against the cries and groans of the poor; and who employs his +wicked eloquence to tempt the good young monarch, by personal views, to +sacrifice the mass of his subjects to the privileges of the few--But why +do I call it eloquence? The fumes of interest had so clouded his +rhetoric, that he falls into a downright Iricism.--He tells the King, +that the intended tax on the proprietors of land will affect the +property not only of the rich, but of the poor. I should be glad to know +what is the property of the poor? Have the poor landed estates? Are +those who have landed estates the poor? Are the poor that will suffer by +the tax, the wretched labourers who are dragged from their famishing +families to work on the roads?--But _it is_ wicked eloquence when it +finds a reason, or gives a reason for continuing the abuse. The Advocate +tells the King, those abuses _presque consacrés par l'ancienneté_; +indeed, he says all that can be said for nobility, it is _consacrée par +l'ancienneté_; and thus the length of the pedigree of abuses renders +them respectable! + +[Footnote 1: The _Avocat-Général_ was M. de Seguier; and, under his +guidance, the Parliament had passed the monstrous resolution that "the +_people_ in France was liable to the tax of _la taille_, and to _corvée_ +at discretion" (_était tailleable et corvéable à volonté_), and that +their "liability was an article of the Constitution which it was not in +the power of even the King himself to change" ("France under the +Bourbons," iii. 422).] + +His arguments are as contemptible when he tries to dazzle the King by +the great names of Henri Quatre and Sully,[1] of Louis XIV. and Colbert, +two couple whom nothing but a mercenary orator would have classed +together. Nor, were all four equally venerable, would it prove anything. +Even good kings and good ministers, if such have been, may have erred; +nay, may have done the best they could. They would not have been good, +if they wished their errors should be preserved, the longer they had +lasted. + +[Footnote 1: Sully and Colbert were the two great Finance Ministers of +Henry IV. and Louis XIV.] + +In short, Sir, I think this resistance of the Parliament to the adorable +reformation planned by Messrs. de Turgot and Malesherbes[1] is more +phlegmatically scandalous than the wildest tyranny of despotism. I +forget what the nation was that refused liberty when it was offered. +This opposition to so noble a work is worse. A whole people may refuse +its own happiness; but these profligate magistrates resist happiness for +others, for millions, for posterity!--Nay, do they not half vindicate +Maupéou, who crushed them? And you, dear Sir, will you now chide my +apostasy? Have I not cleared myself to your eyes? I do not see a shadow +of sound logic in all Monsieur Seguier's speeches, but in his proposing +that the soldiers should work on the roads, and that passengers should +contribute to their fabric; though, as France is not so luxuriously mad +as England, I do not believe passengers could support the expense of +their roads. That argument, therefore, is like another that the Avocat +proposes to the King, and which, he modestly owns, he believes would be +impracticable. + +[Footnote 1: Malesherbes was the Chancellor, and in 1792 he was accepted +by Louis XVI. as his counsel on his trial--a duty which he performed +with an ability which drew on him the implacable resentment of +Robespierre and the Jacobins, and which led to his execution in 1794.] + +I beg your pardon, Sir, for giving you this long trouble; but I could +not help venting myself, when shocked to find such renegade conduct in a +Parliament that I was rejoiced had been restored. Poor human kind! is it +always to breed serpents from its own bowels? In one country, it chooses +its representatives, and they sell it and themselves; in others, it +exalts despots; in another, it resists the despot when he consults the +good of his people! Can we wonder mankind is wretched, when men are such +beings? Parliaments run wild with loyalty, when America is to be +enslaved or butchered. They rebel, when their country is to be set free! +I am not surprised at the idea of the devil being always at our elbows. +They who invented him, no doubt could not conceive how men could be so +atrocious to one another, without the intervention of a fiend. Don't you +think, if he had never been heard of before, that he would have been +invented on the late partition of Poland! Adieu, dear Sir. Yours most +sincerely. + + +_HIS DECORATIONS AT "STRAWBERRY"--HIS ESTIMATE OF HIMSELF, AND HIS +ADMIRATION OF CONWAY._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 20, 1776. + +I was very glad to receive your letter, not only because always most +glad to hear of you, but because I wished to write to you, and had +absolutely nothing to say till I had something to answer. I have lain +but two nights in town since I saw you; have been, else, constantly +here, very much employed, though doing, hearing, knowing exactly +nothing. I have had a Gothic architect [Mr. Essex] from Cambridge to +design me a gallery, which will end in a mouse, that is, in an hexagon +closet of seven feet diameter. I have been making a Beauty Room, which +was effected by buying two dozen of small copies of Sir Peter Lely, and +hanging them up; and I have been making hay, which is not made, because +I put it off for three days, as I chose it should adorn the landscape +when I was to have company; and so the rain is come, and has drowned it. +However, as I can even turn calculator when it is to comfort me for not +minding my interest, I have discovered that it is five to one better for +me that my hay should be spoiled than not; for, as the cows will eat it +if it is damaged, which horses will not, and as I have five cows and but +one horse, is not it plain that the worse my hay is the better? Do not +you with your refining head go, and, out of excessive friendship, find +out something to destroy my system. I had rather be a philosopher than +a rich man; and yet have so little philosophy, that I had much rather be +content than be in the right. + +Mr. Beauclerk and Lady Di have been here four or five days--so I had +both content and exercise for my philosophy. I wish Lady Ailesbury was +as fortunate! The Pembrokes, Churchills, Le Texier, as you will have +heard, and the Garricks have been with us. Perhaps, if alone, I might +have come to you; but you are all too healthy and harmonious. I can +neither walk nor sing; nor, indeed, am fit for anything but to amuse +myself in a sedentary trifling way. What I have most certainly not been +doing, is writing anything: a truth I say to you, but do not desire you +to repeat. I deign to satisfy scarce anybody else. Whoever reported that +I was writing anything, must have been so totally unfounded, that they +either blundered by guessing without reason, or knew they lied--and that +could not be with any kind intention; though saying I am going to do +what I am not going to do, is wretched enough. Whatever is said of me +without truth, anybody is welcome to believe that pleases. + +In fact, though I have scarce a settled purpose about anything, I think +I shall never write any more. I have written a great deal too much, +unless I had written better, and I know I should now only write still +worse. One's talent, whatever it is, does not improve at near +sixty--yet, if I liked it, I dare to say a good reason would not stop my +inclination;--but I am grown most indolent in that respect, and most +absolutely indifferent to every purpose of vanity. Yet without vanity I +am become still prouder and more contemptuous. I have a contempt for my +countrymen that makes me despise their approbation. The applause of +slaves and of the foolish mad is below ambition. Mine is the haughtiness +of an ancient Briton, that cannot write what would please this age, and +would not, if he could. + +Whatever happens in America, this country is undone. I desire to be +reckoned of the last age, and to be thought to have lived to be +superannuated, preserving my senses only for myself and for the few I +value. I cannot aspire to be traduced like Algernon Sydney, and content +myself with sacrificing to him amongst my lares. Unalterable in my +principles, careless about most things below essentials, indulging +myself in trifles by system, annihilating myself by choice, but dreading +folly at an unseemly age, I contrive to pass my time agreeably enough, +yet see its termination approach without anxiety. This is a true picture +of my mind; and it must be true, because drawn for you, whom I would not +deceive, and could not, if I would. Your question on my being writing +drew it forth, though with more seriousness than the report +deserved--yet talking to one's dearest friend is neither wrong nor out +of season. Nay, you are my best apology. I have always contented myself +with your being perfect, or, if your modesty demands a mitigated term, I +will say, unexceptionable. It is comical, to be sure, to have always +been more solicitous about the virtue of one's friend than about one's +own; yet, I repeat it, you are my apology--though I never was so +unreasonable as to make you answerable for my faults in return; I take +them wholly to myself. But enough of this. When I know my own mind, for +hitherto I have settled no plan for my summer, I will come to you. +Adieu! + + +_ANGLOMANIE IN PARIS--HORSE-RACING._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Dec._ 1, 1776. + +I don't know who the Englishwoman is of whom you give so ridiculous a +description; but it will suit thousands. I distrust my age continually, +and impute to it half the contempt I feel for my countrymen and women. +If I think the other half well-founded, it is by considering what must +be said hereafter of the present age. What is to impress a great idea of +us on posterity? In truth, what do our contemporaries of all other +countries think of us? They stare at and condemn our politics and +follies; and if they retain any respect for us, I doubt it is for the +sense we have had. I do know, indeed, one man who still worships us, but +his adoration is testified so very absurdly, as not to do us much +credit. It is a Monsieur de Marchais, first Valet-de-Chambre to the +King of France. He has the _Anglomanie_ so strong, that he has not only +read more English than French books, but if any valuable work appears in +his own language, he waits to peruse it till it is translated into +English; and to be sure our translations of French are admirable things! + +To do the rest of the French justice, I mean such as like us, they adopt +only our egregious follies, and in particular the flower of them, +horse-racing![1] _Le Roi Pepin_, a racer, is the horse in fashion. I +suppose the next shameful practice of ours they naturalize will be the +personal scurrilities in the newspapers, especially on young and +handsome women, in which we certainly are originals! Voltaire, who first +brought us into fashion in France, is stark mad at his own success. Out +of envy to writers of his own nation, he cried up Shakspeare; and now is +distracted at the just encomiums bestowed on that first genius of the +world in the new translation. He sent to the French Academy an +invective that bears all the marks of passionate dotage. Mrs. Montagu +happened to be present when it was read. Suard, one of their writers, +said to her, "Je crois, Madame, que vous êtes un peu fâché de ce que +vous venez d'entendre." She replied, "Moi, Monsieur! point du tout! Je +ne suis pas amie de Monsieur Voltaire." I shall go to town the day after +to-morrow, and will add a postscript, if I hear any news. + +[Footnote 1: "A rage for adopting English fashions (Anglomanie, as it +was called) began to prevail; and, among the different modes in which it +was exhibited, it is especially noticed that tea was introduced, and +began to share with coffee the privilege of affording sober refreshment +to those who aspired in their different ways to give the tone to French +society. A less innocent novelty was a passion for horse-racing, in +which the Comte d'Artois and the Duc de Chartres set the example of +indulging, establishing a racecourse in the Bois de Boulogne. The Count +had but little difficulty in persuading the Queen to attend it, and she +soon showed so decided a fancy for the sport, and became so regular a +visitor of it, that a small stand was built for her, which in subsequent +years provoked unfavourable comments, when the Prince obtained her leave +to give luncheon to some of their racing friends, who were not in every +instance of a character entitled to be brought into a royal presence" +(the Editor's "Life of Marie Antoinette," c. II).] + +_Dec. 3rd._ + +I am come late, have seen nobody, and must send away my letter. + + +_OSSIAN--CHATTERTON._ + +TO THE REV. WILLIAM COLE. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 19, 1777. + +I thank you for your notices, dear Sir, and shall remember that on +Prince William. I did see the _Monthly Review_, but hope one is not +guilty of the death of every man who does not make one the dupe of a +forgery. I believe M'Pherson's success with "Ossian"[1] was more the +ruin of Chatterton[2] than I. Two years passed between my doubting the +authenticity of Rowley's poems and his death. I never knew he had been +in London till some time after he had undone and poisoned himself there. +The poems he sent me were transcripts in his own hand, and even in that +circumstance he told a lie: he said he had them from the very person at +Bristol to whom he had given them. If any man was to tell you that +monkish rhymes had been dug up at Herculaneum, which was destroyed +several centuries before there was any such poetry, should you believe +it? Just the reverse is the case of Rowley's pretended poems. They have +all the elegance of Waller and Prior, and more than Lord Surrey--but I +have no objection to anybody believing what he pleases. I think poor +Chatterton was an astonishing genius--but I cannot think that Rowley +foresaw metres that were invented long after he was dead, or that our +language was more refined at Bristol in the reign of Henry V. than it +was at Court under Henry VIII. One of the chaplains of the Bishop of +Exeter has found a line of Rowley in "Hudibras"--the monk might foresee +that too! The prematurity of Chatterton's genius is, however, full as +wonderful, as that such a prodigy as Rowley should never have been heard +of till the eighteenth century. The youth and industry of the former are +miracles, too, yet still more credible. There is not a symptom in the +poems, but the old words, that savours of Rowley's age--change the old +words for modern, and the whole construction is of yesterday. + +[Footnote 1: Macpherson was a Scotch literary man, who in 1760 published +"Fingal" in six books, which he declared he had translated from a poem +by Ossian, son of Fingal, a Gaelic prince of the third century. For a +moment the work was accepted as genuine in some quarters, especially by +some of the Edinburgh divines. But Dr. Johnson denounced it as an +imposture from the first. He pointed out that Macpherson had never +produced the manuscripts from which he professed to have translated it +when challenged to do so. He maintained also that the so-called poem had +no merits; that "it was a mere unconnected rhapsody, a tiresome +repetition of the same images;" and his opinion soon became so generally +adopted, that Macpherson wrote him a furious letter of abuse, even +threatening him with personal violence; to which Johnson replied "that +he would not be deterred from exposing what he thought a cheat by the +menaces of a ruffian"--a reply which seems to have silenced Mr. +Macpherson (Boswell's "Life of Johnson," i. 375, ii. 310).] + +[Footnote 2: Chatterton's is a melancholy story. In 1768, when a boy of +only sixteen, he published a volume of ballads which he described as the +work of Rowley, a priest of Bristol in the fifteenth century, and which +he affirmed he had found in an old chest in the crypt of the Church of +St. Mary Redcliffe at Bristol, of which his father was sexton. They gave +proofs of so rich and precocious a genius, that if he had published them +as his own works, he would "have found himself famous" in a moment, as +Byron did forty years afterwards. But people resented the attempt to +impose on them, Walpole being among the first to point out the proofs of +their modern composition; and consequently the admiration which his +genius might have excited was turned into general condemnation of his +imposture, and in despair he poisoned himself in 1770, when he was only +eighteen years old.] + + +_AFFAIRS IN AMERICA--THE CZARINA AND THE EMPEROR OF CHINA._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Oct._ 26, 1777. + +It is past my usual period of writing to you; which would not have +happened but from an uncommon, and indeed, considering the moment, an +extraordinary dearth of matter. I could have done nothing but describe +suspense, and every newspaper told you that. Still we know nothing +certain of the state of affairs in America; the very existence where, of +the Howes, is a mystery. The General is said to have beaten Washington, +Clinton to have repulsed three attacks, and Burgoyne[1] to be beaten. +The second alone is credited. Impatience is very high, and uneasiness +increases with every day. There is no sanguine face anywhere, but many +alarmed ones. The pains taken, by circulating false reports, to keep up +some confidence, only increase the dissatisfaction by disappointing. +Some advantage gained may put off clamour for some months: but I think, +the longer it is suspended, the more terrible it will be; and how the +war should end but in ruin, I am not wise enough to conjecture. France +suspends the blow, to make it more inevitable. She has suffered us to +undo ourselves: will she allow us time to recover? We have begged her +indulgence in the first: will she grant the second prayer?... + +[Footnote 1: In June and July General Burgoyne, a man of some literary +as well as military celebrity, achieved some trifling successes over the +colonial army, alternating, however, with some defeats. He took +Ticonderoga, but one of his divisions was defeated with heavy loss at +Bennington--a disaster which, Lord Stanhope says, exercised a fatal +influence over the rest of the campaign; and finally, a week before this +letter was written, he and all his army were so hemmed in at Saratoga, +that they were compelled to lay down their arms--a disgrace which was +the turning-point of the war, and which is compared by Lord Stanhope to +the capitulation of his own ancestor at Brihuega in the war of the +Spanish Succession. The surrender of Saratoga was the event which +determined the French and Spaniards to recognise the independence of the +colonies, and consequently to unite with them in the war against +England.] + +You have heard of the inundation at Petersburg. That ill wind produced +luck to somebody. As the Empress had not distressed objects enough among +her own people to gratify her humanity, she turned the torrent of her +bounty towards that unhappy relict the Duchess of Kingston, and ordered +her Admiralty to take particular care of the marvellous yacht that bore +Messalina and her fortune. Pray mind that I bestow the latter Empress's +name on the Duchess, only because she married a second husband in the +lifetime of the first. Amongst other benevolences, the Czarina lent her +Grace a courier to despatch to England--I suppose to acquaint Lord +Bristol that he is not a widower. That courier brought a letter from a +friend to Dr. Hunter, with the following anecdote. Her Imperial Majesty +proposed to her brother of China to lay waste a large district that +separates their two empires, lest it should, as it has been on the point +of doing, produce war between them; the two empires being at the two +extremities of the world, not being distance enough to keep the peace. +The ill-bred Tartar sent no answer to so humane a project. On the +contrary, he dispersed a letter to the Russian people, in which he tells +them that a woman--he might have said the Minerva of the French +_literati_--had proposed to him to extirpate all the inhabitants of a +certain region belonging to him, but that he knew better what to do with +his own country: however, he could but wonder that the people of all the +Russias should still submit to be governed by a creature that had +assassinated her husband.--Oh! if she had pulled the Ottoman by the nose +in the midst of Constantinople, as she intended to do, this savage would +have been more civilised. I doubt the same rude monarch is still on the +throne, who would not suffer Prince Czernichew to enter his territories, +when sent to notify her Majesty's _hereditary_ succession to her +husband; but bade him be told, he would not receive an ambassador from a +murderess. Is it not shocking that the law of nations, and the law of +politeness, should not yet have abrogated the laws of justice and +good-sense in a nation reckoned so civilised as the Chinese? What an age +do we live in, if there is still a country where the Crown does not take +away all defects! Good night! + + +_DEATH OF LORD CHATHAM--THURLOW BECOMES LORD CHANCELLOR._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _May_ 31, 1778. + +I am forced to look at the dates I keep of my letters, to see what +events I have or have not told you; for at this crisis something happens +every day; though nothing very striking since the death of Lord Chatham, +with which I closed my last. No?--yes, but there has. All England, which +had abandoned him, found out, the moment his eyes were closed, that +nothing but Lord Chatham could have preserved them. How lucky for him +that the experiment cannot be made! Grief is fond, and grief is +generous. The Parliament will bury him; the City begs the honour of +being his grave; and the important question is not yet decided, whether +he is to lie at Westminster or in St. Paul's; on which it was well said, +that it would be "robbing Peter to pay Paul." An annuity of four +thousand pounds is settled on the title of Chatham, and twenty thousand +pounds allotted to pay his debts. The Opposition and the Administration +disputed zeal; and neither care a straw about him. He is already as much +forgotten as John of Gaunt. + +General Burgoyne has succeeded and been the topic, and for two days +engrossed the attention of the House of Commons; and probably will be +heard of no more. He was even forgotten for three hours while he was on +the tapis, by a violent quarrel between Temple Luttrell (a brother of +the Duchess of Cumberland) and Lord George Germaine; but the public has +taken affection for neither them nor the General: being much more +disposed at present to hate than to love--except the dead. It will be +well if the ill-humour, which increases, does not break out into overt +acts. + +I know not what to say of war. The Toulon squadron was certainly blown +back. That of Brest is supposed to be destined to invade some part of +this country or Ireland; or rather, it is probable, will attempt our +fleet. In my own opinion, there is no great alacrity in France--I mean, +in the Court of France--for war; and, as we have had time for great +preparations, their eagerness will not increase. We shall suffer as much +as they can desire by the loss of America, without their risk, and in a +few years shall be able to give them no umbrage; especially as our +frenzy is still so strong, that, if France left us at quiet, I am +persuaded we should totally exhaust ourselves in pursuing the vision of +reconquest. Spain continues to disclaim hostility as you told me. If the +report is true of revolts in Mexico, they would be as good as a bond +under his Catholic Majesty's hand. + +We shall at least not doze, as we are used to do, in summer. The +Parliament is to have only short adjournments; and our senators, instead +of retiring to horse-races (_their_ plough), are all turned soldiers, +and disciplining militia. Camps everywhere, and the ladies in the +uniform of their husbands! In short, if the dose is not too strong, a +little adversity would not be quite unseasonable.--A little! you will +cry; why what do you call the loss of America? Oh! my dear sir, do you +think a capital as enormous as London has its nerves affected by what +happens beyond the Atlantic? What has become of all your reading? There +is nothing so unnatural as the feelings of a million of persons who live +together in one city. They have not one conception like those in +villages and in the country. They presume or despond from quite +different motives. They have both more sense and less, than those who +are not in contact with a multitude. Wisdom forms empires, but folly +dissolves them; and a great capital, which dictates to the rest of the +community, is always the last to perceive the decays of the whole, +because it takes its own greatness for health. + +Lord Holdernesse is dead; not quite so considerable a personage as he +once expected to be, though Nature never intended him for anything that +he was. The Chancellor, another child of Fortune, quits the Seals; and +they are, or are to be, given to the Attorney-General, Thurlow, whom +nobody will reproach with want of abilities. + +As the Parliament will rise on Tuesday, you will not expect my letters +so frequently as of late, especially if hostilities do not commence. In +fact, our newspapers tell you everything faster than I can: still I +write, because you have more faith in my intelligence; yet all its merit +consists in my not telling you fables. I hear no more than everybody +does, but I send you only what is sterling; or, at least, give you +reports for no more than they are worth. I believe Sir John Dick is much +more punctual, and hears more; but, till you displace me, I shall +execute my office of being your gazetteer. + + +_EXULTATION OF FRANCE AT OUR DISASTERS IN +AMERICA--FRANKLIN--NECKER--CHATTERTON._ + +TO THE REV. WILLIAM COLE. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 3, 1778. + +I will not dispute with you, dear Sir, on patriots and politics. One +point is past controversy, that the Ministers have ruined this country; +and if the Church of England is satisfied with being reconciled to the +Church of Rome, and thinks it a compensation for the loss of America and +all credit in Europe, she is as silly an old woman as any granny in an +almshouse. France is very glad we have grown such fools, and soon saw +that the Presbyterian Dr. Franklin[1] had more sense than our Ministers +together. She has got over all her prejudices, has expelled the Jesuits, +and made the Protestant Swiss, Necker,[2] her Comptroller-general. It is +a little woful, that we are relapsing into the nonsense the rest of +Europe is shaking off! and it is more deplorable, as we know by repeated +experience, that this country has always been disgraced by Tory +administrations. The rubric is the only gainer by them in a few martyrs. + +[Footnote 1: Dr. Franklin, as a man of science, may almost be called the +father of electrical science. He was the discoverer of the electrical +character of lightning, a discovery which he followed up by the +invention of iron conductors for the protection of buildings, &c., from +lightning. He was also a very zealous politician, and one of the leaders +of the American colonists in their resistance to the taxation imposed +first by Mr. Grenville and afterwards by Mr. C. Townshend. He resided +for several years in England as agent for the State of Pennsylvania, and +in that character, in the year 1765, was examined before the Committee +of the House of Commons on the Stamp Act of Mr. Grenville. After the +civil war broke out he was elected a member of the American Congress, +and was sent as an envoy to France to negotiate a treaty with that +country. As early as 1758 he was elected a member of the Royal Society +in England, and received the honorary degree of D.C.L. from the +University of Oxford.] + +[Footnote 2: Necker was originally a banker, in which business he made a +large fortune; but after a time he turned his attention to politics. He +began by opposing the financial and constitutional schemes of the great +Turgot, and shortly after the dismissal of that Minister he himself was +admitted into the Ministry as a sort of Secretary to the Treasury, his +religion, as a Protestant, being a bar to his receiving the title of +"Comptroller-General," though, in fact, he had the entire management of +the finance of the kingdom, which, by artful misrepresentation of his +measures and suppression of such important facts, that he had contracted +loans to the amount of twenty millions of money, he represented as far +more flourishing than in reality it was. At the end of two or three +years he resigned his office in discontent at his services not receiving +the rewards to which he considered himself entitled. But in 1788 he was +again placed in office, on this occasion as Comptroller-General, and, +practically, Prime Minister, a post for which he was utterly unfit; for +he had not one qualification for a statesman, was a prey to the most +overweening vanity, and his sole principles of action were a thirst for +popularity and a belief in "the dominion of reason and the abstract +virtues of mankind." Under the influence of these notions he frittered +away the authority and dignity of the King; and, as Napoleon afterwards +truly told his grandson, was, in truth, the chief cause of all the +horrors of the Revolution.] + +I do not know yet what is settled about the spot of Lord Chatham's +interment. I am not more an enthusiast to his memory than you. I knew +his faults and his defects--yet one fact cannot only not be +controverted, but I doubt more remarkable every day--I mean, that under +him we attained not only our highest elevation, but the most solid +authority in Europe. When the names of Marlborough and Chatham are still +pronounced with awe in France, our little cavils make a puny sound. +Nations that are beaten cannot be mistaken. + +I have been looking out for your friend a set of my heads of Painters, +and I find I want six or seven. I think I have some odd ones in town; if +I have not, I will have deficiencies supplied from the plates, though I +fear they will not be good, as so many have been taken off. I should be +very ungrateful for all your kindnesses, if I neglected any opportunity +of obliging you, dear Sir. Indeed, our old and unalterable friendship is +creditable to us both, and very uncommon between two persons who differ +so much in their opinions relative to Church and State. I believe the +reason is, that we are both sincere, and never meant to take advantage +of our principles; which I allow is too common on both sides, and I own, +too, fairly more common on my side of the question than on yours. There +is a reason, too, for that; the honours and emoluments are in the gift +of the Crown; the nation has no separate treasury to reward its friends. + +If Mr. Tyrwhitt has opened his eyes to Chatterton's forgeries,[1] there +is an instance of conviction against strong prejudice! I have drawn up +an account of my transaction with that marvellous young man; you shall +see it one day or other, but I do not intend to print it. I have taken a +thorough dislike to being an author; and if it would not look like +begging you to compliment me, by contradicting me, I would tell you, +what I am most seriously convinced of, that I find what small share of +parts I had, grown dulled--and when I perceive it myself, I may well +believe that others would not be less sharp-sighted. It is very natural; +mine were spirits rather than parts; and as time has abated the one, it +must surely destroy their resemblance to the other: pray don't say a +syllable in reply on this head, or I shall have done exactly what I said +I would not do. Besides, as you have always been too partial to me, I am +on my guard, and when I will not expose myself to my enemies, I must not +listen to the prejudices of my friends; and as nobody is more partial +to me than you, there is nobody I must trust less in that respect. Yours +most sincerely. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Tyrrhwitt, a critic of great eminence, especially as +the editor of "Chaucer," had at first believed the poems published by +Chatterton to be the genuine works of Rowley, but was afterwards +convinced, as Dr. Johnson also was, by the inspection of the manuscripts +which the poor youth called the "originals," that they were quite +recent.] + + +_ADMIRAL KEPPEL'S SUCCESS--THREATS OF INVASION--FUNERAL OF LORD +CHATHAM._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July 7_, 1778. + +You tell me in yours of the 23rd of last month, which I received to-day, +that my letters are necessary to your tranquillity. That is sufficient +to make me write, though I have nothing very positive to tell you. I did +not mention Admiral Keppel's skirmish with and capture of two frigates +of the Brest squadron; not because I thought it trifling, but concluding +that it would produce immediate declaration of war; and, for the fact +itself, I knew both our papers and the French would anticipate me. +Indeed, Sir John Dick has talked to me so much of his frequency and +punctuality with you, that I might have concluded he would not neglect +so public an event; not that I trust to anybody else for sending you +intelligence. + +No Declaration has followed on either side. I, who know nothing but what +everybody knows, am disposed to hope that both nations are grown +rational; that is, humane enough to dislike carnage. Both kings are +pacific by nature, and the voice of Europe now prefers legislators to +_heroes_, which is but a name for destroyers of their species. + +It is true, we are threatened with invasion.[1] You ask me why I seem to +apprehend less than formerly? For many reasons. In the first place, I am +above thirty years older. Can one fear anything in the dregs of life as +at the beginning? Experience, too, has taught me that nothing happens in +proportion to our conceptions. I have learnt, too, exceedingly to +undervalue human policy. Chance and folly counteract most of its wisdom. +From the "Mémoires de Noailles"[2] I have learnt, that, between the +years 1740 and 1750, when I,--ay, and my Lord Chesterfield too,--had +such gloomy thoughts, France was trembling with dread of us. These are +general reasons. My particular ones are, that, if France meditated a +considerable blow, she has neglected her opportunity. Last year, we had +neither army nor a manned fleet at home. Now, we have a larger and +better army than ever we had in the island, and a strong fleet. Within +these three days, our West India and Mediterranean fleets, for which we +have been in great pain, are arrived, and bring not only above two +millions, but such a host of sailors as will supply the deficiencies in +our unequipped men-of-war. The country is covered with camps; General +Conway, who has been to one of them, speaks with astonishment of the +fineness of the men, of the regiments, of their discipline and +manoeuvring. In short, the French Court has taught all our young +nobility to be soldiers. The Duke of Grafton, who was the most indolent +of ministers, is the most indefatigable of officers. For my part, I am +almost afraid that there will be a larger military spirit amongst our +men of quality than is wholesome for our constitution: France will have +done us hurt enough, if she has turned us into generals instead of +senators. + +[Footnote 1: The design of invading England, first conceived by Philip +II. of Spain and the Duke of Parma, had been entertained also by Louis +XIV.; and after Walpole's death ostentatious preparations for such an +expedition were made in 1805 by Napoleon. But some years afterwards +Napoleon told Metternich, the Austrian Prime Minister, that he had never +really designed to undertake the enterprise, being convinced of the +impossibility of succeeding in it, and that the sole object of his +preparations and of the camp at Boulogne had been to throw Austria off +her guard.] + +[Footnote 2: The Duc de Noailles had been the French Commander-in-chief +at the battle of Dettingen in 1743.] + +I can conceive another reason why France should not choose to venture an +invasion. It is certain that at least five American provinces wish for +peace with us. Nor can I think that thirteen English provinces would be +pleased at seeing England invaded. Any considerable blow received by us, +would turn their new allies into haughty protectors. Should we accept a +bad peace, America would find her treaty with them a very bad one: in +short, I have treated you with speculations instead of facts. I know but +one of the latter sort. The King's army has evacuated Philadelphia, from +having eaten up the country, and has returned to New York. Thus it is +more compact, and has less to defend. + +General Howe is returned, richer in money than laurels. I do not know, +indeed, that his wealth is great. + +Fanaticism in a nation is no novelty; but you must know, that, though +the effects were so solid, the late appearance of enthusiasm about Lord +Chatham was nothing but a general affectation of enthusiasm. It was a +contention of hypocrisy between the Opposition and the Court, which did +not last even to his burial. Not three of the Court attended it, and not +a dozen of the Minority of any note. He himself said, between his fall +in the House of Lords and his death, that, when he came to himself, not +one of his old acquaintance of the Court but Lord Despencer so much as +asked how he did. Do you imagine people are struck with the death of a +man, who were not struck with the sudden appearance of his death? We do +not counterfeit so easily on a surprise, as coolly; and, when we are +cool on surprise, we do not grow agitated on reflection. + +The last account I heard from Germany was hostile. Four days ago both +the Imperial and Prussian Ministers[1] expected news of a battle. O, ye +fathers of your people, do you thus dispose of your children? How many +thousand lives does a King save, who signs a peace! It was said in jest +of our Charles II., that he was the real _father_ of his people, so many +of them did he beget himself. But tell me, ye divines, which is the most +virtuous man, he who begets twenty bastards, or he who sacrifices a +hundred thousand lives? What a contradiction is human nature! The Romans +rewarded the man who got three children, and laid waste the world. When +will the world know that peace and propagation are the two most +delightful things in it? As his Majesty of France has found out the +latter, I hope he will not forget the former. + +[Footnote 1: Towards the close of 1777 Maximilian, the Elector of +Bavaria, died, and the Emperor Joseph claimed many of his fiefs as +having escheated to him. Frederic the Great, who was still jealous of +Austria, endeavoured to form a league to aid the new Elector in his +resistance to Joseph's demands, and even invaded Bohemia with an army of +eighty thousand men; but the Austrian army was equally strong. No action +of any importance took place; and in the spring of 1779 the treaty of +Teschen was concluded between the Empire, Prussia, and Bavaria, by which +a small portion of the district claimed by Joseph was ceded to Austria.] + + +_SUGGESTION OF NEGOTIATIONS WITH FRANCE--PARTITION OF POLAND._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 8, 1778. + +I have had some conversation with a ministerial person, on the subject +of pacification with France; and he dropped a hint, that as we should +not have much of a good peace, the Opposition would make great clamour +on it. I said a few words on the duty of Ministers to do what they +thought right, be the consequence what it would. But as honest men do +not want such lectures, and dishonest will not let them weigh, I waived +that theme, to dwell on what is more likely to be persuasive, and which +I am firmly persuaded is no less true than the former maxim; and that +was, that the Ministers are _still_ so strong, that if they could get a +peace that would save the nation, though not a brilliant or glorious +one, the nation in general would be pleased with it, and the clamours of +the Opposition be insignificant. + +I added, what I think true, too, that no time is to be lost in treating; +not only for preventing a blow, but from the consequences the first +misfortune would have. The nation is not yet alienated from the Court, +but it is growing so; is grown so enough, for any calamity to have +violent effects. Any internal disturbance would advance the hostile +designs of France. An insurrection from distress would be a double +invitation to invasion; and, I am sure, much more to be dreaded, even +personally, by the Ministers, than the ill-humours of Opposition for +even an inglorious peace. To do the Opposition justice, it is not +composed of incendiaries. Parliamentary speeches raise no tumults: but +tumults would be a dreadful thorough bass to speeches. The Ministers do +not know the strength they have left (supposing they apply it in time), +if they are afraid of making any peace. They were too sanguine in making +war; I hope they will not be too timid of making peace. + +What do you think of an idea of mine of offering France a neutrality? +that is, to allow her to assist both us and the Americans. I know she +would assist only them: but were it not better to connive at her +assisting them, without attacking us, than her doing both? A treaty with +her would perhaps be followed by one with America. We are sacrificing +all the essentials we _can_ recover, for a few words; and risking the +independence of this country, for the nominal supremacy over America. +France seems to leave us time for treating. She mad no scruple of +begging peace of us in '63, that she might lie by and recover her +advantages. Was not that a wise precedent? Does not she _now_ show that +it was? Is not policy the honour of nations? I mean, not morally, but +has Europe left itself any other honour? And since it has really left +itself no honour, and as little morality, does not the morality of a +nation consist in its preserving itself in as much happiness as it can? +The invasion of Portugal by Spain in the last war, and the partition of +Poland,[1] have abrogated the law of nations. Kings have left no ties +between one another. Their duty to their people is still allowed. He is +a good King that preserves his people; and if temporising answers that +end, is it not justifiable? You, who are as moral as wise, answer my +questions. Grotius[2] is obsolete. Dr. Joseph and Dr. Frederic, with +four hundred thousand commentators, are reading new lectures--and I +should say, thank God, to one another, if the four hundred thousand +commentators were not in worse danger than they. Louis XVI. is grown a +casuist compared to those partitioners. Well, let us simple individuals +keep our honesty, and bless our stars that we have not armies at our +command, lest we should divide kingdoms that are at our _bienséance_! +What a dreadful thing it is for such a wicked little imp as man to have +absolute power! But I have travelled into Germany, when I meant to talk +to you only of England; and it is too late to recall my text. Good +night! + +[Footnote 1: A partition of Poland had been proposed by the Great +Elector of Brandenburgh as early as the middle of the seventeenth +century, his idea being that he, the Emperor, and the King of Sweden +should divide the whole country between them. At that time, however, the +mutual jealousies of the three princes prevented the scheme from being +carried out. But in 1770 the idea was revived by Frederic the Great, who +sent his brother Henry to discuss it with the Czarina. She eagerly +embraced it; and the new Emperor Joseph had so blind an admiration for +Frederic, that it was not hard to induce him to become a confederate in +the scheme of plunder. And the three allies had less difficulty than +might have been expected in arranging the details. In extent of +territory Austria was the principal gainer, her share being of +sufficient importance to receive a new name as the kingdom of Galicia; +the share of Prussia being West Prussia and Pomerania, with the +exception of Dantzic and the fortress of Thorn; while Russia took Polish +Livonia and the rich provinces to the east of the Dwina. But the +spoilers were not long contented with their acquisitions. In 1791 +intrigues among the Polish nobles, probably fomented by the Czarina +herself, gave her a pretence for interfering in their affairs; and the +result was a second partition, which gave the long-coveted port of +Dantzic and a long district on the shore of the Baltic to Prussia, and +such extensive provinces adjoining Russia to Catharine, that all that +was left to the Polish sovereign was a small territory with a population +that hardly amounted to four millions of subjects. The partition excited +great indignation all over Europe, but in 1772 England was sufficiently +occupied with the troubles beginning to arise in America, and France was +still too completely under the profligate and imbecile rule of Louis XV. +and Mme. du Barri, and too much weakened by her disasters in the Seven +Years' War, for any manly counsels or indication of justice and humanity +to be expected from that country.] + +[Footnote 2: Grotius (a Latinised form of Groot) was an eminent +statesman and jurist of Holland at the beginning of the seventeenth +century. He was a voluminous author; his most celebrated works being a +treatise, "De jure belli et pacis," and another on the "Truth of the +Christian Religion."] + +[Illustration: VIEW OF GARDEN, STRAWBERRY HILL, FROM THE GREAT +BED-CHAMBER.] + + +_UNSUCCESSFUL CRUISE OF KEPPEL--CHARACTER OF LORD CHATHAM._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Oct._ 8, 1778. + +As you are so earnest for news, I am concerned when I have not a +paragraph to send you. It looks as if distance augmented your +apprehensions; for, I assure you, at home we have lost almost all +curiosity. Though the two fleets have been so long at sea, and though, +before their last _sortie_, one heard nothing but _What news of the +fleets?_ of late there has been scarcely any inquiry; and so the French +one is returned to Brest, and ours is coming home. Admiral Keppel is +very unlucky in having missed them, for they had not above twenty-five +ships. Letters from Paris say that their camps, too, are to break up at +the end of this month: but we do not intend to be the dupes of that +_finesse_, if it is one, but shall remain on our guard. One must hope +that winter will produce some negotiation; and that, peace. Indeed, as +war is not declared, I conclude there is always some treating on the +anvil; and, should it end well, at least this age will have made a step +towards humanity, in omitting the ceremonial of proclamation, which +seems to make it easier to cease being at war. But I am rather making +out a proxy for a letter than sending you news. But, you see, even +armies of hundred thousands in Germany can execute as little as we; and +you must remember what the Grand Condé, or the great Prince of Orange--I +forget which--said, that unmarried girls imagine husbands are always on +duty, unmilitary men that soldiers are always fighting. One of the Duke +of Marlborough's Generals dining with the Lord Mayor, an Alderman who +sat next to him said, "Sir, yours must be a very laborious +profession."--"No," replied the General, "we fight about four hours in +the morning, and two or three after dinner, and then we have all the +rest of the day to ourselves." + +The King has been visiting camps,--and so has Sir William Howe, who, one +should think, had had enough of them; and who, one should think too, had +not achieved such exploits as should make him fond of parading himself +about, or expect many hosannahs. To have taken one town, and retreated +from two, is not very glorious in military arithmetic; and to have +marched twice to Washington, and returned without attacking him, is no +addition to the sum total. + +Did I tell you that Mrs. Anne Pitt is returned, and acts great grief for +her brother? I suppose she was the dupe of the farce acted by the two +Houses and the Court, and had not heard that none of them carried on the +pantomime even to his burial. Her nephew gave a little into that mummery +even to me; forgetting how much I must remember of his aversion to his +uncle. Lord Chatham was a meteor, and a glorious one; people discovered +that he was not a genuine luminary, and yet everybody in mimickry has +been an _ignis fatuus_ about him. Why not allow his magnificent +enterprises and good fortune, and confess his defects; instead of being +bombast in his praises, and at the same time discover that the +amplification is insincere? A Minister who inspires great actions must +be a great Minister; and Lord Chatham will always appear so,--by +comparison with his predecessors and successors. He retrieved our +affairs when ruined by a most incapable Administration; and we are +fallen into a worse state since he was removed. Therefore, I doubt, +posterity will allow more to his merit, than it is the present fashion +to accord to it. Our historians have of late been fond of decrying Queen +Elizabeth, in order if possible to raise the Stuarts: but great actions +surmount foibles; and folly and guilt would always remain folly and +guilt, though there had never been a great man or woman in the world. +Our modern tragedies, hundreds of them do not contain a good line; nor +are they a jot the better, because Shakspeare, who was superior to all +mankind, wrote some whole plays that are as bad as any of our present +writers. + +I shall be very glad to see your nephew, and talk of you with him; which +will be more satisfactory than questioning accidental travellers. + + +_CAPTURE OF PONDICHERRY--CHANGES IN THE MINISTRY--LA FAYETTE IN +AMERICA._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _March_ 22, 1779. + +If your representative dignity is impaired westward, you may add to +your eastern titles those of "Rose of India" and "Pearl of +Pondicherry."[1] The latter gem is now set in one of the vacant sockets +of the British diadem. + +[Footnote 1: The authority of the great Warren Hastings, originally +limited to five years, was renewed this year; and he signalised the +prolongation of his authority by more vigorous attacks than ever on the +French fortresses in India. He sent one body of troops against +Chandemagore, their chief stronghold in Bengal; another against +Pondicherry, their head-quarters in the south of Hindostan; while a +third, under Colonel Goddard, defeated the two Mahratta chieftains +Scindia and Holkar, and took some of their strongest fortresses.] + +I have nothing to subjoin to this high-flown paragraph, that will at all +keep pace with the majesty of it. I should have left to the _Gazette_ to +wish you joy, nor have begun a new letter without more materials, if I +did not fear you would be still uneasy about your nephew. I hear he has, +_since his parenthesis_, voted again with the Court; therefore he has +probably not taken a new _part_, but only made a Pindaric transition on +a particular question. I have seen him but twice since his arrival, and +from both those visits I had no reason to expect he would act +differently from what you wished. Perhaps it may never happen again. I +go so little into the world, that I don't at all know what company he +frequents. He talked so reasonably and tenderly with regard to you, that +I shall be much deceived if he often gives you any inquietude. + +The place of Secretary of State is not replenished yet. Several +different successors have been talked of. At least, at present, there is +a little chance of its being supplied by the Opposition. Their numbers +have fallen off again, though they are more alert than they used to be. +I do not love to foretell, because no Elijah left me his mantle, in +which, it seems, the gift of prophecy resides; and, if I see clouds +gathering, I less care to announce their contents to foreign +post-offices. On the other hand, it is no secret, nor one to disguise if +it were, that the French trade must suffer immensely by our captures. + +Private news I know none. The Bishops are trying to put a stop to one +staple commodity of that kind, Adultery. I do not suppose that they +expect to lessen it; but, to be sure, it was grown to a sauciness that +did call for a decenter veil. I do not think they have found out a good +cure; and I am of opinion, too, that flagrancy proceeds from national +depravity, which tinkering one branch will not remedy. Perhaps polished +manners are a better proof of virtue in an age than of vice, though +system-makers do not hold so: at least, decency has seldom been the +symptom of a sinking nation. + +When one talks on general themes, it is a sign of having little to say. +It is not that there is a dearth of topics; but I only profess sending +you information on events that really have happened, to guide you +towards forming a judgment. At home, we are fed with magnificent hopes +and promises that are never realized. For instance, to prove discord in +America, Monsieur de la Fayette[1] was said to rail at the Congress, +and their whole system and transactions. There is just published an +intercourse between them that exhibits enthusiasm in him towards their +cause, and the highest esteem for him on their side. For my part, I see +as little chance of recovering America as of re-conquering the Holy +Land. Still, I do not amuse you with visions on either side, but tell +you nakedly what advantage has been gained or lost. This caution +abbreviates my letters; but, in general, you can depend on what I tell +you. Adieu! + +[Footnote 1: Monsieur de la Fayette was a young French marquis of +ancient family, but of limited fortune. He was a man of no ability, +civil or military, and not even of much resolution, unless a blind +fanaticism for republican principles can be called so. When the American +war broke out he conceived such an admiration for Washington, that he +resigned his commission in the French army to cross over to America and +serve with the colonists; but it cannot be said that he was of any +particular service to their cause. Afterwards, in 1789, he entered +warmly into the schemes of the leaders of the Revolution, and +contributed greatly to the difficulties and misfortunes of the Royal +Family, especially by his conduct as Commander of the National Guard, +which was a contemptible combination of treachery and imbecility.] + +_Tuesday 24th._ + +I hear this moment that an account is come this morning of D'Estaing +with sixteen ships being blocked up by Byron at Martinico, and that +Rowley with eight more was expected by the latter in a day or two. +D'Estaing, it is supposed, will be starved to surrender, and the island +too. I do not answer for this intelligence or consequences; but, if the +first is believed, you may be sure the rest is. + + +_DIVISIONS IN THE MINISTRY--CHARACTER OF THE ITALIANS AND OF THE +FRENCH._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 7, 1779. + +How much larger the war will be for the addition of Spain, I do not +know. Hitherto it has produced no events but the shutting of our ports +against France, and the junction of nine ships from Ferrol with the +French squadron. They talk of a great navy getting ready at Cadiz, and +of mighty preparations in the ports of France for an embarkation. As all +this must have been foreseen, I suppose we are ready to resist all +attacks. + +The Parliament rose last Saturday, not without an open division in the +Ministry: Lord Gower, President of the Council, heading an opposition to +a Bill for doubling the Militia, which had passed the Commons, and +throwing it out; which Lord North as publicly resented. I make no +comments on this, because I really know nothing of the motives. +Thoroughly convinced that all my ideas are superannuated, and too old to +learn new lessons, I only hear what passes, pretend to understand +nothing, and wait patiently for events as they present themselves. I +listen enough to be able to acquaint you with facts of public notoriety; +but attempt to explain none of them, if they do not carry legibility in +the van. + +Your nephew, who lives more in the world, and is coming to you, will be +far more master of the details. He called here some few days ago, as I +was going out to dinner, but has kindly promised to come and dine here +before he sets out. His journey is infinitely commendable, as entirely +undertaken to please you. It will be very comfortable too, as surely the +concourse of English must much abate, especially as France is +interdicted. Travelling boys and self-sufficient governors would be an +incumbrance to you, could you see more of your countrymen of more +satisfactory conversation. Florence probably is improved since it had a +Court of its own, and there must be men a little more enlightened than +the poor Italians. Scarcely any of the latter that ever I knew but, if +they had parts, were buffoons. I believe the boasted _finesse_ of the +ruling clergy is pretty much a traditionary notion, like their jealousy. +More nations than one live on former characters after they are totally +changed. + +I have been often and much in France. In the provinces they may still be +gay and lively; but at Paris, bating the pert _étourderie_ of very young +men, I protest I scarcely ever saw anything like vivacity--the Duc de +Choiseul alone had more than any hundred Frenchmen I could select. Their +women are the first in the world in everything but beauty; sensible, +agreeable, and infinitely informed. The _philosophes_, except Buffon, +are solemn, arrogant, dictatorial coxcombs--I need not say superlatively +disagreeable. The rest are amazingly ignorant in general, and void of +all conversation but the routine with women. My dear and very old friend +[Madame du Deffand] is a relic of a better age, and at nearly +eighty-four has all the impetuosity that _was_ the character of the +French. They have not found out, I believe, how much their nation is +sunk in Europe;--probably the Goths and Vandals of the North will open +their eyes before a century is past. I speak of the swarming empires +that have conglomerated within our memories. _We_ dispelled the vision +twenty years ago: but let us be modest till we do so again.... + +_11th._ + +Last night I received from town the medal you promised me on the Moorish +alliance.[1] It is at least as magnificent as the occasion required, and +yet not well executed. The medallist Siriez, I conclude, is grandson of +my old acquaintance Louis Siriez of the Palazzo Vecchio. + +[Footnote 1: A treaty had just been concluded between the Duke of +Tuscany and the Emperor of Morocco.] + +Yesterday's Gazette issued a proclamation on the expected invasion from +Havre, where they are embarking mightily. Some think the attempt will be +on Portsmouth. To sweeten this pill, Clinton has taken a fort and +seventy men--not near Portsmouth, but New York; and there were reports +at the latter that Charleston is likely to surrender. This would be +something, if there were not a French war and a Spanish war in the way +between us and Carolina. Sir Charles Hardy is at Torbay with the whole +fleet, which perhaps was not a part of the plan at Havre: we shall see, +and you shall hear, if anything passes. + +_Friday night, July 16th._ + +Your nephew has sent me word that he will breakfast with me to-morrow, +but shall not have time to dine. I have nothing to add to the foregoing +general picture. We have been bidden even by proclamation to expect an +invasion, and troops and provisions have for this week said to have been +embarked. Still I do not much expect a serious descent. The French, I +think, have better chances with less risk. They may ruin us in detail. +The fleet is at present at home or very near, and very strong; nor do I +think that the French plan is activity:--but it is idle to talk of the +present moment, when it will be some time before you receive this. I am +infinitely in more pain about Mr. Conway, who is in the midst of the +storm in a nutshell, and I know will defend himself as if he was in the +strongest fortification in Flanders--and, which is as bad, I believe the +Court would sacrifice the island to sacrifice him. They played that +infamous game last year on Keppel, when ten thousand times more was at +stake. They look at the biggest objects through the diminishing end of +every telescope; and, the higher they who look, the more malignant and +mean the eye.... + +Adieu! my dear Sir. In what manner we are to be undone, I do not guess; +but I see no way by which we can escape happily out of this crisis--I +mean, preserve the country and recover the Constitution. I thought for +four years that calamity would bring us to our senses: but alas! we have +none left to be brought to. We shall now suffer a greal deal, submit at +last to a humiliating peace, and people will be content.--So adieu, +England! it will be more or less a province or kind of province to +France, and its viceroy will be, in what does not concern France, its +despot--and will be content too! I shall not pity the country; I shall +feel only for those who grieve with me at its abject state; or for +posterity, if they do not, like other degraded nations, grow callously +reconciled to their ignominy. + + +_ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS--DEATH OF LORD TEMPLE._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +_Sept._ 16, 1779. + +I have received your letter by Colonel Floyd, and shall be surprised +indeed if Caesar does not find his own purple a little rumpled, as well +as his brother's mantle. But how astonished was I at finding that you +did not mention the dreadful eruption of Vesuvius. Surely you had not +heard of it! What are kings and their popguns to that wrath of Nature! +How Sesostris, at the head of an army of nations, would have fallen +prostrate to earth before a column of blazing embers eleven thousand +feet high! I am impatient to hear more, as you are of the little +conflict of us pigmies. Three days after my last set out, we received +accounts of D'Estaing's success against Byron and Barrington, and of the +capture of Grenada. I do not love to send first reports, which are +rarely authentic. The subsequent narrative of the engagement is more +favourable. It allows the victory to the enemy, but makes their loss of +men much the more considerable. Of ships we lost but one, taken after +the fight as going into port to refit. Sir Charles Hardy and +D'Orvilliers have not met; the latter is at Brest, the former at +Portsmouth. I never penetrated an inch into what is to be; and into some +distant parts of our history, I mean the Eastern, I have never liked to +look. I believe it an infamous scene; you know I have always thought it +so; and the Marattas are a nation of banditti very proper to scourge the +heroes of Europe, who go so far to plunder and put themselves into their +way. Nature gave to mankind a beautiful world, and larger than it could +occupy,--for, as to the eruption of Goths and Vandals occasioned by +excess of population, I very much doubt it; and mankind prefers +deforming the ready Paradise, to improving and enjoying it. Ambition and +mischief, which one should not think were natural appetites, seem almost +as much so as the impulse to propagation; and those pious rogues, the +clergy, preach against what Nature forces us to practise (or she could +not carry on her system), and not twice in a century say a syllable +against the Lust of Destruction! Oh! one is lost in moralising, as one +is in astronomy! In the ordinance and preservation of the great +universal system one sees the Divine Artificer, but our intellects are +too bounded to comprehend anything more. + +Lord Temple is dead by an accident. I never had any esteem for his +abilities or character. He had grown up in the bask of Lord Chatham's +glory, and had the folly to mistake half the rays for his own. The world +was not such a dupe; and his last years discovered a selfish +restlessness, and discovered to him, too, that no mortal regarded him +but himself. + +The Lucans are in my neighbourhood, and talk with much affection of you. +Adieu! + + +_CHANCES OF WAR WITH HOLLAND--HIS FATHER'S POLICY--POPE--CHARACTER OF +BOLINGBROKE._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _Jan._ 13, 1780. + +In consequence of my last, it is right to make you easy, and tell you +that I think we shall not have a Dutch war;[1] at least, nobody seems to +expect it. What excuses we have made, I do not know; but I imagine the +Hollanders are glad to gain by both sides, and glad not to be forced to +quarrel with either. + +[Footnote 1: Walpole was mistaken in his calculations. "Holland at this +time was divided by two great parties--the party of the Staatholder, the +Prince of Orange, and the party inclining to France--of which the +Pensionary, Van Bethel, was among the principal members; and this party +was so insulting in their tone and measures, that at the end of 1780 we +were compelled to declare war against them" (Lord Stanhope, "History of +England," c. 63). But the war was not signalised by any action of +importance.] + +What might have been expected much sooner, appears at last--a good deal +of discontent; but chiefly where it was not much expected. The country +gentlemen, after encouraging the Court to war with America, now, not +very decently, are angry at the expense. As they have long seen the +profusion, it would have been happy had they murmured sooner. Very +serious associations are forming in many counties; and orders, under +the title of petitions, coming to Parliament for correcting abuses. They +talk of the waste of money; are silent on the thousands of lives that +have been sacrificed--but when are human lives counted by any side? + +The French, who may measure with us in folly, and have exceeded us in +ridiculous boasts, have been extravagant in their reception of +D'Estaing,[1] who has shown nothing but madness and incapacity. How the +northern monarchs, who have at least exhibited talents for war and +politics, must despise the last campaign of England and France! + +[Footnote 1: The Comte d'Estaing was the Commander-in-chief of the +French fleet in the West Indies in the years 1777-80. But, though his +force was always superior to ours, he always endeavoured to avoid a +battle; and succeeded in that timorous policy except on two occasions, +when Lord Howe and afterwards Admiral Byron brought him to action, but +only with indecisive results.] + +I am once more got abroad, but more pleased to be able to do so, than +charmed with anything I have to do. Having outlived the glory and +felicity of my country, I carry that reflection with me wherever I go. +Last night, at Strawberry Hill, I took up, to divert my thoughts, a +volume of letters to Swift from Bolingbroke, Bathurst, and Gay; and what +was there but lamentations on the ruin of England, in that era of its +prosperity and peace, from wretches who thought their own want of power +a proof that their country was undone! Oh, my father! twenty years of +peace, and credit, and happiness, and liberty, were punishments to +rascals who weighed everything in the scales of self? It was to the +honour of Pope, that, though leagued with such a crew, and though an +idolater of their archfiend Bolingbroke and in awe of the malignant +Swift, he never gave in to their venomous railings; railings against a +man who, in twenty years, never attempted a stretch of power, did +nothing but the common business of administration, and by that +temperance and steady virtue, and unalterable good-humour and superior +wisdom, baffled all the efforts of faction, and annihilated the falsely +boasted abilities of Bolingbroke,[1] which now appear as moderate as his +character was in every light detestable. But, alas! that retrospect +doubled my chagrin instead of diverting it. I soon forgot an impotent +cabal of mock-patriots; but the scene they vainly sought to disturb +rushed on my mind, and, like Hamlet on the sight of Yorick's skull, I +recollected the prosperity of Denmark when my father ruled, and compared +it with the present moment! I look about for a Sir Robert Walpole; but +where is he to be found? + +[Footnote: 1 It is only the excess of party spirit that could lead +Walpole to call Bolingbroke's abilities moderate; and he had no attacks +on his father to resent, since, though Bolingbroke was in 1724 permitted +to return to England, he only received a partial pardon, and was not +permitted to take his seat in Parliament. Walpole has more reason to +pronounce his character detestable; for which opinion he might have +quoted Dr. Johnson, who, in reference to an infidel treatise which he +bequeathed to Mallet for publication, called him "a scoundrel and a +coward--a scoundrel who spent his life in charging a popgun against +Christianity, which he had not the courage to let off, but left it to a +hungry Scotchman to pull the trigger after he was dead."] + +This is not a letter, but a codicil to my last. You will soon probably +have news enough--yet appearances are not always pregnancies. When there +are more follies in a nation than principles and system, they counteract +one another, and sometimes, as has just happened in Ireland, are +composed _pulveris exigui jactu_. I sum up my wishes in that for peace: +but we are not satisfied with persecuting America, though the mischief +has recoiled on ourselves; nor France with wounding us, though with +little other cause for exultation, and with signal mischief to her own +trade, and with heavy loss of seamen; not to mention how her armies are +shrunk to raise her marine, a sacrifice she will one day rue, when the +_disciplined_ hosts of Goths and Huns begin to cast an eye southward. +But I seem to choose to read futurity, because I am not likely to see +it: indeed I am most rational when I say to myself, What is all this to +me? My thread is almost spun! almost all my business here is to bear +pain with patience, and to be thankful for intervals of ease. Though +Emperors and Kings may torment mankind, they will not disturb my +bedchamber; and so I bid them and you good-night! + +P.S.--I have made use of a term in this letter, which I retract, having +bestowed a title on the captains and subalterns which was due only to +the colonel, and not enough for his dignity. Bolingbroke was more than a +rascal--he was a villain. Bathurst, I believe, was not a dishonest man, +more than he was prejudiced by party against one of the honestest and +best of men. Gay was a simple poor soul, intoxicated by the friendship +of men of genius, and who thought _they_ must be good who condescended +to admire _him_. Swift was a wild beast, who baited and worried all +mankind almost, because his intolerable arrogance, vanity, pride, and +ambition were disappointed; he abused Lady Suffolk, who tried and wished +to raise him, only because she had not power to do so: and one is sure +that a man who could deify that silly woman Queen Anne, would have been +more profuse of incense to Queen Caroline, who had sense, if the Court +he paid to her had been crowned with success. Such were the men who +wrote of virtue to one another; and even that mean, exploded miser, Lord +Bath, presumed to talk of virtue too! + + +_POLITICAL EXCITEMENT--LORD G. GORDON--EXTRAORDINARY GAMBLING AFFAIRS IN +INDIA._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Feb._ 6, 1780. + +I write only when I have facts to send. Detached scenes there have been +in different provinces: they will be collected soon into a drama in St. +Stephen's Chapel. One or two and twenty counties, and two or three +towns, have voted petitions.[1] But in Northamptonshire Lord Spencer +was disappointed, and a very moderate petition was ordered. The same +happened at Carlisle. At first, the Court was struck dumb, but have +begun to rally. Counter-protests have been signed in Hertford and +Huntingdon shires, in Surrey and Sussex. Last Wednesday a meeting was +summoned in Westminster Hall: Charles Fox harangued the people finely +and warmly; and not only a petition was voted, but he was proposed for +candidate for that city at the next general election, and was accepted +joyfully. Wilkes was his zealous advocate: how few years since a public +breakfast was given at Holland House to support Lord Luttrell against +Wilkes! Charles Fox and his brother rode thence at the head of their +friends to Brentford. Ovid's "Metamorphoses" contains not stranger +transformations than party can work. + +[Footnote 1: These petitions were chiefly for economical reform, for +which Burke was preparing a Bill.] + +I must introduce a new actor to you, a Lord George +Gordon,--metamorphosed a little, too, for his family were Jacobites and +Roman Catholics: he is the Lilburne of the Scottish Presbyterians, and +an apostle against the Papists. He dresses, that is, wears long lank +hair about his shoulders, like the first Methodists; though I take the +modern ones to be no Anti-Catholics. This mad lord, for so all his +family have been too, and are, has likewise assumed the patronage of +Ireland. Last Thursday he asked an audience of the King, and, the moment +he was admitted into the closet, began reading an Irish pamphlet, and +continued for an hour, till it was so dark he could not see; and then +left the pamphlet, exacting a promise on royal honour that his Majesty +would finish it. Were I on the throne, I would make Dr. Monro a Groom of +my Bedchamber: indeed it has been necessary for some time; for, of the +King's lords, Lord Bolingbroke is in a mad-house, and Lord Pomfret and +my nephew ought to be there. The last, being fond of onions, has lately +distributed bushels of that root to his Militia; Mr. Wyndham will not be +surprised. + +By the tenor of the petitions you would think we were starving; yet +there is a little coin stirring. Within this week there has been a cast +at hazard at the Cocoa tree, the difference of which amounted to a +hundred and four-score thousand pounds. Mr. O'Birne, an Irish gamester, +had won one hundred thousand pounds of a young Mr. Harvey of Chigwell, +just started from a midshipman[1] into an estate by his elder brother's +death. O'Birne said, "You can never pay me." "I can," said the youth; +"my estate will sell for the debt." "No," said O.; "I will win ten +thousand--you shall throw for the odd ninety." They did, and Harvey won. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Harvey was afterwards Sir Eliab Harvey, one of Nelson's +captains at Trafalgar. But unfortunately he so violently resented the +appointment of Lord Cochrane, who was only a post-captain, to carry out +the attack on the French fleet in Basque Roads, which he himself, who +was an admiral, had also suggested, and used such violent and +insubordinate language towards Lord Gambier, the Commander-in-chief +(who, though a most incompetent officer, had had nothing to do with the +appointment), that it was unavoidable that a court-martial should +sentence him to be cashiered. He was, however, restored to his rank +shortly afterwards. He was member of Parliament for Essex for many +years, and died in 1830.] + +However, as it is a little necessary to cast about for resources, it is +just got abroad, that about a year ago we took possession of a trifling +district in India called the Province of Oude,[1] which contains four +millions of inhabitants, produces between three and four millions of +revenue, and has an army of 30,000 men: it was scarce thought of +consequence enough to deserve an article in the newspapers. If you are +so _old-style_ as to ask how we came to take possession, I answer, by +the new law of nations; by the law by which Poland was divided. You will +find it in the future editions of Grotius, tit. "Si une terre est à la +bienséance d'un grand Prince." Oude appertained by that very law to the +late Sujah Dowla. His successors were weak men, which _in India_ is +incapacity. Their Majesties the East India Company, whom God long +preserve, have _succeeded_. + +[Footnote 1: Warren Hastings claimed large arrears of tribute from Asaph +ul Dowlah, the Nabob of Oude; but Walpole was misinformed when he +understood that he had in consequence annexed the province--a measure +which was never adopted till the spring of 1857, when its annexation by +Lord Dalhousie was among the causes that led to the outbreak of the +mutiny.] + +This petty event has ascertained the existence of a certain being, who, +till now, has not been much more than a matter of faith--the Grand Lama. +There are some affairs of trade between the sovereigns of Oude and his +Holiness the Lama. Do not imagine the East India Company have leisure to +trouble their heads about religion. Their commanding officer +corresponded with the Tartar Pope, who, it seems, is a very sensible +man. The Attorney-General asked this officer, who is come over, how the +Lama wrote. "Oh," said he, "like any person."--"Could I see his +letters?" said Mr. Wedderburne.--"Upon my word," said the officer, "when +the business was settled, I threw them into the fire." However, I hear +that somebody, not quite so mercantile, has published one of the Lama's +letters in the "Philosophical Transactions." Well! when we break in +Europe, we may pack up and remove to India, and be emperors again! + +Do you believe me, my good Sir, when I tell you all these strange tales? +Do you think me distracted, or that your country is so? Does not this +letter seem an olio composed of ingredients picked out of the history of +Charles I., of Clodius and Sesostris, and the "Arabian Nights"? Yet I +could have coloured it higher without trespassing on truth; but when I, +inured to the climate of my own country, can scarcely believe what I +hear and see, how should you, who converse only with the ordinary race +of men and women, give credit to what I have ventured to relate, merely +because in forty years I have constantly endeavoured to tell you nothing +but truth? Moreover, I commonly reserve passages that are not of public +notoriety, not having the smallest inclination to put the credulity of +foreign post-offices to the test. I would have them think that we are +only mad with valour, and that Lord Chatham's cloak has been divided +into shreds no bigger than a silver penny amongst our soldiers and +sailors. Adieu! + + +_RODNEY'S VICTORY--WALPOLE INCLINES TO WITHDRAW FROM AMUSEMENTS._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _March_ 3, 1780. + +As my last letter probably alarmed you, I write again to tell you that +nothing decisive has happened. The troops of the Palace even rallied a +little yesterday on Mr. Burke's Bill of Reformation, or Reduction, yet +with evident symptoms of _caution_; for Lord North, who wished to defer +the second reading, ventured to put it only to next Wednesday, instead +of to-day; and would have carried a longer adjournment with still +greater difficulty, for his majority was but of 35, and the minority +remained 195, a very formidable number. The Associations in the counties +increase, though not rapidly: yet it will be difficult for the Court to +stem such a torrent; and, I imagine, full as difficult for any man of +temper to direct them wholesomely. Ireland is still more impetuous. + +Fortunately, happily, the tide abroad seems turned. Sir George Rodney's +victory[1] proves more considerable than it appeared at first. It +secures Gibraltar, eases your Mediterranean a little, and must vex the +Spaniards and their monarch, not satisfied before with his cousin of +Bourbon. Admiral Parker has had great success too amongst the latter's +transports. Oh! that all these elements of mischief may jumble into +peace! Monsieur Necker[2] alone shines in the quarter of France; but he +is carrying the war into the domains of the Church, where one cannot +help wishing him success. If he can root out monks, the Pope will have +less occasion to allow _gras_, because we cannot supply them with +_maigre_. It is droll that the Protestant Necker, and we Protestant +fishmongers, should overset the system of fasting; but ancient Alcorans +could not foresee modern contingencies. + +[Footnote 1: On January 8th Sir George Rodney defeated the Spanish +fleet, which was on its way to join the force blockading Gibraltar, and +took the commander himself, Don Juan de Langara, prisoner.] + +[Footnote 2: Necker's measure, to which Walpole alludes, was the +imposition of a property tax of 5 per cent. on all classes, even on the +clergy.] + +I have told you that politics absorb all private news. I am going to a +ball this evening, which the Duke and Duchess of Bolton give to their +Royal Highnesses of Gloucester, who have now a very numerous Court. It +seems very improper for me to be at a ball; but you see that, on the +contrary, it is propriety that carries me thither. I am heartily weary +both of diversions and politics, and am more than half inclined to +retire to Strawberry. I have renounced dining abroad, and hide myself as +much as I can; but can one pin on one's breast a label to signify, that, +though one is sensible of being Methusalem in constitution, one must +sometimes be seen in a crowd for such and such reasons? I do often +exaggerate my pleas of bad health; and, could I live entirely alone, +would proclaim myself incurable; but, should one repent, one becomes +ridiculous by returning to the world; or one must have a companion, +which I never will have; or one opens a door to legatees, if one +advertises ill-health. Well! I must act with as much common sense as I +can; and, when one takes no part, one must temper one's conduct; and, +when the world is too young for one, not shock it, nor contradict it, +nor affix a peculiar character, but trust to its indifference for not +drawing notice, when one does not desire to be noticed. Rabelais's "Fais +ce que tu voudras" is not very difficult when one wishes to do nothing. +I have always been offended at those who will belong to a world with +which they have nothing to do. I have perceived that every age has not +only a new language and new modes, but a new way of articulating. At +first I thought myself grown deaf when with young people; but perceived +that I understood my contemporaries, though they whispered. Well! I must +go amongst those I do not comprehend so well, but shall leave them when +they go to supper. + + +_THE GORDON RIOTS._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 5, 1780. + +Not a syllable yet from General Clinton. There has been a battle at sea +in the West Indies, which we might have gained; know we did not, but not +why: and all this is forgotten already in a fresher event. I have said +for some time that the field is so extensive, and the occurrences so +numerous, and so much pains are taken to involve them in falsehoods and +mystery, and opinions are so divided, that all evidences will be dead +before a single part can be cleared up; but I have not time, nor you +patience, for my reflections. I must hurry to the history of the day. +The Jack of Leyden of the age, Lord George Gordon,[1] gave notice to the +House of Commons last week, that he would, on Friday, bring in the +petition of the Protestant Association; and he openly declared to his +disciples, that he would not carry it unless _a noble army of martyrs, +not fewer than forty thousand_, would accompany him. Forty thousand, led +by such a lamb, were more likely to prove butchers than victims; and so, +in good truth, they were very near being. Have you faith enough in me to +believe that the sole precaution taken was, that the Cabinet Council on +Thursday empowered the First Lord of the Treasury to give proper orders +to the civil magistrates to keep the peace,--and his Lordship forgot +it! + +[Footnote 1: Lord George Gordon was a younger son of the Duke of Gordon; +and because the Parliament had passed a Bill to relieve the Roman +Catholics from some of the disabilities which seemed no longer desirable +nor just to maintain, he instigated a body calling itself the Protestant +Association to present a monster petition to the House of Commons, and +headed a procession of at least fifty thousand to march with it to the +House. The processionists behaved with great violence on their march, +insulting those members of both Houses whom they thought unfavourable to +their views; and, when the House adjourned without taking their petition +into consideration, they began to commit the most violent outrages. They +burnt Newgate; they burnt the house of the great Chief Justice, Lord +Mansfield; and for two days seemed masters of London, till the King +himself summoned a Privy Council, and issued orders for the troops to +put down the rioters. Many of the rioters were brought to trial and +executed. Lord George, being prosecuted for high treason, to which his +offence did not amount, instead of for sedition, was acquitted, to the +great indignation of the French historian, Lacretelle, that "Cet +extravagant scélérat ne paya point de sa tête un tel crime."] + +Early on Friday morning the conservators of the Church of England +assembled in _St. George's_ Fields to encounter the dragon, the old +serpent, and marched in lines of six and six--about thirteen thousand +only, as they were computed--with a petition as long as the procession, +which the apostle himself presented; but, though he had given out most +Christian injunctions for peaceable behaviour, he did everything in his +power to promote a massacre. He demanded immediate repeal of toleration, +told Lord North he could have him torn to pieces, and, running every +minute to the door or windows, bawled to the populace that Lord North +would give them no redress, and that now this member, now that, was +speaking against them. + +In the mean time, the Peers, going to their own Chamber, and as yet not +concerned in the petition, were assaulted; many of their glasses were +broken, and many of their persons torn out of the carriages. Lord Boston +was thrown down and almost trampled to death; and the two Secretaries of +State, the Master of the Ordnance, and Lord Willoughby were stripped of +their bags or wigs, and the three first came into the House with their +hair all dishevelled. The chariots of Sir George Savile and Charles +Turner, two leading advocates for the late toleration, though in +Opposition, were demolished; and the Duke of Richmond and Burke were +denounced to the mob as proper objects for sacrifice. Lord Mahon +laboured to pacify the tempest, and towards eight and nine, prevailed +on so many to disperse, that the Lords rose and departed in quiet; but +every avenue to the other House was besieged and blockaded, and for four +hours they kept their doors locked, though some of the warmest members +proposed to sally out, sword in hand, and cut their way. Lord North and +that House behaved with great firmness, and would not submit to give any +other satisfaction to the rioters, than to consent to take the Popish +laws into consideration on the following Tuesday; and, calling the +Justices of the Peace, empowered them to call out the whole force of the +country to quell the riot. + +The magistrates soon brought the Horse and Foot Guards, and the pious +ragamuffins soon fled; so little enthusiasm fortunately had inspired +them; at least all their religion consisted in outrage and plunder; for +the Duke of Northumberland, General Grant, Mr. Mackinsy, and others, had +their pockets picked of their watches and snuff-boxes. Happily, not a +single life was lost. + +This tumult, which was over between nine and ten at night, had scarce +ceased before it broke out in two other quarters. Old Haslang's[1] +Chapel was broken open and plundered; and, as he is a Prince of +Smugglers as well as Bavarian Minister, great quantities of run tea and +contraband goods were found in his house. This one cannot lament; and +still less, as the old wretch has for these forty years usurped a hired +house, and, though the proprietor for many years has offered to remit +his arrears of rent, he will neither quit the house nor pay for it. + +[Footnote 1: Count Haslang was the Bavarian Minister.] + +Monsieur Cordon, the Sardinian Minister, suffered still more. The mob +forced his chapel, stole two silver lamps, demolished everything else, +threw the benches into the street, set them on fire, carried the brands +into the chapel, and set fire to that; and, when the engines came, would +not suffer them to play till the Guards arrived, and saved the house and +probably all that part of the town. Poor Madame Cordon was confined by +illness. My cousin, Thomas Walpole, who lives in Lincoln's Inn Fields, +went to her rescue, and dragged her, for she could scarce stand with +terror and weakness, to his own house. + +I doubt this narrative will not re-approach you and Mr. Wyndham. I have +received yours of the 20th of last month. + +You will be indignant that such a mad dog as Lord George should not be +knocked on the head. Colonel Murray did tell him in the House, that, if +any lives were lost, his Lordship should join the number. Nor yet is he +so lunatic as to deserve pity. Besides being very debauched, he has more +knavery than mission. What will be decided on him, I do not know; every +man that heard him can convict him of the worst kind of sedition: but it +is dangerous to constitute a rascal a martyr. I trust we have not much +holy fury left; I am persuaded that there was far more dissoluteness +than enthusiasm in the mob: yet the episode is very disagreeable. I came +from town yesterday to avoid the birthday [June 4]. We have a report +here that the Papists last night burnt a Presbyterian meeting-house, but +I credit nothing now on the first report. It was said to be intended on +Saturday, and the Guards patrolled the streets at night; but it is very +likely that Saint George Gordon spread the insinuation himself. + +My letter cannot set out before to-morrow; therefore I will postpone the +conclusion. In the mean time I must scold you very seriously for the +cameo you have sent me by Mr. Morrice. This house is full of your +presents and of my blushes. I love any one of them as an earnest of your +friendship; but I hate so many. You force upon me an air most contrary +to my disposition. I cannot thank you for your kindness; I entreated you +to send me nothing more. You leave me no alternative but to seem +interested or ungrateful. I can only check your generosity by being +brutal. If I had a grain of power, I would affront you and call your +presents bribes. I never gave you anything but a coffee-pot. If I could +buy a diamond as big as the Caligula, and a less would not be so +valuable, I would send it you. In one word, I will not accept the cameo, +unless you give me a promise under your hand that it shall be the last +present you send me. I cannot stir about this house without your gifts +staring me in the face. Do you think I have no conscience? I am sorry +Mr. Morrice is no better, and wonder at his return. What can invite him +to this country? Home never was so homely. + +_6th._ + +It is not true that a meeting-house has been burnt. I believe a Popish +chapel in the city has been attacked: and they talk here of some +disturbance yesterday, which is probable; for, when grace, robbery, and +mischief make an alliance, they do not like to give over:--but ten miles +from the spot are a thousand from truth. My letter must go to town +before night, or would be too late for the post. If you do not hear from +me again immediately, you will be sure that this _bourrasque_ has +subsided. + +_Thursday 8th._ + +I am exceedingly vexed. I sent this letter to Berkeley Square on +Tuesday, but by the present confusions my servant did not receive it in +time. I came myself yesterday, and found a horrible scene. Lord +Mansfield's house was just burnt down, and at night there were shocking +disorders. London and Southwark were on fire in six places; but the +regular troops quelled the sedition by daybreak, and everything now is +quiet. A camp of ten thousand men is formed in Hyde Park, and regiments +of horse and foot arrive every hour. + +_Friday morn, 9th._ + +All has been quiet to-night. I am going to Strawberry for a little rest. +Your nephew told me last night that he sends you constant journals just +now. + + +_HOGARTH--COLONEL CHARTERIS--ARCHBISHOP BLACKBURNE--JERVAS--RICHARDSON'S +POETRY._ + +TO SIR DAVID DALRYMPLE. + +_Dec._ 11, 1780. + +I should have been shamefully ungrateful, Sir, if I could ever forget +all the favours I have received from you, and had omitted any mark of +respect to you that it was in my power to show. Indeed, what you are so +good as to thank me for was a poor trifle, but it was all I had or shall +have of the kind. It was imperfect too, as some painters of name have +died since it was printed, which was nine years ago. They will be added +with your kind notices, should I live, which is not probable, to see a +new edition wanted. Sixty-three years, and a great deal of illness, are +too speaking mementos not to be attended to; and when the public has +been more indulgent than one had any right to expect, it is not decent +to load it with one's dotage! + +I believe, Sir, that I may have been over-candid to Hogarth, and that +his spirit and youth and talent may have hurried him into more real +caricatures than I specified; yet he certainly restrained his bent that +way pretty early. Charteris,[1] I have seen; but though some years +older than you, Sir, I cannot say I have at all a perfect idea of him; +nor did I ever hear the curious anecdote you tell me of the banker and +my father. I was much better acquainted with Archbishop Blackburne. He +lived within two doors of my father in Downing Street, and took much +notice of me when I was near man.... He was a little hurt at not being +raised to Canterbury on Wake's death [1737], and said to my father, "You +did not think on me; but it is true, I am too old, I am too old." +Perhaps, Sir, these are gossiping stories, but at least they hurt nobody +now. + +[Footnote 1: Colonel Charteris, satirised by Hogarth's introduction of +his portrait in the "Harlot's Progress," was at his death still more +bitterly branded by Swift's friend, Dr. Arbuthnot, in the epitaph he +proposed for him: "Here continueth to rot the body of Francis Charteris, +who, in the course of his long life, displayed every vice except +prodigality and hypocrisy. His insatiable avarice saved him from the +first: his matchless impudence from the second." And he concludes it +with the explanation that his life was not useless, since "it was +intended to show by his example of how small estimation inordinate +wealth is in the sight of Almighty God, since He bestowed it on the most +unworthy of mortals."] + +I can say little, Sir, for my stupidity or forgetfulness about Hogarth's +poetry, which I still am not sure I ever heard, though I knew him so +well; but it is an additional argument for my distrusting myself, if my +memory fails, which is very possible. A whole volume of Richardson's[1] +poetry has been published since my volume was printed, not much to the +honour of his muse, but exceedingly so to that of his piety and amiable +heart. You will be pleased, too, Sir, with a story Lord Chesterfield +told me (too late too) of Jervas,[2] who piqued himself on the reverse, +on total infidelity. One day that he had talked very indecently in that +strain, Dr. Arbuthnot,[3] who was as devout as Richardson, said to him, +"Come, Jervas, this is all an air and affectation; nobody is a sounder +believer than you."--"I!" said Jervas, "I believe nothing."--"Yes, but +you do," replied the Doctor; "nay, you not only believe, but practise: +you are so scrupulous an observer of the commandments, that you never +make the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or on the earth +beneath, or," &c. + +[Footnote 1: Richardson was a London bookseller, the author of the three +longest novels in the English language--"Pamela," "Clarissa Harbour," +and "Sir Charles Grandison." They were extravagantly praised in their +day. But it was to ridicule "Pamela" that Fielding wrote "Joseph +Andrews."] + +[Footnote 2: Jervas was a fashionable portrait-painter in the first half +of the century. Lady Mary Montague, in one of her letters, speaks of him +in terms of the highest praise.] + +[Footnote 3: Dr. Arbuthnot was the author of the celebrated satire on +the Partition Treaties, entitled "The History of John Bull," to which +Englishmen have ever since owed their popular nickname. It is to him +also that Pope dedicated the Prologue to his "Satires and Epistles."] + +I fear, Sir, this letter is too long for thanks, and that I have been +proving what I have said, of my growing superannuated; but, having made +my will in my last volume, you may look on this as a codicil. + +P.S.--I had sealed my letter, Sir, but break it open, lest you should +think soon, that I do not know what I say, or break my resolution +lightly. I shall be able to send you in about two months a very curious +work that I am going to print, and is actually in the press; but there +is not a syllable of my writing in it. It is a discovery just made of +two very ancient manuscripts, copies of which were found in two or three +libraries in Germany, and of which there are more complete manuscripts +at Cambridge. They are of the eleventh century at lowest, and prove +that painting in oil was then known, above three hundred years before +the pretended invention of Van Eyck. The manuscripts themselves will be +printed, with a full introductory Dissertation by the discoverer, Mr. +Raspe, a very learned German, formerly librarian to the Landgrave of +Hesse, and who writes English surprisingly well. The manuscripts are in +the most barbarous monkish Latin, and are much such works as our +booksellers publish of receipts for mixing colours, varnishes, &c. One +of the authors, who calls himself Theophilus, was a monk; the other, +Heraclius, is totally unknown; but the proofs are unquestionable. As my +press is out of order, and that besides it would take up too much time +to print them there, they will be printed here at my expense, and if +there is any surplus, it will be for Raspe's benefit. + + +_THE PRINCE OF WALES--HURRICANE AT BARBADOES--A "VOICE FROM ST. +HELENA."_ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _Dec._ 31, 1780. + +I have received, and thank you much for the curious history of the Count +and Countess of Albany; what a wretched conclusion of a wretched family! +Surely no royal race was ever so drawn to the dregs! The other Countess +[Orford] you mention seems to approach still nearer to dissolution. Her +death a year or two ago might have prevented the sale of the +pictures,--not that I know it would. Who can say what madness in the +hands of villany would or would not have done? Now, I think, her dying +would only put more into the reach of rascals. But I am indifferent what +they do; nor, but thus occasionally, shall I throw away a thought on +that chapter. + +All chance of accommodation with Holland is vanished. Count Welderen and +his wife departed this morning. All they who are to gain by privateers +and captures are delighted with a new field of plunder. Piracy is more +practicable than victory. Not being an admirer of wars, I shall reserve +my _feux de joie_ for peace. + +My letters, I think, are rather eras than journals. Three days ago +commenced another date--the establishment of a family for the Prince of +Wales. I do not know all the names, and fewer of the faces that compose +it; nor intend. I, who kissed the hand of George I., have no colt's +tooth for the Court of George IV. Nothing is so ridiculous as an antique +face in a juvenile drawing-room. I believe that they who have spirits +enough to be absurd in their decrepitude, are happy, for they certainly +are not sensible of their folly; but I, who have never forgotten what I +thought in my youth of such superannuated idiots, dread nothing more +than misplacing myself in my old age. In truth, I feel no such appetite; +and, excepting the young of my own family, about whom I am interested, I +have mighty small satisfaction in the company of _posterity_; for so +the present generation seem to me. I would contribute anything to their +pleasure, but what cannot contribute to it--my own presence. Alas! how +many of this age are swept away before me: six thousand have been mowed +down at once by the late hurricane at Barbadoes alone! How Europe is +paying the debts it owes to America! Were I a poet, I would paint hosts +of Mexicans and Peruvians crowding the shores of Styx, and insulting the +multitudes of the usurpers of their continent that have been sending +themselves thither for these five or six years. The poor Africans, too, +have no call to be merciful to European ghosts. Those miserable slaves +have just now seen whole crews of men-of-war swallowed by the late +hurricane. + +We do not yet know the extent of our loss. You would think it very +slight, if you saw how little impression it makes on a luxurious +capital. An overgrown metropolis has less sensibility than marble; nor +can it be conceived by those not conversant in one. I remember hearing +what diverted me then; a young gentlewoman, a native of our rock, St. +Helena, and who had never stirred beyond it, being struck with the +emotion occasioned there by the arrival of one or two of our China +ships, said to the captain, "There must be a great solitude in London as +often as the China ships come away!" Her imagination could not have +compassed the idea, if she had been told that six years of war, the +absence of an army of fifty or sixty thousand men of all our squadrons, +and a new debt of many, many millions, would not make an alteration in +the receipts at the door of a single theatre in London. I do not boast +of, or applaud, this profligate apathy. When pleasure is our business, +our business is never pleasure; and, if four wars cannot awaken us, we +shall die in a dream! + + +_NAVAL MOVEMENTS--SIEGE OF GIBRALTAR--FEMALE FASHIONS._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _Sept._ 7, 1781. + +The combined fleets, to the amount of forty-seven or forty-nine sail, +brought news of their own arrival at the mouth of the Channel a day or +two before your letter, of August the 18th, brought an account of that +probability, and of the detachment for Minorca. Admiral Darby, on a +false alarm, or perhaps, a true one, had returned to Torbay a week ago, +where he is waiting for reinforcements. This is the fourth or fifth day +since the appearance of the enemy off Scilly. It is thought, I find here +(whither I came to-day), that the great object is our Jamaica fleet; but +that a detachment is gone to Ireland to do what mischief they can on the +coast before our ally, the Equinox, will beseech them to retire. Much +less force than this Armada would have done more harm two years ago, +when they left a card at Plymouth, than this can do; as Plymouth is now +very strong, and that there are great disciplined armies now in both +islands. Of Gibraltar we have no apprehensions.[1] I know less of +Minorca. + +[Footnote 1: The Spaniards and French had been blockading Gibraltar for +more than two years, and continued the siege till the autumn of 1782, +when the blockading fleet was totally destroyed by the Governor, General +Eliot, who was created Lord Heathfield for the achievement.] + +Lord George Gordon is standing candidate for the City of London on an +accidental vacancy; but his premature alarm last year has had a sinister +effect. In short, those riots have made mankind sick of them, and give +him no chance of success. + +What can I say more? Nothing at present; but I will the moment any event +presents itself. My hope is that, after a fermentation, there will be a +settlement, and that peace will arise out of it. + +The decree[1] you sent me against high heads diverted me. It is as +necessary here, but would not have such expeditious effect. The Queen +has never admitted feathers at Court; but, though the nation has grown +excellent courtiers, Fashion remained in opposition, and not a plume +less was worn anywhere else. Some centuries ago, the Clergy preached +against monstrous head-dresses; but Religion had no more power than our +Queen. It is better to leave the Mode to its own vagaries; if she is not +contradicted, she seldom remains long in the same mood. She is very +despotic; but, though her reign is endless, her laws are repealed as +fast as made. + +[Footnote 1: _"The decree."_ The Grand Duke of Tuscany had just issued +an order prohibiting high head-dresses.] + +Mrs. Damer,[1] General Conway's daughter, is going abroad to confirm a +very delicate constitution--I believe, at Naples. I will say very few +words on her, after telling you that, besides being his daughter, I love +her as my own child. It is not from wanting matter, but from having too +much. She has one of the most solid understandings I ever knew, +astonishingly improved, but with so much reserve and modesty, that I +have often told Mr. Conway he does not know the extent of her capacity +and the solidity of her reason. We have by accident discovered, that she +writes Latin like Pliny, and is learning Greek. In Italy she will be a +prodigy. She models like Bernini, has excelled the moderns in the +similitudes of her busts, and has lately begun one in marble. You must +keep all knowledge of these talents and acquisitions to yourself; she +would never forgive my mentioning, at least her mental qualities. You +may just hint that I talked of her statuary, as you may assist her if +she has a mind to borrow anything to copy from the Great Duke's +collection. Lady William Campbell, her uncle's widow, accompanies, who +is a very reasonable woman too, and equally shy. If they return through +Florence, pray give them a parcel of my letters. I had been told your +nephew would make you a visit this autumn, but I have heard nothing from +him. If you should see him, pray give him the parcel, for he will return +sooner than they. + +[Footnote 1: Mrs. Damer had devoted herself to sculpture with an ability +which has given her a high place among artists. The bust of Nelson in +the armoury at Windsor is her work.] + +I have a gouty pain in my hand, that would prevent my saying more, had +I more to say. + + +_CAPITULATION OF LORD CORNWALLIS--PITT AND FOX._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +_Nov._ 29, 1781. + +Your nephew is arrived, as he has told you himself; the sight of him, +for he called on me the next morning, was more than ordinarily welcome, +though your letter of the 10th, which I received the night before, had +dispelled many of my fears. I will now unfold them to you. A packet-boat +from Ostend was lost last week, and your nephew was named for one of the +passengers. As Mrs. Noel had expected him for a fortnight, I own my +apprehensions were strengthened; but I will say no more on a dissipated +panic. However, this incident and his half-wreck at Lerici will, I hope, +prevent him from the future from staying with you so late in the year; +and I see by your letter that you agree with me, of which I should be +sure though you had not said so. + +I mentioned on Tuesday the captivity of Lord Cornwallis and his army, +the Columbus who was to bestow America on us again. A second army[1] +taken in a drag-net is an uncommon event, and happened but once to the +Romans, who sought adventures everywhere. We have not lowered our tone +on this new disgrace, though I think we shall talk no more of insisting +on _implicit submission_, which would rather be a gasconade than +firmness. In fact, there is one very unlucky circumstance already come +out, which must drive every American, to a man, from ever calling +himself our friend. By the tenth article of the capitulation, Lord +Cornwallis demanded that the loyal Americans in his army should not be +punished. This was flatly refused, and he has left them to be hanged. I +doubt no vote of Parliament will be able to blanch such a--such a--I +don't know what the word is for it; he must get his uncle the Archbishop +to christen it; there is no name for it in any Pagan vocabulary. I +suppose it will have a patent for being called Necessity. Well! there +ends another volume of the American war. It looks a little as if the +history of it would be all we should have for it, except forty +millions[2] of debt, and three other wars that have grown out of it, and +that do not seem so near to a conclusion. They say that Monsieur de +Maurepas, who is dying, being told that the Duc de Lauzun had brought +the news of Lord Cornwallis's surrender, said, from Racine's +"Mithridate" I think:-- + + Mes derniers regards out vu fuir les Romains. + +How Lord Chatham will frown when they meet! for, since I began my +letter, the papers say that Maurepas is dead. The Duc de Nivernois, it +is said, is likely to succeed him as Minister; which is probable, as +they were brothers-in-law and friends, and the one would naturally +recommend the other. Perhaps, not for long, as the Queen's influence +gains ground. + +[Footnote 1: The capitulation of Burgoyne at Saratoga has been mentioned +in a previous letter; and in October, 1781, Lord Cornwallis, whose army +was reduced to seven thousand men, was induced to surrender to +Washington, who, with eighteen thousand, had blockaded him at a village +called Yorktown; and it was the news of this disaster which at last +compelled the King to consent to relinquish the war.] + +[Footnote 2: "_Forty millions._" Burke, in one of his speeches, asserted +the expense to have been £70,000,000, "besides one hundred thousand +men."] + +The warmth in the House of Commons is prodigiously rekindled; but Lord +Cornwallis's fate has cost the Administration no ground _there_. The +names of most _éclat_ in the Opposition are two names to which those +walls have been much accustomed at the same period--CHARLES FOX and +WILLIAM PITT, second son of Lord Chatham.[1] Eloquence is the only one +of our brilliant qualities that does not seem to have degenerated +rapidly--but I shall leave debates to your nephew, now an ear-witness: I +could only re-echo newspapers. Is it not another odd coincidence of +events, that while the father Laurens is prisoner to Lord Cornwallis as +Constable of the Tower, the son Laurens signed the capitulation by which +Lord Cornwallis became prisoner? It is said too, I don't know if truly, +that this capitulation and that of Saratoga were signed on the same +anniversary. These are certainly the speculations of an idle man, and +the more trifling when one considers the moment. But alas! what would +_my_ most grave speculations avail? From the hour that fatal egg, the +Stamp Act, was laid, I disliked it and all the vipers hatched from it. I +now hear many curse it, who fed the vermin with poisonous weeds. Yet the +guilty and the innocent rue it equally hitherto! I would not answer for +what is to come! Seven years of miscarriages may sour the sweetest +tempers, and the most sweetened. Oh! where is the Dove with the +olive-branch? Long ago I told you that you and I might not live to see +an end of the American war. It is very near its end indeed now--its +consequences are far from a conclusion. In some respects, they are +commencing a new date, which will reach far beyond _us_. I desire not to +pry into that book of futurity. Could I finish my course in peace--but +one must take the chequered scenes of life as they come. What signifies +whether the elements are serene or turbulent, when a private old man +slips away? What has he and the world's concerns to do with one another? +He may sigh for his country, and babble about it; but he might as well +sit quiet and read or tell old stories; the past is as important to him +as the future. + +[Footnote 1: Charles Fox and William Pitt were the second sons of the +first Lord Holland and the first Lord Chatham, Fox being by some years +the older. They were both men of great eloquence; but in this (as in +every other point) Pitt was the superior, even by the confession of Lord +Macaulay. As Prime Minister from 1783 to 1801, and afterwards in 1804-5, +Pitt proved himself the greatest statesman, the man more in advance of +his age than any of his predecessors or successors; while Fox's career +was for the most part one of an opposition so rancorous, and so +destitute of all patriotism, that he even exulted over the disasters of +Burgoyne and Cornwallis, and afterwards over the defeat of the Austrians +at Marengo in 1800, avowedly because the Austrians were our allies, and +it was a heavy blow to Pitt and his policy.] + +_Dec. 3._ + +I had not sealed my letter, as it cannot set out till to-morrow; and +since I wrote it I have received yours, of the 20th of November, by your +courier. + +I congratulate you on the success of your attempts, and admire the +heroic refusal of the General.[1] I shall certainly obey you, and not +mention it. Indeed, it would not easily be believed here, where as many +pence are irresistible.... + +[Footnote 1: General the Hon. James Murray was governor of Minorca, +which was besieged by the Spaniards, and was offered a vast bribe by the +Duc de Crillon, the commander of the besiegers, to give up Port St. +Philip.] + +Don't trouble yourself about the third set of "Galuzzi." They are to be +had here now, and those for whom I intended them can buy them. I have +not made so much progress as I intended, and have not yet quite finished +the second volume. I detest Cosmo the Great. I am sorry, either that he +was so able a man, or so successful a man. When tyrants are great men +they should miscarry; if they are fools, they will miscarry of course. +Pray, is there any picture of Camilla Martelli, Cosmo's last wife? I had +never heard of her. The dolt, his son, I find used her ill, and then did +the same thing. Our friend, Bianca Capello, it seems, was a worthless +creature. I don't expect much entertainment but from the Life of +Ferdinand the Great. It is true I have dipped into the others, +particularly into the story of Cosmo the Third's wife, of whom I had +read much in French Mémoires; and into that of John Gaston, which was so +fresh when I was at Florence; but as the author, in spite of the Great +Duke's injunctions, has tried to palliate some of the worst imputations +on Cosmo and his son Ferdinand, so he has been mighty modest about the +Caprean amours of John Gaston and his eldest brother. Adieu! I have +been writing a volume here myself. Pray remember to answer me about +Camilla Martelli. + +P.S.--Is there any china left in the Great Duke's collection, made by +Duke Francis the First himself? Perhaps it was lately sold with what was +called the refuse of the wardrobe, whence I hear some charming things +were purchased, particularly the Medallions of the Medici, by Benvenuto +Cellini. That sale and the "History" are enough to make the old +Electress[1] shudder in her coffin. + +[Footnote 1: The Electress Palatine Dowager was sister of John Gaston, +the last Grand Duke of the House of Medici; after her husband's death +she returned to Florence and died there.] + + +_THE LANGUAGE PROPER FOR INSCRIPTIONS IN ENGLAND--FALL OF LORD NORTH'S +MINISTRY--BRYANT._ + +TO THE REV. WILLIAM COLE. + +_April_ 13, 1782. + +Your partiality to me, my good Sir, is much overseen, if you think me +fit to correct your Latin. Alas! I have not skimmed ten pages of Latin +these dozen years. I have dealt in nothing but English, French, and a +little Italian; and do not think, if my life depended on it, I could +write four lines of pure Latin. I have had occasion once or twice to +speak that language, and soon found that all my verbs were Italian with +Roman terminations. I would not on any account draw you into a scrape, +by depending on my skill in what I have half forgotten. But you are in +the metropolis of Latium. If you distrust your own knowledge, which I +do not, especially from the specimen you have sent me, surely you must +have good critics at your elbow to consult. + +In truth, I do not love Roman inscriptions in lieu of our own +language,[1] though, if anywhere, proper in an University; neither can I +approve writing what the Romans themselves would not understand. What +does it avail to give a Latin tail to a Guildhall? Though the words are +used by moderns, would _major_ convey to Cicero the idea of a _mayor_? +_Architectus_, I believe, is the right word; but I doubt whether +_veteris jam perantiquae_ is classic for a dilapidated building--but do +not depend on me; consult some better judges. + +[Footnote 1: Walpole certainly here shows himself superior in judgement +to Johnson, who, when Burke, Reynolds, and others, in a "round-robin," +requested that the epitaph on Goldsmith, which was entrusted to him to +draw up, should be in English instead of Latin, refused, with the absurd +expression that "he would never be guilty of defacing Westminster Abbey +with an English inscription."] + +Though I am glad of the late _revolution_,[1] a word for which I have +great reverence, I shall certainly not dispute with you thereon. I abhor +exultation. If the change produces peace, I shall make a bonfire in my +heart. Personal interest I have none; you and I shall certainly never +profit by the politics to which we are attached. The "Archaeologic +Epistle" I admire exceedingly, though I am sorry it attacks Mr. +Bryant,[2] whom I love and respect. The Dean is so absurd an oaf, that +he deserves to be ridiculed. Is anything more hyperbolic than his +preferences of Rowley to Homer, Shakspeare, and Milton? Whether Rowley +or Chatterton was the author, are the poems in any degree comparable to +those authors? is not a ridiculous author an object of ridicule? I do +not even guess at your meaning in your conclusive paragraph on that +subject: Dictionary-writer I suppose alludes to Johnson; but surely you +do not equal the compiler of a dictionary to a genuine poet? Is a +brickmaker on a level with Mr. Essex? Nor can I hold that exquisite wit +and satire are Billingsgate; if they were, Milles and Johnson would be +able to write an answer to the "Epistle." I do as little guess whom you +mean that got a pension by Toryism: if Johnson too, he got a pension for +having abused pensioners, and yet took one himself, which was +contemptible enough. Still less know I who preferred opposition to +principles, which is not a very common case; whoever it was, as Pope +says, + + The way he took was strangely round about. + +[Footnote 1: In March Lord North resigned, and been replaced by Lord +Rockingham, who had been Prime Minister before in 1765.] + +[Footnote 2: Bryant, the celebrated or notorious critic, who published a +treatise in which he denied the existence of Troy, and even called in +question that of Homer--a work which, whether Walpole agreed with him on +this point or not, afterwards drew down on him the indignant +denunciations of Byron. It was well for him that he wrote before the +discoveries of Dr. Schliemann.] + + +_HIGHWAYMEN AND FOOTPADS._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Sept._ 8, 1782. + +... I am perfectly ignorant of the state of the war abroad; they say we +are in no pain for Gibraltar: but I know that we are in a state of war +at home that is shocking. I mean, from the enormous profusion of +housebreakers, highwaymen, and footpads; and, what is worse, from the +savage barbarities of the two latter, who commit the most wanton +cruelties. This evil is another fruit of the American war. Having no +vent for the convicts that used to be transported to our late colonies, +a plan was adopted for confining them on board of lighters for the term +of their sentences. In those colleges, undergraduates in villainy +commence Masters of Arts, and at the expiration of their studies issue +as mischievous as if they had taken their degrees in law, physic, or +divinity, at one of our regular universities; but, having no profession, +nor testimonial to their characters, they can get no employment, and +therefore live upon the public. In short, the grievance is so crying, +that one dare not stir out after dinner but well-armed. If one goes +abroad to dinner, you would think one was going to the relief of +Gibraltar. You may judge how depraved we are, when the war has not +consumed half the reprobates, nor press-gangs thinned their numbers! But +no wonder--how should the morals of the people be purified, when such +frantic dissipation reigns above them? Contagion does not mount, but +descend. A new theatre is going to be erected merely for people of +fashion, that they may not be confined to vulgar hours--that is, to day +or night. Fashion is always silly, for, before it can spread far, it +must be calculated for silly people; as examples of sense, wit, or +ingenuity could be imitated only by a few. All the discoveries that I +can perceive to have been made by the present age, is to prefer riding +about the streets rather than on the roads or on the turf, and being too +late for everything. Thus, though we have more public diversions than +would suffice for two capitals, nobody goes to them till they are over. +This is literally true. Ranelagh, that is, the music there, finishes at +half an hour after ten at night; but the most fashionable set out for +it, though above a mile out of town, at eleven or later. Well! but is +not this censure being old and cross? were not the charming people of my +youth guilty of equivalent absurdities? Oh yes; but the sensible folks +of my youth had not lost America, nor dipped us in wars with half +Europe, that cost us fifteen millions a year. I believe the Jews went to +Ranelagh at midnight, though Titus was at Knightsbridge. But Titus +demolished their Ranelagh as well as Jerusalem. Adieu! + + +_FOX'S INDIA BILL--BALLOONS._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _Dec._ 2, 1783. + +... Your nephew is in town, but confined by the gout. I called on him, +but did not see him; yet you may be very easy, for he expects to be +abroad in a day or two. I can make you as easy about another point, too; +but, if you have not learnt it from him, do not take notice to him that +you know it. Mrs. Noel has informed me that his daughter's treaty of +marriage is broken off, and in a fortunate way. The peer, father of the +lover, obliged _him_ to declare off; and Mrs. Noel says that your niece +is in good spirits. All this is just what one should have wished. Your +nephew has sent me a good and most curious print from you of the old +Pretender's marriage: I never saw one before. It is a great present to +my collection of English portraits. The Farnesian books I have not yet +received, and have forgotten the name of the gentleman to whom you +entrusted them, and must search among your letters for it; or, tell it +me again. + +The politicians of London, who at present are not the most numerous +corporation, are warm on a Bill for a new regulation of the East Indies, +brought in by Mr. Fox.[1] Some even of his associates apprehended his +being defeated, or meant to defeat him; but his marvellous abilities +have hitherto triumphed conspicuously, and on two divisions in the House +of Commons he had majorities of 109 and 114. On _that_ field he will +certainly be victorious: the forces will be more nearly balanced when +the Lords fight the battle; but, though the Opposition will have more +generals and more able, he is confident that his troops will overmatch +theirs; and, in Parliamentary engagements, a superiority of numbers is +not vanquished by the talents of the commanders, as often happens in +more martial encounters. His competitor, Mr. Pitt, appears by no means +an adequate rival. Just like their fathers, Mr. Pitt has brilliant +language, Mr. Fox solid sense; and such luminous powers of displaying it +clearly, that mere eloquence is but a Bristol stone, when set by the +diamond Reason. + +[Footnote 1: In the session of 1783 Fox, as the leader of the Coalition +Ministry in the House of Commons, brought in a Bill for the reform of +the government of India on the expiration of the existing Charter of the +Company. It was denounced by Pitt as having for its principal object the +perpetuation of the administration by the enormous patronage it would +place at the disposal of the Treasury; and, through the interposition of +the King, whose conduct on this occasion must be confessed to have been +wholly unconstitutional, it was defeated in the House of Lords. The King +on this dismissed the Ministry, and Pitt became Prime Minister.] + +Do not wonder that we do not entirely attend to things of earth: Fashion +has ascended to a higher element. All our views are directed to the air. +_Balloons_ occupy senators, philosophers, ladies, everybody. France gave +us the _ton_; and, as yet, we have not come up to our model. Their +monarch is so struck with the heroism of two of his subjects who +adventured their persons in two of these new _floating batteries_, that +he has ordered statues of them, and contributed a vast sum towards their +marble immortality. All this may be very important: to me it looks +somewhat foolish. Very early in my life I remember this town at gaze on +a man who _flew down_ a rope from the top of St. Martin's steeple; now, +late in my day, people are staring at a voyage to the moon. The former +Icarus broke his neck at a subsequent flight: when a similar accident +happens to modern knights-errant, adieu to air-balloons. + +_Apropos_, I doubt these new kites have put young Astley's nose out of +joint, who went to Paris lately under their Queen's protection,[1] and +expected to be Prime Minister, though he only ventured his neck by +dancing a minuet on three horses at full gallop, and really in that +attitude has as much grace as the Apollo Belvedere. When the arts are +brought to such perfection in Europe, who would go, like Sir Joseph +Banks, in search of islands in the Atlantic, where the natives in six +thousand years have not improved the science of carving fishing-hooks +out of bones or flints! Well! I hope these new mechanic meteors will +prove only playthings for the learned and the idle, and not be converted +into new engines of destruction to the human race, as is so often the +case of refinements or discoveries in science. _The wicked wit of man +always studies to apply the result of talents to enslaving, destroying, +or cheating his fellow-creatures._ Could we reach the moon, we should +think of reducing it to a province of some European kingdom. + +[Footnote 1: In the spring Montgolfier had made the first ascent in a +balloon, which as a novelty created great excitement in Paris. The Queen +gave permission for the balloon to be called by her name; and the next +year, during a visit of Gustavus, King of Sweden, to Versailles, it went +up from the grounds of the Trianon, and made a successful voyage to +Chantilly (the Editor's "Life of Marie Antoinette," c. 19).] + +_5th._ + +P.S.--The Opposition in the House of Commons were so humbled by their +two defeats, that, though Mr. Pitt had declared he would contest every +clause (of the India Bill) in the committee, (where in truth, if the +Bill is so bad as he says, he ought at least to have tried to amend it,) +that he slunk from the contest, and all the blanks were filled up +without obstruction, the opponents promising only to resist it in its +last stage on Monday next; but really, having no hopes but in the House +of Lords, where, however, I do not believe they expect to succeed. Mr. +Pitt's reputation is much sunk; nor, though he is a much more correct +logician than his father, has he the same firmness and perseverance. It +is no wonder that he was dazzled by his own premature fame; yet his late +checks may be of use to him, and teach him to appreciate his strength +better, or to wait till it is confirmed. Had he listed under Mr. Fox, +who loved and courted him, he would not only have discovered modesty, +but have been more likely to succeed him, than by commencing his +competitor. But what have I to do to look into futurity?[1] + +[Footnote 1: Evidently not much: as few prophecies have been more +strikingly and speedily falsified.] + + +_BALLOONS._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Oct._ 15, 1784. + +As I have heard nothing from you, I flatter myself Lady Aylesbury mends, +or I think you would have brought her again to the physicians: you will, +I conclude, next week, as towards the end of it the ten days they named +will be expired. I must be in town myself about Thursday on some little +business of my own. + +As I was writing this, my servants called me away to see a balloon; I +suppose Blanchard's, that was to be let off from Chelsea this morning. I +saw it from the common field before the window of my round tower. It +appeared about a third of the size of the moon, or less, when setting, +something above the tops of the trees on the level horizon. It was then +descending; and, after rising and declining a little, it sunk slowly +behind the trees, I should think about or beyond Sunbury, at five +minutes after one. But you know I am a very inexact guesser at measures +and distances, and may be mistaken in many miles; and you know how +little I have attended to these _airgonauts_: only t'other night I +diverted myself with a sort of meditation on future _airgonation_, +supposing that it will not only be perfected, but will depose +navigation. I did not finish it, because I am not skilled, like the +gentleman that used to write political ship-news, in that style which I +wanted to perfect my essay: but in the prelude I observed how ignorant +the ancients were in supposing Icarus melted the wax of his wings by too +near access to the sun, whereas he would have been frozen to death +before he made the first post on that road. Next, I discovered an +alliance between Bishop Wilkins's[1] art of flying and his plan of +universal language; the latter of which he no doubt calculated to +prevent the want of an interpreter when he should arrive at the moon. + +[Footnote 1: Dr. Wilkins, Bishop of Chester in the reign of Charles II., +was chiefly instrumental in the foundation of the Royal Society. Among +his works was a treatise to prove that "It is probable there may be +another habitable world in the moon, with a discourse concerning the +possibility of a passage thither." Burnet ("Hist. of his Own Times," +Anno 1661) says of him, "He was a great observer and promoter of +experimental philosophy, which was then a new thing. He was naturally +ambitious, but was the wisest clergyman I ever knew." He married +Cromwell's sister, and his daughter was the wife of Archbishop +Tillotson.] + +But I chiefly amused myself with ideas of the change that would be made +in the world by the substitution of balloons to ships. I supposed our +seaports to become _deserted villages_; and Salisbury Plain, Newmarket +Heath, (another canvass for alteration of ideas,) and all downs (but +_the_ Downs) arising into dockyards for aërial vessels. Such a field +would be ample in furnishing new speculations. But to come to my +ship-news:-- + +"The good balloon Daedalus, Captain Wing-ate, will fly in a few days for +China; he will stop at the top of the Monument to take in passengers. + +"Arrived on Brand-sands, the Vulture, Captain Nabob; the Tortoise snow, +from Lapland; the Pet-en-l'air, from Versailles; the Dreadnought, from +Mount Etna, Sir W. Hamilton, commander; the Tympany, Montgolfier; and +the Mine-A-in-a-bandbox, from the Cape of Good Hope. Foundered in a +hurricane, the Bird of Paradise, from Mount Ararat. The Bubble, Sheldon, +took fire, and was burnt to her gallery; and the Phoenix is to be cut +down to a second-rate." + +In those days Old Sarum will again be a town and have houses in it. +There will be fights in the air with wind-guns and bows and arrows; and +there will be prodigious increase of land for tillage, especially in +France, by breaking up all public roads as useless. But enough of my +fooleries; for which I am sorry you must pay double postage. + + +_HIS LETTERS ON LITERATURE--DISADVANTAGE OF MODERN WRITERS--COMPARISON +OF LADY MARY WORTLEY WITH MADAME DE SÉVIGNÉ._ + +TO JOHN PINKERTON, ESQ. + +_June_ 22, 1785. + +Since I received your book,[1] Sir, I scarce ceased from reading till I +had finished it; so admirable I found it, and so full of good sense, +brightly delivered. Nay, I am pleased with myself, too, for having +formed the same opinions with you on several points, in which we do not +agree with the generality of men. On some topics, I confess frankly, I +do not concur with you: considering how many you have touched, it would +be wonderful if we agreed on all, or I should not be sincere if I said I +did. There are others on which I have formed no opinion; for I should +give myself an impertinent air, with no truth, if I pretended to have +any knowledge of many subjects, of which, young as you are, you seem to +have made yourself master. Indeed, I have gone deeply into nothing, and +therefore shall not discuss those heads on which we differ most; as +probably I should not defend my own opinions well. There is but one part +of your work to which I will venture any objection, though you have +considered it much, and I little, very little indeed, with regard to +your proposal, which to me is but two days old: I mean your plan for the +improvement of our language, which I allow has some defects, and which +wants correction in several particulars. The specific amendment which +you propose, and to which I object, is the addition of _a's_ and _o's_ +to our terminations. To change _s_ for _a_ in the plural number of our +substantives and adjectives, would be so violent an alteration, that I +believe neither the power of Power nor the power of Genius would be able +to effect it. In most cases I am convinced that very strong innovations +are more likely to make impression than small and almost imperceptible +differences, as in religion, medicine, politics, &c.; but I do not think +that language can be treated in the same manner, especially in a refined +age. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Pinkerton was a Scotch lawyer, who published a volume +entitled "Letters on Literature" under the name of Heron; which, +however, he afterwards suppressed, as full of ill-considered ideas, +which was not strange, as he was only twenty-five.] + +When a nation first emerges from barbarism, two or three masterly +writers may operate wonders; and the fewer the number of writers, as the +number is small at such a period, the more absolute is their authority. +But when a country has been polishing itself for two or three centuries, +and when, consequently, authors are innumerable, the most super-eminent +genius (or whoever is esteemed so, though without foundation) possesses +very limited empire, and is far from meeting implicit obedience. Every +petty writer will contest very novel institutions: every inch of change +in any language will be disputed; and the language will remain as it +was, longer than the tribunal which should dictate very heterogeneous +alterations. With regard to adding _a_ or _o_ to final consonants, +consider, Sir, should the usage be adopted, what havoc it would make! +All our poetry would be defective in metre, or would become at once as +obsolete as Chaucer; and could we promise ourselves, that, though we +should acquire better harmony and more rhymes, we should have a new +crop of poets, to replace Milton, Dryden, Gray, and, I am sorry you will +not allow me to add, Pope! You might enjoin our prose to be reformed, as +you have done by the "Spectator" in your thirty-fourth Letter; but try +Dryden's "Ode" by your new institution. + +I beg your pardon for these trivial observations: I assure you I could +write a letter ten times as long, if I were to specify all I like in +your work. I more than like most of it; and I am charmed with your +glorious love of liberty, and your other humane and noble sentiments. +Your book I shall with great pleasure send to Mr. Colman[1]: may I tell +him, without naming you, that it is written by the author of the comedy +I offered to him? He must be struck with your very handsome and generous +conduct in printing your encomiums on him, after his rejecting your +piece. It is as great as uncommon, and gives me as good an opinion of +your heart, Sir, as your book does of your great sense. Both assure me +that you will not take ill the liberty I have used in expressing my +doubts on your plan for amending our language, or for any I may use in +dissenting from a few other sentiments in your work; as I shall in what +I think your too low opinion of some of the French writers, of your +preferring Lady Mary Wortley to Madame de Sévigné, and of your esteeming +Mr. Hume a man of deeper and more solid understanding than Mr. Gray. In +the two last articles it is impossible to think more differently than we +do.[2] In Lady Mary's "Letters," which I never could read but once, I +discovered no merit of any sort; yet I have seen others by her +(unpublished) that have a good deal of wit; and for Mr. Hume, give me +leave to say that I think your opinion, "that he might have ruled a +state," ought to be qualified a little; as in the very next page you +say, his "History" is "a mere apology for prerogative," and a very weak +one. If he could have ruled a state, one must presume, at best, that he +would have been an able tyrant; and yet I should suspect that a man, +who, sitting coolly in his chamber, could forge but a weak apology for +the prerogative, would not have exercised it very wisely. I knew +personally and well both Mr. Hume and Mr. Gray, and thought there was no +degree of comparison between their understandings; and, in fact, Mr. +Hume's writings were so superior to his conversation, that I frequently +said he understood nothing till he had written upon it. What you say, +Sir, of the discord in his "History" from his love of prerogative and +hatred of churchmen, flatters me much; as I have taken notice of that +very unnatural discord in a piece I printed some years ago, but did not +publish, and which I will show to you when I have the pleasure of seeing +you here; a satisfaction I shall be glad to taste, whenever you will let +me know you are at leisure after the beginning of next week. I have the +honour to be, Sir, &c. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Colman was manager of the Haymarket Theatre.] + +[Footnote 2: It is difficult to judge what were the published letters of +Lady Mary which Walpole could have seen. If Mr. Pinkerton preferred them +to those of Mme. de Sévigné, he could certainly have adduced plausible +reasons for his preference. There is far greater variety in them, as was +natural from the different lives led by the two fair writers. Mme. de +Sévigné's was almost confined to Paris and the Court; Lady Mary was a +great traveller. Her husband was English ambassador at Constantinople +and other places, and her letters give descriptions of that city, of +Vienna, the Hague, Venice, Rome, Naples, &c., &c. It may be fitly +pointed out here that in a letter to Lord Strafford Walpole expresses an +opinion that letter-writing is a branch of literature in which women are +likely to excel men; "for our sex is too jealous of the reputation of +good sense to hazard a thousand trifles and negligences which give +grace, ease, and familiarity to correspondence."] + + +_CRITICISM ON VARIOUS AUTHORS: GREEK, LATIN, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH--HUMOUR +OF ADDISON, AND OF FIELDING--WALLER--MILTON--BOILEAU'S "LUTRIN"--"THE +RAPE OF THE LOCK"--MADAME DE SÉVIGNÉ._ + +TO JOHN PINKERTON, ESQ. + +_June_ 26, 1785. + +I have sent your book to Mr. Colman, Sir, and must desire you in return +to offer my grateful thanks to Mr. Knight, who has done me an honour, to +which I do not know how I am entitled, by the present of his poetry, +which is very classic, and beautiful, and tender, and of chaste +simplicity. + +To _your_ book, Sir, I am much obliged on many accounts; particularly +for having recalled my mind to subjects of delight, to which it was +grown dulled by age and indolence. In consequence of your reclaiming it, +I asked myself whence you feel so much disregard for certain authors +whose fame is established: you have assigned good reasons for +withholding your approbation from some, on the plea of their being +imitators: it was natural, then, to ask myself again, whence they had +obtained so much celebrity. I think I have discovered a cause, which I +do not remember to have seen noted; and _that_ cause I suspect to have +been, that certain of those authors possessed grace:--do not take me for +a disciple of Lord Chesterfield, nor imagine that I mean to erect grace +into a capital ingredient of writing, but I do believe that it is a +perfume that will serve from putrefaction, and is distinct even from +style, which regards expression. _Grace_, I think, belongs to _manner_. +It is from the charm of grace that I believe some authors, not in your +favour, obtained part of their renown; Virgil, in particular: and yet I +am far from disagreeing with you on his subject in general. There is +such a dearth of invention in the Aeneid (and when he did invent, it was +often so foolishly), so little good sense, so little variety, and so +little power over the passions, that I have frequently said, from +contempt for his matter, and from the charm of his harmony, that I +believe I should like his poem better, if I was to hear it repeated, and +did not understand Latin. On the other hand, he has more than harmony: +whatever he utters is said gracefully, and he ennobles his images, +especially in the Georgics; or, at least, it is more sensible there, +from the humility of the subject. A Roman farmer might not understand +his diction in agriculture; but he made a Roman courtier understand +farming, the farming of that age, and could captivate a lord of +Augustus's bedchamber, and tempt him to listen to themes of rusticity. +On the contrary, Statius and Claudian, though talking of war, would +make a soldier despise them as bullies. That graceful manner of thinking +in Virgil seems to me to be more than style, if I do not refine too +much: and I admire, I confess, Mr. Addison's phrase, that Virgil "tossed +about his dung with an air of majesty." A style may be excellent without +grace: for instance, Dr. Swift's. Eloquence may bestow an immortal +style, and one of more dignity; yet eloquence may want that ease, that +genteel air that flows from or constitutes grace. Addison himself was +master of that grace, even in his pieces of humour, and which do not owe +their merit to style; and from that combined secret he excels all men +that ever lived; but Shakspeare, in humour,[1] by never dropping into an +approach towards burlesque and buffoonery, when even his humour +descended to characters that in other hands would have been vulgarly +low. Is not it clear that Will Wimble was a gentleman, though he always +lived at a distance from good company? Fielding had as much humour, +perhaps, as Addison; but, having no idea of grace, is perpetually +disgusting. His innkeepers and parsons are the grossest of their +profession; and his gentlemen are awkward when they should be at their +ease. + +[Footnote 1: "_Addison's humour._" Undoubtedly there is much +gentlemanlike humour in Addison's Sir Roger de Coverley; but to say that +he "excels all men that ever lived" in that quality is an exaggeration +hardly to be understood in a man who had seen the "Rivals" and the +"Critic." In the present day no one, it may be supposed, would echo it, +after Scott with the Baron, the Antiquary, Dalgetty, &c., and Thackeray +with Mrs. O'Dowd, Major Pendennis, and Colonel Newcome. The epithet +"_Vafer_" applied to Horace by Persius is not inapplicable to Addison. +There is a slyness about some of his sketches which breathes something +of the Horatian facetiousness. It is remarkable that in all this long +and varied criticism Walpole scarcely mentions _wit_, which he seems to +allow to no one but Horace and Boileau. His comparative denial of it to +Aristophanes and Lucian creates a supposition that his Greek was +inferior to his Latin scholarship. It is not always easy to distinguish +humour from wit; of the two, the former seems the higher quality. Wit is +verbal, conversant with language, combining keenness and terseness of +expression with a keen perception of resemblances or differences; humour +has, comparatively speaking, little to do with language, and is of +different kinds, varying with the class of composition in which it is +found. In one of his "Imaginary Conversations" Savage Landor remarks +that "It is no uncommon thing to hear, 'Such an one has humour rather +than wit.' Here the expression can only mean _pleasantry_, for whoever +has humour has wit, although it does not follow that whoever has wit has +humour.... The French have little humour, because they have little +_character_; they excel all nations in wit, because of their levity and +sharpness."] + +The Grecians had grace in everything; in poetry, in oratory, in +statuary, in architecture, and probably, in music and painting. The +Romans, it is true, were their imitators; but, having grace too, +imparted it to their copies, which gave them a merit that almost raises +them to the rank of originals. Horace's "Odes" acquired their fame, no +doubt, from the graces of his manner and purity of his style--the chief +praise of Tibullus and Propertius, who certainly cannot boast of more +meaning than Horace's "Odes." + +Waller, whom you proscribe, Sir, owed his reputation to the graces of +his manner, though he frequently stumbled, and even fell flat; but a few +of his smaller pieces are as graceful as possible: one might say that he +excelled in painting ladies in enamel, but could not succeed in +portraits in oil, large as life. Milton had such superior merit, that I +will only say, that if his angels, his Satan, and his Adam have as much +dignity as the Apollo Belvedere, his Eve has all the delicacy and +graces of the Venus of Medicis; as his description of Eden has the +colouring of Albano. Milton's tenderness imprints ideas as graceful as +Guido's Madonnas: and the "Allegro," "Penseroso," and "Comus" might be +denominated from the three Graces; as the Italians gave similar titles +to two or three of Petrarch's best sonnets. + +Cowley, I think, would have had grace (for his mind was graceful) if he +had had any ear, or if his task had not been vitiated by the pursuit of +wit; which, when it does not offer itself naturally, degenerates into +tinsel or pertness. Pertness is the mistaken affection of grace, as +pedantry produces erroneous dignity; the familiarity of the one, and the +clumsiness of the other, distort or prevent grace. Nature, that +furnishes samples of all qualities, and on the scale of gradation +exhibits all possible shades, affords us types that are more apposite +than words. The eagle is sublime, the lion majestic, the swan graceful, +the monkey pert, the bear ridiculously awkward. I mention these as more +expressive and comprehensive than I could make definitions of my +meaning; but I will apply the swan only, under whose wings I will +shelter an apology for Racine, whose pieces give me an idea of that +bird. The colouring of the swan is pure; his attitudes are graceful; he +never displeases you when sailing on his proper element. His feet may be +ugly, his notes hissing, not musical, his walk not natural; he can soar, +but it is with difficulty;--still, the impression the swan leaves is +that of grace. So does Racine. + +Boileau may be compared to the dog, whose sagacity is remarkable, as +well as its fawning on its master, and its snarling at those it +dislikes. If Boileau was too austere to admit the pliability of grace, +he compensates by good sense and propriety. He is like (for I will drop +animals) an upright magistrate, whom you respect, but whose justice and +severity leave an awe that discourages familiarity. His copies of the +ancients may be too servile: but, if a good translator deserves praise, +Boileau deserves more. He certainly does not fall below his originals; +and, considering at what period he wrote, has greater merit still. By +his imitations he held out to his countrymen models of taste, and +banished totally the bad taste of his predecessors. For his "Lutrin,"[1] +replete with excellent poetry, wit, humour, and satire, he certainly was +not obliged to the ancients. Excepting Horace, how little idea had +either Greeks or Romans of wit and humour! Aristophanes and Lucian, +compared with moderns, were, the one a blackguard, and the other a +buffoon. In my eyes, the "Lutrin," the "Dispensary," and the "Rape of +the Lock," are standards of grace and elegance, not to be paralleled by +antiquity; and eternal reproaches to Voltaire, whose indelicacy in the +"Pucelle" degraded him as much, when compared with the three authors I +have named, as his "Henriade" leaves Virgil, and even Lucan, whom he +more resembles, by far his superiors. + +[Footnote 1: The "Lutrin" is a critical poem in six cantos. Lutrin means +a desk; and Hallam, who does not seem to rate it very highly, regards +the plan of it as borrowed from Tassoni's "Secchia rapita," Secchia +meaning a pitcher.] + +"The Dunciad" is blemished by the offensive images of the games; but the +poetry appears to me admirable; and, though the fourth book has +obscurities, I prefer it to the three others: it has descriptions not +surpassed by any poet that ever existed, and which surely a writer +merely ingenious will never equal. The lines on Italy, on Venice, on +Convents, have all the grace for which I contend as distinct from +poetry, though united with the most beautiful; and the "Rape of the +Lock," besides the originality of great part of the invention, is a +standard of graceful writing. + +In general, I believe that what I call grace, is denominated elegance; +but by grace I mean something higher. I will explain myself by +instances--Apollo is graceful, Mercury is elegant. Petrarch, perhaps, +owed his whole merit to the harmony of his numbers and the graces of his +style. They conceal his poverty of meaning and want of variety. His +complaints, too, may have added an interest, which, had his passion been +successful, and had expressed itself with equal sameness, would have +made the number of his sonnets insupportable. Melancholy in poetry, I am +inclined to think, contributes to grace, when it is not disgraced by +pitiful lamentations, such as Ovid's and Cicero's in their banishments. +We respect melancholy, because it imparts a similar affection, pity. A +gay writer, who should only express satisfaction without variety, would +soon be nauseous. + +Madame de Sévigné shines both in grief and gaiety. There is too much of +sorrow for her daughter's absence; yet it is always expressed by new +terms, by new images, and often by wit, whose tenderness has a +melancholy air. When she forgets her concern, and returns to her natural +disposition--gaiety, every paragraph has novelty: her allusions, her +applications are the happiest possible. She has the art of making you +acquainted with all her acquaintance, and attaches you even to the spots +she inhabited. Her language is correct, though unstudied; and, when her +mind is full of any great event, she interests you with the warmth of a +dramatic writer, not with the chilling impartiality of an historian. +Pray read her accounts of the death of Turenne, and of the arrival of +King James in France, and tell me whether you do not know their persons +as if you had lived at the time. + +For my part, if you will allow me a word of digression (not that I have +written with any method), I hate the cold impartiality recommended to +Historians: "Si vis me flere, dolendum est Primùm ipsi tibi:"[1] but, +that I may not wander again, nor tire, nor contradict you any more, I +will finish now, and shall be glad if you will dine at Strawberry Hill +next Sunday, and take a bed there, when I will tell you how many more +parts of your book have pleased me, than have startled my opinions, or, +perhaps, prejudices. I have the honour to be, Sir, with regard, &c. + +[Footnote 1: A quotation from Horace's "Ars Poetica," 102.] + + +_MINISTERIAL DIFFICULTIES--THE AFFAIR OF THE NECKLACE IN +PARIS--FLUCTUATING UNPOPULARITY OF STATESMEN--FALLACIES OF HISTORY._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Aug._ 26, 1785. + +Though I am delighted to see your handwriting, I beg you will indulge me +no more with it. It fatigues you, and that gives me more pain than your +letters can give me satisfaction. Dictate a few words on your health to +your secretary; it will suffice. I don't care a straw about the King and +Queen of Naples, nor whether they visit your little Great Duke and +Duchess. I am glad when monarchs are playing with one another, instead +of scratching: it is better they should be idle than mischievous. As I +desire you not to write, I cannot be alarmed at a strange hand. + +Your philosophic account of yourself is worthy of you. Still, I am +convinced you are better than you seem to think. A cough is vexatious, +but in old persons is a great preservative. It is one of the forms in +which the gout appears, and exercises and clears the lungs. I know +actually two persons, no chickens, who are always very ill if they have +no annual cough. You may imagine that I have made observations in plenty +on the gout: yes, yes, I know its ways and its jesuitic evasions. I beg +its pardon, it is a better soul than it appears to be; it is we that +misuse it: if it does not appear with all its credentials, we take it +for something else, and attempt to cure it. Being a remedy, and not a +disease, it will not be cured; and it is better to let it have its way. +If it is content to act the personage of a cough, pray humour it: it +will prolong your life, if you do not contradict it and fling it +somewhere else. + +The Administration has received a total defeat in Ireland, which has +probably saved us another civil war.[1] Don't wonder that I am +continually recollecting my father's _Quieta non movere_. I have never +seen that maxim violated with impunity. They say, that in town a change +in the Ministry is expected. I am not of that opinion; but, indeed, +nobody can be more ignorant than I. I see nobody here but people +attached to the Court, and who, however, know no more than I do; and if +I did see any of the other side, they would not be able to give me +better information; nor am I curious. + +[Footnote 1: In the session of 1785 Grattan opposed a body of +"resolutions" calculated to relieve the distress of the Irish +manufacturers, and altogether to emancipate the trade and commerce of +Ireland from many mischievous restrictions which had hitherto restrained +their progress. Lord Stanhope, in his "Life of Pitt," i. 273, quotes a +description of Grattan's speech as "a display of perhaps the most +beautiful eloquence ever heard, but seditious and inflammatory to a +degree hardly credible;" and he so far prevailed, that in the Irish +House of Commons the resolutions were only carried by a majority of +twenty-nine--one so small, that the Duke of Rutland, the +Lord-Lieutenant, felt it safer to withdraw them.] + +A stranger event than a revolution in politics has happened at Paris. +The Cardinal de Rohan is committed to the Bastile for forging the +Queen's hand to obtain a collar of diamonds;[1] I know no more of the +story: but, as he is very gallant, it is guessed (_here_ I mean) that it +was a present for some woman. These circumstances are little Apostolic, +and will not prop the falling Church of Rome. They used to forge +donations and decretals. This is a new manoeuvre. Nor were Cardinals +wont to be treated so cavalierly for peccadilloes. The House of Rohan is +under a cloud: his Eminence's cousin, the Prince of Guemené,[2] was +forced to fly, two or three years ago, for being the Prince of +Swindlers. _Our_ Nabobs are not treated so roughly; yet I doubt they +collect diamonds still more criminally. + +[Footnote 1: "_A collar of diamonds._" The transaction here referred +to--though, strangely enough, it is looked on as one that had a +political interest--was, in fact, a scheme of a broken-down gambler to +swindle a jeweller out of a diamond necklace of great value. The Court +jeweller had collected a large number of unusually fine diamonds, which +he had made into a necklace, in the hope that the Queen would buy it, +and the Cardinal de Rohan, who was a member of one of the noblest +families in France, but a man of a character so notoriously profligate, +that, when he was ambassador at Vienna, Maria Teresa had insisted on his +recall, was mixed up in the fraud in a manner scarcely compatible with +ignorance of its character. He was brought to trial with the more +evident agents in the fraud, and the whole history of the French +Parliaments scarcely records any transaction more disgraceful than his +acquittal. For some months the affair continued to furnish pretext to +obscure libellers to calumniate the Queen with insinuations not less +offensive than dangerous from their vagueness; all such writers finding +a ready paymaster in the infamous Duc d'Orléans.] + +[Footnote 2: The Prince de Guemenée, a very profligate and extravagant +man, by 1782 had become so hopelessly embarrassed that he was compelled +to leave Paris, and consequently the Princess, his wife, who ever since +the birth of Louis XVI. had held the office of "Governess of the Royal +Children," a life-appointment, was forced to resign it, much to the +pleasure of the Queen, who disapproved of her character, and bestowed +the office on Mme. de Polignac, and when, at the beginning of the +Revolution, she also fled from Paris, on Mme. de Tourzel. But, in truth, +under Marie Antoinette the office was almost a sinecure. She considered +superintendence of the education of her children as among the most +important of her duties; and how judiciously she performed it is seen in +an admirable letter of hers to Mme. de Tourzel, which can hardly be +surpassed for its discernment and good-feeling. (See the Editor's "Life +of Marie Antoinette," iii. 55.)] + +Your nephew will be sorry to hear that the Duke of Montrose's third +grandson, Master William Douglas, died yesterday of a fever. These poor +Montroses are most unfortunate persons! They had the comfort this spring +of seeing Lord Graham marry: the Duchess said, "I thought I should die +of grief, and now I am ready to die of joy." Lady Graham soon proved +with child, but soon miscarried; and the Duke and Duchess may not live +to have the consolation of seeing an heir--for we must hope and make +visions to the last! _I_ am asking for samples of Ginori's porcelain at +sixty-eight! Well! are not heirs to great names and families as frail +foundations of happiness? and what signifies what baubles we pursue? +Philosophers make systems, and we simpletons collections: and we are as +wise as they--wiser perhaps, for we know that in a few years our +rarities will be dispersed at an auction; and they flatter themselves +that their reveries will be immortal, which has happened to no system +yet. A curiosity may rise in value; a system is exploded. + +Such reflections are applicable to politics, and make me look on them as +equally nugatory. Last year Mr. Fox was burnt in effigy; now Mr. Pitt +is. Oh! my dear Sir, it is all a farce! On _this day_, about a hundred +years ago (look at my date), was born the wisest man I have seen.[1] He +kept this country in peace for twenty years, and it flourished +accordingly. He injured no man; was benevolent, good-humoured, and did +nothing but the common necessary business of the State. Yet was he +burnt in effigy too; and so traduced, that his name is not purified +yet!--Ask why his memory is not in veneration? You will be told, from +libels and trash, that he was _the Grand Corruptor_.--What! did he +corrupt the nation to make it happy, rich, and peaceable? Who was +oppressed during his administration? Those saints Bolingbroke and +Pulteney were kept out of the Paradise of the Court; ay, and the +Pretender was kept out and was kept quiet. Sir Robert fell: a Rebellion +ensued in four years, and the crown shook on the King's head. The +nation, too, which had been tolerably corrupted before his time, and +which, with all its experience and with its eyes opened, has not cured +itself of being corrupt, is not quite so prosperous as in the day of +that man, who, it seems, poisoned its morals. Formerly it was the most +virtuous nation on the earth! + +[Footnote 1: He means his own father, the Prime Minister from 1720 to +1741.] + +Under Henry VIII. and his children there was no persecution, no +fluctuation of religion: their Ministers shifted their faith four times, +and were sincere honest men! There was no servility, no flattery, no +contempt of the nation abroad, under James I. No tyranny under Charles +I. and Laud; no factions, no civil war! Charles II., however, brought +back all the virtues and morality, which, somehow or other, were +missing! His brother's was a still more blessed reign, though in a +different way! King William was disturbed and distressed by no +contending factions, and did not endeavour to bribe them to let him +pursue his great object of humbling France! The Duke of Marlborough was +not overborne in a similar and more glorious career by a detestable +Cabal!--and if Oxford and Bolingbroke did remove him, from the most +patriot motives, they, good men! used no corruption! Twelve Peerages +showered at once, to convert the House of Lords, were no bribes; nor was +a shilling issued for secret services; nor would a member of either +House have received it! + +Sir R. Walpole came, and strange to tell, found the whole Parliament, +and every Parliament, at least a great majority of every Parliament, +ready to take his money. For what?--to undo their country!--which, +however, wickedly as he meant, and ready as they were to concur, he left +in every respect in the condition he found it, except in being improved +in trade, wealth, and tranquillity; till _its friends_ who expelled him, +had dipped their poor country in a war; which was far from mending its +condition. Sir Robert died, foretelling a rebellion, which happened in +less than six months, and for predicting which he had been ridiculed: +and in detestation of a maxim ascribed to him by his enemies, that +_every man has his price_, the tariff of every Parliament since has been +as well known as the price of beef and mutton; and the universal +electors, who cry out against that traffic, are not a jot less vendible +than their electors.--Was not Sir Robert Walpole an abominable Minister? + +_29th._ + +P.S.--The man who certainly provoked Ireland _to think_, is dead--Lord +Sackville.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Lord George Sackville Germaine, third son of Lionel [first] +Duke of Dorset, who, when secretary to his father, when Lord-Lieutenant +of Ireland, gave rise, by his haughty behaviour, to the factions that +have ever since disturbed that country, and at last shaken off its +submission to this country.--WALPOLE.] + +_30th._ + +I see, by the _Gazette_, that Lord Cowper's pinchbeck principality is +allowed. I wonder his Highness does not desire the Pope to make one of +his sons a bishop _in partibus infidelium_. + + +_BREVITY OF MODERN ADDRESSES--THE OLD DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Oct._ 4, 1785. + +I don't love to transgress my monthly regularity; yet, as you must +prefer facts to words, why should I write when I have nothing to tell +you? The newspapers themselves in a peaceable autumn coin wonders from +Ireland, or live on the accidents of the Equinox. They, the newspapers, +have been in high spirits on the prospect of a campaign in Holland; but +the Dutch, without pity for the gazetteers of Europe, are said to have +submitted to the Emperor's terms: however, the intelligence-merchants +may trust that _he_ will not starve them long! + +Your neighbour, the Queen of Sardinia, it seems, is dead: but, if there +was anything to say about her, you must tell it to me, not I to you; +for, till she died, I scarce knew she had been alive. + +Our Parliament is put off till after Christmas; so, I have no more +resource from domestic politics than from foreign wars. For my own +particular, I desire neither. I live here in tranquillity and idleness, +can content myself with trifles, and think the world is much the happier +when it has nothing to talk of. Most people ask, "Is there any +news?"--How can one want to know one does not know what? when anything +has happened, one hears it. + +There is one subject on which I wish I had occasion to write; I think it +long since I heard how you go on: I flatter myself, as I have no letter +from you or your nephew, prosperously. I should prefer a letter from +him, that you may not have the trouble; and I shall make this the +shorter, as a precedent for his not thinking more than a line necessary. +The post does not insist on a certain quantity; it is content with being +paid for whatever it carries--nay, is a little unreasonable, as it +doubles its price for a cover that contains nothing but a direction: and +now it is the fashion to curtail the direction as much as possible. +Formerly, a direction was an academy of compliments: "To the most noble +and my singularly respected friend," &c., &c.--and then, "Haste! haste, +for your life, haste!" Now, we have banished even the monosyllable _To_! +Henry Conway,[1] Lord Hertford's son, who is very indolent, and has much +humour, introduced that abridgment. Writing to a Mr. Tighe at the +Temple, he directed his letter only thus: "T. Ti., Temple"[2]--and it +was delivered! Dr. Bentley was mightily flattered on receiving a letter +superscribed "To Dr. Bentley in England." Times are altered; postmen are +now satisfied with a hint. One modern retrenchment is a blessing; one is +not obliged to study for an ingenious conclusion, as if writing an +epigram--oh! no; nor to send compliments that never were delivered. I +had a relation who always finished his letters with "his love to all +that was near and dear to us," though he did not care a straw for me or +any of his family. It was said of old Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, +that she never put dots over her _i's_, to save ink: how she would have +enjoyed modern economy in that article! She would have died worth a +thousand farthings more than she did--nay, she would have known exactly +how many; as Sir Robert Brown[3] did, who calculated what he had saved +by never having an orange or lemon on his sideboard. I am surprised +that no economist has retrenched second courses, which always consist of +the dearest articles, though seldom touched, as the hungry at least dine +on the first. Mrs. Leneve,[4] one summer at Houghton, counted thirty-six +turkey-pouts[5] that had been served up without being meddled with. + +[Footnote 1: Second son of Francis Seymour Conway, first Earl of +Hertford.--WALPOLE.] + +[Footnote 2: This address was surpassed towards the end of the reign, by +a letter which arrived in London addressed to "Srumfredafi, England;" +and was correctly interpreted at the Post Office as being designed for +Sir Humphrey Davy.] + +[Footnote 3: A noted miser, who raised a great fortune as a merchant at +Venice, though his whole wealth, when he went thither, consisted in one +of those vast wigs (a second-hand one, given to him) which were worn in +the reign of Queen Anne, and which he sold for five guineas. He returned +to England, very rich, in the reign of George II., with his wife and +three daughters, who would have been great fortunes. The eldest, about +eighteen, fell into a consumption, and, being ordered to ride, her +father drew a map of the by-lanes about London, which he made the +footman carry in his pocket and observe, that she might ride without +paying a turnpike. When the poor girl was past recovery, Sir Robert sent +for an undertaker, to cheapen her funeral, as she was not dead, and +there was a possibility of her living. He went farther; he called his +other daughters, and bade them curtsy to the undertaker, and promise to +be his friends; and so they proved, for both died consumptive in two +years.--WALPOLE.] + +[Footnote 4: A lady who lived with Sir Robert Walpole, to take care of +his youngest daughter, Lady Maria, after her mother's death. After Sir +Robert's death, and Lady Mary's marriage with Mr. Churchill, she lived +with Mr. H. Walpole to her death.--WALPOLE.] + +[Footnote 5: As the sons of rajahs in India are called Rajah Pouts, and +as turkeys came from the East, quaere if they were not called +Turkey-pouts, as an Eastern diminutive?--WALPOLE.] + +_5th._ + +I had written thus far yesterday. This minute I receive your nephew's of +Sept. 20th; it is not such an one by any means as I had wished for. He +tells me you have had a return of your disorder--indeed, he consoles me +with your recovery; but I cannot in a moment shake off the impression of +a sudden alarm, though the cause was ceased, nor can a second agitation +calm a first on such shattered nerves as mine. My fright is over, but I +am not composed. I cannot begin a new letter, and therefore send what I +had written. I will only add, what you may be sure I feel, ardent wishes +for your perfect health, and grateful thanks to your nephew for his +attention--he is rather your son; but indeed he is Gal.'s son, and that +is the same thing. How I love him for his attendance on you! and how +very kind he is in giving me accounts of you! I hope he will continue, +and I ask it still more for your sake than for my own, that you may not +think of writing yourself. If he says but these words, "My uncle has had +no return of his complaint," I shall be satisfied--satisfied!--I shall +be quite happy! Indeed, indeed, I ask no more. + + +_LADY CRAVEN--MADAME PIOZZI--"THE ROLLIAD"--HERSCHEL'S ASTRONOMICAL +DISCOVERY._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _Oct._ 30, 1785. + +I am a contradiction, yet very naturally so; I wish you not to write +yourself, and yet am delighted when I receive a letter in your own hand: +however, I don't desire it should be of four pages, like this last of +the 11th. When I have had the gout, I have always written by proxy. You +will make me ashamed, if you don't use the precedent. Your account of +yourself is quite to my satisfaction. I approve, too, of your not dining +with your company. Since I must be old and have the gout, I have long +turned those disadvantages to my own account, and plead them to the +utmost when they will save me from doing anything I dislike. I am so +lame, or have such a sudden pain, when I do not care to do what is +proposed to me! Nobody can tell how rapidly the gout may be come, or be +gone again; and then it is so pleasant to have had the benefit, and +none of the anguish! + +I did send you a line last week in the cover of a letter to Lady +Craven,[1] which I knew would sufficiently tell your quickness how much +I shall be obliged to you for any attentions to her. I thought her at +Paris, and was surprised to hear of her at Florence. She has, I fear, +been _infinitamente_ indiscreet; but what is that to you or me? She is +very pretty, has parts, and is good-natured to the greatest degree; has +not a grain of malice or mischief (almost always the associates, in +women, of tender hearts), and never has been an enemy but to herself. +For that ridiculous woman Madame Piozzi,[2] and t'other more impertinent +one, of whom I never heard before, they are like the absurd English +dames with whom we used to divert ourselves when I was at Florence. As +to your little knot of poets, I do not hold the cocks higher than the +hens; nor would I advise them to repatriate. We have at present here a +most incomparable set, not exactly known by their names, but who, till +the dead of summer, kept the town in a roar, and, I suppose, will revive +by the meeting of Parliament. They have poured forth a torrent of odes, +epigrams, and part of an imaginary epic poem, called the "Rolliad,"[3] +with a commentary and notes, that is as good as the "Dispensary"[4] and +"Dunciad," with more ease. These poems are all anti-ministerial, and +the authors very young men, and little known or heard of before. I would +send them, but you would want too many keys: and indeed I want some +myself; for, as there are continually allusions to Parliamentary +speeches and events, they are often obscure to me till I get them +explained; and besides, I do not know several of the satirised heroes +even by sight: however, the poetry and wit make amends, for they are +superlative. + +[Footnote 1: Lady Craven, _née_ Berkeley, had given abundant cause for +scandal during her husband's life, which did not abate when, a month +after his death, she married the Margrave of Anspach.] + +[Footnote 2: Mme. Piozzi, the Mrs. Thrale of Boswell's "Life of +Johnson." Mr. Thrale was a brewer, the founder of the great firm now +known as Barclay and Perkins. She was many years younger than he; and, +after his death, she married Signor Piozzi, a professional musician of +eminence. Johnson, who had been an habitual guest of her husband and her +at their villa at Streatham, set the fashion of condemning this second +marriage as a disgraceful _mésalliance_; but it is not very easy to see +in what respect it was so. In social position she had certainly had the +advantage over Mr. Thrale, being the daughter of a Carnarvonshire +baronet of ancient family. But a first-rate musician was surely the +equal of a brewer. After Johnson's death she published a volume of her +reminiscences of him, which may be allowed to have been worthy neither +of him nor of her, and which was ridiculed by Peter Pindar in "A Town +Eclogue," in which the rivals Bozzy and Piozzi, on Virgil's +principle--_Alternis dicetis, amant alterna Camaenae_--relate in turn +anecdotes of Johnson's way of life, his witty sayings, &c., &c. Sir John +Hawkins, as judge of the contest, gives neither a prize; tells the lady, +"Sam's Life, dear ma'am, will only _damn your own_;" calls the gentleman +"a chattering magpie;" and-- + + Then to their pens and paper rush'd the twain, + To kill the mangled RAMBLER o'er again.] + +[Footnote 3: In 1785 the wits of Brooks's, being much disappointed at +the result of the political conflict of 1784, gave some vent to their +spleen in verse. For their subject they selected an imaginary epic, of +which they gave fictitious extracts, and for their hero they took the +Member for Devonshire, John Rolle, invoking him-- + + Illustrious Rolle! oh may thy honoured name + Roll down distinguished on the rolls of fame. + +It is a little odd that they abstained from similar puns on Pitt and +_pit_; but their indignation was chiefly directed at his youth as +ill-suited to his powers-- + + A sight to make surrounding nations stare, + A kingdom trusted to a schoolboy's care. + +The chief contributors were Burke's friend, Dr. Lawrence; Sheridan's +brother-in-law, Tickell; General Fitzpatrick, Mr. G. Ellis, Lord G. +Townshend, and General Burgoyne.] + +[Footnote 4: "The Dispensary" was a poem by a physician named Garth, to +advocate the cause of the physicians in a quarrel between them and the +apothecaries about the price to be charged for medicines. Johnson, in +his "Lives of the Poets," allows it the credit of smooth and free +versification, but denies it that of elegance. "No passage falls below +mediocrity, and few rise above it." It may be doubted whether Byron +himself could have risen high "above it" on subjects so unpoetical as +pills and black-doses.] + +News I have none, wet or dry, to send you: politics are stagnated, and +pleasure is not come to town. You may be sure I am glad that Caesar is +baffled; I neither honour nor esteem him. If he is preferring his nephew +to his brother, it is using the latter as ill as the rest of the world. + +Mrs. Damer is again set out for the Continent to-day, to avoid the +winter, which is already begun severely; we have had snow twice. Till +last year, I never knew snow in October since I can remember; which is +no short time. Mrs. Damer has taken with her her cousin Miss Campbell, +daughter of poor Lady William, whom you knew, and who died last year. +Miss Campbell has always lived with Lady Aylesbury, and is a very great +favourite and a very sensible girl. I believe they will proceed to +Italy, but it is not certain. If they come to Florence, the Grand Duke +should beg Mrs. Damer to give him something of her statuary; and it +would be a greater curiosity than anything in his Chamber of Painters. +She has executed several marvels since you saw her; and has lately +carved two colossal heads for the bridge at Henley, which is the most +beautiful one in the world, next to the Ponte di Trinità , and was +principally designed by her father, General Conway. Lady Spencer +draws--incorrectly indeed, but has great expression. Italy probably will +stimulate her, and improve her attention. You see we blossom in ruin! +Poetry, painting, statuary, architecture, music, linger here, + + on this sea-encircled coast (GRAY), + +as if they knew not whither to retreat farther for shelter, and would +not trust to the despotic patronage of the Attilas, Alarics, Amalasuntas +of the North! They leave such heroic scourges to be decorated by the +Voltaires and D'Alemberts of the Gauls, or wait till by the improvement +of balloons they may be transported to some of those millions of worlds +that Herschel[1] is discovering every day; for this new Columbus has +thrown open the great gates of astronomy, and neither Spanish +inquisitors nor English Nabobs will be able to torture and ransack the +new regions and their inhabitants. Adieu! + +[Footnote 1: Herschel, having constructed the largest telescope that at +that time had ever been seen, in 1781 had given proof of its value by +the discovery of the _Georgium sidus_.] + + +_MRS. YEARSLEY--MADAME PIOZZI--GIBBON--"LE MARIAGE DE FIGARO."_ + +TO MISS HANNAH MORE.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Miss H. More was a remarkable woman. She was the daughter +of the village schoolmaster of Stapleton, near Bristol. But though she +had no higher education than he could give her, she soon began to show a +considerable literary talent. Her first compositions were dramas, one of +which, "Percy," Garrick accepted for the stage, where for a season it +had fair success. But she soon quitted that line for works of morality, +intended to promote the religious improvement of society in her day. The +most celebrated of them was "Coelebs in Search of a Wife." But some of +the tales which she published in "The Cheap Repository," a series of +stories for the common people, had a greater sale. One, "The Shepherd of +Salisbury Plain," was so popular that it is said that a million copies +of it were sold. Her talents led to her acquaintance being cultivated by +such men as Johnson, Reynolds, Burke, and Bishop Porteus; and her +exercise of them was so profitable, that though she gave large sums in +charity, she left a fortune of £30,000.] + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Oct._ 14, 1787. + +My dear Madam,--I am shocked for human nature at the repeated +malevolence of this woman! [Mrs. Yearsley.] The rank soil of riches we +are accustomed to see overrun with seeds and thistles; but who could +expect that the kindest seeds sown on poverty and dire misfortunes +should meet with nothing but a rock at bottom? Catherine de' Medici, +suckled by hopes and transplanted to a throne, seems more excusable. +Thank heaven, Madam, for giving you so excellent a heart; ay, and so +good a head. You are not only benevolence itself, but, with fifty times +the genius of a Yearsley, you are void of vanity. How strange, that +vanity should expel gratitude! Does not the wretched woman owe her fame +to you, as well as her affluence? I can testify your labours for both. +Dame Yearsley reminds me of the Troubadours, those vagrants whom I used +to admire till I knew their history; and who used to pour out trumpery +verses, and flatter or abuse accordingly as they were housed and +clothed, or dismissed to the next parish. Yet you did not set this +person in the stocks, after procuring an annuity for her! I beg your +pardon for renewing so disgusting a subject, and will never mention it +again. You have better amusement; you love good works, a temper superior +to revenge. + +I have again seen our poor friend in Clarges Street [Mrs. Vesey]: her +faculties decay rapidly, and of course she suffers less. She has not an +acquaintance in town; and yet told me the town was very full, and that +she had had a good deal of company. Her health is re-established, and we +must now be content that her mind is not restless. My pity now feels +most for Mrs. Hancock, whose patience is inexhaustible, though not +insensible. + +Mrs. Piozzi, I hear, has two volumes of Dr. Johnson's Letters ready for +publication. Bruce is printing his travels, which I suppose will prove +that his narratives were fabulous, as he will scarce repeat them by the +press. These, and two more volumes of Mr. Gibbon's "History," are all +the literary news I know. France seems sunk indeed in all respects. What +stuff are their theatrical goods, their "Richards," "Ninas," and +"Tarares"! But when their "Figaro"[1] could run threescore nights, how +despicable must their taste be grown! I rejoice that their political +intrigues are not more creditable. I do not dislike the French from the +vulgar antipathy between neighbouring nations, but for their insolent +and unfounded airs of superiority. In arms, we have almost always +outshone them: and till they have excelled Newton, and come near to +Shakspeare, pre-eminence in genius must remain with us. I think they are +most entitled to triumph over the Italians; as, with the most meagre and +inharmonious of all languages, the French have made more of that poverty +in tragedy and eloquence, than the Italians have done with the language +the most capable of both. But I did not mean to send you a dissertation. +I hope it will not be long before you remove to Hampton.--Yet why should +I wish that? You will only be geographically nearer to London till +February. Cannot you, now and then, sleep at the Adelphi on a visit to +poor Vesey and your friends, and let one know if you do? + +[Footnote 1: "Le Mariage de Figaro" was a play by a man who assumed the +name of Beaumarchais (as Poquelin had taken the name of Molière and +Arouet that of Voltaire); and the histories of both the author and the +play are curious. The author's real name was Caron, and he had been bred +a watchmaker. But he was ambitious; he gave up his trade, and bought a +place about the Court, which was among those which conferred gentility, +and which enabled him afterwards on one occasion to boast that he could +establish a better claim to the rank of noble than most of that body, +since he could produce a stamped receipt for it. He married two rich +widows. He next obtained the place of music-master on the harp to the +daughters of Louis XV., and conducted some of their concerts. He became +involved in a law-suit, which he conducted in person against some of the +most renowned advocates of the day, and gained great applause for the +talent he had exhibited in his pleadings. He crossed over to England, +where he made acquaintance with Wilkes and the agents of some of the +North American colonies, and became a volunteer agent for them himself +at the beginning of the American war, expending, according to his own +statement, 150,000 francs in the purchase of arms and stores, which he +sent out, when the President of Congress contented himself with thanking +him for his liberality, but refused to pay his bill. He resolved to try +his skill as a dramatist. His earlier plays were not particularly +successful, but in 1781 he produced "The Marriage of Figaro," a sort of +sequel to one of its predecessors, "The Barber of Seville." During the +progress of its composition he had shown some of the scenes to his +critical friends, who had pronounced it witty, and prophesied its +success. But it had also become known that it contained sarcasms on some +of the exclusive privileges of the nobles, and the officer who had +charge of such matters in consequence refused to license it for +performance, as a dangerous satire on the institutions of the country. +He had by this time made friends enough to form a party to remonstrate +against the hardship of the Censor's decision; till the King determined +to judge for himself, and caused Mme. Campau to read it to himself and +the Queen, when he fully agreed with the Censor, and expressed a +positive determination not to permit its performance. Unluckily he was +never firm in his resolutions; and Beaumarchais having secured the +patronage of Louis's brother, the Comte d'Artois, and Mme. de Polignac, +felt confident of carrying his point at last. His royal and noble +patrons arranged parties for private readings of the play. He then +declared, untruly, that he had altered all the passages which had been +deemed offensive, and Louis was weak enough to believe him without +further examination, and to sanction a private performance of it at the +country house of the Comte de Vandreuel. After this it was impossible to +exclude it from the theatre in Paris; and in April, 1784, it was acted +before an audience whom the long-continued contest had brought in +unprecedented numbers to hear it. If it had not been for the opposition +which had been made to it, it probably would never have attracted any +particular attention; for, though it was lively, and what managers call +a fair "acting play," it had no remarkable merit as a composition, and +depended for its attraction more on some of its surprises and +discoveries than on its wit. But its performance and the reception it +met with were regarded by a large political party as a triumph over the +Ministry; and French historical writers, to whatever party they belong, +agree in declaring that it had given a death-blow to many of the oldest +institutions of the country, and that Beaumarchais proved at once the +herald and the pioneer of the approaching Revolution. (See the Editor's +"Life of Marie Antoinette," c. 19.)] + + +_GENTLEMEN WRITERS--HIS OWN REASONS FOR WRITING WHEN +YOUNG--VOLTAIRE--"EVELINA"--MISS SEWARD--HAYLEY._ + +TO MISS HANNAH MORE. + +Strawberry Hill, _July_ 12, 1788. + +Won't you repent having opened the correspondence, my dear Madam, when +you find my letters come so thick upon you? In this instance, however, I +am only to blame in part, for being too ready to take advice, for the +sole reason for which advice ever is taken,--because it fell in with my +inclination. + +You said in your last that you feared you took up time of mine to the +prejudice of the public; implying, I imagine, that I might employ it in +composing. Waving both your compliment and my own vanity, I will speak +very seriously to you on that subject, and with exact truth. My simple +writings have had better fortune than they had any reason to expect; and +I fairly believe, in a great degree, because gentlemen-writers, who do +not write for interest, are treated with some civility if they do not +write absolute nonsense. I think so, because I have not unfrequently +known much better works than mine much more neglected, if the name, +fortune, and situation of the authors were below mine. I wrote early +from youth, spirits, and vanity; and from both the last when the first +no longer existed. I now shudder when I reflect on my own boldness; and +with mortification, when I compare my own writings with those of any +great authors. This is so true, that I question whether it would be +possible for me to summon up courage to publish anything I have written, +if I could recall time past, and should yet think as I think at present. +So much for what is over and out of my power. As to writing now, I have +totally forsworn the profession, for two solid reasons. One I have +already told you; and it is, that I know my own writings are trifling +and of no depth. The other is, that, light and futile as they were, I am +sensible they are better than I could compose now. I am aware of the +decay of the middling parts I had, and others may be still more sensible +of it. How do I know but I am superannuated? nobody will be so coarse as +to tell me so; but if I published dotage, all the world would tell me +so. And who but runs that risk who is an author after seventy? What +happened to the greatest author of this age, and who certainly retained +a very considerable portion of his abilities for ten years after my +age?[1] Voltaire, at eighty-four, I think, went to Paris to receive the +incense, in person, of his countrymen, and to be witness of their +admiration of a tragedy he had written, at that Methusalem age. Incense +he did receive till it choked him; and, at the exhibition of his play, +he was actually crowned with laurel in the box where he sat. But what +became of his poor play? It died as soon as he did--was buried with him; +and no mortal, I dare to say, has ever read a line of it since, it was +so bad. + +[Footnote 1: Voltaire had for several years been in disgrace at Court, +and had been living in Switzerland; but in 1778 he returned to Paris to +superintend the performance of a new tragedy, "Irene." He was, however, +greatly mortified at the refusal of Marie Antoinette to allow him to be +presented to her, and was but partly comforted by the enthusiasm of the +audience at the theatre, who crowned him on the stage after the +performance. Mme. du Deffand, who, in a letter to Walpole a few days +before, had said that if the tragedy did not succeed it would kill him, +says in a subsequent letter that its success had been very +moderate--that the enthusiasm of the audience had been for Voltaire +himself; and at all events her prophecy was fulfilled, for he died a few +weeks afterwards.] + +As I am neither by a thousandth part so great, nor a quarter so little, +I will herewith send you a fragment that an accidental _rencontre_ set +me upon writing, and which I find so flat, that I would not finish it. +Don't believe that I am either begging praise by the stale artifice of +hoping to be contradicted; or that I think there is any occasion to make +you discover my caducity. No; but the fragment contains a +curiosity--English verses written by a French Prince[1] of the Blood, +and which at first I had a mind to add to my "Royal and Noble Authors;" +but as he was not a royal author of ours, and as I could not please +myself with an account of him, I shall revert to my old resolution of +not exposing my pen's grey hairs. + +[Footnote 1: He was the Duc d'Orléans, who was taken prisoner by Henry +V. at Agincourt, and was detained in England for twenty-five years. The +verses are published in "Walpole's Works," i. 564.] + +Of one passage I must take notice; it is a little indirect sneer at our +crowd of authoresses. My choosing to send this to _you_, is a proof that +I think you an author, that is, a classic. But, in truth, I am +nauseated by the Madams Piozzi, &c., and the host of novel-writers in +petticoats, who think they imitate what is inimitable, "Evelina" and +"Cecilia."[1] Your candour, I know, will not agree with me, when I tell +you I am not at all charmed with Miss Seward[2] and Mr. Hayley[3] piping +to one another: but _you_ I exhort, and would encourage to write; and +flatter myself you will never be royally gagged and promoted to fold +muslins, as has been lately wittily said on Miss Burney, in the List of +five hundred living authors. _Your_ writings promote virtues; and their +increasing editions prove their worth and utility. If you question my +sincerity, can you doubt my admiring you, when you have gratified _my_ +self-love so amply in your "Bas Bleu"? Still, as much as I love your +writings, I respect yet more your heart and your goodness. You are so +good that I believe you would go to heaven, even though there were no +Sunday, and only six _working_ days in the week. Adieu, my best Madam! + +[Footnote 1: "Evelina" and "Cecilia" are novels by Miss Burney, +afterwards Mme. d'Arblay. The former was extravagantly praised by +Johnson and the Literary Club, and is probably a favourable specimen of +the style of the conversation of the day.] + +[Footnote 2: Miss Seward was the authoress of that most ingenious riddle +on the letter _H_, and also of some volumes of poetry.] + +[Footnote 3: Mr. Hayley was the author of several works in prose and +verse; in the latter, of a poem called "The Triumphs of Temper," and +entitled to the name, according to Byron, since "at least they triumphed +over his" ("English Bards and Scotch Reviewers").] + + +_DIVISIONS IN THE ROYAL FAMILY--THE REGENCY--THE IRISH PARLIAMENT._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _Feb._ 12, 1789. + +I now do believe that the King is coming to _him_self: not in the +language of the courtiers, to his senses--but from their proof, viz., +that he is returned to his _what! what! what!_ which he used to prefix +to every sentence, and which is coming to his nonsense. I am +corroborated in this opinion by his having said much more sensible +things in his lunacy than he did when he was reckoned sane, which I do +not believe he has been for some years. + +Well! now, how will this new change of scene operate? I fancy if any one +could win access to him, who would tell him the truth, he would be as +little pleased with his Queen, and his or her Pitt, as they will take +care he shall be with his sons. Would he admire the degradation of his +family in the person of all the Princes? or with the tripartite division +of Royalty between the Queen, the Prince, and Mr. Pitt, which I call a +_Trinity in disunity_? Will he be charmed with the Queen's admission to +power, which he never imparted to her? Will he like the discovery of his +vast private hoard? Will he be quite satisfied with the codicil to his +Will,[1] which she surreptitiously obtained from him in his frenzy _in +the first agony of her grief_? How will he digest that discovery of his +treasure, which will not diffuse great compassion when he shall next ask +a payment of his pretended debts? Before his madness he was indisposed +towards Pitt; will he be better pleased with him for his new dictatorial +presumption? + +[Footnote 1: "_His will._" This refers to a scandal propagated by some +of the opposition newspapers, for which there was not the slightest +foundation.] + +Turn to the next page--to Ireland. They have chosen for themselves, it +is believed, a Regent without restrictions,[1] in scorn of the +Parliament of England, and in order further to assert their +independence. Will they recede? especially when their courtiers have +flown in the face of our domineering Minister? I do not think they will. +They may receive the King again on his recovery; but they have united +interests with the Prince, and act in league with him, that he may +pledge himself to them more deeply in future at least; they will +never again acknowledge any superiority in our Parliament, but rather +act in contradistinction. + +[Footnote 1: "_Regent without restrictions._" The King, in the autumn of +1788, having fallen into a state of temporary derangement, Pitt proposed +that the Parliament should appoint the Prince of Wales Regent, with some +temporary limitations in the exercise of the power. Fox and his +followers contended that the Prince, being of full age, was as +absolutely entitled to the Regency as his right, as he would have been +to the Crown in the event of his father's death; and Grattan, who had a +paramount influence over the Irish Parliament, adopting Fox's view, +carried an address to the Prince, entreating him to take upon himself +the Regency as his right--a view which, of course, was incompatible with +any power of limiting his authority. Fortunately, before this address +could be acted upon, the King recovered. The matter unfortunately caused +great divisions in the Royal Family, to which Walpole alludes in the +latter part of the letter; the Queen considering (not without grounds) +that the Prince had shown unfilial eagerness to grasp at power; and +indeed he had already made it known that he had intended to dismiss Pitt +and to appoint Fox Prime Minister.] + +[Illustration: Hand-written Letter] + +_Feb. 22nd._ + +The person who was to have brought you this was prevented leaving town, +and therefore I did not finish my letter; but I believe I shall have +another opportunity of sending, and therefore I will make it ready. + +Much has happened this last week. The Prince is Regent of Ireland +without limitations--a great point for his character; for Europe will +now see that it was a faction which fettered him here, and not his +unpopularity, for then would not he have been as much distasted in +Ireland? Indeed, their own Attorney-General made way for him by opposing +on the most injudicious of all pleas, that it would be necessary before +he could be Regent there, to set the _Great Seal of England_ to the act! +How could the fool imagine, that when that phantom had been invented +here, it would not be equally easy for the Irish to invent a parallel +phantom of their own? But though this compliment is most grateful to the +Prince at present, he will probably find hereafter that he has in effect +lost Ireland, who meant more to emancipate themselves from this country +than to compliment the Prince or contradict the English ministerial +faction. + +What will be the consequence of that rapid turn in Ireland, even +immediately, who can tell? for the King is called recovered, and the +English Regency is suspended, with fresh and grievous insults to the +Prince, who with the Duke of York are violently hindered by the Queen +from even seeing their father, though she and their sisters play at +cards with him in an evening; and that the Chancellor was with him for +an hour and three quarters on the 19th. + +Under colour of what new phantom her Majesty, the Chancellor,[1] and +Pitt will assume the Government, we shall know in two or three days; for +I do not suppose they will produce the King instantly, at the risk of +oversetting his head again, though they seem half as mad as he, and +capable of any violent act to maintain themselves. And so much the +better: I do not wish them temperate; and it looks as if people never +were so in minorities and incapacities of their kings. The Prince set +out as indiscreetly as Pitt. + +[Footnote 1: The Chancellor was Lord Thurlow, an able but unprincipled +man. Johnson expressed a high opinion of him as an arguer "who brought +his mind to bear upon yours." But Fox declared his very face "proved him +an impostor, since no man could be as wise as he looked."] + +Of the event I am very glad; it saves the Prince and the Opposition from +the rashness of changing the Administration on so precarious and +shackled a tenure, and it saves them too from the expense of +re-elections. If the King recovers, they are but where they were, but +with the advantage of having the Prince and Duke of York rooted in +aversion to the Ministers, and most unlikely to be governed by the +Queen. If the King relapses, the Opposition stock will rise; though in +the mean time I do not doubt but the nation will grow drunk with the +loyalty of rejoicing, for kings grow popular by whatever way they lose +their heads. Still, whatever eccentricity he attempts, it will be +imputed to his deranged understanding. And, however even Lord +Hawkesbury[1] may meditate the darkest mischiefs under the new fund of +pity and loyalty, he will _not_ be for extending the prerogative, which +must devolve (on any accident to the King) on the Prince, Duke of York, +or some of the Princes, who will all be linked in a common cause with +their brothers, who have been so grossly affronted; and Prince William, +the third, particularly so by the last cause of hindering his peerage +while abroad. The King's recovery before the Regency Act was passed will +be another great advantage to the Prince; his hands would have been so +shackled, that he could not have found places for half the expectants, +who will now impute their disappointments to the King's amendment, and +not to the Prince. + +[Footnote 1: Lord Hawkesbury was afterwards promoted to the Earldom of +Liverpool, and was the father of the sagacious, prudent, but resolute +minister under whose administration the French Revolutionary War was +brought to a conclusion by the final overthrow of Napoleon.] + +_Monday, 24th._ + +The King has seen the Prince [of Wales], and received him kindly, but +the Queen was present. Iron Pluto (as Burke called the Chancellor) wept +again when with the King; but what is much more remarkable, his Majesty +has not asked for Pitt, and did abuse him constantly during his frenzy. +The Chancellor certainly did not put him in mind of Pitt, whom he +detests; so there is a pretty portion of hatred to be quaffed amongst +them! and swallowed, if they can; yet _aurum potabile_ will make it sit +on their stomachs. + + +_"THE ARABIAN NIGHTS"--THE AENEID--BOCCALINI--ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE._ + +TO MISS BERRY.[1] + +[Footnote 1: The lady to whom this letter is addressed was the elder of +two sisters who in 1787 came to reside with their father in Walpole's +neighbourhood. Both the sisters, according to his description of them, +were very accomplished and sufficiently good-looking. He gradually +became so enthusiastic in his regard for her, that he proposed to marry +her, old as he was, in order that he might have an excuse for leaving +her all his fortune; and he wrote the "Reminiscences of the Courts of +George I. and II.," which are among his published works, for the +amusement of the two sisters.] + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 30, 1789. + +Were there any such thing as sympathy at the distance of two hundred +miles, you would have been in a mightier panic than I was; for, on +Saturday se'nnight, going to open the glass case in the Tribune, my foot +caught in the carpet, and I fell with my whole weight (_si_ weight _y +a_) against the corner of the marble altar, on my side, and bruised the +muscles so badly, that for two days I could not move without screaming. +I am convinced I should have broken a rib, but that I fell on the cavity +whence two of my ribs were removed, that are gone to Yorkshire. I am +much better both of my bruise and of my lameness, and shall be ready to +dance at my own wedding when my wives return. And now to answer your +letter. + +If you grow tired of the "Arabian Nights," you have no more taste than +Bishop Atterbury,[1] who huffed Pope for sending him them (or the +"Persian Tales"), and fancied he liked Virgil better, who had no more +imagination than Dr. Akenside. Read "Sinbad the Sailor's Voyages," and +you will be sick of Aeneas's. What woful invention were the nasty +poultry that dunged on his dinner, and ships on fire turned into +Nereids! A barn metamorphosed into a cascade in a pantomime is full as +sublime an effort of genius. I do not know whether the "Arabian Nights" +are of Oriental origin or not: I should think not, because I never saw +any other Oriental composition that was not bombast without genius, and +figurative without nature; like an Indian screen, where you see little +men on the foreground, and larger men hunting tigers above in the air, +which they take for perspective. I do not think the Sultaness's +narratives very natural or very probable, but there is a wildness in +them that captivates. However, if you could wade through two octavos of +Dame Piozzi's _though's_ and _so's_ and _I trow's_, and cannot listen to +seven volumes of Scheherezade's narrations, I will sue for a divorce _in +foro Parnassi_, and Boccalini shall be my proctor. The cause will be a +counterpart to the sentence of the Lacedaemonian, who was condemned for +breach of the peace, by saying in three words what he might have said in +two. + +[Footnote 1: Atterbury (Pope's "mitred Rochester") was Bishop of +Rochester in the reigns of Anne and George I. He was so violent in his +Jacobitism, that on the death of Queen Anne he offered to head a +procession to proclaim James III. as king at Charing Cross. Afterwards +Sir R. Walpole had evidence of his maintaining a treasonable +correspondence with the Court of St. Germains, sufficient to have +ensured his conviction, but, being always of a merciful disposition, and +naturally unwilling to bring a Bishop to the block, he contented himself +with passing a Bill of Pains and Penalties to deprive him of his +bishopric and banish him for life.] + +You are not the first Eurydice[1] that has sent her husband to the +devil, as you have kindly proposed to me; but I will not undertake the +jaunt, for if old Nicholas Pluto should enjoin me not to look back to +you, I should certainly forget the prohibition like my predecessor. +Besides, I am a little too close to take a voyage twice which I am so +soon to repeat; and should be laughed at by the good folks on the other +side of the water, if I proposed coming back for a twinkling only. No; I +choose as long as I can + + Still with my fav'rite Berrys to remain. + +So, you was not quite satisfied, though you ought to have been +transported, with King's College Chapel, because it has no aisles, like +every common cathedral. I suppose you would object to a bird of +paradise, because it has no legs, but shoots to heaven in a trail, and +does not rest on earth. Criticism and comparison spoil many tastes. You +should admire all bold and unique essays that resemble nothing else; the +"Botanic Garden,"[2] the "Arabian Nights," and King's Chapel are above +all rules: and how preferable is what no one can imitate, to all that is +imitated even from the best models! Your partiality to the pageantry of +popery I do approve, and I doubt whether the world would not be a loser +(in its visionary enjoyments) by the extinction of that religion, as it +was by the decay of chivalry and the proscription of the heathen +deities. Reason has no invention; and as plain sense will never be the +legislator of human affairs, it is fortunate when taste happens to be +regent. + +[Footnote 1: The story of Eurydice's death and the descent of Orpheus, +her husband, to hell for her recovery, with which Virgil closes the +fourth Georgic, is among the most exquisite passages in all Latin +poetry. Pope made it the subject of his Ode on St. Cecilia's Day; but if +Pluto and Proserpine really relented at the doggerel that the English +poet puts into the mouth of the half-divine minstrel, they cannot +deserve the title of _illacrymabiles_ which Horace gives them. Some of +the pedantic scientists (to borrow a new word) have discovered in this +tale of true love an allegory about the alternations of Day and Night, +Sun and Moon, and what not, for which they deserve the anathema of every +scholar and lover of true poetry.] + +[Footnote 2: "The Botanic Garden," a poem by Dr. Darwin; chiefly +remembered for Mr. Gladstone's favourite "Upas-tree," a plant which has +not, and never had, any existence except in the fancy of some traveller, +who hoaxed the too-scientific poet with the story, which, years +afterwards, hoaxed the orator also.] + + +_DISMISSAL OF NECKER--BARON DE BRETEUIL--THE DUC D'ORLÉANS--MIRABEAU._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Wednesday night, July_ 15, 1789. + +I write a few lines only to confirm the truth of much of what you will +read in the papers from Paris. Worse may already be come, or is expected +every hour. + +Mr. Mackenzie and Lady Betty called on me before dinner, after the post +was gone out; and he showed me a letter from Dutens, who said two +couriers arrived yesterday from the Duke of Dorset and the Duchess of +Devonshire, the latter of whom was leaving Paris directly. Necker had +been dismissed, and was thought to be set out for Geneva.[1] Breteuil, +who was at his country-house, had been sent for to succeed him. Paris +was in an uproar; and, after the couriers had left it, firing of cannon +was heard for four hours together. That must have been from the Bastile, +as probably the _tiers état_ were not so provided. It is shocking to +imagine what may have happened in such a thronged city! One of the +couriers was stopped twice or thrice, as supposed to pass from the King; +but redeemed himself by pretending to be despatched by the _tiers état_. +Madame de Calonne[2] told Dutens, that the newly encamped troops desert +by hundreds. + +[Footnote 1: The Baron de Breteuil had been the Controller of the +Household, and was appointed Necker's successor; but his Ministry did +not last above a fortnight, as the King found himself compelled to +restore Necker.] + +[Footnote 2: Mme. de Calonne's husband had been Prime Minister for some +years, having succeeded Necker in 1780.] + +Here seems the egg to be hatched, and imagination runs away with the +idea. I may fancy I shall hear of the King and Queen leaving Versailles, +like Charles the First, and then skips imagination six-and-forty years +lower, and figures their fugitive Majesties taking refuge in this +country. I have besides another idea. If the Bastile conquers, still is +it impossible, considering the general spirit in the country, and the +numerous fortified places in France, but some may be seized by the +_dissidents_, and whole provinces be torn from the Crown? On the other +hand, if the King prevails, what heavy despotism will the _états_, by +their want of temper and moderation, have drawn on their country! They +might have obtained many capital points, and removed great oppression. +No French monarch will ever summon _états_ again, if this moment has +been thrown away. + +Though I have stocked myself with such a set of visions for the event +either way, I do not pretend to foresee what will happen. Penetration +argues from reasonable probabilities; but chance and folly are apt to +contradict calculation, and hitherto they seem to have full scope for +action. One hears of no genius on either side, nor do symptoms of any +appear. There will perhaps: such times and tempests bring forth, at +least bring out, great men. I do not take the Duke of Orléans[1] or +Mirabeau[2] to be built _du bois dont on les fait_; no, nor Monsieur +Necker. He may be a great traitor, if he made the confusion designedly: +but it is a woful evasion, if the promised financier slips into a black +politician! I adore liberty, but I would bestow it as honestly as I +could; and a civil war, besides being a game of chance, is paying a very +dear price for it. + +[Footnote 1: The Duke of Orléans, the infamous Égalité, fomented the +Revolution in the hope that it might lead to the deposition of the King, +and to his own election to the throne, as in England, a century before, +the Prince of Orange had succeeded James II. He voted for the death of +his cousin and king, and was, in just retribution, sent to the +guillotine by Robespierre at the end of the same year.] + +[Footnote 2: Mirabeau was the most celebrated of all the earlier leaders +of the Revolution. At the time of this letter he had connected himself +closely with the Duc d'Orléans, in whose pay, in fact, he was, as his +profligacy and extravagance had long before dissipated all the property +which had fallen to his share as a younger son. Afterwards, on +discovering the cowardice and baseness of the Duke, he broke with him, +and exerted himself in the cause of the King, whom, indeed, he had +originally desired to support, if his advances had not been, with +incredible folly, rejected by Necker. But he had no time to repair the +mischief he had done, even if it had been in his power, which it +probably would not have been, since he died, after a short illness, in +April, 1791.] + +For us, we are in most danger of a deluge; though I wonder we so +frequently complain of long rains. The saying about St. Swithin is a +proof of how often they recur; for proverbial sentences are the children +of experience, not of prophecy. Good night! In a few days I shall send +you a beautiful little poem from the Strawberry press. + + +_BRUCE'S "TRAVELS"--VIOLENCE OF THE FRENCH JACOBINS--NECKER._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Wednesday night, July_ 1, 1790. + +It is certainly not from having anything to tell you, that I reply so +soon, but as the most agreeable thing I can do in my confinement. The +gout came into my heel the night before last, perhaps from the deluge +and damp. I increased it yesterday by limping about the house with a +party I had to breakfast. To-day I am lying on the settee, unable to +walk alone, or even to put on a slipper. However, as I am much easier +this evening, I trust it will go off. + +I do not love disputes, and shall not argue with you about Bruce; but, +if you like him, you shall not choose an author for me. It is the most +absurd, obscure, and tiresome book I know. I shall admire if you have a +clear conception about most of the persons and matters in his work; but, +in fact, I do not believe you have. Pray, can you distinguish between +his _cock_ and _hen_ Heghes, and between all Yasouses and Ozoros? and do +you firmly believe that an old man and his son were sent for and put to +death, because the King had run into a thorn-bush, and was forced to +leave his clothes behind him! Is it your faith, that one of their +Abyssinian Majesties pleaded not being able to contribute towards +sending for a new Abuna, because he had spent all his money at Venice in +looking-glasses? And do you really think that Peter Paez was a +Jack-of-all-trades, and built palaces and convents without assistance, +and furnished them with his own hands? You, who are a little apt to +contest most assertions, must have strangely let out your credulity! I +could put forty questions to you as wonderful; and, for my part, could +as soon credit ----. + +I am tired of railing at French barbarity and folly. They are more +puerile now serious, than when in the long paroxysm of gay levity. +Legislators, a senate, to neglect laws, in order to annihilate coats of +arms and liveries! to pull down a King, and set up an Emperor! They are +hastening to establish the tribunal of the praetorian guards; for the +sovereignty, it seems, is not to be hereditary. One view of their Fête +of the 14th,[1] I suppose, is to draw money to Paris; and the +consequence will be, that the deputies will return to the provinces +drunk with independence and self-importance, and will commit fifty times +more excesses, massacres, and devastations, than last year. George +Selwyn says, that _Monsieur_, the King's brother, is the only man of +rank from whom they cannot take a title. + +[Footnote 1: The grand federation in the Champ de Mars, on the +anniversary of the taking of the Bastile.] + +How franticly have the French acted, and how rationally the Americans! +But Franklin and Washington were great men. None have appeared yet in +France; and Necker has only returned to make a wretched figure! He is +become as insignificant as his King; his name is never mentioned, but +now and then as disapproving something that is done. Why then does he +stay? Does he wait to strike some great stroke, when everything is +demolished? His glory, which consisted in being Minister though a +Protestant, is vanished by the destruction of Popery; the honour of +which, I suppose, he will scarce assume to himself. I have vented my +budget, and now good night! I feel almost as if I could walk up to bed. + + +_THE PRINCE OF WALES--GROWTH OF LONDON AND OTHER TOWNS._ + +TO THE MISS BERRYS. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _June_ 8, 1791. + +Your No. 34, that was interrupted, and of which the last date was of May +24th, I received on the 6th, and if I could find fault, it would be in +the length; for I do not approve of your writing so much in hot weather, +for, be it known to you ladies, that from the first of the month, June +is not more June at Florence. My hay is crumbling away; and I have +ordered it to be cut, as a sure way of bringing rain. I have a selfish +reason, too, for remonstrating against long letters. I feel the season +advancing, when mine will be piteous short; for what can I tell you from +Twickenham in the next three or four months? Scandal from Richmond and +Hampton Court, or robberies at my own door? The latter, indeed, are +blown already. I went to Strawberry on Saturday, to avoid the Birthday +[4th June] crowd and squibs and crackers. At six I drove to Lord +Strafford's, where his goods are to be sold by auction; his sister, Lady +Anne [Conolly], intending to pull down the house and rebuild it. I +returned a quarter before seven; and in the interim between my Gothic +gate and Ashe's Nursery, a gentleman and gentlewoman, in a one-horse +chair and in the broad face of the sun, had been robbed by a single +highwayman, _sans_ mask. Ashe's mother and sister stood and saw it; but +having no notion of a robbery at such an hour in the high-road, and +before their men had left work, concluded it was an acquaintance of the +robber's. I suppose Lady Cecilia Johnstone will not descend from her +bedchamber to the drawing-room without life-guard men. + +The Duke of Bedford eclipsed the whole birthday by his clothes, +equipage, and servants: six of the latter walked on the side of the +coach to keep off the crowd--or to tempt it; for their liveries were +worth an argosie. The Prince [of Wales] was gorgeous too: the latter is +to give Madame d'Albany[1] a dinner. She has been introduced to Mrs. +Fitzherbert.[2] You know I used to call Mrs. Cosway's concerts Charon's +boat: now, methinks, London is so. I am glad Mrs. C. [osway] is with +you; she is pleasing--but surely it is odd to drop a child and her +husband and country all in a breath! + +[Footnote 1: Mme. d'Albany was the widow of Prince Charles Edward, who +had died in 1788 in Italy. She was presented at Court, and was +graciously received by the Queen. She was generally believed to be +married to the great Italian tragic poet, Alfieri. Since her husband's +death she had been living in Paris, but had now fled to England for +safety.] + +[Footnote 2: Mrs. Fitzherbert, the Roman Catholic lady whom the Prince +of Wales had married.] + +I am glad you are dis_franchised_ of the exiles. We have several, I am +told, here; but I strictly confine myself to those I knew formerly at +Paris, and who all are quartered on Richmond-green. I went to them on +Sunday evening, but found them gone to Lord Fitzwilliam's, the next +house to Madame de Boufflers', to hear his organ; whither I followed +them, and returned with them. The Comtesse Emilie played on her harp; +then we all united at loto. I went home at twelve, unrobbed; and Lord +Fitzwilliam, who asked much after you both, was to set out the next +morning for Dublin, though intending to stay there but four days, and be +back in three weeks. + +I am sorry you did not hear all Monsieur de Lally Tollendal's[1] +Tragedy, of which I have had a good account. I like his tribute to his +father's memory. Of French politics you must be tired; and so am I. +Nothing appears to me to promise their chaos duration; consequently I +expect more chaos, the sediment of which is commonly despotism. Poland +ought to make the French blush; but that, they are not apt to do on any +occasion.... + +[Footnote 1: M. de Lally Tollendal was the son of that unfortunate Count +Lally, so iniquitously condemned for his conduct in the government of +India, as is mentioned in a former note.] + +The Duke of St. Albans has cut down all the brave old trees at Hanworth, +and consequently reduced his park to what it issued +from--Hounslow-heath: nay, he has hired a meadow next to mine, for the +benefit of embarkation; and there lie all the good old corpses of oaks, +ashes, and chestnuts, directly before _your_ windows, and blocking up +one of my views of the river! but so impetuous is the rage for building, +that his Grace's timber will, I trust, not annoy us long. There will +soon be one street from London to Brentford; ay, and from London to +every village ten miles round! Lord Camden has just let ground at +Kentish Town for building fourteen hundred houses--nor do I wonder; +London is, I am certain, much fuller than ever I saw it. I have twice +this spring been going to stop my coach in Piccadilly, to inquire what +was the matter, thinking there was a mob--not at all; it was only +passengers. Nor is there any complaint of depopulation from the country: +Bath shoots out into new crescents, circuses, and squares every year: +Birmingham, Manchester, Hull, and Liverpool would serve any King in +Europe for a capital, and would make the Empress of Russia's mouth +water. Of the war with Catherine Slay-Czar I hear not a breath, and +thence conjecture it is dozing into peace. + +Mr. Dundas[1] has kissed hands for Secretary of State; and Bishop +Barrington, of Salisbury, is transferred to Durham, which he affected +not to desire, having large estates by his wife in the south--but from +the triple mitre downwards, it is almost always true, what I said some +years ago, that "_nolo episcopari_ is Latin for _I lie_." Tell it not in +Gath that I say so; for I am to dine to-morrow at the Bishop of London's +at Fulham, with Hannah _Bonner_, my _imprimée_.[2] This morning I went +with Lysons the Reverend to see Dulwich College, founded in 1619 by +Alleyn, a player, which I had never seen in my many days. We were +received by a smart divine, _très bien poudré_, and with black satin +breeches--but they are giving new wings and red satin breeches to the +good old hostel too, and destroying a gallery with a very rich ceiling; +and nothing will remain of ancient but the front, and an hundred mouldy +portraits, among apostles, sibyls, and Kings of England. On Sunday I +shall settle at Strawberry; and then woe betide you on post-days! I +cannot make news without straw. The Johnstones are going to Bath, for +the healths of both; so Richmond will be my only staple. Adieu, all +three! + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Dundas, President of the Board of Control, subsequently +raised to the peerage as Lord Melville. In Pitt's second administration +he became First Lord of the Admiralty, but in 1805 was impeached by the +House of Commons on a charge of malversation while Treasurer of the Navy +in Pitt's first Ministry. Of that he was acquitted; but it was proved +that some of the subordinate officers of the department had misapplied +large sums of the public money, which they could not have done if he had +not been grossly negligent of his duties as head of the department, and +he was consequently removed from the Privy Council.] + +[Footnote 2: Miss Hannah More is meant; but I do not know what peculiar +cruelty of temper or practice entitled her to the name of Mary's +persecuting and pitiless Bishop.] + + +_SIR W. AND LADY HAMILTON--A BOAT-RACE--THE MARGRAVINE OF ANSPACH._ + +TO THE MISS BERRYS. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _Tuesday, Aug._ 23, 1791. + +I am come to town to meet Mr. Conway and Lady Aylesbury; and, as I have +no letter from you yet to answer, I will tell you how agreeably I have +passed the last three days; though they might have been improved had you +shared them, as I wished, and as I _sometimes_ do wish. On Saturday +evening I was at the Duke of Queensberry's (at Richmond, _s'entend_) +with a small company: and there were Sir William Hamilton and Mrs. +Harte[1]; who, on the 3rd of next month, previous to their departure, is +to be made Madame l'Envoyée à Naples, the Neapolitan Queen having +promised to receive her in that quality. Here she cannot be presented, +where only such over-virtuous wives as the Duchess of Kingston and Mrs. +Hastings[2]--who could go with a husband in each hand--are admitted. Why +the Margravine of Anspach, with the same pretensions, was not, I do not +understand; perhaps she did not attempt it. But I forget to retract, and +make _amende honorable_ to Mrs. Harte. I had only heard of her +attitudes; and those, in dumb show, I have not yet seen. Oh! but she +sings admirably; has a very fine, strong voice; is an excellent buffa, +and an astonishing tragedian. She sung Nina in the highest perfection; +and there her attitudes were a whole theatre of grace and various +expressions. + +[Footnote 1: Mrs. Harte, the celebrated Lady Hamilton, with whom Nelson +was so intimately acquainted, though old Lord St. Vincent always +maintained that it had never been more than a purely Platonic +attachment. Her previous life, however, had been notoriously such as +rendered her inadmissible at our Court, though that of Naples was less +particular.] + +[Footnote 2: Mrs. Hastings, the wife of the great Governor-General, had +previously been married to Baron Imhoff, a German miniature painter; but +she had obtained a divorce from him, and, as the Baron returned to +Germany with an amount of riches that he could hardly have earned by +skill in his profession, the scandalous tongues of some of Hastings's +enemies imputed to him that he had, in fact, bought her of her husband.] + +The next evening I was again at Queensberry House, where the Comtesse +Emilie de Boufflers played on her harp, and the Princesse di +Castelcigala, the Neapolitan minister's wife, danced one of her country +dances, with castanets, very prettily, with her husband. Madame du Barry +was there too, and I had a good deal of frank conversation with her +about Monsieur de Choiseul; having been at Paris at the end of his reign +and the beginning of hers, and of which I knew so much by my intimacy +with the Duchesse de Choiseul. + +On Monday was the boat-race [at Richmond]. I was in the great room at +the Castle, with the Duke of Clarence, Lady Di., Lord Robert Spencer, +and the House of Bouverie, to see the boats start from the bridge to +Thistleworth, and back to a tent erected on Lord Dysart's meadow, just +before Lady Di.'s windows; whither we went to see them arrive, and where +we had breakfast. For the second heat, I sat in my coach on the bridge; +and did not stay for the third. The day had been coined on purpose, with +my favourite south-east wind. The scene, both up the river and down, was +what only Richmond upon earth can exhibit. The crowds on those green +velvet meadows and on the shores, the yachts, barges, pleasure and small +boats, and the windows and gardens lined with spectators, were so +delightful, that when I came home from that vivid show, I thought +Strawberry looked as dull and solitary as a hermitage. At night there +was a ball at the Castle, and illuminations, with the Duke's cypher, &c. +in coloured lamps, as were the houses of his Royal Highness's tradesmen. +I went again in the evening to the French ladies on the Green, where +there was a bonfire; but, you may believe, not to the ball. + +Well! but you, who have had a fever with _fêtes_, had rather hear the +history of the new _soi-disante_ Margravine. She has been in England +with her foolish Prince, and not only notified their marriage to the +Earl [of Berkeley] her brother, who did not receive it propitiously, but +his Highness informed his Lordship by a letter, that they have an usage +in his country of taking a wife with the left hand; that he had espoused +his Lordship's sister in that manner; and intends, as soon as she shall +be a widow, to marry her with his right hand also. The Earl replied, +that he knew she was married to an English peer [Lord Craven], a most +respectable man, and can know nothing of her marrying any other man; and +so they are gone to Lisbon. Adieu! + + +_ARREST OF THE DUCHESSE DE BIRON--THE QUEEN OF FRANCE--PYTHAGORAS._ + +TO THE MISS BERRYS. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Tuesday evening, eight o'clock, Oct._ 15, 1793. + +Though I do not know when it will have its whole lading, I must begin my +letter this very moment, to tell you what I have just heard. I called on +the Princesse d'Hennin, who has been in town a week. I found her quite +alone, and I thought she did not answer quite clearly about her two +knights: the Prince de Poix has taken a lodging in town, and she talks +of letting her house here, if she can. In short, I thought she had a +little of an Ariadne-air--but this was not what I was in such a hurry to +tell you. She showed me several pieces of letters, I think from the +Duchesse de Bouillon: one says, the poor Duchesse de Biron is again +arrested[1] and at the Jacobins, and with her "une jeune étourdie, qui +ne fait que chanter toute la journée;" and who, think you, may that +be?--only our pretty little wicked Duchesse de Fleury! by her singing +and not sobbing, I suppose she was weary of her _Tircis_, and is glad to +be rid of him. This new blow, I fear, will overset Madame de Biron +again. The rage at Paris seems to increase daily or hourly; they either +despair, or are now avowed banditti. I tremble so much for the great and +most suffering victim of all, the Queen,[2] that one cannot feel so much +for many, as several perhaps deserve: but her tortures have been of far +longer duration than any martyrs, and more various; and her courage and +patience equal to her woes! + +[Footnote 1: The Duchess, with scores of other noble ladies, was put to +death in the course of these two horrible years, 1793-94.] + +[Footnote 2: Marie Antoinette was put to death the very next day. And I +cannot more fitly close the allusions to the Revolution so frequent in +the letters of the past four years than by Burke's description of this +pure and noble Queen in her youth: "It is now sixteen or seventeen years +since I saw the Queen of France, then the Dauphiness of Versailles; and +surely never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a +more delightful vision. I saw her, just above the horizon, glittering +like the morning star, full of life and splendour and joy. Oh! what a +revolution! and what a heart must I have to contemplate without emotion +that elevation and that fall! Little did I dream, when she added titles +of veneration to those of enthusiastic, distant, respectful love, that +she should ever be obliged to carry the sharp antidote against disgrace +concealed in that bosom; little did I dream that I should have lived to +see such disasters fallen upon her in a nation of gallant men and +cavaliers. I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their +scabbards to avenge even a look that threatened her with insult" +("Reflections on the French Revolution ").] + +My poor old friend, the Duchesse de la Valière, past ninety and +stone-deaf, has a guard set upon her, but in her own house; her +daughter, the Duchesse de Chatillon, mother of the Duchesse de la +Tremouille, is arrested; and thus the last, with her attachment to the +Queen, must be miserable indeed!--but one would think I feel for nothing +but Duchesses: the crisis has crowded them together into my letter, and +into a prison;--and to be a prisoner among cannibals is pitiable indeed! + +_Thursday morning, 17th, past ten._ + +I this moment receive the very comfortable twin-letter. I am so +conjugal, and so much in earnest upon the article of recovery, that I +cannot think of _a pretty thing_ to say to very pretty Mrs. Stanhope; +nor do I know what would be a pretty thing in these days. I might come +out with some old-fashioned compliment, that would have been very +genteel + + In good Queen Bess's golden day, when I was a dame of honour. + +Let Mrs. Stanhope imagine that I have said all she deserves: I certainly +think it, and will ratify it, when I have learnt the language of the +nineteenth century; but I really am so ancient, that as Pythagoras +imagined he had been Panthoides Euphorbus[1] in the Trojan war, I am +not sure that I did not ride upon a pillion behind a Gentleman-Usher, +when her Majesty Elizabeth went into procession to St. Paul's on the +defeat of the Armada! Adieu! the postman puts an end to my idle +speculations--but, Scarborough for ever! with three huzzas! + +[Footnote 1: "_Euphorbus._" This is an allusion to the doctrine of +metempsychosis taught by the ancient philosopher Pythagoras of Samos, +according to which when a man died his soul remained in the shades below +suffering any punishment which the man had deserved, till after a +certain lapse of time all the taint of the former existence had been +worn away, when the soul returned to earth to animate some other body. +The passage referred to here by Walpole occurs in Ovid's +"Metamorphoses," xvi. 160, where Pythagoras is expounding his theory, +which is also explained to Aeneas by Anchises in the shades below +(Aeneid, vi. 745). But the two poets differ in more points than one. +According to Anchises, one thousand years are required between the two +existences; according to Pythagoras, not above four hundred or five +hundred. According to Anchises, before the soul revives in another body +it must have forgotten all that happened to it in the body of its former +owner. As Dryden translates Virgil-- + + Whole droves of minds are by the driving God + Compell'd to drink the deep Lethaean flood, + In large forgetful draughts to steep the cares + Of their past labours, and their irksome years; + That unremembering of its former pain + The soul may suffer mortal flesh again. + +(Aeneid, vi. 1020). + +Pythagoras, on the other hand, professes a distinct recollection of who +he was and what he suffered in his former life. He remembers that in the +time of the Trojan war (at the outside not five hundred years before his +time) he was a Trojan--Euphorbus, the son of Panthous--and that in the +war he was killed by Menelaus; and his memory is so accurate, that not +long before he had recognised the very shield which he had borne in the +conflict hanging up as a trophy in the temple of Juno at Argos.] + + +_EXPECTATIONS OF A VISIT TO STRAWBERRY BY THE QUEEN._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 2, 1795. + +I will write a word to you, though scarce time to write one, to thank +you for your great kindness about the soldier, who shall get a +substitute if he can. As you are, or have been in town, your daughter +will have told you in what a bustle I am, preparing--not to resist, but +to receive an invasion of royalties to-morrow; and cannot even escape +them like Admiral Cornwallis, though seeming to make a semblance; for I +am to wear a sword, and have appointed two aides-de-camp, my nephews, +George and Horace Churchill. If I _fall_, as ten to one but I do, to be +sure it will be a superb tumble, at the feet of a Queen and eight +daughters of Kings; for, besides the six Princesses, I am to have the +Duchess of York and the Princess of Orange! Woe is me, at seventy-eight, +and with scarce a hand and foot to my back! Adieu! Yours, &c. + +A POOR OLD REMNANT. + + +_REPORT OF THE VISIT._ + +_July_ 7, 1795. + +I am not dead of fatigue with my Royal visitors, as I expected to be, +though I was on my poor lame feet three whole hours. Your daughter [Mrs. +Damer], who kindly assisted me in doing the honours, will tell you the +particulars, and how prosperously I succeeded. The Queen was uncommonly +condescending and gracious, and deigned to drink my health when I +presented her with the last glass, and to thank me for all my +attentions.[1] Indeed my memory _de la vieille cour_ was but once in +default. As I had been assured that her Majesty would be attended by her +Chamberlain, yet was not, I had no glove ready when I received her at +the step of her coach: yet she honoured me with her hand to lead her up +stairs; nor did I recollect my omission when I led her down again. +Still, though gloveless, I did not squeeze the royal hand, as +Vice-chamberlain Smith[2] did to Queen Mary. + +[Footnote 1: There cannot be a more fitting conclusion than this letter +recording the greatest honour conferred on the writer and his Strawberry +by the visit of the Queen of the realm and her condescending proposal of +his health at his own table.] + +[Footnote 2: "_Vice-Chamberlain Smith._" An allusion to a gossiping +story of King William's time, that when Queen Mary came back to England +she asked one of her ladies what a squeeze of the hand was supposed to +intimate; and when the reply was, "Love," "Then," said Her Majesty, "my +Vice-Chancellor must be in love with me; for he always squeezes my +hand."] + +You will have stared, as I did, at the Elector of Hanover deserting his +ally the King of Great Britain, and making peace with the monsters. But +Mr. Fawkener, whom I saw at my sister's [Churchill's] on Sunday, laughs +at the article in the newspapers, and says it is not an unknown practice +for stock-jobbers to hire an emissary at the rate of five hundred +pounds, and dispatch to Franckfort, whence he brings forged attestations +of some marvellous political event, and spreads it on 'Change, which +produces such a fluctuation in the stocks as amply overpays the expense +of his mission. + +This was all I learnt in the single night I was in town. I have not read +the new French constitution, which seems longer than probably its reign +will be. The five sovereigns will, I suppose, be the first guillotined. +Adieu! Yours ever. + + + +UNWIN BROTHERS, THE GRESHAM PRESS, CHILWORTH AND LONDON. + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Letters of Horace Walpole, by Horace Walpole + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12074 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bb9cff0 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #12074 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12074) diff --git a/old/12074-8.txt b/old/12074-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..11dc89c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12074-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9703 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Letters of Horace Walpole, by Horace Walpole + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Letters of Horace Walpole + Volume II + +Author: Horace Walpole + +Release Date: April 18, 2004 [EBook #12074] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS OF HORACE WALPOLE *** + + + + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Linda Cantoni, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +LETTERS + +OF + +HORACE WALPOLE + + +SELECTED AND EDITED BY + +CHARLES DUKE YONGE, M.A. + +AUTHOR OF "THE HISTORY OF FRANCE UNDER THE BOURBONS," "A LIFE OF MARIE +ANTOINETTE," ETC., ETC. + + +WITH PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS + + +VOLUME II + + +London + +T. FISHER UNWIN + +PATERNOSTER SQUARE + +NEW YORK: G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS + +MDCCCXC + + + + +CONTENTS. + +1764-1795. + + +81. TO MANN, _Dec._ 20, 1764.--Madame de Boufflers at Strawberry--The +French Opinion of the English Character--Richardson's Novels--Madame de +Beaumont + +82. TO THE EARL OF HERTFORD, _Feb._ 12, 1765.--Debate on American +Taxes--Petition of the Periwig-Makers--Female Head-dresses--Lord Byron's +Duel--Opening of Almack's--No. 45 + +83. TO COLE, _March_ 9, 1765.--His "Castle of Otranto"--Bishop Percy's +Collection of Old Ballads + +84. TO THE EARL OF HERTFORD, _March_ 26, 1765.--Illness of the +King--French and English Actors and Actresses: Clairon, Garrick, Quin, +Mrs. Clive + +85. TO MANN, _May_ 25, 1765.--Riots of Weavers--Ministerial +Changes--Factious Conduct of Mr. Pitt + +86. TO MONTAGU, _July_ 28, 1765.--Prospects of Old Age when joined to +Gout + +87. TO LADY HERVEY, _Sept._ 14, 1765.--Has reached Paris--The French +Opera--Illness of the Dauphin--Popularity of Mr. Hume + +88. TO MONTAGU, _Sept._ 22, 1765.--Is Making New Friends in Paris--Decay +of the French Stage--Le Kain--Dumenil--New French inclination for +Philosophy and Free-Thinking--General Admiration of Hume's History and +Richardson's Novels + +89. TO CHUTE, _Oct._ 3, 1765.--His Presentation at Court--Illness of the +Dauphin--Description of his Three Sons + +90. TO CONWAY, _Jan._ 12, 1766.--Supper Parties at Paris--Walpole Writes +a Letter from Le Roi de Prusse à Monsieur Rousseau + +91. TO GRAY, _Jan._ 25, 1766.--A Constant Round of Amusements--A Gallery +of Female Portraits--Madame Geoffrin--Madame du Deffand--Madame de +Mirepoix--Madame de Boufflers--Madame de Rochfort--The Maréchale de +Luxemburg--The Duchesse de Choiseul--An old French Dandy--M. de +Maurepas--Popularity of his Letter to Rousseau + +92. TO MANN, _Feb._ 29, 1766.--Situation of Affairs in England--Cardinal +York--Death of Stanilaus Leczinski, Ex-King of Poland + +93. TO CONWAY, _April_ 8, 1766.--Singular Riot in Madrid--Changes in the +French Ministry--Insurrections in the Provinces + +94. TO MONTAGU, _June 20_, 1766.--The Bath Guide--Swift's Correspondence + +95. TO CHUTE, _Oct._ 10, 1766.--Bath--Wesley + +96. TO MANN, _July_ 20, 1767.--Ministerial Difficulties--Return of Lord +Clive + +97. TO THE SAME, _Sept._ 27, 1767.--Death of Charles Townshend and of +the Duke of York--Whist the New Fashion in France + +98. TO GRAY, _Feb._ 18, 1768.--Some New Poems of Gray--Walpole's +"Historic Doubts"--Boswell's "Corsica" + +99. TO MANN, _March_ 31, 1768.--Wilkes is returned M.P. for +Middlesex--Riots in London--Violence of the Mob + +100. TO MONTAGU, _April_ 15, 1768.--Fleeting Fame of Witticisms--"The +Mysterious Mother" + +101. TO MANN, _June_ 9, 1768.--Case of Wilkes + +102. TO MONTAGU, _June_ 15, 1768.--The English Climate + +103. TO VOLTAIRE, _July_ 27, 1768.--Voltaire's Criticisms on +Shakespeare--Parnell's "Hermit" + +104. TO THE EARL OF STRAFFORD, _Aug._ 16, 1768.--Arrival of the King of +Denmark--His Popularity with the Mob + +105. TO MANN, _Jan._ 31, 1769.--Wilkes's Election--The Comtesse de +Barri--The Duc de Choiseul's Indiscretion + +106. TO MONTAGU, _May_ 11, 1769.--A Garden Party at Strawberry--A +Ridotto at Vauxhall + +107. TO MANN, _June_ 14, 1769.--Paoli--Ambassadorial Etiquette + +108. TO CHUTE, _Aug._ 30, 1765.--His Return to Paris--Madame Deffand--A +Translation of "Hamlet"--Madame Dumenil--Voltaire's "Mérope" and "Les +Guèbres" + +109. TO MONTAGU, _Sept._ 17, 1769.--The French Court--The Young +Princes--St. Cyr--Madame de Mailly + +110. TO MANN, _Feb._ 27, 1770.--A Masquerade--State of Russia + +111. TO THE SAME, _May_ 6, 1770.--Wilkes--Burke's Pamphlet--Prediction +of American Republics--Extravagance in England + +112. TO MONTAGU, _May_ 6, 1770.--Masquerades in Fashion--A Lady's Club + +113. TO MANN, _June_ 15, 1770,--The Princess of Wales is gone to +Germany--Terrible Accident in Paris + +114. TO THE SAME, _Dec._ 29, 1770.--Fall of the Duc de Choiseul's +Ministry + +115. TO THE SAME, _Feb._ 22, 1771.--Peace with Spain--Banishment of the +French Parliament--Mrs. Cornelys's Establishment--The Queen of Denmark +116. TO THE SAME, _April_ 26, 1771.--Quarrel of the House of Commons +with the City--Dissensions in the French Court and Royal +Family--Extravagance in England + +117. TO CONWAY, _July_ 30, 1771.--Great Distress at the French Court + +118. TO CHUTE, _August_ 5, 1771.--English Gardening in +France--Anglomanie--He is weary of Paris--Death of Gray + +119. TO COLE, _Jan._ 28, 1772.--Scantiness of the Relics of +Gray--Garrick's Prologues, &c.--Wilkes's Squint + +120. TO MANN, _April_ 9, 1772.--Marriage of the Pretender--The Princess +Louise, and her Protection of the Clergy--Fox's Eloquence + +121. TO COLE, _Jan._ 8, 1773.--An Answer to his "Historic Doubts"--His +Edition of Grammont + +122. TO MANN, _July_10, 1774.--Popularity of Louis XVI.--Death of Lord +Holland--Bruce's "Travels" + +123. TO THE SAME, _Oct._ 6, 1774.--Discontent in America--Mr. +Grenville's Act for the Trial of Election Petitions--Highway Robberies + +124. TO THE SAME, _Oct._ 22, 1774.--The Pope's Death--Wilkes is returned +for Middlesex--A Quaker at Versailles + +125. TO THE COUNTESS OF AILESBURY, _Nov._ 7, 1774.--Burke's Election at +Bristol--Resemblance of one House of Commons to Another--Comfort of Old +Age + +126. TO MANN, _Nov._ 24, 1774.--Death of Lord Clive--Restoration of the +French Parliament--Prediction of Great Men to arise in America--The +King's Speech + +127. TO CONWAY AND LADY AYLESBURY, _Jan._ 15, 1775.--Riots at Boston--A +Literary Coterie at Bath-Easton + +128. TO GEM, _April_ 4, 1776.--Opposition of the French Parliaments to +Turgot's Measures + +129. TO CONWAY, _June_ 20, 1776.--His Decorations at "Strawberry"--His +Estimate of himself, and his Admiration of Conway + +130. TO MANN, _Dec._ 1, 1776.--Anglomanie in Paris--Horse-Racing + +131. TO COLE, _June_ 19, 1777.--Ossian--Chatterton + +132. TO MANN, _Oct._ 26, 1777.--Affairs in America--The Czarina and the +Emperor of China + +133. TO THE SAME, _May_ 31, 1778.--Death of Lord Chatham--Thurlow +becomes Lord Chancellor + +134. TO COLE, _June_ 3, 1778.--Exultation of France at our Disasters in +America--Franklin--Necker--Chatterton + +135. TO MANN, _July_ 7, 1778.--Admiral Keppel's Success--Threats of +Invasion--Funeral of Lord Chatham + +136. TO CONWAY, _July_ 8, 1778.--Suggestion of Negotiations with +France--Partition of Poland + +137. TO MANN, _Oct._ 8, 1778.--Unsuccessful Cruise of Keppel--Character +of Lord Chatham + +138. TO THE SAME, _March_ 22, 1779.--Capture of Pondicherry--Changes in +the Ministry--La Fayette in America + +139. TO THE SAME, _July_ 7, 1779.--Divisions in the Ministry--Character +of the Italians and of the French + +140. TO THE SAME, _Sept._ 16, 1779.--Eruption of Vesuvius--Death of Lord +Temple + +141. TO THE SAME, _Jan._ 13, 1780.--Chances of War with Holland--His +Father's Policy--Pope--Character of Bolingbroke + +142. TO THE SAME, _Feb._ 6, 1780.--Political Excitement--Lord G. +Gordon--Extraordinary Gambling Affairs in India + +143. TO THE SAME, _March_ 3, 1780.--Rodney's Victory--Walpole inclines +to Withdraw from Amusements + +144. TO THE SAME, _June_ 5, 1780.--The Gordon Riots + +145. TO DALRYMPLE, _Dec._ 11, 1780.--Hogarth--Colonel +Charteris--Archbishop Blackburne--Jervas--Richardson's Poetry + +146. TO MANN, _Dec._ 31, 1780.--The Prince of Wales--Hurricane at +Barbadoes--A "Voice from St. Helena" + +147. TO THE SAME, _Sept._ 7, 1781.--Naval Movements--Siege of +Gibraltar--Female Fashions + +148. TO THE SAME, _Nov._ 29, 1781.--Capitulation of Lord +Cornwallis--Pitt and Fox + +149. TO COLE, _April_ 13, 1782.--The Language proper for Inscriptions in +England--Fall of Lord North's Ministry--Bryant + +150. TO MANN, _Sept._ 8, 1782.--Highwaymen and Footpads + +151. TO THE SAME, _Dec._ 2, 1783.--Fox's India Bill--Balloons + +152. TO CONWAY, _Oct._ 15, 1784.--Balloons + +153. TO PINKERTON, _June_ 22, 1785.--His Letters on +Literature--Disadvantage of Modern Writers--Comparison of Lady Mary +Wortley with Madame de Sévigné + +154. TO THE SAME, _June_ 26, 1785.--Criticism on various Authors: Greek, +Latin, French, and English--Humour of Addison, and of +Fielding--Waller--Milton--Boileau's "Lutrin"--"The Rape of the +Lock"--Madame de Sévigné + +155. TO MANN, _Aug._ 26, 1785.--Ministerial Difficulties--The Affair of +the Necklace in Paris--Fluctuating Unpopularity of Statesmen--Fallacies +of History + +156. TO THE SAME, _Oct._ 4, 1785.--Brevity of Modern Addresses--The old +Duchess of Marlborough + +157. TO THE SAME, _Oct._ 30, 1785.--Lady Craven--Madame Piozzi--"The +Rolliad"--Herschel's Astronomical Discovery + +158. TO MISS MORE, _Oct._ 14, 1787.--Mrs. Yearsley--Madame +Piozzi--Gibbon--"Le Mariage de Figaro" + +159. TO THE SAME, _July_ 12, 1788.--Gentlemen Writers--His own Reasons +for Writing when Young--Voltaire--"Evelina"--Miss Seward--Hayley + +160. TO MANN, _Feb._ 12, 1789.--Divisions in the Royal Family--The +Regency--The Irish Parliament + +161. TO MISS BERRY, _June_ 30, 1789.--"The Arabian Nights"--The +Aeneid--Boccalini--Orpheus and Eurydice + +162. TO CONWAY, _July_ 15, 1789.--Dismissal of Necker--Baron de +Breteuil--The Duc D'Orléans--Mirabeau + +163. TO THE SAME, _July_ 1, 1790.--Bruce's "Travels"--Violence of the +French Jacobins--Necker + +164. TO MISS BERRYS, _June_ 8, 1791.--The Prince of Wales--Growth of +London and other Towns + +165. TO THE SAME, _Aug._ 23, 1791.--Sir W. and Lady Hamilton--A +Boat-race--The Margravine of Anspach + +166. TO THE SAME, _Oct._ 15, 1793.--Arrest of the Duchesse de Biron--The +Queen of France--Pythagoras + +167. TO CONWAY, _July 2_, 1795.--Expectations of a Visit to Strawberry +by the Queen + +168. TO THE SAME, _July_ 7, 1795.--Report of the Visit + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + +I. LADY MARY WORTLEY-MONTAGU + +II. THOMAS GRAY, THE POET + +Photographed from a drawing in the National Portrait Gallery, made by +JAMES BASIRE, the engraver, from a sketch from life by Gray's friend, +the Rev. WILLIAM MASON. + +III. STRAWBERRY HILL, FROM THE NORTH-WEST + +IV. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE + +From a mezzotint by J. SIMON, after a picture by Sir GODFREY KNELLER. + +V. VIEW OF GARDEN, STRAWBERRY HILL, FROM THE GREAT BED-CHAMBER + +VI. REPRODUCTIONS OF HANDWRITING OF THOMAS GRAY AND HORACE WALPOLE + + + + +A SELECTION + +FROM THE + +LETTERS OF HORACE WALPOLE. + + +VOLUME II. + + +_MADAME DE BOUFFLERS AT STRAWBERRY--THE FRENCH OPINION OF THE ENGLISH +CHARACTER--RICHARDSON'S NOVELS--MADAME DE BEAUMONT._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Dec._ 20, 1764. + +... My journey to Paris is fixed for some time in February, where I hear +I may expect to find Madame de Boufflers, Princess of Conti. Her husband +is just dead; and you know the House of Bourbon have an alacrity at +marrying their old mistresses. She was here last year, being extremely +infected with the _Anglomanie_, though I believe pretty well cured by +her journey. She is past forty, and does not appear ever to have been +handsome, but is one of the most agreeable and sensible women I ever +saw; yet I must tell you a trait of her that will not prove my +assertion. Lady Holland asked her how she liked Strawberry Hill? She +owned that she did not approve of it, and that it was not _digne de la +solidité Angloise_. It made me laugh for a quarter of an hour. They +allot us a character we have not, and then draw consequences from that +idea, which would be absurd, even if the idea were just. One must not +build a Gothic house because the nation is _solide_. Perhaps, as +everything now in France must be _à la Grecque_, she would have liked a +hovel if it pretended to be built after Epictetus's--but Heaven forbid +that I should be taken for a philosopher! Is it not amazing that the +most sensible people in France can never help being domineered by sounds +and general ideas? Now everybody must be a _géomètre_, now a +_philosophe_, and the moment they are either, they are to take up a +character and advertise it: as if one could not study geometry for one's +amusement or for its utility, but one must be a geometrician at table, +or at a visit! So the moment it is settled at Paris that the English are +solid, every Englishman must be wise, and, if he has a good +understanding, he must not be allowed to play the fool. As I happen to +like both sense and nonsense, and the latter better than what generally +passes for the former, I shall disclaim, even at Paris, the +_profondeur_, for which they admire us; and I shall nonsense to admire +Madame de Boufflers, though her nonsense is not the result of nonsense, +but of sense, and consequently not the genuine nonsense that I honour. +When she was here, she read a tragedy in prose to me, of her own +composition, taken from "The Spectator:" the language is beautiful and +so are the sentiments. + +There is a Madame de Beaumont who has lately written a very pretty +novel, called "Lettres du Marquis du Roselle." It is imitated, too, from +an English standard, and in my opinion a most woful one; I mean the +works of Richardson, who wrote those deplorably tedious lamentations, +"Clarissa" and "Sir Charles Grandison," which are pictures of high life +as conceived by a bookseller, and romances as they would be +spiritualized by a Methodist teacher: but Madame de Beaumont has almost +avoided sermons, and almost reconciled sentiments and common sense. Read +her novel--you will like it. + + +_DEBATE ON AMERICAN TAXES--PETITION OF THE PERIWIG-MAKERS--FEMALE +HEAD-DRESSES--LORD BYRON'S DUEL--OPENING OF ALMACK'S--NO. 45._ + +TO THE EARL OF HERTFORD. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Feb._ 12, 1765. + +A great many letters pass between us, my dear lord, but I think they are +almost all of my writing. I have not heard from you this age. I sent you +two packets together by Mr. Freeman, with an account of our chief +debates. Since the long day, I have been much out of order with a cold +and cough, that turned to a fever: I am now taking James's powder, not +without apprehensions of the gout, which it gave me two or three years +ago. + +There has been nothing of note in Parliament but one slight day on the +American taxes,[1] which, Charles Townshend supporting, received a +pretty heavy thump from Barré, who is the present Pitt, and the dread of +all the vociferous Norths and Rigbys, on whose lungs depended so much of +Mr. Grenville's power. Do you never hear them to Paris? + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Grenville's taxation of stamps and other articles in +our American colonies, which caused great discontent, and was repealed +by Lord Rockingham's Ministry.] + +The operations of the Opposition are suspended in compliment to Mr. +Pitt, who has declared himself so warmly for the question on the +Dismission of officers, that that motion waits for his recovery. A call +of the House is appointed for next Wednesday, but as he has had a +relapse, the motion will probably be deferred. I should be very glad if +it was to be dropped entirely for this session, but the young men are +warm and not easily bridled. + +If it was not too long to transcribe, I would send you an entertaining +petition of the periwig-makers to the King, in which they complain that +men will wear their own hair. Should one almost wonder if carpenters +were to remonstrate, that since the peace their trade decays, and that +there is no demand for wooden legs? _Apropos_ my Lady Hertford's friend, +Lady Harriot Vernon, has quarrelled with me for smiling at the enormous +head-gear of her daughter, Lady Grosvenor. She came one night to +Northumberland House with such display of friz, that it literally spread +beyond her shoulders. I happened to say it looked as if her parents had +stinted her in hair before marriage, and that she was determined to +indulge her fancy now. This, among ten thousand things said by all the +world, was reported to Lady Harriot, and has occasioned my disgrace. As +she never found fault with anybody herself, I excuse her. You will be +less surprised to hear that the Duchess of Queensberry has not yet done +dressing herself marvellously: she was at Court on Sunday in a gown and +petticoat of red flannel.... + +We have not a new book, play, intrigue, marriage, elopement, or quarrel; +in short, we are very dull. For politics, unless the ministers wantonly +thrust their hands into some fire, I think there will not even be a +smoke. I am glad of it, for my heart is set on my journey to Paris, and +I hate everything that stops me. Lord Byron's[1] foolish trial is likely +to protract the session a little; but unless there is any particular +business, I shall not stay for a puppet-show. Indeed, I can defend my +staying here by nothing but my ties to your brother. My health, I am +sure, would be better in another climate in winter. Long days in the +House kill me, and weary me into the bargain. The individuals of each +party are alike indifferent to me; nor can I at this time of day grow to +love men whom I have laughed at all my lifetime--no, I cannot +alter;--Charles Yorke or a Charles Townshend are alike to me, whether +ministers or patriots. Men do not change in my eyes, because they quit a +black livery for a white one. When one has seen the whole scene shifted +round and round so often, one only smiles, whoever is the present +Polonius or the Gravedigger, whether they jeer the Prince, or flatter +his phrenzy. + +[Footnote 1: In a previous letter Walpole mentions the duel caused by a +dispute at cards, in which Lord Byron was so unfortunate as to kill his +cousin, Mr. Chaworth.] + +_Thursday night, 14th._ + +The new Assembly Room at Almack's[1] was opened the night before last, +and they say is very magnificent, but it was empty; half the town is ill +with colds, and many were afraid to go, as the house is scarcely built +yet. Almack advertized that it was built with hot bricks and boiling +water--think what a rage there must be for public places, if this +notice, instead of terrifying, could draw anybody thither. They tell me +the ceilings were dropping with wet--but can you believe me, when I +assure you the Duke of Cumberland was there?--Nay, had had a levée in +the morning, and went to the Opera before the assembly! There is a vast +flight of steps, and he was forced to rest two or three times. If he +dies of it,--and how should he not?--it will sound very silly when +Hercules or Theseus ask him what he died of, to reply, "I caught my +death on a damp staircase at a new club-room." + +[Footnote 1: Almack was a Scotchman, who got up a sort of female club in +King Street, St. James's, at the place since known as Willis's Rooms. In +the first half of the present century the balls of Almack's were the +most fashionable and exclusive in London, under the government of six +lady patronesses, without a voucher from one of whom no one could obtain +admittance. For a long time after trousers had become the ordinary wear +they were proscribed at Almack's, and gentlemen were required to adhere +to the more ancient and showy attire of knee-breeches; and it was said +that in consequence of one having attempted unsuccessfully to obtain +admission in trousers the tickets for the next ball were headed with a +notice that "gentlemen would not be admitted without breeches and +stockings."] + +Williams, the reprinter of the _North Briton_, stood in the pillory +to-day in Palace Yard.[1] He went in a hackney-coach, the number of +which was 45. The mob erected a gallows opposite him, on which they hung +a boot[2] with a bonnet of straw. Then a collection was made for +Williams, which amounted to near £200. In short, every public event +informs the Administration how thoroughly they are detested, and that +they have not a friend whom they do not buy. Who can wonder, when every +man of virtue is proscribed, and they have neither parts nor characters +to impose even upon the mob! Think to what a government is sunk, when a +Secretary of State is called in Parliament to his face "the most +profligate sad dog in the kingdom," and not a man can open his lips in +his defence. Sure power must have some strange unknown charm, when it +can compensate for such contempt! I see many who triumph in these bitter +pills which the ministry are so often forced to swallow; I own I do not; +it is more mortifying to me to reflect how great and respectable we +were three years ago, than satisfactory to see those insulted who have +brought such shame upon us. 'Tis poor amends to national honour to know, +that if a printer is set in the pillory, his country wishes it was my +Lord This, or Mr. That. They will be gathered to the Oxfords, and +Bolingbrokes, and ignominious of former days; but the wound they have +inflicted is perhaps indelible. That goes to _my_ heart, who had felt +all the Roman pride of being one of the first nations upon earth!--Good +night!--I will go to bed, and dream of Kings drawn in triumph; and then +I will go to Paris, and dream I am pro-consul there: pray, take care not +to let me be awakened with an account of an invasion having taken place +from Dunkirk![3] Yours ever, H.W. + +[Footnote 1: This was the last occasion on which the punishment of the +pillory was inflicted.] + +[Footnote 2: A scandal, for which there was no foundation, imputed to +the Princess of Wales an undue intimacy with John Earl of Bute; and with +a practical pun on his name the mob in some of the riots which were +common in the first years of his reign showed their belief in the lie by +fastening a _jack-boot_ and a petticoat together and feeding a bonfire +with them.] + +[Footnote 3: One article in the late treaty of peace had stipulated for +the demolition of Dunkirk.] + + +_HIS "CASTLE OF OTRANTO"--BISHOP PERCY'S COLLECTION OF OLD BALLADS._ + +TO THE REV. WILLIAM COLE. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _March_ 9, 1765. + +Dear Sir,--I had time to write but a short note with the "Castle of +Otranto," as your messenger called on me at four o'clock, as I was going +to dine abroad. Your partiality to me and Strawberry have, I hope, +inclined you to excuse the wildness of the story. You will even have +found some traits to put you in mind of this place. When you read of +the picture quitting its panel, did not you recollect the portrait of +Lord Falkland, all in white, in my Gallery? Shall I even confess to you, +what was the origin of this romance! I waked one morning, in the +beginning of last June, from a dream, of which, all I could recover was, +that I had thought myself in an ancient castle (a very natural dream for +a head filled like mine with Gothic story), and that on the uppermost +banister of a great staircase I saw a gigantic hand in armour. In the +evening I sat down, and began to write, without knowing in the least +what I intended to say or relate. The work grew on my hands, and I grew +fond of it--add, that I was very glad to think of anything, rather than +politics. In short, I was so engrossed with my tale, which I completed +in less than two months, that one evening, I wrote from the time I had +drunk my tea, about six o'clock, till half an hour after one in the +morning, when my hand and fingers were so weary, that I could not hold +the pen to finish the sentence, but left Matilda and Isabella talking, +in the middle of a paragraph. You will laugh at my earnestness; but if I +have amused you, by retracing with any fidelity the manners of ancient +days, I am content, and give you leave to think me idle as you +please.... + +Lord Essex's trial is printed with the State Trials. In return for your +obliging offer, I can acquaint you with a delightful publication of this +winter, "A Collection of Old Ballads and Poetry," in three volumes, many +from Pepys's Collection at Cambridge. There were three such published +between thirty and forty years ago, but very carelessly, and wanting +many in this set: indeed, there were others, of a looser sort, which the +present editor [Dr. Percy[1]], who is a clergyman, thought it decent to +omit.... + +[Footnote 1: Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore, in Ireland, was the heir male +of the ancient Earls of Northumberland, and the title of his collection +was "Reliques of English Poetry." He was also himself the author of more +than one imitation of the old ballads, one of which is mentioned by +Johnson in a letter to Mr. Langton: "Dr. Percy has written a long ballad +in many _fits_ [fyttes]. It is pretty enough: he has printed and will +soon publish it" (Boswell, iii., ann. 1771).] + +My bower is determined, but not at all what it is to be. Though I write +romances, I cannot tell how to build all that belongs to them. Madame +Danois, in the Fairy Tales, used to _tapestry_ them with _jonquils_; but +as that furniture will not last above a fortnight in the year, I shall +prefer something more huckaback. I have decided that the outside shall +be of _treillage_, which, however, I shall not commence, till I have +again seen some of old Louis's old-fashioned _Galanteries_ at +Versailles. Rosamond's bower, you, and I, and Tom Hearne know, was a +labyrinth: but as my territory will admit of a very short clew, I lay +aside all thoughts of a mazy habitation: though a bower is very +different from an arbour, and must have more chambers than one. In +short, I both know, and don't know what it should be. I am almost afraid +I must go and read Spenser, and wade through his allegories, and +drawling stanzas, to get at a picture. But, good night! you see how one +gossips, when one is alone, and at quiet on one's own dunghill!--Well! +it may be trifling; yet it is such trifling as Ambition never is happy +enough to know! Ambition orders palaces, but it is Content that chats +for a page or two over a bower. + + +_ILLNESS OF THE KING--FRENCH AND ENGLISH ACTORS AND ACTRESSES: CLAIRON, +GARRICK, QUIN, MRS. CLIVE._ + +TO THE EARL OF HERTFORD. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _March_ 26, 1765. + +Three weeks are a great while, my dear lord, for me to have been without +writing to you; but besides that I have passed many days at Strawberry, +to cure my cold (which it has done), there has nothing happened worth +sending across the sea. Politics have dozed, and common events been fast +asleep. Of Guerchy's affair, you probably know more than I do; it is now +forgotten. I told him I had absolute proof of his innocence, for I was +sure, that if he had offered money for assassination, the men who swear +against him would have taken it. + +The King has been very seriously ill, and in great danger. I would not +alarm you, as there were hopes when he was at the worst. I doubt he is +not free yet from his complaint, as the humour fallen on his breast +still oppresses him. They talk of his having a levée next week, but he +has not appeared in public, and the bills are passed by commission; but +he rides out. The Royal Family have suffered like us mortals; the Duke +of Gloucester has had a fever, but I believe his chief complaint is of +a youthful kind. Prince Frederick is thought to be in a deep +consumption; and for the Duke of Cumberland, next post will probably +certify you of his death, as he is relapsed, and there are no hopes of +him. He fell into his lethargy again, and when they waked him, he said +he did not know whether he could call himself obliged to them. + +I dined two days ago at Monsieur de Guerchy's, with the Count de +Caraman, who brought me your letter. He seems a very agreeable man, and +you may be sure, for your sake, and Madame de Mirepoix's, no civilities +in my power shall be wanting. I have not yet seen Schouvaloff,[1] about +whom one has more curiosity--it is an opportunity of gratifying that +passion which one can so seldom do in personages of his historic nature, +especially remote foreigners. I wish M. de Caraman had brought the +"Siege of Calais," which he tells me is printed, though your account has +a little abated my impatience. They tell us the French comedians are to +act at Calais this summer--is it possible they can be so absurd, or +think us so absurd as to go thither, if we would not go further? I +remember, at Rheims, they believed that English ladies went to Calais to +drink champagne--is this the suite of that belief? I was mightily +pleased with the Duc de Choiseul's answer to the Clairon;[2] but when I +hear of the French admiration of Garrick, it takes off something of my +wonder at the prodigious adoration of him at home. I never could +conceive the marvellous merit of repeating the works of others in one's +own language with propriety, however well delivered. Shakespeare is not +more admired for writing his plays, than Garrick for acting them. I +think him a very good and very various player--but several have pleased +me more, though I allow not in so many parts. Quin[3] in Falstaff, was +as excellent as Garrick[4] in Lear. Old Johnson far more natural in +everything he attempted. Mrs. Porter and your Dumesnil surpassed him in +passionate tragedy; Cibber and O'Brien were what Garrick could never +reach, coxcombs, and men of fashion. Mrs. Clive is at least as perfect +in low comedy--and yet to me, Ranger was the part that suited Garrick +the best of all he ever performed. He was a poor Lothario, a ridiculous +Othello, inferior to Quin in Sir John Brute and Macbeth, and to Cibber +in Bayes, and a woful Lord Hastings and Lord Townley. Indeed, his Bayes +was original, but not the true part: Cibber was the burlesque of a great +poet, as the part was designed, but Garrick made it a Garretteer. The +town did not like him in Hotspur, and yet I don't know whether he did +not succeed in it beyond all the rest. Sir Charles Williams and Lord +Holland thought so too, and they were no bad judges. I am impatient to +see the Clairon, and certainly will, as I have promised, though I have +not fixed my day. But do you know you alarm me! There was a time when I +was a match for Madame de Mirepoix at pharaoh, to any hour of the night, +and I believe did play with her five nights in a week till three and +four in the morning--but till eleven o'clock to-morrow morning--Oh! that +is a little too much, even at loo. Besides, I shall not go to Paris for +pharaoh--if I play all night, how shall I see everything all day? + +[Footnote 1: Schouvaloff was notorious as a favourite of the Empress +Catharine.] + +[Footnote 2: Mdlle. Clairon had been for some years the most admired +tragic actress in France. In that age actors and actresses in France +were exposed to singular insults. M. Lacroix, in his "France in the +Eighteenth Century," tells us: "They were considered as inferior beings +in the social scale; excommunicated by the Church, and banished from +society, they were compelled to endure all the humiliations and affronts +which the public chose to inflict on them in the theatre; and, if any of +them had the courage to make head against the storm, and to resist the +violence and cruelty of the pit, they were sent to prison, and not +released but on condition of apologising to the tyrants who had so +cruelly insulted them. Many had a sufficient sense of their own dignity +to withdraw themselves from this odious despotism after having been in +prison in Fort l'Evêcque, their ordinary place of confinement, by the +order of the gentlemen of the chamber or the lieutenant of police; and +it was in this way that Mdlle. Clairon bade farewell to the Comédie +Française and gave up acting in 1765, when at the very height of her +talent, and in the middle of her greatest dramatic triumphs." The +incident here alluded to by Walpole was that "a critic named Fréron had +libelled her in a journal to which he contributed; and, as she could not +obtain justice, she applied to the Duc de Choiseul, the Prime Minister. +Even he was unable to put her in the way of obtaining redress, and +sought to pacify her by comparing her position to his own. 'I am,' said +he, 'mademoiselle, like yourself, a public performer; with this +difference in your favour, that you choose what parts you please, and +are sure to be crowned with the applause of the public; for I reckon as +nothing the bad taste of one or two wretched individuals who have the +misfortune of not adoring you. I, on the other hand, am obliged to act +the parts imposed on me by necessity. I am sure to please nobody; I am +satirised, criticised, libelled, hissed; yet I continue to do my best. +Let us both, then, sacrifice our little resentments and enmities to the +public service, and serve our country, each in our own station. Besides, +the Queen has condescended to forgive Fréron, and you may therefore, +without compromising your dignity, imitate Her Majesty's clemency'" +("Mem. de Bachaumont," i. 61). But Mdlle. was not to be pacified, nor to +be persuaded to expose herself to a repetition of insult; but, though +only forty-one, she retired from the stage for ever.] + +[Footnote 3: Quin was employed by the Princess of Wales to teach her son +elocution, and when he heard how generally his young sovereign was +praised for the grace and dignity of his delivery of his speech to his +Parliament, he boasted, "Ah, it was I taught the boy to speak."] + +[Footnote 4: Garrick was not only a great actor, but also a great +reformer of the stage. He seems to have excelled equally both in tragedy +and comedy, which makes it natural to suppose that in some parts he may +have been excelled by other actors; though he had no equal (and perhaps +never has had) in both lines. He was also himself the author of several +farces of more than average merit.] + +Lady Sophia Thomas has received the Baume de vie, for which she gives +you a thousand thanks, and I ten thousand. + +We are extremely amused with the wonderful histories of your hyena[1] in +the Gevaudan; but our fox-hunters despise you: it is exactly the +enchanted monster of old romances. If I had known its history a few +months ago, I believe it would have appeared in the "Castle of +Otranto,"--the success of which has, at last, brought me to own it, +though the wildness of it made me terribly afraid; but it was +comfortable to have it please so much, before any mortal suspected the +author: indeed, it met with too much honour far, for at first it was +universally believed to be Mr. Gray's. As all the first impression is +sold, I am hurrying out another, with a new preface, which I will send +you. + +[Footnote 1: A wolf of enormous size, and, in some respects, irregular +conformation, which for a long time ravaged the Gevaudan; it was, soon +after the date of this letter, killed, and Mr. Walpole saw it in Paris.] + + +_RIOTS OF WEAVERS--MINISTERIAL CHANGES--FACTIOUS CONDUCT OF MR. PITT._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _May_ 25, 1765, _sent by way of Paris_. + +My last I think was of the 16th. Since that we have had events of almost +every sort. A whole administration dismissed, taken again, suspended, +confirmed; an insurrection; and we have been at the eve of a civil war. +Many thousand Weavers rose, on a bill for their relief being thrown out +of the House of Lords by the Duke of Bedford. For four days they were +suffered to march about the town with colours displayed, petitioning the +King, surrounding the House of Lords, mobbing and wounding the Duke of +Bedford, and at last besieging his house, which, with his family, was +narrowly saved from destruction. At last it grew a regular siege and +blockade; but by garrisoning it with horse and foot literally, and +calling in several regiments, the tumult is appeased. Lord Bute rashly +taking advantage of this unpopularity of his enemies, advised the King +to notify to his Ministers that he intended to dismiss them,--and by +this step, no _succedaneum_ being prepared, reduced his Majesty to the +alternative of laying his crown at the foot of Mr. Pitt, or of the Duke +of Bedford; and as it proved at last, of both. The Duke of Cumberland +was sent for, and was sent to Mr. Pitt, from whom, though offering +almost _carte blanche_, he received a peremptory refusal. The next +measure was to form a Ministry from the Opposition. Willing were they, +but timid. Without Mr. Pitt nobody would engage. The King was forced to +desire his old Ministers to stay where they were. They, who had rallied +their very dejected courage, demanded terms, and hard ones +indeed--_promise_ of never consulting Lord Bute, dismission of his +brother, and the appointment of Lord Granby to be Captain-General--so +soon did those tools of prerogative talk to their exalted sovereign in +the language of the Parliament to Charles I. + +The King, rather than resign his sceptre on the first summons, +determined to name his uncle Captain-General. Thus the commanders at +least were ready on each side; but the Ministers, who by the Treaty of +Paris showed how little military glory was the object of their ambition, +having contented themselves with seizing St. James's without bloodshed. +They gave up their General, upon condition Mr. Mackenzie and Lord +Holland were sacrificed to them, and, tacitly, Lord Northumberland, +whose government they bestow on Lord Weymouth without furnishing another +place to the earl, as was intended for him. All this is granted. Still +there are inexplicable riddles. In the height of negotiation, Lord +Temple was reconciled to his brother George, and declares himself a fast +friend to the late and present Ministry. What part Mr. Pitt will act is +not yet known--probably not a hostile one; but here are fine seeds of +division and animosity sown! + +I have thus in six words told you the matter of volumes. You must +analyse them yourself, unless you have patience to wait till the +consequences are the comment. Don't you recollect very similar passages +in the time of Mr. Pelham, the Duke of Newcastle, Lord Granville, and +Mr. Fox? But those wounds did not penetrate so deep as these! Here are +all the great, and opulent noble families engaged on one side or the +other. Here is the King insulted and prisoner, his Mother stigmatised, +his Uncle affronted, his Favourite persecuted. It is again a scene of +Bohuns, Montforts, and Plantagenets. + +While I am writing, I received yours of the 4th, containing the +revolutions in the fabric and pictures of the palace Pitti. My dear sir, +make no excuse; we each write what we have to write; and if our letters +remain, posterity will read the catastrophes of St. James's and the +Palace Pitti with equal indifference, however differently they affect +you and me now. For my part, though agitated like Ludlow or my Lord +Clarendon on the events of the day, I have more curiosity about Havering +in the Bower, the jointure house of ancient royal dowagers, than about +Queen Isabella herself. Mr. Wilkes, whom you mention, will be still more +interested, when he hears that his friend Lord Temple has shaken hands +with his foes Halifax and Sandwich; and I don't believe that any amnesty +is stipulated for the exile. Churchill, Wilkes's poet, used to wish that +he was at liberty to attack Mr. Pitt and Charles Townshend,--the moment +is come, but Churchill is gone! Charles Townshend has got Lord Holland's +place--and yet the people will again and again believe that nothing is +intended but their interest. + +When I recollect all I have seen and known, I seem to be as old as +Methuselah: indeed I was born in politics,--but I hope not to die in +them. With all my experience, these last five weeks have taught me more +than any other ten years; accordingly, a retreat is the whole scope of +my wishes; but not yet arrived. + +Your amiable sister, Mrs. Foote, is settled in town; I saw her last +night at the Opera with Lady Ailesbury. She is enchanted with +Manzuoli--and you know her approbation is a test, who has heard all the +great singers, learnt of all, and sings with as much taste as any of +them. Adieu! + + +_PROSPECTS OF OLD AGE WHEN JOINED TO GOUT._ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 28, 1765. + +The less one is disposed, if one has any sense, to talk of oneself to +people that inquire only out of compliment, and do not listen to the +answer, the more satisfaction one feels in indulging a self-complacency, +by sighing to those that really sympathise with our griefs. Do not think +it is pain that makes me give this low-spirited air to my letter. No, it +is the prospect of what is to come, not the sensation of what is +passing, that affects me. The loss of youth is melancholy enough; but to +enter into old age through the gate of infirmity most disheartening. My +health and spirits make me take but slight notice of the transition, +and, under the persuasion of temperance being a talisman, I marched +boldly on towards the descent of the hill, knowing I must fall at last, +but not suspecting that I should stumble by the way. This confession +explains the mortification I feel. A month's confinement to one who +never kept his bed a day is a stinging lesson, and has humbled my +insolence to almost indifference. Judge, then, how little I interest +myself about public events. I know nothing of them since I came hither, +where I had not only the disappointment of not growing better, but a bad +return in one of my feet, so that I am still wrapped up and upon a +couch. It was the more unlucky as Lord Hertford is come to England for a +very few days. He has offered to come to me; but as I then should see +him only for some minutes, I propose being carried to town to-morrow. It +will be so long before I can expect to be able to travel, that my French +journey will certainly not take place so soon as I intended, and if Lord +Hertford goes to Ireland, I shall be still more fluctuating; for though +the Duke and Duchess of Richmond will replace them at Paris, and are as +eager to have me with them, I have had so many more years heaped upon me +within this month, that I have not the conscience to trouble young +people, when I can no longer be as juvenile as they are. Indeed I shall +think myself decrepit, till I again saunter into the garden in my +slippers and without my hat in all weathers,--a point I am determined to +regain if possible; for even this experience cannot make me resign my +temperance and my hardiness. I am tired of the world, its politics, its +pursuits, and its pleasures; but it will cost me some struggles before I +submit to be tender and careful. Christ! Can I ever stoop to the regimen +of old age? I do not wish to dress up a withered person, nor drag it +about to public places; but to sit in one's room, clothed warmly, +expecting visits from folks I don't wish to see, and tended and nattered +by relations impatient for one's death! Let the gout do its worse as +expeditiously as it can; it would be more welcome in my stomach than in +my limbs. I am not made to bear a course of nonsense and advice, but +must play the fool in my own way to the last, alone with all my heart, +if I cannot be with the very few I wished to see: but, to depend for +comfort on others, who would be no comfort to me; this surely is not a +state to be preferred to death: and nobody can have truly enjoyed the +advantages of youth, health, and spirits, who is content to exist +without the two last, which alone bear any resemblance to the first. + +You see how difficult it is to conquer my proud spirit: low and weak as +I am, I think my resolution and perseverance will get the better, and +that I shall still be a gay shadow; at least, I will impose any severity +upon myself, rather than humour the gout, and sink into that indulgence +with which most people treat it. Bodily liberty is as dear to me as +mental, and I would as soon flatter any other tyrant as the gout, my +Whiggism extending as much to my health as to my principles, and being +as willing to part with life, when I cannot preserve it, as your uncle +Algernon when his freedom was at stake. Adieu! + + +_HAS REACHED PARIS--THE FRENCH OPERA--ILLNESS OF THE DAUPHIN--POPULARITY +OF MR. HUME._ + +TO THE RIGHT HON. LADY HERVEY. + +PARIS, _Sept._ 14, 1765. + +I am but two days old here, Madam, and I doubt I wish I was really so, +and had my life to begin, to live it here. You see how just I am, and +ready to make _amende honorable_ to your ladyship. Yet I have seen very +little. My Lady Hertford has cut me to pieces, and thrown me into a +caldron with tailors, periwig-makers, snuff-box-wrights, milliners, &c., +which really took up but little time; and I am come out quite new, with +everything but youth. The journey recovered me with magic expedition. My +strength, if mine could ever be called strength, is returned; and the +gout going off in a minuet step. I will say nothing of my spirits, which +are indecently juvenile, and not less improper for my age than for the +country where I am; which, if you will give me leave to say it, has a +thought too much gravity. I don't venture to laugh or talk nonsense, but +in English. + +Madame Geoffrin came to town but last night, and is not visible on +Sundays; but I hope to deliver your ladyship's letter and packet +to-morrow. Mesdames d'Aiguillon, d'Egmont, and Chabot, and the Duc de +Nivernois are all in the country. Madame de Boufflers is at l'Isle +Adam, whither my Lady Hertford is gone to-night to sup, for the first +time, being no longer chained down to the incivility of an ambassadress. +She returns after supper; an irregularity that frightens me, who have +not yet got rid of all my barbarisms. There is one, alas! I never shall +get over--the dirt of this country: it is melancholy, after the purity +of Strawberry! The narrowness of the streets, trees clipped to resemble +brooms, and planted on pedestals of chalk, and a few other points, do +not edify me. The French Opera, which I have heard to-night, disgusted +me as much as ever; and the more for being followed by the Devin de +Village, which shows that they can sing without cracking the drum of +one's ear. The scenes and dances are delightful: the Italian comedy +charming. Then I am in love with _treillage_ and fountains, and will +prove it at Strawberry. Chantilly is so exactly what it was when I saw +it above twenty years ago, that I recollected the very position of +Monsieur le Duc's chair and the gallery. The latter gave me the first +idea of mine; but, presumption apart, mine is a thousand times prettier. +I gave my Lord Herbert's compliments to the statue of his friend the +Constable; and, waiting some time for the concierge, I called out, _Où +est Vatel_? + +In short, Madam, being as tired as one can be of one's own country,--I +don't say whether this is much or little,--I find myself wonderfully +disposed to like this. Indeed I wish I could wash it. Madame de Guerchy +is all goodness to me; but that is not new. I have already been +prevented by great civilities from Madame de Brentheim and my old +friend Madame de Mirepoix; but am not likely to see the latter much, who +is grown a most particular favourite of the King, and seldom from him. +The Dauphin is ill, and thought in a very bad way. I hope he will live, +lest the theatres should be shut up. Your ladyship knows I never trouble +my head about royalties, farther than it affects my interest. In truth, +the way that princes affect my interest is not the common way. + +I have not yet tapped the chapter of baubles, being desirous of making +my revenues maintain me here as long as possible. It will be time enough +to return to my Parliament when I want money. + +Mr. Hume, that is _the Mode_, asked much about your ladyship. I have +seen Madame de Monaco, and think her very handsome, and extremely +pleasing. The younger Madame d'Egmont, I hear, disputes the palm with +her; and Madame de Brionne is not left without partisans. The nymphs of +the theatres are _laides à faire peur_, which at my age is a piece of +luck, like going into a shop of curiosities, and finding nothing to +tempt one to throw away one's money. + +There are several English here, whether I will or not. I certainly did +not come for them, and shall connect with them as little as possible. +The few I value, I hope sometimes to hear of. Your ladyship guesses how +far that wish extends. Consider, too, Madam, that one of my +unworthinesses is washed and done away, by the confession I made in the +beginning of my letter. + + +_IS MAKING NEW FRIENDS IN PARIS--DECAY OF THE FRENCH STAGE--LE +KAIN--DUMENIL--NEW FRENCH INCLINATION FOR PHILOSOPHY AND +FREE-THINKING--GENERAL ADMIRATION OF HUME'S HISTORY AND RICHARDSON'S +NOVELS._ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +PARIS, _Sept._ 22, 1765. + +The concern I felt at not seeing you before I left England, might make +me express myself warmly, but I assure you it was nothing but concern, +nor was mixed with a grain of pouting. I knew some of your reasons, and +guessed others. The latter grieve me heartily; but I advise you to do as +I do: when I meet with ingratitude, I take a short leave both of it and +its host. Formerly I used to look out for indemnification somewhere +else; but having lived long enough to learn that the reparation +generally proved a second evil of the same sort, I am content now to +skin over such wounds with amusements, which at least leave no scars. It +is true, amusements do not always amuse when we bid them. I find it so +here; nothing strikes me; everything I do is indifferent to me. I like +the people very well, and their way of life very well; but as neither +were my object, I should not much care if they were any other people, or +it was any other way of life. I am out of England, and my purpose is +answered. + +Nothing can be more obliging than the reception I meet with everywhere. +It may not be more sincere (and why should it?) than our cold and bare +civility; but it is better dressed, and looks natural; one asks no +more. I have begun to sup in French houses, and as Lady Hertford has +left Paris to-day, shall increase my intimacies. There are swarms of +English here, but most of them are going, to my great satisfaction. As +the greatest part are very young, they can no more be entertaining to me +than I to them, and it certainly was not my countrymen that I came to +live with. Suppers please me extremely; I love to rise and breakfast +late, and to trifle away the day as I like. There are sights enough to +answer that end, and shops you know are an endless field for me. The +city appears much worse to me than I thought I remembered it. The French +music as shocking as I knew it was. The French stage is fallen off, +though in the only part I have seen Le Kain I admire him extremely. He +is very ugly and ill made, and yet has an heroic dignity which Garrick +wants, and great fire. The Dumenil I have not seen yet, but shall in a +day or two. It is a mortification that I cannot compare her with the +Clairon, who has left the stage. Grandval I saw through a whole play +without suspecting it was he. Alas! four-and-twenty years make strange +havoc with us mortals! You cannot imagine how this struck me! The +Italian comedy, now united with their _opera comique_, is their most +perfect diversion; but alas! harlequin, my dear favourite harlequin, my +passion, makes me more melancholy than cheerful. Instead of laughing, I +sit silently reflecting how everything loses charms when one's own youth +does not lend it gilding! When we are divested of that eagerness and +illusion with which our youth presents objects to us, we are but the +_caput mortuum_ of pleasure. + +Grave as these ideas are, they do not unfit me for French company. The +present tone is serious enough in conscience. Unluckily, the subjects of +their conversation are duller to me than my own thoughts, which may be +tinged with melancholy reflections, but I doubt from my constitution +will never be insipid. + +The French affect philosophy, literature, and free-thinking: the first +never did, and never will possess me; of the two others I have long been +tired. Free-thinking is for one's self, surely not for society; besides +one has settled one's way of thinking, or knows it cannot be settled, +and for others I do not see why there is not as much bigotry in +attempting conversions from any religion as to it. I dined to-day with a +dozen _savans_, and though all the servants were waiting, the +conversation was much more unrestrained, even on the Old Testament, than +I would suffer at my own table in England, if a single footman was +present. For literature, it is very amusing when one has nothing else to +do. I think it rather pedantic in society; tiresome when displayed +professedly; and, besides, in this country one is sure it is only the +fashion of the day. Their taste in it is worst of all: could one believe +that when they read our authors, Richardson and Mr. Hume should be their +favourites? The latter is treated here with perfect veneration. His +History, so falsified in many points, so partial in as many, so very +unequal in its parts, is thought the standard of writing. + +In their dress and equipages they are grown very simple. We English are +living upon their old gods and goddesses; I roll about in a chariot +decorated with cupids, and look like the grandfather of Adonis. + +Of their parliaments and clergy I hear a good deal, and attend very +little: I cannot take up any history in the middle, and was too sick of +politics at home to enter into them here. In short, I have done with the +world, and live in it rather than in a desert, like you. Few men can +bear absolute retirement, and we English worst of all. We grow so +humorsome, so obstinate and capricious, and so prejudiced, that it +requires a fund of good-nature like yours not to grow morose. Company +keeps our rind from growing too coarse and rough; and though at my +return I design not to mix in public, I do not intend to be quite a +recluse. My absence will put it in my power to take up or drop as much +as I please. Adieu! I shall inquire about your commission of books, but +having been arrived but ten days, have not yet had time. Need I say?--no +I need not--that nobody can be more affectionately yours than, &c. + + +_HIS PRESENTATION AT COURT--ILLNESS OF THE DAUPHIN--DESCRIPTION OF HIS +THREE SONS._ + +TO JOHN CHUTE, ESQ. + +PARIS, _Oct._ 3, 1765. + +I don't know where you are, nor when I am likely to hear of you. I write +at random, and, as I talk, the first thing that comes into my pen. + +I am, as you certainly conclude, much more amused than pleased. At a +certain time of life, sights and new objects may entertain one, but new +people cannot find any place in one's affection. New faces with some +name or other belonging to them, catch my attention for a minute--I +cannot say many preserve it. Five or six of the women that I have seen +already are very sensible. The men are in general much inferior, and not +even agreeable. They sent us their best, I believe, at first, the Duc de +Nivernois. Their authors, who by the way are everywhere, are worse than +their own writings, which I don't mean as a compliment to either. In +general, the style of conversation is solemn, pedantic, and seldom +animated, but by a dispute. I was expressing my aversion to disputes: +Mr. Hume, who very gratefully admires the tone of Paris, having never +known any other tone, said with great surprise, "Why, what do you like, +if you hate both disputes and whisk?" + +What strikes me the most upon the whole is, the total difference of +manners between them and us, from the greatest object to the least. +There is not the smallest similitude in the twenty-four hours. It is +obvious in every trifle. Servants carry their lady's train, and put her +into her coach with their hat on. They walk about the streets in the +rain with umbrellas to avoid putting on their hats; driving themselves +in open chaises in the country without hats, in the rain too, and yet +often wear them in a chariot in Paris when it does not rain. The very +footmen are powdered from the break of day, and yet wait behind their +master, as I saw the Duc of Praslin's do, with a red pocket-handkerchief +about their necks. Versailles, like everything else, is a mixture of +parade and poverty, and in every instance exhibits something most +dissonant from our manners. In the colonnades, upon the staircases, nay +in the antechambers of the royal family, there are people selling all +sorts of wares. While we were waiting in the Dauphin's sumptuous +bedchamber, till his dressing-room door should be opened, two fellows +were sweeping it, and dancing about in sabots to rub the floor. + +You perceive that I have been presented. The Queen took great notice of +me; none of the rest said a syllable. You are let into the King's +bedchamber just as he has put on his shirt; he dresses and talks +good-humouredly to a few, glares at strangers, goes to mass, to dinner, +and a-hunting. The good old Queen, who is like Lady Primrose in the +face, and Queen Caroline in the immensity of her cap, is at her +dressing-table, attended by two or three old ladies, who are languishing +to be in Abraham's bosom, as the only man's bosom to whom they can hope +for admittance. Thence you go to the Dauphin, for all is done in an +hour. He scarce stays a minute; indeed, poor creature, he is a ghost, +and cannot possibly last three months. The Dauphiness is in her +bedchamber, but dressed and standing; looks cross, is not civil, and has +the true Westphalian grace and accents. The four Mesdames, who are +clumsy plump old wenches, with a bad likeness to their father, stand in +a bedchamber in a row, with black cloaks and knotting-bags, looking +good-humoured, not knowing what to say, and wriggling as if they wanted +to make water. This ceremony too is very short; then you are carried to +the Dauphin's three boys, who you may be sure only bow and stare. The +Duke of Berry[1] looks weak and weak-eyed: the Count de Provence is a +fine boy; the Count d'Artois well enough. The whole concludes with +seeing the Dauphin's little girl dine, who is as round and as fat as a +pudding. + +[Footnote 1: The Duc de Berri was afterwards Louis XVI.; the Comte de +Provence became Louis XVIII.; and the Comte d'Artois, Charles X.] + +In the Queen's antechamber we foreigners and the foreign ministers were +shown the famous beast of the Gevaudan, just arrived, and covered with a +cloth, which two chasseurs lifted up. It is an absolute wolf, but +uncommonly large, and the expression of agony and fierceness remains +strongly imprinted on its dead jaws. + +I dined at the Duc of Praslin's with four-and-twenty ambassadors and +envoys, who never go but on Tuesdays to Court. He does the honours +sadly, and I believe nothing else well, looking important and empty. The +Duc de Choiseul's face, which is quite the reverse of gravity, does not +promise much more. His wife is gentle, pretty, and very agreeable. The +Duchess of Praslin, jolly, red-faced, looking very vulgar, and being +very attentive and civil. I saw the Duc de Richelieu in waiting, who is +pale, except his nose, which is red, much wrinkled, and exactly a +remnant of that age which produced General Churchill, Wilks the player, +the Duke of Argyll, &c. Adieu! + + +_SUPPER PARTIES AT PARIS--WALPOLE WRITES A LETTER FROM LE ROI DE PRUSSE +À MONSIEUR ROUSSEAU._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +PARIS, _Jan._ 12, 1766. + +I have received your letter by General Vernon, and another, to which I +have writ an answer, but was disappointed of a conveyance I expected. +You shall have it with additions, by the first messenger that goes; but +I cannot send it by the post, as I have spoken very freely of some +persons you name, in which we agree thoroughly. These few lines are only +to tell you I am not idle in writing to you. + +I almost repent having come hither; for I like the way of life and many +of the people so well, that I doubt I shall feel more regret at leaving +Paris than I expected. It would sound vain to tell you the honours and +distinctions I receive, and how much I am in fashion; yet when they come +from the handsomest women in France, and the most respectable in point +of character, can one help being a little proud? If I was twenty years +younger, I should wish they were not quite so respectable. Madame de +Brionne, whom I have never seen, and who was to have met me at supper +last night at the charming Madame d'Egmont's, sent me an invitation by +the latter for Wednesday next. I was engaged, and hesitated. I was told, +"Comment! savez-vous que c'est qu'elle ne feroit pas pour toute la +France?" However, lest you should dread my returning a perfect old +swain, I study my wrinkles, compare myself and my limbs to every plate +of larks I see, and treat my understanding with at least as little +mercy. Yet, do you know, my present fame is owing to a very trifling +composition, but which has made incredible noise. I was one evening at +Madame Geoffrin's joking on Rousseau's affectations and contradictions, +and said some things that diverted them. When I came home, I put them +into a letter, and showed it next day to Helvetius and the Duc de +Nivernois; who were so pleased with it, that after telling me some +faults in the language, which you may be sure there were, they +encouraged me to let it be seen. As you know I willingly laugh at +mountebanks, _political_ or literary, let their talents be ever so +great, I was not averse. The copies have spread like wild-fire; _et me +voici à la mode_! I expect the end of my reign at the end of the week +with great composure. Here is the letter:-- + +LE ROI DE PRUSSE A MONSIEUR ROUSSEAU.[1] + +MON CHER JEAN JACQUES, + +Vous avez renoncé à Génève votre patrie; vous vous êtes fait chasser de +la Suisse, pays tant vanté dans vos écrits; la France vous a décreté. +Venez donz chez moi; j'admire vos talens; je m'amuse de vos rêveries, +qui (soit dit en passant) vous occupent trop, et trop long tems. Il faut +à la fin être sage et heureux. Vous avez fait assez parler de vous par +des singularités peu convenables à un véritable grand homme. Démontrez à +vos ennemis que vous pouvez avoir quelquefois le sens commun: cela les +fachera, sans vous faire tort. Mes états vous offrent une retraite +paisible; je vous veux du bien, et je vous en ferai, si vous le trouvez +bon. Mais si vous vous obstiniez à rejetter mons secours, attendez-vous +que je ne le dirai à personne. Si vous persistez à vous creuser +l'esprit pour trouver de nouveaux malheurs, choisissez les tels que vous +voudrez. Je suis roi, je puis vous en procurer au gré de vos souhaits: +et ce qui sûrement ne vous arrivera pas vis à vis de vos ennemis, je +cesserai de vous persecuter quand vous cesserez de mettre votre gloire à +l'être. + +Votre bon ami, + +FRÉDÉRIC. + +[Footnote 1: Rousseau was always ready to believe in plots to mortify +and injure him; and he was so much annoyed by this composition of +Walpole's, that, shortly after his arrival in England, he addressed the +following letter to _The London Chronicle_:-- + +"WOOTTON [IN DERBYSHIRE], _March_ 3, 1766 + +"You have failed, Sir, in the respect which every private person owes to +a crowned head, in attributing publicly to the King of Prussia a letter +full of extravagance and malignity, of which, for those very reasons, +you ought to have known he could not be the author. You have even dared +to transcribe his signature, as if you had seen him write it with his +own hand. I inform you, Sir, that the letter was fabricated at Paris, +and what rends my heart is that the impostor has accomplices in England. +You owe to the King of Prussia, to truth, and to me to print the letter +which I write to you, and which I sign, as an atonement for a fault with +which you would doubtless reproach yourself severely, if you knew to +what a dark transaction you have rendered yourself an accessory. I +salute you, Sir, very sincerely, + +"ROUSSEAU."] + +The Princesse de Ligne, whose mother was an Englishwoman, made a good +observation to me last night. She said, "Je suis roi, je puis vous +procurer de malheurs," was plainly the stroke of an English pen. I +said, then I had certainly not well imitated the character in which I +wrote. You will say I am a bold man to attack both Voltaire and +Rousseau. It is true; but I shoot at their heel, at their vulnerable +part. + +I beg your pardon for taking up your time with these trifles. The day +after to-morrow we go in cavalcade with the Duchess of Richmond to her +audience; I have got my cravat and shammy shoes. Adieu! + + +_A CONSTANT ROUND OF AMUSEMENTS--A GALLERY OF FEMALE PORTRAITS--MADAME +GEOFFRIN--MADAME DU DEFFAND--MADAME DE MIREPOIX--MADAME DE +BOUFFLERS--MADAME DE ROCHFORT--THE MARÉCHALE DE LUXEMBURG--THE DUCHESSE +DE CHOISEUL--AN OLD FRENCH DANDY--M. DE MAUREPAS--POPULARITY OF HIS +LETTER TO ROUSSEAU._ + +TO MR. GRAY. + +PARIS, _Jan._ 25, 1766. + +I am much indebted to you for your kind letter and advice; and though it +is late to thank you for it, it is at least a stronger proof that I do +not forget it. However, I am a little obstinate, as you know, on the +chapter of health, and have persisted through this Siberian winter in +not adding a grain to my clothes, and going open-breasted without an +under waistcoat. In short, though I like extremely to live, it must be +in my own way, as long as I can: it is not youth I court, but liberty; +and I think making oneself tender is issuing a _general warrant_ +against one's own person. I suppose I shall submit to confinement when I +cannot help it; but I am indifferent enough to life not to care if it +ends soon after my prison begins. + +I have not delayed so long to answer your letter, from not thinking of +it, or from want of matter, but from want of time. I am constantly +occupied, engaged, amused, till I cannot bring a hundredth part of what +I have to say into the compass of a letter. You will lose nothing by +this: you know my volubility, when I am full of new subjects; and I have +at least many hours of conversation for you at my return. One does not +learn a whole nation in four or five months; but, for the time, few, I +believe, have seen, studied, or got so much acquainted with the French +as I have. + +By what I said of their religious or rather irreligious opinions, you +must not conclude their people of quality atheists--at least, not the +men. Happily for them, poor souls! they are not capable of going so far +into thinking. They assent to a great deal, because it is the fashion, +and because they don't know how to contradict. They are ashamed to +defend the Roman Catholic religion, because it is quite exploded; but I +am convinced they believe it in their hearts. They hate the Parliaments +and the philosophers, and are rejoiced that they may still idolise +royalty. At present, too, they are a little triumphant: the Court has +shown a little spirit, and the Parliaments much less: but as the Duc de +Choiseul, who is very fluttering, unsettled, and inclined to the +philosophers, has made a compromise with the Parliament of Bretagne, the +Parliaments might venture out again, if, as I fancy will be the case, +they are not glad to drop a cause, of which they began to be a little +weary of the inconveniences. + +The generality of the men, and more than the generality are dull and +empty. They have taken up gravity, thinking it was philosophy and +English, and so have acquired nothing in the room of their natural +levity and cheerfulness. However, as their high opinion of their own +country remains, for which they can no longer assign any reason, they +are contemptuous and reserved, instead of being ridiculously, +consequently pardonably, impertinent. I have wondered, knowing my own +countrymen, that we had attained such a superiority. I wonder no longer, +and have a little more respect for English _heads_ than I had. + +The women do not seem of the same country: if they are less gay than +they were, they are more informed, enough to make them very conversable. +I know six or seven with very superior understandings; some of them with +wit, or with softness, or very good sense. + +[Illustration: THOMAS GRAY, THE POET. + +_From a drawing in the National Portrait Gallery by James Basire, after +a sketch by Gray's friend and biographer, the Rev. William Mason._] + +Madame Geoffrin, of whom you have heard much, is an extraordinary woman, +with more common sense than I almost ever met with. Great quickness in +discovering characters, penetration in going to the bottom of them, and +a pencil that never fails in a likeness--seldom a favourable one. She +exacts and preserves, spite of her birth and their nonsensical +prejudices about nobility, great court and attention. This she acquires +by a thousand little arts and offices of friendship: and by a freedom +and severity, which seem to be her sole end of drawing a concourse to +her; for she insists on scolding those she inveigles to her. She has +little taste and less knowledge, but protects artisans and authors, and +courts a few people to have the credit of serving her dependents. She +was bred under the famous Madame Tencin,[1] who advised her never to +refuse any man; for, said her mistress, though nine in ten should not +care a farthing for you, the tenth may live to be an useful friend. She +did not adopt or reject the whole plan, but fully retained the purport +of the maxim. In short, she is an epitome of empire, subsisting by +rewards and punishments. Her great enemy, Madame du Deffand,[2] was for +a short time mistress of the Regent, is now very old and stoneblind, but +retains all her vivacity, wit, memory, judgment, passions, and +agreeableness. She goes to Operas, Plays, suppers, and Versailles; gives +suppers twice a week; has everything new read to her; makes new songs +and epigrams, ay, admirably, and remembers every one that has been made +these four-score years. She corresponds with Voltaire, dictates charming +letters to him, contradicts him, is no bigot to him or anybody, and +laughs both at the clergy and the philosophers. In a dispute, into which +she easily falls, she is very warm, and yet scarce ever in the wrong: +her judgment on every subject is as just as possible; on every point of +conduct as wrong as possible: for she is all love and hatred, passionate +for her friends to enthusiasm, still anxious to be loved, I don't mean +by lovers, and a vehement enemy, but openly. As she can have no +amusement but conversation, the least solitude and _ennui_ are +insupportable to her, and put her into the power of several worthless +people, who eat her suppers when they can eat nobody's of higher rank; +wink to one another and laugh at her; hate her because she has forty +times more parts--and venture to hate her because she is not rich.[3] +She has an old friend whom I must mention, a Monsieur Pondeveyle, author +of the "Fatpuni," and the "Complaisant," and of those pretty novels, the +"Comte de Cominge," the "Siege of Calais," and "Les Malheurs de +l'Amour." Would you not expect this old man to be very agreeable? He can +be so, but seldom is: yet he has another very different and very +amusing talent, the art of parody, and is unique in his kind. He +composes tales to the tunes of long dances: for instance, he has adapted +the Regent's "Daphnis and Chloe" to one, and made it ten times more +indecent; but is so old, and sings it so well, that it is permitted in +all companies. He has succeeded still better in _les caractères de la +danse_, to which he has adapted words that express all the characters of +love. With all this he has not the least idea of cheerfulness in +conversation; seldom speaks but on grave subjects, and not often on +them; is a humourist, very supercilious, and wrapt up in admiration of +his own country, as the only judge of his merit. His air and look are +cold and forbidding; but ask him to sing, or praise his works, his eyes +and smiles open and brighten up. In short, I can show him to you: the +self-applauding poet in Hogarth's Rake's Progress, the second print, is +so like his very features and very wig, that you would know him by it, +if you came hither--for he certainly will not go to you. + +[Footnote 1: _"The famous Mme. Tencin._" "Infamous" would be more +appropriate. She had been the mistress of Dubois, and was the mother of +D'Alembert.] + +[Footnote 2: His description of her on first making her acquaintance was +not altogether complimentary. In a letter of the preceding October he +calls her "an old blind debauchée of wit." In fact, she had been one of +the mistresses of the Regent, Duc d'Orléans, and at first his chief +inducement to court her society was to hear anecdotes of the Regent. But +gradually he became so enamoured of her society that he kept up an +intimacy with her till her death in 1783. There must be allowed to be +much delicate perception and delineation of character in this +description of the French fine ladies of the time.] + +[Footnote 3: To the above portrait of Madame du Deffand it may be useful +to subjoin the able development of her character which appeared in the +_Quarterly Review_ for May, 1811, in its critique on her Letters to +Walpole:--"This lady seems to have united the lightness of the French +character with the solidity of the English. She was easy and volatile, +yet judicious and acute; sometimes profound and sometimes superficial. +She had a wit playful, abundant, and well-toned; an admirable conception +of the ridiculous, and great skill in exposing it; a turn for satire, +which she indulged, not always in the best-natured manner, yet with +irresistible effect; powers of expression varied, appropriate, flowing +from the source, and curious without research; a refined taste for +letters, and a judgment both of men and books in a high degree +enlightened and accurate."] + +Madame de Mirepoix's understanding is excellent of the useful kind, and +can be so when she pleases of the agreeable kind. She has read, but +seldom shows it, and has perfect taste. Her manner is cold, but very +civil; and she conceals even the blood of Lorraine, without ever +forgetting it. Nobody in France knows the world better, and nobody is +personally so well with the King. She is false, artful, and insinuating +beyond measure when it is her interest, but indolent and a coward. She +never had any passion but gaming, and always loses. For ever paying +court, the sole produce of a life of art is to get money from the King +to carry on a course of paying debts or contracting new ones, which she +discharges as fast as she is able. She advertised devotion to get made +_dame du palais_ to the Queen; and the very next day this Princess of +Lorraine was seen riding backwards with Madame Pompadour in the latter's +coach. When the King was stabbed, and heartily frightened, the mistress +took a panic too, and consulted D'Argenson, whether she had not best +make off in time. He hated her, and said, By all means. Madame de +Mirepoix advised her to stay. The King recovered his spirits, D'Argenson +was banished,[1] and La Maréchale inherited part of the mistress's +credit.--I must interrupt my history of illustrious women with an +anecdote of Monsieur de Maurepas, with whom I am much acquainted, and +who has one of the few heads which approach to good ones, and who +luckily for us was disgraced, and the marine dropped, because it was his +favourite object and province. He employed Pondeveyle to make a song on +the Pompadour: it was clever and bitter, and did not spare even Majesty. +This was Maurepas absurd enough to sing at supper at Versailles. +Banishment ensued; and lest he should ever be restored, the mistress +persuaded the King that he had poisoned her predecessor Madame de +Chateauroux. Maurepas is very agreeable, and exceedingly cheerful; yet I +have seen a transient silent cloud when politics are talked of. + +[Footnote 1: The Comte d'Argenson was Minister at War.] + +Madame de Boufflers, who was in England, is a _savante_, mistress of the +Prince of Conti, and very desirous of being his wife. She is two women, +the upper and the lower. I need not tell you that the lower is gallant, +and still has pretensions. The upper is very sensible, too, and has a +measured eloquence that is just and pleasing--but all is spoiled by an +unrelaxed attention to applause. You would think she was always sitting +for her picture to her biographer. + +Madame de Rochfort is different from all the rest. Her understanding is +just and delicate; with a finesse of wit that is the result of +reflection. Her manner is soft and feminine, and though a _savante_, +without any declared pretensions. She is the _decent_ friend of Monsieur +de Nivernois; for you must not believe a syllable of what you read in +their novels. It requires the greatest curiosity, or the greatest +habitude, to discover the smallest connexion between the sexes here. No +familiarity, but under the veil of friendship, is permitted, and Love's +dictionary is as much prohibited, as at first sight one should think his +ritual was. All you hear, and that pronounced with _nonchalance_, is, +that _Monsieur un tel_ has had _Madame une telle_. + +The Duc de Nivernois has parts, and writes at the top of the mediocre, +but, as Madame Geoffrin says, is _manqué par tout; guerrier manqué, +ambassadeur manqué, homme d'affaires manqué_, and _auteur manque_--no, +he is not _homme de naissance manqué_. He would think freely, but has +some ambition of being governor to the Dauphin, and is more afraid of +his wife and daughter, who are ecclesiastic fagots. The former +out-chatters the Duke of Newcastle; and the latter, Madame de Gisors, +exhausts Mr. Pitt's eloquence in defence of the Archbishop of Paris. +Monsieur de Nivernois lives in a small circle of dependent admirers, and +Madame de Rochfort is high-priestess for a small salary of credit. + +The Duchess of Choiseul, the only young one of these heroines, is not +very pretty, but has fine eyes, and is a little model in waxwork, which +not being allowed to speak for some time as incapable, has a hesitation +and modesty, the latter of which the Court has not cured, and the former +of which is atoned for by the most interesting sound of voice, and +forgotten in the most elegant turn and propriety of expression. Oh! it +is the gentlest, amiable, civil little creature that ever came out of a +fairy egg! so just in its phrases and thoughts, so attentive and +good-natured! Everybody loves it but its husband, who prefers his own +sister the Duchesse de Granmont, an Amazonian, fierce, haughty dame, who +loves and hates arbitrarily, and is detested. Madame de Choiseul, +passionately fond of her husband, was the martyr of this union, but at +last submitted with a good grace; has gained a little credit with him, +and is still believed to idolize him. But I doubt it--she takes too much +pains to profess it. + +I cannot finish my list without adding a much more common character--but +more complete in its kind than any of the foregoing, the Maréchale de +Luxembourg. She has been very handsome, very abandoned, and very +mischievous. Her beauty is gone, her lovers are gone, and she thinks the +devil is coming. This dejection has softened her into being rather +agreeable, for she has wit and good-breeding; but you would swear, by +the restlessness of her person and the horrors she cannot conceal, that +she had signed the compact, and expected to be called upon in a week for +the performance. + +I could add many pictures, but none so remarkable. In those I send you +there is not a feature bestowed gratis or exaggerated. For the beauties, +of which there are a few considerable, as Mesdames de Brionne, de +Monaco, et d'Egmont, they have not yet lost their characters, nor got +any. + +You must not attribute my intimacy with Paris to curiosity alone. An +accident unlocked the doors for me. That _passe-par-tout_ called the +fashion has made them fly open--and what do you think was that +fashion?--I myself. Yes, like Queen Eleanor in the ballad, I sunk at +Charing Cross, and have risen in the Fauxbourg St. Germain. A +_plaisanterie_ on Rousseau, whose arrival here in his way to you brought +me acquainted with many anecdotes conformable to the idea I had +conceived of him, got about, was liked much more than it deserved, +spread like wild-fire, and made me the subject of conversation. +Rousseau's devotees were offended. Madame de Boufflers, with a tone of +sentiment, and the accents of lamenting humanity, abused me heartily, +and then complained to myself with the utmost softness. I acted +contrition, but had liked to have spoiled all, by growing dreadfully +tired of a second lecture from the Prince of Conti, who took up the +ball, and made himself the hero of a history wherein he had nothing to +do. I listened, did not understand half he said (nor he either), forgot +the rest, said Yes when I should have said No, yawned when I should have +smiled, and was very penitent when I should have rejoiced at my pardon. +Madame de Boufflers was more distressed, for he owned twenty times more +than I had said: she frowned, and made him signs; but she had wound up +his clack, and there was no stopping it. The moment she grew angry, the +lord of the house grew charmed, and it has been my fault if I am not at +the head of a numerous sect; but, when I left a triumphant party in +England, I did not come here to be at the head of a fashion. However, I +have been sent for about like an African prince, or a learned +canary-bird, and was, in particular, carried by force to the Princess of +Talmond,[1] the Queen's cousin, who lives in a charitable apartment in +the Luxembourg, and was sitting on a small bed hung with saints and +Sobieskis, in a corner of one of those vast chambers, by two blinking +tapers. I stumbled over a cat and a footstool in my journey to her +presence. She could not find a syllable to say to me, and the visit +ended with her begging a lap-dog. Thank the Lord! though this is the +first month, it is the last week of my reign; and I shall resign my +crown with great satisfaction to a _bouillie_ of chestnuts, which is +just invented, and whose annals will be illustrated by so many +indigestions, that Paris will not want anything else these three weeks. +I will enclose the fatal letter[2] after I have finished this enormous +one; to which I will only add, that nothing has interrupted my Sévigné +researches but the frost. The Abbé de Malesherbes has given me full +power to ransack Livry. I did not tell you, that by great accident, when +I thought on nothing less, I stumbled on an original picture of the +Comte de Grammont. Adieu! You are generally in London in March; I shall +be there by the end of it.[3] + +[Footnote 1: The Princess of Talmond was born in Poland, and said to be +allied to the Queen, Marie Leczinska, with whom she came to France, and +there married a prince of the house of Bouillon.] + +[Footnote 2: The letter from the King of Prussia to Rousseau.--WALPOLE.] + +[Footnote 3: Gray, in reference to this letter, writes thus to Dr. +Wharton, on the 5th of March:--"Mr. Walpole writes me now and then a +long and lively letter from Paris, to which place he went the last +summer, with the gout upon him; sometimes in his limbs; often in his +stomach and head. He has got somehow well (not by means of the climate, +one would think) goes to all public places, sees all the best company, +and is very much in fashion. He says he sunk, like Queen Eleanor, at +Charing Cross, and has risen again at Paris. He returns again in April; +but his health is certainly in a deplorable state."--_Works by Mitford_, +vol. iv. p. 79.] + + +_SITUATION OF AFFAIRS IN ENGLAND--CARDINAL YORK--DEATH OF STANILAUS +LECZINSKI, EX-KING OF POLAND._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +PARIS, _Feb._ 29, 1766. + +I have received your letters very regularly, and though I have not sent +you nearly so many, yet I have not been wanting to our correspondence, +when I have had anything particular to say, or knew what to say. The +Duke of Richmond has been gone to England this fortnight; he had a +great deal of business, besides engagements here; and if he has failed +writing, at least I believe he received yours. Mr. Conway, I suppose, +has received them too, but not to my knowledge; for I have received but +one from him this age. He has had something else to do than to think of +Pretenders, and pretenders to pretensions. It has been a question (and a +question scarcely decided yet) not only whether he and his friends +should remain Ministers, but whether we should not draw the sword on our +colonies, and provoke them and the manufacturers at home to rebellion. +The goodness of Providence, or Fortune by its permission, has +interposed, and I hope prevented blood; though George Grenville and the +Duke of Bedford, who so mercifully checked our victories, in compassion +to France, grew heroes the moment there was an opportunity of conquering +our own brethren. It was actually moved by them and their banditti to +send troops to America. The stout Earl of Bute, who is never afraid when +not personally in danger, joined his troops to his ancient friends, late +foes, and now new allies. Yet this second race of Spaniards, so fond of +gold and thirsting after American blood, were routed by 274; their whole +force amounting but to 134. The Earl, astonished at this defeat, had +recourse to that kind of policy which Machiavel recommends in his +chapter of _back-stairs_. Caesar himself disavowed his Ministers, and +declared he had not been for the repeal, and that his servants had used +his name without his permission. A paper was produced to his eyes, +which proved this denial an equivocation. The Ministers, instead of +tossing their places into the middle of the closet, as I should have +done, had the courage and virtue to stand firm, and save both Europe and +America from destruction. + +At that instant, who do you think presented himself as Lord Bute's +guardian angel? only one of his bitterest enemies: a milk-white angel +[Duke of York], white even to his eyes and eyelashes, very purblind, and +whose tongue runs like a fiddlestick. You have seen this divinity, and +have prayed to it for a Riband. Well, this god of love became the god of +politics, and contrived meetings between Bute, Grenville, and Bedford; +but, what happens to highwaymen _after_ a robbery, happened to them +_before_; they quarrelled about the division of the plunder, before they +had made the capture--and thus, when the last letters came away, the +repeal was likely to pass in both houses, and tyranny once more +despairs. + +This is the quintessence of the present situation in England. To how +many _North Britons_, No. 45, will that wretched Scot furnish matter? +But let us talk of your _Cardinal Duke of York_[1]: so his folly has +left his brother in a worse situation than he took him up! _York_ seems +a title fated to sit on silly heads--or don't let us talk of him; he is +not worth it. + +[Footnote 1: Cardinal York was the younger brother of Charles Edward. He +lived in Italy; and, after the death of his brother, assumed the title +of King of England as Henry IX. After the confiscation of the greater +part of the Papal revenues by Napoleon, his chief means of livelihood +was a pension of £4,000 a year allowed him by George IV. out of his +private purse.] + +I am so sorry for the death of Lady Hillsborough, as I suppose Mr. +Skreene is glad of his consort's departure. She was a common creature, +bestowed on the public by Lord Sandwich. Lady Hillsborough had sense and +merit, and is a great loss to her family. By letters hither, we hear +miserable accounts of poor Sir James Macdonald; pray let him know that I +have written to him, and how much I am concerned for his situation. + +This Court is plunged into another deep mourning for the death of old +Stanislaus,[1] who fell into the fire; it caught his night-gown and +burnt him terribly before he got assistance. His subjects are in +despair, for he was a model of goodness and humanity; uniting or rather +creating, generosity from economy. The Poles had not the sense to +re-elect him, after his virtues were proved, they who had chosen him +before they knew him. I am told such was the old man's affection for his +country, and persuasion that he ought to do all the good he could, that +he would have gone to Poland if they had offered him the crown. He has +left six hundred thousand livres, and a _rente viagere_ of forty +thousand crowns to the Queen, saved from the sale of his Polish estates, +from his pension of two millions, and from his own liberality. His +buildings, his employment of the poor, his magnificence, and his +economy, were constant topics of admiration. Not only the court-tables +were regularly and nobly served, but he treated, and defrayed his old +enemy's grand-daughter, the Princess Christina, on her journey hither to +see her sister the Dauphiness. When mesdames his grand-daughters made +him an unexpected visit, he was so disturbed for fear it should derange +his finances, which he thought were not in advance, that he shut himself +up for an hour with his treasurer, to find resources; was charmed to +know he should not run in debt, and entertained them magnificently. His +end was calm and gay, like his life, though he suffered terribly, and he +said so extraordinary a life could not finish in a common way. To a lady +who had set her ruffle on fire, and scorched her arm about the same +time, he said, "Madame, nous brulons du même feu." The poor Queen had +sent him the very night-gown that occasioned his death: he wrote to her, +"C'étoit pour me tenir chaud, mais il m'a tenu trop chaud." + +[Footnote 1: Stanislaus Leczinski was the father of the queen of Louis +XV. On the conclusion of peace between France and the Empire it was +arranged that the Duke of Lorraine should exchange that duchy for +Tuscany, and that Lorraine should be allotted to Stanislaus, with a +reversion to his daughter and to France after his death.] + +Yesterday we had the funeral oration on the Dauphin; and are soon to +have one on Stanislaus. It is a noble subject; but if I had leisure, I +would compose a grand funeral oration on the number of princes dead +within these six months. What fine pictures, contrasts, and comparisons +they would furnish! The Duke of Parma and the King of Denmark reigning +virtuously with absolute power! The Emperor at the head of Europe, and +encompassed with mimic Roman eagles, tied to the apron-strings, of a +bigoted and jealous virago. The Dauphin cultivating virtues under the +shade of so bright a crown, and shining only at the moment that he was +snatched from the prospect of empire. The old Pretender wasting away in +obscurity and misfortune, after surviving the Duke of Cumberland, who +had given the last blow to the hopes of his family; and Stanislaus +perishing by an accident,--he who had swam over the billows raised by +Peter the Great and Charles XII., and reigning, while his successor and +second of his name was reigning on his throne. It is not taking from the +funereal part to add, that when so many good princes die, the Czarina is +still living! + +The public again thinks itself on the eve of a war, by the recall of +Stahremberg, the Imperial Minister. It seems at least to destroy the +expectation of a match between the youngest Archduchess and the Dauphin, +which it was thought Stahremberg remained here to bring about. I like +your Great Duke for feeling the loss of his Minister. It is seldom that +a young sovereign misses a governor before he tastes the fruits of his +own incapacity. + +_March_ 1_st_. + +We have got more letters from England, where the Ministers are still +triumphant. They had a majority of 108 on the day that it was voted to +bring in a bill to repeal the Stamp Act. George Grenville's ignorance +and blunders were displayed to his face and to the whole world; he was +hissed through the Court of Requests, where Mr. Conway was huzza'd. It +went still farther for Mr. Pitt, whom the mob accompanied home with "Io +Pitts!" This is new for an opposition to be so unpopular. Adieu! + + +_SINGULAR RIOT IN MADRID--CHANGES IN THE FRENCH MINISTRY--INSURRECTIONS +IN THE PROVINCES._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +PARIS, _April_ 8, 1766. + +I sent you a few lines by the post yesterday with the first accounts of +the insurrections at Madrid.[1] I have since seen Stahremberg, the +imperial minister,[2] who has had a courier from thence; and if Lord +Rochford has not sent one, you will not be sorry to know more +particulars. The mob disarmed the Invalids; stopped all coaches, to +prevent Squillaci's[3] flight; and meeting the Duke de Medina Celi, +forced him and the Duke d'Arcos to carry their demands to the King. His +most frightened Majesty granted them directly; on which his highness the +people despatched a monk with their demands in writing, couched in four +articles: the diminution of the gabel on bread and oil; the revocation +of the ordonnance on hats and cloaks; the banishment of Squillaci; and +the abolition of some other tax, I don't know what. The King signed +all; yet was still forced to appear in a balcony, and promise to observe +what he had granted. Squillaci was sent with an escort to Carthagena, to +embark for Naples, and the first commissioner of the treasury appointed +to succeed him; which does not look much like observation of the +conditions. Some say Ensenada is recalled, and that Grimaldi is in no +good odour with the people. If the latter and Squillaci are dismissed, +we get rid of two enemies. + +[Footnote 1: The Spanish Government had taken on itself to regulate +dress, and to introduce French fashions into Madrid--an innovation so +offensive to Spanish pride, that it gave rise to a formidable +insurrection, of which the populace took advantage to demand the removal +of some obnoxious taxes.] + +[Footnote 2: Prince Stahremberg was the imperial ambassador at Madrid.] + +[Footnote 3: Signor Squillaci, an Italian, was the Spanish Prime +Minister.] + +The tumult ceased on the grant of the demands; but the King retiring +that night to Aranjuez, the insurrection was renewed the next morning, +on pretence that this flight was a breach of the capitulation. The +people seized the gates of the capital, and permitted nobody to go out. +In this state were things when the courier came away. The ordonnance +against going in disguise looks as if some suspicions had been +conceived; and yet their confidence was so great as not to have two +thousand guards in the town. The pitiful behaviour of the Court makes +one think that the Italians were frightened, and that the Spanish part +of the ministry were not sorry it took that turn. As I suppose there is +no great city in Spain which has not at least a bigger bundle of +grievances than the capital, one shall not wonder if the pusillanimous +behaviour of the King encourages them to redress themselves too. + +There is what is called a change of the ministry here; but it is only a +crossing over and figuring in. The Duc de Praslin has wished to retire +for some time; and for this last fortnight there has been much talk of +his being replaced by the Duc d'Aiguillon, the Duc de Nivernois, &c.; +but it is plain, though not believed till _now_, that the Duc de +Choiseul is all-powerful. To purchase the stay of his cousin Praslin, on +whom he can depend, and to leave no cranny open, he has ceded the marine +and colonies to the Duc de Praslin, and taken the foreign and military +department himself. His cousin is, besides, named _chef du conseil des +finances_; a very honourable, very dignified, and very idle place, and +never filled since the Duc de Bethune had it. Praslin's hopeful cub, the +Viscount, whom you saw in England last year, goes to Naples; and the +Marquis de Durfort to Vienna--a cold, dry, proud man, with the figure +and manner of Lord Cornbury. + +Great matters are expected to-day from the Parliament, which +re-assembles. A _mousquetaire_, his piece loaded with a _lettre de +cachet_, went about a fortnight ago to the notary who keeps the +parliamentary registers, and demanded them. They were refused--but given +up, on the _lettre de cachet_ being produced. The Parliament intends to +try the notary for breach of trust, which I suppose will make his +fortune; though he has not the merit of perjury, like Carteret Webb. + +There have been insurrections at Bourdeaux and Toulouse on the militia, +and twenty-seven persons were killed at the latter; but both are +appeased. These things are so much in vogue, that I wonder the French do +not dress _à la révolte_. The Queen is in a very dangerous way. This +will be my last letter; but I am not sure I shall set out before the +middle of next week. Yours ever. + + +_THE BATH GUIDE--SWIFT'S CORRESPONDENCE._ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 20, 1766. + +I don't know when I shall see you, but therefore must not I write to +you? yet I have as little to say as may be. I could cry through a whole +page over the bad weather. I have but a lock of hay, you know, and I +cannot get it dry, unless I bring it to the fire. I would give +half-a-crown for a pennyworth of sun. It is abominable to be ruined in +coals in the middle of June. + +What pleasure have you to come! there is a new thing published, that +will make you burst your cheeks with laughing. It is called the "New +Bath Guide."[1] It stole into the world, and for a fortnight no soul +looked into it, concluding its name was its true name. No such thing. It +is a set of letters in verse, in all kind of verses, describing the life +at Bath, and incidentally everything else; but so much wit, so much +humour, fun, and poetry, so much originality, never met together before. +Then the man has a better ear than Dryden or Handel. _Apropos_ to +Dryden, he has burlesqued his St. Cecilia, that you will never read it +again without laughing. There is a description of a milliner's box in +all the terms of landscape, _painted lawns and chequered shades_, a +Moravian ode, and a Methodist ditty, that are incomparable, and the best +names that ever were composed. I can say it by heart, though a quarto, +and if I had time would write it you down; for it is not yet reprinted, +and not one to be had. + +[Footnote 1: By Christopher Anstey. "Have you read the 'New Bath Guide'? +It is the only thing in fashion, and is a new and original kind of +humour. Miss Prue's conversation I doubt you will paste down, as Sir W. +St. Quintyn did before he carried it to his daughter; yet I remember you +all read 'Crazy Tales' without pasting" (_Gray to Wharton.--Works by +Mitford_, vol. iv. p. 84).] + +There are two new volumes, too, of Swift's Correspondence, that will not +amuse you less in another way, though abominable, for there are letters +of twenty persons now alive; fifty of Lady Betty Germain, one that does +her great honour, in which she defends her friend my Lady Suffolk, with +all the spirit in the world,[1] against that brute, who hated everybody +that he hoped would get him a mitre, and did not. There is one to his +Miss Vanhomrigh, from which I think it plain he lay with her, +notwithstanding his supposed incapacity, yet not doing much honour to +that capacity, for he says he can drink coffee but once a week, and I +think you will see very clearly what he means by coffee. His own journal +sent to Stella during the four last years of the Queen, is a fund of +entertainment. You will see his insolence in full colours, and, at the +same time, how daily vain he was of being noticed by the Ministers he +affected to treat arrogantly. His panic at the Mohocks is comical; but +what strikes one, is bringing before one's eyes the incidents of a +curious period. He goes to the rehearsal of "Cato," and says the _drab_ +that acted Cato's daughter could not say her part. This was only Mrs. +Oldfield. I was saying before George Selwyn, that this journal put me in +mind of the present time, there was the same indecision, irresolution, +and want of system; but I added, "There is nothing new under the sun." +"No," said Selwyn, "nor under the grandson." + +[Footnote 1: The letter dated Feb. 8, 1732-3.] + +My Lord Chesterfield has done me much honour: he told Mrs. Anne Pitt +that he would subscribe to any politics I should lay down. When she +repeated this to me, I said, "Pray tell him I have laid down politics." + +I am got into puns, and will tell you an excellent one of the King of +France, though it does not spell any better than Selwyn's. You must have +heard of Count Lauragais, and his horse-race, and his quacking his horse +till he killed it.[1] At his return the King asked him what he had been +doing in England? "Sire, j'ai appris à penser"--"Des chevaux?"[2] +replied the King. Good night! I am tired and going to bed. Yours ever. + +[Footnote 1: In a previous letter Walpole mentioned that the Count and +the English Lord Forbes had had a race, which the Count lost; and that, +as his horse died the following night, surgeons were employed to open +the body, and they declared he had been poisoned. "The English," says +Walpole, "suspect that a groom, who, I suppose, had been reading Livy or +Demosthenes, poisoned it on patriotic principles to secure victory to +his country. The French, on the contrary, think poison as common as oats +or beans in the stables at Newmarket. In short, there is no impertinence +which they have not uttered; and it has gone so far that two nights ago +it was said that the King had forbidden another race which was appointed +for Monday between the Prince de Nassau and a Mr. Forth, to prevent +national animosities."] + +[Footnote 2: Louis pretending to think he had said _pansen_.] + + +_BATH--WESLEY._ + +TO JOHN CHUTE, ESQ. + +BATH, _Oct._ 10, 1766. + +I am impatient to hear that your charity to me has not ended in the gout +to yourself--all my comfort is, if you have it, that you have good Lady +Brown to nurse you.[1] + +[Footnote 1: In a letter of the preceding week he mentions having gone +to Bath to drink the waters there, but "is disappointed in the city. +Their new buildings, that are so admired, look like a collection of +little hospitals. The rest is detestable, and all crammed together, and +surrounded with perpendicular hills that have no beauty. The river [the +Avon] is paltry enough to be the Seine or the Tiber. Oh! how unlike my +lovely Thames!"] + +My health advances faster than my amusement. However, I have been to one +opera, Mr. Wesley's. They have boys and girls with charming voices, that +sing hymns, in parts, to Scotch ballad tunes; but indeed so long, that +one would think they were already in eternity, and knew how much time +they had before them. The chapel is very neat, with true Gothic windows +(yet I am not converted); but I was glad to see that luxury is creeping +in upon them before persecution: they have very neat mahogany stands for +branches, and brackets of the same in taste. At the upper end is a broad +_hautpas_ of four steps, advancing in the middle: at each end of the +broadest part are two of _my_ eagles, with red cushions for the parson +and clerk. Behind them rise three more steps, in the midst of which is a +third eagle for pulpit. Scarlet armed chairs to all three. On either +hand, a balcony for elect ladies. The rest of the congregation sit on +forms. Behind the pit, in a dark niche, is a plain table within rails; +so you see the throne is for the apostle. Wesley is a lean elderly man, +fresh-coloured, his hair smoothly combed, but with a _soupçon_ of curl +at the ends. Wondrous clean, but as evidently an actor as Garrick. He +spoke his sermon, but so fast, and with so little accent, that I am sure +he has often uttered it, for it was like a lesson. There were parts and +eloquence in it; but towards the end he exalted his voice, and acted +very ugly enthusiasm; decried learning, and told stories, like Latimer, +of the fool of his college, who said, "I _thanks_ God for everything." +Except a few from curiosity, and _some honourable women_, the +congregation was very mean. There was a Scotch Countess of Buchan, who +is carrying a pure rosy vulgar face to heaven, and who asked Miss Rich, +if that was _the author of the poets_. I believe she meant me and the +"Noble Authors." + +The Bedfords came last night. Lord Chatham was with me yesterday two +hours; looks and walks well, and is in excellent political spirits. + + +_MINISTERIAL DIFFICULTIES--RETURN OF LORD CLIVE._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 20, 1767. + +You have heard enough, even in the late reign, of our +_interministeriums_, not to be surprised that the present lasts so +long. I am not writing now to tell you it is at an end; but I thought +you might grow impatient. + +The Parliament was scarcely separated when a negotiation was begun with +the Bedfords, through Lord Gower; with a view to strengthen the remains +of Administration by that faction,[1] but with no intention of including +George Grenville, who is more hated at Court than he is even in other +places. After some treaty, Lord Gower, much against his will, I believe, +was forced to bring word, that there was no objection made by his +friends to the Treasury remaining in the Duke of Grafton; that Grenville +would support without a place; but Lord Temple (who the deuce thought of +Lord Temple?) insisted on equal power, as he had demanded with Lord +Chatham. There was no end of that treaty! Another was then begun with +Lord Rockingham. He pleaded want of strength in his party, and he might +have pleaded almost every other want--and asked if he might talk to the +Bedfords. Yes! he might talk to whom he pleased, but the King insisted +on keeping the Chancellor, "and me," said the Duke of Grafton; but +added, that for himself, he was very willing to cede the Treasury to his +Lordship. Away goes the Marquis to Woburn; and, to charm the King more, +negotiates with both Grenvilles too. These last, who had demanded +everything of the Crown, were all submission to the Marquis, and yet +could not dupe him so fast as he tried to be duped. Oh! all, all were +ready to stay out, or turn their friends in, or what he pleased. He took +this for his own talents in negotiation, came back highly pleased, and +notified his success. The Duke of Grafton wrote to him that the King +meant they should come in, _to extend and strengthen his +Administration_. Too elated with his imaginary power, the Marquis +returned an answer, insolently civil to the Duke, and not commonly +decent for the place it was to be carried to. It said, that his Lordship +had laid it down for a principle of the treaty, that the present +Administration was at an end. That supposed, _he_ was ready to _form_ a +comprehensive Ministry, but first must talk to the King. + +[Footnote 1: The difficulties were caused by Lord Chatham's illness. He, +though Prime Minister, only held the office of Lord Privy Seal, the Duke +of Grafton being First Lord of the Treasury; consequently, when Lord +Chatham became incapable of transacting any business whatever, even of +signing a resignation of his office, the Duke became the Prime Minister, +and continued so for three years.] + +Instead of such an answer as such a _remonstrance_ deserved, a very +prudent reply was made. The King approved the idea of a comprehensive +Administration: he desired to unite the hearts of _all_ his subjects: he +meant to exclude men of no denomination attached to his person and +government; it was such a Ministry that _he_ intended to _appoint_. When +his Lordship should have _formed a plan_ on such views, his Majesty +would be ready to receive it from him. The great statesman was wofully +puzzled on receiving this message. However, he has summoned his new +allies to assist in composing a scheme or list. When they bring it, how +they will bring it formed, or whether they will ever bring it, the Lord +knows. There the matter rests at present. If the Marquis does not alter +his tone, he sinks for ever, and from being the head of a separate band, +he must fall into the train of Grenville, the man whom he and his +friends opposed on all the arbitrary acts of that Ministry, and whom +they have irremissibly offended by repealing his darling Stamp Act. +_Apropos_, America is pacified, and the two factions cannot join to fish +in troubled waters, there, at least. + +Lord Clive[1] is arrived, has brought a million for himself, two diamond +drops worth twelve thousand pounds for the Queen, a scimitar dagger, and +other matters, covered with brilliants, for the King, and worth +twenty-four thousand more. These _baubles_ are presents from the deposed +and imprisoned Mogul, whose poverty can still afford to give such +bribes. Lord Clive refused some overplus, and gave it to some widows of +officers: it amounted to ninety thousand pounds. He has _reduced_ the +appointments of the Governor of Bengal to thirty-two thousand pounds a +year; and, what is better, has left such a chain of forts and +distribution of troops as will entirely secure possession of the +country--till we lose it. Thus having composed the Eastern and Western +worlds, we are at leisure to kick and cuff for our own little island, +which is great satisfaction; and I don't doubt but my Lord Temple hopes +that we shall be so far engaged before France and Spain are ripe to +meddle with us, that when they do come, they will not be able to +re-unite us. + +[Footnote 1: It is hardly necessary to point out that this is the taker +of Arcot, the victor of Plassey, and even now second to none but Warren +Hastings in the splendid roll of Governors-General.] + +Don't let me forget to tell you, that of all the friends you have shot +flying, there is no one whose friendship for you is so little dead as +Lord Hillsborough's. He spoke to me earnestly about your Riband the +other day, and said he had pressed to have it given to you. Write and +thank him. You have missed one by Lord Clive's returning alive, unless +he should give a hamper of diamonds for the Garter. + +Well! I have remembered every point but one--and see how he is +forgotten! Lord Chatham! He was pressed to come forth and set the +Administration on its legs again. He pleaded total incapacity; grew +worse and grows better. Oh! how he ought to dread recovering! + +Mr. Conway resigns the day after to-morrow. I hope in a week to tell you +something more positive than the uncertainties in this letter. +Good-night. + + +_DEATH OF CHARLES TOWNSHEND AND OF THE DUKE OF YORK--WHIST THE NEW +FASHION IN FRANCE._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +PARIS, _Sept._ 27, 1767. + +Since you insist on my writing from hence, I will; I intended to defer +it a few days longer, as I shall set out on my return this day +se'nnight. + +Within the five weeks of my being here, there have happened three +deaths, which certainly nobody expected six weeks ago. Yet, though the +persons were all considerable, their loss will make little impression on +the state of any affairs. + +Monsieur de Guerchy returned from his embassy with us about a month +before my arrival. He had been out of order some time, and had taken +waters, yet seeing him so often I had perceived no change, till I was +made to remark it, and then I did not think it considerable. On my +arrival, I was shocked at the precipitate alteration. He was emaciated, +yellow, and scarcely able to support himself. A fever came on in ten +days, mortification ensued, and carried him off. It is said that he had +concealed and tampered indiscreetly with an old complaint, acquired +before his marriage. This was his radical death; I doubt, vexation and +disappointment fermented the wound. Instead of the duchy he hoped, his +reception was freezing. He was a frank, gallant gentleman; universally +beloved with us; hated I believe by nobody, and by no means inferior in +understanding to many who affected to despise his abilities. + +But our comet is set too! Charles Townshend[1] is dead. All those parts +and fire are extinguished; those volatile salts are evaporated; that +first eloquence of the world is dumb! that duplicity is fixed, that +cowardice terminated heroically. He joked on death as naturally as he +used to do on the living, and not with the affectation of philosophers, +who wind up their works with sayings which they hope to have remembered. +With a robust person he had always a menacing constitution. He had had a +fever the whole summer, recovered as it was thought, relapsed, was +neglected, and it turned to an incurable putrid fever. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Townshend was Chancellor of the Exchequer; and he +might have been added by Lord Macaulay to his list of men whom their +eloquence had caused to be placed in offices for which they were totally +unfit; for he had not only no special knowledge of finance, but he was +one of the most careless and incautious of mankind, even in his oratory. +In that, however, after the retirement of Lord Chatham, he seems to have +had no rival in either house but Mr. Burke. It was to his heedless +resumption of Grenville's plan of taxing our colonies in North America +that our loss of them was owing. In his "Memoirs of the Reign of George +III." Walpole gives the following description of him: "Charles +Townshend, who had studied nothing with accuracy or attention, had parts +that embraced all knowledge with such quickness that he seemed to create +knowledge, instead of searching for it; and, ready as Burke's wit was, +it appeared artificial when set by that of Townshend, which was so +abundant that in him it seemed a loss of time to think. He had but to +speak, and all he said was new, natural, and yet uncommon. If Burke +replied extempore, his very answers that sprang from what had been said +by others were so pointed and artfully arranged that they wore the +appearance of study and preparation; like beautiful translations, they +seemed to want the soul of the original author. Townshend's speeches, +like the 'Satires' of Pope, had a thousand times more sense and meaning +than the majestic blank verse of Pitt; and yet the latter, like Milton, +stalked with a conscious dignity of pre-eminence, and fascinated his +audience with that respect which always attends the pompous but often +hollow idea of the sublime." Burke, too, in one of his speeches on +American affairs, utters a still warmer panegyric on his character and +abilities, while lamenting his policy and its fruits: "I speak of +Charles Townshend, officially the reproducer of this fatal scheme [the +taxation of the colonies], whom I cannot, even now, remember without +some degree of sensibility. In truth, Sir, he was the delight and +ornament of this House, and the charm of every private society which he +honoured with his presence. Perhaps there never arose in this country, +nor in any country, a man of a more pointed and finished wit, and (where +his passions were not concerned) of a more refined, exquisite, and +penetrating judgment. If he had not so great a stock, as some have had +who flourished formerly, of knowledge long treasured up, he knew better +by far than any man I was ever acquainted with how to bring together +within a short time all that was necessary to establish, to illustrate, +and to decorate that side of the question he supported. He stated his +matter skillfully and powerfully. He particularly excelled in a most +luminous explanation and display of his subject. His style of argument +was neither trite nor vulgar, nor subtle and abstruse. He hit the House +between wind and water; and, not being troubled with too anxious a zeal +for any matter in question, he was never more tedious nor more earnest +than the preconceived opinions and present temper of his hearers +required, with whom he was always in perfect unison. He conformed +exactly to the temper of the House; and he seemed to lead because he was +always sure to follow it."] + +The Opposition expected that the loss of this essential pin would loosen +the whole frame; but it had been hard, if both his life and death were +to be pernicious to the Administration. He had engaged to betray the +latter to the former, as I knew early, and as Lord Mansfield has since +declared. I therefore could not think the loss of him a misfortune. His +seals were immediately offered to Lord North,[1] who declined them. The +Opposition rejoiced; but they ought to have been better acquainted with +one educated in their own school. Lord North has since accepted the +seals--and the reversion of his father's pension. + +[Footnote 1: Lord North succeeded Townshend as Chancellor of the +Exchequer; and, when the Duke of Grafton retired, he became First Lord +of the Treasury also, and continued to hold both offices till the spring +of 1782.] + +While that eccentric genius, Charles Townshend, whom no system could +contain, is whirled out of existence, our more artificial meteor, Lord +Chatham, seems to be wheeling back to the sphere of business--at least +his health is declared to be re-established; but he has lost his +adorers, the mob, and I doubt the wise men will not travel after his +light. + +You, my dear Sir, will be most concerned for the poor Duke of York,[1] +who has ended his silly, good-humoured, troublesome career, in a piteous +manner. He had come to the camp at Compiègne, without his brother's +approbation, but had been received here not only with every proper mark +of distinction, but with the utmost kindness. He had succeeded, too, was +attentive, civil, obliging, lively, pleased, and very happy in his +replies. Charmed with a Court so lively in comparison of the monastic +scene at home, he had promised to return for Fontainebleau, and then +scampered away as fast as he could ride or drive all round the South of +France, intending to visit a lady at Genoa, with whom he was in love, +whenever he had a minute's time. The Duc de Villars gave him a ball at +his country-house, between Aix and Marseilles; the Duke of York danced +at it all night as hard as if it made part of his road, and then in a +violent sweat, and without changing his linen, got into his postchaise. +At Marseilles the scene changed. He arrived in a fever, and found among +his letters, which he had ordered to meet him there, one from the King +his brother, forbidding him to go to Compiègne, by the advice of the +Hereditary Prince. He was struck with this letter, which he had +ignorantly disobeyed, and by the same ignorance had not answered. He +proceeded, however, on his journey, but grew so ill that his gentlemen +carried him to Monaco, where he arrived on the third, and languished +with great suffering until the seventeenth. He behaved with the most +perfect tranquillity and courage, made a short will, and the day before +he died dictated to Colonel St. John, a letter to the King, in which he +begged his forgiveness for every instance in which he had offended him, +and entreated his favour to his servants. He would have particularly +recommended St. John, but the young man said handsomely, "Sir, if the +letter were written by your Royal Highness yourself, it would be most +kind to me; but I cannot name myself." The Prince of Monaco, who +happened to be on the spot, was unbounded in his attentions to him, both +of care and honours; and visited him every hour till the Duke grew too +weak to see him. Two days before he died the Duke sent for the Prince, +and thanked him. The Prince burst into tears and could not speak, and +retiring, begged the Duke's officers to prevent his being sent for +again, for the shock was too great. They made as magnificent a coffin +and pall for him as the time and place would admit, and in the evening +of the 17th the body was embarked on board an English ship, which +received the corpse with military honours, the cannon of the town +saluting it with the same discharge as is paid to a Marshal of France. +St. John and Morrison embarked with the body, and Colonel Wrottesley +passed through here with the news. The poor lad was in tears the whole +time he stayed.... + +[Footnote 1: The Duke of York was the King's younger brother.] + +You tell me of the French playing at whist;[1] why, I found it +established when I was last here. I told them they were very good to +imitate us in anything, but that they had adopted the two dullest things +we have, Whist and Richardson's Novels. + +[Footnote 1: Walpole here speaks of whist as a game of but new +introduction in Paris, though it had been for some time established with +us. And the great authority on that scientific and beautiful game, the +late Mr. James Clay, writing about twenty years ago, fixes "thirty or +more years" before that date as the time when first "we began to hear of +the great Paris players. There was," he says, "a wide difference between +their system and our own," the special distinction being that "the +English player of the old school never thought of winning the game until +he saw that it was saved; the French player never thought of saving the +game until he saw that he could not win it;" and "if forced to take his +choice between these systems carried to their extremes." Mr. Clay +"would, without hesitation, prefer the game of rash attack" (that is, +the French system) "to that of over-cautious defence." And he assigns to +a French player, M. Des Chapelles, "the credit of being the finest +whist-player, beyond any comparison, the world has ever seen."] + +So you and the Pope are going to have the Emperor! Times are a little +altered; no Guelphs and Ghibellines[1] now. I do not think the Caesar of +the day will hold his Holiness's stirrup[2] while he mounts his palfrey. +Adieu! + +[Footnote 1: "_Guelfs and Ghibellines._" These two names were first +heard in the latter part of the twelfth century, to distinguish the +partisans of the Emperor and the Pope. "The Guelfs or Welfs were the +ancestors of Henry the Proud, who, through his mother, represented the +ancient Dukes of Saxony. The word Ghibelin is derived from Wibelung, a +town in Franconia, from which the emperors of that time are said to nave +sprung. The house of Swabia were considered in Germany as representing +that of Franconia" (Hallam, "Middle Ages," ii. p. 101).] + +[Footnote 2: "_His Holiness's stirrup._" This refers to the humiliation +imposed on the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa by Pope Alexander III., as +related by Byron in his note on "Childe Harold," c. iv. st. 12.] + + +_SOME NEW POEMS OF GRAY--WALPOLE'S "HISTORIC DOUBTS"--BOSWELL'S +"CORSICA."_ + +TO MR. GRAY. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Feb._ 18, 1768. + +You have sent me a long and very obliging letter, and yet I am extremely +out of humour with you. I saw _Poems_ by _Mr. Gray_ advertised: I called +directly at Dodsley's to know if this was to be more than a new edition? +He was not at home himself, but his foreman told me he thought there +were some new pieces, and notes to the whole. It was very unkind, not +only to go out of town without mentioning them to me, without showing +them to me, but not to say a word of them in this letter. Do you think I +am indifferent, or not curious about what you write? I have ceased to +ask you, because you have so long refused to show me anything. You could +not suppose I thought that you never write. No; but I concluded you did +not intend, at least yet, to publish what you had written. As you did +intend it, I might have expected a month's preference. You will do me +the justice to own that I had always rather have seen your writings than +have shown you mine; which you know are the most hasty trifles in the +world, and which though I may be fond of the subject when fresh, I +constantly forget in a very short time after they are published. This +would sound like affectation to others, but will not to you. It would be +affected, even to you, to say I am indifferent to fame. I certainly am +not, but I am indifferent to almost anything I have done to acquire it. +The greater part are mere compilations; and no wonder they are, as you +say, incorrect, when they are commonly written with people in the room, +as "Richard"[1] and the "Noble Authors" were. But I doubt there is a +more intrinsic fault in them: which is, that I cannot correct them. If I +write tolerably, it must be at once; I can neither mend nor add. The +articles of Lord Capel and Lord Peterborough, in the second edition of +the "Noble Authors," cost me more trouble than all the rest together: +and you may perceive that the worst part of "Richard," in point of ease +and style, is what relates to the papers you gave me on Jane Shore, +because it was tacked on so long afterwards, and when my impetus was +chilled. If some time or other you will take the trouble of pointing out +the inaccuracies of it, I shall be much obliged to you: at present I +shall meddle no more with it. It has taken its fate: nor did I mean to +complain. I found it was condemned indeed beforehand, which was what I +alluded to. Since publication (as has happened to me before) the success +has gone beyond my expectation. + +[Footnote 1: He is here alluding to his own very clever essay, entitled +"Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of Richard III." It failed to +convince Hume; but can hardly be denied to be a singularly acute +specimen of historical criticism. It does not, indeed, prove Richard to +have been innocent of all the crimes imputed to him; but it proves +conclusively that much of the evidence by which the various charges are +supported is false. In an earlier letter he mentions having first made +"a discovery, one of the most marvellous ever made. In short, it is the +original Coronation Roll of Richard, by which it appears that very +magnificent robes were ordered for Edward V., and that he did or was to +walk at his uncle's coronation." The letter, from which this passage is +an extract, was to a certain extent an answer to one from Gray, who, +while praising the ingenuity of his arguments, avowed himself still +unconvinced by them.] + +Not only at Cambridge, but here, there have been people wise enough to +think me too free with the King of Prussia! A newspaper has talked of my +known inveteracy to him. Truly, I love him as well as I do most kings. +The greater offence is my reflection on Lord Clarendon. It is forgotten +that I had overpraised him before. Pray turn to the new State Papers, +from which, _it is said_, he composed his history. You will find they +are the papers from which he did _not_ compose his history. And yet I +admire my Lord Clarendon more than these pretended admirers do. But I do +not intend to justify myself. I can as little satisfy those who complain +that I do not let them know what _really did_ happen. If this inquiry +can ferret out any truth, I shall be glad. I have picked up a few more +circumstances. I now want to know what Perkin Warbeck's Proclamation +was, which Speed in his history says is preserved by Bishop Leslie. If +you look in Speed perhaps you will be able to assist me. + +The Duke of Richmond and Lord Lyttelton agree with you, that I have not +disculpated Richard of the murder of Henry VI. I own to you, it is the +crime of which in my own mind I believe him most guiltless. Had I +thought he committed it, I should never have taken the trouble to +apologize for the rest. I am not at all positive or obstinate on your +other objections, nor know exactly what I believe on many points of this +story. And I am so sincere, that, except a few notes hereafter, I shall +leave the matter to be settled or discussed by others. As you have +written much too little, I have written a great deal too much, and think +only of finishing the two or three other things I have begun--and of +those, nothing but the last volume of Painters is designed for the +present public. What has one to do when turned fifty, but really think +of _finishing_? + +I am much obliged and flattered by Mr. Mason's approbation, and +particularly by having had almost the same thought with him. I said, +"People need not be angry at my excusing Richard; I have not diminished +their fund of hatred, I have only transferred it from Richard to Henry." +Well, but I have found you close with Mason--No doubt, cry prating I, +something will come out....[1] + +[Footnote 1: "_Something will come out._" Walpole himself points out in +a note that this is a quotation from Pope: "I have found him close with +Swift." "Indeed?" "No doubt, (Cries prating Balbus) something will come +out" (Prologue to the "Satires").] + +Pray read the new Account of Corsica.[1] What relates to Paoli will +amuse you much. There is a deal about the island and its divisions that +one does not care a straw for. The author, Boswell, is a strange being, +and, like Cambridge, has a rage of knowing anybody that ever was talked +of. He forced himself upon me at Paris in spite of my teeth and my +doors, and I see has given a foolish account of all he could pick up +from me about King Theodore.[2] He then took an antipathy to me on +Rousseau's account, abused me in the newspapers, and exhorted Rousseau +to do so too: but as he came to see me no more, I forgave all the rest. +I see he now is a little sick of Rousseau himself; but I hope it will +not cure him of his anger to me. However, his book will I am sure +entertain you. + +[Footnote 1: Boswell, Dr. Johnson's celebrated biographer, had taken +great interest in the affairs of Corsica, which, in this year (1768), +Choiseul, the Prime Minister of France, had bought of Genoa, to which +State it had long belonged. Paoli was a Corsican noble, who had roused +his countrymen to throw off the domination of Genoa; and, on the arrival +of French troops to take possession of their purchase, he made a +vigorous resistance to the French General, the Comte de Marboeuf; but +eventually he was overpowered, and forced to fly. He took refuge in +England, where George III. granted him a pension, which he enjoyed till +his death in 1807, when he was buried in Westminster Abbey. One of his +relations was M. Charles Buonaparte, the father of Napoleon, who was +only prevented from accompanying him in his abandonment of Corsica by +the persuasion of his uncle, the Archdeacon of Ajaccio. Boswell, who was +apt to be enthusiastic in his hero-worship and anxiety for new +acquaintances (whom, it must be admitted, he commonly chose with +judgement, if with little dignity), introduced him to Johnson, who also +conceived a high regard for him, and on one occasion remarked that "he +had the loftiest port of any man he had ever seen."] + +[Footnote 2: After several outbreaks within a few years, the Corsicans +in 1736 embarked in a revolt so formal and complete that they +altogether threw off their allegiance to Genoa, and chose as their king +Theodore Neuhof, a Westphalian baron. But Cardinal Fleury, the French +Prime Minister, from a belief that Theodore was an instrument of +Walpole, lent the Genoese a force of three thousand men, which at last +succeeded in crushing the insurrection and expelling Theodore. (See the +Editor's "France under the Bourbons," iii. 157.) Theodore is one of the +six ex-kings whom, in Voltaire's "Candide," his hero met at a hotel in +Venice during the carnival, when he gave a melancholy account of his +reverse of fortune. "He had been called 'Your Majesty;' now he can +hardly find any one to call him 'Sir.' He had coined money; now he has +not a penny of his own. He had had two Secretaries of State; now he has +but one valet. He had sat on a throne; but since that time he had laid +on straw in a London prison." In fact, his state was so doleful, that +the other ex-kings subscribed twenty sequins apiece to buy him some +coats and shirts ("Candide," c. 26).] + +I will add but a word or two more. I am criticised for the expression +_tinker up_ in the preface. Is this one of those that you object to? I +own I think such a low expression, placed to ridicule an absurd instance +of wise folly, very forcible. Replace it with an elevated word or +phrase, and to my conception it becomes as flat as possible. + +George Selwyn says I may, if I please, write Historic Doubts on the +present Duke of G[loucester] too. Indeed, they would be doubts, for I +know nothing certainly. + +Will you be so kind as to look into Leslie "De Rebus Scotorum," and see +if Perkin's Proclamation is there, and if there, how authenticated. You +will find in Speed my reason for asking this. I have written in such a +hurry, I believe you will scarce be able to read my letter--and as I +have just been writing French, perhaps the sense may not be clearer than +the writing. Adieu! + + +_WILKES IS RETURNED M.P. FOR MIDDLESEX--RIOTS IN LONDON--VIOLENCE OF +THE MOB._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Thursday, March_ 31, 1768. + +I have received your letter, with the extract of that from Mr. +Mackenzie. I do not think any honours will be bestowed yet. The Peerages +are all postponed to an indefinite time. If you are in a violent hurry, +you may petition the ghosts of your neighbours--Masaniello and the +Gracchi. The spirit of one of them walks here; nay, I saw it go by my +window yesterday, at noon, in a hackney chair. + +_Friday._ + +I was interrupted yesterday. The ghost is laid for a time in a red sea +of port and claret. The spectre is the famous Wilkes. He appeared the +moment the Parliament was dissolved. The Ministry despise him. He stood +for the City of London, and was the last on the poll of seven +candidates, none but the mob, and most of them without votes, favouring +him. He then offered himself to the county of Middlesex. The election +came on last Monday. By five in the morning a very large body of +Weavers, &c., took possession of Piccadilly, and the roads and turnpikes +leading to Brentford, and would suffer nobody to pass without blue +cockades, and papers inscribed "_No. 45, Wilkes and Liberty_." They tore +to pieces the coaches of Sir W. Beauchamp Proctor, and Mr. Cooke, the +other candidates, though the latter was not there, but in bed with the +gout, and it was with difficulty that Sir William and Mr. Cooke's cousin +got to Brentford. There, however, lest it should be declared a void +election, Wilkes had the sense to keep everything quiet. But, about +five, Wilkes, being considerably ahead of the other two, his mob +returned to town and behaved outrageously. They stopped every carriage, +scratched and spoilt several with writing all over them "No. 45," +pelted, threw dirt and stones, and forced everybody to huzza for Wilkes. +I did but cross Piccadilly at eight, in my coach with a French Monsieur +d'Angeul, whom I was carrying to Lady Hertford's; they stopped us, and +bid us huzza. I desired him to let down the glass on his side, but, as +he was not alert, they broke it to shatters. At night they insisted, in +several streets, on houses being illuminated, and several Scotch +refusing, had their windows broken. Another mob rose in the City, and +Harley, the present Mayor, being another Sir William Walworth, and +having acted formerly and now with great spirit against Wilkes, and the +Mansion House not being illuminated, and he out of town, they broke +every window, and tried to force their way into the House. The Trained +Bands were sent for, but did not suffice. At last a party of guards, +from the Tower, and some lights erected, dispersed the tumult. At one in +the morning a riot began before Lord Bute's house, in Audley Street, +though illuminated. They flung two large flints into Lady Bute's +chamber, who was in bed, and broke every window in the house. Next +morning, Wilkes and Cooke were returned members. The day was very +quiet, but at night they rose again, and obliged almost every house in +town to be lighted up, even the Duke of Cumberland's and Princess +Amelia's. About one o'clock they marched to the Duchess of Hamilton's in +Argyle Buildings (Lord Lorn being in Scotland). She was obstinate, and +would not illuminate, though with child, and, as they hope, of an heir +to the family, and with the Duke, her son, and the rest of her children +in the house. There is a small court and parapet wall before the house: +they brought iron crows, tore down the gates, pulled up the pavement, +and battered the house for three hours. They could not find the key of +the back door, nor send for any assistance. The night before, they had +obliged the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland to give them beer, and +appear at the windows, and drink "Wilkes's health." They stopped and +opened the coach of Count Seilern, the Austrian ambassador, who has made +a formal complaint, on which the Council met on Wednesday night, and +were going to issue a Proclamation, but, hearing that all was quiet, and +that only a few houses were illuminated in Leicester Fields from the +terror of the inhabitants, a few constables were sent with orders to +extinguish the lights, and not the smallest disorder has happened since. +In short, it has ended like other election riots, and with not a quarter +of the mischief that has been done in some other towns. + +There are, however, difficulties to come. Wilkes has notified that he +intends to surrender himself to his outlawry, the beginning of next +term, which comes on the 17th of this month. There is said to be a flaw +in the proceedings, in which case his election will be good, though the +King's Bench may fine or imprison him on his former sentence. In my own +opinion, the House of Commons is the place where he can do the least +hurt, for he is a wretched speaker, and will sink to contempt, like +Admiral Vernon,[1] who I remember just such an illuminated hero, with +two birthdays in one year. You will say, he can write better than +Vernon--true; and therefore his case is more desperate. Besides, Vernon +was rich: Wilkes is undone; and, though he has had great support, his +patrons will be sick of maintaining him. He must either sink to poverty +and a jail, or commit new excesses, for which he will get knocked on the +head. The Scotch are his implacable enemies to a man. A Rienzi[2] cannot +stop: their histories are summed up in two words--a triumph and an +assassination. + +[Footnote 1: In 1739 our Government had declared war against Spain. +"There was at the time among the members of the Opposition in the House +of Commons a naval captain named Vernon, a man of bold, blustering +tongue, and presumed therefore by many to be of a corresponding +readiness of action. In some of the debates he took occasion to inveigh +against the timidity of our officers, who had hitherto, as he phrased +it, spared Porto Bello; and he affirmed that he could take it himself +with a squadron of six ships. The Ministry caught at the prospect of +delivering themselves from his harangues, and gave him half as many +ships again as he desired, with the temporary rank of Vice-admiral; and +on July, 1739, he sailed for the American coast. When he reached it he +found that the news of the rupture of the peace had not yet reached the +governor of the city, and that it was in no condition to resist an +attack. Many of the guns were dismounted; and for those that were +serviceable there was not sufficient ammunition. A fire of musketry +alone sufficed to win the fort that protected the entrance to the +harbour, and an equally brief cannonade drove the garrison from the +castle. The governor had no further means of defence; and thus in +forty-eight hours after his arrival Vernon had accomplished his boast, +and was master of the place." In a clever paper in the "Cambridge Museum +Philologicum" Bishop Thirlwall compared the man and his exploit to Cleon +and his achievement at Sphacteria in the Peloponnesian War. (See the +Editor's "History of the British Navy," c. 9.)] + +[Footnote 2: "_Rienzi._" + + Then turn we to her latest tribune's name, + From her ten thousand tyrants turn to thee, + Redeemer of dark centuries of shame, + The friend of Petrarch, hope of Italy, + Rienzi; last of Romans. + +("Childe Harold," iv. 114.) + +His story is told with almost more than his usual power by Gibbon (c. +70). Born in the lowest class, "he could inherit neither dignity nor +fortune; and the gift of a liberal education, which they painfully +bestowed, was the cause of his glory and his untimely end." He, while +still little more than a youth, had established such a reputation for +eloquence, that he was one of the deputies sent by the Commons to +Avignon to plead with the Pope (Clement VI.). The state of Rome, +aggravated by the absence of the Pope, was miserable in the extreme. The +citizens "were equally oppressed by the arrogance of the nobles and the +corruption of the magistrates." Rienzi recalled to their recollection +"the ancient glories of the Senate and people from whom all legal +authority was derived. He raised the enthusiasm of the populace; +collected a band of conspirators, at whose head, clad in complete +armour, he marched to the Capitol, and assumed the government of the +city, declining "the names of Senator or Consul, of King or Emperor, and +preferring the ancient and modern appellation of Tribune.... Never +perhaps has the energy and effect of a single mind been more remarkably +felt than in the sudden, though transient, reformation of Rome by the +Tribune Rienzi. A den of robbers was converted to the discipline of a +camp or convent. Patient to hear, swift to redress, inexorable to +punish, his tribunal was always accessible to the poor and the stranger; +nor could birth, nor dignity, nor the immunities of the Church protect +the offender or his accomplices." But his head was turned by his +success. He even caused himself to be crowned, while "his wife, his son, +and his uncle, a barber, exposed the contrast of vulgar manners and +princely expense; and, without acquiring the majesty, Rienzi degenerated +into the vices of a king." The people became indignant; the nobles whom +he had degraded found it easy to raise the public feeling against him. +Before the end of the same year (1347) he was forced to fly from Rome, +and lived in exile or imprisonment at Avignon seven years; and returned +to Rome in 1354, only to be murdered in an insurrection.] + +I must finish, for Lord Hertford is this moment come in, and insists on +my dining with the Prince of Monaco, who is come over to thank the King +for the presents his Majesty sent him on his kindness and attention to +the late Duke of York. You shall hear the suite of the above histories, +which I sit quietly and look at, having nothing more to do with the +storm, and sick of politics, but as a spectator, while they pass over +the stage of the world. Adieu! + + +_FLEETING FAME OF WITTICISMS--"THE MYSTERIOUS MOTHER."_ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _April_ 15, 1768. + +Mr. Chute tells me that you have taken a new house in Squireland, and +have given yourself up for two years more to port and parsons. I am very +angry, and resign you to the works of the devil or the church, I don't +care which. You will get the gout, turn Methodist, and expect to ride to +heaven upon your own great toe. I was happy with your telling me how +well you love me, and though I don't love loving, I could have poured +out all the fulness of my heart to such an old and true friend; but what +am I the better for it, if I am to see you but two or three days in the +year? I thought you would at last come and while away the remainder of +life on the banks of the Thames in gaiety and old tales. I have quitted +the stage, and the Clive[1] is preparing to leave it. We shall neither +of us ever be grave: dowagers roost all around us, and you could never +want cards or mirth. Will you end like a fat farmer, repeating annually +the price of oats, and discussing stale newspapers? There have you got, +I hear, into an old gallery, that has not been glazed since Queen +Elizabeth, and under the nose of an infant Duke and Duchess, that will +understand you no more than if you wore a ruff and a coif, and talk to +them of a call of Serjeants the year of the Spanish Armada! Your wit and +humour will be as much lost upon them, as if you talked the dialect of +Chaucer; for with all the divinity of wit, it grows out of fashion like +a fardingale. I am convinced that the young men at White's already laugh +at George Selwyn's _bon mots_ only by tradition. I avoid talking before +the youth of the age as I would dancing before them; for if one's tongue +don't move in the steps of the day, and thinks to please by its old +graces, it is only an object of ridicule, like Mrs. Hobart in her +cotillon. I tell you we should get together, and comfort ourselves with +reflecting on the brave days that we have known--not that I think people +were a jot more clever or wise in our youth than they are now; but as my +system is always to live in a vision as much as I can, and as visions +don't increase with years, there is nothing so natural as to think one +remembers what one does not remember. + +[Footnote 1: Mrs. Clive was a celebrated comic actress and wit, and a +near neighbour of Walpole at Twickenham.] + +[Illustration: STRAWBERRY HILL, FROM THE NORTH-WEST.] + +I have finished my Tragedy ["The Mysterious Mother"], but as you would +not bear the subject, I will say no more of it, but that Mr. Chute, who +is not easily pleased, likes it, and Gray, who is still more difficult, +approves it. I am not yet intoxicated enough with it to think it would +do for the stage, though I wish to see it acted; but, as Mrs. +Pritchard[1] leaves the stage next month, I know nobody could play the +Countess; nor am I disposed to expose myself to the impertinences of +that jackanapes Garrick, who lets nothing appear but his own wretched +stuff, or that of creatures still duller, who suffer him to alter their +pieces as he pleases. I have written an epilogue in character for the +Clive, which she would speak admirably: but I am not so sure that she +would like to speak it. Mr. Conway, Lady Aylesbury, Lady Lyttelton, and +Miss Rich, are to come hither the day after to-morrow, and Mr. Conway +and I are to read my play to them; for I have not strength enough to go +through the whole alone. + +[Footnote 1: Mrs. Pritchard was the most popular tragic actress of the +day. Churchill gives her high praise-- + + In spite of outward blemishes, she shone + For humour fam'd, and humour all her own. + +("Rosciad," 840.)] + +My press is revived, and is printing a French play written by the old +President Hénault.[1] It was damned many years ago at Paris, and yet I +think is better than some that have succeeded, and much better than any +of our modern tragedies. I print it to please the old man, as he was +exceedingly kind to me at Paris; but I doubt whether he will live till +it is finished. He is to have a hundred copies, and there are to be but +a hundred more, of which you shall have one. + +[Footnote 1: M. Hénault was President of the Parliament of Paris. His +tragedy was "Cornelie." He died in 1770, at the age of eighty-six.] + +Adieu! though I am very angry with you, I deserve all your friendship, +by that I have for you, witness my anger and disappointment. Yours ever. + +P.S.--Send me your new direction, and tell me when I must begin to use +it. + + +_CASE OF WILKES._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 9, 1768. + +To send you empty paragraphs when you expect and want news is +tantalising, is it not? Pray agree with me, and then you will allow that +I have acted very kindly in not writing till I had something to tell +you. _Something_, of course, means Wilkes, for everything is nothing +except the theme of the day. There has appeared a violent _North +Briton_, addressed to, and written against Lord Mansfield, threatening a +rebellion if he continued to persecute Mr. Wilkes. This paper, they say, +Wilkes owned to the Chevalier de Chastelux, a French gentleman, who went +to see him in the King's Bench, and who knew him at Paris. A rebellion +threatened in print is not very terrible. However, it was said that the +paper was outrageous enough to furnish the Law with every handle it +could want. But modern mountains do not degenerate from their ancestors; +their issue are still mice. You know, too, that this agrees with my +system, that this is an age of abortions. Prosecutions were ordered +against the publishers and vendors, and there, I suppose, it will end. + +Yesterday was fixed for the appearance of Wilkes in Westminster Hall. +The Judges went down by nine in the morning, but the mob had done +breakfast still sooner, and was there before them; and as Judges stuffed +out with dignity and lamb-skins are not absolute sprites, they had much +ado to glide through the crowd. Wilkes's counsel argued against the +outlawry, and then Lord Mansfield, in a speech of an hour and a half, +set it aside; not on _their_ reasons, but on grounds which he had +discovered in it himself. I think they say it was on some flaw in the +Christian name of the county, which should not have been _Middlesex to +wit_,--but I protest I don't know, for I am here alone, and picked up my +intelligence as I walked in our meadows by the river. You, who may be +walking by the Arno, will, perhaps, think there was some timidity in +this; but the depths of the Law are wonderful! So pray don't make any +rash conclusions, but stay till you get better information. + +Well! now he is gone to prison again,--I mean Wilkes; and on Tuesday he +is to return to receive sentence on the old guilt of writing, as the +Scotch would _not_ call it, _the_ 45,[1] though they call the rebellion +so. The sentence may be imprisonment, fine, or pillory; but as I am +still near the Thames, I do not think the latter will be chosen. Oh! but +stay, he may plead against the indictment, and should there be an +improper _Middlesex to wit_ in that too, why then in that case, you +know, he did _not_ write _the_ 45, and then he is as white as milk, and +as free as air, and as good a member of Parliament as if he had never +been expelled. In short, my dear Sir, I am trying to explain to you +what I literally do not understand; all I do know is, that Mr. Cooke, +the other member for Middlesex, is just dead, and that we are going to +have another Middlesex election, which is very unpleasant to me, who +hate mobs so near as Brentford. Sergeant Glynn, Wilkes's counsel, is the +candidate, and I suppose the only one in the present humour of the +people, who will care to have his brains dashed out, in order to sit in +Parliament. In truth, this enthusiasm is confined to the very mob or +little higher, and does not extend beyond the County. All other riots +are ceased, except the little civil war between the sailors and +coal-heavers, in which two or three lives are lost every week. + +[Footnote 1: "_The_ 45" here serves for the Scotch rebellion of 1745, +and for No. 45 of the _North Briton_.] + +What is most disagreeable, even the Emperor of Morocco has taken courage +on these tumults, and has dared to mutiny for increase of wages, like +our journeymen tailors. France is pert too, and gives herself airs in +the Mediterranean. Our Paolists were violent for support of Corsica, but +I think they are a little startled on a report that the hero Paoli is +like other patriots, and is gone to Versailles, for a peerage and +pension. I was told to-day that at London there are murmurs of a war. I +shall be sorry if it prove so. Deaths! suspense, say victory;--how end +all our victories? In debts and a wretched peace! Mad world, in the +individual or the aggregate! + +Well! say I to myself, and what is all this to me? Have not I done with +that world? Am not I here at peace, unconnected with Courts and +Ministries, and indifferent who is Minister? What is a war in Europe to +me more than a war between the Turkish and Persian Emperors? True; yet +self-love makes one love the nation one belongs to, and vanity makes one +wish to have that nation glorious. Well! I have seen it so; I have seen +its conquests spread farther than Roman eagles thought there was land. I +have seen too the Pretender at Derby; and, therefore, you must know that +I am content with historic seeing, and wish Fame and History would be +quiet and content without entertaining me with any more sights. We were +down at Derby, we were up at both Indies; I have no curiosity for any +intermediate sights. + +Your brother was with me just before I came out of town, and spoke of +you with great kindness, and accused himself of not writing to you, but +protested it was from not knowing what to say to you about the Riband. I +engaged to write for him, so you must take this letter as from him too. + +I hope there will be no war for some hero to take your honours out of +your mouth, sword in hand. The first question I shall ask when I go to +town will be, how my Lord Chatham does? I shall mind his health more +than the stocks. The least symptom of a war will certainly cure him. +Adieu! my dear Sir. + + +_THE ENGLISH CLIMATE._ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 15, 1768. + +No, I cannot be so false as to say I am glad you are pleased with your +situation. You are so apt to take root, that it requires ten years to +dig you out again when you once begin to settle. As you go pitching your +tent up and down, I wish you were still more a Tartar, and shifted your +quarters perpetually. Yes, I will come and see you; but tell me first, +when do your Duke and Duchess [the Argylls] travel to the North? I know +that he is a very amiable lad, and I do not know that she is not as +amiable a _laddess_, but I had rather see their house comfortably when +they are not there. + +I perceive the deluge fell upon you before it reached us. It began here +but on Monday last, and then rained near eight-and-forty hours without +intermission. My poor hay has not a dry thread to its back. I have had a +fire these three days. In short, every summer one lives in a state of +mutiny and murmur, and I have found the reason: it is because we will +affect to have a summer, and we have no title to any such thing. Our +poets learnt their trade of the Romans, and so adopted the terms of +their masters. They talk of shady groves, purling streams, and cooling +breezes, and we get sore-throats and agues with attempting to realise +these visions. Master Damon writes a song, and invites Miss Chloe to +enjoy the cool of the evening, and the deuce a bit have we of any such +thing as a cool evening. Zephyr is a north-east wind, that makes Damon +button up to the chin, and pinches Chloe's nose till it is red and blue; +and then they cry, _This is a bad summer_! as if we ever had any other. +The best sun we have is made of Newcastle coal, and I am determined +never to reckon upon any other. We ruin ourselves with inviting over +foreign trees, and making our houses clamber up hills to look at +prospects. How our ancestors would laugh at us, who knew there was no +being comfortable, unless you had a high hill before your nose, and a +thick warm wood at your back! Taste is too freezing a commodity for us, +and, depend upon it, will go out of fashion again. + +There is indeed a natural warmth in this country, which, as you say, I +am very glad not to enjoy any longer; I mean the hot-house in St. +Stephen's chapel. My own sagacity makes me very vain, though there was +very little merit in it. I had seen so much of all parties, that I had +little esteem left for any; it is most indifferent to me who is in or +who is out, or which is set in the pillory, Mr. Wilkes or my Lord +Mansfield. I see the country going to ruin, and no man with brains +enough to save it. That is mortifying; but what signifies who has the +undoing it? I seldom suffer myself to think on this subject: _my_ +patriotism could do no good, and my philosophy can make me be at peace. + +I am sorry you are likely to lose your poor cousin Lady Hinchinbrook: I +heard a very bad account of her when I was last in town. Your letter to +Madame Roland shall be taken care of; but as you are so scrupulous of +making me pay postage, I must remember not to overcharge you, as I can +frank my idle letters no longer; therefore, good night! + +P.S.--I was in town last week, and found Mr. Chute still confined. He +had a return in his shoulder, but I think it more rheumatism than gout. + + +_VOLTAIRE'S CRITICISMS ON SHAKESPEARE--PARNELL'S "HERMIT."_ + +TO MONSIEUR DE VOLTAIRE. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 27, 1768. + +One can never, Sir, be sorry to have been in the wrong, when one's +errors are pointed out to one in so obliging and masterly a manner. +Whatever opinion I may have of Shakspeare, I should think him to blame, +if he could have seen the letter you have done me the honour to write to +me, and yet not conform to the rules you have there laid down. When he +lived, there had not been a Voltaire both to give laws to the stage, and +to show on what good sense those laws were founded. Your art, Sir, goes +still farther: for you have supported your arguments, without having +recourse to the best authority, your own Works. It was my interest +perhaps to defend barbarism and irregularity. A great genius is in the +right, on the contrary, to show that when correctness, nay, when +perfection is demanded, he can still shine, and be himself, whatever +fetters are imposed on him. But I will say no more on this head; for I +am neither so unpolished as to tell you to your face how much I admire +you, nor, though I have taken the liberty to vindicate Shakspeare +against your criticisms, am I vain enough to think myself an adversary +worthy of you. I am much more proud of receiving laws from you, than of +contesting them. It was bold in me to dispute with you even before I had +the honour of your acquaintance; it would be ungrateful now when you +have not only taken notice of me, but forgiven me. The admirable letter +you have been so good as to send me, is a proof that you are one of +those truly great and rare men who know at once how to conquer and to +pardon. + +I have made all the inquiry I could into the story of M. de Jumonville; +and though your and our accounts disagree, I own I do not think, Sir, +that the strongest evidence is in our favour. I am told we allow he was +killed by a party of our men, going to the Ohio. Your countrymen say he +was going with a flag of truce. The commanding officer of our party said +M. de Jumonville was going with hostile intentions; and that very +hostile orders were found after his death in his pocket. Unless that +officer had proved that he had previous intelligence of those orders, I +doubt he will not be justified by finding them afterwards; for I am not +at all disposed to believe that he had the foreknowledge of your +hermit,[1] who pitched the old woman's nephew into the river, because +"ce jeune homme auroit assassiné sa tante dans un an." + +I am grieved that such disputes should ever subsist between two nations +who have everything in themselves to create happiness, and who may find +enough in each other to love and admire. It is your benevolence, Sir, +and your zeal for softening the manners of mankind; it is the doctrine +of peace and amity which you preach, that have raised my esteem for you +even more than the brightness of your genius. France may claim you in +the latter light, but all nations have a right to call you their +countryman _du côté du coeur_. It is on the strength of that connection +that I beg you, Sir, to accept the homage of, Sir, your most obedient +humble servant.[2] + +[Footnote 1: The idea of Voltaire's fable in "Zadig," c. 20, is believed +to have been borrowed from Parnell's "Hermit," but Mr. Wright suggests +that it was more probably taken from one of the "Contes Devots, de +l'Hermite qu'un ange conduisit dans le Siècle," which is published in +the "Nouveau Recueil de Fabliaux et Contes."] + +[Footnote 2: The letter of Voltaire to which the above is a reply, +contained the following opinion of Walpole's "Historic Doubts";--"Avant +le départ de ma lettre, j'ai eu le tems, Monsieur, de lire votre Richard +Trois. Vous seriez un excellent attornei général; vous pesez toutes les +probabilités; mais il paroit que vous avez une inclination secrete pour +ce bossu. Vous voulez qu'il ait été beau garçon, et même galant homme. +Le bénédictin Calmet a fait une dissertation pour prouver que Jesus +Christ avait un fort beau visage. Je veux croire avec vous, que Richard +Trois n'était ni si laid, ni si méchant, qu'on le dit; mais je n'aurais +pas voulu avoir affaire à lui. Votre rose blanche et votre rose rouge +avaient de terribles épines pour la nation. + +"Those gracious kings are all a pack of rogues. En lisant l'histoire des +York et des Lancastre, et de bien d'autres, on croit lire l'histoire des +voleurs de grand chemin. Pour votre Henri Sept, il n'était que coupeur +de bourses. Be a minister or an anti-minister, a lord or a philosopher, +I will be, with an equal respect, Sir, &c."] + + +_ARRIVAL OF THE KING OF DENMARK--HIS POPULARITY WITH THE MOB._ + +TO THE EARL OF STRAFFORD. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Aug._ 16, 1768. + +As you have been so good, my dear lord, as twice to take notice of my +letter, I am bound in conscience and gratitude to try to amuse you with +anything new. A royal visitor, quite fresh, is a real curiosity--by the +reception of him, I do not think many more of the breed will come +hither. He came from Dover in hackney-chaises; for somehow or other the +Master of the Horse happened to be in Lincolnshire; and the King's +coaches having received no orders, were too good subjects to go and +fetch a stranger King of their own heads. However, as his Danish Majesty +travels to improve himself for the good of his people, he will go back +extremely enlightened in the arts of government and morality, by having +learned that crowned heads may be reduced to ride in a hired chaise.[1] + +[Footnote 1: The King, travelling, as is usual with kings, _incognito_, +assumed the title of the Comte de Travendahl.] + +By another mistake, King George happened to go to Richmond about an hour +before King Christiern arrived in London. An hour is exceedingly long; +and the distance to Richmond still longer; so that with all the dispatch +that could possibly be made, King George could not get back to his +capital till next day at noon. Then, as the road from his closet at St. +James's to the King of Denmark's apartment on t'other side of the palace +is about thirty miles, which posterity, having no conception of the +prodigious extent and magnificence of St. James's, will never believe, +it was half an hour after three before his Danish Majesty's courier +could go and return to let him know that his good brother and ally was +leaving the palace in which they both were, in order to receive him at +the Queen's palace, which you know is about a million of snail's paces +from St. James's. Notwithstanding these difficulties and unavoidable +delays, Woden, Thor, Friga, and all the gods that watch over the Kings +of the North, did bring these two invincible monarchs to each other's +embraces about half an hour after five that same evening. They passed +an hour in projecting a family compact that will regulate the destiny of +Europe to latest posterity: and then, the Fates so willing it, the +British Prince departed for Richmond, and the Danish potentate repaired +to the widowed mansion of his Royal Mother-in-Law, where he poured forth +the fulness of his heart in praises on the lovely bride she had bestowed +on him, from whom nothing but the benefit of his subjects could ever +have torn him.--And here let Calumny blush, who has aspersed so chaste +and faithful a monarch with low amours; pretending that he has raised to +the honour of a seat in his sublime council, an artisan of Hamburgh, +known only by repairing the soles of buskins, because that mechanic +would, on no other terms, consent to his fair daughter's being honoured +with majestic embraces. So victorious over his passions is this young +Scipio from the Pole, that though on Shooter's Hill he fell into an +ambush laid for him by an illustrious Countess, of blood-royal herself, +his Majesty, after descending from his car, and courteously greeting +her, again mounted his vehicle, without being one moment eclipsed from +the eyes of the surrounding multitude.--Oh! mercy on me! I am out of +breath--pray let me descend from my stilts, or I shall send you as +fustian and tedious a History as that of [Lyttelton's] Henry II. Well, +then, this great King is a very little one; not ugly, nor ill-made. He +has the sublime strut of his grandfather, or of a cock-sparrow; and the +divine white eyes of all his family by the mother's side. His curiosity +seems to have consisted in the original plan of travelling, for I cannot +say he takes notice of anything in particular. His manner is cold and +dignified, but very civil and gracious and proper. The mob adore him and +huzza him; and so they did the first instant. At present they begin to +know why--for he flings money to them out of his windows; and by the end +of the week I do not doubt but they will want to choose him for +Middlesex. His Court is extremely well ordered; for they bow as low to +him at every word as if his name was Sultan Amurat. You would take his +first minister for only the first of his slaves.--I hope this example, +which they have been so good as to exhibit at the opera, will contribute +to civilize us. There is indeed a pert young gentleman, who a little +discomposes this august ceremonial. His name is Count Holke, his age +three-and-twenty; and his post answers to one that we had formerly in +England, many ages ago, and which in our tongue was called the lord high +favourite. Before the Danish monarchs became absolute, the most +refractory of that country used to write libels, called _North Danes_, +against this great officer; but that practice has long since ceased. +Count Holke seems rather proud of his favour, than shy of displaying it. + +I hope, my dear lord, you will be content with my Danish politics, for I +trouble myself with no other. There is a long history about the Baron de +Bottetourt and Sir Jeffery Amherst, who has resigned his regiment; but +it is nothing to me, nor do I care a straw about it. I am deep in the +anecdotes of the new Court; and if you want to know more of Count Holke +or Count Molke, or the grand vizier Bernsdorff, or Mynheer Schimmelman, +apply to me, and you shall be satisfied. But what do I talk of? You will +see them yourself. Minerva in the shape of Count Bernsdorff, or out of +all shape in the person of the Duchess of Northumberland, is to conduct +Telemachus to York races; for can a monarch be perfectly accomplished in +the mysteries of king-craft, as our Solomon James I. called it, unless +he is initiated in the arts of jockeyship? When this northern star +travels towards its own sphere, Lord Hertford will go to Ragley. I shall +go with him; and, if I can avoid running foul of the magi that will be +thronging from all parts to worship that star, I will endeavour to call +at Wentworth Castle for a day or two, if it will not be inconvenient; I +should think it would be about the second week in September, but your +lordship shall hear again, unless you should forbid me, who am ever Lady +Strafford's and your lordship's most faithful humble servant. + + +_WILKES'S ELECTION--THE COMTESSE DE BARRI--THE DUC DE CHOISEUL'S +INDISCRETION._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Jan._ 31, 1769. + +The affair of Wilkes is rather undecided yet, than in suspense.[1] It +has been a fair trial between faction and corruption; of two such common +creatures, the richest will carry it. + +[Footnote 1: Wilkes had been elected a member of the Common Council.] + +The Court of Aldermen set aside the election of Wilkes on some +informality, but he was immediately re-chosen. This happened on Friday +last, the very day of his appearance at the House of Commons. He went +thither without the least disturbance or mob, having dispersed his +orders accordingly, which are obeyed implicitly. He did not, however, +appear at the bar till ten at night, the day being wasted in debating +whether he should be suffered to enter on his case at large, or be +restrained to his two chief complaints. The latter was carried by 270 +to 131, a majority that he will not easily reduce. He was then called +in, looked ill, but behaved decently, and demanded to take the oaths and +his seat. This affair, after a short debate, was refused; and his +counsel being told the restrictions imposed, the House adjourned at +midnight. To-day he goes again to the House, but whatever steps he takes +there, or however long debates he may occasion, you may look upon his +fate as decided in that place. + +We are in hourly expectation of hearing that a nymph, more common still +than the two I have mentioned, has occasioned what Wilkes has failed in +now, a change in an administration. I mean the Comtesse du Barri.[1] The +_grands habits_ are made, and nothing wanting for her presentation +but--what do you think? some woman of quality to present her. In that +servile Court and country, the nobility have had spirit enough to +decline paying their court, though the King has stooped _à des +bassesses_ to obtain it. The Duc de Choiseul will be the victim; and +they pretend to say that he has declared he will resign _à l'Anglaise_, +rather than be _chassé_ by such a creature. His indiscretion is +astonishing: he has said at his own table, and she has been told so, +"Madame du Barri est très mal informée; on ne parle pas des Catins chez +moi." Catin diverts herself and King Solomon the wise with tossing +oranges into the air after supper, and crying, "_Saute, Choiseul! saute, +Praslin_!" and then Solomon laughs heartily. Sometimes she flings powder +in his sage face, and calls him _Jean Farine_! Well! we are not the +foolishest nation in Europe yet! It is supposed that the Duc d'Aiguillon +will be the successor. + +[Footnote 1: This woman, one of the very lowest of the low, had caught +the fancy of Louis XV.; and, as according to the curious etiquette of +the French Court, it was indispensable that a king's mistress should be +married, the Comte du Barri, a noble of old family, but ruined by +gambling, was induced to marry her.] + +I am going to send away this letter, because you will be impatient, and +the House will not rise probably till long after the post is gone out. I +did not think last May that you would hear this February that there was +an end of mobs, that Wilkes was expelled, and the colonies quieted. +However, pray take notice that I do not stir a foot out of the province +of gazetteer into that of prophet. I protest, I know no more than a +prophet what is to come. Adieu! + + +_A GARDEN PARTY AT STRAWBERRY--A RIDOTTO AT VAUXHALL._ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _May_ 11, 1769. + +You are so wayward, that I often resolve to give you up to your humours. +Then something happens with which I can divert you, and my good-nature +returns. Did not you say you should return to London long before this +time? At least, could you not tell me you had changed your mind? why am +I to pick it out from your absence and silence, as Dr. Warburton found a +future state in Moses's saying nothing of the matter! I could go on with +a chapter of severe interrogatories, but I think it more cruel to treat +you as a hopeless reprobate; yes, you are graceless, and as I have a +respect for my own scolding, I shall not throw it away upon you. + +Strawberry has been in great glory; I have given a festino there that +will almost mortgage it. Last Tuesday all France dined there: Monsieur +and Madame du Châtelet, the Duc de Liancourt, three more French ladies, +whose names you will find in the enclosed paper, eight other Frenchmen, +the Spanish and Portuguese ministers, the Holdernesses, Fitzroys, in +short, we were four and twenty. They arrived at two. At the gates of the +castle I received them, dressed in the cravat of Gibbons's carving, and +a pair of gloves embroidered up to the elbows that had belonged to James +I. The French servants stared, and firmly believed this was the dress of +English country gentlemen. After taking a survey of the apartment, we +went to the printing-house, where I had prepared the enclosed verses, +with translations by Monsieur de Lille, one of the company. The moment +they were printed off, I gave a private signal, and French horns and +clarionets accompanied this compliment. We then went to see Pope's +grotto and garden, and returned to a magnificent dinner in the +refectory. + +In the evening we walked, had tea, coffee, and lemonade in the Gallery, +which was illuminated with a thousand, or thirty candles, I forget +which, and played at whisk and loo till midnight. Then there was a cold +supper, and at one the company returned to town, saluted by fifty +nightingales, who, as tenants of the manor, came to do honour to their +lord. + +I cannot say last night was equally agreeable. There was what they +called a _ridotto al fresco_ at Vauxhall,[1] for which one paid +half-a-guinea, though, except some thousand more lamps and a covered +passage all round the garden, which took off from the gardenhood, there +was nothing better than on a common night. Mr. Conway and I set out from +his house at eight o'clock; the tide and torrent of coaches was so +prodigious, that it was half-an-hour after nine before we got half way +from Westminster Bridge. We then alighted; and after scrambling under +bellies of horses, through wheels, and over posts and rails, we reached +the gardens, where were already many thousand persons. Nothing diverted +me but a man in a Turk's dress and two nymphs in masquerade without +masks, who sailed amongst the company, and, which was surprising, seemed +to surprise nobody. It had been given out that people were desired to +come in fancied dresses without masks. We walked twice round and were +rejoiced to come away, though with the same difficulties as at our +entrance; for we found three strings of coaches all along the road, who +did not move half a foot in half-an-hour. There is to be a rival mob in +the same way at Ranelagh to-morrow; for the greater the folly and +imposition the greater is the crowd. I have suspended the vestimenta[2] +that were torn off my back to the god of repentance, and shall stay +away. Adieu! I have not a word more to say to you. Yours ever. + +P.S.--I hope you will not regret paying a shilling for this packet. + +[Footnote 1: The ridotto was a Venetian entertainment-- + + They went to the _Ridotto_--'tis a hall + Where people dance, and sup, and dance again; + Its proper name, perhaps, was a masqued ball, + But that's of no importance to my strain; + 'Tis (on a smaller scale) like our Vauxhall, + Excepting that it can't be spoilt by rain; + The company is "mix'd"--the phrase I quote is + As much as saying, they're below your notice. + +Beppo, st. 38.] + +[Footnote 2: "_Vestimenta._" Imitating Horace, who relates of himself-- + + Me tabulà sacer + Votivâ paries indicat uvida + Suspendisse potenti + Vestimenta maris Deo (Od. i. 5).] + + +_PAOLI--AMBASSADORIAL ETIQUETTE._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 14, 1769. + +I thank you for the history of the Pope and his genealogy, or, rather, +for what is to be his genealogy; for I suppose all those tailors and +coachmen his relations will now found noble families. They may enrich +their blood with the remaining spoils of the Jesuits, unless, which +would not surprise me, his new Holiness should now veer about, and +endeavour to save the order; for I think the Church full as likely to +fall by sacrificing its janissaries, as by any attacks that can be made +upon it. _Deme unum, deme etiam unum._ + +If I care little about your Roman politics, I am not so indifferent +about your Corsican. Poor brave Paoli!--but he is not disgraced! We, +that have sat still and seen him overwhelmed, must answer it to history. +Nay, the Mediterranean will taunt us in the very next war. Choiseul +triumphs over us and Madame du Barri; her star seems to have lost its +influence. I do not know what another lady[1] will say to Choiseul on +the late behaviour of his friend, the Ambassador, here. As the adventure +will make a chapter in the new edition of Wiquefort, and, consequently, +will strike _you_, I will give you the detail. At the ball on the King's +birthday, Count Czernichew was sitting in the box of the Foreign +Ministers next to Count Seilern, the Imperial Ambassador. The latter, +who is as fierce as the Spread Eagle itself, and as stiff as the chin of +all the Ferdinands, was, according to his custom, as near to Jupiter as +was possible. Monsieur du Châtelet and the Prince de Masserano came in. +Châtelet sidled up to the two former, spoke to them and passed behind +them, but on a sudden lifted up his leg and thrust himself in between +the two Imperials. The Russian, astonished and provoked, endeavoured to +push him away, and a jostle began that discomposed the faces and curls +of both; and the Russian even dropped the word _impertinent_. +Czernichew, however, quitted the spot of battle, and the Prince de +Masserano, in support of the family-compact, hobbled into the place +below Châtelet. As the two champions retired, more words at the door. +However, the Russian's coach being first, he astonished everybody by +proposing to set Monsieur du Châtelet down at his own house. In the +coach, _it is said_, the Frenchman protested he had meant nothing +personal either to Count Czernichew, or to the Russian Minister, but +having received orders from his Court to take place on all occasion +_next_ to the Imperial Ambassador, he had but done his duty. Next +morning he visited Czernichew, and they are _personally_ reconciled. It +was, however, feared that the dispute would be renewed, for, at the +King's next levée, both were at the door, ready to push in when it +should be opened; but the Russian kept behind, and at the bottom of the +room without mixing with the rest of the Foreign Ministers. The King, +who was much offended at what had passed, called Count Czernichew into +the middle of the room, and talked to him for a very considerable time. +Since then, the Lord Chamberlain has been ordered to notify to all the +Foreign Ministers that the King looks on the ball at Court as a private +ball, and declares, _to prevent such disagreeable altercations for the +future_, that there is no precedence there. This declaration is +ridiculed, because the ball at Court is almost the only ceremony that is +observed there, and certainly the most formal, the princes of the blood +dancing first, and everybody else being taken out according to their +rank. Yet the King, being the fountain of all rank, may certainly +declare what he pleases, especially in his own palace. The public +papers, which seldom spare the French, are warm for the Russian. +Châtelet, too, is not popular, nor well at Court. He is wrong-headed, +and at Vienna was very near drawing his Court into a scrape by his +haughtiness. His own friends even doubt whether this last exploit will +not offend at Versailles, as the Duc de Choiseul has lately been +endeavouring to soften the Czarina, wishes to send a minister thither, +and has actually sent an agent. Châtelet was to have gone this week, but +I believe waits to hear how his behaviour is taken. Personally, I am +quite on his side, though I think him in the wrong; but he is extremely +civil to me; I live much at his house, admire his wife exceedingly, and, +besides, you know, have declared war with the Czarina; so what I say is +quite in confidence to you, and for your information. As an Englishman, +I am whatever Madam Great Britain can expect of me. As intimate with the +Châtelets, and extremely attached to the Duchess of Choiseul, I detest +Madame du Barri and her faction. You, who are a Foreign Minister, and +can distinguish like a theologian between the _two natures_ perfectly +comprehend all this; and, therefore, to the charity of your casuistry I +recommend myself in this jumble of contradictions, which you may be sure +do not give me any sort of trouble either way. At least I have not +_three_ distinctions, like Châtelet when he affronted Czernichew, but +neither in his private nor public capacity. + +[Footnote 1: The Czarina.] + +This fracas happens very luckily, as we had nothing left to talk of; for +of the Pope we think no more, according to the old saying, than of the +Pope of Rome. Of Wilkes there is no longer any question, and of the war +under the Pole we hear nothing. Corsica, probably, will occasion +murmurs, but they will be preserved in pickle till next winter. I am +come hither for two months, very busy with finishing my round tower, +which has stood still these five years, and with an enchanting new +cottage that I have built, and other little works. In August I shall go +to Paris for six weeks. In short, I am delighted with having bid adieu +to Parliament and politics, and with doing nothing but what I like all +the year round. + + +_HIS RETURN TO PARIS--MADAME DEFFAND--A TRANSLATION OF "HAMLET"--MADAME +DUMENIL--VOLTAIRE'S "MEROPE" AND "LES GUÈBRES._" + +TO JOHN CHUTE, ESQ. + +PARIS, _Aug._ 30, 1769. + +I have been so hurried with paying and receiving visits, that I have not +had a moment's worth of time to write. My passage was very tedious, and +lasted near nine hours for want of wind.--But I need not talk of my +journey; for Mr. Maurice, whom I met on the road, will have told you +that I was safe on _terra firma_. + +Judge of my surprise at hearing four days ago, that my Lord Dacre and my +lady were arrived here. They are lodged within a few doors of me. He is +come to consult a Doctor Pomme who has prescribed wine, and Lord Dacre +already complains of the violence of his appetite. If you and I had +_pommed_ him to eternity, he would not have believed us. A man across +the sea tells him the plainest thing in the world; that man happens to +be called a doctor; and happening for novelty to talk common sense, is +believed, as if he had talked nonsense! and what is more extraordinary, +Lord Dacre thinks himself better, _though_ he is so. + +My dear old woman [Madame du Deffand] is in better health than when I +left her, and her spirits so increased, that I tell her she will go mad +with age. When they ask her how old she is, she answers, "J'ai soixante +et mille ans." She and I went to the Boulevard last night after supper, +and drove about there till two in the morning. We are going to sup in +the country this evening, and are to go to-morrow night at eleven to the +puppet-show. A _protégé_ of hers has written a piece for that theatre. I +have not yet seen Madame du Barri, nor can get to see her picture at the +exposition at the Louvre, the crowds are so enormous that go thither for +that purpose. As royal curiosities are the least part of my _virtù_, I +wait with patience. Whenever I have an opportunity I visit gardens, +chiefly with a view to Rosette's having a walk. She goes nowhere else, +because there is a distemper among the dogs. + +There is going to be represented a translation of Hamlet; who when his +hair is cut, and he is curled and powdered, I suppose will be exactly +_Monsieur le Prince Oreste_. T'other night I was at "Mérope." The +Dumenil was as divine as Mrs. Porter[1]; they said her familiar tones +were those of a _poissonnière_. In the last act, when one expected the +catastrophe, Narbas, more interested than anybody to see the event, +remained coolly on the stage to hear the story. The Queen's maid of +honour entered without her handkerchief, and her hair most artfully +undressed, and reeling as if she was maudlin, sobbed out a long +narrative, that did not prove true; while Narbas, with all the good +breeding in the world, was more attentive to her fright than to what had +happened. So much for propriety. Now for probability. Voltaire has +published a tragedy, called "Les Guèbres." Two Roman colonels open the +piece: they are brothers, and relate to one another, how they lately in +company destroyed, by the Emperor's mandate, a city of the Guèbres, in +which were their own wives and children; and they recollect that they +want prodigiously to know whether both their families did perish in the +flames. The son of the one and the daughter of the other are taken up +for heretics, and, thinking themselves brother and sister, insist upon +being married, and upon being executed for their religion. The son stabs +his father, who is half a Guèbre, too. The high-priest rants and roars. +The Emperor arrives, blames the pontiff for being a persecutor, and +forgives the son for assassinating his father (who does not die) +because--I don't know why, but that he may marry his cousin. The +grave-diggers in Hamlet have no chance, when such a piece as the Guèbres +is written agreeably to all rules and unities. Adieu, my dear Sir! I +hope to find you quite well at my return. Yours ever. + +[Footnote 1: Mme. Dumenil, as has been mentioned in a former note, was +the most popular of the French tragic actresses at this time, as Mrs. +Porter was of the English actresses.] + + +_THE FRENCH COURT--THE YOUNG PRINCES--ST. CYR--MADAME DE MAILLY._ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +PARIS, _Sunday night, Sept._ 17, 1769. + +I am heartily tired; but, as it is too early to go to bed, I must tell +you how agreeably I have passed the day. I wished for you; the same +scenes strike us both, and the same kind of visions has amused us both +ever since we were born. + +Well then; I went this morning to Versailles with my niece Mrs. +Cholmondeley, Mrs. Hart, Lady Denbigh's sister, and the Count de Grave, +one of the most amiable, humane, and obliging men alive. Our first +object was to see Madame du Barri. Being too early for mass, we saw the +Dauphin and his brothers at dinner. The eldest is the picture of the +Duke of Grafton, except that he is more fair, and will be taller. He has +a sickly air, and no grace. The Count de Provence has a very pleasing +countenance, with an air of more sense than the Count d'Artois, the +genius of the family. They already tell as many _bon-mots_ of the latter +as of Henri Quatre and Louis Quatorze. He is very fat, and the most like +his grandfather of all the children. You may imagine this royal mess did +not occupy us long: thence to the Chapel, where a first row in the +balconies was kept for us. Madame du Barri arrived over against us +below, without rouge, without powder, and indeed _sans avoir fait sa +toilette_; an odd appearance, as she was so conspicuous, close to the +altar, and amidst both Court and people. She is pretty, when you +consider her; yet so little striking, that I never should have asked who +she was. There is nothing bold, assuming or affected in her manner. Her +husband's sister was along with her. In the Tribune above, surrounded by +prelates, was the amorous and still handsome King. One could not help +smiling at the mixture of piety, pomp, and carnality. From chapel we +went to the dinner of the elder Mesdames. We were almost stifled in the +antechamber, where their dishes were heating over charcoal, and where we +could not stir for the press. When the doors are opened, everybody +rushes in, princes of the blood, _cordons bleus_, abbés, housemaids, and +the Lord knows who and what. Yet, so used are their highnesses to this +trade, that they eat as comfortably and heartily as you or I could do in +our own parlours. + +Our second act was much more agreeable. We quitted the Court and a +reigning mistress, for a dead one and a Cloister. In short, I had +obtained leave from the Bishop of Chartres to enter _into_ St. Cyr; and, +as Madame du Deffand never leaves anything undone that can give me +satisfaction, she had written to the abbess to desire I might see +everything that could be seen there. The Bishop's order was to admit me, +_Monsieur de Grave, et les dames de ma compagnie_: I begged the abbess +to give me back the order, that I might deposit it in the archives of +Strawberry, and she complied instantly. Every door flew open to us: and +the nuns vied in attentions to please us. The first thing I desired to +see was Madame de Maintenon's apartment. It consists of two small rooms, +a library, and a very small chamber, the same in which the Czar saw her, +and in which she died. The bed is taken away, and the room covered now +with bad pictures of the royal family, which destroys the gravity and +simplicity. It is wainscotted with oak, with plain chairs of the same, +covered with dark blue damask. Everywhere else the chairs are of blue +cloth. The simplicity and extreme neatness of the whole house, which is +vast, are very remarkable. A large apartment above (for that I have +mentioned is on the ground-floor), consisting of five rooms, and +destined by Louis Quatorze for Madame de Maintenon, is now the +infirmary, with neat white linen beds, and decorated with every text of +Scripture by which could be insinuated that the foundress was a Queen. +The hour of vespers being come, we were conducted to the chapel, and, as +it was _my_ curiosity that had led us thither, I was placed in the +Maintenon's own tribune; my company in the adjoining gallery. The +pensioners, two and two, each band headed by a man, march orderly to +their seats, and sing the whole service, which I confess was not a +little tedious. The young ladies, to the number of two hundred and +fifty, are dressed in black, with short aprons of the same, the latter +and their stays bound with blue, yellow, green, or red, to distinguish +the classes; the captains and lieutenants have knots of a different +colour for distinction. Their hair is curled and powdered, their +coiffure a sort of French round-eared caps, with white tippets, a sort +of ruff and large tucker: in short, a very pretty dress. The nuns are +entirely in black, with crape veils and long trains, deep white +handkerchiefs, and forehead cloths, and a very long train. The chapel is +plain but very pretty, and in the middle of the choir under a flat +marble lies the foundress. Madame de Cambis, one of the nuns, who are +about forty, is beautiful as a Madonna.[1] The abbess has no distinction +but a larger and richer gold cross: her apartment consists of two very +small rooms. Of Madame de Maintenon we did not see fewer than twenty +pictures. The young one looking over her shoulder has a round face, +without the least resemblance to those of her latter age. That in the +royal mantle, of which you know I have a copy, is the most repeated; but +there is another with a longer and leaner face, which has by far the +most sensible look. She is in black, with a high point head and band, a +long train, and is sitting in a chair of purple velvet. Before her +knees stands her niece Madame de Noailles, a child; at a distance a view +of Versailles or St. Cyr,[2] I could not distinguish which. We were +shown some rich reliquaires and the _corpo santo_ that was sent to her +by the Pope. We were then carried into the public room of each class. In +the first, the young ladies, who were playing at chess, were ordered to +sing to us the choruses of Athaliah; in another, they danced minuets and +country dances, while a nun, not quite so able as St. Cecilia, played on +a violin. In the others, they acted before us the proverbs or +conversations written by Madame de Maintenon for their instruction; for +she was not only their foundress but their saint, and their adoration of +her memory has quite eclipsed the Virgin Mary. We saw their dormitory, +and saw them at supper; and at last were carried to their archives, +where they produced volumes of her letters, and where one of the nuns +gave me a small piece of paper with three sentences in her handwriting. +I forgot to tell you, that this kind dame who took to me extremely, +asked me if we had many convents and relics in England. I was much +embarrassed for fear of destroying her good opinion of me, and so said +we had but few now. Oh! we went too to the _apothecairie_, where they +treated us with cordials, and where one of the ladies told me +inoculation was a sin, as it was a voluntary detention from mass, and as +voluntary a cause of eating _gras_. Our visit concluded in the garden, +now grown very venerable, where the young ladies played at little games +before us. After a stay of four hours we took our leave. I begged the +abbess's blessing; she smiled, and said, she doubted I should not place +much faith in it. She is a comely old gentlewoman, and very proud of +having seen Madame de Maintenon. Well! was not I in the right to wish +you with me?--could you have passed a day more agreeably. + +[Footnote 1: Madame du Deffand, in her letter to Walpole of the 10th of +May, 1776, encloses the following portrait of Madame de Cambise, by +Madame de la Vallière:--"Non, non, Madame, je ne ferai point votre +portrait: vous avez une manière d'être si noble, si fine, si piquante, +si délicate, si séduisante; votre gentilesse et vos graces changent si +souvent pour n'en être que plus aimable, que l'on ne peut saisir aucun +de vos traits ni au physique ni au moral." She was niece of La Marquise +de Boufflers, and, having fled to England at the breaking out of the +French Revolution, resided here until her death, which took place at +Richmond in January, 1809.] + +[Footnote 2: St. Cyr was a school founded by Mme. de Maintenon for the +education of girls of good families who were in reduced circumstances. +Mme. de Maintenon was the daughter of M. D'Aubigné, a writer of fair +repute both as a historian and a satirist. Her first husband had been a +M. Paul Scarron, a comic poet of indifferent reputation. After his +death, she was induced, after an artful show of affected reluctance, to +become governess to the children of Louis XIV. and Mme. de Montespan. +Louis gave her the small estate of Maintenon, and, after the death of +his queen, privately married her. She became devout, and, under the +tuition of the Jesuits, a violent promoter of the persecution of the +Huguenots. It was probably her influence that induced Louis to issue the +Edict revoking the Edict of Nantes promulgated by Henry IV. in 1598. She +outlived the King, and died in 1719.] + +I will conclude my letter with a most charming trait of Madame de +Mailly,[1] which cannot be misplaced in such a chapter of royal +concubines. Going to St. Sulpice, after she had lost the King's heart, a +person present desired the crowd to make way for her. Some brutal young +officers said, "Comment, pour cette catin là!" She turned to them, and +with the most charming modesty said--"Messieurs, puisque vous me +connoissez, priez Dieu pour moi." I am sure it will bring tears into +your eyes. Was she not the Publican and Maintenon the Pharisee? Good +night! I hope I am going to dream of all I have been seeing. As my +impressions and my fancy, when I am pleased, are apt to be strong, my +night perhaps may still be more productive of ideas than the day has +been. It will be charming indeed if Madame de Cambis is the ruling tint. +Adieu! + +Yours ever. + +[Footnote 1: Mme. de Mailly was the first of the mistresses of Louis XV. +She was the elder sister of the Duchesse de Chateauroux and Mme. de +Lauragais. She has the credit, such as it is, of having been really in +love with the King before she became acquainted with him; but she soon +retired, feeling repentance and shame at her position, and being +superseded in his fancy by the more showy attractions of her younger +sisters.] + + +_A MASQUERADE--STATE OF RUSSIA._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Feb._ 27, 1770. + +It is very lucky, seeing how much of the tiger enters into the human +composition, that there should be a good dose of the monkey too. If +Aesop had not lived so many centuries before the introduction of +masquerades and operas, he would certainly have anticipated my +observation, and worked it up into a capital fable. As we still trade +upon the stock of the ancients, we seldom deal in any other manufacture; +and, though nature, after new combinations, lets forth new +characteristics, it is very rarely that they are added to the old fund; +else how could so striking a remark have escaped being made, as mine, on +the joint ingredients of tiger and monkey? In France the latter +predominates, in England the former; but, like Orozmades and +Arimanius,[1] they get the better by turns. The bankruptcy in France, +and the rigours of the new Comptroller-General, are half forgotten, in +the expectation of a new opera at the new theatre. Our civil war has +been lulled asleep by a Subscription Masquerade, for which the House of +Commons literally adjourned yesterday. Instead of Fairfaxes and +Cromwells, we have had a crowd of Henry the Eighths, Wolseys, Vandykes, +and Harlequins; and because Wilkes was not mask enough, we had a man +dressed like him, with a visor, in imitation of his squint, and a Cap of +Liberty on a pole. In short, sixteen or eighteen young lords have given +the town a Masquerade; and politics, for the last fortnight, were forced +to give way to habit-makers. The ball was last night at Soho; and, if +possible, was more magnificent than the King of Denmark's. The Bishops +opposed: he of London formally remonstrated to the King, who did not +approve it, but could not help him. The consequence was, that four +divine vessels belonging to the holy fathers, alias their wives, were at +this Masquerade. Monkey again! A fair widow,[2] who once bore my whole +name, and now bears half of it, was there, with one of those whom the +newspapers call _great personages_--he dressed like Edward the Fourth, +she like Elizabeth Woodville,[3] in grey and pearls, with a black veil. +Methinks it was not very difficult to find out the meaning of those +masks. + +[Footnote 1: "_Orozmades and Arimanius._" In the Persian theology +Orozmades and Ahriman are the good and bad angels. In Scott's "Talisman" +the disguised Saracen (Saladin) invokes Ahriman as "the dark spirit." In +one of his earlier letters Walpole describes his friend Gray as +Orozmades.] + +[Footnote 2: "_A fair widow._" Lady Waldegrave, a natural daughter of +Walpole's uncle, married the King's favourite brother, the Duke of +Gloucester, the _great personage_. The King was very indignant at the +_mésalliance_; and this marriage, with that of the King's other brother, +the Duke of Cumberland, to Mrs. Horton, led to the enactment of the +Royal Marriage Act.] + +[Footnote 3: Elizabeth Woodville was the daughter of a Sir Richard +Woodville, and his wife, the Duchess of Bedford, the widow of the +illustrious brother of Henry V. Her first husband had been Sir John +Grey, a knight of the Lancastrian party; and, after his death, Edward +IV., attracted by her remarkable beauty, married her in 1464.] + +As one of my ancient passions, formerly, was Masquerades, I had a large +trunk of dresses by me. I dressed out a thousand young Conways and +Cholmondeleys, and went with more pleasure to see them pleased than when +I formerly delighted in that diversion myself. It has cost me a great +headache, and I shall probably never go to another. A symptom appeared +of the change that has happened in the people. + +The mob was beyond all belief: they held flambeaux to the windows of +every coach, and demanded to have the masks pulled off and put on at +their pleasure, but with extreme good-humour and civility. I was with my +Lady Hertford and two of her daughters, in their coach: the mob took me +for Lord Hertford, and huzzaed and blessed me! One fellow cried out, +"Are you for Wilkes?" another said, "D--n you, you fool, what has Wilkes +to do with a Masquerade?" + +In good truth, that stock is fallen very low. The Court has recovered a +majority of seventy-five in the House of Commons; and the party has +succeeded so ill in the Lords, that my Lord Chatham has betaken himself +to the gout, and appears no more. What Wilkes may do at his enlargement +in April, I don't know, but his star is certainly much dimmed. The +distress of France, the injustice they have been induced to commit on +public credit, immense bankruptcies, and great bankers hanging and +drowning themselves, are comfortable objects in our prospect; for one +tiger is charmed if another tiger loses his tail. + +There was a stroke of the monkey last night that will sound ill in the +ears of your neighbour the Pope. The heir-apparent of the House of +Norfolk, a drunken old mad fellow, was, though a Catholic, dressed like +a Cardinal: I hope he was scandalised at the wives of our Bishops. + +So you agree with me, and don't think that the crusado from Russia will +recover the Holy Land! It is a pity; for, if the Turks kept it a little +longer, I doubt it will be the Holy Land no longer. When Rome totters, +poor Jerusalem! As to your Count Orloff's[1] denying the murder of the +late Czar, it is no more than every felon does at the Old Bailey. If I +could write like Shakspeare, I would make Peter's ghost perch on the +dome of Sancta Sophia, and, when the Russian fleet comes in sight, roar, +with a voice of thunder that should reach to Petersburg, + + Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow! + +[Footnote 1: Count Orloff was one of the Czarina's earlier lovers, and +was universally understood to have been the principal agent in the +murder of her husband.] + +We have had two or three simpletons return from Russia, charmed with the +murderess, believing her innocent, _because_ she spoke graciously to +_them_ in the drawing-room. I don't know what the present Grand +Signior's name is, Osman, or Mustapha, or what, but I am extremely on +his side against Catherine of Zerbst; and I never intend to ask him for +a farthing, nor write panegyrics on him for pay, like Voltaire and +Diderot; so you need not say a word to him of my good wishes. Benedict +XIV. deserved my friendship, but being a sound Protestant, one would +not, you know, make all Turk and Pagan and Infidel princes too familiar. +Adieu! + +[Illustration: SIR ROBERT WALPOLE + +_From a mezzotint by J. Simon after a picture by Sir Godfrey Kneller_] + + +_WILKES--BURKE'S PAMPHLET--PREDICTION OF AMERICAN +REPUBLICS--EXTRAVAGANCE IN ENGLAND._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _May_ 6, 1770. + +I don't know whether Wilkes is subdued by his imprisonment, or waits for +the rising of Parliament, to take the field; or whether his dignity of +Alderman has dulled him into prudence, and the love of feasting; but +hitherto he has done nothing but go to City banquets and sermons, and +sit at Guildhall as a sober magistrate. With an inversion of the +proverb, "Si ex quovis Mercurio fit lignum!" What do you Italians think +of Harlequin Potesta?[1] In truth, his party is crumbled away strangely. +Lord Chatham has talked on the Middlesex election till nobody will +answer him; and Mr. Burke (Lord Rockingham's governor) has published a +pamphlet[2] that has sown the utmost discord between that faction and +the supporters of the Bill of Rights. Mrs. Macaulay[3] has written +against it. In Parliament their numbers are shrunk to nothing, and the +session is ending very triumphantly for the Court. But there is another +scene opened of a very different aspect. You have seen the accounts from +Boston. The tocsin seems to be sounded to America. I have many visions +about that country, and fancy I see twenty empires and republics forming +upon vast scales over all that continent, which is growing too mighty to +be kept in subjection to half a dozen exhausted nations in Europe. As +the latter sinks, and the others rise, they who live between the eras +will be a sort of Noahs, witnesses to the period of the old world and +origin of the new. I entertain myself with the idea of a future senate +in Carolina and Virginia, where their future patriots will harangue on +the austere and incorruptible virtue of the ancient English! will tell +their auditors of our disinterestedness and scorn of bribes and +pensions, and make us blush in our graves at their ridiculous +panegyrics. Who knows but even our Indian usurpations and villanies may +become topics of praise to American schoolboys? As I believe our virtues +are extremely like those of our predecessors the Romans, so I am sure +our luxury and extravagance are too. + +[Footnote 1: Podesta was an officer in some of the smaller Italian +towns, somewhat corresponding to our mayor. The name is Italianised from +the Roman Potestas-- + + Hajus, quo trahitur, praetextam sumere mavis, + An Fidenarum, Gabiorumque esse Potestas. + +(Juv., x. 100).] + +[Footnote 2: The pamphlet is, "Thoughts on the Present Discontents," +founding them especially on the unconstitutional influence of "the +King's friends."] + +[Footnote 3: Mrs. Macaulay was the wife of a London physician, and +authoress of a "History of England" from the accession of James I. to +that of George I., written in a spirit of the fiercest republicanism, +but long since forgotten.] + +What do you think of a winter Ranelagh[1] erecting in Oxford Road, at +the expense of sixty thousand pounds? The new bank, including the value +of the ground, and of the houses demolished to make room for it, will +cost three hundred thousand; and erected, as my Lady Townley[2] says, +_by sober citizens too_! I have touched before to you on the incredible +profusion of our young men of fashion. I know a younger brother who +literally gives a flower-woman half a guinea every morning for a bunch +of roses for the nosegay in his button-hole. There has lately been an +auction of stuffed birds; and, as natural history is in fashion, there +are physicians and others who paid forty and fifty guineas for a single +Chinese pheasant; you may buy a live one for five. After this, it is +not extraordinary that pictures should be dear. We have at present three +exhibitions. One West,[3] who paints history in the taste of Poussin, +gets three hundred pounds for a piece not too large to hang over a +chimney. He has merit, but is hard and heavy, and far unworthy of such +prices. The rage to see these exhibitions is so great, that sometimes +one cannot pass through the streets where they are. But it is incredible +what sums are raised by mere exhibitions of anything; a new fashion, and +to enter at which you pay a shilling or half-a-crown. Another rage, is +for prints of English portraits: I have been collecting them above +thirty years, and originally never gave for a mezzotinto above one or +two shillings. The lowest are now a crown; most, from half a guinea to a +guinea. Lately, I assisted a clergyman [Granger] in compiling a +catalogue of them; since the publication, scarce heads in books, not +worth threepence, will sell for five guineas. Then we have Etruscan +vases, made of earthenware, in Staffordshire, [by Wedgwood] from two to +five guineas, and _ormoulu_, never made here before, which succeeds so +well, that a tea-kettle, which the inventor offered for one hundred +guineas, sold by auction for one hundred and thirty. In short, we are at +the height of extravagance and improvements, for we do improve rapidly +in taste as well as in the former. I cannot say so much for our genius. +Poetry is gone to bed, or into our prose; we are like the Romans in +that too. If we have the arts of the Antonines,--we have the fustian +also. + +[Footnote 1: _"A winter Ranelagh._"--the Pantheon in Oxford Street.] + +[Footnote 2: Lady Townley is the principal character in "The Provoked +Husband."] + +[Footnote 3: West, as a painter, was highly esteemed by George III., +and, on the death of Sir J. Reynolds, succeeded him as President of the +Royal Academy.] + +Well! what becomes of your neighbours, the Pope and Turk? is one Babylon +to fall, and the other to moulder away? I begin to tremble for the poor +Greeks; they will be sacrificed like the Catalans, and left to be +impaled for rebellion, as soon as that vainglorious woman the Czarina +has glutted her lust of fame, and secured Azoph by a peace, which I hear +is all she insists on keeping. What strides modern ambition takes! _We_ +are the successors of Aurungzebe; and a virago under the Pole sends a +fleet into the Aegean Sea to rouse the ghosts of Leonidas and +Epaminondas, and burn the capital of the second Roman Empire! Folks now +scarce meddle with their next door neighbours; as many English go to +visit St. Peter's who never thought of stepping into St. Paul's. + +I shall let Lord Beauchamp know your readiness to oblige him, probably +to-morrow, as I go to town. The spring is so backward here that I have +little inducement to stay; not an entire leaf is out on any tree, and I +have heard a syren as much as a nightingale. Lord Fitzwilliam, who, I +suppose, is one of your latest acquaintance, is going to marry Lady +Charlotte Ponsonby, Lord Besborough's second daughter, a pretty, +sensible, and very amiable girl. I seldom tell you that sort of news, +but when the parties are very fresh in your memory. Adieu! + + +_MASQUERADES IN FASHION--A LADY'S CLUB._ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _May_ 6, 1770. + +If you are like me, you are fretting at the weather. We have not a leaf, +yet, large enough to make an apron for a Miss Eve of two years old. +Flowers and fruits, if they come at all this year, must meet together as +they do in a Dutch picture; our lords and ladies, however, couple as if +it were the real _Gioventù dell' anno_. Lord Albemarle, you know, has +disappointed all his brothers and my niece; and Lord Fitzwilliam is +declared _sposo_ to Lady Charlotte Ponsonby. It is a pretty match, and +makes Lord Besborough as happy as possible. + +Masquerades proceed in spite of Church and King. That knave the Bishop +of London persuaded that good soul the Archbishop to remonstrate against +them; but happily the age prefers silly follies to serious ones, and +dominos, _comme de raison_, carry it against lawn sleeves. + +There is a new Institution that begins to make, and if it proceeds, will +make a considerable noise. It is a club of _both_ sexes to be erected at +Almack's, on the model of that of the men of White's. Mrs. Fitzroy, Lady +Pembroke, Mrs. Meynell, Lady Molyneux, Miss Pelham, and Miss Loyd, are +the foundresses. I am ashamed to say I am of so young and fashionable a +society; but as they are people I live with, I choose to be idle rather +than morose. I can go to a young supper, without forgetting how much +sand is run out of the hour-glass. Yet I shall never pass a triste old +age in turning the Psalms into Latin or English verse. My plan is to +pass away calmly; cheerfully if I can; sometimes to amuse myself with +the rising generation, but to take care not to fatigue them, nor weary +them with old stories, which will not interest them, as their adventures +do not interest me. Age would indulge prejudices if it did not sometimes +polish itself against younger acquaintance; but it must be the work of +folly if one hopes to contract friendships with them, or desires it, or +thinks one can become the same follies, or expects that they should do +more than bear one for one's good-humour. In short, they are a pleasant +medicine, that one should take care not to grow fond of. Medicines hurt +when habit has annihilated their force; but you see I am in no danger. I +intend by degrees to decrease my opium, instead of augmenting the dose. +Good night! You see I never let our long-lived friendship drop, though +you give it so few opportunities of breathing. + + +_THE PRINCESS OF WALES IS GONE TO GERMANY--TERRIBLE ACCIDENT IN PARIS._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _June_ 15, 1770. + +I have no public event to tell you, though I write again sooner than I +purposed. The journey of the Princess Dowager to Germany is indeed an +extraordinary circumstance, but besides its being a week old, as I do +not know the motives, I have nothing to say upon it. It is much +canvassed and sifted, and yet perhaps she was only in search of a little +repose from the torrents of abuse that have been poured upon her for +some years. Yesterday they publicly sung about the streets a ballad, the +burthen of which was, _the cow has left her calf_. With all this we are +grown very quiet, and Lord North's behaviour is so sensible and moderate +that he offends nobody. + +Our family has lost a branch, but I cannot call it a misfortune. Lord +Cholmondeley died last Saturday. He was seventy, and had a constitution +to have carried him to a hundred, if he had not destroyed it by an +intemperance, especially in drinking, that would have killed anybody +else in half the time. As it was, he had outlived by fifteen years all +his set, who have reeled into the ferry-boat so long before him. His +grandson seems good and amiable, and though he comes into but a small +fortune for an earl, five-and-twenty hundred a-year, his uncle the +general may re-establish him upon a great footing--but it will not be in +his life, and the general does not sail after his brother on a sea of +claret. + +You have heard details, to be sure, of the horrible catastrophe at the +fireworks at Paris.[1] Francèes, the French minister, told me the other +night that the number of the killed is so great that they now try to +stifle it; my letters say between five and six hundred! I think there +were not fewer than ten coach-horses trodden to death. The mob had +poured down from the _Etoile_ by thousands and ten thousands to see the +illuminations, and did not know the havoc they were occasioning. The +impulse drove great numbers into the Seine, and those met with the most +favourable deaths. + +[Footnote 1: The Dauphin had been married to the Archduchess Marie +Antoinette on May 16th, and on May 30th the city of Paris closed a +succession of balls and banquets with which they had celebrated the +marriage of the heir of the monarchy by a display of fireworks in the +Place Louis XV., in which the ingenuity of the most fashionable +pyrotechnists had been exhausted to outshine all previous displays of +the sort. But towards the end of the exhibition one of the explosives +set fire to a portion of the platforms on which the different figures +were constructed, and in a moment the whole woodwork was in a flame. +Three sides of the Place were enclosed, and the fourth was so blocked up +with carriages, that the spectators, who saw themselves surrounded with +flames, had no way to escape open. The carriage-horses, too, became +terrified and unmanageable. In their panic-stricken flight the +spectators trampled one another down; hundreds fell, and were crushed to +death by their companions; hundreds were pushed into the river and +drowned. The number of killed could never be precisely ascertained; but +it was never estimated below six hundred, and was commonly believed to +have greatly exceeded that number, as many of the victims were of the +poorer class--many, too, the bread-winners of their families. The +Dauphin and Dauphiness devoted the whole of their month's income to the +relief of the sufferers; and Marie Antoinette herself visited many of +the families whose loss seemed to have been the most severe: this +personal interest in their affliction which she thus displayed making a +deep impression on the citizens.] + +This is a slight summer letter, but you will not be sorry it is so +short, when the dearth of events is the cause. Last year I did not know +but we might have a battle of Edgehill[1] by this time. At present, my +Lord Chatham could as soon raise money as raise the people; and Wilkes +will not much longer have more power of doing either. If you were not +busy in burning Constantinople, you could not have a better opportunity +for taking a trip to England. Have you never a wish this way? Think what +satisfaction it would be to me?--but I never advise; nor let my own +inclinations judge for my friends. I had rather suffer their absence, +than have to reproach myself with having given them bad counsel. I +therefore say no more on what would make me so happy. Adieu! + +[Footnote 1: Edgehill was the first battle in the Great Rebellion, +fought October 23, 1642.] + + +_FALL OF THE DUC DE CHOISEUL'S MINISTRY._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Saturday evening, Dec._ 29, 1770. + +We are alarmed, or very glad, we don't know which. The Duke de Choiseul +is fallen! but we cannot tell yet whether the mood of his successors +will be peaceable or martial. The news arrived yesterday morning, and +the event happened but last Monday evening. He was allowed but three +hours to prepare for his journey, and ordered to retire to his seat at +Chanteloup; but there are letters that say, _qu'il ira plus loin_. The +Duke de Praslin is banished too--a disagreeable man; but his fate is a +little hard, for he was just going to resign the Marine to Châtelet, +who, by the way, is forbidden to visit Choiseul. I shall shed no tears +for Châtelet, the most peevish and insolent of men, our bitter enemy, +and whom M. de Choiseul may thank in some measure for his fall; for I +believe while Châtelet was here, he drew the Spaniards into the attack +of Falkland's Island. Choiseul's own conduct seems to have been not a +little equivocal. His friends maintained that his existence as a +minister depended on his preventing a war, and he certainly confuted the +Comptroller-General's plan of raising supplies for it. Yet, it is now +said, that on the very morning of the Duke's disgrace, the King +reproached him, and said "Monsieur, je vous avois dit, que je ne voulois +pas la guerre;" and the Duke d'Aiguillon's friends have officiously +whispered, that if Choiseul was out it would certainly be peace; but did +not Lord Chatham, immediately before he was Minister, protest not half a +man should be sent to Germany, and yet, were not all our men and all our +money sent thither? The Chevalier de Muy is made Secretary-at-War, and +it is supposed Monsieur d'Aiguillon is, or will be, the Minister. + +Thus Abishag[1] has strangled an Administration that had lasted fourteen +years. I am sincerely grieved for the Duchess de Choiseul, the most +perfect being I know of either sex. I cannot possibly feel for her +husband: Corsica is engraved in my memory, as I believe it is on your +heart. His cruelties there, I should think, would not cheer his solitude +or prison. In the mean time, desolation and confusion reign all over +France. They are almost bankrupts, and quite famished. The Parliament +of Paris has quitted its functions, and the other tribunals threaten to +follow the example. Some people say, that Maupéou,[2] the Chancellor, +told the King that they were supported underhand by Choiseul, and must +submit if he were removed. The suggestion is specious at least, as the +object of their antipathy is the Duke d'Aiguillon. If the latter should +think a war a good diversion to their enterprises, I should not be +surprised if they went on, especially if a bankruptcy follows famine. +The new Minister and the Chancellor are in general execration. On the +latter's lately obtaining the _Cordon Bleu_,[3] this epigram appeared:-- + + Ce tyran de la France, qui cherche à mettre tout en feu, + Mérite un cordon, mais ce n'est pas le cordon bleu. + +[Footnote 1: Madame du Barri.--WALPOLE.] + +[Footnote 2: Maupéou was the Chancellor who had just abolished the +Parliaments, the restoration of which in the next reign was perhaps one +of the causes which contributed to the Revolution.] + +[Footnote 3: The _Cordon Bleu_ was the badge of the Order of St. Louis, +established by Louis XIV.; the _cordon not_ blue was the hangman's +rope.] + +We shall see how Spain likes the fall of the author of the +"Family-compact."[1] There is an Empress[2] will not be pleased with +it, but it is not the Russian Empress; and much less the Turks, who are +as little obliged to that bold man's intrigues as the poor Corsicans. +How can one regret such a general _Boute-feu_? + +[Footnote 1: Choiseul was the Minister when the "Family Compact" of 1761 +was concluded between France and Spain. The Duc de Praslin, who shared +his fall, had been Secretary at War, and for some little time neither +his office nor that of Choiseul was filled up, but the work of their +departments was performed by Secretaries of State, the Duc d'Aiguillon, +in spite of the contempt in which he was deservedly held, being +eventually made Secretary for Foreign Affairs through the interest of +Mme. du Barri (Lacretelle, iv. 256).] + +[Footnote 2: "_An Empress._" The Empress-Queen Maria Theresa, who +considered herself and her family under obligations to Choiseul for his +abandonment of the long-standing policy of enmity to the house of +Austria which had been the guiding principle of all French statesmen +since the time of Henry IV., and for the marriage of her favourite +daughter to the Dauphin.] + +Perhaps our situation is not very stable neither. The world, who are +ignorant of Lord Weymouth's motives, suspect a secret intelligence with +Lord Chatham. Oh! let us have peace abroad before we quarrel any more at +home! + +Judge Bathurst is to be Lord Keeper, with many other arrangements in the +law; but as you neither know the persons, nor I care about them, I shall +not fill my paper with the catalogue, but reserve the rest of my letter +for Tuesday, when I shall be in town. No Englishman, you know, will +sacrifice his Saturday and Sunday. I have so little to do with all these +matters, that I came hither this morning, and left this new chaos to +arrange itself as it pleases. It certainly is an era, and may be an +extensive one; not very honourable to old King Capet,[1] whatever it may +be to the intrigues of his new Ministers. The Jesuits will not be +without hopes. They have a friend that made mischief _ante Helenam_. + +[Footnote 1: Louis XV.--WALPOLE.] + +_Jan._ 1, 1771. + +I hope the new year will end as quietly as it begins, for I have not a +syllable to tell you. No letters are come from France since Friday +morning, and this is Tuesday noon. As we had full time to reason--in the +dark, the general persuasion is, that the French Revolution will produce +peace--I mean in Europe--not amongst themselves. Probably I have been +sending you little but what you will have heard long before you receive +my letter; but no matter; if we did not chat about our neighbour Kings, +I don't know how we should keep up our correspondence, for we are better +acquainted with King Louis, King Carlos, and Empresses Katharine and +Teresa, than you with the English that I live amongst, or I with your +Florentines. Adieu! + + +_PEACE WITH SPAIN--BANISHMENT OF THE FRENCH PARLIAMENT--MRS. CORNELYS'S +ESTABLISHMENT--THE QUEEN OF DENMARK._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Feb._ 22, 1771. + +Two days ago there began to be an alarm at the delay of the Spanish +courier, and people were persuaded that the King of Spain had refused to +ratify his ambassador's declaration; who, on the warrant of the French +King, had ventured to sign it, though expecting every hour to be +recalled, as he actually was two days afterwards. However, the night +before last, to the great comfort of Prince Masserano and our Ministers, +the ratification arrived; and, after so many delays and untoward +accidents, Fortune has interposed (for there has been great luck, too, +in the affair), and peace is again established. With you, I am not at +all clear that Choiseul was in earnest to make it. If he was, it was +entirely owing to his own ticklish situation. Other people think, that +this very situation had made him desperate; and that he was on the point +of striking a hardy stroke indeed; and meditated sending a strong army +into Holland, to oblige the Dutch to lend twelve men-of-war to invade +us. Count Welderen,[1] who is totally an anti-Gaul, assured me he did +not believe this project. Still I am very glad such a _boute-feu_ is +removed. + +[Footnote 1: The Dutch Minister in England. He married a sister of Sir +John Griffin, Maid of Honour to Anne Princess of Orange.--WALPOLE.] + +This treaty is an epoch; and puts a total end to all our preceding +histories. Long quiet is never probable, nor shall I guess who will +disturb it; but, whatever happens, must be thoroughly new matter, though +some of the actors perhaps may not be so. Both Lord Chatham and Wilkes +are at the end of their reckoning, and the Opposition can do nothing +without fresh fuel. + +The scene that is closed here seems to be but opening in France. The +Parliament of Paris banished; a new one arbitrarily appointed;[1] the +Princes of the Blood refractory and disobedient; the other Parliament +as mutinous; and distress everywhere: if the army catches the infection, +what may not happen, when the King is despised, his agents detested, and +no Ministry settled? Some say the mistress and her faction keep him +hourly diverted or drunk; others, that he has got a new passion: how +creditable at sixty! Still I think it is the crisis of their +constitution. If the Monarch prevails, he becomes absolute as a Czar; if +he is forced to bend, will the Parliament stop there? + +[Footnote 1: "_A new one appointed._" This is a mistake of Walpole's. A +new Parliament was not, nor indeed could be, appointed; but Maupéou +created six new Sovereign Courts at Arras, Blois, Chalons sur Marne, +Clermont, Lyon, and Poitiers, at which "justice should be done at the +sovereign's expense" (Lacretelle, iv. 264).] + +In the mean time our most serious war is between two Operas. Mr. Hobart, +Lord Buckingham's brother, is manager of the Haymarket. Last year he +affronted Guadagni, by preferring the Zamperina, his own mistress, to +the singing hero's sister. The Duchess of Northumberland, Lady +Harrington, and some other great ladies, espoused the brother, and +without a license erected an Opera for him at Madame Cornelys's. This is +a singular dame, and you must be acquainted with her. She sung here +formerly, by the name of the Pompeiati. Of late years she has been the +Heidegger of the age, and presided over our diversions. Her taste and +invention in pleasures and decorations are singular. She took Carlisle +House in Soho Square, enlarged it, and established assemblies and balls +by subscription. At first they scandalised, but soon drew in both +righteous and ungodly. She went on building, and made her house a fairy +palace for balls, concerts, and masquerades. Her Opera, which she called +_Harmonic Meetings_, was splendid and charming. Mr. Hobart began to +starve, and the managers of the theatres were alarmed. To avoid the act, +she pretended to take no money, and had the assurance to advertise that +the subscription was to provide coals for the poor, for she has +vehemently courted the mob, and succeeded in gaining their princely +favour. She then declared her Masquerades were for the benefit of +commerce. I concluded she would open another sort of house next for the +interests of the Foundling Hospital, and I was not quite mistaken, for +they say one of her maids, gained by Mr. Hobart, affirms that she could +not undergo the fatigue of managing such a house. At last Mr. Hobart +informed against her, and the Bench of Justices, less soothable by music +than Orpheus's beasts, have pronounced against her. Her Opera is +quashed, and Guadagni, who governed so haughtily at Vienna, that, to +pique some man of quality there, he named a minister to Venice, is not +only fined, but was threatened to be sent to Bridewell, which chilled +the blood of all the Caesars and Alexanders he had ever represented; nor +could any promises of his lady-patronesses rehabilitate his courage--so +for once an Act of Parliament goes for something. + +You have got three new companions;[1] General Montagu, a West Indian +Mr. Paine, and Mr. Lynch, your brother at Turin. + +[Footnote 1: As Knights of the Bath.--WALPOLE.] + +There is the devil to pay in Denmark. The Queen[1] has got the +ascendant, has turned out favourites and Ministers, and literally wears +the breeches, actual buckskin. There is a physician, who is said to rule +both their Majesties, and I suppose is sold to France, for that is the +predominant interest now at Copenhagen. The Czarina has whispered her +disapprobation, and if she has a talon left, when she has done with the +Ottomans, may chance to scratch the little King. + +[Footnote 1: The Queen was Caroline Matilda, a sister of George III., +and was accused of a criminal intimacy with Count Struenzee, the Prime +Minister. Struenzee, "after a trial with only a slight semblance of the +forms of justice" (to quote the words of Lord Stanhope), was convicted +and executed; and the Queen was at first imprisoned in the Castle of +Cronenburg, but after a time was released, and allowed to retire to +Zell, Hanover, where she died in 1774.] + +For eight months to come I should think we shall have little to talk of, +you and I, but distant wars and distant majesties. For my part, I reckon +the volume quite shut in which I took any interest. The succeeding world +is young, new, and half unknown to me. Tranquillity comprehends every +wish I have left, and I think I should not even ask what news there is, +but for fear of seeming wedded to old stories--the rock of old men; and +yet I should prefer that failing to the solicitude about a world one +belongs to no more! Adieu! + + +_QUARREL OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS WITH THE CITY--DISSENSIONS IN THE +FRENCH COURT AND ROYAL FAMILY--EXTRAVAGANCE IN ENGLAND._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _April_ 26, 1771. + +You may wonder that I have been so silent, when I had announced a war +between the House of Commons and the City--nay, when hostilities were +actually commenced; but many a campaign languishes that has set out very +flippantly. My letters depend on events, and I am like the man in the +weather-house who only comes forth on a storm. The wards in the City +have complimented the prisoners,[1] and some towns; but the train has +not spread much. Wilkes is your only gun-powder that makes an explosion. +He and his associates are more incensed at each other than against the +Ministry, and have saved the latter much trouble. The Select Committees +have been silent and were forgotten, but there is a talk now of their +making some report before the session closes. + +[Footnote 1: The prisoners were Crosby, the Lord Mayor, and Oliver, one +of the aldermen, both members of Parliament. The selection of the Tower +for their imprisonment was greatly remarked upon, because hitherto that +had never been so used except for persons accused of high treason; while +their offence was but a denial of the right of the House of Commons to +arrest a liveryman within the City, and the entertaining a charge of +assault against the messenger who had endeavoured to arrest him. These +riots, which for the moment appeared likely to become formidable, arose +out of the practice of reporting the parliamentary debates, a practice +contrary to the Standing Orders of Parliament, passed as far back as the +reign of Elizabeth, but the violation of which had lately begun to be +attempted.] + +The serious war is at last absolutely blown over. Spain has sent us word +she is disarming. So are we. Who would have expected that a courtesan at +Paris would have prevented a general conflagration? Madame du Barri has +compensated for Madame Helen, and is _optima pacis causa_. I will not +swear that the torch she snatched from the hands of Spain may not light +up a civil war in France. The Princes of the Blood[1] are forbidden the +Court, twelve dukes and peers, of the most complaisant, are banished, or +going to be banished; and even the captains of the guard. In short, the +King, his mistress, and the Chancellor, have almost left themselves +alone at Versailles. But as the most serious events in France have +always a ray of ridicule mixed with them, some are to be exiled _to_ +Paris, and some to St. Germain. How we should laugh at anybody being +banished to Soho Square and Hammersmith? The Chancellor desired to see +the Prince of Conti; the latter replied, "Qu'il lui donnoit rendezvous à +la Grève."[2] + +[Footnote 1: The "Princes of the Blood" in France were those who, though +of Royal descent, were not children of a king--such, for instance, as +the Dukes of Orléans and Bourbon; and they were reckoned of a rank so +inferior to the princes of the Royal Family, that, as Marie Antoinette +on one occasion told the Duke of Orléans, in a well-deserved reproof for +his factious insolence, Princes of the Blood had never pretended to the +honour of supping with the King and herself. (See the Editor's "Life of +Marie Antoinette," c. 10). Their offence, in this instance, was having +protested against the holding and the proceedings of a _Lit de Justice_, +which had been held on April 15th, about three months after the +banishment of all the members of Parliament (Lacretelle, c. 13).] + +[Footnote 2: La Grève was the place of execution in Paris. + + Who has e'er been at Paris must needs know the Grève, + The fatal retreat of th' unfortunate brave; + Where honour and justice most oddly contribute + To ease hero's pains by a halter and gibbet (PRIOR).] + +If we laugh at the French, they stare at us. Our enormous luxury and +expense astonishes them. I carried their Ambassador, and a Comte de +Levi, the other morning to see the new winter Ranelagh [The Pantheon] in +Oxford Road, which is almost finished. It amazed me myself. Imagine +Balbec in all its glory! The pillars are of artificial _giallo antico_. +The ceilings, even of the passages, are of the most beautiful stuccos in +the best taste of grotesque. The ceilings of the ball-rooms and the +panels painted like Raphael's _loggias_ in the Vatican. A dome like the +pantheon, glazed. It is to cost fifty thousand pounds. Monsieur de +Guisnes said to me, "Ce n'est qu'à Londres qu'on peut faire tout cela." +It is not quite a proof of the same taste, that two views of Verona, by +Canaletti, have been sold by auction for five hundred and fifty guineas; +and, what is worse, it is come out that they are copies by Marlow, a +disciple of Scott. Both master and scholar are indeed better painters +than the Venetian; but the purchasers did not mean to be so well +cheated. + +The papers will have told you that the wheel of fortune has again +brought up Lord Holdernesse, who is made governor to the Prince of +Wales. The Duchess of Queensberry, a much older veteran, is still +figuring in the world, not only by giving frequent balls, but really by +her beauty. Reflect, that she was a goddess in Prior's days![1] I could +not help adding these lines on her--you know his end: + + Kitty, at Heart's desire, + Obtained the chariot for a day, + And set the world on fire. + +This was some fifty-six years ago, or more. I gave her this stanza: + + To many a Kitty, Love his car + Will for a day engage, + But Prior's Kitty, ever fair, + Obtained it for an age! + +And she is old enough to be pleased with the compliment. + +[Footnote 1: Prior died in 1721.] + +My brother [Sir Edward Walpole] has lost his son; and it is no +misfortune, though he was but three-and-thirty, and had very good parts; +for he was sunk into such a habit of drinking and gaming, that the first +ruined his constitution, and the latter would have ruined his father. + +Shall I send away this short scroll, or reserve it to the end of the +session? No, it is already somewhat obsolete: it shall go, and another +short letter shall be the other half of it--so, good night! + + +_GREAT DISTRESS AT THE FRENCH COURT._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +PARIS, _July_ 30, 1771. + +I do not know where you are, nor where this will find you, nor when it +will set out to seek you, as I am not certain by whom I shall send it. +It is of little consequence, as I have nothing material to tell you, but +what you probably may have heard. + +The distress here is incredible, especially at Court. The King's +tradesmen are ruined, his servants starving, and even angels and +archangels cannot get their pensions and salaries, but sing "Woe! woe! +woe!" instead of Hosannahs. Compiègne is abandoned; Villars Coterets[1] +and Chantilly crowded, and Chanteloup still more in fashion, whither +everybody goes that pleases; though, when they ask leave, the answer is, +"Je ne le défends ni le permets." This is the first time that ever the +will of a King of France was interpreted against his inclination. Yet, +after annihilating his Parliament, and ruining public credit, he tamely +submits to be affronted by his own servants. Madame de Beauveau, and two +or three high-spirited dames, defy this Czar of Gaul. Yet they and their +cabal are as inconsistent on the other hand. They make epigrams, sing +vaudevilles,[2] against the mistress, hand about libels against the +Chancellor [Maupéou], and have no more effect than a sky-rocket; but in +three months will die to go to Court, and to be invited to sup with +Madame du Barri. The only real struggle is between the Chancellor +[Maupéou] and the Duc d'Aiguillon. The first is false, bold, determined, +and not subject to little qualms. The other is less known, communicates +himself to nobody, is suspected of deep policy and deep designs, but +seems to intend to set out under a mask of very smooth varnish; for he +has just obtained the payment of all his bitter enemy La Chalotais' +pensions and arrears. He has the advantage, too, of being but +moderately detested in comparison of his rival, and, what he values +more, the interest of the mistress. The Comptroller-General[3] serves +both, by acting mischief more sensibly felt; for he ruins everybody but +those who purchase a respite from his mistress. He dispenses bankruptcy +by retail, and will fall, because he cannot even by these means be +useful enough. They are striking off nine millions from _la caisse +militaire_, five from the marine, and one from the _affaires +étrangères_: yet all this will not extricate them. You never saw a great +nation in so disgraceful a position. Their next prospect is not better: +it rests on an _imbécille_ [Louis XVI.], both in mind and body. + +[Footnote 1: Villars Coterets was the country residence of the Duc +d'Orléans; Chantilly that of the Prince de Condé; and Chanteloup that of +the Duc de Choiseul: and the mere fact of their being in disgrace at +Court was sufficient to make them popular with the people.] + +[Footnote 2: The following specimen of these vaudevilles was given by +Madame du Deffand to Walpole:-- + + "L'avez-vous vue, ma Du Barry, + Elle a ravi mon áme; + Pour elle j'ai perdu l'esprit, + Des Français j'ai le blâme: + Charmants enfans de la Gourdon, + Est-elle chez vous maintenant? + Rendez-la-moi, + Je suis le Roi, + Soulagez mon martyre; + Rendez-la-moi, + Elle est à moi, + Je suis son pauvre Sire. + L'avez-vous vue," &c. + + "Je sais qu'autrefois les laquais + On fêté ses jeunes attraits; + Que les cochers, + Les perruquiers, + L'aimaient, l'aimaient d'amour extrême, + Mais pas autant que je l'aime. + L'avez-vous vue," &c.] + +[Footnote 3: The Comptroller-General was the Abbé Terrai, notoriously as +corrupt as he was incompetent. One of his measures, reducing the +interest on the Debt by one-half, was tantamount to an act of +bankruptcy; but the national levity comforted itself by jests, and one +evening, when the pit at the theatre was crowded to suffocation, one of +the sufferers carried the company with him by shouting out a suggestion +to send for the Abbé Terrai to reduce them all to one-half their size.] + + +_ENGLISH GARDENING IN FRANCE--ANGLOMANIE--HE IS WEARY OF PARIS--DEATH OF +GRAY._ + +TO JOHN CHUTE, ESQ. + +Paris, _August_ 5, 1771. + +It is a great satisfaction to me to find by your letter of the 30th, +that you have had no return of your gout. I have been assured here, that +the best remedy is to cut one's nails in hot water. It is, I fear, as +certain as any other remedy! It would at least be so here, if their +bodies were of a piece with their understandings; or if both were as +curable as they are the contrary. Your prophecy, I doubt, is not better +founded than the prescription. I may be lame; but I shall never be a +duck, nor deal in the garbage of the Alley. + +I envy your _Strawberry tide_, and need not say how much I wish I was +there to receive you. Methinks, I should be as glad of a little grass, +as a seaman after a long voyage. Yet English gardening gains ground here +prodigiously--not much at a time, indeed--I have literally seen one, +that is exactly like a tailor's paper of patterns. There is a Monsieur +Boutin, who has tacked a piece of what he calls an English garden to a +set of stone terraces, with steps of turf. There are three or four very +high hills, almost as high as, and exactly in the shape of, a tansy +pudding. You squeeze between these and a river, that is conducted at +obtuse angles in a stone channel, and supplied by a pump; and when +walnuts come in I suppose it will be navigable. In a corner enclosed by +a chalk wall are the samples I mentioned; there is a strip of grass, +another of corn, and a third _en friche_, exactly in the order of beds +in a nursery. They have translated Mr. Whately's book,[1] and the Lord +knows what barbarism is going to be laid at our door. This new +_Anglomanie_ will literally be _mad English_. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Whately, the Secretary to the Treasury, had published +an essay on Gardening.] + +New _arrêts_, new retrenchments, new misery, stalk forth every day. The +Parliament of Besançon is dissolved; so are the _grenadiers de France_. +The King's tradesmen are all bankrupt; no pensions are paid, and +everybody is reforming their suppers and equipages. Despotism makes +converts faster than ever Christianity did. Louis _Quinze_ is the true +_rex Christianissimus_, and has ten times more success than his +dragooning great-grandfather. Adieu, my dear Sir! Yours most faithfully. + +_Friday 9th._ + +... It is very singular that I have not half the satisfaction in going +into churches and convents that I used to have. The consciousness that +the vision is dispelled, the want of fervour so obvious in the +religious, the solitude that one knows proceeds from contempt, not from +contemplation, make those places appear like abandoned theatres destined +to destruction. The monks trot about as if they had not long to stay +there; and what used to be holy gloom is now but dirt and darkness. +There is no more deception than in a tragedy acted by candle-snuffers. +One is sorry to think that an empire of common sense would not be very +picturesque; for, as there is nothing but taste that can compensate for +the imagination of madness, I doubt there will never be twenty men of +taste for twenty thousand madmen. The world will no more see Athens, +Rome, and the Medici again, than a succession of five good emperors, +like Nerva, Trajan, Adrian, and the two Antonines. + +_August_ 13. + +Mr. Edmonson has called on me; and, as he sets out to-morrow, I can +safely trust my letter to him. I have, I own, been much shocked at +reading Gray's[1] death in the papers. 'Tis an hour that makes one +forget any subject of complaint, especially towards one with whom I +lived in friendship from thirteen years old. As self lies so rooted in +self, no doubt the nearness of our ages made the stroke recoil to my own +breast; and having so little expected his death, it is plain how little +I expect my own. Yet to you, who of all men living are the most +forgiving, I need not excuse the concern I feel. I fear most men ought +to apologise for their want of feeling, instead of palliating that +sensation when they have it. I thought that what I had seen of the world +had hardened my heart; but I find that it had formed my language, not +extinguished my tenderness. In short, I am really shocked--nay, I am +hurt at my own weakness, as I perceive that when I love anybody, it is +for my life; and I have had too much reason not to wish that such a +disposition may very seldom be put to the trial. You, at least, are the +only person to whom I would venture to make such a confession. + +[Footnote 1: Gray died of gout in the stomach on July 30th. He was only +fifty-five.] + +Adieu! my dear Sir! Let me know when I arrive, which will be about the +last day of the month, when I am likely to see you. I have much to say +to you. Of being here I am most heartily tired, and nothing but this +dear old woman should keep me here an hour--I am weary of them to +death--but that is not new! Yours ever. + + +_SCANTINESS OF THE RELICS OF GRAY--GARRICK'S PROLOGUES, ETC.--WILKES'S +SQUINT._ + +TO THE REV. WILLIAM COLE + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Jan._ 28, 1772. + +It is long indeed, dear Sir, since we corresponded. I should not have +been silent if I had anything worth telling you in your way; but I grow +such an antiquity myself, that I think I am less fond of what remains of +our predecessors. + +I thank you for Bannerman's proposal; I mean, for taking the trouble to +send it, for I am not at all disposed to subscribe. I thank you more for +the note on King Edward; I mean, too, for your friendship in thinking of +me. Of Dean Milles I cannot trouble myself to think any more. His piece +is at Strawberry: perhaps I may look at it for the sake of your note. +The bad weather keeps me in town, and a good deal at home; which I find +very comfortable, literally practising what so many persons pretend they +intend, being quiet and enjoying my fire-side in my elderly days. + +Mr. Mason has shown me the relics of poor Mr. Gray. I am sadly +disappointed at finding them so very inconsiderable. He always +persisted, when I inquired about his writings, that he had nothing by +him. I own I doubted. I am grieved he was so very near exact--I speak +of my own satisfaction; as to his genius, what he published during his +life will establish his fame as long as our language lasts, and there is +a man of genius left. There is a silly fellow, I don't know who, that +has published a volume of Letters on the English Nation, with characters +of our modern authors. He has talked such nonsense on Mr. Gray, that I +have no patience with the compliments he has paid me. He must have an +excellent taste! and gives me a woful opinion of my own trifles, when he +likes them, and cannot see the beauties of a poet that ought to be +ranked in the first line. + +I am more humbled by any applause in the present age, than by hosts of +such critics as Dean Milles. Is not Garrick reckoned a tolerable actor? +His Cymon, his prologues and epilogues, and forty such pieces of trash, +are below mediocrity, and yet delight the mob in the boxes as well as in +the footman's gallery. I do not mention the things written in his +praise; because he writes most of them himself. But you know any one +popular merit can confer all merit. Two women talking of Wilkes, one +said he squinted--t'other replied, "Squints!--well, if he does, it is +not more than a man should squint." For my part, I can see how extremely +well Garrick acts, without thinking him six feet high.[1] + +[Footnote 1: He is quoting Churchill's "Rosciad"-- + + When the pure genuine flame, by nature taught, + Springs into sense, and every action's thought; + Before such merit all objections fly, + Pritchard's genteel, and Garrick six feet high-- + +the great actor being a short man.] + +It is said Shakespeare was a bad actor; why do not his divine plays make +our wise judges conclude that he was a good one? They have not a proof +of the contrary, as they have in Garrick's works--but what is it to you +or me what he is? We may see him act with pleasure, and nothing obliges +us to read his writings. + + +_MARRIAGE OF THE PRETENDER--THE PRINCESS LOUISE, AND HER PROTECTION OF +THE CLERGY--FOX'S ELOQUENCE._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _April_ 9, 1772. + +It is uncommon for _me_ to send _you_ news of the Pretender. He has been +married in Paris by proxy, to a Princess of Stolberg. All that I can +learn of her is, that she is niece to a Princess of Salm, whom I knew +there, without knowing any more of her. The new Pretendress is said to +be but sixteen, and a Lutheran: I doubt the latter; if the former is +true, I suppose they mean to carry on the breed in the way it began, by +a spurious child. A Fitz-Pretender is an excellent continuation of the +patriarchal line. Mr. Chute says, when the Royal Family are prevented +from marrying,[1] it is a right time for the Stuarts to marry. This +event seems to explain the Pretender's disappearance last autumn; and +though they sent him back from Paris, they may not dislike the +propagation of thorns in our side. + +[Footnote 1: In a previous letter Walpole mentions the enactment of the +Royal Marriage Act by a very narrow majority, after more than one +violent debate. It had been insisted on by the King, who was highly +indignant at his brothers, the Dukes of Gloucester and Cumberland, +having married two subjects. Singularly enough they were both widows, +Lady Waldegrave and Mrs. Horton. And this Act made the consent of the +sovereign indispensable to the marriage of any member of the Royal +Family except the descendants of princesses married to foreign princes.] + +I hear the credit of the French Chancellor declines. He had strongly +taken up the clergy; and Soeur Louise,[1] the King's Carmelite daughter, +was the knot of the intrigue. The new Parliament has dared to +remonstrate against a declaration obtained by the Chancellor for setting +aside an _arrêt_ of 1762, occasioned by the excommunication of Parma. +The Spanish and Neapolitan Ministers interposed, and pronounced the +declaration an infringement of the family compact: the _arrêt_ of 1762 +has been confirmed to satisfy them, and the Pope's authority, and +everything that comes from Rome, except what regards _the Penitential_, +(I do not know what that means,) restrained. This is supported by +d'Aiguillon and all the other Ministers, who are labouring the +reconciliation of the Princes of the Blood, that the Chancellor may not +have the honour of reconciling them. Perhaps the Princess of Stolberg +sprung out of my Sister Louise's cell. The King has demanded twelve +millions of the clergy: they consent to give ten. We shall see whether +Madame Louise, on her knees, or Madame du Barri will fight the better +fight. I should think the King's knees were more of an age for praying, +than for fighting. + +[Footnote 1: The Soeur Louise was the youngest daughter of Louis XV.; +and, very different from her sisters, who were ill-tempered, political +intriguers. She, on the contrary, was deeply religious, and had, some +years before, taken the vows of the Carmelite order; and had fixed her +residence at the Convent of St. Denis, where she was more than once +visited by Marie Antoinette.] + +The House of Commons is embarked on the ocean of Indian affairs, and +will probably make a long session. I went thither the other day to hear +Charles Fox, contrary to a resolution I had made of never setting my +foot there again. It is strange how disuse makes one awkward: I felt a +palpitation, as if I were going to speak there myself. The object +answered: Fox's abilities are amazing at so very early a period, +especially under the circumstances of such a dissolute life. He was just +arrived from Newmarket, had sat up drinking all night, and had not been +in bed. How such talents make one laugh at Tully's rules for an orator, +and his indefatigable application. His laboured orations are puerile in +comparison with this boy's manly reason. We beat Rome in eloquence and +extravagance; and Spain in avarice and cruelty; and, like both, we shall +only serve to terrify schoolboys, and for lessons of morality! "Here +stood St. Stephen's Chapel; here young Catiline spoke; here was Lord +Clive's diamond-house; this is Leadenhall Street, and this broken column +was part of the palace of a company of merchants[1] who were sovereigns +of Bengal! They starved millions in India by monopolies and plunder, and +almost raised a famine at home by the luxury occasioned by their +opulence, and by that opulence raising the price of everything, till +the poor could not purchase bread!" Conquest, usurpation, wealth, +luxury, famine--one knows how little farther the genealogy has to go. If +you like it better in Scripture phrase, here it is: Lord Chatham begot +the East India Company; the East India Company begot Lord Clive; Lord +Clive begot the Maccaronis, and they begot poverty; all the race are +still living; just as Clodius was born before the death of Julius +Caesar. There is nothing more like than two ages that are very like; +which is all that Rousseau means by saying, "give him an account of any +great metropolis, and he will foretell its fate." Adieu! + +[Footnote 1: "_A company of merchants._" "A mighty prince held +domination over India; his name was Koompanee Jehan. Although this +monarch had innumerable magnificent palaces at Delhi and Agra, at +Benares, Boggleywallah, and Ahmednuggar, his common residence was in the +beautiful island of Ingleez, in the midst of the capital of which, the +famous city of Lundoon, Koompanee Jehan had a superb castle. It was +called the Hall of Lead, and stood at the foot of the mountain of Corn, +close by the verdure-covered banks of the silvery Tameez, where the +cypresses wave, and zendewans, or nightingales, love to sing" +(Thackeray, "Life of Sir C. Napier," iv. p. 158).] + + +_AN ANSWER TO HIS "HISTORIC DOUBTS"--HIS EDITION OF GRAMMONT._ + +TO THE REV. WILLIAM COLE. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Jan._ 8, 1773. + +In return to your very kind inquiries, dear Sir, I can let you know, +that I am quite free from pain, and walk a little about my room, even +without a stick: nay, have been four times to take the air in the Park. +Indeed, after fourteen weeks this is not saying much; but it is a worse +reflection, that when one is subject to the gout and far from young, +one's worst account will probably be better than that after the next +fit. I neither flatter myself on one hand, nor am impatient on the +other--for will either do one any good? one must bear one's lot whatever +it be. + +I rejoice Mr. Gulston has justice,[1] though he had no bowels. How +Gertrude More escaped him I do not guess. It will be wrong to rob you of +her, after she has come to you through so many hazards--nor would I hear +of it either, if you have a mind to keep her, or have not given up all +thoughts of a collection since you have been visited by a Visigoth. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Gulston now fully remunerated Mr. Cole in a valuable +present of books.--WALPOLE.] + +I am much more impatient to see Mr. Gray's print, than Mr. +What-d'ye-call-him's [Masters's] answer to my "Historic Doubts."[1] He +may have made himself very angry; but I doubt whether he will make me at +all so. I love antiquities; but I scarce ever knew an antiquary who knew +how to write upon them. Their understandings seem as much in ruins as +the things they describe. For the Antiquarian Society, I shall leave +them in peace with Whittington and his Cat. As my contempt for them has +not, however, made me disgusted with what they do not understand, +antiquities, I have published two numbers of "Miscellanies," and they +are very welcome to mumble them with their toothless gums. I want to +send you these--not their gums, but my pieces, and a "Grammont,"[2] of +which I have printed only a hundred copies, and which will be extremely +scarce, as twenty-five copies are gone to France. Tell me how I shall +convey them safely. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Masters's pamphlet, printed at the expense of the +Antiquarian Society in the second volume of the +"Archaeologia."--WALPOLE.] + +[Footnote 2: He had just published a small edition of Grammont's +Memoirs, "Augmentée de Notes et éclaircissemens nécessaires, par M. +Horace Walpole," and had dedicated it to Mme. du Deffand.] + +Another thing you must tell me, if you can, is, if you know anything +ancient of the Freemasons. Governor Pownall,[1] a Whittingtonian, has a +mind they should have been a corporation erected by the popes. As you +see what a good creature I am, and return good for evil, I am engaged to +pick up what I can for him, to support this system, in which I believe +no more than in the pope: and the work is to appear in a volume of the +Society's pieces. I am very willing to oblige him, and turn my cheek, +that they may smite that, also. Lord help them! I am sorry they are such +numskulls, that they almost make me think myself something; but there +are great authors enough to bring me to my senses again. Posterity, I +fear, will class me with the writers of this age, or forget me with +them, not rank me with any names that deserve remembrance. If I cannot +survive the Milles's, the What-d'ye-call-him's [Masters's], and the +compilers of catalogues of Topography, it would comfort me very little +to confute them. I should be as little proud of success as if I had +carried a contest for churchwarden. + +[Footnote 1: Thomas Pownall, Esq., the antiquary, and a constant +contributor to the "Archaeologia." Having been governor of South +Carolina and other American colonies, he was always distinguished from +his brother John, who was likewise an antiquary, by the title of +Governor.] + +Not being able to return to Strawberry Hill, where all my books and +papers are, and my printer lying fallow, I want some short bills to +print. Have you anything you wish printed? I can either print a few to +amuse ourselves, or, if very curious, and not too dry, could make a +third number of "Miscellaneous Antiquities." + +I am not in any eagerness to see Mr. What-d'ye-call-him's pamphlet +against me; therefore pray give yourself no trouble to get it for me. +The specimens I have seen of his writing take off all edge from +curiosity. A print of Mr. Gray will be a real present. Would it not be +dreadful to be commended by an age that had not taste enough to admire +his "Odes"? Is not it too great a compliment to me to be abused, too? I +am ashamed. Indeed our antiquaries ought to like me. I am but too much +on a par with them. Does not Mr. Henshaw come to London? Is he a +professor, or only a lover of engraving? If the former, and he were to +settle in town, I would willingly lend him heads to copy. Adieu! + + +_POPULARITY OF LOUIS XVI--DEATH OF LORD HOLLAND--BRUCE'S "TRAVELS."_ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 10, 1774. + +The month is come round, and I have, besides, a letter of yours to +answer; and yet if I were not as regular as a husband or a merchant in +paying my just dues, I think I should not perform the function, for I +certainly have no natural call to it at present. Nothing in yours +requires a response, and I have nothing new to tell you. Yet, if one +once breaks in upon punctuality, adieu to it! I will not give out, after +a perseverance of three-and-thirty years; and so far I will not resemble +a husband. + +The whole blood royal of France is recovered from the small-pox. Both +Choiseul and Broglie are recalled, and I have some idea that even the +old Parliament will be so. The King is adored, and a most beautiful +compliment has been paid to him: somebody wrote under the statue of +Henri Quatre, _Resurrexit_.[1] + +[Footnote 1: "_Resurrexit._" A courtly picture-dealer, eager to make a +market of the new sovereign's popularity, devised even a neater +compliment to him, issuing a picture of the three sovereigns--Louis +XII., Henri IV., and the young king--with an explanation that 4 and 12 +made 16.] + +Lord Holland is at last dead, and Lady Holland is at the point of death. +His sons would still be in good circumstances, if they were not _his_ +sons; but he had so totally spoiled the two eldest, that they would +think themselves bigots if they were to have common sense. The +prevailing style is not to reform, though Lord Lyttelton [the bad Lord] +pretends to have set the example. Gaming, for the last month, has +exceeded its own outdoings, though the town is very empty. It will be +quite so to-morrow, for Newmarket begins, or rather the youth adjourn +thither. After that they will have two or three months of repose; but if +they are not severely blooded and blistered, there will be no +alteration. Their pleasures are no more entertaining to others, than +delightful to themselves; one is tired of asking every day, who has won +or lost? and even the portentous sums they lose, cease to make +impression. One of them has committed a murder, and intends to repeat +it. He betted £1,500 that a man could live twelve hours under water; +hired a desperate fellow, sunk him in a ship, by way of experiment, and +both ship and man have not appeared since. Another man and ship are to +be tried for their lives, instead of Mr. Blake, the assassin. + +Christina, Duchess of Kingston, is arrived, in a great fright, I +believe, for the Duke's nephews are going to prove her first marriage, +and hope to set the Will aside. It is a pity her friendship with the +Pope had not begun earlier; he might have given her a dispensation. If +she loses her cause, the best thing he can do will be to give her the +veil. + +I am sorry all Europe will not furnish me with another paragraph. Africa +is, indeed, coming into fashion. There is just returned a Mr. Bruce,[1] +who has lived three years in the Court of Abyssinia, and breakfasted +every morning with the Maids of Honour on live oxen. Otaheite and Mr. +Banks are quite forgotten; but Mr. Blake, I suppose, will order a live +sheep for supper at Almack's, and ask whom he shall help to a piece of +the shoulder. Oh, yes; we shall have negro butchers, and French cooks +will be laid aside. My Lady Townshend [Harrison], after the Rebellion, +said, everybody was so bloodthirsty, that she did not dare to dine +abroad, for fear of meeting with a rebel-pie--now one shall be asked to +come and eat a bit of raw mutton. In truth, I do think we are ripe for +any extravagance. I am not wise enough to wish the world reasonable--I +only desire to have follies that are amusing, and am sorry Cervantes +laughed chivalry out of fashion. Adieu! + +[Footnote 1: When Bruce's "Travels" were first published, his account of +the strange incidents which had occurred to him was very generally +disbelieved and ridiculed; "Baron Munchausen" was even written in +derision of them; but the discoveries of subsequent travellers have +confirmed his narrative in almost every respect.] + + +_DISCONTENT IN AMERICA--MR. GRENVILLE'S ACT FOR THE TRIAL OF ELECTION +PETITIONS--HIGHWAY ROBBERIES._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Oct._ 6, 1774. + +It would be unlike my attention and punctuality, to see so large an +event as an irregular dissolution of Parliament, without taking any +notice of it to you. It happened last Saturday, six months before its +natural death, and without the design being known but the Tuesday +before, and that by very few persons. The chief motive is supposed to be +the ugly state of North America,[1] and the effects that a cross winter +might have on the next elections. Whatever were the causes, the first +consequences, as you may guess, were such a ferment in London as is +seldom seen at this dead season of the year. Couriers, despatches, +post-chaises, post-horses, hurrying every way! Sixty messengers passed +through one single turnpike on Friday. The whole island is by this time +in equal agitation; but less wine and money will be shed than have been +at any such period for these fifty years. + +[Footnote 1: "_America_"--the discontents in that country were caused by +Mr. Charles Townshend's policy, who, before his death, had revived Mr. +Grenville's plan of imposing taxes on the Colonies, and by the +perseverance in that policy of Lord North, who succeeded him at the +Exchequer, and who had also been First Lord of the Treasury since the +resignation of the Duke of Grafton.] + +We have a new famous Bill,[1] devised by the late Mr. Grenville, that +has its first operation now; and what changes it may occasion, nobody +can yet foresee. The first symptoms are not favourable to the Court; +the great towns are casting off submission, and declaring for popular +members. London, Westminster, Middlesex, seem to have no monarch but +Wilkes, who is at the same time pushing for the Mayoralty of London, +with hitherto a majority on the poll. It is strange how this man, like a +phoenix, always revives from his embers! America, I doubt, is still more +unpromising. There are whispers of their having assembled an armed +force, and of earnest supplications arrived for succours of men and +ships. A civil war is no trifle; and how we are to suppress or pursue in +such a vast region, with a handful of men, I am not an Alexander to +guess; and for the fleet, can we put it upon casters and wheel it from +Hudson's Bay to Florida? But I am an ignorant soul, and neither pretend +to knowledge nor foreknowledge. All I perceive already is, that our +Parliaments are subjected to America and India, and must be influenced +by their politics; yet I do not believe our senators are more universal +than formerly.... + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Grenville's Act had been passed in 1770; but there had +been no General Election since till this year. It altered the course of +proceeding for the trial of election petitions, substituting for the +whole House a Select Committee of fifteen members; but after a time it +was found that it had not secured any greater purity of decision, but +that the votes of the Committee were influenced by considerations of the +interest of the dominant party as entirely as they had been in the days +of Sir R. Walpole. And eventually, in the present reign, Mr. D'Israeli +induced the House to surrender altogether its privilege of judging of +elections, and to submit the investigation of election petitions to the +only tribunal sufficiently above suspicion to command and retain the +confidence of the nation, namely, the Judges of the High Court of Law. +(See the Editor's "Constitutional History of England, 1760-1860," pp. +36-39.)] + +In the midst of this combustion, we are in perils by land and water. It +has rained for this month without intermission; there is sea between me +and Richmond, and Sunday was se'nnight I was hurried down to Isleworth +in the ferry-boat by the violence of the current, and had great +difficulty to get to shore. Our roads are so infested by highwaymen, +that it is dangerous stirring out almost by day. Lady Hertford was +attacked on Hounslow Heath at three in the afternoon. Dr. Eliot was shot +at three days ago, without having resisted; and the day before +yesterday we were near losing our Prime Minster, Lord North; the robbers +shot at the postillion, and wounded the latter. In short, all the +freebooters, that are not in India, have taken to the highway. The +Ladies of the Bedchamber dare not go the Queen at Kew in an evening. The +lane between me and the Thames is the only safe road I know at present, +for it is up to the middle of the horses in water. Next week I shall not +venture to London even at noon, for the Middlesex election is to be at +Brentford, where the two demagogues, Wilkes and Townshend, oppose each +other; and at Richmond there is no crossing the river. How strange all +this must appear to you Florentines; but you may turn to your +Machiavelli and Guicciardini, and have some idea of it. I am the +quietest man at present in the whole island; not but I might take some +part, if I would. I was in my garden yesterday, seeing my servants lop +some trees; my brewer walked in and pressed me to go to Guildhall for +the nomination of members for the county. I replied, calmly, "Sir, when +I would go no more to my own election, you may be very sure I will go to +that of nobody else." My old tune is, + + Suave mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis, &c. + +Adieu! + +P.S.--ARLINGTON STREET, _7th_. + +I am just come to town, and find your letter, with the notification of +Lord Cowper's marriage; I recollect that I ought to be sorry for it, as +you will probably lose an old friend. The approaching death of the Pope +will be an event of no consequence. That old mummery is near its +conclusion, at least as a political object. The history of the latter +Popes will be no more read than that of the last Constantinopolitan +Emperors. Wilkes is a more conspicuous personage in modern story than +the Pontifex Maximus of Rome. The poll for Lord Mayor ended last night; +he and his late Mayor had above 1,900 votes, and their antagonists not +1,500. It is strange that the more he is opposed, the more he succeeds! + +I don't know whether Sir W. Duncan's marriage proved Platonic or not; +but I cannot believe that a lady of great birth, and greater pride, +quarrels with her family, to marry a Scotch physician for Platonic love, +which she might enjoy without marriage. I remember an admirable +_bon-mot_ of George Selwyn; who said, "How often Lady Mary will repeat, +with Macbeth, 'Wake, Duncan, with this knocking--would thou couldst!" + + +_THE POPE'S DEATH--WILKES IS RETURNED FOR MIDDLESEX--A QUAKER AT +VERSAILLES._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Oct._ 22, 1774. + +Though I have been writing two letters, of four sides each, one of which +I enclose, I must answer your two last, if my fingers will move; and +talk to you on the contents of the enclosed. + +If the Jesuits have precipitated the Pope's death,[1] as seems more than +probable, they have acted more by the spirit of their order, than by its +good sense. Great crimes may raise a growing cause, but seldom retard +the fall of a sinking one. This I take to be almost an infallible maxim. +Great crimes, too, provoke more than they terrify; and there is no +poisoning all that are provoked, and all that are terrified; who +alternately provoke and terrify each other, till common danger produces +common security. The Bourbon monarchs will be both angry and frightened, +the Cardinals frightened. It will be the interest of both not to revive +an order that bullies with arsenic in its sleeve. The poisoned host will +destroy the Jesuits, as well as the Pope: and perhaps the Church of Rome +will fall by a wafer, as it rose by it; for such an edifice will tumble +when once the crack has begun. + +[Footnote 1: Pope Benedict XIV. had died in September; but there was not +any suspicion that his death had not been entirely natural.] + +Our elections are almost over. Wilkes has taken possession of Middlesex +without an enemy appearing against him; and, being as puissant a monarch +as Henry the Eighth, and as little scrupulous, should, like him, date +his acts _From our Palace of Bridewell, in the tenth year of our reign_. +He has, however, met with a heroine to stem the tide of his conquests; +who, though not of Arc, nor a _pucelle_, is a true _Joan_ in spirit, +style, and manners. This is her Grace of Northumberland [Lady Elizabeth +Seymour], who has carried the mob of Westminster from him; sitting daily +in the midst of Covent Garden; and will elect her son [Earl Percy] and +Lord Thomas Clinton,[1] against Wilkes's two candidates, Lord Mahon[2] +and Lord Mountmorris. She puts me in mind of what Charles the Second +said of a foolish preacher, who was very popular in his parish: "I +suppose his nonsense suits their nonsense." + +[Footnote 1: Second son of Henry, Duke of Newcastle.--WALPOLE.] + +[Footnote 2: Only son of Earl Stanhope.--WALPOLE.] + +Let me sweeten my letter by making you smile. A Quaker has been at +Versailles; and wanted to see the Comtes de Provence and D'Artois dine +in public, but would not submit to pull off his hat. The Princes were +told of it; and not only admitted him with his beaver on, but made him +sit down and dine with them. Was it not very sensible and good-humoured? +You and I know one who would not have been so gracious: I do not mean my +nephew Lord Cholmondeley.[1] Adieu! I am tired to death. + +[Footnote 1: He means the Duke of Gloucester.--WALPOLE.] + +P.S.--I have seen the Duchess of Beaufort; who sings your praises quite +in a tune I like. Her manner is much unpinioned to what it was, though +her person remains as stately as ever; and powder is vastly preferable +to those brown hairs, of whose preservation she was so fond. I am not so +struck with the beauty of Lady Mary[1] as I was three years ago. Your +nephew, Sir Horace, I see, by the papers, is come into Parliament: I am +glad of it. Is not he yet arrived at Florence? + +[Footnote 1: Lady Mary Somerset, youngest daughter of Charles Noel, Duke +of Beaufort. She was afterwards married to the Duke of +Rutland.--WALPOLE.] + + +_BURKE'S ELECTION AT BRISTOL--RESEMBLANCE OF ONE HOUSE OF COMMONS TO +ANOTHER--COMFORT OF OLD AGE._ + +TO THE COUNTESS OF AILESBURY. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Nov._ 7, 1774. + +I have written such tomes to Mr. Conway,[1] Madam, and so nothing new to +write, that I might as well, methinks, begin and end like the lady to +her husband; "Je vous écris parceque je n'ai rien à faire: je finis +parceque je n'ai rien à vous dire." Yes, I have two complaints to make, +one of your ladyship, the other of myself. You tell me nothing of Lady +Harriet [Stanhope]: have you no tongue, or the French no eyes? or are +her eyes employed in nothing but seeing? What a vulgar employment for a +fine woman's eyes after she is risen from her toilet? I declare I will +ask no more questions--what is it to me, whether she is admired or not? +I should know how charming she is, though all Europe were blind. I hope +I am not to be told by any barbarous nation upon earth what beauty and +grace are! + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Conway and Lady Aylesbury were now at Paris +together.--WALPOLE.] + +For myself, I am guilty of the gout in my elbow; the left--witness my +handwriting. Whether I caught cold by the deluge in the night, or +whether the bootikins, like the water of Styx, can only preserve the +parts they surround, I doubt they have saved me but three weeks, for so +long my reckoning has been out. However, as I feel nothing in my feet, I +flatter myself that this Pindaric transition will not be a regular ode, +but a fragment, the more valuable for being imperfect. + +Now for my Gazette.--Marriages--Nothing done. Intrigues--More in the +political than civil way. Births--Under par since Lady Berkeley left off +breeding. Gaming--Low water. Deaths--Lord Morton, Lord Wentworth, +Duchess Douglas. Election stock--More buyers than sellers. +Promotions--Mr. Wilkes as high as he can go.--_Apropos_, he was told the +Lord Chancellor intended to signify to him, that the King did not +approve the City's choice: he replied, "Then I shall signify to his +lordship, that I am at least as fit to be Lord Mayor as he is to be Lord +Chancellor." This being more Gospel than everything Mr. Wilkes says, the +formal approbation was given. + +Mr. Burke has succeeded in Bristol, and Sir James Peachey will miscarry +in Sussex. But what care you, Madam, about our Parliament? You will see +the _rentrée_ of the old one, with songs and epigrams into the bargain. +We do not shift our Parliaments with so much gaiety. Money in one hand, +and abuse in t'other--those are all the arts we know. _Wit and a +gamut_[1] I don't believe ever signified a Parliament, whatever the +glossaries may say; for they never produce pleasantry and harmony. +Perhaps you may not taste this Saxon pun, but I know it will make the +Antiquarian Society die with laughing. + +[Footnote 1: Walpole is punning on the old Saxon name of the National +Council, Witangemot.] + +Expectation hangs on America. The result of the general assembly is +expected in four or five days. If one may believe the papers, which one +should not believe, the other side of the waterists are not _doux comme +des moutons_, and yet we do intend to eat them. I was in town on Monday; +the Duchess of Beaufort graced our loo, and made it as rantipole as a +Quaker's meeting. _Loois Quinze_,[1] I believe, is arrived by this time, +but I fear without _quinze louis_. + +[Footnote 1: This was a cant name given to a lady [Lady Powis], who was +very fond of loo, and who had lost much money at that game.] + +Your herb-snuff and the four glasses are lying in my warehouse, but I +can hear of no ship going to Paris. You are now at Fontainbleau, but not +thinking of Francis I., the Queen of Sweden, and Monaldelschi. It is +terrible that one cannot go to Courts that are gone! You have supped +with the Chevalier de Boufflers: did he act everything in the world and +sing everything in the world? Has Madame de Cambis sung to you "_Sans +dépit, sans légèreté_?"[1] Has Lord Cholmondeley delivered my pacquet? I +hear I have hopes of Madame d'Olonne. Gout or no gout, I shall be little +in town till after Christmas. My elbow makes me bless myself that I am +not in Paris. Old age is no such uncomfortable thing, if one gives +oneself up to it with a good grace, and don't drag it about + + To midnight dances and the public show. + +[Footnote 1: The first words of a favourite French air.--WALPOLE.] + +If one stays quietly in one's own house in the country, and cares for +nothing but oneself, scolds one's servants, condemns everything that is +new, and recollects how charming a thousand things were formerly that +were very disagreeable, one gets over the winters very well, and the +summers get over themselves. + + +_DEATH OF LORD CLIVE--RESTORATION OF THE FRENCH PARLIAMENT--PREDICTION +OF GREAT MEN TO ARISE IN AMERICA--THE KING'S SPEECH._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Nov._ 24, 1774. + +... A great event happened two days ago--a political and moral event; +the sudden death of that second Kouli Khan, Lord Clive.[1] There was +certainly illness in the case; the world thinks more than illness. His +constitution was exceedingly broken and disordered, and grown subject to +violent pains and convulsions. He came unexpectedly to town last Monday, +and they say, ill. On Tuesday his physician gave him a dose of laudanum, +which had not the desired effect. On the rest, there are two stories; +one, that the physician repeated the dose; the other, that he doubled it +himself, contrary to advice. In short, he has terminated at fifty a life +of so much glory, reproach, art, wealth, and ostentation! He had just +named ten members for the new Parliament. + +[Footnote 1: Lord Clive had committed suicide in his house in Berkeley +Square. As he was passing through his library his niece, who was writing +a letter, asked him to mend a pen for her. He did it, and, passing on +into the next room, cut his throat with the same knife he had just used. +It is remarkable that, when little more than a youth, he had once tried +to destroy himself. In a fit, apparently of constitutional melancholy, +he had put a pistol to his head, but it did not go off. He pulled the +trigger more than once; always with the same result. Anxious to see +whether there was any defect in the weapon or the loading, he aimed at +the door of the room, and the pistol went off, the bullet going through +the door; and from that day he conceived himself reserved by Providence +for great things, though in his most sanguine confidence he could never +have anticipated such glory as he was destined to win.] + +Next Tuesday that Parliament is to meet--and a deep game it has to play! +few Parliaments a greater. The world is in amaze here that no account is +arrived from America of the result of their General Congress--if any is +come it is very secret; and _that_ has no favourable aspect. The +combination and spirit there seem to be universal, and is very alarming. +I am the humble servant of events, and you know never meddle with +prophecy. It would be difficult to descry good omens, be the issue what +it will. + +The old French Parliament is restored with great _éclat_.[1] Monsieur de +Maurepas, author of the revolution, was received one night at the Opera +with boundless shouts of applause. It is even said that the mob +intended, when the King should go to hold the _lit de justice_,[2] to +draw his coach. How singular it would be if Wilkes's case should be +copied for a King of France! Do you think Rousseau was in the right, +when he said that he could tell what would be the manners of any capital +city from certain given lights? I don't know what he may do on +Constantinople and Pekin--but Paris and London! I don't believe Voltaire +likes these changes. I have seen nothing of his writing for many months; +not even on the poisoning Jesuits. For our part, I repeat it, we shall +contribute nothing to the _Histoire des Moeurs_, not for want of +materials, but for want of writers. We have comedies without novelty, +gross satires without stings, metaphysical eloquence, and antiquarians +that discover nothing. + + Boeotûm in crasso jurares aere natos! + +[Footnote 1: In 1770 the Chancellor, Maupéou, had abolished the +Parliament, as has been mentioned in a former note. Their conduct ever +since the death of Richelieu had been factious and corrupt. But, though +the Sovereign Courts, which Maupéou had established in their stead, had +worked well, their extinction had been unpopular in Paris; and, on the +accession of Louis XVI., the new Prime Minister, Maurepas, proposed +their re-establishment, and the Queen, most unfortunately, was persuaded +by the Duc de Choiseul to exert her influence in support of the measure. +Turgot, the great Finance Minister--indeed, the greatest statesman that +France ever produced--resisted it with powerful arguments, but Louis +yielded to the influence of his consort. The Parliaments were +re-established, and soon verified all the predictions of Turgot by +conduct more factious and violent than ever. (See the Editor's "France +under the Bourbons," iii. 413.)] + +[Footnote 2: A _Lit de Justice_ was an extraordinary meeting of the +Parliament, presided over by the sovereign in person, and one in which +no opposition, or even discussion, was permitted; but any edict which +had been issued was at once registered.] + +Don't tell me I am grown old and peevish and supercilious--name the +geniuses of 1774, and I submit. The next Augustan age will dawn on the +other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at +Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a +Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit +England and give a description of the ruins of St. Paul's, like the +editions of Balbec and Palmyra; but am I not prophesying, contrary to my +consummate prudence, and casting horoscopes of empires like Rousseau? +Yes; well, I will go and dream of my visions. + +_29th._ + +... The Parliament opened just now--they say the speech talks of the +_rebellion_ of the Province of Massachusetts; but if _they-say_ tells a +lie, I wash my hands of it. As your gazetteer, I am obliged to send you +all news, true or false. I have believed and unbelieved everything I +have heard since I came to town. Lord Clive has died every death in the +parish register; at present it is most fashionable to believe he cut his +throat. That he is dead, is certain; so is Lord Holland--and so is not +the Bishop of Worcester [Johnson]; however, to show you that I am at +least as well informed as greater personages, the bishopric was on +Saturday given to Lord North's brother--so for once the Irishman was in +the right, and a pigeon, at least a dove, can be in two places at once. + + +_RIOTS AT BOSTON--A LITERARY COTERIE AT BATH--EASTON._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY AND LADY AYLESBURY. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Jan._ 15, 1775. + +You have made me very happy by saying your journey to Naples is laid +aside. Perhaps it made too great an impression on me; but you must +reflect, that all my life I have satisfied myself with your being +perfect, instead of trying to be so myself. I don't ask you to return, +though I wish it: in truth, there is nothing to invite you. I don't want +you to come and breathe fire and sword against the Bostonians,[1] like +that second Duke of Alva,[2] the inflexible Lord George Germaine.... + +[Footnote 1: The open resistance to the new taxation of the American +Colonies began at Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, where, on the +arrival of the first tea-ship, a body of citizens, disguised as Red +Indians, boarded the ship and threw the tea into the sea.] + +[Footnote 2: The first Duke of Alva was the first Governor of the +Netherlands appointed by Philip II.; and it was his bloodthirsty and +intolerable cruelty that caused the revolt of the Netherlands, and cost +Spain those rich provinces.] + +An account is come of the Bostonians having voted an army of sixteen +thousand men, who are to be called _minutemen_, as they are to be ready +at a minute's warning. Two directors or commissioners, I don't know what +they are called, are appointed. There has been too a kind of mutiny in +the Fifth Regiment. A soldier was found drunk on his post. Gage, in his +time of _danger_, thought rigour necessary, and sent the fellow to a +court-martial. They ordered two hundred lashes. The General ordered them +to improve their sentence. Next day it was published in the _Boston +Gazette_. He called them before him, and required them on oath to abjure +the communication: three officers refused. Poor Gage is to be scapegoat, +not for this, but for what was a reason against employing him, +incapacity. I wonder at the precedent! Howe is talked of for his +successor.--Well, I have done with _you_!--Now I shall go gossip with +Lady Aylesbury. + +You must know, Madam, that near Bath is erected a new Parnassus, +composed of three laurels, a myrtle-tree, a weeping-willow, and a view +of the Avon, which has been new christened Helicon. Ten years ago there +lived a Madam Riggs, an old rough humourist who passed for a wit; her +daughter, who passed for nothing, married to a Captain Miller, full of +good-natured officiousness. These good folks were friends of Miss Rich, +who carried me to dine with them at Bath-Easton, now Pindus. They caught +a little of what was then called taste, built and planted, and begot +children, till the whole caravan were forced to go abroad to retrieve. +Alas! Mrs. Miller is returned a beauty, a genius, a Sappho, a tenth +Muse, as romantic as Mademoiselle Scudéri, and as sophisticated as Mrs. +Vesey. The Captain's fingers are loaded with cameos, his tongue runs +over with _virtù_, and that both may contribute to the improvement of +their own country, they have introduced _bouts-rimes_ as a new +discovery. They hold a Parnassus fair every Thursday, give out rhymes +and themes, and all the flux of quality at Bath contend for the prizes. +A Roman vase dressed with pink ribbons and myrtles receives the +poetry,[1] which is drawn out every festival; six judges of these +Olympic games retire and select the brightest compositions, which the +respective successful acknowledge, kneel to Mrs. Calliope Miller, kiss +her fair hand, and are crowned by it with myrtle, with--I don't know +what. You may think this is fiction, or exaggeration. Be dumb, +unbelievers! The collection is printed, published.--Yes, on my faith, +there are _bouts-rimes_ on a buttered muffin, made by her Grace the +Duchess of Northumberland; receipts to make them by Corydon the +venerable, alias George Pitt; others very pretty, by Lord Palmerston; +some by Lord Carlisle: many by Mrs. Miller herself, that have no fault +but wanting metre; an Immorality promised to her without end or measure. +In short, since folly, which never ripens to madness but in this hot +climate, ran distracted, there never was anything so entertaining or so +dull--for you cannot read so long as I have been telling. + +[Footnote 1: Four volumes of this poetry were published under the title +of "Poetical Amusements at a villa near Bath." The following lines are a +fair sample of the _bouts-rimes_. + + The pen which I now take and brandish + Has long lain useless in my standish. + Know, every maid, from her own patten, + To her who shines in glossy sattin, + That could they now prepare an oglio + From best receipt of book in folio, + Ever so fine, for all their puffing, + I should prefer a butter'd muffin; + A muffin Jove himself might feast on, + If eat with Miller at Batheaston. + +The following are the concluding lines of a poem on Beauty, by Lord +Palmerston:-- + + In vain the stealing hand of Time + May pluck the blossoms of their prime; + Envy may talk of bloom decay'd, + How lilies droop and roses fade; + But Constancy's unalter'd truth, + Regardful of the vows of youth-- + Affection that recalls the past, + And bids the pleasing influence last, + Shall still preserve the lover's flame + In every scene of life the same; + And still with fond endearments blend + The wife, the mistress, and the friend! + +"Lady Miller's collection of verses by fashionable people, which were +put into her vase at Bath-Easton, in competition for honorary prizes, +being mentioned, Dr. Johnson held them very cheap: '_Bouts-rimés_,' said +he, 'is a mere conceit, and an old conceit; I wonder how people were +persuaded to write in that manner for this lady.' I named a gentleman of +his acquaintance who wrote for the vase. JOHNSON--'He was a blockhead +for his pains!' BOSWELL--'The Duchess of Northumberland wrote.'--'Sir, +the Duchess of Northumberland may do what she pleases; nobody will say +anything to a lady of her high rank: but I should be apt to throw ... +verses in his face." (Boswell, vol. v. p. 227.)] + + +_OPPOSITION OF THE FRENCH PARLIAMENTS TO TURGOT'S MEASURES._ + +TO DR. GEM.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Dr. Gem was an English physician who had been for some time +settled in Paris. He was uncle to Canning's friend and colleague, Mr. +Huskisson.] + +ARLINGTON STREET, _April_ 4, 1776. + +It is but fair, when one quits one's party, to give notice to those one +abandons--at least, modern patriots, who often imbibe their principles +of honour at Newmarket, use that civility. You and I, dear Sir, have +often agreed in our political notions; and you, I fear, will die without +changing your opinion. For my part, I must confess I am totally altered; +and, instead of being a warm partisan of liberty, now admire nothing but +despotism. You will naturally ask, what place I have gotten, or what +bribe I have taken? Those are the criterions of political changes in +England--but, as my conversion is of foreign extraction, I shall not be +the richer for it. In one word, it is the _relation du lit de justice_ +that has operated the miracle. When two ministers are found so humane, +so virtuous, so excellent, as to study nothing but the welfare and +deliverance of the people; when a king listens to such excellent men; +and when a parliament, from the basest, most interested motives, +interposes to intercept the blessing, must I not change my opinions, and +admire arbitrary power? or can I retain my sentiments, without varying +the object? + +Yes, Sir, I am shocked at the conduct of the Parliament--one would think +it was an English one! I am scandalised at the speeches of the +_Avocat-général_,[1] who sets up the odious interests of the nobility +and clergy against the cries and groans of the poor; and who employs his +wicked eloquence to tempt the good young monarch, by personal views, to +sacrifice the mass of his subjects to the privileges of the few--But why +do I call it eloquence? The fumes of interest had so clouded his +rhetoric, that he falls into a downright Iricism.--He tells the King, +that the intended tax on the proprietors of land will affect the +property not only of the rich, but of the poor. I should be glad to know +what is the property of the poor? Have the poor landed estates? Are +those who have landed estates the poor? Are the poor that will suffer by +the tax, the wretched labourers who are dragged from their famishing +families to work on the roads?--But _it is_ wicked eloquence when it +finds a reason, or gives a reason for continuing the abuse. The Advocate +tells the King, those abuses _presque consacrés par l'ancienneté_; +indeed, he says all that can be said for nobility, it is _consacrée par +l'ancienneté_; and thus the length of the pedigree of abuses renders +them respectable! + +[Footnote 1: The _Avocat-Général_ was M. de Seguier; and, under his +guidance, the Parliament had passed the monstrous resolution that "the +_people_ in France was liable to the tax of _la taille_, and to _corvée_ +at discretion" (_était tailleable et corvéable à volonté_), and that +their "liability was an article of the Constitution which it was not in +the power of even the King himself to change" ("France under the +Bourbons," iii. 422).] + +His arguments are as contemptible when he tries to dazzle the King by +the great names of Henri Quatre and Sully,[1] of Louis XIV. and Colbert, +two couple whom nothing but a mercenary orator would have classed +together. Nor, were all four equally venerable, would it prove anything. +Even good kings and good ministers, if such have been, may have erred; +nay, may have done the best they could. They would not have been good, +if they wished their errors should be preserved, the longer they had +lasted. + +[Footnote 1: Sully and Colbert were the two great Finance Ministers of +Henry IV. and Louis XIV.] + +In short, Sir, I think this resistance of the Parliament to the adorable +reformation planned by Messrs. de Turgot and Malesherbes[1] is more +phlegmatically scandalous than the wildest tyranny of despotism. I +forget what the nation was that refused liberty when it was offered. +This opposition to so noble a work is worse. A whole people may refuse +its own happiness; but these profligate magistrates resist happiness for +others, for millions, for posterity!--Nay, do they not half vindicate +Maupéou, who crushed them? And you, dear Sir, will you now chide my +apostasy? Have I not cleared myself to your eyes? I do not see a shadow +of sound logic in all Monsieur Seguier's speeches, but in his proposing +that the soldiers should work on the roads, and that passengers should +contribute to their fabric; though, as France is not so luxuriously mad +as England, I do not believe passengers could support the expense of +their roads. That argument, therefore, is like another that the Avocat +proposes to the King, and which, he modestly owns, he believes would be +impracticable. + +[Footnote 1: Malesherbes was the Chancellor, and in 1792 he was accepted +by Louis XVI. as his counsel on his trial--a duty which he performed +with an ability which drew on him the implacable resentment of +Robespierre and the Jacobins, and which led to his execution in 1794.] + +I beg your pardon, Sir, for giving you this long trouble; but I could +not help venting myself, when shocked to find such renegade conduct in a +Parliament that I was rejoiced had been restored. Poor human kind! is it +always to breed serpents from its own bowels? In one country, it chooses +its representatives, and they sell it and themselves; in others, it +exalts despots; in another, it resists the despot when he consults the +good of his people! Can we wonder mankind is wretched, when men are such +beings? Parliaments run wild with loyalty, when America is to be +enslaved or butchered. They rebel, when their country is to be set free! +I am not surprised at the idea of the devil being always at our elbows. +They who invented him, no doubt could not conceive how men could be so +atrocious to one another, without the intervention of a fiend. Don't you +think, if he had never been heard of before, that he would have been +invented on the late partition of Poland! Adieu, dear Sir. Yours most +sincerely. + + +_HIS DECORATIONS AT "STRAWBERRY"--HIS ESTIMATE OF HIMSELF, AND HIS +ADMIRATION OF CONWAY._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 20, 1776. + +I was very glad to receive your letter, not only because always most +glad to hear of you, but because I wished to write to you, and had +absolutely nothing to say till I had something to answer. I have lain +but two nights in town since I saw you; have been, else, constantly +here, very much employed, though doing, hearing, knowing exactly +nothing. I have had a Gothic architect [Mr. Essex] from Cambridge to +design me a gallery, which will end in a mouse, that is, in an hexagon +closet of seven feet diameter. I have been making a Beauty Room, which +was effected by buying two dozen of small copies of Sir Peter Lely, and +hanging them up; and I have been making hay, which is not made, because +I put it off for three days, as I chose it should adorn the landscape +when I was to have company; and so the rain is come, and has drowned it. +However, as I can even turn calculator when it is to comfort me for not +minding my interest, I have discovered that it is five to one better for +me that my hay should be spoiled than not; for, as the cows will eat it +if it is damaged, which horses will not, and as I have five cows and but +one horse, is not it plain that the worse my hay is the better? Do not +you with your refining head go, and, out of excessive friendship, find +out something to destroy my system. I had rather be a philosopher than +a rich man; and yet have so little philosophy, that I had much rather be +content than be in the right. + +Mr. Beauclerk and Lady Di have been here four or five days--so I had +both content and exercise for my philosophy. I wish Lady Ailesbury was +as fortunate! The Pembrokes, Churchills, Le Texier, as you will have +heard, and the Garricks have been with us. Perhaps, if alone, I might +have come to you; but you are all too healthy and harmonious. I can +neither walk nor sing; nor, indeed, am fit for anything but to amuse +myself in a sedentary trifling way. What I have most certainly not been +doing, is writing anything: a truth I say to you, but do not desire you +to repeat. I deign to satisfy scarce anybody else. Whoever reported that +I was writing anything, must have been so totally unfounded, that they +either blundered by guessing without reason, or knew they lied--and that +could not be with any kind intention; though saying I am going to do +what I am not going to do, is wretched enough. Whatever is said of me +without truth, anybody is welcome to believe that pleases. + +In fact, though I have scarce a settled purpose about anything, I think +I shall never write any more. I have written a great deal too much, +unless I had written better, and I know I should now only write still +worse. One's talent, whatever it is, does not improve at near +sixty--yet, if I liked it, I dare to say a good reason would not stop my +inclination;--but I am grown most indolent in that respect, and most +absolutely indifferent to every purpose of vanity. Yet without vanity I +am become still prouder and more contemptuous. I have a contempt for my +countrymen that makes me despise their approbation. The applause of +slaves and of the foolish mad is below ambition. Mine is the haughtiness +of an ancient Briton, that cannot write what would please this age, and +would not, if he could. + +Whatever happens in America, this country is undone. I desire to be +reckoned of the last age, and to be thought to have lived to be +superannuated, preserving my senses only for myself and for the few I +value. I cannot aspire to be traduced like Algernon Sydney, and content +myself with sacrificing to him amongst my lares. Unalterable in my +principles, careless about most things below essentials, indulging +myself in trifles by system, annihilating myself by choice, but dreading +folly at an unseemly age, I contrive to pass my time agreeably enough, +yet see its termination approach without anxiety. This is a true picture +of my mind; and it must be true, because drawn for you, whom I would not +deceive, and could not, if I would. Your question on my being writing +drew it forth, though with more seriousness than the report +deserved--yet talking to one's dearest friend is neither wrong nor out +of season. Nay, you are my best apology. I have always contented myself +with your being perfect, or, if your modesty demands a mitigated term, I +will say, unexceptionable. It is comical, to be sure, to have always +been more solicitous about the virtue of one's friend than about one's +own; yet, I repeat it, you are my apology--though I never was so +unreasonable as to make you answerable for my faults in return; I take +them wholly to myself. But enough of this. When I know my own mind, for +hitherto I have settled no plan for my summer, I will come to you. +Adieu! + + +_ANGLOMANIE IN PARIS--HORSE-RACING._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Dec._ 1, 1776. + +I don't know who the Englishwoman is of whom you give so ridiculous a +description; but it will suit thousands. I distrust my age continually, +and impute to it half the contempt I feel for my countrymen and women. +If I think the other half well-founded, it is by considering what must +be said hereafter of the present age. What is to impress a great idea of +us on posterity? In truth, what do our contemporaries of all other +countries think of us? They stare at and condemn our politics and +follies; and if they retain any respect for us, I doubt it is for the +sense we have had. I do know, indeed, one man who still worships us, but +his adoration is testified so very absurdly, as not to do us much +credit. It is a Monsieur de Marchais, first Valet-de-Chambre to the +King of France. He has the _Anglomanie_ so strong, that he has not only +read more English than French books, but if any valuable work appears in +his own language, he waits to peruse it till it is translated into +English; and to be sure our translations of French are admirable things! + +To do the rest of the French justice, I mean such as like us, they adopt +only our egregious follies, and in particular the flower of them, +horse-racing![1] _Le Roi Pepin_, a racer, is the horse in fashion. I +suppose the next shameful practice of ours they naturalize will be the +personal scurrilities in the newspapers, especially on young and +handsome women, in which we certainly are originals! Voltaire, who first +brought us into fashion in France, is stark mad at his own success. Out +of envy to writers of his own nation, he cried up Shakspeare; and now is +distracted at the just encomiums bestowed on that first genius of the +world in the new translation. He sent to the French Academy an +invective that bears all the marks of passionate dotage. Mrs. Montagu +happened to be present when it was read. Suard, one of their writers, +said to her, "Je crois, Madame, que vous êtes un peu fâché de ce que +vous venez d'entendre." She replied, "Moi, Monsieur! point du tout! Je +ne suis pas amie de Monsieur Voltaire." I shall go to town the day after +to-morrow, and will add a postscript, if I hear any news. + +[Footnote 1: "A rage for adopting English fashions (Anglomanie, as it +was called) began to prevail; and, among the different modes in which it +was exhibited, it is especially noticed that tea was introduced, and +began to share with coffee the privilege of affording sober refreshment +to those who aspired in their different ways to give the tone to French +society. A less innocent novelty was a passion for horse-racing, in +which the Comte d'Artois and the Duc de Chartres set the example of +indulging, establishing a racecourse in the Bois de Boulogne. The Count +had but little difficulty in persuading the Queen to attend it, and she +soon showed so decided a fancy for the sport, and became so regular a +visitor of it, that a small stand was built for her, which in subsequent +years provoked unfavourable comments, when the Prince obtained her leave +to give luncheon to some of their racing friends, who were not in every +instance of a character entitled to be brought into a royal presence" +(the Editor's "Life of Marie Antoinette," c. II).] + +_Dec. 3rd._ + +I am come late, have seen nobody, and must send away my letter. + + +_OSSIAN--CHATTERTON._ + +TO THE REV. WILLIAM COLE. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 19, 1777. + +I thank you for your notices, dear Sir, and shall remember that on +Prince William. I did see the _Monthly Review_, but hope one is not +guilty of the death of every man who does not make one the dupe of a +forgery. I believe M'Pherson's success with "Ossian"[1] was more the +ruin of Chatterton[2] than I. Two years passed between my doubting the +authenticity of Rowley's poems and his death. I never knew he had been +in London till some time after he had undone and poisoned himself there. +The poems he sent me were transcripts in his own hand, and even in that +circumstance he told a lie: he said he had them from the very person at +Bristol to whom he had given them. If any man was to tell you that +monkish rhymes had been dug up at Herculaneum, which was destroyed +several centuries before there was any such poetry, should you believe +it? Just the reverse is the case of Rowley's pretended poems. They have +all the elegance of Waller and Prior, and more than Lord Surrey--but I +have no objection to anybody believing what he pleases. I think poor +Chatterton was an astonishing genius--but I cannot think that Rowley +foresaw metres that were invented long after he was dead, or that our +language was more refined at Bristol in the reign of Henry V. than it +was at Court under Henry VIII. One of the chaplains of the Bishop of +Exeter has found a line of Rowley in "Hudibras"--the monk might foresee +that too! The prematurity of Chatterton's genius is, however, full as +wonderful, as that such a prodigy as Rowley should never have been heard +of till the eighteenth century. The youth and industry of the former are +miracles, too, yet still more credible. There is not a symptom in the +poems, but the old words, that savours of Rowley's age--change the old +words for modern, and the whole construction is of yesterday. + +[Footnote 1: Macpherson was a Scotch literary man, who in 1760 published +"Fingal" in six books, which he declared he had translated from a poem +by Ossian, son of Fingal, a Gaelic prince of the third century. For a +moment the work was accepted as genuine in some quarters, especially by +some of the Edinburgh divines. But Dr. Johnson denounced it as an +imposture from the first. He pointed out that Macpherson had never +produced the manuscripts from which he professed to have translated it +when challenged to do so. He maintained also that the so-called poem had +no merits; that "it was a mere unconnected rhapsody, a tiresome +repetition of the same images;" and his opinion soon became so generally +adopted, that Macpherson wrote him a furious letter of abuse, even +threatening him with personal violence; to which Johnson replied "that +he would not be deterred from exposing what he thought a cheat by the +menaces of a ruffian"--a reply which seems to have silenced Mr. +Macpherson (Boswell's "Life of Johnson," i. 375, ii. 310).] + +[Footnote 2: Chatterton's is a melancholy story. In 1768, when a boy of +only sixteen, he published a volume of ballads which he described as the +work of Rowley, a priest of Bristol in the fifteenth century, and which +he affirmed he had found in an old chest in the crypt of the Church of +St. Mary Redcliffe at Bristol, of which his father was sexton. They gave +proofs of so rich and precocious a genius, that if he had published them +as his own works, he would "have found himself famous" in a moment, as +Byron did forty years afterwards. But people resented the attempt to +impose on them, Walpole being among the first to point out the proofs of +their modern composition; and consequently the admiration which his +genius might have excited was turned into general condemnation of his +imposture, and in despair he poisoned himself in 1770, when he was only +eighteen years old.] + + +_AFFAIRS IN AMERICA--THE CZARINA AND THE EMPEROR OF CHINA._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Oct._ 26, 1777. + +It is past my usual period of writing to you; which would not have +happened but from an uncommon, and indeed, considering the moment, an +extraordinary dearth of matter. I could have done nothing but describe +suspense, and every newspaper told you that. Still we know nothing +certain of the state of affairs in America; the very existence where, of +the Howes, is a mystery. The General is said to have beaten Washington, +Clinton to have repulsed three attacks, and Burgoyne[1] to be beaten. +The second alone is credited. Impatience is very high, and uneasiness +increases with every day. There is no sanguine face anywhere, but many +alarmed ones. The pains taken, by circulating false reports, to keep up +some confidence, only increase the dissatisfaction by disappointing. +Some advantage gained may put off clamour for some months: but I think, +the longer it is suspended, the more terrible it will be; and how the +war should end but in ruin, I am not wise enough to conjecture. France +suspends the blow, to make it more inevitable. She has suffered us to +undo ourselves: will she allow us time to recover? We have begged her +indulgence in the first: will she grant the second prayer?... + +[Footnote 1: In June and July General Burgoyne, a man of some literary +as well as military celebrity, achieved some trifling successes over the +colonial army, alternating, however, with some defeats. He took +Ticonderoga, but one of his divisions was defeated with heavy loss at +Bennington--a disaster which, Lord Stanhope says, exercised a fatal +influence over the rest of the campaign; and finally, a week before this +letter was written, he and all his army were so hemmed in at Saratoga, +that they were compelled to lay down their arms--a disgrace which was +the turning-point of the war, and which is compared by Lord Stanhope to +the capitulation of his own ancestor at Brihuega in the war of the +Spanish Succession. The surrender of Saratoga was the event which +determined the French and Spaniards to recognise the independence of the +colonies, and consequently to unite with them in the war against +England.] + +You have heard of the inundation at Petersburg. That ill wind produced +luck to somebody. As the Empress had not distressed objects enough among +her own people to gratify her humanity, she turned the torrent of her +bounty towards that unhappy relict the Duchess of Kingston, and ordered +her Admiralty to take particular care of the marvellous yacht that bore +Messalina and her fortune. Pray mind that I bestow the latter Empress's +name on the Duchess, only because she married a second husband in the +lifetime of the first. Amongst other benevolences, the Czarina lent her +Grace a courier to despatch to England--I suppose to acquaint Lord +Bristol that he is not a widower. That courier brought a letter from a +friend to Dr. Hunter, with the following anecdote. Her Imperial Majesty +proposed to her brother of China to lay waste a large district that +separates their two empires, lest it should, as it has been on the point +of doing, produce war between them; the two empires being at the two +extremities of the world, not being distance enough to keep the peace. +The ill-bred Tartar sent no answer to so humane a project. On the +contrary, he dispersed a letter to the Russian people, in which he tells +them that a woman--he might have said the Minerva of the French +_literati_--had proposed to him to extirpate all the inhabitants of a +certain region belonging to him, but that he knew better what to do with +his own country: however, he could but wonder that the people of all the +Russias should still submit to be governed by a creature that had +assassinated her husband.--Oh! if she had pulled the Ottoman by the nose +in the midst of Constantinople, as she intended to do, this savage would +have been more civilised. I doubt the same rude monarch is still on the +throne, who would not suffer Prince Czernichew to enter his territories, +when sent to notify her Majesty's _hereditary_ succession to her +husband; but bade him be told, he would not receive an ambassador from a +murderess. Is it not shocking that the law of nations, and the law of +politeness, should not yet have abrogated the laws of justice and +good-sense in a nation reckoned so civilised as the Chinese? What an age +do we live in, if there is still a country where the Crown does not take +away all defects! Good night! + + +_DEATH OF LORD CHATHAM--THURLOW BECOMES LORD CHANCELLOR._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _May_ 31, 1778. + +I am forced to look at the dates I keep of my letters, to see what +events I have or have not told you; for at this crisis something happens +every day; though nothing very striking since the death of Lord Chatham, +with which I closed my last. No?--yes, but there has. All England, which +had abandoned him, found out, the moment his eyes were closed, that +nothing but Lord Chatham could have preserved them. How lucky for him +that the experiment cannot be made! Grief is fond, and grief is +generous. The Parliament will bury him; the City begs the honour of +being his grave; and the important question is not yet decided, whether +he is to lie at Westminster or in St. Paul's; on which it was well said, +that it would be "robbing Peter to pay Paul." An annuity of four +thousand pounds is settled on the title of Chatham, and twenty thousand +pounds allotted to pay his debts. The Opposition and the Administration +disputed zeal; and neither care a straw about him. He is already as much +forgotten as John of Gaunt. + +General Burgoyne has succeeded and been the topic, and for two days +engrossed the attention of the House of Commons; and probably will be +heard of no more. He was even forgotten for three hours while he was on +the tapis, by a violent quarrel between Temple Luttrell (a brother of +the Duchess of Cumberland) and Lord George Germaine; but the public has +taken affection for neither them nor the General: being much more +disposed at present to hate than to love--except the dead. It will be +well if the ill-humour, which increases, does not break out into overt +acts. + +I know not what to say of war. The Toulon squadron was certainly blown +back. That of Brest is supposed to be destined to invade some part of +this country or Ireland; or rather, it is probable, will attempt our +fleet. In my own opinion, there is no great alacrity in France--I mean, +in the Court of France--for war; and, as we have had time for great +preparations, their eagerness will not increase. We shall suffer as much +as they can desire by the loss of America, without their risk, and in a +few years shall be able to give them no umbrage; especially as our +frenzy is still so strong, that, if France left us at quiet, I am +persuaded we should totally exhaust ourselves in pursuing the vision of +reconquest. Spain continues to disclaim hostility as you told me. If the +report is true of revolts in Mexico, they would be as good as a bond +under his Catholic Majesty's hand. + +We shall at least not doze, as we are used to do, in summer. The +Parliament is to have only short adjournments; and our senators, instead +of retiring to horse-races (_their_ plough), are all turned soldiers, +and disciplining militia. Camps everywhere, and the ladies in the +uniform of their husbands! In short, if the dose is not too strong, a +little adversity would not be quite unseasonable.--A little! you will +cry; why what do you call the loss of America? Oh! my dear sir, do you +think a capital as enormous as London has its nerves affected by what +happens beyond the Atlantic? What has become of all your reading? There +is nothing so unnatural as the feelings of a million of persons who live +together in one city. They have not one conception like those in +villages and in the country. They presume or despond from quite +different motives. They have both more sense and less, than those who +are not in contact with a multitude. Wisdom forms empires, but folly +dissolves them; and a great capital, which dictates to the rest of the +community, is always the last to perceive the decays of the whole, +because it takes its own greatness for health. + +Lord Holdernesse is dead; not quite so considerable a personage as he +once expected to be, though Nature never intended him for anything that +he was. The Chancellor, another child of Fortune, quits the Seals; and +they are, or are to be, given to the Attorney-General, Thurlow, whom +nobody will reproach with want of abilities. + +As the Parliament will rise on Tuesday, you will not expect my letters +so frequently as of late, especially if hostilities do not commence. In +fact, our newspapers tell you everything faster than I can: still I +write, because you have more faith in my intelligence; yet all its merit +consists in my not telling you fables. I hear no more than everybody +does, but I send you only what is sterling; or, at least, give you +reports for no more than they are worth. I believe Sir John Dick is much +more punctual, and hears more; but, till you displace me, I shall +execute my office of being your gazetteer. + + +_EXULTATION OF FRANCE AT OUR DISASTERS IN +AMERICA--FRANKLIN--NECKER--CHATTERTON._ + +TO THE REV. WILLIAM COLE. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 3, 1778. + +I will not dispute with you, dear Sir, on patriots and politics. One +point is past controversy, that the Ministers have ruined this country; +and if the Church of England is satisfied with being reconciled to the +Church of Rome, and thinks it a compensation for the loss of America and +all credit in Europe, she is as silly an old woman as any granny in an +almshouse. France is very glad we have grown such fools, and soon saw +that the Presbyterian Dr. Franklin[1] had more sense than our Ministers +together. She has got over all her prejudices, has expelled the Jesuits, +and made the Protestant Swiss, Necker,[2] her Comptroller-general. It is +a little woful, that we are relapsing into the nonsense the rest of +Europe is shaking off! and it is more deplorable, as we know by repeated +experience, that this country has always been disgraced by Tory +administrations. The rubric is the only gainer by them in a few martyrs. + +[Footnote 1: Dr. Franklin, as a man of science, may almost be called the +father of electrical science. He was the discoverer of the electrical +character of lightning, a discovery which he followed up by the +invention of iron conductors for the protection of buildings, &c., from +lightning. He was also a very zealous politician, and one of the leaders +of the American colonists in their resistance to the taxation imposed +first by Mr. Grenville and afterwards by Mr. C. Townshend. He resided +for several years in England as agent for the State of Pennsylvania, and +in that character, in the year 1765, was examined before the Committee +of the House of Commons on the Stamp Act of Mr. Grenville. After the +civil war broke out he was elected a member of the American Congress, +and was sent as an envoy to France to negotiate a treaty with that +country. As early as 1758 he was elected a member of the Royal Society +in England, and received the honorary degree of D.C.L. from the +University of Oxford.] + +[Footnote 2: Necker was originally a banker, in which business he made a +large fortune; but after a time he turned his attention to politics. He +began by opposing the financial and constitutional schemes of the great +Turgot, and shortly after the dismissal of that Minister he himself was +admitted into the Ministry as a sort of Secretary to the Treasury, his +religion, as a Protestant, being a bar to his receiving the title of +"Comptroller-General," though, in fact, he had the entire management of +the finance of the kingdom, which, by artful misrepresentation of his +measures and suppression of such important facts, that he had contracted +loans to the amount of twenty millions of money, he represented as far +more flourishing than in reality it was. At the end of two or three +years he resigned his office in discontent at his services not receiving +the rewards to which he considered himself entitled. But in 1788 he was +again placed in office, on this occasion as Comptroller-General, and, +practically, Prime Minister, a post for which he was utterly unfit; for +he had not one qualification for a statesman, was a prey to the most +overweening vanity, and his sole principles of action were a thirst for +popularity and a belief in "the dominion of reason and the abstract +virtues of mankind." Under the influence of these notions he frittered +away the authority and dignity of the King; and, as Napoleon afterwards +truly told his grandson, was, in truth, the chief cause of all the +horrors of the Revolution.] + +I do not know yet what is settled about the spot of Lord Chatham's +interment. I am not more an enthusiast to his memory than you. I knew +his faults and his defects--yet one fact cannot only not be +controverted, but I doubt more remarkable every day--I mean, that under +him we attained not only our highest elevation, but the most solid +authority in Europe. When the names of Marlborough and Chatham are still +pronounced with awe in France, our little cavils make a puny sound. +Nations that are beaten cannot be mistaken. + +I have been looking out for your friend a set of my heads of Painters, +and I find I want six or seven. I think I have some odd ones in town; if +I have not, I will have deficiencies supplied from the plates, though I +fear they will not be good, as so many have been taken off. I should be +very ungrateful for all your kindnesses, if I neglected any opportunity +of obliging you, dear Sir. Indeed, our old and unalterable friendship is +creditable to us both, and very uncommon between two persons who differ +so much in their opinions relative to Church and State. I believe the +reason is, that we are both sincere, and never meant to take advantage +of our principles; which I allow is too common on both sides, and I own, +too, fairly more common on my side of the question than on yours. There +is a reason, too, for that; the honours and emoluments are in the gift +of the Crown; the nation has no separate treasury to reward its friends. + +If Mr. Tyrwhitt has opened his eyes to Chatterton's forgeries,[1] there +is an instance of conviction against strong prejudice! I have drawn up +an account of my transaction with that marvellous young man; you shall +see it one day or other, but I do not intend to print it. I have taken a +thorough dislike to being an author; and if it would not look like +begging you to compliment me, by contradicting me, I would tell you, +what I am most seriously convinced of, that I find what small share of +parts I had, grown dulled--and when I perceive it myself, I may well +believe that others would not be less sharp-sighted. It is very natural; +mine were spirits rather than parts; and as time has abated the one, it +must surely destroy their resemblance to the other: pray don't say a +syllable in reply on this head, or I shall have done exactly what I said +I would not do. Besides, as you have always been too partial to me, I am +on my guard, and when I will not expose myself to my enemies, I must not +listen to the prejudices of my friends; and as nobody is more partial +to me than you, there is nobody I must trust less in that respect. Yours +most sincerely. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Tyrrhwitt, a critic of great eminence, especially as +the editor of "Chaucer," had at first believed the poems published by +Chatterton to be the genuine works of Rowley, but was afterwards +convinced, as Dr. Johnson also was, by the inspection of the manuscripts +which the poor youth called the "originals," that they were quite +recent.] + + +_ADMIRAL KEPPEL'S SUCCESS--THREATS OF INVASION--FUNERAL OF LORD +CHATHAM._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July 7_, 1778. + +You tell me in yours of the 23rd of last month, which I received to-day, +that my letters are necessary to your tranquillity. That is sufficient +to make me write, though I have nothing very positive to tell you. I did +not mention Admiral Keppel's skirmish with and capture of two frigates +of the Brest squadron; not because I thought it trifling, but concluding +that it would produce immediate declaration of war; and, for the fact +itself, I knew both our papers and the French would anticipate me. +Indeed, Sir John Dick has talked to me so much of his frequency and +punctuality with you, that I might have concluded he would not neglect +so public an event; not that I trust to anybody else for sending you +intelligence. + +No Declaration has followed on either side. I, who know nothing but what +everybody knows, am disposed to hope that both nations are grown +rational; that is, humane enough to dislike carnage. Both kings are +pacific by nature, and the voice of Europe now prefers legislators to +_heroes_, which is but a name for destroyers of their species. + +It is true, we are threatened with invasion.[1] You ask me why I seem to +apprehend less than formerly? For many reasons. In the first place, I am +above thirty years older. Can one fear anything in the dregs of life as +at the beginning? Experience, too, has taught me that nothing happens in +proportion to our conceptions. I have learnt, too, exceedingly to +undervalue human policy. Chance and folly counteract most of its wisdom. +From the "Mémoires de Noailles"[2] I have learnt, that, between the +years 1740 and 1750, when I,--ay, and my Lord Chesterfield too,--had +such gloomy thoughts, France was trembling with dread of us. These are +general reasons. My particular ones are, that, if France meditated a +considerable blow, she has neglected her opportunity. Last year, we had +neither army nor a manned fleet at home. Now, we have a larger and +better army than ever we had in the island, and a strong fleet. Within +these three days, our West India and Mediterranean fleets, for which we +have been in great pain, are arrived, and bring not only above two +millions, but such a host of sailors as will supply the deficiencies in +our unequipped men-of-war. The country is covered with camps; General +Conway, who has been to one of them, speaks with astonishment of the +fineness of the men, of the regiments, of their discipline and +manoeuvring. In short, the French Court has taught all our young +nobility to be soldiers. The Duke of Grafton, who was the most indolent +of ministers, is the most indefatigable of officers. For my part, I am +almost afraid that there will be a larger military spirit amongst our +men of quality than is wholesome for our constitution: France will have +done us hurt enough, if she has turned us into generals instead of +senators. + +[Footnote 1: The design of invading England, first conceived by Philip +II. of Spain and the Duke of Parma, had been entertained also by Louis +XIV.; and after Walpole's death ostentatious preparations for such an +expedition were made in 1805 by Napoleon. But some years afterwards +Napoleon told Metternich, the Austrian Prime Minister, that he had never +really designed to undertake the enterprise, being convinced of the +impossibility of succeeding in it, and that the sole object of his +preparations and of the camp at Boulogne had been to throw Austria off +her guard.] + +[Footnote 2: The Duc de Noailles had been the French Commander-in-chief +at the battle of Dettingen in 1743.] + +I can conceive another reason why France should not choose to venture an +invasion. It is certain that at least five American provinces wish for +peace with us. Nor can I think that thirteen English provinces would be +pleased at seeing England invaded. Any considerable blow received by us, +would turn their new allies into haughty protectors. Should we accept a +bad peace, America would find her treaty with them a very bad one: in +short, I have treated you with speculations instead of facts. I know but +one of the latter sort. The King's army has evacuated Philadelphia, from +having eaten up the country, and has returned to New York. Thus it is +more compact, and has less to defend. + +General Howe is returned, richer in money than laurels. I do not know, +indeed, that his wealth is great. + +Fanaticism in a nation is no novelty; but you must know, that, though +the effects were so solid, the late appearance of enthusiasm about Lord +Chatham was nothing but a general affectation of enthusiasm. It was a +contention of hypocrisy between the Opposition and the Court, which did +not last even to his burial. Not three of the Court attended it, and not +a dozen of the Minority of any note. He himself said, between his fall +in the House of Lords and his death, that, when he came to himself, not +one of his old acquaintance of the Court but Lord Despencer so much as +asked how he did. Do you imagine people are struck with the death of a +man, who were not struck with the sudden appearance of his death? We do +not counterfeit so easily on a surprise, as coolly; and, when we are +cool on surprise, we do not grow agitated on reflection. + +The last account I heard from Germany was hostile. Four days ago both +the Imperial and Prussian Ministers[1] expected news of a battle. O, ye +fathers of your people, do you thus dispose of your children? How many +thousand lives does a King save, who signs a peace! It was said in jest +of our Charles II., that he was the real _father_ of his people, so many +of them did he beget himself. But tell me, ye divines, which is the most +virtuous man, he who begets twenty bastards, or he who sacrifices a +hundred thousand lives? What a contradiction is human nature! The Romans +rewarded the man who got three children, and laid waste the world. When +will the world know that peace and propagation are the two most +delightful things in it? As his Majesty of France has found out the +latter, I hope he will not forget the former. + +[Footnote 1: Towards the close of 1777 Maximilian, the Elector of +Bavaria, died, and the Emperor Joseph claimed many of his fiefs as +having escheated to him. Frederic the Great, who was still jealous of +Austria, endeavoured to form a league to aid the new Elector in his +resistance to Joseph's demands, and even invaded Bohemia with an army of +eighty thousand men; but the Austrian army was equally strong. No action +of any importance took place; and in the spring of 1779 the treaty of +Teschen was concluded between the Empire, Prussia, and Bavaria, by which +a small portion of the district claimed by Joseph was ceded to Austria.] + + +_SUGGESTION OF NEGOTIATIONS WITH FRANCE--PARTITION OF POLAND._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 8, 1778. + +I have had some conversation with a ministerial person, on the subject +of pacification with France; and he dropped a hint, that as we should +not have much of a good peace, the Opposition would make great clamour +on it. I said a few words on the duty of Ministers to do what they +thought right, be the consequence what it would. But as honest men do +not want such lectures, and dishonest will not let them weigh, I waived +that theme, to dwell on what is more likely to be persuasive, and which +I am firmly persuaded is no less true than the former maxim; and that +was, that the Ministers are _still_ so strong, that if they could get a +peace that would save the nation, though not a brilliant or glorious +one, the nation in general would be pleased with it, and the clamours of +the Opposition be insignificant. + +I added, what I think true, too, that no time is to be lost in treating; +not only for preventing a blow, but from the consequences the first +misfortune would have. The nation is not yet alienated from the Court, +but it is growing so; is grown so enough, for any calamity to have +violent effects. Any internal disturbance would advance the hostile +designs of France. An insurrection from distress would be a double +invitation to invasion; and, I am sure, much more to be dreaded, even +personally, by the Ministers, than the ill-humours of Opposition for +even an inglorious peace. To do the Opposition justice, it is not +composed of incendiaries. Parliamentary speeches raise no tumults: but +tumults would be a dreadful thorough bass to speeches. The Ministers do +not know the strength they have left (supposing they apply it in time), +if they are afraid of making any peace. They were too sanguine in making +war; I hope they will not be too timid of making peace. + +What do you think of an idea of mine of offering France a neutrality? +that is, to allow her to assist both us and the Americans. I know she +would assist only them: but were it not better to connive at her +assisting them, without attacking us, than her doing both? A treaty with +her would perhaps be followed by one with America. We are sacrificing +all the essentials we _can_ recover, for a few words; and risking the +independence of this country, for the nominal supremacy over America. +France seems to leave us time for treating. She mad no scruple of +begging peace of us in '63, that she might lie by and recover her +advantages. Was not that a wise precedent? Does not she _now_ show that +it was? Is not policy the honour of nations? I mean, not morally, but +has Europe left itself any other honour? And since it has really left +itself no honour, and as little morality, does not the morality of a +nation consist in its preserving itself in as much happiness as it can? +The invasion of Portugal by Spain in the last war, and the partition of +Poland,[1] have abrogated the law of nations. Kings have left no ties +between one another. Their duty to their people is still allowed. He is +a good King that preserves his people; and if temporising answers that +end, is it not justifiable? You, who are as moral as wise, answer my +questions. Grotius[2] is obsolete. Dr. Joseph and Dr. Frederic, with +four hundred thousand commentators, are reading new lectures--and I +should say, thank God, to one another, if the four hundred thousand +commentators were not in worse danger than they. Louis XVI. is grown a +casuist compared to those partitioners. Well, let us simple individuals +keep our honesty, and bless our stars that we have not armies at our +command, lest we should divide kingdoms that are at our _bienséance_! +What a dreadful thing it is for such a wicked little imp as man to have +absolute power! But I have travelled into Germany, when I meant to talk +to you only of England; and it is too late to recall my text. Good +night! + +[Footnote 1: A partition of Poland had been proposed by the Great +Elector of Brandenburgh as early as the middle of the seventeenth +century, his idea being that he, the Emperor, and the King of Sweden +should divide the whole country between them. At that time, however, the +mutual jealousies of the three princes prevented the scheme from being +carried out. But in 1770 the idea was revived by Frederic the Great, who +sent his brother Henry to discuss it with the Czarina. She eagerly +embraced it; and the new Emperor Joseph had so blind an admiration for +Frederic, that it was not hard to induce him to become a confederate in +the scheme of plunder. And the three allies had less difficulty than +might have been expected in arranging the details. In extent of +territory Austria was the principal gainer, her share being of +sufficient importance to receive a new name as the kingdom of Galicia; +the share of Prussia being West Prussia and Pomerania, with the +exception of Dantzic and the fortress of Thorn; while Russia took Polish +Livonia and the rich provinces to the east of the Dwina. But the +spoilers were not long contented with their acquisitions. In 1791 +intrigues among the Polish nobles, probably fomented by the Czarina +herself, gave her a pretence for interfering in their affairs; and the +result was a second partition, which gave the long-coveted port of +Dantzic and a long district on the shore of the Baltic to Prussia, and +such extensive provinces adjoining Russia to Catharine, that all that +was left to the Polish sovereign was a small territory with a population +that hardly amounted to four millions of subjects. The partition excited +great indignation all over Europe, but in 1772 England was sufficiently +occupied with the troubles beginning to arise in America, and France was +still too completely under the profligate and imbecile rule of Louis XV. +and Mme. du Barri, and too much weakened by her disasters in the Seven +Years' War, for any manly counsels or indication of justice and humanity +to be expected from that country.] + +[Footnote 2: Grotius (a Latinised form of Groot) was an eminent +statesman and jurist of Holland at the beginning of the seventeenth +century. He was a voluminous author; his most celebrated works being a +treatise, "De jure belli et pacis," and another on the "Truth of the +Christian Religion."] + +[Illustration: VIEW OF GARDEN, STRAWBERRY HILL, FROM THE GREAT +BED-CHAMBER.] + + +_UNSUCCESSFUL CRUISE OF KEPPEL--CHARACTER OF LORD CHATHAM._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Oct._ 8, 1778. + +As you are so earnest for news, I am concerned when I have not a +paragraph to send you. It looks as if distance augmented your +apprehensions; for, I assure you, at home we have lost almost all +curiosity. Though the two fleets have been so long at sea, and though, +before their last _sortie_, one heard nothing but _What news of the +fleets?_ of late there has been scarcely any inquiry; and so the French +one is returned to Brest, and ours is coming home. Admiral Keppel is +very unlucky in having missed them, for they had not above twenty-five +ships. Letters from Paris say that their camps, too, are to break up at +the end of this month: but we do not intend to be the dupes of that +_finesse_, if it is one, but shall remain on our guard. One must hope +that winter will produce some negotiation; and that, peace. Indeed, as +war is not declared, I conclude there is always some treating on the +anvil; and, should it end well, at least this age will have made a step +towards humanity, in omitting the ceremonial of proclamation, which +seems to make it easier to cease being at war. But I am rather making +out a proxy for a letter than sending you news. But, you see, even +armies of hundred thousands in Germany can execute as little as we; and +you must remember what the Grand Condé, or the great Prince of Orange--I +forget which--said, that unmarried girls imagine husbands are always on +duty, unmilitary men that soldiers are always fighting. One of the Duke +of Marlborough's Generals dining with the Lord Mayor, an Alderman who +sat next to him said, "Sir, yours must be a very laborious +profession."--"No," replied the General, "we fight about four hours in +the morning, and two or three after dinner, and then we have all the +rest of the day to ourselves." + +The King has been visiting camps,--and so has Sir William Howe, who, one +should think, had had enough of them; and who, one should think too, had +not achieved such exploits as should make him fond of parading himself +about, or expect many hosannahs. To have taken one town, and retreated +from two, is not very glorious in military arithmetic; and to have +marched twice to Washington, and returned without attacking him, is no +addition to the sum total. + +Did I tell you that Mrs. Anne Pitt is returned, and acts great grief for +her brother? I suppose she was the dupe of the farce acted by the two +Houses and the Court, and had not heard that none of them carried on the +pantomime even to his burial. Her nephew gave a little into that mummery +even to me; forgetting how much I must remember of his aversion to his +uncle. Lord Chatham was a meteor, and a glorious one; people discovered +that he was not a genuine luminary, and yet everybody in mimickry has +been an _ignis fatuus_ about him. Why not allow his magnificent +enterprises and good fortune, and confess his defects; instead of being +bombast in his praises, and at the same time discover that the +amplification is insincere? A Minister who inspires great actions must +be a great Minister; and Lord Chatham will always appear so,--by +comparison with his predecessors and successors. He retrieved our +affairs when ruined by a most incapable Administration; and we are +fallen into a worse state since he was removed. Therefore, I doubt, +posterity will allow more to his merit, than it is the present fashion +to accord to it. Our historians have of late been fond of decrying Queen +Elizabeth, in order if possible to raise the Stuarts: but great actions +surmount foibles; and folly and guilt would always remain folly and +guilt, though there had never been a great man or woman in the world. +Our modern tragedies, hundreds of them do not contain a good line; nor +are they a jot the better, because Shakspeare, who was superior to all +mankind, wrote some whole plays that are as bad as any of our present +writers. + +I shall be very glad to see your nephew, and talk of you with him; which +will be more satisfactory than questioning accidental travellers. + + +_CAPTURE OF PONDICHERRY--CHANGES IN THE MINISTRY--LA FAYETTE IN +AMERICA._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _March_ 22, 1779. + +If your representative dignity is impaired westward, you may add to +your eastern titles those of "Rose of India" and "Pearl of +Pondicherry."[1] The latter gem is now set in one of the vacant sockets +of the British diadem. + +[Footnote 1: The authority of the great Warren Hastings, originally +limited to five years, was renewed this year; and he signalised the +prolongation of his authority by more vigorous attacks than ever on the +French fortresses in India. He sent one body of troops against +Chandemagore, their chief stronghold in Bengal; another against +Pondicherry, their head-quarters in the south of Hindostan; while a +third, under Colonel Goddard, defeated the two Mahratta chieftains +Scindia and Holkar, and took some of their strongest fortresses.] + +I have nothing to subjoin to this high-flown paragraph, that will at all +keep pace with the majesty of it. I should have left to the _Gazette_ to +wish you joy, nor have begun a new letter without more materials, if I +did not fear you would be still uneasy about your nephew. I hear he has, +_since his parenthesis_, voted again with the Court; therefore he has +probably not taken a new _part_, but only made a Pindaric transition on +a particular question. I have seen him but twice since his arrival, and +from both those visits I had no reason to expect he would act +differently from what you wished. Perhaps it may never happen again. I +go so little into the world, that I don't at all know what company he +frequents. He talked so reasonably and tenderly with regard to you, that +I shall be much deceived if he often gives you any inquietude. + +The place of Secretary of State is not replenished yet. Several +different successors have been talked of. At least, at present, there is +a little chance of its being supplied by the Opposition. Their numbers +have fallen off again, though they are more alert than they used to be. +I do not love to foretell, because no Elijah left me his mantle, in +which, it seems, the gift of prophecy resides; and, if I see clouds +gathering, I less care to announce their contents to foreign +post-offices. On the other hand, it is no secret, nor one to disguise if +it were, that the French trade must suffer immensely by our captures. + +Private news I know none. The Bishops are trying to put a stop to one +staple commodity of that kind, Adultery. I do not suppose that they +expect to lessen it; but, to be sure, it was grown to a sauciness that +did call for a decenter veil. I do not think they have found out a good +cure; and I am of opinion, too, that flagrancy proceeds from national +depravity, which tinkering one branch will not remedy. Perhaps polished +manners are a better proof of virtue in an age than of vice, though +system-makers do not hold so: at least, decency has seldom been the +symptom of a sinking nation. + +When one talks on general themes, it is a sign of having little to say. +It is not that there is a dearth of topics; but I only profess sending +you information on events that really have happened, to guide you +towards forming a judgment. At home, we are fed with magnificent hopes +and promises that are never realized. For instance, to prove discord in +America, Monsieur de la Fayette[1] was said to rail at the Congress, +and their whole system and transactions. There is just published an +intercourse between them that exhibits enthusiasm in him towards their +cause, and the highest esteem for him on their side. For my part, I see +as little chance of recovering America as of re-conquering the Holy +Land. Still, I do not amuse you with visions on either side, but tell +you nakedly what advantage has been gained or lost. This caution +abbreviates my letters; but, in general, you can depend on what I tell +you. Adieu! + +[Footnote 1: Monsieur de la Fayette was a young French marquis of +ancient family, but of limited fortune. He was a man of no ability, +civil or military, and not even of much resolution, unless a blind +fanaticism for republican principles can be called so. When the American +war broke out he conceived such an admiration for Washington, that he +resigned his commission in the French army to cross over to America and +serve with the colonists; but it cannot be said that he was of any +particular service to their cause. Afterwards, in 1789, he entered +warmly into the schemes of the leaders of the Revolution, and +contributed greatly to the difficulties and misfortunes of the Royal +Family, especially by his conduct as Commander of the National Guard, +which was a contemptible combination of treachery and imbecility.] + +_Tuesday 24th._ + +I hear this moment that an account is come this morning of D'Estaing +with sixteen ships being blocked up by Byron at Martinico, and that +Rowley with eight more was expected by the latter in a day or two. +D'Estaing, it is supposed, will be starved to surrender, and the island +too. I do not answer for this intelligence or consequences; but, if the +first is believed, you may be sure the rest is. + + +_DIVISIONS IN THE MINISTRY--CHARACTER OF THE ITALIANS AND OF THE +FRENCH._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 7, 1779. + +How much larger the war will be for the addition of Spain, I do not +know. Hitherto it has produced no events but the shutting of our ports +against France, and the junction of nine ships from Ferrol with the +French squadron. They talk of a great navy getting ready at Cadiz, and +of mighty preparations in the ports of France for an embarkation. As all +this must have been foreseen, I suppose we are ready to resist all +attacks. + +The Parliament rose last Saturday, not without an open division in the +Ministry: Lord Gower, President of the Council, heading an opposition to +a Bill for doubling the Militia, which had passed the Commons, and +throwing it out; which Lord North as publicly resented. I make no +comments on this, because I really know nothing of the motives. +Thoroughly convinced that all my ideas are superannuated, and too old to +learn new lessons, I only hear what passes, pretend to understand +nothing, and wait patiently for events as they present themselves. I +listen enough to be able to acquaint you with facts of public notoriety; +but attempt to explain none of them, if they do not carry legibility in +the van. + +Your nephew, who lives more in the world, and is coming to you, will be +far more master of the details. He called here some few days ago, as I +was going out to dinner, but has kindly promised to come and dine here +before he sets out. His journey is infinitely commendable, as entirely +undertaken to please you. It will be very comfortable too, as surely the +concourse of English must much abate, especially as France is +interdicted. Travelling boys and self-sufficient governors would be an +incumbrance to you, could you see more of your countrymen of more +satisfactory conversation. Florence probably is improved since it had a +Court of its own, and there must be men a little more enlightened than +the poor Italians. Scarcely any of the latter that ever I knew but, if +they had parts, were buffoons. I believe the boasted _finesse_ of the +ruling clergy is pretty much a traditionary notion, like their jealousy. +More nations than one live on former characters after they are totally +changed. + +I have been often and much in France. In the provinces they may still be +gay and lively; but at Paris, bating the pert _étourderie_ of very young +men, I protest I scarcely ever saw anything like vivacity--the Duc de +Choiseul alone had more than any hundred Frenchmen I could select. Their +women are the first in the world in everything but beauty; sensible, +agreeable, and infinitely informed. The _philosophes_, except Buffon, +are solemn, arrogant, dictatorial coxcombs--I need not say superlatively +disagreeable. The rest are amazingly ignorant in general, and void of +all conversation but the routine with women. My dear and very old friend +[Madame du Deffand] is a relic of a better age, and at nearly +eighty-four has all the impetuosity that _was_ the character of the +French. They have not found out, I believe, how much their nation is +sunk in Europe;--probably the Goths and Vandals of the North will open +their eyes before a century is past. I speak of the swarming empires +that have conglomerated within our memories. _We_ dispelled the vision +twenty years ago: but let us be modest till we do so again.... + +_11th._ + +Last night I received from town the medal you promised me on the Moorish +alliance.[1] It is at least as magnificent as the occasion required, and +yet not well executed. The medallist Siriez, I conclude, is grandson of +my old acquaintance Louis Siriez of the Palazzo Vecchio. + +[Footnote 1: A treaty had just been concluded between the Duke of +Tuscany and the Emperor of Morocco.] + +Yesterday's Gazette issued a proclamation on the expected invasion from +Havre, where they are embarking mightily. Some think the attempt will be +on Portsmouth. To sweeten this pill, Clinton has taken a fort and +seventy men--not near Portsmouth, but New York; and there were reports +at the latter that Charleston is likely to surrender. This would be +something, if there were not a French war and a Spanish war in the way +between us and Carolina. Sir Charles Hardy is at Torbay with the whole +fleet, which perhaps was not a part of the plan at Havre: we shall see, +and you shall hear, if anything passes. + +_Friday night, July 16th._ + +Your nephew has sent me word that he will breakfast with me to-morrow, +but shall not have time to dine. I have nothing to add to the foregoing +general picture. We have been bidden even by proclamation to expect an +invasion, and troops and provisions have for this week said to have been +embarked. Still I do not much expect a serious descent. The French, I +think, have better chances with less risk. They may ruin us in detail. +The fleet is at present at home or very near, and very strong; nor do I +think that the French plan is activity:--but it is idle to talk of the +present moment, when it will be some time before you receive this. I am +infinitely in more pain about Mr. Conway, who is in the midst of the +storm in a nutshell, and I know will defend himself as if he was in the +strongest fortification in Flanders--and, which is as bad, I believe the +Court would sacrifice the island to sacrifice him. They played that +infamous game last year on Keppel, when ten thousand times more was at +stake. They look at the biggest objects through the diminishing end of +every telescope; and, the higher they who look, the more malignant and +mean the eye.... + +Adieu! my dear Sir. In what manner we are to be undone, I do not guess; +but I see no way by which we can escape happily out of this crisis--I +mean, preserve the country and recover the Constitution. I thought for +four years that calamity would bring us to our senses: but alas! we have +none left to be brought to. We shall now suffer a greal deal, submit at +last to a humiliating peace, and people will be content.--So adieu, +England! it will be more or less a province or kind of province to +France, and its viceroy will be, in what does not concern France, its +despot--and will be content too! I shall not pity the country; I shall +feel only for those who grieve with me at its abject state; or for +posterity, if they do not, like other degraded nations, grow callously +reconciled to their ignominy. + + +_ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS--DEATH OF LORD TEMPLE._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +_Sept._ 16, 1779. + +I have received your letter by Colonel Floyd, and shall be surprised +indeed if Caesar does not find his own purple a little rumpled, as well +as his brother's mantle. But how astonished was I at finding that you +did not mention the dreadful eruption of Vesuvius. Surely you had not +heard of it! What are kings and their popguns to that wrath of Nature! +How Sesostris, at the head of an army of nations, would have fallen +prostrate to earth before a column of blazing embers eleven thousand +feet high! I am impatient to hear more, as you are of the little +conflict of us pigmies. Three days after my last set out, we received +accounts of D'Estaing's success against Byron and Barrington, and of the +capture of Grenada. I do not love to send first reports, which are +rarely authentic. The subsequent narrative of the engagement is more +favourable. It allows the victory to the enemy, but makes their loss of +men much the more considerable. Of ships we lost but one, taken after +the fight as going into port to refit. Sir Charles Hardy and +D'Orvilliers have not met; the latter is at Brest, the former at +Portsmouth. I never penetrated an inch into what is to be; and into some +distant parts of our history, I mean the Eastern, I have never liked to +look. I believe it an infamous scene; you know I have always thought it +so; and the Marattas are a nation of banditti very proper to scourge the +heroes of Europe, who go so far to plunder and put themselves into their +way. Nature gave to mankind a beautiful world, and larger than it could +occupy,--for, as to the eruption of Goths and Vandals occasioned by +excess of population, I very much doubt it; and mankind prefers +deforming the ready Paradise, to improving and enjoying it. Ambition and +mischief, which one should not think were natural appetites, seem almost +as much so as the impulse to propagation; and those pious rogues, the +clergy, preach against what Nature forces us to practise (or she could +not carry on her system), and not twice in a century say a syllable +against the Lust of Destruction! Oh! one is lost in moralising, as one +is in astronomy! In the ordinance and preservation of the great +universal system one sees the Divine Artificer, but our intellects are +too bounded to comprehend anything more. + +Lord Temple is dead by an accident. I never had any esteem for his +abilities or character. He had grown up in the bask of Lord Chatham's +glory, and had the folly to mistake half the rays for his own. The world +was not such a dupe; and his last years discovered a selfish +restlessness, and discovered to him, too, that no mortal regarded him +but himself. + +The Lucans are in my neighbourhood, and talk with much affection of you. +Adieu! + + +_CHANCES OF WAR WITH HOLLAND--HIS FATHER'S POLICY--POPE--CHARACTER OF +BOLINGBROKE._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _Jan._ 13, 1780. + +In consequence of my last, it is right to make you easy, and tell you +that I think we shall not have a Dutch war;[1] at least, nobody seems to +expect it. What excuses we have made, I do not know; but I imagine the +Hollanders are glad to gain by both sides, and glad not to be forced to +quarrel with either. + +[Footnote 1: Walpole was mistaken in his calculations. "Holland at this +time was divided by two great parties--the party of the Staatholder, the +Prince of Orange, and the party inclining to France--of which the +Pensionary, Van Bethel, was among the principal members; and this party +was so insulting in their tone and measures, that at the end of 1780 we +were compelled to declare war against them" (Lord Stanhope, "History of +England," c. 63). But the war was not signalised by any action of +importance.] + +What might have been expected much sooner, appears at last--a good deal +of discontent; but chiefly where it was not much expected. The country +gentlemen, after encouraging the Court to war with America, now, not +very decently, are angry at the expense. As they have long seen the +profusion, it would have been happy had they murmured sooner. Very +serious associations are forming in many counties; and orders, under +the title of petitions, coming to Parliament for correcting abuses. They +talk of the waste of money; are silent on the thousands of lives that +have been sacrificed--but when are human lives counted by any side? + +The French, who may measure with us in folly, and have exceeded us in +ridiculous boasts, have been extravagant in their reception of +D'Estaing,[1] who has shown nothing but madness and incapacity. How the +northern monarchs, who have at least exhibited talents for war and +politics, must despise the last campaign of England and France! + +[Footnote 1: The Comte d'Estaing was the Commander-in-chief of the +French fleet in the West Indies in the years 1777-80. But, though his +force was always superior to ours, he always endeavoured to avoid a +battle; and succeeded in that timorous policy except on two occasions, +when Lord Howe and afterwards Admiral Byron brought him to action, but +only with indecisive results.] + +I am once more got abroad, but more pleased to be able to do so, than +charmed with anything I have to do. Having outlived the glory and +felicity of my country, I carry that reflection with me wherever I go. +Last night, at Strawberry Hill, I took up, to divert my thoughts, a +volume of letters to Swift from Bolingbroke, Bathurst, and Gay; and what +was there but lamentations on the ruin of England, in that era of its +prosperity and peace, from wretches who thought their own want of power +a proof that their country was undone! Oh, my father! twenty years of +peace, and credit, and happiness, and liberty, were punishments to +rascals who weighed everything in the scales of self? It was to the +honour of Pope, that, though leagued with such a crew, and though an +idolater of their archfiend Bolingbroke and in awe of the malignant +Swift, he never gave in to their venomous railings; railings against a +man who, in twenty years, never attempted a stretch of power, did +nothing but the common business of administration, and by that +temperance and steady virtue, and unalterable good-humour and superior +wisdom, baffled all the efforts of faction, and annihilated the falsely +boasted abilities of Bolingbroke,[1] which now appear as moderate as his +character was in every light detestable. But, alas! that retrospect +doubled my chagrin instead of diverting it. I soon forgot an impotent +cabal of mock-patriots; but the scene they vainly sought to disturb +rushed on my mind, and, like Hamlet on the sight of Yorick's skull, I +recollected the prosperity of Denmark when my father ruled, and compared +it with the present moment! I look about for a Sir Robert Walpole; but +where is he to be found? + +[Footnote: 1 It is only the excess of party spirit that could lead +Walpole to call Bolingbroke's abilities moderate; and he had no attacks +on his father to resent, since, though Bolingbroke was in 1724 permitted +to return to England, he only received a partial pardon, and was not +permitted to take his seat in Parliament. Walpole has more reason to +pronounce his character detestable; for which opinion he might have +quoted Dr. Johnson, who, in reference to an infidel treatise which he +bequeathed to Mallet for publication, called him "a scoundrel and a +coward--a scoundrel who spent his life in charging a popgun against +Christianity, which he had not the courage to let off, but left it to a +hungry Scotchman to pull the trigger after he was dead."] + +This is not a letter, but a codicil to my last. You will soon probably +have news enough--yet appearances are not always pregnancies. When there +are more follies in a nation than principles and system, they counteract +one another, and sometimes, as has just happened in Ireland, are +composed _pulveris exigui jactu_. I sum up my wishes in that for peace: +but we are not satisfied with persecuting America, though the mischief +has recoiled on ourselves; nor France with wounding us, though with +little other cause for exultation, and with signal mischief to her own +trade, and with heavy loss of seamen; not to mention how her armies are +shrunk to raise her marine, a sacrifice she will one day rue, when the +_disciplined_ hosts of Goths and Huns begin to cast an eye southward. +But I seem to choose to read futurity, because I am not likely to see +it: indeed I am most rational when I say to myself, What is all this to +me? My thread is almost spun! almost all my business here is to bear +pain with patience, and to be thankful for intervals of ease. Though +Emperors and Kings may torment mankind, they will not disturb my +bedchamber; and so I bid them and you good-night! + +P.S.--I have made use of a term in this letter, which I retract, having +bestowed a title on the captains and subalterns which was due only to +the colonel, and not enough for his dignity. Bolingbroke was more than a +rascal--he was a villain. Bathurst, I believe, was not a dishonest man, +more than he was prejudiced by party against one of the honestest and +best of men. Gay was a simple poor soul, intoxicated by the friendship +of men of genius, and who thought _they_ must be good who condescended +to admire _him_. Swift was a wild beast, who baited and worried all +mankind almost, because his intolerable arrogance, vanity, pride, and +ambition were disappointed; he abused Lady Suffolk, who tried and wished +to raise him, only because she had not power to do so: and one is sure +that a man who could deify that silly woman Queen Anne, would have been +more profuse of incense to Queen Caroline, who had sense, if the Court +he paid to her had been crowned with success. Such were the men who +wrote of virtue to one another; and even that mean, exploded miser, Lord +Bath, presumed to talk of virtue too! + + +_POLITICAL EXCITEMENT--LORD G. GORDON--EXTRAORDINARY GAMBLING AFFAIRS IN +INDIA._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Feb._ 6, 1780. + +I write only when I have facts to send. Detached scenes there have been +in different provinces: they will be collected soon into a drama in St. +Stephen's Chapel. One or two and twenty counties, and two or three +towns, have voted petitions.[1] But in Northamptonshire Lord Spencer +was disappointed, and a very moderate petition was ordered. The same +happened at Carlisle. At first, the Court was struck dumb, but have +begun to rally. Counter-protests have been signed in Hertford and +Huntingdon shires, in Surrey and Sussex. Last Wednesday a meeting was +summoned in Westminster Hall: Charles Fox harangued the people finely +and warmly; and not only a petition was voted, but he was proposed for +candidate for that city at the next general election, and was accepted +joyfully. Wilkes was his zealous advocate: how few years since a public +breakfast was given at Holland House to support Lord Luttrell against +Wilkes! Charles Fox and his brother rode thence at the head of their +friends to Brentford. Ovid's "Metamorphoses" contains not stranger +transformations than party can work. + +[Footnote 1: These petitions were chiefly for economical reform, for +which Burke was preparing a Bill.] + +I must introduce a new actor to you, a Lord George +Gordon,--metamorphosed a little, too, for his family were Jacobites and +Roman Catholics: he is the Lilburne of the Scottish Presbyterians, and +an apostle against the Papists. He dresses, that is, wears long lank +hair about his shoulders, like the first Methodists; though I take the +modern ones to be no Anti-Catholics. This mad lord, for so all his +family have been too, and are, has likewise assumed the patronage of +Ireland. Last Thursday he asked an audience of the King, and, the moment +he was admitted into the closet, began reading an Irish pamphlet, and +continued for an hour, till it was so dark he could not see; and then +left the pamphlet, exacting a promise on royal honour that his Majesty +would finish it. Were I on the throne, I would make Dr. Monro a Groom of +my Bedchamber: indeed it has been necessary for some time; for, of the +King's lords, Lord Bolingbroke is in a mad-house, and Lord Pomfret and +my nephew ought to be there. The last, being fond of onions, has lately +distributed bushels of that root to his Militia; Mr. Wyndham will not be +surprised. + +By the tenor of the petitions you would think we were starving; yet +there is a little coin stirring. Within this week there has been a cast +at hazard at the Cocoa tree, the difference of which amounted to a +hundred and four-score thousand pounds. Mr. O'Birne, an Irish gamester, +had won one hundred thousand pounds of a young Mr. Harvey of Chigwell, +just started from a midshipman[1] into an estate by his elder brother's +death. O'Birne said, "You can never pay me." "I can," said the youth; +"my estate will sell for the debt." "No," said O.; "I will win ten +thousand--you shall throw for the odd ninety." They did, and Harvey won. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Harvey was afterwards Sir Eliab Harvey, one of Nelson's +captains at Trafalgar. But unfortunately he so violently resented the +appointment of Lord Cochrane, who was only a post-captain, to carry out +the attack on the French fleet in Basque Roads, which he himself, who +was an admiral, had also suggested, and used such violent and +insubordinate language towards Lord Gambier, the Commander-in-chief +(who, though a most incompetent officer, had had nothing to do with the +appointment), that it was unavoidable that a court-martial should +sentence him to be cashiered. He was, however, restored to his rank +shortly afterwards. He was member of Parliament for Essex for many +years, and died in 1830.] + +However, as it is a little necessary to cast about for resources, it is +just got abroad, that about a year ago we took possession of a trifling +district in India called the Province of Oude,[1] which contains four +millions of inhabitants, produces between three and four millions of +revenue, and has an army of 30,000 men: it was scarce thought of +consequence enough to deserve an article in the newspapers. If you are +so _old-style_ as to ask how we came to take possession, I answer, by +the new law of nations; by the law by which Poland was divided. You will +find it in the future editions of Grotius, tit. "Si une terre est à la +bienséance d'un grand Prince." Oude appertained by that very law to the +late Sujah Dowla. His successors were weak men, which _in India_ is +incapacity. Their Majesties the East India Company, whom God long +preserve, have _succeeded_. + +[Footnote 1: Warren Hastings claimed large arrears of tribute from Asaph +ul Dowlah, the Nabob of Oude; but Walpole was misinformed when he +understood that he had in consequence annexed the province--a measure +which was never adopted till the spring of 1857, when its annexation by +Lord Dalhousie was among the causes that led to the outbreak of the +mutiny.] + +This petty event has ascertained the existence of a certain being, who, +till now, has not been much more than a matter of faith--the Grand Lama. +There are some affairs of trade between the sovereigns of Oude and his +Holiness the Lama. Do not imagine the East India Company have leisure to +trouble their heads about religion. Their commanding officer +corresponded with the Tartar Pope, who, it seems, is a very sensible +man. The Attorney-General asked this officer, who is come over, how the +Lama wrote. "Oh," said he, "like any person."--"Could I see his +letters?" said Mr. Wedderburne.--"Upon my word," said the officer, "when +the business was settled, I threw them into the fire." However, I hear +that somebody, not quite so mercantile, has published one of the Lama's +letters in the "Philosophical Transactions." Well! when we break in +Europe, we may pack up and remove to India, and be emperors again! + +Do you believe me, my good Sir, when I tell you all these strange tales? +Do you think me distracted, or that your country is so? Does not this +letter seem an olio composed of ingredients picked out of the history of +Charles I., of Clodius and Sesostris, and the "Arabian Nights"? Yet I +could have coloured it higher without trespassing on truth; but when I, +inured to the climate of my own country, can scarcely believe what I +hear and see, how should you, who converse only with the ordinary race +of men and women, give credit to what I have ventured to relate, merely +because in forty years I have constantly endeavoured to tell you nothing +but truth? Moreover, I commonly reserve passages that are not of public +notoriety, not having the smallest inclination to put the credulity of +foreign post-offices to the test. I would have them think that we are +only mad with valour, and that Lord Chatham's cloak has been divided +into shreds no bigger than a silver penny amongst our soldiers and +sailors. Adieu! + + +_RODNEY'S VICTORY--WALPOLE INCLINES TO WITHDRAW FROM AMUSEMENTS._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _March_ 3, 1780. + +As my last letter probably alarmed you, I write again to tell you that +nothing decisive has happened. The troops of the Palace even rallied a +little yesterday on Mr. Burke's Bill of Reformation, or Reduction, yet +with evident symptoms of _caution_; for Lord North, who wished to defer +the second reading, ventured to put it only to next Wednesday, instead +of to-day; and would have carried a longer adjournment with still +greater difficulty, for his majority was but of 35, and the minority +remained 195, a very formidable number. The Associations in the counties +increase, though not rapidly: yet it will be difficult for the Court to +stem such a torrent; and, I imagine, full as difficult for any man of +temper to direct them wholesomely. Ireland is still more impetuous. + +Fortunately, happily, the tide abroad seems turned. Sir George Rodney's +victory[1] proves more considerable than it appeared at first. It +secures Gibraltar, eases your Mediterranean a little, and must vex the +Spaniards and their monarch, not satisfied before with his cousin of +Bourbon. Admiral Parker has had great success too amongst the latter's +transports. Oh! that all these elements of mischief may jumble into +peace! Monsieur Necker[2] alone shines in the quarter of France; but he +is carrying the war into the domains of the Church, where one cannot +help wishing him success. If he can root out monks, the Pope will have +less occasion to allow _gras_, because we cannot supply them with +_maigre_. It is droll that the Protestant Necker, and we Protestant +fishmongers, should overset the system of fasting; but ancient Alcorans +could not foresee modern contingencies. + +[Footnote 1: On January 8th Sir George Rodney defeated the Spanish +fleet, which was on its way to join the force blockading Gibraltar, and +took the commander himself, Don Juan de Langara, prisoner.] + +[Footnote 2: Necker's measure, to which Walpole alludes, was the +imposition of a property tax of 5 per cent. on all classes, even on the +clergy.] + +I have told you that politics absorb all private news. I am going to a +ball this evening, which the Duke and Duchess of Bolton give to their +Royal Highnesses of Gloucester, who have now a very numerous Court. It +seems very improper for me to be at a ball; but you see that, on the +contrary, it is propriety that carries me thither. I am heartily weary +both of diversions and politics, and am more than half inclined to +retire to Strawberry. I have renounced dining abroad, and hide myself as +much as I can; but can one pin on one's breast a label to signify, that, +though one is sensible of being Methusalem in constitution, one must +sometimes be seen in a crowd for such and such reasons? I do often +exaggerate my pleas of bad health; and, could I live entirely alone, +would proclaim myself incurable; but, should one repent, one becomes +ridiculous by returning to the world; or one must have a companion, +which I never will have; or one opens a door to legatees, if one +advertises ill-health. Well! I must act with as much common sense as I +can; and, when one takes no part, one must temper one's conduct; and, +when the world is too young for one, not shock it, nor contradict it, +nor affix a peculiar character, but trust to its indifference for not +drawing notice, when one does not desire to be noticed. Rabelais's "Fais +ce que tu voudras" is not very difficult when one wishes to do nothing. +I have always been offended at those who will belong to a world with +which they have nothing to do. I have perceived that every age has not +only a new language and new modes, but a new way of articulating. At +first I thought myself grown deaf when with young people; but perceived +that I understood my contemporaries, though they whispered. Well! I must +go amongst those I do not comprehend so well, but shall leave them when +they go to supper. + + +_THE GORDON RIOTS._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 5, 1780. + +Not a syllable yet from General Clinton. There has been a battle at sea +in the West Indies, which we might have gained; know we did not, but not +why: and all this is forgotten already in a fresher event. I have said +for some time that the field is so extensive, and the occurrences so +numerous, and so much pains are taken to involve them in falsehoods and +mystery, and opinions are so divided, that all evidences will be dead +before a single part can be cleared up; but I have not time, nor you +patience, for my reflections. I must hurry to the history of the day. +The Jack of Leyden of the age, Lord George Gordon,[1] gave notice to the +House of Commons last week, that he would, on Friday, bring in the +petition of the Protestant Association; and he openly declared to his +disciples, that he would not carry it unless _a noble army of martyrs, +not fewer than forty thousand_, would accompany him. Forty thousand, led +by such a lamb, were more likely to prove butchers than victims; and so, +in good truth, they were very near being. Have you faith enough in me to +believe that the sole precaution taken was, that the Cabinet Council on +Thursday empowered the First Lord of the Treasury to give proper orders +to the civil magistrates to keep the peace,--and his Lordship forgot +it! + +[Footnote 1: Lord George Gordon was a younger son of the Duke of Gordon; +and because the Parliament had passed a Bill to relieve the Roman +Catholics from some of the disabilities which seemed no longer desirable +nor just to maintain, he instigated a body calling itself the Protestant +Association to present a monster petition to the House of Commons, and +headed a procession of at least fifty thousand to march with it to the +House. The processionists behaved with great violence on their march, +insulting those members of both Houses whom they thought unfavourable to +their views; and, when the House adjourned without taking their petition +into consideration, they began to commit the most violent outrages. They +burnt Newgate; they burnt the house of the great Chief Justice, Lord +Mansfield; and for two days seemed masters of London, till the King +himself summoned a Privy Council, and issued orders for the troops to +put down the rioters. Many of the rioters were brought to trial and +executed. Lord George, being prosecuted for high treason, to which his +offence did not amount, instead of for sedition, was acquitted, to the +great indignation of the French historian, Lacretelle, that "Cet +extravagant scélérat ne paya point de sa tête un tel crime."] + +Early on Friday morning the conservators of the Church of England +assembled in _St. George's_ Fields to encounter the dragon, the old +serpent, and marched in lines of six and six--about thirteen thousand +only, as they were computed--with a petition as long as the procession, +which the apostle himself presented; but, though he had given out most +Christian injunctions for peaceable behaviour, he did everything in his +power to promote a massacre. He demanded immediate repeal of toleration, +told Lord North he could have him torn to pieces, and, running every +minute to the door or windows, bawled to the populace that Lord North +would give them no redress, and that now this member, now that, was +speaking against them. + +In the mean time, the Peers, going to their own Chamber, and as yet not +concerned in the petition, were assaulted; many of their glasses were +broken, and many of their persons torn out of the carriages. Lord Boston +was thrown down and almost trampled to death; and the two Secretaries of +State, the Master of the Ordnance, and Lord Willoughby were stripped of +their bags or wigs, and the three first came into the House with their +hair all dishevelled. The chariots of Sir George Savile and Charles +Turner, two leading advocates for the late toleration, though in +Opposition, were demolished; and the Duke of Richmond and Burke were +denounced to the mob as proper objects for sacrifice. Lord Mahon +laboured to pacify the tempest, and towards eight and nine, prevailed +on so many to disperse, that the Lords rose and departed in quiet; but +every avenue to the other House was besieged and blockaded, and for four +hours they kept their doors locked, though some of the warmest members +proposed to sally out, sword in hand, and cut their way. Lord North and +that House behaved with great firmness, and would not submit to give any +other satisfaction to the rioters, than to consent to take the Popish +laws into consideration on the following Tuesday; and, calling the +Justices of the Peace, empowered them to call out the whole force of the +country to quell the riot. + +The magistrates soon brought the Horse and Foot Guards, and the pious +ragamuffins soon fled; so little enthusiasm fortunately had inspired +them; at least all their religion consisted in outrage and plunder; for +the Duke of Northumberland, General Grant, Mr. Mackinsy, and others, had +their pockets picked of their watches and snuff-boxes. Happily, not a +single life was lost. + +This tumult, which was over between nine and ten at night, had scarce +ceased before it broke out in two other quarters. Old Haslang's[1] +Chapel was broken open and plundered; and, as he is a Prince of +Smugglers as well as Bavarian Minister, great quantities of run tea and +contraband goods were found in his house. This one cannot lament; and +still less, as the old wretch has for these forty years usurped a hired +house, and, though the proprietor for many years has offered to remit +his arrears of rent, he will neither quit the house nor pay for it. + +[Footnote 1: Count Haslang was the Bavarian Minister.] + +Monsieur Cordon, the Sardinian Minister, suffered still more. The mob +forced his chapel, stole two silver lamps, demolished everything else, +threw the benches into the street, set them on fire, carried the brands +into the chapel, and set fire to that; and, when the engines came, would +not suffer them to play till the Guards arrived, and saved the house and +probably all that part of the town. Poor Madame Cordon was confined by +illness. My cousin, Thomas Walpole, who lives in Lincoln's Inn Fields, +went to her rescue, and dragged her, for she could scarce stand with +terror and weakness, to his own house. + +I doubt this narrative will not re-approach you and Mr. Wyndham. I have +received yours of the 20th of last month. + +You will be indignant that such a mad dog as Lord George should not be +knocked on the head. Colonel Murray did tell him in the House, that, if +any lives were lost, his Lordship should join the number. Nor yet is he +so lunatic as to deserve pity. Besides being very debauched, he has more +knavery than mission. What will be decided on him, I do not know; every +man that heard him can convict him of the worst kind of sedition: but it +is dangerous to constitute a rascal a martyr. I trust we have not much +holy fury left; I am persuaded that there was far more dissoluteness +than enthusiasm in the mob: yet the episode is very disagreeable. I came +from town yesterday to avoid the birthday [June 4]. We have a report +here that the Papists last night burnt a Presbyterian meeting-house, but +I credit nothing now on the first report. It was said to be intended on +Saturday, and the Guards patrolled the streets at night; but it is very +likely that Saint George Gordon spread the insinuation himself. + +My letter cannot set out before to-morrow; therefore I will postpone the +conclusion. In the mean time I must scold you very seriously for the +cameo you have sent me by Mr. Morrice. This house is full of your +presents and of my blushes. I love any one of them as an earnest of your +friendship; but I hate so many. You force upon me an air most contrary +to my disposition. I cannot thank you for your kindness; I entreated you +to send me nothing more. You leave me no alternative but to seem +interested or ungrateful. I can only check your generosity by being +brutal. If I had a grain of power, I would affront you and call your +presents bribes. I never gave you anything but a coffee-pot. If I could +buy a diamond as big as the Caligula, and a less would not be so +valuable, I would send it you. In one word, I will not accept the cameo, +unless you give me a promise under your hand that it shall be the last +present you send me. I cannot stir about this house without your gifts +staring me in the face. Do you think I have no conscience? I am sorry +Mr. Morrice is no better, and wonder at his return. What can invite him +to this country? Home never was so homely. + +_6th._ + +It is not true that a meeting-house has been burnt. I believe a Popish +chapel in the city has been attacked: and they talk here of some +disturbance yesterday, which is probable; for, when grace, robbery, and +mischief make an alliance, they do not like to give over:--but ten miles +from the spot are a thousand from truth. My letter must go to town +before night, or would be too late for the post. If you do not hear from +me again immediately, you will be sure that this _bourrasque_ has +subsided. + +_Thursday 8th._ + +I am exceedingly vexed. I sent this letter to Berkeley Square on +Tuesday, but by the present confusions my servant did not receive it in +time. I came myself yesterday, and found a horrible scene. Lord +Mansfield's house was just burnt down, and at night there were shocking +disorders. London and Southwark were on fire in six places; but the +regular troops quelled the sedition by daybreak, and everything now is +quiet. A camp of ten thousand men is formed in Hyde Park, and regiments +of horse and foot arrive every hour. + +_Friday morn, 9th._ + +All has been quiet to-night. I am going to Strawberry for a little rest. +Your nephew told me last night that he sends you constant journals just +now. + + +_HOGARTH--COLONEL CHARTERIS--ARCHBISHOP BLACKBURNE--JERVAS--RICHARDSON'S +POETRY._ + +TO SIR DAVID DALRYMPLE. + +_Dec._ 11, 1780. + +I should have been shamefully ungrateful, Sir, if I could ever forget +all the favours I have received from you, and had omitted any mark of +respect to you that it was in my power to show. Indeed, what you are so +good as to thank me for was a poor trifle, but it was all I had or shall +have of the kind. It was imperfect too, as some painters of name have +died since it was printed, which was nine years ago. They will be added +with your kind notices, should I live, which is not probable, to see a +new edition wanted. Sixty-three years, and a great deal of illness, are +too speaking mementos not to be attended to; and when the public has +been more indulgent than one had any right to expect, it is not decent +to load it with one's dotage! + +I believe, Sir, that I may have been over-candid to Hogarth, and that +his spirit and youth and talent may have hurried him into more real +caricatures than I specified; yet he certainly restrained his bent that +way pretty early. Charteris,[1] I have seen; but though some years +older than you, Sir, I cannot say I have at all a perfect idea of him; +nor did I ever hear the curious anecdote you tell me of the banker and +my father. I was much better acquainted with Archbishop Blackburne. He +lived within two doors of my father in Downing Street, and took much +notice of me when I was near man.... He was a little hurt at not being +raised to Canterbury on Wake's death [1737], and said to my father, "You +did not think on me; but it is true, I am too old, I am too old." +Perhaps, Sir, these are gossiping stories, but at least they hurt nobody +now. + +[Footnote 1: Colonel Charteris, satirised by Hogarth's introduction of +his portrait in the "Harlot's Progress," was at his death still more +bitterly branded by Swift's friend, Dr. Arbuthnot, in the epitaph he +proposed for him: "Here continueth to rot the body of Francis Charteris, +who, in the course of his long life, displayed every vice except +prodigality and hypocrisy. His insatiable avarice saved him from the +first: his matchless impudence from the second." And he concludes it +with the explanation that his life was not useless, since "it was +intended to show by his example of how small estimation inordinate +wealth is in the sight of Almighty God, since He bestowed it on the most +unworthy of mortals."] + +I can say little, Sir, for my stupidity or forgetfulness about Hogarth's +poetry, which I still am not sure I ever heard, though I knew him so +well; but it is an additional argument for my distrusting myself, if my +memory fails, which is very possible. A whole volume of Richardson's[1] +poetry has been published since my volume was printed, not much to the +honour of his muse, but exceedingly so to that of his piety and amiable +heart. You will be pleased, too, Sir, with a story Lord Chesterfield +told me (too late too) of Jervas,[2] who piqued himself on the reverse, +on total infidelity. One day that he had talked very indecently in that +strain, Dr. Arbuthnot,[3] who was as devout as Richardson, said to him, +"Come, Jervas, this is all an air and affectation; nobody is a sounder +believer than you."--"I!" said Jervas, "I believe nothing."--"Yes, but +you do," replied the Doctor; "nay, you not only believe, but practise: +you are so scrupulous an observer of the commandments, that you never +make the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or on the earth +beneath, or," &c. + +[Footnote 1: Richardson was a London bookseller, the author of the three +longest novels in the English language--"Pamela," "Clarissa Harbour," +and "Sir Charles Grandison." They were extravagantly praised in their +day. But it was to ridicule "Pamela" that Fielding wrote "Joseph +Andrews."] + +[Footnote 2: Jervas was a fashionable portrait-painter in the first half +of the century. Lady Mary Montague, in one of her letters, speaks of him +in terms of the highest praise.] + +[Footnote 3: Dr. Arbuthnot was the author of the celebrated satire on +the Partition Treaties, entitled "The History of John Bull," to which +Englishmen have ever since owed their popular nickname. It is to him +also that Pope dedicated the Prologue to his "Satires and Epistles."] + +I fear, Sir, this letter is too long for thanks, and that I have been +proving what I have said, of my growing superannuated; but, having made +my will in my last volume, you may look on this as a codicil. + +P.S.--I had sealed my letter, Sir, but break it open, lest you should +think soon, that I do not know what I say, or break my resolution +lightly. I shall be able to send you in about two months a very curious +work that I am going to print, and is actually in the press; but there +is not a syllable of my writing in it. It is a discovery just made of +two very ancient manuscripts, copies of which were found in two or three +libraries in Germany, and of which there are more complete manuscripts +at Cambridge. They are of the eleventh century at lowest, and prove +that painting in oil was then known, above three hundred years before +the pretended invention of Van Eyck. The manuscripts themselves will be +printed, with a full introductory Dissertation by the discoverer, Mr. +Raspe, a very learned German, formerly librarian to the Landgrave of +Hesse, and who writes English surprisingly well. The manuscripts are in +the most barbarous monkish Latin, and are much such works as our +booksellers publish of receipts for mixing colours, varnishes, &c. One +of the authors, who calls himself Theophilus, was a monk; the other, +Heraclius, is totally unknown; but the proofs are unquestionable. As my +press is out of order, and that besides it would take up too much time +to print them there, they will be printed here at my expense, and if +there is any surplus, it will be for Raspe's benefit. + + +_THE PRINCE OF WALES--HURRICANE AT BARBADOES--A "VOICE FROM ST. +HELENA."_ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _Dec._ 31, 1780. + +I have received, and thank you much for the curious history of the Count +and Countess of Albany; what a wretched conclusion of a wretched family! +Surely no royal race was ever so drawn to the dregs! The other Countess +[Orford] you mention seems to approach still nearer to dissolution. Her +death a year or two ago might have prevented the sale of the +pictures,--not that I know it would. Who can say what madness in the +hands of villany would or would not have done? Now, I think, her dying +would only put more into the reach of rascals. But I am indifferent what +they do; nor, but thus occasionally, shall I throw away a thought on +that chapter. + +All chance of accommodation with Holland is vanished. Count Welderen and +his wife departed this morning. All they who are to gain by privateers +and captures are delighted with a new field of plunder. Piracy is more +practicable than victory. Not being an admirer of wars, I shall reserve +my _feux de joie_ for peace. + +My letters, I think, are rather eras than journals. Three days ago +commenced another date--the establishment of a family for the Prince of +Wales. I do not know all the names, and fewer of the faces that compose +it; nor intend. I, who kissed the hand of George I., have no colt's +tooth for the Court of George IV. Nothing is so ridiculous as an antique +face in a juvenile drawing-room. I believe that they who have spirits +enough to be absurd in their decrepitude, are happy, for they certainly +are not sensible of their folly; but I, who have never forgotten what I +thought in my youth of such superannuated idiots, dread nothing more +than misplacing myself in my old age. In truth, I feel no such appetite; +and, excepting the young of my own family, about whom I am interested, I +have mighty small satisfaction in the company of _posterity_; for so +the present generation seem to me. I would contribute anything to their +pleasure, but what cannot contribute to it--my own presence. Alas! how +many of this age are swept away before me: six thousand have been mowed +down at once by the late hurricane at Barbadoes alone! How Europe is +paying the debts it owes to America! Were I a poet, I would paint hosts +of Mexicans and Peruvians crowding the shores of Styx, and insulting the +multitudes of the usurpers of their continent that have been sending +themselves thither for these five or six years. The poor Africans, too, +have no call to be merciful to European ghosts. Those miserable slaves +have just now seen whole crews of men-of-war swallowed by the late +hurricane. + +We do not yet know the extent of our loss. You would think it very +slight, if you saw how little impression it makes on a luxurious +capital. An overgrown metropolis has less sensibility than marble; nor +can it be conceived by those not conversant in one. I remember hearing +what diverted me then; a young gentlewoman, a native of our rock, St. +Helena, and who had never stirred beyond it, being struck with the +emotion occasioned there by the arrival of one or two of our China +ships, said to the captain, "There must be a great solitude in London as +often as the China ships come away!" Her imagination could not have +compassed the idea, if she had been told that six years of war, the +absence of an army of fifty or sixty thousand men of all our squadrons, +and a new debt of many, many millions, would not make an alteration in +the receipts at the door of a single theatre in London. I do not boast +of, or applaud, this profligate apathy. When pleasure is our business, +our business is never pleasure; and, if four wars cannot awaken us, we +shall die in a dream! + + +_NAVAL MOVEMENTS--SIEGE OF GIBRALTAR--FEMALE FASHIONS._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _Sept._ 7, 1781. + +The combined fleets, to the amount of forty-seven or forty-nine sail, +brought news of their own arrival at the mouth of the Channel a day or +two before your letter, of August the 18th, brought an account of that +probability, and of the detachment for Minorca. Admiral Darby, on a +false alarm, or perhaps, a true one, had returned to Torbay a week ago, +where he is waiting for reinforcements. This is the fourth or fifth day +since the appearance of the enemy off Scilly. It is thought, I find here +(whither I came to-day), that the great object is our Jamaica fleet; but +that a detachment is gone to Ireland to do what mischief they can on the +coast before our ally, the Equinox, will beseech them to retire. Much +less force than this Armada would have done more harm two years ago, +when they left a card at Plymouth, than this can do; as Plymouth is now +very strong, and that there are great disciplined armies now in both +islands. Of Gibraltar we have no apprehensions.[1] I know less of +Minorca. + +[Footnote 1: The Spaniards and French had been blockading Gibraltar for +more than two years, and continued the siege till the autumn of 1782, +when the blockading fleet was totally destroyed by the Governor, General +Eliot, who was created Lord Heathfield for the achievement.] + +Lord George Gordon is standing candidate for the City of London on an +accidental vacancy; but his premature alarm last year has had a sinister +effect. In short, those riots have made mankind sick of them, and give +him no chance of success. + +What can I say more? Nothing at present; but I will the moment any event +presents itself. My hope is that, after a fermentation, there will be a +settlement, and that peace will arise out of it. + +The decree[1] you sent me against high heads diverted me. It is as +necessary here, but would not have such expeditious effect. The Queen +has never admitted feathers at Court; but, though the nation has grown +excellent courtiers, Fashion remained in opposition, and not a plume +less was worn anywhere else. Some centuries ago, the Clergy preached +against monstrous head-dresses; but Religion had no more power than our +Queen. It is better to leave the Mode to its own vagaries; if she is not +contradicted, she seldom remains long in the same mood. She is very +despotic; but, though her reign is endless, her laws are repealed as +fast as made. + +[Footnote 1: _"The decree."_ The Grand Duke of Tuscany had just issued +an order prohibiting high head-dresses.] + +Mrs. Damer,[1] General Conway's daughter, is going abroad to confirm a +very delicate constitution--I believe, at Naples. I will say very few +words on her, after telling you that, besides being his daughter, I love +her as my own child. It is not from wanting matter, but from having too +much. She has one of the most solid understandings I ever knew, +astonishingly improved, but with so much reserve and modesty, that I +have often told Mr. Conway he does not know the extent of her capacity +and the solidity of her reason. We have by accident discovered, that she +writes Latin like Pliny, and is learning Greek. In Italy she will be a +prodigy. She models like Bernini, has excelled the moderns in the +similitudes of her busts, and has lately begun one in marble. You must +keep all knowledge of these talents and acquisitions to yourself; she +would never forgive my mentioning, at least her mental qualities. You +may just hint that I talked of her statuary, as you may assist her if +she has a mind to borrow anything to copy from the Great Duke's +collection. Lady William Campbell, her uncle's widow, accompanies, who +is a very reasonable woman too, and equally shy. If they return through +Florence, pray give them a parcel of my letters. I had been told your +nephew would make you a visit this autumn, but I have heard nothing from +him. If you should see him, pray give him the parcel, for he will return +sooner than they. + +[Footnote 1: Mrs. Damer had devoted herself to sculpture with an ability +which has given her a high place among artists. The bust of Nelson in +the armoury at Windsor is her work.] + +I have a gouty pain in my hand, that would prevent my saying more, had +I more to say. + + +_CAPITULATION OF LORD CORNWALLIS--PITT AND FOX._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +_Nov._ 29, 1781. + +Your nephew is arrived, as he has told you himself; the sight of him, +for he called on me the next morning, was more than ordinarily welcome, +though your letter of the 10th, which I received the night before, had +dispelled many of my fears. I will now unfold them to you. A packet-boat +from Ostend was lost last week, and your nephew was named for one of the +passengers. As Mrs. Noel had expected him for a fortnight, I own my +apprehensions were strengthened; but I will say no more on a dissipated +panic. However, this incident and his half-wreck at Lerici will, I hope, +prevent him from the future from staying with you so late in the year; +and I see by your letter that you agree with me, of which I should be +sure though you had not said so. + +I mentioned on Tuesday the captivity of Lord Cornwallis and his army, +the Columbus who was to bestow America on us again. A second army[1] +taken in a drag-net is an uncommon event, and happened but once to the +Romans, who sought adventures everywhere. We have not lowered our tone +on this new disgrace, though I think we shall talk no more of insisting +on _implicit submission_, which would rather be a gasconade than +firmness. In fact, there is one very unlucky circumstance already come +out, which must drive every American, to a man, from ever calling +himself our friend. By the tenth article of the capitulation, Lord +Cornwallis demanded that the loyal Americans in his army should not be +punished. This was flatly refused, and he has left them to be hanged. I +doubt no vote of Parliament will be able to blanch such a--such a--I +don't know what the word is for it; he must get his uncle the Archbishop +to christen it; there is no name for it in any Pagan vocabulary. I +suppose it will have a patent for being called Necessity. Well! there +ends another volume of the American war. It looks a little as if the +history of it would be all we should have for it, except forty +millions[2] of debt, and three other wars that have grown out of it, and +that do not seem so near to a conclusion. They say that Monsieur de +Maurepas, who is dying, being told that the Duc de Lauzun had brought +the news of Lord Cornwallis's surrender, said, from Racine's +"Mithridate" I think:-- + + Mes derniers regards out vu fuir les Romains. + +How Lord Chatham will frown when they meet! for, since I began my +letter, the papers say that Maurepas is dead. The Duc de Nivernois, it +is said, is likely to succeed him as Minister; which is probable, as +they were brothers-in-law and friends, and the one would naturally +recommend the other. Perhaps, not for long, as the Queen's influence +gains ground. + +[Footnote 1: The capitulation of Burgoyne at Saratoga has been mentioned +in a previous letter; and in October, 1781, Lord Cornwallis, whose army +was reduced to seven thousand men, was induced to surrender to +Washington, who, with eighteen thousand, had blockaded him at a village +called Yorktown; and it was the news of this disaster which at last +compelled the King to consent to relinquish the war.] + +[Footnote 2: "_Forty millions._" Burke, in one of his speeches, asserted +the expense to have been £70,000,000, "besides one hundred thousand +men."] + +The warmth in the House of Commons is prodigiously rekindled; but Lord +Cornwallis's fate has cost the Administration no ground _there_. The +names of most _éclat_ in the Opposition are two names to which those +walls have been much accustomed at the same period--CHARLES FOX and +WILLIAM PITT, second son of Lord Chatham.[1] Eloquence is the only one +of our brilliant qualities that does not seem to have degenerated +rapidly--but I shall leave debates to your nephew, now an ear-witness: I +could only re-echo newspapers. Is it not another odd coincidence of +events, that while the father Laurens is prisoner to Lord Cornwallis as +Constable of the Tower, the son Laurens signed the capitulation by which +Lord Cornwallis became prisoner? It is said too, I don't know if truly, +that this capitulation and that of Saratoga were signed on the same +anniversary. These are certainly the speculations of an idle man, and +the more trifling when one considers the moment. But alas! what would +_my_ most grave speculations avail? From the hour that fatal egg, the +Stamp Act, was laid, I disliked it and all the vipers hatched from it. I +now hear many curse it, who fed the vermin with poisonous weeds. Yet the +guilty and the innocent rue it equally hitherto! I would not answer for +what is to come! Seven years of miscarriages may sour the sweetest +tempers, and the most sweetened. Oh! where is the Dove with the +olive-branch? Long ago I told you that you and I might not live to see +an end of the American war. It is very near its end indeed now--its +consequences are far from a conclusion. In some respects, they are +commencing a new date, which will reach far beyond _us_. I desire not to +pry into that book of futurity. Could I finish my course in peace--but +one must take the chequered scenes of life as they come. What signifies +whether the elements are serene or turbulent, when a private old man +slips away? What has he and the world's concerns to do with one another? +He may sigh for his country, and babble about it; but he might as well +sit quiet and read or tell old stories; the past is as important to him +as the future. + +[Footnote 1: Charles Fox and William Pitt were the second sons of the +first Lord Holland and the first Lord Chatham, Fox being by some years +the older. They were both men of great eloquence; but in this (as in +every other point) Pitt was the superior, even by the confession of Lord +Macaulay. As Prime Minister from 1783 to 1801, and afterwards in 1804-5, +Pitt proved himself the greatest statesman, the man more in advance of +his age than any of his predecessors or successors; while Fox's career +was for the most part one of an opposition so rancorous, and so +destitute of all patriotism, that he even exulted over the disasters of +Burgoyne and Cornwallis, and afterwards over the defeat of the Austrians +at Marengo in 1800, avowedly because the Austrians were our allies, and +it was a heavy blow to Pitt and his policy.] + +_Dec. 3._ + +I had not sealed my letter, as it cannot set out till to-morrow; and +since I wrote it I have received yours, of the 20th of November, by your +courier. + +I congratulate you on the success of your attempts, and admire the +heroic refusal of the General.[1] I shall certainly obey you, and not +mention it. Indeed, it would not easily be believed here, where as many +pence are irresistible.... + +[Footnote 1: General the Hon. James Murray was governor of Minorca, +which was besieged by the Spaniards, and was offered a vast bribe by the +Duc de Crillon, the commander of the besiegers, to give up Port St. +Philip.] + +Don't trouble yourself about the third set of "Galuzzi." They are to be +had here now, and those for whom I intended them can buy them. I have +not made so much progress as I intended, and have not yet quite finished +the second volume. I detest Cosmo the Great. I am sorry, either that he +was so able a man, or so successful a man. When tyrants are great men +they should miscarry; if they are fools, they will miscarry of course. +Pray, is there any picture of Camilla Martelli, Cosmo's last wife? I had +never heard of her. The dolt, his son, I find used her ill, and then did +the same thing. Our friend, Bianca Capello, it seems, was a worthless +creature. I don't expect much entertainment but from the Life of +Ferdinand the Great. It is true I have dipped into the others, +particularly into the story of Cosmo the Third's wife, of whom I had +read much in French Mémoires; and into that of John Gaston, which was so +fresh when I was at Florence; but as the author, in spite of the Great +Duke's injunctions, has tried to palliate some of the worst imputations +on Cosmo and his son Ferdinand, so he has been mighty modest about the +Caprean amours of John Gaston and his eldest brother. Adieu! I have +been writing a volume here myself. Pray remember to answer me about +Camilla Martelli. + +P.S.--Is there any china left in the Great Duke's collection, made by +Duke Francis the First himself? Perhaps it was lately sold with what was +called the refuse of the wardrobe, whence I hear some charming things +were purchased, particularly the Medallions of the Medici, by Benvenuto +Cellini. That sale and the "History" are enough to make the old +Electress[1] shudder in her coffin. + +[Footnote 1: The Electress Palatine Dowager was sister of John Gaston, +the last Grand Duke of the House of Medici; after her husband's death +she returned to Florence and died there.] + + +_THE LANGUAGE PROPER FOR INSCRIPTIONS IN ENGLAND--FALL OF LORD NORTH'S +MINISTRY--BRYANT._ + +TO THE REV. WILLIAM COLE. + +_April_ 13, 1782. + +Your partiality to me, my good Sir, is much overseen, if you think me +fit to correct your Latin. Alas! I have not skimmed ten pages of Latin +these dozen years. I have dealt in nothing but English, French, and a +little Italian; and do not think, if my life depended on it, I could +write four lines of pure Latin. I have had occasion once or twice to +speak that language, and soon found that all my verbs were Italian with +Roman terminations. I would not on any account draw you into a scrape, +by depending on my skill in what I have half forgotten. But you are in +the metropolis of Latium. If you distrust your own knowledge, which I +do not, especially from the specimen you have sent me, surely you must +have good critics at your elbow to consult. + +In truth, I do not love Roman inscriptions in lieu of our own +language,[1] though, if anywhere, proper in an University; neither can I +approve writing what the Romans themselves would not understand. What +does it avail to give a Latin tail to a Guildhall? Though the words are +used by moderns, would _major_ convey to Cicero the idea of a _mayor_? +_Architectus_, I believe, is the right word; but I doubt whether +_veteris jam perantiquae_ is classic for a dilapidated building--but do +not depend on me; consult some better judges. + +[Footnote 1: Walpole certainly here shows himself superior in judgement +to Johnson, who, when Burke, Reynolds, and others, in a "round-robin," +requested that the epitaph on Goldsmith, which was entrusted to him to +draw up, should be in English instead of Latin, refused, with the absurd +expression that "he would never be guilty of defacing Westminster Abbey +with an English inscription."] + +Though I am glad of the late _revolution_,[1] a word for which I have +great reverence, I shall certainly not dispute with you thereon. I abhor +exultation. If the change produces peace, I shall make a bonfire in my +heart. Personal interest I have none; you and I shall certainly never +profit by the politics to which we are attached. The "Archaeologic +Epistle" I admire exceedingly, though I am sorry it attacks Mr. +Bryant,[2] whom I love and respect. The Dean is so absurd an oaf, that +he deserves to be ridiculed. Is anything more hyperbolic than his +preferences of Rowley to Homer, Shakspeare, and Milton? Whether Rowley +or Chatterton was the author, are the poems in any degree comparable to +those authors? is not a ridiculous author an object of ridicule? I do +not even guess at your meaning in your conclusive paragraph on that +subject: Dictionary-writer I suppose alludes to Johnson; but surely you +do not equal the compiler of a dictionary to a genuine poet? Is a +brickmaker on a level with Mr. Essex? Nor can I hold that exquisite wit +and satire are Billingsgate; if they were, Milles and Johnson would be +able to write an answer to the "Epistle." I do as little guess whom you +mean that got a pension by Toryism: if Johnson too, he got a pension for +having abused pensioners, and yet took one himself, which was +contemptible enough. Still less know I who preferred opposition to +principles, which is not a very common case; whoever it was, as Pope +says, + + The way he took was strangely round about. + +[Footnote 1: In March Lord North resigned, and been replaced by Lord +Rockingham, who had been Prime Minister before in 1765.] + +[Footnote 2: Bryant, the celebrated or notorious critic, who published a +treatise in which he denied the existence of Troy, and even called in +question that of Homer--a work which, whether Walpole agreed with him on +this point or not, afterwards drew down on him the indignant +denunciations of Byron. It was well for him that he wrote before the +discoveries of Dr. Schliemann.] + + +_HIGHWAYMEN AND FOOTPADS._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Sept._ 8, 1782. + +... I am perfectly ignorant of the state of the war abroad; they say we +are in no pain for Gibraltar: but I know that we are in a state of war +at home that is shocking. I mean, from the enormous profusion of +housebreakers, highwaymen, and footpads; and, what is worse, from the +savage barbarities of the two latter, who commit the most wanton +cruelties. This evil is another fruit of the American war. Having no +vent for the convicts that used to be transported to our late colonies, +a plan was adopted for confining them on board of lighters for the term +of their sentences. In those colleges, undergraduates in villainy +commence Masters of Arts, and at the expiration of their studies issue +as mischievous as if they had taken their degrees in law, physic, or +divinity, at one of our regular universities; but, having no profession, +nor testimonial to their characters, they can get no employment, and +therefore live upon the public. In short, the grievance is so crying, +that one dare not stir out after dinner but well-armed. If one goes +abroad to dinner, you would think one was going to the relief of +Gibraltar. You may judge how depraved we are, when the war has not +consumed half the reprobates, nor press-gangs thinned their numbers! But +no wonder--how should the morals of the people be purified, when such +frantic dissipation reigns above them? Contagion does not mount, but +descend. A new theatre is going to be erected merely for people of +fashion, that they may not be confined to vulgar hours--that is, to day +or night. Fashion is always silly, for, before it can spread far, it +must be calculated for silly people; as examples of sense, wit, or +ingenuity could be imitated only by a few. All the discoveries that I +can perceive to have been made by the present age, is to prefer riding +about the streets rather than on the roads or on the turf, and being too +late for everything. Thus, though we have more public diversions than +would suffice for two capitals, nobody goes to them till they are over. +This is literally true. Ranelagh, that is, the music there, finishes at +half an hour after ten at night; but the most fashionable set out for +it, though above a mile out of town, at eleven or later. Well! but is +not this censure being old and cross? were not the charming people of my +youth guilty of equivalent absurdities? Oh yes; but the sensible folks +of my youth had not lost America, nor dipped us in wars with half +Europe, that cost us fifteen millions a year. I believe the Jews went to +Ranelagh at midnight, though Titus was at Knightsbridge. But Titus +demolished their Ranelagh as well as Jerusalem. Adieu! + + +_FOX'S INDIA BILL--BALLOONS._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _Dec._ 2, 1783. + +... Your nephew is in town, but confined by the gout. I called on him, +but did not see him; yet you may be very easy, for he expects to be +abroad in a day or two. I can make you as easy about another point, too; +but, if you have not learnt it from him, do not take notice to him that +you know it. Mrs. Noel has informed me that his daughter's treaty of +marriage is broken off, and in a fortunate way. The peer, father of the +lover, obliged _him_ to declare off; and Mrs. Noel says that your niece +is in good spirits. All this is just what one should have wished. Your +nephew has sent me a good and most curious print from you of the old +Pretender's marriage: I never saw one before. It is a great present to +my collection of English portraits. The Farnesian books I have not yet +received, and have forgotten the name of the gentleman to whom you +entrusted them, and must search among your letters for it; or, tell it +me again. + +The politicians of London, who at present are not the most numerous +corporation, are warm on a Bill for a new regulation of the East Indies, +brought in by Mr. Fox.[1] Some even of his associates apprehended his +being defeated, or meant to defeat him; but his marvellous abilities +have hitherto triumphed conspicuously, and on two divisions in the House +of Commons he had majorities of 109 and 114. On _that_ field he will +certainly be victorious: the forces will be more nearly balanced when +the Lords fight the battle; but, though the Opposition will have more +generals and more able, he is confident that his troops will overmatch +theirs; and, in Parliamentary engagements, a superiority of numbers is +not vanquished by the talents of the commanders, as often happens in +more martial encounters. His competitor, Mr. Pitt, appears by no means +an adequate rival. Just like their fathers, Mr. Pitt has brilliant +language, Mr. Fox solid sense; and such luminous powers of displaying it +clearly, that mere eloquence is but a Bristol stone, when set by the +diamond Reason. + +[Footnote 1: In the session of 1783 Fox, as the leader of the Coalition +Ministry in the House of Commons, brought in a Bill for the reform of +the government of India on the expiration of the existing Charter of the +Company. It was denounced by Pitt as having for its principal object the +perpetuation of the administration by the enormous patronage it would +place at the disposal of the Treasury; and, through the interposition of +the King, whose conduct on this occasion must be confessed to have been +wholly unconstitutional, it was defeated in the House of Lords. The King +on this dismissed the Ministry, and Pitt became Prime Minister.] + +Do not wonder that we do not entirely attend to things of earth: Fashion +has ascended to a higher element. All our views are directed to the air. +_Balloons_ occupy senators, philosophers, ladies, everybody. France gave +us the _ton_; and, as yet, we have not come up to our model. Their +monarch is so struck with the heroism of two of his subjects who +adventured their persons in two of these new _floating batteries_, that +he has ordered statues of them, and contributed a vast sum towards their +marble immortality. All this may be very important: to me it looks +somewhat foolish. Very early in my life I remember this town at gaze on +a man who _flew down_ a rope from the top of St. Martin's steeple; now, +late in my day, people are staring at a voyage to the moon. The former +Icarus broke his neck at a subsequent flight: when a similar accident +happens to modern knights-errant, adieu to air-balloons. + +_Apropos_, I doubt these new kites have put young Astley's nose out of +joint, who went to Paris lately under their Queen's protection,[1] and +expected to be Prime Minister, though he only ventured his neck by +dancing a minuet on three horses at full gallop, and really in that +attitude has as much grace as the Apollo Belvedere. When the arts are +brought to such perfection in Europe, who would go, like Sir Joseph +Banks, in search of islands in the Atlantic, where the natives in six +thousand years have not improved the science of carving fishing-hooks +out of bones or flints! Well! I hope these new mechanic meteors will +prove only playthings for the learned and the idle, and not be converted +into new engines of destruction to the human race, as is so often the +case of refinements or discoveries in science. _The wicked wit of man +always studies to apply the result of talents to enslaving, destroying, +or cheating his fellow-creatures._ Could we reach the moon, we should +think of reducing it to a province of some European kingdom. + +[Footnote 1: In the spring Montgolfier had made the first ascent in a +balloon, which as a novelty created great excitement in Paris. The Queen +gave permission for the balloon to be called by her name; and the next +year, during a visit of Gustavus, King of Sweden, to Versailles, it went +up from the grounds of the Trianon, and made a successful voyage to +Chantilly (the Editor's "Life of Marie Antoinette," c. 19).] + +_5th._ + +P.S.--The Opposition in the House of Commons were so humbled by their +two defeats, that, though Mr. Pitt had declared he would contest every +clause (of the India Bill) in the committee, (where in truth, if the +Bill is so bad as he says, he ought at least to have tried to amend it,) +that he slunk from the contest, and all the blanks were filled up +without obstruction, the opponents promising only to resist it in its +last stage on Monday next; but really, having no hopes but in the House +of Lords, where, however, I do not believe they expect to succeed. Mr. +Pitt's reputation is much sunk; nor, though he is a much more correct +logician than his father, has he the same firmness and perseverance. It +is no wonder that he was dazzled by his own premature fame; yet his late +checks may be of use to him, and teach him to appreciate his strength +better, or to wait till it is confirmed. Had he listed under Mr. Fox, +who loved and courted him, he would not only have discovered modesty, +but have been more likely to succeed him, than by commencing his +competitor. But what have I to do to look into futurity?[1] + +[Footnote 1: Evidently not much: as few prophecies have been more +strikingly and speedily falsified.] + + +_BALLOONS._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Oct._ 15, 1784. + +As I have heard nothing from you, I flatter myself Lady Aylesbury mends, +or I think you would have brought her again to the physicians: you will, +I conclude, next week, as towards the end of it the ten days they named +will be expired. I must be in town myself about Thursday on some little +business of my own. + +As I was writing this, my servants called me away to see a balloon; I +suppose Blanchard's, that was to be let off from Chelsea this morning. I +saw it from the common field before the window of my round tower. It +appeared about a third of the size of the moon, or less, when setting, +something above the tops of the trees on the level horizon. It was then +descending; and, after rising and declining a little, it sunk slowly +behind the trees, I should think about or beyond Sunbury, at five +minutes after one. But you know I am a very inexact guesser at measures +and distances, and may be mistaken in many miles; and you know how +little I have attended to these _airgonauts_: only t'other night I +diverted myself with a sort of meditation on future _airgonation_, +supposing that it will not only be perfected, but will depose +navigation. I did not finish it, because I am not skilled, like the +gentleman that used to write political ship-news, in that style which I +wanted to perfect my essay: but in the prelude I observed how ignorant +the ancients were in supposing Icarus melted the wax of his wings by too +near access to the sun, whereas he would have been frozen to death +before he made the first post on that road. Next, I discovered an +alliance between Bishop Wilkins's[1] art of flying and his plan of +universal language; the latter of which he no doubt calculated to +prevent the want of an interpreter when he should arrive at the moon. + +[Footnote 1: Dr. Wilkins, Bishop of Chester in the reign of Charles II., +was chiefly instrumental in the foundation of the Royal Society. Among +his works was a treatise to prove that "It is probable there may be +another habitable world in the moon, with a discourse concerning the +possibility of a passage thither." Burnet ("Hist. of his Own Times," +Anno 1661) says of him, "He was a great observer and promoter of +experimental philosophy, which was then a new thing. He was naturally +ambitious, but was the wisest clergyman I ever knew." He married +Cromwell's sister, and his daughter was the wife of Archbishop +Tillotson.] + +But I chiefly amused myself with ideas of the change that would be made +in the world by the substitution of balloons to ships. I supposed our +seaports to become _deserted villages_; and Salisbury Plain, Newmarket +Heath, (another canvass for alteration of ideas,) and all downs (but +_the_ Downs) arising into dockyards for aërial vessels. Such a field +would be ample in furnishing new speculations. But to come to my +ship-news:-- + +"The good balloon Daedalus, Captain Wing-ate, will fly in a few days for +China; he will stop at the top of the Monument to take in passengers. + +"Arrived on Brand-sands, the Vulture, Captain Nabob; the Tortoise snow, +from Lapland; the Pet-en-l'air, from Versailles; the Dreadnought, from +Mount Etna, Sir W. Hamilton, commander; the Tympany, Montgolfier; and +the Mine-A-in-a-bandbox, from the Cape of Good Hope. Foundered in a +hurricane, the Bird of Paradise, from Mount Ararat. The Bubble, Sheldon, +took fire, and was burnt to her gallery; and the Phoenix is to be cut +down to a second-rate." + +In those days Old Sarum will again be a town and have houses in it. +There will be fights in the air with wind-guns and bows and arrows; and +there will be prodigious increase of land for tillage, especially in +France, by breaking up all public roads as useless. But enough of my +fooleries; for which I am sorry you must pay double postage. + + +_HIS LETTERS ON LITERATURE--DISADVANTAGE OF MODERN WRITERS--COMPARISON +OF LADY MARY WORTLEY WITH MADAME DE SÉVIGNÉ._ + +TO JOHN PINKERTON, ESQ. + +_June_ 22, 1785. + +Since I received your book,[1] Sir, I scarce ceased from reading till I +had finished it; so admirable I found it, and so full of good sense, +brightly delivered. Nay, I am pleased with myself, too, for having +formed the same opinions with you on several points, in which we do not +agree with the generality of men. On some topics, I confess frankly, I +do not concur with you: considering how many you have touched, it would +be wonderful if we agreed on all, or I should not be sincere if I said I +did. There are others on which I have formed no opinion; for I should +give myself an impertinent air, with no truth, if I pretended to have +any knowledge of many subjects, of which, young as you are, you seem to +have made yourself master. Indeed, I have gone deeply into nothing, and +therefore shall not discuss those heads on which we differ most; as +probably I should not defend my own opinions well. There is but one part +of your work to which I will venture any objection, though you have +considered it much, and I little, very little indeed, with regard to +your proposal, which to me is but two days old: I mean your plan for the +improvement of our language, which I allow has some defects, and which +wants correction in several particulars. The specific amendment which +you propose, and to which I object, is the addition of _a's_ and _o's_ +to our terminations. To change _s_ for _a_ in the plural number of our +substantives and adjectives, would be so violent an alteration, that I +believe neither the power of Power nor the power of Genius would be able +to effect it. In most cases I am convinced that very strong innovations +are more likely to make impression than small and almost imperceptible +differences, as in religion, medicine, politics, &c.; but I do not think +that language can be treated in the same manner, especially in a refined +age. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Pinkerton was a Scotch lawyer, who published a volume +entitled "Letters on Literature" under the name of Heron; which, +however, he afterwards suppressed, as full of ill-considered ideas, +which was not strange, as he was only twenty-five.] + +When a nation first emerges from barbarism, two or three masterly +writers may operate wonders; and the fewer the number of writers, as the +number is small at such a period, the more absolute is their authority. +But when a country has been polishing itself for two or three centuries, +and when, consequently, authors are innumerable, the most super-eminent +genius (or whoever is esteemed so, though without foundation) possesses +very limited empire, and is far from meeting implicit obedience. Every +petty writer will contest very novel institutions: every inch of change +in any language will be disputed; and the language will remain as it +was, longer than the tribunal which should dictate very heterogeneous +alterations. With regard to adding _a_ or _o_ to final consonants, +consider, Sir, should the usage be adopted, what havoc it would make! +All our poetry would be defective in metre, or would become at once as +obsolete as Chaucer; and could we promise ourselves, that, though we +should acquire better harmony and more rhymes, we should have a new +crop of poets, to replace Milton, Dryden, Gray, and, I am sorry you will +not allow me to add, Pope! You might enjoin our prose to be reformed, as +you have done by the "Spectator" in your thirty-fourth Letter; but try +Dryden's "Ode" by your new institution. + +I beg your pardon for these trivial observations: I assure you I could +write a letter ten times as long, if I were to specify all I like in +your work. I more than like most of it; and I am charmed with your +glorious love of liberty, and your other humane and noble sentiments. +Your book I shall with great pleasure send to Mr. Colman[1]: may I tell +him, without naming you, that it is written by the author of the comedy +I offered to him? He must be struck with your very handsome and generous +conduct in printing your encomiums on him, after his rejecting your +piece. It is as great as uncommon, and gives me as good an opinion of +your heart, Sir, as your book does of your great sense. Both assure me +that you will not take ill the liberty I have used in expressing my +doubts on your plan for amending our language, or for any I may use in +dissenting from a few other sentiments in your work; as I shall in what +I think your too low opinion of some of the French writers, of your +preferring Lady Mary Wortley to Madame de Sévigné, and of your esteeming +Mr. Hume a man of deeper and more solid understanding than Mr. Gray. In +the two last articles it is impossible to think more differently than we +do.[2] In Lady Mary's "Letters," which I never could read but once, I +discovered no merit of any sort; yet I have seen others by her +(unpublished) that have a good deal of wit; and for Mr. Hume, give me +leave to say that I think your opinion, "that he might have ruled a +state," ought to be qualified a little; as in the very next page you +say, his "History" is "a mere apology for prerogative," and a very weak +one. If he could have ruled a state, one must presume, at best, that he +would have been an able tyrant; and yet I should suspect that a man, +who, sitting coolly in his chamber, could forge but a weak apology for +the prerogative, would not have exercised it very wisely. I knew +personally and well both Mr. Hume and Mr. Gray, and thought there was no +degree of comparison between their understandings; and, in fact, Mr. +Hume's writings were so superior to his conversation, that I frequently +said he understood nothing till he had written upon it. What you say, +Sir, of the discord in his "History" from his love of prerogative and +hatred of churchmen, flatters me much; as I have taken notice of that +very unnatural discord in a piece I printed some years ago, but did not +publish, and which I will show to you when I have the pleasure of seeing +you here; a satisfaction I shall be glad to taste, whenever you will let +me know you are at leisure after the beginning of next week. I have the +honour to be, Sir, &c. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Colman was manager of the Haymarket Theatre.] + +[Footnote 2: It is difficult to judge what were the published letters of +Lady Mary which Walpole could have seen. If Mr. Pinkerton preferred them +to those of Mme. de Sévigné, he could certainly have adduced plausible +reasons for his preference. There is far greater variety in them, as was +natural from the different lives led by the two fair writers. Mme. de +Sévigné's was almost confined to Paris and the Court; Lady Mary was a +great traveller. Her husband was English ambassador at Constantinople +and other places, and her letters give descriptions of that city, of +Vienna, the Hague, Venice, Rome, Naples, &c., &c. It may be fitly +pointed out here that in a letter to Lord Strafford Walpole expresses an +opinion that letter-writing is a branch of literature in which women are +likely to excel men; "for our sex is too jealous of the reputation of +good sense to hazard a thousand trifles and negligences which give +grace, ease, and familiarity to correspondence."] + + +_CRITICISM ON VARIOUS AUTHORS: GREEK, LATIN, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH--HUMOUR +OF ADDISON, AND OF FIELDING--WALLER--MILTON--BOILEAU'S "LUTRIN"--"THE +RAPE OF THE LOCK"--MADAME DE SÉVIGNÉ._ + +TO JOHN PINKERTON, ESQ. + +_June_ 26, 1785. + +I have sent your book to Mr. Colman, Sir, and must desire you in return +to offer my grateful thanks to Mr. Knight, who has done me an honour, to +which I do not know how I am entitled, by the present of his poetry, +which is very classic, and beautiful, and tender, and of chaste +simplicity. + +To _your_ book, Sir, I am much obliged on many accounts; particularly +for having recalled my mind to subjects of delight, to which it was +grown dulled by age and indolence. In consequence of your reclaiming it, +I asked myself whence you feel so much disregard for certain authors +whose fame is established: you have assigned good reasons for +withholding your approbation from some, on the plea of their being +imitators: it was natural, then, to ask myself again, whence they had +obtained so much celebrity. I think I have discovered a cause, which I +do not remember to have seen noted; and _that_ cause I suspect to have +been, that certain of those authors possessed grace:--do not take me for +a disciple of Lord Chesterfield, nor imagine that I mean to erect grace +into a capital ingredient of writing, but I do believe that it is a +perfume that will serve from putrefaction, and is distinct even from +style, which regards expression. _Grace_, I think, belongs to _manner_. +It is from the charm of grace that I believe some authors, not in your +favour, obtained part of their renown; Virgil, in particular: and yet I +am far from disagreeing with you on his subject in general. There is +such a dearth of invention in the Aeneid (and when he did invent, it was +often so foolishly), so little good sense, so little variety, and so +little power over the passions, that I have frequently said, from +contempt for his matter, and from the charm of his harmony, that I +believe I should like his poem better, if I was to hear it repeated, and +did not understand Latin. On the other hand, he has more than harmony: +whatever he utters is said gracefully, and he ennobles his images, +especially in the Georgics; or, at least, it is more sensible there, +from the humility of the subject. A Roman farmer might not understand +his diction in agriculture; but he made a Roman courtier understand +farming, the farming of that age, and could captivate a lord of +Augustus's bedchamber, and tempt him to listen to themes of rusticity. +On the contrary, Statius and Claudian, though talking of war, would +make a soldier despise them as bullies. That graceful manner of thinking +in Virgil seems to me to be more than style, if I do not refine too +much: and I admire, I confess, Mr. Addison's phrase, that Virgil "tossed +about his dung with an air of majesty." A style may be excellent without +grace: for instance, Dr. Swift's. Eloquence may bestow an immortal +style, and one of more dignity; yet eloquence may want that ease, that +genteel air that flows from or constitutes grace. Addison himself was +master of that grace, even in his pieces of humour, and which do not owe +their merit to style; and from that combined secret he excels all men +that ever lived; but Shakspeare, in humour,[1] by never dropping into an +approach towards burlesque and buffoonery, when even his humour +descended to characters that in other hands would have been vulgarly +low. Is not it clear that Will Wimble was a gentleman, though he always +lived at a distance from good company? Fielding had as much humour, +perhaps, as Addison; but, having no idea of grace, is perpetually +disgusting. His innkeepers and parsons are the grossest of their +profession; and his gentlemen are awkward when they should be at their +ease. + +[Footnote 1: "_Addison's humour._" Undoubtedly there is much +gentlemanlike humour in Addison's Sir Roger de Coverley; but to say that +he "excels all men that ever lived" in that quality is an exaggeration +hardly to be understood in a man who had seen the "Rivals" and the +"Critic." In the present day no one, it may be supposed, would echo it, +after Scott with the Baron, the Antiquary, Dalgetty, &c., and Thackeray +with Mrs. O'Dowd, Major Pendennis, and Colonel Newcome. The epithet +"_Vafer_" applied to Horace by Persius is not inapplicable to Addison. +There is a slyness about some of his sketches which breathes something +of the Horatian facetiousness. It is remarkable that in all this long +and varied criticism Walpole scarcely mentions _wit_, which he seems to +allow to no one but Horace and Boileau. His comparative denial of it to +Aristophanes and Lucian creates a supposition that his Greek was +inferior to his Latin scholarship. It is not always easy to distinguish +humour from wit; of the two, the former seems the higher quality. Wit is +verbal, conversant with language, combining keenness and terseness of +expression with a keen perception of resemblances or differences; humour +has, comparatively speaking, little to do with language, and is of +different kinds, varying with the class of composition in which it is +found. In one of his "Imaginary Conversations" Savage Landor remarks +that "It is no uncommon thing to hear, 'Such an one has humour rather +than wit.' Here the expression can only mean _pleasantry_, for whoever +has humour has wit, although it does not follow that whoever has wit has +humour.... The French have little humour, because they have little +_character_; they excel all nations in wit, because of their levity and +sharpness."] + +The Grecians had grace in everything; in poetry, in oratory, in +statuary, in architecture, and probably, in music and painting. The +Romans, it is true, were their imitators; but, having grace too, +imparted it to their copies, which gave them a merit that almost raises +them to the rank of originals. Horace's "Odes" acquired their fame, no +doubt, from the graces of his manner and purity of his style--the chief +praise of Tibullus and Propertius, who certainly cannot boast of more +meaning than Horace's "Odes." + +Waller, whom you proscribe, Sir, owed his reputation to the graces of +his manner, though he frequently stumbled, and even fell flat; but a few +of his smaller pieces are as graceful as possible: one might say that he +excelled in painting ladies in enamel, but could not succeed in +portraits in oil, large as life. Milton had such superior merit, that I +will only say, that if his angels, his Satan, and his Adam have as much +dignity as the Apollo Belvedere, his Eve has all the delicacy and +graces of the Venus of Medicis; as his description of Eden has the +colouring of Albano. Milton's tenderness imprints ideas as graceful as +Guido's Madonnas: and the "Allegro," "Penseroso," and "Comus" might be +denominated from the three Graces; as the Italians gave similar titles +to two or three of Petrarch's best sonnets. + +Cowley, I think, would have had grace (for his mind was graceful) if he +had had any ear, or if his task had not been vitiated by the pursuit of +wit; which, when it does not offer itself naturally, degenerates into +tinsel or pertness. Pertness is the mistaken affection of grace, as +pedantry produces erroneous dignity; the familiarity of the one, and the +clumsiness of the other, distort or prevent grace. Nature, that +furnishes samples of all qualities, and on the scale of gradation +exhibits all possible shades, affords us types that are more apposite +than words. The eagle is sublime, the lion majestic, the swan graceful, +the monkey pert, the bear ridiculously awkward. I mention these as more +expressive and comprehensive than I could make definitions of my +meaning; but I will apply the swan only, under whose wings I will +shelter an apology for Racine, whose pieces give me an idea of that +bird. The colouring of the swan is pure; his attitudes are graceful; he +never displeases you when sailing on his proper element. His feet may be +ugly, his notes hissing, not musical, his walk not natural; he can soar, +but it is with difficulty;--still, the impression the swan leaves is +that of grace. So does Racine. + +Boileau may be compared to the dog, whose sagacity is remarkable, as +well as its fawning on its master, and its snarling at those it +dislikes. If Boileau was too austere to admit the pliability of grace, +he compensates by good sense and propriety. He is like (for I will drop +animals) an upright magistrate, whom you respect, but whose justice and +severity leave an awe that discourages familiarity. His copies of the +ancients may be too servile: but, if a good translator deserves praise, +Boileau deserves more. He certainly does not fall below his originals; +and, considering at what period he wrote, has greater merit still. By +his imitations he held out to his countrymen models of taste, and +banished totally the bad taste of his predecessors. For his "Lutrin,"[1] +replete with excellent poetry, wit, humour, and satire, he certainly was +not obliged to the ancients. Excepting Horace, how little idea had +either Greeks or Romans of wit and humour! Aristophanes and Lucian, +compared with moderns, were, the one a blackguard, and the other a +buffoon. In my eyes, the "Lutrin," the "Dispensary," and the "Rape of +the Lock," are standards of grace and elegance, not to be paralleled by +antiquity; and eternal reproaches to Voltaire, whose indelicacy in the +"Pucelle" degraded him as much, when compared with the three authors I +have named, as his "Henriade" leaves Virgil, and even Lucan, whom he +more resembles, by far his superiors. + +[Footnote 1: The "Lutrin" is a critical poem in six cantos. Lutrin means +a desk; and Hallam, who does not seem to rate it very highly, regards +the plan of it as borrowed from Tassoni's "Secchia rapita," Secchia +meaning a pitcher.] + +"The Dunciad" is blemished by the offensive images of the games; but the +poetry appears to me admirable; and, though the fourth book has +obscurities, I prefer it to the three others: it has descriptions not +surpassed by any poet that ever existed, and which surely a writer +merely ingenious will never equal. The lines on Italy, on Venice, on +Convents, have all the grace for which I contend as distinct from +poetry, though united with the most beautiful; and the "Rape of the +Lock," besides the originality of great part of the invention, is a +standard of graceful writing. + +In general, I believe that what I call grace, is denominated elegance; +but by grace I mean something higher. I will explain myself by +instances--Apollo is graceful, Mercury is elegant. Petrarch, perhaps, +owed his whole merit to the harmony of his numbers and the graces of his +style. They conceal his poverty of meaning and want of variety. His +complaints, too, may have added an interest, which, had his passion been +successful, and had expressed itself with equal sameness, would have +made the number of his sonnets insupportable. Melancholy in poetry, I am +inclined to think, contributes to grace, when it is not disgraced by +pitiful lamentations, such as Ovid's and Cicero's in their banishments. +We respect melancholy, because it imparts a similar affection, pity. A +gay writer, who should only express satisfaction without variety, would +soon be nauseous. + +Madame de Sévigné shines both in grief and gaiety. There is too much of +sorrow for her daughter's absence; yet it is always expressed by new +terms, by new images, and often by wit, whose tenderness has a +melancholy air. When she forgets her concern, and returns to her natural +disposition--gaiety, every paragraph has novelty: her allusions, her +applications are the happiest possible. She has the art of making you +acquainted with all her acquaintance, and attaches you even to the spots +she inhabited. Her language is correct, though unstudied; and, when her +mind is full of any great event, she interests you with the warmth of a +dramatic writer, not with the chilling impartiality of an historian. +Pray read her accounts of the death of Turenne, and of the arrival of +King James in France, and tell me whether you do not know their persons +as if you had lived at the time. + +For my part, if you will allow me a word of digression (not that I have +written with any method), I hate the cold impartiality recommended to +Historians: "Si vis me flere, dolendum est Primùm ipsi tibi:"[1] but, +that I may not wander again, nor tire, nor contradict you any more, I +will finish now, and shall be glad if you will dine at Strawberry Hill +next Sunday, and take a bed there, when I will tell you how many more +parts of your book have pleased me, than have startled my opinions, or, +perhaps, prejudices. I have the honour to be, Sir, with regard, &c. + +[Footnote 1: A quotation from Horace's "Ars Poetica," 102.] + + +_MINISTERIAL DIFFICULTIES--THE AFFAIR OF THE NECKLACE IN +PARIS--FLUCTUATING UNPOPULARITY OF STATESMEN--FALLACIES OF HISTORY._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Aug._ 26, 1785. + +Though I am delighted to see your handwriting, I beg you will indulge me +no more with it. It fatigues you, and that gives me more pain than your +letters can give me satisfaction. Dictate a few words on your health to +your secretary; it will suffice. I don't care a straw about the King and +Queen of Naples, nor whether they visit your little Great Duke and +Duchess. I am glad when monarchs are playing with one another, instead +of scratching: it is better they should be idle than mischievous. As I +desire you not to write, I cannot be alarmed at a strange hand. + +Your philosophic account of yourself is worthy of you. Still, I am +convinced you are better than you seem to think. A cough is vexatious, +but in old persons is a great preservative. It is one of the forms in +which the gout appears, and exercises and clears the lungs. I know +actually two persons, no chickens, who are always very ill if they have +no annual cough. You may imagine that I have made observations in plenty +on the gout: yes, yes, I know its ways and its jesuitic evasions. I beg +its pardon, it is a better soul than it appears to be; it is we that +misuse it: if it does not appear with all its credentials, we take it +for something else, and attempt to cure it. Being a remedy, and not a +disease, it will not be cured; and it is better to let it have its way. +If it is content to act the personage of a cough, pray humour it: it +will prolong your life, if you do not contradict it and fling it +somewhere else. + +The Administration has received a total defeat in Ireland, which has +probably saved us another civil war.[1] Don't wonder that I am +continually recollecting my father's _Quieta non movere_. I have never +seen that maxim violated with impunity. They say, that in town a change +in the Ministry is expected. I am not of that opinion; but, indeed, +nobody can be more ignorant than I. I see nobody here but people +attached to the Court, and who, however, know no more than I do; and if +I did see any of the other side, they would not be able to give me +better information; nor am I curious. + +[Footnote 1: In the session of 1785 Grattan opposed a body of +"resolutions" calculated to relieve the distress of the Irish +manufacturers, and altogether to emancipate the trade and commerce of +Ireland from many mischievous restrictions which had hitherto restrained +their progress. Lord Stanhope, in his "Life of Pitt," i. 273, quotes a +description of Grattan's speech as "a display of perhaps the most +beautiful eloquence ever heard, but seditious and inflammatory to a +degree hardly credible;" and he so far prevailed, that in the Irish +House of Commons the resolutions were only carried by a majority of +twenty-nine--one so small, that the Duke of Rutland, the +Lord-Lieutenant, felt it safer to withdraw them.] + +A stranger event than a revolution in politics has happened at Paris. +The Cardinal de Rohan is committed to the Bastile for forging the +Queen's hand to obtain a collar of diamonds;[1] I know no more of the +story: but, as he is very gallant, it is guessed (_here_ I mean) that it +was a present for some woman. These circumstances are little Apostolic, +and will not prop the falling Church of Rome. They used to forge +donations and decretals. This is a new manoeuvre. Nor were Cardinals +wont to be treated so cavalierly for peccadilloes. The House of Rohan is +under a cloud: his Eminence's cousin, the Prince of Guemené,[2] was +forced to fly, two or three years ago, for being the Prince of +Swindlers. _Our_ Nabobs are not treated so roughly; yet I doubt they +collect diamonds still more criminally. + +[Footnote 1: "_A collar of diamonds._" The transaction here referred +to--though, strangely enough, it is looked on as one that had a +political interest--was, in fact, a scheme of a broken-down gambler to +swindle a jeweller out of a diamond necklace of great value. The Court +jeweller had collected a large number of unusually fine diamonds, which +he had made into a necklace, in the hope that the Queen would buy it, +and the Cardinal de Rohan, who was a member of one of the noblest +families in France, but a man of a character so notoriously profligate, +that, when he was ambassador at Vienna, Maria Teresa had insisted on his +recall, was mixed up in the fraud in a manner scarcely compatible with +ignorance of its character. He was brought to trial with the more +evident agents in the fraud, and the whole history of the French +Parliaments scarcely records any transaction more disgraceful than his +acquittal. For some months the affair continued to furnish pretext to +obscure libellers to calumniate the Queen with insinuations not less +offensive than dangerous from their vagueness; all such writers finding +a ready paymaster in the infamous Duc d'Orléans.] + +[Footnote 2: The Prince de Guemenée, a very profligate and extravagant +man, by 1782 had become so hopelessly embarrassed that he was compelled +to leave Paris, and consequently the Princess, his wife, who ever since +the birth of Louis XVI. had held the office of "Governess of the Royal +Children," a life-appointment, was forced to resign it, much to the +pleasure of the Queen, who disapproved of her character, and bestowed +the office on Mme. de Polignac, and when, at the beginning of the +Revolution, she also fled from Paris, on Mme. de Tourzel. But, in truth, +under Marie Antoinette the office was almost a sinecure. She considered +superintendence of the education of her children as among the most +important of her duties; and how judiciously she performed it is seen in +an admirable letter of hers to Mme. de Tourzel, which can hardly be +surpassed for its discernment and good-feeling. (See the Editor's "Life +of Marie Antoinette," iii. 55.)] + +Your nephew will be sorry to hear that the Duke of Montrose's third +grandson, Master William Douglas, died yesterday of a fever. These poor +Montroses are most unfortunate persons! They had the comfort this spring +of seeing Lord Graham marry: the Duchess said, "I thought I should die +of grief, and now I am ready to die of joy." Lady Graham soon proved +with child, but soon miscarried; and the Duke and Duchess may not live +to have the consolation of seeing an heir--for we must hope and make +visions to the last! _I_ am asking for samples of Ginori's porcelain at +sixty-eight! Well! are not heirs to great names and families as frail +foundations of happiness? and what signifies what baubles we pursue? +Philosophers make systems, and we simpletons collections: and we are as +wise as they--wiser perhaps, for we know that in a few years our +rarities will be dispersed at an auction; and they flatter themselves +that their reveries will be immortal, which has happened to no system +yet. A curiosity may rise in value; a system is exploded. + +Such reflections are applicable to politics, and make me look on them as +equally nugatory. Last year Mr. Fox was burnt in effigy; now Mr. Pitt +is. Oh! my dear Sir, it is all a farce! On _this day_, about a hundred +years ago (look at my date), was born the wisest man I have seen.[1] He +kept this country in peace for twenty years, and it flourished +accordingly. He injured no man; was benevolent, good-humoured, and did +nothing but the common necessary business of the State. Yet was he +burnt in effigy too; and so traduced, that his name is not purified +yet!--Ask why his memory is not in veneration? You will be told, from +libels and trash, that he was _the Grand Corruptor_.--What! did he +corrupt the nation to make it happy, rich, and peaceable? Who was +oppressed during his administration? Those saints Bolingbroke and +Pulteney were kept out of the Paradise of the Court; ay, and the +Pretender was kept out and was kept quiet. Sir Robert fell: a Rebellion +ensued in four years, and the crown shook on the King's head. The +nation, too, which had been tolerably corrupted before his time, and +which, with all its experience and with its eyes opened, has not cured +itself of being corrupt, is not quite so prosperous as in the day of +that man, who, it seems, poisoned its morals. Formerly it was the most +virtuous nation on the earth! + +[Footnote 1: He means his own father, the Prime Minister from 1720 to +1741.] + +Under Henry VIII. and his children there was no persecution, no +fluctuation of religion: their Ministers shifted their faith four times, +and were sincere honest men! There was no servility, no flattery, no +contempt of the nation abroad, under James I. No tyranny under Charles +I. and Laud; no factions, no civil war! Charles II., however, brought +back all the virtues and morality, which, somehow or other, were +missing! His brother's was a still more blessed reign, though in a +different way! King William was disturbed and distressed by no +contending factions, and did not endeavour to bribe them to let him +pursue his great object of humbling France! The Duke of Marlborough was +not overborne in a similar and more glorious career by a detestable +Cabal!--and if Oxford and Bolingbroke did remove him, from the most +patriot motives, they, good men! used no corruption! Twelve Peerages +showered at once, to convert the House of Lords, were no bribes; nor was +a shilling issued for secret services; nor would a member of either +House have received it! + +Sir R. Walpole came, and strange to tell, found the whole Parliament, +and every Parliament, at least a great majority of every Parliament, +ready to take his money. For what?--to undo their country!--which, +however, wickedly as he meant, and ready as they were to concur, he left +in every respect in the condition he found it, except in being improved +in trade, wealth, and tranquillity; till _its friends_ who expelled him, +had dipped their poor country in a war; which was far from mending its +condition. Sir Robert died, foretelling a rebellion, which happened in +less than six months, and for predicting which he had been ridiculed: +and in detestation of a maxim ascribed to him by his enemies, that +_every man has his price_, the tariff of every Parliament since has been +as well known as the price of beef and mutton; and the universal +electors, who cry out against that traffic, are not a jot less vendible +than their electors.--Was not Sir Robert Walpole an abominable Minister? + +_29th._ + +P.S.--The man who certainly provoked Ireland _to think_, is dead--Lord +Sackville.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Lord George Sackville Germaine, third son of Lionel [first] +Duke of Dorset, who, when secretary to his father, when Lord-Lieutenant +of Ireland, gave rise, by his haughty behaviour, to the factions that +have ever since disturbed that country, and at last shaken off its +submission to this country.--WALPOLE.] + +_30th._ + +I see, by the _Gazette_, that Lord Cowper's pinchbeck principality is +allowed. I wonder his Highness does not desire the Pope to make one of +his sons a bishop _in partibus infidelium_. + + +_BREVITY OF MODERN ADDRESSES--THE OLD DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Oct._ 4, 1785. + +I don't love to transgress my monthly regularity; yet, as you must +prefer facts to words, why should I write when I have nothing to tell +you? The newspapers themselves in a peaceable autumn coin wonders from +Ireland, or live on the accidents of the Equinox. They, the newspapers, +have been in high spirits on the prospect of a campaign in Holland; but +the Dutch, without pity for the gazetteers of Europe, are said to have +submitted to the Emperor's terms: however, the intelligence-merchants +may trust that _he_ will not starve them long! + +Your neighbour, the Queen of Sardinia, it seems, is dead: but, if there +was anything to say about her, you must tell it to me, not I to you; +for, till she died, I scarce knew she had been alive. + +Our Parliament is put off till after Christmas; so, I have no more +resource from domestic politics than from foreign wars. For my own +particular, I desire neither. I live here in tranquillity and idleness, +can content myself with trifles, and think the world is much the happier +when it has nothing to talk of. Most people ask, "Is there any +news?"--How can one want to know one does not know what? when anything +has happened, one hears it. + +There is one subject on which I wish I had occasion to write; I think it +long since I heard how you go on: I flatter myself, as I have no letter +from you or your nephew, prosperously. I should prefer a letter from +him, that you may not have the trouble; and I shall make this the +shorter, as a precedent for his not thinking more than a line necessary. +The post does not insist on a certain quantity; it is content with being +paid for whatever it carries--nay, is a little unreasonable, as it +doubles its price for a cover that contains nothing but a direction: and +now it is the fashion to curtail the direction as much as possible. +Formerly, a direction was an academy of compliments: "To the most noble +and my singularly respected friend," &c., &c.--and then, "Haste! haste, +for your life, haste!" Now, we have banished even the monosyllable _To_! +Henry Conway,[1] Lord Hertford's son, who is very indolent, and has much +humour, introduced that abridgment. Writing to a Mr. Tighe at the +Temple, he directed his letter only thus: "T. Ti., Temple"[2]--and it +was delivered! Dr. Bentley was mightily flattered on receiving a letter +superscribed "To Dr. Bentley in England." Times are altered; postmen are +now satisfied with a hint. One modern retrenchment is a blessing; one is +not obliged to study for an ingenious conclusion, as if writing an +epigram--oh! no; nor to send compliments that never were delivered. I +had a relation who always finished his letters with "his love to all +that was near and dear to us," though he did not care a straw for me or +any of his family. It was said of old Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, +that she never put dots over her _i's_, to save ink: how she would have +enjoyed modern economy in that article! She would have died worth a +thousand farthings more than she did--nay, she would have known exactly +how many; as Sir Robert Brown[3] did, who calculated what he had saved +by never having an orange or lemon on his sideboard. I am surprised +that no economist has retrenched second courses, which always consist of +the dearest articles, though seldom touched, as the hungry at least dine +on the first. Mrs. Leneve,[4] one summer at Houghton, counted thirty-six +turkey-pouts[5] that had been served up without being meddled with. + +[Footnote 1: Second son of Francis Seymour Conway, first Earl of +Hertford.--WALPOLE.] + +[Footnote 2: This address was surpassed towards the end of the reign, by +a letter which arrived in London addressed to "Srumfredafi, England;" +and was correctly interpreted at the Post Office as being designed for +Sir Humphrey Davy.] + +[Footnote 3: A noted miser, who raised a great fortune as a merchant at +Venice, though his whole wealth, when he went thither, consisted in one +of those vast wigs (a second-hand one, given to him) which were worn in +the reign of Queen Anne, and which he sold for five guineas. He returned +to England, very rich, in the reign of George II., with his wife and +three daughters, who would have been great fortunes. The eldest, about +eighteen, fell into a consumption, and, being ordered to ride, her +father drew a map of the by-lanes about London, which he made the +footman carry in his pocket and observe, that she might ride without +paying a turnpike. When the poor girl was past recovery, Sir Robert sent +for an undertaker, to cheapen her funeral, as she was not dead, and +there was a possibility of her living. He went farther; he called his +other daughters, and bade them curtsy to the undertaker, and promise to +be his friends; and so they proved, for both died consumptive in two +years.--WALPOLE.] + +[Footnote 4: A lady who lived with Sir Robert Walpole, to take care of +his youngest daughter, Lady Maria, after her mother's death. After Sir +Robert's death, and Lady Mary's marriage with Mr. Churchill, she lived +with Mr. H. Walpole to her death.--WALPOLE.] + +[Footnote 5: As the sons of rajahs in India are called Rajah Pouts, and +as turkeys came from the East, quaere if they were not called +Turkey-pouts, as an Eastern diminutive?--WALPOLE.] + +_5th._ + +I had written thus far yesterday. This minute I receive your nephew's of +Sept. 20th; it is not such an one by any means as I had wished for. He +tells me you have had a return of your disorder--indeed, he consoles me +with your recovery; but I cannot in a moment shake off the impression of +a sudden alarm, though the cause was ceased, nor can a second agitation +calm a first on such shattered nerves as mine. My fright is over, but I +am not composed. I cannot begin a new letter, and therefore send what I +had written. I will only add, what you may be sure I feel, ardent wishes +for your perfect health, and grateful thanks to your nephew for his +attention--he is rather your son; but indeed he is Gal.'s son, and that +is the same thing. How I love him for his attendance on you! and how +very kind he is in giving me accounts of you! I hope he will continue, +and I ask it still more for your sake than for my own, that you may not +think of writing yourself. If he says but these words, "My uncle has had +no return of his complaint," I shall be satisfied--satisfied!--I shall +be quite happy! Indeed, indeed, I ask no more. + + +_LADY CRAVEN--MADAME PIOZZI--"THE ROLLIAD"--HERSCHEL'S ASTRONOMICAL +DISCOVERY._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _Oct._ 30, 1785. + +I am a contradiction, yet very naturally so; I wish you not to write +yourself, and yet am delighted when I receive a letter in your own hand: +however, I don't desire it should be of four pages, like this last of +the 11th. When I have had the gout, I have always written by proxy. You +will make me ashamed, if you don't use the precedent. Your account of +yourself is quite to my satisfaction. I approve, too, of your not dining +with your company. Since I must be old and have the gout, I have long +turned those disadvantages to my own account, and plead them to the +utmost when they will save me from doing anything I dislike. I am so +lame, or have such a sudden pain, when I do not care to do what is +proposed to me! Nobody can tell how rapidly the gout may be come, or be +gone again; and then it is so pleasant to have had the benefit, and +none of the anguish! + +I did send you a line last week in the cover of a letter to Lady +Craven,[1] which I knew would sufficiently tell your quickness how much +I shall be obliged to you for any attentions to her. I thought her at +Paris, and was surprised to hear of her at Florence. She has, I fear, +been _infinitamente_ indiscreet; but what is that to you or me? She is +very pretty, has parts, and is good-natured to the greatest degree; has +not a grain of malice or mischief (almost always the associates, in +women, of tender hearts), and never has been an enemy but to herself. +For that ridiculous woman Madame Piozzi,[2] and t'other more impertinent +one, of whom I never heard before, they are like the absurd English +dames with whom we used to divert ourselves when I was at Florence. As +to your little knot of poets, I do not hold the cocks higher than the +hens; nor would I advise them to repatriate. We have at present here a +most incomparable set, not exactly known by their names, but who, till +the dead of summer, kept the town in a roar, and, I suppose, will revive +by the meeting of Parliament. They have poured forth a torrent of odes, +epigrams, and part of an imaginary epic poem, called the "Rolliad,"[3] +with a commentary and notes, that is as good as the "Dispensary"[4] and +"Dunciad," with more ease. These poems are all anti-ministerial, and +the authors very young men, and little known or heard of before. I would +send them, but you would want too many keys: and indeed I want some +myself; for, as there are continually allusions to Parliamentary +speeches and events, they are often obscure to me till I get them +explained; and besides, I do not know several of the satirised heroes +even by sight: however, the poetry and wit make amends, for they are +superlative. + +[Footnote 1: Lady Craven, _née_ Berkeley, had given abundant cause for +scandal during her husband's life, which did not abate when, a month +after his death, she married the Margrave of Anspach.] + +[Footnote 2: Mme. Piozzi, the Mrs. Thrale of Boswell's "Life of +Johnson." Mr. Thrale was a brewer, the founder of the great firm now +known as Barclay and Perkins. She was many years younger than he; and, +after his death, she married Signor Piozzi, a professional musician of +eminence. Johnson, who had been an habitual guest of her husband and her +at their villa at Streatham, set the fashion of condemning this second +marriage as a disgraceful _mésalliance_; but it is not very easy to see +in what respect it was so. In social position she had certainly had the +advantage over Mr. Thrale, being the daughter of a Carnarvonshire +baronet of ancient family. But a first-rate musician was surely the +equal of a brewer. After Johnson's death she published a volume of her +reminiscences of him, which may be allowed to have been worthy neither +of him nor of her, and which was ridiculed by Peter Pindar in "A Town +Eclogue," in which the rivals Bozzy and Piozzi, on Virgil's +principle--_Alternis dicetis, amant alterna Camaenae_--relate in turn +anecdotes of Johnson's way of life, his witty sayings, &c., &c. Sir John +Hawkins, as judge of the contest, gives neither a prize; tells the lady, +"Sam's Life, dear ma'am, will only _damn your own_;" calls the gentleman +"a chattering magpie;" and-- + + Then to their pens and paper rush'd the twain, + To kill the mangled RAMBLER o'er again.] + +[Footnote 3: In 1785 the wits of Brooks's, being much disappointed at +the result of the political conflict of 1784, gave some vent to their +spleen in verse. For their subject they selected an imaginary epic, of +which they gave fictitious extracts, and for their hero they took the +Member for Devonshire, John Rolle, invoking him-- + + Illustrious Rolle! oh may thy honoured name + Roll down distinguished on the rolls of fame. + +It is a little odd that they abstained from similar puns on Pitt and +_pit_; but their indignation was chiefly directed at his youth as +ill-suited to his powers-- + + A sight to make surrounding nations stare, + A kingdom trusted to a schoolboy's care. + +The chief contributors were Burke's friend, Dr. Lawrence; Sheridan's +brother-in-law, Tickell; General Fitzpatrick, Mr. G. Ellis, Lord G. +Townshend, and General Burgoyne.] + +[Footnote 4: "The Dispensary" was a poem by a physician named Garth, to +advocate the cause of the physicians in a quarrel between them and the +apothecaries about the price to be charged for medicines. Johnson, in +his "Lives of the Poets," allows it the credit of smooth and free +versification, but denies it that of elegance. "No passage falls below +mediocrity, and few rise above it." It may be doubted whether Byron +himself could have risen high "above it" on subjects so unpoetical as +pills and black-doses.] + +News I have none, wet or dry, to send you: politics are stagnated, and +pleasure is not come to town. You may be sure I am glad that Caesar is +baffled; I neither honour nor esteem him. If he is preferring his nephew +to his brother, it is using the latter as ill as the rest of the world. + +Mrs. Damer is again set out for the Continent to-day, to avoid the +winter, which is already begun severely; we have had snow twice. Till +last year, I never knew snow in October since I can remember; which is +no short time. Mrs. Damer has taken with her her cousin Miss Campbell, +daughter of poor Lady William, whom you knew, and who died last year. +Miss Campbell has always lived with Lady Aylesbury, and is a very great +favourite and a very sensible girl. I believe they will proceed to +Italy, but it is not certain. If they come to Florence, the Grand Duke +should beg Mrs. Damer to give him something of her statuary; and it +would be a greater curiosity than anything in his Chamber of Painters. +She has executed several marvels since you saw her; and has lately +carved two colossal heads for the bridge at Henley, which is the most +beautiful one in the world, next to the Ponte di Trinità, and was +principally designed by her father, General Conway. Lady Spencer +draws--incorrectly indeed, but has great expression. Italy probably will +stimulate her, and improve her attention. You see we blossom in ruin! +Poetry, painting, statuary, architecture, music, linger here, + + on this sea-encircled coast (GRAY), + +as if they knew not whither to retreat farther for shelter, and would +not trust to the despotic patronage of the Attilas, Alarics, Amalasuntas +of the North! They leave such heroic scourges to be decorated by the +Voltaires and D'Alemberts of the Gauls, or wait till by the improvement +of balloons they may be transported to some of those millions of worlds +that Herschel[1] is discovering every day; for this new Columbus has +thrown open the great gates of astronomy, and neither Spanish +inquisitors nor English Nabobs will be able to torture and ransack the +new regions and their inhabitants. Adieu! + +[Footnote 1: Herschel, having constructed the largest telescope that at +that time had ever been seen, in 1781 had given proof of its value by +the discovery of the _Georgium sidus_.] + + +_MRS. YEARSLEY--MADAME PIOZZI--GIBBON--"LE MARIAGE DE FIGARO."_ + +TO MISS HANNAH MORE.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Miss H. More was a remarkable woman. She was the daughter +of the village schoolmaster of Stapleton, near Bristol. But though she +had no higher education than he could give her, she soon began to show a +considerable literary talent. Her first compositions were dramas, one of +which, "Percy," Garrick accepted for the stage, where for a season it +had fair success. But she soon quitted that line for works of morality, +intended to promote the religious improvement of society in her day. The +most celebrated of them was "Coelebs in Search of a Wife." But some of +the tales which she published in "The Cheap Repository," a series of +stories for the common people, had a greater sale. One, "The Shepherd of +Salisbury Plain," was so popular that it is said that a million copies +of it were sold. Her talents led to her acquaintance being cultivated by +such men as Johnson, Reynolds, Burke, and Bishop Porteus; and her +exercise of them was so profitable, that though she gave large sums in +charity, she left a fortune of £30,000.] + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Oct._ 14, 1787. + +My dear Madam,--I am shocked for human nature at the repeated +malevolence of this woman! [Mrs. Yearsley.] The rank soil of riches we +are accustomed to see overrun with seeds and thistles; but who could +expect that the kindest seeds sown on poverty and dire misfortunes +should meet with nothing but a rock at bottom? Catherine de' Medici, +suckled by hopes and transplanted to a throne, seems more excusable. +Thank heaven, Madam, for giving you so excellent a heart; ay, and so +good a head. You are not only benevolence itself, but, with fifty times +the genius of a Yearsley, you are void of vanity. How strange, that +vanity should expel gratitude! Does not the wretched woman owe her fame +to you, as well as her affluence? I can testify your labours for both. +Dame Yearsley reminds me of the Troubadours, those vagrants whom I used +to admire till I knew their history; and who used to pour out trumpery +verses, and flatter or abuse accordingly as they were housed and +clothed, or dismissed to the next parish. Yet you did not set this +person in the stocks, after procuring an annuity for her! I beg your +pardon for renewing so disgusting a subject, and will never mention it +again. You have better amusement; you love good works, a temper superior +to revenge. + +I have again seen our poor friend in Clarges Street [Mrs. Vesey]: her +faculties decay rapidly, and of course she suffers less. She has not an +acquaintance in town; and yet told me the town was very full, and that +she had had a good deal of company. Her health is re-established, and we +must now be content that her mind is not restless. My pity now feels +most for Mrs. Hancock, whose patience is inexhaustible, though not +insensible. + +Mrs. Piozzi, I hear, has two volumes of Dr. Johnson's Letters ready for +publication. Bruce is printing his travels, which I suppose will prove +that his narratives were fabulous, as he will scarce repeat them by the +press. These, and two more volumes of Mr. Gibbon's "History," are all +the literary news I know. France seems sunk indeed in all respects. What +stuff are their theatrical goods, their "Richards," "Ninas," and +"Tarares"! But when their "Figaro"[1] could run threescore nights, how +despicable must their taste be grown! I rejoice that their political +intrigues are not more creditable. I do not dislike the French from the +vulgar antipathy between neighbouring nations, but for their insolent +and unfounded airs of superiority. In arms, we have almost always +outshone them: and till they have excelled Newton, and come near to +Shakspeare, pre-eminence in genius must remain with us. I think they are +most entitled to triumph over the Italians; as, with the most meagre and +inharmonious of all languages, the French have made more of that poverty +in tragedy and eloquence, than the Italians have done with the language +the most capable of both. But I did not mean to send you a dissertation. +I hope it will not be long before you remove to Hampton.--Yet why should +I wish that? You will only be geographically nearer to London till +February. Cannot you, now and then, sleep at the Adelphi on a visit to +poor Vesey and your friends, and let one know if you do? + +[Footnote 1: "Le Mariage de Figaro" was a play by a man who assumed the +name of Beaumarchais (as Poquelin had taken the name of Molière and +Arouet that of Voltaire); and the histories of both the author and the +play are curious. The author's real name was Caron, and he had been bred +a watchmaker. But he was ambitious; he gave up his trade, and bought a +place about the Court, which was among those which conferred gentility, +and which enabled him afterwards on one occasion to boast that he could +establish a better claim to the rank of noble than most of that body, +since he could produce a stamped receipt for it. He married two rich +widows. He next obtained the place of music-master on the harp to the +daughters of Louis XV., and conducted some of their concerts. He became +involved in a law-suit, which he conducted in person against some of the +most renowned advocates of the day, and gained great applause for the +talent he had exhibited in his pleadings. He crossed over to England, +where he made acquaintance with Wilkes and the agents of some of the +North American colonies, and became a volunteer agent for them himself +at the beginning of the American war, expending, according to his own +statement, 150,000 francs in the purchase of arms and stores, which he +sent out, when the President of Congress contented himself with thanking +him for his liberality, but refused to pay his bill. He resolved to try +his skill as a dramatist. His earlier plays were not particularly +successful, but in 1781 he produced "The Marriage of Figaro," a sort of +sequel to one of its predecessors, "The Barber of Seville." During the +progress of its composition he had shown some of the scenes to his +critical friends, who had pronounced it witty, and prophesied its +success. But it had also become known that it contained sarcasms on some +of the exclusive privileges of the nobles, and the officer who had +charge of such matters in consequence refused to license it for +performance, as a dangerous satire on the institutions of the country. +He had by this time made friends enough to form a party to remonstrate +against the hardship of the Censor's decision; till the King determined +to judge for himself, and caused Mme. Campau to read it to himself and +the Queen, when he fully agreed with the Censor, and expressed a +positive determination not to permit its performance. Unluckily he was +never firm in his resolutions; and Beaumarchais having secured the +patronage of Louis's brother, the Comte d'Artois, and Mme. de Polignac, +felt confident of carrying his point at last. His royal and noble +patrons arranged parties for private readings of the play. He then +declared, untruly, that he had altered all the passages which had been +deemed offensive, and Louis was weak enough to believe him without +further examination, and to sanction a private performance of it at the +country house of the Comte de Vandreuel. After this it was impossible to +exclude it from the theatre in Paris; and in April, 1784, it was acted +before an audience whom the long-continued contest had brought in +unprecedented numbers to hear it. If it had not been for the opposition +which had been made to it, it probably would never have attracted any +particular attention; for, though it was lively, and what managers call +a fair "acting play," it had no remarkable merit as a composition, and +depended for its attraction more on some of its surprises and +discoveries than on its wit. But its performance and the reception it +met with were regarded by a large political party as a triumph over the +Ministry; and French historical writers, to whatever party they belong, +agree in declaring that it had given a death-blow to many of the oldest +institutions of the country, and that Beaumarchais proved at once the +herald and the pioneer of the approaching Revolution. (See the Editor's +"Life of Marie Antoinette," c. 19.)] + + +_GENTLEMEN WRITERS--HIS OWN REASONS FOR WRITING WHEN +YOUNG--VOLTAIRE--"EVELINA"--MISS SEWARD--HAYLEY._ + +TO MISS HANNAH MORE. + +Strawberry Hill, _July_ 12, 1788. + +Won't you repent having opened the correspondence, my dear Madam, when +you find my letters come so thick upon you? In this instance, however, I +am only to blame in part, for being too ready to take advice, for the +sole reason for which advice ever is taken,--because it fell in with my +inclination. + +You said in your last that you feared you took up time of mine to the +prejudice of the public; implying, I imagine, that I might employ it in +composing. Waving both your compliment and my own vanity, I will speak +very seriously to you on that subject, and with exact truth. My simple +writings have had better fortune than they had any reason to expect; and +I fairly believe, in a great degree, because gentlemen-writers, who do +not write for interest, are treated with some civility if they do not +write absolute nonsense. I think so, because I have not unfrequently +known much better works than mine much more neglected, if the name, +fortune, and situation of the authors were below mine. I wrote early +from youth, spirits, and vanity; and from both the last when the first +no longer existed. I now shudder when I reflect on my own boldness; and +with mortification, when I compare my own writings with those of any +great authors. This is so true, that I question whether it would be +possible for me to summon up courage to publish anything I have written, +if I could recall time past, and should yet think as I think at present. +So much for what is over and out of my power. As to writing now, I have +totally forsworn the profession, for two solid reasons. One I have +already told you; and it is, that I know my own writings are trifling +and of no depth. The other is, that, light and futile as they were, I am +sensible they are better than I could compose now. I am aware of the +decay of the middling parts I had, and others may be still more sensible +of it. How do I know but I am superannuated? nobody will be so coarse as +to tell me so; but if I published dotage, all the world would tell me +so. And who but runs that risk who is an author after seventy? What +happened to the greatest author of this age, and who certainly retained +a very considerable portion of his abilities for ten years after my +age?[1] Voltaire, at eighty-four, I think, went to Paris to receive the +incense, in person, of his countrymen, and to be witness of their +admiration of a tragedy he had written, at that Methusalem age. Incense +he did receive till it choked him; and, at the exhibition of his play, +he was actually crowned with laurel in the box where he sat. But what +became of his poor play? It died as soon as he did--was buried with him; +and no mortal, I dare to say, has ever read a line of it since, it was +so bad. + +[Footnote 1: Voltaire had for several years been in disgrace at Court, +and had been living in Switzerland; but in 1778 he returned to Paris to +superintend the performance of a new tragedy, "Irene." He was, however, +greatly mortified at the refusal of Marie Antoinette to allow him to be +presented to her, and was but partly comforted by the enthusiasm of the +audience at the theatre, who crowned him on the stage after the +performance. Mme. du Deffand, who, in a letter to Walpole a few days +before, had said that if the tragedy did not succeed it would kill him, +says in a subsequent letter that its success had been very +moderate--that the enthusiasm of the audience had been for Voltaire +himself; and at all events her prophecy was fulfilled, for he died a few +weeks afterwards.] + +As I am neither by a thousandth part so great, nor a quarter so little, +I will herewith send you a fragment that an accidental _rencontre_ set +me upon writing, and which I find so flat, that I would not finish it. +Don't believe that I am either begging praise by the stale artifice of +hoping to be contradicted; or that I think there is any occasion to make +you discover my caducity. No; but the fragment contains a +curiosity--English verses written by a French Prince[1] of the Blood, +and which at first I had a mind to add to my "Royal and Noble Authors;" +but as he was not a royal author of ours, and as I could not please +myself with an account of him, I shall revert to my old resolution of +not exposing my pen's grey hairs. + +[Footnote 1: He was the Duc d'Orléans, who was taken prisoner by Henry +V. at Agincourt, and was detained in England for twenty-five years. The +verses are published in "Walpole's Works," i. 564.] + +Of one passage I must take notice; it is a little indirect sneer at our +crowd of authoresses. My choosing to send this to _you_, is a proof that +I think you an author, that is, a classic. But, in truth, I am +nauseated by the Madams Piozzi, &c., and the host of novel-writers in +petticoats, who think they imitate what is inimitable, "Evelina" and +"Cecilia."[1] Your candour, I know, will not agree with me, when I tell +you I am not at all charmed with Miss Seward[2] and Mr. Hayley[3] piping +to one another: but _you_ I exhort, and would encourage to write; and +flatter myself you will never be royally gagged and promoted to fold +muslins, as has been lately wittily said on Miss Burney, in the List of +five hundred living authors. _Your_ writings promote virtues; and their +increasing editions prove their worth and utility. If you question my +sincerity, can you doubt my admiring you, when you have gratified _my_ +self-love so amply in your "Bas Bleu"? Still, as much as I love your +writings, I respect yet more your heart and your goodness. You are so +good that I believe you would go to heaven, even though there were no +Sunday, and only six _working_ days in the week. Adieu, my best Madam! + +[Footnote 1: "Evelina" and "Cecilia" are novels by Miss Burney, +afterwards Mme. d'Arblay. The former was extravagantly praised by +Johnson and the Literary Club, and is probably a favourable specimen of +the style of the conversation of the day.] + +[Footnote 2: Miss Seward was the authoress of that most ingenious riddle +on the letter _H_, and also of some volumes of poetry.] + +[Footnote 3: Mr. Hayley was the author of several works in prose and +verse; in the latter, of a poem called "The Triumphs of Temper," and +entitled to the name, according to Byron, since "at least they triumphed +over his" ("English Bards and Scotch Reviewers").] + + +_DIVISIONS IN THE ROYAL FAMILY--THE REGENCY--THE IRISH PARLIAMENT._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _Feb._ 12, 1789. + +I now do believe that the King is coming to _him_self: not in the +language of the courtiers, to his senses--but from their proof, viz., +that he is returned to his _what! what! what!_ which he used to prefix +to every sentence, and which is coming to his nonsense. I am +corroborated in this opinion by his having said much more sensible +things in his lunacy than he did when he was reckoned sane, which I do +not believe he has been for some years. + +Well! now, how will this new change of scene operate? I fancy if any one +could win access to him, who would tell him the truth, he would be as +little pleased with his Queen, and his or her Pitt, as they will take +care he shall be with his sons. Would he admire the degradation of his +family in the person of all the Princes? or with the tripartite division +of Royalty between the Queen, the Prince, and Mr. Pitt, which I call a +_Trinity in disunity_? Will he be charmed with the Queen's admission to +power, which he never imparted to her? Will he like the discovery of his +vast private hoard? Will he be quite satisfied with the codicil to his +Will,[1] which she surreptitiously obtained from him in his frenzy _in +the first agony of her grief_? How will he digest that discovery of his +treasure, which will not diffuse great compassion when he shall next ask +a payment of his pretended debts? Before his madness he was indisposed +towards Pitt; will he be better pleased with him for his new dictatorial +presumption? + +[Footnote 1: "_His will._" This refers to a scandal propagated by some +of the opposition newspapers, for which there was not the slightest +foundation.] + +Turn to the next page--to Ireland. They have chosen for themselves, it +is believed, a Regent without restrictions,[1] in scorn of the +Parliament of England, and in order further to assert their +independence. Will they recede? especially when their courtiers have +flown in the face of our domineering Minister? I do not think they will. +They may receive the King again on his recovery; but they have united +interests with the Prince, and act in league with him, that he may +pledge himself to them more deeply in future at least; they will +never again acknowledge any superiority in our Parliament, but rather +act in contradistinction. + +[Footnote 1: "_Regent without restrictions._" The King, in the autumn of +1788, having fallen into a state of temporary derangement, Pitt proposed +that the Parliament should appoint the Prince of Wales Regent, with some +temporary limitations in the exercise of the power. Fox and his +followers contended that the Prince, being of full age, was as +absolutely entitled to the Regency as his right, as he would have been +to the Crown in the event of his father's death; and Grattan, who had a +paramount influence over the Irish Parliament, adopting Fox's view, +carried an address to the Prince, entreating him to take upon himself +the Regency as his right--a view which, of course, was incompatible with +any power of limiting his authority. Fortunately, before this address +could be acted upon, the King recovered. The matter unfortunately caused +great divisions in the Royal Family, to which Walpole alludes in the +latter part of the letter; the Queen considering (not without grounds) +that the Prince had shown unfilial eagerness to grasp at power; and +indeed he had already made it known that he had intended to dismiss Pitt +and to appoint Fox Prime Minister.] + +[Illustration: Hand-written Letter] + +_Feb. 22nd._ + +The person who was to have brought you this was prevented leaving town, +and therefore I did not finish my letter; but I believe I shall have +another opportunity of sending, and therefore I will make it ready. + +Much has happened this last week. The Prince is Regent of Ireland +without limitations--a great point for his character; for Europe will +now see that it was a faction which fettered him here, and not his +unpopularity, for then would not he have been as much distasted in +Ireland? Indeed, their own Attorney-General made way for him by opposing +on the most injudicious of all pleas, that it would be necessary before +he could be Regent there, to set the _Great Seal of England_ to the act! +How could the fool imagine, that when that phantom had been invented +here, it would not be equally easy for the Irish to invent a parallel +phantom of their own? But though this compliment is most grateful to the +Prince at present, he will probably find hereafter that he has in effect +lost Ireland, who meant more to emancipate themselves from this country +than to compliment the Prince or contradict the English ministerial +faction. + +What will be the consequence of that rapid turn in Ireland, even +immediately, who can tell? for the King is called recovered, and the +English Regency is suspended, with fresh and grievous insults to the +Prince, who with the Duke of York are violently hindered by the Queen +from even seeing their father, though she and their sisters play at +cards with him in an evening; and that the Chancellor was with him for +an hour and three quarters on the 19th. + +Under colour of what new phantom her Majesty, the Chancellor,[1] and +Pitt will assume the Government, we shall know in two or three days; for +I do not suppose they will produce the King instantly, at the risk of +oversetting his head again, though they seem half as mad as he, and +capable of any violent act to maintain themselves. And so much the +better: I do not wish them temperate; and it looks as if people never +were so in minorities and incapacities of their kings. The Prince set +out as indiscreetly as Pitt. + +[Footnote 1: The Chancellor was Lord Thurlow, an able but unprincipled +man. Johnson expressed a high opinion of him as an arguer "who brought +his mind to bear upon yours." But Fox declared his very face "proved him +an impostor, since no man could be as wise as he looked."] + +Of the event I am very glad; it saves the Prince and the Opposition from +the rashness of changing the Administration on so precarious and +shackled a tenure, and it saves them too from the expense of +re-elections. If the King recovers, they are but where they were, but +with the advantage of having the Prince and Duke of York rooted in +aversion to the Ministers, and most unlikely to be governed by the +Queen. If the King relapses, the Opposition stock will rise; though in +the mean time I do not doubt but the nation will grow drunk with the +loyalty of rejoicing, for kings grow popular by whatever way they lose +their heads. Still, whatever eccentricity he attempts, it will be +imputed to his deranged understanding. And, however even Lord +Hawkesbury[1] may meditate the darkest mischiefs under the new fund of +pity and loyalty, he will _not_ be for extending the prerogative, which +must devolve (on any accident to the King) on the Prince, Duke of York, +or some of the Princes, who will all be linked in a common cause with +their brothers, who have been so grossly affronted; and Prince William, +the third, particularly so by the last cause of hindering his peerage +while abroad. The King's recovery before the Regency Act was passed will +be another great advantage to the Prince; his hands would have been so +shackled, that he could not have found places for half the expectants, +who will now impute their disappointments to the King's amendment, and +not to the Prince. + +[Footnote 1: Lord Hawkesbury was afterwards promoted to the Earldom of +Liverpool, and was the father of the sagacious, prudent, but resolute +minister under whose administration the French Revolutionary War was +brought to a conclusion by the final overthrow of Napoleon.] + +_Monday, 24th._ + +The King has seen the Prince [of Wales], and received him kindly, but +the Queen was present. Iron Pluto (as Burke called the Chancellor) wept +again when with the King; but what is much more remarkable, his Majesty +has not asked for Pitt, and did abuse him constantly during his frenzy. +The Chancellor certainly did not put him in mind of Pitt, whom he +detests; so there is a pretty portion of hatred to be quaffed amongst +them! and swallowed, if they can; yet _aurum potabile_ will make it sit +on their stomachs. + + +_"THE ARABIAN NIGHTS"--THE AENEID--BOCCALINI--ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE._ + +TO MISS BERRY.[1] + +[Footnote 1: The lady to whom this letter is addressed was the elder of +two sisters who in 1787 came to reside with their father in Walpole's +neighbourhood. Both the sisters, according to his description of them, +were very accomplished and sufficiently good-looking. He gradually +became so enthusiastic in his regard for her, that he proposed to marry +her, old as he was, in order that he might have an excuse for leaving +her all his fortune; and he wrote the "Reminiscences of the Courts of +George I. and II.," which are among his published works, for the +amusement of the two sisters.] + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 30, 1789. + +Were there any such thing as sympathy at the distance of two hundred +miles, you would have been in a mightier panic than I was; for, on +Saturday se'nnight, going to open the glass case in the Tribune, my foot +caught in the carpet, and I fell with my whole weight (_si_ weight _y +a_) against the corner of the marble altar, on my side, and bruised the +muscles so badly, that for two days I could not move without screaming. +I am convinced I should have broken a rib, but that I fell on the cavity +whence two of my ribs were removed, that are gone to Yorkshire. I am +much better both of my bruise and of my lameness, and shall be ready to +dance at my own wedding when my wives return. And now to answer your +letter. + +If you grow tired of the "Arabian Nights," you have no more taste than +Bishop Atterbury,[1] who huffed Pope for sending him them (or the +"Persian Tales"), and fancied he liked Virgil better, who had no more +imagination than Dr. Akenside. Read "Sinbad the Sailor's Voyages," and +you will be sick of Aeneas's. What woful invention were the nasty +poultry that dunged on his dinner, and ships on fire turned into +Nereids! A barn metamorphosed into a cascade in a pantomime is full as +sublime an effort of genius. I do not know whether the "Arabian Nights" +are of Oriental origin or not: I should think not, because I never saw +any other Oriental composition that was not bombast without genius, and +figurative without nature; like an Indian screen, where you see little +men on the foreground, and larger men hunting tigers above in the air, +which they take for perspective. I do not think the Sultaness's +narratives very natural or very probable, but there is a wildness in +them that captivates. However, if you could wade through two octavos of +Dame Piozzi's _though's_ and _so's_ and _I trow's_, and cannot listen to +seven volumes of Scheherezade's narrations, I will sue for a divorce _in +foro Parnassi_, and Boccalini shall be my proctor. The cause will be a +counterpart to the sentence of the Lacedaemonian, who was condemned for +breach of the peace, by saying in three words what he might have said in +two. + +[Footnote 1: Atterbury (Pope's "mitred Rochester") was Bishop of +Rochester in the reigns of Anne and George I. He was so violent in his +Jacobitism, that on the death of Queen Anne he offered to head a +procession to proclaim James III. as king at Charing Cross. Afterwards +Sir R. Walpole had evidence of his maintaining a treasonable +correspondence with the Court of St. Germains, sufficient to have +ensured his conviction, but, being always of a merciful disposition, and +naturally unwilling to bring a Bishop to the block, he contented himself +with passing a Bill of Pains and Penalties to deprive him of his +bishopric and banish him for life.] + +You are not the first Eurydice[1] that has sent her husband to the +devil, as you have kindly proposed to me; but I will not undertake the +jaunt, for if old Nicholas Pluto should enjoin me not to look back to +you, I should certainly forget the prohibition like my predecessor. +Besides, I am a little too close to take a voyage twice which I am so +soon to repeat; and should be laughed at by the good folks on the other +side of the water, if I proposed coming back for a twinkling only. No; I +choose as long as I can + + Still with my fav'rite Berrys to remain. + +So, you was not quite satisfied, though you ought to have been +transported, with King's College Chapel, because it has no aisles, like +every common cathedral. I suppose you would object to a bird of +paradise, because it has no legs, but shoots to heaven in a trail, and +does not rest on earth. Criticism and comparison spoil many tastes. You +should admire all bold and unique essays that resemble nothing else; the +"Botanic Garden,"[2] the "Arabian Nights," and King's Chapel are above +all rules: and how preferable is what no one can imitate, to all that is +imitated even from the best models! Your partiality to the pageantry of +popery I do approve, and I doubt whether the world would not be a loser +(in its visionary enjoyments) by the extinction of that religion, as it +was by the decay of chivalry and the proscription of the heathen +deities. Reason has no invention; and as plain sense will never be the +legislator of human affairs, it is fortunate when taste happens to be +regent. + +[Footnote 1: The story of Eurydice's death and the descent of Orpheus, +her husband, to hell for her recovery, with which Virgil closes the +fourth Georgic, is among the most exquisite passages in all Latin +poetry. Pope made it the subject of his Ode on St. Cecilia's Day; but if +Pluto and Proserpine really relented at the doggerel that the English +poet puts into the mouth of the half-divine minstrel, they cannot +deserve the title of _illacrymabiles_ which Horace gives them. Some of +the pedantic scientists (to borrow a new word) have discovered in this +tale of true love an allegory about the alternations of Day and Night, +Sun and Moon, and what not, for which they deserve the anathema of every +scholar and lover of true poetry.] + +[Footnote 2: "The Botanic Garden," a poem by Dr. Darwin; chiefly +remembered for Mr. Gladstone's favourite "Upas-tree," a plant which has +not, and never had, any existence except in the fancy of some traveller, +who hoaxed the too-scientific poet with the story, which, years +afterwards, hoaxed the orator also.] + + +_DISMISSAL OF NECKER--BARON DE BRETEUIL--THE DUC D'ORLÉANS--MIRABEAU._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Wednesday night, July_ 15, 1789. + +I write a few lines only to confirm the truth of much of what you will +read in the papers from Paris. Worse may already be come, or is expected +every hour. + +Mr. Mackenzie and Lady Betty called on me before dinner, after the post +was gone out; and he showed me a letter from Dutens, who said two +couriers arrived yesterday from the Duke of Dorset and the Duchess of +Devonshire, the latter of whom was leaving Paris directly. Necker had +been dismissed, and was thought to be set out for Geneva.[1] Breteuil, +who was at his country-house, had been sent for to succeed him. Paris +was in an uproar; and, after the couriers had left it, firing of cannon +was heard for four hours together. That must have been from the Bastile, +as probably the _tiers état_ were not so provided. It is shocking to +imagine what may have happened in such a thronged city! One of the +couriers was stopped twice or thrice, as supposed to pass from the King; +but redeemed himself by pretending to be despatched by the _tiers état_. +Madame de Calonne[2] told Dutens, that the newly encamped troops desert +by hundreds. + +[Footnote 1: The Baron de Breteuil had been the Controller of the +Household, and was appointed Necker's successor; but his Ministry did +not last above a fortnight, as the King found himself compelled to +restore Necker.] + +[Footnote 2: Mme. de Calonne's husband had been Prime Minister for some +years, having succeeded Necker in 1780.] + +Here seems the egg to be hatched, and imagination runs away with the +idea. I may fancy I shall hear of the King and Queen leaving Versailles, +like Charles the First, and then skips imagination six-and-forty years +lower, and figures their fugitive Majesties taking refuge in this +country. I have besides another idea. If the Bastile conquers, still is +it impossible, considering the general spirit in the country, and the +numerous fortified places in France, but some may be seized by the +_dissidents_, and whole provinces be torn from the Crown? On the other +hand, if the King prevails, what heavy despotism will the _états_, by +their want of temper and moderation, have drawn on their country! They +might have obtained many capital points, and removed great oppression. +No French monarch will ever summon _états_ again, if this moment has +been thrown away. + +Though I have stocked myself with such a set of visions for the event +either way, I do not pretend to foresee what will happen. Penetration +argues from reasonable probabilities; but chance and folly are apt to +contradict calculation, and hitherto they seem to have full scope for +action. One hears of no genius on either side, nor do symptoms of any +appear. There will perhaps: such times and tempests bring forth, at +least bring out, great men. I do not take the Duke of Orléans[1] or +Mirabeau[2] to be built _du bois dont on les fait_; no, nor Monsieur +Necker. He may be a great traitor, if he made the confusion designedly: +but it is a woful evasion, if the promised financier slips into a black +politician! I adore liberty, but I would bestow it as honestly as I +could; and a civil war, besides being a game of chance, is paying a very +dear price for it. + +[Footnote 1: The Duke of Orléans, the infamous Égalité, fomented the +Revolution in the hope that it might lead to the deposition of the King, +and to his own election to the throne, as in England, a century before, +the Prince of Orange had succeeded James II. He voted for the death of +his cousin and king, and was, in just retribution, sent to the +guillotine by Robespierre at the end of the same year.] + +[Footnote 2: Mirabeau was the most celebrated of all the earlier leaders +of the Revolution. At the time of this letter he had connected himself +closely with the Duc d'Orléans, in whose pay, in fact, he was, as his +profligacy and extravagance had long before dissipated all the property +which had fallen to his share as a younger son. Afterwards, on +discovering the cowardice and baseness of the Duke, he broke with him, +and exerted himself in the cause of the King, whom, indeed, he had +originally desired to support, if his advances had not been, with +incredible folly, rejected by Necker. But he had no time to repair the +mischief he had done, even if it had been in his power, which it +probably would not have been, since he died, after a short illness, in +April, 1791.] + +For us, we are in most danger of a deluge; though I wonder we so +frequently complain of long rains. The saying about St. Swithin is a +proof of how often they recur; for proverbial sentences are the children +of experience, not of prophecy. Good night! In a few days I shall send +you a beautiful little poem from the Strawberry press. + + +_BRUCE'S "TRAVELS"--VIOLENCE OF THE FRENCH JACOBINS--NECKER._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Wednesday night, July_ 1, 1790. + +It is certainly not from having anything to tell you, that I reply so +soon, but as the most agreeable thing I can do in my confinement. The +gout came into my heel the night before last, perhaps from the deluge +and damp. I increased it yesterday by limping about the house with a +party I had to breakfast. To-day I am lying on the settee, unable to +walk alone, or even to put on a slipper. However, as I am much easier +this evening, I trust it will go off. + +I do not love disputes, and shall not argue with you about Bruce; but, +if you like him, you shall not choose an author for me. It is the most +absurd, obscure, and tiresome book I know. I shall admire if you have a +clear conception about most of the persons and matters in his work; but, +in fact, I do not believe you have. Pray, can you distinguish between +his _cock_ and _hen_ Heghes, and between all Yasouses and Ozoros? and do +you firmly believe that an old man and his son were sent for and put to +death, because the King had run into a thorn-bush, and was forced to +leave his clothes behind him! Is it your faith, that one of their +Abyssinian Majesties pleaded not being able to contribute towards +sending for a new Abuna, because he had spent all his money at Venice in +looking-glasses? And do you really think that Peter Paez was a +Jack-of-all-trades, and built palaces and convents without assistance, +and furnished them with his own hands? You, who are a little apt to +contest most assertions, must have strangely let out your credulity! I +could put forty questions to you as wonderful; and, for my part, could +as soon credit ----. + +I am tired of railing at French barbarity and folly. They are more +puerile now serious, than when in the long paroxysm of gay levity. +Legislators, a senate, to neglect laws, in order to annihilate coats of +arms and liveries! to pull down a King, and set up an Emperor! They are +hastening to establish the tribunal of the praetorian guards; for the +sovereignty, it seems, is not to be hereditary. One view of their Fête +of the 14th,[1] I suppose, is to draw money to Paris; and the +consequence will be, that the deputies will return to the provinces +drunk with independence and self-importance, and will commit fifty times +more excesses, massacres, and devastations, than last year. George +Selwyn says, that _Monsieur_, the King's brother, is the only man of +rank from whom they cannot take a title. + +[Footnote 1: The grand federation in the Champ de Mars, on the +anniversary of the taking of the Bastile.] + +How franticly have the French acted, and how rationally the Americans! +But Franklin and Washington were great men. None have appeared yet in +France; and Necker has only returned to make a wretched figure! He is +become as insignificant as his King; his name is never mentioned, but +now and then as disapproving something that is done. Why then does he +stay? Does he wait to strike some great stroke, when everything is +demolished? His glory, which consisted in being Minister though a +Protestant, is vanished by the destruction of Popery; the honour of +which, I suppose, he will scarce assume to himself. I have vented my +budget, and now good night! I feel almost as if I could walk up to bed. + + +_THE PRINCE OF WALES--GROWTH OF LONDON AND OTHER TOWNS._ + +TO THE MISS BERRYS. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _June_ 8, 1791. + +Your No. 34, that was interrupted, and of which the last date was of May +24th, I received on the 6th, and if I could find fault, it would be in +the length; for I do not approve of your writing so much in hot weather, +for, be it known to you ladies, that from the first of the month, June +is not more June at Florence. My hay is crumbling away; and I have +ordered it to be cut, as a sure way of bringing rain. I have a selfish +reason, too, for remonstrating against long letters. I feel the season +advancing, when mine will be piteous short; for what can I tell you from +Twickenham in the next three or four months? Scandal from Richmond and +Hampton Court, or robberies at my own door? The latter, indeed, are +blown already. I went to Strawberry on Saturday, to avoid the Birthday +[4th June] crowd and squibs and crackers. At six I drove to Lord +Strafford's, where his goods are to be sold by auction; his sister, Lady +Anne [Conolly], intending to pull down the house and rebuild it. I +returned a quarter before seven; and in the interim between my Gothic +gate and Ashe's Nursery, a gentleman and gentlewoman, in a one-horse +chair and in the broad face of the sun, had been robbed by a single +highwayman, _sans_ mask. Ashe's mother and sister stood and saw it; but +having no notion of a robbery at such an hour in the high-road, and +before their men had left work, concluded it was an acquaintance of the +robber's. I suppose Lady Cecilia Johnstone will not descend from her +bedchamber to the drawing-room without life-guard men. + +The Duke of Bedford eclipsed the whole birthday by his clothes, +equipage, and servants: six of the latter walked on the side of the +coach to keep off the crowd--or to tempt it; for their liveries were +worth an argosie. The Prince [of Wales] was gorgeous too: the latter is +to give Madame d'Albany[1] a dinner. She has been introduced to Mrs. +Fitzherbert.[2] You know I used to call Mrs. Cosway's concerts Charon's +boat: now, methinks, London is so. I am glad Mrs. C. [osway] is with +you; she is pleasing--but surely it is odd to drop a child and her +husband and country all in a breath! + +[Footnote 1: Mme. d'Albany was the widow of Prince Charles Edward, who +had died in 1788 in Italy. She was presented at Court, and was +graciously received by the Queen. She was generally believed to be +married to the great Italian tragic poet, Alfieri. Since her husband's +death she had been living in Paris, but had now fled to England for +safety.] + +[Footnote 2: Mrs. Fitzherbert, the Roman Catholic lady whom the Prince +of Wales had married.] + +I am glad you are dis_franchised_ of the exiles. We have several, I am +told, here; but I strictly confine myself to those I knew formerly at +Paris, and who all are quartered on Richmond-green. I went to them on +Sunday evening, but found them gone to Lord Fitzwilliam's, the next +house to Madame de Boufflers', to hear his organ; whither I followed +them, and returned with them. The Comtesse Emilie played on her harp; +then we all united at loto. I went home at twelve, unrobbed; and Lord +Fitzwilliam, who asked much after you both, was to set out the next +morning for Dublin, though intending to stay there but four days, and be +back in three weeks. + +I am sorry you did not hear all Monsieur de Lally Tollendal's[1] +Tragedy, of which I have had a good account. I like his tribute to his +father's memory. Of French politics you must be tired; and so am I. +Nothing appears to me to promise their chaos duration; consequently I +expect more chaos, the sediment of which is commonly despotism. Poland +ought to make the French blush; but that, they are not apt to do on any +occasion.... + +[Footnote 1: M. de Lally Tollendal was the son of that unfortunate Count +Lally, so iniquitously condemned for his conduct in the government of +India, as is mentioned in a former note.] + +The Duke of St. Albans has cut down all the brave old trees at Hanworth, +and consequently reduced his park to what it issued +from--Hounslow-heath: nay, he has hired a meadow next to mine, for the +benefit of embarkation; and there lie all the good old corpses of oaks, +ashes, and chestnuts, directly before _your_ windows, and blocking up +one of my views of the river! but so impetuous is the rage for building, +that his Grace's timber will, I trust, not annoy us long. There will +soon be one street from London to Brentford; ay, and from London to +every village ten miles round! Lord Camden has just let ground at +Kentish Town for building fourteen hundred houses--nor do I wonder; +London is, I am certain, much fuller than ever I saw it. I have twice +this spring been going to stop my coach in Piccadilly, to inquire what +was the matter, thinking there was a mob--not at all; it was only +passengers. Nor is there any complaint of depopulation from the country: +Bath shoots out into new crescents, circuses, and squares every year: +Birmingham, Manchester, Hull, and Liverpool would serve any King in +Europe for a capital, and would make the Empress of Russia's mouth +water. Of the war with Catherine Slay-Czar I hear not a breath, and +thence conjecture it is dozing into peace. + +Mr. Dundas[1] has kissed hands for Secretary of State; and Bishop +Barrington, of Salisbury, is transferred to Durham, which he affected +not to desire, having large estates by his wife in the south--but from +the triple mitre downwards, it is almost always true, what I said some +years ago, that "_nolo episcopari_ is Latin for _I lie_." Tell it not in +Gath that I say so; for I am to dine to-morrow at the Bishop of London's +at Fulham, with Hannah _Bonner_, my _imprimée_.[2] This morning I went +with Lysons the Reverend to see Dulwich College, founded in 1619 by +Alleyn, a player, which I had never seen in my many days. We were +received by a smart divine, _très bien poudré_, and with black satin +breeches--but they are giving new wings and red satin breeches to the +good old hostel too, and destroying a gallery with a very rich ceiling; +and nothing will remain of ancient but the front, and an hundred mouldy +portraits, among apostles, sibyls, and Kings of England. On Sunday I +shall settle at Strawberry; and then woe betide you on post-days! I +cannot make news without straw. The Johnstones are going to Bath, for +the healths of both; so Richmond will be my only staple. Adieu, all +three! + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Dundas, President of the Board of Control, subsequently +raised to the peerage as Lord Melville. In Pitt's second administration +he became First Lord of the Admiralty, but in 1805 was impeached by the +House of Commons on a charge of malversation while Treasurer of the Navy +in Pitt's first Ministry. Of that he was acquitted; but it was proved +that some of the subordinate officers of the department had misapplied +large sums of the public money, which they could not have done if he had +not been grossly negligent of his duties as head of the department, and +he was consequently removed from the Privy Council.] + +[Footnote 2: Miss Hannah More is meant; but I do not know what peculiar +cruelty of temper or practice entitled her to the name of Mary's +persecuting and pitiless Bishop.] + + +_SIR W. AND LADY HAMILTON--A BOAT-RACE--THE MARGRAVINE OF ANSPACH._ + +TO THE MISS BERRYS. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _Tuesday, Aug._ 23, 1791. + +I am come to town to meet Mr. Conway and Lady Aylesbury; and, as I have +no letter from you yet to answer, I will tell you how agreeably I have +passed the last three days; though they might have been improved had you +shared them, as I wished, and as I _sometimes_ do wish. On Saturday +evening I was at the Duke of Queensberry's (at Richmond, _s'entend_) +with a small company: and there were Sir William Hamilton and Mrs. +Harte[1]; who, on the 3rd of next month, previous to their departure, is +to be made Madame l'Envoyée à Naples, the Neapolitan Queen having +promised to receive her in that quality. Here she cannot be presented, +where only such over-virtuous wives as the Duchess of Kingston and Mrs. +Hastings[2]--who could go with a husband in each hand--are admitted. Why +the Margravine of Anspach, with the same pretensions, was not, I do not +understand; perhaps she did not attempt it. But I forget to retract, and +make _amende honorable_ to Mrs. Harte. I had only heard of her +attitudes; and those, in dumb show, I have not yet seen. Oh! but she +sings admirably; has a very fine, strong voice; is an excellent buffa, +and an astonishing tragedian. She sung Nina in the highest perfection; +and there her attitudes were a whole theatre of grace and various +expressions. + +[Footnote 1: Mrs. Harte, the celebrated Lady Hamilton, with whom Nelson +was so intimately acquainted, though old Lord St. Vincent always +maintained that it had never been more than a purely Platonic +attachment. Her previous life, however, had been notoriously such as +rendered her inadmissible at our Court, though that of Naples was less +particular.] + +[Footnote 2: Mrs. Hastings, the wife of the great Governor-General, had +previously been married to Baron Imhoff, a German miniature painter; but +she had obtained a divorce from him, and, as the Baron returned to +Germany with an amount of riches that he could hardly have earned by +skill in his profession, the scandalous tongues of some of Hastings's +enemies imputed to him that he had, in fact, bought her of her husband.] + +The next evening I was again at Queensberry House, where the Comtesse +Emilie de Boufflers played on her harp, and the Princesse di +Castelcigala, the Neapolitan minister's wife, danced one of her country +dances, with castanets, very prettily, with her husband. Madame du Barry +was there too, and I had a good deal of frank conversation with her +about Monsieur de Choiseul; having been at Paris at the end of his reign +and the beginning of hers, and of which I knew so much by my intimacy +with the Duchesse de Choiseul. + +On Monday was the boat-race [at Richmond]. I was in the great room at +the Castle, with the Duke of Clarence, Lady Di., Lord Robert Spencer, +and the House of Bouverie, to see the boats start from the bridge to +Thistleworth, and back to a tent erected on Lord Dysart's meadow, just +before Lady Di.'s windows; whither we went to see them arrive, and where +we had breakfast. For the second heat, I sat in my coach on the bridge; +and did not stay for the third. The day had been coined on purpose, with +my favourite south-east wind. The scene, both up the river and down, was +what only Richmond upon earth can exhibit. The crowds on those green +velvet meadows and on the shores, the yachts, barges, pleasure and small +boats, and the windows and gardens lined with spectators, were so +delightful, that when I came home from that vivid show, I thought +Strawberry looked as dull and solitary as a hermitage. At night there +was a ball at the Castle, and illuminations, with the Duke's cypher, &c. +in coloured lamps, as were the houses of his Royal Highness's tradesmen. +I went again in the evening to the French ladies on the Green, where +there was a bonfire; but, you may believe, not to the ball. + +Well! but you, who have had a fever with _fêtes_, had rather hear the +history of the new _soi-disante_ Margravine. She has been in England +with her foolish Prince, and not only notified their marriage to the +Earl [of Berkeley] her brother, who did not receive it propitiously, but +his Highness informed his Lordship by a letter, that they have an usage +in his country of taking a wife with the left hand; that he had espoused +his Lordship's sister in that manner; and intends, as soon as she shall +be a widow, to marry her with his right hand also. The Earl replied, +that he knew she was married to an English peer [Lord Craven], a most +respectable man, and can know nothing of her marrying any other man; and +so they are gone to Lisbon. Adieu! + + +_ARREST OF THE DUCHESSE DE BIRON--THE QUEEN OF FRANCE--PYTHAGORAS._ + +TO THE MISS BERRYS. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Tuesday evening, eight o'clock, Oct._ 15, 1793. + +Though I do not know when it will have its whole lading, I must begin my +letter this very moment, to tell you what I have just heard. I called on +the Princesse d'Hennin, who has been in town a week. I found her quite +alone, and I thought she did not answer quite clearly about her two +knights: the Prince de Poix has taken a lodging in town, and she talks +of letting her house here, if she can. In short, I thought she had a +little of an Ariadne-air--but this was not what I was in such a hurry to +tell you. She showed me several pieces of letters, I think from the +Duchesse de Bouillon: one says, the poor Duchesse de Biron is again +arrested[1] and at the Jacobins, and with her "une jeune étourdie, qui +ne fait que chanter toute la journée;" and who, think you, may that +be?--only our pretty little wicked Duchesse de Fleury! by her singing +and not sobbing, I suppose she was weary of her _Tircis_, and is glad to +be rid of him. This new blow, I fear, will overset Madame de Biron +again. The rage at Paris seems to increase daily or hourly; they either +despair, or are now avowed banditti. I tremble so much for the great and +most suffering victim of all, the Queen,[2] that one cannot feel so much +for many, as several perhaps deserve: but her tortures have been of far +longer duration than any martyrs, and more various; and her courage and +patience equal to her woes! + +[Footnote 1: The Duchess, with scores of other noble ladies, was put to +death in the course of these two horrible years, 1793-94.] + +[Footnote 2: Marie Antoinette was put to death the very next day. And I +cannot more fitly close the allusions to the Revolution so frequent in +the letters of the past four years than by Burke's description of this +pure and noble Queen in her youth: "It is now sixteen or seventeen years +since I saw the Queen of France, then the Dauphiness of Versailles; and +surely never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a +more delightful vision. I saw her, just above the horizon, glittering +like the morning star, full of life and splendour and joy. Oh! what a +revolution! and what a heart must I have to contemplate without emotion +that elevation and that fall! Little did I dream, when she added titles +of veneration to those of enthusiastic, distant, respectful love, that +she should ever be obliged to carry the sharp antidote against disgrace +concealed in that bosom; little did I dream that I should have lived to +see such disasters fallen upon her in a nation of gallant men and +cavaliers. I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their +scabbards to avenge even a look that threatened her with insult" +("Reflections on the French Revolution ").] + +My poor old friend, the Duchesse de la Valière, past ninety and +stone-deaf, has a guard set upon her, but in her own house; her +daughter, the Duchesse de Chatillon, mother of the Duchesse de la +Tremouille, is arrested; and thus the last, with her attachment to the +Queen, must be miserable indeed!--but one would think I feel for nothing +but Duchesses: the crisis has crowded them together into my letter, and +into a prison;--and to be a prisoner among cannibals is pitiable indeed! + +_Thursday morning, 17th, past ten._ + +I this moment receive the very comfortable twin-letter. I am so +conjugal, and so much in earnest upon the article of recovery, that I +cannot think of _a pretty thing_ to say to very pretty Mrs. Stanhope; +nor do I know what would be a pretty thing in these days. I might come +out with some old-fashioned compliment, that would have been very +genteel + + In good Queen Bess's golden day, when I was a dame of honour. + +Let Mrs. Stanhope imagine that I have said all she deserves: I certainly +think it, and will ratify it, when I have learnt the language of the +nineteenth century; but I really am so ancient, that as Pythagoras +imagined he had been Panthoides Euphorbus[1] in the Trojan war, I am +not sure that I did not ride upon a pillion behind a Gentleman-Usher, +when her Majesty Elizabeth went into procession to St. Paul's on the +defeat of the Armada! Adieu! the postman puts an end to my idle +speculations--but, Scarborough for ever! with three huzzas! + +[Footnote 1: "_Euphorbus._" This is an allusion to the doctrine of +metempsychosis taught by the ancient philosopher Pythagoras of Samos, +according to which when a man died his soul remained in the shades below +suffering any punishment which the man had deserved, till after a +certain lapse of time all the taint of the former existence had been +worn away, when the soul returned to earth to animate some other body. +The passage referred to here by Walpole occurs in Ovid's +"Metamorphoses," xvi. 160, where Pythagoras is expounding his theory, +which is also explained to Aeneas by Anchises in the shades below +(Aeneid, vi. 745). But the two poets differ in more points than one. +According to Anchises, one thousand years are required between the two +existences; according to Pythagoras, not above four hundred or five +hundred. According to Anchises, before the soul revives in another body +it must have forgotten all that happened to it in the body of its former +owner. As Dryden translates Virgil-- + + Whole droves of minds are by the driving God + Compell'd to drink the deep Lethaean flood, + In large forgetful draughts to steep the cares + Of their past labours, and their irksome years; + That unremembering of its former pain + The soul may suffer mortal flesh again. + +(Aeneid, vi. 1020). + +Pythagoras, on the other hand, professes a distinct recollection of who +he was and what he suffered in his former life. He remembers that in the +time of the Trojan war (at the outside not five hundred years before his +time) he was a Trojan--Euphorbus, the son of Panthous--and that in the +war he was killed by Menelaus; and his memory is so accurate, that not +long before he had recognised the very shield which he had borne in the +conflict hanging up as a trophy in the temple of Juno at Argos.] + + +_EXPECTATIONS OF A VISIT TO STRAWBERRY BY THE QUEEN._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 2, 1795. + +I will write a word to you, though scarce time to write one, to thank +you for your great kindness about the soldier, who shall get a +substitute if he can. As you are, or have been in town, your daughter +will have told you in what a bustle I am, preparing--not to resist, but +to receive an invasion of royalties to-morrow; and cannot even escape +them like Admiral Cornwallis, though seeming to make a semblance; for I +am to wear a sword, and have appointed two aides-de-camp, my nephews, +George and Horace Churchill. If I _fall_, as ten to one but I do, to be +sure it will be a superb tumble, at the feet of a Queen and eight +daughters of Kings; for, besides the six Princesses, I am to have the +Duchess of York and the Princess of Orange! Woe is me, at seventy-eight, +and with scarce a hand and foot to my back! Adieu! Yours, &c. + +A POOR OLD REMNANT. + + +_REPORT OF THE VISIT._ + +_July_ 7, 1795. + +I am not dead of fatigue with my Royal visitors, as I expected to be, +though I was on my poor lame feet three whole hours. Your daughter [Mrs. +Damer], who kindly assisted me in doing the honours, will tell you the +particulars, and how prosperously I succeeded. The Queen was uncommonly +condescending and gracious, and deigned to drink my health when I +presented her with the last glass, and to thank me for all my +attentions.[1] Indeed my memory _de la vieille cour_ was but once in +default. As I had been assured that her Majesty would be attended by her +Chamberlain, yet was not, I had no glove ready when I received her at +the step of her coach: yet she honoured me with her hand to lead her up +stairs; nor did I recollect my omission when I led her down again. +Still, though gloveless, I did not squeeze the royal hand, as +Vice-chamberlain Smith[2] did to Queen Mary. + +[Footnote 1: There cannot be a more fitting conclusion than this letter +recording the greatest honour conferred on the writer and his Strawberry +by the visit of the Queen of the realm and her condescending proposal of +his health at his own table.] + +[Footnote 2: "_Vice-Chamberlain Smith._" An allusion to a gossiping +story of King William's time, that when Queen Mary came back to England +she asked one of her ladies what a squeeze of the hand was supposed to +intimate; and when the reply was, "Love," "Then," said Her Majesty, "my +Vice-Chancellor must be in love with me; for he always squeezes my +hand."] + +You will have stared, as I did, at the Elector of Hanover deserting his +ally the King of Great Britain, and making peace with the monsters. But +Mr. Fawkener, whom I saw at my sister's [Churchill's] on Sunday, laughs +at the article in the newspapers, and says it is not an unknown practice +for stock-jobbers to hire an emissary at the rate of five hundred +pounds, and dispatch to Franckfort, whence he brings forged attestations +of some marvellous political event, and spreads it on 'Change, which +produces such a fluctuation in the stocks as amply overpays the expense +of his mission. + +This was all I learnt in the single night I was in town. I have not read +the new French constitution, which seems longer than probably its reign +will be. The five sovereigns will, I suppose, be the first guillotined. +Adieu! Yours ever. + + + +UNWIN BROTHERS, THE GRESHAM PRESS, CHILWORTH AND LONDON. + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Letters of Horace Walpole, by Horace Walpole + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS OF HORACE WALPOLE *** + +***** This file should be named 12074-8.txt or 12074-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/0/7/12074/ + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Linda Cantoni, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Letters of Horace Walpole + Volume II + +Author: Horace Walpole + +Release Date: April 18, 2004 [EBook #12074] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS OF HORACE WALPOLE *** + + + + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Linda Cantoni, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +[Illustration] + + + + +LETTERS + +OF + +HORACE WALPOLE + + +SELECTED AND EDITED BY + +CHARLES DUKE YONGE, M.A. + +AUTHOR OF "THE HISTORY OF FRANCE UNDER THE BOURBONS," "A LIFE OF MARIE +ANTOINETTE," ETC., ETC. + + +WITH PORTRAITS AND ILLUSTRATIONS + + +VOLUME II + + +London + +T. FISHER UNWIN + +PATERNOSTER SQUARE + +NEW YORK: G.P. PUTNAM'S SONS + +MDCCCXC + + + + +CONTENTS. + +1764-1795. + + +81. TO MANN, _Dec._ 20, 1764.--Madame de Boufflers at Strawberry--The +French Opinion of the English Character--Richardson's Novels--Madame de +Beaumont + +82. TO THE EARL OF HERTFORD, _Feb._ 12, 1765.--Debate on American +Taxes--Petition of the Periwig-Makers--Female Head-dresses--Lord Byron's +Duel--Opening of Almack's--No. 45 + +83. TO COLE, _March_ 9, 1765.--His "Castle of Otranto"--Bishop Percy's +Collection of Old Ballads + +84. TO THE EARL OF HERTFORD, _March_ 26, 1765.--Illness of the +King--French and English Actors and Actresses: Clairon, Garrick, Quin, +Mrs. Clive + +85. TO MANN, _May_ 25, 1765.--Riots of Weavers--Ministerial +Changes--Factious Conduct of Mr. Pitt + +86. TO MONTAGU, _July_ 28, 1765.--Prospects of Old Age when joined to +Gout + +87. TO LADY HERVEY, _Sept._ 14, 1765.--Has reached Paris--The French +Opera--Illness of the Dauphin--Popularity of Mr. Hume + +88. TO MONTAGU, _Sept._ 22, 1765.--Is Making New Friends in Paris--Decay +of the French Stage--Le Kain--Dumenil--New French inclination for +Philosophy and Free-Thinking--General Admiration of Hume's History and +Richardson's Novels + +89. TO CHUTE, _Oct._ 3, 1765.--His Presentation at Court--Illness of the +Dauphin--Description of his Three Sons + +90. TO CONWAY, _Jan._ 12, 1766.--Supper Parties at Paris--Walpole Writes +a Letter from Le Roi de Prusse a Monsieur Rousseau + +91. TO GRAY, _Jan._ 25, 1766.--A Constant Round of Amusements--A Gallery +of Female Portraits--Madame Geoffrin--Madame du Deffand--Madame de +Mirepoix--Madame de Boufflers--Madame de Rochfort--The Marechale de +Luxemburg--The Duchesse de Choiseul--An old French Dandy--M. de +Maurepas--Popularity of his Letter to Rousseau + +92. TO MANN, _Feb._ 29, 1766.--Situation of Affairs in England--Cardinal +York--Death of Stanilaus Leczinski, Ex-King of Poland + +93. TO CONWAY, _April_ 8, 1766.--Singular Riot in Madrid--Changes in the +French Ministry--Insurrections in the Provinces + +94. TO MONTAGU, _June 20_, 1766.--The Bath Guide--Swift's Correspondence + +95. TO CHUTE, _Oct._ 10, 1766.--Bath--Wesley + +96. TO MANN, _July_ 20, 1767.--Ministerial Difficulties--Return of Lord +Clive + +97. TO THE SAME, _Sept._ 27, 1767.--Death of Charles Townshend and of +the Duke of York--Whist the New Fashion in France + +98. TO GRAY, _Feb._ 18, 1768.--Some New Poems of Gray--Walpole's +"Historic Doubts"--Boswell's "Corsica" + +99. TO MANN, _March_ 31, 1768.--Wilkes is returned M.P. for +Middlesex--Riots in London--Violence of the Mob + +100. TO MONTAGU, _April_ 15, 1768.--Fleeting Fame of Witticisms--"The +Mysterious Mother" + +101. TO MANN, _June_ 9, 1768.--Case of Wilkes + +102. TO MONTAGU, _June_ 15, 1768.--The English Climate + +103. TO VOLTAIRE, _July_ 27, 1768.--Voltaire's Criticisms on +Shakespeare--Parnell's "Hermit" + +104. TO THE EARL OF STRAFFORD, _Aug._ 16, 1768.--Arrival of the King of +Denmark--His Popularity with the Mob + +105. TO MANN, _Jan._ 31, 1769.--Wilkes's Election--The Comtesse de +Barri--The Duc de Choiseul's Indiscretion + +106. TO MONTAGU, _May_ 11, 1769.--A Garden Party at Strawberry--A +Ridotto at Vauxhall + +107. TO MANN, _June_ 14, 1769.--Paoli--Ambassadorial Etiquette + +108. TO CHUTE, _Aug._ 30, 1765.--His Return to Paris--Madame Deffand--A +Translation of "Hamlet"--Madame Dumenil--Voltaire's "Merope" and "Les +Guebres" + +109. TO MONTAGU, _Sept._ 17, 1769.--The French Court--The Young +Princes--St. Cyr--Madame de Mailly + +110. TO MANN, _Feb._ 27, 1770.--A Masquerade--State of Russia + +111. TO THE SAME, _May_ 6, 1770.--Wilkes--Burke's Pamphlet--Prediction +of American Republics--Extravagance in England + +112. TO MONTAGU, _May_ 6, 1770.--Masquerades in Fashion--A Lady's Club + +113. TO MANN, _June_ 15, 1770,--The Princess of Wales is gone to +Germany--Terrible Accident in Paris + +114. TO THE SAME, _Dec._ 29, 1770.--Fall of the Duc de Choiseul's +Ministry + +115. TO THE SAME, _Feb._ 22, 1771.--Peace with Spain--Banishment of the +French Parliament--Mrs. Cornelys's Establishment--The Queen of Denmark +116. TO THE SAME, _April_ 26, 1771.--Quarrel of the House of Commons +with the City--Dissensions in the French Court and Royal +Family--Extravagance in England + +117. TO CONWAY, _July_ 30, 1771.--Great Distress at the French Court + +118. TO CHUTE, _August_ 5, 1771.--English Gardening in +France--Anglomanie--He is weary of Paris--Death of Gray + +119. TO COLE, _Jan._ 28, 1772.--Scantiness of the Relics of +Gray--Garrick's Prologues, &c.--Wilkes's Squint + +120. TO MANN, _April_ 9, 1772.--Marriage of the Pretender--The Princess +Louise, and her Protection of the Clergy--Fox's Eloquence + +121. TO COLE, _Jan._ 8, 1773.--An Answer to his "Historic Doubts"--His +Edition of Grammont + +122. TO MANN, _July_10, 1774.--Popularity of Louis XVI.--Death of Lord +Holland--Bruce's "Travels" + +123. TO THE SAME, _Oct._ 6, 1774.--Discontent in America--Mr. +Grenville's Act for the Trial of Election Petitions--Highway Robberies + +124. TO THE SAME, _Oct._ 22, 1774.--The Pope's Death--Wilkes is returned +for Middlesex--A Quaker at Versailles + +125. TO THE COUNTESS OF AILESBURY, _Nov._ 7, 1774.--Burke's Election at +Bristol--Resemblance of one House of Commons to Another--Comfort of Old +Age + +126. TO MANN, _Nov._ 24, 1774.--Death of Lord Clive--Restoration of the +French Parliament--Prediction of Great Men to arise in America--The +King's Speech + +127. TO CONWAY AND LADY AYLESBURY, _Jan._ 15, 1775.--Riots at Boston--A +Literary Coterie at Bath-Easton + +128. TO GEM, _April_ 4, 1776.--Opposition of the French Parliaments to +Turgot's Measures + +129. TO CONWAY, _June_ 20, 1776.--His Decorations at "Strawberry"--His +Estimate of himself, and his Admiration of Conway + +130. TO MANN, _Dec._ 1, 1776.--Anglomanie in Paris--Horse-Racing + +131. TO COLE, _June_ 19, 1777.--Ossian--Chatterton + +132. TO MANN, _Oct._ 26, 1777.--Affairs in America--The Czarina and the +Emperor of China + +133. TO THE SAME, _May_ 31, 1778.--Death of Lord Chatham--Thurlow +becomes Lord Chancellor + +134. TO COLE, _June_ 3, 1778.--Exultation of France at our Disasters in +America--Franklin--Necker--Chatterton + +135. TO MANN, _July_ 7, 1778.--Admiral Keppel's Success--Threats of +Invasion--Funeral of Lord Chatham + +136. TO CONWAY, _July_ 8, 1778.--Suggestion of Negotiations with +France--Partition of Poland + +137. TO MANN, _Oct._ 8, 1778.--Unsuccessful Cruise of Keppel--Character +of Lord Chatham + +138. TO THE SAME, _March_ 22, 1779.--Capture of Pondicherry--Changes in +the Ministry--La Fayette in America + +139. TO THE SAME, _July_ 7, 1779.--Divisions in the Ministry--Character +of the Italians and of the French + +140. TO THE SAME, _Sept._ 16, 1779.--Eruption of Vesuvius--Death of Lord +Temple + +141. TO THE SAME, _Jan._ 13, 1780.--Chances of War with Holland--His +Father's Policy--Pope--Character of Bolingbroke + +142. TO THE SAME, _Feb._ 6, 1780.--Political Excitement--Lord G. +Gordon--Extraordinary Gambling Affairs in India + +143. TO THE SAME, _March_ 3, 1780.--Rodney's Victory--Walpole inclines +to Withdraw from Amusements + +144. TO THE SAME, _June_ 5, 1780.--The Gordon Riots + +145. TO DALRYMPLE, _Dec._ 11, 1780.--Hogarth--Colonel +Charteris--Archbishop Blackburne--Jervas--Richardson's Poetry + +146. TO MANN, _Dec._ 31, 1780.--The Prince of Wales--Hurricane at +Barbadoes--A "Voice from St. Helena" + +147. TO THE SAME, _Sept._ 7, 1781.--Naval Movements--Siege of +Gibraltar--Female Fashions + +148. TO THE SAME, _Nov._ 29, 1781.--Capitulation of Lord +Cornwallis--Pitt and Fox + +149. TO COLE, _April_ 13, 1782.--The Language proper for Inscriptions in +England--Fall of Lord North's Ministry--Bryant + +150. TO MANN, _Sept._ 8, 1782.--Highwaymen and Footpads + +151. TO THE SAME, _Dec._ 2, 1783.--Fox's India Bill--Balloons + +152. TO CONWAY, _Oct._ 15, 1784.--Balloons + +153. TO PINKERTON, _June_ 22, 1785.--His Letters on +Literature--Disadvantage of Modern Writers--Comparison of Lady Mary +Wortley with Madame de Sevigne + +154. TO THE SAME, _June_ 26, 1785.--Criticism on various Authors: Greek, +Latin, French, and English--Humour of Addison, and of +Fielding--Waller--Milton--Boileau's "Lutrin"--"The Rape of the +Lock"--Madame de Sevigne + +155. TO MANN, _Aug._ 26, 1785.--Ministerial Difficulties--The Affair of +the Necklace in Paris--Fluctuating Unpopularity of Statesmen--Fallacies +of History + +156. TO THE SAME, _Oct._ 4, 1785.--Brevity of Modern Addresses--The old +Duchess of Marlborough + +157. TO THE SAME, _Oct._ 30, 1785.--Lady Craven--Madame Piozzi--"The +Rolliad"--Herschel's Astronomical Discovery + +158. TO MISS MORE, _Oct._ 14, 1787.--Mrs. Yearsley--Madame +Piozzi--Gibbon--"Le Mariage de Figaro" + +159. TO THE SAME, _July_ 12, 1788.--Gentlemen Writers--His own Reasons +for Writing when Young--Voltaire--"Evelina"--Miss Seward--Hayley + +160. TO MANN, _Feb._ 12, 1789.--Divisions in the Royal Family--The +Regency--The Irish Parliament + +161. TO MISS BERRY, _June_ 30, 1789.--"The Arabian Nights"--The +Aeneid--Boccalini--Orpheus and Eurydice + +162. TO CONWAY, _July_ 15, 1789.--Dismissal of Necker--Baron de +Breteuil--The Duc D'Orleans--Mirabeau + +163. TO THE SAME, _July_ 1, 1790.--Bruce's "Travels"--Violence of the +French Jacobins--Necker + +164. TO MISS BERRYS, _June_ 8, 1791.--The Prince of Wales--Growth of +London and other Towns + +165. TO THE SAME, _Aug._ 23, 1791.--Sir W. and Lady Hamilton--A +Boat-race--The Margravine of Anspach + +166. TO THE SAME, _Oct._ 15, 1793.--Arrest of the Duchesse de Biron--The +Queen of France--Pythagoras + +167. TO CONWAY, _July 2_, 1795.--Expectations of a Visit to Strawberry +by the Queen + +168. TO THE SAME, _July_ 7, 1795.--Report of the Visit + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + +I. LADY MARY WORTLEY-MONTAGU + +II. THOMAS GRAY, THE POET + +Photographed from a drawing in the National Portrait Gallery, made by +JAMES BASIRE, the engraver, from a sketch from life by Gray's friend, +the Rev. WILLIAM MASON. + +III. STRAWBERRY HILL, FROM THE NORTH-WEST + +IV. SIR ROBERT WALPOLE + +From a mezzotint by J. SIMON, after a picture by Sir GODFREY KNELLER. + +V. VIEW OF GARDEN, STRAWBERRY HILL, FROM THE GREAT BED-CHAMBER + +VI. REPRODUCTIONS OF HANDWRITING OF THOMAS GRAY AND HORACE WALPOLE + + + + +A SELECTION + +FROM THE + +LETTERS OF HORACE WALPOLE. + + +VOLUME II. + + +_MADAME DE BOUFFLERS AT STRAWBERRY--THE FRENCH OPINION OF THE ENGLISH +CHARACTER--RICHARDSON'S NOVELS--MADAME DE BEAUMONT._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Dec._ 20, 1764. + +... My journey to Paris is fixed for some time in February, where I hear +I may expect to find Madame de Boufflers, Princess of Conti. Her husband +is just dead; and you know the House of Bourbon have an alacrity at +marrying their old mistresses. She was here last year, being extremely +infected with the _Anglomanie_, though I believe pretty well cured by +her journey. She is past forty, and does not appear ever to have been +handsome, but is one of the most agreeable and sensible women I ever +saw; yet I must tell you a trait of her that will not prove my +assertion. Lady Holland asked her how she liked Strawberry Hill? She +owned that she did not approve of it, and that it was not _digne de la +solidite Angloise_. It made me laugh for a quarter of an hour. They +allot us a character we have not, and then draw consequences from that +idea, which would be absurd, even if the idea were just. One must not +build a Gothic house because the nation is _solide_. Perhaps, as +everything now in France must be _a la Grecque_, she would have liked a +hovel if it pretended to be built after Epictetus's--but Heaven forbid +that I should be taken for a philosopher! Is it not amazing that the +most sensible people in France can never help being domineered by sounds +and general ideas? Now everybody must be a _geometre_, now a +_philosophe_, and the moment they are either, they are to take up a +character and advertise it: as if one could not study geometry for one's +amusement or for its utility, but one must be a geometrician at table, +or at a visit! So the moment it is settled at Paris that the English are +solid, every Englishman must be wise, and, if he has a good +understanding, he must not be allowed to play the fool. As I happen to +like both sense and nonsense, and the latter better than what generally +passes for the former, I shall disclaim, even at Paris, the +_profondeur_, for which they admire us; and I shall nonsense to admire +Madame de Boufflers, though her nonsense is not the result of nonsense, +but of sense, and consequently not the genuine nonsense that I honour. +When she was here, she read a tragedy in prose to me, of her own +composition, taken from "The Spectator:" the language is beautiful and +so are the sentiments. + +There is a Madame de Beaumont who has lately written a very pretty +novel, called "Lettres du Marquis du Roselle." It is imitated, too, from +an English standard, and in my opinion a most woful one; I mean the +works of Richardson, who wrote those deplorably tedious lamentations, +"Clarissa" and "Sir Charles Grandison," which are pictures of high life +as conceived by a bookseller, and romances as they would be +spiritualized by a Methodist teacher: but Madame de Beaumont has almost +avoided sermons, and almost reconciled sentiments and common sense. Read +her novel--you will like it. + + +_DEBATE ON AMERICAN TAXES--PETITION OF THE PERIWIG-MAKERS--FEMALE +HEAD-DRESSES--LORD BYRON'S DUEL--OPENING OF ALMACK'S--NO. 45._ + +TO THE EARL OF HERTFORD. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Feb._ 12, 1765. + +A great many letters pass between us, my dear lord, but I think they are +almost all of my writing. I have not heard from you this age. I sent you +two packets together by Mr. Freeman, with an account of our chief +debates. Since the long day, I have been much out of order with a cold +and cough, that turned to a fever: I am now taking James's powder, not +without apprehensions of the gout, which it gave me two or three years +ago. + +There has been nothing of note in Parliament but one slight day on the +American taxes,[1] which, Charles Townshend supporting, received a +pretty heavy thump from Barre, who is the present Pitt, and the dread of +all the vociferous Norths and Rigbys, on whose lungs depended so much of +Mr. Grenville's power. Do you never hear them to Paris? + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Grenville's taxation of stamps and other articles in +our American colonies, which caused great discontent, and was repealed +by Lord Rockingham's Ministry.] + +The operations of the Opposition are suspended in compliment to Mr. +Pitt, who has declared himself so warmly for the question on the +Dismission of officers, that that motion waits for his recovery. A call +of the House is appointed for next Wednesday, but as he has had a +relapse, the motion will probably be deferred. I should be very glad if +it was to be dropped entirely for this session, but the young men are +warm and not easily bridled. + +If it was not too long to transcribe, I would send you an entertaining +petition of the periwig-makers to the King, in which they complain that +men will wear their own hair. Should one almost wonder if carpenters +were to remonstrate, that since the peace their trade decays, and that +there is no demand for wooden legs? _Apropos_ my Lady Hertford's friend, +Lady Harriot Vernon, has quarrelled with me for smiling at the enormous +head-gear of her daughter, Lady Grosvenor. She came one night to +Northumberland House with such display of friz, that it literally spread +beyond her shoulders. I happened to say it looked as if her parents had +stinted her in hair before marriage, and that she was determined to +indulge her fancy now. This, among ten thousand things said by all the +world, was reported to Lady Harriot, and has occasioned my disgrace. As +she never found fault with anybody herself, I excuse her. You will be +less surprised to hear that the Duchess of Queensberry has not yet done +dressing herself marvellously: she was at Court on Sunday in a gown and +petticoat of red flannel.... + +We have not a new book, play, intrigue, marriage, elopement, or quarrel; +in short, we are very dull. For politics, unless the ministers wantonly +thrust their hands into some fire, I think there will not even be a +smoke. I am glad of it, for my heart is set on my journey to Paris, and +I hate everything that stops me. Lord Byron's[1] foolish trial is likely +to protract the session a little; but unless there is any particular +business, I shall not stay for a puppet-show. Indeed, I can defend my +staying here by nothing but my ties to your brother. My health, I am +sure, would be better in another climate in winter. Long days in the +House kill me, and weary me into the bargain. The individuals of each +party are alike indifferent to me; nor can I at this time of day grow to +love men whom I have laughed at all my lifetime--no, I cannot +alter;--Charles Yorke or a Charles Townshend are alike to me, whether +ministers or patriots. Men do not change in my eyes, because they quit a +black livery for a white one. When one has seen the whole scene shifted +round and round so often, one only smiles, whoever is the present +Polonius or the Gravedigger, whether they jeer the Prince, or flatter +his phrenzy. + +[Footnote 1: In a previous letter Walpole mentions the duel caused by a +dispute at cards, in which Lord Byron was so unfortunate as to kill his +cousin, Mr. Chaworth.] + +_Thursday night, 14th._ + +The new Assembly Room at Almack's[1] was opened the night before last, +and they say is very magnificent, but it was empty; half the town is ill +with colds, and many were afraid to go, as the house is scarcely built +yet. Almack advertized that it was built with hot bricks and boiling +water--think what a rage there must be for public places, if this +notice, instead of terrifying, could draw anybody thither. They tell me +the ceilings were dropping with wet--but can you believe me, when I +assure you the Duke of Cumberland was there?--Nay, had had a levee in +the morning, and went to the Opera before the assembly! There is a vast +flight of steps, and he was forced to rest two or three times. If he +dies of it,--and how should he not?--it will sound very silly when +Hercules or Theseus ask him what he died of, to reply, "I caught my +death on a damp staircase at a new club-room." + +[Footnote 1: Almack was a Scotchman, who got up a sort of female club in +King Street, St. James's, at the place since known as Willis's Rooms. In +the first half of the present century the balls of Almack's were the +most fashionable and exclusive in London, under the government of six +lady patronesses, without a voucher from one of whom no one could obtain +admittance. For a long time after trousers had become the ordinary wear +they were proscribed at Almack's, and gentlemen were required to adhere +to the more ancient and showy attire of knee-breeches; and it was said +that in consequence of one having attempted unsuccessfully to obtain +admission in trousers the tickets for the next ball were headed with a +notice that "gentlemen would not be admitted without breeches and +stockings."] + +Williams, the reprinter of the _North Briton_, stood in the pillory +to-day in Palace Yard.[1] He went in a hackney-coach, the number of +which was 45. The mob erected a gallows opposite him, on which they hung +a boot[2] with a bonnet of straw. Then a collection was made for +Williams, which amounted to near L200. In short, every public event +informs the Administration how thoroughly they are detested, and that +they have not a friend whom they do not buy. Who can wonder, when every +man of virtue is proscribed, and they have neither parts nor characters +to impose even upon the mob! Think to what a government is sunk, when a +Secretary of State is called in Parliament to his face "the most +profligate sad dog in the kingdom," and not a man can open his lips in +his defence. Sure power must have some strange unknown charm, when it +can compensate for such contempt! I see many who triumph in these bitter +pills which the ministry are so often forced to swallow; I own I do not; +it is more mortifying to me to reflect how great and respectable we +were three years ago, than satisfactory to see those insulted who have +brought such shame upon us. 'Tis poor amends to national honour to know, +that if a printer is set in the pillory, his country wishes it was my +Lord This, or Mr. That. They will be gathered to the Oxfords, and +Bolingbrokes, and ignominious of former days; but the wound they have +inflicted is perhaps indelible. That goes to _my_ heart, who had felt +all the Roman pride of being one of the first nations upon earth!--Good +night!--I will go to bed, and dream of Kings drawn in triumph; and then +I will go to Paris, and dream I am pro-consul there: pray, take care not +to let me be awakened with an account of an invasion having taken place +from Dunkirk![3] Yours ever, H.W. + +[Footnote 1: This was the last occasion on which the punishment of the +pillory was inflicted.] + +[Footnote 2: A scandal, for which there was no foundation, imputed to +the Princess of Wales an undue intimacy with John Earl of Bute; and with +a practical pun on his name the mob in some of the riots which were +common in the first years of his reign showed their belief in the lie by +fastening a _jack-boot_ and a petticoat together and feeding a bonfire +with them.] + +[Footnote 3: One article in the late treaty of peace had stipulated for +the demolition of Dunkirk.] + + +_HIS "CASTLE OF OTRANTO"--BISHOP PERCY'S COLLECTION OF OLD BALLADS._ + +TO THE REV. WILLIAM COLE. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _March_ 9, 1765. + +Dear Sir,--I had time to write but a short note with the "Castle of +Otranto," as your messenger called on me at four o'clock, as I was going +to dine abroad. Your partiality to me and Strawberry have, I hope, +inclined you to excuse the wildness of the story. You will even have +found some traits to put you in mind of this place. When you read of +the picture quitting its panel, did not you recollect the portrait of +Lord Falkland, all in white, in my Gallery? Shall I even confess to you, +what was the origin of this romance! I waked one morning, in the +beginning of last June, from a dream, of which, all I could recover was, +that I had thought myself in an ancient castle (a very natural dream for +a head filled like mine with Gothic story), and that on the uppermost +banister of a great staircase I saw a gigantic hand in armour. In the +evening I sat down, and began to write, without knowing in the least +what I intended to say or relate. The work grew on my hands, and I grew +fond of it--add, that I was very glad to think of anything, rather than +politics. In short, I was so engrossed with my tale, which I completed +in less than two months, that one evening, I wrote from the time I had +drunk my tea, about six o'clock, till half an hour after one in the +morning, when my hand and fingers were so weary, that I could not hold +the pen to finish the sentence, but left Matilda and Isabella talking, +in the middle of a paragraph. You will laugh at my earnestness; but if I +have amused you, by retracing with any fidelity the manners of ancient +days, I am content, and give you leave to think me idle as you +please.... + +Lord Essex's trial is printed with the State Trials. In return for your +obliging offer, I can acquaint you with a delightful publication of this +winter, "A Collection of Old Ballads and Poetry," in three volumes, many +from Pepys's Collection at Cambridge. There were three such published +between thirty and forty years ago, but very carelessly, and wanting +many in this set: indeed, there were others, of a looser sort, which the +present editor [Dr. Percy[1]], who is a clergyman, thought it decent to +omit.... + +[Footnote 1: Dr. Percy, Bishop of Dromore, in Ireland, was the heir male +of the ancient Earls of Northumberland, and the title of his collection +was "Reliques of English Poetry." He was also himself the author of more +than one imitation of the old ballads, one of which is mentioned by +Johnson in a letter to Mr. Langton: "Dr. Percy has written a long ballad +in many _fits_ [fyttes]. It is pretty enough: he has printed and will +soon publish it" (Boswell, iii., ann. 1771).] + +My bower is determined, but not at all what it is to be. Though I write +romances, I cannot tell how to build all that belongs to them. Madame +Danois, in the Fairy Tales, used to _tapestry_ them with _jonquils_; but +as that furniture will not last above a fortnight in the year, I shall +prefer something more huckaback. I have decided that the outside shall +be of _treillage_, which, however, I shall not commence, till I have +again seen some of old Louis's old-fashioned _Galanteries_ at +Versailles. Rosamond's bower, you, and I, and Tom Hearne know, was a +labyrinth: but as my territory will admit of a very short clew, I lay +aside all thoughts of a mazy habitation: though a bower is very +different from an arbour, and must have more chambers than one. In +short, I both know, and don't know what it should be. I am almost afraid +I must go and read Spenser, and wade through his allegories, and +drawling stanzas, to get at a picture. But, good night! you see how one +gossips, when one is alone, and at quiet on one's own dunghill!--Well! +it may be trifling; yet it is such trifling as Ambition never is happy +enough to know! Ambition orders palaces, but it is Content that chats +for a page or two over a bower. + + +_ILLNESS OF THE KING--FRENCH AND ENGLISH ACTORS AND ACTRESSES: CLAIRON, +GARRICK, QUIN, MRS. CLIVE._ + +TO THE EARL OF HERTFORD. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _March_ 26, 1765. + +Three weeks are a great while, my dear lord, for me to have been without +writing to you; but besides that I have passed many days at Strawberry, +to cure my cold (which it has done), there has nothing happened worth +sending across the sea. Politics have dozed, and common events been fast +asleep. Of Guerchy's affair, you probably know more than I do; it is now +forgotten. I told him I had absolute proof of his innocence, for I was +sure, that if he had offered money for assassination, the men who swear +against him would have taken it. + +The King has been very seriously ill, and in great danger. I would not +alarm you, as there were hopes when he was at the worst. I doubt he is +not free yet from his complaint, as the humour fallen on his breast +still oppresses him. They talk of his having a levee next week, but he +has not appeared in public, and the bills are passed by commission; but +he rides out. The Royal Family have suffered like us mortals; the Duke +of Gloucester has had a fever, but I believe his chief complaint is of +a youthful kind. Prince Frederick is thought to be in a deep +consumption; and for the Duke of Cumberland, next post will probably +certify you of his death, as he is relapsed, and there are no hopes of +him. He fell into his lethargy again, and when they waked him, he said +he did not know whether he could call himself obliged to them. + +I dined two days ago at Monsieur de Guerchy's, with the Count de +Caraman, who brought me your letter. He seems a very agreeable man, and +you may be sure, for your sake, and Madame de Mirepoix's, no civilities +in my power shall be wanting. I have not yet seen Schouvaloff,[1] about +whom one has more curiosity--it is an opportunity of gratifying that +passion which one can so seldom do in personages of his historic nature, +especially remote foreigners. I wish M. de Caraman had brought the +"Siege of Calais," which he tells me is printed, though your account has +a little abated my impatience. They tell us the French comedians are to +act at Calais this summer--is it possible they can be so absurd, or +think us so absurd as to go thither, if we would not go further? I +remember, at Rheims, they believed that English ladies went to Calais to +drink champagne--is this the suite of that belief? I was mightily +pleased with the Duc de Choiseul's answer to the Clairon;[2] but when I +hear of the French admiration of Garrick, it takes off something of my +wonder at the prodigious adoration of him at home. I never could +conceive the marvellous merit of repeating the works of others in one's +own language with propriety, however well delivered. Shakespeare is not +more admired for writing his plays, than Garrick for acting them. I +think him a very good and very various player--but several have pleased +me more, though I allow not in so many parts. Quin[3] in Falstaff, was +as excellent as Garrick[4] in Lear. Old Johnson far more natural in +everything he attempted. Mrs. Porter and your Dumesnil surpassed him in +passionate tragedy; Cibber and O'Brien were what Garrick could never +reach, coxcombs, and men of fashion. Mrs. Clive is at least as perfect +in low comedy--and yet to me, Ranger was the part that suited Garrick +the best of all he ever performed. He was a poor Lothario, a ridiculous +Othello, inferior to Quin in Sir John Brute and Macbeth, and to Cibber +in Bayes, and a woful Lord Hastings and Lord Townley. Indeed, his Bayes +was original, but not the true part: Cibber was the burlesque of a great +poet, as the part was designed, but Garrick made it a Garretteer. The +town did not like him in Hotspur, and yet I don't know whether he did +not succeed in it beyond all the rest. Sir Charles Williams and Lord +Holland thought so too, and they were no bad judges. I am impatient to +see the Clairon, and certainly will, as I have promised, though I have +not fixed my day. But do you know you alarm me! There was a time when I +was a match for Madame de Mirepoix at pharaoh, to any hour of the night, +and I believe did play with her five nights in a week till three and +four in the morning--but till eleven o'clock to-morrow morning--Oh! that +is a little too much, even at loo. Besides, I shall not go to Paris for +pharaoh--if I play all night, how shall I see everything all day? + +[Footnote 1: Schouvaloff was notorious as a favourite of the Empress +Catharine.] + +[Footnote 2: Mdlle. Clairon had been for some years the most admired +tragic actress in France. In that age actors and actresses in France +were exposed to singular insults. M. Lacroix, in his "France in the +Eighteenth Century," tells us: "They were considered as inferior beings +in the social scale; excommunicated by the Church, and banished from +society, they were compelled to endure all the humiliations and affronts +which the public chose to inflict on them in the theatre; and, if any of +them had the courage to make head against the storm, and to resist the +violence and cruelty of the pit, they were sent to prison, and not +released but on condition of apologising to the tyrants who had so +cruelly insulted them. Many had a sufficient sense of their own dignity +to withdraw themselves from this odious despotism after having been in +prison in Fort l'Evecque, their ordinary place of confinement, by the +order of the gentlemen of the chamber or the lieutenant of police; and +it was in this way that Mdlle. Clairon bade farewell to the Comedie +Francaise and gave up acting in 1765, when at the very height of her +talent, and in the middle of her greatest dramatic triumphs." The +incident here alluded to by Walpole was that "a critic named Freron had +libelled her in a journal to which he contributed; and, as she could not +obtain justice, she applied to the Duc de Choiseul, the Prime Minister. +Even he was unable to put her in the way of obtaining redress, and +sought to pacify her by comparing her position to his own. 'I am,' said +he, 'mademoiselle, like yourself, a public performer; with this +difference in your favour, that you choose what parts you please, and +are sure to be crowned with the applause of the public; for I reckon as +nothing the bad taste of one or two wretched individuals who have the +misfortune of not adoring you. I, on the other hand, am obliged to act +the parts imposed on me by necessity. I am sure to please nobody; I am +satirised, criticised, libelled, hissed; yet I continue to do my best. +Let us both, then, sacrifice our little resentments and enmities to the +public service, and serve our country, each in our own station. Besides, +the Queen has condescended to forgive Freron, and you may therefore, +without compromising your dignity, imitate Her Majesty's clemency'" +("Mem. de Bachaumont," i. 61). But Mdlle. was not to be pacified, nor to +be persuaded to expose herself to a repetition of insult; but, though +only forty-one, she retired from the stage for ever.] + +[Footnote 3: Quin was employed by the Princess of Wales to teach her son +elocution, and when he heard how generally his young sovereign was +praised for the grace and dignity of his delivery of his speech to his +Parliament, he boasted, "Ah, it was I taught the boy to speak."] + +[Footnote 4: Garrick was not only a great actor, but also a great +reformer of the stage. He seems to have excelled equally both in tragedy +and comedy, which makes it natural to suppose that in some parts he may +have been excelled by other actors; though he had no equal (and perhaps +never has had) in both lines. He was also himself the author of several +farces of more than average merit.] + +Lady Sophia Thomas has received the Baume de vie, for which she gives +you a thousand thanks, and I ten thousand. + +We are extremely amused with the wonderful histories of your hyena[1] in +the Gevaudan; but our fox-hunters despise you: it is exactly the +enchanted monster of old romances. If I had known its history a few +months ago, I believe it would have appeared in the "Castle of +Otranto,"--the success of which has, at last, brought me to own it, +though the wildness of it made me terribly afraid; but it was +comfortable to have it please so much, before any mortal suspected the +author: indeed, it met with too much honour far, for at first it was +universally believed to be Mr. Gray's. As all the first impression is +sold, I am hurrying out another, with a new preface, which I will send +you. + +[Footnote 1: A wolf of enormous size, and, in some respects, irregular +conformation, which for a long time ravaged the Gevaudan; it was, soon +after the date of this letter, killed, and Mr. Walpole saw it in Paris.] + + +_RIOTS OF WEAVERS--MINISTERIAL CHANGES--FACTIOUS CONDUCT OF MR. PITT._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _May_ 25, 1765, _sent by way of Paris_. + +My last I think was of the 16th. Since that we have had events of almost +every sort. A whole administration dismissed, taken again, suspended, +confirmed; an insurrection; and we have been at the eve of a civil war. +Many thousand Weavers rose, on a bill for their relief being thrown out +of the House of Lords by the Duke of Bedford. For four days they were +suffered to march about the town with colours displayed, petitioning the +King, surrounding the House of Lords, mobbing and wounding the Duke of +Bedford, and at last besieging his house, which, with his family, was +narrowly saved from destruction. At last it grew a regular siege and +blockade; but by garrisoning it with horse and foot literally, and +calling in several regiments, the tumult is appeased. Lord Bute rashly +taking advantage of this unpopularity of his enemies, advised the King +to notify to his Ministers that he intended to dismiss them,--and by +this step, no _succedaneum_ being prepared, reduced his Majesty to the +alternative of laying his crown at the foot of Mr. Pitt, or of the Duke +of Bedford; and as it proved at last, of both. The Duke of Cumberland +was sent for, and was sent to Mr. Pitt, from whom, though offering +almost _carte blanche_, he received a peremptory refusal. The next +measure was to form a Ministry from the Opposition. Willing were they, +but timid. Without Mr. Pitt nobody would engage. The King was forced to +desire his old Ministers to stay where they were. They, who had rallied +their very dejected courage, demanded terms, and hard ones +indeed--_promise_ of never consulting Lord Bute, dismission of his +brother, and the appointment of Lord Granby to be Captain-General--so +soon did those tools of prerogative talk to their exalted sovereign in +the language of the Parliament to Charles I. + +The King, rather than resign his sceptre on the first summons, +determined to name his uncle Captain-General. Thus the commanders at +least were ready on each side; but the Ministers, who by the Treaty of +Paris showed how little military glory was the object of their ambition, +having contented themselves with seizing St. James's without bloodshed. +They gave up their General, upon condition Mr. Mackenzie and Lord +Holland were sacrificed to them, and, tacitly, Lord Northumberland, +whose government they bestow on Lord Weymouth without furnishing another +place to the earl, as was intended for him. All this is granted. Still +there are inexplicable riddles. In the height of negotiation, Lord +Temple was reconciled to his brother George, and declares himself a fast +friend to the late and present Ministry. What part Mr. Pitt will act is +not yet known--probably not a hostile one; but here are fine seeds of +division and animosity sown! + +I have thus in six words told you the matter of volumes. You must +analyse them yourself, unless you have patience to wait till the +consequences are the comment. Don't you recollect very similar passages +in the time of Mr. Pelham, the Duke of Newcastle, Lord Granville, and +Mr. Fox? But those wounds did not penetrate so deep as these! Here are +all the great, and opulent noble families engaged on one side or the +other. Here is the King insulted and prisoner, his Mother stigmatised, +his Uncle affronted, his Favourite persecuted. It is again a scene of +Bohuns, Montforts, and Plantagenets. + +While I am writing, I received yours of the 4th, containing the +revolutions in the fabric and pictures of the palace Pitti. My dear sir, +make no excuse; we each write what we have to write; and if our letters +remain, posterity will read the catastrophes of St. James's and the +Palace Pitti with equal indifference, however differently they affect +you and me now. For my part, though agitated like Ludlow or my Lord +Clarendon on the events of the day, I have more curiosity about Havering +in the Bower, the jointure house of ancient royal dowagers, than about +Queen Isabella herself. Mr. Wilkes, whom you mention, will be still more +interested, when he hears that his friend Lord Temple has shaken hands +with his foes Halifax and Sandwich; and I don't believe that any amnesty +is stipulated for the exile. Churchill, Wilkes's poet, used to wish that +he was at liberty to attack Mr. Pitt and Charles Townshend,--the moment +is come, but Churchill is gone! Charles Townshend has got Lord Holland's +place--and yet the people will again and again believe that nothing is +intended but their interest. + +When I recollect all I have seen and known, I seem to be as old as +Methuselah: indeed I was born in politics,--but I hope not to die in +them. With all my experience, these last five weeks have taught me more +than any other ten years; accordingly, a retreat is the whole scope of +my wishes; but not yet arrived. + +Your amiable sister, Mrs. Foote, is settled in town; I saw her last +night at the Opera with Lady Ailesbury. She is enchanted with +Manzuoli--and you know her approbation is a test, who has heard all the +great singers, learnt of all, and sings with as much taste as any of +them. Adieu! + + +_PROSPECTS OF OLD AGE WHEN JOINED TO GOUT._ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 28, 1765. + +The less one is disposed, if one has any sense, to talk of oneself to +people that inquire only out of compliment, and do not listen to the +answer, the more satisfaction one feels in indulging a self-complacency, +by sighing to those that really sympathise with our griefs. Do not think +it is pain that makes me give this low-spirited air to my letter. No, it +is the prospect of what is to come, not the sensation of what is +passing, that affects me. The loss of youth is melancholy enough; but to +enter into old age through the gate of infirmity most disheartening. My +health and spirits make me take but slight notice of the transition, +and, under the persuasion of temperance being a talisman, I marched +boldly on towards the descent of the hill, knowing I must fall at last, +but not suspecting that I should stumble by the way. This confession +explains the mortification I feel. A month's confinement to one who +never kept his bed a day is a stinging lesson, and has humbled my +insolence to almost indifference. Judge, then, how little I interest +myself about public events. I know nothing of them since I came hither, +where I had not only the disappointment of not growing better, but a bad +return in one of my feet, so that I am still wrapped up and upon a +couch. It was the more unlucky as Lord Hertford is come to England for a +very few days. He has offered to come to me; but as I then should see +him only for some minutes, I propose being carried to town to-morrow. It +will be so long before I can expect to be able to travel, that my French +journey will certainly not take place so soon as I intended, and if Lord +Hertford goes to Ireland, I shall be still more fluctuating; for though +the Duke and Duchess of Richmond will replace them at Paris, and are as +eager to have me with them, I have had so many more years heaped upon me +within this month, that I have not the conscience to trouble young +people, when I can no longer be as juvenile as they are. Indeed I shall +think myself decrepit, till I again saunter into the garden in my +slippers and without my hat in all weathers,--a point I am determined to +regain if possible; for even this experience cannot make me resign my +temperance and my hardiness. I am tired of the world, its politics, its +pursuits, and its pleasures; but it will cost me some struggles before I +submit to be tender and careful. Christ! Can I ever stoop to the regimen +of old age? I do not wish to dress up a withered person, nor drag it +about to public places; but to sit in one's room, clothed warmly, +expecting visits from folks I don't wish to see, and tended and nattered +by relations impatient for one's death! Let the gout do its worse as +expeditiously as it can; it would be more welcome in my stomach than in +my limbs. I am not made to bear a course of nonsense and advice, but +must play the fool in my own way to the last, alone with all my heart, +if I cannot be with the very few I wished to see: but, to depend for +comfort on others, who would be no comfort to me; this surely is not a +state to be preferred to death: and nobody can have truly enjoyed the +advantages of youth, health, and spirits, who is content to exist +without the two last, which alone bear any resemblance to the first. + +You see how difficult it is to conquer my proud spirit: low and weak as +I am, I think my resolution and perseverance will get the better, and +that I shall still be a gay shadow; at least, I will impose any severity +upon myself, rather than humour the gout, and sink into that indulgence +with which most people treat it. Bodily liberty is as dear to me as +mental, and I would as soon flatter any other tyrant as the gout, my +Whiggism extending as much to my health as to my principles, and being +as willing to part with life, when I cannot preserve it, as your uncle +Algernon when his freedom was at stake. Adieu! + + +_HAS REACHED PARIS--THE FRENCH OPERA--ILLNESS OF THE DAUPHIN--POPULARITY +OF MR. HUME._ + +TO THE RIGHT HON. LADY HERVEY. + +PARIS, _Sept._ 14, 1765. + +I am but two days old here, Madam, and I doubt I wish I was really so, +and had my life to begin, to live it here. You see how just I am, and +ready to make _amende honorable_ to your ladyship. Yet I have seen very +little. My Lady Hertford has cut me to pieces, and thrown me into a +caldron with tailors, periwig-makers, snuff-box-wrights, milliners, &c., +which really took up but little time; and I am come out quite new, with +everything but youth. The journey recovered me with magic expedition. My +strength, if mine could ever be called strength, is returned; and the +gout going off in a minuet step. I will say nothing of my spirits, which +are indecently juvenile, and not less improper for my age than for the +country where I am; which, if you will give me leave to say it, has a +thought too much gravity. I don't venture to laugh or talk nonsense, but +in English. + +Madame Geoffrin came to town but last night, and is not visible on +Sundays; but I hope to deliver your ladyship's letter and packet +to-morrow. Mesdames d'Aiguillon, d'Egmont, and Chabot, and the Duc de +Nivernois are all in the country. Madame de Boufflers is at l'Isle +Adam, whither my Lady Hertford is gone to-night to sup, for the first +time, being no longer chained down to the incivility of an ambassadress. +She returns after supper; an irregularity that frightens me, who have +not yet got rid of all my barbarisms. There is one, alas! I never shall +get over--the dirt of this country: it is melancholy, after the purity +of Strawberry! The narrowness of the streets, trees clipped to resemble +brooms, and planted on pedestals of chalk, and a few other points, do +not edify me. The French Opera, which I have heard to-night, disgusted +me as much as ever; and the more for being followed by the Devin de +Village, which shows that they can sing without cracking the drum of +one's ear. The scenes and dances are delightful: the Italian comedy +charming. Then I am in love with _treillage_ and fountains, and will +prove it at Strawberry. Chantilly is so exactly what it was when I saw +it above twenty years ago, that I recollected the very position of +Monsieur le Duc's chair and the gallery. The latter gave me the first +idea of mine; but, presumption apart, mine is a thousand times prettier. +I gave my Lord Herbert's compliments to the statue of his friend the +Constable; and, waiting some time for the concierge, I called out, _Ou +est Vatel_? + +In short, Madam, being as tired as one can be of one's own country,--I +don't say whether this is much or little,--I find myself wonderfully +disposed to like this. Indeed I wish I could wash it. Madame de Guerchy +is all goodness to me; but that is not new. I have already been +prevented by great civilities from Madame de Brentheim and my old +friend Madame de Mirepoix; but am not likely to see the latter much, who +is grown a most particular favourite of the King, and seldom from him. +The Dauphin is ill, and thought in a very bad way. I hope he will live, +lest the theatres should be shut up. Your ladyship knows I never trouble +my head about royalties, farther than it affects my interest. In truth, +the way that princes affect my interest is not the common way. + +I have not yet tapped the chapter of baubles, being desirous of making +my revenues maintain me here as long as possible. It will be time enough +to return to my Parliament when I want money. + +Mr. Hume, that is _the Mode_, asked much about your ladyship. I have +seen Madame de Monaco, and think her very handsome, and extremely +pleasing. The younger Madame d'Egmont, I hear, disputes the palm with +her; and Madame de Brionne is not left without partisans. The nymphs of +the theatres are _laides a faire peur_, which at my age is a piece of +luck, like going into a shop of curiosities, and finding nothing to +tempt one to throw away one's money. + +There are several English here, whether I will or not. I certainly did +not come for them, and shall connect with them as little as possible. +The few I value, I hope sometimes to hear of. Your ladyship guesses how +far that wish extends. Consider, too, Madam, that one of my +unworthinesses is washed and done away, by the confession I made in the +beginning of my letter. + + +_IS MAKING NEW FRIENDS IN PARIS--DECAY OF THE FRENCH STAGE--LE +KAIN--DUMENIL--NEW FRENCH INCLINATION FOR PHILOSOPHY AND +FREE-THINKING--GENERAL ADMIRATION OF HUME'S HISTORY AND RICHARDSON'S +NOVELS._ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +PARIS, _Sept._ 22, 1765. + +The concern I felt at not seeing you before I left England, might make +me express myself warmly, but I assure you it was nothing but concern, +nor was mixed with a grain of pouting. I knew some of your reasons, and +guessed others. The latter grieve me heartily; but I advise you to do as +I do: when I meet with ingratitude, I take a short leave both of it and +its host. Formerly I used to look out for indemnification somewhere +else; but having lived long enough to learn that the reparation +generally proved a second evil of the same sort, I am content now to +skin over such wounds with amusements, which at least leave no scars. It +is true, amusements do not always amuse when we bid them. I find it so +here; nothing strikes me; everything I do is indifferent to me. I like +the people very well, and their way of life very well; but as neither +were my object, I should not much care if they were any other people, or +it was any other way of life. I am out of England, and my purpose is +answered. + +Nothing can be more obliging than the reception I meet with everywhere. +It may not be more sincere (and why should it?) than our cold and bare +civility; but it is better dressed, and looks natural; one asks no +more. I have begun to sup in French houses, and as Lady Hertford has +left Paris to-day, shall increase my intimacies. There are swarms of +English here, but most of them are going, to my great satisfaction. As +the greatest part are very young, they can no more be entertaining to me +than I to them, and it certainly was not my countrymen that I came to +live with. Suppers please me extremely; I love to rise and breakfast +late, and to trifle away the day as I like. There are sights enough to +answer that end, and shops you know are an endless field for me. The +city appears much worse to me than I thought I remembered it. The French +music as shocking as I knew it was. The French stage is fallen off, +though in the only part I have seen Le Kain I admire him extremely. He +is very ugly and ill made, and yet has an heroic dignity which Garrick +wants, and great fire. The Dumenil I have not seen yet, but shall in a +day or two. It is a mortification that I cannot compare her with the +Clairon, who has left the stage. Grandval I saw through a whole play +without suspecting it was he. Alas! four-and-twenty years make strange +havoc with us mortals! You cannot imagine how this struck me! The +Italian comedy, now united with their _opera comique_, is their most +perfect diversion; but alas! harlequin, my dear favourite harlequin, my +passion, makes me more melancholy than cheerful. Instead of laughing, I +sit silently reflecting how everything loses charms when one's own youth +does not lend it gilding! When we are divested of that eagerness and +illusion with which our youth presents objects to us, we are but the +_caput mortuum_ of pleasure. + +Grave as these ideas are, they do not unfit me for French company. The +present tone is serious enough in conscience. Unluckily, the subjects of +their conversation are duller to me than my own thoughts, which may be +tinged with melancholy reflections, but I doubt from my constitution +will never be insipid. + +The French affect philosophy, literature, and free-thinking: the first +never did, and never will possess me; of the two others I have long been +tired. Free-thinking is for one's self, surely not for society; besides +one has settled one's way of thinking, or knows it cannot be settled, +and for others I do not see why there is not as much bigotry in +attempting conversions from any religion as to it. I dined to-day with a +dozen _savans_, and though all the servants were waiting, the +conversation was much more unrestrained, even on the Old Testament, than +I would suffer at my own table in England, if a single footman was +present. For literature, it is very amusing when one has nothing else to +do. I think it rather pedantic in society; tiresome when displayed +professedly; and, besides, in this country one is sure it is only the +fashion of the day. Their taste in it is worst of all: could one believe +that when they read our authors, Richardson and Mr. Hume should be their +favourites? The latter is treated here with perfect veneration. His +History, so falsified in many points, so partial in as many, so very +unequal in its parts, is thought the standard of writing. + +In their dress and equipages they are grown very simple. We English are +living upon their old gods and goddesses; I roll about in a chariot +decorated with cupids, and look like the grandfather of Adonis. + +Of their parliaments and clergy I hear a good deal, and attend very +little: I cannot take up any history in the middle, and was too sick of +politics at home to enter into them here. In short, I have done with the +world, and live in it rather than in a desert, like you. Few men can +bear absolute retirement, and we English worst of all. We grow so +humorsome, so obstinate and capricious, and so prejudiced, that it +requires a fund of good-nature like yours not to grow morose. Company +keeps our rind from growing too coarse and rough; and though at my +return I design not to mix in public, I do not intend to be quite a +recluse. My absence will put it in my power to take up or drop as much +as I please. Adieu! I shall inquire about your commission of books, but +having been arrived but ten days, have not yet had time. Need I say?--no +I need not--that nobody can be more affectionately yours than, &c. + + +_HIS PRESENTATION AT COURT--ILLNESS OF THE DAUPHIN--DESCRIPTION OF HIS +THREE SONS._ + +TO JOHN CHUTE, ESQ. + +PARIS, _Oct._ 3, 1765. + +I don't know where you are, nor when I am likely to hear of you. I write +at random, and, as I talk, the first thing that comes into my pen. + +I am, as you certainly conclude, much more amused than pleased. At a +certain time of life, sights and new objects may entertain one, but new +people cannot find any place in one's affection. New faces with some +name or other belonging to them, catch my attention for a minute--I +cannot say many preserve it. Five or six of the women that I have seen +already are very sensible. The men are in general much inferior, and not +even agreeable. They sent us their best, I believe, at first, the Duc de +Nivernois. Their authors, who by the way are everywhere, are worse than +their own writings, which I don't mean as a compliment to either. In +general, the style of conversation is solemn, pedantic, and seldom +animated, but by a dispute. I was expressing my aversion to disputes: +Mr. Hume, who very gratefully admires the tone of Paris, having never +known any other tone, said with great surprise, "Why, what do you like, +if you hate both disputes and whisk?" + +What strikes me the most upon the whole is, the total difference of +manners between them and us, from the greatest object to the least. +There is not the smallest similitude in the twenty-four hours. It is +obvious in every trifle. Servants carry their lady's train, and put her +into her coach with their hat on. They walk about the streets in the +rain with umbrellas to avoid putting on their hats; driving themselves +in open chaises in the country without hats, in the rain too, and yet +often wear them in a chariot in Paris when it does not rain. The very +footmen are powdered from the break of day, and yet wait behind their +master, as I saw the Duc of Praslin's do, with a red pocket-handkerchief +about their necks. Versailles, like everything else, is a mixture of +parade and poverty, and in every instance exhibits something most +dissonant from our manners. In the colonnades, upon the staircases, nay +in the antechambers of the royal family, there are people selling all +sorts of wares. While we were waiting in the Dauphin's sumptuous +bedchamber, till his dressing-room door should be opened, two fellows +were sweeping it, and dancing about in sabots to rub the floor. + +You perceive that I have been presented. The Queen took great notice of +me; none of the rest said a syllable. You are let into the King's +bedchamber just as he has put on his shirt; he dresses and talks +good-humouredly to a few, glares at strangers, goes to mass, to dinner, +and a-hunting. The good old Queen, who is like Lady Primrose in the +face, and Queen Caroline in the immensity of her cap, is at her +dressing-table, attended by two or three old ladies, who are languishing +to be in Abraham's bosom, as the only man's bosom to whom they can hope +for admittance. Thence you go to the Dauphin, for all is done in an +hour. He scarce stays a minute; indeed, poor creature, he is a ghost, +and cannot possibly last three months. The Dauphiness is in her +bedchamber, but dressed and standing; looks cross, is not civil, and has +the true Westphalian grace and accents. The four Mesdames, who are +clumsy plump old wenches, with a bad likeness to their father, stand in +a bedchamber in a row, with black cloaks and knotting-bags, looking +good-humoured, not knowing what to say, and wriggling as if they wanted +to make water. This ceremony too is very short; then you are carried to +the Dauphin's three boys, who you may be sure only bow and stare. The +Duke of Berry[1] looks weak and weak-eyed: the Count de Provence is a +fine boy; the Count d'Artois well enough. The whole concludes with +seeing the Dauphin's little girl dine, who is as round and as fat as a +pudding. + +[Footnote 1: The Duc de Berri was afterwards Louis XVI.; the Comte de +Provence became Louis XVIII.; and the Comte d'Artois, Charles X.] + +In the Queen's antechamber we foreigners and the foreign ministers were +shown the famous beast of the Gevaudan, just arrived, and covered with a +cloth, which two chasseurs lifted up. It is an absolute wolf, but +uncommonly large, and the expression of agony and fierceness remains +strongly imprinted on its dead jaws. + +I dined at the Duc of Praslin's with four-and-twenty ambassadors and +envoys, who never go but on Tuesdays to Court. He does the honours +sadly, and I believe nothing else well, looking important and empty. The +Duc de Choiseul's face, which is quite the reverse of gravity, does not +promise much more. His wife is gentle, pretty, and very agreeable. The +Duchess of Praslin, jolly, red-faced, looking very vulgar, and being +very attentive and civil. I saw the Duc de Richelieu in waiting, who is +pale, except his nose, which is red, much wrinkled, and exactly a +remnant of that age which produced General Churchill, Wilks the player, +the Duke of Argyll, &c. Adieu! + + +_SUPPER PARTIES AT PARIS--WALPOLE WRITES A LETTER FROM LE ROI DE PRUSSE +A MONSIEUR ROUSSEAU._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +PARIS, _Jan._ 12, 1766. + +I have received your letter by General Vernon, and another, to which I +have writ an answer, but was disappointed of a conveyance I expected. +You shall have it with additions, by the first messenger that goes; but +I cannot send it by the post, as I have spoken very freely of some +persons you name, in which we agree thoroughly. These few lines are only +to tell you I am not idle in writing to you. + +I almost repent having come hither; for I like the way of life and many +of the people so well, that I doubt I shall feel more regret at leaving +Paris than I expected. It would sound vain to tell you the honours and +distinctions I receive, and how much I am in fashion; yet when they come +from the handsomest women in France, and the most respectable in point +of character, can one help being a little proud? If I was twenty years +younger, I should wish they were not quite so respectable. Madame de +Brionne, whom I have never seen, and who was to have met me at supper +last night at the charming Madame d'Egmont's, sent me an invitation by +the latter for Wednesday next. I was engaged, and hesitated. I was told, +"Comment! savez-vous que c'est qu'elle ne feroit pas pour toute la +France?" However, lest you should dread my returning a perfect old +swain, I study my wrinkles, compare myself and my limbs to every plate +of larks I see, and treat my understanding with at least as little +mercy. Yet, do you know, my present fame is owing to a very trifling +composition, but which has made incredible noise. I was one evening at +Madame Geoffrin's joking on Rousseau's affectations and contradictions, +and said some things that diverted them. When I came home, I put them +into a letter, and showed it next day to Helvetius and the Duc de +Nivernois; who were so pleased with it, that after telling me some +faults in the language, which you may be sure there were, they +encouraged me to let it be seen. As you know I willingly laugh at +mountebanks, _political_ or literary, let their talents be ever so +great, I was not averse. The copies have spread like wild-fire; _et me +voici a la mode_! I expect the end of my reign at the end of the week +with great composure. Here is the letter:-- + +LE ROI DE PRUSSE A MONSIEUR ROUSSEAU.[1] + +MON CHER JEAN JACQUES, + +Vous avez renonce a Geneve votre patrie; vous vous etes fait chasser de +la Suisse, pays tant vante dans vos ecrits; la France vous a decrete. +Venez donz chez moi; j'admire vos talens; je m'amuse de vos reveries, +qui (soit dit en passant) vous occupent trop, et trop long tems. Il faut +a la fin etre sage et heureux. Vous avez fait assez parler de vous par +des singularites peu convenables a un veritable grand homme. Demontrez a +vos ennemis que vous pouvez avoir quelquefois le sens commun: cela les +fachera, sans vous faire tort. Mes etats vous offrent une retraite +paisible; je vous veux du bien, et je vous en ferai, si vous le trouvez +bon. Mais si vous vous obstiniez a rejetter mons secours, attendez-vous +que je ne le dirai a personne. Si vous persistez a vous creuser +l'esprit pour trouver de nouveaux malheurs, choisissez les tels que vous +voudrez. Je suis roi, je puis vous en procurer au gre de vos souhaits: +et ce qui surement ne vous arrivera pas vis a vis de vos ennemis, je +cesserai de vous persecuter quand vous cesserez de mettre votre gloire a +l'etre. + +Votre bon ami, + +FREDERIC. + +[Footnote 1: Rousseau was always ready to believe in plots to mortify +and injure him; and he was so much annoyed by this composition of +Walpole's, that, shortly after his arrival in England, he addressed the +following letter to _The London Chronicle_:-- + +"WOOTTON [IN DERBYSHIRE], _March_ 3, 1766 + +"You have failed, Sir, in the respect which every private person owes to +a crowned head, in attributing publicly to the King of Prussia a letter +full of extravagance and malignity, of which, for those very reasons, +you ought to have known he could not be the author. You have even dared +to transcribe his signature, as if you had seen him write it with his +own hand. I inform you, Sir, that the letter was fabricated at Paris, +and what rends my heart is that the impostor has accomplices in England. +You owe to the King of Prussia, to truth, and to me to print the letter +which I write to you, and which I sign, as an atonement for a fault with +which you would doubtless reproach yourself severely, if you knew to +what a dark transaction you have rendered yourself an accessory. I +salute you, Sir, very sincerely, + +"ROUSSEAU."] + +The Princesse de Ligne, whose mother was an Englishwoman, made a good +observation to me last night. She said, "Je suis roi, je puis vous +procurer de malheurs," was plainly the stroke of an English pen. I +said, then I had certainly not well imitated the character in which I +wrote. You will say I am a bold man to attack both Voltaire and +Rousseau. It is true; but I shoot at their heel, at their vulnerable +part. + +I beg your pardon for taking up your time with these trifles. The day +after to-morrow we go in cavalcade with the Duchess of Richmond to her +audience; I have got my cravat and shammy shoes. Adieu! + + +_A CONSTANT ROUND OF AMUSEMENTS--A GALLERY OF FEMALE PORTRAITS--MADAME +GEOFFRIN--MADAME DU DEFFAND--MADAME DE MIREPOIX--MADAME DE +BOUFFLERS--MADAME DE ROCHFORT--THE MARECHALE DE LUXEMBURG--THE DUCHESSE +DE CHOISEUL--AN OLD FRENCH DANDY--M. DE MAUREPAS--POPULARITY OF HIS +LETTER TO ROUSSEAU._ + +TO MR. GRAY. + +PARIS, _Jan._ 25, 1766. + +I am much indebted to you for your kind letter and advice; and though it +is late to thank you for it, it is at least a stronger proof that I do +not forget it. However, I am a little obstinate, as you know, on the +chapter of health, and have persisted through this Siberian winter in +not adding a grain to my clothes, and going open-breasted without an +under waistcoat. In short, though I like extremely to live, it must be +in my own way, as long as I can: it is not youth I court, but liberty; +and I think making oneself tender is issuing a _general warrant_ +against one's own person. I suppose I shall submit to confinement when I +cannot help it; but I am indifferent enough to life not to care if it +ends soon after my prison begins. + +I have not delayed so long to answer your letter, from not thinking of +it, or from want of matter, but from want of time. I am constantly +occupied, engaged, amused, till I cannot bring a hundredth part of what +I have to say into the compass of a letter. You will lose nothing by +this: you know my volubility, when I am full of new subjects; and I have +at least many hours of conversation for you at my return. One does not +learn a whole nation in four or five months; but, for the time, few, I +believe, have seen, studied, or got so much acquainted with the French +as I have. + +By what I said of their religious or rather irreligious opinions, you +must not conclude their people of quality atheists--at least, not the +men. Happily for them, poor souls! they are not capable of going so far +into thinking. They assent to a great deal, because it is the fashion, +and because they don't know how to contradict. They are ashamed to +defend the Roman Catholic religion, because it is quite exploded; but I +am convinced they believe it in their hearts. They hate the Parliaments +and the philosophers, and are rejoiced that they may still idolise +royalty. At present, too, they are a little triumphant: the Court has +shown a little spirit, and the Parliaments much less: but as the Duc de +Choiseul, who is very fluttering, unsettled, and inclined to the +philosophers, has made a compromise with the Parliament of Bretagne, the +Parliaments might venture out again, if, as I fancy will be the case, +they are not glad to drop a cause, of which they began to be a little +weary of the inconveniences. + +The generality of the men, and more than the generality are dull and +empty. They have taken up gravity, thinking it was philosophy and +English, and so have acquired nothing in the room of their natural +levity and cheerfulness. However, as their high opinion of their own +country remains, for which they can no longer assign any reason, they +are contemptuous and reserved, instead of being ridiculously, +consequently pardonably, impertinent. I have wondered, knowing my own +countrymen, that we had attained such a superiority. I wonder no longer, +and have a little more respect for English _heads_ than I had. + +The women do not seem of the same country: if they are less gay than +they were, they are more informed, enough to make them very conversable. +I know six or seven with very superior understandings; some of them with +wit, or with softness, or very good sense. + +[Illustration: THOMAS GRAY, THE POET. + +_From a drawing in the National Portrait Gallery by James Basire, after +a sketch by Gray's friend and biographer, the Rev. William Mason._] + +Madame Geoffrin, of whom you have heard much, is an extraordinary woman, +with more common sense than I almost ever met with. Great quickness in +discovering characters, penetration in going to the bottom of them, and +a pencil that never fails in a likeness--seldom a favourable one. She +exacts and preserves, spite of her birth and their nonsensical +prejudices about nobility, great court and attention. This she acquires +by a thousand little arts and offices of friendship: and by a freedom +and severity, which seem to be her sole end of drawing a concourse to +her; for she insists on scolding those she inveigles to her. She has +little taste and less knowledge, but protects artisans and authors, and +courts a few people to have the credit of serving her dependents. She +was bred under the famous Madame Tencin,[1] who advised her never to +refuse any man; for, said her mistress, though nine in ten should not +care a farthing for you, the tenth may live to be an useful friend. She +did not adopt or reject the whole plan, but fully retained the purport +of the maxim. In short, she is an epitome of empire, subsisting by +rewards and punishments. Her great enemy, Madame du Deffand,[2] was for +a short time mistress of the Regent, is now very old and stoneblind, but +retains all her vivacity, wit, memory, judgment, passions, and +agreeableness. She goes to Operas, Plays, suppers, and Versailles; gives +suppers twice a week; has everything new read to her; makes new songs +and epigrams, ay, admirably, and remembers every one that has been made +these four-score years. She corresponds with Voltaire, dictates charming +letters to him, contradicts him, is no bigot to him or anybody, and +laughs both at the clergy and the philosophers. In a dispute, into which +she easily falls, she is very warm, and yet scarce ever in the wrong: +her judgment on every subject is as just as possible; on every point of +conduct as wrong as possible: for she is all love and hatred, passionate +for her friends to enthusiasm, still anxious to be loved, I don't mean +by lovers, and a vehement enemy, but openly. As she can have no +amusement but conversation, the least solitude and _ennui_ are +insupportable to her, and put her into the power of several worthless +people, who eat her suppers when they can eat nobody's of higher rank; +wink to one another and laugh at her; hate her because she has forty +times more parts--and venture to hate her because she is not rich.[3] +She has an old friend whom I must mention, a Monsieur Pondeveyle, author +of the "Fatpuni," and the "Complaisant," and of those pretty novels, the +"Comte de Cominge," the "Siege of Calais," and "Les Malheurs de +l'Amour." Would you not expect this old man to be very agreeable? He can +be so, but seldom is: yet he has another very different and very +amusing talent, the art of parody, and is unique in his kind. He +composes tales to the tunes of long dances: for instance, he has adapted +the Regent's "Daphnis and Chloe" to one, and made it ten times more +indecent; but is so old, and sings it so well, that it is permitted in +all companies. He has succeeded still better in _les caracteres de la +danse_, to which he has adapted words that express all the characters of +love. With all this he has not the least idea of cheerfulness in +conversation; seldom speaks but on grave subjects, and not often on +them; is a humourist, very supercilious, and wrapt up in admiration of +his own country, as the only judge of his merit. His air and look are +cold and forbidding; but ask him to sing, or praise his works, his eyes +and smiles open and brighten up. In short, I can show him to you: the +self-applauding poet in Hogarth's Rake's Progress, the second print, is +so like his very features and very wig, that you would know him by it, +if you came hither--for he certainly will not go to you. + +[Footnote 1: _"The famous Mme. Tencin._" "Infamous" would be more +appropriate. She had been the mistress of Dubois, and was the mother of +D'Alembert.] + +[Footnote 2: His description of her on first making her acquaintance was +not altogether complimentary. In a letter of the preceding October he +calls her "an old blind debauchee of wit." In fact, she had been one of +the mistresses of the Regent, Duc d'Orleans, and at first his chief +inducement to court her society was to hear anecdotes of the Regent. But +gradually he became so enamoured of her society that he kept up an +intimacy with her till her death in 1783. There must be allowed to be +much delicate perception and delineation of character in this +description of the French fine ladies of the time.] + +[Footnote 3: To the above portrait of Madame du Deffand it may be useful +to subjoin the able development of her character which appeared in the +_Quarterly Review_ for May, 1811, in its critique on her Letters to +Walpole:--"This lady seems to have united the lightness of the French +character with the solidity of the English. She was easy and volatile, +yet judicious and acute; sometimes profound and sometimes superficial. +She had a wit playful, abundant, and well-toned; an admirable conception +of the ridiculous, and great skill in exposing it; a turn for satire, +which she indulged, not always in the best-natured manner, yet with +irresistible effect; powers of expression varied, appropriate, flowing +from the source, and curious without research; a refined taste for +letters, and a judgment both of men and books in a high degree +enlightened and accurate."] + +Madame de Mirepoix's understanding is excellent of the useful kind, and +can be so when she pleases of the agreeable kind. She has read, but +seldom shows it, and has perfect taste. Her manner is cold, but very +civil; and she conceals even the blood of Lorraine, without ever +forgetting it. Nobody in France knows the world better, and nobody is +personally so well with the King. She is false, artful, and insinuating +beyond measure when it is her interest, but indolent and a coward. She +never had any passion but gaming, and always loses. For ever paying +court, the sole produce of a life of art is to get money from the King +to carry on a course of paying debts or contracting new ones, which she +discharges as fast as she is able. She advertised devotion to get made +_dame du palais_ to the Queen; and the very next day this Princess of +Lorraine was seen riding backwards with Madame Pompadour in the latter's +coach. When the King was stabbed, and heartily frightened, the mistress +took a panic too, and consulted D'Argenson, whether she had not best +make off in time. He hated her, and said, By all means. Madame de +Mirepoix advised her to stay. The King recovered his spirits, D'Argenson +was banished,[1] and La Marechale inherited part of the mistress's +credit.--I must interrupt my history of illustrious women with an +anecdote of Monsieur de Maurepas, with whom I am much acquainted, and +who has one of the few heads which approach to good ones, and who +luckily for us was disgraced, and the marine dropped, because it was his +favourite object and province. He employed Pondeveyle to make a song on +the Pompadour: it was clever and bitter, and did not spare even Majesty. +This was Maurepas absurd enough to sing at supper at Versailles. +Banishment ensued; and lest he should ever be restored, the mistress +persuaded the King that he had poisoned her predecessor Madame de +Chateauroux. Maurepas is very agreeable, and exceedingly cheerful; yet I +have seen a transient silent cloud when politics are talked of. + +[Footnote 1: The Comte d'Argenson was Minister at War.] + +Madame de Boufflers, who was in England, is a _savante_, mistress of the +Prince of Conti, and very desirous of being his wife. She is two women, +the upper and the lower. I need not tell you that the lower is gallant, +and still has pretensions. The upper is very sensible, too, and has a +measured eloquence that is just and pleasing--but all is spoiled by an +unrelaxed attention to applause. You would think she was always sitting +for her picture to her biographer. + +Madame de Rochfort is different from all the rest. Her understanding is +just and delicate; with a finesse of wit that is the result of +reflection. Her manner is soft and feminine, and though a _savante_, +without any declared pretensions. She is the _decent_ friend of Monsieur +de Nivernois; for you must not believe a syllable of what you read in +their novels. It requires the greatest curiosity, or the greatest +habitude, to discover the smallest connexion between the sexes here. No +familiarity, but under the veil of friendship, is permitted, and Love's +dictionary is as much prohibited, as at first sight one should think his +ritual was. All you hear, and that pronounced with _nonchalance_, is, +that _Monsieur un tel_ has had _Madame une telle_. + +The Duc de Nivernois has parts, and writes at the top of the mediocre, +but, as Madame Geoffrin says, is _manque par tout; guerrier manque, +ambassadeur manque, homme d'affaires manque_, and _auteur manque_--no, +he is not _homme de naissance manque_. He would think freely, but has +some ambition of being governor to the Dauphin, and is more afraid of +his wife and daughter, who are ecclesiastic fagots. The former +out-chatters the Duke of Newcastle; and the latter, Madame de Gisors, +exhausts Mr. Pitt's eloquence in defence of the Archbishop of Paris. +Monsieur de Nivernois lives in a small circle of dependent admirers, and +Madame de Rochfort is high-priestess for a small salary of credit. + +The Duchess of Choiseul, the only young one of these heroines, is not +very pretty, but has fine eyes, and is a little model in waxwork, which +not being allowed to speak for some time as incapable, has a hesitation +and modesty, the latter of which the Court has not cured, and the former +of which is atoned for by the most interesting sound of voice, and +forgotten in the most elegant turn and propriety of expression. Oh! it +is the gentlest, amiable, civil little creature that ever came out of a +fairy egg! so just in its phrases and thoughts, so attentive and +good-natured! Everybody loves it but its husband, who prefers his own +sister the Duchesse de Granmont, an Amazonian, fierce, haughty dame, who +loves and hates arbitrarily, and is detested. Madame de Choiseul, +passionately fond of her husband, was the martyr of this union, but at +last submitted with a good grace; has gained a little credit with him, +and is still believed to idolize him. But I doubt it--she takes too much +pains to profess it. + +I cannot finish my list without adding a much more common character--but +more complete in its kind than any of the foregoing, the Marechale de +Luxembourg. She has been very handsome, very abandoned, and very +mischievous. Her beauty is gone, her lovers are gone, and she thinks the +devil is coming. This dejection has softened her into being rather +agreeable, for she has wit and good-breeding; but you would swear, by +the restlessness of her person and the horrors she cannot conceal, that +she had signed the compact, and expected to be called upon in a week for +the performance. + +I could add many pictures, but none so remarkable. In those I send you +there is not a feature bestowed gratis or exaggerated. For the beauties, +of which there are a few considerable, as Mesdames de Brionne, de +Monaco, et d'Egmont, they have not yet lost their characters, nor got +any. + +You must not attribute my intimacy with Paris to curiosity alone. An +accident unlocked the doors for me. That _passe-par-tout_ called the +fashion has made them fly open--and what do you think was that +fashion?--I myself. Yes, like Queen Eleanor in the ballad, I sunk at +Charing Cross, and have risen in the Fauxbourg St. Germain. A +_plaisanterie_ on Rousseau, whose arrival here in his way to you brought +me acquainted with many anecdotes conformable to the idea I had +conceived of him, got about, was liked much more than it deserved, +spread like wild-fire, and made me the subject of conversation. +Rousseau's devotees were offended. Madame de Boufflers, with a tone of +sentiment, and the accents of lamenting humanity, abused me heartily, +and then complained to myself with the utmost softness. I acted +contrition, but had liked to have spoiled all, by growing dreadfully +tired of a second lecture from the Prince of Conti, who took up the +ball, and made himself the hero of a history wherein he had nothing to +do. I listened, did not understand half he said (nor he either), forgot +the rest, said Yes when I should have said No, yawned when I should have +smiled, and was very penitent when I should have rejoiced at my pardon. +Madame de Boufflers was more distressed, for he owned twenty times more +than I had said: she frowned, and made him signs; but she had wound up +his clack, and there was no stopping it. The moment she grew angry, the +lord of the house grew charmed, and it has been my fault if I am not at +the head of a numerous sect; but, when I left a triumphant party in +England, I did not come here to be at the head of a fashion. However, I +have been sent for about like an African prince, or a learned +canary-bird, and was, in particular, carried by force to the Princess of +Talmond,[1] the Queen's cousin, who lives in a charitable apartment in +the Luxembourg, and was sitting on a small bed hung with saints and +Sobieskis, in a corner of one of those vast chambers, by two blinking +tapers. I stumbled over a cat and a footstool in my journey to her +presence. She could not find a syllable to say to me, and the visit +ended with her begging a lap-dog. Thank the Lord! though this is the +first month, it is the last week of my reign; and I shall resign my +crown with great satisfaction to a _bouillie_ of chestnuts, which is +just invented, and whose annals will be illustrated by so many +indigestions, that Paris will not want anything else these three weeks. +I will enclose the fatal letter[2] after I have finished this enormous +one; to which I will only add, that nothing has interrupted my Sevigne +researches but the frost. The Abbe de Malesherbes has given me full +power to ransack Livry. I did not tell you, that by great accident, when +I thought on nothing less, I stumbled on an original picture of the +Comte de Grammont. Adieu! You are generally in London in March; I shall +be there by the end of it.[3] + +[Footnote 1: The Princess of Talmond was born in Poland, and said to be +allied to the Queen, Marie Leczinska, with whom she came to France, and +there married a prince of the house of Bouillon.] + +[Footnote 2: The letter from the King of Prussia to Rousseau.--WALPOLE.] + +[Footnote 3: Gray, in reference to this letter, writes thus to Dr. +Wharton, on the 5th of March:--"Mr. Walpole writes me now and then a +long and lively letter from Paris, to which place he went the last +summer, with the gout upon him; sometimes in his limbs; often in his +stomach and head. He has got somehow well (not by means of the climate, +one would think) goes to all public places, sees all the best company, +and is very much in fashion. He says he sunk, like Queen Eleanor, at +Charing Cross, and has risen again at Paris. He returns again in April; +but his health is certainly in a deplorable state."--_Works by Mitford_, +vol. iv. p. 79.] + + +_SITUATION OF AFFAIRS IN ENGLAND--CARDINAL YORK--DEATH OF STANILAUS +LECZINSKI, EX-KING OF POLAND._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +PARIS, _Feb._ 29, 1766. + +I have received your letters very regularly, and though I have not sent +you nearly so many, yet I have not been wanting to our correspondence, +when I have had anything particular to say, or knew what to say. The +Duke of Richmond has been gone to England this fortnight; he had a +great deal of business, besides engagements here; and if he has failed +writing, at least I believe he received yours. Mr. Conway, I suppose, +has received them too, but not to my knowledge; for I have received but +one from him this age. He has had something else to do than to think of +Pretenders, and pretenders to pretensions. It has been a question (and a +question scarcely decided yet) not only whether he and his friends +should remain Ministers, but whether we should not draw the sword on our +colonies, and provoke them and the manufacturers at home to rebellion. +The goodness of Providence, or Fortune by its permission, has +interposed, and I hope prevented blood; though George Grenville and the +Duke of Bedford, who so mercifully checked our victories, in compassion +to France, grew heroes the moment there was an opportunity of conquering +our own brethren. It was actually moved by them and their banditti to +send troops to America. The stout Earl of Bute, who is never afraid when +not personally in danger, joined his troops to his ancient friends, late +foes, and now new allies. Yet this second race of Spaniards, so fond of +gold and thirsting after American blood, were routed by 274; their whole +force amounting but to 134. The Earl, astonished at this defeat, had +recourse to that kind of policy which Machiavel recommends in his +chapter of _back-stairs_. Caesar himself disavowed his Ministers, and +declared he had not been for the repeal, and that his servants had used +his name without his permission. A paper was produced to his eyes, +which proved this denial an equivocation. The Ministers, instead of +tossing their places into the middle of the closet, as I should have +done, had the courage and virtue to stand firm, and save both Europe and +America from destruction. + +At that instant, who do you think presented himself as Lord Bute's +guardian angel? only one of his bitterest enemies: a milk-white angel +[Duke of York], white even to his eyes and eyelashes, very purblind, and +whose tongue runs like a fiddlestick. You have seen this divinity, and +have prayed to it for a Riband. Well, this god of love became the god of +politics, and contrived meetings between Bute, Grenville, and Bedford; +but, what happens to highwaymen _after_ a robbery, happened to them +_before_; they quarrelled about the division of the plunder, before they +had made the capture--and thus, when the last letters came away, the +repeal was likely to pass in both houses, and tyranny once more +despairs. + +This is the quintessence of the present situation in England. To how +many _North Britons_, No. 45, will that wretched Scot furnish matter? +But let us talk of your _Cardinal Duke of York_[1]: so his folly has +left his brother in a worse situation than he took him up! _York_ seems +a title fated to sit on silly heads--or don't let us talk of him; he is +not worth it. + +[Footnote 1: Cardinal York was the younger brother of Charles Edward. He +lived in Italy; and, after the death of his brother, assumed the title +of King of England as Henry IX. After the confiscation of the greater +part of the Papal revenues by Napoleon, his chief means of livelihood +was a pension of L4,000 a year allowed him by George IV. out of his +private purse.] + +I am so sorry for the death of Lady Hillsborough, as I suppose Mr. +Skreene is glad of his consort's departure. She was a common creature, +bestowed on the public by Lord Sandwich. Lady Hillsborough had sense and +merit, and is a great loss to her family. By letters hither, we hear +miserable accounts of poor Sir James Macdonald; pray let him know that I +have written to him, and how much I am concerned for his situation. + +This Court is plunged into another deep mourning for the death of old +Stanislaus,[1] who fell into the fire; it caught his night-gown and +burnt him terribly before he got assistance. His subjects are in +despair, for he was a model of goodness and humanity; uniting or rather +creating, generosity from economy. The Poles had not the sense to +re-elect him, after his virtues were proved, they who had chosen him +before they knew him. I am told such was the old man's affection for his +country, and persuasion that he ought to do all the good he could, that +he would have gone to Poland if they had offered him the crown. He has +left six hundred thousand livres, and a _rente viagere_ of forty +thousand crowns to the Queen, saved from the sale of his Polish estates, +from his pension of two millions, and from his own liberality. His +buildings, his employment of the poor, his magnificence, and his +economy, were constant topics of admiration. Not only the court-tables +were regularly and nobly served, but he treated, and defrayed his old +enemy's grand-daughter, the Princess Christina, on her journey hither to +see her sister the Dauphiness. When mesdames his grand-daughters made +him an unexpected visit, he was so disturbed for fear it should derange +his finances, which he thought were not in advance, that he shut himself +up for an hour with his treasurer, to find resources; was charmed to +know he should not run in debt, and entertained them magnificently. His +end was calm and gay, like his life, though he suffered terribly, and he +said so extraordinary a life could not finish in a common way. To a lady +who had set her ruffle on fire, and scorched her arm about the same +time, he said, "Madame, nous brulons du meme feu." The poor Queen had +sent him the very night-gown that occasioned his death: he wrote to her, +"C'etoit pour me tenir chaud, mais il m'a tenu trop chaud." + +[Footnote 1: Stanislaus Leczinski was the father of the queen of Louis +XV. On the conclusion of peace between France and the Empire it was +arranged that the Duke of Lorraine should exchange that duchy for +Tuscany, and that Lorraine should be allotted to Stanislaus, with a +reversion to his daughter and to France after his death.] + +Yesterday we had the funeral oration on the Dauphin; and are soon to +have one on Stanislaus. It is a noble subject; but if I had leisure, I +would compose a grand funeral oration on the number of princes dead +within these six months. What fine pictures, contrasts, and comparisons +they would furnish! The Duke of Parma and the King of Denmark reigning +virtuously with absolute power! The Emperor at the head of Europe, and +encompassed with mimic Roman eagles, tied to the apron-strings, of a +bigoted and jealous virago. The Dauphin cultivating virtues under the +shade of so bright a crown, and shining only at the moment that he was +snatched from the prospect of empire. The old Pretender wasting away in +obscurity and misfortune, after surviving the Duke of Cumberland, who +had given the last blow to the hopes of his family; and Stanislaus +perishing by an accident,--he who had swam over the billows raised by +Peter the Great and Charles XII., and reigning, while his successor and +second of his name was reigning on his throne. It is not taking from the +funereal part to add, that when so many good princes die, the Czarina is +still living! + +The public again thinks itself on the eve of a war, by the recall of +Stahremberg, the Imperial Minister. It seems at least to destroy the +expectation of a match between the youngest Archduchess and the Dauphin, +which it was thought Stahremberg remained here to bring about. I like +your Great Duke for feeling the loss of his Minister. It is seldom that +a young sovereign misses a governor before he tastes the fruits of his +own incapacity. + +_March_ 1_st_. + +We have got more letters from England, where the Ministers are still +triumphant. They had a majority of 108 on the day that it was voted to +bring in a bill to repeal the Stamp Act. George Grenville's ignorance +and blunders were displayed to his face and to the whole world; he was +hissed through the Court of Requests, where Mr. Conway was huzza'd. It +went still farther for Mr. Pitt, whom the mob accompanied home with "Io +Pitts!" This is new for an opposition to be so unpopular. Adieu! + + +_SINGULAR RIOT IN MADRID--CHANGES IN THE FRENCH MINISTRY--INSURRECTIONS +IN THE PROVINCES._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +PARIS, _April_ 8, 1766. + +I sent you a few lines by the post yesterday with the first accounts of +the insurrections at Madrid.[1] I have since seen Stahremberg, the +imperial minister,[2] who has had a courier from thence; and if Lord +Rochford has not sent one, you will not be sorry to know more +particulars. The mob disarmed the Invalids; stopped all coaches, to +prevent Squillaci's[3] flight; and meeting the Duke de Medina Celi, +forced him and the Duke d'Arcos to carry their demands to the King. His +most frightened Majesty granted them directly; on which his highness the +people despatched a monk with their demands in writing, couched in four +articles: the diminution of the gabel on bread and oil; the revocation +of the ordonnance on hats and cloaks; the banishment of Squillaci; and +the abolition of some other tax, I don't know what. The King signed +all; yet was still forced to appear in a balcony, and promise to observe +what he had granted. Squillaci was sent with an escort to Carthagena, to +embark for Naples, and the first commissioner of the treasury appointed +to succeed him; which does not look much like observation of the +conditions. Some say Ensenada is recalled, and that Grimaldi is in no +good odour with the people. If the latter and Squillaci are dismissed, +we get rid of two enemies. + +[Footnote 1: The Spanish Government had taken on itself to regulate +dress, and to introduce French fashions into Madrid--an innovation so +offensive to Spanish pride, that it gave rise to a formidable +insurrection, of which the populace took advantage to demand the removal +of some obnoxious taxes.] + +[Footnote 2: Prince Stahremberg was the imperial ambassador at Madrid.] + +[Footnote 3: Signor Squillaci, an Italian, was the Spanish Prime +Minister.] + +The tumult ceased on the grant of the demands; but the King retiring +that night to Aranjuez, the insurrection was renewed the next morning, +on pretence that this flight was a breach of the capitulation. The +people seized the gates of the capital, and permitted nobody to go out. +In this state were things when the courier came away. The ordonnance +against going in disguise looks as if some suspicions had been +conceived; and yet their confidence was so great as not to have two +thousand guards in the town. The pitiful behaviour of the Court makes +one think that the Italians were frightened, and that the Spanish part +of the ministry were not sorry it took that turn. As I suppose there is +no great city in Spain which has not at least a bigger bundle of +grievances than the capital, one shall not wonder if the pusillanimous +behaviour of the King encourages them to redress themselves too. + +There is what is called a change of the ministry here; but it is only a +crossing over and figuring in. The Duc de Praslin has wished to retire +for some time; and for this last fortnight there has been much talk of +his being replaced by the Duc d'Aiguillon, the Duc de Nivernois, &c.; +but it is plain, though not believed till _now_, that the Duc de +Choiseul is all-powerful. To purchase the stay of his cousin Praslin, on +whom he can depend, and to leave no cranny open, he has ceded the marine +and colonies to the Duc de Praslin, and taken the foreign and military +department himself. His cousin is, besides, named _chef du conseil des +finances_; a very honourable, very dignified, and very idle place, and +never filled since the Duc de Bethune had it. Praslin's hopeful cub, the +Viscount, whom you saw in England last year, goes to Naples; and the +Marquis de Durfort to Vienna--a cold, dry, proud man, with the figure +and manner of Lord Cornbury. + +Great matters are expected to-day from the Parliament, which +re-assembles. A _mousquetaire_, his piece loaded with a _lettre de +cachet_, went about a fortnight ago to the notary who keeps the +parliamentary registers, and demanded them. They were refused--but given +up, on the _lettre de cachet_ being produced. The Parliament intends to +try the notary for breach of trust, which I suppose will make his +fortune; though he has not the merit of perjury, like Carteret Webb. + +There have been insurrections at Bourdeaux and Toulouse on the militia, +and twenty-seven persons were killed at the latter; but both are +appeased. These things are so much in vogue, that I wonder the French do +not dress _a la revolte_. The Queen is in a very dangerous way. This +will be my last letter; but I am not sure I shall set out before the +middle of next week. Yours ever. + + +_THE BATH GUIDE--SWIFT'S CORRESPONDENCE._ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 20, 1766. + +I don't know when I shall see you, but therefore must not I write to +you? yet I have as little to say as may be. I could cry through a whole +page over the bad weather. I have but a lock of hay, you know, and I +cannot get it dry, unless I bring it to the fire. I would give +half-a-crown for a pennyworth of sun. It is abominable to be ruined in +coals in the middle of June. + +What pleasure have you to come! there is a new thing published, that +will make you burst your cheeks with laughing. It is called the "New +Bath Guide."[1] It stole into the world, and for a fortnight no soul +looked into it, concluding its name was its true name. No such thing. It +is a set of letters in verse, in all kind of verses, describing the life +at Bath, and incidentally everything else; but so much wit, so much +humour, fun, and poetry, so much originality, never met together before. +Then the man has a better ear than Dryden or Handel. _Apropos_ to +Dryden, he has burlesqued his St. Cecilia, that you will never read it +again without laughing. There is a description of a milliner's box in +all the terms of landscape, _painted lawns and chequered shades_, a +Moravian ode, and a Methodist ditty, that are incomparable, and the best +names that ever were composed. I can say it by heart, though a quarto, +and if I had time would write it you down; for it is not yet reprinted, +and not one to be had. + +[Footnote 1: By Christopher Anstey. "Have you read the 'New Bath Guide'? +It is the only thing in fashion, and is a new and original kind of +humour. Miss Prue's conversation I doubt you will paste down, as Sir W. +St. Quintyn did before he carried it to his daughter; yet I remember you +all read 'Crazy Tales' without pasting" (_Gray to Wharton.--Works by +Mitford_, vol. iv. p. 84).] + +There are two new volumes, too, of Swift's Correspondence, that will not +amuse you less in another way, though abominable, for there are letters +of twenty persons now alive; fifty of Lady Betty Germain, one that does +her great honour, in which she defends her friend my Lady Suffolk, with +all the spirit in the world,[1] against that brute, who hated everybody +that he hoped would get him a mitre, and did not. There is one to his +Miss Vanhomrigh, from which I think it plain he lay with her, +notwithstanding his supposed incapacity, yet not doing much honour to +that capacity, for he says he can drink coffee but once a week, and I +think you will see very clearly what he means by coffee. His own journal +sent to Stella during the four last years of the Queen, is a fund of +entertainment. You will see his insolence in full colours, and, at the +same time, how daily vain he was of being noticed by the Ministers he +affected to treat arrogantly. His panic at the Mohocks is comical; but +what strikes one, is bringing before one's eyes the incidents of a +curious period. He goes to the rehearsal of "Cato," and says the _drab_ +that acted Cato's daughter could not say her part. This was only Mrs. +Oldfield. I was saying before George Selwyn, that this journal put me in +mind of the present time, there was the same indecision, irresolution, +and want of system; but I added, "There is nothing new under the sun." +"No," said Selwyn, "nor under the grandson." + +[Footnote 1: The letter dated Feb. 8, 1732-3.] + +My Lord Chesterfield has done me much honour: he told Mrs. Anne Pitt +that he would subscribe to any politics I should lay down. When she +repeated this to me, I said, "Pray tell him I have laid down politics." + +I am got into puns, and will tell you an excellent one of the King of +France, though it does not spell any better than Selwyn's. You must have +heard of Count Lauragais, and his horse-race, and his quacking his horse +till he killed it.[1] At his return the King asked him what he had been +doing in England? "Sire, j'ai appris a penser"--"Des chevaux?"[2] +replied the King. Good night! I am tired and going to bed. Yours ever. + +[Footnote 1: In a previous letter Walpole mentioned that the Count and +the English Lord Forbes had had a race, which the Count lost; and that, +as his horse died the following night, surgeons were employed to open +the body, and they declared he had been poisoned. "The English," says +Walpole, "suspect that a groom, who, I suppose, had been reading Livy or +Demosthenes, poisoned it on patriotic principles to secure victory to +his country. The French, on the contrary, think poison as common as oats +or beans in the stables at Newmarket. In short, there is no impertinence +which they have not uttered; and it has gone so far that two nights ago +it was said that the King had forbidden another race which was appointed +for Monday between the Prince de Nassau and a Mr. Forth, to prevent +national animosities."] + +[Footnote 2: Louis pretending to think he had said _pansen_.] + + +_BATH--WESLEY._ + +TO JOHN CHUTE, ESQ. + +BATH, _Oct._ 10, 1766. + +I am impatient to hear that your charity to me has not ended in the gout +to yourself--all my comfort is, if you have it, that you have good Lady +Brown to nurse you.[1] + +[Footnote 1: In a letter of the preceding week he mentions having gone +to Bath to drink the waters there, but "is disappointed in the city. +Their new buildings, that are so admired, look like a collection of +little hospitals. The rest is detestable, and all crammed together, and +surrounded with perpendicular hills that have no beauty. The river [the +Avon] is paltry enough to be the Seine or the Tiber. Oh! how unlike my +lovely Thames!"] + +My health advances faster than my amusement. However, I have been to one +opera, Mr. Wesley's. They have boys and girls with charming voices, that +sing hymns, in parts, to Scotch ballad tunes; but indeed so long, that +one would think they were already in eternity, and knew how much time +they had before them. The chapel is very neat, with true Gothic windows +(yet I am not converted); but I was glad to see that luxury is creeping +in upon them before persecution: they have very neat mahogany stands for +branches, and brackets of the same in taste. At the upper end is a broad +_hautpas_ of four steps, advancing in the middle: at each end of the +broadest part are two of _my_ eagles, with red cushions for the parson +and clerk. Behind them rise three more steps, in the midst of which is a +third eagle for pulpit. Scarlet armed chairs to all three. On either +hand, a balcony for elect ladies. The rest of the congregation sit on +forms. Behind the pit, in a dark niche, is a plain table within rails; +so you see the throne is for the apostle. Wesley is a lean elderly man, +fresh-coloured, his hair smoothly combed, but with a _soupcon_ of curl +at the ends. Wondrous clean, but as evidently an actor as Garrick. He +spoke his sermon, but so fast, and with so little accent, that I am sure +he has often uttered it, for it was like a lesson. There were parts and +eloquence in it; but towards the end he exalted his voice, and acted +very ugly enthusiasm; decried learning, and told stories, like Latimer, +of the fool of his college, who said, "I _thanks_ God for everything." +Except a few from curiosity, and _some honourable women_, the +congregation was very mean. There was a Scotch Countess of Buchan, who +is carrying a pure rosy vulgar face to heaven, and who asked Miss Rich, +if that was _the author of the poets_. I believe she meant me and the +"Noble Authors." + +The Bedfords came last night. Lord Chatham was with me yesterday two +hours; looks and walks well, and is in excellent political spirits. + + +_MINISTERIAL DIFFICULTIES--RETURN OF LORD CLIVE._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 20, 1767. + +You have heard enough, even in the late reign, of our +_interministeriums_, not to be surprised that the present lasts so +long. I am not writing now to tell you it is at an end; but I thought +you might grow impatient. + +The Parliament was scarcely separated when a negotiation was begun with +the Bedfords, through Lord Gower; with a view to strengthen the remains +of Administration by that faction,[1] but with no intention of including +George Grenville, who is more hated at Court than he is even in other +places. After some treaty, Lord Gower, much against his will, I believe, +was forced to bring word, that there was no objection made by his +friends to the Treasury remaining in the Duke of Grafton; that Grenville +would support without a place; but Lord Temple (who the deuce thought of +Lord Temple?) insisted on equal power, as he had demanded with Lord +Chatham. There was no end of that treaty! Another was then begun with +Lord Rockingham. He pleaded want of strength in his party, and he might +have pleaded almost every other want--and asked if he might talk to the +Bedfords. Yes! he might talk to whom he pleased, but the King insisted +on keeping the Chancellor, "and me," said the Duke of Grafton; but +added, that for himself, he was very willing to cede the Treasury to his +Lordship. Away goes the Marquis to Woburn; and, to charm the King more, +negotiates with both Grenvilles too. These last, who had demanded +everything of the Crown, were all submission to the Marquis, and yet +could not dupe him so fast as he tried to be duped. Oh! all, all were +ready to stay out, or turn their friends in, or what he pleased. He took +this for his own talents in negotiation, came back highly pleased, and +notified his success. The Duke of Grafton wrote to him that the King +meant they should come in, _to extend and strengthen his +Administration_. Too elated with his imaginary power, the Marquis +returned an answer, insolently civil to the Duke, and not commonly +decent for the place it was to be carried to. It said, that his Lordship +had laid it down for a principle of the treaty, that the present +Administration was at an end. That supposed, _he_ was ready to _form_ a +comprehensive Ministry, but first must talk to the King. + +[Footnote 1: The difficulties were caused by Lord Chatham's illness. He, +though Prime Minister, only held the office of Lord Privy Seal, the Duke +of Grafton being First Lord of the Treasury; consequently, when Lord +Chatham became incapable of transacting any business whatever, even of +signing a resignation of his office, the Duke became the Prime Minister, +and continued so for three years.] + +Instead of such an answer as such a _remonstrance_ deserved, a very +prudent reply was made. The King approved the idea of a comprehensive +Administration: he desired to unite the hearts of _all_ his subjects: he +meant to exclude men of no denomination attached to his person and +government; it was such a Ministry that _he_ intended to _appoint_. When +his Lordship should have _formed a plan_ on such views, his Majesty +would be ready to receive it from him. The great statesman was wofully +puzzled on receiving this message. However, he has summoned his new +allies to assist in composing a scheme or list. When they bring it, how +they will bring it formed, or whether they will ever bring it, the Lord +knows. There the matter rests at present. If the Marquis does not alter +his tone, he sinks for ever, and from being the head of a separate band, +he must fall into the train of Grenville, the man whom he and his +friends opposed on all the arbitrary acts of that Ministry, and whom +they have irremissibly offended by repealing his darling Stamp Act. +_Apropos_, America is pacified, and the two factions cannot join to fish +in troubled waters, there, at least. + +Lord Clive[1] is arrived, has brought a million for himself, two diamond +drops worth twelve thousand pounds for the Queen, a scimitar dagger, and +other matters, covered with brilliants, for the King, and worth +twenty-four thousand more. These _baubles_ are presents from the deposed +and imprisoned Mogul, whose poverty can still afford to give such +bribes. Lord Clive refused some overplus, and gave it to some widows of +officers: it amounted to ninety thousand pounds. He has _reduced_ the +appointments of the Governor of Bengal to thirty-two thousand pounds a +year; and, what is better, has left such a chain of forts and +distribution of troops as will entirely secure possession of the +country--till we lose it. Thus having composed the Eastern and Western +worlds, we are at leisure to kick and cuff for our own little island, +which is great satisfaction; and I don't doubt but my Lord Temple hopes +that we shall be so far engaged before France and Spain are ripe to +meddle with us, that when they do come, they will not be able to +re-unite us. + +[Footnote 1: It is hardly necessary to point out that this is the taker +of Arcot, the victor of Plassey, and even now second to none but Warren +Hastings in the splendid roll of Governors-General.] + +Don't let me forget to tell you, that of all the friends you have shot +flying, there is no one whose friendship for you is so little dead as +Lord Hillsborough's. He spoke to me earnestly about your Riband the +other day, and said he had pressed to have it given to you. Write and +thank him. You have missed one by Lord Clive's returning alive, unless +he should give a hamper of diamonds for the Garter. + +Well! I have remembered every point but one--and see how he is +forgotten! Lord Chatham! He was pressed to come forth and set the +Administration on its legs again. He pleaded total incapacity; grew +worse and grows better. Oh! how he ought to dread recovering! + +Mr. Conway resigns the day after to-morrow. I hope in a week to tell you +something more positive than the uncertainties in this letter. +Good-night. + + +_DEATH OF CHARLES TOWNSHEND AND OF THE DUKE OF YORK--WHIST THE NEW +FASHION IN FRANCE._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +PARIS, _Sept._ 27, 1767. + +Since you insist on my writing from hence, I will; I intended to defer +it a few days longer, as I shall set out on my return this day +se'nnight. + +Within the five weeks of my being here, there have happened three +deaths, which certainly nobody expected six weeks ago. Yet, though the +persons were all considerable, their loss will make little impression on +the state of any affairs. + +Monsieur de Guerchy returned from his embassy with us about a month +before my arrival. He had been out of order some time, and had taken +waters, yet seeing him so often I had perceived no change, till I was +made to remark it, and then I did not think it considerable. On my +arrival, I was shocked at the precipitate alteration. He was emaciated, +yellow, and scarcely able to support himself. A fever came on in ten +days, mortification ensued, and carried him off. It is said that he had +concealed and tampered indiscreetly with an old complaint, acquired +before his marriage. This was his radical death; I doubt, vexation and +disappointment fermented the wound. Instead of the duchy he hoped, his +reception was freezing. He was a frank, gallant gentleman; universally +beloved with us; hated I believe by nobody, and by no means inferior in +understanding to many who affected to despise his abilities. + +But our comet is set too! Charles Townshend[1] is dead. All those parts +and fire are extinguished; those volatile salts are evaporated; that +first eloquence of the world is dumb! that duplicity is fixed, that +cowardice terminated heroically. He joked on death as naturally as he +used to do on the living, and not with the affectation of philosophers, +who wind up their works with sayings which they hope to have remembered. +With a robust person he had always a menacing constitution. He had had a +fever the whole summer, recovered as it was thought, relapsed, was +neglected, and it turned to an incurable putrid fever. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Townshend was Chancellor of the Exchequer; and he +might have been added by Lord Macaulay to his list of men whom their +eloquence had caused to be placed in offices for which they were totally +unfit; for he had not only no special knowledge of finance, but he was +one of the most careless and incautious of mankind, even in his oratory. +In that, however, after the retirement of Lord Chatham, he seems to have +had no rival in either house but Mr. Burke. It was to his heedless +resumption of Grenville's plan of taxing our colonies in North America +that our loss of them was owing. In his "Memoirs of the Reign of George +III." Walpole gives the following description of him: "Charles +Townshend, who had studied nothing with accuracy or attention, had parts +that embraced all knowledge with such quickness that he seemed to create +knowledge, instead of searching for it; and, ready as Burke's wit was, +it appeared artificial when set by that of Townshend, which was so +abundant that in him it seemed a loss of time to think. He had but to +speak, and all he said was new, natural, and yet uncommon. If Burke +replied extempore, his very answers that sprang from what had been said +by others were so pointed and artfully arranged that they wore the +appearance of study and preparation; like beautiful translations, they +seemed to want the soul of the original author. Townshend's speeches, +like the 'Satires' of Pope, had a thousand times more sense and meaning +than the majestic blank verse of Pitt; and yet the latter, like Milton, +stalked with a conscious dignity of pre-eminence, and fascinated his +audience with that respect which always attends the pompous but often +hollow idea of the sublime." Burke, too, in one of his speeches on +American affairs, utters a still warmer panegyric on his character and +abilities, while lamenting his policy and its fruits: "I speak of +Charles Townshend, officially the reproducer of this fatal scheme [the +taxation of the colonies], whom I cannot, even now, remember without +some degree of sensibility. In truth, Sir, he was the delight and +ornament of this House, and the charm of every private society which he +honoured with his presence. Perhaps there never arose in this country, +nor in any country, a man of a more pointed and finished wit, and (where +his passions were not concerned) of a more refined, exquisite, and +penetrating judgment. If he had not so great a stock, as some have had +who flourished formerly, of knowledge long treasured up, he knew better +by far than any man I was ever acquainted with how to bring together +within a short time all that was necessary to establish, to illustrate, +and to decorate that side of the question he supported. He stated his +matter skillfully and powerfully. He particularly excelled in a most +luminous explanation and display of his subject. His style of argument +was neither trite nor vulgar, nor subtle and abstruse. He hit the House +between wind and water; and, not being troubled with too anxious a zeal +for any matter in question, he was never more tedious nor more earnest +than the preconceived opinions and present temper of his hearers +required, with whom he was always in perfect unison. He conformed +exactly to the temper of the House; and he seemed to lead because he was +always sure to follow it."] + +The Opposition expected that the loss of this essential pin would loosen +the whole frame; but it had been hard, if both his life and death were +to be pernicious to the Administration. He had engaged to betray the +latter to the former, as I knew early, and as Lord Mansfield has since +declared. I therefore could not think the loss of him a misfortune. His +seals were immediately offered to Lord North,[1] who declined them. The +Opposition rejoiced; but they ought to have been better acquainted with +one educated in their own school. Lord North has since accepted the +seals--and the reversion of his father's pension. + +[Footnote 1: Lord North succeeded Townshend as Chancellor of the +Exchequer; and, when the Duke of Grafton retired, he became First Lord +of the Treasury also, and continued to hold both offices till the spring +of 1782.] + +While that eccentric genius, Charles Townshend, whom no system could +contain, is whirled out of existence, our more artificial meteor, Lord +Chatham, seems to be wheeling back to the sphere of business--at least +his health is declared to be re-established; but he has lost his +adorers, the mob, and I doubt the wise men will not travel after his +light. + +You, my dear Sir, will be most concerned for the poor Duke of York,[1] +who has ended his silly, good-humoured, troublesome career, in a piteous +manner. He had come to the camp at Compiegne, without his brother's +approbation, but had been received here not only with every proper mark +of distinction, but with the utmost kindness. He had succeeded, too, was +attentive, civil, obliging, lively, pleased, and very happy in his +replies. Charmed with a Court so lively in comparison of the monastic +scene at home, he had promised to return for Fontainebleau, and then +scampered away as fast as he could ride or drive all round the South of +France, intending to visit a lady at Genoa, with whom he was in love, +whenever he had a minute's time. The Duc de Villars gave him a ball at +his country-house, between Aix and Marseilles; the Duke of York danced +at it all night as hard as if it made part of his road, and then in a +violent sweat, and without changing his linen, got into his postchaise. +At Marseilles the scene changed. He arrived in a fever, and found among +his letters, which he had ordered to meet him there, one from the King +his brother, forbidding him to go to Compiegne, by the advice of the +Hereditary Prince. He was struck with this letter, which he had +ignorantly disobeyed, and by the same ignorance had not answered. He +proceeded, however, on his journey, but grew so ill that his gentlemen +carried him to Monaco, where he arrived on the third, and languished +with great suffering until the seventeenth. He behaved with the most +perfect tranquillity and courage, made a short will, and the day before +he died dictated to Colonel St. John, a letter to the King, in which he +begged his forgiveness for every instance in which he had offended him, +and entreated his favour to his servants. He would have particularly +recommended St. John, but the young man said handsomely, "Sir, if the +letter were written by your Royal Highness yourself, it would be most +kind to me; but I cannot name myself." The Prince of Monaco, who +happened to be on the spot, was unbounded in his attentions to him, both +of care and honours; and visited him every hour till the Duke grew too +weak to see him. Two days before he died the Duke sent for the Prince, +and thanked him. The Prince burst into tears and could not speak, and +retiring, begged the Duke's officers to prevent his being sent for +again, for the shock was too great. They made as magnificent a coffin +and pall for him as the time and place would admit, and in the evening +of the 17th the body was embarked on board an English ship, which +received the corpse with military honours, the cannon of the town +saluting it with the same discharge as is paid to a Marshal of France. +St. John and Morrison embarked with the body, and Colonel Wrottesley +passed through here with the news. The poor lad was in tears the whole +time he stayed.... + +[Footnote 1: The Duke of York was the King's younger brother.] + +You tell me of the French playing at whist;[1] why, I found it +established when I was last here. I told them they were very good to +imitate us in anything, but that they had adopted the two dullest things +we have, Whist and Richardson's Novels. + +[Footnote 1: Walpole here speaks of whist as a game of but new +introduction in Paris, though it had been for some time established with +us. And the great authority on that scientific and beautiful game, the +late Mr. James Clay, writing about twenty years ago, fixes "thirty or +more years" before that date as the time when first "we began to hear of +the great Paris players. There was," he says, "a wide difference between +their system and our own," the special distinction being that "the +English player of the old school never thought of winning the game until +he saw that it was saved; the French player never thought of saving the +game until he saw that he could not win it;" and "if forced to take his +choice between these systems carried to their extremes." Mr. Clay +"would, without hesitation, prefer the game of rash attack" (that is, +the French system) "to that of over-cautious defence." And he assigns to +a French player, M. Des Chapelles, "the credit of being the finest +whist-player, beyond any comparison, the world has ever seen."] + +So you and the Pope are going to have the Emperor! Times are a little +altered; no Guelphs and Ghibellines[1] now. I do not think the Caesar of +the day will hold his Holiness's stirrup[2] while he mounts his palfrey. +Adieu! + +[Footnote 1: "_Guelfs and Ghibellines._" These two names were first +heard in the latter part of the twelfth century, to distinguish the +partisans of the Emperor and the Pope. "The Guelfs or Welfs were the +ancestors of Henry the Proud, who, through his mother, represented the +ancient Dukes of Saxony. The word Ghibelin is derived from Wibelung, a +town in Franconia, from which the emperors of that time are said to nave +sprung. The house of Swabia were considered in Germany as representing +that of Franconia" (Hallam, "Middle Ages," ii. p. 101).] + +[Footnote 2: "_His Holiness's stirrup._" This refers to the humiliation +imposed on the Emperor Frederic Barbarossa by Pope Alexander III., as +related by Byron in his note on "Childe Harold," c. iv. st. 12.] + + +_SOME NEW POEMS OF GRAY--WALPOLE'S "HISTORIC DOUBTS"--BOSWELL'S +"CORSICA."_ + +TO MR. GRAY. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Feb._ 18, 1768. + +You have sent me a long and very obliging letter, and yet I am extremely +out of humour with you. I saw _Poems_ by _Mr. Gray_ advertised: I called +directly at Dodsley's to know if this was to be more than a new edition? +He was not at home himself, but his foreman told me he thought there +were some new pieces, and notes to the whole. It was very unkind, not +only to go out of town without mentioning them to me, without showing +them to me, but not to say a word of them in this letter. Do you think I +am indifferent, or not curious about what you write? I have ceased to +ask you, because you have so long refused to show me anything. You could +not suppose I thought that you never write. No; but I concluded you did +not intend, at least yet, to publish what you had written. As you did +intend it, I might have expected a month's preference. You will do me +the justice to own that I had always rather have seen your writings than +have shown you mine; which you know are the most hasty trifles in the +world, and which though I may be fond of the subject when fresh, I +constantly forget in a very short time after they are published. This +would sound like affectation to others, but will not to you. It would be +affected, even to you, to say I am indifferent to fame. I certainly am +not, but I am indifferent to almost anything I have done to acquire it. +The greater part are mere compilations; and no wonder they are, as you +say, incorrect, when they are commonly written with people in the room, +as "Richard"[1] and the "Noble Authors" were. But I doubt there is a +more intrinsic fault in them: which is, that I cannot correct them. If I +write tolerably, it must be at once; I can neither mend nor add. The +articles of Lord Capel and Lord Peterborough, in the second edition of +the "Noble Authors," cost me more trouble than all the rest together: +and you may perceive that the worst part of "Richard," in point of ease +and style, is what relates to the papers you gave me on Jane Shore, +because it was tacked on so long afterwards, and when my impetus was +chilled. If some time or other you will take the trouble of pointing out +the inaccuracies of it, I shall be much obliged to you: at present I +shall meddle no more with it. It has taken its fate: nor did I mean to +complain. I found it was condemned indeed beforehand, which was what I +alluded to. Since publication (as has happened to me before) the success +has gone beyond my expectation. + +[Footnote 1: He is here alluding to his own very clever essay, entitled +"Historic Doubts on the Life and Reign of Richard III." It failed to +convince Hume; but can hardly be denied to be a singularly acute +specimen of historical criticism. It does not, indeed, prove Richard to +have been innocent of all the crimes imputed to him; but it proves +conclusively that much of the evidence by which the various charges are +supported is false. In an earlier letter he mentions having first made +"a discovery, one of the most marvellous ever made. In short, it is the +original Coronation Roll of Richard, by which it appears that very +magnificent robes were ordered for Edward V., and that he did or was to +walk at his uncle's coronation." The letter, from which this passage is +an extract, was to a certain extent an answer to one from Gray, who, +while praising the ingenuity of his arguments, avowed himself still +unconvinced by them.] + +Not only at Cambridge, but here, there have been people wise enough to +think me too free with the King of Prussia! A newspaper has talked of my +known inveteracy to him. Truly, I love him as well as I do most kings. +The greater offence is my reflection on Lord Clarendon. It is forgotten +that I had overpraised him before. Pray turn to the new State Papers, +from which, _it is said_, he composed his history. You will find they +are the papers from which he did _not_ compose his history. And yet I +admire my Lord Clarendon more than these pretended admirers do. But I do +not intend to justify myself. I can as little satisfy those who complain +that I do not let them know what _really did_ happen. If this inquiry +can ferret out any truth, I shall be glad. I have picked up a few more +circumstances. I now want to know what Perkin Warbeck's Proclamation +was, which Speed in his history says is preserved by Bishop Leslie. If +you look in Speed perhaps you will be able to assist me. + +The Duke of Richmond and Lord Lyttelton agree with you, that I have not +disculpated Richard of the murder of Henry VI. I own to you, it is the +crime of which in my own mind I believe him most guiltless. Had I +thought he committed it, I should never have taken the trouble to +apologize for the rest. I am not at all positive or obstinate on your +other objections, nor know exactly what I believe on many points of this +story. And I am so sincere, that, except a few notes hereafter, I shall +leave the matter to be settled or discussed by others. As you have +written much too little, I have written a great deal too much, and think +only of finishing the two or three other things I have begun--and of +those, nothing but the last volume of Painters is designed for the +present public. What has one to do when turned fifty, but really think +of _finishing_? + +I am much obliged and flattered by Mr. Mason's approbation, and +particularly by having had almost the same thought with him. I said, +"People need not be angry at my excusing Richard; I have not diminished +their fund of hatred, I have only transferred it from Richard to Henry." +Well, but I have found you close with Mason--No doubt, cry prating I, +something will come out....[1] + +[Footnote 1: "_Something will come out._" Walpole himself points out in +a note that this is a quotation from Pope: "I have found him close with +Swift." "Indeed?" "No doubt, (Cries prating Balbus) something will come +out" (Prologue to the "Satires").] + +Pray read the new Account of Corsica.[1] What relates to Paoli will +amuse you much. There is a deal about the island and its divisions that +one does not care a straw for. The author, Boswell, is a strange being, +and, like Cambridge, has a rage of knowing anybody that ever was talked +of. He forced himself upon me at Paris in spite of my teeth and my +doors, and I see has given a foolish account of all he could pick up +from me about King Theodore.[2] He then took an antipathy to me on +Rousseau's account, abused me in the newspapers, and exhorted Rousseau +to do so too: but as he came to see me no more, I forgave all the rest. +I see he now is a little sick of Rousseau himself; but I hope it will +not cure him of his anger to me. However, his book will I am sure +entertain you. + +[Footnote 1: Boswell, Dr. Johnson's celebrated biographer, had taken +great interest in the affairs of Corsica, which, in this year (1768), +Choiseul, the Prime Minister of France, had bought of Genoa, to which +State it had long belonged. Paoli was a Corsican noble, who had roused +his countrymen to throw off the domination of Genoa; and, on the arrival +of French troops to take possession of their purchase, he made a +vigorous resistance to the French General, the Comte de Marboeuf; but +eventually he was overpowered, and forced to fly. He took refuge in +England, where George III. granted him a pension, which he enjoyed till +his death in 1807, when he was buried in Westminster Abbey. One of his +relations was M. Charles Buonaparte, the father of Napoleon, who was +only prevented from accompanying him in his abandonment of Corsica by +the persuasion of his uncle, the Archdeacon of Ajaccio. Boswell, who was +apt to be enthusiastic in his hero-worship and anxiety for new +acquaintances (whom, it must be admitted, he commonly chose with +judgement, if with little dignity), introduced him to Johnson, who also +conceived a high regard for him, and on one occasion remarked that "he +had the loftiest port of any man he had ever seen."] + +[Footnote 2: After several outbreaks within a few years, the Corsicans +in 1736 embarked in a revolt so formal and complete that they +altogether threw off their allegiance to Genoa, and chose as their king +Theodore Neuhof, a Westphalian baron. But Cardinal Fleury, the French +Prime Minister, from a belief that Theodore was an instrument of +Walpole, lent the Genoese a force of three thousand men, which at last +succeeded in crushing the insurrection and expelling Theodore. (See the +Editor's "France under the Bourbons," iii. 157.) Theodore is one of the +six ex-kings whom, in Voltaire's "Candide," his hero met at a hotel in +Venice during the carnival, when he gave a melancholy account of his +reverse of fortune. "He had been called 'Your Majesty;' now he can +hardly find any one to call him 'Sir.' He had coined money; now he has +not a penny of his own. He had had two Secretaries of State; now he has +but one valet. He had sat on a throne; but since that time he had laid +on straw in a London prison." In fact, his state was so doleful, that +the other ex-kings subscribed twenty sequins apiece to buy him some +coats and shirts ("Candide," c. 26).] + +I will add but a word or two more. I am criticised for the expression +_tinker up_ in the preface. Is this one of those that you object to? I +own I think such a low expression, placed to ridicule an absurd instance +of wise folly, very forcible. Replace it with an elevated word or +phrase, and to my conception it becomes as flat as possible. + +George Selwyn says I may, if I please, write Historic Doubts on the +present Duke of G[loucester] too. Indeed, they would be doubts, for I +know nothing certainly. + +Will you be so kind as to look into Leslie "De Rebus Scotorum," and see +if Perkin's Proclamation is there, and if there, how authenticated. You +will find in Speed my reason for asking this. I have written in such a +hurry, I believe you will scarce be able to read my letter--and as I +have just been writing French, perhaps the sense may not be clearer than +the writing. Adieu! + + +_WILKES IS RETURNED M.P. FOR MIDDLESEX--RIOTS IN LONDON--VIOLENCE OF +THE MOB._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Thursday, March_ 31, 1768. + +I have received your letter, with the extract of that from Mr. +Mackenzie. I do not think any honours will be bestowed yet. The Peerages +are all postponed to an indefinite time. If you are in a violent hurry, +you may petition the ghosts of your neighbours--Masaniello and the +Gracchi. The spirit of one of them walks here; nay, I saw it go by my +window yesterday, at noon, in a hackney chair. + +_Friday._ + +I was interrupted yesterday. The ghost is laid for a time in a red sea +of port and claret. The spectre is the famous Wilkes. He appeared the +moment the Parliament was dissolved. The Ministry despise him. He stood +for the City of London, and was the last on the poll of seven +candidates, none but the mob, and most of them without votes, favouring +him. He then offered himself to the county of Middlesex. The election +came on last Monday. By five in the morning a very large body of +Weavers, &c., took possession of Piccadilly, and the roads and turnpikes +leading to Brentford, and would suffer nobody to pass without blue +cockades, and papers inscribed "_No. 45, Wilkes and Liberty_." They tore +to pieces the coaches of Sir W. Beauchamp Proctor, and Mr. Cooke, the +other candidates, though the latter was not there, but in bed with the +gout, and it was with difficulty that Sir William and Mr. Cooke's cousin +got to Brentford. There, however, lest it should be declared a void +election, Wilkes had the sense to keep everything quiet. But, about +five, Wilkes, being considerably ahead of the other two, his mob +returned to town and behaved outrageously. They stopped every carriage, +scratched and spoilt several with writing all over them "No. 45," +pelted, threw dirt and stones, and forced everybody to huzza for Wilkes. +I did but cross Piccadilly at eight, in my coach with a French Monsieur +d'Angeul, whom I was carrying to Lady Hertford's; they stopped us, and +bid us huzza. I desired him to let down the glass on his side, but, as +he was not alert, they broke it to shatters. At night they insisted, in +several streets, on houses being illuminated, and several Scotch +refusing, had their windows broken. Another mob rose in the City, and +Harley, the present Mayor, being another Sir William Walworth, and +having acted formerly and now with great spirit against Wilkes, and the +Mansion House not being illuminated, and he out of town, they broke +every window, and tried to force their way into the House. The Trained +Bands were sent for, but did not suffice. At last a party of guards, +from the Tower, and some lights erected, dispersed the tumult. At one in +the morning a riot began before Lord Bute's house, in Audley Street, +though illuminated. They flung two large flints into Lady Bute's +chamber, who was in bed, and broke every window in the house. Next +morning, Wilkes and Cooke were returned members. The day was very +quiet, but at night they rose again, and obliged almost every house in +town to be lighted up, even the Duke of Cumberland's and Princess +Amelia's. About one o'clock they marched to the Duchess of Hamilton's in +Argyle Buildings (Lord Lorn being in Scotland). She was obstinate, and +would not illuminate, though with child, and, as they hope, of an heir +to the family, and with the Duke, her son, and the rest of her children +in the house. There is a small court and parapet wall before the house: +they brought iron crows, tore down the gates, pulled up the pavement, +and battered the house for three hours. They could not find the key of +the back door, nor send for any assistance. The night before, they had +obliged the Duke and Duchess of Northumberland to give them beer, and +appear at the windows, and drink "Wilkes's health." They stopped and +opened the coach of Count Seilern, the Austrian ambassador, who has made +a formal complaint, on which the Council met on Wednesday night, and +were going to issue a Proclamation, but, hearing that all was quiet, and +that only a few houses were illuminated in Leicester Fields from the +terror of the inhabitants, a few constables were sent with orders to +extinguish the lights, and not the smallest disorder has happened since. +In short, it has ended like other election riots, and with not a quarter +of the mischief that has been done in some other towns. + +There are, however, difficulties to come. Wilkes has notified that he +intends to surrender himself to his outlawry, the beginning of next +term, which comes on the 17th of this month. There is said to be a flaw +in the proceedings, in which case his election will be good, though the +King's Bench may fine or imprison him on his former sentence. In my own +opinion, the House of Commons is the place where he can do the least +hurt, for he is a wretched speaker, and will sink to contempt, like +Admiral Vernon,[1] who I remember just such an illuminated hero, with +two birthdays in one year. You will say, he can write better than +Vernon--true; and therefore his case is more desperate. Besides, Vernon +was rich: Wilkes is undone; and, though he has had great support, his +patrons will be sick of maintaining him. He must either sink to poverty +and a jail, or commit new excesses, for which he will get knocked on the +head. The Scotch are his implacable enemies to a man. A Rienzi[2] cannot +stop: their histories are summed up in two words--a triumph and an +assassination. + +[Footnote 1: In 1739 our Government had declared war against Spain. +"There was at the time among the members of the Opposition in the House +of Commons a naval captain named Vernon, a man of bold, blustering +tongue, and presumed therefore by many to be of a corresponding +readiness of action. In some of the debates he took occasion to inveigh +against the timidity of our officers, who had hitherto, as he phrased +it, spared Porto Bello; and he affirmed that he could take it himself +with a squadron of six ships. The Ministry caught at the prospect of +delivering themselves from his harangues, and gave him half as many +ships again as he desired, with the temporary rank of Vice-admiral; and +on July, 1739, he sailed for the American coast. When he reached it he +found that the news of the rupture of the peace had not yet reached the +governor of the city, and that it was in no condition to resist an +attack. Many of the guns were dismounted; and for those that were +serviceable there was not sufficient ammunition. A fire of musketry +alone sufficed to win the fort that protected the entrance to the +harbour, and an equally brief cannonade drove the garrison from the +castle. The governor had no further means of defence; and thus in +forty-eight hours after his arrival Vernon had accomplished his boast, +and was master of the place." In a clever paper in the "Cambridge Museum +Philologicum" Bishop Thirlwall compared the man and his exploit to Cleon +and his achievement at Sphacteria in the Peloponnesian War. (See the +Editor's "History of the British Navy," c. 9.)] + +[Footnote 2: "_Rienzi._" + + Then turn we to her latest tribune's name, + From her ten thousand tyrants turn to thee, + Redeemer of dark centuries of shame, + The friend of Petrarch, hope of Italy, + Rienzi; last of Romans. + +("Childe Harold," iv. 114.) + +His story is told with almost more than his usual power by Gibbon (c. +70). Born in the lowest class, "he could inherit neither dignity nor +fortune; and the gift of a liberal education, which they painfully +bestowed, was the cause of his glory and his untimely end." He, while +still little more than a youth, had established such a reputation for +eloquence, that he was one of the deputies sent by the Commons to +Avignon to plead with the Pope (Clement VI.). The state of Rome, +aggravated by the absence of the Pope, was miserable in the extreme. The +citizens "were equally oppressed by the arrogance of the nobles and the +corruption of the magistrates." Rienzi recalled to their recollection +"the ancient glories of the Senate and people from whom all legal +authority was derived. He raised the enthusiasm of the populace; +collected a band of conspirators, at whose head, clad in complete +armour, he marched to the Capitol, and assumed the government of the +city, declining "the names of Senator or Consul, of King or Emperor, and +preferring the ancient and modern appellation of Tribune.... Never +perhaps has the energy and effect of a single mind been more remarkably +felt than in the sudden, though transient, reformation of Rome by the +Tribune Rienzi. A den of robbers was converted to the discipline of a +camp or convent. Patient to hear, swift to redress, inexorable to +punish, his tribunal was always accessible to the poor and the stranger; +nor could birth, nor dignity, nor the immunities of the Church protect +the offender or his accomplices." But his head was turned by his +success. He even caused himself to be crowned, while "his wife, his son, +and his uncle, a barber, exposed the contrast of vulgar manners and +princely expense; and, without acquiring the majesty, Rienzi degenerated +into the vices of a king." The people became indignant; the nobles whom +he had degraded found it easy to raise the public feeling against him. +Before the end of the same year (1347) he was forced to fly from Rome, +and lived in exile or imprisonment at Avignon seven years; and returned +to Rome in 1354, only to be murdered in an insurrection.] + +I must finish, for Lord Hertford is this moment come in, and insists on +my dining with the Prince of Monaco, who is come over to thank the King +for the presents his Majesty sent him on his kindness and attention to +the late Duke of York. You shall hear the suite of the above histories, +which I sit quietly and look at, having nothing more to do with the +storm, and sick of politics, but as a spectator, while they pass over +the stage of the world. Adieu! + + +_FLEETING FAME OF WITTICISMS--"THE MYSTERIOUS MOTHER."_ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _April_ 15, 1768. + +Mr. Chute tells me that you have taken a new house in Squireland, and +have given yourself up for two years more to port and parsons. I am very +angry, and resign you to the works of the devil or the church, I don't +care which. You will get the gout, turn Methodist, and expect to ride to +heaven upon your own great toe. I was happy with your telling me how +well you love me, and though I don't love loving, I could have poured +out all the fulness of my heart to such an old and true friend; but what +am I the better for it, if I am to see you but two or three days in the +year? I thought you would at last come and while away the remainder of +life on the banks of the Thames in gaiety and old tales. I have quitted +the stage, and the Clive[1] is preparing to leave it. We shall neither +of us ever be grave: dowagers roost all around us, and you could never +want cards or mirth. Will you end like a fat farmer, repeating annually +the price of oats, and discussing stale newspapers? There have you got, +I hear, into an old gallery, that has not been glazed since Queen +Elizabeth, and under the nose of an infant Duke and Duchess, that will +understand you no more than if you wore a ruff and a coif, and talk to +them of a call of Serjeants the year of the Spanish Armada! Your wit and +humour will be as much lost upon them, as if you talked the dialect of +Chaucer; for with all the divinity of wit, it grows out of fashion like +a fardingale. I am convinced that the young men at White's already laugh +at George Selwyn's _bon mots_ only by tradition. I avoid talking before +the youth of the age as I would dancing before them; for if one's tongue +don't move in the steps of the day, and thinks to please by its old +graces, it is only an object of ridicule, like Mrs. Hobart in her +cotillon. I tell you we should get together, and comfort ourselves with +reflecting on the brave days that we have known--not that I think people +were a jot more clever or wise in our youth than they are now; but as my +system is always to live in a vision as much as I can, and as visions +don't increase with years, there is nothing so natural as to think one +remembers what one does not remember. + +[Footnote 1: Mrs. Clive was a celebrated comic actress and wit, and a +near neighbour of Walpole at Twickenham.] + +[Illustration: STRAWBERRY HILL, FROM THE NORTH-WEST.] + +I have finished my Tragedy ["The Mysterious Mother"], but as you would +not bear the subject, I will say no more of it, but that Mr. Chute, who +is not easily pleased, likes it, and Gray, who is still more difficult, +approves it. I am not yet intoxicated enough with it to think it would +do for the stage, though I wish to see it acted; but, as Mrs. +Pritchard[1] leaves the stage next month, I know nobody could play the +Countess; nor am I disposed to expose myself to the impertinences of +that jackanapes Garrick, who lets nothing appear but his own wretched +stuff, or that of creatures still duller, who suffer him to alter their +pieces as he pleases. I have written an epilogue in character for the +Clive, which she would speak admirably: but I am not so sure that she +would like to speak it. Mr. Conway, Lady Aylesbury, Lady Lyttelton, and +Miss Rich, are to come hither the day after to-morrow, and Mr. Conway +and I are to read my play to them; for I have not strength enough to go +through the whole alone. + +[Footnote 1: Mrs. Pritchard was the most popular tragic actress of the +day. Churchill gives her high praise-- + + In spite of outward blemishes, she shone + For humour fam'd, and humour all her own. + +("Rosciad," 840.)] + +My press is revived, and is printing a French play written by the old +President Henault.[1] It was damned many years ago at Paris, and yet I +think is better than some that have succeeded, and much better than any +of our modern tragedies. I print it to please the old man, as he was +exceedingly kind to me at Paris; but I doubt whether he will live till +it is finished. He is to have a hundred copies, and there are to be but +a hundred more, of which you shall have one. + +[Footnote 1: M. Henault was President of the Parliament of Paris. His +tragedy was "Cornelie." He died in 1770, at the age of eighty-six.] + +Adieu! though I am very angry with you, I deserve all your friendship, +by that I have for you, witness my anger and disappointment. Yours ever. + +P.S.--Send me your new direction, and tell me when I must begin to use +it. + + +_CASE OF WILKES._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 9, 1768. + +To send you empty paragraphs when you expect and want news is +tantalising, is it not? Pray agree with me, and then you will allow that +I have acted very kindly in not writing till I had something to tell +you. _Something_, of course, means Wilkes, for everything is nothing +except the theme of the day. There has appeared a violent _North +Briton_, addressed to, and written against Lord Mansfield, threatening a +rebellion if he continued to persecute Mr. Wilkes. This paper, they say, +Wilkes owned to the Chevalier de Chastelux, a French gentleman, who went +to see him in the King's Bench, and who knew him at Paris. A rebellion +threatened in print is not very terrible. However, it was said that the +paper was outrageous enough to furnish the Law with every handle it +could want. But modern mountains do not degenerate from their ancestors; +their issue are still mice. You know, too, that this agrees with my +system, that this is an age of abortions. Prosecutions were ordered +against the publishers and vendors, and there, I suppose, it will end. + +Yesterday was fixed for the appearance of Wilkes in Westminster Hall. +The Judges went down by nine in the morning, but the mob had done +breakfast still sooner, and was there before them; and as Judges stuffed +out with dignity and lamb-skins are not absolute sprites, they had much +ado to glide through the crowd. Wilkes's counsel argued against the +outlawry, and then Lord Mansfield, in a speech of an hour and a half, +set it aside; not on _their_ reasons, but on grounds which he had +discovered in it himself. I think they say it was on some flaw in the +Christian name of the county, which should not have been _Middlesex to +wit_,--but I protest I don't know, for I am here alone, and picked up my +intelligence as I walked in our meadows by the river. You, who may be +walking by the Arno, will, perhaps, think there was some timidity in +this; but the depths of the Law are wonderful! So pray don't make any +rash conclusions, but stay till you get better information. + +Well! now he is gone to prison again,--I mean Wilkes; and on Tuesday he +is to return to receive sentence on the old guilt of writing, as the +Scotch would _not_ call it, _the_ 45,[1] though they call the rebellion +so. The sentence may be imprisonment, fine, or pillory; but as I am +still near the Thames, I do not think the latter will be chosen. Oh! but +stay, he may plead against the indictment, and should there be an +improper _Middlesex to wit_ in that too, why then in that case, you +know, he did _not_ write _the_ 45, and then he is as white as milk, and +as free as air, and as good a member of Parliament as if he had never +been expelled. In short, my dear Sir, I am trying to explain to you +what I literally do not understand; all I do know is, that Mr. Cooke, +the other member for Middlesex, is just dead, and that we are going to +have another Middlesex election, which is very unpleasant to me, who +hate mobs so near as Brentford. Sergeant Glynn, Wilkes's counsel, is the +candidate, and I suppose the only one in the present humour of the +people, who will care to have his brains dashed out, in order to sit in +Parliament. In truth, this enthusiasm is confined to the very mob or +little higher, and does not extend beyond the County. All other riots +are ceased, except the little civil war between the sailors and +coal-heavers, in which two or three lives are lost every week. + +[Footnote 1: "_The_ 45" here serves for the Scotch rebellion of 1745, +and for No. 45 of the _North Briton_.] + +What is most disagreeable, even the Emperor of Morocco has taken courage +on these tumults, and has dared to mutiny for increase of wages, like +our journeymen tailors. France is pert too, and gives herself airs in +the Mediterranean. Our Paolists were violent for support of Corsica, but +I think they are a little startled on a report that the hero Paoli is +like other patriots, and is gone to Versailles, for a peerage and +pension. I was told to-day that at London there are murmurs of a war. I +shall be sorry if it prove so. Deaths! suspense, say victory;--how end +all our victories? In debts and a wretched peace! Mad world, in the +individual or the aggregate! + +Well! say I to myself, and what is all this to me? Have not I done with +that world? Am not I here at peace, unconnected with Courts and +Ministries, and indifferent who is Minister? What is a war in Europe to +me more than a war between the Turkish and Persian Emperors? True; yet +self-love makes one love the nation one belongs to, and vanity makes one +wish to have that nation glorious. Well! I have seen it so; I have seen +its conquests spread farther than Roman eagles thought there was land. I +have seen too the Pretender at Derby; and, therefore, you must know that +I am content with historic seeing, and wish Fame and History would be +quiet and content without entertaining me with any more sights. We were +down at Derby, we were up at both Indies; I have no curiosity for any +intermediate sights. + +Your brother was with me just before I came out of town, and spoke of +you with great kindness, and accused himself of not writing to you, but +protested it was from not knowing what to say to you about the Riband. I +engaged to write for him, so you must take this letter as from him too. + +I hope there will be no war for some hero to take your honours out of +your mouth, sword in hand. The first question I shall ask when I go to +town will be, how my Lord Chatham does? I shall mind his health more +than the stocks. The least symptom of a war will certainly cure him. +Adieu! my dear Sir. + + +_THE ENGLISH CLIMATE._ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 15, 1768. + +No, I cannot be so false as to say I am glad you are pleased with your +situation. You are so apt to take root, that it requires ten years to +dig you out again when you once begin to settle. As you go pitching your +tent up and down, I wish you were still more a Tartar, and shifted your +quarters perpetually. Yes, I will come and see you; but tell me first, +when do your Duke and Duchess [the Argylls] travel to the North? I know +that he is a very amiable lad, and I do not know that she is not as +amiable a _laddess_, but I had rather see their house comfortably when +they are not there. + +I perceive the deluge fell upon you before it reached us. It began here +but on Monday last, and then rained near eight-and-forty hours without +intermission. My poor hay has not a dry thread to its back. I have had a +fire these three days. In short, every summer one lives in a state of +mutiny and murmur, and I have found the reason: it is because we will +affect to have a summer, and we have no title to any such thing. Our +poets learnt their trade of the Romans, and so adopted the terms of +their masters. They talk of shady groves, purling streams, and cooling +breezes, and we get sore-throats and agues with attempting to realise +these visions. Master Damon writes a song, and invites Miss Chloe to +enjoy the cool of the evening, and the deuce a bit have we of any such +thing as a cool evening. Zephyr is a north-east wind, that makes Damon +button up to the chin, and pinches Chloe's nose till it is red and blue; +and then they cry, _This is a bad summer_! as if we ever had any other. +The best sun we have is made of Newcastle coal, and I am determined +never to reckon upon any other. We ruin ourselves with inviting over +foreign trees, and making our houses clamber up hills to look at +prospects. How our ancestors would laugh at us, who knew there was no +being comfortable, unless you had a high hill before your nose, and a +thick warm wood at your back! Taste is too freezing a commodity for us, +and, depend upon it, will go out of fashion again. + +There is indeed a natural warmth in this country, which, as you say, I +am very glad not to enjoy any longer; I mean the hot-house in St. +Stephen's chapel. My own sagacity makes me very vain, though there was +very little merit in it. I had seen so much of all parties, that I had +little esteem left for any; it is most indifferent to me who is in or +who is out, or which is set in the pillory, Mr. Wilkes or my Lord +Mansfield. I see the country going to ruin, and no man with brains +enough to save it. That is mortifying; but what signifies who has the +undoing it? I seldom suffer myself to think on this subject: _my_ +patriotism could do no good, and my philosophy can make me be at peace. + +I am sorry you are likely to lose your poor cousin Lady Hinchinbrook: I +heard a very bad account of her when I was last in town. Your letter to +Madame Roland shall be taken care of; but as you are so scrupulous of +making me pay postage, I must remember not to overcharge you, as I can +frank my idle letters no longer; therefore, good night! + +P.S.--I was in town last week, and found Mr. Chute still confined. He +had a return in his shoulder, but I think it more rheumatism than gout. + + +_VOLTAIRE'S CRITICISMS ON SHAKESPEARE--PARNELL'S "HERMIT."_ + +TO MONSIEUR DE VOLTAIRE. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 27, 1768. + +One can never, Sir, be sorry to have been in the wrong, when one's +errors are pointed out to one in so obliging and masterly a manner. +Whatever opinion I may have of Shakspeare, I should think him to blame, +if he could have seen the letter you have done me the honour to write to +me, and yet not conform to the rules you have there laid down. When he +lived, there had not been a Voltaire both to give laws to the stage, and +to show on what good sense those laws were founded. Your art, Sir, goes +still farther: for you have supported your arguments, without having +recourse to the best authority, your own Works. It was my interest +perhaps to defend barbarism and irregularity. A great genius is in the +right, on the contrary, to show that when correctness, nay, when +perfection is demanded, he can still shine, and be himself, whatever +fetters are imposed on him. But I will say no more on this head; for I +am neither so unpolished as to tell you to your face how much I admire +you, nor, though I have taken the liberty to vindicate Shakspeare +against your criticisms, am I vain enough to think myself an adversary +worthy of you. I am much more proud of receiving laws from you, than of +contesting them. It was bold in me to dispute with you even before I had +the honour of your acquaintance; it would be ungrateful now when you +have not only taken notice of me, but forgiven me. The admirable letter +you have been so good as to send me, is a proof that you are one of +those truly great and rare men who know at once how to conquer and to +pardon. + +I have made all the inquiry I could into the story of M. de Jumonville; +and though your and our accounts disagree, I own I do not think, Sir, +that the strongest evidence is in our favour. I am told we allow he was +killed by a party of our men, going to the Ohio. Your countrymen say he +was going with a flag of truce. The commanding officer of our party said +M. de Jumonville was going with hostile intentions; and that very +hostile orders were found after his death in his pocket. Unless that +officer had proved that he had previous intelligence of those orders, I +doubt he will not be justified by finding them afterwards; for I am not +at all disposed to believe that he had the foreknowledge of your +hermit,[1] who pitched the old woman's nephew into the river, because +"ce jeune homme auroit assassine sa tante dans un an." + +I am grieved that such disputes should ever subsist between two nations +who have everything in themselves to create happiness, and who may find +enough in each other to love and admire. It is your benevolence, Sir, +and your zeal for softening the manners of mankind; it is the doctrine +of peace and amity which you preach, that have raised my esteem for you +even more than the brightness of your genius. France may claim you in +the latter light, but all nations have a right to call you their +countryman _du cote du coeur_. It is on the strength of that connection +that I beg you, Sir, to accept the homage of, Sir, your most obedient +humble servant.[2] + +[Footnote 1: The idea of Voltaire's fable in "Zadig," c. 20, is believed +to have been borrowed from Parnell's "Hermit," but Mr. Wright suggests +that it was more probably taken from one of the "Contes Devots, de +l'Hermite qu'un ange conduisit dans le Siecle," which is published in +the "Nouveau Recueil de Fabliaux et Contes."] + +[Footnote 2: The letter of Voltaire to which the above is a reply, +contained the following opinion of Walpole's "Historic Doubts";--"Avant +le depart de ma lettre, j'ai eu le tems, Monsieur, de lire votre Richard +Trois. Vous seriez un excellent attornei general; vous pesez toutes les +probabilites; mais il paroit que vous avez une inclination secrete pour +ce bossu. Vous voulez qu'il ait ete beau garcon, et meme galant homme. +Le benedictin Calmet a fait une dissertation pour prouver que Jesus +Christ avait un fort beau visage. Je veux croire avec vous, que Richard +Trois n'etait ni si laid, ni si mechant, qu'on le dit; mais je n'aurais +pas voulu avoir affaire a lui. Votre rose blanche et votre rose rouge +avaient de terribles epines pour la nation. + +"Those gracious kings are all a pack of rogues. En lisant l'histoire des +York et des Lancastre, et de bien d'autres, on croit lire l'histoire des +voleurs de grand chemin. Pour votre Henri Sept, il n'etait que coupeur +de bourses. Be a minister or an anti-minister, a lord or a philosopher, +I will be, with an equal respect, Sir, &c."] + + +_ARRIVAL OF THE KING OF DENMARK--HIS POPULARITY WITH THE MOB._ + +TO THE EARL OF STRAFFORD. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Aug._ 16, 1768. + +As you have been so good, my dear lord, as twice to take notice of my +letter, I am bound in conscience and gratitude to try to amuse you with +anything new. A royal visitor, quite fresh, is a real curiosity--by the +reception of him, I do not think many more of the breed will come +hither. He came from Dover in hackney-chaises; for somehow or other the +Master of the Horse happened to be in Lincolnshire; and the King's +coaches having received no orders, were too good subjects to go and +fetch a stranger King of their own heads. However, as his Danish Majesty +travels to improve himself for the good of his people, he will go back +extremely enlightened in the arts of government and morality, by having +learned that crowned heads may be reduced to ride in a hired chaise.[1] + +[Footnote 1: The King, travelling, as is usual with kings, _incognito_, +assumed the title of the Comte de Travendahl.] + +By another mistake, King George happened to go to Richmond about an hour +before King Christiern arrived in London. An hour is exceedingly long; +and the distance to Richmond still longer; so that with all the dispatch +that could possibly be made, King George could not get back to his +capital till next day at noon. Then, as the road from his closet at St. +James's to the King of Denmark's apartment on t'other side of the palace +is about thirty miles, which posterity, having no conception of the +prodigious extent and magnificence of St. James's, will never believe, +it was half an hour after three before his Danish Majesty's courier +could go and return to let him know that his good brother and ally was +leaving the palace in which they both were, in order to receive him at +the Queen's palace, which you know is about a million of snail's paces +from St. James's. Notwithstanding these difficulties and unavoidable +delays, Woden, Thor, Friga, and all the gods that watch over the Kings +of the North, did bring these two invincible monarchs to each other's +embraces about half an hour after five that same evening. They passed +an hour in projecting a family compact that will regulate the destiny of +Europe to latest posterity: and then, the Fates so willing it, the +British Prince departed for Richmond, and the Danish potentate repaired +to the widowed mansion of his Royal Mother-in-Law, where he poured forth +the fulness of his heart in praises on the lovely bride she had bestowed +on him, from whom nothing but the benefit of his subjects could ever +have torn him.--And here let Calumny blush, who has aspersed so chaste +and faithful a monarch with low amours; pretending that he has raised to +the honour of a seat in his sublime council, an artisan of Hamburgh, +known only by repairing the soles of buskins, because that mechanic +would, on no other terms, consent to his fair daughter's being honoured +with majestic embraces. So victorious over his passions is this young +Scipio from the Pole, that though on Shooter's Hill he fell into an +ambush laid for him by an illustrious Countess, of blood-royal herself, +his Majesty, after descending from his car, and courteously greeting +her, again mounted his vehicle, without being one moment eclipsed from +the eyes of the surrounding multitude.--Oh! mercy on me! I am out of +breath--pray let me descend from my stilts, or I shall send you as +fustian and tedious a History as that of [Lyttelton's] Henry II. Well, +then, this great King is a very little one; not ugly, nor ill-made. He +has the sublime strut of his grandfather, or of a cock-sparrow; and the +divine white eyes of all his family by the mother's side. His curiosity +seems to have consisted in the original plan of travelling, for I cannot +say he takes notice of anything in particular. His manner is cold and +dignified, but very civil and gracious and proper. The mob adore him and +huzza him; and so they did the first instant. At present they begin to +know why--for he flings money to them out of his windows; and by the end +of the week I do not doubt but they will want to choose him for +Middlesex. His Court is extremely well ordered; for they bow as low to +him at every word as if his name was Sultan Amurat. You would take his +first minister for only the first of his slaves.--I hope this example, +which they have been so good as to exhibit at the opera, will contribute +to civilize us. There is indeed a pert young gentleman, who a little +discomposes this august ceremonial. His name is Count Holke, his age +three-and-twenty; and his post answers to one that we had formerly in +England, many ages ago, and which in our tongue was called the lord high +favourite. Before the Danish monarchs became absolute, the most +refractory of that country used to write libels, called _North Danes_, +against this great officer; but that practice has long since ceased. +Count Holke seems rather proud of his favour, than shy of displaying it. + +I hope, my dear lord, you will be content with my Danish politics, for I +trouble myself with no other. There is a long history about the Baron de +Bottetourt and Sir Jeffery Amherst, who has resigned his regiment; but +it is nothing to me, nor do I care a straw about it. I am deep in the +anecdotes of the new Court; and if you want to know more of Count Holke +or Count Molke, or the grand vizier Bernsdorff, or Mynheer Schimmelman, +apply to me, and you shall be satisfied. But what do I talk of? You will +see them yourself. Minerva in the shape of Count Bernsdorff, or out of +all shape in the person of the Duchess of Northumberland, is to conduct +Telemachus to York races; for can a monarch be perfectly accomplished in +the mysteries of king-craft, as our Solomon James I. called it, unless +he is initiated in the arts of jockeyship? When this northern star +travels towards its own sphere, Lord Hertford will go to Ragley. I shall +go with him; and, if I can avoid running foul of the magi that will be +thronging from all parts to worship that star, I will endeavour to call +at Wentworth Castle for a day or two, if it will not be inconvenient; I +should think it would be about the second week in September, but your +lordship shall hear again, unless you should forbid me, who am ever Lady +Strafford's and your lordship's most faithful humble servant. + + +_WILKES'S ELECTION--THE COMTESSE DE BARRI--THE DUC DE CHOISEUL'S +INDISCRETION._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Jan._ 31, 1769. + +The affair of Wilkes is rather undecided yet, than in suspense.[1] It +has been a fair trial between faction and corruption; of two such common +creatures, the richest will carry it. + +[Footnote 1: Wilkes had been elected a member of the Common Council.] + +The Court of Aldermen set aside the election of Wilkes on some +informality, but he was immediately re-chosen. This happened on Friday +last, the very day of his appearance at the House of Commons. He went +thither without the least disturbance or mob, having dispersed his +orders accordingly, which are obeyed implicitly. He did not, however, +appear at the bar till ten at night, the day being wasted in debating +whether he should be suffered to enter on his case at large, or be +restrained to his two chief complaints. The latter was carried by 270 +to 131, a majority that he will not easily reduce. He was then called +in, looked ill, but behaved decently, and demanded to take the oaths and +his seat. This affair, after a short debate, was refused; and his +counsel being told the restrictions imposed, the House adjourned at +midnight. To-day he goes again to the House, but whatever steps he takes +there, or however long debates he may occasion, you may look upon his +fate as decided in that place. + +We are in hourly expectation of hearing that a nymph, more common still +than the two I have mentioned, has occasioned what Wilkes has failed in +now, a change in an administration. I mean the Comtesse du Barri.[1] The +_grands habits_ are made, and nothing wanting for her presentation +but--what do you think? some woman of quality to present her. In that +servile Court and country, the nobility have had spirit enough to +decline paying their court, though the King has stooped _a des +bassesses_ to obtain it. The Duc de Choiseul will be the victim; and +they pretend to say that he has declared he will resign _a l'Anglaise_, +rather than be _chasse_ by such a creature. His indiscretion is +astonishing: he has said at his own table, and she has been told so, +"Madame du Barri est tres mal informee; on ne parle pas des Catins chez +moi." Catin diverts herself and King Solomon the wise with tossing +oranges into the air after supper, and crying, "_Saute, Choiseul! saute, +Praslin_!" and then Solomon laughs heartily. Sometimes she flings powder +in his sage face, and calls him _Jean Farine_! Well! we are not the +foolishest nation in Europe yet! It is supposed that the Duc d'Aiguillon +will be the successor. + +[Footnote 1: This woman, one of the very lowest of the low, had caught +the fancy of Louis XV.; and, as according to the curious etiquette of +the French Court, it was indispensable that a king's mistress should be +married, the Comte du Barri, a noble of old family, but ruined by +gambling, was induced to marry her.] + +I am going to send away this letter, because you will be impatient, and +the House will not rise probably till long after the post is gone out. I +did not think last May that you would hear this February that there was +an end of mobs, that Wilkes was expelled, and the colonies quieted. +However, pray take notice that I do not stir a foot out of the province +of gazetteer into that of prophet. I protest, I know no more than a +prophet what is to come. Adieu! + + +_A GARDEN PARTY AT STRAWBERRY--A RIDOTTO AT VAUXHALL._ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _May_ 11, 1769. + +You are so wayward, that I often resolve to give you up to your humours. +Then something happens with which I can divert you, and my good-nature +returns. Did not you say you should return to London long before this +time? At least, could you not tell me you had changed your mind? why am +I to pick it out from your absence and silence, as Dr. Warburton found a +future state in Moses's saying nothing of the matter! I could go on with +a chapter of severe interrogatories, but I think it more cruel to treat +you as a hopeless reprobate; yes, you are graceless, and as I have a +respect for my own scolding, I shall not throw it away upon you. + +Strawberry has been in great glory; I have given a festino there that +will almost mortgage it. Last Tuesday all France dined there: Monsieur +and Madame du Chatelet, the Duc de Liancourt, three more French ladies, +whose names you will find in the enclosed paper, eight other Frenchmen, +the Spanish and Portuguese ministers, the Holdernesses, Fitzroys, in +short, we were four and twenty. They arrived at two. At the gates of the +castle I received them, dressed in the cravat of Gibbons's carving, and +a pair of gloves embroidered up to the elbows that had belonged to James +I. The French servants stared, and firmly believed this was the dress of +English country gentlemen. After taking a survey of the apartment, we +went to the printing-house, where I had prepared the enclosed verses, +with translations by Monsieur de Lille, one of the company. The moment +they were printed off, I gave a private signal, and French horns and +clarionets accompanied this compliment. We then went to see Pope's +grotto and garden, and returned to a magnificent dinner in the +refectory. + +In the evening we walked, had tea, coffee, and lemonade in the Gallery, +which was illuminated with a thousand, or thirty candles, I forget +which, and played at whisk and loo till midnight. Then there was a cold +supper, and at one the company returned to town, saluted by fifty +nightingales, who, as tenants of the manor, came to do honour to their +lord. + +I cannot say last night was equally agreeable. There was what they +called a _ridotto al fresco_ at Vauxhall,[1] for which one paid +half-a-guinea, though, except some thousand more lamps and a covered +passage all round the garden, which took off from the gardenhood, there +was nothing better than on a common night. Mr. Conway and I set out from +his house at eight o'clock; the tide and torrent of coaches was so +prodigious, that it was half-an-hour after nine before we got half way +from Westminster Bridge. We then alighted; and after scrambling under +bellies of horses, through wheels, and over posts and rails, we reached +the gardens, where were already many thousand persons. Nothing diverted +me but a man in a Turk's dress and two nymphs in masquerade without +masks, who sailed amongst the company, and, which was surprising, seemed +to surprise nobody. It had been given out that people were desired to +come in fancied dresses without masks. We walked twice round and were +rejoiced to come away, though with the same difficulties as at our +entrance; for we found three strings of coaches all along the road, who +did not move half a foot in half-an-hour. There is to be a rival mob in +the same way at Ranelagh to-morrow; for the greater the folly and +imposition the greater is the crowd. I have suspended the vestimenta[2] +that were torn off my back to the god of repentance, and shall stay +away. Adieu! I have not a word more to say to you. Yours ever. + +P.S.--I hope you will not regret paying a shilling for this packet. + +[Footnote 1: The ridotto was a Venetian entertainment-- + + They went to the _Ridotto_--'tis a hall + Where people dance, and sup, and dance again; + Its proper name, perhaps, was a masqued ball, + But that's of no importance to my strain; + 'Tis (on a smaller scale) like our Vauxhall, + Excepting that it can't be spoilt by rain; + The company is "mix'd"--the phrase I quote is + As much as saying, they're below your notice. + +Beppo, st. 38.] + +[Footnote 2: "_Vestimenta._" Imitating Horace, who relates of himself-- + + Me tabula sacer + Votiva paries indicat uvida + Suspendisse potenti + Vestimenta maris Deo (Od. i. 5).] + + +_PAOLI--AMBASSADORIAL ETIQUETTE._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 14, 1769. + +I thank you for the history of the Pope and his genealogy, or, rather, +for what is to be his genealogy; for I suppose all those tailors and +coachmen his relations will now found noble families. They may enrich +their blood with the remaining spoils of the Jesuits, unless, which +would not surprise me, his new Holiness should now veer about, and +endeavour to save the order; for I think the Church full as likely to +fall by sacrificing its janissaries, as by any attacks that can be made +upon it. _Deme unum, deme etiam unum._ + +If I care little about your Roman politics, I am not so indifferent +about your Corsican. Poor brave Paoli!--but he is not disgraced! We, +that have sat still and seen him overwhelmed, must answer it to history. +Nay, the Mediterranean will taunt us in the very next war. Choiseul +triumphs over us and Madame du Barri; her star seems to have lost its +influence. I do not know what another lady[1] will say to Choiseul on +the late behaviour of his friend, the Ambassador, here. As the adventure +will make a chapter in the new edition of Wiquefort, and, consequently, +will strike _you_, I will give you the detail. At the ball on the King's +birthday, Count Czernichew was sitting in the box of the Foreign +Ministers next to Count Seilern, the Imperial Ambassador. The latter, +who is as fierce as the Spread Eagle itself, and as stiff as the chin of +all the Ferdinands, was, according to his custom, as near to Jupiter as +was possible. Monsieur du Chatelet and the Prince de Masserano came in. +Chatelet sidled up to the two former, spoke to them and passed behind +them, but on a sudden lifted up his leg and thrust himself in between +the two Imperials. The Russian, astonished and provoked, endeavoured to +push him away, and a jostle began that discomposed the faces and curls +of both; and the Russian even dropped the word _impertinent_. +Czernichew, however, quitted the spot of battle, and the Prince de +Masserano, in support of the family-compact, hobbled into the place +below Chatelet. As the two champions retired, more words at the door. +However, the Russian's coach being first, he astonished everybody by +proposing to set Monsieur du Chatelet down at his own house. In the +coach, _it is said_, the Frenchman protested he had meant nothing +personal either to Count Czernichew, or to the Russian Minister, but +having received orders from his Court to take place on all occasion +_next_ to the Imperial Ambassador, he had but done his duty. Next +morning he visited Czernichew, and they are _personally_ reconciled. It +was, however, feared that the dispute would be renewed, for, at the +King's next levee, both were at the door, ready to push in when it +should be opened; but the Russian kept behind, and at the bottom of the +room without mixing with the rest of the Foreign Ministers. The King, +who was much offended at what had passed, called Count Czernichew into +the middle of the room, and talked to him for a very considerable time. +Since then, the Lord Chamberlain has been ordered to notify to all the +Foreign Ministers that the King looks on the ball at Court as a private +ball, and declares, _to prevent such disagreeable altercations for the +future_, that there is no precedence there. This declaration is +ridiculed, because the ball at Court is almost the only ceremony that is +observed there, and certainly the most formal, the princes of the blood +dancing first, and everybody else being taken out according to their +rank. Yet the King, being the fountain of all rank, may certainly +declare what he pleases, especially in his own palace. The public +papers, which seldom spare the French, are warm for the Russian. +Chatelet, too, is not popular, nor well at Court. He is wrong-headed, +and at Vienna was very near drawing his Court into a scrape by his +haughtiness. His own friends even doubt whether this last exploit will +not offend at Versailles, as the Duc de Choiseul has lately been +endeavouring to soften the Czarina, wishes to send a minister thither, +and has actually sent an agent. Chatelet was to have gone this week, but +I believe waits to hear how his behaviour is taken. Personally, I am +quite on his side, though I think him in the wrong; but he is extremely +civil to me; I live much at his house, admire his wife exceedingly, and, +besides, you know, have declared war with the Czarina; so what I say is +quite in confidence to you, and for your information. As an Englishman, +I am whatever Madam Great Britain can expect of me. As intimate with the +Chatelets, and extremely attached to the Duchess of Choiseul, I detest +Madame du Barri and her faction. You, who are a Foreign Minister, and +can distinguish like a theologian between the _two natures_ perfectly +comprehend all this; and, therefore, to the charity of your casuistry I +recommend myself in this jumble of contradictions, which you may be sure +do not give me any sort of trouble either way. At least I have not +_three_ distinctions, like Chatelet when he affronted Czernichew, but +neither in his private nor public capacity. + +[Footnote 1: The Czarina.] + +This fracas happens very luckily, as we had nothing left to talk of; for +of the Pope we think no more, according to the old saying, than of the +Pope of Rome. Of Wilkes there is no longer any question, and of the war +under the Pole we hear nothing. Corsica, probably, will occasion +murmurs, but they will be preserved in pickle till next winter. I am +come hither for two months, very busy with finishing my round tower, +which has stood still these five years, and with an enchanting new +cottage that I have built, and other little works. In August I shall go +to Paris for six weeks. In short, I am delighted with having bid adieu +to Parliament and politics, and with doing nothing but what I like all +the year round. + + +_HIS RETURN TO PARIS--MADAME DEFFAND--A TRANSLATION OF "HAMLET"--MADAME +DUMENIL--VOLTAIRE'S "MEROPE" AND "LES GUEBRES._" + +TO JOHN CHUTE, ESQ. + +PARIS, _Aug._ 30, 1769. + +I have been so hurried with paying and receiving visits, that I have not +had a moment's worth of time to write. My passage was very tedious, and +lasted near nine hours for want of wind.--But I need not talk of my +journey; for Mr. Maurice, whom I met on the road, will have told you +that I was safe on _terra firma_. + +Judge of my surprise at hearing four days ago, that my Lord Dacre and my +lady were arrived here. They are lodged within a few doors of me. He is +come to consult a Doctor Pomme who has prescribed wine, and Lord Dacre +already complains of the violence of his appetite. If you and I had +_pommed_ him to eternity, he would not have believed us. A man across +the sea tells him the plainest thing in the world; that man happens to +be called a doctor; and happening for novelty to talk common sense, is +believed, as if he had talked nonsense! and what is more extraordinary, +Lord Dacre thinks himself better, _though_ he is so. + +My dear old woman [Madame du Deffand] is in better health than when I +left her, and her spirits so increased, that I tell her she will go mad +with age. When they ask her how old she is, she answers, "J'ai soixante +et mille ans." She and I went to the Boulevard last night after supper, +and drove about there till two in the morning. We are going to sup in +the country this evening, and are to go to-morrow night at eleven to the +puppet-show. A _protege_ of hers has written a piece for that theatre. I +have not yet seen Madame du Barri, nor can get to see her picture at the +exposition at the Louvre, the crowds are so enormous that go thither for +that purpose. As royal curiosities are the least part of my _virtu_, I +wait with patience. Whenever I have an opportunity I visit gardens, +chiefly with a view to Rosette's having a walk. She goes nowhere else, +because there is a distemper among the dogs. + +There is going to be represented a translation of Hamlet; who when his +hair is cut, and he is curled and powdered, I suppose will be exactly +_Monsieur le Prince Oreste_. T'other night I was at "Merope." The +Dumenil was as divine as Mrs. Porter[1]; they said her familiar tones +were those of a _poissonniere_. In the last act, when one expected the +catastrophe, Narbas, more interested than anybody to see the event, +remained coolly on the stage to hear the story. The Queen's maid of +honour entered without her handkerchief, and her hair most artfully +undressed, and reeling as if she was maudlin, sobbed out a long +narrative, that did not prove true; while Narbas, with all the good +breeding in the world, was more attentive to her fright than to what had +happened. So much for propriety. Now for probability. Voltaire has +published a tragedy, called "Les Guebres." Two Roman colonels open the +piece: they are brothers, and relate to one another, how they lately in +company destroyed, by the Emperor's mandate, a city of the Guebres, in +which were their own wives and children; and they recollect that they +want prodigiously to know whether both their families did perish in the +flames. The son of the one and the daughter of the other are taken up +for heretics, and, thinking themselves brother and sister, insist upon +being married, and upon being executed for their religion. The son stabs +his father, who is half a Guebre, too. The high-priest rants and roars. +The Emperor arrives, blames the pontiff for being a persecutor, and +forgives the son for assassinating his father (who does not die) +because--I don't know why, but that he may marry his cousin. The +grave-diggers in Hamlet have no chance, when such a piece as the Guebres +is written agreeably to all rules and unities. Adieu, my dear Sir! I +hope to find you quite well at my return. Yours ever. + +[Footnote 1: Mme. Dumenil, as has been mentioned in a former note, was +the most popular of the French tragic actresses at this time, as Mrs. +Porter was of the English actresses.] + + +_THE FRENCH COURT--THE YOUNG PRINCES--ST. CYR--MADAME DE MAILLY._ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +PARIS, _Sunday night, Sept._ 17, 1769. + +I am heartily tired; but, as it is too early to go to bed, I must tell +you how agreeably I have passed the day. I wished for you; the same +scenes strike us both, and the same kind of visions has amused us both +ever since we were born. + +Well then; I went this morning to Versailles with my niece Mrs. +Cholmondeley, Mrs. Hart, Lady Denbigh's sister, and the Count de Grave, +one of the most amiable, humane, and obliging men alive. Our first +object was to see Madame du Barri. Being too early for mass, we saw the +Dauphin and his brothers at dinner. The eldest is the picture of the +Duke of Grafton, except that he is more fair, and will be taller. He has +a sickly air, and no grace. The Count de Provence has a very pleasing +countenance, with an air of more sense than the Count d'Artois, the +genius of the family. They already tell as many _bon-mots_ of the latter +as of Henri Quatre and Louis Quatorze. He is very fat, and the most like +his grandfather of all the children. You may imagine this royal mess did +not occupy us long: thence to the Chapel, where a first row in the +balconies was kept for us. Madame du Barri arrived over against us +below, without rouge, without powder, and indeed _sans avoir fait sa +toilette_; an odd appearance, as she was so conspicuous, close to the +altar, and amidst both Court and people. She is pretty, when you +consider her; yet so little striking, that I never should have asked who +she was. There is nothing bold, assuming or affected in her manner. Her +husband's sister was along with her. In the Tribune above, surrounded by +prelates, was the amorous and still handsome King. One could not help +smiling at the mixture of piety, pomp, and carnality. From chapel we +went to the dinner of the elder Mesdames. We were almost stifled in the +antechamber, where their dishes were heating over charcoal, and where we +could not stir for the press. When the doors are opened, everybody +rushes in, princes of the blood, _cordons bleus_, abbes, housemaids, and +the Lord knows who and what. Yet, so used are their highnesses to this +trade, that they eat as comfortably and heartily as you or I could do in +our own parlours. + +Our second act was much more agreeable. We quitted the Court and a +reigning mistress, for a dead one and a Cloister. In short, I had +obtained leave from the Bishop of Chartres to enter _into_ St. Cyr; and, +as Madame du Deffand never leaves anything undone that can give me +satisfaction, she had written to the abbess to desire I might see +everything that could be seen there. The Bishop's order was to admit me, +_Monsieur de Grave, et les dames de ma compagnie_: I begged the abbess +to give me back the order, that I might deposit it in the archives of +Strawberry, and she complied instantly. Every door flew open to us: and +the nuns vied in attentions to please us. The first thing I desired to +see was Madame de Maintenon's apartment. It consists of two small rooms, +a library, and a very small chamber, the same in which the Czar saw her, +and in which she died. The bed is taken away, and the room covered now +with bad pictures of the royal family, which destroys the gravity and +simplicity. It is wainscotted with oak, with plain chairs of the same, +covered with dark blue damask. Everywhere else the chairs are of blue +cloth. The simplicity and extreme neatness of the whole house, which is +vast, are very remarkable. A large apartment above (for that I have +mentioned is on the ground-floor), consisting of five rooms, and +destined by Louis Quatorze for Madame de Maintenon, is now the +infirmary, with neat white linen beds, and decorated with every text of +Scripture by which could be insinuated that the foundress was a Queen. +The hour of vespers being come, we were conducted to the chapel, and, as +it was _my_ curiosity that had led us thither, I was placed in the +Maintenon's own tribune; my company in the adjoining gallery. The +pensioners, two and two, each band headed by a man, march orderly to +their seats, and sing the whole service, which I confess was not a +little tedious. The young ladies, to the number of two hundred and +fifty, are dressed in black, with short aprons of the same, the latter +and their stays bound with blue, yellow, green, or red, to distinguish +the classes; the captains and lieutenants have knots of a different +colour for distinction. Their hair is curled and powdered, their +coiffure a sort of French round-eared caps, with white tippets, a sort +of ruff and large tucker: in short, a very pretty dress. The nuns are +entirely in black, with crape veils and long trains, deep white +handkerchiefs, and forehead cloths, and a very long train. The chapel is +plain but very pretty, and in the middle of the choir under a flat +marble lies the foundress. Madame de Cambis, one of the nuns, who are +about forty, is beautiful as a Madonna.[1] The abbess has no distinction +but a larger and richer gold cross: her apartment consists of two very +small rooms. Of Madame de Maintenon we did not see fewer than twenty +pictures. The young one looking over her shoulder has a round face, +without the least resemblance to those of her latter age. That in the +royal mantle, of which you know I have a copy, is the most repeated; but +there is another with a longer and leaner face, which has by far the +most sensible look. She is in black, with a high point head and band, a +long train, and is sitting in a chair of purple velvet. Before her +knees stands her niece Madame de Noailles, a child; at a distance a view +of Versailles or St. Cyr,[2] I could not distinguish which. We were +shown some rich reliquaires and the _corpo santo_ that was sent to her +by the Pope. We were then carried into the public room of each class. In +the first, the young ladies, who were playing at chess, were ordered to +sing to us the choruses of Athaliah; in another, they danced minuets and +country dances, while a nun, not quite so able as St. Cecilia, played on +a violin. In the others, they acted before us the proverbs or +conversations written by Madame de Maintenon for their instruction; for +she was not only their foundress but their saint, and their adoration of +her memory has quite eclipsed the Virgin Mary. We saw their dormitory, +and saw them at supper; and at last were carried to their archives, +where they produced volumes of her letters, and where one of the nuns +gave me a small piece of paper with three sentences in her handwriting. +I forgot to tell you, that this kind dame who took to me extremely, +asked me if we had many convents and relics in England. I was much +embarrassed for fear of destroying her good opinion of me, and so said +we had but few now. Oh! we went too to the _apothecairie_, where they +treated us with cordials, and where one of the ladies told me +inoculation was a sin, as it was a voluntary detention from mass, and as +voluntary a cause of eating _gras_. Our visit concluded in the garden, +now grown very venerable, where the young ladies played at little games +before us. After a stay of four hours we took our leave. I begged the +abbess's blessing; she smiled, and said, she doubted I should not place +much faith in it. She is a comely old gentlewoman, and very proud of +having seen Madame de Maintenon. Well! was not I in the right to wish +you with me?--could you have passed a day more agreeably. + +[Footnote 1: Madame du Deffand, in her letter to Walpole of the 10th of +May, 1776, encloses the following portrait of Madame de Cambise, by +Madame de la Valliere:--"Non, non, Madame, je ne ferai point votre +portrait: vous avez une maniere d'etre si noble, si fine, si piquante, +si delicate, si seduisante; votre gentilesse et vos graces changent si +souvent pour n'en etre que plus aimable, que l'on ne peut saisir aucun +de vos traits ni au physique ni au moral." She was niece of La Marquise +de Boufflers, and, having fled to England at the breaking out of the +French Revolution, resided here until her death, which took place at +Richmond in January, 1809.] + +[Footnote 2: St. Cyr was a school founded by Mme. de Maintenon for the +education of girls of good families who were in reduced circumstances. +Mme. de Maintenon was the daughter of M. D'Aubigne, a writer of fair +repute both as a historian and a satirist. Her first husband had been a +M. Paul Scarron, a comic poet of indifferent reputation. After his +death, she was induced, after an artful show of affected reluctance, to +become governess to the children of Louis XIV. and Mme. de Montespan. +Louis gave her the small estate of Maintenon, and, after the death of +his queen, privately married her. She became devout, and, under the +tuition of the Jesuits, a violent promoter of the persecution of the +Huguenots. It was probably her influence that induced Louis to issue the +Edict revoking the Edict of Nantes promulgated by Henry IV. in 1598. She +outlived the King, and died in 1719.] + +I will conclude my letter with a most charming trait of Madame de +Mailly,[1] which cannot be misplaced in such a chapter of royal +concubines. Going to St. Sulpice, after she had lost the King's heart, a +person present desired the crowd to make way for her. Some brutal young +officers said, "Comment, pour cette catin la!" She turned to them, and +with the most charming modesty said--"Messieurs, puisque vous me +connoissez, priez Dieu pour moi." I am sure it will bring tears into +your eyes. Was she not the Publican and Maintenon the Pharisee? Good +night! I hope I am going to dream of all I have been seeing. As my +impressions and my fancy, when I am pleased, are apt to be strong, my +night perhaps may still be more productive of ideas than the day has +been. It will be charming indeed if Madame de Cambis is the ruling tint. +Adieu! + +Yours ever. + +[Footnote 1: Mme. de Mailly was the first of the mistresses of Louis XV. +She was the elder sister of the Duchesse de Chateauroux and Mme. de +Lauragais. She has the credit, such as it is, of having been really in +love with the King before she became acquainted with him; but she soon +retired, feeling repentance and shame at her position, and being +superseded in his fancy by the more showy attractions of her younger +sisters.] + + +_A MASQUERADE--STATE OF RUSSIA._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Feb._ 27, 1770. + +It is very lucky, seeing how much of the tiger enters into the human +composition, that there should be a good dose of the monkey too. If +Aesop had not lived so many centuries before the introduction of +masquerades and operas, he would certainly have anticipated my +observation, and worked it up into a capital fable. As we still trade +upon the stock of the ancients, we seldom deal in any other manufacture; +and, though nature, after new combinations, lets forth new +characteristics, it is very rarely that they are added to the old fund; +else how could so striking a remark have escaped being made, as mine, on +the joint ingredients of tiger and monkey? In France the latter +predominates, in England the former; but, like Orozmades and +Arimanius,[1] they get the better by turns. The bankruptcy in France, +and the rigours of the new Comptroller-General, are half forgotten, in +the expectation of a new opera at the new theatre. Our civil war has +been lulled asleep by a Subscription Masquerade, for which the House of +Commons literally adjourned yesterday. Instead of Fairfaxes and +Cromwells, we have had a crowd of Henry the Eighths, Wolseys, Vandykes, +and Harlequins; and because Wilkes was not mask enough, we had a man +dressed like him, with a visor, in imitation of his squint, and a Cap of +Liberty on a pole. In short, sixteen or eighteen young lords have given +the town a Masquerade; and politics, for the last fortnight, were forced +to give way to habit-makers. The ball was last night at Soho; and, if +possible, was more magnificent than the King of Denmark's. The Bishops +opposed: he of London formally remonstrated to the King, who did not +approve it, but could not help him. The consequence was, that four +divine vessels belonging to the holy fathers, alias their wives, were at +this Masquerade. Monkey again! A fair widow,[2] who once bore my whole +name, and now bears half of it, was there, with one of those whom the +newspapers call _great personages_--he dressed like Edward the Fourth, +she like Elizabeth Woodville,[3] in grey and pearls, with a black veil. +Methinks it was not very difficult to find out the meaning of those +masks. + +[Footnote 1: "_Orozmades and Arimanius._" In the Persian theology +Orozmades and Ahriman are the good and bad angels. In Scott's "Talisman" +the disguised Saracen (Saladin) invokes Ahriman as "the dark spirit." In +one of his earlier letters Walpole describes his friend Gray as +Orozmades.] + +[Footnote 2: "_A fair widow._" Lady Waldegrave, a natural daughter of +Walpole's uncle, married the King's favourite brother, the Duke of +Gloucester, the _great personage_. The King was very indignant at the +_mesalliance_; and this marriage, with that of the King's other brother, +the Duke of Cumberland, to Mrs. Horton, led to the enactment of the +Royal Marriage Act.] + +[Footnote 3: Elizabeth Woodville was the daughter of a Sir Richard +Woodville, and his wife, the Duchess of Bedford, the widow of the +illustrious brother of Henry V. Her first husband had been Sir John +Grey, a knight of the Lancastrian party; and, after his death, Edward +IV., attracted by her remarkable beauty, married her in 1464.] + +As one of my ancient passions, formerly, was Masquerades, I had a large +trunk of dresses by me. I dressed out a thousand young Conways and +Cholmondeleys, and went with more pleasure to see them pleased than when +I formerly delighted in that diversion myself. It has cost me a great +headache, and I shall probably never go to another. A symptom appeared +of the change that has happened in the people. + +The mob was beyond all belief: they held flambeaux to the windows of +every coach, and demanded to have the masks pulled off and put on at +their pleasure, but with extreme good-humour and civility. I was with my +Lady Hertford and two of her daughters, in their coach: the mob took me +for Lord Hertford, and huzzaed and blessed me! One fellow cried out, +"Are you for Wilkes?" another said, "D--n you, you fool, what has Wilkes +to do with a Masquerade?" + +In good truth, that stock is fallen very low. The Court has recovered a +majority of seventy-five in the House of Commons; and the party has +succeeded so ill in the Lords, that my Lord Chatham has betaken himself +to the gout, and appears no more. What Wilkes may do at his enlargement +in April, I don't know, but his star is certainly much dimmed. The +distress of France, the injustice they have been induced to commit on +public credit, immense bankruptcies, and great bankers hanging and +drowning themselves, are comfortable objects in our prospect; for one +tiger is charmed if another tiger loses his tail. + +There was a stroke of the monkey last night that will sound ill in the +ears of your neighbour the Pope. The heir-apparent of the House of +Norfolk, a drunken old mad fellow, was, though a Catholic, dressed like +a Cardinal: I hope he was scandalised at the wives of our Bishops. + +So you agree with me, and don't think that the crusado from Russia will +recover the Holy Land! It is a pity; for, if the Turks kept it a little +longer, I doubt it will be the Holy Land no longer. When Rome totters, +poor Jerusalem! As to your Count Orloff's[1] denying the murder of the +late Czar, it is no more than every felon does at the Old Bailey. If I +could write like Shakspeare, I would make Peter's ghost perch on the +dome of Sancta Sophia, and, when the Russian fleet comes in sight, roar, +with a voice of thunder that should reach to Petersburg, + + Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow! + +[Footnote 1: Count Orloff was one of the Czarina's earlier lovers, and +was universally understood to have been the principal agent in the +murder of her husband.] + +We have had two or three simpletons return from Russia, charmed with the +murderess, believing her innocent, _because_ she spoke graciously to +_them_ in the drawing-room. I don't know what the present Grand +Signior's name is, Osman, or Mustapha, or what, but I am extremely on +his side against Catherine of Zerbst; and I never intend to ask him for +a farthing, nor write panegyrics on him for pay, like Voltaire and +Diderot; so you need not say a word to him of my good wishes. Benedict +XIV. deserved my friendship, but being a sound Protestant, one would +not, you know, make all Turk and Pagan and Infidel princes too familiar. +Adieu! + +[Illustration: SIR ROBERT WALPOLE + +_From a mezzotint by J. Simon after a picture by Sir Godfrey Kneller_] + + +_WILKES--BURKE'S PAMPHLET--PREDICTION OF AMERICAN +REPUBLICS--EXTRAVAGANCE IN ENGLAND._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _May_ 6, 1770. + +I don't know whether Wilkes is subdued by his imprisonment, or waits for +the rising of Parliament, to take the field; or whether his dignity of +Alderman has dulled him into prudence, and the love of feasting; but +hitherto he has done nothing but go to City banquets and sermons, and +sit at Guildhall as a sober magistrate. With an inversion of the +proverb, "Si ex quovis Mercurio fit lignum!" What do you Italians think +of Harlequin Potesta?[1] In truth, his party is crumbled away strangely. +Lord Chatham has talked on the Middlesex election till nobody will +answer him; and Mr. Burke (Lord Rockingham's governor) has published a +pamphlet[2] that has sown the utmost discord between that faction and +the supporters of the Bill of Rights. Mrs. Macaulay[3] has written +against it. In Parliament their numbers are shrunk to nothing, and the +session is ending very triumphantly for the Court. But there is another +scene opened of a very different aspect. You have seen the accounts from +Boston. The tocsin seems to be sounded to America. I have many visions +about that country, and fancy I see twenty empires and republics forming +upon vast scales over all that continent, which is growing too mighty to +be kept in subjection to half a dozen exhausted nations in Europe. As +the latter sinks, and the others rise, they who live between the eras +will be a sort of Noahs, witnesses to the period of the old world and +origin of the new. I entertain myself with the idea of a future senate +in Carolina and Virginia, where their future patriots will harangue on +the austere and incorruptible virtue of the ancient English! will tell +their auditors of our disinterestedness and scorn of bribes and +pensions, and make us blush in our graves at their ridiculous +panegyrics. Who knows but even our Indian usurpations and villanies may +become topics of praise to American schoolboys? As I believe our virtues +are extremely like those of our predecessors the Romans, so I am sure +our luxury and extravagance are too. + +[Footnote 1: Podesta was an officer in some of the smaller Italian +towns, somewhat corresponding to our mayor. The name is Italianised from +the Roman Potestas-- + + Hajus, quo trahitur, praetextam sumere mavis, + An Fidenarum, Gabiorumque esse Potestas. + +(Juv., x. 100).] + +[Footnote 2: The pamphlet is, "Thoughts on the Present Discontents," +founding them especially on the unconstitutional influence of "the +King's friends."] + +[Footnote 3: Mrs. Macaulay was the wife of a London physician, and +authoress of a "History of England" from the accession of James I. to +that of George I., written in a spirit of the fiercest republicanism, +but long since forgotten.] + +What do you think of a winter Ranelagh[1] erecting in Oxford Road, at +the expense of sixty thousand pounds? The new bank, including the value +of the ground, and of the houses demolished to make room for it, will +cost three hundred thousand; and erected, as my Lady Townley[2] says, +_by sober citizens too_! I have touched before to you on the incredible +profusion of our young men of fashion. I know a younger brother who +literally gives a flower-woman half a guinea every morning for a bunch +of roses for the nosegay in his button-hole. There has lately been an +auction of stuffed birds; and, as natural history is in fashion, there +are physicians and others who paid forty and fifty guineas for a single +Chinese pheasant; you may buy a live one for five. After this, it is +not extraordinary that pictures should be dear. We have at present three +exhibitions. One West,[3] who paints history in the taste of Poussin, +gets three hundred pounds for a piece not too large to hang over a +chimney. He has merit, but is hard and heavy, and far unworthy of such +prices. The rage to see these exhibitions is so great, that sometimes +one cannot pass through the streets where they are. But it is incredible +what sums are raised by mere exhibitions of anything; a new fashion, and +to enter at which you pay a shilling or half-a-crown. Another rage, is +for prints of English portraits: I have been collecting them above +thirty years, and originally never gave for a mezzotinto above one or +two shillings. The lowest are now a crown; most, from half a guinea to a +guinea. Lately, I assisted a clergyman [Granger] in compiling a +catalogue of them; since the publication, scarce heads in books, not +worth threepence, will sell for five guineas. Then we have Etruscan +vases, made of earthenware, in Staffordshire, [by Wedgwood] from two to +five guineas, and _ormoulu_, never made here before, which succeeds so +well, that a tea-kettle, which the inventor offered for one hundred +guineas, sold by auction for one hundred and thirty. In short, we are at +the height of extravagance and improvements, for we do improve rapidly +in taste as well as in the former. I cannot say so much for our genius. +Poetry is gone to bed, or into our prose; we are like the Romans in +that too. If we have the arts of the Antonines,--we have the fustian +also. + +[Footnote 1: _"A winter Ranelagh._"--the Pantheon in Oxford Street.] + +[Footnote 2: Lady Townley is the principal character in "The Provoked +Husband."] + +[Footnote 3: West, as a painter, was highly esteemed by George III., +and, on the death of Sir J. Reynolds, succeeded him as President of the +Royal Academy.] + +Well! what becomes of your neighbours, the Pope and Turk? is one Babylon +to fall, and the other to moulder away? I begin to tremble for the poor +Greeks; they will be sacrificed like the Catalans, and left to be +impaled for rebellion, as soon as that vainglorious woman the Czarina +has glutted her lust of fame, and secured Azoph by a peace, which I hear +is all she insists on keeping. What strides modern ambition takes! _We_ +are the successors of Aurungzebe; and a virago under the Pole sends a +fleet into the Aegean Sea to rouse the ghosts of Leonidas and +Epaminondas, and burn the capital of the second Roman Empire! Folks now +scarce meddle with their next door neighbours; as many English go to +visit St. Peter's who never thought of stepping into St. Paul's. + +I shall let Lord Beauchamp know your readiness to oblige him, probably +to-morrow, as I go to town. The spring is so backward here that I have +little inducement to stay; not an entire leaf is out on any tree, and I +have heard a syren as much as a nightingale. Lord Fitzwilliam, who, I +suppose, is one of your latest acquaintance, is going to marry Lady +Charlotte Ponsonby, Lord Besborough's second daughter, a pretty, +sensible, and very amiable girl. I seldom tell you that sort of news, +but when the parties are very fresh in your memory. Adieu! + + +_MASQUERADES IN FASHION--A LADY'S CLUB._ + +TO GEORGE MONTAGU, ESQ. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _May_ 6, 1770. + +If you are like me, you are fretting at the weather. We have not a leaf, +yet, large enough to make an apron for a Miss Eve of two years old. +Flowers and fruits, if they come at all this year, must meet together as +they do in a Dutch picture; our lords and ladies, however, couple as if +it were the real _Gioventu dell' anno_. Lord Albemarle, you know, has +disappointed all his brothers and my niece; and Lord Fitzwilliam is +declared _sposo_ to Lady Charlotte Ponsonby. It is a pretty match, and +makes Lord Besborough as happy as possible. + +Masquerades proceed in spite of Church and King. That knave the Bishop +of London persuaded that good soul the Archbishop to remonstrate against +them; but happily the age prefers silly follies to serious ones, and +dominos, _comme de raison_, carry it against lawn sleeves. + +There is a new Institution that begins to make, and if it proceeds, will +make a considerable noise. It is a club of _both_ sexes to be erected at +Almack's, on the model of that of the men of White's. Mrs. Fitzroy, Lady +Pembroke, Mrs. Meynell, Lady Molyneux, Miss Pelham, and Miss Loyd, are +the foundresses. I am ashamed to say I am of so young and fashionable a +society; but as they are people I live with, I choose to be idle rather +than morose. I can go to a young supper, without forgetting how much +sand is run out of the hour-glass. Yet I shall never pass a triste old +age in turning the Psalms into Latin or English verse. My plan is to +pass away calmly; cheerfully if I can; sometimes to amuse myself with +the rising generation, but to take care not to fatigue them, nor weary +them with old stories, which will not interest them, as their adventures +do not interest me. Age would indulge prejudices if it did not sometimes +polish itself against younger acquaintance; but it must be the work of +folly if one hopes to contract friendships with them, or desires it, or +thinks one can become the same follies, or expects that they should do +more than bear one for one's good-humour. In short, they are a pleasant +medicine, that one should take care not to grow fond of. Medicines hurt +when habit has annihilated their force; but you see I am in no danger. I +intend by degrees to decrease my opium, instead of augmenting the dose. +Good night! You see I never let our long-lived friendship drop, though +you give it so few opportunities of breathing. + + +_THE PRINCESS OF WALES IS GONE TO GERMANY--TERRIBLE ACCIDENT IN PARIS._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _June_ 15, 1770. + +I have no public event to tell you, though I write again sooner than I +purposed. The journey of the Princess Dowager to Germany is indeed an +extraordinary circumstance, but besides its being a week old, as I do +not know the motives, I have nothing to say upon it. It is much +canvassed and sifted, and yet perhaps she was only in search of a little +repose from the torrents of abuse that have been poured upon her for +some years. Yesterday they publicly sung about the streets a ballad, the +burthen of which was, _the cow has left her calf_. With all this we are +grown very quiet, and Lord North's behaviour is so sensible and moderate +that he offends nobody. + +Our family has lost a branch, but I cannot call it a misfortune. Lord +Cholmondeley died last Saturday. He was seventy, and had a constitution +to have carried him to a hundred, if he had not destroyed it by an +intemperance, especially in drinking, that would have killed anybody +else in half the time. As it was, he had outlived by fifteen years all +his set, who have reeled into the ferry-boat so long before him. His +grandson seems good and amiable, and though he comes into but a small +fortune for an earl, five-and-twenty hundred a-year, his uncle the +general may re-establish him upon a great footing--but it will not be in +his life, and the general does not sail after his brother on a sea of +claret. + +You have heard details, to be sure, of the horrible catastrophe at the +fireworks at Paris.[1] Francees, the French minister, told me the other +night that the number of the killed is so great that they now try to +stifle it; my letters say between five and six hundred! I think there +were not fewer than ten coach-horses trodden to death. The mob had +poured down from the _Etoile_ by thousands and ten thousands to see the +illuminations, and did not know the havoc they were occasioning. The +impulse drove great numbers into the Seine, and those met with the most +favourable deaths. + +[Footnote 1: The Dauphin had been married to the Archduchess Marie +Antoinette on May 16th, and on May 30th the city of Paris closed a +succession of balls and banquets with which they had celebrated the +marriage of the heir of the monarchy by a display of fireworks in the +Place Louis XV., in which the ingenuity of the most fashionable +pyrotechnists had been exhausted to outshine all previous displays of +the sort. But towards the end of the exhibition one of the explosives +set fire to a portion of the platforms on which the different figures +were constructed, and in a moment the whole woodwork was in a flame. +Three sides of the Place were enclosed, and the fourth was so blocked up +with carriages, that the spectators, who saw themselves surrounded with +flames, had no way to escape open. The carriage-horses, too, became +terrified and unmanageable. In their panic-stricken flight the +spectators trampled one another down; hundreds fell, and were crushed to +death by their companions; hundreds were pushed into the river and +drowned. The number of killed could never be precisely ascertained; but +it was never estimated below six hundred, and was commonly believed to +have greatly exceeded that number, as many of the victims were of the +poorer class--many, too, the bread-winners of their families. The +Dauphin and Dauphiness devoted the whole of their month's income to the +relief of the sufferers; and Marie Antoinette herself visited many of +the families whose loss seemed to have been the most severe: this +personal interest in their affliction which she thus displayed making a +deep impression on the citizens.] + +This is a slight summer letter, but you will not be sorry it is so +short, when the dearth of events is the cause. Last year I did not know +but we might have a battle of Edgehill[1] by this time. At present, my +Lord Chatham could as soon raise money as raise the people; and Wilkes +will not much longer have more power of doing either. If you were not +busy in burning Constantinople, you could not have a better opportunity +for taking a trip to England. Have you never a wish this way? Think what +satisfaction it would be to me?--but I never advise; nor let my own +inclinations judge for my friends. I had rather suffer their absence, +than have to reproach myself with having given them bad counsel. I +therefore say no more on what would make me so happy. Adieu! + +[Footnote 1: Edgehill was the first battle in the Great Rebellion, +fought October 23, 1642.] + + +_FALL OF THE DUC DE CHOISEUL'S MINISTRY._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Saturday evening, Dec._ 29, 1770. + +We are alarmed, or very glad, we don't know which. The Duke de Choiseul +is fallen! but we cannot tell yet whether the mood of his successors +will be peaceable or martial. The news arrived yesterday morning, and +the event happened but last Monday evening. He was allowed but three +hours to prepare for his journey, and ordered to retire to his seat at +Chanteloup; but there are letters that say, _qu'il ira plus loin_. The +Duke de Praslin is banished too--a disagreeable man; but his fate is a +little hard, for he was just going to resign the Marine to Chatelet, +who, by the way, is forbidden to visit Choiseul. I shall shed no tears +for Chatelet, the most peevish and insolent of men, our bitter enemy, +and whom M. de Choiseul may thank in some measure for his fall; for I +believe while Chatelet was here, he drew the Spaniards into the attack +of Falkland's Island. Choiseul's own conduct seems to have been not a +little equivocal. His friends maintained that his existence as a +minister depended on his preventing a war, and he certainly confuted the +Comptroller-General's plan of raising supplies for it. Yet, it is now +said, that on the very morning of the Duke's disgrace, the King +reproached him, and said "Monsieur, je vous avois dit, que je ne voulois +pas la guerre;" and the Duke d'Aiguillon's friends have officiously +whispered, that if Choiseul was out it would certainly be peace; but did +not Lord Chatham, immediately before he was Minister, protest not half a +man should be sent to Germany, and yet, were not all our men and all our +money sent thither? The Chevalier de Muy is made Secretary-at-War, and +it is supposed Monsieur d'Aiguillon is, or will be, the Minister. + +Thus Abishag[1] has strangled an Administration that had lasted fourteen +years. I am sincerely grieved for the Duchess de Choiseul, the most +perfect being I know of either sex. I cannot possibly feel for her +husband: Corsica is engraved in my memory, as I believe it is on your +heart. His cruelties there, I should think, would not cheer his solitude +or prison. In the mean time, desolation and confusion reign all over +France. They are almost bankrupts, and quite famished. The Parliament +of Paris has quitted its functions, and the other tribunals threaten to +follow the example. Some people say, that Maupeou,[2] the Chancellor, +told the King that they were supported underhand by Choiseul, and must +submit if he were removed. The suggestion is specious at least, as the +object of their antipathy is the Duke d'Aiguillon. If the latter should +think a war a good diversion to their enterprises, I should not be +surprised if they went on, especially if a bankruptcy follows famine. +The new Minister and the Chancellor are in general execration. On the +latter's lately obtaining the _Cordon Bleu_,[3] this epigram appeared:-- + + Ce tyran de la France, qui cherche a mettre tout en feu, + Merite un cordon, mais ce n'est pas le cordon bleu. + +[Footnote 1: Madame du Barri.--WALPOLE.] + +[Footnote 2: Maupeou was the Chancellor who had just abolished the +Parliaments, the restoration of which in the next reign was perhaps one +of the causes which contributed to the Revolution.] + +[Footnote 3: The _Cordon Bleu_ was the badge of the Order of St. Louis, +established by Louis XIV.; the _cordon not_ blue was the hangman's +rope.] + +We shall see how Spain likes the fall of the author of the +"Family-compact."[1] There is an Empress[2] will not be pleased with +it, but it is not the Russian Empress; and much less the Turks, who are +as little obliged to that bold man's intrigues as the poor Corsicans. +How can one regret such a general _Boute-feu_? + +[Footnote 1: Choiseul was the Minister when the "Family Compact" of 1761 +was concluded between France and Spain. The Duc de Praslin, who shared +his fall, had been Secretary at War, and for some little time neither +his office nor that of Choiseul was filled up, but the work of their +departments was performed by Secretaries of State, the Duc d'Aiguillon, +in spite of the contempt in which he was deservedly held, being +eventually made Secretary for Foreign Affairs through the interest of +Mme. du Barri (Lacretelle, iv. 256).] + +[Footnote 2: "_An Empress._" The Empress-Queen Maria Theresa, who +considered herself and her family under obligations to Choiseul for his +abandonment of the long-standing policy of enmity to the house of +Austria which had been the guiding principle of all French statesmen +since the time of Henry IV., and for the marriage of her favourite +daughter to the Dauphin.] + +Perhaps our situation is not very stable neither. The world, who are +ignorant of Lord Weymouth's motives, suspect a secret intelligence with +Lord Chatham. Oh! let us have peace abroad before we quarrel any more at +home! + +Judge Bathurst is to be Lord Keeper, with many other arrangements in the +law; but as you neither know the persons, nor I care about them, I shall +not fill my paper with the catalogue, but reserve the rest of my letter +for Tuesday, when I shall be in town. No Englishman, you know, will +sacrifice his Saturday and Sunday. I have so little to do with all these +matters, that I came hither this morning, and left this new chaos to +arrange itself as it pleases. It certainly is an era, and may be an +extensive one; not very honourable to old King Capet,[1] whatever it may +be to the intrigues of his new Ministers. The Jesuits will not be +without hopes. They have a friend that made mischief _ante Helenam_. + +[Footnote 1: Louis XV.--WALPOLE.] + +_Jan._ 1, 1771. + +I hope the new year will end as quietly as it begins, for I have not a +syllable to tell you. No letters are come from France since Friday +morning, and this is Tuesday noon. As we had full time to reason--in the +dark, the general persuasion is, that the French Revolution will produce +peace--I mean in Europe--not amongst themselves. Probably I have been +sending you little but what you will have heard long before you receive +my letter; but no matter; if we did not chat about our neighbour Kings, +I don't know how we should keep up our correspondence, for we are better +acquainted with King Louis, King Carlos, and Empresses Katharine and +Teresa, than you with the English that I live amongst, or I with your +Florentines. Adieu! + + +_PEACE WITH SPAIN--BANISHMENT OF THE FRENCH PARLIAMENT--MRS. CORNELYS'S +ESTABLISHMENT--THE QUEEN OF DENMARK._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Feb._ 22, 1771. + +Two days ago there began to be an alarm at the delay of the Spanish +courier, and people were persuaded that the King of Spain had refused to +ratify his ambassador's declaration; who, on the warrant of the French +King, had ventured to sign it, though expecting every hour to be +recalled, as he actually was two days afterwards. However, the night +before last, to the great comfort of Prince Masserano and our Ministers, +the ratification arrived; and, after so many delays and untoward +accidents, Fortune has interposed (for there has been great luck, too, +in the affair), and peace is again established. With you, I am not at +all clear that Choiseul was in earnest to make it. If he was, it was +entirely owing to his own ticklish situation. Other people think, that +this very situation had made him desperate; and that he was on the point +of striking a hardy stroke indeed; and meditated sending a strong army +into Holland, to oblige the Dutch to lend twelve men-of-war to invade +us. Count Welderen,[1] who is totally an anti-Gaul, assured me he did +not believe this project. Still I am very glad such a _boute-feu_ is +removed. + +[Footnote 1: The Dutch Minister in England. He married a sister of Sir +John Griffin, Maid of Honour to Anne Princess of Orange.--WALPOLE.] + +This treaty is an epoch; and puts a total end to all our preceding +histories. Long quiet is never probable, nor shall I guess who will +disturb it; but, whatever happens, must be thoroughly new matter, though +some of the actors perhaps may not be so. Both Lord Chatham and Wilkes +are at the end of their reckoning, and the Opposition can do nothing +without fresh fuel. + +The scene that is closed here seems to be but opening in France. The +Parliament of Paris banished; a new one arbitrarily appointed;[1] the +Princes of the Blood refractory and disobedient; the other Parliament +as mutinous; and distress everywhere: if the army catches the infection, +what may not happen, when the King is despised, his agents detested, and +no Ministry settled? Some say the mistress and her faction keep him +hourly diverted or drunk; others, that he has got a new passion: how +creditable at sixty! Still I think it is the crisis of their +constitution. If the Monarch prevails, he becomes absolute as a Czar; if +he is forced to bend, will the Parliament stop there? + +[Footnote 1: "_A new one appointed._" This is a mistake of Walpole's. A +new Parliament was not, nor indeed could be, appointed; but Maupeou +created six new Sovereign Courts at Arras, Blois, Chalons sur Marne, +Clermont, Lyon, and Poitiers, at which "justice should be done at the +sovereign's expense" (Lacretelle, iv. 264).] + +In the mean time our most serious war is between two Operas. Mr. Hobart, +Lord Buckingham's brother, is manager of the Haymarket. Last year he +affronted Guadagni, by preferring the Zamperina, his own mistress, to +the singing hero's sister. The Duchess of Northumberland, Lady +Harrington, and some other great ladies, espoused the brother, and +without a license erected an Opera for him at Madame Cornelys's. This is +a singular dame, and you must be acquainted with her. She sung here +formerly, by the name of the Pompeiati. Of late years she has been the +Heidegger of the age, and presided over our diversions. Her taste and +invention in pleasures and decorations are singular. She took Carlisle +House in Soho Square, enlarged it, and established assemblies and balls +by subscription. At first they scandalised, but soon drew in both +righteous and ungodly. She went on building, and made her house a fairy +palace for balls, concerts, and masquerades. Her Opera, which she called +_Harmonic Meetings_, was splendid and charming. Mr. Hobart began to +starve, and the managers of the theatres were alarmed. To avoid the act, +she pretended to take no money, and had the assurance to advertise that +the subscription was to provide coals for the poor, for she has +vehemently courted the mob, and succeeded in gaining their princely +favour. She then declared her Masquerades were for the benefit of +commerce. I concluded she would open another sort of house next for the +interests of the Foundling Hospital, and I was not quite mistaken, for +they say one of her maids, gained by Mr. Hobart, affirms that she could +not undergo the fatigue of managing such a house. At last Mr. Hobart +informed against her, and the Bench of Justices, less soothable by music +than Orpheus's beasts, have pronounced against her. Her Opera is +quashed, and Guadagni, who governed so haughtily at Vienna, that, to +pique some man of quality there, he named a minister to Venice, is not +only fined, but was threatened to be sent to Bridewell, which chilled +the blood of all the Caesars and Alexanders he had ever represented; nor +could any promises of his lady-patronesses rehabilitate his courage--so +for once an Act of Parliament goes for something. + +You have got three new companions;[1] General Montagu, a West Indian +Mr. Paine, and Mr. Lynch, your brother at Turin. + +[Footnote 1: As Knights of the Bath.--WALPOLE.] + +There is the devil to pay in Denmark. The Queen[1] has got the +ascendant, has turned out favourites and Ministers, and literally wears +the breeches, actual buckskin. There is a physician, who is said to rule +both their Majesties, and I suppose is sold to France, for that is the +predominant interest now at Copenhagen. The Czarina has whispered her +disapprobation, and if she has a talon left, when she has done with the +Ottomans, may chance to scratch the little King. + +[Footnote 1: The Queen was Caroline Matilda, a sister of George III., +and was accused of a criminal intimacy with Count Struenzee, the Prime +Minister. Struenzee, "after a trial with only a slight semblance of the +forms of justice" (to quote the words of Lord Stanhope), was convicted +and executed; and the Queen was at first imprisoned in the Castle of +Cronenburg, but after a time was released, and allowed to retire to +Zell, Hanover, where she died in 1774.] + +For eight months to come I should think we shall have little to talk of, +you and I, but distant wars and distant majesties. For my part, I reckon +the volume quite shut in which I took any interest. The succeeding world +is young, new, and half unknown to me. Tranquillity comprehends every +wish I have left, and I think I should not even ask what news there is, +but for fear of seeming wedded to old stories--the rock of old men; and +yet I should prefer that failing to the solicitude about a world one +belongs to no more! Adieu! + + +_QUARREL OF THE HOUSE OF COMMONS WITH THE CITY--DISSENSIONS IN THE +FRENCH COURT AND ROYAL FAMILY--EXTRAVAGANCE IN ENGLAND._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _April_ 26, 1771. + +You may wonder that I have been so silent, when I had announced a war +between the House of Commons and the City--nay, when hostilities were +actually commenced; but many a campaign languishes that has set out very +flippantly. My letters depend on events, and I am like the man in the +weather-house who only comes forth on a storm. The wards in the City +have complimented the prisoners,[1] and some towns; but the train has +not spread much. Wilkes is your only gun-powder that makes an explosion. +He and his associates are more incensed at each other than against the +Ministry, and have saved the latter much trouble. The Select Committees +have been silent and were forgotten, but there is a talk now of their +making some report before the session closes. + +[Footnote 1: The prisoners were Crosby, the Lord Mayor, and Oliver, one +of the aldermen, both members of Parliament. The selection of the Tower +for their imprisonment was greatly remarked upon, because hitherto that +had never been so used except for persons accused of high treason; while +their offence was but a denial of the right of the House of Commons to +arrest a liveryman within the City, and the entertaining a charge of +assault against the messenger who had endeavoured to arrest him. These +riots, which for the moment appeared likely to become formidable, arose +out of the practice of reporting the parliamentary debates, a practice +contrary to the Standing Orders of Parliament, passed as far back as the +reign of Elizabeth, but the violation of which had lately begun to be +attempted.] + +The serious war is at last absolutely blown over. Spain has sent us word +she is disarming. So are we. Who would have expected that a courtesan at +Paris would have prevented a general conflagration? Madame du Barri has +compensated for Madame Helen, and is _optima pacis causa_. I will not +swear that the torch she snatched from the hands of Spain may not light +up a civil war in France. The Princes of the Blood[1] are forbidden the +Court, twelve dukes and peers, of the most complaisant, are banished, or +going to be banished; and even the captains of the guard. In short, the +King, his mistress, and the Chancellor, have almost left themselves +alone at Versailles. But as the most serious events in France have +always a ray of ridicule mixed with them, some are to be exiled _to_ +Paris, and some to St. Germain. How we should laugh at anybody being +banished to Soho Square and Hammersmith? The Chancellor desired to see +the Prince of Conti; the latter replied, "Qu'il lui donnoit rendezvous a +la Greve."[2] + +[Footnote 1: The "Princes of the Blood" in France were those who, though +of Royal descent, were not children of a king--such, for instance, as +the Dukes of Orleans and Bourbon; and they were reckoned of a rank so +inferior to the princes of the Royal Family, that, as Marie Antoinette +on one occasion told the Duke of Orleans, in a well-deserved reproof for +his factious insolence, Princes of the Blood had never pretended to the +honour of supping with the King and herself. (See the Editor's "Life of +Marie Antoinette," c. 10). Their offence, in this instance, was having +protested against the holding and the proceedings of a _Lit de Justice_, +which had been held on April 15th, about three months after the +banishment of all the members of Parliament (Lacretelle, c. 13).] + +[Footnote 2: La Greve was the place of execution in Paris. + + Who has e'er been at Paris must needs know the Greve, + The fatal retreat of th' unfortunate brave; + Where honour and justice most oddly contribute + To ease hero's pains by a halter and gibbet (PRIOR).] + +If we laugh at the French, they stare at us. Our enormous luxury and +expense astonishes them. I carried their Ambassador, and a Comte de +Levi, the other morning to see the new winter Ranelagh [The Pantheon] in +Oxford Road, which is almost finished. It amazed me myself. Imagine +Balbec in all its glory! The pillars are of artificial _giallo antico_. +The ceilings, even of the passages, are of the most beautiful stuccos in +the best taste of grotesque. The ceilings of the ball-rooms and the +panels painted like Raphael's _loggias_ in the Vatican. A dome like the +pantheon, glazed. It is to cost fifty thousand pounds. Monsieur de +Guisnes said to me, "Ce n'est qu'a Londres qu'on peut faire tout cela." +It is not quite a proof of the same taste, that two views of Verona, by +Canaletti, have been sold by auction for five hundred and fifty guineas; +and, what is worse, it is come out that they are copies by Marlow, a +disciple of Scott. Both master and scholar are indeed better painters +than the Venetian; but the purchasers did not mean to be so well +cheated. + +The papers will have told you that the wheel of fortune has again +brought up Lord Holdernesse, who is made governor to the Prince of +Wales. The Duchess of Queensberry, a much older veteran, is still +figuring in the world, not only by giving frequent balls, but really by +her beauty. Reflect, that she was a goddess in Prior's days![1] I could +not help adding these lines on her--you know his end: + + Kitty, at Heart's desire, + Obtained the chariot for a day, + And set the world on fire. + +This was some fifty-six years ago, or more. I gave her this stanza: + + To many a Kitty, Love his car + Will for a day engage, + But Prior's Kitty, ever fair, + Obtained it for an age! + +And she is old enough to be pleased with the compliment. + +[Footnote 1: Prior died in 1721.] + +My brother [Sir Edward Walpole] has lost his son; and it is no +misfortune, though he was but three-and-thirty, and had very good parts; +for he was sunk into such a habit of drinking and gaming, that the first +ruined his constitution, and the latter would have ruined his father. + +Shall I send away this short scroll, or reserve it to the end of the +session? No, it is already somewhat obsolete: it shall go, and another +short letter shall be the other half of it--so, good night! + + +_GREAT DISTRESS AT THE FRENCH COURT._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +PARIS, _July_ 30, 1771. + +I do not know where you are, nor where this will find you, nor when it +will set out to seek you, as I am not certain by whom I shall send it. +It is of little consequence, as I have nothing material to tell you, but +what you probably may have heard. + +The distress here is incredible, especially at Court. The King's +tradesmen are ruined, his servants starving, and even angels and +archangels cannot get their pensions and salaries, but sing "Woe! woe! +woe!" instead of Hosannahs. Compiegne is abandoned; Villars Coterets[1] +and Chantilly crowded, and Chanteloup still more in fashion, whither +everybody goes that pleases; though, when they ask leave, the answer is, +"Je ne le defends ni le permets." This is the first time that ever the +will of a King of France was interpreted against his inclination. Yet, +after annihilating his Parliament, and ruining public credit, he tamely +submits to be affronted by his own servants. Madame de Beauveau, and two +or three high-spirited dames, defy this Czar of Gaul. Yet they and their +cabal are as inconsistent on the other hand. They make epigrams, sing +vaudevilles,[2] against the mistress, hand about libels against the +Chancellor [Maupeou], and have no more effect than a sky-rocket; but in +three months will die to go to Court, and to be invited to sup with +Madame du Barri. The only real struggle is between the Chancellor +[Maupeou] and the Duc d'Aiguillon. The first is false, bold, determined, +and not subject to little qualms. The other is less known, communicates +himself to nobody, is suspected of deep policy and deep designs, but +seems to intend to set out under a mask of very smooth varnish; for he +has just obtained the payment of all his bitter enemy La Chalotais' +pensions and arrears. He has the advantage, too, of being but +moderately detested in comparison of his rival, and, what he values +more, the interest of the mistress. The Comptroller-General[3] serves +both, by acting mischief more sensibly felt; for he ruins everybody but +those who purchase a respite from his mistress. He dispenses bankruptcy +by retail, and will fall, because he cannot even by these means be +useful enough. They are striking off nine millions from _la caisse +militaire_, five from the marine, and one from the _affaires +etrangeres_: yet all this will not extricate them. You never saw a great +nation in so disgraceful a position. Their next prospect is not better: +it rests on an _imbecille_ [Louis XVI.], both in mind and body. + +[Footnote 1: Villars Coterets was the country residence of the Duc +d'Orleans; Chantilly that of the Prince de Conde; and Chanteloup that of +the Duc de Choiseul: and the mere fact of their being in disgrace at +Court was sufficient to make them popular with the people.] + +[Footnote 2: The following specimen of these vaudevilles was given by +Madame du Deffand to Walpole:-- + + "L'avez-vous vue, ma Du Barry, + Elle a ravi mon ame; + Pour elle j'ai perdu l'esprit, + Des Francais j'ai le blame: + Charmants enfans de la Gourdon, + Est-elle chez vous maintenant? + Rendez-la-moi, + Je suis le Roi, + Soulagez mon martyre; + Rendez-la-moi, + Elle est a moi, + Je suis son pauvre Sire. + L'avez-vous vue," &c. + + "Je sais qu'autrefois les laquais + On fete ses jeunes attraits; + Que les cochers, + Les perruquiers, + L'aimaient, l'aimaient d'amour extreme, + Mais pas autant que je l'aime. + L'avez-vous vue," &c.] + +[Footnote 3: The Comptroller-General was the Abbe Terrai, notoriously as +corrupt as he was incompetent. One of his measures, reducing the +interest on the Debt by one-half, was tantamount to an act of +bankruptcy; but the national levity comforted itself by jests, and one +evening, when the pit at the theatre was crowded to suffocation, one of +the sufferers carried the company with him by shouting out a suggestion +to send for the Abbe Terrai to reduce them all to one-half their size.] + + +_ENGLISH GARDENING IN FRANCE--ANGLOMANIE--HE IS WEARY OF PARIS--DEATH OF +GRAY._ + +TO JOHN CHUTE, ESQ. + +Paris, _August_ 5, 1771. + +It is a great satisfaction to me to find by your letter of the 30th, +that you have had no return of your gout. I have been assured here, that +the best remedy is to cut one's nails in hot water. It is, I fear, as +certain as any other remedy! It would at least be so here, if their +bodies were of a piece with their understandings; or if both were as +curable as they are the contrary. Your prophecy, I doubt, is not better +founded than the prescription. I may be lame; but I shall never be a +duck, nor deal in the garbage of the Alley. + +I envy your _Strawberry tide_, and need not say how much I wish I was +there to receive you. Methinks, I should be as glad of a little grass, +as a seaman after a long voyage. Yet English gardening gains ground here +prodigiously--not much at a time, indeed--I have literally seen one, +that is exactly like a tailor's paper of patterns. There is a Monsieur +Boutin, who has tacked a piece of what he calls an English garden to a +set of stone terraces, with steps of turf. There are three or four very +high hills, almost as high as, and exactly in the shape of, a tansy +pudding. You squeeze between these and a river, that is conducted at +obtuse angles in a stone channel, and supplied by a pump; and when +walnuts come in I suppose it will be navigable. In a corner enclosed by +a chalk wall are the samples I mentioned; there is a strip of grass, +another of corn, and a third _en friche_, exactly in the order of beds +in a nursery. They have translated Mr. Whately's book,[1] and the Lord +knows what barbarism is going to be laid at our door. This new +_Anglomanie_ will literally be _mad English_. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Whately, the Secretary to the Treasury, had published +an essay on Gardening.] + +New _arrets_, new retrenchments, new misery, stalk forth every day. The +Parliament of Besancon is dissolved; so are the _grenadiers de France_. +The King's tradesmen are all bankrupt; no pensions are paid, and +everybody is reforming their suppers and equipages. Despotism makes +converts faster than ever Christianity did. Louis _Quinze_ is the true +_rex Christianissimus_, and has ten times more success than his +dragooning great-grandfather. Adieu, my dear Sir! Yours most faithfully. + +_Friday 9th._ + +... It is very singular that I have not half the satisfaction in going +into churches and convents that I used to have. The consciousness that +the vision is dispelled, the want of fervour so obvious in the +religious, the solitude that one knows proceeds from contempt, not from +contemplation, make those places appear like abandoned theatres destined +to destruction. The monks trot about as if they had not long to stay +there; and what used to be holy gloom is now but dirt and darkness. +There is no more deception than in a tragedy acted by candle-snuffers. +One is sorry to think that an empire of common sense would not be very +picturesque; for, as there is nothing but taste that can compensate for +the imagination of madness, I doubt there will never be twenty men of +taste for twenty thousand madmen. The world will no more see Athens, +Rome, and the Medici again, than a succession of five good emperors, +like Nerva, Trajan, Adrian, and the two Antonines. + +_August_ 13. + +Mr. Edmonson has called on me; and, as he sets out to-morrow, I can +safely trust my letter to him. I have, I own, been much shocked at +reading Gray's[1] death in the papers. 'Tis an hour that makes one +forget any subject of complaint, especially towards one with whom I +lived in friendship from thirteen years old. As self lies so rooted in +self, no doubt the nearness of our ages made the stroke recoil to my own +breast; and having so little expected his death, it is plain how little +I expect my own. Yet to you, who of all men living are the most +forgiving, I need not excuse the concern I feel. I fear most men ought +to apologise for their want of feeling, instead of palliating that +sensation when they have it. I thought that what I had seen of the world +had hardened my heart; but I find that it had formed my language, not +extinguished my tenderness. In short, I am really shocked--nay, I am +hurt at my own weakness, as I perceive that when I love anybody, it is +for my life; and I have had too much reason not to wish that such a +disposition may very seldom be put to the trial. You, at least, are the +only person to whom I would venture to make such a confession. + +[Footnote 1: Gray died of gout in the stomach on July 30th. He was only +fifty-five.] + +Adieu! my dear Sir! Let me know when I arrive, which will be about the +last day of the month, when I am likely to see you. I have much to say +to you. Of being here I am most heartily tired, and nothing but this +dear old woman should keep me here an hour--I am weary of them to +death--but that is not new! Yours ever. + + +_SCANTINESS OF THE RELICS OF GRAY--GARRICK'S PROLOGUES, ETC.--WILKES'S +SQUINT._ + +TO THE REV. WILLIAM COLE + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Jan._ 28, 1772. + +It is long indeed, dear Sir, since we corresponded. I should not have +been silent if I had anything worth telling you in your way; but I grow +such an antiquity myself, that I think I am less fond of what remains of +our predecessors. + +I thank you for Bannerman's proposal; I mean, for taking the trouble to +send it, for I am not at all disposed to subscribe. I thank you more for +the note on King Edward; I mean, too, for your friendship in thinking of +me. Of Dean Milles I cannot trouble myself to think any more. His piece +is at Strawberry: perhaps I may look at it for the sake of your note. +The bad weather keeps me in town, and a good deal at home; which I find +very comfortable, literally practising what so many persons pretend they +intend, being quiet and enjoying my fire-side in my elderly days. + +Mr. Mason has shown me the relics of poor Mr. Gray. I am sadly +disappointed at finding them so very inconsiderable. He always +persisted, when I inquired about his writings, that he had nothing by +him. I own I doubted. I am grieved he was so very near exact--I speak +of my own satisfaction; as to his genius, what he published during his +life will establish his fame as long as our language lasts, and there is +a man of genius left. There is a silly fellow, I don't know who, that +has published a volume of Letters on the English Nation, with characters +of our modern authors. He has talked such nonsense on Mr. Gray, that I +have no patience with the compliments he has paid me. He must have an +excellent taste! and gives me a woful opinion of my own trifles, when he +likes them, and cannot see the beauties of a poet that ought to be +ranked in the first line. + +I am more humbled by any applause in the present age, than by hosts of +such critics as Dean Milles. Is not Garrick reckoned a tolerable actor? +His Cymon, his prologues and epilogues, and forty such pieces of trash, +are below mediocrity, and yet delight the mob in the boxes as well as in +the footman's gallery. I do not mention the things written in his +praise; because he writes most of them himself. But you know any one +popular merit can confer all merit. Two women talking of Wilkes, one +said he squinted--t'other replied, "Squints!--well, if he does, it is +not more than a man should squint." For my part, I can see how extremely +well Garrick acts, without thinking him six feet high.[1] + +[Footnote 1: He is quoting Churchill's "Rosciad"-- + + When the pure genuine flame, by nature taught, + Springs into sense, and every action's thought; + Before such merit all objections fly, + Pritchard's genteel, and Garrick six feet high-- + +the great actor being a short man.] + +It is said Shakespeare was a bad actor; why do not his divine plays make +our wise judges conclude that he was a good one? They have not a proof +of the contrary, as they have in Garrick's works--but what is it to you +or me what he is? We may see him act with pleasure, and nothing obliges +us to read his writings. + + +_MARRIAGE OF THE PRETENDER--THE PRINCESS LOUISE, AND HER PROTECTION OF +THE CLERGY--FOX'S ELOQUENCE._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _April_ 9, 1772. + +It is uncommon for _me_ to send _you_ news of the Pretender. He has been +married in Paris by proxy, to a Princess of Stolberg. All that I can +learn of her is, that she is niece to a Princess of Salm, whom I knew +there, without knowing any more of her. The new Pretendress is said to +be but sixteen, and a Lutheran: I doubt the latter; if the former is +true, I suppose they mean to carry on the breed in the way it began, by +a spurious child. A Fitz-Pretender is an excellent continuation of the +patriarchal line. Mr. Chute says, when the Royal Family are prevented +from marrying,[1] it is a right time for the Stuarts to marry. This +event seems to explain the Pretender's disappearance last autumn; and +though they sent him back from Paris, they may not dislike the +propagation of thorns in our side. + +[Footnote 1: In a previous letter Walpole mentions the enactment of the +Royal Marriage Act by a very narrow majority, after more than one +violent debate. It had been insisted on by the King, who was highly +indignant at his brothers, the Dukes of Gloucester and Cumberland, +having married two subjects. Singularly enough they were both widows, +Lady Waldegrave and Mrs. Horton. And this Act made the consent of the +sovereign indispensable to the marriage of any member of the Royal +Family except the descendants of princesses married to foreign princes.] + +I hear the credit of the French Chancellor declines. He had strongly +taken up the clergy; and Soeur Louise,[1] the King's Carmelite daughter, +was the knot of the intrigue. The new Parliament has dared to +remonstrate against a declaration obtained by the Chancellor for setting +aside an _arret_ of 1762, occasioned by the excommunication of Parma. +The Spanish and Neapolitan Ministers interposed, and pronounced the +declaration an infringement of the family compact: the _arret_ of 1762 +has been confirmed to satisfy them, and the Pope's authority, and +everything that comes from Rome, except what regards _the Penitential_, +(I do not know what that means,) restrained. This is supported by +d'Aiguillon and all the other Ministers, who are labouring the +reconciliation of the Princes of the Blood, that the Chancellor may not +have the honour of reconciling them. Perhaps the Princess of Stolberg +sprung out of my Sister Louise's cell. The King has demanded twelve +millions of the clergy: they consent to give ten. We shall see whether +Madame Louise, on her knees, or Madame du Barri will fight the better +fight. I should think the King's knees were more of an age for praying, +than for fighting. + +[Footnote 1: The Soeur Louise was the youngest daughter of Louis XV.; +and, very different from her sisters, who were ill-tempered, political +intriguers. She, on the contrary, was deeply religious, and had, some +years before, taken the vows of the Carmelite order; and had fixed her +residence at the Convent of St. Denis, where she was more than once +visited by Marie Antoinette.] + +The House of Commons is embarked on the ocean of Indian affairs, and +will probably make a long session. I went thither the other day to hear +Charles Fox, contrary to a resolution I had made of never setting my +foot there again. It is strange how disuse makes one awkward: I felt a +palpitation, as if I were going to speak there myself. The object +answered: Fox's abilities are amazing at so very early a period, +especially under the circumstances of such a dissolute life. He was just +arrived from Newmarket, had sat up drinking all night, and had not been +in bed. How such talents make one laugh at Tully's rules for an orator, +and his indefatigable application. His laboured orations are puerile in +comparison with this boy's manly reason. We beat Rome in eloquence and +extravagance; and Spain in avarice and cruelty; and, like both, we shall +only serve to terrify schoolboys, and for lessons of morality! "Here +stood St. Stephen's Chapel; here young Catiline spoke; here was Lord +Clive's diamond-house; this is Leadenhall Street, and this broken column +was part of the palace of a company of merchants[1] who were sovereigns +of Bengal! They starved millions in India by monopolies and plunder, and +almost raised a famine at home by the luxury occasioned by their +opulence, and by that opulence raising the price of everything, till +the poor could not purchase bread!" Conquest, usurpation, wealth, +luxury, famine--one knows how little farther the genealogy has to go. If +you like it better in Scripture phrase, here it is: Lord Chatham begot +the East India Company; the East India Company begot Lord Clive; Lord +Clive begot the Maccaronis, and they begot poverty; all the race are +still living; just as Clodius was born before the death of Julius +Caesar. There is nothing more like than two ages that are very like; +which is all that Rousseau means by saying, "give him an account of any +great metropolis, and he will foretell its fate." Adieu! + +[Footnote 1: "_A company of merchants._" "A mighty prince held +domination over India; his name was Koompanee Jehan. Although this +monarch had innumerable magnificent palaces at Delhi and Agra, at +Benares, Boggleywallah, and Ahmednuggar, his common residence was in the +beautiful island of Ingleez, in the midst of the capital of which, the +famous city of Lundoon, Koompanee Jehan had a superb castle. It was +called the Hall of Lead, and stood at the foot of the mountain of Corn, +close by the verdure-covered banks of the silvery Tameez, where the +cypresses wave, and zendewans, or nightingales, love to sing" +(Thackeray, "Life of Sir C. Napier," iv. p. 158).] + + +_AN ANSWER TO HIS "HISTORIC DOUBTS"--HIS EDITION OF GRAMMONT._ + +TO THE REV. WILLIAM COLE. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Jan._ 8, 1773. + +In return to your very kind inquiries, dear Sir, I can let you know, +that I am quite free from pain, and walk a little about my room, even +without a stick: nay, have been four times to take the air in the Park. +Indeed, after fourteen weeks this is not saying much; but it is a worse +reflection, that when one is subject to the gout and far from young, +one's worst account will probably be better than that after the next +fit. I neither flatter myself on one hand, nor am impatient on the +other--for will either do one any good? one must bear one's lot whatever +it be. + +I rejoice Mr. Gulston has justice,[1] though he had no bowels. How +Gertrude More escaped him I do not guess. It will be wrong to rob you of +her, after she has come to you through so many hazards--nor would I hear +of it either, if you have a mind to keep her, or have not given up all +thoughts of a collection since you have been visited by a Visigoth. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Gulston now fully remunerated Mr. Cole in a valuable +present of books.--WALPOLE.] + +I am much more impatient to see Mr. Gray's print, than Mr. +What-d'ye-call-him's [Masters's] answer to my "Historic Doubts."[1] He +may have made himself very angry; but I doubt whether he will make me at +all so. I love antiquities; but I scarce ever knew an antiquary who knew +how to write upon them. Their understandings seem as much in ruins as +the things they describe. For the Antiquarian Society, I shall leave +them in peace with Whittington and his Cat. As my contempt for them has +not, however, made me disgusted with what they do not understand, +antiquities, I have published two numbers of "Miscellanies," and they +are very welcome to mumble them with their toothless gums. I want to +send you these--not their gums, but my pieces, and a "Grammont,"[2] of +which I have printed only a hundred copies, and which will be extremely +scarce, as twenty-five copies are gone to France. Tell me how I shall +convey them safely. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Masters's pamphlet, printed at the expense of the +Antiquarian Society in the second volume of the +"Archaeologia."--WALPOLE.] + +[Footnote 2: He had just published a small edition of Grammont's +Memoirs, "Augmentee de Notes et eclaircissemens necessaires, par M. +Horace Walpole," and had dedicated it to Mme. du Deffand.] + +Another thing you must tell me, if you can, is, if you know anything +ancient of the Freemasons. Governor Pownall,[1] a Whittingtonian, has a +mind they should have been a corporation erected by the popes. As you +see what a good creature I am, and return good for evil, I am engaged to +pick up what I can for him, to support this system, in which I believe +no more than in the pope: and the work is to appear in a volume of the +Society's pieces. I am very willing to oblige him, and turn my cheek, +that they may smite that, also. Lord help them! I am sorry they are such +numskulls, that they almost make me think myself something; but there +are great authors enough to bring me to my senses again. Posterity, I +fear, will class me with the writers of this age, or forget me with +them, not rank me with any names that deserve remembrance. If I cannot +survive the Milles's, the What-d'ye-call-him's [Masters's], and the +compilers of catalogues of Topography, it would comfort me very little +to confute them. I should be as little proud of success as if I had +carried a contest for churchwarden. + +[Footnote 1: Thomas Pownall, Esq., the antiquary, and a constant +contributor to the "Archaeologia." Having been governor of South +Carolina and other American colonies, he was always distinguished from +his brother John, who was likewise an antiquary, by the title of +Governor.] + +Not being able to return to Strawberry Hill, where all my books and +papers are, and my printer lying fallow, I want some short bills to +print. Have you anything you wish printed? I can either print a few to +amuse ourselves, or, if very curious, and not too dry, could make a +third number of "Miscellaneous Antiquities." + +I am not in any eagerness to see Mr. What-d'ye-call-him's pamphlet +against me; therefore pray give yourself no trouble to get it for me. +The specimens I have seen of his writing take off all edge from +curiosity. A print of Mr. Gray will be a real present. Would it not be +dreadful to be commended by an age that had not taste enough to admire +his "Odes"? Is not it too great a compliment to me to be abused, too? I +am ashamed. Indeed our antiquaries ought to like me. I am but too much +on a par with them. Does not Mr. Henshaw come to London? Is he a +professor, or only a lover of engraving? If the former, and he were to +settle in town, I would willingly lend him heads to copy. Adieu! + + +_POPULARITY OF LOUIS XVI--DEATH OF LORD HOLLAND--BRUCE'S "TRAVELS."_ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 10, 1774. + +The month is come round, and I have, besides, a letter of yours to +answer; and yet if I were not as regular as a husband or a merchant in +paying my just dues, I think I should not perform the function, for I +certainly have no natural call to it at present. Nothing in yours +requires a response, and I have nothing new to tell you. Yet, if one +once breaks in upon punctuality, adieu to it! I will not give out, after +a perseverance of three-and-thirty years; and so far I will not resemble +a husband. + +The whole blood royal of France is recovered from the small-pox. Both +Choiseul and Broglie are recalled, and I have some idea that even the +old Parliament will be so. The King is adored, and a most beautiful +compliment has been paid to him: somebody wrote under the statue of +Henri Quatre, _Resurrexit_.[1] + +[Footnote 1: "_Resurrexit._" A courtly picture-dealer, eager to make a +market of the new sovereign's popularity, devised even a neater +compliment to him, issuing a picture of the three sovereigns--Louis +XII., Henri IV., and the young king--with an explanation that 4 and 12 +made 16.] + +Lord Holland is at last dead, and Lady Holland is at the point of death. +His sons would still be in good circumstances, if they were not _his_ +sons; but he had so totally spoiled the two eldest, that they would +think themselves bigots if they were to have common sense. The +prevailing style is not to reform, though Lord Lyttelton [the bad Lord] +pretends to have set the example. Gaming, for the last month, has +exceeded its own outdoings, though the town is very empty. It will be +quite so to-morrow, for Newmarket begins, or rather the youth adjourn +thither. After that they will have two or three months of repose; but if +they are not severely blooded and blistered, there will be no +alteration. Their pleasures are no more entertaining to others, than +delightful to themselves; one is tired of asking every day, who has won +or lost? and even the portentous sums they lose, cease to make +impression. One of them has committed a murder, and intends to repeat +it. He betted L1,500 that a man could live twelve hours under water; +hired a desperate fellow, sunk him in a ship, by way of experiment, and +both ship and man have not appeared since. Another man and ship are to +be tried for their lives, instead of Mr. Blake, the assassin. + +Christina, Duchess of Kingston, is arrived, in a great fright, I +believe, for the Duke's nephews are going to prove her first marriage, +and hope to set the Will aside. It is a pity her friendship with the +Pope had not begun earlier; he might have given her a dispensation. If +she loses her cause, the best thing he can do will be to give her the +veil. + +I am sorry all Europe will not furnish me with another paragraph. Africa +is, indeed, coming into fashion. There is just returned a Mr. Bruce,[1] +who has lived three years in the Court of Abyssinia, and breakfasted +every morning with the Maids of Honour on live oxen. Otaheite and Mr. +Banks are quite forgotten; but Mr. Blake, I suppose, will order a live +sheep for supper at Almack's, and ask whom he shall help to a piece of +the shoulder. Oh, yes; we shall have negro butchers, and French cooks +will be laid aside. My Lady Townshend [Harrison], after the Rebellion, +said, everybody was so bloodthirsty, that she did not dare to dine +abroad, for fear of meeting with a rebel-pie--now one shall be asked to +come and eat a bit of raw mutton. In truth, I do think we are ripe for +any extravagance. I am not wise enough to wish the world reasonable--I +only desire to have follies that are amusing, and am sorry Cervantes +laughed chivalry out of fashion. Adieu! + +[Footnote 1: When Bruce's "Travels" were first published, his account of +the strange incidents which had occurred to him was very generally +disbelieved and ridiculed; "Baron Munchausen" was even written in +derision of them; but the discoveries of subsequent travellers have +confirmed his narrative in almost every respect.] + + +_DISCONTENT IN AMERICA--MR. GRENVILLE'S ACT FOR THE TRIAL OF ELECTION +PETITIONS--HIGHWAY ROBBERIES._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Oct._ 6, 1774. + +It would be unlike my attention and punctuality, to see so large an +event as an irregular dissolution of Parliament, without taking any +notice of it to you. It happened last Saturday, six months before its +natural death, and without the design being known but the Tuesday +before, and that by very few persons. The chief motive is supposed to be +the ugly state of North America,[1] and the effects that a cross winter +might have on the next elections. Whatever were the causes, the first +consequences, as you may guess, were such a ferment in London as is +seldom seen at this dead season of the year. Couriers, despatches, +post-chaises, post-horses, hurrying every way! Sixty messengers passed +through one single turnpike on Friday. The whole island is by this time +in equal agitation; but less wine and money will be shed than have been +at any such period for these fifty years. + +[Footnote 1: "_America_"--the discontents in that country were caused by +Mr. Charles Townshend's policy, who, before his death, had revived Mr. +Grenville's plan of imposing taxes on the Colonies, and by the +perseverance in that policy of Lord North, who succeeded him at the +Exchequer, and who had also been First Lord of the Treasury since the +resignation of the Duke of Grafton.] + +We have a new famous Bill,[1] devised by the late Mr. Grenville, that +has its first operation now; and what changes it may occasion, nobody +can yet foresee. The first symptoms are not favourable to the Court; +the great towns are casting off submission, and declaring for popular +members. London, Westminster, Middlesex, seem to have no monarch but +Wilkes, who is at the same time pushing for the Mayoralty of London, +with hitherto a majority on the poll. It is strange how this man, like a +phoenix, always revives from his embers! America, I doubt, is still more +unpromising. There are whispers of their having assembled an armed +force, and of earnest supplications arrived for succours of men and +ships. A civil war is no trifle; and how we are to suppress or pursue in +such a vast region, with a handful of men, I am not an Alexander to +guess; and for the fleet, can we put it upon casters and wheel it from +Hudson's Bay to Florida? But I am an ignorant soul, and neither pretend +to knowledge nor foreknowledge. All I perceive already is, that our +Parliaments are subjected to America and India, and must be influenced +by their politics; yet I do not believe our senators are more universal +than formerly.... + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Grenville's Act had been passed in 1770; but there had +been no General Election since till this year. It altered the course of +proceeding for the trial of election petitions, substituting for the +whole House a Select Committee of fifteen members; but after a time it +was found that it had not secured any greater purity of decision, but +that the votes of the Committee were influenced by considerations of the +interest of the dominant party as entirely as they had been in the days +of Sir R. Walpole. And eventually, in the present reign, Mr. D'Israeli +induced the House to surrender altogether its privilege of judging of +elections, and to submit the investigation of election petitions to the +only tribunal sufficiently above suspicion to command and retain the +confidence of the nation, namely, the Judges of the High Court of Law. +(See the Editor's "Constitutional History of England, 1760-1860," pp. +36-39.)] + +In the midst of this combustion, we are in perils by land and water. It +has rained for this month without intermission; there is sea between me +and Richmond, and Sunday was se'nnight I was hurried down to Isleworth +in the ferry-boat by the violence of the current, and had great +difficulty to get to shore. Our roads are so infested by highwaymen, +that it is dangerous stirring out almost by day. Lady Hertford was +attacked on Hounslow Heath at three in the afternoon. Dr. Eliot was shot +at three days ago, without having resisted; and the day before +yesterday we were near losing our Prime Minster, Lord North; the robbers +shot at the postillion, and wounded the latter. In short, all the +freebooters, that are not in India, have taken to the highway. The +Ladies of the Bedchamber dare not go the Queen at Kew in an evening. The +lane between me and the Thames is the only safe road I know at present, +for it is up to the middle of the horses in water. Next week I shall not +venture to London even at noon, for the Middlesex election is to be at +Brentford, where the two demagogues, Wilkes and Townshend, oppose each +other; and at Richmond there is no crossing the river. How strange all +this must appear to you Florentines; but you may turn to your +Machiavelli and Guicciardini, and have some idea of it. I am the +quietest man at present in the whole island; not but I might take some +part, if I would. I was in my garden yesterday, seeing my servants lop +some trees; my brewer walked in and pressed me to go to Guildhall for +the nomination of members for the county. I replied, calmly, "Sir, when +I would go no more to my own election, you may be very sure I will go to +that of nobody else." My old tune is, + + Suave mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis, &c. + +Adieu! + +P.S.--ARLINGTON STREET, _7th_. + +I am just come to town, and find your letter, with the notification of +Lord Cowper's marriage; I recollect that I ought to be sorry for it, as +you will probably lose an old friend. The approaching death of the Pope +will be an event of no consequence. That old mummery is near its +conclusion, at least as a political object. The history of the latter +Popes will be no more read than that of the last Constantinopolitan +Emperors. Wilkes is a more conspicuous personage in modern story than +the Pontifex Maximus of Rome. The poll for Lord Mayor ended last night; +he and his late Mayor had above 1,900 votes, and their antagonists not +1,500. It is strange that the more he is opposed, the more he succeeds! + +I don't know whether Sir W. Duncan's marriage proved Platonic or not; +but I cannot believe that a lady of great birth, and greater pride, +quarrels with her family, to marry a Scotch physician for Platonic love, +which she might enjoy without marriage. I remember an admirable +_bon-mot_ of George Selwyn; who said, "How often Lady Mary will repeat, +with Macbeth, 'Wake, Duncan, with this knocking--would thou couldst!" + + +_THE POPE'S DEATH--WILKES IS RETURNED FOR MIDDLESEX--A QUAKER AT +VERSAILLES._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Oct._ 22, 1774. + +Though I have been writing two letters, of four sides each, one of which +I enclose, I must answer your two last, if my fingers will move; and +talk to you on the contents of the enclosed. + +If the Jesuits have precipitated the Pope's death,[1] as seems more than +probable, they have acted more by the spirit of their order, than by its +good sense. Great crimes may raise a growing cause, but seldom retard +the fall of a sinking one. This I take to be almost an infallible maxim. +Great crimes, too, provoke more than they terrify; and there is no +poisoning all that are provoked, and all that are terrified; who +alternately provoke and terrify each other, till common danger produces +common security. The Bourbon monarchs will be both angry and frightened, +the Cardinals frightened. It will be the interest of both not to revive +an order that bullies with arsenic in its sleeve. The poisoned host will +destroy the Jesuits, as well as the Pope: and perhaps the Church of Rome +will fall by a wafer, as it rose by it; for such an edifice will tumble +when once the crack has begun. + +[Footnote 1: Pope Benedict XIV. had died in September; but there was not +any suspicion that his death had not been entirely natural.] + +Our elections are almost over. Wilkes has taken possession of Middlesex +without an enemy appearing against him; and, being as puissant a monarch +as Henry the Eighth, and as little scrupulous, should, like him, date +his acts _From our Palace of Bridewell, in the tenth year of our reign_. +He has, however, met with a heroine to stem the tide of his conquests; +who, though not of Arc, nor a _pucelle_, is a true _Joan_ in spirit, +style, and manners. This is her Grace of Northumberland [Lady Elizabeth +Seymour], who has carried the mob of Westminster from him; sitting daily +in the midst of Covent Garden; and will elect her son [Earl Percy] and +Lord Thomas Clinton,[1] against Wilkes's two candidates, Lord Mahon[2] +and Lord Mountmorris. She puts me in mind of what Charles the Second +said of a foolish preacher, who was very popular in his parish: "I +suppose his nonsense suits their nonsense." + +[Footnote 1: Second son of Henry, Duke of Newcastle.--WALPOLE.] + +[Footnote 2: Only son of Earl Stanhope.--WALPOLE.] + +Let me sweeten my letter by making you smile. A Quaker has been at +Versailles; and wanted to see the Comtes de Provence and D'Artois dine +in public, but would not submit to pull off his hat. The Princes were +told of it; and not only admitted him with his beaver on, but made him +sit down and dine with them. Was it not very sensible and good-humoured? +You and I know one who would not have been so gracious: I do not mean my +nephew Lord Cholmondeley.[1] Adieu! I am tired to death. + +[Footnote 1: He means the Duke of Gloucester.--WALPOLE.] + +P.S.--I have seen the Duchess of Beaufort; who sings your praises quite +in a tune I like. Her manner is much unpinioned to what it was, though +her person remains as stately as ever; and powder is vastly preferable +to those brown hairs, of whose preservation she was so fond. I am not so +struck with the beauty of Lady Mary[1] as I was three years ago. Your +nephew, Sir Horace, I see, by the papers, is come into Parliament: I am +glad of it. Is not he yet arrived at Florence? + +[Footnote 1: Lady Mary Somerset, youngest daughter of Charles Noel, Duke +of Beaufort. She was afterwards married to the Duke of +Rutland.--WALPOLE.] + + +_BURKE'S ELECTION AT BRISTOL--RESEMBLANCE OF ONE HOUSE OF COMMONS TO +ANOTHER--COMFORT OF OLD AGE._ + +TO THE COUNTESS OF AILESBURY. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Nov._ 7, 1774. + +I have written such tomes to Mr. Conway,[1] Madam, and so nothing new to +write, that I might as well, methinks, begin and end like the lady to +her husband; "Je vous ecris parceque je n'ai rien a faire: je finis +parceque je n'ai rien a vous dire." Yes, I have two complaints to make, +one of your ladyship, the other of myself. You tell me nothing of Lady +Harriet [Stanhope]: have you no tongue, or the French no eyes? or are +her eyes employed in nothing but seeing? What a vulgar employment for a +fine woman's eyes after she is risen from her toilet? I declare I will +ask no more questions--what is it to me, whether she is admired or not? +I should know how charming she is, though all Europe were blind. I hope +I am not to be told by any barbarous nation upon earth what beauty and +grace are! + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Conway and Lady Aylesbury were now at Paris +together.--WALPOLE.] + +For myself, I am guilty of the gout in my elbow; the left--witness my +handwriting. Whether I caught cold by the deluge in the night, or +whether the bootikins, like the water of Styx, can only preserve the +parts they surround, I doubt they have saved me but three weeks, for so +long my reckoning has been out. However, as I feel nothing in my feet, I +flatter myself that this Pindaric transition will not be a regular ode, +but a fragment, the more valuable for being imperfect. + +Now for my Gazette.--Marriages--Nothing done. Intrigues--More in the +political than civil way. Births--Under par since Lady Berkeley left off +breeding. Gaming--Low water. Deaths--Lord Morton, Lord Wentworth, +Duchess Douglas. Election stock--More buyers than sellers. +Promotions--Mr. Wilkes as high as he can go.--_Apropos_, he was told the +Lord Chancellor intended to signify to him, that the King did not +approve the City's choice: he replied, "Then I shall signify to his +lordship, that I am at least as fit to be Lord Mayor as he is to be Lord +Chancellor." This being more Gospel than everything Mr. Wilkes says, the +formal approbation was given. + +Mr. Burke has succeeded in Bristol, and Sir James Peachey will miscarry +in Sussex. But what care you, Madam, about our Parliament? You will see +the _rentree_ of the old one, with songs and epigrams into the bargain. +We do not shift our Parliaments with so much gaiety. Money in one hand, +and abuse in t'other--those are all the arts we know. _Wit and a +gamut_[1] I don't believe ever signified a Parliament, whatever the +glossaries may say; for they never produce pleasantry and harmony. +Perhaps you may not taste this Saxon pun, but I know it will make the +Antiquarian Society die with laughing. + +[Footnote 1: Walpole is punning on the old Saxon name of the National +Council, Witangemot.] + +Expectation hangs on America. The result of the general assembly is +expected in four or five days. If one may believe the papers, which one +should not believe, the other side of the waterists are not _doux comme +des moutons_, and yet we do intend to eat them. I was in town on Monday; +the Duchess of Beaufort graced our loo, and made it as rantipole as a +Quaker's meeting. _Loois Quinze_,[1] I believe, is arrived by this time, +but I fear without _quinze louis_. + +[Footnote 1: This was a cant name given to a lady [Lady Powis], who was +very fond of loo, and who had lost much money at that game.] + +Your herb-snuff and the four glasses are lying in my warehouse, but I +can hear of no ship going to Paris. You are now at Fontainbleau, but not +thinking of Francis I., the Queen of Sweden, and Monaldelschi. It is +terrible that one cannot go to Courts that are gone! You have supped +with the Chevalier de Boufflers: did he act everything in the world and +sing everything in the world? Has Madame de Cambis sung to you "_Sans +depit, sans legerete_?"[1] Has Lord Cholmondeley delivered my pacquet? I +hear I have hopes of Madame d'Olonne. Gout or no gout, I shall be little +in town till after Christmas. My elbow makes me bless myself that I am +not in Paris. Old age is no such uncomfortable thing, if one gives +oneself up to it with a good grace, and don't drag it about + + To midnight dances and the public show. + +[Footnote 1: The first words of a favourite French air.--WALPOLE.] + +If one stays quietly in one's own house in the country, and cares for +nothing but oneself, scolds one's servants, condemns everything that is +new, and recollects how charming a thousand things were formerly that +were very disagreeable, one gets over the winters very well, and the +summers get over themselves. + + +_DEATH OF LORD CLIVE--RESTORATION OF THE FRENCH PARLIAMENT--PREDICTION +OF GREAT MEN TO ARISE IN AMERICA--THE KING'S SPEECH._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Nov._ 24, 1774. + +... A great event happened two days ago--a political and moral event; +the sudden death of that second Kouli Khan, Lord Clive.[1] There was +certainly illness in the case; the world thinks more than illness. His +constitution was exceedingly broken and disordered, and grown subject to +violent pains and convulsions. He came unexpectedly to town last Monday, +and they say, ill. On Tuesday his physician gave him a dose of laudanum, +which had not the desired effect. On the rest, there are two stories; +one, that the physician repeated the dose; the other, that he doubled it +himself, contrary to advice. In short, he has terminated at fifty a life +of so much glory, reproach, art, wealth, and ostentation! He had just +named ten members for the new Parliament. + +[Footnote 1: Lord Clive had committed suicide in his house in Berkeley +Square. As he was passing through his library his niece, who was writing +a letter, asked him to mend a pen for her. He did it, and, passing on +into the next room, cut his throat with the same knife he had just used. +It is remarkable that, when little more than a youth, he had once tried +to destroy himself. In a fit, apparently of constitutional melancholy, +he had put a pistol to his head, but it did not go off. He pulled the +trigger more than once; always with the same result. Anxious to see +whether there was any defect in the weapon or the loading, he aimed at +the door of the room, and the pistol went off, the bullet going through +the door; and from that day he conceived himself reserved by Providence +for great things, though in his most sanguine confidence he could never +have anticipated such glory as he was destined to win.] + +Next Tuesday that Parliament is to meet--and a deep game it has to play! +few Parliaments a greater. The world is in amaze here that no account is +arrived from America of the result of their General Congress--if any is +come it is very secret; and _that_ has no favourable aspect. The +combination and spirit there seem to be universal, and is very alarming. +I am the humble servant of events, and you know never meddle with +prophecy. It would be difficult to descry good omens, be the issue what +it will. + +The old French Parliament is restored with great _eclat_.[1] Monsieur de +Maurepas, author of the revolution, was received one night at the Opera +with boundless shouts of applause. It is even said that the mob +intended, when the King should go to hold the _lit de justice_,[2] to +draw his coach. How singular it would be if Wilkes's case should be +copied for a King of France! Do you think Rousseau was in the right, +when he said that he could tell what would be the manners of any capital +city from certain given lights? I don't know what he may do on +Constantinople and Pekin--but Paris and London! I don't believe Voltaire +likes these changes. I have seen nothing of his writing for many months; +not even on the poisoning Jesuits. For our part, I repeat it, we shall +contribute nothing to the _Histoire des Moeurs_, not for want of +materials, but for want of writers. We have comedies without novelty, +gross satires without stings, metaphysical eloquence, and antiquarians +that discover nothing. + + Boeotum in crasso jurares aere natos! + +[Footnote 1: In 1770 the Chancellor, Maupeou, had abolished the +Parliament, as has been mentioned in a former note. Their conduct ever +since the death of Richelieu had been factious and corrupt. But, though +the Sovereign Courts, which Maupeou had established in their stead, had +worked well, their extinction had been unpopular in Paris; and, on the +accession of Louis XVI., the new Prime Minister, Maurepas, proposed +their re-establishment, and the Queen, most unfortunately, was persuaded +by the Duc de Choiseul to exert her influence in support of the measure. +Turgot, the great Finance Minister--indeed, the greatest statesman that +France ever produced--resisted it with powerful arguments, but Louis +yielded to the influence of his consort. The Parliaments were +re-established, and soon verified all the predictions of Turgot by +conduct more factious and violent than ever. (See the Editor's "France +under the Bourbons," iii. 413.)] + +[Footnote 2: A _Lit de Justice_ was an extraordinary meeting of the +Parliament, presided over by the sovereign in person, and one in which +no opposition, or even discussion, was permitted; but any edict which +had been issued was at once registered.] + +Don't tell me I am grown old and peevish and supercilious--name the +geniuses of 1774, and I submit. The next Augustan age will dawn on the +other side of the Atlantic. There will, perhaps, be a Thucydides at +Boston, a Xenophon at New York, and, in time, a Virgil at Mexico, and a +Newton at Peru. At last, some curious traveller from Lima will visit +England and give a description of the ruins of St. Paul's, like the +editions of Balbec and Palmyra; but am I not prophesying, contrary to my +consummate prudence, and casting horoscopes of empires like Rousseau? +Yes; well, I will go and dream of my visions. + +_29th._ + +... The Parliament opened just now--they say the speech talks of the +_rebellion_ of the Province of Massachusetts; but if _they-say_ tells a +lie, I wash my hands of it. As your gazetteer, I am obliged to send you +all news, true or false. I have believed and unbelieved everything I +have heard since I came to town. Lord Clive has died every death in the +parish register; at present it is most fashionable to believe he cut his +throat. That he is dead, is certain; so is Lord Holland--and so is not +the Bishop of Worcester [Johnson]; however, to show you that I am at +least as well informed as greater personages, the bishopric was on +Saturday given to Lord North's brother--so for once the Irishman was in +the right, and a pigeon, at least a dove, can be in two places at once. + + +_RIOTS AT BOSTON--A LITERARY COTERIE AT BATH--EASTON._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY AND LADY AYLESBURY. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Jan._ 15, 1775. + +You have made me very happy by saying your journey to Naples is laid +aside. Perhaps it made too great an impression on me; but you must +reflect, that all my life I have satisfied myself with your being +perfect, instead of trying to be so myself. I don't ask you to return, +though I wish it: in truth, there is nothing to invite you. I don't want +you to come and breathe fire and sword against the Bostonians,[1] like +that second Duke of Alva,[2] the inflexible Lord George Germaine.... + +[Footnote 1: The open resistance to the new taxation of the American +Colonies began at Boston, the capital of Massachusetts, where, on the +arrival of the first tea-ship, a body of citizens, disguised as Red +Indians, boarded the ship and threw the tea into the sea.] + +[Footnote 2: The first Duke of Alva was the first Governor of the +Netherlands appointed by Philip II.; and it was his bloodthirsty and +intolerable cruelty that caused the revolt of the Netherlands, and cost +Spain those rich provinces.] + +An account is come of the Bostonians having voted an army of sixteen +thousand men, who are to be called _minutemen_, as they are to be ready +at a minute's warning. Two directors or commissioners, I don't know what +they are called, are appointed. There has been too a kind of mutiny in +the Fifth Regiment. A soldier was found drunk on his post. Gage, in his +time of _danger_, thought rigour necessary, and sent the fellow to a +court-martial. They ordered two hundred lashes. The General ordered them +to improve their sentence. Next day it was published in the _Boston +Gazette_. He called them before him, and required them on oath to abjure +the communication: three officers refused. Poor Gage is to be scapegoat, +not for this, but for what was a reason against employing him, +incapacity. I wonder at the precedent! Howe is talked of for his +successor.--Well, I have done with _you_!--Now I shall go gossip with +Lady Aylesbury. + +You must know, Madam, that near Bath is erected a new Parnassus, +composed of three laurels, a myrtle-tree, a weeping-willow, and a view +of the Avon, which has been new christened Helicon. Ten years ago there +lived a Madam Riggs, an old rough humourist who passed for a wit; her +daughter, who passed for nothing, married to a Captain Miller, full of +good-natured officiousness. These good folks were friends of Miss Rich, +who carried me to dine with them at Bath-Easton, now Pindus. They caught +a little of what was then called taste, built and planted, and begot +children, till the whole caravan were forced to go abroad to retrieve. +Alas! Mrs. Miller is returned a beauty, a genius, a Sappho, a tenth +Muse, as romantic as Mademoiselle Scuderi, and as sophisticated as Mrs. +Vesey. The Captain's fingers are loaded with cameos, his tongue runs +over with _virtu_, and that both may contribute to the improvement of +their own country, they have introduced _bouts-rimes_ as a new +discovery. They hold a Parnassus fair every Thursday, give out rhymes +and themes, and all the flux of quality at Bath contend for the prizes. +A Roman vase dressed with pink ribbons and myrtles receives the +poetry,[1] which is drawn out every festival; six judges of these +Olympic games retire and select the brightest compositions, which the +respective successful acknowledge, kneel to Mrs. Calliope Miller, kiss +her fair hand, and are crowned by it with myrtle, with--I don't know +what. You may think this is fiction, or exaggeration. Be dumb, +unbelievers! The collection is printed, published.--Yes, on my faith, +there are _bouts-rimes_ on a buttered muffin, made by her Grace the +Duchess of Northumberland; receipts to make them by Corydon the +venerable, alias George Pitt; others very pretty, by Lord Palmerston; +some by Lord Carlisle: many by Mrs. Miller herself, that have no fault +but wanting metre; an Immorality promised to her without end or measure. +In short, since folly, which never ripens to madness but in this hot +climate, ran distracted, there never was anything so entertaining or so +dull--for you cannot read so long as I have been telling. + +[Footnote 1: Four volumes of this poetry were published under the title +of "Poetical Amusements at a villa near Bath." The following lines are a +fair sample of the _bouts-rimes_. + + The pen which I now take and brandish + Has long lain useless in my standish. + Know, every maid, from her own patten, + To her who shines in glossy sattin, + That could they now prepare an oglio + From best receipt of book in folio, + Ever so fine, for all their puffing, + I should prefer a butter'd muffin; + A muffin Jove himself might feast on, + If eat with Miller at Batheaston. + +The following are the concluding lines of a poem on Beauty, by Lord +Palmerston:-- + + In vain the stealing hand of Time + May pluck the blossoms of their prime; + Envy may talk of bloom decay'd, + How lilies droop and roses fade; + But Constancy's unalter'd truth, + Regardful of the vows of youth-- + Affection that recalls the past, + And bids the pleasing influence last, + Shall still preserve the lover's flame + In every scene of life the same; + And still with fond endearments blend + The wife, the mistress, and the friend! + +"Lady Miller's collection of verses by fashionable people, which were +put into her vase at Bath-Easton, in competition for honorary prizes, +being mentioned, Dr. Johnson held them very cheap: '_Bouts-rimes_,' said +he, 'is a mere conceit, and an old conceit; I wonder how people were +persuaded to write in that manner for this lady.' I named a gentleman of +his acquaintance who wrote for the vase. JOHNSON--'He was a blockhead +for his pains!' BOSWELL--'The Duchess of Northumberland wrote.'--'Sir, +the Duchess of Northumberland may do what she pleases; nobody will say +anything to a lady of her high rank: but I should be apt to throw ... +verses in his face." (Boswell, vol. v. p. 227.)] + + +_OPPOSITION OF THE FRENCH PARLIAMENTS TO TURGOT'S MEASURES._ + +TO DR. GEM.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Dr. Gem was an English physician who had been for some time +settled in Paris. He was uncle to Canning's friend and colleague, Mr. +Huskisson.] + +ARLINGTON STREET, _April_ 4, 1776. + +It is but fair, when one quits one's party, to give notice to those one +abandons--at least, modern patriots, who often imbibe their principles +of honour at Newmarket, use that civility. You and I, dear Sir, have +often agreed in our political notions; and you, I fear, will die without +changing your opinion. For my part, I must confess I am totally altered; +and, instead of being a warm partisan of liberty, now admire nothing but +despotism. You will naturally ask, what place I have gotten, or what +bribe I have taken? Those are the criterions of political changes in +England--but, as my conversion is of foreign extraction, I shall not be +the richer for it. In one word, it is the _relation du lit de justice_ +that has operated the miracle. When two ministers are found so humane, +so virtuous, so excellent, as to study nothing but the welfare and +deliverance of the people; when a king listens to such excellent men; +and when a parliament, from the basest, most interested motives, +interposes to intercept the blessing, must I not change my opinions, and +admire arbitrary power? or can I retain my sentiments, without varying +the object? + +Yes, Sir, I am shocked at the conduct of the Parliament--one would think +it was an English one! I am scandalised at the speeches of the +_Avocat-general_,[1] who sets up the odious interests of the nobility +and clergy against the cries and groans of the poor; and who employs his +wicked eloquence to tempt the good young monarch, by personal views, to +sacrifice the mass of his subjects to the privileges of the few--But why +do I call it eloquence? The fumes of interest had so clouded his +rhetoric, that he falls into a downright Iricism.--He tells the King, +that the intended tax on the proprietors of land will affect the +property not only of the rich, but of the poor. I should be glad to know +what is the property of the poor? Have the poor landed estates? Are +those who have landed estates the poor? Are the poor that will suffer by +the tax, the wretched labourers who are dragged from their famishing +families to work on the roads?--But _it is_ wicked eloquence when it +finds a reason, or gives a reason for continuing the abuse. The Advocate +tells the King, those abuses _presque consacres par l'anciennete_; +indeed, he says all that can be said for nobility, it is _consacree par +l'anciennete_; and thus the length of the pedigree of abuses renders +them respectable! + +[Footnote 1: The _Avocat-General_ was M. de Seguier; and, under his +guidance, the Parliament had passed the monstrous resolution that "the +_people_ in France was liable to the tax of _la taille_, and to _corvee_ +at discretion" (_etait tailleable et corveable a volonte_), and that +their "liability was an article of the Constitution which it was not in +the power of even the King himself to change" ("France under the +Bourbons," iii. 422).] + +His arguments are as contemptible when he tries to dazzle the King by +the great names of Henri Quatre and Sully,[1] of Louis XIV. and Colbert, +two couple whom nothing but a mercenary orator would have classed +together. Nor, were all four equally venerable, would it prove anything. +Even good kings and good ministers, if such have been, may have erred; +nay, may have done the best they could. They would not have been good, +if they wished their errors should be preserved, the longer they had +lasted. + +[Footnote 1: Sully and Colbert were the two great Finance Ministers of +Henry IV. and Louis XIV.] + +In short, Sir, I think this resistance of the Parliament to the adorable +reformation planned by Messrs. de Turgot and Malesherbes[1] is more +phlegmatically scandalous than the wildest tyranny of despotism. I +forget what the nation was that refused liberty when it was offered. +This opposition to so noble a work is worse. A whole people may refuse +its own happiness; but these profligate magistrates resist happiness for +others, for millions, for posterity!--Nay, do they not half vindicate +Maupeou, who crushed them? And you, dear Sir, will you now chide my +apostasy? Have I not cleared myself to your eyes? I do not see a shadow +of sound logic in all Monsieur Seguier's speeches, but in his proposing +that the soldiers should work on the roads, and that passengers should +contribute to their fabric; though, as France is not so luxuriously mad +as England, I do not believe passengers could support the expense of +their roads. That argument, therefore, is like another that the Avocat +proposes to the King, and which, he modestly owns, he believes would be +impracticable. + +[Footnote 1: Malesherbes was the Chancellor, and in 1792 he was accepted +by Louis XVI. as his counsel on his trial--a duty which he performed +with an ability which drew on him the implacable resentment of +Robespierre and the Jacobins, and which led to his execution in 1794.] + +I beg your pardon, Sir, for giving you this long trouble; but I could +not help venting myself, when shocked to find such renegade conduct in a +Parliament that I was rejoiced had been restored. Poor human kind! is it +always to breed serpents from its own bowels? In one country, it chooses +its representatives, and they sell it and themselves; in others, it +exalts despots; in another, it resists the despot when he consults the +good of his people! Can we wonder mankind is wretched, when men are such +beings? Parliaments run wild with loyalty, when America is to be +enslaved or butchered. They rebel, when their country is to be set free! +I am not surprised at the idea of the devil being always at our elbows. +They who invented him, no doubt could not conceive how men could be so +atrocious to one another, without the intervention of a fiend. Don't you +think, if he had never been heard of before, that he would have been +invented on the late partition of Poland! Adieu, dear Sir. Yours most +sincerely. + + +_HIS DECORATIONS AT "STRAWBERRY"--HIS ESTIMATE OF HIMSELF, AND HIS +ADMIRATION OF CONWAY._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 20, 1776. + +I was very glad to receive your letter, not only because always most +glad to hear of you, but because I wished to write to you, and had +absolutely nothing to say till I had something to answer. I have lain +but two nights in town since I saw you; have been, else, constantly +here, very much employed, though doing, hearing, knowing exactly +nothing. I have had a Gothic architect [Mr. Essex] from Cambridge to +design me a gallery, which will end in a mouse, that is, in an hexagon +closet of seven feet diameter. I have been making a Beauty Room, which +was effected by buying two dozen of small copies of Sir Peter Lely, and +hanging them up; and I have been making hay, which is not made, because +I put it off for three days, as I chose it should adorn the landscape +when I was to have company; and so the rain is come, and has drowned it. +However, as I can even turn calculator when it is to comfort me for not +minding my interest, I have discovered that it is five to one better for +me that my hay should be spoiled than not; for, as the cows will eat it +if it is damaged, which horses will not, and as I have five cows and but +one horse, is not it plain that the worse my hay is the better? Do not +you with your refining head go, and, out of excessive friendship, find +out something to destroy my system. I had rather be a philosopher than +a rich man; and yet have so little philosophy, that I had much rather be +content than be in the right. + +Mr. Beauclerk and Lady Di have been here four or five days--so I had +both content and exercise for my philosophy. I wish Lady Ailesbury was +as fortunate! The Pembrokes, Churchills, Le Texier, as you will have +heard, and the Garricks have been with us. Perhaps, if alone, I might +have come to you; but you are all too healthy and harmonious. I can +neither walk nor sing; nor, indeed, am fit for anything but to amuse +myself in a sedentary trifling way. What I have most certainly not been +doing, is writing anything: a truth I say to you, but do not desire you +to repeat. I deign to satisfy scarce anybody else. Whoever reported that +I was writing anything, must have been so totally unfounded, that they +either blundered by guessing without reason, or knew they lied--and that +could not be with any kind intention; though saying I am going to do +what I am not going to do, is wretched enough. Whatever is said of me +without truth, anybody is welcome to believe that pleases. + +In fact, though I have scarce a settled purpose about anything, I think +I shall never write any more. I have written a great deal too much, +unless I had written better, and I know I should now only write still +worse. One's talent, whatever it is, does not improve at near +sixty--yet, if I liked it, I dare to say a good reason would not stop my +inclination;--but I am grown most indolent in that respect, and most +absolutely indifferent to every purpose of vanity. Yet without vanity I +am become still prouder and more contemptuous. I have a contempt for my +countrymen that makes me despise their approbation. The applause of +slaves and of the foolish mad is below ambition. Mine is the haughtiness +of an ancient Briton, that cannot write what would please this age, and +would not, if he could. + +Whatever happens in America, this country is undone. I desire to be +reckoned of the last age, and to be thought to have lived to be +superannuated, preserving my senses only for myself and for the few I +value. I cannot aspire to be traduced like Algernon Sydney, and content +myself with sacrificing to him amongst my lares. Unalterable in my +principles, careless about most things below essentials, indulging +myself in trifles by system, annihilating myself by choice, but dreading +folly at an unseemly age, I contrive to pass my time agreeably enough, +yet see its termination approach without anxiety. This is a true picture +of my mind; and it must be true, because drawn for you, whom I would not +deceive, and could not, if I would. Your question on my being writing +drew it forth, though with more seriousness than the report +deserved--yet talking to one's dearest friend is neither wrong nor out +of season. Nay, you are my best apology. I have always contented myself +with your being perfect, or, if your modesty demands a mitigated term, I +will say, unexceptionable. It is comical, to be sure, to have always +been more solicitous about the virtue of one's friend than about one's +own; yet, I repeat it, you are my apology--though I never was so +unreasonable as to make you answerable for my faults in return; I take +them wholly to myself. But enough of this. When I know my own mind, for +hitherto I have settled no plan for my summer, I will come to you. +Adieu! + + +_ANGLOMANIE IN PARIS--HORSE-RACING._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Dec._ 1, 1776. + +I don't know who the Englishwoman is of whom you give so ridiculous a +description; but it will suit thousands. I distrust my age continually, +and impute to it half the contempt I feel for my countrymen and women. +If I think the other half well-founded, it is by considering what must +be said hereafter of the present age. What is to impress a great idea of +us on posterity? In truth, what do our contemporaries of all other +countries think of us? They stare at and condemn our politics and +follies; and if they retain any respect for us, I doubt it is for the +sense we have had. I do know, indeed, one man who still worships us, but +his adoration is testified so very absurdly, as not to do us much +credit. It is a Monsieur de Marchais, first Valet-de-Chambre to the +King of France. He has the _Anglomanie_ so strong, that he has not only +read more English than French books, but if any valuable work appears in +his own language, he waits to peruse it till it is translated into +English; and to be sure our translations of French are admirable things! + +To do the rest of the French justice, I mean such as like us, they adopt +only our egregious follies, and in particular the flower of them, +horse-racing![1] _Le Roi Pepin_, a racer, is the horse in fashion. I +suppose the next shameful practice of ours they naturalize will be the +personal scurrilities in the newspapers, especially on young and +handsome women, in which we certainly are originals! Voltaire, who first +brought us into fashion in France, is stark mad at his own success. Out +of envy to writers of his own nation, he cried up Shakspeare; and now is +distracted at the just encomiums bestowed on that first genius of the +world in the new translation. He sent to the French Academy an +invective that bears all the marks of passionate dotage. Mrs. Montagu +happened to be present when it was read. Suard, one of their writers, +said to her, "Je crois, Madame, que vous etes un peu fache de ce que +vous venez d'entendre." She replied, "Moi, Monsieur! point du tout! Je +ne suis pas amie de Monsieur Voltaire." I shall go to town the day after +to-morrow, and will add a postscript, if I hear any news. + +[Footnote 1: "A rage for adopting English fashions (Anglomanie, as it +was called) began to prevail; and, among the different modes in which it +was exhibited, it is especially noticed that tea was introduced, and +began to share with coffee the privilege of affording sober refreshment +to those who aspired in their different ways to give the tone to French +society. A less innocent novelty was a passion for horse-racing, in +which the Comte d'Artois and the Duc de Chartres set the example of +indulging, establishing a racecourse in the Bois de Boulogne. The Count +had but little difficulty in persuading the Queen to attend it, and she +soon showed so decided a fancy for the sport, and became so regular a +visitor of it, that a small stand was built for her, which in subsequent +years provoked unfavourable comments, when the Prince obtained her leave +to give luncheon to some of their racing friends, who were not in every +instance of a character entitled to be brought into a royal presence" +(the Editor's "Life of Marie Antoinette," c. II).] + +_Dec. 3rd._ + +I am come late, have seen nobody, and must send away my letter. + + +_OSSIAN--CHATTERTON._ + +TO THE REV. WILLIAM COLE. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 19, 1777. + +I thank you for your notices, dear Sir, and shall remember that on +Prince William. I did see the _Monthly Review_, but hope one is not +guilty of the death of every man who does not make one the dupe of a +forgery. I believe M'Pherson's success with "Ossian"[1] was more the +ruin of Chatterton[2] than I. Two years passed between my doubting the +authenticity of Rowley's poems and his death. I never knew he had been +in London till some time after he had undone and poisoned himself there. +The poems he sent me were transcripts in his own hand, and even in that +circumstance he told a lie: he said he had them from the very person at +Bristol to whom he had given them. If any man was to tell you that +monkish rhymes had been dug up at Herculaneum, which was destroyed +several centuries before there was any such poetry, should you believe +it? Just the reverse is the case of Rowley's pretended poems. They have +all the elegance of Waller and Prior, and more than Lord Surrey--but I +have no objection to anybody believing what he pleases. I think poor +Chatterton was an astonishing genius--but I cannot think that Rowley +foresaw metres that were invented long after he was dead, or that our +language was more refined at Bristol in the reign of Henry V. than it +was at Court under Henry VIII. One of the chaplains of the Bishop of +Exeter has found a line of Rowley in "Hudibras"--the monk might foresee +that too! The prematurity of Chatterton's genius is, however, full as +wonderful, as that such a prodigy as Rowley should never have been heard +of till the eighteenth century. The youth and industry of the former are +miracles, too, yet still more credible. There is not a symptom in the +poems, but the old words, that savours of Rowley's age--change the old +words for modern, and the whole construction is of yesterday. + +[Footnote 1: Macpherson was a Scotch literary man, who in 1760 published +"Fingal" in six books, which he declared he had translated from a poem +by Ossian, son of Fingal, a Gaelic prince of the third century. For a +moment the work was accepted as genuine in some quarters, especially by +some of the Edinburgh divines. But Dr. Johnson denounced it as an +imposture from the first. He pointed out that Macpherson had never +produced the manuscripts from which he professed to have translated it +when challenged to do so. He maintained also that the so-called poem had +no merits; that "it was a mere unconnected rhapsody, a tiresome +repetition of the same images;" and his opinion soon became so generally +adopted, that Macpherson wrote him a furious letter of abuse, even +threatening him with personal violence; to which Johnson replied "that +he would not be deterred from exposing what he thought a cheat by the +menaces of a ruffian"--a reply which seems to have silenced Mr. +Macpherson (Boswell's "Life of Johnson," i. 375, ii. 310).] + +[Footnote 2: Chatterton's is a melancholy story. In 1768, when a boy of +only sixteen, he published a volume of ballads which he described as the +work of Rowley, a priest of Bristol in the fifteenth century, and which +he affirmed he had found in an old chest in the crypt of the Church of +St. Mary Redcliffe at Bristol, of which his father was sexton. They gave +proofs of so rich and precocious a genius, that if he had published them +as his own works, he would "have found himself famous" in a moment, as +Byron did forty years afterwards. But people resented the attempt to +impose on them, Walpole being among the first to point out the proofs of +their modern composition; and consequently the admiration which his +genius might have excited was turned into general condemnation of his +imposture, and in despair he poisoned himself in 1770, when he was only +eighteen years old.] + + +_AFFAIRS IN AMERICA--THE CZARINA AND THE EMPEROR OF CHINA._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _Oct._ 26, 1777. + +It is past my usual period of writing to you; which would not have +happened but from an uncommon, and indeed, considering the moment, an +extraordinary dearth of matter. I could have done nothing but describe +suspense, and every newspaper told you that. Still we know nothing +certain of the state of affairs in America; the very existence where, of +the Howes, is a mystery. The General is said to have beaten Washington, +Clinton to have repulsed three attacks, and Burgoyne[1] to be beaten. +The second alone is credited. Impatience is very high, and uneasiness +increases with every day. There is no sanguine face anywhere, but many +alarmed ones. The pains taken, by circulating false reports, to keep up +some confidence, only increase the dissatisfaction by disappointing. +Some advantage gained may put off clamour for some months: but I think, +the longer it is suspended, the more terrible it will be; and how the +war should end but in ruin, I am not wise enough to conjecture. France +suspends the blow, to make it more inevitable. She has suffered us to +undo ourselves: will she allow us time to recover? We have begged her +indulgence in the first: will she grant the second prayer?... + +[Footnote 1: In June and July General Burgoyne, a man of some literary +as well as military celebrity, achieved some trifling successes over the +colonial army, alternating, however, with some defeats. He took +Ticonderoga, but one of his divisions was defeated with heavy loss at +Bennington--a disaster which, Lord Stanhope says, exercised a fatal +influence over the rest of the campaign; and finally, a week before this +letter was written, he and all his army were so hemmed in at Saratoga, +that they were compelled to lay down their arms--a disgrace which was +the turning-point of the war, and which is compared by Lord Stanhope to +the capitulation of his own ancestor at Brihuega in the war of the +Spanish Succession. The surrender of Saratoga was the event which +determined the French and Spaniards to recognise the independence of the +colonies, and consequently to unite with them in the war against +England.] + +You have heard of the inundation at Petersburg. That ill wind produced +luck to somebody. As the Empress had not distressed objects enough among +her own people to gratify her humanity, she turned the torrent of her +bounty towards that unhappy relict the Duchess of Kingston, and ordered +her Admiralty to take particular care of the marvellous yacht that bore +Messalina and her fortune. Pray mind that I bestow the latter Empress's +name on the Duchess, only because she married a second husband in the +lifetime of the first. Amongst other benevolences, the Czarina lent her +Grace a courier to despatch to England--I suppose to acquaint Lord +Bristol that he is not a widower. That courier brought a letter from a +friend to Dr. Hunter, with the following anecdote. Her Imperial Majesty +proposed to her brother of China to lay waste a large district that +separates their two empires, lest it should, as it has been on the point +of doing, produce war between them; the two empires being at the two +extremities of the world, not being distance enough to keep the peace. +The ill-bred Tartar sent no answer to so humane a project. On the +contrary, he dispersed a letter to the Russian people, in which he tells +them that a woman--he might have said the Minerva of the French +_literati_--had proposed to him to extirpate all the inhabitants of a +certain region belonging to him, but that he knew better what to do with +his own country: however, he could but wonder that the people of all the +Russias should still submit to be governed by a creature that had +assassinated her husband.--Oh! if she had pulled the Ottoman by the nose +in the midst of Constantinople, as she intended to do, this savage would +have been more civilised. I doubt the same rude monarch is still on the +throne, who would not suffer Prince Czernichew to enter his territories, +when sent to notify her Majesty's _hereditary_ succession to her +husband; but bade him be told, he would not receive an ambassador from a +murderess. Is it not shocking that the law of nations, and the law of +politeness, should not yet have abrogated the laws of justice and +good-sense in a nation reckoned so civilised as the Chinese? What an age +do we live in, if there is still a country where the Crown does not take +away all defects! Good night! + + +_DEATH OF LORD CHATHAM--THURLOW BECOMES LORD CHANCELLOR._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _May_ 31, 1778. + +I am forced to look at the dates I keep of my letters, to see what +events I have or have not told you; for at this crisis something happens +every day; though nothing very striking since the death of Lord Chatham, +with which I closed my last. No?--yes, but there has. All England, which +had abandoned him, found out, the moment his eyes were closed, that +nothing but Lord Chatham could have preserved them. How lucky for him +that the experiment cannot be made! Grief is fond, and grief is +generous. The Parliament will bury him; the City begs the honour of +being his grave; and the important question is not yet decided, whether +he is to lie at Westminster or in St. Paul's; on which it was well said, +that it would be "robbing Peter to pay Paul." An annuity of four +thousand pounds is settled on the title of Chatham, and twenty thousand +pounds allotted to pay his debts. The Opposition and the Administration +disputed zeal; and neither care a straw about him. He is already as much +forgotten as John of Gaunt. + +General Burgoyne has succeeded and been the topic, and for two days +engrossed the attention of the House of Commons; and probably will be +heard of no more. He was even forgotten for three hours while he was on +the tapis, by a violent quarrel between Temple Luttrell (a brother of +the Duchess of Cumberland) and Lord George Germaine; but the public has +taken affection for neither them nor the General: being much more +disposed at present to hate than to love--except the dead. It will be +well if the ill-humour, which increases, does not break out into overt +acts. + +I know not what to say of war. The Toulon squadron was certainly blown +back. That of Brest is supposed to be destined to invade some part of +this country or Ireland; or rather, it is probable, will attempt our +fleet. In my own opinion, there is no great alacrity in France--I mean, +in the Court of France--for war; and, as we have had time for great +preparations, their eagerness will not increase. We shall suffer as much +as they can desire by the loss of America, without their risk, and in a +few years shall be able to give them no umbrage; especially as our +frenzy is still so strong, that, if France left us at quiet, I am +persuaded we should totally exhaust ourselves in pursuing the vision of +reconquest. Spain continues to disclaim hostility as you told me. If the +report is true of revolts in Mexico, they would be as good as a bond +under his Catholic Majesty's hand. + +We shall at least not doze, as we are used to do, in summer. The +Parliament is to have only short adjournments; and our senators, instead +of retiring to horse-races (_their_ plough), are all turned soldiers, +and disciplining militia. Camps everywhere, and the ladies in the +uniform of their husbands! In short, if the dose is not too strong, a +little adversity would not be quite unseasonable.--A little! you will +cry; why what do you call the loss of America? Oh! my dear sir, do you +think a capital as enormous as London has its nerves affected by what +happens beyond the Atlantic? What has become of all your reading? There +is nothing so unnatural as the feelings of a million of persons who live +together in one city. They have not one conception like those in +villages and in the country. They presume or despond from quite +different motives. They have both more sense and less, than those who +are not in contact with a multitude. Wisdom forms empires, but folly +dissolves them; and a great capital, which dictates to the rest of the +community, is always the last to perceive the decays of the whole, +because it takes its own greatness for health. + +Lord Holdernesse is dead; not quite so considerable a personage as he +once expected to be, though Nature never intended him for anything that +he was. The Chancellor, another child of Fortune, quits the Seals; and +they are, or are to be, given to the Attorney-General, Thurlow, whom +nobody will reproach with want of abilities. + +As the Parliament will rise on Tuesday, you will not expect my letters +so frequently as of late, especially if hostilities do not commence. In +fact, our newspapers tell you everything faster than I can: still I +write, because you have more faith in my intelligence; yet all its merit +consists in my not telling you fables. I hear no more than everybody +does, but I send you only what is sterling; or, at least, give you +reports for no more than they are worth. I believe Sir John Dick is much +more punctual, and hears more; but, till you displace me, I shall +execute my office of being your gazetteer. + + +_EXULTATION OF FRANCE AT OUR DISASTERS IN +AMERICA--FRANKLIN--NECKER--CHATTERTON._ + +TO THE REV. WILLIAM COLE. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 3, 1778. + +I will not dispute with you, dear Sir, on patriots and politics. One +point is past controversy, that the Ministers have ruined this country; +and if the Church of England is satisfied with being reconciled to the +Church of Rome, and thinks it a compensation for the loss of America and +all credit in Europe, she is as silly an old woman as any granny in an +almshouse. France is very glad we have grown such fools, and soon saw +that the Presbyterian Dr. Franklin[1] had more sense than our Ministers +together. She has got over all her prejudices, has expelled the Jesuits, +and made the Protestant Swiss, Necker,[2] her Comptroller-general. It is +a little woful, that we are relapsing into the nonsense the rest of +Europe is shaking off! and it is more deplorable, as we know by repeated +experience, that this country has always been disgraced by Tory +administrations. The rubric is the only gainer by them in a few martyrs. + +[Footnote 1: Dr. Franklin, as a man of science, may almost be called the +father of electrical science. He was the discoverer of the electrical +character of lightning, a discovery which he followed up by the +invention of iron conductors for the protection of buildings, &c., from +lightning. He was also a very zealous politician, and one of the leaders +of the American colonists in their resistance to the taxation imposed +first by Mr. Grenville and afterwards by Mr. C. Townshend. He resided +for several years in England as agent for the State of Pennsylvania, and +in that character, in the year 1765, was examined before the Committee +of the House of Commons on the Stamp Act of Mr. Grenville. After the +civil war broke out he was elected a member of the American Congress, +and was sent as an envoy to France to negotiate a treaty with that +country. As early as 1758 he was elected a member of the Royal Society +in England, and received the honorary degree of D.C.L. from the +University of Oxford.] + +[Footnote 2: Necker was originally a banker, in which business he made a +large fortune; but after a time he turned his attention to politics. He +began by opposing the financial and constitutional schemes of the great +Turgot, and shortly after the dismissal of that Minister he himself was +admitted into the Ministry as a sort of Secretary to the Treasury, his +religion, as a Protestant, being a bar to his receiving the title of +"Comptroller-General," though, in fact, he had the entire management of +the finance of the kingdom, which, by artful misrepresentation of his +measures and suppression of such important facts, that he had contracted +loans to the amount of twenty millions of money, he represented as far +more flourishing than in reality it was. At the end of two or three +years he resigned his office in discontent at his services not receiving +the rewards to which he considered himself entitled. But in 1788 he was +again placed in office, on this occasion as Comptroller-General, and, +practically, Prime Minister, a post for which he was utterly unfit; for +he had not one qualification for a statesman, was a prey to the most +overweening vanity, and his sole principles of action were a thirst for +popularity and a belief in "the dominion of reason and the abstract +virtues of mankind." Under the influence of these notions he frittered +away the authority and dignity of the King; and, as Napoleon afterwards +truly told his grandson, was, in truth, the chief cause of all the +horrors of the Revolution.] + +I do not know yet what is settled about the spot of Lord Chatham's +interment. I am not more an enthusiast to his memory than you. I knew +his faults and his defects--yet one fact cannot only not be +controverted, but I doubt more remarkable every day--I mean, that under +him we attained not only our highest elevation, but the most solid +authority in Europe. When the names of Marlborough and Chatham are still +pronounced with awe in France, our little cavils make a puny sound. +Nations that are beaten cannot be mistaken. + +I have been looking out for your friend a set of my heads of Painters, +and I find I want six or seven. I think I have some odd ones in town; if +I have not, I will have deficiencies supplied from the plates, though I +fear they will not be good, as so many have been taken off. I should be +very ungrateful for all your kindnesses, if I neglected any opportunity +of obliging you, dear Sir. Indeed, our old and unalterable friendship is +creditable to us both, and very uncommon between two persons who differ +so much in their opinions relative to Church and State. I believe the +reason is, that we are both sincere, and never meant to take advantage +of our principles; which I allow is too common on both sides, and I own, +too, fairly more common on my side of the question than on yours. There +is a reason, too, for that; the honours and emoluments are in the gift +of the Crown; the nation has no separate treasury to reward its friends. + +If Mr. Tyrwhitt has opened his eyes to Chatterton's forgeries,[1] there +is an instance of conviction against strong prejudice! I have drawn up +an account of my transaction with that marvellous young man; you shall +see it one day or other, but I do not intend to print it. I have taken a +thorough dislike to being an author; and if it would not look like +begging you to compliment me, by contradicting me, I would tell you, +what I am most seriously convinced of, that I find what small share of +parts I had, grown dulled--and when I perceive it myself, I may well +believe that others would not be less sharp-sighted. It is very natural; +mine were spirits rather than parts; and as time has abated the one, it +must surely destroy their resemblance to the other: pray don't say a +syllable in reply on this head, or I shall have done exactly what I said +I would not do. Besides, as you have always been too partial to me, I am +on my guard, and when I will not expose myself to my enemies, I must not +listen to the prejudices of my friends; and as nobody is more partial +to me than you, there is nobody I must trust less in that respect. Yours +most sincerely. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Tyrrhwitt, a critic of great eminence, especially as +the editor of "Chaucer," had at first believed the poems published by +Chatterton to be the genuine works of Rowley, but was afterwards +convinced, as Dr. Johnson also was, by the inspection of the manuscripts +which the poor youth called the "originals," that they were quite +recent.] + + +_ADMIRAL KEPPEL'S SUCCESS--THREATS OF INVASION--FUNERAL OF LORD +CHATHAM._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July 7_, 1778. + +You tell me in yours of the 23rd of last month, which I received to-day, +that my letters are necessary to your tranquillity. That is sufficient +to make me write, though I have nothing very positive to tell you. I did +not mention Admiral Keppel's skirmish with and capture of two frigates +of the Brest squadron; not because I thought it trifling, but concluding +that it would produce immediate declaration of war; and, for the fact +itself, I knew both our papers and the French would anticipate me. +Indeed, Sir John Dick has talked to me so much of his frequency and +punctuality with you, that I might have concluded he would not neglect +so public an event; not that I trust to anybody else for sending you +intelligence. + +No Declaration has followed on either side. I, who know nothing but what +everybody knows, am disposed to hope that both nations are grown +rational; that is, humane enough to dislike carnage. Both kings are +pacific by nature, and the voice of Europe now prefers legislators to +_heroes_, which is but a name for destroyers of their species. + +It is true, we are threatened with invasion.[1] You ask me why I seem to +apprehend less than formerly? For many reasons. In the first place, I am +above thirty years older. Can one fear anything in the dregs of life as +at the beginning? Experience, too, has taught me that nothing happens in +proportion to our conceptions. I have learnt, too, exceedingly to +undervalue human policy. Chance and folly counteract most of its wisdom. +From the "Memoires de Noailles"[2] I have learnt, that, between the +years 1740 and 1750, when I,--ay, and my Lord Chesterfield too,--had +such gloomy thoughts, France was trembling with dread of us. These are +general reasons. My particular ones are, that, if France meditated a +considerable blow, she has neglected her opportunity. Last year, we had +neither army nor a manned fleet at home. Now, we have a larger and +better army than ever we had in the island, and a strong fleet. Within +these three days, our West India and Mediterranean fleets, for which we +have been in great pain, are arrived, and bring not only above two +millions, but such a host of sailors as will supply the deficiencies in +our unequipped men-of-war. The country is covered with camps; General +Conway, who has been to one of them, speaks with astonishment of the +fineness of the men, of the regiments, of their discipline and +manoeuvring. In short, the French Court has taught all our young +nobility to be soldiers. The Duke of Grafton, who was the most indolent +of ministers, is the most indefatigable of officers. For my part, I am +almost afraid that there will be a larger military spirit amongst our +men of quality than is wholesome for our constitution: France will have +done us hurt enough, if she has turned us into generals instead of +senators. + +[Footnote 1: The design of invading England, first conceived by Philip +II. of Spain and the Duke of Parma, had been entertained also by Louis +XIV.; and after Walpole's death ostentatious preparations for such an +expedition were made in 1805 by Napoleon. But some years afterwards +Napoleon told Metternich, the Austrian Prime Minister, that he had never +really designed to undertake the enterprise, being convinced of the +impossibility of succeeding in it, and that the sole object of his +preparations and of the camp at Boulogne had been to throw Austria off +her guard.] + +[Footnote 2: The Duc de Noailles had been the French Commander-in-chief +at the battle of Dettingen in 1743.] + +I can conceive another reason why France should not choose to venture an +invasion. It is certain that at least five American provinces wish for +peace with us. Nor can I think that thirteen English provinces would be +pleased at seeing England invaded. Any considerable blow received by us, +would turn their new allies into haughty protectors. Should we accept a +bad peace, America would find her treaty with them a very bad one: in +short, I have treated you with speculations instead of facts. I know but +one of the latter sort. The King's army has evacuated Philadelphia, from +having eaten up the country, and has returned to New York. Thus it is +more compact, and has less to defend. + +General Howe is returned, richer in money than laurels. I do not know, +indeed, that his wealth is great. + +Fanaticism in a nation is no novelty; but you must know, that, though +the effects were so solid, the late appearance of enthusiasm about Lord +Chatham was nothing but a general affectation of enthusiasm. It was a +contention of hypocrisy between the Opposition and the Court, which did +not last even to his burial. Not three of the Court attended it, and not +a dozen of the Minority of any note. He himself said, between his fall +in the House of Lords and his death, that, when he came to himself, not +one of his old acquaintance of the Court but Lord Despencer so much as +asked how he did. Do you imagine people are struck with the death of a +man, who were not struck with the sudden appearance of his death? We do +not counterfeit so easily on a surprise, as coolly; and, when we are +cool on surprise, we do not grow agitated on reflection. + +The last account I heard from Germany was hostile. Four days ago both +the Imperial and Prussian Ministers[1] expected news of a battle. O, ye +fathers of your people, do you thus dispose of your children? How many +thousand lives does a King save, who signs a peace! It was said in jest +of our Charles II., that he was the real _father_ of his people, so many +of them did he beget himself. But tell me, ye divines, which is the most +virtuous man, he who begets twenty bastards, or he who sacrifices a +hundred thousand lives? What a contradiction is human nature! The Romans +rewarded the man who got three children, and laid waste the world. When +will the world know that peace and propagation are the two most +delightful things in it? As his Majesty of France has found out the +latter, I hope he will not forget the former. + +[Footnote 1: Towards the close of 1777 Maximilian, the Elector of +Bavaria, died, and the Emperor Joseph claimed many of his fiefs as +having escheated to him. Frederic the Great, who was still jealous of +Austria, endeavoured to form a league to aid the new Elector in his +resistance to Joseph's demands, and even invaded Bohemia with an army of +eighty thousand men; but the Austrian army was equally strong. No action +of any importance took place; and in the spring of 1779 the treaty of +Teschen was concluded between the Empire, Prussia, and Bavaria, by which +a small portion of the district claimed by Joseph was ceded to Austria.] + + +_SUGGESTION OF NEGOTIATIONS WITH FRANCE--PARTITION OF POLAND._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 8, 1778. + +I have had some conversation with a ministerial person, on the subject +of pacification with France; and he dropped a hint, that as we should +not have much of a good peace, the Opposition would make great clamour +on it. I said a few words on the duty of Ministers to do what they +thought right, be the consequence what it would. But as honest men do +not want such lectures, and dishonest will not let them weigh, I waived +that theme, to dwell on what is more likely to be persuasive, and which +I am firmly persuaded is no less true than the former maxim; and that +was, that the Ministers are _still_ so strong, that if they could get a +peace that would save the nation, though not a brilliant or glorious +one, the nation in general would be pleased with it, and the clamours of +the Opposition be insignificant. + +I added, what I think true, too, that no time is to be lost in treating; +not only for preventing a blow, but from the consequences the first +misfortune would have. The nation is not yet alienated from the Court, +but it is growing so; is grown so enough, for any calamity to have +violent effects. Any internal disturbance would advance the hostile +designs of France. An insurrection from distress would be a double +invitation to invasion; and, I am sure, much more to be dreaded, even +personally, by the Ministers, than the ill-humours of Opposition for +even an inglorious peace. To do the Opposition justice, it is not +composed of incendiaries. Parliamentary speeches raise no tumults: but +tumults would be a dreadful thorough bass to speeches. The Ministers do +not know the strength they have left (supposing they apply it in time), +if they are afraid of making any peace. They were too sanguine in making +war; I hope they will not be too timid of making peace. + +What do you think of an idea of mine of offering France a neutrality? +that is, to allow her to assist both us and the Americans. I know she +would assist only them: but were it not better to connive at her +assisting them, without attacking us, than her doing both? A treaty with +her would perhaps be followed by one with America. We are sacrificing +all the essentials we _can_ recover, for a few words; and risking the +independence of this country, for the nominal supremacy over America. +France seems to leave us time for treating. She mad no scruple of +begging peace of us in '63, that she might lie by and recover her +advantages. Was not that a wise precedent? Does not she _now_ show that +it was? Is not policy the honour of nations? I mean, not morally, but +has Europe left itself any other honour? And since it has really left +itself no honour, and as little morality, does not the morality of a +nation consist in its preserving itself in as much happiness as it can? +The invasion of Portugal by Spain in the last war, and the partition of +Poland,[1] have abrogated the law of nations. Kings have left no ties +between one another. Their duty to their people is still allowed. He is +a good King that preserves his people; and if temporising answers that +end, is it not justifiable? You, who are as moral as wise, answer my +questions. Grotius[2] is obsolete. Dr. Joseph and Dr. Frederic, with +four hundred thousand commentators, are reading new lectures--and I +should say, thank God, to one another, if the four hundred thousand +commentators were not in worse danger than they. Louis XVI. is grown a +casuist compared to those partitioners. Well, let us simple individuals +keep our honesty, and bless our stars that we have not armies at our +command, lest we should divide kingdoms that are at our _bienseance_! +What a dreadful thing it is for such a wicked little imp as man to have +absolute power! But I have travelled into Germany, when I meant to talk +to you only of England; and it is too late to recall my text. Good +night! + +[Footnote 1: A partition of Poland had been proposed by the Great +Elector of Brandenburgh as early as the middle of the seventeenth +century, his idea being that he, the Emperor, and the King of Sweden +should divide the whole country between them. At that time, however, the +mutual jealousies of the three princes prevented the scheme from being +carried out. But in 1770 the idea was revived by Frederic the Great, who +sent his brother Henry to discuss it with the Czarina. She eagerly +embraced it; and the new Emperor Joseph had so blind an admiration for +Frederic, that it was not hard to induce him to become a confederate in +the scheme of plunder. And the three allies had less difficulty than +might have been expected in arranging the details. In extent of +territory Austria was the principal gainer, her share being of +sufficient importance to receive a new name as the kingdom of Galicia; +the share of Prussia being West Prussia and Pomerania, with the +exception of Dantzic and the fortress of Thorn; while Russia took Polish +Livonia and the rich provinces to the east of the Dwina. But the +spoilers were not long contented with their acquisitions. In 1791 +intrigues among the Polish nobles, probably fomented by the Czarina +herself, gave her a pretence for interfering in their affairs; and the +result was a second partition, which gave the long-coveted port of +Dantzic and a long district on the shore of the Baltic to Prussia, and +such extensive provinces adjoining Russia to Catharine, that all that +was left to the Polish sovereign was a small territory with a population +that hardly amounted to four millions of subjects. The partition excited +great indignation all over Europe, but in 1772 England was sufficiently +occupied with the troubles beginning to arise in America, and France was +still too completely under the profligate and imbecile rule of Louis XV. +and Mme. du Barri, and too much weakened by her disasters in the Seven +Years' War, for any manly counsels or indication of justice and humanity +to be expected from that country.] + +[Footnote 2: Grotius (a Latinised form of Groot) was an eminent +statesman and jurist of Holland at the beginning of the seventeenth +century. He was a voluminous author; his most celebrated works being a +treatise, "De jure belli et pacis," and another on the "Truth of the +Christian Religion."] + +[Illustration: VIEW OF GARDEN, STRAWBERRY HILL, FROM THE GREAT +BED-CHAMBER.] + + +_UNSUCCESSFUL CRUISE OF KEPPEL--CHARACTER OF LORD CHATHAM._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Oct._ 8, 1778. + +As you are so earnest for news, I am concerned when I have not a +paragraph to send you. It looks as if distance augmented your +apprehensions; for, I assure you, at home we have lost almost all +curiosity. Though the two fleets have been so long at sea, and though, +before their last _sortie_, one heard nothing but _What news of the +fleets?_ of late there has been scarcely any inquiry; and so the French +one is returned to Brest, and ours is coming home. Admiral Keppel is +very unlucky in having missed them, for they had not above twenty-five +ships. Letters from Paris say that their camps, too, are to break up at +the end of this month: but we do not intend to be the dupes of that +_finesse_, if it is one, but shall remain on our guard. One must hope +that winter will produce some negotiation; and that, peace. Indeed, as +war is not declared, I conclude there is always some treating on the +anvil; and, should it end well, at least this age will have made a step +towards humanity, in omitting the ceremonial of proclamation, which +seems to make it easier to cease being at war. But I am rather making +out a proxy for a letter than sending you news. But, you see, even +armies of hundred thousands in Germany can execute as little as we; and +you must remember what the Grand Conde, or the great Prince of Orange--I +forget which--said, that unmarried girls imagine husbands are always on +duty, unmilitary men that soldiers are always fighting. One of the Duke +of Marlborough's Generals dining with the Lord Mayor, an Alderman who +sat next to him said, "Sir, yours must be a very laborious +profession."--"No," replied the General, "we fight about four hours in +the morning, and two or three after dinner, and then we have all the +rest of the day to ourselves." + +The King has been visiting camps,--and so has Sir William Howe, who, one +should think, had had enough of them; and who, one should think too, had +not achieved such exploits as should make him fond of parading himself +about, or expect many hosannahs. To have taken one town, and retreated +from two, is not very glorious in military arithmetic; and to have +marched twice to Washington, and returned without attacking him, is no +addition to the sum total. + +Did I tell you that Mrs. Anne Pitt is returned, and acts great grief for +her brother? I suppose she was the dupe of the farce acted by the two +Houses and the Court, and had not heard that none of them carried on the +pantomime even to his burial. Her nephew gave a little into that mummery +even to me; forgetting how much I must remember of his aversion to his +uncle. Lord Chatham was a meteor, and a glorious one; people discovered +that he was not a genuine luminary, and yet everybody in mimickry has +been an _ignis fatuus_ about him. Why not allow his magnificent +enterprises and good fortune, and confess his defects; instead of being +bombast in his praises, and at the same time discover that the +amplification is insincere? A Minister who inspires great actions must +be a great Minister; and Lord Chatham will always appear so,--by +comparison with his predecessors and successors. He retrieved our +affairs when ruined by a most incapable Administration; and we are +fallen into a worse state since he was removed. Therefore, I doubt, +posterity will allow more to his merit, than it is the present fashion +to accord to it. Our historians have of late been fond of decrying Queen +Elizabeth, in order if possible to raise the Stuarts: but great actions +surmount foibles; and folly and guilt would always remain folly and +guilt, though there had never been a great man or woman in the world. +Our modern tragedies, hundreds of them do not contain a good line; nor +are they a jot the better, because Shakspeare, who was superior to all +mankind, wrote some whole plays that are as bad as any of our present +writers. + +I shall be very glad to see your nephew, and talk of you with him; which +will be more satisfactory than questioning accidental travellers. + + +_CAPTURE OF PONDICHERRY--CHANGES IN THE MINISTRY--LA FAYETTE IN +AMERICA._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +ARLINGTON STREET, _March_ 22, 1779. + +If your representative dignity is impaired westward, you may add to +your eastern titles those of "Rose of India" and "Pearl of +Pondicherry."[1] The latter gem is now set in one of the vacant sockets +of the British diadem. + +[Footnote 1: The authority of the great Warren Hastings, originally +limited to five years, was renewed this year; and he signalised the +prolongation of his authority by more vigorous attacks than ever on the +French fortresses in India. He sent one body of troops against +Chandemagore, their chief stronghold in Bengal; another against +Pondicherry, their head-quarters in the south of Hindostan; while a +third, under Colonel Goddard, defeated the two Mahratta chieftains +Scindia and Holkar, and took some of their strongest fortresses.] + +I have nothing to subjoin to this high-flown paragraph, that will at all +keep pace with the majesty of it. I should have left to the _Gazette_ to +wish you joy, nor have begun a new letter without more materials, if I +did not fear you would be still uneasy about your nephew. I hear he has, +_since his parenthesis_, voted again with the Court; therefore he has +probably not taken a new _part_, but only made a Pindaric transition on +a particular question. I have seen him but twice since his arrival, and +from both those visits I had no reason to expect he would act +differently from what you wished. Perhaps it may never happen again. I +go so little into the world, that I don't at all know what company he +frequents. He talked so reasonably and tenderly with regard to you, that +I shall be much deceived if he often gives you any inquietude. + +The place of Secretary of State is not replenished yet. Several +different successors have been talked of. At least, at present, there is +a little chance of its being supplied by the Opposition. Their numbers +have fallen off again, though they are more alert than they used to be. +I do not love to foretell, because no Elijah left me his mantle, in +which, it seems, the gift of prophecy resides; and, if I see clouds +gathering, I less care to announce their contents to foreign +post-offices. On the other hand, it is no secret, nor one to disguise if +it were, that the French trade must suffer immensely by our captures. + +Private news I know none. The Bishops are trying to put a stop to one +staple commodity of that kind, Adultery. I do not suppose that they +expect to lessen it; but, to be sure, it was grown to a sauciness that +did call for a decenter veil. I do not think they have found out a good +cure; and I am of opinion, too, that flagrancy proceeds from national +depravity, which tinkering one branch will not remedy. Perhaps polished +manners are a better proof of virtue in an age than of vice, though +system-makers do not hold so: at least, decency has seldom been the +symptom of a sinking nation. + +When one talks on general themes, it is a sign of having little to say. +It is not that there is a dearth of topics; but I only profess sending +you information on events that really have happened, to guide you +towards forming a judgment. At home, we are fed with magnificent hopes +and promises that are never realized. For instance, to prove discord in +America, Monsieur de la Fayette[1] was said to rail at the Congress, +and their whole system and transactions. There is just published an +intercourse between them that exhibits enthusiasm in him towards their +cause, and the highest esteem for him on their side. For my part, I see +as little chance of recovering America as of re-conquering the Holy +Land. Still, I do not amuse you with visions on either side, but tell +you nakedly what advantage has been gained or lost. This caution +abbreviates my letters; but, in general, you can depend on what I tell +you. Adieu! + +[Footnote 1: Monsieur de la Fayette was a young French marquis of +ancient family, but of limited fortune. He was a man of no ability, +civil or military, and not even of much resolution, unless a blind +fanaticism for republican principles can be called so. When the American +war broke out he conceived such an admiration for Washington, that he +resigned his commission in the French army to cross over to America and +serve with the colonists; but it cannot be said that he was of any +particular service to their cause. Afterwards, in 1789, he entered +warmly into the schemes of the leaders of the Revolution, and +contributed greatly to the difficulties and misfortunes of the Royal +Family, especially by his conduct as Commander of the National Guard, +which was a contemptible combination of treachery and imbecility.] + +_Tuesday 24th._ + +I hear this moment that an account is come this morning of D'Estaing +with sixteen ships being blocked up by Byron at Martinico, and that +Rowley with eight more was expected by the latter in a day or two. +D'Estaing, it is supposed, will be starved to surrender, and the island +too. I do not answer for this intelligence or consequences; but, if the +first is believed, you may be sure the rest is. + + +_DIVISIONS IN THE MINISTRY--CHARACTER OF THE ITALIANS AND OF THE +FRENCH._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 7, 1779. + +How much larger the war will be for the addition of Spain, I do not +know. Hitherto it has produced no events but the shutting of our ports +against France, and the junction of nine ships from Ferrol with the +French squadron. They talk of a great navy getting ready at Cadiz, and +of mighty preparations in the ports of France for an embarkation. As all +this must have been foreseen, I suppose we are ready to resist all +attacks. + +The Parliament rose last Saturday, not without an open division in the +Ministry: Lord Gower, President of the Council, heading an opposition to +a Bill for doubling the Militia, which had passed the Commons, and +throwing it out; which Lord North as publicly resented. I make no +comments on this, because I really know nothing of the motives. +Thoroughly convinced that all my ideas are superannuated, and too old to +learn new lessons, I only hear what passes, pretend to understand +nothing, and wait patiently for events as they present themselves. I +listen enough to be able to acquaint you with facts of public notoriety; +but attempt to explain none of them, if they do not carry legibility in +the van. + +Your nephew, who lives more in the world, and is coming to you, will be +far more master of the details. He called here some few days ago, as I +was going out to dinner, but has kindly promised to come and dine here +before he sets out. His journey is infinitely commendable, as entirely +undertaken to please you. It will be very comfortable too, as surely the +concourse of English must much abate, especially as France is +interdicted. Travelling boys and self-sufficient governors would be an +incumbrance to you, could you see more of your countrymen of more +satisfactory conversation. Florence probably is improved since it had a +Court of its own, and there must be men a little more enlightened than +the poor Italians. Scarcely any of the latter that ever I knew but, if +they had parts, were buffoons. I believe the boasted _finesse_ of the +ruling clergy is pretty much a traditionary notion, like their jealousy. +More nations than one live on former characters after they are totally +changed. + +I have been often and much in France. In the provinces they may still be +gay and lively; but at Paris, bating the pert _etourderie_ of very young +men, I protest I scarcely ever saw anything like vivacity--the Duc de +Choiseul alone had more than any hundred Frenchmen I could select. Their +women are the first in the world in everything but beauty; sensible, +agreeable, and infinitely informed. The _philosophes_, except Buffon, +are solemn, arrogant, dictatorial coxcombs--I need not say superlatively +disagreeable. The rest are amazingly ignorant in general, and void of +all conversation but the routine with women. My dear and very old friend +[Madame du Deffand] is a relic of a better age, and at nearly +eighty-four has all the impetuosity that _was_ the character of the +French. They have not found out, I believe, how much their nation is +sunk in Europe;--probably the Goths and Vandals of the North will open +their eyes before a century is past. I speak of the swarming empires +that have conglomerated within our memories. _We_ dispelled the vision +twenty years ago: but let us be modest till we do so again.... + +_11th._ + +Last night I received from town the medal you promised me on the Moorish +alliance.[1] It is at least as magnificent as the occasion required, and +yet not well executed. The medallist Siriez, I conclude, is grandson of +my old acquaintance Louis Siriez of the Palazzo Vecchio. + +[Footnote 1: A treaty had just been concluded between the Duke of +Tuscany and the Emperor of Morocco.] + +Yesterday's Gazette issued a proclamation on the expected invasion from +Havre, where they are embarking mightily. Some think the attempt will be +on Portsmouth. To sweeten this pill, Clinton has taken a fort and +seventy men--not near Portsmouth, but New York; and there were reports +at the latter that Charleston is likely to surrender. This would be +something, if there were not a French war and a Spanish war in the way +between us and Carolina. Sir Charles Hardy is at Torbay with the whole +fleet, which perhaps was not a part of the plan at Havre: we shall see, +and you shall hear, if anything passes. + +_Friday night, July 16th._ + +Your nephew has sent me word that he will breakfast with me to-morrow, +but shall not have time to dine. I have nothing to add to the foregoing +general picture. We have been bidden even by proclamation to expect an +invasion, and troops and provisions have for this week said to have been +embarked. Still I do not much expect a serious descent. The French, I +think, have better chances with less risk. They may ruin us in detail. +The fleet is at present at home or very near, and very strong; nor do I +think that the French plan is activity:--but it is idle to talk of the +present moment, when it will be some time before you receive this. I am +infinitely in more pain about Mr. Conway, who is in the midst of the +storm in a nutshell, and I know will defend himself as if he was in the +strongest fortification in Flanders--and, which is as bad, I believe the +Court would sacrifice the island to sacrifice him. They played that +infamous game last year on Keppel, when ten thousand times more was at +stake. They look at the biggest objects through the diminishing end of +every telescope; and, the higher they who look, the more malignant and +mean the eye.... + +Adieu! my dear Sir. In what manner we are to be undone, I do not guess; +but I see no way by which we can escape happily out of this crisis--I +mean, preserve the country and recover the Constitution. I thought for +four years that calamity would bring us to our senses: but alas! we have +none left to be brought to. We shall now suffer a greal deal, submit at +last to a humiliating peace, and people will be content.--So adieu, +England! it will be more or less a province or kind of province to +France, and its viceroy will be, in what does not concern France, its +despot--and will be content too! I shall not pity the country; I shall +feel only for those who grieve with me at its abject state; or for +posterity, if they do not, like other degraded nations, grow callously +reconciled to their ignominy. + + +_ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS--DEATH OF LORD TEMPLE._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +_Sept._ 16, 1779. + +I have received your letter by Colonel Floyd, and shall be surprised +indeed if Caesar does not find his own purple a little rumpled, as well +as his brother's mantle. But how astonished was I at finding that you +did not mention the dreadful eruption of Vesuvius. Surely you had not +heard of it! What are kings and their popguns to that wrath of Nature! +How Sesostris, at the head of an army of nations, would have fallen +prostrate to earth before a column of blazing embers eleven thousand +feet high! I am impatient to hear more, as you are of the little +conflict of us pigmies. Three days after my last set out, we received +accounts of D'Estaing's success against Byron and Barrington, and of the +capture of Grenada. I do not love to send first reports, which are +rarely authentic. The subsequent narrative of the engagement is more +favourable. It allows the victory to the enemy, but makes their loss of +men much the more considerable. Of ships we lost but one, taken after +the fight as going into port to refit. Sir Charles Hardy and +D'Orvilliers have not met; the latter is at Brest, the former at +Portsmouth. I never penetrated an inch into what is to be; and into some +distant parts of our history, I mean the Eastern, I have never liked to +look. I believe it an infamous scene; you know I have always thought it +so; and the Marattas are a nation of banditti very proper to scourge the +heroes of Europe, who go so far to plunder and put themselves into their +way. Nature gave to mankind a beautiful world, and larger than it could +occupy,--for, as to the eruption of Goths and Vandals occasioned by +excess of population, I very much doubt it; and mankind prefers +deforming the ready Paradise, to improving and enjoying it. Ambition and +mischief, which one should not think were natural appetites, seem almost +as much so as the impulse to propagation; and those pious rogues, the +clergy, preach against what Nature forces us to practise (or she could +not carry on her system), and not twice in a century say a syllable +against the Lust of Destruction! Oh! one is lost in moralising, as one +is in astronomy! In the ordinance and preservation of the great +universal system one sees the Divine Artificer, but our intellects are +too bounded to comprehend anything more. + +Lord Temple is dead by an accident. I never had any esteem for his +abilities or character. He had grown up in the bask of Lord Chatham's +glory, and had the folly to mistake half the rays for his own. The world +was not such a dupe; and his last years discovered a selfish +restlessness, and discovered to him, too, that no mortal regarded him +but himself. + +The Lucans are in my neighbourhood, and talk with much affection of you. +Adieu! + + +_CHANCES OF WAR WITH HOLLAND--HIS FATHER'S POLICY--POPE--CHARACTER OF +BOLINGBROKE._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _Jan._ 13, 1780. + +In consequence of my last, it is right to make you easy, and tell you +that I think we shall not have a Dutch war;[1] at least, nobody seems to +expect it. What excuses we have made, I do not know; but I imagine the +Hollanders are glad to gain by both sides, and glad not to be forced to +quarrel with either. + +[Footnote 1: Walpole was mistaken in his calculations. "Holland at this +time was divided by two great parties--the party of the Staatholder, the +Prince of Orange, and the party inclining to France--of which the +Pensionary, Van Bethel, was among the principal members; and this party +was so insulting in their tone and measures, that at the end of 1780 we +were compelled to declare war against them" (Lord Stanhope, "History of +England," c. 63). But the war was not signalised by any action of +importance.] + +What might have been expected much sooner, appears at last--a good deal +of discontent; but chiefly where it was not much expected. The country +gentlemen, after encouraging the Court to war with America, now, not +very decently, are angry at the expense. As they have long seen the +profusion, it would have been happy had they murmured sooner. Very +serious associations are forming in many counties; and orders, under +the title of petitions, coming to Parliament for correcting abuses. They +talk of the waste of money; are silent on the thousands of lives that +have been sacrificed--but when are human lives counted by any side? + +The French, who may measure with us in folly, and have exceeded us in +ridiculous boasts, have been extravagant in their reception of +D'Estaing,[1] who has shown nothing but madness and incapacity. How the +northern monarchs, who have at least exhibited talents for war and +politics, must despise the last campaign of England and France! + +[Footnote 1: The Comte d'Estaing was the Commander-in-chief of the +French fleet in the West Indies in the years 1777-80. But, though his +force was always superior to ours, he always endeavoured to avoid a +battle; and succeeded in that timorous policy except on two occasions, +when Lord Howe and afterwards Admiral Byron brought him to action, but +only with indecisive results.] + +I am once more got abroad, but more pleased to be able to do so, than +charmed with anything I have to do. Having outlived the glory and +felicity of my country, I carry that reflection with me wherever I go. +Last night, at Strawberry Hill, I took up, to divert my thoughts, a +volume of letters to Swift from Bolingbroke, Bathurst, and Gay; and what +was there but lamentations on the ruin of England, in that era of its +prosperity and peace, from wretches who thought their own want of power +a proof that their country was undone! Oh, my father! twenty years of +peace, and credit, and happiness, and liberty, were punishments to +rascals who weighed everything in the scales of self? It was to the +honour of Pope, that, though leagued with such a crew, and though an +idolater of their archfiend Bolingbroke and in awe of the malignant +Swift, he never gave in to their venomous railings; railings against a +man who, in twenty years, never attempted a stretch of power, did +nothing but the common business of administration, and by that +temperance and steady virtue, and unalterable good-humour and superior +wisdom, baffled all the efforts of faction, and annihilated the falsely +boasted abilities of Bolingbroke,[1] which now appear as moderate as his +character was in every light detestable. But, alas! that retrospect +doubled my chagrin instead of diverting it. I soon forgot an impotent +cabal of mock-patriots; but the scene they vainly sought to disturb +rushed on my mind, and, like Hamlet on the sight of Yorick's skull, I +recollected the prosperity of Denmark when my father ruled, and compared +it with the present moment! I look about for a Sir Robert Walpole; but +where is he to be found? + +[Footnote: 1 It is only the excess of party spirit that could lead +Walpole to call Bolingbroke's abilities moderate; and he had no attacks +on his father to resent, since, though Bolingbroke was in 1724 permitted +to return to England, he only received a partial pardon, and was not +permitted to take his seat in Parliament. Walpole has more reason to +pronounce his character detestable; for which opinion he might have +quoted Dr. Johnson, who, in reference to an infidel treatise which he +bequeathed to Mallet for publication, called him "a scoundrel and a +coward--a scoundrel who spent his life in charging a popgun against +Christianity, which he had not the courage to let off, but left it to a +hungry Scotchman to pull the trigger after he was dead."] + +This is not a letter, but a codicil to my last. You will soon probably +have news enough--yet appearances are not always pregnancies. When there +are more follies in a nation than principles and system, they counteract +one another, and sometimes, as has just happened in Ireland, are +composed _pulveris exigui jactu_. I sum up my wishes in that for peace: +but we are not satisfied with persecuting America, though the mischief +has recoiled on ourselves; nor France with wounding us, though with +little other cause for exultation, and with signal mischief to her own +trade, and with heavy loss of seamen; not to mention how her armies are +shrunk to raise her marine, a sacrifice she will one day rue, when the +_disciplined_ hosts of Goths and Huns begin to cast an eye southward. +But I seem to choose to read futurity, because I am not likely to see +it: indeed I am most rational when I say to myself, What is all this to +me? My thread is almost spun! almost all my business here is to bear +pain with patience, and to be thankful for intervals of ease. Though +Emperors and Kings may torment mankind, they will not disturb my +bedchamber; and so I bid them and you good-night! + +P.S.--I have made use of a term in this letter, which I retract, having +bestowed a title on the captains and subalterns which was due only to +the colonel, and not enough for his dignity. Bolingbroke was more than a +rascal--he was a villain. Bathurst, I believe, was not a dishonest man, +more than he was prejudiced by party against one of the honestest and +best of men. Gay was a simple poor soul, intoxicated by the friendship +of men of genius, and who thought _they_ must be good who condescended +to admire _him_. Swift was a wild beast, who baited and worried all +mankind almost, because his intolerable arrogance, vanity, pride, and +ambition were disappointed; he abused Lady Suffolk, who tried and wished +to raise him, only because she had not power to do so: and one is sure +that a man who could deify that silly woman Queen Anne, would have been +more profuse of incense to Queen Caroline, who had sense, if the Court +he paid to her had been crowned with success. Such were the men who +wrote of virtue to one another; and even that mean, exploded miser, Lord +Bath, presumed to talk of virtue too! + + +_POLITICAL EXCITEMENT--LORD G. GORDON--EXTRAORDINARY GAMBLING AFFAIRS IN +INDIA._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Feb._ 6, 1780. + +I write only when I have facts to send. Detached scenes there have been +in different provinces: they will be collected soon into a drama in St. +Stephen's Chapel. One or two and twenty counties, and two or three +towns, have voted petitions.[1] But in Northamptonshire Lord Spencer +was disappointed, and a very moderate petition was ordered. The same +happened at Carlisle. At first, the Court was struck dumb, but have +begun to rally. Counter-protests have been signed in Hertford and +Huntingdon shires, in Surrey and Sussex. Last Wednesday a meeting was +summoned in Westminster Hall: Charles Fox harangued the people finely +and warmly; and not only a petition was voted, but he was proposed for +candidate for that city at the next general election, and was accepted +joyfully. Wilkes was his zealous advocate: how few years since a public +breakfast was given at Holland House to support Lord Luttrell against +Wilkes! Charles Fox and his brother rode thence at the head of their +friends to Brentford. Ovid's "Metamorphoses" contains not stranger +transformations than party can work. + +[Footnote 1: These petitions were chiefly for economical reform, for +which Burke was preparing a Bill.] + +I must introduce a new actor to you, a Lord George +Gordon,--metamorphosed a little, too, for his family were Jacobites and +Roman Catholics: he is the Lilburne of the Scottish Presbyterians, and +an apostle against the Papists. He dresses, that is, wears long lank +hair about his shoulders, like the first Methodists; though I take the +modern ones to be no Anti-Catholics. This mad lord, for so all his +family have been too, and are, has likewise assumed the patronage of +Ireland. Last Thursday he asked an audience of the King, and, the moment +he was admitted into the closet, began reading an Irish pamphlet, and +continued for an hour, till it was so dark he could not see; and then +left the pamphlet, exacting a promise on royal honour that his Majesty +would finish it. Were I on the throne, I would make Dr. Monro a Groom of +my Bedchamber: indeed it has been necessary for some time; for, of the +King's lords, Lord Bolingbroke is in a mad-house, and Lord Pomfret and +my nephew ought to be there. The last, being fond of onions, has lately +distributed bushels of that root to his Militia; Mr. Wyndham will not be +surprised. + +By the tenor of the petitions you would think we were starving; yet +there is a little coin stirring. Within this week there has been a cast +at hazard at the Cocoa tree, the difference of which amounted to a +hundred and four-score thousand pounds. Mr. O'Birne, an Irish gamester, +had won one hundred thousand pounds of a young Mr. Harvey of Chigwell, +just started from a midshipman[1] into an estate by his elder brother's +death. O'Birne said, "You can never pay me." "I can," said the youth; +"my estate will sell for the debt." "No," said O.; "I will win ten +thousand--you shall throw for the odd ninety." They did, and Harvey won. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Harvey was afterwards Sir Eliab Harvey, one of Nelson's +captains at Trafalgar. But unfortunately he so violently resented the +appointment of Lord Cochrane, who was only a post-captain, to carry out +the attack on the French fleet in Basque Roads, which he himself, who +was an admiral, had also suggested, and used such violent and +insubordinate language towards Lord Gambier, the Commander-in-chief +(who, though a most incompetent officer, had had nothing to do with the +appointment), that it was unavoidable that a court-martial should +sentence him to be cashiered. He was, however, restored to his rank +shortly afterwards. He was member of Parliament for Essex for many +years, and died in 1830.] + +However, as it is a little necessary to cast about for resources, it is +just got abroad, that about a year ago we took possession of a trifling +district in India called the Province of Oude,[1] which contains four +millions of inhabitants, produces between three and four millions of +revenue, and has an army of 30,000 men: it was scarce thought of +consequence enough to deserve an article in the newspapers. If you are +so _old-style_ as to ask how we came to take possession, I answer, by +the new law of nations; by the law by which Poland was divided. You will +find it in the future editions of Grotius, tit. "Si une terre est a la +bienseance d'un grand Prince." Oude appertained by that very law to the +late Sujah Dowla. His successors were weak men, which _in India_ is +incapacity. Their Majesties the East India Company, whom God long +preserve, have _succeeded_. + +[Footnote 1: Warren Hastings claimed large arrears of tribute from Asaph +ul Dowlah, the Nabob of Oude; but Walpole was misinformed when he +understood that he had in consequence annexed the province--a measure +which was never adopted till the spring of 1857, when its annexation by +Lord Dalhousie was among the causes that led to the outbreak of the +mutiny.] + +This petty event has ascertained the existence of a certain being, who, +till now, has not been much more than a matter of faith--the Grand Lama. +There are some affairs of trade between the sovereigns of Oude and his +Holiness the Lama. Do not imagine the East India Company have leisure to +trouble their heads about religion. Their commanding officer +corresponded with the Tartar Pope, who, it seems, is a very sensible +man. The Attorney-General asked this officer, who is come over, how the +Lama wrote. "Oh," said he, "like any person."--"Could I see his +letters?" said Mr. Wedderburne.--"Upon my word," said the officer, "when +the business was settled, I threw them into the fire." However, I hear +that somebody, not quite so mercantile, has published one of the Lama's +letters in the "Philosophical Transactions." Well! when we break in +Europe, we may pack up and remove to India, and be emperors again! + +Do you believe me, my good Sir, when I tell you all these strange tales? +Do you think me distracted, or that your country is so? Does not this +letter seem an olio composed of ingredients picked out of the history of +Charles I., of Clodius and Sesostris, and the "Arabian Nights"? Yet I +could have coloured it higher without trespassing on truth; but when I, +inured to the climate of my own country, can scarcely believe what I +hear and see, how should you, who converse only with the ordinary race +of men and women, give credit to what I have ventured to relate, merely +because in forty years I have constantly endeavoured to tell you nothing +but truth? Moreover, I commonly reserve passages that are not of public +notoriety, not having the smallest inclination to put the credulity of +foreign post-offices to the test. I would have them think that we are +only mad with valour, and that Lord Chatham's cloak has been divided +into shreds no bigger than a silver penny amongst our soldiers and +sailors. Adieu! + + +_RODNEY'S VICTORY--WALPOLE INCLINES TO WITHDRAW FROM AMUSEMENTS._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _March_ 3, 1780. + +As my last letter probably alarmed you, I write again to tell you that +nothing decisive has happened. The troops of the Palace even rallied a +little yesterday on Mr. Burke's Bill of Reformation, or Reduction, yet +with evident symptoms of _caution_; for Lord North, who wished to defer +the second reading, ventured to put it only to next Wednesday, instead +of to-day; and would have carried a longer adjournment with still +greater difficulty, for his majority was but of 35, and the minority +remained 195, a very formidable number. The Associations in the counties +increase, though not rapidly: yet it will be difficult for the Court to +stem such a torrent; and, I imagine, full as difficult for any man of +temper to direct them wholesomely. Ireland is still more impetuous. + +Fortunately, happily, the tide abroad seems turned. Sir George Rodney's +victory[1] proves more considerable than it appeared at first. It +secures Gibraltar, eases your Mediterranean a little, and must vex the +Spaniards and their monarch, not satisfied before with his cousin of +Bourbon. Admiral Parker has had great success too amongst the latter's +transports. Oh! that all these elements of mischief may jumble into +peace! Monsieur Necker[2] alone shines in the quarter of France; but he +is carrying the war into the domains of the Church, where one cannot +help wishing him success. If he can root out monks, the Pope will have +less occasion to allow _gras_, because we cannot supply them with +_maigre_. It is droll that the Protestant Necker, and we Protestant +fishmongers, should overset the system of fasting; but ancient Alcorans +could not foresee modern contingencies. + +[Footnote 1: On January 8th Sir George Rodney defeated the Spanish +fleet, which was on its way to join the force blockading Gibraltar, and +took the commander himself, Don Juan de Langara, prisoner.] + +[Footnote 2: Necker's measure, to which Walpole alludes, was the +imposition of a property tax of 5 per cent. on all classes, even on the +clergy.] + +I have told you that politics absorb all private news. I am going to a +ball this evening, which the Duke and Duchess of Bolton give to their +Royal Highnesses of Gloucester, who have now a very numerous Court. It +seems very improper for me to be at a ball; but you see that, on the +contrary, it is propriety that carries me thither. I am heartily weary +both of diversions and politics, and am more than half inclined to +retire to Strawberry. I have renounced dining abroad, and hide myself as +much as I can; but can one pin on one's breast a label to signify, that, +though one is sensible of being Methusalem in constitution, one must +sometimes be seen in a crowd for such and such reasons? I do often +exaggerate my pleas of bad health; and, could I live entirely alone, +would proclaim myself incurable; but, should one repent, one becomes +ridiculous by returning to the world; or one must have a companion, +which I never will have; or one opens a door to legatees, if one +advertises ill-health. Well! I must act with as much common sense as I +can; and, when one takes no part, one must temper one's conduct; and, +when the world is too young for one, not shock it, nor contradict it, +nor affix a peculiar character, but trust to its indifference for not +drawing notice, when one does not desire to be noticed. Rabelais's "Fais +ce que tu voudras" is not very difficult when one wishes to do nothing. +I have always been offended at those who will belong to a world with +which they have nothing to do. I have perceived that every age has not +only a new language and new modes, but a new way of articulating. At +first I thought myself grown deaf when with young people; but perceived +that I understood my contemporaries, though they whispered. Well! I must +go amongst those I do not comprehend so well, but shall leave them when +they go to supper. + + +_THE GORDON RIOTS._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 5, 1780. + +Not a syllable yet from General Clinton. There has been a battle at sea +in the West Indies, which we might have gained; know we did not, but not +why: and all this is forgotten already in a fresher event. I have said +for some time that the field is so extensive, and the occurrences so +numerous, and so much pains are taken to involve them in falsehoods and +mystery, and opinions are so divided, that all evidences will be dead +before a single part can be cleared up; but I have not time, nor you +patience, for my reflections. I must hurry to the history of the day. +The Jack of Leyden of the age, Lord George Gordon,[1] gave notice to the +House of Commons last week, that he would, on Friday, bring in the +petition of the Protestant Association; and he openly declared to his +disciples, that he would not carry it unless _a noble army of martyrs, +not fewer than forty thousand_, would accompany him. Forty thousand, led +by such a lamb, were more likely to prove butchers than victims; and so, +in good truth, they were very near being. Have you faith enough in me to +believe that the sole precaution taken was, that the Cabinet Council on +Thursday empowered the First Lord of the Treasury to give proper orders +to the civil magistrates to keep the peace,--and his Lordship forgot +it! + +[Footnote 1: Lord George Gordon was a younger son of the Duke of Gordon; +and because the Parliament had passed a Bill to relieve the Roman +Catholics from some of the disabilities which seemed no longer desirable +nor just to maintain, he instigated a body calling itself the Protestant +Association to present a monster petition to the House of Commons, and +headed a procession of at least fifty thousand to march with it to the +House. The processionists behaved with great violence on their march, +insulting those members of both Houses whom they thought unfavourable to +their views; and, when the House adjourned without taking their petition +into consideration, they began to commit the most violent outrages. They +burnt Newgate; they burnt the house of the great Chief Justice, Lord +Mansfield; and for two days seemed masters of London, till the King +himself summoned a Privy Council, and issued orders for the troops to +put down the rioters. Many of the rioters were brought to trial and +executed. Lord George, being prosecuted for high treason, to which his +offence did not amount, instead of for sedition, was acquitted, to the +great indignation of the French historian, Lacretelle, that "Cet +extravagant scelerat ne paya point de sa tete un tel crime."] + +Early on Friday morning the conservators of the Church of England +assembled in _St. George's_ Fields to encounter the dragon, the old +serpent, and marched in lines of six and six--about thirteen thousand +only, as they were computed--with a petition as long as the procession, +which the apostle himself presented; but, though he had given out most +Christian injunctions for peaceable behaviour, he did everything in his +power to promote a massacre. He demanded immediate repeal of toleration, +told Lord North he could have him torn to pieces, and, running every +minute to the door or windows, bawled to the populace that Lord North +would give them no redress, and that now this member, now that, was +speaking against them. + +In the mean time, the Peers, going to their own Chamber, and as yet not +concerned in the petition, were assaulted; many of their glasses were +broken, and many of their persons torn out of the carriages. Lord Boston +was thrown down and almost trampled to death; and the two Secretaries of +State, the Master of the Ordnance, and Lord Willoughby were stripped of +their bags or wigs, and the three first came into the House with their +hair all dishevelled. The chariots of Sir George Savile and Charles +Turner, two leading advocates for the late toleration, though in +Opposition, were demolished; and the Duke of Richmond and Burke were +denounced to the mob as proper objects for sacrifice. Lord Mahon +laboured to pacify the tempest, and towards eight and nine, prevailed +on so many to disperse, that the Lords rose and departed in quiet; but +every avenue to the other House was besieged and blockaded, and for four +hours they kept their doors locked, though some of the warmest members +proposed to sally out, sword in hand, and cut their way. Lord North and +that House behaved with great firmness, and would not submit to give any +other satisfaction to the rioters, than to consent to take the Popish +laws into consideration on the following Tuesday; and, calling the +Justices of the Peace, empowered them to call out the whole force of the +country to quell the riot. + +The magistrates soon brought the Horse and Foot Guards, and the pious +ragamuffins soon fled; so little enthusiasm fortunately had inspired +them; at least all their religion consisted in outrage and plunder; for +the Duke of Northumberland, General Grant, Mr. Mackinsy, and others, had +their pockets picked of their watches and snuff-boxes. Happily, not a +single life was lost. + +This tumult, which was over between nine and ten at night, had scarce +ceased before it broke out in two other quarters. Old Haslang's[1] +Chapel was broken open and plundered; and, as he is a Prince of +Smugglers as well as Bavarian Minister, great quantities of run tea and +contraband goods were found in his house. This one cannot lament; and +still less, as the old wretch has for these forty years usurped a hired +house, and, though the proprietor for many years has offered to remit +his arrears of rent, he will neither quit the house nor pay for it. + +[Footnote 1: Count Haslang was the Bavarian Minister.] + +Monsieur Cordon, the Sardinian Minister, suffered still more. The mob +forced his chapel, stole two silver lamps, demolished everything else, +threw the benches into the street, set them on fire, carried the brands +into the chapel, and set fire to that; and, when the engines came, would +not suffer them to play till the Guards arrived, and saved the house and +probably all that part of the town. Poor Madame Cordon was confined by +illness. My cousin, Thomas Walpole, who lives in Lincoln's Inn Fields, +went to her rescue, and dragged her, for she could scarce stand with +terror and weakness, to his own house. + +I doubt this narrative will not re-approach you and Mr. Wyndham. I have +received yours of the 20th of last month. + +You will be indignant that such a mad dog as Lord George should not be +knocked on the head. Colonel Murray did tell him in the House, that, if +any lives were lost, his Lordship should join the number. Nor yet is he +so lunatic as to deserve pity. Besides being very debauched, he has more +knavery than mission. What will be decided on him, I do not know; every +man that heard him can convict him of the worst kind of sedition: but it +is dangerous to constitute a rascal a martyr. I trust we have not much +holy fury left; I am persuaded that there was far more dissoluteness +than enthusiasm in the mob: yet the episode is very disagreeable. I came +from town yesterday to avoid the birthday [June 4]. We have a report +here that the Papists last night burnt a Presbyterian meeting-house, but +I credit nothing now on the first report. It was said to be intended on +Saturday, and the Guards patrolled the streets at night; but it is very +likely that Saint George Gordon spread the insinuation himself. + +My letter cannot set out before to-morrow; therefore I will postpone the +conclusion. In the mean time I must scold you very seriously for the +cameo you have sent me by Mr. Morrice. This house is full of your +presents and of my blushes. I love any one of them as an earnest of your +friendship; but I hate so many. You force upon me an air most contrary +to my disposition. I cannot thank you for your kindness; I entreated you +to send me nothing more. You leave me no alternative but to seem +interested or ungrateful. I can only check your generosity by being +brutal. If I had a grain of power, I would affront you and call your +presents bribes. I never gave you anything but a coffee-pot. If I could +buy a diamond as big as the Caligula, and a less would not be so +valuable, I would send it you. In one word, I will not accept the cameo, +unless you give me a promise under your hand that it shall be the last +present you send me. I cannot stir about this house without your gifts +staring me in the face. Do you think I have no conscience? I am sorry +Mr. Morrice is no better, and wonder at his return. What can invite him +to this country? Home never was so homely. + +_6th._ + +It is not true that a meeting-house has been burnt. I believe a Popish +chapel in the city has been attacked: and they talk here of some +disturbance yesterday, which is probable; for, when grace, robbery, and +mischief make an alliance, they do not like to give over:--but ten miles +from the spot are a thousand from truth. My letter must go to town +before night, or would be too late for the post. If you do not hear from +me again immediately, you will be sure that this _bourrasque_ has +subsided. + +_Thursday 8th._ + +I am exceedingly vexed. I sent this letter to Berkeley Square on +Tuesday, but by the present confusions my servant did not receive it in +time. I came myself yesterday, and found a horrible scene. Lord +Mansfield's house was just burnt down, and at night there were shocking +disorders. London and Southwark were on fire in six places; but the +regular troops quelled the sedition by daybreak, and everything now is +quiet. A camp of ten thousand men is formed in Hyde Park, and regiments +of horse and foot arrive every hour. + +_Friday morn, 9th._ + +All has been quiet to-night. I am going to Strawberry for a little rest. +Your nephew told me last night that he sends you constant journals just +now. + + +_HOGARTH--COLONEL CHARTERIS--ARCHBISHOP BLACKBURNE--JERVAS--RICHARDSON'S +POETRY._ + +TO SIR DAVID DALRYMPLE. + +_Dec._ 11, 1780. + +I should have been shamefully ungrateful, Sir, if I could ever forget +all the favours I have received from you, and had omitted any mark of +respect to you that it was in my power to show. Indeed, what you are so +good as to thank me for was a poor trifle, but it was all I had or shall +have of the kind. It was imperfect too, as some painters of name have +died since it was printed, which was nine years ago. They will be added +with your kind notices, should I live, which is not probable, to see a +new edition wanted. Sixty-three years, and a great deal of illness, are +too speaking mementos not to be attended to; and when the public has +been more indulgent than one had any right to expect, it is not decent +to load it with one's dotage! + +I believe, Sir, that I may have been over-candid to Hogarth, and that +his spirit and youth and talent may have hurried him into more real +caricatures than I specified; yet he certainly restrained his bent that +way pretty early. Charteris,[1] I have seen; but though some years +older than you, Sir, I cannot say I have at all a perfect idea of him; +nor did I ever hear the curious anecdote you tell me of the banker and +my father. I was much better acquainted with Archbishop Blackburne. He +lived within two doors of my father in Downing Street, and took much +notice of me when I was near man.... He was a little hurt at not being +raised to Canterbury on Wake's death [1737], and said to my father, "You +did not think on me; but it is true, I am too old, I am too old." +Perhaps, Sir, these are gossiping stories, but at least they hurt nobody +now. + +[Footnote 1: Colonel Charteris, satirised by Hogarth's introduction of +his portrait in the "Harlot's Progress," was at his death still more +bitterly branded by Swift's friend, Dr. Arbuthnot, in the epitaph he +proposed for him: "Here continueth to rot the body of Francis Charteris, +who, in the course of his long life, displayed every vice except +prodigality and hypocrisy. His insatiable avarice saved him from the +first: his matchless impudence from the second." And he concludes it +with the explanation that his life was not useless, since "it was +intended to show by his example of how small estimation inordinate +wealth is in the sight of Almighty God, since He bestowed it on the most +unworthy of mortals."] + +I can say little, Sir, for my stupidity or forgetfulness about Hogarth's +poetry, which I still am not sure I ever heard, though I knew him so +well; but it is an additional argument for my distrusting myself, if my +memory fails, which is very possible. A whole volume of Richardson's[1] +poetry has been published since my volume was printed, not much to the +honour of his muse, but exceedingly so to that of his piety and amiable +heart. You will be pleased, too, Sir, with a story Lord Chesterfield +told me (too late too) of Jervas,[2] who piqued himself on the reverse, +on total infidelity. One day that he had talked very indecently in that +strain, Dr. Arbuthnot,[3] who was as devout as Richardson, said to him, +"Come, Jervas, this is all an air and affectation; nobody is a sounder +believer than you."--"I!" said Jervas, "I believe nothing."--"Yes, but +you do," replied the Doctor; "nay, you not only believe, but practise: +you are so scrupulous an observer of the commandments, that you never +make the likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or on the earth +beneath, or," &c. + +[Footnote 1: Richardson was a London bookseller, the author of the three +longest novels in the English language--"Pamela," "Clarissa Harbour," +and "Sir Charles Grandison." They were extravagantly praised in their +day. But it was to ridicule "Pamela" that Fielding wrote "Joseph +Andrews."] + +[Footnote 2: Jervas was a fashionable portrait-painter in the first half +of the century. Lady Mary Montague, in one of her letters, speaks of him +in terms of the highest praise.] + +[Footnote 3: Dr. Arbuthnot was the author of the celebrated satire on +the Partition Treaties, entitled "The History of John Bull," to which +Englishmen have ever since owed their popular nickname. It is to him +also that Pope dedicated the Prologue to his "Satires and Epistles."] + +I fear, Sir, this letter is too long for thanks, and that I have been +proving what I have said, of my growing superannuated; but, having made +my will in my last volume, you may look on this as a codicil. + +P.S.--I had sealed my letter, Sir, but break it open, lest you should +think soon, that I do not know what I say, or break my resolution +lightly. I shall be able to send you in about two months a very curious +work that I am going to print, and is actually in the press; but there +is not a syllable of my writing in it. It is a discovery just made of +two very ancient manuscripts, copies of which were found in two or three +libraries in Germany, and of which there are more complete manuscripts +at Cambridge. They are of the eleventh century at lowest, and prove +that painting in oil was then known, above three hundred years before +the pretended invention of Van Eyck. The manuscripts themselves will be +printed, with a full introductory Dissertation by the discoverer, Mr. +Raspe, a very learned German, formerly librarian to the Landgrave of +Hesse, and who writes English surprisingly well. The manuscripts are in +the most barbarous monkish Latin, and are much such works as our +booksellers publish of receipts for mixing colours, varnishes, &c. One +of the authors, who calls himself Theophilus, was a monk; the other, +Heraclius, is totally unknown; but the proofs are unquestionable. As my +press is out of order, and that besides it would take up too much time +to print them there, they will be printed here at my expense, and if +there is any surplus, it will be for Raspe's benefit. + + +_THE PRINCE OF WALES--HURRICANE AT BARBADOES--A "VOICE FROM ST. +HELENA."_ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _Dec._ 31, 1780. + +I have received, and thank you much for the curious history of the Count +and Countess of Albany; what a wretched conclusion of a wretched family! +Surely no royal race was ever so drawn to the dregs! The other Countess +[Orford] you mention seems to approach still nearer to dissolution. Her +death a year or two ago might have prevented the sale of the +pictures,--not that I know it would. Who can say what madness in the +hands of villany would or would not have done? Now, I think, her dying +would only put more into the reach of rascals. But I am indifferent what +they do; nor, but thus occasionally, shall I throw away a thought on +that chapter. + +All chance of accommodation with Holland is vanished. Count Welderen and +his wife departed this morning. All they who are to gain by privateers +and captures are delighted with a new field of plunder. Piracy is more +practicable than victory. Not being an admirer of wars, I shall reserve +my _feux de joie_ for peace. + +My letters, I think, are rather eras than journals. Three days ago +commenced another date--the establishment of a family for the Prince of +Wales. I do not know all the names, and fewer of the faces that compose +it; nor intend. I, who kissed the hand of George I., have no colt's +tooth for the Court of George IV. Nothing is so ridiculous as an antique +face in a juvenile drawing-room. I believe that they who have spirits +enough to be absurd in their decrepitude, are happy, for they certainly +are not sensible of their folly; but I, who have never forgotten what I +thought in my youth of such superannuated idiots, dread nothing more +than misplacing myself in my old age. In truth, I feel no such appetite; +and, excepting the young of my own family, about whom I am interested, I +have mighty small satisfaction in the company of _posterity_; for so +the present generation seem to me. I would contribute anything to their +pleasure, but what cannot contribute to it--my own presence. Alas! how +many of this age are swept away before me: six thousand have been mowed +down at once by the late hurricane at Barbadoes alone! How Europe is +paying the debts it owes to America! Were I a poet, I would paint hosts +of Mexicans and Peruvians crowding the shores of Styx, and insulting the +multitudes of the usurpers of their continent that have been sending +themselves thither for these five or six years. The poor Africans, too, +have no call to be merciful to European ghosts. Those miserable slaves +have just now seen whole crews of men-of-war swallowed by the late +hurricane. + +We do not yet know the extent of our loss. You would think it very +slight, if you saw how little impression it makes on a luxurious +capital. An overgrown metropolis has less sensibility than marble; nor +can it be conceived by those not conversant in one. I remember hearing +what diverted me then; a young gentlewoman, a native of our rock, St. +Helena, and who had never stirred beyond it, being struck with the +emotion occasioned there by the arrival of one or two of our China +ships, said to the captain, "There must be a great solitude in London as +often as the China ships come away!" Her imagination could not have +compassed the idea, if she had been told that six years of war, the +absence of an army of fifty or sixty thousand men of all our squadrons, +and a new debt of many, many millions, would not make an alteration in +the receipts at the door of a single theatre in London. I do not boast +of, or applaud, this profligate apathy. When pleasure is our business, +our business is never pleasure; and, if four wars cannot awaken us, we +shall die in a dream! + + +_NAVAL MOVEMENTS--SIEGE OF GIBRALTAR--FEMALE FASHIONS._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _Sept._ 7, 1781. + +The combined fleets, to the amount of forty-seven or forty-nine sail, +brought news of their own arrival at the mouth of the Channel a day or +two before your letter, of August the 18th, brought an account of that +probability, and of the detachment for Minorca. Admiral Darby, on a +false alarm, or perhaps, a true one, had returned to Torbay a week ago, +where he is waiting for reinforcements. This is the fourth or fifth day +since the appearance of the enemy off Scilly. It is thought, I find here +(whither I came to-day), that the great object is our Jamaica fleet; but +that a detachment is gone to Ireland to do what mischief they can on the +coast before our ally, the Equinox, will beseech them to retire. Much +less force than this Armada would have done more harm two years ago, +when they left a card at Plymouth, than this can do; as Plymouth is now +very strong, and that there are great disciplined armies now in both +islands. Of Gibraltar we have no apprehensions.[1] I know less of +Minorca. + +[Footnote 1: The Spaniards and French had been blockading Gibraltar for +more than two years, and continued the siege till the autumn of 1782, +when the blockading fleet was totally destroyed by the Governor, General +Eliot, who was created Lord Heathfield for the achievement.] + +Lord George Gordon is standing candidate for the City of London on an +accidental vacancy; but his premature alarm last year has had a sinister +effect. In short, those riots have made mankind sick of them, and give +him no chance of success. + +What can I say more? Nothing at present; but I will the moment any event +presents itself. My hope is that, after a fermentation, there will be a +settlement, and that peace will arise out of it. + +The decree[1] you sent me against high heads diverted me. It is as +necessary here, but would not have such expeditious effect. The Queen +has never admitted feathers at Court; but, though the nation has grown +excellent courtiers, Fashion remained in opposition, and not a plume +less was worn anywhere else. Some centuries ago, the Clergy preached +against monstrous head-dresses; but Religion had no more power than our +Queen. It is better to leave the Mode to its own vagaries; if she is not +contradicted, she seldom remains long in the same mood. She is very +despotic; but, though her reign is endless, her laws are repealed as +fast as made. + +[Footnote 1: _"The decree."_ The Grand Duke of Tuscany had just issued +an order prohibiting high head-dresses.] + +Mrs. Damer,[1] General Conway's daughter, is going abroad to confirm a +very delicate constitution--I believe, at Naples. I will say very few +words on her, after telling you that, besides being his daughter, I love +her as my own child. It is not from wanting matter, but from having too +much. She has one of the most solid understandings I ever knew, +astonishingly improved, but with so much reserve and modesty, that I +have often told Mr. Conway he does not know the extent of her capacity +and the solidity of her reason. We have by accident discovered, that she +writes Latin like Pliny, and is learning Greek. In Italy she will be a +prodigy. She models like Bernini, has excelled the moderns in the +similitudes of her busts, and has lately begun one in marble. You must +keep all knowledge of these talents and acquisitions to yourself; she +would never forgive my mentioning, at least her mental qualities. You +may just hint that I talked of her statuary, as you may assist her if +she has a mind to borrow anything to copy from the Great Duke's +collection. Lady William Campbell, her uncle's widow, accompanies, who +is a very reasonable woman too, and equally shy. If they return through +Florence, pray give them a parcel of my letters. I had been told your +nephew would make you a visit this autumn, but I have heard nothing from +him. If you should see him, pray give him the parcel, for he will return +sooner than they. + +[Footnote 1: Mrs. Damer had devoted herself to sculpture with an ability +which has given her a high place among artists. The bust of Nelson in +the armoury at Windsor is her work.] + +I have a gouty pain in my hand, that would prevent my saying more, had +I more to say. + + +_CAPITULATION OF LORD CORNWALLIS--PITT AND FOX._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +_Nov._ 29, 1781. + +Your nephew is arrived, as he has told you himself; the sight of him, +for he called on me the next morning, was more than ordinarily welcome, +though your letter of the 10th, which I received the night before, had +dispelled many of my fears. I will now unfold them to you. A packet-boat +from Ostend was lost last week, and your nephew was named for one of the +passengers. As Mrs. Noel had expected him for a fortnight, I own my +apprehensions were strengthened; but I will say no more on a dissipated +panic. However, this incident and his half-wreck at Lerici will, I hope, +prevent him from the future from staying with you so late in the year; +and I see by your letter that you agree with me, of which I should be +sure though you had not said so. + +I mentioned on Tuesday the captivity of Lord Cornwallis and his army, +the Columbus who was to bestow America on us again. A second army[1] +taken in a drag-net is an uncommon event, and happened but once to the +Romans, who sought adventures everywhere. We have not lowered our tone +on this new disgrace, though I think we shall talk no more of insisting +on _implicit submission_, which would rather be a gasconade than +firmness. In fact, there is one very unlucky circumstance already come +out, which must drive every American, to a man, from ever calling +himself our friend. By the tenth article of the capitulation, Lord +Cornwallis demanded that the loyal Americans in his army should not be +punished. This was flatly refused, and he has left them to be hanged. I +doubt no vote of Parliament will be able to blanch such a--such a--I +don't know what the word is for it; he must get his uncle the Archbishop +to christen it; there is no name for it in any Pagan vocabulary. I +suppose it will have a patent for being called Necessity. Well! there +ends another volume of the American war. It looks a little as if the +history of it would be all we should have for it, except forty +millions[2] of debt, and three other wars that have grown out of it, and +that do not seem so near to a conclusion. They say that Monsieur de +Maurepas, who is dying, being told that the Duc de Lauzun had brought +the news of Lord Cornwallis's surrender, said, from Racine's +"Mithridate" I think:-- + + Mes derniers regards out vu fuir les Romains. + +How Lord Chatham will frown when they meet! for, since I began my +letter, the papers say that Maurepas is dead. The Duc de Nivernois, it +is said, is likely to succeed him as Minister; which is probable, as +they were brothers-in-law and friends, and the one would naturally +recommend the other. Perhaps, not for long, as the Queen's influence +gains ground. + +[Footnote 1: The capitulation of Burgoyne at Saratoga has been mentioned +in a previous letter; and in October, 1781, Lord Cornwallis, whose army +was reduced to seven thousand men, was induced to surrender to +Washington, who, with eighteen thousand, had blockaded him at a village +called Yorktown; and it was the news of this disaster which at last +compelled the King to consent to relinquish the war.] + +[Footnote 2: "_Forty millions._" Burke, in one of his speeches, asserted +the expense to have been L70,000,000, "besides one hundred thousand +men."] + +The warmth in the House of Commons is prodigiously rekindled; but Lord +Cornwallis's fate has cost the Administration no ground _there_. The +names of most _eclat_ in the Opposition are two names to which those +walls have been much accustomed at the same period--CHARLES FOX and +WILLIAM PITT, second son of Lord Chatham.[1] Eloquence is the only one +of our brilliant qualities that does not seem to have degenerated +rapidly--but I shall leave debates to your nephew, now an ear-witness: I +could only re-echo newspapers. Is it not another odd coincidence of +events, that while the father Laurens is prisoner to Lord Cornwallis as +Constable of the Tower, the son Laurens signed the capitulation by which +Lord Cornwallis became prisoner? It is said too, I don't know if truly, +that this capitulation and that of Saratoga were signed on the same +anniversary. These are certainly the speculations of an idle man, and +the more trifling when one considers the moment. But alas! what would +_my_ most grave speculations avail? From the hour that fatal egg, the +Stamp Act, was laid, I disliked it and all the vipers hatched from it. I +now hear many curse it, who fed the vermin with poisonous weeds. Yet the +guilty and the innocent rue it equally hitherto! I would not answer for +what is to come! Seven years of miscarriages may sour the sweetest +tempers, and the most sweetened. Oh! where is the Dove with the +olive-branch? Long ago I told you that you and I might not live to see +an end of the American war. It is very near its end indeed now--its +consequences are far from a conclusion. In some respects, they are +commencing a new date, which will reach far beyond _us_. I desire not to +pry into that book of futurity. Could I finish my course in peace--but +one must take the chequered scenes of life as they come. What signifies +whether the elements are serene or turbulent, when a private old man +slips away? What has he and the world's concerns to do with one another? +He may sigh for his country, and babble about it; but he might as well +sit quiet and read or tell old stories; the past is as important to him +as the future. + +[Footnote 1: Charles Fox and William Pitt were the second sons of the +first Lord Holland and the first Lord Chatham, Fox being by some years +the older. They were both men of great eloquence; but in this (as in +every other point) Pitt was the superior, even by the confession of Lord +Macaulay. As Prime Minister from 1783 to 1801, and afterwards in 1804-5, +Pitt proved himself the greatest statesman, the man more in advance of +his age than any of his predecessors or successors; while Fox's career +was for the most part one of an opposition so rancorous, and so +destitute of all patriotism, that he even exulted over the disasters of +Burgoyne and Cornwallis, and afterwards over the defeat of the Austrians +at Marengo in 1800, avowedly because the Austrians were our allies, and +it was a heavy blow to Pitt and his policy.] + +_Dec. 3._ + +I had not sealed my letter, as it cannot set out till to-morrow; and +since I wrote it I have received yours, of the 20th of November, by your +courier. + +I congratulate you on the success of your attempts, and admire the +heroic refusal of the General.[1] I shall certainly obey you, and not +mention it. Indeed, it would not easily be believed here, where as many +pence are irresistible.... + +[Footnote 1: General the Hon. James Murray was governor of Minorca, +which was besieged by the Spaniards, and was offered a vast bribe by the +Duc de Crillon, the commander of the besiegers, to give up Port St. +Philip.] + +Don't trouble yourself about the third set of "Galuzzi." They are to be +had here now, and those for whom I intended them can buy them. I have +not made so much progress as I intended, and have not yet quite finished +the second volume. I detest Cosmo the Great. I am sorry, either that he +was so able a man, or so successful a man. When tyrants are great men +they should miscarry; if they are fools, they will miscarry of course. +Pray, is there any picture of Camilla Martelli, Cosmo's last wife? I had +never heard of her. The dolt, his son, I find used her ill, and then did +the same thing. Our friend, Bianca Capello, it seems, was a worthless +creature. I don't expect much entertainment but from the Life of +Ferdinand the Great. It is true I have dipped into the others, +particularly into the story of Cosmo the Third's wife, of whom I had +read much in French Memoires; and into that of John Gaston, which was so +fresh when I was at Florence; but as the author, in spite of the Great +Duke's injunctions, has tried to palliate some of the worst imputations +on Cosmo and his son Ferdinand, so he has been mighty modest about the +Caprean amours of John Gaston and his eldest brother. Adieu! I have +been writing a volume here myself. Pray remember to answer me about +Camilla Martelli. + +P.S.--Is there any china left in the Great Duke's collection, made by +Duke Francis the First himself? Perhaps it was lately sold with what was +called the refuse of the wardrobe, whence I hear some charming things +were purchased, particularly the Medallions of the Medici, by Benvenuto +Cellini. That sale and the "History" are enough to make the old +Electress[1] shudder in her coffin. + +[Footnote 1: The Electress Palatine Dowager was sister of John Gaston, +the last Grand Duke of the House of Medici; after her husband's death +she returned to Florence and died there.] + + +_THE LANGUAGE PROPER FOR INSCRIPTIONS IN ENGLAND--FALL OF LORD NORTH'S +MINISTRY--BRYANT._ + +TO THE REV. WILLIAM COLE. + +_April_ 13, 1782. + +Your partiality to me, my good Sir, is much overseen, if you think me +fit to correct your Latin. Alas! I have not skimmed ten pages of Latin +these dozen years. I have dealt in nothing but English, French, and a +little Italian; and do not think, if my life depended on it, I could +write four lines of pure Latin. I have had occasion once or twice to +speak that language, and soon found that all my verbs were Italian with +Roman terminations. I would not on any account draw you into a scrape, +by depending on my skill in what I have half forgotten. But you are in +the metropolis of Latium. If you distrust your own knowledge, which I +do not, especially from the specimen you have sent me, surely you must +have good critics at your elbow to consult. + +In truth, I do not love Roman inscriptions in lieu of our own +language,[1] though, if anywhere, proper in an University; neither can I +approve writing what the Romans themselves would not understand. What +does it avail to give a Latin tail to a Guildhall? Though the words are +used by moderns, would _major_ convey to Cicero the idea of a _mayor_? +_Architectus_, I believe, is the right word; but I doubt whether +_veteris jam perantiquae_ is classic for a dilapidated building--but do +not depend on me; consult some better judges. + +[Footnote 1: Walpole certainly here shows himself superior in judgement +to Johnson, who, when Burke, Reynolds, and others, in a "round-robin," +requested that the epitaph on Goldsmith, which was entrusted to him to +draw up, should be in English instead of Latin, refused, with the absurd +expression that "he would never be guilty of defacing Westminster Abbey +with an English inscription."] + +Though I am glad of the late _revolution_,[1] a word for which I have +great reverence, I shall certainly not dispute with you thereon. I abhor +exultation. If the change produces peace, I shall make a bonfire in my +heart. Personal interest I have none; you and I shall certainly never +profit by the politics to which we are attached. The "Archaeologic +Epistle" I admire exceedingly, though I am sorry it attacks Mr. +Bryant,[2] whom I love and respect. The Dean is so absurd an oaf, that +he deserves to be ridiculed. Is anything more hyperbolic than his +preferences of Rowley to Homer, Shakspeare, and Milton? Whether Rowley +or Chatterton was the author, are the poems in any degree comparable to +those authors? is not a ridiculous author an object of ridicule? I do +not even guess at your meaning in your conclusive paragraph on that +subject: Dictionary-writer I suppose alludes to Johnson; but surely you +do not equal the compiler of a dictionary to a genuine poet? Is a +brickmaker on a level with Mr. Essex? Nor can I hold that exquisite wit +and satire are Billingsgate; if they were, Milles and Johnson would be +able to write an answer to the "Epistle." I do as little guess whom you +mean that got a pension by Toryism: if Johnson too, he got a pension for +having abused pensioners, and yet took one himself, which was +contemptible enough. Still less know I who preferred opposition to +principles, which is not a very common case; whoever it was, as Pope +says, + + The way he took was strangely round about. + +[Footnote 1: In March Lord North resigned, and been replaced by Lord +Rockingham, who had been Prime Minister before in 1765.] + +[Footnote 2: Bryant, the celebrated or notorious critic, who published a +treatise in which he denied the existence of Troy, and even called in +question that of Homer--a work which, whether Walpole agreed with him on +this point or not, afterwards drew down on him the indignant +denunciations of Byron. It was well for him that he wrote before the +discoveries of Dr. Schliemann.] + + +_HIGHWAYMEN AND FOOTPADS._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Sept._ 8, 1782. + +... I am perfectly ignorant of the state of the war abroad; they say we +are in no pain for Gibraltar: but I know that we are in a state of war +at home that is shocking. I mean, from the enormous profusion of +housebreakers, highwaymen, and footpads; and, what is worse, from the +savage barbarities of the two latter, who commit the most wanton +cruelties. This evil is another fruit of the American war. Having no +vent for the convicts that used to be transported to our late colonies, +a plan was adopted for confining them on board of lighters for the term +of their sentences. In those colleges, undergraduates in villainy +commence Masters of Arts, and at the expiration of their studies issue +as mischievous as if they had taken their degrees in law, physic, or +divinity, at one of our regular universities; but, having no profession, +nor testimonial to their characters, they can get no employment, and +therefore live upon the public. In short, the grievance is so crying, +that one dare not stir out after dinner but well-armed. If one goes +abroad to dinner, you would think one was going to the relief of +Gibraltar. You may judge how depraved we are, when the war has not +consumed half the reprobates, nor press-gangs thinned their numbers! But +no wonder--how should the morals of the people be purified, when such +frantic dissipation reigns above them? Contagion does not mount, but +descend. A new theatre is going to be erected merely for people of +fashion, that they may not be confined to vulgar hours--that is, to day +or night. Fashion is always silly, for, before it can spread far, it +must be calculated for silly people; as examples of sense, wit, or +ingenuity could be imitated only by a few. All the discoveries that I +can perceive to have been made by the present age, is to prefer riding +about the streets rather than on the roads or on the turf, and being too +late for everything. Thus, though we have more public diversions than +would suffice for two capitals, nobody goes to them till they are over. +This is literally true. Ranelagh, that is, the music there, finishes at +half an hour after ten at night; but the most fashionable set out for +it, though above a mile out of town, at eleven or later. Well! but is +not this censure being old and cross? were not the charming people of my +youth guilty of equivalent absurdities? Oh yes; but the sensible folks +of my youth had not lost America, nor dipped us in wars with half +Europe, that cost us fifteen millions a year. I believe the Jews went to +Ranelagh at midnight, though Titus was at Knightsbridge. But Titus +demolished their Ranelagh as well as Jerusalem. Adieu! + + +_FOX'S INDIA BILL--BALLOONS._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _Dec._ 2, 1783. + +... Your nephew is in town, but confined by the gout. I called on him, +but did not see him; yet you may be very easy, for he expects to be +abroad in a day or two. I can make you as easy about another point, too; +but, if you have not learnt it from him, do not take notice to him that +you know it. Mrs. Noel has informed me that his daughter's treaty of +marriage is broken off, and in a fortunate way. The peer, father of the +lover, obliged _him_ to declare off; and Mrs. Noel says that your niece +is in good spirits. All this is just what one should have wished. Your +nephew has sent me a good and most curious print from you of the old +Pretender's marriage: I never saw one before. It is a great present to +my collection of English portraits. The Farnesian books I have not yet +received, and have forgotten the name of the gentleman to whom you +entrusted them, and must search among your letters for it; or, tell it +me again. + +The politicians of London, who at present are not the most numerous +corporation, are warm on a Bill for a new regulation of the East Indies, +brought in by Mr. Fox.[1] Some even of his associates apprehended his +being defeated, or meant to defeat him; but his marvellous abilities +have hitherto triumphed conspicuously, and on two divisions in the House +of Commons he had majorities of 109 and 114. On _that_ field he will +certainly be victorious: the forces will be more nearly balanced when +the Lords fight the battle; but, though the Opposition will have more +generals and more able, he is confident that his troops will overmatch +theirs; and, in Parliamentary engagements, a superiority of numbers is +not vanquished by the talents of the commanders, as often happens in +more martial encounters. His competitor, Mr. Pitt, appears by no means +an adequate rival. Just like their fathers, Mr. Pitt has brilliant +language, Mr. Fox solid sense; and such luminous powers of displaying it +clearly, that mere eloquence is but a Bristol stone, when set by the +diamond Reason. + +[Footnote 1: In the session of 1783 Fox, as the leader of the Coalition +Ministry in the House of Commons, brought in a Bill for the reform of +the government of India on the expiration of the existing Charter of the +Company. It was denounced by Pitt as having for its principal object the +perpetuation of the administration by the enormous patronage it would +place at the disposal of the Treasury; and, through the interposition of +the King, whose conduct on this occasion must be confessed to have been +wholly unconstitutional, it was defeated in the House of Lords. The King +on this dismissed the Ministry, and Pitt became Prime Minister.] + +Do not wonder that we do not entirely attend to things of earth: Fashion +has ascended to a higher element. All our views are directed to the air. +_Balloons_ occupy senators, philosophers, ladies, everybody. France gave +us the _ton_; and, as yet, we have not come up to our model. Their +monarch is so struck with the heroism of two of his subjects who +adventured their persons in two of these new _floating batteries_, that +he has ordered statues of them, and contributed a vast sum towards their +marble immortality. All this may be very important: to me it looks +somewhat foolish. Very early in my life I remember this town at gaze on +a man who _flew down_ a rope from the top of St. Martin's steeple; now, +late in my day, people are staring at a voyage to the moon. The former +Icarus broke his neck at a subsequent flight: when a similar accident +happens to modern knights-errant, adieu to air-balloons. + +_Apropos_, I doubt these new kites have put young Astley's nose out of +joint, who went to Paris lately under their Queen's protection,[1] and +expected to be Prime Minister, though he only ventured his neck by +dancing a minuet on three horses at full gallop, and really in that +attitude has as much grace as the Apollo Belvedere. When the arts are +brought to such perfection in Europe, who would go, like Sir Joseph +Banks, in search of islands in the Atlantic, where the natives in six +thousand years have not improved the science of carving fishing-hooks +out of bones or flints! Well! I hope these new mechanic meteors will +prove only playthings for the learned and the idle, and not be converted +into new engines of destruction to the human race, as is so often the +case of refinements or discoveries in science. _The wicked wit of man +always studies to apply the result of talents to enslaving, destroying, +or cheating his fellow-creatures._ Could we reach the moon, we should +think of reducing it to a province of some European kingdom. + +[Footnote 1: In the spring Montgolfier had made the first ascent in a +balloon, which as a novelty created great excitement in Paris. The Queen +gave permission for the balloon to be called by her name; and the next +year, during a visit of Gustavus, King of Sweden, to Versailles, it went +up from the grounds of the Trianon, and made a successful voyage to +Chantilly (the Editor's "Life of Marie Antoinette," c. 19).] + +_5th._ + +P.S.--The Opposition in the House of Commons were so humbled by their +two defeats, that, though Mr. Pitt had declared he would contest every +clause (of the India Bill) in the committee, (where in truth, if the +Bill is so bad as he says, he ought at least to have tried to amend it,) +that he slunk from the contest, and all the blanks were filled up +without obstruction, the opponents promising only to resist it in its +last stage on Monday next; but really, having no hopes but in the House +of Lords, where, however, I do not believe they expect to succeed. Mr. +Pitt's reputation is much sunk; nor, though he is a much more correct +logician than his father, has he the same firmness and perseverance. It +is no wonder that he was dazzled by his own premature fame; yet his late +checks may be of use to him, and teach him to appreciate his strength +better, or to wait till it is confirmed. Had he listed under Mr. Fox, +who loved and courted him, he would not only have discovered modesty, +but have been more likely to succeed him, than by commencing his +competitor. But what have I to do to look into futurity?[1] + +[Footnote 1: Evidently not much: as few prophecies have been more +strikingly and speedily falsified.] + + +_BALLOONS._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Oct._ 15, 1784. + +As I have heard nothing from you, I flatter myself Lady Aylesbury mends, +or I think you would have brought her again to the physicians: you will, +I conclude, next week, as towards the end of it the ten days they named +will be expired. I must be in town myself about Thursday on some little +business of my own. + +As I was writing this, my servants called me away to see a balloon; I +suppose Blanchard's, that was to be let off from Chelsea this morning. I +saw it from the common field before the window of my round tower. It +appeared about a third of the size of the moon, or less, when setting, +something above the tops of the trees on the level horizon. It was then +descending; and, after rising and declining a little, it sunk slowly +behind the trees, I should think about or beyond Sunbury, at five +minutes after one. But you know I am a very inexact guesser at measures +and distances, and may be mistaken in many miles; and you know how +little I have attended to these _airgonauts_: only t'other night I +diverted myself with a sort of meditation on future _airgonation_, +supposing that it will not only be perfected, but will depose +navigation. I did not finish it, because I am not skilled, like the +gentleman that used to write political ship-news, in that style which I +wanted to perfect my essay: but in the prelude I observed how ignorant +the ancients were in supposing Icarus melted the wax of his wings by too +near access to the sun, whereas he would have been frozen to death +before he made the first post on that road. Next, I discovered an +alliance between Bishop Wilkins's[1] art of flying and his plan of +universal language; the latter of which he no doubt calculated to +prevent the want of an interpreter when he should arrive at the moon. + +[Footnote 1: Dr. Wilkins, Bishop of Chester in the reign of Charles II., +was chiefly instrumental in the foundation of the Royal Society. Among +his works was a treatise to prove that "It is probable there may be +another habitable world in the moon, with a discourse concerning the +possibility of a passage thither." Burnet ("Hist. of his Own Times," +Anno 1661) says of him, "He was a great observer and promoter of +experimental philosophy, which was then a new thing. He was naturally +ambitious, but was the wisest clergyman I ever knew." He married +Cromwell's sister, and his daughter was the wife of Archbishop +Tillotson.] + +But I chiefly amused myself with ideas of the change that would be made +in the world by the substitution of balloons to ships. I supposed our +seaports to become _deserted villages_; and Salisbury Plain, Newmarket +Heath, (another canvass for alteration of ideas,) and all downs (but +_the_ Downs) arising into dockyards for aerial vessels. Such a field +would be ample in furnishing new speculations. But to come to my +ship-news:-- + +"The good balloon Daedalus, Captain Wing-ate, will fly in a few days for +China; he will stop at the top of the Monument to take in passengers. + +"Arrived on Brand-sands, the Vulture, Captain Nabob; the Tortoise snow, +from Lapland; the Pet-en-l'air, from Versailles; the Dreadnought, from +Mount Etna, Sir W. Hamilton, commander; the Tympany, Montgolfier; and +the Mine-A-in-a-bandbox, from the Cape of Good Hope. Foundered in a +hurricane, the Bird of Paradise, from Mount Ararat. The Bubble, Sheldon, +took fire, and was burnt to her gallery; and the Phoenix is to be cut +down to a second-rate." + +In those days Old Sarum will again be a town and have houses in it. +There will be fights in the air with wind-guns and bows and arrows; and +there will be prodigious increase of land for tillage, especially in +France, by breaking up all public roads as useless. But enough of my +fooleries; for which I am sorry you must pay double postage. + + +_HIS LETTERS ON LITERATURE--DISADVANTAGE OF MODERN WRITERS--COMPARISON +OF LADY MARY WORTLEY WITH MADAME DE SEVIGNE._ + +TO JOHN PINKERTON, ESQ. + +_June_ 22, 1785. + +Since I received your book,[1] Sir, I scarce ceased from reading till I +had finished it; so admirable I found it, and so full of good sense, +brightly delivered. Nay, I am pleased with myself, too, for having +formed the same opinions with you on several points, in which we do not +agree with the generality of men. On some topics, I confess frankly, I +do not concur with you: considering how many you have touched, it would +be wonderful if we agreed on all, or I should not be sincere if I said I +did. There are others on which I have formed no opinion; for I should +give myself an impertinent air, with no truth, if I pretended to have +any knowledge of many subjects, of which, young as you are, you seem to +have made yourself master. Indeed, I have gone deeply into nothing, and +therefore shall not discuss those heads on which we differ most; as +probably I should not defend my own opinions well. There is but one part +of your work to which I will venture any objection, though you have +considered it much, and I little, very little indeed, with regard to +your proposal, which to me is but two days old: I mean your plan for the +improvement of our language, which I allow has some defects, and which +wants correction in several particulars. The specific amendment which +you propose, and to which I object, is the addition of _a's_ and _o's_ +to our terminations. To change _s_ for _a_ in the plural number of our +substantives and adjectives, would be so violent an alteration, that I +believe neither the power of Power nor the power of Genius would be able +to effect it. In most cases I am convinced that very strong innovations +are more likely to make impression than small and almost imperceptible +differences, as in religion, medicine, politics, &c.; but I do not think +that language can be treated in the same manner, especially in a refined +age. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Pinkerton was a Scotch lawyer, who published a volume +entitled "Letters on Literature" under the name of Heron; which, +however, he afterwards suppressed, as full of ill-considered ideas, +which was not strange, as he was only twenty-five.] + +When a nation first emerges from barbarism, two or three masterly +writers may operate wonders; and the fewer the number of writers, as the +number is small at such a period, the more absolute is their authority. +But when a country has been polishing itself for two or three centuries, +and when, consequently, authors are innumerable, the most super-eminent +genius (or whoever is esteemed so, though without foundation) possesses +very limited empire, and is far from meeting implicit obedience. Every +petty writer will contest very novel institutions: every inch of change +in any language will be disputed; and the language will remain as it +was, longer than the tribunal which should dictate very heterogeneous +alterations. With regard to adding _a_ or _o_ to final consonants, +consider, Sir, should the usage be adopted, what havoc it would make! +All our poetry would be defective in metre, or would become at once as +obsolete as Chaucer; and could we promise ourselves, that, though we +should acquire better harmony and more rhymes, we should have a new +crop of poets, to replace Milton, Dryden, Gray, and, I am sorry you will +not allow me to add, Pope! You might enjoin our prose to be reformed, as +you have done by the "Spectator" in your thirty-fourth Letter; but try +Dryden's "Ode" by your new institution. + +I beg your pardon for these trivial observations: I assure you I could +write a letter ten times as long, if I were to specify all I like in +your work. I more than like most of it; and I am charmed with your +glorious love of liberty, and your other humane and noble sentiments. +Your book I shall with great pleasure send to Mr. Colman[1]: may I tell +him, without naming you, that it is written by the author of the comedy +I offered to him? He must be struck with your very handsome and generous +conduct in printing your encomiums on him, after his rejecting your +piece. It is as great as uncommon, and gives me as good an opinion of +your heart, Sir, as your book does of your great sense. Both assure me +that you will not take ill the liberty I have used in expressing my +doubts on your plan for amending our language, or for any I may use in +dissenting from a few other sentiments in your work; as I shall in what +I think your too low opinion of some of the French writers, of your +preferring Lady Mary Wortley to Madame de Sevigne, and of your esteeming +Mr. Hume a man of deeper and more solid understanding than Mr. Gray. In +the two last articles it is impossible to think more differently than we +do.[2] In Lady Mary's "Letters," which I never could read but once, I +discovered no merit of any sort; yet I have seen others by her +(unpublished) that have a good deal of wit; and for Mr. Hume, give me +leave to say that I think your opinion, "that he might have ruled a +state," ought to be qualified a little; as in the very next page you +say, his "History" is "a mere apology for prerogative," and a very weak +one. If he could have ruled a state, one must presume, at best, that he +would have been an able tyrant; and yet I should suspect that a man, +who, sitting coolly in his chamber, could forge but a weak apology for +the prerogative, would not have exercised it very wisely. I knew +personally and well both Mr. Hume and Mr. Gray, and thought there was no +degree of comparison between their understandings; and, in fact, Mr. +Hume's writings were so superior to his conversation, that I frequently +said he understood nothing till he had written upon it. What you say, +Sir, of the discord in his "History" from his love of prerogative and +hatred of churchmen, flatters me much; as I have taken notice of that +very unnatural discord in a piece I printed some years ago, but did not +publish, and which I will show to you when I have the pleasure of seeing +you here; a satisfaction I shall be glad to taste, whenever you will let +me know you are at leisure after the beginning of next week. I have the +honour to be, Sir, &c. + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Colman was manager of the Haymarket Theatre.] + +[Footnote 2: It is difficult to judge what were the published letters of +Lady Mary which Walpole could have seen. If Mr. Pinkerton preferred them +to those of Mme. de Sevigne, he could certainly have adduced plausible +reasons for his preference. There is far greater variety in them, as was +natural from the different lives led by the two fair writers. Mme. de +Sevigne's was almost confined to Paris and the Court; Lady Mary was a +great traveller. Her husband was English ambassador at Constantinople +and other places, and her letters give descriptions of that city, of +Vienna, the Hague, Venice, Rome, Naples, &c., &c. It may be fitly +pointed out here that in a letter to Lord Strafford Walpole expresses an +opinion that letter-writing is a branch of literature in which women are +likely to excel men; "for our sex is too jealous of the reputation of +good sense to hazard a thousand trifles and negligences which give +grace, ease, and familiarity to correspondence."] + + +_CRITICISM ON VARIOUS AUTHORS: GREEK, LATIN, FRENCH, AND ENGLISH--HUMOUR +OF ADDISON, AND OF FIELDING--WALLER--MILTON--BOILEAU'S "LUTRIN"--"THE +RAPE OF THE LOCK"--MADAME DE SEVIGNE._ + +TO JOHN PINKERTON, ESQ. + +_June_ 26, 1785. + +I have sent your book to Mr. Colman, Sir, and must desire you in return +to offer my grateful thanks to Mr. Knight, who has done me an honour, to +which I do not know how I am entitled, by the present of his poetry, +which is very classic, and beautiful, and tender, and of chaste +simplicity. + +To _your_ book, Sir, I am much obliged on many accounts; particularly +for having recalled my mind to subjects of delight, to which it was +grown dulled by age and indolence. In consequence of your reclaiming it, +I asked myself whence you feel so much disregard for certain authors +whose fame is established: you have assigned good reasons for +withholding your approbation from some, on the plea of their being +imitators: it was natural, then, to ask myself again, whence they had +obtained so much celebrity. I think I have discovered a cause, which I +do not remember to have seen noted; and _that_ cause I suspect to have +been, that certain of those authors possessed grace:--do not take me for +a disciple of Lord Chesterfield, nor imagine that I mean to erect grace +into a capital ingredient of writing, but I do believe that it is a +perfume that will serve from putrefaction, and is distinct even from +style, which regards expression. _Grace_, I think, belongs to _manner_. +It is from the charm of grace that I believe some authors, not in your +favour, obtained part of their renown; Virgil, in particular: and yet I +am far from disagreeing with you on his subject in general. There is +such a dearth of invention in the Aeneid (and when he did invent, it was +often so foolishly), so little good sense, so little variety, and so +little power over the passions, that I have frequently said, from +contempt for his matter, and from the charm of his harmony, that I +believe I should like his poem better, if I was to hear it repeated, and +did not understand Latin. On the other hand, he has more than harmony: +whatever he utters is said gracefully, and he ennobles his images, +especially in the Georgics; or, at least, it is more sensible there, +from the humility of the subject. A Roman farmer might not understand +his diction in agriculture; but he made a Roman courtier understand +farming, the farming of that age, and could captivate a lord of +Augustus's bedchamber, and tempt him to listen to themes of rusticity. +On the contrary, Statius and Claudian, though talking of war, would +make a soldier despise them as bullies. That graceful manner of thinking +in Virgil seems to me to be more than style, if I do not refine too +much: and I admire, I confess, Mr. Addison's phrase, that Virgil "tossed +about his dung with an air of majesty." A style may be excellent without +grace: for instance, Dr. Swift's. Eloquence may bestow an immortal +style, and one of more dignity; yet eloquence may want that ease, that +genteel air that flows from or constitutes grace. Addison himself was +master of that grace, even in his pieces of humour, and which do not owe +their merit to style; and from that combined secret he excels all men +that ever lived; but Shakspeare, in humour,[1] by never dropping into an +approach towards burlesque and buffoonery, when even his humour +descended to characters that in other hands would have been vulgarly +low. Is not it clear that Will Wimble was a gentleman, though he always +lived at a distance from good company? Fielding had as much humour, +perhaps, as Addison; but, having no idea of grace, is perpetually +disgusting. His innkeepers and parsons are the grossest of their +profession; and his gentlemen are awkward when they should be at their +ease. + +[Footnote 1: "_Addison's humour._" Undoubtedly there is much +gentlemanlike humour in Addison's Sir Roger de Coverley; but to say that +he "excels all men that ever lived" in that quality is an exaggeration +hardly to be understood in a man who had seen the "Rivals" and the +"Critic." In the present day no one, it may be supposed, would echo it, +after Scott with the Baron, the Antiquary, Dalgetty, &c., and Thackeray +with Mrs. O'Dowd, Major Pendennis, and Colonel Newcome. The epithet +"_Vafer_" applied to Horace by Persius is not inapplicable to Addison. +There is a slyness about some of his sketches which breathes something +of the Horatian facetiousness. It is remarkable that in all this long +and varied criticism Walpole scarcely mentions _wit_, which he seems to +allow to no one but Horace and Boileau. His comparative denial of it to +Aristophanes and Lucian creates a supposition that his Greek was +inferior to his Latin scholarship. It is not always easy to distinguish +humour from wit; of the two, the former seems the higher quality. Wit is +verbal, conversant with language, combining keenness and terseness of +expression with a keen perception of resemblances or differences; humour +has, comparatively speaking, little to do with language, and is of +different kinds, varying with the class of composition in which it is +found. In one of his "Imaginary Conversations" Savage Landor remarks +that "It is no uncommon thing to hear, 'Such an one has humour rather +than wit.' Here the expression can only mean _pleasantry_, for whoever +has humour has wit, although it does not follow that whoever has wit has +humour.... The French have little humour, because they have little +_character_; they excel all nations in wit, because of their levity and +sharpness."] + +The Grecians had grace in everything; in poetry, in oratory, in +statuary, in architecture, and probably, in music and painting. The +Romans, it is true, were their imitators; but, having grace too, +imparted it to their copies, which gave them a merit that almost raises +them to the rank of originals. Horace's "Odes" acquired their fame, no +doubt, from the graces of his manner and purity of his style--the chief +praise of Tibullus and Propertius, who certainly cannot boast of more +meaning than Horace's "Odes." + +Waller, whom you proscribe, Sir, owed his reputation to the graces of +his manner, though he frequently stumbled, and even fell flat; but a few +of his smaller pieces are as graceful as possible: one might say that he +excelled in painting ladies in enamel, but could not succeed in +portraits in oil, large as life. Milton had such superior merit, that I +will only say, that if his angels, his Satan, and his Adam have as much +dignity as the Apollo Belvedere, his Eve has all the delicacy and +graces of the Venus of Medicis; as his description of Eden has the +colouring of Albano. Milton's tenderness imprints ideas as graceful as +Guido's Madonnas: and the "Allegro," "Penseroso," and "Comus" might be +denominated from the three Graces; as the Italians gave similar titles +to two or three of Petrarch's best sonnets. + +Cowley, I think, would have had grace (for his mind was graceful) if he +had had any ear, or if his task had not been vitiated by the pursuit of +wit; which, when it does not offer itself naturally, degenerates into +tinsel or pertness. Pertness is the mistaken affection of grace, as +pedantry produces erroneous dignity; the familiarity of the one, and the +clumsiness of the other, distort or prevent grace. Nature, that +furnishes samples of all qualities, and on the scale of gradation +exhibits all possible shades, affords us types that are more apposite +than words. The eagle is sublime, the lion majestic, the swan graceful, +the monkey pert, the bear ridiculously awkward. I mention these as more +expressive and comprehensive than I could make definitions of my +meaning; but I will apply the swan only, under whose wings I will +shelter an apology for Racine, whose pieces give me an idea of that +bird. The colouring of the swan is pure; his attitudes are graceful; he +never displeases you when sailing on his proper element. His feet may be +ugly, his notes hissing, not musical, his walk not natural; he can soar, +but it is with difficulty;--still, the impression the swan leaves is +that of grace. So does Racine. + +Boileau may be compared to the dog, whose sagacity is remarkable, as +well as its fawning on its master, and its snarling at those it +dislikes. If Boileau was too austere to admit the pliability of grace, +he compensates by good sense and propriety. He is like (for I will drop +animals) an upright magistrate, whom you respect, but whose justice and +severity leave an awe that discourages familiarity. His copies of the +ancients may be too servile: but, if a good translator deserves praise, +Boileau deserves more. He certainly does not fall below his originals; +and, considering at what period he wrote, has greater merit still. By +his imitations he held out to his countrymen models of taste, and +banished totally the bad taste of his predecessors. For his "Lutrin,"[1] +replete with excellent poetry, wit, humour, and satire, he certainly was +not obliged to the ancients. Excepting Horace, how little idea had +either Greeks or Romans of wit and humour! Aristophanes and Lucian, +compared with moderns, were, the one a blackguard, and the other a +buffoon. In my eyes, the "Lutrin," the "Dispensary," and the "Rape of +the Lock," are standards of grace and elegance, not to be paralleled by +antiquity; and eternal reproaches to Voltaire, whose indelicacy in the +"Pucelle" degraded him as much, when compared with the three authors I +have named, as his "Henriade" leaves Virgil, and even Lucan, whom he +more resembles, by far his superiors. + +[Footnote 1: The "Lutrin" is a critical poem in six cantos. Lutrin means +a desk; and Hallam, who does not seem to rate it very highly, regards +the plan of it as borrowed from Tassoni's "Secchia rapita," Secchia +meaning a pitcher.] + +"The Dunciad" is blemished by the offensive images of the games; but the +poetry appears to me admirable; and, though the fourth book has +obscurities, I prefer it to the three others: it has descriptions not +surpassed by any poet that ever existed, and which surely a writer +merely ingenious will never equal. The lines on Italy, on Venice, on +Convents, have all the grace for which I contend as distinct from +poetry, though united with the most beautiful; and the "Rape of the +Lock," besides the originality of great part of the invention, is a +standard of graceful writing. + +In general, I believe that what I call grace, is denominated elegance; +but by grace I mean something higher. I will explain myself by +instances--Apollo is graceful, Mercury is elegant. Petrarch, perhaps, +owed his whole merit to the harmony of his numbers and the graces of his +style. They conceal his poverty of meaning and want of variety. His +complaints, too, may have added an interest, which, had his passion been +successful, and had expressed itself with equal sameness, would have +made the number of his sonnets insupportable. Melancholy in poetry, I am +inclined to think, contributes to grace, when it is not disgraced by +pitiful lamentations, such as Ovid's and Cicero's in their banishments. +We respect melancholy, because it imparts a similar affection, pity. A +gay writer, who should only express satisfaction without variety, would +soon be nauseous. + +Madame de Sevigne shines both in grief and gaiety. There is too much of +sorrow for her daughter's absence; yet it is always expressed by new +terms, by new images, and often by wit, whose tenderness has a +melancholy air. When she forgets her concern, and returns to her natural +disposition--gaiety, every paragraph has novelty: her allusions, her +applications are the happiest possible. She has the art of making you +acquainted with all her acquaintance, and attaches you even to the spots +she inhabited. Her language is correct, though unstudied; and, when her +mind is full of any great event, she interests you with the warmth of a +dramatic writer, not with the chilling impartiality of an historian. +Pray read her accounts of the death of Turenne, and of the arrival of +King James in France, and tell me whether you do not know their persons +as if you had lived at the time. + +For my part, if you will allow me a word of digression (not that I have +written with any method), I hate the cold impartiality recommended to +Historians: "Si vis me flere, dolendum est Primum ipsi tibi:"[1] but, +that I may not wander again, nor tire, nor contradict you any more, I +will finish now, and shall be glad if you will dine at Strawberry Hill +next Sunday, and take a bed there, when I will tell you how many more +parts of your book have pleased me, than have startled my opinions, or, +perhaps, prejudices. I have the honour to be, Sir, with regard, &c. + +[Footnote 1: A quotation from Horace's "Ars Poetica," 102.] + + +_MINISTERIAL DIFFICULTIES--THE AFFAIR OF THE NECKLACE IN +PARIS--FLUCTUATING UNPOPULARITY OF STATESMEN--FALLACIES OF HISTORY._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Aug._ 26, 1785. + +Though I am delighted to see your handwriting, I beg you will indulge me +no more with it. It fatigues you, and that gives me more pain than your +letters can give me satisfaction. Dictate a few words on your health to +your secretary; it will suffice. I don't care a straw about the King and +Queen of Naples, nor whether they visit your little Great Duke and +Duchess. I am glad when monarchs are playing with one another, instead +of scratching: it is better they should be idle than mischievous. As I +desire you not to write, I cannot be alarmed at a strange hand. + +Your philosophic account of yourself is worthy of you. Still, I am +convinced you are better than you seem to think. A cough is vexatious, +but in old persons is a great preservative. It is one of the forms in +which the gout appears, and exercises and clears the lungs. I know +actually two persons, no chickens, who are always very ill if they have +no annual cough. You may imagine that I have made observations in plenty +on the gout: yes, yes, I know its ways and its jesuitic evasions. I beg +its pardon, it is a better soul than it appears to be; it is we that +misuse it: if it does not appear with all its credentials, we take it +for something else, and attempt to cure it. Being a remedy, and not a +disease, it will not be cured; and it is better to let it have its way. +If it is content to act the personage of a cough, pray humour it: it +will prolong your life, if you do not contradict it and fling it +somewhere else. + +The Administration has received a total defeat in Ireland, which has +probably saved us another civil war.[1] Don't wonder that I am +continually recollecting my father's _Quieta non movere_. I have never +seen that maxim violated with impunity. They say, that in town a change +in the Ministry is expected. I am not of that opinion; but, indeed, +nobody can be more ignorant than I. I see nobody here but people +attached to the Court, and who, however, know no more than I do; and if +I did see any of the other side, they would not be able to give me +better information; nor am I curious. + +[Footnote 1: In the session of 1785 Grattan opposed a body of +"resolutions" calculated to relieve the distress of the Irish +manufacturers, and altogether to emancipate the trade and commerce of +Ireland from many mischievous restrictions which had hitherto restrained +their progress. Lord Stanhope, in his "Life of Pitt," i. 273, quotes a +description of Grattan's speech as "a display of perhaps the most +beautiful eloquence ever heard, but seditious and inflammatory to a +degree hardly credible;" and he so far prevailed, that in the Irish +House of Commons the resolutions were only carried by a majority of +twenty-nine--one so small, that the Duke of Rutland, the +Lord-Lieutenant, felt it safer to withdraw them.] + +A stranger event than a revolution in politics has happened at Paris. +The Cardinal de Rohan is committed to the Bastile for forging the +Queen's hand to obtain a collar of diamonds;[1] I know no more of the +story: but, as he is very gallant, it is guessed (_here_ I mean) that it +was a present for some woman. These circumstances are little Apostolic, +and will not prop the falling Church of Rome. They used to forge +donations and decretals. This is a new manoeuvre. Nor were Cardinals +wont to be treated so cavalierly for peccadilloes. The House of Rohan is +under a cloud: his Eminence's cousin, the Prince of Guemene,[2] was +forced to fly, two or three years ago, for being the Prince of +Swindlers. _Our_ Nabobs are not treated so roughly; yet I doubt they +collect diamonds still more criminally. + +[Footnote 1: "_A collar of diamonds._" The transaction here referred +to--though, strangely enough, it is looked on as one that had a +political interest--was, in fact, a scheme of a broken-down gambler to +swindle a jeweller out of a diamond necklace of great value. The Court +jeweller had collected a large number of unusually fine diamonds, which +he had made into a necklace, in the hope that the Queen would buy it, +and the Cardinal de Rohan, who was a member of one of the noblest +families in France, but a man of a character so notoriously profligate, +that, when he was ambassador at Vienna, Maria Teresa had insisted on his +recall, was mixed up in the fraud in a manner scarcely compatible with +ignorance of its character. He was brought to trial with the more +evident agents in the fraud, and the whole history of the French +Parliaments scarcely records any transaction more disgraceful than his +acquittal. For some months the affair continued to furnish pretext to +obscure libellers to calumniate the Queen with insinuations not less +offensive than dangerous from their vagueness; all such writers finding +a ready paymaster in the infamous Duc d'Orleans.] + +[Footnote 2: The Prince de Guemenee, a very profligate and extravagant +man, by 1782 had become so hopelessly embarrassed that he was compelled +to leave Paris, and consequently the Princess, his wife, who ever since +the birth of Louis XVI. had held the office of "Governess of the Royal +Children," a life-appointment, was forced to resign it, much to the +pleasure of the Queen, who disapproved of her character, and bestowed +the office on Mme. de Polignac, and when, at the beginning of the +Revolution, she also fled from Paris, on Mme. de Tourzel. But, in truth, +under Marie Antoinette the office was almost a sinecure. She considered +superintendence of the education of her children as among the most +important of her duties; and how judiciously she performed it is seen in +an admirable letter of hers to Mme. de Tourzel, which can hardly be +surpassed for its discernment and good-feeling. (See the Editor's "Life +of Marie Antoinette," iii. 55.)] + +Your nephew will be sorry to hear that the Duke of Montrose's third +grandson, Master William Douglas, died yesterday of a fever. These poor +Montroses are most unfortunate persons! They had the comfort this spring +of seeing Lord Graham marry: the Duchess said, "I thought I should die +of grief, and now I am ready to die of joy." Lady Graham soon proved +with child, but soon miscarried; and the Duke and Duchess may not live +to have the consolation of seeing an heir--for we must hope and make +visions to the last! _I_ am asking for samples of Ginori's porcelain at +sixty-eight! Well! are not heirs to great names and families as frail +foundations of happiness? and what signifies what baubles we pursue? +Philosophers make systems, and we simpletons collections: and we are as +wise as they--wiser perhaps, for we know that in a few years our +rarities will be dispersed at an auction; and they flatter themselves +that their reveries will be immortal, which has happened to no system +yet. A curiosity may rise in value; a system is exploded. + +Such reflections are applicable to politics, and make me look on them as +equally nugatory. Last year Mr. Fox was burnt in effigy; now Mr. Pitt +is. Oh! my dear Sir, it is all a farce! On _this day_, about a hundred +years ago (look at my date), was born the wisest man I have seen.[1] He +kept this country in peace for twenty years, and it flourished +accordingly. He injured no man; was benevolent, good-humoured, and did +nothing but the common necessary business of the State. Yet was he +burnt in effigy too; and so traduced, that his name is not purified +yet!--Ask why his memory is not in veneration? You will be told, from +libels and trash, that he was _the Grand Corruptor_.--What! did he +corrupt the nation to make it happy, rich, and peaceable? Who was +oppressed during his administration? Those saints Bolingbroke and +Pulteney were kept out of the Paradise of the Court; ay, and the +Pretender was kept out and was kept quiet. Sir Robert fell: a Rebellion +ensued in four years, and the crown shook on the King's head. The +nation, too, which had been tolerably corrupted before his time, and +which, with all its experience and with its eyes opened, has not cured +itself of being corrupt, is not quite so prosperous as in the day of +that man, who, it seems, poisoned its morals. Formerly it was the most +virtuous nation on the earth! + +[Footnote 1: He means his own father, the Prime Minister from 1720 to +1741.] + +Under Henry VIII. and his children there was no persecution, no +fluctuation of religion: their Ministers shifted their faith four times, +and were sincere honest men! There was no servility, no flattery, no +contempt of the nation abroad, under James I. No tyranny under Charles +I. and Laud; no factions, no civil war! Charles II., however, brought +back all the virtues and morality, which, somehow or other, were +missing! His brother's was a still more blessed reign, though in a +different way! King William was disturbed and distressed by no +contending factions, and did not endeavour to bribe them to let him +pursue his great object of humbling France! The Duke of Marlborough was +not overborne in a similar and more glorious career by a detestable +Cabal!--and if Oxford and Bolingbroke did remove him, from the most +patriot motives, they, good men! used no corruption! Twelve Peerages +showered at once, to convert the House of Lords, were no bribes; nor was +a shilling issued for secret services; nor would a member of either +House have received it! + +Sir R. Walpole came, and strange to tell, found the whole Parliament, +and every Parliament, at least a great majority of every Parliament, +ready to take his money. For what?--to undo their country!--which, +however, wickedly as he meant, and ready as they were to concur, he left +in every respect in the condition he found it, except in being improved +in trade, wealth, and tranquillity; till _its friends_ who expelled him, +had dipped their poor country in a war; which was far from mending its +condition. Sir Robert died, foretelling a rebellion, which happened in +less than six months, and for predicting which he had been ridiculed: +and in detestation of a maxim ascribed to him by his enemies, that +_every man has his price_, the tariff of every Parliament since has been +as well known as the price of beef and mutton; and the universal +electors, who cry out against that traffic, are not a jot less vendible +than their electors.--Was not Sir Robert Walpole an abominable Minister? + +_29th._ + +P.S.--The man who certainly provoked Ireland _to think_, is dead--Lord +Sackville.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Lord George Sackville Germaine, third son of Lionel [first] +Duke of Dorset, who, when secretary to his father, when Lord-Lieutenant +of Ireland, gave rise, by his haughty behaviour, to the factions that +have ever since disturbed that country, and at last shaken off its +submission to this country.--WALPOLE.] + +_30th._ + +I see, by the _Gazette_, that Lord Cowper's pinchbeck principality is +allowed. I wonder his Highness does not desire the Pope to make one of +his sons a bishop _in partibus infidelium_. + + +_BREVITY OF MODERN ADDRESSES--THE OLD DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Oct._ 4, 1785. + +I don't love to transgress my monthly regularity; yet, as you must +prefer facts to words, why should I write when I have nothing to tell +you? The newspapers themselves in a peaceable autumn coin wonders from +Ireland, or live on the accidents of the Equinox. They, the newspapers, +have been in high spirits on the prospect of a campaign in Holland; but +the Dutch, without pity for the gazetteers of Europe, are said to have +submitted to the Emperor's terms: however, the intelligence-merchants +may trust that _he_ will not starve them long! + +Your neighbour, the Queen of Sardinia, it seems, is dead: but, if there +was anything to say about her, you must tell it to me, not I to you; +for, till she died, I scarce knew she had been alive. + +Our Parliament is put off till after Christmas; so, I have no more +resource from domestic politics than from foreign wars. For my own +particular, I desire neither. I live here in tranquillity and idleness, +can content myself with trifles, and think the world is much the happier +when it has nothing to talk of. Most people ask, "Is there any +news?"--How can one want to know one does not know what? when anything +has happened, one hears it. + +There is one subject on which I wish I had occasion to write; I think it +long since I heard how you go on: I flatter myself, as I have no letter +from you or your nephew, prosperously. I should prefer a letter from +him, that you may not have the trouble; and I shall make this the +shorter, as a precedent for his not thinking more than a line necessary. +The post does not insist on a certain quantity; it is content with being +paid for whatever it carries--nay, is a little unreasonable, as it +doubles its price for a cover that contains nothing but a direction: and +now it is the fashion to curtail the direction as much as possible. +Formerly, a direction was an academy of compliments: "To the most noble +and my singularly respected friend," &c., &c.--and then, "Haste! haste, +for your life, haste!" Now, we have banished even the monosyllable _To_! +Henry Conway,[1] Lord Hertford's son, who is very indolent, and has much +humour, introduced that abridgment. Writing to a Mr. Tighe at the +Temple, he directed his letter only thus: "T. Ti., Temple"[2]--and it +was delivered! Dr. Bentley was mightily flattered on receiving a letter +superscribed "To Dr. Bentley in England." Times are altered; postmen are +now satisfied with a hint. One modern retrenchment is a blessing; one is +not obliged to study for an ingenious conclusion, as if writing an +epigram--oh! no; nor to send compliments that never were delivered. I +had a relation who always finished his letters with "his love to all +that was near and dear to us," though he did not care a straw for me or +any of his family. It was said of old Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough, +that she never put dots over her _i's_, to save ink: how she would have +enjoyed modern economy in that article! She would have died worth a +thousand farthings more than she did--nay, she would have known exactly +how many; as Sir Robert Brown[3] did, who calculated what he had saved +by never having an orange or lemon on his sideboard. I am surprised +that no economist has retrenched second courses, which always consist of +the dearest articles, though seldom touched, as the hungry at least dine +on the first. Mrs. Leneve,[4] one summer at Houghton, counted thirty-six +turkey-pouts[5] that had been served up without being meddled with. + +[Footnote 1: Second son of Francis Seymour Conway, first Earl of +Hertford.--WALPOLE.] + +[Footnote 2: This address was surpassed towards the end of the reign, by +a letter which arrived in London addressed to "Srumfredafi, England;" +and was correctly interpreted at the Post Office as being designed for +Sir Humphrey Davy.] + +[Footnote 3: A noted miser, who raised a great fortune as a merchant at +Venice, though his whole wealth, when he went thither, consisted in one +of those vast wigs (a second-hand one, given to him) which were worn in +the reign of Queen Anne, and which he sold for five guineas. He returned +to England, very rich, in the reign of George II., with his wife and +three daughters, who would have been great fortunes. The eldest, about +eighteen, fell into a consumption, and, being ordered to ride, her +father drew a map of the by-lanes about London, which he made the +footman carry in his pocket and observe, that she might ride without +paying a turnpike. When the poor girl was past recovery, Sir Robert sent +for an undertaker, to cheapen her funeral, as she was not dead, and +there was a possibility of her living. He went farther; he called his +other daughters, and bade them curtsy to the undertaker, and promise to +be his friends; and so they proved, for both died consumptive in two +years.--WALPOLE.] + +[Footnote 4: A lady who lived with Sir Robert Walpole, to take care of +his youngest daughter, Lady Maria, after her mother's death. After Sir +Robert's death, and Lady Mary's marriage with Mr. Churchill, she lived +with Mr. H. Walpole to her death.--WALPOLE.] + +[Footnote 5: As the sons of rajahs in India are called Rajah Pouts, and +as turkeys came from the East, quaere if they were not called +Turkey-pouts, as an Eastern diminutive?--WALPOLE.] + +_5th._ + +I had written thus far yesterday. This minute I receive your nephew's of +Sept. 20th; it is not such an one by any means as I had wished for. He +tells me you have had a return of your disorder--indeed, he consoles me +with your recovery; but I cannot in a moment shake off the impression of +a sudden alarm, though the cause was ceased, nor can a second agitation +calm a first on such shattered nerves as mine. My fright is over, but I +am not composed. I cannot begin a new letter, and therefore send what I +had written. I will only add, what you may be sure I feel, ardent wishes +for your perfect health, and grateful thanks to your nephew for his +attention--he is rather your son; but indeed he is Gal.'s son, and that +is the same thing. How I love him for his attendance on you! and how +very kind he is in giving me accounts of you! I hope he will continue, +and I ask it still more for your sake than for my own, that you may not +think of writing yourself. If he says but these words, "My uncle has had +no return of his complaint," I shall be satisfied--satisfied!--I shall +be quite happy! Indeed, indeed, I ask no more. + + +_LADY CRAVEN--MADAME PIOZZI--"THE ROLLIAD"--HERSCHEL'S ASTRONOMICAL +DISCOVERY._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _Oct._ 30, 1785. + +I am a contradiction, yet very naturally so; I wish you not to write +yourself, and yet am delighted when I receive a letter in your own hand: +however, I don't desire it should be of four pages, like this last of +the 11th. When I have had the gout, I have always written by proxy. You +will make me ashamed, if you don't use the precedent. Your account of +yourself is quite to my satisfaction. I approve, too, of your not dining +with your company. Since I must be old and have the gout, I have long +turned those disadvantages to my own account, and plead them to the +utmost when they will save me from doing anything I dislike. I am so +lame, or have such a sudden pain, when I do not care to do what is +proposed to me! Nobody can tell how rapidly the gout may be come, or be +gone again; and then it is so pleasant to have had the benefit, and +none of the anguish! + +I did send you a line last week in the cover of a letter to Lady +Craven,[1] which I knew would sufficiently tell your quickness how much +I shall be obliged to you for any attentions to her. I thought her at +Paris, and was surprised to hear of her at Florence. She has, I fear, +been _infinitamente_ indiscreet; but what is that to you or me? She is +very pretty, has parts, and is good-natured to the greatest degree; has +not a grain of malice or mischief (almost always the associates, in +women, of tender hearts), and never has been an enemy but to herself. +For that ridiculous woman Madame Piozzi,[2] and t'other more impertinent +one, of whom I never heard before, they are like the absurd English +dames with whom we used to divert ourselves when I was at Florence. As +to your little knot of poets, I do not hold the cocks higher than the +hens; nor would I advise them to repatriate. We have at present here a +most incomparable set, not exactly known by their names, but who, till +the dead of summer, kept the town in a roar, and, I suppose, will revive +by the meeting of Parliament. They have poured forth a torrent of odes, +epigrams, and part of an imaginary epic poem, called the "Rolliad,"[3] +with a commentary and notes, that is as good as the "Dispensary"[4] and +"Dunciad," with more ease. These poems are all anti-ministerial, and +the authors very young men, and little known or heard of before. I would +send them, but you would want too many keys: and indeed I want some +myself; for, as there are continually allusions to Parliamentary +speeches and events, they are often obscure to me till I get them +explained; and besides, I do not know several of the satirised heroes +even by sight: however, the poetry and wit make amends, for they are +superlative. + +[Footnote 1: Lady Craven, _nee_ Berkeley, had given abundant cause for +scandal during her husband's life, which did not abate when, a month +after his death, she married the Margrave of Anspach.] + +[Footnote 2: Mme. Piozzi, the Mrs. Thrale of Boswell's "Life of +Johnson." Mr. Thrale was a brewer, the founder of the great firm now +known as Barclay and Perkins. She was many years younger than he; and, +after his death, she married Signor Piozzi, a professional musician of +eminence. Johnson, who had been an habitual guest of her husband and her +at their villa at Streatham, set the fashion of condemning this second +marriage as a disgraceful _mesalliance_; but it is not very easy to see +in what respect it was so. In social position she had certainly had the +advantage over Mr. Thrale, being the daughter of a Carnarvonshire +baronet of ancient family. But a first-rate musician was surely the +equal of a brewer. After Johnson's death she published a volume of her +reminiscences of him, which may be allowed to have been worthy neither +of him nor of her, and which was ridiculed by Peter Pindar in "A Town +Eclogue," in which the rivals Bozzy and Piozzi, on Virgil's +principle--_Alternis dicetis, amant alterna Camaenae_--relate in turn +anecdotes of Johnson's way of life, his witty sayings, &c., &c. Sir John +Hawkins, as judge of the contest, gives neither a prize; tells the lady, +"Sam's Life, dear ma'am, will only _damn your own_;" calls the gentleman +"a chattering magpie;" and-- + + Then to their pens and paper rush'd the twain, + To kill the mangled RAMBLER o'er again.] + +[Footnote 3: In 1785 the wits of Brooks's, being much disappointed at +the result of the political conflict of 1784, gave some vent to their +spleen in verse. For their subject they selected an imaginary epic, of +which they gave fictitious extracts, and for their hero they took the +Member for Devonshire, John Rolle, invoking him-- + + Illustrious Rolle! oh may thy honoured name + Roll down distinguished on the rolls of fame. + +It is a little odd that they abstained from similar puns on Pitt and +_pit_; but their indignation was chiefly directed at his youth as +ill-suited to his powers-- + + A sight to make surrounding nations stare, + A kingdom trusted to a schoolboy's care. + +The chief contributors were Burke's friend, Dr. Lawrence; Sheridan's +brother-in-law, Tickell; General Fitzpatrick, Mr. G. Ellis, Lord G. +Townshend, and General Burgoyne.] + +[Footnote 4: "The Dispensary" was a poem by a physician named Garth, to +advocate the cause of the physicians in a quarrel between them and the +apothecaries about the price to be charged for medicines. Johnson, in +his "Lives of the Poets," allows it the credit of smooth and free +versification, but denies it that of elegance. "No passage falls below +mediocrity, and few rise above it." It may be doubted whether Byron +himself could have risen high "above it" on subjects so unpoetical as +pills and black-doses.] + +News I have none, wet or dry, to send you: politics are stagnated, and +pleasure is not come to town. You may be sure I am glad that Caesar is +baffled; I neither honour nor esteem him. If he is preferring his nephew +to his brother, it is using the latter as ill as the rest of the world. + +Mrs. Damer is again set out for the Continent to-day, to avoid the +winter, which is already begun severely; we have had snow twice. Till +last year, I never knew snow in October since I can remember; which is +no short time. Mrs. Damer has taken with her her cousin Miss Campbell, +daughter of poor Lady William, whom you knew, and who died last year. +Miss Campbell has always lived with Lady Aylesbury, and is a very great +favourite and a very sensible girl. I believe they will proceed to +Italy, but it is not certain. If they come to Florence, the Grand Duke +should beg Mrs. Damer to give him something of her statuary; and it +would be a greater curiosity than anything in his Chamber of Painters. +She has executed several marvels since you saw her; and has lately +carved two colossal heads for the bridge at Henley, which is the most +beautiful one in the world, next to the Ponte di Trinita, and was +principally designed by her father, General Conway. Lady Spencer +draws--incorrectly indeed, but has great expression. Italy probably will +stimulate her, and improve her attention. You see we blossom in ruin! +Poetry, painting, statuary, architecture, music, linger here, + + on this sea-encircled coast (GRAY), + +as if they knew not whither to retreat farther for shelter, and would +not trust to the despotic patronage of the Attilas, Alarics, Amalasuntas +of the North! They leave such heroic scourges to be decorated by the +Voltaires and D'Alemberts of the Gauls, or wait till by the improvement +of balloons they may be transported to some of those millions of worlds +that Herschel[1] is discovering every day; for this new Columbus has +thrown open the great gates of astronomy, and neither Spanish +inquisitors nor English Nabobs will be able to torture and ransack the +new regions and their inhabitants. Adieu! + +[Footnote 1: Herschel, having constructed the largest telescope that at +that time had ever been seen, in 1781 had given proof of its value by +the discovery of the _Georgium sidus_.] + + +_MRS. YEARSLEY--MADAME PIOZZI--GIBBON--"LE MARIAGE DE FIGARO."_ + +TO MISS HANNAH MORE.[1] + +[Footnote 1: Miss H. More was a remarkable woman. She was the daughter +of the village schoolmaster of Stapleton, near Bristol. But though she +had no higher education than he could give her, she soon began to show a +considerable literary talent. Her first compositions were dramas, one of +which, "Percy," Garrick accepted for the stage, where for a season it +had fair success. But she soon quitted that line for works of morality, +intended to promote the religious improvement of society in her day. The +most celebrated of them was "Coelebs in Search of a Wife." But some of +the tales which she published in "The Cheap Repository," a series of +stories for the common people, had a greater sale. One, "The Shepherd of +Salisbury Plain," was so popular that it is said that a million copies +of it were sold. Her talents led to her acquaintance being cultivated by +such men as Johnson, Reynolds, Burke, and Bishop Porteus; and her +exercise of them was so profitable, that though she gave large sums in +charity, she left a fortune of L30,000.] + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Oct._ 14, 1787. + +My dear Madam,--I am shocked for human nature at the repeated +malevolence of this woman! [Mrs. Yearsley.] The rank soil of riches we +are accustomed to see overrun with seeds and thistles; but who could +expect that the kindest seeds sown on poverty and dire misfortunes +should meet with nothing but a rock at bottom? Catherine de' Medici, +suckled by hopes and transplanted to a throne, seems more excusable. +Thank heaven, Madam, for giving you so excellent a heart; ay, and so +good a head. You are not only benevolence itself, but, with fifty times +the genius of a Yearsley, you are void of vanity. How strange, that +vanity should expel gratitude! Does not the wretched woman owe her fame +to you, as well as her affluence? I can testify your labours for both. +Dame Yearsley reminds me of the Troubadours, those vagrants whom I used +to admire till I knew their history; and who used to pour out trumpery +verses, and flatter or abuse accordingly as they were housed and +clothed, or dismissed to the next parish. Yet you did not set this +person in the stocks, after procuring an annuity for her! I beg your +pardon for renewing so disgusting a subject, and will never mention it +again. You have better amusement; you love good works, a temper superior +to revenge. + +I have again seen our poor friend in Clarges Street [Mrs. Vesey]: her +faculties decay rapidly, and of course she suffers less. She has not an +acquaintance in town; and yet told me the town was very full, and that +she had had a good deal of company. Her health is re-established, and we +must now be content that her mind is not restless. My pity now feels +most for Mrs. Hancock, whose patience is inexhaustible, though not +insensible. + +Mrs. Piozzi, I hear, has two volumes of Dr. Johnson's Letters ready for +publication. Bruce is printing his travels, which I suppose will prove +that his narratives were fabulous, as he will scarce repeat them by the +press. These, and two more volumes of Mr. Gibbon's "History," are all +the literary news I know. France seems sunk indeed in all respects. What +stuff are their theatrical goods, their "Richards," "Ninas," and +"Tarares"! But when their "Figaro"[1] could run threescore nights, how +despicable must their taste be grown! I rejoice that their political +intrigues are not more creditable. I do not dislike the French from the +vulgar antipathy between neighbouring nations, but for their insolent +and unfounded airs of superiority. In arms, we have almost always +outshone them: and till they have excelled Newton, and come near to +Shakspeare, pre-eminence in genius must remain with us. I think they are +most entitled to triumph over the Italians; as, with the most meagre and +inharmonious of all languages, the French have made more of that poverty +in tragedy and eloquence, than the Italians have done with the language +the most capable of both. But I did not mean to send you a dissertation. +I hope it will not be long before you remove to Hampton.--Yet why should +I wish that? You will only be geographically nearer to London till +February. Cannot you, now and then, sleep at the Adelphi on a visit to +poor Vesey and your friends, and let one know if you do? + +[Footnote 1: "Le Mariage de Figaro" was a play by a man who assumed the +name of Beaumarchais (as Poquelin had taken the name of Moliere and +Arouet that of Voltaire); and the histories of both the author and the +play are curious. The author's real name was Caron, and he had been bred +a watchmaker. But he was ambitious; he gave up his trade, and bought a +place about the Court, which was among those which conferred gentility, +and which enabled him afterwards on one occasion to boast that he could +establish a better claim to the rank of noble than most of that body, +since he could produce a stamped receipt for it. He married two rich +widows. He next obtained the place of music-master on the harp to the +daughters of Louis XV., and conducted some of their concerts. He became +involved in a law-suit, which he conducted in person against some of the +most renowned advocates of the day, and gained great applause for the +talent he had exhibited in his pleadings. He crossed over to England, +where he made acquaintance with Wilkes and the agents of some of the +North American colonies, and became a volunteer agent for them himself +at the beginning of the American war, expending, according to his own +statement, 150,000 francs in the purchase of arms and stores, which he +sent out, when the President of Congress contented himself with thanking +him for his liberality, but refused to pay his bill. He resolved to try +his skill as a dramatist. His earlier plays were not particularly +successful, but in 1781 he produced "The Marriage of Figaro," a sort of +sequel to one of its predecessors, "The Barber of Seville." During the +progress of its composition he had shown some of the scenes to his +critical friends, who had pronounced it witty, and prophesied its +success. But it had also become known that it contained sarcasms on some +of the exclusive privileges of the nobles, and the officer who had +charge of such matters in consequence refused to license it for +performance, as a dangerous satire on the institutions of the country. +He had by this time made friends enough to form a party to remonstrate +against the hardship of the Censor's decision; till the King determined +to judge for himself, and caused Mme. Campau to read it to himself and +the Queen, when he fully agreed with the Censor, and expressed a +positive determination not to permit its performance. Unluckily he was +never firm in his resolutions; and Beaumarchais having secured the +patronage of Louis's brother, the Comte d'Artois, and Mme. de Polignac, +felt confident of carrying his point at last. His royal and noble +patrons arranged parties for private readings of the play. He then +declared, untruly, that he had altered all the passages which had been +deemed offensive, and Louis was weak enough to believe him without +further examination, and to sanction a private performance of it at the +country house of the Comte de Vandreuel. After this it was impossible to +exclude it from the theatre in Paris; and in April, 1784, it was acted +before an audience whom the long-continued contest had brought in +unprecedented numbers to hear it. If it had not been for the opposition +which had been made to it, it probably would never have attracted any +particular attention; for, though it was lively, and what managers call +a fair "acting play," it had no remarkable merit as a composition, and +depended for its attraction more on some of its surprises and +discoveries than on its wit. But its performance and the reception it +met with were regarded by a large political party as a triumph over the +Ministry; and French historical writers, to whatever party they belong, +agree in declaring that it had given a death-blow to many of the oldest +institutions of the country, and that Beaumarchais proved at once the +herald and the pioneer of the approaching Revolution. (See the Editor's +"Life of Marie Antoinette," c. 19.)] + + +_GENTLEMEN WRITERS--HIS OWN REASONS FOR WRITING WHEN +YOUNG--VOLTAIRE--"EVELINA"--MISS SEWARD--HAYLEY._ + +TO MISS HANNAH MORE. + +Strawberry Hill, _July_ 12, 1788. + +Won't you repent having opened the correspondence, my dear Madam, when +you find my letters come so thick upon you? In this instance, however, I +am only to blame in part, for being too ready to take advice, for the +sole reason for which advice ever is taken,--because it fell in with my +inclination. + +You said in your last that you feared you took up time of mine to the +prejudice of the public; implying, I imagine, that I might employ it in +composing. Waving both your compliment and my own vanity, I will speak +very seriously to you on that subject, and with exact truth. My simple +writings have had better fortune than they had any reason to expect; and +I fairly believe, in a great degree, because gentlemen-writers, who do +not write for interest, are treated with some civility if they do not +write absolute nonsense. I think so, because I have not unfrequently +known much better works than mine much more neglected, if the name, +fortune, and situation of the authors were below mine. I wrote early +from youth, spirits, and vanity; and from both the last when the first +no longer existed. I now shudder when I reflect on my own boldness; and +with mortification, when I compare my own writings with those of any +great authors. This is so true, that I question whether it would be +possible for me to summon up courage to publish anything I have written, +if I could recall time past, and should yet think as I think at present. +So much for what is over and out of my power. As to writing now, I have +totally forsworn the profession, for two solid reasons. One I have +already told you; and it is, that I know my own writings are trifling +and of no depth. The other is, that, light and futile as they were, I am +sensible they are better than I could compose now. I am aware of the +decay of the middling parts I had, and others may be still more sensible +of it. How do I know but I am superannuated? nobody will be so coarse as +to tell me so; but if I published dotage, all the world would tell me +so. And who but runs that risk who is an author after seventy? What +happened to the greatest author of this age, and who certainly retained +a very considerable portion of his abilities for ten years after my +age?[1] Voltaire, at eighty-four, I think, went to Paris to receive the +incense, in person, of his countrymen, and to be witness of their +admiration of a tragedy he had written, at that Methusalem age. Incense +he did receive till it choked him; and, at the exhibition of his play, +he was actually crowned with laurel in the box where he sat. But what +became of his poor play? It died as soon as he did--was buried with him; +and no mortal, I dare to say, has ever read a line of it since, it was +so bad. + +[Footnote 1: Voltaire had for several years been in disgrace at Court, +and had been living in Switzerland; but in 1778 he returned to Paris to +superintend the performance of a new tragedy, "Irene." He was, however, +greatly mortified at the refusal of Marie Antoinette to allow him to be +presented to her, and was but partly comforted by the enthusiasm of the +audience at the theatre, who crowned him on the stage after the +performance. Mme. du Deffand, who, in a letter to Walpole a few days +before, had said that if the tragedy did not succeed it would kill him, +says in a subsequent letter that its success had been very +moderate--that the enthusiasm of the audience had been for Voltaire +himself; and at all events her prophecy was fulfilled, for he died a few +weeks afterwards.] + +As I am neither by a thousandth part so great, nor a quarter so little, +I will herewith send you a fragment that an accidental _rencontre_ set +me upon writing, and which I find so flat, that I would not finish it. +Don't believe that I am either begging praise by the stale artifice of +hoping to be contradicted; or that I think there is any occasion to make +you discover my caducity. No; but the fragment contains a +curiosity--English verses written by a French Prince[1] of the Blood, +and which at first I had a mind to add to my "Royal and Noble Authors;" +but as he was not a royal author of ours, and as I could not please +myself with an account of him, I shall revert to my old resolution of +not exposing my pen's grey hairs. + +[Footnote 1: He was the Duc d'Orleans, who was taken prisoner by Henry +V. at Agincourt, and was detained in England for twenty-five years. The +verses are published in "Walpole's Works," i. 564.] + +Of one passage I must take notice; it is a little indirect sneer at our +crowd of authoresses. My choosing to send this to _you_, is a proof that +I think you an author, that is, a classic. But, in truth, I am +nauseated by the Madams Piozzi, &c., and the host of novel-writers in +petticoats, who think they imitate what is inimitable, "Evelina" and +"Cecilia."[1] Your candour, I know, will not agree with me, when I tell +you I am not at all charmed with Miss Seward[2] and Mr. Hayley[3] piping +to one another: but _you_ I exhort, and would encourage to write; and +flatter myself you will never be royally gagged and promoted to fold +muslins, as has been lately wittily said on Miss Burney, in the List of +five hundred living authors. _Your_ writings promote virtues; and their +increasing editions prove their worth and utility. If you question my +sincerity, can you doubt my admiring you, when you have gratified _my_ +self-love so amply in your "Bas Bleu"? Still, as much as I love your +writings, I respect yet more your heart and your goodness. You are so +good that I believe you would go to heaven, even though there were no +Sunday, and only six _working_ days in the week. Adieu, my best Madam! + +[Footnote 1: "Evelina" and "Cecilia" are novels by Miss Burney, +afterwards Mme. d'Arblay. The former was extravagantly praised by +Johnson and the Literary Club, and is probably a favourable specimen of +the style of the conversation of the day.] + +[Footnote 2: Miss Seward was the authoress of that most ingenious riddle +on the letter _H_, and also of some volumes of poetry.] + +[Footnote 3: Mr. Hayley was the author of several works in prose and +verse; in the latter, of a poem called "The Triumphs of Temper," and +entitled to the name, according to Byron, since "at least they triumphed +over his" ("English Bards and Scotch Reviewers").] + + +_DIVISIONS IN THE ROYAL FAMILY--THE REGENCY--THE IRISH PARLIAMENT._ + +TO SIR HORACE MANN. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _Feb._ 12, 1789. + +I now do believe that the King is coming to _him_self: not in the +language of the courtiers, to his senses--but from their proof, viz., +that he is returned to his _what! what! what!_ which he used to prefix +to every sentence, and which is coming to his nonsense. I am +corroborated in this opinion by his having said much more sensible +things in his lunacy than he did when he was reckoned sane, which I do +not believe he has been for some years. + +Well! now, how will this new change of scene operate? I fancy if any one +could win access to him, who would tell him the truth, he would be as +little pleased with his Queen, and his or her Pitt, as they will take +care he shall be with his sons. Would he admire the degradation of his +family in the person of all the Princes? or with the tripartite division +of Royalty between the Queen, the Prince, and Mr. Pitt, which I call a +_Trinity in disunity_? Will he be charmed with the Queen's admission to +power, which he never imparted to her? Will he like the discovery of his +vast private hoard? Will he be quite satisfied with the codicil to his +Will,[1] which she surreptitiously obtained from him in his frenzy _in +the first agony of her grief_? How will he digest that discovery of his +treasure, which will not diffuse great compassion when he shall next ask +a payment of his pretended debts? Before his madness he was indisposed +towards Pitt; will he be better pleased with him for his new dictatorial +presumption? + +[Footnote 1: "_His will._" This refers to a scandal propagated by some +of the opposition newspapers, for which there was not the slightest +foundation.] + +Turn to the next page--to Ireland. They have chosen for themselves, it +is believed, a Regent without restrictions,[1] in scorn of the +Parliament of England, and in order further to assert their +independence. Will they recede? especially when their courtiers have +flown in the face of our domineering Minister? I do not think they will. +They may receive the King again on his recovery; but they have united +interests with the Prince, and act in league with him, that he may +pledge himself to them more deeply in future at least; they will +never again acknowledge any superiority in our Parliament, but rather +act in contradistinction. + +[Footnote 1: "_Regent without restrictions._" The King, in the autumn of +1788, having fallen into a state of temporary derangement, Pitt proposed +that the Parliament should appoint the Prince of Wales Regent, with some +temporary limitations in the exercise of the power. Fox and his +followers contended that the Prince, being of full age, was as +absolutely entitled to the Regency as his right, as he would have been +to the Crown in the event of his father's death; and Grattan, who had a +paramount influence over the Irish Parliament, adopting Fox's view, +carried an address to the Prince, entreating him to take upon himself +the Regency as his right--a view which, of course, was incompatible with +any power of limiting his authority. Fortunately, before this address +could be acted upon, the King recovered. The matter unfortunately caused +great divisions in the Royal Family, to which Walpole alludes in the +latter part of the letter; the Queen considering (not without grounds) +that the Prince had shown unfilial eagerness to grasp at power; and +indeed he had already made it known that he had intended to dismiss Pitt +and to appoint Fox Prime Minister.] + +[Illustration: Hand-written Letter] + +_Feb. 22nd._ + +The person who was to have brought you this was prevented leaving town, +and therefore I did not finish my letter; but I believe I shall have +another opportunity of sending, and therefore I will make it ready. + +Much has happened this last week. The Prince is Regent of Ireland +without limitations--a great point for his character; for Europe will +now see that it was a faction which fettered him here, and not his +unpopularity, for then would not he have been as much distasted in +Ireland? Indeed, their own Attorney-General made way for him by opposing +on the most injudicious of all pleas, that it would be necessary before +he could be Regent there, to set the _Great Seal of England_ to the act! +How could the fool imagine, that when that phantom had been invented +here, it would not be equally easy for the Irish to invent a parallel +phantom of their own? But though this compliment is most grateful to the +Prince at present, he will probably find hereafter that he has in effect +lost Ireland, who meant more to emancipate themselves from this country +than to compliment the Prince or contradict the English ministerial +faction. + +What will be the consequence of that rapid turn in Ireland, even +immediately, who can tell? for the King is called recovered, and the +English Regency is suspended, with fresh and grievous insults to the +Prince, who with the Duke of York are violently hindered by the Queen +from even seeing their father, though she and their sisters play at +cards with him in an evening; and that the Chancellor was with him for +an hour and three quarters on the 19th. + +Under colour of what new phantom her Majesty, the Chancellor,[1] and +Pitt will assume the Government, we shall know in two or three days; for +I do not suppose they will produce the King instantly, at the risk of +oversetting his head again, though they seem half as mad as he, and +capable of any violent act to maintain themselves. And so much the +better: I do not wish them temperate; and it looks as if people never +were so in minorities and incapacities of their kings. The Prince set +out as indiscreetly as Pitt. + +[Footnote 1: The Chancellor was Lord Thurlow, an able but unprincipled +man. Johnson expressed a high opinion of him as an arguer "who brought +his mind to bear upon yours." But Fox declared his very face "proved him +an impostor, since no man could be as wise as he looked."] + +Of the event I am very glad; it saves the Prince and the Opposition from +the rashness of changing the Administration on so precarious and +shackled a tenure, and it saves them too from the expense of +re-elections. If the King recovers, they are but where they were, but +with the advantage of having the Prince and Duke of York rooted in +aversion to the Ministers, and most unlikely to be governed by the +Queen. If the King relapses, the Opposition stock will rise; though in +the mean time I do not doubt but the nation will grow drunk with the +loyalty of rejoicing, for kings grow popular by whatever way they lose +their heads. Still, whatever eccentricity he attempts, it will be +imputed to his deranged understanding. And, however even Lord +Hawkesbury[1] may meditate the darkest mischiefs under the new fund of +pity and loyalty, he will _not_ be for extending the prerogative, which +must devolve (on any accident to the King) on the Prince, Duke of York, +or some of the Princes, who will all be linked in a common cause with +their brothers, who have been so grossly affronted; and Prince William, +the third, particularly so by the last cause of hindering his peerage +while abroad. The King's recovery before the Regency Act was passed will +be another great advantage to the Prince; his hands would have been so +shackled, that he could not have found places for half the expectants, +who will now impute their disappointments to the King's amendment, and +not to the Prince. + +[Footnote 1: Lord Hawkesbury was afterwards promoted to the Earldom of +Liverpool, and was the father of the sagacious, prudent, but resolute +minister under whose administration the French Revolutionary War was +brought to a conclusion by the final overthrow of Napoleon.] + +_Monday, 24th._ + +The King has seen the Prince [of Wales], and received him kindly, but +the Queen was present. Iron Pluto (as Burke called the Chancellor) wept +again when with the King; but what is much more remarkable, his Majesty +has not asked for Pitt, and did abuse him constantly during his frenzy. +The Chancellor certainly did not put him in mind of Pitt, whom he +detests; so there is a pretty portion of hatred to be quaffed amongst +them! and swallowed, if they can; yet _aurum potabile_ will make it sit +on their stomachs. + + +_"THE ARABIAN NIGHTS"--THE AENEID--BOCCALINI--ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE._ + +TO MISS BERRY.[1] + +[Footnote 1: The lady to whom this letter is addressed was the elder of +two sisters who in 1787 came to reside with their father in Walpole's +neighbourhood. Both the sisters, according to his description of them, +were very accomplished and sufficiently good-looking. He gradually +became so enthusiastic in his regard for her, that he proposed to marry +her, old as he was, in order that he might have an excuse for leaving +her all his fortune; and he wrote the "Reminiscences of the Courts of +George I. and II.," which are among his published works, for the +amusement of the two sisters.] + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _June_ 30, 1789. + +Were there any such thing as sympathy at the distance of two hundred +miles, you would have been in a mightier panic than I was; for, on +Saturday se'nnight, going to open the glass case in the Tribune, my foot +caught in the carpet, and I fell with my whole weight (_si_ weight _y +a_) against the corner of the marble altar, on my side, and bruised the +muscles so badly, that for two days I could not move without screaming. +I am convinced I should have broken a rib, but that I fell on the cavity +whence two of my ribs were removed, that are gone to Yorkshire. I am +much better both of my bruise and of my lameness, and shall be ready to +dance at my own wedding when my wives return. And now to answer your +letter. + +If you grow tired of the "Arabian Nights," you have no more taste than +Bishop Atterbury,[1] who huffed Pope for sending him them (or the +"Persian Tales"), and fancied he liked Virgil better, who had no more +imagination than Dr. Akenside. Read "Sinbad the Sailor's Voyages," and +you will be sick of Aeneas's. What woful invention were the nasty +poultry that dunged on his dinner, and ships on fire turned into +Nereids! A barn metamorphosed into a cascade in a pantomime is full as +sublime an effort of genius. I do not know whether the "Arabian Nights" +are of Oriental origin or not: I should think not, because I never saw +any other Oriental composition that was not bombast without genius, and +figurative without nature; like an Indian screen, where you see little +men on the foreground, and larger men hunting tigers above in the air, +which they take for perspective. I do not think the Sultaness's +narratives very natural or very probable, but there is a wildness in +them that captivates. However, if you could wade through two octavos of +Dame Piozzi's _though's_ and _so's_ and _I trow's_, and cannot listen to +seven volumes of Scheherezade's narrations, I will sue for a divorce _in +foro Parnassi_, and Boccalini shall be my proctor. The cause will be a +counterpart to the sentence of the Lacedaemonian, who was condemned for +breach of the peace, by saying in three words what he might have said in +two. + +[Footnote 1: Atterbury (Pope's "mitred Rochester") was Bishop of +Rochester in the reigns of Anne and George I. He was so violent in his +Jacobitism, that on the death of Queen Anne he offered to head a +procession to proclaim James III. as king at Charing Cross. Afterwards +Sir R. Walpole had evidence of his maintaining a treasonable +correspondence with the Court of St. Germains, sufficient to have +ensured his conviction, but, being always of a merciful disposition, and +naturally unwilling to bring a Bishop to the block, he contented himself +with passing a Bill of Pains and Penalties to deprive him of his +bishopric and banish him for life.] + +You are not the first Eurydice[1] that has sent her husband to the +devil, as you have kindly proposed to me; but I will not undertake the +jaunt, for if old Nicholas Pluto should enjoin me not to look back to +you, I should certainly forget the prohibition like my predecessor. +Besides, I am a little too close to take a voyage twice which I am so +soon to repeat; and should be laughed at by the good folks on the other +side of the water, if I proposed coming back for a twinkling only. No; I +choose as long as I can + + Still with my fav'rite Berrys to remain. + +So, you was not quite satisfied, though you ought to have been +transported, with King's College Chapel, because it has no aisles, like +every common cathedral. I suppose you would object to a bird of +paradise, because it has no legs, but shoots to heaven in a trail, and +does not rest on earth. Criticism and comparison spoil many tastes. You +should admire all bold and unique essays that resemble nothing else; the +"Botanic Garden,"[2] the "Arabian Nights," and King's Chapel are above +all rules: and how preferable is what no one can imitate, to all that is +imitated even from the best models! Your partiality to the pageantry of +popery I do approve, and I doubt whether the world would not be a loser +(in its visionary enjoyments) by the extinction of that religion, as it +was by the decay of chivalry and the proscription of the heathen +deities. Reason has no invention; and as plain sense will never be the +legislator of human affairs, it is fortunate when taste happens to be +regent. + +[Footnote 1: The story of Eurydice's death and the descent of Orpheus, +her husband, to hell for her recovery, with which Virgil closes the +fourth Georgic, is among the most exquisite passages in all Latin +poetry. Pope made it the subject of his Ode on St. Cecilia's Day; but if +Pluto and Proserpine really relented at the doggerel that the English +poet puts into the mouth of the half-divine minstrel, they cannot +deserve the title of _illacrymabiles_ which Horace gives them. Some of +the pedantic scientists (to borrow a new word) have discovered in this +tale of true love an allegory about the alternations of Day and Night, +Sun and Moon, and what not, for which they deserve the anathema of every +scholar and lover of true poetry.] + +[Footnote 2: "The Botanic Garden," a poem by Dr. Darwin; chiefly +remembered for Mr. Gladstone's favourite "Upas-tree," a plant which has +not, and never had, any existence except in the fancy of some traveller, +who hoaxed the too-scientific poet with the story, which, years +afterwards, hoaxed the orator also.] + + +_DISMISSAL OF NECKER--BARON DE BRETEUIL--THE DUC D'ORLEANS--MIRABEAU._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Wednesday night, July_ 15, 1789. + +I write a few lines only to confirm the truth of much of what you will +read in the papers from Paris. Worse may already be come, or is expected +every hour. + +Mr. Mackenzie and Lady Betty called on me before dinner, after the post +was gone out; and he showed me a letter from Dutens, who said two +couriers arrived yesterday from the Duke of Dorset and the Duchess of +Devonshire, the latter of whom was leaving Paris directly. Necker had +been dismissed, and was thought to be set out for Geneva.[1] Breteuil, +who was at his country-house, had been sent for to succeed him. Paris +was in an uproar; and, after the couriers had left it, firing of cannon +was heard for four hours together. That must have been from the Bastile, +as probably the _tiers etat_ were not so provided. It is shocking to +imagine what may have happened in such a thronged city! One of the +couriers was stopped twice or thrice, as supposed to pass from the King; +but redeemed himself by pretending to be despatched by the _tiers etat_. +Madame de Calonne[2] told Dutens, that the newly encamped troops desert +by hundreds. + +[Footnote 1: The Baron de Breteuil had been the Controller of the +Household, and was appointed Necker's successor; but his Ministry did +not last above a fortnight, as the King found himself compelled to +restore Necker.] + +[Footnote 2: Mme. de Calonne's husband had been Prime Minister for some +years, having succeeded Necker in 1780.] + +Here seems the egg to be hatched, and imagination runs away with the +idea. I may fancy I shall hear of the King and Queen leaving Versailles, +like Charles the First, and then skips imagination six-and-forty years +lower, and figures their fugitive Majesties taking refuge in this +country. I have besides another idea. If the Bastile conquers, still is +it impossible, considering the general spirit in the country, and the +numerous fortified places in France, but some may be seized by the +_dissidents_, and whole provinces be torn from the Crown? On the other +hand, if the King prevails, what heavy despotism will the _etats_, by +their want of temper and moderation, have drawn on their country! They +might have obtained many capital points, and removed great oppression. +No French monarch will ever summon _etats_ again, if this moment has +been thrown away. + +Though I have stocked myself with such a set of visions for the event +either way, I do not pretend to foresee what will happen. Penetration +argues from reasonable probabilities; but chance and folly are apt to +contradict calculation, and hitherto they seem to have full scope for +action. One hears of no genius on either side, nor do symptoms of any +appear. There will perhaps: such times and tempests bring forth, at +least bring out, great men. I do not take the Duke of Orleans[1] or +Mirabeau[2] to be built _du bois dont on les fait_; no, nor Monsieur +Necker. He may be a great traitor, if he made the confusion designedly: +but it is a woful evasion, if the promised financier slips into a black +politician! I adore liberty, but I would bestow it as honestly as I +could; and a civil war, besides being a game of chance, is paying a very +dear price for it. + +[Footnote 1: The Duke of Orleans, the infamous Egalite, fomented the +Revolution in the hope that it might lead to the deposition of the King, +and to his own election to the throne, as in England, a century before, +the Prince of Orange had succeeded James II. He voted for the death of +his cousin and king, and was, in just retribution, sent to the +guillotine by Robespierre at the end of the same year.] + +[Footnote 2: Mirabeau was the most celebrated of all the earlier leaders +of the Revolution. At the time of this letter he had connected himself +closely with the Duc d'Orleans, in whose pay, in fact, he was, as his +profligacy and extravagance had long before dissipated all the property +which had fallen to his share as a younger son. Afterwards, on +discovering the cowardice and baseness of the Duke, he broke with him, +and exerted himself in the cause of the King, whom, indeed, he had +originally desired to support, if his advances had not been, with +incredible folly, rejected by Necker. But he had no time to repair the +mischief he had done, even if it had been in his power, which it +probably would not have been, since he died, after a short illness, in +April, 1791.] + +For us, we are in most danger of a deluge; though I wonder we so +frequently complain of long rains. The saying about St. Swithin is a +proof of how often they recur; for proverbial sentences are the children +of experience, not of prophecy. Good night! In a few days I shall send +you a beautiful little poem from the Strawberry press. + + +_BRUCE'S "TRAVELS"--VIOLENCE OF THE FRENCH JACOBINS--NECKER._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Wednesday night, July_ 1, 1790. + +It is certainly not from having anything to tell you, that I reply so +soon, but as the most agreeable thing I can do in my confinement. The +gout came into my heel the night before last, perhaps from the deluge +and damp. I increased it yesterday by limping about the house with a +party I had to breakfast. To-day I am lying on the settee, unable to +walk alone, or even to put on a slipper. However, as I am much easier +this evening, I trust it will go off. + +I do not love disputes, and shall not argue with you about Bruce; but, +if you like him, you shall not choose an author for me. It is the most +absurd, obscure, and tiresome book I know. I shall admire if you have a +clear conception about most of the persons and matters in his work; but, +in fact, I do not believe you have. Pray, can you distinguish between +his _cock_ and _hen_ Heghes, and between all Yasouses and Ozoros? and do +you firmly believe that an old man and his son were sent for and put to +death, because the King had run into a thorn-bush, and was forced to +leave his clothes behind him! Is it your faith, that one of their +Abyssinian Majesties pleaded not being able to contribute towards +sending for a new Abuna, because he had spent all his money at Venice in +looking-glasses? And do you really think that Peter Paez was a +Jack-of-all-trades, and built palaces and convents without assistance, +and furnished them with his own hands? You, who are a little apt to +contest most assertions, must have strangely let out your credulity! I +could put forty questions to you as wonderful; and, for my part, could +as soon credit ----. + +I am tired of railing at French barbarity and folly. They are more +puerile now serious, than when in the long paroxysm of gay levity. +Legislators, a senate, to neglect laws, in order to annihilate coats of +arms and liveries! to pull down a King, and set up an Emperor! They are +hastening to establish the tribunal of the praetorian guards; for the +sovereignty, it seems, is not to be hereditary. One view of their Fete +of the 14th,[1] I suppose, is to draw money to Paris; and the +consequence will be, that the deputies will return to the provinces +drunk with independence and self-importance, and will commit fifty times +more excesses, massacres, and devastations, than last year. George +Selwyn says, that _Monsieur_, the King's brother, is the only man of +rank from whom they cannot take a title. + +[Footnote 1: The grand federation in the Champ de Mars, on the +anniversary of the taking of the Bastile.] + +How franticly have the French acted, and how rationally the Americans! +But Franklin and Washington were great men. None have appeared yet in +France; and Necker has only returned to make a wretched figure! He is +become as insignificant as his King; his name is never mentioned, but +now and then as disapproving something that is done. Why then does he +stay? Does he wait to strike some great stroke, when everything is +demolished? His glory, which consisted in being Minister though a +Protestant, is vanished by the destruction of Popery; the honour of +which, I suppose, he will scarce assume to himself. I have vented my +budget, and now good night! I feel almost as if I could walk up to bed. + + +_THE PRINCE OF WALES--GROWTH OF LONDON AND OTHER TOWNS._ + +TO THE MISS BERRYS. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _June_ 8, 1791. + +Your No. 34, that was interrupted, and of which the last date was of May +24th, I received on the 6th, and if I could find fault, it would be in +the length; for I do not approve of your writing so much in hot weather, +for, be it known to you ladies, that from the first of the month, June +is not more June at Florence. My hay is crumbling away; and I have +ordered it to be cut, as a sure way of bringing rain. I have a selfish +reason, too, for remonstrating against long letters. I feel the season +advancing, when mine will be piteous short; for what can I tell you from +Twickenham in the next three or four months? Scandal from Richmond and +Hampton Court, or robberies at my own door? The latter, indeed, are +blown already. I went to Strawberry on Saturday, to avoid the Birthday +[4th June] crowd and squibs and crackers. At six I drove to Lord +Strafford's, where his goods are to be sold by auction; his sister, Lady +Anne [Conolly], intending to pull down the house and rebuild it. I +returned a quarter before seven; and in the interim between my Gothic +gate and Ashe's Nursery, a gentleman and gentlewoman, in a one-horse +chair and in the broad face of the sun, had been robbed by a single +highwayman, _sans_ mask. Ashe's mother and sister stood and saw it; but +having no notion of a robbery at such an hour in the high-road, and +before their men had left work, concluded it was an acquaintance of the +robber's. I suppose Lady Cecilia Johnstone will not descend from her +bedchamber to the drawing-room without life-guard men. + +The Duke of Bedford eclipsed the whole birthday by his clothes, +equipage, and servants: six of the latter walked on the side of the +coach to keep off the crowd--or to tempt it; for their liveries were +worth an argosie. The Prince [of Wales] was gorgeous too: the latter is +to give Madame d'Albany[1] a dinner. She has been introduced to Mrs. +Fitzherbert.[2] You know I used to call Mrs. Cosway's concerts Charon's +boat: now, methinks, London is so. I am glad Mrs. C. [osway] is with +you; she is pleasing--but surely it is odd to drop a child and her +husband and country all in a breath! + +[Footnote 1: Mme. d'Albany was the widow of Prince Charles Edward, who +had died in 1788 in Italy. She was presented at Court, and was +graciously received by the Queen. She was generally believed to be +married to the great Italian tragic poet, Alfieri. Since her husband's +death she had been living in Paris, but had now fled to England for +safety.] + +[Footnote 2: Mrs. Fitzherbert, the Roman Catholic lady whom the Prince +of Wales had married.] + +I am glad you are dis_franchised_ of the exiles. We have several, I am +told, here; but I strictly confine myself to those I knew formerly at +Paris, and who all are quartered on Richmond-green. I went to them on +Sunday evening, but found them gone to Lord Fitzwilliam's, the next +house to Madame de Boufflers', to hear his organ; whither I followed +them, and returned with them. The Comtesse Emilie played on her harp; +then we all united at loto. I went home at twelve, unrobbed; and Lord +Fitzwilliam, who asked much after you both, was to set out the next +morning for Dublin, though intending to stay there but four days, and be +back in three weeks. + +I am sorry you did not hear all Monsieur de Lally Tollendal's[1] +Tragedy, of which I have had a good account. I like his tribute to his +father's memory. Of French politics you must be tired; and so am I. +Nothing appears to me to promise their chaos duration; consequently I +expect more chaos, the sediment of which is commonly despotism. Poland +ought to make the French blush; but that, they are not apt to do on any +occasion.... + +[Footnote 1: M. de Lally Tollendal was the son of that unfortunate Count +Lally, so iniquitously condemned for his conduct in the government of +India, as is mentioned in a former note.] + +The Duke of St. Albans has cut down all the brave old trees at Hanworth, +and consequently reduced his park to what it issued +from--Hounslow-heath: nay, he has hired a meadow next to mine, for the +benefit of embarkation; and there lie all the good old corpses of oaks, +ashes, and chestnuts, directly before _your_ windows, and blocking up +one of my views of the river! but so impetuous is the rage for building, +that his Grace's timber will, I trust, not annoy us long. There will +soon be one street from London to Brentford; ay, and from London to +every village ten miles round! Lord Camden has just let ground at +Kentish Town for building fourteen hundred houses--nor do I wonder; +London is, I am certain, much fuller than ever I saw it. I have twice +this spring been going to stop my coach in Piccadilly, to inquire what +was the matter, thinking there was a mob--not at all; it was only +passengers. Nor is there any complaint of depopulation from the country: +Bath shoots out into new crescents, circuses, and squares every year: +Birmingham, Manchester, Hull, and Liverpool would serve any King in +Europe for a capital, and would make the Empress of Russia's mouth +water. Of the war with Catherine Slay-Czar I hear not a breath, and +thence conjecture it is dozing into peace. + +Mr. Dundas[1] has kissed hands for Secretary of State; and Bishop +Barrington, of Salisbury, is transferred to Durham, which he affected +not to desire, having large estates by his wife in the south--but from +the triple mitre downwards, it is almost always true, what I said some +years ago, that "_nolo episcopari_ is Latin for _I lie_." Tell it not in +Gath that I say so; for I am to dine to-morrow at the Bishop of London's +at Fulham, with Hannah _Bonner_, my _imprimee_.[2] This morning I went +with Lysons the Reverend to see Dulwich College, founded in 1619 by +Alleyn, a player, which I had never seen in my many days. We were +received by a smart divine, _tres bien poudre_, and with black satin +breeches--but they are giving new wings and red satin breeches to the +good old hostel too, and destroying a gallery with a very rich ceiling; +and nothing will remain of ancient but the front, and an hundred mouldy +portraits, among apostles, sibyls, and Kings of England. On Sunday I +shall settle at Strawberry; and then woe betide you on post-days! I +cannot make news without straw. The Johnstones are going to Bath, for +the healths of both; so Richmond will be my only staple. Adieu, all +three! + +[Footnote 1: Mr. Dundas, President of the Board of Control, subsequently +raised to the peerage as Lord Melville. In Pitt's second administration +he became First Lord of the Admiralty, but in 1805 was impeached by the +House of Commons on a charge of malversation while Treasurer of the Navy +in Pitt's first Ministry. Of that he was acquitted; but it was proved +that some of the subordinate officers of the department had misapplied +large sums of the public money, which they could not have done if he had +not been grossly negligent of his duties as head of the department, and +he was consequently removed from the Privy Council.] + +[Footnote 2: Miss Hannah More is meant; but I do not know what peculiar +cruelty of temper or practice entitled her to the name of Mary's +persecuting and pitiless Bishop.] + + +_SIR W. AND LADY HAMILTON--A BOAT-RACE--THE MARGRAVINE OF ANSPACH._ + +TO THE MISS BERRYS. + +BERKELEY SQUARE, _Tuesday, Aug._ 23, 1791. + +I am come to town to meet Mr. Conway and Lady Aylesbury; and, as I have +no letter from you yet to answer, I will tell you how agreeably I have +passed the last three days; though they might have been improved had you +shared them, as I wished, and as I _sometimes_ do wish. On Saturday +evening I was at the Duke of Queensberry's (at Richmond, _s'entend_) +with a small company: and there were Sir William Hamilton and Mrs. +Harte[1]; who, on the 3rd of next month, previous to their departure, is +to be made Madame l'Envoyee a Naples, the Neapolitan Queen having +promised to receive her in that quality. Here she cannot be presented, +where only such over-virtuous wives as the Duchess of Kingston and Mrs. +Hastings[2]--who could go with a husband in each hand--are admitted. Why +the Margravine of Anspach, with the same pretensions, was not, I do not +understand; perhaps she did not attempt it. But I forget to retract, and +make _amende honorable_ to Mrs. Harte. I had only heard of her +attitudes; and those, in dumb show, I have not yet seen. Oh! but she +sings admirably; has a very fine, strong voice; is an excellent buffa, +and an astonishing tragedian. She sung Nina in the highest perfection; +and there her attitudes were a whole theatre of grace and various +expressions. + +[Footnote 1: Mrs. Harte, the celebrated Lady Hamilton, with whom Nelson +was so intimately acquainted, though old Lord St. Vincent always +maintained that it had never been more than a purely Platonic +attachment. Her previous life, however, had been notoriously such as +rendered her inadmissible at our Court, though that of Naples was less +particular.] + +[Footnote 2: Mrs. Hastings, the wife of the great Governor-General, had +previously been married to Baron Imhoff, a German miniature painter; but +she had obtained a divorce from him, and, as the Baron returned to +Germany with an amount of riches that he could hardly have earned by +skill in his profession, the scandalous tongues of some of Hastings's +enemies imputed to him that he had, in fact, bought her of her husband.] + +The next evening I was again at Queensberry House, where the Comtesse +Emilie de Boufflers played on her harp, and the Princesse di +Castelcigala, the Neapolitan minister's wife, danced one of her country +dances, with castanets, very prettily, with her husband. Madame du Barry +was there too, and I had a good deal of frank conversation with her +about Monsieur de Choiseul; having been at Paris at the end of his reign +and the beginning of hers, and of which I knew so much by my intimacy +with the Duchesse de Choiseul. + +On Monday was the boat-race [at Richmond]. I was in the great room at +the Castle, with the Duke of Clarence, Lady Di., Lord Robert Spencer, +and the House of Bouverie, to see the boats start from the bridge to +Thistleworth, and back to a tent erected on Lord Dysart's meadow, just +before Lady Di.'s windows; whither we went to see them arrive, and where +we had breakfast. For the second heat, I sat in my coach on the bridge; +and did not stay for the third. The day had been coined on purpose, with +my favourite south-east wind. The scene, both up the river and down, was +what only Richmond upon earth can exhibit. The crowds on those green +velvet meadows and on the shores, the yachts, barges, pleasure and small +boats, and the windows and gardens lined with spectators, were so +delightful, that when I came home from that vivid show, I thought +Strawberry looked as dull and solitary as a hermitage. At night there +was a ball at the Castle, and illuminations, with the Duke's cypher, &c. +in coloured lamps, as were the houses of his Royal Highness's tradesmen. +I went again in the evening to the French ladies on the Green, where +there was a bonfire; but, you may believe, not to the ball. + +Well! but you, who have had a fever with _fetes_, had rather hear the +history of the new _soi-disante_ Margravine. She has been in England +with her foolish Prince, and not only notified their marriage to the +Earl [of Berkeley] her brother, who did not receive it propitiously, but +his Highness informed his Lordship by a letter, that they have an usage +in his country of taking a wife with the left hand; that he had espoused +his Lordship's sister in that manner; and intends, as soon as she shall +be a widow, to marry her with his right hand also. The Earl replied, +that he knew she was married to an English peer [Lord Craven], a most +respectable man, and can know nothing of her marrying any other man; and +so they are gone to Lisbon. Adieu! + + +_ARREST OF THE DUCHESSE DE BIRON--THE QUEEN OF FRANCE--PYTHAGORAS._ + +TO THE MISS BERRYS. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _Tuesday evening, eight o'clock, Oct._ 15, 1793. + +Though I do not know when it will have its whole lading, I must begin my +letter this very moment, to tell you what I have just heard. I called on +the Princesse d'Hennin, who has been in town a week. I found her quite +alone, and I thought she did not answer quite clearly about her two +knights: the Prince de Poix has taken a lodging in town, and she talks +of letting her house here, if she can. In short, I thought she had a +little of an Ariadne-air--but this was not what I was in such a hurry to +tell you. She showed me several pieces of letters, I think from the +Duchesse de Bouillon: one says, the poor Duchesse de Biron is again +arrested[1] and at the Jacobins, and with her "une jeune etourdie, qui +ne fait que chanter toute la journee;" and who, think you, may that +be?--only our pretty little wicked Duchesse de Fleury! by her singing +and not sobbing, I suppose she was weary of her _Tircis_, and is glad to +be rid of him. This new blow, I fear, will overset Madame de Biron +again. The rage at Paris seems to increase daily or hourly; they either +despair, or are now avowed banditti. I tremble so much for the great and +most suffering victim of all, the Queen,[2] that one cannot feel so much +for many, as several perhaps deserve: but her tortures have been of far +longer duration than any martyrs, and more various; and her courage and +patience equal to her woes! + +[Footnote 1: The Duchess, with scores of other noble ladies, was put to +death in the course of these two horrible years, 1793-94.] + +[Footnote 2: Marie Antoinette was put to death the very next day. And I +cannot more fitly close the allusions to the Revolution so frequent in +the letters of the past four years than by Burke's description of this +pure and noble Queen in her youth: "It is now sixteen or seventeen years +since I saw the Queen of France, then the Dauphiness of Versailles; and +surely never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a +more delightful vision. I saw her, just above the horizon, glittering +like the morning star, full of life and splendour and joy. Oh! what a +revolution! and what a heart must I have to contemplate without emotion +that elevation and that fall! Little did I dream, when she added titles +of veneration to those of enthusiastic, distant, respectful love, that +she should ever be obliged to carry the sharp antidote against disgrace +concealed in that bosom; little did I dream that I should have lived to +see such disasters fallen upon her in a nation of gallant men and +cavaliers. I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their +scabbards to avenge even a look that threatened her with insult" +("Reflections on the French Revolution ").] + +My poor old friend, the Duchesse de la Valiere, past ninety and +stone-deaf, has a guard set upon her, but in her own house; her +daughter, the Duchesse de Chatillon, mother of the Duchesse de la +Tremouille, is arrested; and thus the last, with her attachment to the +Queen, must be miserable indeed!--but one would think I feel for nothing +but Duchesses: the crisis has crowded them together into my letter, and +into a prison;--and to be a prisoner among cannibals is pitiable indeed! + +_Thursday morning, 17th, past ten._ + +I this moment receive the very comfortable twin-letter. I am so +conjugal, and so much in earnest upon the article of recovery, that I +cannot think of _a pretty thing_ to say to very pretty Mrs. Stanhope; +nor do I know what would be a pretty thing in these days. I might come +out with some old-fashioned compliment, that would have been very +genteel + + In good Queen Bess's golden day, when I was a dame of honour. + +Let Mrs. Stanhope imagine that I have said all she deserves: I certainly +think it, and will ratify it, when I have learnt the language of the +nineteenth century; but I really am so ancient, that as Pythagoras +imagined he had been Panthoides Euphorbus[1] in the Trojan war, I am +not sure that I did not ride upon a pillion behind a Gentleman-Usher, +when her Majesty Elizabeth went into procession to St. Paul's on the +defeat of the Armada! Adieu! the postman puts an end to my idle +speculations--but, Scarborough for ever! with three huzzas! + +[Footnote 1: "_Euphorbus._" This is an allusion to the doctrine of +metempsychosis taught by the ancient philosopher Pythagoras of Samos, +according to which when a man died his soul remained in the shades below +suffering any punishment which the man had deserved, till after a +certain lapse of time all the taint of the former existence had been +worn away, when the soul returned to earth to animate some other body. +The passage referred to here by Walpole occurs in Ovid's +"Metamorphoses," xvi. 160, where Pythagoras is expounding his theory, +which is also explained to Aeneas by Anchises in the shades below +(Aeneid, vi. 745). But the two poets differ in more points than one. +According to Anchises, one thousand years are required between the two +existences; according to Pythagoras, not above four hundred or five +hundred. According to Anchises, before the soul revives in another body +it must have forgotten all that happened to it in the body of its former +owner. As Dryden translates Virgil-- + + Whole droves of minds are by the driving God + Compell'd to drink the deep Lethaean flood, + In large forgetful draughts to steep the cares + Of their past labours, and their irksome years; + That unremembering of its former pain + The soul may suffer mortal flesh again. + +(Aeneid, vi. 1020). + +Pythagoras, on the other hand, professes a distinct recollection of who +he was and what he suffered in his former life. He remembers that in the +time of the Trojan war (at the outside not five hundred years before his +time) he was a Trojan--Euphorbus, the son of Panthous--and that in the +war he was killed by Menelaus; and his memory is so accurate, that not +long before he had recognised the very shield which he had borne in the +conflict hanging up as a trophy in the temple of Juno at Argos.] + + +_EXPECTATIONS OF A VISIT TO STRAWBERRY BY THE QUEEN._ + +TO THE HON. H.S. CONWAY. + +STRAWBERRY HILL, _July_ 2, 1795. + +I will write a word to you, though scarce time to write one, to thank +you for your great kindness about the soldier, who shall get a +substitute if he can. As you are, or have been in town, your daughter +will have told you in what a bustle I am, preparing--not to resist, but +to receive an invasion of royalties to-morrow; and cannot even escape +them like Admiral Cornwallis, though seeming to make a semblance; for I +am to wear a sword, and have appointed two aides-de-camp, my nephews, +George and Horace Churchill. If I _fall_, as ten to one but I do, to be +sure it will be a superb tumble, at the feet of a Queen and eight +daughters of Kings; for, besides the six Princesses, I am to have the +Duchess of York and the Princess of Orange! Woe is me, at seventy-eight, +and with scarce a hand and foot to my back! Adieu! Yours, &c. + +A POOR OLD REMNANT. + + +_REPORT OF THE VISIT._ + +_July_ 7, 1795. + +I am not dead of fatigue with my Royal visitors, as I expected to be, +though I was on my poor lame feet three whole hours. Your daughter [Mrs. +Damer], who kindly assisted me in doing the honours, will tell you the +particulars, and how prosperously I succeeded. The Queen was uncommonly +condescending and gracious, and deigned to drink my health when I +presented her with the last glass, and to thank me for all my +attentions.[1] Indeed my memory _de la vieille cour_ was but once in +default. As I had been assured that her Majesty would be attended by her +Chamberlain, yet was not, I had no glove ready when I received her at +the step of her coach: yet she honoured me with her hand to lead her up +stairs; nor did I recollect my omission when I led her down again. +Still, though gloveless, I did not squeeze the royal hand, as +Vice-chamberlain Smith[2] did to Queen Mary. + +[Footnote 1: There cannot be a more fitting conclusion than this letter +recording the greatest honour conferred on the writer and his Strawberry +by the visit of the Queen of the realm and her condescending proposal of +his health at his own table.] + +[Footnote 2: "_Vice-Chamberlain Smith._" An allusion to a gossiping +story of King William's time, that when Queen Mary came back to England +she asked one of her ladies what a squeeze of the hand was supposed to +intimate; and when the reply was, "Love," "Then," said Her Majesty, "my +Vice-Chancellor must be in love with me; for he always squeezes my +hand."] + +You will have stared, as I did, at the Elector of Hanover deserting his +ally the King of Great Britain, and making peace with the monsters. But +Mr. Fawkener, whom I saw at my sister's [Churchill's] on Sunday, laughs +at the article in the newspapers, and says it is not an unknown practice +for stock-jobbers to hire an emissary at the rate of five hundred +pounds, and dispatch to Franckfort, whence he brings forged attestations +of some marvellous political event, and spreads it on 'Change, which +produces such a fluctuation in the stocks as amply overpays the expense +of his mission. + +This was all I learnt in the single night I was in town. I have not read +the new French constitution, which seems longer than probably its reign +will be. The five sovereigns will, I suppose, be the first guillotined. +Adieu! Yours ever. + + + +UNWIN BROTHERS, THE GRESHAM PRESS, CHILWORTH AND LONDON. + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Letters of Horace Walpole, by Horace Walpole + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTERS OF HORACE WALPOLE *** + +***** This file should be named 12074.txt or 12074.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/0/7/12074/ + +Produced by Ted Garvin, Linda Cantoni, and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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