diff options
Diffstat (limited to 'old')
| -rw-r--r-- | old/4610.txt | 32292 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | old/4610.zip | bin | 0 -> 640656 bytes |
2 files changed, 32292 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/old/4610.txt b/old/4610.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7e00dcd --- /dev/null +++ b/old/4610.txt @@ -0,0 +1,32292 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2 +by Horace Walpole +(#3 in our series by Horace Walpole) + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg file. + +Please do not remove this header information. + +This header should be the first thing seen when anyone starts to +view the eBook. Do not change or edit it without written permission. +The words are carefully chosen to provide users with the information +needed to understand what they may and may not do with the eBook. +To encourage this, we have moved most of the information to the end, +rather than having it all here at the beginning. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + +Information on contacting Project Gutenberg to get eBooks, and +further information, is included below. We need your donations. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a 501(c)(3) +organization with EIN [Employee Identification Number] 64-6221541 +Find out about how to make a donation at the bottom of this file. + + +Title: The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2 + +Author: Horace Walpole + +Release Date: November, 2003 [Etext #4610] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on February 19, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2 +by Horace Walpole +******This file should be named 4610.txt or 4610.zip****** + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +The "legal small print" and other information about this book +may now be found at the end of this file. Please read this +important information, as it gives you specific rights and +tells you about restrictions in how the file may be used. + +*** +This etext was produced by Marjorie Fulton. + +For easier searching, letters have been numbered. Only the +page numbers that appear in the table of contents have been +retained in the text of letters. Footnotes have been regrouped +as endnotes following the letter to which they relate. + + + + + THE LETTERS of HORACE WALPOLE, EARL OF ORFORD: + + INCLUDING NUMEROUS LETTERS NOW FIRST PUBLISHED + FROM THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPTS. + + IN FOUR VOLUMES + VOL. 2. 1749-1759. + + + +CONTENTS OF VOL. II + +[Those Letters now first collected are marked N.] + + +1749. + +1. To Sir Horace Mann, March 4.-Proceedings in Parliament. +Formidable minority headed by the Prince. Character'-of Lord +Egmont. Innovations in the Mutiny Bill. New Navy Bill ;13 + +2. To the same, March 23.-Debates on the Military Bills. Jar at +Leicester House. King Theodore of Corsica. The two black +Princes of Anamaboe. Spread of Methodism. Stories of his +brother Ned's envy-16 + +3. To the same, May 3.-Rejoicings for the peace. Jubilee +masquerade. Fire-works. English credulity. Subscription +masquerade. Projected chastisement of Oxford. Union between the +Prince's party and the Jacobites. Disgrace of Maurepas. Epigram +on Lord Egmont's opposition to the Mutiny Bill. Bon-mot by +Wall; and of Lady Townshend. Increase of Methodism, drinking, +and gambling.-19 + +4. To the same, May 17.--The Duke of Richmond's fireworks in +celebration of the peace. Second jubilee masquerade. Miss +Chudleigh. Lady Rochford. Death of Miss Jenny Conway. +Publication of Lord Bolingbroke's letters. Anecdotes of Pope +and Bolingbroke.-23 + +5. To George Montagu, Esq. May 18.-The Duke of Richmond's +fireworks. The Violette and Garrick. Story of the Duchess of +Queensberry. Mary Queen of Scots. Dignity of human nature. +Anecdote of Fielding. West's Pindar. Story of Charles Townshend +.-27 + +6. To Sir Horace Mann, June 4.-Stories of Pope, Bolingbroke, +and Atterbury.-30 + +7. To the same, June 25.-Cambridge installation. Installation +of six Knights of the Bath. Garrick's marriage to the Violette. +Lord Mountford's cricket-matches.-32 + +8. To George Montagu, Esq. July 5.-Improvements at Mistley. +Visit to the Prince of Wales. Anecdote of Lady Anson. Epigram.- +35 + +9. To the same, July 20.-Excursions. Layer Marney. Messing +parsonage. Death of the Duke of Montagu. His will.-36 + +10. To Sir Horace Mann, July 24.-Death of the Duke of Montagu. +Principles of the Methodists .-38 + +11. To the same, Aug. 17.-Fire at Kensington Palace.-40 + +12. To George Montagu, Esq. Aug. 26.-Expedition to Arundel +Castle. Petworth. Cowdry.-42 + +13. To Sir Horace Mann, Sept. 12.-Madame de Mirepoix. Madame +S`evign`e's Letters.-43 + +14. To John Chute, Esq. Sept. 22.--45 + +15. To George Montagu, Esq. Sept. 28.-Church at Cheneys. Tombs of +the Bedfords. Latimers. Stoke church--45 + +16. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 27-Dodington first minister at +Carlton House. Lady Yarmouth.-46 + +17. To the same, Nov. 17.-Robbery of Walpole in Hyde Park. +Riots at the new French theatre.-47 + + + +1750. + +18. To Sir Horace Mann, Jan. 10.-Montesquieu's Esprit des Loix. +Hainault's Abr`eg`e de L'Histoire de la France. Westminster +election. Death of Lord Pembroke. His character. Death of +lord Crawford. Story of General Wade. Sir John Barnard's scheme +for the reduction of interest.-48 + +19. To the same Jan. 31.-Numerous robberies. Secession on the +mutiny-bill. Hurricane in the East Indies. Bon-mot of the +Chevalier Lorenzi.-52 + +20. To the same, Feb. 25.-Ministerial quarrels. Dispute of +precedence. Bon-mot of a chair-maker. Westminster election. +Extraordinary wager. Death of the Duke of Somerset. Madame +Munchausen. Horrors of the slave-trade. Montesquieu's Esprit +des Loix. Grecian architecture.-53 + +21. To the same, March 11.-The earthquakes. Middlesex election. +Story Of Marie Mignot.-58 + +22. To the same, April 2.-Terror occasioned by the earthquake. +Death of Lady Bolingbroke. Death of Lady Dalkeith. Mr. Mason's +pedigree. Epigram on Lady Caroline Petersham, and the Lady +Bingley. Madame du Boccage.-60 + +23. To George Montagu, Esq. May 15.-Westminster election.-65 + +24. To Sir Horace Mann, May 19.-Absurdities committed after the +earthquake. Westminster election. Commotion in Dublin. Bower's +History of the Popes.-66 + +25. To George Montagu, Esq. June 23.-Character of Mr. Bentley. +Account of a party of pleasure at Vauxhall.-68 + +26. To Sir Horace Mann, July 25.-The Houghton lantern. King +Theodore of Corsica in prison for debt. Mr. Ashton. Dr. +Mead.-71 + +27. To the same, Aug. 2.-Tuscan villas. Improvement in the +seats about London. Consequences of the excessive heat of the +weather. Death of Dr. Middleton, and of Tacitus Gordon. Account +of M'Lean, the fashionable highwayman.-73 + +28. To the same, Sept. 1.-Pedigrees. Young Craggs's epitaph. +Story of old Craggs. George Selwyn's passion for coffins and +executions. Death of the Duke OF Richmond. Lord Granby's +marriage. Hanoverian duel. Singular bet at White's.-76 + +29. To George Montagu, Esq. Sept. 10.-Death of General +Handasyde, and of Sir Gerard Vanneck. hopes conducive to +happiness.-80 + +30. To Sir Horace Mann, Sept. 20.-Dr. Mead. Sermon against Dr. +Middleton. Ecclesiastical absurdity. Project for publishing an +edition of the Bible without pointings or stops. Sir Charles +William's letters. Frequency of robberies. Visit to Spence.-81 + +31. To the same, Oct. 18.-Treaty of commerce with Spain. +M'Lean's condemnation and execution. Rage for visiting him in +Newgate.-83 + +32. To the same, Nov. 19.-Shattered state of the ministry. +State of parties.-84 + +33. To the same, Dec. 19.-Interministerium. Droll cause in +Westminster Hall. The Duke of Cumberland and Edward Bright. Sir +Ralph Gore. Bon-mots of Quin.-86 + +34. To the same, Dec. 22.-Miss Chudleigh. FOntenelle. Reply of +Lord Cornbury. Old Cibber's soliciting the laureateship for +Harry Jones. A very odd new story. Ashton's ingratitude.-88 + + + +1751. + +35. To Sir Horace Mann, Feb. 9.-Debates in Parliament. +"Constitutional queries." Westminster petition. Proceedings +against Mr. Murray. Account of young Wortley Montagu.-91 + +36. To the same, March 1,3.-Further proceedings against Mr. +Murray. Lady Vane's memoirs of her own life. Fashionable +theatricals. The English "a grave nation".-94 + +37. To the same, March 21.-Death of Frederick, Prince of Wales. +Conduct of the King .-95 + +38. To the same, April 1.-Death of Mr. Whithed; his will. +Death of the Earl of Orford. Harmony between the King and +Princess of Wales. Prince George. Prince Edward.-97 + +39. To the same, April 22.-Dodington's project of a ministry +upset by the death of the Prince. Story of Bootle. Character of +Dr. Lee. Prince George created Prince of Wales. His household. +Bishop Hayter and Archbishop Blackburn. The young Earl of +Orford.-99 + +40. To the same, May 30.-Emptiness and vanity of life. Match +between Lord Orford and the rich Miss Nicholl broken off. +Debates on the Regency bill.-103 + +41. To George Montagu, Esq. May 30.-Lady Orford and Mr. Shirley +married.-103 + +42. To the Rev. Joseph Spence, June 3.-With a translation of a +couplet on Tibullus. [N.]-105 + +43. To George Montagu, Esq. June 13.-Change of ministry. +Bon-mot on Lord North's Wedding. Spenser, with Kent's designs. +Bentley's ray. Warburton's Pope. Edwards's Canons of +Criticism.-106 + +44. To Sir Horace Mann, June 18.-Resignations. New ministry. +Epigram on Lord Holderness. The two Miss Gunnings. Extravagant +dinner at White's. Bubb de Tristibus. Dodington's bombastic +eulogium on the Prince. Sale of the pictures at Houghton.-107 + +45. To the same, July 16.-Announcing Mr. Conway's intended +visit to Florence.-109 + +46. To George Montagu, Esq. July 22.-Projected edition of +Grammont. Visit to Wimbledon. Ragley. Warwick Castle. +"Capability" Brown. Easton Neston. Stowe.-110 + +47. To Sir Horace Mann, Aug. 31.-Story of the Gunnings, and of +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu in durance in the Brescian. Lord +Orford and Miss Nicholl.-112 + +48. To George Montagu, Esq. Oct. 8.-Description of Woburn.-114 + +49. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 14.-Death of the Prince of Orange. +Lady Pembroke. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu's Letters. Lady +Russell's Letters.-115 + +50. To the same, Nov. 22.-Unanimity of Parliament. Plots in the +Duke of Burgundy's cradle. Verses stuck up on the Louvre. Young +Wortley Montagu's imprisonment at Paris. Bon-mot of Lord Coke. +Anecdote of the King.-118 + + +51. To the same, Dec. 12.-Lord Stormont. Death of Lord +Bolingbroke. The wonderful tooth-drawer.-119 + + + +1752. + +52. To George Montagu, Esq. Jan. 9.-The St. James's Evening +Post parodied.-120 + +53. To Sir Horace Mann, Feb. 2.-Debates on the treaty with +Saxony. A black-ball at White's.-122 + +54. To the same, Feb. 27.-Death of Sir Horace Mann's father. +Marriage of the Miss Gunnings to Lord Coventry and the Duke of +Hamilton.-123 + +55. To the same, March 23.-Sir Horace Mann's portrait. The Duke +of Argyle's Job. The Duchess of Hamilton at court. Miss +Jefferies and Miss Blandy. Frequency of executions.-124 + +56. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, May 5.-On Mr. Conway's infant +daughter.-[N.] 126 + +57. To George Montagu, Esq. May 12.-Irish politics. Mother +Midnight's oratory. Captain Hotham's bon-mot.-127 + +58. To Sir Horace Mann, May 13.-Irish politics. Miss Blandy's +execution.-128 + +59. To George Montagu, Esq. June 6.-Capture of a housebreaker +at Strawberry Hill. Gray's Odes. Story of Lord Bury.-129 + +60. To the same.-131 + +61. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, June 23.-Story of Mr. Seymour and +Lady Di. Egerton. Distress and poverty of France. Profligacy of +the court. Births and marriages.-132 + +62. To George Montagu, Esq. July 20.-Alarm at the visit of a +King's messenger. The "M`emoires"133 + +63. To Sir Horace Mann,.July @7.-Fire at Lincoln's-inn. +Princess Emily and Richmond Park. Discussions concerning the +tutorhood of the Prince of Wales. Portraits of Cr`ebillon and +Marivaux, by Liotard.-134 + +64. To Richard Bentley. Aug. 5.-Excursion to Kent and Sussex. +Bishop's palace, Rochester. Knowle. Tunbridge. Summer Hill. +Bayham Abbey. Hurst Monceaux. Battle Abbey. Silver Hill. +Penshurst. Mereworth. Sissinghurst. Becton Malherbe. Leeds +Castle.-137 + +65. To George Montagu, Esq. Aug. 28.-Adventure at Mrs. +Boscawen's. Privilege of Parliament. Standing Army. Gray's +Odes.-145 + +66. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 28.-Projected trip to Florence.. +Madame de Brionne. Lady Coventry at Paris. Duke Hamilton and +his Duchess. Anecdotes. Parisian indecorums. Madame Pompadour's +husband. Trait of Louis the Fifteenth. Epigram on the quarrel +of the Pretender and his second son. Astley's pictures.-146 + +67. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Nov. 8 [N.].-150 + +68. To George Montagu, Esq. Dec. 3. Lord Harcourt's removal +from the Governorship of the Prince of Wales. Bon-mot of George +Selwyn.-150 + +69. To Sir Horace Mann, Dec. 11.-Education of the Prince of +Wales. Resignation of Lord Harcourt and the Bishop of Norwich. +The Bishop of Gloucester the new preceptor. And Lord Waldegrave +the new governor.-151 + + + +1753. + +70. To Sir Horace Mann, Feb. 14.-Death of Sir Hans Sloane; his +Museum.-155 + +71. To Mr. Gray, Feb. 20.-New edition of Gray's Odes with +Bentley's designs.-157 + +72. To Sir Horace Mann, March 4.-Lord Ravensworth's accusation +of Stone, Murray, and the Bishop of Gloucester, on the +information of Fawcett. Liotard. Cr`ebillon's portrait.-158 + +73. To the same, March 27.-Debates in the Lords on the charges +against Stone, Murray, and Bishop Johnson.-159 + +74. To the same, April 16.-161 + +75. To the same, April 27.-Progress of improvements at +Strawberry Hill. Account of the taking of Dr. Cameron. Paper in +"The World," to promote a subscription for King Theodore. Lord +Bath and the Craftsman.-161 + +76. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, May 5.-Madame de Mezi`eres. Sir +Charles Williams's distich on the Queen of Hungary. Lord +Bolingbroke's Works. Anecdote of Lady Harrington.-164 + +77. To George Montagu, Esq. May 22.-Debates on the Marriage +Bill.-165 + + +78. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, May 24.-Debates on the Marriage +Bill.-167 + +79. To George Montagu, Esq. June 11.-Parliamentary +altercations. Clandestine Marriage Bill. Bon-mot of Keith's.- +169 + +80. To Sir Horace Mann, June 12.-Description of Strawberry +Hill. Clandestine Marriage Bill. Execution of Dr. Cameron.-170 + +81. To George Montagu, Esq. July 17.-Death of Miss Brown. Tom +Hervey's letter to Sir William Bunbury. Story of Dr. Suckling. +George Selwyn's bon-mot. Elopement. Marriage Bill.-173 + +82. To Sir Horace Mann, July 21.-Electioneering. Snuff-taking. +Death of Lord Pomfret.-174 + +83. To John Chute, Esq. Aug. 4.-Visit to Greatworth. Sir Harry +Danvers described. White-knights. Middleton. Wroxton. Steane +Chapel. Stowe. Temple of Friendship. Warkworth.-176 + +84. To George Montagu, Esq. Aug. 16.-Stowe. Sir Harry Danvers.- +179 + +85. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Sept.-New Camden's "Britannia." +Oxford. Birmingham. Hagley. Worcester. Malvern Abbey. Visit to +George Selwyn at Matson. Gloucester Cathedral. Hutchinsonians.- +180 + +86. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 6.-The Modenese treaty. Gothic +amusements.-186 + +87. To the same, Dec. 6.-Prince Heraclius. Party feuds in +Ireland. Bianca Capello.-187 + +88. To George Montagu, Esq. Dec. 6.-Death of his uncle Erismus +Shorter, and of Lord Burlington. The Opera. Glover's +"Boadicea." Lord Huntingdon and Stormont.-188 + +89. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Dec. 19.-Eulogy on his drawings. +Deaths of Lords Clarendon, Thanet, and Burlington. "Sir Charles +Grandison." Hogarth's "Analysis of Beauty." Wood's "Palmyra." +Opera. The Niccolini.-190 + + + +1754. + + +90. To Sir Horace Mann, January 28.-Story of Bianca Capello. +Sortes Walpolianae. Serendipity. Dissuades him from taking the +name of Guise. Sir James Gray. His father's maxim. The Opera +and Niccolini. Miss Elizabeth Pitt.-191 + + +91. To Richard Bentley, Esq. March 2.-The Duke of Cumberland's +visit to Strawberry Hill. Proceedings in Parliament. New +Mutiny-bill. Death of Dr. Mead. Sortes Walpolianae.-194 + +92. To the same, March 6.-Ironical account of the death of Mr. +Pelham. Francis's tragedy of "Constantine." Crisp's "Virginia." +Lord Bolingbroke's works.-196 + +93. To Sir Horace Mann, March 7.-State of parties. The new +candidates for office. Particulars of the death of Mr. Pelham.- +198 + +94. To Richard Bentley, Esq. March 17.-The new ministry. George +Selwyn's bon-mots. Orator Henley. Beckford and Delaval at +Shaftesbury.-200 + +95. To George Montagu, Esq. March 19.-The Newcastle +administration.-201 + +96. To Sir Horace Mann, March 28.-,The new ministry. +Resignation of Lord Gower.-202 + +97. To the same, April 24.-The Duke of Newcastle all-powerful. +The new Parliament. Irish politics. Drummond's "Travels".-204 + +98. To John Chute, Esq. April 30.-Whitehead's tragedy of +"Creusa." Tragi-comedy at the Opera.-205 + +99. To the same, May 14.-Anecdote of Prince Poniatowski and the +Duchess of Gordon.-206 + +100. To Richard Bentley, Esq. May 18.-Progress of improvement +at Strawberry Hill. Trial of Betty Canning. Regency-bill.-207 + +101. To George Montagu, Esq. May 21.-Death of Mr. Chute's +father.-209 + +102. To Sir Horace Mann, May 23.-War of the Delmontis. Death of +Mr. Chutes father. Regency-bill.-210 + +103. To the same, June 5.-Mr. Brand of the Hoo. Lady Caroline +Pierpont. Affair of Lord Orford and Miss Nicholl. Election +petitions.-211 + +104. To George Montagu, Esq. June 8.-Invitation to Strawberry +Hill.-212 + +105. To the same, June 29.-Lady Caroline Petersham's +christening.-213 + +106. To Sir Horace Mann, July 5.-Effects of warm Weather in +England. Old courtiers. Separation between Lady Orford and Mr. +Shirley. Dr. Cocchi's "Greek Physicians." French encroachments +in Virginia. Revocation of the Parliament of Paris. Irish +Parliament.-213 + +107. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, July 6.-Notice of gold fish to +be sent to him.-215 + +108. To Richard Bentley, Esq. July 9.-Sir Charles Williams and +his daughter. His mother's monument in Westminster Abbey. Story +of Sampson Gideon. Nugent and the Jew-bill. An admirable +curiosity.--215 + +109. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Aug. 8-The Duke of Cumberland's +accident [N.].-217 + +110. To George Montagu, Esq. Aug. 29.-218 + +111. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 6.-Prospect of an East and West +Indian war. French encroachments. Re-establishment of the +Inquisition at Florence. The Boccaneri. Major Washington. +General Guise at Carthagena.-218 + +112. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Oct. 24,-Congratulation on his +being appointed groom of the bedchamber. And on his choice of a +wife.-[N.] 220 + +113. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Nov. 3.-Visit to Mr. Burret at +Bellhouse. Mrs. Clive. West Indian war. The Ontaouknoucs. +General Braddock.-221 + +114. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Nov. 11.-Ambassadorial +circumspection. Death of the Queen Dowager of Prussia. New +volumes of Madame S`evign`e's Letters.-224 + +115. To George Montagu, Esq. Nov. 16.-Parts and merit of Lord +North. Marriage of Mr. Pitt with Lady Hester Grenville. A new +fashion.-225 + +116. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Nov. 20.-On projectors. Advises +him to lay aside visionary projects. Parliamentary divisions. +Elections. The Prince of Hesse turned Roman Catholic. Operas. +The Mingotti. Bon-mot of Madame S`evign`e.-226 + +117. To Sir Horace Mann, Dec. 1.-Spring-tide of politics. Mr. +Pitt and the Duke of Newcastle. Lord Cork. Lord Bolingbroke's +works. George the First at New Park. Dissensions in Ireland.- +228 + + +118. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Dec. 13.-Pitt and Fox +dissatisfied with the Duke of Newcastle. Ministerial changes. +Mr. Pitt turned out. Sale of Dr. Mead's library.-230 + +119. To the same, Dec. 24.-Madame S`evign`e's new letters. Dr. +Browne's tragedy of "Barbarossa." Walpole's papers in the +"World." Turning out of Mr. Pitt. The last new madness. +Macklin's "British Inquisition".-231 + + + +1755. + + +120. To George Montagu, Esq. Jan. 7.-Nuptials of Mr. Harris and +Miss Ashe. Countess Chamfelt.-233 + +121. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Jan. 9.-Death of Lord Albemarle. +Story of Lord Montford's suicide. Gamesters. Insurance office +for voluntary deaths. Ministerial changes. New nostrums and +inventions.-234 + +122. To Sir Horace Mann, Jan. 9.-Congratulation on his being +created a baronet. Lord Albemarle's sudden death. Lord Bury. +Lady Albemarle's dream. Lord Montford's suicide. The age of +abortions. The Chevalier Taylor.-236 + +123. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Feb. 8.-The Russian ambassador's +masquerade.-238 + +124. To the same, Feb, 23.-Oxfordshire and Colchester +elections. Sir John Bland's suicide. English Opera. "Midsummer +Night's Dream." Walpole at a fire. Lady Herbert's providence. +Fire at Fonthill.-239 + +125. To the same, March 6.-Prospect of a war with France. Lord +Holderness's ball. Dancing senators.-241 + +126. To Sir Horace Mann, March 10.-Lord Hertford's embassy to +Paris. Warlike prospects. Progress of election trials. Lord +Pomfret's collection of statues. Cerberus.-242 + +127. To Richard Bentley, Esq, March 27.-Hume's "History of +England." Motto for a ruby ring. Party struggles. Prospects of +war. Sale of Dr. Mead's pictures.-243 + +128. To the same, April 13.-Prospects of war. French +preparations for invasion. Lord Chesterfield's prophecy.-245 + +129. To Sir Horace Mann, April 22.-French preparations. Secret +expedition. Motto-hunting.-247 + +130. To Richard Bentley, Esq. April 24.-Political rumours. M. +Herault and Lady Harrington.-248 + +131. To George Montagu, Esq. May 4.-Prince of Nassau Welbourg. +George Selwyn and Lady Petersham.-250 + +132. To Richard Bentley, Esq. May 6.-Lord Poulet's motion +against the King's visiting Hanover. Mr. Legge's pun. The +Regency. Ball at Bedford House. Great breakfast at Strawberry +Hill. "Anecdotes Litt`eraires." "M@,is`eres des Scavans." +Gray's observation on learning.-250 + +133. To George Montagu, Esq. May 13.-Invitation to Strawberry +Hill.-252 + +134. To the same, MAY 19.-King of Prussia's victory near +Prague.-252 + +135. To Richard Bentley, Esq. June 10.-Arrival of Mr. M`untz4. +Deluge at Strawberry Hill. New gunpowder-plot. Venneschi +apprehended.-253 + +136. To Sir Horace Mann, June 15.-The Countess of Orford and +Mr. Shirley. Lord Orford described. Warlike preparations. +Fureur des cabriolets.-256 + +137. To Richard Bentley, Esq. July 5.-Expostulation on his love +of visionary projects. Mr. M`untz. Visit to Chaffont. +Bulstrode. Latimers. First visit to Greenwich Park.-257 + +138. To Sir Horace Mann, July 16.-War commenced. Captain +Howe's attack on the French Squadron. Chapel at the Vine.-259 + +139. To Richard Bentley, Esq. July 17.-Attack on the French +squadron. State of parties in Ireland. Domestic news. Lord +Bath's verses on Strawberry Hill. Wanstead House. Marquis de +St. Simon.-260 + +140. To George Montagu, Esq. July 17.-Farming. Lord Bath's +ballad.-263 + +141. To the same, July 26.-Charles Townshend's marriage.-263 + +142. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Aug. 4.-St. Swithin. Capture of +Beau S`ejoure. Marquis de St. Simon's translation of the "Tale +of a Tub." Intimacy with Garrick.-264 + +143. To the same, Aug. 15.-Compliments him on his drawings. +P`er`efixe's "Henry the Fourth." Dinner at Garrick's. +Flattery.-266 + +144. To Sir Horace Mann, Aug. 21.-West India expeditions. +Character of General Braddock. Story of Fanny Braddock. Hessian +treaty.-268 + +145. To the same, Aug. 28.-Defeat and death of General +Braddock. Anecdotes of him.-270 + +146. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Aug. 28.-General Braddock's +defeat and death. Quarrel between Lords Lincoln and Anson. +Visit to Harwich. Orford Castle. Sudborn. Secretary Naunton's +house. Ipswich and its church.-271 + +147. To the Rev. Henry Etough, Sept. 10.-273 + +148. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Sept. 18.-Jaunt to Winchester. +Its cathedral. Bevismount. Netley Abbey. Capture of Governor +Lyttelton. Gray's "Bard".-273 + +149. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Sept. 23.-Irish politics. +Russian and Hessian treaties.-275 + +150. To Sir Horace Mann, Sept. 29.-M. Seychelles. French +finances. Opposition to the Russian and Hessian treaties. +Ministerial bickerings and changes. Tranquillity of Ireland.- +277 + +151. To John Chute, Esq. Sept. 29.-Opposition in Parliament to +the Russian and Hessian treaties [N.).-279 + +152. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Sept. 30.-Political sermon. Mr. +Legge's opposition to the Hessian treaty. Subsidy. +Pacification of Ireland. Ministerial changes.-280 + +153. To George Montagu, Esq. Oct. 7.-On the death of Miss +Montagu.-281 + +154. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Oct. 19.-On the fears of +invasion. Mr. Fox's ministry. Follies of the Opera. +Impertinences of the Mingotti.-281 + +155. To John Chute, Esq. Oct. 20.-Expectations of an invasion. +Parliamentary politics. Subsidiary treaties [N.].-284 + +156. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 27.-Preparations against invasion +.-285 + +157. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Oct. 31.-Defeat of' the French in +America by General Johnson. Lord Chesterfield at Bath. Suicide +of Sir John Bland. Longevity of Beau Nash and Cibber.-286 + +158. To George Montagu, Esq. Nov. 8.-Progress of planting.-287 + +159. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Nov. 15.-Debates in Parliament +on the treaties. Single-speech Hamilton. Pitt's speech.-289 + +160. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Nov. 16.-Debates in the House of +Commons on the treaties. Riots at Drury-Lane. French dancers.- +291 + + +161. To Sir Horace Mann, Nov. 16.-Parliamentary proceedings. +Changes and counter-changes. French inactivity.-292 + +162. To George Montagu, Esq. Nov. 25.-Earthquake at Lisbon. +Political changes.-293 + +163. To Sir Horace Mann, Dec. 4.-Earthquake at Lisbon. State of +the Opposition.-294 + +164. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Dec. 17.-Mr. Pitts speech on the +subsidiary treaties. Ministerial changes. Postponement of the +invasion.-295 + +165. To George Montagu, Esq. Dec. 20.-Political changes. The +new Opposition.-297 + +166. To Sir Horace Mann, Dec. 21.-Expectations of a peace. +Catalogue of ministerial alterations. Dodington again revolved +to the court. Case of Lord Fitzwalter.-298 + +167. To George Montagu, Esq. Dec. 30.-299 + + + +1756. + +168. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Jan. 6.-Attack of the gout. +Overflow of the Thames. Progress of the Memoires. Mr. M`untz.- +300 + +169. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Jan. 22.-Parliament and +politics. French Billingsgate memorial. Guarantee with Prussia. +M. Michell. Dismissal of Sir Harry Erskine. Mr. Fox's repartee +(N.].-302 + +170. To the same, Jan. 24.-Beckford's accusation against +Admiral Knowles. Sir George Lyttelton's budget-speech. Lady +Petersham and her footman Richard.-303 + +171. To Sir Horace Mann, Jan. 25.-Health of Sir Horace's +brother. Prussian guarantee. M. Rouill`e's memorial. The new +Opposition nibbling, but not popular.-304 + +172. To Sir Horace Mann, Feb. 5.-Account of his brother's +health. War considered inevitable.-306 + +173. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Feb. 12.-Bickerings in +Parliament. The Pennsylvanian regiment. Story of the Duke of +Newcastle. Moral effects of the earthquake. Sir Eustace +Drawbridge-court.-307 + +174. To Sir Horace Mann, Feb. 23.-The King of France and Madame +Pompadour gone into devotion. Debates on the West Indian +regiment. Plot of the Papists against Bower. France determined +to try invasion.-309 + +175. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, March 4.-Debates in Parliament. +Speeches of Hamilton and Charles Townshend. The Militia-bill. +The new taxes. Embargo. Old Nugent and Lady Essex. Bons-mots. +An epigram.-312 + +176. To Sir Horace Mann, March 18.-Progress of the armaments. +Danger for Port-Mahon. Naivete of Lady Coventry.-314 + +177. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, March 25.-Mr. Pitt's gout. The +plate tax. Projected invasion signified to Parliament. The +Paddington road-bill. Lady Lincoln's assembly [N.].-315 + +178. To the same, April 16.-The Paddington road-bill struggle. +Militia-bill. Death of Sir William Lowther. Lord Shelburne's +speech. Folke GreVill'S "Maxims and Characters".-316 + +179. To Sir Horace Mann, April 18.-War of the turnpike-bill. +Death of Lady Drumlanrig, and of Sir William Lowther.-318 + +180. To George Montagu, Esq. April 20.-Death of Lady Essex, Sir +William Lowther's will. Lady Coventry. Billy and Bully. The new +Morocco ambassador and Lady Petersham. Coat-of-arms for the +clubs at White's.-319 + +181. To the same, May 12.-321 + +182. To Sir Horace Mann, May 16.-Defenceless state of Minorca. +The "PuCelle".-322 + +183. To George Montagu, Esq. May 19.-The King and the +Hanoverian troops. Lord Denbigh's bon-mot on his own marriage.- +323 + +184. To Sir Horace Mann, May 27.-His uncle Horatio created a +peer. Death of Chief Justice Ryder. Opera contest.-323 + +185. To the Earl of Strafford, June 6.-Frightful catastrophe. +Madame Maintenon's new Letters and Memoirs. Consternation on +the behaviour of Byng.-325 + +186. To John Chute, Esq. June 8.-Council of war at Gibraltar. +The Prince of Wales declines living at Kensington. His uncle +Horatio's motto and supporters. Visit to Lady Allen with Lord +and Lady Bath. General Wall's motto [N.].-327 + +187. To Sir Horace Mann, June 14.-Admiral Byng's letters. +Prince of Wales's establishment.-328 + +188. To George Montagu, Esq. June 18.-330 + +189. To Sir Horace Mann, July 11.-Public rage against Byng.-330 + + +190. To George Montagu, Esq. July 12.-Military preparations.- +331 + +191. To Sir Horace Mann, July 24.-Clamour against Byng. Public +hopes in Boscawen. Lady Pomfret at Oxford University.-332 + +192. To George Montagu, Esq. Aug. 28.-334 + +193. To Sir Horace Mann, Aug. 29.-Loss of Minorca. League of +Cambray. Unpopularity of Byng.-334 + +194. To Richard Bentley, Esq. Aug.-Tour in the North. Bugden +Palace. Newark Castle. Wentworth Castle. Old Wortley Montagu. +Pomfret. Ledstone. Kippax Park. Kirkstall Abbey. Chapel on +Wakefield bridge. Worksop. Kiveton. Welbeck.-335 + +195. To Sir Horace Mann, Sept. 19.-Byng's quarrels with the +admiralty and ministry. Rage of addresses .-339 + +196. To George Montagu, Esq. Oct. 14.-Mode of passing his time. +Magna Charta. Garrick's temple to Shakspeare.-341 + +197. To the same, Oct.-342 + +198. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 17.-Successes of the King of +Prussia. Battle of Lowositz. Peace between Kensington and +Kew. Lord Bute groom of the stole to the Prince. Lords +Rockingham and Orford's match. The Irish Speaker at Newmarket.- +342 + +199. To George Montagu, Esq. Oct. 28.-Mutability of the world. +The Duke of Newcastle's resignation.-344 + +200. To Sir Horace Mann, Nov. 4.-The Duke of Newcastle's +resignation. Un-successful attempts to form a new ministry.-345 + +201. TO George Montagu, Esq. Nov. 6.-Mr. Pitt made secretary of +state. New ministry. The three factions.-347 + +202. To Sir Horace Mann, Nov. 13.-Mr. Pitt appointed secretary +of state. State of parties.-348 + +203. To George Montagu, Esq. Nov. 25.-The new ministry and +opposition.-350 + +204. To Sir Horace Mann, Nov. 29.-Mr. Pitt's gout. The new +ministry. List of the changes. The Duke of Newcastle's +disinterestedness. Benedict the Fourteenth.-350 + +205. To the same, Dec. 8.-Proceedings in Parliament. +Voltaire's epigram.-352 + +206. To the same, Dec. 16.-Illness of Sir Horace's brother. The +Hessian troops. Breach between Fox and Pitt.-354 + +207. To the same, Dec. 23.-Death of Sir Horace's brother.-356 + + + +1757. + +208. To Sir Horace Mann, Jan. 8.-Party squabbles. The "Test" +and "Contest." Dr. Shebbeare's "Monitor." Death of King +Theodore.-356 + +209. To the same, Jan. 17.-The King and Mr. Pitt. Damien's +attempt on the King of France. King Theodore's death. Byng's +trial. Miss Elizabeth Villiers Pitt.-358 + +210. To the same, Jan. 30.-Admiral Byng's trial. Voltaire's +letter on his behalf. Death of Fontenelle. Brumoy's +"Aristophanes." Lady Essex and Prince Edward.-360 + +211. To the same, Feb. 13.-Progress of Admiral Byng's trial. +Death of his uncle Horatio Lord Walpole. Prince Edward and +Lady Essex at Lady Rochford's ball.-363 + +212. To John Chute, Esq. Feb. 27.-Admiral Byng's court-martial. +[N.].-364 + +213. To Sir Horace Mann, March 3.-Admiral Byng's sentence. +Applications of the court-martial for mercy. German subsidy. +French symptoms.-365 + +214. To the same, March 17.-Completion of Admiral Byng's +tragedy. Mr. Pitt's health. Fears for Hanover.-367 + +215. To the same, April 7.-Dismissal of the ministry. Inter- +ministerium. Court changes.-368 + +216. To the same, April 20.-Inquiries into the naval +miscarriages. Freedoms in gold boxes to Mr. Pitt and Mr. Legge. +Damien's execution.-370 + +217. To the same, May 5.-Result of the naval inquiries. +Epigrams 372 + +218. To the same, May 19.-Inter-ministerium. King of Prussia's +victory. Battle of Prague.-374 + +219. To George Montagu, Esq. May 27.-375 + +220. To Sir Horace Mann, June 1.-Ministerial negotiations. King +of Prussia's victories.-376 + +221. To George Montagu, Esq. June 2.-Projected ministry.-377 + +222. To Sir Horace Mann, June 9.-Ministerial arrangements. Lord +Waldegrave first lord of the treasury.-378 + +223. To the same, June 14.-New ministerial revolution. The +three factions. Scramble for power.-379 + +224. To the same, June 20.-Mr. Pitt accepts the seals. The new +ministry. Inscription for a bas-relief in wax of Benedict the +Fourteenth.-380 + +225. To the same, July 3. -Settlement of the ministry.-382 + +226. To the Earl of Strafford, July 4.-New volumes of +Voltaire's "Universal history".-383 + +227. To John Chute, Esq. July 12.-Gray's "Odes" to be printed +at the Strawberry Hill press.-385 + +228. To George Montagu, Esq. July 16.-386 + +229. To the same, July 17.-386 + +230. To Sir Horace Mann, July 25.-Secret expedition.-387 + +231. To John Chute, Esq. July 26.-Picture of Ninon de l'Enclos. +Mrs. Clive's legacy.-387 + +232. To Sir Horace Mann, Aug. 4.-Disasters in Flanders. Gray's +"Odes." His printer's letter to a friend in Ireland.-388 + +233. To George Montagu, Esq. Aug. 4.-Defeat of the Duke of +Cumberland at Hastenbeck.-390 + +234. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Aug. 14.-Cause of the defeat at +Hastenbeck.-391 + +235. To George Montagu, Esq. Aug. 25.-His opinion of Gray's +"Odes." His printing-office.-392 + +236. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Sept. 2.-Charles Townshend. Lord +Chesterfield and Lord Bath [N.].-393 + +237. To Sir Horace Mann, Sept. 3.-Visit to Linton. Urn to the +memory of Sir Horace's brother. Lord Loudon abandons the design +on Louisbourg.-393 + +238. To George Montagu, Esq. Sept. 8.-395 + +239. To the Right Hon. Lady Hervey, Sept. 13.-Ninon de +l'Enclos's picture.-396 + +240. To George Montagu, Esq. Sept. 20.-Death of' Sir John +Bland.-396 + +241. To Sir Horace Mann, Sept. 29.-Convention of +Closter-Severn. Disturbances occasioned by the Militia-bill. +Inscription to the memory of King Theodore.-397 + +242. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Oct. 8.-Expedition to Rochfort +(N].-400 + +243. To the Earl of Strafford, Oct. 11.-Return of the +expedition to Rochfort. Militia-bill.-401 + +244. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct 12.-Rochfort expedition. Return of +the Duke of Cumberland.-402 + +245. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Oct. 13.-Inquiry into the +failure of the Rochfort expedition.-403 + +246. To George Montagu, Esq. Oct. 18.-Resignation of the Duke +of Cumberland.-404 + +247. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 24.-The Duke of Cumberland's +resignation. Failure at Rochfort.-404 + +248. To the same, Nov. 20.-King of Prussia's victory at +Rosbach. General dissatisfaction. Troubles in Ireland. Inquiry +into the failure at Rochfort. Characteristic traits of' Mr. +Conway. Richard the First's poetry. Bon-mot of Lord Tyrawley.- +405 + +249. To George Montagu, Esq.---408 + +250. To the same, Dec. 23.-Death of Mr. Mann.-408 + +251. To Dr. Ducarel, Dec. 25.-"Dictes and sayings of the +Philosophers".-409 + + + +1758. + + +252. To Sir Horace Mann, Jan. 11.-Court-martial on Sir John +Mordaunt. Death of Princess Caroline. And of Sir Benjamin +Keene.-409 + +253. To Dr. Ducarel, Jan. 12.-411 + +254. To Sir Horace Mann, Feb. 9.-Politics gone into winter +quarters. Duke of Richelieu's banishment. Rage of expense in +our pleasures.-412 + +255. To the same, Feb. 10.-Opening of the campaign. Fame. +Saying of one of the Duke of Marlborough's generals. New secret +expedition. Debate on the Habeas Corpus extension bill. Sir +Luke Schaub's pictures. Swift's "Four last Years of Queen +Anne." Dr. Lucas.-413 + +256.To the same, Feb. 23.-Acquittal of General Mordaunt. Death +of Dr. Cocchi. Richard the First's poems.-415 + +257. To the same, March 21.-The East Indian here, Clive. +Hanover retaken. George Grenville's Navy-bill. Sir Charles +Williams's return from Russia, and mental indisposition. +Frantic conduct of Lord Ferrers. Swift's "Four last Years".-416 + +258. To the same, April 14.-Convention with Prussia. Sir +Charles Williams. Lord Bristol appointed ambassador to Spain.- +418 + +259. To the Rev. Dr. Birch, May 4.-Soliciting observations on +his "Royal and Noble Authors".-419 + +260. To George Montagu, Esq. May 4.-Flattering reception of his +"Royal and Noble Authors." Story of Dr. Browne and Sir Charles +Williams.-420 + +261. To Sir Horace Mann, May 31.-Expedition to St. Maloes. +Extension of the Habeas Corpus act.-422 + +262. To the Hon. H. S, Conway, June 4.-Debates on the Habeas +Corpus extension bill. Expedition to St. Maloes. Ninon de +l'Enclos's portrait.-423 + +263. To Dr. Ducarel, June.-Thanks for his remarks on the "Noble +Authors".-424 + +264. To Sir Horace Mann, June 11.-Departure of the expedition +to St. Maloes. Prince Ferdinand's passage of the Rhine.-425 + +265. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, June 16.-Return of the +expedition to St. Maloes.-426 + +266. To the Earl of Strafford, June 16.-Failure of the +expedition against St. Maloes.-427 + +267. To Sir Horace Mann, June 18.-Expedition to St. Maloes.-428 + +268. To Sir David Dalrymple, June 29.-Thanks for his +approbation of the "Noble Authors." queen Elizabeth's fondness +for praise. Pope's "Bufo" and "Bubb." Lord Orrery's +"Parthenissa" [N.).-430 + +69. To John Chute, Esq. June 29.-Prince Ferdinand's victory.- +431 + +270. To George Montagu, Esq. July 6.-431 + +271. To the Rev. Dr. Birch, July 8.-432 + +272. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, July 8.-Dedication to him of the +"Fugitive Pieces." Fate of our expeditions [N.].-432 + +273. To Sir Horace Mann, July 8.-Prince Ferdinand's victory at +Crevelt. Return of our armada from St. Maloes.-433 + +274. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, July 21.-Appointment of General +Blighe. Fate of the expeditions. [N.].-434 + +275. To the Rev. Henry Zouch, Aug. 3.-Thanks for his remarks on +the Royal and noble Authors," and for his information.-436 + +276. To the same, Aug. 12.-439 + +277. To Sir Horace Mann, Aug. 12.-Expedition against +Cherbourg.-440 + +278. To George Montagu, Esq. Aug. 20.-Visit to the Grange. +Ragley. The Conway papers.-441 + +279. To John Chute, Esq. Aug. 22.-Account of the Conway papers +[N.).-443 + +280. To Sir Horace Mann, Aug. 24.-Expedition against Cherbourg. +Taking of Cape Breton. Failure of the attack on Crown-point. +Death of Lord Howe. Defeat at Ticonderoga.-444 + +281. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Sept. 2.-Defeat of the Russians +at Zorndorf. Repulse of General Abercrombie at Ticonderoga.-445 + +282. To Sir Horace Mann, Sept. 8.-Battle of Zorndorf. Marriage +of his niece Laura to Dr. Frederick Keppel.-446 + +283. To the Rev. Henry Zouch, Sept. 14,-Soliciting information +for a new edition of his "Noble Authors".-448 + +284. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Sept. 19.-On the failure of the +late expeditions to the coast of France [N.].-449 + +285. To Sir Horace Mann, Sept. 22. Failure of the expedition +against Cherbourg.-451 + +286. To George Montagu, Esq. Oct. 3.-Disappointment and loss at +St. Cas.-453 + +287. To the Rev. Henry Zouch, Oct. 5.-Progress of the new +edition of "Noble Authors." Discovery of the Conway papers.-454 + +288. To the Right Hon. Lady Hervey, Oct. 17.-Rumoured +assassination of the King of Portugal. Epigram on the Chevalier +Taylor.-456 + +289. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Oct. 17.-On the general's not +being employed by Mr. Pitt [N.].-457 + + +290. To the Rev. Henry Zouch, Oct. 21.-Thanks for further +information. Lord Clarendon and Polybius. Dr. Jortin's +"Erasmus." Reasons for not writing the life of his father.-459 + +291. To George Montagu, Esq. Oct. 24.-Reasons for leaving off +authorship.-462 + +292. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 24.-On sending a drawing Of his +monument to the memory of Sir Horace +s brother. Reported assassination of the King of Portugal. The +Duc d'Aiguillon's amiable behaviour to our prisoners.-463 + +293. To George Montagu, Esq. Nov. 26.-465 + +294. To Sir Horace Mann, Nov. 27.-Illness of the king. Harmony +in parliament. Death of the Duke of Marlborough.-465 + +295. To the Rev. Henry Zouch, Dec. 9.-On sending the second +edition of "Noble Authors." Lucan and Virgil. Helvetius de +l'Esprit.-467 + +296. To Sir Horace Mann, Dec. 25.-Prospects of a Dutch war. +Enormous supplies. Unanimity of Parliament. Fall of Cardinal de +Bernis.-468 + +297. To George Montagu, Esq. Dec. 26.-Intended marriage of +Colonel York.-470 + + + +1759. + +298. To the Rev. Henry Zouch, Jan. 12.-Lord Lonsdale's treatise +on Economics. Lucan. Vertua's MS. collections.-471 + +299. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Jan. 19.-State of the House of +Commons.-473 + +300. To the same, Jan. 28.-Match between Colonel Campbell and +the Duchess of Hamilton. Prussian and Hessian treaties.-473 + +301. To John Chute, Esq. Feb. 1.-The Opera. Prussian cantata. +Gothic antiquities (N.].-477 + +302. To the same, Feb. 2.-Spence's Comparison of Magliabechi +and Bill. Story of Carr's Cousin.-475 + +303. To Sir Horace Mann, Feb. 9.-Quebec expedition.-478 + +304. To Mr. Gray, Feb. 15.-Literary queries. Critical Review.- +478 + +305. To the Right Hon. Lady Hervey, Feb. 20.-479 + + +306. To Sir David Dalrymple, Feb. 25.-Robertson's History of +Scotland. Ramsay the painter.-479 + +307. To Sir Horace Mann, march 4.-Projects a History of the +House of Medici.-480 + +308. To John Chute, Esq. March 13.-Fears for his health. +Recommends him to leave the Vine, lest he should die of +mildew.-481 + +309. To the Rev. Henry Zouch, March 15.-Vertue's MSS. Hume's +History.-482 + +310. To Sir David Dalrymple, March 25.-House of Medici. leo the +Tenth [N.].-482 + +311. To Sir Horace Mann, April 11.-Marriage of his niece Maria +to Lord Waldegrave. Prince Ferdinand's victory over the +Austrians.-484 + +312. To George Montagu, Esq. April 26.-His niece's marriage to +Lord Waldegrave. Ball at Bedford House.-485 + +313. To Sir Horace Mann, May 10,-General Hobson. Canada. House +of Medici.-487 + +314. To the Rev. Henry Zouch, May 14.-Vertue's MSS. Hume and +Smollett's Histories.-488 + +315. To George Montagu, Esq. May 16.-His niece's marriage. +Judges' salaries. Charles Townshend's bon-mot.-490 + +316. To Sir Horace Mann, June 1.-The comet. King of Prussia's +victories. Fame.-491 + +317. To George Montagu, Esq. June 1.-The invasion. Mason's +"Caractacus".-492 + +318. To Sir Horace Mann, June 8.-493 + +319. To the Earl of' Strafford, June 12.-494 + +320. To Sir Horace Mann, June 22.-Invasion. Militia. Quebec. +Death of Lady Murray.-495 + +321. To George Montagu, Esq. June 23.-496 + +322. To Sir Horace Mann, July 8.-Rumours of invasion.-497 + +323. To Sir David Dalrymple, July 11.-Mary Queen of Scots. +Hume's History. Christina of Sweden [N.].-498 + +324.. To George Montagu, Esq. July 19.-Review of the Militia. +Butler's "Remains".-499 + +325. To the same, July 26.-Visit to Navestock.-500 + +326. To Sir Horace Mann, Aug. 1.-Invasion. Militia.-501 + +327. To the same, Aug. 8.-Battle of Minden.-502 + +328. To George Montagu, Esq. Aug. 9.-Battle of Minden.-504 + +329. To the Earl of Strafford, Aug. 9.-Battle of Minden.-505 + +330. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Aug. 14.-Battle of Minden. +Prince Ferdinand and Lord George Sackville [N.).-506 + +331. To Sir Horace Mann, Aug. 29.-Minden. Illuminations. Lord +George Sackville.-507 + +332. To the same, Sept. 13.-Death of the Princess Elizabeth. +Lord George Sackville.-508 + +333. To the Earl of Strafford, Sept. 13.-Our victories.-510 + +334. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Sept. 13.-Lord George Sackville +[N.].-511 + +335. To George Montagu, Esq. Oct. 11.-512 + +336. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Oct. 14.-The invasion getting +out of fashion. Lord George Sackville (N.].-513 + +337. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 16.-Quebec. East India +conquests.-514 + +338. To the Hon. H. S. Conway, Oct. 18.-Quebec. Death of +General Wolfe.-514 + +339. To Sir Horace Mann, Oct. 19.-Conquest of Quebec.-516 + +340. To George Montagu, Esq. Oct. 21.-Public rejoicings for the +conquest of Quebec.-517 + +341. To the Earl of Strafford, Oct. 30.-Quebec.-518 + +342. To the Right Hon. Lady Hervey, Nov. 3.-Poor Robin's +Almanac. High Life below Stairs.-519 + +343. To George Montagu, Esq. Nov. 8.-French bankruptcy. Mrs. +Montagu and Lord Lyttelton.-519 + +344. To Sir Horace Mann, Nov. 16.-Lord George Sackville. Lord +Temple's resignation of the privy-seal on being refused the +Garter.-521 + + + + + Correspondence of the Honourable Horace Walpole + + + +1749 + +13 Letter 1 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, March 4, 1749. + +I have been so shut up in the House of Commons for this last +fortnight or three weeks, that I have not had time to write you +a line: we have not had such a session since the famous +beginning of last Parliament. I am come hither for a day or +two of rest and air, and find the additional pleasure of great +beauty in my improvements: I could talk to you through the +whole sheet, and with much more satisfaction, upon this head; +but I shall postpone my own amusement to yours, for I am sure +you want much more to know what has been doing in Parliament +than at Strawberry Hill. You will conclude that we have been +fighting over the peace; but we have not. It is laid before +Parliament, but will not be taken up; the Opposition foresee +that a vote of approbation would pass, and therefore will not +begin upon it, as they wish to reserve it for censure in the +next reign--or perhaps the next reign does not care to censure +now what he must hereafter maintain--and the ministry do not +seem to think their treaty so perfect as not to be liable to +blame, should it come to be canvassed. We have been then upon +several other matters: but first I should tell you, that from +the utmost tranquillity and impotence of a minority, there is +at once started up so formidable an Opposition as to divide 137 +against 203.(1) The minority is headed by the Prince, who has +continued opposing, though very unsuccessfully, ever since the +removal of Lord Granville, and the desertion of the patriots. +He stayed till the Pelhams had brought off every man of parts +in his train, and then began to form his party. Lord Granville +has never come into it., for fear of breaking with the King; and +seems now to be patching up again with his old enemies. If Lord +Bath has dealt with the Prince, it has been underhand. His +ministry has had at the head of it poor Lord Baltimore, a very +good-natured, weak, honest man; and Dr. Lee, a civilian, who was +of Lord Granville's admiralty, and is still much attached to him. +He is a grave man, and a good speaker, but of no very bright +parts, and, from his way of life and profession, much ignorant +of, and unfit for, a ministry. You will wonder what new +resources the Prince has discovered-why, he has found them all +in Lord Egmont, whom you have heard of under the name of Lord +Perceval; but his father, an Irish Earl, is lately dead. As he +is likely to make a very considerable figure in our history, I +shall give you a more particular account of him. He has always +earnestly studied our history and constitution and antiquities, +with very ambitious views; and practised speaking early in the +Irish Parliament. Indeed, this turn is his whole fund, for +though he is between thirty and forty, he knows nothing of the +world, and is always unpleasantly dragging the conversation to +political dissertations. When very young, as he has told me +himself, he dabbled in writing Craftsmen and penny-papers; but +the first event that made him known, was his carrying the +Westminster election at the end of my father's ministry,-which +he amply described in the history of his own family, a +genealogical work called "The History of the House of +Yvery,"(2) a work which cost him three thousand pounds, as the +heralds informed Mr. Chute and me, when we went to their office +on your business; and which was so ridiculous, that he has +since tried to suppress all the copies. It concluded with the +description of the Westminster election, in these or some such +words, "And here let us leave this young nobleman struggling +for the dying liberties of his country!" When the change in +the ministry happened, and Lord Bath was so abused by the +remnant of the patriots, Lord Egmont published his celebrated +pamphlet, called "Faction Detected," a work which the Pitts and +Lytteltons have never forgiven him; and which, though he +continued voting and sometimes speaking with the Pelhams, made +him quite unpopular during all the last Parliament. When the +new elections approached, he stood on his own bottom at Weobly +in Herefordshire; but his election being contested, be applied +for Mr. Pelham's support, who carried it for him in the House +of Commons. This will always be a material blot in his life; +for he had no sooner secured his seat, than he openly attached +himself to the Prince, and has since been made a lord of his +bedchamber. At the opening of this session, he published an +extreme good pamphlet, which has made infinite noise, called +"An Examination of the Principles and Conduct of the two +Brothers," (the Pelhams,) and as Dr. Lee has been laid up with +the gout, Egmont has taken the lead in the Opposition, and has +made as great a figure as perhaps was ever made in so short a +time. He is very bold and resolved, master of vast knowledge, +and speaks at once with fire and method. His words are not +picked and chosen like Pitt's, but his language is useful, clear, +and strong. He has already by his parts and resolution mastered +his great unpopularity, so far as to be heard with the utmost +attention, though I believe nobody had ever more various +difficulties to combat. All the old corps hate him on my father +and Mr. Pelham's account; the new part of the ministry on their +own. The Tories have not quite forgiven his having left them in +the last Parliament: besides that, they are now governed by one +Prowse, a cold, plausible fellow. and a great well-wisher to +Mr. Pelham. Lord Strange,(3) a busy Lord of a party by +himself, yet voting generally with the Tories, continually +clashes with Lord Egmont; and besides all this, there is a +faction in the Prince's family, headed by Nugent, who are for +moderate measures. + +Nugent is most affectedly an humble servant of Mr. Pell)afn, +and seems only to have attached himself to the Prince, in order +to make the better bargain with the ministry; he has great +parts, but they never know how to disentangle themselves from +bombast and absurdities. Besides those, there are two young +men who make some figure in the rising Opposition, Bathurst(4) +attorney to the Prince; and Potter, whom I believe you have had +mentioned in my letters of last year; but he has a bad +constitution, and is seldom able to be in town. Neither of +these are in the scale of moderation. + +The Opposition set out this winter with trying to call for +several negotiations during the war; but the great storm which +has so much employed us of late, was stirred up by Colonel +Lyttelton;(5) who, having been ill-treated by the Duke, has +been dealing with the Prince. He discovered to the House some +innovations in the Mutiny-bill, of which, though he could not +make much, the Opposition have, and fought the bill for a whole +fortnight; during the course of which the world has got much +light into many very arbitrary proceedings of the +Commander-in-chief,(6) which have been the more believed too by +the defection of my Lord Townshend's(7) eldest son, who is one of +his aide-de-camps. Though the ministry, by the weight of +numbers, have carried their point in a great measure, yet you may +be sure great heats have been raised; and those have been still +more inflamed by a correspondent practice in a new Navy-bill, +brought in by the direction of Lord Sandwich and Lord Anson, +but vehemently opposed by half the fleet, headed by Sir Peter +Warren, the conqueror of Cape Breton, richer than Anson, and +absurd as Vernon. The bill has even been petitioned against, +and the mutinous were likely to go great lengths, if' the +admiralty had not bought off some by money, and others by +relaxing in the material points.- We began upon it yesterday, +and are still likely to have a long affair of it-so much for +politics: and as for any thing else, I scarce know any thing +else. My Lady Huntingdon,(8) the Queen of the Methodists, has +got her daughter named for lady of the bedchamber to the +Princesses; but it is all off again. as she will not let her +play at cards on Sundays. It is equally absurd on both sides, +to refuse it, or to insist upon it. + +Pray tell Dr. Cocchi that I shall be extremely ready to do him +any service in his intended edition of the old Physicians,(9) +but that I fear it is a kind of work that will lie very little +within my sphere to promote. Learning is confined to very +narrow bounds at present, and those seldom within the circle in +which I necessarily live; but my regard for him and for you +would make me take any pains. You see, I believe, that I do +take pains for you--I have not writ such a letter to any body +these three years. Adieu! + +P. S. I am very sorry for your sake that the Prince and +Princess(10) are leaving Florence; if ever I return thither, as +I always flatter myself I shall, I should miss them extremely. +Lord Albemarle goes ambassador to Paris. + +(1) Upon the last clause of the Mutiny-bill, an amendment to +render half pay officers subject to the act, only in case of +actual war, insurrection, rebellion, or invasion, was rejected +by 203 to 137.-E. + +(2) Compiled principally for Lord Egmont by Anderson, the +genealogist. It was printed, but not published, in 1742. " +Some," says Boswell, in his Life of Johnson, "have affected to +laugh at the History of the House of Very: it would be well if +many others would transmit their pedigrees to posterity, with +the same accuracy and generous zeal with which the noble Lord +who compiled that work has honoured and perpetuated his +ancestry. Family histories, likv, the imagines majorum of the +ancients, excite to virtue." Vol. viii. p. 188.-E. + +(3) James, Lord Strange, eldest son of Edward Stanley, eleventh +Earl of Derby. In 1762 he was made Chancellor of the Duchy of +Lancaster, and died during his father's life-time, in 1771. He +always called himself Lord Strange; though the title, which was +a barony in fee, had in fact descended to the Duke of Atholl, +as heir general of James, seventh Earl of Derby.-]). +(4) The Hon. Henry Bathurst, second heir of Allen, first Lord +Bathurst, He became heir to the title upon the death, without +issue, of his elder brother, the Hon. Benjamin Bathurst, in +1761. In 1746 he was appointed Attorney-General to Frederick, +Prince of Wales; in 1754, one of the puisne judges of the Court +of Common Pleas, and in 1771, Lord Chancellor. He was, upon +this occasion, created a peer, by the title of Lord Apsley. He +succeeded his father as second Earl Bathurst in 1775, and died +in 1794.-D. + +(5) Richard, third son of Sir Thomas, and brother of Sir George +Lyttelton: he married the Duchess-dowager of Bridgewater, and +was afterwards made a knight of the Bath. + +(6) William Duke of Cumberland. He was "Captain-general of the +Forces," having been so created in 1745.-D. + +(7) George Townshend, afterwards the first Marquis of that name +and title.-D. + +(8) Selina, daughter of Washington, Earl Ferrers, and widow of +Theophilus, Earl of Huntingdon. + +(9) In 1754, Dr. Cocchi published his "Chirurgici Veteres," a +very curious work, containing numerous valuable extracts from +the Greek physicians.-E. + +(10) Craon. + + + +16 Letter 2 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, March 23, 1749. + +Our debates on the two military bills, the naval one of which +is not yet finished, have been so tedious, that they have +rather whittled down the Opposition than increased it. In the +Lords, the Mutiny-bill passed pretty easily, there happening no +quarrel between Lord Bathurst and Lord Bath on the method of +their measures; so there never divided above sixteen in the +minority, and those scarce any of the Prince's Lords. Duke +William was there and voted, which was too indecent in a rigorous +bill calculated for his own power. There is a +great disunion among the ministers on the Naval bill: Mr. +Pelham and Pitt (the latter out of hatred and jealousy of Lord +Sandwich) gave up the admiralty in a material point, but the +paramount little Duke of Bedford has sworn that they shall +recant on the report-what a figure they will make! This bill +was chiefly of Anson's projecting, who grows every day into new +unpopularity.(11) He has lately had a sea-piece drawn of the +victory for which he was lorded, in which his own ship in a +cloud of cannon was boarding the French Admiral. This +circumstance, which was as true as if Mademoiselle Scudery had +written his life (for he was scarce in sight when the Frenchman +struck to Boscawen)(12) has been so ridiculed by the whole +tar-hood, that the romantic part has been forced to be +cancelled, and one only gun remains firing at Anson's ship. +The two Secretaries of State(13) grow every day nearer to a +breach; the King's going abroad is to decide the contest. +Newcastle, who Hanoverizes more and more every day, pushes on +the journey, as he is to be the attendant minister: his +lamentable brother is the constant sacrifice of all these +embroils. + +At the Leicester-house the jars are as great: Doddington, who +has just resigned the treasuryship of the navy, in hopes of +once more governing that court (and there is no court where he +has not once or twice tried the same scheme!) does not succeed: +Sir Francis Dashwood and Lord Talbot are strongly for him-could +one conceive that he could still find a dupe? Mr. Fox had a +mind to succeed him, but both King and Duke have so earnestly +pressed him to remain secretary at war, that he could not +refuse. The King would not hear of any of the newer court; and +Legge, who of the old was next oars, has managed in the +Prussian business so clumsily, that the King would not bear him +in his closet: but he has got the navy-office, which Lyttelton +would have had, but could not be rechosen at his borough, which +he had stolen by surprise from his old friend and brother Tom +Pitt. The treasury is to be filled up with that toad-eater and +spy to all parties, Harry Vane:(14) there is no enumerating all +the circumstances that make his nomination scandalous and +ridiculous!-but such is our world! General Charles Howard and a +Mr. Saville are named to the red riband. + My friend the Duke of Modena is again coming hither, which +astonishes me, considering how little reason he had to be +satisfied with his first visit; and sure he will have less now! +I believe I told you that King Theodore(15) is here: I am to +drink coffee with him to-morrow at Lady Schaub's. I have +curiosity to see him, though I am not commonly fond of sights, +but content myself with the oil-cloth picture of them that is +hung out, and to which they seldom come up. There are two +black Princes of Anamaboe here, who are in fashion at all the +assemblies, of whom I scarce know any particulars, though their +story(16) is very like Oroonoko's: all the women know it-and +ten times more than belongs to it. Apropos to Indian +historians, half our thoughts are taken up--that is, my Lord +Halifax's are--with colonizing in Nova Scotia: my friend +Colonel Cornwallis is going thither commander-in-chief. The +Methodists will scarce follow him as they did Oglethorpe; since +the period of his expedition,(17) their lot is fallen in a +better land. Methodism is more fashionable than any thing but +brag; the women play very deep at both--as deep, it is much +suspected, as the matrons of Rome did at the mysteries of the +Bona Dea. If gracious Anne was alive, she would make an +admirable defendress of the new faith, and build fifty more +churches for female proselytes. + +If I had more paper or time, I could tell you an excellent long +history of my brother Ned'S(18) envy, which was always up at +highwater-mark, but since the publication of my book of +Houghton (one should have thought a very harmless performance), +has overflowed on a thousand ridiculous occasions. Another +great object of his jealousy is my friendship with Mr. Fox: my +brother made him a formal visit at nine o'clock the other +morning, and in a set speech of three quarters of an hour, +begged his pardon for not attending the last day of the Mutiny +bill, which, he said was so particularly brought in by him, +though Mr. Fox assured him that he had no farther hand in it +than from his office. Another instance: when my brother went +to live at Frogmore, Mr. Fox desired him to employ his +tradesmen at Windsor, by way of supporting his interest in that +borough. My brother immediately went to the Duke of St. Albans, +to whom he had never spoke, (nor indeed was his acquaintance with +Mr. Fox much greater), and notified to him, that if seven years +hence his grace should have any contest with Mr. Fox about that +borough, he should certainly espouse the latter. Guess how the +Duke stared at so strange and unnecessary a declaration! + +Pigwiggin's Princess has mis-pigged, to the great joy, I +believe, of that family, for you know a child must have eaten. +Adieu! + +(11) It was entitled, A bill for amending, explaining, and +reducing into one act, the laws relating to the Navy. "it was," +says Sir John Barrow, "a most desirable and highly useful +measure. The principal and , indeed, the only novelties +attempted to be introduced, were, first, that of subjecting +half pay officers to courts-martial, which after much +opposition was thrown out; the second was the administration of +an oath of secrecy to the members, which was carried, and +continues to the present time." See Life of Lord Anson, p. +218.--E. + +(12) The Hon. Edward Boscawen, third son of Hugh, first +Viscount Falmouth. He was a distinguished naval commander, and +had a large share in the success of Lord Anson's engagement +with the French fleet off Cape Finisterre in 1747. He died in +1761.-D. + +(13) The Dukes of Bedford and Newcastle.-D. + +(14) Eldest son of Lord Barnard, and afterwards first Earl of +Darlington. he died in 1758.-E. + +(15) Theodore, King of Corsica.-D. + +(16) Their story is briefly this: A Moorish king, who had +entertained with great hospitality a British captain +trafficking on the coast of Africa, reposed such confidence in +him, as to intrust him with his son, about eighteen years of +age, and another sprightly youth, to be brought to England and +educated in the European manners. The captain received them, +and basely sold them for slaves. He shortly after died; and, +the ship coming to England, the officers related the whole +affair: upon which the government sent to pay their ransom, and +they were brought to England and put under the care of the Earl +of Halifax, then at the head of the board of trade, who had +them clothed and educated in a suitable manner. They were +afterwards received in the higher circles, and introduced to +the King. On the first of February in this year, they appeared +at the Covent-Garden theatre, to see the tragedy of Oroonok; +where they were received with a loud clap of applause, which +they returned with a genteel bow. The tender interview between +Imoinda and Oroonoko so affected the Prince, that he was +obliged to retire at the end of the fourth act. His companion +remained, but wept all the time so bitterly that it affected +the audience more than the play.-E. + +(17) General Oglethorpe was the great promoter of the colony of +Georgia. See vol. i.-E. + +(18) Sir Edward Walpole, K. B.-D. + + + +19 Letter 3 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, May 3, 1749. + +I am come hither for a few days, to repose myself after a +torrent of diversions, and am writing to you in my charming +bow-window with a tranquillity and satisfaction which, I fear, +I am grown old enough to prefer to the hurry of amusements, in +which the whole world has lived for this last week. We have at +last celebrated the peace, and that as much in extremes as we +generally do everything, whether we have reason to be glad or +sorry, pleased or angry. Last Tuesday it was proclaimed: the +King did not go to St. Paul's, but at night the whole town was +illuminated. The next day was what was called "a +jubilee-masquerade in the Venetian manner" at Ranelagh: it had +nothing Venetian in it, but was by far the best understood and +the prettiest spectacle I ever saw: nothing in a fairy tale +ever surpassed it. One of the proprietors, who is a German, and +belongs to court, had got my Lady Yarmouth to persuade the King +to order it. It began at three o'clock, and, about five, +people of fashion began to go. When you entered, you found the +whole garden filled with masks and spread with tents, which +remained all night very commodely. In one quarter was a +May-pole dressed with garlands, and people dancing round it to +a tabor and pipe and rustic music, all masqued,'as were all the +various bands of music that were disposed in different parts of +the garden; some like huntsmen with French-horns, some like +peasants, with a troop of harlequins and scaramouches in the +little open temple on the mount. On the canal was a sort of +gondola, adorned with flags and streamers, and filled with +music, rowing about. All round the outside of the amphitheatre +were shops, filled with Dresden china, Japan, etc. and all the +shop-keepers in mask. The amphitheatre was illuminated; and in +the middle was a circular bower, composed of all kinds of firs +in tubs from twenty to thirty feet high: under them +orange-trees, with small lamps in each orange, and below them +all sorts of the finest auriculas in pots; and festoons of +natural flowers hanging from tree to tree. Between the arches +too were firs, and smaller ones in the balconies above. There +were booths for tea and wine, gaming-tables and dancing, and +about two thousand persons. In short, it pleased me more than +any thing I ever saw. It is to be once more, and probably +finer as to dresses, as there has since been a +subscription-masquerade, and people will go in their rich habits. +The next day were the fire-works, which by no means answered the +expense, the length of preparation, and the expectation that +had been raised; indeed, for a week before, the town was like a +country fair, the streets filled from morning to night, +scaffolds building wherever you could or could not see, and +coaches arriving from every corner of the kingdom. This hurry +and lively scene, with the sight of the immense crowd in the +Park and on every house, the guards, and the machine itself, +which was very beautiful, was all that was worth seeing. The +rockets, and whatever was thrown up into the air, succeeded +mighty well; but the wheels, and all that was to compose the +principal part, were pitiful and ill-conducted, with no changes +of coloured fires and shapes: the illumination was mean, and +lighted so slowly that scarce any body had patience to wait the +finishing; and then, -what contributed to the awkwardness of +the whole, was the right pavilion catching fire, and being +burnt down in the middle of the show. The King, the Duke, and +Princess Emily saw it from the library,(19) with their courts: +the Prince and Princess, with their children, from Lady +Middlesex's; no place being provided for them, nor any +invitation given to the library. The lords and Commons had +galleries built for them and the chief citizens along the rails +of the mall: the lords had four tickets a-piece, and each +Commoner, at first, but two, till the Speaker bounced and +obtained a third. Very little mischief was done, and but two +persons killed: at Paris, there were forty killed and near +three hundred wounded, by a dispute between the French and +Italians in the management, who, quarrelling for precedence in +lighting the fires, both lighted at once and blew up the whole. +Our mob was extremely tranquil, and very unlike those I +remember in my father's time, when it was a measure in the +Opposition to work up every thing to mischief, the excise and +the French players, the convention and the gin-act. We are as +much now in the opposite extreme, and in general so pleased +with the peace, that I could not help being struck with a +passage I read lately in Pasquier an old French author, who +says, "that in the time of Francis 1. the French used to call +their creditors 'Des Anglois,' from the facility with which the +English gave credit to them in all treaties, though they had +broken so many." On Saturday we had a serenata at the +Opera-house, called Peace in Europe, but it was a wretched +performance. On Monday there was a subscription-masquerade, +much fuller than that of last year, but not so agreeable or so +various in dresses. The King was well disguised in an +old-fashioned English habit, and much pleased with somebody who +desired him to hold their cup as they were drinking tea. The +Duke had a dress of the same kind, but was so immensely +corpulent that he looked like Cacofogo, the drunken captain, in +Rule a Wife and Have a Wife. The Duchess of Richmond was a +lady mayoress in the time of James I.; and Lord Delawarr,(20) +Queen Elizabeth's porter, from a picture in the guard-chamber at +Kensington; they were admirable masks. Lady Rochford, Miss +Evelyn, Miss Bishop, Lady Stafford,(21) and +Mrs. Pitt,(22) were in vast beauty; particularly the last, who +had a red veil, which made her look gloriously handsome. I +forgot Lady Kildare. Mr. Conway was the Duke in Don Quixote, +and the finest figure I ever saw. Miss Chudleigh(23) was +Iphigenia, but so naked that you would have taken her for +Andromeda; and Lady Betty Smithson had such a pyramid of +baubles upon her head, that she was exactly the Princess of +Babylon in Grammont. + +You will conclude that, after all these diversions, people +begin to think of going out of town--no such matter: the +Parliament continues sitting, and will till the middle Of June; +Lord Egmont told us we should sit till Michaelmas. There are +many private bills, no public ones of any fame. We were to +have had some chastisement for Oxford, where, besides the late +riots, the famous Dr. King,(24) the Pretender's great agent, +made a most violent speech at the opening of the Ratcliffe +library. The ministry denounced judgment, but, in their old +style, have grown frightened, and dropped it. However, this +menace gave occasion to a meeting and union between the +Prince's party and the Jacobites, which Lord Egmont has been +labouring all the winter. They met at the St. Alban's tavern, +near Pall-mall, last Monday morning, an hundred and twelve +Lords and Commoners. The Duke of Beaufort(25) opened the +assembly with a panegyric on the stand that had been made this +winter against so corrupt an administration, and hoped it would +continue, and desired harmony. Lord Egmont seconded this +strongly, and begged they would come up to Parliament early +next winter. Lord Oxford(26) spoke next; and then Potter, with +great humour, and to the great Abashment of the Jacobites, said +he was very glad to see this union, and from thence hoped, that +if another attack like the last rebellion should be made on the +Royal Family, they would all stand by them. No reply was made +to this. Then Sir Watkyn Williams spoke, Sir Francis Dashwood, +and Tom Pitt,(27) and the meeting broke up. I don't know what +his coalition may produce; it will require time with no better +heads than compose it at present, though great Mr. Doddington +had carried to the conference the assistance of his. In France a +very favourable event has happened for us, the disgrace of +Maurepas,(28) one of our bitterest enemies, and the promoter of +their marine. Just at the beginning of the war, in a very +critical period, he had obtained a very large sum for that +service, but which one of the other factions, lest he should gain +glory and credit by it, got to be Suddenly given away to the King +of Prussia. + +Sir Charles Williams is appointed envoy to this last King: here +is an epigram which he has just sent over on Lord Egmont's +opposition to the Mutiny-bill; + +"Why has lord Egmont 'gainst this bill +So much declamatory skill +So tediously exerted? +The reason's plain: but t'other day +He mutinied himself for pay, +And he has twice descried." + +I must tell you a bon-mot that was made the other night at the +serenata of "Peace in Europe" by Wall,(29) who is Much in +fashion, and a kind of Gondomar. Grossatesta, the Modenese +minister, a very low fellow, with all the jackpuddinghood of an +Italian, asked, "Mais qui est ce qui repres`ente mon maitre>" +Wall replied, "Mais, mon Die, l'abb`e, ne scavez vous pas que +ce n'est pas un op`era boufon!" And here is another bon-mot of +my Lady Townshend: We were talking of the Methodists: somebody +said, "Nay, Madam, is it true that Whitfield has recanted?" +"No, Sir, he has only canted." + +If you ever think of returning to England, as I hope it will be +long first, you must prepare yourself with Methodism. I really +believe that by that time it will be necessary; this sect +increases as fast as almost ever any religious nonsense did. + +Lady Fanny Shirley has chosen this way of bestowing the dregs +of her beauty; and Mr. Lyttelton is very near making the same +sacrifice of the dregs of all those various characters that he +has worn. The Methodists love your big sinners as proper +subjects to work upon--and indeed they have a plentiful +harvest--I think what you call flagrancy was never more in +fashion. Drinking is at the highest wine-mark; and gaming +joined with it so violent, that at the last Newmarket meeting, +in the rapidity of both, a bank-bill was thrown down, and +nobody immediately claiming it, they agreed to give it to a man +that was standing by. + +I must tell you of Stosch's letter, which he had the +impertinence to give you without telling the contents. It was +to solicit the arrears of his pension, which I beg you will +Tell him I have no manner of interest to procure; and to tell +me of a Galla Placidia, a gold medal lately found. It is not for +myself, but I wish you would ask him the price for a friend of +mine who would like to buy it. Adieu! my dear child; I have been +long in arrears to you, but I trust you will take this huge +letter as an acquittal. You see my villa makes me a good +correspondent; how happy I should be to show it you, if I could, +with no mixture of disagreeable circumstances to you. I have +made a vast plantation! Lord Leicester told me the other day that +he heard I would not buy some old china, because I was laying out +all my money in trees; "Yes," said I, my Lord, I used to love +blue trees, but Now I like green ones." + +(19) Probably the old brick building near the bottom of the +Green Park, which was called the Queen's Library," and which +was pulled down by the late Duke of York when he built his new +house in the Stable-yard, St. James's.-D. + +(20) John West, seventh Lord Delawarr, created Earl Delawarr, +in 1761-D. + +(21) Henrietta Cantillon, wife of Matthias Howard, third Earl +of Stafford.-D. + +(22) Penelope Atkyns a celebrated beauty, wife of George Pitt, +Esq. of Strathfieldsaye, in Hants, created in 1776 Lord +Rivers.-D. + +(23) Afterwards Duchess of Kingston.-D. + +(24) last conspicuous Jacobite at Oxford. He was public orator +of that University and principal of St. Mary Hall.-D. + +(25) Lord Noel Somerset,- who, in 1746 succeeded his brother in +the dukedom. + +(26) Edward Harley, of Eywood, in the county of Hereford, to +whom, pursuant to the limitations of the patent, the earldoms +of Oxford and Mortimer descended, upon the death, without male +issue, of the Lord Treasurer's only son, Edward, the second +Earl. Lord Oxford was of the Jacobite party. He died in +1755.--D. + +(27) Thomas Pitt, Esq. of Boconnock, in Cornwall, warden of the +Stannaries. He married the sister of George, Lord Lyttelton, +and was the father of the first Lord Camelford.-D. + +(28) Phelypeaux, Count de Maurepas, son of the Chancellor de +Pontchartrain. He was disgraced in consequence of some quarrel +with the King's mistress. He returned to office, unhappily for +France, in the commencement of the reign of louis the +Sixteenth.-D. + +(29) General Wall, the Spanish ambassador. Gondomar was the +able Spanish ambassador in England in the reign of james the +First.-D. + + + +23 Letter 4 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, May 17, 1749. + +We have not yet done diverting ourselves: the night before last +the Duke of Richmond gave a firework; a codicil to the peace. +He bought the rockets and wheels that remained in the pavilion +which miscarried, and took the pretence of the Duke of Modena +being here to give a charming entertainment. The garden(30) +lies with a slope down to the Thames, on which were lighters, +from whence were thrown up, after a concert of water-music, a +great number of rockets. Then from boats on every side were +discharged water-rockets and fires of that kind; and then the +wheels Which were ranged along the rails of the terrace were +played off; and the whole concluded with the illumination of a +pavilion on the top of the slope, of two pyramids on each side, +and of the whole length of the balustrade to the water. You +can't conceive a prettier sight; the garden filled with every +body of fashion, the Duke, the Duke of Modena, and the two +black Princes. The King and Princess Emily were in their barge +under the terrace; the river was covered with boats, and the +shores and adjacent houses with crowds. The Duke of Modena +played afterwards at brag, and there was a fine supper for him +and the foreigners, of whom there are numbers here; it is grown +as much the fashion to travel hither as to France or Italy. +Last week there was a vast assembly and music at Bedford-house +for this Modenese; and to-day he is set out to receive his +doctor's degree at the two Universities. His appearance is +rather better than it used to be, for, instead of wearing his +wig down to his nose to hide the humour in his face, he has +taken to paint his forehead white, which, however, with the +large quantity of red that he always wears on the rest of his +face, makes him ridiculous enough. I cannot say his manner is +more polished; Princess Emily asked him if he did not find the +Duke much fatter than when he was here before? He replied, "En +verit`e il n'est pas si effroiable qu'on m'avoit dit." She +commended his diamonds; he said, "Les v`otres sont bien +petits." As I had been graciously received at his court, I +went into his box the first night at the Opera: the first thing +he did was to fall asleep; but as I did not choose to sit waiting +his reveil in the face of the whole theatre, I waked him, and +would discourse him: but here I was very unlucky, for of the only +two persons I could recollect at his court to inquire after, one +has been dead these four years, and the other, he could not +remember any such man. However, Sabbatini, his secretary of +state, flattered me extremely: told me he found me beaucoup +mieux, and that I was grown very fat-I fear, I fear it was +flattery! Eight years don't improve one,-and for my corpulence, +if I am grown fat, what must I have been in my Modenese days! + +I told you we were to have another jubilee masquerade: there +was one by the King's command for Miss Chudleigh, tire maid of +honour, with whom our gracious monarch has a mind to believe +himself in love,--so much in love, that at one of the booths he +gave her a fairing for her watch, which cost him +five-and-thirty guineas,--actually disbursed out of his privy +purse, and not charged on the civil list. Whatever you may +think of it, this is a more magnificent present than the +cabinet which the late King of Poland sent to the fair Countess +Konismark, replete with all kinds of baubles and ornaments, and +ten thousand ducats in one of the drawers. I hope some future +Hollinshed or Stowe will acquaint posterity "that +five-and-thirty guineas were an immense sum in those days!" + +You are going to see one of our court-beauties in Italy, my +Lady Rochford:(31) they are setting Out on their embassy to +Turin. She is large, but very handsome, with great delicacy +and address. All the Royals have been in love with her; but +the Duke was so in all the forms, till she was a little too +much pleased with her conquest of his brother-in-law the Prince +of Hesse. You will not find much in the correspondence of her +husband: his person is good, and he will figure well enough as +an ambassador; better as a husband where cicisb`es don't expect +to be molested. The Duke is not likely to be so happy with his +new passion, Mrs. Pitt,(32) who, besides being in love with her +husband, whom you remember (,lady Mary Wortley's George Pitt), +is going to Italy with him, I think you will find her one of +the most glorious beauties you ever saw. You are to have +another pair of our beauties, the Princess Borghese's, Mr +Greville(33) and his wife, who was the pretty Fanny M'Cartney. + +Now I am talking scandal to you, and court-scandal, I must tell +you that Lord Conway's sister, Miss Jenny, is dead suddenly +with eating lemonade at the last subscription masquerade.,(34) +It is not quite unlucky for her: she had outlived the Prince's +love and her own face, and nothing remained but her love and her +person, which was exceedingly bad. + +The graver part of the world, who have not been given up to +rockets and masquing, are amused with a book of Lord +Bolinbroke's, just published, but written long ago. It is +composed of three letters, the first to Lord Cornbury on the +Spirit of Patriotism; and two others to Mr. lyttelton, (but +with neither of their names,) on the Idea of a patriot King, +and the State of Parties on the late King's accession. Mr. +Lyttelton had sent him word, that he begged nothing might be +inscribed to him that was to reflect on Lord Orford, for that +he was now leagued with all Lord Orford's friends: a message as +abandoned as the book itself: but indeed there is no describing +the impudence with which that set of people unsay what they +have been saying all their lives,-I beg their pardons, I mean +the honesty with which they recant! Pitt told me coolly, that +he had read this book formerly, when he admired Lord Bolinbroke +more than he does now. The book by no means answered my +expectation: the style, which is his fort, is very fine: the +deduction and impossibility of drawing a consequence from what +he is saying, as bad and obscure as in his famous Dissertation +on Parties: Von must know the man, to guess his meaning. Not +to mention the absurdity and impracticability of this kind of +system, there is a long speculative dissertation on the origin +of government, and even that greatly stolen from other writers, +and that all on a sudden dropped, while he hurries into his own +times, and then preaches (he of all men!) on the duty of +preserving decency! The last treatise would not impose upon an +historian of five years old: he tells Mr. Lyttelton, that he +may take it from him, that there was no settled scheme at the +end of the Queen's reign to introduce the Pretender; and he +gives this excellent reason: because, if there had been, he +must have known it; and another reason as ridiculous, that no +traces of such a scheme have since come to light. What, no +traces in all cases of himself, Atterbury, the Duke of Ormond, +Sir William Windham, and others! and is it not known that the +moment the queen was expired, Atterbury proposed to go in his +lawn sleeves and proclaim the Pretender at Charing-cross, but +Bolinbroke's heart failing him, Atterbury swore, "There was the +best cause in Europe lost for want of spirit!" He imputes +Jacobitism singly to Lord Oxford, whom he exceedingly abuses; +and who, so far from being suspected, was thought to have +fallen into disgrace with that faction for refusing to concur +with them. On my father he is much less severe than I +expected; and in general, so obliquely, that hereafter he will +not be perceived to aim at him, though at this time one knows +so much what was at his heart, that it directs one to his +meaning. + +But there is a preface to this famous book, which makes much +more noise than the work itself. It seems, Lord Bolinbroke had +originally trusted Pope with the copy, to have half-a-dozen +printed for particular friends. Pope, who loved money +infinitely beyond any friend, got fifteen hundred Copies(35) +printed privately, intending to outlive Bolingbroke and make +great advantage of them; and not only did this, but altered the +copy at his Pleasure, and even made different alterations in +different copies. Where Lord Bolingbroke had strongly flattered +their common friend lyttelton, Pope suppressed the panegyric: +where, in compliment to Pope, he had softened the satire on +Pope's great friend, Lord Oxford, Pope reinstated the abuse. The +first part of this transaction is recorded in the preface; the +two latter facts are reported by Lord Chesterfield and Lyttelton, +the latter of whom went to Bolingbroke to ask how he had +forfeited his good opinion. In short, it is comfortable to us +people of moderate virtue to hear these demigods, and patriots, +and philosophers, inform the world of each other's villanies.(36) +What seems to make Lord Bolinbroke most angry, and I suppose +does, is Pope's having presumed to correct his work. As to his +printing so many copies, it certainly was a compliment, and the +more profit (which however could not be immense) he expected to +make, the greater opinion he must have conceived of the merit of +the work: if one had a mind to defend Pope, should not one +ask,(37) if any body ever blamed Virgil's executors for not +burning the AEneid, as he ordered them? Warburton, I fear, does +design to defend Pope: and my uncle Horace to answer the book; +his style, which is the worst in the world, must be curious, in +opposition to the other. But here comes full as bad a part of +the story as any: Lord Bolinbroke, to buy himself out of the +abuse in the Duke of Marlborough's life, or to buy himself into +the supervisal of it, gave those letters to Mallet, who is +writing this life for a legacy in the old Duchess's will, (and +which, with much humour, she gave, desiring it might not be +written in verse,) and Mallet sold them to the bookseller for a +hundred and fifty pounds. Mallet had many obligations to Pope, +no disobligations to him, and was one of his grossest flatterers; +witness the sonnet on his supposed death, printed in the notes +to the Dunciad. I was this morning told an anecdote from the +Dorset family that is no bad collateral evidence of the +Jacobitism Of the Queen'S four last years. They wanted to get +Dover Castle into their hands, and sent down Prior to the present +Duke of Dorset, who loved him, and probably was his brother,(38) +to persuade him to give it up. He sent Prior back with great +an(-,er, and in three weeks was turned out of the government +himself but it is idle to produce proofs; as idle as to deny the +scheme. + +I have just been with your brother Gal. who has been laid up +these two days with the gout in his ankle; an absolute +professed gout in all the forms, and with much pain. Mr. Chute +is out of town; when he returns, I shall set him upon your +brother to reduce him to abstinence and health. Adieu! + +(30 At Whitehall. + +(31) Daughter of Edward Young' Esq. and wife of William, Earl +of Rochford. She had been maid of honour to the Princess of +Wales. + +(32) Penelope, sister of Sir Richard Atkyns. + +(33) Fulke Greville, Esq. son of the Hon. Algernon Greville, +second son of Fulke, fifth Lord Brooke. His wife was the +authoress of the pretty poem entitled "an Ode to +Indifference."-D. + +(34) This event was commemorated in the following doggrel +lines:-- + +"Poor Jenny Conway +She drank lemonade, +At a masquerade, +So now she's dead and gone away."-D. + +(35) Lord Bolingbroke discovered what Pope had done during his +lifetime, and never forgave him for it. He-obliged him to give +up the copies, and they were burned on the terrace of Lord +Bolingbroke's house at Battersea, in the presence of Lord B. +and Pope.-D. + +(36) In reference to this publication, Lord Bolingbroke +himself, in a letter to Lord Marchmont, written on the 7th of +June, says, "The book you mention has brought no trouble upon +me, though it has given occasion to many libels upon me. They +are of the lowest form, and seem to be held in the contempt +they deserve. There I shall leave them, nor suffer a nest of +hornets to disturb the quiet of my retreat. If these letters +of mine come to your hands, your lordship will find that I have +left out all that was said of our friend Lord Lyttelton in one +of them. He desired that it might be so; and I had at once the +double mortification of concealing the good I had said of one +friend, and of revealing the turpitude of another. I hope you +will never have the same treatment that I have met with; +neither will you. I am single in my circumstances--a species +apart in the political society; and they, who dare to attack no +one else, may attack me. Chesterfield says, I have made a +coalition of Wig, Tory, Trimmer, and Jacobite against myself. +Be it so. I have Truth, that is stronger than all of them, on +my side; and, in her company, and avowed by her, I have more +satisfaction than their applause and their favour could give +me." Marchmont Papers.-E. + +(37) This thought was borrowed by Mr. Spence, in a pamphlet +published on this occasion in defence of Pope. + +(38) Burnet relates that the Earl of Dorset, celebrated for +patronage of Genius, found Prior by chance reading Horace, and +was so well pleased with his proficiency, that he undertook the +care and cost of academical education. + + + +27 Letter 5 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, May 18, 1749,. + +Dear George, +Whatever you hear of the Richmond fireworks, that is short of +the prettiest entertainment in the world, don't believe it - I +really never passed a more agreeable evening. Every thing +succeeded; all the wheels played in time; Frederick was +fortunate, and all the world in good humour. Then for +royalty--Mr. Anstis himself would have been glutted; there were +all the Fitzes upon earth, the whole court of St. Germains, the +Duke,(39) the Duke of Modena, and two Anamaboes. The King, and +Princess Emily bestowed themselves upon the mob on the river +and as soon as they were gone, the Duke had the music into the +garden, and himself, with my Lady Lincoln, Mrs. Pitt, Peggy +Banks, and Lord Holderness, entertained the good subjects with +singing God save the King to them over the rails of the +terrace. The Duke of Modena supped there, and the Duke was +asked, but he answered, it was impossible; in short, he could +not adjust his dignity to a mortal banquet. There was an +admirable scene: Lady Burlington brought the Violette, and the +Richmonds had asked Garrick who stood ogling and sighing the +whole time, while my Lady kept a most fierce look-out. +Sabbatini, one of the Duke of Modena's court, was asking me who +all the people were? and who is that? "C'est miladi Hartington, +la belle fille du Duc de Devonshire." "Et qui est cette autre +dame!" It was a distressing question; after a little +hesitation, I replied, "Mais c'est Mademoiselle Violette?" "Et +comment Mademoiselle Violette! j'ai connu une Mademoiselle +Violette, par exemple."(40) I begged him to look at Miss +Bishop. + +In the middle of all these principalities and powers was the +Duchess of Queensbury, in her forlorn trim, a white apron and a +white hood, and would make the Duke swallow all her undress. +T'other day she drove post to Lady Sophia Thomas, at +Parsons-green, and told her that she was come to tell her +something of importance. " What is it!" "Why take a couple of +beef-steaks, clap them together as if they were for a dumpling, +and eat them with pepper and salt; it is the best thing you +ever tasted: I could not help coming to tell you this:" and +away she drove back to town. Don't a course of folly for forty +years make one very sick? + +The weather is SO hot, and the roads so dusty, that I can't get +to Strawberry; but I shall begin negotiating with you now about +your coming. You must not expect to find it in beauty. I hope +to get my bill finished in ten days; I have scrambled it +through the lords; but altogether, with the many difficulties +and plagues, I am a good deal out of humour; my purchases +hitch, and new proprietors start out of the ground, like the +crop of soldiers in the Metamorphosis. I expect but an +unpleasant summer; my indolence and inattention are not made to +wade through leases and deeds. Mrs. Chenevix brought me one +yesterday to sign, and her sister Bertrand, the toy-woman of +Bath, for a witness. I showed them my cabinet of enamels +instead of treating them with white wine. The Bertrand said, +"Sir, I hope you don't trust all sorts of ladies with this +cabinet!" What an entertaining assumption of dignity! I must +tell you an anecdote that I found t'other day in an old French +author, which is a great drawback on beaux sentiments and +romantic ideas. Pasquier, in his "Recherches de la France," is +giving an account of the Queen of Scots' execution; he says, +the night before, knowing her body must be stripped for her +shroud, she would have her feet washed, because she used +ointment to one of them which was sore. I believe I have told +you, that in a very old trial of her, which I bought from Lord +Oxford's collection, it is said that she was a large lame +woman. Take sentiments out of their pantoufles, and reduce +them to the infirmities of mortality, what a falling off there +is! I could not help laughing in myself t'other day, as I went +through Holborn in a very hot day, at the dignity of human +nature; all those foul old-clothes women panting without +handkerchiefs, and mopping themselves all the way down within +their loose jumps. Rigby gave me a strong picture of human +nature; he and Peter Bathurst t'other night carried a servant +of the latter's, who had attempted to shoot him, before +Fielding; who, to all his other vocations, has, by the grace of +Mr. Lyttelton, added that of Middlesex justice. He sent them +word he was at supper, that they must come next morning. They +did not understand that freedom, and ran up, where they found +him banqueting with a blind man,(41) a whore, and three on some +cold mutton and a bone of ham, both in One dish, and the +dirtiest cloth. He never stirred nor asked them to sit. +Rigby, who had seen him so often come to beg a guinea of Sir C. +Williams, and Bathurst, at whose father's he had lived for +victual,,, understood that dignity as little, and pulled +themselves chairs; on which he civilized.(42) + +Millar the bookseller has done generously by him: finding Tom +Jones, for which he had given him six hundred pounds, sell So +greatly, he has since given him another hundred.(43) Now I +talk to you of authors, Lord Cobham's West(44) has published +his translation of Pindar; the poetry is very stiff, but +prefixed to it there is a very entertaining account of the +Olympic games, and that preceded by an affected inscription to +Pitt and Lyttelton. The latter has declared his future match +with Miss Rich. George Grenville has been married these two +days to Miss Windham. Your friend Lord North is, I suppose you +know, on the brink with the countess of Rockingham;(45) and I +think your cousin Rice is much inclined to double the family +alliance with her sister Furnese. It went on very currently +for two or three days, but last night at Vauxhall his +minionette face seemed to be sent to languish with Lord R. +Berties's. + +Was not you sorry for poor Cucumber? I do assure you I was; it +was shocking to be hurried away so suddenly, and in so much +torment. You have heard I suppose of Lord Harry Beauclerc's +resignation, on his not being able to obtain a respite till +November, though the lowest officer in his regiment has got +much longer leave. It is incredible how Nolkejumskoi has +persecuted this poor man for these four years, since he could +not be persuaded to alter his vote at a court-martial for the +acquittal of a man whom the Duke would have condemned. Lord +Ossulston, too, has resigned his commission. + +I must tell you a good story of Charles Townshend: you know his +political propensity and importance; his brother George was at +supper at the King's Arms with some more young men. The +conversation somehow or other rambled into politics, and it was +started that the national debt was a benefit. "I am sure it is +not," said Mr. Townshend; I can't tell why, but my brother +Charles can, and I will send to him for arguments." Charles +was at supper at another tavern, but so much the dupe of this +message, that he literally called for ink and paper, wrote four +long sides of arguments, and sent word that when his company +broke up, he would come and give them more, which he did at one +o'clock in the morning. I don't think you will laugh much less +at what happened to me: I wanted a print out of a booth, which +I did not care to buy at Osborn's shop: the next day he sent me +the print, and begged that when I had any thing to publish, I +would employ him. + +I will now tell you, and finish this long letter, how I shocked +Mr. Mackenzie inadvertently at Vauxhall: we had supped there a +great party, and coming out, Mrs. More, who waits at the gate, +said, "Gentlemen and ladies, you will walk in and hear the +surprising alteration of voice?" I forgetting Mackenzie's +connexions, and that he was formerly of the band, replied, "No, +I have seen patriots enough." + +I intend this letter shall last you till you come to Strawberry +Hill. one might have rolled it out into half-a-dozen. My best +compliments to your sisters. + +(39) The Duke of Cumberland. + +(40) Garrick's; marriage with Mademoiselle Eva Maria Violette +took place four days after the date of this letter.-E. + +(41) Sir Walter Scott suggests, that this blind man was +probably Fielding's brother.-E. + +(42) "Allen, the friend of Pope," says Sir Walter Scott, "was +also one of his benefactors, but unnamed at his own desire; +thus confirming the truth of the poet's beautiful couplet, + +'Let humble Allen, with an awkward shame, +Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.' + +It is said that this munificent and modest patron made Fielding +a present of two hundred pounds at one time, and that even +before he was personally acquainted with him."-E. + +(43) "This," observes Sir Walter Scott, in his biographical +notice of Fielding, " is a humiliating anecdote, even after we +have made allowance for the aristocratic exaggeration of +Walpole; yet it is consoling to observe that Fielding's +principles remained unshaken, though the circumstances +attending his official situation tended to increase the +careless disrespectability of his private habits. His own +account of his conduct respecting the dues of the office on +which he depended for subsistence, has never been denied or +doubted: 'I confess,' says he, 'that my private affairs at the +beginning of the winter had but a gloomy aspect; for I had not +plundered the public or the poor of those sums which they who +are always ready to plunder both as much as they can, have been +pleased to suspect me of taking: on the contrary, by composing, +instead of inflaming, the quarrels of porters and beggars, and +by refusing to take a shilling from a man who most undoubtedly +would not have had another left, I had reduced an income of +about five hundred a year, of the dirtiest money upon earth, to +a little more than three hundred; a considerable portion of +which remained with my clerk."'-E. + +(44) West's mother was sister to Sir Richard Temple, afterwards +Lord Cobham. Of his translation of Pindar, Dr. Johnson states, +that he found his expectations surpassed, both by its elegance +and its exactness. For his "Observations on the Resurrection," +the University of Oxford, in March 1748, created him a Doctor +of Laws by diploma. At his residence at Wickham, where he was +often visited by Lyttelton and Pitt, there is a walk designed +by the latter; while the former received at this place that +conviction which produced his "Dissertation on St. Paul."-E. + +(45) Daughter of Sir Robert Furnese, and widow of Lewis, Earl +of Rockingham. + + + +30 Letter 6 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, June 4, 1749. + +As summery as June and Strawberry Hill may sound, I assure you +I am writing to you by the fire-side: English weather will give +vent to its temper, and whenever it is out of humour it will +blow east and north and all kinds of cold. Your brothers Ned +and Gal. dined with me to-day, and I carried the latter back to +Richmond: as I passed over the green, I saw Lord Bath, Lord +Lonsdale,(46) and half-a-dozen more of the White's club +sauntering at the door of a house which they have taken there, +and come to every Saturday and Sunday to play at whist. You +will naturally ask why they can't play at whist in London on +those two days as well as on the other five; indeed I can't +tell you, except that it is so established a fashion to go out +of town at the end of the week, that people do go, though it be +only into another town. It made me smile to see Lord Bath +sitting there, like a citizen that has left off trade. + +Your brother Ned has not seen Strawberry Hill since my great +improvements; he was astonished: it is pretty: you never saw so +tranquil a scene, without the least air of melancholy: I should +hate it, if it was dashed with that. I forgot to ask Gal. what +is become of the books of Houghton which I gave him six months +ago for you and Dr. Cocchi. You perceive I have got your +letter of May 23rd, and with it Prince Craon's simple epistle +to his daughter:(47) I have no mind to deliver it: it would be +a proper recommendation of a staring boy on his travels, and is +consequently very suitable to my colleague, Master St. Leger; +but one hates to be coupled with a romping grayhound puppy, +"qui est moins prudent que Monsieur Valpol!" I did not want to +be introduced to Madame de Mirepoix's assemblies, but to be +acquainted with her, as I like her family: I concluded, simple +as he is, that an old Frenchman knew how to make these +distinctions. By thrusting St. Leger into the letter with me, +and talking of my prudence, I shall not wonder if she takes me +for his bear-leader, his travelling governor! + +Mr. Chute, who went from hence this morning, and is always +thinking of blazoning your pedigree(48) in the noblest colours, +has turned over all my library, till he has tapped a new and +very great family for you: in short, by your mother it is very +clear that you are descended from Hubert de Burgh, Grand +Justiciary to Richard the Second: indeed I think he was hanged; +but that is a misfortune that ill attend very illustrious +genealogies; it is as common to them as to the pedigrees about +Paddington and Blacieheath. I have had at least a dozen +great-great-grandfathers that came to untimely ends. All your +virtuosos in heraldry are content to know that they had +ancestors who lived five hundred years ago, no matter how they +died. A match with a low woman corrupts a stream of blood as +long as the Danube, tyranny, villainy, and executions are mere +fleabites, and leave no stain. The good Lord of Bath, whom I +saw on Richmond-green this evening, did intend, I believe, to +ennoble my genealogy with another execution: how low is he sunk +now from those views! and how entertaining to have lived to see +all those virtuous patriots proclaiming their mutual +iniquities! Your friend Mr. Doddington, it seems, is so reduced +as to be relapsing into virtue. In my last I told you some +curious anecdotes of another part of the band, of Pope and +Bolingbroke. The friends of the former have published twenty +pamphlets against the latter; I say against the latter, for, as +there is no defending Pope, they are reduced to satirize +Bolingbroke. One of them tells him how little he would be +known himself from his own writings, if he were not +immortalized in Pope's; and still more justly, that if be +destroys Pope's moral character, what will become of his own, +which has been retrieved and sanctified by the embalming art of +his friend? However, there are still new discoveries made +every day of Pope's dirty selfishness. Not content with the +great profits which he proposed to make of the work in +question, he could not bear that the interest of his money +should be lost till Bolingbroke's death; and therefore told him +that it would cost very near as much to have the press set for +half-a-dozen copies as it would for a complete edition, and by +this means made Lord Bolingbroke pay very near the whole +expense of the fifteen hundred. Another story I have been told +on this occasion, was of a gentleman who, making a visit to +Bishop Atterbury in France, thought to make his court by +commending Pope. The Bishop replied not: the gentleman doubled +the dose - at last the Bishop shook his head, and said, "Mens +curva in corpore curvo!" The world will now think justly of +these men: that Pope was the greatest poet, but not the most +disinterested man in the world; and that Bolingbroke had not +all those virtues and not all those talents which the other so +proclaimed; and that be did not even deserve the friendship +which lent him so much merit; and for the mere loan of which he +dissembled attachment to Pope, to whom in his heart he was as +perfidious and as false as he has been to the rest of the +world. + +The Duke of Devonshire has at last resigned, for the +unaccountable and unenvied pleasure of shutting himself up at +Chatsworth with his ugly mad Duchess;(49) the more +extraordinary sacrifice, as he turned her head, rather than +give up a favourite match for his son. She has consented to +live with him there, and has even been with him in town for a +few days, but did not see either her son or Lady Harrington. +On his resignation he asked and obtained an English barony for +Lord Besborough, whose son Lord Duncannon, you know, married +the Duke's eldest daughter. I believe this is a great +disappointment to my uncle, who hoped he would ask the peerage +for him or Pigwiggin. The Duke of Marlborough succeeds as lord +steward. Adieu! + +(46) Henry Lowther, third Viscount Lonsdale, of the first +creation. He was the second son of John, the first Viscount, +and succeeded his elder brother Richard in the title in 1713. +He was a lord of the bedchamber, and at one period of his life +was privy seal.-D. + +(47) Madame de Mirepoix, French ambassadress in England, to +whom her father, Prince Craon, had written a letter of +introduction for Horace Walpole.- D. + +(48) Count Richcourt, and some Florentines, his creatures, had +been very impertinent about Mr. Mann's family, which was very +good, and which made it necessary to have his pedigree drawn +out, and sent over to Florence. + +(49) Coxe, in his Memoirs of Lord Walpole, vol ii. p. 264, says +that the Duke of Devonshire resigned, because be was disgusted +with the feuds in the cabinet, and perplexed with the jealous +disposition of Newcastle and the desponding spirit of Pelham. +He adds, " that the Duke was a man of sound judgment and +unbiased integrity, and that Sir Robert Walpole used to +declare, that, on a subject which required mature deliberation, +he would prefer his sentiments to those of any other person in +the kingdom."-E. + + + +32 Letter 7 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, June 25, 1749. + +Don't flatter yourself with your approaching year of jubilee; +its pomps and vanities will be nothing to the shows and +triumphs we have had, and are having. I talk like an +Englishman: here you know we imagine that a jubilee is a season +of pageants, not of devotion but our Sabbath has really been +all tilt and tournament. There have been, I think, no less +than eight masquerades, the fire-works, and a public act at +Oxford: to-morrow is an installation of six Knights of the Bath, +and in August of as many Garters: Saturday, Sunday, +and Monday next, are the banquets(50) at Cambridge, for the +instalment of the Duke of Newcastle as chancellor. The whole +world goes to it: he has invited, summoned, pressed the entire +body of nobility and gentry from all parts of England. His +cooks have been there these ten days, distilling essences of +every living creature, and massacring and confounding all the +species that Noah and Moses took such pains to preserve and +distinguish. It would be pleasant to see the pedants and +professors searching for etymologies of strange dishes, and +tracing more wonderful transformations than any in the +Metamorphoses. How miserably Horace's unde et quo Catius will +be hacked about in clumsy quotations! I have seen some that +will be very unwilling performers at the creation of this +ridiculous MaMaMOUChi.(51) I have set my heart on their giving +a doctor's degree to the Duchess of Newcastle's favourite--this +favourite is at present neither a lover nor an apothecary, but +a common pig, that she brought from Hanover: I am serious; and +Harry Vane, the new lord of the treasury, is entirely employed, +when he is not -,it the Board, in opening and shutting the door +for it. Tell me, don't you very often throw away my letters in +a passion, and believe that I invent the absurdities I relate! +Were not we as mad when you was in England? + +The King, who has never dined out of his own palaces, has just +determined to dine at Claremont to-morrow--all the cooks are at +Cambridge; imagine the distress! + +Last Thursday, the Monarch of my last paragraph gave away the +six vacant ribands; one to a Margrave of Anspach, a near +relation of the late Queen; others to the Dukes of leeds(52) +and Bedford, lords Albemarle and Granville: the last, you may +imagine gives some uneasiness. The Duke of Bedford has always +been unwilling to take one, having tied himself up in the days +of his patriotism to forfeit great sums if ever he did. The +King told him one day this winter, that he would give none away +but to him and to Anspach. This distinction struck him: he +could not refuse the honour; but he has endeavoured to waive +it, as one imagines, by a scruple he raised against the oath, +which obliges the knights, whenever they are within two miles +of Windsor, to go and offer. The King would not abolish the +oath, but has given a general dispensation for all breaches of +it, past, present, and to come. Lord Lincoln and Lord +Harrington are very unhappy at not being in the list. The +sixth riband is at last given to Prince George; the ministry +could not prevail for it till within half an hour of the +ceremony; then the Bishop of Salisbury was sent +to notify the gracious intention. The Prince was at Kew, so +the message was delivered to Prince George(53) himself. The +child, with great good sense, desired the Bishop to give his +duty and thanks, and to assure the King that he should always +obey him; but that, as his father was out of town, he could +send no other answer. Was not it clever? The design of not +giving one riband to the Prince's children had made great +noise; there was a Remembrancer(54) on that subject ready for +the press. This is the Craftsman of the present age, and is +generally levelled at the Duke,(55) and filled with very +circumstantial cases of his arbitrary behaviour. It has +absolutely written down Hawly, his favourite general and +executioner, who was to have been upon the staff. + +Garrick is married to the famous Violette, first at a +Protestant, and then at a Roman Catholic chapel. The chapter +of this history is a little obscure and uncertain as to the +consent of the protecting Countess,(56) and whether she gives +her a fortune or not. + +Adieu! I believe I tell you strange rhapsodies; but you must +consider that our follies are not only very extraordinary, but +are our business and employment; they enter into our politics, +nay, I think They are our politics(57)--and I don't know which +are the simplest. they are Tully's description of poetry, +"haec studia juventutem alunt, senectutem oblectant; pernoctant +nobiscum, peregrinantur, rusticantur:" so if you will that I +write to you, you must be content with a detail of absurdities. +I could tell you of Lord Mountford's(58) making +cricket-matches, and fetching up parsons by express from +different parts of England to play matches on Richmond-green; +of his keeping aide-de-camps to ride to all parts to lay bets +for him at horse-races, and of twenty other peculiarities; but +I fancy you are tired: in short, you, who know me, will +comprehend all best when I tell you that I live in such a scene +of folly as makes me even think myself a creature of common +sense. + +(50) Gray, in giving an account of the installation to his +friend Wharton, says, "Every one, while it lasted, was very gay +and very busy in the morning, and very owlish and very tipsy at +night. I make no exceptions, from the Chancellor to Blewcoat. +Mason's Ode was the only entertainment that had any tolerable +elegance, and for my own part, I think it (with some little +abatements) uncommonly well on such an occasion. Works, vol. +iii. p. 67.-E. + +(51) See Moli`ere's Bourgeois Gentilhomme; in which the nouveau +riche is persuaded that the Grand Seigneur has made him a +mamamouchi, a knight of an imaginary order, and goes through +the ceremony of a mock installation.-E. + +(52) Thomas Osborne, fourth Duke of Leeds.--D. + +(53) Afterwards George the Third.-D. + +(54) A weekly paper edited by Ralph. It was undertaken a short +time previous to the rebellion, to serve the purposes of Bubb +Doddington; in whose Diary Ralph is frequently mentioned with +especial approbation.--E. + +(55) The Duke of Cumberland-D. + +(56) Dorothy, Countess of Burlington. The Violette was a +German dancer, first at the Opera and then at the playhouse; +and in such favour at Burlington-house, that the tickets for +her benefits were designed by Kent, and engraved by Vertue. [In +the Gentleman's Magazine, the lady is stated to have brought +Garrick a fortune of ten thousand pounds.) + +(57) This was frequently the case while the Duke of Newcastle +and Mr.-Pelham were ministers; it was true, that in the case of +the Violette just mentioned, one night that she had advertised +three dances and danced but two, Lord Bury and some young men +of fashion began a riot, and would have had her sent from +Burlington-House. It being feared that she would be hissed on +her next appearance, and Lord Hartington, the cherished of Mr. +Pelham, being son-in-law of Lady Burlington, the ministry were +in great agitation to secure a good reception for the Violette +from the audience, and the Duke was even desired to order Lord +Bury (one of his lords) not to hiss. + +(58) Henry Bromley, first Lord Montfort, so created in 1741. +He died in 1755.-D. + + + +35 Letter 8 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Mistley, July 5, 1749. + +Dear George, +I have this moment received your letter, and it makes me very +unhappy,. You will think me a brute for not having immediately +told you how glad I should be to see you and your sisters; but +I trust that you will have seen Mrs. Boscawen, by whom I sent +you a message to invite you to Strawberry Hill, when we should +be returned from Roel and Mistley. I own my message had rather +a cross air; but as you have retrieved all your crimes with me +by your letter, I have nothing to do but to make myself as well +with you as you are with me. Indeed I am extremely unlucky, but +I flatter myself that Messrs. Montagus will not drop their kind +intention, as it is not in my power to receive it now: they +will give me infinite pleasure by a visit. I stay there till +Monday se'nnight; will that be too late to see you before your +journey to Roel? You must all promise, at least, to be engaged +to me at my return. If the least impediment happens +afterwards, I shall conclude my brother has got you from me; +you know jealousy is the mark of my family. + +Mr. Rigby makes you a thousand compliments, and wishes you +would ever think his Roel worth your seeing: you cannot imagine +how he has improved it! You have always heard me extravagant in +the praises of the situation. he has demolished all his +paternal intrenchments of walls and square gardens, opened +lawns, swelled out a bow-window, erected a portico, planted +groves, stifled ponds, and flounce himself with flowering +shrubs and Kent fences. You may imagine that I have a little +hand in all this. Since I came hither, I have projected a +colonnade to join his mansion to the offices, have been the +death of a tree that intercepted the view of the bridge, for +which, too, I have drawn a white rail, and shall be absolute +travelling Jupiter at Baucis and Philemon's; for I have +persuaded him to transform a cottage into a church, by exalting +a spire upon the end of it, as Talbot has done. By the way, I +have dined at the Vineyard.(59) I dare not trust you with what +I think, but I was a little disappointed. To-morrow we go to +the ruins of the Abbey of St. Osyth; it is the seat of the +Rochfords, but I never chose to go there while they were there. +You will probably hear from Mr. Lyttelton (if in any pause of +love he rests) that I am going to be first minister to the +Prince: in short, I have occasioned great speculation, and +diverted myself with the important mysteries that have been +alembicked out of a trifle. In short, he had seen my AEdes +Walpolianae at Sir Luke Schaub's, and sent by him to desire +one. I sent him one bound quite in coronation robes, and went +last Sunday to thank him for the honour. There were all the +new knights of the garter. After the prince had whispered +through every curl of lord Granville's periwig, he turned to me, +and said such a crowd of civil things that I did not know +what to answer; commended the style and the quotations; said I +had sent him back to his Livy; in short, that there were but +two things he disliked--one, that I had not given it to him of +my own accord, and the other, that I had abused his friend +Andrea del Sarto; and that he insisted, when I came to town +again, I should come and see two very fine ones that he has +lately bought of that master. This drew on a very long +conversation on painting, every word of which I suppose will be +reported at the other court as a plan of opposition for the +winter. Prince George was not there: when he went to receive +the riband, the Prince carried him to the closet door, where +the Duke of Dorset received and carried him. Ayscough,(60) or +Nugent. or some of the geniuses, had taught him a speech; the +child began it', the Prince cried "No, no!" When the boy had a +little recovered his fright, he began again; but the same +tremendous sounds were repeated, and the oration still-born. + +I believe that soon I shall have a pleasanter tale to tell you; +it is said my Lady Anson, not content with the profusion of the +absurdities she utters, (by the way, one of her sayings, and +extremely in the style of Mr. Lyttelton's making love, was, as +she sat down to play at brag at the corner of a square table: +Lady Fitzwalter said she was sorry she had not better room; "O! +Madam," said my Lady Anson, "I can sit like a nightingale, with +my breast against a thorn;") in short, that, not content with +so much wit, she proposes to entertain the town to the tune of +Doctors' Commons. She does not mince her disappointments: here +is an epigram that has been made on the subject:- + +"As Anson his voyage to my lady was reading, +And recounting his dangers--thank God she's not breeding! +He came to the passage, where, like the old Roman, +He stoutly withstood the temptation of woman; +The Baroness smiled; when continuing, he said, +"Think what terror must there fill the poor lover's head." +"Alack!" quoth my lady, "he had nothing to fear, +Were that Scipio as harmless as you are, my dear." + +(59) Mr. Chute's. + +(60) Francis Ayscough, Dean of Bristol, tutor to Prince +George.-E. + + + +36 Letter 9 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, July 20th, 1749. + +I am returned to my Strawberry, and find it in such beauty, +that I shall be impatient till I see you and your sisters here. +They must excuse me if I don't marry for their reception; for +it is said the Drax's have impeached fifteen more damsels, and +till all the juries of matrons have finished their inquest, one +shall not care to make one's choice: I was going to say, "throw +one's handkerchief," but at present that term would be a little +equivocal. + +As I came to town I was extremely entertained with some +excursions I made out of the road in search of antiquities. At +Layer Marney is a noble old remnant of the palace of the Lords +of Marney, with three very good tombs in the church well +preserved. At Messing I saw an extreme fine window of painted +glass in the church; it is the duties prescribed in the Gospel +of visiting the sick and prisoners, etc. I mistook, and +called it the seven deadly sins. There is a very old tomb of +Sir Robert Messing, that built the church. The hall-place is a +fragment of an old house belonging to Lord Grimston;(61) Lady +Luckyn his mother, of fourscore and six, lives in it with an +old son and daughter. The servant who showed it told us much +history of another brother that had been parson there: this +history was entirely composed of the anecdotes of the doctor's +drinking. who, as the man told us, had been a blood. There are +some Scotch arms taken from the rebels in the '15, and many old +coats of arms on glass brought from Newhall, which now belongs +to Olmius. Mr. Conyers bought a window(62) there for only a +hundred pounds, on which is painted Harry the Eighth and one of +his queens at full length: he has put it up at Copt-hall, a +seat which he has bought that belonged to Lord North and Grey. +You see I persevere in my heraldry. T'other day the parson of +Rigby's parish dined with us; he has conceived as high an +opinion of my skill in genealogies, as if I could say the first +chapter of Matthew by heart. Rigby drank my health to him, and +that I might come to be garter king at arms: the poor man +replied with great zeal, "I wish he may with all my heart." +Certainly, I am born to preferment; I gave an old woman a penny +once, who prayed that I might live to be lord mayor of London! +What pleased me most in my travels was Dr. Sayer's parsonage at +Witham, which, with Southcote's help, whose old Roman Catholic +father lives just by him, he has made one of the most charming +villas in England. There are sweet meadows falling down a +hill, and rising again on t'other side of the pretiest little +winding stream you ever saw. You did not at all surprise me +with the relation of the keeper's brutality to your family, or +of his master's to the dowager's handmaid. His savage temper +increases every day. George Boscawen is in a scrape with him +by a court-martial, of which he is one; it was appointed on a +young poor soldier, who to see his friends had counterfeited a +furlough only for a day. They ordered him two hundred lashes; +but Molkejunskoi, who loves blood like a leech, insisted it was +not enough-has made them sit three times (though every one +adheres to the first sentence,) and swears they shall sit these +six months till they increase the punishment. The fair Mrs. +Pitt has been mobbed in the Park, and with difficulty rescued +by some gentlemen, only because this bashaw is in love with +her. You heard, I suppose, of his other amour with the +Savoyard girl. He sent her to Windsor and offered her a hundred +pounds, which she refused because he was a heretic; he sent her +back on foot. Inclosed is a new print on this subject, which I +think has more humour than I almost ever saw in one of that sort. + +Should I not condole with you upon the death of the head of the +Cues?(63) If' you have not heard his will, I will tell you. +The settled estate of eight thousand a year is to go between +the two daughters, out of which is a jointure of three thousand +a year to the Duchess-dowager, and to that he has added a +thousand more out of the unsettled estate, which is nine +thousand. He gives, together with his blessing, four thousand +per annum rent-charge to the Duchess of Manchester in present, +provided she will contest nothing with her sister, who is to +have all the rest, and the reversion of the whole after Lady +Cardigan and her children; but in case she disputes, Lady +Hinchinbrooke and hers are in the entail next to the Cardigans, +who are to take the Montagu name and livery. I don't know what +Mr. Hussey will think of the blessing, but they say his Duchess +will be inclined to mind it; she always wanted to be well with +her father, but hated her mother. There are two codicils, one +in favour of his servants, and the other of' his dogs, cats, +and creatures; which was a little unnecessary, for lady +Cardigan has exactly his turn for saving every thing's life. +As he was making the codicil, One of his cats jumped on his +knee; "What," says he, "have you a mind to be a witness too! +You can't, for you are a party concerned." Lord Stafford is +going to send his poor wife with one maid and one horse to a +farm-house in Shropshire for ever. The Mirepoix's are come; +but I have not yet seen them. A thousand compliments to your +sisters. + +(61) Sir Samuel Grimston, Bart. left an heiress, who married +Sir Capel Luckyn, bart. Their son changed his name to +Grimston, and was created a baron and a Viscount. + +(62) This window is now in St. Margaret's Church, Westminster. + +(63) John, Duke of Montague. + + + +38 letter 10 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, July 24, 1749. + +You and Dr. Cocchi have made me ashamed with the civilities you +showed to my book-I hope it blushed! + +You have seen the death of the Duke of Montagu(64) in all the +papers. His loss will be extremely felt! he paid no less than +2700 pounds a year in private pensions, which ought to be +known, to balance the immense history of his places; of which +he was perpetually obtaining new, and making the utmost of all: +he had quartered on the great wardrobe no less than thirty +nominal tailors and arras-workers. - This employment is to be +dropped; his others are not yet given away. My father had a +great opinion of his understanding, and at the beginning of the + war was most desirous of persuading him to be Generalissimo; +but the Duke was very diffident of himself, and, having seen +little service, would not accept it, In short, with some foibles, +he was a most amiable man, and one of the most feeling I ever +knew. His estate is 17,000 pounds a year; the Duchess of +Manchester must have four of it; all the rest he has given, +after four thousand a year to the Duchess-dowager shall fall +in, to his other daughter Lady Cardigan. Lord Vere +Beauclerc(65) has thrown his into the list of vacant +employments: he resigned his lordship of the admiralty on +Anson's being preferred to him for vice-admiral of England; but +what heightened the disgust, was Lord Vere's going to a party +to visit the docks with Sandwich and Anson, after this was +done, and yet they never mentioned it to him. It was not +possible to converse with them upon good terms every day +afterwards. You perceive our powers and places are in a very +fluctuating situation: the Prince will have a catalogue of +discontented ready to fill the whole civil list. My Lord +Chancellor was terrified the other day with a vision of such a +revolution; he saw Lord Bath kiss hands, and had like to have +dropped the seals with the agony of not knowing what it was +for--it was only for his going to Spa. However, as this is an +event which the Chancellor has never thought an impossible one, +he is daily making Christian preparation against it. He has +just married his other daughter to Sir John Heathcote's +son;(66) a Prince little inferior to Pigwiggin in person; and +procreated in a greater bed of money and avarice than Pigwiggin +himself: they say, there is a peerage already promised to him +by the title of Lord Normanton. The King has consented to give +two earldoms to replace the great families of Somerset and +Northumberland in their descendants; Lady Betty Smithson is to +have the latter title after the Duke of Somerset's death, and +Sir Charles Windham any other appellation he shall choose. You +know Lord Granville had got a grant of Northumberland for him, +but it was stopped. These two hang a little, by the Duke of +Somerset's wanting to have the earldom for his son-in-law,(67) +instead of his daughter.(68) + +You ask me about the principles of the Methodists: I have tried +to learn them, and have read one of their books. The visible +part seems to be nothing but stricter practice than that of our +church, clothed in the old exploded cant of mystical devotion. +For example, you take a metaphor; we will say our passions are +weeds; you immediately drop every description of the passions, +and adopt every thing peculiar to weeds: in five minutes a true +Methodist will talk with the greatest compunction of hoeing--this +catches women of fashion and shopkeepers. + +I have now a request to make to you: Mrs. Gibberne is extremely +desirous of having her son come to England for a short time. +There is a small estate left to the family, I think by the +uncle; his presence is absolutely necessary: however, the poor +woman is so happy in his situation with you, that she talks Of +giving up every thing rather than disoblige you by fetching him +to England. She has been so unfortunate as to lose a favourite +daughter ' that was just married greatly to a Lisbon merchant: +the girl was so divided in her affections, that she had a mind +not to have followed her husband to Portugal. Mrs. Leneve, to +comfort the poor woman, told her what a distress this would +have been either way: she was so struck with this position, +that she said, "Dear Madam, it is very lucky she died!"--and +since that, she has never cried, but for joy! Though it is +impossible not to smile at these awkward sensations of +unrefined nature, yet I am sure your good nature will agree +with me in giving the poor creature this satisfaction; and +therefore I beg it. Adieu! + +(64) John, the last Duke of Montague, was knight of the garter, +great master of the order of the Bath, master of the great +wardrobe, Colonel of the Blues, etc. etc. + +(65) Lord Vere Beauclerc, brother of the Duke of St. Albans, +afterwards created Lord Vere of Hanworth. + +(66) Sir John Heathcote, Bart. of Normanton Park, in +Rutlandshire. He was the son of Sir Gilbert Heathcote, Lord +Mayor of London, who acquired a vast fortune, and was created a +baronet in 1733. Sir John's son, Sir Gilbert, the third +baronet, married to his first wife, Margaret, youngest daughter +of the Lord Chancellor Hardwicke.-D. + +(67) Sir Hugh Smithson. + +(68) The Duke of Somerset was eventually created Earl of +Northumberland with remainder to Sir Hugh Smithson, and Earl of +Egremont with remainder to Sir Charles Wyndham.-D. + + + + +40 Letter 11 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Aug. 17, 1749. + +I hear of nothing but your obliging civilities to the +Barrets:(69) I don't wonder you are attentive to please; my +amazement is, when I find it well distributed: you have all +your life been making Florence agreeable to every body that +came there, who have almost all forgot it--or worse. But Mr. +and Mrs. Barret do you justice, and as they are very sensible +and agreeable, I am persuaded you will always find that they +know how to esteem such goodness as yours. Mr. Chute has, this +morning received here a letter from Mr. ]Barret, and will +answer it very soon. Mr. Montagu is here too, and happy to +hear he is so -well, and recommends several compliments to your +conveyance. + +Your brother mentions your being prevented writing to me, by +the toothache: I hate you should have any pain. + +You always let us draw upon you for such weight of civilities +to any body we recommend, that if I did not desire to show my +attention, and the regard I have for Count LorenZi,(70) yet it +would be burning ingratitude not to repay you. I have +accordingly been trying to be very civil to the Chevalier; I +did see him Once at Florence. To-morrow I am to fetch him +hither to dinner, from Putney, where the Mirepoix's have got a +house. I gave Madame her father's simple\ letter, of which she +took no more notice than it deserved; but Prince Beauvau(71) has +written her a very particular one about me, and +is to come over himself in the winter to make me a visit: this +has warmed their politesse. I should have known the +Ambassadress any where by the likeness to her family. He is +cold and stately, and not much tasted here. She is very +sensible; but neither of them satisfy me in one point; I wanted +to see something that was the quintessence of the newest bon +ton, that had the last bel air, and spoke the freshest jargon. +These people have scarce ever lived at Paris, are reasonable, +and little amusing with follies. They have brought a cousin +of' his, a Monsieur de Levi, who has a tantino of what I wanted +to see. You know they pique themselves much upon their Jewish +name, and call cousins with the Virgin Mary. They have a +picture in the family, where she is made to say to the founder +of the house, "Couvrez vous, Mon cousin." He replies, "Non +pas, ma tr`es sainte cousine, je scai trop bien le respect que +je vous dois."(72) + +There is nothing like news: Kensington Palace was like to have +made an article the other night; it was on fire: my Lady +Yarmouth has an ague, and is forced to keep a constant fire in +her room against the damps. When my Lady Suffolk lived in that +apartment, the floor produced a constant crop of mushrooms. +Though there are so many vacant chambers, the King hoards all +he can, and has locked up half the palace since the queen's +death: so he does at St. James's, and I believe would put the +rooms out on interest, if he could get a closet a year for +them! Somebody told my Lady Yarmouth they wondered she could +live in that unwholesome apartment, when there are so many +other rooms: she replied, "Mais pas pour moy." + +The scagliola tables are arrived, and only one has suffered a +little on the edge: the pattern is perfectly pretty. It would +oblige me much if you could make the Friar make a couple more +for me, and with a little more expedition. + +Don't be so humble about your pedigree: there is not a pipe of +good blood in the kingdom but we will tap for you: Mr. Chute +has it now in painting; and you may depend on having it with +the most satisfactory proofs, as soon as it can possibly be +finished. He has taken great pains, and fathomed half the +genealogies in England for you. + +You have been extremely misinformed about my father's writing +his own history: I often pressed it, but he never once threw a +thought that way. He neither loved reading nor writing; and at +last, the only time he had leisure, was not well enough. He +used to say, "that but few men should ever be ministers, for it +let them see too much of the badness of mankind." Your story, +I imagine, was inoculated on this speech. Adieu! + +(69) Thomas Barrett-Lennard, afterwards Lord Dacre of the +South, and his wife, Anne, daughter of Lord Chief Justice +Pratt, afterwards Lord Camden. + +(70) The French minister at Florence. + + +(71) The brother of Madame de Mirepoix, afterwards a marshal of +France.-D. + +(72) There is said to have been another equally absurd picture +in the same family, in which Noah is represented going into the +ark, carrying under his arm a small trunk, on which was written +"Papiers de la maison de Levis."-D. + + + +42 Letter 12 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, August 26, 1749. + +Dear George, +I flatter myself that you are quite recovered of your disorder, +and that your sisters will not look with an evil eye on +Strawberry Hill. Mr. Chute and I are returned from our +expedition miraculously well, considering all our distresses. +If you love good roads, conveniences, good inns, plenty of +postilions and horses, be so kind as never to go into Sussex. +We thought ourselves in the northest part of England; the whole +country has a Saxon air, and the inhabitants are savage, as if +King George the Second had been the first monarch of the East +Angles. Coaches grow there no more than balm and spices; we +were forced to drop our postchaise, that resembled nothing so +much as harlequin's calash, which was occasionally a chaise or +a baker's cart. We journeyed over Alpine mountains, drenched +in clouds, and thought of harlequin again, when he was driving +the chariot of the sun through the morning clouds, and so was +glad to hear the aqua vitae man crying a dram. At last we got +to Arundel Castle, which was visibly built for defence in an +impracticable country. It is now only a heap of ruins, with a +new indifferent apartment clapt up for the Norfolks, when they +reside there for a week or a fortnight. Their priest showed us +about. There are the walls of a round tower where the garrison +held out against Cromwell; he planted a battery on the top of +the church, and reduced them. There is a gloomy gateway and +dunccons, in one of which I conclude is kept the old woman who, +in the time of the late rebellion, offered to show Lord Robert +Sutton(73) where arms were hidden at Worksop.(74) The Duchess +complimented him into dining before his search, and in the mean +time the woman was spirited away, and adieu the arms. There +are fine monuments of the old Fitzalans, Earls of Arundel, in +the church. Mr. Chute, whom I have created Strawberry king at +arms, has had brave sport a la chasse aux armes. + +We are charmed with the magnificence of the park at +Petworth,(75) which is Percy to the backbone; but the house and +garden did not please our antiquarian spirit. The house is +entirely new-fronted in the style of the Tu'lleries, and +furnished exactly like Hampton Court. There is one room +gloriously flounced all round whole-length pictures, with much +the finest carving of Gibbins that ever my eyes beheld. There +are birds absolutely feathered; and two antique vases with bas +relieves, as perfect and beautiful as if they were carved by a +Grecian master. There is a noble Claude Lorrain, a very +curious Picture of the haughty Anne Stanhope, the Protector's +wife,(76) pretty +but not giving one an idea of her character, and many old +portraits; but the housekeeper was at London, and we did not +learn half. The chapel is grand and proper. At the inn we +entertained ourselves with the landlord, whom my Lord Harvey +had cabineted when he went to woo one of the Lady Seymours. + +Our greatest pleasure was in seeing Cowdry, which is repairing; +Lord Montacute(77) will at last live in it. We thought of old +Margaret of Clarence, who lived there; one of her accusations +was built on the bulls found there. It was the palace of her +great uncle, the Marquis of Montacute. I was charmed with the +front, and the court, and the fountain; but the room called +Holbein's, except the curiosity of it, is wretchedly painted, +and infinitely inferior to those delightful stories of Harry +the Eighth in the private apartment at Windsor. I was much +pleased with a whole length picture of Sir Anthony Brown in the +very dress in which he wedded Anne of Cleves by proxy. He is +in blue and white, only his right leg is entirely white, which +was certainly robed for the act of putting into bed to her; but +when the King came to marry her, he only put his leg into bed +to kick her out of it. + +I have set up my staff, and finished my pilgrimages for this +year. Sussex is a great damper of curiosity. Adieu! my +compliments to your sisters. + +(73) lord Robert Sutton, third son of the Duke of rutland. + +(74) A seat of the Duke of Norfolk in Nottinghamshire. + +(75) A seat of Sir Charles Wyndham, who succeeded to the title +of Earl of Egremont on the death of his uncle Algernon, Duke of +Somerset. + +(76) Second wife of Edward, Duke of Somerset, Protector in the +reign of his nephew, Edward VI.-E. + +(77) Anthony, the sixth Viscount Montagu, descended from +Anthony Brown, created Viscount Montagu in 1554, being +descended from John Neville, Marquis of Montagu. + + + +43 Letter 13 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Sept. 12, 1749, + +I have your two letters to answer of August 15th and 26, and, +as far as I see before me, have a great deal of paper, which I +don't know how to fill. The town is notoriously empty; at +Kensington they have scarce company enough to pay for lighting +the candles. The Duke has been for a week with the Duke of +Bedford at Woburn; Princess Emily remains, saying civil things; +for example, the second time she saw Madame de Mircpoix, she +cried out, "Ah! Madame, vous n'avez pas tant de rouge +aujourd'hui: la premi`ere fois que vous `etes `a not venue ici, +vous aviez une quantit`e horrible." This the Mirepoix herself +repeated to me; you may imagine her astonishment,--I mean, as +far as your duty will give you leave. I like her extremely; +she has a great deal of quiet sense. They try much to be +English and whip into frocks without measure, and fancy they +are doing the fashion. Then she has heard so much of that +villanous custom of giving money to the servants of other +people, that there is no convincing her that women of fashion +never give; she distributes with both hands. The Chevalier +Lorenzi has dined with me here: I gave him venison, and, as he +was determined to like it, he protested it was "as good as +beef." You will be delighted with what happened to him: he was +impatient to make his brother's compliments to Mr. Chute, and +hearing somebody at Kensington call Mr. Schutz, he easily mistook +the sound, and went up to him, and asked him if he had not been +at Florence! Schutz with the utmost Hanoverian gravity, replied, +"Oui, oui, J'ai `et`e `a Florence, oui, oui:--mais o`u est-il, +ce Florence?" + +The Richcourts(78) are arrived, and have brought with them a +strapping lad of your Count; sure, is it the boy my Lady O. +used to bring up by hand? he is pretty picking for her now. +The woman is handsome, but clumsy to a degree, and as much too +masculine as her lover Rice is too little so. Sir Charles +Williams too is arrived, and tells me how much he has heard in +your praise in Germany. Villettes is here, but I have had no +dealings with him. I think I talk nothing but foreign +ministers to-day, as if I were just landed from the Diet of +Ratisbon. But I shall have done on this chapter, and I think +on all others, for you say such extravagant things of my +letters, which are nothing but Gossiping gazettes, that I +cannot bear it. Then you have undone yourself with me, for you +compare them to Madame Sevign`e,'s; absolute treason! Do you +know, there is scarce a book in the world I love so much as her +letters? + +How infinitely humane you are about Gibberne! Shall I amuse +you with the truth of that history, which I have discovered? +The woman, his mother, has pressed his coming for a very +private reason--only to make him one of the most considerable +men in this country!-and by what wonderful means do you think +this mighty business is to be effected? only by the beauties of +his person! As I remember, he was as little like an Adonis as +could be: you must keep this inviolably; but depend upon the +truth of it-I mean, that his mother really has this idea. She +showed his picture to--why, to the Duchess of Cleveland, to the +Duchess of Portsmouth, to Madame Pompadour; in short, to one of +them, I don't know which, I only know it was not to my Lady +Suffolk, the King's former mistress. "Mon Dieu! Madame, est-il +frai que fotrc fils est si sholi que ce bortrait? il faut que +je le garte; je feux apsolument l'afoir." The woman protested +nothing ever was so handsome as her lad, and that the nasty +picture did not do him half justice. In short, she flatters +herself that the Countess(79) will do him whole justice-. I +don't think it impossible but, out of charity, she may make him +groom of the chambers. I don't know, indeed, how the article +of beauty may answer; but if you should lose your Gibberne, it +is good to have @ a friend at court. + +Lord Granby is going to be married to the eldest of the Lady +Seymours; she has above a hundred and thirty thousand pounds. +The Duke of Rutland will take none of it, but gives at present +six thousand a-year. + +That I may keep my promise to myself of having nothing to tell +you I shall bid you good night; but I really do know no more. +Don't whisper my anecdote even to Gibberne, if he is not yet +set out; nor to the Barrets. I wish you a merry, merry baths +of Pisa, as the link-boys say at Vauxhall. Adieu! + +(78) Count Richcourt, brother of the minister at Florence, and +envoy from the Emperor; his wife was a Piedmontese. + +(79) Lady Yarmouth. + + + +45 Letter 14 +To John Chute, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, Sept. 22, 1749. + +My dear sir, +I expect Sir Charles Williams to scold me excessively. He +wrote me a letter, in which he desired that I would send you +word by last Post, that he expected to meet you here by +Michaelmas, according to your promise. I was unfortunately at +London; the letter was directed hither from Lord Ilchester's, +where he is; and so I did not receive it till this morning. I +/hope, however, this will be time enough to put you in mind of +your appointment; but while I am so much afraid of Sir +Charles's anger, I seem to forget the pleasure I shall have in +seeing you myself; I hope you know that: but he is still The +more pressing, as he will stay so little time in England. +Adieu! + + + +45 Letter 15 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, Sept. 28, 1749. + +I am much obliged to you, dear sir, and agree with your opinion +about the painting of Prince Edward, that it cannot be original +and authentic, and consequently not worth copying. Lord +Cholmondeley is, indeed, an original; but who are the wise +people that build for him? Sir Philip Harvey seems to be the +only person likely to be benefited by this new extravagance. I +have just seen a collection of tombs like those you describe-- +the house of Russel robed in alabaster and painted. There are +seven monuments in all; one is immense, in marble, cherubim'd +and seraphim'd, crusted with bas-reliefs and titles, for the +first Duke of Bedford and his Duchess.(80) All these are in a +chapel of the church at Cheneys, the seat of the first Earls. +There are but piteous fragments of the house remaining, now a +farm, built round three sides of a court. It is dropping down, +in several places without a roof, but in half the windows are +beautiful arms in painted glass. As these are so totally +neglected, I propose making a push, and begging them of the +Duke of Bedford. They would be magnificent for +Strawberry-castle. Did I tell you that I have found a text in +Deuteronomy to authorize my future battlements? "When thou +buildest a new house, then shalt thou make a battlement for thy +roof, that thou bring not blood upon thy house, if any man fall +from thence." + +I saw Cheneys at a visit I have been making to Harry Conway at +Latimers. This house, which they have hired, is large, and +bad, and old, but of a bad age; finely situated on a hill in a +beech wood, with a river at the bottom, and a range of hills +and woods on the opposite side belonging to the Duke of +Bedford. They are fond of it; the view is melancholy. In the +church at Cheneys Mr. Conway put on an old helmet we found +there: you cannot imagine how it suited him, how antique and +handsome he looked; you would have taken him for Rinaldo. Now +I have dipped you so deep in heraldry and genealogies, I shall +beg you to step into the church of Stoke; I know it is not +asking you to do, a disagreeable thing to call there; I want an +account of the tomb of the first Earl of Huntingdon, an +ancestor of mine, who lies there. I asked Gray, but he could +tell me little about it. You know how out of humour Gray has +been about our diverting ourselves with pedigrees, which is at +least as wise as making a serious point of haranguing against +the study. I believe neither Mr. Chute nor I ever contracted a +moment's vanity from any of our discoveries, + or ever preferred them to any thing but brag and whist. Well, +Gray has set himself to compute, and has found out that there +must go a million of ancestors in twenty generations to every +body's composition. + +I dig and plant till it is dark; all my works are revived and +proceeding. When will you come and assist? You know I have an +absolute promise, and shall now every day expect you. My +compliments to your sisters. + +(80) Anne, daughter of Robert Carr, Earl of Somerset. + + + + +46 Letter 16 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, October 27, 1749. + +You never was more conveniently in fault in your life: I have +been going to make you excuses these ten days for not writing; +and while I was inventing them, your humble letter of Oct. 10th +arrives. I am so glad to find it is you that are to blame, not +I. Well, well, I am all good nature, I forgive you; I can +overlook such little negligences. + +Mr. Chute is indefatigable in your service, but Anstis(81) has +been very troublesome; he makes as many difficulties in signing +a certificate about folks that are dead as if they were +claiming an estate. I am sorry you are so pressed, for poor +Mr. Chute is taken off from this pursuit: he was fetched from +hence this day se'nnight to his infernal brother's, where a +Mrs. Mildmay, whom you must have heard him mention, is dead +suddenly: this may turn out a very great misfortune to our +friend. + +Your friend, Mr. Doddington, has not quite stuck to the letter +of the declaration he sent you: he is first minister at +Carlton-house, and is to lead the Opposition; but the misfortune +is, nobody will be led by him. That whole court is in disorder +by this event: every body else laughs. + +I am glad the Barrets please you, and that I have pleased Count +Lorenzi. I must tell a speech of the Chevalier, which you will +reconnoitre for Florentine; one would think he had seen no more +of the world than his brother.(82) He was visiting Lady +Yarmouth with Mirepoix: he drew a person into a window, and +whispered him; Dites moi un peu en ami, je vous en prie; qu'est +ce que c'est que Miledi Yarmouth."--"Eh! bien, vous ne savez +pas?"--"Non, ma foi: nous savons ce que c'est que Miledi +Middlesex.," + +Gibberne is arrived. I don't tell you this apropos to the +foregoing paragraph: he has wanted to come hither, but I have +waived his visit till I am in town. + +I announce to you the old absurd Countess--not of Orford, but +Pomfret. Bistino will have enough to do: there is Lady +Juliana,(83) who is very like, but not so handsome as Lady +Granville; 'and Lady Granville's little child. They are +actually in France; I don't doubt but you will have them. I +shall pity you under a second edition of her follies. Adieu! +Pray ask my pardon for my writing you so short a letter. + +(81) Garter King at Arms. (It was to him Lord Chesterfield +said, "You foolish man, you do not know your own foolish +business."-D.) + +(82) Who had never been out of Tuscany. + +(83) In 1751 married to Thomas Penn, Esq. of Stoke Pogies. See +ant`e, p. 13, letter 1.-E. + + + +47 Letter 17 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Nov. 17, 1749. + +At last I have seen le beau Gibberne: I was extremely glad to +see him, after I had done contemplating his person, which +surely was never designed to figure in a romance. I never saw +a creature so grateful! It is impossible not to be touched +with the attachment he has for you. He talks of returning; +and, indeed, I would advise it for his sake: he is quite +spoiled for living in England, and had entirely forgot what +Visigoths his countrymen are. But I must drop him to thank you +for the charming intaglio which you have stolen for me by his +means: it is admired as much as it deserves; but with me it has +all the additional merit of coming from you. Gibberne says you +will be frightened at a lamentable history(84 that you will +read of me in the newspapers; but pray don't be frightened: +-the danger, great as it was, was over before I had any notion +of it; and the hurt did not deserve mentioning. The relation +is so near the truth, that I need not repeat it; and, indeed, +the frequent repetition has 'Been much worse than the robbery. +I have at last been relieved by the riots(85) at the new French +theatre, and by Lord Coke's lawsuit.(86) The first has been +opened twice; the latter to-day. The young men of fashion, who +espouse the French players, have hitherto triumphed: the old +ladies, who countenance Lady Mary Coke, are likely to have their +gray beards brought with sorrow to the grave. It will ,be a new +aera, (or, as my Lord Baltimore calls it, a new area,) in +English history, to have the mob and the Scotch beat out of two +points that they have endeavoured to make national. I dare say +the Chevalier Lorenzi will write ample accounts to Florence of +these and all our English phenomena. I think, if possible, we +brutalize more and more: the only difference is, that though +every thing is anarchy, there seems to be less general party +than ever. The humours abound, but there wants some notable +physician to bring them to a head. + +The Parliament met yesterday: we had opposition, but no +division on the address. + +Now the Barrets have left you, Mr. Chute and I will venture to +open our minds to you a little; that is, to comfort you for the +loss of your friends - we will abuse them--that is enough in +the way of the world. Mr. Chute had no kind of acquaintance +with Mr. Barret till just before he set out: I, who have known +him all my life, must tell you that all those nerves are +imaginary, and that as long as there are distempers in the +world, he will have one or two constantly upon his list. I +don't know her; I never heard much of her understanding, but I +had rather take your opinion; or at least, if I am not +absolutely so complaisant, I will believe that you was +determined to like them on Mr. Chute's account. I would not +speak so plainly to you (and have not I been very severe?) if I +were not sure that your good nature would not relax any offices +of friendship to them. You will scold me black and blue; but +you know I always tell you when the goodness of your heart +makes you borrow a little from that of other people to lend to +their heads. Good night! + +(84) Mr. Walpole had been robbed the week before in Hyde Park, +and narrowly escaped being killed by the accidental going off +of the highwayman's pistol, which did stun him, and took off +the skin of his cheekbone. + +(85) The mob was determined not to suffer French Players; and +Lord Trentham's engaging in their defence was made great use, +of against him at the ensuing election for Westminster; where +he was to be rechosen, on being appointed a lord of the +admiralty. + +(86) Lady Mary Coke swore the peace against her husband. + + + +48 letter 18 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Jan. 10, 1750. + +I don't at all know what to say to you, for not having writ to +you since the middle of November: I only know that nothing has +happened, and so I have omitted telling you nothing. I have +had two from you in the interim, one of Nov. @8th, and one +without a date, in which you are extremely kind about my +robbery, of which in my last I assured you there were no +consequences: thank you a thousand times for having felt so +much on my account. Gibberne has been with me again to-day, as +his mother was a fortnight ago: she talked me to death, and three +times after telling me her whole history, she said, "Well then, +Sir, upon the whole," and began it all again. Upon the whole, I +think she has a mind to keep her son in England; (-ind he has a +mind to be kept, though in my opinion he is very unfit for living +in England--he is too polished! For trade, she says, he is in a +cold sweat if she mentions it; and so they propose, by the +acquaintance, he says,. his mother has among the quality, to get +him that nothing called something. I assured them, you had too +much friendship for him to desire his return, if it would be a +prejudice to his interest--did not I say right? He seems a +good creature; too good to make his way here. + +I beg you will not omit sending me every tittle that happens to +compose my Lady Pomfret's second volume. We see perpetual +articles of the sale of the furniture in the Great Duke's +villas: is there any truth in it? You would know me again, if +you saw me playing at pharaoh on one side of Madame de +Mirepoix, as I used to do by her mother: I like her extremely, +though she likes nothing but gaming. His pleasure is dancing: +don't you envy any body that can have spirits to be so simple +as to like themselves in a minuet after fifty? Don't tell his +brother, but the Chevalier Lorenzi is the object of the +family's entertainment. With all the Italian thirst for +English knowledge, he vents as many absurdities as if he had a +passion for Ireland too. He saw some of the Florentine Gesses +at Lord Lincoln's; he showed them to the Ambassadress with +great transport, and assured her that the Great Duke had the +originals, and that there never had been made any copies of +them. He told her the other day that he had seen a sapphire of +the size of her diamond ring,,, and worth more: she said that +could not be. "Oh!" said he, "I mean, supposing your diamond +were a sapphire." + +I want to know Dr. Cocchi's and your opinion of two new French +books, if you have seen them. One is Montesquieu's "Esprit des +Loix;" which I think the best book that ever was written--at +least I never learned half so much from all I ever read. There +is )s much wit as useful knowledge. He is said to have hurt +his reputation by it in France, which I can conceive, for it is +almost the interest of every body there that can understand it +to decry it. The other, far inferior, but entertaining,, is +Hainault's "Abrege Chronologique de l'Histoire de France." It +is very amusing, though very full of Frenchisms; and though an +abridgment, often so minute as to tell you when the +Quinzevingts first wore flower-de-luces on their shoulders: but +there are several little circumstances that give one an idea of +the manners of old time, like Dr. Cocchi's treatise on the old +rate of expenses. + +There has been nothing particular in Parliament - all our +conversation has turned on the Westminster election, on which, +after a vast struggle, Lord Trentham had the majority. Then +came on the scrutiny: after a week's squabbling on the right of +election, the High-bailiff declared what he would take to be +the right. They are now proceeding to disqualify votes on that +foot; but as his decision could not possibly please both sides, I +fear it will come to us at last. + +Lord Pembroke(87) died last night: he had been at the Bridge +Committee,(88) in the morning, where, according to custom, he +fell into an outrageous passion; as my Lord Chesterfield told +him, that ever since the pier sunk he has constantly been +damming and sinking. The watermen say to-day, that now the +great pier (peer) is quite gone. Charles Stanhope carried him +home in his chariot; he desired the coachman to drive gently, +for he could not avoid those passions; and afterwards, between +shame and his asthma, he always felt daggers, and should +certainly one day or other die in one of those fits. +Arundel,(89) his great friend and relation, came to him soon +after: he repeated the conversation, and said, he did not know +but he might die by night. "God bless you! If I see you no +more, take this as my last farewell!" He died in his chair at +seven o'clock. He certainly is a public loss; for he was +public-spirited and inflexibly honest, though prejudice and +passion were so predominant in him that honesty had not fair +play, whenever he had been set upon any point that had been +given him for right. In his lawsuit with my Lady Portland he +was scurrilously indecent, though to a woman; and so +blasphemous at tennis, that the present primate of Ireland(90) +was forced to leave off playing with him. Last year he went +near to destroy post-chaises, on a quarrel with the postmaster +at Hounslow, who, as he told the Bishop of Chichester, had an +hundred devils and Jesuits in his belly. In short, he was one +of the lucky English madmen who get people to say, that +whatever extravagance they commit "Oh, it is his way." He began +his life with boxing, and ended it with living upon vegetables, +into which system avarice a little entered. At the beginning +of the present war, he very honourably would resign his +regiment, though the King pressed him to keep it, because his +rupture hindered his serving abroad. My father, with whom he +was always well, would at any time have given him the blue +riband; but he piqued himself on its being offered to him +without asking it. the truth was, he did not care for the +expense of the instalment. His great excellence was +architecture: the bridge at Wilton is more beautiful than any +thing of Lord Burlington or Kent. He has left an only son, a +fine boy about sixteen.(91) Last week, Lord Crawford(92) died +too, as is supposed, by taking a large quantity of laudanum, +under impatience at the badness of his circumstances, and at +the seventeenth opening of the wound which he got in Hungary, +in a battle with the Turks. I must tell you a story apropos of +two noble instances of fidelity and generosity. His servant, a +French papist, saw him fall; watched, and carried him off into +a ditch. Lord Crawford told him the Turks would certainly find +them, and that, as he could not live himself, it was in vain +for him to risk his life too, and insisted on the man making +his escape. After a long contest, the servant retired, found a +priest, confessed himself, came back, and told his lord that he +was now prepared to die, and would never leave him. The enemy +did not return, and both were saved. After Lord Crawford's +death, this story was related to old Charles Stanhope, Lord +Harrington's brother, whom I mentioned just now: he sent for +the fellow, told him he could not take him himself, but, as +from his lord's affairs he concluded he had not been able to +provide for him, he would give him fifty pounds, and did. + +To make up for my long silence, and to make up for a long +letter, I will string another old story, which I have just +heard, to this. General Wade was at a low gaming-house, and +had a very fine snuffbox, which on a sudden he missed. Every +body denied having taken it: he insisted on searching the +company. He did: there remained only one man, who had stood +behind him, but refused to be searched, unless the general +would go into another room alone with him: there the man told +him, that he was born a gentleman, was reduced, and lived by +what little bets he could pick up there, and by fragments which +the waiters sometimes gave him. "At this moment I have half a +fowl in my pocket; I was afraid of being exposed; here it is! +Now, Sir, you may search me." Wade was so struck, that he gave +the man a hundred pounds; and immediately the genius of +generosity, whose province is almost a sinecure, was very glad +of the opportunity of making him find his own snuff-box, or +another very like it, in his own pocket again. + +Lord Marchmont is to succeed Lord Crawford as one of the +sixteen: the House of Lords is so inactive that at last the +ministry have ventured to let him in there. His brother Hume +Campbell, who has been in a state of neutrality, begins to +frequent the House again. + +It is plain I am no moneyed man; as I have forgot, till I came +to My last paragraph, what a ferment the money-changers are in! +Mr. Pelham, who has flung himself entirely into Sir John +Barnard's(93) hands, has just miscarried in a scheme for the +reduction of interest, by the intrigues of the three great +companies and other usurers. They all detest barnard, who, to +honesty and abilities, joins the most intolerable pride. @By my +next, I suppose, you will find that Mr. Pelham is grown afraid +of somebody else, of some director, and is governed by him. +Adieu!--Sure I am out of debt now! + +P.S. My dear Sir, I must trouble you with a commission, which I +don't know whether you can execute. I am going to build a +little Gothic castle at Strawberry Hill. If you can pick me up +any fragments of old painted glass, arms, or any thing, I shall +be excessively obliged to you. I can't say I remember any such +things in Italy; but out of old chateaus, I imagine, one might +get it cheap, if there is any. + +(87) Henry Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, and Groom of the stole. +For Walpole's character of him, see ant`e.-E. + +(88) The committee under whose superintendence Westminster +Bridge had been built.-D. + +(89) Richard Arundel, treasurer to the chambers: his mother, +the Dowager Lady Arundel, was second wife of Thomas, Earl of +Pembroke, father of Earl Henry. + +(90) Dr. George Stone. + +(91) Henry, tenth Earl of Pembroke, and seventh Earl of +Montgomery, He died in 1794.-D. + + +(92) John Lindsey Earl of Crawford, premier Earl of Scotland. +His life, which indeed had little remarkable in it, was +published afterwards, in a large quarto. + +(93) An eminent citizen, and long member of Parliament for the +city of London. He at length accomplished his plan for the +reduction of the Interest of the National Debt.-D. + + + +52 Letter 19 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Jan. 31, 1750. + +You will hear little news from England, but of robberies;(94) +the numbers of disbanded soldiers and sailors have all taken to +the road, or rather to the street: people are almost afraid of +stirring after it is dark. My Lady Albemarle(95) was robbed +the other night in Great Russell Street, by nine men: the King +gave her a gold watch and chain the next day. She says, "the +manner was all"-and indeed so it was, for I never saw a more +frippery present; especially considering how great a favourite +she is, and my Lady Yarmouth's friend. The monarch is never +less generous than when he has a mind to be so: the only +present he ever made my father was a large diamond, cracked +quite through. Once or twice, in his younger and gallant days, +he has brought out a handful of maimed topazes and amethysts, +and given them to be raffled for by the maids of honour. I +told my Lady Yarmouth it had been a great loss to me that there +was no queen, for then I suppose I should have had a watch too +when I was robbed. + +We have had nothing remarkable in Parliament, but a sort of +secession the other day on the Mutiny-bill, when Lord Egmont +and the Opposition walked out of the House, because the +ministry would go upon the Report, when they did not like It. +It is a measure of the Prince's court to lie by, and let the +ministry demolish one another, which they are hurrying to do. +The two secretaries(96) are on the brink of declaring war: the +occasion is likely to be given by a Turnpike-bill, contested +between the counties of Bedford and Northampton; and it (,rows +almost as vehement a contest as the famous one between +Aylesbury and Buckingham. The Westminster election is still +hanging in scrutiny: the Duke of Bedford paid the election,(97) +which he owns to have cost seven thousand pounds; and Lord +Gower pays the scrutiny, which will be at least as much. This +bustling little Duke has just had another miscarriage in +Cornwall, where he attacked a family-borough of the Morrices. +The Duke(97) espouses the Bedford; and Lord Sandwich is +espoused by both. He goes once or twice a-week to hunt with the +Duke; and as the latter has taken a turn of gaming, Sandwich, to +make his court and fortune carries a box and dice in his pocket; +and so they throw a main, whenever the hounds are at a fault, +"upon every green hill, and under every green tree." + +But we have one shocking piece of news, the dreadful account of +the hurricane in the East Indies: you will see the particulars +in the papers; but we reckon that we don't yet know the worst.. +Poor Admiral Boscawen(99) has been most unfortunate during his +whole expedition; and what increases the horror is, that I have +been assured by a very intelligent person, that Lord Anson +projected this business on purpose to ruin Boscawen, who, when +they came together from the victory off Cape Finisterre, +complained loudly of Anson's behaviour. To silence and to hurt +him, Anson despatched him to Pondicherry, upon slight +intelligence and upon improbable views. + +Lord Coke's suit is still in suspense; he has been dying; she +was to have died, but has recovered wonderfully on his taking +the lead. Mr. Chute diverted me excessively with a confidence +that Chevalier Lorenzi made him the other night-I have told you +the style of his bon-mots! He said he should certainly return +to England again, and that whenever he did, he would land at +Bristol, because baths are the best places to make +acquaintance, just as if Mr. Chute, after living seven years in +Italy, and keeping the best company, should return thither, and +land at Leghorn, in order to make Italian acquaintance at Pisa! + +Among the robberies, I might have told you of the eldest Miss +Pelham leaving a pair of diamond earrings, which she had +borrowed for the birth-day, in a hackney chair; she had put +them under the seat for fear of being attacked, and forgot +them. The chairmen have sunk them. The next morning, when +they were missed, the damsel began to cry: Lady Catherine(100) +grew frightened, lest her infanta should vex herself sick, and +summoned a jury of matrons to consult whether she should give +her hartshorn or lavender drops? Mrs. Selwyn,(101) who was on +the panel, grew very peevish, and said, "Pho! give her +brilliant drops." Such are the present anecdotes of the court +of England! Adieu! + +(94) On the preceding day, in consequence of the number of +persons of distinction who had recently been robbed in the +streets, a proclamation appeared in the London Gazette, +offering a reward of one hundred pounds for the apprehension of +any robber.-E. + +(95) Lady Anne Lenox, sister of the Duke of Richmond, wife of +William Anne Keppel, Earl of Albemarle, ambassador at Paris, +and lady of the bedchamber to Queen Caroline. + +(96) the Dukes of Newcastle and Bedford. + +(97) The Duke of Bedford's second wife was sister of Lord +Trentham, the candidate. + +(98) Of Cumberland. + +(99) Edward, next brother of Lord Falmouth. + + +(100) Lady Catherine Manners, sister of John, Duke of Rutland, +and wife of Henry Pelham, Chancellor of the exchequer. + +(101) Mary Farenden, wife of John Selwyn, treasurer to Queen +Caroline, and woman of the bedchamber. + + + +53 letter 20 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Feb. 25, 1750. + +I am come hither for a little repose and air. The fatigue of a +London winter, between Parliaments and rakery, is a little too +much without interruption for an elderly personage, that verges +towards--I won't say what. This accounts easily for my wanting +quiet--but air in February will make you smile--yet it is +strictly true, that the weather is unnaturally hot: we have had +eight months of' warmth beyond what was ever known in any other +country; Italy is quite north with respect to us!-You know we +have had an earthquake. Mr. Chute's Francesco says, that a few +evenings before it there was a bright cloud, which the mob +called the bloody cloud; that he had been told there never were +earthquakes in England, or else he should have known by that +symptom that there would be one within a week. I am told that +Sir Isaac Newton foretold a great alteration in Our climate in +the year '50, and that he wished he could live to see it. +Jupiter, I think, has jogged us three degrees nearer to the +sun. + +The Bedford Turnpike, which I announced to you in my last, is +thrown out by a majority of fifty-two against the Duke of +Bedford. The Pelhams, who lent their own persons to him, had +set up the Duke of Grafton, to list their own dependents under +against their rival. When the Chamberlain would head a party, +you may be sure the opposite power is in the wane. The +Newcastle is at open war, and has left off waiting on the Duke, +who espouses the Bedfords. Mr. Pelham tries to patch it up, +and is getting the Ordnance for the Duke; but there are scarce +any terms kept. Lord Sandwich, who governs the little Duke +through the Duchess, is the chief object of the Newcastle +hatred. Indeed there never was such a composition! he is as +capable of all little knavery, as if he was not practising all +great knavery. During the turnpike contest, in which he +laboured night and day against his friend Halifax, he tried the +grossest tricks to break agreements, when the opposite side +were gone away on the security of a suspension of action: and +in the very middle of that I came to the knowledge of a cruel +piece of flattery which he paid to his protector. He had made +interest for these two years for one Parry, a poor clergyman, +schoolfellow and friend of his, to be fellow of Eton, and had +secured a majority for him. A Fellow died: another wrote to +Sandwich to know if he was not to vote for Parry according to +his engagement,--"No, he must vote for one who had been tutor +to the Duke of Bedford," who by that means has carried it. My +Lady Lincoln was not suffered to go to a ball which Sandwich +made the other night for the Duke, who tumbled down in the +middle of a country dance; they imagined he had beat his nose +flat, but he lay like a tortoise on the topshell, his face +could not touch the ground by some feet. My Lady Anson was +there, who insisted on dancing minuets, though against the rule +of the night, with as much eagerness as you remember in my Lady +Granville. Then she proposed herself for a Louvre; all the men +vowed they had never heard of such a dance, upon which she +dragged out Lady Leveson,(102) and made her dance one with her. + +At the last ball at the same house, a great dispute of +precedence, which the Duchess of Norfolk had set on foot but +has dropped, came to trial. Lord Sandwich contrived to be on +the outside of the door to hand down to supper whatever lady +came out first. Madame de Mirepoix and the Duchess of Bedford +were the rival queens; the latter made a faint offer to the +ambassadress to go first; she returned it, and the other +briskly accepted it; upon which the ambassadress, with great +cleverness, made all the other women go before her, and then +asked the Duke of Bedford if he would not go too. However, +though they continue to visit, the wound is incurable: you +don't imagine that a widow(103) of the House of Lorraine, and a +daughter of Princess Craon, can digest such an affront. It +certainly was very absurd, as she is not only an ambassadress +but a stranger; and consequently all English women, as being at +home, should give her place. King George the Second and I +don't agree in our explication of this text of ceremony; he +approves the Duchess-so he does Miss Chudleigh, in a point +where ceremony is out of the question. He opened the trenches +before her a fortnight ago, at the masquerade- but at the last +she had the gout, and could not come; he went away flat, cross. +His son is not so fickle. My Lady Middlesex has been +miscarrying; he attends as incessantly as Mrs. Cannon.(104) +The other morning the Princess came to call him to go to Kew; +he made her wait in her coach above half an hour at the door. +You will be delighted with a bon-mot of a chair-maker, whom he +has discarded for voting for Lord Trentham; one of his +black-caps was sent to tell this Vaughan that the Prince would +employ him no more: "I am going to bid another person make his +Royal Highness a chair."--"With all my heart," said the +chair-maker; "I don't care what they make him, so they don't +make him a throne." + +The Westminster election, which is still scrutinizing, produced +us a parliamentary event this week, and was very near producing +something much bigger. Mr. Fox and Mr. Pitt moved to Send for +the High-bailiff to inquire into the delay. The Opposition +took it up very high, and on its being carried against them, +the Court of Requests was filled next day with the mob, and the +House crowded, and big with expectation. Nugent had flamed and +abused Lord Sandwich violently, as author of this outrageous +measure. When the Bailiff appeared, the pacific spirit of the +other part of the administration had operated so much, that he +was dismissed with honour; and Only instructed to abridge all +delays by authority of the House-in short, "we spit in his hat +on Thursday, and wiped it off on Friday." This is a now +fashionable proverb, which I must construe to you. About ten +days ago, at the new Lady Cobham's(105) assembly, Lord +Hervey(106) was leaning over a chair, talking to some women, +and holding his hat in his hand. Lord Cobham came up and spit in +it--yes, +spit in it!--and then, with a loud laugh, turned to Nugent, and +said, "Pay me my wager." In short, he had laid a guinea that +he committed this absurd brutality, and that it was not +resented. Lord Hervey, with great temper and sensibility, +asked if he had any farther occasion for his hat?--"Oh! I see +you are angry!"--"Not very well pleased." Lord Cobham took the +fatal hat and wiped it, made a thousand foolish apologies, and +wanted to pass it for a joke. Next morning he rose with the +sun, and went to visit Lord Hervey; so did Nugent: he would not +see them, but wrote to the Spitter, (or, as he is now called, +Lord Gob'em,) to say, that he had affronted him very grossly +before company, but having involved Nugent in it, he desired to +know to which he was to address himself for satisfaction. Lord +Cobham wrote him a most submissive answer, and begged pardon +both in his own and Nugent's name. Here it rested for a few +days; till getting wind, Lord Hervey wrote again to insist on +an explicit apology under Lord Cobham's own hand, with a +rehearsal of the excuses that had been made to him. This, too, +was complied with, and the fair conqueror(107) shows all the +letters.(108) Nugent's disgraces have not ended here: the +night of his having declaimed so furiously he was standing by +Lady Catherine Pelham, against Lord Sandwich at the masquerade, +without his mask: she was telling him a history of a mad dog, +(which I believe she had bit herself.) young Leveson, the +Duchess of Bedford's brother, came up, without his mask too, +and looking at Nugent, said, , I have seen a mad dog to-day, +and a silly dog too."--"I suppose, Mr. Leveson,(109) you have +been looking in a glass."--"No, I see him now." Upon which +they walked off together, but were prevented from fighting, (if +Nugent would have fought,) and were reconciled at the +side-board. You perceive by this that our factions are +ripening. The Argyll(110) carried all the Scotch against the +turnpike: they were willing to be carried, for the Duke of +Bedford, in case it should have come into the Lords, had writ +to the sixteen Peers to solicit their votes; but with so little +deference, that he enclosed all the letters under one cover, +directed to the British Coffee-house! + +The new Duke of Somerset(111) is dead: that title is at last +restored to Sir Edward Seymour, after his branch had been most +unjustly deprived of it for about one hundred and fifty years. +Sir Hugh Smithson and Sir Charles Windham are Earls of +Northumberland and Egremont, with vast estates; the former +title, revived for the blood of Percy, has the misfortune of +being coupled with the blood of a man that either let or drove +coaches--such Was Sir Hugh's grandfather! This peerage vacates +his seat for Middlesex, and has opened a contest for the county, +before even that for Westminster is decided. The Duchess of +Richmond takes care that house shall not be extinguished: she +again lies in, after having been with child seven-and-twenty +times: but even this is not so extraordinary as the Duke's +fondness for her, or as the vigour of her beauty: her complexion +is as fair and blooming as when she was a bride. + +We expect some chagrin on the new regency, at the head of which +is to be the Duke; "Au Augustum fess`a aetate totiens in +Germaniam commeare potuisse," say the mutineers in Tacitus-- +Augustus goes in April. He has notified to my Lord Orford his +having given the reversion of New Park to his daughter Emily; +and has given him leave to keep it in the best repair. One of +the German women, Madame Munchausen, his minister's wife, +contributes very kindly to the entertainment of the town. She +is ugly, devout, and with that sort of coquetry which proceeds +from a virtue that knows its own weakness so much as to be +alarmed, even when nothing is meant to its prejudice.(112) At +a great dinner which they gave last -week, somebody observed +that all the sugar figures in the dessert were girls: the Baron +replied, "Sa est frai; ordinairement les petits cupitons sont +des garsons; mais ma femme s'est amus`ee toute la matin`ee `a +en `oter tout sa par motestie." This improvement of hers is a +curious refinement, though all the geniuses of the age are +employed in designing new plans for desserts. The Duke of +Newcastle's last was a baby Vauxhall, illuminated with a +million of little lamps of various colours. + +We have been sitting this fortnight on the African Company: we, +the British Senate, that temple of liberty, and bulwark of +Protestant Christianity, have this fortnight been pondering +methods to make more effectual that horrid traffic of selling +negroes. It has appeared to us that six-and-forty thousand of +these wretches are sold every year to our plantations alone!-- +It chills one's blood. I would not have to say that I voted in +it for the continent of America!(113) The destruction of the +miserable inhabitants by the Spaniards was but a momentary +misfortune, that flowed from the discovery of the New World, +compared to this lasting havoc which it brought upon Africa. +We reproach Spain, and yet do not even pretend the nonsense of +butchering these poor creatures for the good of their souls! + +I have just received your long letter of February 13th, and am +pleased that I had writ this volume to return it. I don't know +how almost to avoid wishing poor Prince Craon dead, to see the +Princess upon a throne.(114) I am sure she would invert Mr. +Vaughan's wish, and compound to have nothing else made for her, +provided a throne were. + +I despise your literati enormously for their opinion of +Montesquieu's book. Bid them read that glorious chapter on the +subject I have been mentioning, the selling of African slaves. +Where did he borrow that? In what book in the world is there +half so much wit, sentiment, delicacy, humanity? + +I shall speak much more gently to you, my dear child, though +you don't like Gothic architecture. The Grecian is only proper +for magnificent and public buildings. Columns and all their +beautiful ornaments look ridiculous when crowded into a closet +or a cheesecake-house. The variety is little, and admits no +charming irregularities. I am almost as fond of the +Sharavaggi, or Chinese want of symmetry, in buildings, as in +grounds or gardens. I am sure, whenever you come to England, +you will be pleased with the liberty of taste into which we are +struck, and of which you can have no idea! Adieu! + +(102) Daughter of John, second Lord Gower. Married in 1751 to +the Hon. John Waldegrave.-D. + +(103) madame de Mirepoix, eldest daughter of Prince Craon, and +widow of the Prince of Lixin. + +(104) The midwife. + +(105) Atina Chamber, wife of Richard Temple, Lord Cobham, +afterwards Earl Temple. + +(106) George, eldest son of John, late Lord Hervey, son of the +Earl of Bristol, whom this George succeeded in the title. + +(107) George, Lord Hervey, was a very effeminate-looking man; +which probably encouraged Lord Temple to risk this disgusting +act of incivility.-D. + +(108) Wraxall, in his historical Memoir Vol:'I. p. 139, relates +the same story, with a few trifling alterations.-E. + +(109) The Hon. Richard Leveson Gower, second son of John, +second Lord Gower, member for Lichfield. Born 1726; died +1753.-D. + +(110) Archibald Campbell, third Duke of Argyll, during the +lifetime of bis elder brothers Duke John, Earl of Islay. He +died in 1765.-D. + +(111) Algernon, last Duke of Somerset, of the younger +branch.-D. + +(112) Dodington, in his Diary of the 25th of February, says, " +I met the Prince and Princess, by order, at Lady Middlesex's +where came Madame de Munchausen: we went to a fortune-teller's, +who was young Des Noyers, disguised and instructed to surprise +Madame de Munchausen, which he effectually did."-E. + +(113) This sentiment is highly creditable to Walpole's +humanity. It will remind the reader of a passage in Cowper's +Task, written thirty years after:-- + +" And what man seeing this, +And having human feelings, does not blush, +And hang his head, to think himself a man! +I would not have a slave to till my ground, +To carry me, to fan me while I sleep, +And tremble when I wake, for all the wealth +That sinews bought and sold have ever earned,"-E. + +(114) There was a notion that King Stanislaus, who lived in +Lorraine, was in love with her. + + + +58 Letter 21 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, March 11, 1750. + +"Portents and prodigies are grown so frequent, +That they have lost their name."(115) + +My text is not literally true; but as far -,is earthquakes go +towards lowering the price of wonderful commodities, to be sure +we are overstocked. We have had a second much more violent +than the first; and you must not be surprised if by next post +you hear of' a burning mountain sprung up in Smithfield. In +the night between Wednesday and Thursday last, (exactly a month +since the first shock,) the earth had a shivering fit between +one and two; but so slight that, if no more had followed, I +don't believe it would have been noticed. I had been awake, +and had scarce dozed again-on a sudden I felt my bolster lift +up my head; I thought somebody was getting from under my bed, +but soon found it was a strong earthquake, that lasted near +half a minute, with a violent vibration and great roaring. I +rang my bell; my servant came in, frightened out of his senses- +- in an instant we heard all the windows in the neighbourhood +flung up. I got up and found people running into the streets, +but saw no mischief done: there has been some; two old houses +flung down, several chimneys, and much china-ware. The bells +rung in several houses. Admiral Knowles, who has lived long in +Jamaica, and felt seven there, says this was more violent than +any of them; Francesco prefers it to the dreadful one at Leghorn. +The wise say, that if we have not rain soon, we shall certainly +have more. Several people are going out of town, for it has +nowhere reached above ten miles from London: they say, they are +not frightened, but that it is such fine weather, "Lord! one +can't help going into the country!" The only visible effect it +has had, was on the Ridotto, at which, being the following night, +there were but four hundred people. A parson, who came into +White's the morning of earthquake the first, and heard bets laid +on whether it was an earthquake or the blowing up of +powder-mills, went away exceedingly scandalized, and said, "I +protest, they are such an impious set of people, that I believe +if the last trumpet was to sound, they would bet puppet-show +against Judgment." If we get any nearer still to the torrid zone, +I shall pique myself on sending you a present of cedrati and +orange-flower water: I am already planning a terreno for +Strawberry Hill. + +The Middlesex election is carried against the court: the +Prince, in a green frock, (and I won't swear, but in a Scotch +plaid waistcoat,) sat under the park-wall in his chair, and +hallooed the voters on to Brentford. The Jacobites are so +transported, that they are opening subscriptions for all +boroughs that shall be vacant--this is wise! They will spend +their money to carry a few more seats in a Parliament where +they will never have the majority, and so have none to carry +the general elections. The omen, however, is bad for +Westminster; the High-bailiff went to vote for the Opposition. + +I now jump to another topic; I find all this letter will be +detached scraps; I can't at all contrive to hide the scams: but +I don't care. I began my letter merely to tell you of the +earthquake, and I don't pique myself upon doing any more than +telling you what you would be glad to have told you. I told +you too how pleased I was with the triumphs of another old +beauty, our friend the Princess.(116) Do you know, I have +found a history that has a great resemblance to hers; that is, +that will be very like hers, if hers is but like it. I will +tell it you in as few words as I can. Madame la Marechale de +l'H`opital was the daughter of a sempstress;(117) a young +gentleman fell in love with her, and was going to be married to +her, but the match was broken off. An old fermier-general, who +had retired into the province where this happened, hearing the +story, had a curiosity to see the victim; he liked her, married +her, died, and left her enough not to care for her inconstant. +he came to Paris, where the Marechal de l'H`opital married her +for her riches. After the Marechal's death, Casimir, the +abdicated King of Poland, who was retired into +France, fell in love with the Marechale, and privately married +her. If the event ever happens, I shall certainly travel to +Nancy, to hear her talk of ma belle-fille la Reine de France. +What pains my lady Pomfret would take to prove(118) that an +abdicated King's wife did not take place of an English +countess; and how the Princess herself would grow still fonder +of the Pretender(119) for the similitude of his fortune with +that of le Roi mon mari! Her daughter, Mirepoix, was frightened +the other night, with Mrs. Nugent's calling out, un voleur! un +voleur! The ambassadress had heard so much of robbing, that +she did not doubt but dans ce pais cy, they robbed in the +middle of an assembly. It turned out to be a thief in the +candle! Good night! + +(115) Dryden's All for Love." + +(116) The Princess Craon, who, it had been reported, was to +marry Stanislaus Leczinsky, Duke of Loraine and ex-King of +Poland, whose daughter Maria Leczinska was married to Louis the +Fifteenth, King of France.-D. + +(117) "This is the story of a woman named Mary Mignot. She was +near marrying a young man of La Gardie, who afterwards entered +the Swedish service, and became a field-marshal in that +country. Her first husband was, if I mistake not, a Procureur +of Grenoble; her second was the Marshal de l'H`opital; and her +third is supposed to have been Casimir, the ex-King of Poland, +who had retired, after his abdication, to the monastery of St +Germain des Pr`es. It does not, however, appear certain +whether Casimir actually married her or not.-D. + +(118) Lady Pomfret and Princess Craon did not visit at +Florence, upon a dispute of precedence. + +(119) The Pretender, when in Lorraine, lived in Prince Craon's +house. + + + +60 Letter 22 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, April 2, 1750. + +You will not wonder so much at our earthquakes as at the +effects they have had. All the women in town have taken them +up upon the foot of Judgments; and the clergy, who have had no +windfalls of a long season, have driven horse and foot into +this opinion. There has been a shower of sermons and +exhortations; Secker, the jesuitical Bishop of Oxford, began +the mode. He heard the women were all going out of town to +avoid the next shock; and so: for fear of losing his Easter +offerings, he set himself to advise them to await God's good +pleasure in fear and trembling. But what is more astonishing, +Sherlock,(120) who has much better sense, and much less of the +Popish confessor has been running a race with him for the old +ladies, and has written a pastoral letter, of which ten +thousand were sold in two days; and fifty thousand have been +subscribed for, since the two first editions. + +I told you the women talked of going out of town: several +families are literally gone, and many more going to-day and +to-morrow; for what adds to the absurdity, is, that the second +shock having happened exactly a month after the former, it +prevails that there will be a third on Thursday next, another +month, which is to swallow up London. I am almost ready to +burn my letter now I have begun it, lest you should think I am +laughing at you: but it is so true, that Arthur of White's told +me last night, that he should put off the last ridotto, which +was to be on Thursday, because he hears nobody would come to +it. I have advised several who are going to keep their next +earthquake in the country, to take the bark for it, as it is so +periodic.(121) Dick Leveson and Mr. Rigby, who had supped and +strived late at Bedford House the other night, knocked at several +doors, and in a watchman's voice cried, "Past four o'clock, and a +dreadful earthquake!" But I have done with this ridiculous +panic: two pages were too much to talk of it. + +We have had nothing in Parliament but trade-bills, on one of +which the Speaker humbled the arrogance of Sir John Barnard, +who had reflected upon the proceedings of the House. It is to +break up on Thursday Se'nnight, and the King goes this day +fortnight. He has made Lord Vere Beauclerc a baron,(122) at +the solicitation of the Pelhams, as this Lord had resigned upon +a pique with Lord Sandwich. Lord Anson, who is treading in the +same path, and leaving the Bedfords to follow his +father-in-law, the Chancellor, is made a privy councillor, with +Sir Thomas Robinson and Lord Hyndford. Lord Conway is to be an +earl,(123) and Sir John Rawdon(124) (whose follies you +remember, and whose boasted loyalty of having been kicked +downstairs for not drinking the Pretender's health, though even +that was false, is at last rewarded,) and Sir John Vesey are to +be Irish lords; and a Sir William Beauchamp Proctor, and a Mr. +Loyd, Knights of the Bath. + +I was entertained the other night at the house of much such a +creature as Sir John Rawdon, and one whom you remember too, +Naylor. he has a wife who keeps the most indecent house of all +those that are called decent: every Sunday she has a contraband +assembly: I had had a card for Monday a fortnight before. As +the day was new, I expected a great assembly, but found scarce +six persons. I asked where the company was--I was answered, +"Oh! they are not come yet: they will be here presently; they +all supped here last night, stayed till morning, and I suppose +are not up yet." + +My Lord Bolinbroke has lost his wife. When she was dying, he +acted grief; flung himself upon her bed, and asked her if she +could forgive him. I never saw her, but have heard her wit and +parts excessively commended.(125) Dr. Middleton told me a +compliment she made him two years ago, which I thought pretty. +She said she was persuaded that he was a very great writer, for +she understood his works better than any other English book, and +that she had observed that the best writers were always the most +intelligible. + +Wednesday. + +I had not time to finish my letter on Monday. I return to the +earthquake, which I had mistaken; it is to be to-day. This +frantic terror is so much, that within these three days seven +hundred and thirty coaches have been counted passing Hyde Park +corner, with whole parties removing into the country. Here is +a good advertisement which I cut out of the papers to-day; + +"On Monday next will be published (price 6d.) A true and exact +List of all the Nobility and Gentry who have left, or shall +leave, this place through fear of another Earthquake." + +Several women have made earthquake gowns; that is, warm gowns +to sit out of doors all to-night. These are of the more +courageous. One woman, still more heroic, is come to town on +purpose: she says, all her friends are in London, and she will +not survive them. But what will you think of Lady Catherine +Pelham, Lady Frances Arundel,(126) and Lord and Lady +Galway,(127) who go this evening to an inn ten miles out of +town, where they are to play at brag till five in the morning, +and then come back-I suppose, to look for the bones of their +husbands and families under the rubbish.(128) The prophet of +all this (next to the Bishop of London) is a trooper of Lord +Delawar's who was yesterday sent to Bedlam. His colonel sent +to the man's wife, and asked her if her husband had ever been +disordered before. She cried, "Oh dear! my lord, he is not mad +now; if your lordship would but get any sensible man to examine +him, you would find, he is quite in his right mind." + +I shall now tell you something more serious: Lord Dalkeith(129) +is dead of the small-pox in three days. It is so dreadfully +fatal in his family, that besides several uncles and aunts, his +eldest boy died of it last year; and his only brother, who was +ill but two days, putrefied so fast that his limbs fell off as +they lifted the body into the coffin. Lady Dalkeith is five +months gone with child; she was hurrying to him, but was +stopped on the road by the physician, who told her that it was +a miliary fever. They were remarkably happy. + +The King goes on Monday se'nnight;(130) it is looked upon as a +great event that the Duke of Newcastle has prevailed on him to +speak to Mr. Pitt, who has detached himself from the Bedfords. +The Monarch, who had kept up his Hanoverian resentments, though +he had made him paymaster, is now beat out of the dignity of +his silence: he was to pretend not to know Pitt, and was to be +directed to him by the lord in waiting. Pitt's jealousy is of +Lord Sandwich, who knows his own interest and unpopularity so +well, that he will prevent any breach, and thereby what you +fear, which yet I think you would have no reason to fear. I +could not say enough of my anger to your father, but I shall +take care to say nothing, as I have not forgot how my zeal for +you made me provoke him once before. + +Your genealogical affair Is in great train, and will be quite +finished in a week or two. Mr. Chute has laboured at it +indefatigably: General Guise has been attesting the +authenticity of it to-day before a justice of peace. You will +find yourself mixed with every drop of blood in England that is +worth bottling up-. the Duchess of Norfolk and you grow on the +same bough of the tree. I must tell you a very curious +anecdote that Strawberry King-at-Arms(131) has discovered by +the way, as he was tumbling over the mighty dead in the +Heralds' office. You have heard me speak of the great +injustice that the Protector Somerset did to the children of +his first wife, in favour of those by his second; so much, that +he not only had the dukedom settled on the younger brood, but +to deprive the eldest of the title of Lord Beauchamp, which he +wore by inheritance, he caused himself to be anew created +Viscount Beauchamp. Well, in Vincent's Baronage, a book of +great authority, speaking of the Protector's wives, are these +remarkable words: "Katherina, filia et una Coh. Gul: Fillol de +Fillol's hall in Essex, uxor prima; repudiata, quia Pater ejus +post nuptias eam cognovit." The Speaker has since referred me +to our journals, where are some notes of a trial in the reign +of James the First, between Edward, the second son of Katherine +the dutiful, and the Earl of Hertford, son of Anne Stanhope, +which in some measure confirms our MS; for it says, the Earl of +Hertford objected, that John, the eldest son of all, was +begotten while the Duke was in France. This title, which now +comes back at last to Sir Edward Seymour is disputed: my Lord +Chancellor has refused him the writ, but referred his case to +the Attorney General,(132) the present great Opinion of +England, who, they say, is clear for Sir Edward's +succession.(133) + +I shall now go and show you Mr. Chute in a different light from +heraldry, and in one in which I believe you never saw him. He +will shine as usual; but, as a little more severely than his +good-nature is accustomed to, I must tell you that he was +provoked by the most impertinent usage. It is an epigram on +Lady Caroline Petersham, whose present fame, by the way, is +coupled with young Harry Vane. + +WHO IS THIS? + +Her face has beauty, we must all confess, +But beauty on the brink of ugliness: +Her mouth's a rabbit feeding on a rose; +With eyes-ten times too good for such a nose! +Her blooming cheeks-what paint could ever draw 'em? +That Paint, for which no mortal ever saw 'em. +Air without shape--of royal race divine-- +'Tis Emily--oh! fie!--It'S Caroline. + +Do but think of my beginning a third sheet! but as the +Parliament is rising, and I shall probably not write you a +tolerably long letter again these eight months, I will lay in a +stock of merit with you to last me so long Mr. Chute has set me +too upon making epigrams; but as I have not his art, mine is +almost a copy of verses: the story he told me, and is literally +true, of an old Lady Bingley.(134) + +Celia now had completed some thirty campaigns, +And for new generations was hammering chains; +When whetting those terrible weapons, her eyes, +To Jennny, her handmaid, in anger she cries, +"Careless creature! did mortal e'er see such a glass! +Who that saw me in this, could e'er guess what I was! +Much you mind what I say! pray how oft have I bid you +Provide me a new one? how oft have I chid you?" +"Lord, Madam!" cried Jane, "you're so hard to be pleased +I am sure every glassman in town I have teased: +I have hunted each shop from Pall-mall to Cheapside: +Both Miss Carpenter's(135) man and Miss Banks's(136) I've +tried." +"Don't tell me of those girls!-all I know, to my cost, +Is, the looking-glass art must be certainly lost! +One used to have mirrors so smooth and so bright, +They did one's eyes justice, they heighten'd one's white, +And fresh roses diffused o'er ones bloom--but, alas! +In the glasses made now, one detests one's own face; +They pucker one's cheeks up and furrow one's brow, +And one's skin looks as yellow as that of Miss(137) Howe!"(138) + +After an epigram that seems to have found out the longitude, I +shall tell you but one more, and that wondrous short. It is +said to be made by a cow. YOU Must not wonder; we tell as many +strange stories as Baker and Livy: + +"A warm winter, a dry spring, +A hot summer, a new King." + +Though the sting is very epigrammatic, the whole of the +distitch has more of the truth than becomes prophecy; that is, +it is false, for the spring is wet and cold. + +There is come from France a Madame Bocage, who has translated +Milton. my Lord Chesterfield prefers the copy to the original; +but that is not uncommon for him to do, who is the patron of +bad authors and bad actors. She has written a play too, which +was damned, and worthy my lord's approbation.' You would be +more diverted with a Mrs. Holman, whose passion is keeping an +assembly, and inviting literally every body to it. She goes to +the drawing-room to watch for sneezes; whips out a curtsey, and +then sends next morning to know how your cold does, and to +desire your company next Thursday. + +Mr. Whithed has taken my Lord Pembroke's house at Whitehall; a +glorious situation, but as madly built as my Lord himself was. +He has bought some delightful pictures too, of Claude, Gaspar, +and good masters, to the amount of four hundred pounds. + +Good night! I have nothing more to tell you, but that I have +lately seen a Sir William Boothby, who saw you about a year +ago, and adores you, as all the English you receive ought to +do. He is much in my favour. + +(120) Thomas Sherlock, Master of the Temple; first, Bishop of +Salisbury, and afterwards of London. + +(121) " I remember," says Addison, in the 240th Tatler, "when +our whole island was Shaken With an earthquake some years ago, +that there was an impudent mountebank, who sold pills, which, +as he told the country people, were "very good against an +earthquake."'-E. + +(122) lord Vere of Haworth, in Middlesex.-D. + +(123( Lord Conway was made Earl of Hertford.-D. + +(124) Sir John Rawdon was created in this year Baron Rawdon, +and in 1761 Earl of Moira, in Ireland. Sir John Vesey was +created Lord Knapton; and his son was made Viscount de Vesey in +Ireland, in 1766.-D. + +(125) She was a Frenchwoman, of considerable fortune and +accomplishments, the widow of the Marquis de Villette, and +niece to Madame de Maintenon. She died on the 15th of March. +>From the following passage in a letter written by Bolingbroke +to Lord Marchmont a few days before her death, it is difficult +to believe that he "acted grief" upon this occasion:--"You are +very good to take my share in that affliction which has lain +upon me so long, and which still continues, with the fear of +being increased by a catastrophe I am little able to bear. +Resignation is a principal duty in my system of religion: +reason shows that it ought to be willing if not cheerful; but +there are passions and habitudes in human nature which reason +cannot entirely subdue. I should be ashamed not to feel them +in the present case."-E. + +(126) Lady Frances Arundell was the daughter of John Manners, +second Duke of Rutland, and was married to the Hon. Richard +Arundell, second son of John, Lord Arundell of Trerice, and a +lord of the treasury. Lady Frances was sister of Lady +Catherine Pelham, the wife of the minister.-D. + +(127) John Monckton, first Viscount Galway in Ireland. The +Lady Galway mentioned here was his second wife, Jane, daughter +of henry Westenra, Esq., of Dublin. His first wife, who died +in 1730, was Lady Elizabeth Manners, the sister of Lady +Catherine Pelham and Lady Frances Arundell.-D. + +(128) " Incredible numbers of people left their houses, and +walked in the fields or lay in boats all night: many persons of +fashion in the neighbouring villages sat in their coaches till +daybreak; others went to a greater distance, so that the roads +were never more thronged." Gentleman's Magazine.-E. + +(129) Francis Scott, eldest son of the Duke of Buccleugh. + +(130) To Hanover. + +(131) Mr. Chute. + +(132) Sir Dudley Ryder. + +(133) Sir Edward Seymour, when he became Duke of Somerset, did +not inherit the title of Beauchamp.-D. + +(134) Lady Elizabeth Finch, eldest daughter of Heneage, Earl of +Aylesford, and widow of Robert Benson, Lord Bingley. + +(135) Countess of Egremont. + +(136) Miss Margaret Banks, a celebrated beauty. + +(137) Charlotte, sister of Lord Howe, and wife of Mr. +Fettiplace. + +(138) These lines are published in Walpole's Works.-D. + +(139) Madame du Boccage published a poem in imitation of +Milton, and another founded on Gesner's Death of Abel. She +also translated Pope's Temple of Fame; but her principal work +was ,La Columbiade." It was at the house of this lady, at +Paris, in 1775, that Johnson was annoyed at her footman's +taking the sugar in his fingers and throwing it into his +coffee. "I was going," says the Doctor, "to put it aside, but +hearing it was made on purpose for me, I e'en tasted Tom's +fingers." She died in 1802.-E. + + + +65 Letter 23 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, May 15, 1750. + +The High-bailiff, after commending himself and his own +impartiality for an hour this morning, not unlike your cousin +Pelham, has declared Lord Trentham. The mob declare they will +pull his house down to show their impartiality. The Princess +has luckily produced another boy; so Sir George Vandeput may be +recompensed with being godfather. I stand to-morrow, not for a +member, but for godfather to my sister's girl, with Mrs. Selwyn +and old Dunch: were ever three such dowagers? when shall three +such meet again? If the babe has not a most sentimentally +yellow complexion after such sureties, I will burn my books, +and never answer for another skin. + +You have heard, I suppose, that Nugent must answer a little +more seriously for Lady Lymington's child. Why, she was as +ugly as Mrs. Nugent, had had more children, and was not so +young. The pleasure of wronging a woman, who had bought him so +dear, could be the only temptation. + +Adieu! I have told you all I know, and as much is scandal, very +possibly more than is true. I go to Strawberry on Saturday, +and so shall not know even scandal. + + + +66 Letter 24 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, May 19, 1750. + +I did not doubt but you would be diverted with the detail of +absurdities that were committed after the earthquake: I could +have filled more paper with such relations, If I had not feared +tiring you. We have swarmed with sermons, essays, relations, +poems, and exhortations On that subject. One Stukely, a +parson, has accounted for it, and I think prettily, by +electricity--but that is the fashionable cause, and every thing +is resolved into electrical appearances, as formerly every +thing was accounted for by Descartes's vortices, and Sir +Isaac's gravitation. But they all take care, after accounting +for the earthquake systematically, to assure you that still it +was nothing less than a judgment. Dr. Barton, the rector of +St. Andrews, was the only sensible, or at least honest divine, +upon the occasion. When some women would have had him to pray +to them in his parish church against the intended shock, he +excused himself on having a great cold. "And besides," said +he, "you may go to St. James's church; the Bishop of Oxford is +to preach there all night about earthquakes." Turner, a great +china-man, at the corner of Dext street, had a jar cracked by +the shock: he originally asked ten guineas for the pair; he now +asks twenty, "because it is the only jar in Europe that has +been cracked by an earthquake." But I have quite done with this +topic. The Princess of Wales is lowering the price of princes, +as the earthquake has raised old china; she has produced a +fifth boy. In a few years we shall have Dukes of York and +Lancaster popping out of bagnios and taverns as frequently as +Duke Hamilton.(140) George Selwyn said a good thing the other +day on another cheap dignity: he was asked who was playing at +tennis, He replied, "Nobody but three markers and a Regent." +your friend Lord Sandwich. While we are undervaluing all +principalities and powers, you are making a rout with them, for +which I shall scold you. We had been diverted with the pompous +accounts of the reception of the Margrave of Baden Dourlach at +Rome; and now you tell me he has been put upon the same foot at +Florence! I never heard his name when he was here, but on his +being mob'd as he was going to Wanstead, and the people's +calling him the Prince of Bad-door-lock. He was still less +noticed than he of Modena. + +Lord Bath is as well received at Paris as a German Margrave in +Italy. Every body goes to Paris: Lord Mountford was introduced +to the King, who only said brutally enough, "Ma foi! il est +bien nourri!" Lord Albemarle keeps an immense table there, with +sixteen people in his kitchen; his aide-de-camps invite every +body, but he seldom graces the banquet himself, living retired +out of the town with his old Columbine.(141) What an +extraordinary man! with no fortune at all, and with slight parts, +he has seventeen thousand a year from the government, which he +squanders away, though he has great debts, and four or five +numerous broods of children of one sort or other! + +The famous Westminster election is at last determined, and Lord +Trentham returned: the mob were outrageous, and pelted Colonel +Waldegrave, whom they took for Mr. Leveson, from Covent-garden +to the Park, and knocked down Mr. Offley, who was with him. +Lord Harrington(142) was scarce better treated when he went on +board a ship from Dublin. There are great commotions there +about one Lucas, an apothecary, and favourite of the mob. The +Lord Lieutenant bought off a Sir Richard Cox, a patriot, by a +place in the revenue, though with great opposition from that +silly mock-virtuoso, Billy +Bristow, and that sillier Frederick Frankland, two oafs, whom +you have seen in Italy, and who are commissioners there. Here +are great disputes in the Regency, where Lord Harrington finds +there is not spirit enough to discard these puppet-show heroes! + +We have got a second volume of Bower'S(143) History of the +Popes, but it is tiresome and pert, and running into a warmth +and partiality that he had much avoided in his first volume. +He has taken such pains to disprove the Pope's supremacy being +acknowledged pretty early, that he has convinced me it was +acknowledged. Not that you and I care whether it were or not. +He is much admired here; but I am not good Christian enough to +rejoice over him, because turned Protestant; nor honour his +confessorship, when he ran away with the materials that were +trusted to him to write for the papacy, and makes use of them +to write against it. You know how impartial I am; I can love +him for being shocked at a system of cruelty supporting +nonsense; I can be pleased with the truths he tells; I can and +do admire his style, and his genius in recovering a language +that he forgot by six years old, so well as to excel in writing +it, and yet I wish that all this had happened without any +breach of trust! + +Stosch has grievously offended me; but that he will little +regard, as I can be of no use to him: he has sold or given his +charming intaglio of the Gladiator to Lord Duncannon. I must +reprove you a little who sent it; you know how much I pressed +you to buy it for me, and how much I offered. I still think it +one of the finest rings(144) I ever saw, and am mortified at not +having it. + +Apropos to Bower; Miss Pelham had heard that he had foretold +the return of the earthquake-fit: her father sent for him, to +COnVince her that Bower was too sensible; but had the +precaution to talk to him first: he replied gravely, that a +fire was kindled under the earth, and he could not tell when it +would blaze out. You may be sure he was not carried to the +girl! Adieu! + +(140) Jonas, sixth Duke of Hamilton, the Husband of the +beautiful Miss Gunning. he died in 1758.-D. + +(141) Mademoiselle Gauchet. + +(142) William Stanhope, Earl of Harrington, Lord Lieutenant. + +(143) Archibald Bow(@r, a man of disreputable character, who +was born in Scotland, of a Roman Catholic family, was educated +at Douay and Rome, and became a Jesuit. Having been detected, +as it is said, in an intrigue with a nun, he was forced to fly +from Perugia, where he resided: and after a series of strange +and not very creditable adventures, he arrived in England. +Here he declared himself a Protestant; but, after some years, +wishing to swindle the English Jesuits out of an annuity, be +again returned to their order. Having got all he could from +them, he again returned to Protestantism, and wrote his +"History of the Popes," which was his principal literary +work.-D. (Gibbon, speaking of Bower, in his Extraits (le mon +Journal for 1764, says, " He is a rogue unmasked, who enjoyed, +for twenty years, the favour of the public, because he had +quitted a sect to which he still secretly adhered; and because +he had been a counsellor of the inquisition in the town of +Macerata, where an inquisition never existed." Bower died in +Bond Street, in September, 1766, in his eighty-first year, and +was buried in Mary-le-bone churchyard, where there is a +monument to his memory.] + +(144) It is engraved in Stosch's book: it is a Gladiator +standing, with a vase by him on a table, on an exceedingly fine +garnet. + + + +68 Letter 25 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, June 23, 1750. + +Dear George, +As I am not Vanneck'd(145) I have been in no hurry to thank you +for your congratulation, and to assure you that I never knew +what solid happiness was till I was married. Your Trevors and +Rices dined with me last week at Strawberry Hill, and would +have had me answer you upon the matrimonial tone, but I thought +I should imitate cheerfulness in that style as ill as if I were +really married. I have had another of your friends with me +here some time, whom I adore, Mr. Bentley; he has more sense, +judgment, and wit, more taste, and more misfortunes, than sure +ever met in any man. I have heard that Dr. Bentley, regretting +his want of taste for all such learning as his, which is the +very want of taste, used to sigh and say, "Tully had his +Marcus." If the sons resembled as much as the fathers did, at +least in vanity, I would be the modest agreeable Marquis. Mr. +Bentley tells me that you press him much to visit you at +Hawkhurst. I advise him, and assure him he will make his +fortune under you there; that you are an agent from the board +of trade to the smugglers, and wallow in contraband wine, tea, +and silk handkerchiefs. I found an old newspaper t'other day, +with a list of outlawed smugglers; there were John Price, alias +Miss Marjoram, Bob Plunder, Bricklayer Tom, and Robin +Cursemother, all of Hawkhurst, in Kent. When Miss Harriet is +thoroughly hardened at Buxton, as I hear she is being,, in a +public room with the whole Wells, from drinking waters, I +conclude she will come to sip nothing but new brandy. + +As jolly and as abominable a life as she may have been leading, +I defy all her enormities to equal a party of pleasure that I +had t'other night. I shall relate it to you to show you the +manners of the age, which are always as entertaining to a +person fifty miles off, as to one born an hundred and fifty +years after the time. I had a card from Lady Caroline +Petersham to go with her to Vauxhall. I went accordingly to her +house, and found her and the little Ashe,(146) or the Pollard +Ashe, as they call her; they had just finished their last layer +of red, and looked as handsome as crimson could make them. On +the cabinet-door stood a pair of Dresden candlesticks, a present +from the virgin hands of Sir John Bland: the branches of each +formed a little bower over a cock and hen * * * * We issued +into the mall to assemble our company, which was all the town, if +we could get it; for just so many had been summoned, except Harry +Vane(147) whom we met by chance. We mustered the Duke of +Kingston, whom Lady Caroline says she has been trying for these +seven years; but alas! his beauty is at the fall of the leaf; +Lord March,(148) Mr. Whitehead, a pretty Miss Beauclerc, and a +very foolish Miss Sparre. These two damsels were trusted by +their mothers for the first time of their lives to the matronly +care of Lady Caroline. As we sailed up the mall with all our +colours flying, Lord Petersham,(149) with his hose and legs +twisted to every point of crossness, strode by us on the outside, +and repassed again on the return. At the end of' the mall she +called to him; he would not answer: she gave a familiar spring +and, between laugh and confusion, ran up to him, "My lord! my +lord! why, you don't see us!" We advanced at a little +distance, not a little awkward in expectation how all this +would end, for my lord never stirred his hat, or took the least +notice of any body; she said, "Do you go with us, or are you +going any where else?"--"I don't go with you, I am going +somewhere else;" and away he stalked. as sulky as a ghost that +nobody will speak to first. We got into the best order we +could, and marched to our barge, with a boat of French horns +attending, and little Ashe singing. We paraded some time up +the river, and at last debarked at Vauxhall - there, if we had +so pleased, we might have had the vivacity of our party +increased by a quarrel; for a Mrs. Loyd,(150)Who is supposed +to be married to Lord Haddington, seeing the two girls +following Lady Petersham and Miss Ashe, said aloud, "Poor +girls, I am sorry to see them in such bad company!" Miss +Sparre, who desired nothing so much as the fun of seeing a +duel,--a thing which, though she is fifteen, she has never been +so lucky to see,--took due pains to make Lord March resent +this; but he, who is very lively and agreeable, laughed her out +of this charming frolic with a great deal of humour. Here we +picked up Lord Granby, arrived very drunk from Jenny's +Whim;(151) where, instead of going to old Strafford's(152) +catacombs to make honourable love, he had dined with Lady +Fanny,(153) and left her and eight other women and +four other men playing at brag. He would fain have made over +his honourable love upon any terms to poor Miss Beauclerc, who +is very modest, and did not know at all what to do with his +whispers or his hands. He then addressed himself to the +Sparre, who was very well disposed to receive both; but the +tide of champagne turned, he hiccupped at the reflection of his +marriage (of which he is wondrous sick), and only proposed to +the girl to shut themselves up and rail at the world for three +weeks. If all the adventures don't conclude as you expect in +the beginning of a paragraph, you must not wonder, for I am not +making a history, but relating one strictly as it happened, and +I think with full entertainment enough to content you. At +last, we assembled in our booth, Lady Caroline in the front, +with the vizor of her hat erect, and looking gloriously jolly +and handsome. She had fetched my brother Orford from the next +box, where he was enjoying himself with his petite partie, to +help us to mince chickens. We minced seven chickens into a +china dish, which Lady Caroline stewed over a lamp with three +pats of butter and a flagon of water, stirring and rattling, +and laughing, and we every minute expecting to have the dish +fly about our ears. She had brought Betty, the fruit-girl, +with hampers of strawberries and cherries from Rogers's, and +made her wait upon us, and then made her sup by us at a little +table. The conversation was no less lively than the whole +transaction. There was a Mr. O'Brien arrived from Ireland, who +would get the Duchess of Manchester from Mr. Hussey, if she +were still at liberty. I took up the biggest hautboy in the +dish, and said to Lady Caroline, "Madam, Miss Ashe desires you +would eat this O'Brien strawberry:" she replied immediately, "I +won't, you hussey." You may imagine the laugh this reply +occasioned. After the tempest was a little calmed, the Pollard +said, "Now, how any body would spoil this story that was to +repeat it, and say, "I won't, you jade!" In short, the whole +air of our party was sufficient, as you will easily imagine, to +take up the whole attention of the garden; so much so, that +from eleven o'clock till half an hour after one we had the +whole concourse round our booth: at last, they came into the +little gardens of each booth on the sides of ours, till Harry +Vane took up a bumper, and drank their healths, and was +proceeding to treat them with still greater freedom. It was +three o'clock before we got home. I think I have told you the +chief passages. Lord Granby's temper had been a little ruffled +the night before; the Prince had invited him and Dick Lyttelton +to Kew, where he won eleven hundred pounds of the latter, and +eight of the former, then cut and told them @e would play with +them no longer, for he saw they played so idly, that they were +capable of "losing more than they would like." Adieu! I expect +in return for this long tale that you will tell me some of your +frolics with Robin Cursemother, and some of Miss +Marjoram's bon-mots. + +P. S. Dr. Middleton called on me yesterday: he is come to town +to consult his physician for a jaundice and swelled legs, +symptoms which, the doctor tells him, and which he believes, +can be easily cured: I think him visibly broke, and near his +end.(154) He lately advised me to marry, on the sense of his +own happiness; but if any body had advised him to the contrary, +at his time of life,(155) I believe he would not have broke so +soon. + +(145) Alluding to the projected marriages, which soon after +took place, between two of the sons of his uncle Lord Walpole: +who each of them married a daughter of Sir Joshua Vanneck.-E. + +(146 Miss Ashe was said to have been of very high parentage. +She married Mr. Falconer; an officer in the navy.-E. + +(147) Eldest son of Lord Barnard, created Earl of Darlington in +1754.-E. + +(148) Upon the death of Charles, Duke of Queensbury and Dover, +he succeeded, in 1778, to the title of Queensbury, and died +unmarried in 1810.-E. + +(149) Afterwards Earl of Harrington. His gait was so singular, +that he was generally known by the nickname of Peter +Shamble.-E. + +(150) She was afterwards married to Lord Haddington.-E. + +(151) A tavern at the end of the wooden bridge at Chelsea, at +that period much frequented by his lordship and other men of +rank.-E. + +(152) Anne, daughter and Heiress of Sir Henry Johnson, widow of +Thomas Lord Raby, created Earl of Strafford in 1711. + +(153) Lady Frances Seymour, eldest daughter of Charles, Duke of +Somerset (known by the name of the Proud Duke), by his second +Duchess, Lady Charlotte Finch. She was married in the +following September to the Marquis of Granby.-E. + +(154) Warburton, in a letter to Hurd, of the 11th of July, +says, "I hear Dr. Middleton has been lately in London, (I +suppose, to consult Dr. Heberden about his health,) and is +returned in an extreme bad condition. The scribblers against +him will say they have killed him; but by what Mr. Yorke told +me, his bricklayer will dispute the honour of his death with +them.',-E. + +(155) The Doctor had recently taken a third wife, the relict of +a Bristol merchant. On making her a matrimonial visit, Bishop +Gooch told Mrs. Middleton that ,he was glad she did not dislike +the Ancients so much as her husband did." She replied, "that +she hoped his lordship did not reckon her husband among the +Ancients yet." The Bishop answered, "You, Madam, are the best +judge of that" Nichols's literary Anecdotes, Vol. v. p. 422.-E. + + + +71 Letter 26 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, July 25, 1750. + +I told YOU my idle season was coming on, and that I should have +great intervals between my letters; have not I kept my word? +For any thing I have to tell you, I might have kept it a month +longer. I came out of Essex last night, and find the town +quite depopulated: I leave it to-morrow, and go to Mr. +Conway's(156) in Buckinghamshire, with only giving a transient +glance on Strawberry Hill. Don't imagine I am grown fickle; I +thrust all my visits into a heap, and then am quiet for the +rest of the season. It is so much the way in England to jaunt +about, that one can't avoid it; but it convinces me that people +are more tired of themselves and the country than they care to +own. + +Has your brother told you that my Lord Chesterfield has bought +the Houghton lantern? the famous lantern, that produced so much +patriot Wit;(157) and very likely some of his lordship's? My +brother had bought a much handsomer at Lord Cholmondeley's +sale; for, with all the immensity of the celebrated one, it was +ugly, and too little for the hall. He would have given it to +Lord Chesterfield rather than he should not have had it. + +You tell us nothing of your big events, of the quarrel of the +Pope and the Venetians, on the Patriarchate of Aquileia. We +look upon it as so decisive that I should not wonder if Mr. +Lyttelton, or Whitfield the Methodist, were to set out for +Venice, to make them a tender of some of our religions. + +Is it true too what we hear, that the Emperor has turned the +tables on her Caesarean jealousy,(158) and discarded Metastasio +the poet, and that the latter is gone mad upon it, instead of +hugging himself on coming off so much better than his +predecessor in royal love and music, David Rizzio? I believe I +told you that one of your sovereigns, and an intimate friend of +yours, King Theodore, is in the King's Bench prison. I have so +little to say, that I don't care if I do tell you the same +thing twice. He lived in a privileged place; his creditors +seized him by making him believe lord Granville wanted him on +business of importance; he bit at it, and concluded they were +both to be reinstated at once. I have desired Hogarth to go +and steal his picture for me; though I suppose one might easily +buy a sitting of him. The King of Portugal (and when I have +told you this, I have done with kings) has bought a handsome +house here,(159) for the residence of his ministers. + +I believe you have often heard me mention a Mr. Ashton,(160) a +clergyman, who, in one word, has great preferments, and owes +every thing upon earth to me. I have long had reason to +complain of his behaviour; in short, my father is dead, and I +can make no bishops. He has at last quite thrown off the mask, +and in the most direct manner, against my will, has written +against my friend Dr. Middleton,(161) taking for his motto +these lines, + +"Nullius addictus jurare in verba Magistri, +Quid verum atque decens curo et rogo, et omnis in hoc sum". + + +I have forbid him my house, and wrote this paraphrase upon his +picture, + +"Nullius addictus munus meminisse Patroni, +Quid vacat et qui dat, curo et rogo, et omnis in hoc sum." + +I own it was pleasant to me the other day, on meeting Mr. +Tonson, his bookseller, at the Speaker's, and asking him if he +had sold many of Mr. Ashton's books, to be told, "Very few +indeed, Sir!" + +I beg you will thank Dr. Cocchi much for his book; I will thank +him much more when I have received and read it. His friend, +Dr. Mead, is undone; his fine collection is going to be sold: +he owes about five-and-twenty thousand Pounds. All the world +thought himimmensely rich; but, besides the expense of his +collection, he kept a table for which alone he is said to have +allowed seventy pounds a-week. + + +(156) Mr. Conway had hired Latimers, in Buckinghamshire, for +three years. + +(157) In one pamphlet, the noise of this lantern, was so +exaggerated, that the author said, on a journey to Houghton, he +was first carried into a glass-room, which he supposed was the +porter's lodge, but proved to be the lantern. [This lantern, +which hung from the ceiling of the hall, was for eighteen +candles, and of copper gilt. It was the Craftsman which made +so much noise about it.] + +(158) The Empress Maria Theresa, who was very jealous, and with +reason, of her husband, the Emperor Francis.-D. + +(159) In South Audley Street. (It continued to be the residence +of the Portuguese ambassadors till the year 1831.-D. + +(160) Thomas Ashton, fellow of Eton College, and rector of St. +Botolph's, Bishopsgate. + +(161) Dr. Conyers Middleton, author of the Life of Cicero. [The +Doctor died three days after the date of this letter, in his +sixty-seventh year.] + + + +73 Letter 27 +To sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, August 2, 1750. + +I had just sent my letter to the '@Secretary's office the other +day, when I received yours: it would have prevented my +reproving you for not mentioning the quarrel between the Pope +and the Venetians; and I should have had time to tell you that +Dr. Mead's bankruptcy is contradicted. I don't love to send +you falsities, so I tell you this is contradicted, though it is +by no means clear that he is not undone-he is scarce worth +making an article in two letters. + +I don't wonder that Marquis Acciaudi's villa did not answer to +you; by what I saw in Tuscany, and by the prints, their villas +are strangely out of taste, and laboured by their unnatural +regularity and art to destroy the romanticness of the +situations. I wish you could see the villas and seats here! +the country wears a new face; every body is improving their +places, and as they don't fortify, their plantations with +intrenchments of walls and high hedges, one has the benefit of +them even in passing by. The dispersed buildings, I mean +temples, bridges, etc. are generally Gothic or Chinese, and +give a whimsical air of novelty that is very pleasing. You +would like a drawing-room in the latter style that I fancied +and have been executing at Mr. Rigby's, in Essex. it has large +and Very fine Indian landscapes, with a black fret round them, +and round the whole entablature of the room, and all the ground +or hanging is of pink paper. While I was there, we had eight +of the hottest days that ever were felt; they say, some degrees +beyond the hottest in the East Indies, and that the Thames was +more so than the hot well at Bristol. The guards died )n their +posts at Versailles: and here a captain Halyburton, +brother-in-law of lord Moncton, went mad with the excess + +Your brother Gal. will, I suppose, be soon making improvements +like the rest of the world: he has bought an estate in Kent, +called Bocton Malherbe, famous enough for having belonged to +two men who, in my opinion, have very little title to fame, Sir +Harry Wotton and my lord Chesterfield. I must have the +pleasure of being the first to tell you that your pedigree is +finished at last; a most magnificent performance, and that will +make a pompous figure in a future great hall at Bocton Malherbe +when your great nephews or great-grandchildren shall be Earls, +etc. My cousin Lord Conway is made Earl of Hertford, as a +branch of the somersets: Sir Edward Seymour gave his +approbation handsomely. He has not yet got the dukedom +himself, as there is started up a Dr. Seymour who claims it, +but will be able to make nothing out. + +Dr. Middleton is dead--not killed by Mr. Ashton--but of a decay +that came Upon him at once. The Bishop of London(162) will +perhaps make a jubilee(163) for his death, and then We shall +draw off some Of your crowds of travellers. Tacitus +Gordon(164) died the same day; he married the widow of +Trenchard(165) (with whom he wrote Cato's letters,) at the same +time that Dr. Middleton married her companion. The Bishop of +Durham (Chandler),(166) another great writer of controversy, is +dead too, immensely rich; he is succeeded by Butler(167) of +Bristol, a metaphysic author, much patronized by the late +Queen; she never could make my father read his book, and -which +she Certainly did not understand herself: he told her his +religion was fixed, and that he did not want to change Or +improve it. A report is come of the death of the King of +Portugal, and of the young Pretender; but that I don't believe. + +I have been in town for a day or two, and heard no conversation +but about M'Lean, a fashionable highwayman, who is just taken, +and who robbed me among others; as Lord Eglinton, Sir Thomas +Robinson, Of Vienna, Mrs. Talbot, etc. He took an odd booty +from the Scotch Earl, a blunderbuss, which lies very formidably +upon the justice's table. He was taken by selling a laced +waistcoat to a pawnbroker, who happened to carry it to the very +man who had just sold the lace. His history is very Particular, +for he confesses every thing, and is so little of a hero that +he cries and begs, and I believe, if Lord Eglinton had been in +any luck, might have been robbed of his own blunderbuss. His +father was an Irish Dean; his brother is a Calvinist minister +in great esteem at the Hague. He himself was a grocer, but +losing a wife that he loved extremely about two years ago, and +by whom he has one little girl, he quitted his business with +two hundred pounds in his pocket, which he soon spent, and then +took to the road with only one companion, Plunket, a journeyman +apothecary, my other friend, whom he has impeached, but who is +not taken. M'Lean had a lodging in St. James's Street, over +against White's, and another at Chelsea; Plunket one in Jermyn +Street; and their faces are as known about St. James's as any +gentleman's who lives in that quarter, and who perhaps goes upon +the road too. M'Lean had a quarrel at Putney bowling-green two +months ago with an officer, whom he challenged for disputing his +rank; but the captain declined, till M'Lean should produce a +certificate of his nobility, which he has just received. If he +had escaped a month longer, he might have heard of Mr. Chute's +genealogic expertness, and come hither to the college of Arms for +a certificate. There was a wardrobe of clothes, three-and-twenty +purses, and the celebrated blunderbuss found at his lodgings, +besides a famous kept mistress. As I conclude he will suffer, +and wish him no ill, I don't care to have his idea, and am +almost single in not having been to see him. Lord Mountford, +at the head of half White's, went the first day - his aunt was +crying over him: as soon as they were withdrawn, she said to +him, knowing they were of White's, "My dear, what did the lords +say to you? have you ever been concerned with any of +them?"-Was not that admirable? what a favourable idea people +must have of White's!--and what if White's should not deserve a +much better! But the chief personages who have been to comfort +and weep over this fallen hero are Lady Caroline Petersham and +Miss Ashe: I call them Polly and Lucy, and asked them if he did +not sing + +Thus I stand like the Turk with his doxies around."(168) + +Another celebrated Polly has been arrested for thirty pounds, +even old Cuzzoni.(169) The Prince Of Wales bailed her--who +will do as much for him? + +I am much obliged to you for your intended civilities to my +liking Madame Capello; but as I never liked any thing of her, +but her prettiness, for she is an idiot, I beg you will +dispense with them on my account: I should even be against your +renewing your garden assemblies. you would be too good to +pardon the impertinence of the Florentines, and would very +likely expose yourself to more: besides, the absurdities which +English travelling boys are capable of, and likely to act or +conceive, always gave me apprehensions of your meeting with +disagreeable scenes-and then there is another animal still more +absurd than Florentine men or English boys, and that is, +travelling governors, who are mischievous into the bargain, and +whose pride is always hurt because they are sure of its never +being indulged: they will not learn the world, because they are +sent to teach it, and as they come forth more ignorant of it +than their pupils, take care to return with more prejudices, +and as much care to instil all theirs into their pupils. Don't +assemble them! + +Since I began my letter, the King of Portugal's death is +contradicted: for the future, I will be as circumspect as one +of your Tuscan residents was, who being here in Oliver's time, +wrote to his court, "Some say the Protector is dead; others that +he is not: for my part, I believe neither one nor t'other." + +Will u send me some excellent melon seeds? I have a neighbour +who shines in fruit, and have promised to get him some: +Zatte`e, I think he says, is a particular sort. I don't know +the best season for sending them, but you do, and will oblige +me by some of the best sorts. + +I suppose you know all that execrable history that occasioned +an insurrection lately at Paris, where they were taking up +young children to try to people one of their colonies, in which +grown persons could never live. You have seen too, to be sure, +in the papers the bustle that has been all this winter about +purloining some of our manufacturers to Spain. I was told +to-day that the informations, if they had had rope given them, +would have reached to General Wall.(170) Can you wonder? Why +should Spain prefer a native of England(171) to her own +subjects, but because he could and would do us more hurt than a +Spaniard could? a grandee is a more harmless animal by far +than an Irish Papist. We stifled this evidence: we are in +their power; We forgot at the last peace to renew the most +material treaty! Adieu! You would not forget a material +treaty. + +(162) Thomas Sherlock, translated from the see of Salisbury in +1748. He died in 1761.-D. + +(163) This alludes to the supposed want of orthodoxy shown by +Dr. Middleton in some of his theological writings.-D. + +(164) Thomas Gordon, the translator of Sallust and Tacitus; and +also a political writer of his day of considerable notoriety. +His death happening at the same time as that of Dr. Middleton, +Lord Bolingbroke said to Dr. Heberden, "then there is the best +writer in England gone, and the worst."-E. + +(165) John Trenchard, son of Sir John Trenchard, secretary of +state to King William the Third, was born in 1669. He wrote +various political pamphlets of a democratic cast. In 1720 he +published, in conjunction with Thomas Gordon, @ a series of +political letters, under the signature of "Cato." They +appeared at first in the " London Journal," and afterwards in +the "British Journal," two newspapers of the day. They +obtained great celebrity, as well from the merit of their +composition, as from -the boldness of the principles they +advocated. These consisted in an uncompromising hostility to +the Government and to the Church. Trenchard was member of +parliament for Taunton, and died in 1723.-D. + +(166) Edward Chandler, a learned prelate, and author of various +polemical works. He had been raised to the see of Durham in +1730, as it was then said, by simoniacal means.-D. + +(167) Joseph Butler, the learned and able author of "The +Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed, to the Constitution +and Cause of Nature." This is the "Book," here alluded to, of +which Queen Caroline was so fond that she made the fortune of +its author. Bishop Butler died much regretted in 1752.-D. + +(168) The last song in The Beggar's Opera. + +(169) A celebrated Italian singer.-D. + +(170) The Spanish ambassador to the court of + London.-E. + +(171) General Richard Wall was of Irish parents, but I believe +not born in these dominions. [He came to England in 1747, on a +secret mission from Ferdinand, and continued as ambassador at +the British court till 1754, when he was recalled, to fill the +high office of minister for foreign affairs.] + + + +76 Letter 28 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Sept. 1, 1750. + +Here, my dear child, I have two letters of yours to answer. I +will go answer them; and then, if I have any thing to tell you, +I will. I accept very thankfully all the civilities you showed +to Madame Capello on my account, but don't accept her on my +account: I don't know who has told you that I liked her, but +you may believe me, I never did. For the Damers,(172)they have +lived much in the same world that I do. He is moderately +sensible, immoderately proud, self-sufficient, and whimsical. +She is very sensible, has even humour, if the excessive reserve +and silence that she draws from both father and mother -would +let her, I may almost say, ever show it. You say, "What people +do we send you!" I reply, "What people we do not send you!" +Those that travel are reasonable, compared with those who can +never prevail on themselves to stir beyond the atmosphere of +their own whims. I am convinced that the Opinions I give you +about several people must appear very misanthropic; but yet, +you see, are generally forced to own at last that I did not speak +from prejudice - but I won't triumph, since you own that I was in +the right about the Barrets. I was a little peevish with 'you +in your last, when I came to the paragraph where you begin to +say "I have made use of all the Interest I have with Mr. +Pelham."(173) I concluded you was proceeding to say, "to +procure your arrears;" instead of that, it was to make him +serve Mr. Milbank--will you never have done obliging people? +do begin to think of being obliged. I dare say Mr. Milbank is +a very pretty sort of man, very sensible of your attentions, +and who will never forget them-till he is past the Giogo.(174) +You recommend him to me: to show you that I have not naturally +an inclination to hate people, I am determined not to be +acquainted with him, that I may not hate him for forgetting +you. Mr. Pelham will be a little surprised at not finding his +sister(175) at Hanover. That was all a pretence of his wise +relations here, who grew uneasy that he was happy in a way that +they had not laid out for him: Mrs. Temple is in Sussex. They +looked upon the pleasure of an amour of choice as a transient +affair; so, to Make his satisfaction permanent, they propose to +marry him, and to a girl(176) he scarce ever saw! + +I suppose you have heard all the exorbitant demands of the +heralds for your pedigree! I have seen one this morning, +infinitely richer and better done, which will not cost more; it +is for my Lady Pomfret. You would be entertained with all her +imagination in it. She and my lord both descend from Edward +the First, by his two Queens. The pedigree is painted in a +book: instead of a vulgar genealogical tree, she has devised a +pine-apple plant, sprouting out of a basket, on which is King +Edward's head; on the other leaves are all the intermediate +arms; the fruit is sliced open, and discovers the busts of the +Earl and Countess, from whence issue their issue! I have had +the old Vere pedigree lately In my hands, which derives that +house from Lucius Verus; but I am now grown to bear no descent +but my Lord Chesterfield's, who has placed among the portraits +of his ancestors two old heads, inscribed Adam de Stanhope and +Eve de Stanhope; the ridicule is admirable. Old Peter Leneve, +the herald, who thought ridicule consisted in not being of an +old family, made this epitaph, and it was a good one, for young +Craggs, whose father had been a footman, "Here lies the last +who died before the first of his family!" Pray mind, +how I string old stories together to-day. This old +Craggs,(177) who was angry with Arthur More, who had worn a 78 +livery too, and who was getting into a coach with him, turned +about and said, "Why, Arthur, I am always going to get up +behind; are not you!" I told this story the other day to +George Selwyn, whose passion is to see coffins and corpses, and +executions: he replied, "that Arthur More had had his coffin +chained to that of his mistress."--"Lord!" said I, "how do you +know!"--"Why, I saw them the other day in a vault at St. +Giles's." He was walking this week in Westminster Abbey with +Lord Abergavenny, and met the man who shows the tombs, "Oh! +your servant, Mr. Selwyn; I expected to have seen you here the +other day, when the old Duke of Richmond's body was taken up." +Shall I tell you another story of George Selwyn before I tap +the chapter of Richmond, which you see opens here very apropos? +With this strange and dismal turn, he has infinite fun and +humour in him. He went lately on a party of pleasure to see +places with Lord Abergavenny and a pretty Mrs. Frere, who love +one another a little. At Cornbury there are portraits of all +the royalists and regicides, and illustrious headless.(178) +Mrs. Frere ran about, looked at nothing, let him look at +nothing, screamed about Indian paper, and hurried over all the +rest. George grew peevish, called her back, told her it was +monstrous. when he had come so far with her, to let him see +nothing; "And you are a fool, you don't know what you missed in +the other room."--"Why, what?"--"Why, my Lord Holland'S(179) +picture."--"Well! what is my Lord Holland to me?"--"Why, do you +know," said he, ,that my Lord Holland's body lies in the same +vault in Kensington church with my Lord Abergavenny's mother?" +Lord! she 'was so obliged, and thanked him a thousand times. + +The Duke of Richmond is dead, vastly lamented: the Duchess is +left in great circumstances. Lord Albemarle, Lord Lincoln, the +Duke of Marlborough, Duke of Leeds, and the Duke of Rutland, +are talked of for master of the horse. The first is likeliest +to succeed; the Pelhams wish most to have the last: you know he +is Lady Catherine's brother, and at present attached to the +Prince. His son Lord Granby's match, which is at last to be +finished to-morrow, has been a mighty topic of conversation +lately. The bride is one of the great heiresses of old proud +Somerset. Lord Winchilsea, who is her uncle, and who has married +the other sister very loosely to his own +relation, Lord Guernsey, has tied up Lord Granby so rigorously +that the Duke of Rutland has endeavoured to break the match. +She has four thousand pounds a year: he is said to have the +same in present, but not to touch hers. He is in debt ten +thousand pounds. She was to give him ten, which now Lord +Winchilsea refuses. Upon the strength of her fortune, Lord +Granby proposed to treat her with presents of twelve thousand +pounds; but desired her to buy them. She, who never saw nor +knew the value of ten shillings while her father lived, and has +had no time to learn it, bespoke away so roundly, that for one +article of the plate she ordered ten sauceboats: besides this, +she and her sister have squandered seven thousand pounds apiece +in all kind of baubles and frippery; so her four thousand +pounds a-year is to be set apart for two years to pay her +debts. Don't you like this English management? two of the +greatest fortunes meeting and setting out with poverty and +want! Sir Thomas Bootle, the Prince's chancellor, who is one +of the guardians, wanted to have her tradesmen's bills taxed; +but in the mean time he has wanted to marry her Duchess-mother: +his love-letter has been copied and dispersed every where. To +give you a sufficient instance of his absurdity, the first time +he went with the Prince of Wales to Cliefden, he made a +nightgown, cap, and slippers of gold brocade, in which he came +down to breakfast the next morning. + +My friend M'Lean is still the fashion: have not I reason to +call him my friend? He says, if the pistol had shot me, he had +another for himself. Can I do less than say I will be hanged +if he is? They have made a print, a very dull one, of what I +think I said to Lady Caroline Petersham about him, + +,Thus I stand like the Turk with his doxies around!" + +You have seen in the papers a Hanoverian duel, but may be you +don't know that it was an affair of jealousy. Swiegel, the +slain, was here two years ago, and paid his court so +Assiduously to the Countess(180) that it was intimated to him +to return; and the summer we went thither afterwards, he was +advised to stay at his villa. Since that, he has grown more +discreet and a favourite. Freychappel came hither lately, was +proclaimed a beauty by the monarch, and to return the +compliment, made a tender of all his charms where Swiegel had. +the latter recollected his own passion Jostled Freychappel, +fought, and was killed. I am glad he never heard what poor +Gibberne was intended for. + +They have put in the papers a good story made on White's: a +man dropped down dead at the door, was carried in: the club +immediately made bets whether he was dead or not, and when they +were going to bleed him, the wagerers for his death interposed, +and said it would affect the fairness of the bet. + +Mr. Whithed has been so unlucky as to have a large part of his +seat,(181) which he had just repaired, burnt down: it is a +great disappointment to me, too, who was going thither +Gothicizing. I want an act of parliament to make +master-builders liable to pay for any damage occasioned by fire +before their workmen have quitted it. Adieu! This I call a +very gossiping letter; I wish you don't call it worse. + +(172) Joseph Damer, afterwards created Lord Milton in Ireland, +married Lady Caroline Sackville, daughter of Lionel, Duke of +Dorset. + +(173) Thomas Pelham, of Stanmer; a young gentleman who +travelled with Mr. Milbank. + +(174) The highest part of the Apennine between Florence and +Bologna. + +(175) Mrs. Temple, widow of Lord Palmerston's son: she was +afterwards married to Lord Abergavenny. + +(176) Frances, second daughter of Henry Pelham, chancellor of +the exchequer. Mr. Thomas Pelham married Miss Frankland. + +(177) The two Craggs, father and son, were successively members +of the administration during the reign of George the First, in +the post of secretary of state. The father died in 1718, and +the son in 1720; and Pope consecrated a beautiful epitaph to +the memory of the latter. They are both supposed to have been +deeply implicated in the iniquities of the South Sea bubble.-D. + +(178) This was the celebrated collection of portraits, +principally by Vandyck, which Lord Dartmouth, in his notes on +Burnet, distinctly accuses the Lord Chancellor Clarendon of +having obtained by rapacious and corrupt means; that is, as +bribes from the "old rebels," who had plundered them from the +houses of the royalists, and who, at the Restoration, found it +necessary to make fair weather with the ruling powers. The +extensive and miscellaneous nature of the collection (now +divided between Bothwell Castle, in Scotland, and The Grove, in +Hertfordshire) very strongly confirms this accusation. An +additional confirmation is to be found in a letter of Walpole, +addressed to Richard Bentley, Esq. and dated Sept. 1753, in +which he says, "At Burford I saw the house of Mr. Lenthal, the +descendant of the Speaker. The front is good; and a chapel, +connected by two or three arches, which let the garden appear +through, has a pretty effect; but the inside of the mansion is +bad, and ill-furnished. Except a famous picture of Sir Thomas +More's family, the portraits are rubbish, though celebrated. I +am told that the Speaker, who really had a fine collection, +made his peace by presenting them to Cornbury, where they were +well known, till the Duke of Marlborough bought that seat."-D. + +(179) Henry Rich, Earl of Holland, the favourite of Queen +Henrietta Maria.-D. + +180) Lady Yarmouth. + +(181) Southwick, in Hampshire. + + + +80 Letter 29 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, Sept. 10, 1750. + +You must not pretend to be concerned at having missed one here, +when I had repeatedly begged you, to let me know what day you +would call; and even after you had learnt that I was to come +the next day, you paraded by my house with all your matrimonial +streamers flying, without even saluting the future castle. To +punish this slight, I shall accept your offer of a visit on the +return of your progress; I shall be here, and Mrs. leneve will +not. + +I feel for the poor Handasyde.(182) If I wanted examples for +to deter one from making all the world happy, from obliging, +from being always in good-humour and spirits, she should be my +memento. You find long wise faces every day, that tell you +riches cannot make one happy. No, can't they? What pleasantry +is that poor woman fallen from! and what a joyous feel must +Vanneck(183) have expired in, Who could call and think the two +Schutzes his friends, and leave five hundred pounds apiece to +their friendship-. nay, riches made him so happy, that, in the +overflowing of his satisfaction, he has bequeathed a hundred +pounds apiece to eighteen fellows, whom he calls his good +friends, that favoured him with their company on Fridays. He +took it mighty kind that Captain James de Normandie, and twenty +such names, that came out of the Minories, would constrain +themselves to live upon him once a week. + +I should like to visit the castles and groves of your old Welsh +ancestors with you: by the draughts I have seen, I have always +imagined that Wales preserved the greatest remains of ancient +days, and have often wished to visit Picton Castle, the seat of +my Philipps-progenitors. + +Make my best compliments to your sisters, and with their leave +make haste to this side of the world; you will be extremely +welcome hither as soon and for as long as you like; I can +promise you nothing very agreeable, but that I will try to get +our favourite Mr. Bentley to meet you. Adieu! + +(182) The widow of Brigadier-General Handasyde.-E. + +(183) The legacies bequeathed by Gerard Vanneck amounted +altogether to more than a hundred thousand pounds. The residue +of his property he left to his brother, Joshua Vanneck, +ancestor of Lord Huntingfield.-E. + + + +81 Letter 30 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, September 20, 1750. + +I only write you a line to answer some of your questions, and +to tell you that I can't answer others. + +I have inquired much about Dr. Mead, but can't tell you any +thing determinately: his family positively deny the foundation +of the reports, but every body does 'not believe their +evidence. Your brother is positive that there is much of truth +in his being undone, and even that there will be a sale of his +collection(184) when the town comes to town. I wish for Dr. +Cocchi's sake it be false. I have given your brother +Middleton's last piece to send you. Another fellow of +Eton(185) has popped out a sermon against the Doctor since his +death, with a note to one of the pages, that is the true +sublime of ecclesiastic absurdity. He is speaking against the +custom of dividing the Bible into chapters and verses, and says +it often encumbers the sense. This note, though long, I must +transcribe, for it would wrong the author to paraphrase his +nonsense:--"It is to be wished, therefore, I think, that a fair +edition were set forth of the original Scriptures, for the use +of learned men in their closets, in which there should be no +notice, either in text or margin, of chapter, or verse, or +paragraph, or any such arbitrary distinctions, (now mind,) and +I might go so far as to say even any pointing or stops. It +could not but be matter of much satisfaction, and much use, to +have it in our power to recur occasionally to such an edition, +where the understanding might have full range, free from any +external influence from the eye, and the continual danger of +being either confined or misguided by it." Well, Dr. Cocchi, +do English divines yield to the Romish for refinements in +absurdity! did one ever hear of a better way (if making sense +of any writing than by reading it without stops! Most of the +parsons that read the first and second lessons practise Mr. +Cooke's method of making them intelligible, for they seldom +observe any stops. George Selwyn proposes to send the man his +own sermon, and desire him to scratch out the stops, in order +to help it to some sense. + +For the questions in Florentine politics, and who are to be +your governors, I am totally ignorant, you must ask Sir Charles +Williams; he is the present ruling star of our negotiations. +His letters are as much admired as ever his verses were. He +has met the ministers of the two angry empresses, and pacified +Russian savageness and Austrian haughtiness. He is to teach +the monarch of Prussia to fetch and carry, .@;, unless they +happen to treat in iambics, or begin to settle the limits of' +Parnassus instead of' those of Silesia. As he is so good a +pacifier, I don't know but we may want his assistance at home +before the end of the winter: + +"With secretaries, secretaries jar, +And rival bureaus threat approaching war." + +Those that deal in elections look still higher, and snuff a new +Parliament; but I don't believe the King ill, for the Prince is +building baby-houses at Kew; and the Bishop of Oxford has laid +aside his views on Canterbury, and is come roundly back to St. +James's for the deanery of St. Paul's.(186) I could not help +being diverted the other day with the life of another Bishop of +Oxford, one Parker, who, like Secker, set out a Presbyterian, +and died King James the Second's arbitrary master of Maudlin +College.(187) + +M'Lean is condemned, and will hang. I am honourably mentioned +in a Grub-street ballad for not having contributed to his +sentence. There are as many prints and pamphlets about him as +about the earthquake. His profession grows no joke: I was +sitting in my own dining-room on Sunday night, the clock had +not struck eleven, when I heard a loud cry of "Stop thief!" a +highwayman had attacked a postchaise in Picadilly, within fifty +yards of this house: the fellow was pursued, rode over the +watchman, almost killed him, and escaped. I expect to be +robbed some night in my own garden at Strawberry; I have a pond +of gold fish, that to be sure they will steal to burn like old +lace; and they may very easily, for the springs are so much +sunk with this hot summer that I am forced to water my pond +once a week! The season is still so fine, that I yesterday, in +Kensington town, saw a horse-chestnut tree in second bloom. + +As I am in town, and not within the circle of Pope's walks, I +may tell you a story without fearing he should haunt me with +the ghost of a satire. I went the other day to see little +Spence,(188) who fondles an old mother in imitation of Pope. +The good old woman was mighty civil to me, and, among other +chat, said she supposed I had a good neighbour in Mr. Pope. +"Lord! Madam, he has been dead these seven years!"--"Ah! ay, +Sir, I had forgot." When the poor old soul dies, how Pope will +set his mother's spectre upon her for daring to be ignorant "if +Dennis be alive or dead!"(189) + +(184) His collection was not sold till after his death, in the +years 1754 and 1755. + +(185) William Cooke. + +(186) Dr. Secker. In November he was appointed to the said +deanery.-E. + +(187) There is the following entry in Evelyn's Diary for March +23, 1687-8: "Dr. Parker, Bishop of Oxford, who so lately +published his extraordinary treatise about transubstantiation, +and for abrogating the test and penal laws, died. He was +esteemed a violent, passionate, haughty man; but yet being +pressed to declare for the church of Rome, he utterly refused +it. A remarkable end."-E. + +(188) The Rev. Joseph Spence, author of an Essay on Pope's +Odyssey, Polymetus, etc. See vol. i. pp. 27, 65. (He was +always strongly attached to his mother. When on his travels, +in 1739, he thus wrote to her:--"I am for happiness in my own +way, and according to my notions of it, I might as well, and +better, have it in living with you, at our cottage in +Birchanger, than in any palace. As my affairs stand at +present, 'tis likely that we shall have enough to live quite at +our ease: when I desire more than that, may I lose what I +have!"-E.) + +(189) "I was not born for courts or great affairs; +I pay my debts, believe, and say my prayers; +Can sleep without a poem in my head, +Nor know if Dennis be alive or dead." +Pope, Prologue to Satires.-E. + + + +83 Letter 31 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Oct. 18, 1750. + +I had determined so seriously to write to Dr. Cocchi a letter +myself to thank him for his Baths of Pisa, that it was +impossible not to break my resolution. It was to be in +Italian, because I thought their superlative issimos would most +easily express how much I like it, and I had already gathered a +tolerable quantity together, of entertaining, charming, useful, +agreeable, and had cut and turned them into the best sounding! +Tuscan adjectives I could find in my memory or my Crusca: but, +alack! when I came to range them, they did not fadge at all; +they neither expressed what I would say, nor half what I would +say, and so I gave it all up, and am reduced to beg you would +say it all for me; and make as many excuses and as many thanks +for me as you can, between your receiving this, and your next +going to bully Richcourt, or whisper Count Lorenzi. I laughed +vastly at your idea of the latter's hopping into matrimony; and +I like as much Stainville's jumping into Richcourt's place. If +your pedigree, which is on its journey, arrives before his +fall, he will not dare to exclude YOU from the libro d'oro-- +-why, child, you will find yourself as sumptuously descended as + +--"All the blood of all the Howards." + +or as the best-bred Arabian mare, that ever neighed beneath +Abou-al-eb-saba-bedin-lolo-ab-alnin! But pray now, how does cet +homme l`a, as the Princess used to call him, dare to tap the +chapter of birth! I thought he had not had a grandfather since +the creation, that was not born within these twenty years!-But +come, I must tell you news, big news! the treaty of commerce +with Spain is arrived signed. Nobody expected it would ever +come, which I believe is the reason it is reckoned so good; for +autrement one should not make the most favourable conjectures, +as they don't tell us how good it is. In general, they say, +the South Sea Company is to have one hundred thousand pounds in +lieu of their annual ship; which, if it is not over and above +the ninety-five thousand pounds that was allowed to be due to +them, it appears to me only as if there were some halfpence +remaining when the bill was paid, and the King of Spain had +given them to the company to drink his health. What does look +well for the treaty is, that stocks rise to highwater mark; and +what is to me as clear, is, that the exploded Don Benjamin(190) +has repaired what the patriot Lord Sandwich had forgot, or not +known to do at Aix-la-Chapelle. I conclude Keene will now come +over and enjoy the Sabbath of his toils. He and Sir Charles are +the plenipotentiaries in fashion. Pray, brush up your Minyhood +and figure too: blow the coals between the Pope and the +Venetians, till the Inquisition burns the latter, and they the +Inquisition. If you should happen to receive instructions on +this head, don't wait for St. George's day before you present +your memorial to the Senate, as they say Sir Harry Wotton was +forced to do for St. James's, when those aquatic republicans +had quarrelled with Paul the Fifth, and James the First thought +the best way in the world to broach a schism was by beginning +it with a quibble. I have had some Protestant hopes too of a +civil war in France, between the King and his clergy: but it is +a dull age, and people don't set about cutting one another's +throats with any spirit! Robbing is the only thing that goes +on with any vivacity, though my friend Mr. M'Lean is hanged. +The first Sunday after his condemnation, three thousand people +went to see him; he fainted away twice with the heat of his +cell. You can't conceive the ridiculous rage there is of going +to Newgate; and the prints that are published of the +malefactors, and the memoirs of their lives and deaths set +forth with as much parade as--as--Marshal Turenne's--we have no +General's worth making a parallel. + +The pasquinade was a very great one.(191) When I was desiring +YOU to make speeches for me to Dr. Cocchi, I might as well have +drawn a bill upon you too in Mr. Chute's name: for I am sure he +will never write himself. Indeed, at present he is in his +brother's purgatory, and then you will not wonder if he does +nothing but pray to get Out of it. I am glad you are getting +into a villa: my castle will, I believe, begin to rear its +battlements next spring. I have got an immense cargo of +painted glass from Flanders: indeed, several of the pieces are +Flemish arms; but I call them the achievements of the old +Counts of Strawberry. Adieu! + +(190) Benjamin Keene, afterwards knight of the bath, ambassador +at Madrid, was exceedingly abused by the Opposition in Sir +Robert Walpole's time, under the name of Don Benjamin, for +having made the convention in 1739. [Mr. Pelham, in a letter +to Mr. Pitt of the 12th of October 1750, announcing the signing +of the treaty with Spain, says, "I hope and believe, when you +see it and consider the whole, you will be of opinion, that my +friend Keene has acted ably, honestly, and bravely; but, poor +man! he is so sore with old bruises, that he still feels the +smart, and fears another thrashing." See Chatham +Correspondence, vol. i. P. 50.) + +(191) It alluded to the quarrel between the Pope and the +Venetians. Marforio asked Pasquin, "Perche si triste?"- +-"Perche mon avremo pi`u Comedia, Pantalone `e partito."-D. + + + +84 letter 32 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Nov. 19, 1750. + +I stayed to write to you, till I could tell you that I had seen +Mr. Pelham and Mr. Milbank, and could give you some history of +a new administration--but I found it was too long to wait for +either. I pleaded with your brother as I did with you against +visiting your friends, especially when, to encourage me, he +told me that you had given them a very advantageous opinion of +me. That is the very reason, says I, why I don't choose to see +them: they will be extremely civil to me at first; and then they +will be told I have horns and hoofs., and they will shun me, +which I should not like. I know how unpopular I am with the +people with whom they must necessarily live; and, not desiring to +be otherwise, I must either seek your friends where I would most +avoid them, or have them very soon grow to avoid me. However, I +went and left my name for Mr. Pelham, where your brother told me +he lodged, eight days ago; he was to come but that night to his +lodgings, and by his telling your brother he believed I had not +been, I concluded he would not accept that for a visit; so last +Thursday, I left my name for both--to-day is Monday, and I have +heard nothing of them--very likely I shall before you receive +this--I only mention it to show you that you was in the wrong +and I in the right, to think that there would be no +empressement for an acquaintance. Indeed, I would not mention +it, as you will dislike being disappointed by any odd behaviour +of your friends, if it were not to justify myself, and convince +you of my attention in complying with whatever you desire of +me. The King, I hear, commands Mr. Pelham's dancing; and he +must like Mr. Milbank, as he distinguished himself much in a +tournament of bears at Hanover. + +For the Ministry, it is all in shatters: the Duke of Newcastle +is returned more averse to the Bedfords than ever: he smothered +that Duke with embraces at their first meeting, and has never +borne to be in the room with him since. I saw the meeting of +Octavia and Cleopatra;(192) the Newcastle was all haughtiness +and coldness. Mr. Pelham, who foresaw the storm, had prudently +prepared himself for the breach by all kind of invectives +against the house of Leveson. The ground of all, besides +Newcastle's natural fickleness and jealousy, is, that the +Bedford and Sandwich have got the Duke. A crash @as been +expected, but people now seem to think that they will rub on a +little longer, though all the world seems indifferent whether +they will or not. Mankind is so sick of all the late follies +and changes, that nobody inquires or cares whether the Duke of +Newcastle is prime minister, or whom he will associate with +him. The Bedfords have few attachments, and Lord Sandwich is +universally hated. The only difficulty is, who shall succeed +them; and it is even a question whether some of the old +discarded must not cross over and figure in again. I mean, it +has even been said, that Lord Granville(193) will once more be +brought upon the stage:-if he should, and should push too +forward, could they again persuade people to resign with them? +The other nominees for the secretaryship are, Pitt, the Vienna +Sir Thomas Robinson, and even that formal piece of dulness -,it +the Hague, Lord Holderness. The talk of the Chancellor's being +president, in order to make room, by the promotion of the +Attorney to the seals, for his second son(194) to be solicitor, +as I believe I once mentioned to you, is revived; +though he told Mr. Pelham, that if ever he retired, it should +be to Wimple.(195) In the mean time, the Master of the Horse, +the Groom of the Stole, the Presidentship, (vacant by the +nomination of Dorset to Ireland in the room of Lord Harrington, +who is certainly to be given up to his master's dislike,) and +the Blues, are still vacant. Indeed, yesterday I heard that +Honeywood(196) was to have the latter. Such is the Interregnum +of our politics! The Prince's faction lie still, to wait the +event, and the disclosing of the new treaty. Your friend Lord +Fane,(197) some time ago had a mind to go to Spain: the Duke of +Bedford, who I really believe is an honest man, said very +bluntly, "Oh! my lord, nobody can do there but Keene." Lord +North is made governor to Prince George with a thousand a-year, +and an earl's patent in his pocket; but as the passing of the +patent is in the pocket of time, it would not sell for much. +There is a new preceptor, one Scott,(198) recommended by Lord +Bolingbroke. You may add that recommendation to the chapter of +our wonderful politics. I have received your letter from +Fiesoli Hill; poor Strawberry blushes to have you compare it +with such a prospect as yours. I say nothing to the abrupt +sentences about Mr. B. I have long seen his humour--and a +little of your partiality to his wife. + +We are alarmed with the distemper being got among the horses: +few have died yet, but a farrier who attended General +Ligonier's dropped down dead in the stable. Adieu! + +(192) The DUCHESSES of Newcastle and Bedford. + +(193) "So anxious was the Duke of Newcastle to remove his +colleague, that he actually proposed either to open a +negotiation with Earl Granville for settling a new +administration, or to conciliate the Duke of Cumberland, +without the interposition of Mr. Pelham, by agreeing to +substitute Lord Sandwich in the room of the Duke of Bedford." +Coxe's Pelham, vol. ii. p. 137.-E. + +(194) Charles Yorke.-D. + +(195) Wimpole the Chancellor's seat in Cambridgeshire. + +(196) Sir Philip Honeywood, knight of the bath. + +(197) Lord Viscount Fane, formerly minister at Florence. + +(198) Coxe states, that Mr. Scott was recommended to the Prince +of Wales by Lord Bathurst, at the suggestion of Lord +Bolingbroke, and that he was favoured by the Princess.-E. + + + +86 Letter 33 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Dec. 19, 1750. + +Well! you may be easy; your friends have been to see me at +last, but it has so happened that we have never once met, nor +have I even seen their persons. They live at Newcastle-house; +and though I give you my word my politics are exceedingly +neutral, I happen to be often at the court of Bedford. The +Interministerium still subsists; no place is filled up but the +Lieutenancy of Ireland; the Duke of Dorset was too impatient to +wait. Lord Harrington remains a melancholy sacrifice to the +famous general Resignation,(199) which he led up, and of which +he is the only victim. Overtures have been made to Lord +Chesterfield to be president; but he has declined it; for he +says he cannot hear causes, as he is grown deaf. I don't think +the proposal was imprudent, for if they should happen, as they +have now and then happened, to want to get rid of him again, they +might without consequence; that is, I suppose nobody would +follow him out, any more than they did when he resigned +voluntarily. For these two days every body has expected to see +Lord Granville president, and his friend the Duke of Bolton, +colonel of the Blues; two nominations that would not be very +agreeable, nor probably calculated to be so to the Duke, who +favours the Bedford faction. His old governor Mr. Poyntz(200) +is just dead, ruined in his circumstances by a devout brother, +whom he trusted, and by a simple wife, who had a devotion of +marrying, dozens of her poor cousins at his expense: you know +she was the Fair Circassian.(201) Mr. Poyntz was called a very +great man, but few knew any thing of his talents, for he was +timorous to childishness. The Duke has done greatly for his +family, and secured his places for his children, and sends his +two sons abroad, allowing them eight hundred pounds a year. +The little Marquis of Rockingham has drowned himself in claret; +and old Lord Dartmouth is dead of ague.(202) When Lord +Bolingbroke's last work was published, on the State of Parties +at the late King's accession, Lord Dartmouth said, he supposed +Lord Bolingbroke believed every body was dead who had lived at +that period. + +There has been a droll cause in Westminster Hall: a man laid +another a wager that he produced a person who should weigh as +much again as the Duke. When they had betted, they recollected +not knowing how to desire the Duke to step into a scale. They +agreed to establish his weight at twenty stone, which, however, +is supposed to be two more than he weighs. One Bright was then +produced, who is since dead, and who actually weighed forty-two +stone and a half.)203) As soon as he was dead, the person who +had lost objected that he had been weighed in his clothes, and +thought it was impossible to suppose that his clothes could +weigh above two stone, they went to law. There were the Duke's +twenty stone bawled over a thousand times,-but the righteous +law decided against the man who had won! + +Poor Lord Lempster(204) is more Cerberus(205) than ever; (you +remember his bon-mot that proved such a blunder;) he has lost +twelve thousand pounds at hazard to an ensign of the Guards-but +what will you think of the folly of a young Sir Ralph Gore,(206) +who took it into his head that he would not be waited on by +drawers in brown frocks and blue aprons, and has literally given +all the waiters at the King's Arms rich embroideries and laced +clothes! The town is still empty: the parties for the two +playhouses are the only parties that retain any spirit. I will +tell you one or two bon-mots of Quin the actor. Barry would have +had him play the ghost in Hamlet, a part much beneath the dignity +of Quin, who would give no other answer but, "I won't catch cold +behind." I don't know whether you remember that the ghost is +always ridiculously dressed, with a morsel of armour before, +and only a black waistcoat and breech behind. The other is an +old one, but admirable. When Lord Tweedale was nominal +secretary of State for Scotland, Mitchell,(207) his secretary, +was supping With Quin, who wanted him to stay another bottle; +but he pleaded my lord's business. "Then," said Quin, "only +stay till I have told you a story. A vessel was becalmed: the +master called to one of the cabin-boys at the top of the mast, +'Jack, what are you doing?' 'Nothing, Sir.' He called to +another boy, a little below the first, 'Will, what are you +doing?' 'Helping Jack, sir.'" Adieu! + +(199) In the year 1746. + +)200) Stephen Poyntz, formerly British minister in Sweden, +after being tutor to Lord Townshend's sons. + +(201) Anna maria Mordaunt, maid of honour to Queen Caroline. A +young gentleman at Oxford wrote the "Fair Circassian" on her, +and died for love of her. [The "Fair Circassian," a dramatic +performance which appeared in 1720, Has been generally +attributed to the Rev. Dr. Samuel Croxall, author of "Fables of +Esop and others, translated into English, with instructive +applications," who died in 1752, at an advanced age.] + +(202) William, first Earl of Dartmouth, secretary of state to +Queen Anne. He died on the 15th of December, in his +seventy-ninth year.-E. + +(203) Edward bright died at Malden in Essex, on the 10th of +November, at the age of thirty. He was an active man till a +year or two before that event; when his corpulency so +overpowered his strength, that his life was a burthen to +him.-E. + +(204) Eldest son of Thomas Fermor, Earl of Pomfret, whom, in +1753, he succeeded in the title. + +(205) When he was on his travels, and run much in debt, his +parents paid his debts: Some more came out afterwards; he wrote +to his mother, that he could only compare himself to Cerberus, +who, when one head was cut off, had another spring up in its +room. + +(206) In 1747, when only a captain, Sir Ralph distinguished +himself at the battle Of Laffeldt. In 1764, he was created +Baron Gore, and in 1771, Earl of Ross: in 1788, he was +appointed commander-in-chief in Ireland, and died in 1802.-E. + +(207) Andrew Mitchell, afterwards commissary at Antwerp. [And, +for many years, envoy from England to the court of Prussia. In +1765 he was created a knight of the bath, and died at Berlin in +1771. His valuable collection of letters, forming sixty-eight +volumes, was purchased in 1810, by the trustees of the British +Museum.-E. + + + +88 Letter 34 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Dec. 22, 1750. + +As I am idling away some Christmas days here, I begin a letter +to you, that perhaps will not set out till next year. Any +changes in the ministry will certainly be postponed till that +date: it is even believed that no alteration will be made till +after the session; they will get the money raised -,And the new +treaty ratified in Parliament before they break and part. The +German ministers arc more alarmed, and seem to apprehend +themselves in as tottering a situation as some of the English: +not that any secretary of state is jealous of them--their +Countess(208) is on the wane. The housekeeper(209) at Windsor, +an old monster that Verrio painted for one of the Furies, is +dead. The revenue is large, and has been largely solicited. +Two days ago, at the drawing-room, the gallant Orondates strode +up to Miss Chudleigh, and told her he was glad to have an +opportunity of obeying her commands, that he appointed her +mother housekeeper at Windsor, and hoped she would not think a +kiss too great a reward--against all precedent he kissed her in +the circle. He has had a hankering these two years. Her life, +which is now of thirty years' standing, has been a little +historic.(210) Why should not experience and a charming face on +her side, and near seventy years on his, produce a title? + +Madame de Mirepoix is returned: she gives a lamentable account +of another old mistress,(211) her mother. She has not seen her +since the Princess went to Florence, which she it seems has +left with great regret; with greater than her beauty, whose +ruins she has not discovered: but with few teeth, few hairs, +sore eyes, and wrinkles, goes bare-necked and crowned with +jewels! Madame Mirepoix told me a reply of Lord Cornbury, that +pleased me extremely. They have revived at Paris old +Fontenelle's opera of Peleus and Thetis: he complained of being +dragged upon the stage again for one of his juvenile +performances, and said he could not bear to be hissed now: Lord +Cornbury immediately replied to him out of the very opera, + +"Jupiter en courroux + ' +Ne peut rien contre vous, +Vous `etes immortel." + +Our old laureat has been dying: when he thought himself at the +extremity, he wrote this lively, good-natured letter to the +Duke of Grafton:- + +""May it please your Grace: +"I know no nearer way of repaying your favours for these last +twenty years than by recommending the bearer, Mr. Henry Jones, +for the vacant laurel: Lord Chesterfield will tell you more of +him. I don't know the day of my death, but while I live, I +shall not cease to be, your Grace's, etc. + +"Colley Cibber." ' + +I asked my Lord Chesterfield who this Jones(212) is; he told me +a better poet would not take the post, and a worse ought not to +have it. There are two new bon-mots of his lordship much +repeated, better than his ordinary. He says, he would not be +president, because he would not be between two fires;(213) and +that"the two brothers are like Arbuthnot's Lindamira and +Indamora;(214) the latter was an able, tractable gentlewoman, but +her sister was always quarrelling and kicking and as they grew +together, there was no parting them. + +You will think my letters are absolute jest-and-story books, +unless you will be so good as to dignify them with the title of +Walpoliana. Under that hope, I will tell you a very odd new +story. A citizen had advertised a reward for the discovery of +a person who had stolen sixty guineas out of his scrutoire. He +received a message from a condemned criminal in Newgate, with +the offer of revealing the thief. Being a cautious grave +personage, he took two friends along with him. The convict +told him that he was the robber; and when he doubted, the +fellow began with these circumstances; You came home such a +night, and put the money into your bureau: I was Under your +bed: you undressed, and then went to the foot of the garret +stairs, and cried, 'Mary, come to bed to me-'" "Hold, hold," +said the citizen, "I am convinced." "Nay," said the fellow, +"you shell hear all, for our intrigue saved your life. Mary +replied, 'If any body wants me, they may come up to me:' you +went: I robbed your bureau in the mean time, but should have +cut your throat, if you had gone into your bed instead of Mary +S." + +The conclusion of my letter will be a more serious story, but +very proper for the Walpoliana. I have given you scraps of +Ashton's history. To perfect his ingratitude, he has struck up +an intimacy with my second brother, and done his utmost to make +a new quarrel between us, on the merit of having broke with me +on the affair of Dr. Middleton. I don't know whether I ever +told you that my brother hated Middleton, who was ill with a +Dr. Thirlby,(215) a creature of his. He carried this and his +jealousy of me so far, that once when Lord Mountford brought +Middleton for one night only to Houghton my brother wrote my +father a most outrageous letter, telling him that he knew I had +fetched Middleton to Houghton to write my father's life, and +how much more capable Thirlby was of this task. Can one help +admiring in these instances the dignity of human nature! Poor +Mrs. Middleton is alarmed with a scheme that I think she very +justly suspects as a plot of the clergy to get at and suppress +her husband's papers. He died in a lawsuit with a builder, who +has since got a monition from the Commons for her to produce +all the Doctor's effects and papers. The whole debt is but +eight hundred pounds. She offered ten thousand pounds +security, and the fellow will not take it. Is there clergy in +it, or no? Adieu! + + +(208) Lady Yarmouth. The new amour did not proceed. + +(209) Mrs. Marriot. + +(210) She was, though maid of honour, privately married to +Augustus, second son of the late Lord Hervey, by whom she had +two children; but disagreeing, the match was not owned. She +afterwards, still maid of honour, lived very publicly with the +Duke of Kingston, and at last married him during Mr. Hervey's +life. + +(211) Princess Craon, formerly mistress of Leopold, Duke of +Lorraine. + +(212) I think he was an Irish bricklayer; he wrote an "Earl of +Essex." ["Having a natural inclination for the Muses," says his +biographer, "he pursued his devotions to them even during the +labours of his more mechanical avocations, and composing a line +of brick and a line of verse alternately, his wall and poems +rose up in growth together." His tragedy of the "Earl of +Essex" came out at Covent Garden in 1753, and met with +considerable success. He died in great want, in 1770.-E.] + +(213) Meaning President of the Council. The two fires were the +Pelham brothers; between whom all private intercourse was at +this time suspended.-E. + +(214) See the Memoirs of Martinus Scriblerus in Swift's Works; +Indamora alludes to Mr. Pelham, Lindamira to the Duke of +Newcastle. + +(215) For a notice of the Doctor, see ant`e.-E. + + + +89 Letter 35 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Feb. 9, 1751. + +You will wonder that I, who am pretty punctual, even when I +have little to say, should have been so silent at the beginning +of a session: I will tell you some reasons why; what I had to +tell you was not finished; I wished to give you an entire +account: besides, we have had so vigorous an attendance, that +with that, and the fatigue, it was impossible to write. Before +the Parliament met, there was a dead tranquillity, and no +symptoms of party spirit. What is more extraordinary, though +the Opposition set out vehemently the very first day, there has +appeared ten times greater spirit on the court side, a Whig +vehemence that has rushed on heartily. I have been much +entertained-what should I have been, if I had lived in the +times of the Exclusion-bill, and the end of queen Anne's reign, +when votes and debates really tended to something! Now they +tend but to the alteration of a dozen places, perhaps, more or +less-but come, I'll tell you, and you shall judge for yourself. +The morning the Houses met, there was universally dispersed, by +the penny post, and by being dropped into the areas of houses, +a paper called Constitutional Queries, a little equivocal, for +it is not clear whether they were levelled at the Family, or by +Part of the Family at the Duke.(216) The Address was warmly +opposed, and occasioned a remarkable speech of Pitt, in +recantation of his former orations on the Spanish, war, and in +panegyric on the Duke of Newcastle, wit whom e is pushing +himself, and by whom he is pushed at all rates, in opposition +to Lord Sandwich and the Bedfords. Two or three days +afterwards there were motions in both Houses to have the +Queries publicly burnt. That too occasioned a debate with us, +and a fine speech of Lord Egmont, artfully condemning the +paper, though a little suspected of it, and yet supporting some +of the reasonings in it. There was no division on the +resolution; but two days afterwards we had a very extraordinary +and unforeseen one. Mr. Pelham had determined to have 'but +8,000 seamen this year, instead of 10,000. Pitt and his +cousins, without any notice given, declared with the Opposition +for the greater number. The key to this you will find in Pit'S +whole behaviour; whenever he wanted new advancement, he used to +go off He has openly met with great discouragement now; though +he and we know Mr. Pelham so -well, that it Will not be +surprising if, though baffled, he still carries his point of +secretary of state. However, the old corps resented this +violently, and rushed up their old anger: Mr. Pelham was +inclined to give way, but Lord Hartington, at the head of the +young Whigs, divided the House, and Pitt had the mortification +of being followed into the minority by only fifteen persons. The +King has been highly pleased with this event; and has never +named the Pitts and Grenvilles to the Duke of Newcastle, but to +abuse them, and to commend the spirit of the young people. It +has not weakened the Bedford faction, who have got more +strength by the clumsy politics of another set of their +enemies. There has all the summer been a Westminster petition +in agitation, driven on by the independent electors, headed by +Lord Elibank, Murray his brother, and one or two gentlemen. +Sir John Cotton, and Cooke the member for Middlesex, +discouraged it all they could, and even stifled the first +drawn, which was absolutely treason. However, Cooke at last +presented one from the inhabitants, and Lord Egmont another +from Sir George Vandeput; and Cooke even made a strong +invective against the High-bailiff; on which Lord Trentham +produced and read a letter written by Cooke to the +High-bailiff, when he was in their interest, and stuffed with +flattery to him. Lord Trentham's friends then called in the +High-bailiff, who accused some persons of hindering and +threatening him on the scrutiny, and, after some contention, +named Crowle, counsel for Sir George Vandeput, Gibson, an +upholsterer and independent, and Mr. Murray.(217) These three +were ordered to attend on the following Thursday to defend +themselves. Before that day came, we had the report on the +eight thousand seamen, when Pitt and his associates made +speeches of lamentation on their disagreement with Pelham, whom +they flattered inordinately. This ended in a burlesque quarrel +between Pitt and Hampden,(218) a buffoon who hates the +cousinhood, and thinks his name should entitle him to Pitt's +office. We had a very long day on Crowle's defence, who had +called the power of the House brutum fulmen: he was very +submissive, and was dismissed with a reprimand on his knees. +Lord Egmont was so severely handled by Fox, that he has not +recovered his spirits since. He used to cry up Fox against Mr. +Pelham, but since the former has seemed rather attached to the +Duke and the Duke of Bedford, the party affect to heap incense +on Pelham and Pitt--and it is returned. + +The day that Murray came to the bar he behaved with great +confidence, but at last desired counsel, which was granted: in +the mean time we sent Gibson to Newgate. Last Wednesday was +the day of trial: the accusation was plentifully proved against +Murray, and it was voted to send him close prisoner to Newgate. +His party still struggling against the term close, the Whigs +grew provoked, and resolved he should receive his sentence on +his knees at the bar. To this he refused to submit. The +Speaker stormed, and the House and its honour grew outrageous +at the dilemma they were got into, and indeed out of which we +are not got yet. If he gets the better, he will indeed be a +meritorious martyr for the cause: en attendant, he is strictly +shut up in Newgate.(219) + +By these anecdotes you will be able to judge a little of the +news you mention in your last, of January 29th, and will +perceive that our ministerial vacancies and successions are not +likely to be determined soon. Niccolini's account of the +aversion to Lord Sandwich is well grounded, though as to +inflexible resentments, there cannot easily be any such thing, +where parties and factions are so fluctuating as in this +country. I was to have dined the other day at Madame de +Mirepoix's with my Lord Bolingbroke, but he was ill. She said, +she had repented asking me, as she did not know if I should +like it. , Oh! Madam, I have gone through too many of those +things to make any objection to the only one that remains!" + +I grieve much for the return of pains in your head and breast; +I flattered myself that you had quite mastered them. + +I have seen your Pelham and Milbank, not much, but I like the +latter; I have some notion, from thinking that he resembles you +in his manner. The other seems very good-humoured, but he is +nothing but complexion. Dame is returned; he looks ill; but I +like him better than I used to do, for he commends you. My +Lord Pomfret is made ranger of the parks, and by consequence my +Lady is queen of the Duck Island.(220) Our greatest miracle is +Lady Mary Wortley's son,(221) whose adventures have made so +much noise- his parts are not proportionate, but his expense is +incredible. His father scarce allows him any thing: yet he +plays, dresses, diamonds himself, even to distinct shoe-buckles +for a frock, and has more snuff-boxes than would suffice a +Chinese idol with an hundred noses. But the most curious part +of his dress, which he has brought from Paris, is an iron wig; +you literally would not know it from hair--I believe it is on +this account that the Royal Society have just chosen him of +their body. This may surprise you: what I am now going to tell +you will not, for you have only known her follies - the Duchess +of Queensbury told Lady Di. Egerton,(222) a pretty daughter of +the Duchess of Bridgewater, that she was going to make a ball +for her: she did, but did not invite her: the girl was +mortified, and Mr. Lyttelton, her father-in-law, sent the mad +Grace a hint of it. She sent back this card-. "The +advertisement came to hand; it was very pretty and very +ingenious; but every thing that is pretty and ingenious does not +always succeed; the Duchess of Q. piques herself on her house +being unlike Socrates's; his was small and held all his friends; +hers is large, but will not hold half of hers: postponed, but not +forgot: unalterable." Adieu! + +(217) The Hon. Alexander Murray, fourth son of Alexander, +fourth Lord Elibank. This family was for the most part +Jacobite in its principles.-D. + +(218) John Hampden, Esq., the last descendant in the file line of +the celebrated Hampden. On his death in 1754, he left his +estates to the Hon. Robert Trevor, son of Lord Trevor, who was +descended from Ruth, the daughter of the Patriot.-D. + +(219) mr Murray's health appearing to be in danger, the House, +upon the report of his physician, offered to remove him from +Newgate into the custody of the sergeant-at-arms: but he had +the resolution to reject the offer, and to continue in Newgate +till the end of the session; when he made a kind of triumphal +procession to his own house, attended by the sheriffs of +London, a large train of coaches, and the declamations of the +populace.-E. + +(220) Duck Island was a spot in St. James's Park, near the +Bird-cage Walk; and was so called, because Charles the Second +had established a decoy of ducks upon it. It was destroyed +when the improvements and alterations took place in this park, +about the year 1770.-D. + +(221) Edward Wortley Montague, whose singular adventures and +eccentricities are so well known. In 1747, he was chosen +member for the county of Huntingdon; but in his senatorial +capacity he did not distinguish himself. His expenses greatly +exceeding his income, towards the end of this year he quitted +the kingdom and went to Paris.-E. + +(222) Daughter of Scroop, Duke of Bridgewater, by the Lady +Rachel Russel, sister of the Duke of Bedford. Lady Diana +Egerton was afterwards married to Lord Baltimore. + + + +94 Letter 36 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, March 13, 1751. + +You will be expecting the conclusion of Mr. Murray's history, +but as he is too great a hero to submit, and not hero enough to +terminate his prison in a more summary, or more English way, +you must have patience, as we shall have, till the end of the +session. His relations, who had leave to visit him, are +excluded again: rougher methods with him are not the style of +the age: in the mean time he is quite forgot. General +Anstruther is now the object in fashion, or made so by a Sir +Harry Erskine, a very fashionable figure in the world of +politics, who has just come into Parliament, and has been +laying a foundation for the next reign by attacking the +Mutiny-bill, and occasionally General Anstruther, who treated +him hardly ten years ago in Minorca. Anstruther has mutually +persecuted and been persecuted by the Scotch ever since +Porteous's affair, when, of all that nation, he alone voted for +demolishing part of Edinburgh. This affair would be a trifle, +if it had not opened the long-smothered rivalship between Fox +and Pitt: for these ten days they have been civilly at war +together; and Mr. Pelham is bruised between both. However, +this impetuosity of Pitt has almost overset the total +engrossment that the Duke of Newcastle had made of all power, +and if they do not, as it is suspected, league with the Prince, +you will not so soon hear of the fall of the Bedfords, as I had +made you expect. With this quantity of factions ind infinite +quantity of speakers, we have had a most fatiguing session, and +seldom rise before nine or ten at night. + +There have been two events, not political, equal to any +absurdities or follies of former years. My Lady Vane(223) has +literally published the memoirs of her own life, Only +suppressing part of her lovers, no part of the success of the +others with her: a degree of profligacy not to be accounted +for; she does not want money, none of her lovers will raise her +credit; and the number, all she had to brag of, concealed! The +other is a play that has been acted by people of some fashion +at Drury Lane, hired on purpose. They really acted so well +that it is astonishing they should not have had sense enough +not to act at all. You would know none of their names, should I +tell you; but the chief were a family of Delavals, the eldest of +which was married by one Foote, a player, to Lady Nassau +Poulett,(224) who had kept the latter. The rage was so great +to see this performance that the House of Commons literally +adjourned at three o'clock on purpose: the footman's gallery +was strung with blue ribands. What a wise people! what an +august Senate! yet my Lord Granville once told the Prince, I +forget on occasion of what folly, "Sir, indeed your Royal +Highness is in the wrong to act thus; the English are a grave +nation." + + +The King has been much out of order, but he is quite well +again, and they say, not above sixty-seven! Adieu! + +(223) Anne, second daughter of Mr. Hawes, the wife of William, +Lord Viscount Vane. The history of her intrigues, communicated +by herself, had just been published in Smollett's Adventures of +Peregrine Pickle. See vol. i. Gray, in a letter to Walpole, +of the 3d of March, writes, "Has that miracle of tenderness and +sensibility (as she calls it), given you any amusement? +Peregrine, whom she uses as a vehicle, is very poor indeed, +with a few exceptions."-E. + +(224) Isabella, youngest daughter and co-heiress of Thomas +Tufton, Earl of Thanet, and widow of Lord Nassau Poulett, +youngest brother of the Duke of Bolton. She was mad. + + + +95 Letter 37 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, March 21, 1751. + +What, another letter, -when I wrote to you but last week!- +-Yes--and with an event too big to be kept for a regular +interval. You will imagine from the conclusion of my last +letter that our King is dead--or, before you receive this, you +will probably have heard by flying couriers that it is only our +King that was to be. In short, the Prince died last night +between nine and ten. If I don't tell you ample details, it is +because you must content yourself with hearing nothing but what +I know true. He had had a pleurisy, and was recovered. Last +Tuesday was se'nnight he went to attend the King's passing some +bills in the House of Lords; from thence to Carlton House, very +hot, where he unrobed, put on a light unaired frock and +waistcoat, went to Kew, walked in a bitter day, came home +tired, and lay down for three hours, upon a couch in a very +cold room at Carlton House, that opens into the garden. Lord +Egmont told him how dangerous it was, but the Prince did not +mind him. My father once said to this King, when he was ill +and royally untractable, "Sir, do you know what your father +died of? of thinking he could not die." In short, the Prince +relapsed that night, has had three physicians ever since, and +has never been supposed out of danger till yesterday: a thrush +had appeared, and for the two or three last evenings he had +dangerous suppressions of breath. However, his family thought +him so well yesterday, that there were cards in his outward +room. Between nine and ten he was seized with a violent fit of +coughing. Wilmot, and Hawkins the surgeon, were present: the +former said, ,Sir, have you brought up all the phlegm? I hope +this will be over in a quarter of an hour, and that your Royal +Highness will have a good night." Hawkins had occasion to go +out of the room, and said, "Here is something I don't like." +The cough continued; the prince laid his hand upon his stomach, +and said, "Je sens la mort." The page who held him up, felt him +shiver, and cried out, The Prince is going!" The Princess was at +the feet of the bed; she catched up a +candle and ran to him, but before she got to the head of the +bed, he was dead.(225) + +Lord North was immediately sent to the King, who was looking +over a table, where Princess Emily, the Duchess of Dorset, and +Duke of Grafton were playing. He was extremely surprised, and +said, "Why, they told me he was better!" He bid Lord North tell +the Princess, he would do every thing she could desire; and has +this morning sent her a very kind message in writing. He is +extremely shocked--but no pity is too much for the Princess; +she has eight children, and is seven months gone with another. +She bears her affliction with great courage and sense. They +asked her if the body was to be opened; she replied, what the +King pleased. + +This is all I know yet; you shall have fresh and fresh +intelligence--for reflections on minorities, Regencies, +Jacobitism, Oppositions, factions, I need not help you to them. +You will make as many as any body, but those who reflect on +their own disappointments. The creditors are no inconsiderable +part of the moralists. They talk of fourteen hundred thousand +pounds on post-obits. This I am sure I don't vouch; I Only +know that I never am concerned to see the tables of the +money-changers overturned and cast out of the temple.(226) + +I much fear, that by another post I shall be forced to tell you +news that will have much worse effects for my own family, My +Lord Orford has got such another violent boil as he had two +years ago--and a thrush has appeared too along with it. We are +in the utmost apprehensions about him, the more, because there +is no possibility of giving him any about himself. He has not +only taken an invincible aversion to physicians, but to the +bark, and we have no hopes from any thing else. It will be a +fatal event for me, for your brother, and for his own son. +Princess Emily,(227) Mr. Pelham(228) and my Lady Orford, are +not among the most frightened. + +Your brother, who dines here with Mr. Chute and Gray,(229) has +just brought me your letter of March 12th. The libel you ask +about was called "Constitutional Queries:" have not you +received mine of February 9th? there was some account of our +present history. Adieu! I have not time to write any longer to +you; but you may well expect our correspondence will thicken. + +(225) Frederick, Prince of Wales, was a man in no way +estimable, though his understanding and disposition were cried +up by those who were in opposition to his father's government. +Walpole says of him, "His best quality was generosity; his +worst, insincerity and indifference to truth, which appeared so +early, that Earl Stanhope wrote to Lord Sunderland from +Hanover, "He has his father's head, and his mother's heart." +His death was undoubtedly a deliverance for those who, had he +lived, would have become his subjects.-D. + +(226) Frederick, Prince of Wales's debts were never paid.-D. + +(227) Princess Emily had the reversion of New-park. + +(228) The auditor of the exchequer, was in the gift of Mr. +Pelham, as chancellor of the exchequer, and first lord of the +treasury. + +(229) Thomas Gray, author of the Elegy in a Churchyard, and +other poems. + + + +97 Letter 38 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, April 1, 1751. + + +How shall I begin a letter that will-that must give you as much +pain as I feel myself? I must interrupt the story of the +Prince's death, to tell you of two more, much more important, +God knows! to you and me! One I had prepared you for-but how +will you be shocked to hear that our poor Mr. Whithed is +dead(230) as well as my brother! Whithed had had a bad cough +for two months: he was going out of town to the Minchester +assizes; I persuaded and sent him home from hence one morning +to be blooded. However, he went, in extreme bad weather. His +youngest brother, the clergyman, who is the greatest brute in +the world, except the elder brother, the layman, dragged him +out every morning to hunt, as eagerly as if it had been to hunt +heretics. One day they were overturned in a water, and then +the parson made him ride forty miles: in short, he arrived it +the Vine half dead, and soon grew delirious. Poor Mr. Chute +was sent for to him last Wednesday, and sent back for two more +physicians, but in vain; he expired on Friday night! Mr. Chute +is come back half distracted, and scarce to be known again. +You may easily believe that my own distress does not prevent my +doing all in my power to alleviate his. Whithed, that best of +hearts, had forgiven all his elder brother's beastliness, and +has left him the Norton estate, the better half; the rest to +the clergyman, with an annuity of one hundred and twenty pounds +a year to his Florentine mistress, and six hundred pounds to +their child. He has left Mr. Chute one thousand pounds, which, +if forty times the sum, would not comfort him, and, little as +it is, does not in the least affect or alter his concern. +Indeed, he not only loses an intimate friend, but in a manner +an only child; he had formed him to be one of the prettiest +gentlemen in England, and had brought about a match for him, +that was soon to be concluded with a Miss Nicholl, an immense +fortune; and I am persuaded had fixed his heart on making him +his own heir, if he himself outlived his brother. With such a +fortune, and with such expectations, how hard to die!--or, +perhaps, how lucky, before he had tasted misfortune and +mortification. + +I must now mention my own misfortune, Tuesday, Wednesday, and +Thursday mornings, the physicians and all the family of painful +death,(231) (to alter Gray's phrase,) were persuaded and +persuaded me, that the bark, which took great place, would save +my brother's life --but he relapsed at three o'clock on +Thursday, and died last night. He ordered to be drawn and +executed his will with the greatest tranquillity and +satisfaction on Saturday morning. His spoils are +prodigious-not to his own family! indeed I think his son the +most ruined young man in England. My loss, I fear, may be +considerable, which is not the only motive of my concern, though, +as you know, I had much to forgive, before I could regret: but +indeed I do regret. It is no small addition to my concern, to +fear or foresee that Houghton and all the remains of my father's +glory will be pulled to pieces! The widow-Countess immediately +marries--not Richcourt, but Shirley, and triumphs in advancing +her son's ruin by enjoying her own estate, and tearing away +great part of his. + +Now I shall divert your private grief by talking to you of what +is called the public. The King and Princess are grown as fond +as it they had never been of different parties, or rather as +people who always had been of different. She discountenances +all opposition, and he all ambition. Prince George, who, with +his two eldest brothers, is to be lodged at St. James's, is +speedily to be created Prince of Wales. Ayscough, his tutor, +is to be removed, with her entire inclination as well as with +every body's approbation. They talk of a Regency to be +established (in case of a minority) by authority of Parliament, +even this session, with the Princess at the head of it. She +and Dr. lee, the only one she consults of the late cabal, very +sensibly burned the late Prince's papers the moment he was +dead. lord Egmont, by seven o'clock the next morning, summoned +(not very decently) the faction to his house: all was whisper! +at least he hinted something of taking the Princess and her +children under their protection, and something of the necessity +of harmony. No answer was made to the former proposal. +Somebody said, it was very likely indeed they should agree now, +when the Prince could never bring it about: and so every body +went away to take care of himself. The imposthumation is +supposed to have proceeded, not from his fall last year, but +from a blow with a tennis-ball some years ago. The grief for +the dead brother is affectedly great; the aversion to the +living one as affectedly displayed. They cried about an +elegy,(232) and added, "Oh, that it were but his brother!" On +'Change they said, "Oh, that it were but the butcher!(233)" + +The Houses sit, but no business will be done till after the +holidays. AnStruther's affair will go on, but not with MUCH +spirit. One wants to see faces about again! Dick lyttelton, +one of the patriot officers, had collected depositions on oath +against the Duke for his behaviour in Scotland, but I suppose +he will now throw his papers into Ham/let's grave? + +Prince George, who has a most amiable countenance, behaved +excessively well on his father's death. When they told him of +it, he turned pale, and laid his hand on his breast. Ayscough +said, "I am afraid, Sir, you are not well!"-he replied, "I feel +something here, just as I did when I saw the two workmen fall +from the scaffold at Kew." Prince Edward is a very plain boy, +with strange loose eyes, but was much the favourite. He is a +sayer of things! Two men were heard lamenting the death in +Leicester-fields: one said, "He has left a great many small +children!"-"Ay," replied the other, "and what is worse, they +belong to our parish!" But the most extraordinary reflections +on his death were set forth in a sermon at Mayfair chapel. "He +had no great parts, (pray mind, this was the parson said so, +not I,) but he had great virtues; indeed, they degenerated into +vices - he was very generous, but I hear his generosity has +ruined a great many people: and then his condescension was +such, that he kept very bad company." + +Adieu! my dear child; I have tried, you see, to blend so much +public history with our private griefs, as may help to +interrupt your too great attention to the calamities in the +former part of my letter. You will, with the properest +good-nature in the world, break the news to the poor girl, whom +I pity, though I never saw. Miss Nicholl is, I am told, +extremely to be pitied too; but so is every body that knew +Whithed! Bear it yourself as well as you can! + +(230) Francis Thistlethwaite, who took the name of Whithed for +his uncle's estate and, as heir to him, recovered Mr. Norton's +estate, which he had left to the Parliament for the use of the +poor, etc,; but the will was set aside for insanity. [See +ant`e.) + +(231) Vide Gray's Ode on a distant prospect of Eton College. + +(232) Walpole, in his Memoires, vol. i. p. 504, says, "The +following which is the elegy alluded to, was probably the +effusion of some Jacobite royalist. That faction could not, +forgive the Duke of Cumberland his excesses or successes in +Scotland; and not content with branding the parliamentary +government of the country as usurpation, indulged in frequent +unfailing and scurrilous personalities on every branch of the +reigning family. + +"Here lies Fred, +Who was alive and is dead: +Had it been his father, +I had much rather: +Had it been his brother, +Still better than another; +Had it been his sister, +No one would have missed her; +Had it been the whole generation, +Still better for the nation; +But since 'tis only Fred, +Who was alive and is dead- +There is no more to be said."-E. + +(233) The Duke of Cumberland, by his friends styled the Hero of +culloden, by his opponents nicknamed Billy the Butcher.-E. + + + +99 Letter 39 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, April 22, 1751. + +I could not help, my dear child, being struck with the +conclusion of your letter of the 2d of this month, which I have +just received; it mentions the gracious assurances you had +received from the dead Prince--indeed, I hope you will not want +them. The person(234) who conveyed them was so ridiculous as +to tell your brother that himself was the most disappointed of +all men, he and the Prince having settled his first ministry in +such a manner that nothing could have defeated the plan.(235) +An admirable scheme for power in England, founded only on two +persons! Some people say he was to be a duke and +secretary of state. I would have him drawn like Edward V. with +the coronet hanging over his head. You will be entertained +with a story of Bootle: his washerwoman came to a friend of +hers in great perplexity, and said, "I don't know what to do, +pray advise me; my master is gone the circuit, and left me +particular orders to send him an express if the King died: but +here's the Prince, dead and he said nothing about him." You +would easily believe this story, if you knew what a mere +law-pedant it is! + +The Lord(236) you hint at, certainly did not write the Queries, +nor ever any thing so well: he is one of the few discarded; for +almost all have offered their services, and been accepted. The +King asked the Princess if she had a mind for a master of the +horse; that it must be a nobleman, and that he had objections +to a particular One, Lord Middlesex. I believe she had no +objection to his objections, and desired none. Bloodworth is +at the head of her stables; of her ministry, Dr. Lee; all knees +bow to him. The Duke of Newcastle is so charmed with him, and +so sorry he never knew him before, and can't live without him! +He is a grave, worthy man; as a civilian, not much versed in +the world of this end of the town, but much a gentleman. He +made me a visit the other day on my brother's death, and talked +much of the great and good part the King had taken, (who by the +way, has been taught by the Princess to talk as much of him,) +and that the Prince's servants could no longer oppose, if they +meant to be consistent. I told this to Mr. Chute, who replied +instantly, , "Pho! he meant to be subsistent." You will not be +surprised, though you will be charmed, with a new instance of +our friend's disinterested generosity: so far from resenting +Whithed's neglect of him, he and your brother, on finding the +brute-brothers making difficulties about the child's fortune, +have taken upon them to act as trustees for her, and to stand +all risks. Did not Mr. Whithed know that Mr. Chute would act +just so? + +Prince George is created Prince of Wales, and his household is +settle(]. Lord Harcourt is his governor, in the room of Lord +North, to whom there was no objection but his having a glimpse +of parts more than the new one, who is a creature of the +Pelhams, and very fit to cipher where Stone is to figure. This +latter is sub-governor, with the Bishop of Norwich,(237) +preceptor; and Scott sub-preceptor. The Bishop is a sensible, +good-humoured gentleman, and believed to be a natural son of +the old Archbishop of York.(238) Lord Waldegrave, long a +personal favourite of the King, who has now got a little +interest at his own court, is warden of the stannaries, in the +room of Tom Pitt; old Selwyn, treasurer; Lord Sussex,(239) Lord +Downe,(240) and Lord Robert Bertle,(241) lords of the +bedchamber; Peachy, a young Schutz, and Digby, grooms: but +those of the House of Commons have not kissed hands yet, a +difficulty being started, whether, as they are now nominated by +the King, it will not vacate their Seats.(242) Potter has +resigned as secretary to the Princess, and is succeeded by one +Cressett, his predecessor, her chief favourite, and allied to +the house of Hanover by a Duchess of Zell,(243) who was of a +French family-not of that of Bourbon. I was going on to talk +to you of the Regency; but as that measure is not complete, I +shall not send away my letter till the end of next week. + +My private satisfaction in my nephew of Orford is very great +indeed; he has an equal temper of reason and goodness that is +most engaging. His mother professes to like him as much as +every body else does, but is so much a woman that she will not +hurt him at all the less. So far from contributing to retrieve +his affairs, she talks to him of nothing but mob stories of his +grandfather's having laid up--the Lord knows where!--three +hundred thousand pounds for him; and of carrying him with her +to Italy, that he may converse with sensible people! In +looking over her husband's papers, among many of her +intercepted billets-doux, I was much entertained with one, +which was curious for the whole orthography, and signed +Stitara: if Mr. Shirley was to answer it in the same romantic +tone, I am persuaded he would subscribe himself the dying +Hornadatus. The other learned Italian Countess(244) is +disposing of her fourth daughter, the fair Lady Juliana, to +Penn, the wealthy sovereign of Pennsylvania;(245) but the +nuptials are adjourned till he recovers of a wound in his +thigh, which he got by his pistol going off as he was +overturned in his post-chaise. Lady Caroline Fox has a legacy +of five- thousand pounds from Lord Shelburne,(246) a distant +relation, who never saw her but once, and that three weeks before +his death. Two years ago Mr. Fox got the ten thousand pound +prize. + +May 1, 1751. + +I find I must send away my letter this week, and reserve the +history of the Regency for another post. The bill was to have +been brought into the House of lords to-day, but Sherlock, the +Bishop of London, has raised difficulties against the +limitation of the future Regent's authority, which he asserts +to be repugnant to the spirit of our Constitution. Lord Talbot +had already determined to oppose it; and the Pitts and +Lyttelton's, who are grown very mutinous on the Newcastle's not +choosing Pitt for his colleague, have talked loudly against it +without doors. The preparatory steps to this great event I +will tell you. The old Monarch grandchildizes exceedingly: the +Princess, who is certainly a wise woman, and who, in a course +of very difficult situations, has never made an enemy nor had a +detractor, has got great sway there. The Pelhams, taking +advantage of this new partiality, of the universal dread of the +Duke, and of the necessity of his being administrator of +Hanover, prevailed to have the Princess Regent, but with a +council of nine of the chief great officers, to be continued in +their posts till the majority, which is fixed for eighteen; +nothing to be transacted without the assent of the greater +number; and the Parliament that shall find itself existing at +the King's death to subsist till the minority ceases: such +restrictions must be almost as unwelcome to the Princess as the +whole regulation is to the Duke. Judge of his resentment: he +does not conceal it. The divisions in the ministry are neither +closed nor come to a decision. Lord Holderness arrived +yesterday, exceedingly mortified at not finding himself +immediate secretary of state, for which purpose he was sent +for; but Lord Halifax would not submit to have this cipher +preferred to him. An expedient was proposed of flinging the +American province into the Board of Trade, but somehow or +other, that has miscarried, and all is at a stand. It is known +that Lord Granville is designed for president-and for what more +don't you think?-he has the inclination of the King--would they +be able again to persuade people to resign unless he is +removed?-and will not all those who did resign with that +intention endeavour to expiate that insult? + +Amid all this new clash of politics Murray has had an +opportunity for one or two days of making himself talked of. A +month ago his brother(247) obtained leave, on pretence of his +health, to remove him into the custody of the sergeant-at-arms; +but he refused to go thither, and abused his brother for +meanness in making such submissive application. On this his +confinement was straitened. Last week, my worthy cousin, Sir +John Philips, moved the King's Bench for a rule to bring him +thither, in order to his having his habeas corpus. He was +produced there the next day; 'but the three Judges, onhearing he +was committed by the House of Commons, acknowledged the +authority, and remanded him back. There was a disposition to +commit Sir John, but we have liked to be-pleased with this +acknowledgment of our majesty. + +Stitara(248) has declared to her son that she is marrying +Shirley, but ties him up strictly. I am ready to begin again +with a panegyric of My nephew, but I will rather answer a +melancholy letter I have Just received from you. His affairs +are putting into the best situation we can, and we are +agitating a vast match for him, which, if it can be brought to +bear, will even save your brother, whose great tenderness to +mine has left him exposed to greater risks than any of the +creditors. For myself, I think I shall escape tolerably, as my +demands are from my father, whose debts are likely to be +satisfied. My uncle Horace is indefatigable in adjusting all +this confusion. Do but figure him at seventy-four, looking, +not merely well for his age, but plump, ruddy, and without a +wrinkle or complaint; doing every body's business, full of +politics as ever, from morning till night, and then roaming the +town to conclude with a party at whist! I have no +apprehensions for your demands on Doddington; but your brother, +who sees him, will be best able to satisfy you on that head. + +Madame de Mirepoix's brother-in-law was not Duke, but Chevalier +de Boufflers. Here is my uncle come to drop me a bit of +marriage-settlements on his road to his rubbers, so I must +finish--you will not be sorry; at least I have given you some +light to live upon. Adieu! + +(234) George Bubb Dodington. + +(235) The following is Dodington's own account of this plan:- +-"March 21. When this unfortunate event happened, I had set on +foot a project for a union between the independent Whigs and +Tories, by a writing, renouncing all tincture of Jacobitism, +and affirming short constitutional Revolution principles. +These parties, so united, were to lay this paper, containing +these principles, before the Prince, offering to appear as his +party now, and upon those principles to undertake the +administration when he was King, in the subordination and rank +among themselves that he should please to appoint. Father of +mercy! thy hand that wounds alone can save!" Diary, P. 88.-E. + +(236) Lord Middlesex. + +(237) Thomas Hayter, Bishop of Norwich. + +(238) Dr. Lancelot Blackburne. (See vol. i. The Quarterly +Reviewer of Walpole's Memoires, alluding to a similar statement +made in that work says,--"As to the accusations of bastardy and +profligacy brought against the Bishop and Archbishop, they +were, probably, either the creatures of Walpole's own anxiety +to draw striking characters, or the echoes of some of those +slanderous murmurs which always accompany persons who rise from +inferior stations to eminence. He tells us without any +hesitation, that Bishop Hayter was a natural son of archbishop +Blackburne's. Now we have before us extracts from the +registers of the parish of Chagford, in Devonshire, which prove +that the Bishop Thomas Hayter was 'the son of George Hayter, +rector of this parish, and of Grace his wife,' and that Thomas +was one of a family of not fewer, we believe, than ten children +Vol. xxvii. p. 186.-E.) + +(239) George Augustus Yelverton, second Earl of Sussex, died +1758.-D. + +(240) Henry Pleydell Dawnay, third Viscount Downe in Ireland. +He distinguished himself greatly in the command of a regiment +at the battle of Minden; and died Dec. 9th, 1760, of the wounds +he had received at the battle of Campen, Oct. 16th of that +year.-D. + +(241) The third son of Robert, first Duke of Ancaster and +Kesteven. He died in 1782.-D. + +(242) "May 3.-Sense of the House taken, if the young Prince of +Wales's new servants should be reelected: it was agreed not. +The act was read; but those who seemed to favour a re-election +forgot to call for the warrants that appointed them servants to +the Prince: by whom are they signed? if by the King, the case +would not have admitted a word of dispute." Dodington, p. +104.-E. + +(243) Mademoiselle d'Olbreuse. It is this m`esalliance which +prevents our Royal Family from being what is called chapitrate +in Germany. Mademoiselle d'Olbreuse was the mother of George +the First's unhappy wife.-D. + +(244) Lady Pomfret. + +(245) See ant`e.-E. + +(246) Henry Petty, Earl of Shelburne in Ireland, the last of +the male descendants of Sir William Petty. Upon his death his +titles extinguished; but his estates devolved on his nephew, +the Lord John Fitz Maurice, in whose favour the title of +Shelburne was revived.-D. + +(247) Lord Elibank. + +(248) Lady Orford. She did marry Mr. Shirley. + + + +103 Letter 40 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, May 30, 1751. + +In your last of May 14th, you seem uneasy at not having heard +from me in two posts. I have writ you so exactly all the +details that I know you would wish to hear, that I think my +letters must have miscarried. I will mention all the dates of +this year; Feb. 8th, March 14th and 21st, April 1st, and May +1st; tell me if you have received all these. I don't pretend +to say any thing to alleviate your concern for the late +misfortunes, but will only recommend to you to harden yourself +against every accident, as I endeavour to do. The +mortifications and disappointments I have experienced have +taught me the philosophy that dwells not merely in speculation. +I choose to think about the world, as I have always found, when +I most wanted its comfort, it thought about me, that is, not at +all. It is a disagreeable dream which must end for every body +else as well as for oneself. Some try to supply the emptiness +and vanity of present life by something still more empty, fame. +I choose to comfort myself, by considering that even while I am +lamenting any present uneasiness it is actually passing away. I +cannot feel the comfort of folly, because I am not a fool, and I +scarce know any other being that it is worth one's while to wish +to be. All this looks as if it proceeded from a train of +melancholy ideas--it does so: but misfortunes have that good in +them that they teach one indifference. + +if I Could be mortified anew, I should be with a new +disappointment, The immense and uncommon friendship of Mr. +Chute had found a method of saving both my family and yours. +In short, in the height of his affliction for Whithed, whom he +still laments immoderately, he undertook to get Miss Nicholl, +the vast fortune, a fortune of above 150,000 pounds, whom +Whithed was to have had, for Lord Orford. He actually +persuaded her to run away from her guardians, who used her +inhumanly, and are her next heirs. How clearly he is +justified, you will see, when I tell you that the man, who has +eleven hundred a-year for her maintenance, with which he +stopped the demands Of his own creditors, instead of employing +it for her maintenance and education, is since gone into the +Fleet. After such fair success, Lord Orford has refused to +marry her; why, nobody can guess. Thus had I placed him in a +greater situation than even his grandfather hoped to bequeath +to him, had retrieved all the oversights of my family, had +saved Houghton and all our glory!-Now, all must go!-and what +shocks me infinitely more, Mr. Chute, by excess of treachery, +(a story too long for a letter,) is embroiled with his own +brother the story, with many others, I believe I shall tell you +in person; for I do not doubt but the disagreeable scenes which +I have still to go through, will at last drive me to where I +have long proposed to seek some peace. But enough of these +melancholy ideas! + +The Regency-bill has passed with more ease than could have been +expected from so extraordinary a measure; and from the warmth +with which it was taken up one day in the House of Commons. In +the Lords there were but 12 to 106, and the former, the most +inconsiderable men in that House. Lord Bath and Lord Grenville +spoke vehemently for it: the former in as wild a speech, with +much parts, as ever he made in his patriot days; and with as +little modesty he lamented the scrambles that he had seen for +power! In our House, Mr. Pelham had four signal mortifications: +the Speaker, in a most pathetic and fine speech, Sir John +Barnard, and Lord Cobham,(249) speaking against, and Mr. Fox, +though voting for it, tearing it to pieces. Almost all the +late Prince's people spoke or voted for it; most, pretending +deference to the Princess, though her power is so much abridged +by it. However, the consolation that resides in great +majorities balanced the disagreeableness of particular +oppositions. We sit, and shall sit, till towards the end of +June, though with little business of importance. If there +happens any ministerial struggle, which seems a little asleep at +present, it will scarce happen till after the prorogation. + +Adieu! my dear child; I have nothing else worth telling you at +present--at least, the same things don't strike me that used to +do; or what perhaps is more true, when things of consequence +takes one up, one can't attend to mere trifling. When I say +this, you will ask me, where is my philosophy! Even where the +best is: I think as coolly as I can, I don't exaggerate what is +disagreeable, and I endeavour to lessen it, by undervaluing +what I am inclined to think would be a happier state. + +(249) Richard Grenville, eldest son of Richard Grenville, of +Wotton, Esq. and of Esther Temple, Countess Temple and +Viscountess Cobham, in her own right. Lord Cobham became well +known in the political world as Earl Temple; which title he +succeeded to on the decease of his mother in 1752.-D. + + + +105 Letter 41 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, May 30, 1751. + +Mrs. Boscawen says I ought to write to you. I don't think so. +you desired I would, if I had any things new to tell you; I +have not. Lady Caroline and Miss Ashe had quarrelled, about +reputations before you went out of town. I suppose you would +not give a straw to know all the circumstances of a Mr. Paul +killing a Mr. Dalton, though the town, who talks of any thing, +talks of nothing else. Mrs. French and her Jeffery are parted +again. Lady Orford and Shirley married: they say she was much +frightened; it could not be for fear of what other brides dread +of happening, but for fear it should not happen. + +My evening yesterday was employed, how wisely do You think? in +trying to procure for the Duchess of Portland a scarlet spider +from Admiral Boscawen. I had just seen her collection, which +is indeed magnificent, chiefly composed of the spoils of her +father's, and the Arundel collections. The gems of all sorts +are glorious. I was diverted with two relics of St. Charles +the Martyr; one, the pearl you see in his pictures, taken out +of his ear after his foolish head was off; the other, the cup +out of which he took his last sacrament. They should be given +to that nursery of nonsense and bigotry, Oxford. + +I condole with you on your journey, am glad Miss Montagu is in +better health, and am yours sincerely. + + + +105 Letter 42 +To The Rev. Joseph Spence.(250) +Arlington Street, June 3, 1751. + +Dear sir, +I have translated the lines, and send them to you; but the +expressive conciseness and beauty of the original, and my +disuse of turning +106 +verses, made it so difficult, that I beg they may be of no +other use than that of showing you how readily I complied with +your request. + +"Illam, quicquid agit, quoquo vestilia vertit, +Componit furtim subsequiturque decor." + +"If she but moves or looks, her step, her face, +By stealth adopt unmeditated grace." + +There are twenty little literal variations that may be made, +and are of no consequence, as 'move' or 'look'; 'air' instead +of 'step', and 'adopts' instead of 'adopt': I don't know even +whether I would not read 'steal and adopt', instead of 'by +stealth adopt'. But none of these changes will make the copy +half so pretty as the original. But what signifies that? I am +not obliged to be a poet because Tibullus was one; nor is it +just now that I have discovered I am not. Adieu! + +(250) Now first collated. See Singer's edition of Spence's +Anecdotes, p. 349.-E. + + + +106 Letter 43 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, June 13, 1751. + +You have told me that it is charity to write you news into +Kent; but what if my news should shock you! Won't it rather be +an act of cruelty to tell you, your relation, Sandwich,(251) is +immediately to be removed; and that the Duke of Bedford and all +the Gowers will resign to attend him? Not quite all the Gowers, +for the Earl himself keeps the privy-seal and plays on at brag, +with Lady Catherine Pelham, to the great satisfaction of the +Staffordshire Jacobites, who desire, at least expect, no better +diversion than a division in that house. Lord Trentham does +resign. Lord Hartington is to be master of the horse, and +called up to the House of Peers. Lord Granville is to be +president; if he should resent any former resignations and +insist on victims, will Lord Hartington assure the menaced that +they shall not be sacrificed? + +I hear your friend Lord North is wedded: somebody said it is +very hot weather to marry so fat a bride; George Selwyn +replied, "Oh! she was kept in ice for three days before." + +The first volume of Spenser is published with prints, designed +by Kent; but the most execrable performance you ever beheld. +The graving not worse than the drawing; awkward knights, +scrambling Unas, hills tumbling down themselves, no variety Of +prospect and three or four perpetual spruce firs. + +Our charming Mr. Bentley is doing Gray as much more honour as +he deserves than Spencer. He is drawing vignettes for his +Odes; what a valuable MS. I shall have! Warburton publishes +his edition of Pope next week, with the famous piece of prose +on Lord Hervey,(252) which he formerly suppressed at my uncle's +desire; who had got an abbey from Cardinal Fleury for one +Southcote, a friend of Pope's.(253) My Lord Hervey pretended +not to thank him. I am told the edition has waited, because +Warburton has cancelled above a hundred sheets (in which he had +inserted notes) since the publication of the Canons of +Criticism.(254) The new history of Christina is a most +wretched piece of trumpery, stuffed with foolish letters and +confutations of Mademoiselle de Montpensier and Madame de +Motteville. Adieu! Yours ever. + +(251) John Montagu, fourth Earl of Sandwich. + +(252) Entitled "A Letter to a Noble Lord, on occasion of some +libels written and propagated at court, in the year 1732-3."-E. + +(253) According to Spence, the application was made by Pope to +Sir Robert Walpole; but Dr. Warton states, that, "in gratitude +for the favour conferred on his friend, Pope presented to +Horatio Walpole, afterwards Lord Walpole, a set of his works in +quarto, richly bound; which are now in the library at +Wollerton."-E. + +(254) Edwards's "Canons of Criticism;" a series of notes on +Warburton's edition of Shakspeare. Johnson thought well of it; +but upon some one endeavouring to put the author upon a level +with Warburton, "Nay," said the Doctor, "he has given him some +smart hits, but the two men must not be named together: a fly, +sir, may sting a stately horse, and make him wince; but one is +but an insect, and the other is a horse still."-E. + + + +107 Letter 44 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, June 18, 1751. + +I sent my letter as usual from the secretary's office, but of +what secretary I don't know. Lord Sandwich last week received +his dismission, on which the Duke of Bedford resigned the next +day, and Lord Trentham with him, both breaking with old Gower, +who is entirely in the hands of the Pelhams, and made to +declare his quarrel with Lord Sandwich (who gave away his +daughter to Colonel Waldegrave) the foundation 4 his detaching +himself from the Bedfords. Your friend Lord Fane(255) comforts +Lord Sandwich with an annuity of a thousand a-year-scarcely for +his handsome behaviour to his sister! Lord Hartington is to be +master of the horse, and Lord Albemarle groom of the stole; +Lord Granville is actually lord president, and, by all outward +and visible signs, something more-in short, if he don't +overshoot himself, the Pelhams have; the King's favour to him +is visible, and so much credited, that all the incense is +offered to him. It is believed that Impresario Holderness will +succeed the Bedford in the foreign seals, and Lord Halifax in +those for the plantations. If the former does, you will have +ample instructions to negotiate for singers and dancers! Here +is an epigram made upon his directorship. + +"That secrecy will now prevail +In politics, is certain; +Since Holderness, who gets the seals, +Was bred behind the curtain." + +The Admirals Rowley and Boscawen are brought into the admiralty +under Lord Anson, who is advanced to the head of the board. +Seamen are tractable fishes! especially it will be Boscawen's +case, whose name in Cornish signifies obstinacy, and who brings +along with him a good quantity of resentment to Anson. In +short, the whole present system is equally formed for duration! + +Since I began my letter, Lord Holderness has kissed hands for +the seals. It is said that Lord Halifax is to be made easy, by +the plantations being put under the Board of Trade. Lord +Granville comes into power as boisterously as ever, and dashes +at every thing. His lieutenants already beat up for +volunteers; but he disclaims all connexions with Lord Bath, +who, he says, forced him upon the famous ministry of +twenty-four hours, and by which he says he paid all his debts +to him. This will soon grow a turbulent scene-it 'Is not +unpleasant to sit upon the beach and see it; but few people +have the curiosity to step out to the sight. You, who knew +England in other times, will find it difficult to conceive what +an indifference reigns with regard to ministers and their +squabbles. The two Miss Gunnings,(256) and a late extravagant +dinner at White's, are twenty times more the subject of +conversation than the two brothers and Lord Granville. These +are two Irish girls, of no fortune, who are declared the +handsomest women alive. I think their being two so handsome +and both such perfect figures is their chief excellence, for +singly I have seen much handsomer women than either; however, +they can't walk in the park, or go to Vauxhall, but such mobs +follow them that they are generally driven away. The dinner +was a folly of seven young men, who bespoke it to the utmost +extent of expense: one article was a tart made of duke cherries +from a hothouse; and another, that they tasted but one glass +out of each bottle of champagne. The bill of fare has got into +print, and with good people has produced the apprehension of +another earthquake. Your friend St. Leger, was at the head of +these luxurious heroes--he is the hero of all fashion. I never +saw more dashing vivacity and absurdity, with some flashes of +parts. He had a cause the other day for duelling a sharper, +and was going to swear: the judge said to him, "I see, Sir, you +are very ready to take an oath." "Yes, my lord," replied St. +Leger, "my father was a judge." + +We have been overwhelmed with lamentable Cambridge and Oxford +dirges on the Prince's death: there is but one tolerable copy; +it is by a young Lord Stormont,(257) a nephew of Murray, who is +much commended. You may imagine what incense is offered to +Stone by the people of Christ Church: they have hooked in, too +poor Lord Harcourt, and call him Harcourt the Wise! his wisdom +has already disgusted the young Prince; "Sir, pray hold up your +head. Sir, for Cod's sake, turn out your toes!" Such are +Mentor's precepts! + +I am glad you receive my letters; as I knew I had been +punctual, it mortified me that you should think me remiss. +Thank you for the transcript from Bubb de tribes!(258) I will +keep your secret, though I am persuaded that a man who had +composed such a funeral oration on his master and himself fully +intended that its flowers should not bloom and wither in +obscurity. + +We have already begun to sell the pictures that had not found +place at Houghton: the sale gives no great encouragement to +proceed; (though I fear it must come to that!) the large +pictures were thrown away: the whole length Vandykes went for a +song! I am mortified now at having printed the catalogue. +Gideon the Jew, and Blakiston(259) the independent grocer, have +been the chief purchasers of the pictures sold already--there, +if you love moralizing! Adieu! I have no more articles to-day +for my literary gazette. + +(255) Lord Sandwich married Dorothy, sister of Charles, Lord +Viscount Fane. + +(256) Afterwards Countess of Coventry, and Duchess of Hamilton +and Argyll.-D. + +(257) David Murray, seventh Viscount Stormont, ambassador at +Vienna and Paris, and president of the council. He died in +1796.-D. + +(258) A letter to Mr. Mann from Bubb Doddington on the Prince's +death. It is dated June 4, and contains the following +bombastic and absurd passage: which, however, proves how great +were the expectations of Doddington, if the prince had lived to +succeed his father: ,We have lost the delight and ornament of +the age he lived in, the expectations of the public-in this +light I have lost more than any subject in England, but this is +light; public advantages confined to myself do not, ought not, +to weigh with me. But we have lost the refuge of private +distress, the balm of the afflicted heart, the shelter of the +miserable against the fang of private calamity; the arts, the +graces, the anguish, the misfortunes of society have lost their +patron and their remedy. I have lost my protector, my +companion, my friend that loved me, that condescended to bear, +to communicate, and to share in all the pleasures and pains of +the human heart, where the social affections and emotions of +the mind only presided, without regard to the infinite +disproportion of our rank and condition. This is a wound that +cannot, ought not, to heal--if I pretended to fortitude here I +should be infamous, a monster of ingratitude; and unworthy of +all consolation, if I was not inconsolable.-D. + +(259) Blakiston has been caught in smuggling, and pardoned by +Sir Robert Walpole; but continuing the practice, and being +again detected was fined five thousand pounds; on which he grew +a violent party man, and a ringleader of the Westminster +independent electors, and died an alderman of London. + + + +109 Letter 45 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, July 16, 1751. + +I shall do little more to-day than answer your last letter of +the 2d of this month; there is no kind of news. My chief +reason for writing to you is to notify a visit that you will +have at Florence this summer from Mr. Conway, who is forced to +go to his regiment at Minorca, but is determined to reckon +Italy within his quarters. You know how, particularly he is my +friend; I need not recommend him to you; but you will see +something very different from the staring boys that come in +flocks to you new, once a year, like woodcocks. Mr. Conway is +deservedly reckoned one of the first and most rising young men +in England. He has distinguished himself in the greatest style +both in the army and in Parliament. This is for you. for the +Florentine ladies, there is still the finest person and the +handsomest face I ever saw--no, I cannot say that all this will +be quite for them; he will not think any of them so handsome as +my Lady Aylesbury. + +It is impossible to answer you why my Lord Orford would not +marry Miss Nicholl. I don't believe there was any particular +reason or attachment any where else; but unfortunately for +himself and for us, he is totally insensible to his situation, +and talks of selling Houghton with a coolness that wants +nothing but being intended for philosophy to be the greatest +that ever was. Mind, it is a virtue that I envy more than I +honour. + +I am going into Warwickshire to Lord Hertford, and set out this +evening, and have so many things to do that you must excuse me, +for I neither know what I write, nor have time to write more. +Adieu! + + + +110 Letter 46 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Daventry, July 22, 1751. + + +You will wonder in what part of the county of Twicks lies this +Daventry. It happens to be in Northamptonshire. My letter +will scarce set out till I get to London, but I choose to give +it its present date lest you should admire, that Mr. Usher of +the exchequer, the lord treasurer of pen, ink, and paper, +should write with such coarse materials. I am on my way from +Ragley,(260) and if ever the waters subside and my ark rests +upon dry land again, I think of stepping over to TOnghes: but +your journey has filled my postchaise's head with such terrible +ideas of your roads, that I think I shall let it have done +raining for a month or six weeks, which it has not done for as +much time past, before I begin to grease my wheels again, and +lay in a provision of French books, and tea, and blunderbusses, +for my journey. + +Before I tell you a word of Ragley, you must hear how busy I +have been upon Grammont. You know I have long had a purpose of +a new edition, with notes, and cuts of the principal beauties +and heroes, if I could meet with their portraits. I have made +out all the people at all remarkable except my Lord Janet, whom +I cannot divine unless he be Thanet. Well, but what will +entertain you is, that I have discovered the philosophe +Whitnell; and what do you think his real name was? Only +'Whetenhall! Pray do you call cousins?(261) Look in Collins's +Baronets, and under the article Bedingfield you will find that +he was an ingenious gentleman, and la blanche Whitnell, though +one of the greatest beauties of the age, an excellent wife. I +am persuaded the Bedingfields crowded in these characters to +take off the ridicule in Grammont; they have succeeded to a +miracle. Madame de Mirepoix told me t'other day, that she had +known a daughter of the Countess de Grammont, an Abbess in +Lorrain, who, to the ambassadress's great scandal, was ten +times more vain of the blood of Hamilton than of an equal +quantity of that of Grammont. She had told her much of her +sister my Lady Stafford,(262) whom I remember to have seen when I +was a child. She used to live at Twickenham when Lady Mary +Wortley(263) and the Duke of Wharton lived there; she had more +wit than both of them. What would I give to have had Strawberry +Hill twenty years ago! I think any thing but twenty years. Lady +Stafford used to say to her sister, "Well, child, I have come +without my wit to-day;" that is, she had not taken her opium, +which she was forced to do if she had any appointment, to be in +particular spirits. This rage of Grammont carried me a little +while ago to old Marlborough's,(264) at Wimbledon, where I had +heard there was a picture of Lady Denham;(265) it is a charming +one. The house you know stands in a hole, or, as the whimsical +old lady said, seems to be making a courtesy. She had directed +my Lord Pembroke not to make her go up any steps; "I wont go up +steps;"--and so he dug a saucer to put it in, and levelled the +first floor with the ground. There is a bust of Admiral +Vernon, erected I suppose by Jack Spencer, with as many lies +upon it as if it was a tombstone; and a very curious old +picture up-stairs that I take to be Louis Sforza the Moor, with +his nephew Galeazzo. There are other good pictures in the +house, but perhaps you have seen them. As I have formerly seen +Oxford and Blenheim, I did not stop till I came to +Stratford-upon-Avon, the wretchedest old town I ever saw, which +I intended for Shakspeare's sake, to find snug and pretty, and +antique, not old. His tomb, and his wife's, and John Combes', +are in an agreeable church, with several other monuments; as +one of the Earl of Totness,(266) and another of Sir Edward +Walker, the memoirs writer. There are quantities of Cloptons, +too but the bountiful corporation have exceedingly bepainted +Shakspeare and the principal personages. + +I was much struck with Ragley; the situation is magnificent; +the house far beyond any thing I have seen of that bad age: for +it was begun, as I found by an old letter in the library from +Lord Ranelagh to Earl Conway, in the year 1680. By the way, I +have had, and am to have, the rummaging of three chests of +pedigrees and letters to that secretary Conway, which I have +interceded for and saved from the flames. The prospect is as +fine as one destitute of a navigated river can be, ind hitherto +totally unimproved; so is the house, which is but just covered +in, after so many years. They have begun to inhabit the naked +walls of the attic story; the great one is unfloored and +unceited - the hall is magnificent, sixty by forty, and +thirty-eight high. I am going to pump Mr. Bentley for designs. +The other apartments are very lofty, and in quantity, though I +had suspected that this leviathan hall must have devoured half +the other chambers. + +The Hertfords carried me to dine at Lord Archer's,(267) an +odious place. On my return, I saw Warwick, a pretty old town, +small, and thinly inhabited, in the form of a cross. The +castle is enchanting; the view pleased me more than I can +express; the river Avon tumbles down a cascade at the foot of +it. It is well laid out by one Brown(268 who has set up on a +few ideas of Kent and Mr. Southcote. One sees what the +prevalence of taste does; little Brooke, who would have +chuckled to have been born in an age of clipt hedges and +cockle-shell avenues, has submitted to let his garden and park +be natural. Where he has attempted Gothic in the castle, he +has failed; and has indulged himself in a new apartment, that +is paltry. The chapel is very pretty, and smugged up with tiny +pews, that look like `etuis for the Earl and his diminutive +Countess. I shall tell you nothing of the glorious chapel of +the Beauchamps in St. Mary's church, for you know it is in +Dugdale; nor how ill the fierce bears and ragged staves are +succeeded by puppets and corals. As I came back another road, +I saw Lord Pomfret's,(269) by Towcester, where there are a few +good pictures, and many masked statues; there is an exceeding +fine Cicero, which has no fault, but the head being modern. I +saw a pretty lodge. just built by the Duke of Grafton, in +Whittleberry-forest; the design is Kent's, but, as was his +manner, too heavy. Iran through the gardens at Stowe, which I +have seen before, and had only time to be charmed with the +variety of scenes. I do like that Albano glut of buildings, +let them be ever so much condemned. + +(260) The seat of the Earl of Hertford in Warwickshire. + +(261) A sister of Mr. Montagu's was married to Nathaniel +Whetenhall, Esq. + +(262) Claude Charlotte, Countess of Stafford, wife of Henry, +Earl of Stafford, and daughter of Philibert, Count of Grammont, +and Elizabeth Hamilton, his wife. + +(263) Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. + +(264) Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough. + +(265) Miss Brooke, one of the beauties of the court of Charles +II., second wife of Sir John Denham the poet. This second +marriage brought upon him so much disquiet, as for a time to +disorder his understanding, and Butler lampooned him for his +lunacy. In Grammont's Memoirs many circumstances are related, +both of his marriage and his frenzy, very little favourable to +his character.-E. + +(266) George Carew, Earl of Totness, died without heirs male in +1629, leaving an only daughter, married to Sir Allen Apsley.-E. + +(267) Umberslade, near Stratford-upon-Avon. + +(268) Lancelot Brown, generally called "Capability Brown," from +his frequent use of that word. He rose by his merit, from a +low condition, to be head gardener at Stowe; and was afterwards +appointed to the same situation at Hampton Court. Lord +Chatham, who had a great regard for him, thus speaks of him, in +a letter to Lady Stanhope:--"The chapter of my friend's dignity +must not be omitted. He writes Lancelot Brown, Esquire, en +titre d'affic: please to consider, he shares the private hours +of Majesty, dines familiarly with his neighbour of Sion, and +sits down to the tables of all the House of Lords, etc. To be +serious, he is deserving of the regard shown to him; for I know +him, upon very long acquaintance to be an honest man, and of +sentiments much above his birth." see Chatham Correspondence, +vol. iv. p. 430.-E. + +(269) Easton Neston. + + + +112 letter 47 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Mistley, Aug. 31, 1751. + +I am going to answer two of your letters, without having the +fear of Genoa(270) before my eyes. Your brother sent to me +about this embassy the night before I came out of town, and I +had not time nor opportunity to make any inquiry about it. +Indeed, I am persuaded it is all a fable, some political nonsense +of Richcourt. How should his brother know any thing of it? or, +to speak plainly, what can we bring about by a sudden negotiation +with the Genoese? Do but put these two things together, that we +can do nothing, and the Richcourts can know nothing, and you will +laugh at this pretended communication of a secret that relates +to yourself' from one who is ignorant of what relates to you, +and who would not tell you if he did know. I have had a note +from your brother since I came hither, which confirms my +opinion; and I find Mr. Chute is of the same. Be at peace, my +dear child: I should not be so if I thought you in the least +danger. + +I imagined you would have seen Mr. Conway before this time; I +have already told you how different you will find him from the +raw animals that you generally see. As you talk of our +Beauties, I shall tell you a new story of the Gunnings, who +make more noise than any of their predecessors since the days +of Helen, though neither of them, nor any thing about them, +have yet been teterrima belli causa. They went the other day +to see Hampton Court; as they were going Into the Beauty-room, +another company arrived; the housekeeper said, "This way, +ladies; here are the Beauties." The Gunnings flew into a +passion, and asked her what she meant; that they came to see +the palace, not to be showed as a sight themselves. + +I am charmed with your behaviour to the Count on the affair of +the Leghorn allegiance; I don't wonder he is willing to +transport you to Genoa! Your priest's epigram is strong; I +suppose he had a dispensation for making a false quantity in +secunda. + +Pray tell me if you know any thing of Lady Mary Wortley: we +have an obscure history here of her being in durance in the +Brescian, or the Bergamasco: that a young fellow whom she set +out with keeping has taken it into his head to keep her close +prisoner, not permitting her to write or receive any letters +but what he sees: he seems determined, if her husband should +die, not to lose her, as the Count lost my Lady Orford.(271) + +Lord Rockingham told me himself of his Guercino, and seemed +obliged for the trouble you had given yourself in executing the +commission. I can tell you nothing farther of the pictures at +Houghton; Lord Orford has been ill and given over, and is gone +to Cheltenham. + +The affair of Miss Nicholl is blown up by the treachery of my +uncle Horace and some lawyers, that I had employed at his +recommendation. I have been forced to write a narrative of the +whole transaction, and was with difficulty kept from publishing +it. You shall see it whenever I have an opportunity. Mr. +Chute, who has been still worse used than I have been, is, +however, in better spirits than he was, since he got rid of all +this embroil. I have brought about a reconciliation with his +brother, which makes me less regard the other disappointments. +I must bid you good night, for I am at too great a distance to +know any news, even if there were any in season. I shall be in +town next week, and will not fail you in inquiries, though I am +persuaded you will before that have found that all this Genoese +mystery was without foundation. Adieu! + +(270) Count Richcourt pretended that he had received +intelligence from his brother, then minister in London, that +Mr. Mann was to be sent on a secret commission to Genoa. + +(271) Lord Wharncliffe, in his edition of Lady Mary's Works, +vol. iii. p. 435, makes the following observation on this +passage:--"Among Lady Mary's papers there is a long paper, +written in Italian, not by herself, giving an account of her +having been detained for some time against her will in a +country-house belonging to an Italian Count, and inhabited by +him and his mother. This paper seems to have been submitted to +a lawyer for his opinion, or to be produced in a court of law. +There is nothing else to be found in Lady Mary's papers +referring in the least degree to this circumstance. It would +appear, however, that some such forcible detention as is +alluded to did take place, probably for some pecuniary or +interested object; but, like many of Horace Walpole's stories, +he took care not to let this lose any thing that might give it +zest, and he therefore makes the person by whom Lady Mary was +detained a young fellow whom she set out with keeping.' Now, at +the time of this transaction, Lady Mary was sixty-one years +old. The reader, therefore, may judge for himself, how far +such an imputation upon her is likely to be founded in +truth."-E. + + + +114 Letter 48 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, Oct. 8, 1751. + +So you have totally forgot that I sent you the pedigree of the +Crouches, as long ago as the middle of last August, and that +you promised to come to Strawberry Hill in October. I shall be +there some time in next week, but as my motions neither depend +on resolutions nor almanacs, let me know beforehand when you +intend to make me a visit; for though keeping an appointment is +not just the thing you ever do, I suppose you know you dislike +being disappointed yourself, as much as if you were the most +punctual person in the world to engagements. + +I came yesterday from Woburn, where I have been a week. The +house is in building, and three sides of the quadrangle +finished. The park is very fine, the woods glorious, and the +plantations of evergreens sumptuous; but upon the whole, it is +rather -what I admire than like-I fear that is what I am a +little apt to do at the finest places in the world where there +is not a navigable river. You would be charmed, as I was, with +an old gallery, that is not yet destroyed. It is a bad room, +powdered with little gold stars, and covered with millions of +old portraits. There are all the successions of Earls and +Countesses of Bedford, and all their progenies. One countess +is a whole-length drawing in the drollest dress you ever saw; and +another picture of the same woman leaning on her hand, I +believe by Cornelius Johnson, is as fine a head as ever I saw. +There are many of Queen Elizabeth's worthies, the Leicesters, +Essexes, and Philip Sidneys, and a very curious portrait of the +last Courtney, Earl of Devonshire, who died at Padua. Have not +I read somewhere that he was in love with Queen Elizabeth, and +Queen Mary -with him? He is quite in the style of the former's +lovers, red-bearded, and not comely. There is Essex's friend, +the Earl of Southampton; his son the Lord Treasurer; and Madame +l'Empoisonneuse,(273) that married Carr,(274) Earl of +Somerset--she is pretty. Have not you seen a copy Vertue has +made of Philip and Mary? That is in this gallery too, but more +curious than good. They showed me two heads, who, according to +the tradition of the family, were the originals of Castalio and +Polydore. They were sons to the second Earl of Bedford; and the +eldest, if not both, died before their father. The eldest has +vipers in his hand, and in the distant landscape appears in a +maze, with these words, Fata viam invenient. The other has a +woman behind him, sitting near the sea, with strange monsters +surrounding her. I don't pretend to decipher this, nor to +describe half the entertaining morsels I found here; but I can't +omit, as you know I am Grammont-mad, that I found "le vieux +Roussel, qui `etoit le plus fier danseur d'Angleterre." The +portrait is young, but has all the promise of his latter +character. I am going to send them a head of a Countess of +Cumberland,(275) sister to Castalio and Polydore, and mother of a +famous Countess of Dorset,(276) who Afterwards married the Earl +of Pembroke,(277) of Charles the First's time. She was an +authoress, and immensely rich. After the restoration, Sir +Joseph Williamson, the secretary of state, wrote to her to +choose a courtier at Appleby: she sent him this answer: "I have +been bullied by an usurper, I have been ill-treated by a court, +but I won't be dictated to by a subject; your man shall not +stand. Ann Dorset, Pembroke and Montgomery." Adieu! If you +love news a hundred years old, I think you can't have a better +correspondent. For any thing that passes now, I shall not +think it worth knowing these fifty years. + +(273 Lady Frances Howard, daughter of the Earl of Suffolk, and +married to the Earl of Essex, from whom she was divorced. She +then married her lover, the Earl of Somerset. She poisoned Sir +Thomas Overbury, because he had endeavoured to dissuade his +friend the Earl of Somerset from this alliance. She was tried +and condemned, but was pardoned by King James. + +(274) Robert Carr, a favourite of King James the First, who +created him Viscount Rochester and Earl of Somerset. He was +tried and condemned, but was pardoned by James the First. + +(275) Margaret, Countess of Cumberland, daughter of Francis +Russell, second Earl of Bedford, and married to George +Clifford, third Earl of Cumberland. + +(276)) Ann Clifford, daughter of George, Earl of Cumberland, +first married to Richard Sackville, Earl of Dorset, and +afterwards to Philip, Earl of Pembroke. + +(277) Philip, Earl of Pembroke, son of Henry, second Earl of +Pembroke. He was chamberlain to Charles the First. + + + +115 Letter 49 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Oct. 14, 1751. + +It is above six weeks since I wrote to you, and I was going on +to be longer, as I stayed for something to tell you; but an +express that arrived yesterday brought a great event, which, +though you will hear long before my letter can arrive, serves +for a topic to renew our correspondence. The Prince of Orange +is dead: killed by the waters of Aix-la-Chapelle. This is all I +yet know. I shall go to town to-morrow for a day or two, and if +I pick up any particulars before the post goes away, you shall +know them. The Princess Royal(278) was established Regent some +time ago; but as her husband's authority seemed extremely +tottering, it is not likely that she will be able to maintain +hers. Her health is extremely bad, and her temper neither +ingratiating nor bending. It is become the peculiarity of the +House of Orange to have minorities. + +Your last letter to me of Sept. 24th, and all I have seen since +your first fright, make me easy about your Genoese journey. I +take no honour from the completion of my prophecy; it was +sufficient to know circumstances and the trifling falsehood of +Richcourt, to confirm me in my belief that that embassy was +never intended. We dispose of Corsica! Alas! I believe there +is but one island that we shall ever have power to give away; +and that is Great Britain--and I don't know but we may exert +our power. + +You are exceedingly kind about Mr. Conway-but when are not you +so to me and my friends? I have just received a miserable +letter from him on his disappointment; he had waited for a +man-of-war to embark for Leghorn; it came in the night, left +its name upon a card, and was gone before he was awake in the +morning, and had any notice of it. He still talks of seeing +you; as the Parliament is to meet so soon, I should think he +will scarce have time, though I don't hear that he is sent for, +or that they will have occasion to send for any body, unless +they want to make an Opposition. + +We were going to have festivals and masquerades for the birth +of the Duke of Burgundy, but I suppose both they and the +observance of the King's birthday will be laid aside or +postponed, on the death of our son-in-law. Madame de Mirepoix +would not stay to preside at her own banquets, but is slipped +away to retake possession of the tabouret. When the King +wished her husband joy, my Lady Pembroke(279) was standing near +him; she was a favourite, but has disgraced herself by marrying +a Captain Barnard. Mirepoix said, as he had no children he was +indifferent to the honour of a duchy for himself, but was glad +it would restore Madame to the honour she had lost by marrying +him! "Oh!" replied the King, ,you are of so great a family, the +rank was nothing; but I can't bear when women of quality marry +one don't know whom!" + +Did you ever receive the questions I asked you about Lady Mary +Wortley's being confined by a lover that she keeps somewhere in +the Brescian? I long to know the particulars. I have lately +been at Woburn, where the Duchess of Bedford borrowed for me +from a niece of Lady Mary about fifty letters of the latter. +They are charming! have more spirit and vivacity than you can +conceive, and as much of the spirit of debauchery in them as +you will conceive in her writing. They were written to her +sister, the unfortunate Lady Mar, whom she treated so hardly +while out of her senses, which she has not entirely recovered, +though delivered and tended with the greatest tenderness and +affection by her daughter, Lady Margaret Erskine: they live in +a house lent to them by the Duke of Bedford; the Duchess is +Lady Mary's niece.(280) Ten of the letters, indeed, are dismal +lamentations and frights of a scene of villany of Lady Mary, +who, having persuaded one Ruremonde, a Frenchman and her lover, +to entrust her with a large sum of money to buy stock for him, +frightened him out of England, by persuading him that Mr. +Wortley had discovered the intrigue, and would murder him; and +then would have sunk the trust. That not succeeding, and he +threatening to print her letters, she endeavoured to make Lord +Mar or Lord Stair cut his throat. Pope hints at these +anecdotes of her history in that line, + +"Who starves a sister or denies a debt."(281) + +In one of her letters she says, "We all partake of father +Adam's folly and knavery, who first eat the apple like a sot, +and then turned informer like a scoundrel." This is character, +at least, if not very delicate; but in most of them, the wit +and style are superior to any letters I ever read but Madame +Sevign`e's. It is very remarkable, how much better women write +than men. I have now before me a volume of letters written by +the widow(282) of the beheaded Lord Russel, which are full of +the most moving and expressive eloquence ; I want to persuade +the Duke of Bedford to let them be printed.(283) + +17th.--I have learned nothing but that the Prince of Orange +died of an imposthume in his head. Lord Holderness is gone to +Holland to-day--I believe rather to learn than to teach. I have +received yours of Oct. 8, and don't credit a word of +Birtle's(284) information. Adieu! + +(276) Anne, eldest daughter of George the Second. Walpole, in +his Memoires, vol. i. p. 173, describes her as being +immoderately jealous and fond of her husband : "Yet," adds he, +"this Mars, who was locked in the arms of that Venus, was a +monster so deformed, that when the King had chosen him for his +son-in-law, he could not help, in the honesty of his heart and +the coarseness of his expression, telling the Princess how +hideous a bridegroom she was to expect; and even gave her +permission to refuse him: she replied, she would marry him if +he was a baboon; "Well, then," said the King, "there is baboon +enough for you!"-E. + +(279) Mary, daughter of the Viscount Fitzwilliam, formerly maid +of honour to the Queen, and widow of Henry Herbert, Earl of +Pembroke. [In the preceding month, Lady Pembroke had married +North Ludlow Barnard, a major of dragoons. She died in 1769.] + +(280) Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Lady Mar, and the first wife +of John, Lord Gower, were daughters of Evelyn Pierpoint, Duke +of Kingston. + +(281) Upon this passage Lord Wharncliffe observes, that +"nothing whatever has been found to throw light upon the ill +treatment of Lady Mar by Lady Mary, and that accusation is +supposed, by those who would probably have heard of it if true, +to be without foundation." Nine of the ten letters spoken of +by Walpole, are given in his lordship's edition of Lady Mary's +Works; and, in the opinion of the Quarterly Reviewer, "they +confirm, in a very extraordinary way, Horace Walpole's +impression." See vol. viii. p. 191.-E. + +(282) @Rachel, daughter of Thomas Wriothesley, Earl of +Southampton, lord treasurer. One of these letters to Dr. +Tillotson, to persuade him to accept the archbishopric, has +been since printed, and a fragment of another of her letters, +in Birch's Life of that prelate. + +(283) They were published in 1773, and met with such deserved +success as to call for a Seventh edition of them in 1809. In +1819, appeared a quarto volume, entitled "Some Account of the +Life of Rachael Wriothesley, Lady Russell, with Letters from +Lady Russell to her husband Lord Russell," by the editor of +Madame du Deffand's Letters.-E. + +(284) Consul at Genoa: he had heard the report of Mr. Mann's +being designed for an embassy to Genoa. + + + +118 Letter 50 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Nov. 22, 1751. + +As the Parliament is met, you will, of course, expect to hear +something of it: the only thing to be told of it is, what I +believe was never yet to be told of an English Parliament, that +it is so unanimous, that we are not likely to have one division +this session-Day, I think not a debate.(285) On the Address, +Sir John Cotton alone said a few words against a few words of +it. Yesterday, on a motion to resume the sentences against +Murray, who is fled to France, only two persons objected--in +short, we shall not be more a French Parliament when we are +under French government. Indeed, the two nations seem to have +crossed over and figured in; one hears of nothing from Paris +but gunpowder plots in a Duke of Burgundy's cradle (whom the +clergy, by a vice versa, have converted into a Pretender,) and +menaces of assassinations. Have you seen the following verses, +that have been stuck up on the Louvre, the Pontneuf, and other +places? + +"Deux Henris immol`es par nos braves Ayeux, +L'un `a la Libert`e et l'autre `a nos Dieux, +Nous animent, Louis, aux m`emes entreprises: +Ils revivent, en Toi ces anciens Tyrans: +Crains notre desespoir: La Noblesse a des Guises, +Paris des Ravaillacs, le Clerg`e des Clements." + +Did you ever see more ecclesiastic fury? Don't you like their +avowing the cause of Jacques Clement?'and that Henry IV. was +sacrificed to a plurality of gods! a frank confession! though +drawn from the author by the rhyme, as Cardinal Bembo, to write +classic Latin, used to say, Deos immortales! But what most +offends me is the threat of murder: it attaints the prerogative +of chopping off the heads of Kings in a legal way. We here +have been still more interested about a private history that +has lately happened at Paris. It seems uncertain by your +accounts whether Lady Mary Wortley is in voluntary or +constrained durance - it is not at all equivocal that her son +and a Mr. Taaffe have been in the latter at Fort LEvesque and +the Chatelet.(286) All the letters from Paris have been very +cautious of relating the circumstances. The outlines are, that +these two gentlemen, who were pharaoh-bankers to Madame de +Mirepoix, had travelled to France to exercise the same +profession, where it is suppose(] they cheated a Jew, who would +afterwards have cheated them of the money he owed; and that. to +secure payment, they broke open his lodgings and bureau, and +seized jewels and other effects; that he accused them; that they +were taken out of their beds at two o'clock in the morning, kept +in different prisons, without fire or candle, for six-and-thirty +hours; have since been released on excessive bail; are still to +be tried, may be sent to the galleys, or dismissed home, where +they will be reduced to keep the best company; for I suppose +nobody else will converse with them. Their separate anecdotes +are curious: Wortley, you know, has been a perfect Gil Blas, and, +for one of his last adventures; is thought to have added the +famous Miss Ashe to the number of his wives. Taaffe is an +Irishman, who changed his religion to fight a duel; as you know +in Ireland a Catholic may not wear a sword. He is a gamester, +usurer, adventurer, and of late has divided his attentions +between the Duke of Newcastle and Madame Pompadour; travelling, +with turtles and pine-apples, in postchaises, to the +latter,-flying back to the former for Lewes races--and smuggling +burgundy at the same time. I shall finish their history with a +bon-mot. The Speaker was railing at gaming and White's, apropos +to these two prisoners. Lord Coke, to whom the conversation was +addressed, replied, "Sir, all I can say is, that they are both +members of the House of Commons, and neither of them of +White's." Monsieur de Mirepoix sent a card lately to White's, +to invite all the chess-players of both 'clamps'. Do but think +what a genius a man must have, or, my dear child, do you +consider what information you would be capable of sending to +your court, if, after passing two years in a country, you had +learned but the two first letters of"a word, that you heard +twenty times every day! I have a bit of paper left, so I will +tell you another story. A certain King, that, whatever airs +you may give yourself, you are not at all like, was last week +at the play. The Intriguing Chambermaid in the farce(287) says +to the old gentleman, "You are villanously old; you are +sixty-six; you can't have the impudence to think of living +above two years." The old gentleman in the stage-box turned +about in a passion, and said, "This is d-d stuff!" Pray have +you got Mr. Conway yet! Adieu! + +(285) "Nov. 14 Parliament opened. Lord Downe and Sir William +Beauchamp Proctor moved and seconded the Address. No +opposition to it." Dodington, p. 114. Tindal says that this +session was, perhaps, the most unanimous ever known."-E. + +(286) See ant`e.-E. + +(287) The Intriguing Chambermaid was performed at Drury-lane on +the 6th of November; it was dedicated by Fielding to Mrs. +Clive.-E. + + + +119 Letter 51 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Dec. 12, 1751. + +I have received yours and Mr. Conway's letters, and am +transported that you have met at last, and that you answer so +well to one another, as I intended. I expect that you tell me +more and more all that you think of him. The inclosed is for +him; as he has never received one of my letters since he left +England, I have exhausted all my news upon him, and for this post +you must only go halves with him, who I trust is still at +Florence. In your last, you mentioned Lord Stormont, and commend +him; pray tell me more about him. He is cried up above all the +young men of the time-in truth we want recruits! Lord Bolingbroke +is dead, or dying,(288) of a cancer, which was thought cured by a +quack plaster; but it is not every body can be cured at +seventy-five, like my monstrous uncle. + +What is an uomo nero?-neither Mr. Chute nor I can recollect the +term. Though you are in the season of the villegiatura, +believe me, Mr. Conway will not find Florence duller than he +would London: our diversions, politics, quarrels, are buried +all in our Alphonso's grave!(289) The only thing talked of is +a man who draws teeth with a sixpence, and puts them in again +for a shilling. I believe it; not that it seems probable, but +because I have long been persuaded that the most incredible +discoveries will be made, and that, about the time, or a little +after, I die, the secret will be found out of how to live for +ever--and that secret, I believe, will not be discovered by a +physician. Adieu! + +P. S. I have tipped Mr. Conway's direction with French, in case +it should be necessary to send it after him. + +(288) lord Bolingbroke died on the 15th.-E. + +(289) The late Prince of Wales: it alludes to a line in The +Mourning Bride." + + + +120 Letter 52 +To George Montagu, Esq. +THE ST. JAMES'S EVENING POST. +Thursday, Jan. 9, 1752. + +Monday being the Twelfth-day, his Majesty according to annual +custom offered myrrh, frankincense, and a small bit of gold; +and at night, in commemoration of the three kings or wise men, +the King and Royal Family played a@ hazard for the benefit of a +prince of the blood. There were above eleven thousand pounds +upon the table; his most sacred Majesty won three guineas, and +his Royal Highness the Duke three thousand four hundred pounds. + +On Saturday was landed at the Custom-house a large box of +truffles, being a present to the Earl of Lincoln from Theobald +Taaffe, Esq. who is shortly expected home from his travels in +foreign parts. + +To-morrow the new-born son of the Earl of Egremont is to be +baptized, when his Majesty, and the Earl of Granville (if he is +able to stand), and the Duchess of Somerset, are to be +sponsors. + +We are assured that on Tuesday last, the surprising strong +woman was exhibited at the Countess of Holderness's, before a +polite assembly of persons of the first quality; and some time +this week, the two dwarfs will play at brag at Madame Holman's. +N.B. The strong man, who was to have performed at Mrs. Nugent's, +is indisposed. There is lately arrived at the Lord Carpenter's, +a curious male chimpanzee, which had had the honour of being +shown before the ugliest princes in Europe, who all expressed +their approbation; and we hear that he intends to offer himself a +candidate to represent the city of Westminster at the next +general election. Note: he wears breeches, and there is a +gentlewoman to attend the ladies.' + +Last night the Hon. and Rev. Mr. James Brudenel was admitted a +doctor of opium in the ancient UNIVERSITY of White's, being +received ad eundem by his grace the Rev. father in chess the +Duke of Devonshire, president, and the rest of the senior +fellows. At the same time the Lord Robert Bertie and Colonel +Barrington were rejected, on account of some deficiency of +formality in their testimonials. + +Letters from Grosvenor Street mention a dreadful apparition, +which has appeared for several nights at the house of the +Countess Temple, which has occasioned several of her ladyship's +domestics to leave her service, except the coachman, who has +drove her sons and nephews for several years, and is not afraid +of spectres. The coroner's inquest have brought in their +verdict lunacy. + +Last week the Lord Downe received at the treasury the sum of a +hundred kisses from the Auditor of the Exchequer, being the +reward for shooting at a highwayman. + +On Tuesday the operation of shaving was happily performed on +the upper lip of her grace the Duchess of Newcastle, by a +celebrated artist from Paris, sent over on purpose by the Earl +of Albemarle. The performance lasted but one minute and three +seconds, to the great joy of that noble family; and in +consideration of his great care and expedition, his grace has +settled four hundred pounds a year upon him for life. We hear +that he is to have the honour of shaving the heads of the Lady +Caroline Petersham, the Duchess of Queensberry, and several +other persons of quality. + +By authority, on Sunday next will be opened the Romish chapel +at Norfolk House; no persons will be admitted but such as are +known well-wishers to the present happy establishment. Mass +will begin exactly when the English liturgy is finished. + +At the theatre royal in the House of Lords, the Royal Slave, +with Lethe. At the theatre in St. Stephen's chapel, the Fool +in Fashion. + +The Jews are desired to meet on the 20th inst. at the sign of +Fort L'Evesque in Pharaoh Street, to commemorate the noble +struggle made by one of their brethren in support of his +property. + +Deserted--Miss Ashe. + +Lost--an Opposition. + +To be let--an ambassador's masquerade, the gentleman going +abroad. + +To be sold--the whole nation. + +Lately published, The Analogy of political and private +Quarrels, or the Art of healing family-differences by widening +them; on these words, "Do evil that good may ensue." a sermon +preached before the Right Hon. Henry Pell)am, and the rest of +the society for propagating Christian charity, by William +Levenson, chaplain to her R. H. the Princess Amelia; and now +printed at the desire of several of the family. + +For capital weaknesses, the Duke of Newcastle's true spirit of +crocodiles. + +Given gratis at the Turn-stile, the corner of +Lincoln's-inn-fields, Anodyne Stars and Garters.(290) + +(290) The residence of the duke of newcastle.-E. + + + +122 Letter 53 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Feb. 2, 1752. + +We are much surprised by two letters which my Lady Aylesbury +has received from Mr. Conway, to find that he had not yet heard +of his new regiment. She, who is extremely reasonable, seems +content that he went to Rome before he got the news, as it +would have been pity to have missed such an opportunity of +seeing it, and she flatters herself that he would have set out +immediately for England, if he had received the express -at +Florence. Now you know him, and you will not wonder that she +is impatient; you would wonder, if you knew her, if he were not +so too. + +After all I have lately told you of our dead tranquillity, You +will be surprised to hear of an episode of Opposition: it is +merely an interlude, for at least till next @ear we shall have +no more: you will rather think it a farce, when I tell you, +that that buffoon my old uncle acted a principal part in it. +And what made it more ridiculous, the title of the drama was a +subsidiary treaty with Saxony.(291) In short, being impatient +with the thought that he should die without having it written +on his tomb, "He-re lies Baron Punch," he spirited up--whom do +you think?--only a Grenville! my Lord Cobham, to join with him +in speaking against this treaty: both did: the latter retired +after his speech; but my uncle concluded his (which was a +direct answer to all he has been making all his life,) with +declaring, that he should yet vote for the treaty! You never +heard such a shout and laughter as it caused. This debate was +followed by as new a one in, the House of Lords, where the Duke +of Bedford took the treaty, and in the conclusion of his +speech, the ministry, to pieces. His friend Lord Sandwich, by +a most inconceivable jumble of cunning, spoke for the treaty, +against the ministry; it is supposed, lest the 'Duke should be +thought to have countenanced the Opposition: you never heard a +more lamentable performance! there was no division.(292) The +next day the Tories in our House moved for a resolution against +subsidiary treaties in line of peace: Mr. Pelham, with great +agitation, replied to the philippics of the preceding, day, and +divided 180 to 52. + +There has been an odd sort of codicil to these debates: +Vernon,(293) a very inoffensive, good-humoured young fellow, +who lives in the strongest intimacy with all the fashionable +young men, was proposed for the Old Club at White's, into the +mysteries of which, before a person is initiated, it is +necessary that he should be well with the ruling powers: +unluckily, Vernon has lately been at Woburn with the Duke of +Bedford. The night of' the ballot, of twelve persons present, +eight had promised him white balls, being his particular +friends--however, there were six black balls!-this made great +noise--his friends found it necessary to clear up their faith +to him--ten of the twelve assured him upon their honour that +they had given him white balls. I fear this will not give you +too favourable an idea of the honour of the young men of the +age! + +Your father, who has been dying, and had tasted nothing but +water for ten days, the other day called for roast beef, and is +well; cured, I suppose, by this abstinence, which convinces me +that intemperance has been his illness. Fasting and +mortification will restore a good constitution, but not correct +a bad one. + +Adieu! I write you but short letters, and those, I fear, +seldom; but they tell you all that is material; this is not an +age to furnish volumes. + +(291) Mr. Pitt was so much pleased with Mr. Horatio Walpole's +speech on this occasion that he requested him to consign it to +writing, and gave it as his opinion, that it contained much +weighty matter, and from beginning to end breathed the spirit +of a man who loved his country. See Chatham Correspondence, +vol. i. p. 63.-E. + +(292) For an account of this d(@bate, taken by Lord Chancellor +Hardwicke, see Parl. Hist. vol. xiv. p. 1175.-E. + +(293) Richard Vernon, Esq. He married Lady Evelyn Leveson, +widow of the Earl of Upper Ossory, and sister of Gertrude, +Duchess of Bedford.-D. + + + +123 Letter 54 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Feb. 27, 1752. + +Gal. tells me that your eldest brother has written you an +account of your affairs, the particulars of which I was most +solicitous to learn, and am now most unhappy to find no +better.(294) Indeed, Gal. would have most reason to complain, +if his strong friendship for you did not prevent him from +thinking that nothing is hard that is in your favour; he told +me himself that the conditions imposed upon him were inferior +to what he always proposed to do, if the misfortune should +arrive of your recall. He certainly loves you earnestly; if I +were not convinced of it, I should be far from loving him so +well as I do. + +I write this as a sort of letter of form on the occasion, for +there is nothing worth telling you. The event that has made +most noise since my last, is the extempore wedding of the +youngest of the two Gunnings, who have made so vehement a +noise. Lord Coventry,(295) a grave young lord, of the remains +of the patriot breed, has long dangled after the eldest, +virtuously with regard to her virtue, not +very honourably with regard to his own credit. About six weeks +ago Duke Hamilton,(296) the very reverse of the Earl, hot, +debauched, extravagant, and equally damaged in his fortune and +person, fell in love with the youngest at the masquerade, and +determined to marry her in the spring. About a fortnight +since, at an immense assembly at my Lord Chesterfield's, made +to show the house, which is really magnificent, Duke Hamilton +made violent love at one end of the room, while he was playing +at pharaoh at the other end; that is, he saw neither the bank +nor his own cards, which were of three hundred pounds each: he +soon lost a thousand. I own I was so little a professor in +love, that I thought all this parade looked ill for the poor +girl; and could not conceive, if he was so much engaged with +his mistress as to disregard such sums, why he played at all. +However, two nights afterwards, being left alone with her while +her mother and sister were at Bedford House, he found himself +so impatient, that he sent for a parson. The doctor refused to +perform the ceremony without license or ring: the Duke swore he +would send for the Archbishop--at last they were married with a +ring of the bed-curtain, at half an hour after twelve at night, +at Mayfair chapel,(297) The Scotch are enraged; the women mad +that so much beauty has had its effect; and what is most silly, +my Lord Coventry declares that he now will marry the other. + +Poor Lord Lempster has just killed an officer(298) in a duel, +about a play-debt, and I fear was in the wrong. There is no +end of his misfortunes and wrong-headedness!--Where is Mr. +Conway!--Adieu! + +(294) Mr. Mann's father was just dead. + +(295) George-William, sixth Earl of Coventry. He died in 1809, +at the age of eighty-seven.-E. + +(296) James, fourth Duke of Hamilton. He died in 1758.-D. + +(297) On the 14th of February.-E. + +(298) Captain Gray of the Guards. The duel was fought, with +swords, in Marylebone Fields. lord Lempster took his trial at +the Old Bailey in April, and was found guilty of manslaughter.-E. + + + +124 Letter 55 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, March 23, 1752. + +Mr. Conway has been arrived this fortnight, or a week sooner +than we expected him: but my Lady Ailesbury forgives it! He is +full of your praises, so you have not sowed your goodness in +unthankful ground. By a letter I have just received from you +he finds you have missed some from him with Commissions; but he +will tell you about them himself I find him much leaner, and +great cracks in his beauty. Your picture is arrived, which he +says is extremely like you. Mr. Chute cannot bear it; says it +wants your countenance and goodness; that it looks bonny and +Irish. I am between both, and should know it; to be sure, +there is none of your wet-brown-paperness in it, but it has a +look with which I have known you come out of your little room, +when Richcourt has raised your ministerial French, and +you have writ to England about it till you were half fuddled. +Au reste, it is gloriously coloured--will Astley promise to +continue to do as well? or has he, like all other English +painters, only laboured this to get reputation, and then +intends to daub away to get money? + +The year has not kept the promise of tranquillity that it made +you at Christmas; there has been another parliamentary bustle. +The Duke of Argyll(299) has drawn the ministry into +accommodating him with a notable job, under the notion of +buying for the King from the mortgagees the forfeited estates +in Scotland, which are to be colonized and civilized. It +passed with some inconsiderable hitches through the Commons; +but in the Lords last week the Duke of Bedford took it up +warmly, and spoke like another Pitt.(300) He attacked the Duke +of Argyll on favouring Jacobites, and produced some flagrant +instances, which the Scotch Duke neither answered nor +endeavoured to excuse, but made a strange, hurt, mysterious, +contemptuous, incoherent speech, neither in defence of the bill +nor in reply to the Duke of Bedford, but to my Lord Bath, who +had fallen upon the ministry for assuming a dispensing power, +in suffering Scotland to pay no taxes for the last five years. +This speech, which formerly would have made the House of +Commons take up arms, was strangely flat and unanimated, for +want of his old chorus. Twelve lords divided against eighty +that were for the bill. The Duke, who was present, would not +vote; none of his people had attended the bill in the other +House, and General Mordaunt (by his orders, as it is imagined) +spoke against it. This concludes the session: the King goes to +Hanover on Tuesday, he has been scattering ribands of all +colours, blue ones on Prince Edward, the young Stadtholder, and +the Earls of Lincoln, Winchilsea, and Cardigan;(301) a green +one on Lord Dumfries;(302) a red on Lord Onslow.(303) + +The world is still mad about the Gunnings; the Duchess of +Hamilton was presented on Friday; the crowd was so great, that +even the noble mob in the drawing-room clambered upon chairs +and tables to look at her. There are mobs at their doors to +see them get into their chairs; and people go early to get +places at the theatres when it is known they will be there. +Dr. Sacheverel never made more noise than these two beauties. + +There are two wretched women that just now are as much talked +of, a Miss Jefferies and a Miss Blandy; the one condemned for +murdering her uncle, the other her father. Both their stories +have horrid circumstances; the first, having been debauched by +her uncle; the other had so tender a parent, that his whole +concern while he was expiring, and knew her for his murderess, +was to save her life. It is shocking to think what a shambles +this country is grown! Seventeen were executed this morning, +after having murdered the turnkey on Friday night, and almost +forced open Newgate. One is forced to travel, even at noon, as +if one was going to battle. + +Mr. Chute is as much yours as ever, except in the article of +pen and ink. Your brother transacts all he can for the Lucchi, +as he has much more weight there(304) than Mr. Chute. Adieu! + +(299) Archibald Campbell, Duke of argyll, formerly Earl of +Isla. + +(300) For Lord Hardwicke's notes of this speech, see Parl. +Hist. vol. xiv. P. 1235.-E. + +(301) George Brudenell, fourth Earl of cardigan, created Duke +of Montagu in 1776; died in 1790.-D. + +(302) William Crichton Dalrymple, fourth Earl of Dumfries in +Scotland, in right of his mother. He also became, in 1760, +fourth Earl of stair, and died in 1768.-D. + +(303) George, third Lord Onslow; died in 1776.-D. + +(304) With the late Mr. Whithed's brothers, who scrupled paying +a small legacy and annuity to his mistress and child. + + + +126 Letter 56 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway.(305) +Arlington Street, May 5, 1752. + +I now entirely credit all that my Lord Leicester and his family +have said against Lady Mary Coke and her family; and am +convinced that it is impossible to marry any thing of the blood +of Campbell, without having all her relations in arms to +procure a separation immediately. Pray, what have I done? have +I come home drunk to my wife within these four first days? or +have I sat up gaming all night, and not come home at all to +her, after her lady-mother had been persuaded that I was the +soberest young nobleman in England, and had the greatest +aversion to play'! Have I kept my bride awake all night with +railing at her father, when all the world had allowed him to be +one of the bravest officers in Europe? In short, in short, I +have a mind to take COUNSEL, even of the wisest lawyer now +living in matrimonial cases, my Lord Coke * * * If, like other +Norfolk husbands, I must entertain the town with a formal +parting, at least it shall be in my own way: my wife shall +neither 'run to Italy after lovers and books,(306) nor keep a +dormitory in her dressing-room at Whitehall for Westminster +schoolboys, your Frederick Campbells, and such like. (307) nor +'yet shall she reside at her mother's house, but shall +absolutely set out for Strawberry Hill in two or three days, as +soon as her room can be well aired; for, to give her her due, I +don't think her to blame, but flatter myself she is quite +contented with the easy footing we live upon; separate beds, +dining in her dressing-room when she is out of humour, and a +little toad-eater that I had got for her, and whose pockets and +bosom I have never examined, to see if' she brought any +billets-doux from Tommy Lyttelton or any of her fellows. I +shall follow her myself in less than a fortnight; and if her +family don't give me any more trouble,-why, who knows but at +your return you may find your daughter with qualms and in a +sack? If you should happen to want to know any more +particulars, she is quite well, has walked in the park every +morning, or has the chariot, as she chooses; and, in short, one +would think that I or she were much older than we really are, for +I grow excessively fond of her.(308) + +(305) Now first published. + +(306) Alluding to the wife of his eldest brother, Lord Walpole, +Margaret Rolle, who had separated Herself from her husband, and +resided in Italy.--E. + +(307) Lady Townshend.-E. + +(308) All this letter refers to Ann Seymour Conway, then three +years old, who had been left with her nurse at Mr. Walpole's, +during an absence of her father and mother in Ireland.-E. + + + +127 Letter 57 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, May 12, 1752. + +You deserve no charity, for you never write but to ask it. +When you are tired of yourself and the country, you think over +all London, and consider who will be proper to send you an +account of it. Take notice, I won't be your gazetteer; nor is +my time come for being a dowager, a maker of news, a +day-labourer in scandal. If you care for nobody but for what +they can tell you, you must provide yourself elsewhere. The +town is empty, nothing in it but flabby mackerel, and wooden +gooseberry tarts, and a hazy east wind. My sister is gone to +Paris; I go to Strawberry Hill in three days for the summer, if +summer there will ever be any. + +If you want news you must send to Ireland, where there is +almost a civil war, between the Lord Lieutenant and Primate on +one side (observe, I don't tell you what that side is), and the +Speaker on the other, who carries questions by wholesale in the +House of Commons against the Castle; and the teterrima belli +causa is not the common one. + +Reams of scandalous verses and ballads are come over, too bad +to send you, if I had them, but I really have not. What is +more provoking for the Duke of Dorset, an address is come over +directly to the King (not as usual through the channel of the +Lord Lieutenant), to assure him of their great loyalty, and +apprehensions of being misrepresented. This is all I know, and +you see, most imperfectly. + +I was t'other night to see what is now grown the fashion, +Mother Midnight's Oratory.(309) It appeared the lowest +buffoonery in the world even to me, who am used to my uncle +Horace. There is a bad oration to ridicule, what it is too +like, Orator Henley; all the rest is perverted music: there is +a man who plays so nimbly on the kettle-drum, that he has +reduced that noisy instrument to an object of sight; for, if +you don't see the tricks with his hands, it is no better than +ordinary: another plays on a violin and trumpet together: +another mimics a bagpipe with a German flute, and makes it full +as disagreeable. There is an admired dulcimer, a favourite +salt-box, and a really curious jew's-harp. Two or three men +intend to persuade you that they play on a broomstick, which is +drolly brought in, carefully shrouded in a case, so as to be +mistaken for a bassoon or bass-viol; but they succeed in nothing +but the action. The last fellow imitates * * * * * curtseying to +a French horn. There are twenty medley overtures, and a man who +speaks a prologue and an epilogue, in which he counterfeits all +the actors and singers upon earth: in short, I have long been +convinced, that what I used to imagine the most difficult thing +in the world, mimicry, is the easiest; for one has seen for +these two or three years, at Foote's and the other theatres, +that when they lost one mimic, they called ,Odd man!" and +another came and succeeded just as well. + +Adieu! I have told you much more than I intended, and much more +than I could conceive I had to say, except how does Miss +Montagu? + +P. S. Did you hear Captain Hotham's bon-mot on Sir Thomas +Robinson's making an assembly from the top of his house to the +bottom? He said, he wondered so many people would go to Sir +Thomas's, as he treated them all de haut en bas. + +(309) "Among other diversions and amusements which increase +upon us, the town," says the Gentleman's Magazine for January +1752, "has been lately entertained with a kind of farcical +performance, called 'The Old Woman's Oratory,' conducted by +Mrs. Mary Midnight and her family, intended as a banter on +Henley's Oratory, and a puff for the Old Woman's Magazine."-E. + + + +128 Letter 58 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, May 13, 1752. + +By this time you know my way, how much my letters grow out of +season, as it grows summer. I believe it is six weeks since I +wrote to you last; but there is not only the usual deadness of +summer to account for my silence; England itself is no longer +England. News, madness, parties, whims, and twenty other +causes, that used to produce perpetual events are at an end; +Florence itself is not more inactive. Politics, + +"Like arts and sciences are travelled west." + +They are cot into Ireland, where there is as much bustle to +carry a question in the House of Commons, as ever it was here +in any year forty-one. Not that there is any opposition to the +King's measures; out of three hundred members, there has never +yet been a division of above twenty-eight against the +government: they are much the most zealous subjects the king +has. The Duke of Dorset has had the art to make them +distinguish between loyalty and aversion to the Lord +Lieutenant. + +I last night received yours of May 5th; but I cannot deliver +your expressions to Mr. Conway, for he and Lady Ailesbury are +gone to his regiment in Ireland for four months, which is a +little rigorous, not only after an exile in Minorca, but more +especially unpleasant now as they have just bought one of the +most charming 'places in England, Park-place, which belonged to +Lady Archibald Hamilton, and then to the Prince. You have seen +enough of Mr. Conway to judge how patiently he submits to his +duty. Their little girl is left with me. + +The Gunnings are gone to their several castles, and one hears +no more of them, except that such crowds flock to see the +Duchess Hamilton pass, that seven hundred people sat up all +night in and about an inn in Yorkshire to see her get into her +postchaise next morning. + +I saw lately at Mr. Barret's a print of Valombrosa, which I +should be glad to have, if you please; though I don't think it +gives much idea of the beauty of the place: but you know what a +passion there is for it in England, as Milton has mentioned it. + +Miss Blandy died with a coolness of courage that is +astonishing, and denying the fact,(310) which has made a kind +of party in her favour as if a woman who would not stick at +parricide, would scruple a lie! + +We have made a law for immediate execution on conviction of +murder: it will appear extraordinary to me if it has any +effect;(311) for I can't help believing that the terrible part +of death must be the preparation for it. + +(310) Miss Blandy was executed at Oxford, on the 6th of April, +"I am perfectly innocent," she exclaimed, "of any intention to +destroy or even hurt my dear father; so help me God in these my +last moments!"-E. + +(311) Smollett, on the contrary, was of opinion that the +expedient had been productive of very good effects.-E. + + + +129 Letter 59 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, June 6, 1752. + +I have just been in London for two or three days, to fetch an +adventure, and am returned to my hill and castle. I can't say +I lost my labour, as you shall hear. Last Sunday night, being +as wet a night as you shall see in a summer's day, about half +an hour after twelve, I was just come home from White's, and +undressing to step into bed, I heard Harry, who you know lies +forwards, roar out, "Stop thief!" and run down stairs. I ran +after him. Don't be frightened; I have not lost one enamel, +nor bronze, nor have been shot through the head again. A +gentlewoman, who lives at Governor Pitt's,(312) next door but +one to me, and where Mr. Bentley used to live, was going to bed +too, and heard people breaking into Mr. Freeman's house, who, +like some acquaintance of mine in Albemarle-street, goes out of +town, locks up his doors, and leaves the community to watch his +furniture. N. B. It was broken open but two years ago, and all +the chairmen vow they shall steal his house away another time, +before we shall trouble our heads about it. Well, madam called +out "watch;" two men who were centinels, ran away, and Harry's +voice after them. Down came I, and with a posse of chairmen +and watchmen found the third fellow in the area of Mr. Freeman's +house. Mayhap you have seen all this in the papers, little +thinking who commanded the detachment. Harry fetched a +blunderbuss to invite the thief up. One of the chairmen, who +was drunk, cried, "Give me the blunderbuss, I'll shoot him!" +But as the general's head was a little cooler, he prevented +military execution, and took the prisoner without bloodshed, +intending to make his triumphal entry into the metropolis of +Twickenham with his captive tied to the wheels of his +postchaise. I find my style rises so much with the +recollection of my victory, that I don't know how to descend to +tell you that the enemy was a carpenter, and had a leather +apron on. The next step was to share my glory with my friends. +I despatched a courier to White's for George Selwyn, who you +know, loves nothing upon earth so well as a criminal, except +the execution of him. It happened very luckily, that the +drawer, who received my message, has very lately been robbed +himself, and had the wound fresh in his memory. He stalked up +into the club-room, stopped short, and with a hollow trembling +voice said, "Mr. Selwyn! Mr. Walpole's compliments to you, and +he has got a house-breaker for you!" A squadron immediately +came to reinforce me, and having summoned Moreland with the +keys of the fortress, we marched into the house to search for +more of the gang. Colonel Seabright with his sword drawn went +first, and then I, exactly the figure of Robinson Crusoe, with +a candle and lanthorn in my hand, a carbine upon my shoulder, +my hair wet and about my ears, and in a linen night-gown and +slippers. We found the kitchen shutters forced but not +finished; and in the area a tremendous bag of tools, a hammer +large enough for the hand of a Joel, and six chisels! All which +opima spolia, as there was no temple of Jupiter Capitolinus in +the neighbourhood, I was reduced to offer on the altar of Sir +Thomas Clarges. + +am now, as I told you, returned to my plough with as much +humility and pride as any of my great predecessors. We lead +quite a rural life, have had a sheep-shearing, a hay-making, a +syllabub under the cow, and a fishing of three gold fish out of +Poyang,(313) for a present to Madam Clive. They breed with me +excessively, and are grown to the size of small perch. Every +thing grows, if tempests would let it; but I have had two of my +largest trees broke to-day with the wind, and another last +week. I am much obliged to you for the flower you offer me, +but by the description it is an Austrian rose, and I have +several now in bloom. Mr. Bentley is with me, finishing the +drawings for Gray's Odes; there are some mandarin-cats fishing +for gold fish, which will delight you; au reste, he is just +where he was: he has heard something about a journey to +Haughton, to the great Cu(314) of Hauculeo, but it don't seem +fixed, unless he hears farther. Did he tell you the Prices and +your aunt Cosby had dined here from Hampton Court? The +mignonette beauty looks mighty well in his grandmother's +jointure. The Memoires of last year are quite finished, but I +shall add some pages of notes, that will not want anecdotes. +Discontents, of the nature of those about Windsor-park, are +spreading about Richmond. Lord Brooke, who has taken the late +Duchess of Rutland's at Petersham, asked for a key; the answer +was, (mind it, for it was tolerably mortifying to an Earl,) "that +the Princess had already refused one to my Lord Chancellor." + +By the way, you know that reverend head of the law is +frequently shut up here with my Lady M * * * * h, who is as +rich and as tipsy as Cacafogo in the comedy. What a jumble of +avarice, lewdness, dignity,--and claret! + +You will be pleased with a story of Lord Bury, that is come +from Scotland: he is quartered at Inverness: the magistrates +invited him to an entertainment with fire-works, which they +intended to give on the morrow for the Duke's birthday. He +thanked them, assured them he would represent their zeal to his +Royal Highness; but he did not doubt but it would be more +agreeable to him, if they postponed it to the day following, +the anniversary of the battle of Culloden. They stared, said +they could not promise on their own authority, but would go and +consult their body. They returned, told him it was +unprecedented, and could not be complied with. Lord Bury +replied, he was sorry they had not given a negative at once, +for he had mentioned it to his soldiers, who would not bear a +disappointment, and was afraid it would provoke them to some +outrage upon the town. This did;-they celebrated Culloden. +Adieu! + +(312) George Morton Pitt, Esq, Member for Pontefract.-E. + +(313) Mr. Walpole called his gold-fish pond, Poyang. + + +(314) The Earl of Halifax. + + + +131 Letter 60 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Twickenham, Thursday. + +Dear George, +Since you give me leave to speak the truth, I must own it is +not quite agreeable to me to undertake the commission you give +me; nor do I say this to assume any merit in having obeyed you, +but to prepare you against my solicitation miscarrying, for I +cannot flatter myself with having so much interest with Mr. Fox +as you think. However, I have wrote to him as pressingly as I +could, and wish most heartily it may have any effect. Your +brother I imagine will call upon him again; and Mr.' Fox will +naturally tell him whether he can do it or not at my request. + + +I should have been very glad of your company, if it had been +convenient. You would have found me an absolute country +gentleman: I am in the garden, planting as long as it is light, +and shall not have finished, to be in London, before the middle +of next week. + +My compliments to your sisters and to the Colonel; and what so +poor a man as Hamlet is, may do to express his love and +friending to him, God willing, shall not lack. Adieu! + + + +132 Letter 61 +The Hon. H. S. Conway.(315) +Strawberry Hill, June 23, 1752. + +By a letter that I received from my Lady Ailesbury two days +ago, I flatter myself I shall not have occasion to write to you +any more; yet I shall certainly see you with less pleasure than +ever, as our meeting is to be attended with a resignation of my +little charge.(316) She is vastly well, and I think you will +find her grown fat. I am husband enough to mind her beauty no +longer, and perhaps you will say husband enough too, in +pretending that my love is converted into friendship; but I +shall tell you some stories at Park-place of her understanding +that will please you, I trust, as much as they have done me. + +My Lady Ailesbury says I must send her news, and the whole +history of Mr. Seymour and Lady Di. Egerton, and their quarrel, +and all that is said on both sides. I can easily tell her all +that is said on one side, Mr. Seymour's, who says, the only +answer he has ever been able to get from the Duchess or Mr. +Lyttelton was, that Di. has her caprices. The reasons she +gives, and gave him, were, the badness of his temper and +imperiousness of his letters; that he scolded her for the +overfondness of her epistles, and was even so unsentimental as +to talk of desiring to make her happy, instead of being made so +by her. He is gone abroad, in despair, and with an additional +circumstance, which would be very uncomfortable to any thing +but a true lover; his father refuses to resettle the estate on +him, the entail of which was cut off by mutual consent, to make +way for the settlements on the marriage. + +The Speaker told me t'other day, that he had received a letter +from Lord Hyde, which confirms what Mr. Churchill writes me, +the distress and poverty of France and the greatness of their +divisions. Yet the King's expenses are incredible; Madame de +Pompadour is continually busied in finding out new journeys and +diversions to keep him from falling into the hands of the +clergy. The last party of pleasure she made for him, was a +stag-hunting; the stag was a man in a skin and horns, worried +by twelve men dressed like bloodhounds! I have read of +Basilowitz, a Czar of Muscovy, who improved on such a hunt, and +had a man in a bearskin worried by real dogs; a more kingly +entertainment! + +I shall make out a sad Journal of other news; yet I will be +like any gazette, and scrape together all the births, deaths, +and marriages in the parish. Lady Hartington and Lady Rachel +Walpole are brought to bed of sons; Lord Burlington and Lord +Gower have had new attacks of palsies: Lord Falkland is to +marry the Southwark Lady Suffolk;(317) and Mr. Watson, Miss +Grace Pelham. Lady Coventry has miscarried of one or two +children, and is going on with one or two more, and is gone to +France to-day. Lady Townshend and Lady Caroline Petersham have +had their anniversary quarrel, and the Duchess of Devonshire has +had her secular assembly, which she keeps once in fifty years: +she was more delightfully vulgar at it than you can imagine; +complained of the wet night, and how the men would dirty the +rooms with their shoes; called out at supper to the Duke, "Good +God! my lord, don't cut the ham, nobody will eat any!" and +relating her private m`enage to Mr. Obnir, she said, "When +there's only my lord and I, besides a pudding we have always a +dish of Yeast!" I am ashamed to send you such nonsense, or to +tell you how the good women at Hampton Court are scandalized at +Princess Emily's coming to chapel last Sunday in riding-clothes +with a dog under her arm; but I am bid to send news: what can we +do -,it such a dead time of year? I must conclude, as my Lady +Gower did very well t'other day in a letter into the country, +"Since the two Misses(318) were hanged, and the two Misses(319) +were married, there is nothing at all talked of." Adieu! My best +compliments and my wife's to your two ladies. + +(315) Now first published. + +(316) Their daughter, Ann Seymour Conway. + +(317) Sarah, Duchess-dowager of Suffolk, daughter of Thomas +Unwen, Esq. of Southwark.-E. + +(318) Miss Blandy and Miss Jefferies. + +(319) The Gunnings. + + + +133 Letter 62 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, July 20, 1752. + +You have threatened me with a messenger from the secretary's +office to seize my papers; who would ever have taken you for a +prophet? If Goody Compton +,(320) your colleague, had taken upon her to foretell, there +was enough of the witch and prophetess in her person and +mysteriousness to have made a superstitious person believe she +might be a cousin of Nostradamus, and heiress of some of her +visions; but how came you by second sight? Which of the Cues +matched in the Highlands? In short, not to keep you in +suspense, for I believe you are so far inspired as to be +ignorant how your prophecy was to be accomplished, as we were +sitting at dinner t'other day, word was brought that one of the +King's messengers was at the door. Every drop of ink in my pen +ran cold; Algernon Sidney danced before my eyes, and methought +I heard my Lord Chief-Justice Lee, in a voice as dreadful as +Jefferies', mumble out, Scribere est agere. How comfortable it +was to find that Mr. Amyand, who was at table, had ordered this +appanage of his dignity to attend him here for orders! +However, I have buried the Memoires under the oak in my garden, +where they are to be found a thousand years hence, and taken +perhaps for a Runic history in rhyme. I have part of another +valuable MS. to dispose of, which I shall beg leave to commit +to your care, and desire it may be concealed behind the wainscot +in Mr. Bentley's Gothic house, whenever you build it. As the +great person is living to whom it belonged, it would be highly +dangerous to make it public; as soon as she is in disgrace, I +don't know whether it Will not be a good way of making court to +her successor, to communicate it to the world, as I propose +doing, under the following title: "The Treasury of Art and +Nature, or a Collection of inestimable Receipts, stolen out of +the Cabinet of Madame de Pompadour, and now first published for +the use of his fair Countrywomen, by a true born Englishman and +philomystic." * * * * * * * * * * * * * + +So the pretty Miss Bishop,(321) instead of being my niece, is +to be Mrs. Bob Brudenel. What foolish birds are turtles when +they have scarce a hole to roost in! Adieu! + +(320) The Hun. George Compton. son of Lord Northampton, Mr. +Montagu's colleague for Northampton.-E. + +(321) Daughter of Sir Cecil Bishop. + + + +134 Letter 63 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, July 27, 1752. + +What will you say to me after a silence of two months? I should +be ashamed, if I were answerable for the whole world, who will +do nothing worth repeating. Newspapers have horse-races, and +can invent casualties, but I can't have the confidence to stuff +a letter with either. The only casualty that is of dignity +enough to send you, is a great fire at Lincoln's Inn, which is +likely to afford new work for the lawyers, in consequence of +the number of deeds and writings it has consumed. The Duke of +Kingston has lost many of his: he is unlucky with fires: +Thoresby, his seat, was burnt a few years ago, and in it a +whole room of valuable letters and manuscripts. There has been +a Very considerable loss of that kind at this fire: Mr. Yorke, +the Chancellor's son, had a great collection of Lord Somers's +papers, many relating to the assassination plot; and by which, +I am told, it appeared that the Duke of Marlborough was deep in +the schemes of St. Germain's. + +There are great civil wars in the neighbourhood of Strawberry +Hill: Princess Emily, who succeeded my brother in the +rangership of Richmond Park, has imitated her brother William's +unpopularity, and disobliged the whole country, by refusal of +tickets and liberties, that had always been allowed. They are +at law with her, and have printed in the Evening Post a strong +Memorial, which she had refused to receive-.(322) The High +Sheriff of Surrey, to whom she had denied a ticket, but on +better thought had sent one, refused it, and said he had taken +his part. Lord Brooke(323) who had applied for one, was told +he could not have one-and to add to the affront@, it was +signified. that the Princess had refused one to my Lord +Chancellor--your old nobility don't understand such comparisons! +But the most remarkable event happened to her about three weeks +ago. One Mr. Bird, a rich gentleman near the park, was applied +to by the late Queen for a piece of ground that lay convenient +for a walk she was making: he replied, it was not proper for him +to pretend to make a Queen a present; but if she would do what +she pleased with the ground, he would be content with the +acknowledgment of a key and two bucks a-year. This was +religiously observed till the era of her Royal Highness's +reign; the bucks were denied, and he himself once shut out, on +pretence it was fence-month (the breeding-time, when tickets +used to be excluded, keys never.) The Princess soon after was +going through his grounds to town; she found a padlock on his +gate; she ordered it to be broke open: Mr. Shaw, her deputy, +begged a respite, till he could go for the key. He found Mr. +Bird at home--"Lord, Sir! here is a strange mistake; the +Princess is at the gate, and it is padlocked!" "Mistake! no +mistake at all - I made the road: the ground is my own +property: her Royal Highness has thought fit to break the +agreement which her Royal Mother made with me: nobody goes +through my grounds but those I choose should. Translate this +to your Florentinese; try if you can make them conceive how +pleasant it is to treat blood royal thus! + +There are dissensions of more consequence in the same +neighbourhood. The tutorhood at Kew is split into factions: +the Bishop of Norwich and Lord Harcourt openly at war with +Stone and Scott, who are supported by Cresset, and countenanced +by the Princess and Murray--so my Lord Bolinbroke dead, will +govern, which he never could living! It is believed that the +Bishop will be banished into the rich bishopric of Durham, +which is just vacant-how pleasant to be punished, after +teaching the boys a year, with as much as he could have got if +he had taught them twenty! Will they ever expect a peaceable +prelate, if untractableness is thus punished? + +Your painter Astley is arrived: I have missed seeing him by +being constantly at Strawberry Hill, but I intend to serve him +to the utmost of my power, as you will easily believe, since he +has your recommendation. + + +Our beauties are travelling Paris-ward: Lady Caroline Petersham +and Lady Coventry are just gone thither. It will scarce be +possible for the latter to make as much noise there as she and +her sister have in England. It is literally true that a +shoemaker it Worcester got two guineas and a half by showing a +shoo that he was making for the Countess, at a penny a piece. +I can't say her genius is equal to her beauty: she every day +says some new sproposito. She has taken a turn of vast +fondness for her lord: Lord Downe met them at Calais, and +offered her a tent-bed, for fear of bugs in the inns. "Oh!" +said she, "I had rather be bit to death, than lie one night +from my dear Cov.!" I can conceive my Lady Caroline making a +good deal of noise even at Paris; her beauty is set off by a +genius for the extraordinary, and for strokes that will make a +figure in any country. Mr. Churchill and my sister are just +arrived from France; you know my passion for the writing of the +younger Cr`ebillon:(324) you +shall hear how I have been mortified by the discovery of the +greatest meanness in him; and you will judge how much one must +be humbled to have one's favourite author convicted of mere +mercenariness! I had desired lady Mary to lay out thirty +guineas for ne with Liotard, and wished, if I could, to have +the portraits of Cr`ebillon and Marivaux(325) for my cabinet. +Mr. Churchill wrote me word that Liotard's(326) price was +sixteen guineas; that Marivaux was intimate with him, and would +certainly sit, and that he believed he could get Cr`ebillon to +sit too. The latter, who is retired into the provinces with an +English wife,(327) was just then at Paris for a month: Mr. +Churchill went to him, told him that a gentleman in England, +who was making a collection of portraits of famous people, +would be happy to have his, etc. Cr`ebillon was humble, +"unworthy," obliged; and sat: the picture was just finished, +when, behold! he sent Mr. Churchill word, that he expected to +have a copy of the picture given him-neither more nor less than +asking sixteen guineas for sitting! Mr. Churchill answered +that he could not tell what he should do, were it his own case, +but that this was a limited commission, and he could not +possibly lay out double; and was now so near his return, that +he could not have time to write to England and receive an +answer. Cr`ebillon said, then he would keep the picture +himself-it was excessively like. I am still sentimental enough +to flatter myself, that a man who could beg sixteen gineas will +not give them, and so I may still have the picture. + +I am going to trouble you with a commission, my dear Sir, that +will not subject me to any such humiliations. You may have +heard that I am always piddling about ornaments and +improvements for Strawberry Hill-I am now doing a great deal to +the house--stay, I don't want Genoa damask!(328) What I shall +trouble you to buy is for the garden: there is a small recess, +for which I should be glad to have an antique Roman sepulchral +altar, of the kind of the pedestal to my eagle; but as it will +stand out of doors, I should not desire to have it a fine one: a +moderate one, I imagine, might be picked up easily at Rome at a +moderate price: if you could order any body to buy such an one, I +should be much obliged to you. + +We have had an article in our papers that the Empress-queen had +desired the King of France to let her have Mesdames de Craon +and de la Calmette, ladies of great piety and birth, to form an +academy for the young Archduchesses-is there any truth in this? +is the Princess to triumph thus at last over Richcourt? I +should be glad. What a comical genealogy in education! the +mistress and mother of twenty children to Duke Leopold, being +the pious tutoress to his grand-daughters! How the old Duchess +of Lorrain will shiver in her coffin at the thoughts of it? Who +is la Calmette? Adieu! my dear child! You see my spirit of +justice: when I have not writ to you for two months, I punish +you with a reparation of six pages!--had not I better write one +line every fortnight? + +(322) The memorial will be found in the Gentleman's Magazine +for this year. In December the park was opened by the King's +order.-E. + +(323) Francis Greville, Earl Brooke. + + +(324) Claude Prosper Jolyot de Cr`ebillon, son of the tragic +poet of that name, and author of many licentious novels, which +are now but little read. He was born in 1707, and died in +1777.-D. ["The taste for his writings," says the Edinburgh +Reviewers, " passed away very rapidly and completely in France; +and long before his death, the author of the Sopha, and Les +Egaremens du Coeur et de l'Esprit, had the mortification to be +utterly forgotten by the public." Vol. xxi. p. 284.] + +(325) Pierre Carlet de Chamblain de Marivaux, the author of +numerous plays and novels, some of which possess considerable +merit. The peculiar affectation of his style occasioned the +invention of the word marivaudage, to express the way of +writing of him and his imitators. He was born in 1688, and +died in 1763.-D. + +(326) Walpole, in his Anecdotes of Painting, states Liotard to +have been an admirable miniature and enamel painter. At Rome +he was taken notice of by the Earl of Sandwich, and by Lord +Besborough, then Lord Duncannon. See Museum Florentinum, vol. +x.; where the name of the last mentioned nobleman is spelled +Milord D'un Canon.-E. + +(327) She was a Miss Strafford. The perusal of Cr`ebillon's +works inspired her with such a passion for the author, that she +ran away from her friends, went to Paris, married him, and +nursed and attended him with exemplary tenderness and affection +to his dying day. In reference to this marriage, Lord Byron, +in his Observations on Bowles's Strictures upon Pope, makes the +following remark:--"For my own part, I am of the opinion of +Pausanias, that success in love depends upon fortune. Grimm +has an observation of the same kind, on the different destinies +of the younger Cr`ebillon and Rousseau. The former writes a +licentious novel, and a young English girl of some fortune runs +away, and crosses the sea to marry him; while Rousseau, the +most tender and passionate of lovers, is obliged to espouse his +chambermaid."-E. + +(328) Lord Cholmondoley borrowed great sums of money of various +people, under the pretence of a quantity of Genoa damask being +arrived for him, and that his banker was out of town, and he +must pay for it immediately. Four persons comparing notes, +produced four letters from him in a coffeehouse, in the very +same words. + + + +137 Letter 64 +To Richard Bentley, Esq.(329) +Battel, Wednesday, August 5, 1752. + +here we are, my dear Sir, in the middle of our pilgrimage; and +lest we should never return from this holy land of abbeys and +Gothic castles, I begin a letter to you. that I hope some +charitable monk, when he has buried our bones, will deliver to +you. We have had piteous distresses, but then we have seen +glorious sights! You shall hear of each in their order. + +Monday, Wind S. E.--at least that was our direction--While they +were changing our horses at Bromley, we went to see the Bishop +of Rochester's palace; not for the sake of any thing there was +to be seen, but because there was a chimney, in which had stood +a flower-pot, in which was put the counterfeit plot against +Bishop Sprat. 'Tis a paltry parsonage, with nothing of +antiquity but two panes of glass, purloined from Islip's chapel +in Westminster Abbey, with that abbot's rebus, an eye and a +slip of a tree. In the garden there is a clear little pond, +teeming with gold fish. The Bishop is more prolific than I am. + +>From Sevenoaks we went to Knowle. The park is sweet, with much +old beech, and an immense sycamore before the great gate, +that makes me more in love than ever with sycamores. The house +is not near so extensive as I expected:(330) the outward court +has a beautiful decent simplicity that charms one. The +apartments are many, but not large. The furniture throughout, +ancient magnificence; loads of portraits, not good nor curious; +ebony cabinets, embossed silver in vases, dishes, etc. +embroidered beds, stiff chairs, and sweet bags lying on velvet +tables, richly worked in silk and gold. There are two +galleries, one very small; an old hall, and a spacious great +drawing-room. There is never a good staircase. The first +little room you enter has sundry portraits of the times; but +they seem to have been bespoke by the yard, and drawn all by +the same painter; One should be happy if they were authentic; +for among them there is Dudley, Duke of Northumberland, +Gardiner of Winchester, the Earl of Surry, the poet, when a +boy, and a Thomas, Duke of Norfolk, but I don't know which. +The only fine picture is of Lord Goring and Endymion Porter by +Vandyke. There is a good head of the Queen of Bohemia, a +whole-length of Duc d'Espernon, and another good head of the +Clifford, Countess of Dorset, who wrote that admirable haughty +letter to Secretary Williamson, when he recommended a person to +her for member for Appleby: "I have been bullied by an usurper, +I have been neglected by a court, but I won't be dictated to by +a subject: your man shan't stand. Ann Dorset, Pembroke and +Montgomery." In the chapel is a piece of ancient tapestry: +Saint Luke in his first profession is holding an urinal. Below +stairs is a chamber of poets and players, which is proper +enough in that house; for the first Earl wrote a play,(331) and +the last Earl was a poet,(332) and I think married a +player(333) Major Mohun and Betterton are curious among the +latter, Cartwright and Flatman among the former. The arcade is +newly enclosed, painted in fresco, and with modern glass of all +the family matches. In the gallery is a whole-length of the +unfortunate Earl of Surry, with his device, a broken column, +and the motto Sat superest. My father had one of them, but +larger, and with more emblems, which the Duke of Norfolk bought +at my brother's sale. There is one good head of henry VIII., +and divers of Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex, the citizen who +came to be lord treasurer, and was very near coming to be +hanged.(334) His Countess, a bouncing kind of lady-mayoress, +looks pure awkward amongst so much good company. A visto cut +through the wood has a delightful effect from the front: but +there are some trumpery fragments of gardens that spoil the view +from the state apartments. + +We lay that night at Tunbridge town, and were surprised with +the ruins of the old castle. The gateway is perfect, and the +enclosure formed into a vineyard by a Mr. Hooker, to whom it +belongs, and the walls spread with fruit, and the mount on +which the keep stood, planted in the same way. The prospect is +charming, and a breach in the wall opens below to a pretty +Gothic bridge of three arches over the Medway. We honoured the +man for his taste-not but that we wished the committee at +Strawberry Hill were to sit upon it, and stick cypresses among +the hollows.--But, alas! he sometimes makes eighteen sour +hogsheads, and is going to disrobe 'the ivy-mantled tower,' +because it harbours birds! + +Now begins our chapter of woes. The inn was full of farmers +and tobacco; and the next morning, when we were bound for +Penshurst, the only man in the town who had two horses would +not let us have them, because the roads, as he said, were so +bad. We were forced to send to the wells for others, which did +not arrive till half the day was spent-we all the while up to +the head and ears in a market of sheep and oxen. A mile from +the town we climbed up a hill to see Summer Hill,(335) the +residence of Grammont's Princess of Babylon.(336) There is now +scarce a road to it: the Paladins of those times were too +valorous to fear breaking their necks; and I much apprehend +that la Monsery and the fair Mademoiselle Hamilton,(337) must +have mounted their palfreys and rode behind their +gentlemen-ushers upon pillions to the Wells. The house is +little better than a farm, but has been an excellent one, and +is entire, though out of repair. I have drawn the front of it +to show you, which you are to draw over again to show me. It +stands high, commands a vast landscape beautifully wooded, and +has quantities of large old trees to shelter itself, some of +which might be well spared to open views. + +>From Summer Hill we went to Lamberhurst to dine; near which, +that is, at the distance of three miles, up and down +impracticable hills, in a most retired vale, such as Pope +describes in the last Dunciad, + +"Where slumber abbots, purple as their vines," + +We found the ruins of Bayham Abbey, which the Barrets and +Hardings bid us visit. There are small but pretty remains, and +a neat little Gothic house built near them by their nephew +Pratt. They have found a tomb of an abbot, with a crosier, at +length on the stone. + +Here our woes increase. The roads row bad beyond all badness, +the night dark beyond all darkness, our guide frightened beyond +all frightfulness. However, without being at all killed, we +got UP, or down,--I forget which, it was so dark,--a famous +precipice called Silver Hill, and about ten at night arrived at +a wretched village called Rotherbridge. We had still six miles +hither, but determined to stop, as it would be a pity to break +our necks before we had seen all we intended. But alas! there +was only one bed to be had: all the rest were inhabited by +smugglers, whom the people of the house called mountebanks; and +with one of whom the lady of the den told Mr. Chute he might +lie. We did not at all take to this society, but, armed with +links and ]anthems, set out again upon this impracticable +journey. At two o'clock in the morning we got hither to a +still worse inn, and that crammed with excise officers, one of +whom had just shot a smuggler. However, as we were neutral +powers, we have passed safely through both armies hitherto, and +can give you a little farther history of our wandering through +these mountains, where the young gentlemen are forced to drive +their curricles with a pair of oxen. the only morsel of good +road we have found, was what even the natives had assured us +was totally impracticable: these were eight miles to Hurst +Monceaux.(338) It is seated at the end of a large vale, five +miles in a direct line to the sea, with wings of blue hills +covered with wood, one of which falls down to the in a sweep of +a hundred acres. The building, for the convenience of water to +the moat, sees nothing at all; indeed it is entirely imagined +on a plan of defence, with drawbridges actually in being, round +towers, watch-towers mounted on them, and battlements pierced +for the passage of arrows from long bows. It was built in the +time of Henry VI., and is as perfect as the first day. It does +not seem to have been ever quite finished, or at least that age +was not arrived at the luxury of white-wash; for almost all the +walls, except in the principal chambers, are in their native +brickhood. It is a square building, each side about two +hundred feet in length; a porch and cloister, very like Eton +College; and the -whole is much in the same taste, the kitchen +extremely so, with three vast funnels to the chimneys going up +on the inside. There are two or three little courts for +offices, but no magnificence of apartments. It is scarcely +furnished with a few necessary beds and chairs: one side has +been sashed, and a drawing-room and dining-room and two or +three rooms wainscoted by the Earl of Sussex, who married a +natural daughter of Charles II. Their arms with delightful +carvings by Gibbons-, particularly two pheasants, hang Over the +chimneys. Over the great drawing-room chimney is the first +coat armour of the first Leonard, Lord Dacre, with all his +alliances. Mr. Chute was transported, and called cousin with ten +thousand quarterings.(339) The chapel is small, and mean: the +Virgin and seven long lean saints, ill done, remain in the +windows. There have been four more, but seem to have been +removed for light; and we actually found St. Catherine, and +another gentlewoman with a church in her hand, exiled into the +buttery. There remain two odd cavities, with very small wooden +screens on each side the altar, which seem to have been +confessionals. The outside is a mixture of gray brick and stone, +that has a very venerable appearance. The drawbridges are +romantic to a degree; and there is a dungeon, that gives one a +delightful idea of living in the days of soccage and under such +goodly tenures. They showed us a dismal chamber which they +called Drummer's-hall, and suppose that Mr. Addison's comedy is +descended from it. In the windows of the gallery over the +cloisters, which leads all round to the apartments, is the +device of the Fienneses, a wolf holding a baton with a scroll, +Le roy le veut--an unlucky motto, as I shall tell you +presently, to the last peer of that line. The estate is two +thousand a year, and so compact as to have but seventeen houses +upon it. We walked up a brave old avenue to the church, with +ships sailing on our left hand the whole way. Before the altar +lies a lank brass knight, hight William Fienis, chevalier, who +obiit c.c.c.c.v. that is in 1405. By the altar is a beautiful +tomb, all in our trefoil taste, varied into a thousand little +canopies and patterns, and two knights reposing on their backs. +These were Thomas, Lord Dacre, and his only son Gregory, who +died sans issue. An old grayheaded beadsman of the family +talked to us of a blot in the scutcheon; and we had observed +that the field of the arms was green instead of blue, and the +lions ramping to the right, contrary to order. This and the +man's imperfect narrative let us into the circumstances of the +personage before us; for there is no inscription. He went in a +Chevy-chase style to hunt in a Mr. Pelham's(340) park at +Lawton: the keepers opposed, a fray ensued, a man was killed. +The haurhty baron took the death upon himself, as most secure +of pardon; but however, though there was no chancellor of the +exchequer in the question, he was condemned to be hanged: Le +roy le Vouloist. + +Now you arc fully master of Hurst Monceaux, I shall carry you +on to Battel--By the way, we bring you a thousand sketches, +that you may show us what we have seen. Battel Abbey stands at +the end of the town, exactly as Warwick Castle does of Warwick; +but the house of Webster have taken due care that it should not +resemble it in any thing else. A vast building, which they +call the old refectory, but which I believe was the original +church, is now barn, coach-house, etc. The situation is noble, +above the level of abbeys: what does remain of gateways and +towers is beautiful, particularly the flat side of a cloister, +which is now the front of the mansion-house. Miss of the family +has clothed a fragment of a portico with cockle-shells! The +grounds, and what has been a park, lie in a vile condition. In +the church is the tomb of Sir Anthony Browne, master of the horse +for life to Harry VIII.: from whose descendants the estate was +purchased. The head of John Hanimond, the last abbot, is still +perfect in one of the windows. Mr. Chute says, "What charming +things we should have done if Battel Abbey had been to be sold at +Mrs. Chenevix's, as Strawberry was!" Good night! + + +Tunbridge, Friday. + +We are returned hither, where we have established our +head-quarters. On our way, we had an opportunity of surveying +that formidable mountain, Silver Hill, which we had floundered +down in the dark: it commands a whole horizon of the richest +blue prospect you ever saw. I take it to be the ]Individual +spot to which the Duke of Newcastle carries the smugglers, and, +showing them Sussex and Kent, says, "All this will I give you, +if you will fall down and worship me." Indeed one of them, who +exceeded the tempter's warrant, hangs in chains on the very +spot where they finished the life of that wretched customhouse +officer whom they were two days in murdering. + +This morning we have been to Penshurst-but, oh! how +fallen!(341) The park seems to have never answered its +character: at present it is forlorn; and instead of +Sacharissa's(342) cipher carved on the beeches, I should sooner +have expected to have found the milkwoman's score. Over the +gate is an inscription, purporting the manor to have been a +boon from Edward VI. to Sir William Sydney. The apartments are +the grandest I have seen in any of these old palaces, but +furnished in tawdry modern taste. There are loads of +portraits; but most of them seem christened by chance, like +children at a foundling hospital. There is a portrait of +Languet,(343) the friend of Sir Philip Sydney; and divers of +himself and all his great kindred; particularly his +sister-in-law, with a vast lute, and Sacharissa, charmingly +handsome, But there are really four very great curiosities, I +believe as old portraits as any extant in England: they are, +Fitzallen, Archbishop of Canterbury, Humphry Stafford, the +first Duke of Buckingham; T. Wentworth, and John Foxle; all +four with the dates of their commissions as constables of +Queenborough Castle, from whence I suppose they were brought. +The last is actually receiving his investiture from Edward the +Third, and Wentworth is in the dress of Richard the Third's +time. They are really not very ill done.(344) There are six +more, only heads; and we have found since we came home that +Penshurst belonged for a time to that Duke of Buckingham. +There are some good tombs in the church, and a very Vandal one. +called Sir Stephen of Penchester. When we had seen Penshurst, +we borrowed saddles, and, bestriding the horses of our +postchaise, set out for Hever,(345) to visit a tomb of Sir +Thomas Bullen, Earl of Wiltshire, partly with a view to talk of +it in Anna Bullen's walk at Strawberry Hill. But the measure +of our woes was not full, we could not find our way.. and were +forced to return; and again lost ourselves in coming from +Penshurst, having been directed to what they call a better road +than the execrable one we had gone. + +Since dinner we have been to Lord Westmorland's which is so +perfect in a Palladian taste, that I must own it has recovered +me a little from Gothic. It is better situated than I had +expected from the bad reputation it bears, and some prospect, +though it is in a moat, and mightily besprinkled with small +ponds. The design, you know, is taken from the Villa del Capra +by Vicenza, but on a larger scale: yet, though it has cost an +hundred thousand pounds, it is still only a fine villa: the +finishing of in and outside has been exceedingly Expensive. A +wood that runs up a hill behind the house is broke like an +Albano landscape, with an octagon temple and a triumphal arch; +But then there are some dismal clipt hedges, and a pyramid, +which by a most unnatural copulation is at once a grotto and a +greenhouse. Does it not put you in mind of the proposal for +your drawing a garden-seat, Chinese on one side and Gothic on +the other? The chimneys, which are collected to a centre, spoil +the dome of the house, and the hall is a dark well. The +gallery is eighty-two feet long, hung with green velvet and +pictures, among which is a fine Rembrandt and a pretty La Hire. +The ceilings are painted, and there is a fine bed of silk and +gold tapestry. The attic is good, and the wings extremely +pretty, with porticoes formed on the style of the house. The +Earl has built a new church, with a steeple which seems designed +for the latitude, of Cheapside, and is so tall that the poor +church curtsies under it, like Mary Rich(346) in a vast +high-crown hat: it has a round portico, like St. Clement's, with +vast Doric pillars supporting a thin shelf. The inside is the +most abominable piece of tawdriness that ever was seen, stuffed +with pillars painted in imitation of verd antique, as all the +sides are like Sienna marble: but the greatest absurdity is a +Doric frieze, between the triglyphs of which is the Jehovah, the +I. H. S. and the Dove. There is a little chapel with Nevil +tombs, particularly of the first Fane, Earl of Westmorland, and +of the founder of the old church, and the heart of a knight who +was killed in the wars. On the Fane tomb is a pedigree of brass +in relief, and a genealogy of virtues to answer it. There is an +entire window of painted-glass arms, chiefly modern, in the +chapel, and another over the high altar. The hospitality of the +house was truly Gothic; for they made our postilion drunk, and he +overturned us close to a water and the bank did but just save us +from being in the middle of it. Pray, whenever you travel in +Kentish roads, take care of keeping your driver sober. + +Rochester, Sunday. + +We have finished our progress sadly! Yesterday after twenty +mishaps we got to Sissinghurst to dinner. There is a park in +ruins, and a house in ten times greater ruins, built by Sir +John Balier, chancellor of the exchequer to Queen Mary. You go +through an arch of the stables to the house, the court of which +is perfect and very beautiful. The Duke of Bedford has a house +at Cheneys, in Buckinghamshire, which seems to have been very +like it, but is more ruined. This has a good apartment, and a +fine gallery, a hundred and twenty feet by eighteen, which +takes up one side: the wainscot is pretty and entire: the +ceiling vaulted, and painted in a light genteel grotesque. The +whole is built for show: for the back of the house is nothing +but lath and plaster. From thence we Went to Bocton-Malherbe, +where are remains of a house of the Wottons, and their tombs in +the church; but the roads were so exceedingly bad that it was +dark before we got thither, and still darker before we got to +Maidstone: from thence we passed this morning to Leeds +Castle.(347) Never was such disappointment! There are small +remains: the moat is the only handsome object, and is quite a +lake, supplied by a cascade which tumbles through a bit of a +romantic grove. The Fairfaxes have fitted up a pert, bad +apartment in the fore-part of the castle, and have left the only +tolerable rooms for offices. They had a gleam of Gothic in their +eyes, but it soon passed off into some modern windows, and some +that never were ancient. The only thing that at all recompensed +the fatigues we have undergone was the picture of the Duchess of +Buckingham,(348) la Ragotte, who is mentioned in Grammont--I say +us, for I trust that Mr. Chute is as true a bigot to Grammont as +I am. Adieu? I hope you will be as weary +with reading our history as we have been in travelling it. +Yours ever. + +(329) Only son of Dr. Richard Bentley, the celebrated Divine +and classical scholar. He was educated at Trinity College, +under his father. Cumberland, who was his nephew, describes +him as a man of various and considerable accomplishments; +possessing a fine genius, great wit, and a brilliant +imagination; "but there was," he adds, "a certain eccentricity +and want of prudence in his character, that involved him in +distresses, and reduced him to situations uncongenial with his +feelings, and unpropitious to the cultivation and encouragement +of his talents."-E. + +(330) Evelyn ' in his Diary for July 25, 1673, says, "In my way +I visited my Lord of Dorset's house at Knowle, near Sevenoaks, +a greate old-fashion'd house."-E. + +331) Thomas Sackville, Lord Buckhurst, while a student in the +Temple, wrote his tragedy of Gordobuc, which was played before +Queen Elizabeth, at Whitehall, in 1561. He was created Earl of +Dorset by James the First, in 1604.-E. + +(332) Charles Sackville, sixth Earl of Dorset. On the day +previous to the naval engagement with the Dutch, in 1665, he is +said to have composed his celebrated song, "to all you Ladies +now on Land."-E. + +(333) On the contrary, he married the Lady Frances, daughter of +the Earl of Middlesex, who survived him.-E. + +(334) Lionel Cranfield, Earl of Middlesex, married two wives: +the first was the daughter of a London citizen; the second, the +daughter of James Brett, Esq. and half-sister of Mary Beaumont, +created Countess of Buckingham. To this last alliance, Lord +Middlesex owed his extraordinary advancement.-E. + +(335) "May 29, 1652. We went to see the house of my Lord +Clanrickard, at Summer Hill, near Tunbridge; now given to that +villain Bradshaw, who condemned the King. 'Tis situated on an +eminent hill, with a park, but has nothing else extraordinary." +Evelyn, vol. ii. p. 58.-E. + +(336) lady Margaret Macarthy, daughter and heiress of the +Marquis of Clanricarde, wife of Charles, Lord Muskerry.-E. + +(337) Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Sir George Hamilton, fourth +son of the first Earl of Abercorn, and niece of to the first +Duke of Ormond, celebrated in the "M`emoires de Grammont" +(written by her brother, Count Anthony Hamilton,) for her +beauty and accomplishments. She married Philip, Count de +Grammont, by whom she had two daughters; the eldest married +Henry Howard, created Earl of Stafford, and the youngest took +the veil.-E. + +(338) the ancient inheritance of Lord Dacre of the South.-E. + +(339) Chaloner Chute, Esq, of the Vine, married Catherine, +daughter of Richard, Lord Dacre.-E. + +(340) At the date of this letter Mr. Pelham was prime minister. + +(341) Evelyn, who visited Penshurst exactly a century before +Walpole, gives the Following brief notice of the place:-"July +9, 1652. We went to see Penshurst, the Earl of Leicester's, +famous once for its gardens and excellent fruit, and for the +noble conversation which Was wont to meet there, celebrated by +that illustrious person Sir Philip Sidney, who there composed +divers of his pieces. It stands in a park, is finely watered, +and was now full of company, on the marriage of my old +fellow-collegiate, Mr. Robert Smith, who marries Lady Dorothy +Sidney, widow of the Earl of Sunderland."-E. + +(342) Lady Dorothy Sidney, daughter of Philip, Earl of +Leicester; of whom Waller was the unsuccessful suitor, and to +whom he addressed those elegant effusions of poetical +gallantry, in which she is celebrated under the name of +Sacharissa. Walpole here alludes to the lines written at +Penshurst- + +"Go, boy, and carve this passion on the bark +Of yonder tree, which stands the sacred mark +Of noble Sydney's birth; when such benign, +Such more than mortal-making stars did shine, +That there they cannot but for ever prove +The monument and pledge of humble love; +His humble love, whose hope shall ne'er rise higher, +Than for a pardon that he dares admire."-E. + +(343) Hubert Tanguet, who quitted the service of the Elector of +Saxony on account of his religion, and attached himself to the +Prince of Orange. He died in 1581.-E. + +(344) In Harris's History of Kent, he gives from Philpot a list +of the constables of Queenborough Castle, p. 376; the last but +one of whom, Sir Edward Hobby, is said to have collected all +their portraits, of which number most probably were these ten. + +(345) Hever Castle was built in the reign of Edward III., by +William de Hevre, and subsequently became the property of the +Boleyn family. In this castle Henry VIII. passed the time of +his courtship to the unfortunate Anne Boleyn; whose father, Sir +Thomas Boleyn, was Created Earl of wiltshire and Ormond, 1529 +and 1538.-E. + +(346)Daughter of Sir Robert Rich, and elder sister of Elizabeth +Rich, Lady Lyttelton. + + +(347) A very ancient and magnificent structure, built +throughout of stone, at different periods, formerly belonging +to the family of Crovequer. In the fifteenth of Edward II. +Sir Thomas de Colepeper, who was castellan of the castle, was +hanged on the drawbridge for having refused admittance to +Isabel, the Queen-consort, in her progress in performing a +pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Thomas `a Becket at Canterbury. +The manor and castle were forfeited to the crown by his +attainder, but restored to his son, sir Thomas Colepeper. By +his Diary of May 8, 1666, it appears to have been hired by +Evelyn for a prison. "Here," he says, "I flowed the dry moat, +made a new drawbridge, brought spring-water into the court of +the castle to an old fountain, and took order for the +repairs."-E. + +(348) Mary, Duchess of Buckingham, only daughter of Thomas, +Lord Fairfax.-E. + + + +145 Letter 65 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, Aug. 28, 1752. + +Will you never have done jigging at Northampton with that old +harlotry Major Compton? Peggy Trevor told me, she had sent you +a mandate to go thither. Shall I tell you how I found Peggy, +that is, not Peggy, but her sister Muscovy? I went, found a +bandage upon the knocker, an old woman and child in the hall, +and a black boy at the door. Lord! thinks I, this can't be +Mrs. Boscawen's. However, Pompey let me up; above were fires +blazing, and a good old gentlewoman, whose occupation easily +spoke itself to be midwifery. "Dear Madam, I fancy I should not +have come up."--"Las-a-day! Sir, no, I believe not; but I'll +stop and ask." Immediately out came old Falmouth,(348) looking +like an ancient fairy, who had just been tittering a +malediction over a new-born prince, and told me, forsooth, that +Madame Muscovy was but just brought to bed, which Peggy Trevor +soon came and confirmed. I told them I would write you my +adventure. I have not thanked you for your travels, and the +violent curiosity you have given me to see Welbeck. Mr. Chute +and I have been a progress too; but it was in a land you know +full well, the county of Kent. I will only tell you that we +broke our necks twenty times to your health, and had a distant +glimpse of Hawkhurst from that Sierra Morena, Silver Hill. I +have since been with Mr. Conway at Park-place, where I saw the +individual Mr. Cooper, a banker, and lord of the manor of +Henley, who had those two extraordinary forfeitures from the +executions of the Misses Blandy and Jefferies, two fields from +the former, and a malthouse from the latter. I had scarce +credited the story, and was pleased to hear it confirmed by the +very person; though it was not quite so remarkable as it was +reported, for both forfeitures were in the same manor. + +Mr. Conway has brought Lady Ailesbury from Minorca, but +originally from Africa, a Jeribo. To be sure you know what +that is; if you don't, I will tell you, and then I believe you +will scarce know any better. It is a composition of a +squirrel, a hare, a rat, and a monkey, which altogether looks +very like a bird. In short, it is about the size of the first, +with much Such a head, except that the tip of the nose seems +shaved off, and the remains are like a human hare-lip; the ears +and its timidity are like a real hare. It has two short little +feet before like a rat, but which it never uses for walking, I +believe never but to hold its food. The tail is naked like a +monkey's, with a tuft of hair at the end; striped black and white +in rings. The two hind legs are as long as a Granville's, with +feet more like a bird than any other animal, and upon these it +hops so immensely fast and upright that at a distance you would +take it for a large thrush. It lies in cotton, is brisk at +night, eats wheat, and never drinks; it would, but drinking is +fatal to them. Such is a Jeribo! + +Have you heard the particulars of the Speaker's quarrel with a +young officer, who went to him, on his landlord refusing to +give his servant the second best bed in the inn? He is a young +man of eighteen hundred a year, and passionately fond of the +army. The Speaker produced the Mutiny-bill to him. "Oh Sir," +said the lad, "but there is another act of parliament which +perhaps you don't know of." The "person of dignity," as the +newspapers call him, then was so ingenious as to harangue on +the dangers of a standing army. The boy broke out, "Don't tell +me of your privileges: what would have become of you and your +privileges in the year forty-five, if it had not been for the +army--and pray, why do you fancy I would betray my country? I +have as much to lose as you have!" In short, this abominable +young hector treated the Speaker's oracular decisions with a +familiarity that quite shocks me to think of! + +The Poemata-Grayo-Bentleiana, or Gray's Odes, better +illustrated than ever odes were by a Bentley, are in great +forwardness, and I trust will appear this Winter. I shall tell +you One little anecdote about the authors and conclude. Gray +is in love to distraction with a figure of Melancholy, which Mr +Bentley has drawn for one of the Odes, and told him he must +have something of his pencil: Mr. Bentley desired him to choose +a subject. He chose Theodore and Honoria!--don't mention this, +for we are shocked. It is loving melancholy till it is not +strong enough, and he grows to dram with Horror. Good night! +my compliments to Miss Montagu; did you receive my recipes? + +(348) Charlotte, daughter and co-heiress of Colonel Godfrey, +married in 1700 to Lord Falmouth.-E. + + + +146 Letter 66 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Oct. 28, N. S. 1752. + +I must certainly make you a visit, for I have nothing to say to +you. Perhaps you will think this an odd reason; but as I +cannot let our intimacy drop, and no event happens here for +fuel to the correspondence, if we must be silent, it shall be +like a matrimonial silence, t`ete-`a-t`ete. Don't look upon +this paragraph as a thing in the air, though I dare to say you +will, upon my repeating that I have any thoughts of a trip to +Florence: indeed I have never quite given up that intention and +if I can possibly settle my affairs at all to my mind, I +shall certainly execute my scheme towards the conclusion of +this Parliament, that is, about next spring twelvemonth: I +cannot bear elections: and still less, the hash of them over +again in a first session. What vivacity such a reverberation +may give to the blood of England, I don't know; at present it +all stagnates. I am sometimes almost tempted to go and amuse +myself at Paris with the bull Unigenius. Our beauties are +returned, and have done no execution. The French would not +conceive that Lady Caroline Petersham ever had been handsome, +nor that my Lady Coventry has much pretence to be so now. +Indeed all the travelled English allow that there is a Madame +de Broune handsomer, and a finer figure. Poor Lady Coventry +was under piteous disadvantages; for besides being very silly, +ignorant of the world, breeding, speaking no French, and +suffered to wear neither red nor powder, she had that perpetual +drawback upon her beauty her lord, who is sillier in a wise +way, as ignorant, ill bred, and speaking very little French +himself-just enough to show how ill-bred he is. The Duke de +Luxemburg told him he had called upon my Lady Coventry's coach; +my lord replied, "Vous avez fort bien fait." He is jealous, +prude, and scrupulous; at a dinner at Sir John Bland's, before +sixteen persons, he coursed his wife round the table, on +suspecting she had stolen on a little red, seized her, scrubbed +it off by force with a napkin, and then told her, that since +she had deceived him and broke her promise, he would carry her +back directly to England. They were pressed to stay for the +great fete at St. Cloud; he excused himself, +"because it would make him miss a music-meeting at Worcester;" +and she excused herself from the fireworks at Madame +Pompadour's, "because it was her dancing-master's hour." I +will tell you but one more anecdote, and I think You cannot be +imperfect in your ideas of them. The Mar`echale de lowendahl +was pleased with an English fan Lady Coventry had, who very +civilly gave it her: my lord made her write for it again next +morning, because he had given it her before marriage, and her +parting with it would make an irreparable breach," and send an +old one in the room of it! She complains to every body she +meets, "How odd it is that my lord should use her so ill, when +she knows he has so great a regard that he would die for her, +and when he was so good as to marry her without a shilling!" +Her sister's history is not unentertaining: Duke Hamilton is +the abstract of Scotch pride: he and the Duchess at their own +house walk in to dinner before their company, sit together at +the upper end of their own table, eat off the same plate, and +drink to nobody beneath the rank of Earl-would not one wonder +how they could get any body either above or below that rank to +dine with them at all? I don't know whether you will not think +all these very trifling histories; but for myself, I love any +thing that marks a character SO Strongly. + +I told you how the younger Cr`ebillon had served me, and how +angry I am; yet I must tell you a very good reply of his. His +father one day in a passion with him, said, "Il y a deux choses +que je voudrois n'avoir jamais fait, mon Catilina et vous!" He +answered, "Consolez vous, mon p`ere, car on pr`etend que vous +n'avez fait ni l'un ni l'autre." Don't think me infected with +France, if I tell you more French stories; but I know no +English ones, and we every day grow nearer to the state of a +French province, and talk from the capital. The old +Cr`ebillon, who admires us as much as we do them. has long had +by him a tragedy called Oliver Cromwell, and had thoughts of +dedicating it to the Parliament of England: he little thinks +how distant a cousin the present Parliament is to the +Parliament he wots of. The Duke of Richelieu's son,(349) who +certainly must not pretend to declare off, like Cr`ebillon's, +(he is a boy of ten years old,) was reproached for not minding +his Latin: he replied, "Eh! mon p`ere n'a jamais s`cu le Latin, +et il a eu les plus jolies femmes de France!" My sister was +exceedingly shocked with their indecorums: the night She +arrived at Paris, asking for the Lord knows what utensil, the +footman of the house came and "showed it her himself, and every +thing that is related to it. Then, the footmen who brought +messages to her, came into her bedchamber in person; for they +don't deliver them to your servants, in the English way. She +amused me with twenty other new fashions, which I should be +ashamed to set down, if a letter was at all upon a higher or +wiser foot than a newspaper. Such is their having a knotting +bag made of the same stuff with every gown; their footmen +carrying their lady's own goblet whenever they dine; the King +carrying his own bread in his pocket to dinner, the etiquette +of the queen and the Mesdames not speaking to one another cross +him at table, and twenty other such nothings; but I find myself +Gossiping and will have done, with only two little anecdotes +that please me. Madame Pompadour's husband has not been +permitted to keep an opera-girl, because it would too +frequently occasion the reflection of his not having his wife-- +is not that delightful decorum? and in that country! The other +was a most sensible trait of the King. The Count +Charolois(350) shot a President's dogs, who lives near him: the +President immediately posted to Versailles to complain: the +King promised him justice; and then sent to the Count to desire +he would give him two good dogs. The Prince picked out his two +best: the king sent them to the President, with this motto on +their collars, 'J'appartiens au Roi!' "There," said the king, +"I believe he won't shoot them now!" + +Since I began my letter, I looked over my dates, and was hurt +to find that three months are gone and over since I wrote last. +I was going to begin a new apology, when your letter of Oct. +20th came in, curtsying and making apologies itself. I was +charmed to find you to blame, and had a mind to grow haughty +and scold you-but I won't. My dear child, we will not drop one +another at last; for though we arc English, we are not both in +England, and need not quarrel we don't know why. We will write +whenever we have any thing to say; and when we have not,--Why, we +will be going to write. I had heard nothing of the Riccardi +deaths: I still like to hear news of any of my old friends. Your +brother tells me that you defend my Lord Northumberland's idea +for his gallery, so I will not abuse it so much as I intended, +though I must say that I am so fired with copies of the pictures +he has chosen, that I would scarce hang up the originals--and +then, copies by any thing now living!--and at that price!--indeed +price is no article, or rather price is a reason for my Lord +Northumberland's liking any thing. They are building at +Northumberland-house, at Sion, at Stansted, at Alnwick, and +Warkworth Castles! they live by the etiquette of the old +peerage, have Swiss porters, the Countess has her pipers--in +short, they will very soon have no estate. + +One hears here of writings that have appeared in print on the +quarrel of the Pretender and his second son; I could like to +see any such thing. Here is a bold epigram, which the +Jacobites give about: + +"In royal veins how blood resembling runs! +Like any George, James quarrels with his sons. +Faith! I believe, could he his crown resume, +He'd hanker for his herenhausen, Rome." + +The second is a good line; but the thought in the last is too +obscurely expressed; and yet I don't believe that it was +designed for precaution. + +I went yesterday with your brother to see Astley's(351) +pictures: mind, I confess myself a little prejudiced, for he +has drawn the whole Pigwigginhood. but he has got too much +into the style of the four thousand English painters about +town, and is so intolerable as to work for money, not for fame: +in short, he is not such a Rubens as in your head--but I fear, +as I said, that I am prejudiced. Did I ever tell you of a +picture at Woolterton of the whole family which I call the +progress of riches? there is Pigwiggin in a laced coat and +waistcoat; the second son has only the waistcoat trimmed; the +third is in a plain suit, and the little boy is naked. I saw a +much more like picture of my uncle last night at Drury Lane in +the farce; there is a tailor who is exactly my uncle in person, +and my aunt in family. Good night! I wish you joy of being +dis-Richcourted; you need be in no apprehensions of his +Countess; she returns to England in the spring! Adieu! + +P.S. You shall see that I am honest, for though the beginning +of my letter is dated Oct. 28th, the conclusion ought to be +from Nov. 11th. + +(349) The infamous Duke de Pronsac.-D. + +(350) Charles de Bourbon, Count de Charolois, next brother to +the Duke de Bourbon, who succeeded the Regent Duke of Orleans +as prime minister of France. the Count de Charolois was a man +of infamous character, and committed more than one murder. +when Louis the Fifteenth pardoned him for one of these +atrocities, he said to him, "I tell you fairly, that I will +also pardon any man who murders you."-D. + +(351) John Astley, an English portrait painter of some merit, +born at Wem, in Shropshire. He married a lady of large +fortune, relinquished his profession, and died in 1787.-D. + + + +150 Letter 67 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway.(352) +Strawberry Hill, November 8th, 1752. + +Dear Harry, +After divers mistakes and neglects of my own servants and Mr. +Fox's, the Chinese pair have at last set sail for Park-place: I +don't call them boar and sow, because of their being fit for +his altar: I believe, when you see them, you will think it is +Zicchi Micchi himself, the Chinese god of good eating and +drinking, and his wife. They were to have been with you last +week, but the chairmen who were to drive them to the water side +got drunk, and said, that the creatures were so wild and +unruly, that they ran away and would not be managed. Do but +think of their running! It puts me in mind of Mrs. Nugent's +talking of just jumping out of a coach! I might with as much +propriety talk of' having all my clothes let out. My coachman +is vastly struck with the goodly paunch of the boar, and says, +it would fetch three pounds in his country; but he does not +consider, that he is a boar with the true brown edge,(353) and +has been fed with the old original wheatsheaf: I hope you will +value him more highly: I dare say Mr. cutler or Margas,(354) +would at least ask twenty guineas for him, and swear that Mrs. +Dunch gave thirty for the fellow. + +As you must of course write me a letter of thanks for my brawn, +I beg you will take that opportunity Of telling me very +particularly how my Lady Aylesbury does, and if she is quite +recovered, as I much hope? How does my sweet little wife do @ +Are your dragons all finished? Have the Coopers seen Miss +Blandy's ghost, or have they made Mr. Cranston poison a dozen +or two more private gentlewomen? Do you plant without rain as I +do, in order to have your trees die, that you may have the +pleasure of planting them over again with rain? Have you any +Mrs. Clive(355) that pulls down barns that intercept your +prospect; or have you any Lord Radnor(356) that plants trees to +intercept his own prospect, that he may cut them down again to +make an alteration? There! there are as many questions as if I +were your schoolmaster or your godmother! Good night! + +(352) Now first printed. + +(353) He means such as are painted on old china with the brown +edge, and representations of wheatsheafs.-E. + +(354) Fashionable china-shops.-E. + +(355) Then living at Little Strawberry Hill.-E. + +(356) The last Lord Radnor of the family of Robarts, then +living at Twickenham, very near Strawberry Hill.-E. + + + +150 Letter 68 +To George Montagu, Esq. +White's, December 3, 1752. + +I shall be much obliged to you for the passion-flower, +notwithstanding it comes out of a garden of Eden, from which +Eve, my sister-in-law, long ago gathered passion-fruit. I thank +you too for the offer of your Roman correspondences, but you know +I have done with virt`u, and deal only with the Goths and +Vandals. + +You ask a very improper person, why my Lord Harcourt(357) +resigned. My lord Coventry says it is the present great +arcanum of government, and you know I am quite out of the +circle of secrets. The town says, that it was finding Stone is +a Jacobite; and it says, too, that the Whigs are very uneasy. +My Lord Egremont says the Whigs can't be in danger, for then my +Lord Hartington would not be gone a-hunting. Every body is as +inpatient as you can be, to know the real cause, but I don't +find that either Lord or Bishop is disposed to let the world +into the true secret. It is pretty certain that one Mr. +Cresset has abused both of them without ceremony, and that the +Solicitor-general told the Bishop in plain terms that my Lord +Harcourt was a cipher, and was put in to be a cipher: an +employment that, considering it is a sinecure, seems to hang +unusually long upon their hands. They have so lately +quarrelled with poor Lord Holderness for playing at +blindman's-buff at Tunbridge, that it will be difficult to give +him another place only because he is fit to play at +blind-man's-buff; and yet it is much believed that he will be +the governor, and your cousin his successor. I am as improper +to tell you why the governor of Nova Scotia is to be at the +head of the Independents. I have long thought him one of the +greatest dependents, and I assure you I have seen nothing since +his return, to make me change my opinion. He is too busy in +the bedchamber to remember me. + +Mr. Fox said nothing about your brother; if the offer was +ill-designed from one quarter, I think you may make the refusal +of it have its weight in another. + +It would be odd to conclude a letter from White's without a +bon-mot of George Selwyn's; he came in here t'other night, and +saw James Jefferies playing at piquet with Sir Everard +Falkener, "Oh!" says he, "now he is robbing the mail." Good +night! when do you come back? + +(357) On the death of the Prince of Wales in 1751, his eldest +son, Prince George, was committed to the care of the Earl of +Harcourt as governor. + + + + +151 Letter 69 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Dec. 11, 1752, N. S. + +I don't know whether I may not begin a new chapter of +revolutions: if one may trust prognosticators, the foundations +of a revolution in earnest are laying. However, as I am only a +simple correspondent, and no almanack-maker, I shall be content +with telling you facts, and not conjectures, at least if I do +tell you conjectures they shall not be my own. Did not I give +you a hint in the summer of some storms gathering in the +tutorhood? They have broke out; indeed there wanted nothing to +the explosion but the King's arrival, for the instant he came, it +was pretty plain that he was prepared for the grievances he was +to hear--not very impartially it seems, for he would not speak to +Lord Harcourt. In about three days he did, and saw him +afterwards alone in his closet. What the conversation was, I +can't tell you: one should think not very explicit, for in a day +or two afterwards it was thought proper to send the Archbishop +and Chancellor to hear his lordship's complaints; but on +receiving a message that they would wait on him by the King's +orders, he prevented the visit by going directly to the +Chancellor; and on hearing their commission, Lord Harcourt, after +very civil speeches of regard to their persons, said, he must +desire to be excused, for what he had to say was of a nature that +made it improper to be said to any body but the King. You may +easily imagine that this is interpreted to allude to a higher +person than the mean people who have offended Lord Harcourt and +the Bishop of Norwich. Great pains were taken to detach the +former from the latter; "dear Harcourt, we love you, we wish to +make you easy; but the Bishop must go." I don't tell you these +were the Duke of Newcastle's words; but if I did, would they be +unlike him? Lord Harcourt fired, and replied with spirit, +"What! do you think to do me a favour by offering me to stay! +know, it is I that will not act with such fellows as Stone and +Cresset, and Scott: if they are kept, I will quit, and if the +Bishop is dismissed, I will quit too." After a few days, he +had his audience and resigned. It is said, that he frequently +repeated, "Stone is a Jacobite," and that the other person who +made up the t`ete-`a-t`ete cried, "Pray, my lord! pray, my +lord!"--and would not hear upon that subject. The next day the +Archbishop went to the King, and begged to know whether the +Bishop of Norwich might have leave to bring his own +resignation, or whether his Majesty would receive it from him, +the Archbishop, The latter was chosen, and the Bishop' was +refused an audience. + +You will now naturally ask me what the quarrel was: and that is +the most difficult point to tell you; for though the world +expects to see some narrative, nothing has yet appeared, nor I +believe will, though both sides have threatened. The Princess +says, the Bishop taught the boys nothing; he says, he never was +suffered to teach them any thing. The first occasion of +uneasiness was the Bishop's finding the Prince of Wales reading +the Revolutions of England, written by P`ere d'Orl`eans to +vindicate James II. and approved by that Prince. Stone at +first peremptorily denied that he had seen that book these +thirty years, and offered to rest his whole justification upon +the truth or falsehood of this story. However, it is now +confessed that the Prince was reading that book, but it is +qualified with Prince Edward's borrowing it of Lady Augusta. +Scott, the under-preceptor, put in by Lord Bolingbroke, and of no +very orthodox odour, was another complaint. Cresset, the link of +the connexion, has dealt in no very civil epithets, for besides +calling Lord Harcourt a groom, he qualified the Bishop with +bastard and atheist,' particularly to one of the Princess's +chaplains, who, begged to be excused from hearing such language +against a prelate of the church, and not prevailing, has drawn +up a narrative, sent it to the Bishop, and offered to swear to +it. For Lord Harcourt, besides being treated with considerable +contempt by the Princess, he is not uninformed of the light in +which he was intended to stand, by an amazing piece of +imprudence of the last, but not the most inconsiderable +performer in this drama, the Solicitor-general, Murray--pray, +what part has his brother, Lord Dunbar, acted in the late +squabbles in the Pretender's family? Murray, early in the +quarrel, went officiously to the Bishop, and told him Mr. Stone +ought to have more consideration in the family: the Bishop was +surprised, and got rid of the topic as well as he could. The +visit and opinion were repeated: the Bishop said, he believed +Mr. Stone had all the regard shown him that was due; that lord +Harcourt, who was the chief person, was generally present. +Murray interrupted him, "Pho! Lord Harcourt! he is a cipher, +and must be a cipher, and was put in to be a cipher." Do you +think after this declaration, that the employment will be very +agreeable? Every body but Lord Harcourt understood it before; +but at least the cipher -ism was not notified in form. Lord +Lincoln, the intimate friend of that lord, was so friendly to +turn his back upon him as he came out of the closet--and yet Lord +Harcourt and the Bishop have not at all lessened their characters +by any part of their behaviour in this transaction. What will +astonish you, is the universal aversion that has broke out +against Stone: and what heightens the disgusts, is, the intention +there has been of making Dr. Johnson, the new Bishop of +Gloucester, preceptor. He was master of Westminster School, of +Stone's and Murray's year, and is certainly of their +principles--to be sure, that is, Whig--but the Whigs don't seem +to think so. As yet no successors are named; the Duke of +Leeds,(359) Lord Cardigan, Lord Waldegrave, Lord Hertford, Lord +Bathurst, and Lord Ashburnham,(360) are talked of for governor. +The two first are said to have refused; the third dreads it; the +next I hope will not have it; the Princess is inclined to the +fifth, and the last I believe eagerly wishes for it. Within this +day or two another is named, which leads me to tell you another +interlude in our politics. This is poor Lord Holderness --to +make room in the secretary's office for Lord Halifax. Holderness +has been in disgrace from the first minute of the King's return: +besides not being spoken to, he is made to wait at the +closet-door with the bag in his hand, while the Duke of Newcastle +is within; though the constant etiquette has been for both +secretaries of state to go in together, or to go in immediately, +if one came after the other. I knew of this disgrace; but not +being quite so able a politician as Lord Lincoln, at least having +an inclination to great men in misfortune, I went the other +morning to visit the afflicted. I found him alone: he said, "You +are very good to visit any body in my situation." This lamentable +tone had like to have made me laugh; however I kept my +countenance, and asked him what he meant? he said, "Have not you +heard how the world abuses me only for playing at blindman's-buff +in a private room at Tunbridge?" Oh! this was too much! I +laughed out. I do assure you, this account of his misfortunes +was not given particularly to me: nay, to some he goes so far as +to say, "Let them go to the office, and look over my letters and +see if I am behindhand!" To be sure, when he has done his book, +it is very hard he may not play! My dear Sir, I don't know what +apologies a P`ere d'Orl`eans must make for our present history! +it is too ridiculous! + +The preceptor is as much in suspense as the governor. The +Whigs clamour so much against Johnson, that they are regarded,- +-at least for a time. Keene,(361) Bishop of Chester, and +brother of your brother minister, has been talked of. He is a +man that will not prejudice his fortune by any ill-placed +scruples. My father gave him a living of seven hundred pounds +a year to marry one of his natural daughters; he took the +living; and my father dying soon after, he dispensed with +himself from taking the wife, but was so generous as to give +her very near one year's income of the living. He then was the +Duke of Newcastle's- tool at Cambridge, which university be has +half turned Jacobite, by cramming down new ordinances to carry +measures of that Duke; and being rewarded with the bishopric, +he was at dinner at the Bishop of Lincoln's when he received +the nomination. He immediately rose from the table, took his +host into another room, and begged he would propose him to a +certain great fortune, to whom he never spoke, but for whom he +now thought himself a proper match.(362) Don't you think he +would make a very proper preceptor? Among other candidates, +they talk of Dr. hales, the old philosopher, a poor good +primitive creature, whom I call the Santon Barsisa; do you +remember the hermit in the Persian tales, who after living in +the odour of sanctity for above ninety years, was tempted to be +naughty with the King's daughter, who had been sent to his cell +for a cure? Santon Hales but two years ago accepted the post of +clerk of the closet to the Princess, after literally leading the +life of a studious anchorite till past seventy. If he does +accept the preceptorship, I don't doubt but by the time the +present clamours are appeased, the wick of his old life will be +snuffed out, and they will put Johnson in his socket. Good +night! I shall carry this letter to town to-morrow, and perhaps +keep it back a few days, till I am able to send you this history +complete. + +Arlington Street, Dec. 17th. + +Well! at last we shall have a governor: after meeting with +divers refusals, they have forced lord Waldegrave(364) to take +it; and he kisses hands to-morrow. He has all the time declared +that nothing but the King's earnest desire should make him +accept it-and so they made the King earnestly desire it! Dr. +Thomas, the Bishop of Peterborough, I believe, is to be the +tutor--I know nothing of him: he had lain by for many years, +after having read prayers to the present King when he lived at +Leicester House, which his Majesty remembered, and two years +ago popped him into a bishopric. + +There is an odd sort of manifesto arrived from Prussia, which +does not make us in better humour at St. James's. It stops the +payment of the interest on the Silesian loan, till satisfaction +is made some Prussian captures during the war. The omnipotence +of the present ministry does not reach to Berlin! Adieu! All +the world are gone to their several Christmases, as I should +do, if I could have got my workmen out of Strawberry Hill; but +they don't work at all by the scale of my impatience. + +(358) The Bishop of Norwich, who was a prelate of profound +learning, and conscientiously zealous for the mental +improvement of his pupil, disgusted the young Prince by his dry +and pedantic manners, and offended the Princess, his mother, by +persevering in the discipline which he deemed necessary to +remedy the gross neglect of her son's education." Coxe's +Pelham, vol. ii. p. 236.-E. + +(359) Thomas Osborne, fourth Duke of Leeds. He died in +1789.-D. + +(360) John, second Earl of Ashburnham. He died at a great age, +April 8th, 1812.-D. + +(361) Dr. Edmund Keene, Bishop of Chester, was, for some reason +which is not known, the constant subject of Gray's witty and +splenetic effusions. One of the chief amusements discovered by +the poet, pour passer le temps in a postchaise, was making +extempore epigrams upon the Bishop, and then laughing at them +immoderately. The following, which is the commencement of one +of them, may serve as a specimen: + +"Here lies Edmund Keene, the Bishop of Chester, +Who ate a fat goose and could not digest her." + +(362) In the May of this year, Dr. Keene married the only +daughter of Lancelot Andrews, Esq. of Edmonton, formerly an +eminent linendraper in Cheapside, a lady of considerable +fortune.-E. + +(363) Dr. Stephen Hales, author of "Vegetable Statics," and +"Vegetable Essays." This eminent natural philosopher and +vegetable physiologist was offered a canonry of Windsor, but +contented himself with the living of Teddington, which he held +with that of Farringdon. He died in 1761, at the age of +eighty-four. + +(364) Walpole, in his Memoires, gives the following account of +Lord Waldegrave's appointment: " The Earl accepted it at the +earnest request of the King, and after repeated assurances of +the submission and tractability of Stone. The Earl was averse +to it. He was a man of pleasure, understood the court, was +firm in the King's favour, easy in his circumstances, and at +once undesirous of rising, and afraid to fall. He said to a +friend, "If I dared, I would make this excuse to the King- +-'Sir, I am too young to govern. and too old to be governed:' +but he was forced to submit. A man of stricter honour and of +more reasonable sense could not have been selected for the +employment." Vol. i. p. 255.-E. + + + +155 Letter 70 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Feb. 14, 1753. + +I have been going to write to you every post for these three +weeks, and could not bring myself to begin a letter with "I +have nothing to tell YOU." But it grows past a joke; we will +not drop our correspondence because there is no war, no +Politics, no parties, no madness, and no scandal. In the +memory of England there never was so inanimate an age: it is +more fashionable to go to church than to either House of +Parliament. Even the era of the Gunnings is over: both sisters +have lain in, and have scarce made one paragraph in the +newspapers, though their names were grown so renowned, that in +Ireland the beggarwomen bless you with,-,, "the luck of the +Gunnings attend you!" + +You will scarce guess how I employ my time; chiefly at present +in the guardianship of embryos and cockleshells. Sir hans +Sloane is dead, and has made me one of the trustees to his +museum, which is to be offered for twenty thousand pounds to +the king, the Parliament, the Royal Academies of Petersburnh, +Berlin, Paris, and Madrid.(365) He valued it at fourscore +thousand; and so would any body who loves hippopotamuses, +sharks with one ear, and spiders as big as geese! It is a +rent-charge, to keep the foetuses in spirits! You may believe +that those who think money the most valuable of all +curiosities, will not be purchasers. The King has excused +himself, saying he did not believe that there were twenty +thousand pounds in the treasury. We are a charming, wise set, +all philosophers, botanists, antiquarians, and mathematicians; +and adjourned our first meeting because Lord Macclesfield, our +chairman, was engaged to a party for finding out the longitude. +One of our number is a Moravian who signs himself Henry XXVIII, +Count de Reus. The Moravians have settled a colony at Chelsea, +in Sir Hans's neighbourhood, and I believe he intended to beg +Count Henry XXVIIIth's skeleton for his museum. + +I am almost ashamed to be thanking you but now for a most +entertaining letter of two sheets, dated December 22, but I +seriously had nothing to form an answer. It is but three +mornings ago that your brother was at breakfast with me, and +scolded me, "Why, you tell me nothing!"--"No," says I "if I had +any thing to say, I should write to your brother." I give you +my word, that the first new book that takes, the first murder, +the first revolution, you shall have, with all the +circumstances. In the mean time, do be assured that there +never was so dull a place as London, or so insipid an +inhabitant of it, as, yours, etc. + +(365) Ames, in a letter written on the 22d of March to Mr. T. +Martin, says, "I cannot forbear to give you some relation of +Sir Hans Sloane's curiosities. The Parliament has been pleased +to accept them on the condition of Sir Hans's codicil; that is, +that they should be kept together in one place in or near +London, and should be exhibited freely for a public use. The +King, or they, by the will, were to have the first error. The +19th instant being appointed for a committee of the whole +House, after several speeches, the Speaker himself moved the +whole House into a general regard to have them joined with the +King's and Cotton Libraries, together with those of one Major +Edwards, who had left seven thousand pounds to build a library, +besides his own books; and to purchase the Harleian +manuscripts, build a house for their reception," etc. An act +was shortly after passed, empowering the Crown to raise a +sufficient sum by lottery to purchase the Sloane collection and +Harleian manuscripts, together with Montagu House. Such was +the commencement of the British Museum.-E. + + + +157 Letter 71 +To Mr. Gray. +Arlington Street, Feb. 20, 1753. + +I am very sorry that the haste I made to deliver you from your +uneasiness the first moment after I received your letter, +should have made me express myself in a manner to have the +quite contrary effect from what I intended. You well know how +rapidly and carelessly I always write my letters: the note you +mention was written in a still greater hurry than ordinary, and +merely to put you out of pain. I had not seen Dodsley, +consequently could only tell you that I did not doubt but he +would have no objection to satisfy you, as you was willing to +prevent his being a loser by the plate.(366) Now, from this +declaration, how is it possible for you to have for one momentput +such a construction upon my words, as would have been a +downright stupid brutality, unprovoked? It is impossible for +me to recollect my very expression, but I am confident that I +have repeated the whole substance. + +How the bookseller would be less a loser by being at more +expense, I can easily explain to you. He feared the price of +half a guinea would seem too high to most purchasers. If by +the expense of ten guineas more he could make the book appear +so much more rich and showy as to induce people to think it +cheap, the profits from selling many more copies would amply +recompense him for his additional disbursement. + +The thought of having the head engraved was entirely Dodsley's +own, and against my opinion, as I concluded it would be against +yours; which made me determine to acquaint you with it before +its appearance. + +When you reflect on what I have said now, you will see very +clearly, that I had and could have no other possible meaning in +what I wrote last. You might justly have accused me of +neglect, if I had deferred giving you all the satisfaction in +my powers, as soon as ever I knew your uneasiness. + +The head I give up.(367) The title I think will be wrong, and +not answer your purpose; for, as the drawings are evidently +calculated for the poems, how will the improper disposition of +the word designs before poems make the edition less yours? I am +as little convinced that there is any affectation in leaving out +the Mr. before your names: it is a barbarous addition: the other +is simple and classic; a rank I cannot help thinking due to both +the poet and painter. Without ranging myself among classics, I +assure you, were I to print any thing with my name, it should +be plain Horace Walpole: Mr. is one of the Gothicisms I +abominate. The explanation(368) was certainly added for people +who have not eyes:--such are-almost all who have seen Mr. +Bentley's drawings, and think to compliment him by mistaking +them for prints. Alas! the generality want as much to have the +words "a man," "a cock," written under his drawings, as under +the most execrable hieroglyphics of Egypt, or of signpost +painters. + +I will say no more now, but that you must not wonder if I am +partial to you and yours, when you can write as you do and yet +feel so little vanity. I have used freedom enough with your +writings to convince you I speak truth: I praise and scold Mr. +Bentley immoderately, as I think he draws well or ill: I never +think it worth my while to do either, especially to blame, +where there are not generally vast excellencies. Good night! +Don't suspect me when I have no fault but impatience to make +you easy. + +(366) This was a print of Mr. Gray, after the portrait of him +by Eckardt. It was intended to have been prefixed to Dodsley's +quarto edition of the Odes with Mr. Bentley's designs but Mr. +Gray's extreme repugnance to the proposal obliged his friends +to drop it. + +(367) In a letter to Walpole, written from Stoke, in January, +on receiving a proof of the head, Gray had said, "Sure you are +not out of your wits! This I know, if you suffer my head to be +printed, you will put me out of mine. I conjure you +immediately to put a stop to any such design. Who is at the +expense of engraving it, I know not; but if it be Dodsley, I +will make up the loss to him. The thing as it was, I know, +will make me ridiculous enough: but to appear in proper person, +at the head of my works, consisting Of half a dozen ballads in +thirty pages, would be worse than the pillory. I do assure +you, if I had received such a book, with such a frontispiece, +without any warning, I do believe it would have given me the +palsy." Works, vol. iii. p. 106.-E. + +(368) Of Mr. Bentley's designs. + + + +158 Letter 72 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, March 4, 1753. + +have you got any wind of our new histories? Is there any +account at Rome that Mr. Stone and the Solicitor-general are +still thought to be more attached to Egypt than Hanover? For +above this fortnight there have been strange mysteries and +reports! the cabinet council sat night after night till two +o'clock in the morning: we began to think that they were +empannelled to sit upon a new rebellion, or invasion at least; +or that the King of Prussia, had sent his mandate, that we must +receive the young Pretender in part payment of the Silesian +loan. At last it is come out that Lord Ravensworth,(369) on +the information of one Fawcett, a lawyer, has accused Stone, +Murray, and Dr. Johnson, the new Bishop of Gloucester, of +having had an odd custom of toasting the Chevalier and my Lord +Dunbar at one Vernon's, a merchant, about twenty years ago. +The Pretender's counterpart ordered the council to examine into +it: Lord Ravensworth stuck to his story: Fawcett was terrified +with the solemnity of the divan, and told his very different +Ways, and at last would not sign his deposition. On the other +hand, Stone and Murray took their Bible on their innocence, and +the latter made a fine speech into the bargain. Bishop Johnson +scrambled out of the scrape at the very beginning; and the +council have reported to the King that the accusation was false +and malicious.(370) This is an exact abridgement of the story; +the commentary would be too voluminous. The heats upon it are +great: the violent Whigs are not at all convinced of the Whiggism +of the culprits, by the defect of evidence: the opposite clan +affect as much conviction as if they wished them Whigs. + +Mr. Chute and I are come hither for a day or two to inspect the +progress of a Gothic staircase, which is so pretty and so +small, that I am inclined to wrap it up and send it you in my +letter. As my castle is so diminutive, I give myself a +Burlington air, and say, that as Chiswick is a model of Grecian +architecture, Strawberry Hill is to be so of Gothic. I went +the other morning with Mr. Conway to buy some of the new +furniture-paper for you: if there was any money at Florence, I +should expect this manufacture would make its fortune there. + +Liotard, the painter, is arrived, and has brought me Marivaux's +picture, which gives one a very different idea from what one +conceives of the author of Marianne, though it is reckoned +extremely like: the countenance is a mixture of buffoon and +villain. I told you what mishap I had with Cr`ebillon's +portrait: he has had the foolish dirtiness to keep it. Liotard +is a G`en`evois; but from having lived at Constantinopole, he +wears a Turkish habit, and a beard down to his girdle: this, +and his extravagant prices, which he has raised even beyond +what he asked at Paris, will probably get him as much money as +he covets, for he is avaricious beyond imagination. His +crayons and his water-colours are very fine; his enamel, hard: +in general, he is too Dutch, and admires nothing but excess of +finishing. + +We have nothing new but two or three new plays, and those not +worth sending to you. The answer to the Prussian memorial, +drawn chiefly by Murray, is short, full, very fine, and has +more spirit than I thought we had by us. The whole is rather +too good, as I believe our best policy would have been, to be +in the wrong, and make satisfaction for having been ill-used: +the author with whom we have to deal, is not a sort of man to +stop at being confuted. Adieu! + +(369) Sir Henry Liddel, Baron of Ravensworth. + +(370) "Upon the whole matter," says the Hon. Philip Yorke, in +his MS. Parliamentary Journal, "the lords came unanimously to +an opinion of reporting to the King, that there appeared to +them no foundation for any part of the charge; that Mr. +Fawcett, the only evidence, had grossly prevaricated in it: +that it was malicious and scandalous, and ought not to affect +the character of the Bishop, or either of the gentlemen who +were aspersed by it."-E. + + + +159 Letter 73 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, March 27, 1753. + +Such an event as I mentioned to you in my last, has, you may +well believe, had some consequences; but only enough to show +what it would have had in less quiet times. Last week the Duke +of Bedford moved in the House of Commons to have all the papers +relating to Lord Ravensworth and Fawcett laid before them. As +he had given notice of his intention, the ministry, in a great +fright, had taken all kind of precaution to defeat the motion; +and succeeded--if it can be called success to have quashed the +demand, and thereby confirmed the suspicions. After several +councils, it was determined, that all the cabinet councillors +should severally declare the insufficience and prevarication of +Fawcett's evidence: they did, and the motion Was rejected by +122 to 5.(371) If one was prejudiced by classic notions of the +wisdom and integrity of a senate, that debate would have cured +them. The flattery to Stone was beyond belief: I will give you +but one instance. The Duke of Argyll said, "He had happened to +be at the secretary's office during the rebellion, when two +Scotchmen came to ask for a place, which one obtained, the +other lost, but went away best pleased, from Mr. Stone's +gracious manner of refusal!" It appeared in the most glaring +manner, that the Bishop of Gloucester had dictated to Fawcett a +letter of acquittal to himself; and not content with that, had +endeavoured to persuade him to make additions to it some days +after. It was as plain, that Fawcett had never prevaricated +till these private interviews(372) With the prelate-yet there +were 122 to 5! + +I take for granted our politics adjourn here till next winter +unless there should be any Prussian episode. It is difficult +to believe that that King has gone so far, without intending to +go farther: if he is satisfied with the answer to his memorial, +though it is the fullest that ever was made, yet it will be the +first time that ever a monarch was convinced! For a King of the +Romans, it seems as likely that we should see a King of the +Jews. + +Your brother has got the paper for your room. He shall send +you with it a fine book which I have had printed of' Gray's +poems, with drawings by another friend of mine, which I am sure +will charm you, though none of them are quite well engraved, +and some sadly. Adieu! I am all brick and mortar: the castle +at Strawberry Hill grows so near a termination, that you must not +be angry if I wish to have you see it. Mr. Bentley is going to +make a drawing of the best view, which I propose to have +engraved, and then you shall at least have some idea of that +sweet little spot--little enough, but very sweet! + +(371) "The debate was long and heavy; the Duke of Bedford's +performance moderate enough: he divided the House, but it was +not told, for there went below the bar with him the Earl of +Harcourt, Lord Townshend, the Bishop of Worcester, and Lord +Talbot only. Upon the whole, it was the worst judged, the +worst executed, and the worst supported point, that I ever saw +of so much expectations" Dodington, p. 202.-E. + +(372) This insignificant, and indeed ridiculous accusation, +against Murray and Stone, is magnified by Walpole, both here +and in his Memoire,,,, into an important transaction, in +consequence of the hatred he bore to the persons accused,-D. +["The accusation was justly ridiculed by the wits of the day, +as a counterpart to the mountain in labour; and the Pelhams had +the satisfaction of seeing it terminate in the full exculpation +of their friends, the Solicitor-general and Mr. Stone." Coxe's +Pelham, vol. ii, p. 263.] + +(373) On receiving a proof of the tail-piece, which Mr. Bentley +had designed for the Elegy in a Country Churchyard, and which +represents a village funeral, Gray wrote to Walpole: "I am +surprised at the print, which far surpasses my idea of London +graving: the drawing itself was so finished, that I suppose it +did not require all the art I imagined to copy it tolerably. +My aunts seeing me open your letter, took it to be a burying- +ticket, and asked whether any body had left me a ring; and so +they still conceive it to be, even with all their spectacles +on. Heaven forbid they should suspect it to belong to any +verses of mine! They would burn me for a poet." Works, vol. +iii. p. 105.-E. + + + +161 Letter 74 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, April 16, 1753. + +Dear Sir, +I know I never give you more pleasure than in recommending such +an acquaintance as Mr. Stephens, a young gentleman now in +Italy, of whom I have heard from the best hands the greatest +and most amiable character. He is brother-in-law of Mr. +West,(374) Mr. Pelham's secretary, and (to you I may add,) as I +know it will be an additional motive to increase your +attentions to his relation, a particular friend of mine. I beg +you will do for my sake, what you always do from your own +goodness of heart, make Florence as agreeable to him as +possible: I have the strongest reasons to believe that you will +want no incitement the moment you begin to know Mr. Stephens. + +(374) James West, member for St. Albans, secretary to Mr. +Pelham as chancellor of the exchequer, secretary to the +treasury, treasurer to the Royal Society, and member of the +Antiquarian Society, married the sister of this Mr. Stephens. + + + +161 Letter 75 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, April 27, 1753. + +I have brought two of your letters hither to answer: in town +there are so many idle people besides oneself, that one has not +a minute's time; here I have whole evenings, after the labours +of the day are ceased. Labours they are, I assure you; I have +carpenters to direct, plasterers to hurry, papermen to scold, +and glaziers to help: this last is my greatest pleasure: I have +amassed such quantities of painted glass, that every window in +my castle will be illuminated with it: the adjusting and +disposing it is vast amusement. I thank you a thousand times +for thinking of procuring me some Gothic remains from Rome; but +I believe there is no such thing there: I scarce remember any +morsel in the true taste of it in Italy. indeed, my dear Sir, +kind as you are about it, I perceive you have no idea what +Gothic is; you have lived too long amidst true taste, to +understand venerable barbarism. You say, "You suppose my +garden is to be Gothic too." That can't be; Gothic is merely +architecture; and as one has a satisfaction in imprinting the +gloom of abbeys and cathedrals on one's house, so one's garden, +on the contrary, is to be nothing but riot, and the gaiety of +nature. I am greatly impatient for my altar, and so far from +mistrusting its goodness, I only fear it will be too good to +expose to the weather, as I intend it must be, in a recess in the +garden. I was going to tell you that my house is so monastic, +that I have a little hall decked with long saints in lean arched +windows, and with taper columns, which we call the Paraclete, in +memory of Eloisa's cloister.(375) + +I am glad you have got rid of your duel, bloodguiltless: +Captain Lee had ill luck in lighting upon a Lorrain officer; he +might have boxed the ears of the whole Florentine nobility, +(con rispetto si dice,) and not have occasioned you half the +trouble you have had in accommodating this quarrel. + +You need not distrust Mr. Conway and me for showing any +attentions to Prince San Severino,(376) that may convince him +of' our regard for you; I only hope he will not arrive till +towards winter, for Mr. Conway is gone to his regiment in +Ireland, and my chateau is so far from finished, that I am by +no means in a condition to harbour a princely ambassador. By +next spring I hope to have rusty armour, and arms with +quarterings enough to persuade him that I am qualified to be +Grand Master of Malta. If you could send me Viviani,(377 with +his invisible architects out of the Arabian tales, I might get +my house ready at a day's warning; especially as it will not be +quite so lofty as the triumphal arch at Florence. + +What you say you have heard of strange conspiracies, fomented +by our nephew(378) is not entirely groundless. A Dr. +Cameron(379) has been seized in Scotland, who certainly came +over with commission to feel the ground. He is brought to +London; but nobody troubles their head about him, or any thing +else, but Newmarket, where the Duke is at present making a +campaign, with half the nobility and half the money of England +attending him: they really say, that not less than a hundred +thousand pounds have been carried thither for the hazard of this +single week. The palace has been furnished for him from the +great wardrobe, though the chief person(380) concerned flatters +himself that his son is at the expense of his own amusement +there. + + +I must now tell you how I have been treated by an old friend of +yours--don't be frightened, and conclude that this will make +against your friend San Severino: he is only a private prince; +the rogue in Question is a monarch. Your brother has sent you +some weekly papers that are much in fashion, called "The +World;" three or four of them are by a friend of yours; one +particularly I wrote to promote a subscription for King +Theodore, who is in prison for debt. His Majesty's character +is so bad, that it only raised fifty pounds; and though that +was so much above his desert, it was so much below his +expectation, that he sent a solicitor to threaten the printer +with a prosecution for having taken so much liberty with his +name--take notice too, that he had accepted the money! Dodsley, +you may believe, laughed at the lawyer; but that does not +lessen the dirty knavery. It would indeed have made an +excellent suit! a printer prosecuted suppose for having +solicited and obtained charity for a man in prison, and that +man not mentioned by his right name, but by a mock title, and +the man himself not a native of the country!--but I have done +with countenancing kings! + +Lord Bath has contributed a paper to the World, but seems to +have entirely lost all his wit and genius: it is a plain heavy +description of Newmarket, with scarce an effort towards +humour.(381) I had conceived the greatest expectations from a +production of his, especially in the way of the Spectator; but +I M now assured by Franklyn, the old printer of the Craftsman, +(who by a comical revolution of things, is a tenant of mine at +Twickenham,) that Lord Bath never wrote a Craftsman himself, +only gave hints for them--yet great part of his reputation was +built on those papers. Next week my Lord chesterfield appears +in the World(382)--I expect much less from him than I did from +Lord Bath, but it is very certain that his name will make it +applauded. Adieu! + +P.S. Since I came to town, I hear that my Lord Granville has +cut another colt's tooth-in short, they say he is going to be +married again; it is to Lady Juliana Collier,(383) a very +pretty girl, daughter of Lord Portmore: there are not above two +or three and forty years difference in their ages, and not +above three bottles difference in @ their drinking in a day, so +it is a very suitable match! She will not make so good a Queen +as our friend Sophia, but will like better, I suppose, to make +a widow. If this should not turn out true,(384) I can't help +it. + +(375) "Where awful arches make a noonday night, +And the dim windows shade a solemn light."-Pope.-E. + +(376) Ambassador from the King of Naples. + +(377) Viviani, a Florentine nobleman, showing the triumphal +arch there to Prince San Severino, assured him, and insisted +upon it, that it was begun and finished in twenty-four hours! + +(378) The King of Prussia. + +(379) This is a strange story, and it is difficult to believe +that the King of Prussia was concerned in it. In his Memoires, +Walpole gives the following account of the taking of Dr. +Cameron:--"About this time was taken in Scotland, Dr. Archibald +Cameron, a man excepted by the act of indemnity. Intelligence +had been received some time before of his intended journey to +Britain, with a commission from Prussia to offer arms to the +disaffected Highlanders, at the same time that ships were +hiring in the north to transport men. The fairness of Dr. +Cameron's character, compared with the severity he met from a +government most laudably mild to its enemies, confirmed this +report. That Prussia, who opened its inhospitable arms to +every British rebel, should have tampered in such a business, +was by no means improbable. That King hated his uncle: but +could a Protestant potentate dip in designs for restoring a +popish government? Of what religion is policy? To what sect is +royal revenge bigoted? The Queen-dowager, though sister of our +King, was avowedly a Jacobite, by principle so-and it was +natural: what Prince, but the single one who profits by the +principle, can ever think it allowable to overturn sacred +hereditary right? It is the curse of sovereigns that their +crimes should be unpunishable."-D. + +(380) The King. + +(381) No. 17, giving an account of the races and manners at +Newmarket.-E. + +(382) It forms the 18th number, and is entitled " A Country +Gentleman's Tour to Paris with his family."-E. + +(383) Lady Juliana Collier, youngest daughter of Charles, +second Earl of Portmore, by Juliana hale, Duchess-dowager of +Leeds. She married, in 1759, James Dawkins, Esq. of +Standlinch, in Wiltshire.-D. + +(384) It did not happen. + + + + 164 Letter 76 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway. +Strawberry Hill, May 5, 1753. + +Though my letter bears a country date, I am only a passenger +here, just come to overlook my workmen, and repose myself upon +some shavings, after the fatigues of the season. You know +balls and masquerades always abound as the weather be(,Ins to +be too hot for them, and this has been quite a spring-tide of +diversion. Not that I am so abandoned as to have partaken of +all; I neither made the Newmarket campaign under the Duke, nor +danced at any ball, nor looked well at any masquerade: I begin +to submit to my years, and amuse myself-only just as much as I +like. Indeed, when parties and politics are at an end, an +Englishman may be allowed not to b always grave and out of +humour. His Royal Highness has won as many hearts at Newmarket +as he lost in Scotland; he played deep and handsomely; received +every body at his table with the greatest good humour, and +permitted the familiarities of the place with ease and sense. + +There have been balls at the Duchess of Norfolk's, at +Holland-house, and Lord Granville's, and a subscription +masquerade: the dresses were not very fine, not much invention, +nor any very absurd. I find I am telling you extreme trifles; +but you desired me to write; and there literally happens +nothing of greater moment. If I can fill out a sheet even in +this way, I will; for at Sligo(385) perhaps I may appear a +journalist of consequence. + +There is a Madame de Mezi`eres arrived from Paris, who has said +a thousand impertinent things to my Lady Albemarle, on my +lord's not letting her come to Paris.(386) I should not repeat +this to you, only to introduce George Selwyn's account of this +woman who, he says, is mother to the Princess of Montauban, +grandmother to Madame de Brionne, sister to General Oglethorpe, +and was laundress to the Duchess of Portsmouth. + +Sir Charles Williams, never very happy at panegyric, has made a +distich on the Queen of Hungary, which I send you for the +curiosity, not the merit of it: + +"O regina orbis prima et pulcherrima, ridens +Es Venus, incedens Juno, Minerva loquens." + +It is infinitely admired at Vienna, but Baron Munchausen has +received a translation of it into German in six verses, which +are still more applauded. + +There is another volume published of Lord Bolinbroke's: it +contains his famous Letter to Sir William Windham, with an +admirable description of the Pretender and hi Court, and a very +poor justification of his own treachery to that party; a flimsy +unfinished State of the Nation, written at the end of his life, +and the commonplace tautology of an old politician, who lives out +of the world and writes from newspapers; and a superficial letter +to Mr. Pope, as an introduction to his Essays, which are printed, +but not yet published. + +What shall I say to you more? You see how I am forced to tack +paragraphs together, without any connexion or consequence! +Shall I tell you one more idle story, and will you just +recollect that you once concerned yourself enough about the +heroine of it, to excuse my repeating such a piece of +tittle-tattle? This heroine is Lady Harrington, the hero is-- +not entirely of royal blood; at least I have never heard that +Lodomie, the toothdrawer, was in any manner descended from the +house of Bourbon. Don't be alarmed: this plebeian operator is +not in the catalogue of your successors. How the lady was the +aggressor is not known; 'tis only conjectured that French +politeness and French interestedness could never have gone such +lengths without mighty provocation. The first instance of the +toothdrawer's un-gentle behaviour was on hearing it said that +Lady Harrington was to have her four girls drawn by Liotard; +which was wondered at, as his price is so great--"Oh!" said +Lodomie, "chacune paie pour la sienne." Soon after this +insult, there was some dispute about payments and toothpowder, +and divers messages passed. At last the lady wrote a card, to +say she did not understand such impertinent answers being given +to her chairman by an arracheur de dents. The angry little +gentleman, with as much intrepidity as if he had drawn out all +her teeth, tore the card in five slits, and returned it with +this astonishing sentence, "I return you your impertinent card, +and desire you will pay me what you owe me." All I know more +is, that the toothdrawer still lives; and so do many lords and +gentlemen, formerly thought the slaves of the offended fair +one's will and passions, and among others, to his great shame, +your sincere friend. + +(385) Mr. Conway was then with his regiment quartered at Sligo +in Ireland. + +(386) Lord Albemarle was then ambassador at Paris. + + + +165 Letter 77 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, May 22, 1753. + +You may very possibly be set out for Greatworth, but what house +Greatworth is, or whose, or how you came to have it, is all a +profound secret to us: your transitions arc so Pindaric, that, +without notes, we do not understand them, especially as neither +Mr. Bentley nor I have seen any of the letters, which I suppose +you have written to your family in the intervals of your +journeyings from Sir Jonathan Cope's(387) to Roel, and from +Roel to Greatworth. Mr. Bentley was just ready to send you +down a packet of Gothic, and brick and mortar, and arched +windows, and taper columns to be erected at Roel--no such +matter, you have met with some brave chambers belonging to Sir +Jonathan somebody in Northamptonshire, and are unloading your +camels and caravan,.;, and pitching your tents among your own +tribe. I cannot be quite sorry, for I shall certainly visit +you at Greatworth, and it might have been some years before the +curtain had drawn up at Roel. We emerge very fast out of +shavings, and hammerings, and pastings; the painted glass is +full-blown in every window, and the gorgeous saints, that were +brought out for one day on the festival of Saint George +Montagu, are fixed for ever in the tabernacles they are to +inhabit.- The castle is not the only beauty: and to-day we had +a glimpse of the sun as he passed by, though I am convinced the +summer is over; for these two last years we have been forced to +compound for five hot days in the pound. + +News there is none to tell you. We had two days in the House +of Commons, that had something of the air of Parliament; there +has been a Marriage-bill, invented by my Lord Bath, and cooked +up by the Chancellor, which was warmly opposed by the Duke of +Bedford in the Lords, and with us by Fox and Nugent: the latter +made an admirable speech last week against it, and Charles +Townshend,(388) another very good one yesterday, when we sat +till near ten o'clock, but were beat, we minority, by 165 to +84. + +I know nothing else but elopements: I have lost my man Henry, +who is run away for debt; and my Lord Bath his only son. who is +run away from thirty thousand pounds a-year, which in all +probability would have come to him in six months. There had +been some great fracas about his marriage; the stories are +various on the Why; some say his father told Miss Nichols that +his son was a very worthless young man; others, that the Earl +could not bring himself to make tolerable settlements; and a +third party say, that the Countess has blown up a quarrel in +order to have his son in her power, and at her mercy. Whatever +the cause was, this ingenious young man, who You know has made +my Lady Townshend his everlasting enemy, by repeating her +histories of Miss Chudleigh to that Miss, of all counsellors in +the world, picked out my Lady Townshend to consult on his +domestic grievances: she, with all the good-nature and charity +imaginable, immediately advised him to be disinherited. He +took her advice, left two dutiful letters for his parents, to +notify 'his disobedience, and went off last Friday night to +France. The Earl is so angry, that he could almost bring +himself to give Mr. Newport, and twenty other people, their +estates again. Good night--here is the Goth, Mr. Bentley, +wants to say a word to you. + +"Dear Sir, +Wrote you a supernumerary letter on Saturday, but as I find you +have shifted your quarters since I heard from 'YOU, imagine it +may not have reached you yet. If you want to know what made me +so assiduous, it was to tell you Sir Danvers Osborn has kissed +hands for New York, that's all. I am sincerely yours. + +"P.S. I wish you Would write to him mentioning me, that's +more." + +(387) At Brewern, in Oxfordshire.-E. + +(388) Second son of the Marquis of Townshend. + + + +167 Letter 78 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway. +Strawberry Hill, May 24, 1753. + +It is well you are married! How would my Lady Ailesbury have +liked to be asked in a parish church for three Sundays running? +I really believe she would have worn her weeds for ever, rather +than have passed through so impudent a ceremony! What do you +think? But you will want to know the interpretation of this +preamble. Why, there is a new bill, which, under the notion of +preventing clandestine marriages, has made such a general +rummage and reform in the office of matrimony that every +Strephon and Chloe, every dowager and her Hussey, will have as +many impediments and formalities to undergo as a treaty of +peace. Lord Bath invented this bill,(389) but had drawn it so +ill, that the Chancellor was forced to draw a new one, and then +grew so fond of his own creature, that he has crammed it down +the throats of both Houses-though they gave many a gulp before +they could swallow it. The Duke of Bedford attacked it first +with great spirit and mastery, but had little support, though +the Duke of Newcastle did not vote. The lawyers were all +ordered to purse it through our House: but except the poor +Attorney-general,(390) "Who is nurse indeed. to all intents and +purposes, and did amply gossip over it, not one of them said a +word. Nugent shone extremely in opposition to the bill, and, +though every now and then on the precipice of absurdity, kept +clear of it, with great humour and wit and argument, and was +unanswered-yet we were beat. Last Monday it came into the +committee: Charles Townshend acted a very good speech with +great cleverness, and drew a picture of his own story and his +father's tyranny, with at least as much parts as modesty. Mr. +Fox mumbled the Chancellor and his lawyers, and pinned the plan +of the bill upon a pamphlet he had found of Dr. Gally's,(391) +where the doctor, recommending the French scheme of matrimony, +says, "It was found that fathers were too apt to forgive." "The +Gospel, I thought," said Mr. Fox, "enjoined forgiveness; but +pious Dr. Gal] v thinks fathers are too apt to forgive." Mr. +Pelham, extremely in his opinion against the bill, and in his +inclination too, was forced to rivet it, and, without speaking +one word for it, taught the House how to vote for it; and it was +carried against the Chairman's leaving the chair by 165 to 84. +This Is all the news I know, or at least was all when I came out +of town; for I left the tinkering of the bill, and came hither +last Tuesday to my workmen. I flatter myself I shall get into +tolerable order to receive my Lady Ailesbury and you at your +return from Sligo, from whence I have received 'your letter, and +where I hope you have had my first. I say nothing of the exile +of the Parliament of Paris for I know no more than you will see +in the public papers; only, as we are going to choose a new +Parliament, we could not do better than choose the exiles: we +could scarce choose braver or honester men. I say as little of +Mademoiselle Murphy,(392) for I conclude you hear nothing but her +health drank in whiskey. Don't all the nailed Irish flatter +themselves with preferment, and claim relation with her? Miss +Chudleigh says, there is some sense in belonging to a king who +turns off an old mistress when he has got a new one. + +Arlington Street, May 29. + +I am Come to town for a day or two, and find that the +Marriage-bill has not only lasted till now-in the committee, +but has produced, or at least disclosed, extreme heats. Mr. +Fox and Mr. Pelham have had very high words on every clause, +and the former has renewed his attacks on the Chancellor under +the name of Dr. Gally. Yesterday on the nullity clause they +sat till half an hour after three in the morning, having just +then had a division On adjournment, which was rejected by the +ministry by above 80 to 70. The Speaker, who had spoken well +against the clause, was so misrepresented by the +Attorney-general, that there was danger of a skimmington +between the great wig and the coif, the former having given a +flat lie to the latter. Mr. Fox I am told, outdid himself for +spirit, and severity on the Chancellor and the lawyers. I say +I am told; for I was content with having been beat twice, and +did not attend. The heats between the two ministers were far +from cooling by the length of the debate. Adieu! You did +little expect in these times, and at this season, to have heard +such a parliamentary history! The bill is not near +finished;(393) Mr. Fox has declared he will dispute every inch +of ground. I hope he won't be banished to Pontoise.(394) I +shall write to you no more; so pray return. I hear most +favourable accounts of my Lady Ailesbury. + +(389) The following is Tindal's account of the origin of this +bill: "The fatal consequences of clandestine marriages had been +long complained of in England, as rendering the succession to +all property insecure and doubtful. Every day produced +hearings of the most shocking kind in the court of Chancery, +and appeals in the House of Lords, concerning the validity of +such marriages; and sometimes the innocent offspring were cut +off from succession, though their parents had been married bona +fide, because of the irregularity of such marriage. On the +other hand, both women and men of the most infamous characters +had opportunities of ruining the sons and daughters of the +greatest families in England, by conveniences of marrying in +the Fleet, and other unlicensed places; and marrying was now +become as much a trade as any mechanical profession."-E. + +(390 Sir Dudley Ryder. + +(391) Dr. Henry Gally, one of the King's chaplains in ordinary. +Besides the pamphlet here spoken of, which was entitled "Some +Considerations upon Clandestine Marriages," he wrote a +"Dissertation on Pronouncing the Greek Language," and several +other works He died in 1769.-E. + +(392) An Irishwoman who was, for a short time, mistress to +Louis XV. + + +(393) "The opposition to the bill was such that few clauses +remained unaltered; and Mr. Fox, holding it up in the House, as +Antony exposed the murdered body of Caesar, made a kind of a +parody of the speech in Shakespeare upon that occasion." +Tindal.-E. + +(394) The Parliament of Paris having espoused the clause of +religious liberty, and apprehended several priests who, by the +authority of the Archbishop of Paris and other prelates, had +refused the sacraments to those who would not subscribe to the +bull Unigunitus, were banished by Louis XV. to Pontoise. + + + +169 Letter 79 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, June 11, 1753. + +You will think me very fickle, and that I have but a slight +regard to the castle I am building for my ancestors, when you +hear that I have been these last eight days in London amid dust +and stinks, instead of seringa, roses, battlements, and niches; +but you perhaps recollect that I have another Gothic passion, +which is for squabbles in the Wittenagemot.(395) I can't say +that the contests have run so high in either House as they have +sometimes done in former days, but this age has found out a new +method of parliamentary altercations. The Commons abuse the +Barons, and the Barons return it; in short, Mr. Fox attacked +the Chancellor violently on the Marriage-bill; and when it was +sent back to the Lords, the Chancellor made the most outrageous +invectives on Fox that ever was heard. But what offends still +more,--I don't mean offends Fox more,--was the Chancellor +describing the chief persons who had opposed his bill in the +Commons, and giving reason why he excused them. As the speaker +was in the number of the excused, the two maces are ready to +come to blows.(396) The town says Mr. Fox is to be dismissed, +but I can scarce think it will go so far. + +My Lord Cornwallis is made an earl; Lord Bristol's sisters have +the rank of Earl's daughters; Damer is Lord Milton in Ireland, +and the new Lord Barnard is, I hear, to be Earl of Darlington. + +Poor Lady Caroline Brand is dead of a rheumatic fever, and her +husband as miserable a man as ever he was a cheerful one: I +grieve much for her, and pity him; they were infinitely happy, +and lived in the most perfect friendship I ever saw. + +You may be assured that I will pay you a visit some time this +summer, though not yet, as I cannot leave my workmen, +especially as we have a painter who paints the paper on the +staircase under Mr. Bentley's direction. The armoury bespeaks +the ancient chivalry of the lords of the castle; and I have +filled Mr. Bentley's Gothic lanthorn with painted glass, which +casts the most venerable gloom on the stairs that ever was seen +since the days of Abelard. The lanthorn itself, in which I +have stuck a coat of the Veres, is supposed to have come from +Castle Henningham. Lord and Lady Vere were here t'other day, and +called cousins with it, and would very readily have invited it to +Hanworth; but her Portuguese blood has so blackened the true +stream that I could not bring myself to offer so fair a gift to +their chapel. + +I shall only tell you a bon-mot of Keith's, the +marriage-broker, and conclude. "G-d d-n the bishops!" said he, +(I beg Miss Montagu's pardon,) "so they will hinder my +marrying. Well, let 'em; but I'll be revenged! I'll buy two +or three acres of ground, and, by G-d! I'll underbury them +all!" Adieu! + +(395) The name of the Saxon great council, the supposed origin +of parliaments. + +(396) Among the Hardwicke papers there is a letter from Dr. +Birch to the Hon. Philip Yorke, giving an account of the +debate in the House of Lords. The following is an extract:-- +"My Lord Chancellor expressed his surprise, that the bill +should have been styled out of doors an absurd, a cruel, a +scandalous, and a wicked one. With regard to his own share in +this torrent of abuse, as he was obliged to those who had so +honourably defended him, so,' said he, 'I despise the +invective, and I despise the retractation; I despise the +scurrility, and I reject the adulation.' Mr. Fox was not +present, but had soon an account of what had passed; for the +same evening, being at Vauxhall with some ladies, he broke from +them, and collecting a little circle of young members of +parliament and others, told them with great eagerness, that he +wished the session had continued a fortnight longer, for then +he would have made ample returns to the Lord Chancellor. The +Speaker talks of my Lord Chancellor's speech in the style of +Mr. Fox, as deserving of the notice of the Commons, if they had +not been prorogued."-E. + + + +170 Letter 80 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, June 12, 1753. + +I could not rest any longer with the thought of your having no +idea of a place of which you hear so much, and therefore +desired Mr. Bentley to draw you as much idea of it as the post +would be persuaded to carry from Twickenham to Florence. The +enclosed enchanted little landscape, then, is Strawberry Hill; +and I will try to explain so much of it to you as will help to +let you know whereabouts we are when we are talking to you; for +it is uncomfortable in so intimate a correspondence as ours not +to be exactly master of every spot where one another is +writing, or reading, or sauntering. This view of the +castle(397) is what I have just finished, and is the only side +that will be at all regular. Directly before it is an open +grove, through which you see a field, which is bounded by a +serpentine wood of all kind of trees, and flowering shrubs, and +flowers! The lawn before the house is situated on the top of a +small hill, from whence to the left you see the town and church +of Twickenham encircling a turn of the river, that looks +exactly like a seaport in miniature. The opposite shore is a +most delicious meadow, bounded by Richmond Hill, which loses +itself in the noble woods of the park to the end of the +prospect on the right, where is another turn of the river, and +the suburbs of Kingston as luckily placed as Twickenham is on +the left; and a natural terrace on the brow of my hill, with +meadows of my own down to the river, commands both extremities. +Is not this a tolerable prospect? You must figure that all this +is perpetually enlivened by a navigation of boats and barges, +and by a road below my terrace, with coaches, post-chaises, +wagons, and horsemen constantly in motion, and the fields +speckled with cows, horses, and sheep. Now you shall walk into +the house. The bow-window below leads into a little parlour +hung with a stone-colour Gothic paper and Jackson's Venetian +prints, which I could never endure while they pretended, +infamous as they are, to be after Titian, etc., but when I gave +them this air of barbarous basreliefs, they succeeded to a +miracle: it is impossible at first sight not to conclude +that they contain the history of Attila or Tottila, done about +the very aera. From hence, under two gloomy arches, you come +to the hall and staircase, which it is impossible to describe +to you, as it is the most particular and chief beauty of the +castle. Imagine the walls covered with (I call it paper, but +it is really paper painted in perspective to represent) Gothic +fretwork: the lightest Gothic balustrade to the staircase, +adorned with antelopes (our supporters) bearing shields lean +windows fattened with rich saints in painted glass, and a +vestibule open with three arches on the landing-place, and +niches full of trophies of old coats of mail, Indian shields +made of rhinoceros's hides, broadswords, quivers, long bows, +arrows, and spears--all supposed to be taken by Mr Terry +Robsart(398) in the holy wars. But as none of' this regards +the enclosed drawing, I will pass to that. The room on the +ground-floor nearest to you is a bedchamber, hung with yellow +paper and prints, framed in a new manner, invented by Lord +Cardigan; that is, with black and white borders printed. Over +this is Mr. Chute's bedchamber, hung with red in the same +manner. The bow-window room one pair of stairs is not yet +finished; but in the tower beyond it is the charming closet +where I am now writing to you. It is hung with green paper and +water-colour pictures; has two windows; the one in the drawing +looks to the garden, the other to the beautiful prospect; and +the top of each glutted with the richest painted glass of the +arms of England, crimson roses, and twenty other pieces of +green, purple, and historic bits. I must tell you, by the way, +that the castle, when finished, will have two-and-thirty +windows enriched with painted glass. In this closet, which is +Mr. Chute's college of arms, are two presses with books of +heraldry and antiquities, Madame Sevign`e's Letters, and any +French books that relate to her and her acquaintance. Out of +this closet is the room where we always live, hung with a blue +and white paper in stripes adorned with festoons, and a +thousand plump chairs, couches, and luxurious settees covered +with linen of the same pattern, and with a bow-window +commanding the prospect, and gloomed with limes that shade half +each window, already darkened with painted glass in +chiaroscuro, set in deep blue glass. Under this room is a cool +little hall, where we generally dine, hung with paper to +imitate Dutch tiles. + +I have described so much, that you will begin to think that all +the accounts I used to give you of the diminutiveness of our +habitation were fabulous; but it is really incredible how small +most of the rooms are. The Only two good chambers I shall have +are not yet built; they will be an eating-room and a library, +each twenty by thirty, and the latter fifteen feet high. For +the rest of the house, I could send it you in this letter as +easily as the drawing, only that I should have no where to live +till the return of the post. The Chinese summer-house which +you may distinguish in the distant landscape, belongs to my Lord +Radnor. We pique ourselves upon nothing but simplicity, and have +no carvings, gildings, paintings, inlayings, or tawdry +businesses. + +You will not be sorry, I believe,. by this time to have done +with Strawberry Hill, and to hear a little news. The end of a +very dreaming session has been extremely enlivened by an +accidental bill which has opened great quarrels, and those not +unlikely to be attended with interesting circumstances. A bill +to prevent clandestine marriages, so drawn by the Judges as to +clog all matrimony in general, was inadvertently espoused by +the Chancellor; and having been strongly attacked in the House +of Commons by Nugent, the Speaker, Mr. Fox, and others, the +last went very great lengths of severity on the whole body of +the law, and on its chieftain in particular-, which, however, +at the last reading, he softened and explained off extremely. +This did not ,appease; but on the return of the bill to the +House of Lords, where our amendments were to be read, the +Chancellor in the most personal terms harangued against Fox, +and concluded with saying that "he despised his scurrility as +much as his adulation and recantation." As Christian charity +is not one of the oaths taken by privy-counsellors, and as it +is not the most eminent virtue in either of the champions, this +quarrel is not likely to be soon reconciled. There are +natures(399) whose disposition it is to patch up political +breaches, but whether they will succeed, or try to succeed in +healing this, can I tell you? + +The match for Lord Granville, which I announced to you, is not +concluded: his flames are cooled in that quarter as well as in +others. + +I begin a new sheet to you, which does not match with the +other, for I have no more of the same paper here. Dr. Cameron +is executed, and died with the greatest firmness. His parting +with his wife the night before was heroic and tender: he let +her stay till the last moment, when being aware that the gates +of the Tower would be locked, he told her so; she fell at his +feet in agonies: he said, "Madam, this was not what you +promised me," and embracing her, forced her to retire; then +with the same coolness, looked at the window till her coach was +out of sight, after which he turned about and wept. His only +concern seemed to be at the ignominy of Tyburn: he was not +disturbed at the dresser for his body, or at the fire to burn +his bowels.(400) The crowd was so great, that a friend who +attended him could not get away, but was forced to stay and +behold the execution: but what will you say to the minister or +priest who accompanied him? The wretch, after taking leave, +went into a landau, where, not content with seeing the Doctor +hanged, he let down the top of the landau for the better +convenience of seeing him embowelled! I cannot tell you +positively that what I hinted of this Cameron being commissioned +from Prussia was true, but so it is believed. Adieu! my dear +child; I think this is a very tolerable letter for summer! + +(397) It was a view of the south side towards the northeast. + +(398) An ancestor of Sir Robert Walpole, who was knight of the +garter. + +(399) An allusion to Mr. Pelham. + +(400) "The populace," says Smollet, though not very subject to +tender emotions, were moved to compassion, and even to tears, +by his behaviour at the place of execution; and many sincere +well-wishers to the present establishment thought that the +sacrifice of this victim, at such a juncture, could not redound +either to its honour or security."-E. + + + +173 Letter 81 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, July 17, 1753. + +Dear sir, +You are so kind, that I am peevish with myself for not being +able to fix a positive day for being with you; as near as I can +guess, it will be some of the very first days of the next +month: I am engaged to go with Lady Ailesbury and Mr. Conway to +Stowe, the 28th of this month, if some little business which I +have here does not prevent me; and from thence I propose to +meet Mr. Chute at Greatworth. If this should at all interfere +with your schemes, tell me so; especially, I must beg that you +would not so far depend on me as to stay one minute from doing +any thing else you like, because it is quite impossible for me +to be sure that I can execute just at the time I propose such +agreeable projects. Meeting Mrs. Trevor will be a principal +part of my pleasure; but the summer shall certainly not pass +without my seeing you. + +You will, I am sure, be concerned to hear that your favourite, +Miss Brown, the pretty Catholic, who lived with Madame +d'Acunha, is dead at Paris, by the ignorance of the physician. +Tom Harvey, who always obliges the town with a quarrel in a +dead season, has published a delightful letter to Sir William +Bunbury,(401) full of madness and wit. He had given the Doctor +a precedent for a clergyman's fighting a duel, and I furnished +him with another story of the same kind, that diverted him +extremely. A Dr. Suckling, who married a niece of my father, +quarrelled with a country squire, who said, "Doctor, your gown +is your protection." "Is it so?" replied the parson; "but, by +God! it shall not be yours;" pulled it off, and thrashed him--I +was going to say damnably, at least, divinely. Do but think, +my Lord Coke and Tom Harvey are both bound to the peace, and +are always going to fight together: how comfortable for their +sureties! + +My Lord Pomfret is dead; George Selwyn says, that my Lord +Ashburnham(402) is not more glad to get into the parks than +Lord Falkland is to get out of them. You know he was forced to +live in a privileged place. + +Jack Hill(403) is dead too, and has dropped about a hundred +legacies; a thousand pound to the Dowager of Rockingham; as +much, with all his plate and china, to her sister Bel. I don't +find that my uncle has got so much as a case of knives and forks, +he always paid great court, but Mary Magdalen, my aunt, undid all +by scolding the man, and her spouse durst not take his part. + +Lady Anne Paulett's daughter is eloped with a country +clergyman. The Duchess of Argyle Harangues against the +Marriage-bill not taking place immediately, and is persuaded +that all the girls will go off before next lady-day. + +Before I finish, I must describe to you the manner in which I +overtook Monsieur le Duc de Mirepoix t'other day, who lives at +Lord Dunkeron's house at Turnham-green. It was seven o'clock +in the evening of one of the hottest and most dusty days of +this summer. He was walking slowly in the beau milieu of +Brentford town, without any company, but with a brown lap-dog +with long ears, two pointers, two pages, three footmen, and a +vis-a-vis following him. By the best accounts I can get, he +must have been to survey the ground of the battle of Brentford, +which I hear he has much studied, and harangues upon. + +Adieu! I enclose a World' to you, which, by a story I shall +tell you, I find is called mine. I met Mrs. Clive two nights +ago, and told her I had been in the meadows, but would walk no +more there, for there was all the world. "Well," says she, "and +don't you like the World!(404) I hear it was very clever last +Thursday." All I know is, that you will meet with some of your +acquaintance there. Good night, with my compliments to Miss +Montagu. + + +(401) The Rev. Sir William Bunbury, father of Sir Charles, and +of Henry, the celebrated caricaturist.-E. + +(402) Lord Ashburnham succeeded Lord Pomfret as ranger of St. +James's and Hyde Parks. + +(403) Member for Higham Ferrers. + +(404) No. 28, entitled " Old women most proper objects for +love." Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, in a letter to her daughter, +says, "Send me no translations, no periodical papers; though I +confess some of The World' entertained me very much, +particularly Lord Chesterfield and Horry Walpole; but whenever +I met Dodsley, I wished him out of the World with all my heart. +The title was a very lucky one, being, as you see, productive +of puns world without end; which is all the species of wit some +people can either practise or understand."-E. + + + +174 Letter 82 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, July 21, 1753. + +Though I have long had a letter of yours unanswered, yet I +verily think it would have remained so a little longer, if the +pretty altar-tomb which you have sent me had not roused my +Gratitude. It arrived here--I mean the tomb, not my +gratitude--yesterday, and this morning churchyarded itself in +the corner of my wood, where I hope it will remain till some +future virtuoso shall dig it up, and publish 'it in " A +Collection of Roman Antiquities in Britain. It is the very +thing I wanted: how could you, my dear Sir, take such exact +measure of my idea? By the way, you have never told me the +price; don't neglect it, that I nay pay your brother. + +I told you how ill disposed I was to write to you, and you must +know without my telling you that the only reason of that could +be my not knowing a tittle worth mentioning; nay, not a tittle, +worth or not. All England is gone over all England +electioneering: the spirit is as great now they are all on one +side, as when parties ran the highest. You judge how little I +trouble myself about all this; especially when the question is +not who shall be in the ministry, only who shall be in the +House. + +I am almost inclined not to say a word to your last letter, +because if I begin to answer it, it must be by scolding you for +making SO serious an affair of leaving off snuff; one would +think you was to quit a vice, not a trick. Consider, child, +you are in Italy, not in England: here you would be very +fashionable by having so many nerves, and you might have +doctors and waters for every One Of them, from Dr. Mead to Dr. +Thompson, and from Bath to the iron pear-tree water. I should +sooner have expected to hear that good Dr. Cocchi(405) was in +the Inquisition than in prescribing to a +snuff-twitter-nerve-fever! You say people tell you that +leaving off snuff all at once may be attended with bad +consequences--I can't conceive what bad consequences, but to +the snuff-shop, who, I conclude by your lamentations, must have +sold you tolerable quantities; and I know what effects any +diversion of money has upon the tobacco-trade in Tuscany. I +forget how much it was that the duty sank at Florence in a +fortnight after the erection of the first lottery, by the poor +people abridging themselves of snuff to buy tickets; but I +think I have said enough, considering I don't intend to scold. + +Thank you for your civilities to Mr. Stephens; not at all for +those to Mr. Perry,(406) who has availed himself of the +partiality which he found you had for me, and passed Upon you +for my friend. I never spoke one word to him in my life, but +when he went out of his own dressing-room at Penshurst that Mr. +Chute and I might see it, and then I said, "Sir, I hope we +don't disturb you;" he grunted something, and walked away--la +belle amiti`e!--yet, my dear child, I thank you, who receive +bad money when it is called My coin. I Wish YOU had liked my +Lady Rochford's beauty more: I intended it should return well +preserved: I grow old enough to be piqued for the charms of my +contemporaries. + +Lord Pomfret(407) is dead, not a thousand pound in debt. The +Countess has two thousand a-year rent-charge for jointure, five +hundred as lady of the bedchamber to the late Queen, and +fourteen thousand pounds in money, in her own power, just +recovered by a lawsuit-what a fund for follies! The new Earl +has about two thousand four hundred pounds a-year in present +but deep debts and post-obits. He has not put on mourning, but +robes; that is, in the middle of this very hot summer, he has +produced himself in a suit of crimson velvet, that he may be +sure of not being mistaken for being in weepers. There are +rents worth ten thousand pounds left to little Lady Sophia +Carteret,(408) and the whole personal estate between the two +unmarried daughters;(409) so the seat(410) must be stripped. +There are a few fine small pictures, and one(411) very curious +One of Henry VII. and his Queen, with Cardinal Morton, and, I +think, the Abbot of Westminster. Strawberry casts a Gothic eye +upon this, but I fear it will pass our revenues. The +statues,(412) which were part of the Arundel collection, are +famous, but few good. The Cicero is fine and celebrated: the +Marius I think still finer. The rest are Scipios, +Cincinnatus's and the Lord knows who, which have lost more of +their little value than of their false pretensions by living +out of doors; and there is a green-house full of colossal +fragments. Adieu! Have you received the description and +portrait of my castle? + +(405) he was a very free thinker, and suspected by the +Inquisition. + +(406) He married one of the coheiresses of the Sidneys, Earls +of Leicester. + +(407) Thomas Fermor, first Earl of Pomfret, so created in 1721. +He had ben master of the horse to Queen Caroline, and ranger of +St. James's Park-D. + +(408) Daughter of John, Earl of Granville, by his second wife, +eldest daughter of Thomas Fermor, Earl of Pomfret. (Afterwards +married to William Petty, Earl of Shelburne and Marquis of +Lansdowne.-D.) + +(409) Lady Louisa and Lady Anne; the latter was afterwards +married to Mr. Dawson. + +(410) Easton Neston, in Northamptonshire. + +(411) It is the marriage of Henry VII. and Elizabeth of York. +The two other figures are probably St. Thomas and the Bishop of +linola, the Pope's nuncio, who pronounced the nuptial +benediction. This curious picture was purchased by Lady +Pomfret for two hundred pounds. The Earl of Oxford offered her +five hundred pounds for it: Mr. Walpole bought it at Lord +Pomfret's sale for eighty-four guineas, and it is now at +Strawberry Hill. + +(412) Lady Pomfret bought the statues, after her lord's death, +and presented them to the University of Oxford. + + + +176 Letter 83 +To John Chute, Esq. +Stowe, Aug. 4, 1753 + +My dear Sir, +You would deserve to be scolded, if you had not lost almost as +much pleasure as you have disappointed me of.(413) Whether +George Montagu will be so content With your commuting +punishments, I don't know: I should think not; he "cried and +roared all night"(414) when I delivered your excuse. He is +extremely well-housed, after having roamed like a Tartar about +the country with his whole personal estate at his heels. . +There is an extensive view, which is called pretty: but +Northamptonshire is no county to please me. What entertained +me was, that he who in London -,vas grown an absolute recluse, +is over head and ears in neighbours, and as popular as if he +intended to stand for the county, instead of having given up +the town. The very first morning after my arrival, as we were +getting into the chaise to go to Wroxton, they notified a Sir +Harry Danvers, a young squire, booted and spurred, and +buckskin-breeche'd. "Will you drink any chocolate?" "No; a +little wine and water, if you please."--I suspected nothing but +that he had rode till he was dry. "Nicol`o, some wine and +water." He desired the water might be warm--I began to stare; +Montagu understood the dialect, and ordered a negus. I had +great difficulty to keep my countenance, and still more when I +saw the baronet finish a very large jug indeed. To be sure, he +wondered as much at me e who did not finish a jug; and I could +not help reflecting, that living always in the world makes one +as unfit for living out of it, as always living out of it does +for living in it. Knightley, the knight of the shire, has been +entertaining all the parishes round with a turtle-feast, which, +so far from succeeding, has almost made him suspected for a +Jeu,, as the country parsons have not yet learned to wade into +green fat. + +The roads are very bad to Greatworth; and such numbers of +gates, that if one loved punning one should call it the +Gate-house. - The proprietor had a wonderful invention: the +chimneys, which are of stone, have niches and benches in them, +where the man used to sit and smoke. I had twenty disasters, +according to custom; lost my way, and had my French boy almost +killed by a fall with his horse: but I have been much pleased. +When I was at Park-place I went to see Sir H. +Englefield's,(415) which Mr. Churchill and Lady Mary prefer, +but I think very undeservedly, to Mr. Southcote's. It is not +above a quarter as extensive, and wants the river. There is a +pretty view of Reading seen under a rude arch, and the water is +well disposed. The buildings are very insignificant, and the +house far from good. The town of Henley has been extremely +disturbed with an engagement between the ghosts of Miss Blandy +and her father, which continued so violent, that some bold +persons, to prevent farther blood-shed, broke in, and found it +was two jackasses which had got into the kitchen. + +I felt strangely tempted to stay at Oxford and survey it at my +leisure; but as I was alone, I had not courage. I passed by +Sir James Dashwood'S,(416) a vast new house, situated so high +that it seems to stand for the county as well as himself. I +did look over Lord Jersey's(417) which was built for a +hunting-box, and is still little better. But now I am going to +tell you how delightful a day I passed at Wroxton. Lord +Guildford has made George Montagu so absolutely viceroy over +it, that we saw it more agreeable than you can conceive; roamed +over the whole house, found every door open, saw not a +creature, had an extreme good dinner, wine, fruit, coffee and +tea in the library, were served by fairies, tumbled over the +books, said one or two talismanic words, and the cascade +played, and went home loaded with pine-apples and flowers.--You +will take me for Monsieur de CoulangeS,(418) I describe +eatables so feelingly; but the manner in which we were served +made the whole delicious. The house was built by a Lord Downe +in the reign of James the First; and though there is a fine +hall and a vast dining-room below, and as large a drawing-room +above, it is neither good nor agreeable; one end of the front +was never finished, and might have a good apartment. The +library is added by this Lord, and is a pleasant chamber. +Except loads of portraits, there is no tolerable furniture. A +whole-length of the first Earl of Downe is in the Bath-robes, +and has a coif under the hat and feather. There is a charming +picture of Prince Henry about twelve years old, drawing his +sword to kill a stag, with a Lord Harrington; a good portrait +of Sir Owen Hopton,(419) 1390; your pious grandmother, my Lady +Dacre, which I think like you; some good Cornelius Johnsons; a +Lord North, by Riley, good; and an extreme fine portrait by him +of the Lord Keeper: I have never seen but few of the hand, but +most of them have been equal to Lely and the best of Sir +Godfrey. There is too a curious portrait of Sir Thomas Pope, +the founder of Trinity College, Oxford, said to be by Holbein. +The chapel is new, but in a pretty Gothic taste, with a very +long window of painted glass, very tolerable. The frieze is +pendent, just in the manner I propose for the eating-room at +Strawberry Hill. Except one scene, which is indeed noble, I +cannot much commend the without-doors. This scene consists of +a beautiful lake entirely shut in with wood: the head falls +into a fine cascade, and that into a serpentine river, over +which is a little Gothic seat like a round temple, lifted up by +a shaggy mount. On an eminence in the park is an obelisk +erected to the honour and at the expense of "optimus" and 1, +munificentissimus" the late Prince of Wales, "in loci +amoenitatem et memoriam advent`us ejus." There are several +paltry Chinese buildings and bridges, which have the merit or +demerit of being the progenitors of a very numerous race all +over the kingdom: at least they were of the very first. In the +church is a beautiful tomb of an Earl and Countess of Downe, +and the tower is in a good plain Gothic style, ind was once, +they tell you, still more beautiful; but Mr. Miller, who +designed it, unluckily once in his life happened to think +rather of beauty than of the water-tables, and so it fell down +the first winter. + +On Wednesday morning we went to see a sweet little chapel at +Steane, built in 1620 by Sir Thomas Crewe, Speaker in the time +of the first James and Charles. Here are remains of the +mansion-house, but quite in ruins: the chapel is kept up by my +Lord Arran, the last of the race. There are seven or eight +monuments. On one is this epitaph, which I thought pretty +enough: + +"Conjux, casta parens felix, matrona pudica; +Sara viro, mundo Martha, Maria Deo." + +On another is the most affected inscription I ever saw, written +by two brothers on their sister: they say, "This agreeable +mortal translated her into immortality such a day:" but I could +not help laughing at one quaint expression, to which time has +given a droll sense: "She was a constant lover of the best." + +I have been here these two days, extremely amused and charmed +indeed. Wherever you stand you see an Albano landscape. Half +as many buildings I believe would be too many, but such a +profusion gives inexpressible richness. You may imagine I have +some private reflections entertaining enough, not very +communicable to the company: the Temple of Friendship, in +which, among twenty memorandums of quarrels, is the bust of Mr. +Pitt: Mr. James Grenville is now in the house, whom his uncle +disinherited for his attachment to that very Pylades, Mr. Pitt. +He broke with Mr. Pope, who is deified in the Elysian fields, +before the inscription for his head was finished. That of Sir +John Barnard, which was bespoke by the name of a bust of my +Lord Mayor, was by a mistake of the sculptor done for Alderman +Perry. The statue of the King, and that "honori, laudi, +virtuti divae Carolinae," make one smile, when one sees the +ceiling where Britannia rejects and hides the reign of King * * +* * But I have no patience at building and planting a satire! +Such is the temple of modern virtue in ruins! The Grecian +temple is glorious: this I openly worship: in the heretical +corner of my heart I adore the Gothic building, which by some +unusual inspiration Gibbs had made pure and beautiful and +venerable. The style has a propensity to the Venetian or +mosque Gothic, and the great column near it makes the whole put +one in mind of the Place of St. Mark. The windows are +throughout consecrated with painted glass; most of it from the +priory at Warwick, a present from that foolish Greathead, who +quarrelled with me (because his father was a gardener) for +asking him if Lord Brook had planted much--Apropos to painted +glass. I forgot to tell you of a sweet house which Mr. Montagu +carried me to see, belonging to a Mr. Holman, a Catholic, and +called Warkworth. The situation is pretty, the front charming, +composed of two round and two square towers. The court within +is incomplete on one side; but above stairs is a vast gallery +with four bow-windows and twelve other large ones, all filled +with the arms of the old peers of England, with all their +quarterings entire. You don't deserve, after deserting me, +that I should tempt you to such a sight; but this alone is +worth while to carry you to Greatworth. + +Adieu, my dear Sir! I return to Strawberry to-morrow, and +forgive you enough not to deprive myself of the satisfaction of +seeing you there whenever you have nothing else to do. + +(413) In not accompanying Mr. Walpole on a visit to Mr. George +Montagu at Greatworth. + + +(414) A phrase of Mr. Montagu's. + +(415) Whiteknights. + +(416) At High Wycombe. + +(417) Middleton. + +(418) The cousin and friend of Madame de S`evign`e, and +frequently mentioned in her letters.-E. + +(419) Lieutenant of the Tower. His daughter was the wife of +the first Earl of Downe.-E. + + + +179 Letter 84 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, Aug. 16, 1753. + +Don't you suspect, that I have not only forgot the pleasure I +had at Greatworth and Wroxton,(420) but the commissions you +gave me too? It looks a little ungrateful not to have vented a +word of thanks; but I stayed to write till I could send you the +things, and when I had them, I stayed to send them by Mr. +Chute, who tells you by to-night's post when he will bring +them. The butter-plate is not exactly what You ordered, but I +flatter myself you will like it as well. There are a few +seeds; more shall follow at the end of the autumn. Besides Tom +Harvey's letter, I have sent you maps of Oxfordshire and +Northamptonshire, having felt the want of them when I was with +you. I found the road to Stowe above twelve miles, very bad, +and it took me up two hours and a half: but the formidable idea +I conceived of the breakfast and way of life there by no means +answered. You was a prophet; it was very agreeable. I am +ashamed to tell you that I laughed half an hour yesterday at +the sudden death of your new friend Sir Harry Danvers,(421) +"after a morning's airing," the news call it; I suspect it was +after a negus. I found my garden brown and bare, but these +rains have recovered the green. You may get your pond ready as +soon as you please; the gold fish swarm: Mr. Bentley carried a +dozen to town t'other day in a decanter. You would be +entertained with our fishing; instead of nets, and rods and +lines, and worms, we use nothing but a pail and a basin and a +tea-strainer, which I persuade my neighbours is the Chinese +method. Adieu! My best compliments to Miss Montagu. + +P. S. Since writing my letter, I have received your twin +dispatches. I am extremely sensible of the honour my Lord +Guildford does me, and beg you to transmit my gratitude to him: +if he is ever at Wroxton when I visit Greatworth, I shall +certainly wait upon him, and think myself happy in seeing that +charming place again. As soon as I go to town, I shall send +for Moreland, and barbour your wardrobe with great pleasure. I +find I must beg your pardon for laughing in the former part of +my letter about your baronet's death; but his "wine and water a +little warm" had left such a ridiculous effect upon me, that +even his death could not efface it. Good night! Mr. Miller +told me at Stowe, that the chimney-piece (I think from Steane) +was he believed at Banbury, but he did not know exactly. If it +lies in your way to inquire, on so vague a direction, will you? +Mr. Chute may bring me a sketch of it. + +(420) The seat of Lord Guilford. + +(421) Of Culworth, in Oxfordshire. He died at the age of +twenty-two.-E. + + + +180 Letter 85 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Arlington Street, September, 1753. + +My dear Sir, +I am going to send you another volume of my travels; I don't +know whether I shall not, at last, write a new Camden's +Britannia; but lest you should be afraid of my itinerary, I +will at least promise you that it shall not be quite so dry as +most surveys, which contain nothing but lists of impropriations +and glebes, and carucates, and transcripts out of Domesday, and +tell one nothing that is entertaining, describe no houses nor +parks, mention no curious pictures, but are fully satisfied if +they inform you that they believe that some nameless old tomb +belonged to a knight-templar, or one of the crusado, because he +lies cross-legged. Another promise I will make you is, that my +love of abbeys shall not make me hate the Reformation till that +makes me grow a Jacobite, like the rest of my antiquarian +predecessors; of whom, Dart in particular wrote Billingsgate +against Cromwell and the regicides: and Sir Robert Atkins +concludes his summary of the Stuarts with saying, "that it is +no reason, because they have been so, that this family should +always continue unfortunate." + +I have made my visit at Hagley,(422) as I intended. On my way +I dined at Park-place, and lay at Oxford. As I was quite +alone, I did not care to see any thing; but as soon as it was +dark I ventured out, and the moon rose as I was wandering among +the colleges, and gave me a charming venerable Gothic scene, +which was not lessened by the monkish appearance of the old +fellows stealing to their pleasures. Birmingham is large, and +swarms with people and trade, but did not answer my expectation +from any beauty in it: yet, new as it is, I perceived how far I +was got back from the London hegira; for every alehouse is here +written mug-house, a name one has not heard of since the riots +in the late King's time. + +As I got into Worcestershire, I opened upon a landscape of +country which I prefer even to Kent, which I had reckoned the +most beautiful county in England: but this, with all the +richness of Kent, is bounded with mountains. Sir George +Lyttelton's house is immeasurably bad and old; one room at the +top of the house, which was reckoned a conceit in those days, +projects a vast way into the air. There are two or three +curious pictures, and some of them extremely agreeable to me +for their relation to Grammont: there is le s`erieux +Lyttelton,(423) but too old for the date of that book; +Mademoiselle Stuart,(424) Lord Brounker, and Lady +Southesk;(425) besides, a portrait of Lord Clifford the +treasurer(426) with his staff, but drawn in armour (though no +soldier) out of flattery to Charles the Second, as he said the +most glorious part of his life was attending the King at the +battle of Worcester. He might have said, that it was as +glorious as any part of his Majesty's life. You might draw, +but I can't describe, the enchanting scenes of the park: it is +a hill of three miles, but broke into all manner of beauty; +such lawns, such wood, rills, cascades, and a thickness of +verdure quite to the summit of the hill, and commanding such a +vale of towns, and meadows, and woods extending quite to the +Black Mountain in Wales, that I quite forgot my favourite +Thames! Indeed, I prefer nothing to Hagley but Mount Edgecombe. +There is extreme taste in the park - the seats are not the +best, but there is not one absurdity. There is a ruined +castle, built by Miller, that would get him his freedom even of +Strawberry: it has the true rust of the barons' wars. Then +there is a scene of a small lake, with cascades falling down +such a Parnassus 1 with a circular temple on the distant +eminence; and there is such a fairy dale, with more cascades +gushing out of rocks! and there- is a hermitage, so exactly +like those in Sadeler's prints, on the brow of a shady +mountain, stealing peeps into the glorious world below; and +there is such a pretty well under a wood, like the Samaritan +woman's in a picture of Nicol`o Poussin! and there is such a +wood without the park, enjoying such a prospect! and there is +such a mountain on t'other side of the park commanding all +prospects, that I wore out my eyes with gazing, my feet with +climbing, and my tongue and my vocabulary with commending! The +best notion I can give you of the satisfaction I showed, was, +that Sir George proposed to carry me to dine with my Lord +Foley; and when I showed reluctance, he said, "Why, I thought +you did not mind any strangers, if you were to see any thing!" +Think of my not minding strangers! I mind them so much, that I +missed seeing Hartlebury Castle, and the Bishop of Worcester's +chapel of painted glass there, because it was his public day +when I passed by his park.-Miller has built a Gothic house in +the village at Hagley for a relation of Sir George: but there +he is not more than Miller; in his castle he is almost Bentley. +There is a genteel tomb in the church to Sir George's first +wife,(427) with a Cupid and a pretty urn in the Roman style. + +You will be diverted with my distresses at Worcester. I set +out boldly to walk down the high-street to the cathedral: I +found it much more peopled than I intended, and, when I was +quite embarked, discovered myself up to the ears in a contested +election. A new candidate had arrived the night before, and +turned all their heads. Nothing comforted me, but that the +opposition is to Mr. Trevis; and I purchased my passage very +willingly with crying "No Trevis! No Jews!" However, the inn +where I lay was Jerusalem itself, the very head-quarters where +Trevis the Pharisee was expected; and I had scarce got into my +room, before the victorious mob of his enemy, who had routed +his advanced guard, broke open the gates of our inn, and almost +murdered the ostler-and then carried him off to prison for +being murdered. The cathedral is pretty, and has several +tombs, and clusters of light pillars of Derbyshire marble, +lately cleaned. Gothicism and the restoration of that +architecture, and not of the bastard breed, spreads extremely +in this part of the world. Prince Arthur's tomb, from whence +we took the paper for the hall and staircase, to my great +surprise. is on a less scale than the paper, and is not of +brass but stone, and that wretchedly whitewashed. The niches +are very small, and the long slips in the middle are divided +every now and then with the trefoil. There is a fine tomb for +Bishop Hough, in the Westminster Abbey style; but the obelisk +at the back is not loaded with a globe and a human figure, like +Mr. Kent's design for Sir Isatc Newton; an absurdity which +nothing but himself could surpass, when he placed three busts +at the foot of an altar-and, not content with that, placed them +at the very angles--where they have as little to do as they +have with Shakspeare. + +>From Worcester I went to see Malvern Abbey. It is situated +half way up an immense mountain of that name: the mountain is +very long, in shape like the prints of a whale's back: towards +the larger end lies the town. Nothing remains but a beautiful +gateway and a church, which is very large: every window has +been glutted with painted glass, of which much remains, but it +did not answer; blue and red there is in abundance, and good +faces; but the portraits are so high, I could not distinguish +them. Besides, the woman who showed me the church would pester +me with Christ and King David, when I was hunting for John of +Gaunt and King Edward. The greatest curiosity, at least what I +had never seen before, was, the whole floor and far up the +sides of the church has been, if I may call it so, wainscoted +with red and yellow tiles, extremely polished, and diversified +with coats of arms, and inscriptions, and mosaic. I have since +found the same at Gloucester, and have even been so fortunate +as to purchase from the sexton about a dozen, which think what +an acquisition for Strawberry! They are made of the natural +earth of the country, which is a rich red clay, that produces +every thing. All the lanes are full of all kind of trees, and +enriched with large old apple-trees, that hang over from one +hedge to another. Worcester city is large and pretty. +Gloucester city is still better situated, but worse built, and +not near so large. About a mile from Worcester you break upon +a sweet view of the Severn. A little farther on the banks is +Mr. Lechmere's house; but he has given strict charge to a troop +of willows never to let him see the river: to his right hand +extends the fairest meadow covered with cattle that ever you +saw - at the end of it is the town of Upton, with a church half +ruined and a bridge of six arches, which I believe with little +trouble he might see from his garden. + +The vale increases in riches to Gloucester. I stayed two days +at George Selwyn's house called Matson, which lies on Robin +Hood's Hill: it is lofty enough for an Alp, yet is a mountain +of turf to the very top, has wood scattered all over it, +springs that long to be cascades in twenty places of it: and +from the summit it beats even Sir George Lyttelton's views, by +having the city of Gloucester at its foot, and the Severn +widening to the horizon. His house is small, but neat. King +Charles lay here at the siege; and the Duke of York, with +typical fury, hacked and hewed the window-shutters of his +chamber, as a memorandum of his being there. Here is a good +picture, of Dudley Earl of Leicester in his latter age, which +he gave to Sir Francis Walsingham, at whose house in Kent it +remained till removed hither; and what makes it very curious, +is, his age marked on it, fifty-four in 1572. I had never been +able to discover before in what year he was born. And here is +the very flower-pot and counterfeit association, for which +Bishop Sprat was taken up, and the Duke of Marlborough sent to +the tower. The reservoirs on the hill supply the city. The +late Mr. Selwyn governed the borough by them-and I believe by +some wine too. The Bishop's house is pretty, and restored to +the Gothic by the late Bishop. Price has painted a large +chapel-window for him, which is scarce inferior for colours, +and is a much better picture than any of the old glass. The +eating-room is handsome. As I am a Protestant Goth, I was glad +to worship Bishop Hooper's room, from whence he was led to the +stake: but I could almost have been a Hun, and set fire to the +front of the house, which is a small pert portico, like the +conveniences at the end of a London garden. The outside of the +cathedral is beautifully light; the pillars in the nave +outrageously plump and heavy. There is a tomb of one Abraham +Blackleach, a great curiosity; for, though the figures of him +and his wife are cumbent, they are very graceful, designed by +Vandyck, and well executed. Kent designed the screen; but knew +no more there than he did any where else how to enter into the +true Gothic taste. Sir Christopher Wren, who built the tower +of the great gateway at Christ Church, has catched the graces +of it as happily as you could do: there is particularly a niche +between two compartments of' a window, that is a masterpiece. + +But here is a modernity, which beats all antiquities for +curiosity: just by the high altar is a small pew hung with +green damask, with curtains of the same; a small corner +cupboard, painted, carved, and gilt, for books, in one corner, +and two troughs of a bird-cage, with seeds and water. If any +mayoress on earth was small enough to enclose herself in this +tabernacle, or abstemious enough to feed on rape and canary, I +should have sworn that it was the shrine of the queen of the +aldermen. It belongs to a Mrs. Cotton, who, having lost a +favourite daughter, is convinced her soul is transmigrated into +a robin-redbreast; for which reason she passes her life in +making an aviary of the cathedral of Gloucester. The chapter +indulge this whim, as she contributes abundantly to glaze, +whitewash, and ornament the church. + +King Edward the Second's tomb is very light and in good repair. +The old wooden figure of Robert, the Conqueror's unfortunate +eldest son, is extremely genteel, and, though it may not be so +ancient as his death, is in a taste very superior to any thing +of much later ages. Our Lady's Chapel has a bold kind of +portal, and several ceilings of chapels, and tribunes in a +beautiful taste: but of all delight, is what they call the +abbot's cloister. It is the very thing that you would build, +when you had extracted all the quintessence of trefoils, +arches, and lightness. In the church is a star-window of eight +points, that is prettier than our rose-windows. + +A little way from the town are the ruins of Lantony Priory: +there remains a pretty old gateway, which G. Selwyn has begged, +to erect on the top of his mountain, and it will have a +charming effect. + +At Burford I saw the house of Mr. Lenthal the descendant of the +Speaker. The front is good and a chapel connected by two or +three arches, which let the garden appear through, has a pretty +effect; but the inside of the mansion is bad and ill-furnished. +Except a famous picture of Sir Thomas More's family, the +portraits are rubbish, though celebrated. I am told that the +Speaker, who really had a fine collection, made his peace by +presenting them to Cornbury, where they were well known, till +the Duke of Marlborough bought that seat. + +I can't go and describe so known a place as Oxford, which I saw +pretty well on my return. The whole air of the town charms me; +and what remains of the true Gothic un-Gibbs'd, and the +profusion of painted glass, were entertainment enough to me. +In the picture-gallery are quantities of portraits; but in +general they are not only not so much as copies, but proxies-so +totally unlike they arc to the persons they pretend to +represent. All I will tell you more of Oxford is, that Fashion +has so far prevailed over her collegiate sister, Custom, that +they have altered the hour of dinner from twelve to one. Does +not it put one in mind of reformations in religion? One don't +abolish Mahommedism; one only brings it back to where the +impostor himself left it. I think it is at the +South-Sea-house, where they have been forced to alter the hour +of payment, instead of from ten to twelve, to from twelve to +two; so much do even moneyed citizens sail with the current of +idleness! + +Was not I talking of religious sects? Methodism is quite +decayed in Oxford, its cradle. In its stead, there prevails a +delightful fantastic system, called the sect of the +Hutchinsonians,(429) of whom one seldom hears any thing in +town. After much inquiry, all I can discover is, that their +religion consists in driving Hebrew to its fountain-head, till +they find some word or other in every text of the Old +Testament, which may seem figurative of something in the New, +or at least of something, that may happen God knows when, in +consequence of the New. As their doctrine is novel, and +requires much study, or at least much invention, one should +think that they could not have settled half the canon of what +they are to believe-and yet they go on zealously, trying to +make and succeeding in making converts.(429) I could not help +smiling at the thoughts of etymological salvation; and I am +sure you will smile when I tell you, that according to their +gravest doctors, "Soap Is an excellent type of Jesus Christ, +and the York-buildings waterworks of the Trinity."--I don't +know whether this is not as entertaining as the passion of the +Moravians for the "little side-hole!" Adieu, my dear sir! + +(422) The seat of Sir George, afterwards Lord Lyttelton.-E. + +(423) Sir Charles Lyttelton, distinguished in the M`emoires de +Grammont as "le s`erieux Lyttelton." He died in 1716, at the +age of eighty-six.-E. + +(424) The beautiful Frances Stuart, who married Esme, Duke of +Richmond; which greatly displeased Charles the Second, who was +in love with her. + +(425) Anne, daughter of William, second Duke of Hamilton, and +wife of Robert, third Earl of Southesk.-E. + +(426) Sir Thomas Clifford, created Lord Clifford of Chudleigh. +He was one of "The Cabal."-E. + +(427) Lucy, daughter of Hugh Fortescue, Esq. of Filleigh; upon +whose death, in 1746-7, Lord Lyttelton wrote his Celebrated +monody.-E. + +(428) John Hutchinson, the founder of this sect, was born in +1674, and died in 1737, leaving a number of works on the Hebrew +language, which were collected in 1748, in twelve volumes +octavo. He imagined all knowledge to be contained in the +Hebrew Scriptures, and, rejecting the points, he gave a +fanciful meaning to every one of the Hebrew letters. He +possessed great mechanical skill, and invented a chronometer +for the discovery of the longitude, which was much approved by +Sir Isaac Newton.-E. + +(429) Among his followers were the amiable Dr. Horne, Bishop of +Norwich, who published +an "Abstract" of his writings, and Parkhurst, the author of the +Hebrew Lexicon.-E. + + + +186 Letter 86 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Oct. 6, 1753. + +I fear the letter of July 21st, which you tell me you have +received, was the last I wrote. I will make no more excuses +for my silence; I think they take up half my letters. The time +of year must be full excuse; and this autumn is so dead a time, +that people even don't die. + +You have puzzled me extremely by a paragraph in yours about one +Wilton, a sculptor, who, you say, is mentioned with encomiums +one of the Worlds:(430) I recollected no such thing. The first +parcel your brother sends you shall convey the other numbers of +that paper, and I will mark all the names I know of the +authors: there are several, and of our first writers;(431) but +in general you will not find that the paper answers the idea +you have entertained of it. + +I grieve for my Florentine friends, and for the doubling of +their yoke: the Count has shown great art. I am totally +ignorant, not to say indifferent, about the Modenese +treaty;(432) indeed, I have none of that spirit which was +formerly so much objected to some of my family, the love of +negotiations during a settled peace. Treaties within treaties +are very dull businesses: contracts of marriage between +baby-princes and miss-princesses give me no curiosity. If I +had not seen it in the papers, I should never have known that +Master Tommy the Archduke was playing at marrying Miss Modena. +I am as sick of the hide-and-seek at which all Europe has been +playing about a King of the Romans! Forgive me, my dear child, +you who are a minister, for holding your important affairs so +cheap. I amuse myself with Gothic and painted glass, and am as +grave about my own trifles as I could be at Ratisbon. I shall +tell you one or two events within my own very small sphere, and +you must call them a letter. I believe I mentioned having made +a kind of armoury: my upper servant, who is full as dull as his +predecessor, whom you knew, Tom Barney, has had his head so +filled with arms, that the other day, when a man brought home +an old chimney-back, which I had bought for having belonged to +Harry VII, he came running in, and said, "Sir, Sir! here is a +man has brought some more armour!" + +Last week, when I was in town, I went to pay a bill to the +glazier who fixed up the painted glass: I said, "Mr. Palmer, +you charge me seven shillings a-day for your man's work: I know +you give him but two shillings; and I am told that it is +impossible for him to earn seven shillings a-day."--"Why no, +Sir," replied be, "it is not that; but one must pay house-rent, +and one must eat, and one must wear." I looked at him, and he +had on a blue silk waistcoat with an extremely broad gold lace. +I could not help smiling. I turned round, and saw his own +portrait, and his wife's, and his son's. "And I see," said I, +"one must sit for one's picture; I am very sorry that I am to +contribute for all you must do!" Adieu! I gave you warning +that I had nothing to say. + +(430) Mr. Mann mistook; I think it was in a paper called "The +Adventurer." + +(431) Lord Chesterfield, Lord Bath, Mr. W. Whithed, Sir Charles +Williams, Mr. Soame Jennings, Mr. Cambridge, Mr. Coventry, etc. + +(432) It was between the Empress-Queen and the Duke of Modena, +for settling the duchy of Milan on one of the little Archdukes, +on his marrying the Duke's granddaughter, and in the mean time +the Duke was made administrator of Milan. + + + + 187 Letter 87 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Dec 6, 1753. + +In a very long, and consequently a very agreeable letter, which +I received from you yesterday, you set me an example which I +despair of following, keeping up a correspondence with spirit +when the world furnishes no events. I should not say no +events, for France is big with matter, but to talk of the +parliamentary wars of another country would be only +transcribing gazettes: and as to Prince Heracilus,(433) the +other phenomenon of the age, it is difficult to say much about +a person of whom one knows nothing at all. The only scene, +that promises to Interest one, lies in Ireland, from whence we +are told that the Speaker's party has carried a question +against the Lord Lieutenant's; but no particulars are yet +arrived. Foundations have formerly been laid in Ireland of +troubles that have spread hither: I have read somewhere this +old saw, + +"He that would England win, +Must with Ireland-first begin." + +The only novelty I know, and which is quite private history, +is, that there is a man(434) in the world, who has so much +obligingness and attention in his friendships, that in the +middle of public business, and teased to death with all kind of +commissions, and overrun with cubs and cubaccioni's of every +kind, he can for twelve years together remember any single +picture, or bust, or morsel of virtu, that a friend of his ever +liked; and what is forty times more extraordinary than this +circumstantial kindness, he remembers it just at the time when +others, who might be afflicted with as good a memory, would +take pains to forget it, that is, when it is to be +obtained:-exactly then this person goes and purchases the thing +in question, whips it on board a ship, and sends it to his +friend, in the manner in the world to make it most agreeable, +except that he makes it impossible to thank him, because you +must allow that one ought to be possessed of the same manner of +obliging, before one is worthy of thanking such a person. I +don't know whether you will think this person so extraordinary +as I do; but I have one favour to beg; if you should ever hear +his name, which, for certain reasons, I can't tell you, let me +entreat you never to disclose it, for the world in general is +so much the reverse of him, that they would do nothing but +commend to him every thing they saw, in order to employ his +memory and generosity. For this reason you will allow that the +prettiest action that ever was committed, ought not to be +published to all the world. + +You, who love your friends, will not be sorry to hear a little +circumstance that concerns, in a tolerable manner, at least two +of them. The last of my mother's surviving brothers(435) is +dead, and dead without a will, and dead rich. Mr. Conway and I +shall share about six thousand pounds apiece in common with his +brother and sister and my brother. I only tell you this for a +momentary pleasure, for you are not a sort of person to +remember any thing relative to your friends beyond the present +instant! + +After writing me two sheets of paper, not to mention the +episode of Bianca Capello, I know not how to have the +confidence to put an end to my letter already; and yet I must, +and you will admit the excuse: I have but just time to send my +brother an account of his succession: you who think largely +enough to forgive any man's deferring such notice to you, would +be the last man to defer giving it to any body else; and +therefore, to spare you any more of the compliments and thanks, +which surely I owe you, you shall let me go make my brother +happy. Adieu! + +(433) One of the pretenders to the throne of Persia, who gained +many victories about this time. + +(434) When Mr. Walpole was at Florence he saw a fine picture by +Vasari of the Great duchess Bianca Capello, in the palace of +the Marchese Vitelli, whose family falling to decay, and their +effects being sold twelve years afterwards, Mr. Mann +recollected-Mr. Walpole's having admired that picture, bought +and sent it to him. + +(435) Erasmus Shorter, brother of Catherine Lady Walpole, and +of Charlotte Lady Conway, whose surviving children, Edward and +Horace Walpole, Francis Earl of Hertford, Henry and Anne +Conway, became his heirs. + + + +188 Letter 88 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, Dec. 6, 1753. + +I have at last found a moment to answer your letter; a +possession of which, I think, I have not been master these ten +days. You must know I have an uncle dead; a sort of event that +could not possibly have been disagreeable to me, let his name +have been what it would; and to make it still less unpleasant, +here am I one of the heirs-at-law to a man worth thirty +thousand pounds. One of the heirs, you must construe, one of +five. In short, my uncle Erasmus is dead, and think at last we +may depend on his having made no will. If a will should +appear, we are but where we were; if it does not, it is not +uncomfortable to have a little sum of money drop out of the +clouds, to which one has as much right as any body, for which +one has no obligation, and paid no flattery. This death and +the circumstances have made extreme noise, but they are of an +extent impossible to tell you within the compass of any letter, +and I will not raise your curiosity when I cannot satisfy it +but by a narration, which I must reserve till I see you. + +The only event I know besides within this atmosphere, is the +death of Lord Burlington, who, I have just heard, has left +every thing in his power to his relict. I tell you nothing of +Jew bills and Jew motions, for I dare to say you have long been +as weary of the words as I am. The only point that keeps up +any attention, is expectation of a mail from Ireland, from +whence we have heard, by a side wind, that the court have lost +a question by six; you may imagine one wants to know more of +this. + +The opera is indifferent; the first man has a finer voice than +Monticelli, but knows not what to do with it. Ancient Visconti +does so much with hers that it is intolerable. There is a new +play of Glover's, in which Boadicea the heroine rants as much +as Visconti screams; but happily you hear no more of her after +the end of the third act, till in the last scene somebody +brings a card with her compliments, and she is very sorry she +cannot wait upon you, but she is dead. Then there is a scene +between Lord Sussex and Lord Cathcart, two captives, which is +most incredibly absurd; but yet the parts are so well acted, +the dresses so fine, and two or three scenes pleasing enough, +that it is worth seeing.(436) + +There are new young lords, fresh and fresh: two of them are +much in vogue; Lord Huntingdon and Lord Stormont.(437) I +supped with them t'other night at Lady Caroline Petersham's; +the latter is most cried up; but he is more reserved, seems sly +and to have sense, but I should not think extreme: yet it is +not fair to judge on a silent man at first. The other is very +lively and very agreeable. This is the state of the town you +inquire after, and which you do inquire after as one does after +Mr. Somebody that one used to see at Mr. Such-a-one's formerly: +do you never intend to know more of us? or do you intend to +leave me to wither upon the hands of the town, like Charles +Stanhope and Mrs. Dunch? My contemporaries seem to be all +retiring to their proprerties. If I must too, positively I +will go no farther than Strawberry Hill! You are very good to +lament our gold fish - their whole history consists in their +being stolen a deux reprises, the very week after I came to +town. + +Mr. Bentley is where he was, and well, and now and then makes +me as happy as I can be, having lost him, with a charming +drawing. We don't talk of his abode; for the Hecate his wife +endeavours to discover it. Adieu! my best compliments to Miss +Montagu. + +(436) Glover's tragedy of "Boadicea" was acted nine or ten +nights at Drury Lane with some success; but was generally +considered better adapted to the closet than the stage. +Archbishop Herring, in a letter to Mr. Duncombe, gives the +following opinion of this play: "The first page of the play +Shocked me, and the sudden and heated answer of the Queen to +the Roman ambassador's gentle address is arrant madness. It is +another objection, in my opinion, that Boadicea is really not +the object of crime and punishment, so much as pity; and, +notwithstanding the strong painting of her savageness, I cannot +help wishing she had got the better. However, I admire the +play in many passages, and think the two last acts admirable, +In the fifth, particularly, I hardly ever found myself so +strongly touched."-E. + +(437) David, Viscount Stormont, He was afterwards ambassador at +Vienna and Paris in 1779, one of the secretaries of state; and +in 1783, president of the council. Upon the death of his +uncle, Lord Chief Justice Mansfield, in 1793, he succeeded to +the earldom. He died in 1796.-E. + + + +190 Letter 89 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Arlington Street, Dec. 19, 1753. + +I little thought when I parted with you, my dear Sir, that your +absence(438) could indemnify me so well for itself; I still +less expected that I should find you improving daily: but your +letters grow more and more entertaining, your drawings more and +more picturesque; you write with more wit, and paint with more +melancholy, than ever any body did: your woody mountains hang +down "somewhat so poetical," as Mr. Ashe(439) said, that your +own poet Gray will scarce keep tune with you. All this refers +to your cascade scene and your letter. For the library it +cannot have the Strawberry imprimatur: the double arches and +double pinnacles are most ungraceful; and the doors below the +book-cases in Mr. Chute's design had a conventual look, which +yours totally wants. For this time, we shall put your genius +in commission, and, like some other regents, execute our own +plan without minding our sovereign. For the chimney, I do not +wonder you missed our instructions: we could not contrive to +understand them ourselves; and therefore, determining nothing +but to have the old picture stuck in a thicket of pinnacles, we +left it to you to find out the how. I believe it will be a +little difficult; but as I suppose facere quia impossibile est, +is full as easy as credere, why--you must do it. + +The present journal of the world and of me stands thus: King +George II does not go abroad--Some folks fear nephews,(440) as +much as others hate uncles. The Castle of Dublin has carried +the Armagh election by one vote only--which is thought +equivalent to losing it by twenty. Mr. Pelham has been very +ill, I thought of St. Patrick's fire,(441) but it proved to be +St. Antony's. Our House of Commons, mere poachers, are +piddling wit the torture of Leheup,(442) who extracted so much +money out of the lottery. + +The robber of Po Yang(443) is discovered, and I hope will be +put to death, without my pity interfering, as it has done for +Mr. Shorter's servant,(444) or Lady Caroline Petersham's, as it +did for Maclean. In short, it was a heron. I like this better +than thieves, as I believe the gang will be more easily +destroyed, though not mentioned in the King's speech or +Fielding's treatises. + +Lord Clarendon, Lord Thanet, and Lord Burlington are dead. The +second sent for his tailor, and asked him if he could make him +a suit of mourning in eight hours: if he could, he would go +into mourning for his brother Burlington(445)--but that he did +not expect to live twelve hours himself. + +There are two more volumes come out of Sir Charles Grandison. +I shall detain them till the last is published, and not think I +postpone much of your pleasure. For my part, I stopped at the +fourth; I was so tired of sets of people getting together, and +saying, "Pray, Miss, with whom are you in love?" and of mighty +good young men that convert your Mr. M * * * *'s in the +twinkling of a sermon!--You have not been much more diverted, I +fear, with Hogarth's book(446)--'tis very silly!--Palmyra(447) +is come forth, and is a noble book; the prints finely engraved, +and an admirable dissertation before it. My wonder is much +abated: the Palmyrene empire which I had figured, shrunk to a +small trading city with some magnificent public buildings out +of proportion to the dignity of the place. + +The operas succeed pretty well; and music has so much +recovered its power of charming that there is started up a +burletta at Covent Garden,(448) that has half the vogue of the +old Beggar's Opera: indeed there is a soubrette, called the +Niccolina, who, besides being pretty, has more vivacity and +variety of humour than ever existed in any creature. + +(438) Mr. Bentley was now in the island of Jersey; whither he +had retired on account of the derangement of his affairs, and +whither all the following letters are addressed to him. + +(439) A nurseryman at Twickenham. He had served Pope. Mr. +Walpole telling him he Would have his trees planted +irregularly, he said, "Yes, Sir, I understand: you would have +them hung down somewhat poetical." + +(440) Frederick King of Prussia, nephew to George II. Mr. +Walpole alludes to himself, who was upon bad terms with his +uncle Horace Walpole, afterwards Lord Walpole of Wolterton. + +(441) Alluding to the disturbances and opposition to +government, which took place in Ireland during the viceroyalty +of Lionel Duke of Dorset. + +(442) In framing the act for the purchase of the Sloane Museum +and the Harleian Manuscripts by lottery Mr. Pelham, who +disapproved of this financial expedient, as tending to foster a +spirit of gambling, had taken care to restrict the number of +tickets to be sold to any single individual. Notwithstanding +which, Mr. Leheup, one of the commissioners of the lottery, had +sold to one person, under names which he knew to be fictitious, +between two and three hundred tickets. The subject was brought +before the House of Commons, where a series of resolutions was +passed against Mr. Leheup, accompanied by an address to the +King, praying that the offender might be prosecuted. The +result was, that he was prosecuted by the Attorney-general, and +fined one thousand pounds.-E. + +(443) Mr. Walpole had given this Chinese name to a pond of gold +fish at Strawberry Hill. + +(444) A Swiss servant of Erasmus Shorter's, maternal uncle to +Mr. Walpole, who was not without suspicion of having hastened +his master's death. + +(445) The Countesses of Thanet and Burlington were sisters. + +(446) The Analysis of Beauty. + +(447) "The Ruins of Palmyra, otherwise Tadmor in the Desert," +by Robert Wood, Esq.; a splendid volume in folio, with a number +of elegant engravings. In 1757, Mr. Wood published a similar +description of the "Ruins of Balbec."-E. + +(448) Harlequin Sorcerer.-E. + + + +191 Letter 90 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Jan. 28, 1754. + +Her Serene Highness, the great Duchess Bianca Capello,(449) is +arrived safe at a palace lately taken for her in Arlington +Street. She has been much visited by the quality and gentry, +and pleases universally by the graces of her person and +comeliness of her deportment--my dear child, this is the least +that the newspapers would say of the charming Bianca. I, who +feel all the agreeableness of your manner, must say a great +deal more, or should say a great deal more, but I can only +commend the picture enough, not you. The head is painted equal +to Titian; and though done, I suppose, after the 'clock had +struck five-and-thirty, yet she retains a great share of +beauty. I have bespoken a frame for her, with the grand-ducal +coronet at top, her story on a label at bottom, which Gray is +to compose in Latin, as short and expressive as Tacitus, (one +is lucky when one can bespeak and have executed such an +inscription!) the Medici arms on one side, and the Capello's on +the other. I must tell you a critical discovery of mine +apropos: in an old book of Venetian arms, there are two coats +of Capello, who from their name bear a hat; on one of them is +added a fleur-de-lis on a blue ball, which I am persuaded was +given to the family by the Great Duke, in consideration of this +alliance; the Medicis, you know, bore such a badge at the top +of their own arms. This discovery I made by a talisman, which +Mr. Chute calls the Sortes Walpolianae, by which I find every +thing I want, `a pointe nomm`ee, whenever I dip for it. This +discovery, indeed, is almost of that kind which I call +Serendipity, a very expressive word, which, as I have nothing +better to tell you, I shall endeavour to explain to you: you +will understand it better by the derivation than by the +definition. I once read a silly fairy tale, called "The Three +Princes of Serendip;" as their Highnesses travelled, they were +always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things +which they were not in quest of: for instance, one of them +discovered that a mule blind of the right eye had travelled the +same road lately, because the grass was eaten only on the left +side, where it was worse than on the right--now do you +understand Serendipity? One of the most remarkable instances of +this accidental Sagacity, (for you must observe that no +discovery of a thing you are looking for comes under this +description,) was of my Lord Shaftsbury, who, happening to dine +at Lord Chancellor Clarendon's, found out the marriage of the +Duke of York and Mrs. Hyde, by the respect with which her +mother treated her at table. I will send you the inscription +in my next letter; you see I endeavour to grace your present as +it deserves. + +Your brother would have me say something of my opinion about +your idea of taking the name of Guise;(450) but he has written +so fully that I can only assure you in addition, that I am +stronger even than he is against it, and cannot allow of your +reasoning on families, because, however families may be +prejudiced about them, and however foreigners (I mean, great +foreigners) here may have those prejudices too, vet they never +operate here, where there is any one reason to counterbalance +them. A minister who has the least disposition to promote a +creature of his, and to set aside a Talbot or a Nevil, will at +one breath puff away a genealogy that would reach from hence to +Herenhausen. I know a great foreigner, who always says that my +Lord Denbigh is the best gentleman in England, because he is +descended from the old Counts of Hapsburg; and yet my Lord +Denbigh, (and though he is descended from what one should think +of much more consequence here, the old Counts of Denbigh,) has +for many years wanted a place or a pension, as much as if he +were only what I think the first Count of Hapsburg was, the +Emperor's butler. Your instance of the Venetians refusing to +receive Valenti can have no weight: Venice might bully a Duke +of Mantua, but what would all her heralds signify against a +British envoy? In short, what weight do you think family has +here, when the very last minister whom we have despatched is +Sir James Gray,--nay, and who has already been in a public +character at Venice! His father was first a box-keeper, and +then footman to James the Second; and this is the man exchanged +against the Prince de San Severino! One of my father's maxims +was quieta non movere; and he was a wise man in that his day. +My dear child, if you will suffer me to conclude with a pun, +content yourself with your Manhood and Tuscany: it would be +thought injustice to remove you from thence for any body else: +when once you shift about, you lose the benefit of +prescription, and subject yourself to a thousand accidents. I +speak very seriously; I know the carte du pais. + +We have no news: the flames in Ireland are stifled, I don't say +extinguished, by adjourning the Parliament, which is to be +prorogued. A catalogue of dismissions was sent over thither, +but the Lord Lieutenant durst not venture to put them in +execution. We are sending a strong squadron to the East +Indies, which may possibly bring back a war with France, +especially as we are going to ask money of our Parliament for +the equipment. We abound in diversions, which flourish +exceedingly on the demise of politics. There are no less than +five operas every week, three of which are burlettas; a very +bad company, except the Niccolina, who beats all the actors and +actresses I ever saw for vivacity and variety. We had a good +set four years ago, which did not take at all; but these being +at the playhouse, and at play prices, the people, instead of +resenting it, as was expected, are transported with them, call +them their own operas, and I will not swear that they do not +take them for English operas. They huzzaed the King twice the +other night, for bespeaking one on the night of the Haymarket +opera. + +I am glad you are aware of Miss Pitt: pray continue your +awaredom: I assure you, before she set out for Italy, she was +qualified to go any Italian length of passion. Her very first +slip was with her eldest brother: and it is not her fault that +she has not made still blacker trips. Never mention this, and +forget it as soon as she is gone from Florence. Adieu! + +(449) Bianca Capello was the daughter of a noble Venetian. She +had been seduced and carried off from her father's house by a +young Florentine of low origin, named Peter Bonaventuri. They +came to Florence, where she became the mistress of the Grand +Duke of Tuscany, Francis of Medicis. He was very anxious to +have a child by her; upon which she pretended to be brought to +bed of a son, who had in reality been bought of one of the +lower orders. He was called Don Anthony of Medicis. In order +to prevent the Grand Duke from discovering her fraud, Bianca +caused several of the persons who had had a part in the +deception to be assassinated. At length the wife of Francis, +the Archduchess Joan of Austria, died in childbed; and Bianca +intrigued so successfully, that she persuaded her lover to +marry her. Her marriage with the Grand Duke took place on the +12th of October, 1579, and was so sumptuous that it cost one +hundred thousand Florentine ducats. Her tyranny and rapacity +soon made her universally hated. She is supposed, as well as +her husband, to have died by poison, administered to them +through the means of his brother, the Cardinal Ferdinand of +Medicis, who succeeded him as Grand I)uke.-D. + +(451) Mr. Mann's mother was an heiress of that house. + + + +194 Letter 91 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Arlington Street, March 2, 1754. + +After calling two or three times without finding him, I wrote +yesterday to Lord Granville,' and received a most gracious +answer, but desiring to see me. I went. He repeated all your +history with him, and mentioned your vivacity at parting; +however, consented to give you the apartment, with great good +humour, and said he would write to his bailiff; and added, +laughing, that he had an old cross housekeeper, who had +regularly quarrelled with all his grantees. It is well that +some of your desires, though unfortunately the most trifling, +depend on me alone, as those at least are sure of being +executed. By Tuesday's coach there will go to Southampton two +orange trees, two Arabian jasmines, some tuberose roots, and +plenty of cypress seeds, which last I send you in lieu of the +olive trees, none of which are yet come over. + +The weather grows fine, and I have resumed little flights to +Strawberry. I carried George Montagu thither, who was in +raptures, and screamed, and hooped and hollaed, and danced, and +crossed himself a thousand times over. He returns to-morrow to +Greatworth, and I fear will give himself up entirely to country +squirehood. But what will you say to greater honour which +Strawberry has received? Nolkejumskoi(453) has been to see it, +and liked the windows and staircase. I can't conceive how he +entered it. I should have figured him like Gulliver cutting +down some of the largest oaks in Windsor Forest to make +joint-stools, in order to straddle over the battlements and +peep in at the windows of Lilliput. I can't deny myself this +reflection (even though he liked Strawberry,) as he has not +employed you as an architect. + +Still there is little news. To-day it is said that Lord George +Sackville is summoned in haste from Ireland, where the grand +juries are going to petition for the resitting Of the +Parliament. Hitherto they have done nothing but invent +satirical healths, which I believe gratify a taste more +peculiar to Ireland than politics, drinking. We have had one +Considerable day in the House of Commons here. Lord Egmont, in +a very long and fine speech, opposed a new Mutiny-bill for the +troops going to the East Indies (which I believe occasioned the +reports with you of an approaching war.) Mr. Conway got +infinite reputation by a most charming speech in answer to him, +in which he displayed a system of military learning, which was +at once new, striking and entertaining.(454) I had carried +Monsieur de Gisors thither, who began to take notes of all I +explained to him: but I begged he would not; for, the question +regarding French politics, I concluded the Speaker would never +have done storming at the Gaulls collecting intelligence in the +very senate-house. Lord Holderness made a magnificent ball for +these foreigners last week: there were a hundred and forty +people, and most stayed supper. Two of my Frenchmen learnt +country-dances, and succeeded very well. T'other night they +danced minuets for the entertainment of the King at the +masquerade; and then he sent for Lady Coventry to dance: it was +quite like Herodias-and I believe if he had offered her a boon, +she would have chosen the head of St. John--I believe I told +you of her passion for the young Lord Bolingbroke. + +Dr. Mead is dead, and his collection going to be sold. I fear +I have not virtue enough to resist his miniatures. I shall be +ruined!(455) + +I shall tell you a new instance of the Sortes Walpolianae: I +lately bought an old volume of pamphlets; I found at the end a +history of the Dukes of Lorrain, and with that an account of a +series of their medals, of which, says the author, there are +but two sets in England. It so happens that I bought a set +above ten years ago at Lord Oxford's sale; and on examination I +found the Duchess, wife of Duke Ren`e,(456) has a headdress, +allowing for being modernized, as the medals are modern, which +is evidently the same with that figure in my Marriage of Henry +VI. which I had imagined was of her. It is said to be taken +from her tomb at Angiers; and that I might not decide too +quickly en connoisseur, I have sent to Angiers for a draught of +the tomb. + +Poor Mr. Chute was here yesterday, the first going out after a +confinement of thirteen weeks; but he is pretty well. We have +determined upon the plan for the library, which we find will +fall in exactly with the proportions of the room, with no +variations from the little door-case of St. Paul's, but +widening the larger arches. I believe I shall beg your +assistance again about the chimney-piece and ceiling; but I can +decide nothing till I have been again at Strawberry. Adieu! my +dear Sir. + +(452) John Earl Granville, then secretary of state, had an +estate in Jersey. + +(453) The Duke of Cumberland.-E. + +(454) Mr. Conway's speech will be found in the Parliamentary +History, vol. xv. p. 282. The object of the bill was to extend +the operation of the Mutiny act to the troops in the service of +the East India Company. This question was strongly combated, +on constitutional grounds, as conferring on a trading body +powers which ought to be viewed with jealousy, when vested even +in the head of the state. The second reading was carried by +245 against 50.-E. + +(455) Dr. Mead's pictures were chosen with so much judgment, +that at the sale of them in this month, they produced 3,417 +pounds, 11 shillings, nearly seven hundred pounds more than he +gave for them.-E. + +(456) Duke of Anjou, father of the unfortunate Margaret of +Anjou, Queen of Henry the Sixth of England.-E. + + + +196 Letter 92 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Arlington Street, March 6, 1754. + +My dear Sir, +You will be surprised at my writing again so very soon; but +unpleasant as it is to be the bearer of ill news,(457) I +flattered myself that you would endure it better from me, than +to be shocked with it from an indifferent hand, who would not +have the same management for your tenderness and delicacy as I +naturally shall, who always feel for you, and on this occasion +with you! You are very unfortunate: you have not many real +friends, and you lose--for I must tell it you, the chief of +them! indeed, the only one who could have been of real use to +you--for what can I do, but wish, and attempt, and miscarry?- +-or from whom could I have hoped assistance for you, or warmth +for myself and my friends, but from the friend I have this +morning lost?--But it is too selfish to be talking of our +losses, when Britain, Europe, the world, the King, Jack +Roberts,(458) Lord Barnard, have lost their guardian angel. +What are private misfortunes to the affliction of one's +country? or how inglorious is an Englishman to bewail himself, +when a true patriot should be acting for the good of mankind!- +-Indeed, if it is possible to feel any comfort, it is from +seeing how many true Englishmen, how many true Scotchmen are +zealous to replace the loss, and snatch at the rudder of the +state, amidst this storm and danger! Oh! my friend, how will +your heart glow with melancholy admiration, when I tell you, +that even the poor Duke of Newcastle himself conquers the +torrent of his grief, and has promised Mrs. Betty Spence,(459) +and Mr. Griham the apothecary, that, rather than abandon +England to its evil genius, he will even submit to be lord +treasurer himself? My Lord Chancellor, too, is said to be +willing to devote himself in the same manner for the good of +his country. Lord Hartington(460) is the most inconsolable of +all; and when Mrs. Molly Bodens(461) and Mrs. Garrick were +entreated by some of the cabinet council to ask him whom he +wished to have minister, the only answer they could draw from +him was, "a Whig! a Whig!" As for Lord B. I may truly say, he +is humbled and licks the dust; for his tongue, which never used +to hang below the waistband of his breeches, is now dropped +down to his shoe-buckles; and had not Mr. Stone assured him +that if the worst came to the worst, they could but make their +fortunes under another family, I don't know whether he would +not have despaired of the commonwealth. But though I sincerely +pity so good a citizen, I cannot help feeling most for poor +Lord Holderness, who sees a scheme of glory dashed which would +have added new lustre to the British annals and have +transmitted the name D'Arcy down to latest posterity. He had +but just taken Mr. Mason the poet into his house to write his +deserts; and he had just reason to expect that the secretary's +office would have gained a superiority over that of France and +Italy, which was unknown even to Walsingham. + +I had written thus far, and perhaps should have elegized on for +a page or two further, when Harry, who has no idea of the +dignity of grief, blundered in, with satisfaction in his +countenance, and thrust two packets from you into my hand.- +-Alas! he little knew that I was incapable of tasting any +satisfaction but in the indulgence of my concern.--I was once +going to commit them to the devouring flames, lest any light or +vain sentence should tempt me to smile but my turn for true +philosophy checked my hand, and made me determine to prove that +I could at once launch into the bosom of pleasure and be +insensible to it.-I have conquered; I have read your letters, +and yet I think of nothing but Mr. Pelham's death! Could Lady +Catherine(462) do thus @ Could she receive a love-letter from +Mr. Brown, and yet think only on her breathless Lord? + +Thursday, + +I wrote the above last night, and have stayed as late as I +could this evening, that I might be able to tell you who the +person is in whom all the world is to discover the proper +qualities for replacing the national loss. But, alas! the +experience of two @,whole days has showed that the misfortune +is irreparable; and I don't know whether the elegies on his +death will not be finished before there be any occasion for +congratulations to his successor. The mystery is profound. +How shocking it will be if things should go on just as they +are! I mean by that, how mortifying if it is discovered, that +when all the world thought Mr. Pelham did and could alone +maintain the calm and carry on the government, even he was not +necessary, and that it was the calm and the government that +carried on themselves! However, this is not my opinion.--I +believe all this will make a party.(453) + +Good night! here are two more new plays: Constantine,(464) the +better of them, expired the fourth night at Covent-garden. +Virginia,(465) by Garrick's acting and popularity, flourishes +still: he has written a remarkably good epilogue to it. Lord +Bolingbroke is come forth in five pompous quartos, two and a +half new and most unorthodox.(466) Warburton is resolved to +answer, and the bishops not to answer him. I have not had a +moment to look into it. Good night! + +(457) This is an ironic letter on the death of Henry Pelham, +first lord of the treasury and chancellor of the exchequer, +with whom Mr. Walpole was on ill terms. + +(458) John Roberts, Esq. secretary to Mr. Pelham. + +(459) Companion to the Duchess of Newcastle. [This lady was +related to the Rev. Joseph Spence, author of "Polymetis." She +died in 1764, after being the friend and companion of the +Duchess of Newcastle for more than forty-five years.] + +(460) William, afterwards fourth Duke of Devonshire. + +(461) Companion of Lady Burlington, Lord Hartington's +mother-in-law. + +(462) Lady Catherine Pelham, the widow of Mr. Pelham.-E. + +(463) Mr. Walpole, when young, loved faction; and Mr. Bentley +one day saying, " that he believed certain opinions would make +a sect," Mr. W. said eagerly, "Will they make a party?" + +(464) "Constantine," a tragedy was written by the Rev. Philip +Francis, the translator of Horace and Demosthenes, and father +of Sir Philip Francis, the reputed author of the Letters of +Junius. He also wrote "Eugenia," a tragedy; but as a dramatic +author he was not very successful.-E. + +(465) "Virginia" was written by Henry Crisp, a clerk in the +Custom-house. It was acted at Drury Lane with some success; +owing chiefly to the excellence of the performers.-E. + +(466) A splendid edition of Lord Bolingbroke's Works, in five +volumes, quarto, having been published on the very day of Mr. +Pelham's death, Garrick wrote an ode on the occasion, which +contains the following stanza:- + +"The same sad morn, to Church and State +(So for our sins 'twas fix'd by fate) +A double shock was given: +Black as the regions of the North, +St. John's fell genius issued forth, +And Pelham's fled to heaven!" + +It was upon the appearance of this edition of Lord +Bolingbroke's works, edited by David Mallet, that Dr. Johnson +pronounced this memorable sentence upon both author and +editor:--"Sir, he was a scoundrel and a coward; a scoundrel, +for charging a blunderbuss against religion and morality; a +coward, because he had no resolution to fire it off himself, +but left half-a-crown to a beggarly Scotchman to draw the +trigger after his death."-E. + + + +198 Letter 93 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, March 7, 1754. + +You will little have expected, my dear Sir, the great event +that happened yesterday. Mr. Pelham(467) is dead! all that +calm, that supineness, of which I have lately talked to you so +much, is at an end! there is no heir to such luck as his. The +whole people of England can never agree a second time upon the +same person for the residence of infallibility; and though so +many have found their interest in making Mr. Pelham the +fermier-general for their Venality, yet almost all have found +too, that it lowered their prices to have but one purchaser. +He could not have died at a more critical time: all the +elections were settled, all bargains made, and much money +advanced: and by the way, though there never was so little a +party, or so little to be made by a seat in Parliament, either +with regard to profit or fame, there never was such established +bribery, or so profuse. And as every thing was settled by his +life, so every thing is thrown into confusion by his death: the +difficulty Of naming, or of who should name the successor, is +almost insurmountable--for you are not such a transmontane as +to imagine that the, person who must sign the warrant will have +the filling it up. The three apparent candidates are Fox, +Pitt, and Murray; all three -with such encumbrances on their +hopes as make them very desperate. The Chancellor hates Fox; +the Duke of Newcastle does not (I don't say, love him, but to +speak in the proper phrase, does not) pretend to love him: the +Scotch abominate him, and they and the Jacobites make use of +his connexion with the Duke to represent him as formidable: the +Princess cannot approve him for the same reason: the law, as in +duty bound to the Chancellor and to Murray, and to themselves, +whom he always attacks, must dislike him. He has his parts and +the Whigs, and the seeming right of succession. Pitt has no +health, no party, and has, what in this case is allowed to +operate, the King's negative. Murray is a Scotchman, and it +has been suspected, of the worst dye: add a little of the +Chancellor's jealousy--all three are obnoxious to the +probability of the other two being disobliged by a preference. +There is no doubt but the Chancellor and the Duke of Newcastle +will endeavour to secure their own power, by giving an +exclusion to Fox: each of them has even been talked of for Lord +Treasurer; I say talked of, though Mr. Pelham died but +yesterday; but you can't imagine how much a million of people +can talk in a day on such a subject! It was even much imagined +yesterday, that Sir George Lee would be the Hulla, to wed the +post, till things are ripe for divorcing him again: he is an +unexceptionable man, sensible, of good character, the +ostensible favourite of the Princess, and obnoxious to no set +of men: for though he changed ridiculously quick on the +Prince's death, yet as every body changed with him, it offended +nobody; and what is a better reason for promoting him now, it +would offend nobody to turn him out again. + +In this buzz is all the world at present: as the plot thickens +or opens, you shall hear more. In the mean time you will not +dislike to know a little of the circumstances of this death. +Mr. Pelham was not sixty-one; his florid, healthy constitution +promised long life, and his uninterrupted good fortune as long +power; yet the one hastened his end, and the other was enjoyed +in its full tranquillity but three poor years! i should not +say, enjoyed, for such was his peevishness and suspicions, that +the lightest trifles could poison all that stream of happiness! +he was careless of his health, most intemperate in eating, and +used no exercise. All this had naturally thrown him into a +most scorbutic habit, for which last summer he went to +Scarborough, but stayed there only a month, which would not +have cleansed a scorbutic kitten. The sea-air increased his +appetite, and his flatterers pampered it at their seats on the +road. He returned more distempered, and fell into a succession +of boils, fevers, and St. Anthony's fire--indeed, I think, into +such a carbuncular state of blood as carried off my brother. +He had recovered enough to come to the House of Commons; and +last Friday walked in the Park till he put himself into an +immense sweat; in that sweat he stood at a window to look at +horses, ate immoderately at dinner, relapsed at six that +evening, and died yesterday morning (Wednesday) a quarter +before six. His will was to be opened to-day; he is certainly +dead far from rich.(468) There arc great lamentations, some +joy, some disappointments, and much expectation. As a person +who loves to write history, better than to act in it, you will +easily believe that I confine my sensations on the occasion +chiefly to observation-at least, my care that posterity may +know all about it prevents my indulging any immoderate (grief; +consequently I am as well as can be expected, and ever yours, +etc. + +(467) Henry Pelham, chancellor of the exchequer, and first +commissioner of the treasury; only brother of Thomas Duke of +Newcastle. + +(468) Walpole, almost the only author who has treated the +memory of Mr. Pelham with disrespect, mentions to his honour, +that he "lived without abusing his power, and died poor." See +Memoires, vol. i. p. 332. By this expression, says Coxe, the +reader will be reminded of a curious coincidence in the +concluding lines of the eulogium inscribed on the base of Mr. +Pitt's statue, by his friend and pupil, the Right Honourable +George Canning, "Dispensing, for more than twenty years, the +favours of the crown, he lived without ostentation, and he died +poor."-E. + + + +200 Letter 94 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Arlington Street, March 14, 1754. + +In the confusion of things, I last week hazarded a free letter +to you by the common post. The confusion is by no means +ceased. However, as some circumstances may have rendered a +desire of intelligence necessary, I send this by the coach, +with the last volume of Sir Charles Grandison, for its +chaperon. + +After all the world has been named for chancellor of the +exchequer, and my Lord Chief Justice Lee, who is no part of the +world, really made so pro tempore; Lord Hartington went to +notify to Mr. Fox, that the cabinet council having given it as +their unanimous opinion to the King, that the Duke of Newcastle +should be at the head of the treasury, and he (Mr. Fox) +secretary of state with the management of the House of Commons; +his grace, who had submitted to so oracular a sentence, hoped +Mr. Fox would not refuse to concur in so salutary a measure; +and assured him, that Though the Duke would reserve the sole +disposition of the secret service-money, his grace would bestow +his entire confidence on Mr. Fox, and acquaint him with the +most minute details of that service. Mr. Fox bowed and obeyed- +-and, as a preliminary step, received the Chancellor's(469) +absolution. From thence he attended his--and our new master. +But either grief for his brother's death, or joy for it, had so +intoxicated the new maitre du palais, that he would not ratify +any one of the conditions he had imposed: and though my Lord +Hartington's virtue interposed, and remonstrated on the purport +of the message he had carried, the Duke persisted in assuming +the whole and undivided power himself, and left Mr. Fox no +choice, but of obeying or disobeying, as he might choose. This +produced the next day a letter from Mr. Fox, carried by Lord +Hartington, in which he refused secretary of state, and pinned +down the lie with which the new ministry is to commence. It +was tried to be patched up at the Chancellor's on Friday night, +though ineffectually: and yesterday morning Mr. Fox in an +audience desired to remain secretary at war. The Duke +immediately kissed hands-declared, in the most unusual manner, +universal minister. Legge was to be chancellor of the +exchequer: but I can't tell whether that disposition will hold, +as Lord Duplin is proclaimed the acting favourite. The German +Sir Thomas Robinson was thought on for the secretary's seals; +but has just sense enough to be unwilling to accept them under +so ridiculous an administration. This is the first act of the +comedy. + +On Friday this august remnant of the Pelhams went to court for +the first time. At the foot of the stairs he cried and sunk +down: the yeomen of the guard were forced to drag him up under +the arms. When the closet-door opened, he flung himself at his +length at the King's feet, sobbed, and cried "God bless your +Majesty! God preserve your Majesty," and lay there howling and +embracing the King's knees, with one foot so extended, that +Lord Coventry, who was luckily in waiting, and begged the +standers-by to retire with "For God's sake, gentlemen, don't +look at a great man in distress," endeavouring to shut the +door, caught his grace's foot, and made him roar out with pain. + +You can have no notion of what points of ceremony have been +agitated about the ears of the family. George Selwyn was told +that my Lady Catharine had not shed one tear: "And pray," said +he, "don't she intend it?" It is settled that Mrs. Watson is +not to cry till she is brought-to-bed. + +You love George Selwyn's bon-mots: this crisis has redoubled +them: here is one of his best. My Lord Chancellor is to be +Earl of Clarendon--"Yes," said Selwyn, from the very summit of +the whites of his demure eyes; "and I suppose he will get the +title of Rochester for his son-in-law, my Lord Anson." Do you +think he will ever lose the title of Lord Rochester? + +I expected that we should have been overrun with elegies and +panegyrics: indeed, I comforted myself, that one word in all of +them would atone for the rest--the late Mr. Pelham. But the +world seems to allow that their universal attachment and +submission was universal interestedness; there has not been +published a single encomium. Orator Henley alone has held +forth in his praise:-yesterday it was on charming Lady +Catherine. Don't you think it should have been in these words, +in his usual style? Oratory-chapel,--Right reason; madness; +charming Lady Catherine; hell fire," etc. + +Monday, March 18. + +Almost as extraordinary news as our political, is, that it has +snowed ten days successively, and most part of each day: it is +living in Muscovy, amid ice and revolutions: I hope lodgings +will begin to let a little dear in Siberia! Beckford and +Delaval, two celebrated partisans, met lately at Shaftesbury, +where they oppose one another: the latter said: + +"Art thou the man whom men famed Beckford call?" + +T'other replied, + +"Art thou the much more famous Delaval?" + +But to leave politics and change of ministries, and to come to +something of real consequence, I must apply you to my library +ceiling, of which I send you some rudiments. I propose to have +it all painted by Clermont; the principal part in chiaro scuro, +on the design which you drew for the Paraclete: but as that +pattern would be surfeiting, so often repeated in an extension +of twenty feet by thirty, I propose to break and enliven it by +compartments in colours, according to the enclosed sketch, +which you must adjust and dimension. Adieu! + +(469) With whom he was at variance. + + + +'202 Letter 95 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, March 19, 1754. + +You will live in the country, and then you are amazed that +people use you ill. Don't mistake me: I don't mean that you +deserve to be ill-treated for living in the country; at least +only by those who love and miss you; but if you inhabited the +town a little, you would not quite so much expect uprightness, +nor be so surprised at ingratitude, and . neglect. I am far +from disposed to justify the great C`u; but when you had +declined being his servant, do you wonder that he will not +serve your friends! I will tell you what, if the news of to-day +holds at all, which is what no one piece of news of this last +fortnight has done, you may be worse used by your cousin as +soon as you please; for he is one of the first upon the list +for secretary of state, in the room of the Duke of Newcastle. +Now again, are you such a rusticated animal as to suppose that +the Duke is dismissed for inability, on the death of his +brother. So far from it, it is already certainly known that it +was he who supported Mr. Pelham, and the impediments and rubs +thrown in the way of' absolute power long ago were the effects +of the latter's timidity and irresolution. The Duke, freed +from that clog, has declared himself sole minister, and the +King has kissed his hand upon it. Mr. Fox, who was the only +man in England that objected to this plan, is to be sent to a +prison which is building on the coast of Sussex, after the +model of Fort l'Ev`eque, under the direction of Mr. Taaffe. + +Harry Legge is to be chancellor of the exchequer, but the +declared favour rests on Lord Duplin. Sir George Lyttelton is +to be treasurer of the navy. The parliament is to be dissolved +on the fourth of next month: till when, I suppose, none of the +changes will take place. These are the politics of the day; +but as they are a little fluctuating, notwithstanding the +steadiness of the new first minister, I will not answer that +they will hold true to Greatworth: nothing lasts now but the +bad weather. + +I went two days ago, with Lady Ailesbury, and Mr. Conway, and +Miss Anne, to hear the rehearsal of Mrs. Clive's new farce, +which is very droll, with pretty music. + + + +202 Letter 96 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, March 28, 1754. + +I promised to write to you again soon, and therefore I do: that +Is, I stick to the letter, not to the essence; for I not Only +have very little to write, but your brother has, I believe, +already told you all that has happened. Mr. Fox received +almost at once a testimonial that he was the most proper for +minister, and a proof that he was not to be so. He on the +Tuesday consented to be secretary of state, with the management +of the House of Commons, and the very next day refused to be +the former, as he found he was not to have the latter. He +remains secretary at war, in rupture with the Duke of +Newcastle, (who, you know, has taken the treasury,) but +declaring against opposition. That Duke is omnipotent; and, to +show that power, makes use of nothing but machines. Sir Thomas +Robinson is secretary of state; Mr. Legge, chancellor of the +exchequer; Lord Duplin,(470) the agent of business.(471) +Yesterday an odd event happened: Lord Gower resigned the privy +seal: it had been for some time promised to the Duke of +Rutland,(472) who having been reported dead, and who really +having voided a quarry of stones, is come to town; and his +brother, a Lord William Manners, better known in the +groom-porter's annals than in those of Europe, and the whole +Manners family having intimated to the Duke of Newcastle that +unless Lord Gower was dismissed in a month, and the Duke of +Rutland instated in his place, they would oppose the prosperous +dawn of the new ministry, that poor Earl, who is inarticulate +with the palsy, has been drawn into a resignation, and is the +first sacrifice to the spirit of the new administration.(473) +You will very likely not understand such politics as these, but +they are the best we have. + +Our old good-humoured friend Prince Craon is dead; don't you +think that the Princess will not still despair of looking well +in weeds! My Lord Orford's grandmother(474) is dead too; and +after her husband's death, (whose life, I believe, she has long +known to be not worth a farthing,) has left every thing to her +grandson. This makes me very happy, for I had apprehended, +from Lord Orford's indolence and inattention, and from his +mother's cunning and attention, that she would have wriggled +herself into the best clause in the will; but she is not +mentioned in it, and the Houghton pictures may still be saved. +Adieu! my dear Sir; I don't call this a letter, but a codicil +to my last: one can't write volumes on trifling events. + +(470 Eldest son of William Hay, Earl of Kinnoul. + +(471) For an account of the political changes which took place +upon the death of Mr. Pelham, see Lord Dover's Preface to these +Letters, vol. i. p. 29.-E. + +(472) John Manners, third Duke of Rutland, the father of the +more celebrated Lord Granby. He died in 1779, at the age of +eighty-three.-D. + +(473) The Duke of Rutland did not succeed to the privy seal; +but Charles Spencer, second Duke of Marlborough.-D. + +(474) Margaret Tuckfield, second wife of Samuel Rolle, of +Haynton in Devonshire; by whom she was mother of Margaret +Countess of Orford, and afterwards married to John Harris, of +Hayne in Devonshire, master of the household to the King. + + + +204 Letter 97 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, April 24, 1754. + +Before I received your letter of March 29th, I had already told +you the state of our politics, as they seemed fixed--at least +for the present. The Duke of Newcastle is alone and all +powerful, and, I suppose, smiles at those who thought that we +must be governed by a succession of geniuses. I don't know +whether there arc not more parts in governing without genius!- +-be it as it will, all the world acquiesces: he has placed all +the orators in whatever offices they demanded, and the New +Parliament, which is almost chosen, will not probably +degenerate from the complaisance of its predecessor. Which of +the popes was it, who being chosen for his insufficience, said, +"I could not have believed that it was so easy to govern!" You +will forgive my smiling in my turn at your begging me to lay +aside family considerations, and tell you if I do not think my +uncle the fittest subject for a first minister. My dear child, +you have forgot that three years are past since I so totally +laid aside all family considerations, as not to speak or even +bow to my uncle. Since the affair of Lord Orford and Miss +Nichol], I have not had the least intercourse with the +Pigwiggin branch; and should be very sorry if there were any +person in the world but you, and my uncle himself, who thought +him proper for minister. + +I believe there is no manner of intention of sending Lord +Albemarle to Ireland: the style toward that island is extremely +lofty; and after some faint proposals of giving them some +agreeable governor, violent measures have been resumed: the +Speaker is removed from being chancellor of the exchequer, more +of his friends are displaced, and the Primate, with the +Chancellor and Lord Besborough, are again nominated lords +Justices. These measures must oppress the Irish spirit, or, +what is more likely, inflame it to despair. Lord Rochford +certainly returns to Turin. General Wall, who was in the +highest favour here, and who was really grown fond of England- +-not at all to the prejudice of doing us what hurt he could in +his public character, is recalled, to succeed Don Carvalho and +Lancaster, as secretary of state for foreign affairs. If he +regrets England too much, may not he think of taking Ireland in +his way back? + +I shall fill up the remainder of an empty letter with +transcribing some sentences which have diverted me in a very +foolish vulgar book of travels, lately published by one +Drummond,(475) consul at Aleppo. Speaking of Florence, he +says, that the very evening of his arrival, he was carried by +Lord Eglinton and some other English, whom he names, to your +house: "Mr. Mann" (these are his words) "is extremely Polite, +and I do him barely justice in saying he is a fine gentleman, +though indeed this is as much as can be said of any person +whatever; yet there are various ways of distinguishing the +qualities that compose this amiable character, and of these, +he, in my opinion, possesses the most agreeable. He lives in a +fine palace; all the apartments on the ground-floor, which is +elegantly furnished, were lighted up; and the garden was a +little epitome of Vauxhall. These conversationi resemble our +card-assemblies;" (this is called writing travels, to observe +that an assembly is like an assembly!) "and this was remarkably +brilliant, for all the married ladies of fashion in Florence +were present; yet were they as much inferior to the fair part +of a British assembly, especially those of York and Edinburgh, +as a crew of female Laplanders are to the fairest dames of +Florence. Excuse this sally, which is more warm than just; for +even this assembly was not without a few lovely creatures. +Some played at cards, some passed the time in conversation; +others walked from place to place; and many retired with their +gallants into gloomy corners, where they entertained each +other, but in what manner I will not pretend to say; though, if +I may depend upon my information, which, by-the-by, was very +good, their taste and mine would not at all agree. In a word, +these countries teem with more singularities than I choose to +mention." You will conclude I had very little to say when I +had recourse to the observations of such a simpleton; but I +thought they would divert you for a moment, as they did me. +One don't dislike to know what even an Aleppo factor would +write of one-and I can't absolutely dislike him, as he was not +insensible to your agreeableness. I don't believe Orpheus +would think even a bear ungenteel when it danced to his music. +Adieu! + +(475) Alexander Drummond, Esq. The work was entitled "Travels +through different Cities of Germany, Italy, Greece, and several +parts of Asia, as far as the banks of the Euphrates."-. + + + +205 Letter 98 +To John Chute, Esq. +Arlington Street, April 30, 1754. + +My God! Farinelli, what has this nation done to the King of +Spain, that the moment we have any thing dear and precious he +should tear it from us!-This is not the beginning of my letter +to you, nor does it allude to Mr. Bentley; much less is it +relative to the captivity of the ten tribes; nor does the King +signify Benhadad or Tiglath-pileser; nor Spain, Assyria, as Dr. +Pococke or Warburton, misled by dissimilitude of names, or by +the Septuagint, may, for very good reasons, imagine--but it is +literally the commencement of my lady Rich's(476) epistle to +Farinelli on the recall of General Wall, as she relates it +herself. It serves extremely well for my own lamentation, when +I sit down by the waters of Strawberry, and think of ye, O +Chute and Bentley! + +I have seen "Creusa,"(477) and more than agree with you: it is +the only new tragedy that I ever saw and really liked. The +plot is most interesting, and, though so complicated quite +clear and natural. The circumstance of so much distress being +brought on by characters, every one good, yet acting +consistently with their principles towards the misfortunes of +the drama, is quite new and pleasing. Nothing offended me but +that lisping Miss Haughton, whose every speech is +inarticulately oracular. + +I was last night at a little ball at Lady Anne Furnese's for +the new Lords, Dartmouth and North, but nothing passed worth +relating; indeed, the only event since you left London was the +tragicomedy that was acted last Saturday at the Opera. One of +the dramatic guards fell flat on his face and motionless in an +apoplectic fit. The Princess(478) and her children were there. +Miss Chudleigh, who apparemment had never seen a man fall on +his face before, went into the most theatric fit of kicking and +shrieking that ever was seen. Several other women, who were +preparing their fits, were so distanced that she had the whole +house to herself; and, indeed such a confusion for half an hour +I never saw! The next day, at my Lady Townshend's, old Charles +Stanhope asked what these fits were called? Charles Townshend +replied, "The true convulsive fits, to be had only of the +maker." Adieu! my dear Sir. To-day looks summerish, but we +have no rain yet. + +(476) One of the daughters and coheiresses of the Lord Mohun, +killed in a duel with Duke Hamilton. + +(477) William Whitehead's tragedy of "Creusa" was brought out +at Drury Lane theatre with considerable applause. Mrs. +Pritchard performed the character of Creusa with great effect; +and as Garrick and Mossop also took parts in it, the +performance was so perfect, that it was hardly possible for it +not to succeed in the representation; yet it has seldom been +revived.-E. + +(478) The Princess of Wales, mother to George the Third.-E. + + + +]206 Letter 99 +To John Chute, Esq. +Arlington Street, May 14, 1754. + +My dear sir, +I wrote to you the last day of last month: I only mention it to +show you that I am- punctual to your desire. It is my only +reason for writing to-day, for I have nothing new to tell you. +The town is empty, dusty, and disagreeable; the country is cold +and comfortless; consequently I daily run from one to t'other', +as if both were so charming that I did not know which to +prefer. I am at present employed in no very lively manner, in +reading a treatise on commerce, which Count Perron has lent me, +of his own writing: this obliges me to go through with it, +though the subject and the style of the French would not engage +me much. It does not want sense. + +T'other night a description was given me of the most +extraordinary declaration of love that ever was made. Have you +seen young Poniatowski?(479) he is very handsome. You have +seen the figure of the Duchess of Gordon,(480) who looks like a +raw-boned Scotch metaphysician that has got a red face by +drinking water. One day at the drawing-room, having never +spoken to him, she sent one of the foreign ministers to invite +Poniatowski to dinner with her for the next day. He bowed and +went. The moment the door opened, her two little sons, attired +like Cupids, with bows and arrows, shot at him; and one of them +literally hit his hair, and was very near putting his eye out, +and hindering his casting it to the couch + +"Where she another sea-born Venus lay." + +The only company besides this Highland goddess were two +Scotchmen, who could not speak a word of any language but their +own Erse; and to complete his astonishment at this allegorical +entertainment, with the dessert there entered a little horse, +and galloped round the table; a hieroglyphic I cannot solve. +Poniatowski accounts for this profusion of kindness by his +great-grandmother being a Gordon: but I believe it is to be +accounted for by * * * * Adieu! my dear Sir. + +(479) Stanislaus, the ill-fated King of Poland. + +(480) Lady Catherine Gordon, daughter of the Earl of Aberdeen, +widow of Cosmo Duke of Gordon, who died in 1752. She married, +secondly, Colonel Saates Morris.-E. + + + +207 Letter 100 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Arlington Street, May 18, 1754. + +My dear Sir, +Unless you will be exact in dating your letters, you will +occasion me much confusion. Since the undated one which I +mentioned in my last, I have received another as unregistered, +with the fragment of the rock, telling me of one which had set +sail on the 18th, I suppose of last month, and been driven +back: this I conclude was the former undated. Yesterday, I +received a longer, tipped with May 8th. You must submit to +this lecture, and I hope will amend by it. I cannot promise +that I shall correct myself much in the intention I had of +writing to you seldomer and shorter at this time of year. If +you could be persuaded how insignificant I think all I do, how +little important it is even to myself, you would not wonder +that I have not much empressement to give the detail of it to +any body else. Little excursions to Strawberry, little parties +to dine there, and many jaunts to hurry Bromwich, and the +carver, and Clermont, are my material occupations. Think of +sending these 'cross the sea!-The times produce nothing. there +is neither party, nor controversy, nor gallantry, nor fashion, +nor literature-the whole proceeds like farmers regulating +themselves, their business, their views, their diversions, by +the almanac. Mr. Pelham's death has scarce produced a change; +the changes in Ireland, scarce a murmur. Even in France the +squabbles of the parliament and clergy are under the same +opiate influence.--I don't believe that Mademoiselle Murphy +(who is delivered of a prince, and is lodged openly at +Versailles) and Madame Pompadour will mix the least grain of +ratsbane in one another's tea. I, who love to ride in the +whirlwind, cannot record the yawns of such an age! + +The little that I believe you would care to know relating to +the Strawberry annals, is, that the great tower is finished on +the outside, and the whole whitened, and has a charming effect, +especially as the verdure of this year is beyond what I have +ever seen it: the grove nearest the house comes on much; you +know I had almost despaired of its ever making a figure. The +bow-window room over the supper-parlour is finished; hung with +a plain blue paper, with a chintz bed and chairs; my father and +mother over the chimney in the Gibbons frame, about which you +know we were in dispute what to do. I have fixed on black and +gold, and it has a charming effect over your chimney with the +two dropping points, which is executed exactly; and the old +grate of Henry VIII. which you bought, is within it. In each +panel around the room is a single picture; Gray's, Sir Charles +Williams's, and yours, in their black and gold frames; mine is +to match yours; and, on each side the doors, are the pictures +of Mr. Churchill and Lady Mary, with their son, on one side, +Mr. Conway and Lady Ailesbury on the other. You can't imagine +how new and pretty this furniture is.-I believe I must get you +to send me an attestation under your hand that you knew nothing +of it, that Mr. Rigby may allow that at least this one room was +by my own direction. - AS the library and great parlour grow +finished, you shall have exact notice. + +>From Mabland(481) I have little news to send you, but that the +obelisk is danced from the middle of the rabbit-warren into his +neighbour's garden, and he pays a ground-rent for looking at it +there. His shrubs are hitherto unmolested, Et +MaryboniaCoS(482) gaudet revirescere lucos! + +The town is as busy again as ever on the affair of Canning, who +has been tried for perjury. The jury would have brought her in +guilty of perjury, but not wilful, till the judge informed them +that that would rather be an Irish verdict: they then brought +her in simply guilty, but recommended her. In short, nothing +is discovered: the most general opinion is, that she was +robbed, but by some other gipsy. For my own part, I am not at +all brought to believe her story, nor shall, till I hear that +living seven-and-twenty days without eating is among @ one of +those secrets for doing impossibilities, which I suppose will +be at last found out, and about the time that I am dead, even +some art of living for ever. + +You was in pain for me, and indeed I was in pain for myself, on +the prospect of the sale of Dr. Mead's miniatures. You may be +easy; it is more than I am quite; for it is come out that the +late Prince of Wales had bought them every one. + +I have not yet had time to have your granite examined, but will +next week. If you have not noticed to your sisters any present +of Ormer shells, I shall contradict myself, and accept them for +my Lady Lyttelton,(483) who is making a grotto. As many as you +can send conveniently, and any thing for the same use, will be +very acceptable. You will laugh when I tell you, that I am +employed to reconcile Sir George and Moore;(484) the latter has +been very flippant, say impertinent, on the former's giving a +little place to Bower, in preference to him. Think of my being +the mediator! + +The Parliament is to meet for a few days the end of this month, +to give perfection to the Regency-bill. If the King dies +before the end of this month, the old Parliament revives, which +would make tolerable confusion, considering what sums have been +laid out on seats in this. Adieu! This letter did not come +kindly; I reckon it rather extorted from me, and therefore hope +it will not amuse. However, I am in tolerable charity with +you, and yours ever. + +(481) A cant name which Mr. Walpole had given to Lord Radnor's +whimsical house and grounds at Twickenham. + +(482) Lord Radnor's garden was full of statues, etc. like that +at Marylebone. (gray, in a letter to Wharton, of the 13th of +August in this year says, "By all means see Lord Radnor's place +again. He is a simple old Phobus, but nothing can spoil so +glorious a situation, which surpasses every thing round it." +Works, vol. iii. p. 119.-E). + +(483) Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Robert Rich, Bart. was the +second wife of George Lord Lyttelton. She was separated from +her husband and survived him many years.-E. + +(484) Author of The World, and some plays and poems. Moore had +written in defence of lord Lyttelton against the Letters to the +Whigs; which were not known to be Walpole's. + + + +209 Letter 101 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, May 21, 1754. + +I did not intend to write to you till after Thursday, when all +your Boscawens, Rices, and Trevors(485) are to dine at +Strawberry Hill; but an event has happened, of which I cannot +delay giving you the instant pleasurable notice: now will you, +according to your custom, be guessing, and, according to your +custom, guessing wrong; but lest you should from my spirits +make any undutiful or disloyal conjectures for me, know, that +the great C`eu(486) of the Vine is dead, and that John the +first was yesterday proclaimed undoubted Monarch. Nay, +champion Dimmock himself shall cut the throat of any Tracy, +Atkins, or Harrison, who shall dare to gainsay the legality of +his title. In' short, there is no more will than was left by +the late Erasmus Shorter of particular memory. I consulted +Madame Rice, and she advised my directing to you at Mrs. +Whettenhall's; to whom I beg as many compliments as if she +wrote herself "La blanche Whitnell." As many to your sister +Harriot and to your brother, who I hear is with you. I am +sure, though both you and I had reason to be peevish with the +poor tigress, that you grieve with me for her death. I do most +sincerely, and for her Bessy: the man-tiger will be so sorry, +that I am sure he will marry again to comfort himself. I am so +tired with letters I have written on this event, that I can +scarce hold the pen. How we shall wish for you on Thursday-and +shan't you be proud to cock your tail at the Vine? Adieu! + +(485) The daughters of Mr. Montagu's uncle, John Morley Trevor, +of Glynd in Sussex; Anne, married to General Boscawen; Lucy, +married to Edward Rice, Esq.; and Miss Grace Trevor, who was +living at Bath in 1792.-E. + +(486) Anthony Chute, Esq. of the Vine, Hants; who had been +member for Newport, Hants.-E. + + + +210 Letter 102 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, May 23, 1754. + +Pray continue your M`emoires of the war of the Delmontis;(487) +I have received two tomes, and am delighted with them. The +French and Irish Parliaments proceed so heavily, that one +cannot expect to live to the setting up the first standard; and +it is so long since the world has furnished any brisk event, +that I am charmed with this little military entremets. My Lady +Orford will certainly wish herself at Florence again on the +behalf of her old friend:(488) I always wish myself there; and, +according to custom, she and I should not be of the same party: +I cannot help wishing well to the rebellious. You ask, whether +this Countess can deprive her son of her estate?-by no means, +but by another child, which, at her age, and after the variety +of experiments which she has made in all countries, I cannot +think very likely to happen. I sometimes think her succession +not very distant: she is very asthmatic. Her life is as +retired as ever, and passed entirely with her husband, who +seems a martyr to his former fame, and is a slave to her +jealousy. She has given up nothing to him, and pays such +attention to her affairs, that she will soon be vastly rich. +But I won't be talking of her wealth, when the chief purpose of +my writing to-night is, to announce the unexpected riches and +good fortune of our dear Mr. Chute, I say our dear Mr. Chute, +for though you have not reason to be content with him, yet I +know your unchangeable heart-and I know he is so good, that if +you will take this occasion to write him a line of joy, I am +persuaded it will raccommode every thing; and though he will be +far from proving a regular correspondent, we shall all have +satisfaction in the re-establishment of the harmony.-In short, +that tartar his brother is dead: and having made no will, the +whole, and a very considerable whole, falls to our friend. +This good event happened but three days ago, and I wait with +the utmost impatience for his return from the Vine, where he +was at the critical instant. As the whole was in the tyrant's +power, and as every art had been used to turn the vinegar of +his temper against his brother, I had for some time lived +persuaded that he would execute the worst purposes-but let us +forgive him! + +I like to see in the Gazette that Goldsworthy(489) is going to +be removed far from Florence: his sting has long been out-and +yet I cannot help feeling glad that even the shadow of a +competitor is removed from you. + +We are going to have a week of Parliament-not to taste the new +one, of which there is no doubt, but to give it essence: by the +Regency-bill, if the King had died before it had sat, the old +one must have revived. + +There is nothing else in the shape of news but small-pox and +miliary fevers, which have carried off people you did not know. +If I had not been eager to notify Mr. Chute's prosperity to +you, I think I must have deferred writing for a week or two +longer: it is unpleasant to be inventing a letter to send so +far, and must be disappointing when it comes from so far, and +brings so little. Adieu! + +(487) This alludes to the proceedings of a mad prior of the +family of the Marchese Delmonti; who, with a party of ruffians, +had seized upon a strong castle called Monta di Santa Maria, +belonging to his brother the Marchese, and situated near +Cortona. From whence he and his band ravaged the neighbouring +country; and it was only with great difficulty that the troops +of the Grand Duke of Tuscany succeeded in dislodging them-D. + +(488) Marquis del Monti. + +(489) Consul to Lisbon. + + + +211 Letter 103 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, June 5, 1754. + +Though I wrote to you but a few days ago, when I told you of +Mr. Chute's good fortune, I must send you a few lines to-night +upon a particular occasion. Mr. Brand,(490) a very intimate +friend of mine, whom I believe you have formerly seen in Italy, +is just set out for Germany on his way to Rome. I know by long +and uninterrupted experience, that my barely saying he is my +friend, will secure for him the kindest reception in the world +from you: it would not express my conviction, if I said a word +more on that head. His story is very melancholy: about six or +seven years ago he married Lady Caroline Pierpoint,(491) +half-sister of Lady Mary Wortley;(492) a match quite of esteem, +she was rather older than he; but never were two people more +completely, more reasonably happy. He is naturally all +cheerfulness and laughter; she was very reserved, but quite +sensible and faultless. She died about this time twelvemonth +of a fever, and left him, with two little children, the most +unhappy man alive. He travels again to dissipate his grief: +you will love him much, if he stays any time with you. His +connexions are entirely with the Duke of Bedford. + +I have had another letter from you to-day, with a farther +journal of the Delmonti war, which the rebels seem to be +leaving to the Pope to finish for them. It diverted me +extremely. had I received this letter before Mr. Brand set +out, I would have sent you the whole narrative of the affair of +Lord Orford and Miss -Nicholl; it is a little volume. The +breach, though now by time silenced, was, I assure you, final. + +We have had a spurt of Parliament for five days, but it was +prorogued to-day. The next will be a terrible session from +elections and petitions. The Oxfordshire(493) will be endless; +the Appleby outrageous in expense. The former is a revival of +downright Whiggism and Jacobitism,, two liveries that have been +lately worn indiscriminately by all factions. The latter is a +contest between two young Croesus's, Lord Thanet(494) and Sir +James Lowther:(495) that a convert; this an hereditary Whig. A +knowing lawyer said, to-day, that with purchasing tenures, +votes, and carrying on the election and petition, +five-and-fifty thousand pounds will not pay the whole expense-- +it makes one start! Good night! you must excuse the +nothingness of a supernumerary letter. + +(490) Thomas Brand, of the Hoo, in Hertfordshire. + +(491) Daughter of Evelyn, Duke of Kingston, by his second wife. + +(492) Lady Mary, in a letter to her daughter, of the 23d of +July, 1753, says, "The death of Lady Carolina naturally raises +the mortifying reflection, on how slender a thread hangs all +worldly prosperity! I cannot say I am otherwise much touched +with it. It is true she was my sister, as it were, and in some +sense; but her behaviour to me never gave me any love, nor her +general conduct any esteem."-E. + +(493) This was the great Oxfordshire contest between the +Jacobites and the Whigs. The candidates of the former party +were Viscount Wenman and Sir Edward Turner, Bart. those of the +latter, Viscount Parker, eldest son of the Earl of +Macclesfield, and Sir James Dashwood, Bart. Great sums were +spent on both sides: in the election the Jacobites carried it; +but on petition to the House of Commons, the ministers, as +usual, seated their own friends.-D. + +(494) Sackville Tufton, eighth Earl of Thanet.-D. + +(495) Sir James Lowther had succeeded his collateral relation, +Henry, third Viscount Lonsdale, in his vast estates. He became +afterwards remarkable for his eccentricities, and we fear, we +must add, for his tyranny and cruelty. Mr. Pitt created him +Earl of Lonsdale, in the year 1784. He died in 1802.-D. [In +1782, he offered to build, and Completely furnish and man, a +ship of war of seventy guns for the service of the country at +his own expense; but the proposal, though sanctioned by the +King, was rendered unnecessary to be carried into execution by +the peace.] + + + +212 Letter 104 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, Saturday, June 8, 1754. + +By my computation you are about returned to Greatworth: I was +so afraid of my letters missing you on the road, that I +deferred till now telling you how much pleasure I shall have in +seeing you and the Colonel at Strawberry. I have long been +mortified that for these three years you have seen it only in +winter: it is now in the height of its greenth, blueth, +gloomth, honey-suckle and seringahood. I have no engagement +till Wednesday se'nnight, when I am obliged to be in town on +law business. You will have this to-morrow night; if I receive +a letter, which I beg you will direct to London, on Tuesday or +Wednesday, I will meet you here whatever day you will be so +good as to appoint. I thank the Colonel a thousand times. I +cannot write a word more; for I am getting into the chaise to +whisk to the Vine for two days, but shall be in town on Tuesday +night. Adieu! + + + +213 Letter 105 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, June 29, 1754. + +I shall take care to send your letter the first time I write to +Mr. Bentley. It is above a fortnight since I heard from him. +I am much disappointed at not having seen you yet; I love you +should execute your intentions while you intend them, because +you are a little apt to alter your mind, and as I have set mine +on your seeing Strawberry Hill this summer, while it is in its +beauty, you will really mortify me by changing your purpose. + +It is in vain that you ask for news: I was in town two days +ago, but heard nothing; indeed there were not people enough to +cause or make news. Lady Caroline Petersham had scraped +together a few foreigners, after her christening; but I cannot +say that the party was much livelier than if it had met at +Madame Montandre's.(496) You must let me know a little +beforehand when you have fixed your time for coming, because, +as I am towards flying about on my summer expeditions, I should +be unhappy not to be here just when you would like it. Adieu! + +P. S. I supped at White's the other night with the great C`u, +and he was by far more gracious, both on your topic and my own, +than ever I knew him. + +(496) Widow of Francis de la Rochefaucauld, Marquis de +Montandre, who came to England with William the Third, and +served in all the wars of that monarch, and of Queen Anne. He +was made a marshal in July 1739, and died in the following +August.-E. + + + +213 Letter 106 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, July 5, 1754. + +I believe you never receive a letter from me at this season of +the year, without wishing for winter, that I might have +something to tell you. Warm weather in England disperses all +the world, except a few old folks, whose day of events is past, +and who contribute nothing to the society of news. There is a +court indeed as near as Kensington, but where the monarch is +old, the courtiers are seldom young: they sun themselves in a +window like flies in autumn, past even buzzing, and to be swept +away in the first hurricane of a new reign. However, as little +novelty as the season or the times produce, there is an +adventuress in the world, who even in the dullest times will +take care not to let conversation stagnate: this +public-spirited dame is no other than a Countess-dowager, my +sister-in-law, who has just notified to the town her intention +of parting from her second husband-a step which, being in +general not likely to occasion much surprise,-she had, however, +taken care to render extraordinary, by a course of inseparable +fondness and wonderful jealousy, for the three years since +these her second nuptials. The testimonials which Mr. Shirley +had received in print from that living academy of love-lore, my +Lady Vane, added to this excessive tenderness of one, little +less a novice, convinced every body that he was a perfect hero. +You will pity poor Hercules! Omphale, by a most unsentimental +precaution, has so secured to her own disposal her whole estate +and jointure, that he cannot command so much as a distaff; and +as she is not inclined to pay much for nothing, her offers on +the article of separation are exceedingly moderate. As yet he +has not accepted them, but is gone to Scarborough, and she into +the west, to settle her affairs, and from thence embarks for +France and Italy. I am sorry she will plague you again at +Florence; but I shall like to hear of what materials she +composes her second volume, and what reasons she will allege in +her new manifestoes: her mother, who sold her, is dead; the +all-powerful minister, who bought her, is dead! whom will she +charge with dragging her. to the bed of this second tyrant, +from whom she has been forced to fly--On her son's account, I +am really sorry for this second `equip`ee: I can't even help +pitying her! at her age nobody can take such steps, without +being sensible of their ridicule, and what snakes must such +passions be, as can hurry one over such reflections? Her +original story was certainly very unhappy; and the forcing so +very young a creature against her inclinations, unjustifiable: +but I much question whether any choice of her own could have +tied down her inclinations to -any temper--at least, I am sure +she had pitched upon a Hercules then, who of all men living was +the least proper to encounter such labours, my Lord +Chesterfield! + +I have sent your letter to Mr. Chute, who is at his own Vine; +he had written to you of his own accord, and I trust your +friendship will be re-established as strongly as ever, +especially as there was no essential fault on either side, and +as you will now be prepared not to mind his aversion to +writing. Thank Dr. Cocchi for the book(497) he is so good as +to intend for me; I value any thing from him, though I scarce +understand any thing less than Greek and physic; the little I +knew of the first I have almost forgot, and the other, thank +God! I never had any occasion to know. I shall duly deliver +the other copies. + +The French are encroaching extremely upon us in all the distant +parts of the world, especially in Virginia, from whence their +attempts occasion great uneasiness here. For my own part, I +think we are very lucky, when they will be so good as to begin +with us at the farther end. The revocation of the Parliament +of Paris, which is done or doing, is thought very bad for us: I +don't know but it may: in any other time I should have thought +not, as it is a concession or yielding from the throne, and +would naturally spirit up the Parliament to struggle on for +power; but no other age is a precedent for this. As no +oppression would, I believe, have driven them into rebellion, +no concession will tempt them to be more assuming. The King of +France will govern his Parliament by temporizing; the +Parliament of Ireland is governed by being treated like a +French one. Adieu! + +(497) An edition of some of the Greek physicians. + + + +215 Letter 107 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway. +Strawberry Hill, Saturday, July 6, 1754. + +Your letter certainly stopped to drink somewhere by the way, I +suppose with the hearty hostess at the Windmill; for, though +written on Wednesday, it arrived here but this morning: it +could not have travelled more deliberately in the Speaker's +body-coach. I am concerned, because, your fishmonger not being +arrived, I fear you have stayed for my answer. The fish(498) +are apprised that they are to ride over to Park-place, and are +ready booted and spurred; and the moment their pad arrives, +they shall set forth. I would accompany them on a pillion if I +were not waiting for Lady Mary,(499) who has desired to bring a +poor sick girl here for a few days to try the air. You know +how courteous a knight I am to distressed virgins of five years +old, and that my castle-gates are always open to them. You +will, I am sure, accept this excuse for some days: and as soon +as ever my hospitality is completed, I will be ready to obey +your summons, though you should send a water-pot for me. I am +in no fear of not finding you in perfect verdure; for the sun, +I believe, is gone a great way off to some races or other, +where his horses are to run for the King's plate: we have not +heard of him in this neighbourhood. Adieu! + +(497) Gold fish. + +(499) Lady Mary Churchill. + + + +215 Letter 108 +To Sir Richard Bentley, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, July 9, 1754. + +I only write a letter for company to the enclosed one. Mr. +Chute is returned from the Vine, and gives you a thousand +thanks for your letter; and if ever he writes, I don't doubt +but it will be to you. Gray and he come hither to-morrow, and +I am promised Montagu and the Colonel(500) in about a +fortnight--How naturally my pen adds, but when does Mr. Bentley +come! I am sure Mr. Wicks wants to ask me the same question +every day--"Speak to it, Horatio!" Sir Charles Williams +brought his eldest daughter hither last week: she is one of +your real admirers, and, without its being proposed to her, +went on the bowling-green, and drew a perspective view of the +castle from the angle, in a manner to deserve the thanks of the +Committee.(501) She is to be married to my Lord Essex in a +Week,(502) and I begged she would make you overseer of the +works at Cashiobury. Sir Charles told me, that on the Duke of +Bedford's wanting a Chinese house at Woburn, he said, "Why +don't your grace speak to mr. Walpole? He has the prettiest +plan in the world for one." --"Oh," replied the Duke, "but +then it would be too dear!" I hope this was a very great +economy, or I am sure ours would be very great extravagance: +only think of a plan for little Strawberry giving the alarm to +thirty thousand pounds a year! My dear sir, it is time to +retrench! Pray send me 'a slice of granite(503) no bigger than +a Naples biscuit. + +The monument to my mother is at last erected; it puts me in +mind of the manner of interring the Kings of France: when the +reigning one dies, the last before him is buried. Will you +believe that I have not yet seen the tomb? None of my +acquaintance were in town, and I literally had not courage to +venture alone among the Westminster-boys at the Abbey: they are +as formidable to me as the ship-carpenters at Portsmouth. I +think I have showed you the inscription, and therefore I don't +send it yet]. + +I was reading t'other day the Life of Colonel Codrington,(504) +who founded the library at All Souls - he left a large estate +for the propagation of the Gospel, and ordered that three +hundred negroes should constantly be constantly employed upon +it. Did one ever hear a more truly Christian charity, than +keeping a perpetuity of three hundred slaves to look after the +Gospel's estate? How could one intend a religious legacy, and +miss the disposition of that estate for delivering three +hundred negroes from the most shocking slavery imaginable? +Must devotion be twisted into the unfeeling interests of trade? +I must revenge myself for the horror this fact has given me, +and tell you a story of Gideon.(505) He breeds his children +Christians: he had a mind to know what proficience his son had +made in his new religion; "So," says he, "I began, and asked +him, who made him; He said 'God.' I then asked him, who +redeemed him? He replied very readily, 'Christ.' Well, then I +was at the end of my interrogatories, and did not know what +other question to put to him. I said, Who--who--I did not know +what to say; at last I said, Who gave you that hat? 'The Holy +Ghost,' said the boy." Did you ever hear a better catechism? +The great cry against Nugent at Bristol was for having voted +for the Jew-bill: one old woman said, "What, must we be +represented by a Jew and an Irishman?" He replied with great +quickness, "My good dame, if you will step aside with me into a +corner, I will show you that I am not a Jew, and that I am an +Irishman." + +The Princess(506) has breakfasted at the long Sir Thomas +Robinson's at Whitehall; my Lady Townshend will never forgive +it. The second dowager of Somerset(507) is gone to know +whether all her letters from the living to the dead have been +received. Before I bid you good-night, I must tell you of an +admirable curiosity: I was looking over one of our antiquarian +volumes, and in the description of Leeds is an account of Mr. +Thoresby's famous museum there-what do you think is one of the +rarities?--a knife taken from one of the Mohocks! Whether +tradition is infallible or not, as you say, I think so +authentic a relic will make their history indisputable. +Castles, Chinese houses, tombs, negroes, Jews, Irishmen, +princesses, and Mohocks--what a farrago do I send you! I trust +that a letter from England to Jersey has an imposing air, and +that you don't presume to laugh at any thing that comes from +your mother island. Adieu! + +(500) Charles Montagu. + +(501) Mr. Walpole, in these letters, calls the Strawberry +committee, those of his friends who had assisted in the plans +and Gothic ornaments of Strawberry Hill. + +(502) The lady was married to the Earl of Essex on the 1st of +August. She died in childbed, in July 1759.-E. + +(503) Mr. Walpole had commissioned Mr. Bentley to send him a +piece of the granite found in the island of Jersey, for a +sideboard in his dining-room. + +(504) Colonel Christopher Codrington. He was governor of the +Leeward Islands, and died at Barbadoes in 1710. He bequeathed +his books, and the sum of ten thousand pounds, for the purpose +of erecting and furnishing the above-mentioned library. He +wrote some Latin poems, published in the "Musae Anglicanae," +and addressed a copy of English verse to Garth on his +Dispensary.-E. + +(505) Sampson Gideon, the noted rich Jew. [In 1759, his only +son, being then in his eleventh year, was created an English +baronet; and, in 1789, advanced to the dignity of Lord +Eardley.] + +(506) Of Wales. + +(507) Frances, oldest daughter and coheir of the Hon. Henry +Thynne. ' + + + +217 Letter 109 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway.(508) +Strawberry Hill, August 6, 1754. + +>From Sunday next, which is the eleventh, till the four or +five-and-twentieth, I am quite unengaged, and will wait upon +you any of the inclusive days, when your house is at leisure, +and you will summon me; therefore you have nothing to do but to +let me know your own time: or, if this period does not suit +you, I believe I shall be able to come to you any part of the +first fortnight in September; for, though I ought to go to +Hagley, it is incredible how I want resolution to tap such a +journey. + +I wish you joy of escaping such an accident as breaking the +Duke's(509) leg; I hope he and you will be known to posterity +together by more dignified wounds than the kick of a horse. As +I can never employ my time better than in being your +biographer, I beg you will take care that I may have no such +plebeian mishaps upon my hands or, if the Duke is to fall out +of battle, he has such delicious lions and tigers, which I saw +the day before yesterday at Windsor, that he will be +exceedingly to blame, if he does not give some of them an +exclusive patent for tearing him to pieces. + +There is a beautiful tiger at my neighbour Mr. Crammond's here, +of which I am so fond, that my Lady Townshend says it is the +only thing I ever wanted to kiss. As you know how strongly her +ladyship sympathizes with the Duke, she contrived to break the +tendon of her foot, the very day that his leg was in such +danger. Adieu! + +P. S. You may certainly do what you please with the Fable;(510) +it is neither worth giving nor refusing. + +(508) Now first printed. + +(509) The Duke of Cumberland. + +(510) The Entail. + + + +218 Letter 110 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, Aug 29, 1754. + +You may be sure that I shall always be glad to see you whenever +you like to come hither, but I cannot help being sorry that you +are determined not to like the place, nor to let the Colonel +like it; a conclusion I may very justly make, when, I think, +for these four years, you have contrived to visit it only when +there is not a leaf upon the trees. Villas are generally +designed for summer; you are the single person who think they +look best in winter. You have still a more unlucky thought; +which Is, to visit the Vine in October. When I saw it in the +middle of summer, it was excessively damp; you will find it a +little difficult to persuade me to accompany you thither On +stilts, and I believe Mr. Chute Will not be quite happy that +you prefer that season; but for this I cannot answer at +present, for he is at Mr. Morris's in Cornwall. I shall expect +you and the Colonel here at the time you appoint. I engage for +no farther, unless it is a very fine season indeed. I beg my +compliments to Miss Montagu, and am yours ever. + + + +218 Letter 111 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Oct. 6, 1754. + +You have the kindest way in the world, my dear Sir, of +reproving my long silence, by accusing yourself. I have looked +at my dates, and though I was conscious Of not having written +to you for a long time, I did not think it had been so long as +three months. I ought to make some excuse, and the truth is +all I can make; if you have heard by any way in the world that +a single event worth mentioning has happened in England for +these three months, I will own myself guilty of abominable +neglect. If there has not, as you know my unalterable +affection for you, you will excuse me, and accuse the times. +Can one repeat often, that every thing stagnates? At present we +begin to think that the world may be roused again, and that an +East Indian war and a West Indian war may beget such a thing as +an European war. In short, the French have taken such cavalier +liberties with some of our forts, that are of great consequence +to cover Virginia, Carolina, and Georgia, that we are actually +despatching two regiments thither. As the climate and other +American circumstances are against these poor men, I pity them, +and think them too many, if the French mean nothing farther; +too few, if they do. Indeed, I am one of those that feel less +resentment when we are attacked so far off: I think it an +obligation to be eaten the last. + +You have entertained me much with the progress of the history +of the Delmontis, and obliged me. I wish I could say I was not +shocked at the other part of your letter, where you mention the +re-establishment of the Inquisition at Florence. Had Richcourt +power enough to be so infamous! was he superstitious, fearful, +revengeful, or proud of being a tool of the court of Rome? +What is the fate of the poor Florentines, who are reduced to +regret the Medicis, who had usurped their government! You may +be glad, my dear child, that I am not at Florence; I should +distress your ministerial prudence, your necessary prudence, by +taking pleasure to speak openly of Richcourt as he deserves: +you know my warmth upon power and church power! + +The Boccaneri seems to be one of those ladies who refine so +much upon debauchery as to make even matrimony enter into their +scheme of profligacy. I have known more than one instance, +since the days of the Signora Messalina, where the lady has not +been content to cuckold her husband but with another husband. +All passions carried to extremity embrace within their circle +even their opposites. I don't know whether Charles the Fifth +did not resign the empire Out Of ambition of more fame. I must +contradict myself in all passions; I don't believe Sir Robert +Brown will ever be so covetous as to find a pleasure in +squandering. + +Mr. Chute is much yours: I am going with him in a day or two to +his Vine, where I shall try to draw him into amusing himself a +little with building and planting; hitherto he has done nothing +with his estate-but good. + +You will have observed what precaution I had taken, in the +smallness of the sheet, not to have too much paper to fill; and +yet you see how much I have still upon my hands! As, I assure +you, were I to fill the remainder, all I should say would be +terribly wiredrawn, do excuse me: you shall hear an ample +detail of the first Admiral Vernon that springs out of our +American war; and I promise you at least half a brick of the +first sample that is sent over of any new Porto Bello. The +French have tied up the hands of an +excellent fanfaron, a Major Washington,(511) whom they took, +and engaged not to serve for a year. In his letter, he said, +"Believe me, as the cannon-balls flew over my head. they made a +most delightful sound." When your relation, General Guise, was +marching up to Carthagena, and the pelicans whistled round him, +he said, "What would Chlo`e(512) give for some of these to make +a pelican pie?" The conjecture made that scarce a rodomontade; +but what pity it is, that a man who can deal in hyperboles at +the mouth of a cannon, should be fond of them with a glass of +wine in his hand! I have heard Guise affirm, that the colliers +at Newcastle feed their children with fire-shovels! Good night. + +(511) This was the celebrated Liberator of America, who had +been serving in the English army against the French for some +time with much distinction. + +(512 ) The Duke of Newcastle's French cook. + + + +220 Letter 112 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway.(513) +Strawberry Hill, Oct. 24, 1754. + +You have obliged me most extremely by telling me the progress +you have made in your most desirable affair.(514) I call it +progress, for, notwithstanding the authority you have for +supposing there may be a compromise, I cannot believe that the +Duke of Newcastle would have affirmed the contrary so directly, +if he had known of it. Mr. Brudenel very likely has been +promised my Lord Lincoln's interest, and then supposed he +should have the Duke's. However, that is not your affair; if +any body has reason to apprehend a breach of promise, it is +poor Mr. Brudenel. He can never come into competition with +you; and without saying any thing to reflect on him, I don't +know where you can ever have a competitor, and not have the +world on your side. Though the tenure is precarious, I cannot +help liking the situation for you. Any thing that sets you in +new lights, must be for your advantage. You are naturally +indolent and humble, and are content with being perfect in +whatever you happen to be. It is not flattering you to Say, +nor can you deny it, with all your modesty, that you have +always made yourself' master of whatever you have attempted, +and have never made yourself master of any thing without +shining extremely in it. If the King lives, you will have his +favour; if he lives it all, the Prince must have a greater +establishment, and then you will have the King's partiality to +countenance your being removed to some distinguished place +about the Prince: if the King should fail, your situation in +his family, and your age, naturally recommend you to an equal +place in the new household. I am the more desirous of seeing +you at court, because, when I consider the improbability of our +being in a situation to make war, I am earnest to have you have +other opportunities of being one of the first men in this +country, besides being a general. Don't think all I say on +this subject compliment. I can have no view in flattering you; +and You have a still better reason for believing me sincere, +which is, that you know well that I thought the same of you, +and professed the same to you, before I was of an age to have +either views or flattery; indeed, I believe you know me enough +to be sure that I am as void of both now as when I was +fourteen, and that I am so little apt to court any body, that +if you heard me say the same to any body but yourself, you +would easily think that I spoke what I thought. + +George Montagu and his brother are here, and have kept me from +meeting you in town: we go on Saturday to the Vine. I fear +there is too much truth in what you have heard of your old +mistress.(515) When husband, wife, lover, and friend tell +every thing, can there but be a perpetual fracas? My dear +Harry, how lucky you was in what you escaped, and in what you +have got! People do sometimes avoid, not always, what is most +improper for them; but they do not afterwards always meet with +what they most deserve. But how lucky you are in every thing! +and how ungrateful a man to Providence if you are not thankful +for so many blessings as it has given you! I won't preach, +though the dreadful history which I have just heard of poor +Lord Drumlanrig(516) is enough to send one to La Trappe. My +compliments to all yours, and Adieu! + +(513) Now first printed. + +(514) His being appointed groom of the bedchamber to the King, +George the Second.-E. + +(515) Caroline Fitzroy, Countess of Harrington.-E. + +(516) Only son of Charles third Duke of Queensberry, who was +shot by the accidental discharge of his pistol on his journey +from Scotland to London, in company with his parents and newly- +married wife, a daughter of the Earl of Hopetoun. Lady Mary +Wortley thus alludes to this calamity in a letter to her +daughter:--"The Duchess of Queensberry's misfortune would move +compassion in the hardest heart; yet, all circumstances coolly +considered, I think the young lady deserves most to be pitied, +being left in the terrible situation of a young and, I suppose, +rich widowhood; which is walking blindfold upon stilts amidst +precipices, though perhaps as little sensible of her danger, as +a child of a quarter old would be in the paws of a monkey +leaping on the tiles of a house."-E. + + + +221 Letter 113 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, Nov. 3, 1754. + +I have finished all my parties, and am drawing towards a +conclusion here: the Parliament meets in ten days: the House, I +hear, will be extremely full--curiosity drawing as many to town +as party used to do. The minister(517) in the house of Lords +is a new sight in these days. + +Mr. Chute and I have been at Mr. Barret's(518) at Belhouse; I +never saw a place for which one did not wish, so totally void +of faults. What he has done is in Gothic, and very true, +though not up to the perfection of the committee. The hall is +pretty; the great dining room hung with good family pictures; +among which is his ancestor, the Lord Dacre who was +hanged.(519) I remember when Mr. Barret was first initiated in +the College of Arms by the present Dean of Exeter(520) at +Cambridge, he was overjoyed at the first ancestor he put up, +who was one of the murderers of Thomas Becket. The +chimney-pieces, except one little miscarriage into total Ionic +(he could not resist statuary and Siena marble), are all of a +good King James the First Gothic. I saw the heronry so fatal +to Po Yang, and told him that I was persuaded they were +descended from Becket's assassin, and I hoped from my Lord +Dacre too. He carried us to see the famous plantations and +buildings of the last Lord Petre. They are the Brobdignag of +the bad taste. The Unfinished house is execrable, massive, and +split through and through: it stands on the brow of a hill, +rather to seek for a prospect than to see one, and turns its +back upon an outrageous avenue which is closed with a screen of +tall trees, because he would not be at the expense of +beautifying the black front Of his house. The clumps are +gigantic, and very ill placed. + +George Montagu and the Colonel have at last been here, and have +screamed with approbation through the whole Cu-gamut. Indeed, +the library is delightful. They went to the Vine, and approved +as much. Do you think we wished for you? I carried down +incense and mass-books, and we had most Catholic enjoyment Of +the chapel. In the evenings, indeed, we did touch a card a +little to please George--so much, that truly I have scarce an +idea left that is not spotted with clubs, hearts, spades, and +diamonds. There is a vote of the Strawberry committee for +great embellishments to the chapel, of which it will not be +long before you hear something. It will not be longer than the +spring, I trust, before you see something of it. In the mean +time, to rest your impatience, I have enclosed a scratch of +mine which you are to draw out better, and try if you can give +yourself a perfect idea of the place. All I can say is, that +my sketch is at least more intelligible than Gray's was of +Stoke, from which you made so like a picture. + +Thank you much for the box of Guernsey lilies, which I have +received. I have been packing up a few seeds, which have +little merit but the merit they will have with you, that they +come from the Vine and Strawberry. My chief employ in this +part of the world, except surveying my library which has scarce +any thing but the painting to finish, is planting at Mrs. +Clive's, whither I remove all my superabundancies. I have +lately planted the green lane, that leads from her garden to +the common: "Well," said she, "when it is done, what shall we +call it?"-" Why," said I, " what would you call it but Drury +Lane?" I mentioned desiring some samples of your Swiss's(521 +abilities: Mr. Chute and I even propose, if he should be +tolerable, and would continue reasonable, to tempt him over +hither, and make him work upon your designs-upon which, you +know, it is not easy to make you work. If he improves upon +your hands, do you think we shall purchase the fee-simple of +him for so many years, as Mr. Smith did of Canaletti?(522) We +will sell to the English. Can he paint perspectives, and +cathedral-aisles, and holy glooms? I am sure you could make +him paint delightful insides of the chapel at the Vine, and of +the library here. I never come up the stairs without +reflecting how different it is from its primitive state, when +my Lady Townshend all the way she came up the stairs, cried +out, "Lord God! Jesus! what a house! It is just such a house +as a parson's, where the children lie at the feet of the bed!" +I cant say that to-day it puts me much in mind of another +speech of my lady's, "That it would be a very pleasant place, +if Mrs. Clive's face did not rise upon it and make it so hot!" +The sun and Mrs. Clive seem gone for the winter. + +The West Indian war has thrown me into a new study: I read +nothing but American voyages, and histories of plantations and +settlements. Among all the Indian nations, I have contracted a +particular intimacy with the Ontaouanoucs, a people with whom I +beg you will be acquainted: they pique themselves upon speaking +the purest dialect. How one should delight in the grammar and +dictionary of their Crusca! My only fear is, that if any of +them are taken prisoners, General Braddock is not a kind of man +to have proper attentions to so polite a people; I am even +apprehensive that he would damn them, and order them to be +scalped, in the very worst plantation-accent. I don't know +whether you know that none of the people of that immense +continent have any labials: they tell you que c'est ridicule to +shut the lips in order to speak. Indeed, I was as barbarous as +any polite nation in the world, in supposing that there was +nothing worth knowing among these charming savages. They are +in particular great orators, with this little variation from +British eloquence, that at the end of every important paragraph +they make a present; whereas we expect to receive one. They +begin all their answers with recapitulating what has been said +to them; and their method for this is, the respondent gives a +little stick to each of the bystanders, who is, for his share, +to remember such a paragraph of the speech that is to be +answered. You will wonder that I should have given the +preference to the Ontaouanoucs, when there is a much more +extraordinary nation to the north of Canada, who have but one +leg, and p-- from behind their ear; but I own I had rather +converse for any time with people who speak like Mr. Pitt, than +with a nation of jugglers, who are only fit to go about the +country, under the direction of Taafe and Montagu.(523) Their +existence I do not doubt; they are recorded by P`ere +Charlevoix, in his much admired history of New France, in which +there are such outrageous legends of miracles for the +propagation of the Gospel, that his fables in natural history +seem strict veracity. + +Adieu! You write to me as seldom as if you were in an island +where the Duke of Newcastle was sole minister, parties at an +end, and where every thing had done happening. Yours ever. + +P. S. I have just seen in the advertisements that there are +arrived two new volumes of Madame de S`evign`e's Letters. +Adieu, my American studies!--adieu, even my favourite +Ontaouanoucs! + +(517) The Duke of Newcastle. + + (518) Afterwards Lord Dacre. + +(519) Thomas ninth Lord Dacre. Going, with other young +persons, one night from Herst Monceaux to steal a deer out of +his neighbour, Sir Nicholas Pelham's park (a frolic not unusual +in those days), a fray ensued, and one of the park-keepers +received a blow that caused his death; and although Lord Dacre +was not present on the spot, but in a distant part of the park, +he was nevertheless tried, convicted, and executed, in 1541. +His honours became forfeited, but were restored to his son in +1562.-E. + +(520) Dr. Charles Lyttelton, brother of Lord Lyttelton. He was +first a barrister-at-law, but in 1712 entered into holy orders, +and in 1762 was consecrated Bishop of Carlisle. He died in +1768, unmarried.-E. + +(521) Mr. Muntz, a Swiss painter. + +(522) Mr. Smith, the English consul at Venice, had engaged +Canaletti for a certain number of years to paint exclusively +for him, at a fixed price, and sold his pictures at an advanced +price to English travellers. + +(523) See ant`e 93, letter 35.-E. + + + +224 Letter 114 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Arlington Street, November 11, 1754. + +If you was dead, to be sure you would have got somebody to tell +me so. If you was alive, to be sure in all this time you would +have told me so yourself. It is a month to-day since I +received a line from you. There was a Florentine ambassador +here in Oliver's reign, who with great circumspection wrote to +his court, "Some say the Protector is dead, others say he is +not: for my part, I believe neither one nor t'other." I quote +this sage personage, to show you that I have a good precedent, +in case I had a mind to continue neutral upon the point of your +existence. I can't resolve to believe you dead, lest I should +be forced to write to Mr. S. again to bemoan you; and on the +other hand, it is convenient to me to believe you living, +because I have just received the enclosed from your sister, and +the money from Ely. However, if you are actually dead, be so +good as to order your executor to receive the money, and to +answer your sister's letter. If you are not dead, I can tell +you who is, and at the same time whose death is to remain as +doubtful as yours till to-morrow morning Don't be alarmed! it +is only the Queen-dowager of Prussia. As excessive as the +concern for her is at court, the whole royal family, out of +great consideration for the mercers, lacemen, etc. agreed not +to shed a tear for her till tomorrow morning, when the birthday +will be over; but they are all to rise by six o'clock to-morrow +morning to cry quarts. This is the sum of all the news that I +learnt to-day on coming from Strawberry Hill, except that Lady +Betty Waldegrave was robbed t'other night In Hyde Park, under +the very noses of the lamps and the patrol. If any body is +robbed at the ball at court to-night, you shall hear in my next +despatch. I told you in my last that I had just got two new +volumes of Madame S`evign`e's Letters; but I have been cruelly +disappointed; they are two hundred letters which had been +omitted in the former editions, as having little or nothing +worth reading. How provoking, that they would at last let one +see that she could write so many letters that were not worth +reading! I will tell you the truth: as they are certainly hers, +I am glad to see them, but I cannot bear that any body else +should. Is not that true sentiment? How would you like to see +a letter of hers, describing a wild young Irish lord, a Lord P +* * * *, who has lately made one of our ingenious wagers, to +ride I don't know how many thousand miles in an hour, from +Paris to Fontainebleau? But admire the politesse of that +nation: instead of endeavouring to lame his horse, or to break +his neck, that he might lose the wager, his antagonist and the +spectators showed all the attention in the world to keep the +road clear, and to remove even pebbles out of his way. They +heaped coals of fire upon his head with all the good breeding +of the Gospel. Adieu! If my letters are short, at least my +notes are long. + + + +225 Letter 115 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, Nov. 16, 1754. + +You are over-good to me, my dear Sir, in giving yourself the +trouble of telling me you was content with Strawberry Hill. I +will not, however, tell you, that I am Content with your being +there, till you have seen it in all its greenth and blueth. +Alas! I am sorry I cannot insist upon as much with the Colonel. + +Mr. Chute, I believe, was so pleased with the tenebra in his +own chapel, that he has fairly buried himself in it. I have +not even had so much as a burial card from him since. + +The town is as full as I believe you thought the room was at +your ball at Waldershare. I hear of nothing but the parts and +merit of Lord North. Nothing has happened yet, but sure so +many English people cannot be assembled long without committing +something extraordinary. + +I have seen and conversed with our old friend Cope; I find him +grown very old; I fear he finds me so too; at least as old as I +ever intend to be. I find him very grave too, which I believe +he does not find me. + +Solomon and Hesther, as my Lady Townshend calls Mr. Pitt and +Lady Hester Grenville, espouse one another to-day.(524) I know +nothing more but a new fashion which my Lady Hervey has brought +from Paris. It is a tin funnel covered with green ribbon, and +holds water, which the ladies wear to keep their bouquets +fresh. I fear Lady Caroline and some others will catch +frequent colds and sore throats with overturning this +reservoir. + +Apropos, there is a match certainly in agitation, which has +very little of either Solomon or Hesther in it. You will be +sorry when I tell you, that Lord Waldegrave certainly +dis-Solomons himself with the Drax. Adieu! my dear Sir; I +congratulate Miss Montagu on her good health, and am ever +yours. + +(524) On the ]6th of November, Mr. Pitt married Lady Hester +Grenville, only daughter of Richard Grenville, of Wotton, Esq., +and of Hester, Countess Temple.-E. + + + +226 Letter 116 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Arlington Street, Nov. 20, 1754. + +IF this does not turn out a scolding letter I am much mistaken. +I shall give way to it with the less scruple, as I think it +shall be the last of the kind; not that you will mend, but I +cannot support a commerce of visions! and therefore, whenever +you send me mighty cheap schemes for finding out longitudes and +philosophers' stones, you will excuse me if I only smile, and +don't order them to be examined by my council. For Heaven's +sake, don't be a projector! Is not it provoking, that, with +the best parts in the world, you should have so gentle a +portion of common sense?(525) But I am clear, that you never +will know the two things in the world that import you the most +to know, yourself and me. Thus much by way of preface: now for +the detail. + +You tell me in your letter of November 3d, that the (quarry of +granite might be rented at twenty pounds or twenty shillings, I +don't know which, no matter, per annum. When I can't get a +table out of it, is it very likely you or I should get a +fortune out of it? What signifies the cheapness of the rent? +The cutting and shippage would be articles of some little +consequence! Who should be supervisor? You, who are so good a +manager, so attentive, so diligent, so expeditious, and so +accurate? Don't you think our quarry would turn to account? +Another article, to which I might apply the same questions, is +the project for importation of French wine: it is odd that a +scheme so cheap and so practicable should hitherto have been +totally overlooked. One would think the breed of smugglers was +lost, like the true spaniels, or genuine golden pippins! My +dear Sir, you know I never drink three glasses of my wine-can +you think I care whether, they are sour or sweet, cheap or +dear?--or do you think that I, who am always taking trouble to +reduce my trouble into as compact a volume as I can, would tap +such an article as importing my own wine? But now comes your +last proposal about the Gothic paper. When you made me fix up +mine, unpainted, engaging to paint it yourself, and yet could +never be persuaded to paint a yard of it, till I was forced to +give Bromwich's man God knows what to do it. would you make me +believe that you will paint a room eighteen by fifteen? But, +seriously, if it is possible for you to lay aside visions, +don't be throwing continual discouragements in my way. I have +told you seriously and emphatically that I am labouring your +restoration: the scheme is neither facile nor immediate:-but, +for God's sake! act like a reasonable man. You have a family +to whom you owe serious attention. Don't let me think, that if +you return, you will set out upon every wildgoose chase, +sticking to nothing, and neglecting chiefly the talents and +genius which you have in such excellence, to start projects +which you have too much honesty and too little application ever +to thrive by. This advice is, perhaps, worded harshly: but you +know the heart from which it proceeds, and you know that, with +all my prejudice to it, I can't even pardon your wit, when it +is employed to dress up schemes that I think romantic. The +glasses and Ray's Proverbs you shall have, and some more gold +fish, when I have leisure to go to Strawberry; for you know I +don't suffer any fisheries to be carried on there in my +absence. + +I am as newsless as in the dead of summer: the Parliament +produces nothing but elections: there has already been one +division- on the Oxfordshire of two hundred and sixty-seven +Whigs to ninety-seven Tories: you may calculate the burial of +that election easily from these numbers.(526) The Queen of +Prussia is not dead, as I told you in my last. If you have +shed many tears for her, you may set them off to the account of +our son-in-law, the Prince of Hesse, who is turned Roman +Catholic. One is in this age so unused to conversions above +the rank of a housemaid turned Methodist, that it occasions as +much surprise as if one had heard that he had been initiated in +the Eleusinian mysteries. Are not you prodigiously alarmed for +the Protestant interest in Germany? + +We have operas, burlettas, cargoes of Italian dancers, and none +good but the Mingotti, a very fine figure and actress. I don't +know a single bon-mot that is new: George Selwyn has not waked +yet for the winter. You will believe that, when I tell you, +that t'other night having lost eight hundred pounds at hazard, +he fell asleep upon the table with near half as much more +before him, and slept for three hours, with every body stamping +the box close at his ear. He will say prodigiously good things +when he does wake. In the mean time, can you be content with +one of Madame S`evign`e's best bons-mots, which I have found +amongst her new letters? Do you remember her German friend the +Princess of Tarente, who was always in mourning for some +sovereign prince or princess? One day Madame de S`evign`e +happening to meet her in colours, made her a low curtsey, and +said, "Madame, je me r`ejouis de la sant`e de l'Europe." I +think I may apply another of her speeches which pleased me, to +what I have said t@ you in the former part of my letter. +Mademoiselle du Plessis had said something she disapproved: +Madame S`evign`e said to her, "Mais que cela est sot; car je +veux vous parler doucement." Adieu! + +(525) Cumberland, in his Memoirs, speaking of Mr. Bentley, +says, "There was a certain eccentricity and want of worldly +prudence in my uncle's character, that involved him in +distresses, and reduced him to situations uncongenial with his +feelings, and unpropitious to the cultivation and encouragement +of his talents."-E. + +(526) At the close of the Oxfordshire election the sheriff +returned all the four candidates, who all of them petitioned. +Two were chosen upon what was called the new interest, and were +supported by the court; and two by the old interest. The +expense and animosity which this dispute occasioned is +incredible. Even murder was committed upon the place of +elections The friends of the new interest were ultimately voted +to be the sitting members by a majority of 233 against 103.-E. + + + +228 Letter 117 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Dec. 1, 1754 + +You do me justice, my dear Sir, +when you impute the want of my letters to my want of news: as a +proof, I take up my pen again on the first spring-tide of +politics. However, as this is an age of abortions, and as I +have often announced to you a pregnancy of events, which have +soon after been stillborn, I beg you will not be disappointed +if nothing comes of the present ferment. The offenders and the +offended have too often shown their disposition to soothe, or +to be soothed, by preferments, for one to build much on the +duration or implacability of their aversions. In short, Mr. +Pitt has broke with the Duke of Newcastle, on the want of +power, and has alarmed the dozing House of Commons with some +sentences, extremely in the style of his former Pittics. As +Mr. Fox is not at all more in humour, the world expects every +day to see these two commanders, first unite to overturn all +their antagonists, and then worry One another. They have +already mumbled poor Sir Thomas Robinson cruelly. The +Chancellor of the exchequer(527) crouches under the storm, and +seems very willing to pass eldest. The Attorney-General(528) +seems cowed, and unwilling to support a war, of which the world +gives him the honour.(529) Nugent alone, with an intrepidity +worth his country, affects to stand up against the greatest +orator, and against the best reasoner of the age. What will +most surprise you is, that the Duke of Newcastle, who used to +tremble at shadows, appears unterrified at Gorgons! If I +should tell you in my next, that either of the Gorgons has +kissed hands for secretary of state, only smile: snakes are as +easily tamed as lapdogs. + +I am glad you have got my Lord of Cork.(530) He is, I know, a +very worthy man, and though not a bright man, nor a man of the +world, much less a good author, yet it must be comfortable to +you now and then to see something besides travelling children, +booby governors, and abandoned women of quality. You say, you +have made my Lord Cork give up my Lord Bolingbroke: it is +comical to see how he is given up here, since the best of his +writings, his metaphysical divinity, have been published. +While he betrayed and abused every man who trusted him, or who +had forgiven him, or to whom he was obliged, he was a hero, a +patriot, and a philosopher; and the greatest genius of the age: +the moment his Craftsmen against Moses and St. Paul, etc. were +published, we have discovered that he was the worst man and the +worst writer in the world. The grand jury have presented his +works, and as long as there are any parsons, he will be ranked +with Tindal and Toland--nay, I don't know whether my father +won't become a rubric martyr, for having been persecuted by +him. Mr. Fraigneau's story of the late King's design of +removing my father and employing, Bolingbroke, is not new to +me; but I can give you two reasons, and one very strong indeed, +that convince me of its having no foundation, though it is much +believed here. During the last year of the late King's life, +he took extremely to New Park, and loved to shoot there, and +dined with my father and a private party, and a good deal of +punch. The Duchess of Kendal, who hated Sir Robert, and +favoured Bolingbroke, and was jealous for herself, grew uneasy +at these parties, and used to put one or two of the Germans +upon the King to prevent his drinking, (very odd preventives!)- +-however, they obeyed orders so well, that one day the King +flew into a great passion, and reprimanded them in his own +language with extreme warmth; and when he went to Hanover, +ordered my father to have the new lodge in the park finished +against his return; which did not look much like an intention +of breaking with the ranger of the Park. But what I am now +going to tell you is conclusive: the Duchess obtained an +interview for Bolingbroke in the King's closet, which not +succeeding, as lord Bolingbroke foresaw it might not at once, +he left a memorial with the King, who, the very next time he +saw Sir Robert, gave it to him. + +You will expect that I should mention the progress of the West +Indian war; but the Parliamentary campaign opening so warmly, +has quite put the Ohio upon an obsolete foot. All I know is, +that the Virginians have disbanded all their troops and say +they will trust to England for their defence. The dissensions +in Ireland increase. At least, here are various and ample +fields for speeches, if we are to have new oppositions. You +will believe that I have not great faith in the prospect, when +I can come quietly hither for two or three days to place the +books in my new library. Mr. Chute is with me, and returns you +all your kind speeches with increase. Your two brothers, who +dine at lord Radnor's, have just been here, and found me +writing to you: your brother Gal. would not stay a moment, but +said, , Tell him I prefer his pleasure to my own." I wish, my +dear Sir, I could give you much more, that is, could tell you +more; but unless our civil wars continue, I shall know nothing +but of contested elections: a first session of a Parliament is +the most laborious scene of dulness that I know. Adieu! + +(527) Mr. Legge. + +(528) Mr. Murray; he was preferred to be attorney-general this +year, in the room of Sir Dudley Ryder, who was made lord chief +justice, on the death of Sir William Lee. + +(529) "At this time," says Lord Waldegrave, "Fox had joined +Pitt in a kind of parliamentary opposition. They were both in +office,--the one paymaster, the other secretary at war,-and +therefore could not decently obstruct the public business; but +still they might attack persons, though not things. Pitt +undertook the difficult task of silencing Murray, the +attorney-general, the ablest man, as well as the ablest +debater, in the House of Commons; whilst Fox entertained +himself with the less dangerous amusement of exposing Sir +Thomas Robinson, or rather assisted him whilst he turned +himself into ridicule; for Sir Thomas, though a good secretary +of state -is far as the business of his office, was ignorant +even of the language of the House of Commons controversy; and +when he played the orator, it was so exceedingly ridiculous, +that those who loved and esteemcd him could not always preserve +a friendly composure of countenance." Memoirs, 1). 31.-E. + +(530) John Earl of Orrery and Cork, author of a translation of +Pliny's Epistles, a Life of Dr. Swift, etc. + + + +230 Letter 118 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Arlington Street, Friday, Dec. 13, 1754. + +"If we do not make this effort to recover our dignity, we shall +only sit here to register the arbitrary edicts of one too +powerful a subject." Non riconosci tu Faltero viso? Don't you +at once know the style? Shake those words all altogether-, and +see if they can be any thing but the disiecta membra of Pitt? +In short, about a fortnight ago, bomb burst. Pitt, who is +well, is married, is dissatisfied--not With his bride, but with +the Duke of Newcastle; has twice thundered out his +dissatisfaction in Parliament, and was seconded by Fox. The +event was exactly what I dare say you have already foreseen. +Pitt was to be turned out; overtures were made to Fox; Pitt is +not turned out: Fox is quieted with the dignity of +cabinet-counsellor, and the Duke of Newcastle remains +affronted--and omnipotent. The commentary on this text is too +long for a letter; it may be developed some time or other. +This scene has produced a diverting interlude; Sir George +Lyttelton, who could not reconcile his content with Mr. Pitt's +discontents, has been very ill with the cousinhood. In the +grief of his heart, he thought of resigning his place, but +somehow or other stumbled upon a negotiation for introducing +the Duke of Bedford into the ministry again, to balance the +loss of Mr. Pitt. Whatever persuaded him, he thought this +treaty so sure of success that he lost no time to be the agent +of it himself; and whether commissioned or noncommissioned, as +both he and the Duke of Newcastle say, he carried carte +blanche, to the Duke of Bedford, who bounced like a rocket, +frightened away poor Sir George, and sent for Mr. Pitt to +notify the overture. Pitt and the Grenvilles are outrageous; +the Duke of Newcastle disclaims his ambassador, and every body +laughs. Sir George came hither yesterday, to expectorate with +me, as he called it. Think how I pricked up my ears, as high +as King Midas, to hear a Lyttelton vent his grievances against +a Pitt and Grenvilles! Lord Temple has named Sir George the +apostolic nuncio; and George Selwyn says, "that he will +certainly be invited by Miss Ashe among the foreign ministers." +These are greater storms than perhaps you expected yet; they +have occasioned mighty bustle, and whisper, and speculation; +but you see + +Pulveris exigui jactu composta quiescunt. + +You will be diverted with a collateral incident. * * * * met +Dick Edgecumbe, and asked him with great importance, if he knew +whether Mr. Pitt was out. Edgecumbe, who thinks nothing +important that is not to be decided by dice, and who, +consequently, had never once thought of Pitt's political state, +replied, "Yes." "Ay! how do you know?" "Why, I called at his +door just now, and his porter told me so." Another political +event is, that Lord E. comes into place: he is to succeed Lord +Fitzwalter, who is to have Lord Grantham's pension, -who is +dead immensely rich: I think this is the last of the old +Opposition, of any name, except Sir John Barnard. If you have +curiosity about the Ohio, you must write to ]France: there I +believe they know something about it; here it was totally +forgot till last night, when an express arrived with an account +of the loss of one of the transports off Falmouth, with +eight officers and sixty men on board. + +My Lady Townshend has been dying, and was wofully frightened, +and took prayers; but she is recovered now, even of her +repentance. You will not be undiverted to hear that the mob of +Sudbury have literally sent a card to the mob of Bury, to offer +their assistance at a contested election there: I hope to be +able to tell you in my next, that Mrs. Holman(531) has sent +cards to both mobs for her assembly. + +The shrubs shall be sent, but you must stay till the holidays; +I shall not have time to go to Strawberry sooner. I have +received your second letter, dated November 22d, about the +Gothic paper. I hope you will by this time have got mine, to +dissuade you from that thought. If you insist upon it, I will +send the paper: I have told you what I think, and will +therefore say no more on that head; but I will transcribe a +passage which I found t'other day in Petronius, and thought not +unapplicable to you: "Omnium herbarum succos Democritus +expressit; et ne lapidum virgultorumque vis lateret, aetatem +inter experimenta consumpsit." I hope Democritus could not +draw charmingly when he threw away his time in extracting tints +from flints and twigs! + +I can't conclude my letter without telling you what an escape I +had at the sale of Dr. Mead's library, which goes extremely +dear. In the catalogue I saw Winstanley's views of Audley-inn, +which I concluded was, as it really was, a thin, dirty folio, +worth about fifteen shillings. As I thought it might be +scarce, it might run to two or three guineas. however, I bid +Graham certainly buy it for me. He came the next morning in a +great fright, said he did not know whether he had done very +right or very wrong, that he had gone as far as nine-and-forty +guineas--I started in such a fright! Another bookseller had +luckily had as unlimited a commission, and bid fifty--when my +Graham begged it might be adjourned, till they could consult +their principals. I think I shall never give an unbounded +commission again, even for views of Les Rochers!(532) Adieu! +Am I ever to see any more of your hand-drawing? Adieu! Yours +ever. + +(531) The lady of whom the anecdote is told p. 65, ant`e, +letter 22.-E. + +(532) Madame de S`evign`e's seat in Bretagne. + + + +231 Letter 119 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, Dec. 24, 1754. ' + +My dear Sir, +I received your packet of December 6th last night, but +intending to come hither for a few days, and unluckily sent +away by the coach in the morning a parcel of things for you; +you must therefore wait till another bundle sets out, for the +new letters of Madame S`evign`e. Heaven forbid that I should +have said they were bad! I only meant that they were full of +family details, and mortal distempers, to which the most +immortal of us are subject: and I was sorry that the profane +should ever know that my divinity was ever troubled with a sore +leg, or the want of money; though, indeed, the latter defeats +Bussy@s ill natured accusation of avarice; and her tearing +herself from her daughter, then at Paris, to go and save money +in Bretagne to pay her debts, is a perfection of virtue which +completes her amiable character. My lady Hervey has made me +most happy, by bringing me from Paris an admirable copy of the +very portrait that was Madame de Simiane's: I am going to build +an altar for it, under the title of Notre Dame des Rochers! + +Well! but you will want to know the contents of the parcel that +is set out. It Contains another parcel, which contains I don't +know what; but Mr. Cumberland sent it, and desired I would +transmit it to you. There arc Ray's Proverbs, in two volumes +interleaved; a few seeds, mislaid when I sent the last; a very +indifferent new tragedy, called "Barbarossa,"(533) now running; +the author(534) unknown, but believed to be Garrick himself. +There is not one word of Barbarossa's real story, but almost +the individual history of Merope; not one new thought, and, +which is the next material want, but one line of perfect +nonsense; + +"And rain down transports in the shape of sorrow." + +To complete it, the manners are so ill observed, that a +Mahometan princess royal is at full liberty to visit her lover +in Newgate, like the banker's daughter in George Barnwell. I +have added four more "Worlds,"(535) the second of which will, I +think, redeem my lord Chesterfield's character with you for +wit, except in the two stories, which are very flat: I mean +those of two misspelt letters. In the last "World,"(536) +besides the hand, you will find a story of your acquaintance: +BoncoEur means Norborne Berkeley, whose horse sinking up to his +middle in Woburn park, he would not allow that it was any thing +more than a little damp. The last story of a highwayman +happened almost literally to Mrs. Cavendish. + +For news, I think I have none to tell you. Mr. Pitt is gone to +the Bath, and Mr. Fox to Newcastle House; and every body else +into the country for the holidays. When Lord Bath was told of +the first determination of turning out Pitt, and letting Fox +remain, he said it put him in mind of a story of the gunpowder +plot. The Lord Chamberlain was sent to examine the vaults +under the Parliament-house, and, returning with his report, +said he had found five-and-twenty barrels of gunpowder; that he +had removed ten of them, and hoped the other fifteen would do +no harm. Was ever any thing so well and so just? + +The Russian ambassador is to give a masquerade for the birth of +the little great prince;(537) the King lends him Somerset +House: he wanted to borrow the palace over against me, and sent +to ask it of the cardinal-nephew (538) who replied, "Not for +half Russia." + +The new madness is Oratorys. Macklin has set up one, under the +title of The British Inquisition;(539) Foote another against +him; and a third man has advertised another to-day. I have not +heard enough in their favour to tempt me to them, nor do I in +the world know enough to compose another paragraph. I am here +quite alone; Mr. Chute is setting out for his Vine; but in a +day or two I expect Mr. Williams,(540) George Selwyn, and Dick +Edgecumbe. You will allow that when I do admit any body within +my cloister, I choose them well. My present occupation is +putting up my books; and thanks to arches and pinnacles, and +pierced columns, I shall not appear scantily provided. Adieu! + +(533) The tragedy of "Barbarossa" met with some success, +principally from the advantages it appeared under, by the +performance of Garrick and Mossop, in the parts of Achmet and +Barbarossa. Garrick also supplied the prologue and epilogue,. +It being mentioned to Dr. Johnson, that Garrick assisted the +author in the composition of this tragedy, "No, Sir," said the +Doctor, "Browne would no more suffer Garrick to write a line in +his play than he would suffer him to mount his pulpit."-E. + +(534) The author was the ingenious but unhappy Dr. John Browne, +who was also author of the "Essays on Satire," occasioned by +the death of Pope, and the celebrated "Estimate of the Manners +and Principles of the Times." He had the misfortune to labour +under a constitutional dejection of spirits; and in September +1766, in an interval of deprivation of reason, put a period to +his existence, in his fifty-first year.-E. + +(535) No. 92, Reflections on the Drinking Club; No. 98, On the +Italian Opera; No. 100, On Dr. Johnson's Dictionary; and No. +101, Humorous Observations on the English Language; by Lord +Chesterfield.-E. + +(536) No. 103, On Politeness; and the Politeness of +Highwaymen.-E. + +(537) The Czar Paul the first. + +(538) Henry Earl of Lincoln, nephew to the Duke of Newcastle, +to whose title he succeeded. + +(539) The British Inquisition was opened in 1754, by a public +ordinary, where every person was permitted, for three shillings +a-head, to drink port, or claret, or whatever liquor he should +choose. This was succeeded by a lecture on oratory. The plan +did not succeed; for while Macklin was engaged in drilling his +waiters, or fitting himself for the rostrum, his waiters, in +return, were robbing him in all directions; so that, in the +February of this year, he was declared a bankrupt, under the +designation of a vintner.-E. + +(540) George James Williams, Esq. son of the eminent lawyer, +William Peere Williams.-E. + + + +233 Letter 120 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, Jan. 7, 1755. + +I imagined by your letter the Colonel was in town, and was +shocked at not having been to wait on him; upon inquiry, I find +he is not; and now, can conceive how he came to tell you, that +the town has been entertained with a paper of mine; I send it +you, to show you that this is one of the many fabulous +histories which have been spread in such quantities, and +without foundation. + +I shall take care of your letter to Mr. Bentley. Mr. Chute is +at the Vine, or I know he would, as I do, beg his compliments +to Miss Montagu. You do not wish me joy on the approaching +nuptials of Mr. Harris and our Miss Anne. He is so amorous, +that whenever he sits by her, (and he cannot stand by her,) my +Lady Townshend, by a very happy expression, says, "he is always +setting his dress." Have you heard of a Countess Chamfelt, a +Bohemian, rich and hideous, who is arrived here, and is under +the protection of Lady Caroline Petersham @ She has a great +facility at languages, and has already learned, "D--n you, and +kiss me;" I beg her pardon, I believe she never uses the +former, but upon the miscarriage of the latter: in short, as +Doddington says, she has had the honour of performing at most +courts in Europe. Adieu! + + + +234 letter 121 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Arlington Street, Jan. 9, 1755. + +I used to say that one could not go out of London for two days +without finding at one's return that something very +extraordinary had happened; but of late the climate had lost +its propensity to odd accidents. Madness be praised, we are a +little restored to the want of our senses! I have been twice +this Christmas at Strawberry Hill for a few days, and at each +return have been not a little surprised: the last time, at the +very unexpected death of Lord Albemarle,(541) who was taken +ill at Paris, going home from supper, and expired in a few +hours; and last week at the far more extraordinary death of +Montford.(542) He himself, with all his judgment in bets, I +think would have betted any man in England against himself for +self-murder: yet after having been supposed the sharpest +genius of his time, he, by all that appears, shot himself on +the distress of his circumstances; an apoplectic disposition I +believe concurring, either to lower his spirits, or to alarm +them. Ever since Miss * * * * lived with him, either from +liking her himself, as some think, or to tempt her to marry +his lilliputian figure, he has squandered vast sums at Horse- +heath, and in living. He lost twelve hundred a-year by Lord +Albemarle's death, and four by Lord Gage's, the same day. He +asked immediately for the government of Virginia or the +Foxhounds, and pressed for an answer with an eagerness that +surprised the Duke of Newcastle, who never had a notion of +pinning down the relief of his own or any other man's wants to +a day. Yet that seems to have been the case of Montford, who +determined to throw the die of life and death, Tuesday was +Se'nnight, on the answer he was to receive from court; which +did not prove favourable. He consulted indirectly, and at +last pretty directly several people on the easiest method of +finishing life; and seems to have thought that he had been too +explicit; for he invited company to dinner for the day after +his death, and ordered a supper at Whites, where he Supped, +too, the night before. He played at whist till one in the +morning; it was New Year's morning - Lord Robert Bertie drank +to him a happy new year; he clapped his hands strangely to his +eyes! In the morning he had a lawyer and three witnesses, and +executed his will, which he made them read twice over, +paragraph by paragraph: and then asking the lawyer if that +will would stand good, though a man were to shoot himself? and +being assured it would; he said, " Pray stay while I step into +the next room;"=-went into the next room and shot himself. He +clapped the pistol so close to his head, that they heard no +report. The housekeeper heard him fall, and, thinking he had +a fit, ran up with drops, and found his skull and brains shot +about the room You will be charmed with the friendship and +generosity of Sir Francis. Montford a little time since +opened his circumstances to him. Sir Francis said, "Montford, +if it will be of any service to you, you shall see what I have +done for you;" pulled out his will, and read it, where he had +left him a vast legacy. The beauty of this action is +heightened by Sir Francis's life not being worth a year's +purchase. I own I feel for the distress this man must have +felt, before he decided on so desperate an action. I knew him +but little; but he was good-natured and agreeable enough, and +had the most compendious understanding I ever knew. He had +affected a finesse in money matters beyond what he deserved, +and aimed at reducing even natural affections to a kind of +calculations, like Demoivre's. He was asked, soon after his +daughter's marriage, if she was with child: he replied, "upon +my word, I don't know; I have no bet upon it." This and poor +* * * *'s self-murder have brought to light another, which +happening in France, had been sunk; * * * *'s. I can tell you +that the ancient and worshipful company- of lovers are under a +great dilemma, upon a husband and a gamester killing +themselves: I don't know whether they will not apply to +Parliament for an exclusive charter for self-murder. + +On the occasion of Montford's story, I heard another more +extraordinary. If a man insures his life, this killing +himself vacates the bargain; This (as in England almost every +thing begets a contradiction) has produced an office for +insuring in spite of self-murder; but not beyond three hundred +pounds. I suppose voluntary deaths were not the bon-ton. of +people in higher life. A man went and insured his life, +securing this privilege of a free-dying Englishman. He +carried the insurers to dine at a tavern, where they met +several other persons. After dinner he said to the +life--and-death brokers, "Gentlemen, it is fit that you should +be acquainted with the company: these honest men are +tradesmen, to whom I was in debt, without any means of paying, +but by your assistance; and now I am your humble servant!" He +pulled out a pistol and shot himself. Did you ever hear of +such a mixture of honesty and knavery? + +Lord Rochford is to succeed as groom of the stole. The Duke +of Marlborough is privy-seal, in the room of Lord Gower, who +is dead; and the Duke of Rutland is lord steward. Lord +Albemarle's other offices and honours are still in petto. +When the king first saw this Lord Albemarle, he said, "Your +father had a great many good qualities, but he was a sieve!"- +-It is 'the last receiver into which I should have thought his +Majesty would have poured gold! You will be pleased with the +monarch's politesse. Sir John Bland and Offley made interest +to play at Twelfth-night, and succeeded--not at play, for they +lost 1400 pounds and 1300 pounds. As it is not usual for +people of no higher rank to play, the King thought they would +be bashful about it, and took particular care to do the +honours of his house to them, set only to them, and spoke to +them at his levee next morning. + +You love new nostrums and ]Inventions: there is discovered a +method of inoculating the cattle for the distemper-it succeeds +so well that they are not even marked. How we advance rapidly +in discoveries, and in applying every thing to every thing! +Here is another secret, that will better answer your purpose, +and I hope mine too. They found out lately at the Duke of +Argyle's, that any kind of ink may be made of privet: it +becomes green ink by mixing salt of tartar. I don't know the +process; but I am promised it by Campbell, who told me of it +t'other day, when I carried him the true genealogy of the +Bentleys, which he assured me shall be inserted in the next +edition of the Biographia. + +There sets out to-morrow morning, by the Southampton wagon, +such a cargo of trees for you, that a detachment of Kentishmen +would be furnished against an invasion if they were to unroll +the bundle. I write to Mr. S * * * * to recommend great care +of them. Observe how I answer your demands: are you as +punctual? The forests in your landscapes do not thrive like +those in' your letters. Here is a letter from G. Montagu; and +then I think I may bid you good-night! + +(541) In his "Memoires," Vol. i. p. 366, Walpole says, "He +died suddenly at Paris, where his mistress had sold him to the +French court." A writer in the Quarterly Review, Vol Ixii. p. +5, states that what he here asserts was generally believed in +Paris; for that, in the "M`emoires Secrets," published in +continuation of Bachaumont's Journal, it is said, on occasion +of the Count d'Herouville's death in 1782, that " he had been +talked of for the ministry under Louis XV. and would probably +have obtained it, had it not been for 'son mariage trop +in`egal. Il avait `epous`e la fameuse Lolotte maitresse du +Comte d'Albemarle, l'ambassadeur d'Angleterre, laquelle +servait d'espion au minist`ere de France aupr`es de son amant, +et a touch`e en cons`equence jusqu'`a sa mort une pension de +la cour de 12,000 livres.' But if the French court purchased, +as he reports, and as is sufficiently probable, instructions +of our ambassador, they could have learned from them nothing +to facilitate their own schemes of aggression--nothing but +what they knew before; for the policy of England, defective as +it might be on other points, had this great and paramount +advantage,-that it was open, honest, and straightforward."-E. + +(542) Henry Bromley, created Lord Montford of Horse-heath, in +1741. He married Frances, daughter of Thomas Wyndham, Esq. +and sister and heiress of Sir Francis Wyndham, of Trent, in +the county of Somerset.-E. + + + +236 Letter 122 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Jan. 9, 1755. + +I had an intention of deferring writing to you, my dear Sir, +till I could wish you joy on the completion of your +approaching dignity:(543) but as the Duke of Newcastle is not +quite so expeditious as my friendship is earnest; and as your +brother tells me that you have had some very unnecessary +qualms, from your silence to me on this chapter, I can no +longer avoid telling you how pleased I am with any accession +of distinction to you and your family; I should like nothing +better but an accession of appointments: but I shall say no +more on this head, where wishes are so barren as mine. Your +brother, who had not time to write by this post, desires me to +tell you that the Duke will be obliged to you, if you will +send him the new map of Rome and of the patrimony of St. +Peter, which his Royal Highness says is just published. + +You will have heard long before you receive this, of Lord +Albemarle's(544) sudden death at Paris: every body is so sorry +for him!--without being so: yet as sorry as he would have been +for any body, or as he deserved. Can one really regret a man, +who, with the most meritorious wife(545) and sons(546) in the +world, and with near 15,000 pounds a year from the government, +leaves not a shilling to his family, lawful or illegitimate, +(and both very numerous,) but dies immensely in debt, though, +when he married, he had 90,000 pounds, in the funds, and my +Lady Albemarle brought him 25,000 pounds more, all which is +dissipated to 14,000 pounds! The King very handsomely, and +tired with having done so much for a man who had so little +pretensions to it, immediately gave my Lady Albemarle 1200 +pounds a year pension, and I trust will take care of this +Lord, who is a great friend of mine, and what is much better +for him, the first favourite of the Duke. If I were as grave +an historian as my Lord Clarendon, I should now without any +scruple tell you a dream; you would either believe it from my +dignity of character, or conclude from my dignity of character +that I did not believe it myself. As neither of these +important evasions will serve my turn, I shall relate the +following, only prefacing, that I do believe the dream +happened, and happened right among the millions of dreams that +do not hit. Lord Bury was at Windsor with the Duke when the +express of his father's death arrived: he came to town time +enough to find his mother and sisters at breakfast. "Lord! +child," said my Lady Albemarle, "what brings you to town so +early?" He said he had been sent for. Says she "You are not +well!" "Yes," replied Lord Bury, "I am, but a little +flustered with something I have heard." "Let me feel your +pulse," said Lady Albemarle: "Oh!" continued she, "your father +is dead!" "Lord Madam," said Lord Bury, "how could that come +into your head? I should rather have imagined that you would +have thought it was my poor brother William" (who is just gone +to Lisbon for his health). "No," said my Lady Albemarle, "I +know it is your father; I dreamed last night that he was dead, +and came to take leave of me!" and immediately swooned. + +Lord Albemarle's places are not yet given away: ambassador at +Paris, I suppose, there will be none; it was merely kept up to +gratify him-besides, when we have no minister we can deliver +no memorials. Lord Rochford is, I quite believe, to be groom +of the stole: that leaves your Turin open--besides such +trifles as a blue garter, the second troop of Guards, and the +government of Virginia. + +A death much more extraordinary is that of my Lord Mountford, +who, having all his life aimed at the character of a moneyed +man, and of an artfully money-getting man, has shot himself, +on having ruined himself. If he had despised money, he could +not have shot himself with more deliberate resolution. The +Only points he seems to have considered in so mad an action, +were, not to be thought mad, and which would be the easiest +method of despatching Himself. It is strange that the passage +from life to death should be an object, when One is unhappy +enough to be determined to change one for the other. + +I warned you in my last not to wonder if you should hear that +either Mr. Pitt or Mr. Fox had kissed hands for secretary of +state; the latter has kissed the secretary of State's hand for +being a cabinet councillor.(547) The more I see, the more I +am confirmed in my idea of this being the age of abortions. + +I have received yours of December 13th, and find myself +obliged to my Lord of Cork for a remembrance of me, which I +could not expect he should have preserved. Lord Huntingdon I +know very well, and like very much: he has parts, great good +breeding, and will certainly make a figure. You are lucky in +such company; yet I wish you had Mr. Brand! + +I need not desire you not to believe the stories of such a +mountebank as Taylor:(548) I only wonder that he should think +the names of our family a recommendation at Rome; we are not +conscious of any such merit: nor have any Of our eyes ever +wanted to be put out. Adieu! my dear Sir, my dear Sir Horace. + +(543) Mr. Mann was on the ]5th of February created a baronet, +with a reversion to his brother Galfridus.-E. + +(544) For an interesting account of this magnificent +spendthrift, see M`emoires de Marmontel.-D. + +(545) Lady Anne Lenox, sister of Charles Duke of Richmond. + +(546) George Lord Viscount Bury, lord of the bedchamber to the +Duke, and colonel of a regiment; Augustus, captain of a +man-of-war, who was with Lord Anson in his famous expedition; +and William, colonel of the Guards, and aide-de-camp to the +Duke,; the two other sons were very young. + +(547) "I proposed an interview between Fox and the Duke of +Newcastle, which produced the following agreement-that Fox +should be called up to the cabinet council; that employments +should be given to some of his friends, who were not yet +provided for; and that others, who had places already, should +be removed to bigger stations. Fox, during the whole +negotiation, behaved like a man of sense and a man of honour; +very frank, very explicit, and not very unreasonable." +Waldegrave's Memoirs.-E. + +(548) A quack oculist. [Generally called the Chevalier Taylor. He +published his travels in 1762; in which he styled himself +"Ophthalmiator Pontifical, Imperial, Royal," etc.] + + + +238 Letter 123 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Arlington Street, Feb. 8, 1755. + +My dear sir, +By the wagon on Thursday there set out for Southampton a lady +whom you must call Phillis, but whom George Montagu and the +Gods would name Speckle-belly. Peter begged her for me; that +is, for you; that is, for Captain Dumaresque, after he had +been asked three guineas for another. I hope she will not be +poisoned with salt-water, like the poor Poyangers.(549) If +she should, you will at least observe, that your commissions +are not stillborn with me, as mine are with you. I draw(550) +a spotted dog, the moment you desire it. + +George Montagu has intercepted the description I promised you +of the Russian masquerade: he wrote to beg it, and I cannot +transcribe from myself. In a few words, there were all the +beauties, and all the diamonds, and not a few of the uglies of +London. The Duke,(551) like Osman the Third, seemed in the +centre of his new seraglio, and I believe my lady and I +thought that my Lord Anson was the chief eunuch. My Lady +Coventry was dressed in a great style, and looked better than +ever. Lady Betty Spencer, like Rubens's wife (not the common +one with the hat), had all the bloom and bashfulness and +wildness of youth, with all the countenance of all the former +Marlboroughs. Lord Delawar was an excellent mask, from a +picture at Kensington of Queen Elizabeth's porter. Lady +Caroline Petersham, powdered with diamonds and crescents for a +Turkish slave, was still extremely handsome. The hazard was +excessively deep, to the astonishment of some Frenchmen of +quality who are here, and who I believe, from what they saw +that night, will not write to their court to dissuade their +armaments, on its not being worth their while to attack so +beggarly a nation. Our fleet is as little despicable; but +though the preparations on both sides are so great, I believe +the storm will blow over. They insist on our immediately +sending an ambassador to Paris; and to my great satisfaction, +my cousin and friend Lord Hertford is to be the man. This is +still an entire secret here, but will be known before you +receive this. The weather is very bitter, and keeps me from +Strawberry. Adieu! + +(549) Mr. Walpole having called his gold-fish pond Poyang, +calls the gold-fish Poyangers. + +(550) Alluding to Mr. Bentley's dilatoriness in exercising his +pencil at the request of Mr. Walpole. + +(551) William Duke of Cumberland. + + + +239 Letter 124 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Arlington Street, Feb. 23, 1755. + +My dear sir, +Your argosie is arrived safe; thank you for shells, trees, +cones; but above all, thank you for the landscape. As it is +your first attempt in oils, and has succeeded so much beyond +my expectation, (and being against my advice too, you may +believe the sincerity of my praises,) I must indulge my +Vasarihood, and write a dissertation upon it. You have united +and mellowed your colours, in a manner to make it look like an +old picture; yet there is something in the tone of it that is +not quite right. Mr. Chute thinks that you should have +exerted more of your force in tipping with light the edges on +which the sun breaks: my own opinion is, that the result of +the whole is not natural, by your having joined a Claude +Lorrain summer sky to a winter sea, which you have drawn from +the life. The water breaks fine] but the distant hills are +too strong, and the outlines much too hard ..The greatest +fault is the trees (not apt to be your stumbling-block): they +are not of a natural green, have no particular resemblance, +and are out of all proportion too large for the figures. Mend +these errors, and work away in oil. I am impatient to see +some Gothic ruins of your painting. This leads me naturally +to thank you for the sweet little cul-de-lampe to the entail +it is equal to any thing you have done in perspective and for +taste but the boy is too large. + +For the block of granite I shall certainly think a louis well +bestowed--provided I do but get the block, and that you are +sure it will be equal to the sample you sent me. My room +remains in want of a table; and as it will take so much time +to polish it, I do wish you would be a little expeditious in +sending it. + +I have but frippery news to tell you; no politics; for the +rudiments of a war, that is not to be a war, are not worth +detailing. In short, we have acted with spirit, have +got ready thirty ships of the line, and conclude that the +French will not care to examine whether they are well manned +or not. The House of Commons hears nothing but elections; the +Oxfordshire till seven at night three times a week: we have +passed ten evenings on the Colchester election, and last +Monday sat upon it till near two in the morning. Whoever +stands a contested election, and pays for his seat, and +attends the first session, surely buys the other six very +dear! + +The great event is the catastrophe of Sir John Bland(552) who +has flirted away his whole fortune at hazard. He t'other +night exceeded what was lost by the late Duke of Bedford, +having at one period of the night (though he recovered the +greatest part of it) lost two-and-thirty thousand pounds. The +citizens put on their double-channeled pumps and trudge to St. +James's Street, in expectation of seeing judgments executed on +White's--angels with flaming swords, and devils flying away +with dice-boxes, like the prints in Sadeler's Hermits. Sir +John lost this immense sum to a Captain * @ * * *, who at +present has nothing but a few debts and his commission. + +Garrick has produced a detestable English opera, which is +crowded by all true lovers of their country. To mark the +opposition to Italian operas, it is sung by some cast singers, +two Italians, and a French girl, and the chapel boys; and to +regale us with sense, it is Shakspeare's Midsummer Night's +Dream, which is forty times more nonsensical than the worst +translation of any Italian opera-books. But such sense and +such harmony are irresistible! + +I am at present confined with a cold, which I caught by going +to a fire in the middle of the night, and in the middle of the +snow, two days ago. About five in the morning Harry waked me +with a candle in his hand, and cried, "Pray, your honour, +don't be frightened!"--"No, Harry, I am not: but what is it +that I am not to be frightened at?" --"There is a great fire +here in St. James's Street."--I rose, and indeed thought all +St. James's Street was on fire, but it proved in Bury Street. +However, you know I can't resist going to a fire; for it Is +certainly the only horrid sight that is fine. I slipped on my +slippers, and an embroidered suit that hung on the chair, and +ran to Bury Street, and stepped into a pipe that was broken up +for water.--It would have made a picture--the horror of the +flames, the snow, the day breaking with difficulty through so +foul a night, and my figure, party per pale, mud and gold. It +put me in mind of Lady Margaret Herbert's providence, who +asked somebody for a pretty pattern for a nightcap. "Lord!" +said they, "what signifies the pattern for a nightcap?" "Oh! +child," said she, "but you know, in case of fire." There were +two houses burnt, and a poor maid; an officer jumped out of +window, and is much hurt, and two young beauties were conveyed +out the same way in their shifts. there have been two more +great fires. Alderman Belchier's house at Epsom, that +belonged to the Prince, is burnt, and Beckford's fine +house(553) in the country, with pictures and furniture to a +great value. He says, "Oh! I have an odd fifty thousand +pounds in a drawer: I will build it up again: it won't be +above a thousand pounds apiece difference to my thirty +children." Adieu! + +(552) Who shot himself at Kippax Park.-E. + +(553) At Fonthill, in Wiltshire. The loss was computed at +thirty thousand pounds.-E. + + + +241 letter 125 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Arlington Street, March 6, 1755. + +My dear sir, +I have to thank you for two letters and a picture. I hope my +thanks will have a more prosperous journey than my own letters +have had of late. You say you have received none since +January 9th. I have written three since that. I take care, +in conjunction with the times, to make them harmless enough +for the post. Whatever secrets I may have (and you know I +have no propensity to mystery) will keep very well till I have +the happiness of seeing you, though that date should be +farther off than I hope. As I mean my letters should relieve +some of your anxious or dull minutes, I will tempt no +postmasters or secretaries to retard them. The state of +affairs is much altered since my last epistle that persuaded +you of the distance of a war. So haughty and so ravenous an +answer came from France, that my Lord Hertford does not go. +As a little islander, you may be very easy: Jersey is not prey +for such fleets as are likely to encounter in the channel in +April. You must tremble in your Bigendian capacity, if you +mean to figure as a good citizen. I sympathize with you +extremely in the interruption it will give to our +correspondence. You, in an inactive little spot, cannot wish +more impatiently for every post that has the probability of a +letter, than I, in all the turbulence of London, do +constantly, never-failingly, for letters from you. Yet by my +busy, hurried, amused, irregular way of life, you would not +imagine that I had much time to care for my friends@ You know +how late I used to rise: it is worse and worse: I stay late at +debates and committees; for, with all our tranquillity and my +indifference, I think I am never out of the House of Commons: +from thence, it is the fashion of the winter to go to vast +assemblies, which are followed by vast suppers, and those by +balls. Last week I was from two at noon till ten at night at +the House: I came home, dined, new-dressed myself entirely, +went to a ball at Lord Holderness's, and stayed till five in +the morning. What an abominable young creature! But why may +not I be so! Old Haslang(554) dances at sixty-five; my Lady +Rochford without stays, and her husband the new groom of the +stole, dance. In short, when secretaries of state, cabinet +councillors, foreign ministers, dance like the universal +ballet in the Rehearsal, why should not I--see them? In +short, the true definition of me is, that I am a dancing +senator--Not that I do dance, or do any thing by being a +senator: but I go to balls, and to the House of Commons-to +look on: and you will believe me when I tell you, that I +really think the former the more serious occupation of the +two; at least the performers are most in earnest. What men +say to women, is at least as sincere as what they say to their +country. If perjury can give the devil a right to the souls +of men, he has titles by as many ways as my Lord Huntingdon is +descended from Edward the Third. + +(554) Count de Haslang, many years minister from Bavaria to +the British court.-E. + + + +242 Letter 126 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, March 10, 1755. + +having already wished you joy of your chivalry, I would not +send you a formal congratulation on the actual despatch of +your patent: I had nothing new to tell you: forms between you +and me would be new indeed. + +You have heard of the nomination of my friend and relation, +Lord Hertford,(555) to the embassy of Paris: you will by this +time have learned or perceived, that he is not likely to go +thither. They have sent demands too haughty to be admitted, +and we are preparing a fleet to tell them we think so. In +short, the prospect is very warlike. The ministry are so +desirous of avoiding it, that they make no preparations on +land--will that prevent it?--Their partisans d-n the +plantations, and ask if we are to involve ourselves in a war +for them? Will that question weigh with planters and West +Indians? I do not love to put our trust in a fleet only: +however, we do not touch upon the Pretender; the late +rebellion suppressed is a comfortable ingredient, at least, in +a new war. You know I call this the age of abortions: who +knows but the egg of this war may be addled? + +Elections, very warm in their progress, very insignificant in +their consequence, very tedious in their attendance, employ +the Parliament solely. The King wants to go abroad, and +consequently to have the Houses prorogued: the Oxfordshire +election says no to him: the war says no to him: the town say +we shall sit till June. Balls, masquerades, and diversions +don't trouble their heads about the Parliament or the war: the +righteous, who hate pleasures and love prophecies, (the most +unpleasant things in the world, except their completion,) are +finding out parallels between London and Nineveh, and other +goodly cities of old, who went to operas and ridottos when the +French were at their gates--yet, if Arlington Street were ten +times more like to the most fashionable street in Tyre or +Sidon, it should not alarm me: I took all my fears out in the +rebellion: I was frightened enough then; I will never have +another panic. I would not indeed be so pedantic as to sit in +St. James's market in an armed chair to receive the French, +because the Roman consuls received the Gauls in the forum. +They shall be in Southwark before I pack up a single +miniature. + +The Duke of Dorset goes no more to Ireland: Lord Hartington is +to be sent thither with the olive branch. Lord Rochford is +groom of the stole; Lord Poulet has resigned the bedchamber on +that preference, and my nephew and Lord Essex are to be lords +of the bedchamber. It is supposed that the Duke of Rutland +will be master of the horse, and the Dorset again lord +steward. But all this will come to you as very antique news, +if a whisper that your brother has heard to-day be true, of +your having taken a trip to Rome. If you are there when you +receive this, pray make my Lady Pomfret's(556) compliments to +the statues in the Capitol, and inform them that she has +purchased her late lord's collection of statues, and presented +them to the University of Oxford. The present Earl, her son, +is grown a speaker in the House of Lords, and makes +comparisons between Julius Caesar and the watchmen of Bristol, +in the same style as he compared himself to Cerberus, who, +when he had one head cut off three others sprang up in its +room. I shall go to-morrow to Dr. Mead's sale, and ruin +myself in bronzes and vases--but I will not give them to the +University of Oxford. Adieu! my dear Sir Knight. + +(555) Francis Seymour Conway, Earl of Hertford; his mother was +sister to Lady Walpole. + +(556) Henrietta Louisa, Countess-dowager of pomfret, having +quarrelled with her eldest son, who was ruined and forced to +sell the furniture of his seat at Easton Neston, bought his +statues, which had been part of the Arundelian collection, and +had been purchased by his grandfather. + + + +243 Letter 127 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Arlington Street, March 27, 1755. + +Your chimney(557) is come, but not to honour: the caryatides +are fine and free, but the rest is heavy: Lord Strafford is +not at all struck with it, and thinks it old-fashioned: it +certainly tastes of Inigo Jones. + +Your myrtles I have seen in their pots, and they are +magnificent, but I fear very sickly. In return, I send you a +library. You will receive, some time or other, or the French +for you, the following books: a fourth volume of Dodsley's +Collection Of Poems, the worst tome of the four; three volumes +of Worlds; Fielding's Travels, or rather an account how his +dropsy was treated and teased by an inn-keeper's wife in the +Isle of Wight; the new Letters of Madame de S`evign`e, and +Hume's History of Great Britain; a book which, though more +decried than ever book was, and certainly with faults, I +cannot help liking much. It is called Jacobite, but in my +opinion is only not George-abite: where others abuse the +Stuarts, he laughs at them: I am sure he does not spare their +ministers. Harding,(558) who has the History of England at +the ends of his parliament fingers, says, that the Journals +will contradict most of his facts. If it is so, I am sorry; +for his style, which is the best we have in history, and his +manner imitated from Voltaire, are very pleasing. He has +showed very clearly that we ought to quarrel originally with +Queen Elizabeth's tyranny for most of the errors of Charles +the First. As long as he is Willing to sacrifice some royal +head, I would not much dispute with him which it should be. I +incline every day to lenity, as I see more and more that it is +being very partial to think worse of some men than of others. +If I was a king myself, I dare say I should cease to love a +republic. My Lady Rochford desired me t'other day to give her +a motto for a ruby ring, which had been given by a handsome +woman of quality to a fine man; he gave it to his mistress, +she to Lord * * * * *, he to my lady: who, I think, does not +deny that it has not yet finished its travels. I excused +myself for some time, on the difficulty of reducing such a +history to a poesy--at last I proposed this: + +"This was given by woman to man, and by man to woman." + +Are you most impatient to hear of a French war, or the event +of the Mitchell election? If the former is uppermost in your +thoughts, I can tell you, you are very unfashionable.' The +Whigs and Tories at Rome, Athens, and Jerusalem never forgot +national points with more zeal, to attend to private faction, +than we have lately. After triumphs repeated in the +committee, Lord Sandwich and Mr. Fox were beaten largely on +the report. It was a most extraordinary day! The Tories, who +could not trust one another for two hours, had their last +consult at the Horn Tavern just before the report, and all but +nine or ten voted in a body (with the Duke of Newcastle) +against agreeing to it: then Sir John Philipps, one of them, +moved for a void election, but was deserted by most of his +clan. We now begin to turn our hands to foreign war. In the +rebellion, the ministry was so unsettled that nobody seemed to +care who was king. Power is now so established that I must do +the engrossers the justice to say, that they seem to be +determined that their own King shall continue so. Our fleet +is great and well manned; we are raising men and money, and +messages have been sent to both houses from St. James's, which +have been answered by very zealous cards. In the mean time, +sturdy mandates are arrived from France; however with a +codicil of moderation, and power to Mirepoix still to treat. +He was told briskly "Your terms must come speedily; the fleets +will sail very quickly; war cannot then be avoided." + +I have passed five entire days lately at Dr. Mead's sale, +where, however, I bought very little: as extravagantly as he +paid for every thing, his name has even resold them with +interest. Lord Rockingham gave two hundred and thirty guineas +for the Antinous--the dearest bust that, I believe, was ever +sold; yet the nose and chin were repaired and very ill. Lord +Exeter bought the Homer for one hundred and thirty. I must +tell you a piece of fortune: I supped the first night of the +sale at Bedford-house, and found my Lord Gower dealing at +silver pharaoh to the women. "Oh!" said I laughing, "I laid +out six-and-twenty pounds this morning, I will try if I can +win it back," and threw a shilling upon a card: in five +minutes I won a five-hundred leva, which was twenty-five +pounds eleven shillings. I have formerly won a thousand leva, +and at another five hundred leva. With such luck, shall not I +be able to win you back again? + +Last Wednesday I gave a feast in form to the Hertfords. There +was the Duke of Grafton, Lord and Lady Hertford, Mr. Conway, +and Lady Ailesbury; in short, all the Conways in the world, my +Lord Orford, and the Churchills. We dined in the drawing-room +below stairs, amidst the Eagle, Vespasian, etc. You never saw +so Roman a banquet; but withal my virt`u, the bridegroom +seemed the most venerable piece of antiquity. Good night! The +books go to Southampton on Monday. Yours ever. + +(557) A design for a chimney-piece, which, at Mr. Walpole's +desire, Mr. Bentley had made for Lord Strafford. + +(558) Nicholas Harding, Esq. clerk of the House of Commons.-E. + + + +245 Letter 128 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, April 13, 1755. + +If I did not think that you would expect to hear often from me +at so critical a season, I should certainly not write to you +to-night: I am here alone, out of spirits, and not well. In +short, I have depended too much upon my constitution being +like + +"Grass, that escapes the scythe by being low" + +and having nothing of the oak in the sturdiness of my stature, +I imagined that my mortality would remain pliant as long as I +pleased. But I have taken so little care of myself this +winter, and kept such bad hours, that I have brought a slow +fever upon my nights, and am worn to a skeleton: Bethel has +plump cheeks to mine. However, as it would be unpleasant to +die just at the beginning of a war, I am taking exercise and +air, and much sleep, and intend to see Troy taken. The +prospect thickens; there are certainly above twelve thousand +men at the Isle of Rh`e; some say twenty thousand. An express +was yesterday despatched to Ireland, where it is supposed the +storm will burst; but unless our fleet can disappoint the +embarkation, I don't see what service the notification can do: +we have quite disgarnished that kingdom of troops; and if they +once land, ten thousand men may walk from one end of the +island to the other. It begins to be thought that the King +will not go abroad; that he cannot, every body has long +thought. You will be entertained with a prophecy which my +Lord Chesterfield has found in the 35th chapter of Ezekiel, +which clearly promises us victory over the French, and +expressly relates to this war, as it mentions the two +countries (Nova Scotia and Acadia) which are the point in +dispute. You will have no difficulty in allowing that +mounseer, is typical enough of France: except Cyrus, who is +the only heathen prince mentioned by his right name, and that +before he had any name, I know no power so expressly +described. + +"2. Son of man, set thy face against Mount Seir, and prophecy +against it. 3. And say unto it, Thus saith the Lord God: O +Mount Seir, I am against thee; and I will stretch out mine +hand against thee, and I will make thee most desolate. 4. I +will lay thy cities waste, and thou shalt be desolate, etc. +10. Because thou hast said, These two nations and these two +countries shall be mine, and we will possess it." + +I am disposed to put great trust in this prediction; for I +know few things more in our favour. You will ask me +naturally, what is to become of you? Are you to be left to all +the chance of war, the uncertainty of packets, the difficulty +of remittance, the increase of prices?--My dear sir, do you +take me for a prime minister, who acquaints the states that +they are in damned danger, when it is about a day too late? Or +shall I order my chancellor to assure you, that this is +numerically the very day on which it is fit to give such +notification, and that a day sooner or a day later would be +improper?-- But not to trifle politically with you, your +redemption is nearer than you think for, though not complete: +the terms a little depend upon yourself. You must send me an +account, strictly and upon your honour, what your debts are: +as there is no possibility for the present but of compounding +them, I put my friendship upon it, that you answer me +sincerely. Should you, upon the hopes of facilitating your +return, not deal ingenuously with me, which I will not +suspect, it would occasion what I hope will never happen. +Some overtures are going to be made to Miss * * * *, to ward +off impediments from her. In short, though I cannot explain +any of the means, your fortune wears another face; and if you +send me immediately, upon your honour, a faithful account of +what I ask, no time will be lost to labour your return, which +I wish so much, and of which I have said so little lately, as +I have had better hopes of it. Don't joke with me upon this +head, as you sometimes do: be explicit, be open in the most +unbounded manner, and deal like a man of sense with a heart +that deserves that you should have no disguises to it. You +know me and my style: when I engage earnestly as I do in this +business, I can't bear not to be treated in my own way. + +Sir Charles Williams is made ambassador to Russia; which +concludes all I know. But at such a period two days may +produce much, and I shall not send away my letter till I am in +town on Tuesday. Good night! + +Thursday, 17th. + +All the officers of the Irish establishment are ordered over +thither immediately: Lord Hartington has offered to go +directly,(559) and sets out with Mr. Conway this day +se'nnight. The journey to Hanover is positive: what if there +should be a crossing-over and figuring-in of kings? I know +who don't think all this very serious; so that, if you have a +mind to be in great spirits, you may quote Lord Hertford. He +went to visit the Duchess of Bedford t'other morning, just +after Lord Anson had been there and told her his opinion. She +asked Lord Hertford what news? He knew none. "Don't you hear +there will be certainly war?" "No, Madam: I saw Mr. Nugent +yesterday, and he did not tell me any thing of it." She +replied, "I have Just seen a man who must know, and who thinks +it unavoidable." "Nay, Madam, perhaps it may: I don't think a +little war would do us any harm." Just as if he had said, +losing a little blood in spring is very wholesome; or that a +little hissing would not do the Mingotti any harm! + +I went t'other morning to see the sale of Mr. Pelham's plate, +with George Selwyn--"Lord!" says he, "how many toads have been +eaten off those plates!" Adieu! I flatter myself that this +will be a comfortable letter to you: but I must repeat, that I +expect a very serious answer, and very sober resolutions. If +I treat you like a child, consider you have been so. I know I +am in the right--more delicacy would appear kinder, without +being so kind. As I wish and intend to restore and establish +your happiness, I shall go thoroughly to work. You don't want +an apothecary, but a surgeon--but I shall give you over at +once, if you are either froward or relapse. Yours till then. + +(559) As viceroy. + + + +247 Letter 129 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, April 22, 1755. + +My dear sir, +Your brother and Mr. Chute have just left me in the design of +writing to you; that is, I promised your brother I would, if I +could make out a letter. I have waited these ten days, +expecting to be able to send you a war at least, if not an +invasion. For so long, we have been persuaded that an attempt +would be made on Ireland; we have fetched almost all the +troops from thence; and therefore we have just now ordered all +the officers thither, and the new Lord Lieutenant is going to +see if he has any government left: the old Lord Lieutenant +goes on Sunday to see whether he has any Electorate left. +Your brother says, he hears to-day that the French fleet are +sailed for America: I doubt it; and that the New-Englanders +have been forming a secret expedition, and by this time have +taken Cape Breton again, or something very considerable. I +remember when the former account came of that conquest, I was +stopped in my chariot, and told, "Cape Breton is taken." I +thought the person said "Great Britain is taken." "Oh!" said +I, "I am not at all surprised at that; drive on, coachman." +If you should hear that the Pretender and the Pretend@e have +crossed over and figured in, shall you be much more surprised? + +Mr. Chute and I have been motto-hunting(560) for you, but we +have had no sport. The sentence that puns the best upon your +name, and suits the best with your nature, is too old, too +common, and belongs already to the Talbots, Humani nihil +alienum. The motto that punning upon your name suits best +with your public character, is the most heterogeneous to your +private, Homo Homini Lupus--forgive my puns, I hate them; but +it shows how I have been puzzled, and how little I have +succeeded. If I could pity Stosch, it would be for the edict +by which Richcourt incorporates his collection-but when he is +too worthless to be pitied living, can one feel for a hardship +that is not to happen to him till he is dead? How ready 1 +should be to quarrel with the Count for such a law, if I was +driving to Louis,(561) at the Palazzo Vecchio! + +Adieu! my dear child; I am sensible that this is a very scrap +of a letter; but unless the Kings of England and France will +take more care to supply our correspondence, and not be so +dilatory, is it my fault that I am so concise? Sure, if they +knew how much postage they lost, by not supplying us with +materials for letters, they would not mind flinging away eight +or ten thousand men every fortnight. + +(560) It was necessary for him to have a motto to his arms, as +a baronet. + +(561) Louis Siriez, a French goldsmith at Florence, who sold +curiosities, and lodged in the old palace at Florence. + + + +248 Letter 130 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Arlington Street, April 24, 1755. + +I don't doubt but you will conclude that this letter, written +so soon after my last, comes to notify a great sea-victory, or +defeat; or that the French are landed in Ireland, and have +taken and fortified Cork; that they have been joined by all +the wild Irish, who have proclaimed the Pretender, and are +charmed with the prospect of being governed by a true +descendant of the Mac-na-O's; or that the King of Prussia, +like an unnatural nephew, has seized his uncle and Schutz in a +post-chaise, and obliged them to hear the rehearsal of a +French opera of his own composing--No such thing! If you will +be guessing, you will guess wrong--all I mean to tell you is, +that thirteen gold fish, caparisoned in coats of mail, as rich +as if Mademoiselle Scuderi had invented their armour, embarked +last Friday on a secret expedition; which, as Mr. Weekes(562) +and the wisest politicians of Twickenham concluded, was +designed against the island of Jersey-but to their consummate +mortification, Captain Chevalier is detained by a law-suit, +and the poor Chinese adventurers are + now frying under deck below bridge. In short, if your +governor is to have any gold fish, you must come and manage +their transport yourself. Did you receive my last letter? If +you did, you will not think it impossible that you should +preside at such an embarkation. + +The war is quite gone out of fashion, and seems adjourned to +America: though I am disappointed, I am not surprised. You +know my despair about this eventless age! How pleasant to have +lived in times when one could have been sure every week of +being able to write such a paragraph as this!--"We hear that +the Christians who were on their voyage for the recovery of +the Holy Land, have been massacred in Cyprus by the natives, +who were provoked at a rape and murder committed in a church +by some young noblemen belonging to the Nuncio"--; or-- +"Private letters from Rome attribute the death of his Holiness +to poison, which they pretend was given to him in the +sacrament, by the Cardinal of St. Cecilia, whose mistress he +had debauched. The same letters add, that this Cardinal +stands the fairest for succeeding to the Papal tiara; though a +natural son of the late Pope is supported by the whole +interest of Arragon and Naples." Well! since neither the Pope +nor the most Christian King, will play the devil, I must +condescend to tell you flippancies of less dignity. There is +a young Frenchman here, called Monsieur Herault. Lady +Harrington carried him and his governor to sup with her and +Miss Ashe at a tavern t'other night. I have long said that the +French were relapsed into barbarity, and quite ignorant of the +world. You shall judge: in the first place, the young man was +bashful: in the next, the governor, so ignorant as not to have +heard of women of fashion carrying men to a tavern, thought it +incumbent upon him to do the honours for his pupil, who was as +modest and as much in a state of nature as the ladies +themselves, and hazarded some familiarities with Lady +Harrington. The consequence was, that the next morning she +sent a card-to both, to desire they would not come to her ball +that evening, to which she had invited them, and to beg the +favour of them never to come into her house again. Adieu! I +am prodigal of my letters, as I hope not to write you many +more. + +(562) A carpenter at Twickenham, employed by Mr. Walpole. + + + +250 Letter 131 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, May 4, as they call it, but the weather andthe +almanack of my feelings affirm it is December. + +I will answer your questions as well as I can, though I must +do it shortly, for I write in a sort of hurry. Osborn could +not find Lord Cutts,(563) but I have discovered another, in an +auction, for which I shall bid for you. Mr. Muntz has been at +Strawberry these three weeks, tight at work, so your picture +is little advanced, but as soon as he returns it shall be +finished. I have chosen the marbles for your tomb; but you +told me you had agreed on the price, which your steward now +says I was to settle. Mr. Bentley still waits the conclusion +of the session, before he can come amongst us again. Every +thing has passed with great secrecy: one would think the devil +was afraid of being tried for his life, for he has not even +directed Madame Bentley to the Old Bailey. Mr. Mann does not +mend, but how should he in such weather? + +We wait with impatience for news from Minorca. there is a +Prince of Nassau Welbourg, who wants to marry Princess +Caroline of Orange; he is well-looking enough, but a little +too tame to cope with such blood. He is established at the +Duke of Richmond's, with a large train, for two months. He +was last night at a great ball at my Lady Townshend's, whose +Audrey will certainly get Lord George Lenox.(564) George +Selwyn, t'other night, seeing Lady Euston with Lady Petersham, +said, "There's my Lady Euston, and my Lady us'd to't." Adieu! + +(563) Sir John, created Lord Cutts of Gowran in 1690, +distinguished himself at the siege of Buda: he accompanied +King William to England, was made a lieutenant-general, and +died without issue in 1707. Sir Richard Steele dedicated to +him his "Christian Hero." Lord Cutts married Mr. Montagu's +grandmother; he was her third husband.-E. + +(564) Lord George Lenox married Lady Louisa Ker, daughter of +the Marquis of Lothian. Audrey married Captain Orme.-E. + + + +250 Letter 132 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Arlington Street, May 6, 1755. + +My dear sir, +Do you get my letters'! or do I write only for the +entertainment of the clerks of the post-office? I have not +heard from you this month! It will be very unlucky if my last +to you has miscarried, as it required an answer, of importance +to you, and very necessary to my satisfaction. + +I told you of Lord Poulet's intended motion. He then +repented, and wrote to my Lady Yarmouth and Mr. Fox to mediate +his pardon. Not contented with his reception, he determined +to renew his intention. Sir Cordell Firebrace(565) took it +up, and intended to move the same address in the Commons, but +was prevented by a sudden adjournment. However, the last day +but one of the session, Lord Poulet read his motion, which was +a speech. My Lord Chesterfield (who of all men living seemed +to have no business to defend the Duke of Newcastle after much +the same sort of ill usage) said the motion was improper, and +moved to adjourn.(566) T'other Earl said, "Then pray, my +Lords, what is to become of my motion?" The House burst out +a-laughing: he divided it, but was single. He then advertised +his papers as lost. Legge, in his punning style, said, "My +Lord Poulet has had a stroke of an apoplexy; he has lost both +his speech and motion." It is now printed; but not having +succeeded in prose, he is turned poet--you may guess how good! + +The Duke(567) is at the head of the Regency-you may guess if +we are afraid! -Both fleets are sailed. The night the King +went, there was a magnificent ball and supper at Bedford +House. The Duke was there: he was playing at hazard with a +great heap of gold before him; somebody said, he looked like +the prodigal son and the fatted calf both. In the dessert was +a model of Walton Bridge in glass. Yesterday I gave a great +breakfast at Strawberry Hill to the Bedford court. There were +the Duke and Duchess, Lord Tavistock and Lady Caroline, my +Lord and Lady Gower, Lady Caroline Egerton, Lady Betty +Waldegrave, Lady Mary Coke, Mrs. Pitt,(568) Mr. Churchill and +Lady Mary, Mr. Bap. Leveson,(569) and Colonel Sebright. The +first thing I asked Harry was, "Does the sun shine?" It did; +and Strawberry was all gold, and all green. I am not apt to +think people really like it, that is, understand it--, but I +think the flattery of yesterday was sincere; I judge by the +notice the Duchess took of your drawings. Oh! how you will +think the shades of Strawberry extended! Do you observe the +tone of satisfaction with which I say this, as thinking it +near? Mrs. Pitt brought her French horns: we placed them in +the corner of the wood, and it was delightful. Poyang has +great custom: I have lately given Count Perron some gold fish, +which he has carried in his post-chaise to Turin: he has +already carried some before. The Russian minister has asked +me for some too, but I doubt their succeeding there; unless, +according to the universality of my system, every thing is to +be found out at last, and practised every where. + +I have got a new book that will divert you, called Anecdotes +Litteraires: it is a collection of stories and bons-mots of +all the French writers; but so many of their bons-mots are +impertinences, follies, and vanities, that I have blotted out +the title, and written Mis`eres des S`cavants. It is a +triumph for the ignorant. Gray says, very justly, that +learning never should be encouraged, it only draws out fools +from their obscurity; and you know I have always thought a +running footman as meritorious a being as a learned man. Why +is there more merit in having travelled one's eyes over so +many reams of paper than in having carried one's legs over so +many acres of ground? Adieu, my dear Sir! Pray don't be taken +prisoner to France, just when you are expected at Strawberry! + +(565) Member for the county of Suffolk. He died in 1759.-E. + +(566) "It was," writes Lord Chesterfield to Mr. Dayrolles, on +the 2d of May, "an indecent, ungenerous, and malignant +question, which I had no mind should either be put or debated, +well knowing the absurd and improper things that would be said +both for and against it, and therefore I moved for the House +to adjourn. As you will imagine that this was agreeable to +the King, it is supposed that I did it to make my court, and +people are impatient to see what great employment I am to +have; for that I am to have one, they do not in the least +doubt, not having any notion that any man can take any step +without some view of dirty interest. I do not undeceive them. +I have nothing to fear; I have nothing to ask; and there is +nothing that I can or will have."-E. + +(567) The Duke of Cumberland. + +(568) Wife@, of George Pitt of Strathfieldsaye, and daughter +of Sir Henry Atkins.-E. + +(569) The Honourable Baptist Leveson, youngest son of the +first Lord Gower. + + + +252 Letter 133 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, May 13, 1755. + +It is very satisfactory to me, to hear that Miss Montagu was +pleased with the day she passed at Strawberry Hill; but does +not it silently reproach you, who will never see it but in +winter? Does she not assure you that there are leaves, and +flowers, and verdure? And why will you not believe that with +those additions it might look pretty, and might make you some +small amends for a day or two purloined from Greatworth? I +wish you would visit it when in its beauty, and while it is +mine! You will not, I flatter Myself, like it so well when it +belongs to the Intendant of Twickenham, when a cockle-shell +walk is made across the lawn, and every thing without doors is +made regular, and every thing riant and modern;--for this must +be its fate! Whether its next master is already on board the +Brest fleet, I do not pretend to say; but I scarce think it +worth my while to dispose of it' by my will, as I have some +apprehensions of living to see it granted away de par le Roy. +My lady Hervey dined there yesterday with the Rochfords. I +told her, that as she is just going to France, I was unwilling +to let her see it, for if she should like it, she would desire +Mademoiselle with whom she lives, to beg it for her. Adieu! + + + +252 Letter 134 +To George Montagu, Esq. +May 19. + +It is on the stroke of eleven, and I have but time to tell +you, that the King of Prussia has gained the greatest +victory(570) that ever was, except the Archangel Michael's- +-King Frederick has only demolished the dragoness. He +attacked her army in a strong camp on the 6th; suffered in the +beginning of the action much, but took it, with all the tents, +baggage, etc. etc two hundred and fifty pieces of cannon, six +thousand prisoners, and they say, Prague since. The Austrians +have not stopped yet; if you see any man scamper by your house +you may venture to lay hold on him, though he should be a +Pandour. Marshal Schwerin was killed. Good night! + +(570) On the banks of the Moldaw near Prague. + + + +253 Letter 135 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, June 10, 1755. + +Mr. Muntz(571) is arrived. I am sorry I can by no means give +any commendation to the hasty step you took about him. Ten +guineas were a great deal too much to advance to him, and must +raise expectations in him that will not at all answer. You +have entered into no written engagement with him, nor even +sent me his receipt for the money. My good Sir, is this the +sample you give me of the prudence and providence you have +learned? I don't love to enter into the particulars of my own +affairs; I will only tell you in one word, that they require +great management. My endeavours are all employed to serve +you; don't, I beg, give me reasons to apprehend that they will +be thrown away. It is much in obscurity, whether I shall be +able to accomplish your re-establishment; but I shall go on +with great discouragement, if I cannot promise myself that you +will be a very different person after your return. I shall +never have it in my power to do twice what I am now doing for +you; and I choose to say the worst beforehand, rather than to +reprove you for indolence and thoughtlessness hereafter, when +it may be too late. Excuse my being so serious, but I find it +is necessary. + +You are not displeased with me, I know, even when I pout: you +see I am not quite in good-humour with you, and I don't +disguise it; but I have done scolding you for this time. +Indeed, I might as well continue it; for I have nothing else +to talk of but Strawberry, and of that subject you must be +well wearied. I believe she alluded to my disposition to +pout, rather than meant to compliment me, when my Lady +Townshend said to somebody t'other day, who told her how well +Mrs. Leneve was, and in spirits, "Oh! she must be in spirits: +why, she lives with Mr. Walpole, who is spirit of hartshorn!" + + +Princess Emily has been here:--Liked it?--Oh no!--I don't +wonder; I never liked St. James'-,. She was so inquisitive +and so curious in prying into the very offices and servants' +rooms, that her Captain Bateman was sensible of it, and begged +Catherine not to mention it. he addressed himself well, if he +hoped to meet with taciturnity! Catherine immediately ran +down to the pond, and whispered to all the reeds, "Lord! that +a princess should be such a gossip!" In short, Strawberry +Hill is the puppet-show of the times. + +I have lately bought two more portraits of personages in +Grammont, Harry Jermyn(572) and Chiffinch:(573) my Arlington +Street is so full of portraits, that I shall scarce find room +for Mr. Muntz's works. + +Wednesday, 11th. + +I was prevented from finishing my letter yesterday, by what do +you think? By no less magnificent a circumstance than a +deluge. We have had an extraordinary drought, no grass, no +leaves. no flowers; not a white rose for the festival of +yesterday! About four arrived such a flood, that we could not +see out of the windows: the whole lawn was a lake, though +situated on so high an Ararat: presently it broke through the +leads, drowned the pretty blue bedchamber, passed through +ceilings and floors into the little parlour, terrified Harry, +and opened all Catherine's water-gates and speech-gates. I +had but just time to collect two dogs, a couple of sheep, a +pair of bantams, and a brace of gold fish; for, in the haste +of my zeal to imitate my ancestor Noah, I forgot that fish +would not easily be drowned. In short, if you chance to spy a +little ark with pinnacles sailing towards Jersey, open the +skylight, and you will find some of your acquaintance. You +never saw such desolation! A pigeon brings word that Mabland +has fared still worse: it never came into my head before, that +a rainbow-office for insuring against water might be very +necessary. This is a true account of the late deluge. +Witness our hands +Horace Noah. +Catherine Noah, her mark. +Harry Shem. +Louis Japhet. +Peter Ham, etc. + +I was going to seal my letter, and thought I should scarce +have any thing more important to tell you than the history of +the flood, when a most extraordinary piece of news indeed +arrived--nothing less than a new gunpowder plot-last Monday +was to be the fatal day. There was a ball at Kew--Vanneschi +and his son, directors of the Opera, two English lords, and +two Scotch lords, are in confinement at Justice Fielding's. +This is exactly all I know of the matter; and this -weighty +intelligence is brought by the waterman from my housemaid in +Arlington Street, who sent Harry word that the town is in an +uproar; and to confirm it, the waterman says he heard the same +thing at Hungerford-stairs. I took the liberty to represent +to Harry, that the ball at Kew was this day se'nnight for the +Prince's birthday; that, as the Duke was at it, I imagined the +Scotch lords would rather have chosen that day for the +execution of their tragedy; that I believe Vanneschi's son was +a child; and that peers are generally confined at the Tower, +not at Justice Fielding's; besides, that we are much nearer to +Kew than Hungerford-stairs are but Harry, who has not at all +recovered the deluge, is extremely disposed to think Vanneschi +very like Guy Fawkes; and is so persuaded that so dreadful a +story could not be invented, that I have been forced to +believe it too: and in the course of our reasoning and +guessing, I told him, that though I could not fix upon all +four, I was persuaded that the late Lord Lovat who was +beheaded must be one of the Scotch peers, and Lord Anson's son +who is not begot, one of the English. I was afraid he would +think I treated so serious a business too ludicrously, if I +had hinted at the scene of distressed friendship that would be +occasioned by Lord Hardwicke's examining his intimate +Vanneschi. Adieu! my dear Sir. Mr. Fox and Lady Caroline, +and Lord and Lady Kildare, are to dine here to-day; and if +they tell Harry or me any more of the plot you shall know it. + +Wednesday night. + +Well, now for the plot: thus much is true. A laundry-maid of +the Duchess of Marlborough, passing by the Cocoa-tree, saw two +gentlemen go in there, one of whom dropped a letter; it was +directed to you. She opened it. It was very obscure, talked +of designs at Kew miscarried, of new methods to be taken; and +as this way of correspondence had been repeated too often, +another must be followed: and it told you that the next letter +to him should be in a band-box at such a house in the +Haymarket. The Duchess concluded it related to a gang of +street-robbers, and sent it to Fielding. He sent to the house +named, and did find a box and a letter, which, though obscure +had treason enough in it. It talked of a design at Kew +miscarried; that the Opera was now the only place, and +consequently the scheme must be deferred till next season, +especially as a Certain person is abroad. For the other great +person (the Duke), they are sure of him at any time. There +was some indirect mention, too, of gunpowder. Vanneschi and +others have been apprehended; but a conclusion was made, that +it was a malicious design against the lord high treasurer of +the Opera and his administration, and so they have been +dismissed. Macnamara,(575) I suppose you Jerseyans know, is +returned with his fleet to Brest, leaving the transports +sailing to America. Lord Thanet and Mr. Stanley are just gone +to Paris, I believe to inquire after the war. + +The weather has been very bad for showing Strawberry to the +Kildares; we have not been able to stir out of doors; but, to +make me amends, I have discovered that Lady Kildare is a true +S`evignist. You know what pleasure I have in any increase of +our sect; I thought she grew handsomer than ever as she talked +with devotion of Notre Dame des Rochers. Adieu! my dear Sir. + +P. S. Tell me if you receive this; for in these gunpowder +times, to be sure, the clerks of the post-office are +peculiarly alert. + +(571) Mr. Walpole had invited Mr. muntz from Jersey, and he +lived for some time at Strawberry Hill. + +(572) Youngest son of Thomas, elder brother of the Earl of St. +Albans. He was created Baron Dover in 1685, and died without +issue in 1708.-E. + +(573) One of Charles the Second's confidential pages.-E. + +(574) The Pretender's birthday. + +(576) The French admiral. + + + +256 Letter 136 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, June 15, 1755. + +My dear sir, +I have received your two letters relating to the +Countess,(577) and wish you joy, since she will establish +herself at Florence, that you are so well with her; but I +could not help smiling at the goodness of your heart and your +zeal for us: the moment she spared us, you gave t`ete baiss`ee +into all her histories against Mr. Shirley: his friends say, +that there was a little slight-of-hand in her securing the +absolute possession of her own fortune; it was very prudent, +at least, if not quite sentimental. You should be at least as +little the dupe of her affection for her son; the only proof +of fondness she has ever given for him, has been expressing +great concern at his wanting taste for Greek and Latin. +Indeed, he has not much encouraged maternal yearnings in her: +I should have thought him shocked at the chronicle of her life +if he ever felt any impressions. But to speak freely to you, +my dear Sir, he is the most particular young man I ever saw. +No man ever felt such a disposition to love another as I did +to love him: I flattered myself that he would restore some +lustre to our house; at least, not let it totally sink; but I +am forced to give him up, and all my Walpole-views. I will +describe him to you, if I can, but don't let it pass your +lips. His figure is charming; he has more of the easy, +genuine air of a man of quality than ever you saw: though he +has a little hesitation in his speech, his address and manner +are the most engaging imaginable: he has a good-breeding and +attention when he is with you that is even flattering; you +think he not only means to please, but designs to do every +thing that shall please you; he promises, offers every thing +one can wish--but this is all; the instant he leaves you, you, +all the world, are nothing to him--he would not give himself +the least trouble in the world to give any body the greatest +satisfaction; yet this is mere indolence of mind, not of +body-his whole pleasure is outrageous exercise. Every thing +he promises to please you, is to cheat the present moment and +hush any complaint-I mean of words; letters he never answers, +not of business, not of his own business: engagements Of no +sort he ever keeps. He is the most selfish man in the world, +without being the least interested: he loves nobody but +himself, yet neglects every view of fortune and ambition. He +has not Only always slighted his mother, but was scarce decent +to his rich old grandmother, when she had not a year to live, +and courted him to receive her favours. You will ask me what +passions he has--none but of parade; he drinks without +inclination-makes love without inclination--games without +attention; is immeasurably obstinate, yet, like obstinate +people, governed as a child. In short, it is impossible not +to love him when one sees him; impossible to esteem him when +one thinks on him! + +Mr. Chute has found you a very pretty motto: it alludes to the +goats in your arms, and not a little to you; per ardua +stabiles. All your friends approve it, and it is actually +engraving. You are not all more in the dark about the war +than we are even here: Macnamara has been returned some time +to Brest with his fleet, having left the transports to be +swallowed up by Boscawen, as we do not doubt but they will be. +Great armaments continue to be making in all the ports of +England and France, and, as we expect next month accounts of +great attempts made by our colonies, we think war unavoidable, +notwithstanding both nations are averse to it. The French +have certainly overshot themselves; we took it upon a higher +style than they expected, or than has been our custom. The +spirit and expedition with which we have equipped so +magnificent a navy has surprised them, and does exceeding +honour to my Lord Anson, who has breathed new life into our +affairs. The minister himself has retained little or none of +his brother's and of his own pusillanimity; and as the +Duke(578) is got into the Regency, you may imagine our +land-spirit will not be unquickened neither. This is our +situation; actual news there is none. All we hear from France +is, that a new-madness reigns there, as strong as that of +Pantins was. This is la fureur des cabriolets; singlic`e, +one-horse chairs, a mode introduced by Mr. Child:(579) they +not only universally go in them, but wear them; that is, every +thing is to be en cabriolet; the men paint them on their +waistcoats, and have them embroidered for clocks to their +stockings; and the women, who have gone all the winter without +any thing on their heads, are now muffled up in great caps +with round sides, in the form of, and scarce less than the +wheels of chaises! Adieu! my dear Sir. + +(577) The Countess of Orford. + +(578) The Duke of Cumberland. + +(579) Josiah Child, brother of the Earl of Tilney. + + + +257 Letter 137 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, July 5, 1755. + +You vex me exceedingly. I beg, if it is not too late, that +you would not send me these two new quarries of granite; I had +rather pay the original price and leave them where they are, +than be encumbered with them. My house is already a +stone-cutter's shop, nor do I know what to do with what I have +got. But this is not what vexes me, but your desiring me to +traffic with Carter, and showing me that you are still open to +any visionary project! Do you think I can turn broker and +factor, and- I don't know what? And at your time of life, do +you expect to make a fortune by becoming a granite-merchant? +There must be great demand for a commodity that costs a guinea +a foot, and a month an inch to polish! You send me no +drawings, for which you know I should thank you infinitely, +and are hunting for every thing that I would thank you for +letting alone. In short, my dear Sir, I am determined never +to be a projector, nor to deal with projects. If you still +pursue them, I must beg you will not only not employ me in +them, but not even let me know that you employ any body else. +If you will not be content with my plain, rational way of +serving you, I can do no better, nor can I joke upon it. I +can combat any difficulties for your service but those of your +own raising. Not to talk any more crossly, and to prevent, if +I can, for the future, any more of these expostulations, I +must tell you plainly, that with regard to my own +circumstances. I generally drive to a penny, and have no +money to spare for visions. I do and am doing all I can for +you; and let me desire you once for all, not to send me any +more persons or things without asking my consent, and stay +till you receive it. I cannot help adding to the chapter of +complaint* * * * + +These, my dear Sir, are the imprudent difficulties you draw me +into, and which almost discourage me from proceeding in your +business. If you anticipate your revenue, even while in +Jersey, and build castles in the air before you have repassed +the sea, can I expect that you will be a better economist +either of your fortune or your prudence here? I beg you will +preserve this letter, ungracious as it is, because I hope it +will serve to prevent my writing any more such. + +Now to Mr. Muntz;-Hitherto he answers all you promised and +vowed for him: he is very modest, humble, and reasonable; and +has seen so much and knows so much, of countries and languages +that I am not likely to be soon tired of him. His drawings +are very pretty: he has done two views of Strawberry that +please me extremely; his landscape and trees are much better +than I expected. His next work is to be a large picture from +your Mr. bland for Mr. Chute, who is much content with him: he +goes to the Vine in a fortnight or three weeks. We came from +thence the day before yesterday. I have drawn up an +inventionary of all I propose he should do there; the +computation goes a little beyond five thousand pounds; but he +does not go half so fast as my impatience demands: he is so +reasonable, and will think of dying, and of the gout, and of +twenty disagreeable things that one must do and have, that he +takes no joy in planting and future views, but distresses all +my rapidity of schemes. last week we were at my sister's at +Chaffont in Buckinghamshire, to see what we could make of it; +but it wants so much of every thing, and would require so much +more than an inventionary of five thousand pounds, that we +decided nothing, except that Mr. Chute has designed the +prettiest house in the world for them. We Went to See the +objects of the neighbourhood, Bolstrode and Latimers. The +former is a melancholy monument of Dutch magnificence: however +there is a brave gallery of old pictures, and a chapel with +two fine windows in modern painted glass. The ceiling was +formerly decorated with the assumption, or rather presumption, +of Chancellor Jeffries, to whom it belonged; but a very +judicious fire hurried him somewhere else; Latimers belongs to +Mrs. Cavendish. I have lived there formerly with Mr. Conway, +but it is much improved since; yet the river stops short at an +hundred yards just under your eye, and the house has undergone +Batty Langley discipline: half the ornaments are of his +bastard Gothic, and half of Hallet's mongrel Chinese. I want +to write over the doors of most modern edifices, "Repaired and +beautified; Langley and Hallet churchwardens." The great +dining-room is hung with the paper of my staircase, but not +shaded properly like mine. I was much more charmed lately at +a visit I made to the Cardigans at Blackheath. Would you +believe that I had never been in Greenwich Park? I never had, +and am transported! Even the glories of Richmond and +Twickenham hide their diminished rays. Yet nothing is equal +to the fashion of this village: Mr. Muntz says we have more +coaches than there are in half France. Mrs. Pritchard has +bought Ragman's Castle, for which my Lord Litchfield could not +agree. We shall be as celebrated as Baiae or Tivoli; and, if +we have not such sonorous names as they boast, we have very +famous people: Clive and Pritchard, actresses; Scott and +Hudson, painters; my Lady Suffolk, famous in her time; Mr. H * +* *, the impudent lawyer, that Tom Hervey wrote against; +Whitehead, the poet--and Cambridge, the every thing. Adieu! +my dear Sir--I know not one syllable of news. + + + +259 Letter 138 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, July 16, 1755. + +Our correspondence will revive: the war is begun. I cannot +refer you to the Gazette, for it is so prudent and so afraid +that Europe should say we began first, (and unless the Gazette +tell, how should Europe know?) that it tells nothing at all. +The case was; Captain Howe and Captain Andrews lay in a great +fog that lasted near fifty hours within speech of three French +ships and within sight of nine more. The commandant asked if +it was war or peace? Howe replied he must wait for his +admiral's signal, but advised the Frenchman to prepare for +war. Immediately Boscawen gave the signal, and Howe attacked. +The French, who lost one hundred and thirty men to our +thirteen, soon struck; we took one large ship, one +inconsiderable, and seven thousand pounds: the third ship +escaped in the fog. Boscawen detained the express ten days in +hopes of more success; but the rest of our new enemies are all +got safe into the river of Louisbourg. This is a great +disappointment! We expect a declaration of war with the first +fair wind. Make the most of your friendship with Count +lorenzi,(580) while you may. + +I have received the cargo of letters and give you many thanks; +but have not seen Mr. Brand; having been in the country while +he was in town. + +Your brother has received and sent you a dozen double prints +of my eagle, which I have had engraved. I could not expect +that any drawing could give you a full idea of the noble +spirit of the head, or of the masterly tumble of the feathers: +but I think Upon the whole the plates are not ill done. Let +me beg Dr. Cocchi to accept one of each plate; the rest, my +dear Sir, you will give away as you please. + +Mr. Chute is such an idle wretch, that you will not wonder I +am his secretary for a commission. At the Vine is the most +heavenly chapel(581) in the world; it only wants a few +pictures to give it a true Catholic air-we are so conscious of +the goodness of our Protestantism, that we do not care how +things look. If you can pick us up a tolerable Last Supper, +or can have one copied tolerably and very cheap, we will say +many a mass for the repose of your headaches. The dimensions +are, three feet eleven inches and three quarters by two feet +eight inches and a half high. Take notice of two essential +ingredients; it must be cheap, and the colouring must b very +light, for it will hang directly under the window. + +I beg YOU Will nurse yourself up to great strength; consider w +what German generals and English commodores you are again +going to have to govern! On my side, not a Pretender + +shall land, nor rebellion be committed, but you shall have +timely notice. Adieu! + +(580) A Florentine, but minister of France to the Great Duke. + +(581) At Mr. Chute's seat of the Vine, in Hampshire, is a +chapel built by Lord Sandys of the Vine, lord chamberlain to +Henry VIII. In the painted glass windows, which were taken at +Boulogne in that reign, are portraits of Francis 1. his Queen, +and sister. + + +260 Letter 139 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, July 17, 1755. + +To be sure, war is a dreadful calamity, etc.! But then it is a +very comfortable commodity for writing letters and writing +history; and as one did not contribute to make it, why there +is no harm in being a little amused with looking on; and if +one can but keep the Pretender on t'other side Derby, and keep +Arlington Street and Strawberry Hill from being carried to +Paris, I know nobody that would do more to promote peace, or +that will bear the want of it, with a better grace than +myself. If I don't send you an actual declaration of war in +this letter, at least you perceive I am the harbinger of it. +An account arrived yesterday morning that Boscawen had missed +the French fleet, who are got into Cape Breton; but two of his +captains(582) attacked three of their squadron and have taken +two, with scarce any loss. This is the third time one of the +French captains has been taken by Boscawen. + +Mr. Conway is arrived from Ireland, where the triumphant party +are what parties in that situation generally are, unreasonable +and presumptuous. They will come into no terms without a +stipulation that the Primate(583) shall not be in the Regency. +This is a bitter pill to digest, but must not it be swallowed? +Have we heads to manage a French war and an Irish civil war +too? + +There are little domestic news. If you insist upon some, why, +I believe I could persuade somebody or other to hang +themselves; but that is scarce an article uncommon enough to +send cross the sea. For example, the rich * * * * whose +brother died of the smallpox a year ago, and left him four +hundred thousand Pounds, had a fit of the gout last week, and +shot himself. I only begin to be afraid that it should grow +as necessary to shoot one's self here, as it is to go into the +army in France. Sir Robert Browne has lost his last daughter, +to whom he could have given eight thousand pounds a-year. +When I tell these riches and n)adnesses to Mr. Muntz, he +stares so, that I sometimes fear he thinks I mean to impose on +him. It is cruel to a person who collects the follies of the +age for the information of posterity to have one's veracity +doubted; it is the truth of them that makes them worth notice. +Charles Townshend marries the great dowager Dalkeith;(583 his +parts and presumption are prodigious. He wanted nothing but +independence to let him loose: I propose great entertainment +from him; and now, perhaps, the times will admit it. There +may be such things again as parties--odd evolutions happen. +The ballad I am going to transcribe for you is a very good +comment on so commonplace a text. My Lord Bath, who was +brought hither by my Lady Hervey's and Billy Bristow's reports +of the charms of the place, has made the following stanzas, to +the old tune which you remember of Rowe's ballad on +Doddington's Mrs. Strawbridge:-- + +"Some talk of Gunnersbury, +For Sion some declare; +And some say that with Chiswick-house +No villa can compare; +But all the beaux of Middlesex, +Who know the country well, +Say, that Strawberry Hill, that Strawberry +Doth bear away the bell. + +Though Surry boasts its Oatlands, +And Claremont kept so jim; +And though they talk of Southcote's, +'Tis but a dainty whim; +For ask the gallant Bristow, +Who does in taste excel, +If Strawberry Hill, if Strawberry +Don't bear away the bell." + +Can there be an odder revolution of things, than that the +printer of the Craftsman(585) should live in a house of mine, +and that the author of the Craftsman should write a panegyric +on a house of mine? + +I dined yesterday at Wanstead many years have passed since I +saw it. The disposition of the house and the prospect are +better than I expected, and very fine: the garden, which they +tell you cost as much as the house, that is, 100,000 pounds +(don't tell Mr. Muntz) is wretched; the furniture fine, but +totally without taste: such continences and incontinences of +Scipio and Alexander by I don't know whom! such flame-coloured +gods and goddesses, by Kent! such family-pieces, by--I believe +the late Earl himself, for they are as ugly as the children he +really begot! The whole great apartment is of oak, finally +carved, unpainted and has a charming effect(586) The present +Earl is the most generous creature in the world: in the first +chamber I entered he offered me four marble tables that lay in +cases about the room: I compounded, after forty refusals of +every thing I commended, to bring away only a haunch of +venison: I believe he has not had so cheap a visit a good +while. I commend myself, as I ought: for, to be sure, there +were twenty ebony chairs, and a couch, and a table, and a +glass, that would have tried the virtue of a philosopher of +double my size! After dinner we dragged a gold-fish pond(587) +for my lady Fitzroy and Lord S@ I could not help telling my +Lord Tilney, that they would certainly burn the poor fish for +the gold, like the old lace. There arrived a Marquis St. +Simon, from Paris, who understands English, and who has seen +your book of designs for Gray's Odes: he was much pleased at +meeting me, to whom the individual cat(588) belonged, and you +may judge whether I was pleased with him. Adieu! my dear Sir. + +(582) The two captains were the Honourable Captain Richard +Howe of the Dunkirk, and Captain Andrews of the Defiance, who, +on the 10th of June, off Cape Race, the southernmost part of +Newfoundland, fell in with three men-of war, part of the +French fleet, Commanded by M. Bois de la Motte; and, after a +very severe engagement of five Hours, succeeded in capturing +the Alcide of sixty-four guns, and the Lys of sixty-four.- E. + +(583) Dr. Stone. + +(584) Eldest daughter and coheiress of the great Duke of +Argyle, and widow of the Earl of Dalkeith.-E. + +(585) Franklin, who occupied the cottage in the enclosure +which Mr. Walpole afterwards called the Flower-garden at +Strawberry Hill. When he bought the ground on which this +tenement stood, he allowed Franklin to continue to occupy it +during his life. + +(586) Arthur Young, in his "Six Weeks' Tour," gives the +following description of Wanstead: "It is one of the noblest +houses in England. The magnificence of having four state bed- +chambers, with complete apartments to them, and the ball-room, +are superior to any thing of the kind in Houghton, Holkham, +Blenheim and Wilton: but each of these houses is superior to +this in other particulars; and, to form a complete, palace, +something must be taken from all."-E. + +(587) Evelyn, who visited Wanstead, March 16, 1682-3, says, "I +went to see Sir Josiah Child's prodigious cost in planting +walnut-trees about his seat, and making fish-ponds many miles +in circuit, in Epping Forest, in a barren spot, as oftentimes +these suddenly moneyed men for the most part. seat themselves. +He, from a merchant's apprentice, and management of the East +India Company's stock, being arrived to an estate ('tis said) +200,000 pounds, and lately married his daughter to the eldest +son of the Duke of Beaufort, late Marquis of Worcester, with +50,000 pounds portional present, and various expectations." + +(588) Walpole's favourite cat Selima, on the death of which, +by falling into a china tub, with gold fishes in it, Gray +wrote an Ode. After the death of the poet, Walpole placed the +china vase on a pedestal at Strawberry Hill, with a few lines +of' the Ode written for its inscription.-E. + + + +263 Letter 140 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, July 17, 1755. + +Having done with building and planting, I have taken to +farming; the first fruits of my proficience in that science I +offer to you, and have taken the liberty to send you a couple +of cheeses. If you will give yourself the trouble to inquire +at Brackley for the coach, which set out this morning you will +receive a box and a roll of paper. The latter does not +contain a cheese, only a receipt for making them. We have +taken so little of the French fleet, that I fear none of it +will come to my share, or I would have sent you part of the +spoils. I have nothing more to send you, but a new ballad, +which my Lord Bath has made on this place; you remember the +old burden of it, and the last lines allude to Billy Bristow's +having fallen in love with it. + +I am a little pleased to send you this, to show you, that in +summer we are a little pretty, though you will never look at +us but in our ugliness. My best compliments to Miss Montagu, +and my service to whatever baronet breakfasts with you, on +negus. Have you heard that poor Lady Browne is so unfortunate +as to have lost her last daughter; and that Mrs. Barnett is so +lucky as to have lost her mother-in-law, and is Baroness Dacre +of the South? I met the great C`u t'other day, and he asked me +if I ever heard from you; that he never did: I told him that I +did not neither; did not I say true? + + + +263 Letter 141 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, July 26, 1755. + +who would not turn farmer, when their very first essay turns +to so good account? Seriously, I am quite pleased with the +success of mystery, and infinitely obliged to you for the kind +things you say about my picture. You must thank Mrs. +Whetenhall, too, for her prepossession about my cheeses: I +fear a real manufacturer of milk at Strawberry Hill would not +have answered quite so well as our old commodities of paint +and copper-plates. + +I am happy for the recovery of Miss Montagu, and the +tranquillity you must feel after so terrible a season of +apprehension. Make my compliments to her, and if you can be +honest on so tender a topic, tell her, that she will always be +in danger, while you shut her up in Northamptonshire, and that +with her delicate constitution she ought to live nearer +friends and help; and I know of no spot so healthy or +convenient for both, as the county of Twicks. + +Charles Townshend is to be married next month: as the lady had +a very bad husband before, she has chosen prudently, and has +settled herself in a family of the best sort of people in the +world, who will think of nothing but making her happy. I +don't know whether the bridegroom won't be afraid of getting +her any more children, lest it should prejudice those she has +already! they are a wonderful set of people for good-natured +considerations! + +You know, to be sure, that Mr. Humberston(589) is dead, and +your neighbouring Brackley likely to return under the dominion +of its old masters. Lady Dysart(590) is dead too. + +Mr. Chute is at the Vine. Your poor Cliquetis is still a +banished man. I have a scheme for bringing him back, but can +get Mrs. Tisiphone into no kind of terms, and without tying +her up from running him into new debts, it is in vain to +recover him. + +I believe the declaration of war has been stopped at the +Custom-house, for one hears nothing of it. You see I am very +paragraphical, and in reality have nothing to say; so good +night! Yours ever. + +(589)Member for Brackley.-E. + +(590) Daughter of the Earl of Granville. + + + +264 Letter 142 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, August 4, 1755, between 11 and 12 at night. + +I came from London to-day, and am just come from supping at +Mrs. Clive's, to write to you by the fireside. We have been +exceedingly troubled for some time with St. Swithin's +diabetes, and have not a dry thread in any walk about us. I +am not apt to complain of this malady, nor do I: it keeps us +green at present, and will make our shades very thick, against +we are fourscore, and fit to enjoy them. I brought with me +your two letters of July 30 and August 1st; a sight I have not +seen a long time! But, my dear Sir, you have been hurt at my +late letters. Do let me say thus much in excuse for myself. +You know how much I value, and what real and great +satisfaction I have in your drawings. Instead of pleasing me +with so little trouble to yourself, do you think it was no +mortification to receive every thing but your drawings? to +find you full of projects, and, I will not say, with some +imprudences? But I have done on this subject--my friendship +will always be the same for you; it will only act with more or +less cheerfulness, as you use your common sense, or your +disposition to chimerical schemes and carelessness. To give +you all the present satisfaction in my power, I will tell you +* * * * * + +I think your good-nature means to reproach me with having +dropped any hint of finding amusement in contemplating a war. +When one would not do any thing to promote it, when one would +do any thing to put a period to it, when one is too +insignificant to contribute to either, I must own I see no +blame in thinking an active age more agreeable to live in, +than a soporific one. But, O my dear Sir, I must adopt your +patriotism-Is not it laudable to be revived with the revival +of British glory? Can I be an indifferent spectator of the +triumphs of my country'? Can I help feeling a tattoo at my +heart, when the Duke of Newcastle makes as great a figure in +history as Burleigh or Godolphin-nay, as Queen Bess herself! +She gained no battles in person; she was only the actuating +genius. You seem to have heard of a proclamation of war, of +which we have not heard; and not to have come to the knowledge +of taking of Beau S`ejour(591) by Colonel Monckton. In short, +the French and we seem to have crossed over and figured in, in +politics.(592) Mirepoix complained grievously that the Duke +of Newcastle had overreached him-but he is to be forgiven in +so good a cause! It is the first person he ever deceived! I +am preparing a new folio for heads of the heroes that are to +bloom in mezzo-tinto from this war. At present my chief study +is West Indian history. You would not think me very +ill-natured if you knew all I feel at the cruelty and villany +of European settlers: but this very morning I found that part +of the purchase of Maryland from the savage proprietors (for +we do not massacre, we are such good Christians as only to +cheat) was a quantity of vermilion and a parcel of Jews-harps! +Indeed, if I pleased, I might have another study; it is my +fault if I am not a commentator and a corrector of the press. +The Marquis de St. Simon, whom I mentioned to you, at a very +first visit proposed to me to look over a translation he had +made of The Tale of a Tub: the proposal was soon followed by a +folio, and a letter of three sides, to press me seriously to +revise it. You shall judge of my scholar's competence. He +translates L'Estrange, Dryden, and others, l'`etrange Dryden, +etc.(593) Then in the description of the tailor as an idol, +and his goose as the symbol; he says in a note, that the goose +means the dove, and is a concealed satire on the Holy Ghost. +It put me in mind of the Dane, who, talking of orders to a +Frenchman, said, "Notre St. Esprit, est un `el`ephant." + +Don't think, because I prefer your drawings to every thing in +the world, that I am such a churl as to refuse Mrs. Bentley's +partridges: I shall thank her very much for them. You must +excuse me If I am vain enough to be so convinced of my own +taste, that all the neglect that has been thrown upon your +designs cannot make me think I have overvalued them. I must +think that the states of Jersey who execute your town-house,- +have much more judgment than all our connoisseurs. When I +every day see Greek, and Roman, and Italian, and Chinese, and +Gothic architecture embroidered and inlaid upon one another, +or called by each other's names, I can't help thinking that +the grace and simplicity and truth of your taste, in whichever +you undertake is real taste. I go farther: I wish you would +know in what you excel, and not be bunting after twenty things +unworthy your genius. If flattery is my turn, believe this to +be so. + +Mr. Muntz is at the Vine, and has been some time. I want to +know more of this history of the German: I do assure you, that +I like both his painting and behaviour; but if any history of +any kind is to accompany him, I shall be most willing to part +with him. However I may divert myself as a spectator of +broils, believe me I am thoroughly sick of having any thing to +do in any. Those in a neighbouring island are likely to +subside-and, contrary to custom, the priest(594) himself is to +be the sacrifice. + +I have contracted a sort of intimacy with Garrick, who is my +neighbour. He affects to study my taste: I lay it all upon +you--he admires you. He is building a grateful temple to +Shakspeare: I offered him this motto: "Quod spiro et placeo, +si placeo tuum est!" Don't be surprised if you should hear of +me as a gentleman come upon the stage next winter for my +diversion. The truth is, I make the most of this acquaintance +to protect my poor neighbour at Clivden--You understand the +conundrum, Clive's den. + +Adieu, my dear Sir! Need I repeat assurances? If I need, +believe that nothing that can tend to your recovery has been +or shall be neglected by me. You may trust me to the utmost +of my power: beyond that, what can I do? Once more, adieu! + +(591) In June, 1755, the French fort of Beau Sejour, in the +Bay of Fundy, surrendered to Colonel Monckton, and two small +forts, Gaspereau and Venango, also capitulated. These were +the first conquests of the British arms in America during that +war. He gave the name of Fort Cumberland to Beau S`ejour.-E. + +(592) This alludes to England and France not being at open +war, though constantly committing aggressions against each +other. The capture of these forts formed the first article Of +complaint against England, in the French declaration of war, +in June, 1756.-E. + +(593) The Marquis de St. Simon did publish, in 1771, a +translation of Pope's Essay on Man.-E. + +(594) The Primate of ireland. + + + +266 Letter 143 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, August 15, 1755. + +My dear sir, +Though I wrote to you so lately, and have certainly nothing +new to tell you, I can't help scribbling a line to YOU +to-night, as I am going to Mr. Rigby's for a week or ten days, +and must thank you first for the three pictures. One of them +charms me, the Mount Orgueil, which is absolutely fine; the +sea, and shadow upon it, are masterly. The other two I don't, +at least won't, take for finished. If you please, Elizabeth +Castle shall be Mr. Muntz's performance: indeed I see nothing +of You in it. I do reconnoitre you in the Hercules and +Nessus; but in both your colours are dirty, carelessly dirty: +in your distant hills you are improved, and not hard. The +figures are too large--I don't mean in the Elizabeth Castle, +for there they are neat; but the centaur, though he dies as +well as Garrick can, is outrageous. Hercules and Deianira are +by no means so: he is sentimental, and she most improperly +sorrowful. However, I am pleased enough to beg you would +continue. As soon as Mr. Muntz returns from the Vine, you +shall have a supply of colours. In the mean time why give up +the good old trade of drawing? Have you no Indian ink, no +soot-water, no snuff, no Coat of onion, no juice of any thing? +If you love me, draw: you would if you knew the real pleasure +you can give me. I have been studying all your drawings; and +next to architecture and trees, I determine that you succeed +in nothing better than animals. Now (as the newspapers say) +the late ingenious Mr. Seymour is dead, I would recommend +horses and greyhounds to you. I should think you capable of a +landscape or two with delicious bits of architecture. I have +known you execute the light of a torch or lanthorn so well, +that if it was called Schalken, a housekeeper at Hampton-court +or Windsor, or a Catherine at Strawberry Hill, would show it, +and say it cost ten thousand pounds. Nay, if I could believe +that you would ever execute any more designs I proposed to +you, I would give you a hint for a picture that struck me +t'other day in P`er`efixe's Life of Henry IV.(595) He says, +the king was often seen lying upon a common straw-bed among +the soldiers, with a piece of brown bread in one hand, and a +bit of charcoal in t'other, to draw an encampment, or town +that he was besieging. If this is not a character and a +picture, I don't know what is. + +I dined to-day at Garrick's: there were the Duke of Grafton, +Lord and Lady Rochford, Lady Holderness, the crooked Mostyn, +and Dabreu the Spanish minister; two regents, of which one is +lord chamberlain, the other groom of the stole; and the wife +of a secretary of state. This is the being sur un assez bon +ton for a player! Don't you want to ask me how I like him? Do +want, and I will tell you. I like her exceedingly; her +behaviour is all sense, and all sweetness too. I don't know +how, he does not improve so fast upon me: there is a great +deal of parts, and vivacity, and variety, but there is a great +deal too of mimicry and burlesque. I am very ungrateful, for +he flatters me abundantly; but unluckily I know it. I was +accustomed to it enough when my father was first minister: on +his fall I lost it all at once: and since that, I have lived +with Mr. Chute, who is all vehemence; with Mr. Fox, who is all +disputation; with Sir Charles Williams, who has no time from +flattering himself; with Gray, who does not hate to find fault +with me; with Mr. Conway, who is all sincerity; and with you +and Mr. Rigby, who have always laughed at me in a good-natured +way. I don't know how, but I think I like all this as well--I +beg his pardon, Mr. Raftor does flatter me; but I should be a +cormorant for praise, if I could swallow it whole as he gives +it me. + +Sir William Yonge, who has been extinct so long is at last +dead and the war, which began with such a flirt of vivacity, +is I think gone to sleep. General Braddock has not yet sent +over to claim the surname of Americanus. But why should I +take pains to show You in how many ways I know nothing?--Why; +I can tell it you in one word--why, Mr. Cambridge knows +nothing!--I wish you good-night! Yours ever. + +(595) Hardouin de P`er`efixe's Histoire du Roi Henri le Grand +appeared in 1661. He is stated, by the editor Of the Biog. +Univ. to be the best historian of that monarch, and the work +has been translated in many languages. He was appointed +preceptor to Louis XIV. in 1644, and Archbishop of Paris in +1622. He died in 1670.-E. + + + +268 Letter 144 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Mistley, August 21, 1755. ' + +I shall laugh at you for taking so seriously what I said to +you about my Lady Orford. Do you think, my dear Sir, that at +this time I can want to learn your zeal for us? or can you +imagine that I did not approve for your own sake your keeping +fair terms with the Countess? If I do not much forget, I even +recommended it to you--but let us talk no more of her; she has +engrossed more paragraphs in our letters than she deserves. + +I promised you a brisk war: we have done our part, but can I +help it, if the French will not declare it?-if they are +backward, and cautious, and timorous; if they are afraid of +provoking too far SO great a power as England, who threatens +the liberties of Europe? I laugh, but how not to laugh at +such a world as this! Do you remember the language of the last +war? What were our apprehensions? Nay, at the conclusion of +the peace, nothing was laid down for a maxim but the +impossibility of our engaging in another war; that our +national debt was at its ne plus ultra; and that on the very +next discussion France must swallow us up! Now we are all +insolent, alert, and triumphant: nay the French talk of +nothing but guarding against our piracies, and travel Europe +to give the alarm against such an overbearing power as we are. +On their coasts they are alarmed--I mean the common people; I +scarce believe they who know any thing, are in real dread of +invasion from us! Whatever be the reason, they don't declare +war: some think they wait for the arrival of their Martinico +fleet. You will ask why we should not attack that too? They +tell one, that if we began hostilities in Europe, Spain would +join the French. Some believe that the latter are not ready: +certain it is, Mirepoix gave them no notice nor suspicion of +our flippancy; and he is rather under a cloud--indeed this has +much undeceived me in one point: I took him for the ostensible +mister; but little thought that they had not some secret agent +of better head, some priest, some Scotch or Irish Papist-or +perhaps some English Protestant, to give them better +intelligence. But don't you begin to be impatient for the +events of all our West Indian expeditions? The Duke,(596) who +is now the soul of the Regency, and who on all hands is +allowed to make a great figure there, is much dissatisfied at +the slowness of General Braddock, who does not march as if he +was at all impatient to be scalped. It is said for him, that +he has had bad guides, that the roads are exceedingly +difficult, and that it was necessary to drag as much artillery +as he does. This is not the first time, as witness in +Hawley,(597) that the Duke has found that brutality did not +necessarily consummate a general. I love to give you an idea +of our characters as they rise upon the stage of history. +Braddock is a very Iroquois in disposition. He had a sister, +who having gamed away all her little fortune at Bath, hanged +herself(598) with a truly English deliberation, leaving only a +note upon the table with those lines "To die is landing on +some silent shore," etc. When Braddock was told of it, he +only said, "Poor Fanny! I always thought she would play till +she would be forced to tuck herself up!"' But a more +ridiculous story of him, and which is recorded in heroics by +Fielding in his Covent-Garden tragedy, was an amorous +discussion he had formerly with a Mrs. Upton, who had kept +him. He had gone the greatest lengths with her pin-money, and +was still craving. One day that he was very pressing, she +pulled out her purse and showed him that she had but twelve or +fourteen shillings left; he twitched it from her, "Let me see +that." Tied up at the other end he found five guineas; he +took them, tossed the empty purse in her face, saying, "Did +you mean to cheat me?" and never went near her more:--now you +are acquainted with General Braddock. + +We have some royal negotiations proceeding in Germany, which +are not likely to give quite so much satisfaction to the +Parliament of next winter, as our French triumphs give to the +City, where nothing is so popular as the Duke of Newcastle. +There is a certain Hessian treaty, said to be eighteen years +long, which is arrived at the Treasury, Legge refused +peremptorily to sign it--you did not expect patriotism from +thence? It will not make him popular: there is not a mob in +England now capable of being the dupe of patriotism; the late +body of that denomination have really so discredited it, that +a minister must go great lengths indeed before the people +would dread him half so much as a patriot! On the contrary, I +believe nothing would make any man so popular, or conciliate +so much affection to his ministry, as to assure the people +that he never had nor ever would pretend to love his country. +Legge has been frowned upon by the Duke of Newcastle ever +since he was made chancellor of the exchequer by him, and +would have been turned out long ago if Sir George Lee would +have accepted the post. I am sorry that just when Tuscany is +at war with Algiers, your countrymen should lie under the +odour of piracy too; it will give Richcourt opportunities of +saying very severe things to you!--Barbarossa our Dey is not +returned yet-we fear he is going to set his grandson(599) up +in a seraglio; and as we have not, among other Mahometan +customs, copied the use of the bowstring for repressing the +luxuriancy of the royal branches, we shall be quite overrun +with young Sultans! Adieu! + +(596) The Duke of Cumberland. + +(597) General Hawley, who behaved with great cruelty and +brutality in the Scotch rebellion, which did not however +Prevent his being beaten by the rebels,-D. + +(598) The story of this unfortunate young lady is told by +Goldsmith, in his amusing Life of Beau Nash, introduced into +the new and @greatly enlarged edition of his "Miscellaneous +Works," published by Mr. Murray, in 1837, in four volumes +octavo. See vol. iii. p. 294. According to the poet, the +lines which were written on one of the panes of the window, +were these:- + +"O Death! thou pleasing end of human wo! +Thou cure for life! thou greatest good below! +Still may'st thou fly the coward and the slave, +And thy soft slumbers only bless the brave."-E. + +(599) The King had a mind to marry the Prince of Wales to a +Princess of Brunswick. + + + +270 Letter 145 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, August 28, 1755. + +My last letter to you could not be got out of England, before +I might have added a melancholy supplement. Accounts of a +total defeat of Braddock, and his forces are arrived from +America; the purport is, that the General having arrived +within a few miles of Fort du Quesne, (I hope you are perfect +in your American geography?) sent an advanced party, under +Lord Gage's brother: they were fired upon, invisibly, as they +entered a wood; Braddock heard guns, and sent another party to +support the former; but the first fell back in confusion on +the second, and the second on the main body. The whole was in +disorder, and it is said, the General himself', though +exceedingly brave, did not retain all the sang froid that was +necessary. The common soldiers in general, fled; the officers +stood heroically and were massacred: our Indians were not +surprised, and behaved gallantly. The General had five horses +shot under him, no bad symptoms of his spirit, and at last was +brought off by two Americans, no English daring, though +Captain Orme,(600) his aid-de-camp, who is wounded too, and +has made some noise here by an affair of gallantry, offered +Sixty guineas to have him conveyed away. We have lost +twenty-six officers, besides many wounded, and ten pieces of +artillery. Braddock lived four days, in great torment.(601) +What makes the rout more shameful is, that instead of a great +pursuit, and a barbarous massacre by the Indians, which is +always to be feared in these rencontres, not a black or white +soul followed our troops, but we had leisure two days +afterwards to fetch off our dead. In short, our American +laurels are strangely blighted! We intended to be in great +alarms for Carolina and Virginia, but the small number of our +enemies had reduced this affair to a panic. We pretend to be +comforted on the French deserting Fort St. John, and on the +hopes we have from two other expeditions which are on foot in +that part of the world-but it is a great drawback on English +heroism I pity you who represent the very flower of British +courage ingrafted on a Brunswick stock! + +I have already given you some account of Braddock; I may +complete the poor man's history in a few more words: he once +had a duel with Colonel Gumley, Lady Bath's(602) brother, who +had been his great friend: as they were going to engage, +Gumley, who had good humour and wit, (Braddock had the +latter,) said "Braddock, you are a poor dog! here take my +purse; if you kill me you will be forced to run away, and then +you will not have a shilling to support you." Braddock refused +the purse, insisted on' the duel, was disarmed, and would not +even ask his life. However, with all his brutality, he has +lately been Governor of Gibraltar, where he made himself +adored, and where scarce any Governor was endured before. +Adieu! Pray don't let any detachment from Pannoni's(603) be +sent against us--we should run away! + +(600) He married the sister of George Lord Townshend, without +the consent of her family. + +(601) Walpole, in his Memoires, says, that "he dictated an +encomium on his officers, and expired."-D. + +(602) Elizabeth Gumley, wife of William Pulteny, Earl of Bath. + +(603) Pannoni's coffeehouse of the Florentine nobility, not +famous for their courage of late. + + + +271 Letter 146 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Arlington Street, August 28, 1755. + +Our piratic laurels, with which the French have so much +reproached us, have been exceedingly pruned! Braddock is +defeated and killed, by a handful of Indians and by the +baseness of his own troops, who sacrificed him and his gallant +officers. Indeed, there is some suspicion that cowardice was +not the motive, but resentment at having been draughted from +Irish regiments. Were such a desertion universal, could one +but commend@it'@ Could one blame men who should refuse to be +knocked on the head for sixpence a day, and for the advantage +and dignity of a few ambitious? But in this case one pities +the brave young @officers, who cannot so easily disfranchise +themselves from the prejudices of glory! Our disappointment +is greater than our loss; six-and-twenty officers are killed, +who, I suppose, have not left a vast many fatherless and +widowless, as an old woman told me to-day with great +tribulation. The ministry have a much more serious affair on +their hands-Lord Lincoln and Lord Anson have had a dreadful +quarrel! Coquus teterrima belli causa! When Lord Mountford +shot himself, Lord Lincoln said, "Well, I am very sorry for +poor Mountford! but it is the part of a wise man to make the +best of every misfortune-I shall now have the best cook in +England." This was uttered before Lord Anson. Joras,(604)-- +who is a man of extreme punctilio, as cooks and officers ought +to be, would not be hired till he knew whether this Lord +Mountford would retain him. When it was decided that he would +not, Lord Lincoln proposed to hire Joras. Anson had already +engaged him. Such a breach of friendship was soon followed by +an expostulation (there was jealousy of the Duke of +Newcastle's favour already under the coals): in short the +nephew earl called the favourite earl such gross names, that +it was well they were ministers! otherwise, as Mincing says, +"I vow, I believe they must have fit." The public, that is +half-a-dozen toad-eaters, have great hopes that the present +unfavourable posture of affairs in America will tend to cement +this breach, and that we shall all unite hand and heart +against the common enemy. + +I returned the night before last from my peregrination. It is +very unlucky for me that no crown of martyrdom is entailed on +zeal for antiquities; I should be a rubric martyr of the first +class. After visiting the new salt-water baths at Harwich, +(which, next to horse-racing, grows the most fashionable +resource for people who want to get out of town, and who love +the country and retirement!) I went to see Orford castle, and +Lord Hertford's at Sudborn. The one is a ruin, and the other +ought to be so. Returning in a one-horse chair over a wild +vast heath, I went out of the road to see the remains of +Buttley Abbey; which however I could not see; for, as the keys +of Orford castle were at Sudborn, so the keys of Buttley were +at Orford! By this time it was night; we lost our way, were in +excessive rain for above two hours, and only found our way to +be overturned into the mire the next morning going into +Ipswich. Since that I went to see an old house built by +Secretary Naunton.(605) His descendant, who is a strange +retired creature, was unwilling to let us see it; but we did, +and little in it worth seeing. The house never was fine, and +is now out of repair; has a bed with ivory pillars and loose +rings, presented to the secretary by some German prince or +German artist; and a small gallery of indifferent portraits, +among which there are scarce any worth notice but of the Earl +of Northumberland, Anna Bullen's lover, and of Sir Antony +Wingfield, who having his hand tucked into his girdle, the +housekeeper told us, had had his fingers cut off by Harry +VIII. But Harry VIII. was not a man pour s'arr`eter `a ces +minuties la! + +While we waited for leave to see the house, I strolled into +the churchyard, and was struck with a little door open into +the chancel, through the arch of which I discovered +cross-legged knights and painted tombs! In short, there are +no less than eight considerable monuments, very perfect, of +Wingfields, Nauntons, and a Sir John Boynet and his wife, as +old as Richard the Second's time. But what charmed me still +more, were two figures of Secretary Naunton's father and +mother in the window in painted glass, near two feet high, and +by far the finest painting on glass I ever saw. His figure, +in a puffed doublet, breeches and bonnet, and cloak of scarlet +and yellow, is absolutely perfect: her shoulder is damaged. +This church, which is scarce bigger than a large chapel, is +very ruinous, though containing such treasures! Besides +these, there are brasses on the pavement, with a succession of +all the wonderful head-dresses which our plain virtuous +grandmothers invented to tempt our rude and simple ancestors.- +-I don't know what our nobles might be, but I am sure that +Milliners three or four hundred years ago must have been more +accomplished in the arts, as Prynne calls them, of crisping, +curling, frizzling, and frouncing, than all the tirewomen of +Babylon, modern Paris, or modern Pall-Mall. Dame Winifred +Boynet, whom I mentioned above, is accoutered with the +coiffure called piked horns, which, if there were any signs in +Lothbury and Eastcheap, must have brushed them about +strangely, as their ladyships rode behind their gentlemen +ushers! Adieu! + +(604) The name of the cook in question. + +(605) Sir Robert Naunton, master of the court of wards. He +wrote Anecdotes of Queen Elizabeth and her favourites. + + + +273 Letter 147 +To The Rev. Henry Etough.(606) +Woolterton, Sept. 10, 1755. + +Dear Etough, +I cannot forbear any longer to acknowledge the many favours +from you lately; your last was the 8th of this month. His +Majesty's speedy arrival among his British subjects is very +desirable and necessary, whatever may be the chief motive for +his making haste. As to Spain, I have from the beginning told +my friends, when they asked, both in town and country, that I +was at all apprehensive that Spain would join with France +against us; for this plain reason, because it could not +possibly be the interest of the Spaniards to do it for should +the views of the French take place in making a line of forts +from the Mississippi to Canada, and of being masters of the +whole of that extent of country, Peru and Mexico, and Florida, +would be in more danger from them than the British settlements +in America. + +Mr. Fowle has made me a visit for a few days, and communicated +to me your two pieces relating to my brother and Lord +Bolingbroke, and I think you do great justice to them both in +their very different and opposite characters; but you will +give me leave to add with respect to Lord Orford, there are +several mistakes and misinformations, of which I am persuaded +I could convince you by conversation, but my observations are +not proper for a letter. Of this more fully when I see you, +but when that will be I can't yet tell. I am ever most +affectionately yours, etc. + +(606) The Rev. Henry Etough, of Pembroke-hall, Cambridge. He +received his education among the Dissenters, and Archbishop +Secker and Dr. 'Birch were among his schoolfellows. Through +the interest of Sir Robert Walpole, he was presented to the +rectory of Therfield, in Hertfordshire; where he died, in his +seventieth year, in August 1757.-E. + + + +273 Letter 148 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, September 18, 1755. + +My dear sir, +After an expectation of six weeks, I have received a letter +from you, dated August 23d. Indeed I did not impute any +neglect to you; I knew it arose from the war; but Mr. S. * * * +* tells me the packets will now be more regular.--Mr. S * * * +tells me!--What, has he been in town, or at Strawberry?--No; +but I have been at Southampton: I was at the Vine; and on the +arrival of a few fine days, the first we have had this summer, +after a deluge, Mr. Chute persuaded me to take a jaunt to +Winchester and Netley Abbey, with the latter of which he is +very justly enchanted. I was disappointed in Winchester: it +is a paltry town, and small: King Charles the Second's house +is the worst thing I ever saw of Sir Christopher Wren, a +mixture of a town-hall and an hospital; not to mention the bad +choice of the situation in such a country; it is all ups that +should be downs. I talk to you as supposing that you never +have been at Winchester, though I suspect you have, for the +entrance of the cathedral is the very idea of that of Mabland. +I like the smugness of the cathedral, and the profusion of the +most beautiful Gothic tombs. That of Cardinal Beaufort is in +a style more free and of more taste than any thing I have seen +of the kind. His figure confirms me in my opinion that I have +struck out the true history of the picture that I bought of +Robinson; and which I take for the marriage of Henry VI. +Besides the monuments of the Saxon Kings, of Lucius, William +Rufus, his brother, etc. there are those of six such great or +considerable men as Beaufort, William of Wickham, him of +Wainfleet, the Bishops Fox and Gardiner, and my Lord Treasurer +Portland.--How much power and ambition under half-a-dozen +stones! I own, I grow to look on tombs as lasting mansions, +instead of observing them for curious pieces of architecture!- +-Going into Southampton, I passed Bevismount, where my Lord +Peterborough + +"Hung his trophies o'er his garden gate;"(607) + +but General Mordaunt was there, and we could not see it. We +walked long by moonlight on the terrace along the beach- +-Guess, if we talked of and wished for you! The town is +crowded; sea-baths are established there too. But how shall I +describe Netley to you? I can only by telling YOU, that it is +the spot in the world for which Mr. Chute and I wish. The +ruins are vast, and retain fragments of beautiful fretted +roofs pendent in the air, With all variety of Gothic patterns +of windows wrapped round and round with ivy-many trees are +sprouted up amongst the walls, and Only want to be increased +with cypresses! A hill rises above the abbey encircled with +wood: the fort, in which we would build a tower for +habitation, remains with two small platforms. This little +castle is buried from the abbey in a wood, in the very centre, +on the edge of the hill: on each side breaks in the view of +the Southampton sea, deep blue, glistering with silver and +vessels; on one side terminated by Southampton, on the other +by Calshot castle; and the Isle of Wight rising above the +opposite hills. In short, they are not the ruins of Netley, +but of Paradise.--OH! the purple abbots, what a spot had they +chosen to slumber in! The scene is so beautifully tranquil, +that they seem only to have retired into the world.(608) + +I know nothing of the war, but that we catch little French +ships like crawfish. They have taken one of ours with +Governor Lyttelton(609) going to South Carolina. He is a very +worthy young man, but so stiffened with Sir George's old +fustian, that I am persuaded he is at this minute in the +citadel of Nantes comparing himself to Regulus. + +Gray has lately been here. He has begun an Ode,(610) which if +he finishes equally, will, I think, inspirit all your drawing +again. It is founded on an old tradition of Edward 1. putting +to death the Welsh bards. Nothing but you, or Salvator Rosa, +and Nicolo Poussin, can paint up to the expressive horror and +dignity of it. Don't think I mean to flatter you; all I would +say is, that now the two latter are dead, you must of +necessity be Gray's painter. In order to keep your talent +alive, I shall next week send you flake white, brushes, oil, +and the enclosed directions from Mr. Muntz, who is still at +the Vine, and whom, for want of you, we labour hard to form. +I shall put up in the parcel two or three prints of my eagle, +which, as you never would draw it, is very moderately +performed; and yet the drawing was much better than the +engraving. I shall send you too a trifling snuff-box, only as +a sample of the new manufacture at Battersea, which is done +with copper-plates. Mr. Chute is at the Vine, where I cannot +say any works go on in proportion to my impatience. I have +left him an inventionary of all I want to have done there; but +I believe it may be bound up with the century of projects of +that foolish Marquis of Worcester, who printed a catalogue of +titles of things which he gave no directions to execute, nor I +believe could.(611) Adieu! + +(607) "Our Gen'rals now, retired to their estate, +Hang their old trophies o'er the garden gate." +Pope, in this couplet, is said to have alluded to the entrance +of Lord Peterborough's lawn at Bevismount.-E. + +(608) Gray, who visited Netley Abbey in the preceding month, +calls it "a most beautiful ruin in as beautiful a +situation."-E. + +(609) william Henry, brother of Sir George, afterwards Lord +Lyttelton. The man-of-war in which he was proceeding to South +Carolina was captured by the French squadron under Count Guay, +and sent into Nantes, but was shortly afterwards restored.-E. + +(610) "The Bard" was commenced this year, but was for some +time left unfinished; but the accident of seeing a blind +Harper (Mr. Parry) perform on a Welsh harp, again put his Ode +in motion, and brought it at last to a conclusion, See Works, +vol. i. p. xxxiii.-E. + +(611) Vol. i. letter 259 to H. S. Conway, Aug. 29, 1748. + + + +275 Letter 149 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway. +Strawberry Hill, Sept. 23, 1755. + +Dear harry, +Never make me excuses for a letter that tells me so many +agreeable things -as your last; that you are got well to +Dublin;(612) that you are all well, and that you have +accommodated all your politics to your satisfaction--and I may +be allowed to say, greatly to your credit 'What could you tell +me that would please me so much When I have indulged a little +my joy for your success and honour, it is natural to consider +the circumstances you have told me; and you will easily excuse +me if I am not quite as much satisfied with the conduct of +your late antagonists, as I with yours. You have +tranquillized a nation, have repaired your master's honour, +and secured the peace of your administration;-but what shall +one say to the Speaker, Mr. Malone and the others? Don't they +confess that they have gone the greatest lengths, and risked +the safety of their country on a mere personal pique? If they +did not contend for profit, like our patriots (and you don't +tell me that they have made any lucrative stipulations), yet +it is plain that their ambition had been wounded, and that +they resented their power being crossed. But I, Who am Whig +to the backbone, indeed in the strictest sense of the word, +feel hurt in a tenderer point, and which you,. who are a +minister, must not allow me: I am offended at their agreeing +to an address that avows such deference for prerogative, and +that is to protest so deeply against having to attack it. +However rebel this may sound at your court, my Gothic spirit +is hurt; I do not love such loyal expressions from a +Parliament. I do not so much consider myself writing to +Dublin castle, as from Strawberry castle, where you know how I +love to enjoy my liberty. I give myself the airs, in my +nutshell, of an old baron, and am tempted almost to say with +an old Earl of Norfolk, who was a very free speaker at least, +if he was not an excellent poet, + +"When I am in my castle of Bungey, +Situate upon the river Waveney, +I ne care for the King of cockney." + +I have been roving about Hampshire, have been at Winchester +and Southampton and twenty places, and have been but one day +in London --consequently know as little news as if I had been +shut up in Bungey castle. Rumours there are of great +bickerings and uneasiness; but I don't believe there will be +any bloodshed of places, except Legge's, which nobody seems +willing to take-I mean as a sinecure. His Majesty of Cockney +is returned exceedingly well, but grown a little out of humour +at finding that we are not so much pleased with all the +Russians and Hessians that he has hired to recover the Ohio. +We are an ungrateful people! Make a great many compliments +for me to my Lady Ailesbury; I own I am in pain about Missy. +As my lady is a little coquette herself, and loves crowds and +admiration, and a court life, it will be very difficult for +her to keep a strict eye upon Missy. The Irish are very +forward and bold:--I say no more but it would hurt you both +extremely to have her marry herself idly and I think my Lord +Chancellor has not extended his matrimonial foresight to +Ireland. However, I have much confidence in Mrs. Elizabeth +Jones:(613) I am sure, when they were here, she would never +let Missy whisper with a boy that was old enough to speak. +Adieu! As the winter advances, and plots thicken, I will write +you letters that shall have a little more in them than this. +In the mean time I am going to Bath, not for my health, you +know I never am ill, but for my amusement. I never was there, +and at present there are several of my acquaintance. The +French academy have chosen my Lord Chesterfield, and he has +written them a letter of thanks. that is the finest +composition in the world - indeed, I was told so by those who +have not seen it; but they would have told me so if they had +seen it, whether it was the finest or the worst; suffices it +to be his! Yours ever. + +(612) mr. Conway was now secretary of state to the Marquis of +Hartington, lord lieutenant of Ireland. + +(613) Miss Conway's nurse. + + + +277 Letter 150 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Sept. 29, 1755. + +It is not that I am perjured for not writing to you oftener, +as I promised; the war is forsworn. We do all we can; we +take, from men-of-war and Domingo-men, down to colliers and +cock-boats, and from California into the very Bay of Calais. +The French have taken but one ship from us, the Blandford, and +that they have restored--but I don't like this drowsy civil +lion; it will put out a talon and give us a cursed scratch +before we are aware. Monsieur de seychelles, who grows into +power, is labouring at their finances and marine: they have +struck off their sous-fermiers, and by a reform in what they +call the King's pleasures, have already saved 1,200,000 pounds +sterling a year. Don't go and imagine that 1,200,000 pounds +was all stink in the gulf of Madame Pompadour, or even in +suppers and hunting; under the word the King's pleasures, they +really comprehended his civil list; and in that light I don't +know why our civil list might not be called another King's +pleasures(614) too, though it is not all entirely squandered. +In short, the single article of coffee for the Mesdames(615) +amounted to 3000 pounds sterling a year--to what must their +rouge have amounted?--but it is high time to tell you of other +wars, than the old story of France and England. You must +know, not in your ministerial capacity, for I suppose that is +directed by such old geographers as Sanson and De Lisle, who +imagined that Herenhausen was a town in Germany, but according +to the latest discoveries, there is such a county in England +as Hanover, which lying very much exposed to the incursions of +the French and Prussians (the latter are certain hussars in +the French army), it has been thought necessary to hire +Russians, and Hessians, and all the troops that lie nearest to +the aforesaid weak part of Great Britain called Hanover, in +order to cover this frontier from any invasion. The +expedience of this measure was obvious; yet many People who +could not get over the prejudice of education, or who having +got over these prejudices have for certain reasons returned to +them, these Ptolemaic geographers Will not be persuaded that +there is any such county in England as Hanover, and not +finding it in their old maps, or having burnt their new ones +in a passion--(Mr. Legge, indeed, tore his at the treasury +board the day that the warrant for the Hessian subsidy came +thither)--they determined that England had no occasion for +these mercenaries. Besides Legge, the Duke of Devonshire, the +Speaker, Sir George Lee, and one MR. William Pitt, a man +formerly remarkable for disputing the new geography, declared +strongly against the system of treaties.(616) Copernicus no +sooner returned from Germany, than the Duke of Newcastle, who +had taken the alarm, frightened him out of his wits. In +short, they found that they should have no Professor to defend +the new system in Parliament. Every body was tried--when +every body had refused, and the Duke of Newcastle was ready to +throw up the cards, he determined to try Fox,(617) who, by the +mediation of Lord Granville, has accepted the seals, is to be +secretary of state, is to have the conduct of the House of +Commons, and is, I think-very soon to be first minister-or +what one has known to happen to some who of very late years +have joined to support a tottering administration, is to be +ruined. Indeed, he seems sensible of the alternative, +professes no cordiality to Duke Trinculo, who is viceroy over +him, but is listing Bedford's, and whoever will list with him, +as fast as he can. One who has been his predecessor in +suffering by such an alliance, my Lord Chesterfield, told him, +"Well, the Duke of Newcastle has turned out every body else, +and now he has turned out himself." Sir Thomas Robinson is to +return to the great wardrobe, with an additional pension on +Ireland of 2000 pounds a year. This is turning a cipher into +figures indeed! Lord Barrington is to be secretary at war. +This change, however, is not to take place till after the +Parliament is met, which is not till the 13th of' next month, +because Mr. Fox is to preside at the Cockpit the night before +the House opens. How Mr. Legge will take his deposition is +not known. He has determined not to resign, but to be turned +out; I should think this would satisfy his scruples, even if +he had made a vow against resigning. + +As England grows turbulent again, Ireland grows calm again. +Mr. Conway, who has gone thither secretary to Lord Hartington, +has with great prudence and skill pacified that kingdom: you +may imagine that I am not a little happy at his acquiring +renown. The Primate is to be the peace-offering. + +If there were any private news, as there are none, I could not +possibly to-day step out of my high historical pantoufles to +tell it you. Adieu! You know I don't dislike to see the Kings +and queens and Knaves of this world shuffled backwards and +forwards; consequently I look on, very well amused, and very +indifferent whatever is trumps! + +(614) Alluding to the King's love of money. + +(615 The daughters of Louis the Fifteenth.-D. + +(616) The following is from Dodington's Diary:-"Sept. 3. Mr. +Pitt told me, that he had painted to the Duke of Newcastle all +the ill Consequences of this system of subsidies in the +strongest light that his imagination could furnish him with: +he had deprecated his Grace not to complete the ruin which the +King had nearly brought upon himself by his journey to +Hanover, which all people should have prevented, even with +their bodies. A King abroad, at this time, without one man +about him that has one English sentiment, and to bring home a +whole set of subsidies! That he was willing to promote the +King's service; but if this was what he was sent for to +promote, few words were best--nothing in the world should +induce him to consent to these subsidies."-E. + +(617) " Fox must again be treated with; for the session of +Parliament approached, and it was become a general maxim, that +the House of Commons had been so much accustomed to have a +minister of its own, they would not any longer be governed by +deputy. Fox insisted on being made secretary of state, much +against the King's inclination, as well as the Duke of +Newcastle's: for though his Majesty preferred Fox to Pitt, he +liked Sir Thomas Robinson better than either of them; for Sir +Thomas did -is he was directed, understood foreign affairs, +and pretended to nothing further. However, Fox carried his +point." Waldegrave's Memoirs, p. 51.-E. + + + +279 Letter 151 +To John Chute, Esq.(618) +Arlington Street, Sept. 29, 1755. + +I should not answer your letter so soon, as you write so +often, if I had not something particular to tell you. Mr. Fox +is to be secretary of state. The history of this event, in +short, is this: George Elector of Hanover, and Thomas King of +England, have been exceedingly alarmed. By some +misapprehension, the Russian and Hessian treaties, the +greatest blessings that were ever calculated for this country, +have been totally, and almost universally disapproved. Mr. +Legge grew conscientious about them; the Speaker, +constitutional; Mr. Pitt, patriot; Sir George Lee. scrupulous; +Lord Egmont, uncertain; the Duke of Devonshire, something that +he meant for some of these; and my uncle, I suppose, frugal-- +how you know. Let a Parliament be ever so ready to vote for +any thing, yet if every body in both Houses is against a +thing, why the Parliament itself can't carry a point against +both Houses. This made such a dilemma, that, after trying +every body else, and being ready to fling up themselves, King +Thomas and his Chancellor offered Mr. Fox the honour of +defending and saving them. He, who is all Christian charity, +and forgiving every body but himself and those who dissuaded +him, for not taking the seals before, consented to undertake +the cause of the treaties, and is to have the management of +the House Of Commons as long as he can keep it. In the mean +time, to give his new friends all the assistance he can, he is +endeavouring to bring the Bedfords to court; and if any other +person in the world hates King Thomas, why Mr. Fox is very +willing to bring them to court too. In the mean time, Mr. +Pitt is scouring his old Hanoverian trumpet and Mr. Legge is +to accompany him with his hurdy-gurdy. + +Mr. Mann did not tell me a word of his intending you a visit. +The reason the Dacres have not been with you is, they have +been at court; and as at present there are as many royal hands +to kiss as a Japanese idol has, it takes some time to slobber +through the whole ceremony. + +I have some thoughts of going to Bath for a week; though I +don't know whether my love for my country, while my country is +in a quandary, may not detain me hereabouts. When Mr. Muntz +has done, you will be so good as to pacquet him up, and send +him to Strawberry. I rather wish you would bring him +yourself; I am impatient for the drawing you announce to me. +A commission has passed the seals, I mean of' secrecy, (for I +don't know whether they must not be stole,) to get you some +swans; and as in this age one ought not to despair of any +thing where robbery is concerned, I have some hopes of +succeeding. If you should want any French ships for your +water, there are great numbers to be had cheap, and small +enough. Adieu! + +618) Now first printed. + + + +280 Letter 152 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Arlington Street, Sept. 30, 1755. + +Solomon says somewhere or other, I think it is in +Castelnuovo's edition--is not there such a one?--that the +infatuation of a nation for a foolish minister is like that of +a lover for an ugly woman: when once he opens his eyes, he +wonders what the devil bewitched him. This is the text to the +present sermon in politics, which I shall not divide under +three heads, but tell you at once, that no minister was ever +nearer the precipice than ours has been. I did tell you, I +believe, that Legge had refused to sign the warrant for the +Hessian subsidy: in short, he heartily resented the quick +coldness that followed his exaltation, waited for an +opportunity of revenge, found this; and, to be sure, no +vengeance ever took speedier strides. All the world revolted +against subsidiary treaties; nobody was left to defend them +but Murray, and he did not care to venture. Offers of +graciousness, of cabinet councillor, or chancellor of the +exchequer, were made to right and left. Dr. Lee was +conscientious; Mr. Pitt might be brought, in compliment to his +Majesty, to digest one--but a system of subsidies--impossible! +In short, the very first ministership was offered to be made +over to my Lord Granville. He begged to be excused--he was not +fit for it. Well, you laugh--all this is fact. At last we +were forced to strike sail to Mr. Fox he is named for +secretary of state, with not only the lead, but the power of +the House of Commons. You ask, in the room of which +secretary? What signifies of which? Why, I think, of Sir +Thomas Robinson, who returns to his wardrobe; and Lord +Barrington comes into the war-office. This is the present +state of things in this grave reasonable island: the union hug +like two cats over a string; the rest are arming for +opposition. But I Will not promise you any more warlike +winters; I remember how soon the campaign of the list was +addled. + +In Ireland, Mr. Conway has pacified all things: the Irish are +to get as drunk as ever to the glorious and immortal memory of +King George, and the prerogative is to be exalted as high as +ever, by being obliged to give up the Primate. There! I think +I have told you volumes: yet I know you will not be content, +you will want to know something of the war, and of America; +but, I assure you, it is not the bon-ton to talk of either +this week. We think not of the former, and of the latter we +should think to very little purpose '. for we have not heard a +syllable more; Braddock's defeat still remains in the +situation of the longest battle that ever was fought with +nobody. Content your English spirit with knowing that there +are very near three thousand French prisoners in England, +taken out of several ships. + + + +281 Letter 153 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, Oct. 7, 1755. + +My dear sir, +Nobody living feels more for you than I do: nobody knows +better either the goodness and tenderness of your heart, or +the real value of the person you have lost.' I cannot flatter +myself that any thing I could say would comfort you under an +affliction so well founded; but I should have set out, and +endeavoured to share your concern, if Mrs. Trevor had not told +me that you were going into Cheshire. I will only say, that +if you think change of place can contribute at all to divert +your melancholy, you know where you would be most welcome; and +whenever you will come to Strawberry Hill, you will, at least, +if you do not find a comforter, find a most sincere friend +that pities your distress, and would do any thing upon earth +to alleviate your misfortune. If you can listen yet to any +advice, let me recommend to you to give up all thoughts of +Greatworth; you will never be able to support life there any +more: let me look out for some little box for you in my +neighbourhood. You can live nowhere where you will be more +beloved; and you will there always have it in your power to +enjoy company Or solitude, as you like. I have long wished to +get you so far back into the world, and now it is become +absolutely necessary for your health and peace. I will say no +more, lest too long a letter should be either troublesome or +make you think it necessary to answer; but do not, till you +find it more agreeable to vent your grief this way than in any +other. I am, my good Sir, with hearty concern and affection, +yours most sincerely. + +(619) His sister, Miss Harriet Montagu. + + + +281 Letter 154 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Arlington Street, Oct. 19, 1755. + +Do you love royal quarrels? You may be served-I know you +don't love an invasion-nay, that even passes my taste; it will +make too much party. In short, the lady dowager Prudence +begins to step a little over the threshold of that discretion +which she has always hitherto so sanctimoniously observed. +She is suspected of strange whims; so strange, as neither to +like more German subsidies or more German matches. A strong +faction, professedly against the treaties,(620) openly against +Mr. Fox, and covertly under the banners of the aforesaid lady +Prudence, arm from all quarters against the opening of the +session. Her ladyship's eldest boy declares violently against +being bewulfenbuttled,(621) a word which I don't pretend to +understand, as it is not in Mr. Johnson's new dictionary. +There! now I have been as enigmatic as ever I have accused you +of being; and hoping you will not be able to expound my German +hieroglyphics, I proceed to tell you in plain English that we +are going to be invaded. I have within this day or two seen +grandees of ten, twenty, and thirty thousand pounds a-year, +who are in a mortal fright; consequently, it would be +impertinent in much less folk to tremble, and accordingly they +don't. At court there is no doubt but an attempt will be made +before Christmas. I find valour is like virtue: impregnable +as they boast themselves, it is discovered that on the first +attack both lie strangely open! They are raising more men, +camps are to be formed in Kent and Sussex, the Duke of +Newcastle is frightened out of his wits, which, though he has +lost so often, you know he always recovers, and as fresh as +ever. Lord Egmont despairs of the commonwealth; and I am +going to fortify my castle of Strawberry, according to an old +charter I should have had for embattling and making a deep +ditch. But here am I laughing when I really ought to cry, +both with my public eye and my private one. I have told you +what I think ought to sluice my public eye; and your private +eye too will moisten, when I tell you that poor Miss Harriet +Montagu is dead. She died about a fortnight ago; but having +nothing else to tell you, I would not send a letter so far +with only such melancholy news-and so, you will say, I stayed +till I could tell still more bad news. The truth is, I have +for some time had two letters of yours to answer: it is three +weeks since I wrote to you, and one begins to doubt whether +one shall ever be to write again. I will hope all my best +hopes; for I have no sort of intention at this time of day of +finishing either as a martyr or a hero. I rather intend to +live and record both those professions, if need be; and I have +no inclination to scuttle barefoot after a Duke of +Wolfenbuttle's army as Philip de Comines says he saw their +graces of Exeter and Somerset trudge after the Duke of +Burgundy's. The invasion, though not much in fashion yet, +begins, like Moses's rod, to swallow other news, both +political and suicidical. Our politics I have sketched out to +you, and can only add, that Mr. Fox's ministry does not as yet +promise to be of long duration. When it was first thought +that he had cot the better of the Duke of Newcastle, Charles +Townshend said admirably, that he was sure the Duchess, like +the old Cavaliers, would make a vow not to shave her beard +till the restoration. + +I can't recollect the least morsel of a fess or chevron of the +Boynets: they did not happen to enter into any extinct +genealogy for whose welfare I interest myself. I sent your +letter to Mr. Chute, who is still under his own vine: Mr. +Muntz is still with him, recovering of a violent fever. +Adieu! If memoirs don't grow too memorable, I think this +season will produce a large crop. + +P. S. I believe I scarce ever mentioned to you last Winter the +follies of the Opera: the impertinences of a great singer were +too old and common a topic. I must mention them now, when +they rise to any improvement in the character Of national +folly. The Mingotti, a noble figure, a great mistress of +music, and a most incomparable actress, surpassed any thing I +ever saw for the extravagance of her humours.(622) She never +sung above one night in three, from a fever upon hot-temper: +and never would act at all when Ricciarelli, the first man, +was to be in dialogue with her.(623) Her fevers grow so high, +that the audience caught them, and hissed her more than once: +she herself once turned and hissed again--Tit pro tat geminat +phoy d'achamiesmeyn--among the treaties which a secretary of +state has negotiated this summer, he has contracted for a +succedaneum to the Mingotti. In short, there is a woman hired +to sing when the other shall be- out of humour! + +Here is a "World" by Lord Chesterfield:(624) the first part is +very pretty, till it runs into witticism. I have marked the +passages I particularly like. + +You would not draw Henry IV. at a siege for me: pray don't +draw Louis XV.(625 + +(620) Lord Chesterfield, in a letter to Mr. Dayrolles, of the +4th of this month, says, "the next which now draws very near, +will, I believe, be a very troublesome one; and I really think +it very doubtful whether the subsidiary treaties with Russia +and Cassel will be carried or not. To be sure, much may be +said against both; but yet I dread the consequences of +rejecting them by Parliament, since they are made."-E. + +(621) This is an allusion to a contemplated marriage between +the Prince of Wales, afterwards George the Third, and a +daughter of the Duke of Brunswick Wolfenbuttle. The following +is Lord Waldegrave's account of this project:--"An event +happened about the middle of the summer, which engaged +Leicester House still deeper in faction than they at first +intended. The Prince of Wales was just entering into his +eighteenth year; and being of a modest, sober disposition, +with a healthy, vigorous constitution, it might reasonably be +supposed that a matrimonial companion might be no unacceptable +amusement. The Duchess of Brunswick Wolfenbuttle, with her +two unmarried daughters, waited on his Majesty at Hanover. +The older, both as to person and understanding, was a most +accomplished Princess: the King was charmed with her cheerful, +modest, and sensible behaviour, and wished to make her his +granddaughter, being too old to make her his wife. I remember +his telling me, with great eagerness, that had he been only +twenty years younger, she would never have been refused by a +Prince of Wales, but should at once have been Queen of +England. Now, whether his Majesty spoke seriously is very +little to the purpose; his grandson's happiness was +undoubtedly his principal object; and he was desirous the +match might be concluded before his own death, that the +Princess of Wales should have no temptation to do a Job for +her relations, by marrying her son to one of the Saxe Gotha +family, who might not have the amiable accomplishments of the +Princess of Wolfenbuttle. The King's intentions, it may +easily be imagined, were not agreeable to the Princess of +Wales. She knew the temper of the Prince her son; that he was +by nature indolent, hated business, but loved a domestic life, +and would make an excellent husband. She knew also that the +young Princess, having merit and understanding equal to her +beauty, must in a short time have the greatest influence over +him. In which circumstances, it may naturally be concluded +that her Royal Highness did every thing in her Power to +prevent the match. The Prince of Wales was taught to +believe that he was to be made a sacrifice merely to gratify the +King's private interest in the electorate of Hanover. The +young Princess was most cruelly misrepresented; many even of +her perfections were aggravated into faults; his Royal +Highness implicitly believing every idle tale and improbable +assertion, till his prejudice against her amounted to aversion +itself." Memoirs, p. 39.-E. + +(622) The following is Dr. Burney's account:--"Upon the +success of Jomelli's 'Andromaca' a damp was thrown by the +indisposition of Mingotti, during which Frasi was called upon +to play her part in that opera; when suspicion arising, that +Mingotti's was a mere dramatic and political cold, the public +was much out of humour, till she resumed her function in +Metastasio's admirable drama of 'Demofoonte,' in which she +acquired more applause, and augmented her theatrical +consequence beyond any period of her performance in +England."-E. + +(623) "Ricciarelli was a neat and pleasing performer, with a +clear, flexible, and silver-toned voice; but so much inferior +to Mingotti, both in singing and acting, that he was never in +very high favour." Burney.-E. + +(624) No. 146, Advice to the Ladies on their return to the +country.-E. + +(625) Alluding to the subject Mr. Walpole had proposed to him +for a picture, in the letter of the 15th of August (letter +143), and to the then expected invasion of' England by Louis +XV. + + + +284 Letter 155 +To John Chute, Esq.(626) +Arlington Street, October 20, 1755. + +You know, my dear Sir, that I do not love to have you taken +unprepared: the last visit I announced to you was of the Lord +Dacre of the South and of the Lady Baroness, his spouse: the +next company you may expect will be composed of the Prince of +Soubise and twelve thousand French; though, as winter is +coming on, they will scarce stay in the country, but hasten to +London. I need not protest to you I believe, that I am +serious, and that an invasion before Christmas will certainly +be attempted; you will believe me at the first word. It is a +little hard, however! they need not envy us General Braddock's +laurels; they were not in such quantity! + +Parliamentary and subsidiary politics are in great ferment. I +could tell you much if I saw you; but I will not while you +stay there--yet, as I am a true friend and not to be changed +by prosperity, I can't neglect offering YOU my services when I +am cens`e to be well with a minister. It is so long since I +was, and I believe so little a while that I shall be so,, (to +be sure, I mean that he will be minister,) that I must faire +valoir my interest, while I have any-in short, shall I get you +one of these new independent companies ?-Hush! don't tell Mr. +Muntz how powerful I am: his warlike spirit will want to +coincide with my ministerial one; and it would be very +inconvenient to the Lords Castlecomers to have him knocked on +the head before he had finished all the strawberries and vines +that we lust after. + +I had a note from Gray, who is still at Stoke; and he desired +I would tell you, that he has continued pretty well. Do come. +Adieu! + +Lottery tickets rise: subsidiary treaties under par--I don't +say, no price. Lord Robert Bertie, with a +company of the Guards, has thrown himself +into Dover castle; don't they sound very war-full? + +(626) Now first printed. + + + +285 Letter 156 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Oct. 27, 1755. + +When the newspapers swarm with our military preparations at +home, with encampments, fire-ships, floating castles at the +mouths of the great rivers, etc. in short, when we expect an +invasion, you would chide, or be disposed to chide me, if I +were quite silent-and yet, what can I tell you more than that +an invasion is threatened? that sixteen thousand men are +about Dunkirk, and that they are assembling great quantities +of flat-bottomed boats! Perhaps they will attempt some +landing; they are certainly full of resentment; they broke the +peace, took our forts and built others on our boundaries; we +did not bear it patiently; we retook two forts, attacked or +have been going to attack others, and have taken vast numbers +of their ships: this is the state of the provocation--what is +more provoking, for once we have not sent twenty or thirty +thousand men to Flanders on whom they might vent their +revenge. Well! then they must come here, and perhaps invite +the Pretender to be of the party; not in a very popular light +for him, to be brought by the French in revenge of a national +war. You will ask me, if we are alarmed? the people not at +all so: a minister or two, who are subject to alarms, are--and +that is no bad circumstances We are as much an island as ever, +and I think a much less exposed one than we have been for many +years. Our fleet is vast; our army at home, and ready, and +two-thirds stronger than when we were threatened in 1744; the +season has been the wettest that ever has been known, +consequently the roads not very invade-able: and there is the +additional little circumstance of the late rebellion defeated; +I believe I may reckon too, Marshal Saxe dead. You see our +situation is not desperate: in short, we escaped in '44, and +when the rebels were at Derby in '45; we must have bad luck +indeed, if we fall now. + +Our Parliament meets in a fortnight; if no French come, our +campaign there will be warm; nay, and uncommon, the opposition +will be chiefly composed of men in place. You know we always +refine; it used to be an imputation on our senators, that they +opposed to get places. They now oppose to get better places! +We are a comical nation (I Speak with all due regard to our +gravity!)-It were a pity we should be destroyed, if it were +only for the sake of posterity; we shall not be half so droll, +if we are either a province to France, or under an absolute +prince of our own. + +I am sorry you are losing my Lord Cork; you must balance the +loss with that of Miss Pitt,(627) who is a dangerous inmate. +You ask me if I have seen Lord Northumberland's Triumph of +Bacchus;(628) I have not: you know I never approved the +thought of those copies and have adjourned my curiosity till +the gallery is thrown open with the first masquerade. Adieu! +my dear Sir. + +(627) Elizabeth Pitt, sister of Lord Chatham@ She had been +maid of honour to Augusta Princess of Wales; then lived openly +with Lord Talbot as his mistress; went to Italy, turned +Catholic, and married; came back, wrote against her brother, +and a trifling pamphlet recommending magazines of corn, and +called herself Clara Villiers Pitt. + +(628) Hugh, Earl and afterwards Duke of Northumberland, +bespoke at a great price five copies of capital pictures in +Italy, by Mentz, Pompeo, Battoni, etc. for his gallery at +Northumberland House. + + + +286 Letter 157 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, October 31, 1755. + +As the invasion is not ready, we are forced to take up with a +victory. An account came yesterday, that General Johnson(629) +had defeated the French near the lake St. Sacrement, had +killed one thousand, and taken the lieutenant-general who +commanded them prisoner! his name is Dieskau, a Saxon, an +esteemed `el`eve of Marshal Saxe. By the printed account, +which I enclose, Johnson showed great generalship and bravery. +As the whole business was done by irregulars, it does not +lessen the faults of Braddock, and the panic of his troops. +If I were so disposed, I could conceive that there are heroes +in the world who are not quite pleased with this extra- +martinette success(630)--but we won't blame those Alexanders, +till they have beaten the French in Kent! You know it will be +time enough to abuse them, when they have done all the service +they can! The other enclosed paper is another World,(631) by +my Lord Chesterfield; not so pretty, I think, as the last; yet +it has merit. While England and France are at war, and Mr. +Fox and Mr. Pitt going to war, his lordship is coolly amusing +himself at picquet at Bath with a Moravian baron, who would be +in prison, if his creditors did not occasionally release him +to play with and cheat my Lord Chesterfield, as the only +chance they have for recovering their- money! + +We expect the Parliament to be thronged., and great +animosities. I will not send you one of the eggs that are +laid; for so many political ones have been addled of late +years, that I believe all the state game-cocks in the world +are impotent. + +I did not doubt but u would be struck with the death of poor +Bland.(632) I, t'other night, at White's, found a very +remarkable entry in our very-very remarkable wager-book: "Lord +Mountford(633) bets Sir John Bland twenty guineas that Nash +outlives Cibbor!" How odd that these two old creatures, +selected for their antiquities, should live to see both their +wagerers put an end to their own lives! Cibber is within a few +days of eighty-four, still hearty, and clear, and well. I +told him I was glad to see him look so well: "Faith," said he, +"it is very well that I look at all!"--I shall thank you for +the Ormer shells and roots; and shall desire your permission +to finish my letter already. As the Parliament is to meet so +soon, you are likely to be overpowered with my despatches.--I +have been thinning my wood of trees and planting them out more +into the field: I am fitting up the old kitchen for a +china-room: I am building a bedchamber for my self over the +old blue-room, in which I intend to die, though not yet; and +some trifles of this kind, which I do not specify to you, +because I intend to reserve a little to be quite new to you. +Adieu! + +(629) In the Following month created Sir William Johnson, +Bart. Parliament was so satisfied with his conduct on this +occasion, that it voted him the sum of 5000 pounds. He +afterwards distinguished himself as a negotiator with the +Indian tribes, and was ultimately chosen colonel of the Six +Nations, and superintendent of Indian affairs for the northern +parts of America. He became well acquainted with the manners +and language of the Indians, and in 1772, sent to the Royal +Society some valuable communications relative to them. He +died in 1774.-E. + +(630) Alluding to the Duke of Cumberland. + +(631) No. 148, On Civility and Good-breeding.-E. + +(632) Sir John Bland, member for Luggershall. The event took +place on the road between Calais and Paris.-E. + +(633) Lord Mountford would have been the winner. Colley +Cibber died in 1757: Beau Nash survived till 1761. A very +entertaining Memoir of the King of Bath will be found in Mr. +Murray's enlarged and elegant edition of Goldsmith's +Miscellaneous Works. It is matter of surprise, that so many +pieces, from the pen of the delightful author of the Vicar of +Wakefield, should have so long remained uncollected.-E. + + + +287 Letter 158 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, Nov. 8, 1755. + +My dear sir, +You oblige me extremely by giving me this commission; and +though I am exceedingly unlike Solomon in every thing else, I +will at least resemble him in remembering you to the Hiram +from whom I obtained my cedars of libanus. He is by men +called Christopher Gray, nurseryman at Fulham. I mention +cedars first, because they are the most beautiful of the +evergreen race, and because they are the dearest; half a +guinea apiece in baskets. The arbutus are scarce a crown +apiece, but they are very beautiful: the lignumvitae I would +not recommend to you; they stink abominably if you touch them, +and never make a handsome tree: The Chinese arborvitae is very +beautiful. I have a small nursery myself, scarce bigger than +one of those pleasant gardens which Solomon describes, and +which if his fair one meant the church, I suppose must have +meant the churchyard. Well, out of this little parsley-bed of +mine, I can furnish you with a few plants, particularly three +Chinese arborvitaes, a dozen of the New England or Lord +Weymouth's pine, which is that beautiful tree that we have so +much admired at the Duke of Argyle's for its clean straight +stem, the lightness of its hairy green, and for being +feathered quite to the ground: they should stand in a moist +soil, and Care must be taken every year to clear away all +plants and trees round them, that they may have free air and +room to expand themselves. Besides these' I shall send you +twelve stone or Italian pine, twelve pinasters, twelve black +spruce firs, two Caroline cherries, thirty evergreen cytisus, +a pretty shrub that grows very fast, and may be cut down as +you please, fifty Spanish brooms, and six acacias, the +genteelest tree of all, but you must take care to plant them +in a first row, and where they will be well sheltered, for the +least wind tears and breaks them to pieces. All these are +ready, whenever you will give me directions, how and where to +send them. They are exceedingly small, as I have but lately +taken to propagate myself; but then they will travel more +safely, will be more sure of living, and will grow faster than +larger. Other sorts Of trees that you must have, are silver +and Scotch firs; Virginia cedars, which should stand forwards +and have nothing touch them; and above all cypresses, which, I +think, are my chief passion; there is nothing So picturesque, +where they Stand two or three in a clump, upon a little +hillock, or rising above low shrubs, and particularly near +buildings. There is another bit of picture, of which I am +fond, and that is a larch or a spruce fir planted behind a +weeping willow, and shooting upwards as the willow depends. I +think for courts about a house, or winter gardens, almond +trees mixed with evergreens, particularly with Scotch firs, +have a pretty effect, before any thing else comes out; whereas +almond trees being generally planted among other trees, and +being in bloom before other trees have leaves, have no ground +to show the beauty of their blossoms. Gray at Fulham sells +cypresses in pots at half a crown apiece; you turn them out of +the pot with all their mould, and they never fall. I think +this is all you mean; if you have anymore garden-questions or +commissions, you know you command my little knowledge. + +I am grieved that you have still any complaints left. +Dissipation, in my opinion, will be the best receipt; and I do +not speak merely for my own sake, when I tell you, how much I +wish to have you keep your resolution of coming to town before +Christmas. I am still more pleased with the promise you make +to Strawberry, which you have never seen in its green coat +since it cut its teeth. I am here all alone, and shall stay +till Tuesday, the day after the birthday. On Thursday begins +our warfare, and if we may believe signs and tokens, our +winter will be warlike-. I mean at home; I have not much +faith in the invasion. Her Royal Highness and His Royal +Highness(634) are likely to come to an open rupture. His +grace of Newcastle, who, I think, has gone under every +nickname, waits, I believe to see to which he will cling. +There have been two Worlds by my Lord Chesterfield lately, +very pretty, the rest very indifferent. + +(634) The Princess Dowager and the Duke of Cumberland. + + + + 289 Letter 159 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway. +Arlington street, Nov. 15, 1755. + +I promised you histories, and there are many people that take +care I should have it in my power to keep my word. To begin +in order, I should tell you that there were 289 members at the +Cockpit meeting, the greatest number ever known there: but Mr. +Pitt, who is too great a general to regard numbers, especially +when there was a probability of no great harmony between the +commanders, did not, however, postpone giving battle. The +engagement was not more decisive than long: we sat till within +a quarter of five in the morning; an uninterrupted serious +debate from before two. Lord Hillsborough moved the address, +and very injudiciously supposed an opposition. Martin, +Legge's secretary, moved to omit in the address the indirect +approbation of the treaties, and the direct assurances of +protection to Hanover. These questions were at length +divided: and against Pitt's inclination, the last, which was +the least unpopular, was first decided by a majority of 311 +against 105. Many then went away; and on the next division +the numbers were 290 to 89. These are the general outlines. +The detail of the speeches, which were very long, and some +extremely fine, it would be impossible to give you in any +compass. On the side of the opposition, (which I must tell +you by the way, though it set out decently, seems extremely +resolved) the speakers (I name them in their order) were: the +3d Colebrook, Martin, Northey, Sir Richard Lyttelton, +Doddington, George Grenville, Sir F. Dashwood, Beckford, Sir +G. Lee, Legge, Potter, Dr. Hay, George Townshend, Lord Egmont, +Pitt, and Admiral Vernon on the other side were, Lord +Hillsborough, Obrien, young Stanhope,(635) Hamilton, Alstone, +Ellis, Lord Barrington, Sir G. Lyttelton, Nugent, Murray, Sir +T. Robinson, my uncle, and Mr. Fox. As short as I can, I will +give you an account of them. Sir Richard, Beckford, Potter, +G. Townshend, the Admiral of course, Martin, Stanhope, and +Ellis, were very bad: Doddington was well, but very acceding: +Dr. Hay by no means answers his reputation; it was easy but +not striking. Lord Egmont was doubting, absurd, and obscure. +Sir G. Lee and Lord Barrington were much disliked; I don't +think so deservedly. Poor Alstone was mad, and spoke ten +times to order. Sir George(636) our friend, was dull and +timid. Legge was the latter. Nugent roared, and Sir Thomas +rumbled. My uncle did justice to himself, and was as wretched +and dirty as his whole behaviour for his coronet has been. +Mr. Fox was extremely fatigued, and did little. Geo. +Grenville's was very fine and much beyond himself, and very +pathetic. The Attorney-general(637) in the same style, and +very artful, was still finer. Then there was a young Mr. +Hamilton,(638) who spoke for the first time, and was at Once +perfection: his speech set, and full of antithesis, but those +antitheses were full of argument: indeed his speech was the +most argumentative of the whole day; and he broke through the +regularity of his own composition, answered other people, and +fell into his own track again with the greatest ease. His +figure is advantageous, his voice strong and clear, his manner +spirited, and the whole with the ease of an established +speaker. You will ask, what could be beyond this? Nothing, +but what was beyond what ever was, and that was Pitt! He spoke +at past one, for an hour and thirty-five minutes: there was +more humour, wit, vivacity, finer language, more boldness, in +short, more astonishing perfections, than even you who are +used to him, can conceive. He was not abusive, yet very +attacking on all sides: he ridiculed my Lord Hillsborough, +crushed poor Sir George, terrified the Attorney, lashed my +Lord Granville, painted my Lord of Newcastle, attacked Mr. +Fox, and even hinted up to the Duke.(639) A few of the Scotch +were in the minority, and most of the Princess's people, not +all: all the Duke of Bedford's in the majority. He himself +spoke in the other House for the address (though professing +incertainty about the treaties themselves), against my Lord +Temple and Lord Halifax, without a division. My Lord Talbot +was neuter; he and I were of a party: my opinion was strongly +with the opposition; I could not vote for the treaties; I +would not vote against Mr. Fox. It is ridiculous perhaps, at +the end of such a debate, to give an account of my own +silence; and as it is of very little consequence what I did, +so it is very unlike me to justify myself. You know how much +I hate professions of integrity; and my pride is generally too +great to care what the generality of people say of me: but +your heart is good enough to make me wish you should think +well of mine. + +You will want to know what is to be the fate of the ministry +in opposition: but that I can't tell you. I don't believe +they have determined what to do, more than oppose, nor that it +is determined what to do with them. Though it is clear that +it is very humiliating to leave them in place, you may +conceive several reasons why it is not eligible to dismiss +them. You know where you are, how easy it is to buy an +opposition who have not places; but tell us what to do with an +opposition that has places? If you say, Turn them out; I +answer, That is not the way to quiet any opposition, or a +ministry so constituted as ours at present. Adieu! + +(635) Son of the Earl of Chesterfield; who upon this occasion +addressed the House for the first time. "His father," says +Dr. Maty, "took infinite pains to prepare him for his first +appearance as a speaker. The young man seems to have +succeeded tolerably well upon the whole, but on account of his +shyness was obliged to stop, and, if I am not mistaken, to +have recourse to his notes. Lord Chesterfield used every +argument in his power to comfort him, and to inspire him with +confidence and courage to make some other attempt; but I have +not heard that Mr. Stanhope ever spoke again in the House."- +E. + +(636) Sir George Lyttelton. + +(637) William Murray, afterwards Lord Mansfield. + +(638) William Gerard Hamilton. It was this speech which, not +being followed, as was naturally expected, by repeated +exhibitions of similar eloquence, acquired for him the name of +single-speech Hamilton. + +(639) The Duke of Cumberland. + + + +291 Letter 160 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Arlington Street, November 16, 1755. + +Never was poor invulnerable Immortality so soon brought to +shame! Alack! I have had the gout! would fain have persuaded +myself that it was a sprain: and, then, that it was only the +gout come to look for Mr. Chute at Strawberry Hill: but none +of my evasions will do! I was, certainly, lame for two days; +and though I repelled it--first, by getting wet-shod, and then +by spirits of camphor; and though I have since tamed it more +rationally by leaving off the little wine I drank, I still +know where to look for it whenever I have an occasion for a +political illness. Come, my constitution is not very much +broken, when, in four days after such a mortifying attack, I +could sit in the House of Commons, full as possible, from two +at noon till past five in the morning, as we did but last +Thursday. The new opposition attacked the address. Who are +the new opposition? Why, the old opposition-- Pitt and the +Grenvilles; indeed, with Legge instead of Sir George +Lyttelton. Judge how entertaining it was to me to hear +Lyttelton answer Grenville, and Pitt Lyttelton! The debate, +long and uninterrupted as it was, was a great deal of it +extremely fine: the numbers did not answer to the merit: the +new friends, the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Fox, had 311 to +105. The bon-mot in fashion is, that the staff was very good, +but they wanted private Men. Pitt surpassed himself, and then +I need not tell you that he surpassed Cicero and Demosthenes. +What a figure would they, with their formal, laboured, cabinet +orations, make vis-`a-vis his manly vivacity and dashing +eloquence at one o'clock in the morning, after sitting in that +heat for eleven hours! He spoke above an hour and a half, with +scarce a bad sentence: the most admired part was a comparison +he drew of the two parts of the new administration, to the +conflux of the Rhone and the Saone; "the latter a gentle, +feeble, languid stream, languid but not deep; the other a +boisterous and overbearing torrent; but they joined at last; +and long may they continue united, to the comfort of each +other, and to the glory, honour, and happiness of this +nation!" I hope you are not mean-spirited enough to dread an +invasion, when the senatorial contests are reviving in the +temple of Concord.-But will it make a party? Yes, truly: I +never saw so promising a prospect. Would not it be cruel, at +such a period, to be laid up? + +I have only had a note from you to promise me a letter; but it +is not arrived:--but the partridges are, and well; and I thank +you. + +England seems returning:(640) for those who are not in +Parliament, there are nightly riots at Drury-lane, where there +is an anti-Gallican party against some French dancers. The +young men of quality have protected them till last night, +when, being Opera night, the galleries were victorious.(641) + +Montagu writes me many kind things for you; he is in Cheshire, +but comes to town this winter. Adieu! I have so much to say, +that I have time to say but very little. + +P. S. George Selwyn hearing much talk of a sea-war or a +continent, said, , I am for a sea-war and a continent +admiral." + +(640) Walpole means the disposition towards mobs and rioting +at public places, which was then common among young men, and +had been a sort of fashion in his early youth.-E. + +(641) A spectacle brought out by Garrick, in the beginning of +this month, at Drury-lane gave great offence to the public, in +consequence of the number of foreigners employed in it; and, +on the sixth representation, a violent riot took place, by +which a damage to the theatre was incurred of several thousand +pounds.-E. + + + +292 Letter 161 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Nov. 16, 1755. + +I have received a letter from you of Oct. 25th, full of +expectation of the invasion I announced to you-but we have got +two new parties erected, and if you imagine that the invasion +is attended to, any more than as it is played off by both +those parties, you know little of England. The Parliament met +three days ago: we have been so un-English lately as to have +no parties at all, have now got what never was seen before, an +opposition in administration. Mr. Pitt, Mr. Legge, and their +adherents, no great number, have declared open and unrelenting +war with the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Fox; and on the +address, which hinted approbation of the late treaties, and +promised direct support of Hanover, we sat till five the next +morning. If eloquence could convince, Mr. Pitt would have had +more than 105 against 31 1; but it is long since the arts of +persuasion were artful enough to persuade-rhetoric was +invented before places and commissions! The expectation of the +world is suspended, to see whether these gentlemen will resign +or be dismissed: perhaps neither; perhaps they may continue in +place and opposition; perhaps they may continue in place and +not oppose. Bossuet wrote "L'Histoire des Variations de +l'Eglise"-I think I could make as entertaining a history, +though not so well written, "des Variations de l'Etat:"i mean +of changes and counterchanges of party. The Duke of Newcastle +thought himself undone, beat up all quarters for support, and +finds himself stronger than ever. Mr. Fox was thought SO +unpopular, that his support was thought as dangerous as want +of defence; every thing bows to him. The Tories hate both him +and Pitt so much, that they sit still to see them worry one +another; they don't seem to have yet found out that while +there are parts and ambition, they will be obliged to follow +and to hate by turns every man who has both. + +I don't at all understand my Lady Orford's politics; but that +is no wonder, when I am sure she does not understand ours. +Nobody knows what to make of the French inactivity: if they +intend some great stroke, the very delay and forbearance tells +us to prepare for it, and a surprise prepared for loses much +of its value. For my own part, I have not prophetic sagacity +enough to foresee what will be even the probable event either +of our warlike or domestic politics. I desired your brother +to write you an account of General Johnson's victory; the only +great circumstance in our favour that has happened yet. The +greatest mystery of all is the conduct of Admiral Boscawen: +since he left England, though they write private letters to +their friends, he and all his officers have not sent a single +line to the Admiralty; after great pain and uncertainty about +him, a notion prevailed yesterday, how well-founded I know +not, that without any orders he is gone to attack +Louisbourgh-considering all I have mentioned, he ought to be +very sure of success. Adieu! my dear Sir, I have told you the +heads of all I know, and have not time to be more particular. + +P. S. I am glad to be able to contradict an untruth, before I +send it away -. Admiral Boscawen and his fleet are arrived, +and have brought along with them a French man-of-war of +seventy-four guns. + + + +293 Letter 162 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, November 25, 1755. + +I have been so hurried since I came to town, and so enclosed +in the House of Commons, that I have not been able to write a +line sooner. I now write, to notify that your plants will set +out according to your direction next Monday, and are ordered +to be left at Namptwich. + +I differ with the doctors about planting evergreens in spring; +if it happens to be wet weather, it may be better than +exposing them to a first winter: but the cold dry winds, that +generally prevail in spring, are ten times more pernicious. +In my own opinion, the end of September is the best season, +for then they shoot before the hard weather comes. But the +plants I send you are so very small, that they are equally +secure in any season, and would bear removing in the middle of +summer; a handful of dung will clothe them all for the whole +winter. + +There is a most dreadful account of an earthquake in +Lisbon,(642) but several people will not believe it. There +have been lately such earthquakes and waterquakes, and rocks +rent, and other strange phenomena, that one would think the +world exceedingly out of repair. I am not prophet enough to +believe that such convulsions relate solely to the struggles +between Mr. Pitt and Mr. Fox, or even portend any between the +Georges and Jameses. You have already heard, I suppose, that +Pitt, Legge, and George Grenville, are dismissed, and that Sir +George Lyttelton is chancellor of the exchequer. My Lord +Temple says that Sir George Lyttelton said he would quit his +place when they did, and that he has kept his word! The world +expects your cousin to resign; but I believe all efforts are +used to retain him. Joan, the fair maid of Saxe-Gotha, did +not speak to Mr. Fox or Sir George when they kissed her hand +last Sunday. No more places are vacated or filled up yet. + +It is an age since I have heard from Mr. Bentley; the war or +the weather have interrupted all communication. Adieu! let me +know at your leisure, when one is likely to see you. + +(642) The dreadful earthquake, on the 1st of November, which +laid nearly the whole city in ruins. The number of +inhabitants who lost their lives was variously reported, but +generally estimated at about ten thousand.-E. + + + +294 Letter 163 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Dec. 4, 1755. + +Long before you receive this, my dear Sir, you will have +learned general, if not particular accounts of the dreadful +desolation at Lisbon: the particulars indeed are not yet come +hither; all we have heard hitherto is from France, and from +Sir Benjamin Keene at Madrid. The catastrophe is greater than +ever happened even in your neighbourhood, Naples. Our share +is very considerable, and by some reckoned at four millions. +We are despatching a ship with a present of an hundred +thousand pounds in provisions and necessaries, for they want +every thing. There have been Kings of Spain who would have +profited of such a calamity; but the present MONARCH has only +acted as if he had a title to Portugal, by showing himself a +father to that people.(643) + +We are settled, politically, into a regular opposition. Mr. +Pitt, Mr. Legge, and George Grenville have received their +dismissions, and oppose regularly. Sir George Lyttelton, who +last year with that connexion, is made chancellor of the +exchequer. As the subsidies are not yet voted, and as the +opposition, though weak in numbers, are very strong in +speakers, no other places will be given away till Christmas, +that the re-elections may be made in the holidays. + +There are flying reports that General Johnson, our only hero +at present, has taken Crown Point, but the report is entirely +unconfirmed by any good authority. The invasion that I +announced to you, is very equivocal; there is some suspicion +that it was only called in as an ally to the subsidiary +treaties: many that come from France say, that on their coasts +they are dreading an invasion from us. Nothing is certain but +their forbearance and good breeding-the meaning of that is +very uncertain. + +Shall I send away a letter with only these three paragraphs! I +must if I write at all. There are no private news at all! the +earthquake, the opposition, and the war, are the only topics; +each of those topics will be very fruitful, and you shall hear +of their offspring-at present, good night! + +(643) The Spanish monarch did not long preserve that spirit of +justice. + + + +295 Letter 164 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Arlington Street, Dec. 17, 1755. + +After an immense interval, I have at last received a long +letter from you, of a very old date (November 5th), which +amply indemnifies my patience - nay, almost makes me amends +for your blindness; for I think, unless you had totally lost +your eyes, you would not refuse me a pleasure so easy to +yourself as now and then sending me a drawing. I can't call +it laziness; one may be too idle to amuse one's self, but sure +one is never so fond of idleness as to prefer it to the power +of obliging a person one loves! And yet I own your letter has +made me amends, the wit of your pen recompenses the stupidity +of your pencil; the caestus you have taken up supplies a +little the artem you have relinquished. I could quote twenty +passages that have charmed me: the picture of Lady Prudence +and her family; your idol that gave you hail when you prayed +for sunshine; misfortune the teacher of superstition; +unmarried people being the fashion in heaven; the Spectator- +hacked phrases; Mr. Spence's blindness to Pope's mortality; +and, above all, the criticism on the Queen in Hamlet, is most +delightful. There never was so good a ridicule of all the +formal commentators on Shakspeare, nor so artful a banter on +himself for so improperly making her Majesty deal in +double-entendres at a funeral. In short, I never heard as +much wit, except in a speech with which mr. Pitt concluded the +debate t'other day on the treaties. His antagonists endeavour +to disarm him, but as fast as they deprive him of one weapon, +he finds a better; I never suspected him of such an universal +armoury-I knew he had a Gorgon's head, composed of bayonets +and pistols, but little thought that he could tickle to death +with a feather. On the first debate on these famous treaties, +last Wednesday, Hume Campbell, whom the Duke of Newcastle had +retained as the most abusive counsel he could find against +Pitt (and hereafter perhaps against Fox), attacked the former +for eternal invectives. Oh! since the last philippic of +Billingsgate memory you never heard such an invective as Pitt +returned-Hume Campbell was annihilated! Pitt, like an angry +wasp, seems to have left his sting in the wound, and has since +assumed a style of delicate ridicule and repartee. But think +how charming a ridicule must that be that lasts and rises, +flash after flash, for an hour and a half! Some day or other, +perhaps you will see some of the glittering splinters that I +gathered up. I have written under his print these lines, +which are not only full as just as the original, but have not +the tautology of loftiness and majesty: + +""Three orators in distant ages born, +Greece, Italy, and England did adorn; +The first in loftiness of thought surpass'd, +The next in language, but in- both the last: +The power of Nature could no farther go; +To make a third, she join'd the former two." + +Indeed, we have wanted such an entertainment to enliven and +make the fatigue supportable. We sat on Wednesday till ten at +night; on Friday till past three in the morning; on Monday +till between nine and ten.(644) We have profusion of orators, +and many very great, which is surprising so soon after the +leaden age(645 of the late Right Honourable Henry +Saturnus!(646) The majorities are as great as in Saturnus's +golden age. + +Our changes are begun; but not being made at once, our very +changes change. Lord Duplin and Lord Darlington are made +joint paymasters: George Selwyn says, that no act ever showed +so much the Duke of Newcastle's absolute power as his being +able to make Lord Darlington a paymaster. That so often +repatriated and reprostituted Doddington is again to be +treasurer of the navy; and he again drags out Harry Furnese +into the treasury. The Duke of Leeds is to be cofferer, and +Lord Sandwich emerges so far as to be chief justice in eyre. +The other parts by the comedians; I don't repeat their names, +because perhaps the fellow that to-day is designed to act +Guildenstern, may to-morrow be destined to play half the part +of the second grave-digger.(647) However, they are all to +kiss hands on Saturday. mr. Pitt told me to-day that he +should not go to Bath till next week. "I fancy," said I, "you +scarce stay to kiss hands." + +With regard to the invasion, which you are so glad to be +allowed to fear, I must tell you that it is quite gone out of +fashion again, and I really believe was dressed up for a +vehicle (as the apothecaries call it) to make us swallow the +treaties. All along the coast of France they are much more +afraid of an invasion than we are. + +As obliging as you are in sending me plants, I am determined +to thank you for nothing but drawings. I am not to be bribed +to silence, when you really disoblige me. Mr. Muntz has +ordered more cloths for you. I even shall send you books +unwillingly; and, indeed, why should I? As you are +stone-blind, what can you do with them? The few I shall send +you, for there are scarce any now, will be a pretty dialogue +by Cr`ebillon; a strange imperfect poem, written by Voltaire +when he was very young, which with some charming strokes has a +great deal of humour manqu`e and of impiety estropi`ee; and an +historical romance, by him too, of the last war, in which is +so outrageous a lying anecdote of old Marlborough, as would +have convinced her, that when poets write history they stick +as little to truth in prose as in verse. Adieu! + +(644) Lord Chesterfield, in a letter to Mr. Dayrolles of the +19th, says, "The House of Commons sits three or four times a +week till nine or ten at night, and sometimes till four or +five in the morning; so attentive are they to the good of +their dear country. That zeal has of late transported them +into much personal abuse. Even our insignificant House sat +one day last week till past ten at night upon the Russian and +Hessian treaties; but I was not able to sit it out, and left +it at seven, more than half dead; for I took it into my head +to speak upon them for near an hour, which fatigue, together +with the heat of the house, very nearly annihilated me. I was +for the Russian treaty as a prudent eventual measure at the +beginning of a war, and probably preventive even of a war in +that part of the world; but I could not help exposing, though +without opposing, the Hessian treaty, which is, indeed, the +most extraordinary one I ever saw."-E. + +(645) " Here, pleased, behold her mighty wings outspread, +To hatch a new Saturnian age of Lead." Dunciad.-E. + +(646) Mr. Pelham. + +(647) "Places," writes Lord Chesterfield to Mr. Dayrolles on +the 19th, "are emptying and filling every day. The patriot of +Monday is the courtier of Tuesday, and the courtier of +Wednesday is the patriot of Thursday. This, indeed, has more +or less been long the case, but I really think never so +impudently and so profligately as now. @The power is all +falling from his Grace's into Fox's hands; which, you may +remember, I told you long ago would happen."-E. + + + +297 Letter 165 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, Dec. 20, 1755. + +I am very much pleased that you are content with what are to +be trees a thousand years hence, though they were the best my +Libanus afforded. I was afraid you would think I had sent you +a bundle of picktooths, instead of pines and firs: may you +live to chat under their shade! I am still more pleased to +hear that you are to be happy in some good fortune to the +Colonel: he deserves it; but, alas! what a claim is that! +Whatever makes him happy, makes you so, and consequently me. + +A regular opposition, composed of immense abilities, has +entertained us for this month. George Grenville, Legge, a Dr. +Hay, a Mr. Elliot, have shone; Charles Townshend lightened; +Pitt has rode in the whirlwind, and directed the storm with +abilities beyond the common reach of the genii of a tempest. +As soon as that storm has a little spent its fury, the dew of +preferments begins to fall and fatten the land. Moses and +Aaron differ indeed a little in which shall dispense the +manna, and both struggle for their separate tribes. Earl +Gower is privy seal, the Lords Darlington and Dublin joint +paymasters, Lord Gage paymaster of the pensions, Mr. O'Brien +in the treasury. That old rag of a dishclout ministry, Henry +Furnese, is to be the other lord. Lord Bateman and Dick +Edgcumbe(648) are the new admirals; Rigby, Soame Jennings, and +Talbot the Welsh judge, lords of trade; the Duke of Leeds +cofferer, Lord Sandwich chief justice in eyre, Ellis and Lord +Sandys (autre dishclout) divide the half of the treasury of +Ireland, George Selwyn paymaster of the board of works, +Arundel is to have a pension in Ireland, and Lord Hillsborough +succeeds him -,is treasurer of the chambers, though I thought +he was as fond of his white staff as my Lord Hobart will be, +who is to have it. There, if you love new politics! You +understand, to make these vacancies, that Charles Townshend +and John Pitt are added to the dismissed and dead. + +My Lord Townshend is dying; the young Lord Pembroke marries +the charming Lady Betty Spencer.(649) The French are thought +to have passed eldest as to England, and to intend to take in +Hanover. I know an old potentate who had rather have the gout +in his stomach than in that little toe. Adieu! I have sent +your letter; make my compliments, and come to town. + +648) Lord Edgecumbe. + +(649) Second daughter of Charles second Duke of +Marlborough.-E. + + + +298 Letter 166 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Dec. 12, 1755. + +I am glad, my dear Sir, that you have not wasted many alarms +on the invasion; it does not seem to have been ever intended +by the French. Our ministers, who are not apt to have any +intelligence, have now only had bad: they spread that idea; it +took for some days, but is vanished. I believe we tremble +more really for Hanover: I can't say I do; for while we have +that to tremble for, we shall always be to tremble. Great +expectations of a peace prevail; as it is not likely to be +good, it is not a season for venturing a bad one. The +opposition, though not numerous, is now composed of very +determined and very great men; more united than the ministry, +and at least as able. the resistance to the treaties has been +made with immense capacity: Mr. Pitt has shone beyond the +greatest horizon of his former lustre. The Holidays are +arrived, and now the changes are making; but many of the +recruits, old deserters, old cashiered, old fagots, add very +little credit to the new coalition. The Duke of Newcastle and +his coadjutor Mr. Fox squabble twice for agreeing once: as I +wish so well to the latter, I lament what he must wade through +to real power, if ever he should arrive there. Underneath I +shall catalogue the alterations, with an additional letter to +each name, to particularize the corps to which each belongs. + +Sir George Lyttelton, N. chancellor of the exchequer, in the +room of Mr. Legge, dismissed. + +Duke of Leeds, N. Cofferer, in the room of Sir George +Lyttelton, + +Mr. T. Brudenell N., Deputy. in the room of mr. Clare. + +Mr. Doddington, F. Treasurer of the Navy, in the room of Sir +G. Grenville, dismissed. + +Lords Darlington N. and Duplin N. Joint Paymasters, in the +room of mr. Pitt, dismissed + +Duke of Marlborough, F. Master of the Ordnance. Long Vacant. + +Earl Gower, F., Lord Privy Seal, in the room of the duke of +Marlborough. + +Lord Gage, N., Paymaster of Pensions, in the room of Mr. +Compton, dead, + +Mr. Obrien, N. and mr. Henry Furnese, Lords of the Treasury, +in the room of Lord Darlington and Lord Duplin. + +Lord Bateman, F., and Mr. Edgcumbe, F. Lords of the Admiralty, +in the room of mr. C. Townshend, dismissed and Mr. Ellis. + +Judge Talbot Mr. S. Jennings, N. and mr. Rigby, F., Lords of +Trade, in the room of Mr. J. Grenville, resigned, Mr. T. Pitt, +dismissed, and Mr. Edgcumbe. + +mr. Arundel, N., Pension on Ireland. + +Lord Hilsborough, F. Treasurer of Chambers, in the room of mr. +Arundel. + +Lord Hobart, N., Comptroller of the Household, in the room of +Lord Hilsborough. + +George Selwyn, F., Paymaster of the Board of works, in the +room of Mr. Denzil Onslow. + +Lord cholmondeley, who had had half before to divide Vice- +Treasurer of Ireland with Lord Sandwich, F., and Mr. Ellis, F. +in the room of Sir w. Yonge, deceased. + +Lord Berkeley of Stratton, F., Treasurer of the Household, in +the room of Lord Fitzwalter, dying. + +Lord Sandys, N., Chief Justice in eyre, in the room of the +duke of Leeds. + +As numerous as these changes are, they are not so +extraordinary as the number of times that each designation has +been changed. The four last have not yet kissed hands, so I +do not give you them for certain. You will smile at seeing +Doddington again revolved to the court, and Lord Sandys and +Harry Furnese, two of the most ridiculous objects in the +succession to my father's ministry, again dragged out upon the +stage: perhaps it may not give you too high an idea of the +stability or dignity of the new arrangement; but as the Duke +of Newcastle has so often turned in and out all men in +England, he must employ some Of The same dukes over again. In +short, I don't know whether all this will make your +ministerial gravity smile, but it makes me laugh out. Adieu! + +P. S. I must mention the case of my Lord Fitzwalter,(650) +which all the faculty say exceeds any thing known in their +practice: he is past eighty-four, was an old beau, and had +scarce ever more sense than he has at present; he has lived +many months upon fourteen barrels of oysters, four-and-twenty +bottles of port, and some, I think seven, bottles of brandy +per week. What will Dr. Cocchi, with his Vitto Pittagorico, +say to this? + +(650) Charles Mildmay, Earl Fitzwalter, so created May 14, +1730. He died without issue, Feb. 29, 1756, when his earldom +became extinct; and the old barony of Fitzwalter fell into +abeyance among females.-D. + + + +299 Letter 167 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, Dec. 30, 1755. + +As I know how much you are my friend and take part in my joy, +I cannot help communicating to you an incident that has given +much pleasure. You know how much I love Mr. Mann-well, I +don't enter into that, nor into a detail of many hardships +that he has suffered lately, which made me still more eager to +serve him. As some regiments have been just given away, I +cast my eyes about to see if I could not help him to clothing. +Among the rest, there was one new colonel,(651) whom I could +not assume enough to call my friend, but who is much connected +with one that is so. As the time passed, I did not stay to go +round about, but addressed myself directly to the person +himself--but I was disappointed; the disaster was, that he had +left his quarters and was come to town. Though I immediately +gave it up in my own mind, knew how incessantly he would be +pressed from much more powerful quarters, concluded he would +be engaged, I wrote again; that letter was as useless as the +first, and from what reason do you think? Why this person, in +spite of all solicitations, nay previous to any, had already +thought of Mr. Mann, and recollected it would oblige me and my +friend in the country, and had actually given his clothing to +Mr. Mann, before he received either of my letters. Judge how +agreeably I have been surprised, and how much the manner has +added to my obligation! You will be still more pleased when +you hear the character of this officer, which I tell you +willingly, because I know you country gentlemen are apt to +contract prejudices, and to fancy that no virtues grow out of +your own shire; yet by this one sample, you will find them +connected with several circumstances that are apt to nip their +growth. He is of as good a family as any in England, yet in +this whole transaction he has treated me with as much humility +is if I was of as good a family and as if I had obliged him, +not he me. In the next place, I have no power to oblige him; +then, though he is young and in the army, he is as good, as +temperate, as meek, as if he was a curate on preferment; and +yet with all these meek virtues, nobody has distinguished +themselves by more personal bravery-and what is still more to +his praise, though he has so greatly established his courage, +he is as regular in his duty, and submits as patiently to all +the tedious exiles and fatigues of it, as if he had no merit +at all; but I will say no more, lest you imagine that the +present warmth of my gratitude makes me exaggerate. No, you +will not, when you know that all I have said relates to your +own brother, Colonel Charles Montagu. I did not think he +could have added still to my satisfaction; but he has, by +giving me hopes Of seeing you in town next week-till then, +adieu! Yours as entirely as is consistent with my devotedness +to your brother. + +(651) Colonel Charles Montagu, this day appointed to the +command of the 59th regiment of foot.-E. + + + +300 Letter 168 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, Jan. 6, 1756. + +I am quite angry with you: you write me letters so +entertaining that they make me almost forgive your not +drawing: now, you know, next to being disagreeable, there is +nothing so shocking as being too agreeable. However, as I am +a true philosopher, and can resist any thing I like better, I +declare, that if you don't coin the vast ingot of colours and +cloth that I have sent you, I will burn your letters unopened. + +Thank you for all your concern about my gout, but I shall not +mind you; it shall appear in my stomach before I attempt to +keep it out of it by a fortification of wine: I only drank a +little two days after being very much fatigued in the House, +and the worthy pioneer began to cry succour from my foot the +next day. However, though I am determined to feel young +still, I grow to take the hints age gives me; I come hither +oftener, I leave the town to the young; and though the busy +turn that the world has taken draws me back into it, I excuse +it to myself, and call it retiring into politics. From hence +I must retire, or I shall be drowned; my cellars are four feet +under water, the Thames gives itself Rhone airs, and the +meadows are more flooded than when you first saw this place +and thought it so dreary. We seem to have taken out our +earthquake in rain: since the third week in June, there have +not been five days together of dry weather. They tell us that +at Colnbrook and Stains they are forced to live in the first +floor. Mr. Chute is at the Vine, but I don't expect to hear +from him: no post but a dove can get from thence. Every post +brings new earthquakes; they have felt them in France, Sweden, +and Germany: what a convulsion there has been in nature! Sir +Isaac Newton, somewhere in his works, has this beautiful +expression, "The globe will want manum emendatricem." + +I have been here this week with only Mr. Muntz; from whence +you may conclude I have been employed--Memoirs thrive apace. +He seems to wonder (for he has not a little of your indolence, +I am not surprised you took to him) that I am continually +occupied every minute of the day, reading, writing, forming +plans: in short, you know me. He is an inoffensive, good +creature, but had rather ponder over a foreign gazette than a +pallet. + +I expect to find George Montagu in town to-morrow: his brother +has at last got a regiment. Not content with having deserved +it, before he got it, by distinguished bravery and +indefatigable duty, he persists in meriting it still. He +immediately, unasked, gave the chaplainship (which others +always sell advantageously) to his brother's parson at +Greatworth. I am almost afraid it will make my commendation +of this really handsome action look interested, when I add, +that he has obliged me in the same way by making Mr. Mann his +clothier, before I had time to apply for it. Adieu! I find no +news in town. + + + +302 Letter 169 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway.(652) +Arlington Street, Jan. 22, 1756. + +As my Lady Ailesbury is so taken up with turnpike-hills, +Popish recusants, and Irish politics, and you are the only +idle person in the family (for Missy I find is engaged too), I +must return to correspond with you. But my letters will not +be quite so lively as they have been: the Opposition, like +schoolboys, don't know how to settle to their books again +after the holidays. We have not had a division: nay, not a +debate. Those that like it, are amusing themselves with the +Appleby election. Now and then we draggle on a little +militia. The recess has not produced even a pamphlet. In +short, there are none but great outlines of politics: a +memorial in French Billingsgate has been transmitted hither +which has been answered very laconically. More agreeable is +the guarantee signed with Prussia: M. Michel(653) is as +fashionable as ever General Wall was. The Duke of Cumberland +has kept his bed with a sore leg, but is better. Oh! I +forgot, Sir Harry Erskine is dismissed from the army, and if +you will suffer so low a pun, as upon his face, is a rubric +martyr for his country: bad as it Is, this is the best bon-mot +I have to send you: Ireland, which one did not suspect, is +become the staple of wit, and, I find, coins bons-mots for our +greatest men. I might not send you Mr. Fox's repartee, for I +never heard it, nor has any body here: as you have, pray send +it me. Charles Townshend t'other night hearing somebody say, +that my Lady Falmouth, who had a great many diamonds on, had a +Very fine stomach, replied, "By God! my lord has a better." +You will be entertained with the riot Charles makes in the +sober house of Argyle: t'other night, on the Duchess's bawling +to my Lady Suffolk,(654) he in the very same tone cried out, +"Large stewing Oysters!" When he takes such liberties with +his new parent, you may judge how little decency he observes +with his wife: last week at dinner at Lord Strafford's, on my +Lady Dalkeith's mentioning some dish that she loved, he +replied before all the servants, "Yes, my Lady Dalkeith, you +love it better than any thing but one!" + +We were to have had a masquerade to-night, but the Bishops, +who you know have always persisted in God's hating dominos, +have made an earthquake point of it, and postponed it till +after the fast. + +Your brother has got a sixth infanta; at the christening +night, Mr. Trail had got through two prayers before any body +found out that the child was not brought down stairs. You see +pauvret`e how little I have to say. Do accept the enclosed +World(655) in part of payment for the remainder of a letter. +I must conclude with telling you, that though I know her but +little, I admire my Lady Kildare as much as you do. She has +writ volumes to Lady Caroline Fox in praise of you and your +Countess: you are a good soul! I can't say so much for lady +Ailesbury. As to Missy, I am afraid I must resign my claim: I +never was very proper to contest with an Hibernian hero; and I +don't know how, but I think my merit does not improve. Adieu! + +(652) Now first printed. + +(653) The Prussian charg`e d'affaires. + +(654) The Countess of Suffolk was very deaf.-E. + +(655) No.160. On attacks upon Licentiousness.--Story of Sir +Eustace Drawbridge-court; written by Walpole. + + + +303 Letter 170 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway. +Arlington Street, Jan. 24, 1756. + +Oh sir, I shall take care how I ever ask favours of you again! +It was with great reluctance that I brought myself to ask +this: you took no notice of my request; and I flattered myself +that I was punished for having applied to you so much against +my inclination. Just as I grew confirmed in the pride of +being mortified, I hear that you have outgone my application, +and in the kindest manner in the world have given the young +man a pair of colours. It would have been unpleasant enough +to be refused; but to obtain more than one asked is the most +provoking thing in the world! I was prepared to be very +grateful if you had done just what I desired; but I declare I +have no thanks ready for a work of supererogation. If there +ever was a spirit that went to heaven for mere gratitude, +which I am persuaded is a much more uncommon qualification +than martyrdom, I must draw upon his hoard of merit to acquit +myself. You will at least get thus much by this charming +manner of obliging me: I look upon myself as double obliged; +and when it cost me so much to ask one favour, and I find +myself in debt for two, I shall scarce run in tick for a +third. + +What adds to my vexation is, that I wrote to you but the night +before last. Unless I could return your kindness with equal +grace, it would be not very decent to imitate you by beginning +to take no notice of it; and therefore you must away with this +letter upon the back of the former. + +We had yesterday some history in the House - Beckford produced +an accusation in form against Admiral Knowles on his way to an +impeachment. Governor Verres was a puny culprit in +comparison! Jamaica indeed has not quite so many costly +temples and ivory statues, etc. as Sicily had: but what +Knowles could not or had not a propensity to commit in rapine +and petty larceny, he has made up in tyranny. The papers are +granted, and we are all going to turn jurymen. The rest of +the day was spent in a kind of avoirdupois war. Your friend +Sir George Lyttelton opened the budget; well enough in +general, but was strangely bewildered in the figures; he +stumbled over millions, and dwelt pompously upon farthings. +Pitt attacked him pretty warmly on mortgaging the sinking +fund; +Sir George kept up his spirit, and returned the attack on his +eloquence: it was entertaining enough, but ended in high +compliments; and the division was 231 to 5(;. + +Your friend Lady Petersham, not to let the town quite lapse +into politics, has entertained it with a new scene. She was +t'other night at the play with her court; viz. Miss Ashe, Lord +Barnard, M. St. Simon, and her favourite footman Richard, +whom, under pretence of keeping places, she always keeps in +her box the whole time to see the play at his ease. Mr. +Stanley, Colonel Vernon, and Mr. Vaughan arrived at the very +end of the farce, and could find no room, but a row and a half +in Lady Caroline's box. Richard denied them entrance very +impertinently. Mr. Stanley took him by the hair of his head, +dragged him into the passage, and thrashed him. The heroine +was outrageous--the heroes not at all so.(656) She sent +Richard to Fielding for a warrant. He would not grant it--and +so it ended--And so must I, for here is company. Adieu! + +My letter would have been much cleverer, but George Montagu +has been chattering by me the whole time, and insists on my +making you his compliments. + +(656) Lady Hervey, in a letter of the 23d of March, thus +alludes to this story:--"This is the time of year you used to +come to town. Come and hear a little what is going forward: +you will be alarmed with invasions which are never intended; +you will hear of ladies of quality who uphold footmen +insulting gentlemen; nay, you will hear of ladies who steal +not only hearts, but gold boxes."-E. + + + + 304 Letter 171 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Jan. 25, 1756. + +I am troubled to think what anxiety you have undergone! yet +your brother Gal. assures me that he has never missed writing +one week since he began to be ill. Indeed, had I in the least +foreseen that his disorder would have lasted a quarter of the +time it has, I should have given you an account of it; but the +distance between us is so great, that I could not endure to +make you begin to be uneasy, when, in all probability, the +cause would be removed before my letter reached You. This +tenderness for you has deceived me: your brother, as his +complaint is of the asthmatic kind, has continued all the time +at Richmond. Our attendance in Parliament has been so +unrelaxed, the weather has been so bad, and the roads so +impracticable by astonishing and continued deluges of rain, +that, as I heard from him constantly three or four times a +week, and saw your brother James, who went to him every week, +I went to see him but twice; and the last time, about a +fortnight ago, I thought him extremely mended: he wrote me two +very comfortable notes this week of his mending, and this +morning Mr. Chute and I went to see him, and to scold him for +not having writ oftener to you, which he protests he has done +constantly. I cannot flatter you, my dear child, as much as +to say I think him mended; his shortness of breath continues +to be very uneasy to him, and his long confinement has wasted +him a good deal. I fear his case is more consumptive than +asthmatic; he begins a course of quicksilver to-morrow for the +obstruction in his breast. I shall go out to him again the +day after to-morrow, and pray as fervently as you yourself do, +my dear Sir, for his recovery. You have not more obligations +to him, nor adore him more than I do. As my tenderness and +friendship is so strong for you both, you may depend on +hearing from me constantly; but a declining constitution, you +know, will not admit of a very rapid recovery. Though he is +fallen away, he looks well in the face, and his eyes are very +lively: the weather is very warm, he wants no advice, and I +assure YOU no solicitude for his health; no man ever was so +beloved, and so deservingly! Besides Dr. Baker, the physician +of Richmond, who is so much esteemed, he has consulted Dr. +Pringle, who is in the first repute, and who is strongly for +the quicksilver. I enter Into these particulars, because, +when one is anxious, one loves to know the most minute. +Nothing is capable of making me so happy, as being able soon +to send you a better account. + +Our politics wear a serener face than they have done of late: +you will have heard that our nephew of Prussia-I was going to +say, has asked blessing--begging our dignity's pardon, I fear +he has given blessing! In short, he guarantees the empire with +us from all foreign troops. It is pleasant to think, that at +least we shall be to fight for ourselves. Fight we must, +France says: but when she said so last, she knew nothing of +our cordiality with the court of Berlin. Monsieur Rouill`e +very lately wrote to Mr. Fox, by way of Monsieur Bonac in +Holland, to say his master ordered the accompanying M`emoire +to be transmitted to his Britannic Majesty in person; it is +addressed to nobody, but after professing great disposition to +peace, and complaining in harsh terms of our brigandages and +pirateries, it says, that if we will restore their ships, +goods, etc. they shall then be ready to treat. We have +returned a squab answer, retorting the infraction of treaties, +professing a desire of peace too, but declare we cannot +determine upon restitution comme pr`eliminaire. If we do not, +the M`emoire says, they shall look upon it comme declaration +de guerre la plus authentique. Yet, in my own opinion, they +will not declare it; especially since the King of Prussia has +been Russianed out of their alliance. They will probably +attempt some stroke; I think not succeed in it, and then lie +by for an opportunity when they shall be stronger. They can +only go to Holland, attempt these islands, or some great coup +in America.(657) Holland they may swallow when they will; +yet, why should they, when we don't attempt to hinder them? +and it would be madness if -we did. For coming hither, our +fleet is superior say, but equal: our army and preparations +greater than ever--if an invasion were still easy, should we +be yet to conquer, when we have been so long much more +exposed? In America we arc much stronger than they, and have +still more chances of preventing their performing any action +of consequence. + +The opposition is nibbling, but is not popular, nor have Yet +got hold of any clue of consequence. There is not the +vivacity that broke forth before the holidays. + +I condole with you for Madame Antinori,(658) and Madame +Grifoni; but I know, my dear child, how much too seriously +your mind will be occupied about your dear brother, to think +that romantic grief will any longer disquiet you. Pray +Heaven! I may send you better and better news. Adieu! + +P. S. I forgot to thank you for your history of the war with +Lucca in your last but one. + +(657) "A formal declaration of war from France," writes Lord +Chesterfield to Mr. Dayrolles on the 23d, "seems to be the +natural consequence of Rouill`e's memorial. I am not so fond +of war as I find many people are. Mark the end on 't. Our +treaty lately concluded with Russia is a fortunate event, and +secures the peace of the empire; and is it possible that +France can invade the Low Countries, which are the dominions +of the Empress Queen, only because Admiral Boscawen has taken +two of their ships in America? I see but two places where +France can annoy us; in America, by slipping over in single +ships a considerable number of troops, and next by keeping us +in a state of fear and expense at home, with the threats and +appearances of an intended invasion."-E. + +(658) A Florentine lady, whom Sir Horace admired, and who was +just dead: she was sister of Madame Grifoni. + + + +306 Letter 172 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Feb. 5, 1756. + +I think I can give you a little better account of your +brother, who is so dear to both of us; I put myself on a foot +with you, for nothing can love him better than I do. I have +been a week at Strawberry Hill. in order to watch and see him +every day. The Duke's physician, Dr. Pringle, who now attends +him, has certainly relieved him much: his cough is in a manner +gone, his fever much abated, his breath better. His strength +is not yet increased; and his stitches, which they impute to +wind, are not relieved. But both his physicians swear that +his lungs are not touched. His worst symptom is what they +cannot, but I must and will remove: in short, his wife is +killing him, I can scarce say slowly. Her temper is beyond +imagination, her avarice monstrous, her madness about what she +calls cleanliness, to a degree of distraction; if I had not +first, and then made your brother Ned interpose in form, she +would once or twice a week have the very closet washed in +which your brother sleeps after dinner. It is certainly very +impertinent to interfere in so delicate a case, but your +brother's life makes me blind to every consideration: in +short, we have made Dr. Pringle declare that the moment the +weather is a little warmer, and he can be moved, change of air +is absolutely necessary, and I am to take him to Strawberry +Hill, where you may imagine he will neither be teased nor +neglected: the physicians are strong for his going abroad, but +I find that it will be a very difficult point to carry even +with himself. His affairs are so extensive, that as yet he +will not hear of leaving them. Then the exclusion of +correspondence by the war with France would be another great +objection with him to going thither; and to send him to Naples +by sea, if we could persuade him would hardly be advisable in +the heat of such hostilities. I think by this account you +will judge perfectly of your brother's situation: you may +depend upon it, it is not desperate, and yet it is what makes +me very unhappy. Dr. Pringle says, that in his life he never +knew a person for whom so many people were concerned. I go to +him again to-morrow. + +The war is reckoned inevitable, nay begun, though France does +not proceed to a formal declaration, but contents herself with +Monsieur Rouill`e's conditional declaration. All intercourse +is stopped. We, who two months ago were in terrors about a +war on the continent, are now more frightened about having it +at home. Hessians and Dutch are said to be, and, I believe, +are sent for. I have known the time when we were much less +prepared and much less alarmed. Lord Ravensworth moved +yesterday to send par pr`eference for Hanoverians, but nobody +seconded him. The opposition cavil, but are not strong enough +to be said to oppose. This is exactly our situation. + +I must beg, my dear sir, that you will do a little for my +sake, what I know and hear you have already done from natural +goodness. Mr. Dick, the consul at Leghorn, is particularly +attached to my old and great friend Lady Harry Beauclerc, whom +you have often heard me mention; she was Miss Lovelace: it +will please me vastly if you will throw in a few civilities +more at my request. + +Adieu! Pray for your brother: I need not say talk him over and +over with Dr. Cocchl, and hope the best of the war. + + + + +307 Letter 173 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway. +Arlington Street, Feb. 12, 1756. + +I will not write to my Lady Ailesbury to-night, nor pretend to +answer the prettiest letter in the world, when I am out of +spirits. I am very unhappy about poor Mr. Mann, who I fear is +in a deep consumption: the doctors do not give him over, and +the symptoms are certainly a little mended this week; but you +know how fallacious that distemper is, and how unwise it would +be to trust to it! As he is at Richmond, I pass a great deal +of my time out of town to be near him, and so may have missed +some news; but I will tell you all I know. + +The House of Commons is dwindled into a very dialogue between +Pitt and Fox-one even begins to want Admiral Vernon again for +variety. Sometimes it is a little piquant; in which though +Pitt has attacked, Fox has generally had the better. These +three or four last days we have been solely upon the +Pennsylvanian regiment, bickering, and but once dividing, 165 +to 57. We are got but past the first reading yet. We want +the French to put a little vivacity into us. The Duke of +Newcastle has expected them every hour: he was terribly +alarmed t'other night; on his table he found a mysterious card +with only these words, "Charles is very well, and is expected +in England every day." It was plainly some secret friend that +advertised him of the pretender's approaching arrival. He +called up all the servants, ransacked the whole house to know +who had been in his dressing-room:-at last it came out to be +an answer from the Duchess of Queensberry to the Duchess of +Newcastle about Lord Charles Douglas. Don't it put you in +mind of my Lord Treasurer Portland in Clarendon, "Remember +Caesar"! + +The French have promised letters of noblesse to whoever fits +out even a little privateer. I could not help a melancholy +smile when my Lady Ailesbury talked of coming over soon. I +fear major-general you will scarce be permitted to return to +your plough at Park-place, when we grudge every man that is +left at the plough. Between the French and the earthquakes, +you have no notion how good we are grown; nobody makes a suit +of clothes now but of sackcloth turned up with ashes. The +fast was kept so devoutly, that Dick Edgecumbe, finding a very +lean hazard at White's, said with a sigh, "Lord, how the times +are degenerated! Formerly a fast would have brought every +body hither; now it keeps every body away!" A few nights +before, two men walking up the Strand, one said to t'other, +"Look how red the sky is! Well, thank God! there is to be no +masquerade!" + +My Lord Ashburnham(659) does not keep a fast; he is going to +marry one of the plump Crawleys:--they call him the noble lord +upon the woolsack. + +The Duchess of Norfolk has opened her new house: all the earth +was there last Tuesday. You would have thought there had been +a comet, every body was gaping in the air and treading on one +another's toes. In short, you never saw such a scene of +magnificence and taste. The tapestry, the embroidered bed, +the illumination, the glasses, the lightness and novelty of +the ornaments, and the ceilings, are delightful. She gives +three Tuesdays, would you be at one! Somebody asked my Lord +Rockingham afterwards at White's, what was there'! He said, , +"Oh! there was all the company afraid of the Duchess, and the +Duke afraid of all the company."--It was not a bad picture. + +My Lady Ailesbury flatters me extremely about my "World," but +it has brought me into a peck of troubles. In short, the +good-natured town have been pleased to lend me a meaning, and +call my Lord Bute Sir Eustace. I need not say how ill the +story tallies to what they apply it; but I do vow to you, that +so far from once entering into my imagination, my only +apprehension was that I should be suspected of flattery for +the compliment to the Princess in a former part. It is the +more cruel, because you know it is just the thing in the world +on which one must not defend one's self. If I might, I can +prove that the paper was writ last Easter, long before this +history was ever mentioned, and flung by, because I did not +like it: I mentioned it one night to my Lady Hervey, which was +the occasion of its being printed. + +I beg you will tell my Lady Ailesbury, that I am sorry she +could not discover any wit in Mrs. Hussey's making a +sept-leva. I know I never was so vain of any wit in my life +as winning a thousand leva and two five hundred levas. + +You would laugh if you saw in the midst of what trumpery I am +writing. Two porters have just brought home my purchases from +Mrs. Kennon the midwife's sale: Brobdignag combs, old broken +pots, pans, and pipkins, a lantern of scraped oyster-shells, +scimitars, Turkish pipes, Chinese baskets, etc. etc. My +servants think my head is turned: I hope not: it is all to be +called the personal estate and moveables of my +great-great-grandmother, and to be reposited at Strawberry. I +believe you think my letter as strange a miscellany as my +purchases. + +P. S. I forgot, that I was outbid for Oliver Cromwell's +nightcap. + +(659) John, second Earl of Ashburnham. On the 28th of June he +married Elizabeth, daughter and coheiress of Ambrose Crawley, +Esq.-E. + + + +309 Letter 174 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Feb. 23, 1756. + +I can tell you with as much truth as pleasure that your brother +assuredly mends, and that his physician, Dr. Pringle, who is +the Duke's has told his Royal Highness, who expresses great +concern, that he now will live. He goes out to take the air +every day, that is not very bad: Mr. Chute and I went to see +him yesterday, and saw a real and satisfactory alteration. I +don't say this to flatter you; on the contrary, I must bid you, +my dear child, not to be too sanguine, for Dr. Cocchi will +tell you that there is nothing more fallacious than a +consumptive case; don't mistake me, it is not a consumption, +though it is a consumptive disposition. His spirits are +evidently better. + +You will have heard, before you receive this, that the King of +France and Madame Pompadour are gone into devotion. Some say, +that D'Argenson, finding how much her inclination for peace +with us fell in with the Monarch's humanity, (and winch indeed +is the only rational account one can give of their inactivity,) +employed the Cardinal de la Rochefoucault and the Confessor to +threaten the most Christian King with an earthquake if he did +not communicate at Easter; and that his Majesty accordingly +made over his mistress to his wife, by appointing the former +dame du palais: others, who refine more, pretend that Madame +Pompadour, perceiving how much the King's disposition veered to +devotion, artfully took the turn of humouring it, desired to be +only his soul's concubine, and actually sent to ask pardon of +her husband, and to offer to return to him, from which he +begged to be excused-the point in dispute is whether she has or +has not left off rouge. In our present hostile state we cannot +arrive at any certainty on this important question; though our +fate seems to depend on it! + +We have had nothing in Parliament but most tedious and long +debates on a West Indian regiment, to be partly composed of +Swiss and Germans settled in Pennsylvania, with some Dutch +officers. The opposition neither increase in numbers or +eloquence; the want of the former seems to have damped the fire +of the latter. the reigning fashion is expectation of an +invasion; I can't say I am fashionable; nor do I expect the +earthquake, though they say it is landed at Dover. + +The most curious history that I have to tell you, is a +malicious, pretty successful, and yet most clumsy Plot executed +by the papists, in which number you will not be surprised at my +including some Protestant divines, against the famous +Bower,(660) author of the History of the Popes. Rumours were +spread of his being discovered in correspondence with the +Jesuits; some even said the correspondence was treasonable, and +that he was actually in the hands of a messenger. I went to +Sir George Lyttelton, his great friend, to learn the truth; he +told me the story: that Sir Harry Bedingfield, whom I know for +a most bigoted Papist in Norfolk, pretended to have six letters +from Bower (signed A. B.) in his hands, addressed to one Father +Sheldon, a Jesuit, under another name, in which A. B. affected +great contrition and desires of reconciliation to that church, +lamenting his living in fornication with a woman, by whom he +had a child, and from whom he had got fifteen hundred pounds, +which he had put into Sheldon's hands, and which he affirmed he +must have again if he broke off the commerce, for that the +woman insisted on having either him or her money; and offering +all manner of submission to holy church, and to be sent +wherever she should please; for non mea voluntas sed tua fiat:- +-the last letter grieved at not being able to get his money, +and to be forced to continue in sin, and concluded with telling +the Jesuit that something would happen soon which would put an +end to their correspondence-this is supposed to allude to his +history. The similitude of hands is very great-but you know +how little that can weigh! I know that Mr. Conway and my Lady +Ailesbury write so alike, that I never receive a letter from +either of them that I am not forced to look at the name to see +from which it comes; the only difference is that she writes +legibly, and he does not. These letters were shown about +privately, and with injunctions of secrecy: it seems Hooke, the +Roman historian, a convert to Popery, and who governs my Lord +Bath and that family, is deep in this plot. At last it got to +the ears of Dr. Birch, a zealous but simple Than, and of Millar +the bookseller, angry at Bower for not being his printer--they +trumpeted the story all over the town. Lord Pultney was One +who told it me, and added, "a Popish gentleman and an English +clergyman are upon the scent;" he told me Sir H. Bedingfield's +name, but Would not the clergyman's. I replied, then your +lordship must give me leave to say, as I don't know his name, +that I suppose our doctor is as angry as Sir Harry at Bower for +having written against the church of Rome. Sir G. Lyttelton +went to Sir Harry, and demanded to see the letters, and asked +for copies, which were promised. He soon observed twenty +falsehoods and inconsistencies, particulary the mention of a +patent for a place, which Sir George obtained for him, but +never thought of asking till a year and a half after the date +of this letter; to say nothing of the inconsistence of his +taking a place as a Protestant, at the same time he was +offering to go whithersoever the Jesuits would send him; and +the still more glaring improbability of his risking himself +again under their power! Sir George desired the woman might be +produced--Sir Harry shuffled, and at last said he believed it +was a lie of Bower. When he was beaten out of every point, he +said, he Would put it on this single fact, "Ask Mr. Bower if he +was not reconciled to the church of Rome in the year '44." The +whole foundation proves to be this: Bower, who is a very child +in worldly matters, was weak enough, for good interest, to put +fifteen hundred pounds into the hands of one Brown, a Jesuit +here in London, and from that correspondence they have forged +his hand; and finding the minds of men alarmed and foolish +about the invasion and the earthquake, they thought the train +would take like wildfire. I told Bower, that though this +trusting a Jesuit did great honour to his simplicity, it +Certainly did none to his judgment. Sir George begged I would +advise them what to do-they were afraid to enter into a +controversy, which Hooke might manage. I told him at once that +their best way would be to advertise a great reward for +discovery of the forgery, and to communicate their intention to +Sir Harry bedington. Sir George was pleased with the +thought-and indeed it succeeded beyond expectation. Sir Harry +sent word that he approved the investigation of truth, be the +persons concerned of what profession they would; that he was +obliged to go out of town next day for his health, but hoped at +his return Sir George would give him leave to cultivate an +acquaintance which this little affair had renewed. Sir George +answered with great propriety and spirit, that he should be +very proud of his acquaintance, but must beg leave to differ +with him in calling a little affair what tended to murder a +man's character, but he was glad to see that it was the best +way that Rome had of answering Mr. Bower's book. You see, Sir +Harry is forced to let the forgery rest on himself, rather than +put a chancellor of the exchequer upon the scent after priests! +He has even hesitated Upon giving Bower copies of the letters. + +Since I began my letter, we hear that France is determined to +try a numerous invasion in several places in England and +Ireland, coute qui coute, and knowing how difficult it is. We +are well-prepared and strong; they have given us time. If it +were easy to invade us, we should not have waited for an attack +till the year 1756. I hope to give you a good account both of +England and your brother. Adieu! + +(660) Bower was a man of very bad character, and it is now +generally believed that he intended to cheat the Jesuits out of +a sum of money.-D. + +(661) Dr. Douglas, afterwards Bishop of Salisbury, an intimate +friend of Lord Bath. He had detected sundry errors in Bower's +Lives of the Popes.-D. + + + +312 Letter 175 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway. +Arlington Street, March 4, 1756. + +Dear Harry, +I have received so kind and so long a letter from you, and so +kind too because so long, that I feel I shall remain much in +your debt, at least for length. I won't allow that I am in +your debt for warmth of friendship. I have nothing worth +telling you: we are hitherto conquered only in threat: for my +part. I have so little expectation of an invasion, that I have +not buried a single enamel, nor bought a pane of painted glass +the less; of the two panics in fashion, the French and the +earthquake, I have not even made my option yet. The opposition +get ground as little as either: Mr. Pitt talks by Shrewsbury +clock, and is grown almost as little heard as that is at +Westminster. We have had full eight days on the Pennsylvania +regiment. The young Hamilton has spoken and shone again; but +nothing is luminous compared with Charles Townshend:--he drops +down dead in a fit, has a resurrection, thunders in the +Capitol, confounds the treasury-bench, laughs at his own party, +is laid up the next day, and overwhelms the Duchess and the +good women that go to nurse him! His brother's +Militia-bill(662) does not come on till next week: in the mean +time, he adorns the shutters, walls and napkins of every tavern +in Pall Mall with caricatures of the Duke(663) and Sir George +Lyttelton, the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Fox. Your friend +Legge has distinguished himself exceedingly on the supplies and +taxes, and retains all the dignity of chancellor of the +exchequer. I think I never heard so complete a scene of +ignorance as yesterday on the new duties! Except Legge, you +would not have thought there was a man in the House had learned +troy-weight; Murray quibbled--at Hume Campbell the House +groaned! Pitt and Fox were lamentable; poor Sir George never +knew prices from duties, nor drawbacks from premiums! The +three taxes proposed were on plate, on bricks and tiles, on +cards and dice. The earthquake has made us so good, that the +ministry might have burned the latter in Smithfield if they had +pleased. The bricks they were forced to give up, and consented +graciously, to accept 70,000 pounds on alehouses, instead of +30,000 pounds on bricks. They had nearly been forced to extend +the duty on plate beyond 10 pounds carrying the restriction by +a majority of only two. + +An embargo is laid on the shipping, to get sailors. The young +court lords were going to raise troops of light horse, but my +Lord Gower (I suppose by direction of the Duke) proposed to the +King that they should rather employ their personal interest to +recruit the army; which scheme takes place, and, as George +Townshend said in the House, they are all turning recruiting +sergeants. But notwithstanding we so much expect a storm from +France, I am told that in France they think much more of their +own internal storms than of us. Madame Pompadour wears +devotion, whether forced or artful is not certain: the disputes +between the King and the parliament run very high, and the Duke +of Orleans and the Prince of Conti have set themselves -,it the +head of the latter. Old Nugent came fuddled to the Opera last +week, and jostled an ancient Lord Irwin, and then called him +fool for being in his way: they were going to fight; but my +Lord Talbot, professing that he did not care if they were both +hanged, advised them to go back and not expose themselves. You +will stare perhaps at my calling Nugent old: it is not merely +to distinguish him from his son; but he is such a champion and +such a lover, that it is impossible not to laugh at him as if +he was a Methuselah! He is en affaire regime with the young +Lady Essex. At a supper there a few nights ago of +two-and-twenty people, they were talking of his going to +Cashiobury to direct some alterations: Mrs. Nugent in the +softest infantine voice called out, "My Lady Essex, don't let +him do any thing out of doors; but you will find him delightful +within!" + +I think I have nothing else to tell you but a bon-mot or two; +with that sort of news I think I take care to supply you duly. +I send you constantly the best that London affords. Dick +Edgecumbe has said that his last child was born on +All-gamesters'-day; Twelfth-night. This chapter shall conclude +with an epigram; the thought was George Selwyn's, who, you +know, serves all the epigram-makers in town with wit. It is on +Miss Chudleigh crying in the drawing-room on the death of her +mother:- + +"What filial piety! what mournful grace, +For a lost parent, sits on Chudleigh's face +Fair virgin, weep no more, your anguish smother! +You in this town can never want a mother." + +I have told poor Mr. Mann how kind you are to him: indeed I +have been exceedingly frightened and troubled for him, and +thought him in immediate danger. He is certainly much mended, +though I still fear a consumption for him; he has not been able +to move from Richmond this whole winter: I never fail to visit +him twice or thrice a week. I heartily pity the fatigue and +dullness of your life; nor can I flatter you with pretending to +believe it will end soon: I hope you will not be forced to gain +as much reputation in the camp as you have in the cabinet!--You +see I must finish. + +(662) On the 12th of March, Mr. George Townshend brought in a +bill for better ordering the militia. It passed the House of +Commons on the 10th of May.-E. + +(663) The Duke of Cumberlan(l. Mr. George Townshend was very +skilful at drawing caricatures, and published a set of twelve; +to which he affixed the name of Austin.-E. + + + +314 Letter 176 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, March 18, 1756. + +I am not surprised to find by your letters of 21st and 28th of +February how much you have been alarmed for your brother. You +have not felt more than I have: but I have the satisfaction of +seeing him mend, while you undergo the terrible suspense of +waiting for posts. He has been pulled much back by the +operation of his quicksilver, which flung him into a severe +looseness and kind of salivation: it weakened him much and kept +him from the air, but it brought off a great load of black +stuff from his stomach, and his spirits are exceedingly better. +He is to go to the Bath as soon as he is able. Would to heaven +I could prevail for his going to Italy, but he will not listen +to it. You may be confident that I do not stop at mere decency +in checking his domestic torment--it is terrible; but when I +saw him in so much danger, I kept no measures-I went lengths +that would be inexcusable in any other situation. No +description can paint the madness, (and when I call it madness, +I know I flatter) the preposterous unreasonableness and +infernal temper of that little white fiend! His temper, which +is equal to yours, bears him up under it. I am with him two or +three mornings every week, and think I shall yet preserve him +for you. The physicians are positive that his lungs are not +touched. + +We proceed fiercely in armaments-yet in my own opinion, and I +believe the ministry think so too, the great danger is for Port +Mahon. Admiral Bing sails directly for the Mediterranean. The +Brest fleet that slipped away, is thought on its progress to +Nova Scotia. The Dutch have excused sending us their troops on +the imminence of their own danger. The parliamentary campaign +is almost over; you know I persist in believing that we shall +not have any other here. + +Thank you much for your kindness to Mr. Dick; I will repay you +on your brother, though I don't know how to place him to any +account but my own. If I could be more anxious than I am about +him, it would be, my dear child, on what you say to me on +yourself; but be comforted, all will yet be well. + +Mr. Chute's picture is not yet arrived; when it comes, he shall +thank you himself. I must now give you a new commission, and +for no less a minister than the chancellor of the exchequer. +Sir George Lyttelton desires that you will send him for his +hall the jesses of the Venus, the dancing Faun, the Apollo +Medicis, (I think there is a cast of it,) the Mercury, and some +other female statue, at your choice: he desires besides three +pair of Volterra vases, of the size to place on tables, and +different patterns. consign the whole to me, and draw the bill +of lading on me. + +I have nothing more to tell you but a naivet`e of my Lady +Coventry; the King asked her if she was not sorry that there +are no masquerades this year-(for you must know we have +sacrificed them to the idol earthquake,)-she said, no, she was +tired of them; she was surfeited with most sights; there was +but one left that she wanted to see--and that was a coronation! +The old man told it himself at supper to his family with a +great deal of good humour. Adieu! my dear child. + + + +315 Letter 177 +315 Letter 177 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway.(664) +Arlington Street, March 25, 1756. + +In spite of being sorry, as I certainly ought to be, when your +letters are short, I feel quite glad; I rejoice that I am not +much in your debt, when I have not wherewithal to pay. Nothing +happens worth telling you: we have had some long days in the +House, but unentertaining; Mr. Pitt has got the gout in his +oratory, I mean in his head, and does not come out: we are sunk +quite into argument--but you know, when any thing is as it +should be, it is not worth talking of. The plate-tax has made +some noise; the ministry carried one question on it but by +nine. The Duke of Newcastle, who reserves all his heroism for +the war, grew frightened, and would have given up the tax; but +Mr. Fox bolstered up his courage and mustered their forces, and +by that and softening the tax till it was scarce worth +retaining, they carried the next question by an hundred. The +day before yesterday the King notified the invasion to both +Houses, and his having sent for Hessians. There were some +dislikes expressed to the latter; but, in general, fear +preponderated so much that the cry was for Hanoverians too. +Lord George Sackville, in a very artful speech, a little +maliciously even proposed them and noblemen's regiments: which +the Duke had rejected. Lord Ravensworth, in the other House, +moved in form for Hanoverians; the Duke of Newcastle desired a +few days to consider it, and they are to go upon it in the +Lords to-morrow. The militia, which had been dropped for next +year, is sprouted up again out of all this, and comes on +to-day. But we should not be English, if we did not become +still more intent on a very trifle: we are. A new road through +Paddington(665) has been proposed to avoid the stones: the Duke +of Bedford, who is never 'In town in summer, objects to the +dust it will make behind Bedford House, and to some buildings +proposed, though, if he was in town, he is too short-sighted to +see the prospect. The Duke of Grafton heads the other side: +this is carried! you can imagine it---you could compose the +difference! you, grand corrupter, you who can bribe pomp and +patriotism, virtue and a Speaker,(666) you that have pursued +uprightness even to the last foot of land on the globe, and +have disarmed Whiggism almost on the banks of its own Boyne- +-don't you return hither, we shall have you attempt to debauch +even Mr. Onslow, who has preserved his chastity, while all the +band of chosen youths, while every Pultney, Pitt, and Lyttelton +have fallen around him. I could not help laughing at the +picture of Malone bribed out of his virtue and mobbed into it +again! + +Now I am in a serious strain, I will finish my letter with the +only other serious history I know. My Lady Lincoln has given a +prodigious assembly to show the Exchequer house.(667) She sent +to the porter to send cards to all she visited: he replied, he +could easily do that, for his lady visited nobody but Lady Jane +Scott. As she has really neglected every body, many refusals +were returned. The Duchess of Bedford was not invited, and +made a little opposition-supper, which was foolish enough. As +the latter had refused to return my Lady Falmouth's visit, my +Lady Lincoln singled her out, visited and invited her. The +dignity of the assembly was great- Westminster Hall was +illuminated for chairs; the passage from it hung with green +baize and lamps, and matted. The cloister was the prettiest +sight in the world, lighted with lamps and Volterra vases. The +great apartment is magnificent. Sir Thomas Robinson the Long, +who you know is always propriety itself, told me how much the +house was improved since it was my brother's. The Duchess of +Norfolk gives a great ball next week to the Duke of Cumberland: +so you see that she does not expect the Pretender, at least +this fortnight. Last night, at my Lady Hervey's, Mrs. Dives +was expressing great panic about the French: my Lady Rochford, +looking down on her fan, said with great softness, "I don't +know, I don't think the French are a sort of people that women +need be afraid of." Adieu! + +(664) Now first published. + +(665) The Paddington or New Road, which the Duke of Bedford +opposed as making a dust behind Bedford House, and from some +intended buildings being likely to interrupt his prospect. The +Duke of Grafton warmly espoused the other side of the question. + +(666) The Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. + +(667) Lord Lincoln was at this time auditor of the +exchequer.-E. + + + +316 Letter 178 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway. +Strawberry Hill, April 16, 1756. + +You wrong me very much in thinking I omit writing because I +don't hear from you as often as you have a mind I should: you +are kinder to me in that respect than I have reason, +considering your numerous occupations, to expect: the real and +whole truth is, that I have had nothing to tell you; for I +could not tire either you or myself with all the details +relating to this foolish road-bill, which has engrossed the +whole attention of every body lately. I have entered into it +less than any body. What will you say when you are told that +proxies have been sent for to Scotland? that my Lord Harrington +has been dragged into the House of Lords from his coffin, and +Lord Arran(668) carried thither to take the oaths, who I +believe has not appeared there since the Revolution? In short, +it has become quite a trial for power: and though the Dukes of +Grafton and Bedford have lent their names and their vehemence, +you will guess what has been the engine behind the curtain. + +The French are so obliging as to wait till we have done with +these important squabbles: the House of Commons takes care too +not to draw off the attention of the nation. The Militia-bill +has passed through that solitude, but I hear will be stopped in +the House of Lords. I have lived lately in a round of great +disagreeable suppers, which you know are always called for my +Lady Yarmouth, as if the poor woman loved nothing but cramming: +I suppose it will so much become the etiquette, that in the +next reign there will be nothing but suppers for my Lord Bute. +I am now come hither to keep my Newmarket, but the weather is +cold and damp: it is uncertain whether the Duke makes that +campaign, or against the French. As the road-bill extinguished +the violence about the two operas of next year, and they made +the invasion forgot, and the invasion the earthquake, I +foresee--and I go almost upon as sure grounds as prophets that +take care to let the event precede the prediction-I foresee +that the Hanoverians will swallow up all: they have already a +general named, who ranks before any one of ours; and there are +to be two Hanoverian aide-de-camps! + +You will hear by this post of the death of Sir William Lowther, +whose vast succession falls to Sir James, and makes him +Croesus: he may hire the Dukes of Bedford and Marlborough for +led captains. I am sorry for this young man, though I did not +know him; but it is hard to be cut off so young and so rich: +old rich men seldom deserve to live, but he did a thousand +generous acts. You will be diverted with a speech of Lord +Shelburne,(669) one of those second-rate fortunes who have not +above five-and-thirty thousand pounds a year. He says, every +body may attain some one point if they give all their attention +to it; for his part, he knows he has no great capacity, he +could not make a figure by his parts; he shall content himself +with being one of the richest men in England! I literally saw +him t'other day buying pictures for two-and-twenty shillings, +that I would not hang in my garret, while I, who certainly have +not made riches my sole point of view, was throwing away +guineas, and piquing myself for old tombstones against your +father-in-law the General.(670) I hope Lady Ailesbury will +forgive my zeal for Strawberry against Coombank! Are you never +to see your Strawberry Hill again'? Lord Duncannon flatters us +that we shall see you in May. If I did not hope it, I would +send you the only two new fashionable pieces; a comic +elegy(671) by Richard Owen Cambridge, and a wonderful book by a +more wonderful author, Greville.(672) It is called "Maxims and +Characters:" several of the former are pretty: all the latter +so absurd, that one in particular, which at the beginning you +take for the character of a man, turns out to be the character +of a postchaise. + +You never tell me now any of Missy's bons-mots. I hope she has +not resided in Ireland till they are degenerated into bulls? +Adieu! + +(668) Charles Butler, second son of Thomas, Earl of Ossory, +created Earl of Arran in 1693. At his death, in 1759, his +title became extinct.-E. + + +(669) John, fifth son of Thomas Fitzmaurice, first Earl of +Kerry. He inherited, pursuant to the will of his uncle, Henry +Petty, Earl of Shelburne, his lordship's opulent fortune, and +assumed his surname in 1751. He was created Earl of Shelburne +in the kingdom of Ireland; and, in 1760, was raised to the +dignity of a British peer, by the title Of Lord Wycombe. He +died in 1761.-E. + +(670) General John Campbell, who, upon the death of Archibald +Duke of Argyle, succeeded to that title. + +(671) An Elegy on an Empty Assembly-room.-E. + +(672) Fulke Greville, Esq. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, in a +letter to her daughter, dated Louvere, Oct. 9, 1757, says, "We +have had many English here. Mr. Greville, his lady, and her +suite of adorers deserved particular notice: he was so good as +to present me with his curious book: since the days of the +Honourable Edward Howard, nothing has been published like it. +I told him the age wanted an Earl of Dorset to celebrate it +properly; and he was so well pleased with that speech, that he +visited me every day, to the great comfort of Madame, who was +entertained, meanwhile, with parties of pleasure of another +kind, though I fear I lost his esteem at last, by refusing to +correspond with him."-E. + + + +318 Letter 179 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, April 18, 1756. + +I wish I could send you accounts of your brother's amendment in +proportion to your impatience, and to my own: he does mend +certainly, but it is slowly: he takes the air every day, and +they talk of his riding, though I don't think him strong enough +yet to sit a horse; when he has rid a little he is to go to the +Bath. I wish it much; for though he is at Richmond, there is +no keeping him from doing too much business. Dr. Cocchi has +showed his usual sagacity: the case is pronounced entirely +asthmatic. As they have acquitted him of a consumption, I feel +easy, though the complaint he has is so uneasy to himself'. +You must not be discouraged by my accounts; for I see your +brother so very often, that it is not possible for me to +discern the progress of alteration in him. + +YOU Will not believe how little we have thought of the French +lately! We are engaged in a civil war-not between St. James's +and Leicester House, but between the Dukes of Grafton and +Bedford, about a new turnpike-road on the back of the town: as +you may imagine, it grows politics; and if it is not +compromised during the recess, the French may march deep into +the kingdom before they become greater politics. + +We think them not ready for Minorca, and that we shall be +prepared to receive them there. The Hessians are expected +immediately; and soon after them the Hanoverians; and soon +after them many jealousies and uneasinesses. + +These are all the politics I can tell you; and I have as little +else to tell you. Poor Lady Drumlanrig(673) Whose lord +perished so unfortunately about a ear and a half ago, is dead +of a consumption from that shock; and Sir William Lowther, one +of the two heirs of old Sir James, died two days ago of a +fever. He was not above six-and-twenty, master of above twenty +thousand pounds a-year - sixteen of which comes to young Sir +James, who was equally rich: think what a fortune is here +assembled-will any Florentine believe this when reduced to +sequins or scudi? + +I receive such packets of thanks of Lady Harry Beauclerc, +transmitted to her from Mr. Dick, that you must bear to have +some of them returned to you. I know you enough to believe +that you will be still better pleased with new trouble than +with my gratitude, therefore I will immediately flounce into +more recommendation; but while I do recommend, I must send a +bill of discount at the same time: in short, I have been +pressed to mention a Sir Robert Davers to you; but as I have +never seen him, I will not desire much more than your usual +civility for him; sure he may be content with that! I remember +Sir William Maynard,(674) and am cautious. + +Since I began this, I receive yours of April 2d, full of +uneasiness for your brother's quicksilver and its effects. I +did not mention it to you, because, though it put him back, his +physicians were persuaded that he would not suffer, and he has +not. As to reasoning with them, my dear child, it is +impossible: I am more ignorant in physic than a child of six +years old; if it were not for reverence for Dr. Cocchi, and out +of gratitude to Dr. Pringle, who has been of such service to +your brother, I should say, I am as ignorant as a physician. I +am really so sensible of the good your brother has received +from this doctor, that I myself am arrived so far towards being +ill, that I now know, if I was to be ill, who should be my +physician. The weather has been so wet and cold that your +brother has received very little benefit from it: he talked to +me again this morning of riding but I don't yet think him able; +if you had seen him as I saw him the day I wrote my first +letter to you, you would be as happy as I am now: without that +I fear you would be shocked to see how he is emaciated; but his +eyes, his spirits, his attention, give me great hopes, though I +absolutely think it a tedious astigmatic case. Adieu! my dear +child; be in better spirits, and don't expect either sudden +amendment or worse change. + +(673) Daughter of the Earl of Hopton.-E. + +(674) Whom Mr. Walpole recommended to Sir H. Mann, to whom Sir +William, who was a Jacobite, behaved very impertinently. + + + +319 Letter 180 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, April 20, 1756. + +Your steward called on me just as I was going to keep my +Newmarket at Strawberry Hill; he promised to leave me the +direction to the statuary, but as I have not heard from him, I +wish you would send it me + +The cold and the wet have driven me back to London, empty +London! where we are more afraid of the deluge than of the +invasion. The French are said to be sailed for Minorca, which +I hold to be a good omen of their not coming hither; for if +they took England, Port Mahon, I should think, would scarcely +hold out. + +Pray don't die, like a country body, because it is a fashion +for gentlefolks to die in London; it li's the bon ton now to +die; one can't show one's face without being a death's-head. +Mrs. Bethel and I are come strangely into fashion; but true +critics in mode object to our having underjaws, and maintain +that we are not dead comme il faut. The young Lady Exeter(675) +died almost suddenly, and has handsomely confirmed her father's +will, by leaving her money to her lord only for his life, and +then to Thomas Townshend.(676) Sir William Lowther has made a +charming will, and been as generous at his death as he was in +his short life; he has left thirteen legacies of five thousand +pounds each to friends; of which you know by sight, +Reynolds,(677) Mrs. Brudenel's son, (678) and young Turner. He +has given seventeen hundred pounds a-year; that is, I suppose, +seventeen hundred Pounds, to old Mrs. Lowther.(679) What an +odd circumstance! a woman passing an hundred years to receive a +legacy from a man of twenty-seven; after her it goes to Lord +George Cavendish. Six hundred pounds per year he gives to +another Mrs. Lowther, to be divided afterwards between Lord +Frederick and Lord John. Lord Charles, his uncle, is residuary +legatee. But what do you think of young Mr. James Lowther, who +not of age becomes master of one or two and forty thousand +pounds a-year? England will become a heptarchy, the property of +six or seven people! The Duke of Bedford is fallen to be not +above the fourth rich man in the island. + +Poor Lord Digby(680) is like to escape happily at last, after +being cut for the stone, and bearing the preparation and +execution with such heroism, that waking with the noise of the +surgeons, he asked if that was to be the day? "Yes."--"How +soon will they be ready?"--"Not for some time."--"Then let me +sleep till they are?" He was cut by a new instrument of +Hawkins, which reduces an age of torture to but one minute. + +The Duke had appeared in form on the causeway in Hyde Park with +my lady Coventry: it is the new office, where all lovers are +entered. How happy she must be with Billy and Bully!(681) I +hope she will not mistake, and call the former by the nickname +of the latter. At a great supper t'other night at Lord +Hertford's, if she was not the best-humoured creature in the +world, I should have made her angry: she said in a very vulgar +accent, if she drank any more, she should be muckibus. "Lord!" +said Lady Mary Coke, "what is that?"-"Oh! it is Irish for +sentimental." + +There is a new Morocco ambassador, who declares for Lady +Caroline Petersham, preferably to Lady Coventry. Lady Caroline +Fox says he is the best bred of all the foreign ministers, and +at one dinner said more obliging things than Mirepoix did +during his whole embassy. He is so fashionable, that George +Selwyn says he is sure my lady Winchelsea will ogle him instead +of Haslang. + +I shall send you soon the fruits of my last party to +Strawberry; Dick Edgcumbe, George Selwyn, and Williams were +with me: we composed a coat of arms for the two clubs at +White's, which is actually engraving from a very pretty +painting of Edgcumbe, whom Mr. Chute, as Strawberry king at +arms, has appointed our chief herald painter; here is the +blazon: + +Vert (for card-table,) between three -parolis proper on a +chevron table (for hazard-table) two rouleaus in saltire +between two dice proper: in a canton, sable, a white ball (for +election) argent. + +Supporters. An old knave of clubs on the dexter; a young knave +on the sinister side; both accoutred proper. + +Crest. Issuing out of an earl's coronet (Lord Darlington) an +arm shaking a dice-box, all proper. + +Motto. (Alluding to the crest,) Cogit amor nummi. The arms +encircled by a claret bottle ticket, by way of order. + +By the time I hope to see you at Strawberry Hill, there will be +a second volume of the Horatiana ready for the press; or a full +and true account of the bloody civil wars of the house of +Walpole, being a narrative of the unhappy differences between +Horatio and Horace Walpoles; in short, the old wretch, who +aspires to be one of the heptarchy, and who I think will live +as long as old Mrs. Lowther, has accomplished such a scene of +abominable avarice and dirt, that I, notwithstanding my desire +to veil the miscarriages of my race, have been obliged to drag +him and all his doings into light-but I won't anticipate. +Adieu! + +(675)Daughter and heir of horatio, son of the first Viscount +Townshend. + +(676) The Honourable Thomas Townshend, second son of Charles +second Viscount Townshend, member for the University of +Cambridge.-E. + +(677) Francis Reynolds, of strangeways, Esq.-E. + +(678) George Brudenel, Esq. afterwards member for Rutlandshire, +and equerry to George the Second.-E. + +(679) Hannah, youngest daughter of alderman Lowther. She had +been maid of honour to Queens Mary and Anne, and died in 1757, +at the age of one hundred and three.-E. + +(680) Edward sixth Lord Digby. he died in the following +year.-E. + +(681) The Duke of cumberland and Lord Bolingbroke.-E. + + + +321 Letter 181 +To George Montagu, Esq. +May 12. + +Don't imagine I write to you for any thing but form; there is +nothing like news, except the Prussian victories, which you see +in the papers: by next courier we expect he will send us at +least a leg or an arm of the Empress Queen. + +Our domestic politics are far from settled. The King is gone +to Kensington, and when any ministry can be formed, it is to be +sent after him. The Parliament draggles on, till any two of +the factions can unite. I have not got my tickets yet, but +will certainly reserve what you want. Adieu! + + + +322 Letter 182 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, May 16, 1756. + +You will hear with great satisfaction that your brother rides +out every day, and bears it pretty well. I sent to him +yesterday morning, and my Swiss boy told me with great joy at +his return, that he saw your brother's servants cutting a plate +of bread and butter for him, big enough, said he, for you, Sir, +and Mr. Bentley, and Mr. Muntz--who is a Swiss painter that I +keep in the house--you perceive I deal much in Swiss. I saw +your brother this morning myself; he does not mend so fast as I +wish, but I still attribute it to the weather. I mentioned to +him Dr. Cocchi's desire of seeing his case and regimen in +writing by Dr. Pringle, but I found he did not care for it; and +you may imagine I would not press it. I sifted Dr. Pringle +himself, but he would not give me a positive answer: I fear he +still thinks that it is not totally an asthma. If you had seen +him so much worse, as I have, you would be tolerably comforted +now. Lord Malpas(682) saw him to-day for the first time, and +told me alone that he found him much better than he expected. +His spirits and attention to every thing are just as good as +ever, which was far from being the case three months ago. + +I read the necessary part of your letter to Sir George +Lyttelton, who thinks himself much obliged, and leaves the +vases entirely to your taste, and will be fully content with +the five jesses you name. + +We have nothing new; the Parliament rises the 25th: all our +attention is pointed to Minorca, of which you must be much +better and sooner informed than we can. Great dissatisfactions +arise about the defenceless state in which it was left; it is +said, some account arrived from Commodore Edgcumbe(683) the +night before last, but it is kept very secret, which at least +specifies the denomination of it. I hope to find Mr. Conway in +town to-morrow night, whither he is just returned from Ireland; +he has pacified that country to the standard of his own +tranquillity. + +I have read the poem you mention, the Pucelle, and am by no +means popular, for I by no means like it-it is as tiresome as +if it was really a heroic poem. The four first cantos are by +much the best, and throughout there are many vivacities; but so +absurd, perplexed a story is intolerable; the humour often +missed, and even the parts that give most offence, I think very +harmless. + +P. S. We are to declare war this week; I suppose, in order to +make peace, as we cannot make peace till we have made war. + +(682) George, eldest son of George third Earl of Cholmondeley, +by Mary, daughter of Sir Robert Walpole: he died before his +father and was father of George the fourth earl. + +(683) George, second son of Richard Lord Edgecumbe, succeeded +his brother in the title, and was by George III. created +Viscount Mount Edgccumbe. + + + +323 Letter 183 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, May 19, 1756. + +Nothing will be more agreeable to me than to see you at +Strawberry Hill; the weather does not seem to be of my mind, +and will not invite you. I believe the French have taken the +sun. Among other captures, I hear the King has taken another +English mistress. a Mrs. Pope, who took her degrees in +gallantry some years ago. She went to Versailles with the +famous Mrs. quon: the King took notice of them; he was told +that they were not so rigid as all other English women are- +-mind, I don't give you any part of this history for authentic; +you know we can have no news from France but what we run. I +have rambled so that I forgot what I intended to say; if ever +we can have spring, it must be soon; I propose to expect you +any day you please after Sunday se'nnight, the 30th: let me +know your resolution, and pray tell me in what magazine is the +Strawberry ballad? I should have proposed an earlier day to +you, but next week the Prince of Nassau is to breakfast at +Strawberry Hill, and I know your aversion to clashing with +grandeur. + +As I have already told you one mob story of a king, I will tell +you another: they say, that the night the Hanover troops were +voted, he sent Schutz(684) for his German cook, and said, "Get +me a very good supper; get me all de varieties; I don't mind +expense." + +I tremble lest his Hanoverians should be encamped at Hounslow; +Strawberry would become an inn; all the Misses would breakfast +there, to go and see the camp! + +My Lord Denbigh,(685) is going to marry a fortune, I forget her +name; my Lord Gower asked him how long the honeymoon would +last? He replied, "Don't tell me of the honeymoon; it is +harvest moon with me." Adieu! + +(684) Augustus Schutz, a German, master of the robes to the +King, and his favourite attendant.-E. + +(685) Basil sixth Earl of Denbigh. In the following year he +married Mary, daughter and coheiress of Sir John Bruce +Cotton.-E. + + + +323 Letter 184 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, May 27, 1756. + +Your brother is determined to go to Bristol in ten days: our +summer, which nobody but the almanack has the confidence to say +is not winter, is so cold that he does not advance at all. If +his temper was at all in the power of accidents, it would be +affected enough just now to affect his health! What a figure we +would make in a catalogue of philosophers or martyrs! His +wife's aunt, Mrs. Forth, who has always promised him the half +of her fortune, which is at least thirty thousand pounds, is +dead, and has left him only two thousand pounds. He sent for +your brother Ned this morning to talk to him upon some other +business, and it was with such unaffected cheerfulness, that +your eldest brother concluded he was reserving the notification +of a legacy of at least ten thousand pounds for the bonne +bouche; but he can bear his wife, and then what are +disappointments? Pray, my dear child, be humble, and don't +imagine that yours is the only best temper in the world. I +pretend so little to a good one, that it is no merit in me to +be out of all patience. + +My uncle's ambition and dirt are crowned at last: he is a +peer.(686) Lord Chief Justice Ryder, who was to have kissed +hands with him on Monday, was too ill, and died on +Tuesday;(687) but I believe his son will save the peerage. + +We know nothing yet of Minorca, and seem to think so little of +our war, that to pass away his time, Mars is turned Impresario: +in short, the Duke has taken the Opera-house for the ensuing +season. There has been a contest between the manager Vanneschi +and the singers Mingotti and Ricciarelli;(688) the Duke +patronizes the Mingotti and lists under her standard. She is a +fine singer, an admirable actress; I cannot say her temper is +entirely so sweet as your brother's. + +May 30th, Arlington Street, + +See what a country gentleman I am! One cannot stir ten miles +from London without coming to believe what one hears, and +without supposing that whatever should be done, will be done. +The Opera-house is still in dispute between Signor Guglielmo +and Signor Vanneschi--and Mr. Ryder(689) will not get the +peerage; for coronets are not forfeited by worthlessness, but +by misfortune. My lord Chief Justice misses one by only dying, +my uncle gets one by living! + +I this moment receive your letter of the 15th. We had picked +up by scrambling accounts pretty much what you tell me of +Minorca; but hitherto we only live on comparing dates. + +I can add nothing to what I have said in the article of your +brother. I am going to send the papers to Lord +Macclesfield.(690) Adieu! + +P. S. It is uncertain who will be Chief Justice; Murray could +have no competitor, but the Duke of Newcastle cannot part with +him from the House of Commons.(691) + +(686) Through the zeal of his friend Lord Hardwicke, and the +influence of the Cavendish party, the repugnance of the King +was overcome, and Horatio Walpole, on the 1st of June, was +elevated to the peerage, by the title of Lord Walpole of +Wolterton.-E. + +(687) On the 24th of May, the King signed a warrant for raising +Sir Dudley Ryder to the peerage, but he died before the patent +was completed.-E. + + +(688) "Vanneschi's difference with Mingotti occasioned as many +private quarrels and public feuds as the disputed abilities of +Handel and Bononcini, or the talents of Faustina and Cuzzoni, +had done thirty years before. On a toujours tort in these +disputes; and addressing the town is but making bad worse: for +not a word which either party says is believed. These +squabbles ended in Vanneschi's being a bankrupt, a prisoner in +the Fleet, and afterwards a fugitive; and in Mingotti's +acquiring for a while the sovereignty in the Opera kingdom, by +which gratification of ambition they were soon brought to the +brink of ruin, as others had been before them." Burney.-E. + +(689) In 1776, Mr. Ryder was created Baron Harrowby.-E. + +(690) George Parker, second Earl of Macclesfield, President of +the Royal Society. He died in 1764.-D. + +(691) Mr. Potter, in a letter to Mr. Pitt of the 4th of June, +says, "Upon the death of the Chief Justice, all the +Attorney-General's private friends thought the office, on every +account, so fit for him, that it would be infatuation to +decline it, and that the Attorney-General himself was of the +same opinion, but the Duke of Newcastle was frightened at the +thoughts of what was to become of the House of Commons." +Chatham Correspondence, v 1. i. p. 159.-E. + + + +325 Letter 185 +To The Earl Of Strafford.(692) +Strawberry Hill, June 6, 1756. + +My dear lord, +I am not sorry to be paving my way to Wentworth Castle by a +letter, where I suppose you are at this time, and for which I +waited: it is not that I stayed so long before I executed my +embassy aupr`es de Milord Tylney. He had but one pair of gold +pheasants at present, but promises my Lady Strafford the first +fruits of their loves. He gave me hopes of some pied peacocks +sooner, for which I asked directly, as one must wait for the +lying-in of the pheasants. If I go on negotiating so +successfully, I may hope to arrive at a peerage a little sooner +than my uncle has. + +As your Lordship, I know, is so good as to interest yourself in +the calamities of your friends, I will, as shortly as I can, +describe and grieve your heart with a catastrophe that has +happened to two of them. My Lady Ailesbury, Mr. Conway, and +Miss Rich passed two days last week at Strawberry Hill. We +were returning from Mrs. Clive's through the long field, and +had got over the high stile that comes into the road; that is, +three of us. It had rained, and the stile was wet. I could +not let Miss Rich straddle across so damp a palfrey, but took +her in my arms to lift her over. At that instant I saw a coach +and six come thundering down the hill from my house; and +hurrying to set down my charge, and stepping backwards, I +missed the first step, came down headlong with the nymph in my +arms; but turning quite round as we rushed to the ground, the +first thing that touched the earth was Miss Rich's head. You +must guess in how improper a situation we fell; and you must +not tell my Lady Strafford before any body that every +petticoat, etc. in the world were canted high enough indeed! +The coach came on, and never stopped. The apprehension that it +would run over my Chloe made me lie where I was, holding out my +arm to keep off the horses, which narrowly missed trampling us +to death. The ladies, who were Lady Holderness, Miss Pelham, +and your sister Lady Mary Coke, stared with astonishment at the +theatre which they thought I had chosen to celebrate our loves; +the footmen laughed; and you may imagine the astonishment of +Mr. Conway and Lady Ailesbury, who did not see the fall, but +turned and saw our attitude. It was these spectators that +amazed Miss Pelham, who described the adventure to Mrs. Pitt, +and said, "What was most amazing, there were Mr. Conway and +Lady Ailesbury looking on!" I shall be vexed to have told you +this long story, if Lady Mary has writ it already; only tell +in@ honestly if she has described it as decently as I have. + +If you have not got the new Letters and Memoirs of Madame +Maintenon, I beg I may recommend them for your summer reading. +As far as I have got, which is but into the fifth volume of the +Letters, I think you will find them very curious, and some very +entertaining. The fourth volume has persuaded me of the +sincerity of' her devotion; and two or three letters at the +beginning of my present tome have made me even a little jealous +for my adored Madame de S`evign`e. I am quite glad to find +that they do not continue equally agreeable. The extreme +misery to which France was reduced at the end of Queen Anne's +war, is more striking than one could conceive. I hope it is a +debt that they are not going to pay, though the news that +arrived on Wednesday have but a black aspect. The +consternation on the behaviour of Byng,(693) and on the amazing +Council of war at Gibraltar,(694) is extreme; many think both +next to impossibilities. In the mean time we fear the loss of +Minorca. I could not help smiling t'other day at two passages +in Madame Maintenon's Letters relating to the Duc de Richelieu, +when he first came into the world: "Jamais homme n'a mieux +r`eussi `a la cour, la premi`ere fois qu'il y a paru: c'est +r`eellement une tr`es-jolie cr`eature!" Again:--"C'est la plus +aimable poup`ee qu'on puisse voir." How mortifying that this , +jolie poup`ee should be the avenger Of the Valoises! + +Adieu! my lord. I don't believe that a daughter of the Duke of +Argyle(695) will think that the present I have announced in the +first part of my letter balances the inglorious article in the +end. I wish you would both renew the breed of heroes, which +seems scarcer than that of gold pheasants! + +(692) William Wentworth, second Earl of Strafford, of the +second creation. He married Lady Anne Campbell, second +daughter of John, second Duke of Argyle, and died in 1791.-E. + +(693) Hon. John Byng, fourth son of Admiral Byng; a +distinguished officer, who, for his eminent services, was +created Viscount Torrington in 1721.-E. + +(694) A council of war was held at Gibraltar, to decide upon a +request made by Admiral Byng for a reinforcement of troops from +that garrison for the defence of Minorca; where M. de la +Galissoni`ere, with thirteen sail of the line and several +transports, had, towards the end of April, landed a large body +of land forces under the command of the Duc de Richelieu.-E. + +(695) Lady Strafford was the youngest daughter of John Duke of +Argyle. + + + +327 Letter 186 +To John Chute, Esq.(696) +Arlington Street, June 8, 1756. + +My dear sir, +Pray have a thousand masses said in your divine chapel `a +l'intention of your poor country. I believe the occasion will +disturb the founder of it, and make him shudder in his shroud +for the ignominy of his countrymen. By all one learns, Byng, +Fowke, and all the officers at Gibraltar, were infatuated! +They figured Port Mahon lost, and Gibraltar a-going! a-going! +Lord Effingham, Cornwallis, Lord Robert Bertie, all, all signed +the council of war, and are in as bad odour as possible. The +King says It will be his death, and that he neither eats nor +sleeps--all our trust is in Hanoverians. + +The Prince has desired to be excused living at Kensington, but +accepts of 40,000 pounds a year; 5,000 pounds is given to +Prince Edward, and an establishment is settling; but that too +will meet with difficulties. I will be more circumstantial +when we Meet.(697) + +My uncle has chose no motto nor supporters yet: one would think +there were fees to pay for them! Mr. Fox said to him, "Why +don't you take your family motto?" He replied, "Because my +nephew would say I think I speak as well as my brother." I +believe he means me. I like his awe. The Duke of Richmond, +taking me for his son, reproached himself to Lady Caroline Fox +for not wishing me joy. She is so sorry she undeceived him! +Charles Townshend has turned his artillery upon his own court: +he says, "Silly fellow for silly fellow, I don't see why it is +not as well to be governed by my uncle with a blue riband, as +by my cousin with a green one." + +I have passed to-day one of the most agreeable days of my life; +your righteous spirit will be offended with me-but I must tell +you: my Lord and Lady Bath carried my Lady Hervey and me to +dine with my Lady Allin at Blackheath. What added to the +oddness of the company in which I found myself was her sister +Mrs. Cleveland, whose bitterness against my father and uncle +for turning out her husband you have heard--but she is very +agreeable. I had a little private satisfaction in very +naturally telling my Lord Bath how happy I have made his old +printer, Franklyn. The Earl was in extreme good-humour, +repeated epigrams, ballads, anecdotes, stories, which, as +Madame S`evign`e says, put one in mind " "de sa d`efunte +veine." The Countess was not in extreme good-humour, but in +the best-humoured ill-humour in the world; contested every +thing with great drollery, and combated Mrs. Cleveland on +Madame Maintenon's character, with as much satire and knowledge +of the world as ever I heard in my life. I told my Lord Bath +General Wall's foolish vain motto, "Aut Caesar aut nihil." He +replied, "He is an impudent fellow; he should have taken 'Murus +aheneus.'" Doddington has translated well the motto on the +caps of the Hanoverians, "Vestigia nulla retrorsum." "They +never mean to go back again." + +Saunders, the new admiral, told the King yesterday in a very +odd phrase, that they should scren his heart out, if Byng is +not now in the harbour of Mahon. The world condemns extremely +the rashness of superseding admirals on no information but from +our enemies. The ministry tremble for Thursday se'nnight +(inter alia), when the King is to desire the Parliament to +adjourn again. I believe altogether it will make a party. +Adieu! + +(696) Now first printed. + + +(697) "June 6. I heard that a message in writing had been sent +to the Prince, from the King offering him an allowance of +40,000 pounds a year, and an apartment in the palaces of +Kensington and St. James's. The answer was full of high +gratitude for the allowance, but declining the apartment, on +account of the mortification it would be to his mother; though +it is well known that he does not live with her, either in town +or country." Doddington, p. 345.-E. + + + +328 Letter 187 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, June 14, 1756. + +Our affairs have taken a strange turn, my dear Sir, since I +wrote to you last at the end of May; we have been all +confusion, consternation, and resentment! At this moment we +are all perplexity! When we were expecting every instant that +Byng would send home Marshal Richelieu's head to be placed upon +Temple-bar, we were exceedingly astonished to hear that the +governor and garrison of Gibraltar had taken a panic for +themselves, had called a council of war, and in direct +disobedience to a positive command, had refused Byng a +battalion from thence. This council was attended, and their +resolution signed, by all the chief officers there, among whom +are some particular favourites, and some men of the first +quality. Instead of being shocked at this disappointment, Byng +accompanied it with some wonderful placid letters, in which he +notified his intention of retiring under the cannon of +Gibraltar, in case he found it dangerous to attempt the relief +of Minorca! These letters had scarce struck their damp before +D'Abreu, the Spanish minister, received an account from France, +that Galissoni`ere had sent word that the English fleet had +been peeping about him, with exceeding caution, for two or +three days; that on the 20th of May they had scuffled for about +three hours, that night had separated them, and that to his +great astonishment, the English fleet, of which he had not +taken one vessel. had disappeared in the morning. If the world +was scandalized at this history, it was nothing to the +exasperation of the court, who, on no other foundation than an +enemy's report, immediately ordered Admiral Hawke and Saunders +[created an admiral on Purpose] to bridle and saddle the first +ship at hand, and post away to Gibraltar, and to hang and drown +Byng and West, and then to send them home to be tried for their +lives: and not to be too partial to the land, and to be as +severe upon good grounds as they were upon scarce any, they +despatched Lord Tyrawley and Lord Panmure upon the like errand +over the Generals Fowke and Stuart. This expedition had so far +a good effect, that the mob itself could i)ot accuse the +ministry of want of rashness; and luckily for the latter, in +three days more the same canal confirmed the disappearance of +the English fleet for four days after the engagement--but +behold! we had scarce had time to jumble together our sorrow +for our situation, and our satisfaction for the despatch we had +used to repair it, when yesterday threw us into a new puzzle. +Our spies, the French, have sent us intelligence that +Galissoni`ere is disgraced, recalled, and La Motte sent to +replace him, and that Byng has reinforced the garrison of St. +Philip's(698) with--150 men! You, who are nearer the spot, may +be able, perhaps, to unriddle or unravel all this confusion; +but you have no notion how it has put all your politics +aground! + +This is not our only quandary! A message of 40,000 pounds +a-year, with an intention of an establishment for a court, and +an invitation of coming to live at Kensington, has been sent to +Leicester-fields. The money was very kindly received--the +proposal of leaving our lady-mother refused in most submissive +terms. It is not easy to enforce obedience; yet it is not +pleasant to part with our money for nothing--and yet it is +thought that will be the consequence of this ill-judged step of +authority. My dear child, I pity you who are to represent and +to palliate all the follies of your country! + +My uncle has got his peerage: but just when the patent was +ready my Lord Privy Seal Gower went out of town, on which the +old baby wrote him quite an abusive letter, which my Lord Gower +answered with a great deal of wit and severity. Lord +Ilchester(699) and Lord Falconberg(700) are created earls. + +General Isemberg of the Hessians has already diverted us: he +never saw the tide till he came to Southampton; he was alarmed, +and seeing the vessel leaning on the shore, he sent for his +master of the horse, and swore at him for overturning the ship +in landing the horses. Another of them has challenged a +Hampshire justice, for committing one of his soldiers; but +hitherto both Hessians and Hanoverians are rather popular. + +Your brother, whom, if any thing, I think better, is set out +this morning for Bristol. You cannot pray more for its +restoring his health than I do. I have just received yours of +May 28th, to which I make no answer, as all the events I have +mentioned are posterior to your accounts. Adieu! my dear Sir. + +(698) In the month of June 1756, the Marshal de Richelieu, at +the head of sixteen thousand men, landed in Minorca, and almost +immediately obtained possession of the whole island, as well as +of the fortress of St. Philip and Port Mahon, the population +joining him; and the garrison, commanded by General Blakeney, +being very weak, and not having received the expected succours +from Admiral Byng.-D. + +(699) Stephen first Earl of Ilchester, eldest surviving son of +Sir Stephen Fox. His titles were given him, with remainder, in +failure of issue male of himself, to his younger brother, Henry +Fox.,-D. + +(700) Thomas Belasyse, fourth Viscount and first Earl of +Fauconberg. He died in 1774.-D. + + + +330 Letter 188 +To George Montagu, Esq. +June 18. + +The two drawings of the Vine and Strawberry, which you desired, +are done. and packed up in a box; tell me how I must send them. +The confusion about the ministry is not yet settled; at least +it was not at noon to-day; but, for fear that confusion should +ever finish, all the three factions are likely to come into +place together. Poor Mr. Chute has had another bad fit; he +took the air yesterday for the first time. I came to town but +last night, and returned to my chateau this evening knowing +nothing but that we are on the crisis of battles and +ministries. Adieu! + +P. S. I just hear that your cousin Halifax has resigned, on +Pitt's not letting him be secretary of state for the West +Indies. + + + +330 Letter 189 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, July 11, 1756. + +I receive with great satisfaction all your thanks for my +anxiety about your brother: I love you both so much, that +nothing can flatter me more, than to find I please the one by +having behaved as I ought to the other--oh, yes! I could be +much more rejoiced, if this brother ceased to want my +attentions. Bristol began to be of service to him. but he has +caught cold there, and been out of order again: he assures me +it is over. I will give you a kind of happiness: since he was +there, he tells me, that if he does not find all the benefit he +expects, he thinks of going abroad. I press this most eagerly, +and shall drive it on, for I own if he stays another winter in +England, I shall fear his disorder will fix irremovably. I +will give you a commission, which, for his sake, I am sure, you +will be attentive to execute in the perfectest manner. Mr. Fox +wants four vases of the Volterra alabaster, of four feet high +each. I choose to make over any merit in it to you, and though +I hate putting you to expense, at which you always catch so +greedily, when it is to oblige, yet you shall present these. +Choose the most beautiful patterns, look to the execution, and +send them with rapidity, with such a letter as your turn for +doing civil things immediately dictates. + +There is no describing the rage against Byng; for one day we +believed him a real Mediterranean Byng.(701) He has not +escaped a sentence of abuse, by having involved so many +officers in his disgrace and his councils of war: one talks +coolly of their being broke, and that is all. If we may +believe report, the siege is cooled' into a blockade, and we +may still save Minorca, and, what I think still more of dear +old Blakeney.(702) What else we shall save or lose I know not. +The French, we hear, are embarked at Dunkirk--rashly, if to +come hither; if to Jersey or Guernsey, uncertain of success if +to Ireland, ora pro vobis! The Guards are going to encamp. I +am sorry to say, that with so much serious war about our ears, +we can't help playing with crackers. Well, if the French do +come, we shall at least have something for all the money we +have laid out on Hanoverians and Hessians! The latter, on +their arrival. asked bonnement where the French camp was. They +could not conceive being sent for if it was no nearer than +Calais. + +The difficulties in settling the Prince's family are far from +surmounted; the council met on Wednesday night to put the last +hand to it, but left it as unsettled as ever. + +Pray do dare to tell me what French and Austrians say of their +treaty: we are angry--but when did subsidies purchase +gratitude! I don't think we have always found that they even +purchased temporary assistance. France declared, Sweden and +Denmark allied to France, Holland and Austria neuter, Spain not +quite to be depended on, Prussia--how sincerely reconciled! +Would not one think we were menaced with a league of Cambray? +When this kind of situation was new to me, I did not like it-I +have lived long enough, and have seen enough, to consider all +political events as mere history, and shall go and see the +camps with as unthinking curiosity as if I were a simpleton or +a new general. Adieu! + +(701) His father, Lord Torrington, had made a great figure +there against the Spaniards. + +(702) It was at that time believed that General Blakeney had +acted with great spirit; but it appeared afterwards that he had +been confined to his bed, and had not been able to do any +thing. + + + +331 Letter 190 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, July 12, 1756. + +When I have told you that Mr. Muntz has finished the drapery of +your picture, and the copy of it, and asked you whither and how +they must be sent, I think I have done all the business of my +letter; except telling you, that if you think of conveying them +through Moreland, he is gone a soldiering. All the world is +going the same road, except Mr. Muntz, who had rather be +knocked on the head for fame, than paint for it. He goes to +morrow to Kingston, to see the great drum pass by to Cobham, as +women go to take a last look of their captains. The Duke of +Marlborough, and his grandfather's triumphal car are to close +the procession. What would his grandame, if she were alive, +say to this pageant? If the war lasts, I think well enough of +him to believe he will earn a sprig; but I have no passion for +trying on a crown of laurel, before I had acquired it. The +French are said to be embarked at Dunkirk--lest I should seem +to know more than any minister, I will not pretend to guess +whither they are bound. I have been but one night in town, and +my head sung ballads about Admiral Byng all night, as one is +apt to dream of the masquerade minuet: the streets swarm so +with lampoons, that I begin to fancy myself a minister's son +again. + +I am going to-morrow to Park-place; and the first week in +August into Yorkshire. If I hear that you are at Greatworth, +that is, if you will disclose your motions to me for the first +fortnight of that month, I will try if I cannot make it in my +road either going or coming. I know nothing of roads, but Lord +Strafford is to send me a route, and I should be glad to ask +you do for one night--but don't expect me, don't be +disappointed about me, and of all things don't let so uncertain +a scheme derange the least thing in the world that you have to +do. There are going to be as many camps and little armies, as +when England was a heptarchy. Adieu! + + + + 332 Letter 191 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, July 24, 1756. + +Because you desire it, I begin a letter to-day, but I don't +fancy I shall be able to fill to the bottom of this side. It +is in answer to your long one of the 3d. In answer?--no; you +must have Patience till next session before your queries can +be resolved, and then I believe you will not be very +communicative of the solutions. In short, all your questions +of, Why was not Byng sent sooner? Why not with more ships? Why +was Minorca not supported earlier? All these are questions +which all the world is asking as well as you, and to which all +the world does not make such civil answers as you must, and to +which I shall make none, as I really know none.(703) The +clamour is extreme, and I believe how to reply in Parliament +will be the chief business that will employ our ministry for +the rest of the summer--perhaps some such home and personal +considerations were occupying their thoughts in the winter, +when they ought to have been thinking of the Mediterranean. +We are still in the dark; we have nothing but the French +account of the surrender of St. Philip's: we are humbled, +disgraced, angry. We know as little of Byng, but hear that he +sailed with the reinforcement before his successor reached +Gibraltar. if shame, despair, or any human considerations can +give courage, he will surely contrive to achieve some great +action, or to be knocked on the head--a cannon-ball must be a +pleasant quietus. compared to being torn to pieces by an +English mob or a House of Commons. I know no other +alternative, but withdrawing to the Queen of Hungary, who +would fare little better if she were obliged to come hither-- +we are extremely disposed to massacre somebody or other, to +show we have any courage left. You will be pleased with a +cool, sensible speech of Lord Granville to Coloredo, the +Austrian minister, who went to make a visit of excuses. My +Lord Granville interrupted him, and said, "Sir, this is not +necessary; I understand that the treaty is only of neutrality; +but what grieves me is, that our people will not understand it +so; and the prejudice will be so great, that when it shall +become necessary Again, as it will do, for us to support your +mistress, nobody will then dare to be a Lord Granville." + +I think all our present hopes lie in Admiral Boscawen's +intercepting the great Martinico fleet of a hundred and fifty +sail, convoyed by five men-of-war Boscawen has twenty. I see +our old friend Prince Beauvau behaved well at Mahon. Our old +diversion, the Countess,(704) has exhibited herself lately to +the public exactly in a style you would guess. Having +purchased and given her lord's collection of statues to the +University of Oxford, she has been there at the public act to +receive adoration. A box was built for her near the +Vice-Chancellor, where she sat three days together for four +hours at a time to hear verses and speeches, to hear herself +called Minerva; nay, the public orator had prepared an +encomium on her beauty, but being struck with her appearance, +had enough presence of mind to whisk his compliments to the +beauties of her mind. Do but figure her; her dress had all +the tawdry poverty and frippery with which you remember her, +and I dare swear her tympany, scarce covered with ticking, +produced itself through the slit of her scowered damask robe. +It is amazing that she did not mash a few words of Latin, as +she used to fricasee French and Italian! or that she did not +torture some learned simile, like her comparing the tour of +Sicily, the surrounding the triangle, to squaring the circle; +or as when she said it was as difficult to get into an Italian +coach, as for Caesar to take Attica, which she meant for +Utica. Adieu! I trust by his and other accounts that your +brother mends. + +P. S. The letters I mentioned to you, pretended to be Bower's, +are published, together with a most virulent pamphlet, but +containing affidavits, and such strong assertions of facts as +have staggered a great many people. His escape and account of +himself' in Italy is strongly questioned. I own I am very +impatient for the answer he has promised. I admire his book +so much, and see such malice in his accusers, that I am +strongly disposed to wish and think him a good man. Do, for +my private satisfaction, inquire and pick up all the anecdotes +you can relating to him, and what is said and thought of him +in Italy. One accusation I am sure is false, his being a +plagiary; there is no author from whom he could steal that +ever wrote a quarter so well. + +(703) "However the case may be with regard to Byng," writes +Mr. George Grenville to Mr. Pitt, on the first intelligence of +the disaster, "what can be the excuse for sending a force, +which at the utmost is scarcely equal to the enemy, upon so +important and decisive an expedition? Though, in the venality +of this hour, it may be sufficient to throw the whole blame +upon Byng, yet I will venture to say, the other is a question +that, in the judgment of every impartial man, now and +hereafter, will require a better answer, I am afraid, than can +be given. I believe be was not reckoned backward in point of +personal courage, which makes this affair the more +extraordinary, and induces me to wait for his own account of +it, before I form an opinion of it." Chatham Correspondence, +vol. i. p. 163.-E. + +(704) Of Pomfret. + + + +334 Letter 192 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, August 28, 1756. + +As you were so kind as to interest yourself about the issue of +my journey, I can tell you that I did get to Strawberry on +Wednesday night, but it was half an hour past ten first- +-besides floods the whole day, I had twenty accidents with my +chaise, and once saw one of the postilions with the wheel upon +his body; he came off with making his nose bleed. My castle, +like a little ark, is surrounded with many waters, (and +yesterday morning I saw the Blues wade half way up their +horses through Teddington-lane. + +There is nothing new but what the pamphlet shops produce; +however it is pleasant to have a new print or ballad every +day--I never had an aversion to living in a Fronde. The +enclosed cards are the freshest treason; the portraits by +George Townshend are droll--the other is a dull obscure thing +as can be. The "Worlds" are by Lord Chesterfield on Decorum, +and by a friend of yours and mine, who sent it before he went +to Jersey; but this is a secret: they neglected it till now, +so preferable to hundreds they have published--I suppose Mr. +Moore finds, what every body else has found long, that he is +aground. I saw Lovel to-day; he is very far advanced and +executes to perfection; you will be quite satisfied; I am not +discontent with my own design, now I see how well it succeeds. +It will certainly be finished by Michaelmas, at which time I +told him he might depend on his money, and he seemed fully +satisfied. My compliments to your brother, and adieu! + + + +334 Letter 193 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, August 29, 1756. + +A journey of amusement into Yorkshire would excuse my not +having writ to you above this month, my dear Sir, but I have a +better reason,--nothing has happened worth telling YOU. Since +the conquest of Minorca, France seems to have taken the wisest +way for herself, and a sure one too of ruining us, by sitting +still, and yet keeping us upon our guard, at an outrageous +expense. Gazettes of all countries announce, as you say, +almost a league of Cambray against us; but the best heads +think, that after all Europe has profited of our profusion, +they will have the sense only to look on, while France and we +contend which shall hereafter be the Universal Merchant of +Venal Princes. If we reckon at all upon the internal +commotions in France, they have still a better prospect from +ours: we ripen to faction fast. The dearness of corn has even +occasioned insurrections: some of these the Chief Justice +Willcs has quashed stoutly. The rains have been excessive +just now, and must occasion more inconveniences. But the +warmth on the loss of Minorca has opened every sluice of +opposition that has been so long dammed up. Even Jacobitism +perks up those fragments of asses' ears which were not quite +cut to the quick. The city of London and some counties have +addressed the King and their members on our miscarriages. Sir +John Barnard, who endeavoured to stem the torrent of the +former, is grown almost as unpopular as Byng. That poor +simpleton, confined at Greenwich, is ridiculously easy and +secure, and has even summoned on his behalf a Captain Young, +his warmest accuser. Fowke, who of two contradictory orders +chose to obey the least spirited, is broke. Pamphlets and +satirical prints teem; the courts are divided; the ministers +quarrel-indeed, if they agreed, one should not have much more +to expect from them! the fair situation! + +I do not wonder that you are impertinenced by Richcourt;(705) +there is nothing so catching as the insolence of a great proud +woman(706) by a little upstart minister: the reflection of the +sun from brass makes the latter the more troublesome of the +two. + +Your dear brother returns from Bristol this week; as I fear +not much recovered, I shall have good reason to press his +going abroad, though I fear in vain. I will tell you +faithfully, after I have seen him a few days, what I think of +him. + +I never doubt your zeal in executing any commission I give +you. The bill shall be paid directly; it will encourage me to +employ you; but you are generally so dilatory in that part of +the commission, that I have a thousand times declined asking +your assistance. Adieu! my dear Sir. + +(705) Count Richcourt, a Lorrainer, prime minister at Florence +for the Great Duke. + +(706) The Empress Queen, wife of the Great Duke. + + + +335 Letter 194 +To Richard Bentley, Esq. +Wentworth Castle, August. + +I always dedicate my travels to you. My present expedition +has been very amusing, sights are thick sown in the counties +of York and Nottingham; the former is more historic, and the +great lords live at a prouder distance: in Nottinghamshire +there is a very heptarchy of little kingdoms elbowing one +another, and the barons of them want nothing but small armies +to make inroads into one another's parks, murder deer, and +massacre park-keepers. But to come to particulars: the great +road as far as Stamford is superb; in any other country it +would furnish medals, and immortalize any drowsy monarch in +whose reign it was executed. It is continued much farther, +but is more rumbling. I did not stop at Hatfield(707) and +Burleigh(708) to seek the palaces of my great-uncle-ministers, +having seen them before. + +Budgen palace(709) surprises one prettily in a little village; +and the remains of Newark castle, seated pleasantly, began to +open a vein of historic memory. I had only transient and +distant views of Lord Tyrconnells at Belton, and of Belvoir. +The borders of Huntingdonshire have churches instead of +milestones, but the richness and extent of Yorkshire quite +charmed me. Oh! what quarries for working in Gothic! This +place is one of the very few that I really like; the +situation, woods, views, and the improvements are perfect in +their kinds; nobody has a truer taste than Lord Strafford. +The house is a pompous front screening an old house; it was +built by the last lord on a design of the Prussian architect +Bott, who is mentioned in the King's M`emoires de Brandenburg, +and is not ugly: the one pair of stairs is entirely engrossed +by a gallery of 180 feet, on the plan of that in the Colonna +palace at Rome: it has nothing but four modern statues and +some bad portraits, but, on my proposal, is going to have +books at each end. The hall is pretty, but low; the +drawing-room handsome: there wants a good eating-room and +staircase: but I have formed a design for both, and I believe +they will be executed--that my plans should be obeyed when +yours are not! I shall bring you a groundplot for a Gothic +building, which I have proposed that you should draw for a +little wood, but in the manner of an ancient market-cross. +Without doors all is pleasing: there is a beautiful +(artificial) river, with a fine semicircular wood overlooking +it, and the temple of Tivoli placed happily on a rising +towards the end. There are obelisks, columns, and other +buildings, and above all, a handsome castle in the true style, +on a rude mountain, with a court -,and towers: in the +castle-yard, a statue of the late lord who built it. Without +the park is a lake on each side, buried in noble woods. Now +contrast all this, and you may have some idea of Lord +Rockingham's. Imagine now a most extensive and most beautiful +modern front erected before the great Lord Strafford's old +house, and this front almost blocked up with hills, and every +thing unfinished around it, nay within it. The great +apartment, which is magnificent, is untouched -. the +chimney-pieces lie in boxes unopened. The park is traversed +by a common road between two high hedges--not from necessity. +Oh! no; this lord loves nothing but horses, and the enclosures +for them take place of every thing. The bowling-green behind +the house contains no less than four obelisks, and looks like +a Brobdignag nine-pin-alley: on a hill near, you would think +you saw the York-buildings water-works invited into the +country. There are temples in corn-fields; and in the little +wood, a window-frame mounted on a bunch of laurel, and +intended for an hermitage. In the inhabited part of the +house, the chimney-pieces are like tombs; and on that in the +library is the figure of this lord's grandfather, in a night- +gown of plaster and gold. Amidst all this litter and bad +taste, I adored the fine Vandvek of Lord Strafford and his +secretary, and could not help reverencing his bed-chamber. +With all his faults and arbitrary behaviour, one must worship +his spirit and eloquence: where one esteems but a single +royalist, one need not fear being too partial. When I visited +his tomb in the church (which is remarkably neat and pretty, +and enriched with monuments) I was provoked to find a little +mural cabinet, with his figure three feet high kneeling. +Instead of a stern bust (and his head would furnish a nobler +than Bernini's Brutus) one is peevish to see a plaything that +might have been bought at Chenevix's. There is a tender +inscription to the second Lord Strafford's wife, written by +himself; but his genius was fitter to coo over his wife's +memory than to sacrifice to his father's. + +Well! you have had enough of magnificence; you shall repose in +a desert. Old Wortley Montagu lives on the very spot where +the dragon of Wantley did, only I believe the latter was much +better lodged: you never saw such a wretched hovel; lean, +unpainted, and half its nakedness barely shaded with harateen +stretched till it cracks. Here the miser hoards health and +money, his only two objects: he has chronicles in behalf of +the air, and battens on tokay, his single indulgence, as he +has heard it is particularly salutary. But the savageness of +the scene would charm your Alpine taste - it is tumbled with +fragments of mountains, that look ready laid for building the +world. One scrambles over a huge terrace, on which mountain +ashes and various trees spring out of the very rocks; and at +the brow is the don, but not spacious enough for such an +inmate. However, I am persuaded it furnished Pope with this +line, so exactly it answers to the picture: + +"On rifted rocks, the dragon's late abodes." + +I wanted to ask Pope if he had not visited Lady Mary Wortley +here during their intimacy, but could one put that question to +Avidien himself? There remains an ancient odd inscription +here, which has such a whimsical mixture of devotion and +romanticness that I must transcribe it:- + +"Preye for the soul of Sir Thomas Wortley. Knight of the body +to the kings Edward IV., Richard III., Henry VII., Henry +VIII., whose faults God pardon. He caused a lodge to be built +on this crag in the midst of Wharncliff (the old orthography) +to hear the harts bell, in the year of our Lord 1510." It was +a chase, and what he meant to hear was the noise of the stags. + +During my residence here I have made two little excursions and +I assure you it requires resolution . the roads are +insufferable: they mend them--I should call it spoil them-- +-with large pieces of stone. At Pomfret I saw the remains of +that memorable castle "where Rivers, Vaughan, and Gray lay +shorter by the head;" and on which Gray says, + +"And thou, proud boy, from Pomfret's walls shalt send +A groan, and envy oft thy happy grandsire's end!"(710) + +The ruins are vanishing, but well situated; there is a large +demolished church and a pretty market-house. We crossed a +Gothic bridge of eight arches at Ferrybridge, where there is a +pretty view, and went to a large old house of Lord +Huntingdon's at Ledstone, which has nothing remarkable but a +lofty terrace, a whole-length portrait of his Grandfather in +tapestry, and the having belonged to the great Lord Strafford. +We saw that monument of part of poor Sir John Bland's +extravagance,(711) his house and garden, which he left orders +to make without once looking at either plan. The house is a +bastard- Gothic, but Of not near the extent I had heard. We +lay at Leeds, a dingy large town; and through very bad black +roads, (for the whole country is a colliery, or a quarry,) we +went to Kirkstall Abbey, where are vast Saxon ruins, in a most +picturesque situation, on the banks of a river that falls into +a cascade among rich meadows, hills, and woods: it belongs to +Lord Cardigan: his father pulled down a large house here '. +lest it should interfere with the family seat, Deane. We +returned through Wakefield, where is a pretty Gothic chapel on +a bridge,(712) erected by Edward IV., in memory of his father, +who lived at Sandal castle just by, and perished in the battle +here, There is scarce any thing of the castle extant, but it +commanded a rich prospect. + +By permission from their graces of Norfolk, who are at +Tunbridge, Lord Strafford carried us to WorkSop,(713) where we +passed two days. The house is huge, and one of the +magnificent works of old Bess of Hardwicke, who guarded the +Queen of Scots here for some time in a wretched little +bedchamber within her own lofty one: there is a tolerable +little picture of Mary's needlework. The great apartment is +vast and triste, the whole leanly furnished: the great +gallery, of above two hundred feet, at the top of the house, +is divided into a library, and into nothing. The chapel is +decent. There is no prospect, and the barren face of the +country is richly furred with evergreen plantations, under the +direction of the late Lord Petre. + +On our way we saw Kiveton, an ugly neglected seat of the Duke +of Leeds, with noble apartments and several good portraits! I +went to Welbeck. It is impossible to describe the bales of +Cavendishes, harleys, Holleses, Veres, and Ogles: every +chamber is tapestried with them; nay, and with ten thousand +other fat morsels; all their histories inscribed; all their +arms, crests, devices, sculptured on chimneys of various +English marbles in ancient forms (and, to say truth, most of +them ugly). Then such a Gothic hall, with pendent fretwork in +imitation of the old, and with a chimney-piece extremely like +mine in the library. Such water-colour pictures! such +historic fragments! In short, such and so much of every thing +I like, that my party thought they should never get me away +again. There is Prior's portrait, and the column and +Varelst's flower on which he wrote; and the authoress Duchess +of Newcastle in a theatric habit, which she generally wore, +and, consequently,, looking as mad as the present Duchess; and +dukes of the same name, looking as foolish as the present +Duke; and Lady Mary Wortley, drawn as an authoress, with +rather better pretensions; and cabinets and glasses wainscoted +with the Greendale oak, which was so large that an old steward +wisely cut a way through it to make a triumphal passage for +his lord and lady on their wedding, and only killed it! But it +is impossible to tell you@ half what there is. The poor woman +who is just dead passed her whole widowhood, except in doing +ten thousand right and just things, in collecting and +monumenting the portraits and relics of all the great families +from which she descended, and which centred in her. The Duke +and Duchess of Portland are expected there to-morrow, and we +saw dozens of cabinets and coffers with the seals not yet +taken off What treasures to revel over! The horseman Duke's +man`ege is converted into a lofty stable,. and there is still +a grove or two of magnificent oaks that have escaped all these +great families, though the last Lord Oxford cut down above an +hundred thousand pounds' worth. The place has little pretty, +distinct from all these reverend circumstances. + +(707) Hatfield, the seat of the Earl of Salisbury, was +exchanged by King James I. with Robert Cecil, first Earl of +Salisbury, for Theobald's, in the same county. Evelyn visited +Hatfield in March 1643: "I went," he says, "to see my Lord +Salisbury's palace at Hatfield, where the most considerable +rarity, besides the house," (inferior to few then in England +for its architecture,) " was the garden and vineyard, rarely +well-watered and planted. They also showed us the picture of +Secretary Cecil in mosaic work, very well done by some Italian +hand."-E. + +(708) built by the great Lord Burleigh, lord treasurer to +Queen Elizabeth, who visited him at this place, and where +several articles still remain which had belonged to her.-E. + +(709) The episcopal palace of the Bishops of Lincoln.-E. + +(710) "August 14, 1654.-Passed through Pontefract; the castle, +famous for many guests, both of late and ancient times, and +the death of that unhappy king murdered in it (Richard II.), +was now demolishing by the rebels: it stands on a mount, and +makes a goodly show at a distance." Evelyn, vol. ii. p. 88.-E. + +(711) Kippax Park. + +(712) The chapel upon Wakefield bridge is said to have been +built upon the spot where Edmund Earl of Rutland, the youngest +son of Richard Duke of York, and brother of Edward IV. and +Richard III. was killed by John Lord Clifford, surnamed the +Butcher.-E. + +(713) The magnificent structure here described by Walpole was +burnt down in 1761.-E. + + + +339 Letter 195 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Sept. 19, 1756. + +I promised you an account of your brother as soon as he should +return from Bristol, but I deferred it for a week, till I +could see him reposed and refreshed, and could judge more +fairly. I do think him much mended; I do not say recovered. +H e looks with colour again, and has (got a little flesh, and +is able to do much more than before he went. My Lord Radnor +thinks he has a great appetite; I did not perceive it when he +dined with me. His breath is better, though sometimes +troublesome, and he brought back a great cough, which, +however, is much abated. I think him so much better, that I +ventured to talk very freely to him upon his own state; and +though I allowed him mended, I told him plainly that I was +convinced his case would be irrecoverable, if he did not go +abroad. At times he swears he will, if he falls back at all; +at others he will not listen to it, but pleads the confusion +of his affairs. I wish there is not another more +insurmountable cause, the fury, who not only torments him in +this world, but is hurrying him into the next. I have not +been able to prevail with him to pass one day or two here with +me in tranquility. I see his life at stake, I feel for him, +for you, for myself'; I am desperate about it, and yet know no +remedy! I can only assure you that I will not see it quietly; +nor would any thing check me from going the greatest lengths +with your sister, whom I think effectually, though perhaps not +maliciously, a most wicked being, but that I always find it +recoils upon your brother. Alas! what signifies whether she +murders him from a bad heart or a bad temper? + +Poor Mr. Chute, too, has been grievously ill with the gout- he +is laid up at his own house, whither I am going to see him. + +I feel a little satisfaction that you have an opportunity of +Richcourt's insults: who thought that the King of Prussia +would ever be a rod in our hands? For my part, I feel quite +pleasant, for whether he demolishes the Queen, or the Queen +him, can one but find a loophole to let out joy? Lord +Stormont's(714) valet de chambre arrived three days ago with +an account of his being within four leagues of Dresden.(715) +He laughs at the King o abuses Count Bruhl(716) with so much +contempt, that one reconciles to him very fast: however, I +don't know what to think of his stopping in Saxony. He +assures us, that the Queen has not 55,000 men, nor magazines, +nor money; but why give her time to get away? As the chance +upon the long run must be so much against him, and as he has +three times repeated his offers of desisting if the +Empress-Queen will pawn her honour (counters to which I wonder +he of all Kings would trust) that she will not attack him, one +must believe that he thinks himself reduced to this step; but +I don@t see how he is reduced to involve the Russian Empress +in the quarrel too. He affirms that both intended to demolish +him--but I think I would not accuse both till at least I had +humbled one. We are much pleased with this expedition, but at +best it ensures the duration of the war--and I wish we don't +attend more to that on the Continent than to that on our +element, especially as we are discouraged a little on the +latter. You reproach me for not telling you more of Byng- +-what can I tell you, my dear child, of a poor simpleton who +behaves arrogantly and ridiculously in the most calamitous of +all situations? he quarrels with the admiralty and ministry +every day, though he is doing all he can to defer his trial. +After he had asked for and had had granted a great number of +witnesses, he demanded another large set: this has been +refused him: he is under close confinement, but it will be +scarce possible to try him before the Parliament meets. + +The rage of addresses did not go far: at present every thing +is quiet. Whatever ministerial politics there are, are in +suspense. The rains are begun, and I suppose will soon +disperse our camps. The Parliament does not meet till the +middle of November. Admiral Martin, whom I think you knew in +Italy, died here yesterday, unemployed. This is a complete +abridgement of all I know, except that, since Colonel +Jefferies arrived, we think still worse of the land-officers +on board the fleet, as Boyd passed from St. Philip's to the +fleet easily and back again. Jefferies (strange that Lord +Tyrawley should not tell him) did not know till he landed +here,,what succour had been intended--he could not refrain +from tears. Byng's brother did die immediately on his +arrival.(717) I shall like to send you Prussian journals, but +am much more intent on what relates to your brother. Adieu! + +(714) British minister at Vienna. + +(715) This was the King of Prussia's irruption into Saxony, +which was the commencement of the terrible Seven Years' +War.-D. + +(716) Prime minister to Augustus King of Poland, and Elector +of Saxony. + +(717) Edward Byng, youngest brother of the Admiral. He was +bred up in the army. On the Admiral being brought home a +prisoner, he went to visit him at Portsmouth, on the 28th of +July: overcome by the fatigue of the journey, in which he had +made great expedition, he was on the next morning seized with +convulsions, and died.-E. + + + +341 Letter 196 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, Oct. 14, 1756. + +I shall certainly not bid for the chariot for you; do you +estimate an old dowager's new machine but at ten pounds? You +could scarce have valued herself at less! it is appraised here +at fifty. There are no family pictures but such as you might +buy at any sale, that is, there are three portraits without +names. If you had offered ten pounds for a set of Pelhams, +perhaps I should not have thought you had underpriced them. + +You bid me give you some account of myself; I can in a very +few words: I am quite alone; in the morning I view a new pond +I am making for gold fish, and stick in a few shrubs or trees, +wherever I can find a space, which is very rare: in the +evening I scribble a little; all this is mixed with reading; +that is, I can't say I read much, but I pick up a good deal of +reading. The only thing I have done that can compose a +paragraph, and which I think you are Whig enough to forgive +me, is, that on each side of my bed I have hung MAGNA CHARTA, +and the warrant for King Charles's execution, on which I have +written Major Charta; and I believe, without the latter, the +former by this time would be of very little importance. You +will ask where Mr. Bentley is; confined with five sick +infants, who +live in spite of the epidemic distemper, as if they were +infantas, and in bed himself with a fever and the same sore +throat, though he sends me word he mends. + +The King of Prussia has sent us over a victory, which is very +kind, as we are not likely to get any of our own-not even by +the secret Expedition, which you apprehend, and which I +believe still less than I did the invasion-perhaps indeed +there may be another port on the coast of France which we hope +to discover, as we did one in the last war. By degrees, and +somehow or other, I believe, we shall be fully acquainted with +France. I saw the German letter you mention, think it very +mischievous, and very well written for the purpose. + +You talk of being better than you have been for many months; +pray, which months were they, and what was the matter with +you? Don't send me your fancies; I shall neither pity nor +comfort you. You are perfectly well, and always were ever +since I knew you, which is now--I won't say how long, but +within this century. Thank God you have good health, and +don't call it names. + +John and I are just going to Garrick's with a grove of +cypresses in our hands, like the Kentish men at the Conquest. +He has built a temple to his master Shakspeare, and I am going +to adorn the outside, since his modesty would not let me +decorate it within, as I proposed, with these mottoes: + +"Quod spiro et placeo, si placeo, tuum est. +That I spirit have and nature, +That sense breathes in ev'ry feature, +That I please, if please I do, +Shakspeare, all I owe to you." + + + +342 Letter 197 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Twickenham, Monday. + +You are desired to have business to hinder you from going to +Northampton, and you are desired to have none to hinder you +from coming to Twickenham. The autumn is in great beauty; my +Lord Radnor's baby-houses lay eggs every day, and promise new +swarms; Mrs. Chandler treads, but don't lay; and the +neighbouring dowagers order their visiting coaches before +sunset-can you resist such a landscape? only send me a line +that I may be sure to be ready for you, for I go to London now +and then to buy coals. + +I believe there cannot be a word of truth in Lord Granville's +going to Berlin; by the clumsiness of the thought, I should +take it for ministerial wit--and so, and so. + +The Twickenham Alabouches say that Legge is to marry the +eldest Pelhamine infanta; he loves a minister's daughter--I +shall not wonder if he intends it, but can the parents! Mr. +Conway mentioned nothing to me but of the prisoners of the +last battle. and I hope it extends no farther, but I vow I +don't see why it should not. Adieu! + + + +342 Letter 198 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Oct. 17, 1756. + +Lentulus (I am going to tell you no old Roman tale; he is the +King of Prussia's aide-de-camp) arrived yesterday, with ample +Confirmation of the victory in Bohemia.(718) Are not you glad +that we have got a victory that we can at least call Cousin? +Between six and seven thousand Austrians were killed: eight +Prussian squadrons sustained the acharnement, which is said to +have been extreme, of thirty-two squadrons of Austrians: the +pursuit lasted from Friday noon till Monday morning; both our +countrymen Brown and Keith(719) performed wonders--we seem to +flourish much when transplanted to Germany--but Germany don't +make good manure here! The Prussian King writes that both +Brown and Piccolomini are too strongly entrenched to be +attacked. His Majesty ran to this victory; not `a la +Mulwitz.(720) He affirms having found In the King of Poland's +cabinet ample justification of his treatment of Saxony--should +not one query whether he had not those proofs(721) in his +hands antecedent to the cabinet? The Dauphiness(722) is said +to have flung herself at the King of France's feet and begged +his protection for her father; that he promised "qu'il le +rendroit au centuple au Roi de Prusse." + +Peace is made between the courts of Kensington and Kew; Lord +Bute(723) who had no visible employment at the latter, and yet +whose office was certainly no sinecure, is to be groom of the +stole(724) to the Prince of Wales; which satisfies. The rest +of the family will be named before the birthday--but I don't +know how, as soon as one wound is closed, another breaks out! +Mr. Fox, extremely discontent at having no power, no +confidence, no favour, (all entirely engrossed by the old +monopolist(725) has asked leave to resign. It is not yet +granted. If Mr. Pitt will--or can, accept the seals, probably +Mr. Fox will be indulged,--if Mr. Pitt will not, why then, it +is impossible to tell you what will happen.(726) Whatever +happens on such an emergency, with the Parliament SO near, +with no time for considering measures, with so bad a past, and +so much worse a future, there certainly is no duration or good +in prospect. Unless the King of Prussia will take our affairs +at home as well as abroad to nurse, I see no possible recovery +for us-and you may believe, when a doctor like him is +necessary, I should be full as willing to die of the +distemper. + +Well! and so you think we are undone!--not at all; if folly +and extravagance are symptoms of nation's being at the height +of their glory, as after-observers pretend that they are +forerunners Of its ruin, we never were in a more flourishing +situation. My Lord Rockingham and my nephew Lord Orford have +made a match of five hundred pounds, between five turkeys and +five geese, to run from Norwich to London. Don't you believe +in the transmigration of souls? And are not you convinced +that this race is between Marquis Sardanapalus and Earl +Heliogabalus? And don't you pity the poor Asiatics and +Italians who comforted themselves on their resurrection with +being geese and turkeys? + +Here's another symptom of our glory! The Irish Speaker, Mr. +Ponsonby,(727) has been reposing himself at Newmarket. George +Selwyn, seeing him toss about bank-bills at the hazard-table, +said, "How easily the Speaker passes the money-bills!" + +You, who live at Florence among vulgar vices and tame slavery, +will stare at these accounts. Pray be acquainted with your +own country, while it is in its lustre. In a regular monarchy +the folly of the Prince gives the tone; in a downright +tyranny, folly dares give itself no airs; it is in a wanton +overgrown commonwealth that whim and debauchery ]Intrigue best +together. Ask me which of these governments I prefer--oh! the +last--only I fear it is the least durable. + +I have not yet thanked you for your letter of September 18th, +with the accounts of the Genoese treaty and of the Pretender's +quarrel with the Pope--it is a squabble worthy a Stuart. Were +he here, as absolute as any Stuart ever wished to be, who +knows with all his bigotry but he might favour us with a +reformation and the downfall of the mass? The ambition of +making a Duke of York vice-chancellor of holy church would be +as good a reason for breaking with holy church, as Harry the +Eighth's was for quarrelling with it, because it would not +excuse him from going to bed to his sister, after it had given +him leave. + +I wish I could tell you that your brother mends! indeed I +don't think he does; nor do I know what to say to him; I have +exhausted both arguments and entreaties, and yet if I thought +either would avail, would gladly recommence them. Adieu! + +(718) This was the battle of Lowositz, gained by the King of +Prussia over the Austrians, commanded by Marshal Brown, on the +first of October, 1756.-D. + +(719) Brother of the Earl Marshal. + +(720) The King of Prussia was said to have fled from the first +battle, though it proved a victory. + +(721) He had procured copies of all Count Bruhl's despatches +by bribing a secretary. + +(722) The second wife of the Dauphin was daughter of Augustus +King of Poland. + +(723) John Stuart, Earl of Bute, who played so conspicuous a +part in the succeeding reign.-D. + +(724) Upon this appointment Edward Wortley Montagu thus writes +to lady Mary:--"I have something to mention that I believe +will be agreeable to you: I mean some particulars relating to +Lord Bute. He stood higher in the late Prince Of Wales's +favour than any man. His attendance was frequent at +Leicester-house, where this young Prince has resided, and +since his father's death has continued without intermission, +till new officers were to be placed under him. It is said +that another person was to be groom of the stole, but that the +Prince's earnest request was complied with in my lord's +favour. It is supposed that the governors, preceptors, etc. +who were about him before will be now set aside, and that my +lord is the principal adviser, This young Prince is supposed +to know the true state of the country, and to have the best +inclinations to do all in his power to make it flourish."-E. + +(725) The Duke of Newcastle. + +(726) "Oct. 19. Mr. Pitt was sent for to town, and came. He +returned, rejecting all terms, till the Duke of Newcastle was +removed." Dodington, p. 346-E. + +(727) The Right Hon. John Ponsonby, brother of Lord +Besborough.-D. + + + +344 Letter 199 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, Oct. 28, 1756. + +Can you recommend one a first minister? We want one so much, +that we do not insist upon his having a character from his +last place: there will be good vails.--But I forget; one ought +to condole with you: the Duke of Newcastle is your cousin, and +as I know by experience how much one loves one's relations, I +sympathize with you! But, alas! all first ministers are +mortal; and, as Sir Jonathan Swift said, crowned heads and +cane heads, good heads and no heads at all, may all come to +disgrace. My father, who had no capacity, and the Duke of +Newcastle, who has so much, have equally experienced the +mutability of this world. Well-a-day, well-a-day! his grace +is gone! He has bid adieu to courts, retires to a hermitage, +and Will let his beard grow as long as his Duchess's. + +so you are surprised! and the next question you will ask will +be, who succeeds? Truly that used to be a question the +easiest in the world to be resolved upon change of ministers. +It is now the most unanswerable. I can only tell you that all +the atoms are dancing, and as atoms always do, I suppose. will +range themselves into the most durable system imaginable. +Beyond the past hour I know not a syllable; a good deal of' +the preceding hours--a volume would not contain it. There is +some notion that the Duke of Bedford and your cousin Halifax +are to be the secretaries of state--as Witwould says, they +will sputter at one another like roasted apples. + +The Duchess of Hamilton has brought her beauty to London at +the only instant when it would not make a crowd. I believe we +should scarce stare at the King of Prussia, so much are we +engrossed by this ministerial ferment. + +I have been this morning to see your monument;(728) it IS not +Put together, but the parts are admirably executed; there is a +helmet that would tempt one to enlist. The inscription suits +wonderfully, but I have overruled the golden letters, which +not Only are not lasting, but would not do at all, as they are +to be cut in statuary marble. I have given him the arms, +which certainly should be in colours: but a shield for your +sister's would be barbarous tautology. You see how arbitrary +I am, as you gave me leave to be. Adieu! + +(728) To the memory of his sister, Miss Harriet Montagu.-E. + + + +345 Letter 200 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Nov. 4, 1756. + +I desired your brother last week to tell you that it was in +vain for me to write while every thing was in such confusion. +The chaos is just as far from being dispersed now; I only +write to tell you what has been its motions. One of the +Popes, I think, said soon after his accession, he did not +think it had been so easy to govern. What would he have +thought of such a nation as this, engaged in a formidable war, +without any government at all, literally, for above a +fortnight! The foreign ministers have not attempted to +transact any business since yesterday fortnight. For God's +sake, what do other countries say of us?--but hear the +progress of our inter-ministerium. + +When Mr. Fox had declared his determination of resigning great +offers were sent to Mr. Pitt; his demands were much greater, +accompanied with a total exclusion of the Duke of Newcastle. +Some of the latter's friends would have persuaded him, as the +House of Commons is at his devotion, to have undertaken the +government against both Pitt and Fox; but fears preponderated. +Yesterday his grace declared his resolution of retiring with +all that satisfaction of mind which must attend a man whom not +one man of sense, will trust any longer. The King sent for +Mr. Fox, and bid him try if Mr. Pitt would join him. The +latter, without any hesitation, refused. In this perplexity +the King ordered the Duke of Devonshire to try to compose some +ministry for him, and sent him to Pitt, to try to accommodate +with Fox.(729) Pitt, with a list of terms a little modified, +was ready to engage, but on condition that Fox should have no +employment in the cabinet. Upon this plan negotiations have +been carrying on for this week. Mr. Pitt and Mr. Legge, whose +whole party consists of from twelve to sixteen persons, +exclusive of Leicester-house, (of that presently,) concluded +they were entering on the government as secretary of state and +chancellor of the exchequer;@ but there is so great +unwillingness to give it up totally into their hands, that all +manner of expedients have been projected to get rid of their +proposals, or to limit their power. Thus the case stands at +this instant: the Parliament has been put off for a fortnight, +to gain time; the Lord knows whether that will suffice to +bring on any sort of temper! In the mean time the government +stands still; pray Heaven the war may too! You will wonder how +fifteen or sixteen persons can be of such importance. In the +first place, their importance has been conferred on them, and +has been notified to the nation by these concessions and +messages; next, Minorca is gone; Oswego gone; the nation is in +a ferment; some very great indiscretions in delivering a +Hanoverian soldier from prison by a warrant from the secretary +of state have raised great difficulties; instructions from +counties, boroughs, especially from the city of London, in the +style of 1641, and really in the spirit of 1715(730) and 1745, +have raised a great flame; and lastly, the countenance of +Leicester-house, which Mr. Pitt is supposed to have,(731) and +which Mr. Legge thinks he has, all these tell Pitt that he may +command such numbers without doors as may make the majorities +within the House tremble. + +Leicester-house is by some thought inclined to more pacific +measures. Lord Bute's being established groom of the stole +has satisfied. They seem more Occupied in disobliging all +their new court than in disturbing the King's. Lord +Huntingdon, the new master of the horse to the Prince, and +Lord Pembroke, one of his lords, have not been spoken to. +Alas! if the present storms should blow over, what seeds for +new! You must guess at the sense of this paragraph, which it +is difficult, at least improper to explain to you; though you +could not go into a coffee-house here where it would not be +interpreted to you. One would think all those little +politicians had been reading the Memoirs of the minority of +Louis XIV. + +There has been another great difficulty: the season obliging +all camps to break up, the poor Hanoverians' have been forced +to continue soaking in theirs. The country magistrates have +been advised that they arc not obliged by law to billet +foreigners on public-houses, and have refused. Transports +were yesterday ordered to carry away the Hanoverians! There +are eight thousand men taken from America; for I am sure we +can spare none from hence. The negligence and dilatoriness of +the ministers at home, the wickedness of our West Indian +governors, and the little-minded quarrels of the regulars and +irregular forces, have reduced our affairs in that part of the +world to a most deplorable state. Oswego, of ten times more +importance even than Minorca, is so annihilated that we cannot +learn the particulars. + +My dear Sir, what a present and future picture have I given +you! The details are infinite, and what I have neither time, +nor, for many reasons, the imprudence to send by the post: +your good sense will but too well lead you to develop them. +The crisis is most melancholy and alarming. I remember two or +three years ago I wished for more active times, and for events +to furnish our correspondence. I think I could write you a +letter almost as big as my Lord Clarendon's History. What a +bold man is he who shall undertake the administration! How +much shall we be obliged to him! How mad is he, whoever is +ambitious of it! Adieu! + +(729) "The Duke of Devonshire advised his Majesty to comply +with Pitt's demands, whereupon the administration was formed; +on which account the Duke was unjustly censured by some +unreasonable friends; for he joined Pitt rather than Fox, not +from any change of friendship, or any partiality in Pitt's +favour, but because it was more safe to be united with him who +had the nation of his side, than with the man who was the most +unpopular; a reason which will have its proper weight with +most ministers." Waldegrave's Memoirs, p. 87.-E. + +(730) Meaning that the Jacobites excited the clamour. + +(731) Lord Temple, in a letter to Mr. Pitt of the 11th, says, +"Lord Bute used expressions so transcendently obliging to me, +and so decisive of the determined purpose of Leicester-house +towards us, in the present or any future day, that your own +lively imagination cannot suggest to you a wish beyond them." +Chatham correspondence, vol. i. p. 191.-E. + + + +347 Letter 201 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, November 6, 1756. + +After an inter-MinisteriUm of seventeen days, Mr. Pitt has +this morning, accepted the government as secretary of state; +the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Fox being both excluded. The +Duke of Devonshire is to be at the head of the treasury. the +Chancellor(732) retires; the seals to be in commission. +Remnants of both administrations must be preserved, as Mr. +Pitt has not wherewithal to fill a quarter of their +employments. Did you ever expect to see a time when he would +not have cousins enough? It will take some days to adjust all +that is to follow. You see that, unless Mr. Pitt joins with +either Fox or Newcastle, his ministry cannot last six months; +I would bet that the lightness of the latter emerged first. +George Selwyn, hearing some people at Arthur's t'other night +lamenting the distracted state of the country, joined in the +discourse, with the whites of his eyes and his prim mouth, and +fetching a deep sigh, said, "Yes, to be sure it is terrible! +There is the Duke of Newcastle's faction, and there is Fox's +faction, and there is Leicester-house! between two factions +and one faction we are torn to pieces!" + +Thank you for your exchequer-ward wishes for me, but I am apt +to think that I have enough from there already: don't think my +horns and hoofs are growing, when I profess indifference to my +interest. Disinterestedness is no merit in me, 'It happens to +be my passion. It certainly is not impossible that your two +young lords may appear in the new system. Mr. Williams is +just come from his niece, Lady North's, and commends her +husband exceedingly. He tells me that the plump Countess is +in terrors lest Lord Coventry should get a divorce from his +wife and Lord Bolingbroke should marry her. 'Tis a +well-imagined panic! + +Mr. Mann, I trust, does not grow worse; I wish I could think +he mended. Mr. B. is sitting in his chimney-corner literally +with five girls; I expect him to meet me to-morrow at +Strawberry. As no provision is made for the great C`u in the +new arrangement, it is impossible but he may pout a little. +My best compliments to your brothers and sisters. Adieu! Will +this find you at Greatworth! + +(732) Lord Hardwicke. + + + +348 Letter 202 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Nov. 13, 1756. + +Your brother has told me that Mr. Pitt accepts your southern +province, yielding to leave Lord Holderness in the northern. +I don't know what calm you at this distance may suppose this +will produce; I should think little; for though the Duke of +Newcastle resigned on Thursday, and Mr. Fox resigns to-day, +the chief friends of each remain in place -, and Mr. Pitt +accedes with so little strength that his success seems very +precarious. If he Hanoverizes, or checks any inquiries, he +loses his popularity, and falls that way; if he burnouts the +present rage of the people, he provokes two powerful factions. +His only chance seems to depend on joining with the Duke of +Newcastle, who is most offended with Fox: but after Pitt's +personal exclusion of his grace, and considering Pitt's small +force, it may not be easy for him to be accepted there. I +foresee nothing but confusion: the new system is composed of +such discordant parts that it can produce no harmony. Though +the Duke of Newcastle, the Chancellor, Lord Anson, and Fox +quit, yet scarce one of their friends is discarded. The very +cement seems disjunctive; I mean the Duke of Devonshire, who +takes the treasury. If he acts cordially, he disobliges his +intimate friend Mr. Fox; if he does not, he offends Pitt. +These little reasonings will give you light, though very +insufficient for giving you a clear idea of the most perplexed +and complicate situation that ever was. Mr. Legge returns to +be chancellor of the exchequer, and Sir George Lyttelton is +indemnified with a peerage. The Duke of Newcastle has got his +dukedom entailed on Lord Lincoln. The seals are to be in +commission, if not given to a lord keeper. Your friend Mr. +Doddington(733) is out again for about the hundred and +fiftieth time. The rest of the list is pretty near settled; +you shall have it as soon as it takes place. I should tell +you that Lord Temple is first lord of the admiralty. + +Being much too busy to attend to such trifles as a war and +America, we know mighty little of either. The massacre at +Oswego happily proves a romance: part of the two regiments +that were made prisoners there are actually arrived at +Plymouth, the provisions at Quebec being too scanty to admit +additional numbers. The King of Prussia is gone into winter +quarters, but disposed in immediate readiness. One hears that +he has assured us, that if we will keep our fleet in good +order, he will find employment for the rest of our enemies. +Two days ago, in the midst of all the ferment at court, +Coloredo, the Austrian minister, abruptly demanded an +audience, in which he demanded our quotas: I suppose the King +told him that whenever he should have a ministry again he +would consult them. I will tell you my comment on this: the +Empress-Queen, who is scrupulous on the ceremonial of +mischief, though she so easily passes over the reality and +ingratitude, proposes, I imagine, on a refusal which she +deserves and has drawn upon her, to think herself justified in +assisting France in some attempts on us from the coast of +Flanders. I have received yours of October 23d, and am glad +the English showed a proper disregard of Richcourt. Thank you +a thousand times for your goodness to Mr. and Mrs. Dick: it +obliges me exceedingly, and I am sure will be most grateful to +Lady Henry Beauclerc. + +I don't know what to answer to that part about your brother: +you think and argue exactly as I have done; would I had not +found it in vain! but, my dear child, you and I have never +been married, and are sad judges! As to your elder brother's +interposition, I wish he had tenderness enough to make him +arbitrary. I beg your pardon, but he is fitter to marry your +sister than to govern her. Your brother Gal. certainly looks +better; yet I think of him just as you do, and by no means +trust to so fallacious a distemper. Indeed I tease him to +death to take a resolution, but to no purpose. In short, my +dear Sir, they are melancholy words, but I can neither flatter +you publicly nor privately; England is undone, and your +brother is not to be persuaded; Yet i hope the former will not +be quite given up, and I shall certainly neglect nothing +possible with regard to the latter. Adieu! +' + +(733) Doddington, in his Diary of the 15th, says, "The Duke of +Devonshire told me that he was forced by the King to take the +employment he held; that his grace was ordered to go to Mr. +Pitt, and know upon what conditions he would serve; that, in +the arrangement Pitt and his friends made, my office was +demanded--he was sorry for it--he was not concerned in it--and +he behaved very civilly," etc.-E. + + + +350 Letter 203 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, Nov. 25, 1756. + +You must tell me what or whose the verses are that you demand; +I know of none. I could send you reams of tests, contests, +and such stupid papers, and bushels of more stupid cards. I +know of nothing good; nor of any news, but that the committee +of creations is not closed yet. Mr. Obrien was yesterday +created Irish Earl of Thomond. Mr. Pitt is to be wrapped up +in flannel, and brought to town to-morrow to see King George +the Second; and I believe, to dissolve the new ministry, +rather than to cement it. Mr. Fox has commenced hostilities, +and has the borough of Stockbridge from under Dr. Hay, one of +the new admiralty; this enrages extremely the new ministers, +who, having neither members nor boroughs enough , will +probably recur to their only resource, popularity. + +I am exceedingly obliged to the Colonel, but is that new? to +whom am I so much obliged? I will not trouble him with any +commissions: the little money I have I am learning to save: +the times give one a hint that one may have occasion for it. + +I beg my best compliments to Mr. and Mrs. Wetenhall, and Mr. +John Montagu. Don't you wish me joy of my Lord Hertford's +having the garter! It makes me very happy! Adieu! + + + +350 Letter 204 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, November 29, + +No material event has yet happened under the new +administration; indeed it has scarce happened itself: your new +master, Mr. Pitt, has been confined in the country with the +gout, and came to town but within these two days. The world, +who love to descry policy in every thing, and who have always +loved to find it in Mr. Pitt's illnesses, were persuaded that +his success was not perfect enough, and that he even hesitated +whether he should consummate. He is still so lame that he +cannot go to court--to be sure the King must go to him He +takes the seals on Saturday; the Parliament meets on Thursday, +but will adjourn for about ten days for the re-elections. The +new ministers are So little provided with interest in +boroughs, that it is almost an administration out of +Parliament. Mr. Fox has already attacked their seats, and has +undermined Dr. Hay, one of the new admiralty, in Stockbridge: +this angers extremely. The Duke of Newcastle is already +hanging out a white flag to Pitt; but there is so little +disposition in that quarter to treat, that they have employed +one Evans-, a lawyer, to draw up articles of impeachment +against Lord Anson. On the other hand they show great +tenderness to Byng, who has certainly been most inhumanly and +spitefully treated by Anson. Byng's trial is not yet +appointed. Lord Effingham, Cornwallis, and Stuart are +arrived, and are to have their conduct examined this day +se'nnight by three general officers. In the mean time the +King, of his own motion, has given a red riband and an Irish +barony to old Blakeney, who has been at court in a +hackney-coach, with a foot soldier behind it. As he has not +only lost his government, but as he was bedrid while it was +losing, these honours are a little ridiculed: we have too many +governors that will expect titles, if losses are pretensions! +Mr. Obrien is made Earl of Thomond:(734) my Lady Townshend +rejoices; she says he has family enough to re-establish the +dignity of the Irish peerage, to which of late nothing but +brewers and poulterers have been raised; that she expected +every day to receive a bill from her fishmonger, signed Lord +Mountshrimp! + +I promised you a list of the changes when they should be +complete. They are very conveniently ready to fill the rest +of my letter. + +Transcriber's note: In the print copy the following +information is given in three columns: the new office-holder +on the left, the office in the middle, and the previous +office-holder on the right. + +Duke of Devonshire, in the room of the duke of Newcastle + +(P) Mr. Legge, Chancellor of exchequer, in the room of (N) Sir +G. Lyttelton a peer. + + (N) Mr. Nugent, Lord Duncannon, (P) Mr. J. Grenville, of the +Old Treasury; in the room of Mr. Furnese, dead; (N) mr. +Obrien, Irish Earl. + +Mr. w. Pitt, Secretary of State, in the room of mr. Fox. + +Lord Buckingham, Lord of bedchamber, in the room of Lord +Fitzwilliam, dead. + +(F) Mr. Edgcumbe, Comptroller of Household, in the room of +Lord Buckingham. + +(F) Lord Berkeley of Stratton, Captain of pensioners, in the +room of the late Lord Buckingham. + +(F) Lord Bateman, Treasurer of Household, in the room of Lord +berkeley. + +(P) Mr. G. Grenville, Treasurer of the Navy, in the room of +(F) mr. dodinglton. + +(P) Mr. Potter, Joint paymaster, in the room of (N) Lord +Darlington + +(P) mr. martin, Secretary of Treasury, in the room of (N) Mr. +West. + +(P) Sir r. Lyttelton, Master of jewel Office, in the room of +(N) Lord Breadalbane. + +(N) Lord Breadalbane, Justice in Eyre, in the room of (N) Lord +Sandys. + +(N) Lord Sandys, Speaker of House of Lords, in the room of (N) +Lord Chancellor. + +Lord chief Justice Willes, (P) Justice Wilmot, and baron +smyth, Commissioners of the Great Seal, in the room of the +Lord Chancellor. + +(P) Lord Temple, Admiral Boscawen before, (P) Admiral West, +(P) Dr. Hay, (P) Mr. Elliot, (P) Mr. Hunter, (P) John Pitt, in +the room of (N) Lord Anson, Admiral (N) rowley, Lord +Duncannon, (F) Lord Bateman, Lord Hyde, and (F) mr. Edgcumbe. +But John Pitt is to resign again, and be made Paymaster of the +Marines, to make room for Admiral Forbes. + +Charles Townshend, Treasurer of the Chambers, in the room of +Lord Hilsborough, English baron. + +This last is not done; as Mr. Townshend cannot be rechosen at +Yarmouth, he only consents to accept, provided another borough +can be found for him' this does not appear very easy. + +The Duke of Newcastle has advertised in all the newspapers, +that he retires without place or pension: here is a list of +his disinterestedness. The reversion of his dukedom for Lord +Lincoln: this is the only duchy bestowed by the present King: +on my father's resignation, the new ministers did prevail to +have dukedoms offered to Lord Northampton and Lord Ailesbury; +but both declined, having no sons. Mr. Shelley, the Duke's +nephew, has the reversion of Arundel's place: Mr. West has a +great reversion for himself and his son: your little waxen +friend, Tommy Pelham, has another reversion in the Customs. +Jones, the Duke's favourite secretary, and nephew of the late +chancellor, has another. Not to mention the English barony +for Sir George Lyttelton, and the Irish earldom for Mr. +Obrien. The Garters are given to the Duke of' Devonshire, to +Lord Carlisle, Lord Northumberland, and (to my great +satisfaction) to Lord Hertford. + +Oh! I should explain the marks: the (N) signifies of the +Newcastle and Hardwick faction; the (P) of Pitt's; the (F) of +Fox's. You will be able by these to judge a little of how +strange a medley the new government is composed! consequently, +how durable! + +I was with your brother this morning at Richmond; he thinks +himself better; I do not think him worse; but judge by your +own feelings if that is enough to content me. Pray that your +brother and your country may mend a little faster! I dread the +winter for him, and the summer for England! Adieu! + +P. S. Since I have finished this, I received yours of November +13th, with the account of Richcourt's illness. What! you are +forced to have recourse to apoplexies and deaths for +revolutions! We make nothing of changing our ministers at +every fall of the leaf. My Lord Huntingdon (who, by the way, +loves you, and does you justice,) has told me one or two very +good bon-mots of the Pope:(735) I have always had a great +partiality for the good old man: I desire you will tell me any +anecdotes or stories of him that you know-. I remember some +of his sayings with great humour and wit. You can never +oblige me more than by anecdotes of particular people--but you +are indeed always good in that and every other way. + +(734) Percy Windham Obrien, second son of Sir William Windham, +by a daughter of Charles Duke of Somerset. The Earl of +Thomond, who had married another daughter, left his estate to +this Mr. Windham, his wife's nephew, on condition of his +taking the name of Obrien. + +(735) Prospero Lambertini, called Benedict the Fourteenth. + + + +352 Letter 205 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Dec. 8, 1756. + + Your poor brother desires me to write to you to-day, as he is +in bed (and not able. He went to town last week, caught cold, +and returned with a fever. He has been drinking tar-water +since the middle of November, at the persuasion of your older +brother and his Richmond friends. Indeed he had gone through +the whole course of drugs to no purpose. There is a great +eruption to-day in most parts of his body, which they think +will be of great service to him. In my own opinion, he is so +weak, that I am in great apprehensions for him. He is very +low-spirited, and yet thinks himself much better to-day. Your +brother Ned was surprised at my being so alarmed, as they had +considered this as a most fortunate crisis-but I have much +difficulty in persuading myself to be so sanguine. As we have +a recess for a few days, I shall stay here till Saturday, and +see your brother again, and will tell you my opinion again. +You see I don't deceive you: if that is any satisfaction, be +assured that nobody else would give you so bad an account, as +I find all his family have new hopes of him: would to God I +had + +Our first day of Parliament(736) passed off harmoniously; but +in the House of Lords there was an event. A clause of thanks +for having sent for the Hanoverians had crept into the address +of the peers--by Mr. Fox's means, as the world thinks: Lord +Temple came out of a sick bed to Oppose it.(737) Next day +there was an alarm of an intention of instating the same +clause in our address. Mr. Pitt went angry to court, +protesting that he would not take the seals, if any such +motion passed: it was sunk. Next day he accepted--and the day +after, Mr. Fox, extremely disgusted with the Duke of +Devonshire for preferences shown to Mr. Pitt, retired into the +country. The Parliament is adjourned for the reelections; and +Mr. Pitt, who has pleased in the closet, is again laid up with +the gout. We meet on Monday, when one shall be able to judge +a little better of the temper of the winter. The Duke of +Bedford is to be Lord Lieutenant of Ireland-no measure of +peace! Not to mention his natural warmth, every body is +sensible that he is only placed there to traverse Pitt. + +Your brother and I are uneasy about your situation: when we +are treated insolently at Leghorn, to what are we sunk! Can +Mr. Pitt or the King of Prussia find a panacea for all our +disgraces? Have you seen Voltaire's epigram? + +"Rivaux du Vainqueur de l'Euphrate, +L'Oncle,(738) et le Neveu;(739) +L'un fait la guerre en pirate, +L'autre en partie bleue." + +It is very insipid! It Seems to me,(740) as if Uncle and +Nephew could furnish a better epigram , unless their +reconciliation deadens wit. Besides, I don't believe that the +Uncle of these lines means at all to be like Alexander, who +never was introduced more pompously for the pitiful end of +supplying @ rhyme. + +Is it true what we see in the gazettes, that the Pantheon is +tumbled down? Am not I a very Goth, who always thought it a +dismal clumsy performance, and could never discover any beauty +in a strange mass of light poured perpendicularly into a +circle of obscurity? Adieu! I wish you may hope more with +your elder brother than tremble with me! + +(736) "The Speech from the throne, by its style and substance, +appeared to be the work of the new speech-maker: the Militia, +which his Majesty had always turned into ridicule, being +strongly recommended, the late administration censured, and +the uncourtly addresses of the preceding summer receiving the +highest commendations." Waldegrave, 88.-E. + +(737) "The new Lord of the Admiralty came, as he told the +Lords, out of a sick bed, at the hazard of his life, (indeed, +he made a most sorrowful appearance,) to represent to their +lordships the fatal consequences of the intended compliment: +he said, that the people of England would be offended even at +the name of Hanover, or of foreign mercenaries, and added many +other arguments, without mentioning the true reason of his +disapprobation: namely, the Duke of Devonshire's having added +this compliment without consulting him: and, having finished +his oration, went out of the House, with a thorough conviction +that such weighty reasons must be quite unanswerable." Ibid. +p. 89.-E. + +((738) George II. + +(739) The King of Prussia. + +(740) Mr. Walpole had had a quarrel with his uncle Horatio. + + + +354 Letter 206 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Dec. 16, 1756. + +It will be easier for you, I fear, to guess, than for me to +describe, what I have felt for these last six days! Your dear +brother is still alive; it is scarce possible he should be so +when you receive this. I wrote to you this day se'nnight, the +day after I saw him last. On that day and Friday I received +favourable messages. I went myself on Saturday, as I had +promised him--how shocked I was at seeing Your brother Ned and +a lawyer come to the chaise: the former told me that poor Gal. +had desired the lawyer to settle his affairs, which were then +in agitation: you may imagine I did not choose to add the +tender sensations of seeing me, to what he was then feeling? +I saw our doom too plainly, though your brother Ned still had +hopes. Every day confirmed my fears: but I could not bear my +anxiety, and went to Richmond to-day, with as much horror as +persons must go to execution yet determined to see Gal. if I +found that he had expressed the leas@ desire of it.--Alas! he +has scarce had moments of sense since Sunday morning--how can +I bring myself to say of so dreadful a situation, that it is +my greatest consolation! But I could not support the thought +of his remaining sensible of death with all those anxious +attentions about him which have composed his whole life! Oh! +my dear child, what rash wretches are heroes, compared to this +brother of yours! Nothing ever equalled his cool solicitude +for his family and friends. What an instance am I going to +repeat to you! His most unhappy life was poisoned by the +dread of leaving his children and fortune to be torn to pieces +by his frantic wife, whose settlements entitled her to thirds. +On Friday, perceiving her alarmed by his danger, he had the +amazing presence of mind and fortitude to seize that only +moment of tenderness, and prevailed on her to accept a +jointure. He instantly despatched your brother Ned to London +for his lawyer, and by five o'clock on Saturday, after +repeated struggles of passion on her side, the whole was +finished. Dear Gal. he could not speak, but he lifted up his +hands in thanks! While he had any sense, it was employed in +repeated kindnesses, particularly to your brother James--he +had ordered a codicil, but they have not found a sufficient +interval to get it signed! + +My dearest Sir, what an afflicting letter am I forced to write +to you! but I flatter myself, you will bear it better from me, +than from any other person: and affectionate as I know you, +could I deprive you or myself of the melancholy pleasure of +relating such virtues My poorest, yet best consolation is, +that, though I think his obstinacy in not going abroad, and +Ill management, may have hurried his end, yet nothing could +have saved him; his lungs are entirely gone. But how will you +be amazed at what I am going to tell you! His wretched wife is +gone mad--at least your brother Ned and the physician are +persuaded so--I cannot think so well of her.--I see her in so +diabolic a light, that I cannot help throwing falsehood into +the account--but let us never mention her more. What little +more I would say, for I spare your grief rather than indulge +my own, is, that I beseech you to consider me as more and more +your friend: I adored Gal. and will heap affection on that I +already have for you. I feel your situation, and beg of you +to manage with no delicacy, but confide all your fears and +wishes and wants to me-if I could be capable of neglecting +you, write to Gal.'s image that will for ever live in a memory +most grateful to him. + +You will be little disposed or curious to hear politics; yet +it must import you always to know the situation of your +country, and 'It never was less settled. Mr. Pitt is not yet +able to attend the House, therefore no inquiries are yet +commenced. The only thing like business has been the affair +of preparing quarters for the Hessians, who are soon to +depart; but the Tories have shown such attachment to Mr. Pitt +on this occasion, that it is almost become a Whig point to +detain them. The breach is so much widened between Mr. Pitt +and Mr. Fox, and the latter is so warm, that we must expect +great violences. The Duke of Newcastle's party lies quiet; +one of the others must join it. The -new ministers have so +little weight, that they seem determined at least not to part +with their popularity: the new Secretary of State(741) is to +attack the other, lord Holderness, on a famous letter of his +sent to the mayor of Maidstone, for releasing a Hanoverian +soldier committed for theft. You may judge what harmony there +is! + +Adieu, my dear Sir! How much I pity you, and how much you +ought to pity me! Imitate your brother's firmness of Mind, and +bear his loss as well as you can. You have too much merit not +to be sensible of his, and then it will be impossible for you +to be soon comforted. + +(741) Mr. Pitt. + + + +356 Letter 207 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Dec. 23, 1756. + +I KNOW I can no more add to your concern than to my own, by +giving you the last account of your dear brother, who put a +period to our anxious suspense in the night between the 20th +and 21st. For the five last days he had little glimmerings of +amendment, that gave hopes to some of his friends, terror to +me, who dreaded his sensibility coming to Itself! When I had +given up his life, I could not bear the return of his +tenderness! Sure he had felt enough for his friends--yet he +would have been anxious for them if he had recovered his +senses. He has left your brothers Edward, James, and +Foote,(742) his executors; to his daughters 7500 pounds +a-piece, and the entail of his estate in succession--to a name +I beg we may never mention, 700 pounds a-year, 4000 pounds and +his furniture, etc. Your brother James, a very worthy man, +though you never can have two Gals. desired me to give you +this account--' how sad a return for the two letters I have +received from you this week! Be assured, my dear Sir, that +nothing could have saved his life. For your sake and my own I +hurry from this dreadful subject-not for the amusement of' +either, or that I have any thing to tell you: my letter shall +be very short, for I am stabbing you with a dagger used on +myself! + +Mr. Pitt has not been able to return to Parliament for the +gout, which has prevented our having one long day; we adjourn +to-morrow for a fortnight; yet scarce to meet then for +business, as a call of the House is not appointed till the +20th of January; very late indeed, were any inquiries +probable: this advantage I hope will be gained, that our new +ministers will have a month's time to think of their country. + +Adieu! my dear Sir, this letter was necessary for me to write- +-I find it as necessary to finish it. + +(742) Mr. Foote married the second sister of Mr. Mann; as his +brother, a clergyman, afterwards did the third. + + + +356 Letter 208 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, January 6, 1757. + +I live in dread of receiving your unhappy letters! I am +sensible how many, many reasons you have to lament your dear +brother; yet your long absence will prevent the loss of him +from leaving so sharp a sting as it would have done had you +seen as much of him as I have of late years! When I wrote to +you, I did not know his last instance Of love to you;(743) may +you never have occasion to use it! + +I wish I could tell you any politics to abstract your thoughts +from your concern; but just at present all political +conversation centres in such a magazine of abuse, as was +scarce ever paralleled. Two papers, called the "Test" and +"Contest," appear every Saturday, the former against Mr. Pitt, +the latter against Mr. Fox, which make me recollect-,' "Fogs" +and "Craftsmen" as harmless libels. The authors are not +known; Doddington(744) is believed to have the chief hand in +the "Test,"(745) which is much the best, unless virulence is +to bestow the laurel. He has been turned out by the opposite +faction, and has a new opportunity of revenge, being just +become a widower. The best part of his fortune is entailed on +lord Temple if he has no son; but I suppose he would rather +marry a female hawker than not propagate children and +lampoons. There is another paper, called "The Monitor,"(746) +written by one Dr. Shebbeare, who made a pious resolution of +writing himself into a place or the pillory,(747) but having +miscarried in both views, is wreaking his resentment on the +late Chancellor, who might have gratified him in either of his +objects. The Parliament meets to-morrow, but as Mr. Pitt +cannot yet walk, we are not likely soon to have any business. +Admiral Byng's trial has been in agitation above these ten +days, and is supposed an affair of length: I think the reports +are rather unfavourable to him, though I do not find that it +is believed he will be capitally punished. I will tell you my +sentiments, I don't know whether judicious or not: it may +perhaps take a great deal of time to prove he was not a +coward; I should think it would not take half an hour to prove +he had behaved bravely. + +Your old royal guest King Theodore is gone to the place which +it is said levels kings and beggars; an unnecessary journey +for him, who had already fallen from one to the other; I think +he died somewhere in the liberties of the Fleet.(748) + +lord Lyttelton has received his things, and is much content +with them; this leads me to trouble you with another, I hope +trifling, commission; will you send me a case of the best +drains for Lord Hertford, and let me know the charge? + +You must take this short letter only as an instance of my +attention to you; I would write, though I knew nothing to tell +you. + +(743) Mr. Galfridus Mann left an annuity to his brother Sir +Horace, in case he were recalled from Florence. + +(744) George Bubb Doddington, Esq. This report was not +confirmed. + +(745) "The Test" was written principally by Arthur Murphy. It +forms a thin folio volume,.-E. + +(746) "The "Monitor" was commenced in August 1755, and +terminated in July 1759. It is said to have been planned by +Alderman Beckford.-E. + +(747) He did write himself into a pillory before, the +conclusion of that reign, and into a pension at the beginning +of the next, for one and the same kind of merit,--writing +against King William and the Revolution. + +(748) See an account of his death, and the monument and +epitaph erected for him in Mr. Walpole's fugitive pieces; see +also his letter to Sir Horace Mann of the 29th of September, +in this year.-E. + + + +358 Letter 209 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Jan. 17, 1757. + +I am still, my dear Sir, waiting for your melancholy letters, +not one of which has yet reached me. I am impatient to know +how you bear your misfortune, though I tremble at what I shall +feel from your expressing it! Except good Dr. Cocchi, what +sensible friend have you at Florence to share and moderate +your unhappiness?--but I will not renew it: I will hurry to +tell you any thing that may amuse it--and yet what is that any +thing; Mr. Pitt, as George Selwyn says, has again taken to his +Lit de Justice; he has been once with the King,(749) but not +at the House; the day before yesterday the gout flew into his +arm, and has again laid him up: I am so particular in this, +because all our transactions, or rather our inactivity, hang +upon the progress of his distemper. Mr. Pitt and every thing +else have been forgot for these five days, obscured by the +news of the assassination of the King of France.(750) I don't +pretend to tell you any circumstance of it, who must know them +better than, at least as well as, I can; war and the sea don't +contribute to dispel the clouds of lies that involve such a +business. The letters of the foreign ministers, and ours from +Brussels, say he has been at council; in the city he is +believed dead: I hope not! We should make a bad exchange in +the Dauphin. Though the King is weak and irresolute, I +believe he does not want sense: weakness, bigotry, and some +sense, are the properest materials for keeping alive the +disturbances in that country, to which this blow, if the man +was any thing but a madman, Will contribute. The despotic and +holy stupidity(751) of the successor would quash the +Parliament at once. He told his father about a year ago, that +if he was King, the next day, and the Pope should bid him lay +down his crown, he would. They tell or make a good answer for +the father, "And if he was to bid you take the crown from me, +would you!" We have particular cause to say masses for the +father: there is invincible aversion between him and the young +Pretender, whom, it is believed, nothing could make him +assist. You may judge what would make the Dauphin assist him! +he was one day reading the reign of Nero he said, "Ma foi, +c'`etoit le plus grand sc`el`erat qui f`ut jamais; il ne lui +manquoit que d'`etre Janseniste." I am grieving for my +favourite,(752) the Pope, whom we suppose dead, at least I +trust he was superannuated when they drew from him the late +Bull enjoining the admission of the Unigenitus on pain of +damnation; a step how unlike all the amiable moderation of his +life! In my last I told you the death of another monarch, for +whom in our time you and I have interested ourselves, King +Theodore. He had just taken the benefit of the act of +insolvency, and went to the Old Bailey for that purpose: in +order to it, the person applying gives up all his effects to +his creditors - his Majesty was asked what effects he had? He +replied, nothing but the kingdom of Corsica--and it is +actually registered for the benefit of the creditors. You may +get it intimated to the Pretender, that if he has a mind to +heap titles upon the two or three medals that he coins, he has +nothing to do but to pay King Theodore's debts, and he may +have very good pretensions to Corsica. As soon as Theodore +was at liberty, he took a chair and went to the Portuguese +minister, but did not find him at home: not having sixpence to +pay, he prevailed on the chairman to carry him to a tailor he +knew in Soho, whom he prevailed upon to harbour him; but he +fell sick the next day, and died in three more. + +Byng's trial continues; it has gone ill for him, but mends; it +is the general opinion that he will come off for some severe +censure. + +Bower's first part of his reply is published; he has pinned a +most notorious falsehood about a Dr. Aspinwall on his enemies, +which must destroy their credit, and will do him more service +than what he has yet been able to prove about himself. They +have published another pamphlet against his history, but so +impertinent and scurrilous and malicious, that it will serve +him more than his own defence: they may keep the old man's +life so employed as to prevent the prosecution of his work, +but nothing can destroy the merit of the three volumes already +published, which in every respect is the best written history +I know: the language is the purest, the compilation the most +judicious, and the argumentation the soundest. + +The famous Miss Elizabeth Villiers Pitt(753) is in England; +the only public place in which she has been seen is the Popish +chapel; her only exploit, endeavours to wreak her malice on +her brother William, whose kindness to her has been excessive. +She applies to all his enemies, and, as Mr. Fox told me, has +even gone so far as to send a bundle of his letters to the +author of the Test, to prove that Mr. Pitt has cheated her, as +she calls it, of a hundred a year, and which only prove that +he once allowed her two, and after all her wickedness still +allows her one. she must be vexed that she has no way of +setting the gout more against him! Adieu! tell me if you +receive all my letters. + +(749) "The King became every day more and more averse to his +new ministers. Pitt, indeed, had not frequent occasions of +giving offence, having been confined by the gout the greater +part of the winter; and when he made his appearance he behaved +with proper respect, so that the King, though he did not like +his speeches, always treated him like a gentleman." +Waldegrave, p. 93.-E. + +(750) Lady Hervey, in a letter of the 13th, gives the +following account of Damien's attempt:--"I have barely time to +tell you the news of the day, which arrived by a courier from +France this morning to M. d'Abreu, the Spanish minister. The +King of France was stepping into his coach to go to Bellevue, +and a fellow who seemed to be gaping and looking at the coach +en hayeur, took his opportunity, and taking aim at the King's +heart thrust his dagger into his side,--Just over against the +heart; but a lucky and sudden motion the King gave with his +elbow at that moment, turned the dagger. which made only a +slight wound in his ribs, as they say, which is judged not to +be dangerous. The fellow was immediately secured."-E. + +(751) The Dauphin, son of Louis XV., had been bred a bigot; +but, as he by no means wanted sense, he got over the +prejudices of his education, and before he died had far more +liberal sentiments. + +(752) Prospero Lambertini, by the name of Benedict XIV. For +Walpole's inscription on his picture, see Works, vol. i. p. +218; and also post, letter to Sir Horace Mann of the 20th of +June, in this year.-E. + +(753) Sister of William Pitt, afterwards Earl of Chatham. + + + +360 Letter 210 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Jan. 30, 1757. + +Last night I received your most melancholy letter of the 8th +of this month, in which you seem to feel all or more than I +apprehended. As I trust to time and the necessary avocation +of your thoughts, rather than to any arguments I could use for +your consolation, I choose to say as little more as possible +on the subject of your loss. Your not receiving letters from +your brothers as early as mine was the consequence of their +desiring me to take that most unwelcome office upon me: I +believe they have both written since, though your eldest +brother has had a severe fit of the gout: they are both +exceedingly busied in the details necessarily fallen upon +them. That would be no reason for their neglecting you, nor I +am persuaded will they; they shall certainly want no +incitements from me, who wish and will endeavour as much as +possible to repair your loss, alas! how inadequately! Your +brother James has found great favour from the Duke.(754) Your +@brother Ned, who is but just come to town from his +confinement, tells me that your nephew will be in vast +circumstances; above an hundred thousand pounds, besides the +landed estate and debts! These little details related, I had +rather try to amuse you, than indulge your grief and my own; +your dear brother's memory will never be separated from mine; +but the way in which I shall show it, shall be in increased +attention to you: he and you will make me perpetually think on +both of you! + +All England is again occupied with Admiral Byng; he and his +friends were quite persuaded of his acquittal. The +court-martial, after the trial was finished, kept the whole +world in suspense for a week; after great debates and +divisions amongst themselves, and despatching messengers +hither to consult lawyers whether they could not mitigate the +article of war, to which a negative was returned, they +pronounced this extraordinary sentence on Thursday: they +condemn him to death for negligence, but acquit him of +disaffection and cowardice (the other heads of the article), +specifying the testimony of Lord Robert Bertie in his favour, +and unanimously recommending him to mercy; and accompanying +their sentence with a most earnest letter to the Lords of the +admiralty to intercede for his pardon, saying, that finding +themselves tied up from moderating the article of war, and not +being able in conscience to pronounce that he had done all he +could, they had been forced to bring him in guilty, but beg he +may be spared. The discussions and difference of opinions, on +the sentence is incredible. The cabinet council, I believe, +will be to determine whether the King shall pardon him or not: +some who wish to make him the scapegoat for their own +neglects, I fear, will try to complete his fate, but I should +think the new administration will not be biassed to blood by +such interested attempts. He bore well his Unexpected +sentence, as he has all the outrageous indignities and +cruelties heaped upon him. last week happened an odd event, I +can scarce say in his favour, as the world seems to think it +the effect of the arts of some of his friends: Voltaire sent +him from Switzerland an accidental letter of the Duc de +Richelieu bearing witness to the Admiral's good behaviour in +the engagement.(755) A letter of a very deferent cast, and of +great humour, is showed about, said to be written to Admiral +Boscawen from an old tar, to this effect: + +"Sir., I had the honour of being at the taking of Port Mahon, +for which one gentleman(756) was made a lord; I was also at +the losing of Mahon, for which another gentleman(757) has been +made a lord: each of those gentlemen performed but one of +those services; surely I, who performed both, ought at least +to be made a lieutenant. Which is all from your honour's +humble servant, etc."(758) + +Did you hear that after their conquest, the French ladies wore +little towers for pompons, and called them des Mahonnoises? I +suppose, since the attempt on the King, all their fashions +will be `a l'assassin. We are quite in the dark still about +that history: it is one of the bad effects of living in one's +own time, that one never knows the truth of it till one is +dead! + +Old Fontenelle is dead at last;(759) they asked him as he was +dying "s'il sentoit quelque mal?" He replied, "Oui, je sens +le mal d'`etre." My uncle, a young creature compared to +Fontenelle, is grown something between childish and mad, and +raves about the melancholy situation of politics;(760) one +should think he did not much despair of his country, when at +seventy-eight he could practice such dirty arts to intercept +his brother's estate from his brother's grandchildren! +conclusion how unlike that of the honest good-humoured Pope! I +am charmed with his bon-mot that you sent me. Apropos! Mr, +Chute has received a present of a diamond mourning ring from a +cousin; he calls it l'anello del Piscatore.(761) + +Mr. Pitt is still confined, and the House of Commons little +better than a coffee-house. I was diverted the other day with +P`ere Brumoy's translation of Aristophanes; the Harangueses, +or female orators, who take the Government upon themselves +instead of their husbands, might be well applied to our +politics: Lady Hester Pitt, Lady Caroline Fox, and the Duchess +of Newcastle, should be the heroines of the piece; and with +this advantage, that as lysistrata is forced to put on a +beard, the Duchess has one ready grown. + +Sir Charles Williams is returning, on the bad success of our +dealings with Russia. The French were so determined to secure +the Czarina, that they chose about seven of their handsomest +young men to accompany their ambassador. How unlucky for us, +that Sir Charles was embroiled with Sir Edward Hussey Montagu, +who could alone have outweighed all the seven! Sir Charles's +daughter, Lady Essex, had engaged the attentions of Prince +Edward,(762) who has got his liberty, and seems extremely +disposed to use it, and has great life and good-humour. She +has already made a ball for him. Sir Richard Lyttelton was so +wise as to make her a visit, and advise her not to meddle with +politics; that the Princess would conclude it was a plan laid +for bringing together Prince Edward and Mr. Fox!(763) As Mr. +Fox was not just the person my Lady Essex was thinking of +bringing together with Prince Edward, she replied very +cleverly, "And my dear Sir Richard, let me advise you not to +meddle with politics neither." Adieu! + +(754) From the Duke of Cumberland, commander-in-chief of the +army. Mr. Galfridus and James Mann were clothiers to many +regiments. + +(755) Voltaire's letter to Admiral Byng was written in +English, and is as follows:@' Aux D`elices, pr`es de Gen`eve. +Sir, though I am almost unknown to you, I think 'tis my duty +to send you the copy of the letter which I have just received +from the Marshal Duc de Richelieu; honour, humanity, and +equity order me to convey it into your hands. The noble and +unexpected testimony from one of the most candid as well as +the most generous of my countrymen, makes me presume your +judges will do you the same justice." Sir John Barrow, in his +Life of Lord Anson, proves that these letters got into the +hands of those who were not friendly to the Admiral, and he +suspects that they never reached the unfortunate person for +whose benefit they were intended.-E. + +(756) Byng, Viscount Torrington. + +(757) Lord Blakeney. + +(758) It is now generally believed that Byng was brave but +incapable. He might have done more than he did; but this was +occasioned not by his want of courage, but by his want of +ability. He was cruelly sacrificed to the fury of the people, +and to the popularity of the ministry.-D. + +(759) Fontenelle died on the 9th of January, having nearly +completed his hundredth year. M. le Cat, in his `eloge of +him, gives the following account of his dying words!--"he +reflected upon his own situation, just as he would upon that +of another man, and seemed to be observing a phenomenon. +Drawing very near his end, he said, 'This is the first death I +have ever seen;' and his physicians having asked him, whether +be was in pain, or what he felt, his answer was, 'I feel +nothing but a difficulty of existing.'"-E. + +(760) The following is Lord Chesterfield's account of Sir +Charles's mental alienation, in a letter of the 4th, to his +son: "He was let blood four times on board the ship, and has +been let blood four times since his arrival here; but still +the inflammation continues very high. He is now under the +care of his brothers. They have written to the same +Mademoiselle John, to prevent, if they can, her coming to +England; which, when she hears, she must be as mad as he is, +if she takes the journey. By the way, she must be une dame +aventuri`ere, to receive a note for ten thousand roubles, from +a man whom she had known only three days; to take a contract +of marriage, knowing he was married already; and to engage +herself to follow him to England." Again, on the 22d, he +writes, "Sir C. W. is still in confinement, and, I fear, will +always be so, for he seems cum ratione sanire: the physicians +have collected all he has said and done, that indicated an +alienation of mind, and have laid it before him in writing; he +has answered it in writing too, and justifies himself by the +most plausible argument that can possibly be urged. I +conclude this subject With pitying him, and poor human nature, +which holds its reason by so precarious a tenure. The lady, +who you tell me is set out, en sera pour la peine et les frais +du voyage, for her note is worth no more than her +contract."-E. + +(761) The Pope's seal with a ring, which is called the +Fisherman's ring. Mr. Chute, who was unmarried, meant that +his cousin was fishing for his estate. + +(762) Brother of George the Third; afterwards created Duke of +York. He died in 1767, at the early age of twenty-eight.-E. + +(763) Sir Charles Williams was a particular friend of Mr. Fox. + + + +363 Letter 211 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Feb. 13, 1757. + +I am not surprised to find you still lamenting your dear +brother but you are to blame, and perhaps I shall be so, for +asking and giving any more accounts of his last hours. +Indeed, after the fatal Saturday, on which I told you I was +prevented seeing him by his being occupied with his lawyer, he +had scarce an interval of sense--and no wonder! His lawyer +has since told me, that nothing ever equalled the horrid +indecencies of your sister-in-law on that day. Having yielded +to the settlement for which he so earnestly begged, she was +determined to make him purchase it, and in transports of +passion and avarice, kept traversing his chamber from the +lawyer to the bed, whispering her husband, and then telling +the lawyer, who was drawing the will, "Sir, Mr. Mann says I am +to have this, I am to have that!" The lawyer at last, +offended to the greatest degree, said, "Madam, it is Mr. +Mann's will I am making, not yours!"--but here let me break it +off; I have told you all I know, and too much. It was a very +different sensation I felt, when your brother Ned told me that +he had found seven thousand pounds in the stocks in your name. +As Mr. Chute and I know how little it is possible for you to +lay up, we conclude that this sum is amassed for you by dear +Gal.'s industry and kindness, and by a silent way of serving +you, without a possibility of his wife or any one else calling +it in question. + +What a dreadful catastrophe is that of Richcourt's family! +What lesson for human grandeur! Florence, the scene of all his +triumphs and haughtiness, is now the theatre of his misery and +misfortunes! + +After a fortnight of the greatest variety of opinions, Byng's +fate is still in suspense. The court and the late ministry +have been most bitter against him; the new admiralty most +good-natured; the King would not pardon him. They would not +execute the sentence, as many lawyers are clear that it is not +a legal one.(64) At last the council has referred it to the +twelve judges to give their opinion: if not a favourable one, +he dies! He has had many fortunate chances had the late +admiralty continued, one knows how little any would have +availed him. Their bitterness will always be recorded against +themselves: it will be difficult to persuade posterity that +all the shame of last summer was the fault of Byng! Exact +evidence of whose fault it was, I believe posterity will never +have: the long expected inquiries are begun, that is, some +papers have been moved for, but so coldly, that it is plain +George Townshend and the Tories are unwilling to push +researches that must necessarily reunite Newcastle and Fox. +In the mean time, Mr. Pitt stays at home, and holds the House +of Commons in commendam. I do not augur very well of the +ensuing summer; a detachment is going to America under a +commander whom a child might outwit, or terrify with a +pop-gun! The confusions in France seem to thicken with our +mismanagements: we hear of a total change in the ministry +there, and of the disgrace both of Machault and D'Argenson, +the chiefs of the Parliamentary and Ecclesiastic factions. +That the King should be struck with the violence Of their +parties, I don't wonder: it is said, that as he went to hold +the lit de Justice, no mortal cried Vive le Roi! but one old +woman, for which the mob knocked her down, and trampled her to +death. + +My uncle died yesterday was Se'nnight; his death I really +believe hastened by the mortification of the money vainly +spent at Norwich. I neither intend to spend money, nor to die +of it, but, to my mortification, am forced to stand for Lynn, +in the room of his son. The corporation still reverence my +father's memory so much, that they will not bear distant +relations, while he has sons living. I was reading the other +day a foolish book called "l'Histoire des quatre Cic`erons;" +the author, who has taken Tully's son for his hero, says, he +piques himself on out-drinking Antony, his father's great +enemy. Do you think I shall ever pique myself on being richer +than my Lord Bath? + +Prince Edward's pleasures continue to furnish conversation: he +has been rather forbid by the Signora Madre to make himself so +common; and he has been rather encouraged by his grandfather +to disregard the prohibition. The other night the Duke and he +were at a ball at Lady Rochford's:(765) she and Lady Essex +were singing in an inner chamber when the Princes entered, who +insisting on a repetition of the song, my Lady Essex, instead +of continuing the same, addressed herself to Prince Edward in +this ballad of Lord -Dorset- + +"False friends I have as well as you, +Who daily counsel me +Fame and ambition to pursue, +And leave off loving thee--" + +It won't be unamusing, I hope it will be no more than amusing, +when all the Johns of Gaunt, and Clarences, and Humphrys of +Gloucester, are old enough to be running about town, and +furnishing histories. Adieu! + +(764) Walpole, in his Memoires, vol. it. p. 152, says, that +Mr. Pitt moved the King to mercy, but was cut very short; nor +did his Majesty remember to ask his usual question, whether +there were any favourable circumstances."-E. + +(765) Lucy Young, wife of William Henry, Earl of Rochford. + + + +364 Letter 212 +To John Chute, Esq.(766) +Sunday night, very late, Feb. 27, 1757. + +My dear Sir, +I should certainly have been with YOU to-night, as I desired +George Montagu to tell you, but every six hours produce such +new wonders, that I do not know when I shall have a moment to +see you. Will you, can you believe me, when I tell you that +the four persons of the court-martial whom Keppel named +yesterday to the House as commissioning him to ask for the +bill, now deny they gave him such commission, though Norris, +one of them, was twice on Friday with Sir Richard Lyttelton, +and once with George Grenville for the same purpose! I have +done nothing but traverse the town tonight from Sir Richard +Lyttelton's to the Speaker's, to Mr. Pitt's, to Mr. Fox's, to +Doddington's, to Lady Hervey's, to find out and try how to +defeat the evil of this, and to extract, if possible, some +good from it. Alas! alas! that what I meant so well, should +be likely only to add a fortnight to the poor man's misery! +Adieu! + +(766) Now first published. + + + +365 Letter 213 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, March 3, 1757. + +I have deferred writing to you till I could tell you something +certain of the fate of Admiral Byng: no history was ever so +extraordinary, or produced such variety of surprising turns. +In my last I told you that his sentence was referred to the +twelve judges. They have made law of that of which no man +else could make sense. The Admiralty immediately signed the +warrant for his execution on the last of February--that is, +three signed: Admiral Forbes positively refused, and would +have resigned sooner. The Speaker would have had Byng +expelled the House, but his tigers were pitiful. Sir Francis +Dashwood tried to call for the court-martial's letter, but the +tigers were not so tender as that came to. Some of the +court-martial grew to feel as the execution advanced: the city +grew impatient for it. Mr. Fox tried to represent the new +ministry as compassionate, and has damaged their popularity. +Three of the court-martial applied on Wednesday last to Lord +Temple to renew their solicitation for mercy. Sir Francis +Dashwood moved a repeal of the bloody twelfth article: the +House was savage enough; yet Mr. Doddington softened them, and +not one man spoke directly against mercy. They had nothing to +fear: the man,(767) who, of all defects, hates cowardice and +avarice most, and who has some little objection to a mob in +St. James's street, has magnanimously forgot all the services +of the great Lord Torrington. On Thursday seven of the +court-martial applied for mercy: they were rejected. On +Friday a most strange event happened. I was told at the House +that Captain Keppel and Admiral Norris desired a bill to +absolve them from their oath of secrecy, that they might +unfold something very material towards saving the prisoner's +life. I was out of Parliament myself during my re-election, +but I ran to Keppel; he said he had never spoken in public, +and could not, but would give authority to any body else. The +Speaker was putting the question for the orders of the day, +after which no motion could be made: it was Friday, the House +would not sit on Saturday, the execution was fixed for Monday. +I felt all this in an instant, dragged Mr. Keppel to Sir +Francis Dashwood, and he on the floor before he had taken his +place, called out to the Speaker, and though the orders were +passed, Sir Francis was suffered to speak. The House was +wondrously softened: pains were taken to prove to Mr. Keppel +that he might speak, notwithstanding his oath; but he adhering +to it, he had time given him till next morning to consider and +consult some of his brethren who had commissioned him to +desire the bill. The next day the King sent a message to our +House, that he had respited Mr. Byng for a fortnight, till the +bill could be passed, and he should know whether the Admiral +was unjustly condemned. The bill was read twice in our House +that day, and went through the committee: mr. Keppel affirming +that he had something, in his opinion, of weight to tell, and +which it was material his Majesty should know, and naming four +of his associates who desired to be empowered to speak. On +Sunday all was confusion on news that the four disclaimed what +Mr. Keppel had said for them. On Monday he told the House +that in one he had been mistaken; that another did not declare +off, but wished all were to be compelled to speak; and from +the two others he produced a letter upholding him in what he +had said. The bill passed by 153 to 23. On Tuesday it was +treated very differently by the Lords. The new Chief +Justice(768) and the late Chancellor(769) pleaded against Byng +like little attorneys, and did all they could to stifle truth. +That all was a good deal. They prevailed to have the whole +courtmartial at their bar. Lord Hardwicke urged for the +intervention of a day, on the pretence of a trifling cause of +an Irish bankruptcy then depending before the Lords, though +Lord Temple showed them that some of the captains and admirals +Were under sailing orders for America. But Lord Hardwicke and +Lord Anson were expeditious enough to do what they wanted in +one night's time: for the next day, yesterday, every one of +the court-martial defended their sentence, and even the three +conscientious said not one syllable of their desire of the +bill, which was accordingly unanimously rejected, and with +great marks of contempt for the House of Commons. + +This is as brief and as clear an abstract as I can give you of +a most complicated affair, in which I have been a most +unfortunate actor, having to my infinite grief, which I shall +feel till the man is at peace, been instrumental in +protracting his misery a fortnight, by what I meant as the +kindest thing I could do. I never knew poor Byng enough to +bow to; but the great doubtfulness of his crime, and the +extraordinariness of his sentence, the persecution of his +enemies, who sacrifice him for their own guilt and the rage of +a blinded nation, have called forth all my pity for him. His +enemies triumph, but who can envy the triumph of murder? + +Nothing else material has happened, but Mr. Pitt's having +moved for a German subsidy, which is another matter of triumph +to the late ministry. He and Mr. Fox have the warmest +altercations every day in the House. + +We have had a few French symptoms; papers were fixed on the +Exchange, with these words, "Shoot Byng, or take care of your +King;" but this storm, which Lord Anson's creatures and +protectors have conjured up, may choose itself employment when +Byng is dead. + +Your last was of Jan. 29th, in which I thank you for what you +say of my commissions: sure you could not imagine that I +thought you neglected them? Adieu! + +(767) The King. + +(768) W. Murray, Lord Mansfield. + +(769) Philip Yorke, Earl of Hardwicke. + + + +367 Letter 214 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, March 17, 1757. + +Admiral Byng's tragedy was completed on Monday-a perfect +tragedy, for there were variety of incidents, villany, murder, +and a hero! His sufferings, persecutions, aspersions, +disturbances, nay, the revolutions of his fate, had not in the +least unhinged his mind; his whole behaviour was natural and +firm. A few days before, one of his friends standing by him, +said, "Which of us is the tallest?" He replied, "Why this +ceremony? I know what it means; let the man come and measure +me for my coffin." He said, that being acquitted of +cowardice, and being persuaded on the coolest reflection that +he had acted for the best, and should act so again, he was not +unwilling to suffer. he desired to be shot on the +quarter-deck, not where common malefactors are; came out at +twelve, sat down in a chair, for he would not kneel, and +refused to have his face covered, that his countenance might +show whether he feared death; but being told that it might +frighten his executioners, he submitted, gave the signal at +once, received one shot through the head, another through the +heart, and fell. Do cowards live or die thus? Can that man +want spirit who only fears to terrify his executioners? Has +the aspen Duke of Newcastle lived thus? Would my Lord +Hardwicke die thus, even supposing he had nothing on his +conscience? + +This scene is over! what will be the next is matter of great +uncertainty. The new ministers are well weary of their +situation; without credit at court, without influence in the +House of Commons, undermined every where, I believe they are +too sensible not to desire to be delivered of their burthen, +which those who increase yet dread to take on themselves. Mr. +Pitt's health is as bad as his situation: confidence between +the other factions almost impossible; yet I believe their +impatience will prevail over their distrust. The nation +expects a change every day, and being a nation, I believe, +desires it; and being the English nation, will condemn it the +moment it is made. We are trembling for Hanover, and the Duke +is going to command the army of observation. These are the +politics of the week; the diversions are balls, and the two +Princes frequent them; but the eldest nephew(770) remains shut +up in a room, where, as desirous as they are of keeping him, I +believe he is now and then incommode. The Duke of Richmond +has made two balls on his approaching wedding with Lady Mary +Bruce, Mr. Conway's(771) daughter-in-law: it is the perfectest +match in the world; youth, beauty, riches, alliances, and all +the blood of all the kings from Robert Bruce to Charles the +Second. they are the prettiest couple in England, except the +father-in-law and mother. + +As I write so often to you, you must be content with shorter +letters, which, however, are always as long as I can make +them. This summer will not contract our correspondence. +Adieu! my dear Sir. + +(770) George Prince of Wales, afterwards George III. + +(771) Lady Mary Bruce was only daughter of Charles last Earl +of Ailesbury, by his third wife, Caroline, daughter of General +John Campbell, afterwards Duke of Argyll. lady Ailesbury +married to her second husband, Colonel Henry Seymour Conway, +only brother of Francis Earl of Hertford. + + + +368 Letter 215 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, April 7, 1757. + +You will receive letters by this post that will surprise you; +I will try to give you a comment to them; an exact explication +I don't know who could give you. You will receive the orders +of' a new master, Lord Egremont. I was going on to say that +the ministry is again changed, but I cannot say Changed, it is +only dismissed--and here is another inter-ministerium. + +The King has never borne Lord Temple,(772) and soon grew +displeased with Mr. Pitt: on Byng's affair it came to +aversion. It is now given out that both I have mentioned have +personally affronted the King. On the execution, he would not +suffer Dr. Hay of the admiralty to be brought into Parliament, +though he had lost his seat on coming into his service. +During this squabble negotiations were set on foot between the +Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Fox, and would have been concluded +if either of them would have risked being hanged for the +other. The one most afraid broke off the treaty; need I say +it was the Duke?(773 While this was in agitation, it grew +necessary for the Duke(774) to go abroad and take the command +of the army of observation. He did not care to be checked +there by a hostile ministry at home: his father was as +unwilling to be left in their hands. The drum was beat for +forces; none would list. However, the change must be made, +The day before yesterday Lord Temple was dismissed, with all +his admiralty but Boscawen, who was of the former, and with an +offer to Mr. Elliot to stay, which he has declined. The new +admirals are Lord Winchelsea, Rowley again, Moyston, Lord +Carysfort, Mr. Sandys, and young Hamilton of the board of +trade.(775) It was hoped that this disgrace would drive Mr. +Pitt and the rest of his friends to resign--for that very +reason they would not. The time pressed; to-day was fixed for +the Duke's departure, and for the recess of Parliament during +the holidays. Mr. Pitt was dismissed, and Lord Egremont has +received the seals to-day. Mr. Fox has always adhered to +being only paymaster; but the impossibility of finding a +chancellor of the exchequer, which Lord Duplin of the +Newcastle faction, and Doddington of Mr. Fox's, have refused, +has, I think, forced Mr. Fox to resolve to take that post +himself. However, that and every thing else is unsettled, and +Mr. Fox is to take nothing till the Inquiries are over. The +Duke of Devonshire remains in the treasury, declaring that it +is only for a short time, and till they can fix on somebody +else. The Duke of Newcastle keeps aloof, professing no +connexion with Mr. Pitt; Lord Hardwicke is gone into the +country for a fortnight. The stocks fall, the foreign +ministers stare; Leicester-house is going to be very angry, +and I fear we are going into great confusion. As I wish Mr. +Fox so well, I cannot but lament the undigested rashness of +this measure. + +Having lost three packet-boats lately, I fear I have missed a +letter or two of yours: I hope this will have better fortune; +for, almost unintelligible, as it is, you will want even so +awkward a key. + +Mr. Fox was very desirous of bargaining for a peerage for Lady +Caroline; the King has positively refused it, but has given +him the reversion for three lives of clerk of the pelts in +Ireland, which Doddington has now. Mr. Conway is made groom +of the bedchamber to the King. + +A volume on all I have told you would only perplex you more; +you will have time to study what I send you now. I go to +Strawberry Hill to-morrow for the holidays; and till they are +over, certainly nothing more will be done. You did not expect +this new confusion, just when you was preparing to tremble for +the campaign. Adieu! + +(772) "To Lord Temple," says Lord Waldegrave, "the King had +the strongest aversion, his lordship having a pert +familiarity, which is not always agreeable to his Majesty. +besides, in the affair of admiral Byng, he had used some +insolent expressions, which his Majesty could never forgive. +Pitt, he said, made him long speeches, which probably might be +very fine, but were greatly beyond his comprehension, and that +his letters were affected, formal, and pedantic; but as to +Temple, he was so disagreeable a fellow, there was no bearing +him." Memoirs, p. 93.-E. + +(773) "I told his Majesty, that the Duke of Newcastle was quite +doubtful what part he should take, being equally balanced by +fear on the one side and love of power on the other. To this +the King replied, 'I know he is apt to be afraid, therefore go +and encourage him; tell him I do not look upon myself as king +whilst I am in the hands of these scoundrels; that I am +determined to get rid of them at any rate; that I expect his +assistance, and that he may depend on my favour and +protection.'" Waldegrave, p. 96.-E. + +(774) The Duke of Cumberland. + +(775) The new admiralty actually consisted of the following:-- +Lord Winchilsea, Admiral Sir W. Rowley, K. B., Hon. Edward +Boscawen, Gilbert Elliott, Esq., John Proby, first lord +Carysfort, Savage Mostyn, Esq., and the Hon. Edward Sandys, +afterwards second lord Sandys.-D. + + + +370 Letter 216 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, April 20, 1757. + +You will wonder that I should so long have announced my lord +Egremont to you for a master, without his announcing himself to +you.--it was no fault of mine; every thing here is a riddle or +an absurdity. Instead of coming forth secretary of state, he +went out of town, declaring he knew nothing of the matter. On +that, it was affirmed that he had refused the seals. The truth +is, they have never been offered to him in form. He had been +sounded, and I believe was not averse, but made excuses that +were not thought invincible. As we are in profound peace with +all the world, and can do without any government, it is thought +proper to wait a little, till what are called the Inquiries are +over;(776) what they are, I will tell you +presently. A man(777) who has hated and loved the Duke of +Newcastle pretty heartily in the course of some years, is +Willing to wait, in hopes of prevailing on him to resume the +seals--that Duke is the arbiter of England! Both the other +parties are trying to unite with him. The King pulls him, the +next reign (for you know his grace is very young) pulls him +back. Present power tempts: Mr. Fox's unpopularity terrifies- +-he will reconcile all, with immediate duty to the King, with a +salvo to the intention of betraying him to the Prince, to make +his peace with the latter, as soon as he has made up with the +former. Unless his grace takes Mr. Fox by the hand, the latter +is in an ugly situation--if he does, is he in a beautiful one? + + +Yesterday began the famous and long-expected Inquiries.(778) +The House of Commons in person undertakes to examine all the +intelligence, letters, and orders, of the administration that +lost Minorca. In order to this, they pass over a -,,whole +winter; then they send for cart-loads of papers from all the +offices, leaving it to the discretion of the clerks to +transcribe, insert, omit, whatever they please; and without +inquiring what the accused ministers had left or secreted. +Before it was possible for people to examine these with any +attention, supposing they were worth any, the whole House goes +to work, sets the clerk to reading such bushels of letters, that +the very dates fill three-and-twenty sheets of paper; he reads +as fast as he can, nobody attends, every body goes away, and +to-night they determined that the whole should be read through +on tomorrow and Friday, that one may have time to digest on +Saturday and Sunday what one had scarce heard, +cannot remember, nor is it worth the while; and then on +Monday, without asking any questions, examining any witnesses, +authority, or authenticity, the Tories are to affirm that the +ministers were very negligent; the Whigs, that they were +wonderfully informed, discreet, provident, and active; and Mr. +Pitt and his friends are to affect great zeal for justice, are +to avoid provoking the Duke of Newcastle, and are to endeavour +to extract from all the nothings they have not heard, +something that is to lay all the guilt at Mr. Fox's door. Now +you know very exactly what the Inquiries are-and this wise +nation is gaping to see the chick which their old brood-hen the +House of Commons will produce from an egg laid in +November, neglected till April, and then hatched in a +quicksand! + +The common council have presented gold boxes with the freedom +of their city to Mr. Pitt and Mr. Legge--no gracious +compliment to St. James's. It is expected that the example +will catch, but as yet, I hear of no imitations. Pamphlets, +cards, and prints swarm again. George Townshend has published +one of the latter, which is so admirable in its kind, that I +cannot help sending 'It to you. His genius for likenesses in +caricatura is astonishing--indeed, Lord Winchelsea's figure is +not heightened--your friends Doddington and Lord Sandwich are +like; the former made me laugh till I cried. The Hanoverian +drummer, Ellis, is the least like, though it has much of his +air. I need say nothing of the lump of fat(779) crowned with +laurel on the altar. As Townshend's parts lie entirely in his +pencil, his pen has no share in them; the labels are very dull, +except the inscription on the altar, which I believe is his +brother Charles's. This print, which has so diverted the town, +has produced to-day a most bitter pamphlet against +George Townshend, called The Art of Political Lying. Indeed, +it is strong. + +The Duke, who has taken no English with him but Lord +Albemarle, Lord Frederick Cavendish,(780) Lord George +Lennox,(781) Colonel Keppel, Mr. West, and Colonel Carlton, all +his own servants, was well persuaded to go by Stade; there were +French parties laid to intercept him on the other road. It +might have saved him an unpleasant campaign. We have no +favourable events, but that Russia, who had neither men, +money, nor magazines, is much softened, and halts her troops. +The Duke of Grafton(782) still languishes: the Duke of +Newcastle has so pestered him with political visits, that the +physicians ordered him to be excluded: yet he forced himself +into the house. The Duke's Gentlemen would not admit him into +the bedchamber, saying his grace was asleep. Newcastle +protested he would go in on tiptoe and only look at him-he +rushed in, clattered his heels to waken him, and then fell upon +the bed, kissing and hugging him. Grafton waked. "God! what's +here?" "Only I, my dear lord." Buss, buss, buss, buss! "God! +how can you be such a beast, to kiss such a +creature as I am, all over plaisters! get along, get along!" +and turned about and went to sleep. Newcastle hurries home, +tells the mad Duchess that the Duke of Grafton was certainly +light-headed, for he had not known him, frightened her into +fits, and then was forced to send for Dr. -Shaw-for this +Lepidus are struggling Octavius and Anthony!(783) + +I have received three letters from you, one of March 25th, one +of the second of this month, inclosing that which had +journeyed back to you unopened. I wish it lay in my way to +send you early news of the destination of fleets, but I rather +avoid secrets than hunt them. I must give you much the same +answer with regard to Mr. Dick, whom I should be most glad to +serve; but when I tell you that in the various revolutions of +ministries I have seen, I have never asked a single favour for +myself or any friend I have; that whatever friendships I have +with the man, I avoid all connexions with the minister; that I +abhor courts and levee-rooms and flattery; that I have done with +all parties and only sit by and smile--(you would +weep)--when I tell You all this, think what my interest must +be! I can better answer your desiring me to countenance your +brother James, and telling me it will cost me nothing. My God! +if you don't believe the affection I have for you, at least +believe in the adoration I have for dear Gal.'s memory,- -that, +alas! cannot now be counterfeited! If ever I had a friend, if +ever there was a friend, he was one to me; if ever there were +love and gratitude, I have both for him--before I received your +letter, James was convinced for all this--but my dear child, you +let slip an expression which sure I never deserved--but I will +say no more of it. thank you for the verses on +Buondelmonti(784)--I did not know he was dead--for the prayer +for Richcourt, for the Pope's letter, and for the bills of +lading for the liqueurs. + +You will have heard all the torments exercised on that poor +wretch Damien, for attempting the least bad of all murders, that +of a king. They copied with a scrupulous exactness +horrid precedents, and the dastardly monarch permitted them! I +don't tell you any particulars, for in time of war, and at this +distance, how to depend on the truth of them? + +This is a very long letter, but I will not make excuses for +long ones and short ones too--I fear you forgive the long ones +most easily! + +(776) "April 6, Mr. Pitt dismissed. Mr. Fox and I were +ordered from the King, by Lord Holderness to come and kiss his +hand as paymaster of the army, and treasurer of the navy. We +wrote to the Duke of Cumberland our respectful thanks and +acceptance of the offices; but we thought it would be more for +his Majesty's service,.not to enter into them publicly till the +Inquiry was over." Doddington, p. 352.-E. + +(777) the King. + +(778) On the 19th of April, the House of Commons went into a +committee on the state of the navy, and the causes which had led +to the loss of the island of Minorca.-E. + +(779) The Duke of Cumberland. + +(780) Third son of William third Duke of Devonshire. He was +made a field-marshal in 1796, and died in 1803.-D. + +(781) Second son of Charles second Duke of Richmond. He died +in March, 1805.-D. + +(782) Charles Fitzroy, second Duke of Grafton, lord +chamberlain. + +(783) Lepidus, Duke of Newcastle; Octavius and Anthony, Pitt +and Fox.-D. + +(784) A Florentine Abb`e and wit; author of several poetical +pieces.-E. + + + +372 Letter 217 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, May 5, 1757. + +You may expect what you please of new ministries, and +revolutions, and establishments; we are a grave people, and +don't go so rashly to work-at least when we have demolished any +thing rashly, we take due time before we repair it. At a +distance you may be impatient. We, the most concerned, wait +very tranquilly to see the event of chaos. It was given out +that nothing would be settled till the Inquiries were at an end. +The world very obediently stayed for the time appointed. The +Inquiries are at an end, yet nothing is in more +forwardness. Foreign nations may imagine (but they must be at +a great distance!) that we are so wise and upright a people, +that every man performs his part, and thence every thing goes on +in its proper order without any government--but I fear, our case +is like what astronomers tell us, that if a star was to be +annihilated, it would still shine for two months. The Inquiries +have been a most important and dull farce, and very fatiguing; +we sat six days till past midnight. If you have received my +last letter, you have already had a description of what passed +just as I foresaw. Mr. Pitt broke out a little the second day, +and threatened to secede, and tell the world the iniquity of the +majority; but recollecting that the +majority might be as useful as the world, he recomposed +himself, professed meaning no personalities, swallowed all +candour as fast as it was proposed to him, swallowed camels and +haggled about gnats, and in a manner let the friends of the old +ministry state and vote what resolutions they pleased. They +were not modest, but stated away; yet on the last day of the +committee, on their moving that no greater force could have been +sent to the Mediterranean than was under Byng the triumphant +majority shrank to one of seventy-eight, many +absenting themselves, and many of the independent sort voting +with the minority. This alarmed so much, that the +predetermined vote of acquittal or approbation was forced to be +dropped, and to their great astonishment the late cabinet is not +thanked parliamentarily for having lost Minorca. You may judge +what Mr. Pitt might have done, if he had pleased; when, though +he starved his own cause, so slender an advantage was obtained +against him. I retired before the vote I have mentioned; as Mr. +Fox was complicated in it, I would not +appear against him, and I could not range myself with a +squadron who I think must be the jest of Europe and posterity. +It now remains to settle some ministry: Mr. Pitt's friends are +earnest, and some of them trafficking for an union with +Newcastle. He himself, I believe, maintains his dignity, and +will be sued to, not sue. The Duke of Newcastle, who cannot +bear to resign the last twilight of the old sun, would join with +Fox; but the Chancellor, who hates him, and is alarmed at his +unpopularity, and at the power of Pitt with the people, holds +back. Bath, Exeter, Yarmouth, and Worcester, have +followed the example of london, and sent their freedoms to Pitt +and Legge: I suppose Edinburgh will, but instead of +giving, will ask for a gold box in return. Here are some new +epigrams on the present politics: + +TO THE NYMPH OF BATH. +Mistaken Nymph, thy gifts withhold; +Pitt's virtuous soul despises gold; +Grant him thy boon peculiar, health; +He'll guard, not covet, Britain's wealth. + +Another. +The two great rivals London might content, +If what he values most to each she sent; +Ill was the franchise coupled with the box: +Give Pitt the freedom, and the gold to Fox. + +ON DR. SHEBBEAR ABUSING Hume CAMPBELL FOR BEING A PROSTITUTE +ADVOCATE. +'Tis below you, dear Doctor to worry an elf, +Who you know will defend $any thing but himself. + +The two first are but middling, and I am bound to think the +last so, as it is my own. Shebbear is a broken Jacobite +physician, who has threatened to write himself into a place or +the pillory: he has Just published a bitter letter to the Duke +of Newcastle, which occasioned the above two lines. + +The French have seized in their own name the country of +Bentheim, a purchase of the King's, after having offered him +the most insulting neutrality for Hanover, in the world; they +proposed putting a garrison into the strongest Post(785) he has, +with twenty other concessions. We have rumours of the Prince of +Bevern having beaten the Austrians considerably. +I believe, upon review, that this is a mighty indefinite +letter; I would have waited for certainties, but not knowing +how long that might be, I thought you would prefer this +parenthesis of politics. + +lord Northumberland's great gallery is finished and opened; it +is a sumptuous chamber, but might have been in a better taste. +He is wonderfully content with his pictures, and gave me leave +to repeat it to you. I rejoiced, as you had been the +negotiator--as you was not the painter, you will allow me not +to be so profuse of my applause. Indeed I have yet only seen +them by candle-light. Mengs's School of Athens pleased me: +Pompeio's two are black and hard; Mazucci's Apollo, fade and +without beauty; Costanza's piece is abominable. Adieu! till a +ministry. + +(785) Hamelen. + + + +374 Letter 218 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, May 19, 1757. + +We are not yet arrived at having a ministry, but we have had +two or three alarms at one. On Monday, the Duke of +Devonshire, impatient for a plaything, took the chamberlain's +staff and key--these were reckoned certain prognostics; but they +were only symptoms Of his childishness. Yesterday it was +published that Mr. Pitt's terms were so extravagant, that the +Duke of Newcastle could not comply with them--and would take the +whole himself--perhaps leave some little trifle for Mr. +Fox--to-day all is afloat again, and all negotiations to +recommence. Pitt's demands were, that his grace should not +meddle in the House of Commons, nor in the province of +Secretary of State, but stick to the Treasury, and even there +to be controlled by a majority of Mr. Pitt's friends-they were +certainly great terms, but he has been taught not to trust less. +But it is tautology to dwell on these variations; the +inclosed(786 is an exact picture of our situation--and is +perhaps the only political paper ever written, in which no man +of any party can dislike or deny a single fact. I wrote it in +an hour and a half, and you will perceive that it must be the +effect of a single thought. + +We had big letters yesterday of a total victory of the King of +Prussia over the Austrians,(787) with their army dispersed and +their general wounded and prisoner--I don't know how, but it is +not confirmed yet. You must excuse the brevity of my +English letter, in consideration of my Chinese one. Adieu! +(786) Letter from Xo Ho, a Chinese philosopher at London, to +his friend Lien Chi at Pekin. + +(787) This was the battle of Prague, gained by the King of +Prussia on the 6th of May, 1757, over the forces of the +Empress-Queen, commanded by Prince Charles of Lorraine.-D. + + + +375 Letter 219 +To George Montagu, Esq. +May 27, 1757. + +I have ticketed you with numbers 5832, 58322, 58323, 58324, +58325, 58326; I think you bespoke six. I do not send them by +post, unless you order it: but I have writ your name on each, +lest in case of accident my executors should put them into my +auction, for which you are so impatient, and then you would have +to buy them over again. + +I am glad you like Xo Ho: I think every body does, which is +strange, considering it has no merit but truth. Mrs. Clive +cried out like you, "Lord! you will be sent to the Tower!" +"Well," said I coolly, "my father was there before me." + +Lord Abercorn's picture is extremely like; he seems by the +Vandyke habit to be got back into his own times; but nothing is +finished yet, except the head. + +You will be diverted with a health which my Lady Townshend gave +at supper with the Prince t'other night: "'Tis a health you will +all like," she said. "Well! what is it?" "The three P's." The +boy coloured up to the eyes. After keeping them in suspense +some time, she named, Pitt, Peace, and Plenty. The Princess has +given Home, the author of Douglas, a hundred a year. Prince and +Princess Edward continue to entertain +themselves and Ranelagh every night. + +I wish your brother and all heirs to estates joy, for old Shutz +is dead, and cannot wriggle himself into any more wills. The +ministry is not yet hatched; the King of Prussia is +conquering the world; Mr. Chute has some murmurs of the gout; +and I am yours for ever. + + + +376 Letter 220 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, June 1, 1757. + +After a vacancy of full two months, we are at last likely to +have a ministry again--I do not promise you a very lasting one. +Last Wednesday the conferences broke off between the Duke of +Newcastle and Mr. Pitt; the latter demanding a full restoration +of his friends, with the admiralty and a peerage for Mr. Legge, +the blue riband and, I believe, Ireland for Lord Temple, and Mr. +Grenville for chancellor of the +exchequer, with stipulations that no more money should be sent +this year to Germany. The last article, the admiralty, and +especially the exchequer, were positively refused; and on Friday +the Duke went to the King, and consented to be sole minister, +insisting that Mr. Fox should be nothing but +paymaster, not cabinet-councillor, and have no power; Sir +Thomas Robinson to be again secretary of state, and Sir George +Lee chancellor of exchequer. For form, he was to retire to +Claremont for a few days, to take advice of his oracle, whose +answer he had already dictated. Lord Hardwicke refuses the +seals; says, he desires nobody should be dismissed for him; if +president or privy seal should by any means be vacant, he will +accept either, but nothing till Lord Anson is satisfied, for +whom he asks treasurer of the navy. The Duke goes to +Kensington to-morrow, when all this is to be declared-however, +till it is, I shall doubt it. Lord Lincoln and his principal +friends are vehement against it; and indeed his grace seems to +be precipitating his own ruin. If Mr. Fox could forgive all +that is past, which he by no means intends, here are now +provocations added--will they invite Mr. Fox's support? Not to +mention what Unpopular German steps the Duke must take to +recover the King's favour, who is now entirely Fox's; the latter +is answerable for nothing, and I believe would not manage +inquiries against his grace as Mr. Pitt has--leniently. In +short, I think the month of October will terminate the fortunes +of the house of Pelham for ever--his supporters are ridiculous; +his followers will every day desert to one or other of the two +princes(788) of the blood, who head the other factions. Two +parts in three of the cabinet, at least half, are attached to +Mr. Fox; there the Duke will be overborne; in Parliament will be +deserted. Never was a plan concerted with more weakness! + +I enclose a most extraordinary print. Mr. Fox has found some +caricaturist(789) equal to George Townshend, and who manages +royal personages with at least as little ceremony. I have +written "Lord Lincoln" over the blue riband, because some people +take it for him--likeness there is none: it is certain Lord +Lincoln's mother was no whore; she never recovered the death of +her husband. The line that follows "son of a whore" seems but +too much connected with it; at least the "could say more" is not +very merciful. The person of Lord Bute, not his face, is +ridiculously like; Newcastle, Pitt, and Lord Temple are the very +men. It came out but to-day, and shows how +cordial the new union is. Since the Ligue against Henry III. +of France, there never was such intemperate freedom with +velvet and ermine; never, I believe, where religion was not +concerned. + +I cannot find by the dates you send me that I have received +yours of Jan. 1, and Feb. 12, and I keep all your letters very +orderly. Mine of this year to you have been of Jan. 6, 17, 30; +Feb. 14; March 3 , 17; April 7, 20; May 5, 19. Tell me if you +have received them. + +What a King is our Prussian! how his victories come out +doubled and trebled above their very fame! My Lady Townshend +says, "Lord! how all the Queens will go to see this Solomon! and +how they will be disappointed!" How she of Hungary is +disappointed! We hear that the French have recalled their green +troops, which had advanced for show, and have sent their oldest +regiments against the Duke.(790) Our foreign affairs are very +serious, but I don't know whether I do not think that our +domestic tend to be more so! Adieu! + +(788) The Prince of Wales, who espoused Mr. Pitt; and the Duke +of Cumberland, Mr. Fox. + +(789) This relates to a print that made much noise, called "The +Turnstile." The uncertain figure pretended to be Lord Lincoln, +but was generally thought to mean the Prince of +Wales, whom it resembled; but in the second impression a +little demon was inserted to imply ,The Devil over Lincoln." +Yet that evasion did not efface the first idea. + +(790) The Duke of Cumberland. + + + +377 Letter 221 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, June 2, 1757. + +The ministry is to be settled to-day; there are different +accounts how: some say, that the Duke of Newcastle is to take +orders and to have the reversion of the bishopric of +Winchester: that Mr. Pitt is to have a regiment and to go serve +in Germany with the Duke; that Mr. Fox is to have Sir William +Irby'S place,(791) and be chamberlain to the Princess; that my +Lord Bute is to be divorced and marry Princess Emily; and that +my Lord Darlington is to be first minister. Others say, that +the Duke of Newcastle is to be sole minister, having broken with +Mr. Pitt; that Sir Thomas Robinson is to be again secretary of +state; Sir George Lee chancellor of the +exchequer, and Mr. Fox paymaster, but with no place in the +cabinet, nor any power. I believe the Duke himself has said +this; but, as I think the former establishment would be the less +ridiculous of the two, I intend to believe that. + +I send you your tickets and a curious new print. The blue +riband in the corner, and the line that explains it, but +leaves it still in the dark, makes much noise. I choose to +think it my Lord Lincoln, for, having a tenderness for +royalties, I will not suppose, as most do, that it points +higher. The rest are certainly admirable: the times are very +entertaining; one cannot complain that no Wit is stirring, as +one used to do. I never thought I should feel glad for the death +of poor Mr. Pelham; but really it has opened such scenes of +amusement, that I begin to bear it better than I did. I rejoice +to hear that your brother is accommodated, though not by my +means. The Duke of Bedford might have reflected, that what I +asked was a very trifle, or that I should never have asked it; +nay, that if I could have asked a favour of +consequence, I should not have applied to himself, but to those +who govern him,--to the Duchess and Rigby. + +I certainly am glad of rain, but could wish it was boiled a +little over the sun first: Mr. Bentley calls this the hard +summer, and says he is forced to buy his fine weather at +Newcastle. Adieu! + +P. S. Pray acknowledge the receipt of your tickets. I don't +know how you came not to see the advertisements of Xo Ho, which +have been in continually; four editions were published in twelve +days. + +(791) Vice-chamberlain to the Princess of wales. + + + +378 Letter 222 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, June 9, 1757. + +I must write you a very different story from my last. The day +before yesterday the Duke of Newcastle, who had resumed +conferences with Mr. Pitt by the intervention of Lord Bute, +though they could not agree on particulars, went to +Kensington, and told the King he could not act without Mr. Pitt +and a great plan of that connexion. The King reproached him +with his breach of promise; It seems the King is in the wrong +for Lord Lincoln and that court reckon his grace as white as +snow, and as steady as virtue itself. Mr. Fox went to court, +and consented to undertake the whole--but it is madness! Lord +Waldegrave,(792) a worthy man as ever was born, and sensible, is +to be the first lord of his treasury. Who is to be any thing +else I don't know, for by to-morrow it will rain resignations as +it did in the year '46. Lord Holderness has begun, and gave up +to-day; the Dukes of Rutland and Leeds and all these Pelhamites +are to follow immediately: the +standard of opposition is, I believe, ready painted, and is to +be hung out at Leicester-house by the beginning of the week. I +grieve for Mr. Fox, and have told him so: I see how +desperate his game is, but I shall not desert him, though I +mean nor meant to profit of his friendship. So many places will +be vacant, that I cannot yet guess who will be to fill them. +Mr. Fox will be chancellor of the exchequer, and, I think, Lord +Egremont one of the secretaries of state. What is certain, +great clamour, and I fear. great confusion, will follow. You +shall know more particulars in a few days, but at present I have +neither time for it, nor knowledge of, more. Adieu! + +(792) James second Earl Waldegrave, and first Husband to Maria +Duchess of gloucester. + + + +379 Letter 223 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, June 14, 1757. + +This is Tuesday; I wrote to you but on Thursday, and promised to +write again in a few days--a week cannot pass without a new +revolution. On Friday Mr. Fox found that his kissing hands was +to be a signal for the resignations: Lord Rockingham and Lord +Coventry were the most eager to give up. The Duke of Newcastle, +transported that his breach of promise and +ingratitude to the King produced such noble mischief, +endeavoured to spread the flame as wide as possible. On +Saturday, Mr. Fox and Lord Waldegrave represented the ugly +situation of their affairs, and advised against persisting, yet +offering to proceed if commanded. The Chief Justice, who was to +carry the exchequer seal that morning, enforced this-- "Well," +said the King, "go tell the others to make what +ministry they can; I only insist on two things, that Lord +Winchilsea remain where he is, and that Fox be paymaster." +These two preliminaries would be enough to prevent the whole, if +there were no other obstacles. Lord Winchilsea, indeed, would +not act with Newcastle and Pitt, if they would consent; but +there are twenty other impediments: Leicester-house can never +forgive or endure Fox; and if they could, his and +Winchilsea's remaining would keep their friends from +resigning, and then how would there be room for Newcastle's +zealots or Pitt's martyrs? But what I take to be most +difficult of all, is the accommodation between the chiefs +themselves: his grace's head and heart seem to be just as young +and as old as ever they were; this triumph will +intoxicate him; if he could not agree with Pitt, when his +prospect was worst, be will not be more firm or more sincere +when all his doublings have been rewarded. If his vainglory +turns his head, it will make no impression on Pitt, who is as +little likely to be awed by another's pageant, as to be +depressed by his own slender train. They can't agree--but what +becomes of us? There are three factions, just strong enough to +make every thing impracticable. + +The willing victim, Lord Holderness, is likely to be the most +real victim. His situation was exactly parallel to Lord +Harrington's,(793) with the addition of the latter's +experience. Both the children of fortune, unsupported by +talents, fostered by the King's favour, without connexions or +interest, deserted him to please this wayward Duke, who, to +recover a little favour in the cabinet, sacrificed the first to +the King@s resentment, and has prepared to treat the other in +the same manner, by protesting that he did not ask the +compliment. But no matter for him! I have already told you, and +I repeat, that I see no end to these struggles without great +convulsions. The provocations, and consequently the +resentments, increase with every revolution. Blood royal is +mixed in the quarrels: two factions might cease by the victory +of either; here is always a third ready to turn the scale. +Happily the people care or interest themselves very little about +all this-but they will be listed soon, as the chiefs grow so +much in earnest, and as there are men of such vast property +engaged on every side-there is not a public pretence on any. +The scramble is avowedly for power-whoever remains master of the +field at last, I fear, will have power to use it! + +This is not the sole uneasiness at Kensington; they know the +proximity of the French army to the Duke, and think that by this +time there may have been an action: the suspense is not +pleasant: the event may have great consequences even on these +broils at home. For the King of Prussia, he is left to the +coffee-houses. Adieu! I can scarce steal a day for +Strawberry; if one leaves London to itself for four-and-twenty +hours, one finds it topsy-turvy. + +(793) William Stanhope, Earl of Harrington, who, though a +younger brother, had been raised to an earldom, to be Lord +Lieutenant of Ireland, and Secretary of State, had been the +first man to resign his place in 1746, when the King, his master +and benefactor, had a mind to remove the Pelhams, and make Lord +Granville prime minister. He was afterwards +sacrificed by the Pelhams to please the King. Lord Holderness +was born to an earldom, but having little fortune or parts, had +been promoted by the Duke of Newcastle to great posts. + + +380 Letter 224 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, June 20, 1757. + +I renounce all prophesying; I will never suppose that I can +foresee politically; I can foresee nothing, what ever I may +foretell. Here is a ministry formed of all the people who for +these ten weeks have been giving each other exclusion! I will +now not venture, even to pronounce that they cannot agree +together. On Saturday last, the 18th, Lord Hardwicke carried to +Kensington the result of the last negotiations between Newcastle +and Pitt, and the latter followed and actually +kissed hands again for the seals.(794) Here is the +arrangement as far as I know it, the most extraordinary part of +which is, that they suffer Mr. Fox to be paymaster--oh! no, it +is more extraordinary that he will submit to be so. His grace +returns to the treasury, and replaces there his singular good +friend Mr. Legge. Lord Holderness "comes to life again as +secretary of state; Lord Anson reassumes the admiralty, not with +the present board, nor with his own, but with Mr. Pitt's, and +this by Mr. Pitt's own desire. The Duke of Dorset retires with +a pension of 4000 pounds a-year, to make room for Lord Gower, +that he may make room for Lord Temple. Lord George Sackville +forces out Lord Barrington from secretary at war, who was going +to resign with the rest, for fear Mr. Fox +should, and that this plan should not take place. Lord +Hardwicke, young disinterested creature! waits till something +drops. Thus far all was smooth; but even this perfection of +harmony and wisdom meets with rubs. Lord Halifax had often and +lately been promised to be erected into a secretary of state for +the West Indies. Mr. Pitt says, "No, I will not part with so +much power." Lord Halifax resigned on Saturday, and Lord Dublin +succeeds him. The two Townshends are gone into the country in a +rage; Lord Anson is made the pretence; Mr. Fox is the real sore +to George, Lord G. Sackville to +Charles. Sir George Lee, who resigned his treasurership to the +Princess against Mr. Pitt, and as the world says, wanting to +bring Lord Bute into Doctors' Commons,(795) is succeeded by Lord +Bute's brother M'Kinsy; but to be sure, all this, in which there +is no intrigue, no change, no policy, no hatred, no jealousy, no +disappointment, no resentment, no +mortification, no ambition, Will produce the utmost concord! It +is a system formed to last; and to be sure it will! In the mean +time, I shall bid adieu to politics; my curiosity is satisfied +for some months, and I shall betake myself to +employments I love better, and to this place, which I love best +of all. Here is the first fruit of my retirement; behind a +bas-relief in wax of the present Pope I have writ the +following inscription: + +Prospero Lambertini +Bishop of Rome +by the name of Benedict IV. +who, though an absolute Prince, reigned as harmlessly as a Doge +of Venice. He restored the lustre of the Tiara by those arts +alone, by which alone he obtained it, his Virtues. +Beloved by Papists, esteemed by Protestants: A Priest without +insolence or interest; A Prince without favourites; A Pope +without nepotism: An Author without vanity; In short, a Man whom +neither Wit nor Power could spoil. The Son of a +favourite Minister, but One, who never courted a Prince, nor +worshipped a Churchman, offers, in a free Protestant Country, +this deserved Incense to the Best of the Roman Pontiffs. + +If the good old soul is still alive, and you could do it +unaffectedly and easily, you may convey it to him; it must be a +satisfaction to a good heart to know that in so distant a +country, so detached from his, his merit is acknowledged, +without a possibility of interest entering into the +consideration. His death-bed does not want comfort or +cheerfulness, but it may be capable of an expansion of heart +that May still sweeten it! Adieu! + +(794) "On the day they were all to kiss hands," says Lord +Waldegrave, "I went to Kensington, to entertain myself with the +innocent, or, perhaps, ill-natured amusement of examining the +different countenances. The behaviour of Pitt and his party was +decent and sensible; they had neither the insolence of men who +had gained a victory, nor were they awkward and disconcerted, +like those who come to a place where they know they are not +welcome: but as to the Duke of Newcastle, and his friends the +resigners, there was a mixture of fear and of shame on their +countenances: they were real objects of +compassion." Memoires, 138.-E. + +(795) Meaning the offence he took at Lord Bute's favourite. Sir +George Lee was a civilian. + + + +382 Letter 225 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, July 3, 1757. + +I have been under great uneasiness about you; Coloredo, the +Austrian minister, is recalled precipitately, with orders not to +take leave. our papers joined Pucci(796) with him in this +recall, but I do not find with any foundation. However, I cannot +be easy while your situation is precarious. One should conceive +that the advantages of the English trade to Tuscany would induce +the Emperor to preserve a neutrality; but what are good reasons +against his wife's vengeance and obstinacy, and haughtiness? +Tell me immediately what you think or hear on this head; what +steps you would take; whither you would retire if this should +happen; whether you would not come home to watch over your own +interest and return, or whether you would be more in the way by +remaining in Italy. I know not what to advise; I don't even +know how this letter is to get to you, and how our +correspondence will continue; at least it must be very +irregular, now all communication is cut off through the +Empress's dominions. I am in great solicitude! + +Had this recall happened a week later I should not have +wondered: it was haughty, indeed, at the time it was dictated; +but two days, and we heard of the reversal of all the King of +Prussia's triumphs; of his being beat by Count Daun; of the +siege of Prague being raised: of Prince Charles falling on their +retreat and cutting off two thousand: we would willingly not +believe to the extent of all this,(797) yet we have known what +it is to have our allies or ourselves beaten! The Duke has been +forced to pass the Weser, but writes that the French are so +distressed for provisions that he hopes to repass it. +I notified to you the settlement of the ministry, and, +contrary to late custom, have not to unnotify it again. +However, it took ten days to complete, after an +inter-ministerium of exactly three months. I have often +called this the age of abortions; for the present, the +struggles of the three factions, that threatened such +disturbances, have gone off like other forebodings. I think I +told you in my last the chief alterations; the King would not +absolutely give the secretary at war to Lord George Sackville; +Lord Barrington remains: the Duke of Dorset would not take a +pension eo nomine; his cinque-ports are given to him for life, +with a salary of four thousand pounds a-year. Lord +Cholmondeley, who is removed for Potter, has a pension equal to +his place. Mr. M'Kinsy is not treasurer to the Princess, as I +told you. One of the most extraordinary parts of the new system +is the advancement of Sir Robert Henley. He was made +attorney-general by Mr. Fox at the end of last year, and made as +bad a figure as might be. Mr. Pitt insisting upon an +attorney-general of his own, Sir Robert Henley is made lord +keeper!(798) The first mortification to Lord Holderness has +been, that, having been promised a garter as well as Lord +Waldegrave, and but one being vacant, that one, contrary to +customs has been given to the latter, with peculiar marks of +grace. I now come to your letter of June 18th, and attribute to +your distance, or to my imperfect representations of our actors +and affairs, that you suppose our dissensions owing to French +intrigues--we want no foreign causes; but in so +precarious a letter as this I cannot enter into farther +explanations; indeed the French need not be at any trouble to +distract or weaken our councils! + +I cannot be at peace while your fate is in suspense; I shall +watch every step that relates to it, but I fear absolutely +impotent to be of any service to you: from Pucci's not being +recalled, I would hope that he will not be. Adieu! + +P. S. Lord Dublin is not yet first lord of trade; there are +negotiations for recovering Lord Halifax. + +July 5th. + +As I was sending this to London I received the newspapers of +yesterday, and see that old Pucci is just dead. I cannot help +flattering myself that this is a favourable event: they cannot +recall no minister; and when they do not, I think we shall not. + +(796) Resident from Florence. He was here for fifty years, and +said he had seen London twice built. This meant, that houses +are run up so slightly that they last but few years. + +(797) the King of Prussia had been completely beaten at Kolin by +the Austrians, commanded by Count Daun, on the 17th of June. He +was in consequence obliged to retreat from Bohemia, and soon +found himself, surrounded as he was by increasing and advancing +enemies, in one of the most critical positions of his whole +military life. From this he at length extricated himself, by +means of the victories of Rosbach and Lissa.-D. + +(798) Afterwards created Lord Henley, and made lord +chancellor, and finally elevated to be Earl of Northington-D. + + + +383 Letter 226 +To The Earl Of Strafford. +Strawberry Hill, July 4, 1757. + +My dear Lord, +It is well I have not obeyed you sooner, as I have often been +going to do.- what a heap of lies and contradictions I should +have sent you! What joint ministries and sole ministries! What +acceptances and resignations!--Viziers and bowstrings never +succeeded one another quicker. Luckily I have stayed till we +have got an administration that will last a little more than for +ever. There is such content and harmony in it, that I don't +know whether it is not as perfect as a plan which I formed for +Charles Stanhope, after he had plagued me for two days for news. +I told him the Duke of Newcastle was to take orders, and have +the reversion of the bishopric of Winchester; that Mr. Pitt was +to have a regiment, and go over to the Duke; and Mr. Fox to be +chamberlain to the Princess, in the room of Sir William Irby. +Of all the new system I believe the happiest is Offley; though in +great humility he says he only takes the bedchamber to +accommodate. Next to him in joy is the Earl of Holderness--who +has not got the garter. My Lord Waldegrave has; and the garter +by this time I believe has got fifty spots.(799) + +Had I written sooner, I should have told your lordship, too, of +the King of Prussia's triumphs-but they are addled too! I hoped +to have had a few bricks from Prague to send you towards +building Mr. Bentley's design, but I fear none will come from +thence this summer. Thank God, the happiness of the menagerie +does not depend upon administrations or victories! The +happiest of beings in this part of the world is my Lady +Suffolk: I really think her acquisition and conclusion of her +lawsuit will lengthen her life ten years. You may be sure I am +not so satisfied, as Lady Mary(800) has left Sudbroke. +Are your charming lawns burnt up like our humble hills? Is your +sweet river as low as our deserted Thames?--I am wishing for a +handful or two of those floods that drowned me last year all the +way from Wentworth Castle. I beg my best compliments to my +lady, and my best wishes that every pheasant egg and peacock egg +may produce as many colours as a harlequin-jacket. + +Tuesday, July 5. + +Luckily, my good lord, my conscience had saved its distance. I +had writ the above last night, when I received the honour of +your kind letter this morning. You had, as I did not doubt, +received accounts of all our strange histories. For that of the +pretty Countess,(801) I fear there is too much truth in all you +have heard: but you don't seem to know that Lord +Corydon and Captain Corydon(802) his brother have been most +abominable. I don't care to write scandal; but when I see you, +I will tell you how much the chits deserve to be whipped. Our +favourite general(803) is at his camp: lady Ailesbury don't go +to him these three weeks. I expect the pleasure of seeing her +and Miss Rich and Fred. Campbell here soon for a few days. I +don't wonder your lordship likes St. Philippe better than +Torcy:(804) except a few passages interesting to Englishmen, +there cannot be a more dry narration than the latter. There is +an addition of seven volumes of Universal History to Voltaire's +Works, which I think will charm you: I almost like it the best +of his works.(805) It is what you have seen extended, and the +Memoirs of Louis XIV. refondues in it. He is a little tiresome +with contradicting La Beaumelle out of pique--and there is too +much about Rousseau. Between La Beaumelle and Voltaire, one +remains with scarce a fixed idea about that time. I wish they +would produce their authorities and proofs; without which, I am +grown to believe neither. From mistakes in the English part, I +suppose there are great ones in the more distant histories; yet +altogether it is a fine work. He is, as one might believe, +worst informed on the present times. He says eight hundred +persons were put to death for the last rebellion-I don't believe +a quarter of the number were: and he makes the first ]lord +Derwentwater--who, poor man! was in no such high-spirited +mood--bring his son, who by the way was not above a year -,ind a +half old, upon the scaffold to be sprinkled with his blood. +However, he is in the right to expect to be believed: for he +believes all the romances in Lord Anson's Voyage, and how +Admiral Almanzor made one man-of-war box the ears of the whole +empire of China!--I know nothing else new but a new edition of +Dr. Young's Works. If your lordship thinks like me, who hold +that even in his most frantic rhapsodies there are innumerable +fine things you will like to have this edition. Adieu, once +more, my best lord! + +(799) He was apt to be dirty. + +(800) Lady Mary Coke, daughter of John Campbell, Duke of +Argyle, and sister to Lady Strafford. + +(801) The Countess of Coventry.-E. + +(802) Lord Bolingbroke, and his brother, the Hon. Henry St. +John.-E. + +(803) General Conway. + +(804) A translation of the Memoirs of the Marquis de Torcy, +secretary of state to Louis XIV., had just been published in +London. E. + +(805) For a review of these volumes by Oliver Goldsmith, see the +enlarged edition of his Miscellaneous Works, vol. iii. p. 445.- +E. + + + +385 Letter 227 +To John Chute, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, July 12, 1757. + +It would be very easy to persuade me to a Vine-voyage,(806) +without your being so indebted to me, if it were possible. I +shall represent my impediments, and then you shall judge. I say +nothing of the heat of this magnificent weather, with the glass +yesterday up to three-quarters of sultry. In all +English probability this will not be a hindrance long; though +at present, so far from travelling, I have made the tour of my +own garden but once these three days before eight at night, and +then I thought I should have died of it. For how many years we +shall have to talk of the summer of fifty-seven!--But hear: my +Lady Ailesbury and Miss Rich come hither on Thursday for two or +three days; and on Monday next the Officina +Arbuteana opens in form. The Stationers' Company, that is, Mr. +Dodsley, Mr. Tonson, etc., are summoned to meet here on Sunday +night. And with what do you think we open? Cedite, Romani +Impressores--with nothing under Graii Carmina. I found him in +town last week: he had brought his two Odes to be +printed. I snatched them out of Dodsley's hands, and they are +to be the first fruits of my press. An edition of Hentznerus, +with a version by Mr. Bentley and a little preface of mine, were +prepared, but are to wait. Now, my dear sir, can I stir? +"Not ev'n thy virtues, tyrant, shall avail!" + +Is not it the plainest thing in the world that I cannot go to +you yet, but that you must come to me? + +I tell you no news, for I know none, think of none. Elzevir, +Aldous, and Stephens are the freshest personages in my memory. +Unless i was appointed printer of the Gazette, I think nothing +could at present make me read an article in it. Seriously you +must come to us, and shall be witness that the first holidays we +have I will return with you. Adieu! + +(806) To visiting Mr. Chute at the Vine, his seat in +Hampshire. + + + + +386 Letter 228 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, July 16, 1757. + +You do me justice in believing that I enjoy your satisfaction; I +do heartily, and particularly on this point: you know how often +I have wished this reconciliation: indeed you have taken the +handsomest manner of doing it, and it has been accepted +handsomely. I always had a good opinion of your cousin, and I +am not apt to throw about my esteem lightly. He has ever +behaved with sense and dignity, and this country has more +obligations to him than to most men living. + +the weather has been so hot, and we are so unused to it, that +nobody knew how to behave themselves; even Mr. Bentley has done +shivering. + +Elzevirianum opens to-day; you shall taste its first fruits. I +find people have a notion that it is very mysterious; they don't +know how I should abhor to profane Strawberry Hill with +politics. Adieu! + + + +386 Letter 229 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, Thursday, 17. + +I only write you a line to tell you, that as you mention Miss +Montagu's being well and alone, if she could like to accompany +the Colonel(807) and you to Strawberry Hill and the Vine, the +seneschals of those castles will be very proud to see her. I am +sorry to be forced to say any thing civil in a letter to you; +you deserve nothing but ill-usage for disappointing us so often, +but we stay till we have got you into our power, and then--why +then, I am afraid we shall still be what I have been so long. + +(807) mr. Montagu's brother. + + + +387 Letter 230 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, July 25, 1757. + +The Empress-Queen has not yet hurt my particular. I have +received two letters from you within this week, dated July 2d +and 9th. Yet she has given up Ostend and Nieuport, and, I +think, Furnes and Ypr`es, to the French. We are in a piteous +way! The French have passed the Weser, and a courier +yesterday brought word that the Duke was marching towards them, +and within five miles: by this time his fate is decided. The +world here is very inquisitive about a secret expedition(808) +which we are fitting out: a letter is not a proper place to talk +about it; I can only tell you, that be it whither it will, I do +not augur well about it, and what makes me dislike it infinitely +more, Mr. Conway is of it. I am more easy about your situation +than I was, though I do not like the rejoicings ordered at +Leghorn for the victory over the Prussians. + +I have so little to say to-day that I should not have writ, but +for one particular reason. The Mediterranean trade being +arrived, I concluded the vases for Mr. Fox were on board it, but +we cannot discover them. Unluckily it happens that the bill of +lading is lost, and I have forgot in what ship they were +embarked. In short, my dear Sir, I think that, as I always used +to do, I gave the bill to your dearest brother, by which means +it is lost. I imagine you have a duplicate. send it as soon as +you can. + +I thank you for what you have given to Mr. Phelps. I don't call +this billet part of the acknowledgment. All the world is +dispersed: the ministers are at their several villas: one day in +a week serves to take care of a nation, let it be in as bad a +plight as it will! We have a sort of Jewish superstition, and +would not come to town on a Saturday or Sunday though it were to +defend the Holy of Holies. Adieu! + +(808) the expedition to Rochfort. + + + +387 Letter 231 +To John Chute, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, July 26, 1757. + +I love to communicate my satisfactions to you. You will +imagine that I have got an original portrait of John +Guttemburg, the first inventor of printing, or that I have met +with a little boke called Eneyr dos, which I am going to +translate and print. No, no; far beyond any such thing! Old +Lady Sandwich(809) is dead at Paris, and my lord has given me +her picture of Ninon l'Enclos; given it me in the prettiest +manner in the world. I beg if he should ever meddle in any +election in Hampshire, that you will serve him to the last drop +of your shrievalty. If you reckon by the thermometer of my +natural impatience, the picture would be here already, but I +fear I must wait some time for it. + +The press goes on as fast as if I printed myself. I hope in a +very few days to send you a specimen, though I could wish you +was at the birth of the first produce. Gray has been gone these +five days. Mr. Bentley has been ill, and is not +recovered of the sweating-sickness, which I now firmly believe +was only a hot summer and England, being so unused to it, took +it for a malady. mr. Muntz is not gone; but pray don't think +that I keep him: he has absolutely done nothing this whole +summer but paste two chimney-boards. In short, instead of +Claude Lorrain, he is only one of Bromwich's men. + +You never saw any thing so droll as Mrs. Clive's countenance, +between the heat of the summer, the pride in her legacy,(810) +and the efforts to appear concerned. + +We have given ourselves for a day or two the air of an +earthquake, but it proved an explosion of the powder-mills at +Epsom. I asked Louis if it had done any mischief: he said, +"Only blown a man's head off;" as if that was a part one could +spare! + +P. S. I hope Dr. Warburton will not think I encroach either upon +his commentatorship or private pretension, if I assume these +lines of Pope, thus altered, for myself: + +"Some have for wits, and then for poets pass'd +turn'd printers next, and proved plain fools at last." + +(809) Daughter of the famous Wilmot Earl of Rochester. + +(810) A legacy of fifty pounds, left her by John Robarts, the +last Earl of Radnor of that family. + + + +388 Letter 232 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, August 4, 1757. + +Mr. Phelps (who is Mr. Phelps?) has brought me the packet safe, +for which I thank you. I would fain have persuaded him to stay +and dine, that I might ask him more questions about you. He +told me how low your immaterial spirits are: I fear the news +that came last night will not exalt them. The French attacked +the Duke for three days together, and at last +defeated him. I find it is called at Kensington an +encounter(811) of fourteen squadrons; but any defeat must be +fatal to Hanover. I know few particulars, and those only by a +messenger despatched to me by Mr. Conway on the first tidings: +the Duke exposed himself extremely, but is unhurt, as they say, +all his small family are. In what a situation is our Prussian +hero, surrounded by Austrians, French, and +Muscovites-even impertinent Sweden is stealing in to pull a +feather out of his tail! What devout plunderers will every +little Catholic prince of the empire become! The only good I +hope to extract out of this mischief is, that it will stifle our +secret expedition, and preserve Mr. Conway from going on it. I +have so ill an opinion of our secret expeditions, that I hope +they will for ever remain so. What a melancholy +picture is there of an old monarch at Kensington, who has lived +to see such inglorious and fatal days! Admiral Boscawen is +disgraced. I know not the cause exactly, as ten miles out of +town are a thousand out of politics. He is said to have refused +to serve under Sir Edward Hawke in this armament. Shall I tell +you what, more than distance, has thrown me Out of attention to +news? A little packet which I shall give your brother for you, +will explain it. In short, I am turned +printer, and have converted a little cottage here into a +printing-office. My abbey is a perfect colicue or academy. I +keep a painter in the house and a printer--not to mention Mr. +Bentley, who is an academy himself. I send you two copies (one +for Dr. Cocchi) of a very honourable opening of my press- -two +amazing Odes of Mr. Gray; they are Greek, they are +Pindaric, they are sublime! consequently I fear a little +obscure; the second particularly, by the confinement of the +measure and the nature of prophetic vision, is +mysterious.(812) I could not persuade him to add more notes; +he says whatever wants to be explained, don't deserve to be. I +shall venture to place some in Dr. Cocchi's copy, who need not +be supposed to understand Greek- and English together, though he +is so much master of both separately. To divert you in the mean +time, I send you the following copy of a letter written by my +printer(813) to a friend in Ireland. I should tell you that he +has the most sensible look in the world; Garrick said he would +give any money for four actors with such eyes--they are more +Richard the Third's than Garrick's own; but whatever his eyes +are, is head is Irish. Looking for something I wanted in a +drawer, I perceived a parcel of +strange romantic words in a large hand beginning a letter; he +saw me see it, yet left it, which convinces me it was left on +purpose: it is the grossest flattery to me, couched in most +ridiculous scraps of poetry, which he has retained from things +he has printed; but it will best describe itself:-- + +"SIR, +"I DATE this from shady bowers, nodding groves, and +amaranthine shades,--close by old Father Thames's silver side- +-fair Twickenham's luxurious shades--Richmond's near +neighbour, where great George the King resides. You will +wonder at my prolixity--in my last I informed you that I was +going into the country to transact business for a private +gentleman. This gentleman is the Hon. Horatio Walpole, son to +the late great Sir Robert Walpole, who is very studious, and an +admirer of all the liberal arts and sciences; amongst the rest +he admires printing. He has fitted out a complete +printing-house at this his country seat, and has done me the +favour to make me sole manager and operator (there being no one +but myself). All men of genius resorts his house, courts his +company, and admires his understanding--what with his own and +their writings, I believe I shall be pretty well +employed.--I have pleased him, and I hope continue so to do. +Nothing can be more warm than the weather has been here this +time past; they have in London, by the help of glasses, +roasted in the artillery-ground fowls and quarters of lamb. +The coolest days that I have felt since May last are equal to, +nay, far exceed the warmest I ever felt in Ireland. The place I +am in now is all my comfort from the heat--the situation Of it +is close to the Thames, and is Richmond Gardens (if you were +ever in them) in miniature, surrounded by bowers, groves, +cascades, and ponds, and on a rising ground, not very common in +this part of the country--the building elegant, and the +furniture of a peculiar taste, magnificent and superb He is a +bachelor, and spends his time in the studious rural taste--not +like his father, lost in the weather-beaten vessel of state-- +many people censured, but his conduct was far better than our +late pilots at the helm, and more to the interest of England- +-they follow his advice now, and court the assistance of +Spain, instead of provoking a war, for that was ever against +England's interest." + +I laughed for an hour at this picture of myself, which is much +more like to the studious magician in the enchanted opera of +Rinaldo; not but Twickenham has a romantic genteelness that +would figure in a more luxurious climate. It was but +yesterday that we had a new kind of auction-it was of the +orange-trees and plants of your old acquaintance, Admiral +Martin. It was one of the warm days of this jubilee summer, +which appears only once in fifty years--the plants were +disposed in little clumps about the lawn: the company walked to +bid from one to the other, and the auctioneer knocked down the +lots on the orange tubs. Within three doors was an +auction of china. You did not imagine that we were such a +metropolis! Adieu! + +(811) The battle at Hastenbeck. + +(812) Gray, in a letter to Dr. Wharton, of the 17th of August, +says, "I hear we are not at all popular: the great objection is +obscurity: nobody knows what we would be at: one man, a peer, I +have been told of, that think's -the last stanza of The second +Ode relates to Charles the First and Oliver +Cromwell; in short, the zuveroi appear to be still fewer than +even, I expected." Works, vol. iii. p. 165-E. + +(813) William Robinson, first printer to the press at +Strawberry Hill. + + + +390 Letter 233 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, Aug. 4, 1757. + +I shall to-morrow deliver to your agentess, Mrs. Moreland, +something to send to you. + +The Duke(814) is beaten by the French; he and his family are +safe; I know no more particulars-if I did, I should say, as I +have just said to Mr. Chute, I am too busy about something to +have time to write them. Adieu! + +(814) The Duke of Cumberland, in the affair of Hastenbeck. + + + +391 Letter 234 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway. +Strawberry Hill, August 14, 1757. + +You are too kind to me, and, if it were possible, would make me +feel still more for your approaching departures.(815) I can +only thank you ten thousand times; for I must not +expatiate, both from the nature of the subject, and from the +uncertainty of this letter reaching you. I was told +yesterday, that you had hanged a French spy in the Isle of +Wight; I don't mean you, but your government. Though I wish no +life taken away, it was some satisfaction to think that the +French were at this hour wanting information. + +Mr. Fox breakfasted here t'other day. He confirmed -what you +tell me of Lord Frederick Cavendish's account: it is +universally said that the Duke failed merely by inferiority, +the French soldiers behaving in general most scandalously. They +had fourscore pieces of cannon, but very ill served. Marshal +D'Estr`ees was recalled before the battle, but did not know it. +He is said to have made some great mistakes in the action. I +cannot speak to the truth of it, but the French are reported to +have demanded two millions sterling of Hanover. +My whole letter will consist of hearsays: for, even at so +little distance from town, one gets no better news than +hawkers and pedlars retail about the country. From such I hear +that George Haldane(816) is made governor of Jamaica, and that a +Mr. Campbell, whose father lives in Sweden, is going thither to +make an alliance with that country, and hire twelve thousand +men. If one of my acquaintance, as an antiquary, were alive, +Sir Anthony Shirley,,(817) I suppose we should send him to +Persia again for troops; I fear we shall get none nearer! + +Adieu! my dearest Harry! Next to wishing your expedition +still-born, my most constant thought is, how to be of any +service to poor Lady Ailesbury, whose reasonable concern makes +even that of the strongest friendship seem trifling. Yours most +entirely. + +(815) On the expedition to Rochfort. + +(816) Brigadier-General Haldane. + +(817) Sir Thomas, Sir Anthony, and Sir Robert Shirley, were +three brothers, all great travellers, and all distinguished by +extraordinary adventures in the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and +James I. + + + +392 Letter 235 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, August 25, 1757. + +I did not know that you expected the pleasure of seeing the +Colonel so soon. It is plain that I did not solicit leave of +absence for him; make him my many compliments. I should have +been happy to have seen you and Mr. John, but must not regret +it, as you were so agreeably prevented. You are very +particular, I can tell you, in liking Gray's Odes--but you must +remember that the age likes Akenside, and did like +Thomson! can the same people like both? Milton was forced to +wait till the world had done admiring Quarles. Cambridge told +me t'other night that my Lord Chesterfield heard Stanley read +them as his own, but that must have been a mistake of my +lord's deafness. Cambridge said, "Perhaps they are Stanley's; +and not caring to own them, he gave them to Gray." I think this +would hurt Gray's dignity ten times more than his poetry not +succeeding. My humble share as his printer has been more +favourably received. We proceed soberly. I must give you +account of less amusements, des eaux de Strawberry. T'other day +my Lady Rochfort, Lady Townshend, Miss Bland,(818) and the +knight of the garter dined here, and were carried into the +printing-office, and were to see the man print. There were some +lines ready placed, which he took off; I gave them to Lady +Townshend; here they are- + +"The press speaks: +>From me wits and poets their glory obtain; +Without me their wit and their verses were vain. +Stop, Townshend, and let me but print what you say; +You, the fame I on others bestow, will repay." + +They then asked, as I foresaw, to see the man compose: I gave +him four lines out of the Fair Penitent, which he set; but while +he went to place them in the press, I made them look at +something else without their observing, and in an instant he +whipped away what he had just set, and to their great surprise +when they expected to see "Were ye, ye fair," he presented to my +Lady Rochford the following lines:- + +"The press speaks: +In vain from your properest name you have flown, +And exchanged lovely Cupid's for Hymen's dull throne; +By my art shall your beauties be constantly sung, +And in spite of yourself you shall ever be young." + +You may imagine, whatever the poetry was, that the gallantry of +it succeeded. Poor Mr. Bentley has been at the extremity with a +fever, and inflammation in his bowels; but is so well recovered +that Mr. Muntz is gone to fetch him hither to-day. I don't +guess what sight I have to come in Hampshire, unless it is +Abbotstone. I am pretty sure I have none to come at the Vine, +where I have done nothing, as I see Mr. Chute will never execute +any thing. The very altar-piece that I sent for to Italy is not +placed yet. But when he could refrain from +making the Gothic columbarium for his family, which I propose, +and Mr. Bentley had drawn so divinely, it is not probable he +should do any thing else. Adieu! + +(818) Sister of the unfortunate Sir John Bland. See ant&, p. +287, letter 157.-E. + + + +393 Letter 236 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway.(819) +Strawberry Hill, Thursday, Sept. 2, 1757. + +Not being in town, there may be several more new productions, +as the Grubbaea frutex blossoms every day; but I send you all I +had gathered for myself, while I was there. I found the +pamphlet much in vogue; and, indeed, it is written smartly. My +Lady Townshend sends all her messages on the backs of these +political cards; the only good one of which the two heads facing +one another, is her son George's. Charles met D'Abreu t'other +day, and told him he intended to make a great many speeches next +winter; the first, said he, shall be to address the King not to +send for any more foreign troops, but to send for some foreign +ministers. + +My Lord Chesterfield is relapsed: he sent Lord Bath word +lately, that be was grown very lean and deaf: the other +replied, that he could lend him some fat, and should be very +glad at any time to lend him an ear. + +I shall go to town on Monday, and if I find any thing else new, +I will pack it up with a flower picture for Lady +Ailesbury, which I shall leave in Warwick-street, with orders +to be sent to you. Adieu! + +(819) Now first printed. + + + +393 Letter 237 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Sept. 3, 1757. + +having intended a journey into Warwickshire to see Lady +Hertford while my lord is in Ireland, and having accordingly +ordered my letters thither, though without going, I did not +receive yours of the 22d till last week; and though you +desired an immediate acknowledgment of it, I own I did defer +till I could tell you I had been at Linton,(820) from whence I +returned yesterday. I had long promised your brother a visit; +the immediate cause was very melancholy, and I must pass over it +rapidly-in short, I am going to place an urn in the church there +to our dear Gal.! If I could have divested myself of that +thought, I should have passed my time very happily; the house is +fine, and stands like the citadel of Kent; the whole county is +its garden. So rich a prospect scarce wants my Thames. Mr. and +Mrs. Foote(821) are settled there, two of the most agreeable and +sensible people I ever met. Their eldest boy has the finest +countenance in the world; your nephew +Hory(822) was there too, and has a sweetness of temper, as if +begot between your brother and you, and not between him and his +Tusephone. Your eldest brother has not only established your +sister Foote there, which looks well, but dropped very agreeable +hints about Hory. + +Your letter has confirmed my satisfaction about your situation +about which indeed I am easy. I am persuaded you will remain at +Florence as long as King George has any minister there. I do +not imagine that a recall obliges you to return home; +whether you could get your appointments continued is very +different. It is certainly far from unprecedented: nay, more +than one have received them at home--but that is a favour far +beyond my reach to obtain. Should there be occasion, you must +try all your friends, and all that have professed themselves so; +your Mr. Pelham(823) might do something. In the mean time, +neglect none of the ministers. If you could wind into a +correspondence with Colonel Yorke,(824) at the Hague, he may be +of great service to you. That family is very Powerful: the +eldest brother, Lord Royston,(825) is historically curious and +political: if without its appearing too forced, you could at any +time send him uncommon letters, papers, manifestoes', and things +of that sort, it might do good service. My dear child, I can +give you better advice than assistance: I believe I have told +you before, that I should rather hurt you than serve you by +acting openly for you. + +I told you in my last Admiral Boscawen's affair too strongly: +he is not disgraced nor dismissed, but seems to reckon himself +both. The story is far from exactly known: what I can sift out +is, that he indulged himself in a great latitude in a most +profitable station, was recalled against his inclination, for +the present expedition; not being easily met, a second +commander was appointed, whom it seems he did not much care to +serve under at first. He does not serve at all, and his +Boscawenhood is much more Boscawened; that is surely in the +deepest shade. The wind has blown so constantly west for nearly +three weeks, that we have not only received no mails from the +continent, but the transports have been detained in the Downs, +and the secret expedition has remained at anchor. I have prayed +it might continue, but the wind has got to the east to-day. +Having never been prejudiced in favour of this exploit, what +must I think of it when the French have had such long notice? + +We had a torrent of bad news yesterday from America, Lord +Loudon has found an army of twenty-one thousand French, gives +over the design on Louisbourg, and retires to Halifax. +Admiral Holbourn writes, that they have nineteen ships to his +seventeen, and he cannot attack them. It is time for England to +slip her own cables, and float away into some unknown +ocean! + +Between disgraces and an inflammation in my eyes, it is time to +conclude my letter. My eyes I have certainly weakened with +using them too much at night. I went the other day to +Scarlet's to buy green spectacles; he was mighty assiduous to +give me a pair that would not tumble my hair. "Lord! Sir," said +I, "when one is come to wear spectacles, what signifies how one +looks?" + +I hope soon to add another volume to your packet from my +press. I shall now only print for presents; or to talk in a +higher style, I shall only give my Louvre editions to +privy-councillors and foreign ministers. Apropos! there is a +book of this sacred sort which I wish I could by your means +procure: it is the account, with plates, of what has been found +at Herculaneum. You may promise the King of Naples in return +all my editions. Adieu! my dear Sir. + +Sept. 4. + +I had sealed this up, and was just sending it to London, when I +received yours of the 13th of this month. I am charmed with the +success of your campaign at Leghorn-a few such generals or +ministers would give a revulsion to our affairs. + +You frighten me with telling me of innumerable copies taken of +my inscription on the Pope's picture: some of our bear-leaders +will pick it up, send it over, and I shall have the horror of +seeing it in a magazine. Though I had no scruple of sending the +good old man a cordial, I should hate to have it published at +the tail of a newspaper, like a testimonial from one of Dr. +Rock's patients! You talk of the Pope's enemies; who are they? +I thought at most he could have none but at our +bonfires on the fifth of November. + +(820) In Kent, the seat of Edward Louisa Mann, brother of sir +Horace. + +(821) Sister of Sir Horace. + +(822) Horace, only son of Galfridus Mann. + +(823) Thomas. afterwards Lord Pelham. + +(824) Sir Joseph Yorke, K. B. third son of the chancellor +Hardwicke: created Lord Dover in 1788, and died without issue in +1792.-E. + +(825) Afterwards second Earl of Hardwicke.-D. + + + +395 Letter 238 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, Sept. 8, 1757. + +How I laughed at your picture of the shrine of Notre Dame de +Straberri, and of the vows hung up there! I little thought that +when I converted my castle into a printing office, the next +transformation Would be into an hospital for the "filles +repenties" from Mrs. Naylor's and Lady Fitzroy's.(826) You will +treat the enclosed I trust with a little more respect; not for +the sake of the hero, but of the poet. The poet, poor soul! has +had a relapse, but is again recovering. As I know no earthly +history, you must accept the sonnet as if it was written into my +letter; and therefore supposing this the end of the third page, +I bid you good night. + +(826) Elizabeth, daughter of Colonel Cosby, governor of New +York, by Lucy Montagu, aunt of George Montagu, and widow of Lord +Augustus Fitzroy; by whom she had two sons, Au_gusttis Henry, +afterwards Duke of Grafton, and General Fitzroy, who was created +Lord Southampton.-E. + + + +396 Letter 239 +To The Right Hon. Lady Hervey.(827) +Strawberry Hill, Sept. 13, 1757. + +Madam, +After all the trouble your ladyship has been so good as to take +voluntarily, you will think it a little hard that I +should presume to give you more; but it is a cause, Madam, in +which I know you feel, and I can suggest new motives to your +ladyship's zeal. In short, Madam, I am on the crisis of +losing Mademoiselle de l'Enclos's picture, or of getting both +that and her letters to Lady Sandwich. I enclose Lord +Sandwich's letter to me, which will explain the whole. Madame +Greffini, I suppose, is Madame Graphigny;(828) whom some of your +ladyship's friends, if not yourself, must know; and she might be +of use, if she could be trusted not to detain so tempting a +treasure as the letters. From the effects being sealed up, I +have still hopes; greater, from the goodness your ladyship had +in writing before. Don't wonder, Madam, at my eagerness: +besides a good quantity Of natural impatience, I am now +interested as an editor and printer. Think what pride it would +give me to print original letters of Ninon at Strawberry Hill! +If your ladyship knows any farther means of serving me, of +serving yourself, good Mr. Welldone, as the widow Lackit says in +Oroonoko, I need not doubt your employing them. Your ladyship +and I are of a religion, with regard to certain +saints, that inspires more zeal than such trifling temptations +as persecution and fagots infuse into bigots of other sects. I +think a cause like ours might communicate ardour even to my Lady +Stafford. If she will assist in recovering, Notre Dame des +Amours, I will add St. Raoul(829) to my calendar. I am hers and +your ladyship's most obedient and faithful humble servant. + +(827) Lady Hervey was only daughter of Brigadier-General +Nicholas Lepel. She was maid of honour to Queen Caroline, and +was one of the principal ornaments of her court. In 1720, she +was married to John Lord Hervey, eldest son of John Earl of +Bristol, by whom she had four sons and four daughters. She died +in September, 1768. A collection of her Letters, with a Memoir +and Illustrative Notes, by Mr. Croker, was published in 1821.-E. + +(828) Madame de Graffigny, the author of "Lettres d'une +Peruvienne," and several dramatic pieces. She died in the +following year. A collection of her works, in four volumes, was +published at Paris in 1788.-E. + +(829) A favourite cat of Lady Stafford's. + + + +396 Letter 240 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, Sept. 20(830) + +My dear Sir, +I have been roving about Hampshire with Mr. Chute, and did not +receive your very kind note till yesterday, or I should +certainly not have deferred a moment to thank you for it, and +to express my great concern for Miss Montagu's bad health. You +do me justice when you reckon on my feeling most sincerely for +you: but let me ask why you will not bring her to town? She +might not only have more variety of assistance, but it would be +some relief to you: it must be dreadful, with your tenderness +and feeling, to have nobody to share and divert your uneasiness. + +I did not, till on the road the day before yesterday, hear the +catastrophe of poor Sir John Bland, and the execrable villany, +or, what our ancestors would have called, the humours of +Taaffe. I am extremely sorry for Bland! He was very +good-natured, and generous and well-bred; but never was such +infatuation - I can call it by no term but flirting away his +fortune and his life; he seemed to have no passion for play +while he did it, nor sensibility when it ruined him but I fear +he had both! What judgments the good people in the city (I mean +the good in their own style, moneyed) will construe upon +White's, when two of the most remarkable members have +despatched themselves in nine months! + +I shall be most sincerely glad to receive another letter to +tell me that Miss Montagu mends: you have both my most hearty +wishes. Yours ever. + +(830) This letter is misplaced: the date of the year is +1755.-E. + + + +397 Letter 241 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Sept. 29, 1757. + +For how many years have I been telling you that your country +was mad, that your country was undone! It does not grow wiser; +it does not grow more prosperous! You can scarce have +recovered your astonishment at the suspension of arms(831) +concluded near Stade. How do you behave on these lamentable +occasions? Oh! believe me, it is comfortable to have an +island to hide one's head in! You will be more surprised when +you hear that it is totally disavowed here. The clamour is +going to be extreme--no wonder, when Kensington is the +headquarters of murmur. The commander-in-chief is recalled-- +the late Elector(832) is outrageous. On such an occasion you +may imagine that every old store of malice and hatred is +ransacked: but you would not think that the general is now +accused of cowardice! As improbable as that is, I do not know +whether it may not grow your duty as a minister to believe +it-and if it does, you must be sure not to believe, that with +all this tempest the suspension was dictated from hence. Be +that as it may, the general is to be the sacrifice. The +difficulty will be extreme with regard to the Hessians, for +they are in English pay. The King of Prussia will be another +victim: he says we have undone him, without mending our own +situation. He expected to beat the Prince de Soubize by +surprise, but he, like the Austrians, declined a battle, and +now will be reinforced by Richelieu's army, who is doomed to be +a hero by our absurdities. Austrians, French, Russians, Swedes, +can the King of Prussia not sink under all these! +This suspension has made our secret expedition forgot by all +but us who feel for particulars. It is the fashion now to +believe it is not against the coast of France; I wish I could +believe so! + +As if all these disgraces were foreign objects not worth +attending to, we have a civil war at home; literally so in many +counties. The wise Lords, to defeat it, have made the +Militia-bill so preposterous that it has raised a rebellion. +George Townshend, the promoter of it for popularity, sees it not +only most unpopular in his own county, but his father, my Lord +Townshend, who is not the least mad of your countrymen, attended +by a parson, a barber, and his own servants, and in his own long +hair, which he has let grow, raised a mob against the execution +of the bill, and has written a paper against it, which he has +pasted up on the doors of four churches near him. It is a good +name that a Dr. Stevens has given to our present situation, (for +one cannot call it a Government,) a Mobocracy. +I come to your letters which are much more agreeable subjects. +I think I must not wish you joy of the termination of the +Lorrain reign, you have lately taken to them, but I +congratulate the Tuscans. Thank you extremely for the trouble +you have given yourself in translating my inscription, and for +the Pope's letter: I am charmed with his beautiful humility, and +his delightful way of expressing it. For his ignorance about my +father, I impute it to some failure of his memory. I should +like to tell him that were my father still minister, I trust we +should not make the figure we do--at least he and England fell +together! If it is ignorance, Mr. Chute says it is a +confirmation of the Pope's deserving the inscription, as he +troubles his head so little about disturbing the peace of +others. But our enemies need not disturb us-we do their +business ourselves. I have one, and that not a little +comfort, in my politics ; this suspension will at least +prevent further hostilities between us and the Empress-Queen, +and that secures my dear you. + +When I have done thinking of politics, and that is always in an +instant, unless such as you and Mr. Conway are involved in them, +I am far from passing my time disagreeably. My mind is of no +gloomy turn, and I have a thousand ways of amusing +myself. Indeed of late I have been terribly frightened lest I +must give them all up; my fears have gone to extravagance; do +not wonder; my life is not quite irrational, and I trembled to +think that I was growing fit only to consort with dowagers. +What an exchange, books and drawings, and every thing of that +sort, for cards! In short, for ten weeks I have had such pains +in my eyes with the least application, that I thought I should +lose them, at least that they would be useless. I was told that +with reading and writing at night I had strained and relaxed the +nerves. However, I am convinced that though this is partly the +case, the immediate uneasiness came from a cold, which I caught +in the hot weather by giving myself Florentine airs, by lying +with my windows open, and by lying on the +ground without my waistcoat. After trying forty 'you should do +this's,'(833) Mr. Chute has cured me -with a very simple +medicine: I will tell it you, that you may talk to Dr. Cocchi +and about my eyes too. It is to bathe and rub the outsides all +round, especially on the temples, with half a teaspoonful of +white spirit of lavender (not lavender-water) and half of +Hungary-water. I do this night and morning, and sometimes in +the day: in ten days it has taken off all the uneasiness; I can +now read in a chaise, which I had totally lost, and for five or +six hours by candle-light, without spectacles or +candle-screen. In short, the difference is incredible. +Observe that they watered but little, and were less inflamed; +only a few veins appeared red, whereas my eyes were remarkably +clear. I do not know whether this would do with any humour, but +that I never had. It is certain that a young man who for above +twelve years had studied the law by being read to, from vast +relaxation of the nerves, totally recovered the use of his eyes. +I should think I tired you with this detail, if I was not sure +that you cannot be tired with learning any thing for the good of +others. As the medicine is so hot, it must not be let into the +eyes, nor I should think be continued too long. + +I approve much of your letter to Mr. Fox; I will give it to him +at his return, but at present he is on a tour. How +scrupulous you are in giving yourself the trouble to send me a +copy--was that needful? or are you not always full of +attentions that speak kindness? Your brother will take care to +procure the vases when they come, and is inquiring for the +liqueurs. + +I am putting up a stone in St. Ann's churchyard for your old +friend King Theodore; in short, his history is too remarkable to +be let perish. Mr. Bentley says that I am not only an +antiquarian, but prepare materials for future antiquarians. You +will laugh to hear that when I sent the inscription to the +vestry for the approbation of the ministers and churchwardens, +they demurred, and took some days to consider whether they +should suffer him to be called King of Corsica. Happily they +have acknowledged his title! Here is the inscription; over it is +a crown exactly copied from his coin: + +"Near this place is interred +Theodore King of Corsica, +Who died in this perish Dec. 11, 1756, +Immediately after leaving the King's-Bench Prison, +By the benefit of the Act of Insolvency. +In consequence of which he registered +His Kingdom of Corsica +For the use of his Creditors. +The Grave, great teacher, to a level brings +heroes and beggars, galley-slaves and kings. +But Theodore this lesson learn'd, ere dead; +Fate pour'd its lessons on his living head, +Bestow'd a kingdom and denied him bread. + +I think that at least it cannot be said of me, as it was of the +Duke of Buckingham entombing Dryden, + +"And help'd to bury whom he help'd to starve." + +I would have served him, if a King, even in a gaol, could he +have been an honest man. Our papers say, that we are bustling +about Corsica; I wish if we throw away our own liberty, that we +may at least help others to theirs! Adieu! my dear Sir. + +(831) Known by the appellation of the Convention of +Closter-Severn, concluded by the Duke of Cumberland with +Marshal Richelieu; by which he agreed for himself and army not +to serve again against the French during the war.-D. + +(832) George II.; he had ordered his son to make the +capitulation, and then disavowed him. + +(833) Sic, in MS.-D. + + + + 400 Letter 242 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway.(834) +Arlington Street, Saturday, Oct. 8, 1757. + +My dearest Harry, +But one person in the world may pretend to be so much +overjoyed as I am at your return.(835) I came hither to-day, +on purpose to learn about you; but how can you ask me such a +question, as do I think you are come too safe? is this a time +of day to question your spirit? I know but two things on +earth I esteem more, your goodness and your sense. You cannot +come into dispute; but by what I have picked up at my Lady +Townshend's, I find there is a scheme of distinguishing +between the land and the sea. The King has been told, that +Sir Edward Hawke had written, that, after waiting two days, he +asked the officers how long it would be before they took a +resolution; That if they would not attack, he should carry the +fleet home.(836) I should not entirely credit this report, if +Mr. Keith, who was present, had not dropped, in a dry way, +that some distinction would be shown to Captain Howe and +Captain Greaves. What confirms my opinion is, that I have +never received the letter you say you sent me by the last +express. I suppose it is detained, till proper emissaries +have made proper impressions; but we will not let it pass so. +If you had not bid me, I should not have given you this +intelligence, for your character is too sacred to be trifled +with; and as you are invulnerable by any slanders, it is +proper you should know immediately even what may be meditated. + +The Duke is expected every hour. As he must not defend +himself, his case will be harder than yours. I was to go to +Bath on Monday, but will certainly not go without seeing you: +let me know your motions, and I will meet you any where. As I +know your scrupulousness about saying any thing I say to you +privately, I think it necessary. to tell you, that I don't +mean to preclude you from communicating any part of this +letter to those with whom it may be proper for you to consult; +only don't let more weight be given to my intelligence than it +deserves. I have told you exactly where and what I heard. It +may not prove so, but there is no harm in being prepared. + +(834) Now first printed. + +(835) From the Expedition to Rochfort. The expedition, under +Sir Edward Hawke, sailed early in September, and, on the 28th, +attacked the Isle of Aix; after which it returned to Spithead, +without attempting to land the troops.-E. + +(836) On the 22d, Mr. Beckford writes to Mr. Pitt. "I hear +that Admiral Hawke says, the land-general has acted in a very +unbecoming manner, and will declare his sentiments to +Parliament. I hope he will: that, if possible, the mystery +may be unravelled. I have often lamented the fatality +attending conjunct commands. The French avoid them in all +their expeditions; for rank is perfectly settled among the +land and sea officers, and the eldest commission carries the +command." Chatham Correspondence, vol. i. p. 279.-E. + + + +401 Letter 243 +To The Earl Of Strafford. +Strawberry Hill, Oct. 11, 1757. + +My dear lord, +You will have seen or heard that the fleet is returned. They +have brought home nothing but one little island, which is a +great deal more than I expected, having neither thought so +despicably of France, or so considerably of ourselves, as to +believe they were exposed to much damage. My joy for Mr. +Conway's return is not at all lessened by the clamour on this +disappointment. Had he been chief commander, I should be very +sure the nothing he had done was all he could do. As he was +under orders, I wait with patience to hear his general's +vindication. + +I hope the Yorkists have not knocked out your brains for +living in a county. In my neighbourhood they have insulted +the Parliament in person.(837) He called in the Blues, +instead of piquing himself on dying in his curule chair in the +stable-yard at Ember-court. So entirely have we lost our +spirit, that the standing army is forced to defend us against +the people, when we endeavour to give them a militia, to save +them from a standing army; and that the representative of the +Parliament had rather owe his life to the Guards than die in +the cause of a militia. Sure Lenthall's ghost will come and +pull him by the nose! + +I hope you begin to cast a southward look, and that my lady's +chickens and ducklings are old enough to go to a day-school, +and will not want her any longer. + +My Lord Townshend and George are engaged in a paper-war +against one another, about the militia. That bill, the +suspension at Stade, and the late expedition, which has cost +millions, will find us in amusements this winter. It is +lucky, for I despair of the Opera. The Mattei has sent +certificates to prove that she is stopped by an inundation. +The certificates I suppose can swim. Adieu, my dear lord! + +(837) Mr. Onslow, the Speaker. + + + +402 Letter 244 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Oct. 12, 1757. + +I shall Write you but a short letter for more reasons than +one--there are you blushing again for your country! We have +often behaved extravagantly, and often shamefully-this time we +have united both. I think I will not read a newspaper this +month, till the French have vented all their mirth. If I had +told You two months ago that this magnificent expedition was +designed against Rochfort, would you have believed me? Yet we +are strangely angry that we have not taken it! The clamour +against Sir John Mordaunt is at high-water-mark, but as I was +the dupe of clamour last year against one of the bravest of +men,(838) I shall suspend my belief till all is explained. +Explained it will be somehow or other: it seems to me that we +do nothing but expose ourselves in summer, in order to furnish +inquiries for the winter; and then those inquiries expose us +again. My great satisfaction is, that Mr. Conway is not only +returned safe, but that all the world agrees that it is not +his fault that he is SO. He is still at Portsmouth to see the +troops disembark. Hawke is come, and was graciously +received.--poor Sir John Mordaunt, who was sent for, was +received -as ill. I tell you no particulars of their +campaign, for I know it slightly, and will wait till I know it +exactly. + +The Duke came last night. You will not hear much more of his +affair: he will not do himself justice, and it proves too +gross, to be possible to do him injustice. + +I think all the comfort we extract from a thousand bitter +herbs, is, that the Russians are gone back, gone +precipitately, and as yet we don't know why. + +I have received yours of the 17th of last month, and you may +quiet your fears about posts: we have received all that each +has written, except my last, which could not be arrived at +Florence when yours came away. Mine was of the 29th of last +month, and had many particulars; I hope not too many to stop +its journey! + +To add to the ill-humour, our papers are filled with the new +loss of Fort William-Henry, which covered New York. That +opulent and proud colony between their own factions and our +folly is in imminent danger; but I will have done--nay, if we +lose another dominion. I think I will have done writing to +you, I cannot bear to chronicle so many disgraces. Adieu! + +(838) Admiral Byng. + + + +403 Letter 245 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway. +Strawberry Hill, Oct. 13, 1757. + +If you have received mine of Tuesday, which I directed to +Portsmouth, you will perceive how much I agree with you. I am +charmed with your sensible modesty. When I talked to you of +defence, it was from concluding that you had all agreed that +the attempt(839) was impracticable, nay, impossible; and from +thence I judged that the ministry intended to cast the blame +of a wild project upon the officers. That they may be a +little willing to do that, I still think-but I have the joy to +find that it cannot be thrown on you. As your friend, and +fearing, if I talked for you first, it would look like doubt +of your behaviour, at least that you had bid me defend you at +the expense of your friends, I said not a word, trusting that +your innocence would break out and make its way. I have the +satisfaction to find it has already done so. It comes from +all quarters but your own, which makes it more honourable. My +Lady Suffolk told me last night, that she heard all the seamen +said they wished the general had been as ready as Mr. Conway. +But this is not all: I left a positive commission in town to +have the truth of the general report sent me without the least +disguise: in consequence of which I am solemnly assured that +your name is never mentioned but with honour; that all the +violence, and that extreme, is against Sir John Mordaunt and +Mr. Cornwallis. I am particularly sorry for the latter, as I +firmly believe him as brave as possible. + +This situation of things makes me advise, what I know and find +I need not advise, your saying as little as possible in your +own defence, nay, as much as you can with any decency for the +others. I am neither acquainted with, nor care a straw about, +Sir John Mordaunt; but as it is known that you differed with +him, it will do you the greatest honour to vindicate him, +instead of disculpating yourself. My most earnest desire +always is, to have your character continue as amiable and +respectable as possible. There is no doubt but the whole will +come out, and therefore your justification not coming from +yourself will set it in a ten times better light. I shall go +to town to-day to meet your brother; and as I know his +affection for you will make him warm in clearing you, I shall +endeavour to restrain that ardour, of which you know I have +enough on the least glimmering of a necessity: but I am sure +you will agree with me, that, on the representation I have +here made to you, it is not proper for your friends to appear +solicitous about you. + +The city talk very treason, and, connecting the suspension at +Stade with this disappointment,(840) cry out, that the general +had positive orders to do nothing, in order to obtain gentler +treatment of Hanover. They intend in a violent manner to +demand redress, and are too enraged to let any part of this +affair remain a mystery. + +I think, by your directions, this will reach you before you +leave Bevismount: I would gladly meet you at Park-place, if i +was not sure of seeing you in town a day or two afterwards at +farthest; which I will certainly do, if you let me know. +Adieu! + +(839) On Rochfort. + +(840) "In all these complicated machines," writes Lord +Chesterfield to his son, on the 4th of this month, "there are +so many wheels within wheels, that it is always difficult and +sometimes impossible, to guess which of them gives direction +to the whole. Mr. Pitt is convinced that the principal wheel, +or if you will, spoke in the wheel, came from Stade."-E. + + + +404 Letter 246 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, Oct 18, 1757. + +You never begged news at a worse time; for though I should +tell you much, I have neither time nor inclination, This +sounds brusque, but I will explain it. With regard to the +expedition, I am so far easy about Mr. Conway that he will +appear with great honour, but it is not pleasant to hear him +complicated with others in the mean time. He cannot speak +till forced. In short, there are twenty delicacies not for a +letter. The big event is, the Duke's resignation. He is not +so patient as Mr. Conway under unmerited reproach, and has +thrown up every thing, regiment and all. You and I wish for a +Fronde, but I don't expect one. At worst it will produce +M`emoires de la Fronde. I rejoice that all your family is +well, and beg my compliments to them. For this time you must +excuse a very short letter; I am only in town for this evening +to meet Mr. Conway, and I snatch a moment, that you might not +think me neglectful of you, which I certainly never will be. +Adieu! + + + +404 Letter 247 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Oct. 24, 1757. + +It is impossible not to write to you upon the great event(841) +that has happened, and yet it is difficult to know how to +write upon it. Considering your situation, it is improper to +make harsh comments: Europe, I suppose, will not be so +delicate. Our ministers have kept the article out of our own +papers; but they have as little power over foreign gazettes, +as weight with foreign powers. In short, the Duke is arrived, +was very ill received, and without that, would have done, what +he did immediately, resign all his commissions. He does not, +like his brother,(842) go into opposition. He is even to make +his Usual appearances. He treated Munchausen,(843) who had +taken great liberties with his name, with proper severity--I +measure my words extremely, not for my own sake, but yours. + +General Mordaunt has demanded an inquiry. The form is not +settled yet; nor can it be soon, as Sir Edward Hawke is gone +upon a cruise with the fleet. I put a quick end to this +letter; I have no more facts to tell you; reflections you will +make yourself. In the uncertainty of this reaching you, it is +better to say no more. Adieu! + +(841) The Duke of Cumberland's resignation of the command of +the army. + +(842) Frederick Prince of wales. + +(843) The minister for Hanover. + + + +405 Letter 248 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Nov. 20, 1757. + +I do not like to find that our correspondence is certainly +deranged. I have received but one letter from you for a great +while; it is of October 8th, and complaining on your side too. +You say my last was Sept. 3d. Since that I wrote on the 29th, +on the 13th, and 24th of last month. I have omitted a month, +waiting to see if you got my letters, and to have something +decisive to tell you. Neither has happened, and yet I know +you will be unhappy not to hear from me, which makes me write +now. Our Parliament was suddenly put off to the first of next +month), on news that the King Of Prussia had made a separate +peace with France;- as the Speech was prepared to ask money +for him, it was necessary to set it to a new tune; but we have +been agreeably surprised with his gaining a great victory over +the Prince de Soubize;(844) but of this we have only the first +imperfect account, the wind detaining his courier or +aide-de-camp on the other side still. It is prodigious how we +want all the good news we can amass together! Our fleet +dispersed by a tempest in America, where, into the bargain, we +had done nothing, the uneasiness on the convention at Stade, +which, by this time, I believe we have broken, and on the +disappointment about Rochfort, added to the wretched state of +our internal affairs; all this has reduced us to a most +contemptible figure. The people are dissatisfied, mutinous, +and ripe for insurrections, which indeed have already appeared +on the militia and on the dearness of corn, which is believed +to be owing to much villany in the dealers. But the other day +I saw a strange sight, a man crying corn, "Do you want any +corn?" as they cry knives and scissors. To add to the +confusion, the troubles in Ireland, which Mr. Conway had +pacified, are broke out afresh, by the imprudence of the Duke +of Bedford and the ambition of the primate.(845) The latter +had offered himself to the former, who rejected him, meaning +to balance the parties, but was insensibly hurried into Lord +Kildare's,(846) to please mr. Fox. The primate's faction have +passed eleven resolutions on pensions and grievances, equal to +any in 1641, and the Duke of Bedford's friends dared not say a +word against them.(847) The day before yesterday a messenger +arrived from him for help; the council will try to mollify; +but Ireland is no tractable country. About what you will be +more inquisitive, is the disappointment at Rochfort, and its +consequences. Sir John Mordaunt demanded an inquiry which the +city was going to demand. The Duke of Marlborough, Lord +George Sackville, and General Waldegrave have held a public +inquest, with the fairness of which people are satisfied; the +report is not to be made to the King till to-morrow, for which +I shall reserve my letter. You may easily imagine, that with +all my satisfaction in Mr. Conway's behaviour, I am very +unhappy about him: he is more so; having guarded and gained +the most perfect character in the world by the severest +attention to it, you may guess what he feels under any thing +that looks like a trial. You will see him more like himself, +in a story his aide-de-camp, Captain Hamilton,(848) tells of +him. While they were on the isle of Aix, Mr. Conway was so +careless and so fearless as to be trying a burning-glass on a +bomb--yes, a bomb, the match of which had been cut short to +prevent its being fired by any accidental sparks of tobacco. +Hamilton snatched the glass out of Mr. Conway's hand before he +had at all thought what he was about. I can tell you another +story of him, that describes all his thought for others, while +so indifferent about himself. Being with my Lady Ailesbury in +his absence, I missed a favourite groom they used to have; she +told me this story. The fellow refused to accompany Mr. +Conway on the expedition, unless he would provide for his +widow in case of accidents. Mr. C., who had just made his +will and settled his affairs, replied coolly, "I have provided +for her." The man, instead of being struck, had the command +of himself to ask how? He was told, she would have two +hundred pounds. Still uncharmed, he said it was too little! +Mr. Conway replied he was sorry he was not content; he could +do no more; but would only desire him to go to Portsmouth and +see his horses embarked. He refused. If such goodness would +make one adore human nature, such ingratitude would soon cure +one! + +Mr. Fox was going to write to you, but I took all the +compliments upon myself, as I think it is better for you to be +on easy than ceremonious terms. To promote this, I have +established a correspondence between you; he will be glad if +you will send him two chests of the best Florence wine every +year. The perpetuity destroys all possibility of your making +him presents Of it. I have compounded for the vases, but he +would not hear, nor must you think of giving him the wine, +which you must transact with your brother and me. The best of +Florence which puzzled James and me so much, proves to be Lord +Hertford's drams. We have got something else from Florence, +not your brother James and I, but the public: here is arrived +a Countess Rena, of whom my Lord Pembroke bought such +quantities of Florence, etc. I shall wonder if he deals with +her any more, as he has the sweetest wife(849) in the world, +and it seems to be some time since La Comtessa was so. Tell +me more of her history; antique as she is, she is since my +time.. Alas! every thing makes me think myself old since I +have worn out my eyes, which, notwithstanding the cure I +thought Mr. Chute had made upon them, are of very little use +to me. You have no notion how it mortifies me: when I am +wishing to withdraw more and more from a world of which I have +had satiety, and which I suppose is as tired of me, how +vexatious not to be able to indulge a happiness that depends +only on oneself, and consequently the only happiness proper +for people past their youth! I have often deluded you with +promises of returning to Florence for pleasure, I now threaten +you with it for your plague; for if I am to become a tiresome +old fool, at least it shall not be in my own country. In the +mean time, I must give you a commission for my press. I have +printed one book, (of which two copies are ready for you and +Dr. Cocchi,) and I have written another - it is a Catalogue of +the Royal and Noble Authors of England. Richard 1. it seems +was, or had a mind to pass for, a Proven`cal poet; nay, some +of those compositions are extant, and you must procure them +for me: Crescimbeni says there are some in the library of San +Lorenza at Florence, in uno de' Codici Provenzali, and others +nel 3204 della Vaticana.(850) YOU Will oblige and serve me +highly if you can get me copies. Dr. Cocchi certainly knows +Crescimbeni's Commentary on the Lives of the Proven`cal +Poets.(851) + +I shall wind up this letter, Which is pretty long for a blind +man without spectacles, with an admirable bon-mot. Somebody +asked me at the play the other night what was become of Mrs. +Woffington; I replied, she is taken off by Colonel Caesar. +Lord Tyrawley said, "I suppose she was reduced to aut Caesar +aut Nullus." + +The monument about which you ask you shall see in a drawing, +when finished; it is a simple Gothic arch, something in the +manner of the columbaria: a Gothic columbarium is a new +thought of my own, of which I am fond, and going(852) to +execute one at Strawberry. That at Linton is to have a +beautiful urn, designed by Mr. Bentley, as the whole is, with +this plain, very true inscription, "Galfrido Mann, amicissimo, +optimo, qui obiit--H. W. P." + +Thank you for the King of Prussia's letter, though I had seen +it before. It is lively and odd. He seems to write as well +with Voltaire as he fights as well without the French--or +without us. + +Monday night. + +The report is made, but I have not yet seen it, and this +letter must go away this minute. I hear it names no names, +says no reason appears why they did not land on the 25th, and +gives no merit to all Mr. Conway's subsequent proposals for +landing. Adieu! + +(844) The battle of Rosbach. + +(845) Dr. Stone, Archbishop of Armagh. + +(846) Lady Kildare was sister of Lady Caroline Fox. + +(847)) Walpole, in his Memoires of George II., states that +"the Duke of Bedford, on the death of the King's sister, the +Queen Dowager of Prussia, who had privately received a pension +of eight Hundred pounds a-year out of the Irish establishment, +had obtained it for his wife's sister, Lady Waldegrave."-E. + +(848) Afterwards Sir William Hamilton, appointed, in 1764, +envoy to the court of Naples, where he resided during the long +period of thirty-six years; and where, "wisely diverting," in +the language of Gibbon, "his correspondence from the secretary +of state to the Royal Society and British Museum, he passed +his time in elucidating a country of inestimable value to the +naturalist and antiquarian." He returned to England in 1800, +and died in 1803.-E. + +(849) Elizabeth, sister of the Duke of Marlborough. + +(850) Walpole, in his Royal Authors, says, "I have had both +repositories carefully searched. The reference to the Vatican +proves a new inaccuracy of the author; there is no work of +King Richard. In the Laurentine library is a sonnet written +by the King, and sent to the Princess Stephanetta, wife of +Hugh de Daux, which I have had transcribed with the greatest +exactness." Works, vol. i. p. 252.-E. + +(851) "Commentarii intorno alla sua Istoria della Volgar +Poesia." In 1803, Mr. Matthias, the author of the Pursuits of +Literature, published an edition of the commentaries, detached +from the historical part, in three volumes, 12mo.-E. + +(852) It was not executed. + + + +408 Letter 249 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Sunday evening. + +I leave Mr. M`untz in commission to do the honours of +Strawberry to you: if he succeeds well, will you be troubled +with him in your chaise to london on Wednesday? + +He will tell you the history of' Queen Mab being attacked-not +in her virtue, but in her very palace: if all this does not +fill up the evening, and you shall have no engagement to your +aunt Cosby, or to your grandmother, you know how welcome you +will be at Clivden. Adieu! + + + +408 Letter 250 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Dec. 23, 1757. + +You, who have always cultivated rather than stifled tender +sensations, well know how to feel for me, who have at last +lost my dear friend, Mr. Mann, not unexpectedly certainly; but +I never could find that one grew indifferent to what pains, as +one does to what pleases one. With all my consciousness of +having been more obliged to your brother than I could possibly +deserve, I think I should have trespassed on his kindness, and +have asked him to continue his favours to Mr. Mann's son and +brother, if I had not known that he was good beyond doubt: it +is just necessary for me, as transferring my friendship to the +family, to tell you, that if the contrary should be +insinuated, they do continue the business. + +Had I any thing to tell you, it would be unpardonable in me to +communicate my grief to you and neglect your entertainment, +but Mr. Pitt's gout has laid up the nation; we adjourn +to-morrow for the holidays, and have not had a single +division. Mr. Pitt, Mr. Fox, France, and the King of Prussia +will not leave us idle much longer. Adieu! I am most +unaffectedly grieved, and most unfeignedly yours. + + + +409 Letter 251 +To Dr. Ducarel.(853) +Arlington Street, Dec. 25, 1757. + +Sir, +The Dean of Exeter(854) having showed me a letter in which you +desire the name of the MS. which contains the illumination I +wished to see, I take the liberty of troubling you with this. +The book is called "The Dictes and Sayings of the +Philosophers: translated out of Latyn into Frenshe, by Messire +Jehan de Jeonville; and from thence rendered into English, by +Earl Rivers."(855)--I am perfectly ashamed, Sir, of giving you +so much trouble, but your extreme civility and good-nature, +and your great disposition to assist in any thing that relates +to literature, encouraged me to make my application to you; +and the politeness with which you received it I shall always +acknowledge with the greatest gratitude. The Dean desired me +to make his excuses to you for not writing himself; and my +Lord Lyttelton returns you a thousand thanks for your kind +offers of communication, and proposes to wait on you himself +and talk those matters over with you. I shall not fail of +paying my respects to you on Friday next, at one o'clock; and +am, Sir, yours, etc. + +(853) Dr. Andrew Coltee Ducarel. This eminent arcaeologist +was born at Caen in Normandy, but educated at Eton and at +Oxford. He had recently been appointed librarian at Lambeth +palace.-E. + +(854) Dr.Jeremiah Milles. In 1765 he was appointed president +of the Society of Antiquaries. The Doctor was a strenuous +advocate for the authenticity of Rowley's Poems; "thereby +proving himself," says the author of the Pursuits of +Literature, "a pleasant subject for that chef-d'oeuvre of wit +and poetry, the 'Archaeological Epistle,' written by Mr. +Mason."-E. + +(855) Antony Widville, Earl Rivers, Lord Scales and Newsells. +The dismal catastrophe of this accomplished lord, in his +forty-first year, is well known-- + +"--Rivers, Vaughan, and Grey +Ere this lie shorter by the head at Pomfret." + +The book is supposed to be the second ever printed in England +by Caxton: it contains an illumination representing the Earl +introducing Caxton to Edward the Fourth, his Queen, and the +Prince. "The most remarkable circumstance attending it," says +Walpole, in his Noble Authors, "is the gallantry of the Earl, +who omitted to translate part of it, because it contained +sarcasms of Socrates against the fair sex."-E. + + + +410 Letter 252 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Jan, 11, 1758. + +You express so much concern and tenderness for Mr. Conway and +me in your letter of Dec. 17th, which I received two days ago, +that I am impatient and happy to tell you, that after keeping +the report of the court-martial a week, the King yesterday +approved the sentence, which is a full acquittal of Sir John +Mordaunt, and was unanimous. If the commander-in-chief is so +fully cleared, what must the subordinate generals be? There +are still flying whispers of its being brought into Parliament +in some shape or other, but every public and private reason, I +say reason, forbid it. Sure this is not a season to relume +heats, when tranquility is so essential and so established! +In a private light who can wish to raise such a cloud of +enemies as the whole army, who murmur grievously at hearing +that an acquittal is not an acquittal; who hold it tyranny, if +they are not to be as safe by their juries as the rest of +their fellow-subjects; and who think a judgment of twenty-one +general officers not to be trifled with. I tremble if any +rashness drives the army to distinguish or think themselves +distinguished from the civil government. + +You are by this time, I suppose, in weepers for princess +Caroline;(856) though her state of health has been so +dangerous for years, and her absolute confinement for many of +them, her disorder was in a manner new and sudden, and her +death unexpected by herself, though earnestly her wish. her +goodness was constant and uniform, her generosity immense, her +charities most extensive--in short I, no royalist, could be +lavish in her praise. What will divert you is, that the Duke +of Norfolk's and Lord Northumberland's upper servants have +asked leave to put themselves in mourning, not out of regard +for this admirable Princess, but to be more sur le bon ton. I +told the Duchess I supposed they would expect her to mourn +hereafter for their relations. + +Well, it seems I guessed better about Sir James Grey than he +knew about himself. Sir Benjamin Keene is dead;(857) I dined +to-day where Colonel Grey did; he told me it is a year and a +half since the King named his brother for Spain, and that he +himself was told but yesterday that Sir James was too well at +Naples to be removed,(858) and that reasons of state called +for somebody else. Would they called for you! and why not? +You are attached to nobody; your dear brother had as much +reason to flatter himself with Mr. Pitt's favour, as he was +marked by not having Mr. Fox's. Your not having the least +connexion with the latter cannot hurt you. Such a change, for +so great an object, would overrule all my prudence: but I do +not know whether it were safe, to hint it'. especially as by +this time, at least before your application could come, it +must be disposed of. Lord Rochfort wishes it, Lord Huntingdon +has asked it; Lord Tyrawley and Lord Bristol(859) are talked +of. I am so afraid of ticklish situations for you, that in +case of the latter's removal, I should scarce wish you Turin. +I cannot quit this chapter without lamenting Keene! my father +had the highest opinion of his abilities, and indeed his late +Negotiations have been crowned with proportionate success. He +had great wit, agreeableness, and an indolent good-humour that +was very pleasing: he loved our dearest Gal.! + +The King of Prussia is quite idle; I think he has done nothing +this fortnight but take Breslau, and Schweidnitz, and ten or a +dozen generals, and from thirty to fifty thousand prisoners-- +in this respect he contradicts the omne majus continet in se +minus. I trust he is galloping somewhere or other with only a +groom to get a victory. Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick has +galloped a little from one: when we were expecting that he +would drive the French army into the sea, and were preparing +to go to Harwich to see it, he turned back, as if he wanted to +speak with the King of Prussia. In a street very near me they +do not care to own this; but as my side of Arlington Street is +not ministerial, we plain-dealing houses speak our mind about +it. Pray, do not you about that or any thing else; remember +you are an envoy, and though you must not presume to be as +false as an ambassador, yet not a grain of truth is consistent +with your character. Truth is very well for such simple +people as me, with my Fari quae sentiat, which my father left +me, and which I value more than all he left me; but I am +errantly wicked enough to desire you should lie and prosper. +I know you don't like my doctrine, and therefore I compound +with you for holding your tongue. Adieu! my dear child--shall +we never meet! Are we always to love one another at the +discretion of a sheet of paper? I would tell you in another +manner that I am ever yours. + +P. S. I will not plague you with more than a postscript on my +eyes: I write this after midnight quite at my ease; I think +the greatest benefit I have found lies between old rum and +elder-water, (three spoonfuls of the latter to one of the +former,) and dipping my head in a pail of cold water every +morning the moment I am out of bed. This I am told may affect +my hearing, but I have too constant a passion for my eyes to +throw away a thought on any rival. + +(856) Third daughter of King George the Second; who died at +St. James's on the 28th of December, in the forty-fifth year +of her age.-E. + +(857) Sir Benjamin Keene died at Madrid on the 15th of +December. He was the eldest son of Charles Keene, Esq. of +Lynn, in Norfolk. His remains were brought to England-, and +buried at Lynn, near those of his parents.-E. + +(858) Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, in a letter to her daughter, +dated Venice, April 3, says, "Sir James Grey was universally +esteemed during his residence here: but, alas! he is gone to +Naples. I wish the maxims of Queen Elizabeth were revived, +who always chose men whose birth or behaviour would make the +nation respected, people being apt to look upon them as a +sample of their countrymen. If those now employed are so-- +Lord have mercy upon us! How much the nation has suffered by +false intelligence, I believe you are very sensible of; and +how impossible it is to obtain truth either from a fool or a +knave." Works, Vol. iii. P. 155.-E. + +(859) The Earl of Bristol was at this time British Minister at +the court of Turin. He was appointed ambassador extraordinary +to the court of Spain in the following June.-E. + + + +411 Letter 253 +To Dr. Ducarel. +Arlington Street, January 12, 1758. + +I have the pleasure to let you know, that his grace the +Archbishop(860) has, with the greatest politeness and +goodness, sent me word, by the dean of Exeter, that he gives +me leave to have the illumination copied, on a receipt either +at your chambers, or at my own house, giving you a receipt for +it. As the former would be so inconvenient to me as to render +this favour useless, I have accepted the latter with great +joy; and will send a gentleman of the exchequer, my own +deputy, to you, Sir@ on Monday next, with my receipt, and +shall beg the favour of you to deliver the MS. to him, Mr. +Bedford. I would wait On you myself, but have caught cold at +the visit I made you yesterday, and am besides going to +Strawberry Hill, from whence I propose to bring you a little +print, which was never sold, and not to be had from any body +else; which is, the arms of the two Clubs at Arthur's;(861) a +print exceedingly in request last year. When I have more +leisure, for at this time of the year I am much hurried, I +shall be able, I believe, to pick you out some other +curiosities; and am, Sir, etc. + +(860) Dr. Matthew Hutton. He died in the following April, and +was succeeded in the archbishopric by Dr. Secker. + +(861) Designed by Mr. Walpole's friend, Lord Edgecumbe, and +engraved by Grinion. + + + +412 Letter 254 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Feb. 9, 1758. + +One would not have believed that I could so long have wanted +something to form a letter; but I think politics are gone into +winter-quarters: Mr. Pitt is in bed with the gout, and the +King of Prussia writing sonnets to Voltaire; but his Majesty's +lyre is not half so charming as his sword: if he does not take +care, Alexander will ride home upon his verses. All England +has kept his birthday; it has taken its place in our calendar +next to Admiral Vernon's(862) and my Lord Blakeney's; and the +people, I believe, begin to think that Prussia is some part +of' Old England. We had bonfires and processions, +illuminations and French horns playing out of windows all +night. + +In the mean time there have been some distant grumblings of a +war with Spain, which seem blown over: a new Russian army in +March has taken its place. The Duke of Richelieu is said to +be banished for appropriating some contributions(863) to his +own use: if he does not take care to prove that he meant to +make as extravagant a use of them as ever Marquis Catiline +did, it will be a very bourgeoise termination of such a +gallant life! By the rage of expense in our pleasures, in the +midst of such dearness and distress, one would think we had +opportunities of contributions too! The simple Duke of St. +Albans,(864) who is retired to Brussels for debt, has made a +most sumptuous funeral in public for a dab of five months old +that he had by his cookmaid. But our glaring extravagance is +the CONSTANT high price given for pictures: the other day at +Mr. Furnese's(865) auction a very small Gaspar sold for +seventy-six guineas; and a Carlo Maratti, which too I am +persuaded was a Giuseppe Chiari, lord Egremont bought at the +rate of two hundred and sixty pounds. Mr. Spencer(866) gave +no less than two thousand two hundred pounds for the Andrea +Sacchi and the Guido from the same collection. The latter is +of very dubious originality: my father, I think, preferred the +Andrea Sacchi to his own Guido, and once offered seven hundred +pounds for it, but Furnese said, "Damn him, it is for him; he +shall pay a thousand." There is a pewterer, one Cleeve, who +some time ago gave one thousand pounds for four very small +Dutch pictures. I know- but one dear picture not sold, +Cooper's head of Oliver Cromwell, an unfinished miniature; +they asked me four hundred pounds for it! But pictures do not +monopolize extravagance; I have seen a little ugly shell +called a Ventle-trap sold for twenty-seven guineas. However, +to do us justice, we have magnificence too that is well +judged. The Palmyra and Balbec are noble works to be +undertaken and executed by private men.(867) There is now +established a Society for the encouragement of Arts, Sciences, +and Commerce, that is likely to be very serviceable;(868) and +I was pleased yesterday with a very grand seigneurial design of +the Duke of Richmond,(869) who has collected a great many fine +casts of the best antique statues, has placed them in a large +room in his garden, and designs to throw it open to encourage +drawing. I have offered him to let my eagle be cast. + +Adieu! If any thing happens, I will not, nor ever do wait for +a regular interval Of Writing to you. + +(862) On Admiral Vernon's taking Porto Bello in 1740, the +populace of London celebrated his birthday; and some doubts +arising on the specific day, they celebrated it again, and I +think continued to do so for two or three subsequent years. + +(863) He plundered the Electorate so indecently, that on his +return to Paris having built a pavilion in his garden, it was +nicknamed le Pavillon d'Hanovre. + +(864) The third Duke of that title. + +(865) Henry Furness had been a lord of the treasury. He was a +friend of Lord Bath, and personally an enemy to Sir Robert +Walpole. + +(866) John first Earl Spencer. + +(867) Robert Wood, Esq. under secretary of state, Mr. Dawkins, +and Mr. Bouverie. For a notice of these splendid works, see +ant`e, p. 191, letter 89.-E. + +(868) Mr. William Shipley, of Northampton, being persuaded +that a society to give premiums, in the manner of one in +Ireland, would be highly beneficial to the country, came to +London several times in the year 1752 and 1753, and talked +about it to Mr. Henry Baker, who was of the same opinion, but +doubted the possibility of bringing it into effect. However, +in 1753, a general recommendation of such a society was drawn +up, printed, and dispersed; and indefatigable pains taken by +Mr. Shipley to put it into the hands of persons of quality and +fortune, this scheme was carried into execution. See +Nichols's Lit. Anecdotes, vol. v. p. 275.-E. + +(869) Charles Lenox, third Duke of Richmond. His grace had +recently ordered a room to be opened at his house in +Whitehall, containing a large collection of original plaster +casts from the best antique busts and statues at Rome -and +Florence, to which all artists, and youths above twelve years +of age, had access. For the encouragement of genius, he also +bestowed two medals annually on those who executed the two +best models.-E. + + + +413 Letter 255 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Feb. 10, 1758. + +This campaign does not open with the vivacity of the last; the +hero of the age has only taken Schweidnitz yet--he had fought +a battle Or two by this time last year. But this is the case +of Fame. A man that astonishes at first, soon makes people +impatient if he does not continue in the same andante key. I +have heard a good answer of one of the Duke of Marlborough's +generals, who dining with him at a city feast, and being +teased by a stupid alderman, who said to him, "Sir, yours must +be a very laborious employment!" replied, "Oh, no; we fight +about four hours in a morning, and two or three after dinner, +and then we have all the rest of the day to ourselves." I +shall not be quite so impatient about our own campaign as I +was last year, though we have another secret expedition on +foot--they say, to conquer France, but I believe we must +compound for taking the Isle of Wight, whither we are sending +fourteen thousand men. The Hero's uncle(870 reviewed them +yesterday in Hyde Park on their setting out. The Duke of +Marlborough commands, and is, in reality, commanded by Lord +George Sackville. We shall now see how much greater generals +we have than Mr. Conway, who has pressed to go in any +capacity, and is not suffered! + +Mr. Pitt is again laid up with the gout, as the Duke of +Bedford is confined in Ireland by it. - His grace, like other +Kings I have known, is grown wonderfully popular there since +he was taken prisoner and tied hand and foot. To do faction +justice, it is of no cowardly nature; it abuses while it +attacks, and loads with panegyric those it defeats. We have +nothing in Parliament but a quiet straggle for an extension of +the Habeas Corpus.(871) It passed our House swimmingly, but +will be drowned with the same ease in the House of Lords. On +the new taxes we had an entertaining piece of pomp from the +Speaker: Lord Strange (it was in a committee) said, "I will +bring him down from the gallery." and proposed that the +Speaker should be exempt from the place tax. He came down, +and besought not to be excepted--lord Strange persisted-so did +the Speaker. After the debate, Lord Strange going out said, +"Well, did I not show my dromedary well?" I should tell you +that one of the fashionable sights of the winter has been a +dromedary and camel, the proprietor of which has entertained +the town with a droll variety of advertisements. + +You would have been amazed, had you been here at Sir luke +Schaub's auction of pictures. He had picked up some good old +copies cheap when he was in Spain during the contentions there +between the houses of Austria and Bourbon, and when many +grandees being confiscated, the rest piqued themselves on not +profiting of their spoils. With these Sir Luke had some fine +small ones, and a parcel of Flemish, good in their way. The +late Prince offered him twelve thousand pounds for the whole, +leaving him the enjoyment for his life. As he knew the twelve +thousand would not be forthcoming, he artfully excused himself +by saying he loved pictures so much that he knew he should +fling away the money. Indeed, could he have touched it, it +had been well; the collection was indubitably not worth four +thousand pounds. It has sold for near eight!(872) A +Copy(873) of the King of France's Raphael went for seven +hundred pounds. A Segismonda, called by Corregio, but +certainly by Furoni his scholar, was bought in at upwards of +four hundred pounds. In short, there is Sir James Lowther, +Mr. Spencer, Sir Richard Grosvenor, boys with twenty and +thirty thousand a-year, and the Duchess of Portland,(874) Lord +Ashburnham, Lord Egremont, and others with near as much, who +care not what they give. I want to paint my coat and sell it +off my back--there never Was such a season. I am mad to have +the Houghton pictures sold now; what injury to the creditors +to have them postponed, till half of these vast estates are +spent, and the other half grown ten years older! + +Lord Corke Is not the editor of Swift's History;(875) but one +Dr. Lucas, a physicianed apothecary, who some years ago made +such factious noise in Ireland(876)--the book is already +fallen into the lowest contempt. I wish you joy of the success +of the Cocchi family; but how three hundred crowns a year +sound after Sir Luke Schaub's auction! Adieu! my dear Sir. + +(870) George II. uncle of the King of Prussia. + +(871) Lord Chesterfield, in a letter to his son of the 8th, +says, "Every thing goes smoothly in Parliament: the King of +Prussia has united all our parties in his support, and the +Tories have declared that they will give Mr. Pitt unlimited +credit for this session: there has not been one single +division yet upon public points, and I believe will not."-E. + +(872) The three days' sale produced seven thousand seven +hundred and eighty-four pounds five shillings.-E. + +(873) It was purchased by the Duchess Dowager of Portland, for +seven hundred and three pounds ten shillings.-E. + +(874) Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley, only daughter of Edward +Harley, second Earl of Oxford, and heiress of the vast +possessions of the Newcastle branch of the Cavendishes. She +married William Bentinck, second Duke of Portland.-D. + +(875) Swift's "History of the Four last Years of Queen Anne," +was first published in this year.-E. + +(876) Dr. Johnson, in a review of Dr. Lucas's Essay on Waters, +which appeared in the Literary Magazine for 1756, thus speaks +of him: "The Irish ministers drove him from his native country +by a proclamation, in which they charge him with crimes of which +they never intended to be called to the proof, and +oppressed him by methods equally irresistible by guilt and +innocence: let the man thus driven into exile, for having been +the friend of his country, be received in every other place as +a confessor of liberty; and let the tools of power be taught +in time, that they may rob, but cannot impoverish." In 1761, +Dr. Lucas was elected representative for Dublin. He died in +1771, and a statue to his honour is erected in the Royal +Exchange of Dublin.-E.' + + + +415 Letter 256 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Feb. 23, 1758. + +Though the inactivity of our parliamentary winter has let me +be correspondent, I am far from having been so remiss as the +posts have made me seem. I remember to have thought that I +had no letter on board the packet that was taken; but since +the 20th of November I have writ to you on December 14, +January 11, February 9. The acquittal of General Mordaunt +would, I thought, make you entirely easy about Mr. Conway. +The paper war on their subject is still kept up; but all +inquiries are at an end. When Mr. Pitt, who is laid up with +the gout, is a little cool again, I think he has too much +eagerness to perform something of `eclatt, to let the public +have to reproach him with not employing so brave a man and so +able as Mr. Conway. Though your brothers do not satisfy your +impatience to know, you must a little excuse them; the eldest +lives out of the world, and James not in that world from +whence he can learn or inform you. Besides our dear Gal.'s +warmth of friendship, he had innumerable opportunities of +intelligence. He, who lent all the world money for nothing, +had at least a right to know something. + +I shall be sorry on my account if one particular(877) letter +has miscarried, in which I mentioned some trifles that I +wished to purchase from Stosch's collection. As you do not +mention any approaching sale, I will stay to repeat them till +you tell me that you have received no such letter. + +Thank you for the `eloge on your friend poor Cocchi; you had +not told me of his death, but I was prepared for it, and heard +it from Lord Huntingdon. I am still more obliged to you for +the trouble you have given yourself about King Richard. You +have convinced me of Crescimbeni's blunder as to Rome. For +Florence, I must intreat you to send me 'another copy, for +your copyist or his original have made undecipherable +mistakes; particularly in the last line; La Mere Louis is +impossible to be sense: I should wish, as I am to print it, to +have every letter of the whole sonnet more distinct and +certain than most of them are. I don't know how to repay you +for all the fatigue I give you. Mr. Fox's urns are arrived, +but not yet delivered from the Custom-house. You tell me no +more of Botta;(878) is he invisible in dignity, like +Richcourt; or sunk to nothing, like our Poor old friend the +Prince?(879) Here is a good epigram on the Prince de Soubize, +with which I must conclude, writing without any thing to tell +you, and merely to show you that I do by no means neglect you; + +Soubize, apr`es ses grands exploits, +Peut b`atir un palais qui ne lui co`ute gu`ere; +Sa Femme lui fournit le bois, +Et chacun lui jette la pierre. + +(877) The letter of Dec. 17th, which was lost. + +(878) Marshal Botta, commander at Florence for the Emperor +Francis. + +(879) The Prince de Craon, chief of the council, superseded by +the Comte de Richcourt. + + + +416 Letter 257 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, March 21, 1758. + +Between my letters of Nov. 20th and Jan. 11th, which you say +you have received, was one of Dec. 11th lost, I suppose in +the packet: what it contained, it is impossible for me to +recollect; but I conclude the very notices about the +expedition, the want of which troubled you so much. I have +nothing now to tell you of any moment; writing only to keep up +the chain of our 'correspondence, and to satisfy you that +there is nothing particular. + +I forgot in my last to say a word of our East Indian hero, +Clive, and his victories; but we are growing accustomed to +success again! There is Hanover retaken!--if to have Hanover +again is to have success! We have no news but what is +military; Parliaments are grown idle things, or busy like +quarter-sessions. Mr. Pitt has been in the House of Commons +but twice this winter, yet we have some grumblings: a +Navy-bill of Mr. George Grenville, rejected last year by the +Lords, and passed again by us, has by Mr. Fox's underhand +management been made an affair by the Lords; yet it will pass. +An extension of the Habeas corpus, of forty times the +consequence, is impeded by the same dealings, and IS not +likely to have so prosperous an issue. Yet these things +scarce make a heat within doors, and scarce conversation +without. + +Our new Archbishop(880) died yesterday; but the church loses +its head with as little noise as a question is now carried or +lost in Parliament. + +Poor Sir Charles Williams is returned from Russia, having lost +his Senses upon the road. This is imputed to a lady at +Hamburgh, who gave him, or for whom he took some assistance to +his passion; but we hope he will soon recover. + +The most particular thing I know is what happened the other +day: a frantic Earl of Ferrars(881) has for this twelvemonth +supplied conversation by attempting to murder his wife, a +pretty, harmless young woman, and every body that took her +part. having broken the peace, to which the House of Lords +tied him last year, the cause was trying again there on Friday +last. Instead of attending it, he went to the assizes at +Hertford to appear against a highwayman, one Page, of +extraordinary parts and escapes. The Earl had pulled out a +pistol, but trembled so that the robber turned, took it out of +his hand quietly, and said, "My lord, I know you always carry +more pistols about you; give me the rest." At the trial, Page +pleaded that my lord was excommunicated, consequently could +not give evidence, and got acquitted.(882) + +There is just published Swift's History of the Four last Years +of Queen Anne: Pope and Lord Bolingbroke always told him it +would disgrace him, and persuaded him to burn it. Disgrace +him indeed it does, being a weak libel, ill-written for style, +uninformed, and adopting the most errant mob-stories.(883) He +makes the Duke of Marlborough a coward, Prince Eugene an +assassin, my father remarkable for nothing but impudence, and +would make my Lord Somers any thing but the most amiable +character in the world, if unfortunately he did not praise him +while he tries to abuse. + +Trevor(884) of Durham is likely to go to Canterbury. Adieu! + +(880) Archbishop Hutton. He was succeeded by Secker. + +(881) Laurence Shirley, fourth Earl of Ferrars, who, in +January 1760, shot his land-steward, for which he was tried in +Westminster-hall, by his peers, in the following April, and +executed at Tyburn.-E. + +(882) At the ensuing Rochester assizes he was tried for +robbing a Mr. Farrington, and executed.-E. + +(883) Swift himself, in his Journal to Stella, calls it "his +grand business," and pronounced it "the best work he had ever +written."-E. + +(884) Dr. Richard Trevor. This did not happen. + + + +418 Letter 258 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, April 14, 1758. + +As you was disappointed of any intelligence that might be in it +(I don't know what was), I am sorry my letter of December 14th +miscarried; but with regard to my commissions in Stosch's +collection, it did not signify, since they propose to sell it +in such great morsels. If they are forced to relent, and +separate it, what I wish to have, and had mentioned to you, +were, "his sculptured gems that have vases on them, of which he +had a large ring box:" the following modern medals, "Anglia +resurges," I think, of Julius III.; "the Capitol; the +Hugonotorum Strages; the Ganymede, a reverse of a Pope's medal, +by Michael Angelo; the first medal of Julius III.;" all these +were in silver, and very fine; then the little Florentine coin +in silver, with Jesus Rex noster on the reverse: he had, +besides, a fine collection of drawings after nudities and +prints in the same style, but you may believe I am not old +enough to give much for these. I am not very anxious about +any, consequently am not tempted to purchase wholesale. + +Thank you for the second copy of King Richard; my book is +finished; I shall send it you by the first opportunity. I did +receive the bill of lading for Mr. Fox's wine; and my reason +for not telling you how he liked his vases was, because I did +not, nor do yet know, nor does he; they are at Holland House, +and will not be unpacked till he settles there: I own I have a +little more impatience about new things. + +My letters will grow more interesting to you, I suppose, as the +summer opens: we have had no Winter campaign, I mean, no +parliamentary war. You have been much misinformed about the +King's health--and had he been ill, do you think that the +recovery of Hanover would not cure him? Yesterday the new +convention with the King of Prussia was laid before the houses, +and is to be considered next week: I have not yet read it, and +only know that he is to receive from us two millions in three +years, and to make no peace without us. I hope he will make +one for us before these three years are expired. A great camp +is forming in the Isle of Wight, reckoned the best spot for +defence or attack. I suppose both will be tried reciprocally; + +Sir Charles Williams's disorder appears to have been +lightheadedness from a fever; he goes about again; but the +world, especially a world of enemies, never care to give up +their title to a man's madness, and will consequently not +believe that he is yet in his senses.(885) + +Lord Bristol certainly goes to Spain; no successor is named for +Turin. You know how much I love a prescriptive situation for +you, and how I should fear a more eminent one--and yet you see +I notify Turin being open, if you should care to push for it. +It is not to recommend it to you that I tell you of it, but I +think it my duty as your friend not to take upon me to decide +for you without acquainting you. + +I rejoice at Admiral Osborn's Success. I am not patriot enough +to deny but that there are captains and admirals whose glory +would have little charms for me; but Osborn was a steady friend +of murdered Byng! + +The Earl and Countess of Northumberland have diverted the town +with a supper, which they intended should make their court to +my Lady Yarmouth; the dessert was a chasse at Herenhausen, the +rear of which was brought up by a chaise and six containing a +man with a blue riband and a lady sitting by him! Did you ever +hear such a vulgarism! The person complimented is not half so +German, and consequently suffered martyrdom at this clumsy +apotheosis of her concubinage. Adieu! + +(885) On hearing, at Padua, of Sir Charles's indisposition, +Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, in a letter to her daughter, the +Countess of Bute, on the 17th of July, breaks out into the +following striking reflections:--"I hear that my old +acquaintance is much broken, both in his spirits and +constitution. How happy might that man have been, if there had +been added to his natural and acquired endowments a dash of +morality! If he had known how to distinguish between false and +true felicity; and, instead of seeking to increase an estate +already too large, and hunting after pleasures that have made +him rotten and ridiculous, he had bounded his desires of +wealth, and followed the dictates of his conscience! His +servile ambition has gained him two yards of red riband and an +exile into a miserable country, where there is no society, and +so little taste, that I believe he suffers under a dearth of +flatterers. This is said for the use of your growing sons, +whom I hope no golden temptations will induce to marry women +they cannot love, or comply with measures they do not approve. +All the happiness this world can afford is more within reach +than is generally supposed. A wise and honest man lives to his +own heart, without that silly splendour that makes him a prey +to knaves, and which commonly ends in his becoming one of the +fraternity." Works, vol. iii. p. 160.-E. + + + +419 Letter 259 +To The Rev. Dr. Birch. +Arlington Street, May 4, 1758. + +Sir, +I thought myself very unlucky in being abroad when you were so +good as to call here t'other day. I not only lost the pleasure +of your company, but the opportunity of obtaining from you +(what however I will not despair of) any remarks you may have +made on the many errors which I fear you found in my book.(886) +The hurry in which it was written, my natural carelessness and +insufficiency, must have produced many faults and mistakes. As +the curiosity of the world, raised I believe only by the +smallness Of the number printed, makes it necessary for me to +provide another edition, I should be much obliged to whoever +would be enough my friend to point out my wrong judgments and +inaccuracies,--I know nobody, Sir, more capable Of both offices +than yourself, and yet I have no pretensions to ask so great a +favour, unless your own zeal for the cause of literature should +prompt you to undertake a little of this task. I shall be +always ready to correct my faults, never to defend them. + +(886) " The Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors," of which +Walpole had just printed three hundred copies, at the +Strawberry Hill press.-E. + + + +420 Letter 260 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, May 4, 1758. + +You are the first person, I believe, that ever thought of a +Swiss transcribing Welsh, unless, like some commentator on the +Scriptures, you have discovered great affinity between those +languages, and that both are dialects of the Phoenician. I +have desired your brother to call here to-day, and to help us +in adjusting the inscriptions. I can find no Lady Cutts in +your pedigree, and till I do, cannot accommodate her with a +coronet. + +My book is marvellously in fashion, to my great astonishment. +I did not expect so much truth and such notions of liberty +would have made their fortune in this our day. I am preparing +an edition for publication, and then I must expect to be a +little less civilly treated. My Lord Chesterfield tells every +body that he subscribes to all my opinions; but this mortifies +me about as much as the rest flatter me I cannot, because it is +my own case, forget how many foolish books he has diverted +himself with commending The most extraordinary thing I have +heard about mine is, that it being talked of at lord Arran's +table, Doctor King, the Dr. King of Oxford, said of the passage +on my father; "It is very modest, very genteel, and VEry TRUE." +I asked my Lady Cardigan if she would forgive my making free +with her grandmother;(887) she replied very sensibly, "I am +sure she would not have hindered any body from writing against +me; why should I be angry at any writing against her?" + +The history promised you of Dr. Brown is this. Sir Charles +Williams had written an answer to his first silly volume of the +Estimate,(888) chiefly before he came over, but finished while +he was confined at Kensington. Brown had lately lodged in the +same house, not mad now, though he has been so formerly. The +landlady told Sir Charles, and offered to make affidavit that +Dr. Brown was the most profane cursor and swearer that ever +came into her house. Before I proceed in my history, I will +tell you another anecdote of this great performer: one of his +antipathies is the Opera, yet the only time I ever saw him was +in last Passion-week singing the Romish Stabat mater with the +Mingotti, behind a harpsichord at a great concert at my Lady +Carlisle's. Well--in a great apprehension of Sir Charles +divulging the story of his swearing, Brown went to Dodsley in a +most scurrilous and hectoring manner, threatening Dodsley if he +should publish any thing personal against him; abusing Sir +Charles for a coward and most abandoned man, and bidding +Dodsley tell the latter that he had a cousin in the army who +would call Sir Charles to account for any reflections on him, +Brown. Stay; this Christian message from a divine, who by the +way has a chapter in his book against duelling, is not all: +Dodsley refused to carry any such message, unless in writing. +The Doctor, enough in his senses to know the consequences of +this, refused; and at last a short verbal message, more +decently worded, was agreed on. To this Sir Charles made +Dodsley write down this answer: "that he could not but be +surprised at Brown's message, after that he Sir Charles, had, +at Ranby's desire, sent Brown a written assurance that he +intended to say nothing personal of him--nay, nor should yet, +unless Brown's impertinence made it necessary." This proper +reply Dodsley sent: Brown wrote back, that he should send an +answer to Sir Charles himself; but bid Dodsley take notice, +that printing the works of a supposed lunatic might be imputed +to the printer himself, and which he, the said Doctor, should +chastise. Dodsley, after notifying this new and unprovoked +insolence to me, Fox, and Garrick, the one friend of Sir +Charles, the other of Brown, returned a very proper, decent, +yet firm answer, with assurances of repaying chastisement of +any sort. Is it credible? this audacious man sent only a card +back, saying, "Footman's language I never return, J. Brown." +You know how decent, humble, inoffensive a creature Dodsley is; +how little apt to forget or disguise his having been a footman! +but there is no exaggerating this behaviour by reflections. On +the same card he tells Dodsley that he cannot now accept, but +returns his present of the two last volumes of his collection +of poems, and assures him that they are not soiled by the +reading. But the best picture of him is his own second volume, +which beats all the Scaligers and Scioppins's for vanity and +insolent impertinence. What is delightful; in the first volume +he had deified Warburton, but the success of that trumpery has +made Warburton jealous, and occasioned a coolness--but enough +of this jackanapes. + +Your brother has been here, and as he is to go to-morrow, and +the pedigree is not quite finished, and as you will be +impatient, and as it is impossible for us to transcribe Welsh +which we cannot read without your assistance, who don't +understand it neither, we have determined that the Colonel +should carry the pedigree to you; you will examine it and bring +it with you to Strawberry, where it can be finished under your +own eye, better than it is possible to do without. Adieu! I +have not writ so long a letter this age. + +(887) Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough. + +(888) Estimate of the Manners of the Times. See ant`e, p. 232, +letter 119.-E. + + + +422 Letter 261 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, May 31, 1758. + +This is rather a letter of thanks than of course, though I have +received, I verily believe, three from you since my last. +Well, then, this is to thank you for them too--chiefly for that +of to-day, with the account of the medals you have purchased +for me from Stosch, and those your own munificence bestows on +me. I am ashamed to receive the latter; I must positively know +what you paid for the former; and beg they may all be reserved +till a very safe opportunity. The price for the Ganymede is so +monstrous that I must not regret not having it--yet if ever he +should lower, I should still have a hankering, as it is one of +the finest medals I ever saw. Are any of the others in silver? +old Stosch had them so. When any of the other things I +mentioned descend to more mortal rates, I would be sorry to +lose them. + +Should not you, if you had not so much experienced the +contrary, imagine that services begot gratitude? You know they +don't--Shall I tell you what they do beget?--at best, +expectations of more services. This is my very case now--you +have just been delivered of one trouble for me--I am going to +get you with twins--two more troubles. In the first place, I +shall beg you to send me a case of liqueurs; in the next all +the medals in copper of my poor departed friend the Pope, for +whom I am as much concerned as his subjects have reason to be. +I don't know whether I don't want samples of his coins, and the +little pieces struck during the sede vacante. I know what I +shall want, any authentic anecdotes of the conclave. There! +are there commissions enough? I did receive the Pope's letter +on my inscription, and the translation of the epitaph on +Theodore, and liked both much, and thought I had thanked you +for them--but I perceive I am not half so grateful as +troublesome. + +Here is the state of our news and politics. We thought our +foreign King(889) on the road to Vienna: he is now said to be +prevented by Daun, and to be reduced to besiege Olmutz, which +has received considerable supplies. Accounts make Louisbourgh +reduced to wait for being taken by us as the easiest way of +avoiding being starved.--In short, we are to be those unnatural +fowl, ravens that carry bread. But our biggest of all +expectations is from our own invasion of France, which took +post last Sunday; fourteen thousand landmen, eighteen ships of +the line, frigates, sloops, bombs, and four volunteers, Lord +Downe, Sir James Lowther, Sir John Armitage, and Mr. Delaval-- +the latter so ridiculous a character, that it has put a stop to +the mode that was spreading. All this commanded by Lord Anson, +who has beat the French; by the Duke of Marlborough, whose name +has beaten them; and by Lord George Sackville, who is to beat +them. Every port and town on the coast of Flanders and France +have been guessed for the object. It is a vast armament, +whether it succeeds or is lost. + +At home there are seeds of quarrels. Pratt the +attorney-general has fallen on a necessary extension of the +Habeas Corpus to private cases. The interpreting world +ascribes his motive to a want of affection for my Lord +Mansfield, who unexpectedly is supported by the late +Chancellor, the Duke of Newcastle, and that part of the +ministry; and very expectedly by Mr. Fox, as this is likely to +make a breach between the united powers. The bill passed +almost unanimously through our House. It will have a very +different fate in the other, where Lord Temple is almost single +in its defence, and where Mr. Pitt seems to have little +influence. If this should produce a new revolution, you will +not be surprised. I don't know that it will; but it has +already shown how little cordiality subsists since the last. + +I had given a letter for you to a young gentleman of Norfolk, +an only son, a friend of Lord Orford, and of much merit, who +was going to Italy with Admiral Broderick. He is lost in that +dreadful catastrophe of the Prince George--it makes one regret +him still more, as the survivors mention his last behaviour +with great encomiums. + +Adieu! my dear child! -when I look back on my letter, I don't +know whether there would not be more propriety in calling you +my factor. + +P. S. I cannot yet learn who goes to Turin: it was offered upon +his old request, to my Lord Orford but he has declined it. + +(889) The King of Prussia. + + + +423 Letter 262 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway. +Arlington Street, June 4, 1758. + +The Habeas Corpus is finished, but only for this year. Lord +Temple threatened to renew it the next; on which Lord Hardwicke +took the party of proposing to order the judges to prepare a +bill for extending the power of granting the writ in vacation +to all the judges. This prevented a division; though Lord +Temple, who protested alone t'other day, had a flaming protest +ready, which was to have been signed by near thirty. They sat +last night till past nine. Lord Mansfield spoke admirably for +two hours and twenty-five minutes. Except Lord Ravensworth and +the Duke of Newcastle, whose meaning the first never knows +himself, and the latter's nobody else, all who spoke spoke +well: they were Lord Temple, Lord Talbot, Lord Bruce, and Lord +Stanhope, for; Lord Morten, Lord Hardwicke, and Lord Mansfield, +against the bill.(890) T'other day in our House, we had Lady +Ferrars' affair: her sister was heard, and Lord Westmoreland, +who had a seat within the bar. Mr. Fox opposed the settlement; +but it passed. + +The Duke of Grafton has resigned. Norborne Berkeley has +converted a party of pleasure into a campaign, and is gone with +the expedition,(891) without a shirt but what he had on, and +what is lent him. The night he sailed he had invited women to +supper. Besides him, and those you know, is a Mr. Sylvester +Smith. Every body was asking, "But who is Sylvester Smith?" +Harry Townshend replied, "Why, he is the son of Delaval, who +was the son of Lowther, who was the son of Armitage, who was +the son of Downe."(892) + +The fleet sailed on Thursday morning. I don't know why, but +the persuasion is that they will land on this side Ushant, and +that we shall hear some events by Tuesday or Wednesday. Some +believe that Lord Anson and Howe have different destinations. +Rochfort, where there are twenty thousand men, is said +positively not to be the place. the King says there are eighty +thousand men and three marshals in Normandy and Bretagne. +George Selwyn asked General Campbell, if the ministry had yet +told the King the object? + +Mademoiselle de l'Enclos is arrived,(893) to my supreme +felicity. I cannot say very handsome or agreeable: but I had +been prepared on the article of her charms. I don't say, like +Henry VIII. of Anne of Cleves, that she is a Flanders mare, +though to be sure she Is rather large: on the contrary, I bear +it as well as ever prince did who was married by proxy-and she +does not find me fricass`e dans de la neige."(894) Adieu! + +P. S. I forgot to tell you of another galanterie I have had, -a +portrait of Queen Elizabeth left here while I was out of town. +The servant said it was a present, but he had orders not to say +from whom. + +(890) Lord Bute thus bewails the fate of the bill, in a letter +to Mr. Pitt of the same day: "What a terrible proof was Friday, +in the House of Lords, of the total loss of public spirit, and +the most supreme indifference to those valuable rights, for the +obtaining which our ancestors freely risked both life and +fortune! These are dreadful clouds that hang over the future +accession, and damp the hopes I should otherwise entertain of +that important day." Chatham Correspondence, vol. i. p. 317.-E. + +(891) The expedition against St. Maloes. + +(892) All these gentlemen had been volunteers on successive +expeditions to the coast of France. + +(893) The portrait of ninon de l'Enclos. + +(894) Madame de S`evign`e, in her letters to her daughter, +reports that Ninon thus expressed herself relative to her son, +the Marquis de Sevign`e, who was one of her lovers. + + + +424 Letter 263 +To Dr. Ducarel. +June, 1758. + +I am very much obliged to you for the remarks and hints you +sent me on my Catalogue. They will be of use to me; and any +observations of my friends I shall be very thankful for, and +disposed to employ, to make my book, what it is extremely far +from being, more perfect. I was very glad to hear, Sir, that +the present Lord Archbishop of Canterbury has continued you in +an employment for which nobody is so fit, and in which nobody +would be so useful. I wish all manner of success to, as well +as continuance of, your labours; and am, etc. etc. + + + +425 Letter 264 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Sunday morning, June 11, 1758. + +This will not depart till to-morrow, by which time probably +there will be more news, but I am obliged to go into the +country to-day, and would not let so much history set out, +without my saying a word of it, as I know you trust to no +gazette but mine. Last Thursday se'nnight our great expedition +departed from Portsmouth--and soon separated; lord Anson with +the great ships to lie before Brest, and Commodore Howe,(895) +our naval hero, with the transports and a million of small fry +on the secret enterprise. At one o'clock on Thursday night, +alias Friday morning a cutter brought advice that on Sunday +night the transports had made land in Concalle Bay, near St. +Maloes, had disembarked with no opposition or loss, except of a +boatswain and two sailors, killed from a little fort, to which +Howe was near enough to advise them not to resist. However, +some peasants in it fired and then ran away. Some prisoners +have assured our troops that there is no force within twenty +leagues. This may be apocryphal, a word which, as I am left at +liberty, I always interpret false. It is plain, however, that +we were not expected at St. Maloes at least. We are in violent +impatience to hear the consequences--especially whether we have +taken the town, in which there is but one battalion, many old +houses of wood, and the water easily to be cut off. + +If you grow wise and ask me with a political face, whether St. +Maloes is an object worth risking fourteen thousand of our best +troops, an expense of fifty thousand pounds, and half of the +purplest blood of England, I shall toss up my head with an air +of heroism and contempt, and only tell you--There! there is the +Duke Of Marlborough in the heart of France; (for in the heroic +dictionary the heart and the coast signify the same thing;) +what would you have? Did Harry V. or Edward III mind whether it +was a rich town or a fishing town, provided they did but take a +town in France? We are as great as ever we were in the most +barbarous ages, and you are asking mercantile Questions with +all the littleness of soul that attends the improvements in +modern politics! Well! my dear child, I smile, but I tremble-. +and though it is pleasanter to tremble when one invades, than +when one is invaded, I don't like to be at the eve even of an +Agincourt. There are so many of my friends upon heroic ground, +that I discern all their danger through all their laurels. +Captain Smith, aide-de-camp to Lord George Sackville, dated his +letter to the Duke of Dorset, "from his Majesty's dominions in +France." Seriously, what a change is here! His Majesty, since +this time twelvemonth, had not only recovered his dominions in +Germany, but is on the acquiring foot in France. What heads, +what no heads must they have in France! Where are their +Cardinals, their Saxes, their Belleisles? Where are their +fleets, their hosts, their arts, their subsidies? Subsidies, +indeed! Where are ours? we pay none, or almost none, and are +ten times greater than when we hired half Europe. In short, +the difference of our situation is miraculous; and if we can +but keep from divisions at home, and the King of Prussia does +not prosper too fast for us, we may put France and ourselves +into situations to prevent them from being formidable to us for +a long season. Should the Prussian reduce too suddenly the +Empress-Queen to beg and give him a secure peace, considering +how deep a stake he still plays for, one could not well blame +his accepting it--and then we should still be to struggle with +France. + +But while I am politicising, I forget to tell you half the +purport of my letter--part indeed you will have heard; Prince +Ferdinand's passage of Rhine, the most material circumstance of +which, in my opinion, is the discovery of the amazing weakness +of the French in their army, discipline, councils, and conduct. +Yesterday, as If to amuse us agreeably till we hear again from +St. Maloes, an express arrived of great conquests and captures +which three of our ships have made on the river Gambia, to the +destruction of the French trade and settlements there. I don't +tell you the particulars, because I don't know them, and +because you see them in the gazette. In one week we strike a +medal with Georgius, Germanicus, Gallicus, Africanus. + +Mr. M'Kinsy, brother of Lord Bute, has kissed hands for Turin; +you remember him at Florence. He is very well-bred, and you +will find him an agreeable neighbour enough. + +I have seen the vases at Holland-house, and am perfectly +content with them: the forms are charming. I assure you Mr. +Fox and Lady Caroline do not like them less than I do. Good +night! am not I a very humane conqueror to condescend to write +so long a letter? + +(895) Richard, after the death of his elder brother, Viscount +Howe. + + + +426 Letter 265 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway. +June 16, 1758, 2 o'clock noon. + +Well, my dear Harry! you are not the only man in England who +have not conquered France!(896) Even Dukes of Marlborough have +been there without doing the business. I don't doubt but your +good heart has even been hoping, in spite of your +understanding, that our heroes have not only taken St. Maloes, +but taken a trip cross the country to burn Rochefort, only to +show how easy it was. We have waited with astonishment at not +hearing that the French court was removed in a panic to Lyons, +and that the Mesdames had gone off in their shifts with only a +provision of rouge for a week. Nay, for my part, I expected to +be deafened with encomiums on my Lord Anson's continence, who, +after being allotted Madame Pompadour as his share of the +spoils, had again imitated Scipio, and, in spite of the +violence of his temperament, had restored her unsullied to the +King of France. Alack! we have restored nothing but a quarter +of a mile of coast to the right owners. A messenger arrived in +the middle of the night with an account that we have burned two +frigates and an hundred and twenty small fry; that it was found +impossible to bring up the cannon against the town; and that, +the French army approaching the coast, Commodore Howe, with the +expedition of Harlequin as well as the taciturnity, re-embarked +our whole force in seven hours, volunteers and all, with the +loss only of one man, and they are all gone to seek their +fortune somewhere else. Well! in half a dozen more wars we +shall know something of the coast of France. Last war we +discovered a fine bay near Port l'Orient: we have now found out +that we know nothing of St. Maloes. As they are popular +persons, I hope the city of London will send some more gold +boxes to these discoverers. If they send a patch-box to Lord +George Sackville, it will hold all his laurels. As our young +nobility cannot at present travel through France, I suppose +that is a method for finishing their studies. George Selwyn +says he supposes the French ladies will have scaffolds erected +on the shore to see the English go by. But I won't detain the +messenger any longer; I am impatient to make the Duchess(897) +happy, who I hope will soon see the Duke returned from his +coasting voyage. + +The Churchills will be with you next Wednesday, and I believe I +too; but I can take my own word so little, that I will not give +it you. I know I must be back at Strawberry on Friday night; +for Lady Hervey and Lady Stafford are to be there with me for a +few days from to-morrow se'nnight. Adieu! + +(896) Alluding to the expedition against Rochefort, the year +before, in which Mr. Conway was second in command. + +(897) Lady Mary Bruce, Duchess of Richmond, only child of the +Countess of Ailesbury by her first marriage. +She was at Park-place with her mother during the Duke of +Richmond's absence, who was a volunteer upon this expedition + + + +427 Letter 266 +To The Earl Of Strafford. +Arlington Street, June 16, 1758. + +My dear lord, +Dear lord, I stayed to write to you, in obedience to your +commands, till I had something worth telling you. St. Maloes +is taken by storm. The Governor leaped into the sea at the +very name of the Duke of Marlborough. Sir James Lowther put +his hand into his pocket, and gave the soldiers two hundred and +fifty thousand pounds to drink the King's health on the top of +the great church. Norborne Berkeley begged the favour of the +Bishop to go back with him and see his house in +Gloucestershire. Delaval is turned capuchin, with remorse, for +having killed four thousand French with his own hand. Commodore +Howe does nothing but talk of what he has done. Lord Downe, who +has killed the intendant, has sent for Dupr`e(898) to put in +his place; and my Lord Anson has ravished three abbesses, the +youngest of whom was eighty-five. Sure, my lord, this account +is glorious enough! Don't you think one might 'bate a little of +it? How much will you give up? Will you compound for the town +capitulating, and for threescore men of war and two hundred +privateers burned in the harbour? I would fain beat you down as +low as I could. What, +if we should not have taken the town? Shall you be very much +shocked, if, after burning two ships of fifty-four and +thirty-six guns, and a bushel of privateers and smallware, we +had thought it prudent to leave the town where we found it, and +had re-embarked last Monday in seven hours, (the despatch of +which implies at least as much precipitation as conduct,) and +that of all the large bill of fare above, nothing should be +true but Downe's killing the intendant; who coming out to +reconnoitre, and not surrendering, Downe, at the head of some +grenadiers, shot him dead. In truth, this is all the truth, as +it came in the middle Of the night; and if your lordship is +obstinately bent on the conquest of France, you must wait till +we have found another loophole into it, which it seems our +fleet is gone to look for. I fear it is not even true that we +have beat them in the Mediterranean! nor have I any hopes but +in Admiral Forbes, who must sail up the Rhone, burn Lyons, and +force them to a peace at once. + +I hope you have had as favourable Succession of sun and rain as +we have. I go to Park-place next week, where I fancy I Shall +find our little Duchess(899) quite content with the prospect of +recovering her Duke, without his being provided with laurels like +a boar's head. Adieu! my dear lord. My best compliments to my +lady and her whole menagerie. + +(898) A French master. + +(899) of richmond. + + + +428 Letter 267 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, June 18, 1758. + +I write to you again so soon, only to laugh at my last letter. +What a dupe was I! at my years to be dazzled with glory! to be +charmed with the rattle of drums and trumpets, till I fancied +myself at Cressy or Poictiers! In the middle of all this dream +of conquest, just when I had settled in what room of my castle +I would lodge the Duke of Alen`con or Montpensier, or whatever +illustrious captive should be committed to the custody of +Seneschal Me, I was awakened with an account of our army having +re-embarked, after burning some vessels at St. Maloes. This is +the history, neither more nor less, of this mighty expedition. +They found the causeway broken up, stayed from Tuesday night +till Monday morning in sight of the town; agreed it was +impregnable; heard ten thousand French (which the next day here +were erected into thirty thousand) were coming against them; +took to their transports, and are gone to play at hide and seek +somewhere else. This campaign being rather naked, is coloured +over with the great damage we have done, and with the fine +disposition and despatch made for getting away--the same +colours that would serve to paint pirates or a flight. +However, the city is pleased; and Mr. Pitt maintains that he +never intended to take St. Maloes, which I believe, because +when he did intend to have Rochefort taken last year, he sent +no cannon; this year, when he never meant to take St. Maloes, +he sent a vast train of artillery. Besides, one of the most +important towns in France, lying some miles up in the country, +was very liable to be stormed; a fishing town on the coast is +naturally impracticable. The best side of the adventure is, +that they were very near coming away without attempting the +conflagration, and only thought of it by chance--then indeed + +Diripuere focos-- +Atqui omnis facibus Pubes accingitur atris. + +Perhaps the metamorphosis in Virgil of the ships into mermaids +is not more absurd than an army of twelve or thirteen thousand +of the flower of our troops and nobility performing the office +of link-boys, making a bonfire, and running away! The French +have said well, "les Anglois viennent nous casser des vitres +avec des guin`ees."(900) We have lost six men, they five, and +about a hundred vessels, from a fifty-gun ship to a +mackerel-boat. + +I don't only ask my own pardon for swelling out my imagination, +but yours, for making you believe that you was to be +representative of the Black Prince or Henry V. I hope you had +sent no bullying letter to the conclave on the (,authority of +my last letter, to threaten the cardinals, that if they did not +elect the Archbishop of Canterbury Pope, you would send for +part of the squadron from St. Maloes to burn Civita Vecchia. I +had promised you the duchy of Bretagne, and we have lost +Madras! + +Our expedition is still afloat--whither bound, I know not; but +pray don't bespeak any more laurels; wait patiently for what +they shall send you from the Secretary's office. + +I gave your brother James my new work to send you-I grieve that +I must not, as usual, send a set for poor Dr. Cocchi. Good +night! + +(900) "Mr. Pitt's friends exult on the destruction of three +French ships of war, and one hundred and thirty privateers and +trading ships, and affirm that it stopped the march of three +score thousand men, who were going to join the Comte de +Clermont's army. On the other hand, Mr. Fox and company call +it breaking windows with guineas, and apply the fable of the +mountain and the mouse." Lord Chesterfield.-E. + + + +430 Letter 268 +To Sir David Dalrymple.(901) +Strawberry Hill, June 29, 1758. + +Sir, +Inaccurate and careless, as I must own my book is,(902) I +cannot quite repent having let it appear in that state, since +it has procured me so agreeable and obliging a notice from a +gentleman whose approbation makes me very vain. The trouble +you have been so good as to give yourself, Sir, is by no means +lost upon me; I feel the greatest gratitude for it, and shall +profit not only of your remarks, but with your permission of +your very words, wherever they will fall in with my text. The +former are so judicious and sensible, and the latter so well +chosen, that if it were not too impertinent to propose myself +as an example, I should wish, Sir, that you would do that +justice to the writers of your own country, which my ignorance +has made me execute so imperfectly and barrenly. + +Give me leave to say a few words to one or two of your notes. +i should be glad to mention more instances of Queen Elizabeth's +fondness for praise,(903) but fear I have already been too +diffuse on her head. Bufo(904) is certainly Lord Halifax: the +person at whom you hint is more nearly described by the name of +Bubo, and I think in one place is even called Bubb.(905) The +number of volumes of Parthenissa I took from the list of Lord +Orrery's(906) writings in the Biographia: it is probable, +therefore, Sir, that there were different editions of that +romance. You will excuse my repeating once more, Sir, my +thanks for your partiality to a work so little worthy of your +favour. I even flatter myself that whenever you take a journey +this way, you will permit me to have the honour of being +acquainted with a gentleman to whom I have so particular an +obligation. + +(901) Now first collected. This eminent lawyer, antiquary, and +historian was born in 1726. He was educated at Eton, and +afterwards studied civil law at Utrecht. In 1748, he was +called to the Scotch bar, and in 1766 made a judge of session, +when he assumed the name of Lord Hailes. Boswell states, that +Dr. Johnson, in 1763, drank a bumper to him "as a man of worth, +a scholar, and a wit." His "Annals of Scotland" the Doctor +describes as "a work which has such a stability of dates, such +a certainty of facts, and such a punctuality of citation, that +it must always sell." He wrote several papers in the World and +Mirror. He died in 1792.-E. + +(902) The Royal and Noble Authors.-E. + +(903) Queen Elizabeth, who had turned Horace's Art of Poetry +into English, having been offended with Sir Francis Bacon, the +Earl of Essex, to recommend him again to favour, artfully told +her, that his suit was not so much for the good of Bacon, as +for her own honour, that those excellent translations of hers +might be known to those who could best judge of them.-E. + +(904) In Pope's Prologue to the Satires-- + +"Proud as Apollo on his forked hill, +Sat full-blown Bufo puff'd by many a quill."-E. + +(905) Bubb Dodington-- + +"And then for mine obligingly mistakes +The first lampoon Sir Will, or Bubo makes."-E. + +(906) Roger Boyle, Earl of Orrery. His Parthenissa, a romance +in six books, appeared in folio in 1677. + + + +431 Letter 269 +To John Chute, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, June 29, 1758. + +The Tower-guns have sworn through thick and thin that Prince +Ferdinand has entirely demolished the French, and the +city-bonfires all believe it. However, as no officer is yet +come, nor confirmation, my crackers suspend their belief. Our +great fleet is stepped ashore again near Cherbourg; I suppose, +to singe half a yard more of the coast. This is all I know; +less, as you may perceive, than any thing but the Gazette. + +What is become of Mr. Montagu? Has he stolen to Southampton, +and slipped away a-volunteering like Norborne Berkeley, to +conquer France in a dirty shirt and a frock? He might gather +forty load more of laurels in my wood. I wish I could flatter +myself that you would come with him. + +My Lady Suffolk has at last entirely submitted her barn to our +ordination. As yet it is only in Deacon;s orders; but will +very soon have our last imposition of hands. Adieu! Let me +know a word of you. + + + +431 Letter 270 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, July 6, 1758. + +You may believe I was thoroughly disappointed in not seeing you +here, as I expected. I grieve for the reason, and wish you had +told me that your brother was quite recovered. Must I give you +over for the summer? sure you are in my debt. + +That regiments are going to Germany is certain; which, except +the Blues) I know not. Of all secrets I am not in any Irish +ones. I hope for your sake, your Colonel(907) is not of the +number; but how can you talk in the manner you do of Prince +Ferdinand! Don't you know that, next to Mr. Pitt and Mr. +Delaval, he is the most fashionable man in England? Have not +the Tower-guns, and all the parsons in London, been ordered to +pray for him? You have lived in Northamptonshire till you are +ignorant that Hanover is in Middlesex, as the Bishop's palace +at Chelsea is in the diocese of Winchester. In hopes that you +will grow better acquainted with your own country, I remain +your affected Horatius Valpolhausen. + +(907) Mr. Montagu's brother. + + + +432 Letter 271 +To The Rev. Dr. Birch. +Arlington Street, July 8, 1758. + + +Sir, +As you have been so good as to favour me with your assistance, +I flatter myself you will excuse my begging it once more. I am +told that you mentioned to Dr. Jortin a Lord Mountjoy, who +lived in the reign of Henry VIII. as an author. Will you be so +good as to tell me any thing you know of him, and what he +wrote. I shall entreat the favour of this notice as soon as +possibly you can; because my book is printing off, and I am +afraid of being past the place where he must come in. I am +just going out of town, but a line put into the Post any night +before nine o'clock will find me next morning at Strawberry +Hill. + + + +432 Letter 272 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway.(908) +Arlington Street, July 8, 1758. + +You have made me laugh; do you think I found much difficulty to +persist in thinking as well of you as I used to do, though you +have neither been so great a Poliorcetes as Almanzor, who could +take a town alone, nor have executed the commands of another +Almanzor, who thought he could command the walls of a city to +tumble down as easily as those of Jericho did to the march of +Joshua's first regiment of Guards? Am I so apt to be swayed by +popular clamour. But I will say no more on that head. As to +the wording of the sentence, I approve your objection; and as I +have at least so little of the author in me as to be very +corrigible, I will, if you think proper, word the beginning +thus:-- + +"In dedicating a few trifles(909) to you, I have nothing new to +tell the world. My esteem still accompanies your merit, on +which 'it was founded, and to which, with such abilities as +mine, I can only bear testimony; I must not pretend to +vindicate it. If your virtues," etc. It shall not be said +that I allowed prejudice and clamour to be the voice of the +world against you. I approve, too, the change of "proposed" +for "would have undertaken;" but I cannot like putting in +"prejudice and malice." When One accuses others of malice, one +is a little apt to feel it; and if I could flatter myself that +such a thing as a Dedication would have weight, or that any +thing of mine would last, I would have it look as dispassionate +as possible. When after some interval I assert coolly that you +was most wrongfully blamed, I shall be believed. If I seem +angry, it will look like a party quarrel still existing. + +Instead of resenting your not being employed in the present +follies, I think you might write a letter of thanks to my Lord +Ligonier, Or to Mr. Pitt, or even to the person who is +appointed to appoint generals himself,(910) to thank them for +not exposing you a second year. All the puffs in the +newspapers cannot long stifle the ridicule which the French +will of course propagate through all Europe on the foolish +figure we have made. You shall judge by one sample: the Duc +d'Aiguillon has literally sent a vessel with a flag of truce to +the Duke of Marlborough, with some teaspoons which, in his +hurry, he left behind him. I know the person who saw the +packet before it was delivered to the Blenheimeius. But what +will you say to this wise commander himself? I am going to tell +you no secret, but what he uttered publicly at the levee. The +King asked him, if he had raised great contributions? +"Contributions, Sir! we saw nothing but old women." What +becomes of the thirty thousand men that made them retire with +such expedition to their transports? My Lord Downe, as decently +as he can, makes the greatest joke of their enterprise, and has +said at Arthur's, that.,five hundred men posted with a grain of +common sense would have cut them all to pieces. I was not less +pleased at what M. de Monbagon, the young prisoner, told +Charles Townshend t'other day at Harley's: he was actually at +Rochfort when you landed, where he says they had six thousand +men, most impatient for your approach, and so posted that not +one of you would ever have returned. This is not an evidence +to be forgot. + +Howe and Lord George Sackville are upon the worst terms, as the +latter is with the military too. I can tell you some very +curious anecdotes when I see you; but what I do not choose, for +particular reasons, to write. What is still more curious, when +Lord George kissed hands at Kensington, not a word was said to +him. + +How is your fever? tell me, when you have a mind to write, but +don't think it necessary to answer my gazettes; indeed I don't +expect it. + +(908) Now first printed. + +(909) The little Volume of Fugitive Pieces, printed this year +at the Strawberry Hill press. + +(910) The King.-E. + + + +433 Letter 273 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, July 8, 1758. + +If you will not take Prince Ferdinand's victory at Crevelt in +full of all accounts, I don't know what you will do--autrement, +we are insolvent. After dodging about the coasts of Normandy +and Bretagne, our armada is returned; but in the hurry of the +retreat from St. Maloes, the Duke of Marlborough left his +silver teaspoons behind. As he had generously sent back an old +woman's finger and gold ring, which one of our soldiers had cut +off, the Duc d'Aiguillon has sent a cartel-ship with the +prisoner-spoons. How they must be diverted with this +tea-equipage, stamped with the Blenheim eagles! and how plain +by this sarcastic compliment what they think of US! Yet We +fancy that we detain forty thousand men on the coast from +Prince Clermont's army! We are sending nine thousand men to +Prince Ferdinand; part, those of the expedition: the remainder +are to make another attempt; perhaps to batter Calais with a +pair of tea-tongs. + +I am sorry for the Comte de la Marche, and much more sorry for +the Duc de Gisors.(911) He was recommended to me when he was +in England; I knew him much, and thought as well of him as all +the world did. He was graver, and with much more application +to improve himself, than any young Frenchman of quality I ever +saw. How unfortunate Belleisle is, to have outlived his +brother, his only son, and his hearing! You will be charmed +with an answer of Prince Ferdinand to our Princess Gouvernante +of Holland.(912) She wrote by direction of the States to +complain of his passing over the territories of the Republic. +He replied, "That he was sorry, though he had barely crossed +over a very small corner of their dominions; and should not +have trespassed even there, if he had had the same Dutch guides +to conduct him that led the French army last year to Hanover." + +I congratulate 'you on your regale from the Northumberlands. +How seldom people think of all the trouble and expense they put +you to--I amongst the rest! Apropos, if they are not bespoken, +I will not trouble you for the case of drams. Lord Hertford +has given me some of his; the fashion is much on the decline, +and never drinking any myself, these will last me long enough +and considering that I scarce ever give you a commission, but +somehow or other ends at your expense, (witness the medals you +gave me of your own,) it is time for me to check my pen that +asks so flippantly. As I am not mercenary, I cannot bear to +turn you to account; if I was, I should bear it very easily: +but it is ridiculous to profit of one's friends, when one does +not make friendships with that view. + +Methinks you don't make a Pope very fast. The battle of +Crevelt has restored him a little, or the head of our church +was very declining. He said the other day to Lady Coventry in +the drawing-room, "Don't look at me, I am a dismal figure; I +have entirely lost one eye."Adieu! + +(911) Only son of Marshal Belleisle; he was killed at the +battle of Crevelt: the Comte de la Marche was not. + +(912) Anne, eldest daughter of George II. and Princess Dowager +of Orange. + + + +434 Letter 274 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway. +Strawberry Hill, July 21, 1758. + +Your gazette, I know, has been a little idle; but we volunteer +gazettes, like other volunteers, are not easily tied down to +regularity and rules. We think we have so much merit, that we +think we have a right to some demerit too; and those who depend +upon us, I mean us gazettes, are often disappointed, A +common-foot newspaper may want our vivacity, but is ten times +more useful. Besides, I am not in town, and ten miles out of +it is an hundred miles out of it for all the purposes of news . +You know, of course, that Lord George Sackville refused to go +a-buccaneering again, as he called it; that my friend Lord +Ancram, who loves a dram of any thing, from glory to brandy, is +out of order; that just as Lord Panmure was going to take the +command,@e missed an eye; and that at last they have routed out +an old General Blighe from the horse armoury in Ireland, who is +to undertake the codicil to the expedition. Moreover, you know +that Prince Edward is bound 'prentice to Mr. Howe.(913) All +this you have heard; yet, like my cousin the Chronicle, I +repeat what has been printed in every newspaper of the week, +and then finish with one paragraph of spick and span. Alack! +my postscript is not very fortunate: a convoy of twelve +thousand men, etc. was going to the King of' Prussia, was +attacked unexpectedly by five thousand Austrians, and cut +entirely to pieces; provisions, ammunition, etc. all taken. +The King instantly raised the siege, and retreated with so much +precipitation, that he was forced to nail up sixty pieces of +cannon. I conclude the next we hear of him will be a great +victory-. if he sets over night in a defeat, he always rises +next morning in a triumph--at least, we that have nothing to do +but expect and admire, shall be extremely disappointed if he +does not. Besides, he is three months debtor to Fame. + +The only private history of any freshness is, my Lady +Dalkeith's christening; the child had three godfathers: and I +will tell you why: they had thought of the Duke of Newcastle, +my Lord and George Townshend: but of two Townshends and his +grace, God could not take the word of any two of them, so all +three were forced to be bound. + +I draw this comfort from the King of Prussia's defeat, that it +may prevent the folly of another expedition: I don't know how +or why, but no reason is a very good one against a thing that +has no reason in it. Eleven hundred men are ill from the last +enterprise. Perhaps Don William Quixote(914) and Admiral +Amadis(915) may determine to send them to the Danube: for, as +no information ever precedes their resolutions, and no +impossibilities ever deter them, I don't see why the Only thing +worthy their consideration should not be, how glorious and +advantageous an exploit it would be, if it could be performed. +Why did Bishop Wilkins try to fly? Not that he thought it +practicable, but because it would be very convenient. As he +did not happen to be a particular favourite of the city of +London, he was laughed at: they prepossessed in his favour, and +he would have received twenty gold boxes, though twenty people +had broken their neck off St. Paul's with trying the +experiment. + +I have heard a whisper, that you do not go into Yorkshire this +summer. Is it true? It is fixed that I go to Ragley(916) on +the 13th of next month; I trust you do so too. have you had +such deluges for three weeks well counted, as we have? If I +had not cut one of my perroquet's wings, and there were an +olive-tree in the country, I would send to know where there is +a foot of dry land. + +You have heard, I suppose,--if not, be it known to you,--that +Mr. Keppel, the canon of Windsor, espouses my niece Laura; yes, +Laura.(917) I rejoice much; so I receive your compliments upon +if, lest you as it sometimes happens, forget to make them. +Adieu! + +July 22. + +For the pleasure of my conscience I had written all the above +last night, expecting Lord Lyttelton, the Dean, and other +company, This morning I receive yours; and having already told +you all I know, I have only a few paragraphs to answer. + +I am pleased that you are pleased about my book:(918) you shall +see it very soon; though there will scarce be a new page: +nobody else shall see it till spring. In the first place, the +prints will not be finished: in the next, I intend that two or +three other things shall appear before it from my press, of +other authors; for I will not surfeit people with my writings, +nor have them think that I propose to find employment alone for +a whole press--so far from it, I intend to employ it no more +about myself. + +I will certainly try to see you during your waiting.,' Adieu! + +(913) In the preceding month, Prince Edward had been appointed +a midshipman, and in July embarked on board the Essex, +commanded by Lord Howe, upon the expedition against +Cherburg.-E. + +(914) William Pitt, secretary of state. + +(915) Lord Anson, first lord of the admiralty. + +(916) The seat of the Earl of Hertford. + +(917) the eldest daughter of Sir Edward Walpole. + +(918) Anecdotes of Painting. + +(919) As groom of the bedchamber to the King. + + + +436 Letter 275 +To The Rev. Henry Zouch.(920) +Strawberry Hill, August 3d, 1758. + +Sir, +I have received, with much pleasure and surprise, the favour of +your remarks upon my Catalogue; and whenever I have the +opportunity of being better known to you, I shall endeavour to +express my gratitude for the trouble you have given yourself in +contributing to perfect a work,(921) which, notwithstanding +your obliging expressions, I fear you found very little worthy +the attention of so much good sense and knowledge, Sir, as you +possess. I am extremely thankful for all the information you +have given me; I had already met with a few of the same lights +as I have received, Sir, from you, as I shall mention in their +place. The very curious accounts of Lord Fairfax were entirely +new and most acceptable to me. If I decline making use of one +or two of your hints, I believe I can explain my reasons to +your satisfaction. I will, with your leave, go regularly +through your letter. + +As Caxton(922) laboured in the monastery of Westminster, it is +not at all unlikely that he should wear the habit, nor, +considering how vague our knowledge of that age is, impossible +but he might enter the order. + +I have met with Henry's institution of a Christian, and shall +give you an account of it in my next edition. In that, too, I +shall mention, that Lord Cobham's(923) allegiance professed at +his death to Richard II. probably means to Richard and his +right heirs, whom he had abandoned for the house of Lancaster. +As the article is printed off, it is too late to say any thing +more about his works. + +In all the old books of genealogy you will find, Sir, that +young Richard Duke of York(924) was solemnly married to a child +of his own age, Anne Mowbray, the heiress of Norfolk, who died +young as well as he. + +The article of the Duke of Somerset is printed off too; +besides, I should imagine the letter you mention not to be of +his own composition, for, though not illiterate, he certainly +could not write any thing like classic Latin.(925) I may, too, +possibly, have inclusively mentioned the very letter; I have +not Ascham's book, to see from what copy the letter was taken, +but probably from one of those which I have said is in Bennet +Library. + +The Catalogue of Lord Brooke's works is taken from the volume +of his works; such pieces of his as I found doubted, +particularly the tragedy of Cicero, I have taken notice of as +doubtful. + +In my next edition you will see, Sir, a note on Lord Herbert, +who, besides being with the King at York, had offended the +peers by a speech in his Majesty's defence. Mr. Wolseley's +preface I shall mention, from your information. Lord +Rochester's letters to his son are letters to a child, bidding +him mind his book and his grandmother. I had already been +told, Sir, what you tell me of marchmont Needham. + +Matthew Clifford I have altered to Martin, as you prescribe: +the blunder was my own, as well as a more considerable one, +that of Lord Sandwich's death--which was occasioned by my +supposing at first, that the translation of Barba(926) was made +by the second earl, whose death I had marked in the list, and +forgot to alter, after I had writ the account of the father. I +shall take care to set this right, as the second volume is not +yet begun to be printed. + +Lord Halifax's maxims I have already marked down, as I shall +Lord Dorset's share in Pompey. + +The account of the Duke of Wharton's death I had from a very +good hand--Captain Willoughby; who, in the convent where the +duke died, saw a picture of him in the habit. If it was a +Bernardine convent, the Gentleman might confound them; but, +considering that there is no life of the duke but bookseller's +trash, it is much more likely that they mistook. + +I have no doubts about Lord Belhaven's speeches; but unless I +could verify their being published by himself, it were contrary +to my rule to insert them. + +If you look, Sir, into Lord Clarendon's account Of Montrose's +death, you will perceive that there is no probability of the +book of his actions being composed by himself. + +I will consult Sir James Ware's book on Lord Totness's and I +will mention the Earl of Cork's Memoirs. + +Lord Lessington is the Earl of Monmouth, in whose article I +have taken notice of his Romulus and Tarquin. + +Lord Berkeley's book I have actually got, and shall give him an +article. + +There is one more passage, Sir, in your letter, which I cannot +answer, without putting you to new trouble-a liberty which all +your indulgence cannot justify me in taking; else I would beg +to know on what authority you attribute to Laurence Earl of +Rochester(927) the famous preface to his father's history, +which I have always heard ascribed to Atterbury, Smallridge, +and Aldridge. The knowledge of this would be an additional +favour; it would be a much greater, Sir, if coming this way, +you would ever let me have the honour of seeing a gentleman to +whom I am so much obliged. + + +(920) The Rev. Henry Zouch was the elder brother of Dr. Thomas +Zouch, better known in the literary world. Henry principally +dedicated himself to the performance of his duties as a +clergyman, a country gentleman and a magistrate; in all which +characters he was highly exemplary. He published several works +connected with these avocations, particularly on the management +of prisons, and on other points of police. He had, also, +earlier days, been a poet; and these letters show that he was +well acquainted with the literary history and antiquities of +his country. Having lived in close intimacy and friendship +with Mr. Walpole's friend and correspondent, William Earl of +Strafford, it is probable that through him he became interested +in Mr. Walpole's pursuits, and disposed to contribute that +assistance towards the perfection of the "Catalogue of Royal +and Noble authors," which is so justly acknowledged by Mr. +Walpole. Mr. Zouch died at the family seat of sandall, in +Yorkshire, of which parish he was also vicar, in June, 1795; +leaving his friend and kinsman, the Earl of lonsdale, his +executor, by whose favour these letters are now given to the +public. The exact time of his birth is not ascertained; but as +he was an A. B. of Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1746, he +probably was born about 1725.-C. [Mr. Walpole's Letters to the +Rev. Henry Zouch first appeared in the year 1805, edited by the +Right Honourable John Wilson Croker; to whose notes the initial +C. is affixed.] + +(921) The "Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors," originally +published by Mr. Walpole in 1758. Mr. Zouch appears to have +commenced the correspondence on the occasion of this +publication. The author of the Catalogue received much of the +same kind of assistance as was given to him by Mr. Zouch; but +as editor, Mr. Park, says, "it would seem that Lord Orford was +more thankful for communications tendered, than desirous to let +the contents of them be seen."-C. + +(922) It is probable that Mr. Zouch objected to Mr. Walpole's +assertion, that the illumination prefixed to a manuscript in +Lambeth library, of Earl Rivers's translation of "The Dictes +and Sayings of the Philosophers, by Jehan de Teonville," +represented the Earl introducing Caxton to Edward IV. Mr. +Zouch seems to have very properly doubted whether Caxton would +wear the clerical habit, as the figure referred to in that +illumination does; and Mr. Walpole replies to that doubt. Upon +the same subject, Mr. Cole says, qu. how Lord Orford came to +know the kneeling figure in a clerical habit, was Caxton the +printer? He is certainly a priest, as is evident from his +tonsure, but I do not think that Caxton was in orders. I +should rather suppose that it was designed for Jehan de +Teonville, provost of Paris."-C. + +(923) Mr. Walpole did make this promised statement in the +following note: "King Richard had long been dead; I suppose it +is only meant that Lord Cobham disclaimed obedience to the +house of Lancaster, who had usurped the throne of King Richard +and his right heirs."-C. + +(924) He was married on the 15th of January, 1477-8, in the +fourth year of his age.-C. + +(925) In a subsequent edition Mr. Walpole recites the title of +this letter, "Epistola exhortatoria missa ad Nobilitatem ac +Plebem universumque Populum Regni Scotiae," printed in 4to. at +London, 1548; and he adds, this might possibly be composed by +some dependant. We do not exactly see the grounds of Walpole's +assertion, that the Lord Protector Somerset "could not write +any thing like classic Latin;": although we admit that his +having been chancellor of Cambridge is not conclusive evidence +upon this subject; and that it is probable that the letter was +written by his secretary.-C. + +(926) "The Art of Metals, in which is declared the manner of +their generation." Albara Alonzo Barba was curate of St. +Bernard's in Potosi. This work, which contains a great deal of +practical information on mining, has also been translated into +German and French. The English editions are very scarce, and a +republication might be desirable in this age of mining +adventure.-C. + +(927) Second son of the great Lord Clarendon. Mr. Walpole +makes no mention of this preface, but Mr. Park seems to have +entertained the same idea as Mr. Zouch, as he says, "His +lordship merits honourable notice in the present work, as the +conceived author of a preface to the first edition of his noble +father's history, which abounds with dignified sentiment and +filial reverence."-C. + + + +439 Letter 276 +To The Rev. Henry Zouch. +Strawberry Hill, August 12, 1758. + +Sir, +It were a disrespect to your order, of which I hope you think +me incapable, not to return an immediate answer to the favour +of your last, the engaging modesty of which would raise my +esteem if I had not felt it before for you. I certainly do not +retract my desire of being better acquainted with you, Sir, +from the knowledge you are pleased to give me of yourself. +Your profession is an introduction any where; but, before I +learned that, you will do me the justice to observe, that your +good sense and learning were to me sufficient recommendation; +and though, in the common intercourse of the world, rank and +birth have their proper distinctions, there is certainly no +occasion for them between men whose studies and inclinations +are the same. Indeed, I know nothing that gives me any +pretence to think any gentlemen my inferior. I am a very +private person myself, and if I have any thing to boast from my +birth, it is from the good understanding, not from the nobility +of my father. I must beg, therefore, that, in the future +correspondence, which I hope we shall have, you will neither +show me, nor think I expect, a respect to which I have no +manner of title, and which I wish not for, unless it would +enable me to be of service to gentlemen of merit, like +yourself. I will say no more on this head, but to repeat, that +if any occasion should draw you to this part of England, (as I +shall be sorry if it is ill health that has carried you from +home,) I flatter myself you will let me have the satisfaction +and, for the last time of using so formal a word, the honour of +seeing you. + +In the mean time, you will oblige me by letting me know how I +can convey my Catalogue to you. I ought, I know, to stay till +I can send you a more correct edition; but, though the first +volume is far advanced, the second may profit by your remarks. +If you could send me the passage and the page in Vardus, +relating to the Earl of Totness, it would much oblige ne; for I +have only the English edition; and as I am going a little +journey for a week, cannot just now get the Latin. + +You mention, Sir, Mr. Thoresby's museum: is it still preserved +entire? + +I would fain ask you another question, very foreign to any +thing I have been saying, but from your searches into +antiquity, you may possibly, Sir, be able to explain what +nobody whom I have consulted hitherto can unravel. At the end +of the second part of the p. 105, in the folio edition, is a +letter from Henry VIII. to the Cardinal Cibo, dated from our +palace, Mindas, 10th July, 1527. In no map, topographical +account, or book of antiquity, can I possibly find such house +or place as Mindas.(928) + +(928) See this corrected as a typographical mistake, post, p. +455.-C. + + + +440 Letter 277 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Aug. 12, 1758. + +It is not a thousand years since I wrote to you, is it?--nay, +if it is, blame the King of Prussia, who has been firing away +his time at Olmutz; blame Admiral Howe, who never said a word +of having taken Cherbourg till yesterday.--Taken Cherbourg!-- +yes, he has--he landed within six miles of it on the 6th, saw +some force, who only stayed to run away; attacked a fort, a +magazine blew up, the Guards marched against a body of French, +who again made fools of them, pretending to stand, and then ran +away--and then, and then, why, then we took Cherbourg. We +pretended to destroy the works. and a basin that has just cost +two millions. We have not lost twenty men. The City of +London, I suppose, is drinking brave Admiral Howe's and brave +Cherbourg's health; but I miss all these festivities by going +into Warwickshire tomorrow to Lord Hertford. In short, +Cherbourg comes very opportunely: we had begun to grow peevish +at Louisbourg not being arrived, and there are some(929) people +at least as peevish that Prince de Soubize has again walked +into Hanover after having demolished the Hessians. Prince +Ferdinand, who a fortnight ago was as great a hero as if he had +been born in Thames Street, is kept in check by Monsieur de +Contades, and there are some little apprehensions that our +Blues, etc., will not be able to join him. Cherbourg will set +all to rights; the King of Prussia may fumble as much as he +pleases, and though the French should not be frightened out of +their senses at the loss of this town, we shall be fully +persuaded they are, and not a gallon less of punch will be +drunk from Westminster to Wapping. + +I have received your two letters of July 1st and 7th, with the +prices of Stosch's medals, and the history of the new +pontificate. I will not meddle with the former, content with +and thanking you much for those you send me; and for the case +of liqueurs, which I don't intend to present myself with, but +to pay you for. + +You must, I think, take up with this scrap of a letter; +consider it contains a conquest. If I wrote any longer, before +I could finish my letter, perhaps I should hear that our fleet +was come back again, and, though I should be glad they were +returned safely, it diminishes the lustre of a victory to have +a tame conclusion to it-without that, you are left at liberty +to indulge vision--Cherbourg is in France, Havre and St. Maloes +may catch the panic, Calais my be surprised, that may be +followed by a battle which we may gain; it is but a march of a +few days to Paris, the King flies to his good allies the Dutch +for safety, Prince Edward takes possession of the Bastile in +his brother's name, to whom the King, content with England and +Hanover--alas! I had forgot that he has just lost the +latter.-Good night! + +Sunday morning. + +Mr. Conway, who is just come in to carry me away, brings an +account of an important advantage gained by a detachment of six +battalions of Hanoverians, who have demolished fourteen of the +French, and thereby secured the magazines and a junction with +the English. + +(929) The King. + + + +441 Letter 278 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, Aug. 20, 1758. + +After some silence, one might take the opportunity of +Cherbourg(930) and Louisbourg(931) to revive a little +correspondence with popular topics; but I think you are no +violent politician, and I am full as little so; I will +therefore tell you of what I of course care more, and I am +willing to presume you do too; that is, myself. I have been +journeying much since I heard from you; first to the Vine, +where I was greatly pleased with the alterations; the garden is +quite beautified and the house dignified. We went over to the +Grange, that sweet house of my Lord Keeper's(932) that you saw +too. The pictures are very good, and I was particularly +pleased with the procession, which you were told was by Rubens, +but is certainly Vandyke's sketch for part of that great work, +that he was to have executed in the Banqueting-house. You did +not tell me of a very fine Holbein, a woman, who was evidently +some princess of the White Rose. + +I am just now returned from Ragley, which has had a great deal +done to it since I was there last. Browne(933) has improved +both the ground and the water, though not quite to perfection. +This is the case of the house: where there are no striking +faults, but it wants a few Chute or Bentley touches. I have +recommended some dignifying of the saloon with Seymours and +Fitzroys, Henry the Eighths and Charles the Seconds. They will +correspond well to the proudest situation imaginable. I have +already dragged some ancestors out of the dust there, written +their names on their portraits; besides which, I have found and +brought up to have repaired an incomparable picture of Van +Helmont by Sir Peter Lely.--But now for recoveries---think what +I have in part recovered! Only the state papers, private +letters, etc., etc., of the two Lords Conway,(934) secretaries +of state. How you will rejoice and how you will grieve! They +seem to have laid up every scrap of paper they ever had. from +the middle of Queen Elizabeth's reign to the middle of Charles +the Second's. By the accounts of the family there were whole +rooms full; all which, during the absence of the last and the +minority of the present lord, were by the ignorance of a +steward consigned to the oven and the uses of the house. What +remained, except one box that was kept till almost rotten in a +cupboard, were thrown loose into the lumber room; where, spread +on the pavement, they supported old marbles and screens and +boxes. From thence I have dragged all I could, and, have +literally, taking all together, brought away a chest near five +feet long, three wide, and two deep, brim full. Half are +bills, another part rotten, another gnawed by rats; yet I have +already found enough to repay my trouble and curiosity, not +enough to satisfy it. I will only tell you of three letters of +the great Strafford and three long ones of news of Mr. Gerrard, +master of the Charter-house; all six written on paper edged +with green, like modern French paper. There are handwritings +of every body, all their seals perfect, and the ribands with +which they tied their letters. The original proclamations of +Charles the First, signed by the privy council; a letter to +King James from his son-in-law of Bohemia, with his seal; and +many, very many letters of negotiation from the Earl of Bristol +in Spain, Sir Dudley Carleton, Lord Chichester, and Sir Thomas +Roe.--What say you? will not here be food for the press? + +I have picked up a little painted glass too, and have got a +promise of some old statues, lately dug up, which formerly +adorned the cathedral of Litchfield. You see I continue to +labour in my vocation, of which I can give you a comical +instance:--I remembered a rose in painted glass in a little +village going to Ragley, which I remarked passing by five years +ago; told Mr. Conway on which hand it would b, and found it in +the very spot. I saw a very good and perfect tomb at Alcester +of Sir Fulke Greville's father and mother, and a wretched old +house with a very handsome gateway of stone at Colton, +belonging to Sir Robert Throckmorton. There is nothing else +tolerable but twenty-two coats of the matches of the family in +painted glass.--You cannot imagine how astonished a Mr. +Seward,(935) a learned clergyman, was, who came to Ragley while +I was there. Strolling about the house, he saw me first +sitting on the pavement of the lumber room with Louis, all over +cobwebs and dust and mortar; then found me in his own room on a +ladder writing on a picture; and half an hour afterwards lying +on the grass in the court with the dogs and the children, in my +slippers and without my hat. He had had some doubt whether I +was the painter or the factotum of the family; but you would +have died at his surprise when he saw me walk into dinner +dressed and sit by Lady Hertford. Lord Lyttelton was there, +and the conversation turned on literature: finding me not quite +ignorant added to the parson's wonder; but he could not contain +himself any longer, when after dinner he saw me go to romps and +jumping with the two boys; he broke out to my Lady Hertford, +and begged to know who and what sort of man I really was, for +he had never met with any thing of the kind. Adieu! + +(930) About the middle of this month General Blighe had landed +with an army on the coast of France, near Cherbourg, destroyed +the basin, harbour, and forts of that place, and re-embarked +his troops without loss. + +(931) Alluding to the surrender of Louisbourg and the whole +island of Cape Breton on the coast of North America to General +Amherst and Admiral Boscawen. + +(932) Lord Keeper Henley, in 1761 made lord chancellor, and in +1764 created Lord Northington.-E. + +(933) Capability Browne. See vol. ii. p. 112, letter 46.-E. + +(934) Sir Edward Conway, secretary of state to James the First, +created Baron Conway in 1624; and Edward Conway, his grandson, +secretary of state in the reign of Charles the Second, 1679, +created Earl of Conway.-E. + +(935) The Rev. Thomas Seward, canon residentiary of Lichfield, +and father of Ann Seward the poetess.-E. + + + +443 Letter 279 +To John Chute, Esq.(936) +Arlington Street, August 22, 1758. + +By my ramble into Warwickshire I am so behindhand in politics, +that I don't know where to begin to tell you any news, and +which by this time would not be news to you. My table is +covered with gazettes, victories and defeats which have come in +such a lump, that I am not quite sure whether it is Prince +Ferdinand or Prince Boscawen that has taken Louisbourg, nor +whether it is the late Lord Howe or the present that is killed +at Cherbourg. I am returning to Strawberry, and shall make Mr. +M`untz's German and military sang-froid set the map in my head +to rights. + +I saw my Lord Lyttelton and Miller at Ragley; the latter put me +out of all patience. As he has heard me talked of lately, he +thought it not below him to consult me on ornaments for my +lord's house. I, who know nothing but what I have purloined +from Mr. Bentley and you, and who have not forgotten how little +they tasted your real taste and charming plan, was rather +lost.--To my comfort, I have seen the plan of their hall; it is +stolen from Houghton, and mangled frightfully: and both their +eating-room and salon are to be stucco, with pictures. + +I have not time or paper to give you a full account of' a vast +treasure that I have discovered at Lord Hertford's, and brought +away with me. If I were but so lucky as to be thirty years +older, i might have been much luckier. In short, I have got +the remains of vast quantities of letters and state papers of +the two Lords Conway, secretaries of state--forty times as many +have been using for the oven and the house, by sentence of a +steward during my lord's minority. Most of what I have got are +gnawed by rats, rotten, or not worth a straw: and yet I shall +save some volumes of what is very curious and valuable--three +letters of Mr. Gerrard, of the Charter-house, some of Lord +Strafford, and two of old Lennox, the Duchess, etc., etc. In +short, if I can but continue to live thirty years +extraordinary, in lieu of those I have missed, I shall be able +to give to the world some treasures from the press at +Strawberry. Do tell me a little of your motions, and good +night. + +(936) Now first printed. + + + +444 Letter 280 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Aug. 24, 1758. + +You must go into laurels, you must go into mourning. our +expedition has taken Cherbourg shamefully--I mean the French +lost it shamefully--and then stood looking on while we +destroyed all their works, particularly a basin that had cost +vast sums. But, to balance their awkwardness with ours, it +proved to be an open place, which we might have taken when we +were before it a month ago. The fleet is now off Portland, +expecting orders for landing or proceeding. Prince Edward gave +the ladies a ball, and told them he was too young to know what +was good-breeding in France, he would therefore behave as he +should if meaning to please in England--and kissed them all. +Our next and greatest triumph is the taking of Cape Breton, the +account of which came on Friday. The French have not improved +like their wines by crossing the sea; but lost their spirit at +Louisbourg as much as on their own coast. The success, +especially, in the destruction of their fleet, is very great: +the triumphs not at all disproportioned to the conquest, of +which you will see all the particulars in the Gazette. Now for +the chapter of cypresses. The attempt on Crown-point has +failed; Lord Howe(937) was killed in a skirmish; and two days +afterwards by blunders, rashness, and bad intelligence, we +received a great blow at Ticonderoga. There is a Gazette, too, +with all the history of this. My hope is that Cape Breton may +buy us Minorca and a peace, I have great satisfaction in +Captain Hervey's gallantry; not only he is my friend, but I +have the greatest regard for and obligations to my Lady Hervey; +he is her favourite son and she is particularly happy. + +Mr. Wills is arrived and has sent me the medals, for which I +give you a million of thanks; the scarce ones are not only +valuable for the curiosity of them, but for their preservation. +I laughed heartily at the Duke of Argyll, and am particularly +pleased with the Jesus Rex noster.(938) + +Chevert, the best and most sensible of the French officers, has +been beat by a much smaller number under the command of Imhoff, +who, I am told, would be very stupid, if a German could be so. +I think they hope a little still for Hanover, from this +success. Of the King of Prussia--not a word. + +My lady Bath has had a paralytic stroke, which drew her mouth +aside and took away her speech. I never heard a greater +instance of cool sense; she made sign for a pen and ink, and +wrote Palsy. They got immediate assistance, and she is +recovered. + +As I wrote to you but a minute ago, I boldly conclude this +already. Adieu! + +(937) General George Augustus, third Viscount Howe. He was +succeeded in the title by his brother Richard, the celebrated +admiral. Mr. George Grenville, in a letter to Mr. Pitt, of the +28th, pays the following tribute to his memory:-"I admired his +virtuous, gallant character, and lament his loss accordingly: I +cannot help thinking it peculiarly unfortunate for his country +and his friends, that he should fall in the first action of +this war, before his spirit and his example, and the success +and glory which, in all human probability, would have attended +them, had produced their full effect on our troops, and those +of the enemy." Chatham Correspondence, vol. i. p. 339.-E. + +(938) Inscription on a silver coin of the republic of Florence, +who declared Jesus Christ their King, to prevent the usurpation +of Pope Clement VII. + + + +445 Letter 281 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway. +Strawberry Hill, Sept. 2, 1758. + +It is well I have got something to pay you for the best letter +that ever was! A vast victory, I own, does not entertain me so +much as a good letter; but you are bound to like any thing +military better than your own wit, and therefore I hope you +will think a defeat of the Russians a better bon-mot than any +you sent me. Should you think it clever if the King of Prussia +has beaten them? How much cleverer if he has taken three +lieutenant-generals and an hundred pieces of cannon? How much +cleverer still, if he has left fifteen thousand Muscovites dead +on the Spot?(939) Does the loss of only three thousand of his +own men take off from or sharpen the sting of this joke? In +short, all this is fact, as a courier arrived at Sion Hill this +morning affirms. The city, I suppose, expect that his Majesty +will now be"at leisure to step to Ticonderoga and repair our +mishaps.(940) But I shall talk no more politics; if this finds +you at Chatworth, as I suppose it will, you will be better +informed than from me. + +lady Mary Coke arrived at Ragley between two and three in the +morning; how unlucky that I was not there to offer her part of +an aired bed! But how could you think of the proposal you have +made me? Am not I already in love with "the youngest, +handsomest, and wittiest widow in England?" As Herculean a +labourer as I am, as Tom Hervey says, I don't choose another. +I am still in the height of my impatience for the chest of old +papers from Ragley, which, either by the fault of their +servants, or of the wagoner, is not yet arrived. I shall go to +London again on Monday in quest of it; and in truth think so +much of it, that, when I first heard of the victory this +morning, I rejoiced, as we were likely now to recover the +Palatinate. Good night! + +(939) The defeat of the Russians at Zorndorf. + + +(940) The repulse of General Abercrombie at Ticonderoga. + + + +446 Letter 282 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Sept. 9, 1758. + +Well! the King of Prussia is found again--where do you think? +only in Poland, up to the chin in Russians! Was ever such a +man! He was riding home from Olmutz; they ran and told him of +an army of Muscovites,(941) as you would of a covey of +partridges; he galloped thither, and shot them. But what news +I am telling you! I forgot that all ours comes by +water-carriage, and that you must know every thing a fortnight +before us. It is incredible how popular he is here; except a +few, who take him for the same person as Mr. Pitt, the lowest +of the people are perfectly acquainted with him: as I was +walking by the river the other night, a bargeman asked me for +something to drink the King of Prussia's health. Yet Mr. Pitt +specifies his own glory as much as he can: the standards taken +at Louisbourg have been carried to St. Paul's with much parade; +and this week, after bringing it by land from Portsmouth, they +have dragged the cannon of Cherbourg into Hyde Park, on +pretence of diverting a man,(942) whom, in former days, I +believe, Mr. Pitt has laughed for loving such rattles as drums +and trumpets. Our expedition, since breaking a basin at +Cherbourg, has done nothing, but are dodging about still. +Prince Edward gave one hundred guineas to the poor of +Cherbourg, and the General and Admiral twenty-five apiece. I +love charity, but sure is this excess of it, to lay out +thousands, and venture so many lives, for the opportunity of +giving a Christmas-box to your enemies! Instead of beacons, I +suppose, the coast of France will be hung with pewter-pots with +a slit in them, as prisons are, to receive our alms. + +Don't trouble yourself about the Pope: I am content to find +that he will by no means eclipse my friend. You please me with +telling me of a collection of medals bought for the Prince of +Wales. I hope it Is his own taste; if it is only thought right +that he should have it, I am glad. + +I am again got into the hands of builders, though this time to +a very small extent; only the addition of a little cloister and +bedchamber. A day may come that will produce a gallery, a +round tower, a large cloister, and a cabinet, in the manner of +a little chapel: but I am too poor for these ambitious designs +yet, and I have so many ways of dispersing My Money, that I +don't know when I shall be richer. However, I amuse myself +infinitely; besides my printing-house, which is constantly at +work, besides such a treasure of taste and drawing as my friend +Mr. Bentley, I have a painter in the house, who is an engraver +too, a mechanic, an every thing. He was a Swiss engineer in +the French service; but his regiment being broken at the peace, +Mr. Bentley found him in the Isle of Jersey and fixed him with +me. He has an astonishing genius for landscape, and added to +that, all the industry and patience of a German. We are just +now practising, and have succeeded surprisingly in a new method +of painting, discovered at Paris by Count Caylus, and intended +to be the encaustic method of the ancients. My Swiss has +painted, I am writing the account,(943) and my press is to +notify our improvements. As you will know that way, I will not +tell you here at large. In short, to finish all the works I +have in hand, and all the schemes I have in my head, I cannot +afford to live less than fifty years more. What pleasure it +would give me to see you here for a moment! I should think I +saw you and your dear brother at once! Can't you form some +violent secret expedition against Corsica or Port Mahon, which +may make it necessary for you to come and settle here? Are we +to correspond till we meet in some unknown world? Alas! I fear +so; my dear Sir, you are as little likely to save money as I +am--would you could afford to resign your crown and be a +subject at Strawberry Hill! Adieu! + +P. S. I have forgot to tell you of a wedding in our family; my +brother's eldest daughter(944) is to be married tomorrow to +lord Albemarle's third brother, a canon of Windsor. We are +very happy with the match. The bride is very agreeable, and +sensible, and good; not so handsome as her sisters, but further +from ugliness than beauty. It is the second, Maria,(945) who +is beauty itself! Her face, bloom, eyes, hair, teeth, and +person are all perfect. You may imagine how charming she is, +when her only fault, if one must find one, is, that her face is +rather too round. She has a great deal of wit and vivacity, +with perfect modesty. I must tell you too of their +brother:(946) he was on the expedition to St. Maloes; a party +of fifty men appearing on a hill, he was despatched to +reconnoitre with only eight men. Being stopped by a brook, he +prepared to leap it; an old sergeant dissuaded him, from the +inequality of the numbers. "Oh!" said the boy, "I will tell you +what; our profession is bred up to so much regularity that any +novelty terrifies them--with our light English horses we will +leap this stream; and I'll be d--d if they don't run." He did +so, and they did so. However, he was not content; but insisted +that each of his party should carry back a prisoner before +them. They got eight, when they overtook an elderly man, to +whom they offered quarter, bidding him lay down his arms. He +replied, "they were English, the enemies of his King and +country; that he hated them, and had rather be killed." My +nephew hesitated a minute, and said, "I see you are a brave +fellow, and don't fear death, but very likely you fear a +beating-if you don't lay down your arms this instant, my men +shall drub you as long as they can stand over you." The fellow +directly flung down his arms in a passion. The Duke of +Marlborough sent my brother word of this, adding, it was the +only clever action in their whole exploit. Indeed I am pleased +with it; for besides his spirit, I don't see, with this thought +and presence of mind, why he should not make a general. I +return to one little word of the King of Prussia-- shall I tell +you? I fear all this time he is only fattening himself with +glory for Marshal Daun, who will demolish him at last, and +then, for such service, be shut up in some fortress or in the +inquisition--for it is impossible but the house of Austria must +indemnify themselves for so many mortifications by some horrid +ingratitude! + +(941) This was the battle of Zorndorf, fought on the @5th of +August, 1758, and gained by the King of Prussia over the +Russians, commanded by Count Fermor.-D. + +(942) The King. + +(943) M`untz left Mr. Walpole, and published another account +himself. + +(944) Laura, this eldest daughter of Sir Edward Walpole, +married to Dr. Frederick Keppel, afterwards Dean of Windsor and +Bishop of Exeter. + +(945) Maria, second daughter, married first to James second +Earl of Waldegrave, and afterwards to William Henry Duke of +Gloucester, brother to King George the Third. + +(946) Edward, only son of Sir Edward Walpole. He died young. + + + +448 Letter 283 +To The Rev. Henry Zouch. +Strawberry Hill, September 14, 1758. + +Sir, +Though the approaching edition of my Catalogue is so far +advanced that little part is left now for any alteration, yet +as a book of that kind is always likely to be reprinted from +the new persons who grow entitled to a place in it, and as long +as it is in my power I shall wish to correct and improve it, I +must again thank you, Sir, for the additional trouble you have +given yourself. The very first article strikes me much. May I +ask where, and in what page of what book, I can find Sir R. +Cotton's account of Richard II.(947) being an author: does not +he mean Richard I.? + +The Basilicon Doron is published in the folio of K. James's +works, and contains instructions to his son, Prince Henry. In +return, I will ask you where you find those verses of Herbert; +and I would also ask you, how you have had time to find and +know so much? + +Lord Leicester, and much less the Duke of Monmouth, will +scarce, I fear, come under the description I have laid down to +myself of authors. I doubt the first did not compose his own +Apology. + +Did the Earl of Bath publish, or only design to publish, +Dionysius?(948) Shall I find the account in Usher's Letters? +Since you are so very kind, Sir, as to favour me with your +assistance, shall I beg, Sir, to prevent my repeating trouble +to you, just to mark at any time where you find the notices you +impart to Me; for, though the want of a citation is the effect +of my ignorance, it has the same consequence to you. + +I have not the Philosophical Transactions, but I will hereafter +examine them on the hints you mention, particularly for Lord +Brounker,(949) who I did not know had written, though I have +often thought it probable he did. As I have considered Lord +Berkeley's Love-letters, I have no doubt but they are a +fiction, though grounded on a real story. + +That Lord Falkland was a writer of controversy appears by the +list of his works, and that he is said to have assisted +Chillingworth: that he wrote against Chillingworth, you see, +Sir, depends upon very vague authority; that is, upon the +assertion of an anonymous person, who wrote so above a hundred +years ago. + +James, Earl of Marlborough, is entirely a new author to me--at +present, too late. Lord Raymond I had inserted, and he will +appear in the next edition. + +I have been as unlucky, for the present, about Lord Totness. +In a collection published in Ireland, called Hibernica, I +found, but too late, that he translated another very curious +piece, relating to Richard II. However, Sir, with these, and +the very valuable helps I have received from you, I shall be +able, at a proper time, to enrich another edition much. + +(947) Mr. Walpole takes no notice of Richard II. as an author; +but Mr. park inserts this prince as a writer of ballads. In a +letter to Archbishop Usher, Sir Robert Cotton requested his +grace to procure for him a poem by Richard II. which that +prelate had pointed out.-C. + +(948) Spelman's is the only English translation of the +Antiquities of Dionysius Halicarnassensis, known to be +printed.-C. + +(949) He wrote several papers in the Philosophical +Transactions, and also translated Descartes' Music Compendium.- +C. + + + +449 Letter 284 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway.(950) +Arlington Street, Sept. 19, 1758. + +I have all my life laughed at ministers in my letters; but at +least with the decency of obliging them to break open the seal. +You have more noble frankness, and send your satires to the +post with not so much as a wafer, as my Lord Bath did sometimes +in my father's administration. I scarce laughed more at the +inside of your letter than at the cover--not a single button to +the waistband of its beseeches, but all its nakedness fairly +laid open! what was worse, all Lady Mary Coke's nakedness was +laid open at the same time. Is this your way of treating a +dainty widow! What will Mr. Pitt think of all this? will he +begin to believe that you have some spirit, when, with no fear +of Dr. Shebbeare's example(951) before your eyes, you speak +your Mind so freely, without any modification? As Mr. Pitt may +be cooled a little to his senses, perhaps he may now find out, +that a grain of prudence is no bad ingredient in a mass of +courage; in short, he and the mob are at last undeceived, and +have found, by sad experience that all the cannon of France has +not been brought into Hyde Park. An account, which you will +see in the Gazette, (though a little better disguised than your +letters,) is come that after our troops had been set on shore, +and left there, till my Lord Howe went somewhere else, and +cried Hoop! having nothing else to do for four days to amuse +themselves, nor knowing whether there was a town within a +hundred miles, went staring about the country to see whether +there were any Frenchmen left in France; which Mr. Pitt, in +very fine words, had assured them there was not, and which my +Lord Howe, in very fine silence, had confirmed. However, +somehow or other, (Mr. Deputy Hodges says they were not French, +but Papists sent from Vienna to assist the King of France,) +twelve battalions fell upon our rear-guard, and, which General +Blighe says is "very Common," (I suppose he means that rashness +and folly should run itself' into a scrape,)--were all cut to +pieces or taken. The town says, Prince Edward (Duke of York) +ran hard to save himself; I don't mean too fast, but scarcely +fast enough; and the General says, that Lord Frederick +Cavendish, your friend, is safe; the thing he seems to have +thought of most, except a little vain parade of his own +self-denial on his nephew. I shall not be at all surprised if, +to show he was not in the wrong, Mr. Pitt should get ready +another expedition by the depth of winter, and send it in +search of the cannons and colours of these twelve battalions. +Pray Heaven your letter don't put it in his head to give you +the command! It is not true, that he made the King ride upon +one of the cannons to the Tower. + +I was really touched with my Lady Howe's advertisement,(952) +though I own at first it made me laugh; for seeing an address +to the voters for Nottingham signed "Charlotte Howe," I +concluded (they are so manly a family) that Mrs. Howe,(953) who +rides a fox-chase, and dines at the table d'h`ote at Grantham, +intended to stand for member of Parliament. + +Sir John Armitage died on board a ship before the landing; Lady +Hardwickc's nephew, Mr. Cocks, scarce recovered of his +Cherbourg wound, is killed.' He had seven thousand pounds a +year, and was volunteer. I don't believe his uncle and aunt +advised his venturing so much money. + +My Lady Burlington is very ill, and the distemper shows itself +oddly; she breaks out all over in-curses and blasphemies. Her +maids are afraid of catching them, and will hardly venture into +her room. + +On reading over your letter again, I begin to think that the +connexion between Mr. Pitt and my dainty widow is stronger than +I imagined. One of them must have caught of the other that +noble contempt which makes a thing's being impossible not +signify. It sounds very well in sensible mouths; but how +terrible to be the chambermaid or the army of such people! I +really am in a panic, and having some mortal impossibilities +about me which a dainty widow might not allow to signify, I +will balance a little between her and my Lady Carlisle, who, I +believe, knows that impossibilities do signify. These were +some of my reflections on reading your letter again; another +was, that I am now convinced you sent your letter open to the +post on purpose; you knew It was so good a letter that every +body ought to see it-and yet you would pass for a modest man! + +I am glad I am not in favour enough to be consulted by my Lord +Duchess(954) on the Gothic farm; she would have given me so +many fine and unintelligible reasons why it should not be as it +should be, that I should have lost a little of my patience. +You don't tell me if the goose-board in hornbean is quite +finished; and have you forgot that I actually was in t'other +goose-board, the conjuring room? + +I wish you joy on your preferment in the militia, though I do +not think it quite so safe an employment as it used to be. If +George Townshend's disinterested virtue should grow impatient +for a regiment, he will persuade Mr. Pitt that the militia arc +the only troops in the world for taking Rochfort. Such a +scheme would answer all his purposes - would advance his own +interest, contradict the Duke's opinion, who holds militia +cheap, and by the ridiculousness of the attempt would furnish +very good subjects to his talent of buffoonery in black-lead. + +The King of Prussia you may believe is in Petersburg, but he +happens to be in Dresden. Good night! Mine and Sir Harry +Hemlock's services to my Lady Ailesbury. + +(950) Now first printed. + +(951) Dr. Shebbeare had just before been sentenced to fine, +imprisonment, and the pillory for his Sixth Letter to the +People of England. The under-sheriff, however, allowed him to +stand on, instead of in, the pillory; for which lenity he was +prosecuted.-E. + +(952 On the news of the death of Lord Howe reaching the dowager +Lady Howe, she addressed the gentry, clergy, and freeholders of +Nottingham, whom the deceased represented in Parliament, in +favour of his next younger brother, Colonel Howe, to supply his +place in the House of Commons. "Permit me," she says, "to +implore the protection of every one of you, as the mother of +him whose life has been lost in the service of his country." +The appeal was responded to, and Colonel, afterwards General +Sir William Howe, was returned.-E. + +(953) The Hon. Caroline Howe, daughter of the above-mentioned +lady , who married her namesake, John Howe, Esq. of Hemslop.-E. + +(954) The Duchess of Norfolk. She had planted a game of the +goose in hornbean, at Worksop. + + + +451 Letter 285 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Sept. 22, 1758. + +The confusion of the first accounts and the unwelcomeness of +the subject, made me not impatient to despatch another letter +so quickly after my last. However, as I suppose the French +relations will be magnified, it is proper to let you know the +exact truth. Not being content with doing nothing at St. +Maloes, and with being suffered to do all we could at +Cherbourg, (no great matter,) our land and sea heroes, Mr. Pitt +and Lord Howe, projected a third--I don't know what to call it. +It seems they designed to take St. Maloes, but being +disappointed by the weather, they--what do you think? landed +fifteen miles from it, with no object nor near any--and lest +that should not be absurd enough, the fleet sailed away for +another bay, leaving the army with only two cannons. to +scramble to them across the country as they could. Nine days +they were staring about France; at last they had notice of +twelve battalions approaching, on which they stayed a little +before they hurried to the transports. The French followed +them at a distance, firing from the upper grounds. When the +greatest part were reimbarked, the French descended and fell on +the rear, on which it Was necessary to sacrifice the Guards to +secure the rest. Those brave young men did wonders--that is, +they were cut to pieces with great intrepidity. We lost +General Dury and ten other officers; Lord Frederick Cavendish +with twenty-three others were taken prisoners. In all we have +lost seven hundred men, but more shamefully for the projectors +and conductors than can be imagined, for no shadow of an excuse +can be offered for leaving them so exposed with no purpose or +possible advantage, in the heart of an Enemy's country. What +heightens the distress. the army sailed from Weymouth with a +full persuasion that they were to be sacrificed to the +vainglorious whims of a man of words(955) and a man(956) of +none! + +"Three expeditions we have sent, +And if you bid me show where +I know as well as those who went, +To St. Maloes, Cherbourg, nowhere." + +Those, whose trade or amusement is politics, may comfort +themselves with their darling Prussian; he has strode back over +20 or 30,000 Russians,(957) and stepped into Dresden. They +even say that Daun is retired. For my part, it is to inform +you, that I dwell at all on these things. I am shocked with +the iniquities I see and have seen. I abhor their dealings. + +"And from my soul sincerely hate +Both Kings and Ministers of State!" + +I don't know whether I can attain any goodness by shunning +them, I am sure their society is contagious Yet I will never +advertise my detestation, for if I professed virtue, I should +expect to be suspected of designing to be a minister. Adieu! +you are good, and wilt keep yourself so. + +sept. 25th. + +I had sealed my letter, but as it cannot go away till +to-morrow, I open it again on receiving yours of Sept. 9th. I +don't understand Marshal Botta's being so well satisfied with +our taking Louisbourg. Are the Austrians disgusted with the +French? Do they begin to repent their alliance? or has he so +much sense as to know what improper allies they have got? It is +very right in you who are a minister, to combat hostile +Ministers--had I been at Florence, I should not have so much +contested the authority of the Abb`e de Ville's performance: I +have no more doubt of' the convention of Closter-Severn having +been scandalously broken, than it was shamelessly disavowed by +those who commanded it. + +In our loss are included some of our volunteers; a Sir John +Armitage, a young man of fortune, just come much into the +world, and engaged to the sister(958) of the hot-headed and +cool-tongued Lord Howe; a Mr. Cocks, nephew of lady Hardwicke, +who could not content himself with seven thousand pounds +a-year, without the addition of an ensign's commission - he was +not quite recovered of a wound he had got at CHerbourg. The +royal volunteer, Prince Edward, behaved with much spirit. +Adieu! + +(955) Mr. Pitt.-D. + +(956) two brothers, successively Lords Howe, were remarkably +silent. + +(957) The battle of Zorndorf.-D. + +(958) Mary, their youngest sister, was afterwards married to +General Pitt, brother of George Lord Rivers. + + + +453 Letter 286 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, Oct. 3, 1758. + +having no news to send you, but the massacre of St. Cas,(959) +not agreeable enough for a letter, I stayed till I had +something to send you, and behold a book! I have delivered to +portly old Richard, your ancient nurse, the new produce of the +Strawberry press. You know that the wife of Bath is gone to +maunder at St. Peter, and before he could hobble to the gate, +my Lady Burlington, cursing and blaspheming, overtook t'other +Countess, and both together made such an uproar, that the cock +flew up into the tree of life for safety, and St. Peter himself +turned the key and hid himself; and as nobody could get into +t'other world, half the Guards are come back again, and +appeared in the park to-day, but such dismal ghostly figures, +that my Lady Townshend was really frightened, and is again +likely to turn Methodist. + +Do you design, or do you not, to look at Strawberry as you come +to town? if you do. I will send a card to my neighbour, Mrs. +Holman, to meet you any day five weeks that you please--or I +can amuse you without cards; such fat bits of your dear dad, +old Jemmy, as I have found among the Conway papers, such +morsels of all sorts! but come and see. Adieu! + +(959) The army that took the town of Cherbourg, landed again on +the coast of France near St. Maloes, but was forced to reimbark +in the Bay of St. Cas with the loss of a thousand men. + + + +454 Letter 287 +To The Rev. Henry Zouch. +Strawberry Hill, October 5th, 1758. + +Sir, +You make so many apologies for conferring great favours on me, +that if you have not a care. I shall find it more convenient +to believe that, instead of being grateful, I shall be very +good if I am forgiving. If I am impertinent enough to take up +this style, at least I promise you I will be very good, and I +will certainly pardon as many obligations as you shall please +to lay on me. + +I have that Life of Richard II. It is a poor thing, and not +even called in the title-page Lord Holles's; it is a still +lower trick of booksellers to insert names of authors in a +catalogue, which, with all their confidence, they do not +venture to bestow on the books themselves; I have found several +instances of this. + +Lord Preston's Boetius I have. From Scotland, I have received +a large account of Lord Cromerty, which will appear in my next +edition: as my copy is in the press, I do not exactly remember +if there is the Tract on Precedency: he wrote a great number of +things, and was held it) great contempt living and dead.(960) + +I have long sought, and wished to find, some piece of Duke +Humphrey:(961) he was a great patron of learning, built the +schools, I think, and gave a library to Oxford. Yet, I fear, I +may not take the authority of Pits, who is a wretched liar; nor +is it at all credible that in so blind an age a Prince, who, +with all his love of learning, I fear, had very little of +either learning or parts, should write on Astronomy;--had it +been on Astrology, it might have staggered me. + +My omission of Lord Halifax's maxims was a very careless one, +and has been rectified. I did examine the Musae Anglicaanae, +and I think found a copy or two, and at first fancied I had +found more, till I came to examine narrowly. In the Joys and +Griefs of Oxford and Cambridge, are certainly many noble +copies; but you judge very right, Sir--they are not to be +mentioned, no more than exercises at school, where, somehow or +other, every peer has been a poet. To my shame, you are still +more in the right about the Duke of Buckingham: if you will +give me leave, instead of thinking that he Wrote, hoping to be +mistaken for his predecessor, I will believe that he hoped so +after he had written. + +You are again in the right, Sir, about Lord Abercorn, as the +present lord himself informed me. I don't know Lord +Godolphin's verses: at most, by your account, he should be in +the Appendix; but if they are only signed Sidney Godolphin, +they may belong to his uncle, who, if I remember rightly, was +one of the troop of verse-writers of that time. + +You have quite persuaded me of the mistake in Mindas; till you +mentioned it, I had forgot that they wrote Windsor "Windesore," +and then by abbreviation the mistake was easy. + +The account of Lord Clarendon is printed off; I do mention as +printed his account of Ireland, though I knew nothing of +Borlase. Apropos, Sir, are you not glad to see that the second +part of his history is actually advertised to come out soon +after Christmas?(962) + +Lord Nottingham's letter I shall certainly mention. + +I yesterday sent to Mr. Whiston a little piece that I have just +mentioned here, and desired him to convey it to you; you must +not expect a great deal from it: yet it belongs so much to my +Catalogue, that I thought it a duty to publish it. A better +return to some of your civilities is to inform you of Dr. +Jortin's Life of Erasmus, with which I am much entertained. +There are numberless anecdotes of men thought great in their +day, now as much forgotten, that it grows valuable again to +hear about them. The book is written with great moderation and +goodness of heart: the style is not very striking, and has some +vulgarisms, and In a work of that bulk I should rather have +taken more pains to digest and connect it into a flowing +narrative, than drily give it as a diary: yet I dare promise it +will amuse you much. + +With your curiosity, Sir, and love of information, I am sure +you will be glad to hear of a most valuable treasure that I +have discovered; it is the collection of state papers,(963) +amassed by the two Lords Conway, that were secretaries of +state, and their family: vast numbers have been destroyed; yet +I came time enough to retrieve vast numbers, many, indeed, in a +deplorable condition. They were buried under lumber' upon the +pavement of an unfinished chapel, at Lord Hertford's in +Warwickshire, and during his minority, and the absence of his +father, an ignorant steward delivered them over to the oven and +kitchen, and yet had not been able to destroy them all. It is +a vast work to dry, range, and read them, and to burn the +useless, as bills, bonds, and every other kind of piece of +paper that ever came into a house, and were all jumbled and +matted together. I propose, by degrees, to print the most +curious; of which, I think, I have already selected enough to +form two little volumes of the size of my Catalogue. Yet I +will not give too great expectations about them, because I know +how often the public has been disappointed when they came to +see in print what in manuscript has appeared to the editor +wonderfully choice. + +(960) We can hardly account for this expression, unless Mr. +Walpole alludes to Lord Cromerty's political reputation. Macky +states, that " his arbitrary proceedings had rendered him so +obnoxious to the people, he could not be employed;" and, +certainly, his character for consistency and integrity was not +very exalted: but almost all contemporary writers describe him +as a man of great weight and of singular endowments; and +Walpole himself, in his subsequent editions, calls him "a +person eminent for his learning, and for his abilities as a +statesman and general."-C. + +(961) That Duke Humphrey had at least a relish for learning, +may be inferred from the following passage. At the close of a +fine manuscript in the Cotton collection (Nero E. v.) is "Origo +et processus gentis Scotorum, ae de superioritate Regum Angliae +super regnum illud." It once belonged to Humphrey Duke of +Gloucester, and has this Sentence in his own handwriting at the +end, "Cest livre est `a moy Homfrey Duc de Gloucestre, lequel +j'achetay des executeurs de maistre Thomas Polton, feu evesque +de Wurcestre." Bishop Polton died in 1436.-C. + +(962) The second part of Lord Clarendon's history was printed +in folio, in 1760, and also in three volumes octavo.-C. + +(963) The increased and increasing taste of the public for the +materials of history, such as these valuable papers supply, +will, we have reason to hope, be gratified by the approaching +appearance of this collection, publication of which was, we +see, contemplated even as long since as 1758.-C. + + + +456 Letter 288 +To The Right Hon. Lady Hervey. +Arlington Street, Oct. 17, 1758. + +Your ladyship, I hope, will not think that such a strange thing +as my own picture seems of consequence enough to me to write a +letter about it: but obeying your commands does seem so; lest +you should return and think I had neglected it, I must say that +I have come to town three several times on purpose, but Mr. +Ramsay (I will forgive him) has been constantly Out of town. +So much for that. + +I would have sent you word that the King of Portugal coming +along the road at midnight, which was in his own room at noon, +his foot slipped, and three balls went through his body; which, +however, had no other consequence than giving him a stroke of a +palsy, of which he is quite recovered, except being dead.(964) +Some, indeed, are so malicious as to say, that the Jesuits, who +are the most conscientious men in the world, murdered him, +because he had an intrigue with another man's wife: but all +these histories I supposed your ladyship knew better than me, +as, till I came to town yesterday, I imagined you was returned. +For my own part, about whom you are sometimes so good as to +interest yourself, I am as well as can be expected after the +murder of a king and the death of a person of the next +consequence to a king, the master of the ceremonies, poor Sir +Clement,(965) who is supposed to have been suffocated by my +Lady Macclesfield's(966) kissing hands. + +This will be a melancholy letter, for I have nothing to tell +your ladyship but tragical stories. Poor Dr. Shawe(967) being +sent for in great haste to Claremont--(It seems the Duchess had +caught a violent cold by a hair of her own whisker getting up +her nose and making her sneeze)--the poor Doctor, I say, having +eaten a few mushrooms before he set out, was taken so ill, that +he was forced to stop at Kingston; and, being carried to the +first apothecary's, prescribed a medicine for himself which +immediately cured him. This catastrophe so alarmed the Duke of +Newcastle, that he immediately ordered all the mushroom beds to +be destroyed, and even the toadstools in the park did not +escape scalping in this general massacre. What I tell you is +literally true. Mr. Stanley, who dined there last Sunday, and +is not partial against that court, heard the edict repeated, +and confirmed it to me last night. And a voice of lamentation +was heard at Ramah in Claremont, Chlo`e(968) weeping for her +mushrooms, and they are not! + +After all these important histories, I would try to make you +smile, If I was not afraid you would resent a little freedom +taken with a great name. May I venture? + +"Why Taylor the quack calls himself Chevalier, +'Tis not easy a reason to render; +Unless blinding eyes, that he thinks to make clear, +Demonstrates he's but a Pretender. + +A book has been left at your ladyship's house; it is Lord +Whitworth's Account of Russia.(969) Monsieur Kniphausen has +promised me some curious anecdotes of the Czarina Catherine-so +my shop is likely to flourish. I am your ladyship's most +obedient servant. + +(964) Alluding to the incoherent stories told at the time of +the assassination of the King of Portugal. [The following is +the correct account:--As the King was taking The air in his +coach on the 3d September, attended by only one domestic, he +was attacked in a solitary lane near Belem by three men, one of +whom discharged his carbine at the coachman, and wounded him +dangerously; the other two fired their blunderbusses at the +King, loaded with pieces of iron, and wounded him in the face +and several parts of his body, but chiefly in the right arm, +which disabled him for a long time. + +(965) Sir Clement Cotterel. + +(966) She had been a common woman. + +(967) Physician to the Duke and Duchess of Newcastle. + +(968) The Duke of Newcastle's cook. + +(969) A small octavo printed at the Strawberry Hill press, to +which Walpole prefixed a preface. Charles Whitworth, in 1720, +created Baron Whitworth of Galway, was ambassador to the court +of petersburgh in the reign of Peter the Great. On his death, +in 1725, the title became extinct.-E. + + + +457 Letter 289 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway.(970) +Arlington Street, Oct. 17, 1758. + +I have read your letter, as you may believe, with the strictest +attention, and will tell you my thoughts as sincerely as you do +and have a right to expect them. + +In the first place, I think you far from being under any +obligation for this notice. If Mr. Pitt is sensible that he +has used you very ill, is it the part of an honest man to +require new submissions, new supplications from the person he +has injured? If he thinks you proper to command, as one must +suppose by this information, is it patriotism that forbids him +to employ an able officer, unless that officer sues to be +employed? Does patriotism bid him send out a man that has had +a stroke of a palsy, preferable to a young man of vigour and +capacity, only because the latter has made' no Application +within these two months!--But as easily as I am inclined to +believe that your merit makes its way even through the cloud of +Mr. Pitt's proud prejudices, yet I own in the present case I +question it. I can see two reasons why he should wish to +entice you to this application: the first is, the clamour +against his giving all commands to young or improper officers +is extreme; Holmes, appointed admiral of the blue but six weeks +ago, has writ a warm letter on the chapter of subaltern +commanders: the second, and possibly connected in his mind with +the former, may be this; he would like to refuse you, and then +say, you had asked when it was too late; and at the same time +would have to say that he would have employed you if you had +asked sooner. This leads me to the point of time: Hobson is +not Only appointed,(971) but Haldane, though going governor to +Jamaica, is made a brigadier and joined to him,--Colonel +Barrington set out to Portsmouth last night. All these +reasons, I think, make it very improper for you to ask this +command now. You have done more than enough to satisfy your +honour, and will certainly have opportunities again of +repeating offers of your service. But though it may be right +to ask in general to serve, I question much if it is advisable +to petition for particulars, any failure in which would be +charged entirely on you. I should wish to have you vindicated +by the rashness of Mr. Pitt and the miscarriages of others, as +I think they hurry to -make you be; but while he bestows only +impracticable commands, knowing that, if there is blood enough +shed, the city of London will be content even with +disappointments, I hope you will not be sacrificed either to +the mob or the minister. And this leads me to the article of +the expedition itself. Martinico is the general notion; a +place the strongest in the world, with a garrison of ten +thousand men. Others now talk of Guadaloupe, almost as strong +and of much less consequence. Of both, every body that knows, +despairs. It is almost impossible for me to find out the real +destination.' I avoid every one of the three factions--and +though I might possibly learn the secret from the chief of one +of them, if he knows it, yet I own I do not care to try; I +don't think it fair to thrust myself into secrets with a man +(972) of whose ambition and views I do not think well, and +whose purposes (in those lights) I have declined and will +decline to serve. Besides, I have reason just now to think +that he and his court are meditating some attempt which may +throw us again into confusion; and I had rather not be told +what I am sure I shall not approve: besides, I cannot ask +secrets of this nature without hearing more with which I would +not be trusted, and which, if divulged, would be imputed to me. +I know you will excuse me for these reasons, especially as you +know how much I would do to serve you, and would even in this +case, if I was not convinced that it is too late for you to +apply; and being too late, they would be glad to say you had +asked too late. Besides if any information could be got from +the channel at which I have hinted, the Duke of Richmond could +get it better than I; and the Duke of Devonshire could give it +you without. + +I can have no opinion of the expedition itself, which certainly +started from the disappointment at St. Cas, if it can be called +a disappointment where there was no object. I have still more +doubts on Lord Milton's authority; Clarke(973) was talked to by +the Princess yesterday much more than any body in the room. +Cunningham is made quartermaster-general to this equipment; +these things don't look as if your interest was increased. As +Lord George has sent over his commands for Cunningham, might +not his art at the same time have suggested some application to +you--tell me, do you think he would ask this command for +himself I, who am not of so honest and sincere a nature as you +are, suspect that this hint is sent to you with some bad view-I +don't mean on Lord Milton's part, who I dare say is deceived by +his readiness to serve you; and since you do me the honour of +letting me at all judge for you, which in one light I think I +am fit to do, I mean, as your spirit naturally makes you +overlook every thing to get employed, I would wish you to +answer to Lord Milton,,"that you should desire of all things to +have had this command, but that having been discouraged from +asking what you could not flatter yourself would be granted, it +would look, you think, a vain offer, to sue for what is now +given away, and would not be consistent with your honour to ask +when it is too late." I hint this, as such an answer would +turn their arts on themselves, if, as I believe, they mean to +refuse you, and to reproach you with asking too late. + +If the time is come for Mr. Pitt to want you, you will not long +be unemployed; if it is not, then you would get nothing by +asking. Consider, too, how much more graceful a reparation of +your honour it will be, to have them forced to recall you, than +to force yourself on desperate service, as if you yourself, not +they, had injured your reputation. + +I can say nothing now on any other chapter, this has so much +engrossed all my thoughts. I see no one reason upon earth for +your asking now. If you ever should ask again, you will not +want opportunities; and the next time you ask, will have just +the same merit that this could have, and by asking in time, +would be liable to none of the objections of that sort which I +have mentioned! Adieu! Timeo Lord George et dona. + +(970) Now first printed. + +(971) To the command of an expedition against Martinique.-E. + +(972) Mr. Fox. + +(973) Lord Bute says, in a letter to Mr. Pitt, of the 8th of +September, "With regard to Clarke, I know him well: he must be +joined to a general in whom he has confidence, or not thought +of. Never was man so cut out for bold and hardy enterprises; +but the person who commands him must think in the same way of +him, or the affair of Rochfort will return." Chatham +Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 350.-E. + + + +459 Letter 290 +To The Rev. Henry Zouch. +Strawberry Hill, Oct. 21st, 1758. + +Sir, +Every letter I receive from you is a new obligation, bringing +me new information; but, sure, my Catalogue was not worthy of +giving you so much trouble. Lord Fortescue is quite new to me: +I have sent him to the press. Lord Dorset's poem it will be +unnecessary to mention separately, as I have already said that +his works are to be found among those of the minor poets. + +I don't wonder, Sir, that you prefer Lord Clarendon to +Polybius; nor can two authors well be more unlike: the +former(974) wrote a general history in a most obscure and +almost unintelligible style; the latter-, a portion of private +history, in the noblest style in the world. Whoever made the +comparison, I will do them the justice to believe that they +understood bad Greek better than their own language in its +elevation. + +For Dr. Jortin's Erasmus, which I have very nearly finished, it +has given me a good opinion of the author, and he has given me +a very bad one of his subject. By the Doctor's labour and +impartiality, Erasmus appears a begging parasite, who had parts +enough to discover truth, and not courage enough to profess it: +whose vanity made him always writing; yet Ills writings ought +to have cured his vanity, as they were the most abject things +in the world. Good Erasmus's honest mean was alternate +time-serving. I never had thought much about him, and now +heartily despise him. + +When I speak my opinion to you, Sir, about what I dare say you +care as little for as I do, (for what is the merit of a mere +man of letters?) it is but fit I should answer you as sincerely +on a question about which you are so good as to interest +yourself. that my father's life is likely to be written, I +have no grounds for believing. I mean I know nobody that +thinks of it. For myself, I certainly shall not, for many +reasons, which you must have the patience to hear. A reason to +me myself is, that I think too highly of him, and too meanly of +myself, to presume I am equal to the task. They who do not +agree with me in the former part of my position, will +undoubtedly allow the latter part. In the next place, the very +truths that I should relate would be so much imputed to +partiality, that he would lose of his due praise by the +suspicion of my prejudice. In the next place, I was born too +late in his life to be acquainted with him in the active part +of it. Then I was at school, at the university, abroad, and +returned not till the last moments of his administration. What +I know of him I could only learn from his own mouth in the last +three years of his life; when, to my shame, I was so idle, and +young, and thoughtless, that I by no means profited of his +leisure as I might have done; and, indeed, I have too much +impartiality in my nature to care, if I could, to give the +world a history, collected solely from the person himself of +whom I should write. With the utmost veneration for his truth, +I can easily conceive, that a man who had lived a life of +party, and who had undergone such persecution from party, +should have had greater bias than he himself could be sensible +of. The last, and that a reason which must be admitted, if all +the others are not--his papers are lost. Between the confusion +of his affairs, and the indifference of my elder brother to +things of that sort, they were either lost, burnt, or what we +rather think, were stolen by a favourite servant of my brother, +who proved a great rogue, and was dismissed in my brother's +life; and the papers were not discovered to be missing till +after my brother's death. Thus, Sir, I should want vouchers +for many things I could say of much importance. I have another +personal reason that discourages me from attempting this task, +or any other, besides the great reluctance that I have to being +a voluminous author. Though I am by no means the learned man +you are so good as to call me in compliment; though, on the +contrary, nothing can be more superficial than my knowledge, or +more trifling than my reading,--yet, I have so much strained my +eyes, that it is often painful to me to read even a newspaper +by daylight. In short, Sir, having led a very dissipated life, +in all the hurry of the world of pleasures scarce ever read, +but by candlelight, after I have come home late at nights. As +my eyes have never had the least inflammation or humour, I am +assured I may still recover them by care and repose. I own I +prefer my eyes to any thing I could ever read, much more to any +thing I could write. However, after all I have said, perhaps I +may now and then, by degrees, throw together some short +anecdotes of my father's private life and particular story, and +leave his public history to more proper and more able hands, if +such will undertake it. Before I finish on this chapter, I can +assure you he did forgive my Lord Bolingbroke(975)--his nature +was forgiving: after all was over, and he had nothing to fear +or disguise, I can say with truth, that there were not three +men of whom he ever dropped a word with rancour. What I meant +of the clergy not forgiving Lord Bolingbroke, alluded not to +his doctrines, but to the direct attack and war he made on the +whole body. And now, Sir, I will confess my own weakness to +you. I do not think so highly of that writer, as I seem to do +in my book; but I thought it would be imputed to prejudice in +me, if I appeared to undervalue an author of whom so many +persons of sense still think highly. My being Sir Robert +Walpole's son warped me to praise, instead of censuring, Lord +Bolingbroke. With regard to the Duke of Leeds, I think you +have misconstrued the decency of my expression. I said, Burnet +had treated him severely; that is, I chose that Burnet should +say so, rather than myself. I have never praised where my +heart condemned. Little attentions, perhaps, to worthy +descendants, were excusable in a work of so extensive a nature, +and that approached so near to these times. I may, perhaps, +have an opportunity at one day or other of showing you some +passages suppressed on these motives, which yet I do not intend +to destroy. + +Crew, Bishop of Durham, was is abject a tool as possible. I +would be very certain he is an author before I should think him +worth mentioning. If ever you should touch on Lord +Willoughby's sermon, I should be obliged for a hint of it. I +actually have a printed copy of verses by his son, on the +marriage of the Princess Royal; but they are so ridiculously +unlike measure, and the man was so mad and so poor,(976) that I +determined not to mention them. + +If these details, Sir, which I should have thought interesting +to no mortal but myself', should happen to amuse you, I shall +be glad; if they do not, you will learn not to question a man +who thinks it his duty to satisfy the curiosity of men of sense +and honour, and who, being of too little consequence to have +secrets, is not ambitious of the less consequence of appearing +to have any. + +P. S. I must ask you one question, but to be answered entirely +at your leisure. I have a play in rhyme called Saul, said to +be written by a peer. I guess Lord Orrery. If ever you happen +to find out, be so good to tell me. + +(974) It is evident that Mr. Walpole has here transposed, +contrary to his meanings the references to lord Clarendon and +Polybius: the latter wrote the general history, the former the +portion of history.-C. + +(975) This alludes to an epigrammatic passage in the article +"Bolingbroke" in the Noble Authors. "He wrote against Sir +Robert Walpole, who did forgive him; and against the clergy, +who never will forgive him."@. + +(976) this seems a singular reason for excluding him from a +list of authors@-C. + + + +462 Letter 291 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, Oct. 24, 1758. + +I am a little sorry that my preface, like the show-cloth to a +sight, entertained you more than the bears it invited you in to +see. I don't mean that I am not glad to have written any thing +that meets your approbation, but if Lord Whitworth's work is +not better than my preface, I fear he has much less merit than +I thought he had. + +Your complaint of your eyes makes me feel for you: mine have +been very weak again, and I am taking the bark, which did them +so much service last year. I don't know how to give up the +employment of them, I mean reading; for as to writing, I am +absolutely winding up my bottom, for twenty reasons. The +first, and perhaps the best, I have writ enough. The next; by +what I have writ, the world thinks I am not a fool, which was +just what I wished them to think, having always lived in terror +of that oracular saying Ermu naidex luchoi, which Mr. Bentley +translated with so much more parts than the vain and malicious +hero could have done that set him the task, --I mean his +father, the sons of heroes are loobies. My last reason is, I +find my little stock of reputation very troublesome, both to +maintain and to undergo the consequences--it has dipped me in +erudite correspondences--I receive letters every week that +compliment my learning; now, as there is nothing I hold so +cheap as a learned man, except an unlearned one, this title Is +insupportable to me; if' I have not a care, I shall be called +learned, till somebody abuses me for not being learned, as +they, not I, fancied I was. In short, I propose to have +nothing more to do with the world, but divert myself in it as +an obscure passenger--pleasure, virt`u, politics, and +literature, I have tried them all, and have had enough of them. +Content and tranquillity, with now and then a little of three +of them, that I may not grow morose, shall satisfy the rest of +a life that is to have much idleness, and I hope a little +goodness; for politics--a long adieu! With some of the Cardinal +de Retz's experience, though with none of his genius, I see the +folly of taking a violent part without any view, (I don't mean +to commend a violent part with a view, that is still worse;) I +leave the state to be scrambled for by Mazarine, at once +cowardly and enterprising, ostentatious, jealous, and false; by +Louvois, rash and dark; by Colbert, the affecter of national +interest, with designs not much better; and I leave the Abb`e +de la Rigbi`ere to sell the weak Duke of Orleans to whoever has +money to buy him, or would buy him to get money; at least these +are my present reflections--if I should change them to-morrow, +remember I am not only a human creature, but that I am I, that +is, one of the weakest of human creatures, and so sensible of +my fickleness that I am sometimes inclined to keep a diary of +my mind, as people do of the weather. To-day you see it +temperate, to-morrow it may again blow politics and be stormy; +for while I have so much quicksilver left, I fear my +passionometer will be susceptible of sudden changes. What do +years give one? Experience; experience, what? Reflections; +reflections, what? nothing that I ever could find--nor can I +well agree with Waller, that + +"The soul's dark cottage, batter'd and decay'd, +Lets in new light through chinks that time has made." + +Chinks I am afraid there are, but instead of new light, I find +nothing but darkness visible, that serves only to discover +sights of Wo. I look back through my chinks--I find errors, +follies, faults; forward, old age and death, pleasures fleeting +from me, no virtues succeeding to their place--il faut avouer, +I want all my quicksilver to make such a background receive any +other objects! + +I am glad Mr. Frederick Montagu thinks so well of me as to be +sure I shall be glad to see him without an invitation. For +you, I had already perceived that you would not come to +Strawberry this year. Adieu! + + + +463 Letter 292 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Oct. 24, 1758. + +It is a very melancholy present I send you here, my dear Sir; +yet, considering the misfortune that has befallen us, perhaps +the most agreeable I could send you. You will not think it the +bitterest tear you have shed when you drop one over this plan +of an urn inscribed with the name of your dear brother, and +with the testimonial of my eternal affection to him! This +little monument is at last placed over the pew of your family +at Linton, and I doubt whether any tomb was ever erected that +spoke so much truth of the departed, and flowed from so much +sincere friendship in the living. The thought was my own, +adopted from the antique columbaria, and applied to Gothic. +The execution of the design was Mr. Bentley's, who alone, of +all mankind, could unite the grace of Grecian architecture and +the irregular lightness and solemnity of Gothic. Kent and many +of our builders sought this, but have never found it. Mr. +Chute, who has as much taste @s Mr. Bentley, thinks this little +sketch a perfect model. The soffite is more beautiful than any +thing of either style separate. There is a little error in the +inscription; it should be Horatius Walpole posuit. The urn is +of marble, richly polished; the rest of stone. On the whole, I +think there is simplicity and decency, with a degree of +ornament that destroys neither. + +What do you say in Italy on the assassination of the King of +Portugal? Do you believe that Portuguese subjects lift their +hand against a monarch for gallantry? Do you believe that when +a slave murders an absolute prince, he goes a walking with his +wife the next morning and murders her too'! Do you believe the +dead King is alive? and that the Jesuits are as wrongfully +suspected of this assassination as they have been of many +others they have committed? If you do believe this, and all +this, you are not very near turning Protestants. It is scarce +talked of here, and to save trouble, we admit just what the +Portuguese minister is ordered to publish. The King of +Portugal murdered, throws us two hundred years back--the King +of Prussia not murdered, carries us two hundred years forward +again. + +Another King, I know, has had a little blow: the Prince de +Soubise has beat some Isenbourgs and Obergs, and is going to be +Elector of Hanover this winter. There has been a great +sickness among our troops in the other German army; the Duke of +Marlborough has been in great danger, and some officers are +dead. Lord Frederick Cavendish is returned from France. He +confirms and adds to the amiable accounts we had received of +the Duc d'Aiguillon's behaviour to our prisoners. You +yourself, the pattern of attentions and tenderness, could not +refine on what he has done both in good-nature and +good-breeding: he even forbad any ringing of bells or +rejoicings wherever they passed--but how your representative +blood will curdle when you hear of the absurdity of one of your +countrymen: the night after the massacre at St. Cas, the Duc +d'Aiguillon gave a magnificent supper of eighty covers to our +prisoners--a Colonel Lambert got up at the bottom of the table, +and asking for a bumper, called out to the Duc, "My Lord Duke, +here's the Roy de France!" You must put all the English you +can crowd into the accent. My Lord Duke was so confounded at +this preposterous compliment, which it was impossible for him +to return, that he absolutely sank back into his chair and +could not utter a syllable: our own people did not scorn to +feel more. + +You will read and hear that we have another expedition sailing, +somewhither in the West Indies. Hobson, the commander, has in +his whole life had but one stroke of a palsy, so possibly may +retain half of his understanding at least. There is great +tranquillity at home, but I should think not promising +duration. The disgust in the army on the late frantic measures +will furnish some warmth probably to Parliament--and if the +French should think of returning our visits, should you wonder? +There are even rumours of some stirring among your little +neighbours at Albano--keep your eye on them--if you could +discover any thing in time, it would do you great credit. +Apropos to them,, I will send you an epigram that I made the +other day on Mr. Chute's asking why Taylor the oculist called +himself Chevalier. + +Why Taylor the quack calls himself Chevalier, +'Tis not easy a reason to render; +Unless he would own, what his practice makes clear, +That at best he is but a Pretender. + + + +465 Letter 293 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, Nov. 26, 1758. + +How can you make me formal excuses for sending me a few covers +to frank? Have you so little right to any act of friendship +from me, that you should apologize for making me do what is +scarce any act at all? However, your man has not called for +the covers, although they have been ready this fortnight. + +I shall be very glad to see your brother in town, but I cannot +quite take him in full of payment. I trust you will stay the +longer for coming the later. There is not a syllable of news. +The Parliament is met, but empty and totally oppositionless. +Your great Cu moved in the lords, but did not shine much. The +great Cu of all Cues is out of order, not in danger, but +certainly breaking. + +My eyes are performing such a strict quarantine, that you must +excuse my brevity. Adieu. + + + +465 Letter 294 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Nov. 27, 1758. + + +it seems strange that at this time of the year, with armies +still in the field and Parliaments in town, I should have had +nothing to tell you for above a month--yet so it was. The King +caught cold on coming to town, and was very ill,(977) but the +gout, which had never been at court above twice in his reign, +came, seized his foot a little, and has promised him at least +five or six years more--that is, if he will take care of +himself; but yesterday, the coldest day we have felt, he would +go into the drawing-room, as if he was fond of showing the new +stick @e is forced to walk with. + +The Parliament is all harmony, and thinks of nothing but giving +away twelve more millions. Mr. Pitt made the most artful +speech he ever made: provoked, called for, defied objections; +promised enormous expense, demanded never to be judged by +events. Universal silence left him arbiter of his own terms. +In short, at present he is absolute master, and if he can coin +twenty millions may command them. He does every thing, the +Duke of Newcastle gives every thing. As long as they can agree +in this partition, they may do what they will. + +We have been in great anxiety for twenty-four hours to learn +the fate of Dresden, and of the King of resources, as Mr. +Beckford called the King of Prussia the other day. We heard +that while he was galloped to raise the siege of Neiss, Marshal +Daun was advanced to Dresden; that Schmettau had sent to know +if he meant to attack it, having orders to burn the Fauxbourgs +and defend it street by street; that Daun not deigning a reply, +the Conflagration had been put in execution; that the King was +posting back, and Dohna advancing to join him. We expect to +hear either of the demolition of the city, or of a bloody +decision fought under the walls--an account is just arrived +that Daun(978) is retired, thus probably the campaign is +finished, and another year of massacre to come. One could not +but be anxious at such a crisis-one felt for Dresden, and +pitied the Prince Royal shut up in his own capital, a mere +spectator of its destruction; one trembled for the decisive +moment of the life of such a man as the King of Prussia. It is +put off--yet perhaps he will scarce recover so favourable a +moment. He had assembled his whole force, except a few +thousands left to check the Swedes. Next year this force must +be again parcelled out against Austrians, Russians, Swedes, and +possibly French. He must be more than a King Of resources if +he can for ever weather such tempests! + +Knyphausen(979) diverted me yesterday with some anecdotes of +the Empress's college of chastity-not the Russian Empress's. +The King of Prussia asked some of his Austrian prisoners +whether their mistress consulted her college of chastity on the +letters she wrote (and he intercepted) to Madame Pompadour. + +You have heard some time ago of the death of the Duke of +Marlborough.(980) The estate is forty-five thousand pounds +a-year--nine of which are jointured out. He paid but eighteen +thousand pounds a-year in joint lives. This Duke and the +estate save greatly by his death, as the present wants a year +of being of age, and would certainly have accommodated his +father in agreeing to sell and pay. Lord Edgcumbe(981) is dead +too, one of the honestest and most steady men in the world. + +I was much diverted with your histories of our Princess(982) +and Madame de Woronzow. Such dignity as Madame de Craon's +wants a little absolute power to support it! Adieu! my dear +Sir. + +(977) Lord Chesterfield, writing on the 21st to his son, says, +"The King has been ill; but his illness has terminated in a +good fit of the gout. It was generally thought he would have +died, and for a very good reason; for the oldest lion in the +Tower, much about the King's age, died about a fortnight ago. +This extravagancy, I can assure you, was believed by many above +people. So wild and capricious is the human mind!"-E. + +(978) "The King of Prussia has just compelled Daun to raise the +siege of Dresden, in spite of his (the King's) late most +disastrous defeat by the same general at Bochkirchen, which had +taken place on the 14th of October, 1758.-D. + +(979) The Prussian minister. + +(980) Charles Spencer, second Duke of Marlborough. He died, on +the 28th of October at Munster, in Westphalia.-E. + +(981) Richard, first Lord Edgcumbe; an intimate friend of Sir +Robert Walpole. + +(982) The Princess Craon. + + + +467 Letter 295 +To The Rev. Henry Zouch. +Arlington Street, Dec. 9, 1758. + +Sir, +I have desired Mr. Whiston to convey to you the second edition +of my Catalogue, not so complete as it might have been, if +great part had not been printed before I received your remarks, +but yet more correct than the first sketch with which I +troubled you. Indeed, a thing of this slight and idle nature +does not deserve to have much more pains employed upon it. + +I am just undertaking an edition of Lucan, my friend Mr. +Bentley having in his possession his father's notes and +emendations on the first seven books. Perhaps a partiality for +the original author concurs a little. with this circumstance of +the notes, to make me fond of printing, at Strawberry Hill, the +works of a man who, alone of all the classics, was thought to +breathe too brave and honest a spirit for the perusal of the +Dauphin and the French. I don't think that a good or bad taste +in poetry is of so serious a nature, that I should be afraid of +owning too, that, with that great judge Corneille, and with +that, perhaps, no judge Heinsius, I prefer Lucan to Virgil. To +speak fairly, I prefer great sense to poetry with little sense. +There are hemistics in Lucan that go to one's soul and one's +heart;--for a mere epic poem, a fabulous tissue of +uninteresting battles that don't teach one even to fight, I +know nothing more tedious. The poetic images, the +versification and language of the Aeneid are delightful; but +take the story by itself, and can any thing be more silly and +unaffeCting? There are a few gods without power, heroes +without character, heaven-directed wars without justice, +inventions without probability, and a hero who betrays one +woman with a kingdom that he might have had, to force himself +upon another woman and another kingdom to which he had no +pretensions, and all this to show his obedience to the gods! In +short, I have always admired his numbers so much, and his +meaning so little, that I think I should like Virgil better if +I understood him less. + +Have you seen, Sir, a book which has made some noise--Helvetius +de l'Esprit? The author is so good and moral a man, that I +grieve he should have published a system of as relaxed morality +as can well be imagined.-. 'tis a large quarto, and in general +a very superficial one. His philosophy may be new in France, +but is greatly exhausted here. He tries to imitate +Montesquieu, and has heaped commonplaces upon commonplaces, +which supply or overwhelm his reasoning; yet he has often wit, +happy allusion;, and sometimes writes finely: there is merit +enough to give an obscure man fame; flimsiness enough to +depreciate a great man. After his book was licensed, they +forced him to retract it by a most abject recantation. Then +why print this book? If zeal for his system pushed him to +propagate it, did not he consider that a recantation would hurt +his cause more than his arguments could support it. + +We are promised Lord Clarendon in February from Oxford, though +I hear shall have the surreptitious edition from Holland much +sooner. + +You see, Sir, I am a sceptic as well as Helvetius, but of a +more moderate complexion. There is no harm in telling mankind +that there is not so much divinity in the Aeneid as they +imagine; but, (Even if I thought so,) I would not preach that +virtue and friendship are mere names, and resolvable into +self-interest; because there are numbers that would remember +the grounds of the principle, and forget what was to be +engrafted on it. Adieu! + + + +468 Letter 296 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Christmas-day, 1758. + +Adieu! my dear Sir--that is, adieu to our correspondence, for I +am neither dying nor quarrelling with you; but as we, Great- +Britons, are quarrelling with all Europe, I think very soon I +shall not be able to convey a letter to you, but by the way of +Africa, and am afraid the post-offices are not very well +regulated. In short, we are on the brink of a Dutch war too. +Their merchants are so enraged that we will not only not suffer +them to enrich themselves by carrying all the French trade, and +all kinds of military stores to the French settlements, but +that they lose their own ships into the bargain, that they are +ready to despatch the Princess Royal(983) into the other world +even before her time; if her death arrives soon, and she is +thought in great danger, it will be difficult for any body else +to keep the peace. Spain and Denmark are in little better +humour--well, if We have not as many lives as a cat or the King +of Prussia! However, our spirits do not droop; we are raising +thirteen millions, we look upon France as totally undone, and +that they have not above five loaves and a few small fishes +left; we intend to take all America from them next summer, and +then if Spain and Holland are not terrified, we shall be at +leisure to deal with them. Indeed, we are rather in a hurry to +do all this, because people may be weary of paying thirteen +millions; and besides it may grow decent for Mr. Pitt to visit +his gout, which this year he has been forced to send to the +Bath without him. I laugh, but seriously we are in a critical +situation; and it is as true, that if Mr. Pitt had not exerted +the spirit and activity that he has, we should ere now have +been past a critical situation. Such a war as ours carried on +by my Lord Hardwicke, with the dull dilatoriness of a Chancery +suit, would long ago have reduced us to what suits in Chancery +reduce most people! At present our unanimity is prodigious-- +you Would as soon hear No from an old maid as from the House of +Commons--but I don't promise you that this tranquillity will +last.(984) One has known more ministries overturned of late +years by their own squabbles than by any assistance from +Parliaments. + +Sir George Lee, formerly an heir-apparent(985) to the ministry +is dead. it was almost sudden, but he died with great +composure. Lord Arran(986) went off with equal philosophy. Of +the great house of Ormond there now remains only his sister, +Lady Emily Butler, a young heiress of ninety-nine. + +It is with great pleasure I tell you that Mr. Conway is going +to Sluys to settle a cartel with the French. The commission +itself is honourable, but more pleasing as it re-establishes +him--I should say his merit re-establishes him. All the world +now acknowledges it--and the insufficiency of his +brother-generals makes it vain to oppress him any longer. + +I am happy that you are pleased with the monument, and vain +that you like the Catalogue(987)--if it would not look too +vain, I would tell you that it was absolutely undertaken and +finished within five months. Indeed, the faults in the first +edition and the deficiencies show it was; I have just printed +another more correct. + +Of the Pretender's family one never hears a word: unless our +Protestant brethren the Dutch meddle in their affairs, they +will be totally forgotten; we have too numerous a breed of our +own, to want Princes from Italy. The old Chevalier by your +account is likely to precede his rival, who with care may still +last a few years, though I think will scarce appear again out +of his own house. + +I want to ask you if it is possible to get the royal edition of +the Antiquities of Herculaneum?(988) and I do not indeed want +you to get it for me unless I am to pay for it. Prince San +Severino has told the foreign ministers here that there are to +be twelve hundred volumes, of it--and they believe it. I +imagine the fact is, that there are but twelve hundred copies +printed. Could Cardinal Albani get it for me? I would send +him my Strawberry-editions, and the Birmingham-editions(988) in +exchange--things here much in fashion. + +The night before I came from town, we heard of the fall of the +Cardinal de Bernis,(989) but not the cause of it(990)--if we +have a Dutch war, how many cardinals will fall in France and in +England, before you hear of these or I of the former! I have +always written to you with the greatest freedom, because I care +more that you should be informed of the state of your own +country, than what secretaries of state or their clerks think +of me,--but one must be more circumspect if the Dey of Algiers +is to open one's letters. Adieu! + +(983) The Princess Dowager of Orange, eldest daughter of George +II. + +(984) Lord Chesterfield, in a letter of the 15th, says, "The +estimates for the expenses of the year 1759 are made up. I +have seen them; and what do you think they amount to? No less +than twelve millions three hundred thousand pounds: a most +incredible sum, and its yet already all subscribed, and even +more offered! The unanimity in the House of Commons in voting +such a sum, and such forces, both by sea and land, is not less +astonishing. This is Mr. Pitt's doing, and it is marvellous in +our eyes."-E. + +(985) Frederick, Prince of Wales, had designed, if he outlived +the King, to make Sir George Lee chancellor of the exchequer. + +(986) He was Charles Butler, the second and last surviving son +of Thomas, Earl of Ossory, eldest son of the first Duke of +Ormond. He had been created, in 1693, Baron Clogligrenan, +Viscount Tullough, and Earl of Arran, in Ireland; and at the +same time Baron Butler of Weston, in the Peerage of England. +Dying without issue his titles became extinct.-D. + +(987) The Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors. + +(988) Editions printed with the Baskerville types.-D. + +(989) The Cardinal de Bernis was a frivolous and incapable +minister, who was equally raised and overthrown by the +influence of the King of France's mistress, Madame de +Pompadour.-D. + +(990) "Cardinal Bernis's disgrace," says Lord Chesterfield, "is +as sudden, and hitherto as little understood, as his elevation +was. I have seen his poems printed at Paris, not by a friend, +I dare say; and, to judge by them, I humbly conceive his +excellency is a puppy. I will say nothing of that excellent +headpiece that made him and unmade him in the same month, +except O King, live for ever!"-E. + + + +470 Letter 297 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, Dec. 26th, 1758. + +it is so little extraordinary to find you doing what is +friendly and obliging, that one don't take half notice enough +of it. Can't you let Mr. Conway go to Sluys without taking +notice of it? How would you be hurt, if he continued to be +oppressed? what is it to you whether I am glad or sorry? Can't +you enjoy yourself whether I am happy or not'--'@ I suppose If +I were to have a misfortune, you would immediately be concerned +at it! How troublesome it is to have you sincere and +good-natured! Do be a little more like the rest of the world. + +I have been at Strawberry these three days, and don't know a +tittle. The last thing I heard before I went was that Colonel +Yorke is to be married to one or both of the Miss Crasteyns, +nieces of the rich grocer that died three years ago. They have +two hundred and sixty thousand pounds apiece. A marchioness-- +or a grocer---nothing comes amiss to the digestion of that +family.(991) If the rest of the trunk was filled with money, I +believe they would really marry Carafattatouadaht--what was the +lump of deformity called in the Persian Tales, that was sent to +the lady in a coffer? And as to marrying both the girls, it +would cost my Lord Hardwicke but a new marriage-bill: I suppose +it is all one to his conscience whether he prohibits matrimony +or licenses bigamy. Poor Sir Charles Williams is relapsed, and +strictly confined. + +As you come so late, I trust you will stay with us the longer. +Adieu! + + +(991) Colonel Yorke, afterwards Lord Dover, married in 1783 the +Dowager Baroness de Boetzalaer, widow of the first noble of the +province of Holland.-E. + + + +471 Letter 298 +To The Rev. Henry Zouch. +Strawberry Hill, Jan. 12, 1759. + +Sir, +I shall certainly be obliged to you for an account of that +piece of Lord Lonsdale:(992) besides my own curiosity in any +thing that relates to a work in which I have engaged so far, I +think it a duty to the public to perfect, as far as one can, +whatever one gives to it; and yet I do not think of another +edition; two thousand have peen printed, and though nine +hundred went off at once, it would be presumption in me to +expect that the rest will be sold in any short time. I only +mean to add occasionally to my private copy whatever more I can +collect and correct; and shall perhaps, but leave behind me +materials for a future edition, in which should be included +what I have hitherto omitted. Yet it is very vain in me to +expect that any body should care for such a trifle after the +novelty is worn off; I ought to be content with the favourable +reception I have found; so much beyond my first expectations, +that, except in two Magazines, not a word of censure has passed +on me in print. You may easily believe, Sir, that having +escaped a trial, I am not mortified by having dirt thrown at me +by children in the kennel. With regard to the story of Lord +Suffolk, I wish I had been lucky enough to have mentioned it to +you in time, it should not have appeared: yet it was told me by +Mr. Mallet, who did not seem to have any objection that I +should even mention his name as the very person to whom it +happened. I must suppose that Lord Suffolk acted that foolish +scene in imitation of Lord Rochester.(993) + +I am happy, Sir, that I have both your approbation to my +opinion of Lucan, and to my edition of him; but I assure you +there will not be one word from me. I am sensible that it +demands great attention to write even one's own language well: +how can one pretend to purify a foreign language? to any merit +in a dead one? I would not alone undertake to correct the +press; but I am so lucky as to live in the strictest friendship +with Dr. Bentley's Only Son, Who, to all the ornament of +learning, has the amiable turn of mind, disposition, and easy +wit. Perhaps you have heard that his drawings and architecture +are admirable,--perhaps you have not: he is modest--he is poor- +-he is consequently little known, less valued. + +I am entirely ignorant of Dr. Burton and his Monasticon,(994) +and after the little merit you tell me it has, I must explain +to you that I have a collection of books of that sort, before I +own that I wish to own it; at the same time, I must do so much +justice to myself as to protest that I don't know so +contemptible a class of writers as topographers, not from the +study itself, but from their wretched execution. Often and +often I have had an inclination to show how topography should +be writ, by pointing out the curious particulars of places, +with descriptions of principal houses, the pictures, portraits, +and Curiosities they contain. + +I scarce ever yet found any thing one wanted to know in one of +those books; all they contain, except encomiums on the Stuarts +and the monks, are lists of institutions and inductions, and +inquiries how names of places were spelt before there was any +spelling. If the Monasticon Eboracense is only to be had at +York, I know Mr. Caesar Ward, and can get him to send it to me. + +I will add but one short word: from every letter I receive from +you, Sir, my opinion of you increases, and I much wish that so +much good sense and knowledge were not thrown away only on me. +I flatter myself that you are engaged, or will engage, in some +work or pursuit that will make you better known. In the mean +time, I hope that some opportunity will bring us personally +acquainted, for I am, Sir, already most sincerely yours, +Hor. Walpole. + +P. S. You love to be troubled, and therefore I will make no +apology for troubling you. Last summer, I bought of Vertue's +widow forty volumes of his ms. corrections relating to English +painters, sculptors, gravers, and architects. He had actually +begun their lives: unluckily he had not gone far, and could not +write grammar. I propose to digest and complete this work (I +mean after the Conway Papers).(995) In the mean time, Sir, +shall I beg the favour of you just to mark down memorandums of +the pages where you happen to meet with any thing relative to +these subjects, especially of our antienter buildings, +paintings, and artists. I would not trouble you for more +reference, if even that is not too much. + +(992) Mr. Walpole did not insert any notice of Lord Lonsdale in +his subsequent editions, though the omission has been remedied +by Mr. Park. The piece to which Mr. Zouch probably alluded, +the knowledge of which he may have derived from the noble +family of Lowther, was " a "Treatise on Economies" addressed to +his son, by Sir John Lowther, created Baron Lonsdale in 1696. +This treatise was never published.-C. + +(993) The story here alluded to is told, in the Noble Authors, +of Edward Howard, eighth Earl of Suffolk. But Mr. Zouch had +probably apprised Mr. Walpole, that a similar story had been +told of Lord Rochester. The Earl is represented as having sent +for " a gentleman well known in the literary world," (Mallet,) +upon whom he inflicted the hearing of some of his verses; but +coming to the description of a beautiful woman, he suddenly +stopped, and said, "Sir, I am not like most poets; I do not +draw from ideal mistresses; I always have my subject before +me;" and ringing the bell, be said to a footman, "Call up Fine +Eyes." A woman of the town appeared--"Fine Eyes," said the +Earl, "look full on this gentleman." She did, and retired. +Two or three others of the seraglio were summoned in their +turns, and displayed their respective charms for which they had +been distinguished by his lordship's pencil.-C. + +(994) Dr. John Burton was a physician and antiquary of +Yorkshire, who died in 1771. His principal work, here alluded +to, is entitled "Monasticon Eboracense." This work was never +completed, the first volume only having appeared in folio. +Some imputations on the Doctor's loyalty in 1745, diminished, +it is said, his means and materials for continuing the Work.-C. + +(995) The two first volumes appeared from the press at +Strawberry Hill in 1762.-C. + + + +473 Letter 299 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway. +Arlington Street, Jan. 19, 1759. + +I hope the treaty of Sluys advances rapidly.(996) Considering +that your own court is as new to you as Monsieur de Bareil and +his, you cannot be very well entertained: the joys of a Dutch +fishing town and the incidents of a cartel will not compose a +very agreeable history. In the mean time you do not lose much: +though the Parliament is met, no politics are come to town: one +may describe the House of Commons like the price of stocks; +Debates, nothing done. Votes, under par. Patriots, no price. +Oratory, books shut. Love and war are as much at a stand; +neither the Duchess of Hamilton nor the expeditions are gone +off yet. Prince Edward has asked to go to Quebec, and has been +refused. If I was sure they would refuse me, I would ask to go +thither too. I should not dislike about as much laurel as I +could stick in my window at Christmas. + +We are next week to have a serenata at the Opera-house for the +King of Prussia's birthday: it is to begin, "Viva Georgio, e +Federico viva!" It will, I own, divert me to see my Lord Temple +whispering for this alliance, on the same bench on which I have +so often seen him whisper against all Germany. The new opera +pleases universally, and I hope will yet hold up its head. +Since Vanneschi is cunning enough to make us sing the roast +Beef of old Germany, I am persuaded it will revive: politics +are the only lhotbed for keeping such a tender plant as Italian +music alive in England. + +You are so thoughtless about your dress, that I cannot help +giving you a little warning against your return. Remember, +every body that comes from abroad is cens`e to come from +France, and whatever they wear at their first reappearance +immediately grows the fashion. Now if, as is very likely, you +should through inadvertence change hats with a master of a +Dutch smack, Offley will be upon the watch, will conclude you +took your pattern from M. de Bareil, and in a week's time we +shall all be equipped like Dutch skippers. You see I speak +very disinterestedly; for, as I never wear a hat myself, it is +indifferent to me what sort of hat I don't wear. Adieu! I hope +nothing in this letter, if it is opened, will affect the +conferences, nor hasten our rupture with Holland. Lest it +should, I send it to Lord Holderness's office; concluding, like +Lady Betty Waldegrave, that the government never suspect what +they send under their own covers. + +(996) Mr. Conway was sent to Sluys to settle a cartel for +prisoners with the French. M. de Bareil was the person +appointed by the French court for the same business. + + + +473 Letter 300 +The Hon. H. S. Conway. +Arlington Street, Jan. 28, 1759. + +You and M. de Bareil may give yourselves what airs you please +of settling cartels with expedition: you don't exchange +prisoners with half so much alacrity as Jack Campbell(997) and +the Duchess of Hanillton have exchanged hearts. I had so +little observed the negotiation, Or suspected any, that when +your brother told me of it yesterday morning, I would not +believe a tittle--I beg Mr. Pitt's pardon, not an iota. It is +the prettiest match in the world since yours, and every body +likes it but the Duke of Bridgewater and Lord Coventry. What an +extraordinary fate is attached to those two women! Who could +have believed that a Gunning would unite the two great houses +of Campbell and Hamilton? For my part, I expect to see my Lady +Coventry Queen of Prussia. I would not venture to marry either +of them these thirty years, for fear of being shuffled out of +the world prematurely, to make room for the rest of their +adventures. The first time Jack carries the Duchess into the +Highlands, I am persuaded that some of his second-sighted +subjects will see him in a winding-sheet, with a train of kings +behind him as long as those in Macbeth. + +We had a scrap of a debate on Friday, on the Prussian and +Hessian treaties. Old Vyner opposed the first, in pity to that +poor woman, as he called her, the Empress-Queen.(998) Lord +Strange objected to the gratuity of sixty thousand pounds to +the Landgrave, unless words were inserted to express his +receiving that Sum in full of all demands. If Hume Campbell +had cavilled at this favourite treaty, Mr. Pitt could scarce +have treated him with more haughtiness; and, what is far more +extraordinary, Hume Campbell could scarce have taken it more +dutifully. This long day was over by half an hour after four. + + +As you and M. de Bareil are on such amicable terms, you will +take care to soften to him a new conquest we have made. Keppel +has taken the island of Goree. You great ministers know enough +Of its importance: I need not detail it. Before your letters +came we had heard of the death of the Princess Royal:(999) you +will find us black and all black. Lady Northumberland and the +great ladies put off their assemblies: diversions begin again +to-morrow with the mourning. + +You perceive London cannot furnish half so long a letter as the +little town of Sluys; at least I have not the art of making one +out. In truth, I believe I should not have writ this unless +Lady Ailesbury had bid me; but she does not care how much +trouble it gives me, provided it amuses you for a moment. Good +night! + +P. S. I forgot to tell you that the King has granted my Lord +Marischall's pardon, at the request of M. de Knyphausen.(1000) +I believe the Pretender himself could get his attainder +reversed if he would apply to the King of Prussia. + +(997) Afterwards Duke of Argyle. + +(998) "There never was so quiet or so silent a session of +Parliament as the present: Mr. Pitt declares only what he would +have them do, and they do it, nemine contradicente, Mr. Vyner +only excepted." Lord Chesterfield.-E. + +(999) The Princess of Orange died on the 12th of January.-E. + +(1000) By a letter from Sir Andrew Mitchell, of the 8th of +January, in the Chatham correspondence, it will be seen that +the Lord of Marischal's pardon was granted at the earnest +request of the King of Prussia, who said he " should consider +it as a personal favour done to himself." The Earl Marischal +was attainted for his share in the rebellion of 1715.-E. + + + +475 Letter 301 +To John Chute, Esq.(1001) +Arlington Street, Feb. 1, 1759. + +Well! my dear Sir, I am now convinced that both Mr. Keate's +panic and mine were ill-founded; but pray, another time, don't +let him be afraid of being afraid for fear of frightening me: +on the contrary, if you will dip your gout in lemonade, I hope +I shall be told of it. If you have not had it in Your stomach, +it is not your fault: drink brandy, and be thankful. I would +desire you to come to town, but I must rather desire you not to +have a house to come to. Mrs. H. Grenville is passionately +enamoured of yours, and begged I would ask you what will be the +lowest price, with all the particulars, which I assured her you +had stated very ill for yourself. I don't quite like this +commission; if you part with your house in town, you will never +come hither; at least, stow your cellars with drams and +gunpowder as full as Guy Fawkcs's-you will be drowned if you +don't blow yourself up. I don't believe that the Vine is +within the verge of the rainbow: seriously, it is too damp for +you. +Colonel Campbell marries the Duchess of Hamilton forthwith. +the house of Argyle is CONTENT, and think that the head of the +Hamilton's had purified the blood of Gunning; but I should be +afraid that his grace was more likely to corrupt blood than to +mend it. + +Never was any thing so crowded as the house last night for the +Prussian cantata; the King was hoarse, and could not go to Sing +his own praises. The dancers seemed transplanted from Sadler's +Wells; there were milkmaids riding on dolphins; Britain and +Prussia kicked the King of France off the stage, and there was +a petit-maitre with his handkerchief full of holes; but this +vulgarism happily was hissed. + +I am deeper than ever in Gothic antiquities: I have bought a +monk of Glastonbury's chair, full of scraps of the Psalms; and +some seals of most reverend illegibility. I pass all my +mornings in the thirteenth century, and my evenings with the +century that is coming on. Adieu! + +(1001) Now first printed. + + + +475 Letter 302 +To John Chute, Esq.(1002) +Arlington Street, Feb. 2, 1759. + +My dear sir, +I am glad to see your writing again, and can now laugh very +cordially at my own fright, which you take a great deal too +kindly. I was not quite sure you would like my proceedings, +but just then I could not help it, and perhaps my natural +earnestness had more merit than my friendship; and yet it is +worth my while to save a friend if I think I can--I have not so +many! You yourself are in a manner lost to me! I must not, +cannot repine at your having a fortune that delivers you from +uneasy connexions with a world that is sure to use ill those +that have any dependence on it; but undoubtedly some of the +satisfaction that you have acquired is taken out of my scale; I +will not, however, moralize, though I am in a very proper +humour for it, being just come home from an outrageous crowd at +Northumberland-house, where there were five hundred people, +that would have been equally content or discontent with any +other five hundred. This is pleasure! You invite so many +people to your house, that you are forced to have constables at +your door to keep the peace; just as the royal family, when +they hunted, used to be attended by surgeons. I allow honour +and danger to keep company with one another, but diversion and +breaking one's neck are strangely ill-matched. Mr. Spence's +Magliabechi(1003) is published to-day from Strawberry; I +believe you saw it, and shall have it; but 'tis not worth +sending you on purpose. However, it is full good enough for +the generality of readers. At least there is a proper dignity +in my saying so, who have been so much abused in all the +magazines lately for my Catalogue. The points in dispute lie +in a very narrow compass: they think I don't understand +English, and I am sure they don't: yet they will not be +convinced, for I shall certainly not take the pains to set them +right. Who them are I don't know; the highest, I believe, are +Dr. Smollet, or some chaplain of my uncle. + +Adieu! I was very silly to alarm you so; but the wisest of' us, +from Solomon to old Carr's cousin, are poor souls! May be you +don't know any thing of Carr's cousin. Why then, Carr's cousin +was--I don't know who; but Carr was very ill, and had a cousin, +as I may be, to sit up with her. Carr had not slept for many +nights--at last she dozed--her cousin jogged her: "Cousin, +cousin!"--"Well!" said Carr, "what would you have?"--"Only, +cousin, if you die where will you be buried?" This resemblance +mortifies me ten times more than a thousand reviews could do: +there is nothing in being abused by Carr's cousin, but it is +horrid to be like Carr's cousin Good night! + +(1002) Ibid. + +(1003) Mr. Spence's Parallel of Magliabechi and Hill.-E. + + + +476 Letter 303 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Feb. 9, 1759. + +The Dutch have not declared war and interrupted our +correspondence, and yet it seems ceased as if we had declared +war with one another. I have not heard from you this age--how +happens it? I have not seized any ships of yours--you carry on +no counterband trade--oh! perhaps you are gone incognito to +Turin, are determined to have a King of Prussia of your own! I +expect to hear that the King of Sardinia, accompanied by Sir +Horace Mann, the British minister, suddenly appeared before +Parma at the head of an hundred thousand men, that had been +privately landed at Leghorn. I beg, as Harlequin did when he +had a house to sell, that you will send me a brick, as a sample +of the first town you take-the Strawberry-press shall be +preparing a congratulatory ode. + +The Princess Royal has been dead some time: and yet the Dutch +and we continue in amity, and put on our weepers together. In +the mean time our warlike eggs have been some time under the +hen, and one has hatched and produced Gor`ee. The expedition, +called to Quebec, departs on Tuesday next, under Wolfe, and +George Townshend, who has thrust himself again into the +service, and as far as wrongheadedness will go, very proper for +a hero. Wolfe, who was no friend of Mr. Conway last year, and +for whom I consequently have no affection, has great merit, +spirit, and alacrity, and shone extremely at Louisbourg. I am +not such a Juno but I will forgive him after eleven more +labours.(1004) Prince Edward asked to go with them, but was +refused. It is clever in him to wish to distinguish himself; +I, who have no partiality to royal blood, like his good-nature +and good-breeding. + +Except the horrid Portuguese histories, that between +Jesuits(1005) and executions make one's blood run hot and cold, +we have no news. The Parliament has taken a quieting-draught. +Of private story, the Duchess of Hamilton is going to marry +Colonel Campbell, Lady Ailesbury's brother. It is a match that +would not disgrace Arcadia. Her beauty has made sufficient +noise, and in some people's eyes is even improved--he has a +most pleasing countenance, person, and manner, and if they +could but carry to Scotland some of our sultry English weather, +they might restore the ancient pastoral life, when fair Kings +and queens reigned at once over their subjects and their sheep. +Besides, exactly like antediluvian lovers, they reconcile +contending clans, the great houses of Hamilton and Campbell-and +all this is brought about by a GUnning! I talked of our sultry +weather, and this is no air. While Italy, I suppose, is buried +in snow, we are extinguishing fires, and panting for breath. +In short, we have had a wonderful winter--beyond an earthquake +winter-we shall soon be astonished at frost, like an Indian. +Shrubs and flowers and blossoms are all in their pride; I am +not sure that in some counties the corn is not cut. + +I long to hear from you; I think I never was so long without a +letter. I hope it is from no bad reason. Adieu! + +(1004) Speaking of Wolfe in his Memoires, Walpole says, +"Ambition, industry, passion for the service, were conspicuous +in him. He seemed to breathe for nothing but fame, and lost no +moments in qualifying himself to compass that object. +Presumption on himself was necessary for his object, and he had +it. He was formed to execute the designs of such a master as +Pitt."-E. + +(1005) The strange and mysterious conspiracy against the life +of the King of Portugal, which was attempted as he was going, +one night through the streets of Lisbon in his coach. many +Jesuits were put to death for it, and also several of the noble +families of the Dukes d'Aveiro, and Marquises of Tavora.-D. +[See ant`e, p. 456, letter 289.] + + + +478 Letter 304 +To Mr. Gray. +Arlington Street, Feb. 15, 1759 + +The enclosed, which I have this minute received from Mr. +Bentley, explains much that I had to say to you-yet I have a +question or two more. + +Who and what sort of a man is a Mr. Sharp of Benet? I have +received a most obliging and genteel letter from him, with the +very letter of Edward VI. which you was so good as to send me. +I answered his, but should like to know a little more about +him. Pray thank the Dean of Lincoln too for me: I am much +obliged to him for his offer, but had rather draw upon his +Lincolnship than his Cambridgehood.(1006) In the library of +the former are some original letters of Tiptoft, as you will +find in my Catalogue. When Dr. Greene is there, I shall be +glad if he will let me have them copied. + +I will thank you if you will look in some provincial history of +Ireland for Odo (Hugh) Oneil, King of Ulster. When did he +live? I have got a most curious seal of his, and know no more +of him than of Ouacraw King of the Pawwaws. + +I wanted to ask you, whether you, or anybody that you believe +in, believe in the Queen of Scots' letter to Queen +Elizabeth.(1007) If it is genuine, I don't wonder she cut her +head off--but I think it must be some forgery that was not made +use of. + +Now to my distress. You must have seen an advertisement +perhaps the book itself, the villanous book itself, that has +been published to defend me against the Critical Review.(1008) +I have been childishly unhappy about it, and had drawn up a +protestation or affidavit of my knowing nothing of it; but my +friends would not let me publish it. I sent to the printer, +who would not discover the author--nor could I guess. They +tell me nobody can suspect my being privy to It but there is an +intimacy affected that I think will deceive many--and yet I +must be the most arrogant fool living, if I could know and +suffer any body to speak of me in that style. For God's sake +do all you can for me, and publish my abhorrence. To-day I am +told that it Is that puppy Dr. Hill, who has chosen to make war +with the magazines through my sides. I could pardon him any +abuse, but I never can forgive this friendship. Adieu! + +(1006 He was master of Benet College, Cambridge. + +(1007) See Murden's State Papers, p. 558, for this curious +letter. + +(1008) It was called "Observations on the account given of the +Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors of England, etc. etc. in +article v'- of the Critical review, No. xxv. December, 1758, +where the unwarrantable liberties taken with that work, and the +honourable author of it, are examined and exposed." + + + +479 Letter 305 +To The Right Hon. Lady hervey. +Feb. 20, 1759. + +I met with this little book t'other day by chance, and it +pleased me so much that I cannot help lending it to your +ladyship, as I know it will amuse you from the same causes. It +contains many of those important truths which history is too +proud to tell, and too dull from not telling. + +Here Grignon's soul the living canvass warms: +Here fair Fontagno assumes unfading charms: +Here Mignard's pencil bows to female wit; +Louis rewards, but ratifies Fayette: +The philosophic duke, and painter too, +Thought from her thoughts--from her ideas drew. + + + +479 Letter 306 +To Sir David Dalrymple.(1009) +Strawberry Hill, Feb. 25, 1759. + +I think, sir, I have perceived enough of the amiable benignity +of your mind, to be sure that you will like to hear the praises +of your friend. Indeed, there is but one opinion about Mr. +Robertson's history.(1010) I don't remember any other work +that ever met universal approbation. Since the Romans and the +Greeks, who have now an exclusive charter for being the best +writers in every kind, he is the historian that pleases me +best; and though what he has been so indulgent as to say of me +ought to shut my mouth, I own I have been unmeasured in my +commendations. I have forfeited my own modesty rather than not +do justice to him. I did send him my opinion some time ago, +and hope he received it. I can add, with the strictest truth, +that he is regarded here as one of the greatest men that this +island has produced. I say island, but you know, Sir, that I +am disposed to say Scotland. I have discovered another very +agreeable writer among your countrymen, and in a profession +where I did not look for an author; It is Mr. Ramsay,(1011) the +painter, whose pieces being anonymous have been overlooked. He +has a great deal of genuine wit, and a very just manner of +reasoning. In his own walk he has great merit. He and Mr. +Reynolds are our favourite painters, and two of the very best +we ever had. Indeed, the number of good has been very small, +considering the numbers there are. A very few years ago there +were computed two thousand portrait painters in London; I do +not exaggerate the computation, but diminish; though I think it +must have been exaggerated. Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Ramsay can +scarce be rivals; their manners are so different. The former +is bold, and has a kind of tempestuous colouring, yet with +dignity and grace; the latter is all delicacy. Mr. Reynolds +seldom succeeds in women; Mr. Ramsay is formed to paint them. + +I fear I neglected, Sir, to thank you for your present of the +history of the conspiracy of the Gowries: but I shall never +forget all the obligations I have to you. I don't doubt but in +Scotland you approve what is liked here almost as much as Mr. +Robertson's history; I mean the marriage of Colonel Campbell +and the Duchess of Hamilton. If her fortune is singular, so is +her merit. Such uncommon noise as her beauty made has not at +all impaired the modesty of her behaviour. Adieu! + +(1009) Now first collected. + +(1010) Dr. Robertson's "History of Scotland during the Reigns +of Mary and James the Sixth," was published in the beginning of +this month.-E. + +(1011) Alan Ramsay, the eminent portrait-painter, and eldest +son of the poet; on whose death, in 1757, in somewhat +embarrassed circumstances, he paid his debts. He was an +excellent classical scholar, understood French and Italian, and +had all the polish and liberal feeling of a highly instructed +man. In Bouquet's pamphlet on "The Present State of the Fine +Arts in England," published in 1755, he is described as "an +able painter, who, acknowledging no other guide than nature, +brought a rational taste of resemblance with him from Italy." +He died in 1784.-E. + + + +480 Letter 307 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, March 1, 1759. + +I know you are ministerial enough, or patriot enough, (two +words that it is as much the fashion to couple now as it was +formerly to part them,) to rejoice over the least bit of a +conquest, and therefore I hurry to send you a morsel of +Martinico, which you may lay under your head, and dream of +having taken the whole island. As dreams often go by +contraries, you must not be surprised if you wake and find we +have been beaten back; but at this present moment, we are all +dreaming of victory. A frigate has been taken going to France +with an account that our troops landed on the island on the +16th of January, without opposition. A seventy-gun ship was +dismissed at the same time, which is thought a symptom of their +not meaning to resist. It certainly is not Mr. Pitt's fault if +we have not great success; and if we have, it is certainly +owing to him. The French talk of invading us; I hope they will +not come quite so near either to victory or defeat, as to land +on our Martinico! But you are going to have a war of your own. +Pray send me all your gazettes extraordinary. I wish the King +of Sardinia's heroism may not be grown a little rusty. Time +was when he was the only King in Europe that had fought in his +waistcoat; but now the King of Prussia has almost made it part +of their coronation oath. Apropos, pray remember that the +Emperor's pavilion is not the Emperor's pavillon; though you +are so far in the right, that he may have a pavilion, but I +don't conceive how he comes by a pavillon. What Tuscan colours +has he, unless a streamer upon the belfry at Leghorn? You was +so deep in politics when you wrote your last letter, that it +was almost in cipher, and as I don't happen to have a key to +bad writing, I could not read a word that interests my vanity +extremely-I unravelled enough to learn that a new +governor(1012) of Milan is a great admirer of me, but I could +not guess at one syllable of his name, and it is very +uncomfortable in a dialogue between one's pride and oneself, to +be forced to talk of Governor What-d'ye-call-em, who has so +good a taste. I think you never can have a more important +occasion for despatching a courier than to tell me Governor - +-'s name. In the mean time, don't give him any more Strawberry +editions; of some I print very few, they are all begged +immediately, and then you will not have a complete set, as I +wish you to have, notwithstanding all my partiality for the +governor of Milan. Perhaps, upon the peace I may send him a +set richly bound! I am a little more serious in what I am going +to say; you will oblige me if at your leisure you will pick up +for me all or any little historical tracts that relate to the +house of Medici. I have some distant thoughts of writing their +history, and at the peace may probably execute what you know I +have long retained in my wish, another journey to Florence. +Stosch, I think, had great collections relating to them; would +they sell a separate part of his library? Could I get at any +state letters and papers there? Do think of this; I assure you +I do Thank you for the trouble you have taken about the +Neapolitan books, and for the medals that are coming. + +Colonel Campbell and the Duchess of Hamilton are married. My +sister(1013) who was at the Opera last Tuesday, and went from +thence to a great ball at the Duke of Bridgewater's, where she +stayed till three in the morning, was brought to bed in less +than four hours afterwards of a fifth boy: she has had two +girls, too, and I believe left it entirely to this child to +choose what it would be. Adieu! my dear Sir. + +(1012) Count Firmian, who understood English, and was fond of +English authors. Sir Horace Mann had given him the Royal and +Noble Authors. + +(1013) Lady Mary Churchill, only daughter of Sir Robert Walpole +by his second wife. + + + +481 Letter 308 +To John Chute, Esq.(1014) +Arlington Street, March 13, 1759. + +I am puzzled to know how to deal with you: I hate to be +Officious, it has a horrid look; and to let you alone till you +die at the Vine of mildew, goes against my conscience, Don't it +go against yours to keep all your family there till they are +mouldy? Instead of sending you a physician, I will send you a +dozen brasiers; I am persuaded that you want to be dried and +aired more than physicked. For God's sake don't stay there any +longer:-- + +"Mater Cyrene, mater quae gurgitis hujus +Ima tenes--" + +send him away!--Nymphs and Jew doctors! I don't know what I +shall pray to next against your obstinacy. + +No more news yet from Guadaloupe! A persecution seems to be +raising against General Hobson--I don't wonder! Wherever +Commodore Moore is, one may expect treachery and blood. Good +night! + +(1014) Now first printed. + + + +482 Letter 309 +To The Rev. Henry Zouch. +Arlington Street, March 15, 1759. + +Sir, +You judge very rightly, Sir, that I do not intend to meddle +with accounts of religious houses; I should not think of them +at all unless I could learn the names of any of the architects, +not of the founders. It is the history of our architecture +that I should search after, especially the beautiful Gothic. I +have by no means digested the plan of my intended work. The +materials I have ready in great quantities in Vertue's MSS.; +but he has collected little with regard to our architects, +except Inigo Jones. As our painters have been very +indifferent, I must, to make the work interesting, make it +historical; I would mix it with anecdotes of patrons of the +arts, and with dresses and customs from old pictures. something +in the manner of Moulfaucon's Antiquities of France. I think +it capable of being made a very amusing work, but I don't know +whether I shall ever bestow the necessary time on it. At +present, even my press is at a stop, my printer, who was a +foolish Irishman, and who took himself for a genius, and who +grew angry when I thought him extremely the former, and not the +least of the latter, has left me, and I have Not yet fixed upon +another. + +In what edition, Sir, of Beaumont and Fletcher, is the copy of +verses you mention, signed "Grandison?"(1015) They are not in +mine. In my Catalogue I mention the Countess of Montgomery's +Eusebia; I shall be glad to know what her Urania is. I fear you +will find little satisfaction in a library of noble works. I +have got several, some duplicates, that shall be at your +service if you continue Your collection; but in general they +are mere curiosities. + +Mr. Hume has published his History of the House of Tudor. I +have not advanced far in it, but it appears an inaccurate and +careless, as it certainly has been a very hasty, performance. +Adieu! Sir. + +(1015) There has been some mistake here. Amidst the vast +number of verses to Beaumont and Fletcher, none are found with +this signature. There is one copy signed Gardiner.-C. + + + +482 Letter 310 +To Sir David Dalrymple.(1016) +Strawberry Hill, March 25, 1759. + +I should not trouble you, Sir, so soon again with a letter, but +some questions and some passages in yours seem to make it +necessary. I know nothing of the Life of Gustavus, nor heard of +it, before it was advertised. Mr. Harte(1017) was a favoured +disciple of Mr. Pope, whose obscurity he imitated more than his +lustre. Of the History of the Revival of Learning I have not +heard a word. Mr. Gray a few years ago began a poem on that +subject; but dropped it, thinking it would cross too much upon +some parts of the Dunciad. It would make a signal part of a +History of Learning which I lately proposed to Mr. Robertson. +Since I wrote to him, another subject has started to me, which +would make as agreeable a work, both to the writer and to the +reader, as any I could think of; and would be a very tractable +one, because capable of being extended or contracted as the +author should please. It is the History of the House of +Medici.(1018) There is an almost unknown republic, factions, +banishment, murders, commerce, conquests, heroes, cardinals, +all of a new stamp, and very different from what appear in any +other country. There is a scene of little polite Italian +courts, where gallantry and literature were uncommonly blended, +particularly in that of Urbino, which without any violence +might make an episode. The Popes on the greater plan enter of +course. What a morsel Leo the Tenth! the revival of +letters!(1019) the torrent of Greeks that imported them! Extend +still farther, there are Catherine and Mary, Queens of France. +In short, I know nothing one could wish in a subject that would +not fall into this--and then it is a Complete Subject, the +family is extinct: even the state is so, as a separate +dominion. + +I could not help smiling, Sir, at being taxed with insincerity +for my encomiums on Scotland. They were given in a manner a +little too serious to admit of irony, and (as partialities +cannot be supposed entirely ceased) with too much risk of +disapprobation in this part of the world, not to flow from my +heart. My friends have long known my opinion on this point, +and it is too much formed on fact for me to retract it, if I +were so disposed. With regard to the magazines and reviews, I +can say with equal and great truth, that I have been much more +hurt at a gross defence of me than by all that railing. + +Mallet still defers his life of the Duke of Marlborough;(1020) +I don't know why: sometimes he says he will stay till the +peace; sometimes that he is translating it, or having it +translated into French, that he may not lose that advantage. + +(1016) Now first collected. + +(1017) Walter Harte was tutor to Mr. Stanhope, Lord +Chesterfield's natural son, and through bis lordship's interest +made canon of Windsor. Dr. Johnson describes him as a scholar, +and a man of the most companionable talents he had ever known." +"Poor man!" he adds, "he left London the day of the publication +of his book, that he might be out of the way of the great +praise he was to receive; and he was ashamed to return, when he +found how ill his book had succeeded. It was unlucky in coming +out on the same day with Robertson's History of Scotland." See +Boswell, vol. viii. p. 53. Lord Chesterfield writes to his +son, on the 30th of March, "Harte's work will, upon the whole, +be a very curious and valuable history. You will find it +dedicated to one of your acquaintance, who was forced to prune +the luxuriant praises bestowed upon him, and yet has left +enough of all conscience to satisfy a reasonable man."-E. + +(1018) It was afterwards written in five volumes in quarto, +from authentic documents furnished by the Great-Duke himself. +It was published in Florence in 1781, and was entitled "Istoria +del Gran Ducato di Toscana sotto il Governo delta Casa Medici, +per Riguccio Galuzzi."-E. + +(1019) Mr. Roscoe's Life of Lorenzo do' Medici appeared in +1796, and his Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth in 1805.-E. + +(1020) See vol. i. p. 393, letter 151. + + + +484 Letter 311 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, April 11, 1759. + +I have waited and waited, in hopes of sending you the rest of +Martinico or Guadaloupe; nothing else, as you guessed, has +happened, or I should -have told you. But at present I can +stay no longer, for I, who am a little more expeditious than a +squadron, have made a conquest myself, and in less than a month +since the first thought started. I hurry to tell you, lest you +should go and consult the map of Middlesex, to see -whether I +have any dispute about boundaries with the neighbouring Prince +of Isleworth, or am likely to have fitted out a secret +expedition upon Hounslow Heath--in short, I have married, that +is, am marrying, my niece Maria,(1021) my brother's second +daughter, to Lord Waldegrave.(1022) What say you? A month ago +I was told he liked her.--does he? I jumbled them together, and +he has Already proposed. For character and credit, he is the +first match in England-for beauty, I think she is. She has not +a fault in her face and person, and the detail is charming. A +warm complexion tending to brown, fine eyes, brown hair, fine +teeth, and infinite wit and vivacity. Two things are odd in +this match; he seems to have been doomed to a Maria Walpole--if +his father had lived, he had married my sister;(1023) and this +is the second of my brother's daughters that has married into +the house of Stuart. Mr. Keppel(1024) comes from Charles, Lord +Waldegrave from James II. My brother has luckily been +tractable, and left the whole management to me. My family +don't lose any rank or advantage, when they let me dispose of +them--a knight of the garter for my niece; 150,000 pounds for +my Lord Orford if he would have taken her;(1025) these are not +trifling establishments. + +It were miserable after this to tell you that Prince Ferdinand +has cut to pieces two or three squadrons of Austrians. I frame +to myself that if I was commander-in-chief. I should on a +sudden appear in the middle of Vienna, and oblige the Empress +to give an Archduchess with half a dozen provinces to some +infant prince or other, and make a peace before the bread +wagons were come up. Difficulties are nothing; all depends on +the sphere in which one is placed. + +You must excuse my altitudes I feel myself very impertinent +just now, but as I know it, I trust I shall not be more so than +is becoming. + +The Dutch cloud is a little dispersed; the privy council have +squeezed out some rays of sunshine by restoring One Of' their +ships, and by adjudging that we captors should prove the +affirmative of contraband goods, instead of the goods proving +themselves so: just as if one was ordered to believe that if a +blackamoor is christened Thomas, he is a white. These +distinctions are not quite adapted to the meridian of a +flippant English privateer's comprehensions: however, the +murmur is not great yet. I don't know what may betide if the +minister should order the mob to be angry with the Ministry, +nor whether Mr. Pitt or the mob will speak first. He is laid +up with the gout, and it is as much as the rest of the +administration can do to prevent his flying out. I am sorry, +after you have been laying in such bales of Grotius and +Puffendorf, that you must be forced to correct the text by a +Dutch comment. You shall have the pamphlet you desire, and +Lord Mansfield's famous answer to the Prussian manifesto, (I +don't know whether it is in French,) but you must now read +Hardwickius usum Batavorum.(1026) + +We think we have lost Fort St. David, but have some scanty +hopes of a victorious codicil, as our fleet there seems to have +had the superiority. The King of Spain is certainly not dead, +and the Italian war in appearance is blown over. This summer, +I think, must finish all war, for who will have men, who will +have money to furnish another campaign? Adieu! + +P. S. Mr. Conway has got the first regiment of dragoons on +Hawley's death. + +(1021) Maria, second daughter of Sir Edward Walpole, afterwards +married to William Henry, Duke of Gloucester, brother of King +George III. + +(1022) James, second Earl of Waldegrave, knight of the garter, +and governor of George Prince of Wales, afterwards George III. + +(1023) Lady Maria Churchill, daughter of Sir Robert Walpole. + +(1024) Frederick Keppel, fourth son of William Anne, Earl of +Albemarle, by Lady Anne Lennox, daughter of the first Duke of +Richmond. + +(1025) Miss Nichols, afterwards Marchioness of Carnarvon. + +(1026) Philip Yorke, Earl of Hardwicke. + + + +485 Letter 312 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, April 26, 1759. + +Your brother, your Wetenhalls, and the ancient Baron and +Baroness Dacre of the South, are to dine with me at Strawberry +Hill next Sunday. Divers have been the negotiations about it: +your sister, you know, is often impeded by a prescription or a +prayer; and I, on the other hand, who never rise in the +morning, have two balls on my hands this week to keep me in bed +the next day till dinner-time. Well, it is charming to be so +young! the follies of the town are so much more agreeable than +the wisdom of my brethren the authors, that I think for the +future I shall never write beyond a card, nor print beyond Mrs. +Clive's benefit tickets. Our great match approaches; I dine at +Lord Waldegrave's presently, and suppose I shall then hear the +day. I have quite reconciled my Lady Townshend to the match +(saving her abusing us all), by desiring her to choose my +wedding clothes; but I am to pay the additional price of being +ridiculous. to which I submit; she has chosen me a white ground +with green flowers. I represented that, however young my +spirits may be, my bloom is rather past; but the moment I +declared against juvenile colours, I found it was determined I +should have nothing else: so be it. T'other night I had an +uncomfortable situation with the duchess of Bedford: we had +played late at loo at Lady Joan Scot's; I came down stairs with +their two graces of Bedford and Grafton: there was no chair for +me: I said I will walk till I meet one. "Oh!" said the Duchess +of Grafton, "the Duchess of Bedford will set you down:" there +were we charmingly awkward and complimenting: however, she was +forced to press it, and I to accept it; in a minute she spied a +hackney chair--"Oh! there is a chair,-but I beg your pardon, it +looks as if I wanted to get rid of you, but indeed I don't; +only I am afraid the Duke will want his supper." You may +imagine how much I was afraid of making him wait. The ball at +Bedford-house, on Monday, was very numerous and magnificent. +The two Princes were there, deep hazard, and the Dutch +deputies, who are a proverb for their dulness: they have +brought with them a young Dutchman, who is the richest man of +Amsterdam. I am amazed Mr. Yorke has not married him! But the +delightful part of the night was the appearance of the Duke of +Newcastle, who is veering round again, as it is time to betray +Mr. Pitt. The Duchess(1027) was at the very upper end of the +gallery, and though some of the Pelham court were there too, +yet they showed so little cordiality to this revival of +connexion, that Newcastle had nobody to attend him but Sir +Edward Montagu, who kept pushing him all up the gallery. From +thence he went into the hazard-room, and wriggle(], and +shuffled, and lisped, and winked, and spied, till he got behind +the Duke of Cumberland, the Duke of Bedford, and Rigby; the +first of whom did not deign to notice him; but he must come to +it. You would have died to see Newcastle's pitiful and +distressed figure,--nobody went near him: he tried to flatter +people, that were too busy to mind him; in short, he was quite +disconcerted; his treachery used to be so sheathed in folly, +that he was never out of countenance; but it is plain he grows +old. To finish his confusion and anxiety, George Selwyn, +Brand, and I, went and stood near him, and in half whispers, +that he might hear, said, "Lord, how he is broke! how old he +looks!" then I said, "This room feels very cold: I believe +there never is a fire in it." Presently afterwards I said, +"Well, I'll not stay here; this room has been washed to-day." +In short, I believe we made him take a double dose of +Gascoign's powder when he went home. Next night Brand and I +communicated this interview to Lord Temple, who was in agonies; +and yesterday his chariot was seen in forty different parts of +the town. I take it for granted that Fox will not resist these +overtures, and then we shall have the paymastership, the +secretaryship of Ireland, and all Calcraft's regiments once +more afloat. + +May 1. + +I did not finish this letter last week, for the picture could +not set out till next Thursday. Your kin brought Lord +Mandeville with them to Strawberry; he was very civil and +good-humoured, and I trust I was so too. My nuptialities dined +here yesterday. The wedding is fixed for the 15th. The town, +who saw Maria set out in the Earl's coach, concluded it was +yesterday. He notified his marriage to the Monarch last +Saturday, and it was received civilly. Mrs. Thornhill is dead, +and I am inpatient to hear the fate of Miss Mildmay. the +Princes Ferdinand and Henry have been skirmishing, have been +beaten, and have beat, but with no decision. + +The ball at Mr. Conolly's(1028) was by no means delightful. +the house is small, it was hot, and was composed Of young +Irish. I was retiring when they went to supper, but was fetched +back to sup with Prince Edward and the Duchess of Richmond, who +is his present passion. He had chattered as much love to her +as would serve ten balls. The conversation turned on the +Guardian--most unfortunately the Prince asked her if she should +like Mr. Clackit--"No, indeed, Sir," said the Duchess. Lord +Tavistock(1029) burst out into a loud laugh, and I am afraid +none of the company quite kept their countenances. Adieu! This +letter is gossiping enough for any Mrs. Clackit, but I know you +love these details. + +(1027) Gertrude Duchess of Bedford, daughter of Earl Gower. + +(1028) Thomas Conolly, Esq., son of Lady Anne Conolly, sister +of Thomas Earl of Strafford, and who inherited great part of +her brother's property. Mr. Conolly was married to Lady Louisa +Lenox, sister of the Duke of Richmond, and of Lady Holland. +They died without issue.-E. + +(1029) Francis Marquis of Tavistock, only son of John Duke of +Bedford. He died before his father, in 1767, in consequence of +a fall from his horse when hunting.-E. + + + +487 Letter 313 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, May 10, 1759. + +The laurels we began to plant in Guadaloupe do not thrive--we +have taken half the island, and despair of the other half which +we are gone to take. General Hobson is dead, and many of our +men-it seems all climates are not equally good for +conquest-Alexander and Caesar would have looked wretchedly +after a yellow fever! A hero that would have leaped a rampart, +would perhaps have shuddered at the thought of being scalped. +Glory will be taken in its own way, and cannot reconcile itself +to the untoward barbarism of America. In short, if we don't +renounce expeditions, our history will be a journal of +miscarriages. What luck must a general have that escapes a +flux, or being shot abroad--or at home! How fatal a war has +this been! From Pondicherry to Canada, from Russia to Senegal, +the world has been a great bill of mortality? The King of +Prussia does not appear to have tapped his campaign yet--he was +slow last year; it is well if he concludes this as thunderingly +as he did the last. Our winter-politics are drawn to the +dregs. The King is gone to Kensington, and the Parliament is +going out of town. The ministers who don't agree, will, I +believe, let the war decide their squabbles too. Mr. Pitt will +take Canada and the cabinet-council together, or miscarry in +both. There are Dutch deputies here, who are likely to be here +some time: their negotiations are not of an epigrammatic +nature. and we are in no hurry to decide on points which we +cannot well give up, nor maintain without inconvenience. But +it is idle to describe what describes itself by not being +concluded. + +I have received yours of the 7th of last month, and fear you +are quite in the right about a history of the house of Medici-- +yet it is pity it should not be written!(1030) You don't, I +know, want any spur to incite you to remember me and any +commission with which I trouble you; and therefore you must not +take it in that light, but as the consequence of my having just +seen the Neapolitan book of Herculaneum, that I mention it to +you again. Though it is far from being finely engraved, yet +there are bits in It that make me wish much to have it, and if +you could procure it for me, I own I should be pleased. Adieu! +my dear Sir. + +(1030) See ant`e, p. 483, letter 310. + + + +488 Letter 314 +To The Rev. Henry Zouch. +Strawberry Hill, May 14, 1759. + +Sir, +You accuse me with so much delicacy and with so much seeming +justice, that I must tell you the truth, cost me what it will. +It is in fact, I own, that I have been silent, not knowing what +to say to you, or how not to say something about your desire +that I would attend the affair of the navigation of Calder in +Parliament. In truth, I scarce ever do attend private business +on solicitation. If I attend, I cannot help forming an +opinion, and when formed I do not care not to be guided by it, +and at the same time it is very unpleasant to vote against a +person whom one went to serve. I know nothing of the merits of +the navigation in question, and it would have given me great +pain to have opposed, as it might have happened, a side +espoused by one for whom I had conceived such an esteem as I +have for you, Sir. I did not tell you my scruples, because you +might have thought them affected, and because, to say the +truth, I choose to disguise them. I have seen too much of the +parade of conscience to expect that an ostentation of it in me +should be treated with uncommon lenity. I cannot help having +scruples; I can help displaying them; and now, sir, that I have +made you my confessor, I trust you will keep my secret for my +sake, and give me absolution for what I have committed against +you. + +I certainly do propose to digest the materials that Vertue had +collected(1031) relating to English arts; but doubting of the +merit of the subject, as you do, Sir, and not proposing to give +myself much trouble about it, I think, at present, that I shall +still call the work his. However, at your leisure, I shall be +much obliged to you for any hints. For nobler or any other +game, I don't think of it; I am sick of the character of +author; I am sick of the consequences of it; I am weary Of +Seeing my name in the newspapers; I am tired with reading +foolish criticisms on me, and as foolish defences of me; and I +trust my friends will be so good as to let the last abuse of me +pass unanswered. It is called "Remarks" on my Catalogue, +asperses the Revolution more than it does my book, and, in one +word, is written by a non-juring preacher, who was a +dog-doctor. Of me he knows so little, that he thinks to punish +me by abusing King William! Had that Prince been an author, +perhaps I might have been a little ungentle to him too. I am +not dupe enough to think that any body wins a crown for the +sake of the people. Indeed, I am Whig enough to be glad to be +abused; that is, that any body may write what they please; and +though the Jacobites are the only men who abuse outrageously +that liberty of the press which all their labours tend to +demolish, I would not have the nation lose such a blessing for +their impertinences. That their spirit and projects revive is +certain. All the histories of England, Hume's, as you observe, +and Smollett's more avowedly, are calculated to whiten the +house of Stuart. All the magazines are elected to depress +writers of the other side, and as it has been learnt within +these few days, France is preparing an army of +commentators1032) to illustrate the works of those professors. +But to come to what ought to be a particular part of this +letter. I am very sensible, Sir, to the confidence you place +in me, and shall assuredly do nothing to forfeit it; at the +same time, I must take the liberty you allow me, of making some +objections to your plan. As your friend, I must object to the +subject. It is heroic to sacrifice one's own interest to do +good, but I would be sure of doing some before I offered myself +up. You will make enemies; are you sure you shall make +proselytes? I am ready to believe you have no ambition now-- +but may you not have hereafter? Are bishops corrigible or +placable? Few men are capable of forgiving being told their +faults in private; who can bear being told of them publicly?- +-Then, you propose to write in Latin: that is, you propose to +be read by those only whom you intend to censure, and whose +interest it will be to find faults in your work. If I proposed +to attack the clergy, I would at least call in the laity to +hear my arguments, and I fear the laity do not much listen to +Latin. In Short, Sir, I wish much to see something of your +writing, and consequently I wish to see it in a shape in which +it would give me most pleasure. + +You will say, that your concealing your name is an answer to +all I have said. A bad author may be concealed, but then what +good does he do? I am persuaded you would write well-ask your +heart, Sir, if you then would like to conceal yourself. +Forgive my frankness; I am not old, but I have lived long +enough to be sure that I give you good advice. There -is +lately published a voluminous history of Gustavus Adolphus, +sadly written, yet very amusing from the matter. + +(1031) Mr. Walpole, in his dedication of the "Anecdotes of +painting," says, he is rather an Editor than an Author; but +much as he certainly derived from Vertue, his own share in this +interesting work entitles him to the thanks of every lover of +the fine arts, and of British antiquities.-C. + +(1032) The French were at this time attempting to play the +farce of invasion. Flat-bottomed boats were building in all +the ports of Normandy and Brittany, calculated to transport an +army of a hundred thousand men.-C. + + + +489 Letter 315 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, May 16, 1759. + +I packed up a long letter to you in the case with the Earl of +Manchester, which I suppose did not arrive at Greatworth before +you left it. Don't send for it, for there are private +histories in it, that should not travel post, and which will be +full as new to you a month hence. + +Well! Maria was married yesterday. Don't we manage well! the +original day was not once put off: lawyers and milliners were +all ready canonically. It was as sensible a wedding as ever +was. There was neither form nor indecency, both which +generally meet on such occasions. They were married at my +brother's in Pall-Mall, just before dinner, by Mr. Keppel; the +company, my brother, his son, Mrs. Keppel, and Charlotte, Lady +Elizabeth Keppel, Lady Betty Waldegrave, and I. We dined there; +the Earl and new Countess got into their postchaise at eight +o'clock, and went to Navestock alone, where they stay till +Saturday night: on Sunday she is to be presented, and to make +my Lady Coventry distracted, who, t'other day, told Lady Anne +Connolly how she dreaded Lady Louisa's arrival; "But," said +she, "now I have seen her, I am easy." + +Maria was in a white silver gown, with a hat pulled very much +over her face; what one could see of it was handsomer than +ever; a cold maiden blush gave her the sweetest delicacy in the +world. I had liked to have demolished the solemnity of the +ceremony by laughing, when Mr. Keppel read the words, "Bless +thy servant and thy handmaid;" it struck me how ridiculous it +would have been, had Miss Drax been the handmaid, as she was +once to have been. + +Did I ever tell you what happened at my Lord Hertford's +wedding? You remember that my father's style was not purity +itself. As the bride was so young and so exceedingly bashful, +and as my Lord Hertford is a little of the prude himself, great +means were used to keep Sir Robert within bounds. He yawned, +and behaved decently. When the dessert was removed, the +Bishop, who married them, said, "Sir Robert, what health shall +we drink?" It was just after Vernon's conquest of Porto Bello. +"I don't know," replied my father: "why, drink the admiral in +the straights of Bocca Cieca." + +We have had a sort of debate in the House of Commons on the +bill for fixing the augmentation of the salaries of the judges: +Charles Townshend says, the book of Judges was saved by the +book of Numbers. + +Lord Weymouth(1033) is to be married on Tuesday, or, as he said +himself, to be turned off. George Selwyn told him he wondered +that he had not been turned off before, for he still sits up +drinking all night and gaming. + +Well! are you ready to be invaded? for it seems invasions from +France are coming into fashion again. A descent on Ireland at +least is expected. There has been a great quarrel -between Mr. +Pitt and Lord Anson, on the negligence of the latter. I +suppose they will be reconciled by agreeing to hang some +admiral, who will come too late to save Ireland, after it is +impossible to save it. + +Dr. Young has published a new book,(1034) on purpose. he says +himself, to have an opportunity of telling a story that he has +known these forty years. Mr. Addison sent for the young Lord +Warwick, as he was dying, to show him in what peace a Christian +could die--unluckily he died of brandy-nothing makes a +Christian die in peace like being maudlin! but don't say this +in Gath, where you are. Adieu! + +P. S. I forgot to tell you two good stories of the little +Prince Frederick. He was describing to Lady Charlotte Edwin +the eunuchs of the Opera; but not easily finding proper words, +he said, "I can't tell you, but I will show you how they make +them," and began to unbutton. T'other day as he was with the +Prince of Wales, Kitty Fisher passed by, and the child named +her; the Prince, to try him, asked who that was? "Why, a +Miss." "A Miss," said the Prince of Wales; "why, are not all +girls Misses?" "Oh! but a particular sort of Miss--a Miss that +sells oranges." "Is there any harm in selling oranges?" "Oh! +but they are not such oranges as you buy; I believe they are a +sort that my brother Edward buys." + +(1033) Afterwards created Marquis of Bath. He married Lady +Elizabeth Cavendish Bentinck, daughter of William, third Duke +of Portland.-E. + +(1034) "Conjectures on Original Composition; in a letter to the +author of Sir Charles Grandison." The article on this work in +the Critical Review was written by Oliver Goldsmith. See the +recent edition of his Miscellaneous Works, vol. iv. p. 462.-E. + + + +491 Letter 316 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, June 1, 1759. + +I have not announced to you in form the invasion from France, +of which all our newspapers have been so full, nor do I tell +you every time the clock strikes. An invasion frightens one +but once. I am grown to fear no invasions but those we make. +Yet I believe there are people really afraid of this--I mean +the new militia, who have received orders to march. The war in +general seems languishing: Prince Henry of Prussia is the only +one who keeps it up with any spirit. The Parliament goes into +the country to-morrow. + +One of your last friends, Lord Northampton,(1035) is going to +marry Lady Anne Somerset, the Duke of Beaufort's sister. She +is rather handsome. He seems to have too much of the coldness +and dignity of the Comptons. + +Have you had the comet in Italy? It has made more noise here +than it deserved, because Sir Isaac Newton foretold it, and it +came very near disappointing him. Indeed, I have a notion that +it is not the right, but a little one- that they put up as they +were hunting the true--in short, I suppose, like pine-apples +and gold pheasants, comets will grow so common as to be sold at +Covent-garden market. + +I am glad you approve the marriage of my charming niece--she is +now Lady Waldegrave in all the forms. + +I envy you who can make out whole letters to me--I find it grow +every day more difficult, we are so far and have been so long +removed from little events in common that serve to fill up a +correspondence, that though my heart is willing, my hand is +slow. Europe is a dull magnificent subject to one who cares +little and thinks still les about Europe. Even the King of +Prussia, except on post-days don't +occupy a quarter of an inch in my memory. He must kill a +hundred thousand men once a fortnight to Put me in mind of him. +Heroes that do so much in a book, and seem so active to +posterity, lie fallow a vast while to their contemporaries--and +how it would humble a vast Prince who expects to occupy the +whole attention of an age, to hear an idle man in his easy +chair cry "Well! why don't the King of Prussia do something?" +If one means to make a lasting bustle, one should contrive to +be the hero of a village; I have known a country rake talked of +for a riot, whole years after the battle of Blenheim has grown +obsolete. Fame, like an essence, the farther it is diffused, +the sooner it vanishes. The million in London devour an event +and demand another to-morrow. Three or four families in a +hamlet twist and turn it, examine, discuss, mistake, repeat +their mistake, remember their mistake, and teach it to their +children. Adieu! + +(1035) Charles Compton, seventh Earl of Northampton, married +Lady Anne Somerset, daughter of Charles, fourth Duke of +beaufort; by whom he had an only Child, Lady Elizabeth Compton, +married to Lord George Henry Cavendish, now Earl of Burlington. +Lord Northampton died in 1763.-D. + + + +492 Letter 317 +To George Montagu, Esq. +June 2, 1759. + +Strawberry Hill is grown a perfect Paphos; it is the land of +beauties. On Wednesday the Duchesses of Hamilton and Richmond +and Lady Ailesbury dined there; the two latter stayed all +night. There never was so pretty a sight as to see them all +three sitting in the shell; a thousand years hence, when I +begin to grow old, if that can ever be, I shall talk of that +event, and tell young people how much handsomer the women of my +time were than they will be then: I shall say, "Women alter +now; I remember Lady Ailesbury looking handsomer than her +daughter, the pretty Duchess of Richmond, as they were sitting +in the shell on my terrace with the Duchess of Hamilton, one of +the famous Gunnings." Yesterday t'other more famous +Gunning(1036) dined there. She has made a friendship with my +charming niece, to disguise her jealousy of the new Countess's +beauty: there were they two, their lords, Lord Buckingham, and +Charlotte. You will think that I did not choose men for my +parties so well as women. I don't include Lord Waldegrave in +this bad election. + +Loo is mounted to its zenith; the parties last till one and two +in the morning. We played at Lady Hertford's last week, the +last night of her lying-in, till deep into Sunday morning, +after she and her lord were retired. It Is now adjourned to +Mrs. Fitzroy's, whose child the town called "Pam--ela'. I +proposed, that instead of receiving cards for assemblies, one +should send in a morning to Dr. Hunter's, the man-midwife, to +know where there is loo that evening. I find poor Charles +Montagu is dead:(1037) is it true, as the papers say, that his +son comes into Parliament? The invasion is not half so much in +fashion as loo, and the King demanding the assistance of' the +militia does not add much dignity to it. The great Pam of +Parliament, who made the motion, entered into a wonderful +definition of the several sorts of fear; from fear that comes +from pusillanimity, up to fear from magnanimity. It put me in +mind of that wise Pythian, My Lady Londonderry, who, when her +sister, Lady DOnnegal was dying, pronounced, that if it were a +fever from a fever, she would live; but if it were a fever from +death, she would die. + +Mr. Mason has published another drama, called Caractacus; there +are some incantations poetical enough, and odes so Greek as to +have very little meaning. But the whole is laboured, +uninteresting, and no more resembling the manners of Britons +than of Japanese. It is introduced by a piping elegy; for +Mason, in imitation of Gray, "will cry and roar all +night"(1038) without the least provocation. + +Adieu! I shall be glad to hear that your Strawberry tide is +fixed. + +(1036) Lady Coventry. + +(1037) Only son of the Hon. James Montagu, son of Henry Earl +of Manchester.-E. + +(1038) An expression of Mr. Montagu's. + + + +493 Letter 318 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, June 8, 1759. + +This is merely a letter about your commission, and I hope it +will get to you with wondrous haste. I have not lost a minute +in trying to execute what you desire, but it is impossible to +perform all that is required. A watch, perfect by Ellicot or +Gray, with all the accompaniments, cannot possibly be had for +near seventy-five pounds. Though the directions do not +expressly limit me to seventy-five, yet I know Italians enough +to be sure that when they name seventy-five, they would not +bear a codicil of fifty-five more. Ellicot (and Gray is rather +dearer) would have for watch and chain a hundred and +thirty-four guineas; the seals will cost sixteen more. Two +hundred and sixty-eight sequins are more than I dare lay out. +But I will tell you what I have done: Deard, one of the first +jewellers and toymen Here, has undertaken to make a watch and +chain, enamelled according to a pattern I have chosen of the +newest kind, for a hundred guineas; with two seals for sixteen +more; and he has engaged that, if this is not approved, he will +keep it himself; but to this I must have an immediate answer. +He will put his own name to it, as a warrant to the goodness of +the work; and then, except the nine of Ellicot or Gray, your +friend will have as good a watch as he can desire. I take for +granted, at farthest, that I can have an answer by the 15th of +July; and then there will be time, I trust, to convey it to +you; I suppose by sea, for unless a fortunate messenger should +be going `a point nomm`e, you may imagine that a traveller +would not arrive there in any time. My dear Sir, you know how +happy I am to do any thing you desire; and I shall pique myself +on your credit in this, but your friend has expected what, +altogether, it is almost impossible to perform--what can be +done, shall be. + +There is not a syllable of news--if there was, I should not +confine myself solely to the commission. Some of our captains +in the East Indies have behaved very ill; if there is an +invasion, which I don't believe there will, I am glad they were +not here. Adieu! + + + +494 Letter 319 +To The Earl Of Strafford. +Strawberry Hill, June 12, 1759. + +My dear lord, +After so kind a note as you left for me at your going Out Of +town, you cannot wonder that I was determined to thank you the +moment I knew you settled in Yorkshire. At least I am not +ungrateful, if I deserve your goodness by no other title. I +was willing to stay till I could amuse you, but I have not a +battle big enough even to send in a letter. A war that reaches +from Muscovy to Alsace, and from Madras to California, don't +produce an article half so long as Mr. Johnson's riding three +horses at Once. The King of Prussia's campaign is still. in +its papillotes; Prince Ferdinand is laid up like the rest of +the pensioners on Ireland; Guadaloupe has taken a sleeping- +draught, and our heroes in America seem to be planting suckers +of laurels that will not make any future these three years. +All the war that is in fashion lies between those two +ridiculous things, an invasion and the militia. - Prince Edward +is going to sea, to inquire after the invasion from France: and +the old potbellied country colonels are preparing to march and +make it drunk when it comes. I don't know, as it is an event +in Mr. Pitt's administration, whether the Jacobite +corporations, who are converted by his eloquence which they +never heard, do not propose to bestow their freedom on the +first corps of French that shall land. + +Adieu, my lord and my lady! I hope you are all beauty and +verdure. We are drowned with obtaining ours. + + + +495 Letter 320 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, June 22, 1759. + +Well! they tell us in good earnest that we are to be invaded; +Mr. Pitt is as positive of it as of his own invasions. As the +French affect an air of grandeur in all they do, "Mr. Pitt sent +ten thousands, but they send fifty thousands." You will be +inquisitive after our force--I can't tell you the particulars; +I am only in town for to-day, but I hear of mighty +preparations. Of one thing I am sure; they missed the moment +when eight thousand men might have carried off England and set +it down in the gardens of Versailles. In the last war, when we +could not rake together four thousand men, and were all +divided, not a flat-bottomed boat lifted up its leg against us! +There is great spirit in Motion; my Lord Orford is gone with +his Norfolk militia to Portsmouth; every body is raising +regiments or themselves--my Lord Shaftsbury,(1039) . one of the +new colonels of militia, is to be a brigadier-general. I shall +not march my Twickenham militia for some private reasons; my +farmer has got an ague, my printer has run away, my footboy is +always drunk, and my gardener is a Scotchman, and I believe +would give intelligence to the enemy. France has notified the +Dutch that she intends to -surprise us; and this makes us still +more angry. In the mean time, we have got Guadaloupe to play +with. I did not send you any particulars, for this time the +Gazette piqued itself upon telling its own story from beginning +to end; I never knew it so full of chat. It is very +comfortable, that if we lose our own island, we shall at least +have all America to settle in. Quebec is to be conquered by +the 15th of July, and two more expeditions, I don't know +whither, are to be crowned with all imaginable success, I don't +know when; so you see our affairs, upon the whole, are in a +very prosperous train. Your friend, Colonel Clavering, is the +real hero of Guadaloupe; he is come home, covered "with more +laurels than a boar's head: indeed he has done exceedingly +well. A much older friend of yours is just dead, my Lady +Murray;(1040) she caught her death by too strict attendance on +her sister, Lady Binning, who has been ill. They were a family +of love, and break their hearts for her. She had a thousand +good qualities; but no mortal was ever so surprised as I when I +was first told that she was the nymph Arthur Gray would have +ravished. She had taken care to guard against any more such +danger by more wrinkles than ever twisted round a human face. +Adieu! If you have a mind to be fashionable, you must raise a +regiment of Florentine militia. + +(1039) Anthony Ashley Cooper, fourth Earl of Shaftsbury. he +died in 1771.-D. + +(1040) Daughter of George Bailie, Esq. See an epistle from +Arthur Gray, her footman, to her, in the poems of Lady Mary +Wortley Montagu. [Lady Murray of Stanhope. She was a woman of +merit and ability, and of excellent conduct. She was an +intimate friend of Lady Hervey, who, in her letters, thus +speaks of her;--"I have lost the first friend I had--the +kindest, best, and most valuable one I ever had, with whom I +have lived at her grandfather's, Lord Marchmont."-E.] + + + +496 Letter 321 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, June 23, 1759. + +As you bid me fix a day about six weeks from the date of your +last, it will suit me extremely to see you here the 1st of +August. I don't mean to treat you with a rowing for a badge, +but it will fall in very commodely between my parties. You +tell me nothing of the old house you were to see near Blenheim: +I have some suspicion that Greatworth is coming into play +again. I made your speeches to Mr. Chute, and to Mr. M`untz, +and to myself; your snuff-box is bespoke, your pictures not +done, the print of Lady Waldegrave not begun. + +news there are none, unless you have a mind for a panic about +the invasion. I was in town yesterday, and saw a thousand +people at Kensington with faces as long as if it was the last +accession of this family that they were ever to See. The +French are coming with fifty thousand men, and we shall meet +them with fifty addresses. Pray, if you know how, frighten +your neighbours, and give them courage at the same time. + +My Lady Coventry and my niece Waldegrave have been mobbed in +the Park. I am sorry the people of England take all their +liberty out in insulting pretty women. + +You will be diverted with what happened to Mr. Meynell lately. +He was engaged to dine at a formal old lady's, but stayed so +late hunting that he had not time to dress, but -went as he +was, with forty apologies. The matron very affected, and +meaning to say something very civil, cried, "Oh! Sir, I assure +you I can see the gentleman through a pair of buckskin breeches +as well as if he was in silk or satin." + +I am sure I can't tell you any thing better, so good night! +Yours ever. + +P. s. I hope you have as gorgeous weather as we have; it is +even hot enough for Mr. Bentley. I live upon the water. + + + +497 Letter 322 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, July 8, 1759. + +This will be the most indecisive of all letters: I don't write +to tell you that the French are not landed at Deal, as was +believed yesterday. An officer arrived post in the middle of +the night, who saw them disembark. The King was called; my +lord Ligonier buckled on his armour. Nothing else was talked +of in the streets; yet there was no panic.(1041) Before noon, +it was known that the invasion was a few Dutch hoys. The day +before, it was triumph. Rodney was known to be before Havre de +Grace; with two bomb-ketches he set the town on fire in +different places, and had brought up four more to act, +notwithstanding a very smart fire from the forts, which, +however, will probably force him to retire without burning the +flat-bottomed boats, which are believed out of his reach. The +express came from him on Wednesday morning. This is Sunday +noon, and I don't know that farther intelligence is arrived. I +am sorry for this sort of war, not only for the sufferers, but +I don't like the precedent, in case the French should land. I +think they will scarce venture; for besides the force on land, +we have a mighty chain of fleet and frigates along the coast. +There is great animosity to them, and few can expect to return. + +Our part of the war in Germany seems at an end: Prince +Ferdinand is retiring, and has all the advantage of that part +of great generalship, a retreat. From America we expect the +greatest things; our force there by land and sea is vast. I +hope we shall not be to buy England back by restoring the North +Indies! I will gladly give them all the hundred thousand acres +that may fall to my share on the Olio for my twenty acres here. +Truly I don't like having them endangered for the limits of +Virginia! + +I wait impatiently for your last orders for the watch; if the +worst comes to the worst, I can convey it to you by some French +officer. + +The weather is sultry; this country never looked prettier. I +hope our enemies will not have the heart to spoil it! It would +be much disappointment to me, who am going to make great +additions to my castle; a gallery, a round tower, and a +cabinet, that is to have all the air of a Catholic chapel--bar +consecration. Adieu! I will tell you more soon, or I hope no +more. + +(1041) "Every body," says Gray, in a letter to Dr. Wharton, of +the 21st, "continues as quiet about the invasion as if a +Frenchman, as soon as he set his foot on our coast, would die, +like a toad in Ireland. Yet the King's tents and equipage are +ordered to be ready at an hour's warning." Works, vol. iii. p. +218.-E. + + + +498 Letter 323 +To Sir David Dalrymple.(1042) +Strawberry Hill, July 11, 1759. + +You will repent, Sir, I fear, having drawn such a correspondent +upon yourself. An author flattered and encouraged is not +easily shaken- off again; but if the interests of my book did +not engage me to trouble you, while you are so good as to write +me the most entertaining letters in the world, it is very +natural for me to lay snares to inveigle more of them. +However, Sir, excuse me this once, and I will be more modest +for the future in trespassing on your kindness. Yet, before I +break out on my new wants, it will be but decent, Sir, to +answer some particulars of your letter. + +I have lately read Mr. Goodall,S(1043) book. There is +certainly ingenuity in parts 'of his defence: but I believe one +seldom thinks a defence ingenious without meaning that it is +unsatisfactory. His work left me fully convinced of what he +endeavoured to disprove; and showed me, that the piece you +mention is not the only one that he has written against +moderation. + +I have lately got Lord Cromerty's Vindication of the legitimacy +of King Robert,(1044) and his Synopsis Apocalyptica, and thank +you much, Sir, for the notice of any of his pieces. But if you +expect that his works should lessen my esteem for the writers +of Scotland, you Will please to recollect, that the letter +which paints Lord Cromerty's pieces in so ridiculous a light, +is more than a counterbalance in favour of the writers of your +country: and of all men living, Sir, you are the last who will +destroy my partiality for Scotland. + +There is another point, Sir, on which, with all your address, +you will persuade me as little. Can I think that we want +writers of history while Mr. Hume and Mr. Robertson are living? +It is a truth, and not a compliment, that I never heard +objections made to Mr. Hume's History without endeavouring to +convince the persons who found fault wit@ it, of its great +merit and beauty; and for what I saw of Mr. -Robertson's work, +it is one of the purest styles, and of the greatest +impartiality, that I ever read. It is impossible for me to +recommend a subject to him: because I cannot judge of what +materials he can obtain. His present performance will +undoubtedly make him so well known and esteemed, that he will +have credit to obtain many new lights for a future history; but +surely those relating to his own country will always lie most +open to him. This is much my way of thinking with regard to +myself. Though the Life of Christina is a pleasing and a most +uncommon subject, yet, totally unacquainted as I am with Sweden +and its language, how could I flatter myself with saying any +thing new of her? And when original letters and authentic +papers shall hereafter appear, may not they contradict half one +should relate on the authority of what is already published? +for though memoirs written nearest to the time are likely to be +the truest, those published nearest to it are generally the +falsest. + +But, indeed, Sir, I am now making you only civil excuses; the +real one is, I have no kind of intention of continuing to +write. I could not expect to succeed again with so much +luck,--indeed, I think it so,--as I have done; it Would mortify +me more now, after a little success, to be despised, than it +would have done before; and if I could please as much as I +should wish to do, I think one should dread being a voluminous +author. My own idleness, too, bids me desist. If I continued, +I should certainly take more pains than I did in my Catalogue; +the trouble would not only be more than I care to encounter, +but would probably destroy what I believe the only merit of my +last work, the ease. If I could incite you to tread in steps +which I perceive you don't condemn, and for which it is evident +you are so well qualified, from your knowledge, the grace, +facility, and humour of your expression and manner, I shall +have done a real service, where I expected at best to amuse. + +(1042) Now first collected. + +(1043) Walter Goodall, librarian of the Advocates' Library, +Edinburgh. He was warmly devoted to Mary Queen of Scots, and +in 1754, published an Examination of the letters said to be +written by Mary to the Earl of Bothwell, in which he +endeavoured to prove them to be forgeries.-E. + +(1044) Robert, the third King of Scotland, from the imputation +of bastardy.-E. + + + +499 Letter 324 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, July 19, 1759. + +Well, I begin to expect you; you must not forget the first of +August. If we do but look as well as we do at present, you +will own Strawberry is still in its bloom. With English +verdure, we have had an Italian summer, and + +Whatever sweets Sabaean springs disclose, +Our Indian jasmin, and the Persian rose. + +I am forced to talk of Strawberry, lest I should weary you with +what every body wearies me, the French and the militia. They, +I mean the latter only, not the former, passed just by us +yesterday, and though it was my own clan, I had not the +curiosity to go and see them. The crowds in Hyde Park, when +the King reviewed them, were unimaginable. My Lord Orford, +their colonel, I hear, looked gloriously martial and genteel, +and I believe it;(1045) his person and air have a noble +wildness in them; the regiments, too, are very becoming, +scarlet faced with black, buff waistcoats, and gold buttons. +How knights of shires, who have never shot any thing but +woodcocks, like this warfare, I don't know; but the towns +through which they pass adore them; every where they are +treated and regaled. The Prince of Wales followed them to +Kingston, and gave fifty guineas among the private men. + +I expect some anecdotes from you of the coronation at Oxford; I +hear my Lord Westmoreland's own retinue was all be-James'd with +true-blue ribands; and that because Sir William Calvert, who +was a fellow of a college, and happened to be Lord Mayor, +attended the Duke of Newcastle at his inthronization, they +dragged down the present Lord Mayor to Oxford, who is only a +dry-salter. + +I have your Butler's posthumous works.(1046) The poetry is +most uncouth and incorrect, but with infinite wit; especially +one thing on plagiaries is equal to any thirty in Hudibras. +Have you read my Lord Clarendon's? I am enchanted with it; 'tis +very incorrect, but I think more entertaining than his History. +It makes me quite out of humour with other memoirs. Adieu! + +(1045) Mr. Pitt, in a letter of this day, to Lady Hester, says, +"Nothing could make a better appearance than the two Norfolk +battalions. Lord Orford, with the port of Mars himself, and +really the genteelest figure under arms I ever saw, was the +theme of every tongue." Chatham Correspondence, vol. ii. p. +4.-E. + +(1046) "The Genuine Remains, in prose and verse, of Samuel +Butler; with notes by R. Thyer." A very pleasant review of +this work, by Oliver Goldsmith, will be found in the fourth +volume of Mr. Murray's enlarged edition of his Miscellaneous +Works.-E. + + + +500 Letter 325 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, July 26, 1759. + +I am dying in a hot street, with my eyes full of dust, and my +table full of letters to be answered--yet I must write you a +line. I am sorry your first of Augustness is disordered; I'll +tell you why. I go to Ragley on the twelfth. There is to be a +great party at loo for the Duchess of Grafton, and thence they +adjourn to the Warwick races. I have been engaged so long to +this, that I cannot put it off; besides, I am under +appointments at George Selwyn's, etc. afterwards. If you +cannot come before all this to let me have enough of your +company, I should wish you to postpone it to the first of +September, when I shall be at leisure for ten or twelve days, +and could go with you from Strawberry to the Vine; but I could +like to know certainly, for as I never make any of my visits +while Strawberry is in bloom, I am a little crowded with them +at the end of the season. + +I came this morning in all this torrent of heat from Lord +Waldegrave's at Navestock. It is a dull place, though it does +not want prospect backwards. The garden is small, consisting +of two French all`ees of old limes, that are comfortable, two +groves that are not so, and a green canal; there is besides a +paddock. The house was built by his father, and ill finished, +but an air seigneurial in the furniture; French glasses in +quantities, handsome commodes, tables, screens, etc. goodish +pictures in rich frames, and a deal of noblesse `a la St. +Germain--James the Second, Charles the Second, the Duke of +Berwick, her Grace of Buckingham, the Queen Dowager in the +dress she visited Madame Maintenon, her daughter the Princess +Louisa, a Lady Gerard that died at Joppa, returning from a +pilgrimage to Jerusalem, and above all La Goqfrey, and not at +all ugly, Though she does not show her thighs. All this is +leavened with the late King, the present King, and Queen +Caroline. I shall take care to sprinkle a little unholy water +from our well. + +I am very sorry you have been so ill; take care of yourself. +there are wicked sore-throats in vogue; poor Lady Essex and +Mrs. Charles Yorke died of them in an instant. + +Do let me have a line, and do fix a day; for instead of keeping +me at home one by fixing it, you will keep me there five or six +days by not fixing it. Adieu! + + + +501 letter 326 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, August 1, 1759. + +I have received your two letters about the watch, the first +came with surprising celerity. I wish, when the watch is +finished, I may be able to convey it to you with equal +expedition. + +Nothing is talked of here, as you may imagine, but the +invasion--yet I don't grow more credulous. Their ridiculous +lists of fifty thousand men don't contribute to frighten me-- +nay, though they specify the numbers of apothecaries and +chaplains that are to attend. Fifty thousand men cannot easily +steal a march over the sea. Sir Edward Hawke will take care of +them till winter, and by that time we shall have a great force +at land. The very militia is considerable: the spirit, or at +least the fashion of it, catches every day. We are growing +such ancient Britons, that I don't know whether I must not +mount some popguns upon the battlements of my castle, lest I +should not be thought hero enough in these West-Saxon times. +Lord Pulteney has done handsomely, and what is more surprising, +so has his father. The former has offered to raise a regiment, +and to be only lieutenant-colonel, provided the command is +given to a Colonel Crawford, an old soldier, long postponed-- +Lord Bath is at the expense, which will be five thousand +pounds. All the country squires are in regimentals --a +pedestal is making for little Lord Mountford, that he may be +placed at the head of the Cambridgeshire militia. In short, we +have two sorts of armies, and I hope neither will be +necessary--what the consequences of this militia may be +hereafter, I don't know. Indifferent I think it cannot be. A +great force upon an old plan, exploded since modern +improvements, must make some confusion. If they do not become +ridiculous, which the real officers are disposed to make them, +the crown or the disaffected will draw considerable +consequences, I think, from an establishment popular by being +constitutional, and of great weight from the property it will +contain. + +If the French pursue their vivacity in Germany, they will send +us more defenders; our eight thousand men there seem of very +little use. Both sides seem in all parts weary of the war; at +least are grown so cautious, that a battle will be as great a +curiosity in a campaign as in the midst of peace. For the +Russians, they quite make one smile; they hover every summer +over the north of Germany, get cut to pieces by September, +disappear, have a general disgraced, and in winter out comes a +memorial of the Czarina's steadiness to her engagements, and of +the mighty things she will do in spring. The Swedes follow +them like Sancho Panza, and are rejoiced at not being bound by +the laws of chivalry to be thrashed too. + +We have an evil that threatens us more nearly than the French. +The heat of the weather has produced a contagious sore-throat +in London. Mr. Yorke, the solicitor-general, has lost his +wife, his daughter, and a servant. The young Lady Essex(1047) +died of it in two days. Two servants are dead in +Newcastle-house, and the Duke has left it; any body else would +be pitied, but his terrors are sure of being a joke.(1048) My +niece, Lady Waldegrave, has done her part for repairing this +calamity, and is breeding. + + +Your Lord Northampton has not acted a much more gallant part by +his new mistress than by his fair one at Florence. When it was +all agreed, he refused to marry unless she had eighteen +thousand pounds. Eight were wanting. It looked as if he was +more attached to his old flame than to his new one; but her +uncle, Norborne Berkeley,(1049) has nobly made up the +deficiency. + +I told Mr. Fox of the wine that is coming, and he told me what +I had totally forgot, that he has left off Florence, and +chooses to have no more. He will take this parcel, but you +need not trouble yourself again. Adieu! my dear Sir, don't let +Marshal Botta terrify you: when the French dare not stir out of +any port they have, it will be extraordinary if they venture to +come into the heart of us. + +(1047) Frances, eldest daughter of Sir Charles Hanbury +Williams. See ant`e, p. 216, letter 108.-E. + +(1048) "I have heard the Duke of Newcastle is much broke ever +since his sister Castlecorner died; not that he cared for her, +or saw her above once a year: but she was the last of the brood +that was left; and he now goes regularly to church, which he +never did before." Gray, Works, vol. iii. p. 218.-E. + +(1049) Brother of the Duchess of Beaufort, mother of Lady Anne +Somerset, whom Lord Northampton did marry. (Norborne Berkeley +afterwards established his claim to the ancient barony of +Botetourt.-D.) + + + +502 Letter 327 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Aug. 8, 1759. + +If any body admires expedition, they should address themselves +to you and me, who order watches, negotiate about them by +couriers, and have them finished, with as little trouble as if +we had nothing to do, but, like the men of business in the +Arabian tales, rub a dark lantern, a genie appears, one +bespeaks a bauble worth two or three Indies, and finds it upon +one's table the next morning at breakfast. The watch was +actually finished, and delivered to your brother yesterday. I +trust to our good luck for finding quick conveyance. I did +send to the White@horse cellar here in Piccadilly, whence all +the stage-coaches set out, but there was never a genie booted +and spurred, and going to Florence on a sunbeam. If you are +not charmed with the watch, never deal with us devils any more. +If any thing a quarter so pretty was found in Herculaneum, One +should admire Roman enamellers more than their Scipios and +Caesars. The device of the second seal I stole; it is old, but +uncommon; a Cupid standing on two joined hands over the sea; si +la foy manque, l'amour perira--I hope for the honour of the +device. it will arrive before half the honeymoon is over!--But, +alack! I forget the material point; Mr. Deard, who has forty +times more virtue than if he had been taken from the plough to +be colonel of the militia, instead of one hundred and sixteen +pounds to which I pinned him down, to avoid guineas, will +positively take but one hundred and ten pounds. I did all I +could to corrupt him with six more, but he is immaculate--and +when our posterity is abominably bad, as all posterity always +is till it grows one's ancestors, I hope Mr. Deard's integrity +will be quoted to them as an instance of the virtues that +adorned the simple and barbarous age of George the Second. Oh! +I can tell you the age of George the Second is likely to be +celebrated for more primitivity than the disinterestedness of +Mr. Deard-here is such a victory come over that--it can't get +over. Mr. Yorke has sent word that a Captain Ligonier is +coming from Prince Ferdinand to tell us that his Serene +Highness has beaten Monsieur Contades to such a degree, that +every house in London is illuminated, every street has two +bonfires, every bonfire has two hundred squibs, and the poor +charming moon yonder, that never looked so well in her life, is +not at all minded, but seems only staring out of a garret +window at the frantic doings all over the town.(1050) We don't +know a single particular, but we conclude that Prince Ferdinand +received all his directions from my Lord Granby, who is the +mob's hero. We are a little afraid, if we could fear any thing +to-night, that the defeat of the Russians by General Weidel was +a mistake for this victory of Prince Ferdinand. Pray Heaven! +neither of these glories be turned sour, by staying so long at +sea! You said in your last, what slaughter must be committed +by the end of August! Alas! my dear Sir, so there is by the +beginning of it; and we, wretched creatures, are forced to be +glad of it, because the greatest part falls on our enemies. + +Fifteen hundred men have stolen from Dunkirk, and are said to +be sailed northward--some think, to Embden--too poor a pittance +surely where they thought themselves so superior, unless they +meaned to hinder our receiving our own troops from thence--as +paltry, too, if this is their invasion--but if to Scotland, not +quite a joke. However, Prince Ferdinand seems to have found +employment for the rest of their troops, and Monsieur de Botta +will not talk to you in so high a style. + +D'Aubreu, the pert Spanish minister, said the other day at +court to poor Alt, the Hessian, "Monsieur, je vous f`elicite; +Munster est pris." Mr. Pitt, who overheard this cruel +apostrophe, called out, "Et moi, Monsieur Alt, Je vous +f`elicite; les Russes sont battus." + +I am here in town almost every day; Mrs. Leneve, who has long +lived with my father, and with me, is at the point of death; +she is seventy-three, and has passed twenty-four of them in +continual ill health; so I can but wish her released. Her long +friendship with our family makes this attention a duty; +otherwise I should certainly not be in town this most gorgeous +of all summers! I should like to know in how many letters this +wonderful summer has been talked of. + +It is above two years, I think, since you sent home any of my +letters--will you by any convenient opportunity? + +Adieu! There is great impatience, as you may believe, to learn +the welfare of our young lords and heroes--there are the Duke +of Richmond, Lord Granby, Lord George Sackville, Lord Downe, +Fitzroy, General Waldegrave, and others of rank. + +(1050) "I have the joy to tell you," writes Mr. Pitt, on the +6th, to Lady Hester, "that our happy victory ne fait que +croitre et embellir: by letters come this day, the hereditary +Prince, with his troops, had passed the Weser, and attacked, +with part of them, a body of six thousand French, defeated it, +took many prisoners, some trophies and +cannon: M. de Contades's baggage, coaches, mules, letters, and +correspondences have fallen into our hands. Words in letters +say, 'qu'on se lasse de prendre des prisoniers.'" Chatham +Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 8.-E. + + + +504 Letter 328 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, Aug. 9, 1759. + +Unless your Colonel Johnson is a man of no note, he is well. +for we have not lost one officer of any note--now will you +conclude that we are beaten, and will be crying and roaring all +night for Hanover. Lord! where do you live? If you had any +ears, as I have none left with the noise, you would have heard +the racket that was made from morning till night yesterday on +the news of the victory(1051) gained by Prince Ferdinand over +the French. He has not left so many alive as there are at any +periwig-maker's in London. This is all we know, the +particulars are to come at their leisure, and with all the +gravity due to their importance. If the King's heart were not +entirely English, I believe he would be complimented with the +title of Germanicus from the name of the country where this +great event happened; for we don't at all know the precise +spot, nor has the battle yet been christened--all that is +certain is, that the poor Duke(1052) is neither father nor +godfather. + +I was sent for to town yesterday, as Mrs. Leneve was at the +point of death: but she has had a surprising change, and may +linger on still. I found the town distracted, and at night it +was beautiful beyond description. As the weather was so hot, +every window was open, and all the rails illuminated; every +street had one or two bonfires, the moon was in all its glory, +the very middle of the streets crowded with officers and people +of fashion talking of the news. Every squib in town got drunk, +and rioted about the streets till morning. Two of our +regiments are said to have suffered much, of which Napier's +most. Adieu! If you should be over-English with this, there is +a party of one thousand five hundred men stolen out of Dunkirk, +that some weeks hence may bring you to your senses again, +provided they are properly planted and watered in Scotland. + +(1051) At the battle of Minden. + +(1052) Duke of Cumberland. + + + +505 Letter 329 +To The Earl Of Strafford. +Strawberry Hill, Thursday, 3 o'clock, August 9, 1759. + +My dear lord, +Lord Granby has entirely defeated the French!--The foreign +gazettes, I suppose, will give this victory to Prince +Ferdinand: but the mob of London, whom I have this minute left, +and who must know best, assure me that it is all their own +Marquis's doing. Mr. Yorke(1053) was the first to send this +news, "to be laid with himself and all humility at his +Majesty's feet",(1054) about eleven o'clock yesterday morning. +At five this morning came Captain Ligonier, who was despatched +in such a hurry that he had not time to pack up any particulars +in his portmanteau: those we are expecting with our own army, +who we conclude are now at Paris, and will be tomorrow night at +Amiens. All we know is, that not one Englishman is killed, nor +one Frenchman left alive. If you should chance to meet a +bloody wagon-load of heads, you will be sure that it is the +part of the spoils that came to Downe's share, and going to be +hung up in the great hall at Cowick.(1055) + +We have a vast deal of other good news; but as not one word of +it is true, I thought you would be content with this victory. +His Majesty is in high spirits, and is to make -,a triumphal +entry into Hanover on Tuesday fortnight. I envy you the +illuminations and rejoicings that will be made at Worksop on +this occasion. + +Four days ago we had a great victory over the Russians; but in +the hurry of this triumph it has somehow or other been mislaid, +and nobody can tell where to find it:--however, it is not given +over for lost. + +Adieu, my dear lord! As I have been so circumstantial in the +account of this battle, I will not tire you with any thing +else. My compliments to the lady of the menagerie. I see your +new offices rise(1056) every day in a very respectable manner. + +(1053) Afterwards Lord Dover,, then Minister at the Hague. + +(1054) The words of his despatch. + +(1055) Lord Downe's seat in Yorkshire. + +(1056) At Lord Strafford's house at Twickenham. + + + +506 Letter 330 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway.(1057) +Arlington Street, Aug. 14, 1759. + +I am here in the most unpleasant way in the world, attending +poor Mrs. Leneve's deathbed, a spectator of all the horrors of +tedious suffering and clear sense, and with no one soul to +speak to-but I will not tire you with a description of what has +quite worn me out. + +Probably by this time you have seen the Duke of Richmond or +Fitzroy--but lest you should not, I will tell you all I can +learn, and a wonderful history it is. Admiral Byng was not +more unpopular than Lord George Sackville. I should scruple +repeating his story, if Betty(1058) and the waiters at Arthur's +did not talk of it publicly, and thrust Prince Ferdinand's +orders into one's hand. + +You have heard, I suppose, of the violent animosities that have +reigned for the whole campaign between him and Lord Granby--in +which some other warm persons have been very warm too. In the +heat of the battle, the Prince, finding thirty-six squadrons of +French coming down upon our army, sent Ligonier to order our +thirty-two squadrons, under Lord George to advance. During +that transaction, the French appeared to waver; and Prince +Ferdinand, willing, as it is supposed, to give the honour to +the British horse of terminating the day, sent Fitzroy to bid +Lord George bring up only the British cavalry. Ligonier had +but just delivered his message, when Fitzroy came with his.- +-Lord George said, "This can't be so--would he have me break +the line? here is some mistake." Fitzroy replied, he had not +argued upon the orders, but those were the orders. "Well!" said +Lord George, "but I want a guide." Fitzroy said, he would be +his guide. Lord George, "Where is the Prince?" Fitzroy, "I +left him at the head of the left wing, I don't know where he is +now." Lord George said he would go seek him, and have this +explained. Smith then asked Fitzroy, to repeat the orders to +him; which being done, Smith went and whispered Lord George, +who says he then bid Smith carry up the cavalry: Smith is come, +and says he is ready to answer any body any question. Lord +George says, Prince Ferdinand's behaviour to him has been most +infamous, has asked leave to resign his command, and to come +over, which is granted., Prince Ferdinand's behaviour is summed +up in the enclosed extraordinary paper; which you will doubt as +I did, but which is certainly genuine. I doubted, because, in +the military, I thought direct disobedience of orders was +punished with an immediate -arrest, and because the last +paragraph seemed to me very foolish. The going Out Of the way +to compliment Lord Granby with what he would have done, seems +to take off a little from the compliments paid to those that +have done something; but, in short, Prince Ferdinand or Lord +George, one of them, is most outrageously in the wrong, and the +latter has much the least chance of being thought in the right. + +The particulars I tell you, I collect from the most accurate, +authorities.--I make no comments on Lord George, it would look +like a little dirty court to you; and the best compliment I can +make you, is to think, as I do, that you will be the last man +to enjoy this revenge. + +You will be sorry for poor M'Kinsey and Lady Betty, who have +lost their only child at Turin. Adieu! + +(1057) Now first printed. + +(1058) A celebrated fruit-shop in St. James's Street. + +(1059) Mr. Pitt in a letter of the 15th to Lord Bute, says, +"The king has given leave to Lord George Sackville to return to +England; his lordship having in a letter to Lord Holderness, +requested to be recalled from his command. This mode of +returning, your lordship will perceive, is a very considerable +softening of his misfortune. The current in all parts bears +hard upon him. As I have already, so I shall continue to give +him, as a most unhappy man, all the offices of humanity which +our first, sacred duty, the public good, will allow." Chatham +Correspondence, vol. i. p. 417.-E. + + + +507 Letter 331 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, August 29, 1759. + +Truly I don't know whether one is to be rejoicing or lamenting! +Every good heart is a bonfire for Prince Ferdinand's success, +and a funeral pile for the King of Prussia's defeat.(1060) Mr. +Yorke, who every week," "lays himself most humbly at the King's +feet" with some false piece of news, has almost ruined us in +illuminations for defeated victories--we were singing Te Deums +for the King of Prussia, when he was actually reduced to be +King of Custrin, for he has not only lost his neighbour's +capital, but his own too. Mr. Bentley has long said, that we +should see him at Somerset House next winter; and really I +begin to be afraid that he will not live to write the history +of the war himself-I shall be content, if he is forced to do it +even by subscription. Oh, that Daun! how he sits silent on his +drum, and shoves the King a little and a little farther out of +the world! The most provoking part of all is, (for I am mighty +soon comforted when a hero tumbles from the top of Fame's +steeple and breaks his neck,) that that tawdry toad, +Bruhl(1061) Will make a triumphant entry into the ruins of +Dresden, and rebuild all his palaces with what little money +remains in the country! + +The mob, to comfort themselves under these mishaps, and for the +disappointment of a complete victory, that might have been more +compleater, are new grinding their teeth and nails, to tear +Lord George(1062) to pieces the instant he lands. If he finds +more powerful friends than poor Admiral Byng, assure yourself +he has ten thousand times the number of personal enemies; I was +going to say real, but Mr. Byng's were real enough, with no +reason to be personal. I don't talk of the event itself', for +I suppose all Europe knows just as much as we know here. I +suspend my opinion till Lord George speaks himself--but I pity +his father, who has been so unhappy in his sons, who loved this +so much, and who had such fair prospects for him. Lord +George's fall is prodigious; nobody stood higher, nobody has +more ambition or more sense. + +You, I suppose, are taking leave of your new King of +Spain,(1064)--what a bloody war is saved by this death, by its +happening in the midst of one that cannot be more bloody! I +detest a correspondence now; it lives like a vampire upon dead +bodies! Adieu! I have nothing to write about. + +P. S. I forgot to ask you if you are not shocked with +Bellisle's letter to Contades? The French ought to behave with +more spirit than they do, before they give out such sanguinary +orders--@,iii(I if they did, I should think they would not give +such orders. And did not YOU laugh at the enormous folly of +Bellisle's conclusion? It is so foolish, that I think he might +fairly disavow it. It puts me in mind of a ridiculous passage +in Racine's Bajazet, +----"et s'il faut que je meure, +Mourons, moi, cher Osmin, comme un Visir; et toi +Comme le favori d'un homme tel que moi." + +(1060) Prince Ferdinand's victory was the celebrated battle of +Minden, won from the French on the 1st of August; the King of +Prussia's defeat was that of Kunersdorf, lost to the Russians +on the 12th of August.-D. + +(1061) Count Bruhl, favourite and prime minister of Augustus +the Third, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony. + +(1063) Lord George Sackville, disgraced at the battle of +Minden. + +(1064) Charles the Third, King of Naples, who had just become +King of Spain, by the death of his elder brother.-D. + + + +508 Letter 332 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Sept. 13, 1759. + +With your unathletic constitution I think you will have a +greater weight of glory to represent than you can bear. You +will be as `epuis`e as Princess Craon with all the triumphs +over Niagara, Ticonderoga, Crown Point, and such a parcel of +long names. You will ruin yourself in French horns, to exceed +those of Marshal Botta, who has certainly found a pleasant way +of announcing victories. Besides, all the West Indies, which we +have taken by a panic, there is Admiral Boscawen has demolished +the Toulon squadron, and has made you Viceroy of the +Mediterranean. I really believe the French will Come hither +now, for they can be safe nowhere else. If the King of Prussia +should be totally undone in Germany, we can afford to give him +an appanage, as a younger son of England, of some hundred +thousand miles on the Ohio. Sure universal monarchy was never +so put to shame as that of France! What a figure do they make! +they seem to have no ministers, no generals, no soldiers! If +any thing could be more ridiculous than their behaviour in the +field, it would be in the cabinet! Their invasion appears not +to have been designed against us, but against their own people, +who, they fear, will mutiny, and to quiet whom they disperse +expresses, with accounts of the progress of their arms in +England. They actually have established posts to whom the +people are directed to send their letters for their friends in +England. If, therefore, you hear that the French have +established themselves at Exeter or Norwich, don't be alarmed, +nor undeceive the poor women who are writing to their husbands +for English baubles. + +We have lost another Princess, Lady Elizabeth.(1065) She died +of an inflammation in her bowels in two days. Her figure was +so very unfortunate, that it would have been difficult for her +to be happy, but her parts and application -were extraordinary. +I saw her act in "Cato" at eight years old, (when she could not +stand alone, but was forced to lean against the side-scene,) +better than any of her brothers and sisters. She had been so +unhealthy, that at that age she had not been taught to read, +but had learned the part of Lucia by hearing the others study +their parts. She went to her father and mother, and begged she +might act. They put her off as gently as they could--she +desired leave to repeat her part, and when she did, it was with +so much sense, that there was no denying her. + +I receive yours of August 25. To all your alarms for the King +of Prussia I subscribe. With little Brandenburgh he could not +exhaust all the forces of Bohemia, Hungary, Austria, Muscovy, +Siberia, Tartary, Sweden, etc. etc. etc.--but not to +politicize too much, I believe the world will come to be fought +for somewhere between the North of Germany and the back of +Canada, between Count Daun and Sir William Johnson.(1066) + +You guessed right about the King of Spain; he is dead, and the +Queen Dowager may once more have an opportunity of embroiling +the little of Europe that remains unembroiled. + +Thank you, my dear Sir, for the Herculaneum and Caserta that +you are sending me. I wish the watch may arrive safe, to show +you that I am not insensible to all your attentions for me, but +endeavour, at a great distance, to imitate you in the execution +of commissions. + +I would keep this letter back for a post, that I might have but +one trouble of sending you Quebec too; but when one has taken +so many places, it is not worth while to wait for one more. + +Lord George Sackville, the hero of all conversation, if one can +be so for not being a hero, is arrived. He immediately applied +for a court-martial, but was told it was impossible now, as the +officers necessary are in Germany. This was in writing from +Lord Holderness--but Lord Ligonier in words was more squab--"If +he wanted a court-martial, he might go seek it in Germany." All +that could be taken from him is his regiment, above two +thousand pounds a-year: commander in Germany at ten pounds +a-day, between three and four thousand pounds: +lieutenant-general of the ordnance, one thousand five hundred +pounds: a fort, three hundred pounds. He remains with a patent +place in Ireland, of one thousand two hundred pounds, and about +two thousand pounds a-year of his own and wife's. With his +parts and ambition, it cannot end here; he calls himself +ruined, but when the Parliament meets, he will probably attempt +some sort of revenge. + +They attribute, I don't know with what grounds, a sensible kind +of plan to the French; that De la Clue was to have pushed for +Ireland, Thurot for Scotland, and the Brest fleet for England-- +but before they lay such great plans, they should take care of +proper persons to execute them. + +I cannot help shifting at the great objects of our letters. We +never converse on a less topic than a kingdom. We are a kind +of citizens of the world, and battles and revolutions are the +common incidents of our neighbourhood. But that is and must be +the case of distant correspondences: Kings and Empresses that +we never saw are the only persons we can be acquainted with in +common. We can have no more familiarity than the Daily +Advertiser would have if it wrote to the Florentine Gazette. +Adieu! My compliments to any monarch that lives within five +hundred miles of you. + +(1065) Second daughter of Frederick Prince of Wales. + +(1066) The American general. + + + +510 Letter 333 +To The Earl Of Strafford. +Arlington Street, Sept. 13, 1759. + +My dear lord, +You are very good to say you would accept of my letters, though +I should have no particular news to tell you; but at present it +would be treating heroes and conquerors with great +superciliousness, if I made use of your indulgence and said +nothing of them. We have taken more places and ships in a week +than would have set up such pedant nations as Greece and Rome +to all futurity. If we did but call Sir William Johnson +"Gulielmus Johnsonus Niagaricus," and Amherst "Galfridus +Amhersta Ticonderogicus," we should be quoted a thousand years +hence as the patterns of valour, virtue, and disinterestedness; +for posterity always ascribes all manner of modesty and +self-denial to those that take the most pains to perpetuate +their own glory. Then Admiral Boscawen has, in a very Roman +style, made free with the coast of Portugal, and used it to +make a bonfire of the French fleet. When Mr. Pitt was told of +this infraction of a neutral territory, he replied, "It is very +true, but they are burned." In short, we want but a little +more insolence and a worse cause to make us a very classic +nation. + +My Lady Townshend, who has not learning enough to copy a +Spartan mother, has lost her youngest son.(1067) I saw her +this morning --her affectation is on t'other side she affects +grief--but not so much for the son she has lost, as for t'other +that she may lose. + +Lord George is come, has asked for a court-martial, was put +off; and is turned out of every thing. Waldegrave has his +regiment, for what he did; and Lord Granby the ordnance--for +what he would have done. + +Lord Northampton is to be married(1068) to-night in full +Comptonhood. I am indeed happy that Mr. Campbell(1069) is a +general; but how will his father like being the dowager-general +Campbell? + +You are very kind, my lord (but that is not new,) in +interesting Yourself about Strawberry Hill. I have just +finished a Holbein-chamber, that I flatter myself you will not +dislike; and I have begun to build a new printing-house, that +the old one may make room for the gallery and round tower. +This noble summer is not yet over us--it seems to have cut a +colt's week-. I never write without talking of it, and should +be glad to know in how many letters this summer has been +mentioned. + +I have lately been at Wilton, and was astonished at the heaps +of rubbish. The house is grand, and the place glorious; but I +should shovel three parts of the marbles and pictures into the +river. Adieu, my lord and lady! + +(1067) The Hon. Roger Townshend, third son of Viscount +Townshend, killed at Ticonderoga on the 25th of July.-E. + +(1068) To Lady Anne Somerset. + +(1069) Afterwards Duke of Argyle. + + + +511 Letter 334 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway.(1070) +Arlington Street, Sept. 13, 1759. + +I intended to send you the brief chronicle of Lord George +Sackville but your brother says he has writ to you this +morning. If you want to know minute particulars, which neither +he nor I should care to detail in a letter, I will tell you +them if you will call for a minute at Strawberry on Sunday or +Monday, as you go to your camp. I ask this boldly, though I +have not been with you; but it was impossible; George Montagu +and his brother returned to Strawberry with me from the Vine, +and I am expecting Mr. Churchill and Lady Mary, who sent me +word they would come to me as soon as I came back, and I think +you will find them with me. + +Lady Mary Coke is stripping off all the plumes that she has +been wearing for Niagara, etc., and is composing herself into +religious melancholy against to-morrow night, when she goes to +Princess Elizabeth's burial. I passed this whole morning most +deliciously at my Lady Townshend's. Poor Roger, for whom she +is not concerned, has given her a hint that her hero George may +be mortal too; she scarce spoke, unless to improve on some +bitter thing that Charles said, who was admirable. He made me +all the speeches that Mr. Pitt will certainly make next winter, +in every one of which Charles says, and I believe, he will talk +of this great campaign, "memorable to all posterity with all +its imperfections-a campaign which, though obstructed, cramped, +maimed--but I will say no more." + +The campaign in Ireland, I hear, will be very warm; the Primate +is again to be the object; Ponsonby, commander against him. +Lord George's situation will not help the Primate's. Adieu! + +(1070) Now first printed. + +512 Letter 335 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, Saturday, October 11, 1759. + +I don't desire any such conviction of your being ill as seeing +you nor can you wonder that I wish to persuade myself that what +I should be very sorry for, never happens. Poor Fred. +Montagu's gout seems more serious: I am concerned that he has +so much of a judge in him already. + +You are very good in thinking of me about the sofas; but you +know the Holbein chamber is complete, and old matters arc not +flung away upon you yourself Had not you rather have your sofa +than Lord Northampton's running footman? Two hundred years +hence one might be amused with reading of so fantastic a dress, +but they are horrid in one's own time. Mr. Bentley and I go +to-morrow to Chaffont for two or three days. Mr. Chute is at +the Vine already, but, I believe, will be in town this week. + +I don't know whether it proceeds from the menaced invasion or +the last comet, but we are all dying of heat. Every body has +put out their fires, and, if it lasts, I suppose will next week +make summer clothes. The mornings are too hot for walking: +last night I heard of strawberries. I impute it to the hot +weather that my head has been turned enough to contend with the +bards of the newspapers. You have seen the French epigram on +Madame Pompadour, and fifty vile translations of it. Here IS +Mine-- + +O yes! here are flat-bottom boats to be sold, +And soldiers to let-rather hungry than bold: +Here are ministers richly deserving to swing, +And commanders whose recompense should be a string. +O France! still your fate you may lay at Pitt's door; +You were saved by a Maid, and undone by a * * * + +People again believe the invasion; and I don't wonder, +considering how great a militia we have, with such a boy as you +mention. I own, before I begin to be afraid, I have a little +curiosity to see the militia tried. I think one shall at least +laugh before one cries. Adieu! what time have you fixed for +looking southwards? + +P. S. Your pictures you may have when you please; I think you +had better stay and take them with you, than risk the rubbing +them by the wagon. Mr. M`untz has not been lately in town-- +that is, Hannah has drawn no bill on him lately--so he knows +nothing of your snuff-box. This it is to trust to my vivacity, +when it is past Its bloom. Lord! I am a mere antiquarian, a +mere painstaking mortal. Mr. Bentley says, that if all +antiquarians were like me, there would be no such thing as an +antiquarian, for I set down every thing, SO circumstantially +that I leave them nothing to find out. + + + +513 Letter 336 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway.(1071) +Strawberry Hill, October 14th, 1759. + +If Strawberry Hill was not so barren of events as Chatham, I +would have writ to you again; nay, if it did not produce the +very same events. Your own Light Horse are here, and commit +the only vivacities of the place--two or three of them are in +the cage every day for some mischief or other. Indeed, they +seem to have been taken from school too soon, and, as Rigby +said of some others of these new troops, the moment their +exercise is over, they all go a bird's-nesting. If the French +load their flat-bottom boats with rods instead of muskets, I +fear all our young heroes will run away. The invasion seems +again come into fashion: I wish it would come, that one might +hear no more of it--nay, I wish it for two or three reasons. +If they don't come, we shall still be fatigued with the +militia, who will never go to plough again till they see an +enemy: if there is a peace before the militia runs away, one +shall be robbed every day by a constitutional force. I want +the French too, to have come, that you may be released; but +that will not be soon enough for me, who am going to +Park-place. I came from Chaffont to-day, and I cannot let the +winter appear without making my Lady Ailesbury a visit. +Hitherto my impediments may have looked like excuses, though +they were nothing less. Lady Lyttelton goes on Wednesday: I +propose to follow her on Monday; but I won't announce myself, +that I may not be disappointed, and be a little more welcome by +the surprise; though I should be very ungrateful, if I affected +to think that I wanted that. + +I cannot say I have read the second letter on Lord George: but +I have done what will satisfy the booksellers more; I have +bought nine or ten pamphlets: my library shall be au fait about +him, but I have an aversion to paper wars, and I must be a +little more interested than I am about him, before I can attend +to them: my head is to be filled with more sacred trash. + +The Speaker was here t'other day, and told me of the intimacy +between his son and you and the militia. He says the lawyers +are examining whether Lord George can be tried or not. I am +sorry Lord Stormont is marriediski;(1072) he will pass his life +under the north pole, and whip over to Scotland by way of +Greenland without coming to London. + +I dined t'other day at Sion with the Holdernesses; Lady Mary +Coke was there, and in this great dearth of candidates she +permits Haslang to die for her. They were talking in the +bow-window, when a sudden alarm being given that dinner was on +the table, he expressed great joy and appetite. You can't +imagine how she was offended. Adieu! + +(1071) Now first printed. + +(1072) Lord Stormont had recently married Henrietta Frederica, +daughter of count Bunau, of Saxony.-E. + + + +514 Letter 337 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Oct. 16, 1759. + +I love to prepare your countenance for every event that may +happen, for an ambassador, who is nothing but an actor, should +be that greatest of actors, a philosopher; and with the leave +of wise men (that is, hypocrites), philosophy I hold to be +little more than presence of mind now undoubtedly preparation +is a prodigious help to presence of mind. In short, you must +not be surprised that we have failed at Quebec, as we certainly +shall. You may say, if you please, in the style of modern +politics that your court never supposed it could be taken; the +attempt was only made to draw off the Russians from the King of +Prussia, and leave him at liberty to attack Daun. Two days ago +came letters from Wolfe, despairing, as much as heroes can +despair The town is well victualled, Amherst is not arrived, +and fifteen thousand men encamped defend it. We have lost many +men by the enemy, and some by our friends-that is, we now call +our nine thousand only seven thousand. How this little army +will get away from a much larger, and in this season in that +country, I don't guess--yes, I do. + +You may be making up a little philosophy too against the +invasion, which is again come into fashion, and with a few +trifling incidents in its favour, such as our fleet dispersed +and driven from their coasts by a great storm. Before that, +they were actually embarking, but with so ill a grace that an +entire regiment mutinied, and they say is broke. We now expect +them in Ireland, unless this dispersion of our fleet tempts +them hither. If they do not come in a day or two, I shall give +them over. + +You will see in our gazettes that we make a great figure in the +East Indies. In short, Mr. Pitt and this little island appear +of some consequence even in the map of the world. He is a new +sort of Fabius, + +----Qui verbis restituit rem. + +Have you yet received the -watch? I see your poor Neapolitan +Prince(1073) is at last set aside--I should honour Dr. Serrao's +integrity, if I did not think it was more humane to subscribe +to the poor boy's folly, than hazard his being poisoned by +making it doubtful. + +My charming niece is breeding--you see I did not make my lord +Waldegrave an useless present. Adieu! my dear Sir. + +(1073) The King's second son, Don Philip, set aside for being +in a state of incurable idiotcy.-E. + + + +514 Letter 338 +To The Hon. H. S. Conway. +Strawberry Hill, Oct. 18, 1759. + +I intended my visit to Park-place to show my lady Ailesbury +that when I come hither it is not solely on your account, and +yet I will not quarrel with my journey thither if I should find +you there; but seriously I cannot help begging you to think +whether you will go thither or not, just now. My first thought +about you has ever been what was proper for you to do; and +though you are the man in the world that think of that the most +yourself, yet you know I have twenty scruples, which even you +sometimes laugh at. I will tell them to You, and then you will +judge, as you can best. Sir Edward Hawke and his fleet is +dispersed, at least driven back to Plymouth: the French, if one +may believe that they have broken a regiment for mutinying +against embarking, were actually embarked at that instant. The +most sensible people I know, always thought they would postpone +their invasion, if ever they intended it, till our great ships +could not keep the sea, or were eaten up by the scurvy. Their +ports are now free; their situation is desperate: the new +account of our taking Quebec leaves them in the most deplorable +condition; they will be less able than ever to raise money, we +have got ours for next year; and this event +would facilitate it, if we had not: they must try for a + peace, they have nothing to go to market with but +Minorca. In short, if they cannot strike some desperate blow +in this island or Ireland, they are undone: the loss of twenty +thousand men to do us some mischief, would +be cheap. I should even think Madame Pompadour in danger of +being torn to pieces, if they did not make some attempt. +Madame Maintenon, not half so unpopular, mentions in one of her +letters her unwillingness to trust her niece Mademoiselle + Aumale on the road, for fear of some such +accident. You will smile perhaps at all this reasoning and +pedantry; but it tends to this--if desperation should send the +French somewhere, and the wind should force them to your coast, +which I do not suppose their object, and you should be out of +the way, you know what your enemies would say; and strange as +it is, even you have been proved to have enemies. + My dear Sir, think of this! Wolfe, as I am convinced, has +fallen a sacrifice to his rash blame of +you. If I understand any thing in the + world, his letter that came on Sunday said this: "Qu`ebec +is impregnable; it is flinging away the lives of brave men to +attempt it. I am in the situation of Conway at +Rochefort; but having blamed him, I must do what I now see he +was in the right to see was wrong and yet what he would have +done; and as I am commander-, which he was not, I have the +melancholy power of doing what he was prevented doing."(1074) +Poor man! his life has paid the price of his injustice; and as +his death has purchased such benefit to his country, I lament +him, as I am sure you, who have twenty times more courage and +good-nature than I have, do too. In short, I, who never did +any thing right or prudent myself, (not, I am afraid, for want +of knowing what was so,) am content with your being perfect, +and with suggesting any thing to you that may tend to keep you +so;--and (what is not much to the present purpose) if such a +pen as mine can effect it, the world hereafter shall know that +you was so. In short, I have pulled down my Lord Falkland, and +desire you will take care that I may speak the truth when I +erect you in his place; for remember, I love truth even better +than I love you. I always confess my own faults, and I will +not palliate yours. But, laughing apart, if you think there is +no weight in what I say, I shall gladly meet you at Park-place, +whither I shall go on Monday, and stay as long as I can, unless +I hear from you to the contrary. If you should think I have +hinted any thing to you of consequence, would not it be +handsome, if, after receiving leave you should write to my Lord +Llegonier, that though you had been at home but one week in the +whole summer, yet there might be occasion for your presence in +the camp, you should decline the permission he had given you?- +-See what it is to have a wise relation, who preaches a +thousand fine things to you which he would be the last man in +the world to practise himself. Adieu! + +(1074) General Wolfe's letter, written four days before his +death, which will be found in the Chatham Correspondence, does +not contain a single sentence which can be tortured into the +construction here given to it. "The extreme heat of the weather +in August," he says, "and a good deal of fatigue, threw me into +a fever; but that the business might go on, I begged the +generals to consider amongst themselves what was fittest to be +done. Their sentiments were unanimous, that (as the easterly +winds begin to blow, and ships can pass the town in the night +with provisions, Artillery, etc.) we "should endeavour, by +conveying a considerable corps into the upper river, to draw +them from their inaccessible situation and bring them to an +action. I agreed to the proposal; and we are now here, with +about three thousand six Hundred men, waiting an opportunity to +attack them, when and wherever they can best be got at. The +weather has been extremely unfavourable for a day or two, so +that we have been inactive. I am so far recovered as to do +business; but my constitution is entirely ruined, without the +consolation of having done any considerable service to the +state, or without any prospect of it." Walpole, however, in +his animated description of the capture of Quebec, in his +Memoires, does ample justice to the character of Wolfe. "His +fall," he says, "was noble indeed. He received a wound in the +head, but covered it from his soldiers with his handkerchief. +A second ball struck him in the belly: that too he dissembled. +A third hitting him on the breast, he sunk under the anguish, +and was carried behind the ranks. Yet, fast as life ebbed out, +his whole anxiety centred on the fortune of the day. He begged +to be borne nearer to the action; but his sight being dimmed by +the approach of death, he entreated to know what they who +supported him saw; he was answered, that the enemy gave ground; +he eagerly repeated the question; heard the enemy was totally +routed; cried, 'I am satisfied!' and expired."-E. + + + +516 Letter 339 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Strawberry Hill, Oct. 19, 1759. + +I had no occasion to be in such a hurry to prepare your +ambassadorial countenance; if I had stayed but one day more, I +might have left its muscles to behave as they pleased. The +notification of a probable disappointment at Quebec came only +to heighten the pleasure of the conquest. You may now give +yourself what airs you please, you are master of East and West +Indies. An ambassador is the only man in the world whom +bullying becomes: I beg your pardon, but you are spies, if you +are not bragadochios. All precedents are on your side: +Persians, Greeks, Romans, always insulted their neighbours when +they conquered Quebec. Think how pert the French would have +been on such an occasion, and remember that they are Austrians +to whom you are to be saucy. You see, I write as if my name +was Belleisle and yours Contades. + +It was a very singular affair, the generals on both sides +slain, and on both sides the second in command wounded; in +short, very near what battles should be, in which only the +principals ought to suffer. If their army has not ammunition +and spirit enough to fall again upon ours before Amherst comes +up, all North America is ours! + +Poetic justice could not have been executed with more rigour +than it has been on the perjury, treachery, and usurpations of +the French. I hope Mr.-Pitt will not leave them at the next +treaty an opportunity of committing so many national crimes +again. How they or we can make a peace, I don't see; can we +give all back, or they give all up? No, they must come hither; +they have nothing left for @it but to conquer us. + +Don't think it is from forgetting to tell you particulars, that +I tell you none; I am here, and don't know one but what you +will see in the Gazette, and by which it appears that the +victory was owing to the impracticability, as the French +thought, and to desperate resolution on our side. What a +scene! an army in the night dragging itself up a precipice by +stumps of trees to assault a town and attack an army strongly +entrenched and double in numbers! + +Adieu ! I think I shall not write to you again this +twelvemonth; for, like Alexander, we have no more worlds left +to conquer. + +P. S. Monsieur Thurot is said to be sailed with his tiny +squadron --but can the lords of America be afraid of half a +dozen canoes ? Mr. Chute is sitting by me, and says, nobody is +more obliged to Mr. Pitt than you are: he has raised you from a +very comfortable situation to hold your head above the Capitol. + + + +517 Letter 340 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Strawberry Hill, Oct. 21, 1759. + +Your pictures shall be sent as soon as any of us go to London, +but I think that will not be till the Parliament meets. Can we +easily leave the remains of such a year as this? It is still +all gold. I have not dined or gone to bed by a fire till the +day before yesterday. Instead of the glorious and +ever-memorable year 1759, as the newspapers call it, I call it +this ever-warm and victorious year. We have not had more +conquest than fine weather: one would think we had plundered +East and West Indies of sunshine. Our bells are worn +threadbare with ringing for victories. I believe it will +require ten votes of the House of Commons before the people +will believe it is the Duke of Newcastle that has done this, +and not Mr. Pitt. One thing is very fatiguing--all the world +is made knights or generals. Adieu I don't know a word of news +less than the conquest of America. Adieu! yours ever. + +P ' S. You shall hear from me again if we take Mexico or China +before Christmas. + +P. S. I had sealed my letter, but break it open again, +having forgot to tell you that Mr. Cowslade has the pictures of +Lord and Lady Cutts, and is willing to sell them. + + + +518 Letter 341 +To The Earl Of Strafford. +Strawberry Hill, October 30th, 1759. + +My dear lord, +It would be very extraordinary indeed if I was not glad to see +one Whose friendship does me so much honour as your lordship's, +and who always expresses so much kindness to me. I have an +additional reason for thanking you now, when you are creating a +building after the design of the Strawberry committee. It will +look, I fear, very selfish if I pay it a visit next year; and +yet it answers so many selfish purposes that I certainly shall. + +My ignorance of all the circumstances relating to Quebec is +prodigious; I have contented myself with the rays of' glory +that reached hither, without going to London to bask in them. +I have not even seen the conqueror's mother(1075) though I hear +she has covered herself with more laurel-leaves than were +heaped on the children of the wood. + +Seriously it is very great; and as I am too inconsiderable to +envy Mr. Pitt, I give him all the honour he deserves. + +I passed all the last week at Park-place, where one of the +bravest men in the world, who is not permitted to contribute to +our conquests, was indulged in being the happiest by being with +one of the most deserving women--for Campbell-goodness no more +wears out than Campbell-beauty--all their good qualities are +huckaback.(1076) YOU See the Duchess(1077) has imbibed so much +of' their durableness, that she is good-humoured enough to dine +at a tavern at seventy-six. + +Sir William Stanhope wrote to Mrs. Ellis,(1078) that he had +pleased himself, having seen much of Mr. Nugent and Lady +Berkeley this summer, and having been so charmed with the +felicity of their menage, that he could not resist marrying +again. His daughter replied, that it had always been her +opinion, that people should please themselves, and that she was +glad he had; but as to taking the precedent of Lady Berkeley, +she hoped it would answer in nothing but in my Lady Stanhope +having three children the first year. You see, my lord, Mrs. +Ellis has bottled up her words(1079) till they sparkle at last! + +I long to have your approbation of my Holbein-chamber; it has a +comely sobriety that I think answers very well to the tone it +should have. My new printing-house is finished, in order to +pull down the old one, and lay the foundations next summer of +my round tower. Then follows the gallery and chapel-cabinet. +I hear your lordship has tapped your magnificent front too. +Well, when all your magnificences and minimificences are +finished, then, we--won't sit down and drink, as Pyrrhus +said,--no, I trust we shall never conclude our plans so +filthily: then--I fear we shall begin others. Indeed, I don't +know what the Countess may do: if she imitates her mother, she +will go to a tavern at fourscore, and then she and Pyrrhus may +take a bottle together---I hope she will live to try at least +whether she likes it. -Adieu, both! + +(1075) Lady Townshend. On the death of General Wolfe, Colonel +Townshend received the surrender. + +(1076) Lady Ailesbury and Lady Strafford, both preserved their +beauty so long, that Mr. Walpole called them huck(iback +beauties, that never wear out. + +(1077) The Duchess of Argyle, widow of John Campbell, Duke of +Argyle, and mother to Lady Strafford. + +(1078) His daughter. + +(1079) She was very silent. + + + +519 Letter 342 +To The Right Hon. Lady Hervey. +Saturday, Nov. 3d, 1759. + +Poor Robins' Almanack. Thick fogs, and some wet. Go not out of +town. Gouts and rheumatisms are abroad. Warm clothes, good +fires, and a room full of pictures, glasses, and scarlet damask +are the best physic. + +In short, for fear your ladyship should think of Strawberry on +Saturday, I can't help telling you that I am to breakfast at +Petersham that day with Mr. Fox and Lady Caroline, Lord and +Lady Waldegrave. How did you like the farce? George Selwyn +says he wants to see High Life below Stairs (1080) as he is +weary of low life above stairs. + +(1080) This popular' farce was written by the Rev. James +Townley, high master of Merchant Tailors' School . Dr, Johnson +said of it, "Here is a farce which is really very diverting +when you see it acted, and yet one may read it and not know +that one has been reading any thing at all;" and of the actors, +Goldsmith tells us, that "Mr. Palmer and Mr. King were entirely +what they desired to represent; and Mrs. Clive (but what need I +talk of her, since without exaggeration she has more true +humour than any actor or actress, upon the English or any other +stage, I have seen), she, I say, did the part all the justice +it was capable of." In England it was very successful; but in +Edinburgh the gentlemen of the party-coloured livery raised +violent riots in the theatre whenever it was performed.-E. + + + +519 Letter 343 +To George Montagu, Esq. +Arlington Street, Nov. 8, 1759. + +Your pictures will set out on Saturday; I give you notice that +you may inquire for them. I did not intend to be here these +three days, but my Lord Bath taking the trouble to send a man +and horse to ask me to dinner yesterday, I did not know how to +refuse; and, besides, as Mr. Bentley said to me, "you know he +was an old friend of your father." + +The town is empty, but is coming to dress itself for Saturday. +My Lady Coventry showed George Selwyn her clothes; they are +blue, with spots of silver, of the size of a shilling, and a +silver trimming, and cost--my lord will know what. She asked +George how he liked them; he replied, "Why, you will be change +for a guinea." + +I find nothing talked of but the French bankruptcy;(1081) Sir +Robert Brown, I hear--and am glad to hear--will be a great +sufferer. They put gravely into the article of bankrupts in +the newspapers, "Louis le Petit, of the city of Paris, +peace-breaker, dealer, and chapman;" it would have been still +better if they had said, "Louis Bourbon of petty France." We +don't know what is become of their Monsieur Thurot,(1082) of +whom we had still a little mind to be afraid. I should think +he would do like Sir Thomas Hanmer, make a faint effort, beg +pardon of the Scotch for their disappointment, and retire. +Here are some pretty verses just arrived. + +Pourquoi le baton `a Soubise, +Puisque Chevert est le vainqueur? +C'est de la cour une m`eprise, +Ou bien le but de la faveur. + +Je ne vois rien l`a qui m'`etonne, +Repond aussitot un railleur; +C'est `a l'aveugle qu'on le donne, +Et non pas au COnducteur. + +Lady Meadows has left nine thousand pounds in reversion after +her husband to Lord Sandwich's daughter. Apropos to my Lady +Meadow's maiden name,(1083) a name I believe you have sometimes +heard: I was diverted t'other day with a story of a lady of +that name,(1084) and a lord, whose initial is no farther from +hers than he himself is sometimes supposed to be. Her +postillion, a lad of sixteen, said, "I am not such a child but +I can guess something: whenever my Lord Lyttelton comes to my +lady, she orders the porter to let in nobody else, and then +they call for a pen and ink, and say they are going to Write +history." Is not this finesse so like him? 'Do you know that I +am persuaded, now he is parted, that he will forget- he is +married, and propose himself in form to some woman or other. + +When do you come? if it is not soon, you will find a new town. +I stared to-day at Piccadilly like a country squire; there are +twenty new stone houses; at first I concluded that all the +grooms, that used to live there, had got estates to build +palaces. One young gentleman, who was getting an estate, but +was so indiscreet as to step out of his way to rob a comrade, +is convicted, and to be transported; in short, one of the +waiters at Arthur's. George Selwyn says, "What a horrid idea +he will give of us to the people +in Newgate!" + +I was still more surprised t'other day, than at seeing +Piccadilly, by receiving a letter from the north of Ireland +from a clergyman, with violent encomiums on my Catalogue of +Noble Authors--and this when I thought it quite forgot. It put +me in mind of the queen that sunk at Charing-cross and rose at +Queenhithe. + +Mr. Chute has got his commission to inquire about your Cutts, +but he thinks the lady is not your grandmother. You are very +ungenerous to hoard tales from me of your ancestry: what +relation have I spared? If your grandfathers were knaves, will +your bottling up their bad blood amend it? Do you only take a +cup of it now and then by yourself, and then come down to your +parson, and boast of it, as if it was pure old metheglin? I +sat last night with the Mater Gracchorum--oh! 'tis a mater +Jagorum; if her descendants taste any of her black blood, they +surely will make as wry faces at it as the servant in Don John +does when the ghost decants a corpse. Good night! I am just +returning to Strawberry, to husband my two last days and to +avoid all the pomp of the birthday. Oh! I had forgot, there is +a Miss Wynne coming forth, that is to be handsomer than my Lady +Coventry; but I have known one threatened with such every +summer for these seven years, and they are always addled by +winter! + +(1081) The public credit in France, had, at this time, suffered +a very severe blow, the court having stopped the payment of +several of the public bills and funds to a vast amount.-E. + +(1082) The captain of a privateer, who had commanded the French +squadron off Dunkirk, destined for an attack on Scotland.-E. + +(1083) Montagu. + +(1084) Elizabeth, daughter of Matthew Robinson, Esq. of the +Rokeby family, widow of Edward Montagu, grandson of the first +Earl of Sandwich, and founder of the Blue-stocking Club. She +wrote "Three Dialogues of the Dead," printed with those of Lord +Lyttelton; and in 1769 published her "Essay on the Genius and +Writings of Shakspeare." She died in 1800.-E. + + + +521 Letter 344 +To Sir Horace Mann. +Arlington Street, Nov. 16, 1759. + +Now the Parliament is met, you will expect some new news; you +will be disappointed: no battles are fought in Parliament now-- +the House of Commons is a mere war-office, and only sits for +the despatch of military business. As I am one of the few men +in England who am neither in the army nor militia, I never go +thither. By the King's speech, and Mr. Pitt's t'other speech, +it looks as if we intended to finish the conquest of the world +the next campaign. The King did not go to the House; his last +eye is so bad that he could scarce read his answer to the +address, though the letters were as long and as black as Ned +Finch. He complains that every body's face seems to have a +crape over it. A person much more expected and much more +missed, was not at the House neither; Lord George Sackville. +He came to town the night before the opening, but did not +appear--it looks as if he gave every thing up. Did you hear +that M. de Contades saluted Prince Ferdinand on his +installation with twenty-one cannons? The French could +distinguish the outside of the ceremony, and the Prince sent +word to the marshal, that if he observed any bustle that day, +he must not expect to be attacked-it would only be a chapter of +the Garter. + +A very extraordinary event happened the day after the meeting: +Lord Temple resigned the privy-seal. The account he gives +himself is, that he continued to be so ill used by the King, +that it was notorious to all the world; that in hopes of taking +off that reproach, he had asked for the Garter.(1085) Being +refused, he had determined to resign, at the same time +beseeching Mr. Pitt not to resent any thing for him, and +insisting with his two brothers that they should keep their +places, and act as warm as ever with the administration, That +in an audience of twenty-five minutes he hoped he had removed +his Majesty's prejudices, and should now go out of town as well +satisfied as any man in England. The town says, that it was +concerted that he should not quit till Mr. Pitt made his speech +on the first day, declaring that nothing should make him break +union with the rest of the ministers, no, not for the nearest +friend he had. All this is mighty fine; but the affair is, +nevertheless, very impertinent. If Lord Temple hoped to +involve Mr. Pitt in his quarrel, it was very wicked at such a +crisis as this--and if he could, I am apt to believe he would-- +if he could not, it was very silly. To the garter nobody can +have slenderer pretensions; his family is scarce older than his +earldom, which is of the youngest. His person is ridiculously, +awkward; and if chivalry were in vogue, he has given proofs of +having no passion for tilt and tournament. Here end@ the +history of King George the Second, and Earl Temple the First. + +We are still advised to believe in the invasion, though it +seems as slow in coming as the millennium. M. Thurot and his +pigmy navy have scrambled to Gottenburg, where it is thought +they will freight themselves with half a dozen pounds of +Swedes. We continue to militiate, and to raise light troops, +and when we have armed every apprentice in England, I suppose +we shall translate our fears to Germany. In the mean time the +King is overwhelmed with addresses on our victories he will +have enough to paper his palace. ITe told the City of London, +that all was owing to unanimity, but I think he should have +said, to unmanimity, for it were shameful to ascribe our +brilliancy to any thing but Mr. Pitt. The new King of Spain +seems to think that our fleet is the best judge of the +incapacity of his eldest son, and of the fitness of his +disposition of Naples, for he has expressed the highest +confidence of Wall, and the strongest assurances of neutrality. +I am a little sorry that Richcourt is not in Florence; it would +be pleasant to dress yourself up in mural crowns and American +plumes in his face. Adieu! + +(1085) By the following passage of a letter from Lord Temple +himself to Mr. Pitt, of the 13th of October, in the Chatham +Correspondence, it will be seen that it was not his lordship +who solicited the garter, but Mr. Pitt:--"You have been so good +as to ask of his Majesty the garter for me, as a reward to +yourself, and the only one you desire for all the great and +eminent services you have done to, the King, to the nation, and +to the electorate; to which request you have, it seems, +hitherto met with a refusal. At the same time that I thank +you, and am proud to receive any testimony of your kind regard, +permit me to add, that I am not so mean-spirited as to +condescend to receive, in my own person, the reward of another +man's services, however dear to me you so deservedly are on +every account. Let the King continue to enjoy in peace the +pleasure and Honour of this refusal; for if he should happen to +be disposed, for other reasons than those of gratitude to you, +which will have no weight with him, to give me that mark of +distinction, I will not accept it on such terms." Vol. i. p. +438.-E. +The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2 +by Horace Walpole +******This file should be named lthw210.txt or lthw210.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, lthw211.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, lthw210a.txt + +This etext was produced by Marjorie Fulton. + +*** + +More information about this book is at the top of this file. + + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +https://gutenberg.org or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/eBook03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/eBook03 + +Or /eBook02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +The most recent list of states, along with all methods for donations +(including credit card donations and international donations), may be +found online at https://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this header are copyright (C) 2001 by Michael S. Hart +and may be reprinted only when these eBooks are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Letters of Horace Walpole, Volume 2 +by Horace Walpole + diff --git a/old/4610.zip b/old/4610.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..1bdbce5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/4610.zip |