world are of no use but to make you wish yourself with that
tenth part? I am so far from growing used to mankind by living
amongst them, that my natural ferocity and wildness does but
every day grow worse. They tire me, they fatigue me; I don't
know what to do with them; I don't know what to say to them; I
fling open the windows and fancy I want air; and when I get by
myself, I undress myself, and seem to have had people in my
pockets, in my plaits, -and on my shoulders! I indeed find
this fatigue worse in the country than in town, because one
can avoid it there, and has more resources; but it is there
too. I fear 'tis growing old; but I literally seem to have
murdered a man whose name was Ennui, for his ghost is ever
before me. They say there is no English word for ennui;(847)
I think you may translate it most literally by what is called
"entertaining people," and "doing the honours:" that is, you
sit an hour with somebody you don't know, and don't care for,
talk about the wind and the weather, and ask a thousand
foolish questions, which all begin with, "I think you live a
good deal in the country," or, "I think you don't love this
thing or that." Oh! 'tis dreadful!
I'll tell you what is delightful-the Dominichin!(848) My dear
Sir, if ever there was a Dominichin, if ever there was an
original picture, this is one. I am quite happy; for my
father is as much transported with it as I am. It is hung in
the gallery, where are all his most capital pictures, and he
himself thinks it beats all but the two Guido'S. That of the
Doctors and The Octagon-I don't know if you ever saw them?
What a chain of thought this leads me into! but why should I
not indulge it? I will flatter myself with your, some time or
other, passing a few days with me. Why must I never expect to
see any thing but Beefs in a gallery which would not yield
even to the Colonna! If I do not most unlimitedly wish to see
you and Mr. Whithed in it this very moment, it is only because
I would not take you from our dear Mann. Adieu! you charming
people all. Is not Madam Bosville a Beef? Yours, most
sincerely.
(846) this very lively letter is the first of a series,
hitherto unpublished, addressed by Mr. Walpole to John Chute,
Esq. of the Vine, in the county of Hants. Mr. Chute was the
grandson of Chaloner Chute, Esq. Speaker of the House of
Commons to Richard Cromwell's parliament. On the death of his
brother Anthony, in 1754, he succeeded to the family estates,
and died in 1776.-E.
(847) According to Lord Byron--
"Ennui is a growth of English root,
Though nameless in our language: we retort
The fact for words, and let the French translate
That awful yawn, which sleep cannot abate."
(848) Thus described by Walpole in his Description Of the
Pictures at Houghton Hall:-
"The Virgin and Child, a most beautiful, bright, and capital
picture, by Dominichino: bought out of the Zambeccari palace
at Bologna by Horace Walpole, junior."-E.
340 Letter 118
To Sir Horace Mann.
Houghton, Aug. 29, 1743.
You frighten me about the Spaniards entering Tuscany: it is so
probable, that I have no hopes against it but in their
weakness. If all the accounts of their weakness and desertion
are true, it must be easy to repel them. If their march to
Florence is to keep pace with Prince Charles's entering
Lorrain, it is not yet near: hitherto, he has not found the
passage of the Rhine practicable. The French have assembled
greater armies to oppose it than was expected. We are
marching to assist him: the King goes on with the army. I am
extremely sorry for the Chevalier de Beauvau's(849) accident;
as sorry, perhaps, as the prince or princess; for you know he
was no favourite. The release of the French prisoners
prevents the civilities which I would have taken care to have
had shown him. You may tell the princess, that though it will
be so much honour to us to have any of her family it) our
power, vet I shall always be extremely concerned to have such
an opportunity of showing my attention to them. there's a
period in her own style-"Comment! Monsieur des attentions:
qu'il est poli! qu'il s`cait tOUrner une civilit`e!"
"Ha!(850) la brave Angloise! e viva!" What would I have given
to have overheard you breaking it to the gallant! But of all,
commend me to the good man Nykin! Why, Mamie (851) himself
could not have cuddled up an affair for his sovereign lady
better.
I have a commission from my lord to
send you ten thousand thanks for his bronze-. He admires it
beyond measure. It came down last Friday, on his
birthday,(852) and was placed at the upper end of the gallery,
which was illuminated on the occasion: indeed, it is
incredible what a magnificent appearance it made. There were
sixty-four candles, which showed all the pictures to great
advantage. The Dominichin did itself and us honour. There is
not the least question of its being original: one might as
well doubt the originality of King Patapan! His patapanic
majesty is not one of the least curiosities of Houghton. The
crowds that come to see the house stare at him, and ask what
creature it is. As he does not speak one word of Norfolk,
there are strange conjectures made about him. Some think that
he is a foreign prince come to marry Lady Mary. The
disaffected say he is a Hanoverian: but the common people, who
observe my lord's vast fondness for him, take him for his good
genius, which they call his familiar.
You will have seen in the papers that Mr. Pelham is at last
first lord of the Treasury. Lord Bath had sent over Sir John
Rushout's valet de chambre to Hanau to ask it. It is a great
question now what side he will take; or rather, if any side
will take him. It is not yet known what the good folks in the
Treasury will do-I believe, what they can. Nothing farther
will be determined till the King's return.
(849) Third son of Prince Craon, and knight of Malta.
(850) This relates to an intrigue which was observed in a
church between an English gentleman and a lady who was at
Florence with her husband. Mr. Mann was desired to speak to
the lover to choose more proper places.
(851) Prince Craon's name for the princess. She was mistress
of Leopold, the last Duke of Lorrain, who married her to M. de
Beauvau, and prevailed on the Emperor to make him a prince of
the empire. Leopold had twenty children by her, who all
resembled him; and he got his death by a cold which he
contracted in standing to sea a new house, which he had built
for her, furnished. The duchess was extremely jealous, and
once retired to Paris, to complain to her brother the Regent;
but he was not a man to quarrel with his brother-in-law for
things of that nature, and sent his sister back. Madame de
Craon gave into devotion after the Duke's death.
(852) August 26.
341 letter 119
To Sir Horace Mann.
Houghton, Sept. 7, 1743.
My letters are now at their ne plus ultra of nothingness so
you may hope they will grow better again. I shall certainly
go to town soon, for my patience is worn out. Yesterday, the
weather grew cold: I put on a new waistcoat for its being
winter's birthday-the season I am forced to love; for summer
has no charms for me when I pass it in the country.
We are expecting another battle, and a congress at the same
time. Ministers seem to be flocking to Aix la Chapelle: and,
what will much surprise you, unless you have lived long enough
not to be surprised, is, that Lord Bolingbroke has hobbled the
same way too-you will suppose, as a minister for France; I
tell you, no. My uncle, who is here, was yesterday stumping
along the gallery with a very political march: my lord asked
him whither he was going. Oh, said he, to Aix la Chapelle.
You ask me about the marrying princesses. I know not a
tittle. Princess Louisa(853) seems to be going, her clothes
are bought; but marrying our daughters makes no conversation.
For either of the other two, all thoughts seem to be dropped
of it. The senate of Sweden design themselves to choose a
wife for their man of Lubeck. The city, and our supreme
governors, the mob, are very angry that there @is a troop of
French players at Clifden.(854) One of them was lately
impertinent to a countryman, who thrashed him. His Royal
Highness sent angrily to know the cause. The fellow replied,
"he thought to have pleased his Highness in beating one of
them, who had tried to kill his father and had wounded his
brother." This was not easy to answer.
I delight in Prince Craon's exact intelligence! For his
satisfaction, I can tell him that numbers, even here, would
believe any story full as absurd as that of the King and my
Lord Stair; or that very one, if any body will ever write it
over. Our faith in politics will match any Neapolitan's in
religion. A political missionary will make more converts in a
county progress than a Jesuit in the whole empire of China,
and will produce more preposterous miracles. Sir Watkin
Williams, at the last Welsh races, convinced the whole
principality (by reading a letter that affirmed it), that the
King was not within two miles of the battle of Dettingen. We
are not good at hitting off anti-miracles, the only way of
defending one's own religion. I have read -,in admirable
story of the Duke of Buckingham, who, when James II. sent a
priest to him to persuade him to turn Papist, and was plied by
him with miracles, told the doctor, that if miracles were
proofs of a religion, the Protestant cause was as well
supplied as theirs. We have lately had a very extraordinary
one near my estate in the country. A very holy man, as you
might be, doctor, was travelling on foot, and was benighted.
He came to the cottage of a poor dowager, who had nothing in
the house for herself and daughter but a couple of eggs and a
slice of bacon. However, as she was a pious widow, she made
the good man welcome. In the morning, in taking leave, the
saint made her over to God for payment, and prayed that
whatever she should do as soon as he was gone she might
continue to do all day. This was a very unlimited request,
and, unless the saint was a prophet too, might not have been
very pleasant retribution. The good woman, who minded her
affairs, and was not to be put out of her way, went about her
business. She had a piece of coarse cloth to make a couple of
shifts for herself and child. She no sooner began to measure
it but the yard fell a-measuring, and there was no stopping
it. It was sunset before the good woman had time to take
breath. She was almost stifled, for she was up to her ears in
ten thousand yards of cloth. She could have afforded to have
sold Lady Mary Wortley a clean shift' of the usual coarseness
she wears, for a groat halfpenny.
I wish you would tell the Princess this story. Madame
Riccardi, or the little Countess d'Elbenino, will doat on it.
I don't think it will be out of Pandolfini's way, if you tell
it to the little Albizzi. You see that I have not forgot the
tone of my Florentine acquaintance. I know I should have
translated it to them: you remember what admirable work I used
to make of such stories in broken Italian. I have heard old
Churchill tell Bussy English puns out of jest-books:
particularly a reply about eating hare, which he translated,
"j'ai mon ventre plein de poil." Adieu!
(853) Youngest daughter of George the Second. She was married
in the following October, and died in 1751, at the age of
twenty-seven.-E.
(854) The residence of the Prince of Wales. This noble
building was burnt to the ground in 1795, and nothing of its
furniture preserved but the tapestry that represents the Duke
of Marlborough's victories.-E.
343 letter 120
To sir Horace Mann.
Houghton, Sept. 17, 1743.
As much as we laughed at Prince Craon's history of the King
and Lord Stair, you see it was not absolutely without
foundation. I don't just believe that he threatened his
master with the parliament. They say he gives for reason of
his Quitting, their not having accepted one plan of operation
that he has offered. There is a long memorial that he
presented to the King, with which I don't doubt but his
lordship will oblige the public.(856) He has ordered all his
equipages to be sold by public auction in the camp. This is
all I can tell you of this event, and this is more than has
been written to the ministry here. They talk of great
uneasinesses among the English officers, all of which I don't
believe. The army is put into commission. Prince Charles has
not passed the Rhine, nor we any thing but our time. The
papers of to-day tell us of a definitive treaty signed by us
and the Queen of Hungary with the King of Sardinia, which I
will flatter myself will tend to your defence. I am not in
much less trepidation about Tuscany than Richcourt is, though
I scarce think my fears reasonable; but while you are
concerned, I fear every thing.
My lord does not admire the account of the lanfranc; thanks
you, and will let it alone. I am going to town in ten days,
not a little tired of the country, and in the utmost
impatience for the winter; which I am sure from all political
prospects, must be entertaining to one who only intends to see
them at the length of the telescope.
I was lately diverted with an article in the Abecodario
Pittorico, in the article of William Dobson: it says, "Nacque
nel quartiere d'Holbrons in Inghilterra."(857) Did the author
take Holborn for a city, or Inghilterra for the capital of the
island of London? Adieu!
(856) In this memorial Lord Stair complained that his advice
had been slighted, hinted at Hanoverian partialities, and
asked permission to retire, as he expressed it, to his plough.
His resignation was accepted, with marks of the King's
displeasure at the language in which it was tendered.-E.
(857) Charles the First used to call Dobson the English
Tintoret. He is said to have been the first painter who
introduced the practice of obliging persons who sat to him to
pay half the price in advance.-E.
344 letter 121
To Sir Horace Mann.
Newmarket, Oct. 3, 1743.
I am writing to you in an inn on the road to London. What a
paradise should I have thought this when I was in the Italian
inns in a wide barn with four ample windows, which had nothing
more like glass than shutters and iron bars ' no tester to the
bed, and the saddles and portmanteaus heaped on me to keep off
the cold. What a paradise did I think the inn at Dover when I
came back! and what magnificence Were twopenny prints,
saltcellars, and boxes to hold the knives: but the summum
bonum was small-beer and the newspaper.
"I bless'd my stars, and called it luxury!"
Who was the Neapolitan ambassadress (858) that could not live
at Paris, because there was no maccaroni? Now am I relapsed
into all the dissatisfied repinement of a true English
grumbling voluptuary. I could find in my heart to write a
Craftsman against the Government, because I am not quite so
much at my ease as on my own sofa. I could persuade myself
that it is my Lord Carteret's fault that I am only sitting in
a common arm-chair, when I would be lolling in a
p`ech`e-mortel. How dismal, how solitary, how scrub does this
town look and yet it has actually a street of houses better
than Parma or Modena. Nay, the houses of the people of
fashion, who come hither for the races, are palaces to what
houses in London itself were fifteen years ago. People do
begin to live again now, and I suppose in a term we shall
revert to York Houses, Clarendon Houses, etc. But from that
grandeur all the nobility had contracted themselves to live in
coops of a dining-room, a dark back-room, with one eye in a
corner, and a closet. Think what London would be, if the
chief houses were in it, as in the cities in other countries,
and not dispersed like great rarity-plums in a vast pudding of
country. Well, it is a tolerable place as it is! Were I a
physician, I would prescribe nothing but recipe, CCCLXV
drachm. Linden. Would you know why I like London so much?
Why if the world must consist of so many fools as it does, I
choose to take them in the gross, and not made into separate
pills, as they are prepared in the country. Besides, there is
no being alone but in a metropolis: the worst place in the
world to find solitude is in the country: questions grow
there, and that unpleasant Christian commodity, neighbours.
Oh! they are all good Samaritans, and do so pour balms and
nostrums upon one, if one has but the toothache, or a journey
to take, that they break one's head. A journey to take-ay!
they talk over the miles to you, and tell you, you will be
late and My Lord Lovel says, John always goes two hours in the
dark in the morning, to avoid being One hour in the dark in
the evening. I was pressed to set out to-day before seven: I
did before nine; and here am I arrived at a quarter past five,
for the rest of the night.
I am more convinced every day, that there is not only no
knowledge of the world out of a great city, but no decency, no
practicable society-I had almost said, not a virtue. I will
only instance in modesty, which all old Englishmen are
persuaded cannot exist within the atmosphere of Middlesex.
Lady Mary has a remarkable taste and knowledge of music, and
can sing; I don't say, like your sister, but I am sure she
would be ready to die if obliged to sing before three people,
or before One with whom she is not intimate. The other day
there came to see her a Norfolk heiress: the young gentlewoman
had not been three hours in the house, and that for the first
time of her life, before she notified her talent for singing,
and invited herself up-stairs, to Lady Mary's harpsichord;
where, with a voice
like thunder, and with as little harmony, she sang to nine or
ten people for an hour. "Was ever nymph like Rossvmonde?"-no,
d'honneur. We told her, she had a very strong voice. "Lord,
Sir! my master says it is nothing to what it was." My dear
child, she brags abominably; if it had been a thousandth
degree louder, you must have heard it at Florence.
I did not write to you last post, being overwhelmed with this
sort of people - I will be more punctual in London. Patapan
is in my lap: I had him wormed lately, which he took famously:
I made it up with him by tying a collar of rainbow-riband
about his neck, for a token that he is never to be wormed any
more.
I had your long letter of two sheets of Sept. 17th, and wonder
at your perseverance in telling me so much as you always do,
when I, dull creature, find so little for you. I can only
tell you that the more you write, the happier you make me; and
I assure you, the more details the better: I so often lay
schemes for returning to you, that I am persuaded I shall, and
would keep up my stock of Florentine ideas.
I honour Matthew's punctilious observance of his Holiness's
dignity. How incomprehensible Englishmen are! I should have
sworn that he would have piqued himself on calling the Pope
the w- of Babylon, and have begun his remonstrance, with "you
old d-d-." What extremes of absurdities! to flounder from
Pope Joan to his Holiness! I like your reflection, "that
every body can bully the Pope." There was a humourist called
Sir James of the Peak, who had been beat by a felony, who
afterwards underwent the same operation from a third hand.
"Zound," said Sir James, "that I did not know this fellow
would take a beating!" Nay, my dear child, I don't know that
Matthews would!
You know I always thought the Tesi comique, pendant que `ca
devroit, `etre tragique. I am happy that my sovereign lady
expressed my opinion so well-by the way, is De Sade still with
you? Is he still in pawn by the proxy of his clothes? has
the Princess as constant retirements to her bedchamber with
the colique and Amenori? Oh! I was struck the other day with
a resemblance of mine hostess at Brandon to old Sarah. You
must know, the ladies of Norfolk universally wear periwigs,
and affirm that it is the fashion at London. "lord! Mrs.
White, have you been ill, that you have shaved your head?"
Mrs. White, in all the days of my acquaintance with her, had a
professed head of red hair: to-day, she had no hair at all
before, and at a distance above her ears, I descried a smart
brown bob, from beneath which had escaped some long strands of
original scarlet--so like old Sarazin at two in the morning,
when she has been losing at Pharoah, and clawed her wig aside,
and her old trunk is shaded with the venerable white ivy of
her own locks.
i agree with you, that it would be too troublesome to send me
the things now the quarantine exists, except the gun-barrels
for Lord Conway, the length of which I know nothing about,
being, as you conceive, no sportsman. I must send you, with
the Life of Theodore, a vast pamphlet (859) in defence of' the
new administration, which makes the greatest noise. It is
written, as supposed, by Dr. Pearse,(860) of St. Martin's,
whom Lord Bath lately made a dean; the matter furnished by
him. There is a good deal of useful ]Knowledge of the famous
change to be found in it, and much more impudence. Some parts
are extremely fine; in particular, the answer to the
Hanoverian pamphlets, where he has collected the flower of all
that was said in defence of that measure.(861) Had you those
pamphlets? I will make up a parcel: tell me what other books
you would have: I will send you nothing else, for if I give
you the least bauble, it puts you to infinite expense, which I
can't forgive, and indeed will never bear again: you would
ruin yourself, and there is nothing I wish so much as the
contrary.
Here is a good Ode, written on the supposition of that new
book being Lord Bath's; I believe by the same hand as those
charming ones which I sent you last year: the author is not
yet known.(862)
The Duke of Argyle is dead-a death of how little moment, and
of how much it would have been a year or two ago.(863) It is
provoking, if one must die, that one can't even die a propos!
How does your friend Dr. Cocchi? You never mention him: do
only knaves and fools deserve to be spoken of? Adieu!
(858) The Princess of Campoflorido.
(859) Called " Faction Detected."
(860) Mr. Pearse, afterwards Bishop of Bangor. He was not the
author, but Lord Perceval, afterwards Earl of Egmont.
(861) Sir John Hawkins says, that Osborne the bookseller, held
out to Dr. Johnson a strong temptation to answer this
pamphlet; which he refused, being convinced that the charge
contained in it was unanswerable.-E.
(862) The Ode by Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, beginning,
"Your sheets I've perused."-D.
(863) "Leaving no male issue, Argyle was succeeded in his
titles and estates by his brother, and of late his bitter
enemy, the Earl of Islay. With all his faults and follies,
Argyle was still brave, eloquent, and accomplished, a skilful
officer, and a princely nobleman."-lord Mahon, vol. iii. p.
271.
347 letter 122
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, Oct. 12, 1743.
They had sent your letter of Sept. 24th to Houghton the very
night I came to town. I did not receive it back till
yesterday, and soon after another, with Mr. Chute's inclosed,
for which I will thank him presently. But, my dear child, I
can, like you, think Of nothing but your bitter father's
letter.--! and that I should have contributed to it! how I
detest myself!(864) My dearest Sir, you know all I ever said
to him:(865) indeed, I never do see him, and I assure you that
I would worship him as the Indians do the Devil, for fear-he
should hurt you: tempt you I find he will not. He is so
avaricious, that I believe,
if you asked for a fish, he would think it even extravagance
to give you a stone: in these bad times, stones may come to be
dear, and if he loses his place and his lawsuit, who knows but
he may be reduced to turn paviour? Oh! the brute! and how
shocking, that, for your sake, one can't literally wish to see
him want bread! But how can you feel the least tenderness,
when the wretch talks of his bad health, and of not denying
himself comforts! It is weakness in you: whose health is
worse, yours or his? or when did he ever deny himself a
comfort to please any mortal? My dear child, what is it
possible to do for you? is there any thing in my power? What
would I not do for you? and, indeed, what ought I not, if I
have done you any disservice? I don't think there is any
danger of your father's losing his place,(866) for whoever
succeeds Mr. Pelham is likely to be a friend
to this house, and would not turn out one so connected with
it.
I should be very glad to show my lord an account of those
statues you mention: they are much wanted in his hall, where,
except the Laocoon, he has nothing but busts. For Gaburri's
drawings, I am extremely pleased with what you propose to me.
I should be well content with two of each master. I can't
well fix any price; but would not the rate of a sequin apiece
be sufficient? to be sure he never gave any thing like that:
when one buys the quantity you mention to me, I can't but
think that full enough, one 'with another. At
least, if I bought so many as two hundred, I would not venture
to go beyond that.
I am not at all easy from what you tell me of the Spaniards. I
have now no hopes but in the winter, and what it may produce.
I fear ours will be most ugly-the disgusts about Hanover swarm
and increase every day. The King and Duke have left the army,
which is marching to winter-quarters in Flanders, He will not
be here by his birthday, but it will be kept when he comes.
The parliament meets the 22d of November. All is distraction!
no union in the Court: no certainty about the House of
Commons: Lord Carteret making no friends, the King making
enemies: Mr. Pelham in vain courting Pitt, etc. Pultney
unresolved. How will it end? No joy but in the Jacobites. I
know nothing more, so turn to Mr. Chute.
My dear Sir, how I am obliged to you for your poem! Patapan is
so vain with it, that he will read nothing else; I only
offered him a Martial to compare it with the original, and the
little coxcomb threw it into the fire, and told me, "He had
never heard of a lapdog's reading Latin; that it was very well
for house-dos and pointers that live in the country, and have
several hours upon their hands: for my part," said he,
"I am so nice, who ever saw
A Latin book on my sofa?
You'll find as soon a primer there
Or recipes for pastry ware.
Why do ye think I ever read
But Crebillon or Calpren`ede?
This very thing of Mr. Chute's
Scarce with my taste and fancy suits,
oh! had it but in French been writ,
'Twere the genteelest, sweetest bit!
One hates a vulgar English poet:
I vow t' ye, I should blush to show it
To women de ma connoissance,
Did not that agr`eable stance.
Cher double entendre! furnish means
Of making sweet Patapanins!"(867)
My dear Sir, your translation shall stand foremost in the
Patapaniana: I hope in time to have poems upon him, and
sayings of his own, enough to make a notable book. En
attendant, I have sent you some pamphlets to amuse your
solitude; for, do you see, tramontane as I am, and as much as
I love Florence, and hate the country, while we make such a
figure in the world, or at least such a noise in it, one must
consider you other Florentines as country gentlemen. Tell our
dear Miny that when he unfolds the enchanted carpet, which his
brother the wise Galfridus sends him, he will find all the
kingdoms of the earth portrayed in it. In short, as much
history as was described on the ever-memorable and wonderful
piece of silk which the puissant White Cat(868) inclosed in a
nutshell, and presented to her paramour Prince. In short, in
this carpet, which (filberts being out of season) I was
reduced to pack up in a walnut, he will find the following
immense library of political lore: Magazines for October,
November, December; with an Appendix for the year 1741; all
the Magazines for 1742, bound in one volume; and nine
Magazines for 17'43. The Life of King Theodore, a certain
fairy monarch; with the Adventures of this Prince and the fair
Republic of Genoa. The miscellaneous thoughts of the fairy
Hervey. 'The Question Stated. Case of the Hanover Troops; and
the Vindication of the Case. Faction Detected. Congratulatory
Letter to Lord Bath. The Mysterious Congress; and @our Old
England Journals. Tell Mr. Mann, or Mr. Mann tell himself, that
I would send him nothing but this enchanted carpet, which he
can't pretend to return. I will accept nothing under
enchantment. Adieu all ! Continue to love the two Patapans.
(864) Sir Horace Mann in a letter to Walpole, dated Sept.
24th, 1743, gives an account of his father's refusal to give
him any money; and then quotes the following passage from
his father's letter-"He tells me he has been baited by you and
your uncle on my account, which was very disagreeable, and
believes he may charge it to me."-D.
(865) See ant`e, p.325. (letter 108)
(866) Mr. Robert Mann, father of Sir Horace Mann, had a place
in Chelsea College, under the Paymaster of the Forces.
(867) Mr. Chute had sent Mr. Walpole the following imitation
of an epigram of Martial:
"Issa est passere nequior Catulli,
Issa est pUrior osculo columbae."
Martial, Lib. i, Ep. 110.
"Pata is frolicksome and smart,
As Geoffry once was-(Oh my heart!)
He's purer than a turtle's kiss,
And gentler than a little miss;
A jewel for a lady's ear,
And Mr. Walpole's pretty dear.
He laughs and cries with mirth or spleen;
He does not speak, but thinks, 'tis plain.
One knows his little Guai's as well
As if he'd little words to tell.
Coil'd in a heap, a plumy wreathe,
He sleeps, you hardly hear him breathe.
Then he's so nice, who ever saw
A drop that sullied his sofa?
His bended leg!-what's this but sense?-
Points out his little exigence.
He looks and points, and whisks about,
And says, pray, dear Sir, let me out.
Where shall we find a little wife,
To be the comfort of his life,
To frisk and skip, and furnish means
Of making sweet Patapanins?
England, alas! can boast no she,
Fit only for his cicisbee.
Must greedy Fate then have him all?-
No; Wootton to our aid we'll call-
The immortality's the same,
Built on a shadow, or a name.
He shall have one by Wootton's means,
The other Wootton for his pains."
(868) See the story of the White Cat in the fairy tales.
349 Letter 123
To Sir Horace Mann.
London, Nov. 17, 1743.
I would not write on Monday till I could tell you the King was
come. He arrived at St. James's between five and six on
Tuesday. We were in great fears of his coming through the
city, after the treason that has been publishing for these two
months; but it is incredible how well his reception was beyond
what it had ever been before: in short, you would have thought
it had not been a week after the victory at Dettingen. They
almost carried him into -the palace on their shoulders; and at
night the whole town was illuminated and bonfired. He looks
much better than he has for these five years, and is in great
spirits. The Duke limps a little. The King's reception of
the Prince, who was come to St. James's to wait for him, and
who met him on the stairs with his two sisters and the privy
councillors, was not so gracious-pas un mot-though the
Princess was brought to bed the day before, and Prince George
is ill of the small-pox. It is very Unpopular! You will
possibly, by next week, hear great things: hitherto, all is
silence, expectation, struggle, and ignorance. The birthday
is kept on Tuesday, when the parliament was to have met; but
that can't be yet.
Lord Holderness has brought home a Dutch bride:(869) I have
not seen her. The Duke of Richmond had a letter yesterday
from Lady Albemarle,(870) at Altona. She says the Prince of
Denmark is not so tall as his bride, but. far from a bad
figure: he is thin, and not ugly, except having too wide a
mouth. When she returns, as I know her particularly, I will
tell you more; for the present, I think I have very handsomely
despatched the chapter of royalties. My lord comes to town
the day after to-morrow.
The opera is begun, but is not so well as last year. The Rosa
Maricini, who is second woman, and whom I suppose you have
heard, is now old. In the room of Amorevoli, they have got a
dreadful bass, who, the Duke of Montagu says he believes, was
organist at Aschaffenburgh.
DO you remember a tall Mr. Vernon,(871) who travelled with Mr.
Cotton? He is going to be married to a sister of Lord
Strafford.
I have exhausted my news, and you shall excuse my being short
to-day. For the future, I shall overflow with preferments,
alterations, and parliaments.
Your brother brought me yesterday two of yours together, of
Oct. 22 and 27, and I find you still overwhelmed with
Richcourt's folly and the Admiral's explanatory ignorance. It
is unpleasant to have old Pucci (872) added to your
embarrassments.
Chevalier Ossorio (873) was with me the other morning, and we
were talking over the Hanoverians, as every body does. I
complimented him very sincerely on his master's great bravery
and success: he answered very modestly and sensibly, that he
was glad amidst all the clamours, that there had been no cavil
to be found with the subsidy paid to his King. Prince
Lobkowitz makes a great figure, and has all my wishes and
blessings for having put Tuscany out of the question.
There is no end of my giving you trouble with packing me up
cases: I shall pay the money to your brother. Adieu! Embrace
the Chutes, who are heavenly good to you, and must have been
of great use in all your illness and disputes.
(869) Her name was Mademoiselle Doublette, and she is called
in the Peerages "the niece of M. Van Haaren, of the Province
of Holland."-D.
(870) Lady Anne Lennox, sister of the Duke of Richmond, and
wife of William Anne van Keppel, Earl of Albemarle: she had
been lady of the bedchamber to the Queen; and this year
conducted Princess Louisa to Altona, to be married to the
Prince Royal of Denmark.
(871) Henry Vernon, Esq. a nephew of Admiral Vernon, married
to Lady Henrietta Wentworth, daughter of Thomas, first Earl of
Strafford, of the second creation.-D.
(872) Signor Pucci was resident from Tuscany at the Court of
England.
(873) Chevalier Ossorio was several years minister in England
from the King of Sardinia, to whom he afterwards became first
minister.
351 Letter 124
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, Nov. 30, 1743.
I have had two letters from you since I wrote myself This I
begin against to-morrow, for I should have little time to
write. The parliament opens, and we are threatened with a
tight Opposition, though it must be vain, if the numbers turns
out as they are calculated; three hundred for the Court, two
hundred and five opponents; that is, in town; for, you know,
the whole amounts to five hundred and fifty-eight. The
division of the ministry has been more violent than between
parties; though now, they tell you, it is all adjusted. The
Secretary,(874) since his return, has carried all with a high
hand, and treated the rest as ciphers; but he has been so
beaten in the cabinet council, that in appearance he submits,
though the favour is most evidently with him. All the old
ministers have flown hither as zealously as in former days;
and of the three lev`ees (875) in this street, the greatest is
in this house, as my Lord Carteret told them the other day; "I
know you all go to Lord Orford - he has more company than any
of us-- do you think I can't go to him too?" He is never
sober; his rants are amazing; so are his parts and spirits.
He has now made up with the Pelhams, though after naming to
two vacancies in the Admiralty without their knowledge; Sir
Charles Hardy and Mr. Philipson. The other alterations are at
last fixed. Winnington is to be paymaster; Sandys, cofferer,
on resigning the exchequer to Mr. Pelham; Sir John Rushout,
treasurer of the navy; and Harry Fox, lord of the treasury.
Mr. Compton,(876) and Gybbons remain at that board. Wat.
Plumber, a known man, said, the other day, "Zounds! Mr.
Pultney took those old dishclouts to wipe out the 'treasury,
and now they are going to lace them and lay them up!" It is a
most just idea: to be sure, Sandys and Rushout, and their
fellows, are dishclouts, if dishclouts there are in the world:
and now to lace them!
The Duke of Marlborough has resigned every thing, to reinstate
himself in the old duchess's will. She said the other day,
"It is very natural: he listed as soldiers do when they are
drunk, and repented when he was sober." So much for news: now
for your letters.
All joy to Mr. Whithed on the increase of his family! and joy
to you; for now he is established in so comfortable a way, I
trust you will not lose him soon-and la Dame s'appelle?
If my Lady Walpole has a mind once in her life to speak truth,
or to foretell,-the latter of which has as seldom any thing to
do with truth as her ladyship has,-why she may now about the
Tesi's dog, for I shall certainly forget what it would be in
vain to remember. My dear Sir, how should one convey a dog to
Florence! There are no travelling Princes of Saxe Gotha or
Modena here at present, who would carry a little dog in a
nutshell. The poor Maltese cats, to the tune of how many!
never arrived here; and how should one little dog ever find
its way to Florence! But tell me, and, if it is possible, I
will send it. Was it to be a greyhound, or of King Charles's
breed? It was to have been the latter; but I think you told
me that she rather had a mind to the other sort, which, by the
way, I don't think I could get for her.
Thursday, eight o'clock at night.
I am just come from the House, and dined. Mr. Coke(877) moved
the address, seconded by Mr. Yorke, the lord chancellor's
son.(878) The Opposition divided 149 against 278; which gives
a better prospect of carrying on the winter easily. In the
lords' house there was no division. Mr. Pitt called Lord
Carteret the execrable author of our measures, and sole
minister.(879) Mr. Winnington replied, that he did not know
of any sole minister; but if my Lord Carteret was so, the
gentlemen of the other side had contributed more to make him
so than he had.
I am much pleased with the prospect you show me of the
Correggio. My lord is so satisfied with the Dominichin, that
he will go as far as a thousand pounds for the Correggio. Do
you really think we shall get it, and for that price?
You talk of the new couple, and of giving the sposa a
mantilla: What new couple! you don't say. I suppose, some
Suares, by the raffle. Adieu!
(874) Lord Carteret.
(875) Lord Carteret's, Mr. Pelham's, and Lord Orford's.
(876) The Hon. George Compton, second son of George, fourth
Earl of Northampton. He succeeded his elder brother James,
the fifth earl, in the family titles and estates in 1754, and
died in 1758.-D.
(877) The only son of Lord Lovel.-D.
(878) Philip Yorke, eldest son of Lord Hardwicke; and
afterwards the second earl of that title.-D.
(879) In Mr. Yorke's MS. parliamentary journal, the words are"an
execrable, a sole minister, who had renounced the British
nation, and seemed to have drunk of the potion described in
poetic fictions."-E.
352 Letter 125
To Sir Horace Mann.
Dec. 15, 1743.
I write in a great fright, lest this letter should come too
late. My lord has been told by a Dr. Bragge, a virtuoso,
that, some ye(irs ago, the monks asked ten thousand pounds for
our Correggio,(880) and that there were two copies then made
of it: that afterwards, he is persuaded, the King of Portugal
bought the original; he does not know at what price. Now, I
think it very possible that this doctor, hearing the picture
was to be come at, may have invented this Portuguese history;
but as there is a possibility, too, that it may be true, you
must take all imaginable precautions to be sure it is the very
original-a copy would do neither you nor me great honour.
We have entered upon the Hanoverian campaign. Last Wednesday,
Waller moved in our House an address to the King, to continue
them no longer in our pay than to Christmas-day, the term for
which they were granted. The debate lasted till half an hour
after eight at night. Two young officers (881) told some very
trifling stories against the Hanoverians, which did not at all
add any weight to the arguments of the Opposition; but we
divided 231 to 181. On Friday,' Lord Sandwich and Lord
Halifax, in good speeches, brought the same motion into the
Lords. I was there, and heard Lord Chesterfield make the
finest oration I ever did hear.(882) My father did not speak,
nor Lord Bath. They threw out the motion by 71 to 36. These
motions will determine the bringing on the demand for the
Hanoverians for another year in form; which was a doubtful
point, the old part of the ministry being against it, though
very contrary to my lord's advice.
Lord Gower, finding no more Tories were to be admitted,
resigned on Thursday; and Lord Cobham in the afternoon. The
privy-seal was the next day given to Lord Cholmondeley. Lord
Gower's resignation is one of the few points in which I am
content the prophecy in the old Jacobite ballad should be
fulfilled-"The King shall have his own again."
The changes are begun, but will not be completed till the
recess, as the preferments will occasion more re-elections
than they can spare just now in the House of Commons. Sandys
has resigned the exchequer to Mr. Pelham; Sir John Rushout is
to be treasurer of the navy; Winnington, paymaster; Harry Fox,
lord of the treasury: Lord Edgcumbe, I believe, lord of the
treasury,(883) and Sandys, cofferer and a peer. I am so
scandalized at this, that I will fill up my letter (having
told you all the news) with the first fruits of my
indignation.
VERSES ADDRESSED TO THE HOUSE OF LORDS
ON ITS RECEIVING A NEW PEER,
THou senseless Hall, whose injudicious space,
Like Death, confounds a various mismatched race,
Where kings and clowns, th' ambitious and the mean,
Compose th' inactive soporific scene,
Unfold thy doors!-and a promotion see
That must amaze even prostituted thee!
Shall not thy sons, incurious though they are,
Raise their dull lids, and meditate a stare?
Thy sons, who sleep in monumental state,
To show the spot where their great fathers sate.
Ambition first, and specious warlike worth,
Call'd our old peers and brave patricians forth;
And subject provinces produced to fame
Their lords with scarce a less than regal name.
Then blinded monarchs, flattery's fondled race,
Their favourite minions stamp'd with titled grace,
And bade the tools of power succeed to Virtue's place,
Hence Spensers, Gavestons, by crimes grown great,
Vaulted into degraded Honour's seat:
Hence dainty Villiers sits in high debate,
Where manly Beauchamps, Talbots, Cecils sate
Hence Wentworth,(884) perjured patriot, burst each tie,
Profaned each oath, and gave his life the lie:
Renounced whate'er he sacred held and dear,
Renounced his country's cause, and sank into a Peer.
Some have bought ermine, venal Honour's veil,
When set by bankrupt Majesty to sale
Or drew Nobility's coarse ductile thread
>From some distinguished harlot's titled bed.
Not thus ennobled Samuel!-no worth
from his mud the sluggish reptile forth;
No parts to flatter, and no grace to please,
With scarce an insect's impotence to tease,
He struts a Peer-though proved too dull to stay,
Whence (885) even poor Gybbons is not brush'd away.
Adieu! I am just going to Leicester House, where the Princess
sees company to-day and to-morrow, from seven to nine, on her
lying-in. I mention this per amor del Signor Marchese Cosimo
Riccardi.(886)
(880) One of the most celebrated pictures of Correggio, with
the Madonna and Child, saints, and angels, in a convent at
Parma.
(881) Captain Ross and Lord Charles Hay.-E.
(882) "Lord Chesterfield's performance," says Mr. Yorke, "was
much cried up; but few of his admirers could distinguish the
faults of his eloquence from its beauties." MS. Part.
Journal.-E.
(
883 This did not happen.
(884) Earl of Strafford; but it alludes to Lord Bath.
(885) The Treasury.
(886) A gossiping old Florentine nobleman, whose whole
employment was to inform himself of the state of marriages,
pregnancies, lyings-in, and such like histories.
354 Letter 126
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, Dec. 26, 1743.
I shall complain of inflammations in my eyes till you
think it is an excuse for not writing; but your
brother is@My Witness that I have been shut up in a dark room
for this week. I got frequent colds, which fall upon my eyes;
and then I have bottles of sovereign eye- waters from all my
acquaintance; but as they are Only accidental colds, I never
use any thing but sage, which braces my eye-fibres again in a
few days. I have had two letters since my last to you; One
Complaining of my silence, and the other acknowledging one
from me after a week's intermission: indeed, I never have been
so long without writing to you - I do sometimes miss two weeks
on any great dearth of news, which is all I have to fill a
letter; for living as I do among people, whom, from your long
absence, you cannot know, should talk Hebrew to mention them
to you. Those, that from eminent birth, folly, or parts, are
to be found in the chronicles of the times, I tell you of,
whenever necessity or the King puts them into new lights. The
latter, for I cannot think the former had any hand in it, has
made
Sandys, as I told you, a lord and
cofferer! Lord Middlesex is one of the new treasury, not
ambassador as you heard. So the Opera-house and White's have
contributed a commissioner and a secretary to the
treasury,(887) as their quota to the
government. It is a period to make a figure in history.
There is a recess of both Houses for a fortnight; and we are
to meet again, with all the quotations and flowers that the
young orators can collect-,ind forcibly apply to the
Hanoverians; with all the malice which the disappointed Old
have hoarded against Carteret, and with all the impudence his
defenders can sell him - and when all that is
vented-what then?-why then, things will
just be where they were.
General Wade (888) is made field-marshal, and is to have
command of the army, as it is supposed, on the King's not
going abroad; but that is not declared . The French
preparations go on with much more vigour than ours; they not
having a House of Commons to combat all the winter; a campaign
that necessarily engages all the attention of ministers, who
have no great variety of apartments in their understandings.
I have paid your brother the bill I received from you, and
give you a thousand thanks for all the trouble you have had;
most particularly from the plague of hams,(889) from which you
have saved me. Heavens! how blank"I should have looked at
unpacking a great case of bacon and wine! My dear child, be
my friend, and preserve me from heroic presents. I cannot
possibly at this distance begin a new courtship of regalia;
for I suppose all those hams were to be converted into watches
and toys. Now it would suit Sir Paul Methuen very well, who
is a knight-errant at seventy-three, to carry on an amour
between a Mrs. Chenevix's(890) shop and a noble collar in
Florence; but alas! I am neither old enough nor young enough
to be gallant, and should ill become the writing of heroic
epistles to a fair mistress in Italy-no, no: "ne sono uscito
con onore, mi pare, e non
voglio riprendere quel impegno pi`u" You see how rustic I am
grown again!
I knew your new brother-in-law(891) at school, but have not
seen him since. But your sister was in love, and must
consequently be happy to have him. Yet I own, I cannot much
felicitate any body that marries for love. It is bad enough
to marry; but to marry where one loves, ten times worse.
it is so charming at first, that the decay of inclination
renders it infinitely more disagreeable afterwards. Your
sister has a thousand merits; but they don't count: but then
she has good sense enough to make her happy, if her merit cannot
make him so.
Adieu! I rejoice for your sake that Madame Royale' is
recovered, as I saw in the papers.
(887) John JefFries.
(888)General George Wade, afterwards commander of the forces
in Scotland. He died in 1748. A fine monument, by Roubillac,
was erected to his memory in Westminster
Abbey.-E.
(889) Madame Grifoni was going to send Mr. W. a Present of
hams and Florence wine.
(890) The proprietress of a celebrated toy-shop.-D.
(891) Mr. Foote.
(892) The Duchess of Lorrain, mother of the Great Duke: her
death would have occasioned a long mourning at Florence.
[Elizabeth of Orleans, only daughter of Philip, Duke of
Orleans
(Monsieur), by his second wife, the Princess Palatine.] -D.
To Sir Horace Mann.
Dear Sir,
I have been much desired by a very particular friend, to
recommend to you Sir William Maynard,(893) who is going to
Florence. You will oblige me extremely by any civilities you
show him while he stays there; in particular, by introducing
him to the Prince and Princess de Craon, Madame Suares, and
the rest of my acquaintance there, who, I dare say, will
continue their goodness to me, by receiving him with the same
politeness that they received me. I am, etc.
(893) Sir William Maynard, the fourth baronet of the family,
and a younger branch of the Lords Maynard. His son, Sir
Charles Maynard, became Viscount Maynard in 1775, upon the
death of his cousin Charles, the first viscount, who had been
so created, with special remainder to him.-D.
356 Letter 127
To Sir Horace Mann.
Arlington Street, Jan. 24, 1744.
Don't think me guilty of forgetting you a moment, though I
have missed two or three posts. If you knew the incessant
hurry and fatigue in which I live, and how few 'moments I have
to myself, you would not suspect Me. You know, I am naturally
indolent, and without application to any kind of business; yet
it is- impossible, in this country, to live in the world, and
be in parliament, and not find oneself every day more hooked
into politics and company, especially inhabiting a house that
is again become the centre of affairs. My lord becomes the
last resource, to which they are all forced to apply. One
part of the ministry, you may be sure, do; and for the other,
they affect to give themselves the honour of it too.
Last Thursday I would certainly have written to give you a
full answer to your letter of grief (894) but I was shut up in
the House till past ten at night; and the night before till
twelve. But I must speak to you in private first. I don't in
the least doubt but my Lady Walpole and Richcourt would
willingly be as mischievous as they are malicious, If they
could: but, my dear child, it is impossible. Don't fear from
Carteret's silence to you; he never writes: if that were a
symptom of disgrace, the Duke of' Newcastle would have been
out long ere this: and when the regency were not thought
worthy of his notice, you could not expect it. As to your
being attached to Lord Orford, that is your safety. Carteret
told him the other day, "My Lord, I appeal to the Duke of
Newcastle, if I did not tell the King, that it was you who had
carried the Hanover troops." That, too, disproves the
accusation of Sir Robert's being no friend to the Queen of
Hungary. That is now too stale and old. However, I will
speak to my lord and Mr. Pelham-would I had no more cause to
tremble for you, than from little cabals! But, my dear child,
when we hear every day of the 'Toulon fleet sailing, can I be
easy for you? or can I not foresee where that must break,
unless Matthews and the wonderful fortune of England can
interpose effectually? We are not without our own fears; the
Brest fleet of twenty-two sail is out at sea; they talk, for
Barbadoes. I believe we wish it may be thither destined?
Judge what I think; I cannot, nor may write: but I am in the
utmost anxiety for your situation.
The whole world, nay the Prince himself allows, that if Lord
Orford had not come to town, the Hanover troops had been
lost.(895) They were in effect given up by all but Carteret.
We carried our own army in Flanders by a majority of 112.(896)
Last Wednesday was the great day of expectation: we sat in the
committee on the Hanover troops till twelve at night: the
numbers were 271 to 226. The next day on the report we sat
again till past ten, the opposition having moved to adjourn
till Monday, on which we divided, 265 to 177. Then the Tories
all went away in a body, and the troops were voted.
We have still tough work to do: there are the estimates on The
extraordinaries of the campaign, and the treaty of Worms (897)
to come;--I know who (898) thinks this last more difficult to
fight than the Hanover troops. It is likely to turn out as
laborious a session as ever was. All the comfort is, all the
abuse don't lie at your door nor mine; Lord Carteret has the
full perquisites of the ministry. The other day, after Pitt
had called him "the Hanover troop-minister, a flagitious
taskmaster," and said, "that the sixteen thousand Hanoverians
were all the party he had, and were his placemen;" in short,
after he had exhausted invectives, he added, "But I have done:
if he were present, I would say ten times more."(899) Murray
shines as bright as ever he did at the bar; which he seems to
decline, to push his fortune in the House of Commons under Mr.
Pelham.
This is the present state of our politics, which is our
present state; for nothing else is thought of. We. fear the
King will again go abroad.
Lord Hartington has desired me to write to you for some
melon-seeds, which you will be so good to get the best, and
send to me for him.
I can't conclude without mentioning again the Toulon squadron:
we vapour and say, by this time Matthews has beaten them,
while I see them in the port of Leghorn!
My dear Mr. Chute, I trust to your friendship to comfort our
poor Miny: for my part, I am all apprehension! My dearest
child, if it turns out so, trust to my friendship for working
every engine to restore you to as good a situation as you will
lose, If my fears prove prophetic! The first peace would
reinstate you in your favourite Florence, whoever were
sovereign of it. I wish you may be able to smile at the
vanity of my fears, as I did at yours about Richcourt. Adieu!
adieu!
(894) Sir Horace Mann had written in great uneasiness, in
consequence of his having heard that Count Richcourt, the
Great Duke's minister; was using all his influence with the
English government, in conjunction with Lady Walpole, to have
Sir Horace removed from his situation at Florence.-D.
(895) "Lord Orford's personal credit with his friends was the
main reason that the question was so well disposed of: he
never laboured any point during his own administration with
more zeal, and at a dinner at Hanbury Williams's had a meeting
with such of the old court party as were thought most averse
to concurring in this measure; where he took great pains to
convince them of the necessity there was for repeating it."
Mr. P. Yorke's MS. Journal.-E.
(896) It appears from Mr. Philip Yorke's Parliamentary
Journal, that the letter-writer took a part in the
debate-"Young Mr. Walpole's speech," he says, "met with
deserved applause from every body: it was judicious and
elegant: he applied the verse which Lucan puts in Curia's
mouth to Caesar, to the King:-
"Livor edax tibi cuncta negat, Gallasque subactos,
Vix impune feres."-E.
(897) Between the King of England, the Queen of Hungary, and
the King of Sardinia, to whom were afterwards added Holland
and Saxony. It is sometimes called "the triple alliance."-D.
(898) Lord Orford.
(899) "Pitt as usual," says Mr. Yorke, in his MS.
Parliamentary Journal, ,fell foul of Lord Carteret, called him
a Hanover troop-minister; that they were his party, his
placemen; that he had conquered the cabinet by their means,
and after being very lavish of his abuse, wished he was in the
House, that he might give him more of it." Tu the uncommon
accuracy of Mr. Walpole's reports of the proceedings in
Parliament, the above-quoted Journal bears strong evidence.-E.
358 Letter 128
To Sir Horace Mann.
Feb. 9, 1744.
I have scarce time to write, or to know what I write. I live
in the House of Commons. We sat on Tuesday till ten at
night, on a Welsh election; and shall probably stay as long
to-day on the same.
I have received all your letters by the couriers and the post:
I am persuaded the Duke of Newcastle is much pleased with your
despatch; but I dare not enquire, for fear he should dislike
your having written the same to me.
I believe we should have heard more of the Brest squadron, if
their appearance off the Land's End on Friday was se'nnight,
steering towards Ireland, had occasioned greater
consternation. It is incredible how little impression it
made: the stocks hardly fell: though it was then generally
believed that the Pretender's son was on board. We expected
some invasion; but as they were probably disappointed on
finding no rising in their favour, it is now believed that
they are gone to the Mediterranean. They narrowly missed
taking the Jamaica fleet, which was gone out convoyed by two
men-of-war. The French pursued them, outsailed them, and
missed them by their own inexpertness. Sir John Norris is at
Portsmouth, ready to sail with nineteen
men-of-war, and is to be
joined by two more from Plymouth. We
hope to hear that Matthews has
beat the Toulon squadron before they can be joined by the
Brest. This is the state of our situation. "le have stopped
the embarkation of the six thousand men for Flanders; and I
hope the King's journey thither, The Opposition fight every
measure of supply, but very
unsuccessfully. When this Welsh election is over, they will
probably go out of town, and leave the rest of the session at
ease.
I think you have nothing to apprehend from the new mine that
is preparing against you. My lord is convinced it is an idle
attempt and it will always be in his power to prevent any such
thing from taking effect. I am very unhappy for Mr. Chute's
gout, or for any thing that disturbs the peace of people I
love so much, and that I have such vast reason to love. You
know my fears for you: pray Heaven they end well!
It is universally believed that the Pretender's son, who is at
Paris, will make the campaign in one of their armies. I
suppose this will soon produce a declaration of war; and then
France, perhaps, will not find her account in having brought
him as near to England as ever he is like to be. Adieu! My
Lord is hurrying me down to the House. I must go!
359 Letter 129
To Sir Horace Mann.
House of Commons, Feb. 16, 1744.
We are come nearer to a crisis than indeed I expected! After
the various reports about the Brest squadron, it has proved
that they are sixteen ships of the line off Torbay; in all
probability to draw our fleet from Dunkirk, where they have
two men-of-war and sixteen large Indiamen to transport eight
thousand foot and two thousand horse, which are there in the
town. There has been some difficulty to persuade people of
the imminence of our danger - but yesterday the King sent a
message to both Houses to acquaint us that he has certain
information of the young Pretender being in France, and of the
designed invasion from thence, in concert with the disaffected
here.(900) Immediately the Duke of Marlborough, who most
handsomely and seasonably was come to town on purpose, moved
for an Address to assure the King of standing by him with
lives and fortunes. Lord Hartington, seconded by Sir Charles
Windham,(901) the convert son of Sir William, moved the same
in our House. To our amazement, and little sure to their own
honour, Waller and Doddington, supported in the most indecent
manner by Pitt, moved to add, that we would immediately
inquire into the state of the navy, the causes of our danger
by negligence, and the sailing of the Brest fleet. They
insisted on this amendment, and debated it till seven at
night, not one (professed) Jacobite speaking. The division
was 287 against 123. In the Lords, Chesterfield moved the
same amendment, seconded by old dull Westmoreland; but they
did not divide.
All the troops have been sent for in the greatest haste to
London but we shall not have above eight thousand men together
at most. An express is gone to Holland, and General Wentworth
followed it last night, to demand six thousand men, who will
probably be here by the end of next week. Lord Stair (902)
has offered the King his service, and is to-day named
commander-in-chief. This is very generous, and will be of
great use. He is extremely beloved in the -army, and most
firm to this family.
I cannot say our situation is the most agreeable; we know not
whether Norris is gone after the Brest fleet or not. We have
three ships in the Downs, but they cannot prevent a landing,
which will probably be in Essex or Suffolk. Don't be
surprised if you hear that this crown is fought for on land.
As yet there is no rising; but we must expect it on the first
descent.
Don't be uneasy for me, when the whole is at stake. I don't
feel as if my friends would have any reason to be concerned
for me: my warmth will carry me as far as any man; and I think
I can bear as I should the worst that can happen; though the
delays of the French, I don't know from what cause, have not
made that likely to happen.
The King keeps his bed with the rheumatism. He is not less
obliged to Lord Orford for the defence of his crown, now he is
out of place, than when he was in the administration. His
zeal, his courage, his attention, are indefatigable and
inconceivable. He regards his own life no more than when it
was most his duty to expose it, and fears for every thing but
that.
I flatter myself that next post I shall write you a more
comfortable letter. I would not have written this, if it were
a time to admit deceit. Hope the best, and fear as little as
you would do if you were here in the danger. My best love to
the Chutes; tell them -I never knew how little I was a
Jacobite till it was almost my interest to be one. Adieu!
(900) "February 13. Talking upon this subject with Horace
Walpole, he told me confidentially, that Admiral Matthews
intercepted, last summer, a felucca in her passage from Toulon
to Genoa, on board of which were found several papers of great
consequence relating to a French invasion in concert with the
Jacobites; one of them particularly was in the style of an
invitation from several of the nobility and gentry of England
to the Pretender. These papers, he thought had not been
sufficiently looked into and were not laid before the cabinet
council until the night before the message was sent to both
Houses." Mr. P. York(,@'s Parliamentary Journal.-E.
(901) Afterwards Earl of Egmont.
(902) The Duke of Marlborough and Lord Stair had quitted the army
in disgust, after last campaign, on the King's showing such
unmeasurible preference to the Hanoverians.
361 Letter 130
To Sir Horace Mann.
Thursday, Feb. 23, 1744.
I write to you, in the greatest hurry, at eight o'clock at
night, whilst they are all at dinner round me. I am this
moment come from the House, where we have carried a great
Welsh election against Sir Watkyn Williams by 26. I fear you
have not had my last, for the packet-boat has been stopped on
the French stopping our messenger at Calais. There is no
doubt of the invasion: the young Pretender is at Calais, and
the Count de Saxe is to command the embarkation. Hitherto the
spirit of the nation is with us. Sir John Norris was to sail
yesterday to Dunkirk, to try to burn their transports; we are
in the utmost expectation of the news. The Brest squadron was
yesterday on the coast of Sussex. We have got two thousand
men from Ireland, and have sent for two more. The Dutch are
coming: Lord Stair is general. Nobody is yet taken up-God
knows why not! We have repeated news of Matthews having beaten
and sunk eight of the Toulon ships; but the French have so
stopped all communication that we don't yet know it certainly;
I hope you do. Three hundred arms have been seized in a
French merchant's house at Plymouth. Attempts have been made
to raise the clans in Scotland, but unsuccessfully.
My dear child, I write short, but it is much: and I could not
say more in ten thousand words. All is at stake we have great
hopes, but they are but hopes! I have no more time: I wait
with patience for the event, though to me it must and shall be
decisive.
361 Letter 131
To Sir Horace Mann.
March 1st, 1744.
I wish I could put you out of the pain my last letters must
have given you. I don't know whether your situation, to be at
such a distance on so great a crisis, is not more disagreeable
than ours, who are expecting every moment to hear the French
are landed. We had great ill-luck last week: Sir John Norris,
with four-and-twenty sail, came within a league of the Brest
squadron, which had but fourteen. The coasts were covered
with people to see the engagement; but at seven in the evening
the wind changed, and they escaped. There have been terrible
winds these four or five days . our fleet has not suffered
materially, but theirs less. Ours lies in the Downs; five of
theirs at Torbay-the rest at La Hague. We hope to hear that
these storms, which blew directly on Dunkirk, have done great
damage to their transports. By the fortune of the winds,
which have detained them in port, we have had time to make
preparations; if they had been ready three weeks ago. when the
Brest squadron sailed, it had all been decided. We expect the
Dutch in four or five days. Ten battalions, which make seven
thousand men, are sent for from our army in Flanders, and four
thousand from Ireland, two of which are arrived. If they
still attempt the invasion, it must be a bloody war!
The spirit of the nation has appeared extraordinarily in our
favour. I wish I could say as much for that of' the ministry.
Addresses are come from all parts, but you know how little
they are to be depended on-King James had them. The merchants
of London are most zealous: the French name will do more harm
to their cause than the Pretender's service. One remarkable
circumstance happened to Colonel Cholmondeley's regiment on
their march to London: the public-houses on all the road would
not let them pay any thing, but treated them, and said, "You
are going to defend us against the French." There are no signs
of any rising. Lord Barrymore,(903) the Pretender's general,
and Colonel Cecil, his secretary of state, are at last taken
up; the latter, who having removed his papers, had sent for
them back, thinking the danger over, is committed to the
Tower, on discoveries from them; but, alas! these discoveries
go on but lamely.(904) One may perceive who is not minister,
rather than who is. The Opposition tried to put off the
suspension of the Habeas Corpus -feebly. Vernon (905) and the
Grennvilles are the warmest: Pitt and Lyttelton went away
without voting.(906) My father has exerted himself most
amazingly - the other day, on the King's laying some
information before the House, when the ministry had determined
to make no address on it, he rose up in the greatest
agitation, and made a long and fine speech On the present
situation.(907) The Prince was so pleased with it, that he
has given him leave to go to his court, which he never would
before. He went yesterday, and was most graciously received.
Lord Stair is at last appointed general. General Oglethorpe
(908) is to have a commission for raising a regiment of
Hussars, to defend the coasts. The Swiss servants in London
have offered to form themselves into a regiment; six hundred
are already clothed and armed, but no colonel or officers
appointed. We flatter ourselves, that the divisions in the
French ministry will repair what the divisions in our own
undo.
The answer from the court of France to Mr. Thomson on the
subject of the boy (909) is most arrogant: "that when we have
given them satisfaction for the many complaints which they
have made on our infraction of treaties, then they will think
of giving us des `eclaircissements."
We have no authentic news yet from Matthews: the most credited
is a letter from Marseilles to a Jew, which says it was the
most bloody battle ever fought; that it lasted three days;
that the two first we had the worst, and the third, by a lucky
gale, totally defeated them. Sir Charles Wager always said,
"that if a sea-fight lasted three days, he was sure the
English suffered the most for the two first, for no other
nation would stand beating for two days together."
Adieu! my dear child. I have told you every circumstance I
know: I hope you receive my letters; I hope their accounts
will grow more favourable. I never found my spirits so high,
for they never were so provoked. hope the best, and believe
that, as long as I am, I shall always be yours sincerely.
P. S. My dear Chutes, I hope you will still return to your own
England.
(903) James Barry, fourth Earl of Barrymore. He died in 1747.
See ant`e, p. 269. Letter 74.
(904) "Some treasonable papers of consequence were found in
Cecil's pockets, which gave occasion to the apprehending of
Lord Barrymore. They were both concerned in the affair of
transmitting the Pretender's letter to the late Duke of
Argyle; which it was now lamented had not then undergone a
stricter examination. I observed the Tories much struck with
the news of this being secured." Mr. P. Yorke's Parl.
Journal.-E.
(905) Admiral Vernon.
(906) "Lord Barrington's motion for deferring the suspension
was thrown out by 181 against 83. Pitt and Lyttelton walked
down the House whilst Lord Barrington was speaking, and went
away; so did Mr. Crowne, though a Tory; but most of that party
voted with the Ayes. Lord Chesterfield told the chancellor
there was no opposition to this bill intended amongst the
Lords; not even a disposition to it in any body; and greatly
approved the limiting it to so short a time." Mr. P. Yorke's
Parl. journal.-E.
(907) "Lord Orford, though he had never spoken in the House of
Lords, having remarked to his brother Horatio that he had left
his tongue in the House of Commons, yet on this occasion his
eloquent voice was once more raised, beseeching their
lordships to forget their cavils and divisions, and unite in
affection round the throne. It was solely owing to him, that
the torrent of public opposition was braved and overcome."
Lord Mahon, Hist. vol. iii. p. 273.-E.
(908) General James Oglethorpe, born in 1698. His activity in
settling the colony of Georgia obtained for him the friendship
and panegyric of Pope-
"One, driven by strong benevolence of soul,
Shall fly, like Oglethorpe, from pole to pole."
He was one of the earliest patrons of Johnson's "London," on
its first appearance, and the Doctor, throughout life,
acknowledged the kind and effectual support given to that
poem. The General sat in five parliaments, and died in 1785,
at the age of eighty-seven. For a striking pen-and-ink
whole.length sketch, taken a few months before that event,
while the General was attending the sale of Dr. Johnson's
library at Christie's auction-room, see "Johnsoniana," 8vo.
edit. p. 378.-E.
(909) Charles Edward, the young Pretender. His person, at
this time, is thus described by Lord Mahon: "The Prince was
tall and well-formed; his limbs athletic and active. He
excelled in all manly exercises, and was inured to every kind
of toil, especially long marches on foot, having applied
himself to field-sports in Italy, and become an expert walker.
His face was strikingly handsome, of a perfect oval, and a
fair complexion; his eyes light blue; his features high and
noble. Contrary to the custom of the time, which prescribed
perukes, his own fair hair usually in long ringlets on his
neck. This goodly person was enhanced by his graceful
manners; frequently condescending to the most familiar
kindness, yet always shielded by a regal dignity: he had a
peculiar talent to please and to persuade, and never failed to
adapt his conversation to the taste or to the station of those
whom he addressed." Hist. vol. iii. p. 280.-E.
363 Letter 132
To Sir Horace Mann.
March 5th, 1744, eight o'clock at night.
I have but time to write you a minute-line, but it will be a
comfortable one. There is just come advice, that the great
storm on the 25th of last month, the very day the embarkation
was to have sailed from Dunkirk, destroyed twelve of their
transports, and obliged the whole number of troops, which were
fifteen thousand, to debark. You may look upon the invasion
is at an end, at least for the present; though, as every thing
is coming to a crisis, one shall not be surprised to hear of
the attempt renewed. We know nothing yet certain from
Matthews; his victory grows a great doubt.
As this must go away this instant, I cannot write more-but
what could be more? Adieu! I wish you all joy.
364 Letter 133
To Sir Horace Mann.
March 15th, 1744
I have nothing new to tell you: that great storm certainly
saved us from the invasion-then.(910) Whether it has put an
end to the design is uncertain. They say the embargo at
Dunkirk and Calais is taken off, but not a vessel of ours is
come in from thence. They have, indeed, opened again the
communication with Ypres and Nieuport, etc. but we don't yet
hear whether they have renewed their embarkation. However, we
take it for granted it is all over-from which, I suppose it
will not be over. We expect the Dutch troops every hour.
That reinforcement, and four thousand men from Ireland, will
be all the advantage we shall have made of gaining time.
At last we have got some light into our Mediterranean affair,
for there is no calling it a victory. Villettes has sent a
courier, by which it seems we sunk one great Spanish ship; the
rest escaped, and the French fled shamefully; that was, I
suppose, designedly, and artfully. We can't account for
Lestock's not coming up with his seventeen ships, and we have
no mind to like it, which will not amaze you. We flatter
ourselves that, as this was only the first day, we shall get
some more creditable history of some succeeding day.
The French are going to besiege Mons: I wish all the war may
take that turn; I don't desire to see England the theatre of
it. We talk no more of its becoming so, nor of the plot, than
of the gunpowder-treason. Party is very silent; I believe,
because the Jacobites have better hopes than from
parliamentary divisions,-those in the ministry run very high,
and, I think, near some crisis.
I have enclosed a proposal from my bookseller to the
undertaker of the Museum Florentinum, or the concerners of it,
as the paper called them; but it was expressed in such
wonderfully-battered English, that it was impossible for
Dodsley or me to be sure of the meaning of it. He is a
fashionable author, and though that is no sign of perspicuity,
I hope, more intelligible. Adieu!
(910) "The pious motto," says Mr. P. Yorke, "upon the medal
struck by Queen Elizabeth after the defeat of the Armada, may,
with as much propriety, be applied to this event-"Flavit
ventO, et dissipati sunt;' for, as Bishop Burnet somewhere
observes, 'our preservation at this juncture was one of those
providential events, for which we have much to answer."' MS.
Parl. Journal.-E.
365 Letter 134
To Sir Horace Mann.
London, March 22, 1744.
I am .sorry this letter must date the era of a
new correspondence, the topic of which must be blood!
Yesterday, came advice from Mr. Thompson,(911) that Monsieur
Amelot had sent for him and given him notice to be gone, for a
declaration of war with England was to be published in two
days. Politically, I don't think it so bad; for the very name
of war, though in effect, on foot before,, must make
our governors take more precautions; and the French declaring
it will range the people more on our side than on the
Jacobite: besides, the latter will have their communication
with France cut off. But, my dear child, what lives, what
misfortunes, must and may follow all this! As a man, I feel my
humanity more touched than my spirit-I feel myself more an
universal man than an Englishman! We have
already lost seven millions of money and thirty thousand men
in the Spanish war-and all the fruit of all this blood and
treasure is the glory of having Admiral Vernon's head on
alehouse signs! for my part, I would not purchase another Duke
of Marlborough at the expense of one life. How I should be
shocked, were I a hero, when I looked on my own laurelled head
on a medal, the reverse of which would be widows and orphans.
How many such will our patriots have made!
The embarkation at Dunkirk does not seem to go on, though, to
be sure, not laid aside. We received yesterday the
particulars of the Mediterranean engagement from Matthews. We
conclude the French squadron retired designedly, to come up to
Brest, where we every day expect to hear of them. If Matthews
does not follow them, adieu our triumphs in the Channel-and
then! Sir John Norris has desired leave to come back, as
little satisfied with the world as the world is with him. He
is certainly very unfortunate;(912) but I can't say I think he
has tried to correct his fortune. If England is ever more to
be England, this sure is the crisis to exert all her vigour.
We have all the disadvantage of Queen Elizabeth's prospect,
without one of her ministers. Four thousand Dutch are landed,
and we hope to get eight or twelve ships from them. Can we
now say, Quatuor maria vindico?"(913)
I will not talk any more politically, but turn to hymeneals,
with as much indifference as if I were a first minister. Who
do you think is going to marry Lady Sophia Fermor?(914)-only
Lord Carteret!-this very week!-a drawing-room conquest. Do
but imagine how many passions will be gratified in that
family! her own ambition, vanity, and resentment-love she
never had any; the politics, management, and pedantry of the
mother, who will think to govern her son-in-law out of
Froissart.(915) Figure the instructions she will give her
daughter! Lincoln is quite indifferent, and laughs. My Lord
Chesterfield says, "It is only another of Carteret's vigorous
measures." I am really glad of it; for her beauty and
cleverness did deserve a better fate, than she was on the
point of having determined for her for ever,. How graceful,
how charming, and how haughtily condescending she will be!
how, if Lincoln should ever hint past history, she will
"Stare upon the strange man's face,
As one she ne'er had known!"(916)
I wonder I forgot to tell you that Doddington had owned a
match of seventeen years' standing with Mrs. Behan, to whom
the one you mention is sister.
I have this moment received yours of March 10th, and thank you
much for the silver medal, which has already taken its place
in my museum.
I feel almost out of pain for your situation, as by the motion
of the fleets this way, I should think the expedition to Italy
abandoned. We and you have had great escapes, but we have
still occasion for all Providence!
I am very sorry for the young Sposa Panciatici, and wish all
the other parents joy of the increase of their families. Mr.
Whithed is en bon train; but the recruits he is raising will
scarce thrive fast enough to be of service this war. My best
loves to him and Mr. Chute. I except you three out of my want
of public spirit. The other day, when the Jacobites and
patriots were carrying every thing to ruin, and had made me
warmer than I love to be, one of them said to me, "Why don't
you love your country?" I replied, "I should love my country
exceedingly,'If it were not for my countrymen." Adieu!
(911) Chaplain to the late Lord Waldegrave; after whose death
he acted as minister at Paris, till the war, when he returned,
and was made a dean in Ireland.
(912) He was called by the seamen "Foul-weather Jack."
(913) Motto of a medal of Charles the Second.
(914) Eldest daughter of Thomas, Earl of Pomfret.
(915) lady Pomfret had translated Froissart.
(916) Verses in Congreve's Doris.
366 Letter 135
To Sir Horace Mann.
April 2, 1744.
I am afraid our correspondence will be extremely disjointed,
and the length of time before you get my letters will make you
very impatient, when all the world will be full of events; but
I flatter myself that you will hear every thing sooner than by
my letters; I mean, that whatever happens will be on the
Continent; for the danger from Dunkirk seems blown over. We
declared war on Saturday: that is all I know, for every body
has been out of town for the Easter holidays. To-morrow the
Houses meet again: the King goes, and is to make a speech.
The Dutch seem extremely in earnest, and I think we seem to
put all our strength in their preparations.
The town is persuaded that Lord Clinton (916) is gone to Paris
to make peace - he is certainly gone thither, nobody knows
why. He has gone thither every year -all his life, when he
was in the Opposition; but, to be sure, this is a very strange
time to take that journey. Lord Stafford, who came hither
just before the intended invasion, (no doubt for the defence
of the Protestant religion, especially as his father-in-law,
Bulkeley,(917), was colonel of one of the embarked regiments,)
is gone to carry his sister to be married to a Count de
Rohan,(918) and then returns, having a sign manual for leaving
his wife there.
We shall not be surprised to hear that the Electorate(919) has
got a new master; shall you? Our dear nephew of Prussia will
probably take it, to keep it safe for us.
I had written thus far on Monday, and then my lord came from
New Park: and I had no time the rest of the day to finish it.
We have made very loyal addresses to the King on his speech,
which I suppose they send you. There is not the least news,
but that my Lord Carteret's wedding has been deferred on Lady
Sophia's falling dangerously ill of a scarlet fever; but they
say it is to be next Saturday. She is to have sixteen hundred
pounds a-year jointure, four hundred pounds pin-money, and two
thousand of jewels. Carteret says, he does not intend to
marry the mother and the whole family. What do you think my
lady intends? Adieu! my dear Sir! Pray for peace.
(916) Hugh Fortescue, afterwards Earl of Clinton and Knight of
the Bath. Not long after he received that order he went into
Opposition, and left off his riband and star for one day, but
thought better of it, and put them on the next. He was created
Lord Fortescue and Earl of Clinton in 1746, and died in 1751.)
(917) Mr. Bulkeley, an Irish Roman Catholic, married the widow
Cantillon, mother of the Countess of Stafford. He rose high
in the French army, and had the cordon bleu: his
sister was second wife of the first Duke of Berwick.
(918)Afterwards Duke of Rohan Chabot.-D.
(919) Of Hanover.-D.
367 Letter 136
To Sir Horace Mann.
London, April 15, 1744.
I could tell you a great deal of news, but it would not be
what you would expect. It is not of battles, sieges, and
declarations of war; nor of invasions, insurrections, and
addresses. It is the god of love, not he of war, who reigns
in the newspapers. The town has made up a list of six and
thirty weddings, which I shall not catalogue to you; for you
would know, them no more than you do Antilochum, fortemque
Gyan, fortemque Cloanthum.
But the chief entertainment has been the nuptials of our great
Quixote and the fair Sophia. On the point of matrimony she
fell ill of a scarlet fever, and was given over, while he had
the gout, but heroically sent her word, that if she was well,
he would be so. They corresponded every day, and he used to
plague the cabinet council with reading her letters to them.
Last night they were married; and as all he does must have a
particular air in it, they supped at Lord Pomfret's: at
twelve, Lady Granville, his mother, and all his family went to
bed, but the porter: then my lord went home, and waited for
her in the lodge: she came alone in a hackney-chair, met him
in the hall, and was led up the back stairs to bed. What is
ridiculously lucky is, that Lord Lincoln goes into waiting,
to-day, and will be to present her! On Tuesday she stands
godmother with the King to Lady Dysart's(920) child, her new
grand-daughter. I am impatient to see the whole m`enage; it
will be admirable. There is a wild young Venetian
ambassadress(921) come, who is reckoned very pretty. I don't
think so; she is foolish and childish to a degree. She said,
"Lord! the old secretary is going to be married!" hey told
her he was but fifty-four. "But fifty-four! why," said she,
"my husband is but two-and-forty, and I think him the oldest
man in the world." Did I tell you that Lord Holderness(922)
goes to Venice with the compliments of accommodation, and
leaves Sir James Grey resident there?
The invasion from Dunkirk seems laid aside. We talk little of
our fleets - Sir John Norris has resigned -. Lestock is coming
home, and sent before him great complaints of Matthews; so
that affair must be cleared up. the King talks much of going
abroad, which will not be very prudent. The campaign is not
opened yet, but I suppose will disclose at once with great
`eclat in several quarters.
I this instant receive your letter of March 31st, with the
simple Demetrius, for which, however, I thank you. I hope by
this time you have received all my letters, and are at peace
about the invasion; which we think so much over, that the
Opposition are now breaking out about the Dutch troops, and
call it the worst measure ever taken. Those terms so
generally dealt to every measure successively, will at least
soften the Hanoverian history.
Adieu! I have nothing more to tell you: I flatter myself you
content yourself with news; I cannot write sentences nor
sentiments. My best love to the Chutes, and now and then let
my friends the Prince and Princess and Florentines know that I
shall never forget their goodness to me. What is become of
Prince Beauvau?
(920) Lady Grace Carteret, eldest daughter of Lord Carteret.
She was married in 1729 to Lionel Tollemache, third Earl of
Dysart; by whom she had fifteen children.-E.
(921) Wife of Signor Capello.
(922) Robert Darcy, Earl of Holderness, ambassador at Venice
and the Hague, and afterwards secretary of state.
369 Letter 137
To Sir Horace Mann.
London, May 8, 1744.
I begin to breathe a little at ease; we have done with the
Parliament for this year: it rises on Saturday. We have had
but one material day lately, last Thursday. The Opposition
had brought in a bill to make it treason to correspond with
the young Pretenders:(923) the Lords added a clause, after a
long debate, to make it a forfeiture of estates, as it is for
dealing with the father. We sat till one in the morning, and
then carried it by 255 to 106. It was the best debate I ever
heard.(924) The King goes to Kensington to-morrow, and not
abroad. We hear of great quarrels between Marshal Wade and
Duc d'Aremberg. The French King is at Valenciennes with
Monsieur de Noailles, who is now looked upon as first
minister. He is the least dangerous for us of all. It is
affirmed that Cardinal Tencin is disgraced, who was the very
worst for us. If he is, we shall at least have no invasion
this summer. Successors of ministers seldom take up the
schemes of their predecessors; especially such as by failing
caused their ruin, which, I believe, was Tencin's case at
Dunkirk.
For a week we heard of the affair at Villafranca in a worse
light than was true: it certainly turns out ill for both
sides. Though the French have had such a bloody loss, I
cannot but think they will carry their point, and force their
passage into Italy.
We have no domestic news, but Lord Lovel's being created Earl
of Leicester, on an old promise which my father had obtained
for him. Earl Berkeley(925) is married to Miss Drax, a very
pretty maid of honour to the Princess; and the Viscount
Fitzwilliam(926) to Sir Matthew Decker's eldest daughter , but
these are people I am sure you don't know.
There is to be a great ball tomorrow at the Duchess of
Richmond's for my Lady Carteret: the Prince is to be there.
Carteret's court to pay her the highest honours, which she
receives with the highest state. I have seen her but once,
and found her just what I expected, tr`es grande dame; full of
herself, and yet not with an air of happiness. She looks ill
and is grown lean, but is still the finest figure in the
world. The mother is not so exalted as I expected- I fancy
Carteret has kept his resolution, and does not marry her too.
My Lord does not talk of' going out of town yet; I don't
propose to be at Houghton till August. Adieu!
(923) Charles Edward, and Henry his brother, afterwards the
Cardinal of York.-D.
(924) The Honourable Philip Yorke, in his MS. Parliamentary
Journal, says, "it was a warm and long d(.-bate, in which I
think as much violence and dislike to the proposition was
shown by the opposers, as in any which had arisen during the
whole winter. I thought neither Mr. Pelham's nor Pitt's
performances equal on this occasion to what they are on most
others. Many of the Prince's friends were absent; for what
reason I cannot learn. This was the parting blow of the
session; for the King came and dismissed us on the 12th, and
the Parliament broke up with a good deal of ill-humour and
discontent on the part of the Opposition, and little
expectation in those who knew the interior of the court, and
the unconnected state of the alliance abroad, that much would
be done in the ensuing campaign to allay it, or infuse a
better temper into the nation."-E.
(925) Augustus. fourth Earl Berkeley, Knight of the Thistle.
He married Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Drax, Esq, of
Charborough, in Dorsetshire; and died in 1755.-D.
(926) Richard, sixth Viscount Fitzwilliam in Ireland, married
Catherine, daughter and heiress of Sir Matthew Decker, Bart.,
and died in 1776.-E.
370 Letter 138
To Sir Horace Mann.
London, May 29, 1744.
Since I wrote I have received two from you of May 6th and
19th. I am extremely sorry you get mine so late. I have
desired your brother to complain to Mr. Preverau: I get yours
pretty regularly.
I have this morning had a letter from Mr. Conway at the army;
he says he hears just then that the French have declared war
against the Dutch: they had in effect before by besieging
Menin, which siege our army is in full march to raise. They
have laid bridges over the Scheldt, and intend to force the
French to a battle. The latter are almost double our number,
but their desertion is prodigious, and their troops extremely
bad. Fourteen thousand more Dutch are ordered, and their six
thousand are going from hence with four more of ours; so we
seem to have no more apprehensions of an invasion. All
thoughts of it are over! no inquiry made into it! The present
ministry fear the detection of conspiracies more than the
thing itself: that is, they fear every thing that they are to
do themselves.
My father has been extremely ill, from a cold he caught last
week at New-park. Princess Emily came thither to fish, and
he, who is grown quite indolent, and has not been out of a hot
room this twelve- month, sat an hour and a half by the water
side. He was in great danger one day, and more low-spirited
than ever I knew him, though I think that grows upon him with
his infirmities. My sister was at his bedside; I came into
the room,-he burst into tears and could not speak to me - but
he is quite well now; though I cannot say I think he will
preserve his life long, as he has laid aside all exercise,
which has been of such vast service to him. he talked the
other day of shutting himself up in the farthest wing at
Houghton; I said, "Dear, my Lord, you will be at a distance
from all the family there!" He replied, "So much the better!"
Pope is given over with a dropsy, which is mounted into his
head: in an evening he is not in his senses; the other day at
Chiswick, he said,- to my Lady Burlington, "Look at our
Saviour there! how ill they have crucified him!"(927)
There is a Prince of Ost-Frize(928) dead, which is likely to
occasion most unlucky broils: Holland, Prussia, and Denmark
have all pretensions to his succession; but Prussia is
determined to make his good. If the Dutch don't dispute it,
he will be too near a neighbour; if they do, we lose his
neutrality, which is now so material.
The town has been in a great bustle about a private match; but
which, by the ingenuity of the ministry, has been made
politics. Mr. Fox fell in love with Lady Caroline
Lennox;(929) asked her, was refused, and stole her. His
father(930) was a footman; her great grandfather a king: hinc
illae, lachrymae! all the blood royal have been up in arms.
The Duke of Marlborough, who was a friend of the Richmonds,
gave her away. If his Majesty's Princess Caroline had been
stolen, there could not have been more noise made. The
Pelhams, who arc much attached to the Richmonds, but who have
tried to make Fox and all that set theirs, wisely entered into
the quarrel, and now don't know how to get out of it. They
were for hindering Williams,(931) who is Fox's great friend,
and at whose house they were married, from having the red
riband; but he has got it, with four others, the Viscount
Fitzwilliam, Calthorpe, Whitmore, and Harbord. Dashwood, Lady
Carteret's quondam lover, has stolen a great fortune, a Miss
Bateman; the marriage had been proposed, but the fathers could
not agree on the terms.
I am much obliged to you for all your Sardinian and Neapolitan
journals. I am impatient for the conquest of Naples, and have
no notion of neglecting sure things, which may serve by way of
d`edommagement.
I am very sorry I recommended such a troublesome booby to you.
Indeed, dear Mr. Chute, I never saw him, but was pressed by
Mr. Selwyn, whose brother's friend he is, to give him that
letter to you. I now hear that he is a warm Jacobite; I
suppose you somehow disobliged him politically.
We are now mad about tar-water, on the publication of a book
that I will send you, written by Dr. Berkeley, Bishop of
Cloyne.(932) The book contains every subject from tar-water
to the Trinity; however, all the women read, and understand it
no more than they would if it were intelligible. A man came
into an apothecary's shop the other day, "Do you sell
tar-water?" "Tar-water!" replied the apothecary, "why, I sell
nothing else!" Adieu!
(927) Pope died the day after this letter was written; "in the
evening," says Spence, "but they did not know the exact time;
for his departure was so easy, that it was imperceptible even
to the standers by."
(928) The Prince of East Friesland.
(929) Eldest daughter of Charles Duke of Richmond, grandson of
King Charles II.
(930) Sir Stephen Fox.
(931) Sir C. Hanbury Williams.
(932) Having cured himself of a nervous colic by the use of
tar-water, the bishop this year published a book entitled
"Philosophical Reflections and Enquiries concerning the
Virtues of Tar-water.',-E.
372 Letter 139
To Sir Horace Mann.
June 11, 1744.
Perhaps you expect to hear of great triumphs and victories; of
General Wade grown into a Duke of Marlborough; or of the King
being in Flanders, with the second part of the battle of
Dettingen-why, ay: you are bound in conscience, as a good
Englishman, to expect all this -but what if all these 10
paeans should be played to the Dunkirk tune? I must prepare
you for some such thing; for unless the French are as much
their own foes as we are our own, I don't see what should
hinder the festival to-day(933) being kept next year a day
sooner. But I will draw no consequences; only sketch you out
our present situation: and if Cardinal Tencin can miss making
his use of it, we may burn our books and live hereafter upon
good fortune.
The French King's army is at least ninety thousand strong; has
taken Menin already, and Ypres almost. Remains then only
Ostend; which you will look in the map and see does not lie in
the high road to the conquest of the Austrian Netherlands.
Ostend may be laid under water, and the taking it an affair of
time. But there lies all our train of artillery Which cost
two hundred thousand pounds; and what becomes of our
communication with our army? Why, they may go round by
Williamstadt, and be in England just time enough to be some
other body's army! It turns out that the whole combined army,
English, Dutch, Austrians, and Hanoverians, does not amount to
above thirty-six thousand fighting men! and yet forty thousand
more French, under the Duc d'Harcourt are coming into
Flanders. When their army is already so superior to ours, for
what can that reinforcement be intended, but to let them spare
a triumph to Dunkirk? Now you will naturally ask me three
questions: where is Prince Charles? where are the Dutch?
what force have you to defend England? Prince Charles is
hovering about the Rhine to take Lorrain, which they seem not
to care whether he does or not, and leaves you to defend the
-Netherlands. The Dutch seem indifferent, whether their
barrier is in the hands of the Queen or the Emperor and while
you are so mad, think it prudent not to be so themselves. For
our own force, it is too melancholy to mention: six regiments
go away to-morrow to Ostend, with the six thousand Dutch.
Carteret and Botzlaer, the Dutch envoy extraordinary, would
have hurried them away without orders; but General Smitsart,
their commander, said, he was too old to be hanged. This
reply was told to my father yesterday: "Ay," said he, "so I
thought I was, but I may live to be mistaken!" When these
troops are gone, we shall not have in the whole island above
six thousand men, even when the regiments are complete; and
half of those pressed and new-listed men. For our sea-force,
I wish it may be greater in proportion! Sir Charles Hardy,
whose name(934) at least is ill-favoured, is removed, and old
Balchen, a firm Whig, put at the head of the fleet. Fifteen
ships are sent for from Matthews; but they may come as
opportunely as the army from Williamstadt-in short-but I won't
enter into reasonings-the King is not gone. The Dutch have
sent word, that they can let us have but six of the twenty
ships we expected. My father is going into Norfolk, quite
shocked at living to see how terribly his own conduct is
justified. In the city the word is, "Old Sunderland'S(935)
game is acting over again." Tell me if you receive this
letter: I believe you will scarce give it about in memorials.
Here are arrived two Florentines, not recommended to me, but I
have been very civil to them, Marquis Salviati and Conte
Delci; the latter remembers to have seen me at Madame
Grifoni's. The Venetian ambassador met my father yesterday at
my Lady Brown's: you would have laughed to have seen how he
stared and @eccellenza'd him. At last they fell into a broken
Latin chat, and there was no getting the ambassador away from
him.
If you have the least interest in any one Madonna in Florence,
pay her well for all the service she can do us. If she can
work miracles, now is her time. If she can't, I believe we
all shall be forced to adore her. Adieu! Tell Mr. Chute I
fear we should not be quite so well received at the
conversazzioni, at Madame de Craon's, and the Casino,(936)
when we are but refugee heretics. Well, we must hope! Yours I
am, and we will bear our wayward fate together.
(933) The 10th of June was the Pretender's birthday, and the 11th
the accession of George II.
(934) He was of a Jacobite family.
(935) Lord Sunderland, who betrayed James II.
(936) The Florentine coffee-house.
373 Letter 140
To Sir Horace Mann.
London, June 18, 1744.
I have not any immediate bad news to tell you in consequence
of my last. The siege of Ypres does not advance so
expeditiously as was expected; a little time gained in sieges
goes a great way in a campaign. The Brest squadron is making
just as great a figure in our channel as Matthews does before
Toulon and Marseilles. I should be glad to be told by some
nice computers of national glory, how much the balance is on
our side.
Anson(937) is returned with vast fortune, substantial and
lucky. He has brought the Acapulca ship into Portsmouth, and
its treasure is at least computed at five hundred thousand
pounds. He escaped the Brest squadron by a mist. You will
have all the particulars in a gazette.
I will not fail to make your compliments to the Pomfrets and
Carterets. I see them seldom, but I am in favour; so I
conclude, for my Lady Pomfret told me the other night, that I
said better things than any body. I was with them all at a
subscription-ball at Ranelagh last week, which my Lady
Carteret thought proper to look upon as given to her, and
thanked the gentlemen, who were not quite so well pleased at
her condescending to take it to herself. My lord stayed with
her there till four in the morning. They are all fondness
-walk together, and stop every five steps to kiss. Madame de
Craon is a cypher to her for grandeur. The ball was on an
excessively hot night: yet she was dressed in a magnificent
brocade, because it was new that morning for the
inauguration-day. I did the honours of all her dress:-"How
charming your ladyship's cross is! I am sure the design was
your own."-"No, indeed; my lord sent it me just as it
is."-"How fine your ear-rings are!"-"Oh! but they are very
heavy." Then as much to the mother. Do you wonder I say
better things than any body?
I send you by a ship going to Leghorn the only new books at
all worth reading. The Abuse(938) of Parliaments is by
Doddington and Waller, circumstantially scurrilous. The
dedication of the Essay(939) to my father is fine; pray mind
the quotation from Milton. There is Dr. Berkeley's mad book
on tar-water, which has made every body as mad as himself.
I have lately made a great antique purchase of all Dr.
Middleton's collection which he brought from Italy, and which
he is now publishing. I will send you the book as soon as it
comes out. I would not buy the things till the book was half
printed, for fear of an `e Museo Walpoliano.-Those honours are
mighty well for such known and learned men as Mr. Smith,(940)
the merchant of Venice. My dear Mr. Chute, how we used to
enjoy the title-page(941) of his understanding! Do you
remember how angry he was when showing us a Guido, after
pompous roomsfull of Sebastian Riccis, which he had a mind to
establish for capital pictures, you told him he had now made
amends for all the rubbish he had showed us before?
My father has asked, and with some difficulty got, his pension
of four thousand pounds a-year, which the King gave him on his
resignation and which he dropped, by the wise fears of my
uncle and the Selwyns. He has no reason to be satisfied with
the manner of obtaining it now, or with the manner of the
man(942) whom he employed to ask it - yet it was not a point
that required capacity-merely gratitude. Adieu!
(937) The celebrated circumnavigator, afterwards a peer, and
first lord of the admiralty.-D.
(938) Detection of the Use and Abuse of Parliaments, by Ralph,
under the direction of Doddington and Waller.
(939) Essay on Wit, Humour, and Ridicule, by Corbyn Morris.
(940) Mr. Smith, consul at Venice, had a fine library" of
which he knew nothing at all but the title-pages.
(941) Expression of Mr. Chute.
(942) Mr. Pelham.
375 Letter 141
To The Hon. H. S. Conway.(943)
Arlington Street, June 29, 1744.
My dearest Henry,
I don't know what made my last letter so long on the road:
yours got hither as soon as it could. I don't attribute it to
any examination at the post-office. God forbid I should
suspect any branch of the present administration of attempting
to know any one kind of thing! I remember when I was at Eton,
and Mr. Bland(944) had set me an extraordinary task, I used
sometimes to pique myself upon not getting it, because it was
not immediately my school business. What! learn more than I
was absolutely forced to learn! I felt the weight of learning
that; for I was a blockhead, and pushed up above my parts.
Lest you maliciously think I mean any application of this last
sentence any where in the world, I shall go and transcribe
some lines out of a new poem, that pretends to great
impartiality, but is evidently wrote by some secret friend of
the ministry. It is called Pope's, but has no good lines but
the following. The plan supposes him complaining of being put
to death by the blundering discord of his two physicians.
Burton and Thompson; and from thence makes a transition to
show that all the present misfortunes of the world flow from a
parallel disagreement; for instance, in politics:
"Ask you what cause this conduct can create?
The doctors differ that direct the state.
Craterus, wild as Thompson, rules and raves,
A slave himself yet proud of making slaves;
Fondly believing that his mighty parts
Can guide all councils and command all hearts;
Give shape and colour to discordant things,
Hide fraud in ministers and fear in kings.
Presuming on his power, such schemes he draws
For bribing Iron(945) and giving Europe laws,
That camps, and fleets, and treaties fill the news,
And succours unobtain'd and unaccomplish'd views.
"Like solemn Burton grave Plumbosus acts;
He thinks in method, argues all from facts;
Warm in his temper, yet affecting ice,
Protests his candour ere he gives advice;
Hints he dislikes the schemes he recommends,
And courts his foes-and hardly courts his friends;
Is fond of power, and yet concerned for fame-
>From different parties would dependents claim
Declares for war, but in an awkward way,
Loves peace at heart, which he's afraid to say;
His head perplex'd, altho' his hands are pure-
An honest man,-but not a hero sure!"
I beg you will never tell me any news till it has past every
impression of the Dutch gazette; for one is apt to mention
what is wrote to one: that gets about, comes at last to, the
ears of the ministry, puts them in a fright, and perhaps they
send to beg to see your letter. Now, you know one should hate
to have one's private correspondence made grounds for a
measure,-especially for an absurd one, which is just possible.
If I was writing to any body but you, who know me so well, I
should be afraid this would be taken for pique and pride, and
be construed into my thinking all ministers inferior to my
father but, my dear Harry, you know it was never my foible to
think over-abundantly well of him. Why I think as I do of the
great geniuses, answer for me, Admiral Matthews, great British
Neptune, bouncing in the Mediterranean, while the Brest
squadron is riding in the English Channel, and an invasion
from Dunkirk every moment threatening your coasts: against
which you send for six thousand Dutch troops, while you have
twenty thousand of your own in Flanders, which not being of
any use, you send these very six thousand Dutch to them, with
above half of the few of your own remaining in England; a
third part of which half of which few you countermand, because
you are again alarmed with the invasion, and yet let the six
Dutch go, who came for no other end but to protect you. And
that our naval discretion may go hand-in-hand with our
military, we find we have no force at home; we send for
fifteen ships from the Mediterranean to guard our coasts, and
demand twenty from the Dutch. The first fifteen will be here,
perhaps in three months. Of the twenty Dutch, they excuse all
but six, of which six they send all but four; and your own
small domestic fleet, five are going to the West Indies and
twenty a hunting for some Spanish ships that are coming from
the Indies. Don't it put you in mind of a trick that is done
by calculation: Think of a number: halve it-double it-and
ten-subtract twenty-add half the first number-take away all
you added: now, what remains?
That you may think I employ my time as idly as the great men I
have been talking of, you must be informed that every night
constantly I go to Ranelagh; which has totally beat Vauxhall.
Nobody goes any where else-every body goes there. My Lord
Chesterfield is so fond of it, that he says he has ordered all
his letters to be directed thither. If you had never seen it,
I would make you a most pompous description of it, and tell
you how the floor is all of beaten princes-you can't set your
foot without treading on a Prince of Wales or Duke of
Cumberland. The company is universal: there is from his Grace
of Grafton down to Children out of the Foundling Hospital-
from my Lady Townshend to the kitten--from my Lord Sandys to
your humble cousin and sincere friend.
(943) Now first printed.
(944) Dr. Henry Bland, head-master, and from 1732 to his
death, in 1746, provost of Eton College. In No. 628 of the
Spectator is a Latin version by him of Cato's soliloquy.-E.
(945) This is nonsense@H. W.
377 Letter 142
To Sir Horace Mann.
London, June 29, 1744.
Well, at last this is not to be the year of our captivity!
There is a cluster of good packets come at once. The Dutch
have marched twelve thousand men to join our army; the King of
Sardinia (but this is only a report) has beaten the Spaniards
back over the Varo, and I this moment hear from the
Secretary's office, that Prince Charles has undoubtedly passed
the Rhine at the head of fourscore thousand men-where, and
with what circumstances, I don't know a word; ma basta cos`i.
It is said, too, that the Marquis de la Ch`etardie(946) is
sent away from Russia: but this one has no occasion to
believe. False good news are always produced by true good,
like the waterfall by the rainbow. But why do I take upon me
to tell you all this?-you, who are the centre of ministers and
business! the actuating genius in the conquest of Naples! You
cannot imagine how formidable you appear to me. My poor
little, quiet Miny, with his headache and `epuisements, and
Cocchio, and coverlid of cygnet's down, that had no dealings
but with a little spy-abb`e at Rome, a civil whisper with
Count Lorenzi,(947) or an explanation on some of Goldsworthy's
absurdities, or with Richcourt about some sbirri,(948) that
had insolently passed through the street in which the King of
Great Britain's arms condescended to hang! Bless me! how he
is changed, become a trafficking plenipotentiary with Prince
lobkowitz, Cardinal Albani(949) and Admiral Matthews! Why, my
dear child, I should not know you again; I should not dare to
roll you up between a finger and thumb like wet brown paper.
Well, heaven prosper your arms! But I hate you, for I now
look upon you as ten times fatter than I am.
I don't think it would be quite unadvisable for Bistino(950)
to take a journey hither. My Lady Carteret would take
violently to any thing that came so far as to adore her
grandeur. I believe even my Lady Pomfret would be persuaded
he had seen the star of their glory travelling westward to
direct him. For my part, I expect soon to make a figure too
in the political magazine, for all our Florence set is coming
to grandeur; but you and my Lady Carteret have outstripped me.
I remain with -the Duke of Courtland in Siberia-my father has
actually gone thither for a long season. I met my Lady
Carteret the other day at Knaptons,(951) and desired leave to
stay while she sat for her picture. She is drawn crowned with
corn, like the Goddess of Plenty, and a mild dove in her arms,
like Mrs. Venus. We had much of my lord and my lord. The
countess-mother was glad my lord was not there-he was never
satisfied with the eyes; she was afraid he would have had them
drawn bigger than the cheeks. I made your compliments
abundantly, and cried down the charms of the picture as
politically as if' you yourself had been there in person.
To fill up this sheet, I shall transcribe some very good lines
published to-day in one of the papers, by I don't know whom,
on Pope's death.
"Here lies, who died, as most folks die, in hope,
The mouldering, more ignoble part of Pope;
The hard, whose sprightly genius dared to wage
Poetic war with an immoral age;
Made every vice and private folly known
In friend and foe--a stranger to his own
Set Virtue in its loveliest form to view,
And still professed to be the sketch he drew.
As humour or as interest served, his verse
Could praise or flatter, libel or asperse:
Unharming innocence with guilt could load,
Or lift the rebel patriot to a god:
Give the censorious critic standing laws-
The first to violate them with applause;
The just translator and the solid wit,
Like whom the passions few so truly hit:
The scourge of dunces whom his malice made-
The impious plague of the defenceless dead:
To real knaves and real fools a sore-
Beloved by many but abhorr'd by more,
If here his merits are not full exprest,
His never-dying strains shall tell the rest."
Sure the greater part was his true character; Here is another
epitaph by Rolli;(952) which for the profound fall in some of
the verses', especially in the last, will divert you.
"Spento `e il Pope: de' poeti Britanni
Uno de' lumi che sorge in mille anni:
Pur si vuol che la macchia d'Ingrato
N'abbia reso il fulgor men sereno:
Stato fora e pi`u giusto e pi`u grato.
Men lodando e biasmando ancor meno."
(946) French ambassador at the court of St. Petersburg, and
for some time a favourite of the Empress Elizabeth. The
report of his disgrace was correct. He died in 1758.-E.
(947) A Florentine, but employed as minister by France.
(948) The officers of justice, who are reckoned so infamous in
Italy, that the foreign ministers have always pretended to
hinder them from passing through the streets where they
reside.
(949) Cardinal Alexander Albani, nephew of Clement XI. was
minister of the Queen of Hungary at Rome.
(950) Giovanni Battista Uguecioni, a Florentine nobleman, and
great friend of the Pomfrets.
(951) George Knapton, a portrait painter. Walpole says, he
was well versed in the theory of painting, and had a thorough
knowledge of the hands of the good masters. He died at
Kensington, in 1778, at the age of eighty.-E.
(952) Paolo Antonio Rolli, composer of the operas, translated
and published several things. [Thus hitched into the Dunciad-
"Rolli the feather to his ear conveys
Then his nice taste directs our operas."
Warburton says, "He taught Italian to some fine gentlemen, who
affected to direct the operas."
379 Letter 143
To The Hon. H. S. Conway.
Arlington Street, July 20, 1744.