ELIZABETH MONTAGU
THE QUEEN OF THE BLUE-STOCKINGS
HER CORRESPONDENCE FROM 1720 TO 1761
Transcribers’ Note
Words in italics are marked with _underscores_.
Words in small capitals are shown in UPPER CASE.
Volumes one and two of “Elizabeth Montagu” are also published
separately at Project Gutenberg.
This combination of the two volumes consists of: Volume I, Volume II,
Index, and the Robinson Pedigree.
Please also see the note at the end of this book.
Volume I
[Illustration: _C. F. Zincke. Pinx._ _Emery Walker Ph. Sc._
_Mrs. Montagu_
_née Elizabeth Robinson_
_from a miniature in the possession of Miss Montagu_]
ELIZABETH MONTAGU
THE QUEEN OF THE BLUE-STOCKINGS
HER CORRESPONDENCE FROM 1720 TO 1761
BY HER GREAT-GREAT-NIECE
EMILY J. CLIMENSON
AUTHORESS OF “HISTORY OF SHIPLAKE,”
“HISTORICAL GUIDE TO HENLEY-ON-THAMES,”
“PASSAGES FROM THE DIARIES OF MRS. P. LYBBE POWYS,” ETC., ETC.
WITH ILLUSTRATIONS
IN TWO VOLUMES--VOL. I
[Illustration: Publisher’s colophon, a coat of arms]
LONDON
JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET
1906
PRINTED BY
WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED
LONDON AND BECCLES
AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED
TO
MY COUSINS
MAGDALEN WELLESLEY
AND
ELIZABETH MONTAGU
BY
THE AUTHORESS
PREFACE.
From my early youth I heartily desired to know more of the life of my
great-great-aunt, Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu. Every scrap of information I
could pick up respecting her I accumulated; therefore when my cousins,
Mrs. Wellesley and her sister, Miss Montagu, in October, 1899, gave me
the whole of her manuscripts contained in 68 cases, holding from 100 to
150 letters in each, my joy was unbounded!
In 1810 my grandfather, the 4th Baron Rokeby (her nephew and adopted
son), published two volumes of her letters; these were followed by
two more volumes in 1813. To enable him to perform this pleasing
task he asked all her principal friends to return her letters to
him, beginning with the Dowager Marchioness of Bath,[1] daughter of
the Duchess of Portland, who gave him back the earliest letters to
her mother, many carefully inserted in a curious grey paper book by
the duchess, who placed the date of reception on each, and evidently
valued them exceedingly. The Rev. Montagu Pennington returned her
letters to his aunt, Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, the learned translator of
Epictetus; Mrs. Freind those to her husband; and many other people
did the same. From General Pulteney, at Lord Bath’s death, she had
asked for and received her correspondence with Lord Bath, which she
carefully preserved. At the death of Lord Lyttelton, the executors,
at her request, returned her her letters; those to Gilbert West and
other correspondents were returned in the same manner. Meanwhile she
kept all letters of her special friends, as well as notabilities,
so that one may deem the collection quite unique, though doubtless
many letters have disappeared, notably those of Sir Joshua Reynolds,
many of whose letters were destroyed by an ignorant caretaker of Mrs.
Montagu’s house, Denton Hall, near Newcastle-on-Tyne. There are none of
Horace Walpole’s, from whom she must have received some; and those from
several other celebrities she knew well are missing.
[1] _Née_ Elizabeth Cavendish, born 1735, died 1825, ætat 91.
Owing to the enormous quantity of letters undated, the sorting has
been terribly difficult, and I spent one entire winter in making up
bundles and labelling each year. My grandfather made a variety of
mistakes as to the dates of the letters. I hope I have atoned for some
of his deficiencies, though a few mistakes are probably inevitable. He
nearly blinded himself by working at night, and my grandmother[2] had
constantly to copy the letters in a large round hand to enable him to
make them out. After my grandmother’s death he discontinued arranging
them, though they might have been continued till 1800, the year of Mrs.
Montagu’s death.
[2] _Née_ Elizabeth Charlton.
In the present volumes only her early life is presented, interwoven
with portions of her most intimate friends’ letters to herself. Were
the whole of this vast correspondence printed, a large bookcase could
be filled with the volumes. In order to consult the varied tastes of
the general reader, I have endeavoured to pick out the most interesting
portions of her letters, such as relate to customs, fashions in dress,
price of food, habits, but I have often groaned in spirit at having
to leave out much that was noble in sentiment, or long comments upon
contemporary books and events. If life should be spared me, I hope
to be able to continue my narrative, for, like the ring produced by
a stone thrown on the water, her circle of friends and acquaintances
increased yearly, and not only comprised her English friends and every
person of distinction in Great Britain, but also the most distinguished
foreigners of all nations, notably the French. It has been asserted
that Gilbert West was the first person to influence Mrs. Montagu on
religious points. That his amiable Christianity may have strengthened
her religious opinions I do not deny, but I hope it will be seen from
this book that from her earliest days, when at the height of her _joie
de vivre_, the religious sentiment was existent--a religion that
prompted her ever to the kindest actions to all classes, that had
nothing bitter or narrow in it, no dogmatism. Adored by men of all
opinions, and liking their society, she was the purest of the pure,
as is amply proved by the letters of Lord Lyttelton, Dr. Monsey, and
others, but she was no prude with all this. Her worthy husband adored
her, and no wife could have been more devoted and obedient than she
was. His was a noble character, and doubtless influenced her much for
good. As a wife, a friend, a _camarade_ in all things, grave or gay,
she was unequalled; as a housewife she was notable, beloved by her
servants, by the poor of her parish, and by her miners and their wives
and children. She planned feasts and dances and instituted schools for
them, and fed and clothed the destitute.
With Mr. Raikes[3] she was one of the first people to institute
Sunday-schools. She was as interested in Betty’s rheumatism as she
was in the conversation of a duke or a duchess; a discussion with
bishops and Gilbert West on religion, or with Emerson on mathematics,
or Elizabeth Carter on Epictetus, all came alike to her gifted nature.
She danced with the gay, she wept with the mourner; her sympathies
never lay idle, even to the very end of life; and in a century which
has been deemed by many to be coarse, uneducated, and irreligious,
her sweet wholesome nature shone like a star, and attracted all minor
lights. Where in the twentieth century should we find a coterie of
men and women of the highest rank and influence in the world, either
from intellect or position, so content and devoted to each other, so
free from the petty jealousies and sarcasms of the present fashionable
society, so anxious for each other’s welfare, socially and morally; so
free from cant or prudery, so devoted to each other’s interest?
[3] Robert Raikes, born 1735, died 1811. The first Sunday-school
instituted by him in 1781.
A great and terrible break in this book was caused by the death of my
beloved husband in May, 1904, after a long, lingering illness. I doubt
if I should have taken courage to resume my pen if it had not been for
my friend Mr. A. M. Broadley, whose interest in my literary work and
affectionate solicitude for myself has been a kindly spur to goad me
on to action, so as to complete the present volumes. To him I tender
my thanks for past and present encouragement, as well as many other
kindnesses.
EMILY J. CLIMENSON.
CONTENTS TO VOL. I.
PAGE
PREFACE vii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS xv
CHAPTER I.
The Robinson, Sterne, and Morris families--Birth and
childhood of Elizabeth Montagu--Correspondence with
Duchess of Portland (_passim_)--Dr. Middleton’s second
wife--“Fidget”--A summons --Tunbridge Wells--Mrs.
Pendarves--Lady Thanet --Miss Anstey--Bevis Mount--The
Wallingfords--A suit of “cloathes”--Anne Donnellan 1–25
CHAPTER II.
Correspondence with Duchess of Portland (_passim_)--Sir Robert
Austin--The goat story--The Freinds--Country beaux--Thomas
Robinson, barrister--Lady Wallingford--Duke of Portland’s
letter--A coach adventure--Influenza--Smallpox--Cottage
life--Bath--Lord Noel Somerset--Dowager Duchess
of Norfolk--Frost Fair on the Thames--The plunge
bath--“Long” Sir Thomas Robinson--Lord Wallingford’s
death --The menagerie at Bullstrode--Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu--Princess Mary of Hesse--Monkey Island--Lydia
Botham--Mrs. Pendarves--Lord Oxford--Admiral
Vernon--Anne Donnellan--Charlemagne--Dr. Young’s _Night
Thoughts_--Duchess of Kent--Mr. Achard 26–62
CHAPTER III.
Hairdressing--Correspondence with Duchess of Portland
(_passim_) --Sarah Robinson attacked by smallpox--Hayton
Farm--A country squire--Handel--Dr. Middleton--Laurence
Sterne--Duke of Portland’s letter--A brother’s
tribute--Carthagena--The Westminster election --A South
Sea lawsuit--Lord Oxford’s death--Panacea of bleeding--A
one-horse chaise--A Windsor hatter--Lord Sandwich’s
marriage--Ducal baths--Domestic service--Cibber’s Life--Peg
Woffington--Dowager Duchess of Marlborough--Revolution in
Russia--New Year’s Day--Lord George Bentinck--Northfleet
Fair--Sir R. Walpole--Duchess of Norfolk’s masquerade--Sir
Hans Sloane--A House of Lords debate --The Opera--Garrick 63–107
CHAPTER IV.
Love triumphs--Sir George Lyttelton--Edward Montagu--Anne
Donnellan’s advice--Elizabeth’s engagement and
marriage--Correspondence with Duchess of Portland--“Delia”
Dashwood--Odd honeymoon etiquette--Mr. Robinson’s
letter--Dr. Middleton’s letter--Cally Scott--Mrs.
Freind--Père Courayer--Works of Manor --The Dales--Whig
principles--Correspondence with Edward Montagu--Hanoverian
troops--Handel’s Oratorios--Young’s _Night Thoughts_--A
country beau and roué--A bolus--The Lord Chancellor --Dr.
Sandys--A cook 108–140
CHAPTER V.
Journey to London--The floods--A faithful steward--The
Rogers’ pedigree--A curious letter--Mr. Montagu’s visit
to Newcastle --Birth of “Punch”--Inoculation--Baby
clothes--Sandleford Priory --A parson and his
wife--Countess of Granville--Correspondence with
Duchess of Portland--Courayer--Woman’s education--Lord
Orford’s letter to General Churchill--Preparation for
inoculation--Elizabeth’s letter to her husband--Army
discipline--Physicians’ fees--Pope’s grotto--A
highwayman--Dangers of a post-chaise--“Punch’s” chariot--A
Bath ball--“Mathematical inseration”--Midgham--A
footpad--The Ministry--Pope’s _Dunciad_--Mrs.
Pococke--Sugar tax--The Pretender--Sir Septimus
Robinson--“Hide” Park--Gowns and fans--The wearing
of “Punch”--A wet-nurse--Aprons--Orange trees--Lord
Anson--Clothes and table-linen--Stowe--Thoresby--Death
of “Punch”--Loss of an only child--Submission to God’s
will--Duchess of Marlborough’s death--A Raree Show--Cattle
disease--Mrs. Robinson’s illness 141–197
CHAPTER VI.
Correspondence with the Duchess of Portland--Donnington
Castle--Tunbridge Wells--Dr. Young and Colley
Cibber--Buxton--Tonbridge Castle--The 1745 rising in
Scotland--George Lewis Scott--National terrors--Wade’s
army--County meeting at York--The Northern gentry--General
Cope’s defeat at Preston Pans--Sussex privateers--Tunbridge
ware--Walnut medicine--D. Stanley’s letter to Duke of
Montagu--Cattle murrain--Fears of invasion--The Law
regiment--Romney Marsh--A footman--A brave gamekeeper 198–226
CHAPTER VII.
Correspondence with Duchess of Portland--Death of Mrs.
Robinson--Lydia Botham--The Hill Street house--“Such
a Johnny”--Courayer--Mr. Carter’s death--Denton
estate--Elixir of vitriol and tar-water--Dr. Shaw--Young
Edward Wortley Montagu--General election--Huntingdon
Election--Dr. Pococke--Mrs. Theophilus Cibber--Courayer’s
figure--A high and dry residence--Lady Fane’s grottoes--In
search of an axletree--Winchester Cathedral--Mount
Bevis--The New Forest--Wilton House--Savernake--Courayer’s
letter--Matthew Robinson, M.P. for Canterbury--Lyttelton’s
_Monody_--Thomas Robinson’s death--Coffee House,
Bath--Cambridge--Richardson’s _Clarissa_--Peace of
Aix-la-Chapelle--Spa--The Hague--James Montagu’s
death--Price of tea 227–263
CHAPTER VIII.
Ranelagh masquerade--Tunbridge Wells--Duke of Montagu’s
death--Coombe Bank--The feather screen--Hinchinbrook--The
Miss Gunnings--Chinese room in Hill Street--A parson’s
children--Dowager Duchess of Chandos--Lord Pembroke’s
death--The earthquake--Death of Dr. Middleton--Anniversary
of Elizabeth’s wedding day--Mrs. Boscawen--Gilbert
West--Barry and Garrick--Embroidered flounces--“The
cousinhood”--West family--Berenger--Hildersham--Miss Maria
Naylor--The “Pollard Ashe”--Mrs. Percival’s death--Dr.
Shaw’s death--The Dauphin--Dr. Middleton’s works--Anne
Donnellan--Nathaniel Hooke 264–296
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
VOL. I.
MRS. MONTAGU (_née_ ELIZABETH ROBINSON) _Frontispiece_
_From a miniature by C. F. ZINCKE, in the
possession of The Hon. Elizabeth Montagu,
Farnham Royal. (Photogravure.)_
TO FACE PAGE
MOUNT MORRIS, NEAR HYTHE, KENT 8
_From an old print, 1809._
MISS MORRIS, GRANDMOTHER OF MRS. MONTAGU 16
_From a picture (artist unknown), in the possession
of the Hon. Elizabeth Montagu. (Photogravure.)_
MR. AND MRS. MATTHEW ROBINSON (MRS. MONTAGU’S FATHER AND
MOTHER) 32
_From a picture by W. HAMILTON, in the possession of
The Hon. Elizabeth Montagu, Farnham Royal. (Photogravure.)_
W. FREIND, D.D., DEAN OF CANTERBURY 64
_From the picture by T. WORLIDGE._
WILLIAM, SECOND DUKE OF PORTLAND 76
_From the picture by THOMAS HUDSON, in the possession
of the Duke of Portland. (Photogravure.)_
LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU 80
_From a miniature (artist unknown), in the possession
of Mrs. Climenson. (Photogravure.)_
SIR THOMAS ROBINSON (1ST BARON ROKEBY) 100
_From a picture (artist unknown), in the possession of
The Hon. Elizabeth Montagu, Farnham Royal. (Photogravure.)_
MORRIS ROBINSON 144
_From the picture by the REV. M. W. PETERS, R.A.,
in the possession of The Hon. Elizabeth Montagu,
Farnham Royal. (Photogravure.)_
SANDLEFORD PRIORY, NEAR NEWBURY, BERKSHIRE 152
_From a photograph._
DENTON HALL, NORTHUMBERLAND 160
MARGARET CAVENDISH HARLEY, DUCHESS OF PORTLAND 192
_From the picture by THOMAS HUDSON, in the possession
of the Duke of Portland. (Photogravure.)_
LADY LECHMERE (_née_ HOWARD), AFTERWARDS LADY (THOMAS)
ROBINSON 208
_From a picture (artist unknown), in the possession of
The Hon. Elizabeth Montagu, Farnham Royal. (Photogravure.)_
GILBERT WEST 296
_From an engraving by E. SMITH, after W. Walker._
ROBINSON PEDIGREE _In pocket at end of Vol._
ELIZABETH MONTAGU
THE QUEEN OF THE BLUE-STOCKINGS
CHAPTER I.
GIRLHOOD UP TO 1738, AND BEGINNING OF THE CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE
DUCHESS OF PORTLAND.
[Page heading: THE ROBINSON FAMILY]
Before entering on the life of Elizabeth Robinson, afterwards Mrs.
Edward Montagu, the famous _bas bleu_, the focus, as she may be called,
of all the cleverest and most intellectual society of the last half
of the eighteenth century, a few words must be said of the family she
sprang from. The Robinsons are said to have been originally Robertsons,
the name being corrupted into Robinson. They are in many Peerages[4]
said to descend from the Robertsons of Struan, or Strowan, in
Perthshire, who descended from Duncan de Atholia, Earl of Athole, hence
descendants of Duncan, King of Scotland. My grandfather, the 4th Baron
Rokeby, in an unfinished pedigree, believed this, but there have been
Robinsons bearing the same[5] coat-of-arms in Yorkshire as early as the
time of copyhold record in Edward III.’s reign. However, they may have
been related. Our narrative starts from William, said to be younger
son of the 7th Baron Robertson of Strowan, who, being deprived of his
portion of inheritance as younger son by the Earl of Athole, fled into
England, and settled at Kendal in Westmorland, in the time of Henry
VIII. He had three children, Ralph, Henry, and Ursula. Ralph married
Agnes Philip, by whom he had William, who succeeded to his father’s
estates at Kendal and Brignal, and who on June 7, 1610, bought the
estate of Rokeby in Yorkshire from Sir Thomas Rokeby, whose family had
been possessed of it before the Conquest. Rokeby continued to belong to
the Robinson family for 160 years, when “Long Sir Thomas Robinson” sold
it in 1769 to John B. Saurey Morritt, the friend of Sir Walter Scott.
The Robinsons finally assumed two lines (_vide_ Pedigree), William,
the eldest, remaining master of Rokeby, and his posthumous brother,
Leonard, becoming the direct ancestor of our heroine. Leonard Robinson
was a merchant in London; he became Chamberlain of the City of London,
and was knighted on October 26, 1692. He married, first, Lucy Layton,
of West Layton, etc., by whom he had no issue. For his second wife
he married Deborah, daughter of Sir James Collet, Knight and Sheriff
of London, by whom he had six daughters, all of whom married and had
issue, and one son, Thomas, who married a widow, Elizabeth Light. She
was daughter of William Clarke, Esq., of Merivale Abbey, Warwickshire,
and heiress of her brother, William Clarke. By her first husband,
Anthony Light, she had one daughter, Lydia. By her second marriage with
Thomas Robinson she had three sons. Matthew, the eldest, alone concerns
us as father of Mrs. Montagu. The following table will show the
connection between the Robinson and Sterne families: the Rev. Laurence
Sterne marrying their cousin, Elizabeth Lumley:--
[Page heading: PEDIGREE OF THE ROBINSONS AND STERNES]
1st. 2nd.
Anthony Light = Elizabeth Clarke, daughter of = Thomas Robinson,
1 daughter. | William Clarke, of Merivale | son of Sir
| Abbey, Warwickshire; | Leonard Robinson.
| heiress to her brother, |
| William Clarke. |
| |
1st | 2nd. |
Thomas Kirke = Lydia = The Rev. Robert Matthew = Elizabeth
of Cockridge, | Lumley, of Lumley Robinson. Drake,
co. Yorks. | Castle, Rector of daughter of
Great Virtuoso. | Bedale, Yorks, Councillor
d. 1709. | 1721–1731. Robert
+----------------------+ Drake, of
| | the Drakes
Lydia = Rev. Henry Elizabeth = Rev. Laurence of Ash,
Botham, Vicar | Sterne. Devon.
of Albury and +---------+------+
Ealing. | |
5 children. Lydia, Lydia = A. de Medalle.
died an |
infant. Son.
[4] _Vide_ Debrett and Lodge’s Peerages; Collin’s Baronetage, 1741,
vol. iv.; Burke, “The New Peerage,” by W. Owen, 1785; and Longmate’s
Peerage.
[5] Coat vert, a chevron between three bucks trippant. Mrs. Laurence
Sterne and her sister, Mrs. Botham, as will be seen in the letters,
call Matthew Robinson and his wife “Uncle” and “Aunt,” they being
really their step-uncle and aunt. Thomas Robinson died at the early
age of thirty-three, in the year 1700.
[Year: 1694]
[Page heading: THE MORRIS FAMILY]
We now enter on the history of Matthew Robinson, the eldest surviving
son of Thomas, and his wife Elizabeth. He was born in 1694, therefore
was only six years old when his father died. At an early age he was
entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, and became a fellow-commoner.
He was a person of great intellectual parts, a conversationalist and
wit, the life of the coffee-houses, which then served, as clubs do
nowadays, as a rendezvous for men of fashion. His talent for painting
was remarkable. His great nephew states, “He acquired so great a
proficiency as to excel most of the professional artists of his day
in landscape.” At the early age of eighteen, in 1712, he married
Elizabeth Drake, daughter of Councillor Robert Drake, of Cambridge,
descended from the Drakes of Ashe in Devonshire. Elizabeth’s mother’s
name was Sarah Morris. The Morris family had been seated in Kent at
East Horton since the reign of Elizabeth. Thomas Morris, father of
Sarah, built the mansion of Mount Morris, sometimes called Monk’s
Horton, near Hythe. He had one son, Thomas, who was drowned under
London Bridge on his return from Holland in 1697, ætat 23. His sister
Sarah had two children by Councillor Drake, Morris and Elizabeth. Their
maternal grandfather lived to 1717, when he devised his estates to his
grandson, Morris Drake, with the proviso of his assuming the extra
name of Morris, and failing of his issue with remainder to Elizabeth,
his sister, then Mrs. Matthew Robinson. Her mother, Mrs. Drake, having
become a widow, had remarried the celebrated Dr. Conyers Middleton, but
had no children by him. The following table will elucidate this:--
Thomas Morris, Esq.,
of Mount Morris, _alias_ Monk’s Horton,[6] Kent,
which he built; d. 1717.
|
+-----------------------+--+
| |
Thomas, drowned Sarah, = 1st. Councillor Robert Drake,
under London d. Feb. 19, | 2nd. (1710) Dr. Conyers
Bridge, 1697, ætat 23, 1730–1. | Middleton, of Trinity College,
returning from Holland. | Cambridge.
+----------------------+-----+
| |
Morris Drake (Morris) Elizabeth, m. 1713, = Matthew Robinson, of
took name of Morris d. 1745, sister and Edgeley and of West
on becoming heir to heir of her brother, Layton Hall, Yorks.
his grandfather; died Morris Drake Born at York, 1694;
_s.p._ His property Morris. Inherited died October, 1778.
entailed on his sister, Coveney, Cambs.,
Eliz. Robinson. and Mount Morris,
Kent.
[6] Monk’s Horton, or Up Horton, alienated by Heyman Rooke in the
time of Queen Anne to Thomas Morris, who entailed it to his
daughter’s male issue.
[Year: 1712]
[Page heading: ELIZABETH ROBINSON]
To return to the Robinsons, they settled at their property of West
Layton Hall, derived from Lucy Layton, first wife of Sir Leonard
Robinson, and Edgeley in Wensleydale for the summer, and spent the
winter in York; most country families at that period repairing to
London or their nearest county town for convenience and society during
the winter. To this young couple were born twelve children, of whom
seven sons and two daughters lived to grow up--
1. Matthew, born April 6, 1713; afterwards 2nd Baron Rokeby. Educated
at Trinity Hall, Cambridge; became a Fellow. Died November 30, 1800,
ætat 87.
2. Thomas, born 1714, died in 1746–7. Barrister-at-law.
3. Morris, born 1715, died 1777; of the Six Clerks’ Office.
4. _Elizabeth, born at York, October 2, 1720, died August 25, 1800._
5. Robert, Captain, E.I.C.S. Died in China, 1756.
6. Sarah, born September 21, 1723, died 1795.
7. William, born 1726, died 1803.
8. John, of Trinity Hall, Cambridge.
9. Charles, born 1733, died 1807.
[Page heading: DR. CONYERS MIDDLETON]
Elizabeth, the subject of this book, was about seven years old when,
by the death of her uncle, Morris Drake Morris, her mother inherited,
as his heir, the important property of East Horton, and Mount Morris
in Kent. The family then left Yorkshire for residence at Mount Morris.
But before and after their inheritance of the Kentish property
much time was spent with the Conyers Middletons both at Coveney,
Cambridgeshire, a property Mrs. Conyers Middleton had inherited from
her first husband, Councillor Drake; the advowson of the living being
hers, she bestowed it on her second husband, Dr. Conyers Middleton,[7]
whom she had married in 1710; also at Cambridge, where was their usual
residence, and where several of the little Robinsons were born in their
grandmother’s house, as we learn from a letter of Dr. Middleton’s.
Elizabeth Robinson was naturally much with her grandmother, with whom
and Conyers Middleton she was a great favourite. Her nephew and adopted
son, in his volumes of her letters[8] that he published in 1810,
states--
“Her uncommon sensibility and acuteness of understanding, as well
as extraordinary beauty as a child, rendered her an object of
great notice in the University, and Dr. Middleton was in the habit
of requiring from her an account of the learned conversations at
which, in his society, she was frequently present; not admitting of
the excuse of her tender age as a disqualification, but insisting
that although at the present time she could but imperfectly
understand their meaning, she would in future derive great benefit
from the habit of attention inculcated by this practice.”
[7] Conyers Middleton, D.D., born 1683, died 1750. Fellow of Trinity
College, Cambridge, etc., etc. Wrote the “Life of Cicero,” etc.,
etc.
[8] “The Letters of Mrs. Elizabeth Montagu,” by her nephew, Matthew
Montagu, afterwards 4th Baron Rokeby.
Her father was proud of her vivacious wit, and encouraged her gifts of
repartee which she possessed in as large a measure as himself.
“In her youth her beauty was most admired in the peculiar animation
and expression of her blue eyes, with high arched eyebrows, and
in the contrast of her brilliant complexion with her dark brown
hair. She was of the middle stature, and stooped a little, which
gave an air of modesty to her countenance, in which the features
were otherwise so strongly marked as to express an elevation of
sentiment befitting the most exalted condition.”
[Year: 1727–28]
Her elder brothers, members of Cambridge University, were all extremely
literary, and became, early, distinguished scholars. We are told--
“Their emulation produced a corresponding zeal in their sisters,
and a diligence of application unusual in females of that time.
Their domestic circle was accustomed to struggle for the mastery
in wit, or in superiority in argument, and their mother, whose
frame of mind partook rather of the gentle sedateness of good sense
than of the eccentricities of genius, was denominated by them ‘the
Speaker,’ from the frequent mediation by which she moderated their
eagerness for victory.”
[Page heading: MOUNT MORRIS]
[Page heading: LADY MARGARET CAVENDISH HARLEY]
In Harris’s “History of Kent,” published in 1719, on p. 156, is a
picture of Mount Morris, the home of the Robinsons, a large square
house with a cupola surmounted by a ball and a weathercock, surrounded
by a number of walled gardens laid out in the formal Dutch manner, an
inner Topiary garden, leading to a steep flight of steps to the front
door. Whilst staying in Cambridgeshire, Elizabeth had several times
visited at Wimpole with her father and mother. Wimpole was the seat
of Edward,[9] second Earl of Oxford and Mortimer, who had married
Henrietta Cavendish, only daughter and heiress of John Holles, 1st Duke
of Newcastle-on-Tyne. She was a great heiress, and brought her husband
£500,000; she is said to have been a good but a very dull woman, very
proud, and a rigid worshipper of etiquette. In the “National Biography”
she is said to have “disliked most of the wits who surrounded her
husband, and hated _Pope_!”[10] The Earl spent enormous sums in
collecting books, manuscripts, pictures, medals, and articles of virtu,
spending £400,000 of his wife’s fortune. To him we are indebted for
the Harleian manuscripts, bought from his widow in 1753 for £10,000
by the nation, now in the British Museum. With the Lady Margaret
Cavendish Harley,[11] only child of the Earl and Countess of Oxford,
Elizabeth became on the most intimate terms, and her first extant
letter is addressed to her when she was only eleven years old, and the
Lady Margaret eighteen. So greatly did Lady Margaret value Elizabeth’s
letters, that for a series of years she preserved them between the
leaves of an old grey book which I possess. The first letter is
endorsed, “Received, February 24, 1731–2, at Wimpole.” It commences--
“MADAM,
“Your ladyship’s commands always give me a great deal of pleasure,
but more especially when you ordered me to do myself this honour,
without which I durst not have taken that liberty, for it would
have been as great impertinence in me to have attempted it as it is
condescension in your ladyship to order it.”
This alludes evidently to Lady Margaret having desired her to write to
her. It ends--
“My duty to my Lord and Lady Oxford, and service to Lord
Dupplin,[12] and my best respects to Miss Walton,[13] hope in a
little while it may be duty. I am in great hopes that when your
ladyship sees any impertinent people in London it will put you in
mind of, Madam,
“Your ladyship’s most obliged, humble servant,
“ELIZ. ROBINSON.”
[9] Lord Oxford sold Wimpole in 1740 to Lord Hardwick to pay off his
debts.
[10] Pope was his bosom friend, Swift and Prior also; the latter
died at Wimpole.
[11] Prior celebrated the Lady Margaret in the lines commencing “My
noble, lovely, little Peggy.”
[12] Afterwards 8th Earl of Kinnoul.
[13] Lady Margaret’s governess, about to be married.
[Illustration: MOUNT MORRIS.]
[Year: 1731–32]
The formal terms in this letter were then considered essential, even
when addressing those of lower birth, all the more so to a person of
Lady Margaret’s rank. Viscount Dupplin, whose name frequently occurs in
the letters, was a cousin of Lady Margaret’s on her father’s side, his
mother being a daughter of Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford. The two
young friends now kept up a lively correspondence, but as many of the
letters have been published by my grandfather in 1810, I shall for this
early period of her life give only a _résumé_ of them, picking out such
facts as point to the manners of the time, or that strike one as of
interest. From Mount Morris in August, 1732, she writes--
“Since I came here I have been to Canterbury Races, at which there
was not much diversion, as only one horse ran for the King’s
Plate.... We had an assembly for three nights; the rooms are so
small and low that they were exceedingly hot.”
From this date one perceives that young ladies were allowed to appear
in public early, as Elizabeth was then not quite twelve years old!
[Year: 1733]
[Page heading: TUNBRIDGE WELLS]
In October, 1733, she paid, in company of her parents, her first visit
to Tunbridge Wells, ever afterwards such a favourite resort of hers.
She says--
“It is so pleasant a place I don’t wonder the physicians prescribe
it as a cure for the spleen; a great part of the company,
especially of the gentlemen, are vapoured. When the wind is not in
the east they are very good company, but they are as afraid of an
easterly wind as if it would bring caterpillars upon our land as
it did on the land of Egypt.... I am very sorry I could not get
you any verses at Tunbridge, of which, at the latter part of the
season, when the garrets grow cheap, that the poets come down,
there is commonly great plenty.”
Further on she says, “I thank your ladyship for the verses, and I wish
I had any to send you in return for them, but my poet is turned lawyer,
and has forsook the Muses for ‘Coke upon Littleton.’” This alludes to
her brother Tom, who was then studying law. The collecting of verses on
every sort of circumstance seems to have been as fashionable then as
photograph, autograph, or stamp-collecting, etc., are now.
[Page heading: “MRS.” PLACE]
In the next letter of November, 1733, she alludes to Dr. Conyers
Middleton, who, as stated before, had married Mrs. Drake, Elizabeth’s
grandmother, and who was now a widower--
“I suppose you have heard Dr. Middleton has brought his Cousin
Place[14] to keep his house. He very gravely sent us word that
his cousin had come to spend the winter with him, and it was not
impossible they might agree for a longer time; so I fancy he has
brought her with him to see if she likes to play at quadrille, and
sup on sack posset with the grave doctors, whose company to one of
her gay temper must be delightful. I suspected his designs when he
made so many complaints in London, that it was so very difficult to
find a maid who understood making jellies and sack posset, which he
and a certain doctor used to have for their suppers. He lost one
lady because she was deaf to him; but I believe that fortune, to
make amends to him, has blinded this. For though I don’t doubt he
always takes care to show her the side of his face which Mr. Doll
says is younger by ten years than the other, yet that is rather too
old to be a match for twenty-five, which I believe is the age of
Mrs.[15] Place.”
[14] Mary, daughter of the Rev. Conyers Place, of Dorchester. She
died April 26, 1745.
[15] It was the custom at this time to give spinster ladies the
complimentary title of “Mrs.”
The next letter she says--
“I have not heard from Dr. Middleton a great while. I suppose his
thoughts are taken up with business and his pretty cousin in the
West. I don’t know whether she has made a complete conquest of his
heart.”
In May, 1733--
“Dr. Middleton now owns his marriage. I wish he finds the felicity
of it answers his resigning a £100 a year. I am glad, for the sake
of any other family, he has not got another rich widow; if he had,
it would have been her turn to resign.”
This alludes to the fact that on the learned doctor’s remarriage he had
to resign his fellowship.
[Page heading: MR. ROBINSON]
Mr. Robinson, Elizabeth’s father, was not fond of the country, where
his wife’s fine estate and his nine children condemned him to reside
the greater part of the year; and when we consider how young a man he
was, then only thirty-one, and his great love of witty society, one
cannot be surprised at his having attacks of the “hyp” or “vapours,” as
the terms for ennui were then. Elizabeth writes to Lady Margaret from
Mount Morris--
“Though I am tired of the country, to my great satisfaction I
am not so much so as my Pappa; he is a little vapoured, and
last night, after two hours’ silence, he broke out with a great
exclamation against the country, and concluded in saying that
living in the country was sleeping with one’s eyes open. If he
sleeps all day, I am sure he dreams much of London. What makes
this place more dull is, my brothers are none of them here; two of
them went away about a fortnight ago, and ever since my Pappa has
ordered me to put a double quantity of saffron[16] in his tea.”
[16] Saffron, said to be good for heaviness of spirits.
[Year: 1734]
February 11, 1734, she writes--
“Dr. Middleton sends us word my Pappa’s acquaintance wonder he has
not the spleen, but they would cease their surprise if they knew he
was so much troubled with it that his physicians cannot prescribe
him any cordial strong enough to keep up his spirits. We think
London would do it effectually, and I believe he will have recourse
to it.”
[Page heading: THE DUCHESS OF PORTLAND]
On July 11, 1734, Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley married William,
2nd Duke of Portland.[17] There are no letters of Elizabeth’s in my
possession on the occasion of her friend’s marriage; they recommence
October 20 in the same year. Henceforward all the duchess’s letters
were franked by the duke, and many of Elizabeth’s, often unfortunately
undated. At this period ladies prevailed on such of their friends
as were either Peers or members of Parliament, to sign sheets of
letter-paper with their names at the back, often of folio size, which
they used free of cost as they wanted them, wrapping their letters in
these outer sheets and sealing them. As a single letter from London to
Edinburgh cost 1_s._ 1½_d._, if double 2_s._ 3_d._, and if treble 3_s._
4½_d._, the smallest inclosure being treated as an additional sheet,
to send letters unfranked was a costly luxury. The practice of forging
people’s names led to such intolerable abuse of franking that an Act
was passed in 1764 making it compulsory for the whole address to be
written by the person franking the letter.
[17] William, 2nd Duke of Portland, born 1708, died 1762. Hearne, in
his Diary, says, “Is reported the handsomest man in England.”
In October, the same year, Elizabeth replies to a letter from the
duchess chiding her for not writing--
“_Oct. 3, 1734._--I am surprised that my answer to your Grace’s
letter has never reached your hands. I sent it immediately to
Canterbury by the servant of a gentleman who dined here, and
I suppose he forgot to put it in the post. I am reconciled to
the carelessness of the fellow, since it has procured to me so
particular a mark of your concern. If my letter were sensible,
what would be the mortification, that instead of having the honour
to kiss your Grace’s hands, it must lie confined in the footman’s
pocket with greasy gloves, rotten apples, a pack of dirty cards,
and the only companion of its sort, a tender epistle from his
sweetheart, ‘tru tell deth.’ Perhaps by its situation subject to be
kicked by his master every morning, till at last, by ill-usage and
rude company, worn too thin for any other use, it may make its exit
in lighting a tobacco-pipe. I believe the fellow who lost my letter
knew very well how ready I should be to supply it with another.
“I am, Madam,
“Your Grace’s most obedient servant,
“ELIZABETH ROBINSON.”
[Page heading: “FIDGET”]
The duchess’s favourite name for Elizabeth was “Fidget,” a name adopted
by all the Bullstrode[18] circle. This was due to her vivacity of mind
and body. She was never really a strong person, but her nervous energy
enabled her frail body to perform feats that a more lethargic person
could not have accomplished. “Why should a table that stands still
require so many legs when I can fidget on two?” she would exclaim. The
duchess returns an answer on October 25, portions of which I copy--
“DEAR FIDGET,
“I assure you I am very angry at the fellow’s not taking care of
your letter, for they always give me infinite pleasure, and I
esteem it as a great loss. I am very sensible of the friendship
you have for me, and hope you never shall find any reason to the
contrary. You have painted extremely well the fate of your letter
was not according to its deserts.... Pray do you hear anything of
Dr. Middleton and his fine wife?[19] I had a letter not long ago
wherein it was said she made the doctor very sensible she had a
tongue, and a very sharp one too, with the addition of a clear and
distinct voice. If you have any poetry, send it to me; you know it
will be acceptable to her who is
“Dear Fidget’s
“Very humble servant and admirer,
“M. CAVENDISH PORTLAND.”
[18] The duchess always spelt Bullstrode with the double _l_, from
the story of the place, and I choose to do the same.
[19] On Dr. Middleton’s second wife.
[Page heading: DRAWING LESSONS]
In Elizabeth’s next letter, November 3, 1734, she regrets that her
father, having recovered his spirits, had given up going to Bath as
projected, and says--
“One common objection to the country, one sees no faces but those
of one’s own family, but my Pappa thinks he has found a remedy for
that by teaching me to draw; but then he husbands these faces in
so cruel a manner that he brings me sometimes a nose, sometimes an
eye at a time: but on the King’s birthday, as it was a festival, he
brought me out a whole face with its mouth wide open. Your Grace
desired me to send you some verses; I have not heard so much as a
Rhyme lately, and I believe the Muses have all got agues in this
country, but I have enclosed you the following Summons which we
sent an old bachelor, who is very much our humble servant, and
would die but not dance for us; but being once in great necessity
for partners, we thought him better than an elbow chair, and
compelled him to come to this Summons, which pleased me extremely,
as I believe it was the first time he ever found the power of
the fair sex.... I am so far from Cambridge, and have no friend
charitable enough to send me any scandal, I have heard nothing of
either of the doctors, but as to my dear grandmother,[20] I have
before heard she was as famous as a _free speaker_ as he is for a
_free-thinker_.[21]
[20] This is Elizabeth’s fun, as her own grandmother was dead, and
the doctor was her step-grandfather.
[21] Dr. Middleton held free-thinking views on the Old Testament.
[Page heading: A SUMMONS]
“‘SUMMONS.
“‘_Kent, to J. B., Esqre._[22]
“‘WHEREAS complaint has been made to us Commissioners of Her
Majesties’ Balls, Hopps, Assemblies, &c., for the county aforesaid,
that several able and expert men, brought up and instructed in
the art or mistery of Dancing, have and daily do refuse, though
often thereunto requested, to be retained and exercised in the
aforesaid Art or Mistery, to the occasion of great scarcity of good
dancers in these parts, and contrary to the Laws of Gallantry and
good manners, in that case made and provided: AND WHEREAS we are
likewise credibly informed that you J. B., Esqre., though educated
in the said Art by that celebrated Master, Lally, Senior, are one
of the most notorious offenders in this point, these are therefore
in the name of the Fair Sex, to require you, the said J. B.,
Esqre., personally to be and appear before us, at our meeting this
day at the sign of the “Golden Ball,” in the parish of Horton, in
the county aforesaid, between the hours of twelve and one in the
forenoon to answer to such matter as shall be objected against you,
concerning the aforesaid refusal and contempt of our jurisdiction
and authority, and to bring with you your dancing shoes, laced
waistcoat and white gloves. And hereby fail not under peril of our
frowns, and being henceforth deemed and accounted an Old Bachelor.
Given under our hands and seals this eighth day of October, 1734,
to which we all set our hands.’”
[22] James Brockman, of Beachborough. The summons is still kept at
Beachborough.
[Page heading: THE “GOLDEN BALL”]
The “Golden Ball” was the ball of the weathercock on the lantern cupola
of the house at Mount Morris. In the next letter, November 20, she
says--
“Out of my filial piety I would persuade my Pappa to set out for
London. I have been preaching to him all this day, that when Saul
had the spleen, David’s musick did him a great deal of good, and
that I am satisfied Farinelli[23] would do him as much service. He
goes frequently shooting or coursing, and fancies that will prevent
its return, and to answer me with the Scripture, says, Nimrod the
mighty hunter never had the Hyp. Dr. Middleton designed to bring
his Dearee to London, but if she is so gay it may be as prudent
to keep her at Cambridge ... if it should enter her head that the
doctor is no greater than another, what a mortification it would
be to my good Grand-pappa; if he knows himself and her, I think he
would agree with Arnolfe in _L’Ecole des Femmes_[24]--
“‘Que c’est assez pour elle, a vous en bien parler,
De savoir prier Dieu, l’aimer, coudre, et filer.’”
[23] Carlo Brocchi, whose professional name was Farinelli, vocalist
and pupil of Porpora.
[24] A play of Molière’s.
[Illustration:
_Emery Walker Ph. Sc._
_Miss Sarah Morris_]
Mr. Robinson, who drew and painted in a style worthy of a professional
artist, was anxious Elizabeth should become a proficient in the same
art, but she writes to the duchess--
“If you design to make any proficiency in that art, I would
advise you not to draw _old men’s_ heads. It was the rueful head
countenance of Socrates or Seneca that first put me out of conceit
of it; had my Pappa given me the blooming faces of Adonis or
Narcissus, I might have been a more apt scholar; and when I told
him I found those great beards difficult to draw, he gave me St.
John’s head in a charger, so to avoid the speculation of dismal
faces, which by my art I dismalized ten times more than they were
before, I threw away my pencil.”
[Year: 1735]
[Page heading: TUNBRIDGE WELLS]
In October, 1735, the duchess’s first child was born, Elizabeth,
eventually wife of the 1st Marquis of Bath. Elizabeth writes to
congratulate her, and states she heard Dr. Mead (then the great ladies’
doctor) pronounced it the finest child he ever saw. Elizabeth had
just returned from her first visit to Tunbridge Wells for her health,
suffering much from headaches and weak eyes. At this period the
_Dowager_ Duchess of Portland died. The letters up to this date were
addressed to “To Her Grace, The junior Duchess of Portland.”
[Page heading: LORD STANHOPE]
Elizabeth writes a description of her five weeks at Tunbridge Wells.
After comments on an unhappy marriage recently made, she says--
“You know some of our Grub Street wits compared marriage to a
country dance, which scheme I extremely approved, but when I read
it, I thought it should have been set to the tune of ‘Love for
ever;’ but they say it never did go to that tune, nor ever would.
I danced twice a week all the time I was at Tunbridge, and once
extraordinary, for Lord Euston[25] came down to see Lord Augustus
Fitzroy,[26] and made a ball. Lord Euston danced with the Duchess
of Norfolk,[27] but her Grace went home early, and then Lord Euston
danced with Lady Delves. We all left off about one o’clock. The day
after I left the Wells, I went to the Races (Canterbury), which
began on Monday, and ended on Thursday.... Monday there was an
Assembly, Tuesday a Play, Wednesday an Assembly again, and Thursday
another play, and as soon as that was over, we had a ball where we
had ten couple. I did not go to bed after our private ball till
six o’clock, and rose again before nine.
“The person who was taken most notice of at Tunbridge as particular
is a young gentleman your Grace may be perhaps acquainted with, I
mean Lord Stanhope.[28] He is always making mathematical scratches
in his pocket-book, so that one half the people took him for a
conjurer, and the other half for a fool.”
[25] George, Earl of Euston, son of the 2nd Duke of Grafton.
[26] A brother of Lord Euston.
[27] Wife of Edward, 9th Duke of Norfolk.
[28] Philip, 2nd Earl Stanhope, born 1714.
In a letter of October 2 is the first mention of Mrs. Pendarves,[29]
afterwards Mrs. Delany. It runs--
“Your pleasures are always my satisfactions; I assure you I partake
at Mount Morris all the happiness you tell me you receive at
Bullstrode. I am sure Mrs. Pendarves cannot give you any pleasure
in her conversation that she is not repayed in enjoying yours. I
am glad you have got so agreeable a companion with you; it is a
happiness you have not always enjoyed, though deserved.”
[29] _Née_ Mary Granville, widow of Mr. W. Pendarves, born 1700,
died 1788. Daughter of John Granville.
[Page heading: LADY THANET]
Mention is made of the duchess’s desire to obtain beautiful shells,
and Elizabeth desired her sailor brother Robert, who had just returned
from Italy, and was going in his ship to the East Indies, to bring home
what he can in shells and feathers of all sorts--parrots, peacocks,
etc.--for work the duchess was doing. This feather work became a
rage of both the duchess and Elizabeth, and was the precursor of
the celebrated feather hangings, immortalized by Cowper’s verses in
Elizabeth’s later years. A humorous description of Lady Thanet,[30]
then the great lady of West Kent, an amusing character, and great-aunt
of the Duchess of Portland, is given in the same letter--
“Lord Thanet[31] said when he came to Kent this summer that Lord
Cowper[32] had brought his Countess[33] to affront all _East Kent_,
and he had brought his Countess to affront all _West Kent_. She was
a little discomposed one day at dinner and threw a pheasant and a
couple of partridges off the table in shoving them up to my Lord to
cut up.”
[30] Mary, 4th daughter and coheiress of 2nd Marquis of Halifax.
[31] 7th Earl of Thanet.
[32] William, 2nd Earl Cowper.
[33] Henrietta, daughter of Earl Grantham.
[Year: 1737]
Early in 1737, the second daughter of the duchess’s was
born--Henrietta, afterwards Countess of Stamford and Warrington.
Elizabeth writes to congratulate her on the event. She and her family
were very ill of fever that summer, thirteen persons down with it in
the house. The smallpox raged at Canterbury, and Mrs. Robinson would
not allow her daughters to attend the races. In a letter of September
mention is made of Dr. Conyers Middleton’s disappointment at not
obtaining the Mastership of the Charter House, which he most desired.
Another peep at Lady Thanet--
“Lady Thanet came into this part of the country ten days ago;
her French woman rode astride through the wilds of Kent, and the
country people having heard her Ladyship was something odd, took
Mademoiselle for Lady Thanet.”
The first letter extant between Elizabeth and Miss Anstey, sister of
Christopher Anstey, the author of the “New Bath Guide,”[34] may be
placed here, though undated, except “Mount Morris, near Hythe, July
15.” This extract shows her vivacious nature--
[34] The “New Bath Guide” was not written till 1766. The Ansteys
lived at Brinckley near Cambridge.
“Yesterday I was overturned coming from a neighbour’s. We got no
hurt at all, but were forced to borrow a coach to bring us the
rest of the way, our own being quite disabled by the fall.... I
always think one visits in the country at the hazard of one’s
bones, but fear is never so powerful with me, as to make me stay
at home, and the next thing to being retired, is to be morose:
contemplation is not made for a woman on the right side of thirty,
it suits prodigiously well with the gout or the rheumatism: rest
and an elbow chair are the comfort of age, but the pleasures of
youth are of a more lively sort. I have in winter gone eight miles
to dance to the music of a blind fiddler, and returned at two in
the morning, mightily pleased that I had been so well entertained.
I am so fond of dancing that I cannot help fancying I was at some
time bit by a tarantula,[35] and never got well cured of it. I
shall this year lose my annual dancings at Canterbury Races, for my
Papa has made a resolution (I assure you without my advice) not to
go to them.”
[35] It was believed that a tarantula’s bite was only to be cured by
dancing.
[Page heading: MERSHAM HATCH]
[Page heading: THE PLAY]
In the next letter to the duchess, October 15, 1737--
“Lady Thanet made a ball at Hothfield a few days ago to which she
did our family the honour to invite them, and as we were obeying
her commands and got into the coach with our ball airs and our
dancing shoes, at five miles of our journey we met with a brook so
swelled by the rain it looked like a river, and the water, we were
told, was up to the coach seat, and as I had never heard of any
balls in the Elysian Fields, and don’t so much as know whether the
ghosts of departed beaux wear pumps, I thought it better to reserve
ourselves for the Riddotto[36] than hazard drowning for this ball,
and so we turned back and went to Sir Wyndham Knatchbull’s,[37]
who were hindered by the same water; for my part I could think of
nothing but the ball, when any one asked me how I did I cry’d
tit for tat, and when they bid me sit down, I answered ‘Jack of
the green.’ A few days after the ball, Lady Thanet bespoke a play
at a town eight miles from us, and summoned us to it; two of my
brothers, and my sister,[38] and your humble servant went, and
after the play the gentlemen invited all the women to a supper
at a tavern, where we staid till two o’clock in the morning, and
then all set out for their respective homes. Here I suppose you
will think my diversion ended, but I must tell your Grace it
did not; for before I had gone two miles, I had the pleasure of
being overturned, at which I squalled for joy; and to complete my
felicity I was obliged to stand half an hour in the most refreshing
rain, and the coolest north breeze I ever felt; for the coach’s
braces breaking were the occasion of our overturn, and there was no
moving till they were mended. You may suppose we did not lose so
favourable an opportunity of catching cold; we all came croaking
down to breakfast the next morning, and said we had caught no cold,
as one always says when one has been scheming, but I think I have
scarce recovered my treble notes yet. We had seven coaches at the
play; there was Lord Winchilsea,[39] Lady Charlotte Finch,[40]
Lady Betty Fielding,[40] Capt. Fielding,[41] his lady, and the
Miss Palmers.[42] Mr. Fielding and Miss Molly Palmer caught such
colds they sent for a physician the next day; Lady Knatchbull and
Miss Knatchbull have kept their beds ever since: poor Lady Thanet
was overturned as she went home, and caught a terrible hoarseness,
which was the better for the poor coachman, who by that means
escaped a sharp and shrill reproof; and indeed it is enough for
any poor man to lye under the terror of her frowns, with a look
she can wound, with a frown she can kill; I think I never saw so
formidable a countenance. I think Lord Thanet’s education of his
son[43] is something particular; he encourages him in swearing and
singing nasty ballads with the servants: he is a very fine boy,
but prodigiously rude; he came down to breakfast the other day
when there was company, and his maid came with him, who, instead
of carrying a Dutch toy, or a little whirligig for his Lordship to
play with, was lugging a billet for his plaything. There was a fine
supper at the ball, 33 dishes all very neat. My elder brother got
out of the coach and put on a pair of boots, and rode on to the
ball when we turned back.”
[36] An entertainment of music first and afterwards dancing.
[37] 5th Baronet. His place called Mersham Hatch.
[38] Sarah Robinson, three years younger than Elizabeth.
[39] Daniel, 7th Earl Winchilsea.
[40] Sisters of Lord Winchilsea.
[41] Father of Henry Fielding, the novelist.
[42] Daughters of Sir Thomas Palmer of Wingham, Kent. Miss Molly
afterwards 2nd Lady Winchilsea.
[43] Sackville Tufton, 8th Earl of Thanet, born 1733.
[Page heading: LADY WALLINGFORD]
November 21, the duchess writes to condole with Elizabeth on the loss
of the ball, and mentions having been staying with the Duke at Lady
Peterborough’s[44]--
“Bevis Mount[45] is the most delightful place I ever saw, the house
bad and tumbling down, but there is a summer-house in the garden,
such a one! From thence there is a prospect of the sea, the Isle
of Wight, New Forest, the town of Southampton, the garden laid out
with an elegant taste, and in short everything that is agreeable,
but particularly the Mistress.... Lord and Lady Wallingford are
with us now; they are extremely agreeable. I fancy you must have
seen her in public places. She is extremely pretty, and in the
French dress.”
[44] _Née_ Anastasia Robinson, wife of the 3rd Lord Peterborough.
[45] Bevis Mount, in Southampton.
Lady Wallingford was the daughter of John Law, the famous financier, by
his wife Katherine Knollys, third daughter of Charles Knollys, titular
3rd Earl of Banbury. Mary Katherine Law married in 1732 her first
cousin, called Viscount Wallingford.
[Page heading: THE SUIT OF CLOATHES]
At this period, though undated, may be placed Elizabeth’s request to
her father for a handsome suit of clothes. In a letter to her mother
she thanks her “for your goodness in giving me leave to stay, and
making it convenient to answer the Duchess’s and my wishes to stay
during her confinement. When we came to town the Duchess reckoned the
end of April.” From Bullstrode, therefore, she accompanied the duchess
and her family to Whitehall, where in a portion of the old palace was
the Portlands’ town residence. Elizabeth was now in her eighteenth
year. In a letter to her father, too lengthy to insert entirely, worded
in the respectful way children addressed their parents then, with “Sir”
and “Madam,” and concluding with “your most dutiful daughter,” she
says--
“You know this year I am to be introduced by the Duchess to the
best company in the town, and when she lies in, am both to receive
in form with her all her visits as Lady Bell[46] used to do on
that occasion, all the people of quality of both sexes that are in
London, and I must be in full dress, and shall go about with her
all the winter, therefore a suit of cloathes will be necessary for
me, the value of which I submit entirely to you. I shall never so
much want a handsome suit as upon this occasion of first appearing
with my Lady Duchess; but as the first consideration is to please
you, I would by no means urge this beyond your pleasure, by duty
or inclination, I shall always be content with what you order, and
hope you will not be displeased with my requests.”
[46] Lady Isabella Bentinck, sister of the duke.
To this appeal her father sent her £20, and she returns thanks thus:--
“Whitehall, Thursday.
“SIR,
“Wit is seldom accompanied with money, but your letter came to
me with so much of both, that I can neither send you thanks, nor
an answer worthy of your present epistle. You are very good
to gratify my bosom friend, vanity, which, though it does not
abandon me in a plain gown, takes greater delight in seeing me
in a handsome one, and it has promised me that I shall appear to
advantage in my new suit of cloathes, both to myself and other
people.... The Duchess, with her advice, will help me to make the
best use of your generosity. I have been to the Mercer’s, but have
not yet pitched upon a silk.... Mr. Pope has wrote an epitaph upon
himself, which is not by far the best monument of his wit; it is
a trifling thing, and seems wrote for amusement. I would send it
you if I could, but I have not got a copy of it; as soon as I have
I will convey it to Mount Morris, where I imagine you may want
amusements, and our roads are not smooth enough for Pegasus.”
[Page heading: ROBERT ROBINSON]
This epitaph is probably the one commencing “Under this marble, or
under this sill, or under this turf, or e’en what they will.” At the
end of the letter she says of her sailor brother--
“Now Robert is secure of his commission, his life is something
hazardous, but he holds danger in contempt, the golden fruit of
gain is always guarded by some dragon which courage or vigilance
must conquer.”
He had just been made captain of the _Bedford_, a ship in the merchant
service. Evidently Mrs. Robinson wrote a letter of advice as to the
important choice of “cloathes.” The answer runs--
“MADAM,
“I have obeyed your commands as to my cloathes, and have bought a
very handsome Du Cape within the twenty pounds; a little accident
which had happened to the silk in the Lomb made it a great deal
cheaper, and, I believe, will not be at all the worse when made up;
the colour in some places is a little damaged, but that will cut
for the tail, and the rest is perfectly good. It will last longer
clean than a flowered silk, and I have already had two since I
have been in Mantuas:[47] I saw some of 25_s._ a yard that I did
not think so pretty. Pray, Madam, let my thanks be repeated to my
Pappa, to whose goodness I owe this suit of cloathes.... Pray send
me by Tom the figured Dimity that was left of my upper coat, for it
is too narrow and too short for my present hoop, which is of the
first magnitude.”
[47] The expression then used for the period when young ladies were
what we call “out.”
[Page heading: ANNE DONNELLAN]
At the end of this letter Anne Donnellan is mentioned for the first
time. She was a friend of Dean Swift’s, together with her sister,
Mrs. Clayton, and her brother, the Rev. Christopher Donnellan. Anne
Donnellan’s pet name in the Duchess of Portland’s circle was “Don,”
as Mrs. Pendarves (afterwards Mrs. Delany) was “Pen,” Miss Dashwood
“Dash,”[48] and Lady Wallingford “Wall.”
[48] The “Delia” of the poet Hammond.