as a Spa, and founded the porcelain manufactory at Worcester.
Dr. Wall died in 1776.
[156] Matlock Bath now.
[Page heading: TO “KILLUM”]
[Page heading: “KILLUM”]
Soon after the receipt of this letter, Mrs. Montagu set out on a visit
to Lady Bab Montagu and Mrs. Scott at Bath Easton, and Mr. Montagu,
on July 28, writes to say he purposes driving to “Killum”[157] to
see his friend Mr. Stevens.[158] “Killum” was Culham Court, Berks.
George Stevens, a very eccentric character, afterwards, in 1766,
published an edition of Shakespeare, and three years later some notes
were incorporated in it of Dr. Johnson’s. Mr. Montagu writes this
description of “Killum”--
“His house is a very good one, built about fifty years ago,
the rooms large and wainscoated with oak, and three very good
bedchambers with beds that at some time cost a good deal of money,
but are the worse for time. He has been pulling down walls, and
everything lyes rough and without order or neatness, and to finish
the account of it, very much resembled its owner. Its situation
is what I think fine and much pleases me, it is in a Valley
which begins at the foot of that hill which we see on Maidenhead
Thickett, and goes as far as Henley and further. The Thames runs
quite through it, is of good breadth, and with a great number of
little islands scatter’d here and there makes a most beautyfull
appearance. On the bank of this river, on a terrass the house
is built, it is of considerable extent, and if adorn’d with
plantations and buildings would be very pretty and pleasant, but
to do this may require a greater expense than may be convenient,
so that all he at present thinks of doing is the improving the
lawn.... You might blame me if I omitted giving you some account
of one of a kind very uncommon. I mean Mr. Hart’s[159] Chinese
house. This stands in a beech wood of Mr. Stevens about half a
mile from him. Consists of a suite of rooms pav’d with pantyles
and hung with paper, and on the outside is embellish’d with very
costly decoration of the Chinese manner. Mr. Stevens says the cost
has been about two thousand pounds, but I don’t believe three would
pay for it. It seems to me no more than a whim, and so much money
flung away. It stands very high, and has a more extensive view
than Mr. Stevens’. It might be agreeable to entertain a company
there in the finest and warmest weather, but one cannot think of
it as an habitation without shuddering. At present no use is made
of it; three servants are kept there who have no other business
than to look after the house, keep the wood walks in order, and
breed pheasants; in about 15 years the lease expires, and then
it comes to Mr. Stevens.” Mr. Montagu says, “I have some other
thoughts of taking another ramble about the middle of the week to
Winchester, and perhaps Southampton.”
[157] This would place the building of Culham Court as taking place
in 1707. See the first line of the next page.
[158] George Stevens, born 1736, died 1800.
[159] This was Rose Hill, built by Governor Hart, now the property
of General E. Micklem.
Mrs. Montagu had written to ask for a pair of horses and a coachman to
be sent to Bath Easton, in order to convey herself and sister to stay
at King’s Weston with Mrs. Southwell, “a man at Bath Easton will feed
each horse at 6_d._ a day!” Mr. Montagu sends them, but says, “They may
possibly serve to carry you to King’s Weston, and bring you part of the
way home, but for any expeditions out of the Turnpike roads I fear they
will not endure it.”
[Illustration: MRS. MARY DELANY.]
[Page heading: MR. STEVENS]
In replying to her husband, the following character of Mr. Stevens is
given:--
“I look upon Mr. Stevens as a man who has disfranchised himself
from all slavery to custom and fashion, and who as seldom brushes
up or new trims his modes of living as his coat, but wears both
as long as they fit him, in spite of what fops and taylors may
say. I hope he will come to Sandleford, for he has parts enough to
make his singularities amusing. I dare say he was very happy in
the visit you made him, both for the pleasure of your conversation
and from a little vanity, for tho’ the modes of singularity may
give a man an air of designing to live alone and of contemplation,
in the world, I believe one may venture to say, none are more
desirous of regard and notice than those who affect to retire and
be singular; they rather design their peculiarities for a badge of
distinction than a line of separation between them and Society;
and a man in low life may go ungarter’d or cross-garter’d, who in
another station would have been ambitious of a blue garter, and
their installment into a particular character is a matter of great
wit.... We had a report that the Duke had killed 3000 French, but
he is well off if he can keep on the defensive. I had a letter
from Mr. Emin that the Duke of Cumberland received him in the most
gracious manner, and he is so pleased, I believe he thinks one more
step will put him on the Persian throne. It is happy to be born of
a hoping constitution; his day dreams are very pleasant. I wish his
patriot spirit was communicated to a dozen or two of our great men.”
[Page heading: EMIN’S LETTER]
Emin had joined the English army under the Duke of Cumberland, then
fighting the French. On July 30 he wrote to Dr. Monsey, enclosing
a letter to his patronesses, to be copied for each lady. In the
postscript is the first mention of Edmund Burke.
“Now I would have you ask Mr. Burke’s advice about this letter
before you coppy it for my friends. Pray don’t be mad because my
friend is an Irish gentleman, but I can tell you that he is your
beloved son-in-laws[160] countryman. I dare say you will be mighty
pleased at being acquainted with him.”
[160] Dr. Monsey’s only child married William Alexander, elder
brother 1st Earl Caledon.
Emin’s letter begins--
“Limburg, August 1, 1757.
“To all the ladies and Patronesses of Joseph Emin.
“MY NOBLE LADIES,
“I believe your ladyships have been in a long expectation to hear
from this part of the world, more especially of the battle which
began on the 23rd of July. In the morning we were ordered out with
25 horses and 200 foot irregulars to secure a post, where we found
300 husars and 700 foot soldiers, upon which we began immediately
to fire, and they retreated very soon; and in the afternoon his
highness, hearing that the French were advancing with their whole
army, ordered that the part of his army were to advance also, but
it was very unlucky for us that our infantry was too late; and
before they could come up, the enemy begun from some distance to
fire upon us with their cannon, with no manner of execution. His
Royal Highness thought proper to return to his camp in Aferden.
The next day, the enemy, still advancing from their camp at Halla
all along the river Vizer,[161] and were retreating untill we
halted upon a high hill with full of trees, and they on another;
were the firing of cannon began again on both sides, and lasted
till evening. Our situation not being so well as we could wish,
we still retreated till we come to Hamelin,[162] there we posted
the right of our army, and our left at Onsburg, and unfortunate
Hastenbek[163] between us and the enemy, which was soon burnt down.
The 25th, about four in the morning, the enemy began to advance
with their musicks and drums, making a very great noise, more
like Indians than Europeans, and was soon silenced; as a few of
our balls, and cannonading begun of both sides briskly. At that
time your slave was upon a hill with no more than 200 irregulars,
commanded by my friend, Major Freydag, a man of good conduct and
judgment, where we could see the two armies very plain. It was a
place had it not been so dangerous as the cannon balls were flying
like so many flies over our heads, I would wish my noble friend
ladies who are my patronesses and who are so fond of Heros and
hearing of battles, to have seen it, which would really have been
worth their while; then I would have wished again that the heavenly
chariots where descended from the gods above, to have transported
them to their native and blessed Island, peradventure they should
have been in the greatest of dangers, for wee saw about eleven
of the clock the enemy with no less than six thousand of Horses
and Foot comming up to us of all sides with a great fury, except
a little grass that led us down to our army, but this bravery of
theirs was greatly owing to an information which they had of us a
day before. Knowing that we were no more than two hundred men,
or else they woud not be so furious in their attack, for they are
vastly like the black Indians, fire at a great distance and run
away. However, we stood almost half an hour, our men ralyed three
times and killed no less than 300 of them; for our men are brought
up from their infantry (_sic!_) as huntsmen, they never miss their
mark. I have seen them shoot at 300 yards’ distance; they are like
the mountiniers of Armenia and Dagastun, the French husars run
away as soon as they see us. You see, my noble ladies, what great
advantage it is to a Nation who has the liberty not only to kill
the partridges but to kill as many deers and other animals as they
please. The loss of ours was but 20 and 6 wounded, we could not
support any longer and where obliged to retreat, and join the army,
and about 2 a-clock in the afternoon, the enemy retreated with the
loss of eleven cannon, and had taken some of ours, but we retaken
them again, but the battle continued still and lasted from 4 in the
morning to 6 in the afternoon, the loss of their side was about
3000 and about 1200 of ours, we don’t look upon this as a battle in
Persia, but as a scarmish (_sic!_). The inventor of gunpowder tho’
he is cursed by many ignorant people but his invention has been a
very great service towards preservation of Mankind, gunpowder is
a thing which makes a great noise like lightning and thunder keep
mankind distant with an awe. ‘The thought of gunpowder,’ says the
great Marshal de Saxe, ‘is more than the danger itself.’ I woud
wish to have no more than 1500 Persian Horse if it is not too bold
and your humble servant the teacher of them, we could soon show the
French that the effect of symiters (_sic_) would be greater than
that of gunpowder tho’ their number of what we hear is one hundred
fifty thousand men and ours are you very well know. At present we
are upon marches and countermarches.”
At the end of the letter he says he has received nothing as yet from
his royal master, and that if he does not, he must unwillingly return
to his father in India, as he will not be a “begar” any longer on his
noble patrons.
[161] River Weser.
[162] Hamelen.
[163] Hastenbeck.
[Page heading: THE HEALTH OF H.R.H.’S LEG]
This battle was that of Hastenbeck. The Duke of Cumberland had placed
the archives and valuable effects from Hanover in the town of Stadt,
and from Stadt came a letter from Emin to Dr. Monsey, on September
13, just after the famous Convention of Kloster-Seven had, by the
intervention of the King of Denmark, been signed, and peace arranged.
In reply to Dr. Monsey’s inquiry about the Duke of Cumberland’s health,
Emin says, “You are desirous to know how my royal master is. Mr.
Andrews (_valet_), with his compts. to you, says his Royal highness’s
leg is quite well, so you may be easy.”
To return to Mrs. Montagu, staying at Bath Easton, on August 1, writing
to her husband, she expresses herself uneasy, as Admiral Boscawen was
recalled from the fleet, for what he knew not. “Mr. Boscawen will be
busy enquiring the cause of his being recalled, he has merit and a
powerful family, and I hope his ennemies cannot oppress tho’ they may
oppose him. Do not mention this affair.”
In July Mrs. Morris Robinson had presented her husband with a son
and heir, who was christened Morris, after his father, and became
eventually 3rd Baron Rokeby. “Morris’ little boy goes on well.... Mr.
Potter made a fine harangue to the Bath Corporation on Mr. Pitt’s
Election. The circus,[164] I am told, is but little nearer finish’d
than when we were here.”
[164] The circus at Bath.
In the next letter, after comments on the beauties of things at Weston,
she writes--
“Yesterday morning Mrs. Southwell and I got into her postchaise
early, and went to the passage of the Severn, got into the Ferry
boat and cross’d over to Chepstow in Monmouthshire, and from
Chepstow we went to Mr. Morris’ called Piercefield, a place so far
exceeding any thing I ever saw or expect to see, I must reserve
the description till I see you. A reach of the Severn of forty
miles is one of the most inconsiderable advantages of the place,
every beauty of land, sea, rocks, verdure, cultivation, old ruins,
villages, churches are there in the highest perfection; the river
Wye forms a most beautiful half island in one part as the Severn
Sea adorns the other.”
[Page heading: WORTLEY MONTAGU]
Mr. Montagu replies--
“On Tuesday night, as I was at Supper about 10 o’clock, who should
come in to me but my cousin Wortley,[165] he had been making a
visit to somebody near Wallingford ... he missed his way, the roads
were so bad and rough that two of the glasses of his new chaize
were broken and he could not get any reparation at Newbury.” In
commenting on political subjects, he adds, “I suppose now everybody
will be sensible of the folly we have been guilty of in so long
suffering the Wild Boar of Germany to enter and destroy our
vineyard.”
[165] Mr. Wortley Montagu, senior, husband of Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu, first cousin to Mr. Edward Montagu.
Mrs. Montagu answers--
“I assure you it is with a melancholy pleasure I often look on this
charming country, perhaps this is the last summer I may ever be
an idle traveller thro’ a peaceable country; however, I have one
comfort, that as you are innocent of the evils that may overwhelm
us, you will the better support yourself and me under them, and
that the best we can hope is to be tributary vassals to France,
perhaps they will invade and conquer us, but God forbid.”
[Page heading: ELIZABETH WILMOT]
Mrs. Talbot,[166] writing from Barrington,[167] bids Mrs. Montagu
to come and stay with her. The letter is not a remarkable one, but
it says, “Have you heard lately from Lady Sandwich? I find the old
Countess[168] is dead at last at Paris.” This was the eccentric
Elizabeth Wilmot, sister of _the_ Earl of Rochester, and grandmother of
John, Lord Sandwich, widow of the 3rd Earl. It is said she governed her
husband to such a degree that he was almost a cypher and a prisoner in
his own house, she being, though an indifferent wife, a most brilliant
spirited woman. After her lord’s death in 1729, she lived in Paris,
where she was the friend of Ninon de l’Enclos and St. Evremont. Both
Pope and Lord Chesterfield have mentioned her as extremely spirited and
having great intellectual ability.
[166] Mrs. Talbot, widow of Edward Talbot, Bishop of Durham.
[167] Barrington Park, near Burford, Oxon.
[168] She died July 2, 1757, at Rue Vaugirard, Paris.
Her daughter-in-law, Lady Hinchinbroke, _née_ Elizabeth Popham, lost
her husband, Lord Hinchinbroke, in 1722, and I have several curious
letters written by her to Mrs. Montagu in 1739, respecting her son
John, 4th Earl of Sandwich (“Jemmy Twitcher”). He was then eleven
years old, and his mother sent him to sea. Probably he was even then
very unruly, but he could not bear the sea, and through Mr. Montagu
she applied to their common connection, John, Duke of Montagu, to get
him a commission in the Army, buying it “as an ensign in a marching
regiment.” The duke’s reply to this is singularly indifferent in
expression, and his spelling terrible.
On August 6, writing from Bath Easton to her husband, Mrs. Montagu
alludes to the defeat of Frederick the Great at Kollin in Bohemia, on
June 18, by General Daun. Emin had written to her, saying--
“The French seem afraid of us, tho’ so much inferior in numbers....
I hear the King of Prussia takes to himself the whole blame of his
disgrace in the late affair, and says if he had followed the advice
of the Prince of Bevern, it had not happen’d; there is something
more great perhaps in a Monarch owning his error than in gaining a
victory, but it will not have the same effect in establishing his
affairs in Germany, so that in his situation the least advantage
over the Empress Queen[169] would have been of better consequence.
Sir John Mordaunt, General Conway,[170] and Col. Cornwallis are
going abroad with some forces as the Newspapers tell us, and the
French seem again disposed to disturb us with the apprehension of
an invasion.”
[169] Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria, born 1717, died 1780.
[170] Seymour Henry Conway, the cousin and bosom friend of Horace
Walpole; born 1720, died 1795.
[Page heading: DESCRIPTION OF EMIN]
Writing to Dr. Stillingfleet on August 7, in return for his description
of Malvern, Mrs. Montagu gives this fine description of Emin--
“Mr. Emin was most graciously received by the Duke, had offers of
money and all marks of regard from his Royal Highness, so that his
letters express the highest satisfaction ... there must be a nobler
seat than the Persian throne reserved for that fine spirit which,
born in slavery and nurtured in ignorance, aspired to give liberty,
knowledge, and civil arts to his country. To compass this he
risqued his life, and endured the greatest hardships, and ventured
all dangers and uncertainties in a country whose very language he
was a stranger to; how different from so many of our countrymen,
who for little additions of power and greater gratifications of
luxury, in spite of their pride of birth and advantage of a
liberal education and the incitements of the great examples of
all ages and nations, will hazard enslaving us to a nation our
forefathers despised.”
In this letter we learn that Lord Lyttelton had returned from a Welsh
tour very unwell, had spent two days with her and Mrs. Scott at Bath
Easton, _en route_ to Hagley, and that on her return to Sandleford she
expected a visit from Dr. Monsey.
[Page heading: LADY LYTTELTON’S TEMPER]
In a letter from Rev. Charles Lyttelton from Hagley of August 17, one
catches a glimpse of the second Lady Lyttelton’s temper. He says--
“My brother Lord Lyttelton returned from his Welsh expedition the
same day I came home, and you will easily believe how welcome he
was to Miss West and me, as we had nobody to converse with or
rather to eat with, but ye amiable Lady of ye house, for she does
not deign to converse or hardly say a single word to either of us.
On Saturday, Hester[171] arrived, so we are now a strong party, and
her Ladyship may be as sulkey and silent as she pleases.... Lord
Lyttelton is got pure well.”
This expression is often used in the eighteenth-century writings;
apparently it meant perfect health at that time.
[171] Lady Hester Pitt.
From Merton, on August 30, Lady Frances Williams[172] writes to Mrs.
Montagu, and in her letter alludes with joy to Emin’s safety, and then
adds--
“By the accounts arrived from Lord Loudoun,[173] _the_
_Mediterranean tragedy_ seems to be acting over again in the
American seas. A Council of War was call’d to advise whether the
10,000 men brought to Louisburgh[174] should be landed or not; it
was determined in the _negative_ upon finding the French had 2 more
ships than we had. Lord Charles Hay’s only entering his protest,
and they are returned to Halifax to wait a reinforcement.
“This brings to my mind the death of Admiral West, and the
disgust given our friend Admiral Boscawen, which I look upon as a
retaliation from the Pittites for the dismission of the former last
Spring.”
[172] Lady Frances Williams was daughter of the Earl of Coningsby;
her husband, Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, was a statesman, poet,
and wit.
[173] Lord Loudoun, Commander-in-Chief of the English army in
America against the French.
[174] Louisburg in Nova Scotia; the English were attacking the
French Canadian Provinces.
[Page heading: THE HAWKE EXPEDITION]
In a letter from Fulham on September 15 Mrs. Donnellan alludes to the
expedition under Sir Edward Hawke[175] and Sir John Mordaunt against
the French, which was kept very secret.
“They say Sir John Mordaunt said to the officers, ‘You will have
but a short bout, but it will be a brisk one, and I hope we shall
all behave as we ought to.’ ’Tis supposed we shall hear in less
than a week something about it.... Whatever it is, Mr. Pit (_sic_)
will either have the glory or disgrace of it, for every one calls
it his scheme. The King, they say, had a fainting fit about a week
ago as he sat at cards, but is now well and seems cheerful.... Lord
Bolingbroke and Lady, were in such a hurry of passion they could
not wait for settlements but were married upon an Article; may one
not think of an old Proverb, ‘Marry in haste.’”
Lady Bolingbroke was a daughter of Charles Spencer, Duke of
Marlborough, and Mrs. Donnellan’s prophecy came true, but not till
1768, when she was divorced, and married Topham Beauclerk, son of Lord
Sydney Beauclerk.
[175] Sir Edward Hawke commanded the navy, and Sir John Mordaunt the
army. It was against the French, and proved a failure, costing
nearly a million.
[Page heading: AN HUMOROUS AFFECTION]
On September 15 Mrs. Montagu wrote a long letter to Dr. Stillingfleet
from Sandleford. In this she alludes to the humorous affection for her
which Dr. Monsey had developed.
“You must know Sir, Dr. Monsey is fallen desperately in love with
me, and I am most passionately in love with him, the darts on both
sides have not been the porcupine’s, but the grey goose quill. We
have said so many tender things to each other by the post, that at
last we thought it would be better to sigh in soft dialogue than
by letter. We agreed to meet, and the rather, as all the lovers we
had read of (and being in love with each other only _du coté de
l’esprit_, you may suppose we woo by book) had always complained
of absence as the most dreadful thing imaginable. He said, nay he
swore, he would come to Sandleford, and twice had named the day,
but each time his grand-daughter fell sick, and I know not whether
he will keep the third appointment, which is for next Monday.
These disappointments have made me resolve, and I really believe
it will not be difficult to keep the resolution, never again to
fall in love with a man who is a grandfather. In all other respects
the Doctor is a perfect Pastor Fido, and I believe when we get to
Elysium, all the lovers who wander in the Myrtle Groves there will
throw their garlands at our feet.”
Further on she alludes to Emin, who was at Stadt, and had written her a
most devoted letter.
“I do not indeed hope to see him on the Persian throne, or giving
laws to the East, but I know he sits on the summit of human virtue,
and obeys the laws of Him who made that world the ambitious are
contending for, and to such only my esteem pays homage.”
[Page heading: MRS. BOSCAWEN]
In a letter to Mrs. Scott of this period occurs Mrs. Montagu’s opinion
of the character of her friend, Mrs. Boscawen.[176]
“She is in very good spirits, and sensible of her many felicities,
which I pray God to preserve to her; but her cup is so full of
good, I am always afraid it will spill. She is one of the few whom
an unbounded prosperity could not spoil. I think there is not a
grain of evil in her composition. She is humble, charitable, pious,
of gentle temper, with the firmest principles and with a great deal
of discretion, void of any degree of art, warm and constant in her
affections, mild towards offenders, but rigorous towards offence.”
[176] _Née_ Frances Glanville, daughter of William Evelyn Glanville,
of St. Clair, Kent.
[Page heading: HER TRUST IN PROVIDENCE]
I make extracts from a splendid letter to Mrs. Boscawen of October 25.
Admiral Boscawen had just received a commission rather unexpectedly,
owing to the failure of the Hawke and Mordaunt expedition.
“I am a little uneasy lest the surprize should have hurt you,
satisfy me in that matter and my imagination will then sit down
and weave laurel garlands for your husband’s head, and I too will
rejoice in the advantage which I hope his country will reap from
his arms, but think me not ignoble if I own, glory is but a bright
moonshine when compared to your welfare, and think me not below
the standard of true patriotism, if I confess, it is for the sake
of such as you, my country is a name so dear. I know you are too
reasonable to wish Mr. Boscawen might avoid the hazards of his
profession. The Duke of Marlbro’ his kinsman, lived to old age
and survived perhaps all the cowards that were born on the same
day, the accidents of life are more than the chances of war. Be
not afraid, but commit it all to the great and wise Disposer of
all events; a firm hope and cheerful reliance on Providence I do
believe to be the best means to bring about what we wish, and that
such confidence does it far better than all our anxious foresight,
our provident schemes and measuring of security. I remember with
sorrow and shame, I trusted much to a continual watching of my
son,[177] I would not have committed him to a sea voyage, or
for the world in a town besieged, I forgot at Whose will the
waves are still, and Who breaketh the bow and knappeth the spear
asunder. What was the reward of this confidence of my own care
and diffidence of His who only could protect him? Why, such as
it deserved, I lost my beloved object, and with him my hopes, my
joys, and my health, and I lost him too, not by those things I had
feared for him, but by the pain of a tooth. Pray God keep you from
my offence and the punishment of it. I do not mean that you should
be void of anxiety in times of hazard, but offer them to God every
night and sleep in peace, the same every morning, and rise with
confidence.... I am much pleased with his Majesty’s confidence in
Mr. Boscawen....
“The Duke,[178] it seems, is gone to plant cabbages; as soon as
these great folks are disgusted they go into the country; the
indignant statesman plants trees upon which he wishes all his
enemies hanged, his occupations are changed, but his passions not
altered. The angry warrior rides a-hunting, ‘mais le chagrin monte
en croupe et galope avec lui,’ nor can the hounds and horn ‘that
cheerily rouse the slumbering morn’ content the sense that wants
‘to hear piercing fife and spirit-stirring drum.’”
Not having been well, she adds she is moving to London to consult her
doctors, leaving Mr. Montagu to plant trees, etc.; before joining her.
“I expect a cargo of Morgans and good folk from Newbury to dine here; I
always endeavour to depart the country in an odour of civility.”
[177] Alluding to her only child, John, _alias_ “Punch’s” death.
[178] The Duke of Cumberland.
[Page heading: THE MORDAUNT AFFAIR]
A letter from Mrs. Donnellan throws a light on the Mordaunt affair.
“All I can gather of this most shameful affair is that there will
be no more known till there is a publick enquiry,[179] and then
if the scheme is proved by the General Officers to have been
impracticable, those who sent them on it must suffer, but if it
is found that they might have made more of it, I suppose they
will.... It will be defered (the enquiry, I mean) till the sitting
of parliament. Sir J. Mordaunt and Admiral Hawke have both been
to Court, the Admiral was received graciously, the other taken no
notice of, ’tis said he stooped to kiss the royal hand, but it was
pulled back from him; wou’d it not have been more kingly to have
forbidden his coming? ’Tis said soon after some of the troops were
in the boats in order to land; there was a council of war called,
and when Hawke thought they were landed, they were ordered on board
again; ’tis certain there were 5 or 6 days spent on councils of
war, and then Hawke, who was not concerned in them, desired them to
come to some resolution, for he wou’d either land them or return
home. Colonel Conway, I hear, showed the most spirit, and that our
commen men showed no unwillingness to action.... The Duke came
thro’ the city on Thursday at four in the afternoon. I saw some
who saw him, there was no sort of notice taken of him; I think he
was well off. I suppose you have seen the King of Prussia’s letter
to our King, ’tis denyed but believed to be genuine. I think your
remarks on the correspondence between the King of Prussia and
Voltair (_sic_) very just; however, I forgive him some levity
when conversed with a wit, and part since he knows when ’tis proper
to the King.... I have got since I came home, Taylor’s Sermons, he
is so good he frightens me, and so witty he makes me laugh.”
[179] The Mordaunt enquiry warrant was not signed till
December 3, 1757.
[Illustration: ALLERTHORPE HALL.]
[Illustration:
_J.G. Eccardt. Pinx._ _Faber. Mezzo._
_Conyers Middleton D.D._
_Emery Walker Ph. Sc._]
Mr. Montagu, writing from Sandleford on November 6, to his wife,
mentions Hawke being sent out again with Boscawen, “was a clear proof
that they had nothing to impute to him which was faulty.” He was busy
planting at Sandleford, and said he must get chestnuts and acorns when
he came to London, as the last sown had been rotten, “according to
Millar the way of trying them is somewhat like that formerly us’d in
the case of witches, such of them as swim are to be rejected and those
that sink esteem’d good.”
[Page heading: MRS. MONTAGU’S ILLNESS]
Mrs. Montagu, with the advice of Dr. Shaw and Dr. Monsey, gradually
recovered her health. Wormwood draughts were prescribed; her illness
appears to have been a nervous fever, with weakness and loss of
appetite. Of Dr. Monsey she says, “He has given me as much attendance
as if I was a Princess of the blood, tho’ I have never given him a
fee.” Dr. Shaw had been called off to the Duchess of Newcastle at
Claremont, who was suffering in the same way. Great discussion is given
as to giving of the “bark” without danger, and when to do so. “Dr. Shaw
has had six guineas of me, I shall give him no more, I had difficulty
to make him accept the last, but he attended me at first twice a day.”
The Mordaunt affair is alluded to in each letter. In one occurs the
following--
“Lord Chesterfield in a letter from Bath to Lady Allen writes thus:
‘Your ladyship may believe all the circles here think they have
a right to form a court-martial to sit on Sir J. M. For my part
I wait for information. I can never believe he wants courage or
capacity, as I imagine he will show the scheme was impracticable
and they must answer who sent him.’”
[Page heading: ROSBACH]
On November 7, Mr. Montagu writes to announce his intention of joining
his wife, and adds--
“I see by the _Gazette_ that the King of Prussia has obtained a
great victory over the combined army under Prince Soubise. This is
an unexpected event, and must give a turn to his affairs. One thing
seems to be collected from it, that this enterprising courageous
Prince has not made peace nor flung himself into the arms of France
as we were given to believe.”
This was the Battle of Rosbach in Saxony, won against the Austrians
and French by Frederick the Great of Prussia on November 5, 1757. The
year’s correspondence ends with a letter to Emin of Lady A. Sophia
Egerton, enclosing a letter of recommendation of him to her uncle, Mr.
Bentinck, then in diplomatic service in Holland. Emin was going to
rejoin the Prussian Army.
CHAPTER III.
1758, 1759--BEGINNING OF CORRESPONDENCE WITH MRS. CARTER, WITH DR.
JOHNSON, AND WITH BURKE.
[Year: 1758] 1758 commences with a letter on March 2, from
Mrs. Montagu to her husband, who had left London for Sandleford. In it
she says--
“I shall enclose an _Advertizer_ in which you will find a curious
article from Warsaw. It astonished all Europe to find the King
of Prussia had got copies of the plans of the Imperial Court and
Dresden, the means by which he obtained them are now discover’d.
To this contrivance his Prussian Majesty and his Country owe their
present being, but one cannot envy the state of a King if it is
necessary to take such means for preservation as would startle a
vulgar man of Honour. To get false keys to cabinets is but a poor
low trick, and it is very strange to see a hero guilty of burglary,
but as Mr. Pope observes, ‘the story of the great is generally a
tale that blends their glory with their shame.’ Mr. Stanhope call’d
on me as I was writing, and I am to dine with my brother Morris,
so must abridge my letter. I can’t hear what pass’d in the House
of Lords yesterday in Delany’s trial.... I was at the Oratorio
last night, where I heard the Dublin man-of-war was sent to Mr.
Boscawen to supply the loss of the _Invincible_. I am to be at Lady
Hillsborough’s assembly to-night.”
The Delany trial had lasted for nearly ten years. It was on account
of Dr. Delany, in inadvertence, having burnt a paper of importance
belonging to his first wife. Sometimes it appeared to be at an end,
but it was as often renewed. At last, on March 5, Lord Mansfield,[180]
after an hour and a half’s speech, decided in favour of Delany. The
cost of the suit exceeded the disputed sum, but the relief to the good
dean and his wife on its decision balanced everything.
[180] “Silver-tongued Murray.”
[Page heading: BISHOP CLAYTON]
On March 9 Mrs. Montagu writes--
“I met Mrs. Delany to-day at Mrs. Donnellan’s, and she is very
happy, the Irish decree is reversed, tho’ even as matters stand,
they will have little left when the £7000 is paid. Lady Frances
Williams is still in grief for her husband,[181] who in his madness
has writt (_sic_) letters to half the crowned heads in Europe. I am
going to the play to-night, to-morrow I shall give up the Oratorio
to stay with Lady Frances Williams as comforter.
“That bright luminary of the Church, Dr. Clayton, Bishop of
Clogher, is dead.... The Bishop has left his wife his whole
fortune, which is very considerable. It is thought we shall not
send troops to the King of Prussia, but whether he will accept of
our money[182] we shall not know till the return of the Express.
The King of Pegu has wrote a letter to the King on a gold plate,
and the stops are made with rubies; I should be glad of his
correspondence tho’ his letters had no wit in them.”
[181] Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, poet and writer, had been
attacked with madness.
[182] Another letter says the King of Prussia will not accept money.
[Page heading: EMIN ADDRESSES PITT]
Emin, anxious for re-employment, now addressed Mr. Pitt. The letter was
addressed to Mr. Pitt, Secretary of State.
“SIR,
“Though I never had the honour to be known to you, yet I have the
boldness to write. I have been over a great variety of the world,
and have seen much people, but I wanted to see men; for the Design
of my Travel was knowledge, and I thought knowledge of real men
was better than books, therefore I have turned my Eyes upon all
ways and at last had the great happyness of seeing and hearing you
in that potent House of Commons, and there I discovered like the
light breaking upon me, what my Friends had often told me, of your
great love to your Country and your wise Eloquence that conquers
more than the Sword of a Hero. I own I grew a little envious; for
I thought no man loved his country better than I have mine, but
I confess it that I am nothing, tho’ I have been sailor, porter,
slave, and suffered everything in every shape, to make my country
what you have made yours. This is my small merit and the only
recommendation I can make to you. Sir, I will observe that a cloudy
day in winter is light enough to see what is about us and to serve
common business, but permitt me to say no man is happy nor in good
spirit untill the sun shines out. Then there is joy upon all men’s
faces. Thus it is, great Sir, with me in this country, I along with
the rest in this happy land, find Benefit of the Light you give us
all by your great wisdom of governing, but I am not happy, and my
Life is dead untill I see the Vezirazam of England.
“If you do me this high Honour, you will see a poor soldier whose
only Fortune is a character with all people which I have been
amongst. I was a Porter for learning not for livlihood, and I was
honest in that low way. This is known when by the goodness of great
Souls I was raised from that. I was not idle nor ingreatefull; I
have been high and low and I was not bad. When I served the last
campaign in Germany, all the officers, both English and the German,
will say more of me than I dare think of myself. I have, Sir, in my
studies for my country, found the way to advance it, and do some
service to your noble Nation at the same time. My humble plan for
this good design I will do myself the Honour to show to you and be
instructed by your great Wisdom and to give me new rights in this
great matter. My scheme has two Qualities which make some laugh at
me, others seem to like me for it. Whatever it is, it is little
without your assistance. If you approve of it, I laugh at those
that laugh at me, at any rate I am resolved and nothing shall stop
me but Death, which is common to everybody, and an honest Heart
need not fear any. I am, with the greatest Respect and Veneration,
“Great Sir,
“Your most obedient most obliged
devoted humble Servant,
“J. EMIN.
“In the Month of March, 1758,
“To the R. H. William Pitt, etc., etc.”
In her next letter to her husband Mrs. Montagu says--
“Emin dines with Lady Medows to-day, if joy can give appetite,
he will make a good meal, for by the solicitation of Lady
Yarmouth,[183] Mr. Pitt has received him, and promised to see what
can be done for him, as great minds are akin. Mr. Pitt was much
pleased with him. Emin repeated to me his discourse to Mr. Pitt,
and it was full of Asiatick fire and figure--if it did not touch
the man, it must the Orator. Mr. Pitt made him great compliments. I
hope they will be realized, and they surely will if Lady Yarmouth
continues her desire to serve him.”
[183] Amelia S. de Walmoden, created 1740, Baroness Yarmouth,
mistress of George II.
[Page heading: EMIN JOINS MARLBOROUGH]
Emin was sent to join the English army under the Duke of Marlborough in
their attempted invasion of France at St. Malo, and wrote on June 11
to say that “Captain Howe had burnt 73 ships and from 10 to 16 guns,
besides small vessels.” After this expedition, Emin joined the army
with the King of Prussia.
[Page heading: AFFAIRS IN PARLIAMENT]
Writing to Dr. Stillingfleet on June 13, after alluding to the attack
on St. Malo, Mrs. Montagu says--
“So much for war and war’s alarms; as to our civil occurences, they
have been so boisterously carried I need not change the tone of my
narrative; the Judges, the Lord Keeper, the Chief Justice, and the
late Lord Chancellor gave their opinions against the Habeas Corpus
bill.[184] Lord Temple, much in wrath, insulted the Judges in some
of his questions; Lord Lyttelton warmly and sharply reproved him
upon which words rose high, the House of Lords interfered. The last
day of this bill, Lord Mansfield and Lord Hardwicke[185] spoke so
full to the matter, even Tory Lords, and these most violent in
their wishes for it, declared they were convinced the new bill was
dangerous to liberty in many respects, in many absurd; so that
had there been a division there would not have been four votes
for it, but Mr. Pitt’s Party discreetly avoided a division. This
affair has not set the legislative wisdom of the House of Commons
in a very high light, but the great Mr. Beckford,[186] whom no
argument can convince, no defeat make ashamed, nor mistake make
diffident, did on the motion for a vote of credit stand up in the
House of Commons and say he would not oppose that measure, as he
had an opinion of the two Commoners in the administration, but in
the Peers that composed it, he had no confidence, and ran in foul
abuse of them and then ended with a severe censure of the House
of Lords in general. Lord Royston[187] answered him that this was
unparliamentary where personal, and indecent in regard to the
House of Peers in general, to which Mr. Pitt answered with great
heat that he was sorry to hear such language from a gentleman who
was to be a Peer; he set forth the great importance and dignity of
Mr. Beckford personally, and above all the dignity and importance
of an alderman, concluding it was a title he should be more proud
of than that of a Peer. This speech has enraged the Lords, offended
the Commons, and the City ungratefully say was too gross. Those who
wish well to this country, and consequently to a union of parties
at this juncture, are sorry for these heats; it is well if they do
not unsolder the Union.... I began Islington Waters to-day.... You
make a false judgment of your own letters. I will allow you to say
it gives you some trouble to write them, but pray do not assert
that I have not great pleasure in reading them; it becomes not a
descendant of the great Bishop Stillingfleet[188] to tell a fib.”
[184] This was occasioned by a gentleman having been impressed for
service in the Navy and illegally detained prisoner. The motion was
to administer the Act more decisively.
[185] Philip Yorke, 1st Earl of Hardwicke, born 1690, died 1764.
[186] Alderman Beckford, a remarkable city man and father of the
great millionaire and author.
[187] Son of the Earl of Hardwicke, eventually 2nd Earl.
[188] Edward Stillingfleet, Bishop of Worcester, author of
“Eirenicon,” born 1635, died 1699.
[Illustration: BENJAMIN STILLINGFLEET.]
[Page heading: JOHN ROGERS]
[Page heading: ROGERS’ WILL]
Mention has been made of Mr. John Rogers, first cousin on his mother’s
side to Mr. Montagu, also of Mr. Montagu becoming his trustee in 1746,
when he was pronounced a lunatic. At first it seems that he suffered
from epileptic fits, which increased to lunacy, but of a mild order.
On June 23 Mr. Edward Steuart wrote to say Mr. Rogers was seriously
ill, and his death expected hourly; he was being attended by Dr.
Askew, then a famous north-country doctor, and several surgeons,
for a mortification in his leg.[189] On the 24th he expired, in his
seventy-fourth year, at his house in Pilgrim Street, Newcastle-on-Tyne.
Mr. Montagu was his principal heir. Mrs. Montagu, in a letter
respecting the estate of East Denton, etc., wrote in later days,
“Mr. M. has half the estate by descent, a share by testamentary
disposition, and a part by purchase.” Mr. Rogers’ lunacy seems to have
been made worse by the death of his wife, Anne Delaval, daughter of Sir
John Delaval, whom he married in 1713, and who died in 1722–23. His
will was made in 1711, and a codicil added 1715, in which he left his
property, after the death of his mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Rogers, to his
wife, and failing issue by her, to the Montagus and Creaghs, all first
cousins. Mary Creagh had married Dominick Archdeacon, and her sister
Margaret, Anthony Isaacson; Mr. Montagu’s two brothers, Crewe and John,
being dead, the only other heir was Jemima, Mrs. Medows, afterwards
Lady Medows. The estates were very large; besides Denton, with its
coal-mines, houses in Newcastle, and in Bramston, Lamesley, Harburn,
Parkhead, and Jarrow, in the county of Durham; lands at Hindley,
Sugley, Throckley, Newbiggin, Scotswood, etc., etc.; collieries and
saltpans in Cullercoats, Monkseaton, Whitley, and Hartley, etc., etc.
Mrs. Montagu was at Ealing with the Bothams when the express came. She
writes to her husband, “It gives me pleasure to think I shall see you
with unblemished integrity and unsoiled with unjust gain, enjoying that
affluence many purchase with the loss of honesty and honour.”
[189] Mr. Rogers’ leg swelling, the doctors feared dropsy, and made
him drink two bottles of Hock daily.
Her brother Morris fetched her from Ealing in order to accompany her
husband to the north. Mr. Rogers was embalmed and buried on July 5 at
St. Nicholas’ church in Newcastle. The Montagus did not start for the
North till Tuesday, August 1. A letter from Dr. Monsey of June 26,
while staying with the Garricks at Hampton, congratulates Mrs. Montagu
on her inheritance, but scolds her for leaving her friends to go North.
This contains the first mention of his acquaintance with the Garricks,
who were great friends of Dr. Monsey’s, and he says, “Mr. Garrick[190]
was very near in a apoplectic fit when he found you were gone.... Mrs.
Garrick[191] also abus’d herself for not pressing you to return to the
Temple[192] and enjoy another half-hour.”
[190] David Garrick, born 1716, died 1779; famous actor.
[191] Eva Marie Veilchen, or Viegel, known as “la Violette,” once an
opera _danseuse_.
[192] The temple at Hampton, on the lawn by the river, still
existent; once held Roubilliac’s bust of Shakespeare.
[Page heading: ELIZABETH CARTER]
[Page heading: MRS. MONTAGU’S LETTER]
The next letter is the first I possess to Elizabeth Carter, whose
learned translation of Epictetus was first printed in April of 1758.
Miss Carter, or _Mrs._ Carter (as courtesy termed her), was the
daughter of a clergyman, the Rev. Nicholas Carter, D.D., Perpetual
Curate of Deal, Kent, where he resided; he had been twice married,
and Elizabeth was his child by his first marriage. To his children by
both marriages Mr. Carter gave an excellent education, and at an early
age Elizabeth studied Latin, Greek, and eventually Hebrew. She was a
proficient in French, and taught herself Italian, Spanish, and German;
later in life Portuguese and Arabic were added. Her application to
study produced severe headaches, principally brought on by drinking
green tea and taking snuff to keep herself awake. It appears that Mrs.
Montagu had met her in 1757, but Mrs. Carter had rather avoided such a
brilliant acquaintance, being herself of a most humble and unambitious
character, despite her learning. From the following portions of Mrs.
Montagu’s letter we learn that Miss Carter had been paying her a
visit:--
“Hill Street, July 6, 1758.
“What must my dear Miss Carter think of the signs of brutal
insensibility which I have given in not answering her obliging
letter? As my heart has had no share in the omission, I have no
apologies to make for it; no day has passed since you left us
in which I have not thought of you with esteem and affection;
I look upon my introduction to your acquaintance as one of the
luckiest incidents of my life, if I can contrive to improve it
into friendship; this is, and has been the state of my mind and
I am proud of it: as to my conduct in the commencement of our
correspondence, I am ashamed of it. I was ill when I received
your polite and agreeable letter. I have ever since been drinking
Islington waters, from which I receive some benefit, but with
this inconvenience, that I am unable to write till late at night,
and even then not without headache. The death of a relation of
Mr. Montagu’s in the North, which happened about a fortnight
ago, with a large accession of fortune, has brought me the usual
accompaniment of riches, a great deal of business, a great deal
of hurry, and a great many ceremonious engagements. The ordering
funeral ceremonies, putting a large family in mourning, preparing
for a journey of 280 miles, and receiving and paying visits on this
event, has made me the most busy miserable creature in the world.
As the gentleman from whom Mr. Montagu inherits had been mad above
40 years and almost bed-ridden the last ten, I had always designed
to be rather pleased and happy when he resigned his unhappy being
and his good estate. I thought in fortune’s as in folly’s cup,
still laughed the bubble joy; but though this is a bumper, there
is not a drop of joy in it, nor so much as the froth of a little
merriment. As soon as I rise in the morning, my housekeeper with
a face full of care, comes to know what must be packed up for
Newcastle; to her succeeds the Butler, who wants to know what wine,
etc., is to be sent down; to them succeed men of business and money
transactions; then the post brings twenty letters, which must be
considered and some answered. In about a week we shall set out for
the North, where I am to pass about three months in the delectable
conversation of Stewards and managers of coal mines, and this by
courtesy is called good fortune, and I am congratulated upon it
by every one I meet; while in truth, like a poor Harlequin in the
play, I am acting a silly part _dans l’embarras des richesses_.
I would not have troubled you with this detail, but as part of my
defence for not having written to you. I can perfectly understand
why you were afraid of me last year, and I will tell you, for you
won’t tell me; perhaps you have not told yourself. You had heard
I set up as a wit, and people of real merit and sense hate to
converse with witlings, as rich merchant-ships dread to engage
privateers, they may receive damage and can get nothing but dry
blows. I am happy you have found out I am not to be feared; I am
afraid I must improve myself much before you will find I am to be
loved. If you will give affection for affection _tout simple_ I
shall get it from you....”
Mention is made of Emin’s joining the King of Prussia, so he was known
to Mrs. Carter, probably through Lord Lyttelton.
“I have the pleasure of hearing infinite commendations of Epictetus
every day; from such as are worthy I taste a particular pleasure;
from the multitude I take it in the gross, as it makes the sum of
universal fame. Some praises I heard a few days ago at the Bishop
of London’s I put in the first class.”
[Page heading: LORD LYTTELTON TO DR. MONSEY]
A most amusing letter from Lord Lyttelton to Dr. Monsey of July 24 now
occurs, in which he returns a letter of Mrs. Montagu’s to the doctor,
and summons him to a duel of words in her praise on Hagley turf. He
teases Dr. Monsey with the idea of her going north, and advises him “to
quit Lord Godolphin to follow love, follow him over the Cheviot Hills
and down to the coal-pits at Newcastle.” After a great deal of chaff it
ends, “Your most affectionate, humble Servant,--LYTTELTON.”
[Page heading: MRS. MONTAGU’S SYMPTOMS]
This frightened Monsey, so on July 30 he writes from St. James’s and
gives her strings of advice as to her health.
“I know the generality of Physicians will be cautious of blooding
you, as being what is called nervous; I know nothing of nerves in
the usual sense of the word, if indeed it has any precise meaning
at all, it is used by the wise to quiet fools, and by fools to
cover ignorance.” Then he adds in high fever she may be blooded,
“5, 6 or 7 ounces, and if you flag a blister! will set matters to
right. I say nothing of vomits, you can’t bear ’em, but you will
gentle purging, your lemon mixture and contrayserva with a little
saffron, be cautious of hot medicines, but do not wholly throw them
away, as to spasms and cramps they are such Proteuses, one does not
know how to catch or hold them, Valerian and Castor are in such
reputation for vanquishing those Hussars.... Assafœtida you can’t
bear, I wish you cou’d ... if feverish 3 spoonfuls of a decoction
of the bark by boyling one ounce and half in a quart of water to a
pint, and if your stomach flags put in from 5 to 10 drops of Elixir
of Vitriol, so arm’d a common cold will not have courage to attack
you.”
Finally he consigns her to a Dr. Ramsay’s care, should she require a
physician!
On August 1 Mrs. Boscawen wrote from Hatchlands a long letter
describing a visit to London. Her letters are sprightly, but too much
larded with French words and phrases; the end is interesting--
“_Enfin_ we left this dear odious London at 4 in the afternoon,
_chemin faisant_ I thought within myself, what if I should meet
an express from America, and sure enough upon Cobham Common I met
a post-chaise containing an officer, on him I star’d attentively,
he star’d again; then he cry’d ‘Stop,’ I echoed ‘Stop,’ _enfin_ I
heard him ask ‘is Admiral Boscawen’s[193] lady in that coach?’ I
make quick reply in the affirmative, and soon he produced himself
at my coach window, and told me he was express sent by the Governor
of Nova Scotia with news of our troops having taken the Forts of
Beau Sejour and Chignecto, that he attended Admiral Boscawen for
his orders twenty-three days ago, and left him in perfect health;
he added that Admiral Boscawen had saved North America, where all
our Colonies were in the utmost danger, as well as consternation
till he came. Papers having been found which showed the French
had a design to destroy Halifax, where the people imagin’d the
French wou’d let in the Indians to massacre them.... He added,
‘Mr. Boscawen had taken, or as the phrase there is _detain’d_, six
French merchant ships, and had blocaded Louisbourg.’”
She adds that her letters from her husband were with Mr. Cunninghame
(the Officer), addressed to Mr. Cleveland, so she let them go, and sent
on her black servant “Tom” next day to fetch them, and was going to
Portsmouth to meet the Admiral, who thought he should soon be back.
[193] Admiral Boscawen, Major-General Amherst, and Brigadier-General
Wolfe were combined in this campaign.
[Page heading: ON THE WAY NORTHWARDS]
To return to the Montagus, they set out on August 1 for the North,
and the first letter is from her to Lord Lyttelton on August 6, from
Darlington--
“I am now about 25 miles short of Newcastle, having travelled above
250 miles since last Tuesday, and am better to-night than I was
when I left London, so I will no longer endure that Dr. Monsey
shall call me flimsy animal, puny insect, and such opprobrious
names. I have had a surfeit of being in a post-chaise, that I
have not made many excursions to see the fine places that lay
in the road. In my way to Nottingham I went to see Sir Robert
Clifton’s,[194] which appears to me for beauty of prospect equal to
any place I ever saw. You are led to it from the turnpike road by
a fine terrace on the side of the Trent. From a pavillion in the
garden you see the town and Castle of Nottingham standing in the
most smiling valley imaginable, in which the Trent serpentizes in
a most beautiful manner.... I return your Lordship many thanks for
having lent me so agreeable a companion as Antonio de Solis.”[195]
[194] Clifton Hall.
[195] “The History of the Conquest of Mexico,” by Antonio de Solis,
a Spaniard; born 1610, died 1686.
[Page heading: MARY WEST]
To this Lord Lyttelton writes from Hagley on August 17, to say how glad
he is she bore the journey so well, and the book entertained her. He
had been drinking the waters at Sunning Hill, Berks, and found benefit.
In the end of a long letter he writes, “Miss West and Captain[196] Hood
will be as happy next Monday as mutual love can make them.” Miss West
was Gilbert West’s sister, and her future husband, Captain Hood, became
afterwards first Viscount Bridport. Mary West lived till 1786, but had
no children. Lord Lyttelton alludes to her not being very young and
“having no time to lose.”
[196] He became the celebrated Admiral Hood.
In another letter of August 22, written from Lindridge Vicarage,
Worcestershire, where the Vicar, Mr. Meadowcourt, was a great friend of
his Lordship’s, he writes--
“Tom and I came this afternoon to this sweet abode on our way to
Hampton Court.... I told you in my last that Miss West was to be
married to Captain Hood. Yesterday I had the pleasure to give her
away to him at Hagley Church, after which we made a party to Mr.
Shenstone’s[197] Arcadian Farm in very fine weather. The pastoral
scene seemed to suit the occasion, and the bride owned to me that
the cascades and rills never murmured so sweetly before.... The
Dean[198] came to Hagley just time enough to give Hood and her the
Nuptial Benediction.”
[197] William Shenstone, poet, born 1714, died 1763. His place, the
“Leasowes,” adjoined Hagley.
[198] Charles Lyttelton, Dean of Exeter.
Further on, alluding to Mr. Montagu’s going north to take possession of
the Rogers’ estate, he says--
“I suppose this will find you, like Guyon in Mammon’s Cave, got
down the bottom of your mines,[199] and beholding your treasures
with all the indifference that the Knight of temperance showed when
the Demon of Riches revealed to him his hidden wealth. I paint to
myself the wonder and admiration of the subterraneous inhabitants
when you first came among them. Since the time that Proserpina was
carried by her husband to his Stygian Empire, the infernal regions
have not seen such a charming goddess. But is it sure they will let
you return again to daylight? Upon my word I am afraid you are in
some danger, as the Habeas Corpus Bill was thrown out; for all the
women of the upper world will make interest with the Judges to let
you stay there. Yet I verily think Baron Smith will release you in
spite of them all, and even if he should fail, you have still a
resource, Emin shall come back and deliver you from the Shades as
Hercules did Alcestis.”
[199] Denton was, and is, full of coal-mines, copper, etc.
[Page heading: ARRIVAL AT CARVILLE]
[Page heading: “HURRYS AND CEREMONIES”]
The best description of the Montagus’ arrival in the north is
contained in a letter to Dr. Stillingfleet at “Robert Price’s, Esqre.,
Herefordshire,” sent open to Dr. Monsey, who forwards it with a few
words of his own. It is dated, “Carville, ye 22nd day of August.”
Carville Hall had been hired by them; it was situated at the end of the
Roman Wall, called Wallsend. Portions of the letter I give--
“I desired Dr. Monsey to acquaint you with the death of Mr.
Rogers. Many letters were to be written in order to procure him
most pompous funeral obsequies, according to the fashion of
Northumberland, as he was allied to the people of the first rank
in the county, and they were all to be at the funeral.... The 7th
of August at noon we got to Durham, and there began hurrys and
ceremonies that have continued to this day, and I know not when I
shall see a quiet hour. At Durham we were met by a great number of
Mr. Rogers’ relations, and the Receivers and Agents of his estate,
who attended in great form till we got to Newcastle, where we were
to stay two or three days, with a relation of Mr. Montagu’s till
our house was aired. We had not been an hour at Newcastle before
we had the compliments of the principal persons of the Corporation
and in the town. The next morning visits began.... We had fifteen
people to dine here on Sunday, a family yesterday, people about
business to-day, and three families to dine here to-morrow; in the
morning I am up to the elbows in dusty parchments and accounts,
after dinner as busy as an hostess of an Inn attending her guests,
at night as sick as an invalid in Hospital, and these are the woes
of wealth, and I am not _une malade imaginaire_.... Mr. Rogers’
family Mansion[200] having been uninhabited many years, was not fit
for our reception, his house[201] in Newcastle was not agreeably
situated for the summer, so we hired a house on the banks of the
Tyne for the occasion. It is a very pretty house, extreamly well
furnished and most agreeably situated, ships and other vessels from
Newcastle are sailing by every hour. The river here is broad and of
a good colour, and we have a fine reach of it: we have a very good
turnpike road to the sea-side, where I should pass a great deal of
my time if it was not all engross’d by company, but we are in the
midst of the largest neighbourhood I ever saw, and some of these
gentlemen by means of coal mines have immense fortunes.”
[200] Denton Hall.
[201] In Pilgrim Street.
[Page heading: NEWCASTLE]
In a letter to her sister, Mrs. Scott, Newcastle is described.
“The town of Newcastle is horrible, like the ways of thrift it is
narrow, dark and dirty, some of the streets so steep one is forced
to put a dragchain on the wheels: the night I came I thought I was
going to the center. The streets are some of them so narrow, that
if the tallow chandler ostentatiously hangs forth his candles, you
have a chance to sweep them into your lap as you drive by, and I
do not know how it has happened that I have not yet caught a coach
full of red herrings, for we scrape the Citty wall on which they
hang in great abundance. There are some wide streets and good
houses. Sir Walter Blackett’s seems a noble habitation.”
Mention is made of the Claverings, Bowes, and Lord Ravensworth calling.
In a letter of August 25 to Mrs. Carter, Mrs. Montagu tells her, that
_en route_ to Newcastle, she had visited “Althorpe, the seat of Mr.
Spencer, worthy of regard only on account of a very fine collection of
pictures. The park is planted in a dull uniformity, the ground flatt
(_sic_), little prospect, has not the advantage of a river or lake.”
After repeating the details of her journey, she adds that Denton Hall
“had not been inhabited for 30 years, the poor gentleman having
long been a lunatick, so I imagined the rats and ghosts[202] were
in such full possession, it would require time to eject them, and I
am now placed as I could wish, being within 4 miles of Tinmouth....
We have a very good land as well as water prospect. We see from our
windows the place where once lived the Venerable Bede,[203] some
little ruins show still, I believe, where the Monastery stood: the
place is called Jarrow, the estate belong’d to Sir Thomas Clavering
and the late Mr. Rogers. I shall visit it more from respect to the
old Historian than curiosity to see a new possession.”
[202] Did she know? It is supposed to be haunted to this day.
[203] The monk Beda, or Bede, born 672, died 735.
[Page heading: ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD]
On August 27 Mrs. S. Montagu wrote to young Tom Lyttelton a long letter
describing the country round Newcastle.
“After dinner I ferried over the river Wear to Sunderland, a good
sea-port town. They are making a new pier there, which is done
at the expense of the coal-owners, who have mines near the Wear.
I got a very pleasant walk on the sea-shore; several ships were
sailing out of the harbour fraught only with the comforts and
conveniences of life, they carry out coal and salt and bring home
money. I question whether those who carry out death and bring home
glory are concerned in so good merchandize, though they account
their occupation more honourable. On Thursday I went to see Lumley
Castle; it is a noble habitation, but so modernized by sash windows
and other fashionable ornaments, I admired it only as a good house.
There are many family pictures in the Hall, a succession of 16
Lumleys, all martially accoutred, the Lumley arms on their shields,
their figure and attitudes make them look like scaramouches. They
hang so high I could not read the inscriptions, but I imagine it
is intended one should suppose each picture was taken from life;
but from the dress and character, I am sure they have been done by
one hand from the genealogical tree. There are many old pictures in
the house, and many fair testimonies of the ancient nobility of the
family, but I cannot pass them sixteen[204] generations. There are
large plantations of firs at Lumley Castle, a large park behind the
Castle, to the front a good prospect, and the river Wear at a due
distance.”
[204] She was wrong; the Lumleys descend from Liulph, a Norman
nobleman of merit in 1060.
Mrs. Montagu was connected with the Lumleys, her cousin, Mrs. Laurence
Sterne, being the daughter of the Rev. Robert Lumley, of Lumley Castle.
At the end of the letter she complains of the tediousness of the
post--three weeks before she had any letters from her friends!
[Page heading: THE CAPTURE OF LOUISBURG]
This accounts for the news of the taking of Louisburg on July 27, under
Admiral Boscawen, General Amherst, and Wolfe, not having reached her
when she wrote, as Lord Lyttelton wrote to congratulate her on August
22, “upon the glorious success of Admiral Boscawen. I wrote last post
to his lady, whom I love for a thousand good qualities in herself and
because she loves you. Had her husband commanded in the Mediterranean,
and Amherst or Wolfe at Fort St. Philips, we had not lost Minorca.”
[Page heading: TOM LYTTELTON]
In another letter of August 31, Lord Lyttelton having had a pleasant
tour to Lady Coningsby’s,[205] where he met Sir Sidney Smith, and to
Lord Oxford’s,[206] Brampton Brian,[207]--
“I carried Tom with me through the whole tour, and a more
delightful fellow traveller I never can have, unless his Mother was
raised from the dead or Heaven would give me another Lucy! Wherever
we went he won all hearts, and you may believe mine beat with joy
at the sight of his conquests, my only fear is that hereafter he
may please the ladies too well. You must instruct him, Madonna, as
Minerva did Telemachus to avoid the dangers of the Calypsos he may
meet with in his travels, and let him learn by admiring you that no
charms are truly amiable, but those that are under the government
of wisdom and virtue.”
[205] Hampton Court, Herefordshire, built by Henry IV.
[206] Edward Harley, 24th Earl of Oxford.
[207] In Herefordshire.
Tom was fifteen at this time, having been born January 30, 1743–4. His
father’s fears as to his attractions for the fair sex were prophetic.
Tom writes to Mrs. Montagu on September 9, giving her an account of his
travels. Here is a description of Hampton Court, Herefordshire, the
seat of Lady Coningsby--
“The house stands at the end of a line of regular planted trees,
and looks more like a Monastery than a nobleman’s house. The
garden is very large, and would have been pretty enough if Nature
had been left in it unmolested. In the middle of it is a piece of
water of about an acre, cut into two square lines, in which, to the
astonishment of the beholder, you see Neptune upon his throne, and
twenty Tritons waiting behind him. The carver has express’d great
fierceness in his countenance, and well may the god who shakes the
earth with his Trident, be angry at being confined in a Pool, which
would scarce hold two hundred fish. From the garden one might see
a noble lawn bounded with an amphitheatre of wood, was it not for
the high Yew Hedges clipt into a thousand ridiculous shapes which
hinder the eye from passing them, the park, too, is very large, but
so overrun with Bushes that some of the Lawns resemble bogs....
From my Lady Coningsby’s we went to my Lord Oxford’s, a place where
nature has done a great deal, which by a little money judiciously
laid out may be made the prettiest _ferme ornée_ in England. My
Lord’s House is a very good one, built in a remarkable good taste
for the times of Queen Anne.”
Lord Lyttelton, as usual, adds a few words at the end of the letter,
and congratulates Mrs. Montagu on the King of Prussia’s “most glorious
success, but I am in pain till I hear what has become of Emin.”
Dr. Monsey writes from Claremont on September 6--
“DEAR MADAM,
“I should be asham’d of myself to be in the house of a Prime
Minister, and not let you know the King sent a long letter from the
King of Prussia hither this evening, giving a long detail of his
last victory[208] over the Russians, but it being in French and the
Duke of N(ewcastle) not being the best reader, I am unable to give
you an account, though my Lord G(odolphin) heard it as well as I,
and wou’d have interpreted for me, if he cou’d. However there is
an English account too of which I will give you some particulars.
Eighteen thousand killed by their own account, 6 generals killed,
I don’t remember how many wounded, 7 Generals prisoners in the
King’s Camp, 73 pieces of cannon taken, the military chest with
850,000 Rubles. General Brown killed, refusing quarter. The Russian
infantry as they had behaved like Bears, fought like Lyons, part of
Count Dohna’s foot gave way, or else it had been a most compleat
victory. The King himself took the colours in his hand and brought
’em on again, sure this is too bold for anybody but an immortal and
invulnerable. He had two aide-de-camps killed.”
[208] Battle of Zorndorff, fought August 25.
Monsey picked up the cover to the letter, addressed--
“A Monsieur mon frère,
“Le Roy de grande Bretagne.”
This he intended to send Mrs. Montagu, but the Duke asked for it. It
was sealed with two large seals, the arms and royal Crown under a camp
canopy in black wax.
[Page heading: EMIN DISCONSOLATE]
[Page heading: THE KING OF PRUSSIA]
On September 9 Emin wrote a long letter from the Duke of Marlborough’s
Quarter in Germany, whither he had retired disconsolate at not being
allowed to fight in the battle by General Yorke, Lady Anson’s brother,
to whom he had been recommended by her. Meanwhile he had marched four
days with the Army, and the King of Prussia had taken notice of him,
staring at him hard and saying to Mr. Mitchell he wished he had 12,000
men like him. Emin wished he had a letter to the King, and was furious
at General Yorke’s forbidding him to fight; probably the General was
too anxious for his safety. The following description of the King
of Prussia is so interesting I insert it, the whole letter to Mrs.
Montagu, a folio sheet closely written, being too long:--
“I will do my endeavour to describe the King of Prussia’s person,
and his way of living. He is no taller than Emin the Persian, he
has a short neck, he has one of the finest made heads ever I saw in
my life, with a noble forehead; he wears a false wigg, he has very
handsome nose. His eyes are grey, sharp and lively, ready to pearce
one through and through. He likes a man that looks him in the face
when he is talking to him. He is well made everywhere, with a bend
back, not stupid (_sic_, stooped?) at all, like many Europeans. His
voice is the sweetest and clearest ever I heard. He takes a great
quantity of Spanish snuff, from his nose down to the buckles of
his shoes or boots is all painted with that confounded stuff. His
hands are as red as paint, as if he was a painter, grizy all over.
He dines commonly between twelve and one, and drinks a bottle of
wine at his dinner. I was told that he was very unhealthy in the
time of peace, but since this war he has grown healthy, and left
off drinking a great quantity of coffee, which he did formerly. All
the satisfaction that I have, which is great enough that I have
seen Cæsar alive, nay twenty times greater, he is more like King
Solomon, for he rules his nation by wisdom and understanding....
His armies are not only disciplined to the use of arms, but very
religious, and say their prayers three times a day: it is never
neglected, even when they are on the march.”
Emin winds up with a message of apology to Mr. Burke at not having
written to him from want of time.
[Page heading: A STRUGGLE FOR LIFE]
Meanwhile his adored Mrs. Montagu had nearly lost her life through the
carelessness of a maid. It happened on September 3. Writing to Sarah
Scott, she gives this description--
“On this day sennight at 4 in the morn I was seized with a fainting
fit, in which I lay some time, my maids in their fright let the
_eau de luce_ fall into my eye, nostril and mouth, my eyes were
enflamed and nostril, the mouth and uvula of the throat excoriated.
After a long and cruel struggle for life,[209] a most sharp
contention with this medicine, I awaken’d to find myself in this
terrible condition. Dr. Askew unhappily lay at Durham that night,
so had no assistance till 2 at noon, then I was blooded, which
abated the inflammation so far I could articulate. The Doctor told
me my safety depended on frequent gargling and drinking, so for,
four days, I was never a quarter of an hour without doing so, the
spitting was more violent than from a mercurial salivation.... When
I came out of my fit, to see blood running from eye, nose and mouth
drove Mr. Montagu almost distracted, and I knew not which way my
agonies would end.... Mr. Montagu has shown on this occasion the
most passionate love imaginable. Dr. Askew has been very careful,
and an excellent apothecary has watched me night and day.”
[209] For two days her life was despaired of; for four days she
could swallow no solid, and was salivated for a week.
In a second letter she says, “On the fourth day when I was able to look
up I was surprized at the impression concern had made on Mr. Montagu,
and I should hardly have known him, he looked 20 years older at least.”
In a letter of Monsey’s we learn _eau de luce_ was made of strong sal
ammoniac and quicklime.
[Page heading: LADY BURLINGTON]
Mr. Montagu’s sister, now Lady Medows, wrote on September 14 to say
her brother-in-law, Sir Philip, had been nearly killed in the same way
by hartshorn. At the end of the letter she says, “Lady Bath dyed at
two this morning of the Palsy.” This was the wife of Pulteney, Earl of
Bath, soon after this to become one of Mrs. Montagu’s most intimate
friends. Lady Bath’s maiden name was Maria Gumley, daughter and
heiress of a great glass manufacturer. She had the character of great
penuriousness, and her husband was credited with the same character,
but I hope to show later that he could be very generous. When the news
of Mrs. Montagu’s accident spread amongst her numerous friends, many
were the letters of condolence and rejoicing at her safety from Lord
Lyttelton and a host of others. Dr. Monsey had been staying with the
Garricks; he was a great admirer of Mrs. Garrick, whom he often quotes
in his letters. It was whilst staying with them he heard of it. Both
he and Lord Lyttelton were quite frantic at the risk she had run,
and distressed at her fainting fit. Monsey was suffering from a bad
cough, for which, when staying with Sir John Evelyn at Wooton, he tried
bleeding, cathartics, and syrup of white poppies. He returned to St.
James’s, where Mrs. Garrick came to sit with him, and cheer him up. In
a letter of his to Mrs. Montagu of September 23, mention is made of
Lady Burlington’s death. “Lady Burlington is dead. Mrs. G(arrick) gets
nothing, but rid of her, and that’s a great deal, I think. She gives
the Duke of D. £3000 per annum ... not a farthing to any one servant,
she had some lived with her 20 or 25 years.”
[Page heading: MRS. GARRICK]
Lady Burlington, widow of the 3rd Earl, the celebrated amateur
architect, was the daughter of William, Marquis of Halifax. On Eva
Marie Viegel’s[210] arrival in England from Austria, the Empress
Queen, Maria Theresa, gave her a recommendation to Lady Burlington,
who received her at Burlington House as an inmate. It is said “La
Violette,” as she was called from her exquisite dancing in the operas,
had attracted the Emperor of Austria’s attention so much as to alarm
the Empress, and that she therefore sought to remove her from Austria.
Lady Burlington strongly objected to Garrick’s attachment to La
Violette, having more ambitious projects for her _protégée_, but it
was a true love affair from the beginning even to the end, and not one
word could ever be said against Mrs. Garrick; theirs was indeed a love
match, and after fifteen years of married life Garrick presented her
with a ring on her birthday, with the most touching love verses. From
the letters, I gather it was Dr. Monsey who brought Mrs. Montagu into
personal intercourse with the Garricks.
[210] Eva Maria Viegel, or Veilchen, born at Vienna, 1725; married
David Garrick on June 22, 1749.
Dr. Monsey was so disturbed at Mrs. Montagu’s accident that he wrote
almost daily to her, and no one who reads his letters could imagine,
however eccentric he was, that he was a free thinker in religion, as
is asserted in the “Dictionary of National Biography.” His letters are
so long that it is impossible to print them in full in this book. He
had a bad cough and a sort of vertigo at this time, in the midst of
which he was called to the Earl of Northumberland, who was desperately
ill, whose sufferings Monsey succeeded in alleviating. In a letter
of October 8 we learn that his birthday and Mrs. Montagu’s were on
the same day, viz. October 2.[211] He promises in joke to marry Mrs.
Stuart, a widow lady who had nursed Mrs. Montagu with the greatest
attention. To add to Mrs. Montagu’s troubles, her faithful housekeeper,
Mrs. Crosby, a lady by birth, but reduced to poverty, died of a quinsy
in twelve days.
[211] Monsey, in a letter, said he was sixty-four then.
In a letter of Dr. Monsey’s of October 27, mention is made of Lord
Godolphin drinking “absent friends” as a toast, coupled with special
mention of Mrs. Montagu, and also of Allan Ramsay,[212] the artist.
“Ramsay is one of us, he was born on October 2. I jumped for joy, but
hang it, ’tis the old October. I tell him he must be regenerated,
become a child of grace, and then he shall be adopted into our
family....” Dr. Monsey’s little grand-daughter “loves Missy Montagu
dearly.”
[212] Eminent portrait painter; son of the Scotch poet of the same
name; born 1709, died 1784.
A letter of Atkinson, the farm bailiff at Sandleford, on October 3, to
Mrs. Crosby, the late housekeeper, shows the current price of food:
“Everything continues dear for ye pour, and will do so all this winter,
I am afraid, befe is sold in our market for 3_d._ for a pd. Muton 4_d._
to 4½_d._, it is beyond prise wich I never heard before at this time of
ye year, pork and veal 5_d._ a pound.”
[Page heading: MRS. SHERLOCK]
[Page heading: GEORGINA POYNTZ]
Mrs. Donnellan wrote from Fulham on October 21 condoling with Mrs.
Montagu on her accident, and the loss of Mrs. Crosby. She says--
“I told you how near we were losing our respectable friend Mrs.
Sherlock, she is now quite recovered ... they say there never was a
more moving scene than between her and the Bishop,[213] who would
be carried up to her in the worst of her illness; he got hold of
her hand and it was with difficulty they could get him to let
it go and separate them.” (Bishop Sherlock was born in 1678, so
was then eighty years of age.) “I went yesterday _pour égayer_ a
little to see Mrs. Spencer[214] after her lying in, and there is
nothing but joy and magnificence; the child[215] is likely to live
tho’ it came, they reckon, six weeks before its time. Mrs. Poinne
showed me all the fineries; the pap boat is pure gold, etc., etc. I
like Mrs. Spencer, she is a natural good young woman, no airs, no
affectation, but seems to enjoy her great fortune by making others
partakers, and happy with herself.”
This was Georgina, _née_ Poyntz, who had married Mr. John Spencer,
afterwards 1st Earl Spencer, by whom she had Georgiana, afterwards
the beautiful Duchess of Devonshire; George John,[216] who was born
on September 1, 1758, was the owner of the gold pap boat. and Lady
Besborough. Mrs. Donnellan adds--
“Mrs. Poinne (Poyntz) has the practical moral virtues, and when
I see her good works I think she is worth a hundred such poor
spectators as I am; her present business is attending the foundling
Hospital, and she has six and twenty children nursing under her
care.... The Duchess of Portland and her family are at Bath.”
[213] Thomas Sherlock, then Bishop of London.
[214] _Née_ Georgina, daughter of Stephen Poyntz, of Midgham, Berks.
[215] Became Earl Spencer, born September, 1758.
[216] Became 2nd Earl Spencer in 1783.
The next letter is from Lord Lyttelton on October 10, full of anxiety
as to Mrs. Montagu’s health, and urging her to return South as soon as
possible. In this he says--
“You inquire about my new house,[217] and my History,[218] both are
going on but the first much faster and better than the other. When
the History will be finished I cannot tell, and when it is, I fear
it will be little better than a _gothick house modernised_. The
Goths will think it too Græcian and the Græcians too Gothic.” He
winds up with, “Adieu, best Madonna, take great care of yourself,
your late danger has shown you how dear you are to your friends.
Don’t try their affection that way any more.”
[217] He was rebuilding Hagley.
[218] His “History of Henry II.”
[Page heading: CARVILLE]
Writing on October 20 to Dr. Stillingfleet, who was exploring Wales
with Charles Lyttelton, the Dean of Exeter and brother of Lord
Lyttelton, Mrs. Montagu says--
“Carville[219] is just at the end of the Picts’ Wall, it makes part
of our enclosures, and we have a Roman Altar in the stables. The
din of War has so frightened the rural Deities that even the long
time that has passed since the Union with Scotland, has not brought
them to make their residence with us. Pan, Ceres, and Pomona, seem
to neglect us; we are under the domination of the god of mines.
There is a great deal of rich land in this country, but agriculture
is ill understood. The great gain made by several branches of the
coal trade has turned all attention that way. Every gentleman in
the country, from the least to the greatest, is as solicitous in
the pursuit of gain as a tradesman. The conversation always turns
upon money; the moment you name a man, you are told what he is
worth, the losses he has had, or the profit he has made by coal
mines. As my mind is not naturally set to this tune, I should often
be glad to change it for a song from one of your Welch Bards.”
[219] Carville, the house they had hired.
[Page heading: “ATHENIAN” STUART]
Mrs. Lowther had asked her to spend some time at Lowther Hall,[220] of
which she says, “Lowther is much greater than Gibside, which is too
great for me.” In the next letter of Lord Lyttelton’s he mentions Mr.
Anson and Mr. Steward being at Hagley--
“Stuart seems almost as fond of my hall as of the _Thessala
Tempe_,[221] which I believe you heard him describe when I brought
him to see you.... He is going to embellish one of the Hills with
a true Attick building, a Portico of six pillars, which will
make a fine object to my new house, and command a most beautiful
view of the country. He has also engaged to paint me a Flora and
four pretty little Zephyrs in my drawing-room ceiling, which is
ornamented with flowers in Stucco, but has spaces left for these
pictures. He thinks all my Stucco work is well done.”
This was James Stuart,[222] nicknamed “Athenian Stuart,” traveller and
antiquary, author of “The Antiquities of Athens.” Alluding to Tom, he
says, “Dr. Bernard[223] offered to putt him into the Remove, but rather
advised him to stay in the fourth form in order to learn more Greek,
which advice he has prudently and cheerfully followed.”
[220] Now Lowther Castle.
[221] Mr. Bower’s place.
[222] James Stuart, born 1713, died 1788.
[223] Head-master of Eton.
Mrs. Montagu, being attacked by a choleraic disorder, which kept her in
her room a week, and being still very hoarse from the _eau de Luce_,
Mr. Montagu insisted on her returning to London before himself, so as
to be in reach of Dr. Monsey. On November 6, from Wexford, she writes
to Sarah Scott to inform her she is returning to London. Mr. Montagu
had accompanied her three days’ journey; he then returned to Carville.
She had left behind the post-chaise, and travelled in the “body coach,
but my horses are so stout I believe they will perform the journey from
Carville to London in seven days.” _En route_ she picks up Mr. Tom
Pitt,[224] nephew of Miss Pitt and a friend of his, and carries them
to Durham, putting her maid into their post-chaise. “My gentlemen leave
me at Stilton, from whence they go to Cambridge.” She mentions that Mr.
Montagu had bought all the jewels belonging to Mr. Rogers for her, “and
to-day intimated he should give me a great purse of old gold which fell
to his share in the division; some of the pieces are curious, but there
will be between £60 to £70 of money that one may spend with a good
conscience.”
[224] 1st Lord Camelford, Thomas Pitt, junior, son of Lord Cobham’s
brother Thomas and his wife, _née_ Christian Lyttelton.
[Page heading: VIPER BROTH]
Arrived in London, Mrs. Montagu writes to her husband that his sister,
Lady Medows,[225] was in very bad health, and she had recommended
her to take “Viper broth!” if her doctor approved it, “as it is a
nourishing food, and by its quality supplies deficiency of food.”
I believe vipers are still used as medicine in France, but whether
in England I know not; perhaps “Brusher Mills,”[226] the famous New
Forest snake-catcher, could inform one; it does not sound inviting! In
the same letter she mentions having secured a berth as midshipman for
Montagu Isaacson,[227] Mr. Montagu’s cousin, with Admiral Boscawen. The
Admiral had been most graciously received by the King, “and nothing can
exceed the honours the Admiral meets with from all quarters.”
A Scotch gardener had been hired for Sandleford, and she adds, “The
Scotch Gardener was tired a little, so I thought you would not dislike
his recreating himself and resting his horse a little. I have sent him
to the play to-night.”
[225] She was suffering from cancer and dropsy.
[226] Since this was written, “Brusher” died.
[227] Son of Margaret, _née_ Creagh, and Anthony Isaacson.
In the next letter she writes, “The Carville gardener will set out
to-morrow, he is more happy in London than a young toast, he has seen
St. Paul’s, Westminster Abbey, etc., and sees them with taste; his mind
was made for a higher condition of life.” Mentioning the horses, she
says she shall send three to Sandleford, “it is a shame for a little
animal as I am to keep 7 horses in town.” The team for a big coach was
then six, but a seventh was ridden alongside by a servant in case of
accidents on the way.
[Page heading: ANXIETIES AND ILLNESSES]
George II. had been very ill. “Princess Emilia not well, and the
Duke[228] has got the gout.... Sixteen thousand pounds a year of
annuities on the Duke of Marlborough[229] expire with him, so there
are many sincere mourners; the Duchess[230] bears her loss better
than could have been imagined. Lord Bath[231] is so apparently
rejoiced at his deliverance, it makes people smile, he ordered a
plentiful table to be kept as soon as she was dead, and is gay
and jolly, and at the Bath like a young heir just come to his
estate.... It is thought Mr. Charles Montagu[232] can live but a
few days.”
[228] Cumberland.
[229] 3rd Duke of Marlborough, died October 20, 1758, at Munster in
Westphalia.
[230] Elizabeth, daughter of 2nd Baron Trevor.
[231] William Pulteney, Earl of Bath, had just lost his wife.
[232] Charles Montagu, son of the Hon. James Montagu, cousin of Mr.
Edward Montagu. He died in 1759.
Great anxiety reigned for some days about the health of little Morris
Robinson, Morris’s son. Dr. Monsey stayed with the child four days
and nights, and he pulled through, but it painfully reminded his aunt
of her loss in little “Punch,” Morris being much of the same age. Dr.
Monsey wrote to Mr. Montagu to say he had insisted, when the child was
at its worst, that Mrs. Montagu should not come to see it. Mention is
made of young Mr. Pitt “just come to town, not so well as when you
saw him; he was here on Tuesday night, and I thought looked ill; his
chairmen were drunk and threw him in the street, and cut his face and
hurt him a little, and he had a bad fit that night from the surprise.”
This was Thomas Pitt, junior, son of Thomas Pitt, of Boconoc, Cornwall,
brother of Mr. William Pitt, and afterwards 1st Lord Camelford.
[Page heading: MEETING OF PARLIAMENT]
On November 23 both houses of Parliament met at Westminster, and Mrs.
Montagu writes on the 28th to her husband--
“Mr. Pitt opened the session on Tuesday with a very fine speech,
Mr. Beckford stood up and said the turn things had taken of late
had put him in good humour, so that he was willing to give two
millions towards the war on the Continent; he thought it too little
to be of service, but rather more than could be got. Mr. Pitt
answered the sum must not be limited, a great deal indeed would be
wanted, he knew not how it would be raised, for he did not concern
himself with Treasury business, but the honourable gentleman,
signifying Mr. Legge, understood these matters, and he did not
doubt would raise a proper sum. Poor Legge looked distressed. No
one knows how these great sums are to be raised, taxes on Dogs and
publick diversions are talked of, the King is much pleased with his
Secretary’s declaration of a support of the continent interest at
any rate. I hear Mr. Pitt’s speech was much admired, and nowhere
more than at St. James’s.... Mr. Pitt has a personal dignity
that supports open measures, and I am glad he does not learn
the political art of prevarication. He has the people’s intire
confidence, and I hope he will use it to good ends.”
[Page heading: EMIN HOME AGAIN]
On December 2, writing to Mr. Montagu, she says--
“Emin is come home, he has a great loss of the Duke of
Marlborough, who called him his Lion and kept him always with
him. He has been a sort of aide-de-camp to Count Schullenburg;
he has lately been in Holland where the Armenians have promised
to assist his schemes. Lady Yarmouth has him with her in a
morning and promises him her interest with a very great man;
Lord Northumberland, Lord Anson, and General York are to be his
advocates with Mr. Pitt. He is an astonishing creature to take
thus with all kinds of people. He hopes to go home in January in a
sort of public character. He is full of anecdotes of the King of
Prussia. He says his eyes and forehead are just like mine, and he
is as particular in his description of him as a portrait painter
would be. He marched with him seven days, the Prussian Hero is as
easy and familiar as a private man, knowing his character will give
him more respect than his rank: it is not advisable in general for
Princes to lay aside their rank lest they should not otherwise gain
respect, but a truly great man is above all respect that is not
personal.”
A set of verses sent by Dr. Monsey from North Mimms to Lord Lyttelton
is amusing, but too prolix to insert. Lyttelton had a bad cold, and
wanted to go to Eton to see his boy--
“_L._ I _must_ go to Eaton.”
“_M._ You shall _not_ go to Eaton.”
Much allusion is made to Mrs. Montagu in the verses, which are rank
doggerel.
Louisburg had been taken on July 27. On December 7 Mrs. Montagu writes,
“The House of Commons yesterday returned thanks to Admiral Boscawen and
General Amherst for their services at Louisburg, and to Admiral Osborne
for his conduct in the Mediterranean.”
Dr. Monsey had been reading the “Memoirs of Madame de Maintenon,” in
whom he sees a strong likeness to Mrs. Montagu.
“I take her into my hand and you into my mind as I go along ...
tho’ Lewis was a scrub of a scoundrel and not worthy a crown which
he would not put upon her head, he now and then thought right about
her, instead of a foreign Princess whom he must study to please,
he chose a woman who made it her whole business to please him,
the only one who could inspire him with a lasting passion, and so
revered that in the admiration which the recital of her vertues
occasioned he cried, ‘Let us go and shut ourselves up to talk of
this woman.’ That’s my Lord (Lyttelton), and I!”
[Page heading: LORD ARRAN DEAD]
On December 17 the Earl of Arran died; he had married Mr. Montagu’s
relation, Elizabeth, daughter of Lord Crewe of Stene, who brought him a
large fortune. It was an unhappy marriage, and Mrs. Montagu hints that,
had Lady Arran treated her husband as he deserved, her money would have
come to Mr. Montagu and Lady Mary Gregory. He died at eighty-eight. His
sister, Lady Emily Butler,
“is a surprising woman, healthy and lively at past 99! Mr. Boscawen
yesterday show’d us a box of horrid implements with which the
French cannon was charged at Louisbourg, rusty locks, pieces of
pokers, curling tongs, nails in abundance and all sorts of iron
instruments, and this not for want of ammunition, but wanton
cruelty. He found the cannons loaded with these as well as ball.
General Wolfe had a gridiron shot at him; it fell short of him, but
he had it taken up and straiten’d and eat a beef steak broil’d upon
it.”
[Page heading: EDMUND BURKE]
In a letter undated, but presumably at the end of December, Mrs.
Montagu says--
“Lord Bath said there had been but three speeches in Parliament
this year; one was Lord Middleton’s,[233] who said he would
give all he was worth to support the war; the other Sir Michael
Grosvenor’s,[234] who said he would lend all he was worth; and
the third, Mr. Pitt’s, who said he would take all they were both
worth.... If Mr. Isaacson wants any enquiries made at Cork, I
can get good intelligence by means of Mr. Burke, a young lawyer
by profession, tho’ an author by practice, for he wrote Natural
History[235] preferable to Artificial; he has several acquaintance
of credit at Cork, you have often heard me mention him.”
[233] 3rd Viscount Middleton.
[234] Sir Richard Grosvenor, afterwards 1st Earl Grosvenor.
[235] “Vindication of Natural Society,” his first avowed work copied
for him by Emin, and published in 1756.
This is the third mention of Edmund Burke, the first being in a letter
of Emin’s, whose patron he was, to Dr. Monsey.
On December 28, writing to her husband, who was still at Carville, Mrs.
Montagu says--
“The Parliaments meet on the 16th ... the ardour for carrying on
the war is such it will be rather a point of contention who shall
give most money. Some people think Mr. Boscawen will be sent
against Quebec. General Conway is taken into favour again, he is
going to settle ye dispute between us and the Dutch concerning
the ships we have taken. The Princess of Orange is thought in a
desperate state of health.... My Father call’d on me on Monday; he
was not well, which put him a little out of sorts, he seems uneasy
that he is not immortal, however, he takes the best means for long
life, and I daresay will attain it unless fears of the inevitable
moment should hurt his spirits. Life has been to him one long play
day, he must not expect the rattles and sugar plumbs will hold good
to the last. He has never tasted business, care, or study; _vivre
du jour la journée_, as the French saying is, has been his moral
maxim; it may make a merry day, but it does not make the best
evening; the mind that has employ’d itself in study and application
or in active life has more to look back upon, and old age’s joy is
in the retrospect.”
This ends the letters for 1758.
[Page heading: 1759]
[Page heading: HELVETIUS]
On January 2, 1759, writing to Mr. Montagu, who was still in the north,
his wife says--
“I am now reading a very ingenious, pernicious French author, his
name is Helvetius,[236] a descendant of the famous Helvetius;[237]
he is a man of fortune in France, very amiable in his private
character, good-natured, liberal and witty, so has many disciples
at Paris from respect to his person; I fear he will have many here
from respect to his doctrines well adapted to the corruptions of
the human heart. He endeavours to show it is custom makes virtue
and vice, like Epicurus, placing his good in pleasure but not his
pleasure in good. He thinks a less strict observation of some
moral rules would make man in general happier. He would trust
everything to laws, Legislature is to be the god and conscience
of mankind. He does not consider how many by their situation are
above laws, how many one may say are below it, and how many more
by fraud, evasions, concealment would hope to escape it. I hope
conscience, call’d by Mr. Pope ‘the god within the mind,’ will keep
her empire in spite of Mr. Helvetius.... The church has obliged
him to a retractation, which indeed may in some measure mortify
the author but will not alter the argument of his book.... Lord
Clarendon’s other volume[238] will soon be published.... I forgot
to tell you I have receiv’d great compliments from Mr. Pitt, the
Secretary, since I came to town, congratulations on your accession
of fortune, congratulations on my recovery from the _eau de Luce_,
high expressions of esteem and friendship, but being a person of
moderate ambition, I have not ask’d for a place at Court.”
[236] Claude Adrien Helvetius, born 1715, died 1771. Published “De
l’Esprit” in 1758.
[237] John Claude Helvetius, his father, celebrated physician and
author; died 1755.
[238] His “History of the Rebellion.”
[Page heading: SOCIAL FESTIVITIES]
In the next letter of January 4 she says--
“I was last night at Lady Cowper’s concert, where there was much
good company and good musick. The night before I was at an assembly
at Mrs. Pitt’s, where I found Sir John Mordaunt playing at cards
with Lady Hester Pitt; this might be accident, but among political
folks one is apt to look deeper perhaps than the truth lies, but
this and General Conway being received into grace and sent to Le
Cas[239] to settle the cartel for exchange of prisoners, makes
me suspect some coalition may be designed between the folks at
Leicester House and the D(uke).... I am to go to the play with Miss
Pitt to-morrow night. Mr. Garrick is to act Anthony, he will make
but a diminutive hero; I should not think it a part he would shine
in, but he has taken great pains about it.”
[239] He was sent to Sluys, for which the French is L’Ecluse, not Le
Cas, to meet Monsieur de Bareil.
On January 18, writing to her husband, Mrs. Montagu says--
“It is apprehended the loss of the King of Spain[240] will be
a misfortune to Great Brittain. There is a great conspiracy
discovered in Portugal; it was at first surmised that the
assassination[241] of the King arose from jealousy, but people now
think there was more of ambition than jealousy in it. The Marquis
of Tavora’s family had a nearer claim to the crown than that Duke
of Braganza who got it, but not being personally so well qualified
for so great an attempt, or for want of alliances or other means,
they were quietly governed by Spain, but when the Braganzas gained
the Royal dignity, they grudged it to them, and ambition and envy
may easily form conspiracy and assassination. Twelve of the first
nobility will be brought to the scaffold.”
[240] Ferdinand VI.
[241] Attempted assassination of Joseph I., led to the expulsion of
the Jesuits.
[Page heading: ROUSSEAU]
On the 24th occurs a very long letter to Mrs. Carter. In this
mention is made of Rousseau: “There is a letter from Rousseau to Mr.
D’Alembert[242] upon the project of settling a theatre at Geneva, which
treats of Dramatical performances in general; it is ingeniously written
and with great eloquence.” She also adds that she is sending Mrs.
Carter Dr. Newton’s “Dissertation on the Prophecies,” Leland’s “Life of
Philip of Macedon.”
“Lord Lyttelton’s History is not yet ready to appear; the work
goes on slowly, as the writer is scrupulously exact in following
truth. His delicacy in regard to characters, his candour in regard
to opinions, his precision in facts, would entitle him to the best
palm history can claim, if he had not added to these virtues of
History (if I may call them so) the highest ornaments of style,
and a most peculiar grace of order and method.... I shall send you
a treatise on the ‘Sublime and Beautiful,’[243] by Mr. Burke, a
friend of mine. I do not know that you will always subscribe to
his system, but think you will find him an elegant and ingenious
writer. He is far from the pert pedantry and assuming ignorance
of modern witlings; but in conversation and writing an ingenious
and ingenuous man, modest and delicate, and on great and serious
subjects full of that respect and veneration which a good mind and
a great one is sure to feel, while fools mock behind the altar, at
which wise men kneel and pay mysterious reverence.”
[242] Lettre à d’Alembert (Sur les Spectacles), Amsterdam 1758;
translated into English in 1759.
[243] First published in 1757.
[Page heading: KITTY FISHER]
Soon after this letter, Mrs. Carter paid her first visit to Mrs.
Montagu in Hill Street. Mrs. Carter had been much troubled by the
severe illness of Miss Talbot, her bosom friend, and of Archbishop
Secker, with whom the Talbots lived. Mrs. Montagu, writing to condole
about this, mentions that Lord Waldegrave[244] was going to marry the
illegitimate daughter of Sir Edward Walpole, and she continues--
“Miss Kitty Fisher modestly asked Earl Pembroke[245] to make her a
Countess; his family love forms, so perhaps the fair one thought he
would approve the legal form of cohabitation; but he hesitated, and
so the agreement is made for life, a £1000 per annum, and a £1000
for present decorations.”
[244] 2nd Earl Waldegrave, married Maria, daughter of Sir Edward
Walpole, on May 15, 1759. She survived him, and married in 1766 the
Duke of Gloucester, brother to George III.
[245] Henry, 29th Earl of Pembroke, born 1734, died 1794.
Mr. Montagu had now returned to his wife, having bought another portion
of the Denton estate from Mr. Archdeacon, his cousin. He made a codicil
to his previous will of 1752, leaving his wife the whole property, as
well as all he possessed besides. The codicil was witnessed by Ben
Stillingfleet, William Archdeacon, and Samuel Torriano, on April 12,
1759.
[Illustration: MRS. ELIZABETH CARTER.]
On June 7, writing to Mrs. Carter, who was drinking the waters at
Bristol, Mrs. Montagu chaffs her as to her surroundings. “Do you like
pompons or aigrettes in your hair? if you put on rouge, dance minuets
and cottillions? that I may describe and define you in your Bristol
State.” Mention is made of Mr. Mason’s “Caractacus.”
“It is a Drama not dramatized; his Melpomene is too chaste,
too cold for the theatre. She is a very modest virgin, pure in
sentiment and diction and void of passion; her sober ornaments
are a Greek veil and some Druidical Hieroglyphicks, all which I
mightily respect and do not like at all.... Lord Northampton had a
fine suit for the birthday, the wastecoat silver and gold, the coat
gold and silver.”
[Page heading: DR. JOHNSON]
On June 9 occurs the first letter of Dr. Johnson[246] to Mrs. Montagu.
[246] Dr. Samuel Johnson, born 1709, died 1784; the famous
lexicographer and critic.
“MADAM,
“I am desired by Mrs. Williams to sign receipts with her name for
the subscribers which you have been pleased to procure, and to
return her humble thanks for your favour, which was conferred with
all the grace that elegance can add to Beneficence.
“I am,
“Your most obedient
and humble servant,
“SAM. JOHNSON.
“June 9, 1759.”
This letter is printed in Boswell’s “Life of Johnson,”[247] vol. ii.
p. 113; but who introduced him first to her I have not yet been able
to discover, but I fancy it might be through Mrs. Carter. His mother
had died at the age of ninety in January of this year. His “Rasselas,”
published in the following April, is said to have been written to pay
the expenses of the funeral of his beloved parent. Mrs. Williams
was one of Dr. Johnson’s _protégées_, a woman of talent and literary
attainments, who had been a constant companion of his late wife. Her
eyes being affected with an incurable cataract, she became blind, and
Dr. Johnson was trying to raise money enough to buy an annuity for her.
In 1766 she became a permanent inmate of Johnson’s house, and on Mr.
Montagu’s death in 1775, Mrs. Montagu settled £10 per annum on her.
[247] By John Wilson Croker revised, and by John Wright published,
1880.
Dr. Johnson’s writing is singularly clear, and, once seen, is
unmistakable, from his peculiar long _s_’s.
On June 9 also, Emin wrote on board the _Prince Edward_, from the Mole
of Genoa, where they were in quarantine. The letter begins, “To the
most learned and most magnanimous Mrs. Montagu.” He was on his way to
see Prince Heraclius with letters of recommendation from his father and
all the principal Armenians of Calcutta and India to the Prince and the
Archbishop of Armenia. At last his transcendent merit as a leader had
been acknowledged by his own countrymen, who now designated him “their
chief, their Shepherd and Protector.” Emin’s affectionate heart was
rent at the thought of parting with his kind English protectors, and in
this letter he says he was almost glad when he found most of them out
or away from home when he called to bid adieu. He was to cross Turkey
by land to get to Armenia, a most dangerous Journey, and on the way out
two ships had chased them for four or five hours off Spain.
[Page heading: LADY ESSEX’S DEATH]
Writing from Sandleford on July 25 to Mrs. Carter, Mrs. Montagu
narrates the sad death of Lady Essex, carried away at the early age of
nineteen by puerperal fever and throat disease. She was the daughter of
Lady Frances Williams, who was bowed down with this affliction, added
to the terrible lunacy of her husband. Mrs. Carter was at Bristol
drinking the waters for her constant violent headaches. At the end of
the letter we read--
“I am glad you agree with me in detestation of Voltaire’s
Optimism. Are not you provoked that such an animal calls itself a
Philosopher? What pretence can he have to philosophy who has not
that fear of God which is the beginning of wisdom? This creature
is a downright rebel to his God. Some good may arise indeed from
the division of Satan’s household; Voltaire directly opposes Lord
Bolingbroke and those who affirm whatever is is right, and that
there wants not a future state to make the system just.”
[Page heading: “CALVES PLUCK WATER”]
Lady Medows writes that her appetite has been mended by drinking
“Calves Pluck water!”
[Page heading: HARLEYFORD]
On August 3 Mrs. Montagu thanks Lady Barbara Montagu for “the great
favour you have done me in behalf of Mr. Burke,” but what that favour
was I know not. The letter proceeds thus--
“I conducted Mrs. Pitt to Maidenhead Bridge on Tuesday, and on
Wednesday dined at Mrs. Clayton’s[248] at Harleyford.[249] I think
it the most agreeable situation I have seen on the Thames, I mean
as a place of residence, every object speaks peace and plenty,
the silver Thames glides at the foot of their garden, lofty trees
crown the summit, they have fine prospects, sweet lawns, fine
cornfields and distant villages.... I could not get permission from
Mr. Montagu to stay a day or two, but had barely leave for a dining
visit; to my great mortification, my Landlord at the Bridge told me
that to go by Marlow would carry me 8 or 9 miles out of the Road,
so I gave up my scheme, but met Mr. Amyand, who was travelling
through Maidenhead town: he jumped out of his post-chaise, got
into the coach to tell me all the news of the town, and on my
complaining of my disappointment in regard to Mrs. Clayton, he
assured me if I would go two miles out of my road I should find
myself on the bank of the river opposite Mrs. Clayton’s house,
that then I might go on board a flat-bottom’d boat and invade her
territories. I followed his directions, but as my coach could not
pass the river, I proposed only to drink a dish of Chocolate, walk
round her gardens, and proceed to Reading. She kindly desired to
carry me thither early in the afternoon, said she would get Mrs.
Southwell[250] of the party, that my coach should go on to Reading
and I should find my horses refreshed and ready to set forward for
Sandleford: no magical wand could have made a metamorphosis more
to my advantage than converting the rose Parlour at the Inn in
Reading into an elegant _salon_, and my Landlord and his wife into
Mrs. Clayton and Mrs. Southwell; and an empty coach into one filled
with good company. A most incomparable dinner appeared, and Mrs.
Southwell; we went together to Reading, and by 11 I got back to my
darksome pines.”
[248] Presumably the widow of Bishop Clayton, and sister of Mrs.
Donnellan.
[249] Now the seat of Sir William Clayton.
[250] Of King’s Weston.
Soon after her return to Sandleford, Mr. Montagu fell ill of a bad
throat, caught, she thought, at a place built by a Mr. Cottington near
Newbury, on such a hill that, as she says to Lyttelton,
“it would have made a good situation for a college of Augurs, for
here they might conveniently make observations on the flight of
Birds; the ascent is so steep a goat can hardly climb to it; he
built a Belvidere at the top of the house, where perhaps he hoped
to sit as umpire in the battles between the cranes and the pigmies,
for as to looking down from it, it is rather horrible.”
Fortunately, Dr. Monsey was at Sandleford, and promptly “blooded” and
doctored Mr. Montagu. Mention is made of a “magnificent epistle of Emin
to the noble daughters of Brittain,” too long to be inserted here.
[Illustration: DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON.]
[Page heading: INVERARY]
Lord Lyttelton and “Tom” were taking a tour to the Highlands, having
gone from Hagley to Durham, thence to Lord Ravensworth’s and Morpeth,
“on our way to Alnwick.” Lord Lyttelton alludes to the Battle of
Minden, fought on August 1, between the English, Hessians, and
Hanoverians, against the French. Prince Ferdinand[251] of Brunswick
commanded, and under him Lord George Sackville,[252] who commanded the
English and Hanoverians, and incurred some obloquy on the score of
disobeying orders; but Lyttelton says--
“The necessity the French will be under of restoring their army in
Germany by large reinforcements must, I think, putt an end to their
intended invasion, and you Ladies of Britain will not be exposed to
the outrages and brutalities which the poor Ladies of Hildesheim
have suffered from the rage of those polished barbarians.... I
had writt thus far at Taymouth, Lord Breadalbane’s fine seat, but
was forced by some interruption to delay ending my letter till I
came to Inverary, from whence I now write. The House deserves to
be call’d, as it was stil’d by Lord Leicester, ‘the Royall Palace
of the King of the Goths.’ He reigns here in great state, but
Nature reigns in still greater. I have scarce ever seen her more
sublimely majestick; nor does she want some sweet graces to soften
her dignity and make it more amiable. As the Duke of Argyll[253] is
one of your admirers, and, I think, a favoured one too, you ought
to make him a visit here when next you return to your northern
dominions.”
[251] Brother of the Duke of Brunswick.
[252] Afterwards Lord George Germaine.
[253] Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll, born 1682, died 1761,
ætat 79.
[Page heading: ALNWICK]
Tom Lyttelton, who was travelling with his father in Scotland, writes
on September 10 from Edinburgh to Mrs. Montagu. Some portions of his
letter I copy--
“The first place I shall mention to you is Alnwick, the seat of the
Earl of Northumberland. The Castle is very gracious, and stands on
the brow of a hill; it was formerly very strong. His Lordship has
shown great judgment in the manner of fitting it up, for instead
of using the modern stile of architecture (as Mr. Lumley has done
at Lumley Castle), he has left it for the most part as it was
in Harry Percy’s time, with this difference, that two or three
rooms which were before ill proportioned and quite unfurnished,
are now much enlarged and fitted very handsomely in the Gothick
stile. He will add many more rooms on the other side of the court,
and will make it in time a very good house, still preserving its
original character. From thence we went to Berwick to Sir Hugh
Dalrymple’s.... The Bass Island is all a vast Rock broken into many
rough and irregular pieces; it is inaccessible to very large ships,
there is but one place where a boat may safely land; in the middle
of the ascent there are still the remains of an old castle, which
was a state prison with houses for soldiers built in the rock;
they tell you that within these sixty years it was garrisoned, but
it is now become the habitation only of an infinite number of sea
birds, of which the Solan goose is the most remarkable.... We went
to dine with Mr. Charters, and from thence the same night reached
Edinburgh, and were lodged in the Royal Palace called _Holy Rood
House_.... My next shall be from Bishops Auckland (a seat of the
Bishop of Durham’s)....”
As usual, Lord Lyttelton adds a postscript, and in it says--
“We dined to-day with the Magistrates and corporation of Edinburgh,
and supped with the Duke of Argyll, who honoured me with his
presence at the dinner, a distinction he never paid to any other
than upon this occasion. Tom and I had our freedoms given us, as we
have had from many other towns with as great compliments as if I
had been a minister of State, or the Head of a faction.”
Young Edward Wortley Montagu writes on September 13 to Mr. Montagu from
“Mrs. Lyster’s in Hyde Street, Bloomsbury Market,” to say--
“I am really greatly concern’d that it has hitherto been out of
my power to wait upon you, and I am afraid will be so the whole
summer, for my book is sold off, and Millar presses me for a second
edition, which I am now about, and since I wish it should appear
in the world as perfect as possible, I must beg the favour of you
to let me know what corrections you think it may want; the world
received the first edition with great indulgence, but the second
will have a right to approbation when it has received a greater
degree of perfection from the corrections of a gentleman of your
abilities.”
[Page heading: YORK]
In an answer to Lord Lyttelton’s letter from Inverary, too long to be
inserted, Mrs. Montagu mentions that she is sending the letter to York--
“I shall be glad to hear that your Lordship and Mr. Lyttelton
like York, to which perhaps I am partial as to the place of my
nativity. One of the strongest pictures in my mind is the funeral
of a Dean of York, which I saw performed with great solemnity in
the Cathedral when I was about 4 years old.... I know, my lord, you
will rejoice with me for Mr. Boscawen’s[254] victory, both from
public spirit and private friendship.”
[254] Admiral Boscawen defeated the French off Cape Lagos on
August 18.
Emin, after a serious illness, was setting off on his dangerous journey
through Turkey, and on September 20 wrote “To the Montagu the Great,”
ending up with, “My dearest, brightest and the wisest Queen of the
East, your very affectionate and faithful, obedient, humble servant and
soldier, Emin of Hasnasari in Persia.”
Lord Lyttelton and his son travelled from Edinburgh to Lord Hopetoun’s
place, Hopetoun House. In a letter to Mrs. Montagu of September 21,
Tom says, “There is one chimney piece done by Risback that cost £600,
my father thinks it the finest he ever saw.” Thence they proceeded to
Stirling, and paid visits to Lord Cathcart and Lord Kinnoull; thence to
Glamis Castle, which he describes “as a very old castle, but has not
a tolerable apartment, and can never be altered much for the better.”
He does not mention the ghost; probably he was not told about it. From
thence to the Duke of Athole’s at Dunkeld, where he is enraptured with
the country, and mentions the window at the Hermitage,[255] “through
which the falls of the Braan appear as a surprise to the visitor.” The
Lytteltons accompanied the duke to his other seat, Blair Athole, after
which they proceeded to Taymouth, Lord Breadalbane’s splendid place,
which enchanted Tom.
[255] Ossian’s Hall.
[Page heading: SCOTCH CHARACTERISTICS]
He now gives Mrs. Montagu a sort of character sketch of the Scottish
nobility--
“The characteristical virtues of the Scotch are courage,
temperance, prudence, economy and hospitality. This last is not
only peculiar to the nobility, but is universally practised by all
kinds of people. _Good breeding_, though it cannot be properly
styled a virtue, is of the highest _consequence_ to Society. This
the Scotch universally possess, and there is not in the North such
a character as that of an English country Squire, whose whole
life is spent in the laudable customs of hunting, drinking,
swearing and sleeping.... Scotch ladies are very handsome and very
sweet-tempered. It is their general character to be rather too free
of their favours before marriage; however that may be, they are
very chaste after that ceremony. They breed up their children in a
particular manner, for they are accustomed from their infancy to go
without shoes and stockings, nor in the coldest weather do their
parents permit them to wear a great-coat; if they are of a puny
constitution they die, if not, they are the better for it all their
life.”
He also remarks that “few of the nobility omit going to Church on a
Sunday, and what is of more importance, when they are there they do
not trifle, but seem seriously to reflect upon the duty they owe their
Maker.” This description from a boy of fifteen is remarkable, and
throws light upon English manners of that period. After several other
visits, Tom returned to his studies at Eton.
[Page heading: MR. EDMUND BURKE]
[Illustration: EDMUND BURKE.]
[Page heading: CONSULSHIP AT MADRID]
Next to this comes a letter from Mr. Burke, which, being the first, is
given _in extenso_. His handwriting is beautiful and very even, but of
a feminine cast.
“MADAM,
“I have now the honour of writing to you for the first time, and
the subject of my letter is an affair that concerns myself. I
should stand in need of many more apologies than I know how to make
both for the liberty I take and for the occasion of it, if I had
not learned by experience that I give you a pleasure when I put it
in your power to exert your good-nature. I know it is your foible
to carry this principle to an extream, and one is almost sure of
success in any application, or at least for pardon for having made
an improper one, when we know judiciously to take advantage of
a person’s weak point. I do not know anything else which could
give me confidence enough to take the Liberty I am now going to
use. The Consulship of Madrid has been vacant for several months;
I am informed that it is in the gift of Mr. Secretary Pitt, and
that it is valuable. I presume, however, that it is not an object
for a person who has any considerable pretensions, by its having
continued so long vacant, else I should never have thought of it.
My interest is weak, I have not at all the honour of being known
to Mr. Pitt; nor much to any of his close connections. For which
reason I venture to ask your advice whether I can with propriety
proceed at all in this affair, and if you think I ought to
undertake it, in what manner it would be proper for me to proceed.
If my little suit either in itself or in the persons through
whose hands it must necessarily pass, should be attended with any
circumstances that may make it disagreeable to you to interfere in
it, I shall take it as a favour equal to that I have asked, if you
will be so good to tell me you can do nothing in it. I shall think
such a declaration a great mark of your confidence. I am sensible
that there are in all people’s connections many points that may
make a person of delicacy unwilling to ask a favour in some
quarters, and yet more unwilling from the same delicacy to tell the
person for whom it is to be asked that they have such difficulties.
There are undoubtedly many circumstances of propriety in every
person’s situation, which none can feel properly but themselves.
I am not, however, if I know myself, one of those expectants who
think everything ought to be sacrificed to their Interest. It
occurred to me that a letter from you to Miss Pitt might be of
great service to me. I thought too of mentioning Mrs. Boscawen. The
Admiral has such great merit with the Ministry and the Nation, that
the want of it will be the more readily overlooked in any person
for whom he may be induced to apply. But these are crude notions
and require the understanding they are submitted to, to bring them
to form and dwelt so long upon so indifferent a subject. Your
Patience is almost equal to the rest of your virtues if you can
bear it. I dwell with far more pleasure on my acknowledgments for
what you have done for my friend[256] in so obliging and genteel a
manner. He has but just now succeeded after a world of delays, and
no small opposition. He will always retain a very grateful sense
of what you have done in his favour. Mrs. Burke[257] desires me to
present her respects to you, and her best wishes for your health.
When last I had the pleasure of seeing Dr. Monsey, he told me that
the country still agreed with you, else I should most wickedly
wish this fine weather over that you might be the sooner driven
to town. This fine weather suffers nothing good to be in Town but
itself. We are much obliged to the Doctor for the satisfaction he
gave you in uniting his care with yours for Mr. Montagu’s recovery.
I congratulate you very sincerely on that event. If I could find
some agreeable circumstance in your affairs for congratulation as
often as I wish I should be the most troublesome correspondent in
England, for nobody can be with greater respect and gratitude,
“Madam,
“Your most obliged and
obedient humble servant,
“EDMUND BURKE.
“Wimple Street, Cav. Sq., Sepʳ 24, 1759.”
[256] This was Emin.
[257] Mrs. Burke’s maiden name was Nugent. She was a Roman Catholic.
[Page heading: GENERAL TOWNSHEND]
[Page heading: GENERAL WOLFE]
In a letter to Lord Lyttelton of October 23, Mrs. Montagu mentions
visiting Lady Townshend to congratulate her on the taking of Quebec,
which had happened on September 13, and in which her son, General
Townshend, had taken a prominent part. In this she says--
“The encomiums on Mr. Wolfe run very high, a great action is
performed and every one can endure to give praise to a dead
man; and there was certainly something very captivating in his
character; he took the public opinion by a _coup de main_, to which
it surrenders more willingly than to a regular siege. The people
had not time to be tired of hearing him called the brave; he is the
subject of all people’s praise, and I question whether all the Duke
of Marlborough’s conquests gained him greater honour.”
In answer to this Lord Lyttelton says--
“I wish that a French invasion from Havre de Grace, which I
have particular reasons to be more afraid of than ever, may not
correct the extravagance of our joy for our unexpected success at
Quebec, and the false security it has produced in the minds of our
ministers.... Mr. Bonus, the picture cleaner, has come down and
has restored my old family pictures to such a state of perfection
that I can hardly believe my eyes when I see them. Few gentlemen,
I assure you, have a finer collection than mine appears to be
now. If Lady Coventry ever comes here, she will cry at the sight
of some of the beauties of Charles the Second’s court, which by
Mr. Bonus’ help exceed hers as much as she does my milkmaids.
There is particularly a Duchess of Richmond whom you have read of
under the name of Mademoiselle Stuart in the ‘Memoirs of the Count
de Grammont,’ whose charms are so divine that my nephew Pitt is
absolutely falling in love with her and does nothing but gaze upon
her from morning till night. What would you living beauties give if
twenty years hence, when you begin to suffer by time, there could
be found a Mr. Bonus to restore you again, as he has done this fair
lady and others at Hagley? Pray come and see the miracles of his
art....
“Pitt sends his best compliments, and we both agree you have indeed
a great deal of a witch about you, but nothing of a Hag.”
Mrs. Montagu evidently refused to exert her influence in favour of Mr.
Burke’s desire to obtain the Madrid Consulship, as on October 6 he
writes--
“MADAM,
“For many publick as well as private reasons I am sorry that you
have not an influence on Ministers of State; but the qualities
which some persons possess are by no means those which lead to
Ministerial influence. The reasons you have been pleased to give me
for not making the application are very convincing and obliging.
Before I applied I was well aware of the difficulties that stood in
my way.”
Further down in the letter (which is not sufficiently interesting to be
given _in extenso_) he says--
“It is not very easy to have access to Mr. Pitt, especially for me,
who have so very few friends. I mentioned those methods, not that
I was satisfied of their propriety, but because I would try every
method which occurred to me.”
[Page heading: MRS. OGLE]
On December 17 Dr. Johnson writes--
“MADAM,
“Goodness so conspicuous as yours will be often solicited and
perhaps sometimes solicited by those who have little pretension to
your favour. It is now my turn to introduce a petitioner, but such
as I have reason to believe you will think worthy of your notice.
Mrs. Ogle who kept the music room in Soho Square, a woman who
struggles with great industry for the support of eight children,
hopes by a Benefit Concert to set herself free from a few debts,
which she cannot otherwise discharge. She has, I know not why, so
high an opinion of me as to believe that you will pay less regard
to her application than to mine. You know, Madam, I am sure you
know, how hard it is to deny, and therefore would not wonder at
my compliance, though I were to suppress a motive which you know
not, the vanity of being supposed to be of any importance to Mrs.
Montagu. But though I may be willing to see the world deceived for
my advantage, I am not deceived myself, for I know that Mrs. Ogle
will owe whatever favours she shall receive from the patronage
which we humbly entreat on this occasion, much more to your
compassion for honesty in distress than to the request of, Madam,
“Your most obedient
and most humble servant,
“SAM. JOHNSON.
“Gray’s Inn, Dec. 17, 1759.”
This letter is printed in Croker’s edition of Boswell’s “Life of
Johnson,” vol. ii. p. 115, published in 1880 by George Bell and Sons.
He probably received the copy, as he did a former letter, from my
grandfather, the 4th Baron Rokeby, as he would have been too young to
obtain it from Mrs. Montagu, who died in 1800, and John Wilson Croker
was not born till 1780.
[Page heading: “TRISTRAM SHANDY”]
[Page heading: THE REV. LAURENCE STERNE]
Though undated, the following letter of Laurence Sterne may be
placed here. Early in 1759 he had been writing the first two volumes
of “Tristram Shandy,” towards the end of the year he was in London
arranging for their publication with Dodsley the publisher, who
declined the venture. They were printed for and sold by John Hinxham,
bookseller in Stonegate, according to Mr. Traill’s volume on Sterne in
the “Englishmen of Letters” series. The allusions to the Dean of York,
etc., referred to a dispute between a Dr. Topham and Dr. Fountayne
(Dean of York), in which Sterne sided with the Dean when he wrote his
“History of a Good Warm Watchcoat,” “a sarcastic apologue,” as Mr.
Traill terms it. I have not time or knowledge enough to enter into the
details of this affair, but hope the letter may throw light upon it to
students of Sterne’s character.
“MADAM,
“I never was so much at a loss as I find myself at this instant
that I am going to answer the letter I have had the honour and
happiness to receive from you by Mr. Torriano; being ten times
more oppress’d with the excess of your candour and goodness than I
was before with the subject of my complaint. It was entirely owing
to the Idea I had in common with all the world of Mrs. Montagu’s
that I felt sorrow at all--or communicated what I felt to my
friend; which last step I should not have taken but from the great
reliance I had upon the excellency of your character. I wanted
mercy--but not sacrifice, and am obliged, in my turn, to beg pardon
of you, which I do from my soul, for putting you to the pain of
excusing, what in fact was more a misfortune, than a fault, and
but a necessary consequence of a train of Impressions given to my
disadvantage. The Chancellor of York, Dr. Herring, was, I suppose,
the person who interested himself in the honour of the Dean of
York, and requested that act of friendship to be done to the Dean,
by bringing about a separation betwixt the Dean and myself--the
poor gentleman has been labouring this point many years--but not
out of zeal for the Dean’s character, but to secure the next
residentiaryship to the Dean of St. Asalph, his son; he was
outwitted himself at last, and has now all the foul play to settle
with his conscience without gaining or being ever likely to gain
his purpose. I take the liberty of enclosing a letter I wrote last
month to the Dean, which will give some light into my hard measure,
and show you that I was as much a protection to the Dean of
York--as he to me. The answer to this has made me easy with regard
to my views in the Church of York, and as it has cemented anew the
Dean and myself beyond the power of any future breach, I thought
it would give you satisfaction to see how my interests stand, and
how much and how undeserved I have been abused: when you have read
it--it shall never be read more, for reasons your penetration will
see at once.
“I return you thanks for the interest you took in my wife, and
there is not an honest man, who will not do me the justice to say,
I have ever given her the character of as moral and virtuous a
woman as ever God made--what occasion’d discontent ever betwixt
us is now no more--we have settled accounts to each other’s
satisfaction and honour, and I am persuaded shall end our days
without one word of reproach or even Incivility.
“Mr. Torriano made me happy in acquainting me that I was to
dine with you on Friday; it shall ever be my care as well as my
Principle ever to behave so that you may have no cause to repent of
your goodness to me.
“I am, Madam,
“With the truest gratitude,
“Your most obliged and affᵗᵉ
“Kinsman, LAUR. STERNE.”
[Page heading: MRS. STERNE]
A fragment, also undated, from Mrs. Sterne may be placed here, but I
have failed to find any allusion to it in other letters--
“Cou’d Mrs. Montagu think this the way to make a bad husband
better, she might indeed have found a better, which I have often
urg’d, though to little purpose, namely some little mark of
kindness or regard to me as a kinswoman, I meant not such as would
have cost her money, but indeed this neither she or any one of
the Robinsons vouchsafed to do, though they have seen Mr. Sterne
frequently the last two winters, and will the next, so that surely
never poor girl who had done no one thing to merit such neglect
was ever so cast off by her Relations as I have been. I writ three
posts ago to inform Mrs. Montagu of the sorrow her indifferation
had brought upon me, and beg’d she wou’d do all that was in her
power to undo the mischief, though I can’t for my soul see which
way, and must expect to the last hour of my life to be reproach’d
by Mr. Sterne as the blaster of his fortunes. I learn from Mr.
Sterne that there was both letters and conversations pass’d
betwixt them last winter on this subject, and though I was an
utter stranger to that and every part of this affair till ten days
ago, when the Chancellor wrote his first Letter, which Mr. Sterne
communicated to me. Yet in several he wrote to me from London he
talk’d much of the honours and civilities Mrs. Montagu show’d
him, which I was well pleas’d to hear, as the contrary behaviour
must have wrought me sorrow. I only wish’d that amongst them she
had mixt some to her cousin, but that I heard not one syllable
of. I beg you will give me one gleam of comfort by answering this
directly. Mr. Sterne is on the wing for London, and we remove to
York at the same time, so that I fear thy letter will not arrive
before me. Direct to Newton. Mine and Lydia’s love,
“Thine most truly and affectionately,
“E. STERNE.”
Commenting on Mrs. Sterne’s character some years after this date, Mrs.
Montagu said she was a woman of good parts, of a temper “like the
fretful Porcupine, always darting her quills at somebody or something!”
[Page heading: LADY MEDOWS’ DEATH]
Lady Medows, Mr. Montagu’s sister, who had long been suffering from
cancer, died at the end of October. Horace Walpole says in his letter
to George Montagu that she left Lady Sandwich’s daughter £9000, after
the death of her husband, Sir Sydney Medows.
CHAPTER IV.
1760 TO THE DEATH OF GEORGE II.--IN LONDON, AT TONBRIDGE, AND IN
NORTHUMBERLAND--CORRESPONDENCE CHIEFLY WITH LORD LYTTELTON.
[Year: 1760]
The year 1760 opens on January 1 with a letter to Lord Lyttelton from
Mrs. Montagu, a portion of which I copy--
“Can I begin the new year more auspiciously than by dedicating
the first hours of the New Year’s Day to that person from whose
friendship I hope to derive so much of the honour and happiness of
every year of my life? Among the wishes I form for myself, not the
least earnest are those of seeing Lord Lyttelton and his son enjoy
all the health, felicity and fame that can be attained in this
world, with the chearing prospect of a better state.... The world
much admires the Pamphlet,[258] and Lord Bath does not deny he is
the author as I am told. I ordered Mr. Bower to send it to your
Lordship, but it is out of print.... The Hereditary Prince[259] is
gone to the King of Prussia with 18,000 gallant men. I was at Lady
Hervey’s last night, she is very well.”
[258] Probably the “Letter to two Great Men” of Walpole’s Memoirs of
George I. Ed. 1847. Vol. iii. p. 250.
[259] Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick.
[Page heading: LORD BATH]
The next letter of January 15, to the same, is as follows:--