Though I begin my letter on and have dated it Sunday, I recollect
that it may miss you if you go to town on Tuesday, and therefore
I shall not send it to the post till to-morrow. I can give you
but an indifferent account of myself. I went to Lord Dacre's:
but whether the heat and fatigue were too much for me, or whether
the thunder turned me sour, for I am at least as weak as
small-beer, I came back with the gout in my left hand and right
foot. The latter confined me for three days; but though my ankle
is still swelled, I do not stay in my house: however I am
frightened, and shall venture no more expeditions yet; for my
hands and feet are both SO lame, that I am neither comfortable to
myself or any body else, abroad, when I must confine them, stay
by myself or risk pain, which the least fatigue gives me. At
this moment I have a worse embargo even than lameness on me. The
Prince d'Hessenstein has written to offer me a visit--I don't
know when. I have just answered his note, and endeavoured to
limit its meaning to the shortest sense I could, by proposing to
give him a dinner or a breakfast. I would keep my bed rather
than crack our northern French together for twelve hours.
I know nothing upon earth but my own disasters. Another is, that
all yesterday I thought all my gold-fish stolen. I am not sure
that they are not; but they tell me they keep at the bottom of
the water from the hot weather. It is all to be laded out
to-morrow morning, and then I shall know whether they are gone or
boiled.
Whenever the weather cools to an English consistence, I will see
you at Park-place or in town: but I think not at the former
before the end of next month, unless I recover more courage than
I have at present; for if I was to get a real fit, and be
confined to my bed in such sultry days, I should not have
strength to go through it. I have just fixed three new benches
round my bowling-green, that I may make four journeys of the
tour. Adieu!
Monday morning.
As I was rising this morning, I received an express from your
daughter, that she will bring Madame de Cambis and Lady Melbourne
to dinner here to-morrow. I shall be vastly pleased with the
party, but it puts Philip and Margaret to their wit's end to get
them a dinner: nothing is to be had here; we must send to
Richmond, and Kingston, and Brentford; I must borrow Mr. Ellis's
cook, and somebody's confectioner, and beg somebody's fruit, for
I have none of these of my own, nor know any thing of the matter:
but that is Philip and Margaret's affair, and not mine; and the
worse the dinner is, the more Gothic Madame de Cambis will think
it.
I have been emptying my pond, which was more in my head than the
honour of my kitchen; and in the mud of the troubled water I have
found all my gold, as Dunning and Barr`e(503) did last year. I
have taken out fifteen young fish of a year and a half old for
Lady Ailesbury, and reserved them as an offering worthy of
Amphitrite in the vase, in the cat's vase,(504) amidst the azure
flowers that blow. They are too portly to be carried in a
smelling-bottle in your pocket. I wish you could plan some way
of a waterman's calling for them, and transporting them to
Henley. They have not changed their colour, but will next year.
How lucky it would be, should you meet your daughter about
Turnham Green, and turn back with them!
(502) Now first printed.
503) In the preceding year, through the influence of Lord
Shelburne, a considerable pension had been granted to Colonel
Barr`e, and a peerage and pension to Mr. Dunning.-E.
(504) The china vase in which Walpole's favourite cat Selima was
drowned. See Gray's Works, vol. i. p. 6.-E.
Letter 264 To The Earl Of Strafford.
Strawberry Hill, Sept. 12, 1783. (page 332)
Your lordship tells me you hope my summer has glided pleasantly,
like our Thames- I cannot say it has passed very pleasantly to
me, though, like the Thames, dry and low; for somehow or other I
caught a rheumatic fever in the great heats, and cannot get rid
of it. I have just been at Park-place and Nuneham, in hopes
change of air would cure me; but to no purpose. Indeed, as want
of sleep is my chief complaint, I doubt I must make use of a very
different and more disagreeable remedy, the air of London, the
only place that I ever find agree with me when I am out of order.
I was there for two nights a fortnight ago, and slept perfectly
well. In vain has my predilection for Strawberry made me try to
persuade myself that this was all fancy: but, I fear, reasons
that appear strong, though contrary to our inclinations, must be
good ones. London at this time of year is as nauseous a drug as
any in an apothecary's shop. I could find nothing at all to do,
and so went to Astley's, `which indeed was much beyond my
expectation. I do not wonder any longer that Darius was chosen
king by the instructions he gave to his horse; nor that Caligula
made 'his consul. Astley can make his dance minuets and
hornpipes: which is more extraordinary than to make them vote at
an election, or act the part of a magistrate, which animals of
less capacities can perform as dexterously as a returning officer
or a master in chancery. But I shall not have even Astley now:
her Majesty the Queen of France, who has as much taste as
Caligula, has sent for the whole dramatis personae to Paris. Sir
William Hamilton was at Park-place, and gave us dreadful accounts
of Calabria: he looks much older, and has the patina of a bronze.
At Nuneham I was much pleased with the improvements both within
doors and without. Mr. Mason was there; and as he shines in
every art, was assisting Mrs. Harcourt with his new discoveries
in painting, by which he will unite miniature and oil. Indeed,
she is a very apt and extraordinary scholar. Since our
professors seem to have lost the art of colouring, I am glad at
least that they have ungraduated assessors.
We have plenty and peace at last; consequently leisure for
repairing some of our losses, if we have sense to set about the
task. On what will happen I shall make no conjectures, as it is
not likely I should see much of what is to come. Our
enemies have humbled us enough to content them; and we have
succeeded so ill in innovations, that surely we shall not tempt
new storms in haste.
>From this place I can send your lordship new or entertaining,
nor expect more game in town, whither nothing but search of
health should carry me. Perhaps it is a vain chase at my age;
but at my age one cannot trust to Nature's operating cures
without aiding her; it is always time enough to abandon one's
self when no care will palliate our decays. I hope your lordship
and Lady Strafford will long be in no want of such attentions;
nor should I -have talked so Much of my own cracks, had I had any
thing else to tell you. It would be silly to aim at vivacity
when it is gone: and, though a lively old man is sometimes an
agreeable being, a pretending old man is ridiculous. Aches and
an apothecary cannot give one genuine spirits; 'tis sufficient if
they do not make one peevish' Your lordship is so kind as to
accept of me as I am, and you shall find nothing more counterfeit
in me than the sincere respect and gratitude with which I have
the honour to be your lordship's most devoted humble servant.
Letter 265 To The Earl Of Strafford.
Strawberry Hill, Oct. 11, 1783. (page 334)
My rheumatism, I thank your lordship, is certainly better, though
not quite gone. It was very troublesome at night till I took the
bark; but that medicine makes me sleep like opium. But I will
say no more about it, nothing is so troublesome as to talk of
chronical complaints: has one any right to draw on the compassion
of others, when one must renew the address daily and for months?
The aspect of Ireland is very tempestuous.(505) I doubt they
will hurt us materially without benefiting themselves. If they
obtain very short parliaments, they will hurt themselves more
than us, by introducing a confusion that will prevent their
improvements. Whatever country does adopt short parliaments,
will, I am entirely persuaded, be forced to recur to their former
practice; I mean, if the disorders introduced do not produce
despotism of some sort or other. I am very sorry Mr. Mason
concurs in trying to revive the Associations.(506) Methinks our
state is so deplorable, that every healing measure ought to be
attempted instead of innovations. For my own part, I expect
nothing but distractions, and am not concerned to be so old. I
am so old, that, were I disposed to novelties, I should think
they little became my age. I should be ashamed, when my hour
shall come, to be caught in a riot of country squires and
parsons, and haranguing a mob with a shaking head. A leader of
faction ought to be young and vigorous. If an aged gentleman
does get an ascendant, he may be sure that younger men are
counting on his exit, and only flatter him to succeed to his
influence, while they are laughing at his misplaced activity. At
least, these would be my thoughts, who of all things dread being
a jest to the juvenile, if they find me out of my sphere.
I have seen Lord Carlisle's play, and it has a great deal of
merit--perhaps more than your lordship would expect. The
language and images are the best part, after the two principal
scenes, which are really fine.(507)
I did, as your lordship knows and says, always like and esteem
Lady Fitzwilliam. I scarce know my lord; but, from what I have
heard of him in the House of Lords, have conceived a good opinion
of his sense; of his character I never heard any ill; which is a
great testimonial in his favour, when there are so many horrid
characters, and when all that are conspicuous have their minutest
actions tortured to depose against them.
You may be sure, my dear lord, that I heartily pity Lady
Strafford's and your loss of four-legged friends. Sense and
fidelity are wonderful recommendations; and when one meets with
them, and can be confident that one is not imposed upon, I cannot
think that the two additional legs are any drawback. At least I
know that I have had friends who would never have vexed or
betrayed me, if they had walked on all-fours.
I have no news to send your lordship; indeed I inquire for none,
nor wish to hear any. Whence is any good to come? I am every
day surprised at hearing people eager for news. If there is any,
they are sure of hearing it. How can one be curious to know one
does not know what; and perpetually curious to know? Has one
nothing to do but to hear and relate something new? And why can
one care about nothing but what one does not know? And why is
every event worth hearing, only because one has not heard it?
Have not there been changes enough? divorces enough? bankruptcies
and robberies enough? and, above all, lies enough? No: or
people would not be everyday impatient for the newspaper. I own,
I am glad on Sunday when there is no paper(508) and no fresh lies
circulating. Adieu, my good lord and lady! May you long enjoy
your tranquillity, undisturbed by villany, folly, and madness!
(505) The Volunteer Corps of Ireland had long entertained
projects for reforming the parliamentary representation of the
country, and had appointed delegates for carrying that object
into effect. In September they met at Dungannon when a plan of
reform was proposed and agreed upon, and the 10th of November
fixed on for a convention at Dublin of the representatives of the
whole body of Volunteers. "Many gentlemen," says Mr. Hardy, in
his Memoirs of Lord Charlemont, "must have seen a letter of Mr.
Fox, then secretary of state, to General Burgoyne, at that time
commander-in-chief in Ireland, on the subject Convention. It was
written with the spirit of a patriot and wisdom of a true
statesman. In his ardour for a parliamentary reform, he yielded,
he said, to none of the Convention, but he dreaded the
consequences of such a proceeding; and would, he added, lament it
as the deepest misfortune of his life, if, by any untoward Steps
then taken, and whilst he was minister, the two kingdoms should
be separated, or run the Slightest risk of separation."-E.
(506) "The Yorkshire Association had been formed in 1779, from
the gentry of moderate fortunes and the more substantial yeomen.,
under the pressure of those burdens which resulted from the war
with America, with the view of obtaining, first, an economical,
and then a parliamentary reform; but in the various changes which
soon afterwards perplexed the political world, its first object
was almost forgotten, and its most important character was the
front Of Opposition which it now maintained against that powerful
aristocracy which had long ruled the country with absolute
dominion. It now declared against the Coalition administration."
Life of Wilberforce, vol. i. p. 51.-E.
(507) Of Lord Carlisle's tragedy, entitled " The Father's
Revenge,' Dr. Johnson also entertained a favourable opinion. "Of
the sentiments," he says, "I remember not one I wished omitted.
in the imagery, I cannot forbear to distinguish the comparison of
joy succeeding grief to light rushing on the eye accustomed to
darkness. It seems to have all that can be desired to make it
please: it is new, just, and delightful. With the characters,
either as conceived or preserved, I have no fault to find; but
was much inclined to congratulate a writer, who, in defiance of
prejudice and fashion, made the Archbishop a good man, and
scorned all thoughtless applause which a vicious churchman would
have brought him." It was with reference to this tragedy, that
Lord Byron regretted the flippant and unjust sarcasms against his
noble relation, which he had admitted into the early editions of
his "English Bards and Scotch Reviewers," under the mistaken
impression that Lord Carlisle had intentionally slighted him.-E.
(508) What would Walpole say, if he could witness the alteration
which has taken place in this respect since the year 1783?-E.
Letter 266 To Lady Browne.(509)
Berkeley Square, Oct. 19, 1783. (page 336)
As it is not fit my better-half should be ignorant of the state
of her worse-half, lest the gossips of the neighbourhood should
suspect we are parted; let them know, my life, that I am much
better to-day. I have had a good deal of fever, and a bad night
on Wednesday; but the last was much better, and the fever is much
diminished to-day. In short, I have so great an opinion of
town-dried air, that I expect to be well enough to return to
Twickenham on Monday; and, if I do, I will call on you that
evening; though I have not been out of my house yet. Indeed, it
is unfortunate that so happy a couple, who have never exchanged a
cross word, and who might claim the flitch of bacon, cannot be
well--the one in town, the other in the country.
(509) Now first printed
Letter 267 To Governor Pownall.
Strawberry Hill, Oct. 27, 1783. (page 336)
I am extremely obliged to you, Sir, for the valuable
communication made to me.(510) It is extremely so to me, as it
does justice to a memory I revere to the highest degree; and I
flatter myself that it would be acceptable to that part of the
world that loves truth; and that part will be the majority, as
fast as they pass away -who have an interest in preferring
falsehood. Happily, truth is longer-lived than the passions of
individuals; and, when mankind are not misled, they can
distinguish white from black. I myself do not pretend to be
unprejudiced; I must be so to the best of fathers - I should be
ashamed to be quite impartial. No wonder, then, Sir, if I am
greatly pleased with so able a justification; yet I am not so
blinded, but that I can discern solid reasons for admiring your
defence. You have placed that defence on sound and nezo grounds;
and, though very briefly, have very learnedly stated and
distinguished the landmarks of our constitution, and the
encroachments made on it, by justly referring the principles of
liberty to the Saxon systern, and by imputing the corruptions of
it to the Norman. This was a great deal too deep for that
superficial mountebank, Hume, to go; for a mountebank he was. He
mounted a system in the garb of a philosophic empiric, but
dispensed no drugs but what he was authorized to vend by a royal
patent, and which were full of Turkish opium. He had studied
nothing relative to the English constitution before Queen
Elizabeth, and had selected her most arbitrary acts to
countenance those of the Stuarts: and even hers he
misrepresented; for her worst deeds were levelled against the
nobility, those of the Stuarts against the people. Hers,
consequently, were rather an obligation to the people; for the
most heinous part of despotism is, that it produces a thousand
despots instead of one. Muley Moloch cannot lop off many heads
with his own hands; at least, he takes those in his way. those
of his courtiers; but his bashaws and viceroys spread destruction
every where. The flimsy, ignorant, blundering manner in which
Hume executed the reigns preceding Henry the Seventh, is a proof
how little he had examined the history of our constitution.
I could say much, much more, Sir, in commendation of your work,
were I not apprehensive of being biassed by the subject. Still,
that it would not be from flattery, I wilt prove, by taking the
liberty of making two objections; and they are only to the last
page but one. Perhaps you will think that my first objection
does show that I am too much biassed. I own I am sorry to see my
father compared to Sylla. The latter was a sanguinary usurper, a
monster; the former, the mildest, most forgiving, best-natured of
men, and a legal minister. Nor, I fear, will the only light in
which you compare them, Stand The test. Sylla resigned his power
voluntarily, insolently: perhaps timidly. as he might think he
had a better chance of dying in his bed, if he retreated, than by
continuing to rule by force. My father did not retire by his own
option. He had lost the majority of the House of Commons.
Sylla, you say, Sir, retired unimpeached; it is true, but covered
with blood. My father was not impeached, in our strict sense, Of
the word; but, to my great joy, he was in effect. A secret
committee, a worse inquisition than a jury, was named; not to try
him, but to sift his life for crimes: and Out Of Such a jury,
chosen in the dark, and not one of whom he might challenge, he
had some determined enemies, many opponents, and but two he could
suppose his friends. And what was the consequence ? A man
charged with every state crime almost, for twenty years, was
proved to have done--what? Paid some writers much more than they
deserved, for having defended him against ten thousand and ten
'thousand libels, (some of which had been written by his
inquisitors,) all which libels were confessed to have been lies
by his inquisitors themselves; for they could not produce a
shadow of one of the crimes with which they had charged him! I
must own, ,Sir, I think that Sylla and my father ought to be set
in opposition rather than paralleled.
My other objection is still more serious: and if I am so happy as
to convince you, I shall hope that you will alter the paragraph;
as it seems to impute something to Sir Robert, of which he was
not only most innocent, but of which if he had been guilty, I
should think him extremely so, for he would have been very
ungrateful. You say he had not the comfort to see that he had
established his own family by any thing which he received from
the gratitude of that Hanover family, or from the gratitude of
that country, which he had saved and served! Good Sir, what does
this sentence seem to imply, but that either Sir Robert himself,
or his family, thought or think, that the Kings George . and II.
or England, were ungrateful in not rewarding his services? Defend
him and us from such a charge! He
nor we ever had such a thought. Was it not rewarding him to make
him prime minister, and maintain and support him against his
enemies for twenty years together? Did not George I. make his
eldest son a peer, and give to the father and son a valuable
patent place in the custom-house for three lives? Did not George
II. give my elder brother the auditor's place, and to my brother
and me other rich places for our lives; for, though in the gift
of the first lord of the treasury, do we not owe them to the King
who made him so? Did not the late King make my father an earl,
and dismiss him with a pension of 4000 pounds a-year for his
life? Could he or we not think these ample rewards? What
rapacious sordid wretches must he and we have been, and be, could
we entertain such an idea? As far have we all been from thinking
him neglected by his country. Did not his country see and know
these rewards? and could it think these rewards inadequate?
Besides, Sir, great as I hold my father's services, they were
solid and silent, not ostensible. They were of a kind to which I
hold your justification a more suitable reward than pecuniary
recompenses. To have fixed the house of Hanover on the throne,
to have maintained this country in peace and affluence for twenty
years, with the other services you record, Sir, were actions, the
`eclat of which must be illustrated by time and reflection; and
whose splendour has been brought forwarder than I wish it had, by
comparison with a period very dissimilar! If Sir Robert had not
the comfort of leaving his family in affluence, it was not
imputable to his King or his country. Perhaps I am proud that he
did not. He died forty thousand pounds in debt. That was the
wealth of a man that had been taxed as the plunderer of his
country! Yet, with all my adoration of my father, I am just
enough to own that it was his own fault if he died so poor. He
had made Houghton much too magnificent for the moderate estate
which he left to support it; and, as he never --I repeat it with
truth, never--got any money but in the South Sea and while he was
paymaster. his fondness for his paternal seat, and his boundless
generosity, were too expensive for his fortune. I will mention
one instance, which will show how little he was disposed to turn
the favour of the crown to his own profit. He laid out fourteen
thousand pounds of his own money on Richmond New Park. I could
produce other reasons too why Sir Robert's family were not in so
comfortable a situation, as the world, deluded by
misrepresentation, might expect to see them at his death. My
eldest brother had been a very bad economist during his father's
life, and died himself fifty thousand pounds in debt, or more; so
that to this day neither Sir Edward nor I have received the five
thousand pounds apiece which Sir Robert left us as our fortunes.
I do not love to charge the dead; therefore will only say, that
Lady Orford (reckoned a vast fortune, which till she died she
never proved,) wasted vast sums; nor did my brother or father
ever receive but the twenty thousand pounds which she brought at
first,'and which were spent on the wedding and christening; I
mean, including her jewels.
I beg pardon, Sir, for this tedious detail, which is minutely,
perhaps too minutely, true; but, when I took the liberty of
contesting any part of a work which I admire so much, I owed it
to you and to myself to assign my reasons. I trust they will
satisfy you; and, if they do, I am sure you will alter a
paragraph against which it is the duty of the family to exclaim.
Dear as my father's memory is to my soul, I can never subscribe
to the position that he was unrewarded by the house of Hanover.
(510) The Governor's "Character of Sir Robert Walpole." It will
be found among the original papers in COXe's Life of Sir
Robert.-E.
Letter 268 To Governor Pownall.
Berkeley Square, Nov. 7, 1783. (page 339)
You must allow me, Sir, to repeat my thanks for the second copy
of your tract on my father, and for your great condescension in
altering the two passages to which I presumed to object; and
which are not only more consonant to exactness, but, I hope, no
disparagement to the piece. To me they are quite satisfactory.
And it is a comfort to me too, that what I begged to have changed
was not any reflection prejudicial to his memory; but, in the
first point, a parallel not entirely similar in circumstances;
and, in the other, a sort of censure on 'others to which I could
not subscribe. With all my veneration for my father's memory, I
should not remonstrate against just censure on him. Happily, to
do justice to him, most iniquitous calumnies ought to be removed;
and then there would remain virtues and merits enough, far to
outweigh human errors, from which the best of men, like him,
cannot be exempt. Let his enemies, ay and his friends, be
compared with him, and then justice would be done! Your essay,
Sir, will, I hope, some time or other, clear the way to his
vindication. It points out the true way of examining his
character; and is itself, as far as it goes, unanswerable. As
such, what an obligation it must be to, Sir, etc.
Letter 269To The Earl Of Strafford.
Berkeley Square, Nov. 10, 1783. (page 339)
If I consulted my reputation as 'a writer, which your lordship's
partiality is so kind as to allot me, I should wait a few days
till my granary is fuller of stock, which probably it would be by
the end of next week; but, in truth, I had rather be a grateful,
and consequently a punctual correspondent, than an ingenious one;
as I value the honour of your lordship's friendship more than
such tinsel bits of fame as can fall to my share, and of which I
am particularly sick at present, as the Public Advertiser dressed
me out t'other day with a heap of that dross which he had
pillaged from some other strolling playwrights, who I did not
desire should be plundered for me.
Indeed, when the Parliament does meet, I doubt, nay hope, it will
make less sensation than usual. The orators of Dublin have
brought the flowers of Billingsgate to so high perfection, that
ours comparatively will have no more scent than a dead dandelion.
If your lordship has not seen the speeches of Mr. Flood and Mr.
Grattan,(511) you may perhaps still think that our oyster-women
can be more abusive than members of parliament. Since I began my
letter, I hear that the meeting of the delegates from the
Volunteers is adjourned to the first of February.(512) This
seems a very favourable circumstance. I don't like a reformation
begun by a Popish army! Indeed, I did hope that peace would bring
us peace, at least not more than the discords incidental to a
free ,government: but we seem not to have attained that era yet!
I hope it will arrive, though I may not see it. I shall not
easily believe that any radical alteration of a constitution that
preserved us so long, and carried us to so great a height, will
recover our affairs. There is a wide difference between
correcting abuses and removing landmarks. Nobody disliked more
than I the strides that were attempted towards increasing the
prerogative; but as the excellence of our constitution, above all
others, consists in the balance established between the three
powers of King, Lords, and Commons, I wish to see that
equilibrium preserved. No single man, nor any private junta, has
a right to dictate laws to all three. In Ireland, truly,' a
still worse spirit I apprehend to be at bottom; in short, it is
frenzy or folly to suppose that an army composed of three parts
of Catholics can be intended for any good purposes.
These are my sentiments, my dear lord, and, you know, very
disinterested. For myself, I have nothing to wish but ease and
tranquillity for the rest of my time. I have no enmities to
avenge. I do hope the present administration will last, as I
believe there are more honest men in it than in any set that
could replace them, though I have not a grain of partiality more
than I had for their associates. Mr. Fox I think by far the
ablest and soundest head in England, and am persuaded that the
more he is tried the greater man he will appear.
Perhaps it is impertinent to trouble your lordship with my creed,
it is certainly of no consequence to any body; but I have nothing
else that could entertain you, and at so serious a crisis can one
think of trifles? In general I am not sorry that the nation is
most disposed to trifle; the less it takes part, the more leisure
will the ministers have to attend to the most urged points. When
so many individuals assume to be legislators, it is lucky that
very few obey their institutes.
I rejoice to hear of Lady Strafford's good health, and am her and
your lordship's most faithful humble servant.
(511) In the course of a debate in the Irish House of Commons, on
the 28th of October, upon Sir Henry Cavendish's motion for a
retrenchment of the public expenditure violent altercation had
taken place between the rival orators. While Mr. Grattan
animadverted, with disgraceful bitterness, on the " broken beak
and disastrous countenance" of his opponent, and charged him with
betraying every man who trusted in him, Mr. Flood broadly
insinuated that Mr. Grattan had betrayed his country for a sum of
gold; and, for prompt payment, had sold himself to the
minister.-E.
(512) They assembled at Dublin on the 10th of November, when a
plan of reform was produced and considered by them; and on the
following day Mr. Flood moved, in the House of Commons for leave
to bring in a bill for the more equal representation of the
people in Parliament. The motion was rejected by 157 votes to
77.-E.
Letter 270 To The Earl Of Strafford.
Berkeley Square, Dec. 11, 1783. (page 341)
Your lordship is so partial to me and my idle letters, that I am
afraid of writing them; not lest they should sink below the
standard you have pleased to affix to them in your own mind, but
from fear of being intoxicated into attempting to keep them up to
it, which would destroy their only merit, their being written
naturally and without pretensions. Gratitude and good breeding
compel me to make due answers; but I entreat your lordship to be
assured, that, however vain I am of your favour, my only aim is
to preserve the honour of your friendship; that it is all the
praise I ask or wish; and that, with regard to letter-writing, I
am firmly persuaded that it is a province in which women will
always shine superiorly; for our sex is too jealous of the
reputation of good sense, to condescend to hazard a thousand
trifles and negligences, which give grace, ease, and familiarity
to correspondence.(513) I will say no more on that subject, for
I feel that I am on the brink of a dissertation; and though that
fault would prove the truth of my proposition, I will not punish
your lordship only to convince you that I am in the right. The
winter is not dull or disagreeable; on the contrary, it is
Pleasing, as the town is occupied on general subjects, and not,
as is too common, on private scandal, private vices, and follies.
The India-bill, air-balloons, Vestris, and the automaton, share
all attention. Mrs. Siddons, as less a novelty, does not engross
all conversation. If abuse still keeps above par, it confines
itself to its prescriptive province, the ministerial line. In
that walk it has tumbled a little into the kennel. The low
buffoonery of Lord Thurlow, in laying the caricatura of the
Coalition on the table of your lordship's House, has levelled it
to Sadler's Wells; and Mr. Flood, the pillar of invective, does
not promise to re-erect it; not, I conclude, from want of having
imported a stock of ingredients, but his presumptuous debut on
the very night of his entry was so wretched, and delivered in so
barbarous a brogue that I question whether he will ever recover
the blow Mr. Courtenay gave him.(514) A young man may correct
and improve, and rise from a first fall; but an elderly formed
speaker has not an equal chance. Mr. Hamilton,(515) Lord
Abercorn's heir, but by no means so laconic, had more success.
Though his first essay, ii was not at all dashed by bashfulness;
and though he might have blushed for discovering so much personal
rancour to Mr. Fox, he rather seemed to be impatient to discharge
it.
Your lordship sees in the papers that the two Houses of Ireland
have firmly resisted the innovations of the Volunteers. Indeed,
it was time for the Protestant proprietors to make their stand;
for though the Catholics behave decently, it would be into their
hands that the prize would fall. The delegates, it is true, have
sent over a most loyal address; but I wish their actions may not
contradict their words! Mr. Flood's discomfiture here will, I
suppose, carry him back to a field wherein his wicked spirit may
have more effect. It is a very serious moment! I am in pain
lest your county, my dear lord, (you know what I mean) should
countenance such pernicious designs.
(513) Some excellent advice on the subject of female
letter-writing, will be found in a letter written, in 1809, by
Lord Collingwood to one of his daughters:--"No sportsman," says
the gallant Admiral, "ever hits a partridge without aiming at it;
and skill is acquired by repeated attempts. When you write a
letter, give it your greatest care, that it may be as perfect in
all its parts as you can make it. Let the subject be sense,
expressed in the most plain, intelligible, and elegant manner
that you are capable of If in a familiar epistle you should be
playful and jocular, guard carefully that your wit be not sharp,
so as to, give pain to any person; and before You write a
sentence, examine it, even the words which it is composed, that
there be nothing vulgar or inelegant in them. Remember, my dear,
that your letter is the picture of Your brains; and those whose
brains are a compound of folly, nonsense, and impertinence, are
to blame to exhibit them to the contempt of the world, or the
pity of their friends. To write a letter with negligence,
without proper stops, with crooked lines and great, flourishing
dashes, is inelegant; it argues either great ignorance of what is
proper, or great indifference towards the person to whom it is
addressed, and is consequently disrespectful." Memoirs, p.
430.-E.
(514) Mr. Flood took his seat for Winchester on the 8th of
December, and on the same evening addressed the House in
Opposition to Mr. Fox's East India bill. "He spoke," says
Wraxall, "with great ability and good sense, but the slow,
measured, and sententious style of enunciation which
characterized his eloquence, appeared to English ears cold and
stiff: unfortunately, too, for Flood, one of his own countrymen,
Courtenay, instantly Opened on him such a battery of ridicule and
wit, as seemed to overwhelm the new Member. He made no attempt
at reply, and under these circumstances began the division. It
formed a triumphant exhibition Of ministerial strength, the
Coalition numbering 208; while only 102 persons, of whom I was
one, followed Pitt into the lobby yet, within twelve days
afterwards he found himself first minister, and so remained above
seventeen years."-E.
(515) John James Hamilton. In 1789, he succeeded his uncle as
ninth Earl of Abercorn, and second Viscount Hamilton; and in
1790, was created Marquis of Abercorn.-E.
Letter 271 To The Hon. H. S. Conway.
Berkeley Square, Wednesday, May 5, 1784. (page 342)
Your cherries, for aught I know, may, like Mr. Pitt, be half ripe
before others are in blossom; but at Twickenham, I am sure, I
could find dates and pomegranates on the quickset hedges, as soon
as a cherry in swaddling-clothes on my walls. The very leaves on
the horse-chestnuts are little snotty-nosed things, that cry and
are afraid of the north-wind, and cling to the bough as if old
poker was coming to take them away. For my part, I have seen
nothing like spring but a chimney-sweeper's garland; and yet I
have been three days in the country-and the consequence was, that
I was glad to come back to town. I do not wonder that you feel
differently; any thing is warmth and verdure when compared to
poring over memorials. In truth, I think you will be much
happier for being out of Parliament. You could do no good there;
you have no views of ambition to satisfy: and when neither duty.
nor ambition calls, (I do not condescend to name avarice, which
never is to be satisfied, nor deserves to be reasoned with, nor
has any place in your breast,) I cannot conceive what
satisfaction an elderly man can have in listening to the passions
or follies of others: nor is eloquence such a banquet, when one
knows that, whoever the cooks are, whatever the sauces, one has
eaten as good beef or mutton before, and perhaps, as well
dressed. It is surely time to live for one's self, when one has
not a vast while to live; and you, I am persuaded, Will live the
longer for leading a country life. How much better to be
planting, nay, making experiments on smoke (if not too dear),
than reading applications from officers, a quarter of whom you
could not serve, nor content three quarters! You had not time for
necessary exercise : and, I believe, would have blinded yourself.
In short, if you will live in the air all day, be totally idle,
and not read or write a line by candle-light, and retrench your
suppers, I shall rejoice in your having nothing to do but that
dreadful punishment, pleasing yourself. Nobody has any claims on
you; you have satisfied every point of honour; you have no cause
for being particularly grateful to the Opposition; and you want
no excuse for living for yourself. Your resolutions on economy
are not only prudent, but just; and, to say the truth, I believe
if you had continued at the head of the army, you would have
ruined yourself You have too much generosity to have curbed
yourself, and would have had too little time to attend to doing
so. I know by myself how pleasant it is to have laid up a little
for those I love, for those that depend on me, and for old
servants. Moderate wishes may be satisfied; and which is still
better, are less liable to disappointment.
I am not preaching, nor giving advice, but congratulating you it
is certainly not being selfish, when I rejoice at your being
thrown by circumstances into a retired life, though it will
occasion my seeing less of you; but I have always preferred what
was most for your own honour and happiness; and as you taste
satisfaction already, it will not diminish, for they are the
first moments of passing from busy life to a quiet one that are
the most irksome. You have the felicity of being able to amuse
yourself with what the grave world calls trifles , but as gravity
does not happen to be wisdom, trifles are full as important as
what is respected as serious; and more amiable, and generally
more innocent. Most men are bad or ridiculous, sometimes both:
at least my experience tells me what my
reading had told me before, that they are so in a great capital
of a sinking 'country. If immortal fame is his object, a Cato
may die but he will do no good. If only the preservation of his
virtue had been his point, he might have lived comfortably at
Athens, like Attieus who, by the way, happens to be as immortal;
though I will give him credit for having had no such view.
Indeed, I look upon this country as so irrecoverably on the verge
of ruin, from its enormous debt, from the loss of America, from
the almost as certain prospect of losing India, that my pride
would dislike to be an actor when the crash may happen.
You seem to think that I might send you more news. So I might,
if I would talk of elections;(516) but those, you know, I hate,
as, in general, I do all details. How Mr. Fox has recovered such
a majority I do not guess, still less do I comprehend how there
could be so many that had not voted, after the poll had lasted so
long.(517) Indeed, I should be sorry to understand such
mysteries.-Of new peers, or new elevations I hear every day, but
am quite ignorant which are to be true. Rumour always creates as
many as the King, when he makes several. In fact, I do know
nothing. Adieu!
P. S. The summer is come to town, but I hope is gone into the
country too.
(516) The Parliament had been dissolved in March, and a new one
was summoned to meet on the 18th of May.-E.
(517) Mr. Pitt says in a letter to Mr. Wilberforce, of the 8th of
April, "Westminster goes on well, in spite of the Duchess of
Devonshire and the other women of the people; but when the poll
will close is uncertain." At the close of it, on the 17th of
May, the numbers were, for Hood 6694, Fox 6233, Wray 5998.
Walpole, whose delicate health at this time confined him almost
entirely to his house, went in a sedan-chair to give his vote for
Mr. Fox. "Apropos of elections," writes Hannah More to her
sister," I had like to have got into a fine scrape the other
night. I was going to pass the evening at Mrs. Cole's, in
Lincoln's-inn Fields. I went in a chair: they carried me through
Covent-Garden: a number of people, as I went along, desired the
men not to go through the Garden, as there were a hundred armed
men, who, suspecting every chairman belonged to Brookes's, would
fall upon us. In spite of my entreaties, the men would have
persisted; but a stranger, out of humanity, made them set me
down; and the shrieks of the wounded, for there was a terrible
battle, intimidated the chairmen, who were at last prevailed upon
to carry me another way. A vast number of people followed me,
crying out, 'it is Mrs. Fox: none but Mr. Fox's wife would dare
to come into Covent-Garden in a chair; she is going to canvass in
the dark!' Though not a little frightened, I laughed heartily at
this; but shall stir no more in a chair for some time." Memoirs,
vol. I. p. 315.-E.
Letter 272 To Miss Hannah More.(519)
May 6, 1784 (page 344)
Mr. Walpole thanks Miss More a thousand times, not only for so
obligingly complying with his request, but for letting him have
the satisfaction of possessing and reading again and again her
charming and very genteel poem, the "Bas Bleu." He ought not, in
modesty, to commend so much a piece in which he himself is
flattered; but truth is more durable than blushing, and he must
be just, though he may be vain. The ingenuity with which she has
introduced, so easily, very difficult rhymes, is admirable; and
though there is a quantity of learning, it has all the air Of
negligence, instead of that of pedantry. As she, commands him,
he will not disobey; and, so far from giving a single copy, he
gives her his word that it shall not go out of his hands. He
begs his particular compliments to Mrs. Garrick, and is Miss
More's most devoted and much obliged humble servant.
(519) Walpole's intimacy with Miss Hannah More commenced in the
year 1781. The following passages occur in her letters of that
and the following year:--"Mr. Walpole has done me the honour of
inviting me to Strawberry Hill: as he is said to be a shy man, I
must consider this as a great compliment."--" We dined the other
day at Strawberry Hill, and passed as delightful a day as elegant
literature, high breeding, and lively wit can afford. As I was
the greatest stranger, Mr. Walpole devoted himself to my
amusement with great politeness."-E.
Letter 273 To The Hon. H. S. Conway.
Strawberry Hill, May 21, 1784. (page 345)
I am perfectly satisfied with your epitaph,(520) and would not
have a Syllable altered. It tells exactly what it means to say,
and that truth being an encomium, wants no addition or
amplification. Nor do I love late language for modern facts, nor
will European tongues perish since printing has been discovered.
I should approve French least of all; it would be a kind of
insult to the vanquished: and, besides, the example of a hero
should be held out to his countrymen rather than to their
enemies. You must take care to have the word caused, in the last
line but one, spelt rightly, and not caus'd.
I know nothing of the Parliament but what you saw in the papers.
I came hither yesterday, and am transported, like you, with the
beauty of the country; ay, and with its perfumed air too. The
lilac-time scents even the insides of the rooms.
I desired Lady Ailesbury to carry you Lord Melcombe's Diary.(521)
It is curious indeed; not so much from the secrets it blabs,
which are rather characteristic than novel, but from the
wonderful folly of the author, who was so fond of talking of
himself, that he tells all he knew of himself, though scarce an
event that does not betray his profligacy; and (which is still
more surprising that he should disclose) almost every one exposes
the contempt in which he was held, and his consequential'
disappointments and disgraces! Was ever any man the better for
another's experience? What a lesson is here against versatility!
I, who have lived through all the scenes unfolded, am
entertained; but I should think that to younger readers half the
book must be unintelligible. He explains nothing but the
circumstances of his own situation; and, though he touches on
many important periods, he leaves them undeveloped, and often
undetermined. It is diverting to hear him rail at Lord Halifax
and others, for the very kind of double-dealing which he relates
coolly of himself in the next page. Had he gone backwards, he
might have given half a dozen volumes of his own life, with
similar anecdotes and variations. I am most surprised, that when
self-love is the whole groundwork of the performance, there
should be little or no attempt at shining as an author, though he
was one. As he had so much wit too, I am amazed that not a
feature of it appears. The discussion in the appendix, on the
late Prince's question for increase of allowance, is the only
part in which there is sense or honesty. There is, in the
imperfect account of Rochfort, a strong Circumstance or two that
pleased me much. There are many passages that will displease
several others throughout.
Mr. Coxe's Travels(522) are very different: plain, clear,
sensible, instructive, and entertaining. It is a noble work, and
precious to me who delight in quartos: the two volumes contain
twelve hundred pages; I have already devoured a quarter, though I
have had them but three days. [The rest of this letter is lost.]
(520) An epitaph for the monument erected by the states of Jersey
to the memory of Major Pearson, killed in the attack of that
island by the French in January 1781.
(521) "The Diary of George Bubb Dodington, Baron of Melcombe
Regis, from March 8, 1749, to February 6, 1761; published by
Henry Penruddocke Wyndham."
(522) Travels into Poland, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark;
interspersed with Historical Relations and Political Inquiries;
by William Cox, M. A.," in two volumes quarto.-E.
Letter 274 To The Countess Of Ailesbury.
Strawberry Hill, Tuesday night, June 8, 1784. (page 346)
You frightened me for a minute, my dear Madam; but every letter
since has given me pleasure, by telling me how rapidly you
recovered, and how perfectly well you are again. Pray, however,
do not give me any more such Joys. I shall be quite content with
your remaining immortal, without the foil of any alarm. You gave
all your friends a panic, and may trust their attachment without
renewing it. I received as many inquiries the next day as if an
archbishop was in danger, and all the bench hoped he was going to
heaven.
Mr. Conway wonders I do not talk of Voltaire's Memoirs. Lord
bless me! I saw it two months ago; the Lucans brought it from
Paris and lent it to me: nay, and I have seen most of it before;
and I believe this an imperfect copy, for it ends no how at all.
Besides, it was quite out of my head. Lord Melcombe's Diary put
that and every thing else out of my mind. I wonder much more at
Mr. Conway's not talking of this! It gossips about the living as
familiarly as a modern newspaper. I long to hear what say about
it. I wish the newspapers were as accurate! They have been
circumstantial about Lady Walsingham's birthday clothes, which to
be sure one is glad to know, Only unluckily there is no such
person. However, I dare to say that her dress was very becoming,
and that she looked charmingly.
The month of June, according to custom immemorial, is as cold as
Christmas. I had a fire last night, and all my rose-buds, I
believe, would have been very glad to sit by it. I have other
grievances to boot; but as they are annuals too,--videlicet,
people to see my house,-- I will not torment Your ladyship with
them: yet I know nothing else. None of my neighbours are come
into the country yet: one would think all the dowagers were
elected into the new Parliament. Adieu, my dear Madam!
Letter 275 To The Hon. H. S. Conway.
Strawberry Hill, June 25, 1784. (page 347)
I can answer you very readily in your own tone, that is, about
weather and country grievances, and without one word of news or
politics; for I know neither, nor inquire of them.(523) I am
very well content to be a Strulbrug, and to exist after I have
done being: and I am still better pleased that you are in the
same way of thinking, or of not thinking; for I am sure both your
health and your mind will find the benefits of living for
yourself and family only. It were not fit that the young should
concentre themselves in so narrow a circle; nor do the young seem
to have any such intention. Let them mend or mar the world as
they please; the world takes its own way upon the whole; and,
though there may be an uncommon swarm of animalcules for a
season, things return into their own channel from their own bias,
before any effectual nostrum or fumigation is discovered. In the
mean time, I am for giving all due weight to local grievances,
though with no natural turn towards attending to them: but they
serve for conversation. We have no newly invented grubs to eat
our fruit; indeed, I have no fruit to be eaten: but I should not
lament if the worms would eat my gardener, who, you know, is so
bad an one that I never have any thing in my garden. I am now
waiting for dry weather to cut my hay; though nature certainly
never intended hay should be cut dry, as it always rains all
June. But here is a worse calamity; one is never safe by day or
night: Mrs. Walsingham, who has bought your brother's late house
at Ditton, was robbed a few days ago in the high road, within a
mile of home, at seven in the evening. The di`a nimorum gentium
pilfer every thing. Last night they stole a couple of yards of
lead off the pediment of the door of my cottage. A gentleman at
Putney, who has three men servants, had his house broken open
last week, and lost some fine miniatures, which he valued so much
that he would not hang them up. You may imagine what a pain this
gives me in my baubles! I have been making the round of my
fortifications this morning, and ordering new works.
I am concerned for the account you give me of your brother. Life
does not appear to be such a jewel as to preserve it carefully
for its own sake. I think the same of its good things; if they
do not procure amusement or comfort, I doubt they only produce
the contrary. Yet it is silly to repine; for, probably, whatever
any man does by choice, he knows will please him best, or at
least will prevent greater uneasiness. I therefore, rather
retract my concern; for, with a vast fortune, Lord Hertford might
certainly do what he would: and if, at his age, he can wish for
more than that fortune will obtain, I may pity his taste or
temper; but I shall think that you and I are much happier who can
find enjoyments in an humbler sphere, nor envy those who have no
time for trifling'. I, who have never done any thing else, am
not at all weary of my occupation. Even three days of continued
rain have not put me out of humour or spirits. C'est beaucoup
dire for an Anglais. Adieu! Yours ever.
(523) "As politics spoil all conversation, Mr. Walpole, the other
night, proposed that every body should forfeit half a crown who
said any thing tending to introduce the idea, either of ministers
or opposition. I added, that whoever mentioned pit-coal or a
fox-skin muff, should be considered as guilty; and it was
accordingly voted." Hannah More, March 8, 1784.-E.
Letter 276 To The Hon. H. S. Conway.
Strawberry Hill, June 30, 1784. (page 348)
Instead of coming to you, I Am thinking of packing up and going
to town for winter, so desperate is the weather! I found a great
fire at Mrs. Clive's this evening, and Mr. Rafter hanging over it
like a smoked ham. They tell me my hay will be spoiled for want
of cutting; but I had rather it should be destroyed by standing
than by being mowed, as the former will cost me nothing but the
crop, and 'tis very dear to make nothing but a water-souchy of
it.
You know I have lost a niece, and found another nephew: he makes
the fifty-fourth reckoning both sexes. We are certainly an
affectionate family, for of late we do nothing but marry one
another. Have not You felt a little twinge in a remote corner of
your heart on Lady Harrington's death?(524) She dreaded death so
extremely that I am glad she had not a moment to be sensible of
it. I have a great affection for sudden deaths; they save
oneself and every body else a deal of ceremony.
The Duke and Duchess of Marlborough breakfasted here on Monday,
and seemed much pleased, though it rained the whole time with an
Egyptian darkness. I should have thought there had been deluges
enough to destroy all Egypt's other plagues: but the newspapers
talk of locusts: I suppose relations of your beetles, though
probably not so fond of green fruit; for the scene of their
campaign is Queen square, Westminster, where there certainly has
not been an orchard since the reign of Canute.
I have, at last, seen an air-balloon; just as I once did see a
tiny review, by passing one accidentally on Hounslow-heath. I
was going last night to Lady Onslow at Richmond, and over Mr.
Cambridge's field I saw a bundle in the air not bigger than the
moon,(525) and she herself could not have descended with more
composure if she had expected to find Endymion fast asleep. It
seemed to 'light on Richmond-hill; but Mrs. Hobart was going by,
and her coiffure prevented my seeing it alight. The papers say,
that a balloon has been made at Paris representing the castle of
Stockholm, in compliment to the King of Sweden; but that they are
afraid to let it off: so, I suppose, it will be served up to him
in a dessert. No great progress.. surely, is made in these airy
navigations, if they are still afraid of risking the necks of two
or three subjects for the entertainment of a visiting sovereign.
There is seldom a feu de joie for the birth of a Dauphin that
does not cost more lives. I thought royalty and science never
haggled about the value of blood when experiments are in the
question.
I shall wait for summer before I make you a visit. Though I dare
to say that you have converted your smoke-kilns into a
manufacture of balloons, pray do not erect a Strawberry castle in
the air for my reception, if it will cost a pismire a hair of its
head. Good night! I have ordered my bed to be heated as hot as
an oven, and Tonton and I must go into it.
(524) See vol. i. p. 379, letter 143.-E.(525) "Lunardi's nest,"
says Hannah More, " when I saw it yesterday, looking like a
pegtop, seemed, I assure you, higher than the moon, 'riding
towards her highest noon.'"-E.
Letter 277 To The Earl Of Strafford.
Strawberry Hill, August 6, 1784. (page 349)
I am very sorry, my dear lord, that I must answer your lordship's
letter by a condolence. I had not the honour Ur of being
acquainted with Mrs. Vyse, but have heard so much good of her,
that it is impossible not to lament her. Since this month began
we have had fine weather; and 'twere great pity if we had not,
when the earth is covered with Such abundant harvests! They talk
of an earthquake having been felt in London. Had Sir William
Hamilton been there, he would think the town gave itself great
airs. He, I believe, is putting up volcanos in his own country.
In my youth, philosophers were eager to ascribe every uncommon
discovery to the Deluge; now it is the fashion to solve every
appearance by conflagrations. If there was such an inundation
upon the earth, and such a furnace under it, I am amazed that
Noah and company were not boiled to death. Indeed, I am a great
sceptic about human reasonings; they predominate only for a time,
like other mortal fashions, and are so often exploded after the
mode is passed, that I hold them little more serious, though they
call themselves wisdom. How many have I lived to see established
and confuted! For instance, the necessity of a southern continent
as a balance was supposed to be unanswerable; and so it was, till
Captain Cook found there was no such thing. We are poor silly
animals: we live for an instant upon a particle of a boundless
universe, and are much like a butterfly that should argue about
the nature of the seasons and what creates their vicissitudes,
and does not exist itself to see one annual revolution of them!
Adieu! my dear lord! If my reveries are foolish, remember, I give
them for no better, If I depreciate human wisdom, I am sure I do
not assume a grain to myself; nor have any thing to value myself
upon more than being your lordship's most obliged humble servant.
Letter 278 To Mr. Dodsley.(526)
Strawberry Hill, August 8, 1784. (page 350)
I must beg, Sir, that you will tell Mr. Pinkerton, that I am much
obliged to him for the honour he is willing to do me, though I
must deg his leave to decline it. His book(527) deserves an
eminent patron: I am too inconsiderable to give any relief to it,
and even in its own line am unworthy to be distinguished. One of
my first pursuits was a collection of medals; but I early gave it
over, as I could not afford many branches of virt`u, and have
since changed or given away several of my best Greek and Roman
medals. What remain, I shall be glad to show Mr. Pinkerton; and,
if it would not be inconvenient to him to come hither any morning
by eleven o'clock, after next Thursday, that he Will not only see
my medals, but any other baubles here that can amuse him. I am,
Sir, your most obedient humble servant.
(526) Now first collected.
(527) The first edition of Pinkerton's "Essay on Medals" was
published by Dodsley, in two volumes octavo, in this year,
without the name of the author.-E.
Letter 279 To The Hon. H. S. Conway.
Strawberry Hill, August 14, 1784. (page 350)
As Lady Cecilia Johnston offers to be postman, I cannot resist
writing a line, though I have not a word to say. In good sooth,
I know nothing hear Of nothing but robberies and housebreaking;
consequently never think of ministers, India directors, and such
honest men. Mrs. Clive has been broken open, and Mr. Raftor
miscarried, and died of the fright. Lady Browne has lost all her
liveries and her temper, and Lady Blandford has cried her eyes
out on losing a lurch and almost her wig. In short, as I do not
love exaggeration, I do not believe there have been above
threescore highway robberies within this week, fifty-seven houses
that have been broken open, and two hundred and thirty that are
to be stripped on the first opportunity. We are in great hopes,
however, that the King of Spain, now he has demolished Algiers,
the metropolitan see of thieves, will come and bombard Richmond,
Twickenham, Hampton-court, and all the suffragan cities that
swarm with pirates and banditti, as he has a better knack at
destroying vagabonds than at recovering his own.
Ireland is in a blessed way; and, as if the climate infected
every body that sets foot there, the viceroy's aides-do-camp have
blundered into a riot, that will set all the humours afloat. I
wish you joy of the summer being come now it is gone, which is
better than not coming at all. I hope Lady Cecilia will return
with an account of your all being perfectly well. Adieu! Yours
ever.
Letter 280 To John Pinkerton, Esq.(528)
Strawberry Hill, August 24, 1784. (page 351)
I am much obliged to you, Sir, for the pieces you have sent me of
your own composition.(529) There is great poetic beauty and
merit in them, with great knowledge of the ancient masters and of
the best of the modern. You have talents that will succeed in
whatever you pursue, and industry to neglect nothing that will
improve them. Despise petty critics, and confute them by making
your works as perfect as you can.
I am sorry you sent me the old manuscript; because, as I told
you, I have so little time left to enjoy any thing, that I should
think myself a miser if I coveted for a moment what I must leave
so soon. I shall be very glad, Sir, to see you here again,
whenever it is convenient to you.
(528) This is the first of the series of letters addressed by Mr.
Walpole to Mr. Pinkerton. They are taken from his " Literary
Correspondence," first printed in 1830, in two volumes octavo, by
Dawson Turner, Esq. M.A. F.R.S. from the originals in his
valuable collection. Mr. Pinkerton was born at Edinburgh, in
February 1758, and died at Paris in May 1826. "He was," says Mr.
Dawson Turner, "a man of a capacious mind, great acuteness,
strong memory, restless activity, and extraordinary perseverance:
the anecdotes contained in this correspondence afford a striking
proof of the power of talent,, and industry to raise their
possessor in the scale of society, as well as in the opinion of
the world: unfortunately, they are also calculated to read us
another and not less instructive lesson, that somewhat more is
required to turn such advantages to their full account; and that
the endowments of the mind, unless accompanied by sound and
consistent principles, can tend but little to the happiness of
the individual, or to the good of society."-E.
(529) In 1781, Mr. Pinkerton had published an octavo volume
entitled "Rimes;" a second edition of which, with additions,
appeared in the following year.-E.
Letter 281 To The Earl Of Strafford.
Strawberry Hill, Sept. 7, 1784. (page 351)
The summer is come at last, my lord, drest as fine as a birthday,
though with not so many flowers on its head. In truth, the sun
is an old fool, who apes the modern people of fashion by arriving
too late: the day is going to bed before he makes his appearance;
and one has scarce time to admire his embroidery of green and
gold. It was cruel to behold such expanse of corn every where,
and yet see it all turned to a water-souchy. If I could admire
Dante,--which, asking Mr. Hayley's pardon, I do not,--I would
have written an olio of jews and Pagans, and sent Ceres to
reproach Master Noah with breaking his promise of the world never
being drowned again. But this last week has restored matters to
their old channel; and I trust we shall have bread to eat next
winter, or I think we must have lived on apples, of which to be
sure there is enough to prevent a famine. This is all I know, my
lord; and I hope no news to your lordship. I have exhausted the
themes of air-balloons and highwaymen; and if you will have my
letters, you must be content with my commonplace chat on the
seasons. I do nothing worth repeating, nor hear that others do:
and though I am content to rust myself, I should be glad to tell
your lordship any thing that would amuse you. I dined two days
ago at Mrs. Garrick's -with Sir William Hamilton, who is
returning to the kingdom of cinders. Mrs. Walsingham(530) Was
there with her son and daughter. He is a very pleasing young
man; a fine figure; his face like hers, with something of his
grandfather, Sir Charles Williams, without his vanity: very
sensible, and uncommonly well-bred. The daughter is an
imitatress of Mrs. Damer, and has modelled a bust of her brother.
Mrs. Damer herself is modelling two masks for the keystones of
the new bridge at Henley. Sir William, who has seen them, says
they are in her true antique style. I am in possession of her
sleeping dogs in terra cotta. She asked me if I would consent to
her executing them in marble for the Duke of Richmond? I said
gladly; I should like they should exist in a more durable
material; but I would not part with the original, Which is
sharper and more alive. Mr. Wyat the architect saw them here
lately; and said, he was sure that if the idea was given to the
best statuary in Europe, he would not produce so perfect a group.
Indeed with those dogs and the riches I possess by Lady Di,(531)
poor Strawberry may vie with much prouder collections.
Adieu, my good lord! when I fold up a letter I am ashamed of it;
but it is your own fault. The last thing I should think of would
be troubling your lordship with such insipid stuff, if you did
not command it. Lady Strafford will bear me testimony how often
I have protested against it.
(530) Charlotte, daughter of Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, Bart,
married to the Hon. Robert Boyle Walsingham.-E.
(531) The number of original drawings by Lady Diana Beauclerc, at
Strawberry Hill.
Letter 282 To John Pinkerton, Esq.(532)
Strawberry Hill, Sept. 27, 1784. (page 353)
I have read your piece, Sir, very attentively; and, as I
promised, will give you my opinion of it fairly. There is much
wit in it, especially in the part of Nebuchadnezer and the
dialogue is very easy, and the dinouement in favour of Barbara
interesting. There are, however, I think, some objections to be
made, which, having written so well, you may easily remove, as
they are rather faults in the mechanism than in the writing.
Several scenes seem to me to finish too abruptly, and not to be
enough connected. Juliana is not enough distinguished, as of an
age capable of more elevated sentiments: her desire of playing at
hot-cockles and blind-man's-buff sounds more childish than
vulgar. There is another defect, which is in the conduct of the
plot: surely there is much too long an interval between the
discovery of the marriage of Juliana and Philip, and the anger of
her parents. The audience must expect immediate effect from it;
and yet the noise it is to make arrives so late, that it would
have been forgotten in the course of the intermediate scenes.
I doubt a little, whether it would not be dangerous to open the
piece with a song that must be totally incomprehensible to at
least almost all the audience. It is safer to engage their
prejudices by something captivating. I have the same objection
to Julia's mistaking deposit for posset, which may give an ill
turn: besides, those mistakes have been too often produced on the
stage: so has the character of Mrs. Winter, a romantic old maid;
nor does she contribute to the plot or catastrophe. I am afraid
that even Mrs. Vernon's aversion to' the country is far from
novel; and Mr. Colman, more accustomed to the stage than I am,
would certainly think so. Nebuchadnezer's repartees of "Very
well, thank you!" and bringing in Philip, when bidden to go for a
rascal, are printed in the Terrce Filius, and, I believe, in
other jest-books; and therefore had better be omitted.
I flatter myself, Sir, you will excuse these remarks; as they are
intended kindly, both for your reputation and interest, and to
prevent them being made by the manager, or audience, or your
friends the reviewers. I am ready to propose your piece to Mr.
Colman at any time; but, as I have sincerely an opinion of your
parts and talents, it is the part of a friend to wish you to be
very correct, especially in a first piece; for, such is the
ill-nature of mankind, and their want of judgment too, that, if a
new author does not succeed in a first attempt on the stage, a
prejudice is contracted against him, and may be fatal to others
of his productions, which might have prospered, had that bias not
been taken. An established writer for the stage may venture
almost any idleness; but a first essay is very different.
Shall I send you your piece, Sir; and how? As Mr. Colman's
theatre will not open till next summer, you will have full time
to make any alterations you please. I mean, if you should think
any of my observations well founded, and which, perhaps, are very
trifling. I have little opinion of my own sagacity as a critic,
nor love to make objections; nor should have taken so much
liberty with you, if you had not pressed it. I am sure in me it
is a mark of regard, and which I never pay to an indifferent
author: my admiration of your essay on medals was natural,
uninvited, and certainly unaffected. My acquaintance with you
since, Sir, has Confirmed my opinion of your good sense, and
interested me In behalf of' your works; and, having lived SO long
in the world myself, if My experience can be of any service to
you, I cannot withhold it when you ask it; at the same time
leaving you perfectly at liberty to reject it, if not adopted by
your own judgment. The experience of old age Is very likely to
be balanced by the weaknesses incident to that age. I have not,
however, its positiveness yet; and willingly abandon my criticism
to the vigour of your judgment.
(532) Now first collected.
Letter 283 To John Pinkerton, Esq.(533)
Strawberry Hill, Oct. 6, 1784. (page 354)
You have accepted my remarks with great good-humour, Sir: I wish
you may not have paid too much regard to them: and I should be
glad that you did not rest any alterations on my single judgment,
to which I have but little respect myself. I have not thought
often on theatric performances, and of late not at all. A chief
ground of my observations on your piece proceeded from having
taken notice that an English audience is apt to be struck with
some familiar sound, though there is nothing, ridiculous in the
passage; and fall into a foolish laugh, that often proves fatal
to the author. Such was my objection to hot-cockles. You have,
indeed, convinced me that I did not enough attend to your piece,
as a farce; and, you must excuse me, my regard for you and Your
wit made me consider it rather as a short comedy. Very probably
too, I have retained the pedantic impression,, of the French, and
demanded more observance of their rules than is necessary or
just: yet I myself have often condemned their too delicate
rigour. Nay, I have wished that farce and speaking harlequins
were more encouraged, in order to leave open a wider field of
invention to writers for the stage. Of late I have amply had my
wish: Mr. O'Keefe has brought our audiences to bear with every
extravagance; and, were there not such irresistible humour in his
utmost daring, it would be impossible to deny that he has passed
even beyond the limits of nonsense. But I confine this
approbation to his Agreeable Surprise. In his other pieces there
is much more untempered nonsense than humour. Even that
favourite performance I wondered that Mr. Colman dared to
produce.
Your remark, that a piece full of marked characters would be void
of nature, is most just. This is so strongly my opinion, that I
thought it a great fault in Miss Burney's Cecilia, though it has
a thousand other beauties, that she has laboured far too much to
make all her personages talk always in character; whereas, in the
present refined or depraved state of human nature, most people
endeavour to conceal their real character, not to display it. A
professional man, as a pedantic fellow of a college or a seaman,
has a characteristic dialect; but that is very different from
continually letting out his ruling passion. This brings me, Sir,
to the alteration you offer in the personage of Mrs. Winter, whom
you wittily propose -to turn into a mermaid. I approve the idea
much: I like too the restoration of Mrs. Vernon to a plain
reasonable woman. She will be a contrast to the bad characters,
and but a gradation to produce Barbara, without making her too
glaringly bright without any intermediate shade. In truth, as
you certainly may write excellently if you please, I wish you to
bestow your utmost abilities on whatever you give to the public.
I am wrong when I would have a farce as chaste and sober as a
comedy; but I would have a farce made as good as it can be. I do
not know how that is to be accomplished; but I believe you do.
You are so obliging as to offer to accept a song of mine, if I
have one by me. Dear Sir, I have no more talent for writing a
song than for writing an ode like Dryden's or Gray's. It is a
talent per se; and given, like every other branch of genius, by
nature alone. Poor Shenstone was labouring through his whole
life to write a perfect song, and, in my opinion at least, never
once succeeded; not better than Pope did in a St. Cecilian ode.
I doubt whether we have not gone a long, long way beyond the
possibility of writing a good song. All the words in the
language have been so often employed on simple images (without
which such a song cannot be good), and such reams of bad verses
have been produced in that kind, that I question whether true
simplicity itself could please now. At least we are not likely
to have any such thing. Our present choir of poetic virgins
write in the other extreme. They colour their compositions so
highly with choice and dainty phrases, that their own dresses are
not more fantastic and romantic. Their nightingales make as many
divisions as Italian singers. But this is wandering from the
subject; and, while I only meant to tell you what I could not do
myself, I am telling you what others do ill..I will yet hazard
one other opinion, though relative to composition in general.
There are two periods favourable to poets: a rude age, when a
genius may hazard any thing, and when nothing has been
forestalled - the other is, when, after ages of barbarism and
incorrection, a master or two produces models formed by purity
and taste: Virgil, Horace, Boileau, Corneille, Racine, Pope.,
exploded the licentiousness that reigned before them. What
happened? Nobody dared to write in contradiction to the severity
established; and very few had abilities to rival their masters.
insipidity ensues, novelty is dangerous, and bombast usurps the
throne which had been debased by a race of fain`eants. This
rhapsody will probably convince you, Sir, how much you was
mistaken in setting any value on my judgment.
February will certainly be time enough for your piece to be
finished. I again beg you, Sir, to pay no deference to my
criticisms, against your own cool reflections. It is prudent to
consult others before one ventures on publication; but every
single person is as liable to be erroneous as an author. An
elderly man, as he gains experience, acquires prejudices too:
Day, old age has generally two faults; it is too quick-sighted
into the faults of the time being, and too blind to the faults
that reigned in his own youth, which, having partaken of or
having admired, though injudiciously, he recollects with
complacence. A key in writers for I confess, too, that there
must be two distinct views of writers 4 the stage, one of which
is more allowable to them than to other authors. The one is
durable fame; the other, peculiar to dramatic authors, the view
of writing to the present taste, (and, perhaps, as you say, to
the level of the audience). I do not mean for the sake of
profit; but even high comedy must risk a little of its
immortality by consulting the ruling taste; and thence comedy
always loses some of its beauties, the transient, and some of its
intelligibility. Like its harsher sister satire, many of its
allusions must vanish, as the objects it aims at correcting
ceases to be in vogue; and, perhaps, that cessation, the natural
death of fashion, is often ascribed by an author to his own
reproofs. Ladies would have left off patching on the Whig or
Tory side of their face, though Mr. Addison had not written his
excellent Spectator.(534) Probably even they who might be
corrected by his reprimand, adopted some new distinction as
ridiculous; not discovering that his satire was levelled at their
partial animosity, and not at the mode of placing their patches;
for, unfortunately, as the world cannot be cured of being
foolish, a preacher who eradicates one folly, does but make room
for some other.
(533) Now first collected.
(534) The singularly clever and witty paper here alluded to was
written by Addison himself; it is No. 81, "Female Party-spirit
Discovered by Patches," and was published June 2, 1711-D. T.
Letter 284 To The Hon. H. S. Conway.
Strawberry Hill, Oct. 15, 1784. (page 356)
As I have heard nothing from you, I flatter myself Lady Ailesbury
mends, or I think you would have brought her again to the
physicians. you will, I conclude, next week, as towards the end
of it the ten days they named will be expired. I must be in town
myself about Thursday, on some little business of my own.