Letter 151 To George Montagu, Esq.
Strawberry Hill, April 14, 1763. (page 210)
I have received your two letters together, and foresaw that your
friendly good heart would feel for us just as you do. The loss
is irreparable,(271) and my poor niece is sensible it is. She
has such a veneration for her lord's memory, that if her sister
and I make her cheerful for a moment, she accuses herself of it
the next day to the Bishop of Exeter,(272) as if he was her
confessor, and that she had committed a crime. She cried for two
days to such a degree, that if she had been a fountain it must
have stopped. Till yesterday she scarce eat enough to keep her
alive, and looks accordingly; but at her age she must be
comforted: her esteem will last, but her spirits will return in
spite of herself. Her lord has made her sole executrix, and
added what little douceurs he could to her jointure, which is but
a thousand pounds a-year, the estate being but three-and-twenty
hundred. The little girls will have about eight thousand pounds
apiece; for the teller's place was so great during the war, that
notwithstanding his temper was a sluice of generosity, he had
saved thirty thousand pounds since his marriage.
Her sisters have been here with us the whole time. Lady
Huntingtower is all mildness and tenderness; and by dint of
attention I have not displeased the other. Lord Huntingtower has
been here once; the Bishop most of the time: he is very
reasonable and good-natured, and has been of great assistance and
comfort to me in this melancholy office, which is to last here
till Monday or Tuesday. We have got the eldest little girl too,
Lady Laura, who is just old enough to be amusing; and last night
my nephew arrived here from Portugal. It was a terrible meeting
at first; but as he is very soldierly and lively, he got into
spirits, and diverted us much with his relations of the war and
the country. He confirms all we have heard of the villany,
poltroonery, and ignorance of the Portuguese, and of their
aversion to the English; but I could perceive, even through his
relation, that our flippancies and contempt of them must have
given a good deal of play to their antipathy.
You are admirably kind, as you always are in inviting me to
Greatworth, and proposing Bath; but besides its being impossible
for me to take any journey just at present, I am really very well
in health, and the tranquillity and air of Strawberry have done
much good. The hurry of London, where I shall be glad to be just
now, will dissipate the gloom that this unhappy loss has
occasioned; though a deep loss I shall always think it. The time
passes tolerably here; I have my painters and gilders and
constant packets of news from town, besides a thousand letters of
condolence to answer; for both my niece and I have received
innumerable testimonies of the regard that was felt for Lord
Waldegrave. I have heard of but one man who ought to have known
his worth, that has shown no concern; but I suppose his childish
mind is too much occupied with the loss of his last
governor.(273) I have given up my own room to my niece, and have
taken myself to the Holbein chamber, where I am retired from the
rest of the family when I choose it, and nearer to overlook my
workmen. The chapel is quite finished except the carpet. The
sable mass of the altar gives it a very sober air; for,
notwithstanding the solemnity of the painted windows, it had a
gaudiness that was a little profane.
I can know no news here but by rebound; and yet, though they are
to rebound again to you, they will be as fresh as any you can
have at Greatworth. A kind of administration is botched up for
the present, and even gave itself an air of that fierceness with
which the winter set out. Lord Hardwicke -was told, that his
sons must vote with the court, or be turned out; he replied, as
he meant to have them in place, he chose they should be removed
now. It looks ill for the court when he is sturdy. They wished,
too, to have had Pitt, if they could have had him Without
consequences; but they don't find any recruits repair to their
standard. They brag that they should have had Lord Waldegrave; a
most notorious falsehood, as he had refused every offer they
could invent the day before he was taken ill. The Duke of'
Cumberland orders his servants to say, that so far from joining
them, he believes if Lord Waldecrave could have been foretold of
his death, he would have preferred it to an union with Bute and
Fox. The former's was a decisive panic; so sudden, that it is
said Lord Egremont was sent to break his resolution of retiring
to the King. The other, whose journey to France does not
indicate much less apprehension, affects to walk in the streets
at the most public hours to mark his not trembling. In the mean
time the two chiefs have paid their bravoes magnificently: no
less than fifty-two thousand pounds a-year are granted in
reversion! Young Martin,(274) Who is older than I am, is named
my successor; but I intend he shall wait some years: if they had
a mind to serve me, they could not have selected a fitter tool to
set my character in a fair light by the comparison. Lord Bute's
son has the reversion of an auditor of the imprest; this is all
he has done ostensibly for his family, but the great things
bestowed on the most insignificant objects, make me suspect some
private compacts. Yet I may wrong him, but I do not mean it.
Lord Granby has refused Ireland, and the Northumberlands are to
transport their magnificence thither.(275) I lament that you
made so little of that voyage, but is this the season of
unrewarded merit? One should blush to be preferred within the
same year. Do but think that Calcraft is to be an Irish lord!
Fox's millions, or Calcraft's tythes of millions, cannot purchase
a grain of your virtue or character. Adieu!
(271) In September 1766, Lady Waldegrave became the wife of his
Royal Highness William Henry Duke of Gloucester; by whom she was
mother of Prince William and of the Princess Sophia of
Gloucester.-E.
(272) Married to a sister of Lady Waldegrave.
(273) Lord Waldegrave had been governor of George the Third.-E.
(274) Samuel Martin, Esq. member for Camelford, one of the joint
secretaries of the treasury, named to succeed Walpole as usher of
receipts of the exchequer, comptroller of the great roll, and
keeper of the foreign receipts.-E.
(275) The Earl of Northumberland was gazetted on the 20th of
April lord-lieutenant of Ireland, and on the 14th of May the
Marquis of Granby was appointed master of the ordnance.-E.
Letter 152 To George Montagu, Esq.
Arlington Street, April 22, 1763. (page 212)
I have two letters from you, and shall take care to execute the
commission in the second. The first diverted me much. .
I brought my poor niece from Strawberry on Monday. As executrix,
her presence was quite necessary, and she has never refused to do
any thing reasonable that has been desired of her. But the house
and the business have shocked her terribly; she still eats
nothing, sleeps worse than she did, and looks dreadfully; I begin
to think she will miscarry. She said to me t'other day, "they
tell me that if my lord had lived, he might have done great
service to his country at this juncture, by the respect all
parties had for him. This is very fine; but as he did not live
to do those services, it will never be mentioned in history!" I
thought this solicitude for his honour charming. But he will be
known by history; he has left a small volume of Memoirs, that are
a chef-d'oeuvre.(276) He twice
showed them to me, but I kept his secret faithfully; now it is
for his glory to divulge it.
I and glad you are going to Dr. Lewis After an Irish voyage I do
not wonder you want careening. I have often preached to
you--nay, and lived to you too; but my sermons were flung away
and my example.
This ridiculous administration is patched up for the present; the
detail is delightful, but that I shall reserve for
Strawberry-tide. Lord Bath has complained to Fanshaw of Lord
Pulteney's(277) extravagance, and added, "if he had lived he
would have spent my whole estate." This almost comes up to Sir
Robert Brown, who, when his eldest daughter was given over, but
still alive, on that uncertainty sent for an undertaker, and
bargained for her funeral in hopes of having it cheaper, as it
was possible she might recover. Lord Bath has purchased the
Hatton vault in Westminster-abbey, squeezed his wife, son, and
daughter into it, reserved room for himself, and has set the rest
to sale. Come; all this is not far short of Sir Robert Brown.
To my great satisfaction, the new Lord Holland has not taken the
least friendly, or even formal notice of me, on Lord Waldegrave's
death. It dispenses me from the least farther connexion with
him, and saves explanations, which always entertain the world
more than satisfy.
Dr. Cumberland is an Irish bishop; I hope before the summer is
over that some beam from your cousin's portion of the triumvirate
may light on poor Bentley. If he wishes it till next winter, he
will be forced to try still new sunshine. I have taken Mrs.
Pritchard's house for Lady Waldegrave; I offered her to live with
me at Strawberry, but with her usual good sense she declined it,
as she thought the children would be troublesome.
Charles Townshend's episode in this revolution passes belief,
though he does not tell it himself. If I had a son born, and an
old fairy were to appear and offer to endow him with her choicest
gifts, I should cry out, "Powerful Goody, give him any thing but
parts!"(278) Adieu!
(276) "the Memoirs, from 1754 to 1758, by James Earl Waldegrave,"
which were published in 1821, in a small quarto volume.-E.
(277) Son Of the Earl of Bath. He was a lord of the bedchamber
and member for Westminster. He died on the 16th of February.-E.
(278) Lord Barrington, in a letter to Mr. Mitchell of the 19th of
April, says,--"Charles Townshend accepted the admiralty on
Thursday, and went to kiss hands the next day; but he brought
Peter Burrell with him to court, and insisted he likewise should
be one of the board. Being told that Lords Howe and Digby were
to fill up the vacant seats at the admiralty, he declined
accepting the office destined for him, and the next day received
a dismission from the King's service."-E.
Letter 153To The Hon. H. S. Conway.
Strawberry Hill, May 1, 1763. (page 213)
I feel happy at hearing your happiness; but, my dear Harry, your
vision is much indebted to your long absence, which Makes
bleak rocks and barren mountains smile.
I mean no offence to Park-place, but the bitterness of the
weather makes me wonder how you can find the country tolerable
now. This is a May-day for the latitude of Siberia! The
milkmaids should be wrapped in @the motherly comforts of a
swanskin petticoat. In short, such hard words have passed
between me and the north wind to-day, that, according to the
language of the times, I was very near abusing it for coming from
Scotland, and to imputing it to Lord Bute. I don't know whether
I should not have written a North Briton against it, if the
printers were not all sent to Newgate, and Mr. Wilkes to the
Tower--ay, to the Tower, tout de bon.(279) The new ministry are
trying to make up for their ridiculous insignificance by a coup
d'`eclat. As I came hither yesterday, I do not know whether the
particulars I have heard are genuine--but in the Tower he
certainly is, taken up by Lord Halifax's warrant for treason;
vide the North Briton of Saturday was se'nnight. It is said he
refused to obey the warrant, of which he asked and got a copy
from the two messengers, telling them he did not mean to make his
escape, but sending to demand his habeas corpus, which was
refused. He then went to Lord Halifax, and thence to the Tower;
declaring they should get nothing out of him but what they knew.
All his papers have been seize(]. Lord Chief Justice Pratt, I am
told, finds great fault with the wording of the warrant.
I don't know how to execute your commission for books of
architecture, nor care to put you to expense, which I know will
not answer. I have been consulting my neighbour young Mr. Thomas
Pitt,(280) my present architect: we have all books of that sort
here, but, cannot think of one which will help you to a cottage
or a green-house. For the former you should send me your idea,
your dimensions; for the latter, don't you rebuild your old one,
though in another place? A pretty greenhouse I never saw; nor
without immoderate expense can it well be an agreeable object.
Mr. Pitt thinks a mere portico without a pediment, and windows
retrievable in summer, would be the best plan you could have. If
so, don't you remember something of that kind, which you liked at
Sir Charles Cotterel's at Rousham? But a fine greenhouse must be
on a more exalted plan. In Short.. YOU Must be more particular,
before I can be at all so.
I called at Hammersmith yesterday about Lady Ailesbury's tubs;
one of them is nearly finished, but they will not both be
completed these ten days. Shall they be sent to you by water?
Good night to her ladyship and you, and the infanta,(281) whose
progress in waxen statuary I hope advances so fast, that by next
winter she may rival Rackstrow's old man. Do you know that,
though apprised of what I was going to see, it deceived me, and
made such impression on my mind, that, thinking on it as I came
home in my chariot. and seeing a woman steadfastly at work in a
window in Pall-mall, it made me start to see her move. Adieu!
Arlington Street, Monday night.
The mighty commitment set out with a blunder; the warrant
directed the printer, and all concerned (unnamed) to be taken up.
Consequently Wilkes had his habeas corpus of course, and was
committed again; moved for another in the common pleas, and is to
appear there to-morrow morning. Lord Temple, by another strain
of power refused admittance to him, said, "I thought this was the
Tower, but find it the Bastille." They found among Wilkes's
papers an unpublished North Briton. designed for It contains
advice to the King not to go to St. Paul's for the thanksgiving,
but to have a snug one in his own chapel; and to let Lord George
Sackville carry the sword. There was a dialogue in it too
between Fox and Calcraft: the former says to the latter, "I did
not think you would have served me so, Jemmy Twitcher."
(279) For his strictures in the North Briton, No. 45, on the
King's speech at the close of the session.-E.
(280) Afterwards created Lord Camelford.
(281) Anne Seymour Conway.
Letter 154 To Sir David Dalrymple.(282)
Strawberry Hill, May 2, 1763. _page 215)
Sir,
I forebore to answer your letter for a few days, till I knew
whether it was in my power to give you satisfaction. Upon
inquiry, and having conversed with some who could inform me, I
find it would be very difficult to obtain so peremptory an order
for dismissing fictitious invalids (as I think they may properly
be called), as you seem to think the state of the case requires;
by any interposition of mine, quite impossible. Very difficult I
am told it would be to get them dismissed from our hospitals when
once admitted, and subject to a clamour which, in the present
unsettled state of government, nobody would care to risk. Indeed
I believe it could not be done by any single authority. The
power of admission, and consequently of dismission, does not
depend on the minister, but on the board who direct the affairs
of the hospital, at which board preside the paymaster,, secretary
at war, governor, etc.; if I am not quite exact, I know it is so
in general. I am advised to tell you, Sir, that if upon
examination it should be thought right to take the step you
counsel, still it could not be done without previous and
deliberate discussion. As I should grudge no trouble, and am
very desirous of executing any
commission, Sir, you will honour me with, if you will draw up a
memorial in form, stating the abuses which have come to your
]Knowledge, the advantages which would result to the community by
more rigorous examination of candidates for admission, and the
uses
to which the overflowings of the military might be put, I will
engage to put it into the hands of Mr. Grenville, the present
head
of the treasury, and to employ all the little credit he is so
good
to let me have with him, in backing your request. I can answer
for
one thing and no more, that as long as he sits at that board,
which
probably will not be long, he will give all due attention to any
scheme of national utility.
It is seldom, Sir, that political revolutions bring any man upon
the stage, with whom I have much connexion. The great actors are
not the class whom I much cultivate; consequently I am neither
elated with hopes on their advancement, nor mortified nor
rejoiced
at their fall. As the scene has shifted often of late, and is
far
from promising duration at present, one must, if one lives in the
great world, have now and then an acquaintance concerned in the
drama. Whenever I happen to have one, I hope I am ready and glad
to make use of such (however unsubstantial) interest to do good
or
to oblige; Ind this being the case at present, and truly I cannot
call Mr. Grenville much more than an acquaintance, I shall be
happy, Sir, if I can Contribute to your views, which I have
reason
to believe are those of a benevolent man and good citizen; but I
advertise you truly, that my interest depends more on Mr.
Grenville's goodness and civility, than on any great connexion
between Us, and still less on any Political connexion. I think
he would like to do public good, I know I should like to
contribute to it-but if it is to be done by this channel, I
apprehend there is not much time to be lost--you See, what I
think of the permanence of the present system! Your ideas, Sir,
on the hard fate of our brave soldiers concur with mine; I
lamented their sufferings, and have tried in vain to suggest some
little plans for their relief. I only mention this, to prove to
you that I am not indifferent to the subject, nor undertake your
commission from mere complaisance. You Understand the matter
better than I do, but you cannot engage in it with more zeal.
Methodize, if you please, your plan, and communicate it to me,
and it shall not be lost for want of solicitation. We swarm with
highwaymen, who have been heroes. We owe our safety to them,
consequently we owe a return Of preservation to them, if we can
find out methods of employing them honestly. Extend your views,
Sir, for them, and let me -be@solicitor to the cause.
(282) Now first collected.
Letter 155To The Hon. H. S. Conway.
Arlington Street, May 6, very late, 1763. (page 216)
The complexion of the times is a little altered since the
beginning of this last winter. Prerogation, that gave itself
such airs in November, and would speak to nothing but a Tory, has
had a rap this morning that will do it some good, unless it is
weak enough to do itself more harm. The judges of the common
pleas have unanimously dismissed Wilkes from his
imprisonment,(283) as a breach of
privilege; his offence not being a breach of peace, only tending
to it. The people are in transports; and it will require all the
vanity and confidence of those able ministers, Lord Sandwich and
Mr. C * * * to keep up the spirits of the court.
I must change this tone, to tell you of the most dismal calamity
that ever happened. Lady Molesworth's house, in Upper Brook-
street was burned to the ground between four and five this
morning. She herself, two of her daughters, her brother,(284)
and six servants Perished. Two other of the young ladies jumped
out of the two pair of stairs and garret windows: one broke her
thigh, the other (the eldest of all) broke hers too, and has had
it cut off. The fifth daughter is much burnt. The French
governess leaped from the garret, and was dashed to pieces. Dr.
Molesworth and his wife, who were there on a visit, escaped; the
wife by jumping from the two pair of stairs, and saving herself
by a rail; he by hanging by his hands, till a second ladder was
brought, after a first had proved too short. Nobody knows how or
where the fire began; the catastrophe is shocking beyond what one
ever heard: and poor Lady Molesworth whose character and conduct
were the most amiable in the world, is universally lamented.
Your good hearts will feel this in the most lively manner.(285)
I go early to Strawberry to-morrow, giving up the new Opera,
Madame de Boufflers, and Mr. Wilkes, and all the present topics.
Wilkes, whose case has taken its place by the side of the seven
bishops, calls himself the eighth--not quite improperly, when One
remembers that Sir Jonathan Trelawney, who swore like a trooper,
was one of those confessors.
There is a good letter in the Gazetteer on the other side,
pretending to be written by Lord Temple, and advising Wilkes to
cut his throat, like Lord E * * * as it would be of infinite
service to their cause. There are published, too, three volumes
of Lady Mary Wortley's letters, which I believe are genuine, and
are not unentertaining. But have you read Tom Hervey's letter to
the late King? That beats every thing for madness, horrid
indecency, and folly, and yet has some charming and striking
passages. I have advised Mrs. Harris to inform
against Jack, as writing in the North Briton; he will then be
shut up in the Tower, and may be shown for old Nero.(286) Adieu!
(283) Wilkes was discharged on the 6th of May, by Lord Chief
Justice Pratt, who decided that he was entitled to plead his
privilege as a member of parliament; the crime of which he was
accused, namely, a libel, being in the eyes of the law only a
high misdemeanour, whereas the only three cases which could
affect the privilege of a member of parliament were treason,
felony, and breach of the peace.-E.
(284) Captain Usher. Lady Molesworth was daughter of the Rev. W.
Usher, archdeacon of Clonfret, and second wife of Richard third
Viscount Molesworth, who was aide-de-camp to the Duke of
Marlborough at the battle of Ramilies, and saved his grace's life
in that engagement.-E.
(285) The King upon hearing of this calamity, immediately sent
the young ladies a handsome present; ordered a house to be taken
and furnished for them at his expense; and not only continued the
pension settled on the mother, but ordered it to be increased two
hundred pounds per annum.
(286) An old lion there, so called.
Letter 156 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.
Strawberry Hill, May 16, 1763. (page 217)
Dear sir,
I promised you should hear from me if I did not go abroad, and I
flatter myself that you will not be sorry to know that I am much
better in health than I was at the beginning of the winter. My
journey is quite laid aside, at least for this year; though as
Lord Hertford goes ambassador to Paris, I propose to make him a
visit there next spring. As I shall be a good deal here this
summer, I hope you did not take a surfeit of Strawberry Hill, but
will bestow a visit on it while its beauty lasts; the gallery
advances fast now, and I think in a few weeks will make a figure
worth your looking at.
Letter 157 To George Montagu, Esq.
Strawberry Hill, May 17, 1763. (page 218)
"On vient de nous donner une tr`es jolie f`ete au ch`ateau de
Straberri: tout etoit tapiss`e de narcisses, de tulipes, et de
lilacs; des cors de chasse, des clarionettes; des petits vers
galants faits par des f`ees, et qui se trouvoient sous la presse;
des fruits `a la glace, du th`e, du caff`e, des biscuits, et
force hot-rolls."--This is not the beginning of a letter to you,
but of one that I might suppose sets out to-night for Paris, or
rather, which I do not suppose will set out thither: for though
the narrative is circumstantially true, I don't believe the
actors were pleased enough with the scene, to give so favourable
an account of it.
The French do not come hither to see. A l'Anglaise happened to
be the word in fashion; and half a dozen of the most fashionable
people have been the dupes of it. I take for granted that their
next mode will be `a l'Iroquaise, that they may be under no
obligation of realizing their pretensions. Madame de
Boufflers(287) I think will die a martyr to a taste, which she
fancied she had, and finds she has not. Never having stirred ten
miles from Paris, and having only rolled in an easy coach from
one hotel to another on a gliding pavement, she is already worn
out with being hurried from morning till night from one sight to
another. She rises every morning SO fatigued with the toils of
the preceding day, that she has not strength, if she had
inclination, to observe the least, or the finest thing she sees!
She came hither to-day to a great breakfast I made for her, with
her eyes a foot deep in her head, her hands dangling, and scarce
able to support her knitting-bag. She had been yesterday to see
a ship launched, and went from Greenwich by water to Ranelagh.
Madame Dusson, who is Dutch-built, and whose muscles are
pleasure-proof, came with her; there were besides, Lady Mary
Coke, Lord and Lady Holderness, the Duke and Duchess of Grafton,
Lord Hertford, Lord Villiers, Offley, Messieurs de Fleury,
D'Eon,(288) et Duclos. The latter is author of the Life of Louis
Onze;(289) dresses like a dissenting minister, which I suppose is
the livery of le bel esprit, and is much more impetuous than
agreeable. We breakfasted in the great parlour, and I had filled
the hall and large cloister by turns with French horns and
clarionettes. As the French ladies had never seen a
printing-house, I carried them into mine; they found something
ready set, and desiring to see what it was, it proved as
follows:--
The Press speaks: