Strawberry Hill, July 1, 1763. (page 228)

Dear sir,

As you have given me leave, I propose to pass a day with you,

on my way to Mr. Montagu's. If you have no engagement, I will

be with you on the 16th of this month, and if it is not

inconvenient, and you will tell me truly whether it is or not,

I shall bring my friend Mr. Chute with me, who is destined to

the same place. I will beg you too to let me know how far it

is to Bleckley, and what road I must take: that is, how far

from London, or how far from Twickenham, and the road from

each, as I am uncertain yet from which I shall set out. If any

part of this proposal does not suit You, I trust you will own

it, and I will take some other opportunity of calling on you,

being most truly, dear Sir, etc.

Letter 165 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.

Strawberry Hill, July 12, 1763. (page 228)

Dear sir,

Upon consulting maps and the knowing, I find it will be my best

way to call on Mr. Montagu first, before I come to you, or I must

go the same road twice. This will make it a few days later than

I intended before I wait on you, and will leave you time to

complete your hay-harvest, as I gladly embrace your offer of

bearing me company on the tour I meditate to Burleigh, Drayton,

Peterborough, Ely, and twenty other places, of all which you

shall take as much or as little as you please. It will, I think,

be Wednesday or Thursday se'nnight, before I wait on you, that is

the 20th or 21st, and I fear I shall come alone; for Mr. Chute is

confined with the gout: but you shall hear again before I set

out. Remember I am to see Sir Kenelm Digby's.

I thank you much for your informations. The Countess of

Cumberland is an acquisition, and quite new to me. With the

Countess of Kent I am acquainted since my last edition.

Addison certainly changed sides in the epitaph to indicabit to

avoid the jingle with dies: though it is possible that the

thought may have been borrowed elsewhere. Adieu, Sir!

To The Rev. Mr. Cole.

Dear sir,

Wednesday is the day I propose waiting on you; what time of it

the Lord and the roads know; so don't wait for me any part of it.

If I should be violently pressed to stay a day longer at Mr.

Montagu's I hope it will be no disappointment to you: but I love

to be uncertain, rather than make myself expected and fail.

Letter 166 To George Montagu, Esq.

Stamford, Saturday night, July 23, 1763. (page 229)

"Thus far arms have with success been crowned," bating a few

mishaps, which will attend long marches like ours. We have

conquered as many towns as Louis Quatorze in the campaign of

seventy-two; that is, seen them, for he did little more, and into

the bargain he had much better roads, and a dryer summer. It has

rained perpetually till to-day, and made us experience the rich

soil of Northamptonshire, which is a clay-pudding stuck full of

villages. After we parted with you on Thursday, we saw Castle

Ashby(305) and Easton MaudUit.(306) The first is most

magnificently triste, and has all the formality of the Comptons.

I should admire 'It if I could see out of it, or any thing in it,

but there is scarce any furniture, and the bad little frames of

glass exclude all objects. Easton is miserable enough; there are

many modern portraits, and one I was glad to see of the Duchess

of Shrewsbury. We lay at Wellingborough--pray never lie there--

the beastliest inn upon earth is there! We were carried into a

vast bedchamber, which I suppose is the club-room, for it stunk

of tobacco like a justice of peace. I desired some boiling water

for tea; they brought me a sugar dish of hot water in a pewter

plate. Yesterday morning we went to Boughton,(307) where we were

scarce landed, before the Cardigans, in a coach and six and three

chaises, arrived with a cold dinner in their pockets, on their

way to Deane; for as it is in dispute, they never reside at

Boughton. This was most unlucky, that we should pitch on the

only hour in the year in which they are there. I was so

disconcerted, and so afraid, of falling foul of the Countess and

her caprices, that I hurried from chamber to chamber, and scarce

knew what I saw, but that the house is in the grand old French

style, that gods and goddesses lived over my head in every room,

and that there was nothing but pedigrees all around me, and under

my feet, for there is literally a coat of arms at the end of

every step of the stairs: did the Duke mean to pun, and intend

this for the descent of the Montagus? Well! we hurried away and

got to Drayton an hour before dinner. Oh! the dear old place!

you would be transported with it. In the first place, it stands

in as ugly a hole as Boughton: well! that is not its beauty. The

front is a brave strong castle wall, embattled and loopholed for

defence. Passing the great gate, you come to a sumptuous but

narrow modern court, behind which rises the old mansion, all

towers and turrets. The house is excellent; has a vast hall,

ditto dining-room, king's chamber, trunk gallery at the top of

the house, handsome chapel, and seven or eight distinct

apartments, besides closets and conveniences without end. Then

it is covered with portraits, crammed with old china, furnished

richly, and not a rag in it under forty, fifty, or a thousand

years old; but not a bed or chair that has lost a tooth, or got a

gray hair, so well are they preserved. I rummaged it from head

to foot, examined every spangled bed, and enamelled pair of

bellows, for such there are; in short, I do not believe the old

mansion was ever better pleased with an inhabitant, since the

days of Walter de Drayton, except when it has received its divine

old mistress.(308) If one could honour her more than one did

before, it would be to see with what religion she keeps up the

old dwelling and customs, as well as old servants, who you may

imagine do not love her less than other people do. The garden is

just as Sir John Germain brought it from Holland; pyramidal yews,

treillages, and square cradle walks with windows clipped in them.

Nobody was there but Mr. Beauclerc(309) and Lady Catharine,(310)

and two parsons: the two first suffered us to ransack and do as

we would, and the two last assisted us, informed us, and carried

us to every tomb in the neighbourhood. I have got every

circumstance by heart, and was pleased beyond my expectation,

both with the place and the comfortable way of seeing it. We

stayed here till after dinner to-day, and saw Fotheringhay in our

way hither. The castle is totally ruined.(311) The mount, on

which the keep stood, two door-cases, and a piece of the moat,

are all the remains. Near it is a front and two projections of

an ancient house, which, by the arms about it, I suppose was part

of the palace of Richard and Cicely, Duke and Duchess of York.

There are two pretty tombs for them and their uncle Duke of York

in the church, erected by order of Queen Elizabeth. The church

has been very fine, but is now intolerably shabby; yet many large

saints remain in the windows, two entire, and all the heads well

painted. You may imagine we were civil enough to the Queen of

Scots, to feel a feel of pity for her, while we stood on the very

spot where she was put to death; my companion,(312) I believe,

who is a better royalist than I am, felt a little more. There, I

have obeyed you. To-morrow we see Burleigh and Peterborough, and

lie @t Ely; on Monday I hope to be in town, and on Tuesday I hope

much more to be in the gallery at Strawberry Hill, and to find

the gilders laying on the last leaf of gold. Good night!

(305) A seat of the Earl of Northampton.

(306) A seat of the Earl of Sussex.

(307) The seat of Lord Montagu.

(308) Lady Betty Germain.-E.

(309) Aubrey Beauclerk, Esq. member for Thetford. He succeeded

to the dukedom of St. Albans, as fifth Duke, in 1787, and died in

1802.-E.

(310) Lady Catharine Ponsonby, daughter of the Earl of

Desborough.

(311) James the First is said to have ordered it to be destroyed,

in consequence of its having been the scene of the trial and

execution of his mother, Mary Queen of Scots, beheaded there in

February 1587.-E.

(312) Mr. Cole.

Letter 167 To George Montagu, Esq.

Hockerill, Monday night, July 25, Vol. 2d. (page 231)

You must know we were drowned on Saturday night. It rained, as

it did at Greatworth on Wednesday, all night and all next

morning, so we could not look even at the outside of Burleigh;

but we saw the inside pleasantly; for Lord Exeter, whom I had

prepared for our intentions, came to us, and made every door and

every lock fly open, even of his magazines, yet unranged. He is

going through the house by decrees, furnishing a room every year,

and has already made several most sumptuous. One is a little

tired of Carlo Maratti and Lucca Jordano, yet still these are

treasures. The china and japan are of the finest; miniatures in

plenty, and a shrine full of crystal vases, filigree, enamel,

jewels, and the trinkets of taste, that have belonged to many a

noble dame. In return for his civilities, I made my Lord Exeter

a present of a glorious cabinet, whose drawers and sides are all

painted by Rubens. This present you must know is his own, but he

knew nothing of the hand or the value. Just so I have given Lady

Betty Germain a very fine portrait, that I discovered ,at Drayton

in the Woodhouse.

I was not much pleased with Peterborough; the front is adorable,

but the inside has no more beauty than consists in vastness. By

the way, I have a pen and ink that will not form a letter. We

were now sent to Huntingdon in our way to Ely, as we found it

impracticable, from the rains and floods, to cross the country

thither. We landed in the heart of the assizes, and almost in

the middle of the races, both which, to the astonishment of the

virtuosi, we eagerly quitted this morning. We were hence sent

south to Cambridge, still on our way north to Ely: but when we

got to Cambridge we were forced to abandon all thoughts of Ely,

there being nothing but lamentable stories of inundations and

escapes. However, I made myself amends at the university, which

I have not seen these four-and-twenty years, and which revived

many youthful scenes, which, merely from their being youthful,

are forty times pleasanter than any other ideas. You know I

always long to live at Oxford: I felt that I could like to live

even at Cambridge again. The colleges are much cleaned and

improved since my days, and the trees and groves more venerable;

but the town is tumbling about their ears. We surprised Gray

with our appearance, dined and drank tea with him, and are come

hither within sight of land. I always find it worth my while to

make journeys, for the joy I have in getting home again. A

second adieu!

Letter 168 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.

Strawberry Hill, Aug. 8, 1763. (page 232)

Dear sir,

You judge rightly, I am very indifferent about Dr. Shorton, since

he is not Dr. Shorter. It has done nothing but rain since my

return; whoever wants hay, must fish for it; it is all drowned,

or swimming about the country. I am glad our tour gave you so

much pleasure; you was so very obliging, as you have always been

to me, that I should have been grieved not to have had it give

you satisfaction. I hope your servant is quite recovered.

The painters and gilders quit my gallery this week, but I have

not got a chair or a table for it yet; however, I hope it will

have all its clothes on by the time you have promised me a visit.

Letter 169 To Dr. Ducarel.

Strawberry Hill, Aug. 8, 1763. (page 232)

Sir,

I have been rambling about the country, or should not so long

have deferred to answer the favour of your letter. I thank you

for the notices in it, and have profited of them. I am much

obliged to you too for the drawings you intended me; but I have

since had a letter from Mr. Churchill, and he does not mention

them.

Letter 170 To The Hon. H. S. Conway.

Strawberry Hill, Aug. 9, 1763. (page 232)

My gallery claims your promise; the painters and gilders finish

to-morrow, and next day it washes its hands. You talked of the

15th; shall I expect you then, and the Countess,(313) and the

Contessina,(314) and the Baroness?(315)

Lord Digby is to be married immediately to the pretty Miss

Fielding; and Mr. Boothby, they say, to Lady Mary Douglas. What

more news I know I cannot send you; for I have had it from Lady

Denbigh and Lady Blandford, who have so confounded names,

genders, and circumstances, that I am not sure whether Prince

Ferdinand is not going to be married to the hereditary Prince.

Adieu!

P. S. If you want to know more of me, you may read a whole column

of abuse upon me in the Public Ledger of Thursday last; where

they inform me that the Scotch cannot be so sensible @as the

English, because they have not such good writers. Alack! I am

afraid the most sensible men in any country do not write.

I had writ this last night. This morning I receive your paper of

evasions, perfide que vous `etes! You may let it alone, you will

never see any thing like my gallery--and then to ask me to leave

it the instant it is finished! I never heard such a request in my

days!--Why, all the earth is begging to come to see it: as Edging

says, I have had offers enough from blue and green ribands to

make me a falbala-apron. Then I have just refused to let Mrs.

Keppel and her Bishop be in the house with me, because I expected

all you--it is mighty well, mighty fine!-No, sir, no, I shall not

come; nor am I in a humour to do any thing else you desire:

indeed, without your provoking me, I should not have come into

the proposal of paying Giardini. We have been duped and cheated

every winter for these twenty years by the undertakers of

operas, and I never will pay a farthing more till the last

moment, nor can be terrified at their puffs; I am astonished you

are. So far from frightening me. the kindest thing they could do

would be not to let one have a box to hear their old threadbare

voices and frippery thefts; and as for Giardini himself, I would

not go cross the room to hear him play to eternity. I should

think he could frighten nobody but Lady Bingley by a refusal.

(313) Of Ailesbury.

(314) Miss Anne Seymour Conway.

(315) Elizabeth Rich, second wife of George Lord Lyttelton.

Letter 171 To The Earl Of Strafford.

Strawberry Hill, Aug 10, 1763. Page 233)

My dear lord,

I have waited in hopes that the world would do something worth

telling you: it will not, and I cannot stay any longer without

asking you how you do, and hoping you have not quite forgot me.

It has rained such deluges, that I had some thoughts of turning

my gallery into an ark, and began to pack up a pair of bantams, a

pair of cats, in short, a pair of every living creature about my

house: but it is grown fine at last, and the workmen quit my

gallery to-day without hoisting a sail in it. I know nothing

upon earth but what the ancient ladies in my neighbourhood knew

threescore years ago; I write merely to pay you my pepper-corn of

affection, and to inquire after my lady, who I hope is perfectly

well. A longer letter would not have half the merit: a line in

return will however repay all the merit I can possibly have to

one to whom I am so much obliged.

Letter 172 To George Montagu, Esq.

Strawberry Hill, Aug. 15, 1763. (page 233)

The most important piece of news I have to tell you is, that the

gallery is finished; that is, the workmen have quitted it. For

chairs and tables, not one is arrived yet. Well, how you will

tramp up and down in it! Methinks I wish you would. We are in

the perfection of beauty; verdure itself was never green till

this summer, thanks to the deluges of rain. Our complexion used

to be mahogany in August. Nightingales and roses indeed are out

of blow, but the season is celestial. I don't know whether we

have not even had an earthquake to-day. Lady Buckingham, Lady

Waldegrave, the Bishop of' Exeter, and Mrs. Keppel, and the

little Hotham dined here; between six and seven we were sitting

in the great parlour; I sat in the window looking at the river:

on a sudden I saw it violently agitated, and, as it were, lifted

up and down by a thousand hands. I called out, they all ran to

the window; it continued; we hurried into the garden, and all saw

the Thames in the same violent commotion for I suppose a hundred

yards. We fancied at first there must be some barge rope; not

one was in sight. It lasted in this manner, and at the farther

end, towards Teddington, even to dashing. It did not cease

before I got to the middle of the terrace, between the fence and

the hill. Yet this is nothing: to what is to come. The Bishop

and I walked down to my meadow by the river. At this end were

two fishermen in a boat, but their backs had been turned to the

agitation, and they had seen nothing. At the farther end of the

field was a gentleman fishing, and a woman by him; I had

perceived him on the same spot at the time of the motion of the

waters, which was rather beyond where it was terminated. I now

thought myself sure of a witness, and concluded he could not have

recovered his surprise. I ran up to him. "Sir," said I, "did

you see that strange agitation of the waters?" "When, Sir? when,

Sir?" "Now, this very instant, not two minutes ago." He

replied, with the phlegm of a philosopher, or of a man that can

love fishing, "Stay, Sir, let me recollect if I remember nothing

of it." "Pray, Sir," said I, scarce able to help laughing, "you

must remember whether you remember it or not, for it is scarce

over." "I am trying to recollect," said he, with the same

coolness. "Why, Sir," said I, "six of us saw it from my parlour

window yonder." "Perhaps," answered he, "you might perceive it

better where you were, but I suppose it was an earthquake." His

nymph had seen nothing neither, and so we returned as wise as

most who inquire into natural phenomena. We expect to hear

to-morrow that there has been an earthquake somewhere; unless

this appearance portended a state-quake. You see, my impetuosity

does not abate much; no, nor my youthfullity, which bears me out

even at a sabat. I dined last week at Lady Blandford's, with

her, the old Denbigh, the old Litchfield, and Methuselah knows

who. I had stuck some sweet peas in my hair, was playing at

quadrille, and singing to my sorci`eres. The Duchess of Argyle

and Mrs. Young came in; you may guess how they stared; at last

the Duchess asked what was the meaning of those flowers? "Lord,

Madam," said I, "don't you know it is the fashion? The Duke of

Bedford is come over with his hair full." Poor Mrs. Young took

this in sober sadness, and has reported that the Duke of Bedford

wears flowers. You will not know me less by a precipitation of

this morning. Pitt and I were busy adjusting the gallery. Mr.

Elliott came in and discomposed us; I was horridly tired of him.

As he was going, he said, "Well, this house is so charming, I

don't wonder at your being able to live so much alone." I, who

shudder at the thought of any body's living With me, replied very

innocently, but a little too quick, "No, only pity me when I

don't live alone." Pitt was shocked, and said, "To be sure he

will never forgive you as long as he lives." Mrs. Leneve used

often to advise me never to begin being civil to people I did not

care for: For," says she, "you grow weary of them, and can't help

showing it, and so make it ten times worse than if you had never

attempted to please them."

I suppose you have read in the papers the massacre of my

innocents. Every one of my Turkish sheep, that I have been

nursing up these fourteen years, torn to pieces in one night by

three strange dogs! They killed sixteen outright, and mangled

the two others in such a manner that I was forced to have them

knocked on the head. However, I bore this better than an

interruption.

I have scrawled and blotted this letter so I don't know whether

you can read it; but it is no matter, for I perceive it is all

about myself: but what has one else in the dead of summer? In

return, tell me as much as you please about yourself, which you

know is always a most welcome subject to me. One may preserve

one's spirits with one's juniors, but I defy any body to care but

about their contemporaries. One wants to linger about one's

predecessors, but who has the least curiosity about their

successors? This is abominable ingratitude: one takes wondrous

pains to consign one's own memory to them at the same time that

one feels the most perfect indifference to whatever relates to

them themselves. Well, they will behave just so in their turns.

Adieu!

Letter 173 To George Montagu, Esq.

Strawberry Hill, Sept. 3, 1763. (page 235)

I have but a minute's time for answering your letter; my house is

full of people, and has been so from the instant I breakfasted,

and more are coming; in short, I keep an inn; the sign, the

Gothic Castle. Since my gallery was finished I have not been in

it a quarter of an hour together; my whole time is passed in

giving tickets for seeing it, and hiding myself while it is seen.

Take my advice, never build a charming house for yourself between

London and Hampton-court: every body will live in it but you. I

fear you must give up all thoughts of the Vine for this year, at

least for some time. The poor master is on the rack; I left him

the day before yesterday in bed, where he had been ever since

Monday, with the gout in both knees and one foot, and suffering

martyrdom every night. I go to see him again on Monday. He has

not had so bad a fit these four years, and he has probably the

other foot still to come. You must come to me at least in the

mean time, before he is well enough to receive you. After next

Tuesday I am unengaged, except on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday

following; that is, the tenth, eleventh, and twelfth, when the

family from Park-place are to be with me. Settle your motions,

and let me know them as soon as you can, and give me as much time

as you can spare. I flatter myself the General(316) and Lady

Grandison will keep the kind promise they made me, and that I

shall see your brother John and Mr. Miller too.

My niece is not breeding. You shall have the auction books as

soon as I can get them, though I question if there is any thing

in your way; however, I shall see you long before the sale, and

we will talk on it.

There has been a revolution and a re-revolution, but I must defer

the history till I see you, for it is much too big for a letter

written in such a hurry as this. Adieu!

(316) General Montagu, who, in the preceding February, had

married the Countess-dowager of Grandison.-E.

Letter 174 To George Montagu, Esq.

Strawberry Hill, Sept. 7, 1763. (page 236)

As I am sure the house of Conway will not stay with me beyond

Monday next, I shall rejoice to see the house of Montagu this day

se'nnight (Wednesday), and shall think myself highly honoured by

a visit from Lady Beaulieu;(317) I know nobody that has better

taste, and it would flatter me exceedingly if she should happen

to like Strawberry. I knew you would be pleased with Mr. Thomas

Pitt; he is very amiable and very sensible, and one of the very

few that I reckon quite worthy of being at home at Strawberry.

I have again been in town to see Mr. Chute; he thinks the worst

over, yet he gets no sleep, and is still confined to his bed 'but

his spirits keep up surprisingly. As to your gout, so far from

pitying you, 'tis the best thing that can happen to you. All

that claret and port are very kind to you, when they prefer the

shape of lameness to that of apoplexies, or dropsies, or fevers,

or pleurisies.

Let me have a line certain what day I may expect your party, that

I may pray to the sun to illuminate the cabinet. Adieu!

(317) Isabella, eldest daughter and co-heir of John Duke of

Montagu, and relict of William Duke of Manchester; married, in

1763, to Edward Montagu, Lord Beaulieu.-E.

Letter 175 To George Montagu, Esq.

Strawberry Hill, Oct. 3, 1763. (page 236)

I was just getting into my chaise to go to Park-place, when I

received your commission for Mrs. Crosby's pictures; but I did

not neglect it, though I might as well, for the old gentlewoman

was a little whimsical, and though I sent my own gardener and

farmer with my cart to fetch them on Friday, she would not

deliver them, she said, till Monday; so this morning they were

forced to go again. They are now all safely lodged in my

cloister; when I say safely, you understand, that two of them

have large holes in them, as witness this bill of lading signed

by your aunt. There are eleven in all, besides Lord Halifax,

seven half-lengths and four heads; the former are all desirable,

and one of the latter; the three others woful. Mr. Wicks is now

in the act of packing them, for we have changed our minds about

sending them to London by water, as your wagoner told Louis last

time I was at Greatworth, that if they were left at the Old Hat,

near Acton, he would take them up and convey them to Greatworth;

so my cart carries them thither, and they will set out towards

you next Saturday.

I felt shocked, as you did, to think how suddenly the prospect of

joy at Osterly was dashed after our seeing it. However the young

lover(318) died handsomely. Fifty thousand pounds will dry

tears, that at most could be but two months old. His brother, I

heard, has behaved still more handsomely, and confirmed the

legacy, and added from himself the diamonds that had been

prepared for her. Here is a charming wife ready for any body

that likes a sentimental situation, a pretty woman, and a large

fortune.(319)

I have been often at Bulstrode from Chaffont, but I don't like

it. It is Dutch and triste. The pictures you mention in the

gallery would be curious if they knew one from another; but the

names are lost, and they are only sure that they have so many

pounds of ancestors in the lump. One or two of them indeed I

know, as the Earl of Southampton, that was Lord Essex's friend.

The works of Park-place go on bravely; the cottage will be very

pretty, and the bridge sublime, composed of loose rocks, that

will appear to have been tumbled together there the very wreck of

the deluge. One stone is of fourteen hundred weight. It will be

worth a hundred of Palladio's brigades, that are only fit to be

used in an opera.

I had a ridiculous adventure on my way hither. A Sir Thomas

Reeves wrote to me last year, that he had a great quantity of

heads of painters, drawn by himself from Dr. Mead's collection,

of which many were English, and offered me the use of them. This

was one of the numerous unknown correspondents which my books

have drawn upon me. I put it off then, but being to pass near

his door, for he lives but two miles from Maidenhead, I sent him

word I would call on my way to Park-place. After being carried

to three wrong houses, I was directed to a very ancient mansion,

composed of timber, and looking as unlike modern habitations, as

the picture of Penderel's house in Clarendon. The garden was

overrun with weeds, and with difficulty we found a bell. Louis

came riding back in great haste, and said, "Sir, the Gentleman is

dead suddenly." You may imagine I was surprised; however, as an

acquaintance I had never seen was an endurable misfortune, I was

preparing to depart; but happening to ask some women, that were

passing by the chaise, if they knew any circumstance of Sir

Thomas's death, I discovered that this was not Sir Thomas's

house, but belonged to a Mr. Mecke,(320) fellow of a college at

Oxford, who was actually just dead, and that the antiquity itself

had formerly been the residence of Nell Gwyn. Pray inquire after

it the next time you are at Frocmore. I went on, and after a

mistake or two more found Sir Thomas, a man about thirty in age,

and twelve in understanding; his drawings very indifferent, even

for the latter calculation. I did not know what to do or say,

but commended them and his child, and his house; said I had all

the heads, hoped I should see him at Twickenham, was afraid of

being too late for dinner, and hurried out of his house before I

had been there twenty minutes. It grieves one to receive

civilities when one feels obliged, and yet finds it impossible to

bear the people that bestow them.

I have given my assembly, to show my gallery, and it was

glorious; but happening to pitch upon the feast of tabernacles,

none of my Jews could come, though Mrs. Clive proposed to them to

change their religion; so I am forced to exhibit once more. For

the morning spectators, the crowd augments instead of

diminishing. It is really true that Lady Hertford called here

t'other morning, and I was reduced to bring her by the back gate

into the kitchen; the house was so full of company that came to

see the gallery, that I had no where else to carry her. Adieu!

P. S. I hope the least hint has never dropped from the Beaulieus

of that terrible picture of Sir Charles Williams, that put me

into such confusion the morning they breakfasted here. If they

did observe the inscription, I am sure they must have seen too

how it distressed me. Your collection of pictures is packed up,

and makes two large cases and one smaller.

My next assembly will be entertaining; there will be five

countesses, two bishops, fourteen Jews, five papists, a doctor of

physic, and an actress; not to mention Scotch, Irish, East and

West Indians.

I find that, to pack up your pictures, Louis has taken some paper

out of a hamper of waste, into which I had cast some of the

Conway papers, perhaps only as useless , however, if you find any

such in the packing, be so good as to lay them by for me.

(318) Francis Child, Esq. the banker at Temple-bar, and member

for Bishop's-Castle, who died on the @3d of September. He was to

have been married in a few days to the only daughter of the Hon.

Robert Trevor Hampden, one of the postmasters-general.-E.

(319) This young lady was married in the May following to Henri,

twelfth Earl of Suffolk.-E.

(320) The Rev. Mr. Mecke, of Pembroke College. He died on the

26th of September.-E.

Letter 176 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.

Strawberry Hill, Oct. 8, 1763. Page 239)

Dear Sir,

You are always obliging to me and always thinking Of me kindly;

yet for once you have forgotten the way of obliging me most. You

do not mention any thought of coming hither, which you had given

me cause to hope about this time, I flatter myself nothing has

intervened to deprive me of that visit. Lord Hertford goes to

France the end of next week; I shall be in town to take leave of

him; but after the 15th, that is, this day se'nnight, I shall be

quite unengaged and the sooner I see you after the 15th, the

better, for I should be sorry to drag you across the country in

the badness of November roads.

I shall treasure up your notices against my second edition for

the volume of Engravers is printed off, and has been some time; I

only wait for some of the plates. The book you mention I have

not seen, nor do you encourage me to buy it. Some time or other

however I will get you to let me turn it over.

As I will trust that you will let me know soon when I shall have

the pleasure of seeing you here, I will make this a very short

letter indeed. I know nothing new or old worth telling you.

Letter 177 To The Earl Of Hertford.(321)

Arlington Street, Oct. 18, 1763. (page 239)

My dear Lord,

I am very impatient for a letter from Paris, to hear of your

outset, and what my Lady Hertford thinks of the new world she is

got into, and whether it is better or worse than she expected.

Pray tell me all: I mean of that sort, for I have no curiosity

about the family compact, nor the harbour of Dunkirk. It is your

private history--your audiences, reception, comforts or

distresses, your way of life, your company--that interests me; in

short, I care about my cousins and friends, not, like Jack

Harris,(322) about my lord ambassador. Consider you are in my

power. You, by this time,

are longing to hear from England, and depend upon me for the news

of London. I shall not send you a tittle, if you are not very

good, and do not (one of you, at least) write to me punctually.

This letter, I confess, will not give you much encouragement, for

I can absolutely tell you nothing. I dined at Mr. Grenville's

to-day, if there had been any thing to hear, I should have heard

it; but all consisted in what you will see in the papers--some

diminutive(323) battles in America, and the death of the King of

Poland,(324) which you probably knew before we did. The town is

a desert; it is like a vast plain, which, though abandoned at

present, is in three weeks to have a great battle fought upon it.

One of the colonels, I hear, is to be in town tomorrow, the Duke

of Devonshire. I came myself but this morning, but as I shall

not return to Strawberry till the day after to-morrow, I shall

not seal my letter till then. In the mean time, it is but fair

to give you some more particular particulars of what I expect to

know. For instance, of Monsieur de Nivernois's cordiality; of

Madame Dusson's affection for England; of my Lord Holland's joy

at seeing you in France, especially without your Secretary;(325)

of all my Lady Hertford's(326) cousins at St. Germains; and I

should not dislike a little anecdote or two of the late

embassy,(327) of which I do not doubt you will hear plenty. I

must trouble you with many

compliments to Madame de Boufflers, and with still more to the

Duchesse de Mirepoix,(328) who is always so good as to remember

me. Her brother, Prince de Beauvau,(329) I doubt has forgotten

me.

In

the disagreeableness of taking leave, I omitted these messages.

Good night for to-night--OH! I forgot--pray send me some caff`e

au lait: the Duc de Picquigny(33) (who by the way is somebody's

son, as I thought) takes it for snuff; and says it is the new

fashion at

Paris; I suppose they drink rappee after dinner.

Wednesday night.

I might as well have finished last night; for I know nothing more

than I did then, but that Lady mary Coke arrived this evening.

She has behaved very honourably, and not stolen the hereditary

Prince.(331)

Mr. Bowman(332) called on me yesterday before I came, and left

word that he would come again to-day, but did not. I wished to

hear of you from him, and a little of my old acquaintance at

Rheims. Did you find Lord Beauchamp(333) much grown? Are all

your sons to be like those of the Amalekites? who were I forget

how many cubits high.

Pray remind Mr. Hume(334) Of collecting the whole history of the

expulsion of the Jesuits. It is a subject worthy of his inquiry

and pen. Adieu! my dear lord.

(321) This is the first of the series of letters which Walpole

addressed to his relation, the Earl of Hertford, during his

lordship's embassy in Paris, in the years 1763, 1764, and 1765.

The first edition of these letters appeared, in quarto, in 1825,

edited by the Right Honourable John Wilson Croker, and contained

the following introductory notice:--

"No apology, it is presumed, is necessary for the following

publication. The Letters of Mr. Walpole have already attained

the highest rank in that department of English literature, and

seem to deserve their popularity, whether they are regarded as

objects of mere amusement, or as a collection of anecdotes

illustrative of the politics, literature, and manners of an

important and interesting period.

"The following collection is composed of his letters to his

cousin, the Earl of Hertford, while ambassador at Paris, from

1763 to 1765;

which seem, at least as much as those which have preceded them,

deserving of the public attention.

"It appears from some circumstances connected with the letters

themselves, that Mr. Walpole wrote them in the intention and hope

that they might be preserved; and although they are enlivened by

his characteristic vivacity, and are not deficient in the lighter

matters with which he was in the habit of amusing all his

correspondents, they are, on the whole, written in a more careful

style, and are employed on more important subjects than any

others which have yet come to light.

"Of the former collections, anecdote and chit-chat formed the

principal topics, and politics were introduced Only as they

happened to be the news of the day. Of the series now offered to

the public, politics are the groundwork, and the town-talk is

only the accidental embroidery.

"Mr. Walpole's lately published Memoires have given proof of his

ability in sketching parliamentary portraits and condensing

parliamentary debates. In the following letters, powers of the

same class will, it is thought, be recognised; and as the

published parliamentary debates are extremely imperfect for the

whole time to which this correspondence relates, Mr. Walpole's

sketches are additionally valuable.

"These letters also give a near view of the proceedings of

political parties during that interesting period; and although

the representation of so warm a partisan must be read with due

caution, a great deal of authentic information on this subject

will be found, and even the very errors of the writer will

sometimes tend to elucidate the state of parties during one of

the busiest periods of our domestic dissensions.

"Mr. Walpole's party feelings were, indeed, so warm, and his

judgment of individuals was so often affected by the political

lights in which he viewed them, that the Editor has thought it

due to many eminent political characters to add a few notes, to

endeavour to explain the prejudices and to correct the

misapprehensions under which Mr. Walpole wrote. In doing so, the

Editor has, he hopes, shown (what he certainly felt) a perfect

impartiality; and he flatters himself that he has only

endeavoured to perform, (however imperfectly) what Mr. Walpole

himself, after the heat of party had subsided, would have been

inclined to do."--

To the notes here spoken of, the letter C. is affixed.

(322) John Harris, Esq. of Hayne, in Devonshire, who married

Anne, Lord Hertford's eldest sister.-E.

(323) The actions at Detroit and Edge Hill, on the 31st of July

and 5th and 6th of August, between the British and the Indians.

In the former the British were defeated, and their leader,

Captain Ditlyell, killed; in the latter engagements, under

Colonel Bouguet, they defeated the Indians.-C.

(324) Stanislaus Augustus, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland.

He died at Dresden, on the 5th of October.-E.

(325) Mr. Fox, so long a political leader in the House of

Commons, had been lately created Lord Holland, and was now in

Paris. Mr. Walpole insinuates, in his letter to Mr. Montagu of

the 14th of April, that Lord Holland's visit to France arose from

apprehension of personal danger to himself, in consequence of his

share in Lord Bute's administration--an absurd insinuation! What

is meant by his joy at seeing Lord Hertford in France is not

clear; but the allusion to the secretary probably refers to the

absence of Sir Charles, then Mr. Bunbury, who was nominated

secretary to the embassy, but who had not accompanied Lord

Hertford to Paris: as Mr.

Bunbury had married Lady Holland's niece, there may have been

family reason for this allusion.-C.

(326) Lady Hertford was a granddaughter of Charles II., and

therefore cousin to the pretender, who, however, was at this

period in Italy; and the cousins alluded to were probably the

family of Fitz-James.-C.

(327) John, fourth Duke of Bedford, was Lord Hertford's

predecessor. Mr. Walpole had been on terms of personal and

political intimacy at Bedford-house; but political and private

differences had occurred to sharpen his resentment against the

Duke, and even occasionally against the Duchess of Bedford.-C.

(328) The Mar`eschale de Mirepoix was a clever woman, who was at

the head of one class of French society. She, however,

quarrelled with her family, and lost the respect of the public by

the meanness of countenancing Madame du Barri.-C.

(329) Son of the Prince de Craon: he was born in 1720; served

with great distinction from the earliest age, and was created, in

1782, marshal of France. His conduct in discountenancing the

favouritism of the last years of Louis XV. was very honourable,

as was his devotion to Louis XVI. in the first years of the

revolution. The marshal survived his unfortunate sovereign but

three months.-C.

(330) Son of the Duke de Chaulnes.-E.

(331) The Hereditary Prince of Brunswick was at this time

betrothed to the King's eldest sister; and Mr. Walpole, a

constant friend and admirer of Lady Mary, affects to think that

her beauty and vivacity might have seduced his Serene Highness

from his royal bride. Lady Mary lived till 1810.-C.

(332) This gentleman was travelling tutor to Lord Hertford's

eldest son, and had been lately residing with him at Rheims.-C.

(333) Francis, afterwards second Marquis of Hertford, who died in

the year 1822.-E.

(334) David Hume, the historian. He was at first private

secretary to Lord Hertford, and afterwards secretary of

embassy.-E.

Letter 178 To George Montagu, Esq.

Strawberry Hill, Nov. 12, 1763. (page 242)

I send you the catalogue as you desired; and as I told you, you

will, I think, find nothing to your purpose: the present lord

bought all the furniture at Navestock;(335) the few now to be

sold are the very fine ones of the best masters, and likely to go

at vast prices, for there are several people determined to have

some one thing that belonged to Lord Waldegrave. I did not get

the catalogue till the night before last, too late to send by the

post, for I had dined with Sir Richard Lyttelton at Richmond, and

was forced to return by Kew-bridge, for the Thames was swelled so

violently that the ferry could not work. I am here quite alone

in the midst of a deluge, without Mrs. Noah, but with half as

many animals. The waters are as much out as they were last year,

when her vice-majesty of Ireland,(336) that now is sailed to

Newmarket with both legs out at the fore glass, was here.

Apropos, the Irish court goes on ill; they lost a question by

forty the very first day

on the address. The Irish, not being so absurd or so

complimental as Mr. Allen, they would not suffer the word

"adequate" to pass.(337) The prime minister is so unpopular that

they think he must be sent back. His patent and Rigby's are

called in question.

You see the age is not favourable to prime ministers: well! I am

going amidst it all, very unwillingly; I had rather stay here,

for I am sick of the storms, that once loved them so cordially:

over and above, I am not well; this is the third winter my

nightly fever

has returned; it comes like the bellman before Christmas, to put

me in mind of my mortality.

Sir Michael Foster(338) is dead, a Whig of the old rock: he is a

greater loss to his country than the prim attorney-general,(339)

who has resigned, or than the attorney's father, who is dying,

will be.

My gallery is still in such request, that, though the middle of

November, I give out a ticket to-day for seeing it. I see little

of it myself, for I cannot sit alone in such state; I should

think myself like the mad Duchess of Albemarle,(340) who fancied

herself Empress of China. Adieu!

(335) In Essex, the seat of the Waldegraves.-E.

(336) The Countess of Northumberland.-E.

(337) To prevent the presentation of a more objectionable address

from the corporation of Bath, in favour of the peace, Mr. Allen

had secured the introduction of the word adequate, into the one

agreed to; which gave such offence to Mr. Pitt that he refused to

present it.-E.

(338) One of the judges in the court of King's Bench.-E.

(339) The Hon. Charles Yorke.

(340) Widow of Christopher Duke of Albemarle, and daughter of the

Duke of Newcastle.

Letter 179 To The Earl Of Hertford.

Arlington Street, Nov. 17, 1763. (page 243)

If the winter keeps up to the vivacity of its d`ebut, you will

have no reason to complain of the sterility of my letters. I do

not say

this from the spirit of the House of Commons on the first

day,(341) which was the most fatiguing and dull debate I ever

heard, dull as

I have heard many; and yet for the first quarter of an hour it

looked as if we were met to choose a King of Poland,(342) and

that all our names ended in zsky. Wilkes, the night before, had

presented himself at the Cockpit: as he was listening to the

Speech,(343) George Selwyn said to him, in the words of the

Dunciad, "May Heaven preserve the ears you lend!"(344) We lost

four hours debating whether or not it was necessary to open the

session with reading a bill. The opposite sides, at the same

time, pushing to get the start, between the King's message, which

Mr. Grenville stood at the bar to present, which was to acquaint

us with the arrest of Wilkes and all that affair, and the

complaint which Wilkes himself stood up to make. At six we

divided on the question of reading a bill.(345) Young Thomas

Townshend(346) divided the House injudiciously, as the question

was so idle; yet the whole argument of the day had been so

complicated with this question, that in effect it became the

material question for trying

forces. This will be an interesting part to you, when you hear

that your brother(347) and I were in the minority. You know him,

and therefore know he did what he thought right; and for me, my

dear lord, you must know that I would die in the House for its

privileges, and the liberty of the press. But come, don't be

alarmed: this will have no Consequences. I don't think your

brother is going into opposition; and for me, if I may name

myself to your affection after him, nothing but a question of

such magnitude can carry me to the House at all. I am sick of

parties and factions, and leave them to buy and sell one another.

Bless me! I had forgot the numbers; they were 300, we 111. We

then went upon the King's message; heard the North Briton read;

and Lord North,(348) who took the prosecution upon him and did it

very well, moved to vote a scandalous libel, etc. tending to

foment treasonable insurrections. Mr. Pitt gave up the paper,

but fought against the last words of the censure. I say Mr.

Pitt, for indeed,

like Almanzor, he fought almost singly, and spoke forty times:

the first time in the day with much wit, afterwards with little

energy. He had a tough enemy too; I don't mean in parts or

argument, but one that makes an excellent bulldog, the

solicitor-general Norton.

Legge was, as usual, concise; and Charles Townshend, what is not

usual, silent. We sat till within a few minutes of two, after

dividing again; we, our exact former number, 111; they, 273; and

then we adjourned to go on the point of privilege the next day;

but now

"Listen, lordings, and hold you still;

Of doughty deeds tell you I will."

Martin,(349) in the debate, mentioned the North Briton, in which

he himself had been so heavily abused; and he said, "whoever

stabs a reputation in the dark, without setting his name, is a

cowardly, malignant, and scandalous scoundrel." This, looking at

Wilkes, he

repeated twice, with such rage and violence, that he owned his

passion obliged him to sit down. Wilkes bore this with the same

indifference as he did all that passed in the day. The -House,

too, who from Martin's choosing to take a public opportunity of

resentment, when he had so long declined any private notice, and

after Wilkes's courage was become so problematic, seemed to think

there was no danger of such champions going further; but the next

day, when we came into the House, the first thing we heard was

that Martin had shot Wilkes: so he had; but Wilkes has six lives

still good. It seems Wilkes had writ, to avow the paper, to

Martin, on which the latter challenged him. They went into

Hyde-park about noon; Humphrey Coates, the wine-merchant, waiting

in a postchaise to convey Wilkes away if triumphant. They fired

at the distance of

fourteen yards: both missed. then Martin fired and lodged a ball

in the side of Wilkes; who was going to return it, but dropped

his pistol. He desired Martin to take care of securing himself,

and assured him he would never say a word against him, and he

allows that Martin behaved well. The wound yesterday was thought

little more than a flesh-wound, and he was in his old spirits.

To-day the account is worse, and he has been delirious: so you

will think when

you hear what is to come. I think, from the agitation his mind

must be in, from his spirits, and from drinking, as I Suppose he

will, that he probably will end here. He puts me in mind of two

lines of Hudibras,(350) which, by the arrangement of the words

combined with Wilkes's story, are stronger than Butler intended

them:--

"But he, that fights and runs away,

May live to fight another day."

His adventures with Lord Talbot,(351) Forbes,(352) and Martin,

make these lines history.

Now for part the second. On the first day, in your House, where

the address was moved by Lord Hilsborough and Lord Suffolk, after

some wrangling between Lord Temple, Lord Halifax, the Duke of

Bedford, and Lord Gower; Lord Sandwich(353) laid before the House

the most blasphemous and indecent poem that ever was composed,

called "An Essay on Woman, With notes, by Dr. Warburton."', I

will tell you none of the particulars: they were so exceedingly

bad, that Lord Lyttelton begged the reading might be stopped.

The House

was amazed; nobody ventured even to ask a question: so it was

easily voted every thing you please, and a breach of privilege

into the bargain. Lord Sandwich then informed your Lordships,

that Mr.

Wilkes was the author. Fourteen copies alone were printed, one

of which the ministry had bribed the printer to give up. Lord

Temple then objected to the manner of obtaining it; and Bishop

Warburton, as much shocked at infidelity as Lord Sandwich had

been at obscenity, said, "the blackest fiends in hell would not

keep company with Wilkes when he should arrive there." Lord

Sandwich moved to vote Wilkes the author; but this Lord Mansfield

stopped, advertising the House that it was necessary first to

hear what Wilkes could say in his defence. To-day, therefore,

Was appointed

for that purpose; but it has been put off by Martin's lodging a

caveat.(354) This bomb was certainly well conducted, and the

secret, though known to many, well kept. The management is

worthy of Lord Sandwich, and like him. It may sound odd for me,

with my principles, to admire Lord Sandwich; but besides that he

has in several instances been very obliging to me, there is a

good humour and an industry about him that are very uncommon. I

do not admire politicians; but when they are excellent in their

way, one cannot help allowing them their due. Nobody but he

could have struck a stroke like this.

Yesterday we sat till eight on the address, which yet passed

without a negative - we had two very long speeches from Mr. Pitt

and Mr. Grenville; many fine parts in each. Mr. Pitt has given

the latter some strong words, yet not so many as were

expected.(355) To-morrow we go on the great question 'of

privilege; but I must send this away, as we have no chance of

leaving the House before midnight, if before next morning.

This long letter contains the history of but two days; yet if two

days furnish a history, it is not my fault. The ministry, I

think, may do whatever they please. Three hundred, that will

give up their own privileges, may be depended upon for giving up

any thing else. I have not time or room to ask a question, or

say a word more.

Nov. 18, Friday.

I have luckily got a holiday, and can continue my despatch, as

you know dinner time is my chief hour of business. The Speaker,

unlike Mr. Onslow, who was immortal in the chair, is taken very

ill, and our House is adjourned to Monday. Wilkes is thought in

great danger: instead of keeping him quiet, his friends have

shown their zeal by him, and himself has been all spirits and

riot, and sat in his bed the next morning to correct the press

for to-morrow's North Briton. His bon-mots are all over the

town, but too gross, I think, to repeat; the chief' are at the

expense of poor Lord George.(356) Notwithstanding Lord

Sandwich's masked battery, the tide runs violently for Wilkes,

and I do not find people in general so inclined to excuse his

lordship as I was. One hears nothing but

stories of the latter's impiety, and of the concert he was In

with Wilkes on that subject. Should this hero die, the Bishop of

Gloucester may doom him whither he pleases, but Wilkes will pass

for a saint and a martyr.

Besides what I have mentioned, there were two or three passages

in the House of Lords that were diverting. Lord Temple dwelled

much on the Spanish ministry being devoted to France. Lord

Halifax replied, "Can we help that? We can no more oblige the

King of Spain to change his ministers, than his lordship can

force his Majesty to change the present administration." Lord

Gower, too, attacking Lord Temple on want of respect to the King,

the Earl replied, "he never had wanted respect for the King: he

and his family had been attached to the house of Hanover full as

long as his lordship's family had."(357)

You may imagine that little is talked of but Wilkes, and what

relates to him. Indeed, I believe there is no other news, but

that Sir George Warren marries Miss Bishop, the maid of honour.

The Duchess Of Grafton is at Euston, and hopes to stay there till

after Christmas. Operas do not begin till tomorrow se'nnight;

but the Mingotti is to sing, and that contents me. I forgot to

tell you, and you may Wonder at hearing nothing Of the Reverend

Mr. Charles Pylades,(358) while Mr. John Orestes is making such a

figure: but Dr. Pylades, the poet, has forsaken his consort and

the Muses, and is gone off with a stonecutter's daughter.(359)

If he should come and offer himself to you for chaplain to the

embassy!

The Countess of Harrington was extremely alarmed last Sunday,, on

seeing the Duc de Prequigny enter her assembly: she forbade Lady

Caroline(360) speaking to such a debauched young man, and

communicated her fright to everybody. The Duchess of Bedford

observed to me that as Lady Berkeley(361) and some other matrons

of the same stamp were there, she thought there was no danger of

any violence being committed. For my part, the sisters are so

different, that I conclude my Lady Hertford has not found any

young man in France wild enough for her. Your counterpart, M. de

Guerchy, takes extremely. I have not yet seen his wife.

I this minute receive your charming long letter of the 11th, and

give you a thousand thanks for it. I wish next Tuesday was past,

for Lady Hertford's sake. You may depend on my letting you know,

if I hear the least rumour in your disfavour. I shall do so

without your orders, for I could not bear to have you traduced

and not advertise you to defend yourself. I have hitherto not

heard a

syllable; but the newspapers talk of your magnificence, and I

approve extremely your intending to support their evidence; for

though I do not think it necessary to scatter pearls and diamonds

about the streets like their vice-majesties(362), of Ireland, one

owes it to one's self and to the King's choice to prove it was

well made.

The colour given at Paris to Bunbury's(363) stay in England has

been given out here too. You need not, I think, trouble yourself

about that; a majority of three hundred will soon show, that if

he was detained, the reason at least no longer subsists.

Hamilton is certainly returning from Ireland. Lord

Shannon's(364) son is going to marry the Speaker's daughter, and

the Primate has begged to have the honour of Joining their hands.

This letter is wofullv blotted and ill-written, yet I must say it

is print compared to your lordship's. At first I thought you had

forgot that you was not writing to the secretary of state, and

had put it into cipher. Adieu! I am neither, dead of my fever

nor apoplexy, nay, nor of the House of Commons. I rather think

the violent heat of the latter did me good. Lady Ailesbury was

at court yesterday, and benignly received;(365) a circumstance

you will not dislike.

P.S. If I have not told you all you want to know, interrogate me,

and I will answer the next post.

(341) Parliament met on the 15th of November. The public mind

was at this moment in a considerable ferment, and the King's

speech invited Parliament "to discourage that licentious spirit

which is repugnant to the true principles of liberty and of this

happy constitution." It was expected that these words would, from

their being understood as a direct attack on Mr. Wilkes, have

opened a debate on his question, which was then uppermost in

every mind; but the opposition were unwilling to put themselves

under the disadvantage of opposing the address and of excepting

against words, which, in their general meaning were

unexceptionable; they, therefore, had recourse to the proceedings

so well described in this letter.-C.

(342) He means, that parties were so violent that the members

seemed inclined to come to blows.-C.

(343) The King's speech, which is now read at the house of the

minister, to a selection of the friends of government, was

formerly read at the Cockpit, and all who chose attended.-C.

(344) "Yet oh, my sons! a father's words attend;

So may the Fates preserve the ears you lend."-E.

(345) "As soon as the members were sworn at the table, Mr. Wilkes

and Mr. Grenville then a chancellor of the exchequer, arose in

their places, the first to make a complaint of a breach of

privilege in having been imprisoned, etc.; and Mr. Grenville, to

communicate to the House a message from the King, which related

to the privileges of the House: the Speaker at the same time

acquainted the House, that the clerk had prepared a bill, and

submitted it to them, whether, in point of form, the reading of

the bill should not be the first proceeding towards opening the

session. A very long debate ensued, which of these three matters

ought to have the precedence,, -and at last it was carried in

favour of the bill." Hatsell's Precedents, vol. ii. p. 77.-E.

(346) Afterwards Lord Sydney. The Townshends were supposed to be

very unsteady, if not fickle, in their political conduct; a

circumstance which gives point to Goldsmith's mention of this Mr.

Townshend in his character of Burke:-

"----yet straining his throat

To persuade Tommy Townshend to lend him a vote."-C.

(347) Henry Seymour Conway, only brother of Lord Hertford, at

this time a groom of the bedchamber, lieutenant-general in the

army, and colonel of the first regiment of dragoons. He was, as

we will see, in consequence of his opposition to government on

these questions, dismissed both from court and his regiment: but

he became, on a change of ministers in 1765, secretary of state;

and in 1772 was promoted to be a general; and in 1793 a

field-marshal.-C.

(348) Lord North was at this time one of the junior lords of the

treasury.-E.

(349) Samuel Martin, Esq. Member for Camelford. He had been

secretary of the treasury during the Duke of Newcastle's and Lord

Bute's administration.-E.

(350) These lines, and two others, usually appended to them--

"He that is in battle slain

Can never rise to fight again,"

are not in Hudibras. Butler has the same thought in two lines--

"For those that fly may fight again,

Which he can never do that's slain."

Par. iii. Cant. 3, 1. 243.-C.

(351) At the coronation, Lord Talbot, as lord steward, appeared

on horseback in Westminster-hall. His horse had been, at

numerous rehearsals, so assiduously trained to perform what was

thought the most difficult part of his duty, namely, the retiring

backwards from the royal table, that, at the ceremony itself, no

art of his rider could prevent the too docile animal from making

his approaches to the royal presence tail foremost. This

ridiculous incident, was the occasion of some sarcastic remarks

in the North Briton, of the 21st August, which led to a

correspondence between Lord Talbot and Mr. Wilkes, and ultimately

to a duel in the garden of the Red Lion Inn, at Bagshot, Mr.

Wilkes proposed that the parties should sup together that night,

and fight next morning. Lord Talbot insisted on fighting

immediately. This altercation, and some delay of Wilkes in

writing papers, which (not expecting, he said, to take the field

before morning) he had left unfinished, delayed the affair till

dusk, and after the innocuous exchange of shots by moonlight, the

parties shook hands, and supped together at the inn with a great

deal of jollity.-C.

(352) A young Scotch officer of the name of Forbes, fastened a

quarrel on Mr. Wilkes, in Paris, for having written against

Scotland, and insisted on his fighting him. Wilkes declined

until he should have settled an engagement of the same nature

which he had with Lord Egremont. Just at this time Lord Egremont

died, and Wilkes immediately offered to meet Captain Forbes at

Menin, in Flanders. By some mistake Forbes did not appear, and

the affair blew over. A long controversy was kept up on the

subject by partisans in the newspapers; but on the whole it is

impossible to deny that Forbes's conduct was nasty and foolish,

and that Wilkes behaved himself like a man of temper and

honour.-C.

(353) At this time secretary of state. " It is a great mercy,"

says Lord Chesterfield, in a letter to his son, of the 3d of

December, "that Mr. Wilkes, the intrepid defender of our rights

and liberties, is out of danger; and it is no less a mercy, that

God hath raised up the Earl of Sandwich, to vindicate true

religion and morality. These two blessings will justly make an

epocha in the annals affairs country."-E.

(354) The Bishop of Gloucester, whose laborious commentaries on

Pope's Essay on Man gave Wilkes the idea of fathering on him the

notes on the Essay on Woman.-C.

(355) Dr. Birch, in a letter to Lord Royston, gives the following

account of what passed in the House of Lords on this occasion:-

-"The session commenced with a complaint made by Lord Sandwich

against Mr. Wilkes for a breach of privilege in being the author

of a poem full of obscenity and blasphemy, intitled 'An Essay on

Woman,' with notes, under the name of the Bishop of Gloucester.

His letters, which discovered the piece was his, had been seized

at Kearsley's the bookseller, when the latter was taken up for

publishing No. 45 of the North Briton. Lord Temple and Lord

Sandys objected to the reading letters, till the secretary of

state's warrant, by which Kearsley had been arrested, had been

produced and shown to be a legal act; but this objection being

overruled, the Lords voted the Essay a most scandalous, obscene,

and impious libel, and adjourned the farther consideration of the

subject, as far as concerned the author, till the Thursday

following."-E.

Lord Barrington, in a letter to Sir Andrew Mitchell, gives the

following account of Mr. Pitt's speech:--"He spoke with great

ability, and the utmost degree of temper: he spoke civilly, and

not unfairly, of the ministers; but of the King he said every

thing which duty and affection could inspire. The effect of this

was a vote for an address, nem. con. I think, if fifty thousand

pounds had been given for that speech, it would have been well

expended. It secures us a quiet session." See Chatham

Correspondence, Vol. ii. p. 262.-E.

(356) Probably Lord George Sackville, so disagreeably celebrated

for his conduct at Minden; afterwards a peer, by the title of

Lord Sackville, and secretary of state. In the North Briton

which was in preparation when Wilkes was taken up, he advised

that Lord George should carry the sword before the King at an

intended thanksgiving. Of all the persons suspected of being the

author of Junius, Lord George Sackville seems the most

probable.-C. ["It is peculiarly hostile to the opinion in favour

of Lord George, that Junius should roundly have accused him of

want of courage." Woodfall's Junius, Vol. i. P. 161.]

(357) Lord Gower had been reputed the head of the Jacobites. Sir

C. H. Williams sneeringly calls him "Hanoverian Gower;" and when

he accepted office from the house of Brunswick, all the Jacobites

in England were mortified and enraged. Dr. Johnson, a steady

Tory, was, when compiling his Dictionary, with difficulty

persuaded not to add to his explanation of the word

deserter--"Sometimes it is called a Go'er."-C. ["Talking," says

Boswell, "upon this subject, Dr. Johnson mentioned to me a

stronger instance of the predominance

of his private feelings in the composition of this work than any

now to be found in it: 'You know, Sir, Lord Gower forsook the old

Jacobite interest: when I came to the word renegades after

telling what it meant, one who deserts to the enemy, a revolter,

I added, sometimes we Say a GOWER: thus it went to the press; but

the printer had more wit than I, and struck it out.'" Croker's

Boswell.]

(358) Churchill the satirist and Wilkes; of whom Mr. Southey, in

his Life of Cowper, relates the following anecdote:--"Churchill

became Wilkes's coadjutor in the North Briton; and the

publishers, when examined before the privy council on the

publication of No. 45, having declared that Wilkes gave orders

for the printing, and Churchill received the profits from the

sale, orders were given for arresting Churchill under the general

warrant. He was saved from arrest by Wilkes's presence of mind,

who was in custody of the messenger when Churchill entered the

room. 'Good morning, Thompson,' said Wilkes to him: 'how does

Mrs. Thompson do? Does she dine in the country?' Churchill took

the hint as readily as it had been given. He replied, that Mrs.

Thompson was waiting for him, and that he only came for a moment,

to ask him how he did. Then almost directly he took his leave,

hastened home, secured his papers, retired into the Country, and

eluded all search."-E.

(359) Mr. Southey states, that "a fortnight had not elapsed

before both parties were struck with sincere compunction, and

through the intercession of a true friend, at their entreaty, the

unhappy penitent was received by her father: it is said she would

have proved worthy of this parental forgiveness, if an elder

sister had not, by continual taunt,; and reproaches, rendered her

life so miserable, that, in absolute despair, she threw herself

upon Churchill for protection. Instead of making a just

provision forher, which his means would have allowed, he received

her as his mistress. If all his other writings were forgotten,

the lines in which he expressed his compunction for his conduct

would deserve always to be remembered--

"Tis not the babbling of a busy world,

Where praise and censure are at random hurl'd,

Which can the meanest of my thoughts control,

one settled purpose of my soul;

Free and at large might their wild curses roam,

If all, if all, alas! were well at home.

No; 'tis the tale which angry conscience tells,

When she, with more than tragic horror, swells

Each circumstance of guilt; when stern, but true,

She brings bad action.,; full into review,

And, like the dread handwriting on the wall,

Bids late remorse awake at reason's call;

Arm'd at all points, bids scorpion vengeance pass,

And to the mind holds up reflection's glass--

The mind, which starting heaves the heartfelt groan,

And hates that form she knows to be her own.'"-E.

(360) Her eldest daughter, afterwards Viscountess Fortrose . she

died in 1767, at the age of twenty.-E.

(361) Elizabeth Drax, wife of Augustus, fourth Earl Berkeley; she

had been lady of the bedchamber to the Princess-dowager.-E.

(362) Hugh Earl, and afterwards Duke of Northumberland, and his

lady, Elizabeth Seymour, only surviving child of Algernon Duke of

Somerset, and heiress, by her grandmother, of the Percies.-E.

(363) Sir Charles Bunbury, Bart. The reason evidently was, that

he remained to vote in the House of Commons.-C.

(364) Lord Boyle, eldest son of the first Earl of Shannon,

married, in the following month, Catharine, eldest daughter of

the Right Hon. John Ponsonby, Speaker of the Irish House of

commons, by Lady Ellen Cavendish, second daughter of the third

Duke of Devonshire. Lord Shannon, Mr. Ponsonby, and the Primate,

Dr. George Stone, Archbishop of Armagh, were the ruling

triumvirate of Ireland. They

were four times declared lords justices of that kingdom. Some

differences had, however, occurred between these great leaders,

which Mr. Walpole insinuates that this marriage was likely to

heal.-C.

(365) the benignity of her reception at court is noticed because

General Conway's late votes against the ministry might naturally

have displeased the King, to whom he was groom of the

bedchamber.-C.

Letter 180 To George Montagu, Esq.

Arlington Street, Nov. 20, 1763. (page 250)

You are in the wrong; believe me you are in the wrong to stay in

the country; London never was so entertaining since it had a

steeple or a madhouse. Cowards fight duels; secretaries of state

turn Methodists on the Tuesday, and are expelled the playhouse

for blasphemy on Friday. I am not turned Methodist, but patriot,

and what is more extraordinary, am not going to have a place.

What is more wonderful still, Lord Hardwicke has made two of his

sons resign their employments. I know my letter sounds as

enigmatic as Merlin's almanack; but my events have really

happened. I had almost persuaded myself like you to quit the

world; thank my stars I did not. Why, I have done nothing but

laugh since last Sunday; though on Tuesday I was one of a hundred

and eleven, who were outvoted by three hundred; no laughing

matter generally to a true patriot, whether he thinks his country

undone or himself. Nay, I am still: more absurd; even for my

dear country's sake I cannot bring myself to connect with Lord

Hardwicke, or the Duke of Newcastle, though they are in the

minority-an unprecedented case, not to love every body one

despises, when they are of the same side. On the contrary, I

fear I resembled a fond woman, and dote on the dear betrayer. In

short, and to write something that you can understand, you know I

have long had a partiality for your cousin Sandwich, who has

out-Sandwiched himself. He has impeached

Wilkes for a blasphemous poem, and has been expelled for

blasphemy himself by the Beefsteak Club at Covent-garden. Wilkes

has been shot by Martin, and instead of being burnt at an auto da

fe, as the Bishop of Gloucester intended, is reverenced as a

saint by the mob, and if he dies, I suppose, the people will

squint themselves into convulsions at his tomb, in honour of his

memory. Now is not this better than feeding one's birds and

one's bantams, poring one's eyes out over old histories, not half

so extraordinary as the present, or ambling to Squire Bencow's on

one's padnag, and playing

at cribbage with one's brother John and one's parson? Prithee

come to town, and let us put off taking the veil for another

year: besides by this time twelvemonth we are sure the world will

be a year older in wickedness, and we shall have more matter for

meditation. One would not leave it methinks till it comes to the

worst, and that time cannot be many months off. In the mean

time, I have bespoken a dagger, in case the circumstances should

grow so classic as to make it becoming to kill oneself; however,

though disposed to quit the world, as I have no mind to leave it

entirely, I shall put off my death to the last minute, and do

nothing rashly, till I see Mr. Pitt and Lord Temple place

themselves in their curule chairs in St. James's-market, and

resign their throats to the victors. I am determined to see them

dead first, lest they should play me a trick, and be hobbling to

Buckingham-house, while I am shivering and waiting for them on

the banks of Lethe. Adieu! Yours, Horatius.

Letter 181

To The Earl Of Hertford.

Arlington Street, Nov. 25, 1763. (page 251)

You tell me, my dear lord, in a letter I have this moment

received from you, that you have had a comfortable one from me; I

fear it was not the last: you will not have been fond of your

brother's voting against the court. Since that, he has been told

by different channels that they think of taking away regiments

from opposers. He heard it, as he would the wind whistle: while

in the shape of a threat, he treats it with contempt; if put into

execution his scorn would subside into indifference. You know he

has but one object--doing what is right; the rest may betide as

it will. One or two of the ministers,(366) who are honest men,

would, I have reason to believe, be heartily concerned to have

such measures adopted; but they are not directors. The little

favour they possess, and the desperateness of their situation

oblige them to swallow many things they disapprove, and which

ruin their character with the nation; while others, who have no

character to lose, and whose situation is no less desperate, care

not what inconveniences they bring on their master, nor what

confusion on their country, in which they can never prosper,

except when it is convulsed. The nation, indeed, seems

thoroughly sensible of this truth. They are unpopular beyond

conception: even of those that vote with them there are numbers

that express their aversion without reserve. Indeed, on

Wednesday, the 23d, this went farther: we were to debate the

great point of privilege: Wilbraham(367)

objected, that Wilkes was involved in it, and ought to be

present. On this, though, as you see, a question of slight

moment, fifty-seven left them at once: they were but 243 to

166.(368) As we had sat, however, till eight at night, the

debate was postponed to next day. Mr. Pitt, who had a fever and

the gout, came on crutches, and wrapped in flannels: so he did

yesterday, but was obliged to retire at ten at night, after

making a speech of an hour and fifty minutes; the worst, I think,

I ever heard him make in my life. For our parts, we sat till

within ten minutes of two in the morning: yet we had but few

speeches, all were so long. Hussey,(369) solicitor to the

Princess of Wales, was against the court, and spoke with great

spirit, and true Whig spirit. Charles Yorke(370) shone

exceedingly. He had spoke and voted with us the night before;

but now maintained his opinion against Pratt's.(371) It was a

most able and learned performance, and the latter part, which was

oratoric, uncommonly beautiful and eloquent. You find I don't

let partiality to the Whig cause blind my judgment. That speech

was certainly the masterpiece of the day. Norton would not have

made a figure, even if Charles Yorke had not appeared; but giving

way to his natural brutality, he got into an ugly scrape. Having

so little delicacy or decency as to mention a cause in which he

had prosecuted Sir John Rushout(372) (Who sat just under him) for

perjury, the tough old knight (who had been honourably acquitted

of the charge) gave the House an account of the affair; and then

added, "I was assured the prosecution was set on foot by that

Honest gentleman; I hope I don't Call him out of his name--and

that it was in revenge for my having opposed him in an election."

Norton denied the charge upon his honour, which did not seem to

persuade every body. Immediately after this we had another

episode. Rigby,(373) totally unprovoked either by any thing said

or by the complexion of the day, which was grave and

argumentative, fell Upon Lord Temple, and described his behaviour

on the commitment of Wilkes. James Grenville,(374) who sat

beside him, rose in all the acrimony of resentment: drew a very

favourable picture of his brother, and then one of Rigby,

conjuring up the bitterest words, epithet, and circumstances that

he could amass together: told him how interested he was, and how

ignorant: painted his Journey to Ireland to get a law-place, for

which he was so unqualified; and concluded with affirming he had

fled from thence to avoid the vengeance of the people. The

passive Speaker suffered both painters to finish their words, and

would have let them carry their colours and brushes into

Hyde-park the next morning, if other people had not represented

the necessity of demanding their paroles that it should go no

farther. They were both unwilling to rise: Rigby did at last,

and put an end to it with humour(375) and good-humour. The

numbers were 258 to 133. The best speech of

all those that were not spoken was Charles Townshend's.(376) He

has for some time been informing the world that for the last

three months he had constantly employed six clerks to search and

transcribe records, journals, precedents, etc. The production of

all this mountain of matter was a mouse, and that mouse

stillborn: he has voted with us but never uttered a word.

We shall now repose for some time; at least I am sure I shall.

It has been hard service; and nothing but a Whig point of this

magnitude could easily have carried me to the House at all, of

which I have so long been sick. Wilkes will live, but is not

likely to be in a situation to come forth for some time. The

blasphemous book has fallen ten times heavier on Sandwich's own

head than on Wilkes's: it has brought forth such a catalogue of

anecdotes as is incredible! Lord Hardwicke fluctuates between

life and death. Lord Effingham is dead suddenly, and Lord

Cantelupe(377) has got his troop.

These are all our news; I am glad yours go on so smoothly. I

take care to do you justice at M. de Guerchy's for all the

justice you do to France, and particularly to the house of

Nivernois. D'Eon(378) is here still: I know nothing more of him

but that the honour of having a hand in the peace overset his

poor brain. This was evident on the fatal night(379) at Lord

Halifax's: when they told him his behaviour was a breach of the

peace, he was quite distracted, thinking it was the peace between

his country and this.

Our operas begin to-morrow. The Duchess of Grafton is come for a

fortnight only. My compliments to the ambassadress, and all your

court.

(366) There is reason to think that at this moment Mr. Grenville

and Lord Halifax were those to whom Mr. Walpole gave credit for

honest intentions and a disposition to moderate and conciliate.

This opinion, though probably correct, Walpole soon changed, as

to Mr. Grenville.-C.

(367) Randle Wilbraham, LL.D. a barrister, deputy steward of the

University of Oxford, and member for Newton, in Lancashire.-E.

(368) The question was, "That Privilege of Parliament does not

extend to the case of writing and publishing seditious libels,

nor ought to be allowed to obstruct the ordinary course of the

laws in the speedy and effectual prosecution of so heinous and

dangerous an offence."-C.

(369) Richard Hussey, member for St. Mawes. He was counsel to

the navy, as well as solicitor to the Queen, not, as Mr. Walpole

says, to the Princess. He was afterwards her majesty's

attorney-general.-C.

(370) Charles Yorke, second son of Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. He

had been attorney-general, but resigned on the 31st of October.

He agreed with the ministry on the question of privilege, but

differed from them on general warrants. This last difference may

have accelerated his resignation; but the event itself had been

determined on, ever since the failure of a negotiation which took

place towards the end of the preceding August, through Mr. Pitt

and Lord Hardwicke, to form a new administration on a Whig

basis.-C.

(371) Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, afterwards Lord Camden.

He had discharged Wilkes out of confinement on the ground of

privilege.-E.

(372) Sir John Rushout, of Northwick, the fourth baronet. He had

sat in ten Parliaments; in the three first for Malmsbury, and in

the rest for Evesham. He had been a violent politician in Sir

Robert Walpole's administration. See vol. i. p. 222, letter

53.-E.

(373) The Right Hon. Richard Rigby, master of the rolls in

Ireland, afterwards paymaster of the forces; a statesman of the

second class, and a bon vivant of the first. Mr. Rigby was at one

time a chief friend and favourite of Mr. Walpole's, but became

involved in Mr. Walpole's dislike to the Duke of Bedford, to whom

Mr. Rigby was sincerely and constantly attached, and over whom he

was supposed to have great influence.-C.

(374) Fourth brother of Lord Temple and Mr. George Grenville;

father of Lord Glastonbury.-E.

(375) Lady Suffolk, in a letter to the Earl of Buckingham, of the

29th of November, says, "Jemmy Grenville and Mr. Rigby were

so violent against each other, one in his manner of treating

Lord Temple, who was in the House, and the brother in his

justification of his brother, that the House was obliged to

interfere to prevent mischief. Lord Temple comes to me; but

politics is the bane of friendship, and when personal resentments

join, the man becomes another creature."-E.

(376) As Mr. Walpole seems to impute Mr. Charles Townshend's

silence on the question of privilege to fickleness, or some worse

cause, it is but just to state that he never quite approved that

question. This will be seen from the following extract from some

of his confidential letters to Dr. Brocklesby, written two months

before Parliament met:--"You know I never approved of No. 45, or

engaged in any of the consequential measures. As to the question

of privilege, it is an intricate matter; The authorities are

contradictory, and the distinctions to be reasonably made on the

precedents are plausible and endless." Mr. Townshend gave a good

deal of further consideration to the subject, and his silence in

the debate only proves that his first impressions were confirmed.

Mr. Burke's beautiful, but, perhaps, too favourable character of

Charles Townshend will immortalize the writer and the subject.-C.

(377) John, afterwards second Earl of Delawarr, vice-chamberlain

to the Queen.-E.

(378) This singular person had been secretary to the Duke de

Nivernois's embassy, and in the interval between that

ambassador's departure and the arrival of M. de Guerchy, the

French mission to our court devolved upon him. This honour, as

Mr. Walpole intimates, seems to have turned his head, and he was

so absurdly exasperated at being superseded by M. de Guerchy,

that he refused to deliver his letters of recall, set his court

at defiance, and published a volume of libels on M. de Guerchy

and the French ministers. As he persisted in withholding the

letters of recall, the two courts were obliged to notify in the

London Gazette that his mission was at an end; and the French

government desired that he be given up to them. This, of course,

could not be done: but he was proceeded against by criminal

information, and finally convicted of the libels against M. de

Guerchy. D'Eon asserted, that the French ministry had a design

to carry him off privately; and it has been said that he was

apprised of this scheme by Louis XV. who, it seems, had

entertained some kind of secret and extra- official communication

with this adventurer. He afterwards continued in obscurity until

1777, when the public was astonished by the trial of an action

before Lord Mansfield, for money lost on

a wager respecting his sex. On that trial it seemed proved

beyond all doubt, that the person was a female. Proceedings in

the Parliament of Paris had a similar result, and the soldier and

the minister was condemned to wear woman's attire, which d'Eon

did for many years. He emigrated at the revolution, and died in

London in May, 1810. On examination, after death, the body

proved to be that of a male. This circumstance, attested by the

most respectable authorities, is so strongly it variance with all

the former evidence, that the French biographers have been

induced to doubt whether the original Chevalier D'Eon and the

person who died in 1810 were the same, and they even endeavour to

show that the real person, the Chevali`ere, as they term it, died

in 1790; but we cannot admit this solution of the difficulty, for

one, at least, of the surgeons who examined the body in 1810, had

known D'Eon in his habiliments, and he had for ten years lived

unquestioned under the name of D'Eon.-C.

(379) On the 26th of October, D'Eon, meeting M. de Guerchy and a

M. de Vergy at Lord Halifax's, in Great George-street, burst out

into such violence on some observation made by De Vergy, that it

became necessary to call in the guard. His whole behaviour in

this affair looks like insanity.-C.

Letter 182 To The Earl Of Hertford.

Arlington Street, Dec. 2, 1763. (page 254)

I have been expecting a letter all day, as Friday is the day I

have generally received a letter from you, but it is not yet

arrived and I begin mine without it. M. de Guerchy has given us

a prosperous account of my Lady Hertford's audience still I am

impatient to hear it from yourselves. I want to know, too, what

you say to your brother's being in the minority. I have already

told you that unless they use him ill, I do not think him likely

to take any warm part. With regard to dismission of officers, I

hear no more of it: such a violent step would but spread the

flames. which are already fierce enough. I will give you an

instance: last' Saturday, Lord Cornwallis(380) and Lord

Allen,(381) came drunk to the Opera: the former went up to Rigby

in the pit, and told him in direct words that Lord Sandwich was a

pickpocket. Then Lord Allen, with looks and gestures no less

expressive, advanced close to him, and repeating this again in

the passage, would have provoked a quarrel, if George West(382)

had not carried him away by force. Lord (Cornwallis, the next

morning in Hyde-park, made an apology to Rigby for his behaviour,

but the rest of the world is not so complaisant. His pride,

insolence, and over-bearingness, have made him so many enemies,

that they are glad to tear him to pieces for his attack on Lord

Temple, so unprovoked, and so poorly performed. It was well that

with his spirit and warmth he had the sense not to resent the

behaviour of those two drunken young fellows.

On Tuesday your Lordship's House sat till ten at night, on the

resolutions we had communicated to you; and you agreed to them by

114 to 35: a puny minority indeed, considering of what great

names it was composed! Even the Duke of Cumberland voted in it;

but Mr. Yorke's speech in our House, and Lord Mansfield's in

yours, for two hours, carried away many of the opposition,

particularly Lord Lyttelton, and the greater part of the Duke of

Newcastle's Bishops.(383) The Duke of Grafton is much commended.

The Duke of Portland commenced, but was too much frightened.

There was no warmth nor event; but Lord Shelburne, who they say

spoke well, and against the court, and as his friends had voted

in our House, has produced one, the great Mr. Calcraft(384) being

turned out yesterday, from some muster-mastership; I don't know

what. Lord Sandwich is canvassing to succeed Lord

Hardwicke, as High Steward of Cambridge; another egg of

animosity. We shall, however, I believe, be tolerably quiet till

after Christmas, as Mr. Wilkes Will not be able to act before the

holidays. I rejoice at it: I am heartily sick of all this folly,

and shall be glad to get to Strawberry again, and hear nothing of

it. The ministry have bought off Lord Clive(385) with a bribe

that would frighten the King of France himself: they have given

him back his 25,000 a year.

Walsh(386) has behaved nobly: he said he could not in conscience

vote with the administration, and would not Vote against Lord

Clive, who chose him: he has therefore offered to resign his

seat. Lady Augusta's(387) fortune was to be voted to-day and

Lord Strange talked of opposing it; but I had not the curiosity

to go down. This is all our politics, and indeed all our news;

we have none of any other kind. So far you will not regret

England. For my part, I wish myself with you. Being perfectly

indifferent who is minister and Who is not, and weary of

laughing(388) at both, I shall take hold of the first spring to

make you my visit.

Our operas do not succeed. Girardini, now become minister and

having no exchequer to buy an audience, is grown unpopular. The

Mingotti, whom he has forced upon the town, is as much disliked

as if he had insisted on her being first lord of the treasury.

The first man, though with sweet notes, has so weak a voice that

he might as well hold his tongue like Charles Townshend. The

figurantes are very pretty, but can dance no more than Tommy

Pelham.(389) The first man dancer is handsome, well made, and

strong enough to make his fortune any where: but you know,

fortunes made in private are seldom agreeable to the public.(390)

In short, it will not do; there was not a soul in the pit the

second night.

Lady Mary Coke has received her gown by the Prince de Masseran,

and is exceedingly obliged to you, though much disappointed; this

being a slight gown made up, and not the one she expected, which

is a fine one bought for her by Lady Holland,(391) and which you

must send somehow or other: if you cannot, you must despatch an

ambassador on purpose. I dined with the Prince de Masseran, at

Guerchy's, the day after his arrival; and if faces speak truth,

he will not be our ruin. Oh! but there is a ten times more

delightful man--the Austrian minister:(392) he is so stiff and

upright, that you would think all his mistress's diadems were

upon his head, and that he was afraid of their dropping off.

I know so little of Irish politics, that I am afraid of

misinforming you: but I hear that Hamilton, who has come off with

honour in a squabble with Lord Newton,(393) about the latter's

wife, speaks and votes with the opposition against the

Castle.(394) I don't know the meaning of it, nor, except it had

been to tell you, should I have remembered it.

Well! your letter will not come, and I must send away mine.

Remember, the holidays are coming, and that I shall be a good

deal out of town. I have been charming hitherto, but I cannot

make brick without straw. Encore, you are almost the only person

I ever write a line to. I grow so old and so indolent that I

hate the sight of a pen and ink.

(380) Charles, first Marquis of Cornwallis: born in 1738,

succeeded his father, the first Earl, in 1762, and died in India

in 1805.-E.

(381) Joshua, fifth Viscount Allen, of Ireland, born in 1738.-E.

(382) George, second son of the first Earl of Delawarr.-E.

(383) Bishops made during the Duke of Newcastle's administration,

and who were therefore supposed likely to be of his opinion. The

Duke of Newcastle after being nearly half a century in office,

was now in opposition.-C.

(384) John Calcraft, Esq. was deputy commissary-general of

musters: he was particularly attached to Mr. Fox; which is,

perhaps, one reason why Mr. Walpole, who had now quarrelled with

Mr. Fox, speaks so slightingly of Mr. Calcraft.-C.

(385) Robert Clive, who, for his extraordinary services and

success in India, was, at the age of thirty-five, created an

Irish peer. It was of him that Mr. Pitt said, that he was "a

heaven-born general, who without any experience in military

affairs, had surpassed all the officers of his time." The wealth

which this great man accumulated in India was, during his whole

subsequent life, a subject of popular jealousy and party

attack.-C.

(386) John Walsh, Esq. member for Worcester.-E.

(387) Princess Augusta, eldest sister of George III.; married in

January 1764 to the Duke of Brunswick, killed at Jena, in 1806.

Her Royal Highness died in London in 1810.-E.

(388) Mr. Walpole affected indifference to politics, but the tone

of his correspondence does not quite justify the expression of

laughing at either party; he was warmly interested in the one,

and bitterly hostile to the other, and for a considerable period

took a deep and active interest in political party.-C.

(389) Thomas Pelham, member for Sussex, afterwards comptroller of

the household, and first Earl of Chichester.-E.

(390) The reader will observe, in this description of the Opera,

an amusing allusion to public affairs; the last sentence refers,

no doubt, to Lord Bute.-C.

(391) Lady Georgina Caroline Lenox, eldest daughter of Charles,

second Duke of Richmond. She had been, in 1762, created Baroness

Holland in her own right.-C.

(392) Probably the Count de Seleirn, minister from the

Empress-Queen, Maria Theresa.

(393) Brinsley Lord Newton, afterwards second Earl of

Lanesborough, married Lady Jane Rochfort, eldest daughter of the

first Earl of Belvidere. In the affair here alluded to Lord

Newton exhibited at first an extreme jealousy, and subsequently

what was thought an extreme facility in admitting Mr. hamilton's

exculpatory assurances.-C.

(394) This is not quite true; but Mr. Hamilton was on very bad

terms with the Lord Lieutenant, and certainly did not take that

prominent part in the House of Commons of Ireland which his

station as chief secretary seemed to require,.-C.

Letter 183 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.

Arlington Street, Dec. 6, 1763. (page 256)

Dear sir,

According to custom I am excessively obliged to you: you are

continually giving me proofs of your kindness. I have now three

packets to thank you for, full of information, and have only

lamented the trouble you have given yourself.

I am glad for the tomb's sake and my own, that Sir Giles

Allington's monument is restored. The draught you have sent is

very perfect. The account of your ancestor Tuer(395) shall not

be forgotten in my next edition. The pedigree of Allington I had

from Collins before his death, but I think not as perfect as

yours. You have made one little slip in it: my mother was

granddaughter, not daughter of Sir John Shorter, and was not

heiress, having three brothers, who all died after her, and we

only quarter the arms of Shorter, which I fancy occasioned the

mistake, by their leaving no children. The verses by Sir Edward

Walpole, and the translation by Bland, are published in my

description of Houghton.

I am come late from the House of Lords, and am just going to the

Opera; so you will excuse me saying more than that I have a print

of Archbishop Hutton for you (it @is Dr. Ducarel's), and a

little plate of Strawberry; but I do not send them by the post,

as it would crease them: if you will tell me how to convey them

otherwise, I will. I repeat many thanks to you.

(395) Herbert Tuer, the painter. After the death of Charles 1.

he withdrew into Holland, and it is believed that he died at

Utrecht.-E.

Letter 184 To The Earl Of Hertford.

Friday, Dec. 9, 1763. (page 257)

Your brother has sent you such a full account of his transaction

with Mr. Grenville(396) that it is not necessary for me to add a

syllable, except, what your brother will not have said himself,

that he has acted as usual with the strictest honour and

firmness, and has turned this negotiation entirely to his own

credit. He has learned the ill wishes of his enemies, and what

is more, knows who they are: he has laughed at them, and found at

last that their malice was much bigger than their power. Mr.

Grenville, as you would wish, has proved how much he disliked the

violence of his associates, as I trust he will, whenever he has

an opportunity, and has at last contented himself with so little

or nothing, that I am sure you will feel yourself obliged to him.

For the measure itself, of turning out the officers in general

who oppose, it has been much pressed, and what is still sillier,

openly threatened by one set; but they dare not do it, and having

notified it without effect, are ridiculed by the whole town, as

well as by the persons threatened, particularly by Lord

Albermarle, who has treated their menaces with the utmost

contempt and spirit. This mighty storm, like another I shall

tell you of, has vented itself on Lord Shelburne and Colonel

Barr`e,(397) who were yesterday turned out; the first from

aide-de-camp to the King, the latter from adjutant-general and

governor of Stirling. Campbell,(398) to Whom it was promised

before, has got the last; Ned Harvey,(399) the

former. My present expectation is an oration from Barr`e(400 in

honour of Mr. Pitt; for those are scenes that make the world so

entertaining. After that, I shall demand a satire on Mr. Pitt,

from Mr. Wilkes; and I do not believe I shall be balked, for

Wilkes has already expressed his resentment on being given up by

Pitt, who, says Wilkes, ought to be expelled for an

impostor.(401) I do not know whether the Duke of Newcastle does

not expect a palinodia from me(402) T'other morning at the Duke's

lev`ee he embraced me,

and hoped I would come and eat a bit of Sussex mutton With him.

I had such difficulty to avoid laughing in his face that I got

from him as fast as I could. Do you think me very likely to

forget that I have been laughing at him these twenty years?