(479) Lord Bute. Luton was his seat in Bedfordshire.

(480) Mr. Walpole was too sanguine: Sir Fletcher had not even

lost his boldness; for in the further progress of the adjourned

debate, we shall find that he told the House that he would regard

their resolution of no more value (in point of law, must be

understood) than the vociferations of so many drunken porters.-C.

(481) Lord Sandwich was an agreeable companion and an able

minister; but One whose moral character did not point him out as

exactly the fittest patron for a volume of sermons; and he was at

this moment so unpopular, that Mr. Walpole affects to think he

may have been intimidated to fly.-C.

(482) Robert Wood, Esq. under-secretary of state; against whom,

for his official share in the affair of the general warrants, Mr.

Wilkes's complaint was made.-C.

(483) Philip Carteret Webb, Esq. solicitor to the treasury,

complained on the same ground. Mr. Walpole probably applies

these injurious terms to Mr. Webb, on account of a supposed error

in his evidence on the trial in the Common Pleas, for which he

was afterwards indicted for perjury, but he was fully acquitted.

The point was of little importance --whether he had or had not a

key in his hand.-C.

(484) Lord Temple was, as every one knows, a very keen

politician, and took in all this matter a most prominent part;

indeed, he was the prime mover of the whole affair, and bore the

expense of all Wilkes's law proceedings out of his own pocket.-C.

(485) William Chetwynd, brother of Lord Chetwynd: at this time

master of the mint. He was in early life a friend of Lord

Bolingbroke, and called, from the darkness of his complexion,

Oroonoko Chetwynd: he sat out these debates with impunity, for he

survived to succeed his brother as Lord Chetwynd, in 1767, and

did not die for some years after.-C.

(486) Probably Anne, daughter of Admiral Sir Peter Warren;

married, in 1758, to Colonel Charles Fitzroy, afterwards first

Lord Southampton.-C.

(487) Penelope, daughter of Sir H. Atkins, married, in 1746, to

George Pitt, first Lord Rivers.-C.

(488) Elizabeth. daughter of Charles Spenser, first Duke of

Marlborough of the Spenser branch, married, in 1756, to Henry,

tenth Earl of Pembroke; she was celebrated for her beauty, which

had even, it was said, captivated George III. When General

Conway was dismissed for the vote of this very night, Lord

Pembroke succeeded to his regiment.-C.

(489) Sir William Meredith's motion was, "That a general warrant

for apprehending and securing the authors, printers, and

publishers of a seditious libel, together with their papers, is

not warranted by law." This proposition the administration did

not venture to deny, but they attached to it an exculpatory

amendment to the Following effect:--"although such warrant has

been issued according to the usage of office, and has been

frequently produced to, and never condemned by, courts of

justice."-C.

(490) Gilbert, youngest brother of henry, first Earl of

Darlington, who was so well known in Sir Robert Walpole's and Mr.

Pelham's time as " Harry Vane." Mr. Gilbert Vane was deputy

treasurer of Chelsea Hospital, but on this occasion abandoned the

ministerial side of the House, with which he had hitherto voted:

he died in 1772.-C.

(491) The Marriage act was not an original measure of Lord

Hardwicke; but as he, on the failure of one or two previous

attempts at a bill on that subject, was requested by the House of

Lords to prepare one, he, and of course his sons, must have

continued interested in its maintenance; but Mr. Walpole's

suspicion of a bargain and sale of sentiments between there and

the opposition is quite absurd. Even from Mr. Walpole's own

statement, it would seem, that, on the subject of general

warrants, mr. Charles Yorke acted with sincerity and

moderation,-anxious to have a great legal question properly

decided, and unwilling to prostitute its success to the purposes

of party.-C.

(492) Fourth son of John, third Duke of Argyle; afterwards keeper

of the privy seal in Scotland, secretary to the Lord Lieutenant

of Ireland, and finally, lord register of Scotland. As He was

the brother-in-law of General Conway, Mr. Walpole seems to have

expected him to have followed Conway's politics.-C.

(493) Lord George Sackville.

(494) Charles, third Lord Townshend, a peer, whose reputation is

lost between that of his father and his sons.-C.

(495) Second son of the Duke of Marlborough; his white staff was

that of comptroller of the household. He was, it seems, in Mr.

Walpole's sense of the word, wiser than Lord Frederick Campbell;

but we shall see presently, that this wisdom grew ashamed of

itself in a day or two, and in 1765, when the party which he had

this night assisted came into power, he was turned out.-C.

(496) James, eldest son of the Earl of Derby, born in 1717; he

died in 1771, before his father. I know not why Walpole says he

was not interested; he was a very respectable man, but he was

also chancellor of the duchy, and might naturally have felt as

much interested as the other placemen-C.

(497) Lately dismissed. See ant`e, p. 276, letter 188.-E.

(498) Colonel Barr`e had been dismissed from the office of

adjutant-general. See ant`e, p. 258, letter 184.-E.

(499) The Duke of Newcastle in a letter to Mr. Pitt of the 15th,

says, "Mr. West and honest George Onslow came to my bedside this

morning, to give me an account of the glorious day we had

yesterday, and of the great obligations which every true lover of

the liberties of his country and our present constitution owe to

you, for the superior ability, firmness, and resolution which you

showed during the longest attention that ever was known. God

forbid that your health should suffer by your zeal for your

country." Chatham Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 287.-E.

(500) Probably the gentleman in whose charge M. de Guerchy had

sent away the giddy Duke.-C.

(501) Sir Jacob Gerrard Downing, Bart., member for Dunwich: he

died the 6th of February, and left his estate, as Mr. Walpole

says, to his wife; but only for her life, and afterwards to build

and endow Downing College at Cambridge.(502) The grounds of any

expectation which Lord Holland may have entertained from Sir

Jacob Downing have not reached us; but it is right to say, that

Mr. Walpole had quarrelled with Lord Holland, and was glad on any

occasion, just or otherwise, to sneer at him.-C.

(503) It may be necessary to remark, that any member who attends

at the daily prayers of the House has a right, for that evening,

to the place he occupies at prayers. On nights of great

interest, when the House is expected to be crowded, there is

consequently a considerable attendance at prayers.-C.

(504) Eldest son of the third Duke of Rutland, well known for his

gallant conduct at Minden, and still remembered for his

popularity with the army and the public. He was at this time

commander-in-chief and master-general of the ordnance. He died

before his father, in 1770.-C.

(505) Wonderful to Mr. Walpole only, who had a private pique

against the Yorkes; no one else could wonder that deference

should be paid to long services, high stations, great abilities,

and unimpeached integrity.-C.

(506) Mr. Pitt's frequent fits of the gout are well known: he was

even suspected of sometimes acting a fit of the gout in the House

of Commons. (A reference to the Chatham Correspondence will, it

is believed, remove the illiberal suspicion, that Mr. Pitt, on

this, or any other occasion, was in the practice of "acting a fit

of the gout." On the morning after the debate, the Duke of

Newcastle thus wrote to Mr. Pitt "I shall not be easy till I hear

you have not increased your pain and disorder, by your attendance

and the great service you did yesterday to the public. I could

not omit thanking you and congratulating you upon your great and

glorious minority, before I went to Claremont. Such a minority,

with such a leader, composed of gentlemen of the Greatest and

most independent fortunes in the kingdom, against a majority of

fourteen only, influenced by power and force, and fetched from

all corners of the kingdom, must have its weight, and produce the

most happy consequences to the public." Chatham Correspondence,

vol. ii. p. 288.-E.]

(507) Sir John Cust's nose was rather short, as his picture by

Reynolds, as well as by Walpole, testify.-C.

(508) In reference to this defeat of the ministry, Gray, in a

letter to Dr. Wharton, says, "Their crests are much fallen and

countenances lengthened by the transactions of last week; for the

ministry, on Thursday last (after sitting till near eight in the

morning), carried a small point by a majority of only forty, and

on another previous division by one of ten only; and on Friday

last, at five in the morning, there were 220 to 232; and by this

the court only obtained to adjourn the debate for four months,

and not to get a declaration in favour of their measures. If

they hold their ground many weeks after this, I shall wonder; but

the new reign has already produced many wonders." Works, vol. iv.

p. 30.-E.

(509) Not correct. See afterwards.-E.

(510) sir Richard Warwick Bampfylde, fourth baronet; member for

Devonshire.-E.

(511) Sir Charles Kemeys Tynte, fifth baronet; member for

Somersetshire.-E.

(512) He died on the 13th of the ensuing month.-E.

(513) Richard, fourth Viscount, and first Earl Howe, the hero of

the 1st of June; and his brother, Colonel, afterwards General Sir

William, who succeeded him as fifth Viscount Howe.-C.

(514) George Simon, Viscount Newnham, afterwards second Earl of

Harcourt, remarkable for a somewhat exaggerated imitation of

French fashions. His father, the first Earl, was at this time

chamberlain to the Queen.-C.

(515) See ant`e, p. 286. The meaning of this passage is, that

the Duke of Bedford (who was president of the council) wrote a

letter, which he sent to Blenheim for the Duke of Marlborough to

sign, desiring his brother, Lord Charles, to abstain from again

voting against the government. The Duke of Marlborough (who was

privy seal) signed, as Walpole intimates, the letter; and Lord

Charles, instead of attending the House, and voting, as he had

done on the former night, against ministers, went down to

Blenheim.-C.

(516) They never took place, and probably never were in

contemplation.-E.

Letter 193 To Sir David Dalrymple.(517)

Arlington Street, Feb. 23, 1764. (page 292)

Dear Sir,

I am much in your debt, but have had but too much excuse for

being so. Men who go to bed at six and seven in the morning, and

who rise but to return to the same fatigue, have little leisure

for other most necessary duties. The severe attendance we have

had lately in the House of Commons cannot be unknown to you, and

will already, I trust, have pleaded my pardon.

Mr. Bathoe has got the two volumes for you, and will send them by

the conveyance you prescribe. You will find in them much, I

fear, that will want your indulgence; and not only dryness,

trifles, and, I conclude, many mistakes, but perhaps opinions

different from your own. I can only plead my natural and

constant frankness, which always speaks indifferently, as it

thinks, on all sides and subjects. I am bigoted to none: Charles

or Cromwell, Whigs or Tories, are all alike to me, but in what I

think they deserve, applause or censure; and therefore, if' I

sometimes commend, sometimes blame them, it is not for being

inconsistent, but from considering them in the single light in

which I then speak of them: at the same time meaning to give only

my private opinion, and not at all expecting to have it adopted

by any other man. Thus much, perhaps, it was necessary for @ne

to say, and I will trouble you no further about myself.

Single portraits by Vandyck I shall avoid particularizing any

farther, and also separate pieces by other masters, for a reason

I may trust you with. Many persons possess pictures which they

believe or call originals, without their being so, and have

wished to have them inserted in my lists. This I certainly do

not care to do, nor, on the other hand, to assume the

impertinence of deciding from my own judgment. I shall,

therefore, stop where I have stopped. The portraits which you

mention, of the Earl of Warwick, Sir, is very famous and

indubitable; but I believe you will assent to my prudence, which

does not trouble me too often. I have heard as much fame of the

Earl of Denbigh.

You will see in my next edition, that I have been so lucky as to

find and purchase both the drawings that were at

Buckingham-house, of the Triumphs of Riches and Poverty. They

have raised even my ideas of Holbein. Could I afford it, and we

had engravers equal to the task, the public should be acquainted

with their merit; but I am disgusted with paying great sums for

wretched performances. I am ashamed of the prints in my books,

which were extravagantly paid for, and are wretchedly executed.

Your zeal for reviving the publication of Illustrious Heads

accords, Sir, extremely with my own sentiments; but I own I

despair of that, and every work. Our artists get so much money

by hasty, slovenly performances, that they will undertake nothing

that requires labour and time. I have never been able to

persuade any one of them to engrave the beauties at Windsor,

which are daily perishing for want of fires in that palace. Most

of them entered into a plan I had undertaken, of an edition of

Grammont with portraits. I had three executed; but after the

first, which was well done, the others were so wretchedly

performed, though even the best was much too dear, that I was

forced to drop the design. Walker, who has done much the best

heads in my new volumes, told me, when I pressed him to consider

his reputation, that , "he had got fame enough!" What hopes,

Sir, can one entertain after so shameful an answer? I have had

numerous schemes, but never could bring any to bear, but what

depended solely on myself; and how little is it that a private

man, with a moderate fortune, and who has many other avocations,

can accomplish alone? I flattered myself that this reign would

have given new life and views to the artists and the curious. I

am disappointed: Politics on one hand, and want of taste in those

about his Majesty on the other, have prevented my expectations

from being answered.

The letters you tell me of, Sir, are indeed curious, both those

of Atterbury and the rest; but I cannot flatter myself that I

shall be able to contribute to publication. My press, from the

narrowness of its extent, and having but one man and a boy, goes

very slow; nor have I room or fortune to carry it farther. What

I have already in hand, or promised, will take me up a long time.

The London Booksellers play me all manner of tricks. If I do not

allow them ridiculous profit,(518) they will do nothing to

promote the sale; and when I do, they buy up the impression, and

sell it for an advanced price before my face. This is the case

of my two first volumes of Anecdotes, for which people have been

made to pay half a guinea, and more than the advertised price.

In truth, the plague I have had in every shape with my own

printers, engravers, the booksellers, besides my own trouble,

have almost discouraged me from what I took up at first as an

amusement, but which has produced very little of it.

I am sorry, upon the whole, Sir, to be forced to confess to you,

that I have met with so many discouragements in virt`u and

literature. If an independent gentleman, though a private one,

finds such obstacles, what must an ingenious man do, who is

obliged to couple views of profit with zeal for the public? Or,

do our artists and booksellers, cheat me the more because I am a

gentleman? Whatever is the cause, I am almost as sick of the

profession of editor, as of author. If I touch upon either more,

it will be more idly, though chiefly because I never can be quite

idle.

(517) Now first collected.

(518) The following just and candid vindication of the London

booksellers from the charge of rapacity on the score of

"ridiculous profit," is contained in a letter written by Dr.

Johnson, in March, 1776, to the Rev. Dr. Wetherell:--"It is,

perhaps, not considered through how many hands a book often

passes, before it comes into those of the reader; or what part of

the profit each hand must retain, as a motive for transmitting it

to the next, We will call our primary agent in London, Mr.

Cadell, who receives our books from us, gives them room in his

warehouse, and issues them on demand; by him they are sold to Mr.

Dilly, a wholesale bookseller, who sends them into the country;

and the last seller is the country bookseller. Here are three

profits to be paid between the printer and the reader, or, in the

style of commerce, between the manufacturer and the consumer; and

if any of these profits is too penuriously distributed, the

process of commerce is interrupted."-E.

Letter 194 To The Earl Of Hertford.

Arlington Street, Feb. 24, 1764. (page 294)

As I had an opportunity, on Tuesday last, of sending you a letter

of eleven pages, by a very safe conveyance, I shall say but a few

words to-day; indeed, I have left nothing to say, but to thank

you for the answer I received from you this morning to mine by

Monsieur Monin. I am very happy that you take so kindly the

freedom I used: the circumstances made me think it necessary; and

I flatter myself, that you are persuaded I was not to blame in

speaking so openly, when two persons so dear to me were

concerned.(519) Your 'Indulgence will not lead me to abuse it.

What you say on the caution I mentioned, convinces me that I was

right, by finding your judgment correspond with my own-but enough

of that.

My long letter, which, perhaps, you will not receive till after

this (you will receive it from a lady), will give you a full

detail of the last extraordinary week. Since that, there has

been an accidental suspension of arms. Not only Mr. Pitt is laid

up with the gout, but the Speaker has it too. We have been

adjourned till to-day, and as he is not recovered, have again

adjourned till next Wednesday. The events of the week have been,

a complaint made by Lord Lyttelton in your House, of a book

called "Droit le Roy;"(520) a tract written in the highest strain

of prerogative, and drawn from all the old obsolete law-books on

that question.(521) The ministers met this complaint with much

affected indignation, and even on the complaint being

communicated to us, took it up themselves; and both Houses have

ordered the book to be burned by the hangman. To comfort

themselves for this forced zeal for liberty, the North Briton,

and the Essay on Woman have both been condemned(522) by Juries in

the King's Bench; but that triumph has been more than balanced

again, by the city giving their freedom to Lord Chief-Justice

Pratt,(523) ordering his picture to be placed in the King's

Bench, thanking their members for their behaviour in Parliament

on the warrant, and giving orders for instructions to be drawn

for their future conduct.

Lord Granby is made lord lieutenant of Derbyshire; but the vigour

of this affront was wofully weakened by excuses to the Duke of

Devonshire, and by its being known that the measure was

determined two months ago.

All this sounds very hostile; yet, don't be surprised if you hear

of some sudden treaty. Don't you know a little busy squadron

that had the chief hand in the negotiation(524) last autumn?

Well, I have reason to think that Phraates(525 is negotiating

with Leonidas(526) by the same intervention. All the world sees

that the present ministers are between two fires. Would it be

extraordinary if the artillery of' both should be discharged on

them at once? But this is not proper for the post: I grow

prudent the less prudence is necessary.

We are in pain for the Duchess of Richmond, who, instead of the

jaundice, has relapsed into a fever. She has blooded twice last

night, and vet had a very bad night. I called at the door at

three o'clock, when they thought the fever rather diminished, but

spoke of her as very ill. I have not seen your brother or Lady

Aylesbury to-day, but found they had been very much alarmed

yesterday evening.(527) Lord Suffolk,(528) they say, is going to

be married to Miss Trevor Hampden.

Your brother has told me, that among Lady Hertford's things

seized at Dover, was a packet for me from you. Mr. Bowman has

undertaken to make strict inquiry for it. Adieu, my dear lord.

P. S. We had, last Monday, the prettiest ball that ever was seen,

at Mrs. Ann Pitt's,(529) in the compass of a silver penny. There

were one hundred and four persons, of which number fifty-five

supped. The supper-room was disposed with tables and benches

back to back in the manner of an alehouse. The idea sounds ill;

but the fairies had so improved upon it, had so be-garlanded, so

sweetmeated, and so desserted it, that it looked like a vision.

I told her she Could only have fed and stowed so much company by

a miracle, and that, when we were gone, she would take up twelve

basketsfull of people. The Duchess of Bedford asked me before

Madame de Guerchy, if I would not give them a ball at Strawberry?

Not for the universe! What! turn a ball, and dust, and dirt, and

a million of candles, into my charming new gallery! I said, I

could not flatter myself that people would give themselves the

trouble of going eleven miles for a ball--(though I believe they

would go fifty)--"Well, then," says she, "it shall be a dinner."-

-"With all my heart, I have no objection; but no ball shall set

its foot within my doors."

(519) It related, as we have seen, to General Conway's vote in

opposition to the government.-C.

(520) "Droit le Roy, or the Rights and Prerogatives of the

Imperial Crown of Great Britain." In the examination of Griffin,

the printer, before the Peers, he stated that Timothy Becknock

afterwards hanged in Ireland as an accomplice of George Robert

Fitzgerald, had sent the pamphlet to the press, and was, Griffin

believed, the author of it.-C.

(521) Gray writes to Dr. Wharton, on the 21st of February:--"The

House of Lords, I hear, will soon take in hand a book lately

published, by some scoundrel lawyer, on the prerogative; in which

is scraped together all the flattery and blasphemy of our old

law-books in honour of kings. I presume it is understood, that

the court will support the cause of this impudent scribbler."

Works, vol. iv. p. 30.-E.

(522) Mr. Wilkes was tried on the 21st of February, for

republishing the North Briton, No. 45, and for printing the Essay

on Woman, and found guilty of both.-E.

(523) The preamble of these resolutions is worthy of

observation:--"Whereas the independency and uprightness of judges

is essential to the impartial administration of justice, etc.

this court, in manifestation of their just sense of the

inflexible firmness and integrity of the Right Honourable Sir C.

Pratt, lord chief justice, etc. gives him the freedom of the

city, and orders his picture to be placed in Guildhall;" as if

impartiality could only be assailed from one side, and as if gold

boxes and pictures, and addresses from the corporation of London,

were not as likely to have influence on the human mind as the

favours from the crown. Their applause was either worth nothing,

or it was an attempt on the impartiality of the judge.-C.

(524) The negotiation in August, 1763, already alluded to, for

Mr. Pitt's coming into power. There is some reason to suppose

that Mr. Calcraft was employed in the first steps of this

negotiation, and this may be what Mr. Walpole here refers to.-C.

(525) Lord Bute.

(526) Mr. Pitt.

(527) The Duchess was the sister of Lady Aylesbury's first

husband.-E.

(528) Henry, twelfth Earl of Suffolk, married, May 1764, Miss

Trevor, who had been on the point of marriage with Mr. Child of

Osterley, where he suddenly died in September, 1763. See ant`e,

p. 237, letter 175.-E.

(529) Sister of the great Lord Chatham, whom she resembled in

some qualities of her mind. See ant`e, p. 220, letter 157. Mr.

Walpole, when some foreigner, who could not see Pitt himself, had

asked him if he was like his sister, answered, in his usual happy

style of giving a portrait at a touch, "Ils se ressemblent comme

deux gouttes de feu!" She was privy purse to the Princess

Dowager.-C.

Letter 195 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.

Arlington Street, March 3, 1764. (page 296)

Dear Sir,

Just as I was going to the Opera, I received your manuscript. I

would not defer telling you so, that you may know it is safe.

But I have additional reason to write to you immediately; for on

opening the book, the first thing I saw was a new obligation to

You, the charming Faithorne of Sir Orlando Bridgman, which

according to your constantly obliging manner you have sent me,

and I almost fear you think I begged it; but I can disculpate

myself, for I had discovered that it belongs to Dugdale's

Origines -Judiciales, and had ordered my bookseller to try to get

me that book, which when I accomplish, you shall command your own

print again; for it is too fine an impression to rob you of.

I have been so entertained with your book, that I have stayed at

home on purpose, and gone through three parts of it. It makes me

wish earnestly some time or other to go through all your

collections, for I have already found twenty things of great

moment to me. One Is particularly satisfactory to me; it is in

Mr. Baker's MSS. at Cambridge; the title of Eglesham's book

against the Duke of Bucks,(530) mentioned by me in the account of

Gerbier, from Vertue, who fished out every thing, and always

proves in the right. This piece I must get transcribed by Mr.

Gray's assistance. I fear I shall detain your manuscript

prisoner a little, for the notices I have found, but I will take

infinite care of it, as it deserves. I have got among my new old

prints a most curious one of one Toole. It seems to be a

burlesque. He lived in temp. Jac. I. and appears to have been an

adventurer, like Sir Ant. Sherley:(531) can you tell me any thing

of him?

I must repeat how infinitely I think myself obliged to you both

for the print and the use of your manuscript, which is of the

greatest use and entertainment to me; but you frighten me about

Mr. Baker's MSS. from the neglect of them. I should lose all

patience if yours were to be treated so. Bind them in iron, and

leave them in a chest of cedar. They are, I am sure, most

valuable, from what I have found already.

(530) This libellous book, written by a Scotch physician, and

which is reprinted in the second volume of the Harleian

Miscellany, and in the fifth volume of the Somers' Collection of

Tracts, was considered by Sir Henry Wotton "as one of the alleged

incentives which hurried Felton to become an assassin."-E.

(531) Sherley's various embassies will be found in the

collections of Hakluyt and Purchas. An article upon his travels,

which were published in 1601, occurs likewise in the second

volume of the Retrospective Review. The travels of the three

brothers, Sir Thomas, Sir Anthony, and Master Robert Sherley,

were published from the original manuscripts in 1825.-E.

Letter 196 To The Earl Of Hertford.

Strawberry Hill, March 11, 1764. (page 297)

My dear lord,

the last was so busy a week with me, that I had not a minute's

time to tell you of Lord Hardwicke's(532) death. I had so many

auctions, dinners, loo-parties, so many sick acquaintance, with

the addition of a long day in the House of Commons, (which, by

the way, I quitted for a sale of books,) and a ball, that I left

the common newspapers to inform you of an event, which two months

ago would have been of much consequence. The Yorkes are fixed,

and the contest(533) at Cambridge will but make them strike

deeper root in opposition. I have not heard how their father has

portioned out his immense treasures. The election at Cambridge

is to be on Tuesday, 24th; Charles Townshend is gone thither, and

I suppose, by this time, has ranted, and romanced, and turned

every one of their ideas topsyturvy.

Our long day was Friday, the opening of the budget. mr.

Grenville spoke for two hours and forty minutes; much of it well,

but too long, too many repetitions, and too evident marks of

being galled by reports, which he answered with more art than

sincerity. There were a few more speeches, till nine o'clock,

but no division. Our armistice, you see, continues. Lord Bute

is, I believe, negotiating with both sides; I know he is with the

opposition, and has a prospect of making very good terms for

himself, for patriots seldom have the gift of perseverance. It

is wonderful how soon their virtue thaws!

Last Thursday, the Duchess of Queensbury(534) gave a ball, opened

it herself with a minuet, and danced two country dances; as she

had enjoined every body to be with her by six, to sup at twelve,

and go away directly. Of the Campbell-sisters, all were left out

but, Lady Strafford,(535) Lady Rockingham and Lady Sondes, who,

having had colds, deferred sending answers, received notice that

their places were filled up, and that they must not come; but

were pardoned on submission. A card was sent to invite Lord and

Lady Cardigan, and Lord Beaulieu instead of Lord Montagu.(536)

This, her grace protested, was by accident. Lady Cardigan was

very angry, and yet went. Except these flights, the only

extraordinary thing the Duchess did, was to do nothing

extraordinary, for I do not call it very mad that some pique

happening between her and the Duchess of Bedford, the latter had

this distich sent to her--

Come with a whistle, and come with a call,

Come with a good will, or come not at all.

I do not know whether what I am going to tell you did not border

a little upon Moorfields.(537) The gallery where they danced was

very cold. Lord Lorn,(538) George Selwyn, and I, retired into a

little room, and sat (Comfortably by the fire. The Duchess

looked in, said nothing, and sent a smith to take the hinges of

the door off We understood the hint, and left the room, and so

did the smith the door. This was pretty legible.

My niece Waldegrave talks of accompanying me to Paris, but ten or

twelve weeks may make great alteration in a handsome young

widow's plan: I even think I see Some(539) who will--not forbid

banns, but propose them. Indeed, I am almost afraid of coming to

you myself. The air of Paris works such miracles, that it is not

safe to trust oneself there. I hear of nothing but my Lady

Hertford's rakery, and Mr. Wilkes's religious deportment, and

constant attendance at your chapel. Lady Anne,(540) I conclude,

chatters as fast as my Lady Essex(541) and her four daughters.

Princess Amelia told me t'other night, and bade me tell you, that

she has seen Lady Massarene(542) at Bath, who is warm in praise

of you, and said that you had spent two thousand pounds out of

friendship, to support her son in an election. She told the

Princess too, that she had found a rent-roll of your estate in a

farmhouse, and that it is fourteen thousand a-year. This I was

ordered, I know not why, to tell you. The Duchess of Bedford has

not been asked to the loo-parties at Cavendish-house(543) this

winter, and only once to whisk there, and that was one Friday

when she is at home herself. We have nothing at the Princess's

but silver-loo, and her Bath and Tunbridge acquaintance. The

trade at our gold-loo is as contraband as ever. I cannot help

saying, that the Duchess of Bedford would mend our silver-loo,

and that I wish every body played like her at the gold.

Arlington Street, Tuesday.

You thank me, my dear lord, for my gazettes (in your letter of

the 8th) more than they deserve. There is no trouble in sending

you news; as you excuse the careless manner in which I write any

thing I hear. Don't think yourself obliged to be punctual in

answering me: it would be paying too dear for such idle and

trifling despatches. Your picture of the attention paid to

Madame Pompadour's illness, and of the ridicule attached to the

mission of that homage, is very striking. It would be still more

so by comparison. Think if the Duke of Cumberland was to set up

with my Lord Bute!

The East India Company, yesterday, elected Lord Clive--Great

Mogul; that is, they have made him governor-general of Bengal,

and restored his Jaghire.(544) I dare say he will put it out of

their power ever to take it away again. We have had a deluge of

disputes and pamphlets on the late events in that distant

province of our empire, the Indies. The novelty of the manners

divert me: our governors there, I think, have learned more of

their treachery and injustice, than they have taught them of our

discipline.

Monsieur Helvetius(545 arrived yesterday. I will take care to

inform the Princess, that you could not do otherwise than you did

about her trees. My compliments to all your hotel.

(532) The event took place on the 6th of March.-E.

(533) For High steward of the university, between Lord Sandwich

and the new Lord Hardwicke. Gray, in a letter of the 21st of

February, written from Cambridge, says, "This silly dirty place

has had all its thoughts taken up with choosing a new high

steward; and had not Lord Hardwicke surprisingly, and to the

shame of the faculty, recovered by a quack medicine, I believe in

my conscience the noble Earl of Sandwich had been chosen, though,

(let me do them the justice to say) not without a considerable

opposition." Works, vol. iv. p. 29.-E.

(534) Catharine Hyde, the granddaughter of the great Lord

Clarendon; herself remarkable for some oddities of character,

dress, and manners, to which the world became less indulgent as

she ceased to be young and handsome.-C.

(535) the sisters omitted were, Lady Dalkeith, Lady Elizabeth

Mackenzie, and Lady Mary Coke.-C.

(536) John Duke of Montagu left two daughters; the eldest,

Isabella, married first the Duke of Manchester, and, secondly,

Mr. Hussey, an Irish gentleman, created in consequence of this

union, Lord Beaulieu. Mary, the younger sister, married Lord

Cardigan, who was, in 1776, created Duke of Montagu: their eldest

son having been in 1762, created Lord Montagu. The marriage of

the elder sister with Mr. Hussey was considered, by her family

and the world, as a m`esalliance; and, therefore, the mistake of

lord Beaulieu for Lord Montagu was likely to give offence.-C.

(537) It is now almost necessary to remind the reader, that old

Bedlam stood in Moorfields.-C.

(538) Afterwards fifth Duke of Argyle.-E.

(539) He means, as subsequently appears, the Duke of Portland.-C.

(540) Lord Hertford's eldest daughter, afterwards wife of Mr.

Stewart, subsequently created Earl and Marquis of Londonderry.-E.

(541) Elizabeth Russell, daughter of the second Duke of Bedford.

She had four daughters; but the oldest died young.-E.

(542) Elizabeth, daughter of Henry Eyre, Esq. of Derbyshire,

second wife of the first, and mother of the second, Earl of

Massarene; the latter being at this time a minor. The election

was probably for the county of Antrim, in which both Lord

Massarene and Lord Hertford had considerable property.-C.

(543) Princess Amelia's, the corner of Harley Street; since the

residence of Mr. Hope, and of mr. Watson Taylor.-C.

(544) A rent-charge which had been granted him by the late Nabob,

and which, on the seizure of the territory on which it was

charged by the East India Company, Lord Clive insisted that the

Company should continue to pay. It was about twenty-five

thousand pounds per annum.-C.

(545) A French philosopher, the son of a Dutch Physician brought

into France by Louis XIV. He was the author of a dull book

mis-named "De l'Esprit." We cannot resist repeating a joke made

about this period on the occasion of a requisition made by the

French ministry to the government of Geneva, that it should seize

copies of this book "De l'Esprit," and Voltaire's "Pucelle

d'Orl`eans," which were supposed to be collected there in order

to be smuggled into France. The worthy magistrates were said to

have reported that, after the most diligent search, they could

find in their whole town no trace "de l'Esprit, et pas une

Pucelle."-C. [The following is Gibbon's character of Helvetius,

in a letter of the 12th of February, 1763:--"Amongst my

acquaintance I cannot help mentioning M. Helvetius, the author of

the famous book 'De l'Esprit.' I met him at dinner at Madame

Geoffrin's, where he took great notice of me, made me a visit

next day, has ever since treated me, not in a polite but a

friendly manner. Besides being a sensible man, an agreeable

companion, and the worthiest creature in the world, he has a very

pretty wife, an hundred thousand livres a-year, and one of the

best tables in Paris." He died in 1771, at the age of

fifty-six.-E.]

Letter 197 To The Earl Of Hertford.

Sunday, March 18, 1764. (page 300)

You will feel, my dear lord, for the loss I have had, and for the

much greater affliction of poor Lady Malpas. My nephew(546) went

to his regiment in Ireland before Christmas, and returned but

last Monday. He had, I suppose, heated himself in that

bacchanalian country, and was taken ill the very day he set out,

yet he came on, but grew much worse the night of his arrival; it

turned to an inflammation in his bowels, and he died last Friday.

You may imagine the distress where there was so much domestic

felicity, and where the deprivation is augmented by the very

slender circumstances in which he could but leave his family; as

his father--such an improvident father--is living! Lord Malpas

himself was very amiable, and I had always loved him--but this is

the cruel tax one pays for living, to see one's friends taken

away before one! It has been a week of mortality. The night I

wrote to you last, and had sent away my letter, came an account

of my Lord Townshend's death. He had been ill treated by a

surgeon in the country, then was carried improperly to the Bath,

and then again to Rainham, tho Hawkins, and other surgeons and

physicians represented his danger to him. But the woman he kept,

probably to prevent his seeing his family, persisted in these

extravagant journeys, and he died in exquisite torment the day

after his arrival in Norfolk. He mentions none of his children

in his will, but the present lord; to whom he gives 300 pounds

a-year that he had bought, adjoining to his estate. But there is

said, or supposed to be, 50,000 pounds in the funds in his

mistress's name, who was his housemaid. I do not aver this, for

truth is not the staple commodity of that family. Charles is

much disappointed and discontented--not so my lady, who has 2000

pounds a-year already, another 1000 pounds in jointure, and 1500

pounds her own estate in Hertfordshire.(547) We conclude, that

the Duke of Argyle will abandon Mrs. Villiers(548) for this

richer widow; who will only be inconsolable, as she is too

cunning, I believe, to let any body console her. Lord

Macclesfield(549) is dead too; a great windfall for Mr.

Grenville, who gets a teller's place for his son.

There is no public news: there was a longish day on Friday in our

House, on a demand for money for the new bridge from the city.

It was refused, and into the accompt of contempt, Dr. Hay(550)

threw a good deal of abuse on the common council--a nest of

hornets, that I do not see the prudence of attacking.

I leave to your brother to tell you the particulars of an

impertinent paragraph in the papers on you and your embassy; but

I must tell you how instantly, warmly, and zealously, he resented

it. He went directly to the Duke of Somerset, to beg of him to

complain of it to the Lords. His grace's bashfulness made him

choose rather to second the complaint, but he desired Lord

Marchmont to make it, who liked the office, and the printers are

to attend your House to-morrow.(551)

I went a little too fast in my history of Lord Clive, and yet I

had it from Mr. Grenville himself. The Jaghire is to be decided

by law, that is in the year 1000. Nor is it certain that his

Omrahship goes; that will depend on his obtaining a board of

directors to his mind, at the approaching election.(552) I

forgot, too, to answer your question about Luther;(553) and now I

remember it, I cannot answer it. Some said his wife had been

gallant. Some, that he had been too gallant, and that she

suffered for it. Others laid it to his expenses at his election;

others again, to political squabbles on that subject between him

and his wife--but in short, as he sprung into the world by his

election, so he withered when it was over, and has not been

thought on since.

George Selwyn has had a frightful accident, that ended in a great

escape. He was at dinner at Lord Coventry's, and just as he was

drinking a glass of wine, he was seized with a fit of coughing,

the liquor went wrong, and suffocated him: he got up for some

water at the sideboard, but being strangled, and losing his

senses, he fell against the corner of the marble table with such

violence, that they thought he had killed himself by a fracture

of his skull. He lay senseless for some time, and was recovered

with difficulty. He was immediately blooded, and had the chief

wound, which is just over the eye, sewed up--but you never saw so

battered a figure. All round his eye is as black as jet, and

besides the scar on his forehead, he has cut his nose at top and

bottom. He is well off with his life, and we with his wit.

P. S. Lord Macclesfield has left his wife(554) threescore

thousand pounds.

(546) George Viscount Malpas member for Corfe-Castle, and colonel

of the 65th regiment of foot, the son of George, third Earl of

Cholmondeley, and of Mary, only legitimate daughter of Sir Robert

Walpole. Lord Malpas had married, in 1747, Hester daughter and

heiress of Sir Francis Edwards, Bart. and by her was father of

the fourth Earl.

(547) She was daughter and heiress of J. Harrison, Esq. of Balls,

in Herts.-E.

(548) Probably Mary Fowke, widow of Mr. Henry Villiers, nephew of

the first Earl of Jersey.-C.

(549) George, second Earl of Macclesfield, one of the tellers of

the exchequer, and president of the Royal Society.-E.

(550) George Hay, LL. D. member for Sandwich, and one of the

lords of the admiralty.-E.

(551) We find in the Journals, that the printers of two papers in

which the libellous paragraph appeared, were, after examination

at the bar, committed to Newgate. The libel itself is not

recorded. The proceedings in the House of Lords were notified to

Lord Hertford by the secretary of state, and the following is a

copy of his reply to this communication:--"Paris, March 27th,

1764. I am informed by my friend, of the insult that has been

offered to my character in two public papers, and of the zeal

shown by administration in seconding the resentment of the House

of Peers in my favour. Perhaps my own inclination might have led

me to despise such indignities; but if others, and particularly

my friends, take the matter more warmly, I am not insensible to

their attention, and receive with gratitude such pledges of their

regard. I had indeed flattered myself, that my course of life

had hitherto created me no enemy; but as I find that this

felicity is too great for any man, I am pleased, at least, to

find that he is a very low one: and I am so far obliged to him

for discovering to me the share I have in the friendship of so

many great persons, and for procuring me a testimony of esteem

from so honourable an assembly as that of the Peers of

England."-C.

(552) Lord Clive made it a condition of his going to India, that

Mr. Sullivan should be deprived of the lead he had in the

direction at home.-C. [Soon after the election of the directors,

the court took the subject of the settlement of Lord Clive's

Jaghire into consideration; and a proposition, made by himself,

was, on the ]6th of May, agreed to, confirming his right for ten

years, if he lived so long, and provided the company continued,

during that period, in possession of the lands from which the

revenue was Paid.-E.]

(553) John Luther, Esq. of Myless, near Ongar, in Essex, who, on

the death of Mr. Harvey, of Chigwell, stood on the popular

interest ,for that county against Mr. Conyers, and succeeded.-C.

(554) Lord Macclesfield's second wife, whom he married in 1757,

was a Miss Dorothy Nesbit.-E.

Letter 198 To The Earl Of Hertford.

Tuesday night, March 27, 1764. (page 302)

Your brother has just told me, my dear lord, at the Opera, that

Colonel Keith, a friend of his, sets out for Paris on Thursday.

I take that opportunity of saying a few things to you, which

would be less proper than by the common post; and if I have not

time to write to Lord Beauchamp too, I will defer my answer to

him till Friday, as the post-office will be more welcome to read

that.

Lord Bute is come to town, has been long with the King alone, and

goes publicly to court and the House of Lords, where the Barony

of Bottetourt((555) has engrossed them some days, and of which

the town thinks much, and I not at all, so I can tell you nothing

about it. The first two days, I hear, Lord Bute was little

noticed; but to-day much court was paid to him, even by the Duke

of Bedford. Why this difference, I don't know: that matters are

somehow adjusted between the favourite not minister, and the

ministers not favourites, I have no doubt. Pitt certainly has

been treating with him, and so threw away the great and

unexpected progress which the opposition had made. They, good

people, are either not angry with him for this, or have not found

it out. The Sandwiches and rigbys, who feel another half year

coming into their pockets, are not so blind. For my own part, I

rejoice that the opposition are only fools, and by thus missing

their treaty, will not appear knaves. In the mean time, I have

no doubt but the return of Lord Bute must produce confusion at

court. He and Grenville are both too fond of being ministers,

not to be jealous of one another. If what is said to be designed

proves true, that the King will go to Hanover, and take the Queen

with him, I shall expect that clamour (which you see depends on

very few men,(556) for it has subsided during these private

negotiations) will rise higher than ever. The Queen's absence

must be designed to leave the regency in the hands of another

lady:(557) connect that with Lord Bute's return, and judge what

will be the consequence! These are the present politics, at

least mine, who trouble myself little about them, and know less.

I have not been at the House this month; the great points which

interested me are over, and the very stand has shut the door. I

might like some folks out, but there are so few that I desire to

see in, that indifference is my present most predominating

principle. The busier world are attentive to the election at

Cambridge, which comes on next Friday; and I think, now, Lord

Sandwich's friends have little hopes. Had I a vote, it would not

be given for the new Lord Hardwicke.

But we have a more extraordinary affair to engage us, and of

which you particularly will hear much more,-indeed, I fear must

be involved in. D'Eon has published (but to be sure you have

already heard so) a most scandalous quarto, abusing Monsieur de

Guerchy outrageously, and most offensive to Messieurs de Praslin

and Nivernois.(558) In truth, I think he will have made all

three irreconcilable enemies. The Duc de Praslin must be

outraged as to the Duke's carelessness and partiality to D'Eon,

and will certainly grow to hate Guerchy, concluding the latter

can never forgive him. D'Eon, even by his own account, is as

culpable as possible, mad with pride, insolent, abusive,

ungrateful, and dishonest, in short, a complication of

abominations, yet originally ill used by his court, afterwards

too well; above all, he has great malice, and great parts to put

the malice in play. Though there are even many bad puns in his

book, a very uncommon fault in a French book, yet there is much

wit too.(559) Monsieur de Guerchy is extremely hurt, though with

the least reason of the three; for his character for bravery and

good-nature is so established, that here, at least, he will not

suffer. I could write pages to you upon this Subject, for I am

full of it--but I will send you the book. The council have met

to-day to consider what to do upon it. Most people think it

difficult for them to do any thing. Lord Mansfield thinks they

can--but I fear he has a little alacrity on the severe side in

such cases. Yet I should be glad the law would allow severity in

the present case. I should be glad of it, as I was in your case

last week; and considering the present constitution of things,

would put the severity of the law in execution. You will wonder

at this sentence out of my mouth,(560) but not when you have

heard my reason. The liberty of the press has been so much

abused, that almost all men, especially such as have weight, I

mean, grave hypocrites and men of arbitrary principles, are ready

to demand a restraint. I would therefore show, that the law, as

it already stands, is efficacious enough to repress enormities.

I hope so, particularly in Monsieur de Guerchy's case, or I do

not see how a foreign minister can come hither; if, while their

persons are called sacred, their characters are at the mercy of

every servant that can pick a lock and pay for printing a letter.

It is an odd coincidence of accidents that has produced abuse on

you and your tally in the same week--but yours was a flea-bite.

Thank you, my dear lord, for your anecdotes relative to Madame

Pompadour, her illness, and the pretenders to her succession. I

hope she may live till I see her; she is one of the greatest

curiosities of the age, and I am a pretty universal virtuoso.

The match Of My niece with the Duke of Portland(561) was, I own,

what I hinted at, and what I then believed likely to happen. It

is now quite off, and with very extraordinary circumstances; but

if I tell it you at all, it Must not be in a letter, especially

when D'Eons steal letters and print them. It is a secret, and so

little to the lover's advantage, that I, who have a great regard

for his family, shall not be the first to divulge it.

We had last night, a magnificent ball at Lady Cardigan's;(562)

three sumptuous suppers in three rooms. The house, you know, is

crammed with fine things, pictures, china, japan, vases, and

every species of curiosities. These are much increased even

since I was in favour there, particularly by Lord Montagu's

importations. I was curious to see how many quarrels my lady

must have gulped before she could fill her house--truly, not

many, (though some,) for there were very few of her own

acquaintance, chiefly recruits of her son and daughter. There

was not the soup`con of a Bedford, though the town has married

Lord Tavistock and Lady Betty(563)--but he is coming to you to

France. The Duchess of Bedford told me how hard it was, that I,

who had personally offended my Lady Cardigan, should be invited,

and that she, who had done nothing, and yet had tried to be

reconciled, should not be asked. "Oh, Madam," said I, "be easy as

to that point, for though she has invited me, she will scarce

speak to me but I let all such quarrels come and go as they

please: if people, so indifferent to me, quarrel with me, it is

no reason why I should quarrel with them, and they have my full

leave to be reconciled when they please."

I must trouble you once more to know to what merchant you

consigned the Princess's trees, and Lady Hervey's biblioth`eque--

I mean for the latter. I did not see the Princess last week, as

the loss of my nephew kept me from public places. Of all public

places, guess the most unlikely one for the most unlikely person

to have been at. I had sent to know how Lady Macclesfield did:

Louis(564) brought me word that he could hardly get into St.

James's-square, there was so great a crowd to see my lord lie in

state. At night I met my Lady Milton(565) at the Duchess of

Argyle's, and said in joke, "Soh, to be sure, you have been to

see my Lord Macclesfield lie in state!" thinking it impossible--

she burst out into a fit of laughter, and owned she had. She and

my Lady Temple had dined at Lady Betty's,(566) put on hats and

cloaks, and literally waited on the steps of the house in the

thick of the mob, while one posse was admitted and let out again

for a second to enter, before they got in.

You will as little guess what a present I have had from Holland--

only a treatise of mathematical metaphysics from an author I

never heard of, with great encomiums on my taste and knowledge.

To be sure, I am warranted to insert this certificate among the

testimonia authorum, before my next edition of the Painters.

Now, I assure you, I am much more just--I have sent the gentleman

word what a perfect ignoramus I am, and did not treat my vanity

with a moment's respite. Your brother has laughed at me, or

rather at the poor man who has so mistaken me, as much as ever I

did at his absence and flinging down every thing at breakfast.

Tom, your brother's man, told him to-day, that Mister

Helvoetsluys had been to wait on him--now you are guessing,--did

you find out this was Helvetius?

It is piteous late, and I must go to bed, only telling you a

bon-mot of Lady Bell Finch.(567) Lord Bath owed her half a

crown; he sent it next day, with a wish that he could give her a

crown. She replied, that though he could not give her a crown,

he could give her a coronet, and she was very ready to accept

it.(568) I congratulate you on your new house; and am your very

sleepy humble servant.

(555) The ancient Barony of Bottetourt had been considered as

extinct ever since the reign of Edward III. and was now claimed

by Mr. Norborne Berkeley, member for Gloucestershire, and a groom

of the bedchamber; the revival of a claim so long forgotten

created considerable interest.-C.

(556) This is an important observation: it affords a clue to the

causes of the unpopularity of the early years of George III.-C.

(557) The Princess Dowager.

(558) M. de Praslin was secretary for foreign affairs, and M. de

Nivernois had been lately ambassador in England.-C.

(559) At this distance of time, D,Eon's book seems to us the mere

ravings of insane vanity; the puns poor, and the wit rare and

forced.-C.

(560) It certainly does not appear quite consistent, that Mr.

Walpole, who so much disapproves of an attack on his friends,

Lord Hertford and M. de Guerchy, should have been delighted, but

a few pages since, with the hemlock administered to Lord Holland,

and the scurrility against Bishop Warburton.-C.

(561) See ant`e, p. 298), letter 196.

(562) See ant`e, p. 298, letter 196.

(563) Lady Cardigan's eldest daughter, married, in 1767, to the

third Duke of Buccleuzh. This amiable and venerable lady is

still living.-C. [She died in 1827.]

(564) His valet.

(565) Lady Caroline Sackville, wife of Joseph Damer, Lord Milton,

of Ireland.-C.

(566) Lady Betty Germain.-C.

(567) Lady Isabella Finch, daughter of Daniel, sixth Earl of

Winchelsea. She was lady of the bedchamber to Princess Amelia,

and died unmarried in 1771.-C.

(568) It seems that Lord Bath's coronet, and perhaps still more

his great wealth, for which, after his son's death, he had no

direct heir, subjected his lordship to views of the nature

alluded to in Lady Bell's bon-mot. In the Suffolk Letters,

lately published, is a proposition to this effect from Mrs. Anne

Pitt, made with all appearance of seriousness.-C. (The following

is the passage alluded to. It is contained in a letter from Mrs.

Anne Pitt to Lady Suffolk, dated November 10, 1753:--"I hear my

Lord Bath is here very lively, but I have not seen him, which I

am very sorry for, because I want to offer myself to him. I am

quite in earnest, and have set my heart upon it; so I beg

seriously you will carry it in your mind, and think if you could

find any way to help me. Do not you think Lady Betty Germain and

Lord and Lady Vere would be ready to help me, if they knew how

willing I am? But I leave all this to your discretion, and repeat

seriously, that I am quite in earnest. he can want nothing but a

companion that would like his company; and in my situation I

should not desire to make the bargain without that circumstance.

And though all I have been saying Puts me in mind of some

advertisements I have seen in the newspapers from gentlewoman in

distress, I will not take that method; but I want to recollect

whether you did not tell me, as I think you did many years ago,

that he once spoke so well of me, that he got anger for it at

home, where I never was a favourite. I perceive that by thinking

aloud, as I am apt to do with you, this letter is grown very

improper for the post, so I design to send it with a tea-box my

sister left and does not want, directed to your house."-E.]

Letter 199 To Charles Churchill, Esq.(569)

Arlington Street, March 27, 1764. (page 306)

Dear sir,

I had just sent away a half-scolding letter to my sister, for not

telling me of Robert's(570) arrival, and to acquaint you both

with the loss of poor Lord Malpas, when I received your very

entertaining letter of the 19th. I had not then got the draught

of the Conqueror's kitchen, and the tiles you were so good as to

send me; and grew horribly afraid lest old Dr. Ducarel, who is an

ostrich of an antiquary, and can digest superannuated brickbats,

should have gobbled them up. At my return from Strawberry Hill

yesterday, I found the whole cargo safe, and am really much

obliged to you. I weep over the ruined kitchen,. but enjoy the

tiles. They are exactly like a few which I obtained from the

cathedral of Gloucester, when it was new paved; they are inlaid

in the floor of my china-room. I would have got enough to pave

it entirely; but the canons, who were flinging them away, had so

much devotion left, that they enjoined me not to pave a pagoda

with them, nor put them to any profane use. As scruples Increase

in a ratio to their decrease, I did not know but a china-room

might casuistically be interpreted a pagoda, and sued for no

more. My cloister is finished and consecrated but as I intend to

convert the old blue and white hall next to the china-room into a

Gothic columbarium, I should seriously be glad to finish the

floor with Norman tiles. However, as I shall certainly make you

a visit in about two months, I will wait till then, and bring the

dimensions with me.

Depend upon it, I will pay some of your debts to M. de

Lislebonne; that is, I will make as great entertainments for him

as any one can, who almost always dines alone in his

dressing-room; I will show him every thing all the morning, as

much as any one can, who lies abed till noon, and never gets

dressed till two o'clock; and I will endeavour to amuse him with

variety of diversions every evening as much as any one can, who

does nothing but play at loo till midnight, or sit behind Lady

Mary Coke in a corner of a box at the Opera. Seriously, though.

I will try to show him that I think distinctions paid to you and

my sister favours to me, and will make a point of adding the few

civilities which his name, rank, and alliance with the Guerchys

can leave necessary. M. de Guerchy is adored here, and will find

so, particularly at this Juncture, when he has been most cruelly

and publicly insulted by a mad, but villanous fellow, one D'Eon,

left here by the Duc de Nivernois, who in effect is still worse

treated. This creature, who had been made minister

plenipotentiary, which turned his brain, as you have already

heard, had stolen Nivernois's private letters, and has published

them, and a thousand scandals on M. de Guerchy, in a very thick

quarto. The affair is much too long for a letter, makes a great

noise, and gives great offence. The council have met to-day to

consider how to avenge Guerchy and punish D'Eon. I hope a legal

remedy is in their power.

I will say little on the subject of Robert; you know my opinion

of his capacity, and I dare say think as I do. He is worth

taking pains with. I heartily wish those pains may have success.

The cure performed by James's powder charms me more than

surprises me. I have long thought it could cure every thing but

physicians.

Politics are all becalmed. Lord Bute's reappearance on the

scene, though his name is in no play-bill, may chance to revive

the hurly-burly.

My Lord Townshend has not named Charles in his will, who is as

much disappointed as he has often disappointed others. We had

last night a magnificent ball at my Lady Cardigan's.

Those fiddles play'd that never play'd before,

And we have danced, where we shall dance no more.

He, that is, the totum pro parte,--you do not suspect me, I hope,

of any youthfullities--d'autant moins of dancing; that I have

rumours of gout flying about me, and would fain coax them into my

foot. I have almost tried to make them drunk, and inveigle them

thither in their cups; but as they are not at all familiar chez

moi, they formalize at wine, as much as a middle-aged woman who

is beginning to just drink in private.

Adieu, my dear Sir! my best love to all of' you. As Horace Is

evidently descended from the Conqueror, I will desire him to

pluck up the pavement by the roots, when I want to transport it

hither.

(569) Now first collected. The above letter was privately

printed, in 1833, by the Rev. Robert Walpole, with the following

introduction:--"The incomparable letters of Horace Walpole, as

they have been justly styled by Lord Byron, have long placed the

writer in the highest rank of those who have distinguished

themselves in this line of composition. The playful wit and

humour with which they abound; the liveliness of his

descriptions; the animation of his style; the shrewd and acute

observations on the different topics which form the subjects of

those letters, are not surpassed by any thing to be found in the

most perfect models of epistolary writing, either in England or

France. His correspondence extends over a period of more than

fifty years, and no subject of general interest seems to have

escaped his attention and curiosity. He not Only gives a

faithful portraiture of the manners of the times, particularly of

the highest circles of society in which he lived; but he presents

us with many striking sketches of various events and occurrences,

illustrating the political history of this country during the

latter part of the last century. If any proof were required of

the truth of this statement, in addition to what may be afforded

by an attentive examination of Mr. Walpole's Correspondence

already published, it may be found in the three volumes of

Letters addressed to Sir Horace Mann, and recently given to the

world under the superintendence of Lord Dover. The letter (now

printed for the first time with the consent of the possessor of

the original) was addressed to Charles Churchill, Esq., who

married Lady Mary, daughter of Sir Robert, and sister of Mr.

Walpole; and was written at the time when he was engaged in

completing the interior decorations of his villa, Strawberry

Hill."

(570) Robert and Horace, both mentioned in this letter, were sons

of Mr. Churchill.-E.

Letter 200 To The Earl Of Hertford.

Arlington Street, April 5, 1764. (page 308)

Your idea, my dear lord, of the abusive paragraph on you being

conceived at Paris,(571) and transmitted hither, tallies exactly

with mine. I guessed that a satire on your whole establishment

must come from thence: I said so immediately to two or three

persons; but I did not tell you I thought so, because I did not

choose to fill you with suggestions for which I had no ground,

but in my own reasoning. Your arguments convince me I was in the

right. Yet, were you master of proofs, the wisest thing you can

do, is to act as if you had no suspicion; that is, to act as you

have done, civilly, but coolly. There are men whom one would, I

think, no more acknowledge for enemies than friends. One's

resentment distinguishes them, and the only Gratitude they can

pay for that distinction is, to double the abuse. Wilkes's mind,

you see, is sufficiently volatile, when he can already forget

Lord Sandwich and the Scotch, and can employ himself on you. He

will soon flit to other prey, when you disregard him. It is my

way: I never publish a sheet, but buzz! out fly a swarm of

hornets, insects that never settle upon you, if you don't strike

at them and whose venom is diverted to the next object that

presents itself.

We have divine weather. The Bishop of Carlisle has been with me

two days at Strawberry, where we saw the eclipse(572) to

perfection: -not that there was much sight in it. The air was

very chill at the time, and the light singular; but there was not

a blackbird that left off singing for it. In the evening the

Duke of Devonshire came with the Straffords from t'other end of

Twickenham, and drank tea with us. They had none of them seen the

gallery since it was finished; even the chapel was new to the

Duke, and he was so struck with it that he desired to offer at

the shrine an incense-pot of silver philigrain.(573)

The election at Cambridge has ended, for the present in strange

confusion.(574) The proctors, who were of different sides,

assumed each a majority; the votes, however, appear to have been

equal. The learned in university decision say, an equality is a

negative: if so Lord Hardwicke is excluded. Yet the novelty of

the case, it not having been very customary to solicit such a

trifling honour, and the antiquated forms of proceeding retained

in colleges, leave the matter wide open for further contention,

an advantage Lord Sandwich cherishes as much as success. The

grave are highly scandalized:--popularity was still warmer. The

under-graduates, who, having no votes had consequently been left

to their real opinions, were very near expressing their opinions

against Lord Sandwich's friends in the most Outrageous manner:

hissed they were; and after the election, the juniors burst into

the Senate-house, elected a fictitious Lord Hardwicke, and

chaired him. The indecent arts and applications which had been

used by the Twitcherites (as they are called, from Lord

Sandwich's nickname, Jemmy Twitcher,) had provoked this rage. I

will give you but one instance:-A voter, who was blooded on

purpose that morning, was brought out of a madhouse with his

keeper. This is the great and wise nation, which the philosopher

Helvetius is come to study! When he says of us C'est un furieux

pais! he does not know that the literal translation is the true

description of us.

I don't know whether I did not tell you some lies in my last;

very likely: I tell you what I hear, and do not answer for truth

but when I tell you what I know. How should I know any thing? I

am in no confidence; I think of both sides alike; I care for

neither; I ask few questions. The King's journey to Hanover is

contradicted. The return of Lord Bute is still a mystery. The

zealous say, he declares for the administration; but some of the

latter do not trust too much to that security; and, perhaps, they

are in the right: I know what I think and why I think it; yet

some, who do not go on ill grounds, have a middle opinion, that

is not very reconcilable to mine. You will not wonder that there

is a mystery, doubt, or irresolotion. The scene will be opened

further before I get to Paris.

Lord Lyttelton and Lord Temple have dined with each other, and

the reconciliation of the former with Mr. Pitt is concluded. It

is well that enmities are as frail as friendships.

The Archbishops and Bishops, who -are so eager against Dr.

Pearse's divorce from his see, not as illegal, but improper, and

of bad example, have determined the King, who left it to them,

not to consent to it, though the Bishop himself still insists on

it. As this decision disappoints Bishop Newton, Lord Bath has

obtained a consolatory promise for him of the mitre of London, to

the great discomfort of Terrick and Warburton. You see Lord

Bath(575 does not hobble up the back-stairs for nothing. Oh, he

is an excellent courtier! The Prince of Wales shoots him with

plaything arrows, he falls down dead; and the child kisses him to

life again. Melancholy ambition I heard him, t'other night,

propose himself to Lady Townshend as a rich widow. Such spirits

at fourscore are pleasing; but when one has lost all one's

children, to be flattering those of Kings!

The Bishop of Carlisle told me, that t'other day in the House of

Lords, Warburton said to another of the bench, "I was invited by

my Lord Mansfield to dine with that Helvetius, but he is a

professed patron of atheism, a rascal, and a scoundrel, and I

would not countenance him; besides, I should have worked him, and

that Lord Mansfield would not have liked." No, in good truth:

who can like such vulgarism! His French, too, I suppose, is

equal to his wit and his piety.

I dined, on Tuesday, with the imperial minister; we were

two-and-twenty, collected from the four corners of the earth.

Since it is become the fashion to banquet whole kingdoms by

turns, I should pray, if I was minister to be sent to Lucca.

Have you received D'Eon's very curious book, which I sent by

Colonel Keith? I do not find that the administration can

discover any method of attacking him. Monsieur de Guerchy very

properly determines to take no notice Of it.

In the mean time, the wit of it gains ground, and palliates the

abomination, though it ought not.

Princess Amelia asked me again about her trees. I gave her your

message. She does not blame you, but Madame de Boufflers, for

sending them so large. Mr. Legge is in a very bad way; but not

without hopes: his last night was better. Adieu! my dear lords

and ladies!

(571) See ant`e, p. 301, letter 197. Lord Hertford suspected

this paragraph to have been written by Mr. Wilkes; which

certainly would have been ungrateful, as Lord Hertford showed Mr.

Wilkes more attention than most people thought proper to be shown

by the King's ambassador to a person in Mr. Wilkes's

circumstances.-C.

(572) A considerable eclipse of the sun, which took place on the

1st of April. It was annular at Boulogne, in France, and of

course nearly so at Paris and London.-C.

(573) Commonly called fillagree.-C.

(574) The contest was between Lords Hardwicke and Sandwich; but

according to University forms, the poll was taken on the first

name; there appeared among the Blackhoods for Lord Hardwicke,

placet 103; non-placet 101: among the Whitehoods, the proctors'

accounts differed; one made placet 108, non-placet 107; the other

made placet 107, non-placet 101: on this a scrutiny was demanded,

and refused, and a great confusion ensuing, the Vice-Chancellor

adjourned the senate sine die.-E.

(575) The once idolized patriot, William Pulteney. It must be

borne in mind, that Mr. Walpole cherished a filial aversion to

his father's great antagonist.-C.

Letter 201 To The Earl Of Hertford.

Arlington Street, April 12, 1764. (page 310)

Make yourself perfectly easy, my dear lord, about newspapers and

their tattle; they are not worth a moment's regard. In times of

party it is impossible to avoid abuse. If attached to one side,

one is pelted by the other; if to neither, by both. One can

place oneself above deserving invectives; and then it signifies

little whether they are escaped or not. But when one is

conscious that they are unmerited, it is noblest to scorn them-

-perhaps, I even think, that such a situation is not ineligible.

Character is the most precious of all blessings; but, pray allow

that it is too sacred to be hurt by any thing but itself: does it

depend on others, or on its own existence? That character must

be fictitious, and formed for man, which man can take away. Your

reputation does not depend on Mr. Wilkes,(576) like his own. It

is delightful to deserve popularity, and to despise it.

You will have heard of the sad misfortune that has happened to

Lord Ilchester by his daughter's marriage(577) with O'Brien the

actor. But, perhaps, you do not know the circumstances, and how

much his grief must be aggravated by reflection on his own

credulity and negligence. The affair has been in train for

eighteen months. The swain had learned to counterfeit Lady Sarah

Bunbury's(578) hand so well that in the country Lord Ilchester

has himself delivered several of O'Brien's letters to Lady Susan;

but it was not till about a week before the catastrophe that the

family was apprised of the intrigue. Lord Cathcart went to Miss

Reade's, the paintress; she said softly to him, "My lord, there

is a couple in the next room that I am sure ought not to be

together; I wish your lordship would look in." He did, shut the

door again, and went directly and informed Lord Ilchester. Lady

Susan was examined, flung herself at her father's feet, confessed

all, vowed to break off but--what a but!--desired to see the

loved object, and take a last leave. You will be amazed-even

this was granted. The parting scene happened the beginning of

the week. On Friday she came of age, and on Saturday morning--

instead of being under lock and key in the country--walked down

stairs, took her footman, said she was going to breakfast with

Lady Sarah, but would call at Miss Reade's; in the street,

pretended to recollect a particular cap in which she was to be

drawn, sent the footman back for it, whipped into a hackney

chair, was married at Covent-garden church, and set out for Mr.

O'Brien's villa at Dunstable. My Lady--my Lady Hertford! what

say you to permitting young ladies to act plays, and go to

painters by themselves?

Poor Lord Ilchester is almost distracted; indeed, it is the

completion of disgrace,(579)--even a footman were preferable; the

publicity of the hero's profession perpetuates the Unification.

Il ne sera pas milord, tout comme un autre. I could not have

believed that Lady Susan would have stooped so low. She may,

however, still keep good company, and say, "nos numeri sumus"--

Lady Mary Duncan,(580) Lady Caroline Adair,(581) Lady Betty

Gallini(582)--the shopkeepers of next age will be mighty well

born. If our genealogies had been so confused four hundred years

ago, Norborne Berkeley would have had still more difficulty with

his obsolete Barony of Bottelourt, which the House of Lords at

last has granted him. I have never attended the hearings, though

it has been much the fashion, but nobody cares less than I about

what they don't care for. I have been as indifferent about other

points, of which all the world is talking, as the restriction of

franking, and the great cause of Hamilton and Douglas. I am

almost as tired of what is still more in vogue, our East India

affairs. Mir Jaffeir(583) and Cossim Aly Cawn, and their

deputies Clive and Sullivan, or rather their principals, employ

the public attention, instead of Mogul Pitt and Nabob Bute; the

former of whom remains shut Up in Asiatic dignity at Hayes, while

the other is again mounting his elephant and levying troops.

What Lord Tavistock meaned of his invisible Haughtiness'S(584)

invective on Mr. Neville, I do not know. He has not been in the

House of Commons since the war of privilege. It must have been

something he dropped in private.

I was diverted just now with some old rhymes that Mr. Wilkes

would have been glad to have North-Britonized for our little

bishop of Osnaburgh.(585)

Eligimus puerum, puerorum testa colentes,

Non nostrum morem, sed Regis jussa sequentes.

They were literally composed on the election of a juvenile

bishop.

Young Dundas marries Lady Charlotte Fitzwilliam;(586) Sir

Lawrence(587) settles four thousand per annum in present, and six

more in future--compare these riches got in two years and a half,

with D'Eon's account of French economy! Lord Garlies remarries

himself with the Duchess of Manchester's(588) next sister, Miss

Dashwood. The youngest is to have Mr. Knightly--a-propos to

D'Eon, the foreign ministers had a meeting yesterday morning, at

the imperial minister's, and Monsieur de Guerchy went from thence

to the King, but on what result I do not know, nor can I find

that the lawyers agree that any thing can be done against him.

There has been a plan of some changes among the Dii Minores, your

Lord Norths, and Carysforts, and Ellises, and Frederick

Campbellsl(589) and such like; but the supposition that Lord

Holland would be willing to accommodate the present ministers

with the paymaster's place, being the axle on which this project

turned, and his lordship not being in the accommodating humour,

there are half a dozen abortions of new lords of the treasury and

admiralty--excuse me if I do not send you this list of embryos;(5

I do not load my head with such fry. I am little more au fait of

the confusion that happened yesterday at the East India House; I

only know it was exactly like the jumble at Cambridge.

Sullivan's list was chosen, all but himself-his own election

turns on one disputed vote.(590) Every thing is intricate--a

presumption that we have few heads very clear. Good night, for I

am tired; since dinner I have been at an auction of prints, at

the Antiquarian Society in Chancery-lane, at Lady Dalkeith's(591)

in Grosvenor-square, and at loo at my niece's in Pall Mall; I

left them going to supper, that I might come home and finish this

letter; it is half @n hour after twelve, and now I am going to

supper myself. I suppose all this sounds very sober to you!

(576) See ant`e, p. 301, letter 197.-E.

(577) Lady Susan Fox, born in 1743, eldest daughter of the first

Lord Ilchester.-E.

(578) Daughter of the Duke of Richmond, wife of Sir T. C.

Bunbury, and afterwards of Colonel Napier.-C.

(579) It must be observed how little consistent this

aristocratical indignation is with the Roman sentiments expressed

in page 262, letter 185, and signed so emphatically Horatius.-C.

(580) Daughter of the seventh Earl of Thanet, married, in

September 1763, to Doctor Duncan, M.D., soon after created a

baronet.-E.

(581) Daughter of the second Earl of Albemarle, married, in 1759,

to Mr. Adair, a surgeon.-C.

(582) Daughter of the third Earl of Abingdon, married to Sir John

Gallini. She died in 1804, at the age of eighty.-E.

(583) See ante, p. 281, letter 191.

(584) Mr. Pitt.

(585) Frederick, Duke of York, born in August 1763, elected

Bishop of Osnaburgh, 27th of February, 1764.-E.

(586) Second daughter of the third Earl Fitzwilliam, born in

1746.-E.

(587) Sir Lawrence Dundas, father of the first Lord Dundas, is

said to have made his fortune in the commissariat, during the

Scotch rebellion of 1745.-C.

(588) Elizabeth, daughter of Sir James Dashwood, Bart. and wife

of the fourth Duke of Manchester.-E.

(589) Second son of the fourth Duke of Argyle. He was

successively keeper of the privy seal in Scotland, secretary to

the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and lord register of' Scotland,

in which office he died.-C.

(590) "On the 25th of April, a very warm contest took place. Mr.

Sullivan brought forward one list of twenty-five directors, and

Mr. Rous, who was supported by Lord Clive, produced another.

Notwithstanding his friend Lord Bute was no longer minister, Mr.

Sullivan succeeded in bringing in half his numbers; but the

attack of Lord Clive had so shaken the power of this lately

popular director, that his own election was only carried by one

vote." Malcolm's Memoirs of Lord Clive, vol. ii. p. 235.-E.

(591) The eldest daughter of John Duke of Argyle and Greenwich,

the widow of Francis Earl of Dalkeith, son of the second Duke of

Buccleugh, and wife of Mr. Charles Townshend. She was, in 1767,

created Baroness Greenwich, with remainder to her sons by Mr.

Townshend. She, however, died leaving none.-C.

Letter 202 To The Rev. Mr. Cole.

Arlington Street, April 12, 1764. (page 313)

I shall send your MS. volume this week to Mr. Cartwright, and

with a thousand thanks. I ought to beg your pardon for having

detained it so long. The truth is, I had not time till last week

to copy two or three little things at most. Do not let this

delay discourage you from lending me more. If I have them in

summer I shall keep them much less time than in winter. I do not

send my print with it as you ordered me, because I find it is too

large to lie within the volume; and doubling a mezzotinto, you

know, spoils it. You shall have one more, if you please,

whenever I see you.

I have lately made a few curious additions to my collections of

various sorts, and shall hope to show them to you at Strawberry

Hill. Adieu!

Letter 203 To The Hon. H. S. Conway.

Arlington Street, April 19, 1764. (page 313)

I am just come from the Duchess of Argyll's,(592) where I dined.

General Warburton was there, and said it was the report at the

House of Lords, that you are turned out--he imagined, of your

regiment--but that I suppose is a mistake for the

bedchamber.(593) I shall hear more to-night, and Lady Strafford,

who brings you this, will tell you; though to be sure You will

know earlier by the post to-morrow. My only reason for writing

is, to repeat to you, that whatever you do, I shall act with

you.(594) I resent any thing done to you as to myself. My

fortunes shall never be separated from yours--except that some

time or other I hope yours will be great, and I am content with

mine.

The Manns go on with the business.(595) The letter you received

was from Mr. Edward Mann, not from Gal.'s widow. Adieu! I was

going to say, my disgraced friend--How delightful to have a

character so unspotted, that the word disgrace recoils on those

who displace you! Yours unalterably.

(592) Widow of John Campbell, Duke of Argyle. She was sister to

General Warburton, and had been maid of Honour to Queen Anne.-E.

(593) Mr. Conway was dismissed from all his employments, civil

and military, for having Opposed the ministry in the House of

Commons, on the question of the legality of warrants, at the time

of the prosecution of Mr. Wilkes for the publication of the North

Briton.-C.

(594) Mr. Walpole was then in the House of Commons, member for

King's Lynn in Norfolk.

(595) Of army-clothiers.

Letter 204 To The Earl Of Hertford.

Arlington Street, April 20, 1764. (page 314)

There has been a strong report about town for these two days that

your brother is dismissed, not only from the bedchamber, but from

his regiment, and that the latter is given to Lord Pembroke. I

do not believe it. Your brother went to Park-place but yesterday

morning at ten: he certainly knew nothing of it the night before

when we parted, after one, at Grafton-house: nor would he have

passed my door yesterday without stopping to tell me Of it: no

letter has been sent to his house since, nor were any orders

arrived at the War office at half an hour after three yesterday;

nay, though I can give the ministry credit for much folly, and

some of them credit for even violence and folly, I do not believe

they are so rash as this would amount to. For the bedchamber,

you know, your brother never liked it, and would be glad to get

rid of it. I should be sorry for his sake, and for yours too, if

it went farther;--gentle and indifferent as his nature is, his

resentment, if his profession were touched, would be as serious

as such spirit and such abilities could make it. I would not be

the man that advised provoking him; and one man(596) has put

himself wofully in his power! In my own opinion, this is one of

the lies of which the time is so fruitful; I would not even swear

that it has not the same parent with the legend I sent you last

week, relating to an intended disposition in consequence of Lord

Holland's resignation. The court confidently deny the whole

plan, and ascribe it to the fertility of Charles Townshend's

brain. However, as they have their Charles Townshends too, I do

not totally disbelieve it.

The Parliament rose yesterday,-no new peers, not even Irish: Lord

Northumberland's list is sent back ungranted.(597) The Duke of

MecklenbUrgh(598) and Lord Halifax are to have the garters.

Bridgman(599) is turned out of the green cloth, which is given to

Dick Vernon; and his place of surveyor of the gardens, which

young Dickinson held for him, is bestowed on Cadogan.(600)

Dyson(601) is made a lord of trade. These are all the changes I

have heard--not of a complexion that indicates the removal of

your brother.

The foreign ministers agreed, as to be sure you have been told,

to make Monsieur de Guerchy's cause commune; and the

Attorney-general has filed an information against D'Eon: the poor

lunatic was at the Opera on Saturday, looking like Bedlam. He

goes armed, and threatens, what I dare say he would perform, to

kill or be killed, if any attempt is made to seize him.

The East Indian affairs have taken a new turn. Sullivan had

twelve votes to ten: Lord Clive bribed off one. When they came

to the election of chairman, Sullivan desired to be placed in the

chair, without the disgrace of a ballot; but it was denied. On

the scrutiny, the votes appeared eleven and eleven. Sullivan

understood the blow, and with three others left the room. Rous,

his great enemy, was placed in the chair; since that, I think

matters are a little compromised, and Sullivan does not abdicate

the direction; but Lord Clive, it is supposed, will go to Bengal

in the stead of Colonel Barr`e, as Sullivan and Lord Shelburne

had intended.

Mr. Pitt is worse than ever with the gout. Legge's case is

thought very dangerous:--thus stand our politics, and probably

will not fluctuate much for some months. At least-I expect to

have little more to tell you before I see you at Paris, except

balls, weddings, and follies, of which, thank the moon! we never

have a dearth: for one of the latter class, we are obliged to the

Archbishop,(602) who, in remembrance, I suppose, of his original

profession of midwifery, has ordered some decent alterations to

be made in King Henry's figure in the Tower. Poor Lady Susan

O'Brien is in the most deplorable situation, for her Adonis is a

Roman Catholic, and cannot be provided for out of his calling.

Sir Francis Delaval, being touched with her calamity, has made

her a present--of what do you think?--of a rich gold stuff! The

delightful charity! O'Brien comforts himself, and says it will

make a shining passage in his little history.

I will tell you but one more folly, and hasten to my signature.

Lady Beaulieu was complaining of being waked by a noise in the

night: my lord(603 replied, "Oh, for my Part, there is no

disturbing be; If they don't wake me before I go to sleep, there

is no waking me afterwards."

Lady Hervey's table is at last arrived, and the Princess's trees,

which I sent her last night; but she wants nothing, for Lady

Barrymore(604) is arrived.

I smiled when I read your account of Lord Tavistock's expedition.

Do you remember that I made seven days from Calais to Paris, by

laying out my journeys at the rate of travelling in England,

thirty miles a-day; and did not find but that I could have gone

in a third of the time! I shall not be such a snail the next

time. It is said that on Lord Tavistock's return, he is to

decide whom he will marry. Is it true that the Choiseuls totter,

and that the Broglios are to succeed; or is there a Charles

Townshend at Versailles? Adieu! my dear lord.

(596) No doubt Mr. George Grenville is here meant. See ant`e, p.

257, letter 184.-E.

(597) This list was, Sir Ralph Gore, Sir Richard King, and Mr.

Stephen MOOTE, all created peers in this summer by the respective

titles of Bellisle, Kingston, and Kilworth.-C.

(598) Adolphus Frederick III. Duke of Mecklenburgh Strelitz, the

Queen's brother. He died in 1794.-C.

(599) Mr. George Bridgman, brother of the first Lord Bradford.

He had been many years surveyor of the royal gardens, and was

celebrated for his taste in ornamental gardening. He died at

Lisbon, in 1767.-C.

(600) Probably Charles Sloane Cadagan, son of the second Lord

Cadogan, who was treasurer to Edward Duke of York.-C.

(601) Jeremiah Dyson, Esq. afterwards a privy-counsellor.-E.

(602) See ant`e, p. 262, letter 185.

(603) Mr. Hussey was an Irishman. See ant`e, p. 251.-E.

(604) Margaret Davis, sister and Heiress of Edward, the last

Viscount Mountcashel of that family, and widow of James Earl of

Barrymore.-C.

Letter 205 To The Hon. H. S. Conway.

Strawberry Hill, Saturday night, eight o'clock, April 21, 1764.

(page 316)

I write to you with a very bad headache; I have Passed a night,

for which George Grenville and the Duke of bedford shall pass

many an uneasy one! Notwithstanding that I heard from every body

I met, that your regiment, as well as bedchamber, were taken

away, I would not believe it, till last night the Duchess of

Grafton told me, that the night before the Duchess of Bedford

said to her, "Are not you sorry for Poor Mr. Conway? He has lost

every thing." When the Witch of Endor pities, one knows she has

raised the devil.

I am come hither alone to put my thoughts into some order, and to

avoid showing the first sallies of my resentment, which I know

you would disapprove; nor does it become your friend to rail. My

anger shall be a little more manly, and the plan of my revenge a

little deeper laid than in peevish bon-mots. You shall judge of

my indignation by its duration.

In the mean time, let me beg you, in the most earnest and most

sincere of all professions, to suffer me to make your loss as

light as it is in my power to make it: I have six thousand pounds

in the funds; accept all, or what part you want. Do not imagine

I will be put off with a refusal. The retrenchment of my

expenses, which I shall from this hour commence, will convince

you that I mean to replace Your fortune as far as I can. When I

thought you did not want it, I had made another disposition. You

have ever been the dearest person to me in the world. You have

shown that you deserve to be so. You suffer for your spotless

integrity. Can I hesitate a moment to show that there is at

least one man who knows how to value you? The new will, which I

am going to make, will be a testimonial of my own sense of

virtue.

One circumstance has heightened my resentment. If it was not an

accident, it deserves to heighten it. The very day on which your

dismission was notified, I received an order from the treasury

for the payment of what money was due to me there. Is it

possible that they could mean to make any distinction between us?

Have I separated myself from you? Is there that spot on earth

where I can be suspected of having paid court? Have I even left

my name at a minister's door since you took your part? If they

have dared to hint this, the pen that is now writing to you will

bitterly undeceive them.

I am impatient to see the letters you have received, and the

answers you have sent. Do you come to town? If you do not, I

will come to you to-morrow se'nnight, that is, the 29th. I give

no advice on any thing, because you are cooler than I am--not so

cool, I hope, as to be insensible to this outrage, this villany,

this injustice You owe it to your country to labour the

extermination of such ministers!

I am so bad a hypocrite, that I am afraid of showing how deeply I

feel this. Yet last night I received the account from the

Duchess of Grafton with more temper than you believe me 'capable

of: but the agitation of the night disordered me so much, that

Lord John Cavendish, who was with me two hours this morning, does

not, I believe, take me for a hero. As there are some who I know

would enjoy my mortification, and who probably desired I should

feel my share of it, I wish to command myself-but that struggle

shall be added to their bill. I saw nobody else before I came

away but Legge, who sent for me and wrote the enclosed for you.

He would have said more both to you and Lady Ailesbury, but I

would not let him, as he is so ill: however, he thinks himself

that he shall live. I hope be will! I would not lose a shadow

that can haunt these ministers.

I feel for Lady Ailesbury, because I know she feels just as I do-

-and it is not a pleasant sensation. I will say no more, though

I could write volumes. Adieu! Yours, as I ever have been and

ever will be.

Letter 206 The Hon. H. S. Conway To The Earl Of Hertford.(605)

Park Place, April 23, 1764. (page 317)

Dear Brother,

You will, I think, be much surprised at the extraordinary news I

received yesterday, of my total dismission from his Majesty's

service, both as groom of the bedchamber and colonel of a

regiment. What makes it much stronger is, that I do not hear

that any of the many officers who voted with me on the same

questions in the minority, are turned out. It seems almost

impossible to conceive it should be so, and yet, so I suspect it

is; and if it be, it seems to me upon the coolest reflection I am

able to give it, the harshest and most unjust treatment ever

offered to any man on the like occasion. I never gave a single

vote(606) against the ministry , but in the questions on the

great constitutional point of the warrants. People are apt to

dignify with Such titles any question that serves their factious

purpose to maintain; but what proved this to be really so, was

the great number of persons who voted as I did, having no

connexion with the opposition, but determined friends of the

ministry in all their conduct, and in the government's service;

such as Lord Howe and his brother, and several more. As to the

rest, I never gave another vote against the ministry. I refused

being of the opposition club, or to attend any one meeting of the

kind, from a principle of not entering into a scheme of

opposition, but being free to follow my own sentiments upon any

question that should arise. On the Cider-act I even voted for

the court, in the only vote I gave on that subject; and in

another case, relative to the supposed assassination of Wilkes, I

even took a part warmly in preventing that silly thing from being

an object of clamour. So that, undoubtedly, my overt acts have

been only voting as any man might from judgment, only in a very

extraordinary and serious question of privilege and personal

liberty; the avowing my friendship and obligation to some few now

in opposition, and my neglecting to pay court to those in the

administration; that seemed to me, both an honest and an

honourable part in my situation, which was something delicate.

My poor judgment, at least, could point out no better for me to

take, and I enter into so much detail upon this old story, that

you may not think I have done any thing lightly or passionately

which might give just ground for this extraordinary usage; and I

must add to the account, that neither in nor out of the House can

I, I think, be charged with a single act or expression of offence

to any one of his Majesty's ministers. This was, at least, a

moderate part; and after this, what the ministry should find in

their judgment, their justice, or their prudence, from my

situation, my conduct, or my character, to single me out and

stigmatize me as the proper object of disgrace, or how the merit

of so many of my friends who are acting in their support, and

whom they might think it possible would feel hurt, did not, in

their prudential light, tend to soften the rigour of their

aversion towards me, does, I confess, puzzle me. I don't exactly

know from what particular quarter the blow comes; but I must

think Lord Bute has, at least, a share in it, as, since his

return, the countenance of the King, who used to speak to me

after all my votes, is visibly altered, and of late he has not

spoke to me at all.

So much for my political history: I wish it was as easy to my

fortune as it is to my mind in most other respects; but that,

too, I' must make as easy as I can: it comes unluckily at the end

of two German campaigns, which I felt the expense of with a much

larger income, and have not yet recovered;(607) as, far from

having a reward, it was with great difficulty I got the

reimbursement of the extraordinary money my last command through

Holland cost me, though the States-General, had, by a public act,

represented my conduct so advantageously, to our court; so that

on the whole I think no man was ever more contemptuously used,

who was not a wretch lost in character and reputation. It

requires all the philosophy one can Master, not to show the

strongest resentment. I think I have as much as my neighbours,

and I shall endeavour to use it; yet not so as to betray quite an

unmanly insensibility to such extraordinary provocation. Horace

Walpole has, on this occasion, shown that warmth of friendship

that you know him capable of, so strongly that I want words to

express my sense of it. I have not yet had time to see or hear

from any of the rest of my friends who are in the way of this

bustle; many of them have, I believe, taken their part, for

different reasons, another way, and I am sure I shall never say a

word to make them abandon what they think their own interest for

my petty cause. Nor am I anxious enough in the object of my own

fortune to wish for their taking any step that may endanger

theirs in any degree. With retrenchments and economy I may be

able to go on, and this great political wheel, that is always in

motion, may one day or other turn me up, that am but the fly upon

it.(608)

I shall go to town for ,i few days soon, and probably to court, I

suppose to be frowned upon, for I am not treated with the same

civility as others who are in determined opposition. Give my

best love and compliments to all with you, and believe me, dear

brother, ever most affectionately yours, H. S. C.

(605) As two of Mr. Walpole's letters, relative to General

Conway's dismissal, are wanting, the Editor is glad to be able to

supply their place by two letters on the subject from the General

himself; and as his dismissal was, both in its principle and

consequences, a very important political event, as well as a

principal topic in Mr. Walpole's succeeding letters, it is

thought that General Conway's own view of it cannot fail to be

acceptable.