ARLINGTON STREET, _Feb._ 24, 1743.
I write to you in the greatest hurry in the world, but write I will.
Besides, I must wish you joy: you are warriors; nay, conquerors[1]; two
things quite novel in this war, for hitherto it has been armies without
fighting, and deaths without killing. We talk of this battle as of a
comet; "Have you heard of _the_ battle?" it is so strange a thing, that
numbers imagine you may go and see it at Charing Cross. Indeed, our
officers, who are going to Flanders, don't quite like it; they are
afraid it should grow the fashion to fight, and that a pair of colours
should no longer be a sinecure. I am quite unhappy about poor Mr. Chute:
besides, it is cruel to find that abstinence is not a drug. If
mortification ever ceases to be a medicine, or virtue to be a passport
to carnivals in the other world, who will be a self-tormentor any
longer--not, my child, that I am one; but, tell me, is he quite
recovered?
[Footnote 1: This alludes to an engagement, which took place on the 8th
of February, near Bologna, between the Spaniards under M. de Gages, and
the Austrians under General Traun, in which the latter were successful.]
I thank you for King Theodore's declaration,[1] and wish him success
with all my soul. I hate the Genoese; they make a commonwealth the most
devilish of all tyrannies!
[Footnote 1: With regard to Corsica, of which he had declared himself
king. By this declaration, which was dated January 30, Theodore
recalled, under pain of confiscation of their estates, all the Corsicans
in foreign service, except that of the Queen of Hungary, and the Grand
Duke of Tuscany. (See vol. ii. p. 74.)]
We have every now and then motions for disbanding Hessians and
Hanoverians,[1] alias mercenaries; but they come to nothing. To-day the
party have declared that they have done for this session; so you will
hear little more but of fine equipages for Flanders: our troops are
actually marched, and the officers begin to follow them--I hope they
know whither! You know in the last war in Spain, Lord Peterborough[2]
rode galloping about to inquire for his army.
[Footnote 1: The employment of Hessian and Hanoverian troops in this war
was not only the subject of frequent complaints in Parliament, but was
also the cause of very general dissatisfaction in the country, where it
was commonly regarded as one of the numerous instances in which the
Ministers sacrificed the interests of England from an unworthy desire to
maintain their places by humouring the king's preference for his native
land.]
[Footnote 2: Lord Peterborough is celebrated by Pope as
taming the genius of the arid plain
Almost as quickly as he conquered Spain:
not that he did conquer Spain; but by an extraordinary combination of
hardihood and skill he took Barcelona, which had defied all previous
attacks; and, in the confidence inspired by this important success, he
offered Archduke Charles to escort him to Madrid, so that he might be
crowned King of Spain in that capital. But the Archduke, under the
advice of some of his own countrymen, who were jealous of his influence,
rejected the plan.]
But to come to more _real_ contests; Handel has set up an Oratorio
against the Operas, and succeeds. He has hired all the goddesses from
farces and the singers of _Roast Beef_[1] from between the acts at both
theatres, with a man with one note in his voice, and a girl without ever
an one; and so they sing, and make brave hallelujahs; and the good
company encore the recitative, if it happens to have any cadence like
what they call a tune. I was much diverted the other night at the opera;
two gentlewomen sat before my sister, and not knowing her, discoursed at
their ease. Says one, "Lord! how fine Mr. W. is!" "Yes," replied the
other, with a tone of saying sentences, "some men love to be
particularly so, your _petit-maîtres_--but they are not always the
brightest of their sex."--Do thank me for this period! I am sure you
will enjoy it as much as we did.
[Footnote 1: It was customary at this time for the galleries to call for
a ballad called "The Roast Beef of Old England" between the acts, or
before or after the play.--WALPOLE.]
I shall be very glad of my things, and approve entirely of your
precautions; Sir R. will be quite happy, for there is no telling you how
impatient he is for his Dominchin. Adieu!
_BATTLE OF DETTINGEN--DEATH OF LORD WILMINGTON._