I am in a very awkward situation, detained in town (not that I
dislike my prison) by the weekly and almost daily expectation of
finishing Bucks, which is still delayed by the cold slow-paced forms
of the Law; and at the same time desirous of running down for four
or five days to Sheffield Place, on a sort of appointment with Lord
and especially with Lady Pelham:[209] in this polite age, married
women of Fashion, and not your Miss Sappho Fullers are the object of
the Man of the World.
Whenever you please to draw for £100 on Messrs. Gosling and Clive,
Fleet Street, they have order to honour, which for the future
I should think would be the easiest and properest way. At your
conveniency you will be so kind as to enclose a receipt in a letter.
Mrs. P. joins with me in the honest old compliments of the season.
She is a little out of order to-day! I hope very little. If I knew
where Pitman's mother-in-law lived I would call upon her.
Adieu! Dear Madam,
Believe me most truly yours,
E. G.
[209] Thomas, Lord Pelham of Stanmer (afterwards first Earl of
Chichester), was at this time surveyor-general of the Customs
of London. He married Miss Anne Frankland, granddaughter of Sir
Thomas Frankland, Bart.
184.
_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._
January, 1774.
Way's letter trifling--He says nothing to the great point of the
Modus. I have wrote to him to-night to call for his Evidence,
which I should have for some day next week, when I am to meet my
Horse-Jockey. Matthews is unaccountable. He declines coming up with
his client; more shuffling, I fear.
*I have a letter from Hugo, a _dreadful_ one I believe, but it has
lain four days unperused in my drawer. Let me turn it over to you.
Foster is playing at what he calls Whist; his partner swearing
inwardly. He would write to you to-night, but he thinks he had
rather write _next_ post; he will think so a good while. Every thing
public, still as death. Our Committee of the Catch Club[210] has done
more business this morning than all those of the house of Commons
since their meeting. Roberts does not Petition.[211] This from the
best authority, and perhaps totally false. Hare is married to Sir
Abraham Hume's daughter.[212] You see how hard pressed I am for news.
Besides, at any time, I had rather talk an hour, than write a page.
Therefore adieu. I am glad to hear of your speedy removal. Remember
Bentinck Street.*
185.
_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._
January 29th, 1774.
On recollection it appeared superfluous to send you Hugo's letter. It
was wrote before he received yours. Winton bullies, Mrs. Lee scolds,
but I am fearless. Clarke[213] promises me Franks from day to day,
and prevented me from applying to any body else. I heard from R. Way;
his declaration of my not warranting the Modus quite sufficient: it
is sent to Lovegrove, whose only objection it appeared to be. He and
his Lawyer decline a personal interview, and talk of what they should
have done four months ago, laying the abstract of the Title before
Mr. Duane. Patience is a virtue.
[Sidenote: DINNER WITH AUTHORS, MANAGERS, ETC.]
*I am now getting acquainted with authors, Managers, &c. good
company to know, but not to live with. Yesterday I dined at the
Br_ee_tish Coffee-house,[214] with _Garrick_,[215] _Coleman_,[216]
_Goldsmith_,[217] _Macpherson_,[218] _John Hume_,[219] &c. I am
this moment come from Coleman's Man of Business. We dined at the
Shakespeare, and went in a body to support it; between friends,
though we got a Verdict for our Client, his Cause was but a bad one.
It is a very confused Miscellany of several Plays and Tales; sets out
brilliantly enough, but as we advance the Plot grows thicker, the Wit
thinner, till the lucky fall of the Curtain preserves us from total
Chaos.
Bentinck Street has visited Welbeck Street. Sappho is very happy that
she has left Lewes: on Sheffield-place she squints with regret and
gratitude. Mamma consulted me about buying Coals; we can't get any
round ones. Quintus is gone to head the Civil War. Of Mrs. Frances
I have nothing to say. I have got _my intelligence for insuring_,
and will immediately get the preservative against fire. Foster has
sent me _eight-and-twenty pair of Paris silk stockings_, with an
intimation that My lady wished for half-a-dozen. They are much at her
service; but if she will look into David Hume's Essay on National
Characters, she will see that I durst not offer them to a Queen of
Spain. _Sachez qu'une Reine d'Espagne n'a point de jambes._[220]
Adieu.*
[210] "The Noblemen and Gentlemen's Catch Club" was founded in
1761, to encourage the composition and performance of catches and
glees. Members were elected by ballot. It met every Tuesday from
February to June at the Thatched House Tavern. The club still
flourishes. Gibbon speaks as if he were a member; but his name
does not occur in the lists of the club.
[211] By the death of Sir R. Ladbroke a vacancy occurred in the
representation of the City. The candidates were the Lord Mayor
(Bull) and Roberts. The result of the poll, by which the Lord
Mayor was elected, was declared on December 4, 1773. A scrutiny
was demanded on behalf of Roberts, but it was abandoned.
[212] James Hare, the politician and wit ("the Hare and many
friends"), was M.P. (1772-74) for Stockbridge, and (1781-1804)
for Knaresborough. He married (January 21, 1774) Miss Hannah
Hume, sister of Sir Abraham Hume, Bart., F.R.S., the famous
collector of minerals and pictures, and one of the founders of
the Geological Society.
[213] Godfrey Clarke, M.P. for Derbyshire.
[214] The British Coffee-house, in Cockspur Street, was a
favourite resort of Scotchmen. The Duke of Bedford, soliciting
the votes of the sixteen Scottish peers in 1750, is said to have
enclosed all the letters under one cover, and addressed it to the
British Coffee-house.
[215] Garrick and Colman were managers of the two rival theatres,
Covent Garden and Drury Lane.
[216] George Colman (1732-1794) was at this time a formidable
rival to Garrick. His five-act comedy, _The Man of Business_,
was produced at Covent Garden in January, 1774. It is, as Gibbon
describes it, made up from Terence and other writers; "so full of
modern lore," writes H. Walpole, "of rencounters, and I know not
what, that I scarce comprehended a syllable."
[217] Goldsmith (1728-1774), whose play, _She Stoops to Conquer_,
had been produced at Covent Garden under Colman's management
(January, 1773), died April 4, 1774, scarcely more than two
months after this dinner. Gibbon signed the Round Robin, drawn up
at Sir Joshua Reynolds's by Burke, asking Dr. Johnson to write
Goldsmith's epitaph in English instead of Latin.
[218] Probably James Macpherson (1736-1796), whose _Fragments
of Ancient Poetry collected in the Highlands_ were published in
1760. At this time he was settled in London, where he was engaged
in historical literature, a translation of the _Iliad_, and
political writing on behalf of the Government.
[219] John Home (1722-1808), the author of _Douglas_ (1756), had
helped to bring Macpherson's Ossianic poems before the public.
His _Douglas_ was played at Covent Garden (1757); his _Agis_
(1758) and _Siege of Aquileia_ (1760) were given at Drury Lane.
[220] Gibbon refers not to the essay on _National Characters_,
but to that on _Polygamy and Divorces_. Hume quotes a story
from Madame d'Aunoy's _Mémoires de la Cour d'Espagne_. "When
the mother of the late King of Spain was on her road towards
Madrid, she passed through a little town in Spain famous for its
manufactory of gloves and stockings. The magistrates of the place
thought they could not better express their joy for the reception
of their new queen, than by presenting her with a sample of
those commodities for which alone their town was remarkable. The
_major domo_, who conducted the princess, received the gloves
very graciously; but, when the stockings were presented, he flung
them away with great indignation, and severely reprimanded the
magistrates for this egregious piece of indecency. _Know_, says
he, _that a queen of Spain has no legs_. The young queen, who at
that time understood the language but imperfectly, and had often
been frightened with stories of Spanish jealousy, imagined that
they were to cut off her legs. Upon which she fell a-crying, and
begged them to conduct her back to Germany, for that she could
never endure the operation; and it was with some difficulty they
could appease her" (Hume's _Philosophical Works_, ed. 1854, vol.
iii. p. 205).
[Sidenote: GARRICK IN HAMLET.]
186.
_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._
February 7th, 1774.
Quarrelled with you! aye sure, and if she had beat you it would
have been perfectly agreeable to the rule of Right, and the fitness
of things. A space of time _not less_ than four natural days, each
day consisting of twenty-four hours, My Lady is to pass in Bentinck
Street, only making some occasional excursions to various parts of
the Cities of London and Westminster. Garrick I believe acts Hamlet
to-morrow night, and will probably repeat it once or twice within
a fortnight: I am not sure whether I might not muster up interest
enough to determine it for one Night rather than another. As to
you, I much want your presence. I fear Lovegrove will not turn out
much better than Winton. In spite of R. Way's positive Evidence, he
insists that I had warranted the _Vicarial Tythes_. Adieu. Gib sends
his Love to Maria. I will enquire about _Capability_.[221] Give me
intelligence of your motions.
[221] Probably a reference to Lancelot Brown (1715-1783), the
landscape gardener, known as "Capability Brown."
187.
_To his Stepmother._
Bentinck Street, February 16th, 1774.