I hardly dare recollect how long I have been without writing to you,
but you know my sentiment and my laziness; so I will say no more on
that threadbare subject. I have been some days at this place and have
spent them very agreeably. Luckily the weather has been bad, which
in a great measure has secured me from excursions, and confined us
to an excellent house, conducted on an easy plan, and filled with
a comfortable society in which the principal part was performed by
Mr. Garrick. I return to town to-morrow. By-the-bye, you will be so
good as not to mention this Bedfordshire journey to Miss Holroyd:
it might get round to Sheffield Place which I have cheated of a
promised visit. In a few days our Parliamentary campaign will open,
and the beginning of success which we have tasted in America will
enliven our countenances, if they should not be clouded again by the
apprehensions of a French war, which seem to increase every day. With
regard to another great object of hostilities,--_myself_,--the attack
has been already begun by an anonymous Pamphleteer, but the heavy
artillery of Dr. Watson and another adversary are not yet brought
into the field. I was afraid that I should be hurt by them, but if
I may presume of my future feelings from the first tryal of them, I
shall be in every sense of the word _invulnerable_.
My long depending and troublesome business with Lovegrove is at
length, by the strenuous interposition of Holroyd, not concluded,
but broke off. The fellow wanted either power or inclination to
compleat his agreement, and after weighing all the difficulties
and delays of Chancery, it was judged most expedient to consent to
a mutual discharge. By this transaction I have lost a great deal
both of time and money, and am now to begin the sale again. It has
occasioned me much vexation, but Holroyd assures me that I have
been guilty of no fault, and that I may still entertain very fair
hopes. The subject was grown so odious to me, that I could not bring
myself even to talk to you about it. Adieu, Dear Madam. Remember that
by your summer excursions you gain health and give pleasure. This
doctrine is true and I hope that another year you will draw some
practical inferences from it.
I am,
Ever yours,
E. GIBBON.
291.
_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._
November the 4th, 1776.
*I hope you bark and growl at my silence: growl and bark. This is
not a time for correspondence. Parliament, visits, dinners, suppers,
and an hour or two stolen with difficulty for the Decline leave but
very little leisure.* I dare say you admire the Howes; so do I; and
I firmly believe that whatever force can effect will be performed
by them. *I send you the Gazette and have scarcely any thing to add
except that about five hundred of them have deserted to us, and that
the New York incendiaries were immediately and very justifiably
destined to the Cord.[338] Lord G[eorge] G[ermain] with whom I had
a long conversation last night was in high spirits and hopes to
reconquer Germany and America.[339] On the side of Canada he only
fears Carleton's _slowness_, but entertains great expectations that
the light troops and Indians under Sir William Johnson, who are
sent from Oswego down the Mohawk River to Albany, will oblige the
Provincials to give up the defence of the lakes for fear of being
cut off.--The report of a foreign War subsides. House of Commons
dull;[340] and Opposition talk of suspending hostilities from despair.
An anonymous pamphlet and Dr. Watson out against me: (in my opinion)
feeble; the former very illiberal, the latter uncommonly genteel. At
last I have had a letter from Deyverdun, wretched excuses, nothing
done, vexatious enough.--To-morrow I write to Suard, a very skilful
translator of Paris, who was here in the spring with the Neckers to
get him (if not too late) to undertake it.* Not a line from R. Way!
Adieu. I embrace, &c. Remember the fourteenth. I expect at least a
week. What's the whim of my lady's not paying her proper respects to
Bentinck Street?
[338] On September 15 General Howe occupied New York, which had
been evacuated by the American troops; a few days later a great
part of the city was destroyed by incendiaries.
[339] Lord Chatham boasted that he had conquered America in
Germany. Wilkes, in March, 1776, had said, alluding to Lord G.
Germain's misconduct at Minden and Chatham's boast, that Lord
George might conquer America, though, he believed, it would not
be in Germany. Gibbon apparently refers to this remark, and to
Lord George's hope that he might recover his lost reputation by
the reconquest of America.
[340] Parliament met October 31, 1776. An amendment to the
address, expressing pacific sentiments, was negatived by 242 to
87, and the address carried by 232 to 83.
[Sidenote: HOWE'S PROCLAMATION.]
292.
_To J. B. Holroyd, Esq._
Almack's, Thursday evening, November 7th, 1776.
*Letters from Bourgoyne. They embarked on the lakes the 30th of
September with 800 British Sailors, 6000 regulars, 3000 Canadians,
and a naval force superior to any possible opposition: but the season
was so far advanced that they expected only to occupy and strengthen
Ticonderoga and afterwards to return, and take up their winter
quarters in Canada.--Yesterday we had a surprize in the house from
a proclamation of the Howes[341] which made its first appearance in
the Morning post, and which nobody seems to understand. By this time
My lady may see that I have not much reason to fear my antagonists.
Adieu till next Thursday.*
[341] The proclamation, issued September 19, 1776, was addressed
to the people of America, promised a revision of recent
legislation, and was designed to induce separate colonies to
negotiate with the commissioners independently of Congress. It
was not published in the official Gazettes, which had appeared on
November 4 and 5, 1776.
[Sidenote: FRENCH TRANSLATION OF HIS HISTORY.]
293.
_To M. Suard._[342]
Bentinck Street, Cavendish Square, le 8 Novembre 1776.