did not return until the following August. Lady Holland
continued to keep a detailed account of their travels and
the information which reached them concerning the movements
of the opposing forces in Spain and the progress of the
war. This portion of her Journal, however, is omitted.
On August 12th, 1809, reached Holland House, where we found the
children and my mother perfectly well. The Pettys and Beauclerks and
many of our friends came from the country to see us, and stayed a few
days in the house.
[Sidenote: LORD LANSDOWNE’S DEATH]
_22nd Nov._--It is too distant from this present period to make a
review of all the occurrences from that time to this. Mr. Canning and
Ld. Castlereagh fought on 21st Sept. Ld. Wellesley has accepted his
recall,[328] and is daily expected; many believe he is coming upon
the misapprehension that the Premiership has been offered to him.
Lord Lansdowne[329] died on 14th Nov., which event is fatal to the
Opposition by removing Petty from the H. of Commons. He has endeavoured
to annoy Petty by his will and much disrespect for his father’s family,
by making the remainder over to Ld. Winchilsea, and then to Ly.
Lansdowne and her 2nd daughter.[330] To the latter, they say, a lease
for 21 years is granted of L. H.
On 7th Nov. I was brought to bed of a daughter.[331]
Tuesday, 21st Nov., 1809, Ld. H. on this day completed his thirty-six
years. He dined at Ld. Winchilsea’s.[332] Mr. Allen and I alone. He
read in eve. Berington’s _Life of Henry II._, a work not without
merit, tho’ the language is frequently barbarous.[333] The character
of Becket is well drawn, and from his close researches into monkish
chronicles he gives many interesting anecdotes which throw light upon
the manners and mode of life in those times. He is a Roman Catholic
priest, and tho’ one sees a bias, yet he has more liberality than
usual with persons of his class. Indeed, at Rome he was suspected of
giving up the cause of the Church too much: accordingly for some time
he was suspended from his clerical functions by a papal mandate. He
is also the author of a life of _Abelard and Eloïsa_, and possesses
in manuscript, which he dare not publish, a history of the revival of
learning.
Mr. Canning wrote to Ld. G. Leveson: ‘Lord Chuckle [_sic_] is, I
hear, sufficiently recovered to take his prescription; accordingly, I
shall send my letter to-morrow, and the other shall go abroad the day
following.’ So we may expect to-morrow to see this long announced and
much looked-for _second_ statement.[334]
Henry and his tutor, Mr. Shuttleworth, left us on Sunday for Hinckley.
_Wednesday, 22nd._--Mr. Tierney, Mr. Grenville, and Ld. Darnley dined.
_Thursday, 23rd Nov._--Ministerial papers announce very triumphantly
that Ld. Wellesley has accepted the office offered to him by them, and
is to come home immediately and fill his place.
Ly. Eliz.[335] came, the first time I have seen her since her marriage
with Duke of Devonshire; I could not utter a congratulation upon the
occasion. The Lambs, Mr. Windham, S. Lockington, Sr. Robt. Wilson, Mr.
Stuart, Duke of Argyle, Ld. Robt. FitzGerald, Ly. Affleck dined.
Mr. C.’s statement is not yet out. My mother returned from Gosport with
Charles, whom she had been to see on acct. of his illness.
_Friday, 24th Nov._--Ld. Wellesley has written to Mr. Canning assigning
his reasons for accepting, but what they are I know not.
[Sidenote: PANSHANGER]
_14th Dec., 1809._--The Whig Corporation of Nottingham having done
Ld. H. the honour of choosing him their Recorder, vacant by the death
of the D. of Portland, it was necessary for him to go there and take
the oaths. Accordingly we took the opportunity of making the journey
in part with him, and of paying some visits on our way, for change of
air for me after a confinement is indispensable to keep off a whole
train of nervous disorders, and I did not much relish the notion of
a trip to Nottingham to share his civic honours. On this day we went
to _Panshanger_, on the _banks of the Mimram_, a very Asiatic sound!
A pretty place of Lord Cowper’s in Hertfordshire. We took Tierney
with us. Found besides the family, Lds. Essex, Erskine, and Mr. Giles
Lewis. No news of the result of the election at Oxford,[336] but the
Grenvilles began to despond.
Drove out to see the new college at Haileybury, a large, ugly,
mean-looking conventual building. In the eve, news came of Lord
Grenville’s success at Oxford; carried it by a majority of 13.
_15th._--Drove to Woolmers, a dismal, damp, ill-kept house, belonging
to Ld. Stafford. It was too cold to walk to the spring, and, indeed, I
am too lame to undertake any excursion on foot.
_16th, Sunday._--We were to have gone away, but delayed our departure
in order to see Ly. Melbourne, who was coming on the ensuing day.
_17th._--Ly. Melbourne came.
_18th, Tuesday._--Set off and resolved to go as far as we could, as Ld.
H. was to be at Nottingham to a great dinner on Wednesday. The roads
were in a very bad condition owing to the great fall of rain; however,
we reached Stamford and slept.
_19th._--Ld. H. set off alone to Nottingham. Mr. Allen, Charles, and I
went to see Burleigh, a stately edifice, not improved by the bad taste
of the last proprietor. A few good pictures, and several beautiful
portraits of Mde. de la Vallière after her profession, in the dress
of the Order. Ascertained that the story of Ld. Exeter having made a
bonfire, in the courtyard, of Voltaire, Rousseau, &c., was true. This
was done to edify the people at Stamford during the _alarm_, to teach
them to shun the doctrines of those apostates from religion, morality,
&c. From thence we went to Grantham, where I resolved to take up my
abode till Ld. H. returned.
_20th._--Went to see Belvoir, which is undergoing a thorough reparation
and improvement by Wyatt. It commands a staring, ugly view of the Vale
of Belvoir. The antique baronial costume of the castle is destroyed
by the introduction of modern fortifications and of artillery mounted
upon the walls. The collection of pictures is very good. The famous
‘Sacraments’ of _Poussin_, and a pretty _Murillo_ with three Virgins
in white, exactly in the style of those in the famous ‘Transito de
Santa Clara,’ in the convent at Seville. We sent for _novels_ to the
circulating library, and sat up reading the trash it furnished half the
night.
_21st._--Ld. H. returned pleased with the reception he had met with
from his fellow Burgesses, and we got on to Stilton, a bad, dismal inn.
[Sidenote: CAMBRIDGE]
_22nd._--We went to Cambridge, to show Mr. A. the colleges, &c. Got
there by daylight. Dr. Davy,[337] the Master of Caius College, made
us dine with him; a good-natured, trifling, insignificant man. Lord
Percy, Dukes of Rutland and Gloster are to be the candidates for the
Chancellorship, whenever the D. of Grafton will die and give them an
opportunity of trying their popularity.
_23rd._--A fall of snow which rendered the walking across the
Quadrangle unpleasant. The Library at Trinity is very handsome, but
the books are the least to be praised in it. A good bust of Newton.
The chapel contains a statue of Newton; the countenance is full of
expression and genius, but the sculpture is very moderate, altho’
considered by them as a _chef-d’œuvre_. Went to the chapel of King’s
College. Glad that my recollection of Batalha was so fresh that it
enabled me to compare the architectural styles and beauties. That of
Batalha[338] is generally superior in execution, the taste of King’s
chapel perhaps is more chaste and simple, but it does not possess one
specimen of exquisite delicacy of sculpture; the roses and portcullis
are coarsely carved.
Passed through Eaton and Bedford. Reached Ampthill to a late dinner.
Waters very much out.
_24th, Ampthill._--Ld. Ossory as usual kind and very pleasant. Capt.
Waldegrave, a cousin, and son of Lady Waldegrave. Our old shipmate, Sr.
John Sinclair, Dr. Hunt, &c. A contagious fever at Southill prevents
our visit; Lady Elizabeth ill. Mr. Whitbread came over to see us,
much offended and irritated at the anonymous circular; ascribes all as
intended offences from Grey and Tierney to _him_. Reached Brocket on
the 27th.
_28th, Brocket._--Large family party with the addition of Messrs,
Luttrell and Nugent. Ld. Kinnaird dined one day, grave, good-humoured,
and agreeable; his illness has subdued and softened his naturally
irritable character. We were to have set off again on the 1st January
for Woburn, but I was seized with such a severe headache that I was
compelled to return to my bed; sent an excuse for that day to the D. of
B. by Aleck, who was to meet us at St. Albans on the following day.
_Monday, 2nd January, 1810._--Very much alarmed at the account brought
by Aleck of Charles having met with a severe fall. Contrary to a
promise given me by Lady Anne (and his uncle),[339] she allowed him to
go out with her to a fox chase. He cut the inside of his leg between
ham and knee dreadfully. Reached Woburn late, and after a hasty dinner
Mr. A. and I set off to see Charles; found him with fever. Went again
next day to see the wound; found it a most dreadful gash, as bad as
anything can be which has not touched a vital part, and may not perhaps
do him a permanent injury.
_Sunday, 7th._--Ld. H. was so much pressed to go to town that he went
to see Lds. Grey and Grenville, and dined at Mr. Grenville’s. Duke of
B. went next day and returned to dinner, bringing Lord Holland down
with him. Ld. Kinnaird, Mr. Chester, Delmé Gunning, Morrice, General
Fitzpatrick, Tavistocks, &c., compose off and on the party.
_10th Jan._--We this day brought Charles over from Ampthill, who bore
the motion of the carriage tolerably. He will oblige us to defer going
away much longer than we intended to be absent from home.
[Sidenote: DEBATE ON THE ADDRESS]
Left Woburn on ----. Stayed at H.H. until Monday, 22nd Jan., the eve
of the meeting of Parlt., and on that day took possession of our
former dirty habitation in Pall Mall. On 23rd there were very sanguine
expectations entertained of not only a good division, but even of a
majority of 13 in the Commons, it being confidently asserted that many
of the stoutest adherents of the former Ministry would keep away, such
as the Lascelles’, Pagets, Ld. Newark, &c. However, every one of these
came up, and after a flat debate the majority was all on the wrong
side. Numbers, 167 to 263.[340]
Mr. Ward made a brilliant display, and all the young gentlemen, movers
and seconders, acquitted themselves with propriety. Mr. Canning voted
for the Address in a bad, blundering speech, in which he did not
redeem the pledge he had made of justifying himself in his place in
Parlt. It was rather a whimsical coincidence that Ld. G. Leveson could
not vote, not being _in time_ to take his seat. This is the third
time in his Parliamentary life that he has been baffled in voting
upon dubious occasions however. In the Lords the attempt to stir Ld.
Wellesley failed. Lord Grey’s speech was a most finished oration. The
division was great, 92; numbers which would formerly have broken up any
Administration.[341]
On Friday Lord Porchester’s motion of inquiry into the Walcheren
expedition was most unexpectedly carried by a majority of 9 against
Ministers.[342] Wilberforce behaved in the most flagrant but sanctified
manner; he deserted his friend Perceval at the critical pinch. Mr.
Ponsonby is recovering his reputation; he made a sharp, sarcastic
speech which produced a considerable effect and reconciled those who
had _snouched_ most at him. Mr. Canning acted against inquiry, and
upon observing to Ld. Temple that he (Ld. Temple) was in a majority,
was answered, ‘Yes, and the best part of it is that it was without yr.
assistance.’ Ld. Castlereagh, whose manly conduct and being considered
as an injured man by the House has conciliated him much public esteem,
voted for the inquiry.
Ld. Wellesley made his debut in the character of Minister upon the
thanks of the House being moved to Ld. Wellington. Some commend, and
others disparage his speech; perhaps the middle line of praise would be
nearest the truth. He was rather oriental in his style of praising his
brother, but much may be owing to his feelings upon such a subject as
that of his brother’s merits undergoing a slighting review.
Poor Hoppner, the painter, is dead. Public attention and sympathy has
been fixed by the sudden and mysterious disappearance of Mr. Eden,[343]
who left his father’s house in Old Palace Yard on Friday eve., having
previously told his servant he should return in an hour, and from that
time to this, an interval of ten days has elapsed without any tidings.
A man was seen on that Friday, at 9 o’clock, scrambling upon the ice on
the Thames, who, upon being called upon to stop, rushed on and plunged
into the stream. Poor young man, he was to all appearance the last
person in the world likely to lay violent hands upon himself.
_Sunday, 28th Jan., 1810, Pall Mall._--A belief afloat that Prince
Stahremberg is the bearer of an offer of peace from Ld. Wellesley to
Napoleon. He went yesterday to Paris.
Lds. Thanet, Erskine, Sr. Philip Francis, and Don Domingo de Souza[344]
dined.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: WINDHAM’S WILL]
_June, 1810._--It appears that Windham from the period of his leaving
College had kept a diary; the last entry was on the day the operation
was decided.[345] He says: ‘This day sentence has been passed upon
me,’ It fills 15 vols. in 4to., and according to his will is annexed
as an heirloom to the proprietor of Fellbrigge; so in case of failure
of issue in Capt. Lukin, it will fall into the hands of the Egremont
family. A curious instance of weakness in Windham, and one that
probably never would have been drawn forth, but for the feelings
stirred up by the French Revolution: he has put Lord Egremont into the
entail of his estate, treating him as a relation. During his life the
relationship was never claimed, and certainly not admitted, either
by him or by Ld. Egremont; the mode of spelling the name is quite
different. He left six thousand pr. ann., at least, to his wife, who
has most indecorously exposed to public sale all his books and common
pamphlets; the latter especially are scribbled over entirely with
his own observations on the margin. These have been bought up by the
booksellers, and will hereafter be sold as immensely valuable from
possessing his notes. There is a pamphlet of Sr. S. Romilly’s upon the
state of Criminal Law, which is entirely written over by W.; and the
strictures intended merely for himself to reply to in the H. of Commons
are most likely not calculated to please Romilly, or indeed could they
have been designed for his eye.
When Perceval proposed last year, 1809, to Lord Grenville and Grey
to form a _part_ of his Administration, some private correspondence
in consequence of this overture took place between these Lords. They
agreed perfectly in the propriety of rejecting the terms as proposed,
but as it was just possible they might be addressed again upon a
similar occasion, they discussed the state of their own views, &c.
Ld. Grenville told Grey that whenever they came into office, and
were enabled to make the concessions deemed necessary to the Irish
Catholics, he intended to propose that his brother, Lord Buckingham,
should be the person sent over; that he had always contributed so
disinterestedly to the support of the party, that as it was his wish to
go, he considered him entitled to it. This hint was not relished, nor
was it combated; but the Grenvilles are great graspers and encroachers.
At the Installation[346] Lord Grenville promised the heads of Houses to
supply them with venison, having been promised by his brother 15 brace.
A few days before the festival Ld. B. sent to say he could not furnish
any venison, and but for the good nature of private friends he would
not have been able to fulfil his engagement. The Duke of Bedford told
me this, and was one of the persons applied to, and gave 4 brace. Ld.
B. is envious of his brother, and enjoys his feeling any mortification.
* * * * *
[Sidenote: THE LAKE COUNTRY]
We made an excursion for seven weeks to the North in order to amuse
Henry, and try the effect of change of air, as he was not well. We
went by Derby and Lancashire to Appleby Castle, Ld. Thanet’s. We
stayed there a few days in order that Ld. H. might get some fishing;
from thence we went to the Lake of Ullswater, and dined at Patterdale.
Returned and slept at Penrith.
At Keswick we saw Southey, who was very agreeable; he is just about
publishing two epic poems. Windermere is the pleasantest and most
agreeable of all the Lakes to my taste. Mr. Dumont was of our party.
We went rather impromptu to Edinburgh, by the Kelso road, to see
Melrose Abbey. Kelso is a charmingly situated town and exceedingly
pretty. Melrose Abbey disappointed me greatly, especially after John
Clerk’s praise, who described it as the finest remains of the richly
wrought Gothic in the Island. I did not mind Walter Scott’s poetry,
but was very considerably chagrined at its being so very inferior
to many even in England. The high roads now making in Scotland are
very characteristic of the nation; they are _scientific and thrifty_,
for they are upon good principles, but are excessively dangerous and
alarming from the parsimony with which they are executed. They are
contrived to go upon the mountains like terraces or ledges, so that the
up and down is avoided, but then they are rather narrow, and there is
not the smallest parapet or any protection which intervenes between the
poor traveller and the deep valley below.
We remained only two days at Edinbro’. During that time poor Lady
Rosslyn[347] died unexpectedly at Rockville. We dined one day with Mr.
Clerk,[348] and were visited by the few persons then in town--Jeffrey,
Murray, &c. We went to Dunbar; then to Howick; and spent a couple of
days with Sydney Smith at Heslington, near York. I went to the Roman
Catholic convent in York, to visit the daughters of Mr. Gordon, of
Xeres; they seemed dejected and apprehensive that the state of Spain
would prevent them from joining their family.
We made a deviation from the North road to see Lincoln Minster. We were
repaid for the inconvenience of a very bad road and without exception
the worst inn in England, as the Cathedral is very curious and
magnificent. It is not so large as that of York, but the workmanship
is much richer. I was startled when I entered the Cathedral at York; I
could scarcely credit that it was the identical building which appeared
spacious and lofty formerly, my eye having been recently so accustomed
to the Cathedral at Seville which is about three times the size of
York. At York the centre aisle is wide, but the two side aisles are
narrow and low, whereas at Seville there are five aisles all equally
wide and lofty, and _beyond_ are large side chapels (at York there are
none).
From Lincoln we went through Spalding to Peterboro’; I asked at
Spalding how far off it was to the Fens. The postmaster replied that
there were no fens in Lincolnshire now, and that geese were full as
scarce as in Middlesex or elsewhere. I think it impossible he can be
correct, for, tho’ draining may do much, yet I remember such dykes and
embankments against the waters then covered with flocks of geese, about
23 years ago, that it cannot be possible those waters can have been
carried off, the bottom made sound, and put into tillage; about Boston
and Crowland I meant. Peterboro’ Cathedral has a beautiful façade;
the inside is not worth much. Katherine of Arragon and Queen Mary of
Scotland[349] are buried there.
We returned here[350] on August 2, and found all well; the library
wall rebuilt, but the house not in a condition for our reception.
Accordingly we are going off in a few days to inhabit the Govt. House
at Portsmouth, which Genl. Fox has lent most kindly to us.[351]
[Sidenote: GENERAL FERGUSON]
The few days we have been here we have seen Tom Sheridan and his wife,
Ld. Erskine, D. of Argyle, Ld. Robt., Gen. Tupper, Mr. Whishaw, Kemble,
Gen. Fox, Caroline Fox. I went one night to the Haymarket and saw the
_Iron Chest_. General Ferguson[352] has been compelled to leave Cadiz
on acct. of his health; he is afflicted with a liver complaint which
is always aggravated in a hot climate. He acted the part of a real
friend to our dear boy,[353] he went out with him in the _Lively_,
and assumed a parental authority over him. He also, upon arriving at
Cadiz, removed him from that ship, and placed him with Capt. Codrington
of the _Blake_, where he now is, and is gone up to Minorca to escort
the Spanish ships from Cadiz thither. He confirms the stories of the
desertions from the French armies, and himself conversed with _three_
native-born Frenchmen, who had deserted from want of pay and want of
food, the most pressing want.
On Thursday, -- August, left home for Portsmouth. Henry, &c.,
accompanied us; the girls were to follow a few days later. Mr. Dumont
came with us; we slept at Liphook, and reached Portsmouth on Friday.
The Government House is a very large, rambling habitation, and was
formerly a Cistercian convent.[354] From the interior arrangement of
the rooms, and very inconvenient distribution of space, one can still
trace its monastic origin. The conventual church, now converted into
the garrison chapel, communicates with the great apartment, and access
is immediate into the tribune. In that church Charles the Second
married the Infanta of Portugal.
[Sidenote: CAPTAIN MOORE]
The _séjour_ of this place has little to recommend it in the way of
drives or walks, as the confinement of a garrison town is inconvenient
for either, and indeed the whole neighbourhood more or less partakes
of the stir and din of war. We see a few naval and military persons.
General Whetham, the Lt.-Governor, a sprightly man, who talks good
French, and has a superficial smattering of the light reading in that
language; he was wounded in Flanders, and is a great favourite upon the
Terrace at Windsor. Capt. G. Moore,[355] the brother of the General,
whose good sense seems to have been bestowed in a fair division upon
him, is a pleasing, well-informed, manly, gentlemanlike person. They
are an affectionate, united family, and full of amiable qualities;
he alluded to Sir John with feeling, his eyes were full of tears
when in the course of some conversation he mentioned the narrative
written by his brother James.[356] He told me that had the General
lived to return and lay aside his command, it was his opinion that an
explanation must have taken place with Frere, as the gross personality
and insulting language in his correspondence must have been apologised
for or determined(?) in some decisive manner. Capt. Moore was at
Lisbon when the Court embarked for the _Brésils_, and accompanied the
Portuguese squadron thither, having on board many of the attendants and
dependants of the Prince Regent.
_21st Sept., 1810._--Capt. Moore told us that one day at Rio Janeiro
when Sr. Sidney Smith presented Capt. Schomberg to the Prince Regent,
the Prince said he was exceedingly happy to see Capt. S. again, as he
was the first Englishman he had seen after he left Lisbon.[357] This
was said by the Prince in a particularly marked manner, as if he meant
it to convey an indirect contradiction of Ld. Strangford’s account in
the Gazette of what passed on that occasion. Capt. Schomberg was Sir
S. Smith’s Captain when the Portuguese Court embarked for _Brésil_,
and was sent in a boat to the Prince’s ship, on board of which he
went after it was on the outside of the bar. Sir S. Smith and Ld.
Strangford went afterwards on board the P.’s ship together. Capt. Moore
is persuaded that Strangford never saw the P. R. till he went on board
of his ship with Sir Sidney. Capt. Moore saw the _Confiance_, on board
of which was Ld. S., attempting the night before to get over the
bar, and observed to someone near him that Yeo (the commander of the
_Confiance_) would not get to Lisbon before it was dark. The Prince
weighed anchor next morning before it was light. We knew from Setaro
how Strangford passed that night, and that the Prince had left his
palace and embarked with an intention of sailing with the first fair
wind two days before.