Why Taylor the quack calls himself Chevalier,

'Tis not easy a reason to render;

Unless he would own, what his practice makes clear,

That at best he is but a Pretender.

465 Letter 293

To George Montagu, Esq.

Arlington Street, Nov. 26, 1758.

How can you make me formal excuses for sending me a few covers

to frank? Have you so little right to any act of friendship

from me, that you should apologize for making me do what is

scarce any act at all? However, your man has not called for

the covers, although they have been ready this fortnight.

I shall be very glad to see your brother in town, but I cannot

quite take him in full of payment. I trust you will stay the

longer for coming the later. There is not a syllable of news.

The Parliament is met, but empty and totally oppositionless.

Your great Cu moved in the lords, but did not shine much. The

great Cu of all Cues is out of order, not in danger, but

certainly breaking.

My eyes are performing such a strict quarantine, that you must

excuse my brevity. Adieu.

465 Letter 294

To Sir Horace Mann.

Arlington Street, Nov. 27, 1758.

it seems strange that at this time of the year, with armies

still in the field and Parliaments in town, I should have had

nothing to tell you for above a month--yet so it was. The King

caught cold on coming to town, and was very ill,(977) but the

gout, which had never been at court above twice in his reign,

came, seized his foot a little, and has promised him at least

five or six years more--that is, if he will take care of

himself; but yesterday, the coldest day we have felt, he would

go into the drawing-room, as if he was fond of showing the new

stick @e is forced to walk with.

The Parliament is all harmony, and thinks of nothing but giving

away twelve more millions. Mr. Pitt made the most artful

speech he ever made: provoked, called for, defied objections;

promised enormous expense, demanded never to be judged by

events. Universal silence left him arbiter of his own terms.

In short, at present he is absolute master, and if he can coin

twenty millions may command them. He does every thing, the

Duke of Newcastle gives every thing. As long as they can agree

in this partition, they may do what they will.

We have been in great anxiety for twenty-four hours to learn

the fate of Dresden, and of the King of resources, as Mr.

Beckford called the King of Prussia the other day. We heard

that while he was galloped to raise the siege of Neiss, Marshal

Daun was advanced to Dresden; that Schmettau had sent to know

if he meant to attack it, having orders to burn the Fauxbourgs

and defend it street by street; that Daun not deigning a reply,

the Conflagration had been put in execution; that the King was

posting back, and Dohna advancing to join him. We expect to

hear either of the demolition of the city, or of a bloody

decision fought under the walls--an account is just arrived

that Daun(978) is retired, thus probably the campaign is

finished, and another year of massacre to come. One could not

but be anxious at such a crisis-one felt for Dresden, and

pitied the Prince Royal shut up in his own capital, a mere

spectator of its destruction; one trembled for the decisive

moment of the life of such a man as the King of Prussia. It is

put off--yet perhaps he will scarce recover so favourable a

moment. He had assembled his whole force, except a few

thousands left to check the Swedes. Next year this force must

be again parcelled out against Austrians, Russians, Swedes, and

possibly French. He must be more than a King Of resources if

he can for ever weather such tempests!

Knyphausen(979) diverted me yesterday with some anecdotes of

the Empress's college of chastity-not the Russian Empress's.

The King of Prussia asked some of his Austrian prisoners

whether their mistress consulted her college of chastity on the

letters she wrote (and he intercepted) to Madame Pompadour.

You have heard some time ago of the death of the Duke of

Marlborough.(980) The estate is forty-five thousand pounds

a-year--nine of which are jointured out. He paid but eighteen

thousand pounds a-year in joint lives. This Duke and the

estate save greatly by his death, as the present wants a year

of being of age, and would certainly have accommodated his

father in agreeing to sell and pay. Lord Edgcumbe(981) is dead

too, one of the honestest and most steady men in the world.

I was much diverted with your histories of our Princess(982)

and Madame de Woronzow. Such dignity as Madame de Craon's

wants a little absolute power to support it! Adieu! my dear

Sir.

(977) Lord Chesterfield, writing on the 21st to his son, says,

"The King has been ill; but his illness has terminated in a

good fit of the gout. It was generally thought he would have

died, and for a very good reason; for the oldest lion in the

Tower, much about the King's age, died about a fortnight ago.

This extravagancy, I can assure you, was believed by many above

people. So wild and capricious is the human mind!"-E.

(978) "The King of Prussia has just compelled Daun to raise the

siege of Dresden, in spite of his (the King's) late most

disastrous defeat by the same general at Bochkirchen, which had

taken place on the 14th of October, 1758.-D.

(979) The Prussian minister.

(980) Charles Spencer, second Duke of Marlborough. He died, on

the 28th of October at Munster, in Westphalia.-E.

(981) Richard, first Lord Edgcumbe; an intimate friend of Sir

Robert Walpole.

(982) The Princess Craon.

467 Letter 295

To The Rev. Henry Zouch.

Arlington Street, Dec. 9, 1758.

Sir,

I have desired Mr. Whiston to convey to you the second edition

of my Catalogue, not so complete as it might have been, if

great part had not been printed before I received your remarks,

but yet more correct than the first sketch with which I

troubled you. Indeed, a thing of this slight and idle nature

does not deserve to have much more pains employed upon it.

I am just undertaking an edition of Lucan, my friend Mr.

Bentley having in his possession his father's notes and

emendations on the first seven books. Perhaps a partiality for

the original author concurs a little. with this circumstance of

the notes, to make me fond of printing, at Strawberry Hill, the

works of a man who, alone of all the classics, was thought to

breathe too brave and honest a spirit for the perusal of the

Dauphin and the French. I don't think that a good or bad taste

in poetry is of so serious a nature, that I should be afraid of

owning too, that, with that great judge Corneille, and with

that, perhaps, no judge Heinsius, I prefer Lucan to Virgil. To

speak fairly, I prefer great sense to poetry with little sense.

There are hemistics in Lucan that go to one's soul and one's

heart;--for a mere epic poem, a fabulous tissue of

uninteresting battles that don't teach one even to fight, I

know nothing more tedious. The poetic images, the

versification and language of the Aeneid are delightful; but

take the story by itself, and can any thing be more silly and

unaffeCting? There are a few gods without power, heroes

without character, heaven-directed wars without justice,

inventions without probability, and a hero who betrays one

woman with a kingdom that he might have had, to force himself

upon another woman and another kingdom to which he had no

pretensions, and all this to show his obedience to the gods! In

short, I have always admired his numbers so much, and his

meaning so little, that I think I should like Virgil better if

I understood him less.

Have you seen, Sir, a book which has made some noise--Helvetius

de l'Esprit? The author is so good and moral a man, that I

grieve he should have published a system of as relaxed morality

as can well be imagined.-. 'tis a large quarto, and in general

a very superficial one. His philosophy may be new in France,

but is greatly exhausted here. He tries to imitate

Montesquieu, and has heaped commonplaces upon commonplaces,

which supply or overwhelm his reasoning; yet he has often wit,

happy allusion;, and sometimes writes finely: there is merit

enough to give an obscure man fame; flimsiness enough to

depreciate a great man. After his book was licensed, they

forced him to retract it by a most abject recantation. Then

why print this book? If zeal for his system pushed him to

propagate it, did not he consider that a recantation would hurt

his cause more than his arguments could support it.

We are promised Lord Clarendon in February from Oxford, though

I hear shall have the surreptitious edition from Holland much

sooner.

You see, Sir, I am a sceptic as well as Helvetius, but of a

more moderate complexion. There is no harm in telling mankind

that there is not so much divinity in the Aeneid as they

imagine; but, (Even if I thought so,) I would not preach that

virtue and friendship are mere names, and resolvable into

self-interest; because there are numbers that would remember

the grounds of the principle, and forget what was to be

engrafted on it. Adieu!

468 Letter 296

To Sir Horace Mann.

Strawberry Hill, Christmas-day, 1758.

Adieu! my dear Sir--that is, adieu to our correspondence, for I

am neither dying nor quarrelling with you; but as we, Great-

Britons, are quarrelling with all Europe, I think very soon I

shall not be able to convey a letter to you, but by the way of

Africa, and am afraid the post-offices are not very well

regulated. In short, we are on the brink of a Dutch war too.

Their merchants are so enraged that we will not only not suffer

them to enrich themselves by carrying all the French trade, and

all kinds of military stores to the French settlements, but

that they lose their own ships into the bargain, that they are

ready to despatch the Princess Royal(983) into the other world

even before her time; if her death arrives soon, and she is

thought in great danger, it will be difficult for any body else

to keep the peace. Spain and Denmark are in little better

humour--well, if We have not as many lives as a cat or the King

of Prussia! However, our spirits do not droop; we are raising

thirteen millions, we look upon France as totally undone, and

that they have not above five loaves and a few small fishes

left; we intend to take all America from them next summer, and

then if Spain and Holland are not terrified, we shall be at

leisure to deal with them. Indeed, we are rather in a hurry to

do all this, because people may be weary of paying thirteen

millions; and besides it may grow decent for Mr. Pitt to visit

his gout, which this year he has been forced to send to the

Bath without him. I laugh, but seriously we are in a critical

situation; and it is as true, that if Mr. Pitt had not exerted

the spirit and activity that he has, we should ere now have

been past a critical situation. Such a war as ours carried on

by my Lord Hardwicke, with the dull dilatoriness of a Chancery

suit, would long ago have reduced us to what suits in Chancery

reduce most people! At present our unanimity is prodigious--

you Would as soon hear No from an old maid as from the House of

Commons--but I don't promise you that this tranquillity will

last.(984) One has known more ministries overturned of late

years by their own squabbles than by any assistance from

Parliaments.

Sir George Lee, formerly an heir-apparent(985) to the ministry

is dead. it was almost sudden, but he died with great

composure. Lord Arran(986) went off with equal philosophy. Of

the great house of Ormond there now remains only his sister,

Lady Emily Butler, a young heiress of ninety-nine.

It is with great pleasure I tell you that Mr. Conway is going

to Sluys to settle a cartel with the French. The commission

itself is honourable, but more pleasing as it re-establishes

him--I should say his merit re-establishes him. All the world

now acknowledges it--and the insufficiency of his

brother-generals makes it vain to oppress him any longer.

I am happy that you are pleased with the monument, and vain

that you like the Catalogue(987)--if it would not look too

vain, I would tell you that it was absolutely undertaken and

finished within five months. Indeed, the faults in the first

edition and the deficiencies show it was; I have just printed

another more correct.

Of the Pretender's family one never hears a word: unless our

Protestant brethren the Dutch meddle in their affairs, they

will be totally forgotten; we have too numerous a breed of our

own, to want Princes from Italy. The old Chevalier by your

account is likely to precede his rival, who with care may still

last a few years, though I think will scarce appear again out

of his own house.

I want to ask you if it is possible to get the royal edition of

the Antiquities of Herculaneum?(988) and I do not indeed want

you to get it for me unless I am to pay for it. Prince San

Severino has told the foreign ministers here that there are to

be twelve hundred volumes, of it--and they believe it. I

imagine the fact is, that there are but twelve hundred copies

printed. Could Cardinal Albani get it for me? I would send

him my Strawberry-editions, and the Birmingham-editions(988) in

exchange--things here much in fashion.

The night before I came from town, we heard of the fall of the

Cardinal de Bernis,(989) but not the cause of it(990)--if we

have a Dutch war, how many cardinals will fall in France and in

England, before you hear of these or I of the former! I have

always written to you with the greatest freedom, because I care

more that you should be informed of the state of your own

country, than what secretaries of state or their clerks think

of me,--but one must be more circumspect if the Dey of Algiers

is to open one's letters. Adieu!

(983) The Princess Dowager of Orange, eldest daughter of George

II.

(984) Lord Chesterfield, in a letter of the 15th, says, "The

estimates for the expenses of the year 1759 are made up. I

have seen them; and what do you think they amount to? No less

than twelve millions three hundred thousand pounds: a most

incredible sum, and its yet already all subscribed, and even

more offered! The unanimity in the House of Commons in voting

such a sum, and such forces, both by sea and land, is not less

astonishing. This is Mr. Pitt's doing, and it is marvellous in

our eyes."-E.

(985) Frederick, Prince of Wales, had designed, if he outlived

the King, to make Sir George Lee chancellor of the exchequer.

(986) He was Charles Butler, the second and last surviving son

of Thomas, Earl of Ossory, eldest son of the first Duke of

Ormond. He had been created, in 1693, Baron Clogligrenan,

Viscount Tullough, and Earl of Arran, in Ireland; and at the

same time Baron Butler of Weston, in the Peerage of England.

Dying without issue his titles became extinct.-D.

(987) The Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors.

(988) Editions printed with the Baskerville types.-D.

(989) The Cardinal de Bernis was a frivolous and incapable

minister, who was equally raised and overthrown by the

influence of the King of France's mistress, Madame de

Pompadour.-D.

(990) "Cardinal Bernis's disgrace," says Lord Chesterfield, "is

as sudden, and hitherto as little understood, as his elevation

was. I have seen his poems printed at Paris, not by a friend,

I dare say; and, to judge by them, I humbly conceive his

excellency is a puppy. I will say nothing of that excellent

headpiece that made him and unmade him in the same month,

except O King, live for ever!"-E.

470 Letter 297

To George Montagu, Esq.

Arlington Street, Dec. 26th, 1758.

it is so little extraordinary to find you doing what is

friendly and obliging, that one don't take half notice enough

of it. Can't you let Mr. Conway go to Sluys without taking

notice of it? How would you be hurt, if he continued to be

oppressed? what is it to you whether I am glad or sorry? Can't

you enjoy yourself whether I am happy or not'--'@ I suppose If

I were to have a misfortune, you would immediately be concerned

at it! How troublesome it is to have you sincere and

good-natured! Do be a little more like the rest of the world.

I have been at Strawberry these three days, and don't know a

tittle. The last thing I heard before I went was that Colonel

Yorke is to be married to one or both of the Miss Crasteyns,

nieces of the rich grocer that died three years ago. They have

two hundred and sixty thousand pounds apiece. A marchioness--

or a grocer---nothing comes amiss to the digestion of that

family.(991) If the rest of the trunk was filled with money, I

believe they would really marry Carafattatouadaht--what was the

lump of deformity called in the Persian Tales, that was sent to

the lady in a coffer? And as to marrying both the girls, it

would cost my Lord Hardwicke but a new marriage-bill: I suppose

it is all one to his conscience whether he prohibits matrimony

or licenses bigamy. Poor Sir Charles Williams is relapsed, and

strictly confined.

As you come so late, I trust you will stay with us the longer.

Adieu!

(991) Colonel Yorke, afterwards Lord Dover, married in 1783 the

Dowager Baroness de Boetzalaer, widow of the first noble of the

province of Holland.-E.

471 Letter 298

To The Rev. Henry Zouch.

Strawberry Hill, Jan. 12, 1759.

Sir,

I shall certainly be obliged to you for an account of that

piece of Lord Lonsdale:(992) besides my own curiosity in any

thing that relates to a work in which I have engaged so far, I

think it a duty to the public to perfect, as far as one can,

whatever one gives to it; and yet I do not think of another

edition; two thousand have peen printed, and though nine

hundred went off at once, it would be presumption in me to

expect that the rest will be sold in any short time. I only

mean to add occasionally to my private copy whatever more I can

collect and correct; and shall perhaps, but leave behind me

materials for a future edition, in which should be included

what I have hitherto omitted. Yet it is very vain in me to

expect that any body should care for such a trifle after the

novelty is worn off; I ought to be content with the favourable

reception I have found; so much beyond my first expectations,

that, except in two Magazines, not a word of censure has passed

on me in print. You may easily believe, Sir, that having

escaped a trial, I am not mortified by having dirt thrown at me

by children in the kennel. With regard to the story of Lord

Suffolk, I wish I had been lucky enough to have mentioned it to

you in time, it should not have appeared: yet it was told me by

Mr. Mallet, who did not seem to have any objection that I

should even mention his name as the very person to whom it

happened. I must suppose that Lord Suffolk acted that foolish

scene in imitation of Lord Rochester.(993)

I am happy, Sir, that I have both your approbation to my

opinion of Lucan, and to my edition of him; but I assure you

there will not be one word from me. I am sensible that it

demands great attention to write even one's own language well:

how can one pretend to purify a foreign language? to any merit

in a dead one? I would not alone undertake to correct the

press; but I am so lucky as to live in the strictest friendship

with Dr. Bentley's Only Son, Who, to all the ornament of

learning, has the amiable turn of mind, disposition, and easy

wit. Perhaps you have heard that his drawings and architecture

are admirable,--perhaps you have not: he is modest--he is poor-

-he is consequently little known, less valued.

I am entirely ignorant of Dr. Burton and his Monasticon,(994)

and after the little merit you tell me it has, I must explain

to you that I have a collection of books of that sort, before I

own that I wish to own it; at the same time, I must do so much

justice to myself as to protest that I don't know so

contemptible a class of writers as topographers, not from the

study itself, but from their wretched execution. Often and

often I have had an inclination to show how topography should

be writ, by pointing out the curious particulars of places,

with descriptions of principal houses, the pictures, portraits,

and Curiosities they contain.

I scarce ever yet found any thing one wanted to know in one of

those books; all they contain, except encomiums on the Stuarts

and the monks, are lists of institutions and inductions, and

inquiries how names of places were spelt before there was any

spelling. If the Monasticon Eboracense is only to be had at

York, I know Mr. Caesar Ward, and can get him to send it to me.

I will add but one short word: from every letter I receive from

you, Sir, my opinion of you increases, and I much wish that so

much good sense and knowledge were not thrown away only on me.

I flatter myself that you are engaged, or will engage, in some

work or pursuit that will make you better known. In the mean

time, I hope that some opportunity will bring us personally

acquainted, for I am, Sir, already most sincerely yours,

Hor. Walpole.

P. S. You love to be troubled, and therefore I will make no

apology for troubling you. Last summer, I bought of Vertue's

widow forty volumes of his ms. corrections relating to English

painters, sculptors, gravers, and architects. He had actually

begun their lives: unluckily he had not gone far, and could not

write grammar. I propose to digest and complete this work (I

mean after the Conway Papers).(995) In the mean time, Sir,

shall I beg the favour of you just to mark down memorandums of

the pages where you happen to meet with any thing relative to

these subjects, especially of our antienter buildings,

paintings, and artists. I would not trouble you for more

reference, if even that is not too much.

(992) Mr. Walpole did not insert any notice of Lord Lonsdale in

his subsequent editions, though the omission has been remedied

by Mr. Park. The piece to which Mr. Zouch probably alluded,

the knowledge of which he may have derived from the noble

family of Lowther, was " a "Treatise on Economies" addressed to

his son, by Sir John Lowther, created Baron Lonsdale in 1696.

This treatise was never published.-C.

(993) The story here alluded to is told, in the Noble Authors,

of Edward Howard, eighth Earl of Suffolk. But Mr. Zouch had

probably apprised Mr. Walpole, that a similar story had been

told of Lord Rochester. The Earl is represented as having sent

for " a gentleman well known in the literary world," (Mallet,)

upon whom he inflicted the hearing of some of his verses; but

coming to the description of a beautiful woman, he suddenly

stopped, and said, "Sir, I am not like most poets; I do not

draw from ideal mistresses; I always have my subject before

me;" and ringing the bell, be said to a footman, "Call up Fine

Eyes." A woman of the town appeared--"Fine Eyes," said the

Earl, "look full on this gentleman." She did, and retired.

Two or three others of the seraglio were summoned in their

turns, and displayed their respective charms for which they had

been distinguished by his lordship's pencil.-C.

(994) Dr. John Burton was a physician and antiquary of

Yorkshire, who died in 1771. His principal work, here alluded

to, is entitled "Monasticon Eboracense." This work was never

completed, the first volume only having appeared in folio.

Some imputations on the Doctor's loyalty in 1745, diminished,

it is said, his means and materials for continuing the Work.-C.

(995) The two first volumes appeared from the press at

Strawberry Hill in 1762.-C.

473 Letter 299

To The Hon. H. S. Conway.

Arlington Street, Jan. 19, 1759.

I hope the treaty of Sluys advances rapidly.(996) Considering

that your own court is as new to you as Monsieur de Bareil and

his, you cannot be very well entertained: the joys of a Dutch

fishing town and the incidents of a cartel will not compose a

very agreeable history. In the mean time you do not lose much:

though the Parliament is met, no politics are come to town: one

may describe the House of Commons like the price of stocks;

Debates, nothing done. Votes, under par. Patriots, no price.

Oratory, books shut. Love and war are as much at a stand;

neither the Duchess of Hamilton nor the expeditions are gone

off yet. Prince Edward has asked to go to Quebec, and has been

refused. If I was sure they would refuse me, I would ask to go

thither too. I should not dislike about as much laurel as I

could stick in my window at Christmas.

We are next week to have a serenata at the Opera-house for the

King of Prussia's birthday: it is to begin, "Viva Georgio, e

Federico viva!" It will, I own, divert me to see my Lord Temple

whispering for this alliance, on the same bench on which I have

so often seen him whisper against all Germany. The new opera

pleases universally, and I hope will yet hold up its head.

Since Vanneschi is cunning enough to make us sing the roast

Beef of old Germany, I am persuaded it will revive: politics

are the only lhotbed for keeping such a tender plant as Italian

music alive in England.

You are so thoughtless about your dress, that I cannot help

giving you a little warning against your return. Remember,

every body that comes from abroad is cens`e to come from

France, and whatever they wear at their first reappearance

immediately grows the fashion. Now if, as is very likely, you

should through inadvertence change hats with a master of a

Dutch smack, Offley will be upon the watch, will conclude you

took your pattern from M. de Bareil, and in a week's time we

shall all be equipped like Dutch skippers. You see I speak

very disinterestedly; for, as I never wear a hat myself, it is

indifferent to me what sort of hat I don't wear. Adieu! I hope

nothing in this letter, if it is opened, will affect the

conferences, nor hasten our rupture with Holland. Lest it

should, I send it to Lord Holderness's office; concluding, like

Lady Betty Waldegrave, that the government never suspect what

they send under their own covers.

(996) Mr. Conway was sent to Sluys to settle a cartel for

prisoners with the French. M. de Bareil was the person

appointed by the French court for the same business.

473 Letter 300

The Hon. H. S. Conway.

Arlington Street, Jan. 28, 1759.

You and M. de Bareil may give yourselves what airs you please

of settling cartels with expedition: you don't exchange

prisoners with half so much alacrity as Jack Campbell(997) and

the Duchess of Hanillton have exchanged hearts. I had so

little observed the negotiation, Or suspected any, that when

your brother told me of it yesterday morning, I would not

believe a tittle--I beg Mr. Pitt's pardon, not an iota. It is

the prettiest match in the world since yours, and every body

likes it but the Duke of Bridgewater and Lord Coventry. What an

extraordinary fate is attached to those two women! Who could

have believed that a Gunning would unite the two great houses

of Campbell and Hamilton? For my part, I expect to see my Lady

Coventry Queen of Prussia. I would not venture to marry either

of them these thirty years, for fear of being shuffled out of

the world prematurely, to make room for the rest of their

adventures. The first time Jack carries the Duchess into the

Highlands, I am persuaded that some of his second-sighted

subjects will see him in a winding-sheet, with a train of kings

behind him as long as those in Macbeth.

We had a scrap of a debate on Friday, on the Prussian and

Hessian treaties. Old Vyner opposed the first, in pity to that

poor woman, as he called her, the Empress-Queen.(998) Lord

Strange objected to the gratuity of sixty thousand pounds to

the Landgrave, unless words were inserted to express his

receiving that Sum in full of all demands. If Hume Campbell

had cavilled at this favourite treaty, Mr. Pitt could scarce

have treated him with more haughtiness; and, what is far more

extraordinary, Hume Campbell could scarce have taken it more

dutifully. This long day was over by half an hour after four.

As you and M. de Bareil are on such amicable terms, you will

take care to soften to him a new conquest we have made. Keppel

has taken the island of Goree. You great ministers know enough

Of its importance: I need not detail it. Before your letters

came we had heard of the death of the Princess Royal:(999) you

will find us black and all black. Lady Northumberland and the

great ladies put off their assemblies: diversions begin again

to-morrow with the mourning.

You perceive London cannot furnish half so long a letter as the

little town of Sluys; at least I have not the art of making one

out. In truth, I believe I should not have writ this unless

Lady Ailesbury had bid me; but she does not care how much

trouble it gives me, provided it amuses you for a moment. Good

night!

P. S. I forgot to tell you that the King has granted my Lord

Marischall's pardon, at the request of M. de Knyphausen.(1000)

I believe the Pretender himself could get his attainder

reversed if he would apply to the King of Prussia.

(997) Afterwards Duke of Argyle.

(998) "There never was so quiet or so silent a session of

Parliament as the present: Mr. Pitt declares only what he would

have them do, and they do it, nemine contradicente, Mr. Vyner

only excepted." Lord Chesterfield.-E.

(999) The Princess of Orange died on the 12th of January.-E.

(1000) By a letter from Sir Andrew Mitchell, of the 8th of

January, in the Chatham correspondence, it will be seen that

the Lord of Marischal's pardon was granted at the earnest

request of the King of Prussia, who said he " should consider

it as a personal favour done to himself." The Earl Marischal

was attainted for his share in the rebellion of 1715.-E.

475 Letter 301

To John Chute, Esq.(1001)

Arlington Street, Feb. 1, 1759.

Well! my dear Sir, I am now convinced that both Mr. Keate's

panic and mine were ill-founded; but pray, another time, don't

let him be afraid of being afraid for fear of frightening me:

on the contrary, if you will dip your gout in lemonade, I hope

I shall be told of it. If you have not had it in Your stomach,

it is not your fault: drink brandy, and be thankful. I would

desire you to come to town, but I must rather desire you not to

have a house to come to. Mrs. H. Grenville is passionately

enamoured of yours, and begged I would ask you what will be the

lowest price, with all the particulars, which I assured her you

had stated very ill for yourself. I don't quite like this

commission; if you part with your house in town, you will never

come hither; at least, stow your cellars with drams and

gunpowder as full as Guy Fawkcs's-you will be drowned if you

don't blow yourself up. I don't believe that the Vine is

within the verge of the rainbow: seriously, it is too damp for

you.

Colonel Campbell marries the Duchess of Hamilton forthwith.

the house of Argyle is CONTENT, and think that the head of the

Hamilton's had purified the blood of Gunning; but I should be

afraid that his grace was more likely to corrupt blood than to

mend it.

Never was any thing so crowded as the house last night for the

Prussian cantata; the King was hoarse, and could not go to Sing

his own praises. The dancers seemed transplanted from Sadler's

Wells; there were milkmaids riding on dolphins; Britain and

Prussia kicked the King of France off the stage, and there was

a petit-maitre with his handkerchief full of holes; but this

vulgarism happily was hissed.

I am deeper than ever in Gothic antiquities: I have bought a

monk of Glastonbury's chair, full of scraps of the Psalms; and

some seals of most reverend illegibility. I pass all my

mornings in the thirteenth century, and my evenings with the

century that is coming on. Adieu!

(1001) Now first printed.

475 Letter 302

To John Chute, Esq.(1002)

Arlington Street, Feb. 2, 1759.

My dear sir,

I am glad to see your writing again, and can now laugh very

cordially at my own fright, which you take a great deal too

kindly. I was not quite sure you would like my proceedings,

but just then I could not help it, and perhaps my natural

earnestness had more merit than my friendship; and yet it is

worth my while to save a friend if I think I can--I have not so

many! You yourself are in a manner lost to me! I must not,

cannot repine at your having a fortune that delivers you from

uneasy connexions with a world that is sure to use ill those

that have any dependence on it; but undoubtedly some of the

satisfaction that you have acquired is taken out of my scale; I

will not, however, moralize, though I am in a very proper

humour for it, being just come home from an outrageous crowd at

Northumberland-house, where there were five hundred people,

that would have been equally content or discontent with any

other five hundred. This is pleasure! You invite so many

people to your house, that you are forced to have constables at

your door to keep the peace; just as the royal family, when

they hunted, used to be attended by surgeons. I allow honour

and danger to keep company with one another, but diversion and

breaking one's neck are strangely ill-matched. Mr. Spence's

Magliabechi(1003) is published to-day from Strawberry; I

believe you saw it, and shall have it; but 'tis not worth

sending you on purpose. However, it is full good enough for

the generality of readers. At least there is a proper dignity

in my saying so, who have been so much abused in all the

magazines lately for my Catalogue. The points in dispute lie

in a very narrow compass: they think I don't understand

English, and I am sure they don't: yet they will not be

convinced, for I shall certainly not take the pains to set them

right. Who them are I don't know; the highest, I believe, are

Dr. Smollet, or some chaplain of my uncle.

Adieu! I was very silly to alarm you so; but the wisest of' us,

from Solomon to old Carr's cousin, are poor souls! May be you

don't know any thing of Carr's cousin. Why then, Carr's cousin

was--I don't know who; but Carr was very ill, and had a cousin,

as I may be, to sit up with her. Carr had not slept for many

nights--at last she dozed--her cousin jogged her: "Cousin,

cousin!"--"Well!" said Carr, "what would you have?"--"Only,

cousin, if you die where will you be buried?" This resemblance

mortifies me ten times more than a thousand reviews could do:

there is nothing in being abused by Carr's cousin, but it is

horrid to be like Carr's cousin Good night!

(1002) Ibid.

(1003) Mr. Spence's Parallel of Magliabechi and Hill.-E.

476 Letter 303

To Sir Horace Mann.

Arlington Street, Feb. 9, 1759.

The Dutch have not declared war and interrupted our

correspondence, and yet it seems ceased as if we had declared

war with one another. I have not heard from you this age--how

happens it? I have not seized any ships of yours--you carry on

no counterband trade--oh! perhaps you are gone incognito to

Turin, are determined to have a King of Prussia of your own! I

expect to hear that the King of Sardinia, accompanied by Sir

Horace Mann, the British minister, suddenly appeared before

Parma at the head of an hundred thousand men, that had been

privately landed at Leghorn. I beg, as Harlequin did when he

had a house to sell, that you will send me a brick, as a sample

of the first town you take-the Strawberry-press shall be

preparing a congratulatory ode.

The Princess Royal has been dead some time: and yet the Dutch

and we continue in amity, and put on our weepers together. In

the mean time our warlike eggs have been some time under the

hen, and one has hatched and produced Gor`ee. The expedition,

called to Quebec, departs on Tuesday next, under Wolfe, and

George Townshend, who has thrust himself again into the

service, and as far as wrongheadedness will go, very proper for

a hero. Wolfe, who was no friend of Mr. Conway last year, and

for whom I consequently have no affection, has great merit,

spirit, and alacrity, and shone extremely at Louisbourg. I am

not such a Juno but I will forgive him after eleven more

labours.(1004) Prince Edward asked to go with them, but was

refused. It is clever in him to wish to distinguish himself;

I, who have no partiality to royal blood, like his good-nature

and good-breeding.

Except the horrid Portuguese histories, that between

Jesuits(1005) and executions make one's blood run hot and cold,

we have no news. The Parliament has taken a quieting-draught.

Of private story, the Duchess of Hamilton is going to marry

Colonel Campbell, Lady Ailesbury's brother. It is a match that

would not disgrace Arcadia. Her beauty has made sufficient

noise, and in some people's eyes is even improved--he has a

most pleasing countenance, person, and manner, and if they

could but carry to Scotland some of our sultry English weather,

they might restore the ancient pastoral life, when fair Kings

and queens reigned at once over their subjects and their sheep.

Besides, exactly like antediluvian lovers, they reconcile

contending clans, the great houses of Hamilton and Campbell-and

all this is brought about by a GUnning! I talked of our sultry

weather, and this is no air. While Italy, I suppose, is buried

in snow, we are extinguishing fires, and panting for breath.

In short, we have had a wonderful winter--beyond an earthquake

winter-we shall soon be astonished at frost, like an Indian.

Shrubs and flowers and blossoms are all in their pride; I am

not sure that in some counties the corn is not cut.

I long to hear from you; I think I never was so long without a

letter. I hope it is from no bad reason. Adieu!

(1004) Speaking of Wolfe in his Memoires, Walpole says,

"Ambition, industry, passion for the service, were conspicuous

in him. He seemed to breathe for nothing but fame, and lost no

moments in qualifying himself to compass that object.

Presumption on himself was necessary for his object, and he had

it. He was formed to execute the designs of such a master as

Pitt."-E.

(1005) The strange and mysterious conspiracy against the life

of the King of Portugal, which was attempted as he was going,

one night through the streets of Lisbon in his coach. many

Jesuits were put to death for it, and also several of the noble

families of the Dukes d'Aveiro, and Marquises of Tavora.-D.

[See ant`e, p. 456, letter 289.]

478 Letter 304

To Mr. Gray.

Arlington Street, Feb. 15, 1759

The enclosed, which I have this minute received from Mr.

Bentley, explains much that I had to say to you-yet I have a

question or two more.

Who and what sort of a man is a Mr. Sharp of Benet? I have

received a most obliging and genteel letter from him, with the

very letter of Edward VI. which you was so good as to send me.

I answered his, but should like to know a little more about

him. Pray thank the Dean of Lincoln too for me: I am much

obliged to him for his offer, but had rather draw upon his

Lincolnship than his Cambridgehood.(1006) In the library of

the former are some original letters of Tiptoft, as you will

find in my Catalogue. When Dr. Greene is there, I shall be

glad if he will let me have them copied.

I will thank you if you will look in some provincial history of

Ireland for Odo (Hugh) Oneil, King of Ulster. When did he

live? I have got a most curious seal of his, and know no more

of him than of Ouacraw King of the Pawwaws.

I wanted to ask you, whether you, or anybody that you believe

in, believe in the Queen of Scots' letter to Queen

Elizabeth.(1007) If it is genuine, I don't wonder she cut her

head off--but I think it must be some forgery that was not made

use of.

Now to my distress. You must have seen an advertisement

perhaps the book itself, the villanous book itself, that has

been published to defend me against the Critical Review.(1008)

I have been childishly unhappy about it, and had drawn up a

protestation or affidavit of my knowing nothing of it; but my

friends would not let me publish it. I sent to the printer,

who would not discover the author--nor could I guess. They

tell me nobody can suspect my being privy to It but there is an

intimacy affected that I think will deceive many--and yet I

must be the most arrogant fool living, if I could know and

suffer any body to speak of me in that style. For God's sake

do all you can for me, and publish my abhorrence. To-day I am

told that it Is that puppy Dr. Hill, who has chosen to make war

with the magazines through my sides. I could pardon him any

abuse, but I never can forgive this friendship. Adieu!

(1006 He was master of Benet College, Cambridge.

(1007) See Murden's State Papers, p. 558, for this curious

letter.

(1008) It was called "Observations on the account given of the

Catalogue of Royal and Noble Authors of England, etc. etc. in

article v'- of the Critical review, No. xxv. December, 1758,

where the unwarrantable liberties taken with that work, and the

honourable author of it, are examined and exposed."

479 Letter 305

To The Right Hon. Lady hervey.

Feb. 20, 1759.

I met with this little book t'other day by chance, and it

pleased me so much that I cannot help lending it to your

ladyship, as I know it will amuse you from the same causes. It

contains many of those important truths which history is too

proud to tell, and too dull from not telling.

Here Grignon's soul the living canvass warms:

Here fair Fontagno assumes unfading charms:

Here Mignard's pencil bows to female wit;

Louis rewards, but ratifies Fayette:

The philosophic duke, and painter too,

Thought from her thoughts--from her ideas drew.

479 Letter 306

To Sir David Dalrymple.(1009)

Strawberry Hill, Feb. 25, 1759.

I think, sir, I have perceived enough of the amiable benignity

of your mind, to be sure that you will like to hear the praises

of your friend. Indeed, there is but one opinion about Mr.

Robertson's history.(1010) I don't remember any other work

that ever met universal approbation. Since the Romans and the

Greeks, who have now an exclusive charter for being the best

writers in every kind, he is the historian that pleases me

best; and though what he has been so indulgent as to say of me

ought to shut my mouth, I own I have been unmeasured in my

commendations. I have forfeited my own modesty rather than not

do justice to him. I did send him my opinion some time ago,

and hope he received it. I can add, with the strictest truth,

that he is regarded here as one of the greatest men that this

island has produced. I say island, but you know, Sir, that I

am disposed to say Scotland. I have discovered another very

agreeable writer among your countrymen, and in a profession

where I did not look for an author; It is Mr. Ramsay,(1011) the

painter, whose pieces being anonymous have been overlooked. He

has a great deal of genuine wit, and a very just manner of

reasoning. In his own walk he has great merit. He and Mr.

Reynolds are our favourite painters, and two of the very best

we ever had. Indeed, the number of good has been very small,

considering the numbers there are. A very few years ago there

were computed two thousand portrait painters in London; I do

not exaggerate the computation, but diminish; though I think it

must have been exaggerated. Mr. Reynolds and Mr. Ramsay can

scarce be rivals; their manners are so different. The former

is bold, and has a kind of tempestuous colouring, yet with

dignity and grace; the latter is all delicacy. Mr. Reynolds

seldom succeeds in women; Mr. Ramsay is formed to paint them.

I fear I neglected, Sir, to thank you for your present of the

history of the conspiracy of the Gowries: but I shall never

forget all the obligations I have to you. I don't doubt but in

Scotland you approve what is liked here almost as much as Mr.

Robertson's history; I mean the marriage of Colonel Campbell

and the Duchess of Hamilton. If her fortune is singular, so is

her merit. Such uncommon noise as her beauty made has not at

all impaired the modesty of her behaviour. Adieu!

(1009) Now first collected.

(1010) Dr. Robertson's "History of Scotland during the Reigns

of Mary and James the Sixth," was published in the beginning of

this month.-E.

(1011) Alan Ramsay, the eminent portrait-painter, and eldest

son of the poet; on whose death, in 1757, in somewhat

embarrassed circumstances, he paid his debts. He was an

excellent classical scholar, understood French and Italian, and

had all the polish and liberal feeling of a highly instructed

man. In Bouquet's pamphlet on "The Present State of the Fine

Arts in England," published in 1755, he is described as "an

able painter, who, acknowledging no other guide than nature,

brought a rational taste of resemblance with him from Italy."

He died in 1784.-E.

480 Letter 307

To Sir Horace Mann.

Strawberry Hill, March 1, 1759.

I know you are ministerial enough, or patriot enough, (two

words that it is as much the fashion to couple now as it was

formerly to part them,) to rejoice over the least bit of a

conquest, and therefore I hurry to send you a morsel of

Martinico, which you may lay under your head, and dream of

having taken the whole island. As dreams often go by

contraries, you must not be surprised if you wake and find we

have been beaten back; but at this present moment, we are all

dreaming of victory. A frigate has been taken going to France

with an account that our troops landed on the island on the

16th of January, without opposition. A seventy-gun ship was

dismissed at the same time, which is thought a symptom of their

not meaning to resist. It certainly is not Mr. Pitt's fault if

we have not great success; and if we have, it is certainly

owing to him. The French talk of invading us; I hope they will

not come quite so near either to victory or defeat, as to land

on our Martinico! But you are going to have a war of your own.

Pray send me all your gazettes extraordinary. I wish the King

of Sardinia's heroism may not be grown a little rusty. Time

was when he was the only King in Europe that had fought in his

waistcoat; but now the King of Prussia has almost made it part

of their coronation oath. Apropos, pray remember that the

Emperor's pavilion is not the Emperor's pavillon; though you

are so far in the right, that he may have a pavilion, but I

don't conceive how he comes by a pavillon. What Tuscan colours

has he, unless a streamer upon the belfry at Leghorn? You was

so deep in politics when you wrote your last letter, that it

was almost in cipher, and as I don't happen to have a key to

bad writing, I could not read a word that interests my vanity

extremely-I unravelled enough to learn that a new

governor(1012) of Milan is a great admirer of me, but I could

not guess at one syllable of his name, and it is very

uncomfortable in a dialogue between one's pride and oneself, to

be forced to talk of Governor What-d'ye-call-em, who has so

good a taste. I think you never can have a more important

occasion for despatching a courier than to tell me Governor -

-'s name. In the mean time, don't give him any more Strawberry

editions; of some I print very few, they are all begged

immediately, and then you will not have a complete set, as I

wish you to have, notwithstanding all my partiality for the

governor of Milan. Perhaps, upon the peace I may send him a

set richly bound! I am a little more serious in what I am going

to say; you will oblige me if at your leisure you will pick up

for me all or any little historical tracts that relate to the

house of Medici. I have some distant thoughts of writing their

history, and at the peace may probably execute what you know I

have long retained in my wish, another journey to Florence.

Stosch, I think, had great collections relating to them; would

they sell a separate part of his library? Could I get at any

state letters and papers there? Do think of this; I assure you

I do Thank you for the trouble you have taken about the

Neapolitan books, and for the medals that are coming.

Colonel Campbell and the Duchess of Hamilton are married. My

sister(1013) who was at the Opera last Tuesday, and went from

thence to a great ball at the Duke of Bridgewater's, where she

stayed till three in the morning, was brought to bed in less

than four hours afterwards of a fifth boy: she has had two

girls, too, and I believe left it entirely to this child to

choose what it would be. Adieu! my dear Sir.

(1012) Count Firmian, who understood English, and was fond of

English authors. Sir Horace Mann had given him the Royal and

Noble Authors.

(1013) Lady Mary Churchill, only daughter of Sir Robert Walpole

by his second wife.

481 Letter 308

To John Chute, Esq.(1014)

Arlington Street, March 13, 1759.

I am puzzled to know how to deal with you: I hate to be

Officious, it has a horrid look; and to let you alone till you

die at the Vine of mildew, goes against my conscience, Don't it

go against yours to keep all your family there till they are

mouldy? Instead of sending you a physician, I will send you a

dozen brasiers; I am persuaded that you want to be dried and

aired more than physicked. For God's sake don't stay there any

longer:--

"Mater Cyrene, mater quae gurgitis hujus

Ima tenes--"

send him away!--Nymphs and Jew doctors! I don't know what I

shall pray to next against your obstinacy.

No more news yet from Guadaloupe! A persecution seems to be

raising against General Hobson--I don't wonder! Wherever

Commodore Moore is, one may expect treachery and blood. Good

night!

(1014) Now first printed.

482 Letter 309

To The Rev. Henry Zouch.

Arlington Street, March 15, 1759.

Sir,

You judge very rightly, Sir, that I do not intend to meddle

with accounts of religious houses; I should not think of them

at all unless I could learn the names of any of the architects,

not of the founders. It is the history of our architecture

that I should search after, especially the beautiful Gothic. I

have by no means digested the plan of my intended work. The

materials I have ready in great quantities in Vertue's MSS.;

but he has collected little with regard to our architects,

except Inigo Jones. As our painters have been very

indifferent, I must, to make the work interesting, make it

historical; I would mix it with anecdotes of patrons of the

arts, and with dresses and customs from old pictures. something

in the manner of Moulfaucon's Antiquities of France. I think

it capable of being made a very amusing work, but I don't know

whether I shall ever bestow the necessary time on it. At

present, even my press is at a stop, my printer, who was a

foolish Irishman, and who took himself for a genius, and who

grew angry when I thought him extremely the former, and not the

least of the latter, has left me, and I have Not yet fixed upon

another.

In what edition, Sir, of Beaumont and Fletcher, is the copy of

verses you mention, signed "Grandison?"(1015) They are not in

mine. In my Catalogue I mention the Countess of Montgomery's

Eusebia; I shall be glad to know what her Urania is. I fear you

will find little satisfaction in a library of noble works. I

have got several, some duplicates, that shall be at your

service if you continue Your collection; but in general they

are mere curiosities.

Mr. Hume has published his History of the House of Tudor. I

have not advanced far in it, but it appears an inaccurate and

careless, as it certainly has been a very hasty, performance.

Adieu! Sir.

(1015) There has been some mistake here. Amidst the vast

number of verses to Beaumont and Fletcher, none are found with

this signature. There is one copy signed Gardiner.-C.

482 Letter 310

To Sir David Dalrymple.(1016)

Strawberry Hill, March 25, 1759.

I should not trouble you, Sir, so soon again with a letter, but

some questions and some passages in yours seem to make it

necessary. I know nothing of the Life of Gustavus, nor heard of

it, before it was advertised. Mr. Harte(1017) was a favoured

disciple of Mr. Pope, whose obscurity he imitated more than his

lustre. Of the History of the Revival of Learning I have not

heard a word. Mr. Gray a few years ago began a poem on that

subject; but dropped it, thinking it would cross too much upon

some parts of the Dunciad. It would make a signal part of a

History of Learning which I lately proposed to Mr. Robertson.

Since I wrote to him, another subject has started to me, which

would make as agreeable a work, both to the writer and to the

reader, as any I could think of; and would be a very tractable

one, because capable of being extended or contracted as the

author should please. It is the History of the House of

Medici.(1018) There is an almost unknown republic, factions,

banishment, murders, commerce, conquests, heroes, cardinals,

all of a new stamp, and very different from what appear in any

other country. There is a scene of little polite Italian

courts, where gallantry and literature were uncommonly blended,

particularly in that of Urbino, which without any violence

might make an episode. The Popes on the greater plan enter of

course. What a morsel Leo the Tenth! the revival of

letters!(1019) the torrent of Greeks that imported them! Extend

still farther, there are Catherine and Mary, Queens of France.

In short, I know nothing one could wish in a subject that would

not fall into this--and then it is a Complete Subject, the

family is extinct: even the state is so, as a separate

dominion.

I could not help smiling, Sir, at being taxed with insincerity

for my encomiums on Scotland. They were given in a manner a

little too serious to admit of irony, and (as partialities

cannot be supposed entirely ceased) with too much risk of

disapprobation in this part of the world, not to flow from my

heart. My friends have long known my opinion on this point,

and it is too much formed on fact for me to retract it, if I

were so disposed. With regard to the magazines and reviews, I

can say with equal and great truth, that I have been much more

hurt at a gross defence of me than by all that railing.

Mallet still defers his life of the Duke of Marlborough;(1020)

I don't know why: sometimes he says he will stay till the

peace; sometimes that he is translating it, or having it

translated into French, that he may not lose that advantage.

(1016) Now first collected.

(1017) Walter Harte was tutor to Mr. Stanhope, Lord

Chesterfield's natural son, and through bis lordship's interest

made canon of Windsor. Dr. Johnson describes him as a scholar,

and a man of the most companionable talents he had ever known."

"Poor man!" he adds, "he left London the day of the publication

of his book, that he might be out of the way of the great

praise he was to receive; and he was ashamed to return, when he

found how ill his book had succeeded. It was unlucky in coming

out on the same day with Robertson's History of Scotland." See

Boswell, vol. viii. p. 53. Lord Chesterfield writes to his

son, on the 30th of March, "Harte's work will, upon the whole,

be a very curious and valuable history. You will find it

dedicated to one of your acquaintance, who was forced to prune

the luxuriant praises bestowed upon him, and yet has left

enough of all conscience to satisfy a reasonable man."-E.

(1018) It was afterwards written in five volumes in quarto,

from authentic documents furnished by the Great-Duke himself.

It was published in Florence in 1781, and was entitled "Istoria

del Gran Ducato di Toscana sotto il Governo delta Casa Medici,

per Riguccio Galuzzi."-E.

(1019) Mr. Roscoe's Life of Lorenzo do' Medici appeared in

1796, and his Life and Pontificate of Leo the Tenth in 1805.-E.

(1020) See vol. i. p. 393, letter 151.

484 Letter 311

To Sir Horace Mann.

Arlington Street, April 11, 1759.

I have waited and waited, in hopes of sending you the rest of

Martinico or Guadaloupe; nothing else, as you guessed, has

happened, or I should -have told you. But at present I can

stay no longer, for I, who am a little more expeditious than a

squadron, have made a conquest myself, and in less than a month

since the first thought started. I hurry to tell you, lest you

should go and consult the map of Middlesex, to see -whether I

have any dispute about boundaries with the neighbouring Prince

of Isleworth, or am likely to have fitted out a secret

expedition upon Hounslow Heath--in short, I have married, that

is, am marrying, my niece Maria,(1021) my brother's second

daughter, to Lord Waldegrave.(1022) What say you? A month ago

I was told he liked her.--does he? I jumbled them together, and

he has Already proposed. For character and credit, he is the

first match in England-for beauty, I think she is. She has not

a fault in her face and person, and the detail is charming. A

warm complexion tending to brown, fine eyes, brown hair, fine

teeth, and infinite wit and vivacity. Two things are odd in

this match; he seems to have been doomed to a Maria Walpole--if

his father had lived, he had married my sister;(1023) and this

is the second of my brother's daughters that has married into

the house of Stuart. Mr. Keppel(1024) comes from Charles, Lord

Waldegrave from James II. My brother has luckily been

tractable, and left the whole management to me. My family

don't lose any rank or advantage, when they let me dispose of

them--a knight of the garter for my niece; 150,000 pounds for

my Lord Orford if he would have taken her;(1025) these are not

trifling establishments.

It were miserable after this to tell you that Prince Ferdinand

has cut to pieces two or three squadrons of Austrians. I frame

to myself that if I was commander-in-chief. I should on a

sudden appear in the middle of Vienna, and oblige the Empress

to give an Archduchess with half a dozen provinces to some

infant prince or other, and make a peace before the bread

wagons were come up. Difficulties are nothing; all depends on

the sphere in which one is placed.

You must excuse my altitudes I feel myself very impertinent

just now, but as I know it, I trust I shall not be more so than

is becoming.

The Dutch cloud is a little dispersed; the privy council have

squeezed out some rays of sunshine by restoring One Of' their

ships, and by adjudging that we captors should prove the

affirmative of contraband goods, instead of the goods proving

themselves so: just as if one was ordered to believe that if a

blackamoor is christened Thomas, he is a white. These

distinctions are not quite adapted to the meridian of a

flippant English privateer's comprehensions: however, the

murmur is not great yet. I don't know what may betide if the

minister should order the mob to be angry with the Ministry,

nor whether Mr. Pitt or the mob will speak first. He is laid

up with the gout, and it is as much as the rest of the

administration can do to prevent his flying out. I am sorry,

after you have been laying in such bales of Grotius and

Puffendorf, that you must be forced to correct the text by a

Dutch comment. You shall have the pamphlet you desire, and

Lord Mansfield's famous answer to the Prussian manifesto, (I

don't know whether it is in French,) but you must now read

Hardwickius usum Batavorum.(1026)

We think we have lost Fort St. David, but have some scanty

hopes of a victorious codicil, as our fleet there seems to have

had the superiority. The King of Spain is certainly not dead,

and the Italian war in appearance is blown over. This summer,

I think, must finish all war, for who will have men, who will

have money to furnish another campaign? Adieu!

P. S. Mr. Conway has got the first regiment of dragoons on

Hawley's death.

(1021) Maria, second daughter of Sir Edward Walpole, afterwards

married to William Henry, Duke of Gloucester, brother of King

George III.

(1022) James, second Earl of Waldegrave, knight of the garter,

and governor of George Prince of Wales, afterwards George III.

(1023) Lady Maria Churchill, daughter of Sir Robert Walpole.

(1024) Frederick Keppel, fourth son of William Anne, Earl of

Albemarle, by Lady Anne Lennox, daughter of the first Duke of

Richmond.

(1025) Miss Nichols, afterwards Marchioness of Carnarvon.

(1026) Philip Yorke, Earl of Hardwicke.

485 Letter 312

To George Montagu, Esq.

Arlington Street, April 26, 1759.

Your brother, your Wetenhalls, and the ancient Baron and

Baroness Dacre of the South, are to dine with me at Strawberry

Hill next Sunday. Divers have been the negotiations about it:

your sister, you know, is often impeded by a prescription or a

prayer; and I, on the other hand, who never rise in the

morning, have two balls on my hands this week to keep me in bed

the next day till dinner-time. Well, it is charming to be so

young! the follies of the town are so much more agreeable than

the wisdom of my brethren the authors, that I think for the

future I shall never write beyond a card, nor print beyond Mrs.

Clive's benefit tickets. Our great match approaches; I dine at

Lord Waldegrave's presently, and suppose I shall then hear the

day. I have quite reconciled my Lady Townshend to the match

(saving her abusing us all), by desiring her to choose my

wedding clothes; but I am to pay the additional price of being

ridiculous. to which I submit; she has chosen me a white ground

with green flowers. I represented that, however young my

spirits may be, my bloom is rather past; but the moment I

declared against juvenile colours, I found it was determined I

should have nothing else: so be it. T'other night I had an

uncomfortable situation with the duchess of Bedford: we had

played late at loo at Lady Joan Scot's; I came down stairs with

their two graces of Bedford and Grafton: there was no chair for

me: I said I will walk till I meet one. "Oh!" said the Duchess

of Grafton, "the Duchess of Bedford will set you down:" there

were we charmingly awkward and complimenting: however, she was

forced to press it, and I to accept it; in a minute she spied a

hackney chair--"Oh! there is a chair,-but I beg your pardon, it

looks as if I wanted to get rid of you, but indeed I don't;

only I am afraid the Duke will want his supper." You may

imagine how much I was afraid of making him wait. The ball at

Bedford-house, on Monday, was very numerous and magnificent.

The two Princes were there, deep hazard, and the Dutch

deputies, who are a proverb for their dulness: they have

brought with them a young Dutchman, who is the richest man of

Amsterdam. I am amazed Mr. Yorke has not married him! But the

delightful part of the night was the appearance of the Duke of

Newcastle, who is veering round again, as it is time to betray

Mr. Pitt. The Duchess(1027) was at the very upper end of the

gallery, and though some of the Pelham court were there too,

yet they showed so little cordiality to this revival of

connexion, that Newcastle had nobody to attend him but Sir

Edward Montagu, who kept pushing him all up the gallery. From

thence he went into the hazard-room, and wriggle(], and

shuffled, and lisped, and winked, and spied, till he got behind

the Duke of Cumberland, the Duke of Bedford, and Rigby; the

first of whom did not deign to notice him; but he must come to

it. You would have died to see Newcastle's pitiful and

distressed figure,--nobody went near him: he tried to flatter

people, that were too busy to mind him; in short, he was quite

disconcerted; his treachery used to be so sheathed in folly,

that he was never out of countenance; but it is plain he grows

old. To finish his confusion and anxiety, George Selwyn,

Brand, and I, went and stood near him, and in half whispers,

that he might hear, said, "Lord, how he is broke! how old he

looks!" then I said, "This room feels very cold: I believe

there never is a fire in it." Presently afterwards I said,

"Well, I'll not stay here; this room has been washed to-day."

In short, I believe we made him take a double dose of

Gascoign's powder when he went home. Next night Brand and I

communicated this interview to Lord Temple, who was in agonies;

and yesterday his chariot was seen in forty different parts of

the town. I take it for granted that Fox will not resist these

overtures, and then we shall have the paymastership, the

secretaryship of Ireland, and all Calcraft's regiments once

more afloat.

May 1.

I did not finish this letter last week, for the picture could

not set out till next Thursday. Your kin brought Lord

Mandeville with them to Strawberry; he was very civil and

good-humoured, and I trust I was so too. My nuptialities dined

here yesterday. The wedding is fixed for the 15th. The town,

who saw Maria set out in the Earl's coach, concluded it was

yesterday. He notified his marriage to the Monarch last

Saturday, and it was received civilly. Mrs. Thornhill is dead,

and I am inpatient to hear the fate of Miss Mildmay. the

Princes Ferdinand and Henry have been skirmishing, have been

beaten, and have beat, but with no decision.

The ball at Mr. Conolly's(1028) was by no means delightful.

the house is small, it was hot, and was composed Of young

Irish. I was retiring when they went to supper, but was fetched

back to sup with Prince Edward and the Duchess of Richmond, who

is his present passion. He had chattered as much love to her

as would serve ten balls. The conversation turned on the

Guardian--most unfortunately the Prince asked her if she should

like Mr. Clackit--"No, indeed, Sir," said the Duchess. Lord

Tavistock(1029) burst out into a loud laugh, and I am afraid

none of the company quite kept their countenances. Adieu! This

letter is gossiping enough for any Mrs. Clackit, but I know you

love these details.

(1027) Gertrude Duchess of Bedford, daughter of Earl Gower.

(1028) Thomas Conolly, Esq., son of Lady Anne Conolly, sister

of Thomas Earl of Strafford, and who inherited great part of

her brother's property. Mr. Conolly was married to Lady Louisa

Lenox, sister of the Duke of Richmond, and of Lady Holland.

They died without issue.-E.

(1029) Francis Marquis of Tavistock, only son of John Duke of

Bedford. He died before his father, in 1767, in consequence of

a fall from his horse when hunting.-E.

487 Letter 313

To Sir Horace Mann.

Strawberry Hill, May 10, 1759.

The laurels we began to plant in Guadaloupe do not thrive--we

have taken half the island, and despair of the other half which

we are gone to take. General Hobson is dead, and many of our

men-it seems all climates are not equally good for

conquest-Alexander and Caesar would have looked wretchedly

after a yellow fever! A hero that would have leaped a rampart,

would perhaps have shuddered at the thought of being scalped.

Glory will be taken in its own way, and cannot reconcile itself

to the untoward barbarism of America. In short, if we don't

renounce expeditions, our history will be a journal of

miscarriages. What luck must a general have that escapes a

flux, or being shot abroad--or at home! How fatal a war has

this been! From Pondicherry to Canada, from Russia to Senegal,

the world has been a great bill of mortality? The King of

Prussia does not appear to have tapped his campaign yet--he was

slow last year; it is well if he concludes this as thunderingly

as he did the last. Our winter-politics are drawn to the

dregs. The King is gone to Kensington, and the Parliament is

going out of town. The ministers who don't agree, will, I

believe, let the war decide their squabbles too. Mr. Pitt will

take Canada and the cabinet-council together, or miscarry in

both. There are Dutch deputies here, who are likely to be here

some time: their negotiations are not of an epigrammatic

nature. and we are in no hurry to decide on points which we

cannot well give up, nor maintain without inconvenience. But

it is idle to describe what describes itself by not being

concluded.

I have received yours of the 7th of last month, and fear you

are quite in the right about a history of the house of Medici--

yet it is pity it should not be written!(1030) You don't, I

know, want any spur to incite you to remember me and any

commission with which I trouble you; and therefore you must not

take it in that light, but as the consequence of my having just

seen the Neapolitan book of Herculaneum, that I mention it to

you again. Though it is far from being finely engraved, yet

there are bits in It that make me wish much to have it, and if

you could procure it for me, I own I should be pleased. Adieu!

my dear Sir.

(1030) See ant`e, p. 483, letter 310.

488 Letter 314

To The Rev. Henry Zouch.

Strawberry Hill, May 14, 1759.

Sir,

You accuse me with so much delicacy and with so much seeming

justice, that I must tell you the truth, cost me what it will.

It is in fact, I own, that I have been silent, not knowing what

to say to you, or how not to say something about your desire

that I would attend the affair of the navigation of Calder in

Parliament. In truth, I scarce ever do attend private business

on solicitation. If I attend, I cannot help forming an

opinion, and when formed I do not care not to be guided by it,

and at the same time it is very unpleasant to vote against a

person whom one went to serve. I know nothing of the merits of

the navigation in question, and it would have given me great

pain to have opposed, as it might have happened, a side

espoused by one for whom I had conceived such an esteem as I

have for you, Sir. I did not tell you my scruples, because you

might have thought them affected, and because, to say the

truth, I choose to disguise them. I have seen too much of the

parade of conscience to expect that an ostentation of it in me

should be treated with uncommon lenity. I cannot help having

scruples; I can help displaying them; and now, sir, that I have

made you my confessor, I trust you will keep my secret for my

sake, and give me absolution for what I have committed against

you.

I certainly do propose to digest the materials that Vertue had

collected(1031) relating to English arts; but doubting of the

merit of the subject, as you do, Sir, and not proposing to give

myself much trouble about it, I think, at present, that I shall

still call the work his. However, at your leisure, I shall be

much obliged to you for any hints. For nobler or any other

game, I don't think of it; I am sick of the character of

author; I am sick of the consequences of it; I am weary Of

Seeing my name in the newspapers; I am tired with reading

foolish criticisms on me, and as foolish defences of me; and I

trust my friends will be so good as to let the last abuse of me

pass unanswered. It is called "Remarks" on my Catalogue,

asperses the Revolution more than it does my book, and, in one

word, is written by a non-juring preacher, who was a

dog-doctor. Of me he knows so little, that he thinks to punish

me by abusing King William! Had that Prince been an author,

perhaps I might have been a little ungentle to him too. I am

not dupe enough to think that any body wins a crown for the

sake of the people. Indeed, I am Whig enough to be glad to be

abused; that is, that any body may write what they please; and

though the Jacobites are the only men who abuse outrageously

that liberty of the press which all their labours tend to

demolish, I would not have the nation lose such a blessing for

their impertinences. That their spirit and projects revive is

certain. All the histories of England, Hume's, as you observe,

and Smollett's more avowedly, are calculated to whiten the

house of Stuart. All the magazines are elected to depress

writers of the other side, and as it has been learnt within

these few days, France is preparing an army of

commentators1032) to illustrate the works of those professors.

But to come to what ought to be a particular part of this

letter. I am very sensible, Sir, to the confidence you place

in me, and shall assuredly do nothing to forfeit it; at the

same time, I must take the liberty you allow me, of making some

objections to your plan. As your friend, I must object to the

subject. It is heroic to sacrifice one's own interest to do

good, but I would be sure of doing some before I offered myself

up. You will make enemies; are you sure you shall make

proselytes? I am ready to believe you have no ambition now--

but may you not have hereafter? Are bishops corrigible or

placable? Few men are capable of forgiving being told their

faults in private; who can bear being told of them publicly?-

-Then, you propose to write in Latin: that is, you propose to

be read by those only whom you intend to censure, and whose

interest it will be to find faults in your work. If I proposed

to attack the clergy, I would at least call in the laity to

hear my arguments, and I fear the laity do not much listen to

Latin. In Short, Sir, I wish much to see something of your

writing, and consequently I wish to see it in a shape in which

it would give me most pleasure.

You will say, that your concealing your name is an answer to

all I have said. A bad author may be concealed, but then what

good does he do? I am persuaded you would write well-ask your

heart, Sir, if you then would like to conceal yourself.

Forgive my frankness; I am not old, but I have lived long

enough to be sure that I give you good advice. There -is

lately published a voluminous history of Gustavus Adolphus,

sadly written, yet very amusing from the matter.

(1031) Mr. Walpole, in his dedication of the "Anecdotes of

painting," says, he is rather an Editor than an Author; but

much as he certainly derived from Vertue, his own share in this

interesting work entitles him to the thanks of every lover of

the fine arts, and of British antiquities.-C.

(1032) The French were at this time attempting to play the

farce of invasion. Flat-bottomed boats were building in all

the ports of Normandy and Brittany, calculated to transport an

army of a hundred thousand men.-C.

489 Letter 315

To George Montagu, Esq.

Arlington Street, May 16, 1759.

I packed up a long letter to you in the case with the Earl of

Manchester, which I suppose did not arrive at Greatworth before

you left it. Don't send for it, for there are private

histories in it, that should not travel post, and which will be

full as new to you a month hence.

Well! Maria was married yesterday. Don't we manage well! the

original day was not once put off: lawyers and milliners were

all ready canonically. It was as sensible a wedding as ever

was. There was neither form nor indecency, both which

generally meet on such occasions. They were married at my

brother's in Pall-Mall, just before dinner, by Mr. Keppel; the

company, my brother, his son, Mrs. Keppel, and Charlotte, Lady

Elizabeth Keppel, Lady Betty Waldegrave, and I. We dined there;

the Earl and new Countess got into their postchaise at eight

o'clock, and went to Navestock alone, where they stay till

Saturday night: on Sunday she is to be presented, and to make

my Lady Coventry distracted, who, t'other day, told Lady Anne

Connolly how she dreaded Lady Louisa's arrival; "But," said

she, "now I have seen her, I am easy."

Maria was in a white silver gown, with a hat pulled very much

over her face; what one could see of it was handsomer than

ever; a cold maiden blush gave her the sweetest delicacy in the

world. I had liked to have demolished the solemnity of the

ceremony by laughing, when Mr. Keppel read the words, "Bless

thy servant and thy handmaid;" it struck me how ridiculous it

would have been, had Miss Drax been the handmaid, as she was

once to have been.

Did I ever tell you what happened at my Lord Hertford's

wedding? You remember that my father's style was not purity

itself. As the bride was so young and so exceedingly bashful,

and as my Lord Hertford is a little of the prude himself, great

means were used to keep Sir Robert within bounds. He yawned,

and behaved decently. When the dessert was removed, the

Bishop, who married them, said, "Sir Robert, what health shall

we drink?" It was just after Vernon's conquest of Porto Bello.

"I don't know," replied my father: "why, drink the admiral in

the straights of Bocca Cieca."

We have had a sort of debate in the House of Commons on the

bill for fixing the augmentation of the salaries of the judges:

Charles Townshend says, the book of Judges was saved by the

book of Numbers.

Lord Weymouth(1033) is to be married on Tuesday, or, as he said

himself, to be turned off. George Selwyn told him he wondered

that he had not been turned off before, for he still sits up

drinking all night and gaming.

Well! are you ready to be invaded? for it seems invasions from

France are coming into fashion again. A descent on Ireland at

least is expected. There has been a great quarrel -between Mr.

Pitt and Lord Anson, on the negligence of the latter. I

suppose they will be reconciled by agreeing to hang some

admiral, who will come too late to save Ireland, after it is

impossible to save it.

Dr. Young has published a new book,(1034) on purpose. he says

himself, to have an opportunity of telling a story that he has

known these forty years. Mr. Addison sent for the young Lord

Warwick, as he was dying, to show him in what peace a Christian

could die--unluckily he died of brandy-nothing makes a

Christian die in peace like being maudlin! but don't say this

in Gath, where you are. Adieu!

P. S. I forgot to tell you two good stories of the little

Prince Frederick. He was describing to Lady Charlotte Edwin

the eunuchs of the Opera; but not easily finding proper words,

he said, "I can't tell you, but I will show you how they make

them," and began to unbutton. T'other day as he was with the

Prince of Wales, Kitty Fisher passed by, and the child named

her; the Prince, to try him, asked who that was? "Why, a

Miss." "A Miss," said the Prince of Wales; "why, are not all

girls Misses?" "Oh! but a particular sort of Miss--a Miss that

sells oranges." "Is there any harm in selling oranges?" "Oh!

but they are not such oranges as you buy; I believe they are a

sort that my brother Edward buys."

(1033) Afterwards created Marquis of Bath. He married Lady

Elizabeth Cavendish Bentinck, daughter of William, third Duke

of Portland.-E.

(1034) "Conjectures on Original Composition; in a letter to the

author of Sir Charles Grandison." The article on this work in

the Critical Review was written by Oliver Goldsmith. See the

recent edition of his Miscellaneous Works, vol. iv. p. 462.-E.

491 Letter 316

To Sir Horace Mann.

Strawberry Hill, June 1, 1759.

I have not announced to you in form the invasion from France,

of which all our newspapers have been so full, nor do I tell

you every time the clock strikes. An invasion frightens one

but once. I am grown to fear no invasions but those we make.

Yet I believe there are people really afraid of this--I mean

the new militia, who have received orders to march. The war in

general seems languishing: Prince Henry of Prussia is the only

one who keeps it up with any spirit. The Parliament goes into

the country to-morrow.

One of your last friends, Lord Northampton,(1035) is going to

marry Lady Anne Somerset, the Duke of Beaufort's sister. She

is rather handsome. He seems to have too much of the coldness

and dignity of the Comptons.

Have you had the comet in Italy? It has made more noise here

than it deserved, because Sir Isaac Newton foretold it, and it

came very near disappointing him. Indeed, I have a notion that

it is not the right, but a little one- that they put up as they

were hunting the true--in short, I suppose, like pine-apples

and gold pheasants, comets will grow so common as to be sold at

Covent-garden market.

I am glad you approve the marriage of my charming niece--she is

now Lady Waldegrave in all the forms.

I envy you who can make out whole letters to me--I find it grow

every day more difficult, we are so far and have been so long

removed from little events in common that serve to fill up a

correspondence, that though my heart is willing, my hand is

slow. Europe is a dull magnificent subject to one who cares

little and thinks still les about Europe. Even the King of

Prussia, except on post-days don't

occupy a quarter of an inch in my memory. He must kill a

hundred thousand men once a fortnight to Put me in mind of him.

Heroes that do so much in a book, and seem so active to

posterity, lie fallow a vast while to their contemporaries--and

how it would humble a vast Prince who expects to occupy the

whole attention of an age, to hear an idle man in his easy

chair cry "Well! why don't the King of Prussia do something?"

If one means to make a lasting bustle, one should contrive to

be the hero of a village; I have known a country rake talked of

for a riot, whole years after the battle of Blenheim has grown

obsolete. Fame, like an essence, the farther it is diffused,

the sooner it vanishes. The million in London devour an event

and demand another to-morrow. Three or four families in a

hamlet twist and turn it, examine, discuss, mistake, repeat

their mistake, remember their mistake, and teach it to their

children. Adieu!

(1035) Charles Compton, seventh Earl of Northampton, married

Lady Anne Somerset, daughter of Charles, fourth Duke of

beaufort; by whom he had an only Child, Lady Elizabeth Compton,

married to Lord George Henry Cavendish, now Earl of Burlington.

Lord Northampton died in 1763.-D.

492 Letter 317

To George Montagu, Esq.

June 2, 1759.

Strawberry Hill is grown a perfect Paphos; it is the land of

beauties. On Wednesday the Duchesses of Hamilton and Richmond

and Lady Ailesbury dined there; the two latter stayed all

night. There never was so pretty a sight as to see them all

three sitting in the shell; a thousand years hence, when I

begin to grow old, if that can ever be, I shall talk of that

event, and tell young people how much handsomer the women of my

time were than they will be then: I shall say, "Women alter

now; I remember Lady Ailesbury looking handsomer than her

daughter, the pretty Duchess of Richmond, as they were sitting

in the shell on my terrace with the Duchess of Hamilton, one of

the famous Gunnings." Yesterday t'other more famous

Gunning(1036) dined there. She has made a friendship with my

charming niece, to disguise her jealousy of the new Countess's

beauty: there were they two, their lords, Lord Buckingham, and

Charlotte. You will think that I did not choose men for my

parties so well as women. I don't include Lord Waldegrave in

this bad election.

Loo is mounted to its zenith; the parties last till one and two

in the morning. We played at Lady Hertford's last week, the

last night of her lying-in, till deep into Sunday morning,

after she and her lord were retired. It Is now adjourned to

Mrs. Fitzroy's, whose child the town called "Pam--ela'. I

proposed, that instead of receiving cards for assemblies, one

should send in a morning to Dr. Hunter's, the man-midwife, to

know where there is loo that evening. I find poor Charles

Montagu is dead:(1037) is it true, as the papers say, that his

son comes into Parliament? The invasion is not half so much in

fashion as loo, and the King demanding the assistance of' the

militia does not add much dignity to it. The great Pam of

Parliament, who made the motion, entered into a wonderful

definition of the several sorts of fear; from fear that comes

from pusillanimity, up to fear from magnanimity. It put me in

mind of that wise Pythian, My Lady Londonderry, who, when her

sister, Lady DOnnegal was dying, pronounced, that if it were a

fever from a fever, she would live; but if it were a fever from

death, she would die.

Mr. Mason has published another drama, called Caractacus; there

are some incantations poetical enough, and odes so Greek as to

have very little meaning. But the whole is laboured,

uninteresting, and no more resembling the manners of Britons

than of Japanese. It is introduced by a piping elegy; for

Mason, in imitation of Gray, "will cry and roar all

night"(1038) without the least provocation.

Adieu! I shall be glad to hear that your Strawberry tide is

fixed.

(1036) Lady Coventry.

(1037) Only son of the Hon. James Montagu, son of Henry Earl

of Manchester.-E.

(1038) An expression of Mr. Montagu's.

493 Letter 318

To Sir Horace Mann.

Arlington Street, June 8, 1759.