exactly a fortnight, Mimi and Ly. Lucy[263] till to-day. Mimi, indeed,
is still here till to-morrow. My wishes have succeeded. Mimi’s beauty
and charming character have captivated Beau. He has obtained consent.
The settlements are drawing, and their union will soon take place.
Their dispositions suit exactly, and I never saw a fairer prospect of
happiness than they have before them. She is uncommonly sensible, her
temper is mild, and her manner serene; altho’ cheerful, her turn is
rather serious. Her person is lovely, her complexion a clear brown,
black eyes, white teeth, and a very small head, a fine-shaped throat
and neck, pretty hands and feet, and, altogether, she is as beautiful
and fascinating as a woman can be. A very favourable proof of the
goodness of her understanding and temper is her being so beloved by
a numerous family, the interests of which must oftentimes jar. The
first week they were here we had a great deal of company, but as soon
as the love began, we confined our society to those in the house, and
then it was pretty large--Hamilton, Beau., Drew, Marsh, Miss Fox, Mr.
Adderley.[264]
[Sidenote: A CHRISTENING PARTY]
On Saturday, 30th March, we had the baby christened; an immense party
to dinner, Ld. and Ly. B., Ld. Duncannon, Ld. Ossory, G. Leveson, Sr.
Gilbert and my mother, ye Duke of Bedford, Miss Vernon, and all those
in the house. My mother, D. of B., and Lord Ossory stood for him. To
comply with the Dss. of L.’s wish he was called Stephen, so we have
now a Ste. Fox in the family. Marsh performed the ceremony; it was his
first clerical function. He is to come up for Beau.’s marriage. Ly.
Lucy is very clever, naturally very lively, but the loss of her brother
has affected her spirits; she is enthusiastic, and her affection for
him was worked up to a most romantic pitch. She was in his confidence,
and knew how deeply he was involved in that fatal business in Ireland;
any reference to the affair agitates her violently. At the time of
O’Connor’s trial at Maidstone (a few months after Ld. E.’s death) she
was at Goodwood; he being but too intimately connected with Ld. E.,
made her, of course, anxious about his fate: in short, she was ill.
Ye Duke of Richmond[265] worked up his imagination, and fancied her
grief arose from fear for O’Connor’s safety, she being in love with
him. He went to her in the most affectionate manner, and proposed,
if she would confide in him, to obtain O’Connor’s release, and assist
their marriage. She assured him she only felt the regard due to him as
a friend of her own and her brother’s. He is a strange, odd man. His
conduct to Ly. E. Foster is very unaccountable. He is always talking
and writing as if he intended to marry her, and yet the marriage is
not more advanced than it was two years ago. She came here the other
morning. As soon as ye Dss. of L. heard she was here, she immediately
begged to see her in her room, a thing that very much flattered Ly. E.,
and added to her hopes.
I have had very little time for reading: I have, however, contrived to
read something, half Bernier’s _Travels into Hindostan_, and about
as much of Pennant’s _Hindostan_, a part of a great work called
_Outlines of the Globe_.
[Sidenote: LORD HOBART]
_12th April._--Mimi left us yesterday. Dumont dined with me, a
remarkable lively pleasant dinner. I reproached myself for being so
cheerful without Ld. H., for I never am completely so if he is away.
He went to the House of Lords; intended speaking, but was unwell. He
entered a protest, which stands a good chance of being erased, as Ld.
Auckland has found out that a sentence in it reflects upon the H. of
Lords.[266] I went in the evening to Dss. of L., and Ly. Bess. To-day
I had fifty visitors, among them Ld. Hobart.[267] He is pleasing,
sensible, and well-looking, the finest teeth possible. He exhibited
his high sense of a _point d’honneur_ in marrying Mrs. Adderley.
When her husband died Ld. H. fulfilled the promise made in the warmth
of his heart, tho’ she was old, ugly, and vulgar. The heats of Madras
released him of his burdensome duty. About a year since she died. He is
very kind to her son, Mr. Adderley.
Ly. Bess., Morpeth, and Bor., dined here, very cheerful and
comfortable. The Hambro [_sic_] mail confirms the report of
Jourdan’s being beaten by the Austrians.[268] The Austrian troops are
very much attached to the Arch-Duke. Their cry is ‘Live Charles and
Francis!’ I had the happiness of seeing Webby three times, but by
stealth, at my mother’s; she insisted upon my hazarding an interview.
He was very affectionate. He seems clever, but is not handsome. He is
cold in his disposition, and taught by his father to be a boaster. He
is at Harrow. From my window I see the church; often do I sigh to be
nearer to him.
_16th April, ’99._--On Saturday, ye 15th, I dined with Mrs. W.,
and in the evening went to the Opera with Mde. de Coigny.[269] On
Sunday Ld. H. dined with Ld. Thanet. Ld. Granville and Mr. Hamilton
dined with _me_, a pleasant_ish_ day. Monday, dined with
my mother, went to the play; Canning, etc.; very pleasant. To-day
Ld. and Ly. Bess. dined, Ld. John Townshend,[270] Ld. Morpeth, Mr.
Adderley. Hare was ill, and could not come. The General said it was
_impossible_--his constant reply when he refuses. Ld. John married
Mrs. Fawkener. He is one of the wittiest men there is; his verses are
excellent. Like the rest of his family he is mad; never enough to be
confined, but often very flighty. He is admirable at mimicking, not
only of a person’s manner, but invents a subject, and talks upon it as
they would. He did not shine particularly to-day. This morning I had a
prodigious levée; among the many were two new ones, Ld. Brooke[271] and
Sr. Watkin. The first is rather handsome, talkative, like his father,
but less tiresome, tho’ he promises a fair rivality. A few years of
baronial retirement at Warwick Castle, with the _benefit_ of
his father’s loquacious society, will secure his inheritance of the
taste. Sr. Watkin[272] is a Grenville in person and manner all over
him; his tongue is immensely too big for his mouth, and his utterance
is so impeded by it that what he attempts to articulate is generally
unintelligible.
[Sidenote: LORD MORPETH]
Ld. Morpeth is perfect in person and manner; he has the _air
noble_ without haughtiness, and his mirth is cheerful, not
boisterous. What Ld. Wycombe said of him is very descriptive, ‘He is
an excellent specimen of aristocracy.’ He has inherited a considerable
portion of his father’s love of fashion, but as it does not run away
with him, I see no fault in it, tho’ he sometimes allows his judgment
to be guided by it. His understanding is excellent; he is fond of
literature, and is reckoned a good scholar. He has rather too much
diffidence of his own abilities, and will frequently be silent, tho’
he has a strong opinion upon the subject discussed, unless he has
some established authority to support him. What he says is always well
expressed, with great neatness and precision. He seldom enters into
an argument at length, but his observations are invariably correct
and judicious. He is a chaste poet, and has written many very pretty
things. His passions are not strong; he can never enjoy the extreme of
delight, or suffer excess of sorrow. Not that he is deficient of right
feelings; he can be angry, but not vindictive. Lately he has given in
to a love of play, by which his temper is at times irritated. He is
exemplary as a son, and has such strong principles of honour that he
will excel in every station. He is very much attached to Ld. H.
Canning was very entertaining, he can be extremely so. I made him
repeat his parody upon Lewis’s _Alonzo and Imogene_. It is
comical, and goes very well with the music:--[273]
A Parson so grave and a Baron so bold
Conversed as the coach drove along;
Many stories they heard, many stories they told,
Parson Legge[274] was the parson, his stories were old,
And ye Baron was Lord Boringdon.
There is more, but I forget it.
Ld. Lansdown came to see me yesterday. He looked very well, and
appeared more cordial to me than he has done since Ld. W.’s affairs
have worried him. There is certainly something very whimsical in my
situation with respect to him and Ld. W.; each suspect I prefer the
other, and both have taken an aversion to me on that account, for Ld.
W. is really so displeased with me that in his letters he never names
me, or does he write, as he used to do, frequently to me. Arduous would
be the attempt to decipher Ld. W.’s character. The most predominant
feature is the love of singularity. His success in that aim is most
favourably aided by his possessing innately a large portion of it. He
endeavours more to surprise than to please. His sarcastic humour is
excellent, the gravity of his manner sets off his wit. It is difficult
to ascertain whether he is in joke or earnest, and he frequently begins
seriously a conversation which his love of persiflage makes him end
ironically.
[Sidenote: LORD MACARTNEY]
_21st April._--Wednesday, 17th, dined with the Dss. of Leinster;
went to the play. Returned here. Thursday, Lds. Digby, Kirkwall,[275]
and Mr. Adderley dined. Friday we dined alone, went to the play with
Mrs. Smith. Saturday we dined alone; went to the Opera. Smith dined
to-day. Lord Macartney came to see me; he has been very ill, seriously
so with gout, etc., etc. I asked him his opinion of Hastings, whether,
tho’ a tyrant, he administered the Government of India with ability. He
said his testimony would be that of an enemy, as they had quarrelled in
India upon the subject of the Nabob of Arcot; but his opinion of him
was that he was a man of violent passions, who would stop at nothing
where his avarice, ambition, and revenge could be satisfied; that, as
to his public conduct, had he not been recalled the English settlements
would have been ruined. He deprecated politics, and lamented Ld. H.’s
decided opposition, and quoted a maxim of Ld. H.’s grandfather’s
that no man ought to be in Opposition above six months, just to show
what his abilities could do, that he might be justly estimated. This
conversation reminded me of Hare’s story of Ld. Macartney’s reason for
not adhering to Mr. Fox. Hare asked him how it happened that, connected
as he had always been with the Fox family, he never was politically
united with them. He said he loved consistency, for if he had once
gone into Opposition, he must always have continued so. ‘Why, no,’
replied Hare; ‘if the Opposition got into power, maintaining their
principles, you would then not always be in Opposition.’ ‘No, no. Once
in Opposition, always in Opposition. I love uniformity.’ This was all
the answer he could extract from him.
Gilbert Wakefield pleaded again in person at the King’s Bench in
behalf of his pamphlet. He first compared himself to Paul pleading
before Festus, and throughout manifested a firm conviction that he was
a martyr to his principles, and endeavoured to show the heroism with
which he submitted to the persecution. In the course of his speech he
named Nero, Tiberius, and Polypheme. Ld. Kenyon, in the summing up,
said an English jury would not be browbeaten, notwithstanding all he
said about the _Three Roman Emperors_.
Tierney said he was expected at dinner where he dined, and that the
effect was comical when his apology came, giving for excuse his
imprisonment. Ld. Thanet is very apprehensive as the day approaches for
his trial.
The Dss. of Gordon[276] was laughing at _Borino_,[277] saying he
had sat by her for an hour talking of such strange things--morale and
physique, upon which Ld. H. said well enough that he certainly could
only comprehend _half_ his discourse. C. Ellis came to see me, the
first time since his marriage. I thought there must have been something
extraordinary to keep him so long away, and Ly. B. let me into the
secret, the origin of which is Ly. Hawkesbury’s extreme prudery. She
is shocked at the thoughts of my knowing Mrs. Ellis, and I suppose C.
felt an awkward shyness at coming without naming her; but he need not
have been under any alarm on my account. It is difficult to affront or
mortify me. The first I hope my sense and temper will always avert,
and the second I am insensible to, as I know the singularity of my
position too well not to be blunted to all occurrences that otherwise
might humiliate. Prudery comes with an odd and questionable aspect from
a Hervey. Lord Bristol is full of wit and pleasantry. He is a great
admirer of Lady Hamilton,[278] and conjured Sr. W. to allow him to call
her _Emma_. That he should admire her beauty and her wonderful
attitudes is not singular, but that he should like her society
certainly is, as it is impossible to go beyond her in vulgarity and
coarseness.[279] So much so, that the Austrian Ambassador’s sarcasm is
excellent. After showing her attitudes, which she does by representing
the finest statues and pictures, he asked, ‘Et quand est-ce qu’elle
fera Miladi?’ Her vulgarity destroyed the illusion when I saw her
once. She had worked one’s imagination up to a pitch of enthusiasm
in her successive imitations of Niobe, Magdalen, and Cleopatra. Just
as she was lying down, with her head reclined upon an Etruscan vase
to represent a water-nymph, she exclaimed in her provincial dialect:
‘Doun’t be afeard, Sr. Willum, I’ll not crack your _joug_.’ I
turned away disgusted, and I believe all present shared the sentiment.
[Sidenote: LADY HAMILTON]
Her extreme beauty attracted the notice of Romney, the painter, in
London, who had her to sit as a model. Mr. Greville[280] took her into
keeping, and, finding she was tiresome, got rid of her by sending her
to Sr. Wm. to put her upon the Opera. Sr. Wm. was old and loving, and,
after living a short time with him, she persuaded him into marrying
her, which he did; and by so doing cut Mr. Greville out of the
inheritance he had long expected.
_Sunday, 28th April._--Wednesday 24th, dined with Ly. B.; only Ld.
H. and myself; went to the play afterwards. On Thursday, 25th, we had
all the _Anti-Jacobin_ wits to dinner, Ld. Hobart for the first
time; he is facetious and convivial. I liked him very much. Canning
made a good joke upon Borino’s comparing Mr. Adderley to an ostrich,
and enumerating the characteristics of that very _foolish_ bird,
which did very well at first, but grew tiresome. It is the fault of
that set to wear a joke threadbare. We had Frere, the first time since
his appointment to Canning’s place.[281] Since favorit_ism_ is
_à l’ordre du jour_, I am rather glad he is a sharer, tho’ I
think he cannot make a good man of business. He is _distrait_ and
poetical, and in lieu of writing a dispatch may be tempted to pen a
sonnet. Saturday, Marsh came. Ld. H. dined at the Royal Academy, and I
dined at L. House, Ld. L. being very kind and cordial. In ye evening
went to ye Dss. of L. On Sunday we had a large party here, Lds. B., M.,
L. G., Amherst, Adderley, etc., etc., and Bannister,[282] who was very
comical and burlesque. It being the eve of Mimi’s marriage, I slept at
Ly. Bessborough’s, that I might be ready in time for the wedding. I
invited my party to supper; the four gallants, the Dss. of Devonshire
came, and the Duke of Bedford. The change in former is painful to see;
scarcely has she a vestige of those charms that once attracted all
hearts. Her figure is corpulent, her complexion coarse, one eye gone,
and her neck immense. How frail is the tenure of beauty! Alas! too
true, too trite a saying. The next morning I went to the wedding; all
parties behaved with propriety. Ly. Pembroke[283] deemed it incumbent
on her to hatch up a whimper during the ceremony, but as it was
evidently a homage to her idol--decorum--it was received as such, and
affected none. The excellent Dss. felt the awful moment of separation.
The event took place in Harley Street, and afterwards the married pair
set off to Moneyhill. The whole of the Dss.’s family came here, dined,
and slept. Ld. Henry was one of their party; they all went to-day.
_30th April._--Marsh made a proposal to Ly. Lucy, which she
accepted, but the Dss. rejected, on the score of there not being a
competency. In refusing him they know not the excellence they lose.
He is in himself a treasure, and his popularity will ensure him high
preferment; he is at the moment wretched, and goes to-morrow in
consequence of the unpleasantness of the circumstance.
[Sidenote: MADAME DE COIGNY]
Adderley came and sat with me some time; Ld. G. L. has a nonsensical
joke of his being smitten, _mais je n’en crois rien_. The old
_compère_[284] is quite reconciled to me; he has called twice to
see me. Nobody dined here but Mr. Morris, Mrs. Wyndham; and Mde. de
Coigny came in the evening.
Mde. de Coigny is remarkably witty; there are many of her _bons
mots_ on record. This evening talking of Ly. Pembroke’s having
still beauty, she denied it by saying, ‘Apparemment Milord aime les
traditions.’ When young she was the rage in Paris; her voice is
horrible, worse even than Ly. Malmesbury’s. She said, ‘_Je n’ai
qu’une voix contre moi, et c’est la mienne_,’ an assertion not quite
true, as a wit seldom has a friend; at least, they sacrifice any for a
repartee. She lost a very intimate friend’s love by a sarcastic joke.
The Duchesse de Richelieu was a young, pretty woman, with red hair, and
her friend. At a _petit souper_ it was remarked that ye Duchesse
was almost the only woman in Paris who had not been accused at least of
a _galanterie_, ‘_C’est vrai, mais comme Samson elle trouve ses
forces dans ses cheveux_.’
Mrs. Fitzherbert has never forgiven the opinion Mde. de C. entertains
of a conspicuous part of her person--an opinion she declared in her
reply to a person who observed that Mrs. F.’s neck was uncovered ‘et
qu’elle avait besoin d’un fichu.’ ‘D’un fichu! Point du tout, c’est une
_culotte_ qu’il faudra.’
[Sidenote: LORD THANET’S TRIAL]
_2nd May._--Yesterday little Marsh left us, with a heavy, aching
heart. Many visitors in the morning; my mother, Ly. Lucy, etc. to
dinner. Adderley, Ly. L. slept. The D. of Bedford and Ld. Thanet
called in their way back from St. Anne’s, where they had been to
consult with Mr. Fox upon the propriety of the measure suggested by
Erskine. The measure was that Ld. Thanet should write a letter to the
Attorney-General, declaring upon his honour that he was innocent of the
charge against him, etc., etc. Mr. Fox disapproved of that scheme, as
it seemed like begging mercy. The evidence was so contradictory that
even Kenyon, who is bitter against them, acknowledged in his summing
the difficulty of ascertaining exactly the truth. There is no doubt
whatever that Ld. T.’s activity was merely defensive, nor is there any
more that Sheridan’s evidence got him found guilty. When questioned
by Law,[285] S., instead of answering immediately, paused, and then
replied satisfactorily to the interrogation, but this silence of
several minutes previous to replying sufficed in the minds of the jury,
and it is allowed on all hands that their verdict proceeded from their
conviction that Sheridan was wavering between falsehood and truth,
and that the first triumphed. This was confirmed by Law, in a solemn,
impressive manner, repeating, ‘You will recollect, Mr. Sheridan, that
you are upon _your oath_.’ The sentence is to be given to-morrow,
and fine and imprisonment is expected, but to what amount and extent
depends upon their notion of punishing a peer for example sake. Ld.
H. and ye D. of Bedford are to be in court at eight, to give bail, in
case the sentence is deferred till next term. Fergusson they talk of
dis-barring. Those who were really the stimulators of the enterprise
were Sheridan himself and Dennis O’Brien. It is even a doubt whether
Fergusson was apprised of the scheme. S. was adroit enough to persuade
him to suppress in his defence the truth of a circumstance, that, as
it appeared in the charge, made against him. Just before the scuffle
F. leaned across the table to whisper to O’Connor; the truth of the
whisper was an endeavour to deliver unseen a note from S. to O’Connor,
the words of which were as follows: ‘As soon as sentence is passed,
leap over the bar, run to the right, and we will manage the rest.’ Had
this been stated F. might have escaped, but he was persuaded it would
have been unhandsome to invoke an unsuspected person; for so little was
S. supposed to have assisted, that _in court_ he received thanks
from the Judges for having exerted himself to quell the disturbance.
S., since he gained such credit as a witness in the State trials (Horne
Tooke’s) by his wit and repartee, can never give a direct answer, and
is always more occupied how to gain applause by his reply than how to
serve those in favour of whom he is called.
The Brest fleet is out, and the alarm is great.[286]
Mlle. Clairon’s[287] _Memoirs_ are published by herself. She
gives a few anecdotes of her own life, suppressing the unfavourable
truths of her very _private_ history. Her remarks upon the
different parts she has acted are good, and show a great knowledge of
the art she professed. Her enthusiasm that it should be perfectioned is
entertaining.
_8th May._--The Court would not accept any bail for Ld. Thanet.
Kenyon implied a reproach upon the Attorney-General for having worded
the indictment too favourably. He aggravated the heinousness of the
offence, and gave some hints about the specific punishment, which is
imprisonment for life, confiscation, and the loss of the right arm. It
is said the court have no discretionary power, and that the specific
punishment must be given, or one very slight. The first most probably
will be given for the disgrace of it, but there is no danger of its
being enforced; the King will remit the whole.
Ld. T. is now resident in the King’s Bench Prison. Mme. Bonawitz is
with him; his friends all visit him, so his time passes cheerfully.
If he has society and _bonne chère_ he does not care much about
anything else. Mme. Bonawitz is a woman of whom I heard much when I was
at Vienna; she was of the second order of _noblesse_, and reckoned
rather pretty, and very gallant. She eloped with Ld. T. and came to
England with him. Gilbert Wakefield is also in ye K. B. till sentence
is given. His speech, nominally in mitigation of punishment, but, in
fact, as Bobus says, in _aggravation_ of it, will probably have
secured him imprisonment for life. He is a singular being, of the most
primitive manners and uncouth conversation imaginable.
[Sidenote: LORD THANET’S TRIAL]
Ld. H. made a very good speech upon the case of a man[288] called up
and punished by the H. of Lords for a libel against the Bishop of
Llandaff. As soon as he had done speaking, Lord Kenyon came up to him
and said, ‘You must give me leave, my Lord, to shake hands with you;
I wish I could make a convert of you.’ ‘You would find that rather a
tough job,’ replied Ld. H. ‘Aye, I am afraid so, but I should like to
launch you from another slip.’
I dined on Saturday at Lansdown H.; Ld. H. dined with Mackintosh. I
took Tierney with me. Ld. L. was not offended, but on the contrary
seemed very much pleased. I saw Sheridan in the morning, and told him
all that was said about his evidence; he was in a great rage. Someone
at the theatre ran after him, to ask if algebra was not a language. ’
To be sure, an old language, spoken by an ancient people called the
Classics.’
_May 18th._--We had a good deal of company in the course of last
week; the Bessbro’s dined, Ly. Anne,[289] etc. Lady Lucy came and
stayed several days. Mr. Adderley frequently dined and slept. I once
went to L. H.; very dull. Nothing very interesting occurred. Been ill
myself for 15 days with cold. Inoculated Ste., who has the smallpox
very badly, not dangerously, but suffers extremely; still at its
height. Misses Fox and Vernon came yesterday. Ld. G. Leveson and Ly. B.
came unawares; all parties annoyed at meeting. The French are beaten in
Italy; the French deputies to Rastadt murdered either by their escort
or the peasants,--a sad violation of good faith in either case.