1755–1757--IN LONDON, AT SANDLEFORD, AT TUNBRIDGE WELLS, AND WITH
THE BOSCAWENS AT HATCHLANDS--LETTERS ON EVENTS OF THE WAR.
[Year: 1755]
[Page heading: LORD MONTFORT’S SUICIDE]
In January, 1755, but with no date of day, is a letter of Mrs.
Montagu’s to Sarah Scott on Lord Montfort[82] committing suicide after
gambling heavily.
“I imagine that you will be glad to hear the history of the times,
which indeed bring forth daily wonders; nor is it the least that
the most profound arithmetician and the greatest calculator, one
who carried Demoivre’s[83] ‘Probabilités de la Vie Humaine’ in his
pocket, never foresaw that spending ten times his income would ruin
his fortune, and that he found no way to make the book of debtor
and creditor even, but paying that debt which dissolves all other
obligations. You will guess I mean Lord Montfort and his pistol. He
had not discovered any marks of insanity, on the contrary, all was
deliberate, calm and cool; having said so much of his indiscretion,
I think, with the rest of the world, I may acquit him of the
imputation of cunning and sharping, but what can one say in defence
of a conduct that had all the appearance of deep knavery and the
consequences of inconsiderate rashness and folly.... Many reasons
have been given for his Lordship’s violent act, but by what I
learn from those best acquainted with his person and fortune, he
was not under the pressure of any very heavy debt, but had a true
Epicurean character, loved a degree of voluptuousness that his
fortune could not afford, and a splendour of life it could not
supply, much of his relish for the world was lost, and like one
that has no appetite to ordinary fare, chose to rise from table
unless fortune would make him a feast.... When Lord Montfort’s
children were paid their demands on his estate, I hear he had only
£1200 a year clear, and in table, equipage and retinue he equalled,
and in the first article perhaps excell’d, the largest fortunes. To
retrench or die was the question, he reasoned like Hamlet, but left
out the great argument of a future state.”
[82] Lord Montfort shot himself on January 1, 1755, at White’s
Coffee House, after playing whisk all night. _Vide_ Horace Walpole’s
“Letters to George Montagu,” vol. i. p. 252.
[83] Abraham Demoivre, born 1677, died 1754. Great mathematician;
wrote “The Doctrine of Chances,” etc.
In the same letter is--
“I have lately been engaged in a melancholy employment, condolence
with poor Mr. and Mrs. West on the loss of their son, who died
of a bilious fever, occasioned by his want of attendance to the
jaundice, which attacked him in the season of plays and Operas, and
he preferred them to the care of his health; he died very suddenly,
the poor parents bear the blow with surprising patience. Mr.
Lyttelton[84] is going to S. Carolina as Governor, and his sister
dreading such a separation desires to accompany him.
“Pray have you read Mr. Hume’s History of James I. and Charles
I.? I am afraid it will rather promote Jacobitism, but it is
entertaining and lively and will amuse you.... I suppose you know
there are two volumes of Madame de Sevigné’s letters come out this
winter; they are amusing as the anecdotes of a person one has a
great regard for, but they were rejected in former editions as not
being so brilliant as those published before. My brother Robinson
is emulating the great Diogenes and other budge Drs. of the Stoic
fur; he flies the delights of London and leads a life of such
privacy and seriousness as looks to the beholder like wisdom, but
for my part, I think no life of inaction deserves that name.”
This is the first mention of Matthew’s increasing love of retirement
and the hermit-like habits which he adopted at Horton.
[84] This was William Henry, brother of Sir George Lyttelton.
[Page heading: MRS. POCOCKE]
In March occurs a long letter from Mrs. Pococke, of Newtown, the very
learned lady mentioned before. She dispensed money for charitable
purposes given by Mrs. Montagu. She mentions that her son, Dr. Pococke,
is coming for a few days to see her before going abroad, “probably for
the last time, unless I live to the age of the late Bishop of Man.”
She mentions having walked eight miles that day as an excuse for bad
writing, which was superfluous, as her handwriting is amazingly good
and clear, and she was between eighty and ninety! _Mens sana in corpore
sano!_
[Page heading: LORD BALTIMORE’S HOUSE]
On June 9, presumably in this year, Mrs. Montagu writes--
“I suppose you know that Lady Sandwich has at last left her kind
Lord. To complete the measure of his good usage, he keeps her
daughter to educate with the Miss Courtenays. I hope her Ladyship
will be happier than she has been for many years, she has nothing
to harass her but the apprehensions for Lady Mary, but God knows
that is a dreadful object. She has taken a house at Windsor for the
summer.” This daughter died June 25, 1761.
And in the same month to Sarah Scott, she says--
Mrs. Boscawen and Miss Pitt came from Hatchlands to London to spend
two days with me; we went to Vauxhall each night, and Mrs. Anstey
and I went with them as far as Epsom: we saw Lord Baltimore’s
house, [_sic_] which speaks bad french, so I will not rehearse what
I saw there. Why should I teize your imagination with strawberry
colour’d wainscotts, doors of looking-glass, fine landskips on
gilt leather, and painted pastorals with huge headed Chloes and
gouty legg’d Strephons, with french mottoes to explain those tender
glances. We were glad to quit this palace of bad taste for a little
arbor in the garden of the inn at Epsom. The Sunday following Mr.
Montagu and I went to dine with Mr. Bower at Sidcop, his little
habitation has the proper perfections of a cottage, neatness,
chearfulness, and an air of tranquillity, a pretty grove with
woodbines twining round every Elm, a neat kitchen garden, with an
Arbor from whence you look on a fine prospect. Here he may write
of heresies and schisms, of spiritual pride and papal usurpations,
while peaceful retirement and the amenity of the scene about him,
rob controversy of its acrimony, and allay the bitterness of
censure by a mixture of gentle pity.”
[Page heading: SANDLEFORD]
Writing to Mrs. Boscawen from Sandleford, June 19, Mrs. Montagu
begins--
“‘When the Mower whets his scythe,
And the Milk-maid singeth blythe,
And every Shepherd in the dale
Under the Hawthorn tells his tale,’
there am I, and no longer in the sinfull and smoaking City of
London; this happy change was brought about on Tuesday, by very
easy and speedy measures. We got into our post-chaise between 10
and 11, arrived at Maidenhead Bridge about one; were refreshed by a
good dinner, and amused by good company. Mr. Hooke[85] meeting us
at our inn, we staid with him till after 5, and about ten arrived
at Sandleford.... I have not for these ten years been so early in
the Season at Sandleford, and it appears therefore with greater
charms. It cannot afford to lose any of its natural beauties, as
it owns none to Art, it is merely a pretty shepherdess, who has
no graces but those of youth and simplicity; but my dear Mrs.
Boscawen may turn it into a paradise when she pleases. When may I
hope to see her here.... I spent two days at Wickham last week;
our good friends had left the Archbishop of Canterbury only a few
days before I went to them. Mr. West seemed a good deal affected by
this return to Wickham, as to Mrs. West I cannot so well judge, the
cheerfulness she puts on is _outré_.... Mr. West told me he would
alter the room where poor Dick dyed, for he did not like to go into
it, and then a soft tender shower fell down his cheeks, he added
he had lost much of his relish for Wickham; however on the whole I
found them better than I could have expected!”
[85] He was then living at Cookham.
Directly after this, West was ordered to Tunbridge Wells, where he was
accompanied by Lady Cobham, Miss Speed, and his wife. He writes to Mrs.
Montagu that he hopes she will like a long stay in the country, as its
tranquillity will not
“produce the same effect which an Admiral of my acquaintance found
from the tranquillity of his friend’s house in the country, to
which coming directly from his ship, where he had been so long
accustomed to noise and bustle as to be grown fond of it, said,
after having passed a restless night, ‘Pox on this house, ’tis so
quiet there is no sleeping in it.’”
To this letter she answers--
“Mr. Montagu has been studiously disposed ever since we came to
Sandleford, so that I pass seven or eight hours every day entirely
alone. Five months are to pass before I return to the Land of the
Living, but I can amuse myself in the regions of the dead: if it
rains so that I cannot walk in the garden, Virgil will carry me
into the Elysian fields, or Milton into Paradise.”
[Page heading: MR. TORRIANO’S MARRIAGE]
Mention is also made of Sam Torriano’s engagement to Miss Scudamore,
“who is said to have been handsome, and it was on both sides a marriage
of inclination. He has delicacy enough to make him very happy or very
miserable, and restlessness enough to be very uneasy in a state too
insipid to allow of neither.”
Mrs. Montagu might well make this remark on Torriano’s marriage, as
her friend Sir George Lyttelton’s[86] second matrimonial contract had
by mutual consent ended in a separation. In a former letter it will
be remembered that the haughty tone and unpleasant manners of the
lady were commented on. It was a case of incompatibility of temper
and thought, and a constant imagination of bad health on her part.
Lady Lyttelton was a great friend of the Wests, and from a letter of
Lyttelton’s to West of this year it is evident that a little coldness,
which did not endure long, had sprung up between West and his friend.
[86] With Miss Rich, daughter of Field-Marshal Sir Robert Rich.
[Page heading: MR. WEST ILL]
On July 8 and July 14 Sir George Lyttelton writes to Archibald Bower
a complete diary of his tour in North Wales, accompanied by “Parson
Durant and Mr. Payne.” These letters Bower gave to Mrs. Montagu. They
contain many messages to the “Madonna,” but are, though interesting,
too long to insert here. At this period West was at Tunbridge Wells,
seeking health, but depressed at the absence of Pitt, Lyttelton,
Torriano, and, above all, Mrs. Montagu; and from this letter it appears
that 1750 was the year in which they first made friends at Tunbridge.
“Where are the happy seasons of 1750, 1751, 1752, and 1753?” he cries.
“In the ‘Stone House’ are Mr. Walpole and Lady Rachel, persons with
whom I have no concern.” The only people he now consorts with are Mrs.
Vesey, to whom he talks of Mrs. Montagu, “we both love and honour you;”
and Bishop Gilbert and his daughter.[87] The Bishop of London was
expected. West laments “a difficulty of breathing, accompanied with
wheezing,” he thought asthma. “The Doctors said Hysterical as only
fit for _petticoats_!” They prescribed assafœtida, valerian, and gum
ammoniac. He laments that Torriano “has done the irrevocable deed, and
is married on £500 per annum.”
[87] Miss Gilbert became Countess of Mount Edgecumbe.
In Mrs. Montagu’s answer to West of July 13 she laments Torriano’s
marriage not only as
“the world will lose him, but as he is to lose the world, which
with all its faults is not to be entirely quitted; man and wife
should always have something to charge with their ennui, the
impertinence of society bears the blame very well, in solitude
they must accuse each other of all they suffer of it. I do not
understand why they should live in Herefordshire, unless they
are very fond of cyder, for, in my opinion, London is the best
place for people of moderate circumstances. In the country people
are respected merely according to the acres they possess, an
equipage is necessary, and company must be entertained at a great
expense.... I am afraid his friend Stillingfleet[88] has left
Herefordshire.... Last Tuesday Mr. Botham came hither, as did Dr.
Gregory,[89] an ingenious agreeable man. Miss Pitt[90] has arrived
here to my great joy, and we are to go to Hatchlands on Thursday.”
[88] Dr. Benjamin Stillingfleet, born 1702, died 1771. Author of
“Calendar of Flora,” etc., and a prominent member of the Bas Bleu
circle.
[89] Dr. John Gregory, physician and miscellaneous writer; Professor
of Philosophy at Edinburgh.
[90] Mary Pitt, sister of Mr. W. Pitt.
[Page heading: HATCHLANDS]
Hatchlands, near Guildford, belonged to Admiral Boscawen. Writing
thence to her husband Mrs. Montagu says--
“We were received by Mrs. Boscawen with the most joyful welcome, as
we found her in great spirits on account of the taking of the two
French men of war. Mr. Hoquart had been taken twice by Mr. Boscawen
in the last war, but did not surrender himself in this engagement
till 44 men were killed on board of his ship. Mr. Boscawen writes
that he lived at great expence, having 11 French officers at his
table, whom he entertains with magnificence, and there were 8
companies of soldiers on board the _Alcide_ and the _Lys_. I hope
as Admiral Holborn has joined Mr. Boscawen, we may soon hear of a
more considerable victory.... The Duke[91] declares himself well
pleased with Mr. Boscawen for his enterprise.... Mr. Boscawen was
very much concern’d that the _Dauphin_, which had stands of arms
and some silver on board, has escaped by means of a fog....”
[91] Duke of Cumberland.
On July 27, to West, is this--
“Monsieur Mirepoix[92] threatened us with _la guerre la plus
sanglante qui fut jamais_, but by his _dépit_ I imagine the French
would have been better pleased if we would have let them silently
and quietly possess themselves of the West Indies.
“I walked round the park this morning, it does not consist of many
acres, but the disposition of the ground, the fine verdure and
the plantations make it very pretty: it resembles the mistress of
it, having preserv’d its native simplicity, tho’ art and care has
improv’d and soften’d it, and made it elegant.”
She mentions a miserable inn on Bagshot Heath, which they drove over,
“situated in the middle of a dreary Heath, which has been famous for
robberies and murders. The inn has for its sign the effigies of a man
who practised this dreadful trade 40 years.”
[92] The French ambassador.
[Page heading: SHEEP LEAS]
Whilst at Hatchlands Mrs. Boscawen took her guest to Sheep Leas,
belonging to Mr. Weston, also to Sir John Evelyn’s and Mr. Hamilton’s
places. Of Sheep Leas, in a letter to Sarah, who was with Lady Barbara
at Badminton, is this description--
“The Sheep Lees consists of a most beautiful down, adorn’d with
noblest beeches, commanding a rich gay and extensive prospect,
a prodigious flock of sheep enliven the scene; it has a noble
simplicity, and one imagines it to be the abode of some Arcadian
Prince.... Our next visit was to Sir John Evelyn’s,[93] you pass
over a high hill, finely planted, at the bottom of which lies
the good old seat, which is venerable and respectable, and put
me in mind of the song of ‘the Queen’s old Courtier,’ and it
has a library of good old books, handsome apartments furnished
and fitted up just as left them by their ancestor, the Sylvan
Evelyn.[94] I cannot but own that tired of papier maché ceilings
and gilt cornices, I was glad to see an old hall such as ancient
hospitality and the plain virtues of our ancestors used to inhabit
before country gentlemen used to make fortunes in Parliament or
lose them at ‘White’s,’ hunted foxes, instead of Ministers, and
employ’d their finesse in setting partridges. The garden at Sir
John Evelyn’s is adorn’d with _jets d’eaux_ in the old style, then
you pass on to the woods, which are great and noble, and lye on
each side a fine valley.”
[93] Leigh Place.
[94] John Evelyn, born 1620, died 1706. Author of the “Sylva, or
Discourse on Forest Trees,” etc., etc.
[Page heading: PAINSHILL]
Mrs. Ann Evelyn is mentioned as deserving this habitation.
“Pray follow me to Mr. Hamilton’s:[95] I must tell you it beggars
all description, the art of hiding art is here in such sweet
perfection, that Mr. Hamilton cheats himself of praise, you thank
Nature for all you see, tho’ I am inform’d all has been reformed
by Art. In his 300 acres you have the finest lawns, a serpentine
river playing in the sweetest valley, hills finely planted, which
command charming prospects, winding walks made gay with flowers
and flowering Shrubs, part of a rude forest, sombre woods, a river
deep and still, gliding round the woods and shaded by trees that
hang over the bank, while the serpentine river open and exposed to
the sun, adorn’d with little Islands and enlivened by waterfowls,
gladdens the vallies.”
[95] Painshill.
At the end of this letter mention is made of Travile, a poor lady
originally recommended by Lady Sandwich as lady’s-maid to Mrs. Montagu.
She was dying of consumption. Three doctors had treated her, and now
Dr. Gregory put her on a diet of vegetable and asses’ milk.
Mr. Botham, writing from Albury, July 23, 1755, says--
“A Captain Cunningham past through Guildford last night express
from the Governor of Hallifax in Nova Scotia with advice that
Col. Warburton of the land forces had taken a fort at the back
of Louisbourg called Bouche, (by the bye the most material Fort
belonging to the French settlements), 500 men and 20 cannon; that
the Colonel had blocked up Louisbourg by land, and Admiral Boscawen
had done the same by sea; that the town was very bare of provisions
and must soon surrender, and the sooner as the Colonel has turned
in the 500 brethren to help to consume the faster; so that there
is great reason to suppose we shall soon be masters of Louisbourg,
and the Admiral of the 4 French men of war blocked in the Harbour.
We have taken papers of the utmost consequence, which let us into
the secret schemes of the French, which were nothing less than
a design of taking all our Plantations from us in America, and
Hallifax in the first place, was destined for destruction.”
West, writing on August 22 from Tunbridge Wells, mentions that Lady
Cobham and Harriet had left them for Stoke, Mrs. Vesey was returning
to Ireland, and the Bishop of London had just left, “but while he was
here put into my hands some sheets of a third Volume of Discourses
now printing, which, as I had the chief hand in prevailing upon him
to publish, I received as a mark of his regard for me.” The bishop
was then in very bad health. West was persuaded by the three doctors,
Duncan, Burgess, and Morley, to stay on at Tunbridge Wells.
[Page heading: READING]
In a letter to Miss Anstey, who was with her friends, Lord and Lady
Romney, at Brighthelmstone, Mrs. Montagu says that Miss Pitt had left
her to join her brother, Mr. Pitt, and Lady Hester, at Sunninghill.[96]
Mrs. Montagu accompanied her as far as Reading,
“where we dined in the garden of the inn, from whence there is a
fine gay prospect, and after dinner we walked to see the ruins of
the old Abbey, which was most delightfully situated. The river
winds about the richest meadows I ever saw; hills crowned with
woods and adorn’d by some gentlemen’s houses bound the prospect,
and make it the most soft and agreeable landscape imaginable.”
[96] Sunning Hill, at that time rising in repute for its mineral
wells.
She and Mr. Montagu were contemplating visiting Mrs. Scott and Lady Bab
Montagu at Bath Easton, “but I do not propose to leave poor Travile
as long as she continues in this life; her end draws very near.” The
invalid seems to have been most religious, and one learns that by her
request Mrs. Montagu nightly read her the Service for the Sick.
On September 26, West informs Mrs. Montagu that the Archbishop of
Canterbury[97] had written to tell him of the release of Governor
Lyttelton, who, with his sister, had been taken prisoners by the French
in the _Blandford_, which was conveying the Governor to his province,
South Carolina. This was William Henry, brother of Sir George, and
his sister Hester. The _Blandford_ was soon after this given up by
the French. Mary Pitt, writing to Mrs. Montagu, said that Governor
Lyttelton’s only loss was his wine and provisions on the _Blandford_,
he having sent most of his baggage by another ship.
[97] Rev. Dr. Thomas Herring.
Mr. Pitt was then at Bath, while Lady Hester awaited her confinement
at the Pay Office, of which Pitt was then master. Miss Pitt says, the
sudden arrival of Governor Lyttelton “has proved very fortunate for Sir
George at Bewdley,[98] where, by the Election of a Bayliff, the Borough
was gone, if his brother had not thus dropt out of the clouds to give
his vote and the turn to the scale.”
[98] Bewdley, Worcestershire.
[Page heading: MRS. SCOTT’S DAILY LIFE]
Travile becoming slightly better, Mrs. Montagu went to Bath Easton to
visit Mrs. Scott and Lady Bab Montagu. In a letter to Dr. Gilbert West,
October 16, after her return to Sandleford, the following account is
given of the life led by the two lady friends:--
“My sister rises early, and as soon as she has read prayers to
their small family, she sits down to cut out and prepare work
for 12 poor girls, whose schooling they pay for; to those whom
she finds more than ordinarily capable, she teaches writing and
arithmetic herself. The work these children are usually employed
in is making child-bed linen and clothes for poor people in the
neighbourhood, which Lady Bab Montagu and she, bestow as they
see occasion. Very early on Sunday morning these girls, with 12
little boys whom they also send to school, come to my sister and
repeat their catechism, read some chapters, have the principal
articles of their religion explained to them, and then are sent
to the parish church. These good works are often performed by the
Methodist ladies in the heat of enthusiasm, but thank God, my
sister’s is a calm and rational piety. Her conversation is lively
and easy, and she enters into all the reasonable pleasures of
Society; goes frequently to the plays, and sometimes to balls,
etc. They have a very pretty house at Bath for the winter, and one
at Bath Easton for the summer; their houses are adorned by the
ingenuity of the owners, but as their income is small, they deny
themselves unnecessary expenses. My sister[99] seems very happy; it
has pleased God to lead her to truth, by the road of affliction;
but what draws the sting of death and triumphs over the grave,
cannot fail to heal the wounds of disappointment. Lady Bab Montagu
concurs with her in all these things, and their convent, for by its
regularity it resembles one, is really a cheerful place.”
[99] Mrs. Scott described their life in her novel, “Millenium Hall,
by a _Gentleman_ on his Travels,” 1762,--as there was a popular
prejudice then against a female author. Doubtless many of the
histories are true in it.
[Page heading: MISS POCOCKE]
Writing to Sarah Scott of their safe return from Bath Easton, Mrs.
Montagu says--
“You would hardly imagine that the calm, meek Miss Pococke[100]
is as great a heroine as Thalestris, Boadicea, or any of the
termagant ladies in history. One Wednesday night, she was awaken’d
by a robber, who threw himself across her bed and demanded her
money; she started up, seized him with one hand and rang her bell
with the other, and held him till the maid came into the room,
but at last he broke from her, and by the ill-management of her
assistants made his escape. He is our late Gardener’s son, whom you
may remember a boy in the gardens, his name Moses. He attempted to
break open our house two nights before, opened the parlour sash,
but could not force the shutters, which I am glad he did not do,
for any alarm to the poor sick woman would have been a grievous
thing.”
[100] Daughter of Mrs. Pococke, of Newtown, and sister of the
bishop.
[Page heading: GARRETT WELLESLEY]
Mrs. Donnellan, in a letter from Fulham, August 28, reproached Mrs.
Montagu “for not having visited Mrs. Southwell and me, for actually
from Bagshot to her house is not quite 3 miles and a straight road....
My very near relation and friend, my Lord Mornington[101] and his
son[102] and _my godson_ young Wesley, are at London and come often to
me.”
“I shall hope to make you acquainted with them next winter; you
have known my regards to them, the son is the best creature I ever
knew of his age, his whole attention is to make his Father as happy
as he can, who is greatly hurt since the death of his daughter,
Mrs. Fortescue.[103] The young man’s behaviour to me is like a
tender child to a parent, so you may believe he must engage me; he
says he shall not think of marrying till he is of age, and assures
me I shall have a negative in his choice, you may believe he is not
likely to meet one from the ladies as his estate will be a good
ten thousand a year all within 25 miles of Dublin.... The Duke and
Duchess of Portland, and the Marquis, and young ladies have been at
D’Ewes[104] at Wellesbourne in a tour.”
Mrs. Donnellan was in very bad health at this time.
[101] Baron Mornington, cousin through the Ushers to Mrs. Donnellan.
[102] Garrett _Wesley_, or Wellesley, 1st Earl Mornington; famous
for his musical talent; father of the Duke of Wellington.
[103] Elizabeth Wesley, married in 1743, Chichester Fortescue, of
Dromisken.
[104] Mrs. D’Ewes, _née_ Granville, sister of Mrs. Delany’s.
[Page heading: HAGLEY]
Now occurs a joint letter from Mr. Bower and Sir George Lyttelton
on October 6; the first writing in Italian from Hagley. Bower calls
Hagley, “questo Paradiso ed O! Madonna che paradiso! Non v’é luogo
sulla terra più degno di tal nome.” Further on he assures her that the
first volume of the “Life of Henry II.” which Sir George was engaged
upon, should, as soon as printed, be sent to her. Sir George adds--
“Till Bower came we were very uneasy at your not writing a line to
Miss West, nor am I yet without great anxiety for fear that your
attendance on the Deathbed of your servant should hurt your health.
The goodness of your heart, most amiable Madonna, is too much for
its strength. I hope by this time your servant is releas’d from her
sufferings here, and you from the sight of them; otherwise I am
sure this melancholy office of Virtue and Friendship will cost you
dear. I do not blame your obeying the impulse of that most sweet
Nature which is all tenderness and Benevolence; but remember you
have other friends interested in your health, and for whose sake
you ought to take care of it. I have a 1000 more things to say to
you, but there is a country gentleman just come to visit me whom I
must attend, and Bower brought me his letter, so that the post is
just going out. I shall be in London at latest by 10th of November.
I need not tell you that Mr. Pitt has made Fox, Secretary of State.
After a hard struggle, I have secured my Borough of Bewdley. Adieu,
this vexatious man will have me come to him, and the post will not
wait.”
On October 15, Admiral Boscawen writes to inform Mrs. Montagu of the
birth of a daughter stillborn, but that Mrs. Boscawen was doing well.
On October 20 West writes to say that Miss Pitt
“is gone this morning to congratulate Lady Hester and her brother
on the birth of a daughter[105] of which Lady Hester after a hard
and long labour was delivered on Saturday.... Miss Pitt returns
to us after she has paid her compliments to the happy Father and
Mother, and taken an exact survey of this future fair and fine
lady.”
[105] This was Hester, who became Lady Mahon, afterwards Stanhope,
mother of the celebrated Lady Hester Stanhope.
In a letter to Mr. West of November 1, after congratulating him on the
birth of Miss Pitt, Mrs. Montagu says--
“I wish her nurse in the first place, and then her governess,
would keep a journal of all the instructions the young lady has,
and all her employments, and the world might get a better treatise
of education than any yet extant. Mr. Pope says of Voiture ‘that
trifles themselves were elegant in him,’ a moderate praise to a man
who dealt only in trifles, but Mr. Pitt mixes the elegant with the
sublime.”
[Page heading: EXPECTED INVASION]
Great fears were entertained at this time of an invasion by the French.
Mrs. Medows writes from Chute to say her brother-in-law, Sir Philip
Medows
“has with a grave face told me that in troublesome times such
places as Conhault Farm often escaped, by being unseen and out of
the way, as it possesses both these advantages, I hope we shall
have the benefit of them, and seriously offer you our retreat if
anything should happen to make you prefer it to being near a town.”
At last, Travile having breathed her last, and Parliament being
summoned, the Montagus started for London on November 10, dining that
night with Miss Anstey at her new house. Mrs. Montagu tells Mrs. Scott
that
“I find the town very busy; the men are full of Politicks, the
Ladies of the Birthday Cloaths. New Ministers and new fashions
are interesting subjects, but I hear Messrs. Legge, Pitt, and
Grenville, tho’ against the subsidy, are not to be turned out.
What gives me most concern is Mr. Boscawen’s delay; the Admiralty
do not know where he is or what he is doing, he may be gathering
laurels, but as they are a deadly plant, I could wish he was at
his inglorious fireside. I am very uneasy for the poor woman (Mrs.
Boscawen) who is still at Portsmouth, if any accident should happen
to him I should go post to her. It is thought that a certain
great, very great Dowager[106] has given some discontent to her
Father-in-law.[107] I shall call on the Marechalle D’Ancre the
first time I go out to hear what they say on the present situation
of affairs. I think between his mysteriousness and her openness one
may find out something. I don’t believe Signor Concini advised the
Dowager to offend the old gentleman. The bell is very clamorous.”
[106] Dowager Princess of Wales.
[107] George II.
This last sentence I place here, as I do not think I have mentioned
that at this period a postman was sent round with a bell to collect all
the latest letters.
[Page heading: MR. GARRICK’S PLAYHOUSE]
[Illustration:
_W. Hogarth Pinx._ _Emery Walker Ph. Sc._
_Garrick and his wife_ _from the picture in the possession of H.M. The
King._]
“There is a great bustle at Mr. Garrick’s playhouse[108] about
some dancers, though they are chiefly Germans and Swiss, the mob
considers them French, and I imagine they will be driven off the
stage, tho’ the dancers and scenery have cost Mr. Garrick an
immense sum; this evening is to decide their fate, and I imagine
that at this time there may be a very bloody engagement. I rejoice
with you on the gallant behaviour of Captain Stevens animated by
your brother, to whom L’Esperance struck to Admiral West,[109] but
I met Lord Cadogan last night at Mrs. Southwell’s, who said the
French did not strike till Mr. West came up to them.”
[108] Drury Lane rows every night. On November 15 the Galleries were
victorious over the young men of quality, who protected the dancers.
[109] Temple West.
In this letter it is stated that Admiral Boscawen had just returned.
[Page heading: THE SUBSIDIES]
On November 25, in a letter to Sarah Scott, Mrs. Montagu says--
“The House of Commons sat till after 5 o’clock in the morning on
the motion for the address, which was carried by 311 against 105,
there were many speeches made which were talk’d of in all the
drawing rooms in town; with the same cool spirit of criticism you
would hear the speeches in a new Play of Mr. Whitehead’s,[110] and
Garrick and Mrs. Cibber’s manner of speaking them examined.... I
expected to find the town full of the subsidies,[111] they are
entirely forgot and never did the publick stand by more quiet
and contented. Mr. Fox and Mr. Pitt say a great many very lively
things to each other, which those who are not personally attach’d
to either hear with a great deal of pleasure. Messrs. Legge, Pitt,
and Grenville are dismiss’d, but no one positively named to succeed
them; Lord Egmont, Lord Dupplin, Mr. Doddington, and Charles
Townsend are talk’d of. Sir George Lyttelton is Chancellor of the
Exchequer, which place he was sollicited to accept. I wish the
fatigue of it may not impair his health, which is very delicate.”
[110] Paul Whitehead.
[111] Aid to be raised in supplying additional troops and seamen.
[Page heading: THE EARTHQUAKE AT LISBON]
Remarking on their friend, Miss Grinfield, being dismissed as Maid of
Honour to the Princess of Wales, Mr. Montagu writes--
“I suppose Lord B(ute)’s interest got Mrs. Ditched her place,
there is no man has such instinct for the Heir Apparent as his
Lordship. I would have him take the ‘Ich dien’ for his motto, he
serves and will serve, the hour of his ministry will never come.
I wish he would leave behind him a treatise on hope, or at least
answer Plautus who _grossièrement_ decides that hunger, thirst
and expectation are the greatest evils of human life.... The news
will tell you the sad tydings of an earthquake[112] at Lisbon,
some say a 100,000 persons were destroyed by it. The commotion
began in the Atlantick Ocean.... As to the fuss of an invasion, it
chiefly possesses those who have money in the public funds, the
state of things consider’d it appears probable. The Boom across
the Thames perhaps is to hinder such insults from the French as we
once receiv’d from the Dutch; I cannot describe it particularly to
you, not having seen it.... Lord Temple[113] very generously wrote
a letter to Mr. Pitt in polite and earnest terms to desire his
acceptance of a £1000 a year while he continues out of place.
“Voltaire, in compliance with the taste of the age, has written
a Chinese tragedy, it is called ‘L’orphelin de la Chine.’... I
have not seen Dr. Delany’s remarks on Lord Orrery’s[114] letters,
but they certainly deserved the animadversions of Dr. Swift’s
particular friend.”
[112] Took place November 1.
[113] Richard Grenville, Earl Temple, brother-in-law to Mr. Pitt.
[114] Charles Boyle, 4th Earl of Orrery, born 1703, died 1731.
Through Sir George Lyttelton’s influence, Gilbert West was reinstated
in his office at Chelsea, which from the change of parties would lapse
to the paymaster. The following letter from Sir George hints at the
trifling coolness between himself and West:--
“Hill Street, December 13, 1755.
“MY DEAR WEST,
“My endeavours to serve you, which from Lord Dupplin’s goodness
have proved successful, are indeed marks of affection, but not of
_returning_ affection. Mine for you has been constant and uniform.
What variations may have happened in yours for me I can’t tell.
Your behaviour has certainly indicated some, and I could not but
observe it. However, I can most truly assure you that one of my
greatest pleasures in my present situation has been it’s enabling
me to show you that my heart will ever be most eagerly warm in your
service. Indeed no Friend you have can more honour your vertue or
more affectionately desire your happiness than I,” etc.
The last letter of the year, December 31, to West from Mrs. Montagu,
contains this mention of Sir George Lyttelton’s son, Thomas[115]--
“Master Lyttelton paid me a visit yesterday morning, it gave me
great pleasure to find he had an air of health and strength beyond
what I had ever hoped for him; every sentence he utters shows
an understanding that is very astonishing. Mr. Torriano and Mr.
Stillingfleet came in while he was with me, the share he took in a
very grave conversation surprized them very much.”
[115] Afterwards 2nd Lord Lyttelton.
[Page heading: DEATH OF MR. WEST]
1756 begins with two letters of West’s. At the end of January he moved
to Chelsea; soon after this a stroke of the palsy brought him to the
grave on March 26.
[Page heading: MR. WORTLEY MONTAGU’S PAMPHLET]
On March 30 Mrs. Montagu writes to her sister--
“Ye 30th March.
“I imagine my dear sister would see a paragraph in the newspaper
that would excuse my not having written to her a farther account
of my poor friend, Mr. West. On the melancholy event I brought
his sister to Hill Street, where she is to stay a few days to
recover in some measure the consequences of her fatigue and the
shock her spirits have received. Mrs. West is with Lady Cobham.
She is sensible of her great loss, but says she will behave under
her affliction worthy the example of her excellent and worthy
husband, and his sentiments of resignation to the will of God, this
resolution join’d to natural good spirits and vivacity of mind,
supports her in a surprizing manner. I wish the good man could have
known she would have endured her misfortune so well, apprehensions
for her were all that disturbed the peace, I might almost say the
joy of his deathbed. Miss West went thro’ the sad duties of nursing
with great fortitude, but, she is much affected by her loss; the
Admiral[116] his brother is in deep affliction, Lady Langham[117]
finds great resources in a very extraordinary degree of piety. For
my part, tho’ I went thro’ the most melancholy scenes every day
between the sick and the afflicted, I have not suffered so much in
my health as might have been expected.... Lord Chesterfield[118]
has gone to Blackheath in a very bad state of health. The King
has had an ague but is well again.... Mr. Wortley Montagu[119]
has published a pious pamphlet titled, ‘Reflections physical and
moral upon the uncommon Phenomena in the air, water or earth which
have happened from the Earthquake at Lima, to the present time.’
I think you will send to Mr. Lake’s for it, it is written on the
Hutchinsonian[120] principles.”
[116] Temple West.
[117] West’s mother, then over seventy.
[118] The celebrated statesman, and author of the Chesterfield
“Letters” to his son.
[119] Old E. Wortley Montagu.
[120] Rev. John Hutchinson, born 1674, died 1734; author of “Moseis
Principia.”
Miss West being ordered to Bath, Mrs. Montagu gave her an introduction
to Mrs. Scott and Lady Bab Montagu, then residing in Beaufort Square.
In this letter mention is made of Miss Anstey’s death, and her not
having left a will. “Poor Mr. Anstey is not likely to survive his
sister, he has a violent fever.” We also hear of William Robinson,[121]
then recently ordained a curate at Kensington. William seems to have
been rather a _souffre douleur_ all his life, which annoyed his sister
perpetually: his harping on small worries and domestic trifles is
constantly alluded to. Mr. Botham bids him “fight a good fight, and by
diligence and spirit in his curacy to show himself worthy of a good
living.”
[121] William was the intimate friend of the poet Gray, who called
him the “Rev. Billy.”
[Page heading: DEATH OF CAPT. ROBERT ROBINSON]
A heavy affliction now fell on the sisters; early in June came the
tidings that their favourite brother Robert, the sea captain, had died
at sea. This was acutely felt by Sarah Scott, as he was her favourite
brother, probably from being nearest in age to her.
On June 24, in a letter to Mrs. Boscawen, this sad subject is touched
on--
“I know not how to reconcile myself to the loss of one of the
companions of my youth, the recollections of one’s earliest season,
the spring of life is usually pleasant and gay, but whenever it
offers itself to my mind, I cannot help asking where are those who
were my playfellows? Faith should answer, with their Maker, reason,
patience, resignation, should take place, but there is a weakness
and stubbornness too in the human habit.... My poor sister bears
her loss patiently, but it touches her heart very sorely.”
[Page heading: ADMIRAL BYNG]
Mrs. Montagu had been extremely unwell, and had spent some weeks at
Ealing Vicarage, lent to her by Mr. Botham. Dr. Shaw ordered her to
Tunbridge Wells. Mrs. Boscawen had asked for her letters to Mr. West to
be returned; Mrs. West promises to do this. At the end of the letter
one reads this--
“Mr. Montagu had just come in from the coffee-house. Mr.
Byng’s[122] expedition is unfortunate, not to say disgraceful,
instead of throwing succour into Minorca, it was agreed in the
Council of War that as there were 18,000 Frenchmen there, it would
be these men; then it was agitated whether they should engage
with the French, that was also carried in the negative; the third
question was whether they should go to take care of Gibraltar,
which was agreed on. Alas! Alas! the report to-day is that Admiral
West’s son is dead: one should lament this if we had not greater
reason to lament that the English spirit is dead. Arthur was going
to make illuminations and bonfires yesterday, and Lord Anson came
in and forbade it.”
[122] Admiral John Byng, born 1704, was shot in pursuance of the
sentence of a court-martial in 1757.
A letter to Sir George Lyttelton to Hagley in return for his
condolences runs thus--
“Your publick life will raise a high expectation of your son, it is
but just that you should give some of your private hours to qualify
him so as to answer it: his happy genius makes him worthy of such
a Preceptor.... You need but do justice to my affection for him to
give me some share of his love.”
Sir George had specially commended his son “Tom” to the “Madonna’s”
care, and they kept up a correspondence. Alas! that in future years,
despite his brilliantly intellectual qualities, and his careful
bringing up, he should almost break his father’s heart by his wild and
dissolute life. She continues--
“Most people think that Mr. Byng will have some good excuse, if not
justification, for what he has done; but however that may be, Sir
Edward Hawke[123] and Captain Saunders (now made an Admiral) are
gone to take command of the fleet.”
[123] Afterwards Lord Hawke, born 1705, died 1787.
In a letter of July 28, from Tunbridge to Mr. Montagu, one finds--
“The people at the Walks were all rejoicing poor Admiral Byng
was arrested at Portsmouth. I cannot think of him without some
compassion, a criminal is not always an object of mercy, but frail
man is ever an object of pity. People here seem to think that
a shameful death must end his shameful life. Birth and Station
bring a man into an elevated station, but do not give to him the
qualities necessary to become it.”
Lyttelton, in a letter of August 8, writes to the “Madonna,” “the
Admiral (Temple West) triumphs and pouts, and is gone to George
Grenville’s[124] with Jenny Grenville. He blames Byng, though
unwillingly, because he would rather condemn those that sent him.”
[124] George Grenville, born 1712, died 1770; became 1st Lord of the
Treasury and Chancellor of the Exchequer, time of George III.
In another letter is--
“Dr. Shaw tells me that the mob at Portsmouth would not suffer Mr.
Byng to be brought away, lest he should escape punishment. It is
said that Mr. Boscawen has taken a great number of Martinico ships,
and that part of the Brest squadron have got out, and gone to join
M. Galissionière.[125] Mr. Bower’s affidavit has had a very good
effect. I hope Mr. Millar has got some of them to distribute among
his friends in the country. I am sure his good heart will rejoice
to see innocence re-instated in reputation.”
[125] The French Admiral.
[Page heading: MR. BOWER’S ENEMIES]
Bower’s enemies had set about many evil reports of him at that period,
and Mr. Hooke had specially warned Mrs. Montagu against Bower, but she
refused to give up her friendship with one who had been introduced
to her by the saintly Gilbert West, and was the intimate friend of
Lyttelton. Bower’s change in religion from Roman Catholicism to
Protestantism exposed him to all the virulence of the priests, who in
revenge formulated all sorts of charges against him.
Mrs. Montagu now took a house on Mount Ephraim at Tunbridge Wells,
leaving Mr. Montagu in London, from whence he went to Sandleford. She
requiring wine, he sends her, from a “new wine merchant,” Madeira,
port, and claret.
[Page heading: MR. DAVID HUME]
At Tunbridge mention is made of David Hume[126] and his wife, who were
there, the latter in bad health: “I remember her twenty years ago as a
fine woman, though swarthy, but she is now a most melancholy object.”
[126] David Hume, born 1711, died 1776; philosopher and historian.
Writing to her husband at Sandleford, she says--
“Dr. Smith inquired after you this morning, he is much pleased with
your present of Dr. Barrow’s[127] bust to the Library.[128]...
He is angry with Mrs. Middleton for being so tardy as to Dr.
Middleton’s bust, at which, I own, I am a little offended.... All
the people here are impatient for the tryal of Mr. Byng. They say
he was surprised at the reception, tho’ he had so much reason to
expect the treatment he has found. Sir William Milner and his Lady
are here, they are people of considerable fortune in Yorkshire,
they seem very good-natured and obliging.”
[127] The Rev. Dr. Isaac Barrow, born 1630, died 1677; eminent
scholar and mathematician; preceptor of Sir Isaac Newton; Master of
Trinity College, Cambridge. The bust is by Roubilliac.
[128] The library of Trinity College, Cambridge.
Mention is made of Miss Dashwood[129] being at Tunbridge, much gone
off in looks: “Miss Dashwood dined with me yesterday. This place must
appear as melancholy to a lady who has formerly been a reigning beauty,
and is on the decline, as the coronation of an usurper to a dethroned
Prince!”
[129] The “Delia” of Hammond.
[Page heading: MR. MORRIS ROBINSON’S MARRIAGE]
During this summer Morris Robinson, Mrs. Montagu’s third brother,
married Miss Jane Greenland, daughter of John Greenland, of Lovelace,
Co. Kent, who was the eldest son of Augustine Greenland, of Belle Vue,
Kent. Her mother was Jane Weller, of Kingsgate House, Rolveden, Kent,
of a good family. Mrs. Montagu did not like the marriage, though she
finally adopted their second son, her nephew,[130] Matthew Robinson,
and made him take the name of Montagu. There never was any cordiality
between the sisters-in-law. Mrs. Morris Robinson was a violent-tempered
woman, and, despite her good birth, very illiterate, which, to a person
like her sister-in-law, was extremely annoying, the more so as Morris
was one of her favourite brothers, and extremely clever. As mentioned
before, he belonged to the Six Clerks’ office, and managed both the
legal affairs of the Duke of Montagu and Mr. Montagu.
[130] Succeeded his elder brother Morris as 4th Baron Rokeby in
1829.
Writing from Hagley[131] on August 11, Miss West gives an account of
her brave young nephew, who had been wounded, not killed, as at first
reported--
“My nephew[132] is at Portsmouth, not being able to bear
travelling. He has been in danger from his wound, it beginning to
mortify, but he is now in a fair way of recovery. He has shown a
spirit suited to his profession, and to the grandson of Admiral
John Balchen,[133] for when his Father proposed to send him on
board a frigate, with Byng’s nephew, who was ordered to leave my
brother’s ship by his uncle, Admiral Byng, before the engagement
began, being, like my nephew, too young to be of use. My nephew
remonstrated very strongly, ‘that Mr. Byng was only a passenger,
but he belonged to the ship he was in, and therefore it would be
such a disgrace that he could never show his head again, should
he quit it at such a juncture:’ this joined to lamentation and
importunity prevailed; when he received his wound his Father
ran to pick him up and said, ‘I hope you are not much hurt?’ ‘I
believe I am killed, but pray don’t mind me, Papa,’ answered the
poor fellow.... Hagley is now blessed with its master, who came on
Monday last with good health, looks and spirits. I was glad to see
him accompanied by Stillingfleet, so worthy a man deserves such a
countenance, and he is so unexceptionable that no censure can arise
from any favours confer’d on him.”
[131] Sir George Lyttelton’s place in Worcestershire.
[132] Son of Temple West.
[133] Admiral Sir John Balchen, born 1669, died 1744.
[Page heading: MATTHEW ROBINSON’S ECCENTRICITIES]
Sarah Scott at this time had a dangerous fever at Clifton, where she
and Lady Bab had gone to drink the waters. Writing to her, Mrs. Montagu
remarks upon the growing eccentricities of their brother Matthew,[134]
who lived upon almost raw meat, and never touched bread at all,
considering corn as exotic, and therefore diminishing British trade, at
the same time avoiding sugar for the same reason, substituting honey
for it.
[134] Afterwards 2nd Baron Rokeby.
He lived in the plainest, simplest manner himself, but was mighty
hospitable to all who came to Horton. He gradually pulled down the many
walled gardens round the house, as well as hedges, and threw the whole
of his grounds into one large park, where his cattle roamed at will.
He dressed plainly, and allowed his beard (then an unusual hirsute
ornament) to grow; but as Sir Egerton Brydges,[135] who eventually
became his nephew by marriage, remarks, “he carried his hatred of
artificialities through everything.... He was the reverse of his
Father, who was never happy out of the high and polished society and
clubs of London, and thought a country life a perfect misery.” Matthew
was, however, greatly esteemed by his neighbours and constituents, was
a great reader, and wrote some clever political pamphlets.
[135] From Sir Egerton Brydges’ “Biography,” _vide_ vol. ii. p. 2.
Sir Egerton married for second wife, Mary Robinson, niece of
Matthew, daughter of Rev. William Robinson.
[Page heading: MR. PITT BUYS HAYES]
Mr. Pitt had taken such a fancy to Hayes since Mrs. Montagu had lent
him her house there, that he bought it soon after her tenancy expired,
as will be seen by this passage in a letter of Bower’s to Mrs. Montagu--
“Mr. Pitt is doing great things at Hayes, he has bought the house,
and the house hard by, and some fields. He has built a wall towards
the public road 13 feet high. He intends to pull down the old
house, and build another in the middle of the garden. His neighbour
Elly asks an exorbitant price for his house, £500.”
Mary Pitt, writing from Hayes on September 16, mentions she is leaving
to go to Howberry to the Nedhams,[136] in order to make room for
Lady Hester’s extra attendants, as Lady Hester was expecting her
confinement. Mrs. Montagu went for ten days to Bath Easton to see
Mrs. Scott. Lord Lyttelton, writing to Mrs. Montagu on October 23, to
enquire as to her health and Mrs. Scott’s, says--
“Mr. Fox[137] has determined to lay down the seals, because he says
he has not support or credit sufficient to carry on the King’s
business in the House of Commons, and Mr. Pitt will not take them
under the Duke of Newcastle. What will be the consequence of all
this I can’t tell, my fears are great for the publick, for myself
I have none in any event: the worst that can happen to me is to
remain in the office I am in under the Duke of Newcastle, but I
will remain for the same sense of honour and duty upon which I came
into it, if the King and his Grace shall determine to stand the
attacks made upon them. How happy are Mr. Stillingfleet and Mr.
Torriano to enjoy the Madonna’s conversation, instead of hearing
the nonsensical speculations of the town.... Little Tom is quite
well and desires his best compliments. I am charmed with his sister
upon my acquaintance with her during her week’s stay at Hagley.
To make her as perfect as I could wish she wants nothing but the
society of the Madonna.”
This was his little daughter Lucy,[138] afterwards Lady Valentia.
She appears to have been brought up at first by the Fortescues, her
mother’s family.
[136] Mrs. Nedham was her married sister.
[137] Henry Fox, 1st Lord Holland, born 1705, died 1774.
[138] About ten years old then.
[Page heading: VISCOUNT PITT’S BIRTH]
On November 4 Mary Pitt writes from Howberry, “I thank you for your
congratulations on the birth of my nephew, he seems to give prodigious
satisfaction at Hayes.” This was John Pitt, afterwards Viscount Pitt;
he was born on October 9.
On November 6 Admiral Boscawen wrote from the Admiralty Office to Mrs.
Montagu, then at Sandleford--
“Last week the Duke of Newcastle and Mr. Fox resigned, and the
following are those that come in:--the Duke of Devonshire, Mr.
Legge, Mr. Nugent, Lord Duncannon and Mr. James Grenville for the
Treasury; Lord Temple, Mr. Boscawen, Mr. West, Mr. Thomas Pitt, Dr.
Hay, Mr. Hunter, Mr. Elliot of Scotland for the Admiralty; Lord
Bateman, Treasurer of the household, Mr. Edgecumbe, Comptroller of
the Household, Lord Berkeley, the band of pensioners, Mr. George
Grenville, Treasurer of the Navy, Sir Richard Lyttelton,[139] the
jewel office: these have all kissed hands. Mr. Pitt having the
gout at Wickham is not yet Secretary of State. Mr. Amyand is to be
a Commissioner of the Customs, Sir G. Lyttelton and Lord Hillsbury
have both kissed hands for peerages.”
[139] Brother of Sir George, married the Dowager Duchess of
Bridgewater.
[Page heading: LORD LYTTELTON]
On November 19 Charles Lyttelton, Dean of Exeter, afterwards Bishop
of Carlisle, wrote an almost similar account of the new Ministry, and
said--
“Mr. Pitt was in his bed at Hayes with a sharp attack of gout in
his feet; as soon as he is able to get abroad he will kiss hands
as Secretary of State.... Sir George’s patent for a peerage is
making out, which the King granted him in the most gracious manner,
which is a solid consolation to him for loss of so considerable
employment.”
On November 16 Mrs. Montagu writes to Lord Lyttelton from Sandleford--
“MY LORD,
“I think you should have written me a letter of congratulation on
Sir George Lyttelton’s being made a peer: who can feel more joy for
any honour, virtue, etc., he obtains? We congratulate our friends
on the most transient prosperity, but this peerage is a most solid
and lasting advantage, happily timed and accompanied with such
agreeable circumstances, on which I reflect with so much sincere
satisfaction.... I imagine when you take your seat in the House
of Peers, the ghost of Henry II.[140] will claim his seat in the
Temple of Fame near the Heroes, recorded by Livy and the great
Historians of Antiquity, assuring them that your Lordship is making
out his Patent for Eternal Fame.”
[140] Alluding to Lord Lyttelton’s “History of Henry II.”
[Illustration: GEORGE, LORD LYTTELTON.]
To this Lyttelton replies--
“Hill Street, November 18, 1756.
“MADAM,
“Whatever advantages there may be in a peerage, which you set
forth with an eloquence peculiar to yourself, mine has given me no
greater pleasure than your most obliging congratulations.” He then
alludes to his principal pleasure being the advantage to his son,
whose talents he praises, and continues, “An early acquaintance and
intimacy with the Madonna will be a further advantage to him, if
she will be so good as to favour him with it, which will form his
mind to all that is worthy and noble, and make him amends for the
loss of a Mother whose instructions she alone can ever supply.”
Sarah Scott’s husband, George Lewis Scott, was now made a Commissioner
of the Excise. Writing on Christmas Day to Mrs. Montagu, Sarah says
about this--
“Lady Car Fox[141] told Lady Bab that to her certain knowledge the
Prince of Wales[142] had desired he might not be placed about him,
but unless he has committed some very heinous offence against Lord
B(ute) I make no doubt of the Princess[143] providing for him, as
the contrary would be unparalleled, and not to her honour.”
[141] Daughter of Charles, 2nd Duke of Richmond.
[142] Afterwards George III.
[143] Widow of Frederick, Prince of Wales.
[Page heading: ADMIRAL BYNG]
The letters for the year wind up with one from Sam Torriano, of
November 13. It begins--
“MADAM,
“If the brave and victorious Admiral Byng should be so lucky as to
meet with so tender an advocate for him as you have been for me,
he stands a good chance of an easy death,[144] and so the mob will
be disappointed, who now wish that everybody may be hanged but
himself....”
[144] Admiral Byng was shot on his own ship, March 14, 1757.
[Page heading: DR. MESSENGER MONSEY]
Further he alludes to Pitt being laid up with gout at Hayes, “a legacy
you left him,” alluding to her formerly owning Pitt’s residence at
that place. Then he mentions Stillingfleet having been staying at
Sandleford, and says, “Monsey swears he will make out some story of you
and him before you are much older; you shall not keep blew stockings at
Sandleford for nothing.” This is the first allusion to blue stockings,
but that Stillingfleet’s wearing blue stockings gave the name to the
coterie entirely, must be false. He was, however, a very learned man,
especially upon botany. In later letters allusion is made to his having
left off wearing blue stockings! The coterie of friends probably was
named thus after the famous _bas bleu_ assemblies of Paris, held in
the _salons_ of Madame de Polignac in the Rue St. Honoré, where the
wearing of blue stockings was the rage: but Dr. Monsey is mentioned for
the first time here. Dr. Messenger Monsey was the son of a clergyman;
he was born in 1698, so was fifty-eight years old at this date. He
was a doctor and surgeon, and became private physician to the Earl of
Godolphin, and afterwards physician to Chelsea Hospital. He was most
eccentric, and, if his portrait at the Soane Museum was like him,
hideous in appearance; but he had a coarse rough-and-tumble wit, and
evidently was so droll in manner, that he became a sort of pet buffoon
of the Montagu and Lyttelton circle. His letters are interminably
long; written in such small though neat writing, a magnifying glass
is required for careful perusal. He was at this time a widower, with
one married daughter, Charlotte, whose husband, William Alexander,
was elder brother to the 1st Earl of Caledon. Mrs. Alexander had one
child, a daughter, Jemima, who married the Rev. Edmund Rolfe, and was
mother eventually of the 1st Baron Cranworth. Monsey’s letters are so
coarse one can hardly imagine the _bas bleus_ putting up with them.
Dr. Monsey begged Dr. Cruickshank, in case of his dying away from his
own doctor (Dr. Forster), to dissect his body before the students,
set up his skeleton for instruction, and put his flesh in a box and
throw it into the Thames. He must either have been very swarthy, or
disliked soap and water, as Torriano, in allusion to Monsey’s threat
of inventing a story about Stillingfleet and Mrs. Montagu, says, “Your
fame, which was as fair as Dian’s visage, will be soon black and
begrim’d like the Doctor’s own face!”
[Page heading: EMIN]
During this year Mrs. Montagu had also formed an acquaintance with an
Armenian named Joseph Ameen, or Emin. He was the son of a merchant, and
born at Hamadan, whither his father had been carried captive by the
Persians. His father at last escaped to Calcutta, after being slave to
Kouli Khan for many years. The Persians, ever since 1604, under Shah
Abbas, had frequently made inroads into Armenia, captured the majority
of the inhabitants, and carried them away as slaves into Persia. Emin
grew up with a passionate desire to free his country from oppression
and the yoke of unbelievers, for the Armenians were then, as now,
Christians. Emin says of his father in a letter to his patron, the Earl
of Northumberland[145]--
“My Father taught me like other Armenians only to write and read
in our own language, and to get Psalms by heart to sing in Church,
but he did not show me how to handle arms to fight for that Church,
as my Uncle did who was killed at his Church door, nor anything to
kindle up my heart to understand great affairs.”
[145] Hugh Smithson, the 15th Earl, made Duke of Northumberland in
1766; born 1714, died 1786.
[Page heading: EMIN’S TROUBLES]
[Page heading: EMIN’S FORTUNES]
Burning to learn “the art of war” as practised by the British soldiers
in India, and his father opposing him, Emin determined on flight to
England, and, taking what money he possessed, he “kissed the feet of
Capt. Fox of the ship _Walpole_ a hundred times to let me work[146]
my passage to Europe before he would heed to me, but he did at last
admit me, and I came to England with much labour.” Arrived in England,
he entered Mr. Middleton’s Academy, and was first a scholar, and
then, when his money was exhausted, worked there as a servant for his
learning. His master becoming bankrupt, Emin lost his all, and was
reduced to the streets. At last he obtained service with a Mr. Rogers,
a grocer, as porter. “In this time I carried burthens of near 200 lbs.
upon my back, and paid out of my wages to learn geometry, complete my
writing, and learn a little French.” Overstraining himself, he could no
longer carry such heavy burthens, and was reduced to living on 1½_d._
a day, but a friend recommended him to a Mr. Webster, an attorney in
Cheapside, with whom he got work for a time. His uncle sent £60 to
Governor Davis to take Emin home to India, but after a while, meeting
“by chance some gentlemen[147] who encouraged me and lent me books, and
advised me to kiss Colonel Dingley’s hands and show him my business, he
was a brave soldier, took me by the hand, spoke to his own Sergeant, an
honest man, to teach me Manuel Exercise, and gave me ‘Bland’s Military
Discipline’ and promised to help me learn gunnery and fortification.”
Unfortunately Colonel Dingley died, and Emin, in despair, and by the
advice of the gentlemen mentioned before, who appear from the letters
to have been a Calcutta lawyer and Edmund Burke, applied to the Earl
of Northumberland in a long letter, passages of which I have quoted.
Emin proposes that his lordship should apply to Governor Davis for some
of the money his uncle had sent to pay for his passage back to India to
enable him (Emin) to join the “black Armenians in the mountains, as I
heard they had never been conquered,” to teach him the art of war. The
Earl of Northumberland at last--after Emin waiting at his house often
from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.!--took notice of him, and sent his servant to
fetch him to see him, and on hearing his story, said, “Ameen, it is
very hard to live in this country without friends and without money,
almost four years, therefore the Lord is with you, be contented, I will
from this time provide and furnish you with all necessaries,” and,
said he, “I will mediate to the son of our King, and after you have
learned the art of war, I will send you to your Father and your Uncles:
the noble lady[148] comforted me also likewise.” Lord Northumberland
introduced Emin to Sir Charles Stanhope,[149] and he in turn to Lord
Cathcart,[150] who gave him great encouragement. Lord Northumberland
now introduced him to the Duke of Cumberland, who henceforth took an
interest in him. Emin applied for military service in a long letter to
Heraclius II., King of Georgia and Armenia, who was anxious to shake
off the yoke of the Persians, but evidently the reply was delayed, and
the next we hear of him is that he had been sent to Woolwich Academy,
“to Mr. Heaton’s on Church Hill,” to learn the “art of war.” Having
effected a reconciliation with his father, it is interesting to read
what presents he desired him to send this noble patron, the Earl of
Northumberland--
“Send to my protector Nobleman, spices of the finest Pulam of
Radnagar, 2 pieces of the finest Mul-mul, and 2 pieces of Madras
red handkerchiefs, 2 pieces of Cuzombzar Silk handkerchiefs to be
ornamented at both ends at Dacca.”
[146] The passage took from February 3 (from Hoogley) to December
14,--ten months!
[147] The gentlemen were a Calcutta lawyer, Emin, or Joseph Ameen,
and Edmund Burke, who at once protected Emin.
[148] Elizabeth, only daughter and heiress of Algernon Seymour, Duke
of Somerset.
[149] Sir Charles Stanhope, died 1759.
[150] 9th Lord Cathcart, aide-de-camp to the Duke of Cumberland,
etc., etc.
So ends 1756.
[Year: 1757]
[Page heading: “MY QUEEN OF SHEBA”]
On May 10, 1757, Emin writes from Woolwich to implore Mrs. Montagu
to use her influence with her brother-in-law, Mr. Medows, who was
intimate with the Duke of Marlborough, to get him a commission in the
Royal Artillery, in order to enable him to join the British army then
fighting to defend Hanover, and assist the King of Prussia against the
inroads of the French.
This letter, speaking of Mrs. Montagu, addresses her as “My Queen of
Sheba,” and alludes to all “the noble ladies of her circle,” and Dr.
Monsey as “my honest, dear Dr. Monsey.”
From a letter printed in my grandfather’s collection of his aunt’s
letters, dated March 8, 1757, but which I do not possess, Mrs.
Montagu writes to Dr. Monsey, then at Gog Magog, Lord Godolphin’s
Cambridgeshire seat--
“DEAR DOCTOR,
“That is because you have made me well! Dear Sir, because you make
me laugh!”
In this letter, too long to insert here, she says “there have been
great efforts to save Mr. Byng.” She says Stillingfleet had left off
his blue stockings, and was at gay operas and assemblies each night.
[Page heading: THE WINDSOR ELECTION]
From Windsor Castle, where Lady Sandwich had been granted apartments,
and was living with her sister, Miss Fane, this interesting letter from
Mrs. Montagu, who was on a visit there, is dated--
“Windsor Castle, Friday.
“MY DEAREST,
“I know you will be curious to hear how the famous election has
been carried at Windsor, and the greatest pleasure I can have
is to impart any to you. Mr. Fox[151] had a majority of 52, the
Mayor, who is Mr. Bowles’ friend, owns he had a legal majority of
nine. The boxers and the bruisers Mr. Fox had on his side beat the
Windsor mob out of the Field, but they had once the courage to
attack Mr. Fox’s person, and pulled off his wig, and threw it in
his face. In short the affair has been very tumultuous. The town
is quiet, none are actually dead, but four or five are dangerously
ill, and the Doctors and Apothecarys had a great harvest of bruises
and fractures.... The ladies wore party gowns, Fox’s is partly
yellow and green, and the others blue; our sex have a wise way of
expressing their political principles.”
[151] Henry Fox, born 1705, died 1774; afterwards Baron Holland.
On June 28, being returned to Sandleford, writing to Mr. Montagu, she
mentions--
“The poor are very riotous on Market days, and it was rumoured, as
I am told, that you had some corn in the granary,[152] and also
the same of Mr. Herbert,[153] at which they were very angry; but
I hope they will patiently wait its going to Market, for there is
still a great while to Harvest. Corn fell last week, and bears but
8_s._ 6_d._ a bushell, but gin and idleness give the poor a riotous
and licentious spirit.... Lady Sandwich has got a very pretty
habitation in the Castle, we went into the little park in the
evening, that and all I saw of the environs of Windsor delighted me
extreamly.”
[152] There was a great dearth of corn at this period, and a bill
had to be passed prohibiting exportation.
[153] Mr. Herbert, of Highclere.
Mr. Montagu thanked his wife on July 10 for telling him about the
election, and says, “I hear it cost him (Mr. Fox) £3000, that he gave
£50 apiece for many of his votes, and carried it by 31.”
[Page heading: DR. STILLINGFLEET]
The first letter of Dr. Stillingfleet’s[154] I possess is written on
July 23 to Mrs. Montagu. His handwriting is clear, but he always uses a
small “i” alone instead of a capital “I,” except at the beginning of a
sentence. Portions I copy--
“I have been at Malvern about twelve days, where with difficulty i
have got a lodging, the place is so very full, nor do i wonder at
it, there being some instances of very extraordinary cures in cases
looked on as desperate, even by Dr. Wall,[155] the Physician, who
first brought the waters into vogue. I do not doubt but that the
air and exercise, which at present is absolutely necessary here,
the Well being at over two miles[156] from the town, contribute
very much towards restoring the health of the patients. The road
is very fine, and made on purpose for the drinkers. It is on the
side of a hill, which i am told is found by exact mensuration in
some part to be half a mile perpendicularly high, above a wide
plain that lies at the bottom. Towards the well the road ascends
considerably, so that i imagine the end of it is not much less
than halfway up to the top. A gentleman in the neighbourhood has,
at his own expense, made a walk a little above the well; this walk
runs on a level for about 600 yards, winding with the breaks of the
hill, and makes the noblest terrace i ever saw, the plain over
which you look being bounded by some fine hills, and on it, lying
on one side, Worcester, on the other Gloucester. The hill is fed
with sheep, here and there some cattle graze, overhead I see my
favourite bird, the Kite, sailing, and all the while i tread on
porphyry, the consciousness of which, you may guess, adds not a
little to my satisfaction, when i consider that Princes are proud
to have a few pillars of this material.... The town lies high on
the side of the hill, and still on Porphyry. The church, which
stands a little lower, was a Priory.... Not far below the Church is
a spring of the same nature with that of Tunbridge.... I wish this
place was nearer to London, for it seems exactly adapted to do you
good.... There is a subscription going forward for building a large
lodging-house near the Well. At present there is only one old house
in the town, turned entirely to that purpose, which contains about
fifteen persons, and one large room in it, where once a week there
is a sort of public breakfast and dinner. We have had one public
tea-drinking and card-playing in the afternoon, by particular
invitation; to-day it will begin on another footing, and is to be
weekly.”
[154] Dr. Benjamin Stillingfleet, born 1702, died 1771. Wrote
“Calendar of Flora,” etc., etc.
[155] Dr. John Wall, an eminent physician. First made Malvern known
as a Spa, and founded the porcelain manufactory at Worcester.
Dr. Wall died in 1776.
[156] Matlock Bath now.
[Page heading: TO “KILLUM”]
[Page heading: “KILLUM”]
Soon after the receipt of this letter, Mrs. Montagu set out on a visit
to Lady Bab Montagu and Mrs. Scott at Bath Easton, and Mr. Montagu,
on July 28, writes to say he purposes driving to “Killum”[157] to
see his friend Mr. Stevens.[158] “Killum” was Culham Court, Berks.
George Stevens, a very eccentric character, afterwards, in 1766,
published an edition of Shakespeare, and three years later some notes
were incorporated in it of Dr. Johnson’s. Mr. Montagu writes this
description of “Killum”--
“His house is a very good one, built about fifty years ago,
the rooms large and wainscoated with oak, and three very good
bedchambers with beds that at some time cost a good deal of money,
but are the worse for time. He has been pulling down walls, and
everything lyes rough and without order or neatness, and to finish
the account of it, very much resembled its owner. Its situation
is what I think fine and much pleases me, it is in a Valley
which begins at the foot of that hill which we see on Maidenhead
Thickett, and goes as far as Henley and further. The Thames runs
quite through it, is of good breadth, and with a great number of
little islands scatter’d here and there makes a most beautyfull
appearance. On the bank of this river, on a terrass the house
is built, it is of considerable extent, and if adorn’d with
plantations and buildings would be very pretty and pleasant, but
to do this may require a greater expense than may be convenient,
so that all he at present thinks of doing is the improving the
lawn.... You might blame me if I omitted giving you some account
of one of a kind very uncommon. I mean Mr. Hart’s[159] Chinese
house. This stands in a beech wood of Mr. Stevens about half a
mile from him. Consists of a suite of rooms pav’d with pantyles
and hung with paper, and on the outside is embellish’d with very
costly decoration of the Chinese manner. Mr. Stevens says the cost
has been about two thousand pounds, but I don’t believe three would
pay for it. It seems to me no more than a whim, and so much money
flung away. It stands very high, and has a more extensive view
than Mr. Stevens’. It might be agreeable to entertain a company
there in the finest and warmest weather, but one cannot think of
it as an habitation without shuddering. At present no use is made
of it; three servants are kept there who have no other business
than to look after the house, keep the wood walks in order, and
breed pheasants; in about 15 years the lease expires, and then
it comes to Mr. Stevens.” Mr. Montagu says, “I have some other
thoughts of taking another ramble about the middle of the week to
Winchester, and perhaps Southampton.”
[157] This would place the building of Culham Court as taking place
in 1707. See the first line of the next page.
[158] George Stevens, born 1736, died 1800.
[159] This was Rose Hill, built by Governor Hart, now the property
of General E. Micklem.
Mrs. Montagu had written to ask for a pair of horses and a coachman to
be sent to Bath Easton, in order to convey herself and sister to stay
at King’s Weston with Mrs. Southwell, “a man at Bath Easton will feed
each horse at 6_d._ a day!” Mr. Montagu sends them, but says, “They may
possibly serve to carry you to King’s Weston, and bring you part of the
way home, but for any expeditions out of the Turnpike roads I fear they
will not endure it.”
[Illustration: MRS. MARY DELANY.]
[Page heading: MR. STEVENS]
In replying to her husband, the following character of Mr. Stevens is
given:--
“I look upon Mr. Stevens as a man who has disfranchised himself
from all slavery to custom and fashion, and who as seldom brushes
up or new trims his modes of living as his coat, but wears both
as long as they fit him, in spite of what fops and taylors may
say. I hope he will come to Sandleford, for he has parts enough to
make his singularities amusing. I dare say he was very happy in
the visit you made him, both for the pleasure of your conversation
and from a little vanity, for tho’ the modes of singularity may
give a man an air of designing to live alone and of contemplation,
in the world, I believe one may venture to say, none are more
desirous of regard and notice than those who affect to retire and
be singular; they rather design their peculiarities for a badge of
distinction than a line of separation between them and Society;
and a man in low life may go ungarter’d or cross-garter’d, who in
another station would have been ambitious of a blue garter, and
their installment into a particular character is a matter of great
wit.... We had a report that the Duke had killed 3000 French, but
he is well off if he can keep on the defensive. I had a letter
from Mr. Emin that the Duke of Cumberland received him in the most
gracious manner, and he is so pleased, I believe he thinks one more
step will put him on the Persian throne. It is happy to be born of
a hoping constitution; his day dreams are very pleasant. I wish his
patriot spirit was communicated to a dozen or two of our great men.”
[Page heading: EMIN’S LETTER]
Emin had joined the English army under the Duke of Cumberland, then
fighting the French. On July 30 he wrote to Dr. Monsey, enclosing
a letter to his patronesses, to be copied for each lady. In the
postscript is the first mention of Edmund Burke.
“Now I would have you ask Mr. Burke’s advice about this letter
before you coppy it for my friends. Pray don’t be mad because my
friend is an Irish gentleman, but I can tell you that he is your
beloved son-in-laws[160] countryman. I dare say you will be mighty
pleased at being acquainted with him.”
[160] Dr. Monsey’s only child married William Alexander, elder
brother 1st Earl Caledon.
Emin’s letter begins--
“Limburg, August 1, 1757.
“To all the ladies and Patronesses of Joseph Emin.
“MY NOBLE LADIES,
“I believe your ladyships have been in a long expectation to hear
from this part of the world, more especially of the battle which
began on the 23rd of July. In the morning we were ordered out with
25 horses and 200 foot irregulars to secure a post, where we found
300 husars and 700 foot soldiers, upon which we began immediately
to fire, and they retreated very soon; and in the afternoon his
highness, hearing that the French were advancing with their whole
army, ordered that the part of his army were to advance also, but
it was very unlucky for us that our infantry was too late; and
before they could come up, the enemy begun from some distance to
fire upon us with their cannon, with no manner of execution. His
Royal Highness thought proper to return to his camp in Aferden.
The next day, the enemy, still advancing from their camp at Halla
all along the river Vizer,[161] and were retreating untill we
halted upon a high hill with full of trees, and they on another;
were the firing of cannon began again on both sides, and lasted
till evening. Our situation not being so well as we could wish,
we still retreated till we come to Hamelin,[162] there we posted
the right of our army, and our left at Onsburg, and unfortunate
Hastenbek[163] between us and the enemy, which was soon burnt down.
The 25th, about four in the morning, the enemy began to advance
with their musicks and drums, making a very great noise, more
like Indians than Europeans, and was soon silenced; as a few of
our balls, and cannonading begun of both sides briskly. At that
time your slave was upon a hill with no more than 200 irregulars,
commanded by my friend, Major Freydag, a man of good conduct and
judgment, where we could see the two armies very plain. It was a
place had it not been so dangerous as the cannon balls were flying
like so many flies over our heads, I would wish my noble friend
ladies who are my patronesses and who are so fond of Heros and
hearing of battles, to have seen it, which would really have been
worth their while; then I would have wished again that the heavenly
chariots where descended from the gods above, to have transported
them to their native and blessed Island, peradventure they should
have been in the greatest of dangers, for wee saw about eleven
of the clock the enemy with no less than six thousand of Horses
and Foot comming up to us of all sides with a great fury, except
a little grass that led us down to our army, but this bravery of
theirs was greatly owing to an information which they had of us a
day before. Knowing that we were no more than two hundred men,
or else they woud not be so furious in their attack, for they are
vastly like the black Indians, fire at a great distance and run
away. However, we stood almost half an hour, our men ralyed three
times and killed no less than 300 of them; for our men are brought
up from their infantry (_sic!_) as huntsmen, they never miss their
mark. I have seen them shoot at 300 yards’ distance; they are like
the mountiniers of Armenia and Dagastun, the French husars run
away as soon as they see us. You see, my noble ladies, what great
advantage it is to a Nation who has the liberty not only to kill
the partridges but to kill as many deers and other animals as they
please. The loss of ours was but 20 and 6 wounded, we could not
support any longer and where obliged to retreat, and join the army,
and about 2 a-clock in the afternoon, the enemy retreated with the
loss of eleven cannon, and had taken some of ours, but we retaken
them again, but the battle continued still and lasted from 4 in the
morning to 6 in the afternoon, the loss of their side was about
3000 and about 1200 of ours, we don’t look upon this as a battle in
Persia, but as a scarmish (_sic!_). The inventor of gunpowder tho’
he is cursed by many ignorant people but his invention has been a
very great service towards preservation of Mankind, gunpowder is
a thing which makes a great noise like lightning and thunder keep
mankind distant with an awe. ‘The thought of gunpowder,’ says the
great Marshal de Saxe, ‘is more than the danger itself.’ I woud
wish to have no more than 1500 Persian Horse if it is not too bold
and your humble servant the teacher of them, we could soon show the
French that the effect of symiters (_sic_) would be greater than
that of gunpowder tho’ their number of what we hear is one hundred
fifty thousand men and ours are you very well know. At present we
are upon marches and countermarches.”
At the end of the letter he says he has received nothing as yet from
his royal master, and that if he does not, he must unwillingly return
to his father in India, as he will not be a “begar” any longer on his
noble patrons.
[161] River Weser.
[162] Hamelen.
[163] Hastenbeck.
[Page heading: THE HEALTH OF H.R.H.’S LEG]
This battle was that of Hastenbeck. The Duke of Cumberland had placed
the archives and valuable effects from Hanover in the town of Stadt,
and from Stadt came a letter from Emin to Dr. Monsey, on September
13, just after the famous Convention of Kloster-Seven had, by the
intervention of the King of Denmark, been signed, and peace arranged.
In reply to Dr. Monsey’s inquiry about the Duke of Cumberland’s health,
Emin says, “You are desirous to know how my royal master is. Mr.
Andrews (_valet_), with his compts. to you, says his Royal highness’s
leg is quite well, so you may be easy.”
To return to Mrs. Montagu, staying at Bath Easton, on August 1, writing
to her husband, she expresses herself uneasy, as Admiral Boscawen was
recalled from the fleet, for what he knew not. “Mr. Boscawen will be
busy enquiring the cause of his being recalled, he has merit and a
powerful family, and I hope his ennemies cannot oppress tho’ they may
oppose him. Do not mention this affair.”
In July Mrs. Morris Robinson had presented her husband with a son
and heir, who was christened Morris, after his father, and became
eventually 3rd Baron Rokeby. “Morris’ little boy goes on well.... Mr.
Potter made a fine harangue to the Bath Corporation on Mr. Pitt’s
Election. The circus,[164] I am told, is but little nearer finish’d
than when we were here.”
[164] The circus at Bath.
In the next letter, after comments on the beauties of things at Weston,
she writes--
“Yesterday morning Mrs. Southwell and I got into her postchaise
early, and went to the passage of the Severn, got into the Ferry
boat and cross’d over to Chepstow in Monmouthshire, and from
Chepstow we went to Mr. Morris’ called Piercefield, a place so far
exceeding any thing I ever saw or expect to see, I must reserve
the description till I see you. A reach of the Severn of forty
miles is one of the most inconsiderable advantages of the place,
every beauty of land, sea, rocks, verdure, cultivation, old ruins,
villages, churches are there in the highest perfection; the river
Wye forms a most beautiful half island in one part as the Severn
Sea adorns the other.”
[Page heading: WORTLEY MONTAGU]
Mr. Montagu replies--
“On Tuesday night, as I was at Supper about 10 o’clock, who should
come in to me but my cousin Wortley,[165] he had been making a
visit to somebody near Wallingford ... he missed his way, the roads
were so bad and rough that two of the glasses of his new chaize
were broken and he could not get any reparation at Newbury.” In
commenting on political subjects, he adds, “I suppose now everybody
will be sensible of the folly we have been guilty of in so long
suffering the Wild Boar of Germany to enter and destroy our
vineyard.”
[165] Mr. Wortley Montagu, senior, husband of Lady Mary Wortley
Montagu, first cousin to Mr. Edward Montagu.
Mrs. Montagu answers--
“I assure you it is with a melancholy pleasure I often look on this
charming country, perhaps this is the last summer I may ever be
an idle traveller thro’ a peaceable country; however, I have one
comfort, that as you are innocent of the evils that may overwhelm
us, you will the better support yourself and me under them, and
that the best we can hope is to be tributary vassals to France,
perhaps they will invade and conquer us, but God forbid.”
[Page heading: ELIZABETH WILMOT]
Mrs. Talbot,[166] writing from Barrington,[167] bids Mrs. Montagu
to come and stay with her. The letter is not a remarkable one, but
it says, “Have you heard lately from Lady Sandwich? I find the old
Countess[168] is dead at last at Paris.” This was the eccentric
Elizabeth Wilmot, sister of _the_ Earl of Rochester, and grandmother of
John, Lord Sandwich, widow of the 3rd Earl. It is said she governed her
husband to such a degree that he was almost a cypher and a prisoner in
his own house, she being, though an indifferent wife, a most brilliant
spirited woman. After her lord’s death in 1729, she lived in Paris,
where she was the friend of Ninon de l’Enclos and St. Evremont. Both
Pope and Lord Chesterfield have mentioned her as extremely spirited and
having great intellectual ability.
[166] Mrs. Talbot, widow of Edward Talbot, Bishop of Durham.
[167] Barrington Park, near Burford, Oxon.
[168] She died July 2, 1757, at Rue Vaugirard, Paris.
Her daughter-in-law, Lady Hinchinbroke, _née_ Elizabeth Popham, lost
her husband, Lord Hinchinbroke, in 1722, and I have several curious
letters written by her to Mrs. Montagu in 1739, respecting her son
John, 4th Earl of Sandwich (“Jemmy Twitcher”). He was then eleven
years old, and his mother sent him to sea. Probably he was even then
very unruly, but he could not bear the sea, and through Mr. Montagu
she applied to their common connection, John, Duke of Montagu, to get
him a commission in the Army, buying it “as an ensign in a marching
regiment.” The duke’s reply to this is singularly indifferent in
expression, and his spelling terrible.
On August 6, writing from Bath Easton to her husband, Mrs. Montagu
alludes to the defeat of Frederick the Great at Kollin in Bohemia, on
June 18, by General Daun. Emin had written to her, saying--
“The French seem afraid of us, tho’ so much inferior in numbers....
I hear the King of Prussia takes to himself the whole blame of his
disgrace in the late affair, and says if he had followed the advice
of the Prince of Bevern, it had not happen’d; there is something
more great perhaps in a Monarch owning his error than in gaining a
victory, but it will not have the same effect in establishing his
affairs in Germany, so that in his situation the least advantage
over the Empress Queen[169] would have been of better consequence.
Sir John Mordaunt, General Conway,[170] and Col. Cornwallis are
going abroad with some forces as the Newspapers tell us, and the
French seem again disposed to disturb us with the apprehension of
an invasion.”
[169] Maria Theresa, Empress of Austria, born 1717, died 1780.
[170] Seymour Henry Conway, the cousin and bosom friend of Horace
Walpole; born 1720, died 1795.
[Page heading: DESCRIPTION OF EMIN]
Writing to Dr. Stillingfleet on August 7, in return for his description
of Malvern, Mrs. Montagu gives this fine description of Emin--
“Mr. Emin was most graciously received by the Duke, had offers of
money and all marks of regard from his Royal Highness, so that his
letters express the highest satisfaction ... there must be a nobler
seat than the Persian throne reserved for that fine spirit which,
born in slavery and nurtured in ignorance, aspired to give liberty,
knowledge, and civil arts to his country. To compass this he
risqued his life, and endured the greatest hardships, and ventured
all dangers and uncertainties in a country whose very language he
was a stranger to; how different from so many of our countrymen,
who for little additions of power and greater gratifications of
luxury, in spite of their pride of birth and advantage of a
liberal education and the incitements of the great examples of
all ages and nations, will hazard enslaving us to a nation our
forefathers despised.”
In this letter we learn that Lord Lyttelton had returned from a Welsh
tour very unwell, had spent two days with her and Mrs. Scott at Bath
Easton, _en route_ to Hagley, and that on her return to Sandleford she
expected a visit from Dr. Monsey.
[Page heading: LADY LYTTELTON’S TEMPER]
In a letter from Rev. Charles Lyttelton from Hagley of August 17, one
catches a glimpse of the second Lady Lyttelton’s temper. He says--
“My brother Lord Lyttelton returned from his Welsh expedition the
same day I came home, and you will easily believe how welcome he
was to Miss West and me, as we had nobody to converse with or
rather to eat with, but ye amiable Lady of ye house, for she does
not deign to converse or hardly say a single word to either of us.
On Saturday, Hester[171] arrived, so we are now a strong party, and
her Ladyship may be as sulkey and silent as she pleases.... Lord
Lyttelton is got pure well.”
This expression is often used in the eighteenth-century writings;
apparently it meant perfect health at that time.
[171] Lady Hester Pitt.
From Merton, on August 30, Lady Frances Williams[172] writes to Mrs.
Montagu, and in her letter alludes with joy to Emin’s safety, and then
adds--
“By the accounts arrived from Lord Loudoun,[173] _the_
_Mediterranean tragedy_ seems to be acting over again in the
American seas. A Council of War was call’d to advise whether the
10,000 men brought to Louisburgh[174] should be landed or not; it
was determined in the _negative_ upon finding the French had 2 more
ships than we had. Lord Charles Hay’s only entering his protest,
and they are returned to Halifax to wait a reinforcement.
“This brings to my mind the death of Admiral West, and the
disgust given our friend Admiral Boscawen, which I look upon as a
retaliation from the Pittites for the dismission of the former last
Spring.”
[172] Lady Frances Williams was daughter of the Earl of Coningsby;
her husband, Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, was a statesman, poet,
and wit.
[173] Lord Loudoun, Commander-in-Chief of the English army in
America against the French.
[174] Louisburg in Nova Scotia; the English were attacking the
French Canadian Provinces.
[Page heading: THE HAWKE EXPEDITION]
In a letter from Fulham on September 15 Mrs. Donnellan alludes to the
expedition under Sir Edward Hawke[175] and Sir John Mordaunt against
the French, which was kept very secret.
“They say Sir John Mordaunt said to the officers, ‘You will have
but a short bout, but it will be a brisk one, and I hope we shall
all behave as we ought to.’ ’Tis supposed we shall hear in less
than a week something about it.... Whatever it is, Mr. Pit (_sic_)
will either have the glory or disgrace of it, for every one calls
it his scheme. The King, they say, had a fainting fit about a week
ago as he sat at cards, but is now well and seems cheerful.... Lord
Bolingbroke and Lady, were in such a hurry of passion they could
not wait for settlements but were married upon an Article; may one
not think of an old Proverb, ‘Marry in haste.’”
Lady Bolingbroke was a daughter of Charles Spencer, Duke of
Marlborough, and Mrs. Donnellan’s prophecy came true, but not till
1768, when she was divorced, and married Topham Beauclerk, son of Lord
Sydney Beauclerk.
[175] Sir Edward Hawke commanded the navy, and Sir John Mordaunt the
army. It was against the French, and proved a failure, costing
nearly a million.
[Page heading: AN HUMOROUS AFFECTION]
On September 15 Mrs. Montagu wrote a long letter to Dr. Stillingfleet
from Sandleford. In this she alludes to the humorous affection for her
which Dr. Monsey had developed.
“You must know Sir, Dr. Monsey is fallen desperately in love with
me, and I am most passionately in love with him, the darts on both
sides have not been the porcupine’s, but the grey goose quill. We
have said so many tender things to each other by the post, that at
last we thought it would be better to sigh in soft dialogue than
by letter. We agreed to meet, and the rather, as all the lovers we
had read of (and being in love with each other only _du coté de
l’esprit_, you may suppose we woo by book) had always complained
of absence as the most dreadful thing imaginable. He said, nay he
swore, he would come to Sandleford, and twice had named the day,
but each time his grand-daughter fell sick, and I know not whether
he will keep the third appointment, which is for next Monday.
These disappointments have made me resolve, and I really believe
it will not be difficult to keep the resolution, never again to
fall in love with a man who is a grandfather. In all other respects
the Doctor is a perfect Pastor Fido, and I believe when we get to
Elysium, all the lovers who wander in the Myrtle Groves there will
throw their garlands at our feet.”
Further on she alludes to Emin, who was at Stadt, and had written her a
most devoted letter.
“I do not indeed hope to see him on the Persian throne, or giving
laws to the East, but I know he sits on the summit of human virtue,
and obeys the laws of Him who made that world the ambitious are
contending for, and to such only my esteem pays homage.”
[Page heading: MRS. BOSCAWEN]
In a letter to Mrs. Scott of this period occurs Mrs. Montagu’s opinion
of the character of her friend, Mrs. Boscawen.[176]
“She is in very good spirits, and sensible of her many felicities,
which I pray God to preserve to her; but her cup is so full of
good, I am always afraid it will spill. She is one of the few whom
an unbounded prosperity could not spoil. I think there is not a
grain of evil in her composition. She is humble, charitable, pious,
of gentle temper, with the firmest principles and with a great deal
of discretion, void of any degree of art, warm and constant in her
affections, mild towards offenders, but rigorous towards offence.”
[176] _Née_ Frances Glanville, daughter of William Evelyn Glanville,
of St. Clair, Kent.
[Page heading: HER TRUST IN PROVIDENCE]
I make extracts from a splendid letter to Mrs. Boscawen of October 25.
Admiral Boscawen had just received a commission rather unexpectedly,
owing to the failure of the Hawke and Mordaunt expedition.
“I am a little uneasy lest the surprize should have hurt you,
satisfy me in that matter and my imagination will then sit down
and weave laurel garlands for your husband’s head, and I too will
rejoice in the advantage which I hope his country will reap from
his arms, but think me not ignoble if I own, glory is but a bright
moonshine when compared to your welfare, and think me not below
the standard of true patriotism, if I confess, it is for the sake
of such as you, my country is a name so dear. I know you are too
reasonable to wish Mr. Boscawen might avoid the hazards of his
profession. The Duke of Marlbro’ his kinsman, lived to old age
and survived perhaps all the cowards that were born on the same
day, the accidents of life are more than the chances of war. Be
not afraid, but commit it all to the great and wise Disposer of
all events; a firm hope and cheerful reliance on Providence I do
believe to be the best means to bring about what we wish, and that
such confidence does it far better than all our anxious foresight,
our provident schemes and measuring of security. I remember with
sorrow and shame, I trusted much to a continual watching of my
son,[177] I would not have committed him to a sea voyage, or
for the world in a town besieged, I forgot at Whose will the
waves are still, and Who breaketh the bow and knappeth the spear
asunder. What was the reward of this confidence of my own care
and diffidence of His who only could protect him? Why, such as
it deserved, I lost my beloved object, and with him my hopes, my
joys, and my health, and I lost him too, not by those things I had
feared for him, but by the pain of a tooth. Pray God keep you from
my offence and the punishment of it. I do not mean that you should
be void of anxiety in times of hazard, but offer them to God every
night and sleep in peace, the same every morning, and rise with
confidence.... I am much pleased with his Majesty’s confidence in
Mr. Boscawen....
“The Duke,[178] it seems, is gone to plant cabbages; as soon as
these great folks are disgusted they go into the country; the
indignant statesman plants trees upon which he wishes all his
enemies hanged, his occupations are changed, but his passions not
altered. The angry warrior rides a-hunting, ‘mais le chagrin monte
en croupe et galope avec lui,’ nor can the hounds and horn ‘that
cheerily rouse the slumbering morn’ content the sense that wants
‘to hear piercing fife and spirit-stirring drum.’”
Not having been well, she adds she is moving to London to consult her
doctors, leaving Mr. Montagu to plant trees, etc.; before joining her.
“I expect a cargo of Morgans and good folk from Newbury to dine here; I
always endeavour to depart the country in an odour of civility.”
[177] Alluding to her only child, John, _alias_ “Punch’s” death.
[178] The Duke of Cumberland.
[Page heading: THE MORDAUNT AFFAIR]
A letter from Mrs. Donnellan throws a light on the Mordaunt affair.
“All I can gather of this most shameful affair is that there will
be no more known till there is a publick enquiry,[179] and then
if the scheme is proved by the General Officers to have been
impracticable, those who sent them on it must suffer, but if it
is found that they might have made more of it, I suppose they
will.... It will be defered (the enquiry, I mean) till the sitting
of parliament. Sir J. Mordaunt and Admiral Hawke have both been
to Court, the Admiral was received graciously, the other taken no
notice of, ’tis said he stooped to kiss the royal hand, but it was
pulled back from him; wou’d it not have been more kingly to have
forbidden his coming? ’Tis said soon after some of the troops were
in the boats in order to land; there was a council of war called,
and when Hawke thought they were landed, they were ordered on board
again; ’tis certain there were 5 or 6 days spent on councils of
war, and then Hawke, who was not concerned in them, desired them to
come to some resolution, for he wou’d either land them or return
home. Colonel Conway, I hear, showed the most spirit, and that our
commen men showed no unwillingness to action.... The Duke came
thro’ the city on Thursday at four in the afternoon. I saw some
who saw him, there was no sort of notice taken of him; I think he
was well off. I suppose you have seen the King of Prussia’s letter
to our King, ’tis denyed but believed to be genuine. I think your
remarks on the correspondence between the King of Prussia and
Voltair (_sic_) very just; however, I forgive him some levity
when conversed with a wit, and part since he knows when ’tis proper
to the King.... I have got since I came home, Taylor’s Sermons, he
is so good he frightens me, and so witty he makes me laugh.”
[179] The Mordaunt enquiry warrant was not signed till
December 3, 1757.
[Illustration: ALLERTHORPE HALL.]
[Illustration:
_J.G. Eccardt. Pinx._ _Faber. Mezzo._
_Conyers Middleton D.D._
_Emery Walker Ph. Sc._]
Mr. Montagu, writing from Sandleford on November 6, to his wife,
mentions Hawke being sent out again with Boscawen, “was a clear proof
that they had nothing to impute to him which was faulty.” He was busy
planting at Sandleford, and said he must get chestnuts and acorns when
he came to London, as the last sown had been rotten, “according to
Millar the way of trying them is somewhat like that formerly us’d in
the case of witches, such of them as swim are to be rejected and those
that sink esteem’d good.”
[Page heading: MRS. MONTAGU’S ILLNESS]
Mrs. Montagu, with the advice of Dr. Shaw and Dr. Monsey, gradually
recovered her health. Wormwood draughts were prescribed; her illness
appears to have been a nervous fever, with weakness and loss of
appetite. Of Dr. Monsey she says, “He has given me as much attendance
as if I was a Princess of the blood, tho’ I have never given him a
fee.” Dr. Shaw had been called off to the Duchess of Newcastle at
Claremont, who was suffering in the same way. Great discussion is given
as to giving of the “bark” without danger, and when to do so. “Dr. Shaw
has had six guineas of me, I shall give him no more, I had difficulty
to make him accept the last, but he attended me at first twice a day.”
The Mordaunt affair is alluded to in each letter. In one occurs the
following--
“Lord Chesterfield in a letter from Bath to Lady Allen writes thus:
‘Your ladyship may believe all the circles here think they have
a right to form a court-martial to sit on Sir J. M. For my part
I wait for information. I can never believe he wants courage or
capacity, as I imagine he will show the scheme was impracticable
and they must answer who sent him.’”
[Page heading: ROSBACH]
On November 7, Mr. Montagu writes to announce his intention of joining
his wife, and adds--
“I see by the _Gazette_ that the King of Prussia has obtained a
great victory over the combined army under Prince Soubise. This is
an unexpected event, and must give a turn to his affairs. One thing
seems to be collected from it, that this enterprising courageous
Prince has not made peace nor flung himself into the arms of France
as we were given to believe.”
This was the Battle of Rosbach in Saxony, won against the Austrians
and French by Frederick the Great of Prussia on November 5, 1757. The
year’s correspondence ends with a letter to Emin of Lady A. Sophia
Egerton, enclosing a letter of recommendation of him to her uncle, Mr.
Bentinck, then in diplomatic service in Holland. Emin was going to
rejoin the Prussian Army.