Lord Auckland) was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and
Plenipotentiary to the King of Spain; but he was at this time
in Paris, assisting the Duke of Dorset in negotiating a Treaty
of Commerce with France. His conduct in accepting from Pitt the
mission to France was severely condemned by the old followers of
Lord North. Among the numerous squibs which his action provoked,
the following may be quoted:--
"A mere affair of trade t' embrace,
Wines, brandies, gloves, fans, cambrics, lace;
For this on me my Sovereign laid
His high commands, and I obey'd--
Nor think, my Lord, this conduct base.
"Party were guilt in such a case,
When thus my country, for a space,
Calls my poor skill to Dorset's aid,
A mere affair of trade!
"Thus Eden, with unblushing face,
To North would palliate his disgrace:
When North, with smiles, this answer made:
'You might have spar'd what you have said--
I thought the business of your place
A mere affair of trade!'"
[110] In 1787 the Prince of Wales, after authorizing Fox to make
a public denial of his rumoured marriage with Mrs. Fitzherbert,
received an additional £10,000 a year, £161,000 to pay his debts,
and £20,000 for the repair of Carlton House.
506.
_To Lord Sheffield._
Lausanne, Jan. 20th, 1787.
*After some sallies of wrath, you seem at length to have subsided
in sullen silence, and I must confess not totally without reason.
Yet if your mind be still open to truth, you will confess that I am
not quite so black as I appear. 1. Your Lordship has shewn much less
activity and eloquence than formerly, and your last letter was an
answer to mine, which I had expected some time with impatience. Bad
examples are dangerous to young People. 2. Formerly I have neglected
answering your Epistles on essential, though unpleasant, business;
and the _Res-publica_ or _-privata_ may have suffered by my neglect.*
At present, when you have paid away the £500 of your own creation in
Gosling's hands, satisfied Newton and _Job_ (I do not mean the most
patient of men), and withdrawn my writings from the Attorney's paw,
I do not recollect any matter of interest remaining in your hands to
exercise your industry, vex my temper, or sully your dispatches. That
sum of £500 you will find entire and intact in Fleet Street; you may
exhaust, but in spite of my general credit I hope you will not exceed
it.
*Supposing, therefore, we had no transactions, why should I write so
often? To exchange sentimental compliments, or to relate the various
and important transactions of the Republic of Lausanne? As long as
I do not inform you of my death, you have good grounds to believe
me alive and well: you have a general, and will soon have a more
particular, idea of my system and arrangement here. One day glides
away after another in tranquil uniformity. Every object must have
sides and moments less luminous than others; but, upon the whole,
the life and the place which I have chosen are most happily adapted
to my character and circumstances; and I can now repeat, at the end
of three years, what I soon and sincerely affirmed, that never, in
a single instant, have I repented of my scheme of retirement to
Lausanne; a retirement which was judged by my best and wisest friend
a project little short of insanity. The place, the people, the
climate, have answered or exceeded my warmest expectations: and I
truly rejoice in my approaching visit to England. Mr. Pitt, were he
your friend and mine, would not find it an easy task to prevent my
return.
[Sidenote: BUILDING A GREAT BOOK.]
3. And now let me add a third reason, which often diverted me from
writing; namely, my impatience to see you this next summer. I am
building a great book, which, besides the three stories already
exposed to the public eye, will have three stories more before we
reach the roof and battelments. You too have built or altered a great
Gothic Castle with Baronial battlements; did you finish it within
the time you intended? As that time drew near, did you not find a
thousand nameless and unexpected works that must be performed; each
of them calling for a portion of time and labour? and had you not
despised, nobly despised, the minute diligence of finishing, fitting
up, and furnishing the apartments, you would have discovered a new
train of indispensable business. Such, at least, has been my case. A
long while ago, when I contemplated the distant prospect of my work,
I gave you and myself some hopes of landing in England last Autumn;
but, alas! when autumn grew near, hills began to rise on hills, Alps
on Alps, and I found my journey far more tedious and toilsome than I
had imagined.
When I look back on the length of the undertaking, and the variety
of materials, I cannot accuse, or suffer myself to be accused, of
idleness; yet it appeared that unless I doubled my diligence, another
year, and perhaps more, would elapse before I could embark with my
complete manuscript. Under these circumstances I took, and am still
executing, a bold and meritorious resolution. The mornings in winter,
and in a country of early dinners, are very concise; to them, my
usual period of study, I now frequently add the evenings, renounce
cards and society, refuse the most agreeable evenings, or perhaps
make my appearance at a late supper. By this extraordinary industry,
which I never practised before, and to which I hope never to be again
reduced, I see the last part of my history growing apace under my
hands; all my materials are collected and arranged; I can exactly
compute, by the square foot, or the square page, all that remains
to be done; and after concluding text and notes, after a general
review of my time and my ground, I can now decisively ascertain the
final period of the decline and fall, and can boldly promise that
I will dine with you at Sheffield-place in the month of August, or
perhaps of July, in the present year; within less than a twelfthmonth
of the term which I had loosely and originally fixed; and perhaps
it would not be easy to find a work of that size and importance in
which the workman has so tolerably kept his word with himself and
the public. But in this situation, oppressed with this particular
object, and stealing every hour from my amusement, to the fatigue of
the pen and the eyes, you will conceive, or you might conceive, how
little stomach I have for the Epistolary style; and that instead of
idle, though friendly, correspondence, I think it far more agreeable
to employ my time in the effectual measures that may hasten and
exhilarate our personal interview.
About a month ago I had a voluntary, and not unpleasing Epistle
from Cadell; he informs me that he is going to print a new octavo
edition, the former being exhausted, and that the public expect with
impatience the conclusion of that excellent work, whose reputation
and sale increases every day, &c. I answered him by the return of
the post, to inform him of the period and extent of my labours, and
to express a reasonable hope that he would set the same value on
the three last as he had done on the three former Volumes. Should
we conclude in this easy manner a transaction so honourable to the
author and bookseller, my way is clear and open before; in pecuniary
matters I think I am assured for the rest of my life of never
troubling my friends, or being troubled myself; a state to which I
aspire, and which I indeed deserve, if not by my management, at least
by moderation.
[Sidenote: A CITIZEN OF THE WORLD.]
In your last, you talk more of the French treaty[111] than of
yourself and your wife and family; a true English _Quid nunc_! For my
part, in this remote, inland, neutral country, you will suppose, that
after a slight glance on the papers, I have neither had the means or
the inclination to think very deeply about it. As a Citizen of the
World, a character to which I am every day rising or sinking, I must
rejoyce in every agreement that diminishes the separation between
neighbouring countries, which softens their prejudices, unites their
interest and industry, and renders their future hostilities less
frequent and less implacable. With regard to the present treaty, I
hope both nations are gainers; since otherwise it cannot be lasting;
and such double mutual gain is surely possible in fair trade, though
it could not easily happen in the mischievous amusements of war and
gaming.* I am much pleased with our great patriots who write to you
for sense as schoolboys on an exercise day. *What a delightful hand
have these great statesmen made of it since my departure! without
power, and, as far as I can see, without hope. When we meet I shall
advise you to digest all your political and commercial knowledge,
(England, Ireland, France, America,) and, with some attention to
style and order, to make the whole a Classic book, which may preserve
your name and benefit your Country. I know not whether you have
seen Sir Henry Clinton since his return: he passed a day with me,
and seemed pleased with my reception and place. We talked over you
and the American War. Mrs. Trevor passes the winter here: she is
pleasing and fashionable. I embrace the _silent My Lady_ and the two
honourable Misses, whom I sigh to behold and admire. Adieu. Ever
yours.*
I have three or four things to add of meaner importance.
1. My Journey to England costs me a good servant: he has a farm, a
shop, and a wife: absence from these frightens him, and he takes this
opportunity of retiring from the domestic state.
2. *Though I can part with land, you find I cannot part with books:
the remainder of my library has so long embarrassed your stinking
room that it may now await my presence and final judgment.*
3. All my coloured handkerchiefs are worn out: I wish My Lady would
get me a couple of dozen of the best sort from Ireland: an elegant
Poplin would likewise be acceptable for a fur Coat. *Has the said
My Lady read a novel intitled Caroline de Lichfield, of our home
manufacture? I may say of ours, since Deyverdun and myself were
the judges and patrons of the Manuscripts. The author, who is since
married a second time, (Madame de Crousaz, now Montolieu), is a
charming woman.[112] I was in some danger.* Once more, bar a long fit
of the Gout, and the historian will land at Dover before the end of
July. Adieu.
[111] A Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Great Britain
and France was signed at Versailles on September 26, 1786, and a
Supplementary Convention was signed between the same powers on
January 15, 1787. Both treaties were signed on behalf of Great
Britain by William Eden.
[112] Jeanne Pauline Polier de Bottens, afterwards successively
Madame de Crousaz, and Madame de Montolieu, was the daughter
of the Pastor at Lausanne, and was descended from an ancient
family in Languedoc which had emigrated at the time of the
Reformation. She was a voluminous writer. One of her best-known
works is a continuation of the _Swiss Family Robinson_. Madame
de Genlis, who claims to have been the _éditeur_ of _Caroline
de Lichtfield_, tells the following story of Gibbon falling
on his knees and proposing to Madame de Crousaz, afterwards
Madame de Montolieu. She refused him. "M. Gibbon prit un air
consterné, et cependant il restait à genoux, malgré l'invitation
réitérée de se remettre sur sa chaise; il était immobile et
gardait la silence. 'Mais, monsieur,' répéta Madame de Crouzas,
'relevez-vous donc.'--'Hélas! madame,' répondit enfin ce
malheureux amant, '_Je ne peux pas._' En effet, la grosseur de
sa taille ne lui permettait pas de se relever sans aide. Madame
de Crouzas sonna, et dit au domestique qui survint: '_Relevez M.
Gibbon_'" (_Souvenirs de Félicie_, p. 279). Madame de Montolieu,
it should be added, stated that the anecdote was entirely without
foundation (Rossel, _Histoire Littéraire de la Suisse_, vol. ii.
p. 275).
The same story is told in verse by George Colman the younger in
"The Luminous Historian; or, Learning in Love" (_Eccentricities
for Edinburgh_, pp. 67-91).
_Caroline_, par Madame de * * *, was published at Lausanne in
1786. At Paris, in the same year, a new edition appeared, under
the title of _Caroline de Lichtfield, avec des corrections
considérables_. It was translated into English by Thomas
Holcroft, and published by the Minerva Press. The Lausanne
edition has on the title-page the following lines, which may
allude to Gibbon:--
"Idole d'un cœur juste et passion du sage,
Amitié que ton nom soutienne cet ouvrage;
Regne dans mes écrits, ainsi que dans mon cœur,
Tu m'appris à connaître, à sentir le bonheur."
(Voltaire, _Mélanges de Poésies_.)
507.
_To Lord Sheffield._
Lausanne, June 2nd, 1787.
[Sidenote: INTENTION TO ARRIVE IN LONDON.]
*I begin to discover that if I wait till I could atchieve a just
and satisfactory Epistle, equally pleasant and instructive, you
would have a poor chance of hearing from me. I will therefore
content myself with a simple answer to a question, which (I love
to believe) you repeat with some impatience: "When may we expect
you in England?" My great building is, as it were, compleated,
and some slight ornaments, the painting and glazing of the last
finished rooms, may be dispatched without inconvenience in the
autumnal residence of Sheffield-place. It is therefore my sincere
and peremptory intention to depart from Lausanne about the 20th
of July, and to find myself (_me trouver_) in London on or before
the glorious first of August. I know of nothing that can prevent
it but a fit of the gout, the capricious tyrant, who obeys
no laws either of time or place; and so unfortunately are we
circumstanced, that such a fit, if it came late and lasted long,
would effectually disable me from coming till next spring; since
thereby I should lose the season, the monsoon, for the impression
of three quarto volumes, which will require nine months (a
regular parturition), and cannot advantageously appear before the
beginning or middle of May.
At the same time do not be apprehensive that I mean to play
you a dog's trick. From a thousand motives it is my wish to
come over this year; the desire of seeing you, and the _silent
sullen_ My lady; the family arrangements, discharge of servants,
which I have already made; the strong wish of settling my three
youngest children in a manner honourable to them and beneficial
to their parent. Much miscellaneous matter rises to my pen, but
I will not be tempted to turn the leaf. Expect me therefore at
Sheffield-place, with strong probability, about the 15th of
August.* You say nothing of your final settlement with Newton: if
the Attorney refuses to give parchments for money he must have
some bad intention. Adieu. Yours.
508.
_To his Stepmother._
Lausanne, July 21st, 1787.
DEAR MADAM,
After a long silence which I will no longer attempt to excuse,
I have the pleasure of informing you that when you receive this
letter I shall be on my way to England, and that I hope to reach
London on or before the 9th of next month. I need not say that
by the first post you shall be apprized of my arrival. I bring
over the remainder of my history, and only regret that instead
of running down to Bath, the necessary cares of an author will
detain me in the neighbourhood of London and the press. But my
impatience will be alleviated by the convenience of a near and
frequent intercourse, and I sincerely hope that you can return
the assurance which I give, that I have been long happy and am
now well.
I am, My Dear Madam,
Ever yours,
E. G.
509.
_To Lord Sheffield._
Lausanne, July 21st, 1787.
*The 20th of July is past, and I am still at Lausanne; but the
march of heavy bodies, such as armies and historians, can seldom
be foreseen or fixed to a precise day. Some particular reasons
have engaged me to allow myself another week; and the day of
my departure is now (_I believe_) determined for Sunday the
29th instant. You know the road and the distance. I am no rapid
English traveller, and my servant is not accustomed to ride post.
I was never fond of deeds of darkness, and if the weather be
hot, we must repose in the middle of the day. Yet the roads are
in general good: between Sun and Sun the interval is long; and,
barring the accidents of winds and waves, I think it possible
to reach London in ten or twelve days; _viz._ on or before
the ninth of August. With your active spirit, you will scarce
understand how I can look on this easy journey with some degree
of reluctance and apprehension; but after a tranquil, sedentary
life of four years, (having lain but a single night out of my own
bed,) I see mountains and monsters in the way; and so happy do I
feel myself _at home_, that nothing but the strongest calls of
friendship and interest could drag me from hence.*
[Sidenote: HIS ARRIVAL IN LONDON.]
You ingeniously propose that I should turn off at Sittenbourn,
and seem to wonder what business I can find, or make, for an
immediate residence in the Capital. Have you totally forgot that
I bring over three quarto volumes for the press? and are you
ignorant that not a moment must be lost, if we are desirous
of appearing at a proper season? I must ratify and sign my
agreement with Cadell and Strahan, deliver the first part of
the manuscript, settle some preliminaries with the printer and
corrector, revise the first sheets, procure some necessary books,
consult others, and set the machine in motion before I can secede
to Sheffield-place with an easy mind, and for a reasonable term.
Of this be assured, that I shall not be less impatient than
yourself, and that, of human two-legged animals, yourself and
yours are the first, though not the sole, whom I shall wish to
see in England.
For myself, I do not regret the occupancy of Downing Street;[113]
in my first visit to London, a lodging or hotel in the Adelphi
will be more convenient; but I have some anxiety about my books,
and must try whether I can approach those holy relicks, without
offending the delicacy of an amiable Dutchess.
Our interview is so near, that I have little more to add, except
a single caution about my own concerns, in which you will
confess, that from Lovegrove, and Winton, to Newton, I have been
generally unlucky. If any thing remains, present or future, it
must be agitated and decided; but all retrospects are useless and
painful, and we have so many pleasant subjects of conversation,
that all such odious matters may be buried in oblivion. Adieu.
I embrace My Lady and Louisa, but I no longer presume, even on
paper, to embrace the tall and blooming Maria.
Ever yours,
E. G.
Let me find a letter at Elmsley's, and inform me of the direction
of your agent Purden. I may possibly have a commission for him.
[113] Lord Sheffield had let his house in Downing Street to the
Duchess of Gordon. "The Duchess of Gordon will dance my house in
Downing Street down" (Lord Sheffield to William Eden, February
27, 1787: _Auckland Correspondence_, vol. i. p. 405).
510.
_To Lord Sheffield._
Adelphi Hotel, August the 8th, 1787.
*Intelligence extraordinary.--This day (August the 7th) the
celebrated E. G. arrived in the Adelphi with a numerous retinue
(one Servant). We hear that he has brought over from Lausanne the
remainder of his history for immediate publication. The post had left
town before my arrival. I am pleased, but indeed astonished, to find
myself in London, after a journey of six hundred miles, and hardly
yet conceive how I had resolution to undertake it. I find myself
not a little fatigued, and have devoted this hot day to privacy and
repose, without having seen any body except Cadell and Elmsley,
and my neighbour Batt, whose civility amounts to kindness and real
friendship. But you may depend on it, that instead of sauntering in
town, or giving way to every temptation, I will dispatch my necessary
work, and hasten with impatience to the groves of Sheffield-place;
a project somewhat more rational than the hasty, turbulent visit
which your vigour had imagined. If you come up to quicken my
diligence,[114] we shall meet the sooner; but I see no appearance of
my leaving town before the end of next week. I embrace, &c. Adieu.*
[114] "I went to London," writes Lord Sheffield to William Eden
from Sheffield Place, on August 22, 1787, "for a few days to
conduct the Gibbon to this place. The Gibbon is settled here till
winter; he will reside with us in Downing Street in winter and
spring. The three quartos will appear in the spring, but as to
remaining in this country, he has not the slightest notion of it.
I have not yet succeeded in infusing a proper political zeal into
him" (_Lord Auckland's Journal and Correspondence_, vol. i. pp.
435, 436).
511.
_To his Stepmother._
Adelphi Hotel, August 9th, 1787.
MY DEAR MADAM,
At length, after a pleasant journey, I again breathe the air of my
native country; and though I quitted with some regret my friends,
my house, my garden, my library at Lausanne, I already find many
objects that compensate my losses. I reached the Adelphi Hotel
_Wednesday_ the 8th instant, after the departure of the post.
The first arrangements of my litterary business, and some social
meetings will detain me here till the middle or end of next week,
after which I shall bury myself at Sheffield-place to revise and
correct. The printer mutters some complaints of the distance, but it
is not possible at this time of year to confine myself to a sultry
and solitary metropolis. Adieu, my dear Madam, let me soon have an
account, and a favourable account, of yourself.
I am
Ever yours,
E. G.
512.
_To Lord Sheffield._
Tuesday, 1787.
Two lines to say that you dine with Mrs. Hanley Thursday, visit Pall
Mall between eight and nine in the evening, and dine on Friday with
Lord L[oughborough]. Lady L., if agreable, will be glad to see Maria,
and to call on her in her carriage. All's well. Adieu. I wish we had
My lady with us. I am impatient to see her.
513.
_To his Stepmother._
Sheffield-place, Sept. 23, 1787.
MY DEAR MADAM,
[Sidenote: THE TWO MR. GIBBONS.]
I am extremely happy that by Mrs. Holroyd's kind enquiries in my
name, the veil is at length withdrawn, and a mistake is removed which
has given us, with an appearance of reason, some mutual anxiety. No
one doubtless is less entitled than myself to confound the indolence
of the pen with the coldness of the heart, yet I must confess that
I was surprized and grieved, that you should not take the smallest
notice of the letter in which I had announced my arrival in England.
Each post encreased my uneasiness, which was at the same time
aggravated and soothed by the assurance from Mrs. H. that illness
could not be the cause of your silence, and this day was the last
which I had fixed for asking the favour of a line of comfort and
explanation. By this you will understand that I have never received
your kind answer directed to me in town, and, though the loss of
a letter by the post is a rare, and to many, an incredible event,
I can explain it in this instance by a singular concurrence of
circumstances. Two Hotels which bear the name of the Adelphi stand
opposite to each other, and two Mr. Gibbons were lodged at the same
time in the adverse houses, as Lord Sheffield perceived on his coming
up to find me out. Your direction was applied to my rival, and as
he had already departed into the country, his letter must have been
sent after him, and he alone is guilty for not acknowledging and
rectifying the error.
I have now passed some weeks with our friends Lord and Lady
Sheffield, who wish me to express in their name every sentiment of
attachment and regard; they both lament the disappointment of their
wishes of enjoying your company in this place, and would promise that
during your stay, it should not be profaned by any American rebels,
or any fashionable females whose conduct may be less calculated to
edify than to please. I am here, very idle and very busy. After
building a great house, a thousand little alterations, improvements
and ornaments present themselves to the architect, and besides the
trouble of painting and glazing some of the last apartments, I have
the daily duty of receiving, correcting, and returning a printed
sheet which is sent me from London. Impatient as I am to visit Bath,
I must defer my journey till I am in a great measure got out of
my litterary brick and mortar; and if I can postpone it till the
beginning of December, Lord Sheffield gives me hopes of his company.
The moments I can pass with you will be some of the most pleasing
of my life, and it will give me real concern, that I shall find it
impossible to prolong my visit as I could wish, much less to fix my
winter residence at Bath.