that we have both of us taken sufficient time to avoid the reproach
of rash and precipitate measures. As you are not an infant I will
decline any farther remonstrance of what may be proper or improper
for yourself, and will think solely of my own interest. After mature
consideration I am _resolved_ to amplify my income by the sale of
Newhaven, leaving one half of the purchase money to sink in an
Annuity and the other half to swim in a Mortgage. My old scruples
against pecuniary transactions with a friend are much diminished
by my experience of the delays and difficulties which occur in a
treaty with a stranger, and I flatter myself that you will not think
it necessary to ascertain my title to the Estate by an amicable
suit in Chancery. Your statement is impartial and your terms are
liberal: Twenty-eight years' purchase appears a fair price for an
Estate circumstanced like mine, and I am not ambitious of paying more
than twelve years for the chance of my earthly existence. But I do
not perfectly acquiesce in your striking off the casual profits to
balance the casual losses and repairs, and I must request that you
would try a very simple calculation: Supposing the three per Cents at
eighty, your landed estate, after deducting every possible outgoing,
would pay you as good interest as your money in the funds. Is such an
equality reasonable? Should you pay nothing for the solid security of
land? Is the National Debt less exposed than the Sussex acres to be
swallowed in the Ocean? The calculation is easy.
£ _s._ _d._
Clear rent of Newhaven after deducting
Land-tax and quitrents 234 17 10
Interest paid by the Tenant on £154 at
4 per cent. 6 0 0
Casual profits on an average 19 13 4
-------------------
£260 11 2
28
------
£7280, of which
£ £
4000 mortgage 160
3280 annuity 273
----
£433
Suppose we reduce this sum to £7000 and divide it equally, the
produce will be £430 (£140 for the Mortgage, £290 for the Annuity).
I cannot think my expectations quite unreasonable, but I leave the
final arbitration to yourself, as if we were treating with a third
person, and I authorize you to conclude with Lord Sheffield on such
conditions as I ought to ask and he will be disposed to give. The
farm itself will never answer for the Mortgage, and you will obtain
a good and sufficient security for the annuity. In the meanwhile I
should be glad to know when I may expect the payment of some rent,
and from what date it will begin to accrue to me.
N.B.--Your own offer is £4200, the Mortgage; £280 Annuity. But
arithmetic is erroneous: 3052 divided by 12 do not produce 280 but
only 254. You are a pretty man of business. So much for Newhaven.
Since we are talking of Wills, I must request that you would commit
mine to the flames. By the first opportunity I will send you the
duplicate of another which I have constructed on more rational
principles. You will not disapprove the preference which I now give
to the children of Sir Stanier Porten: they are the nearest, the most
indigent and the most deserving of my relations.
*The whole sheet has been filled with dry selfish business; but I
must and will reserve some lines of the cover for a little friendly
conversation. I passed four days at the castle of Copet with Necker;
and could have wished to have shown him, as a warning to any aspiring
youth possessed with the Dæmon of ambition.[157] With all the means
of private happiness in his power, he is the most miserable of
human beings: the past, the present, and the future are equally
odious to him. When I suggested some domestic amusements of books,
building, &c. he answered, with a deep tone of despair, "Dans l'état
où je suis, je ne puis sentir que le coup de vent qui m'a abbattu."
How different from the careless chearfulness with which our poor
friend Lord North supported his fall! Madame Necker maintains more
external composure, _mais le Diable n'y perd rien_. It is true that
Necker wished to be carried into the Closet, like old Pitt, on the
shoulders of the people; and that he has been ruined by the Democracy
which he had raised. I believe him to be an able financier, and know
him to be an honest man; too honest, perhaps, for a minister. His
rival Calonne has passed through Lausanne, in his way from Turin;
and was soon followed by the Prince of Condé, with his son and
grandson;[158] but I was too much indisposed to see them. They have,
or have had, some wild projects of a counter-revolution: horses
have been bought, men levied, and the Canton of Berne has too much
countenanced such foolish attempts which must end in the ruin of the
party.
[Sidenote: PRAISE OF BURKE'S _REFLECTIONS_.]
Burke's book[159] is a most admirable medicine against the French
disease, which has made too much progress even in this happy country.
I admire his eloquence, I approve his politics, I adore his chivalry,
and I can forgive even his superstition. The primitive Church,
which I have treated with some freedom, was itself at that time
an innovation, and I was attached to the old Pagan establishment.
The French spread so many lyes about the sentiments of the English
nation, that I wish the most considerable men of all parties and
descriptions would join in some public act, declaring themselves
satisfied with and resolved to support our present constitution. Such
a declaration would have a wonderful effect in Europe; and, were I
thought worthy, I myself should be proud to subscribe it. I have a
great mind to send you something of a sketch, such as all thinking
men might adopt.
I have intelligence of the approach of my Madeira, and on its receipt
will despatch a draught for the payment. I accept with equal pleasure
the second, now in the torrid zone. Send me some pleasant details of
your domestic state, of Maria, &c. If my lady thinks that my silence
is a mark of indifference, my lady is a goose. I _must_ have you
all at Lausanne next summer.* Apropos, I must have £3000 on Annuity
and £3000 on Mortgage: the surplus you may divide as you like best.
I wish you would not enclose your letters to Paris. I have no longer
any connections with Lessert, and they desire not to be troubled with
them.
[157] "Mr. Gibbon writes that he has seen Necker, and found him
still devoured by ambition, and I should think by mortification
at the foolish figure he has made" (Walpole to the Miss Berrys,
February 28, 1791).
[158] Louis Joseph, Prince de Condé (1736-1818), was the son of
the Duc de Bourbon who was minister to Louis XV. He had served in
the Seven Years' War, and commanded the _émigrés_ on the banks
of the Rhine, who were known as the _armée de Condé_. Both his
son and grandson died by violence. His son, the Duc de Bourbon
(1756-1830), was found hanged in his room. Suspicion, probably
without reason, fell on his mistress, Madame de Feuchéres. With
him was extinguished the family of Condé, for the grandson here
mentioned was the Duc d'Enghien (1772-1804) who was shot at
Vincennes in 1804.
[159] Burke's _Reflections on the Revolution in France_ were
published in October, 1790. "Gibbon admires Burke to the skies,
and even the religious parts, he says" (Walpole to the Miss
Berrys, February 28, 1791).
559.
_Lord Sheffield to Edward Gibbon._
Downing Street, 5th Feb., 1791.
We remained in the country to the last moment, & I came to Town
furious against you on account of your neglect of writing, but on
reaching Lord Guilford,[160] I learned that you had been very ill, &
I was completely softened and no longer abusive. His information came
from Major Frank North, who added that you were recovering.
Now are you not a damned good-for-nothing fellow for not recollecting
that we might hear you were ill, & therefore not desiring De Severy
to write a line to mention that you were recovering? I have for a
long time exhorted my Lady to write to him. I think she will now
favour him with a Philipick. What has been the matter? for my account
does not say whether it has been the gout only or something more.
I shall be really sulky if you do not write one line. We are much
annoyed. I went to Elmsley & he knew nothing.
[Sidenote: THE CORN LAWS AND SLAVE TRADE.]
I will not write to you on business until a fragment arrives from
you, except to say the Business has stopped in hopes of information
from you relative to the amount of Hugonin's debt to you. You know
I had nothing to do with the affairs between you and him, and of
course could not make out the ballance. Andrews has stated it to me
at £347 2_s._ 3_d._ I supposed it to be more, therefore waited to
hear from you; but I have an Affidavit ready prepared to make before
a Master for that amount; that operation is necessary before any
further progress can be made. In addition to my other occupations I
am more busied than ever I was in my life about a Corn Bill[161]
now depending, (as great a business as I have ever undertaken).
I examined it well during the Recess, and made ample notes on my
arrival; I have shewn them to Batt and Sir Joseph, and they recommend
strenuously that I should publish them with my name. They say it is
too argumentative, it requires too much consideration, for a speech.
They think it will do me great credit. They add it is impossible even
for a very able man in the art of speaking and in the habit, to do it
justice in a speech. In short, I am obliged to undertake publication
in such an hurry as will not produce your commendation. The question
comes on in a week. I find the first Edition of my _Observations on
the Project for Abolishing the Slave Trade_[162] was not sent to you.
I have delivered the second Edition to Elmsley to be forwarded when
there is an opportunity. I learned from him that you had not received
Burke's _Pamphlet_.
If you had not been ill I should have talked to you as you deserve
about the addition to your History. It is as it should be, that I
am to hear of that addition for the first time from Newspapers or
accidental correspondents. I did not believe the circumstance until
everybody was convinced of it, and Mr. Cadell's information was
general. It is intolerable.
[160] The Earl of Guilford (1704-1790) died August 4, 1790, and
was succeeded by his eldest son Frederick, better known as Lord
North.
[161] Lord Sheffield's _Observations on the Corn Bill now
depending in Parliament_ was published in 1791. The Corn
Regulation Bill was introduced early in that year. The House went
into committee on the Bill on February 22, 1791, Lord Sheffield
protesting against its principle, but not dividing the House.
Lord Sheffield twice beat Pitt (March 11 and April 11) on the
question of warehousing foreign corn. He also argued for 52_s._
instead of 48_s._ as the lowest price at which, in the interest
of farmers, it was possible to admit foreign corn (April 4).
[162] Lord Sheffield opposed Wilberforce's motion (April 18,
1791) for the Abolition of the Slave Trade on the ground that the
West Indian Assemblies alone could deal with the question fairly
in all its bearings.
560.
_Lord Sheffield to Edward Gibbon._
Downing Street, 15th March, 1791.
Your manuscript at last received exhilarated us very considerably. We
heard you were better, but did not exactly know the state of things.
We had almost made up our minds to go to see you in a snug party for
a month or two in the summer, but now you are well we do not care so
much about you. Maria says the allowance of a year's purchase is a
fair offer, and my Lady is still more eager to go than Maria.
I know not how I made the mistake in saying the annuity should be
£280 instead of £254, but on the receipt of your letter, I desired
Woodcock to make out the conveyance for £3000 in an annuity at 12
years' purchase (£250) and £4000 on Mortgage at 4 per cent., £160
together with £410. You will observe that I have somewhat diminished
the sum to be laid out on an annuity and encreased the sum on
Mortgage, thinking it better for you. Unfortunately for you, since
the above arrangement, I have discovered that besides the outgoings I
mentioned to you there is a Fee Farm rent of £5 8_s._ 0_d._ payable
out of the Estate, which at 28 years' purchase makes a deduction of
£151 4_s._ 0_d._ Be assured that you are a damned Jew, otherwise you
would have been content with the £6700 which I profferred to you,
and I think you ought still. I propose that the annuity and mortgage
interest shall begin from Lady-day ensuing, and the Deeds shall be
sent to you whenever I can prevail on Woodcock to prepare them. The
Annuity shall be payable out of certain farms at Sheffield, and
the £4000 mortgage shall be on the Newhaven Estate. The Mortgage
Deeds, &c., shall be left in Batt's hands for your account. It is
observable that I am paying you £4000 for the reversion of the
Estate, and in the meantime more than the annual clear income of it.
I am purchasing Lord Heathfield's House and Estate in Sussex, 14
miles from Sheffield, for Sir Henry Clinton. Only 25 years' purchase,
deducting every outgoing, is asked, and the timber (which will be
very advantageous) is rated very moderately.
You have often remarked how singular your ill-luck is as to sales
and titles to Estates. Be it known to you that the conveyance of
the Newhaven Estate to your Grandfather is lost. All the other old
writings belonging to it were found carefully tyed up and transmitted
to me by Mr. Law. The Lawyers say, as I know the circumstances of
the Estate and Family, it is such a title as I may take if I please.
Yet that I should not be able to sell it again but to disadvantage.
I answer that I do not wish it to be sold again. Thus it appears you
could not easily sell to anybody but me. As to the Buriton business,
I have been almost afraid to tell you that it is still hung up. It is
again referred to a Master in Chancery. However, there is no step
neglected that can bring it to a conclusion, and I hope it cannot
hold on much longer. I have made out that Hugonin was indebted to you
to the amount of a year and a half of Buriton. I have sworn to the
account, and you will receive at least ten shillings in the pound.
Hugonin, his Mistress and daughter are all dead within two years. You
will have £8000 on Mortgage in Hampshire, £4000 in Sussex, and £4000
in Yorkshire. All good strings to your bow.
[Sidenote: THE LABOURING OAR IN THE HOUSE.]
The account of your undergoing a drain equal to fifty blisters
furnishes me with some satisfaction, as we think it will be
serviceable to your fat carcase. You have proven me busy, but I was
comparatively at leisure. I have illuminated the Corn Laws. The
subject was not understood. The Pamphlet written in a few days is in
great repute. You will abuse it because I only attended to the sense
in writing it. I have the labouring oar in the House of Commons. I
shall write again soon. In the meantime you must write by return of
post, if you wish any other distribution of the money.
I am on a Committee every day from ten to four.
561.
_To Lord Sheffield._
Lausanne, April 9th, 1791.
I _will_ say no more, because I can say no more on the unfortunate
subject of Buriton, the most unlucky because the least expected of
all my worldly embarrassments. Tell me fairly whether you suspect
any secret management, or any legal chicanery, &c., on the side of
the purchasers. If they are sincere and willing as ourselves, what
hinders that we should give possession, we of the land and they of
the money, and let the Master in Chancery make his report whenever
it may amuse him? If such a scheme be impracticable, goad, I conjure
you, the lawyers and fix a day, a definite day, a short day for the
final conclusion, for my release from a state of suspense which keeps
me hanging between heaven and earth.
You say nothing of what rent may be due from Newhaven, and of the
payment of my wretched legacy. My repairs and improvements have now
run away with a great deal of money, and my cash account with the
Goslings has seldom been so low. It would, however, suffice to pay
for the Madeira which is arrived in perfect health: but with my usual
accuracy I have lost the account.
After mature consideration I accept your terms of £250 annuity
and four thousand mortgage with the security which you propose;
the former on some farms at Sheffield (doubtless of a more ample
produce), the latter on the Newhaven estate, the imperfect title of
which it will not become me to dispute. Notwithstanding your recent
discovery of a fee farm rent, I think you will still have a very good
bargain; but if you are obstinate, you may strike off ten pounds a
year from the Annuity, for your chance of getting back any money
would be a very poor one indeed.--With regard to the writings, I
have no objection to the method which you propose of lodging them
in Batt's hands. I do not recollect anything more on the subject
of business, since I have already approved of the distribution of
the purchase money. £8000 on Buriton, £4000 in Yorkshire, the loose
residue, if any, in the funds. We may therefore proceed to more
interesting and less interested topics.
*First, of my health; It is now tolerably restored: my legs are still
weak, but the animal in general is in a sound and lively condition;
and we have great hopes from the fine weather and the Pyrmont waters.
I most sincerely wished for the presence of Maria, to embellish a
ball which I gave the 29th of last month to all the best company,
natives and foreigners, of Lausanne, with the aid of the Severys,
especially of the mother and son, who directed the œconomy, and
performed the honours of the _Fête_. It opened about seven in the
evening; the assembly of men and women was pleased and pleasing, the
music good, the illumination splendid, the refreshments profuse:
at twelve, one hundred and thirty persons sat down to a very good
supper; at two, I stole away to bed, in a snug corner; and I was
informed at breakfast, that the remains of the Veteran and young
troops, with Severy and his sister at their head, had concluded
the last dance about a quarter before seven. This magnificent
entertainment has gained me great credit; and the expence was more
reasonable than you can easily imagine. This was an extraordinary
event, but I give frequent dinners; and in the summer I have an
assembly every Sunday evening. What a wicked wretch! says Lady
Pantile.
I cannot pity you for the accumulation of business, as you ought
not to pity _me_, if I complained of the tranquillity of Lausanne:
we suffer or enjoy the effects of our own choice. Perhaps you
will mutter something of our not being born for ourselves, of
public spirit (I have formerly read of such a thing), of private
friendship, for which I give you full and ample credit, &c. But your
parliamentary operations, at least, will probably expire in the month
of June; and I shall refuse to sign the Newhaven conveyance, unless
I am satisfied that you will execute the Lausanne visit this summer.
On the 15th of June, suppose lord, lady, Maria, and maid, (poor
Louisa!) in a post coach, with Etienne on horseback, set out from
Downing-street, or Sheffield-place, cross the Channel from Brighton
to Dieppe, visit the national assembly, buy caps at Paris, examine
the ruins of Versailles, and arrive at Lausanne, without danger or
fatigue, the second week in July; you will be lodged pleasantly and
comfortably, and will not perhaps despise my situation. A couple of
months will roll, alas! too hastily away: you will all be amused by
new scenes, new people; and whenever Maria and you, with Severy,
mount on horseback to visit the country, the Glaciers, &c., My lady
and myself shall form a very quiet tête-à-tête at home. In September,
if you are tired, you may return by a direct or indirect way; but I
only desire that you will not make the plan impracticable by grasping
at too much. In return, I promise you a visit of three or four
months in the autumn of ninety-two: you and my booksellers are now
my principal attractions in England. You had some right to growl at
hearing of my supplement in the papers: but Cadell's indiscretion was
founded on a loose hint which I had thrown out in a letter, and which
in all probability will never be executed. Yet I am not totally idle.
Adieu.*
562.
_Lord Sheffield to Edward Gibbon._
Downing Street, 21st April, 1791.
[Sidenote: A BARGAIN WITH THE SHEFFIELDS.]
At length the Buriton business is almost concluded, and all your and
my cares on that subject will be at an end, the moment I receive the
Deeds which were sent to you early this morning for signature. The
Masters in Chancery are the Devils, and I should not have expressed
myself much more amiably of the Master of the Rolls, if he had not
been at last particularly attentive to my exhortations to dispatch.
All difficulties are at end, the conveyances, &c., engrossed, and one
part of them are gone to you, because Lord Stawell's Lawyers wish you
to sign that part, notwithstanding they drew up the Power of Attorney
which you signed to enable me.
At the same time are gone the Deeds which convey Newhaven from
Ed. Gibbon to Lord Sheffield, reciting the £4000 on Mortgage and
the annuity of £250 per Ann. The conveyance is to J. T. Batt to
the use of Lord Sheffield. Batt is Trustee; and the Deeds, when
returned with the other writings belonging to the Estate, must be
left in his hands as such, not only on account of the Mortgage of
£4000, but also because the Newhaven Estate is made subject to the
Annuity, notwithstanding a greater proportion of the Sheffield
Estate is chargeable with it than is necessary to pay the whole. It
was unnecessary to send you the Deed which grants the Annuity of
£250 chargeable on Sheffield and Newhaven. It is signed by me and
left in Batt's hands. He has perused and examined the drafts of the
Conveyance and of the grant of the annuity before they were engrossed.
There are four deeds sent for your signature--and with them
directions as to the parts where to be signed, which parts are marked
with pencil. It is also mentioned that you should have English
witnesses. Frank North might be one, and I suppose you may find at
any time another fit English witness at Lausanne. You will despatch
as soon as you can and return the writings immediately. If you give
me a line of notice as soon as they are signed it will be still
better, and will forward, and in reality conclude, matters.
[Sidenote: SNUGNESS OF GIBBON'S AFFAIRS.]
We have not been able to get any intelligence of the conveyance of
the Newhaven Estate to your Grandfather, which is somewhat strange.
I mentioned in my last that I had given directions for forming the
conveyance from you to me, previous to the discovery of a Quit-rent,
and that I thought you had better pay me the value of that Quit-rent
than alter the even sum of £4000 Mortgage or £250 annuity. I must
therefore take 28 years' purchase for the Quit-rent, and I flatter
myself you are too much of a gentleman and too little of the Jew to
make any objection. You have a good bargain, and I would sooner have
seen you at the Devil than have given you so much, if you did not
seem to be under my direction in these matters.
I almost envy you the snugness of your affairs. You will be a rich
fellow. What a damned long letter on such matter, to make things easy
to the meanest capacities.
Perhaps I may write soon on the Russian War, the Slave Trade, and
the Corn Bill. The first has been an extraordinary business. On the
second I was a considerable prop to good sense against nonsense and
the most eloquent declamation on humanity. What think you of shutting
the Ports of the West Indies? It would not have succeeded better than
the experiment at Boston. I have beaten Pitt 3 times on the Corn Bill.
563.
_Lord Sheffield to Edward Gibbon._
Downing Street, 13th May, 1791.
Nothing could be more unfair and insidious than the proposition
that you would come here in 1792, if we would go to you in 1791.
It raised the whole Family, and everybody one knows, against me.
It raised me against myself. It is true in a weak season, when we
supposed you poorly, I exhibited a disposition to go to you, but
when you recovered _insurmountable_ difficulties occurred. The
Great Navigation in Sussex which is at its crisis depends on me,
and a thousand other matters, besides expence when I have not got
a shilling to spare. However, the Idea is entertained. I am much
conciliated, as I should be to anything that binds you to a compact
to be here in 1792. I cannot prevail on myself at once to say--I
will, altho' I apprehend I must. Therefore say by the return of the
post, whether you can accommodate the Louisa, if she should make
a fifth in the Coach with My Lady, her woman, Maria and myself. I
suppose she might, if necessary, sleep with Maria or the Woman. I
have not mentioned this letter to the Ladies, but Maria is anxious
that Louisa should go, and we think she is at an age to receive
improvement even in a visit for a couple of months. I cannot go
sooner than the beginning of July, and I must be here early in
October. Desire our Friend De Severy to write detail to me on the
subject of the journey.
It just occurred to write this letter. A Committee is waiting for me,
but to make you amends, I send you Woodfall's account of one of the
most extraordinary debates in Parliament.[163]
Yours ever,
S.