Prorogation of the Parliament.--Walpole’s Conduct on the dismissal
of General Conway for voting against Ministers on the Question of
the legality of General Warrants.--Trial of Carteret Webbe for
Perjury.--The Earl of Northumberland Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland.
On the 19th the Parliament rose. And now it is that I am obliged to
weave the history of my own conduct into a large part of the following
narration. Two considerable eras having taken their complexion from my
councils, the thread of my story would be imperfect, if I omitted what
relates to my own behaviour. I shall give it as briefly as the subject
and clearness will permit, and hope the reader will excuse egotisms
where no glory was the result of my actions. Chance, more than design,
presented the means; and if the moments were luckily seized, it was
from no merit, no foresight of mine, that those moments were brought on.
Having fully seen the incapacity of the Opposition, sensible how ill
they were united, and foreseeing that their strength would rather
diminish than augment, and at the same time flattering myself, from
the resistance which the Ministry had experienced, that they would be
less flippant in their innovations on liberty, which was fortified
by getting rid of general warrants, I had determined to give over
politics; and to withdraw myself from shallow councils. I was preparing
to make a visit to my friend and relation,[463] Lord Hertford, at
Paris, when, two days after the rising of the Parliament, I was stunned
with notice of Mr. Conway being turned out of the King’s bedchamber,
and dismissed from the command of his regiment of dragoons. As _I_
had been a principal cause of this unworthy treatment, and of this
destruction of his fortunes, nothing could be more sensible to me than
this blow. Nor could I remain a moment in doubt, from the complexion
of some in power, but that the stroke was aimed still more at me
than at Mr. Conway, though directly I was out of their reach. The
Bedford faction I knew were my mortal enemies. Yet I saw, too, that
Mr. Conway had a share in the resentment of others. Grenville was
not of a nature to pardon the slight Mr. Conway had made both of his
favour and power. He had offended Lord Sandwich, too, by refusing to
influence the chaplain of his regiment to vote for him at Cambridge;
and Lord Holland had long groaned for an opportunity of revenging
himself on Lord Hertford for his treatment of Bunbury. The tone of
the ruling Administration was despotic, nor had they forgotten how
lately they had trembled with apprehension of losing their power.
Here were more than motives sufficient to egg on general or particular
vengeance. And in general I must leave it; for after long search and
much information, I cannot fix the deed on any single man. There was
but one man among the suspected that ever solemnly denied having a
share in it; and he constantly did: I mean Lord Bute. All the rest
have charged it on others, though still without disavowing having had
a hand in it themselves. The King often afterwards protested to Lord
Hertford that his Ministers[464] forced him to it. Grenville declared
that his Majesty was more eager for it than any of them. The Duke of
Bedford alone was frank, and avowed that though he had not recommended
the measure, he had told his colleagues, when they proposed to remove
Mr. Conway from the bedchamber only, that it was foolish to provoke
him by halves; and that to leave him his regiment, and take away the
bedchamber, would be telling other officers that they might oppose the
Court with impunity.
Be it as it may, the boldness of the step was almost unprecedented.
Sir Robert Walpole had dismissed the Lords Westmoreland[465] and
Cobham[466] from the command of regiments; and Mr. Pitt from a
cornetcy; but it was not till by a personal, violent, and constant
opposition, that they had made themselves as obnoxious as possible.
Yet even that measure, provoked as it was, had occasioned great
clamour; and had contributed to animate the Opposition, which at last
overthrew that Minister. Mr. Grenville had joined in that Opposition,
had risen on that foundation; and the Duke of Bedford had signed a
protest against the measure of dismissing officers for parliamentary
reasons. How different was the case now! The temper and fairness of the
man disgraced, his aversion to faction, the disinterestedness of his
character, his general co-operation with the measures of Government,
his being recently recommended to favour by Prince Ferdinand for
his services in Germany, and his being brother to the ambassador at
Paris--all these were considerations that made the measure amazing.
But when it was observed that this punishment was inflicted for a
single[467] vote in Parliament, when it was evident that that vote
had been peculiarly conscientious, and given in a cause avowed by the
nation, and against a practice certain of being, as it soon after was,
condemned by the Courts of Law, and though maintained by Parliament
in retrospect, yet given up for the future by that very Parliament
as pernicious; when the context, too, appeared to be, that military
men in Parliament were to forfeit their profession and the merit of
their services, unless implicitly devoted to the Court; could these
reflections, when coupled with the arbitrary measures which the nation
had observed to be the system of the Court, fail to occasion the
blackest presages? Lord Bute, in truth, had slunk away from his own
victory; but Grenville remained, and had Bute’s tools, and Sandwich
and Rigby, to war with on the constitution, and Lord Mansfield and
Norton ready to turn the law against itself.
It was a beautiful contrast, the behaviour of the person aggrieved.
His temper, decency, and submission were unalterable and unequalled.
He neither complained nor tried to instil a sense of his injuries
into a single friend, though he wished they should take his part, and
resent for him. He could not have entertained a wish worse founded: his
friends were rejoiced at not being called upon; and had no ambition to
share the crown of his martyrdom. There lived not three more interested
men than the Duke of Argyle,[468] Lord Lorn, and Lord Frederick
Campbell, the father and brothers of Lady Ailesbury,[469] Mr. Conway’s
wife. The first loved money, and had incurred unpleasant suspicions
in his efforts to obtain it. Lord Lorn[470] was sordidly covetous,
and had not sense enough to foresee a blessing in futurity beyond
the first half-crown that glittered in his eyes. Lord Frederick[471]
was sensible, shrewd, and selfish; and on this and a subsequent
crisis showed that no connection or obligation could stand against
the eagerness with which he pursued immediate fortune. Nothing else
weighed with him, except the inveteracy of national prejudice. As Mr.
Conway had acted in opposition to Scottish measures, Lord Frederick,
forgetting Mr. Conway’s friendship and kindness, and his own youthful
situation, and borne away by a hot temper, often and indecently
attacked him in Parliament, though without any brilliancy of parts to
colour over such improper behaviour. The Duke of Richmond, who had
married Lady Ailesbury’s daughter, kept himself more free from blame.
He had been witness to the integrity of Mr. Conway’s conduct at the
conference with Mr. Grenville, and certainly loved him, though not
enough to participate his disgrace. The Duke, however, offered to take
a part in Parliament if Mr. Conway’s friends would move for an inquiry
into the cause of his dismission; but that offer did not include his
Grace’s engaging any farther against the Court.
There was still another relation of Mr. Conway more deeply involved
in his disgrace, and more immediately called upon to resent it; his
brother, Lord Hertford. Yet there were both real and specious reasons
for his submitting to it.[472] Mr. Conway had taken this part, not
only without consulting him, but when he must have known how unwelcome
it would be to Lord Hertford, then in the King’s service both at home
and abroad, and well treated; connected with the Ministry, and ever
desirous of being so with all Administrations. Lord Hertford had even,
after his brother’s first vote, made remonstrances to him, though in
vain. On the other hand, honour, interest in a general sense, and
personal resentment, called on Lord Hertford to espouse his brother’s
quarrel. Ambassador in France, where no officer was ever broken but for
cowardice or some atrocious crime, it could but strike the French Court
that the Ambassador stood in little estimation at home, when such an
affront was put on the family. Could he expect more consideration if he
acquiesced? On the other hand, should the Opposition succeed, in which,
besides his brother, were his wife’s nephew, the Duke of Grafton,[473]
and his old friends, whom he had already offended by not acting with
them, what could he expect but, at best, the humiliating circumstance
of being saved by his brother whom he had abandoned? Nor could Lord
Hertford doubt but that Mr. Conway partly suffered on his account, as
far as Lord Holland had any share in the measure. Yet, though there had
been no instance of such a disgrace remaining unresented, much less
when such a character was so unjustly treated, not a single resignation
marked that the sufferer had either a friend or relation in the place.
He was at once sacrificed by the Court, and abandoned by his own family.
It became the more incumbent on me to make him all the reparation in
my power. I offered him six thousand pounds, which he refused; and I
altered my will, giving him almost my whole fortune unless his regiment
should be restored to him; a destination with which I acquainted him.
And though it certainly would not augment the gift, I determined
to hazard all I had rather than not revenge both him and myself.
Grenville, the very day before the dismission of Mr. Conway, whether to
detach me from him, or fearing I should make use of the indiscretion he
had been guilty of, ordered the payment of my bills at the Treasury; a
step that, far from soothing, but served to increase my resentment. I
dreaded lest Mr. Conway should think I had kept any underhand measures
with the Treasury; but I soon convinced both him and the world how
steadily I embraced the cause of my friend. Yet for the first time in
my life I acted with a phlegm of which I did not know myself capable. I
shut myself up in the country for three days, till I had conquered the
first ebullitions of my rage, and then returned to town with a face of
satisfaction, which some thought indifference; and others joy at having
dipped Mr. Conway in Opposition. Both were mistaken. I knew that both
Mr. Conway and the Opposition were little formed for the business. I
had everything to discourage me, and nothing but perseverance and the
firmness of my own temper to carry me on. I foresaw, indeed, that the
persecution he had undergone would raise the character of Mr. Conway,
would lend him an importance he would never have assumed, and might one
day place him at the head of this country. I foresaw that the violence
and unprincipled rashness of the Ministers would conduct them to a
precipice; but I should far overrate my own sagacity, if I pretended to
have discovered that those prospects were near enough to administer any
comfort to my impatience. I knew the folly of those I was to act with.
I could not flatter myself it would be exceeded by the folly of those I
was to act against.
If self-interest restrained Mr. Conway’s family from embracing his
defence, it was as natural that the Opposition should caress him.
A martyr is as creditable to a party in politics as to a sect in
religion. Yet so decent and so dignified was the Opposition of that
time, that they expressed none of the heat and ardour with which
parties usually seize such an event. The Duke of Devonshire, indeed,
came to me, and with great delicacy desired that I would in his name
make an offer to Mr. Conway of a thousand pounds a year, till his
regiment should be restored.[474] This noble offer Mr. Conway as
generously declined. However, it gave lustre to our cause; and it was
my purpose to raise as high as I could the character of our party, and
to spread the flames of emulation from such examples. The Ministerial
tools, on the other hand, were not idle, but began to defame Mr. Conway
as a spiritless and inactive General, reviving in scandalous papers the
miscarriage at Rochfort.[475] This artillery, however, we turned upon
them, and displayed the malignity of not being content with ruining
him, without proceeding to the grossest defamation. Mr. Conway, too, by
my advice, called upon the detractors to avow themselves, and, if they
dared, take up the weapons like men, which soon silenced that dirty
kind of war.
But these prosperous beginnings were almost all I could accomplish.
Every step I took I found discouragement and disappointment. There was
no union in our party, nor could I bring about any. At first I laboured
to form a little junto of the most considerable of our friends in the
House of Commons, who should plan our future measures and conduct them.
But of those I could not prevail on any three to assemble and enter
into concert. Legge was dying; Charles Yorke was proud, insincere,
waiting for an opportunity of making his own bargain, and offended that
Mr. Pitt was disposed to make Pratt Chancellor; though the latter,
for the good of the cause, was willing to waive the Seals. Charles
Townshend, neglected by the Court, seemed zealously attached to us;
unfortunately, we could neither do with him nor without him; yet his
jealousy of Grenville and fear of Mr. Conway would have fixed him,
if anything could. There was another man of whose art and abilities
I had a high opinion, and who was as practicable as the others I
have mentioned were little so,--I mean Lord George Sackville. But
insuperable difficulties kept him from us too. Pitt had proscribed him;
Newcastle did not love him; the Duke of Devonshire was too cautious to
join him; and Conway, knowing Lord George had been his enemy, though it
had never come to an open rupture, would not listen to any connection
with him, but pleaded the stains on his character, and the enmity borne
to him by Prince Ferdinand. I lost my temper at finding that, whilst
our enemies stuck at nothing, every phantom and every fancy was to
clog our councils and retard our advances. The dignity of great Lords,
and their want of sense, the treachery of some, the piques of others,
all had their operation, and not a single prejudice was removed to
facilitate our attempts. I had surmounted my repugnance to Newcastle,
and, though in truth to little purpose, had consented to advise
with him. He was still the same; at once busy and inactive, fond of
plotting, but impossible to be put in motion. Nor, indeed, propose what
I would, could I obtain to have a single measure carried into execution.
But what hampered us most was Mr. Pitt. He justly resented having been
abandoned by Newcastle, Devonshire, and the Whigs. He despised both
Charles Yorke and Charles Townshend; and though he expressed civil
applause of Mr. Conway, would neither connect with him nor see him.
He at once talked of an Administration to be composed of great Whig
Lords, and of his own resolution not to force himself on the King; that
is, he wished the great Lords should force him on the King without his
concurrence, that he might have the merit of disavowing them, and of
profiting of their weight. Conway was as difficult as Pitt, and too
proud to make any advances to him. Thus, wherever I turned, there were
no facilities. Even Lord Temple, accustomed to run and meet faction
in the highways, seemed cold and indisposed to connection with us. At
the same time I heard that a treaty was carrying on between him and
his brother George; a report which, though true, greatly deceived me;
for, concluding that Lord Temple was too firmly united with Mr. Pitt to
negotiate without him, I imputed the coldness of both to an approaching
league of the whole family; whereas the truth was, though then a secret
to all the world, that Mr. Pitt and Lord Temple were on bad terms; the
former disapproving the violence of Temple; and Temple being enraged
that Mr. Pitt would not lend himself to all his passions.
Perceiving so little hope of union amongst ourselves, I conceived a
better prospect from the factions of the Court, which, by every art
I could devise, I endeavoured to inflame. I soon learned how wide
the breach was growing between Lord Bute and Grenville; and though I
then looked on the former as the more dangerous of the two, and of
all men was determined not to connect with him; yet to his friends I
held a plausible language, insinuating that it was possible he might
be forgiven by our great Lords, and left them to think that, if the
Favourite withdrew his protection from Grenville and the Bedfords, his
case would by no means be desperate with the Opposition. In the same
kind of style I talked to the friends of Grenville; still imputing
Mr. Conway’s disgrace alternately to the other faction, accordingly
as I conversed with either. I saw that, hostile as they were, despair
must cement their union. Both would be more prompt to quarrel if they
thought themselves not proscribed by us.
An incident fell out favourable to this plan. Grenville, ever averse
to Lord Holland, had destined his place of Paymaster to be shared
between Lord North and Stanley, and they had even taken joy on it.
But Lord Bute had prevented it being carried into execution; and Lord
Holland now came from France, stung with this insult: though as the
passing of his accounts was in agitation, he for the present stifled
his resentment, and affected to pay court to Grenville. As, however,
to hoodwink me to his own share in that business, and to inflame my
anger to Grenville, he laid the chief blame of Conway’s disgrace on
the latter, I indulged him, as usual, in the imagination that he
deceived me; and, as if to vent my own passion, blew up his as high as
I could against Grenville. From Lord Holland I heard what had escaped
me. Conway at the end of the Session, on a motion for thanking the
King for reducing the German demand, had made a panegyric on Prince
Ferdinand and the hereditary Prince, saying how hard it was that
_their_ country, which had suffered so much for _us_, should not have
ample indemnification. Grenville had answered, that surely if the King
had been content to lower the demands for Hanover, he was at liberty to
reduce those of Brunswick. This had passed in a thin debate; nor had I
been present. But Lord George Sackville had remarked, and said, “Conway
has undone himself.” It was, it seems, an irremissible crime to applaud
the hero who had commanded our armies and given them victory; and to
plead for another hero who had married the King’s own sister and fought
his battles!
I shall omit the detail of many other stratagems that I formed for
annoying the Administration, they having been damped or annihilated
by the supineness of my confederates. The summer was in every respect
unfortunate to us; and by the Session following, we scarce deserved the
name of a party. Death took off some of our chief leaders, who, though
they would not lead us, yet, by the sanction of their names, had kept
together an appearance of numbers, which dwindled away as our hopes of
success vanished. What farther regards us as a party will be mentioned
in its place. I now return to the other occurrences of the year.
Two vacant garters were bestowed on the Duke of Mecklenberg[476] and
Lord Halifax. About the same time died at Paris the King’s mistress,
Madame de Pompadour. She retained her power to the last, though their
amour had long been exhausted. The Duc de Choiseul, whom she had
destined for Minister, succeeded her in the King’s confidence without a
rival.
May 4th, Beardmore, one of the persecuted writers, carried his cause
against the messengers, and recovered one thousand pounds for damages.
On the 9th Mr. Conway’s late regiment was given to the Earl of
Pembroke; not without occasioning remarks a little disadvantageous to
the standard of his Majesty’s piety. Lord Pembroke, one of the wildest
young men of the times, had been dismissed from the King’s bedchamber
for debauching and eloping with a young lady of distinction, though
married to a more beautiful woman, sister of the Duke of Marlborough.
Nobody could tell what the King had to do to interfere in that
intrigue: but having done so, it seemed little consistent to reward
a young profligate[477] with the spoils of a man strictly virtuous
and conscientious. It was now remembered that at the beginning of
this reign, the Earl of Dartmouth, a young nobleman as pious as Lord
Pembroke was licentious, had applied to be of the King’s bedchamber,
but had been rejected by Lord Bute, lest so sanctimonious a man should
gain too far on his Majesty’s piety. An instance that if it proved the
religion of the King, did not bear witness to that of the Favourite.
But in such a theatre of hypocrisy, it mattered little who was the
principal impostor.
On the 15th died Dr. Osbaldiston, Bishop of London; and the next
day Lord Chancellor Henley was created Earl of Northington, a step
not communicated to the Duke of Bedford, who much resented it. But
Grenville was more mortified, who found himself excluded from the
nomination of the new Bishop of London. He had wished to raise
Newton[478] to that mitre, but Lord Bute procured it for Terrick. This
man, with no glimmering of parts or knowledge, had, on the merit of a
sonorous delivery, and by an assiduity of back-stairs address, wriggled
himself into a sort of general favour; and by timing his visits
luckily, had been promoted by the Duke of Devonshire to the See of
Peterborough. Yet he had been of the first, notoriously obliged to that
Duke, to abandon him on his fall, sailing headlong with the tide after
the Favourite’s triumph. Again, when the Favourite retired, Terrick,
who was minister of my parish,[479] was lavish to me of invectives
against that Lord; and sifted me eagerly to learn in what channel Court
favour was likely to flow. Having soon perceived his mistake, he had
made out a distant affinity with Worseley,[480] a creature of Lord
Bute, and a kind of riding-master to the King; and now to Grenville’s
surprise rose, all unworthy as he was, to so eminent a station in
the Church. This detail I communicated to Dr. Lyttelton, Bishop of
Carlisle, who adhered to George Grenville amidst their family breaches;
and who, being both gossiping and mischievous, kept up an acquaintance
with me of ancient date, that he might from my warmth collect
materials to carry to Grenville. I took care to furnish him according
to his wish. It was wormwood to Grenville to learn this proof of the
Favourite’s still subsisting ascendant; and when I had once set them on
the scent, I knew they would touch on it in more instances than this.
On the 22nd Philip Carteret Webbe was tried for perjury, being accused
of having forsworn himself in the cause against Wilkes. The jury stayed
out fifty-five minutes, but at last acquitted him: a vindication that
no more cleared his character than conviction would have made it worse.
The Earl of Northumberland[481] returned from Ireland, where his
profusion and ostentation had been so great,[482] that it seemed to
lay a dangerous precedent for succeeding governors, who must risk
unpopularity if more parsimonious; or the ruin of their fortune,
should they imitate his example. At his departure he broke with William
Gerard Hamilton,[483] his secretary, and dismissed him to make way for
the Earl of Drogheda,[484] the favourite both of Lady Northumberland
and the Primate.
Lord Northumberland had an advantageous figure and much courtesy in
his address, which being supported by the most expensive magnificence,
made him exceedingly popular with the meaner sort. They who viewed him
nearer, were not the dupes of his affability or pretensions. The old
nobility beheld his pride with envy and anger; and thence were the less
disposed to overlook the littleness of his temper, or the slender
portion he possessed of abilities; for his expense was a mere sacrifice
to vanity, as appeared by his sordid and illiberal behaviour at play.
Nor were his talents more solid than his generosity. With mechanic
application to every branch of knowledge, he possessed none beyond
the surface; and having an unbounded propensity to discussion, he
disgusted his hearers without informing them. Yet his equals were but
ill-grounded in their contempt of him. Very few of them knew so much;
and there were still fewer that had not more noxious vices, and as
ungenerous hearts. Lord Northumberland’s foibles ought to have passed
almost for virtues in an age so destitute of intrinsic merit.[485]
The Countess of Northumberland was a jovial heap of contradictions.
The blood of all the Percies and Seymours swelled in her veins and
in her fancy; while her person was more vulgar than anything but her
conversation, which was larded indiscriminately with stories of her
ancestors and her footmen. Show, and crowds, and junketting, were her
endless pursuits. She was familiar with the mob, while stifled with
diamonds; and yet was attentive to the most minute privileges of her
rank, while almost shaking hands with a cobbler. Nothing was more
mean than her assiduity about the King and Queen, whom she termed her
_Master_ and _Mistress_; and yet, though indirectly reprimanded by the
latter, she persisted in following her Majesty to the theatres with a
longer retinue of domestics than waited on the Queen herself. She had
revived the drummers and pipers and obsolete minstrels of her family;
and her own buxom countenance at the tail of such a procession, gave it
all the air of an antiquated pageant or mumming. She was mischievous
under the appearance of frankness; generous and friendly without
delicacy or sentiment.[486]
Lord Northumberland’s son, Lord Warkworth, was married to the third
daughter of the Favourite;[487] on which foundation the father was
admitted to the private junto, which now met daily at Mr. Stone’s.[488]
It was composed of Lord Bute, Lord Northumberland, Lord Mansfield,
Norton, Stone, and the brother of the latter, the famous Primate of
Ireland, who bad followed the Lord-Lieutenant to London; coming,
as he outwardly professed, to promote harmony and reconciliation.
As he died soon after, before he had given any specimens of his
arts here, I pretend not to say what were the real motives of his
journey. He did visit Mr. Pitt; but a man so notorious for cunning
as the Primate, was not likely to win on the _caution_ of Mr. Pitt,
who never _was explicit_, and least of all to men of abilities. It
appeared, however, from the meetings I have mentioned, and other
symptoms, that the Favourite was peeping out of his lurking-hole, and
was disposed to let his power be felt. Grenville, though drunk with
vanity, was sober enough to be stung with any competition; and yet
his obstinacy disgusted those whom it was most necessary for him to
attach. He offended the Duke of Bedford and Lord Halifax by refusing
to let the Treasury bear the whole charge of the fines imposed on
the messengers. The Duke experienced so many slights, that he kept
retired in the country, and Rigby went to France, professing that it
was to be absent, lest he should be blamed if the Duke should submit
to such ignominious treatment; but Rigby had, no doubt, secured the
Duke’s submission before he ventured to leave him, as he called it,
to himself. However, the Duke of Cumberland was so much misled by
those wayward humours, that before the end of the summer he sent Lord
Albemarle[489] to Woburn, to sound their dispositions, and endeavour to
draw them from the Court. Not one, not his own sister, Lady Tavistock,
would talk to him on politics; only the Duchess said drily, that her
husband was Minister, and that everything was done that he desired.
Mr. Pitt had said more truly, some time before, “They will disgust the
Duke of Bedford in the spring, that they may not be teazed with his
solicitations; and they will sweeten him again by winter, with some
trifling favour, that he may give them no trouble in Parliament.”
END OF THE FIRST VOLUME.
LONDON:
Printed by S. & J. BENTLEY, WILSON, and FLEY,
Bangor House, Shoe Lane.
FOOTNOTES
[1] Preface to the “Memoires of the Last Twelve Years of the Reign of
George the Second,” p. xxvi.
[2] Postscript to the “Memoires of George the Second,” p. 40.
[3] Preface to the “Memoires of the Last Twelve Years of the Reign of
George the Second,” p. xxxii.
[4] Mr. Wright’s notes on Lord Chatham’s Correspondence and his edition
of Cavendish’s Debates are also most useful aids to the student of
English History. He died not many months ago, in circumstances which
proved his labours to have been very inadequately rewarded by the
public.
[5] Mr. Clavering--he was a near relative of a North country baronet of
the same name.--E.
[6] Sir Henry Wilmot, Bart., M.D., Physician-general to the Forces, an
eminent medical practitioner, and the son-in-law of Dr. Mead; he died
in 1786, at a very advanced age.--E.
[7] He was Serjeant-surgeon to the King, and had attended George II. at
the battle of Dettingen.--E.
[8] John Stuart, third Earl of Bute.--This nomination was severely
criticised in publications of the day. It is treated by Mr. Adolphus
as a simple nomination to the Privy Council, and is defended as such,
on the ground that the Groom of the Stole had been always constituted
a Privy Counsellor. This is a misconception. The empty honour of the
Council could be grudged by no one to a great officer of the royal
household. The real grievance was his admission into the Cabinet.--E.
[9] The Duke very soon discovered his power to be gone. Lord Bute’s
predilection for the Tories was undisguised, and it soon became
evident that the Court had determined to break up the Whig party, the
effect of which would be to reduce the Duke to insignificance. See
an interesting letter from Mr. Rigby to the Duke of Bedford (19 Dec.
1760), giving an account of an interview of the former with the Duke of
Newcastle.--Russell Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 467.
[10] William Cavendish, fourth Duke of Devonshire, and Lord Chamberlain.
[11] William Henry Nassau Zulestein, fourth Earl of Rochford. He was
descended from General Zulestein, a natural uncle of William the Third;
and his grandfather, the first Earl, had been one of the favourite
generals of that Monarch. Lord Rochford had been minister at Turin from
1749 to 1755, when he was appointed Groom of the Stole, to the great
disappointment of Earl Poulett, the first Lord of the Bedchamber, who
in consequence resigned his employment. Walpole’s Memoirs, vol. i. p.
381.--E.
[12] The Duke of Bedford was no favourite of Walpole, owing to a
private quarrel. There is no reason for suspecting that it could have
been intended to remove his Grace from the Government of Ireland, a
post which he had occupied with great reluctance (Walp. Mem. vol. ii.
p. 105), and was glad to vacate shortly afterwards.--E.
[13] Granville Leveson, Earl Gower, brother of the Duchess of Bedford.
[14] James Brudenel, brother of the Earl of Cardigan, to which title he
afterwards succeeded. He died without issue in 1811, aged 86.--E.
[15] Eldest daughter of John, Earl of Bute; afterwards married to Sir
James Lowther.
[16] Afterwards third wife of Granville Leveson, Earl Gower.
[17] He had been dismissed for joining Mr. Pitt, and the Prince
had at the time promised to restore him, upon coming to the
throne.--Doddington’s Diary, Appendix.--E.
[18] Richard Temple, Lord Cobham, who had been much engaged with
Frederick Prince of Wales, being asked by Henrietta, Lady Suffolk, what
was the real character of the Princess, replied, “She was the only
woman he could never find out: all he had discovered was, that she
hated those most to whom she paid most court.”
[19] This criticism of Lord Bute is not borne out by facts. The fine
collection of pictures made by his lordship at Luton, prove the
munificence and discernment with which he patronized painting. Luton
itself, the building, or rather the enlargement of which he is known
to have personally superintended, with many faults had likewise many
beauties, and was surpassed in taste by few of the mansions of that
date, and certainly not by Strawberry Hill. He had, in fact, a genuine
love both of painting and architecture, and his efforts to infuse
the same into the mind of his royal pupil did not entirely fail, for
George the Third’s example was unquestionably a great improvement in
this respect on his immediate predecessors. Of the other charges here
brought against Lord Bute, the Editor has spoken elsewhere.--E.
[20] Archbishop Secker has been in more than one instance
misrepresented by Walpole. It is most improbable that he should have
entertained the views here ascribed to him. As the head of the Church,
it necessarily became his duty to attend frequently at Court on the
commencement of a new reign, as has since happened to his successors
without their incurring any such imputation.--E.
[21] When Prince of Wales, Scott, his sub-preceptor, reproached him
with inattention to his studies. The Prince pleaded idleness. “Idle!
Sir,” said Scott; “your brother Edward is idle; but do you call being
asleep, being idle?”
[22] George Keppel, third Earl of Albemarle, a favourite of the Duke of
Cumberland, and afterwards conqueror of the Havannah.
[23] George, eldest son of Charles Lord Viscount Townshend (afterwards
Marquis of Townshend). His name often appears in these Memoirs.
[24] A Letter to the Honourable Brigadier General, Commander-in-Chief
of his Majesty’s Forces in Canada.--London, 1760.--It is written
with a point and spirit, and we may add, with a degree of malignity,
closely akin to Junius, to whose pen, indeed, it has recently been
ascribed. (See Preface by Mr. Simons to the new edition of this
Pamphlet.) A reply, under the title of “Refutation of a Letter,” &c.,
composed, evidently, under the eye of Townshend or his family, appeared
shortly afterwards, and is equally intemperate, but very inferior
in ability. The controversy is so far prejudicial to Townshend, as
convicting him of an ungenerous indifference to the memory of the
great man who had led him to victory--his only excuse for the slight
manner in which he notices Wolfe in the despatch being, not “want of
esteem, but because of the impropriety of writing a panegyric to a
Minister, when nothing but the situation and exigence of affairs is
mentioned.” Townshend virtually admitted the justice of the charge,
by subsequently publishing a studied panegyric on Wolfe in the form
of a private letter, though it is more in the style of his brother’s
parliamentary speeches, and was probably the composition of the latter.
With respect to his opposition to Wolfe’s plan of attack, he stands
entirely acquitted. The Protest made by him, in common with other
officers, had been against a plan of attack which, in consequence of
that Protest, was abandoned, and the dissentients on that occasion
were those who proposed the very attack which proved so successful.
The two generals were certainly not suited to each other. Townshend,
though brave, clever, and not devoid of good feeling, was impatient of
authority, and possessed in a singular degree the faculty of detecting
and exaggerating the faults of his superiors. He had thus drawn upon
himself the resentment of the Duke of Cumberland, to whom he was under
great obligations, and had fallen into difficulties, out of which
it required the all-powerful patronage of Pitt to extricate him. A
partial friend (Mr. Glover) describes him as “often led into hasty and
striking judgments of men either in approbation or censure.” Wolfe
was not of a temperament to brook sarcasm, or even opposition, from
a subordinate officer; and yet he had peculiarities which Townshend
could scarcely overlook. One was a confidence in himself, which, as he
took no pains to disguise it, led superficial observers to question
the reality of his merit. Just before he quitted England for the last
time, he called to take leave of Lord Temple, whom he found sitting
with a colleague. The conversation turned on the prospects of the
expedition; and some stress being laid on the resistance that might
be expected from the numbers and gallantry of the French, Wolfe rose
from his chair, and drawing his sword, exclaimed with a loud voice,
and in a menacing attitude, that there was nothing to fear; for if
he could only come within reach of the enemy, his success was not
a matter of doubt, but of certainty. When he left the room the two
Ministers looked at each other with astonishment, and agreed, that to
entrust so hazardous an expedition to such a braggart, was indeed a
fearful experiment. The feeling that at all times appeared uppermost
in his mind, was an insatiable appetite for glory, and desire after
posthumous fame. He idolized genius either in arts or arms. Even on
the day of the attack, while sailing down the St. Lawrence, he read
aloud Gray’s Elegy, and observed several times to the officers with
him, that he did not know whether he would not rather be the author
of that poem than the conqueror of Quebec. In truth his was a noble
nature. His feelings were as genuine as they were ardent. He gave the
most minute attention to the welfare and comfort of his troops; and
instead of maintaining the reserve and stateliness so common with other
commanders of that day, his manner was frank and open, and he had a
personal knowledge of perhaps every officer in his army. We recollect a
respectable veteran, who, after having served under him at Louisburgh
and Cape Breton, commanded one of the first detachments that scaled
the heights of Abraham. In that exploit Captain ---- was shot through
the lungs. On recovering his senses he saw Wolfe standing by his side.
Amidst the anxieties of such a critical hour, the General stopped to
press the hand of the wounded man--praised his services, encouraged
him not to abandon the hope of life--assured him of leave of absence
and early promotion; nay more, he desired an aide-de-camp to give a
message to that effect to General Monckton, should he himself fall in
the action; and, to the credit of General Monckton, the promise was
kept. No wonder that these qualities coupled with brilliant success
won the hearts of the soldiery: a sort of romance still clings to
his name. He is the only British General belonging to the reign of
George the Second who can be said to have earned a lasting reputation.
Long as this note is, it would be incomplete without some notice of
General Townshend. That officer was the son of Charles third Viscount
Townshend, and the witty Ethelreda Harrison, and therefore the grandson
of Charles second Viscount Townshend, the celebrated colleague of Sir
Robert Walpole. He was not loved by either of his parents. His father,
a man of dissolute habits, and an unnatural parent, made for him so
mean a provision, that on leaving the University he joined the army
abroad as a volunteer, and he served in that capacity at the battle of
Dettingen. He was afterwards reduced to seek employment in the Dutch
service, but, fortunately, was disappointed, as about this time he
attracted the notice of the Duke of Cumberland, through whose interest
he rose rapidly to the rank of Colonel. He attended the Duke during
the remainder of the war, and distinguished himself at Fontenoy and
Culloden. Subsequently, his marriage with Lady de Ferrars, the heiress
of the Northamptons, placed him at once in opulent circumstances, and
he was elected a representative for Norfolk without opposition, except
from his father. The figure he made in the House, where he acquired
considerable influence, especially over members in the agricultural
interest, has caused him to be often noticed (generally with censure)
in these Memoirs; but though Walpole paints him in no pleasing colours,
on the other hand, another contemporary writer says that he was manly
in person, demeanour, and sentiment, and exemplary as a husband and
father, and, from his wit, agreeable to his friends and formidable to
those he disliked. It cannot be denied, however, that he was too prone
to mischief, and more worldly than seemed consistent with his love of
pleasure and ease. His life was singularly prosperous, and prolonged
to extreme old age. He became Viscount Townshend by the death of his
father in 1764. In 1767 he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland;
in 1787 he was created a Marquis, and in 1807, he died, aged 84, being
then a Field Marshal, Governor of Jersey, and Colonel of a regiment of
Dragoons. Memoirs of George the Second, vol. i. p. 33; vol. ii. p. 337.
Memoirs of a distinguished Political and Literary Character, p. 71--E.
[25] Charles Lenox, third Duke of Richmond.
[26] William Keppel, third son of William Anne, second Earl of
Albemarle, by Lady Anne Lenox, daughter of the first Duke of Richmond.
He commanded a regiment at the conquest of the Havannah, and died a
General officer, unmarried, in 1786.--E.
[27] There is a slight inaccuracy in this statement. The Duke’s
resentment was not so generous. The object of his interview with the
King was to promote his own interest, not that of Colonel Keppel.--See
the Duke of Richmond’s letter of 21st June, 1783, in the Appendix to
Dodington’s Diary.--E.
[28] William Petty, Lord Fitzmaurice, eldest son of the Earl of
Shelburne, whom he succeeded in that title May 17, 1761; and by which
title he will be frequently mentioned in the following Memoirs.
[29] Lord George Lenox was only brother of Charles third Duke of
Richmond. He had behaved with distinguished gallantry in the German
wars. The late Duke of Richmond was his son.--E.
[30] Charles Fitzroy, second son of Lord Augustus Fitzroy, second
son of Charles second Duke of Grafton, and only brother of Augustus
Henry third Duke of Grafton. He distinguished himself at the battle of
Minden, where he served on the staff of Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick.
He was created Lord Southampton in 1780, and died on the 21st of March
1797, aged 60.--E.
[31] Augustus Henry, Duke of Grafton, afterwards First Lord of the
Treasury.
[32] Henry Fox had married Lady Caroline Lenox, eldest daughter of
Charles, late Duke of Richmond, without the consent of her father and
mother, who were some years unreconciled to her.
[33] It was given under pretence of paying the late Prince her
husband’s debts. Whether she did discharge any of them I neither know
nor deny; some, I have heard, remained unpaid, not only at her death,
but in the year 1788.
[34] George Henry Lee, Earl of Litchfield, High Steward, and afterwards
Chancellor of the University of Oxford, had been a zealous partisan
of the House of Stuart, of which he was an illegitimate branch, his
grandfather, Edward the first Earl, having married a daughter of
Charles the Second by the Duchess of Cleveland. Lord Litchfield was
too much a man of pleasure to shine in politics, or he might at this
crisis have taken a leading part in public affairs, for his abilities
were considerable. The following ironical character of him is almost
the only instance in which Wilkes has described an opponent with
candour and truth:--“The Captain (Giddy) was a sprightly fellow in his
youth, and is remembered about twenty years ago to have made a very
good speech or two at some of your public meetings in London. From this
time, however, the figure he hath made in the world hath not been much
to his credit. The chief of his company, till within these two years,
have been parsons and country squires. They used to lead him about to
races, cock-matches, and country clubs, where he was apt sometimes
to drink a little too freely. A course of life of this sort brought
on a swimming in his head, so that he hath frequently been supposed
not to be sensible where he was, or what he was about: hence he hath
been known in the late times of party violence, in the same sort of
company, and within a few days of each other, to drink ‘Exclusion to
the House of Hanover, and confusion to the Stuarts.’” _North Briton,
No. 29_.--Lord Litchfield died in 1772. The title did not go beyond the
third generation, though the first Earl had thirteen sons, of whom six
lived to manhood.--E.
[35] Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, was grandson of
the Lord Treasurer’s brother, on whom the title had been specially
limited, on failure of issue male in the direct line. He died in 1790,
aged 64.--E.
[36] Thomas Brudenel Bruce, Baron Bruce, youngest brother of George,
Earl of Cardigan, and of the Duke of Montague. He was the fourth son of
George third Earl of Cardigan, by Elizabeth, only daughter of Thomas
second Earl of Aylesbury and Baron Bruce. That barony afterwards
devolved upon him by a special limitation in the patent obtained by
his uncle Charles, the third and last Earl of Aylesbury, who also
bequeathed to him the bulk of the family property. He was created Earl
of Aylesbury in 1776, on the death of his uncle, and died in 1814. The
present Marquis of Aylesbury is his son.--E.
[37] James Douglas, Earl of March and Ruglen, afterwards Duke of
Queensberry. He died in 1810, aged 86. He possessed uncommon shrewdness
and penetration, but is now only remembered by the excessive profligacy
which stained even the last years of his life.--E.
[38] Alexander Montgomery, Earl of Eglinton, an intelligent,
public-spirited nobleman. Scotland is greatly indebted to him for the
agricultural improvements he introduced upon his estates in Ayrshire,
and still more for the benefit of his example on other large landed
proprietors. He was mortally wounded in an accidental scuffle with an
officer of Excise, whom he found poaching in his park, and died on
the 25th October, 1769. The murderer was convicted, and only escaped
execution by hanging himself in prison. Wood’s Peerage of Scotland,
vol. i.--E.
[39] George Broderick, Viscount Middleton. He had married the eldest
daughter of the Honourable Thomas Townshend, and great-niece of the
Duke of Newcastle, and died in 1765, aged 35. He was the grandson of
Lord Chancellor Broderick.--E.
[40] Andrew Stone, of whom see more in the preceding reign, and _infra_.
[41] Smith de Burgh, Earl of Clanrickard.
[42] Richard Rigby, of Mistley, near Manningtree, in Essex, Secretary
to the Duke of Bedford.
[43] This tract may still be read with interest. It is a masterly
production. The style is clear and persuasive, the tone calm, and
the reasoning close and logical. The examples from English history
with which the author supports his positions are skilfully chosen and
agreeably introduced, and his strictures on the King of Prussia have a
smartness and pungency that show no small command over the weapons of
controversy. Mr. Mauduit was agent for Massachusetts. He wrote several
tracts on the differences between England and her American Colonies, as
well as on subjects connected with the Dissenting interests, of which
he was a zealous and munificent promoter. He died unmarried, in June
1787, aged 72. See Nichols’s Literary Anecdotes, vol. viii. p. 466; and
Chalmers’s Biographical Dictionary, Art. Mauduit.--E.
[44] Basil Fielding, Earl of Denbigh, Lord of the Bedchamber.
[45] Son of Mr. Grenville, of Wooton, and afterwards First Lord of the
Treasury. He had for some time been looked upon as a very promising
statesman. Mr. Glover, in writing of him a few years before, says,
“George Grenville will, I believe, make the most useful and able
Parliament man of the three, though not of equal eloquence with
Pitt.”--Mem. of a Distinguished Pol. and Lit. Character, p. 20.
His memory is embalmed in the brilliant panegyric of Mr. Burke (speech
on American Taxation); and a more sober, though not less friendly
estimate of his merits, has been since given by Mr. Knox. (Cited in
an interesting note to the Chatham Correspondence, vol. iii. p. 486.)
These prove how highly he was esteemed by his friends; and it will
be perceived in the course of this work that Walpole was not always
blind to his great knowledge of the Constitution, his capacity for
business, and his powers as a speaker in Parliament. The unfavourable
opinion, however, expressed of Mr. Grenville in the text was by no
means confined to Walpole, his unpopularity being remarkable. Justice,
indeed, was never shown to his abilities by the public--even Dr.
Johnson wrote of him, “Let him not be depreciated in his grave. He had
powers not universally possessed; could he have enforced payment of the
Manilla ransom, _he could have counted it_.” (Cited in Boswell, vol.
ii. p. 113.)--E.
[46] Archibald Campbell, Duke of Argyle, died suddenly, March 15, 1761.
[47] The King.
[48] Sir Henry Erskine, though a moderate poet, was not meanly
accomplished. He cultivated literature, and was a very lively
companion. He spoke frequently in the House of Commons, and always
fluently and with spirit, but in a style better suited to the hustings
than to a deliberative assembly. His career was singular. He was the
second son of Sir John Erskine, Bart., of Alva, and succeeded to his
title on the death of his brother, Major Sir Charles Erskine, at Holst,
just before the battle of Lafeldt. He accompanied the expedition to
L’Orient, as Deputy Quarter-Master General of the Forces, under his
uncle, General St. Clair. Devoting himself afterwards to politics,
he shared the proscription which fell on the adherents of Leicester
House, and was dismissed the service. The new reign amply restored
his fortunes. With his commission he soon received the command of the
Royal Scots; and in four years he had already attained the rank of
Lieutenant-General, when he died, in 1765, in middle life. His marriage
with Miss Wedderburn, little as it promised at the time of worldly
advantage, brought wealth and rank into his family; the earldom and
property of her brother, Lord Chancellor Rosslyn, having devolved
subsequently on their eldest son, owing to the death of that nobleman
and his brother, General Wedderburn, without issue.--E.
[49] John Home, author of the tragedies of Douglas, Agis, and Siege
of Aquileia; of which none save Douglas (says Sir Walter Scott)
were exhibited with remarkable applause, and one or two with marked
disapprobation. Mr. Home, though not a first-rate dramatist, was
a pleasing writer, well-informed, and very agreeable in society.
George the Third became much attached to him, and provided for him on
coming to the throne. He died in 1808, aged 84. His memoirs have been
elegantly written by Mackenzie, and form the subject of one of Walter
Scott’s beautiful criticisms in the Quarterly Review for June 1827.--E.
[50] Thomas Worseley, Surveyor General of the Board of Works.
[51] George Cooke, prothonotary of the Common Pleas, and member for
Middlesex. Walpole calls him elsewhere a “pompous Jacobite.” He
conducted the celebrated Westminster Petition against Lord Trentham in
1751; afterwards attaching himself to Mr. Pitt, he was appointed joint
Paymaster-General in 1766, and died in 1768.--E.
[52] Thomas Coventry, member for Bridport. A barrister, and director of
the South Sea Company. He was son of Thomas Coventry, who was brother
of William fifth Earl of Coventry.--E.
[53] Alderman William Beckford, of Jamaica, member for the City of
London.
[54] Henry Bilson Legge, a younger son of the first Earl of Dartmouth,
was at this time Chancellor of the Exchequer. It should be remembered
that Mr. Legge had abandoned Lord Winchelsea, and attached himself
to Mr. Pelham in the Cabinet schism of 1744. He shared, with many
respectable statesmen of that day, the charge of having served
several masters, the partial changes so frequently made in the
Government having rendered coalitions almost inevitable, especially
at a time when, owing to the decline of Jacobitism, the lines of
demarcation between the different political parties had become very
indistinct. None, however, with whom he acted, could deny his eminent
qualifications as a man of business, or as a debater in the House of
Commons on all questions of trade and finance. His political integrity
is less commendable. Dodington says, that his thoughts were “_tout
pour la trippe_”--all for quarter-day (Diary, 407); and has, in common
with Walpole, reproached him with perfidy, in disclosing to the Duke
of Newcastle the negotiations of Leicester House with the Court in
1757. The more detailed account of the transaction, since published in
the posthumous memoirs of Mr. Glover, makes it far more probable that
the secret was insidiously drawn from him by the Duke, whose skill in
imposing on men of superior ability to his own, is one of the most
remarkable traits of his character; and that Mr. Legge was very open
to such arts, may reasonably be inferred, from the well-known fact of
his having incurred the serious displeasure of George the Second by an
indiscreet slip in conversation, when minister at Berlin. He had the
laxity of principle that belonged to the school of Walpole, but there
is no ground for believing him to have been actually dishonest; and
Mr. Pelham, who knew him well, said, “that he thought him as good as
his neighbours: more able, and as willing, to serve them that served
him as anybody he had been acquainted with for some time.” Whatever
may have been his delinquencies in this respect, they would certainly
have been overlooked by the Court, had he added to them by adopting the
course which was urged on him by Lord Bute in the Hampshire election.
This is proved by their published correspondence, in which he had a
great advantage over Lord Bute. When that minister had the assurance
to ask him to support Sir Simeon Steuart, who had come forward on the
opposite interest, he honestly answered, “If the Whigs and Dissenters,
who are very numerous in this country, will make it a point of opposing
him, it will be impossible for me to declare for him, and abandon those
who have supported me, to take part with those against whom they have
supported me.” Lord Bute’s rejoinder is admirable! he protests against
any desire on the Prince’s part to require the sacrifice of Mr. Legge’s
honour, but besought him out of real friendship, to consider seriously
whether he could not still, as far as was in his power, co-operate with
the Prince’s wishes for the return of two candidates, and required
a categorical answer. This was at once given in the negative by Mr.
Legge, who added, that he would submit to any consequences rather than
incur such a disgrace. Hence his dismissal. See more of Mr. Legge
_infra_.--E.
[55] Daniel Finch, Earl of Winchelsea and Nottingham, Knight of the
Garter. Lord Winchelsea is one of the few statesmen of the reign of
George the Second whose character is worthy of a purer age. He was
the son of Lord Winchelsea, the great Tory leader, whose disgrace he
shared when that nobleman was dismissed for espousing the cause of
the Jacobite peers involved in the rebellion of 1715. He subsequently
became reconciled to Sir Robert Walpole, and in 1742 was appointed
First Lord of the Admiralty. Lord Waldegrave says of his conduct at
that period, “That it was so unexceptionable that faction itself was
obliged to be silent.”--Walpole Memoirs, p. 139. Horace Walpole is
equally warm in his praise. This is the testimony of political friends,
but it stands uncontradicted. Indeed Lord Winchelsea appears to have
enjoyed the respect of all parties. His public career, to use the
words of Lord Mahon, “without being illustrious, was long, useful, and
honourable.” He died in 1769, aged 81.--E.
[56] William Wildman Shute Barrington, Viscount Barrington, Treasurer
of the Navy.
[57] Robert Darcy, Earl of Holderness. This is an exaggeration of Lord
Holderness’s incapacity; for it appears by the Mitchell papers, that
he had attended closely to the business of his office, and performed
it respectably. His talents, however, were not above mediocrity. His
foreign connexions had recommended him to George the Second, whom
he attended as Lord of the Bedchamber at the battle of Dettingen,
and he was afterwards minister at Turin and at the Hague. The Duke
of Newcastle succeeded in making him Secretary of State, against
the opinion of Mr. Pelham, when scarcely thirty years of age. His
qualifications for that high office are thus summed up by the Duke,
in a letter, urging the appointment:--“He is indeed, or was thought,
trifling in his manner and carriage; but believe me, he has a solid
understanding, and will come out as prudent a young man as any in the
kingdom. He is good-natured, so that you may tell him his faults, and
he will mend them. He is very taciturn, dexterous enough, and most
punctual in the execution of his orders. He is got into the routine of
business, and knows well the present state of it.” (Letter from Duke of
Newcastle to Mr. Pelham, in Coxe’s Life of Pelham, vol. ii. p. 387.) A
portrait not less characteristic of the Duke than of Lord Holderness.
His lordship married a lady of the Fagel family, and his mother was
daughter of the last Duke of Schomberg. He died 1778, without issue
male, and his earldom became extinct. See more of him in Walpole’s
Memoirs, vol. i. p. 172; and Lord Waldegrave’s Memoirs, p. 121.--E.
[58] James Grenville, second brother of Earl Temple. He had already
been Deputy Paymaster General, and one of the Lords of Trade, and,
lastly, of the Treasury.--E.
[59] John Manners, Duke of Rutland, Knight of the Garter, died in 1779,
at the age of 83, having survived his gallant and amiable son, the
Marquis of Granby.--E.
[60] Samuel Lord Sandys, formerly the indefatigable opponent of Sir
Robert Walpole; but his importance had greatly diminished since that
minister’s downfall. He died in 1770.--E.
[61] Thomas Osborne, Duke of Leeds, Knight of the Garter. He married
Mary, daughter and co-heir of Francis Earl of Godolphin, and died in
1783, aged 76.--E.
[62] Charles Townshend, second son of Charles Viscount Townshend.
[63] Gilbert Elliot, afterwards Sir Gilbert.
[64] George Bussy Villiers, Viscount Villiers, only son of the Earl
of Jersey, whom he afterwards succeeded. He held the post of Lord
Chamberlain from 1765 to 1769, and subsequently filled other high
offices in the royal household. He died in August, 1805, aged 70.--E.
[65] T. Pelham, of Stanmore, afterwards Lord Pelham.
[66] George Rice married Cecil, only child of William Lord Talbot, and
a great heiress. He was Lord Lieutenant of the county of Carmarthen,
and a Privy Councillor. He died in 1779. The present Lord Dynevor is
his son.--E.
[67] John Spencer, only son of John Spencer, brother of Charles Duke
of Marlborough. He was a person of very resolute, independent spirit,
and warmly attached to the Whig interest, as he too well proved at
the celebrated Northampton election, which seriously impaired even
his immense fortune, while it made Lord Northampton an exile for the
remainder of his life, and obliged Lord Halifax to sell Horton and his
principal estates. With the exception of a very brief interval, Lord
Spencer remained all his life in Opposition. He died greatly respected
in 1783, aged 49. The present Earl Spencer is his grandson.--E.
[68] Sir Thomas Robinson, created Lord Grantham, had been minister at
Vienna, and Secretary of State. He was the fourth son of Sir William
Robinson, Baronet. His fortunate connexion with Horace Lord Walpole, to
whom he had been Secretary in 1723, quickly raised him to eminence. He
was an excellent man of business, and highly esteemed as a diplomatist.
His despatches are written with great spirit and clearness. In the
House of Commons he failed, as might have been expected from his
previous pursuits, and his talents have in consequence been much
underrated. He died in 1770. The Earl de Grey and the Earl of Ripon are
his grandsons.--E.
[69] Sir Nathaniel Curzon, (fifth Baronet, and M. P. for Derbyshire,)
created Lord Scarsdale. He afterwards was appointed Chairman of the
Committee of the House of Lords, and died at an advanced age, in
1804.--E.
[70] Sir William Irby, created Lord Boston. He had been Page to George
I. and George II., and Equerry to the Prince on the arrival of the
latter in England. He married a niece of Mr. Selwyn, and died in 1773,
aged 66.--E.
[71] George Bubb Dodington, created Lord Melcomb.
[72] William Pulteney, Earl of Bath.
[73] Son of the Lord Chancellor. He had in his youth been one of Sir
Robert Walpole’s most violent opponents. The Count de Fuentes, in a
letter to Mr. Wall, of 27th March, says that this appointment was
ascribed to the Princess of Wales: of whom he adds, “they speak with
too much liberty.”--Chatham Corresp. vol. ii. p. 106. The adherence
of Lord Talbot to the Leicester House party certainly entitled him to
consideration, but he was now much overpaid; and this was felt even by
his patron Lord Bute, who wanted firmness to resist pretensions which
were urged with impetuosity, amounting almost to passion.--(Dodington’s
Diary, cited in note to the letter _supra_.) Lord Talbot had talents,
was resolute and ready; and his speeches had an air of independence
and a plausibility that made him rather a favourite with the public,
notwithstanding his vices, until his duel with Wilkes brought ridicule
upon his name, not to be effaced.--E.
[74] Son of Selina Countess of Huntingdon. He remained Groom of the
Stole till 1770. Akenside, who was one of the least adulatory of
poets, addressed to him, in 1747, a didactic ode on his setting out
on his travels. He was an amiable and accomplished nobleman, though
it requires some partiality to believe of his early youth that his
“breast the gifts of every Muse had known.” Delicate health prevented
his taking an active part in public business, and in 1766 he declined
the embassy to Spain, which was pressed on him by Lord Chatham. He died
in 1790, aged 62, without having been married, and the title was for
some years supposed to be extinct. In 1819 the father of the present
Earl established a claim to it, and took his seat in the House of Lords
accordingly.--E.
[75] See page 39, and _infra_.
[76] Henry Seymour Conway, only brother of Francis Earl of Hertford.
[77] John Waldegrave, only brother of James Earl Waldegrave, whom he
succeeded in the title, married Lady Elizabeth Leveson Gower, sister
of Gertrude Duchess of Bedford. His presence of mind and intrepidity
at the battle of Minden established his character as a soldier.--Mem.
vol. ii. p. 367. He was appropriately rewarded with the regiment of
dragoons, vacated by Lord George Sackville’s dismissal. Subsequently he
obtained one of the regiments of foot-guards, and was made Master of
the Horse to the Queen. His love of state, not less than the handsome
manner in which he lived, well adapted him to any great office at
Court. He died in 1784. His eldest son, a most respectable nobleman,
and also an officer, only survived him five years.--E.
[78] John Mostyn, brother of Sir Roger Mostyn, Bart., and Groom of
the Bedchamber to the King. He had commanded the British cavalry with
distinction in Germany, and was mainly instrumental in gaining the
Battle of Warburgh, the credit of which Lord Granby ascribed entirely
to him. He might have risen high in the army, had he not shrunk from
the responsibility of great commands. He refused the command of the
expedition to the Havannah, on the ground that he did not pretend to be
more than a cavalry officer. His good nature and conviviality, as well
as his quiet military deportment, made him popular at Court; and George
the Second liked him so much, that he generally formed one of the
King’s evening party. It was believed he might have been a favourite if
he pleased. His last employment was as Governor of Minorca.--Memoirs of
Sir James Campbell, vol. i. p. 173.
[79] John Manners, Marquis of Granby, son of John Duke of Rutland.
[80] Letter (of 21st March) to George Montagu, and the note.--Walpole’s
Collected Correspondence, vol. iv. p. 128.
[81] Sir John Philipps, Bart., of Picton Castle, in Pembrokeshire, an
opulent and influential Jacobite. He was the second son of Sir Erasmus
Philipps, and had succeeded to the title and estates on the death of
his elder brother. He died in 1764, leaving an only son, Sir Richard,
who was afterwards created an Irish Peer by the title of Lord Milford,
and died without issue in 1823.--E.
[82] Henry, brother of Thomas Lord Archer.
[83] Mr. Onslow died in February 1768, aged 76. A very pleasing account
of him is given in the Preface to the second volume of Hatsell’s
Precedents, p. 6.
[84] William Pulteney, Earl of Bath.
[85] Henry Arthur Herbert, Earl of Powis.
[86] Dr. Hayter, afterwards Bishop of London. Vide p. 73, _infra_.
[87] Dr. Thomas, afterwards Bishop of Winchester. Vide Appendix.
[88] Charles Wyndham, Earl of Egremont, afterwards Secretary of State.
Vide _infra_.
[89] Sir Joseph Yorke, Ambassador in Holland, third son of Philip Earl
of Hardwicke. He had been a captain of the Guards, and aide-de-camp
of the Duke of Cumberland at the battle of Fontenoy. In 1751 he
was appointed Minister at the Hague, where he remained many years,
and became almost naturalized, having married a Dutch lady. His
estimable conduct, and also his splendid hospitality, gave him great
consideration in Holland. In 1788 he was created Lord Dover. He died in
1792 without issue, and the title became extinct.--E.
[90] Admiral Edward Boscawen, brother of Lord Viscount Falmouth, a
distinguished naval commander. He died this year, at the early age of
50. The late Earl of Falmouth was his grandson.--E.
[91] Hans Stanley, one of the Lords of the Admiralty, and afterwards
Cofferer.
[92] M. Bussy was one of the chief Commis of the Foreign Department at
Paris. He had great experience in business, and was eminently adroit
and persuasive; qualities to which he owed his nomination to this
difficult post. Formerly he had been private secretary to the Duc de
Richelieu, through whose interest he was employed on a mission to
George the Second in Hanover in 1754. Flassan, Hist. de la Diplomatic
Française, vol. vi. p. 388. See more respecting him in Mr. Stanley’s
Correspondence in the Appendix to the Life of Lord Chatham.--E.
[93] Memoirs of George the Second, vol. i. p. 242. It is ably drawn,
and not unkindly, considering the belief long entertained by the Whigs
of the Duke having betrayed Sir Robert Walpole. The more favourable
portrait given by Archdeacon Coxe, from materials supplied by his
family, is, like too many family portraits, feeble, flattering, and
indistinct. His Grace unquestionably possessed a powerful, active,
and cultivated mind. He had studied, and thoroughly understood the
weaknesses of men, and was unscrupulous in the practice of all the arts
of intrigue. Success usually crowned his efforts, and notwithstanding
the various changes of Government, he maintained much of his power
to the last. Disappointment attended only his private life, which
was chilled by aversion to his wife and the want of children. _Il
fut riche, il fut titré, mais il ne fut point heureux_--the just and
natural result of a line of conduct which, as Lord Mahon correctly
observes, was seldom on any occasion swayed either by virtue or
generosity.--Coxe’s Life of Sir R. Walpole, vol. iv. p. 236; Mahon’s
Hist. vol. iii. p. 237.--E.
[94] This prediction has not been realized. The Bangorian controversy
has long lost its interest, and great as was their success in
their day, and great their reward--no less than the Bishoprick of
Winchester--the three massive folios of Hoadley’s Works now slumber on
the shelves of theological libraries. His two sons, one of whom was
chaplain, and the other physician to the King, were men of talent, and
are still recollected as the joint authors of that popular comedy, “The
Suspicious Husband.” They were the last of their family.--E.
[95] John Hay, Marquis of Tweedale, had been secretary of State for
Scotland. Lord Tweedale had been one of the extraordinary Lords of
Session in Scotland, and also had held the post of Secretary of
State for that country. He was the last person that filled either of
these offices. His connexion with Lord Granville, whose daughter he
had married, brought him into public life in opposition to Walpole,
and he shared the spoils of that minister. Like Lord Granville, he
possessed considerable knowledge of law. He is said also to have been
a good debater in Parliament. He died, without male issue, in December
1762.--E.
[96] Dr. Robert Hay Drummond, brother of the Earl Kinnoul.
[97] Richard Edgcumbe, second Lord Edgcumbe, an intimate friend of
the author, who has given him a place in the Noble Authors. He was a
humourist, and had a turn for poetry and drawing, of which some amusing
specimens are noticed in the publications of his day. Walpole says, he
never had a fault but to himself, never an enemy but himself.--E.
[98] Lady Caroline Lenox, eldest daughter of Charles second Duke of
Richmond, married to Henry Fox, Paymaster of the Forces.
[99] Eldest daughter of Stephen Fox, Earl of Ilchester, by the sole
daughter and heiress of Mr. Strangways Horner, whose name he assumed.
[100] Holland House, beyond Kensington, the seat of the Earls of
Warwick and Holland; now of Henry Fox, Lord Holland.
[101] John Fane, Earl of Westmoreland, Chancellor of Oxford,
Lieutenant-general in the army, and formerly captain of one of the
troops of Horse Guards. In early life, when a younger brother, and
a Whig, he had served under the Duke of Marlborough; and afterwards
commanded “the body of troops which George the First had been obliged
to send to Oxford, to teach the University the only kind of passive
obedience of which they did not approve.” He subsequently joined the
Jacobites in their opposition to Sir Robert Walpole, and became a
high Tory; as indeed may be inferred from Lord Arran appointing him
High Steward of the University in 1754, and from his succeeding that
nobleman as Chancellor in 1758. He was comely in his person, and highly
respected for his virtues in private life. Glover describes him as “a
veteran patriot, slow, but solid; always meaning well, and therefore
judging right.” He died without issue in 1762, at a very advanced
age. Walpole’s Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 340. Memoirs of a distinguished
Political and Literary Character, p. 121.--E.
[102] Sir Philip Yorke, Earl of Hardwicke, formerly Lord Chancellor.
[103] John Carteret, Earl of Granville, some time Prime Minister to
George the Second.
[104] Simon Lord Harcourt, formerly Governor to the King. See an
account of his resignation of that post, in the preceding reign,
(Memoirs of George the Second, vol. i. p. 254.)
[105] Mary Panton, second wife of Peregrine Bertie, Duke of Ancaster.
[106] Elizabeth Gunning, Duchess Dowager of Hamilton, married,
secondly, to John Campbell, Marquis of Lorn, eldest son of John Duke of
Argyle.
[107] Mr. Hammond had been in love with her, and then forsaken her. The
poems which he wrote on her have been published.
[108] Mr. Andrew Stone was appointed Treasurer to the Queen on her
arrival. He was the well-known confident of the Duke of Newcastle and
Mr. Pelham, over both of whom he exercised great influence. He had
been private, and afterwards under secretary to the former. Latterly
he had been sub-governor to the King when Prince of Wales. He was a
fine scholar, and had distinguished himself at Oxford, where he was
the rival and friend of Murray (Lord Mansfield). Bishop Newton, who
knew him well, says that his tastes and feelings were better suited
to the Church than to politics. Lord Waldegrave likewise commends
his integrity. Walpole can find no fault in him, except that he had
a tendency to Jacobitism, a charge which his conduct and connections
proved to be unfounded. He appears to have been entirely devoid of
ambition, honest, and most disinterested. He died in 1773, aged 72. The
best account of Mr. Stone is in a note to Coxe’s Life of Pelham, vol.
i. p. 430.--E.
[109] She did some years afterwards with the King, but quite in private.
[110] Dr. Robert Hay Drummond, brother of the Earl of Kinnoul, and
Bishop of Salisbury, a man of parts and of the world. He was the
second son of George eighth Earl of Kinnoul, formerly Ambassador at
Constantinople. He had attended George the Second in the campaign of
1743, and preached the thanksgiving sermon at Hanover, for the battle
of Dettingen. On his return he was made a prebendary of Westminster,
and in 1748 Bishop of St. Asaph. He was a dignified and accomplished
prelate. He died in 1776, in his 66th year. In 1803 one of his younger
children, the late Mr. George Drummond, published a volume, intituled
“Sermons on Public Occasions, and a Letter on Theological Study, by
Robert, late Archbishop of York,” &c. The Archbishop’s eldest son
became tenth Earl of Kinnoul.--E.
[111] Dr. Hayter was supposed to be the natural son of Dr. Blackburne,
Archbishop of York. This supposition is indignantly attacked in
an article on the first part of these Memoirs, in the Quarterly
Review. In justice to Walpole, it is only fair to state, that this
was a report generally believed at the time. In the quarrel in
the Princess’s household which led to the Bishop’s disgrace, Mr.
Cresset, the Princess’s confident, was charged with calling him a
bastard.--Edinburgh Review, No. 73, p. 5, note. The suspicious report
was rather strengthened than otherwise by Archbishop Blackburne’s
leaving him a large fortune. What is of more importance to Bishop
Hayter’s memory is, that he bore a high character for generosity and
learning. He only survived his translation a single year, having died
in 1762, aged 59. Nichols’s Literary Anecdotes, vol. ii. p. 505.--E.
[112] There were at this time two bishops of the same name; Dr. John
Thomas, Bishop of Winchester, and Dr. John Thomas, Bishop of Lincoln:
the latter had been promoted by Lord Granville.
[113] George William Hervey, Earl of Bristol, Ambassador in Spain, son
of the famous John Lord Hervey.
[114] Charles third King of Spain, and before of Naples; commonly
called Don Carlos.
[115] The Duke positively denied having made any such communication to
Bussy. See _infra_.--E.
[116] The following note is transcribed from the manuscript memoirs of
Sir George Colebrooke, Bart., M.P., Chairman of the East India Company;
an eminent merchant, who sat many years in Parliament, and possessed
the confidence of some of the leading statesmen of his day.
“During the time I attended Newcastle House and the Treasury Chambers
on the Contract business, I had frequent opportunities of knowing how
despotically Mr. Pitt governed his ministerial colleagues, and how
much he was dreaded by the Duke. Some years afterwards I recollect
his Grace making this the subject of lively conversation at table,
at Claremont; but it was no subject of merriment at the time the
transaction passed. More than once I was summoned to the Treasury to
give an account of the state of the provisions, and of the money, for
the army, Mr. West giving, for reason, that Mr. Pitt threatened the
Duke, that if at any time a want of either should be found, he would
impeach him in the ensuing session. At the Treasury I frequently met
Mr. Wallis, Commissioner of the Navy, who mentioned the following
memorable instance. A train of artillery was wanted at Portsmouth for
an expedition. Mr. Pitt told Wallis that it must be down by a certain
day he named. Wallis made some excuse for the delay, either that the
transports were not ready or the winds were contrary; upon which Mr.
Pitt insisted that they should go by land, a method of conveyance which
was afterwards pursued.
“General Harvey, who had been sent by Prince Ferdinand to prepare
matters in England for the campaign, and to carry over the English
draughts, waited on Mr. Pitt to take his leave. Mr. Pitt asked him
whether he had obtained everything he wanted, and the General answered,
not; and he therefore came to take leave, that no blame might fall on
him from the Prince. Mr. Pitt desired the General to enumerate what he
wanted, and immediately rang his bell for Mr. Wood, who in the names
of the different Boards signified to their officers his Majesty’s
commands for the dispatch of what was required for Germany, and in four
days General Harvey had in readiness what he had been as many months
soliciting.
“West, the Secretary, always looked frightened; and well he might, for
Mr. Pitt would have been as good as his word, which was to impeach the
Commissioners of the Treasury, if they neglected anything needful for
the war. At times he depended so little on them, that, notwithstanding
a contract to supply the army, he caused provisions to be sent by
victualling transports.
“Proceeding in the way I have mentioned, of writing in the names of
the different public officers, there were numberless hiatus in their
books of correspondence, and instances of orders carried into execution
without their sanction. The name of Lord Barrington was principally
used as Secretary at War, who did not know more than a stranger of
troops being ordered on service, till the embarkation had actually
taken place.
“The Duke of Newcastle, speaking himself of the cavalier manner
with which Mr. Pitt treated the Cabinet, mentioned the instance of
some foreign expedition which Mr. Pitt had proposed, but which, in
the opinion of the ministers, and of Lord Anson, First Lord of the
Admiralty, deprived Great Britain of too great a part of its internal
defence. Lord Mansfield had not yet given his opinion; but Mr. Pitt,
apprehensive that it would be against him, summed up the opinions of
Council, a majority of which he declared to be for the expedition;
adding, “The Chief Justice of England has no opinion to give in this
matter thereby stopping his mouth. The Duke told Lord Coventry, that
Mr. Murray, when Attorney-General, and in the House of Commons, had
acknowledged to him that he was intimidated by Pitt. The more the
latter found Murray to be intimidated, the more he naturally pressed
him.
“I never saw the Duke in higher spirits than after Mr. Pitt, thwarted
by the Cabinet in his proposal of declaring war against Spain, had
given notice of resignation. The Duke had done more wisely, if he had
followed Lord Hardwicke’s advice, and had resigned on the death of his
late master. The Duke could not endure to part with his power, much
less to devolve it on one who meant to keep it. When he last resigned
the Treasury to the Duke of Devonshire, it was with a view to have it
back again at a convenient season.”--E.
[117] The following extraordinary notice was published in the Gazette
of the 9th October: “The Right Honourable William Pitt having resigned
the Seals into the King’s hands, His Majesty was this day pleased to
appoint the Earl of Egremont to be one of His Majesty’s principal
Secretaries of State; and, in consideration of the great and important
services of the said Mr. Pitt, His Majesty has been graciously pleased
to direct that a warrant be prepared for granting to the Lady Hesther
Pitt, his wife, a Barony of Great Britain, by the name, style, and
title of Baroness of Chatham, to herself, and of Baron of Chatham to
her heirs male, and also to confer upon the said William Pitt, Esq., an
annuity of three thousand pounds sterling, during his own life and that
of Lady Hesther Pitt, and their son John Pitt, Esq.”--E.
[118] It certainly is not the practice now (1844) to insert pensions in
the Gazette. Whether it ever was so it would be difficult to ascertain,
as there is no index prior to the year 1787. The impression of two very
old officers, who have frequent occasions to consult the Gazette, is,
that no such general practice ever prevailed.--E.
[119] It was by such expressions as this that Mr. Pitt created the
disappointment in the public mind, that followed the announcement of
his pension. To use the words of Lord Brougham: “He did not sustain
the exalted pitch of magnanimous independence, and utter disregard of
sublunary interests, which we should expect him to have reached and
kept as a matter of course, from a mere cursory glance at the mould in
which his lofty character was cast.” Statesmen of the Time of George
III., 1st series, p. 45. A pension of £4000 a year to Lord Holderness
passed without a murmur, while one of £3000 a year to Mr. Pitt raised
a general burst of indignation, only because the country regarded the
latter as lowering their idol to the level of the jobbing statesmen of
the day. The cry against Mr. Pitt was, indeed, almost universal. See
letter to Mr. Conway, vol. iv. of Walpole’s Collected Correspondence,
p. 184; and particularly the note containing the opposite opinions of
Mr. Gray and Mr. Burke. Mr. Pitt’s noble refusal of the vast emoluments
of the Pay-office, which so enriched those who preceded and succeeded
him as Paymaster, entitles his conduct in all pecuniary matters to a
liberal construction from posterity. What is really to be regretted, is
the humiliating tone of his correspondence with Lord Bute, in accepting
the pension (Chatham Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 152,) and his language
at his interview with the King on that occasion.--Annual Register for
1761. But we will not dwell on the defects of a man who certainly was
far above his age, not only in talent, but in real independence.--E.
[120] Thomas Prowse, member for Somersetshire, which he had represented
in five successive Parliaments, having been every time unanimously
elected. He was an opulent, well-informed, and influential country
gentleman. He died, after a long illness, in 1767, aged 59, and was
buried in Axbridge Church; where the long panegyric on his tomb
states--“That though frequently solicited, he never could be prevailed
upon to accept any employment in the state.” Collinson’s History of
Somerset, vol. iii. p. 563.--E.
[121] Edward Bacon, of Earlham Hall, Norfolk, barrister-at-law, and
M. P. for Norwich. He was son of Walter Bacon, of Earlham Hall, and
M. P. for Norwich. Mr. Edward Bacon had been member for Lynn in
1742. He represented Norwich from 1752 to 1784, when he retired from
Parliament. He died in March 1786, and was buried in the chancel of
Earlham Church. His portrait is still preserved at Earlham Hall.--E.
[122] A more favourable character of Sir John Cust is given in the
preface of Moore’s General Index to the Journals of the House of
Commons, vol. iv.; a very useful work, to the compilation of which
he contributed. He added to great industry, a considerable knowledge
of Parliamentary history and constitutional law; and his amiable
disposition and obliging temper were no insignificant recommendations
to the Speakership. He was a Lincolnshire country gentleman, of ancient
family, and had inherited a great estate from his mother, the heiress
of the Tyrconnels.--E.
[123] Sir Hugh Smithson Percy, Earl of Northumberland.
[124] John Berkeley, fifth and last Lord Berkeley of Stratton. He
died without issue in 1773, having left his principal estates to Lord
Berkeley.--E.
[125] It is certain that Monsieur de Bussy told different persons what
the Duke of Bedford had said to him, particularly to Lady Hervey, from
whom I heard it.
[126] George Spencer, Duke of Marlborough, K.G. He was son-in-law of
the Duke of Bedford. He died in January 1817, aged 78.--E.
[127] Thomas Lord Parker, eldest son of the Earl of Macclesfield,
whom he succeeded in that title in March 1764. Like his father, he
cultivated the mathematics successfully, and was much respected. He had
been defeated in the great contest for the county of Oxford in 1757,
but was seated on petition. He died in 1795, aged 72.--E.
[128] The famous John Wilkes, member for Aylesbury, and author of “The
North Briton.”
[129] George Dempster, an East India Director, and for nearly thirty
years member for the Perth district of Boroughs. He was the friend
of Dr. Johnson, and the patron of Robert Burns; and is described by
Mr. Croker as a man of talents and very agreeable manners. He took an
active part in all the debates of the House on East India questions;
and was one of the few who, after defending Warren Hastings, gave a
zealous support to Fox’s India Bill. He died about the year 1790, at a
very advanced age. Croker’s Boswell, vol. i. p. 418. Annual Necrology,
vol. iii. p. 141.--E.
[130] Peregrine Cust. He is mentioned in Churchill’s Satires.
[131] Eliab Harvey, brother of William Harvey of Chigwell, in Essex,
died in 1769.
[132] During the administration of Sir Robert Walpole the Opposition
propagated a report, which was universally believed, that the
Spaniards, though at peace with us, had taken one of our ships, and cut
off the captain’s ears.
[133] This was the famous sentence so often quoted, and so often
ridiculed, in the pamphlets of that time.
[134] The Spanish Ambassador. See _infra_.
[135] Percy Windham Obrien, Earl of Thomond, second son of Sir William
Windham, and brother of the Earl of Egremont. Their sister was married
to Mr. George Grenville.
[136] Henry Arthur Herbert, Earl of Powis, having become male heir
of this illustrious family by the death of the last peer, Henry Lord
Herbert, of Cherbury, in 1738, he was created Lord Herbert in 1743, and
Earl of Powis in 1748. His Lordship married Barbara, sole daughter and
heiress of Lord Edward Herbert, brother of the last Marquis of Powis,
and died in 1772, leaving a son, on whose death in 1801 the earldom
became extinct.--E.
[137] Next brother of the Duke of Devonshire.
[138] Second son of Charles Lord Viscount Townshend.
[139] Thomas Charles Bunbury, called, after his father’s death, Sir
Charles Bunbury. [He represented the county of Suffolk for forty-five
years, and died in March 1821, in his 81st year. He forsook politics
for horse-racing, which he found a more congenial pursuit, and was
long considered as the father of the turf. See more of him in Selwyn’s
Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 180.--E.]
[140] At the conferences held there previously to the Treaty of Utrecht.
[141] In twenty-eight years, viz. to 1788, the King has not once been
at Hanover, nor seems to design it.
[142] Additional particulars respecting Colonel Barré are given in
Chatham Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 41, 168-171. See especially the
notes, containing extracts from the Mitchell MSS.--E.
[143] Richard Glover, a merchant, who, by superior intelligence, great
fluency of speech in public, and some reputation as a poet, had gained
considerable influence in the City, and was thought of sufficient
importance to be admitted into the councils of Leicester House. This
distinction, and the success of his poems, which had all a political
tendency, made him fancy himself on an equality with Pitt, Lyttelton,
and the other men of talent who surrounded the Prince of Wales. The
illusion was painfully dispelled. The sudden death of the Prince broke
up the party; Mr. Glover’s services were no longer required; and
happening to be at the time under commercial embarrassments, he sank
into obscurity. In a few years, however, by diligent application, and a
successful speculation in the copper trade, he retrieved his fortunes,
but he never forgave the neglect of his former associates; and the
memoirs he left behind him show the angry feelings he entertained,
particularly against Mr. Pitt. To this circumstance he probably
owed his seat for Weymouth, the borough being one of those which
Mr. Dodington placed at the disposal of Lord Bute. Mr. Glover died
in 1785, aged 73. His autobiography from 1742 to 1757 was published
in 1813, under the title of Memoirs of a Distinguished Literary and
Political Character. They are not without spirit, but show few signs of
a powerful mind, and are in every respect inferior to what might have
been expected from him.--E.
[144] James Oswald, of Brunnikier, joint Vice-Treasurer of Ireland.
[145] Dr. George Hay, of the Commons, one of the Commissioners of the
Admiralty.
[146] George Cooke, Prothonotary, member for Middlesex.
[147] Second son of John Duke of Argyle, for many years Lord Register
of Scotland in Mr. Pitt’s administration.--E.
[148] Robert Nugent, Esq., of Gosfield, in Essex, afterwards Earl
Nugent. See _infra_.
[149] This became a stronger truth every day.
[150] Mr. Gascoyne was the only son of Sir Crispe Gascoyne, Lord Mayor
of London, from whom he inherited a considerable estate. He had a
strong understanding, and was esteemed highly as a man of business.
His rough deportment had gained him at the University (we are told
by Wilkes) the appellation of the Butcher; and he took no pains to
get rid of it. He was also called “the King of Barking,” his country
residence and principal patrimony being in that village, where he was
much respected, and where he lies buried. He died in 1791. The late
Marchioness of Salisbury was his granddaughter, and inherited his
estates.--E.
[151] Soon after, seeing another member give Barré a biscuit, Townshend
said, “Oh! you should feed him with raw flesh.”
[152] George Augustus Selwyn, of Matson, Gloucestershire, famous for
his wit. His correspondence has been recently published in 4 vols.
8vo.--E.
[153] Philip Francis, translator of Horace and Demosthenes, and the
father of Sir Philip Francis, K.B.; a scholar and a man of talent, and
a most active political partisan. He was for some time the tutor of
Gibbon.--E.
[154] “Of this very alarming connection Mr. Pitt had the most early
and authentic intelligence, together with the most positive assurances
from persons of undoubted veracity, who are at this moment in no
common sphere of life.” History of the Minority, p. 30. Mr. Adolphus
states the treaty itself to have been communicated to Mr. Pitt by the
Earl Marechal Keith, in gratitude for the reversal of his attainder,
but “that the fact, if it existed, was not disclosed to the Cabinet,”
Adolphus, vol. i. p. 44. This story receives some confirmation from
a cotemporary memoir of the Earl Marechal recently published by the
Spalding Society of Aberdeen, and supposed to have been written by
Sir Robert Strange, who had once been a zealous Jacobite. Neither the
Chatham Correspondence nor the Mitchell manuscripts contain anything on
the subject; and the papers of the Earl Marechal, at Cumbernald, have
never been thoroughly examined. The Editor is disposed to believe the
intelligence received by Mr. Pitt did not go so far as the existence
of the treaty, but consisted of facts sufficient, in his estimation,
to leave no doubt of the object of the negotiation between France
and Spain, and of the general intentions of the Spanish government.
These facts he had imparted to Lord Bute, who had not drawn the same
conclusions from them. Hist. of Minority, p. 33.--E.
[155] Charles Pratt was a younger son of Lord Chief Justice Pratt, and
became afterwards Lord Chancellor and Baron Camden, as will appear in
these memoirs. Pratt had been made Attorney-General by Pitt in 1757,
and their connection was too close for the Government to feel easy at
his continuing any longer in office.--E.
[156] He nevertheless made a favourable impression on the Duke of
Newcastle, at their first interview; and at a later period we find him
very handsomely mentioned by Lord Rochford. Some of his private letters
in the Chatham Correspondence, as well as his public dispatches in
the Parliamentary Papers, are those of an ambassador who understood
his duty, and performed it. He laboured hard, in conjunction with
his friend the Marquis of Grimaldi, to restore the old connection
of his country with France; and one result of their success was,
the appointment of Grimaldi to succeed Wall as First Minister of
Spain. Fuentes, then, for some time, replaced Grimaldi at Paris; and
subsequently returning to Spain, he employed all his influence, which
was considerable, in supporting Grimaldi’s administration, until the
latter imprudently allowed his son, the Prince of Pignatelli, to
accompany the expedition to Algiers, under the Count O’Reily, in 1777,
where the Prince perished; and Fuentes, who had refused his consent
to his going, was so deeply offended, that he immediately joined the
opposition to Grimaldi, and contributed essentially to his retirement
from office. Coxe’s History of the Kings of Spain of the House of
Bourbon, vol. v.--E.
[157] George William Hervey, Earl of Bristol, son of the famous John
Lord Hervey, and grandson of John Earl of Bristol, whom he succeeded in
the title. His dispatches prove him to have acted with great prudence
as long as the disposition of the Spanish Court was doubtful and with
great spirit afterwards. His connection with Mr. Pitt was in no degree
of a servile character. It appears to have strengthened as that great
minister was losing his ascendancy in the Cabinet, and it stood the
test of his downfall. Lord Bristol died unmarried, in March 1775, aged
54.--E.
[158] Amelie Sophie de Walmoden, Countess of Yarmouth, mistress of
George the Second.
[159] Philip Yorke, Earl of Hardwicke, Lord Chancellor in the preceding
reign.
[160] William Murray, Lord Mansfield, Lord Chief Justice of the King’s
Bench.
[161] John Carteret, Earl Granville, President of the Council, and
formerly Prime Minister to George the Second.
[162] George Lord Anson, first Lord of the Admiralty.
[163] James Lord Tyrawley, formerly Ambassador at Lisbon, Governor of
Port Mahon and Gibraltar, and Colonel of a regiment of Guards.
[164] George Keppel, third Earl of Albemarle, one of the Lords of the
Bedchamber to William Duke of Cumberland.
[165] Frederick Lord North, eldest son of Francis Earl of Guilford.
[166] Thomas Walpole, second son of Horatio Lord Walpole, only brother
of Sir Robert Walpole, Earl of Orford. Thomas married the eldest
daughter of Sir Joshua Vanneck, with whom he dwelt in the City.
[167] Augustus Keppel, second son, and William Keppel, Groom of the
Bedchamber to William Duke of Cumberland, third son of William Anne
second Earl of Albemarle.
[168] Humphrey Parsons, formerly Lord Mayor of London, a great brewer.
Odunn was an Irishman.
[169] Bishop Newton gives an anecdote of this prelate, not much to his
credit. When it was proposed to allow monuments to be erected in St.
Paul’s Cathedral, he violently opposed the plan, on the ground that, as
there had been no monuments in all the time before he was bishop, there
should be none in his time. Bishop Newton’s Life, p. 145.--E.
[170] Charles Lyttelton, brother of Lord Lyttelton, and President
of the Antiquarian Society, died in 1768, aged 54. Warburton sneers
at “his antiquarianism,” to which he was more exclusively devoted
than strictly became his high position in the Church. On the other
hand, he was what Bishop Warburton certainly was not, a very amiable,
kind-hearted man. In early life he had been a barrister.--George Selwyn
and his Contemporaries, vol. i. p. 71.--E.
[171] A greater military critic, General Jomini, was of a different
opinion. He pronounces Broglio to be the only French commander of that
day whose operations were uniformly skilful. He had fought in more
battles than perhaps any of his contemporaries. An authentic account
of his life would still be of value, but his fame was eclipsed by the
exploits of younger heroes, and he had even ceased to be an object of
interest when he died in exile at Munster, in 1804, at the advanced age
of 86.--E.
[172] The Count de Broglio’s talents were undeniable. It was his
misfortune, not less than his fault, that they were seldom well
directed. His brilliant defence of Cassel during the Seven years’ war
showed that he had no mean capacity for war; but his ambition was, to
shine as a statesman, and, unhappily for him, the enmity of Choiseul
excluded him from civil employments. Partly, perhaps, out of revenge,
and partly from his love of political intrigue, he condescended to take
charge of the secret correspondence which Louis the Fifteenth carried
on for many years, independently of his ministers, at the principal
foreign Courts, a system which made it almost impossible for an
honourable man to serve the King with benefit. M. de Broglio eventually
fell into disgrace, and died in obscurity in 1781, aged 62.--E.
[173] Granville Leveson Gower, Earl Gower, a converted Jacobite.
[174] George Walpole, Earl of Orford, grandson of Sir Robert Walpole.
[175] Francis Egerton, Duke of Bridgwater, author of the famous
Navigation.
[176] William Henry, afterwards Duke of Gloucester.
[177] Edward Legrand, Esq., Governor to Prince William and Prince Henry.
[178] George Montagu Dunk, third and last Earl of Halifax, of that
house. He was a nobleman of great elegance of person and manners,
and of a cultivated mind, and was quite equal to his post, which did
not then, as now, require decided ability as well as rank and good
intentions to satisfy the expectations of the country. “He never,” says
Cumberland, “could be mistaken for less than he was.” He maintained the
magnificence of the Vice-Regal Court, whilst he attended closely to
public business.--E.
[179] The Court of the Lords-Lieutenant.
[180] Wills Hill, Earl of Hilsborough. He had gone over to Ireland
professedly on his private affairs; a large estate having recently been
bequeathed to him by Sir William Cowper. Letter from Lord Barrington to
Sir A. Mitchell.--Ellis’s Original Letters, vol. vii. p. 443.--E.
[181] Dr. George Stone, Archbishop of Armagh. See the preceding reign.
[182] William Gerard Hamilton, son of a Scotch lawyer, made two good
speeches, and only two, in the English House of Commons. One being
forgotten (the last being of inferior merit to the other), he was
long known by the name of _Single-speech_. He came into Parliament
in 1754; and after sitting silent for somewhat more than a year, at
length delivered that _single speech_ upon which his reputation has
exclusively rested down to the present day. This speech, which we are
told was set and full of antitheses, was in favour of the Ministry,
and was speedily rewarded by a place at the Board of Trade.--Edinburgh
Review, vol. xv. p. 164. He had a promptitude of thought, and a rapid
flow of well-conceived matter, with many other requisites that only
seemed waiting for opportunities to establish his reputation as an
orator. These were set off by a striking countenance, a graceful
carriage, great self-possession, and personal courage.--Cumberland’s
Memoirs, i. 225. With all these advantages he did not rise to eminence,
nor did he deserve it, for his views were narrow, and he was selfish
and cold-hearted. He resumed his silence upon attaining the lucrative
and sinecure office of Chancellor of the Exchequer in Ireland, and
died in 1796, rich and unmarried. His “Parliamentary Logic” is an
insignificant work.--E.
[183] Robert Monckton, brother of Lord Galway, a very gallant officer,
who signed the reddition of Quebec, and performed other memorable
services in that war.
[184] Sir George Bridges Rodney, afterwards Lord Rodney, the great
naval commander. He died in 1792.--E.
[185] Colonel John Burgoyne, natural son of W. Benson, Lord Bingley. He
proved a very unfortunate commander in the subsequent American war. He
was also an author, and wrote that excellent comedy, “The Heiress.”
[186] Infidelity was then no uncommon charge against an unsuccessful
commander. The Prince had in 1752 been worsted at Breslau, where he had
only twenty-four thousand men to oppose to an army of ninety thousand,
under Daun and Prince Charles of Lorraine. In return, he defeated Daun
in 1762 at Reichenbad, a victory that decided the fate of Schweidnitz,
and thus contributed to the final success of Prince Henry of Prussia at
Friedberg.--E.
[187] Considering that Lord Tyrawley was in his 72nd year, and had not
been employed on active service for a very long period, the Government
surely acted discreetly in not appointing him to this command. He died
in 1773, in his 83rd year. His life had been singularly licentious,
even for the Courts of Russia and Portugal, where, however, he
acquired extraordinary influence, for he had a thorough knowledge
of the world, a great deal of humour, and an undaunted spirit. See
more of him in Walpole’s Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 291; and Lord Chatham’s
Correspondence.--E.
[188] This remarkable man was Sovereign of Lippe Buckebourgh, a petty
state, lying on the confines of Hanover and Westphalia. His mother was
daughter of George the First, by the Duchess of Kendal. He received
the early part of his education in England, and held a commission in
the Guards: at nineteen, he served at the battle of Dettingen; and
two years after he showed signal intrepidity as a volunteer under
Prince Lobkowitz, in Italy. At the outset of the Seven years’ war
he joined the Confederates with his small contingent, and bore a
prominent part in the various military operations that ensued. His
bravery, in common with his opinions, had a tinge of eccentricity, but
the boldness and originality of his mind were not ill directed. He
became an enterprising and successful partisan, and an able commander
of artillery; in which latter capacity he distinguished himself
both at Minden and at Kampen. Being intrusted with a separate corps
for the reduction of Munster, he not only captured the place, but
defeated General Armentières, who had been sent with a French army
to its relief. It was in Portugal, however, that he established his
reputation. “He found the army there,” says his biographer, “in a
state of thorough disorganization, without either food or pay; even
the guards at the Royal Palace implored alms from strangers, with
bended knees and outstretched caps. The officers, impelled by want,
followed various humble crafts. There were instances of the husband
working as a journeyman tailor, whilst his wife earned her subsistence
as a washerwoman; and captains might be seen bringing baskets of linen
from the wash. Many were servants in the households of generals and
governors; indeed servants were sometimes presented with commissions
in order that their pay might serve in lieu of wages.” All these
abuses the Count, unsupported, if not opposed by the Court and the
ministers, succeeded in rectifying. With the assistance of the English,
he checked the progress of the Spanish troops, and defeated them in
several encounters. He built the citadel of Elvas. He organized a
plan for the defence of the kingdom; and at the end of the war he
quitted Portugal, followed by the gratitude and attachment of the King
and the people. Indeed, the House of Braganza were not under greater
obligations to his illustrious predecessor, Marshal Schomberg. His
reforms show considerable acuteness and knowledge of character, and
were completely successful. One of the most questionable was, that
while he punished officers in Germany for accepting a challenge, he
punished the Portuguese for refusing, with the view of restoring a
martial spirit among the troops. The remainder of his life he passed
at Buckebourgh, the chief town of La Lippe, beloved by his subjects,
and always employed in promoting their prosperity, though he has been
charged with sometimes mistaking himself for a great monarch, while he
was only a petty prince. He married in 1765 the Countess of La Lippe
Bustafeld, a young lady of great beauty and accomplishments, and had
one daughter, whose early death was quickly followed by that of the
mother; and the Count, inconsolable under this double affliction, fell
into a lingering disorder, of which he died in 1777, at the age of
53. He enjoyed the warm friendship of the King of Prussia, the Prince
Ferdinand of Brunswick, and other great commanders. They entertained a
high opinion of his military capacity. He inspired a sort of enthusiasm
in all around him. Even the Spanish officers, who used to ridicule
his reforms, and when they first descried him in the field, with his
large hat and little sword, contemptuously asked whether the Portuguese
were commanded by Don Quixote, eventually partook of the general
feeling of admiration that attached to his generosity--his extreme
disinterestedness--his abilities and valour. Biographische Denkmale,
von K. Barnhagen von Ense.--E.
[189] Doctor Johnson, in the newspapers of the day, published an
account of this inquiry. His weakness consisted in so far giving
confidence to this flimsy imposture, as to think a solemn inquiry
necessary. Croker’s Boswell, vol. i. p. 415, note.--E.
[190] Though so notorious at the time, we have been able to find only
one pamphlet on the subject in the British Museum, and the papers
seem to have been very reluctant to give the names of the parties.
July 10, 1762, William Parsons, Elizabeth his wife, Mary Fraser, the
Ghost’s interpreter, a clergyman, and a respectable tradesman, were
tried at Guildhall, and convicted of a conspiracy to defame a Mr. Kent.
In the Annual Register it is said, “The Court chusing that Mr. Kent,
who had been so much injured on the occasion, should receive some
reparation by punishment of the offenders, deferred giving judgment
for seven or eight months, _in hopes that the parties might make it
up in the meantime_. Accordingly, the clergyman and tradesman agreed
to pay Mr. Kent a round sum--some say between 500_l._ and 600_l._--to
purchase their pardon, and were, therefore, dismissed with a severe
reprimand. The father was ordered to be set in the pillory three times
in one month--once at the end of Cock Lane; Elizabeth his wife to be
imprisoned one year; and Mary Fraser six months in Bridewell, with
hard labour. The father appearing to be out of his mind at the time he
was first to stand in the pillory, the execution of that part of his
sentence was deferred to another day, when, as well as the other day
of his standing there, the populace took so much compassion on him,
that instead of using him ill, they made a handsome subscription for
him.”--_v._ Annual Register, vol. cxlii. and Gentleman’s Magazine,
1762, pp. 43 and 339. The liberty to speak to the prosecutor, described
above as sanctioned by Lord Mansfield, would not now be so openly
permitted, even by a bench of Middlesex Magistrates. Churchill’s poem
mentions “the Ghost,” only as a peg to hang a satire upon. It has much
vigour, but a key is wanted, and probably nobody can supply one to the
allusions, or even the regularly drawn characters of the greater part:
Johnson, Warburton, Mansfield, and one or two more are apparent. “The
Ghost” has also furnished the very clever scene of the trial of Fanny
the Phantom, in Foote’s farce of “The Orators.”--E.
[191] Dr. Thomas Secker.
[192] Prospero Lambertini, one of the most learned, enlightened, and
virtuous prelates that ever filled the Papal chair. Protestants have
vied with Catholics in doing honour to his memory. He died in 1758, at
a very advanced age.--E.
[193] Lady Selina Shirley, Countess Dowager of Huntingdon. Her “Life
and Times,” published a few years ago in 2 vols. 8vo., contains a
graphical and interesting account of the sect which she originated and
supported. Notwithstanding Walpole’s sneers, she appears to have been
a woman of genuine piety; and her zeal, though sometimes misdirected,
did, on the whole, essential service to the cause of religion.--E.
[194] Frederick the Third, King of Prussia.
[195] Count Schouvalow afterwards passed some time in England, and was
a frequent guest at Strawberry Hill.--E.
[196] Francis Seymour Conway, Earl of Hertford, appointed Lord
Lieutenant of Ireland in 1765, while he was Ambassador in France.
[197] Nevertheless, the French were at the time suspected of promoting,
if not of originating, the insurrection. Lord Drogheda, who was
employed with his regiment against the insurgents, told Sir Richard
Musgrave that French money was found in the pockets of some of those
killed, by the soldiers. Musgrave’s History of the Rebellion in
Ireland, p. 35.--E.
[198] Gilbert Elliot and James Oswald, Scots, and Commissioners of the
Treasury.--See _infra_.
[199] It appears by a letter from the Duke to Lord Hardwicke, of the
7th May, that the Duke’s earnestness to prosecute the German war, in
opposition to the wishes of Lord Bute, caused a final breach between
them. Adolphus, vol. i. p. 68.--E.
[200] Thomas Duke of Newcastle, and Henry Pelham, his only brother.
[201] Henry Clinton, Earl of Lincoln, nephew of the Pelhams, and
afterwards Duke of Newcastle.
[202] Thomas Pelham of Stanmore, afterwards Lord Pelham.
[203] This subtle, insinuating Italian had paid his Court to Lord
Bute in the preceding reign, and obtained a great ascendancy over
him. Though a man of quality, he had been a monk, and the world and
the cloister had united to make him an accomplished statesman. He
eventually rose to be first minister of Sardinia. His main fault was
that he used too much finesse and precaution, and attached too great
importance to trifles. Some amusing anecdotes of him are told in
Memoirs of a Traveller now in Retirement, vol. ii. p. 63.--E.
[204] The Bailli de Solar had been the Sardinian Ambassador at Rome, at
the same time that the Duc de Choiseul was the French Ambassador there,
and a warm friendship had existed between them from that period.--E.