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Harvard College 
Library 




FROM THE BEQUEST OF 

FRANCIS BROWN HAYES 

Class of 1839 

OF LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS 




. ?&•'- lU'tiJ-ai/ii 



ELIZABETH MONTAGU 

THE QUEEN OF THE BLUE-STOCKINGS 



HER CORRESPONDENCE FROM 
1720 to 1761 



ILIZABETH MONTAGU 

THE QUEEN OF THE 
BLUE-STOCKINGS 

HER CORRESPONDENCE FROM 
1720 to 1 761 

by her great-great-niece 

EMILY J. CLIMENSON 



WITH ILLUSTRATIONS 



IN TWO VOLUMES— VOL. I 




LONDON 

JOHN HURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET 

1906 



Oy-H.^^ 







'. * > 



FEINTED BV 

WILLIAM CLOWES AMD SONS, LIMITED 

LONDON AND BECCLES 



\ ■ 



AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED 



TO 



MY COUSINS 



MAGDALEN WELLESLEY 



AND 



ELIZABETH MONTAGU 



BY 



THE AUTHORESS 



PREFACE. 



9pt 



From my early youth I heartily desired to know more 
of the life of my great-great-aunt, Mrs. Elizabeth 
Montagu. Every scrap of information I could pick 
up respecting her I accumulated; therefore when my 
cousins, Mrs. Wellesley and her sister, Miss Montagu, 
in October, 1899, gave me the whole of her manuscripts 
contained in 68 cases, holding from 100 to 150 letters 
in each, my joy was unbounded ! 

In 18 10 my grandfather, the 4th Baron Rokeby (her 
nephew and adopted son), published two volumes 
of her letters ; these were followed by two more 
volumes in 181 3. To enable him to perform this 
pleasing task he asked all her principal friends to re- 
turn her letters to him, beginning with the Dowager 
Marchioness of Bath,* daughter of the Duchess of 
Portland, who gave him back the earliest letters to her 
mother, many carefully inserted in a curious grey paper 
book by the duchess, who placed the date of reception 
on each, and evidently valued them exceedingly. The 
^ev. Montagu Pennington returned her letters to his 
unt, Mrs. Elizabeth Carter, the learned translator of 
Cpictetus; Mrs. Freind those to her husband; and 
nany other people did the same. From General 
'ulteney, at Lord Bath's death, she had asked for and 

* Nie Elizabeth Cavendish, born 1735, died l82 5» ^ tat 9 T - 



V11I PREFACE. 

received her correspondence with Lord Bath, whic 
she carefully preserved. At the death of Lord Lyttelto 
the executors, at her request, returned her her letters 
those to Gilbert West and other correspondents wei 
returned in the same manner. Meanwhile she kept a 
letters of her special friends, as well as notabilities, s 
that one may deem the collection quite unique, thoug 
doubtless many letters have disappeared, notably thos 
of Sir Joshua Reynolds, many of whose letters wei 
destroyed by an ignorant caretaker of Mrs. Montagu 
house, Denton Hall, near Newcastle-on-Tyne. Ther 
are none of Horace Walpole's, from whom she must hav 
received some ; and those from several other celebritie 
she knew well are missing. 

Owing to the enormous quantity of letters undatec 
the sorting has been terribly difficult, and I spent on 
entire winter in making up bundles and labelling eac 
year. My grandfather made a variety of mistakes as t 
the dates of the letters. I hope I have atoned for som 
of his deficiencies, though a few mistakes are probabl; 
inevitable. He nearly blinded himself by working a 
night, and my grandmother * had constantly to copy th 
letters in a large round hand to enable him to make then 
out After my grandmother's death he discontinue* 
arranging them, though they might have been continue* 
till 1800, the year of Mrs. Montagu's death. 

In the present volumes only her early life is 
presented, interwoven with portions of her most in 
timate friends' letters to herself. Were the whole o 
this vast correspondence printed, a large bookcase 
could be filled with the volumes. In order to consul: 
the varied tastes of the general reader, I have endea 
voured to pick out the most interesting portions 
her letters, such as relate to customs, fashions it 

* Nh Elizabeth Charlton. 



PREFACE. IX 

dress, price of food, habits, but I have often groaned in 
spirit at having to leave out much that was noble in 
sentiment, or long comments upon contemporary books 
and events. If life should be spared me, I hope to 
be able to continue my narrative, for, like the ring 
produced by a stone thrown on the water, her circle of 
friends and acquaintances increased yearly, and not 
only comprised her English friends and every person 
of distinction in Great Britain, but also the most dis- 
tinguished foreigners of all nations, notably the French. 
It has been asserted that Gilbert West was the first 
person to influence Mrs. Montagu on religious points. 
That his amiable Christianity may have strengthened 
her religious opinions I do not deny, but I hope it will 
be seen from this book that from her earliest days, 
when at the height of her joie de vivre, the religious 
sentiment was existent — a religion that prompted her 
ever to the kindest actions to all classes, that had nothing 
bitter or narrow in it, no dogmatism. Adored by men 
of all opinions, and liking their society, she was the 
purest of the pure, as is amply proved by the letters 
of Lord Lyttelton, Dr. Monsey, and others, but she was 
no prude with all this. Her worthy husband adored 
her, and no wife could have been more devoted and 
obedient than she was. His was a noble character, and 
doubtless influenced her much for good. As a wife, a 
friend, a camarade in all things, grave or gay, she was 
v quailed; as a housewife she was notable, beloved 

lier servants, by the poor of her parish, and by her 
r/rers and their wives and children. She planned 
iu«is>ts and dances and instituted schools for them, and 
far. and clothed the destitute. 

With Mr. Raikes • she was one of the first people 

' Robert Raikes, born 1735, died 181 1. The first Sunday-school 
'..'■ :i tuted by him in 1781. 



X PREFACE. 

to institute Sunday-schools. She was as interes 
in Betty's rheumatism as she was in the conversat 
of a duke or a duchess ; a discussion with bishops 
Gilbert West on religion, or with Emerson on mal 
matics, or Elizabeth Carter on Epictetus, all came a] 
to her gifted nature. She danced with the gay, 
wept with the mourner ; her sympathies never lay i 
even to the very end of life; and in a century wl 
has been deemed by many to be coarse, uneduca 
and irreligious, her sweet wholesome nature shone 
a star, and attracted all minor lights. Where in 
twentieth century should we find a coterie of men ; 
women of the highest rank and influence in the wo 
either from intellect or position, so content and devo 
to each other, so free from the petty jealousies ; 
sarcasms of the present fashionable society, so anxi< 
for each other's welfare, socially and morally; so 1 
from cant or prudery, so devoted to each oth 
interest ? 

A great and terrible break in this book was cau 
by the death of my beloved husband in May, ij 
after a long, lingering illness. I doubt if I sho 
have taken courage to resume my pen if it had 
been for my friend Mr. A. M. Broadley, whose intei 
in my literary work and affectionate solicitude 
myself has been a kindly spur to goad me on to acti 
so as to complete the present volumes. To hin 
tender my thanks for past and present encouragerm 
as well as many other kindnesses. 

EMILY J. CLIMENSON. 



CONTENTS TO VOL. I. 



-•*•- 



PAOK 

Preface vii 

List of Illustrations xv 

CHAPTER I. 

The Robinson, Sterne, and Morris families — Birth and childhood 
of Elizabeth Montagu — Correspondence with Duchess of Port- 
land {passim) — Dr. Middleton's second wife — " Fidget n — A 
summons — Tunbridge Wells — Mrs. Pendarves — Lady Thanet 
— Miss Anstey — Bevis Mount — The Wallingfords — A suit of 
"cloathes" — Anne Donnellan 1-25 

CHAPTER II. 

Correspondence with Duchess of Portland (passim) — Sir Robert 
Austin — The goat story — The Freinds — Country beaux — 
Thomas Robinson, barrister — Lady Wallingford — Duke of 
Portland's letter — A coach adventure — Influenza — Smallpox — 
Cottage life — Bath — Lord Noel Somerset — Dowager Duchess 
of Norfolk — Frost Fair on the Thames — The plunge bath — 
"Long" Sir Thomas Robinson — Lord Wallingford *s death — 
The menagerie at Bullstrode — Lady Mary Wortley Montagu — 
Princess Mary of Hesse — Monkey Island — LydiaBotham — Mrs. 
Pendarves — Lord Oxford — Admiral Vernon— Anne Donnellan 
— Charlemagne — Dr. Young's Night Thoughts — Duchess of 
Kent — Mr. Achard 26-62 

CHAPTER III. 

.ir dressing — Correspondence with Duchess of Portland (Passim) 
— Sarah Robinson attacked by smallpox — Hayton Farm — 
A country squire — Handel — Dr. Middleton — Laurence Sterne 
— Duke of Portland's letter — A brother's tribute — Carthagena — 
The Westminster election — A South Sea lawsuit — Lord Oxford's 
death — Panacea of bleeding — A one-horse chaise — A Windsor 



xii CONTENTS TO VOL. I. 

p. 
hatter — Lord Sandwich's marriage — Ducal baths — Domestic 

service — Gibber's Life — Peg Woffington— Dowager Duchess 

of Marlborough — Revolution in Russia — New Year's Day — 

Lord George Bentinck — Northfleet Fair — Sir R. Walpole — 

Duchess of Norfolk's masquerade — Sir Hans Sloane — A House 

of Lords debate — The O pera — Garrick 63-; 

CHAPTER IV. 

Love triumphs — Sir George Lyttelton — Edward Montagu — Anne 
Donnellan's advice — Elizabeth's engagement and marriage — 
Correspondence with Duchess of Portland — "Delia" Dash- 
wood — Odd honeymoon etiquette — Mr. Robinson's letter — Dr. 
Middleton's letter — Cally Scott — Mrs. Freind — Pere Courayer 
— Works of Manor — The Dales — Whig principles — Corre- 
spondence with Edward Montagu — Hanoverian troops — 
Handel's Oratorios — Young's Night Thoughts — A country beau 
and roue* — A bolus — The Lord Chancellor — Dr. Sandys — A 

(•OUa ••• ... ... ... ... ... ••• •«. J OO™ 

CHAPTER V. 

Journey to London — The floods — A faithful steward — The Rogers' 
pedigree — A curious letter — Mr. Montagu's visit to Newcastle — 
Birth of " Punch " — Inoculation — Baby clothes — Sandleford 
Priory— A parson and his wife — Countess of Granville — Corre- 
spondence with Duchess of Portland — Courayer — Woman's 
education — Lord Orford's letter to General Churchill — Prepa- 
ration for inoculation — Elizabeth's letter to her husband — Army 
discipline — Physicians' fees — Pope's grotto — A highwayman — 
Dangers of a post-chaise — " Punch's " chariot — A Bath ball — 
" Mathematical inseration " — Midgham — A footpad — The 
Ministry — Pope's Dunciad — Mrs. Pococke — Sugar tax — The 
Pretender — Sir Septimus Robinson — "Hide" Park — Gowns 
and fans — The wearing of " Punch "—A wet-nurse — Aprons — 
Orange trees — Lord Anson — Clothes and table-linen — Stowe — 
Thoresby — Death of " Punch " — Loss of an only child — Sub- 
mission to God's will — Duchess of Marlborough's death — A 
Raree Show — Cattle disease — Mrs. Robinson's illness ... 141- 

CHAPTER VI. 

Correspondence with the Duchess of Portland — Donnington Castle — 
Tunbridge Wells— Dr. Young and Colley Cibber— Buxton— 
Tonbridge Castle — The 1745 rising in Scotland-— George Lewis 




CONTENTS TO VOL. I. xiii 

PACE 

Scott — National terrors — Wade's army — County meeting at 
York— The Northern gentry— General Cope's defeat at Preston 
Pans — Sussex privateers — Tunbridge ware — Walnut medicine — 
D. Stanley's letter to Duke of Montagu— Cattle murrain — Fears 
of invasion — The Law regiment — Romney.Marsh — A footman — 
A brave gamekeeper ... ... ... ... ... ... 198-226 

CHAPTER VII. 

Correspondence with Duchess of Portland — Death of Mrs. Robin- 
son — Lydia Botham— The Hill Street house — " Such a Johnny " 
— Courayer — Mr. Carter's death — Denton estate — Elixir of 
vitriol and tar-water— Dr. Shaw — Young Edward Wortley 
Montagu — General election — Huntingdon Election — Dr. Po- 
cocke — Mrs. Theophilus Cibber — Courayer's figure — A high 
and dry residence — Lady Fane's grottoes — In search of an axle- 
tree — Winchester Cathedral — Mount Bevis— The New Forest — 
Wilton House — Savernake— Courayer's letter — Matthew Robin- 
son, M.P. for Canterbury — Lyttelton's Monody — Thomas 
Robinson's death— Coffee House, Bath — Cambridge — Richard- 
son's Clarissa — Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle — Spa — The Hague — 
James Montagu's death — Price of tea 227-263 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Ranelagh masquerade — Tunbridge Wells — Duke of Montagu's 
death — Coombe Bank — The feather screen — Hinchinbrook — 
The Miss Gunnings — Chinese room in Hill Street— A parson's 
children — Dowager Duchess of Chandos — Lord Pembroke's 
death — The earthquake — Death of Dr. Middleton — Anniversary 
of Elizabeth's wedding day — Mrs. Boscawen — Gilbert West — 
Barry and Garrick— Embroidered flounces—" The cousinhood n 
—West family— Berenger — Hildersham— Miss Maria Naylor — 
The " Pollard Ashe"— Mrs. Percival's death— Dr. Shaw's death 
—The Dauphin— Dr. Middleton's works— Anne Donnellan — 
Nathaniel Hooke 264-296 




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

VOL. I. 



«•••■ 



'Mrs. Montagu {tUe Elizabeth Robinson) ... Frontispiece 

From a miniature by C. F. ZlNCKK, in the possession of The Hon. Elizabeth 
Montagu, Famham Royal. (Photogravure.) 

TO FACE PAGE 

' Mount Morris, near Hythe, Kent ... ... ... 8 

From an old print, 1809. 

iMiss Morris, Grandmother of Mrs. Montagu ... ... 16 

From a picture (artist unknown), in the possession of the Hon. Elizabeth 

Montagu. (Photogravure.) 

• Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Robinson (Mrs. Montagu's Father 

and Mother) ... ... ... ... ... 32 

From a picture by W. Hamilton, in the possession of The Hon. Elizabeth 
Montagu, Famham Royal. (Photogravure.) 

- W. Freind, D.D., Dean of Canterbury ... ... ... 64 

From the picture by T. WORL1DGE. 

• William, Second Duke of Portland ... ... ... 76 

From the picture by Thomas Hudson, in the possession of the Duke of 

Portland. (Photogravure.) 

IARY WORTLEY MONTAGU ... ... ... ... 80 

>• a miniature (artist unknown), in the possession of Mrs. Climenson, 

(Photogravure. ) 

• -; ! omas Robinson (ist Baron Rokeby) ... ... 100 

• 1 a picture (artist unknown), in the possession of The Hon. Elizabeth 
Montagu, Farnham Royal. (Photogravure.) 

' v.. x. i Robinson ... ... ... ... ... ... 144 

r 1 the picture by the Rev. M. W. Peters, R.A., in the possession of The 
Hon, Elizabeth Montagu, Farnham Royal. (Photogravure.) 

1 

I 



xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

TO FACE r Afll 

y Sandleford Priory, near Newbury, Berkshire ... ... i$i 

From a photograph. 

Denton Hall, Northumberland... ... ... ... 160 

~ Margaret Cavendish Harley, Duchess of Portland ... 191 

From the picture by Thomas Hudson, in the possession of the Duke of 

Portland. {Photogravure) 

Lady Lechmere (nde Howard), afterwards Lady (Thomas) 

KOBINSON ••• ••• ... ... ... ... 208 

From a picture (artist unknown), in the possession of The Hon. Elisabeth 
Montagu, Farnkam Royal. (Photogravure.) 

' Gilbert West ... ... ... ... ... ... 296 

From an engraving by E. Smith, after W. Walker. 

Robinson Pedigree In pocket at end of VdL 



^ELIZABETH MONTAGU 

THE QUEEN OF THE BLUE-STOCKINGS 



•o* 



CHAPTER I. 

GIRLHOOD UP TO 1 738, AND BEGINNING OF THE CORRE- 
SPONDENCE WITH THE DUCHESS OF PORTLAND. 

Before entering on the life of Elizabeth Robinson, 
afterwards Mrs. Edward Montagu, the famous bas bleu, 
the focus, as she may be called, of all the cleverest and 
most intellectual society of the last half of the eighteenth 
century, a few words must be said of the family she 
sprang from. The Robinsons are said to have been 
originally Robertsons, the name being corrupted into 
Robinson. They are in many Peerages * said to descend 
from the Robertsons of Struan, or- Strowan, in Perth- 
shire, who descended from Duncan de Atholia, Earl of 
Athole, hence descendants of Duncan, King of Scotland. 
My grandfather, the 4th Baron Rokeby, in an unfinished 
pedigree, believed this, but there have been Robinsons 
bearing the samef coat-of-arms in Yorkshire as early 
as the time of copyhold record in Edward III.'s reign. 

* "ide Debrett and Lodge's Peerages; Collin's Baronetage, 1741, 
\ u. . ; Burke, " The New Peerage," by W. Owen, 1785 ; and Longmate's 

r ' oat vert, a chevron between three bucks trippant 
'OL. L B 



2 THE ROBINSON FAMILY. 

However, they may have been related. Our n; 
tive starts from William, said to be younger so 
the 7th Baron Robertson of Strowan, who, b 
deprived of his portion of inheritance as younger 
by the Earl of Athole, fled into England, and se 
at Kendal in Westmorland, in the time of Henry 1 
He had three children, Ralph, Henry, and Ur 
Ralph married Agnes Philip, by whom he had Wil 
who succeeded to his father's estates at Kendal 
Brignal, and who on June 7, 1610, bought the e 
of Rokeby in Yorkshire from Sir Thomas Rol 
whose family had been possessed of it before the ' 
quest. Rokeby continued to belong to the Robi 
family for 160 years, when "Long Sir Thomas Re 
son" sold it in 1769 to John B. Saurey Morritt, 
friend of Sir Walter Scott The Robinsons fii 
assumed two lines (vide Pedigree), William, the el 
remaining master of Rokeby, and his posthur 
brother, Leonard, becoming the direct ancestor ol 
heroine. Leonard Robinson was a merchant in Lon 
he became Chamberlajn of the City of London, and 
knighted on October 26, 1692. He married, first, ] 
Layton, of West Layton, etc., by whom he had no i 
For his second wife he married Deborah, daught 
Sir James Collet, Knight and Sheriff of Londor 
whom he had six daughters, all of whom married 
had issue, and one son, Thomas, who married a wi 
Elizabeth Light. She was daughter of Wi 
Clarke, Esq., of Merivale Abbey, Warwickshire, 
heiress of her brother, William Clarke. By her 
husband, Anthony Light, she had one daughter, L 
By her second marriage with Thomas Robinson 
had three sons. Matthew, the eldest, alone concert 
as father of Mrs. Montagu. The following table 
show the connection between the Robinson and Si 



I694-] PEDIGREE OF THE ROBINSONS AND STERN ES. 3 



families: the Rev. Laurence Sterne marrying their 
cousin, Elizabeth Lumley : — 



ISt. 

Anthony Light 
i daughter. 



ist 
Thomas 
of Cockridge, 

caYorks. 
Great Virtuoso. 

d. 1709. 



Elizabeth Clarke, daughter of 
William Clarke, of Merivale 

Abbey, Warwickshire ; 

heiress to her brother. 
William Clarke. 



"I 



2nd. 
Thomas Robinson, 

son of Sir 
Leonard Robinson. 



2nd. I 

= Lydia = The Rev. Robert Matthew 

Lumley, of Lumley Robinson. 

Castle, Rector of 

Bedale, Yorks, 

1721-1731. 



Lyoia = 



Rev. Henry 
Botham, Vicar 
of Albury and 
Ealing. 

5 children. 



Elizabeth = 



Rev. Laurence 
Sterne. 



Elizabeth 

Drake, 
daughter of 
Councillor 

Robert 

Drake, of 

the Drakes 

of Ash, 

Devon. 



Lydia, 

died an 

infant. 



Lydia = A. de Medalle. 



1 

Son. 



Mrs. Laurence Sterne and her sister, Mrs. Botham, 
as will be seen in the letters, call Matthew Robinson 
and his wife "Uncle" and "Aunt," they being really 
their step-uncle and aunt. Thomas Robinson died at 
the early age of thirty-three, in the year 1700. 

We now enter on the history of Matthew Robinson, 
the eldest surviving son of Thomas, and his wife 
Elizabeth. He was born in 1694, therefore was only 
six years old when his father died. At an early age he 
was entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, and became 
a fellow-commoner. He was a person of great intel- 
lectual parts, a conversationalist and wit, the life of 
the coffee-houses, which then served, as clubs do nowa- 
days, as a rendezvous for men of fashion. His talent 
for painting was remarkable. His great nephew states, 
"He acquired so great a proficiency as to excel most 
of the professional artists of his day in landscape." 
At ie early age of eighteen, in 1712, he married 



THE MORRIS FAMILY. 



[ 



Elizabeth Drake, daughter of Councillor Robert D 
of Cambridge, descended from the Drakes of Ash 
Devonshire. Elizabeth's mother's name was S 
Morris. The Morris family had been seated in 
at East Horton since the reign of Elizabeth. Th< 
Morris, father of Sarah, built the mansion of M 
Morris, sometimes called Monk's Horton, near H; 
He had one son, Thomas, who was drowned u 
London Bridge on his return from Holland in 
aetat 23. His sister Sarah had two children by Coun< 
Drake, Morris and Elizabeth. Their maternal gi 
father lived to 17 17, when he devised his estates t 
grandson, Morris Drake, with the proviso of his as 
ing the extra name of Morris, and failing of his 
with remainder to Elizabeth, his sister, then 
Matthew Robinson. Her mother, Mrs. Drake, h* 
become a widow, had remarried the celebrated 
Conyers Middleton, but had no children by him. 
following table will elucidate this : — 

Thomas Morris, Esq., 

of Mount Morris, alias Monk's Horton,* Kent, 

which he built; d. 1717. 



Thomas, drowned 

under London 

Bridge, 1697, aetat 23, 

returning from Holland. 



1 



Sarah, 
d. Feb. 19, 

i73°-i« 



1st Councillor Robert . 
2nd. (17 10) Dr. Conj 
Middleton, of Trinity C 
Cambridge. 



c 



Morris Drake (Morris) 

took name of Morris 

on becoming heir to 

his grandfather ; died 

s.p. His property 

entailed on his sister, 

Eliz. Robinson. 



ibeth, 



Elizabetn, m. 1713, 

d. 1745, sister and 

heir of her brother, 

Morris Drake 
Morris. Inherited 
Coveney, Cambs., 
and Mount Mor- 
ris, Kent. 



Matthew Robins 

Edgeley and of 

Layton Hall, Y 

Born at York, 1 

died October, 



* Monk's Horton, or Up Horton, alienated by Heyman Rooke 
time of Queen Anne to Thomas Morris, who entailed it to his dauj 
male issue. 






1712.] ELIZABETH ROBINSON. 5 

To return to the Robinsons, they settled at their 
property of West Lay ton Hall, derived from Lucy 
Layton, first wife of Sir Leonard Robinson, and Edgeley 
in Wensleydale for the summer, and spent the winter 
in York ; most country families at that period repairing 
to London or their nearest county town for convenience 
and society during the winter. To this young couple 
were born twelve children, of whom seven sons and 
two daughters lived to grow up — 

i. Matthew, born April 6, 1713 ; afterwards 2nd 
Baron Rokeby. Educated at Trinity Hall, Cam- 
bridge; became a Fellow. Died November 30, 1800, 
stat 87. 

2. Thomas, born 17 14, died in 1746-7. Barrister-at- 
law. 

3. Morris, born 1715, died 1777; of the Six Clerks' 
Office. 

4. Elizabeth, born at York, October 2, 1720, died 
August 25, 1800. 

5. Robert, Captain, E.I.C.S. Died in China, 1756. 

6. Sarah, born September 21, 1723, died 1795. 

7. William, born 1726, died 1803. 

8. John, of Trinity Hall, Cambridge. 

9. Charles, born 1733, died 1807. 

Elizabeth, the subject of this book, was about seven 
years old when, by the death of her uncle, Morris 
Drake Morris, her mother inherited, as his heir, the 
important property of East Horton, and Mount Morris 
in Kent The family then left Yorkshire for residence 
at Mount Morris. But before and after their inheritance 
of the Kentish property much time was spent with the 
Conyers Middletons both at Coveney, Cambridgeshire, a 
property Mrs. Conyers Middleton had inherited from 
fcer first husband, Councillor Drake ; the advowson of 
the living being hers, she bestowed it on her second 



/ 




DR. CONYERS MIDDLETON. 

husband, Dr. Conyers Middleton,* whom she 
married in 1710; also at Cambridge, where was tl 
usual residence, and where several of the little Rol 
sons were born in their grandmother's house, as 
learn from a letter of Dr. Middleton's. Elizal 
Robinson was naturally much with her grandmotl 
with whom and Conyers Middleton she was a gi 
favourite. Her nephew and adopted son, in his volui 
of her letters t that he published in 1810, states — 

" Her uncommon sensibility and acuteness of uni 
standing, as well as extraordinary beauty as a cl 
rendered her an object of great notice in the Univen 
and Dr. Middleton was in the habit of requiring fi 
her an account of the learned conversations at whicl 
his society, she was frequently present; not admit 
of the excuse of her tender age as a disqualification, 
insisting that although at the present time she could 
imperfectly understand their meaning, she woulc 
future derive great benefit from the habit of atten 
inculcated by this practice." 

Her father was proud of her vivacious wit, 
encouraged her gifts of repartee which she posses 
in as large a measure as himself. 

" In her youth her beauty was most admired in 
peculiar animation and expression of her blue e 
with high arched eyebrows, and in the contrast of 
brilliant complexion with her dark brown hair, 
was of the middle stature, and stooped a little, w 
gave an air of modesty to her countenance, in which 
features were otherwise so strongly marked as to exp 
an elevation of sentiment befitting the most exa 
condition." 

• Conyers Middleton, D.D., bora i683,died 1750. Fellow of T 
College, Cambridge, etc., etc. Wrote the " Life of Cicero," etc., etc 
"The Letters of Mrs. Elizabeth Uontagtl/ by her nephew, Ma 
Montagu, afterwards 4th Baron Rokcby. 



1717-18.) 



MOUNT MORRIS. 



Her elder brothers, members of Cambridge Uni- 
versity, were alf extremely literary, and became, early, 
distinguished scholars. We are told — 

" Their emulation produced a corresponding zeal in 
their sisters, and a diligence of application unusual in 
females of that time. Their domestic circle was 
accustomed to struggle for the mastery in wit, or in 
superiority in argument, and their mother, whose frame 
of mind partook rather of the gentle sedateness of good 
sense than of the eccentricities of genius, was denomi- 
nated by thera ' the Speaker,' from the frequent media- 
tion by which she moderated their eagerness for 
victory." 

In Harris's "History of Kent," published in 1719, on 
p. 156, is a picture of Mount Morris, the home of the 
Robinsons, a large square house with a cupola sur- 
mounted by a ball and a weathercock, surrounded by 
a number of walled gardens laid out in the formal 
Dutch manner, an inner Topiary garden, leading to a 
steep flight of steps to the front door. Whilst staying 
in Cambridgeshire, Elizabeth had several times visited 
at Wimpole with her father and mother. Wimpole 
the seat of Edward," second Earl of Oxford and 
Mortimer, who had married Henrietta Cavendish, only 
ghter and heiress of John Holies, 1st Duke of New- 
istle-on-Tyne. She was a great heiress, and brought 
r husband .£500,000; she is said to have been a good 
ut a very dull woman, very proud, and a rigid wor- 
bipper of etiquette. In the " National Biography " she 
; said to have " disliked most of the wits who sur- 
nded her husband, and hated Pope / " t The Earl spent 

• Lord Oxford sold Wimpole in 1740 to Lord Hardwick to pay off 
I* debts, 
t Pope was his bosom friend, Swift and Prior also ; the latter died at 



8 LADY MARGARET CAVENDISH HARLEY. [O 

enormous sums in collecting books, manuscripts, pi etui 
medals, and articles of virtu, spending £400,000 of 
wife's fortune. To him we are indebted for the Harle 
manuscripts, bought from his widow in 1753 for £10^ 
by the nation, now in the British Museum. With 
Lady Margaret Cavendish Harley,* only child of 
Earl and Countess of Oxford, Elizabeth became 
the most intimate terms, and her first extant letter 
addressed to her when she was only eleven years c 
and the Lady Margaret eighteen. So greatly did Li 
Margaret value Elizabeth's letters, that for a series 
years she preserved them between the leaves of an i 
grey book which I possess. The first letter is endors 
"Received, February 24, 173 1-2, at Wimpole.' 1 It co 
mences — 

" Madam, 

" Your ladyship's commands always give ntf 
great deal of pleasure, but more especially when 3 
ordered me to do myself this honour, without whict 
durst not have taken that liberty, for it would have be 
as great impertinence in me to have attempted it as it 
condescension in your ladyship to order it w 

This alludes evidently to Lady Margaret havil 
desired her to write to her. It ends — 

"My duty to my Lord and Lady Oxford, ai 
service to Lord Dupplin,t and my best respects 
Miss Walton,! hope in a little while it may be duty, 
am in great hopes that when your ladyship sees ai 
impertinent people in London it will put you in mil 
of, Madam, 

" Your ladyship's most obliged, humble servant, 

"Eliz. Robinson." 

• Prior celebrated the Lady Margaret in the lines commencing "1 
noble, lovely, little Peggy." 

t Afterwards 8th Earl of Kinnoul. 

t Lady Margaret's governess, about to be married. 



1731-3*3 TUNBRIDGE WELLS. 9 

The formal terms in this letter were then considered 
essential, even when addressing those of lower birth, 
all the more so to a person of Lady Margaret's rank. 
Viscount Dupplin, whose name frequently occurs in the 
letters, was a cousin of Lady Margaret's on her father's 
side, his mother being a daughter of Robert Harley, 
i st Earl of Oxford. The two young friends now kept 
up a lively correspondence, but as many of the letters 
have been published by my grandfather in 1810, I shall 
for this early period of her life give only a risumi of 
them, picking out such facts as point to the manners of 
the time, or that strike one as of interest From Mount 
Morris in August, 1732, she writes — 

" Since I came here I have been to Canterbury Races, 
at which there was not much diversion, as only one 
horse ran for the King's Plate. . . . We had an assembly 
for three nights ; the rooms are so small and low that 
they were exceedingly hot" 

From this date one perceives that young ladies were 
allowed to appear in public early, as Elizabeth was then 
not quite twelve years old ! 

In October, 1733, she paid, in company of her parents, 
her first visit to Tunbridge Wells, ever afterwards such 
a favourite resort of hers. She says — 

" It is so pleasant a place I don't wonder the physicians 
prescribe it as a cure for the spleen ; a great part of the 
company, especially of the gentlemen, are vapoured. 
When the wind is not in the east they are very good 
company, but they are as afraid of an easterly wind as if 
it would bring caterpillars upon our land as it did on the 
land of Egypt ... I am very sorry I could not get you 
any verses at Tunbridge, of which, at the latter part of 
the season, when the garrets grow cheap, that the poets 
come down, there is commonly great plenty." 



10 "MRS." PLACE. [CH.I. 

Further on she says, " I thank your ladyship for the 
verses, and I wish I had any to send you in return for 
them, but my poet is turned lawyer, and has forsook 
the Muses for 'Coke upon Littleton. 1 " This alludes 
to her brother Tom, who was then studying law. The 
collecting of verses on every sort of circumstance seems 
to have been as fashionable then as photograph, auto- 
graph, or stamp-collecting, etc, are now. 

In the next letter of November, 1733, she alludes 
to Dr. Conyers Middleton, who, as stated before, had 
married Mrs. Drake, Elizabeth's grandmother, and who 
was now a widower — 

"I suppose you have heard Dr. Middleton has 
brought his Cousin Place * to keep his house. He very 
gravely sent us word that his cousin had come to spend 
the winter with him, and it was not impossible they 
might agree for a longer time; so I fancy he has 
brought her with him to see if she likes to play at 
quadrille, and sup on sack posset with the grave 
doctors, whose company to one of her gay temper must 
be delightful I suspected his designs when he made 
so many complaints in London, that it was so very 
difficult to find a maid who understood making jellies 
and sack posset, which he and a certain doctor used 
to have for their suppers. He lost one lady because 
she was deaf to him; but I believe that fortune, to 
make amends to him, has blinded this. For though 
I don't doubt he always takes care to show her the 
side of his face which Mr. Doll says is younger by 
ten years than the other, yet that is rather too old to 
be a match for twenty-five, which I believe is the age of 
Mrs.f Place." 

* Mary, daughter of the Rev. Conyers Place, of Dorchester. She died 
April 26, 1745. 

t It was the custom at this time to give spinster ladies the compli- 
mentary title of " Mrs." 



J733-] MR. ROBINSON. II 

The next letter she says — 

11 1 have not heard from Dr. Middleton a great while. 
I suppose his thoughts are taken up with business and 
his pretty cousin in the West I don't know whether 
she has made a complete conquest of his heart" 

In May, 1733— 

" Dr. Middleton now owns his marriage. I wish he 
finds the felicity of it answers his resigning a £100 a 
year. I am glad, for the sake of any other family, he 
has not got another rich widow ; if he had, it would have 
been her turn to resign." 

This alludes to the fact that on the learned doctor's 
remarriage he had to resign his fellowship. 

Mr. Robinson, Elizabeth's father, was not fond of the 
country, where his wife's fine estate and his nine children 
condemned him to reside the greater part of the year ; 
and when we consider how young a man he was, then 
only thirty-one, and his great love of witty society, one 
cannot be surprised at his having attacks of the " hyp " 
or " vapours," as the terms for ennui were then. Eliza 
beth writes to Lady Margaret from Mount Morris — 

"Though I am tired of the country, to my great 
satisfaction I am not so much so as my Pappa ; he is a 
little vapoured, and last night, after two hours' silence, 
he broke out with a great exclamation against the 
country, and concluded in saying that living in the 
country was sleeping with one's eyes open. If he sleeps 
all day, I am sure he dreams much of London. What 
makes this place more dull is, my brothers are none of 
them here; two of them went away about a fortnight 
ago, and ever since my Pappa has ordered me to put a 
double quantity of saffron * in his tea." 

* Saffron, said to be good for heaviness of spirits. 



12 THE DUCHESS OF PORTLAND. [Ch. 

February n, 1734, she writes — 

" Dr. Middleton sends us word my Pappa's acquain 
ance wonder he has not the spleen, but they woul 
cease their surprise if they knew he was so mu< 
troubled with it that his physicians cannot present 
him any cordial strong enough to keep up his spirit 
We think London would do it effectually, and I beliei 
he will have recourse to it." 

On July 11, 1734, Lady Margaret Cavendish Harlc 
married William, 2nd Duke of Portland.* The: 
are no letters of Elizabeth's in my possession on tl 
occasion of her friend's marriage; they recommen< 
October 20 in the same year. Henceforward all tl 
duchess's letters were franked by the duke, and mar 
of Elizabeth's, often unfortunately undated. At th 
period ladies prevailed on such of their friends ; 
were either Peers or members of Parliament, to sig 
sheets of letter-paper with their names at the back, oftc 
of folio size, which they used free of cost as they want< 
them, wrapping their letters in these outer sheets ai 
sealing them. As a single letter from London 1 
Edinburgh cost is. \\d. } if double 25. 3d., and if treb 
35. 4&</., the smallest inclosure being treated as s 
additional sheet, to send letters unfranked was a cost! 
luxury. The practice of forging people's names led 1 
such intolerable abuse of franking that an Act wi 
passed in 1764 making it compulsory for the who 
address to be written by the person franking tl 
letter. 

In October, the same year, Elizabeth replies to 
letter from the duchess chiding her for not writing — 

"Oct 3, 1734. — I am surprised that my answer 1 

• William, 2nd Duke of Portland, born 1708, died 1762. Hearne, 
his Diary, says, " Is reported the handsomest man in England." 



J7340 "FIDGET." 13 

your Grace's letter has never reached your hands. I 
sent it immediately to Canterbury by the servant of a 
gentleman who dined here, and I suppose he forgot to 
put it in the post. I am reconciled to the carelessness 
of the fellow, since it has procured to me so particular a 
mark of your concern. If my letter were sensible, what 
would be the mortification, that instead of having the 
honour to kiss your Grace's hands, it must lie confined 
in the footman's pocket with greasy gloves, rotten 
apples, a pack of dirty cards, and the only companion of 
its sort, a tender epistle from his sweetheart, ' tru tell 
deth.' Perhaps by its situation subject to be kicked by 
his master every morning, till at last, by ill-usage and 
rude company, worn too thin for any other use, it may 
make its exit in lighting a tobacco-pipe. I believe the 
fellow who lost my letter knew very well how ready I 
should be to supply it with another. 
" I am, Madam, 

" Your Grace's most obedient servant, 

" Elizabeth Robinson." 

The duchess's favourite name for Elizabeth was 
" Fidget," a name adopted by all the Bullstrode * circle. 
This was due to her vivacity of mind and body. She 
was never really a strong person, but her nervous 
energy enabled her frail body to perform feats that a 
more lethargic person could not have accomplished. 
" Why should a table that stands still require so many 
legs when I can fidget on two?" she would exclaim. 
The duchess returns an answer on October 25, portions 
of which I copy — 

"Dear Fidget, 

" I assure you I am very angry at the fellow's 
not taking care of your letter, for they always give me 
infinite pleasure, and I esteem it as a great loss. I am 

* The duchess always spelt Bullstrode with the double /, from the 
story of the place, and I choose to do the same. 



14 DRAWING LESSONS. [CM 

very sensible of the friendship you have for me, 
hope you never shall find any reason to the contra 
You have painted extremely well the fate of your let 
was not according to its deserts. . . . Pray do you he 
anything of Dr. Middleton and his fine wife ? * I ha< 
letter not long ago wherein it was said she made t 
doctor very sensible she had a tongue, and a very sha 
one too, with the addition of a clear and distinct voi 
If you have any poetry, send it to me; you know it v* 
be acceptable to her who is 
" Dear Fidget's 

" Very humble servant and admirer, 

"M. Cavendish Portland." 

In Elizabeth's next letter, November 3, 1734, : 
regrets that her father, having recovered his spin 
had given up going to Bath as projected, and says — 

"One common objection to the country, one sees 
faces but those of one's own family, but ray Pappa thin 
he has found a remedy for that by teaching me to dra 
but then he husbands these faces in so cruel a mann 
that he brings me sometimes a nose, sometimes an 
at a time : but on the King's birthday, as it was a festiv 
be brought me out a whole face with its mouth wi 
open. Your Grace desired me to send you some verse 
1 have not heard so much as a Rhyme lately, anc 
believe the Muses have all got agues in this count 
but I have enclosed you the following Summons wh 
we sent an old bachelor, who is very much our hum 
servant, and would die but not dance for us; but bei 
once in great necessity for partners, we thought h 
better than an elbow chair, and compelled him to cor 
to this Summons, which pleased me extremely, as 
believe it was the first time he ever found the power 
the fair sex. ... I am so far from Cambridge, and h. 
no friend charitable enough to send me any scan 

* On Dr. Middleton's second wife. 



A SUMMONS. 



15 



I have heard nothing of either of the doctors, but as to 
my dear grandmother,' I have before heard she was as 
famous as & free speaker as he is for a free-thinker .f 



" ' Summons. 
"•Kent to J. B., Esqre.% 
"'Whereas complaint has been made to us Commis- 
sioners of Her Majesties' Balls, Hopps, Assemblies, &c, 
for the county aforesaid, that several able and expert men, 
brought up and instructed in the art or mistery of 
Dancing, have and daily do refuse, though often there- 
unto requested, to be retained and exercised in the 
aforesaid Art or Mistery, to the occasion of great 
scarcity of good dancers in these parts, and contrary 
to the Laws of Gallantry and good manners, in that 
case made and provided : And whereas we are likewise 
credibly informed that you J. B., Esqre., though educated 
in the said Art by that celebrated Master, Lally, Senior, 
are one of the most notorious offenders in this point, 
these are therefore in the name of the Fair Sex, to 
require you, the said J. B., Esqre., personally to be and 
appear before us, at our meeting this day at the sign of 
the "Golden Ball," in the parish of Horton, in the county 
aforesaid, between the hours of twelve and one in the 
forenoon to answer to such matter as shall be objected 
against you, concerning the aforesaid refusal and con- 
tempt of our jurisdiction and authority, and to bring 
with you your dancing shoes, laced waistcoat and white 
gloves. And hereby fail not under peril of our frowns, 
and being henceforth deemed and accounted an Old 
Bachelor. Given under our hands and seals this eighth 
day of October, 1734, to which we all set our hands."' 

" This is Eliiabelh's fun, as her own grandmother was dead, and the 
doctor was her step-grandfather. 

t Dr. Middlcton held free-thinking views on the Old Testament. 

J Junes Broclcman, of Beach borough. The summons is still kept at 
Beachborough. 



16 THE "GOLDEN BALL." [Ch 

The " Golden Ball M was the ball of the weathercc 
on the lantern cupola of the house at Mount Mori 
In the next letter, November 20, she says — 

11 Out of my filial piety I would persuade my Pap 
to set out for London. I have been preaching to him 
this day, that when Saul had the spleen, David's musi 
did him a great deal of good, and that I am satisfi 
Farinelli* would do him as much service. He gc 
frequently shooting or coursing, and fancies that \* 
prevent its return, and to answer me with the Scriptu 
says, Nimrod the mighty hunter never had the Hi 
Dr. Middleton designed to bring his Dearee to Lond< 
but if she is so gay it may be as prudent to keep her 
Cambridge . . . if it should enter her head that the docf 
is no greater than another, what a mortification it woi 
be to my good Grand-pappa ; if he knows himself a 
her, I think he would agree with Arnolfe in LEcole < 
Femmes t — 

" * Que c'est assez pour elle, a vous en bien parler, 
De savoir prier Dieu, l'aimer, coudre, et filer. V 

Mr. Robinson, who drew and painted in a st 
worthy of a professional artist, was anxious Elizab< 
should become a proficient in the same art, but 5 
writes to the duchess — 

" If you design to make any proficiency in that 1 
I would advise you not to draw old men's heads. It v 
the rueful head countenance of Socrates or Seneca tl 
first put me out of conceit of it ; had my Pappa given 
the blooming faces of Adonis or Narcissus, I might ha 
been a more apt scholar ; and when I told him I fov 
those great beards difficult to draw, he gave me 
John's head in a charger, so to avoid the speculation 

• Carlo Brocchi, whose professional name was Farinelli, vocalist 
pupil of Porpora. 

t A play of Moliere's. 



■ h 

n 

-a 

J 

■■ 
T 
-C 

' \ 
i 

■ * 



I 



:r; 



173$-] TUNBRIDGE WELLS. 17 

dismal faces, which by my art I dismalized ten times ) 
more than they were before, I threw away my pencil." 



In October, 1735, the duchess's first child was born, 
Elizabeth, eventually wife of the 1st Marquis of Bath. 
Elizabeth writes to congratulate her, and states she 
heard Dr. Mead (then the great ladies 9 doctor) pro- 
nounced it the finest child he ever saw. Elizabeth had 
just returned from her first visit to Tunbridge Wells for 
her health, suffering much from headaches and weak 
eyes. At this period the Dowager Duchess of Portland 
died. The letters up to this date were addressed to " To 
Her Grace, The junior Duchess of Portland." 

Elizabeth writes a description of her five weeks at 
Tunbridge Wells. After comments on an unhappy 
marriage recently made, she says — 

"You know some of our Grub Street wits com- 
pared marriage to a country dance, which scheme I 
extremely approved, but when I read it, I thought it 
should have been set to the tune of ' Love for ever ; ' 
but they say it never did go to that tune, nor ever 
would I danced twice a week all the time I was at 
Tunbridge, and once extraordinary, for Lord Euston * 
came down to see Lord Augustus Fitzroy,t and made a 
ball Lord Euston danced with the Duchess of Norfolk,^ 
but her Grace went home early, and then Lord Euston 
danced with Lady Delves. We all left off about one 
o'clock. The day after I left the Wells, I went to the 
Races (Canterbury), which began on Monday, and ended 
on Thursday. . . . Monday there was an Assembly, 
Tuesday a Play, Wednesday an Assembly again, and 
Thursday another play, and as soon as that was over, 
we had a ball where we had ten couple. I did not go to 

• George, Earl of Euston, son of the 2nd Duke of Grafton. 

t A brother of Lord Euston. 

\ Wife of Edward, 9th Duke of Norfolk. 

VOL. L C 



^ 



i8 LORD STANHOPE. [C; 

bed after our private ball till six o'clock, and rose a 
before nine. 

"The person who was taken most notice of at 
bridge as particular is a young gentleman your Gn 
may be perhaps acquainted with, I mean Lord Stanhop- 
He is always making mathematical scratches in 
pocket-book, so that one half the people took him foi 
conjurer, and the other half for a fool." 

In a letter of October 2 is the first mention of Mi 
Pendarves,t afterwards Mrs. Delany. It runs — 

"Your pleasures are always my satisfactions 
assure you I partake at Mount Morris all the happin 
you tell me you receive at Bullstrode. I am sure N 
Pendarves cannot give you any pleasure in her com 
sation that she is not repayed in enjoying yours. I 
glad you have got so agreeable a companion with yc 
it is a happiness you have not always enjoyed, thou 
deserved." 

Mention is made of the duchess's desire to obt 
beautiful shells, and Elizabeth desired her sailor brot 
Robert, who had just returned from Italy, and v 
going in his ship to the East Indies, to bring home w 
he can in shells and feathers of all sorts — parr 
peacocks, etc. — for work the duchess was doing. T 
feather work became a rage of both the duchess a 
Elizabeth, and was the precursor of the celebra 
feather hangings, immortalized by Cowper's verses 
Elizabeth's later years. A humorous description 
Lady Thanet,$ then the great lady of West Kent, 
amusing character, and great-aunt of the Duchess 
Portland, is given in the same letter — 

" Philip, 2nd Earl Stanhope, born 1714. 

t N4t Mary Granville, widow- of Mr. W. Pendarves, bom 1700, i 
1788. Daughter of John Granville. 

I Mary, 4th daughter and coheiress of 2nd Marquis of Halifax. 



I737-] LADY THANET. 19 

"Lord Thanet* said when he came to Kent this 
summer that Lord Cowper t had brought his Countess t 
to affront all East Kent, and he had brought his Countess 
to affront all West Kent She was a little discomposed 
one day at dinner and threw a pheasant and a couple of 
partridges off the table in shoving them up to my Lord 
to cut up." 

Early in 1737, the second daughter of the duchess's 
was born — Henrietta, afterwards Countess of Stamford 
and Warrington. Elizabeth writes to congratulate her 
on the event She and her family were very ill of fever 
that summer, thirteen persons down with it in the 
house. The smallpox raged at Canterbury, and Mrs. 
Robinson would not allow her daughters to attend the 
races. In a letter of September mention is made of 
Dr. Conyers Middleton's disappointment at not obtaining 
the Mastership of the Charter House, which he most 
desired Another peep at Lady Thanet — 

" Lady Thanet came into this part of the country ten 
days ago ; her French woman rode astride through the 
wilds of Kent, and the country people having heard her 
Ladyship was something odd, took Mademoiselle for 
Lady Thanet." 

The first letter extant between Elizabeth and Miss 
Anstey, sister of Christopher Anstey, the author of the 
"New Bath Guide," § may be placed here, though undated, 
except "Mount Morris, near Hythe, July 15." This 
extract shows her vivacious nature — 

" Yesterday I was overturned coming from a neigh- 
bour's. We got no hurt at all, but were forced to borrow 

* 7th Earl of Thanet. 
f William, 2nd Earl Cowper. 
\ Henrietta, daughter of Earl Grantham. 

§ The "New Bath Guide" was not written till 1766. The Ansteys 
lived at Brinckley near Cambridge. 



20 MERSHAM HATCH. [Ch. 

a coach to bring us the rest of the way, our own beii 
quite disabled by the fall ... I always think one visi 
in the country at the hazard of one's bones, but fear 
never so powerful with me, as to make me stay at horn 
and the next thing to being retired, is to be moros 
contemplation is not made for a woman on the rig 
side of thirty, it suits prodigiously well with the gout 
the rheumatism : rest and an elbow chair are the comfc 
of age, but the pleasures of youth are of a more live 
sort I have in winter gone eight miles to dance to t 
music of a blind fiddler, and returned at two in t 
morning, mightily pleased that I had been so well ent< 
tained. I am so fond of dancing that I cannot h< 
fancying I was at some time bit by a tarantula,* a 
never got well cured of it I shall this year lose i 
annual dancings at Canterbury Races, for my Papa 1 
made a resolution (I assure you without my advice) i 
to go to them." 

In the next letter to the duchess, October 15, 1737 

" Lady Thanet made a ball at Hothfield a few d; 
ago to which she did our family the honour to im 
them, and as we were obeying her commands and ; 
into the coach with our ball airs and our dancing she 
at five miles of our journey we met with a brook 
swelled by the rain it looked like a river, and the wa 
we were told, was up to the coach seat, and as I I 
never heard of any balls in the Elysian Fields, and d 
so much as know whether the ghosts of departed be 
wear pumps, I thought it better to reserve ourselves 
the Riddotto t than hazard drowning for this ball, 
so we turned back and went to Sir Wyndham Kna 
bull's,? who were hindered by the same water ; for 
part I could think of nothing but the ball, when any 

• It was believed that a tarantula's bite was only to be caret 
dancing. 

t An entertainment of music first and afterwards dancing. 
% 5th Baronet. His place called Mersham Hatch. 



1737] THE PLAY. 21 

asked me how I did I cry'd tit for tat, and when they 
bid me sit down, I answered ' Jack of the green. 9 A few 
days after the ball, Lady Thanet bespoke a play at a 
town eight miles from us, and summoned us to it ; two 
of my brothers, and my sister,* and your humble servant 
went, and after the play the gentlemen invited all the 
women to a supper at a tavern, where we staid till two 
o'clock in the morning, and then all set out for their 
respective homes. Here I suppose you will think my 
diversion ended, but I must tell your Grace it did not ; 
for before I had gone two miles, I had the pleasure of 
being overturned, at which I squalled for joy ; and to 
complete my felicity I was obliged to stand half an hour 
in the most refreshing rain, and the coolest north breeze 
I ever felt; for the coach's braces breaking were the 
occasion of our overturn, and there was no moving till 
they were mended. You may suppose we did not lose 
so favourable an opportunity of catching cold ; we all 
came croaking down to breakfast the next morning, and 
said we had caught no cold, as one always says when 
one has been scheming, but I think I have scarce re- 
covered my treble notes yet We had seven coaches at 
the play ; there was Lord Winchilsea,t Lady Charlotte 
Finch,$ Lady Betty Fielding,! Capt Fielding,§ his lady, 
and the Miss Palmers. | Mr. Fielding and Miss Molly 
Palmer caught such colds they sent for a physician the 
next day; Lady Knatchbull and Miss Knatchbull have 
kept their beds ever since : poor Lady Thanet was over- 
turned as she went home, and caught a terrible hoarse- 
ness, which was the better for the poor coachman, who 
by that means escaped a sharp and shrill reproof; and 
indeed it is enough for any poor man to lye under the 
terror of her frowns, with a look she can wound, with a 

• Sarah Robinson, three years younger than Elizabeth. 
t Daniel, 7th Earl Winchilsea. 
t Sisters of Lord Winchilsea. 
§ Father of Henry Fielding, the novelist. 

|| Daughters of Sir Thomas Palmer of Wingham, Kent. Miss Molly 
afterwards 2nd Lady Winchilsea. 



LADY WALLINGFORD. [CH. 

frown she can kill; I think I never saw so formidable 
countenance. I think Lord Thanet's education of h 
son • is something particular ; he encourages him ] 
swearing and singing nasty ballads with the servant! 
he is a very fine boy, but prodigiously rude; he can 
down to breakfast the other day when there was co 
pany, and his maid came with him, who, instead 
carrying a Dutch toy, or a little whirligig for his Lo 
ship to play with, was lugging a billet for his playthin 
There was a fine supper at the ball, 33 dishes all ve 
neat. My elder brother got out of the coach and put 
a pair of boots, and rode on to the ball when we turn 
back." 

November 21, the duchess writes to condole w 
Elizabeth on the loss of the ball, and mentions havi 
been staying with the Duke at Lady Peterborough's 1 

"Bevis Mount t is the most delightful place I ev 
saw, the house bad and tumbling down, but there i 
summer-house in the garden, such a one! From then 
there is a prospect of the sea, the Isle of Wight, N 
Forest, the town of Southampton, the garden laid o 
with an elegant taste, and in short everything that 
agreeable, but particularly the Mistress. . . . Lord a 
Lady Wallingford are with us now; they are extrem 
agreeable. I fancy you must have seen her in pul> 
places. She is extremely pretty, and in the French dre 

Lady Wallingford was the daughter of John La 
the famous financier, by his wife Katherine Knol ; 
third daughter of Charles Knollys, titular 3rd Earl 
Banbury, Mary Katherine Law married in 1732 her 
cousin, called Viscount Wallingford. 

At this period, though undated, may be placed Eli 
beth's request to her father for a handsome suit 

» Sackville Tufton, 8th Earl of Thanet, horn 1733. 

t Nit Anastasia Robinson, wife of the 3rd Lord Peterborough. 

t Bevis Mount, in Southampton. 



THE SUIT OF CLOATHES. 

clothes. In a letter to her mother she thanks her " for 
your goodness in giving me leave to stay, and making it 
convenient to answer the Duchess's and my wishes to 
stay during her confinement When we came to town 
the Duchess reckoned the end of April." From Bull- 
strode, therefore, she accompanied the duchess and her 
family to Whitehall, where in a portion of the old palace 
was the Portlands' town residence. Elizabeth was now 
in her eighteenth year. In a letter to her father, too 
lengthy to insert entirely, worded in the respectful 
way children addressed their parents then, with "Sir" 
and " Madam," and concluding with "your most dutiful 
daughter," she says — 

" You know this year 1 am to be introduced by the 
Duchess to the best company in the town, and when she 
lies in, am both to receive in form with her all her visits 
as Lady Bell • used to do on that occasion, all the people 
of quality of both sexes that are in London, and 1 must 
be in full dress, and shall go about with her all the 
winter, therefore a suit of cloathes will be necessary for 
me, the value of which I submit entirely to you. I shall ' 
never so much want a handsome suit as upon this occa- 
sion of first appearing with my Lady Duchess; but as 
the first consideration is to please you, I would by no 
means urge this beyond your pleasure, by duty or incli- 
nation, I shall always be content with what you order, 
and hope you will not be displeased with my requests." 

To this appeal her father sent her £20, and she 
returns thanks thus: — 



"Sir, 



" Whitehall, Thursday. 



"Wit is seldom accompanied with money, but 
your letter came to me with so much of both, that 1 
can neither send you thanks, nor an answer worthy of 
' Lady Isabella Bentinck, sister of the duke. 



i 



w 



24 ROBERT ROBINSON. [Ch. I. 

your present epistle. You are very good to gratify my 
bosom friend, vanity, which, though it does not abandon 
me in a plain gown, takes greater delight in seeing me 
in a handsome one, and it has promised me that I shall 
appear to advantage in my new suit of cloathes, both 
to myself and other people. . . . The Duchess, with her 
advice, will help me to make the best use of your 
generosity. I have been to the Mercer's, but have not 
yet pitched upon a silk. . . . Mr. Pope has wrote an 
epitaph upon himself, which is not by far the best 
monument of his wit ; it is a trifling thing, and seems 
wrote for amusement I would- send it you if I could, 
but I have not got a copy of it ; as soon as I have I will 
convey it to Mount Morris, where I imagine you may 
want amusements, and our roads are not smooth enough 
for Pegasus." 

This epitaph is probably the one commencing "Under 
this marble, or under this sill, or under this turf, or e'en 
what they will." At the end of the letter she says of 
her sailor brother — 

" Now Robert is secure of his commission, his life 
is something hazardous, but he holds danger in con- 
tempt, the golden fruit of gain is always guarded 
by some dragon which courage or vigilance must 
conquer." 

He had just been made captain of the Bedford, a 
ship in the merchant service. Evidently Mrs. Robinson 
wrote a letter of advice as to the important choice of 
11 cloathes." The answer runs — 

11 Madam, 

"I have obeyed your commands as to my cloathes, 
and have bought a very handsome Du Cape within the 
twenty pounds; a little accident which had happened 
to the silk in the Lomb made it a great deal cheaper, and, 
I believe, will not be at all the worse when made up ; the 
colour in some places is a little damaged, but that will 



I737-] ANNE DONNELLAN. 2$ 

cut for the tail, and the rest is perfectly good. It will 
last longer clean than a flowered silk, and I have already 
had two since I have been in Mantuas : * I saw some of 
255. a yard that I did not think so pretty. Pray, Madam, 
let my thanks be repeated to my Pappa, to whose good- 
ness I owe this suit of cloathes. . . . Pray send me by 
Tom the figured Dimity that was left of my upper coat, 
for it is too narrow and too short for my present hoop, 
which is of the first magnitude." 

At the end of this letter Anne Donnellan is mentioned 
for the first time. She was a friend of Dean Swift's, 
together with her sister, Mrs. Clayton, and her brother, 
the Rev. Christopher Donnellan. Anne Donnellan's pet 
name in the Duchess of Portland's circle was " Don," as 
Mrs. Pendarves (afterwards Mrs. Delany) was "Pen," 
Miss Dashwood "Dash,"t and Lady Wallingford "WalL" 

• The expression then used for the period when young ladies were 
what we call " out." 

t The " Delia " of the poet Hammond. 



( 26 ) 



CHAPTER II. 

LIFE IN BATH, LONDON, AND AT BULLSTRODE, 1 738-174* 
BEGINNING OF CORRESPONDENCE WITH MRS. DONNELLAN. 

On April 16, 1738, the Duchess of Portland's soi 
William Henry, afterwards 3rd Duke, was born, aft< 
which Elizabeth returned home with her father. O 
June 30 the duchess wrote to apologize for a Ion 
silence — 

" I should have answered dear Fidget's letter befoi 
I left London, but you are sensible what a hurry or 
lives in there, and particularly after being confined son 
months from public diversions, how much one is engagf 
in them, Operas, Park, Assemblies, Vaux Hall— whii 
I believe you never had the occasion of seeing. Yc 
must get your Papa to stay next year : it is really i 
sufferable going out of town at the most pleasant tin 
of the year. I am positive the easterly winds ha: 
much greater effect upon the spirits in the counti 
than it is possible they should have in London, 
dare say the chief part of the year your Papa is in to* 
he don't know which way the wind is, except when 1 
goes into a Coffee House and meets with some po 
disbanded Officer who is quarrelling with the tim 
and consequently with the weather, because he is nol 
General in time of peace ; or a valetudinarian, that ii 
fly settled on his nose, would curse the Easterly wit 
and fancy it had sent it there ; these are the only peoj 
that ever thought of East wind in London." 



I738-J SIR ROBERT AUSTIN. 

At the end of the letter the duchess says, "My 
amusements are all of the Rural kind— Working, Spin- 
ning, Knotting, Drawing, Reading, Writing, Walking, 
and picking Herbs to put into an Herbal." 

This little peep of her life is most characteristic, 
though fond of the pleasures of high society diversions, 
and the varieties of London, she took an interest in all 
sorts of country and domestic pursuits, and excelled in 
them. She turned in wood and ivory; she was familiar 
with every kind of needlework; she made shell frames, 
adorned grottoes, designed feather work, collected 
endless objects in the animal and vegetable kingdom ; 
was a hearty lover of animals and birds of all kinds. 
Her letters are lively and affectionate, but not clever 
and witty as her friend Elizabeth Robinson's. She 
complains of her stupidity in letter-writing. Elizabeth 
had the witty head, and the duchess the cunning hand, 
but both possessed that valuable possession, warm 
hearts. To the duchess's last letter Elizabeth replies — 

" I arrived at Mount Morris rather more fond of 
society than solitude. I thought it no very agreeable 
change of scene from Handel • and Cafferelli.f . . . Sir 
Francis Dashwood's sister is going to be married to Sir 
Robert Austin, a baronet of our county ; if the size of 
his estate bore any proportion to the bulk of his carcase, 
he would be one of the greatest matches in England . . . 
a lady may make her lover languish till he is the size 
she most likes ... as it is the fashion for men to die for 
love, the only thing a woman can do is to bring a man 
into a consumption ; what triumph then must attend the 
lady who reduces Sir Robert Austin ... to asses' milk. 
Omphale made Hercules spin, but greater glory awaits 
the lady who makes Sir Robert Austin lean. ... 1 told 

• George Frederick Handel, born 1685, died I7S9- 
t Gactano Majoriano Caffarelli, celebrated Italian singer, pupil of 
P orpora, died 1783. 



28 VARIOUS RECIPES. [Ch. II 

my Pappa how much he laid under your Grace's dia 
pleasure for hurrying out of town : but what is a fin* 
lady's anger, or the loss of London, to five and forty 
They are more afraid of an easterly wind than a frowi 
when at that age." 

On December 17 Elizabeth writes to the duches 
in answer to a string of queries the latter had sen 
her — 

" I must take the liberty to advise what is to be don< 
and to avoid confusion will take them in the order < 
the letter. Item, for the wet-nurse * after the chickei 
pox, that she may become new milch again, a handful < 
Camomile flowers, a handful of Pennyroyal, boiled i 
white wine, and sweetened with treacle, to be taken 1 
going to rest For my Lord Titchfield who gro* 
prodigiously, Daisy roots and milk. For the sma 
foot and taper ancle of my Lady Duchess, bruised ac 
strained by a fall, a large shoe and oil Opodeldoc 
For the horse whose Christian name I have forgotte 
Friar's Balsam, and for the death of a dormouse tal 
four of the fairest Moral and Theological Virtues, wi 
patience and fortitude, quantum sufficit, and they w 
prevent immoderate grieving. ... I heard a very ridic 
lous story a few days ago: Mr. Page, brother to S 
Gregory, going to visit Mr. Edward Walpole,t a tarj 
goat which was in the street followed him unperceiv 
when he got out of the coach into the house, K 
Walpole's servant, thinking the goat came out of B/ 
Page's coach, carried it into the room to Mr. Walpo 
who thought it a little odd Mr. Page should bring sue! 
visitor, as Mr. Page no less admired at his choice of 
savoury a companion ; but civility, a great disguiser 
sentiments, prevented their declaring their opinions, a 
the goat, no respecter of persons or furniture, began 
rub himself against the frame of a chair which ¥ 

* Wet-nurse of the Marquis of Titchfield. 

t Son of Sir Robert and brother of Horace Walpole. 




1738.J THE COAT. 



carved and gilt, and the chair, which was fit for a 
Christian, but unable to bear the shock of a beast, fell 
almost to pieces. Mr. Walpole thought Mr. Page very 
indulgent to his dear crony the goat, and wondering he 
took no notice of the damage, said he fancied tame goats 
did a great deal of harm, to which the other said he 
believed so too : after much free and easy behaviour of 
the goat, to the great detriment of the furniture, they 
came to an explanation, and Mr. Goat was turned down- 
stairs with very little ceremony or good manners. . . . 
Dr. Middleton has got two nieces whom he is to keep 
entirely, for his brother left them quite destitute. They 
are very fine children, and my Grannam is very fond of 
them. The doctor is soon to bring forth his ' Cicero,' 
everybody says the production will do him credit. Lady 
Thanet has set an assembly on foot about eight miles from 
hence, where we all meet at the full moon and dance till 
12 o'clock, and then take an agreeable journey home. 
Our assembly in full glory has ten coaches at it; and 
Lady Thanet, to make up a number, is pleased in her 
humility to call in all the parsons, apprentices, trades- 
men, apothecaries.and farmers, milliners, mantua-makers, 
haberdashers of small wares, and chambermaids. It is 
the oddest mixture you can imagine — here sails a reverent 
parson, there skips an airy apprentice, here jumps a 
farmer, and then every one has an eye to their trade; 
the milliner pulls you by the hand till she tears your 
glove; the mantua-maker treads upon your petticoat 
till she unrips the seams; the shoemaker makes you 
foot it till you wear out your shoes ; the mercer dirties 
your gown ; the apothecary opens the window behind 
you to make you sick. Most of our neighbours will be 
in town by the next moon, so we shall have no more 
balls this winter. In town the ladies talk of their stars, 
but here, ' If weak women go astray, the moon is more 
in fault than they.' Will o' Whisp never led the 
bewildered traveller over hedge or ditch as a moon 
does us country folk ; a squeaking fiddle is an occasion, 
and a moonlight night an opportunity, to go ten miles in 



30 WILLIAM AND GRACE FREIND. [Ch. II 

bad roads at any time. I must tell your Grace that mj 
Papa forgets twenty years and nine children, and dance: 
as nimbly as any of the Quorum, but is now and thei 
mortified by hearing the ladies cry, ' Old Mr. Robinsoi 
hay sides, and turn your daughter:' other ladies wh< 
have a mind to appear young say, 'Well, there is m 
poor Grandpapa; he could no more dance so.' The 
comes an old bachelor of fifty and shakes him by tl 
hand, and cries, ' Why you dance like us young fellows 
another more injudicious than the rest, says by way 
compliment, ' Who would think you had six fine childre 
taller than yourself? I protest if I did not know yo 
1 should take you to be young.' Then says the mo 
antiquated Virgin in the company, ' Mr. Robinson wea 
mighty well ; my mother says he looks as well as ev 
she remembers him ; he used often to come to the hou 
when I was a girl.' You may suppose he has not 1 1 
1 hyp ' at these balls ; but indeed it is a distemper so w 
bred as never to come but when people are at home a 
at leisure." 

In April, 1739, Elizabeth's cousin, Grace Robinso 
sister of "Long" Sir Thomas Robinson," married t: 
Rev. William Freind,f son of the Rev. Dr. Robe 
Freind, Head Master of Westminster School So 
after the marriage, Elizabeth, who appears to have kno\ 
Mr. Freind intimately before he married her cous 
writes from " Leicester Street, near Leicester Fields 
to Mr. and Mrs. Freind, "How rare meet now, su 
pairs in love and honour joyn'd," and addresses them 
"my inestimable cousins." She states that her fam 
return to Kent shortly, whilst she is going to t 
Duchess of Portland in White HalL Elizabeth wri 

• Sir Thomas Robinson, eldest son of William Robinson, of Roket 
made a baronet in 1730. Called "Long" Sir Thomas to distingui 
him from Sir Thomas Robinson, afterwards 1st Baron Grantham. 

• f Succeeded his father as Rector of Whitney, Oxon, and afterwai 
Dean of Canterbury- 



1739-] COUNTRY BEAUX. 

to the duchess on July I, 1739, having just returned 
home from her visit — 

" I have thought of nothing but the company I was 
in on Tuesday since I left town, though a worshipful 
Justice with a new leathern belt, scarlet waistcoat and 
plush breeches, has been endeavouring this whole after- 
noon to put you out of my head. I have been forced to 
hear the most elegant encomiums upon the country, and 
the most barbarous censures upon the town. First his 
Worship talked of Larks and Nightingales, then enlarged 
upon the sweetness of bean blossom, roses and honey- 
suckles, said the town stunk of cabbages and limekilns, 
so that I found as to pleasures he was lead by the nose." 

Further on she says, the Canterbury Races were to 
be on July 18, and begs her Grace, if she knows any 
dancing shoes which lye idle, to bid them trip to 
Canterbury, as there will be many forsaken damsels — 

" Our collection of men is very antique, they stand in 
my list thus: a man of sense, a little rusty, a beau a 
good deal the worse for wearing, a coxcomb extremely 
shattered, a pretty gentleman, very insipid, a baronet 
very solemn, a squire very fat, a fop much affected, a 
barrister learned in 'Coke upon Lyttelton' but knows 
nothing of 'longways for many as will,' an heir-apparent, 
very awkward ; which of these will cast a favourable eye 
upon me I don't know." 

She was destined not to go after all, for she writes — 

"Mount Morris, July 18,1739. 

"Madam, 

"The great art of life is to turn our misfortunes 
to our advantage, and to make even disappointments 
instrumental to our pleasures. To follow which rule 1 
have taken the day which 1 should have gone to the 
Races to write to your Grace. About ten days ago my 



32 THOMAS ROBINSON. 

Papa took an hypochondriacal resolution not to 
the Races, for the Vapours and Love are two tl 
that seek solitude, but for me, who have neither in 
constitution, a crowd is not disagreeable, and I al 1 
find myself prompted by a natural benevolence ai 
love of Society to go where two or three are gather 
together. . . . The theory of dancing is extreamly oc 
tho' the practice is agreeable; who could by force 
reasoning find out the satisfaction of casting off rig 
hand and left, and the Hayes ; we often laugh at a kitt 
turning round in pursuit of its tail, when the creature 
really turning single. I shall have an account of 
Races from my brother Robinson, who is there; as 
the Barrister," he came down to the Sessions, and w 
he had sold all his Law, packed up his saleable eloque 
and carried it back to Lincoln's Inn, there to be lef 
called for. Would you think a person so near akin to 
as a brother could run away from a ball ? 1 hear so 
Canterbury girls who could aspire no higher thaj 
younger brother, are very angry, and say they shall ne 
put their cause into his hands, as he seems so 
willing to defend it. . . . Next year we must cerl 
go to the Races for the good of the county, and dan< 
of the spirit of Patriotism. The Election year al 
brings company to Canterbury upon this occasion 
as for me I will dance to either a Whig or a Tory 
as it may be, for in any wise I will dance. I am not 
the dancing Monkies who will only cut their capers 
King George, I will dance for any man or Monarc 
Christendom, nay were it even a Mahometan or idolati 
King; I should not make much scruple about it I 
the misfortune to be overturned the other day con 
from Sir Wyndham Knatchbull's.t the occasion < 
was one of our wheels coming off. I assure you I 
just avoided the indecency of being topsy turvey, 
head was so much lower than its usual situation, as 
my ideas much out of place, and I think my head 

• Her brother Thomas. t At Meraham Hatch. 



■ n 



■ » 



1739-3 A BONE-SETTER. 33 

been in a perfect litter ever since. ... I shall begin to 
think from my frequent overturns a bone-setter a 
necessary part of equipage for country visiting. I am 
sure those who visit much, love their neighbours better 
than themselves ; perhaps you will be as apt to suspect 
me as anybody of that extream of charity, but I am so 
tender of myself there are few I would hazard even a 
gristle or a sinew, but civility is a debt that must be 
paid I hope in all accidents I shall preserve a finger 
and thumb, to write myself 

11 Your Grace's most obedient and obliged 
11 Humble servant, 

"E. Robinson. 
11 My humble service to the Duke." 



The duchess was now expecting her confinement, 
and Lady Wallingford, who was staying with her, 
corresponded with Elizabeth in French. Owing to 
the residence of her father in France as Superinten- 
dent of Finances, she was more French than English. 
Her letters are well written and expressed, though the 
spelling is peculiar. At a later date she writes to 
Elizabeth in broken English, and she scolds her for 
making her correspond in English instead of French. 
Horace Walpole, in a letter to the Earl of Buchan, 
states that Lady Wallingford was the image of her 
father, and that her mother, Lady Katherine Law, lived 
during her husband's power in France in great state. 
On July 26, 1739, another daughter, Lady Margaret, was 
born to the duchess. Dr. Sandys was, as usual, the 
accoucheur, but it makes one horrified in these days to 
think Dr. Sandys bled the duchess for a feverish cold 
on the Monday and Thursday after her child was born. 
Truly under this San Grado treatment it was then 
the " survival of the fittest " I The duke now wrote a 
bulletin of his wife to Elizabeth— 

vol. 1. D 



34 DUKE OF PORTLAND. [Ch. I 

"Whitehall, August 9, 1739. 

11 Madam, 

"Tho* J have not been overturned you' 
imagine by the scrawl you receive yt both my thum 
and forefinger have been dislocated ; J own j can't agrc 
with you in yt for j flatter myself j have the use of thei 
but if you please j'U agree with you that they never wei 
in joint, for which reason j am not so sensible of ye I02 
of jointed fingers, as you might be had yours been brol 
by the overturn of your coach, which accident j hope mi 
never happen to you. The Dss. is as well as can ] 
expected tho' a little weak, and is extremely obliged 
you for your letter, and also begged j would hint 
tho' she can't [wright letters she can read them, j no 
not explain my meaning to you. She desires her kii 
service to Fidgett; and should be glad if you won 
make her compliments acceptable to your Mama, etc 
" j am with the uttmost respect, Madam, 
" Your most obedient, humble servant, 

11 Portland/ 

The duke's writing is very characteristic, but o 
tainly rather disjointed looking, and his I's alwa 
written as long j's. 

Elizabeth had just had another coach adventu 
The coachman who drove her father and mother 2 
her brother Matthew home after dining at a neighbou 
was drunk, which they did not perceive till he lasl 
the four horses into a furious gallop. In vain 1 
Robinson called to him, and swore at him ; Matthew 1 
Mrs. Robinson intreated; he persisted in lashing 
horses till he fell off the box, and two wheels ran o 
him, but as Elizabeth states, " being preserved in to 
took very little harm ; both footmen were drunk, so t< 
very little care about us." 

In a letter to the duchess (August 15) we 1 
Elizabeth and her sister Sarah banished from hom« 
Canterbury on account of a woman and three child 



1739-1 INFLUENZA. 35 

who lived in a farmhouse near the gate of Mount 
Morris having the smallpox. That fell disease ever 
inspired Elizabeth with great dread. Later in life at 
three different times she was inoculated,* each time un- 
successfully, for this disease, then a universal scourge. 
I should like the foolish fathers and mothers of the 
present day who petition for non-vaccination to read the 
accounts given in letters I possess of the unbridled 
ravages then made by smallpox, and to consider that a 
usually temporary inconvenience to the child's health is 
a very trifling infliction compared with a loathsome 
disease, which many people fled from nursing, and 
which even if it did not kill the sufferers, probably dis- 
figured them for life. The sisters first stayed with Mrs. 
Scott,f and then with Mrs. Tennison, "wife to a pre- 
bend in this church ; there is very little company here, 
except Deans, Prebends and Minor Canons, etc., etc. ; 
nothing but messages and visits from Prebends, Deacons, 
and the Church militant upon earth." Later on, speak- 
ing of her brother Matthew's refusal to leave home on 
account of the smallpox, she says, "I have seven 
brothers, and would not part with one for a kingdom ; 
and if I had but one, I should be distracted about him ; 
sure nobody has so many or so good brothers." 

Meanwhile the duchess had a return of ifever, and 
was for some days in great danger. On August 28 
Lady Wallingford writes to say she was out of danger. 
Influenza was rife then, and Lady Wallingford states 
that she had not a single lackey fit to attend her from 
her house to Whitehall, but had walked there by herself, 
though still suffering from its effects. It was not then 
called influenza, but from the description must have 

• Lady Mary Wortley Montagu introduced inoculation into England 
in 1721. 

t Of Scott's HalL 



36 THE SMALLPOX. [Ch. ; 

been that disease. Eight out of the nine in the far 
at Mount Morris caught the smallpox, and the duk 
writing to Elizabeth on September 1 5, a bulletin aboi 
his wife, adds — 

" Both she and j* join in entreating you not to ventu: 
yourself, and that pretty face of yours, to come with 
the walls of your paternal mansion, and were j in yoi 
situation, nothing but absolute commands should mal 
me venture myself." 

After her visit to Canterbury, Elizabeth spent 
month at Mersham Hatch with the Knatchbulls. SI 
now became seriously indisposed; her health was alwa; 
frail, and she appears to have suffered much from hea 
aches at this period. In a letter to the duchess s 
complains — 

" I have swallowed the weight of an Apothecary 
medicine, and what I am the better for it, except mc 
patient, and less credulous, I know not I have leai 
to bear my infirmities and not to trust to the skill 
Physicians for curing them. I endeavour to dri 
deeply of Philosophy, and to be wise when I cannot 
merry, easy when I cannot be glad, content with wl 
cannot be mended, and patient where there be 
redress. The mighty can do no more, and the w 
seldom do as much." 

On October 10 she announces that she and 
mother, who had been extremely unwell too, had b 
advised to drink the Bath waters, and were to 
accompanied there by her father. She hopes to see 
duchess on her way to Bath, but bids her tell her po 
to admit her, as she has grown so thin — 

" he will think it is my ghost and shut the door, 
shall stay but a few days in town and then proceed 1 

• The « j » for " I,» characteristic of the duke's writing. 



■-_*. 



I739-] COTTAGE LIFE. 37 

my Father and Mother, to the waters of life and 
recovery. My Pappa's chimney 'hyp* will never 
venture to attack him in a public place ; it is the sweet 
companion of solitude and the off-spring of meditation, 
the disease of an idle imagination, not the child of hurry 
and diversion. I am afraid that with the gaiety of the 
place, and the spirits the waters give, I shall be perfect 
Sal-Volatile, and open my mouth and evaporate. ... I 
was a month at Hatch, where the good humour of the 
family makes everything agreeable ; we had great variety 
in the house — children in cradles, and old women in 
elbow chairs. I think the family may be looked upon 
as the three tenses, the present, past and future." 

On a fresh scare being caused by the illness of her 
maid, which the old women of the parish pronounced 
to be smallpox, Mrs. Robinson sent Elizabeth and Sarah 
to the cottage of the carpenter hard by without delay, 
though so late that Elizabeth writes — 

"I arrived at my new lodging but the moment 
before it was time to go to bed, where I slept pretty 
well, notwithstanding the goodman and his wife snored, 
the little child cryed, the maid screamed, one little boy 
had whooping cough, another roared with chilblains. 
The furniture of our chamber is extraordinary, the 
ornamental parts as follows : — on the mantelpiece four 
stone tea-cups, four wineglasses, two broken, two 
leaden cherubims, a piece of looking-glass, with a 
'beggerly account of empty bottles/ as Shakespeare 
calls it, a print of King Charles the Martyr, the woeful 
ballad of the children in the wood, a pious copy of 
verses entitled 'the believer's gold chain, or good 
councell for all men/ with a resplendent brass warming 
pan, in which my sister is dressing her head to the dis- 
advantage of her complexion, and not much to the 
rectitude of her head-dress." 

The alarm proved to be false as to the nature of 



38 EDMUND CURLL. [Ch. II 

the maid's illness, and they returned the next day t< 
the paternal mansion. 

On November 12 Elizabeth writes from Bath to he 
sister a long and indignant letter upon some poem 
brought out in the name of Prior. She says — 

" I got at last this morning the poems just publishe 
under Prior's* name, brought them home under m 
arm, locked my door, sat me down by my fireside, an 
opened the book with great expectation, but to my dii 
appointment found it to be the most wretched trumper 
that you can conceive, the production of the meanest < 
Curl's t band of scribblers." 

She continues to inveigh against this forgery i 
eloquent terms, and towards the end of the letter p 
marks " that mankind can't support above two dead laj 
guages at a time, so as to have any tolerable knowledf 
or use of them, therefore in all probability Shakespear 
Milton, Dryden, Prior, and Pope are but short-lived, 
comparison of those Methuselahs the Classicks." 

The first letter to the duchess from Bath is dated— 

" December 15, Friday, Bath. 

11 Madam, 

" After four days' journey in very bad roads, 
arrived here a good deal tired: if ScarronJ had n 
been very facetious, my countenance had not receivt 
the impression of a smile since I left Whitehall till n 
arrival at Bath. I read most of the way, but was son 
times taken off 'Le petit Ragotin's' disasters to fe 
those that might happen to la petite Fidget.§ . . . T 

* Matthew Prior, born 1664, died 1721. 

t Edmund Curll, born 1675, died 1747 ; publisher, etc., ridiculed 
Pope in the " Dunciad." 

t Paul Scarron, born 16 10, died 1660 ; French satirist. Husbanc 
Mademoiselle D'Aubign£, afterwards Madame de Maintenon; wi 
" Le Roman Comique, ,, etc. 

§ Her pet-name. 



'739- J 



BATH. 



39 



morning after I arrived, I went to the Ladies' Coffee 
House, where I heard of nothing but the rheumatism in 
the shoulder, the sciatica in the hip, and the gout in the 
toe. After these complaints I began to fancy myself 
in the Hospitals or Infirmaries; I never saw such an 
assembly of disorders. I dare say Gay* wrote his fable 
of the ' Court of Death ' from this place. After drinking 
the waters I go to breakfast, and about 12 I drink 
another glass of water, and then dress for dinner; visits 
employ the afternoon, and we saunter away the evening 
in great stupidity. I think no place can be less agree- 
able. ' How d'ye do ? ' is all one hears in the morning, 
and 'What's trumps?' in the afternoon. Lady Berk- 
shire f did us the honour of a visit on Wednesday, and 
inquired much about your health. Lord Berkshire J is 
literally speaking laid by the leg, which the gout has 
usurped, for it has ever been a distemper of very great 
quality, and runs in the blood of the Howards. Mr. 
Howard and Mr. Tom Howard,§ Lord Berkshire's 
youngest son, are here, as are Mrs. Greville and her 
daughter ; Lady HerefordJ Lady F. Shirley,! Lady Anne 
Fumese, " Lady Anne Finch, tt Lady Widdrington, 
Miss Windsors, Miss Gage, and I should first have said 
the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk,it and Mrs. Howard, 
wife of Brigadier-General Howard; as for the men, 
except Lord Noel Somerset, they are altogether abomin- 
able; however, such as they are, 1 must dress for the 
ball, and I will add a supplement to-morrow. 

" P.S. — Madam, you know the Spectator says a woman 
never speaks her mind but in the postscript ! Last night 
produced nothing but some bad dancing, except Mr. 

" John Cay, born 1685, died 1732 ; pod, etc. 

t Catherine, daughter of J. Grahame, of Levcns, Westmorland, 

I 4lh Earl of Berkshire. 

% Afterwards 6th Earl of Berkshire, and 14th Earl of Suffolk. 

I Wife of 6th Viscount. 

T Daughter of 1st Earl Ferrers. 

"" Daughter of 1st Earl Ferrers, by second marriage. 

tt Daughter of 1st Earl Aylesford. 

;; Widow of 15th Duke, >Ue Sherburne. 






40 GRACE FREIND. [Ch. II 

Southwell,* who was overwhelmed with congratulatory 
compliments; in one day he was chose Member, mad< 
Father to a little daughter, and got a £500 prize in the 
lottery ; he seemed in good spirits, and bowed popularly 
low to all his acquaintance. ... I believe there is a grea 
circulation of company, for the bells are always ringinj 
for somebody to come, or tolling for somebody gone 
There are many people I have known and seen before 
but very few whom I care to see again. One persoi 
whom I like extremely, loves her husband so mucl 
better than me, that I cannot persuade her to come out 
I believe your Grace has often heard me speak of Mn 
Freind,f who is not at all like Sir Tommy her brothei 
What makes me like her still better is her contempt o 
Matadors.}: I do not think she ever dreamt of Spadill 
in her life, tho' most people here prefer its company t 
their best friends." 

In her next letter of January 4, 1740, she says — 

" I should be glad to send you some news, but all th 
news of the place would be like the bills of Mortalty 
palsy four, gout six, fever one, and so on. We hear c 
nothing but 'Mr. such-a-one is not abroad to-day.' 'Q 
no/ says another poor gentleman, ' he dyed to-day. ? The 
another cries, 'My party was made for Quadrille § tc 
night, but one of the gentlemen has had a second strok 
of the palsy and cannot come ; there is no depending o 
people, nobody minds engagements.' 

11 1 beg the favour of your Grace to tell Mrs. Per 
darves that I often enquire after her from her frien 
Mrs. Donnellan. I hear there is hope of Mrs. Pendarve 
coming here in March, but I know you will be again* 
the journey, so I dare not say how glad I should be t 
see her. I assure we have none like her here." 

* Son of Sir Thomas Southwell, 
t Her cousin, tide Grace Robinson. 
X Terms used in ombre and quadrille. 

§ Quadrille, a card-game for four people, played with 40 cards, 8' 
9's, and io's discarded. 



1 740L] 



LORD NOEL SOMERSET. 



4' 



va 

n 



Miss Anne Donnellan, who according to the then pre- 
ailing custom in regard to unmarried women beyond 
xtreme youth was called Mrs., was the daughter of 
ehemiah Donnellan, Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer 
of Ireland, and Martha, nee Miss Usher. Her father was 
dead, and her mother had, in 1712, remarried the Hon. 
Philip Percival, brother to the 1st Lord Egmont. The 
Donnellans were great friends of Dean Swift, and Anne 
and her brother, the Rev. Christopher Donnellan, were 
correspondents of his, as can be seen in the printed letters 
in "Swift's Life." The next letter to the duchess says — 

"Lord Berkshire was wheeled into the rooms on 
Thursday night, where he saluted me with much snuff 
and civility, in consequence of which I sneezed and 
curtseyed abundantly ; as a further demonstration of his 
loving-kindness, he made me play at commerce with him. 
You may easily guess at the charms of a place where 
the height of my happiness is a pair royal at commerce, 
and a peer of fourscore. Last night I took to the more 
youthful diversion of dancing, and am nothing but a fan 
(which my partner tore), the worse for it; our beaux 
here may make a rent in a woman's fan, but they never 
will make holes in her heart, for my part Lord Noel 
Somerset* has made me a convert from toupets and 
pumps, to tye wigs and a gouty shoe. Ever since my 
Lord Duke reprimanded me for admiring Lord Craw- 
ford's t nimble legs, 1 have resolved to prefer the merit 
of the head to the agility of the heels ; and I have made 
so great a progress in my resolution as to like the good 
sense which limps, better than the lively folly which 
dances. But to my misfortune he likes the Queen of 
Spades so much more than me, that he never looks off 
his cards, though, were I the Queen of Diamonds, he 
would stand a fair chance for me. Lord Aylesford 
comes to the rooms every night like ' Beau Clincher' in 

" Afterwards 4th Duke of Beaufort. 

t John, 17U1 Earl of Crawford, and 7th Earl of Lindsay. 



42 DOWAGER DUCHESS OF NORFOLK. [Ch. I 

a blanket : he wears a nasty red rugg great coat Tin 
Dowager Duchess of Norfolk bathes, and being very t 
she had like to have drowned a few women in the Cross 
Bath, for she ordered it to be filled till it reached to hei 
chin, and so all those who were below her stature, a: 
well as rank, were forced to come out or drown ; anc 
finding, according to the Proverb, in vain to strivi 
against the stream, they left the bath rather than swallo' 
so large a draught of water. I am sorry for the en 
separation of your Grace and Miss Dashwood, I belie 
no one parts with their friends with greater reluctai 
than you do." 

On January 25 Elizabeth says, "An unfortun 
joint in my hip has been so troublesome, I could 1 
have believed the rheumatism would attack so dancin 
a leg;" and then commenting on Lord Noel Somersel 
recent engagement to Miss Berkeley* — 

" I think Lord Noel's wife must be happy, and Mi: 
Berkeley is a very deserving woman, and good-nature 
Everybody is content except those who would hai 
liked the gentleman for themselves. . . . Amanofmer 
and a younger brother is a purchase only for a larj 
fortune; as for those who have more merit than wealt 
they must turn the penny by disposing of their usele 
virtues for riches, the exchange may sometimes I 
difficult, Virtues not being sterling, nor merit the co 
of the nation. . . . Gold is the chief ingredient in tl 
composition of worldly happiness. Living in a cottai 
on love is certainly the worst diet and the worst habit 
tion one can find out. As for modern marriages th 
are great infringers of the baptismal vow; for V 
commonly the pomps and vanities of this wicked woi 
on one side and the simple lust of the flesh on the oth 
side. For my part when I marry I do not intend 
enlist entirely under the banner of Cupid or Plutus, t 

" Elizabeth Berkeley, daughter of John Symes Berkeley, of St 

Cifford. 



1740.] FROST FAIR. 43 

take prudent consideration and decent inclination for 
my advisers; I like a coach and six extremely, but a 
strong apprehension of repentance would not suffer me 
to accept it from many who possess it. . . . 

" I beg your Grace to make my compliments to Mrs. 
Pendarves, and return my sincere thanks for saying so 
much in my favour as could introduce me to so an agree- 
able an acquaintance as Mrs. Donnellan. I assure you 
what she says gives pleasure, and what she sings 
delight" * 

In January, 1740, the weather was so severe, a frost 
fair was held on the Thames for weeks together ; booths, 
tents, and shows of all kinds were the order of the 
day. In a letter to the duchess this is alluded to 
thus : — 

" What will the world come to now the Duchesses 
drink gin, and frequent Fairs ? I am afraid your gentle- 
men did not pledge you, or they might have resisted the 
frost and the fatigue by the strength of that comfortable 
liquor. I want much to know if your Grace got a ride 
in the Flying Coach, which is part of the diversion of a 
Fair. ... I am much obliged to your Grace for forming 
schemes for me. If any castles come to my share they 
must be airy ones, for I have no material to build them 
on Terra Firma I am not a good chimerical architect, 
and besides I would rather dwell this summer in a small 
room in a certain mansion near Gerrard's Cross, t than 
in the most spacious building I could get. I shall not 
be troublesome to you in town, for our stay here will be 
so long that our family will hardly go down till May. 
The time will come that we shall meet at Philippi." 

A letter from Mrs. Donnellan, with whom Elizabeth 
had struck up a lively friendship, and entered into a 

* Her exquisite singing is mentioned in Mrs. Delany's Memoirs, 
t Meaning Bullstrode, which is close to Gerrard's Cross. 



44 MRS. DONNELLAN. [Ch. II. 

correspondence, is dated from London, April, 1740, 
portions of which I copy — 

11 Since my last I passed a most agreeable day with 
your friend and mine ; the Duke and Duchess of Port- 
land proposed a jaunt into the city to see city shows, 
and were so obliging as to ask me with Mrs. Pendarves 
to be of the party. We were four men, four women : 
our fourth woman was Lady Wallingford, whom I never 
saw before ; but she seems good-natured and civil ; our 
four men, the Duke, Lord Dupplin, Mr. Achard,* and 
Dr. Shaw,t all new to me. We set out at ten in two 
hackney coaches, and stopped at everything that had a 
name between us and the Tower, going and coming, and 
dined at a city Tavern. I am extremely glad your time 
is fixed for coming to us, and that we shall have you a 
month. You will find the rage for whist $ a little abated, 
I hope, if the weather and Vaux Hall is in its lustre. 
You are right in quarrelling with the men for letting 
cards take their places in the ladies' hearts, for I dare say 
they would rather hear the gentlemen say fine things, 
than win a Slam, and it is a want of gallantry in the 
men that runs the women into cards ; for something we 
must have to stir our passions, or life seems dull. Your 
account of Bath folks diverted me much. . . . My present 
delight is the fine lady who admires and hates to excess ; 
she doats on the dear little boy that dances, she detests 
Handel's Oratorios; indeed she don't say she admires 
Mademoiselle de Chateauneuf s kicking the tambourine, 
till she shows herself naked to the waist She owns it 
is indecent, but she goes constantly to see her. I don't 
know whether you have heard of the kicking entertain- 
ment? I have not seen it, but I have heard it very 
lively described ; she kicks twice for the King, and once 

• Mr. Achard had been tutor to the duke, and was afterwards his 
secretary. 

t Dr. Shaw, born 1692, died 175 1 ; Regius Professor of Greek, Oxford. 
Great traveller, botanist, etc. 

X Elizabeth hated games of cards. 



174*] THE PLUNGE BATH. 45 

for the audience, to the great edification of the spectators. 
I suppose you have heard of the false dice at the last 
masquerade. I fancy it must have been a pretty sight, 
a dozen Dominoes, at five in the morning examined before 
Justice de Val : I think they should have been all Devils 
with Horns and Hoofs. I saw the Duke and Duchess of 
Portland yesterday morning at Zincke's,* where she and 
Mrs. Pendarves are sitting for their pictures. . . . Adieu ; 
make my compliments to all your family, and believe me, 
dear Madam, 

" Your affectionate friend, and humble servant, 

"Anne Donnellan." 

Elizabeth suffering much still from headaches, Dr. 
Sandys was consulted, and he recommended the plunge 
bath. This was at Marylebone, at the then popular 
gardens. This was considered a hazardous exploit, and 
she first wrote to ask her parents' consent. Writing to 
Sarah, she says — 

" If you was to see me souse into the cold bath, you 
would think I had not sense or feeling. . . . The Duchess 
went with me the first time, and was frightened out 
of her wits, but I behaved much to my honour. Mrs. 
Verney went to learn to go in of me. Mrs. Pendarves 
went with me to-day, and was as pale as a ghost with 
the fear of my being drowned, which you know is im- 
possible. I go in every day and have found benefit 
already; but there are two things I dislike, viz. the 
pain of going overhead, and the expense of the bath. 
The Duke and Duchess are very good in lending me 
the coach every morning to Marrybone, which is two 
miles from here, but the bath was better than any at 
Charing Cross : the Duchess says if there is any bath, 
as she thinks there is in their neighbourhood at Bull- 
strode, she will send me to it, a tub not being near so 
good" 

• Christian Frederick Zincke, born 1684, died 1767 ; eminent miniature 
painter. 



46 FAIRINGS. [Ch. II. 

The whole parish of Marylebone belonged to the 
Duchess of Portland. There were nine springs of watei 
there : vide " Old and New London," vol. iv. 

April, 1740, occurs a letter to her sister Sarah, writtec 
whilst staying with the duchess in London. Elizabeth 
says — 

" Lord Oxford went to Bath in the post chaise foi 
a week, he brought us all fairings. Mine were a fan 
and a snuff box of Egyptian pebbles set in Pinch 
beck.* The Duchess a fan, and an enamel tag for hei 
lace." 

The next letter to her mother says — 

"I was at Mr. Zincke's yesterday in the morning 
where I am to sit for my picture. On Thursday w< 
went out of town to Sir John Stanley's f at North End 
There we met Mrs. Pendarves. I was much please* 
with my visit. Sir John at 80 years old has as mucl 
politeness, good nature and cheerfulness as I ever met 
his behaviour has neither the formality of age, nor th< 
pertness of youth." 

In March Lord Oxford gave a ball at Marylebone — 

" The Ball was very agreeable. I will give you th 
list of company as they danced ; — the Duchess and Lor 
Foley,J the Duke and Mrs. Pendarves, Lord Duppli 
and ' Dash/ § Lord George and ' Fidget,' Lord Howar 
and Miss Cesar, Mr. Granville I and Miss Tatton, Mi 
Howard and another Miss Cesar. The partners wer 
chosen by their fans, but a little supercherie in the cas 
of one of our dancers appointed failed, so our worth 

* Christopher Pinchbeck invented this sham gold. He died in 1732 
t Sir John Stanley married Anne Granville, aunt to Mrs. Pendarve 
who had been Maid -of- Honour to Queen Mary II. 
X Thomas, 2nd Baron Foley. 
§ Miss Dashwood, " Delia." 
|| Lord George Bentinck, the duke's brother. 
^ Brother of Mrs. Pendarves. 



"LONG" SIR THOMAS ROBINSON. 



47 



cousin Sir Tommy • was sent for, and he came, but when 
he had drawn Miss Cesar's fan he would not dance with 
her, but Mr. Hay,t who as the more canonical diversion, 
chose cards, danced with the poor forsaken damsel. 
The Knight bore the roast with great fortitude, and to 
make amends promised his neglected Fair a ball at his 
house I believe in his economy he saves a dinner 
when invited to supper, for he eat aforequarter of lamb, 
a chicken, with a plentiful portion of ham, potted beef 
and jellies innumerable, and made a prodigious break- 
fast of bread and butter and coffee, a little after two in 
the morning. ... I sat for my picture t this morning to 
Zincke; I believe it will be very like. I am in Anne 
Boleyn's dress. I desire you to send me up my worked 
facing and robing, my point, some lute-string, and the 
cambrick for my ruffles. I had the pleasure of hearing 
to-day that our dear Robert had succeeded in getting a 
ship. I am sorry he will go out with the first fleet I 
tremble, too, for fear he should have any engagement 
with the Spaniards. Mrs. D'Ewes desires to recommend 
herself to you being of the party of loving sisters." 

Mrs. D'Ewes, nfe Anne Granville, was the beloved 
sister of Mrs. Pendarves, recently married to Mr. John 
D'Ewes. ... In the next letter to her mother she 
describes what she calls a "new head," given to her by 
the duchess. " Last Tuesday I put on my New head ; 
It is extremely handsome, very broad, and the lace 
has more thin work in it than has been made till this 
year." To this head was added ruffles and a tucker 
by the same donor, Quin was acting then in London. 
She writes to Sarah — 

" I have been to the play As you Like it. Quin outdid 
his usual outdoings. I never heard anything spoke with 

• " Long " Sir Thomas Robinson, of Rokeby. 

t The Rct. Robert Hay, son of the 7th Earl of Kinnoul ; afterwards 
Archbishop of York. 

X Sec portrait in this book. 



48 LORD WALLINGFORD'S DEATH. [Ch. II 

such command of voice and action as the ' seven Stages 
of man/ from the rough bass of the good Justice, ' whose 
round belly with good capon lined/ till he sunk to th< 
childish treble ; it was really prodigious, the alteratioi 
of the voice, he spoke the slippered pantaloon just lik< 
my Uncle Clark.* I saw the facetious Monsieur am 
Mademoiselle Fausan dance, but Quin had so possesses 
himself of my thoughts that I was not over-delightet 
with them, tho' I think they dance very well for 
character dance. Wednesday I went into the cold batl: 
and from thence the Duke and Duchess, Mr. Acharc 
Lord George Bentinck, Lady Throckmorton, Mr? 
Collingwood, and Sir Robert Throckmorton f went t 
Mary-le-Bone gardens to breakfast; after that they a 
went with me to Zincke's to sit for my picture, and w 
spent the evening at Vaux HalL On Thursday we wen 
two coaches and six, to Kew, Richmond, and Petershau 
Lord Harrington's,} where I could turn Pastorella wit 
great pleasure, such prospects, from the most charmir 
place I ever saw, I was ready to call out, ' O care Sell 
beate.' I would tell you more of my meditations, bi 
the bell for supper interrupts me." 

Lady Wallingford was attacked by smallpox at th 
time, but had it very favourably. In a letter to Mi 
Robinson, Elizabeth says — 

11 She never had three hundred all over her, and w 
at the heighth, I believe, in seven days. Her Lord dy 
very suddenly of a quinsy before she had been do\* 
stairs, so she had not even the melancholy consolati 
of a last farewell ; she laid up two pairs of stairs, and 
below, so they told her he was removed, and died 
Kensington. He has left everything to her. . . . Lc 
Wallingford certainly caught his death with attendi 
her, a sad aggravation of the affliction ; he died with t 
greatest courage imaginable. Sandys, who with seve 

* Her great-uncle on her mother's side, 
t 4th Baronet and his second wife. $ ist Earl of Harrington, 



1740.] THE MENAGERIE. 49 

Physicians and Surgeons was called in, begged him to 
settle his affairs, upon which he made his will (that he 
had by him, being very deficient in points of Law), and 
took leave of his friends. There was no hopes from the 
first, for this convulsive Quinsy is always mortal." 

In another she says he died of " cramp in the throat," 
which sounds more likely. It has been stated that Lord 
Wallingford died in France, but his death occurred at 
Whitehall 

The duke and family, including Elizabeth, left White- 
hall in June for Bullstrode.* In a letter of June 24 to 
Mr. Freind and his wife, she says — 

11 The rural beauties of the place would persuade me 
I was in the plains of Arcadia, but the magnificence of 
the building under whose gilded roof I dwell, has a 
pomp far beyond pastoral We go to chapel twice a week, 
and have sermons on Sunday, for his Grace of Portland 
values the title of Christian above that of Duke, and 
the chaplain may preach against every vice in fashion 
without fear of offending either his Patron or Patroness." 

In another letter — 

" We breakfast at 9, dine at 2, drink tea at 8, and sup 
at 10. In the morning we work or read. In the after- 
noon the same, walk from 6 till tea-time, and then write 
till supper. I think since we came down our despatches 
in numbers, tho' not in importance, have equalled those 
at the Secretary's Office. . . . The Duchess and I have 
been walking in the woods to-night, and feeding the 
pheasants in the menagerie. The late Duke had Macaws, 
Parrots, and all sorts of foreign birds flying in one of 
the woods; he built a house and kept people to wait 

• Bullstrode was originally in the Shobbington family before the Con- 
quest. Judge Jefieries bought it, and built the house here mentioned in 
1686. His son-in-law sold it to the Earl of Portland. In 1807 it was 
sold to the Duke of Somerset. 

VOL. L E 



50 FRANKS. [Ch. II. 

upon them; there are now some birds in the house, 
and one Macaw, but most were destroyed in the Duke's 
minority." 

On July 22 occurs this interesting letter to her 
mother — 

" Madam, 

" Much visiting has of late hindered my writing 
to you. My Lady Duchess does not care to spare me to 
write except when she is so employed too, and the time 
set apart for that is in the evening, and when we make 
visits at any distance, it is late before we return, and 
letters go from here between 10 and 1 1. When we first 
came down, we supped at 9, but we found so early an 
hour encroached too much upon our hours of writing, 
so now we sup at 10, at which time the Duke comes 
into the Duchess's dressing-room,* where we write 
together, and franks our packets. On Saturday, we 
were at Windsor to visit the Miss Granvilles, daughters 
of the famous Lord Lansdowne ; f they unhappily inherit 
neither the wit of their Father, nor the beauty of their 
Mother.} . . . The Duchess is very civil to them, and 
Miss Granville was her acquaintance in infancy, and it 
is very right in her to take notice of them now. Lord 
Weymouth § supports them, but how long he will be 
willing or able to do so, no one knows. On Sunday, 
I was at Mrs. Hare's, widow to the late Bishop Hare,| 
and was much entertained there by Sir John Shadwell 
and his family, who are just come from abroad Lady 
Shadwell 1 saw Lady Mary Wortley at Venice, where 

• In the eighteenth century dressing-rooms represented the modern 
boudoir. 

t George Granville, Lord Lansdowne, born 1667, died 1735 » great 
statesman and writer. Uncle to Mrs. Delany. 

t Lady Mary Villiers, daughter of the Earl of Jersey, widow of 
J. Thynne. 

§ Their half-brother. 

I Francis Hare, D.D., born 1665, died l 74° 5 Bishop of St Asaph and 
Chichester. 

Y Daughter of Evelyn, Duke of Kingston, born 1690, died 1762. 




1740-] 



LADY MARY WORTLEY MONTAGU. 



she now resides, and asked her what made her leave 
England ; she told them the reason was, people were 
grown so stupid she could not endure their company, 
all England was infected with dullness ; by-the-bye, 
what she means by insupportable dullness is her 
husband,* for it seems she never intends to come back 
while he lives. A husband may be but a dull creature 
to one of Lady Mary's sprightly genius, but methinks 
even her vivacity might accommodate itself to living 
in the Kingdom with him; she is a woman of great 
family merit, she has banished her children,! abandoned 
her husband. I suppose as she cannot reach Constanti- 
nople, she will limit her ambition to an intrigue with 
the Pope or the Doge of Venice. . . . The Duke of 
Leeds' i wedding was very grand. The Duke of New- 
castle's! entertainment upon the occasion was 15 dishes 
in a course, four courses. The Duchess of Newcastle, 
sister to Lady Mary Godolphin, and Mr. Hay are gone 
down with the Duke and Duchess of Leeds. The 
Duchess had a diamond necklace from her Mother worth 
j£io,ooo, she was very fine in cloaths and jewels. The 
old Duchess of Marlborough D is now mightily fond of 
her. Her Grace is at law with the Duke of Marlbro' ; 
she talked two hours like the widow Blackacre in 
Westminster Hall, amongst things of value she was to 
surrender to the Duke 11 there was the late Duke's fine 
sword, and George, 'Oh,' says she, 'as for the George, 
he will sell it, but for the sword he won't know what to 
do with that, so I believe he will lay it by, or may be if 
he can he will pawn it, he can make no other use of it, I 
am sure.' . . . Pray have you .heard from the dear little 

" Edward Wortley Montagu, grandson of 1st Earl Sandwich. His 
mother, Anne Wortley, a great heiress ; be took her name. 

t Her two children, the eccentric Edward Wortley Montagu, junior, 
and Mary, Countess of Bute. 

J Thomas, 4th Duke of Leeds. 

$ 1st Duke of Newcastle-under-Lyme, Thomas Pelham Holies. The 
britU, Lady Harriett Godolphin, grand-daughter of the Duke of Marl- 
h nrongft . II The celebrated duchess. 

^ Charles Spencer, and Duke of Marlborough. 



52 THE REV. WILLIAM FREIND. [Ch. II 

boys ? * I have always forgot their direction. I think it 
is Scorton, near Richmond ? 

" I am, Madam, 

" Your most dutiful daughter, 

"E. Robinson." 

Mr. Freind, having written a letter to Elizabeth 
expressing a fear that her head might be turned by the 
great company, and the splendid place she was residing 
in, she replies— 

" I am neither condemning greatness, nor envying it, 
but gratefully and cheerfully enjoying what I am. I 
thank Providence for the blessings it has given me 
without either despising or wishing for the gifts it has 
bestowed on others. I enjoy the present time without 
regretting the past, or wishing for that to come, but stil 
as conducive to happiness, prefer to-day to yesterdaj 
or to-morrow. I keep content for the present, anc 
hope for the future, and love this life without fearing 
another." 

This letter was sent to Witney, Oxon, the sea 
of the blanket manufacture. The Rev. William Freini 
had become Rector there, since the resignation c 
his father, the Rev. Dr. Robert Freind, in the previou 
year. His mother was a Miss Jane de TAngle, daughte 
of the Rev. Samuel de r Angle, once pastor of the n 
formed church at Charenton, near Paris, who, on th 
persecution of Louis XIV., fled to England and w* 
made a Prebendary of Westminster. The Rev. Williai 
Freind built the good stone rectory still existent i 
Witney. A medallion portrait of him is over a do< 
in the Hall. Mrs. Donnellan had been recommend* 
to drink the waters at Spa in the Ardennes, and, accoi 
panied by her friends, Mr. and Mrs. Cottington, set 01 

• Her three little brothers. 



« . 




I740-] PRINCESS MARY OF HESSE. 53 

poor Mr. Cottington dying soon after their arrival. 
Mrs. Donnellan wrote to Elizabeth on July n a long 
letter, out of which I copy the account of the water 
cure as then practised — 

" We are all out by six in the morning in our chaises, 
and go three miles to the Geronsterre waters. We 
come home by nine, and take a cup of chocolate, dine 
between 12 and 1, go to the Assembly at 4, where there 
are all countries, and all languages, half a dozen card 
tables, and no crowd; from the Assembly we take a 
walk in the Capucins garden; all are in before 8 to 
supper, and to bed at 10." 

Princess Mary* of England had been married in 
May to the Prince of Hesse, t The prince did not come 
to England, so her brother, the Duke of Cumberland, 
acted proxy. The following account is of gifts given to 
the princess's suite who accompanied her to Hesse : — 

"The Duchess of Dorset J has had fine presents 
upon going over with tfie Princess of Hesse. The 
Prince presented her with a gold teapot, tea-kettle, 
and lamp, and Lady Caroline Sackville § with a set of 
Dresden china and a diamond solitaire. The Duchess 
had likewise a set of Dresden teacups, and a service of 
Dresden China, and the King gave her a gold snuffbox 
with a thousand pounds Bank bill in it." 

In a letter to Sarah Robinson of August 11, mention 
is made of — 

11 a mask at Cliefden, on Princess Augusta's || birthday ; 

* Princess Mary, daughter of George II. 
t Frederick, Landgrave of Hesse Cassel. 
% Wife of 1st Duke of Dorset, nie Elizabeth Colyear. 
{ Daughter of the Duchess of Dorset, afterwards Countess of Dor- 
chester. 

I Daughter of George II., born 1737. 



54 MONKEY ISLAND. [Ch. II. 

1 The Story of Alfred/ wrote by Thomson * and 
Mallet,t Mr. Grenville commends it and says it will be 
published. I own I cannot give much credit to it, for 
I rather imagine he commends it as a patriot than 
a judge. I never knew anything of Thomson's that 
seemed to be wrote, or could be read, without great 
labour of the brain. . . . Lord and Lady Oxford are 
to come here next Monday, (Bullstrode), and stay a 
month. Lord Dupplin has made a copy of verses upon 
my going into the bath, which we would impute to 
Sandys } to his great amazement He says he does 
not know who wrote them, but thinks he is very sure 
he did not" 

August 25, Elizabeth writes to her father — 

" The Duke and Duchess were so obliging as to carry 
me to see Windsor Castle last week. It is so delightful 
a place and so fine a palace, I am surprised his Majestj 
does not spend his summer there, I should think it as 
well as going to Hanover. The same day we were at 
Windsor, we went to see a little island § circled by the 
Thames, which the Duke of Marlborough B purchased 
and has beautified at the expense of £8000. There is 
too great an embarras of buildings upon it, the fines 
of which I think something resembling the Temple o 
Janus. He has a better title to build one to war thai 
to fame, for he has got a commission, but renown 
believe is what he will never gain. He sent out a fev 
days ago for four-score workmen to improve a place h 
never proposes to live at, after the old Duchess dies 
His Grandfather now saved a people, now saved agroai 
but such a warrior and economist as this gentleman h 
will never save either. 

•James Thomson, born 1700, died 1748; poet, wrote "TI 
Seasons," etc. 

t David Mallet, Scottish poet, patronized by Pope ; died 1765. 
X A well-known lady's doctor. 
§ Monkey Island. 
\ Charles, 3rd Duke. 



LVD1A BOTHAM. 



55 



El 



"Lady Andover* told me in a letter 1 received from 
her last post, that Mrs. Botham was grown very grave, 
and a great workwoman and an excellent housewife; if 
that is the case, Mr. Botham preaches to those of his 
"lOusehold as well as those of his parish." 

This is the first allusion to Lydia Botham, cousin of 
lizabeth Robinson ; she, and her more illustrious sister 
Elizabeth, or Eliza Lumley, afterwards wife of the Rev. 
Laurence Sterne, of "Shandean" memory, were the 
children of the Rev. Robert Lumley, of the Lumley 
Castle family, Rector of Bedale, Yorks, from 1721 to 
1732; and of Lydia, daughter of Anthony Light.t and 
widow in 1709 of her first husband, Thomas Kirke, 
of Cockridge, near Leeds (a famous Virtuoso), she 
married afterwards the Rev. Robert Lumley ;{ for the 
table elucidating this pedigree the reader must turn to 
the end of the introductory portion of this work. The 
Lumleys are said to have been brought up in style, but 
little means had remained to them. Both parents were 
dead ; Lydia had recently married the Rev. John Botham, 
Rector of Yoxall, Staffordshire. Elizabeth Lumley, her 
sister, was residing alone in " Little Alice Lane," under 
the shadow of York Cathedral. In a folio-sheet letter 
to her sister Sarah, Elizabeth explains that owing to the 
Countess of Oxford being at Bullstrode, she had more 
time to herself, as the countess and she had spent 
alternate mornings with the duchess. The countess 
was kind to Elizabeth, but she was a rare admirer of 
etiquette. When she was with the duchess, she actually 

• Second daughter of Heneage, Earl of Aylesford, wife of William, 
Lord Andover. 

t Of Durham \ his grandmother, wife of Gilbert Kirke, was one of the 
coheiresses of Francis Layton of Rawdon. 

1 As stated in former pages, her mother, Mrs. Light, remarried 
for second husband] Thomas Robinson, father by her of Matthew 
RobinMfL 



56 COUNTESS OF OXFORD. [Ch. II. 

wished to see all her letters, which was naturally annoy- 
ing to a married woman ; she also expected them to be 
couched in the most formal manner, as addressed to a 
ducal person I Hence, when Elizabeth was away from 
the duchess, and Lady Oxford was with her, the letters 
were often written under cover to the duchess's two 
lady dressers, so as to indulge in fewer formalities; 
also, as can be read in Mrs. Delany's Memoirs in letters 
from the duchess, nicknames were often set up between 
the circle of friends, known only to themselves in case 
of their being opened. This passage in the letter will 
point to the formality of the circle when including Lady 
Oxford — 

"While our present Guests are here we are so 
overcharged with ceremony, we cannot move about, 
and as I am not (thanks to the humility of my station), 
of the Countess' cabinet council, I have the morning to 
myself. To employ them to my edification, I have laid 
in a great store of Italian, which I cannot read with the 
Duchess as she has forgotten it so much. I have laid 
aside the Arcadia * till Mrs. Pendarves comes, who is 
fond of it, and the Duchess and I have agreed that she 
shall read it to us. ... I beg you will send me the 
receipt for York Curds, and also for Pancakes, called 
1 A quire of paper.' " 

On August 21, in a letter to Mrs. Donnellan at Spa, 
occurs the passage — 

"Our friend Penny is under great anxiety for the 
change her sister is going to make. I do not wonder a! 
her fears; I believe both experience, and observation, havt 
taught her the state she is going into is in the general 
less happy than that she has left. ' Pip ' has a gooc 
prospect, for they say the gentlemanf has good sense 

• • The Arcadia," written by Sir Philip Sidney, 
t John D'Ewes, of Wellesbourne, Co. Warwick. 



-:.-*'■: 



1740.] EARL OF OXFORD. 57 

good nature, and great sobriety; these are very good 
things, and indeed what a stock of virtues and qualifica- 
tions ought to be laid in to last out the journey of life, 
where so much too lies through the rugged ways of 
adversity, all will hardly serve to lengthen love and 
patience to the end." 

The lady to be married was Anne Granville, whose 
nickname was " Pip " ; she was about to be married to 
Mr. John D'Ewes. "Pen" was Mrs. Pendarves' nick- 
name, afterwards Mrs. Delany, and those who have read 
her memoirs will remember how unhappy was her first 
experience of married life. Much mention is made in 
this letter of an apron Elizabeth is working for the 
duchess; she begs for patterns of flowers from her 
father's pencil, and Mr. Hateley, an artist friend. Em- 
broidered aprons were then the rage, but only for demi- 
toilette; the beautiful Duchess of Queensberry,* going 
to Court in an apron about this time, was forbidden 
to attend. The aprons were of all colours as well as 
white, and the duchess, fearing a light ground would 
soon soil, bade Elizabeth work hers on a black ground. 
Sarah Robinson at the same time was working her 
sister one. 

The following passage is indicative of the times : — 

11 Lord Oxford drinks hard at the chaplain sometimes, 
but whether a churchman's conscience lyes deep, or a 
bumper to Church and King agrees with an orthodox 
stomach, I don't know, but he seems less confounded 
with a bottle of claret than he is with his text, and 
shows the bottom of it too, which he cannot do with 
the other." 

Mr. Freind having written a letter in which he rallies 

* Catherine Hyde, Duchess of Queensberry. Prior's " Kitty, beauti- 
ful and young; "wife of 3rd Duke. 



58 ADMIRAL VERNON. [Ch. II. 

Elizabeth about not choosing one of her many admirers, 
she replies — 

"I have lately studied my own foibles, and I have 
found out I should make a very silly wife, and an 
extremely foolish Mother, and so have as far resolved 
as is consistent with deference to reason and advice, 
never to trouble any man, or spoil any children. I 
already love too many people in this world to enjoy 
a perfect tranquility, and I don't care to have any more 
strings to pull my heart ; it is very tender, and a small 
matter hurts it I have been lately a little out of spirits 
about my incomparable Duchess ; she has been a good 
deal out of order, but by bleeding and care, she is much 
better, I wish I could say well" 

Mention of Admiral Vernon * is made in a letter oi 
September 12 to Mr. Freind after the victory of Porto- 
bello, which had been taken by him in 1739; he had 
bombarded Carthagena — 

"I hope the glorious Vernon will do some greal 
exploit by himself All the ladies in Suffolk give plaa 
to Mrs. Vernon, even those of the highest rank. I wis! 
the Admiral may be made a peer when he returns 
Baron Something and Viscount Portobello will sounc 
very well" 

Mrs. Donnellan returned from Spa early in Sep 
tember, # in company of Mrs. Anne Pitt, a sister of Mi 
William Pitt, afterwards Lord Chatham. Portions o 
her letter I copy — 

" We had a very pleasant journey together, and fin* 
'tis possible to travel comfortably without that lordl; 
person— Man / I have mentioned being at Aix-la 
Chapelle, which is a bad day's journey from Spa 
went with Mrs. Hoare, and we chose to go at the tim 

• Admiral Vernon, born 1684, died 1757. 



17*).] CHARLEMAGNE. 

Charlemagne makes his procession round the town, 
which is an annual ceremony, and the most solemn 
and ridiculous I have seen. He built the town, and 
made it an imperial city, and this procession is in 
memory of him. He is represented by a pasteboard 
figure, 12 feet high (for they will have him a giant), 
he has on his head a very fine curled and powdered 
full-bottomed periwig, an Imperial crown on that ; down- 
wards, he has a yellow damask night-gown, which hides 
those who carry him. He walks round the city attended 
by all the Orders in their different habits (which is a 
pretty sight), — the magistracy, and the Host carried 
under a canopy. They stopped before the Town House 
where we were, and said Mass at an altar raised on 
purpose, then they adored the Host, and Charlemagne 
stooped and goggled his eyes, which are pulled by 
wires, and so the ceremony ended. We landed at Deal 
on Sunday night, in a storm of thunder, lightning and 
wind, wet to the skin. I have bought some Spa neck- 
laces. 1 have a blue one for you, and a green one for 
the Duchess. 

"My folks are quite taken up with fitting their* 
house in Bond Street, which they design getting into at 
Michaelmas. I have a cheerful dressing room in it, 
which I dedicate to a few friends, none other shall come 
into it, and it luckily only holds a few seats; I will 
reserve one for you." 

On September 23, in a letter of Elizabeth to her 
sister, we first hear of Dr. Young, the author of " Night 
Thoughts." At this time this celebrated poem was not 
written, but various other poems, satires, and tragedies 
had made him famous. Edward Young, LL.D., was 
born in 1684, educated at Winchester, New College, 
and Corpus Christi, Oxford ; in 1730 was Rector of 
Welwyn, Herts; in 173 1 he married Lady Betty Lee, 

* Her mother, llien the Hon. Mrs. Philip Perceval, and her second 



60 THE REV. DR. YOUNG. [Ch. II. 

widow of Colonel Lee, and daughter of the Earl of Lich- 
field. The Duke of Wharton was his literary patron. 

"Dr. Young is coming soon. We wish for his 
coming, for I hear he is agreeable, and, indeed, his 
private character is excellent He sends his compli- 
ments to me when he writes to the Duchess, and says 
he is perfectly acquainted with me, and all that is the 
vision of a Poet, for I never saw him in my life, but he 
is so kind as to commend me and all my works in all 
places." 

* 

In the next letter (October 8) she says— 

11 My dear Sally, 

"The sons of Apollo haunt this place much; 
the tuneful Green * is gone, but the poetical Dr. Young 
is with us. I am much entertained with him, he is s 
very sensible man, has a lively imagination, and strikes 
out very pretty things in his conversation, tho' he has 
satyrized the worst of our sex, he honours the best o! 
them extremely, and seems delighted with those whc 
act and think reasonably. I think he has written i 
Satire against that composition of oddity, affectation 
and folly which is called 'a pretty sort of a woman, 
— if anyone has a mind to put on that character thej 
need only pervert their sense, distort their faces, dis 
joint their limbs, mince their phrases, and lisp thei 
words, and the thing is done, grimaces, trite sentences 
affected civility, forced gaiety, and an imitation of goo< 
nature completes the character. . . . That sentences 
systems and definitions should give way to Cribbagc 
but two Duchesses command my presence I The Duches 
of Kent t came here yesterday ; she is a very sensibl 
polite woman, and she wants one to play Cribbage, s 
my dear, dear sister, Adieu I 

11 E. R." 

* Dr. Green, a celebrated musician. 

t The second wife of Henry (Grey), 1st Duke of Kent, nie Soph 
Bentinck, great-aunt of the Duke of Portland of these pages. 



fc ^-V — Wl _»rl .t-i*.— 



174a] THE DUCHESS OF KENT, 61 

In a letter to Mrs. Robinson — 

"The Duchess of Kent is very agreeable, has good 
sense and politeness, and those who know her well say 
many valuable qualities. I look upon my Duchess as 
the Arch-Duchess, before whom all lesser stars hide 
their diminished heads ; as for Dr. Young, he is a very 
sensible man, and an entertaining companion, and starts 
new subjects of conversation, and there is nothing so 
much wanted in the country as the art of making the 
same people chase new topics without change of 
persons. The Duchess and Dr. Young design to leave 
us to-morrow. . . . Dr. Sandys has given Deb quick- 
silver, which has been of great service to her, and it 
appears that she had worms." 

"Deb" was Elizabeth's lady's maid. The Pharma- 
copeia was then of such an extraordinary kind, that 
from time to time I shall mention the remedies used for 
various complaints ; why more people were not killed 
by some of the nostrums is marvellous. 

Elizabeth writes to Sarah on November 1, telling 
her she is reading the " Decameron " of Boccaccio. The 
duchess was also renewing her Italian knowledge. 
They were reading aloud Dr. Samuel Clarke's sermons, 
and she says — 

" Hay * is an auditor, as he cannot read himself; Mr. 
Achard is a translator of pronunciation so that one 
would take his English to be French when he reads 
aloud, then as for the Duke, he hunts thrice a week, and 
has business, so that our invalid is glad of a female 
lecturer." 

Mr. Achard, a Frenchman mentioned previously, had 
been the duke's tutor, and was now his secretary. 

* The Hon. John Hay, son of 7th Earl of Kinnoul, a relation of the 
duchess, then a great invalid. 



62 DR. GREY. [Ch. II. 

From the letters, he appears to have been very tall ; 
he was frequently called "Brother Bonaventura," and 
as his humour was variable, at times "Monsieur du 
Poivre" at others " Monsieur du Miel /" 

The next letter to her father thanks him for a design 
he had made for an apron for the duchess, with which 
she was delighted, and — 

"if the work could be as elegant as the drawing, 
would be the most finished apron for the most finished 
Duchess. Lord Oxford and George Vertue * arrived 
here last night after a ramble which the best geographer 
could hardly describe ; they have been haunting church- 
yards, and reading the history of mankind upon the 
gravestones. Dr. Grey t is employed in a work which 
to make its appearance in public you would not easily 
guess at I believe 'tis no perplexity upon Mysteries 
no refutation of the doctrine of Transubstantiation, nc 
explanation of the Catechism, but a thing for which his 
serious qualifications do not seem very fit He is 
writing upon Hudibras ! " 

* George Vertue, eminent engraver, archaeologist, and author ; bon 
1684, died 1756. 

f Rev. Dr. Zachary Grey, author, died 1766. 



( 63 ) 



CHAPTER III. 

IN LONDON, KENT, AND AT BULLSTRODE, I74I-42. BEGIN- 
NING OF CORRESPONDENCE WITH MRS. DELANY. 

The last letter of the year 1740 is written to Mr. 
Freind on December 



"Next Sunday I quit the peaceful groves and 
hospitable roof of Bullstrode for the noisy turbulent 
city; my books and serious reflections are to be laid 
aside for the looking-glass and curling irons, and from 
that time I am no more a Pastorella, but propose to be as 
idle, as vain, and as impertinent, as any one ; if you will 
come to town Mrs. Freind and you will find me, how- 
ever, as like myself as to be your sincere friend " 

February 5, Elizabeth writes to her sister — 

"Dear Madam Sally, 

" I went to Lady North's * last night, to see all 
the fine cloaths that were made for the Birthday. Lady 
Scarborough t was richly dressed, the Duchess of 
Bedford X was pretty fine, Mrs. Spencer had a white 
velvet which is the ugliest thing in the world, but the 
Duchess of Queensberry § was such as should be shown 
at Courts and feasts, and high solemnities, where most 
may wonder at the workmanship ; her cloaths were 

• Second wife of 7th Baron North, afterwards 1st Earl of Guilford. 

t Wife of 3rd Earl Scarborough. 

% Second wife of the 4th Duke. 

§ Wife of 3rd Duke, " Kitty ever fair." 



64 THE DUCHESS OF QUEENSBERRY. [Ch. III. 

embroidered upon white satin ; Vine leaves, Convolvu- 
lus and Rosebuds shaded after Nature ; but she in her- 
self was so far beyond the masterpiece of art, that one 
could hardly look at her cloaths ; allowing for her age I 
never saw so beautiful a creature. Miss Pitt* had a 
fine trimming and looked very pretty, but as for the 
Roses, they do not bloom in January, for she is as pale 
as a ghost Lady Mary Tufton t had a pretty suit of 
embroidery. The men were not at all fine. Mr. 
Lyttelton'sJ cloaths were ugly, according to Polonius 1 
instructions, ' Rich not gaudy, fine but not exprest in 
fancy.' I did not see any new fashions, as to the wear- 
ing stays, I think they are as usual. I do not know 
what will become of your fine shape, for there is a 
fashionable make that is very strange. I believe the> 
look in London as they did in Rome after the Rape o 
the Sabines. 

" I am, my dearest, your most affectionate 

" E. Robinson." 

February 25, Sarah writes — 

" 1 should be obliged to you if you would in you 
next letter send me word what sized hoops moderat 
people who are neither over lavish nor covetous c 
whalebone, wear ; because I intend fo write to my Hoo 
maker to have one ready for me against I come t 
town, and I don't care to leave the size of it to her dh 
cretion. I hope our hoops will not increase much mon 
for we are already almost as unreasonable as Quee 
Dido,§ and don't encircle much less with our whalebon< 
than she did with her bull's hide." 

A light is thrown on hairdressing of the period i 
the following letter to Sarah : — 

• A sister of Lord Chatham, either Mary or Anne. 
t Daughter of 7th Earl of Thanet. 

X George, 1st Lord Lyttelton, afterwards her intimate friend. 
§ Queen Dido of Tyre bought of the Africans as much land as a bul 
hide would cover, and by cutting it into strips encircled a large portion 




\Tofactf. 6 4 . vol.i 



-—J — KT1 



1741] HAIRDRESSING. 65 

"Dear Sister, 

" I have been walking in the Park this morning, 
and returned only time enough to dress, so while Deb 
is tiffing and tiffing till my hair is so pure and so crisp, 
I am writing a line to you to the great vexation of Mrs. 
Mincing, who is afraid I should be the worst dressed 
for it I don't wonder an ' Abigail ' that is kept only as 
a Minister of the toilette should look upon dressing as 
the great concern of life, but that other people should 
make such a point of it I marvel greatly. Some women 
by endeavouring to be as handsome as they can are not 
so charming as they might ibe. I never thought a head 
agreeably dressed that had not a hair awry; such 
punctuality may become a tyre woman, but cannot 
a belle, but however, it becomes everybody to be 
dressed for dinner, which will not be the case if I 
do not conclude. I am to go to the 'Penseroso and 
Allegro * to-night. The music of the ' Penseroso ' some 
say is best, 'but Mirth with thee I choose to live.' 
Adieu." 

One can, indeed, pity the unfortunate Abigail with 
"Fidget" writing whilst she had her hair dressed! 
Once after a visit to Bullstrode, the duchess says she 
had found a glass-stand left behind by Elizabeth, should 
she send it? And the reply was that the stand was 
used for her to rest her chin on whilst her maid dressed 
her hair. The ridiculously high coiffure of the day 
must have taken a long time to erect. 

No letter can I find till April 10, when the Rev. 
William Freind writes from Bath, where he and his wife 
were staying, to inquire what had become of his cousins. 
Sarah Robinson's • pet-name was " Pea," as she was 
pronounced to resemble Elizabeth as much as one pea 
does another. 

* Sarah was born on September 21, 1723, so was three years younger 
than Elizabeth. 

VOL. L F 



66 



THE "PEAS." 



rc H . in. 

o, 1741- 
received 



"Bath, April 10, 1741. 

" It being now near two months since I have receive! 
any intelligence of either of my correspondents, I must 
needs enclose a letter to Pea, Senior, to enquire after 
her whether she be still with the Duke to whom I direct 
the cover, or with the rest of the Peas in her own Podt 
in Kent. 

"I expected the beginning of March to hear you ha< 
quitted her grace to join hearts and hands once mor 
with dearly beloved Pea. But Lady Berkshire whom 
saw some days ago, tells me the Duchess is in a ver 
bad state of health, which 1 suppose will make you bot 
very unwilling to part with each other. I have rathe 
fancied therefore some disappointment has happenec 
and that your friend's illness may have taken up you 
time and thoughts too much to let us hear what : 
become of you, for if both sisters had been together in 
town, surely both would not have grudged us th 
pleasure of hearing you were well and happy. . , . Even 
I, surrounded with a set of noisy politicians on one side 
and backgammon players on t'other, can still make shi 
to write a line to my dear friend, and ask only how sh 
does, and where she is, and to assure her that I and r 
Pea are 

" Her and Her Peas, 

" Most truly affectionate 

friends and humble servants, 

"W. andG. F."- 

The reason of the unaccustomed silence was this 
Sarah was suddenly attacked by smallpox, a disease 
peculiarly dreaded by Elizabeth. Mrs. Robinson quickl) 
despatched her to Hayton Farm, a family property leasee 
to a yeoman farmer of the name of Smith. 

April 8 occurs a letter to the duchess — 

" I cannot lose the opportunity which just offers 
to send a letter to the post, though I troubled yo 

" William and Grace his wife. 



HAYTON FARM. 

Grace but yesterday. My sister continues as well as it 
is possible to be, and has found out her disorder with 
which she is perfectly content, and sends me very merry 
messages upon it : they are of the seven day sort, so 
will turn on Sunday, and on Monday when it is over, I 
shall possess my soul in quietness. I am afraid this 
hurry of spirits and fatigue, will not prove of service to 
my Mamma; and if the dire Hyp does haunt a solitary 
chimney corner, sure it will visit my Pappa now it is 
sure to find him at home and alone. For my part, 1 am 
in the case of poor David, my friends and kinsfolk stand 
afar off; and when 1 am to return home I don't know. 
That the distemper may not continue, my Pappa has 
sent away half a dozen servants who have not had it, 
and says he hopes to have me back again very soon ; 
but indeed I hope to prevail upon him to try how the 
air of Mount Morris agrees with his servants, before I 
return. 1 live here very easy, and 1 have got books and 
all the necessaries and comforts, though not the pomps 
and pleasures of life. The family are civil and sensible 
people. As for the Master of the house, he is indeed, 
to a tittle, Spenser's meagre personage called Care: his 
chief accomplishment as to behaviour is silence. 1 never 
see him but at dinner and supper, and then he eats his 
pudding and holds his tongue. I believe his learning 
amounts to knowing that four pennies make a groat, and 
the sooner that groat is a sixpence he thinks the better. 
To give your grace a notion of the sort of persons who 
compose the Drama : — They are above Farmers consider- 
ably, have been possessed in the family, for aught I 
know, since the Conqueror of above £400 a year, they 
have a good old house, neatly furnished, but there is 
nothing of modern structure to be seen in it. 

" I am now sitting in an old crimson velvet elbow 
chair, I should imagine to be elder brother to that which 
is shown in Westminster Abbey as Edward the Con- 
fessor's. There are long tables in the room that have 
more feet than the caterpillar you immured at Bullstrode. 
Why so many legs are needful to stand still, I cannot 



68 LIFE AT A FARM. [CH. III. 

imagine, when I can fidget on two. There is a good 
chest of drawers in the figure of a Cathedral, and a 
looking glass which Rosamond or Jane Shore may have 
dressed their heads in. Not to forget the clock, who 
has indeed been a time server ; it has struck the blessed 
minutes of the Reformation, Restoration, Abdication, 
Revolution, and Accession, and by its relation to time 
seems to have some to Eternity. It is like its old 
Master, only good to point the hour to industry ; . . . 
it calls his servant to yoke the oxen, get ready the 
plough, wakes the dairy maid to milk and churn, the 
daughters hear in it the paternal voice chiding the waste 
of hours, and rise obedient to its early call ; even me it 
governs, sends me to bed at ten, and makes me rise, oh 
barbarous! at eight . . . The mother of the family, a 
venerable matron of grave deportment, who was well 
educated, and moves in the form of antique ceremonies, 
but is really a sensible woman! The daughters are 
good housewifes, and I like some qualities in them, 
which I understand better than their economy. I only 
wish they could sleep in their beds in the morning, and 
wake in a chair in the evening ! " . . . 

The next letter to Mrs. Donnellan, whom Elizabeth re- 
bukes for her silence, is dated April 10. In this she says — 

" Before this time you must have been informed by 
the Duchess or Mrs. Pendarves of my distress, and also 
my flight from the maternal mansion to the house in the 
neighbourhood I am at present very happy as my 
sister is out of all danger, and I rejoice in thinking she 
will have one enemy of life and health the less. So 
much for the state of my mind ; the situation of my 
person is not so gay and cheerful My best friends 
among the living are a Colony of rooks who have settled 
themselves in a grove by my window. They wake me 
early in the morning. ... I have not yet discovered the 
form of their government, but I imagine it is demo- 
craticaL ... If I continue here long I shall grow a good 
naturalist I have applied myself to nursing chickens, 



I74«. ] 



A COUNTRY SQUIRE. 



and have been forming the manners of a young calf, but 
I find it a very dull scholar. I intend to gather some 
cowslips, for Mrs. Perceval* as soon as they appear; 
pray let me know if they should be prepared in any 
particular manner. . . . 

"There are some squires here who would make 
excellent Polyphemus's ; one of them drank tea here 
yesterday, and complimented me with all the force of 
rural gallantry, but for some fault in the flattery or the 
flatterer, I liked neither him nor myself any better for 
all the fine things he said. After he was gone I did but 
relieve my spleen with some laughter on the subject, 
when I was told by the matron of the family, he would 
be a good match for a woman with twenty thousand 
pounds, and indeed could one lend out one's liking upon 
land security, I think one might very well settle it upon 
him. To laugh at a poor man is barbarous. He is a 
great friend of the family I am with, and I fear will 
come often ; and in spite of his respectable manors and 
fee simple, and ancient mansion, both great and good, 
I shall not be able to give a serious attention to his 
discourse. 

" I wish you could see my habitation, a right reverend 
and venerable one it is; the staircase that leads to my 
chamber is hung with the funeral escutcheons of my 
grandfathers, grandmothers, Aunts and Uncles, that I 
seem to be entering the burying vault of the family to 
sleep with my Fathers. It is a comfort, no doubt, to 
think one's ancestors have had Christian burial, but 
of what use are these tawdry escutcheons? Sure no 
passion of the mind, no situation of the human creature 
is without vanity, if the mourner can adorn with pomp, 
and the breathless carcase be dressed in it. 

"... address to me at Mr. Smith's, Hayton, near 
Hythe." 

On April 9 the Duchess of Portland lay in of a 
daughter, Frances, who died in 1743. Mrs. Donncllan 

Mrs. Donnellan's mother. 



70 HANDEL. [Ch. II 

writes on April 1 1 to give a good report of the duchess 
health, and in this letter she says — 

"I long to hear from you, I want to know who you havi 
to entertain, and keep up the spirits your sister's safety 
must give you. I hope Mr. Robinson,* your brother 
is in banishment with you, for you will want such 
companion to sweeten a long absence from all your 
other friends. I heartily wish you were in any place 
where I could come to you. . . . The only show 
have had since you left us was for Handel, his las 
night, all the fashionable people were there." 

Mrs. Donnellan again writes on April 15 — 

" I like your situation extremely, but I should wish 
you one rational companion, for I do not think yoi 
were made for calves or poultry, or greater brutes i: 
the shape of country squires. What is come of Pan 
He used to find out a pretty female in her retirement 
but as he has been sometimes a little dangerous, I thin 
I had rather recommend you to the conversation of th< 
wood nymphs. I have often wished to be acquaint) 
with them, I fancy they are very innocent, and free from 
vanity and affectation, a little ignorant, and indeed L 
the fashions and amusements of London, as dres; 
cards, old china, Japan, shells, etc, but they may hav 
notions of friendship and honour, and such antiquate 
things. 

"I have read no further than Cicero's t consulship 
By what I have read of Atticus in other author 
particularly the Abb6 St. Real,} who has given his 
character, and translated Cicero's letters to him, I had 
not so high an opinion of him as I find Doctor Middleton 
has given you. I met yesterday, at Pen's, the Bishop 

■ Matthew, her eldest brother. 

t Dr. Conj'ers M iddleton's " Life of Cicero." 

J C. V. de St. Real, able French author ; died 1692. 



IWJ 



DR. CONYERS MIDDLETON. 



of Oxford,* Mrs. Seeker and Miss Talbot.t and they 
seemed to think Dr. Middleton was not so much the 
historian as the Panegyrist of Cicero, indeed one 
observation I have already made myself, I think him 
too like a modern Lawyer who pleads all causes good or 
bad that gets him interest which was money to them ; 
but when I have read the whole I will read St Real 
again, and then I will tell you more of my mind. I long 
till you read Horace, and think he would be particularly 
proper in your present retirement, he seems to know 
how to amuse himself in such a scene better than any 
one 1 ever met with, at the same time that he was the 
delight of the politest court J that ever was. 1 really 
think you have much of the genius of distinguishing 
right from wrong, and not being led away by the false 
glosses of the world, and want to know whether you 
find that conformity. 

" I told you in my last I wished to spend some time 
with you in your banishment I am so sincere in it, 
that if you were in a place where they are not above 
being paid for my lodging and board, I would come to 
you for one fortnight before you go home. . . . 

" My Mother desires her compliments to you, and 
many thanks for remembering the cowslips. The 
manner of saving them is this only, pulling them out 
of the Pod, and letting them dry in a north window, 
and when they are dry, to put them up in a paper 
bag. 

"I have been this morning to St. Paul's to hear 
Handel's Te Deum." 



The cowslips Mrs. Perceval asked for were doubtless 
intended for making that delicious but now seldom met 
with cowslip wine. Few people are aware that a claret 

^• Thomas Seeker, bom 1693, died 1768 ; made Archbishop of 
Canterbury in 1758. 
t Lived with the Seekers ; daughter of Edward, second son of Dr. 
W. Talbol, D.D., of Durham. 

t The court of the Emperor Augustus. 



72 PENURIOUS LIVING. [Ct 

glass of cowslipwine before going to bed is an innocen 
and generally successful soporific. 

To Mrs. Donnellan. 

" Hiiyloi), April 20, 1741 

"Dear Madam, 

" I had the pleasure of your letter yesterday, i 
made me very happy. If my friends at a distance di 
not keep my affections awake, I should be lulled into 
state of insensibility, divided as I am from all I love. . . 
What's Cicero to me or 1 to Cicero? as Hamlet woul 
say ; and for myself, though this same little, insignifican 
self be very dear unto me, yet I have "ot used to mak 
it my sole object of love and delight. . . . 

" I want just such a companion as you would be, an 
how happy would your kind compliance with that wis 
make me, if the good old folk here would accommodat 
you; but they are so fearful of strangers, I know : 
impossible to persuade them to it. They are not verj 
fine people ; they have a little estate, and help it ou 
with a little farming: are very busy and careful, and th 
old man's cautionness has dwindled into penuriousness 
so that he eats in fear of waste and riot, sleeps with the 
dread of thieves, denies himself everything for fear 
wanting anything, riches give him no plenty, increai 
no joy, prosperity no ease : he has the curse of covetous 
ness to want the property of his neighbours, while h 
dare not touch his own : the Harpy Avarice drives hire 
from his own meat, the sum of his wisdom and his gain 
will be by living poor, to die rich. . . . 

"The reason for which you wish I would reac 
Horace does me great honour. . . . Upon your recom 
mendation I had read it before, but depending on m; 
brother's having it, I did not bring it with me, and 
find he has not got it. I will desire my brothers* tc 
bring it down with them the next vacation. . . . As fo 
some of our squires they read nothing but parish law 

* Matthew and Morris were at Cambridge. 







THE REV. LAURENCE STERNE. 

i books of Husbandry, or perhaps for their particular 
entertainment, 'Quarle's Emblems,' 'The Pilgrim's Pro- 
gress,' ' iEsop's Fables,' and to furnish them with a little 
ready wit, 'Joe Miller's Jests." " " 

Matthew Robinson had gone to Bath to drink the 
waters, and on April 19 he writes to Elizabeth from 
" Colibee's " in Hall Street, Bath— 

Dear Sister, 

" The order of our Posts at Bath is very strange, 
the post comes in three times a week, twice of which you 
may answer your letters the same day you receive them, 
but the third not till three days afterwards. Last Thurs- 
day brought rae two letters together from you, in which 
you informed me that my sister was past the heighth. . . . 
I hope next post will tell me that Sally is out of all 
danger. 

"Harry Goddard is here, and informs me that our 
cousin Betty Lumley is married to a Parson t who once 
delighted in debauchery, who is possessed of about £100 
a year in preferment, and has a good prospect of more. 
What hopes our relation may have of settling the affec- 
tions of a light and fickle man I know not, but 1 imagine 
she will set about it not by means of the beauty but of 
the arm of flesh. In other respects I see no fault in the 
match ; no woman ought to venture upon the state of 
Old Maiden without a consciousness of an inexhaustible 
fund of good nature." 

The letter is signed " M. R. M.," for Matthew Robinson 
Morris ; as by his uncle Morris Drake Morris' will, 
Matthew was to succeed to his mother's I estate of Mount 

" Joe Miller, born 1684, died 1738 ; comedian. His " Book of Jests " 
was published in 1739. 

t The Rev. Laurence Sterne, married to Elizabeth Lumley, March 30, 
■741, In York Cathedral, by license, by the then Dean. 

I Mrs. M. Robinson, his mother, inherited Coveney, Cambs, from her 
father, and the Kentish property as heiress of her mother, Sarah, daughter 
and heiress of Thomas Morris. 



74 MRS. STERNE. [Clt. II 

Morris, Kent, sometimes called Monk's Horton, etc, lef 
her by her brother, he assumed the name of Morris 
for some years, but returned to his family patronymic 
Robinson, before becoming 2nd Baron Rokeby in 1794. 

On the subject of the Sterne marriage, in a note tc 
Sarah from Elizabeth we see further — 

"Dear Madam Sally, 

" I am glad to hear you are well, and that your 
eyes are brilliant, but pray don't use them too soon, for 
you will have reason to repent it. I never saw a moi 
comical letter than my sweet cousin's,* with her hea 
and head full of matrimony, pray do matrimonial though 
come upon your recovery? for she seems to think it 
symptom." 

Then after many cautions to her sister as to he 
health, and thankfulness at her being out of danger, she 
adds — 

"Matt mentions Mrs. Sterne's match, of which he 
had an account from Harry Goddard, who is at Bath 
Mr. Sterne has a hundred a year living, with a goot 
prospect of better perferment He was a great rake 
but being japanned and married, has varnished hi; 
character. I do not comprehend what my cousin mean; 
by their little desires, if she had said little stomachs, i 
had been some help to their economy, but when people 
have not enough for the necessaries of life, what avail 
it that they can do without the superfluities and pomps 
of it ? Does she mean that she won't keep a coach ant 
six, and four footmen ? What a wonderful occupatioi 
she made of courtship that it left her no leisure 
inclination to think of any thing else. I wish they ma; 
live well together." 

* Elizabeth Lumley had been very ill just before ber engagement t 
Laurence Sterne : vide his life by Traill. 




"TRISTRAM.' 



At this time Sterne was Vicar of Sutton-on-the-Forest,' 
some eight miles from York, and his uncle, Jacob Sterne, 
gave him a prebendal stall in York Cathedral about the 
same time. For two years he had courted Elizabeth 
Lumley. She was much in love with him, but from 
smallness of means on either side, deemed marriage 
imprudent. She, however, had a desperate illness, and 
informed Sterne she had made him her heir. His grati- 
tude for this, and affection, recalled her to life and 
matrimony. For details of this I must refer the reader 
to the various lives written of " Tristram," as his nick- 
name was to be later in the Robinson family. 

From Hayton Elizabeth writes to Mr. Freind at Bath, 
to scold him for not writing to her and her sister. In 
this she says— 

" My sister is well again, and once more I possess 
my soul with tranquillity. I believe you will guess I 
suffered great and terrible anxiety when I was forced 
to leave her to a dreadful distemper, whose terrors 
received great additions from my particular fears of it, 
and tenderness to her. The want of sleep, at first, a 
little damaged my constitution, I had a slight fever 
with disorder for a week, which I believe was chiefly 
occasioned by it. I did not mention it to my brother, 
for fear it should make him uneasy, but I am now per- 
fectly well, and from the reflection of my sister's good 
fortune, happy too, though great is the change you will 
see, from London and lolling on the velvet sofa of a 
duchess, to humbly sitting on a 3-legged cricket t in 
the country." 

At the end of the letter of an admirer of her's she 
says — 

* H is gre.ii-grand father, Richard Sterne, had been Archbishop of York, 
and a friend of Laud's, 
t A three-legged «ooL 



76 CURE FOR LOVE. [Ch. III. 

"Our friend B * increases in chin and misery, h< 

came to breakfast with my Papa one morning, and coi 
plained of the Hyp, for which my good parent advisei 
him to take assafcetida, the prescription was admirable, 
he might as well have sent him to the Tinker's to have 
mended the hole in his heart. Oh! cruel fate that made 
no cure for love, thought my friend, and sighed bitterly ; 
really I could not help laughing at the precious balm my 
Pappa was for applying to the wound. It would havi 
ruined a happy lover with me." 

Letter from the Duke of Portland. 

"Whitehall, April 35, 1741. 
" Madam, 

Since ye frivolous letters j trouble you with are 
ranked as favours you receive, j'am sure no excuse can 
be made for any neglect towards you, and it would, nay 
it does, make me wish ye post went out every day, yt j 
might have it in my power to confer my favours, such a: 
they are, upon you : j'am not sure if vanity, as well as y< 
desire j have of doing all yt lays in my power to oblige 
you, does not have a share in this wish about ye post, 
for really j have reason to be proud yt a Lady of so many 
perfections as Miss Robinson, (j can't name them singf 
for j should never have done), can sett any value upon 
my poor insignificant letters, tho' your approving then 
might puff up any body's vanity, yett j have humilit 
enough to think that j owe all the favours you are 
pleased to show me, to ye subject j write about; it is 
subject yt you will be no more tired to hear off than j to 
write off: then j am sure your next question will be 
Pray my lord to ye subject : well then in complyance to 
your commands j am to inform you yt ye Duchess 
continues as well as can be, and ye Babe too. My 
wife desires me to tell you yt your letter revived her 
exceedingly, yt she had waited with great impatience 
for it, and yt she hopes to hear often from you. She 

* Mr. Brockman, of Beachborough. 




7<lJ 



MATTHEW ROBINSON. 



17 



s well as myself, rejoice at your sister's recovery, and 
desire our compliments to her. You may say everything 
yt is kind to yourself from my wife, and tho' j am sure 
you have a very good genius in turning things as you 
like, you will hardly outdo her sentiments concerning 
you. Your being got rid of your feaver gave us great 
joy, for we began to be uneasy about Fidgett; nobody 
can see her without admiration, and when one hears her 
open her lips one is struck dumb; if one was to go on 
with everything when one receives a letter from you, 
one's fingers would become numbed, and unable to 
answer, was it not for the desire of receiving more 
letters, makes one's fingers to write to engage you to 
answer. In reading your letter j can't help acquainting 
you yt there would be great strifes to be a Chaunticleer 
to be ye real possessor of such a Dame Partlett as you, 
whether of ye favourite little Bantam kind, or of the 
ruffled friesland kind ; j should think the first more 
adapted to you for its gentility and rarity and cleanli- 
ness, all qualifications, which, tho' j am no chanticleer j 
can sing off in your behalf. Nay j will do it. It is time 

kfor me to finish my letter to you tho' j do not conclude 
my letter with such a pompous ' humble servant ' as you 
do, j hope you are thoroughly persuaded that j am not less, 
" Madam, 
"Your most obedient, humble servant, 
" Portland." 

The letter concludes with a long postscript; the 
duke had put the letter into his pocket to give the 
porter himself, not wishing, he says, to trust " Mr. Puff" 
with it, and forgot it for some days. Despite of all 
letters being sealed, they were constantly tampered 
with, adroit incisions under the seals could be made, 
and refastened without spoiling the impression above, 
and many letters were lost entirely. 

On April 27 occurs a most brotherly letter from 
Matthew from Bath. It is too long to place here in full, 



78 



A BROTHER'S ADMIRATION. 



[CH. III. 



but so beautiful are his words to his sister, showing 
his love and admiration for her, that I give a few 
extracts. He had just received a letter of her's which 
pleased him, and says — 

" I should be ashamed after so long a friendship with 
you to be ignorant of any of your talents, yet I do 
assure you there are some of them that after so long an 
accquaintance with them, I have not yet done admiring. 
It is never without great delight that I see in one whom 
I esteem so much, that tho' in company one would swear 
your parts and spirits were contrived purposely for 
laughter, and the chearful round of mirth, yet study and 
thought, contemplation of the ways of men, or works of 
Nature, and consequently enjoyment of yourself, and 
ease and happiness, the end of all good, never desert 
your leisure and retirement. You never had greater 
reason for this turn of mind, or better trial of your 
temper on that account than lately, when driven from 
your friends, and almost alone, in a manner you never 
were before, and probably may never be again : you 
were fairly left to the food and entertainment of your 
own thoughts ; and though it would be impertinent 
now to mention my general opinion of your letters, I 
don't remember that I ever saw your thoughts stamped 
upon a piece of paper with greater force of discernment 
than in the letter I received from you to-day. . . . Bating 
the tribe of your lovers, you cannot have a more hearty 
friend to your person, or more assured admirer of your 
merit and accomplishments." 

Surely few brothers have ever paid a more graceful 
tribute of praise to a sister 1 Matthew was born in 1713, 
and was consequently seven years older than Elizabeth. 

On May 9, in a letter to Mr. Freind, we learn the two 
sisters had met again — 

"I had the joy of seeing my dear Pea yesterday; I 
cannot express the happiness of such a meeting, but it is 













THE SMALLPOX. 



saying enough to own it more than recompensed the 
pangs of parting. It is truly, as well as poetically said, 
' The heart can ne'er a transport know, that never felt a 
pain.' My desire to be cheered again by that beloved 
voice made me desirous of a meeting much sooner than 
I should be otherwise, in my shameful fear of the dis- 
temper, have desired. We talked about an hour in the 
open air, at about two yards' distance : she kept her hat 
so close I could not see her face, but as soon as it has 
nothing left of the distemper, but the redness, I am to 
see her. I am now within sight of our house at a farm 
just at the bottom of the gates. I have a very good room, 
warm and comfortable. It is so low that it flatters my 
pride by indulging me with an approach to the ceiling. 
My Mamma had sent furniture for the room from Mount 
Morris, as soon as my sister was growing better, that I 
might come so near as to be accustomed to the family, 
and so return to it at leisure without any apprehensions." 

Reproaching Mr. Freind for silence in this letter, he 
writes, May 19, in return to plead his parochial duties, 
and amusingly says in defence — 

" I am forced in the country, every week to make 
a sermon, at home or abroad, however engaged, made it 
must be, and swallowed the next Sunday, though I 
believe it lies but a crude morsel on the Blanketters' * 
Stomachs, which, if they can digest, 'tis often more than I 
myself can do. . . . An express arrived last night from 
Admiral Vernon ; Carthagena was not actually taken, 
but the captain who brings the news imagines it might 
be taken in about 12 hours after he left it. All the 
Spanish ships and galleons that were in the Harbour 
were burnt, most of the fortifications battered down, 
enough to discover there was great confusion in the 
town. Not a ship of ours was hurt when he departed. 
But there is always a black flag attends in the train of 

' It will be remembered Mr, Freind was Rector of Witney, the centre 
if blanket -making. 



So 



ST. LAZARE. 



[CH. III. 



Victory; the general joy overcomes indeed all private 
concern; but those who have friends or relations in the 
midst of a fire, cannot rejoice till they hear who has 
escaped it. Those we lost on the ist of April are Lord 
Aubrey Beauclerc,* who had both legs shot off, and died 
presently, Col. Douglas of the Marines had his head shot 
off, Lieutenant Sandford of Wentworth's Regiment was 
shot in his tent before the town, Col. Watson of the 
Artillery was killed by a shot in the thigh, Capt Moor 
was killed, Lieutenant Turvin had just taken the Colours 
from his dead ensign, and was killed with them in his 
hand ('There's honour for you,' says Sir J. Falstaffe), 
197 private men are killed and wounded. I was glad to 
find my brother not mentioned in the list." 

Alas I in this he was premature, his brother-in-Ia 
Henry Robinson, died of the wounds he received 
the attack on St. Lazare, near Carthagena May 12, Mr; 
Donnellan writes from London — 

"We are squabbling about Elections, and proving 
right wrong, and wrong right, just as we think it will 
make for some little private interest, without the least 
regard to truth, justice, or any notion of the good of 
the country. The Westminster Election was finished 
in a most partial manner on Friday, in favour of the 
Court candidates, and Lord Sundonf was like to be 
torn to pieces by the mob in revenge : this has been 
the subject of much talk, and last night I happened to 
say to a clergyman (who I thought by his gown was 
obliged to join with me), that I thought the dishonesty 
that prevailed in Elections was terrible, and corrupted 
the private honesty in all ranks of people, when my 
Parson to my surprise took up the argument that 
bribery in a King and his Ministers was not dishonest, 
but politic, and that we could not subsist without it, and 
ran on to prove that we must conform to the times, and 

* Son of ist Duke of St. Albans, and grandson of Char' 
t William Clayton, Baron Sundon. 



: 



* 



..'.I.,. U.r/H^Hl^. 1Ut„. 



174*-] A SOUTH SEA LAWSUIT. 8 1 

if my neighbour bribes, I must do so too, to be on a 
foot with him or we must be undone. I own this 
doctrine shocks me. . . . 

11 Your friend * told me yesterday they are a little 
disturbed about a law suit which is to concern the 28th. 
I suppose you have heard of it Tis an old South Sea 
affair of the Father's,! and very considerable. I am 
really concerned about it, and shall long to see therri 
out of such a terrible situation." 

At this period Elizabeth developed a most painful 
weakness of the eyes, which recurred at intervals during 
the rest of her life. She attributed it to reading so much 
at night during her absence from home while her sister 
was ill The duchess writes to implore her not to work, 
or read, and she answers, " I follow your grace's advice, '] 
I do not work at all, and I read by my sister's eyes." 
She had commenced dining at Mount Morris, but they 
would not let her go upstairs for fear of infection, so 
she still slept at the farm. Mr. Freind had in his last 
letter said, " Let us know all about you ; when you set 
sail, i.e. when you are to be manned, and who is to be 
your Captain, for these things surely must be settled 
now." To which she answers — 

" I am not going to set sail yet ; the ocean of fortune 
is rough, the bark of fortune light, the prosperous gale 
uncertain, but the Pilot must be smooth, steady and 
content, patient in storms, moderate and careful in sun- 
shine, and easy in the turns of the wind, and changes of 
the times. Guess if these things be easily found ? and 
without such a guide can I avoid the gulph of misfortune, 
the barking of envy, the deceits of the syrens, and the 
hypocrisy of Proteus ? So I wait on the shore, scarce 
looking towards this land of promise, so few I find with 
whom I would risk the voyage. I would have wrote you 

* Duchess of Portland. 

t William Henry, 1st Duke of Portland. 

VOL. I. G 



L^- 



8a 



"LIFE OF CICERO." 



[C-H.III. 



a longer letter, if I had a frank, but careful of your 
sixpence, though regardless of your leisure, that con- 
sideration hinders me. I am at Mount Morris again." 

The duchess having commenced reading Dr. Conyers 
Middleton's "Life of Cicero," Elizabeth recommends 
pamphlet called " Observations on Cicero," written by 
Mr. Lyttelton,' but without his name being prefixed 
it. She states, " Dr. Middleton compliments it in hi 
preface slightly ; it is as much a criticism as the Doctor's 
is a panegyric of Tully's action : it is a very little book, 
but I think wrote with great spirit and elegance." 

The following letter is from the Duchess of Portland 
early in June, but undated : — 

" Monday morning, 
"My dearest Fidget, 

"You wilt be much surprised to receive 
melancholy a letter from me after that strange medle; 
you had last post, but yesterday morning I was told the 
Doctor had no hopes of my Papa; he hurt his leg some 
time ago, and Sergeant Dickens has had it in hand, and 
declared to Dr. Mead t he would go on no longer with- 
out another surgeon was called in, upon which Skipton 
was sent for, and what will be the result of their con- 
sultations to-day I dread to know; he has besides a 
jaundice and dropsy. He was out Friday night, and 
pretty well of Saturday night, and grew so much worse 
yesterday morning that he is not able to move. Thi 
Doctor was surprised to find such an alteration in a fe> 
hours. Oh 1 my dear Fidget, 'tis not possible to flattei 
oneself, God only knows what is best for us, therefore 
I am sensible I ought to be contented with what He is 
pleased to inflict upon us, but I cannot help my natural 
weakness. I can't see to add any more, my heart ani 
eyes are too full." 

■ George, afterwards Lord Lyttelton. 

t Famous physician, writer on medicine, and antiquarian. 



, 



I SIC 

"he 

ter 
>re 
: is 
ral 
nd 



I74I-] DEATH OF THE EARL OF OXFORD. 83 

Here Mrs. Donnellan adds, "I have but one sad 
moment to tell my dear Fidget that my Lord Oxford * 
died to-day. w 

The next letter from the duchess is dated June 25 — 

"My dearest Fidget, 

"I owe you a thousand thanks for your kind 
letters, and if words were the only acknowledgement I 
could make, I should ever be bankrupt, but my affection 
is warm, and my fidelity will last as long as my life. . . . 

11 He was sensible almost to the last, nor did not 
show the least regret at leaving this troublesome world, 
except when he took leave of me, and that was too 
moving a scene for me even to tell now." . . . 

At the end she begs Elizabeth not to write to her, as 
her eyes were so bad, but to get Sarah to do so instead, 
and in all her trouble remembers to send two bottles 
of arquebusade to Matthew Robinson's chambers which 
he wanted, the price being 4s. 6d. a bottle. 

Edward, 2nd Earl of Oxford, was the son of Robert, 
1 st Earl, by his first marriage with Elizabeth Foley, 
sister of Thomas, 1st Lord Foley; he continued to 
collect the Harleian MSS.,t begun by his father, now in 
the British Museum, also innumerable books, pictures, 
medals, etc; and took great interest in all archaeolo- 
gical studies, as did his countess. 

Elizabeth wrote to condole heartily with the duchess 
on her sad loss, but imploring her, for the sake of the 
duke and her dear little children, to endeavour to bear 
up under this sad blow, for father and daughter were 
tenderly attached to each other. 

The universal panacea of bleeding — for one can only 
judge by the manner in which doctors applied to it for 

* He died in Dover Street, June 16, 1741. 

t Lady Oxford sold the Harleian collection of manuscripts in 1753 to 
the British Museum. 



84 A ONE-HORSE CHAISE. [CH. III. 

every case— had been endured by Elizabeth for the sake 
of her eyes, and she says "my eyes are worse for the 
bleeding." She had a narrow escape at this time : her 
brother Matthew driving her for her health along the 
seashore on a high bank raised to keep off the incursion 
of the sea, the horse bolted, but fortunately their servant 
outrider was able to stop it without its bolting down 
either side of the bank. It is characteristic of the times 
that she calls a one-horse chaise, "of all things the most 
ridiculous ! " 

Mrs. Donnellan had been ill, and was ordered to 
Tunbridge Wells, to drink the waters. There was hope 
of Dr. Young being there. " I believe you will find his 
thoughts little confined to the place; he will entertain 
you with conversation much above what one generally 
finds there, where they talk of little but water, breai 
butter, and scandal." 

On July s the duchess writes to say they h; 
carried their cause in the law suit. She also expresses 
her joy at hearing Matthew Robinson intended to be 
inoculated that autumn. Elizabeth said if her eyes and 
general health were better, she would be inoculated too. 
She had just been given, " by a wise son of vEsculapius, 
a diabolical bolus that half killed me. I fainted away 
about three hours after 1 swallowed the notable com- 
position, and was above an hour in such agony that if 
I had not waited for your letter I had certainly gone 
the Elys i an fields." 

A letter of Mrs. Botham's from Elford, of which 
place, as well as of Yoxall, Staffordshire, her husband 
was Vicar, mentions a legacy left to her and her sister, 
Mrs. Laurence Sterne — 



: 



"My husband is in the North; his journey 
happened very opportunely, for an ancient 



;y thither 
t woman 



I74IJ A WINDSOR HATTER. 85 

whose very name I am a stranger to, has lately dyed 
intestate, and my Sister and self are heirs at law of her 
real estate, which consists of some houses at Leeds, the 
yearly value of them about £60. It would be well for 
us if we could make out a title to her personal estate, 
which is upwards of £5000, but that I have no hopes o£" 

The duke and duchess were now at Bullstrode, and 
anxious for Elizabeth to come to them. The duchess 
gives an amusing account of a hatter's funeral — 

"A hatter of Windsor left £100 to a man on condi- 
tion he would bury him according to his desire under 
a mulberry tree in his own garden, 10 feet deep. The 
assistants to drink 12 bottles of wine over his grave, 
and French Horns playing during the whole ceremony, 
and this was accordingly performed yesterday, to the 
great offence of Mr. Grosmith,* who says he was not a 
Christian. . . . 

" To dissect leaves t put 'em into water, and change 
the water every day, but you must take care the leaf is 
not blighted." 

Mrs. Donnellan writes on September 1 to say she 
has returned from Tunbridge Wells after a six weeks' 
visit ; staying with her married sister, Mrs. Claytdn, and 
her husband, Robert Clayton, Bishop of Killala, and 
afterwards of Clogher. The bishop very nobly gave 
his wife's paternal fortune to her sister, Anne Donnel- 
lan. Dr. Young was at Tunbridge, and Mrs. Donnellan 
states — 

" I conversed much with Doctor Young, but I had not 
enough to satisfy me. We ran through many subjects, 
and I think his conversation much to my taste. He 
enters into human nature, and both his thoughts and 
expressions are new." 

* The clergyman. t To skeletonize leaves. 



ar, 

lOd 

ect 



86 THE SCOTTS OF SCOTT'S HALL. [CH. III. 

She also mentions that Lady Thanet, accompanied 
by Mrs. Scott, was at Tunbridge. Mrs. Scott,* of Scott's 
Hall, Kent, was a friend of the Robinsons. She had a 
large family, seven sons and seven daughters ; one was 
lady-in-waiting to the Princess of Orange, and married 
a Monsieur Saumaize, a member of the suite. Her sister 
Caroline, or "Cally Scott" (her pet-name), was the 
bosom friend of Sarah Robinson, and eventually married 
a Mr. Best. Another, Cecilia, who died unmarried, was 
a friend to the Robinson family for life. To Mrs. 
Donnellan Elizabeth writes on September 13, and in 
long letter she says — 

"The time for my brother's inoculation draws nc; 
and though I have a very good opinion of that methi 
of having the smallpox, yet I cannot enjoy a perfi 
tranquillity of mind till it is over. I would fain persuade 
him to have it done while I am in the country, but he 
will not grant my request; for my Pappa, I believe, will 
not let me go to Bullstrode at all, if I don't go before 
that is over; and my brother therefore waits for my 
departure, that I may not be banished for six weeks or 
two months, which he imagines would be melancholy 
forme these long evenings, as I should have no friend 
with me, and am not able to divert myself with books 
now my eyes are bad." 

The duchess was waiting for Lady Oxford's dep: 
ture from Bullstrode. Lady Oxford is often alluded to 
as "the Speaker" by the duchess, the same name, as 
has beer mentioned, was bestowed on Mrs. Robinson 
by her children. Elizabeth's health being so indifferent, 
her parents wished her to consult Dr. Mead, and early 
in October she proceeded to London with her brother 
Tom, where she stayed a few days with Mrs. Donnellan 

• The Scotts of Scott's Hall were one of the most ancient Kentish 
families, originally Balliols of Scotland. 



ar- 



I74IJ MARRIAGE OF LORD SANDWICH. 87 

in Bond Street, and on October 13 joined her beloved 
friends at Bullstrode, the duchess sending her coach to 
London to fetch her. 

Matthew was to be inoculated as soon as the coach 
returned to Mount Morris from taking Elizabeth to 
town, as, till the smallpox appeared, he was to take the 
air daily in it; but the inoculation did not take, and 
Elizabeth's tender fears for her brother were allayed. 

The next letter of interest is on October 20, to her 
mother— 

11 1 return you many thanks for your directions for 
the apron, which I will carefully follow ; as to the silver 
thread I do not approve the use of it, as all great artists 
work for immortality, and my sister will find a little 
time will tarnish her work if there is a mixture of silver 
in it ... I honour Lord Sandwich * for his wise and 
generous contempt of money in a point in which there 
are other things superior to it ; he bears an excellent 
character, there is much prudence in knowing how to 
separate one's particular happiness from that which is 
reckoned so in the world's opinion : if Lord Sandwich 
takes greater pleasure in the conversation of a fine 
woman than in viewing a collection of medals and 
pictures, he is right to prefer Miss Dolly Fane with 
£5000, to Miss Spinckes with £50,000. ... He has a good 
estate sufficient for the becoming state of a nobleman. 
. . . Miss Fane is a happy woman to have a lover so great, 
so generous, and so good. Love has a good right over 
the marriages of men, but not of women ; for men raise 
their wives to their ranks, women stoop to their 
husbands, if they choose below themselves. I think all 
our neighbours are in a marrying humour. I wish 
some of them had married two and twenty years ago, we 
should have had now a gallant young neighbourhood." 

* John, 4th Earl Sandwich, whose nickname later was " Jemmy 
Twitcher," just engaged to Dorothy, daughter of Charles, 1st Viscount 
Fane. 



88 DUCAL BATHS I [Ch. II 

Dr. Mead had prescribed for Elizabeth for her eye: 
and for a swelled lip, which annoyed her much. Whal 
should we think of a blister applied to the back to reduce 
a swelled lip in these days? Yet it was ordered! 
Writing to Sarah, she says — 

" I am better than I was, but my mouth not bein^ 
yet perfectly reduced, I have got a fresh blister upon 
my back, well may it bend with such a weight 
calamities. ... I have sent for my bathing Cloaths, am 
on Sunday night shall take a souze. I think it a pleasant 
remedy. I am to sit a quarter of an hour in the bath, 
and then go to bed and lye warm ; it is to be repeated 
three times a week." 



: 

It 



The next letter to her mother throws a curious lighl 
on the personal cleanliness of the day, and the want ol 
baths in a ducal house — 



" November 6, 1741. 

" Madam, 

"I should write to you much oftener, if I was 
able, but really I am so taken up with the pursuit of 
health I have little time for other employments. My 
lip is not entirely reduced, though I have been blistered 
twice, once blooded, and have five times taken physick, 
have lived upon chicken and white meats, and drank 
nothing but water; however, I am now vastly better 
than I was, and have hardly any pimples in my face, 
and no complaint in my eyes or nose, only this abomin- 
able lip is still rather bigger than it used to be. I 
intend to keep the blister going till it is well, for Mr. 
Clarke has put me in a way of doing it, so that I do not 
suffer much. I have suffered great disappointment 
about the warm bath, which I am advised to try, for tl 
bathing tubs are so out of order we have not yet bei 
able to make them hold water, but I hope next we 
they will serve the purpose." . . . 



■ 



I74L] THE NEW LADVS-MAID. 89 

At the end of the letter is this : " Mary brings me 
word my bathing tub * is ready for use ; so to-morrow 
I shall go in. Pray look for my bathing dress, till then 
I must go in in chemise and jupon ! " Evidently from 
this it was not considered proper to go into a bath, 
even in a bedroom, au naturel t 

Another light on domestic service of the day is given 
in the next letter to Sarah. For some reason Elizabeth 
had a new lady's-maid, and it appears from this and 
other letters that a superior class of persons officiated 
in that capacity. Many a clergyman's daughter was 
glad to be lady's-maid or housekeeper in those days — 

11 1 like my maid extreamly"; she is very humble, 
sensible, quick and diligent, and though her Father 
and Mother are above the common rate, she has never 
presumed to hint she was a person of fashion, which 
the French generally brag of. Mrs. Hogf (ye ladies' 
French woman), tells me Mr. Dufour was a scarlet Dyer, 
worth once five or six thousand pounds, and Mrs. 
Dufour had about £1600 for her fortune, but by the 
knavery of a partner in their trade, they were reduced. 
I think Mary works pretty quick, and washes well, and 
is very handy, and she talks much better French than 
Dulac. 

"I am reading Dr. Swift's and Mr. Pope's letters. I like 
them much, and find great marks of friendship, goodness 
and affection between these people whom the world is 
apt to think too wise to be honest, and too witty to be 
affectionate, but vice is the child of folly, rather than 
of wisdom ; and for insensibility of heart, like that of 
the head, it belongeth unto fools. Lord Bolingbroke's 
letters shine much in the collection. We are reading 

* Before tin baths came into use, I remember my father bathing in a 
wooden tub, which resembled a wheelbarrow without legs or wheels, but 
with two handles at each end. It took two maids to empty it. 

t French maid to the duchess's little girls. 



A MICROSCOPE. 



[CH. III. 



" 



Dr. Middleton's new edition " of his letter from Rome, 
but have not yet come to the postscript to Warburton ; t 
the answer to the Roman Catholic is full, and I doubt 
not the Protestant will be as happily silenced. Truth 
will maintain its ground against all opposition. 

"We expect Mr. J: and Mrs. West, and then we shall 
have the house full. We are in hopes of Dr. Young; he 
is now at Welling sowing spiritual things in his parish, 
I hope to the increase of grace. 

" The sun will not shine for our microscope,§ which is 
a great vexation to the curious. Last night by the 
candle 1 saw a fringe upon a leaf, that would have done 
excellently well for your apron, and I dare say you are 
so excellently skilled in the imitation of Nature that you 
could work just like it if you had the materials." 

In the next letter to Sarah she says — 

"The Muses, fair ladies and Mr. LytteltonJ a fine 
gentleman, will entertain you in my absence desprit 
the verses were wrote at Lord Westmorland's. I think 
the verses are pretty ; either 1 am very partial to the 
writer, or Mr. Lyttelton has always something of an 
elegance and agreeableness in all his verses, let the 
subject be ever so trifling. . . . Does the world want 
odd people, or do we want strange cousins that the 
Sternes must increase and multiply ? No folly ever 
becomes extinct, fools do so establish posterity!" 

As the Sternes' eldest child, the first Lydia, was not 
born till 1745, there must have been a disappointment ; 
but though undated, this letter is of 1741, as allusion 

* " Letters on the Use and Study of History," 

t William Warburton, D.D., Bishop of Gloucester, friend of Pope; 
able controversial writer ; bom 1698, died 1779. 

t Gilbert T. West, LL.D., bom 1706, died 1756 ; poet and writer; 
translated " Pindar." 

% Mr. Achard's microscope. 

U George, afterwards Lord Lyttelton. 






is made 
iust tab 



"CIBBER'S LIFE." 9' 

made to Matthew Robinson's inoculation, which had 
just taken place. 

" We are reading ' Cibber's Life.' * Was there ever so 
exquisite a coxcomb ! " 

November ir, a letter contains — 

"Last night being the birthday of the noble Admiral 
Vernon, we drank his health at noon, and celebrated the 
same with a ball at night. The ' Gun Fleet ' was danced 
in honour of him, and all celebrated with extream joy, 
and a splendid distribution of Crowns to the fiddler, who 
was not the son of Orpheus, but however he made such 
a difference between tit-for-tat and a minouet, that 
one might understand which he meant. Mademoiselle 
Dufourt had the honour of standing up instead of a 
flower-pot or an elbow-chair ; she danced like the 
daughter of Herodias." 

To Mrs. Donnellan, who had been ill, but was 
recovering, this description of Dr. Young t is addressed — 

"We have lost our divines, whose company we 
regret ; there is great pleasure in conversing with 
people of such a turn as Dr. Young and Dr. Clarke ;§ 
for the first there is nothing of speculation, either in the 
Terra Firma of Reason, or the Visionary province of 
fancy, into which he does not lead the imagination. In 
his conversation he examines everything, determines 
hardly anything, but leaves one's judgment at liberty. 
The other goes far into a subject, and seldom leaves the 
conclusion of an argument unfinished; he seems to me 
to have a very accurate judgment, and a very attentive 
observation of everything that comes within his view, 
and thus with the assistance of a happy memory, he has 
laid up a great stock of knowledge and experience." 

" Cibber's "Apology for his Life," published this year ; he did not die 
till 1757, but published his "Apology "in 1740. 
t Her French attendant ; see ante. 
J Dr. Young lost his wife this year, 1741, 
S Dr. W. Clarke, died 1771 ; divine and writer. 



MECHANICAL CHAIR. 



Mrs. Donnellan mentions on November 1 5 a mechanical 
chair she is to have for exercise — 

"An artist is to bring me home a machine* for 
galloping and trotting this day; if I could get him to 
make me one that could move me from one place to 
another, with how much pleasure could I mount my 
chariot to make you a visit. . . . London is as full now 
as it used to be in January. Plays are much frequented, 
both to see Barbarini dance, and a new actress from 
Ireland, her name is Woffington, t ■ ■ ■ she excels in 
men's parts, and is to act 'Sir Harry Wildair' next 
Monday, by the King's commands, and all the world 
goes. We poor Irish run the gauntlet about her; we 
hear in many companys, 'She has a great deal of 
Irish assurance.' I desired it should be called Stage 
assurance. 

" Handel} next week has a new opera, which those 
who have heard the rehearsal say is very pretty. Tell 
Pen the ' Lion Song ' is in it. . . . 

" I hear the Duke of Portland is to have a Blue Garter, 
which I am extremely glad of, as I think 'tis fit and 
proper." 

To this letter Elizabeth replies — 

" The date of your letter from London is the strongest 
temptation to me to wish myself there, that you could 
lay before me: as for Plays and the Beau monde, 1 
hardly wear vanity enough in the country, 'to wishing 
myself once more in— 

" ' The dull farce, the empty show 
Of Powder, pocket glass and Beau.' 

" I know your town is the Kingdom of Cards, and the 
Reign of Mattadores I am disaffected to ; here I enjoy all 

" Called a " Merlin Chair," from the inventor, for mechanical exercise. 

t Margaret Woffington, born 1718, died 1760 ; celebrated actress and 
friend of Garrick, 

I Does she mean "The Messiah," which he produced this year, but 
which at first was not appreciated ? 



; 



I74L] MRS. WOFFINGTON. 93 

the pleasures of friendship, and the satisfaction of 
tranquillity. . . . 

" I hope you will find great benefit by your machine ; 
if you will appoint a time for your imagination to take a 
flight, I will mount the Marquis of Lichfield's Hobby 
Horse, and give you a meeting. Imagination gives 
Pegasus wings, and he often flies into the undiscovered 
country of fancy." 

Mrs. Donnellan writes again on December i to say 
she and her sister, Mrs. Clayton, had been to two plays 
in one week — 

" One of our plays was to see Mrs. Woffington per- 
form the part of ' Sir Harry Wild-air/ * and indeed I 
never saw anything done with more life and spirit ; but 
at the same time she looked too young, too handsome, 
and her voice seemed more proper for Opera than the 
play ; so that we see when things are out of nature, 
though they may have many beauties, in the whole they 
will not please, and a beard and a deep voice are as 
proper to make a man agreeable, as a soft voice and 
smooth face to a woman." 

The next letter of interest is of December 12, to Mrs. 
Robinson, from Elizabeth — 

" Madam, 

"It is long since I have had the pleasure of 
writing to you, for though I have much inclination to 
do so, I have little leisure. I am now coming on you 
with a great deal of news from the city of our Great 
King. The Parliament is all in a flame, the Court have 
had but a majority of seven. There is a great struggle 
between Giles, Earle, and Dr. Lee, which shall be for 
the Committees. The city is in great alarm that they 
are going to lose six hundred thousand pounds out of 
Leghorn, which it is expected will be taken, and the 
Port lost to our merchants. 

* From the play of The Constant Couple. 



94 THE DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH. [Ch. III. 

" Now as to private affairs, it is reported the Dowager 
Duchess of Marlborough • is dead, that she departed 
last night, and no one weeps for her to-day. Ex- 
travagance will lavish away those treasures her avarice 
accumulated. ... I am not sure the report is true, 
though private letters and public papers do affirm that 
the spirit of pride, avarice, and ambition have stolen 
from her as quietly as the common breath of the 
nostrils. . . ." 



The duchess did not die then, as will be seen by the 
next letter to the same person. This was the illness 
when the doctor told her, unless she was blistered, she 
would die, when she cried, " 1 won't be blistered, and I 
won't die 1 " And she did not, for she lived till 1744 ! 

"December 19, 1741. 

"Madam, 

" I believe the wars abroad, and tumults at 
home, will make the publick papers worth reading. Dr. 
Lee has carried his Election by four, the Court is con- 
cerned at it. The Kingt suspended even his dinner 
(an action of as great importance as any done in the 
reigns of some Monarehs) till this affair between Dr. 
Lee and Earle was determined. The Westminster 
Election will now be carried against the Court. It is 
thought Lord Percival will undoubtedly be chosen at 

the new Election. The friends of Sir R { lament that 

now he will not be able to carry any of the petitions, 
but where the right is on his side, and which, too, is 
looked upon by them as an unfortunate thing for the 
Kingdom in general. 

"The Duchess of Marlborough is not dead yet, 
but in great danger; she has St. Anthony's fire to a 
terrible degree, and will have no advice but such as 

" Sarah Jennings, bom 1660, died 1744. 

t George II. 

t Sir Robert Walpole, Prime Minister, born 1676, died 1745. 








'74 1-] 



CZARINA ELIZABETH. 



her apothecary gives her. To Mr. Spencer' she has 
bequeathed in her will £30,000 a year, in addition to 
what he has already. The Duchess of Manchester! 
she has struck out. How the rest of her enormous 

(fortune is disposed of people do not know. 
"We lost two of our Divines to-day, Dr. Young and 
the Dean of Exeter, men of very different genius, but 
both agreeable companions." 

The next is to Sarah, December 22, and in it is — 

»" I don't know whether you have heard of the Revo- 
lutions in Russia, that the Princess Eliza t is made 
Czarina; the Czar, his Mother, Munich and Lacy im- 
prisoned, and all by the power of France, and the 
machinations of General Keith.§ This is bad news for 
poor England. The members of Parliament of the 
country party are gone to their firesides to roast chest- 
nuts, while the Court get the uppermost again. The 
Prince's affair is to come before the House very soon : 

ris a shame that he || has no settlement." 
Two letters of December 26 and December 31 to 
Sarah wind up the year. In the first she mentions 
that the move from Bullstrode to London was to take 
place on January 3, and she was to return to Mount 
Morris on the 5th. In passing through London she 
should visit Mrs. Cotes, If who was a bosom friend of 
hers and Sarah. A little paragraph occurs about Mrs. 
Botham, Mrs. Sterne's sister — 

r" Mrs. Botham is at Elford with Lady Andover, 
hich I am glad of, for poor Lydia has a taste for 
• Her grandson. t Her eldest granddaughter. 

X Elizabeth Petrowna, bom 1709, died 1761 ; daughter of Peter the 
Great. 

f Field-Marsha! Keith, bom 1696, died 1758. 
I Frederick, Prince of Wales, born 1707, died 1751. 
1 Wife of Dr. Cotes, of Wimbledon, sister of Henry, Viscount Irvine, 
born 1691, died 1761. 



96 



THE REV. JOHN BOTHAM. 



[CH 



conversation above the hum-drum mediocrity of her 
husband's understanding. He has a very good pulpit 
drone, and gives the whole parish an excellent nap 
every Sunday with his sermonical lullaby." 

"December 31, 1741 

"My dear Sister, 

"This day did not begin with the auspicious 
appearance of a letter from you ; I am glad it is not the 
first day of the New Year, for I might have been super- 
stitious upon it. I hope you kept your letter back a 
day on purpose to welcome in the coming year. I wish 
it may be our lot ever to find the next bring us what the 
last wanted. But alas! time steals the most precious 
pleasures from us. Our life is like a show that has 
passed by, leaves but a track that makes remembrance 
and reflection rugged, a mark is worn for ever where 
the gay train of pleasures pass'd swiftly by, and observa- 
tion is much longer displeased than ever it was delighted. 
I am loth to part with an old year as with an old 
acquaintance, not that I have to it the gratitude one has 
to a Benefactor, or the affection one bears to a friend. 
I am, 1 fear, neither better nor richer than it found me, 
but we lived easy together, and not knowing whether 
1 shall have the acquaintance of many years, I could be 
willing to stop this. I have one obligation to it that 
I rate highly, that it has ensured you from the danger 
of smallpox. This year too has allowed us many happy 
months together. I hope all that are behind for me 
design the same, else they will come unwelcome, and 
depart unregretted. . . . This day sennight I shall be 
with you and the good family at Horton, telling a 
'Winter's tale' by the fireside! Oh that we were all 
to meet then, that once graced that fireside, even the 
goodly nine,* and thanking my Father and Mother for 
all the life they imparted to us, and have since supported ! 
1 hope the Rock is safe and our meeting reserved for 
some of the golden days of fate." 

* The nine Robinsons, brothers and sisters. 









*.-—.*_ ■ -• ■ n- ag 



1742.] NEW YEAR'S DAY. 97 

Thomas Robinson, the second brother, had this year 
brought out his celebrated legal book, entitled " Common 
Law of Kent, or the Customs of Gavel Kind, with 
an appendix concerning Borough English/' to this day 
a well-referred-to book. In 1822 a third edition was 
published, and another in 1858, revised by J. D. 
Norwood Thomas was of Lincoln's Inn, was admitted 
April 14, 1730. The "National Biography" states he 
was never called to the Bar, which must be a mistake, 
as there is frequent mention of his pleading cases at 
Canterbury and elsewhere in the manuscripts. 

This year opens with a letter to Mrs. Donnellan, a 
portion of which I copy — 

" Bullstrode, January 1, 1742. 

"Dear Mrs. Donnellan, 

" Though there is no day of the year in which 
one does not wish all happiness to one's friends, this is 
the particular day in which the heart goes forth in 
particular vows and wishes for the welfare of those it 
loves. It is the birth of a new year, whose entrance we 
would salute, and hope auspicious ; nor is this particular 
mark of time of little use : it teaches us to number our 
days, which a wise man thought an incitement to the 
well spending them ; and, indeed, did we consider how 
much the pleasure and profit of our lives depends upon 
an economy of our time, we should not waste it as we 
do, in idle repentance, or reflection on the past, or a vain 
unuseful regard for the future. In youth we defer being 
prudent till we are old, and look forward to a promise 
of wisdom as the portion of latter years : when we are 
old we seek not to improve, and scarce employ our- 
selves ; looking backward to our youth as to the day of 
our diligence, and take a pride in laziness, saying we 
rest as after the accomplishment of our undertakings ; 
but we ought to ask for our daily merit, as for our 
daily bread. The mind, no more than the body, can be 

vol. 1. H 



LORD GEORGE HENTINCK. 



[Ch. III. 

iised for 
red as a 



sustained by the food taken yesterday, or promised f( 
to-morrow. Every day ought to be considered as 
period apart, some virtue should be exercised, some 
knowledge improved, and the value of happiness well 
understood, some pleasure comprehended in it ; some 
duty to ourselves or others must be infringed if any ol 
these things are neglected. . . ■ 

" I beg of you to reserve Monday morning for me, ani 
I will spend it all with you ; on Tuesday I set out for 
Mount Morris, and on Sunday night Pen' desires you 
to be at her house. I hope to return to you in the 
beginning of March for between two and three months. 
Our happy society is just breaking up, but I will think 
of it with gratitude, and not with regret, and thank Fate 
for the joyful hours she lent me. . . . 

" This year does not promise me much pleasure as tl 
last has afforded me here, but the fairest gifts of fai 
come often unexpected." 

This sentence was, had she known it, prophetic, foi 
this very year was to furnish her with an excellent and 
loving husband, a position of importance, and a plentiful 
fortune. In a letter to Sarah at this period mention is 
made by Elizabeth of Lord George Bentinck (the duke'- 
uncle) having been ill, and the means taken for hi: 
recovery ! — 

" Lord George is much better than he was, 
Drs. Mead and Sandys have not determined whethi 
it is gout. I hope it is not; he has been blooded forty 
ounces within this week, and they say looks as florid 
as evert" 

Elizabeth now left the duchess, joining her sister, 
who was in town with her friend, Mrs. Cotes, and write; 
to her beloved duchess from Sittingbourne, their halting 
place en route home. In this letter she says— 

• Mrs, Pendarves. 



: 



ite 

for 
nd 
ful 
is 
* 



[1742. NORTHFLEET FAIR. 99 

"When I arrived at Northfleet, where we dined, 
every Phillis and Corydon were at a fair in the town, 
and to enter into the humours of the place, I walked 
through it In one booth were nymphs and swains 
buying garters, with amorous posies, some only with 
the humble request, ' When these you see, remember 
me ' ; others with a poetical and more familiar ' Be true 
to me, as I'm to thee.' Under another booth, for the 
pleasure of bold British youths, was Admiral Vernon in 
gingerbread ; indeed he appeared in many shapes there, 
and the curate of the parish carried him home in a brass 
tobacco stopper. I was a little concerned to see him 
lying in passive gingerbread, upon a stall with Spanish 
nuts; but the politicians of our age are wonderful in 
reconciling the interest of nations. I assure you there 
was a great deal of company; many hearts did I see 
exchanged for fairings of cherry-coloured ribbon ; and 
one Cymon more polished than the rest, presented his 
damsel with a fan, with the intent, I presume, not to 
give 'coolness to the matchless Dame.'" 

Of politics and the opposition to Sir Robert Walpole, 
we now gain a glimpse in a letter of Mrs. Donnellan's of 
January 14 to Elizabeth — 

" It is certainly believed that the King has sent an 
offer of a reconciliation, and that tempter gold, to the 
Prince * by the Bishop of Oxford,t whose answer was 
that while Sir Robert, who he apprehended had raised 
his Majesty's resentment against him, was at Court, he 
could not appear there, but that if he was removed, he 
would fly without any other conditions but to have the 
happiness of throwing himself at his Majesty's feet." 

The duchess, writing on January 23, says, "Sir 
Robert carried the question by three votes." 

* Frederick, Prince of Wales, then on very bad terms with his father, 
f Thomas Seeker, born 1693, died 1768; afterwards Archbishop of 
Canterbury. 



IOO SIR ROBERT WALPOLE. [Ch. II 

In the same letter she says, " I am just come froi 
Court, where I saw your incomparable cousin kiss ham 
for the government of Barbadoes; now he certainly 
goes, I will pay my civilities to him in hopes of getting 
some shells!" This was Sir Thomas Robinson,' who, 
having almost ruined himself with his improvements at 
Rokeby, and his enormous and frequent entertainments, 
applied for the governorship on economic reasons, ai 
continued governor till 1747. 

On February 4 the duchess writes in bad spirits 
" Fidget " ; the duke was ill with the gout, and her little 
girl, Lady Fanny, had had a convulsion fit, for which 
"she was blistered and blooded within t2 hours 
drastic treatment for an unfortunate infant not a yi 
old 1 In this letter we read — 



■ 

di 



: 



: 

hat 



"The King sent Sir Robert word that he had 
more orders for him, and that he must resign, but th; 
he made him Earl of Orford. Others report that upon 
his losing the election of Bainton, Rolt, and Sir Edmund 
Thomas, he went to the King and told him the current 
ran so strongly against hiro he could no longer be of 
service to him, but that he would come into the House 
of Lords. Lord Wilmington t is to act as first Lord of 
the Treasury till affairs are settled. It is said the Duke 
of Richmond t has given up, that Sir William Young and 
Winnington are to be turned out,. Harry Pelham to be 
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and there is a patent 
drawing for Miss Walpole§ to take the place of Lord 
Orford's daughter." 



• " Long" Sit Thomas Robinson, as he was called (o distinguish h 
from another baronet of the same name. See note at end of book a 

bin. 

t Earl of Wilmington, died 1743. 

I Charles, and Duke. 

I Miss Skerrit, illegitimate daughter of Sir Robert. 



174*] LORD ORFORD. IOI 

On February 9 Mrs. Pendarves writes the follow- 
ing:— 

11 Clarges Street, February 9, 1742. 

" My dear Miss Robinson will think me very dilatory 
in obeying her commands, but the uneasy situation I 
have been in, surrounded by sick friends * and servants, 
must make an excuse for me. 

" Burnet,t I hope is safe on your table, and has by 
this time given you some entertainment. 

" As for the fringe it should have been sent to you 
sooner, could I have found it, but it was buried under 
such a variety of rubbish it was like digging in a mine 
to find it. Don't let these delays discourage you from 
making use of me again, for no one can take more 
pleasure in being your humble servant than I do. This 
is asserting a bold truth, and would draw on me numbers 
of challenges, if I published it. I should not be afraid 
of accepting the combat where my cause was so good. 
Our letters crost on the road. Your observation on 
retirement is very just, and all your thoughts show the 
good use you make of Retirement ; but I wish for my 
own sake to draw you out of it. I am not so unreason- 
able as to expect to hear often from you. I can't justly 
make that demand, but if you were in town I should 
endeavour to have a great deal of your company; let me 
know when I may hope to see you. At present I can 
give you no very inviting reason for coming ; as to the 
entertainments of the place, all parties are out of humour ; 
everybody conjectures something ; nobody knows any- 
thing, but that Sir R(obert) W(alpole) kissed hands 
yesterday as Lord Orford, and his daughter as Lady 
Mary, that he resigned yesterday, and goes to Houghton 
in a few days. His faithful services to his King are well 
rewarded. I have been interrupted by two favourites 
of yours, Lord Cornbury and Mrs. Donnellan, and to 

* Mrs. D'Ewes, her sister, and Sir John Stanley, her uncle, had 
been ill. 

t Bishop Burnet's " History of the Reformation." 



102 THE DUCHESS OF NORFOLK'S MASQUERADE. [Ch. lit. 

recommend them still stronger to your favour, they have 
prevented your having a dull long letter. I send the 
fringe enclosed ; if I wait till my spirit is more alert you 
may want your apron, and think I have quite neglectei 
your orders. I will run any hazard rather than give 
you just cause to complain of me, and am with great 
sincerity, 

" My dear Fidget, 

" Yours most faithfully, 

" M. P. 

" P.S. — My sister desires her best compliments, mine 
attends yours, and all your family." 

On February 1 1 the duchess writes — 

"Great changes have been wrought to-day, Mr. 
Sandys has kissed hands as Chancellor of the Exchequer, 
Lord Carteret/ is to be Secretary of State,t Lord Harring- 
ton, President of the Council, Mr. Pulteney t and Lord 
Winchelsea§ are to go to Court to-morrow; and all 
affairs are to be transacted by the advice of Pulteney 
and Pelham. Lord Cobham H has hindered the Prince 
coming to Court, but it is to be hoped he will be per- 
suaded to the contrary. The Duchess of Norfolk is 
to have a masquerade next Wednesday, so that I am 
in the greatest of hurrys to get ready. I am to be 
'Night.'" 

On the same day Mrs. Donnellan writes that — 

"The Duchess of Norfolk's! masquerade employs 
the gay world as much at present as the Court places 
does the ambitious. The Duchess, Lady Andover, and 

* Afterwards Earl Granville, born 1690, died 1763- 

t William, 1st Earl, bom 1690, died 1756. 

I Afterwards Earl of Bath, born 1684, died July 8, 1764- 

5 Daniel, 8th Earl, born 1689, died 1769. 

H Sir Richard Temple, made Baron Cobhain, born 1669, died 1749, 

1 Wife of 9th Duke, lUt Mary Blount. 



>*» '»■ W smimmiimmStttmtm 



«■« ■■■ .- " 11 ■"mi i^ 



1742.] SIR HANS SLOANE. 103 

Pen have their tickets, poor Dash * fears she will not 
have one. The Duchess is to represent 'Night/ and 
you know she has stars to adorn it, and make it bright 
as day. Lady Andover and Pen are to be dressed after 
Holler's Prints. I have desired they make this house 
their place of meeting, and shall desire the same of all 
my acquaintance, which will give me all I care for of a 
masquerade." 

Another peep at the masquerade is gained by a letter 
from " Cally " Scott to the two Robinson sisters — 

" The Princess of Wales t was the finest figure that 
ever was seen ; she had a vast number of jewels, and was 
in Queen Elizabeth's dress : the Duchess of Portland's 
was very odd and pretty, her upper part was night, and 
the lower moonshine." 

The duchess writes early in February — 

"My dearest Fidget, 

"Though I shall have the pleasure of seeing 
you soon, yet I can't help conversing with you as often 
as it is in my power. I am but just come from Sir Hans 
Sloane's,} where I have beheld many odder things than 
himself, though none so inconsistent : however, I will 
not rail, for he has given me some of his trumpery to 
add to my collection, and till I get better they shall 
remain there. . . . 

11 The Duchess of Marlborough's Memoirs § are come 
out. I long to read 'em, and hear she has given my 
grandfather a character, entirely worthy of herself, to 
show posterity how very different they were in all 
circumstances of life. If she makes her character to 

* " Delia n Dashwood. 

t Augusta of Saxe Gotha, wife of Frederick, Prince of Wales. 

X Eminent physician and naturalist, born 1660, died 1753; then 
living at Bushington House, Chelsea. 

§ Her " Account of her Conduct." Mr. N. Hooke helped her to write 
it this year. 



104 



HOUSE OF LORDS. 



[Ch. III. 



answer his, she has given him a great foil which his 
virtue did not require. Swift's ' Four last years of 
Queen Anne" are coming out. I don't hear they are 
yet printed." 

Elizabeth now went to London, and in February 
writes this interesting letter to her father in Kent' 

" Sir, 

" I thought it would be agreeable to you to havi 
an account of the mighty and important proceedings of 
both houses yesterday, so I have sent you the question, 
which was debated in both Houses with a good deal of 
warmth. It was brought into the House of Lords by 
Lord Carteret, t who spoke two hours in opening. Lord 
Carlisle and Lord Westmorland spoke with great 
warmth, and Lord Carlisle J was very bitter. Lord 
Halifax § seconded Lord Carteret. Lord Talbot said in 
answer to the Duke of Marlborough's motion (that it 
might be voted that an attempt to inflict any kind of 
punishment, etc, etc.) that he would not say that all 
persons were interested that spoke .in favour of Sir 
Robert, that they appeared to be so, and upon being 
called to order, he said with heat that he was used to 
speak truth, and he did believe (by the most sacred 
oath) that they were so, and that he was ready to give 
any man satisfaction that would require it. All moderate 
men voted with the majority in both Houses. Lord 
Cornbury and Mr. Harley spoke in favour of Sir R. : 
the latter said that though Sir R. had pursued a relation fl 
of his without evidence, and caused his imprisonment, 
and thereby the shortening of his life, he could not, as 
he had differed from him in all his measures, copy him 

" Was not printed till 1758. 

t John, 2nd Baron Carteret, afterwards Earl Granville, 
t 7th Earl of Carlisle. 
{ jth Earl of Halifax. 
I Alluding to the impeachment and imprisonment of Robert Harley, 
■ st Earl of Oxford. 



! 






1742.] THE HOUSE'S ADDRESS. 105 

in that, and so withdrew with his brother and many 
others who had great disobligations to the Member. 
Mr. Skipper would not vote against the great man, for 
it seems there was no proof nor evidence of the accusa- 
tions. I think the majority was 290 against 190 in the 
House of Commons. Many of the Country interest did 
not vote at all ; they did not break up till three. The 
House of Lords at one o'clock in the morning. Mr. 
Sandys • opened very well, and Mr. ' Ste -Fox t spoke on 
the other side extremely well. I may by the next post, 
be able to give you a further account of the matter, but 
this is all I have yet heard, for the Members of Parliament 
are half asleep to-day. 

" I am, Sir, 

" Your most dutiful, etc" 

On the other side of this folio letter, in another hand- 
writing, is the Question— 

" The House was moved that an humble Address be 
presented to his Majesty, most humbly to advise and 
beseech his Majesty that he will be most graciously 
pleased to Remove the Right Honble. Sir Robert 
Walpole, Kt. of the most noble order of the Garter, first 
Commissioner of his Majesty's Treasury, and Chancellor 
of the Exchequer, and one of his Majesty's Most 
Honourable Privy Council, from his Majesty's Presence 
and Councils for ever, 

" And a question being stated thereupon after long 

Debate, 
"The Question was put, whether such an address 

shall be presented to his Majesty. 

11 It was resolved in the Negative. Contents 47, 

Proxies 12: 59. Not Contents 89, Proxies 19: 

108. 

"Then it was likewise moved that an attempt to 

inflict any kind of Punishment on any Person without 

* Afterwards 1st Lord Sandys of Ombersley. 
t Father of 1st Baron Holland. 



io6 



THE OPERA. 



[Ch. III. 



allowing him an opportunity to make his defence, or 
without proof of any crime or misdemeanor committed 
by him, is contrary to natural Justice, the fundamental 
Laws of this Realm, and by ancient established usage 
of Parliament, and is a high infringement of the 
Liberties of the Subject. After further debate, The 
Previous Question being put, whether that Question 
shall now be put? 

" It was resolved in the Affirmative. 

" Then the Main Question was put, and it was 
resolved in ye Affirmative. Contents 81, Not Contents 
54-" 

Elizabeth, in a letter to the Rev. William Freind, 
gives us an insight into the Opera of that period- 

" I was at the Opera on Saturday night, where was 
all the world. I was very well diverted between the 
Opera and the Audience, or I ought rather to say the 
Spectators, for they came to see and not to hear. I 
heard the Elephant was the finest thing in the Opera, 
but that was contradicted, and the burning of the 
Temple was preferred to it To accommodate every- 
thing to the absurdity of the Town, the dancing is 
rendered more ridiculous and grotesque than ever. 
I was thinking if the Court of Augustus could have seen 
the polite part of our nation, admiring a wooden 
Elephant, with two lamps stuck for eyes, and poor 
Scipio and Asdrubal could have risen to have seen 
themselves covered with silver spangles, and quavering 
an Italian Air, what an honest indignation and scorn 
would they have conceived at us. . . . 

"My Sister Pea is abroad ; 1 am confined again by a 
little feverishness. I thought as it was a London fever 
it might be polite, so I carried it to the Ridotto, Court, 
and Opera, but it grew so perverse and stubborn, so I 
put it into a White Hood and double handkerchief, and 
kept it by the fire these three days, and it is better ; 
indeed 1 hope it is worn out. On Saturday I intend to 



i 
■ 

i 

r 
l 



1742.] GARRICK. 107 

go to Goodman's Fields to see Garrick * act Richard 
III. : that I may get one cold from a regard to sense, I 
have sacrificed enough to folly in catching colds at the 

Great Puppet Shows in town. 

• ♦ * * • 

" I must tell you advice is to me this morning, that 
Anson t had taken three Ships laden with silver, and is 
going to Chagre, and from thence to Panama ; Vernon 
and Wentworth are to go with him, and Trelawney is 
to accompany them to reconcile their resolutions." 

At this period Morris Robinson lost his beloved 
college friend, a Mr. Carter, a most promising youth, 
from smallpox. Morris attended him until his death, 
and was almost inconsolable for his loss. 

* David Garrick, born 1716, died 1779. Made his first appearance 
on the stage in 1741. 

t Admiral Lord Anson, born 1697, died 1762. Eminent naval com- 
mander. 



( io8 ) 



CHAPTER IV. 

ENGAGEMENT AND EARLY MARRIED LIFE. 

I have made but few allusions to Elizabeth's love 
triumphs, but as the time approaches when she was to 
make her final choice, I must now allude to them. 
There was a certain " Mr. B./' from what I can gather 
a Mr. Brockman, of Beechborough, a fine place near 
Mount Morris, who had been desperately in love with 
her for some time ; he is frequently alluded to in the 
family letters. In one to Sarah at this period Elizabeth 
says — 

" Poor Mr. B. really takes his misfortunes so to heart 
that he is literally dying, indeed I hear he is very ill, 
which I am sorry for, but I have no balsam of hearts- 
ease for him, if he should die I will have him buried in 
Westminster Abbey next the woman that died of a 
prick of a finger, for it is quite as extraordinary, and he 
shall have his figure languishing in wax, with 'Miss 
Robinson, fecit/ wrote over his head ; upon my word I 
compassionate his pains, and pity him, but as I am as 
compassionate, I am as cold too as Charity. He pours 
out his soul in lamentations to his friends, and ' all but 
the nymph that should redress his wrong, attend his 
passion and approve his song/ for the Rhyme will 
have it so. I am glad he has such a stock of flesh to 
waste upon. Waller says that — 

41 * Sleep from careful Lovers flies 
To bathe himself in Sacharissa's eyes.'" 



1742.] LOVERS. 109 

A certain captain, name unknown, also inveigled the 
Rev. William Freind to a coffee-house to talk two hours 
by the clock of Miss Elizabeth Robinson's perfections. 
About this Elizabeth writes to Mr. Freind — 

" I am very sorry if the poor man is really what you 
think, unhappy ; if his case is uneasy I am sure it is 
desperate ; complaint I hope, is more the language, than 
misery the condition, of lovers. To speak ingenuously 
you men use us oddly enough, you adore the pride, 
flatter the vanity, gratify the ill-nature, and obey the 
tyranny that insults you ; then slight the love, despise 
the affection, and enslave the obedience that would 
make you happy : when frowning mistresses all are 
awful goddesses, when submissive wives, despicable 
mortals. There are two excellent lines which have 
made me ever deaf to the voice of the charmer, charm'd 
he ever so sweetly — 

" ' The humblest Lover when he lowest lies, 
Submits to conquer, and but kneels to rise. 1 

" Flattery has ever been the ladder to power, and I 
have detested its inverted effects of worshipping one into 
slavery, while it has pretended to adore one to Deifica- 
tion. If ever I commit my happiness to the hands of 
any person, it must be one whose indulgence I can 
trust, for flattery I cannot believe. I am sure I have 
faults, and am convinced a husband will find them, but 
wish he may forgive them ; but vanity is apt to seek the 
admirer, rather than the friend, not considering that the 
passion of love may, but the effect of esteem can never, 
degenerate to dislike. I do not mean to exclude Love, 
but I mean to guard against the fondness that arises 
from personal advantages. ... I have known many 
men see all the cardinal virtues in a good complexion, 
and every ornament of a character in a pair of fine eyes, 
and they have married these perfections, which might 
perhaps shine and bloom a twelvemonth, and then alas ! 



IIO SIR GEORGE LYTTELTON. [CH. IV. 

it appeared these fine characters were only written 
white and red. 

" A long and intimate acquaintance is the best presage 
of future agreement I have strengthened this argu- 
ment to myself by the example of you and Mrs. Freind. 
I hope in my long and tedious dissertation I have said 
nothing disrespectful of Love. As for your particular 
inducement to it I cannot tell whether it was beauty or 
good qualities, they being united in her in a degree of 
perfection not to be excelled." 

After wishing the rejected lover " Riches and alliance 
to help his laudable ambition," she concludes with 
wish the same advantages for myself, with one of estab- 
lished fortune and character, so established, that one 
piece of generosity should not hurt hi^fortune, nor one 
act of indiscretion prejudice his character." 

Who this particular individual was is not now known, 
but that Elizabeth was the cynosure of all eyes from 
her wit, beauty, and vivacity is shown by her brothers' 
letters of this period, which constantly allude to her 
troop of admirers. Mr. Lyttelton, now Sir George 
Lyttelton, the only single man whom she had ever 
mentioned with uniform admiration, married this year, 
on June 15, Lucy, daughter of Hugh Fortescue, Esq., 
of Filleigh, Devonshire, a marriage of the purest affection 
on both sides. 

In a letter at the end of 1741 she states that her 
father's steward in Yorkshire had been guilty of pecca- 
dilloes, and that she was to accompany her parents to 
Yorkshire in early spring, where her father promised 
her attendance at the York races, in lieu of the Canter- 
bury ones, which then appeared to her a poor substitute. 
Whilst in Yorkshire she either met for the first time, 
or more probably renewed her acquaintance with, Mr. 
Edward Montagu, her future husband, of whom some 
account must now be given. 



i 



1742] MR. EDWARD MONTAGU. Ill 

Edward Montagu was the son of Charles Montagu, 
fifth son of the great Earl of Sandwich, * Lord High 
Admiral of the Fleet to Charles II., and who had acted 
as his proxy at his marriage with Catherine of Braganza. 
Charles Montagu married twice. By his first wife, 
Elizabeth Foster, he had one son, James; he married 
for second wife Sarah Rogers, daughter of John Rogers 
and his wife, nee Margaret Cock. The Rogers owned 
large estates at Newcastle-on-Tynet and in its neigh- 
bourhood. Charles Montagu, by his second marriage, 
had three sons, Edward, Crewe, and John, and a daughter, 
Jemima, who was married at the time I am writing of 
to Mr. Sydney Medows, afterwards Sir Sydney Medows. 
Mr. Edward Montagu was born in 1691, hence he was 
twenty-nine years older than Elizabeth. At the time he 
courted Elizabeth, another admirer, a young nobleman, 
whose name I know not, is stated to have been in love 
with her, but constant to her former protestation of 
choosing a " formed character " that she could look up to, 
she chose the older man. It is odd not a sentence is met 
with about him before, except that one of her brothers 

chaffs her about " converting a Mr. M to dancing," 

which may have referred to him. He was a profound 
mathematician, the friend of Emerson and other learned 
men of that day. His character was amiable, equable, just, 
and of the highest integrity, as is shown by his letters, 
and his political conduct as a Member of Parliament in 
what was a corrupt age. Mrs. Carter J mentions him 
11 as a man of sense, a scholar, and a mathematician " in 
her letters. He owned a good estate at Allerthorpe, 

• For other particulars as to the Montagu family the reader is re- 
ferred to the pedigree. 

t In 1689 Mr. Rogers bought the estate of East Denton, Northumber- 
land, with its collieries, for ;£ 10,900. 

t Elizabeth Carter, born 1716, died 1806. The learned Greek 
scholar. 



L- 



in as 

nne 
wer 
lip. 
its 
ive 

ow 



112 MRS. DONNELLAN'S ADVICE. [CH. IV. 

Yorkshire, and another near Rokeby (the fine estate 
belonging to Elizabeth's cousin, "Long" Sir Thomas 
Robinson), also a house in Dover Street, London. 

Evidently the letter here inserted in Mrs, Anne 
Donnellan's handwriting, but unsigned, was an answei 
to an appeal of Elizabeth's for advice as to this courtship. 
Though long, 1 consider it so perfectly suitable in its 
advice to any persons contemplating matrimony, I give 
it in exlenso — 

" I can't enough express to you, my dear Friend, ho' 
much your confidence in me obliges me, as it shows me 
the place I hold in your heart. The latter part of your 
letter, which is what I write to now, is a difficulty I 
know how to pity, as I have experienced it, and yet I do 
not find I am at all the more capable of advising how to 
avoid it ; there is a medium between encouragement and 
ill humour that is certainly right to avoid being thought 
to desire to raise a passion that one does not design to 
gratifie, or to be too apt to think one has raised a 
passion that must be discouraged, for as I think nothing 
is more unjust than to wish to make another unhappy, 
merely to gratifie a vanity of being known to be admired, 
so nothing is more ridiculous than to be too apt to fane; 
one has raised such a passion, and I should always 
choose to be the last that perceived it, rather than the 
first. I have seen so many appearances of liking that 
has proved neither uneasy to one side or t'other, that I 
am not apt to fear great hurt from them, and I fancy the 
longer you live the more you will be of my mind ; 
indeed when a man gives way to a passion on a prospect 
of success, and finds a disappointment to it, has often, I 
believe, given a melancholy turn to his whole life: but 
for what I call occasional likings they can run from one 
to another with great ease and dexterity. Now what I 
think the most difficult in these affairs is to satisfie 
others in our conduct, for there is as you observe, in the 
heart of male and female a principle of vanity and self- 
love that makes us unwillingly give way to a preference 



I 




in any thing, and we are very apt to comfort ourselves 
with thinking, and sometimes saying, that the preference 
given is not from greater perfections, but from greater 
encouragement, 'some people set themselves out, and 
pay a court I cannot,' when we are all doing our best to 
gain this descried admiration, and vexed, even to make 
us unjust when we fail. In short, and when I view 
human nature in some lights, I can almost forgive 
Swift's Yahoos. But to the point. 1 should think the 
behaviour on these occasions should be as easy as we 
can, and we should be pretty sure there is a passion 
growing in the heart before we make an alteration that 
can be perceived by the person concerned, and as for 
the by-slanderers, I should endeavour to convince them 
I did not desire such a conquest, but at the same time, 
I would not let them think they could easily persuade 
me I had made it. I would converse as usual in public, 
but I would avoid private conversations, lest others 
should think I sought them, but these are things I am 
sure you can think of better than I can, and must be 
practised as circumstances suit. The person said nothing 
here but what was extremely proper, we talked of you 
all, and you and another were commended with great 
elegance, and for the third they said they did not know 
them enough to give an opinion. 

" Now my dear Friend a word about the desire that 
is natural in most females to make lovers, if you meet 
with a person who you think would be proper to make 
you happy in the married state, and they show a desire 
to please you, and a solidity in their liking, give it the 
proper encouragement that the decency of our sex will 
allow of, for it is the settlement in the world we should 
aim at, and the only way we females have of making 
ourselves of use to Society and raising ourselves in this 
world ; but for lovers merely for being courted and 
admired they are of no real use, and often prove a great 
detriment both by their own malice of disappointment 
and their jealousy of others, and for a friendship of any 
tenderness between disengaged persons of different sexes 

vol. i. t 



II 4 



MRS. MONTAGU'S MARRIAGE. 



[Ch. IV. 



I am afraid there is no such thing, so do not be caught 
by that deceitful bait. Esteem and regard may be with- 
out passion, but tenderness and confidence, and what 
we call friendship among ourselves, will, with oppor- 
tunity, turn to desire in the different sexes. We desire 
to possess a friend to know their heart, to be in their 
thoughts, this must turn to passion between the sexes, 
I think 'tis impossible to be otherwise, and I could 
express it more philosophically but you will do it for 
me. Now pardon me this impertinent letter, there are 
not those in the world to whom I would write so freely, 
for I do not know those who I think have sense and 
goodness of heart, to bear advice : the only merit of 
mine is its sincerity and affection, and having seen more 
years has given me many opportunities of seeing the 
world of love, with all its mischiefs. Adieu, burn this, 
and love me as I do you most sincerely. 

"P.S. — I will say no more of Books till we meet, 
though 1 must wonder at the want of discernment in 
those who can read an Author who is all fiction, am 
take it for certain truth." 



Anyhow, Mr. Montagu and Elizabeth entered into ai 
engagement, and in the Gentleman's Magazine for August, 
1742, is the following announcement: — "August 5th. 
Edward Montagu, Esqr., Member for Huntingdon, to 
the eldest daughter of Matthew Robinson, of Horton in 
Kent, Esqr." 

The Rev. William Freind tied the nuptial knot. 

The day after her marriage Mrs. Montagu writes t 
the Duchess of Portland — 



: 



" Friday, August 6, 1741. 
" Dear Madam, 

" I return your Grace a thousand thanks for 
your letter ; the good wishes of a friend are of them- 
selves a happiness, and believe me I have always thought 
myself the nearer being happy because 1 knew yoi 



• 





LADY ANDOVER. 

wished roe so. If your affection to me will last as long 
as my love and gratitude towards you, I think it will 
stay with me till the latest moment I shall have in this 
world ; no alteration of circumstances or length of time 
can wear out my grateful remembrance of your favours 
to me; you have a station in my heart, from whence 
you cannot be driven while any one virtue lives in it : 
truth, constancy, gratitude, and every honest affection 
guard you there! 

" Mr. Montagu desires me to make his compliments 
to my Lord Duke and your Grace, with many thanks 
for the favour his Grace designs him of a visit which he 
is not willing to put off so long as our return from 
Yorkshire, but will be glad of the honour of seeing the 
Duke on Monday, at seven o'clock in Dover Street ; and 
I hope at that most happy hour to have the pleasure of 
seeing you. We shall spend that evening in Town. If 
you will be at home to-morrow at two o'clock, I will 
pass an hour with you ; but pray send me word to 
Jermyn Street at eleven, whether I can come to you 
without meeting any person at Whitehall but the Duke ; 
to every one else pray deny your dressing room. Mr. 
Freind will tell your Grace I behaved magnanimously, 
and not one cowardly tear, I assure you, did I shed at 
the solemn Altar, my mind was in no mirthful mood 
indeed. I have a great hope of happiness ; the world, 
as you say, speaks well of Mr. Montagu, and I have 
many obligations to him, which must gain my particular 
esteem ; but such a change of life must furnish me with 
a thousand anxious thoughts. 

" Adieu, my dear Lady Duchess : whatever I am, I 

Iust still be with gratitude, affection, and fidelity, 
" Yours, 
" Eliza Montagu." 

Amongst the numerous congratulations received on 
her marriage may be mentioned letters from Lady 
Andover, staying at Levens with the Berkshires, 
and Mrs. Pendarves, who writes from Calwich. The 



Il6 "DELIA." [Ch. 

following paragraph shows the general esteem of Mi 
Montagu's character — 

" I think you cannot be disappointed in the choice 
you have made ; you know the essentials of happiness, 
and have made your choice accordingly, and Mr. Montagu 
must be much envied now, as he has always been 
esteemed : nobody's character answers more to your 
merit You must give me leave to trouble you with 
my compliments to him, and to add that I wish to 
be acquainted with him. I cannot help having a very 
favourable opinion of the person whom you have pn 
ferred to all others." 



I 



" Delia " (Miss Dashwood) writes— 



I 

rity 



" My heart in plain sincerity wishes you joy s 
lasting happiness, and sure you have the best security 
for both, as all allow Mr. Montagu has an uncommon 
good understanding, and as large a share of good nature, 
both which are conspicuous in yourself, that they must 
undoubtedly when joined produce a lasting harmony." 

Mr. Montagu appears to have been only known by 
popular report to the Bullstrode circle, till his marriage, 
but his immense circle of relations and friends opened 
a fresh vista of delightful and extended social engage- 
ments for his wife. This first letter of Elizabeth's to 
her mother after marriage is interesting — 

'• Dover Street, August 10. 
" Hond. Madam, 

"I had the pleasure of meeting your letter hei 
last night at my arrival. The Duke and Duchess of 
Portland spent the evening and supped with us. This 
morning I have been looking over the house, and seeing 
many things much better than I deserve, in which I am 
to have a share: but what gives me infinitely more 
pleasure than these favours of fortune, is observing 
the willingness and gladness with which Mr. Monti 



: 



1742.] HONEYMOON TOUR. 117 

bestows them upon me. I find the house very good and 
convenient, and I hope I shall spend many happy days 
in it Happy I am sure they will be to me, if I can 
make them so to the person who has thus obliged me. 
I must write but a very short letter, for Mrs. Medows * 
who favours us with her company to dinner is waiting 
for me in the next room. 

" My sister is just returned from some business she 
has been doing for me, she would desire her duty if she 
was here, but there are two pair of stairs between us. 
I hope you got well home from Canterbury. We pro- 
pose going away on Thursday. This day we shall spend 
in Town, to-morrow we return to our Box in Kentish 
Town, and then away to Yorkshire, where if you have 
any commands, pray let me have the pleasure of executing 
them. Madam Sally and I will write our travels as we 
go. Mr. Montagu desires his best respects to you, my 
Father and my brothers. My duty and love attends 
them as proper. I will in all good say as far and as much 
for my sister as myself, so accept the same compliment 
from her, and believe me, dear Madam, with a grateful 
sense of all your and my Father's goodness and care, 

" Your dutiful, affectionate and 
obliged Daughter, 

"Eliza Montagu. 

11 P.S. — I design to write to my Father next post. 
The Duke of Argyll t is said to be relenting upon the 
subject of places of which several are spoken of for him, 
and that he goes to Flanders. Some report that his eldest 
daughter J is to be Duchess of Greenwich at his death." 

It will be seen by this letter that Sarah Robinson 
was acting chaperone, which the odd etiquette of those 
days exacted, it being then not thought bon ton for a 
newly married couple to be alone on their honeymoon ! 

• Mr. Montagu's sister. * 

t 2nd Duke of Argyll; and Duke of Greenwich. Military commander, 
statesman, and orator ; born 1680, died 1743. 
X Caroline, made Baroness Greenwich. 



1 18 



MR. ROBINSON. 



[Ch. IV. 



The following letter from Mr. Robinson to his new 
son-in-law shows the happiness of the newly married 
couple : — 

"Dear Sir, 

" Don't be apprehensive upon seeing this, that 
added to the impertinence you have already received 
from my hands, you are to have that of a troublesome 
correspondent; I can assure you it is the way I am the 
least troublesome to my friends ; the truth of the matter 
is that I know I should never forgive myself if I should 
be wanting to you in any respect, even though it should 
amount to no more than a point of ceremony. As I 
think that no letters that come from your wife ought to 
be a secret to you, I cannot help telling you I saw one 
from her last week to her Mother, and another to her 
brother Tom, so full of the happiness of her present 
condition, and the prospect of her future, that I begin to 
be suspicious that they are designed as a reproof to me 
for the deplorable state under which she passed twenty- 
three years. I shall not forgive her till I know she uses 
all her endeavours to give to you an equal share, which 
1 think you have at least a right to. We hope you enjoy 
the benefit of this fine weather upon the road, and will 
arrive safe and well at Allerthorpe before this to the 
satisfaction of my good friend Mr. Carter." Our com- 
pliments attend your family and his. 

"I am your most obedient Servant, 

" Matt. Robinson. 

" Horton, August ye 15, 1741." 
This was addressed — 

"To Edward Montagu, Esqr., 
"at Allerthorpe Hall.t 

"near Burrough Bridge, 
" Yorkshire. 
" Member of Parliament." 
* Mr. Carter was steward and agent to Mr. Montagu ; a most worthy 

t Allerthorpe, being close to Burneston, the Robinsons were well 
acquainted with the neighbourhood. 




4:-] DR. CONYERS MIDDLETON. 

The following letter of Dr. Conyers Middleton to 
Elizabeth on her marriage is of interest : — 

" Milder-sham,* near Linton, August 17, 1742. 
" Madam, 

" I should have paid ray compliments earlier on 
the joyful occasion of your marriage if I had known 
whither to address them ; for your brother's letter which 
informed me, happened to He several days at Cambridge, 
before it came to my hands. My congratulation, how- 
ever, though late, wants nothing of the warmth with 
which the earliest was accompanied ; for I must beg 
leave to assure you that I take a real part in the present 
joy of your family, and feel a kind of paternal t pleasure, 
from the good fortune of one whose amiable qualities I 
have been a witness of from her tenderest years, and to 
whom I have ever been wishing and ominating every- 
thing that is good. I have always expected from your 
singular merit and accomplishments that they would re- 
commend you in proper time to an advantageous and 
honourable match ; and was assured from your prudence 
that it would never suffer you to accept any which was 
not worthy of you ; so that it gives me not only the 
greatest pleasure on your account, but a sort of pride also 
on my own, to see my expectations so fully answered, 
and my predictions of you so literally fulfilled. As all con- 
jugal happiness is founded on mutual affection, cherished 
by good sense, so you have the fairest prospect of it now 
open before you, by your marriage with a gentleman, 
not only of figure and fortune, but of great knowledge 
and understanding, who values you, not so much for the 
charms of your person, as the beauties of your mind, 
which will always give you the surest hold of him, as 
they will every day be gathering strength, whilst the 
others are daily losing it. But I should make a sad 

" Hildersham, near Cambridge, built by Dr. Middleton. The poet 
Gray was a constant visitor there. 

t It will be remembered Dr. Middleton's first wife was Mrs. Drake, 
U Morris, Elizabeth's maternal grandmother. 



120 ALLERTHORPE. [Cil. IV. 

compliment to a blooming bride if I meant to exclude 
her person from contributing any part to her nuptial 
happiness; that is far from my meaning; and yours 
Madam, I am sure, could not fail of having its full share 
in acquiring your husband's affection. What I would 
inculcate therefore, is only this : that though beauty has 
the greatest force to conciliate affection, yet it cannot 
preserve it without the help of the mind ; and whatever 
the perfection of the one may be, the accomplishments 
of the other will always be the more amiable ; and in the 
married state especially, will be found after all, the most 
solid and lasting basis of domestic comfort But I am 
using the privilege of my years, and instead of com- 
pliments, giving lessons to one who does not want them. 
I shall only add, therefore, my repeated wishes for all 
the joy that matrimony can give you and Mr. Montagu, 
to whose worthy character I am no stranger, though I 
have not the honour to be known to him in person, and 
am with sincere respect, 
" Madam, 

"Your faithful friend, 

and obedient servant, 

"CONVERS MlDDLETON, 

" P.S. — My wife charges me with her compliments and 
best wishes of all happiness and prosperity in your new 
state of life." 






Here I make some extracts from Mrs. Montagu's 
second letter to her beloved Duchess of Portland, dated 
August 21, 17+2, from Allerthorpe, Mr. Montagu's York- 
shire seat — 

"On Tuesday I arrived at this place, not tire< 
with my journey, but satisfied therewith. As far ; 
Nottingham you will travel very soon, and then as far 
as Doncaster, therefore it will be but impertinent to 
give you an account of the road or anything concern- 
ing it. I will only tell your Grace I saw Nottingham 



-=-t\>*Tjp*»'.--.j' 



1742.] LITTLE BROTHERS. 121 

Castle,* where there is beauty and magnificence worthy 
the wisdom and the riches of your ancestors. As we 
came nearer to this place, the country grew more wild, 
but not less beautiful; we came through some rivers 
that charmed me beyond all things. . . . We have at 
present very fine weather, the sun gilds every object, 
and I assure you it is the only fine thing we have 
here, for the house is old and not handsome : it is 
very convenient, and the situation extremely pleasant. 
We found the finest peaches, nectarines and apricots, 
that I have ever eat: your Grace will think I mean 
turnips, carrots and parsnips ; but really and truly they 
are apricots, peaches and nectarines. To-morrow, I 
believe will be one of the happiest days I ever spent, 
I am to go to fetch my brothers from schooL How 
delightful will be such a meeting after so many years' 
separation." 

These were her three youngest brothers, William, 
John, and Charles, who had been five years at school at 
Scorton, without coming home. Mr. Montagu, eager to 
gratify his bride's love of her family, had allowed her to 
have them to stay, and ever afterwards he was their 
constant friend and benefactor. Further on in the letter 
she states that it took them " six days with very easy 
stages " to reach Allerthorpe from London ! In the next 
letter she states that her little brothers being " sensible, 
good-natured, and sober, the most affectionate towards 
each other of any children of their age I ever saw : 
they have very good characters at school, both as to 
their learning and behaviour ; but the quintessence of 
perfection is my brother Jack." 

At the end of this letter she mentions her old friend, 
Miss Cally Scott, of Scott's Hall, was going to be married 
to Mr. Best, a man of fortune. 

* Belonged to the Dukes of Newcastle, the duchess's ancestors. 
Destroyed by mob in Reform riots, 1835. 



On August 25 
Freind — 



THE REV. MATTHEW ROBINSON. [Ch. IV. 

writes to her cousin, Mrs. 



"Dear Cousin, I am ashamed I have not befoi 
answered your kind letter and returned thanks for those 
good wishes of whose accomplishments I hope there 
is the fairest prospect : I think we increase in esteem 
without decaying in complaisance, and I hope we shall 
always remember Mr. Freind and the fifth of August 
with thankfulness. 1 am infinitely obliged to Mr. Freind 
for not letting the knot be tied by the hands of an 
ordinary bungler ; he was very good in coming to London 
on purpose, but he did not give his last benediction, but 
stole away before my sister or any of us were come 
downstairs. 

"We arrived at this place after a journey of six 
days through fine countries, where the riches of Harvest 
promised luxury to the Landlord, plenty to the farmer 
and food to the labourer. Here we are situated in a 
fine country, and Mr. Montagu has the pleasure of call- 
ing many hundred pounds a year about his house his 
own, without any person's property interfering with it : 
I think it is the prettiest estate, and in the best order I 
ever saw ; large and beautiful meadows for riding or 
walking in, with a pretty river* winding about them, 
upon which we shall sometimes go out in boats. 

"In this parish Dr. Robinson,t our general Uncle, 
has founded a school and an Alms House where the 
young are taught industry, the old, content : I propose 
to visit the Alms House very soon. I saw the old 
women with the Bucks upon their sleeves at Church, 
and it gave me pleasure. Heraldry} does not always 
descend with such honour, as when Charity lea 
the hand. Our uncle did this good while he was alive; 

• The Swale. 

t The Rev. Matthew Robinson founded these charities at Buracst 
York, where he was Vicar for forty years. 

I The Hospitallers wear a purple gown with a gold buck on t 
shoulder, the Rob in sou crest. 



re 
se 



■■w, 



1742.] FIRST LETTER TO MR. MONTAGU. 1 23 

it was not that Soul thrift that would save itself with 
another's money. 

11 1 hope you will forgive my not having written to you 
before, but a new family, and a new place must take up 
one's time. Our house here is tolerably convenient, and 
that is all that can be said for it We have a better 
which I hope you will often see in Berkshire.* Pray 
when you and Mr. Freind have a leisure hour, dispose 
of it in writing to me. Mr. Montagu has an estate near 
Rokeby, from whence I intend to visit Sir Thomas 
Robinson's f fine park of which I hear great praising. 
" I am, dear Madam, 

" Your most affectionate cousin, 

and obedient, humble servant, 

" Elizabeth Montagu." 

Mr. Montagu having left Elizabeth for a few days 
for business at Newcastle, she writes to him — 

"How very fortunate are those few who in the 
Person they love, meet with the principles of Honour 
and Virtue to guide them through the World, but this, 
my fortune, so happy and so rare, shall not breed in me 
that insolence of opinion that I deserve it, but I will 
still look up to Heaven and you with gratitude and 
continual acknowledgments." 

This sufficiently indicates the happiness and mutual 
confidence reigning between the newly wedded pair. 

On October 2 Dr. Conyers Middleton wrote Mrs. 
Montagu a long letter, mainly a dissertation on marriage 
and its duties. He alludes to his pleasure at her having 
her three youngest brothers with her, calling them 
"enfans trouves by a sister unknown to them," and 
he adds — 

" I shall always think myself particularly interested 

* Sandleford Priory, Berks. 

t Mrs. Friend's brother. See note on Rokeby at the end of this book. 



124 



PERE LE COURAYER. 



[Ch. IV. 



in their success, for they were all born under my roof, 
which may, one day perhaps, derive an accession of fame 
from that circumstance. If I should live to see any of 
them in the University, it would be a pleasure to me to 
do everything in my power that might be of use to 
their improvement." 

This shows that Mrs. Robinson had been accustomed 
to stay with her mother, the first Mrs. Middleton, for her 
latter frequent confinements, though Elizabeth and some 
of the elder sons were born at York. Dr. Middleton 
begs Mr. and Mrs. Montagu to pay him a visit at 
Cambridge on their return to London, and states, "Thi: 
university had the honour of Mr. Montagu's education, 
and claims some share in yours." 

Being detained by business in the north, Mrs. 
Montagu wrote to Mrs. Donnellan to send her 
winter mantle and muff, and as prices of those times 
may interest my readers, I will mention the blue 
velvet mantle cost ^5, the ermine muff one guinea. In 
Mrs. Donnellan's letter the Pere Courayer sends his 
compliments and good wishes to Mrs. Montagu. As he 
figures much in later letters, I give a short sketch of his 
biography. Peter Francis le Courayer was born in 
1681, and was a Normandy ecclesiastic; although a 
Roman Catholic, he had the courage to defend the 
ordinances of the English Church, for which the Pope 
censured him severely. He left France for England, 
and went to Oxford, where he lodged with Mrs. Chene- 
vix, the famous toy-woman. He was made LL.D., and 
translated Father Paul's " History of the Council of 
Trent," also Sleidan's "History of the Reformation." 
He was well known to Horace Walpole. He died 
in 1776. His pet-name was "the little Pere." In a letter 
of the duchess's of October 9 from Welbeck, where she 
was visiting her mother, Lady Oxford, she says — 



n 



1742] WORKSOP. 125 

" Mamma was so obliging last week as to carry us to 
Worksop Manor,* the Duke of Norfolk's, t The Designs 
are noble and grand, they have made great plantations. 
The gardener told me he had planted last year 300,000 
Forest trees, besides sowing three score bushels of seeds. 
The approach to the house is fine. I don't like the house 
though it was built by Bess of Harwicke, whose wisdom 
I have in great reverence : the best apartment is up two 
pair of stairs, the additional offices lately built are 
exceedingly good, the Dairy much prettier than that 
we saw at Richmond. The servant told us the Duchess 
gave the chief direction for the building, had planted 
those woods, had drawn the plan for that piece of water 
of 120 acres. The Duke's time is chiefly occupied with 
drawing plans for Bee hives ! With difficulty I kept my 
countenance. . . . 

11 We were on Monday at Kiveton, which is by much 
the finest house I ever saw, and the best furnished. 
The Park and views from it are very beautiful." 

From Allerthorpe the Montagus visited Mr. Buck- 
ley % at Bishop's Dale, near which place Mr. Robinson 
in former days had lived in the shooting season. Eliza- 
beth had not been there for fifteen years. She describes 
to the Duchess of Portland the country — 

" I had been three days upon an expedition to a wild 
part of the country called the Dales, where Nature's 
works are not delicate, pretty and mignonne, but grand, 
sublime and magnificent. Vast mountains, rocks and 
cascades, and rapid rivers make the country beautiful 
and surprising. We went to a farm abounding in 
wonders, a high hill with some hanging wood before it, 
behind it a large and rapid river with the prospect of 

* Worksop was burnt down in 1761. The duke here mentioned built 
500 rooms to it. 

t Edward Howard, 16th Duke of Norfolk. 

X Mr. Buckley had been a second father to the three little Robinson 
boys, who spent their holidays with him. 



126 FRENCH ECONOMY. [Cu. IV. 

a huge cascade, an old Castle and a Church. Some 
houses in view take from it the honour of absolute 
solitude : a range of rocks appears like the ruins of an 
old town on the other side of the river. In a cottage 
built in this charming place, lives an old woman, who 
has attained to an hundred and four years, and for this 
long lease of life, has not exchanged the best comfort. 
She enjoys good health, tolerable strength, has her 
hearing perfect, and her sight very well : is cheerful and 
has not lost her reason, but answers with sense and 
spirit, her hair is of a fine black : she was knitting when 
we went to her, and has promised to knit me a pair of 
stockings in a month. 

" My Father had a house in this part of the world for 
the summer sports of shooting and fishing, so that the 
old woman and I had been well acquainted ] 5 years ago, 
and she told me laughing she imagined I did not expect 
to see her alive at this time. . . . 

"Tell Pere Courayer* my head is as much troubled 
with chimeras and giddiness as ever. 1 fear he is too 
fond of variety in life to be a friend to Matrimony. The 
merriest man I have seen in Yorkshire is a Frenchman, 
who came here for religion, and has had the needful of 
life added unto him ; he has a little estate, and lives with 
the mountain nymphs, Liberty and Health, in the 
Dales; he amuses himself with singing to his grand- 
children, mending his clothes, and making soup: his 
grandson eats soup with him, and his next darling, U 
petit chat, helps him off with the Bouillie. He can not 
only make a fine dish of the cabbage, but of the snails 
and caterpillars, and what we call the unprofitable 
vermin that live upon it ! There was not a creature in 
Noah's Ark that would not be received into his larder, 
for a Frenchman is seldom so proud of stomach as to 
term anything unclean. . . . 

"Mr. Montagu desires his compliments to your grace, 
and my Lord Duke ; we talk of you and drink your 
health as often as you can expect from sober peopli 
* He had expressed a fear [hat matrimony would spoil her philosophy. 






r*Hi~ 



1742.] WHIG PRINCIPLES. 1 27 

Had I married a Tory fox-hunter he might have toasted 
you in a longer draught ; but for temperate Whigs we 
do you reason. 

" I am, my dear Lady Duchess's 

most grateful, and most affectionate, 

"E. Montagu." 

Mr. Montagu was a Whig, but, as his wife states, a 
moderate one. His political conduct as Member for 
Huntingdon was irreproachably upright in a most venal 
age. What respect his wife already had for his judg- 
ment is shown in a letter from her to him in London, 
whither he had gone for the meeting of Parliament on 
October 16, enclosing her reply to Dr. Conyers Middle- 
ton's letter, desiring him, if he did not approve of it, 
to burn it, and she would write another. The follow- 
ing passage speaks volumes for Mrs. Montagu's humility 
(though she was so universally praised) : — 

"The letter directed to Dr. Middleton, if you 
approve, I would beg the favour of you to frank, and 
send to the post, but I should be glad if you would first 
take the trouble to read it, for it is with some uneasi- 
ness I correspond with the very wise. I think an 
understanding of a middle size has a great deal of 
trouble in conversation between reaching to those 
above it, and stooping to those below it." 
She signs — 

" My Dearest, your very affectionate 

and faithful wife." 

His letters to her begin generally "My Dearest 
Angel," or " My Dearest Life." His writing is most 
characteristic, a clear, firm hand, easily read, much 
information compressed into a few words, and filled 
with most affectionate expressions. 

Elizabeth was now in an interesting condition, and 
as Dr. Sandys forbade her travelling for a time, she 



[Ch. IV. 



and Sarah remained at Allerthorpe. The joy of Mr. 
Montagu was extreme at the idea of an heir, which 
was shared by his sister, Mrs. Medows, and all his 
relations. Elizabeth, though pleased at the prospect, 
was very souffrante, and bored by an inactive life, yet 
submitted to it with a good grace. 

At this period her brother Robert was made captai 
of an East India vessel travelling to China, to his 
family's satisfaction. 

The Duchess of Portland writes from London and 
says — 

" 1 was extremely well entertained the other day 
with seeing Dr. Mead's* curiosities. They are much 
finer than Sir Hans Sloane's. In particular he has a 
mummy much finer preserved. It is the custom to gild 
their faces, so that all the features are painted over the 
gold. ... Of all the things, except the pictures, which 
are exquisitely fine, none pleases me more than a mask 
in bronze, which is exceeding fine workmanship, and has 
upon it the symbols of all the gods. The crown of vine 
for Bacchus, a circle of iron for Pluto, the ears of Pan, 
and the beard of waves for Neptune." 

We gain a peep at French fashions of the day in this 
paragraph, in a letter of Mrs. Donnellan's — 

"Mrs. Rook, an acquaintance of mine, is just come 
from Paris, and is come without a hoop, and tells me, 
except in their high dress, nobody wears one. Their 
sacks are made proporttonably narrow and short 
opened before with a petticoat and trimmed, and with a 
stiff quilted petticoat under: the only reasonable thing 
I have heard from France a great while, and the only 
fashion I should wish to follow." 

It would be impossible to include in this work all 

• Dr. Richard Mead, born 1673, died 1754. Celebrated physic 



1742.] THE MUFF. 129 

the letters between Mr. Montagu and his wife, but the 
following shall be given in its entirety to show his 
style : — 

" November, 1742. 

"My Dearest Life, 

" Yesterday as soon as it came to hand, j • sent 
yours to my sister. I have not seen her but am sure 
she thinks herself much obliged, as all must do who 
have the happiness of a correspondence with you, whose 
letters not only please by their wit and vivacity, but are 
full of sincerity and friendship, of virtue and goodness, 
which you set in so true and amiable a light, that if 
those that read them grow not wiser and better, it is 
none of your fault. 

" 1 rejoice at the good account you give of your health, 
that you suffer less and less every day. I wish j could 
prevent your suffering at all. The prudent care you 
take obliges me in the highest degree, and j hope with 
the assistance of your happy and chearful disposition of 
mind, preserve you from any misfortune. Though j 
most eagerly long to see you, j would have you run no 
hazard, and will content myself till we break up, when j 
hope neither bad roads nor bad weather shall hinder 
me coming to you : till then j desire you to spend your 
time as agreeably as you can, and am glad Mrs. Yorke 
and Mrs. Clayton are to make you a visit. 

11 1 waited on Mrs. Donnellan this morning, yester- 
day was not convenient for her, and could not do it 
before. I paid her the bill which j send enclos'd and 
a guinea more for your muffe, so that out of ye six 
guineas j shall owe you five shillings. She expressed 
herself much obliged, and desired her compliments to 
you, and both to you and Miss Salley. 

" Your Father went out of Town last Friday. The 
evening before j spent with him, Dr. Audley and your 
three brothers,! who were all well. I suppose you will 

• Mr. Montagu, like the Duke of Portland, for years used " j " for 
M I," presumably an old custom, 
t Matthew, Thomas, and Morris. 

VOL. I. K 



THE HANOVER TROOPS. 



[CH. IV. 

Iren* at 
leave of 
ey come 



;her 

ier's 
the 



130 

soon have your instructions about your children* 
Scorton. You do well in letting them take leave t 
those they are so much obliged to, and when they come 
from Burton, if they spend the rest of their time with 
you, there will be no harm in it, nor will it hinder them 
in their learning, as they are designed for anothei 
school. 

" My good friend at Theakstone t sent me his brother': 
letter, and j received another this afternoon from the 
Admiralty Office, which j will send you in a post or two, 
that you may communicate it to his relations. I shall 
do all j can to serve him, and after j have made inquiry 
about the manner of doing it, will write to his Father. 

"On Thursday last a motion was made for a secret 
Committee, and the next day for the place Bill, both 
which succeeded as was expected, the first was flung 
out by a majority of 66, the latter by a majority of 25 ! 
The Debates were very warm, and the Chancellor of the 
Exchequer t was terribly roasted, but all to no purpose, 
for after what has happened, he and such as he, who 
have acted so perfidious a part, will be sure to go all 
lengths. On Monday we expect to have the considera- 
tion of the 16,000 Hanover troops § come before us, 
and to be carried through, a worse thing than any 
that was ever attempted in the time of Sir R(obert) 
W(alpole). 

" I hope this will find dear Miss Salley recovered, 
pray present her with my best compliments, and believe 
me to be, 

" With the most tender regard, 

"My Dearest's most obliged and 
affectionate Husband, 

" Edw. Montagu." 

• Her three youngest brothers, John, William, and Charles. 

t Young Mr. Edward Carter, son of Mr. Montagu's head agent, 
was petitioning for his brother, Mr. William Carter, to have a 
Marines, he being in that service through Mr. Montagu's influence. 

t Mr. Sandys. 

§ These men to receive British pay. 



1742.] ORATORIOS. 131 

Mrs. Montagu writes to the Duchess of Portland — 

" I am now in the highest content : my little brothers 
are to go to Westminster, as soon as the holidays are 
over, and what adds still to my pleasure in this, is that 
Jacky's going is owing to Mr. Montagu's intercession 
for him with my Father, who did not design his going 
to Westminster till next year : our youngest,* I believe, 
is to go out with our new Captain. . . . 

" I am pretty well, but I do not like to sit still like 
Puss in the corner all the winter to watch what may 
prove a mouse, though I am no mountain. I cannot 
boast of the numbers that adorn our fireside, my sister 
and I are the principal figures ; besides there is a round 
table, a square screen, some books and a work basket, 
with a smelling bottle, when morality grows musty, or 
a maxim smells too strong, as sometimes they will in 
ancient books. 

" I had a letter to-day from Mr. Montagu, in which 
he flatters me with the hopes of seeing him at 
Christmas." 

In a letter of Mrs. Pendarves of December 9 from 
Clarges Street, where she was living, she tells Mrs. 
Montagu, " Handel is to have six oratorios in Lent. The 
operas are dull, the plays for one part well acted, ten 
are wretched, but Garrick is excellent" 

About this time Elizabeth writes a long letter to 
the Rev. William Freind, her cousin, portions of which 
I give. She says — 

" The last and best good office you did me, I believe, 
will claim my thanks to the longest day of my life. . . . 
I know it will please you to hear that I have, every day 
since you made me a wife, had more reason to thank you 
for the alteration. I have the honour and happiness to 
be made the guest of a heart furnished with the best and 

* Charles to accompany his brother Robert. 



132 



HER HUSBAND'S CHARACTER. 



[CH 



■ 



greatest virtues, honesty, integrity and universal benevc 
lence, with the most engaging affection to every one 
who particularly belongs to him. No desire of power, 
but to do good, no use of it but to make happy. I cannot 
be so unjustly diffident as to doubt oi" the duration of 
my happiness, when I see the author of it dispensing 
content to all his dependants, and should he ever cease 
to use me with more care and generosity and affection 
than I deserve, I should be the first person he has ever 
treated in this manner. Since I married I have never 
heard him say an ill-natured word to any one, or have I 
received one matrimonial frown. His generous affection 
in loving all my friends, and desiring every opportunity 
for my conversing with them, is very obliging to me. 
We have often pleased ourselves with the hopes of 
seeing you frequently in Dover Street this winter; but 
alas, I am a prisoner at Allerthorpe, and the worst of 
prisoners confined by infirmities and ill health. 

"Mr. Montagu went to Parliament ten days ago to 
my mortification, but with my approbation. I desired 
him to go, and half wished him to stay! 1 knew his 
righteous star would rule his destiny, so I helped him 
on with honour's boots, and let him go without murmur- 
ing. He left me my sister, and where she is there will 
happiness be also. . . . We have not been troubled with 
any visitor since Mr. M. went away, and could you see 
how ignorant, how awkward, how absurd, and how un- 
couth the generality of people are in this country, you 
would look upon this as a piece of good fortune. 

" I am very happy in one thing, that drinking is not 
within our walls; we have not had one person dis- 
ordered by liquor since we came down, though most of 
the poor ladies have had more Hogs in their dinii 
rooms than ever they had in their hog stye. . 

" 1 imagine you will have seen Dr. Middleton's tran: 
lations of the Epistle by this time; pray tell me 
you think of them." 

The Duchess of Portland, on December 4, writes in 



: 



■"^ ~" ■"■» , *-"«ii« 



1742O "NIGHT THOUGHTS." 133 

great annoyance at some of her letters being lost. She 
was much worried about the health of her mother, who 
suffered severely from cramp in the stomach. She 
desires Elizabeth to write a visible * letter to cheer Lady 
Oxford, and adds, "I rejoice you are better. I hope 
you have left off footing it and tumbling downstairs. 
Have you read 'Night Thoughts' ? If you have, I beg 
you will give me your opinion of it." 

Dr. Young had lost his beloved wife, his step-son 
and step-daughter the year before. The step-daughter 
died of consumption, brought on by grief at her mother's 
loss. Her step-father had taken her abroad for her 
health. She died at Montpellier, and was refused 
Christian burial by the bigoted French of those days 
The poor doctor, assisted by his servant, dug her grave 
in a field, unaided by any one. Can any one wonder at 
the gloom pervading the poem ? 

Whilst the duchess is writing to Mrs. Montagu, the 
latter writes on December 5 — 

"Madam, after being sunk into stupidity by the 
company of a strange kind of animal called a country 
Beau and wit, how unfit am I for conversation of the 
Duchess of Portland ! " 

She then proc eeds to draw this curious picture of a 
country beau, — 

" who cannot attain the perfection of a monkey, even the 
art of mimicry. . . . Had you seen the pains this animal 
has been taking to imitate the cringe of a beau, the 
smartness of a wit, till he was hideous to behold, and 
horrible to hear, you would have pitied him ! He walks 
like a tortoise, and chatters like a magpye : by the 

* Often the familiar letters were enclosed to Mrs. Elstob, a learned 
lady and authoress, who was now governess to the Portland children. 
Lady Oxford was then at Bullstrode. 



134 



A ROUE OF THE PERIOD. 



[Cii. IV 



5 

sly 



indulgenceofakindmother.andtheadvantageofacountry 
education, he was first a clown, then he was sent to th< 
Inns of Court, where he first fell into a red waistco; 
and velvet breeches ; then into vanity. This light coi 
panion led him to the play house, where he ostentiousl; 
coquetted with the orange wenches, who cured him of 
the bel-air of taking snuff by abridging him of his 
nostrils, grown even in his own eyes no very lovely 
figure ; he thought Bacchus, no critic in faces, would 
prove in the end a better friend than Cupid : accordingly 
he fell into the company of the jovial, till want of money 
and want of taste led this prodigal son, if not to eat, to 
drink with swine. He visited the prisons, not as a com- 
forter, but as a companion to criminals; shook hands 
with the gold finder, and walked in the ways of the 
scavenger; so singular his humility, none were his con- 
tempt. At last, having lost his money, ruined his con- 
stitution, and lost all the sense nature gave him, he 
returned to the country where all the youths of inferior 
rank, admiring his experience, and emulating his qualities, 
and copying his manners, grew, some fit for jail, others 
for transportation. . . . Notwithstanding all these vices 
and the most nauseous effect of them, all people treat 
him civilly !" 

Mr. Montagu writes to his wife on December o,* 
in it he says— 

" Tomorrow the affair of the Hanover troops f conn 
on, and will be carried, which is the worst that ever 
came before the House, of which j shall give you an 
account in my next letter, and send you several 
pamphlets well worth your reading about that, and the 
present state of affairs." 

Writing again from his house in Dover Street, 
London, on December 20, he says — 

* Remember this is " Old Style " date, 
t This was the proposal to pay Hanoverian Lioopswilh English money 
10 assist in the war. 



eat 



135 

"On Tuesday we met at Westminster, where his 
Majesty opened the session with a most gracious speech 
from the throne, which j hope you have got, as you shall 
have the addresses of both Houses sent by this post. 
You will easily perceive what was aimed at by the 
speech, and that by the addresses both the Lords and 
Commons have most dutifully consented to take 16,000 
Hanover troops into our pay. This was openly avowed 
by Lord Carteret • in the Upper House, and by those 
who made the motion in the Lower. After a debate 
which lasted till between 10 and 1 1 at night our address 
was carried by a majority of 109, the numbers being 
150 and 259. By that stroke England is become a 
province to Hanover, the charge of the military part 
of its government already being flung upon us (for who 
shall tell when we shall get rid of this burthen ?) or how 
soon we shall feel the additional part of the same? 
The late ministry never attempted anything like it, and 
it shows that the new one will stick at nothing to 
recommend themselves to the King, the Devil in Milton, 
' with one bound, high ovcrleapt all bound' . , . The number 
of those that love their country truly, always was and ever 
will be but small, and the Saints never yet governed the 
Earth, and I believe never will, but true patriotism is not 
the less a virtue for that, nor must its votaries leave off 
their endeavours or be discouraged at whatever happens." 

It will hardly be credited that the country apothecary 

(bled Mrs. Montagu for a headache in her delicate con- 
dition ; but so he did, and as a fever was then raging, she 
submitted, though saying she heard "he had let the life 
out of the veins of eleven people," as this disease would 
not stand " blooding ! " 

A Mr. Twycross, who was in love with Sarah 
Robinson, suffered from sore throat, and she accord- 
ingly herself made up a bolus for him from a recipe of 

* Afterwards Lord Granville, born 1C90, died 1763. Secretary of 



- 



136 A WH1TSTABLE HOY. [Ch. IV, 

an old maid friend, the size of which alarmed Mrs. 
Montagu. Fortunately, his throat getting better, he 
did not use it, to Mrs. Montagu's relief, who says 

"Had he swallowed it I should have thought there 
was love powder in it, for he said a thousand pretty 
things to her, with an air of great tenderness, and indeed 
had he taken the bolus I believe no man could have been 
nearer dying for a lady. The recipe had been given her 
by an ancient maiden, who having said in her sorrow all 
men were liars, thought the best way to cure them of 
the vice of telling lyes was to choak them." 

Some details as to the conveyance of goods are given 
in a letter of Mr. Robinson, Senior, to Mr. Montagu on 
December 12, saying, " Dear Sir, I sent on Saturday by 
the Whitstable Hoy * ' Talbot' two brace of woodcocks 
and a pheasant, which I hope you have received." 

In a letter to Mr. Montagu, December 17, his wife 
desires him, 

" pray order Griffith to send me down ' The Complaint, 
or Thoughts on Time, Death and Friendship.' t . 
have been desired by a friend to read it. . . . 

"Our boys} are to be put on board the York stage 
this day sennight, this will be their first launching into 
the world, I wish the bounteous Lady Fortune would 
take 'em in hand. Jacky is vastly pleased that you 
entreated his Father to send him to Westminster. They 
desire their best respects." 

Mr. Montagu was still detained in London, not only 
by his parliamentary duties, but for a Chancery suit. 
He writes on December 21, lamenting the long separa- 
tion " from the ardent object of his desires," but pleased 
to think that the doctor will soon give her permission to 

• A coasting vessel. 

t By the Rev, James Hervey, bom 1714, died 1758. 

X Her three little brothers. 



: 



1742.] THE LORD CHANCELLOR. 137 

join him in London. This passage throws light on law 
suits of that day — 

"Our petition, as we were made to expect, was to 
have been heard this day, but the Lord Chancellor who 
has, j think, much more business than any one man can 
go through as he ought to do, had so many petitions 
that it is thought impossible it should come on sooner 
than tomorrow, and may not be till near the beginning 
of next term. Part of his Lordship's time is this day 
taken up by his attendance on the King, who comes to 
the House of Lords to pass some money bills, in all his 
royal pageantry and show. Things of this nature add 
a great deal to the plague, expense and delay of Law, 
especially in the Court of Chancery. If we are not 
heard tomorrow in the forenoon j shall be deprived of 
your brother's * assistance, who was so good as to come 
post from Canterbury on Sunday last on purpose, and 
must set out again for the same place at noon tomorrow. 
. . . This day the House of Commons are to be ad- 
journed till after the hollydays, and it is talked that the 
Session will be at an end by the beginning of March. 
The opposition has been carried on with a great deal of 
spirit and will be continued to be so after Xmas, as it is 
given out. They intend to make a new ministry wade 
through more mire, though they have gone through so 
much already. They have got themselves more enemies 
in the short time they have been in, than Lord Orford 
in his long reign, for they are ruining their country 
faster than ever he did, and this infamous job of the 
Hanoverian Troops, it's thought was what he never 
would give way to. Several of our young Members 
have greatly distinguished themselves by their opposi- 
tion, and made it appear that there is no want of the 
parts and capacity of those who have so perfidiously 
deserted them and the cause of liberty. But none has 
done it so eminently as Mr. Pit(t),t who in the opinion 

* Thomas Robinson. 

t William Pitt, ist Earl of Chatham, born 1708, died 1778; "the 
great commoner." 





DR. SANDYS. 

of several, as well as me, is a greater man than ever 
j have sat with, and if he preserves his integrity, will 
be transmitted to posterity in the most illustrious of 
characters. He is at least equal, if not superior to 
Mr. Murray,* who has been brought into the House on 
purpose to contend with him, and who did the first day 
of his entrance by saying everything the cause would 
bear in so good a manner, that he gave nobody offence, 
which makes me believe he will not serve the ministry 
in the slavish, dirty manner other attorneys and solicitor 
generals are wont to do, but with more dignity to 
himself, if not with more advantage to their cause. . . . 

" I hope you will, along with this, receive Mr. Hervey's 
lucubration, If Lord Shaftesbury's ' Characteristics ' are 
among my books, Wear shall bring them down. . . . 

" It is with much pleasure j acquaint you Lady 
Sandwich t was on Saturday morning at 4 o'clock safely 
brought to bed of a Son." J 

In writing to the Duchess of Portland on December 28 
to wish her a happy new year, Mrs. Montagu informs 
her she has permission from Dr. Sandys to move towards 
London in a fortnight's time. She says — 

" I shall move as slowly as a fat corpse in a herse. 
Your grace asks me if I have left off footing and tumbling 
down stairs ; as to the first, my fidgetations are much 
spoiled, sometimes I have cut a thoughtless caper which 
has gone to the heart of an old Steward of Mr. Montagu's, 
who is as honest as 'Trusty' in the play of Grief a la 
Mode. I am told he has never heard a hop that he has 
not echoed with a groan. I have taken such heed to 
my goings I have not gone down stairs more than by 
gradual degrees." 

The following passage from a letter of Mrs. Don- 
nellan's to Mrs. Montagu shows the price paid for 

' William Murray, 1st Earl of Mansfield, born 1705, died 1793. 
t Wife of the 4th Earl of Sandwich, cousin of Mr. Montagu's. 
} John, afterwards 5th Earl of Sandwich. 






„, - _* ^ 



1742.] A COOK. 139 

embroidery of flowers which was much used at this 
time on dresses. She says — 

"I have spoken to Jenny Clegg about your sack. 
She always works according to the price, the slightest 
trimming down to the bottom, of natural flowers she 
says will be £8, and the handsomest £12, and between 
in proportion. I gave her 4 guineas for my apron, and 
she has always three and a half or four for the robings 
and facings of a night dress." 

A " night dress " was what we should call an evening 
dress now. 

In a letter to Mrs. Donnellan a light is thrown on 
that ever-important functionary, a cook. That individual 
being required, Mrs. Donnellan had mentioned a cook 
who had been with Lady Selina Bathurst. Mrs. Mon- 
tagu writes — 

"As to the Cook being an Irish woman, I think it 
can be no objection to me who prefer a lady * of that 
country to almost any one of our own ; she being a good 
catholick is not much, but I think it will not be right to 
take her unless Lady Selina Bathurst says she is a good 
cook, for had she all the cardinal virtues, and could not 
fricasy (sic) and make good soop (sic) I should not know 
what to do with her. I would give £i$ a year to a very 
good cook, but if she is not above being improved, and 
I could get her to go into the King's kitchen, or to any 
famous Tavern to learn cookery, I would give a guinea 
or two for her teaching, and I heard that in the places 
I mention they will take in a person upon such terms. 
I suppose she will dress meat on fast days ? I like the 
character of the woman provided she has had the small- 
pox, as I would* not have any person in the house who 
might run me into the hazard." 

The three Robinson boys were taken by young Mr. 
Edward Carter to York, placed in the coach to London^ 

* Mrs. Donnellan was frisk. '~ 



/ 



\- 



140 CHANCERY SUIT. [Ch. IV. 

and were met by Griffith, a valet of Mr. Montagu's in 
London, Mr. Montagu taking them in in Dover Street, 
and despatching them with a servant to Canterbury, en 
route for Mount Morris. 

On December 28 Mrs. Montagu writes to her husband 
she trusts to set out for London on January 9, and hopes 
to accomplish the journey in ten or eleven days ! The 
Chancery suit had been deferred till January 13. A 
letter of Thomas Robinson's regretting his inability to 
leave the Kentish Sessions held at Maidstone contains 
this passage, "I have already two or three retainers 
for that day, and have generally the good fortune to be 
employed in every cause, which makes the gains of the 
day considerable." ... He winds up with saying he has 
delivered his brief of the Montagu case to Mr. Fawcet, 
who, he is sure, will make better use of it than he 
should. 

And so ends the year 1742. 



( 141 ) 



CHAPTER V. 

1 743-4 — JOURNEY TO LONDON — LETTERS CHIEFLY FROM 
SANDLEFORD PRIORY, FROM BATH, AND FROM LONDON 
— THE DEATH OF HER CHILD. 

At last the longed-for day arrived for Mrs. Montagu 
and her sister to set out southwards. Mr. Carter, the 
faithful old steward, insisted on travelling with them 
instead of his son Edward, and the description of his 
excitement and anxiety shown by his expressions are 
very characteristic. Arrived at Doncaster on January 8, 
Mrs. Montagu writes to her husband and mother, stating 
that she could not do so before, as this was the first 
south post she had met 

The letter to her mother is dated — 

" Doncaster, Saturday the 8, 

" (January). 

" Dear Madam, 

"I arrived here this evening, without having 
suffered any inconvenience or fatigue in my whole pro- 
gress. We were met on Thursday in Leeming Lane * 
by a Messenger from Capt. Twycross to tell us the 
waters were out at Burroughbridge, and that we could 
not pass them, so I apply'd to my guide, Mr. Carter, and 
a wise man is certainly never out of his element He 
told me I might go to Kirby Hill and there get a warm 
lodging, though not an elegant one ; which he thought 

* Leeming Lane, a stage 218 miles from London. 



{142 THE FLOODS. [Cit. V. 

would be as well as turning back. For ray part I assured 
him I had rather have my bed stuffed with flocks than 
my pillow with care and disappointment, and agreed 
to go on to the place he mentioned, and then send a 
messenger to see if the waters were fallen. The Dove 
returned with an olive branch, and we went on to the 
Waterside * there to prevent fear (for danger there was 
none), we got into a boat and navigated through Mr. 
Williamson's gardens, his melancholy yews just shew'd 
their formal heads above the water. Himself a melan- 
choly shade too, was almost in as bad a way, for the 
water was quite to his door, so he could get no amuse- 
ment from the rest of the world, but what he saw from 
the windows. We were safely landed at the door of the 
Inn. The coach came through the water without getting 
any wet inside of it, and we all rejoiced that we had been 
more afraid than hurt. Mr. Carter, in his care, often 
bid me be of good courage; as there was not occasion 
for any, I could not be disgraced for want of it : from 
our first setting out I have not been less entertain'd 
than guarded by him, he has really acted the part of 
Sir Roger de Coverley all the way ; his benevolent heart 
breaks into such honest and affectionate expressions, you 
would think he was talking to his family wherever he 
is; at the 'Oak-tree' he was, I saw, shaking hands with 
every creature. 1 stopp'd to speak to a servant of Mrs. 
Yorke's who met us with her compliments, and could 
hear Mr. Carter praising the strong beer, thanking the 
Landlord, wishing many good things to a boy who was 
stuffing a luncheon of bread and butter, thanking Heaven 
for good weather, and commending the road, all in a 
breath. At Lord Castlecomer's Inn he would stop for 
the horses to eat, he said a sort of grace to it, praying it 
might strengthen them to the end of their journey, then 
he extolled the Inn, the Landlord and his wife, not for- 
getting a Mile lass' that stood at the gate : all the way 
we went in the boat he commended the boatmen more 
than an envious person would have done Christopher 

" Boroughbridge is on ihe river Urc. 



I743-] A FAITHFUL STEWARD. 143 

Columbus, for exploring leas and lands unknown; at 
Borough Bridge he made the funeral Elogy of Mr. Mann, 
but not to wrong the living for the sake of the dead, he 
said the handsomest things to mine Hostess, the civilest 
things to her daughters, the most honourable things of 
her son, and the most affable things to the chambermaid, 
that ever I heard in my life. At Aberforth he was not 
less kind to every creature, nor less indulgent to every 
thing, and he is the same still, and I doubt not but wilt 
be Sir Roger de Coverley to the end of the journey. 1 
am really pleased by reflection, and though I don't see 
everything in his point of view, I am delighted at his 
happiness, like the bee he gathers honey from every 
flower, nay, weed, which to common taste have no per- 
fection. I wish I could think as well of all mankind as 
he does ; but he deserves to think better of it. Benevo- 
lence is built so much on faith, that those who think- 
very ill of people in general, will never do them much 
good, for service often arises from trust, and we cannot 
trust those whom we dare not believe." 



The end of this letter is lost. Mr. Montagu being 
unable, from the Chancery cause coming on, to meet 
his wife, despatched a servant named Griffith, but 
he, falling ill at an early stage of the road, deputed 
another person to meet her. A most dutiful and affec- 
tionate letter occurs here to Mr. Montagu, but too 
long for inclusion. Mr. Carter having seen them safe 
to Leicester, left them there, where Sarah Robinson 
had an attack of illness which delayed them a day. 
When well enough, they proceeded by way of Har- 
borough, Newport Pagnell, Dunstable, etc., to Dover 
Street, London. 

Mrs. Freind and Mrs. Botham (Mrs. Sterne's sister, 
Lydia), both expecting their confinements, entreated 
Mrs. Montagu to stand godmother to their future babes, 
to which she consented. Mr. Botham was then Rector 



144 



MR. ROGERS' 1'EDIGREE. 



tea 



of Yoxall, Staffordshire, and Chaplain to Lord Aylesford, 1 
whose daughter Mary, Lady Andover.f was Mrs. 
Botham's most intimate friend and patroness. She was 
also a friend of Mrs. Montagu's, to whom she constantly 
wrote tidings of Lydia Botham's frequent illnesses and 
pecuniary troubles. 

The Chancery suit Mr. Montagu had been engaged 
in was occasioned by his claiming the guardianship of 
his unfortunate first cousin, Mr. John Rogers, who, 
owning large estates at Newcastle-on-Tyne, and East 
and West Denton near there, besides much oth' 
property, had now been a lunatic J for some year: 
It will be seen in the pedigree that Mr. Montagu' 
mother was a Sarah Rogers. This table will clucidat 
the relationship— 

Margaret Cock, 
dan. of Henry Cock, Merchant, 

rfnwfMilui'ii Tjiki 



I 



io, 

iSt 



Sarah = Hon. Charles Montagu, 
Rogers, | High Sheriff of Durham, 
1086-1709; d. 17a!. 



John Rogers, = Anne Dela- Edward = Elii. ( 

Sheriff of val, dau. Montagu, Robin- l.i 

Norihumber- Sir John b. 1699, son, 

land. 1715-16; Delava! ; d. May b. 1730, 

b. 1685, d. d, Jan. 3, ao, 1775. d. 1800. 

June 114, 1758. 1733. 



SiJS 

sas? 



Old Mr. Rogers had bought East Denton land and 
collieries for .£10,900 from the Erringtons in 1689, who 
had long had the property. In December, 1705, Mr. 
Rogers bought of Sir James Clavering his share of 
the West Denton property. The history of Denton Hall 
will be given further on. Young John Rogers appears 



• Hencage, and Earl of Aylesford. 
t Wife to Witliam, Viscount Andover 
; Evidently be was a. lunatic forty ye; 



son of nth Earl of Suffolk, 
s, and bed-ridden ten. 




A,,,.. ■■<;„ 



17430 A CURIOUS LETTER. 145 

to have had fits as early as 171 8. He married in 1713, 
Anne Delaval, who died in 1723 at Seaton Delaval, 
and he seems to have become deranged soon after 
her death. As long as his mother lived he was well 
cared for, but she died in 1733, and the last nine years 
he had been gradually getting worse, and a set of 
designing people surrounded him. I have a letter of 
his written to his parents, apparently on going to 
Oxford in 1705, which is so curious that I insert it here. 
It is addressed — 

"To 

"John Rogers, Esqr., att 

" The House in Newcastle upon Tyne, 
" These— " 

"Dear Father, 

" I hope since that I am fallen into the hands of 
a gentleman, who is not only a stranger to you, but to 
all my relations, that you will do me the favour to write 
to my tutor, which I am sure he can't but take exceeding 
well, having never heard from any of my friends since I 
removed heather. I had notice by my Mother yt you 
had ordered me £40, and wonder that as yett I have not 
heard from John Nicholson, that, I fancy Mr. Atkinson's 
letter has miscarried. I see Mr. Fremantel here on 
Sunday night who sett forward for Newcastle on 
Monday morning, that I fancy you will see him before 
you receive this. We had one man executed here on 
Saturday morning who was taken here just a little 
before our assizes by two Smiths, he had been twice put 
in the Gazett for a highwayman, and those fellows took 
him, hoped to receive the reward. The fellow knowing 
himself to be a great rogue, and that if he escaped here, 
they would have had a Habeas Corpus to remove him, 
sent for the man whose horse it was he had stolen, to 
come to challenge his horse, and was indited for it and 
pleaded guilty, hoping I suppose to be transported 
There was a great interest made at Court for to save his 

vol. 1. L 



146 



MR. MONTAGU'S JOURNEY. 



[CH.\ 



life, but all would not doo, but by this he has baulkei 
the fellows yt took him of their £40. 

" So with ray duty to my Mother and yourself, 
" I am, dear Father, 

" Your dutiful Son, 

"John Rogers. 

"Oxon, August i8, 1705." 

Mr. Montagu was made guardian and manager 
Mr. Rogers and his estate. Uneasy as he was at leaving 
his wife in her present situation, he was obliged to go 
to Newcastle to see into affairs. Sarah Robinson, who 
had gone home, was quickly summoned to return to her 
sister, to which her parents rather unwillingly gave their 
consent. Mr. Montagu writes each post, as often as he 
could, most affectionate letters to his wife ; as he rode 
all the way, disliking a carriage, we see by his letters 
the time the journey took. March 19, he writes from 
Nottingham, having been four days reaching there. He 
says, " If j was mounted as j ought to be j could without 
much difficulty reach Allerthorpe on Monday night, 
whereas j must now be content if j get there some time 
on Tuesday." He bids her divert herself with her friend! 
and acquaintances, and to send him good accounts 
her health, "as there is nothing under Heaven that is & 
dear to me." 

But no sooner had Mr. Montagu set out than thi 
Duchess of Portland lost her youngest daughter Frances, 
just two years old, from convulsions after whooping 
cough. She forbade Mrs. Montagu coming to see her 
at first, for fear of her grief affecting her in her present 
condition. Mrs. Donnellan and Mrs. Pendarves were 
with the duchess, and did all they could to solace hi 
grief, which was intense. After a few days, howevi 
the two friends met, and had a sad meeting. 

To return to Mr. Montagu's travels, he got 



ne 

I 




I743-] DARNTON FAIR. 

Allerthorpe, where Mr. Carter joined him, and they 
proceeded to Newcastle, to Mr. Rogers' house, where 

" three attorneys attended to take inventorys of the 
goods, schedules of the writings and bonds, and whatso- 
ever we found in the Secretoires etc. of the unhappy 
gentleman, but more is owing to the dexterity and un- 
intermitting diligence of Mr. Carter in the despatch we 
have made than to everything else put together. We 
have found Bonds amounting to near £10,000 value." 

A general oversight was arranged to be taken by 
Mr. Carter of the estates and tenants, many of the 
latter being heavily in arrears in rents. It is character- 
istic of Mr. Montagu's uprightness in business that, 
though not obliged to do so, he rendered to Sir James 
Clavering, Mr. Rogers' uncle, a complete account of 
his estate, of which Sir James greatly approved, and 
regretted these steps were not taken ten years before. 
A Mr. Grey was put in charge of Mr. Rogers. 

Mr. Montagu and Mr. Carter commenced their 
journey home, the latter going to Darnton Fair en 
route. People rose early for business then. Mr. Montagu 
states Mr. Carter "sat up late last night and rose this 
morning at 3, and set out at 6 for Bedale, where he will 
be occupied all day." He adds, " He is unwearied, j 
never knew his fellow. He has lived three times as 
much as any other man no older than he, and has done 
three times as much business and benefited many and 
hurt none. 1 wish j could say as much of those who 
are in a rank of life infinitely superior to him." Truly 
this is a fine picture of a righteous steward. 

By May r, when Elizabeth writes to her mother, Mr. 
Montagu had returned to her, she and her sister meeting 
him at Highgate. Mention is made in this letter of Miss 
ockman having become temporarily speechless from 



THE BIRTH OF A SON. 



[Ch. V. 



inoculation. Sarah returns to Mount Morris, and the last 
letter before Mrs. Montagu's confinement tells of the 
purchase of a " magnifique Berceau " just in time, as on 
May 1 1 Mrs. Montagu gave birth, at their house in Dover 
Street, to a fine boy, to the infinite joy of Mr. Montagu 
and his sister, Mrs. Medows. A young farmer's wife, a 
Mrs. Kennet, living near Mount Morris, had been engaged 
as a wet-nurse to the child. 

On May 30 the Rev. William Freind, to whom Mr. 
Montagu had written to announce the birth of his child, 
writes to congratulate him, and to say Mrs. Freind had 
presented him with a daughter that morning. Mr. 
Montagu had promised to stand godfather if it was 
a boy," but if a daughter Mrs. Montagu was to be 
godmother. To this letter, on June 4, Mr. Montagu 
replied that his wife and child are doing well, and hi 
says — 

"The latter end of next week we intend for tl 
baptism of our infant, and if you were here should 
prouder to have the ceremony performed by you th; 
anybody else, for if j may judge from what has happene< 
to the Father, j imagine it would be auspicious to the 
Son. 1 am sure j ought never to forget the share you 
had in putting me in the possession of the Mother,! in 
whom j find my every wish more than compleated. In 
less than a fortnight we intend going to Sandleford.J 
and after that to go on the inoculation, which j ho] 
will have an happy event, which, if so, j cannot be ti 
thankful to Providence." 

He adds his desire for Mr. Freind and his family t 
visit them at Sandleford en route home from Bath. 
The reader will remember that Mrs. Montagu 1 



i 

ed 



t Mr. Montagu's seat near Newbury. 



- 



in; 



I743-] INOCULATION. 

peculiarly afraid of smallpox, but she had determined, 
if once a mother, she would be inoculated, so that she 
should be able to attend to her child if it ever had the 
disease, and to prevent separation from or infection to 
it if she herself took the disease in the natural manner. 
When her dread of it is recollected, it will appear a 
heroic deed on her part Her mother, Mrs. Robinson, 
was far from easy at the idea of the inoculation taking 
place in the summer heat. 

Meanwhile the little boy was christened John, though 
he soon acquired the nickname of " Punch," their own 
familiar peep-show, as the fond parents deemed him, 
and is only twice mentioned in the letters I have as my 
little "Jack." 

In a letter of June 21, from the Duchess of Portland, 
ho was at Welbeck with Lady Oxford, she mentions — 

The Duke of Kingston* has been in the utmost 
danger, so great Doctor Hickman has refrained sleeping 
part of a night, not without the assistance of Barbecued 
Hog, Tokay, etc., etc., etc. to keep up his spirits, to 
enable him to go through the immense fatigue of waking 
a few hours with his patron." She adds, "Thank God 
the children are all well. I hope your little man is so, 
y best wishes must ever attend the dear boy." 

Mrs. Montagu went to recruit at Sandleford with 
Mr. Montagu, preparatory to removing the child and 
establishment there, as she writes to her sister Sarah, 
who, with Mrs. Medows, is left in Dover Street in 
charge of the son and heir — 

"1 really long to have you here. I think I may say 
you never saw anything so pretty as the view these 
gardens command, for my part I would not change the 
situation for any 1 ever saw; there is nothing in Nature 

' He died in 1773, when the title became extinct 






ISO BABY CLOTHES. [Ch. V. 

pretty that they have not The prospect is allegro, and 
as ' Mirth with thee I chose to live,' I am glad it is of 
that kind, 'the loathed melancholy of Cerberus and 
blackest midnight, born in Stygeian cave forlorn,' dare 
not appear in this little paradise. There is a charming 
grove where your reveries may wander at pleasure, you 
may allegorize like Spenser, or pastoralize like the lesser 
poets, there are roses and honeysuckles hourly dropping 
to put you in mind 'how small a part of time they 
share, that are so wondrous sweet and fair,' and this 
will whisper to you 'de coglier d'amor la rosa,' indeed, 
my dear Sail, these pretty things are mere toys, as are 
all things in this world, but a true friend. I am thankful 
for the benefits of fortune, and pleased with them, but 
really attached only to the person who bestows them. 
My benefactor bestows favours with more pleasure and 
more complaisance too, than most people receive them 
with, and this gives the relish to favour, for as Ophelia 
says, 'Gifts grow cheap when givers are unkind." 

" I hope the young plant thrives under your care. 
Pray write every post, and say all you can about the 
boy, for as insignificant as he seems in his swaddling 
cloaths, k is more interesting to his parents to hear of 
where he went, than to hear of all the feats of Hercules 
girded in his Lion's skin." 

Then she orders a dozen bibs to be made for the 
babe, of " fine damask, the pattern of Lady Betty 
Bentinck's pinned to my embroidered quilted petticoat" 

Sandleford Priory is two miles south of Newbury, 
Berks. It was originally founded by Geoffry, 4th Earl of 
La Perche, and his wife Matilda of Saxony, between the 
years 1193 and 1202, dedicated to St. Mary and St. John 
the Baptist, and placed under the Austin Canons; but 
Mr. Money, in his "History of Newbury," states "the 
recluses of Sandleford " are mentioned in the Pipe Roll 
of the 26th of Henry II., 1 180, so that a body of religious 
had existed there or near before the date of the building 



SANDLEFORD PRIORY. 151 

f the Earl de la Perche." In the reign of Edward IV., 
1480, a dispute arose between the Prior and the 
Bishop of Salisbury, in whose diocese Sandleford lay ; 
in consequence of this dispute the monastery was for- 
saken, and the King, at the instance of the Bishop 
(Richard Beauchamp), gave it to the Dean and Chapter 
of Windsor. In the 26th of Henry VIII. it was stated 
to be in their possession, valued at ,£10. 

In the time of James I., 1615, Sandleford was declared 
to be a separate parish, and unratable from Newbury, 
but the chapel being dismantled and unfit for use, ,£8 a 
year was ordered to be paid to the Rector of Newbury, 
which entitled the occupants ol the Priory to a seat in 
the Newbury parish church, which has been continued 
ever since. 

The lessees from the Dean and Canons of Windsor 
appear, from a paper of my uncle, Lord Rokeby's, to have 
been, early in the eighteenth century, the Pitt Rivers of 
Stratfieldsaye, by whom the lease was sold in 17 17 to 
William Cradock, Esq., after an intermediate alienation. 
The lease was purchased in 1730 by Mr. Edward Montagu, 
grandson of the i st Earl of Sandwich. A letter of April, 
1733, of Mr. John Rogers to his aunt, the Hon. Mrs. 
Sarah Montagu, at Sandleford, about the death of his 
mother, Mrs. Rogers, and her leaving her sister j£io, 
and each of her three children a ring, is in my possession, 
and shows she was then living or staying with her son 
Edward. 

The chapel is erroneously stated in several works 
(vide Tanner, etc., etc.) to be destroyed. It was disused, 
not destroyed, though the bells, seats, and the tomb 
of the crusading knight t had disappeared. As we 

* His ancestor accompanied the Conqueror to England. 

t Probably Count Thomas de la Fcrchc, son of the founder, as his 
father was buried at St. Denis Nogent. Thomas died in 1217. For a 
description of the tomb, etc., see note at the end of this book. 



A PARSON AND HIS WIFE. [Ch. V. 

proceed further into the manuscripts we shall see it 
was used as a bedroom or rooms ! 

The situation of the Priory is charming, the principal 
rooms fronting south on a slight eminence, sloping 
to the river Alebourne, now called Enborne, which 
crosses the high-road just below the lower lodge, and 
skirts the south side of the park. On the east the ground 
slopes to a wooded valley, down which are many ponds, 
dating from the monks' time, some of which were joined 
together by Mr. Montagu, afterwards more by his widow, 
to form lakes. Many fine trees surround it in these 
days, and at the time of Mr. Montagu's first living 
there, seem to have been exceedingly numerous; also 
walled gardens, which are now removed. Beyond the 
valley to the east the ground rises in a wooded ridge. 
The village here mentioned must have been a few 
cottages near the mill on the west, which existed 
where Sandleford Lodge is now built : these have all 
long ago disappeared. 

To the duchess Mrs. Montagu wrote in raptures of 
the beauties of Sandleford, but in the middle of her 
description states, " Here was I interrupted by a Parson, 
his wife and daughter, and I shall not be reconciled to 
1 Prunello and grogram ' again a great while, they robbed 
me of those hours I could have dedicated to your grace." 
Prunello was the woollen stuff then used for clerical 
gowns, grogram a coarse kind of taffety, a mixture of 
silk and mohair, applicable to feminine attire. 

Mrs. Botham writes on July 8, that as Mrs. Montagu 
was unable, when her baby was born, to be applied 
to, she had given him his father's name, John. Lydia 
Botham had two, if not three, daughters, but this was 
her first son. 

From Sandleford Mrs. Montagu returned to London, 
intending to be inoculated, but in a letter of July 12 she 



I 






1743] THE COUNTESS OF GRANVILLE. 153 

informs the duchess that Dr. Mead considered she had 
better defer the operation till the heat of the summer 
was over — in September. In the same letter she states 
that Mrs. Medows and herself had called on the old 
Countess of Granville,* who appears to have been a most 
garrulous old lady, and Mrs. Montagu says — 

" She fell with all her violence on my complexion, and 
behold, she certainly by her description takes my fore- 
head to be tortoishell, my cheeks to be gold, my eyes 
to be onyx, and my teeth amber : all these are precious 
things, but Mr. Montagu not having so rich a fancy as 
King Midas, I know not whether he would like such a 
wife. Your Grace may believe I was extremely morti- 
fied. The good woman says Mrs. Medows looks better 
and younger for being married ; but for me I am pale 
and green, and describes me as worse than the apothe- 
cary that lives about the rendezvous of death in Caius 
Marius. She is of opinion that lying in has spoiled my 
face ; true it is I have furnished a noble pair of chops to 
the little boy, and if mine are a little the lanker for it, I 
scarce grudge it . . ." 

Further on she says, "Thank you for your kind 
inquiry after the young 'Fidget/ who loves laughing 
and dancing, and is worthy of the Mother he sprang 
from. As for Mrs. Donnellan, she is well. Mrs. Delany 
is better than well" 

Mrs. Pendarves had been married on June 9 this 
same year to the Rev. Dr. Patrick Delany,t afterwards 
Dean of Down, and an intimate friend of Swift's. 

The Montagus, accompanied by Sarah Robinson, now 
moved with the child to Sandleford. A letter to the 
Duchess of Portland of July 26 says — 

• Grace, Viscountess Carteret, and Countess Granville in her own 

right. 

t Dr. Delany, born 1686, died 1768 ; made Dean 1744. 



MONKEY ISLAND. [Ch. 

" Sandleford, near Newbury. 



I 

lid 



" Madam, 

" If I was as good a poet as Boileau ■ [ wouI< 
complain ofl'Embarras de Londres, and also of l'Embarras 
de la Campagne, and of the still greater erabarras of 
travelling from one place to another. When I had the 
happiness of your letter, I was so encompassed with 
boxes, trunks and portmanteaus, and even that lesser 
plague of band-boxes, that I could not give myself the 
pleasure of writing to your Grace. Bag and baggage 
we arrived here on Thursday night: first marched the 
child crying, nurse singing, and the Abigails talking; 
Mr. Montagu, my sister and myself brought up the 
rear. We had fine weather and a pleasant journey. 
We took a boat from the Inn of Maidenhead Bridge, 
and rowed round his Grace of Marlborough's Islandf I 
had the pleasure of reflecting on the agreeable morning 
I had spent there with you." 

Further in the letter she states the duke t had planti 
some cannon on the borders. 

" Mrs. Medows has promised to take the child while 
I am sick,§ and I am best satisfied that it will be with 
her, for I am sure she will take care of it, and thank 
God! it is a very strong healthy child; indeed were he 
otherwise I should not leave him, for I think when they 
are sickly, no one can be tender enough for them but a 
parent." 

She says — 

" Dr. Courayer dined with us the day before we 
left town : he was more elated with having a letter 
from you, than he had been dejected with the overthrow 
of the French ; I] he looks well, and his mind is the seat 

• Nicholas Despreaux Boileau, born 1636, died 171 1. French 

t Monkey Island. Set ante. 

% Then the 3rd Duke of Marlborough. 

S Meaning when she was to be inoculated. 

U Alluding to the battle of Dettingen, fought in June, 1743. 



- 




an 



■ 



WOMAN'S EDUCATION. 

of tranquillity. Donnellan promises to come down here 
soon. I hope she will stay till I go to London to be 
inoculated." 

^In alluding to a lady who had " excellent sense and 
it, but a want of softness in her manners," she adds — 
"This is of great consequence to a woman to keep 
off disagreeable manners, for the world does not mind 
our intrinsic worth so much as the fashion of us, and 
will not easily forgive our not pleasing. The men suffer 
for their levity in this case, for in a woman's education 
little but outward accomplishment is regarded. Some 
of our sex have an affectation of goodness, others a 
mterapt of it from their education ; but the many good 
omen there are in the world are merely so from nature, 
and I think it is much to the credit and honour of 
untaught human nature that women are so valuable for 
their merit and sense. Sure the men are very imprudent 
to endeavour to make fools of those to whom they so 
much trust their honour and happiness and fortune, but 
it is in the nature of mankind to hazard their peace to 
secure power, and they know fools make the best slaves." 

A letter early in August to the duchess, who had 
iow returned to Bullstrode from Welbeck after visiting 
Matlock, says — 

" I was in hopes to have heard when you would come 
to town. I wish you may come up to us soon after the 
24th (August) of this month, which is the time I propose 
for going to London for inoculation. I think there is no 
danger of hot weather after the middle of September. 
Dr. Mead says it is the best time for me. . . . 

" Matlock must be well worth seeing, we have nothing 
here of the wild and uncultivated sort. I intend to go and 
indulge Reveries at an old Castle " where Chaucer made 
his fairies gambol, with as much grace and prettiness as 

* Donnington Castle. 



156 LORD ORFORD'S LETTER. [Ca. V. 

the Muses of old on the hill of Parnassus. The Castle 
is on a rising just above Newbury, and commands a 
pretty view.of the country. The prospect is of sufficient 
extent to let the poetick fancy soar at pleasure among 
the beauties of Nature. Pray where is 'Pen,'" will she 
produce a sprig of bays? it must be a little Master 
Apollo or a Miss Minerva from parents of such art and 
science. I have sent your Grace a copy.of a letter Lord 
Orfordtsent to General Churchill,} if ever he was to 
be envy'd it was when he wrote that letter: it seems 
to come from a mind pleased with everything about it, 
and easy in itself, amidst the refinement of luxury and 
expense, without the madness of intemperance, or in- 
conveniences of prodigality." 

The end of this letter is missing. Lord Orford's 
letter, written in an unknown hand, is thus : — 

"Houghton, June 14, 1743- 
" Dear Charles, 

" (Lord Orford's letter to General Churchill.) 
"This place affords no news, no subject 
entertainment for fine men. Men of Wit and Pleasure 
about Town understand not the charms of the inanimate 
world : my Flatterers here are Mutes : the Oaks, the 
Brookes, the Chestnuts seem to contend which shall 
best please the Lord of the Mannour; they cannot 
deceive, they will not Lye. I in sincerity admire them 
and have as many Beauties about me as fill up all 
my hours of dangling, and no disgrace attends me from 
67 years of age. Within doors we come a little nearer 
to real Life, and admire upon the almost speaking 
canvass all the airs and graces which the proudest of 

* Mrs. Delany's old pet-name. 

t Alias the great Sir Robert Walpolc. 

J General Charles Churchill. commonly called "old Charles Churchill," 
to distinguish him from his son, who afterwards married Mr. Edward 
Walpole's daughter ; he was the illegitimate son of James II. and Ara- 
bella Churchill. 



17430 THE DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH. 157 

Town ladies can boast, with these I am satisfied, because 
they gratifie me with all I wish, and all I want, and 
expect nothing in return, which I cannot give. If these, 
Dear Charles, are any Temptation, I heartily invite you 
to come and partake of them. Shifting the scene some- 
times has its recommendation, and from Country Fare 
you may possibly return with a keener appetite to the 
more delicate Entertainments of a refined life. 

" I am, dear Charles, etc, 

" Orford. 

II P.S. — Since I wrote the above we have been sur- 
prised with good news from abroad. Too much cannot 
be said about it, for it is truly matter of infinite Joy, as 
it is of Infinite Consequence." 

Lord Orford is here alluding to the battle oi 
Dettingen. 

The duchess, in a letter of August 26 from Bullstrode, 
says, " Thanks for Sir Robert's letter, I had never seen 
it." In alluding to the tiresome etiquette and interfer- 
ence she suffered from at Welbeck under Lady Oxford's 
despotic rule, she says — 

II I please myself that my children will love me 
better, as my covetousness will not be obliged 'em to 

. pay me court, and as I shall have no suspicion of their 
duty, but be convinced that their motives proceed from 
disinterested love, and by that means we shall each of us 
be happy. Was the Duchess of Marlborough * possessed 
by one good quality ? I should think she deserved pity 
more than the poorest creature in the street, not to have 
one child, but what wishes her dead, nor capable of 
knowing the enjoyments of friendship. . . . We propose 
being in London Monday sennight." 

On Thursday, August 25, Mrs. Montagu took a 
sad leave of her little boy, and started on her journey 

* Sarah, the celebrated Duchess of Marlborough. 






158 PREPARATION FOR INOCULATION. [Cll 

to London, sleeping at Windsor, at the house of h 
sister-in-law, Mrs. Medows. Mr. Montagu remain* 
with the child till the time his wife should be inoculated, 
when he was to join her in London, and Mrs. Medows 
was to take charge of him. Sarah joined her sister in 
London ; it will be remembered she had had the disorder. 

As inoculation is now out of date, I shall extract 
from the various letters the mode of procedure. Arrived 
in Dover Street, Mrs. Montagu is told by Elias, the 
duchess's porter (then a most important domestic 
magnate), his mistress was coming to London 
Monday. She therefore writes to beg the duchess, the 
duke, and Mr. Achard to dine with her that day 
or 5 according to their convenience." Business, hoi 
ever, prevented the duchess leaving Bullstrode for 
week, but she is reinvited, as Dr. Mead says Mrs. 
Montagu will not be infectious till the disease appears. 
Meanwhile, in preparation for the dreaded operation, 
she was "dosed, then blooded, another dose or two of 
physick is all I shall want, and then proceed to meet 
that distemper I have been running from these four and 
twenty years : it is at present my misfortune the small- 
pox is so little stirring they cannot find a subject." She 
writes to the duchess also in another letter, "Though 
Dr. Mead, Dr. Cotes, Mr. Hawkins, and the subaltern of 
the Physical faculty, the Apothecary, have been small- 
pox-hunting this week, they have not procured a subject 
for me." She urges the duchess to dine, "as I shall be 
as well till 7 or 9 days after the operation as ever I was 
in my life." 

The duchess had been out of order with hysterical 
fits, and states she was ordered to drive in a chaise. Of 
this vehicle we gain a glimpse from this allusion of 
Mrs. Montagu's in answer to the duchess, "A chaise is 
health, spirits and speed, a lady must lay aside her 



I 

ed 



itic 

on 
he 

'i 

rs. 
>n, 



hoop, her laziness and pride, before she is diminutive 
enough for a chaise." A portion of a very beautiful 
letter, written by Mrs. Montagu to her husband before 
he joins her, I copy — 

»" Dover Street, Tuesday, August 30. 
" My Dearest, 
"The happiest moments I have spent since I 
parted from you, were those I employed in reading your 
letter : accept the sincerest thanks a grateful and tender 
heart can make to the most kind and generous love. 
While Heaven shall lend me life, 1 will dedicate it to 
your service, and I hope our tender engagements shall 
not be broke by the cruel hand of fate. Notwithstanding 
the distemper I am going into, I have great hopes of 
my life, and a certainty of my love to you as long as that 
life shall last. Your kind behaviour and conversation 
has made my Being of such value to me that I am taking 
the best means to preserve and secure it from hazards, 
but let not the experiment cost you an anxious thought. 
It would be a reproach to the laws of Nature, if one as 
virtuous as you are, should not be sure to be happy. I 
trust you shall ever be so independent of a weak woman, 
who can serve you in nothing but wishes : could 1 reflect 
back the happiness I receive from you, I should tremble 
at my own importance to think of sinking from happiness 
to insensibility, and nothing might overcome my little 
courage, but to imagine I left you a portion of sorrow 
and regret as a burthen on atl your years to come, would 
not only afflict but even distract me." 

The same day that she wrote this letter to her 
husband, she writes a note to Mrs. Donnellan, who 
had joined her brother, the Rev. Christopher Donnellan, 
at Tunbridge Wells. He, having been ordered to drink 
the waters, and having crossed from Ireland for that 
purpose, Mrs. Montagu says, " Does not your brother 
think he is in Babel? How does he like English 



ISO WHEATEARS. [Ch. V. 

women with French dresses and French manners? In 
short, what does grave good sense think of Tunbridge ? n 

By Mr. Montagu's desire, Dr. Sandys was added to 
the previous M.D.'s. A day or two after this Mr. Montagu 
joined her, and she was inoculated on September 3. 

On September 7 Mrs. Montagu writes to Mrs. 
Donnellan — 

"My very dear Friend, 

" As the time that passes between the expecta- 
tion of a matter of importance and its happening is not 
a time of the greatest pleasure and tranquillity, you will 
be glad to hear it is four days since I was inoculated. I 
am still well and in perfect good spirits : it would be a 
sign of levity as I should be sorry and ashamed to find 
in myself to be disturbed at the approach of a distemper 
I have been seeking. The Duchess of Portland spent 
the day with me on Monday, and was here again with 
Lady Wallingford yesterday, and I expect her Grace this 
afternoon. In the meantime I hope to hear from you, 
and my sister will give you intelligence of me. Dr. 
Mead and Dr. Cotes attend me ; I have given them on 
their prescribing two guineas apiece, but I am told when 
Dr. Mead attends constantly, one guinea a day will be 
enough, if he comes only once a day, but I wish you 
would be so kind as to enquire and let me know when 
you write to me ; and I will beg you to order your maid 
to buy 2 Dozen Wheatears * and send them by the Haye 
Coach. Mr. Montagu never saw any, so if you please 
to tell your servant to send them with the feathers on. 

"I am extremely glad to hear Mr. Donnellan finds 
benefit by the waters. Your family in Town flourishes 
much,t Mr. Percival is a young beau, Mrs. Percival has 
grown almost a toast, and for Mrs. Shuttleworth, t she is 

* Wheatears are delicious eating. They are migratory, and only 
frequent certain counties. They appear to have been more plentiful 
formerly. Sussex and Surrey are favourite localities. 

t These are Mrs. Donnellan's stepfather and her mother. 

t Mrs. Shuttleworth was evidently a relation. 



X 



ARMY DISCIPLINE. 

a perfect beauty, she has a bloom like fifteen ; I never 
saw anyone look so fresh and jolly. 

"The town is full of reports of the discontent of the 
Army, it is almost feared the English and H(anoverian)s 
should fall upon each other. A gun going off while the 
Captain was at dinner, he bade General Honeywood go 
and see what was the matter; the General brought word 
it was nothing, upon which the great Captain sent a 
H(anoveria)n officer, who brought word it was the musket 
of a soldier upon guard ; the Captain then cry'd he could 
have no truth from the E(nglis)h and that the E(nglis)h 
had no discipline: the D(uk)e of M(arlboroug)h said 
they had as much discipline as the H(anoverian)s, for 
that coming by their quarters, a ball went under his 
horse's legs. 

"Mr. Hawkins" comes every day to dress my arms, 
though the wounds given for the inoculation are very 
trifling, he does not think from the appearance of them 
I shall be ill yet. I shall be glad when the proper 
period for it arrives, but must wait with patience; it is 
said people do not know themselves, but by the little 
anxiety I have about myself, one would imagine I knew 
myself to be of as small consequence as I really am. . . . 
My dear little Babe is perfectly well. . . ." 

To this 1 subjoin a portion of Mrs. Donnellan's 
answer from Tunbridge Wells — 

"1 received your comfortable letter, writ with the 
spirit of a Christian, a Philosopher and a woman of true 
fortitude. Since you don't expect any appearance yet, 
I may venture to write, or if you should not be quite 
well, my letter is of no consequence, and may be thrown 
by. I will allow all your reasoning for yourself to be 
very good, and will not dispute with you now, whether 
you are of consequence to the world or not, I will only 
beg you to act as if you were, and take care of yourself 
for the sake of the few, and let the world come in for its 

* The surgeon. 



162 



PHYSICIANS' FEES. 



[Ch. V. 



e is 
sing 



share of you by an by. I am of opinion one guinea a 
day is sufficient from a private gentle woman to any 
Physician in England, if he makes but one visit. I know 
all our family, and greater than us never gave more 
either to Hollins or Willmot ; indeed if they prescribe 
twice they must be paid twice, but that I hope and 
believe will not be your case. I am not acquainted with 
anyone who makes use of Dr. Mead, but I suppose he is 
fee'd like other Physicians of note, and I think raisii 
these sort of things on one another when they are alrei 
high enough by conscience is wrong. . . . 

" Our company quits us apace, but as there is not 
one body but Lady Sunderland " and Miss Sutton and 
Lady Catherine Hanmer that I care particularly for, and 
they stay, I am quite easy about the matter. I generally 
take a rural walk with my maid and man, and I am just 
returned from the Rocks, whose natural beauties strike 
me more agreeably than the laboured work of a palace. 
My brother rides every day, but walking does not agree 
with him. ... No one here cares for a walk that carries 
them further than Tod's Room or Chenevix's Shop.| In 
the evening I conform with the world, and play at Whisk, 
Roll Poli, or what they will, and make them wonder that 
a person who has a guinea in their pockets and can per- 
form at such entertainments, should prefer wandering 
in fields and woods with company little better than the 
creatures that inhabit them." 



On September 12 Mrs. Montagu writes to the duche: 
who had returned to Bullstrode, to say Mr. Hawkins 
did not believe, from the appearance of her arms, she 
would have the smallpox. Dr. Mead and Dr. Cotes had 
attended the day before, expecting to find inflammation, 
but the wounds appeared healed. From this it appears 
the surgeon attended the wounds daily, and doctoi 

" Nit Judith Ticbborne, third wife of Charles, Earl of Sunderiai 

remarried Right Hon. Sir Robert Sutton. 
t A fnmoui fancy-shop. 



ss, 




1743] POPE'S GROTTO. 



occasionally. The very next day (September 13) Mr. 
Hawkins pronounced there was no longer a chance of 
the smallpox. 

Mrs. Montagu writes to the duchess, "As Anacreon 
who swallowed many a hogshead of the juice of the 
grape was at last killed with a little grape stone, I who 
have missed the dire disease, am grumbling with the 
toothache." 

The duchess writes to Mrs. Montagu to beg her to 
think that though the smallpox has not appeared, she 
is as much secured as if it had. On September 15, 
as a wind-up to the inoculation, Mrs. Montagu "was 
blooded." 

"On Saturday we went to see Mr. Pope's" garden 
and grotto, to Hampton Court and Bushey Park," she 
writes to the duchess ; and on Wednesday she was in- 
tending to pay a visit to her parents at Mount Morris, 
Kent, before returning to her child, for whom, she says, 
" her heart sickens." On October 8 she proceeded to 
Sandleford, leaving Mr. Montagu, who had business, to 
follow in a few days ; and she writes to the duchess from 
the inn at Maidenhead Bridge. In this letter she says 
she has great difficulty in " squeezing the cotton in the 
ink bottle which I am forced to do before each word, 
and as my pen is as prodigal of ink, as the bottle is 
sparing of it, after I have been half an hour replenish- 
ing my pen, one inconsiderate blot squanders it away." 
This alludes to the strange habit of having cotton placed 
in the inn inkstand, under the delusion that it made 
it last longer. The whole writing of the letter is thick 
and blotted. She also mentions, "My sister set out for 
Bath this morning, with Mrs. Cotes. Poor madam Sally's 
stomach is greatly out of order, and her nerves are 

C:ted, but I hope the waters will do her good." 
* Pope's villa and grotto at Twickenham. 



164 A HIGHWAYMAN. 

Mrs. Cotes was the doctor's wife, and a sister of Lo: 
Irwin, a great friend of Sally's, very small in stature 
pretty, familiarly called "the little Madam." The t' 
ladies, accompanied by Mrs. Cotes' footman, set out f< 
Bath, diverging from Newbury for a night at Sandlefoi 
to see " Punch." A passage from a letter of Sarah's will 
show the perils of the road. They travelled in a post- 
chaise — 



2 



"A man set out with us from London, and kept 
company about seven miles. He often asked the foot' 
man who we were, and whether we were going over 
Hounslow Heath; to the last he made no answer, but 
after being tired with his curiosity told him we were 
only ladies' maids, upon which he forsook us, either 
being too proud to accompany abigails, or supposing 
we had not money enough to make it worth his while 
to go on to Hounslow Heath with us. We had one 
post-boy that pleased us extremely, he sung all the 
way, our pleasure did not arise from any music in his 
voice, but from seeing him so happy, and admiring the 
power of a contented spirit, that could make a person so 
joyful, that was at the caprice of any one, without any 
greater advantage than a shilling's reward, and who is 
always to be jolted almost to death, by the only creatures 
that are beneath him." 

Almost shaken to pieces, they arrived at their 
lodgings at Mrs. Elliot's, in the Orange Grove, Bath. 
Sarah describes the rooms as small, but comfortable, 
"looking down Wade's Passage and into the coffee- 
house, which is a guard to the windows, and very 
often prevents their approach." She grumbles at thi 
expense of their journey, but says provisions are cheap 
fowls one shilling each. 

Jenny, her maid, had travelled by coach, a post-chaise 
of that time only holding two people. Here is a passage 
worthy of Fielding, "Jenny travelled down unspotted 



heir 

lath, 
ble, 
Tee- 

:ap, 




'7430 



DANCERS OF A POST-CHAISE. 



S 



and pure with the old parson, who gave her no comfort, 
but one spiritual kiss upon getting to the end of their 
journey." 

Both Mrs. Cotes and Sarah suffered from the hard- 
ness of the post-chaise, and Sarah also hints that other 
visible effects had been incurred which would last for 
days ; hence fleas, if not worse, must have existed in it ! 
Mrs. Montagu, in writing to condole with them, says, 
" It is a daring mind that ventures in a post-chaise. 
I wonder the partizans of these vehicles do not establish 
a broad bottom, and a competent share of cushion." 
The vehicle was, from what 1 make out, a two-wheeled 
chaise. Mrs. Cotes' footman had been directed to call, 
on his way back to London, on Mrs. Montagu. The 

;yle of speech of a servant of this period is shown in 

lis passage — 



"Mrs. Cotes' man called very civilly, and brought 
meyour last letter. ' Pray, Mr. Thomas,' says I, ' did you 
leave the ladies well ? ' ' Yes, and very merry, Madam.' 
' They had a good journey, I hope ? ' ' Yes, a very merry, 
Madam.' ' They were not at all afraid ?' ' No, nothing 
but very merry, Madam.' ' Were they not tired when 
they came to their inns?' 'No, always very merry, 
Madam ! ' At last Thomas's account made me ' so merry, 
Madam,' I was forced to retire to laugh. 

"Your nephew gets his share of sunshine every day, 
his teeth tease him and produce the dew of sorrow on 
his little cheeks sometimes, but in a moment it is for- 
gotten, and he is always lively, and in continual health: 
he is thought to grow like his mother, so I think I may 
cease to be handsome with a good grace, as 1 have trans- 
ferred it to my offspring. . . . Your nephew is in his birth- 
day suit, laughing so I can hear him through the doors; 
the usurpation and authority of those bandages called 

ments he is too full of Whig principles to approve 
I" 



166 "PUNCH'S" CHARIOT. [Ch. \ 

There were no babies' carriages in those days, 
little Punch drove out daily in the chariot, not to 
confounded with the coach, a much larger vehicle. 

In the same letter it appears that the good old Yorl 
shire steward, Mr. Carter, had had a bad fall, and thi 
house in Dover Street not being large enough, Morris 
Robinson was trying to secure them one in Bruton 
Street. Mrs. Montagu, having suffered from weakness 
and hysterical fits, was recommended to ride daily— a 
pastime which was agreeably varied by the cutting of 
new walks through the Sandleford woods, and the coi 
tinual amusement afforded to her and Mr. Montaj 
by the contemplation of their child's too precocioi 
ways. 

A few details of life at Bath may prove amusin 
Sarah writes to her sister that the waters agree vei 
well with her, but that people are amazed at her wall 
ing between each glass. She had found a companion in 
Mrs. Wadman, Lord Windsor's sister, whom she had 
met at the pump-room, as they drank the waters about 
the same time, and both were fond of walking. 

The Rev. W. Freind and his wife were at Bath, an< 
Sarah goes to hear him preach a charity sermon. 



" the best I ever heard. I am going to dress to the bes! 
of my skill and power for the sake of his Majesty, thi: 
is kept as his birthday, and there is to be a ball and 
supper to-night, the men have subscribed on purpose. 
Mr. Simon Adolphus Sloper* is to be my partner, and 
has sent me his tickets, which will carry in Mrs. Freind 
also. Mrs. Cotes' cold is too bad to go. . . . The Arch- 
bishop t is much censured for going away so soon, he 
has not tried the waters long enough to know whether 
they would be of any use to such an extream case as 

* Mr. Sloper lived at West Woodhay, near Newbury. 

t John Potter, born 1674, died 1747 Archbishop of Canterbury. 



; 



.;«.] 



A BATH BALL. 



167 



his. . . . Mrs. Potter would let her husband see nobody 
but herself, and took his duty of preaching upon 
herself; she tempered it with a comfortable compliance, 
and when he used to say ' 1 am sure I shall dye, 
I wish it might be at home,' ' To be sure, my dear,' 
answers the good wife, 'it is proper you should dye 
where you like, if you chuse it you shall go and dye at 
Lambeth.' . . ." 



At one of the balls Sarah did not dance, but she 
said she did not regret it, " having no inclination to 
dance with any man but Mr. Pitt,* and that I have not 
acquaintance enough with him to expect, I can only 
cherish my hopes of future good fortune." At another 
ball she dances with Mr. Vanburgh, "a very pretty sort 
of man, but our affections to him are quite Platonic, as 
he is in love with the youngest Miss Nash." This must 
have been the sister or daughter of Mr. Richard Nash f 
(" Beau Nash "), the despotic Master of the Ceremonies at 
Bath. He was not well at this time, and Mrs. Montagu 
sends her kind regards and condolences on his health 
Amongst other people mentioned at Bath by Sarah 
were the Duke of Hamilton, Lord Berkeley, Mr. 
Powlett, and Mr. Bathurst, son of Lady Selina, the 
two Offleys, Mr Greville, and Lord Robert Carr, said 
to be very handsome. 

" Last night in the middle of the dancing we drank tea 
with a gentleman who had invited about twenty of us 
some days before. They give tea now almost as much 
of common days as they used to do on Sundays." 

Sarah says she is going to play shuttlecock with a 
Mr. Amiens.J at the end of this letter; and in the next 
he states — 

• Afterwards Earl of Chatham. 

t Richard Nash, foe fifty years Master of the Ceremonies, Bath. 

t I think this was Mr. Amy and ? 



1 68 



"MATHEMATICAL INSTERATION P 



[CH. V. 



" I played at Shuttlecock about half an hour, there 
were five couple of us : in truth I played so much better 
than any in the room, 1 put them all in amazement, but 
it was rather owing to their bad play, and to my being 
matched with the two men that played the best, than my 
superior skill. ... In my last I mentioned I was going 
to the ball : there was a table of sweetmeats, jellies, 
wine, Biskets, cold Ham and Turkey set behind two 
Screens, which at 9 o'clock were taken away, and the 
table discovered. . . . Above stairs there was a hot 
supper for all that would take the trouble to go up. 

The ignorance of some ladies of this period is shown 
by Sarah in the following extract : — 

"A lady told us last night that Miss Molyneux is s< 
great a Mathematician that she can inster Greek, and that 
often a dozen of the most learned men of the Kingdom 
had puzzled their wise heads about a piece of Greek, 
and could make nothing of it ; they proposed to send 
it to Miss Molyneux, and she tottered it (alias construed 
it), and returned them her mskration!" 

Whilst Sarah was at Bath, Mrs. Montagu wrote 
frequently to her mother at Mount Morris, much, 
naturally enough, about her child, about whom the 
fond grandmother was never tired of hearing. A little 
sentence gives a clue to his looks, "If my Father has 
drawn a blue-eyed simpering Cherubim, you may fancy 
him not unlike your grandchild ; the child's eyelashes 
are black and long, and he has a laughing look in his 
eyes, blue, like my Father." He was still toothless, and 
suffered much with his gums, which made his mother 
already uneasy. Mr. Montagu had just taken some 
prodigious sized carp from a fish-pond at Sandleford, 
and was throwing three of the old monks' ponds, or fish 
stews, into one large one. 

Mrs. Donnellan writes from Bullstrode on October 31, 



: 





and says her brother is now going to Bath, where he 
will stay with their relations the Mountraths," and that 
Sarah Robinson, "if she meets him she must make the 
advances, all the young ladies do, as he is a grave, stiff 
Parson." Dr. Young and Lady Peterborough t were at 
Bullstrode when she wrote. 

In a letter to the duchess of October 25, Mrs. 
Montagu describes the gardens at Midgham, the seat of 
Mr. Poyntz,} near Aldermaston, 

"to which Mr. Montagu carried me last week, 1 had 
no small expectations of them, both from report and 
the known sense and genius of the owner. . . . Over 
the door of a little grotto he declares for retirement 
in open fields, caves and dens, with living waters and 
woods. Statues of the Muses adorn his walls, their 
Arts adorn his mind and inspire him with the elegant 
ingenious gratitude that gives this public demonstration 
of honour to them. Every venerable oak has a seat 
under it from whence he takes the sacred oracles of 
meditation. . . . The gardens are of uneven ground, 
prettily diversified with hills and valleys. There is a 
fine bason before the house, that is always well supplied 
with water, and inhabited by fish. ... I did not see 
Mr. Poyntz's house, as it is not anything extraordinary, 

tit would have been an impertinent curiosity to desire 
it, as they visit here when in the country." 

Mrs. Donnellan writes for the duchess as well as 
herself in reply, Lady Oxford being there, and all the 
usual writing-hours given up to playing Pope Joan with 
her. In this letter, alluding to " Punch" watching with 
pleasure the colour of his bed-curtains, she says, 
" Master Wesley,§ who is the most extraordinary child 

• 6th Earl of Mountratb and his wife, 
t N/c Anastasia Robinson. 
I Right Hon. Stephen Poynti, Lord Treasurer. 
f This was Garrett Wesley, afterwards Earl of Mornington. He was 
Mrs. Donnellan's godson, born 1735, died 1781. 



170 A FOOTPAD. [CH. V. 

for sense I ever knew, at three months old, used to be 
put in a good humour with a suit of tawdry Tapestry 
hangings." 

The Duke of Portland had the misfortune to break 
his arm at the end of November, just as the Rev. Dr. 
and Mrs. Delany had arrived for their first visit suit 
their marriage on June 9. 

In writing to condole with the duchess, a typical sto: 
of a footpad is given by Mrs. Montagu. The duchess 
had just set up keeping bees at Bullstrode, and Mrs. 
Montagu intended to do the same, but laments she cannot 

" have anything of a menagerie ' here, there is no 
trusting anything out of doors. The town of New- 
bury is a melancholy example of the decay of trade, 
there is misery and poverty and lawless necessity in 
an unhappy abundance. We have robbing upon thi 
commons here very frequently : a poor labourer whi 
has been digging in our garden last week was vei 
oddly preserved from a wound by a Buckler made ol 
Cheese, like Sardella in 'The RehearsaL" The poor 
man had five shillings in his pocket, when he was 
stopped by a footpad. He did not care to surrender 
his wealth, and so resisted ; another robber came to his 
comrade's assistance, and stuck a knife several inches 
deep into some cheese and bread he had over his 
bosom, in a wallet betwixt his coat and waistcoat. We 
had a highwayman taken by a French dancing master 
a little while ago. When the dancing master carried 
him before the Justice of Peace, the Justice asked what 
day of the month he was robbed ? ' Ah,' says the 
dancing master, ' me can no tell dat,' but turns to 
the highwayman, ' but you do know, 1 pray tell Mon- 
sieur, for you must know what day you did rob, and I 
pray you now be so civil as tell de gentleman/ which, 
the highwayman denied the fact of the robbery, was 

• Menagerie was the name given to a collection of birds, from r 
fowl to pheasants, etc. 



: 



I 



I743-] THE MINISTRY. 171 

good a blunder as one could desire. The highwayman 
has since cut his throat, but is likely to recover, only to 
try the hempen collar." 

Mr. Montagu had started that morning (December i) 
for the meeting of Parliament, Mrs. Montagu accompany- 
ing him " halfway to Reading." 

A letter of December 3 of Mr. Montagu's shows the 
state of politics in the House — 

" I have been making what enquiry j could about the 
state of public affairs, and can learn nothing that is 
agreeable to one who loves Great Britain, and is more 
concerned for his country than the fatal E(lecto)r of 
H(anove)r. For though the ministry have been at 
variance about some of the treaties mentioned in the 
Speech and in the Privy Council, they came to Division, 
where Lord Carteret and his friends were only four, 
and the opposers, j, amongst whom were Mr. Pelham and 
Lord Chancellor and others, still matters have since 
been so far made up amongst them that it is said they 
all agreed (by the mediation of Lord Orford) in the 
speech and address, which is reckoned to be Lord 
Carteret's, and after a division in our House, the address 
was carried by a considerable majority, the yeas being 
278 against 149 noes. Mr. Pitt exerted himself against 
the address with his usual eloquence and with great 
acrimony against a Minister whom j need not name, 
after j shall tell you that in his invective he said what 
he meant was not against the Ministry, but against one 
who was a Minister, and had renounced Great Britain, 
who had eat of a certain tree that the Poet tells us 
makes People forget everything, even their country, 
but he hoped the people would never taste of the fruit 
of the same tree, nor after his example forget their 
country. . . . Mr. Pelham is to be Chancellor of the 
Exchequer, Sandys Pay Master of the Army. The 
Duke of Marlborough ■ has resigned." 

He resigned his commission in disgust. 




172 POPE'S "DUNCIAD." [Ch. ' 

A letter of December 4 of Mrs. Montagu to the 
duchess makes the following comments on the new 
edition of Pope's "Dunciad,'" to which he had just 
added a fourth book : — 



"We got Mr. Pope's new Dunciad printed, but I 
think it differs little from the old one: the new Herot 
is certainly worthy to have the precedency over all 
foolish Poets. I like the last Dunciad for exposini 
more sorts of follies than the first did, which w; 
merely upon bad poets and bad criticks. I am always 
glad when I see those fops who have translated their 
manners and language into French foppery well ridi- 
culed for the absurd metamorphosis, to ridicule wrong 
placed pride is of great service, for if it was not done 
this land would be over-run with conceit, for here 
people are proud of their vices and follies and iniquity, 
and as long as Pride arises from such Stocks, we shall 
never want an increase of it. Milton says, 'Nought 
profits more than self-esteem right placed,' and surely 
it is true of that pride that makes us disdain vice, but 
that which makes people glory in it is as pernicious. 
The British vice of gluttony is openly professed so 
much, one can hardly dine at a fashionable table where 
eating is not the discourse the whole time, and treatei 
of as an affair of the utmost consequence." 

In a letter of December 8, after congratulating the 
duchess on the duke's recovery from his broken ; 
Mrs. Montagu adds this description of the learned Mrs. 
Pocock ; t it is interesting, in contrast with that of the 
lady who insters Greek I — 

"I have been petrifying my brain over a most solic 
and ponderous performance of a woman in this neigh- 
bourhood ; having always a love to see Phcebus in 

" A satire by Alexander Pope. t Colley Cibber. 

1 Daughter of the Rev. Isaac Milks, Rector of Highctere, a 1 
learned man. 



all 
"g 
as 
vs 




I743-] MRS - POCOCK. 

petticoats, I borrowed a book written by an ancient 
gentlewoman skilled in Latin, dipped in Greek and 
absorbed in Hebrew, besides a modern gift of tongues. 
By this learned person's instruction was Dr. Pococke " 
(her son) skilled in antique lore while other people 
are learning to spell monosyllables, but Hebrew being 
the mother tongue, you know it is no wonder he learnt 
it. His gingerbread was marked with Greek characters, 
and his bread and butter instead of glass windows was 
printed with Arabick, he had a mummy for his jointed 
baby, and a little pyramid for his playhouse. Mrs. 
Pocock lives in a village \ very near us, but has not 
visited here, so I have not had an opportunity to 
observe her conversation, but really I believe she is a 
good woman, though but an indifferent Author. She 
amuses herself in the country so as to be cheerful 
and sociable at three score, is always employed either 
reading, working or walking, and I don't hear she is 
pedantic. . . . She always carries a Greek or Hebrew 
Bible to Church. ... I desire your Grace to make ten 
thousand apologies for me to Mrs. Delany if it is true 
I have robbed her of a good name, but I hope you 
only said this to put me in terrors. I desire my best 
compliments to her, Dr. Delany, to whom I wish very 
well, though I have offered the shadow of a great 
injury in seeming to deprive them of each other." 

This was caused by Mrs. Montagu, in a fit of 
absence, having addressed a congratulatory letter to 
Mrs. Delany as. Mrs. Pendarves, her former name, which 
caused much mirth in the Bullstrode circle. 

Mr. Montagu writes on December 8 — 

"We had yesterday a motion of consequence in the 
House, which was to have an humble address presented 
to his Majesty to forthwith dismiss the Hanoverians in 

• Rev. Dr. Richard Pococke, eminent Orientalist, Bishop of Meath, 
born 1704, died 1765. Dr. Pococke added the " e " to his name. 
t Net 



174 SUGAR TAX. [Ch.\ 

the British pay, which occasioned a fine debate, and was 
carried in the negative by a majority of 50, the numbers 
being 181 against 131. The same is to come on to- 
morrow before the House of Lords, and Lord Sandwich 
is to begin, which j doubt not he will do in the best 
manner." 

Dr. Freind, who, with his wife, was invited to spend 
Christmas at Sandleford, playfully bids Mrs. Montagu 
to write him a sermon to preach before the King, as he 
will have to do in a few weeks. 

The year ends with Sarah and Morris Robinson and 
the Freinds staying at Sandleford. 



nd 
g" 
he 

nd 



The first letter of interest in 1744 is one from Mr. 
Montagu to his wife, written February 23, from London, 
whither he had returned for the meeting of Parliament 

After alluding to parliamentary debates and elections, 
and to the failure of the new tax proposed upon sugar, 
"which was carried in the negative by a majority of 8 
only, to the great joy of those concerned in the Sugar 
Colonies, and the duty is to be raised on the surplusage 
of the tax which was given upon spirituous liquors * last 
year," he says — 

" The danger of the Pretender, if we may believe ou: 
wise and vigilant ministers, is not yet blown over. It " 
said that a few days ago several French men of war 
were seen off Rye and that the Pretender's Eldest Son 
has been seen walking about publickly at Calais, and is 
styled Charles the 3rd, his Father having relinquished 
his rights in his favour; but people seem to be little 
affected with any apprehensions of danger, and what 
the designs of the French were, a little time will dis- 
cover; whatever they shall prove to have been j am 
heartily sorry for the alarm, and whatever ground or 

• Tax on spirits, passed 1742-3. 



5= 

; 



1744] 



THE PRETENDER. 



175 



no ground there has been for the rumour of an invasion, 
j am afraid it will be made use of as a pretence for a 
further plundering of us, and invasion of our pockets, 
for j cannot forget what j have heard before j sat in the 
House, that a member (I think his name was Hunger- 
ford) should say the Pretender was the best wooden 
!eg a ministry ever had to beg with, and perhaps the 
present may have as much inclination to make use of 
it as ever any of their worthy predecessors had." 

On February 25 Mr. Montagu writes — 

"Since my last the King has sent another message to 
the House with some intelligencies concerning the in- 
vasion and the French King's " answer to Mr. Thompson,! 
our agent in Paris in relation to the removal of the Pre- 
tender's Son out of France, in pursuance of treaties which 
in substance is as follows, viz.: — 'That engagements 
entered into by treaties are not binding any further 
than those treaties are religiously observed by the con- 
tracting parties on all sides. That when the King of 
England shall have caused satisfaction to be given on 
the repeated complaints that have been made to him of 
the infractions of these very treaties of which he now 
demands the performance, which violations were com- 
mitted by his orders, his Most Christian Majesty will 
then explain himself upon the demands now made by 
Mr. Thompson in the name of his Majesty.' Besides 
this there was a long affidavit of a Master of the packet 
boat read, letting us know that he saw a young man 
who was called the Chevalier, and said to be the Pre- 
tender's Eldest Son, with another young man, his brother, 
that there was arrived there Count Saxe,} who was to 
bring over here in transports, 1500 men, together with 
several particulars too long to be inserted here. . . . 
The House addressed his Majesty to augment his forces 

" Louis XV. 

t The English Resident. 

t Maurice, Comte de Sase, born 1696, died 1750. Field-Marshal of 



i 7 6 



SIR JOHN NORRIS. 



both by sea and land as much as be necessary, and th; 
they would defray the expense. 

" An express arrived yesterday that Sir John Norris 
with his squadron was in sight of the French fleet, that 
he stood off Romney, and they were at Dengeness, that 
he weighed anchor and would endeavour to come up 
with them, and bring them to an engagement if possible. 
It was this morning reported he had demolished them, 
but this wants confirmation, as well as the news 
Admiral Matthew's! having beat the Toulon fleet,J wi 
which there has been an engagement." 



I 



Mrs, Montagu and her sister now joined Mr. Montai 
in Dover Street, leaving little "Punch" at Sandlefoi 
with regret. On the way their coachman, who had met 
them at Hounslow with their own chaise, ran a race 
with a coach and four, and overturned them, but they 
were none the worse; in fact, being upset in a carriage 
in those days seems to have been little thought of! 

A letter of March 4 of Mrs. Robinson from Mou 
Morris says — 

"Sir John Norris is returned into the Downs, am 
all our fears are over. I heard that the people of 
Romney and Lydd had their most valuable goods packed 
up and put in carts ready to drive away, if they saw any 
occasion : for my part I was very composed, never think- 
ing there would be any occasion to put myself in a stickle. 
... I am so good a subject to his Majesty that I can' 
conceive any people would be so foolish to assist Fn 
with setting up a Popish Pretender." 

A letter from the duchess states that she has been 
reading Lord Bolingbroke's " Dissertations upon 
Partys," and desires Mrs. Montagu's opinion on them. 

• Admiral Sir John Norris, died 1749. 

t Admiral Thomas Matthews, born l68i, died 1751- 

1 On February 9. 



: 

let 
ce 

,-y 

: 

id 



can't 
ance 



I744-] SIR SEPTIMUS ROBINSON. 177 

She laughs at the idea of the invasion, and says, 
11 Cecil, the Pretender's agent, is taken up, and likewise 
Carle, and some say Lord Weims,* others his second 
son Charles." 

In a letter to Mr. Freind, Mrs. Montagu mentions 
meeting at a drum of Mrs. Mainwaring's "My cousin 
Septimus Robinson, dressed as gay as a lover, but 
whether that was the footing he was upon, I do not 
know." 

Septimus Robinson was a brother of Mrs. Freind, 
and, as his name denotes, was the seventh child of 
William Robinson of Rokeby. He was born in 17 10, was 
educated at Oxford, then entered the army, and served 
in the '45, under General Wade. He left the army in 
1754; became Governor to the Dukes of Gloucester and 
Cumberland, brothers of George III., and eventually was 
made Usher of the Black Rod He died unmarried in 
1765. 

In the same letter she states — 

11 Lestock and Matthews are now examined before 
the Parliament as to their conduct in the Mediterranean. 
It is said by some who have read it Thompson's t 
new play is equal to Ot way's J Orphan and Rowe's § Fair 
Penitent: 9 

She adds — 

" In the morning all throng to the Senate House, and 
at night to the playhouse ; || those who bewail the poverty 
of the nation in the morning, part with gold for two hours' 
entertainment at the Oratorio at night. Those who talk 

* James, 5th Earl of Wemyss. 

t James Thomson, born 1700, died 1748. Poet; author of "The 
Seasons." 

X Thomas Otway, born 1651, died 1685. 

§ Nicholas Rowe, born 1673, died 1718. Poet Laureate. 

|| Garrick was acting " King Lear " then. 

VOL. I. N 



178 



"HIDE" PARK. 



[CM.' 



of taxation, did they but see how full of powder, and 
how empty of thought the heads of the Hydra appear 
to be, they would fear nothing from so spruce a set of 
Senators. I think the town was never so gay or so fond 
of amusements." 

On March 31, 1744, the Duke of Portland wrote 
announce the birth of his second son, Lord Edwai 
saying — 

" I should be wanting in regard to the long friendship 
which has existed between you and my wife, were I not 
to give you the earliest notice of your friend : she was 
safely brought to bed of a boy this morning, at three 
quarters after 3. She and the child are as well as 
be expected" 



s 



The Montagus now returned to Sandleford to vii 
their child, leaving Sarah in Dover Street to await her 
father's arrival from Kent to fetch her. A passage in the 
following letter throws a light on the vehicles in use 
this period: — 

"Passing through Hide Park.t we saw caperii 
horses with creatures on their backs more whimsical 
than themselves. . . . Between London and Kensington 
were many pert folk in single Horse Chairs, who 
seemed proud of the government of the humblest 
machine, saving a wheelbarrow, that ever the art of 
man contrived : one of these chaises had like to have 
suffered by contending with his Grace's coach and six. 
Towards Uxbridge we met a leathern vehicle called a 
flying coach, a most intolerable counterfeit, for in fact it 
merely crawls. We passed two or three travelling 
waggons laden with many a ton of Humanity, the 
savour of which would have made the delicate nostril a 
misanthrope. . . . Our dear little fellow is all alive 
merry, and more grown in length than breadth." 

• Lord Edward Charles Bentinck, died 1819. 
t Sk. Query, was it originally Hide Park? 



" 

col 



I744-] A DOMESTIC COMEDIAN! 179 

Dr. Freind, now made a Prebendary of Westminster, 
in addition to his living at Witney, in this year sent a 
present of Witney blankets to Mrs. Montagu and a 
Witney rug to Sarah Robinsoa On April 8 Mrs. 
Montagu writes to thank him, and says — 

" Your kind present is significant of the warmth of a 
friend. I think there is great analogy between friend- 
ship and a blanket We have been here (Sandleford) 
almost a fortnight, much diverted with the humours of 
' Punch/ who grows a merry fellow. I like my little 
comedian so well, I shall be sorry to change him for the 
great comedians ; my little actor has no artifice but hide 
and seek, nor plays any tricks but innocent Bopeep. 

"I hope now Lord Carteret is going to take a 
young, handsome Lady * his politicks will take a milder 
tone. . . . 

" Have you seen Dr. Gregory and his bride ? When 
I saw the Doctor at Mrs. Knight's, I did not apprehend 
he designed to be our dear cousin." 

This is the first mention of Dr. John Gregory, after- 
wards such an intimate friend of the Montagus. He 
was the son of Dr. James Gregory, an eminent 
physician, by his second marriage with Anne Chalmers, 
and grandson of James Gregory, who invented the 
Gregorian telescope. His bride, who, judging from the 
above, must have been a cousin of the Robinsons, was 
Elizabeth,! daughter of William, 13th Baron Forbes, 
by his wife Dorothy Dale. Lady Forbes lost £20,000 
in the South Sea bubble. Dr. John Gregory J became 
a distinguished physician, and an author of note. 
Frequent mention of him will be made later on. 

* His second wife, Lady Sophie Fermor, daughter of 1st Earl Pomfret ; 
married April 14, 1744. 

f She had beauty, wit, and a large fortune. 

X A daughter of his married A. Allison, and was mother of the 
historian. 



180 GOWNS, [CH.V. 

In the same letter Mrs. Montagu urges Dr. Freind 
to write and congratulate the duchess on her second 
son's birth. The Freinds had just commenced a friend- 
ship with the Portlands. 

Mrs. Robinson asks her daughter, who had now 
returned to London, to buy her a lutestring gown, 
" but as I have a tabby of a dark brown, I would have 
my lutestring pretty light" This gown, from a further 
letter, appears to have cost 6s. gd. a yard, and Mrs. 
Montagu suggests she should buy a French trimming 
of Mademoiselle for the same, "a slight pretty thing 
for a guinea" A capucin Mrs. Robinson had ordered ; 
she says, " I like my capucin much better than that 
which was shorter, and it is quite good enough for 
the use one makes of them." Probably a hood with 
a deep cape, as in a previous letter the garment is 
described as " always ugly, but useful." 

Mrs. Robinson says, " I suppose you have had your 
promised visit from Mrs. Middleton.* I believe the 
doctor would give something to be in the state of widow- 
hood once again ; she is queer and ill-tempered, and he 
heartily tired with it." 

Mrs. Botham, Mrs. Laurence Sterne's sister, had 
been in London, and Mrs. Montagu had written to her 
mother — 

" Mrs. Botham is really quite well behaved, she has 
not anything of the Hoyden now. I believe she is one 
of the best wives and best Mothers, and an admirable 
housewife. I bought a very handsome quarter lace cap 
for my godson, and presented her with it Mr. Botham 
wants to be a King's Chaplain, and I have offered her 
my interest with her Grace of Portland, who by means 
of Bishop Egerton and others could easily get it for 
him." 

* Mrs. Conyers Middleton No. 2. 



I744-] FANS. l8l 

To this her mother • replies — 

" I am much pleased with the character you give of 
Mrs. Botham, I always thought her one of good under- 
standing and good temper, and as to her giddiness, I 
hope it is partly wore off. I should have been pleased 
to have seen her at Horton, if her time had admitted. 
She always had a chearful, agreeable disposition. I 
much fear his being chaplain to his Majesty, if he 
should succeed, will be no advantage to him, for as I 
take it, must occasion London journeys, and without 
good interest he may be no nearer preferment. ... I 
believe his income is but small, and his family increases 
very fast. I wish they have not a spirit of generosity 
much superior to it, they keep a good deal of company, 
and of the expensive kind." 

At a party at the Duchess of Portland's the bride, 
Lady Carteret, is thus described by Mrs. Montagu — 

" She came in a sack and a night-cap for which she 
made an apology, and said she had a cold. I suppose 
she designs to carry her dignity high enough by this, 
particularity of dress. She is handsome enough, has a 
good air, a genteel, easy address without any mauvaise 
honte." 

In a letter of Sarah's, May 10, thanking her sister 
for a fan, she reminds her she was then at " Mrs. May in 
Tooke's Court, in Cursitor Alley, Chancery Lane." She 
also mentions buying a tabby gown, ys. id. a yard, at 
Wells and Hartley, at the " Naked Boy and Woolpack," 
in Ludgate Street. Mrs. Montagu replying, says — 

" I am glad you like the fan ; there are some worn at 
present that exceed the flails of a mill. Cotes has one 
that makes an eclipse of her little person whensoever 
she pleases to flirt it. I have been buying finery for your 

• Mrs. Botham was Mrs. Robinson's niece. 



1 82 A PINK SATIN COAT. 

nephew, a famous pink satin coat, and two flowered 

lawn frocks, extremely fine." 

" Punch," being now turned a year old, was to I 
weaned, and many were the anxieties and qualms < 
his mother on that occasion. Her mother wrote wis* 
advice to her on the subject, with her experience of a 
large family. After this she adds — 

" He must be most delightful now he runs 
prattles, he will look a little angel in his finery. . . . 

"I find you are still a house hunting: as to th< 
house you mention in Grosvenor Square, I think the 
fault of it cannot be in the goodness of the house or 
situation, for, as [ take it, they are all calculated for 
large fortunes. 

" It gave me great joy to hear my Robert got sal 
to Bengali. I hope by the end of the summer, 1 
shall have him safe here, and poor ' Pigg ' with him." 

" Poor Pigg" was a pet-name for Charles Robinson, 
who suffered from weak eyes, and had accompanied 1 
brother on this voyage for health's sake. 

The weaning of "Punch "was successfully carried 
out, and we learn from the letters from Mrs. Montagu 
to her husband, who was still detained in London, that 
he was fed on "milk porridge, bread and rusks, and 
drinks milk and water all day." 

A letter of Mr. Montagu's of June 7 mentions meel 
ing the Duke and Duchess of Portland coming from 
church at the Banqueting Hall, White Hall, and accom- 
panying them home. Mr. Carter, the faithful stewai 
and his son Willy, who had just returned from 1 
war wounded, were in town. 

" Yesterday I waited on the Duke of Montagu" about 

• John, 2nd Duke of Montagu, born 1705, died 1749 ; married Mary, 
fourth daughter of Duke of Marlborough. 



for 

safe 
. we 

ison, 
this 

Tied 
:agu 
that 
and 

eet- 

rom 

:om- 

ward, 

the 



17440 A WET-NURSE. 

our young Hero (We Carter), who will get made a 
lieutenant, which does not give us the same satisfaction 
as a Captain's commission would do, but the Duke said 
they would not do it for him. I am to consult with his 
agent, Mr. Guerin, about it." 

The regiment was probably the 2nd Horse, which 
the duke then commanded. The duke was a relation of 
Mr. Montagu's, both being descended from a common 
ancestor. 

Writing to Sarah Robinson, Elizabeth says— 

"Your nephew continues his manlike behaviour, and 
scorns to weep over a trifle, he is quite well, and has 
been dancing in his shirt on a blanket spread on the 
ground, he dances after a droll manner, for not being 
very firm on his legs he reels about when he gets out of 
" "s common pace, and he flourishes his hands and legs, 
id is just a little merry drunken Bacchus." 

Mrs. Kennet, the wet-nurse, was about returning to 
her farmer husband in Kent — 

Mrs. Kennet will soon be restored to her husband. 

'e are to make up her salary to £50. I have given her 

good deal of cloaths too, the brown silk night gown, a 

brown camblet, two short cotton gowns, and 1 have dyed 

my purple Tabby blue, and added two yards of new to 

it, which will make her fine." 

The first mention is made in this letter of Mrs. 
Dettemere, of whom more anon. This poor woman 
appears to have been in a good position of life, and 
well known to the Robinsons, but unhappy circumstances 
had placed her in great distress. Mrs. Montagu says — 

" I have collected 3 guineas for her, and put her on 
a scheme of working blonde caps. I sold one for her 
for 7s. 6d. that cost her only iZd. ... 1 am to lend her 
£$ to lay out in ribbons, and get her customers, and she 



2 



T. 

br< 



1 84 APRONS. [CH. ' 

is to work muslin aprons which I will find the materials 
for, and when she sells them I am to be repaid. . 
wish you would devise a pattern of sprigs for an apron 
for Mrs. Dettemere to work, I dare not let her have the 
same as Mrs. Medows' ■ apron, but I think to get one of 
monkeys and squirrels." 

Writing to Mrs. Donnellan on June 7, Mrs. Montagu 
says — 

"The country is now extremely delightful, all nature 
is in bloom, every being joyous and happy, it seems to 
me impossible that any citizen of so fair a world should 
harbour any gloomy care in their breast. It is a vain 
pretence we make to delicacy and taste, while we prefer 
a dirty town to the country in the fine Season : all the 
arts of luxury cannot invent any pleasures equal to 
what one receives from soft air, moderate sunshine, a 
gay scene of prospect and the musick of the feather'd 
songsters. Sir William Templet says his three wishes 
were, ' health, peace and fair weather.' I have often 
thought that saying not the least wise of many of his 
admired sentences." 

Mr. Carter, the faithful north-country agent, was now 
at Sandleford, and on June 15 Mrs. Montagu writes to 
her sister, who was staying at Chilston in Kent with 
the Thomas Bests. Mr. Best had married Caroline, alias 
"Cally," Scott, of Scott's Hall, the intimate friend of 
both sisters. A most happy marriage it appears to have 
been— 

"Your nephew is really a droll fellow. Mr. Carter is 
half bewitched with him, at the first salutation ' Old 
Trusty'} had tears of joy, he cries out 'Bonnie Bairn, 
ye are a fine one, weel worth it, weel worth it, I warrant 

* Mr. Montagu's sister. 

t Sir William Temple, born 1628, died 1699, at Moor Park, Surrey. 
Patron of Swift and his " Stella." 
J A nickname of Mr. Carter's. 



17440 ORANGE TREES. 185 

hee's think of me when I be dead and gone, I'se make all 
t'improvements I can for him. Thank God he's have a 
bonnie estate when all comes in ; God send him to live 
to an ould man : oh my lady he's brave company. God's 
blessing light on him,' thus he ran on for an hour. The 
child grew immediately fond of him, cries after him, and 
will beat away even the nurse, if she takes him away 
from Mr. Carter." 

The Duchess of Portland had promised to give a 
dozen orange trees from Bullstrode to Mrs. Montagu, 
which she was most anxious to have. These trees were 
to be sent to the Red Lyon at Slough, where the Newbury 
carrier was to take them up. They arrived, after the 
following vicissitudes, safely : — 

" The poor waggoner who was to have brought them 
was unhappily killed some days ago by a loaded waggon 
falling on him ; his servant foolishly left the orange trees 
because he said he had no room for them, and at 9 o'clock 
at night they brought us word the orange trees were 
left at Slough. We immediately sent servants with a 
cart who travelled almost all night, and brought the 
trees safe, the next day. They have not received the 
least damage, they are blooming, full of fragrance," says 
Mrs. Montagu in her letter of thanks. She also asks for 
Mr. Achard to instruct her as to their culture, " whether 
they should be nailed to the wall, without pruning their 
heads, and thirdly what size the tubs should be for those 
that are to be kept in that manner." 

Mr. Achard's instructions were sent, but alas! are 
lost. 

Mr. Montagu being obliged to go to the North to 
attend to business of his own, and as trustee to Mr. 
Rogers, Mrs. Montagu had determined on accompany- 
ing him and taking "Punch" and her sister Sarah 
with them. It was with some difficulty she obtained 
leave of her parents for her sister's company, as they 



1 86 



ADMIRAL ANSON. 



[CH. V 



considered she had been so much away from them. 
Sarah was desired not to come in the stage-coach from 
Horton, but by a post-chaise or chariot at Mrs. Montaj 
expense, and 



gu's 

: 



"ask Matt to lend you his footman to ride by the chai 
You know it will only cost you 3d. a mile more. 

" Your nephew has just had his pink sattin coat tryi 
on, and he was so fond of it, he scolded and fought every 
one who approached him, lest they should deprive him 
of his new cloaths. He has just learnt to make a bow 
with a good grace, and he is very lavish of it." 

Mrs. Donnellan writes from Hampstead, where : 
has taken lodgings for her health, on July 4, and shi 
describes Admiral Anson's * booty being taken to I 
bank thus — 

"I went yesterday morning to London, I found 
my folks gone to see the show of Anson's wealth carrii 
to the Bank, so I went to my Lord Egmont'st and saw 
two and thirty dirty waggons pass by, guarded by a 
number of tanned sailors, but we had the pleasure of 
knowing or thinking those dirty waggons contained 
what makes all the pursuits of this world. . . . 

"The Duke and Duchess of Portland staid a day 
longer than they designed to see this Show. The King 
and all the royal family were spectators. The Tars were 
very happy and dressed themselves in the Spanyards' 
fine cloaths." 

Commodore Anson had been absent from England 
three years and nine months. He had intercepted a 
Spanish treasure ship, Neustra Stgnora de Cabodonga, 
loaded with treasure, etc., to the value of £313,100 
sterling ! X 






* Admiral Lord Anson, born 1697, died nht. 

T 1st Earl Egmont, a relation of Mrs. Donnellan's 

J Altogether he obtained ,£500,000. 



epfather. 



*m» Iv. *■ /*m 



I744-] CLOTHES. 187 

Mrs. Donnellan continues — 

"I have not yet heard from Mrs. Delany from 
Ireland. They were stopped at Chester by the Dean's 
having a return of ague, so you see though a fine pre- 
ferment may cure, it cannot preserve from future evils. 
The yacht was ready and they hoped to sail the next 
morning." 

Lord Carteret had just made Dr. Delany, Dean of 
Down. Sarah Robinson was to stay in Dover Street 
a few days to prepare for her northern journey before 
joining the Montagus at Sandleford, and Mrs. Montagu 
gives her many commissions — 

" Mr. Montagu desires you would be so kind as to 
buy him a purple tabby for a wastecoat, and a handsome 
gold lace to trim it ; he has got a pretty Coventry stuff 
coat making up here, and would have a purple tabby 
wastecoat to wear with it ; please to consult Morris * 
both as to the quantity of silk and lace necessary, and 
also what kind of buttons would be proper. . . . Get 
pink sattin enough for a pair of shoes for your nephew, 
for he wants a pair of shoes for his silk coat : get me 
coarse canvass for the two little armchairs in the dining 
room in Dover Street, and buy me shades in purple 
worsted to do them in Irish stitch in squares, there must 
be some white Thrum for a stitch in each square. I 
should be glad if you would buy me a pink French paste 
cross and earrings, the best you can get at Chenevix." t 

After ordering some table linen to be brought, 

"six table cloaths, three dozen napkins, two pair of 
sheets, 4 pair of Pillibers,J my gold lutestring gown, 
and my white sack with the flowers, and a gold handker- 
chief, my new hoop please pack up. Pack up paper of 

* Her brother, Morris Robinson. 

t Mrs. Chenevix's celebrated fancy-shop. 

\ Evidently means pillow-cases. 



1 88 MR. JAMES MONTAGU. [Ch. V. 

all sorts and sizes enough for all our use, and also wax, 
you will find a stationer's shop in my cabinet of which 
I sent you the key. Bring a stick of wax for your 
nephew." 

In a letter to Dr. Freind, Mrs. Montagu says — 

" ' Punch ' is a fine fellow, he is greatly improved 
since you last saw him, he is now an admirable tumbler, 
I lay him down on a blanket on the ground every 
morning before he is dressed, and at night when he is 
stripped, and there he rolls and tumbles about to his 
great delight." 

Alas ! the mother's joy was turned to grief, for in 
a few days after, Punch cut his first tooth with great 
difficulty and severe illness. 

They set out on their journey to the North on 
July 31, when they started via Oxford, stopping at the 
Blue Boar there. 

The following letter to the Duchess of Portland was 
written from Newbold Verdon, Mr. James Montagu's 
seat in Leicestershire. He was the elder half-brother 
of Mr. Montagu by Mr. Charles Montagu's first wife, 
Elizabeth Forster, daughter of Sir James William 
Forster, of Bamborough Castle, Northumberland. New- 
bold Verdon had been left to Mr. James Montagu by 
his uncle by marriage, Nathaniel, Baron Crewe of 
Stene, who married Dorothy Forster. 

t" Newbold Verdon, August 9, 1744. 

" Madam, 

" I did not set out on my journey so soon as we 
proposed; the letter we sent to my brother Montagu 
having made the tour of England before it reached him, 
so we waited for an answer. The 31st of July we set 
out for Oxford, where we spent an agreeable day in 
seeing new objects and old friends. The good people 



I744-] CAMBRIDGE AND STOWE. 189 

from Witney * were so kind as to come over to see us, 
and show us what was best worthy our attention. The 
University, I think, is finer than Cambridge, but does 
not excel so much as I had imagined. Alma Mater, 
however, presides in great dignity there. I had hoped 
to have seen Mr. Potts,t but was informed he was at 
Bullstrode, or I should have sent to have begged the 
favour of seeing him. 

" The mighty Shaw J had left the classic ground to 
take care of his glebe in the country. The first of August 
we went to Stowe,§ which is beyond description, it gives 
the best idea of Paradise that can be; even Milton's 
images and descriptions fall short of it, and indeed a 
Paradise it must be to every mind in a state of innocence. 
Without the soul's sunshine every object is dark, but a 
contented mind must feel the most ' sober certainty of 
waking bliss/ The buildings || are indeed in themselves 
disagreeably crowded, but being dedicated to Patriots, 
Heroes, Lawgivers and Poets, men of ingenuity and 
invention, they receive a dignity from the persons to 
whom they are consecrated. Others that are sacred to 
imaginary powers, raise pleasing enthusiasm in the 
mind. What different ideas arise in a walk in Kensington 
Gardens, or the Mall, where almost every face wears 
impertinence, the greater part of them unknown, and 
those whom we are acquainted with, only discover to us 
that they are idle, foolish, vain and proud. At Stowe 
you walk amidst Heroes and Deities, powers and persons 
whom we have been taught to honour, who have em- 
bellished the world with arts, or instructed it in Science, 
defended their country and improved it. The Temples 
that pleased me most for the design to which they 

* The Rev. Dr. Freind and wife. 

f Frequent mention is made of Potts in the letter, but no clue as to 
who he was. 

X Dr. Thomas Shaw, divine and antiquary, also conchologist, born 
1692, died 1751. 

§ Stowe in Buckinghamshire, the magnificent seat of Viscount 
Cobham. 

|| Alluding to numerous temples and monuments in the gardens. 



190 NEWBOLD VERDON. [Ch. 

were consecrated, were those to 'Ancient Virtue, 
' Friendship,' t and to 'Liberty.' 

"On Saturday last we arrived at my brother 
Montagu's, who has made this place one of the most 
charming and pleasant I ever saw: the gardens are 
delightful, the park very beautiful, the house neat and 
agreeable, and everything about it in an elegant taste. 
My brother has made great improvements. It was a 
very bad place when Lord Crewe left it to him, and 
had no ornament but fine wood ; now there is water 
in great beauty, grand avenues from every point, fine 
young plantations, and in short, everything that can 
please the eye. But nothing gives me so much pleasure 
as the obliging and friendly reception of the Master, 
who has entertained us in a kind and elegant and 
magnificent manner. The regularity and order of the 
family, and the happiness that appears in the counte- 
nance of every friend and servant, gives one pleasure t< 
observe it. . . . 

" I am, Madam, 

"Your Grace's most obedient, 
Humble servant, 

" E. Montagu. 



I 



After leaving Newbold Verdon, the Montagus went 
over Thoresby, the seat of the Duke of Kingston.! 
In a letter to Mrs. Freind from Allerthorpe, where thi 
Montagus had arrived on August i6, Thoresby is th 

described — 

"A fine place enough, but does not deserve what 
said of it ; the cascade is not pretty, it is regular am 
formal. The lake from which it is supplied is fine. 
The verdure of the park is not good, nor are there 
fine trees. Our last stage was to York, where we saw 

• In this are the statues of Greek sages, by Scheem ackers, 
t Erected by Lord Cobham for busts of his political friends. 
J The and Duke of Kingston, called by Sir Horace Walpole ' 
weak man, of the greatest beauty, and finest person in England." 



B- 

it 
-J 

; 

nd 




M: 



"PUNCH'S" DEATH. 

the Assembly Room * built by Lord Burlington, it is 
•rodigiously grand and beautiful." 



In a letter to the Duchess of Portland of August 19, 
rs. Montagu said her boy had borne the journey 
well, and was " quite well." She intended to leave him 
in Mrs. Carter's care whilst she accompanied Mr. 
Montagu to Newcastle, where the air was not healthy, 
and roads very bad. Alas ! a few days after, poor little 
"Punch," in cutting another tooth, was taken with 
convulsion fits and died. The exact date I am unaware 
of. Lodge, in his " Peerage of Irish Peers," states 
he died on August 17, and was buried at Burneston.t 
The date of the day is wrong, as will be perceived by 
her letter to the duchess. My grandfather simply states 
he died of convulsion fits, occasioned by teething, no 
date ; but as Mrs. Freind wrote to condole with Mrs. 
Montagu on September 3, it must have happened soon 
after her letter to the duchess. As no parents, from 
their letters, could have adored an infant more than the 
Montagus, it may be judged what a blow this was to 
them. Many sweet passages about this child have I 
suppressed from want of space. He seems to have been 
of a too precocious nature in mind and body. He was 
so large he wore shoes big enough for a child of four. 
He ran alone and talked, and mimicked people's manners 
and ways, and was only one year and three months 
old! "Our little cherub," "our sweet angel," as his 
father constantly writes of him. The noble way in 
which both his parents supported their anguish will be 
seen by future extracts from letters. Dr. Freind's fine 
letter of condolence to Mrs. Montagu is indorsed at the 

• Designed by Richard, 3rd Earl of Burlington, celebrated as an 
amateur architect. He built Burlington House. 

t His body was moved to Winchester Cathedral eventually, and is 
buried with his father and mother there, by her will in October, 1800. 



I 



192 THE LOSS OF AN ONLY CHILD. [CU. 

back, " Letter from Dr. Freind on the unhappy loss of 
my son," and is much worn with constant reading. 
He had lost two children, and was then threatened with 
the loss of his father,* whom he adored. The poor 
Montagus, much as they desired children, never had 
any more. I sometimes think that this poignant and 
irrevocable loss turned Elizabeth Montagu's thoughts 
more strongly to literature and knowledge of all kind. 
She sought to occupy her mind as a solace for grief, 
but she never forgot her loss, and every now and then 
the bitterness of it is shown in passages in her letters. 

The Duchess of Portland writes on September 7, 
1744— 

" My dearest and most amiable of Friends, 

"Could I have thought I should have given you 
a moment's relief or abated the anguish of your afflic- 
tion, I should before now have written to you, but I 
found myself too much affected to be able to say 
anything to lessen it. Thank God, my dear Friend, 
your Health is good, my dependence is upon your good 
understanding and submission to the Divine Will, for 
no one can have a higher idea of the Deity than I know 
you have. Everything is in His disposal, our blessings, 
and our afflictions, and He never chastises us above 
what we are able to bear. This affliction would have 
been still more grievous had you been out of the way.t 
You might have thought some neglect had been the 
cause, which now you are convinced was not in the 
power of Human Means. There is no misfortune but 
what God Almighty discovers His mercy in some 
means or other, even in our most bitter calamities. 
But why should I tell you this, that know and think so 
much better than I can do ? It is a great comfort to 
me that you are well, and I hope you will endeavour to 

* The Rev. Dr. Robert Freind, died August 9, 1751. 
t This shows Mrs. Montagu was not away at the lime of her child's 
death. 






'744.] 



SUBMISSION TO COD'S WILL. 



■93 






keep so. Miss Robinson has been most excessively 
kind in giving me such frequent accounts of you, for 
which I shall ever esteem her, and be her most humble, 
grateful servant. . . . What would I give to be with 
you, my dear Friend, that you might pour out your 
whole heart, and utter all your grief, but it is never in 
my power to be of any service to those I love. Adieu, 
God bless and preserve you from any future ill, but 
that He may heap many blessings on you is the ardent 
wish of one that entirely loves you with the utmost 
fidelity and will ever be yours." 

To this letter Mrs. A...itagu replied — 

" Allerlhorpe, September 16, 1744. 

"I am much obliged to my dear Friend for her 
tender concern for me ; I would have wrote to you 
before, but I could not command my thoughts so as to 
write what might be understood. I am well enough as 
to health of Body, but God knows the sickness of the 
soul is far worse. However, as so many good friends 
interest themselves for me, I am glad I am not ill. I 
know it is my duty to be resigned and to submit ; many 
far more deserving than I am have been as unfortunate. 
1 hope time will bring me comfort. I will assist it 
with my best endeavours; it is in affliction like mine 
that reason ought to exert itself else one should fall 
beneath the stroke. I apply myself to reading as much 
as I can, and I find it does me service. Poor Mr. 
Montagu shows me an example of patience and forti- 
tude, and endeavours to comfort me, though undoubt- 
edly he feels as much sorrow as 1 can do, for he 
loved his child as much as ever parent could do. My 
Sister has been of great service to me ; and on this, 
as on all other occasions, a most tender friend. I am 
much obliged to you for wishing yourself with so un- 
happy a companion : your conversation would be a 
cordial to my spirits, but I should be afraid of being 
otherwise to yours. Adieu, think of me as seldom as 
you can, and when you do, remember I am patient, 

vol. 1. o 



[CH. V. 

ied this 
iers, if 



194 A BROTHER'S SYMPATHY. 

and hope that the same Providence that snatched t 
sweetest blessing from me, may give me others, 
not I will endeavour to be content, if I may not be 
happy. Heaven preserve you and your dear precious 
Babes; thank God you are far removed from my Bta- 
fortune, and can hardly fear to be bereft of all." 

"I ara, ever your Grace's most affectionate 

"E. M." 

Lady Andover wrote from Charlton, Wilts, "by 
Highworth Bag," to condole with her friend. In this 
letter she mentions that her friend, Lydia Botham (M 
Laurence Sterne's sister), had nearly died at the birth 
a daughter (Catherine), but was better. Matthew Robi 
son wrote and implored his sister to accompany her 
husband to Newcastle. He says, " Books and thought 
are the food of melancholy, and lovely places, however 
beautiful, the dwellings of it, but a town entirely strange 
to you, and new company, would bid fairest to dissipate 
your thoughts." He signs himself " Matthew Robinson 
Morris," having adopted the latter, the maiden name of 
his mother, as her heir to the Mount Morris and Monk's 
Horton estates. Mrs. Donnellan, writing from Bull- 
strode on September 24, mentions, " I have brought 
down a screen to work in snail for the Duchess, and 
for my retired hours, Carte's t History to read, for Sii 
Paul Davis, who is a chief actor, was my great-gram 
father." 

No further letters do I possess till October 23, win 
Mrs. Montagu writes to the duchess and states Mi 
Montagu had started riding to London on particular 
business. He hated wheels, and always preferred riding. 
Mrs. Montagu and Sarah had been prevailed on to visit 
Mrs. Yorke at Richmond in his absence. 

• The duchess then had five children alive. 

t The Rev. Thomas Carle, born i686,died 1754. Chaplain to Bishop 

Alterbury. 



in- 



nd 

I 

lar 



A RAREE SHOW. 



;reat Duchess of Marlborough's death, which had 
icurred on October 18, is commented on thus — 

" How are the mighty fallen ! Oh vanity of Human 
things! the Duchess of Marlborough is now not worth 
a groat, nor does pride glow any longer in old Granville's 
heart. The old Countess* had reckoned with pleasure 

I the riches Mrs. Spencer t was to possess, and no doubt 
pleased herself with the hopes of seeing it, little imagining 
Clotho had twisted their line of life together." 
Whilst staying with Mrs. Yorke, Mrs. Montagu writes 
to the duchess — 
"Your Grace may not think we have any publick 
diversions at Richmond. I must assure you we went 
to a fine Raree Show.t An orrery made up some part 
of it, and gave a dignity to the whole. However it was 
an emblem of life, the first scene was all gay figures and 
dogs and Ducks and Horses and Coaches, and every 
object was new and striking: then came Mademoiselle 
Catherina with all the airs of a celebrated toast, turned 
her head about with a measured grace, smiled, curtseyed, 
and flirted her fan : when everyone had enough of that, 
we went to study the world. We observed its motion, 
saw the revolution of a few years, and while we rather 
admired than understood its movements, were almost 
weary and yet loath to retire, there was presented the 
figure of Time mowing us all down, and so we made 
our Exit." 

Mrs. Montagu and Sarah set out on their journey to 
London, and a letter to the duchess from Northampton, 
November 17, shows the state of the roads then — 

" I am here in a whole skin, thanks to the care of our 
coachman, and the stuffing of our coach seats, but never 

• The Countess of Granville, died October 27, "744- 
t Hon. John Spencer was grandson of the Duchess of Marlborough, 
married to the daughter of the Countess of Granville. 
t A show enclosed in a box. 



196 DISEASE IN CATTLE. [Ch, 

was poor mortal so jumbled, jolted and dragged throu] 
such roads. 1 never saw such roads in my life as betweei 
Harborough and this place. We were obliged to come 
a nameless pace that is slower than a walk. Mr. Montagu 
is to meet us to-morrow, he expected our being at New- 
port to-night, but we did not get to Northampton ti 
after three o'clock in the afternoon, though we got in 
the coach at seven in the morning." 

In a letter of November 23 the duchess says, " I ha' 
read a sermon of Swift's upon the Trinity, which 1 HI 
extremely, and wish you would read it, and give 
your opinion of it." 

At Bullstrode at this time were Lady Wallingfo: 
and Miss Granville. On the same day Mrs. Robinson 
writes from Mount Morris and congratulates her 
daughters on their safe arrival in Dover Street. Shi 
mentions the cattle plague then beginning; thus 



F 

me 



She 
ank 



"Our epidemical distemper is madness, which, th: 
God, has not yet reached the human species, but reigns 
among horses, cows, hoggs, shepp, and doggs ; of the 
latter we have been one out of pocket, but our new 
tenant has lost a cow, and has a ram uncommonly 
freakish, which they suppose is going the same way, 
and J. Smith a hogg or two, and the country peopli 
take so little care of their doggs when they are bitt, ; 
is very injurious to their neighbours. Ours was a gre 
hound, which will prevent Mr. Robinson's coursing t 
he recruits his loss with another." 

Poor Mrs. Robinson, only three weeks after thi: 
letter, wrote to her daughters to say she had a swelling 
in her breast, which had formed some ten weeks back, 
and which she had hitherto concealed, and fearei 
was cancer. She wrote to Dr. Chesilden,* the 
surgeon, to tell him, and he desired her to come to tov 

* Dr. William Chesilden, bom 1688, died 1752. 






I744-] MRS. ROBINSON'S ILLNESS. 197 

Mrs. Montagu writes on December 17 to the duchess in 
great distress — 

11 that it was a cancer, but that not sticking to the ribs, 
it may be taken out without danger ; he (Dr. Chesilden) 
has behaved to her with great gentleness and care, and 
has made her very easy. She bears her misfortune with 
great fortitude, she is neither afraid of death or pain, 
but says she is contented to suffer what Providence 
pleases to ordain. . . . She will not suffer us to be 
in the house while the operation is performed They 
assure us there is no danger of her Life, but it is terrible 
to think of the pain she must undergo." 

The operation was performed successfully, but must 
have been shocking to bear, the use of anaesthetics not 
being then known. The two daughters nursed their 
mother, and the affectionate Mrs. Donnellan assisted, 
though herself in great trouble at the ill-health of her 
stepfather, Mr. Perceval On Christmas Day, Mrs. 
Montagu writes a good report to the duchess, whose 
London porter, Elias, called daily to inquire. In the 
letter mention is made of " Marshall Belleisle * being 
taken prisoner, as he was going to the King of Prussia. 
His papers and attendants all seized." 

Thus end the letters of 1744. 

* Due de Belle-Isle, French Marshal ; born 1684, died 1761. 



( 198 ) 



CHAPTER VI. 

1745— AT TUNBRIDGE WELLS — LETTERS FROM MR. MON- 
TAGU AND OTHERS ABOUT THE JACOBITE CAMPAIGN. 

The first letter of any interest in 1745 is from Mrs. 
Robinson to Mrs. Montagu, dated May 8. In this she 
alludes to the death of the second Mrs. Conyers Middle- 
ton, nee Miss Place, who had died on April 26, in her 
thirty-eighth year. It appears the marriage had not been 
a very happy one. Mrs. Robinson remarks — 

" The Dean of Canterbury hears the Doctor (Middle- 
ton) is going to Ireland with Lord Chesterfield* ... I 
take it for granted, if he goes he is to be an Irish Bishop. 
It is very strange that no one can be contented with 
their present state, for though the Doctor is neither 
great nor rich, he has more than he wants, and can 
spend his time in such studies as he chuses, and his 
vacant hours in the company he has been used to, which 
I think to one between 60 and 70, would be no small 
consideration." 

A letter of July 24 from Mrs. Montagu at Sandleford 
to the Duchess of Portland gives an interesting account 
of Donnington Castle, near Newbury — 

11 One day this week we rode to Chaucer's Castle,t 

* The 4th Earl of Chesterfield, born 1694, died 1773. He was just 
made Viceroy of Ireland. 

t Donnington belonged to Thomas Chaucer, son of the poet, but 
likely enough the father visited his son there. 



- 

sun: 



DONNINGTON CASTLE. 199 

where you will suppose we made some verses no doubt, 
and when they showed us Chaucer's well, I desired some 
Helicon, hoping thereby to write you a more poetical 
letter, but the place having been, during the last Civil 
War, besieged, the Muses were frightened away, and 
forbade this spring to flow, so it is entirety choaked 
up, and where flourished Laurels and Bays, grows only 
uncouth thorns and thistles. Where erst the Muses and 
the Graces played in the best room of the Castle, now 
stink a few tame partridges : in short, the present owner, 
having none of the divine enthusiasm of poetry, has 
turned the Castle to barbarous uses. Above it is a 
partridge Mew, below a court is kept for paying fines 
" fees." 



in 
fel 



Mrs. Montagu had been far from well this spring and 
;mmer, with lowness of spirits and nervous fainting 
attacks. Dr. Mead prescribed riding as a remedy, and 
finally advised her to take the waters at Tunbridge 
Wells. Mr. Montagu being obliged to go to the North 
about his own and Mr. Rogers' affairs, it was agreed 
that she should drink the waters whilst he was absent. 

Lady Wallingford, who had been paying them a long 
visit,, set out for Bath. Mrs. Montagu left Sandleford, 
August 18, for London, with Mr. Montagu, and left for 
Tunbridge Wells on the 20th, Mr. Montagu leaving for 
the North on August 29. 

Writing from Tunbridge Wells to the Duchess of 
Portland on August 27, Mrs. Montagu says — 

"I have great joy in Dr. Young, whom I disturbed 
a reverie, and at first he started, then bowed, then 
11 back into a surprise, then began a speech, relapsed 
into his astonishment two or three times. ... I told 
him your Grace desired he would write longer letters, 
to which he cried " Ha ! " most emphatically, and I leave 
you to interpret what it meant. He has made a friend- 
ship with one person here, whom I believe you would 



DR. YOUNG AND CIBBER ! 



[CH. 



I 

nd 



not imagine to have been made for his bosom friend. 
You would not guess that this associate of the Doctoi 
was old Cibber ! • Certainly in their religious, moral am 
civil character there is no relation, but in their Dramatic 
capacity there is some. But why the Reverend Divine 
and serious author of the melancholy ' Night Thoughts ' 
should desire to appear as a persona dramatis here, I 
cannot imagine. The waters have raised his spirits to a 
fine pitch, as your Grace will imagine when I tell you 
how sublime an answer he made to a very vulgar 
question. I asked him how long he staid at the Wells? 
He said ' as long as my rival staid !' I was astonished 
how one who made no pretensions to anything could 
have a rival, so I asked him for an explanation : he said 
he would stay as long as the Sun did ! " 

On August 30, writing to Mr. Montagu, mention i 
made of Dr. Smith, his friend, being at Tunbridge Wells. 
Dr. Robert Smith t was Master of Trinity, Cambridge, 
a mathematician and professor of astronomy, and had 
been tutor to the Duke of Cumberland. 



lis. 
tie 



" He sat next me at the Concert last night ; why he 
is so fond of this place, I cannot tell, for it seems not 
very agreeable to the nature of a Philosopher. This is 
a life of idleness and dissipation. I spend great part of 
my day at home, but most people live upon the Publick 
Walks. I have got up very early and generally read an 
hour before I go to the Well. The greatest pleasure 1 
have here is riding about to see this wild, rude country. 
Dr. Young dined with me to-day. Dr. Audley was much 
pleased with him, and we had a very chearful r 

Mr. Montagu desired much to see some wheatears 
birds that abound in the Downs still, and are deliciou 
eating. 

• Collcy Cibber, actor and dramatist, bora 167 1 , cliocl 1757. 
t Dr. Robert Smith, born 1681, died 1768. 



17450 DERBY. 201 

" I was sorry the Wheatears could not be got, but 
the Poulterer disappointed me ; however I have now 
got a couple stuffed, by which you will see their shape 
and feathers. 

"It is now absolutely said the Duchess of Man- 
chester * is to marry Mr. Hussey." t 

Mr. Montagu writes from his brother's place, New- 
bold Verdon, where he stayed en route to the North — 

" At Dunstable Hill j met Mr. Stanhope with your 
friend Dr. Courayer, and not far from Northampton 
my Lady Halifax J going to London to lye in, and 
afterwards my Lord,§ with whom j had some discourse, 
and who was so civil as to say he hoped j intended 
calling on him at Horton. I said j would take some 
other opportunity of paying my respects. We had 
yesterday the company of Lord Wentworthfl and a 
brother T of the great Mr. Lyttelton, who is a Clergy- 
man, at dinner. The former of whom is a very pretty 
kind of man, and the other will be a Bishop." 

Arrived at Derby, Mr. Montagu writes, " The town is 
finely situated, and the country good about it, but the 
famous engine ** for silk weaving being out of order, j 
am afraid we must go away without seeing it." 

On September 5 Mr. Montagu writes from Man- 
chester — 

" We lay last night at Buxton, which is a mean town, 
very romantic and surrounded with barren hills, and 

* Isabella, daughter of the Duke of Montagu, and widow of 2nd Earl 
of Manchester. 

t Mr. Edward Hussey, afterwards Earl of Beaulieu. 

X N4e Anne Dunk, a great heiress. 

§ George Montagu Dunk, 5th Earl of Halifax. 

II Edward, 9th Baron Wentworth. 

1 Charles Lyttelton, afterwards Bishop of Carlisle. 

** Invented by Mr. John Lombe, one great wheel turning 99,947 
smaller wheels ! 



MANCHESTER. 



[Ch. ' 



this morning, after travelling over about ten miles of 
very hilly country, some of which afforded very delight- 
ful prospects, and about 12 miles over a rich, flat 
country, we came here. This town is in the general, old, 
but some good houses have been built, and are daily 
building. The Collegiate Church is very handsome, 
is very populous, and contains, as they say, aboi 
70,000 people, and drives a prodigious trade. 

"To-morrow we pursue our journey. We propose 
to lye at Skipton in Craven, which if we do, we shall 
reach Burton in good time the next day." 

Burton was Mr. Buckley's " home. 

We must now return to Mrs. Montagu. Tunbrid 
Wells agreed with her, her spirits mended, and to t 
duchess's inquiries she states — 

" I can eat more buttered roll in a morning than 
great girl at a boarding school, and more beef at dinner 
than a yeoman of the Guards ; I sleep well, and am 
indeed in perfect health, and the waters have done 
much service." 

With Dr. Young's company she was delighted, ai 
she rode with him often. One ride she describes thus 

" I have been in the vapours these two days, 
account of Dr. Young's leaving us : he was so good as 
to let me have his company very often, and we used to 
ride and walk and take sweet counsel together. A few 
days before he went away, he carried Mrs. Rolt t and 
myself to Tunbridge,} five miles from hence, where we 
were to see some fine ruins. . . . First rode the Doctor 
on a tall steed, decently caparizoned in grey ; next 
ambled Mrs. Rolt on a hackney horse lean as the famed 
Rosinante, but in shape much resembling Sancho's 
then followed your humble servant on a milk w 

* With whom the three younger Robinson boys had lived. 

t Mrs. Rolt, ■ friend of Dr. Conyers Middleton. 

t Tunbridge and Tutibridgc Wells are separate towns. 



: 

sc 

ill 

• 

ler 
un 



DR. YOUNG. 

Palfrey, whose reverence for the human kind induced 
him to be governed by a creature not half as strong 
and 1 fear scarce thrice as wise as himself. The two 
figures that brought up the rear, the first was my 
servant valiantly armed with two uncharged pistols, 
whose holsters were covered with two civil harmless 
monsters, that signified the valour and courtesy of our 
ancestors. The last was the Doctor's man, whose un- 
combed hair so resembled the mane of the horse he 
rode on, one could not help imagining they were of 
him. . . . On his head was a velvet cap much resembling 
a black saucepan, and on his side hung a little basket. 
Thus did we ride, or rather jog on to Tunbridge town. 
To tell you how the dogs barked at us, the children 
squalled, and the men and women stared at us, would 
take too much time. ... At last we arrived at the 
' King's Head,' : the loyalty of the Doctor induced him 
to alight. . . . We took this progress to see the ruins of 
an old Castle; but first our Divine would visit the 
Churchyard, where we read that folks were born and 
died, the natural, moral, and physical history of Man- 
kind. In the Churchyard grazed the Parson's Steed, 
whose back was worn bare with carrying a pillion Seat 
for the comely, fat personage, this ecclesiastic's wife. 
Though the creature eat daily part of the parish, he was 
most miserably lean. Tired of dead and living bones, 
Mrs. Rolt and 1 jumped over a stile into the Parson's 
field, and from thence, allured by the sight of golden 
Pippins, we made an attempt to break into the holy 
man's orchard. He came most courteously to us and 
invited us to his apple-trees; to show our moderation 
we each of us gathered two mellow codlings. . . . 

"The good parson offered to show us the inside of 
his Church, but made some apology for his undress, 
which was a truly canonical dishabille. He had on a 
grey striped calamanco night gown, a wig that once 
was white, but by the influence of an uncertain climate 
turned to a pale orange, a brown hat, encompassed by a 
black hatband, a band somewhat dirty that decently 



204 



TONBRIDGE CASTLE. 



[Ctt 



: 

on- 

ded 



retired under his chin, a pair of grey stockings wi 
mended with blue worsted, strong symbol of the coi 
jugal care and affection of his wife, who had mendei 
his hose with the very worsted she bought for her 
own. . . . When we had seen the Church, the parson 
invited us to take some refreshment, but Dr. Young 
thought we had before trespassed on the good man's 
time, so desired to be excused, else we should, no doubt, 
have been welcomed to the house by Madam in her 
muslin pinners and sarsenet hood, who would have 
given some Mead and a piece of a cake that she made in 
the Whitsun holidays for her cousins." 

Mrs. Montagu goes on to say they invited the divi 
to join them at dinner, which he refused, but appeared 
afterwards with a large tobacco-horn, with Queen Anne's 
head upon it, peeping from his pocket. 

"After dinner we walked to the old Castle,* whicl 
was built by Richard de Clare, Earl of Gloucester, 
William Rufus' days. It has been a most magnificent 
building, the situation is extremely beautiful : the Castle 
made a kind of half moon down to the river, and where 
the river does not defend it, it is guarded by a large 
moat. The towers at the great Gate are covered with 
fine venerable ivy. It was late in the evening before 
we got home, but the silver Cynthia held up her lamp 
in the heavens, and cast such a light on the earth, as 
showed its beauties in a soft and gentle light. The 
night silenced all but our Divine Doctor, who some- 
times uttered things fit to be spoken in a Season when 
all Nature seems to be hushed and hearkening. I 
followed gathering wisdom as I went, till I found by my 
horse's stumbling that I was in a bad road, and that the 
blind was leading the blind : so I placed my servant 
between the Doctor and myself, which he not perceiving, 
went on in a most philosophical strain to the great 

* William Rufus gave Tonbridge to Richard FitiGilbcrt, ancestor of 
the Earls of Clare, sumamed " De Benefacta." 



livine 

<*ared 

ne's 

■:t 

cent 



I745-] THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE '45. 205 

amazement of my poor clown of a servant, who not 
being brought up to any pitch of enthusiasm, nor 
making answer to any of the fine things he heard, the 
Doctor wondering I was dumb, and grieving I was so 
stupid, looked round, declared his surprise, and desired 
the man to trot on before." 

Not till a letter of Mr. Montagu's of September 17, 
from Allerthorpe, is a word said of the rising in 
Scotland. This passage occurs — 

"The affair of the Pretender has made a noise 
beyond what j at first imagined it would. If it is as 
formidable as some would have us believe it to be, j 
hope by the care and vigilance of those at the helm, it 
will be soon crushed. We are hitherto in this country 
very quiet, and j hope we shall keep so." 

The next letter of September 22 says — 

" I intended being at Newcastle next Tuesday, but 
what has happened since has made that impossible, for 
on Tuesday there is to be a meeting of the gentlemen 
at York, at which Mr. Carter and j are to be there. 

" The rebels have certainly entered the city of Edin- 
burgh,* as j suppose by the treachery of some there, 
but as the town of Newcastle has taken proper pre- 
cautions and that there are at that town 1700 men, 
besides 1200 at Durham, and j hope with Cope are com- 
puted 3000, and it is said that the Dutch transports 
have been seen off the coasts, j hope there is no doubt 
this rebellion will be crushed. I hope, however, you 
will be under as little concern as possible, for j will run 
myself into no unnecessary danger, but behave as j hope 
you, if you were upon the spot, would approve." 

This letter frightened Mrs. Montagu much. She 
immediately wrote to propose joining Mr. Montagu, 

* They entered Edinburgh on September 16. 



206 GEORGE LEWIS SCOTT. [Ch. VI. 

and despatched a messenger to London to ask advice 
from a person likely to know about the affair. This 
person was Mr. George Lewis Scott,* eldest son of 
George Scott, of Bristo in Scotland, by Marion Stewart, 
daughter of Sir James Stewart, Lord Advocate of 
Scotland He was a great friend of George I., and had 
his names given to him by the Princess Sophia,! who was 
his godmother. He was a most able mathematician, 
which formed a tie between himself and Mr. Montagu. 
He was a tall, big man, very sociable and facetious, 
an accomplished musician. In 1750 he was Sub-Pre- 
ceptor to George HI., and in 1756 Commissioner of 
Excise. I give a portion of his letter in reply; his 
handwriting is beautiful — 

" Hearing of an express said to arrive last night, I 
went out in search of news, but find nothing material 
since the account of the unhappy battle,! or rather 
infamous flight, of Saturday last. We have as yet no 
authentic detail of the action. The common opinion is, 
that the King's forces both horse and foot behaved 
scandalously. Inclosed I send you a list of some officers 
killed and wounded in this affair. We do not yet know 
what is become of the rest, excepting that the greatest 
part of the Dragoons were safe at Berwick with Sir John 
Cope.§ The Captain Stewart of the Earl of Loudoun's 
Regiment mentioned among the slain was an acquaint- 
ance of Mr. Montagu's, and a great friend of Mr. 
Spencer's. There are two Captains killed and regretted 
of Guise's Regiment, the same corps in which my 
brother has a company. By good fortune he was not 
there, being just returned from Flanders, and this Day 
upon the Establishment as engineer, and ordered to 

* George Lewis Scott, born 1708, died 178a 

t Daughter of George I., married Frederick William, King of 
Prussia. 

t Battle of Preston Pans, fought on September 20. 
§ Commander-in-Chief for Scotland. 



1745] NATIONAL TERRORS. 207 

attend Marshal Wade. We may once more call the 
east wind a Protestant wind Had the English and 
Dutch forces, amounting to 12,000 men, been kept off by 
contrary winds, God only knows what the consequences 
of the loss of this, in itself trifling, skirmish might 
have been. As it is the Stocks have fallen considerably. 
There has been a run upon the Bank, who have 
paid silver to gain time, and have been much blamed for 
so doing. But on the other hand, just reasons are 
alledged for their conduct They say they had certain 
knowledge that those who began the run were dis- 
affected persons, who, if they had been paid in gold, 
might with much greater facility have transmitted 
supplies to Scotland, than when paid in silver. How- 
ever this may be, it is certain that some of the most 
considerable Bankers and Merchants have agreed to 
support the Bank on this occasion. I am still hopeful, 
notwithstanding all the bad rumours we hear, that the 
old English spirit, though confessedly sunk in deep 
slumbers for many years, may yet awake. Can anything 
be more ridiculous and more joyful to the French, more 
terrible and more shameful to ourselves, to see a Nation 
which might raise 500,000 men, a nation worth twice 
500 millions of property, frightened and disordered by 
5000 Highland ruffians not worth £5000, if they, their 
wives and children, servants, goods and chattels, were 
to be sold in the market ? In the days of Oliver six 
times that number were near Dunbar dispersed by 
10,000 English like chaff before the wind. But perhaps, 
as Voltaire says, ' Les anglois d'aujourd'huy ne resem- 
blent aux anglois de Cromwell, non plus que les 
Monsignori de Rome ne resemblent aux Scipions et aux 
Catons.'" 

The last account we have of the rebels is tha£ 

"they are returned to Edinburgh, and it is supposed 
they will be audacious enough to call a Parliament of 
that Nation, and dissolve the Union. This I think good 
news, as it will give time for the panic, with which too 



208 GENERAL WADE'S ARMY. [Ch. VI. 

many are seized, to dissipate. It will also give the well 
affected in the Northern counties time to arm, and for 
the King's forces to assemble. Mr. Wade's army is to 
be 10 or 12,000 strong. The Rendezvous it's said, is to 
be at Nottingham. I wish the Duke * were sent for to 
command He behaved incomparably well in Flanders, 
avoided no danger, no fatigue, was an example of regu- 
larity and discipline, and what is more considerable, of 
justice in rewarding merit More troops are said to be 
ordered over. This is certainly a right step, but the 
consequences on the other side of the water, be what 
they will. . . . We have a report that the Castle of 
Edinburgh must soon surrender for want of provisions. 
What an unpardonable neglect! If this should be so, 
the consequences would be very bad, as it would furnish 
the rebels with considerable quantities of cash, plate, 
arms, powder, and artillery. What will happen, I know 
not, but if I were Governor, I could soon fetch up pro- 
visions from the city by bombs and red-hot balls." 

Mr. Scott concludes his letter by saying he hopes 
Mr. Montagu will be in London for the meeting of 
Parliament on October 17. He also adds — 

11 1 could wish you further from the Sea-side than 
Mount Morris, though Mr. Vernon t is the most vigilant 
of commanders. I have been assured that as soon as 
the news of his being appointed was known in France, 
the price of insurance was raised." 

He concludes with messages to Sarah Robinson, who 
was with her sister, and who was destined to become 
his wife. 

The next letter from Mr. Montagu from Allerthorpe, 
dated September 27, is thus — 

* The Duke of Cumberland, born 1721, died 1768; second son of 
George II. 

t Admiral Vernon, born 1684, died 1757. 



'450 



COUNTY MEET1NC. 



log 



" My Dearest, 

"Since my last letter to you by Sunday's Post, 
we had our meeting at York on Tuesday the 24th, where 
there was the greatest Meeting of peoples of all Ranks 
and degrees that j believe was ever known upon any 
occasion. Of the nobility there was present the Lord 
Carlisle,' the Lord Malton.t Lord Lonsdale.J Lord Fal- 
conbridge,§ Lord Fitzwilliam,|| and perhaps some others 
who may have escaped my notice, together with Sir 
Conyers D'Arcy.lT Mr. Turner, Member for the County, 
Mr. Fox and Mr. Wentworth, members for the City of 
York, and all the gentlemen of the County, together with 
the clergy. There was the utmost unanimity and spirit 
imaginable, and after a meeting at the Castle, where the 
Archbishop made a handsome speech on the occasion, 
an association was entered into with an address to the 
King, and subscription made of near ,£20,000, and which 
when the whole of the collection shall be made, will j 
believe amount to much more. With this money there 
are to be raised several Companys of foot, consisting of 
50 men each, and they will be officered by gentlemen who 
will serve without any pay, among whom is my friend, 
Sir R. Graham, but it will be some time before these 
companys can be raised, and made usefull, which would 
not nave been otherwise, if the Militia had been kept up 
and exercised as the law directs instead of being ridiculed 
and rendered contemptible these last fifty years for pur- 
poses j need not tell you. I wish this misfortune would 
for the future learn us more prudence, and make us settle 
the Militia which is the only constitutional force, and 
agreeable to our liberty, upon a better footing than it 
has of late been, but j know too much of mankind ever 
to hope to see it in this country. This rebellion has 
made a most rapid and surprising progress. Edinburgh 
was taken before it was believed there was almost any 
such thing. The disbelief, however, of the people was 

* 7tb Earl of Carlisle. t 6th Baron of Malton. 

t 3rd Viscount Lonsdale. S Should be Viscount Fauconberg. 

U 1st Earl Fitzwilliam, 1 Afterwards 6th Earl of Holderaesse. 
VOL. L P 



210 CONDUCT OF THE NORTHERN GENTRY. [Ch. VI. 

no excuse for the M(inistr)y, whose measures have been 
the cause of it, for not crushing it at the beginning. 
The conduct of our General Cope is much censured for 
suffering himself to be surprised by the enemy, who in 
a short time overcame, and j wish Wentworth who is 
sent may have better success than he had at Carthagena. 
Mr. Ridley, the Mayor of Newcastle, has taken all proper 
precautions to secure the town, and if we are rightly 
informed, has, with the promise of .£10,000, gained all 
the Keel men, who are computed at 15,000 men. The 
county of Durham has raised the Militia and General 
Oglethorpe* is at York raising a regiment of gentlemen 
volunteers. About 15,000 Dutch are j believe got to 
Berwick, and j hope we shall soon have the regiments 
amounting to upwards of 6000, which are lately landed in 
the Thames from Holland, by means of all which force j 
flatter myself a speedy end will be put to this unhappy 
affair, and peace restored to our Island. . . . 

" I desire you will not let yourself be concerned more 
than you ought at these unhappy times, nor imagine us 
here in greater danger than we really are, for if the 
enemy should be for coming this length, we should have 
notice enough of it, and as we are at present unprovided 
with force, must take to flight to save ourselves. 1 am 
in very good health and spirits, and run no hazards but 
what others as deserving and better than j do run, and 
hope your good sense and greatness of mind will pre- 
serve you from being more concerned than other people 
are, or you ought to be. I desire you will add to all 
the other testimonys of your love and affection to me, 
what j now ask, which at all events will make me easy. 
I will take all opportunities of writing to you, and am ; 
with my compliments to dear Miss Salley, 
" My dearest Angel, 

"Your most affectionate Husband, 

"Edw. Montagu. 

" P.S. — I subscribed a £100." 

* James Edward Oglethorpe, born 1698, died 1785 ; 1733 foundi 
Georgia, which he named after George II, 



;T), 



■74S-] 



GENERAL COPE'S DEFEAT. 



'74! 

The nest letter from Mr. Montagu is written from 
Allerthorpe, on September 29, after having received his 
wife's earnest appeal to be allowed to join him. This 
sentence shows his affection for her — 

"You have ever been my Pride, j have loved and 
honoured you with the tenderest affection, and will 
continue to do so as long as j live, but j now adore 

»you for the greatness of mind, joyned with the utmost 
regard shewn to me in a letter which might have well 
become a Roman Lady. The happiest days that j ever 
past in my life, have been with you, and j hope Heaven, 
after these storms shall be blown over, will grant me 
the long enjoyment of your charming society, which I 
prefer above everything upon Earth. . . . 

" I cannot consent to the danger you might run by 
coming to me, however glad j might be to have you with 
me, but must desire you and conjure you without any 
further difficulty or hesitation to go to your Father's in 
Kent, where you will be amongst those who best love 

»you, and are most capable to defend you, till j can come 
to you there myself. . . . 
"The defeat of Cope is a very great misfortune. 
Everybody censures the conduct of the General, as well 
as the behaviour of the soldiers. We have since the 
battle heard no more but that the Rebels are encamped 
at Preston Pans, near where the battle was fought." 

On September 30, from London, George Lewis Scott 
writes to Mrs. Montagu, still at Tunbridge Wells— 

" Since my last I have seen two Officers, who were 
in the engagement of Saturday sen'night, and I have had 
a pretty distinct account of our dispositions, so that I 
could send you a plan of that affair. . . . It seems agreed 
both by these officers and by the General's letter that 
our men were seized with a panic at the rapid motion of 
the Highlanders, so that their officers attempted to rally 
them in vain. The military Chest and all the baggage 






SUSSEX PRIVATEERS. 



[CH.\ 



was taken, what the loss of men is cannot yet be known. 
I find Captain Stewart is not killed, but only taken 
Prisoner. Our civil panic here begins to subside a little. 
General Wade's ' Army will probably be near Doncastcr 
by this day sen'night, so that we hope Yorkshire will be 
protected. . . . We are in no apprehensions for Berwick 
or Newcastle: nor is the Castle of Edinburgh in danger 
for want of provisions. Besides the ordinary Stores, 
the Governor swept all the Markets in town, the day 
the Rebels left it to meet General Cope. The Provost, 
I hear, is in the Castle, so that I hope he will be able to 
wipe off the aspersions so liberally thrown upon him. 
There is no certain news of the further motions or 
schemes of the Rebels. To-day I was told they intended 
to march for Northumberland, and expected to be there 
increased 10,000 men besides £100,000 in money. I give 
no great credit to my author's intelligence, he is of a 
suspected family and speaks as he wishes. This is all 
I have been able to pick up for you, and I hope your 
fears begin to subside a little. But if I endeavour to 
diminish them for the North I shall nowon the contrary 
try to increase them on the South. I mean as to your 
going to Mount Morris. I saw a Sussex gentleman 
yesterday, who tells me they are frequently alarmed by 
Privateers on their coast, and what should hinder a few 
desperadoes from landing in the night and doing as they 
pleased on the coast. ... I own it would give me a vast 
satisfaction to see you and Miss Robinson in Dover Street 
again." 

On October 1 Mr. Montagu writes from Aller- 
thorpe — 

"My dearest Love, 

" Since my last to you, we have heard nothii _ 
of the advancing of the Rebels, who, we have advice, 
are not above 5000, and most of them very shabby fellows. 
A Spy has been taken at Newcastle, said to belong to 

* Field-Marshal George Wade, died 1748, xtai 75. 



er- 

1* 



174S-] 



TUNBRIDGE WARE. 



213 









the Duke of Perth, " on whom was found a letter con- 
cealed in his glove. The contents are not yet made 
publick, no more than those of the letters found also on 
another person at the same place. The former has cut 
his throat, but is not dead. We are very quiet in these 
parts. The Captains are raising their men, and General 
Oglethorpe is getting together a flying Squadron of 
Volunteers, amongst whom are Mr. Tanfield of Cal- 
thorpe, and Dr, Chambers of Ripon. Captain Twycross 
is Lieutenant to Sir Reginald. 

" I hear the Dukes of Bedford and Devonshire and 
others are set out for their respective counties to raise 
men to assist in suppressing this rebellion." 

He ends by entreating her lo go at once to Horton, 
as Mount Morris was more generally called in the family, 
and that till the country was safe, she would not blame 
his staying north as long as he could be of any service. 

This letter hastened Mrs, Montagu's and Sarah's 
departure from Tunbridge Wells. Writing to the 
Duchess of Portland on the eve of starting, she asks 
her if she has 

" received a fan with Dr. Young's picture in his riding 
accoutrements. I have taken the liberty to send you 
some Tunbridge ware, which in your magnificence you 
will despise, but I desire it may be sent to your Dairy, 
and there humbler thoughts will possess you, and churns 
of butter, prints, and skimming dishes will appear of con- 
sequence. I have sent you baskets for your goodyship 
to put your eggs in, also for feeding your poultry." 

On October 5 George Lewis Scott wrote to Mrs. 
Montagu, then at Mount Morris, a long letter, a portion 
of which I copy. His handwriting, though small, was 
clear and exceedingly elegant. He chaffs her and Miss 
Robinson at taking refuge near the sea, and says, " If 
• 3rd titular Duke of Perth, born 1730, died 1746. 



214 SIR JOHN COPE. [Ch. VI. 

I were Captain of a Privateer, and had 50 stout fellows 
to second me, I would carry you and your whole family 
off in spite of the unconquered county of Kent." . . . 
After this he suggests 

" a vidette, a Sentinel on Horseback at a proper distance 
from the house, who may gallop home and give you 
timely allarm, your horses should be ready saddled. . . . 
The Army under Marshal Wade is not to rendezvous at 
Worcester till the 1 2th instant. If the Highlanders have 
begun their march as it is supposed, and that their Chiefs 
get their men to cross the borders, (no easy task, because 
of the prevailing tradition among them that none ever 
get back again), they may be in Yorkshire as soon as 
our Army. I am sorry that county is not better pre- 
pared, but alas ! it is not easy to be prepared in a country 
rendered so artificially unwarlike as England. What 
signify all the speeches of the Orators, or rather of 
our ignorant, perhaps knavish babblers in Parliament 
against the Army? What has been the consequence of 
their insisting so often, contrary to common experience 
and common sense, that our Navy was a sufficient 
security. They only misled honest gentlemen. Their 
frothy words will not restore tranquillity, and public 
credit, nor repel the Highlanders. The Roman orators 
were also warriors, even Cicero was, 1 believe, a better 
General than most of ours, who have not forgot the Art 
of War, as Miss Robinson suggests : they never learnt it. 
"A propos of Generals, the following lines were 
made and repeated by a lady while asleep; her husband 
set them down, and astonished her with them in the 
morning; she remembered nothing of the matter:— 

" ' Say what reward shall be decreed 

For deeds like those of Sir John Cope ? 
Reason and rhyme have both agreed 

His ribbon should be made a rope.' 

" You say, Madam, you have wasted, not spent your 
time at Tunbridge. Your health restored, and your 
reflections show me the contrary. ..." 







MR. SCOTT'S APPETITE. 



215 



Hr. Montagu now proposed returning from the 
North, thinking matters were on a better footing, and 
intended fetching his wife from Mount Morris, but 
Parliament being summoned, was forced to remain in 
Dover Street. Mrs. Montagu proposed joining him 
from Kent on October 27. In a letter to him on the 
25th, she states, " The smugglers here are all patriots 
it seems, which is very fortunate, for they assemble in 
formidable numbers." 

Mrs. Robinson being threatened with a renewal 
of cancer in her breast, was persuaded to accompany 
Mrs. Montagu to London for advice. In a letter to 
the Duchess of Portland at this period Mrs. Montagu 
states — 

"The learned faculty have given us better hopes of 
my Mother's case than I could have expected. They 
say it is not yet cancerous, and that it may be many 
years before it hurts her. Your Grace was excessively 
good in sending me the receipts which I have sent her, 
and also the Walnut medicine." 



di 



The "Walnut medicine," from a letter of the 
luchess, appears to have been made of the lining of 
the nuts. 

In a letter to Sarah of November 8 Mrs. Montagu 
jokes about Mr. Scott being in love with Sarah, but his 
appetite being little diminished by it, as he had just 
eaten most of a chine of mutton and two large apple 
dumplings. He seems from other letters to have 
possessed a large appetite 1 She then adds — 



" I think it is time to tell you all the news I have 
heard about the Rebels, God knows it is not very 
good : 5000 Irish Brigadiers from Dunkirk are embarked 
in order to land in Scotland to assist the Rebels. 



216 MR. STANLEY'S LETTER. [Ch.VI. 

Ligonier* is sent for, Marshal Wade, who thinks he 
has forces enow, and the Dukes of Bedford,f Rich- 
mond,} Rutland,§ and some others march in person to 
him immediately. . . . The Pretender is at Kelso on 
the borders of England. The Dutch troops are not to 
be depended upon, and ours are very drunken and 
licentious. The Parliament has not done anything 
remarkable for some days. On Thursday they had the 
Pretender's declarations read, and after a Conference 
with the Lords ordered the Declaration to be burnt by 
the hands of the common Hangman." 

Amongst Mr. Montagu's papers endorsed by him " a 
letter of Mr. Stanley's to the Duke of M," meaning 
John J 2nd Duke of Montagu, his relation, is the 
following : — 

" Boughton,! November 17, 1745. 

"My Lord, 

11 1 received your Grace's commands by express 
yesterday morning by six o'clock. I immediately wrote 
a letter to old Mr. Squire and his son, and expected an 
answer last night, but to my surprise John Goodwin 
came in without one, they being both in Huntingdon- 
shire, and I expect every minute an answer which was 
promised by Mr. Squire. Mr. George Robinson I 
waited upon, and he expressed great satisfaction at 
your Grace's kind favour of being made Captain Lieu- 
tenant in your Grace's own troop of Horse, and returns 
your Grace his most dutiful thanks for the same. 
Your Grace is pleased to mention that the new rais'd 
Regiment will soon march northwards, at which both 

* John, Earl of Ligonier, born 1678, died 1770. Field- Marshal, dis- 
tinguished in Marlborough's campaigns. 

f 4th Duke, born 17 10, died 177 1. 

j 7th Duke, born 1701, died 1750. 

§ 3rd Duke, born 1696, died 1779. 

|| John Montagu, 2nd Duke, born 1689, died 1749. 

t Boughton, the duke's property near Kettering in Northampton- 
shire. 



'74SJ 



TO THE DUKE OF MONTAGU. 



217 



regiments have expressed much uneasiness: the men 
say they had no need to leave their houses and families 
to go for soldiery, that they and their forefathers have 
lived quietly and happily under your Grace and your 
forefathers as tenants for hundreds of years, that they 
would never have engaged to the Wars with anybody 
but your Grace, when they listed it was only to go along 
with your Grace to fight for you, and that they would 
go with nobody else. The Northamptonshire men are 
in the same story, they say if they had wanted to quit 
their professions to be soldiers they might have had five 
pounds a man to list in the Guards, or four pounds a 
man to list in a marching regiment, but they chose to 
list with your Grace for nothing, out of regard for you, 
and to go with you and fight for you, and nobody else. 
I believe one reason which made the people more 
uneasy is, that at the time they were raising, it was 

• maliciously insinuated amongst them that your Grace's 
name was only made use of to get them to list, and that 
they would be draughted and turned over to other 
Colonels, which made many backward in listing, and 
many of them are still apprehensive of being serv'd 
so, and declare if they are, they will sooner venture 

• being shot for deserters than serve, and it has cost us 
much pains and many good words and a great deal of 
coaxing to bring them into temper; and we have told 
them that in fighting in defence of their King and 
country, wherever your Grace shall order them is the 
true way of serving your Grace, and that they may be 
assured they will not be draughted and turned over to 
other Colonels, and they seem now to be pretty easy 
for the present, and I believe, will march chearfully 
and willingly enough, when and wherever your Grace 
shall please to order them. Give me leave, my dear 
Lord Duke, once more to offer myself and fifty men, 
quite volunteers, to bear our own expenses, to wait 
on your Grace, if you must expose your person to 
danger, wherever you shall please to command us, and 
cloath ourselves in what manner you like best, and 



SIR FRANCIS DASHWOOD. 



[CH. VI. 



shall think ourselves happy in hazarding our lives for 
the preservation of yours, who are so dear a Father to 
your Country. 

"It being half an hour after n o'clock, I dare not 
stay any longer for Mr. Squire's answer. I dare venture 
to say young Mr. Squire would be very glad to accept 
the Favour of your Grace's convey of Horse. I have 
heard him say to that effect. I take the freedom to 
inclose a letter or two in this packet, and am, 
"My Lord, 

" Your Grace's most humble, 

and Dutiful Servant to command, 
"D. Stanley. 



to 



The Duke of Montagu • raised three regiments, two 
of foot and one of horse. The command of one regiment 
he gave to his relation John, 4th Earl of Sandwich. 

A letter of Mrs. Montagu's to the Duchess of Port- 
land, dated November 19, says — 

"Carlisle is surrendered to the rebels, who, I hear, 
behave civilly, and not as conquerors. . . . Ligonier is 
still ill; the Dukes of Richmond and Bedford are set 
out Lord Sandwich is aide-de-camp to the Duke of 
Richmond. I pity poor Lady Sandwich, she endeavours 
to bear up, but certainly she is in an uneasy situation ; 
I saw her on Sunday, and she is to dine here to- 
morrow. ... I suppose you know Sir Francis Dash- 
wood is upon the brink of matrimony. I see him some- 
times with his intended bride, Lady Ellis; he is really 
very good company." 

This was the celebrated Sir Francis Dashwood,t 
afterwards Lord Le Despencer, the leader of the in- 
famous Hell Fire Club of the sham Franciscan monk; 

■ The duke was Master of the Wardrobe, and Grandmaster of tl 
Order of the Bath. 

t He married Lady Ellis, December 19, 1745. 



I745-] CATTLE MURRAIN. 219 

at Medmenham Abbey. Mention is made in this letter 
of the murrain amongst the cattle, which raged to such a 
degree that people forbore to eat beef or veal, or drink 
milk. A passage in a letter of November 26 to the Rev. 
W. Freind, who was then at Bath, reads — 

" The Duke of Cumberland set out yesterday, as did 
the Duke of Bedford and Lord Sandwich : the Duke of 
Montagu gave his Lordship one of his regiments. Almost 
all of our nobility are gone to the Army, so that many of 
the great families are in tears. Let it be said for the 
honour of our sex, there are no drums, no operas, and 
plays are unfrequented" 

Sarah Robinson, writing from Mount Morris, states 
that they were in great fear of an invasion of the French. 
It filled her with unspeakable terror, as well as the 
servants ; but she says — 

11 My Father, you are to understand, is not at all con- 
cerned, he is not at all afraid of an invasion, nor don't 
think there is the least probability of it, but for all that 
he has ordered everything to be packed up that can be 
packed" She adds, " I don't know that the French will 
invade us, but I am sure crossness has, and my Father 
is just miserably out of sorts, so it's a pity but he should 
stay in the house, he would presently scold the French 
away." 

The Montagus had now left London for Sandleford, 
and Mr. George L Scott writes the following letter to 
Mr. Montagu : — 

" London, December 12, 1745. 

"Dear Sir, 

"I did not expect so sudden an occasion of 
writing to you. You need not, however, expect very 
important news, it being only to inform you that hence- 
forward you may shine in the dignity of F.R.S., you 
were elected this evening, and may be admitted when 



220 INVASION EXPECTED. [CH.VI. 

you return to town. We had a very hot alarm this 
morning, of a descent of the French in Sussex. It was 
grounded upon a letter of a gentleman of distinction in 
your county ; the Secretary of the Customs roused Mr. 
Pelham with the news at three, but a more certain and 
contradictory account came by eight, with us the report 
subsisted till two, and then vanished. Thus far, they 
say, may be depended on, that Dunkirk Harbour is filled 
with Ships. If the French can get a footing in Kent, it 
will be their fault if they do not do us inconceivable 
damages by destroying our docks, and raising heavy 
contributions. Were it not for some individuals, and 
innocent persons who would suffer on such an occasion, 
I should not grieve in the least to see some others pay 
the penalty of their infatuation or dastardly spirit I 
only wish the King's forces might be strong enough to 
take the booty from the French, and divide it among 
themselves; this would be no loss to the nation, and 
only transfer property from the fools or cowards to 
the brave. I say the same of the Northern counties, 
through which the Rebels have passed. They have 
behaved infamously. Sullivan, who was in Corsica 
with Marshal Maillebois,* has now felt the difference 
between modern Englishmen and Corsicans, much 
to the honour of the latter. These poor people, un- 
disciplined and unarmed, almost with any thing but 
the spirit of liberty, baffled two veteran armies. Here 
a country more extensive than Corsica, better peopled, 
richer, and either well armed, or such as might have 
been so if they pleased, and with-all well furnished 
with plenty of horses, has tamely suffered itself to 
be overrun by a pack of foot banditti, two-thirds of 
which, by the best accounts, are scarce men, pudet hac 
opprobria ! 

"Our accounts from Scotland are but melancholy. 
The Rebels lay what contributions they please. Some 
Clans, they say, have taken arms, not with any intention 

* Jean Des Marets Maillebois, born 1682, died 1762. French Marshal, 
conquered Corsica in 1739. 



1745] THE LAW REGIMENT. 221 

to assist either side, but only to plunder. It is now at 
last agreed upon to bring over the Hessians. What a 
shame that we should want them ! and what a shame 
that since any man might see we did want them, they 
were not brought over sooner. I say the same of the 
remainder of our country. Our administration puts me 
in mind of the rustic mentioned by Demosthenes, who 
coming into a fencing school, never foresaw a blow, but 
as soon as he was pushed, he would then clap his hand 
to the place, and so shift it after another blow, being 
thus always too late. 

"Our law regiment received his Majesty's thanks 
much about the time you left this on Tuesday, with an 
intimation that the rebels being retired, he was unwill- 
ing to put us to any further trouble or expense. The 
frustrating this scheme is placed to the account of the 
mean jealousy of a certain great man. His family, I 
hear, on the other hand complain that he should be 
reproached on this head, when he was totally ignorant 
of the whole affair, and his being at all mentioned in it, 
was entirely owing to the indiscretion and impertinent 
zeal of some silly young fellows, who might fancy to 
obtain his favour by their conduct on this occasion, but 
what he totally disapproves of. What the truth of the 
matter is I know not, but I have my own suspicions, 
which possibly I may find an opportunity to verify. If 
they prove true, all I can say is I would not have some 
men's souls for their estates. 

"My best respects to Mrs. Montagu. I hope she 
finds the country answer her expectations, as to health 
and every other respect 
" I am, dear Sir, 

" Your most obedient, humble servant, 

" Geo. L. Scott. 

11 io o'clock — 

"The rebels set out from Manchester Northward, 
Tuesday last. They have murdered and plundered 
many. The Duke is in pursuit. 

" The Provost of Ed r is to be sent to the Tower." 



222 COUNT ST. GERMAIN. fCH. VI. 

In a letter of Mrs. Montagu's to the Duchess of 
Portland at this period, she says — 

" Count St Germain * was seized some days ago ; it 
is said he had many jewels to a great value, and letters 
were found directing him how to manage the Papists in 
case the Pretender should approach and in what manner 
they were to use it Sir R. Brown t offered to bail St 
Germain. A transport Ship that was bringing officers 
over to the Rebels is taken. The old Pretender had 
sent his abdication of his crown, and orders to Charles 
to publish the manifestoes in his own name. The 
Lawyers offered to form themselves into a regiment 
to guard the Royal family, but Lord Chief Justice 
Willes'J friends insisted on his being Colonel, which 
has discouraged the affair." 

Meanwhile the fears of a French invasion increased 
in the southern counties, as will be seen by this letter 
of Mrs. Robinson's to Mrs. Montagu — 

u December 15, 1745. 

"My Dear, 

"Before you receive this you will have heard 
from Sally that she this day sett forward for Cant y , in 
order to proceed for London to-morrow morning: in- 
deed the frequent alarms we have had for this last week 
has been too much for her spirits, and I pressed her to 
go, for she was not able to make herself easy in staying, 
and yet, poor girl, she went with great heaviness, though 
she had a mind to it, and Mr. Robinson, though he 
thought the fright more than necessary, was very easy 
with it Yesterday he had a certain account from Dover 
that Admiral Vernon sent y m an express last Tuesday, 
yt he had reason to believe yt ye French design'd land- 
ing a great force (it was said 200,000, though yt, I think, 

* Comte De Saint Germain, born 1707, died 1778. French General 
t Probably Lieut.-General George Brown. 
t John Willes, born 1685, died 1761. 



I74S-3 



ROMNEY MARSH. 



223 



must be a mistake) at Dover, or on the Kentish coast, 
and ordered them to keep themselves in readiness to 
oppose them : 400 men keep watch at nights, and ye 
inhabitants keep all their best effects packed up to send 
away at ye first approach of danger. These things 
much magnified, and told in many different shapes, are 
sufficient to alarm most people that live where we do, 
for should any array land on ye coast of Kent, 1 am told 
Romney* is the most convenient place, as there is a 
fine flat to land on, and no opposition can be made, as 
we are destitute of forces, and the people entirely un- 
armed and frightened out of their wits : we are in the 
worst situation of any gentleman's house in the county 
in such a case, for they must pass within two or three 
fields t of ye house, if not through the yard, and you 
know we stand very visible, yt in such case, which God 
forbid, we must be great sufferers, they wou'd certainly 
spoil what they cou'd not carry away, and probably set 
fire to the house. But as to our selves, I don't doubt 
but we are as safe as the rest of the Nation, for we have 
given orders for an express to come away if any landing 
appears in ye Marsh, and should set out in an hour's 
time, whereas an army would be some days in landing. 
Nor am I in any fright, no do I believe they dare attempt 
any such thing, but that ye transports that lay man" at 
Dunkirk are designed to land some forces in Scotland, 
of wc h two was taken, and bro' into Deal yesterday, 
bound for Montrose, and 1 think Suffolk would be a 
better place y n ye Kentish coast, and less guarded : but 
I will tell you what I have done by way of precaution. 
I have packed up all ye lining, plate and Clothes yt 
cou'd be spared from constant use, and all writings, 
and they are ready loaded in the waggon, and secured 
tennants' horses to carry them off. As to furniture, it 
may take its fate, as I cou'd neither put it up properly, 
nor get carriages to carry it off on ye sudden, and it 
wou'd be great expence, and great damage to do it to no 

* Romney Marsh, close by Mount Mcrris. 
t By the ancient road called Stone Street. 



224 LEVENS HALL. [Ch. VI. 

purpose. Pray don't be in any fright for us, for you 
may be sure we shall take care of ourselves so far as 
not to be caught, and that is all anybody can do. I shall 
be greatly concern'd shou'd such a thing happen, for our 
own misfortune and those of everybody's else, for ye 
whole nation must be sufferers, though some may feel 
it in a more particular manner than others, as they wou'd 
be more in ye way of these people. I am much at ease 
yt Sally is gone, as a sudden alarm might have affected 
her so as to have highten'd my fright, w h wou'd have 
been more for her than for myself. There is orders 
come to ye Deputy Lieutenants to raise ye Militia, we 
hear yt the Dutch Ships with Admiral Vernon sail'd this 
afternoon northwards, by which we hope ye fears of this 
part grow less, or he wou'd not lessen his forces. 

" I think the wind will never be fair for poor Robert* 
Sure they are not still off Galway. . . . 

"Mr. Robinson joins with me in our best compli- 
ments to Mr. Montagu, and love to yourself, 

11 1 am, my dear, 

" Yours most affectionately, 

"E. R. 

"P.S. — I was surprised you prevailed with yourself 
to leave London, as it is thought the safest place." 

Sarah Robinson had taken refuge with her friend, 
Mrs. Cotes, in Charles Street. In a letter to the 
duchess of December 16, Mrs. Montagu says, " I hear 
the Rebels made great havoc at Levens, which has 
greatly established the Countess' loyalty to the Hanover 
succession." 

Levens Hall, in Westmorland, was the beautiful seat 
of the 4th Earl of Berkshire, brought him by his wife, 
Catherine Grahame. They were the parents of William 
Lord Andover, whose wife was the intimate friend of 
Mrs. Botham. 

* Her two sons, Robert and Charles, returning from the East Indies. 



1745-1 A FOOTMAN, 225 

A passage in a letter to the Rev. William Freind 
concerning a footman indicates the manners and wages 
of that time. Mrs. Montagu says — 

" Pray is the young man who you once proposed to 
me for a servant at liberty now? For my footman 
thinks my wages not equal to his parts and merits. 
The servant I part with, is very honest, but I cannot 
bring him to deliver his sincerity in such delicate terms 
as are necessary in a message. He told a lady of quality 
who inquired after my health, that I was pure stout, and 
if I am in good spirits he tells people I am brave, that 
he is likely to establish me as a character of violence. . . 
If your youth can carry a message, keep himself sober 
and clean, and stay at home, when he is not sent abroad, 
they are all the qualifications I desire. He is to have 
livery, and frock every year, and six pounds wages the 
first year, the second seven. He is to put out his 
washing." 

Greater threatenings than ever of an invasion arose 
at the end of December. Mr. and Mrs. Montagu implored 
her parents to take refuge in their house in Dover Street. 
Mrs. Robinson, on December 25, says — 

" My Dear, 

"I return you and Mr. Montagu my sincere 
thanks for the kind offer of your house, and should I 
be obliged to run away of the sudden, I shall certainly 
make use of it till I can get lodgings. 

" Last night a drunken fellow went through Hanford, 
and told y m yt ye French was landing in the Marsh, wh. 
was presently believed, and 500 men was ready to march 
from thence this morning, when they found it to be a 
lie. It is a pitty ye country is quite without arms, for 
the people show great alacrity to defend themselves. 
Your Father has gone to dine with Mr. Brockman,* and 
as he is not returned, the coast was certainly clear when 
he went over the hill." 

* At Beachborough. 

VOL. I. Q 



226 A BRAVE GAMEKEEPER! [CH.VI. 

Mr. Robinson had armed a number of his tenants, 
and appointed John Cullen, the gamekeeper, as Master 
of the Ordnance. This amused Mrs. Montagu, as in a 
letter to Mrs. Robinson she says — 

" I fancy John has little notion of a gun without a 
dog, and though a mighty hunter, his prey not being 
man, he would probably run away, or take to covert I 
once saw my Father arm our Militia to take up Jarvis, 
the Highwayman, and I own I thought the warrant the 
only arms they durst use against the offender." 

In the same letter she comments on the prevailing 
expectation that the Pretender would arrive at some 
particular place. "They expected the Pretender at 
Newbury three weeks ago. I had a mind to have asked 
them if he loved eels, for really I don't know any other 
seduction he would have to have called on them. . . . w 

Lady Oxford wrote one morning to the Duchess of 
Portland that "it was said the Rebels would be at 
Welbeck by one o'clock, but did not leave her house, 
which I think was very wrong, but she is always 
composed." 

This is the last letter of 1745. 



( 227 ) 



CHAPTER VII. 

I746-I748— CHIEFLY IN LONDON AND BATH AND AT SANDLE- 
FORD — VISITS TO BULLSTRODE AND TO CAMBRIDGE. 

The first letter of 1746 is dated January 1 to the 
Duchess of Portland at Bullstrode. 

The Montagus remained quietly at Sandleford till 
Parliament met 

At the end of April, or commencement of May, Mrs, 
Montagu lost her excellent and amiable mother from a 
return of her former illness. I have no letters till the 
following one, undated, in reply for a letter of con- 
dolence of Mrs. Freind's : — 

" Dear Madam, 

"The tender hand of a friend does all in the 
power of human art to heal the wounds given by afflic- 
tion. That you love me, and interest yourself for me, 
must on all occasions give me comfort It is not con- 
sistent with duty or prudence to be ever considering 
one's loss with those circumstances of tenderness that 
make one unable to bear up against it, so I will say as 
little as possible of the dear, tender parent, and endea- 
vour to recollect her only as a most excellent woman, 
and try to become good by her example. She concluded 
with an heroic constancy the most virtuous life. From 
her prosperity she drew arguments of resignation and 
patience, and expressed the greatest thankfulness that 
Providence had lent her so many blessings without 



228 THE DEATH OF MRS. ROBINSON. [CH.VII. 

repining that they were to be taken away. How few 
are they that do not grow proud and stubborn bjf that 
indulgence which made her humble and resigned ! She 
had spent her life in doing those just, right things that 
bring peace at the last ; and after living so many years 
in the world, left it with the greatest innocence of soul 
and integrity of heart I ever knew. How much superior 
is this to the forced and immeritorious innocence of a 
sequestered Cloister; for after having bent to all the 
duties of human life, she had not contracted any of the 
vices or bad affections of it ; nor had she the least tinc- 
ture of the secret faults of malice or envy which often 
lurk about the hearts of those who are esteemed persons 
of unblameable conduct Through every action of her 
life she deserved to be loved and esteemed, and in her 
death almost to be adored, for in that scene she appeared 
almost more than human. But this subject is too affect- 
ing, nor can I think of my final separation from such a 
friend with the resignation I ought 

" I beg you would think favourably of a journey to 
Sandleford : you cannot imagine the pleasure it would 
give me to see you there. We are still roasting in this 
dusty town, but hope a very few days will carry us into 
the country. 

11 1 am, dear Mrs. Freind's 

" Most affectionate cousin, 
and sincere friend, 

" Eliz. Montagu." 

The only other letter on this subject is from Mrs. 
Lydia Botham, Mrs. Laurence Sterne's sister, a portion 
of which I give. The handwritings of the two sisters * 
were much alike — 

" Yoxall, May 25, 1746. 

"My dear Cousin, 

"If your knowing how sensible I am of your 
loss of my dear Aunt, and how deeply I share in your 

* Mr. Botham was Vicar of Yoxall, Staffordshire. 



1746.] LYDIA BOTHAM. 229 

affliction, could afford you any relief, I should endeavour 
to lay open a most sorrowful Heart to you, tho' I could 
send you but a faint copy of it, for my grief, like yours, 
is at present too big for utterance. I can offer nothing 
for your consolation, but what I'm sure your own 
thoughts will have suggested to you; that the Dear, 
the Valuable Parent you have lost has lived to enjoy 
the Greatest Blessing a parent can have, the seeing her 
children brought up in health and prosperity ; that she 
who acted so strictly up to her duty in every capacity 
here is only removed from the Happiness she reap'd in 
her Family, to receive the further and infinitely greater 
Reward of her well-doing ; that since the Giver of Life 
saw fit to finish hers by so painful a Distemper, it is 
some comfort that her Misery was of no longer 
duration. 

" From these considerations I am persuaded you will 
find all the consolation that such an affliction can admit 
of Your letter is dated the 5 th, but it did not reach 
me till the last post, and had the Dublin postmark on it 
I had received the melancholy news from Lady Suffolk, 
but could not write to you immediately upon your mis- 
fortune. The news of my poor Aunt's Death is a heavy 
addition to such a load of sorrow as I was before nearly 
ready to sink under. My eldest girl has lately dis- 
covered some tendency to my asthmatical Disorder; 
the Thought that she received this from me, and that 
the rest of my dear Babes stand the same unhappy 
chance, is such an affliction to me. . . . 

" I mourn with my Uncle, but shall forbear writing to 
him for fear of adding to his concern." 

By the will of his maternal grandfather, Thomas 
Morris, the estates of Mount Morris and East Horton, 
Kent, now passed to Matthew Robinson, Mrs. Montagu's 
eldest brother. His father, Mr. Robinson, who had 
always disliked country life, now made London his 
headquarters. In a letter of June 22/ to the Duchess 
of Portland, Mrs. Montagu says — 



230 



ALBURY. 



[Cil. VII. 



"We shall stay in London about a week getting a 
plan for finishing a house which we are to have in a 
street near Berkeley Square, in a street not yet much 
built; it will be better to stay a year for the finishing 
than to take what one does not like." 

This was the house in Hill Street, in which she lived 
many years. 

At this period Lord Andover presented the Rev. 
John Botham to the living of Albury in Surrey. Mrs. 
Botham and Mrs. Sterne had, as we learn from a letter 
of Mrs. Montagu's, been brought up in great luxury, 
with a constant succession of company, whilst their 
father, the Rev. Robert Lumley, was alive. Reduced to 
poverty by his death, they both married men of small 
fortune, therefore one is not surprised that Lydia 
Botham, unaccustomed to small means, and, in spite of 
her delicacy, extremely fond of society, soon incurred 
debt and embarrassment with a growing family and 
small income. 

Lady Andover, who was her constant and best friend, 
writes on June 26 to Mrs. Montagu to explain the exces- 
sive melancholy of Lydia, who was proceeding that week 
to Albury. She says — 

"The blame they lay upon themselves for having 
lived beyond their circumstances and the sense of 
having injured their children, of whom they are most 
tender, is a reflection sufficient to bring a person of 
Lydia's sense and goodness to the dejected state she is 
in. I that love and value her most sincerely, and who 
have largely shared in the best she ivas ever posscst of, bear 
a great share in her sufferings. ..." 



She then goes on to talk of how she and the Duchess 
of Portland wished to get more preferment for Mr. 
Botham. 



.746] 



"JOHNNY! 



2JI 



" I have not seen Harry Legge • for a great while, but 
I know he has a very sincere regard for Lydia, and 
should hope it was in his power to do them some good, 
but then Alas 1 poor Johnny is such a Johnny that there 
arises all the difficulty of getting them any preferment. 
Lydia also is so blind to all his defects that the least 
disrespectful thought of Johnny would make her more 
than ever miserable." She continues to say, " Any 
exchange from Staffordshire must be advantageous to 
them, for there, as they unfortunately began with enter- 
ing into all the expenses that attend a great neighbour- 
hood, they could never have lived in the way they 
intend doing and may do here. . . . This place is but 
a mile from them, and I don't despair of making a very 
"leaten path between us by constant use." 



be; 



Mrs. Montagu hastened to Albury, and, from a letter 
of Lady Andover's, appears to have not only given good 
advice for the future, but helped their purse. Harry 
Legge also paid them a visit, endeavoured to persuade 
them they could live on £300 a year, gave good advice, 
but made no promise for the future. Lady Andover 
says, " He gave them frugal good advice, but no hints 
or promises to make the discourse be relished ; he went 
away yesterday morning, and I am persuaded when it is 
in his power he will remember them." At the end of 
the letter she says— 

" I am quite of your mind concerning Lord Tulli- 
bardine.T full of wonder that he should chuze to sneak 
out of life much more like a rebell than resolutely suffer- 
ing publick execution. I hear of great interest making 
for tickets to see the executions,! and fear humanity is 
at a very low ebb." 

• Harry Legge, second son of the Earl of Dartmouth, was Lord of the 
Treasury and Chancellor of Exchequer ; a first cousin of Lady Andover's 
t William Murray, Marquis of Tullibardine ; died July 9, 1746. 
1 The Earl of Kilmarnock and Lord Balmerino. 



232 



THE "LITTLE PERE." 



|Cn. 



Mrs. Montagu was much distressed by the poor bi 
employed in her garden at Sandleford having ac< 
dentally fallen into a pond there and been drowned, 
an account of which she writes to the duchess on 
August 7. In this letter she begs the duchess to 
send the " Little Pere," as he was fondly called (Dr. 
Courayer), to stay with her, from Bullstrode, where 
he had been domiciled some time. At the same time 
she asks for two peacocks, "After asking for Dr. 
Courayer to beg your two peacocks, are there in 
Nature things that differ like this Philosopher and the 
bird of noise, vanity, and ostentation?" The peacocks 
were to console a white pea-hen at Sandleford for the 
loss of her mate, a white peacock, which, together 
with a quantity of poultry, had been stolen by the 
bargemen of Newbury. The Montagus sent a party 
of armed servants to inspect the barges, but only 
feathers and eggs were discovered. The peacocks were 
duly conveyed by waggon to the "Windmill," Slough, 
whence the Newbury waggoner, Sandy, conveyed 
them to Sandleford. The duchess, in writing about 
them, adds, "Lord Cromartie is pardoned; the King 
sent for my Lady to acquaint him with it Was 
not that doing it in the most tender, compassionat 
manner?" 

Mrs. Donnellan was at this time at Tunbridge, 
Lord Percival's house, and Mrs. Montagu jokingly con- 
fided her father, Mr. Robinson, who was there, to her 
care. On August 5 Mrs. Donnellan writes to say of 
Mr. Robinson, " I can assure you he is in very good 
widower's spirits." She adds, " He has lent me his 
chariot daily to carry me home at night to Lord 
Percival's." Mrs. Donnellan waited at Tunbridge till 
the death of her friend, Sir Robert Sutton," which was 
• The Right Hon. Sir Robert Sutton, of Brought on, Lincolnshire. 



3 



: 



1746.] 

daily 
widoi 
toLo 
M 
whict 
write 



DEATH OF MR. CARTER. 



233 



daily expected; when it took place she accompanied his 
widow, Lady Sunderland,* and his daughter, Miss Sutton, 
to London. 

Mrs. Botham, having an alarming attack of asthma 
which caused her six sleepless nights, Mrs. Montagu 
writes to recommend her Valerian tea, made from the 
roots. Evidently " Lydia " was not a notable house- 
keeper, as she also instructs her in the art of keeping a 
weekly account book, and entering in it every item of 
expense. The duchess was anxious for the Montagus 
to go to Bullstrode, but the visit was deferred, as the 
three younger Robinsons were spending their holidays 
at Sandleford, and the captain and Morris Robinson 
expected Mr. and Mrs. Freind there as well. Poor old 
Mr. Carter, the steward, was just dead of fever, which, 
it was thought, he caught when on agent's work at 

» Newcastle, where fever had been rife amongst the un- 
happy prisoners of the '45 confined there. He was 
a great loss to Mr. Montagu, who was contemplating 
ajourney north to place his affairs in young Mr. Edward 
Carter's t hands. Dr. Conyers Middleton, in a letter 
from Bath, of September 21, proposes setting out at 
Michaelmas "with young Frederick" for Sandleford for 
a few days. Mr. Montagu, accompanied by Mr. Carter, 
had set out on their northern journey, staying at 
Newbold Verdon with Mr. James Montagu en route, 
arriving at Theakstone by October 7. 

On October 12, from Theakstone, Mr. Montagu writes 
to his wife — 

" Mr. Carter has now dispatched what business he 
had to do for Lord Aylesbury at his courts, and is now 
at liberty, and on Tuesday morning we design to set 

; • Wife of Sir Robert Sutton ; had been third wife to 4th Earl of 
Sunderland. 

t He was agent to Lord Aylesbury. 



234 



DENTON. [Cu. 

Eryholme we shall take in 01 



out for New Castle, 
way. . . . 

" I have now with me Mr. Buckley and Mr. Emerson ; ' 
amidst all these avocations j have found time to study 
and profit by the Hurworth Philosopher as much as j 
proposed, and shall not when j return from Newcastle, 
have occasion to delay my journey for any further in- 
struction from him. I am glad Dr. Middleton is going 
to publish, and the rather because you approve of what 
he has done. It is a fine subject,! and none is capable of 
doing it more justice than he can. I wonder the young 
Lord HerveyJ should refuse to deliver up the Doctor's 
letters, for it would have been a great loss to the learned 
world if he could not have retrieved the matter of them 
as he has done. 



I 



On October 19, from Newcastle, Mr. Montagu writes- 



: 



" Mv Dearest, 

" Yesterday Mr. Carter and j rid out and view'i 
Mr. Rogers' estate of Denton lying upon the river west 
of this town, a fine tract of land with a fine colliery 
belonging to it After we came in Bp. Benson of 
Gloucester, who had been doing duty for the Bishop 
of Durham, being at our inn, desir'd the Drawer to 
present his compliments, and would be glad to see roe. 
. . . He is a very polite man. . . . This morning Mr. 
Bowes § came and made me a visit, invited me to Gib- 
side, and proffered me any assistance he could give me. 
I promised to pay my respects to him and dine with 
him when j was prepar'd to talk with him about those 
affairs in which he and Mr. Rogers are concern'd in 
partnership. . . . Mr. Rogers' affairs consist of a great 

• William Emerson, eminent mathematician ; author of " Doctrine ot 
Fluxions," etc. 

t An account of the Roman Senate. He allowed Mrs. Montagu t 
rend the manuscript. 

t George William, Baron Hervey. 2nd Earl of Bristol 

§ Mr. George Bowes, owner of Gibsidc Parle, Streatlam Castle, 1 
Hilton Castle, Durham. 



■746.1 



LADY PRIMROSE. 



235 



many concerns, particularly in collieries, lying at a 
great distance from each other, and as they have been 
neglected, great encroachments have been made which 
require some pains to detect." 

Early in November Mrs. Montagu visited London to 
take leave of her two sailor brothers, who were going 
to China. On the 10th she was to visit Bullstrode. 

• In writing to the duchess on the 2nd she says — 
"I am very glad Lady Wallingford has not left 
Bullstrode, extreamly rejoiced Mrs. Delany is come 
there, infinitely happy Lady Primrose * remains there, 
and for Mr. Freind I propose much happiness in seeing 

•him." 
On November 24, writing to Mr. Montagu, his wife 
says— 

" I wish my brother Morris had done Lord Lovat'sf 
trial; I have great desire to see the Solicitor-General's 
speech. As to Sir W. Young and Lord Cooke's, I heard 
them perfect, and shall perhaps hardly think them worth 
further regard and attention. 1 lost a great deal of 
Secretary Murray's speech, which, as it combined an 
account of the first overtures of the rebellion, I think 
matter of curiosity." 

• The curious remedies of the period are shown in a 
letter of Mrs. Botham, of November 25, where she says 
she has been taking Elixir of Vitriol for her asthma, and 
is now going to try Tar Water, then supposed to be 
a universal medicine. She adds that the Glebelands, 

• sixty acres in extent at Albury, had been let for £\j a 
year for thirty years, but as no one bid "Johnny" more, 
he was now farming it himself, as it provides our family 
with "grain, fowls, bacon, milk, butter and eggs." 

• Nit Anne Drel in court, wife of 3rd Viscount Primrose. Lord Rosc- 
bery says she once sheltered the Pretender. 
t He was beheaded April 9, 1747. 



236 DR. SHAW. [Ch. VII. 

In the next letter from Bullstrode, to Mr. Robinson, 
his daughter says — 

" Mrs. Delany tells me Mr. Granville thinks himself 
very happy in passing some of his hours with you. 
She says she has great ambition to please you as you 
are an artist and a connoisseur. She is now copying 
a portrait of Sacharissa from Vandyck, and I believe 
it will please you very well . . . The Duchess is in 
better spirits than ever I knew her; time has added 
accomplishments to her young family, her gardens are 
much improved, her house is new furnished." 

The last letter of the year to the duchess mentions — 

" I hear there is going to be published a new comedy 
by Dr. Hoadley* and a tragedy by Mr. Thomson. I 
have no great expectations of the comedy, for Dr. 
Hoadley is a sober physician, and must be a kind of 
comedian malgri lux. As to Mr. Thomson,! we know 
the pitch of his muse, and with what dignity his buskins 
tread the Stage." She winds up with " best respects to 
the huge ' Godfather of all Shell-fish/ who, tho' not so 
frisky I presume, as nimble as his Seabrother the 
Leviathan, or his Hornie palfrey the Seahorse, or his 
lapdog the Porpoise." 

This alludes to Dr. Shaw, the traveller, a constant 
visitor at Bullstrode, and a connoisseur in shells,}: which 
the duchess took great delight in collecting. 

An undated letter of Mrs. Montagu's to the Duchess 
of Portland of 1747 in my collection, alluding to her 
visit at Bullstrode, is probably the first of that year. 
She says— 

* Benjamin Hoadley, born 1706, died 1757. Physician to George II. ; 
wrote " The Suspicious Husband." 

t " Tancred and Sigismund." 

X Vide the Catalogue of the Portland Museum of 1786, in which are 
hundreds of rare shells. 



I747-] YOUNG EDWARD WORTLEY MONTAGU. 237 

" I am this instant from the play, where I have been 
extremely entertained with that most comick of all 
personages, Sir John Falstaffe ; as to Hotspur, he was 
in a very violent passion in the first act, and I think it 
is a part not equal to the genius of Gar rick." 

Garrick and Quin were this season taking alternate 
parts. Quin was then playing Falstaffe. 

A letter of Mr. Robinson's of April 25 describes him 
giving a Drum in London, "4 card tables and others 
who did not play, and they were all a Kentish Set . . . 
Dr. and Mrs. Middleton are in town, but they talk of 
going in a fortnight I will tell you what I think of her 
when I see you." This was Dr. Conyers Middleton's 
third wife, Anne Powell, whom he had just married, but 
the exact date I am uncertain of. 

Two curious letters to Mr. Montagu from his 
eccentric young cousin, Edward Wortley Montagu, 
occur next He was the only son of Mr. Montagu's 
first cousin, Edward Wortley Montagu, whose father, 
Sidney Montagu, was the second son of the great 
Earl of Sandwich. Sidney Montagu married Anne, 
daughter and heiress of Sir Francis Wortley, and 
assumed the name of Wortley. By her he had one 
son, Edward Wortley Montagu, who married Lady 
Mary Pierpoint, daughter of Evelyn, Duke of Kingston ; 
they had two children, Edward, born in 171 3, and Mary, 
born 17 1 8, who married John, Earl of Bute. To give 
young Wortley Montagu's eccentric life here would 
take too much space, but the reader will find an epitome 
of it at the end of this work. In 1745, he was in 
the Army through the influence of his relation, the 
Duke of Montagu, had been through the campaign, and 
was present at the Battle of Fontenoy. He became a 
prisoner of war, but was shortly before the date of 
the first letter exchanged, and, coming to England, was 






238 ACTION IN HOLLAND. [Ch. VII. 

given, by the Earl of Chesterfield," a commission to 
carry a packet of important papers to his relation, Lord 
Sandwich,t being informed of the contents of them in 
case he was waylaid and robbed. Mr. Montagu had 
always acted a kind part towards his young cousin, 
and frequently interceded for him with his father, old 
Wortley Montagu, in his endless escapades, which were 
enough to try any parent's heart. 

As the letters are of interminable length, I only 
quote portions of them. In the first, from Harwich, 
April 22, becalmed en route for the Array, he begs Mr. 
Edward Montagu to recommend him to the Duke of 
Montagu as messenger to the Court of Prussia, whither 
he heard a despatch was to be sent. He alludes to his 
father having visited Lord Chesterfield to ask about 
him, as they were not on speaking terms then, though 
his father was at the same time anxious he should 
enter Parliament. The second letter is from Ter Goes, 
May 15, 1747 (N.S.)— 

"We sailed from Harwich with the wind contrary, 
and were two pacquets in company. We were attacked 
by a privateer of 16 guns and got clear of him after a 
combat of between four and five hours. As soon as I 
arrived at Helvoet, 1 went immediately to the Hague, 
staid one day there, and then went on to H.R.H.J with a 
pacquet from Lord Sandwich; the moment the Duke 
saw me he told me I was released, and ordered me to 
take post and join ray regiment. The moment I got to 
the regiment, 1 found it retreating from the French, 
having lost between two and three hundred men and 
about 10 officers killed or wounded ; our Major is among 
the former. When we got to the seaside we did not 

• Philip Dormer Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, celebrated politician 
and author ; then Secretary of State. 

t Then Minister Plenipotentiary to the States General 
t The Duke of Cumberland. 



.,., 



I 



GENERAL ELECTION. 



239 



find vessels enough to embark us all, so our regiment, 
as the eldest, embarked the last, but when all Braggs' 
and most of the Highlanders were got off, we and the 
remainder of them were attacked by a body of 120a 
They were so well received that they quitted us, after 
having lost three officers and about twenty-seven men. 
We lost only one officer and a very few men. Billanders 
came just then, and we got off very luckily, for had 
we staid ten minutes longer we should all have been 
killed or taken, for we were scarce on board when we 
saw a considerable body march to the ground we had 
been on. ..." 

Edward Wortley Montagu's handwriting was ex- 
cessively neat; his signature, with peculiar flourishes 
to the " Edward," is unmistakable when once known. 

A dissolution and general election of Parliament 
took place in June, and Mr. Montagu hastened to 
Huntingdon for re-election, leaving Mrs. Montagu pack- 
ing up and removing furniture, etc., from Dover Street 
to their new house in Hill Street, which was being 
finished and decorated. 

In a letter of June 18, from Huntingdon, Mr. Mon- 
tagu says — 

"Yesterday was a day of more business, for we 
walked the town, where we met with very uncommon 
success, having met with one negative only. Mr. 
Wortley * the elder came from Peterborough to give 
us his assistance. ... He seems very well pleased with 
what my Lord has done for his son,t and will, j dare 
say, bring about a perfect reconciliation, tho' as yet they 
have not seen one another, nor will till they perhaps 
may both be in London. 

" The day for my election is not yet fixed. ... I may, 
if time should allow, ride over to Cambridge to con- 
gratulate Dr. Middleton on his marriage." 



* Old Wortley Montagu. 



t Edward Wortley Montagu, 



240 HUNTINGDON ELECTION. [Ch. VII. 

Lord Sandwich gave Mr. Montagu £500 towards his 
election expenses. Young Wortley Montagu was trying 
for Parliament at the same time, and was returned, and 
Matthew Robinson was seeking election for Canterbury. 

On June 23 Mrs. Montagu writes her last letter 
from Dover Street to her husband: "I am now on 
the point of leaving this town and my disfurnished 
house. . . . Please to send to the Crown Inn for a box, 
in which I have sent your frock with the gold loops. 
My brother does not meet with any opposition." 

The Hill Street house being still unfinished, Mrs. 
Montagu went to Sandleford, accompanied by Mrs. 
Donnellan, previously securing a room for her husband 
in town, "my Father's lodgings at Mrs. CranwelTs in 
Shepheard Street, near Red Lion Square." 

On June 30 Mr. Montagu writes — 

"My Dearest, it is with great pleasure that j can 
tell you our election is well over. Everything passed 
yesterday in the manner one could wish, and there was 
little of that riot and madness which is the constant 
concomitant of things of this nature. Captain John 
Montagu, who represented Mr. Courteney, is yet here 
on account of a ball which we are this night to have in 
the Assembly Rooms. My cousin* gives great satis- 
faction in the county. I think his nature to be good as 
well as his parts, and hope he will be an ornament to 
his family. I am sure he is very grateful to me. I have 
invited him to Sandleford. . . . My Lord Sandwich is 
entire master both of this town and county. He has 
so riveted his interest, that j believe nobody will venture 
to oppose as long as he lives. He is really a very great 
young man, with great talents, and many amiable 
qualities." 

On July 8 Mr. Montagu writes from London, having 

* Young Edward Wortley Montagu. 



I747-] DR. POCOCKE. 241 

changed his lodging to "Mrs, Barrows at the Golden 
Fleece" in New Bond Street. He says — 

"I left Huntingdon on Fryday in the afternoon, and 
got to Cambridge between seven and eight in the even- 
ing, walked about the Colleges, and then sent for Mr. 
Branson to enquire about the Canterbury Election. 
The next morning at eight, j waited on Dr. Middleton 
and breakfasted and din'd with him and his wife. The 
Doctor receiv'd me in a very agreeable and friendly 
manner, ask'd me why j did not the night before take 
up my lodging with him, press'd my longer stay. He 
has married a very agreeable, good-natur'd woman, 
her person is extreamly good, in her prime, must have 
been very handsome. She seems to have very good sense 
and a great deal of good nature. She went along with 
the Doctor and j, and spent an hour or two seeing Dr. 
Woodward's Fossils,* and afterwards she entertain'd us 
playing on the Harpsichord, in which she is a consider- 
able proficient ; in short, the Doctor seems to have 
consulted his happiness in what he has done, and j 
congratulated him upon it in the handsomest manner j 
could." 

»Dr. Courayer had now joined the Sandleford party. 
"Dr. Pococket and his family dined here yesterday. 
After dinner we all went to see the Vieux Hermite, who 
received us at the gate in a manner rather smiling 
Eastern courtesy and ceremony than rural simplicity; 
he bow'd to the ground several times, led me in, then 
accosted the little Pere by the title of the Courayer. . . . 
Standen asked Mary classical questions, of Dr. Pococke 
particularly whether he had been on the plains of Phar- 
satia and of Marathon, and if he had passed the Straits 
of Thermopylae He was overjoyed to hear the Temple 

• John Woodward, born 1665, died 1718. Geologist ; founded a chair 
of geology at Cambridge. 

t Rev. Dr. Pococke, bom 1704, died 1765. Bishop of Ossory and 
Mcath 1 author of " Descriptions of the East," etc. 

VOL. I. R 



242 WEST WOODHAY. [CH.VII. 

of Theseus was entire. Dr. Pococke is a faithful relater 
of what he has seen, but does not embellish his narra- 
tions with any imagination of fancy." 

Writing to the duchess on July 6, Mrs. Montagu 
says — 

" A few days ago I carried Mrs. Donneilan and the 
little Pfcre to see Mr. Sloper's gardens * and house at a 
time when I was assured he was absent on his election, 
but seeing a man ride up the avenue at the same time, I 
took it into my head it might be Mr. Sloper, so I did 
not alight immediately. The housekeeper came to me 
and asked if I would walk in ; I said I should be glad to 
see the house if Mr. Cibber was not at home; the 
housekeeper looked aghast, as if she had spoilt a custard 
or broke a jelly glass; I coloured, Mrs. Donneilan 
tittered, Dr. Courayer sputtered, half French, half 
English, and began to search for the case of a spying 
glass I had dropt in my fright As my organs of speech 
rather than of sight, seemed defective, I was little 
interested for my perspective, but sat in the coach 
making melancholy reflections on my mistake. Mrs. 
Donneilan could not compose her countenance, so that 
we were near a quarter of an hour before we got out of 
the coach ; and after so long a pause I walked into the 
house, greatly abashed." 

To understand this joke it must be explained that 
Mrs. Theophilus Cibber,f the celebrated actress, was 
the mistress of Mr. Sloper. She had been forced into 
marriage with Theophilus Cibber,$ son of " old Cibber," 
the celebrated actor, and her husband, who was a worth- 
less man, had connived at the connection. In a previous 

• Mr. Sloper lived at West Woodhay House, near Newbury, built by 
^ Inigo Jones. 

-^U,JClh**(t A&oa Maria Cibber, tUe Arne, celebrated actress, born 17 14, died 
1766. 

X Theophilus Cibber, son of Coiley Cibber, actor and dramatist, died 

1757. 



1747] DR. COURAYER. 243 

letter of Mrs. Montagu's, of 1744, mention is made of 
a house at West Woodhay furnished by Mr. Sloper for 
Mrs. Cibber " entirely in white satin." A further 
passage says — 

" 1 believe I could shake your spleen with a descrip- 
tion of Dr. Courayer's figure — when he arrived here 
from Oxford through a whole day's rain; but let it 
suffice that he shone with drops of water like the 
Diamond ficoides. How his beaver was slouched, his 
coloured handkerchief twisted, and his small boots 
stuck to his small legs ; how the rain had uncurled his 
wig, the spleen dejected his countenance, the cramp 
spoiled his gait ! not being much accustomed to riding 
he was so fatigued and benumbed he could scarce walk, 
that for so good a Christian he appeared surprizingly 
like Un Diable boiteux. Mrs. Donnellan and I could 
not help laughing ; with the vivacity of his nation, he 
fell in with the mirth and helped on the raillery his 
figure provoked." 

Mr. Montagu was detained in London by much legal 
business. He tells his wife her father, Mr. Robinson, 
carries him to Ranelagh. She retorts, " I am very glad 
my Father carries you to Ranelagh, but tell him I desire 
he would not make you a coquette, a character I think 
him a little inclined for." 

On July 18 mention is made of Lord Sandwich 
embarking for the seat of war. 

The next letter, July 23, to Mr. Montagu, from young 
Edward Wortley Montagu, who had been returned 
Knight of the Shire of Huntingdon, described an 
election ball " Our ball last Monday was very brilliant 
We had a very elegant supper for near 200 people, and 
finished by dancing till 6 in the morning." He mentions 
" my friend untieing his purse strings with the greatest 
reluctance, and was very peevish to see so many people 
at Supper, which he thinks very unwholesome." This 



244 A HIGH AND DRY RESIDENCE. [CH.VII. 

is probably old Wortley, his father. A christening of 
one of Lady Sandwich's children had just taken place. 
Mrs. Montagu was godmother by proxy. "1 assure 
you I wished the real Godmothers had been there 
instead of the substitutes," Then stating Lord Sand- 
wich had left so hastily they did not know if he had 
arranged for venison for the races, he begs Mr. Montagu 
to ask the Duke of Montagu to send him two bucks, 
" to be here by Tuesday." 

The Duchess of Portland, writing on July 24, men- 
tions " Lady Bute is with me ; she is a most agreeable 
friend in all respects." This was Edward Wortley 
Montagu's only sister, Mary, who was born in 17 18, 
whilst her father was ambassador to the Porte. She had 
married in 1736, John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute. 

A long letter of Mrs. Montagu's in reply to the 
duchess contains some amusing descriptions of the 
trio — herself, Mrs. "Donn," and the little Pfere's expe- 
ditions from Sandleford — 

"Yesterday we went to see a very extraordinary 
place. A gentleman has built a house on the summit 
of a prodigious hill, where there is not a drop of water 
nor a stick of wood; he has planted some fir trees 
which are watered every day by carts that bring the 
water about three miles; he has sunk a well to the 
centre of the earth, from whence some laborious horses 
draw him as much water as may wash his face, or in a 
liberal hour supply his tea kettle. The winds plays 
about his house in so riotous a manner, that a person 
must poise themselves in a very exact manner to main- 
tain their ground and walk on two legs with an erect 
countenance as it is the glory and pride of human nature 
to do. . . . The first house this gentleman built was in 
a bottom, where the ground was all wet and marshy, 
overgrown with willows and alders and extremely 
peopled with frogs ; there he found himself ill at ease, 



1747] LADY FANE'S GROTTOES. 245 

and no doubt but in time would have died of a dropsy, 
as I now fear he will be destroyed by a wind cholick. 

" A few days ago we were at Miss Lisle's wood and 
grotto ; the work of 9 sisters, who in disposition as well 
as number, bear some resemblance to the Muses. On 
Monday we think of going to Lady Fane's* grotto.t 
Mrs. Donnellan and I are going to make a shell frame 
for a looking glass. I think a looking glass to be the 
properest for the first work, as everybody will be sure 
to find something they like in it." 

In the next letter of August 23 is the description of 
Lady Fane's grotto — 

"The situation is, like most grottoes, placed where a 
grotto would not be looked for : it joins to the house. 
Now having told its only defect, I will go on to the rest 
The first room is fitted up entirely with shells, the sides 
and ceiling in beautiful mosaic, a rich cornice of flowers 
in baskets and cornucopias, and the little yellow sea 
snail is so disposed in shades as to resemble knots of 
ribbon which seem to tye up some of the bunches of 
flowers. There is a bed for the Hermit, which is com- 
posed of rich shells, and so shaded that the curtain 
seems folded and flowing. . . . The room adjoining it is 
the true and proper style for a grotto ; it is composed of 
rough rock work in a very bold taste, the water falls 
down it into a cold bath. This grotto is about 50 yards 
from the Thames, to which the descent is very precipi- 
tate. From the Shell Room you have no advantage of 
the Thames, from the other room you have a view of it. 
The House to which this grotto is joined is a small 
habitation where Lady Fane used to pass a good deal 
of time. Lord Fane's seat t is about a mile from it : it 
has not indeed the view of the Thames, but is finely 
situated in a bower of Beech Wood, and before it a 

* Mary Stanhope, widow of Charles, Viscount Fane, of Basildon ; 
once Maid-of-Honour to Queen Anne, 
t At Basildon, still called " The Grotto." 
t Basildon Park. 



246 THE AXLETREE. [CH.VIL 

pretty prospect From the Grotto we went to a Wood 
by the Thames, where we sat and eat our cold dinner 
very comfortably. In the afternoon we walked up a 
hill which commands a fine prospect, the Thames winds 
about in the manner it does at Cliefden. There is a 
want of wood, as I think the country rather flat, but 
the prospect is very extensive; you see Oxford and 
Reading, one on the right, the other on the left hand 
In our road thither one of the wheels took fire and 
burnt thro' the axletree. ... A wheelwright was applyM 
to but he had been carousing at a christening, and was 
not in that degree of sober sense requisite to make even 
an axletree. A Justice of the peace whom the King had 
knighted lived hard by ; to him we applyed for a coach, 
as it was part of his office to send vagrants to the place 
of their abode. Alas! his coach, which contrary to 
other things used to rest on the week days and work 
only on the Sabbath, had not been licensed, to the great 
inconvenience of his lady and the grief of Carter John, 
who one day in the week was a coachman. . . . What 
was to be done ? The sun was declining, we were 20 
miles from home. ... A good inn with the sign of the 
Blue Boar, Green Dragon, or Red Lion would have 
pleased us better than all we had seen, but — Alas ! the 
only village within reach offered us a homely lodging 
under thatched roofs. We were a party of seven, and 
might have stormed the village with more ease than the 
French can Bergen-op-Zoom, but the plunder w'd not 
have given us a supper, or the place afforded us a 
lodging. But on finding the uncoached Justice was 
married to Sir Robert Sutton's niece,* an acquaintance 
of Mrs. Donnellan's, she sent her compliments, told our 
distress, and we were kindly received that night The 
wheelwright slept himself sober, the next day made 
us an axletree, and we came home laughing at our 
adventures." 

The Montagus had projected a tour to Southampton 

• Lady Rush. 



1747] SOUTHAMPTON. 247 

for some time, and towards the end of August they set 
out, accompanied by Dr. Courayer, leaving Jack and 
William Robinson at Sandleford. Writing to the 
duchess on September 22, Mrs. Montagu says — 

" We went from hence to Winchester, where we saw 
the Cathedral, attending Service on Sunday ; it is a very 
neat Gothick building in so good repair that time seems 
rather to have made it venerable than old. The Choir 
is very handsome, there are many old monuments. 
Several of the Saxon Kings have their bones collected 
into a sort of Trunk. . . . William Rufus is interred 
there too, in a kind of stone chest ; William of Wick- 
ham and Cardinal Beaufort bear their ensigns of the 
Prelatick order oh their tombs, which are very hand- 
some ; but let us leave the pride of the dead for the 
luxury of the living, and go on to Mr. Dummer's.* The 
gardens are pretty, and there is a fine lawn before the 
house, from whence there is a rich prospect and a dis- 
tant sight of the river at Southampton, where we arrived 
pretty late in the evening. The next morning we sur- 
veyed the town, which I think is very pretty, but what 
most pleased me there, was the prospect from a little 
Round Tower from which one has the finest view 
imaginable, the sea and river most encompass it. . . . 
From hence we went to Mount Bevis;t your Grace 
knows it so well I shall not describe it . . . What a 
noble Bason does the river form at the end of the 
Bowling Green ! how fine a prospect from the Mount ! 
Lord Peterborough t says in a letter to Mr. Pope in 
reference to Mount Bevis, 'I confess the lofty Sacha- 
rissa at Stowe, but am content with my little Amoret' 
His Lordship had great reason to be content, for tho 9 
Stowe, like a court beauty, is adorn'd and ornamented 

* Cranbury Park, near Hursley. 

t The seat of the great Earl of Peterborough, now incorporated into 
the town above Bar. 

t Charles Mordaunt, Earl of Peterborough, born 1658, died 173$. 
Soldier and diplomatist. 



248 THE NEW FOREST. [Ch. VII. 

with great expence, the native graces of Mount Bevis 
surprize and charm the beholder, and have an effect that 
art can never reach. . . . We spent a good deal of time 
in these charming gardens: went from them to Lynd- 
hurst, one of the King's houses in the New Forest, which 
house the Duke of Bedford lends to Mr. Medows." * 

From three other letters, to Sarah Robinson, Mrs. 
Donnellan, and Dr. Freind, I give paragraphs. Speak- 
ing of Mount Bevis, she says — 

" In a room on this Mount, Pope used to write, and 
I imagine he wrote his ' Universal Prayer • there, for the 
unbounded prospect leads the mind to the Great Author 
of all things, and to say to Him, * Whose Temple has 
all space, &c' There is a little recess in the wood 
where he used to study, and here perhaps he meditated 
his satires, for we are most apt to blame the crowd 
when we ourselves are out of the Tumult" 

At Lyndhurst the Medowses took their guests to 
see the Forest — 

" saw Burleigh and Bolder Lodges, the one belongs to 
the Duke of Bolton, the other to Lord Delawarre. Saw 
the Forest, where there are (after great depredations), 
still some fine trees remaining. . . . Went one day to 
Hurst Castle, which commands a full view of the Isle of 
Wight ; we dined on our cold loaf in the room where 
King Charles was prisoner; it is a neat, strong castle 
but small — Harry Bellardine is governor of it Another 
day we were carried to Beaulieu, a seat of the Duke of 
Montagu's, the wood and water make it the finest sum- 
mer situation imaginable. The house was part of an 
old Abbey,t and there are traces of the Monastery that 
show it was large. We saw a fine prospect of the 
River and Isle of Wight from a place called Exbury. 
From Lyndhurst we went to Salisbury ; on the Sunday 

• Brother-in-law of Mr. Montagu, 
t Founded in 1204 for Cistercians. 



1747] WILTON. 249 

we went to the Cathedral and heard an excellent sermon 
from the Bishop of Lincoln. We received great civilities 
from the Bishop of Salisbury* and Mrs. Sherlock. I 
cannot describe Wilton,t it exceeds all that poetry and 
painting can represent A fine lawn leads you to a 
charming river, on which there is a bridge, and such a 
bridge \t . . . What sort of Bridge, say you? Why 
such a bridge as the gods would build to lead the souls 
of the Blessed from Lethe to Elysium if Charon would 
permit it. This leads to a fine hill covered with Nature's 
verdant carpet adorned with fine plantations. . . . We 
descended from this hill and crossed the river again 
over another elegant building, and so returned to the 
house. The apartments are very noble, the Statues and 
busts are famous. . . . The rooms are very fine, and 
there is one which exceeds any I ever saw and which 
has in it the fine family piece by Vandyck; it really 
exceeded my expectation, the figures are so finely 
painted, their attitudes are gestures and their looks are 
speech; there are many other fine pictures. From 
Salisbury we directed our course to Stone Henge, 
which is an astonishing thing. . . . Thence we went 
to Amesbury,§ where great improvements are making. 
There is a little river which winds about so as to make 
the place appear almost an island. There are three 
pretty Bridges, one in the manner of a Chinese house. 
The Duke of Queensborough has planted the hill very 
prettily. The house was a hunting box, built by Inigo 
Jones, the front handsome, the inside very small, only 
one fine room. 

" We got that night to Marlborough, early enough to 
walk in Lord Hertford's garden. . . . Lord Hertford 
has made a pretty grotto. 

"From Marlborough we took our route to Lord 

• Thomas Sherlock, born 1678, died 1761 : afterwards Bishop of 
London. 

t The Earl of Pembroke's. 

X A Palladian bridge. Here Sir Philip Sidney wrote his " Arcadia." 

§ Belonged then to the Duke of Queensborough, the patron of Gay. 



250 SAVERNAKE. [Ch. VII. 

Bruce's,* the access to it is very noble, avenues planted 
or woods cut thro 9 for a mile and a half before you reach 
the house. The house contains a great number of fine 
rooms richly gilt and adorned with handsome chimney 
pieces ; there are many family pictures and some very 
good ones. . . . 

" Dr. Courayer is still here. 

"My brother Tom was here three weeks. The 
Westminsters t are here, and they are admitted at Cam- 
bridge, so are now very happy." 

I copy a letter of Dr. Courayer's here — 

11 November, 1747. 

"Dear Madam, 

" C'est sans doute un mauvais Genie qui a fait 
trotter ma lettre par toute TAngleterre, au lieu de 
Taddresser directement k Sandleford, et cela je pense 
dans le dessein de me mettre de mauvaise humeur en 
vous soupconnant d'indifference, ou de m'inquieter par 
des allarmes sur votre sant& Votre reponse a remedte 
au mal, et a exorcis6 le mauvais esprit qui s'6toit inger6 
de vouloir nous brotliller ou nous refroidir, mais qui n'a 
fait que decouvrir sa malice, sans rien produire de ce 
qu'il avoit eu en vQe. J'espere que cette lettre ci ne 
fera pas tant de circuits. 

" Je vous felicite de la continuation de la belle saison. 
Nous en avons eu notrei part k Londres, et Dieu qui, 
comme vous le dites, fait luire son soleil sur les injustes 
comme sur les justes a moins consults nos iniquitgs que 
sa misericorde. Je ne laisse pas d'etre un peu scandalise 
de vos reproches. Croyez-vous done qu'il n'y ait de 
saints que dans les villages, et nous mettez vous tous 
au rang des r6prouv6s ? A la verit6 

" ' Le monde a de fort grands defauts, 
Ne croyez pas que je Fexcuse. 
II est mechant, leger et faux, 
II trompe, il seduit, il abuse. 
II est auteur de mille maux, 
Mais tel qrfil est, il nous amuse.' 

* Savernake Forest House. t John and William Robinson. 



I747-] DR. COURAYER'S LETTER. 25 1 

Ainsi ne soyez pas surprise, si je ne suis pas aussi 
ennemi de la ville que vous pretendez l'etre. Quand 
votre sort vous y ramenera, vous changerez de morale 
comme de demeure, et en quittant les Penates de Sandle- 
ford pour ceux de Londres, ce changement de place vous 
fera changer d'Idolatrie, et vous convaincra de injustice 
de vos declamations. Ce n'est pas aprfes tout que je 
condamne votre gottt pour la campagne. 

" ' La solitude est belle en vers. 
On est charme* de sa peinture. 
Mais elle a de facheux revers. 
Quelque bien qu'on soit, le temps dure, 
Et je vois dans cet univers, 
Qu'on aime a changer de posture. 9 

" Je vous suis trts oblige de l'offre que vous me faites 
d'ecrire ma vie, au lieu de mon Oraison fun&bre. Mon 
amour propre trouve k se satisfaire dans ce Projet, et 
ce sera une chose egalement nouvelle et curieuse de 
voir la vie d'un Philosophe 6crite de la main d'une 
Dame, qui n'approuve ni ses maximes ni ses inclina- 
tions. Mais quoi qu'il en puisse etre c'est trop d'hon- 
neur pour moi d'avoir une telle historiographe pour ne 
pas accepter votre offre ; et quand bien meme j'aurois 
k essuyer quelque trait de satyre parmi les Eloges, je 
ne pourrois que vous savoir bon gr6 d'avoir voulu vous 
exercer sur un sujet dont le principal merite seroit 
d'avoir pass6 par vos mains. 

" Pour dire tout le mal que vous dites de vous meme, 
vous avez sans doute des raisons que je n'ai pas pour 
le croire ; et tant que je les ignorerai, je ne puis pas vous 
voir par d'autres yeux que par les miens. Mais puis- 
que vous vous accusez d'etre si vaine, je dois vous taire 
ce que je pense de vous, de peur d'augmenter encore la 
vanity dont vous vous dites coupable. Restons chacun 
dans l'id6e que nous avons, vous en serez plus humble, 
sans que je sente diminuer pour vous mon amitig et 
mon estime. 

" Le Due et la Duchesse de Portland sont venus ici 
pour la naissance du Roi. lis repartirent hier pour 



252 MATTHEW ROBINSON'S ELECTION. [Ch. VII. 

Builstrode, oil je vous conseillerois volontiers lorsque 
Mr. Montagu vous aura quittee d'aller passer quelque 
temps. Vous y auriez un peu plus de compagnie, et la 
votre ne gateroit rien a la leur. 

" Mrs. Donnellan sera ici demain ou le jour d'aprfes. 
J'ai toujours regards la promesse qu'elle vous avoit 
faite comme un compliment sans consequence, et je n'ai 
pu m'imaginer qu'elle put revenir de King's Weston 
qu'en compagnie, ce qui lui Oteroit la liberty de vous 
voir. 

"Je suis trfes oblige k Mr. Montagu et k Miss 
Robinson de leur souvenir. Mes amities k Tun et 
a l'autre. Independamment de ce que je leur dois, il 
suffit qu'ils vous appartiennent, pour qu'ils me soient 
chers. 

" Void, Madame, une longue lettre. Peut etre vous 
ennuyera-t-elle ? En ce cas jettez la au feu avant que 
d'en achever la lecture. Une autre fois je serai plus 
court, et me contenterai de vous dire que je vous aime 
autant que vous le meritez, c'est k dire beaucoup, et 
que je suis trfcs sincerement tout k vous. 

"Le Courayer. 

" A Londres, ce 3 Novembre, 1747." 

Matthew Robinson had been returned member for 
Canterbury with little opposition. In writing to her 
father to press his visiting at Sandleford, Mrs. Mon- 
tagu begs him to leave his canvasses, but bring his 
painting materials. " We will provide all possible con- 
veniences for your work, and you may create immortal 
plants, clouds that will never dissolve in rain, nor be 
chased by wind, and suns that shine larger than in the 
miraculous days of Joshua." She also thanks him for 
Hoyle's book on Chess, and Taylor's on Perspective, 
and some drop medicine called " Devil's Drops," which 
Mrs. Montagu alludes to as having "a quality that 
makes one less fit for conversation than the Vapours 
themselves ! " 



1747] LORD LYTTELTON'S "MONODY." 253 

Matthew Robinson writes from Trinity Hall, Cam- 
bridge, to his father as to his young brothers William 
and John. William was at St John's, and John at 
Trinity Hall. Both matriculated most creditably. 
William * was said to be the best scholar of the year 
of his college, and John's tutor had a high opinion of 
his talent. Matthew addresses his father " Honoured 
Sir." 

Parliament being summoned for November io, Mr. 
Montagu set out, but very unwillingly, as his wife had 
been suffering much from "spasms of the stomach," 
a complaint she was much plagued with. In a letter 
of November 14 he promises to send a pamphlet on 
Lord Lovat's trial, and Mr. Lyttelton's verses. This 
latter was the celebrated Monody which he wrote 
after the death of his first wife, nie Lucy Fortescue, 
who had died on January 19 of this year, leaving 
him with two children — Thomas, afterwards 2nd Baron 
Lyttelton, and Lucy, who married Arthur, Viscount 
Valentia. 

Mr. Montagu, accompanied by his neighbour, Mr. 
Herbert, of Highclere, inspected his new house in Hill 
Street, which was then being ornamented, and with 
which he was not pleased. They then proceeded to see 
Lord Chesterfield's house, which was nearing com- 
pletion. He says "his principal apartment, which is 
on the ground floor, will be very magnificent." 

Mrs. Donnellan writes on November 17 — 

"I went with Mrs. Southwell t on Saturday to King 
Lear to see Garrick and Mrs. Cibber, both performed 
extremely well. I think he took the part of the old testy 
madman better than the Hero, and Mrs. Cibber is the 
soft, tender Cordelia in perfection. I am only provoked 

* William became soon an intimate friend of the poet Gray. 
t Wife of the Right Hon. Edward Southwell 



254 THOMAS ROBINSON'S DEATH. [CH.V1L 

that they have altered Shakespear's plain, sincere, art- 
less creation into a whining, love-sick maid I would 
have an Act of Parliament, at least of Council, that 
nobody should add a word to Shakespear, for it makes 
sad patchwork. . . . 

" I have read Mr. Lyttelton's ' Monody ; ' 'tis moving 
and seems to speak the feeling heart . . . Madame 
• Gran ' (ville) desires her duty, she is sorry you are not 
in town, there was a charming execution yesterday — 
two smugglers and a Jew, and a fine view from her 
windows." 

Mrs. Montagu's health being extremely delicate, she 
was ordered to Bath, accompanied by her husband and 
sister. They stayed at Mrs. Purdie's, Orange Court In 
a letter of December 28, to Mrs. Donnellan, she says — 

" The day after I came I consulted Dr. Hartley ; * he 
gave me comfortable words, said mine was a Bath case, 
would be cured by the waters, but medicines were 
improper and dangerous, and neither ordered bolus, 
draughts, or electuary, or any of the warlike stores of 
the faculty. The waters do not disagree with me, nor 
have I been ill since I came in any violent degree. My 
spirits are not in the best order, which you will not 
wonder at when I tell you my brother Tom t has a 
miliary fever ; Dr. Wilmot does not perceive any danger 
at present, but cannot pronounce him safe till the fever 
leaves him." 

Alas ! poor Tom died on December 29 ; his hitherto 
brilliant career being cut short, my grandfather, Matthew, 
4th Baron Rokeby, says, "by a cold caught by being 
overheated in a pleading before the House of Commons." 
He was a young man so promising in his profession 

• 

that the then Chief Justice of the King's Bench exclaimed, 

* Dr. David Hartley, born 1705, died 1757 ; physician, philosopher, 
and writer. 

t Her second brother, admitted to Lincoln's Inn, April 14, 1730% 



1743.] BATH. 255 

" We have lost the man in England for a point of law." 
His treatise* on Gavelkind still continues to be the 
standard book on that subject In sprightliness of wit 
and fertility of invention he much resembled his sister. 
He left on Mrs. Montagu's recollection "an indelible 
impression of admiration, and a regret which no sub- 
sequent acquisition in friendship could sufficiently 
compensate." 

In writing to Mrs. Donnellan soon after, she says — 

"My poor brother's virtues and capacity gave me 
the fairest hopes of seeing him enjoy life with great 
advantages ; a fatal moment has destroyed those hopes, 
but it must be length of time that can make me submit 
to the cruel disappointment; he was an honour and 
happiness to us all, and I never thought of him without 
pleasure." 

In a letter to Mrs. Donnellan from Bath, dated 
February 6, the following passage occurs : " The Coffee 
House is really grown sprightly. We meet Mrs. Pitt,f 
Mrs. G. Trevor, Mrs. Grosvenor, Lady Lucy Stanhope, 
and a few more, and we are often very merry, and sit 
round the fire after other people go away." J The 
Freinds were at Bath, but their little boy Robert being 
inoculated for the smallpox kept the cousins apart. 

Her spirits reviving, Mrs. Montagu, writing to the 
duchess, says, "Whisk and the noble game of E. O. 
employ the evening ; three glasses of water, a toasted 

• " The Common Law of Kent," or " The Customs of Gavelkind, with 
an Appendix concerning Borough English," 1st edition, 1741 ; 2nd at a 
date I have not been able to ascertain ; 3rd in 1822 ; 4th in 185& Edited 
by J. D. Norwood, of Ashford. 

t Anne Pitt, sister of Mr. Pitt, Maid-of-Honour to Queen Caroline. 

t The " Coffee House " apparently adjoined the Rooms, as is shown 
in the reproduction of Nixon's original water-colour drawing of such a 
scene as Mrs. Montagu describes, now in Mr. Broadley's valuable Bath 
Collection. 



256 MISS M. ANSTEY. [CH.VII. 

roll, a Bath cake, and a cold walk the mornings," but 
the regimen agreed with her, and she accompanied 
Mr. Montagu to Sandleford on May i, leaving Sarah 
Robinson, who was suffering from headache, with her 
friend, Miss Grinfield, at Bath. From this period dates 
the extreme intimacy which grew up between Miss 
Robinson and Lady Barbara Montagu, sister of George 
Montagu Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax, who was then living 
at Bath, and invited Miss Robinson to stay with her. 

The Hill Street house not being completed, Mrs. 
Knight,* a cousin of the family, lent Mrs. Montagu her 
house in Golden Square, London. Miss Grinfield, just 
mentioned, was just made a dresser to the princesses, 
daughters of George II. 

"Miss Grinfield is in waiting. . . . The place is 
enough to weary a person of the strongest constitu- 
tion ; their Highnesses rise early and go to bed late ; 
are waited upon by the dressers at dinner. Princess 
Caroline t has one to read to her continually; poor 
Nancy is to have only the £100 per annum, and no 
cloathes till one goes off." 

In the same letter Mrs. Montagu mentions Miss M. 
AnsteyJ had been staying with her, but her parents 
insisted on her returning to them to help furnish 
Trumpington, near Cambridge, a property they had 
just come into. 

From the Middletons, Mrs. Montagu writes to Mrs. 
Donnellan — 

" Cambridge, June 15. 

" Dear Madam, 

" As I date my letter from the modern capital 
of the Muses, you will perhaps expect that 1 should 

* Nie Robinson. 

t Married 1766, to King Christian VII. of Denmark. 

X Sister of the author of the " New Bath Guide." 



1743.] CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY. 257 

send you some strains of immortal poetry, but I have 
not yet met with any such thing, and must rather give 
an account of the Buildings than the literary works of 
the University. I had some pleasure in the recollection 
of the easy careless years of infancy, some part of which 
I passed here with the most tender of relations, a fond 
grandmother; in comparison of whose indulgence all 
other indulgence is severity, as you must be sensible if 
ever you had the greatest of infant comforts, a grand- 
mother. So much to my particular circumstances ; then, 
to the general situation of the University. The Colleges 
do not in general, stand so as to give ornament to the 
town, as those of Oxford, but if the town is the worse 
for it, the Colleges are the better, as they open to the 
fields, and from thence receive and give a fine prospect. 
King's College, Clare Hall, and Trinity Library, and 
the finest of Gothick buildings — King's College Chapel, 
makes a beautiful appearance from the public walks. 
Trinity College is a most noble thing ; the Quadrangle 
is a sixth part bigger than that of Christchurch in 
Oxford. The Library is very handsome, and esteemed 
one of the finest rooms in the World. In the Library 
there is preserved the skeleton of a gentleman who left 
his bones as a monument of his regard to mankind on 
purpose to instruct even the most superficial observer 
of the formation of the human body, and at the same 
time designed that his name, like his body, might be 
snatched from the grave ; how various are the roads to 
Fame ! Some seek them by grand and pompous obse- 
quies ; others expect them for not having Christian burial, 
and hope to be remembered by a magnificent tomb, or 
the want of a coffin. I always thought vanity the very 
marrow of a human creature, and it sticks to them even 
to their very bones. . . . What gives me the greatest 
pleasure is the seeing Dr. Middleton married to a 
person # who seems formed to make him happy ; she is 
very well bred and agreeable, has a most obliging temper, 
likes his manner of life, shows him the greatest regard, 

• Anne Powell, his third wife. 

VOL. L S 



258 RICHARDSON'S "CLARISSA.* [CH.VIL 

and among her accomplishments I must take notice of 
her playing on the Harpsichord in great perfection. 

" 1 found my two brothers very well, and extremely 
happy in their situation." 

She then continues that, Master Knight having taken 
smallpox, she cannot go back to Golden Square, but into 
two bedrooms in her unfinished house in Hill Street 
This sentence shows that Mrs. Donnellan was a friend of 
Mr. Samuel Richardson, the great author : " I wish you 
much pleasure with the nightingales at North End, and 
you have a good right to be of so harmonious a society." 
North End, near Fulham, was Mr. Richardson's * country 
house. He had published "Pamela" in 1740, and "Clarissa 
Harlowe," which was to make such a lasting sensation, 
was published in this spring of 1748. 

Mrs. Montagu writes to her sister, who was still at 
Bath on June 25, from Hill Street, where, as she states, 
everything is in great confusion, " the middle floors not 
laid." Mrs. Dettemere, her lady's-maid, had just lost her 
husband, whom she had not seen for years, but loved 
dearly. She appears to have been a poor lady, but the 
cause of her living separate from her husband does not 
appear. Dr. Shaw had been consulted as to a return 
of Mrs. Montagu's spasms of the stomach, and recom- 
mended the extraordinary remedy of " sweating." This 
was to remain in bed for days and weeks in flannel 
sheets, which at midsummer could have hardly been 
endured. She says — 

" He assures me I shall neither be sick or nervous : after 
my sweating fit is over, I am to drink asses' milk, ride on 
horseback, and grow fat and jolly. I am now thinner 
than ever, so the reformation will be greater if I 
grow fat . . . My brother Robinson had a very pleasant 

• Samuel Richardson, born 1689, died 1761. Novelist and publisher ; 
wrote " Sir Charles Grandison," etc., etc 



1748.] 



PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. 



259 



journey to Aix, where I daresay he will have a great 
deal of pleasure. There will be a great concourse of 
people of all nations, and Lord and Lady Sandwich are 
extremely obliging to him. . . . 

" Mr. Flower sent your jumps * yesterday ; I did not 
pay for them on account of his raising the price." 

The Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle had been signed in 
March, Lord Sandwich and Sir Thomas Robinson t being 
the English plenipotentiaries. Lady Sandwich, going out 
to join her husband, persuaded Mr. Matthew Robinson, 
who was a great friend, to escort her to Aix-la-Chapelle. 

In order to while away the weary hours of lying in 
bed at Sandleford, Miss Anstey and Dettemere had to 
read aloud to Mrs. Montagu Admiral Anson's book, "A 
Voyage round the World," recently published. Sarah 
Robinson designated it "as the best receipt book in 
England as far as dressing turtles and some Indian 
animals can reach." 

Mrs. Donnellan had lost her stepfather, Mr. Percival, 
on April 26 of this year. He had long been in declining 
health. She was very anxious about the remedy Mrs. 
Montagu was taking, and demanded constant news. She 

Recommends Townsend's "Translation of the Conquest 
f Mexico " to be read to Mrs. Montagu. Her mother, 
he writes, had taken a house for the summer months 
"a little beyond the walls of Kensington gardens, and 
1 have a key to the nearest door." 

Dr." Shaw is mentioned as going away on his travels, 
leaving no directions for his patients, and the Duchess 
of Portland as giving him ^600 to enable him to travel 
id find her shells and curiosities, for which she bad 
nsatiable appetite. 

A sort of stays. 

t " Short Sir Thomas Robinson," called in contradistinction to " Long" 
Sir T. Robinson, Mrs. Montagu's cousin. 



?: 



2 6o SPA. [Ch. VII. 

Sarah Robinson continued at Bath with Lady Bab 
Montagu, and hints are thrown out in some of the letters 
of an attachment springing up between her and Mr. G. 
L. Scott, mentioned before. Captain Pigott, an admirer 
of Sarah's, is described as " dressed according to custom 
in a tied wig fresh powdered, a bloom colour cloth coat, 
laced most magnificently with gold, and bloom-coloured 
stockings; he visits our door continually, but all the 
consequence is a little expense in chair hire to him." 

Two people with immense trains of attendants are 
noticed as then at Bath, the Earl of Harrington and 
Earl of Hertford,t the latter " never stirs without three 
footmen, and his very chair men have shoulder knots." 

Three letters of Matthew Robinson to his sister from 
the Continent whilst with Lord and Lady Sandwich 
contain a few interesting paragraphs 



"After my last letter we set out for Spa, whither 
we travelled through the Dutchy of Li m burg, a most 
beautiful country to look at, and among the rest we 
saw to the left the Forest of Arden where Jacques 
moralized, but though it is about 80 miles in circum- 
ference, by means of bad government and its revenues 
being carried to its Princess, the Empress, to Vienna 
its capital, Limburg is a pitiful village and in the whole 
Dutchy there are not above 4 or 5 other villages, still 
more contemptible. At Spa we lived a very merry life, 
and were entertained by an Hungarian Prince and other 
German nobility. Tokay and other very good wines 
gave us a taste how very fine a country Hungary must 
be, but our scheme was unluckily cut short in the 
middle by Lord Sandwich having a sudden call to Aix. 
Upon our return Sir Thomas Robinson was here, who 
at his Lordship's request is joined with him as second 
plenipotentiary ; he says he is an old familiar of my 

• William Stanhope, 1st Earl of Harrington ; Viceroy of Ireland, 
t 15th £arl» afterwards Duke of Somerset 



1748.] THE HAGUE- 261 

Father's, and inquires much after him. Our life here is 
as it used to be. The Sunday before last there was a 
most magnificent gala, a dinner, supper and ball at the 
French ambassador's on account of St Louis' day, where 
I assure you I was much charm'd with the unaffected 
liveliness and gaiety of the French. . . . Last Sunday 
we had a second part of the same comedy by the Dutch 
on account of the Prince of Orange's birthday ; besides 
a dinner and supper, there was a ball at the Maison de 
Ville, which of itself is very magnificent, and was finely 
decorated by Mr. Vanharen. Lady Sandwich both in 
her journey and here has often wished for your com- 
pany. . . . To-morrow morning I set out for Bonn upon 
the Rhine, and we go from thence all down the Rhine to 
the Hague." 

Matthew and a Mr. Gee left Lord and Lady Sand- 
wich at Aix. Young Edward Wortley Montagu was 
acting-secretary to Lord Sandwich. From the Hague he 
writes in October — 

" Since 1 wrote to you last I have taken a long and 
pleasant journey up the Rhine among the palaces of the 
four Electors, from thence I am come to the Hague, 
about 10 days ago. From the neatness of the town, 
the incomparable walks and rides about it, its rendez- 
vous of Ministers and politicks, it is a very agreeable 
place to live in. The Ministers here by turns hold 
assemblies of the men at their houses, morning and 
evening, and I have dined at the house of one or other 
of them almost every day. The court is well filled and 
well attended, but as formal as our own. . . . The most 
extraordinary person here is Mr. Grounen, the Father 
of Mrs. Trevor, wife of our envoy, who has knowledge 
and sense enough to be mighty well acquainted with the 
History of Europe, and to be supposed by some people 
to be writing the History of his own times, to have con- 
stantly every noon about him a resort of the Ministers 
and best company here, to be the center of all their 



262 DEATH OF MR. JAMES MONTAGU. [Ch.VIL 

news, and to be the particular and intimate acquaintance 
of several great men, and among the rest the correspon- 
dent of Lord Chesterfield, and yet at the same time to 
be so mad as for fear of infection literally not to touch 
any human creature, neither his servants, his children, 
nor even his second wife ! w 

Mr. James Montagu, half-brother to Mr. Edward 
Montagu, had for some time been deaf, and was now 
in a very dropsical state ; he now fell very ilL Mr. and 
Mrs. Montagu nursed him tenderly till the end, which 
took place on October 3a From letters of Mrs. Medows 
to Mrs. Montagu one learns the brothers had not been 
brought up together ; hence the blow was less acutely 
felt He appears to have died in London. His estate 
of Newbold Verdon in Leicestershire was left to Wort- 
ley Montagu. Mrs. Medows says, " I can't help feeling 
a little hurt that Newbold goes where it should not, 
but I really believe Sandleford is a pleasanter place to 
live in." 

In a letter to Sarah, Mrs. Montagu says — 

" Mr. Montagu is now returned from the melancholy 
ceremony of opening the will. My brother has left us 
a handsome legacy, and also all his plate and jewels, 
which last, he told the person who made the codicil, 
would be proper for me, as I had refused any when I 
married, perhaps his brother would forget them. I 
hear the plate is valued at £1500, and the jewels, they 
say, are fine, but I never saw them. I esteem the good 
will and kindness of the donor more than ever I shall 
the glittering gems." 

The two sailor brothers had just returned from the 
East Indies. 

"Charles grown from a fine boy to a very clever 
man, he is improved in all respects. . . . My house 
looks like an Indian warehouse: I have got so many 



1748.] 



PRICE OF TEA. 



263 



figures, jars, etc, etc., you would laugh at the collection, 
my gown I brought out of the ship buckled under my 
jumps, it is very pretty and the work extremely neat 
The Captain has brought China, Lutestrings, taffeties 
and Paduasoys, they wear so well, but the colors are 
not as good as those of our manufacture." 

Tea was also brought, and Dr. Conyers Middleton 
had 4 lbs. at 165. a pound. He had just brought out his 
" Free Enquiry into the Miraculous Powers." Matthew 
Robinson writes of it on December 17, "Middleton 
will tell you there is no belief to be given to any of the 
miracles related by the Fathers, Hume* says that there 
is no belief to be given to miracles related by any man 
whatsoever." And thus end the letters of 1748. 

* David Hume, born 1711, died 1776 ; philosopher and historian. 



( 264 ) 



CHAPTER VIII. 

1749-175 1 — SOCIETY IN LONDON AND AT TUNBRIDGE WELLS 
— BEGINNING OF CORRESPONDENCE WITH GILBERT WEST, 
AND RESIDENCE AT HAYES. 

An account of a subscription masquerade given at 
Ranelagh in May opens the letters of 1749. My grand- 
father* by mistake put this in 1751. It succeeded a 
magnificent fete and masquerade given on May 1 in 
celebration of the Peace. 

Mrs. Montagu writes to her sister at Bath on 
May 8— 

" I am ashamed that I have been so remiss in writing 
to my dear sister, but business and amusements have 
poured in torrents upon me. I was some days pre- 
paring for the subscription masquerade, where I was 
to appear in the character of the Queen Mother,! my 
dress white satin, fine new point for tuckers, kerchief 
and ruffles, pearl necklace and earrings, and pearls and 
diamonds on the head, and my hair curled after the 
Vandyke picture. Mrs. Trevor $ and the Lady Stan- 
hopes' § adjusted my dress, so that I was one day in my 
life well dressed. 

" Miss Charlotte Fane was Rubens' wife, and looked 

• Vidi Horace Walpole's letter to Sir H. Mann, voL ii. p. 292. 

t Henrietta Maria. 

J Mrs. John Morley Trevor, nie Montagu. 

§ Daughters of 1st Viscount Stanhope ; their mother was a Pitt 



I749-] MASQUERADE AT RANELAGH. 265 

extremely well ; we went together. Miss Chudleigh's * 
dress or rather undress was remarkable. She was Iphi- 
genia for the sacrifice, but so naked, the High Priest 
might easily inspect the entrails of the victim. The 
Maids of Honour, not of maids the strictest, were so 
offended they would not speak to her. 

"Pretty Mrs. Pitt t looked as if she came from 
heaven, but was only on her road thither in the habit 
of a chanoiness. Many ladies looked handsome, and 
others rich, there was as great a quantity of Diamonds 
as the town could produce. Mrs. Chandler was a starry 
night, the Duchess of Portland had no jewels, and was 
miserably dressed. Lord Sandwich made a fine Hussar. 
Mr. Montagu has made me lay by my dress to be painted 
in when I see Mr. Hoare again. His picture is thought 
like, but the face too full for my thin jaws. I staid till 
5 o'clock in the morning at the masquerade, and was not 
tired, but a glass of your champagne and water gave me 
a fit of the cholick the next day, and I have never been 
well since, but I had better luck than Miss Conway,t 
who was killed by a draught of Lemonade she drank 
there. . . . 

" I suppose you have read Lord Bolingbroke's new 
work,§ as it is short we idle ones in London can find 
time to peruse it." 

Mrs. Montagu paid a visit to the Bothams at Albury 
soon after this. From the letters it appears Mr. Matthew 
Robinson was pressing a suit on Miss Godschall, a rich 
heiress living near Albury, but it came to nothing. 

In June, Mrs. Montagu, being recommended to drink 
the Tunbridge waters, was accompanied by Lady 
Sandwich, who was also ordered there; Mr. Montagu 
remaining on business for a while in London, Sarah 

• Maid-of-Honour, and secretly married to Viscount Bristol, afterwards 
Duchess of Kingston. 

t Nit Penelope Atkyns, wife of George Pitt, afterwards Lord Rivers. 
X Miss Jenny Conway, sister of Lord Conway. 
f " The Idea of a Patriot King." 



266 JOHN, DUKE OF MONTAGU. [Ch. VIIL 

Robinson still living with Lady Bab Montagu at 
Bath. 

A letter from Lady Talbot welcoming them to stay 
with her till they found a house now appears. She 
was the wife of William, 2nd Baron Talbot, after- 
wards Earl Talbot and Baron Dinevor, nee Mary de 
Cardonnel, a great heiress, who had been married at the 
age of fifteen ! An amiable, affectionate person, and a 
great friend of Mrs. Montagu's. Mrs. Montagu writes 
for her chariot to be sent to her ; she and « Lady Sand- 
wich having performed the journey in Lady Sandwich's 
post-chaise,* then a new vehicle. 

They stayed three weeks drinking the waters, 
during which Lady Talbot had a bad fall from her 
horse. A report reaching Tunbridge Wells that Lord 
Sandwich had a fever, his wife, accompanied by Mrs. 
Montagu, drove in four hours to London, where they 
found him recovered by the taking of bark. As Lady 
Sandwich wished to be present at the Huntingdon races, 
she did not return to Tunbridge, but Mrs. Montagu 
persuaded her sister-in-law, Mrs. Medows, to accompany 
her there for a week. Mr. Montagu now joined her 
from Sandleford, whither he had been accompanied by 
Captain Robert Robinson, the sailor brother. The 
captain proceeded on to Bath to see Sarah. Before 
leaving town, Mr. Montagu had been much distressed 
at the illness of his relative, the Duke of Montagu, and 
sent daily to inquire after him. He had only been at 
Tunbridge a few days before the duke died, and he was 
summoned to town as an executor, together with the 
Dukes of Bedford and Devonshire Mrs. Montagu 
writes — 

" I am grieved at the heart for the poor Duke 
of Montagu, as he was your friend and the friend of 

* The four-wheeled post-chaise invented by Mr. Jethro TulL 



I749-] MRS. VESEY. 267 

mankind; his memory will be dear to all that knew 
him, he is embalmed in the tears of the poor and the 
distressed: it is happier to dye lamented than to live 
unloved." 

This is the Duke of Montagu * mentioned by Horace 
Walpole, page 141 of his letters to George Montagu, "as 
the head of all the ' cues.' " t In Ihe codicils legacies 
were left to his servants, dogs, and cats. Horace says, 
" As he was making the codicil one of his cats jumped 
on his knee. ' What, 9 says he, ' have you a mind to be a 
witness too ? You can't, for you are a party concerned.* M 

He left no male heir, only two daughters, the Duchess 
of Manchester, who had remarried Mr. Hussey, and Lady 
Cardigan. Their mother was the fourth daughter of the 
celebrated Duke of Marlborough. 

Mr. Montagu got £100 as executor. Whilst he was 
detained in London, Mrs. Montagu made an expedition 
to Coombe Bank in company of Mr. and Mrs. Vesey. 
This is the first mention of people who were destined 
to become most intimate friends. Mrs. Vesey was the 
daughter of Sir Thomas Vesey, Bishop of Ossory. She 
married, first, Mr. William Handcock; secondly, her 
cousin, Agmondesham Vesey, of Lucan, Ireland. He 
was M.P. for Harris Town. 

Mrs. Montagu writes — 

"I went yesterday along with Mrs. Vesey to see 
General Campbell's place; we set out to avoid heat a 
little after 6. Lady Allen lent us her coach and six. 
We got to Coombe Banke by nine. It is about 16 miles t 
from here. We walked about the gardens, which are 
very pretty, and saw the house, dined under the shade, 
and about 4 o'clock Mr. and Mrs. Vesey got into their 

• John Montagu, 2nd Duke, bora 1705, died Febuary 16, 1749. 

t The M cues * was the nickname of the large Montagu circle. 

X Three hours doing sixteen miles shows the badness of the roads. 



368 THE FEATHER SCREEN. [Ch. V1IL 

post-chaise to go to London. I mounted my horse and 
went to Senoak, where Lady Allen's coach waited for 
me. Lord Sandwich and Lord Anson were just come 
to the inn, and going to dine on turtle, to which they 
invited me, but I had made a more agreeable meal in 
General Campbell's garden. ... I am going to dinner 
to Lady Talbot's, where I breakfasted Lord Sandwich 
and Lord and Lady Anson and a great deal of company 
are to dine there. We have now such a crowd we 
expect a splendid ball to-night I received great civility 
from Mr. and Mrs. Vesey, and they desired to know how 
I got home last night, so I must beg you to send the 
enclosed note to them in Bolton Row. They desired 
leave to see the house and celebrated feather screen, so 
I have wrote to Betty to have the house in order, and 
to set the screen for them. . . . Coombank is but a small 
place, but a fine terrace commands a beautiful view of 
the country. The house is most elegantly furnished. 
We were offered everything as politely as if the General 
had been there. We had a fine dessert of fruit served 
in the finest china. Our dinner we carried, but wine, 
tea and coffee were offered us." 

This feather screen was in six panels, one of which 
was worked by Miss Anstey, in imitation of one of the 
Duchess of Portland's. The feather work, immortalized 
afterwards by the poet Cowper, had been begun, but it 
was the Duchess of Portland's original idea. Numerous 
letters mention feathers being sent or asked for. Lydia 
Botham collected the plumage of peacocks, pheasants, 
and jays. Every known sort of parrot and macaw was 
placed under contribution. From Albury the boxes of 
feathers were sent by the Guildford coach to the " White 
Horse cellar in Piccadilly." With these came fifty pens 
made by Lydia from her geese. 

Dr. Jurin * kept Mrs. Montagu longer than she 

* Dr. James Jurin, born 1684, died 1750 ; physician, mathematician 
and author. 



1749] HINCHINBROOK. 269 

intended drinking the waters of Tunbridge. During her 
stay there amongst the company were the Duchess of 
Somerset * and her daughter the Duchess of Bedford, 
Lord and Lady Fitzwalter, Lady Ancram, Lady Anson, 
Lord and Lady Elibank, Dowager Lady Barrington, 
Lady Betty Germain, Lord and Lady Vere Beauclerk, 
Lady Talbot, Lord March, Lord Eglinton, Lord Granby 
and Lord Powis, Lady Winchelsea, the Bishop of 
London and Mrs. Sherlock. 

In a letter to Dr. Freind this is said — 

11 In many respects this place is inferior to Bath, in 
some it is better. We are not confined here in Streets ; 
the houses are scattered irregularly, and Tunbridge 
Wells looks from the window I now sit by a little like 
the village t you see from our terrace at Sandleford, 
only that the inhabitants instead of Jack and Joan are 
my Lord and my Lady." 

A letter of September 28, of Mr. Montagu's, after his 
return to London, is addressed to Hinchinbrook, where 
his wife had gone to stay with Lady Sandwich for a 
grand ball at Huntingdon, and the election of a new 
mayor. He says — 

"I am not surprised that Hinchinbrook pleases 
you so well, or that you are of opinion it is capable 
of being made a fine place, it stands upon an eminence 
and commands a fine prospect, which those that made 
the Terrass well knew. The venerable old elms in the 
road are very ornamental, and the wood at the bottom 
of the garden is pretty as is also the plantation in the 
Park. The brook from whence the place takes its name 
is at a due distance from the house, and might be 
improved into a river or fine piece of water. I doubt 

* Second wife of Charles, "the proud Duke" of Somerset Her 
daughters became, one Marchioness of Granby, the other Countess of 
Aylesford. 

t Newtown. 



2?0 THE MISS GUNNINGS. [Ch.VIIL 

not my Lord will do it, if not at present, at an age more 
suitable. The room where Oliver Cromwell was born 
I daresay Mr. Audley will be proud to show you, and is 
seen by all strangers, tho 9 I don't believe it consists 
of one of the same particles of the material of which the 
room was built when that great man was brought into 
the world." 

Mrs. Montagu writes — 

"The Huntingdon ball was more splendid than I 
expected. I danced with Lord Sandwich. For beauties 
we had the two Miss Gunnings,* who are indeed very 
handsome ; nonpareilU, for the sisters are just alike take 
them together, and there is nothing like them ; they are 
really very fine girls." 

On her road back to London she stayed with the 
Ansteys at Trumpington, and Miss Anstey accompanied 
her to London. 

Sarah Robinson, between whom and Mrs. Montagu 
there was a slight estrangement on account of her engage- 
ment to Mr. George Lewis Scott, which Mrs. Montagu 
disapproved of, now paid her sister a visit Matthew 
wrote to recommend that the sisters should meet as if 
nothing had occurred to weaken their bond of affection. 
Sarah's health had improved much by her long residence 
at Bath with Lady Barbara Montagu, who accompanied 
her on her visit to Sandleford. Sarah had painted a 
toilette-cover with flowers for Mrs. Montagu's new 
house in Hill Street, which was beginning to be 
decorated. 

In November, Parliament called the Montagus to 
London. 

• The daughters of John Conning, of Castle Coote, Roscommon. 
Elizabeth married, first, the Duke of Hamilton ; secondly, the Duke of 
Argyll. Maria married the Earl of Coventry. There was a third sister. 
Kitty, married Mr. Robert Travers, but lived in Ireland* 



my 



1750] MRS. MONTAGU'S CHINESE ROOM. 2?I 

The first letter of 1750 is dated January 3, from 
Sandleford, addressed to Sarah. I give portions of it — 

" Lady Sandwich was so good as to spend a week 
with us, and as the weather was fine for this time of 
year, we went out in the post-chaise all the morning, 
then dinner, tea and supper pretty well filled the rest of 
the time. On Monday 1 went with her Ladyship to 
Reading, where we lay that night The next morning 
she went to town, and I returned hither, where I found 
my brothers, who give me a very agreeable account of 
iur health ... I saw our friend Cotes the day before 
left town, she is very well and in good spirits, and 
:ems determined to keep her freedom and enter no 
more into wedlock's bonds. She has only a small 
lodging, and I think with her economy she might afford 
herself a house of her own, and she might furnish it in 
the present fashion, of some cheap paper and ornaments 
of Chelsea China or the manufacture of Bow, which 
makes a room look neat and finished. They are not so 
sumptuous as mighty Pagodas of China or nodding 
Mandarins. My dressing room in London is like the 
Temple of some Indian god : if I was remarkably short 
and had a great head, I should be afraid people would 
think I meant myself Divine Honours, but I can so little 
pretend to the embonpoint of a Josse, it is impossible to 
suspect me of such presumption. The very curtains 
are Chinese pictures on gauze, and the chairs the Indian 
fan sticks with cushions of japan satin painted : as 
to the beauty of colouring, it is carried as high as 
possible, but the toilette you were so good as to paint is 
the only thing where nature triumphs. Lady Sandwich 
brought her sons here, they are charming boys; Lord 
Hinchinbrooke* is much improved since you saw him, 
and Master Montagu t is a complete beauty. . . . 

"Mr. Morgan is at last deprived of the curacy of 
wtown, which is a great grief to him. Nanny performs 

' John Montagu, 5th Earl of Sandwich, born 1744. 

t Edward Montagu, bora 1745 ; Mrs. Montagu's godson. 




2^2 A CLERGYMAN'S CHILDREN. [Ch.VIIL 

extremely well at the embroidery, and I hope the habit 
of application will make her useful to herself and other 
people. I was afraid she would never have been either 
of those things ! Her Father and Mother are much afraid 
she should be buried in Westminster Abbey near the 
lady that dyed by the pinch of her finger in working, 
but I will lay some wager on her head she will not be 
killed by diligence; as to Jacky Morgan, he has an 
admirable education for a jockey, he lives on horseback 
but can neither read nor write." 

This passage shows the position of the lower class 
of clergy of the period. Mr. Morgan was of Welsh 
birth, and preached long, dull sermons, as appears from 
former letters ; his wife was a good motherly body, but 
no more. Mrs. Montagu apprenticed Nanny Morgan, 
as is shown by her next letter. 

" She is too high and too giddy for a servant, time 
and experience may mend her, she likes the business 
she is going to. ... I have obliged Mrs. Albert to 
promise she shall never go without her or Dettmere • or 
Mrs. Donnellan's maid . . . Charles went to Cambridge 
on Tuesday." 

Charles's health had improved, but as he did not 
like the sea as a profession, he entered Cambridge as 
an undergraduate. 

11 Tell Mr. Hoare when you see him, that if he pleases 
to send my face t to Hill Street, it will meet with a kind 
reception ; it is a young face to be sure, but the retro- 
spect to 1 8 is so pleasant I shall not find fault with it I 
am, as you observe, Mistress of a post-chaize, which 
next to having wings, is the most convenient thing 
in the world, and must serve till it is brought to per- 
fection. We liked so well our journey to Cambridge in 
the summer in a post-chaize which we hired for the 
time, that we bespoke one immediately." 

• Mrs. Montagu's lady's-maid. t Her portrait by Hoare. 



i75o.] LORD PEMBROKE'S DEATH, 273 

The old post-chaises had only two wheels. Four- 
wheeled post-chaises were new, and were thought the 
more dangerous, as being liable to overturn. 

A letter occurs now from the Duchess Dowager of 
Chandos, third wife, and widow since 1744, of the 1st 
Duke of Chandos, surnamed the " Princely Duke," the 
builder of the palatial residence of Canons, in Middlesex, 
on which he spent £200,000. Having spent his fortune 
in building and speculating, Canons was sold for the 
material at his death. The duchess's maiden name was 
Van Hatten, but she had been married to a Sir Thomas 
Davall. After the duke's death she came to reside at 
Shaw House,* near Newbury, from whence she writes 
to Mrs. Montagu, and after some inquiries as to health, 
etc., says — 

11 What different tempers the world consists of : I am 
told passion sent the late Lord Pembroke t out of the 
world, but that Mr. Middleton who opened him says 
that both heart and all the vitals were displaced by 
the continual swathing he used to keep himself from 
growing bulky. This was itself a discontented temper, 
and if at any time I should be extremely strait laced 
and contradicted, it is certain my crossness would have 
been very great, and I or my lace must burst The 
giving Ward's pill to a cock and then turning it into broth 
for old Lady Northampton % has something curious in it 
too, but as it ended in death, I suppose will not be 
practised further. How many tricks do we try to 
lengthen life, and yet like poor Lord Pembroke waste it 
in tormenting our blood because others will not be of our 
mind, or we are too fat, or too lean to please ourselves : 
if there is not another life where we may be more perfect; 

* From a letter of Mrs. Medows, 1744, Shaw belonged to the duchess, 
and had been rented by a Mr. Forster, who then went to live at Engle- 
field. 

t Henry, 28th Earl of Pembroke, died January 9, 1750. 
, X Elizabeth, second wife and widow of nth Earl of Northampton. 

VOL. I. T 



274 THE EARTHQUAKE. [Ch.VHI. 

more happy, we are certainly the most inconsistent, 
foolish creatures this world produces ; how much better 
the other planets have for inhabitants I know not" 

The earthquake mentioned by Horace Walpole in 
his letters to Sir Horace Mann, page 349 in volume 2, 
on February 5, created much terror. The Montagus 
were in Hill Street at the time On February 20, in a 
letter to her sister, Mrs. Montagu says — 

" I was not under any apprehensions about the earth- 
quake, but went that night to the Oratorio, then quietly 
to bed, but the madness of the multitude was prodigious, 
near 50 of the people I had sent to, to play at cards here 
the Saturday following, went out of town to avoid being 
swallowed, and I believe they made a third part of the 
number I asked, so that you may imagine how universal 
the fright must be. The Wednesday night the Oratorio 
was very empty, though it was the most favourite per- 
formance of Handel's. w 

A slighter shock took place a month later; some 
people prognosticated a worse shock on April 3, which 
was to swallow up London. The following letter of the 
Duchess of Chandos alludes to this : — 

" Shaw, April 3. 

" Dear Madam, 

" I do assure you although I had many accounts 
of the earthquake, I do easily perceive the difference 
betwixt a fright, and a sensible account of the same 
matter of fact : the day this, I hope, will kiss your hands 
and find perfect peace and safety at Hill Street, is the 
day when in many people have great fears, but in my 
opinion without reason, for I never heard of periodical 
earthquakes, and the coolness of the weather I hope will 
assuage these sulphurous heats. It would now bear 
hard upon Human understanding as well as gratitude, 
if when they see how very easily the destruction of 
popular places may be effected, we should not all live in 



175©.] DEATH OF DR. CONYERS MIDDLETON. 275 

such a way as to make Death not so extremely shocking 
to us, as it has appeared to some of the gay world at 
this time. The same Providence that certainly made 
this complicated and beautiful Machine, is not the 
children that blow bubbles in air only to divert them- 
selves, but has will, and good further designs suitable to 
His infinite goodness and wisdom, and therefore a hope 
in Him is a real security in all evils, and as to the manner 
of Death I have it, may be a peculiar thought, that there 
is a degree of pain that human nature cannot exceed 
consistent with life ; which is a great mercy, or else our 
cruelty to one another would be without bounds : there- 
fore I will never be too anxious what is the manner of 
my death, but trust it to that power that sent me into 
life. . . . 

" Dear Madam, y* much obliged 

and faithful humble servant, 

"L. C Chandos." 

There are few letters for 1750 in my collection. In 
July Mrs. Montagu went to Tunbridge Wells, whilst 
Mr. Montagu prepared to accept the invitation of his 
Huntingdon constituents to the races, etc, held there. 
Miss Anstey, who had accompanied Lady Romney * to 
Tunbridge, remained with Mrs. Montagu for a while. 
Dr. Conyers Middleton and his wife not being in good 
health, went to London to consult physicians. In June, 
from Horace Walpole's letters to George Montagu we 
learn the doctor was suffering from jaundice and dropsy, 
and was much broken in health. He died on July 28, 
1750. In a letter of Mr. Montagu's, dated August 4, 
from London, he says — 

" This morning at Vaillante's the bookseller, I met 
Dr. Green,t the Regius Professor, who told me the 

• Nie Priscilla Pym, wife of and Baron Romney. 
t Dr. John Green, born 1706, died 1779; afterwards Bishop of 
Lincoln. 



276 ANNIVERSARY OF WEDDING-DAY. [Ch. VIII. 

Friday before his death Dr. Middleton sent for Dr. 
Plumtree, told him he thought he had but a very short 
time to live, desired him freely to tell him his opinion, 
which from the knowledge he had of him, he hoped he 
would make no scruple to do, upon 'which the Professor 
told him he thought he could live but a few hours ; then 
he asked the Professor if from his pulse he thought his 
death would be easy, who answered that he did. He 
further told the Professor he had taken Dr. Heberden's * 
medicines till he found they did him no good, his case 
being out of the Power of Physick. Dr. Green said he 
had left his niece an annuity, but did not say what, nor 
any further about his wilL He was buried at St 
Michael's, Cambridge." 

Mrs. Montagu mourned sincerely for one who had 
acted as a grandfather, a godfather, and an instructor 
to her. 

Of a splendid letter she wrote to Mr. Montagu on 
the return of the anniversary of her wedding-day, 
August s, only a few sentences can be inserted from its 
length. 

"My Dearest, 

" There is not any day in which you have not a 
right to my most grateful acknowledgments, but there 
is not any day that so particularly demands them as the 
fifth of August, when you made me your friend and com- 
panion, and gave me so near an alliance to your virtues 
and fortune, all so superior to what I could expect I 
can truly assure you my affection and esteem for you, 
and happiness in you have increased every day. I am 
not sensible there can be any further progress or 
addition made, but as I owe every happiness to you, 
each day's felicity adds to my obligation, and 1 hope 
you think what does so increase my gratitude for eight 

* Dr. William Heberden, born 17 10, died 1801 ; physician and 
author. 



1750] MRS. BOSCAWEN. 277 

years* happiness in a state so often wretched, inex- 
pressible thanks are due. May we enjoy many years 
together of this happy society, but if I should be taken 
from you, let the consciousness of having been the 
occasion of my enjoying more happiness in a short life 
than is the lot of thousands in a long one, take out the 
sting of grief, and teach you to think of me with a 
tender but not painful remembrance. . . ." She signs — 
11 With heart and hand your grateful, 

affectionate, faithful and obedient Wife, 

"E. Montagu." 

At Tunbridge this year Mrs. Montagu first became 
acquainted with Mrs. Boscawen, wife of Admiral Bos- 
cawen; she describes her as "a very sensible, lively, 
ingenious woman, and she seems to have good moral 
qualities. We often pass the evening together, partly 
in conversation, partly in reading." Mrs. Boscawen's 
maiden name was Frances Glanville ; she had married 
Edward Boscawen, second son of 1st Viscount Falmouth, 
in 1742. As Dorothy Boscawen, aunt to the Admiral, 
married Sir Philip Medows, the families were already 
connected. 

Mrs. Medows writes to Mrs. Montagu, " I think of 
Mrs. Boscawen as you do, I expect you should be fond 
of the Admiral, his cool courage, his firmness, good 
nature, diligence and regularity, with his strong sense 
and good head, make a great character." 

Sir Dudley and Lady Ryder, Lady Townsend, and 
Lady Robinson, wife of " Short " Sir Thomas Robinson,f 
were amongst the company. A Mr. Samuel Torriano 
also appears as a friend of Mrs. Montagu's. He tries to 
find her a cottage near London, as she fancies her health 
would be better in the country, and yet not so far from 

* Admiral the Hon. Edward Boscawen, born 171 1, died 1761. 
t Afterwards Lord Grantham. 



27* MR- GILBERT WEST. [Ch. VIII. 

London as Sandleford, during the winter session when 
Mr. Montagu would have to be in London. The recep- 
tion rooms in Hill Street were to be decorated in the 
early spring. Hearing of a cottage at West Wickham, 
near Croydon, Mrs. Montagu went to see it, and made 
her first acquaintance with Mr. Gilbert West* He was 
the son of the Rev. Dr. Richard West by Maria, daughter 
of Sir Richard Temple, of Stowe. He married in 1729 
Catherine Bartlett, by whom he had an only son, 
Richard With them lived Miss Maria West,t his sister ; 
his mother had remarried Lord John Langham. West 
was a cousin of Mr. Botham's, also of Mr. Lyttelton, 
afterwards Sir George Lyttelton. Writing to Mrs. Bos- 
cawen, Mrs. Montagu says — 

" I saw at Wickham the miracle of the Moral World, 
a Christian Poet, an humble philosopher, a great genius, 
without contempt of those who have none. ... I am 
charmed with Mrs. West, and approve all you say of 
her. She is neither a tenth muse, nor a fourth grace, 
but she is better than all put together. I believe it might 
truly be said of her — 

" ' That she always speaks her thought, 

And always thinks the very thing she ought.' 

Her vivacity, easiness of behaviour and good sense 
delight me. 

" Mr. West has been so good as to find out a cottage 
for me. The pleasure of being near Mr. West gets the 
better of all considerations in regard to the situation of 
my cottage. I hope it will be an inducement to you to 
visit my hermitage, where you shall be entertained with 
the wholesome fare of brown bread, sincerity and red 
cow's milk, which afford good nourishment to the mind 
and body." 

• Born 1706, died April, 1756. Author and poet ; translator of Odes 
of Pindar, etc. 

t Maria West, afterwards wife of 1st Viscount Bridport. 



I750-] BARRY AND GARRICK. 279 

On October 16 she writes, " The cruel owner of the 
house near Mr. West makes unreasonable demands, we 
are going to treat for one about two miles from him, 
which Mrs. West and he went with me to see yesterday." 
She laments it is so far from the Wests. This house 
was at Hayes in Kent, or, as it is frequently spelt in the 
letters, " Heyes." Mrs. Montagu continues — 

" I hear there is a great strife and contention between 
Mr. Barry * and Garrick, each acting the part of Romeo t 
every night, and that the ladies think the first makes the 
best lover, by which one may learn they think beauty 
a better qualification than sense in that character, for 
Barry always seems to betray the fool in all the parts 
he appears in. . . The Duke of Ancaster t is going to 
take unto wife the daughter of Mr. Panton ; § the match 
is at last agreed upon, and coaches and jewels and 
horses and servants and houses and clothes and all 
the fine things with which Hymen now embroiders his 
saffron robe, are bespoken. . . . 

" Mr. Ramsay || was so good as to call on us, and Mr. 
Montagu and I went to his house, where we had the 
pleasure to see some admirable pictures." 

These letters are addressed to Hatchlands, Admiral 
Boscawen's place near Guildford. 

In a letter to Sarah at this period, Mrs. Montagu 
mentioned the appointment of her brother Robert to a 
Madras and China voyage : " I rejoice in the Captain's 
appointed voyage to Madras and China, it is reckoned a 
profitable and healthful .voyage, and all we ask for our 
King is ' in health and wealth long to live.' " She then 

* Spranger Barry, born 1719, died 1777 ; celebrated Irish actor, 
t Barry at Covent Garden, and Garrick at Drury Lane. 
X Peregrine, 3rd Duke of Ancaster. 
§ Mr. Panton was Master of the King's Racers. 
I Allan Ramsay, born 1709, died 1784. Eminent portrait painter; son 
of the poet. 



280 EMBROIDERED FLOUNCES. fCH. VIII. 

proceeds to comment on some white satin flounces 
Sarah wished embroidered in China. 

" As you design them to be in white, they need only 
have the outline drawn on one flounce and on the sleeves 
and robing. Mrs. Marsh is the best contriver of flounces : 
she did me a white lutestring very prettily, this summer's 
gown is to be cut in the same manner, but not pinked. 
. . . All people are buying cloaths for the Birthday . . . 
the prices are most unreasonable, 17 and 18 shillings a 
yard for Damask, and six and twenty for flowered silks 
of an ordinary appearance. 9 ' 

In November Sarah Robinson writes to her sister as 
to her lover's appointment at Court — 

"Mr. Scott* is appointed to have the education of 
Prince George, t I can't give this employment any 
name, for none but the King has a right to appoint 
any one over the young Princes under the title of 
governor or Preceptor ; the salary I cannot tell you, it 
being not yet determined His Royal Highness t has left 
it to Mr. Scott's friends to name whatever they think 
proper, and has behaved in the handsomest manner 
imaginable. He was recommended to the Prince for 
this place by a great number of people, many of whom 

had very little personal " (the end of the letter is 

lost). 

Probably the Duchess of Portland may have been 
one, as she sided with Sarah in the affair, telling Mrs. 
Montagu that she might wish to obey her in all other 
respects, but could not control her affections. Lord 
Bolingbroke is said to have recommended him through 
Lord Bathurst The ill-starred marriage took place 
probably at the commencement of 1751, but no letters 

• He was made sub-preceptor. 

t George III., then twelve years old. 

} Frederick, Prince of Wales, father of Prince George. 



I75L] THE DOWAGER DUCHESS OF CHANDOS. 281 

are left recording it On November 18 the Dowager 
Duchess of Chandos died at Shaw House, near New- 
bury, and in a letter to Miss Anstey is thus noticed — 

"A little before I went to London I lost my very 
good neighbour, the Duchess of Chandos, a stroke of 
the palsy carried her off in a few days : her bodily pains 
were great, but her mind felt the serenity that gilds the 
evening of a virtuous life. She quitted the world with 
that decent fare-well which people take of it, who rather 
consider it as a place in which they are to impart good 
than to enjoy it Her character has made a great im- 
pression on me, as I think her a rare instance that age 
could not make conceited and stiff, nor retirement dis- 
contented, nor virtue inflexible and severe." 

To Mrs. Donnellan, on December 30, Mrs. Montagu 
says, " The Duchess of Chandos is greatly missed by 
the poor this rigorous season." 

In these two letters the following books and 
pamphlets are recommended, "An Occasional Letter," 
said to be Lord Bolingbroke's ; * the King of Prussia's 
"Memoires pour servir k L'Histoire de la Maison de 
Brandenbourg," and " Sully's Memoires." 

January, 1751, finds Mrs. Montagu in London, and / 
Mr. Montagu at Sandleford Priory, engaged in business | 
affairs. Mrs. Montagu, on January 7, writes to him — 

"My Dearest, 

" I am glad you are so far tired of your monastic 
life as to think of returning to the secular state of a 
husband and a member of Parliament I believe our 
predecessors in the cowl had their particular kinds of 
volupU which silence, secresy and peace might much 
enhance and recommend ; but to those who have been 

* Viscount Bolingbroke, born 1678, died 175 1; philosopher and 
statesman. 



282 "THE COUSINHOOD.* [Ch. VIII. 

used to the bustle and business of life such pleasures 
want vivacity. Boileau makes a man who goes to visit 
the Chantre just before dinner observe the luxury of a 
prebendal table. Says he — 

" ' n voit la nappe mise, . 
Admire le bcl ordrc, et reconnait VEgiiseJ 

I have sat so constantly in Lady Sandwich's chimney 
corner, I can give you little account of the world" 

To which Mr. Montagu rejoins, " I am much obliged 
to you for the kind impatience you show at my stay 
here; in a few days I now hope to convince you that 
however unworthy of either state, I have deserted 
neither." He was accompanied to London by Captain 
Robinson. 

From a letter of Mr. Gilbert West's of May 16, 175 1, 
we learn that Mrs. Montagu, though wishing to be 
near London and yet not in it, did not take up her 
temporary residence at Hayes till then. In it he says, 
" I have agreed with a farmer at Wickham to fetch your 
goods at the price of 1 5 shillings : the waggon will be 
in Hill Street to-morrow morning early." He desires 
her to breakfast and dine at West Wickham with him, 
and signs himself, " Dear Madam, your loving cousin to 
command till death, G. W." 

In the collection of letters published by her nephew, 
Matthew Robinson, 4th Baron Rokeby, he says he 
cannot remember the reason why West and Mrs. Mon- 
tagu called each other cousins, but he had forgotten his 
cousinship to the Bothams, the beloved cousins of his 
aunt, Mrs. Montagu. " The cousinhood " was also the 
favourite term of the whole set of Wests, Pitts, and 
Lytteltons, all much connected in marriage and extreme 
intimacy. 

Gilbert West was at this period forty-five years of 



I75i] THE WEST FAMILY. 283 

age only, but even then a perfect martyr to gout 
Amongst his poems and translations was Lucian's 
" Triumph of the Gout/' every line of which he could 
painfully indorse. In his "Lives of the Poets" Dr. 
Johnson * brackets him with Crashaw under " the two 
venerable names of Poet and Saint" He was often 
visited by Lyttelton and Pitt, "who, when they were 
weary of faction and debates, used at Wickham to 
find books and quiet, a decent table and literary con- 
versation." 

There may still be seen at Wickham a walk made 
by Pitt, and at Wickham, Lyttelton received that 
conviction which produced his "Dissertation on Saint 
Paul" The same spirit of cheerful and benign religion 
was now to exercise a large influence on Elizabeth 
Montagu, to strengthen her already religious turn of 
mind, and to enable her in the future, though living in 
the great world of fashion and rank, and the idol of 
society, to keep that sacred, secret lamp of spirituality 
not of this world alight 

The family circle at the Wests was a happy one ; his 
wife and sister adored him, and he was the magnet that 
attracted all to him. He had a great sense of humour 
and a pretty taste for decorating, as the many letters 
upon the subject of the adornment of the Hill Street 
rooms show; Mrs. Montagu took his advice in every 
point from this time till his death in 1756. At the period 
I am now writing of he was far from well off, though 
expecting promotion, with just reason, having been a 
faithful servant to the King, and secretary to Lord Town- 
shend during his period of office as Secretary of State. 

Amongst the friends of the Wests, Mrs. Montagu 
now made acquaintance with Mr. R. Berenger,f called 

* Vide Johnson's " Lives of the Poets." 
t R. Berenger, born 1720, died 1782. 



284 MR. R. BERANGER. [CH.VIII. 

by Mrs. West " the little Marquis." He was the son of 
Moses Beranger and Penelope Temple, and was there- 
fore related on the maternal side to West He after- 
wards became " Gentleman of the Horse " to George IIL 
He wrote a book called the " History and Art of Horse- 
manship. 19 He was famous for his charm in social life. 
Hannah More called him "everybody's favourite, all 
chivalry, blank verse and anecdote," and Dr. Johnson 
dubbed him " the Standard of true Elegance. 9 * He was 
a great friend of the Garricks. Another fresh acquaint- 
ance was William Henry Lyttelton, brother of Sir 
George (afterwards Lord) Westcote. 

At some early period of this year Sarah Robinson 
became the wife of George Lewis Scott, but no date 
is recorded, and no letters concerning the marriage 
remain. Only on June 9, when Mrs. Montagu was 
making her yearly visit to Tunbridge Wells in company 
with Lady Romney, she writes to her husband at 
Sandleford to say she had- arrived safely, " Mrs. Scott 
and the Captain," whose departure to China had been 
delayed, seeing her off. From other letters it appears 
the Scotts, accompanied by Lady Barbara Montagu, 
took up their abode in Leicester Fields, now Leicester 
Square, doubtless to be close to Leicester House, where, 
with their mother, the widowed Princess of Wales,* 
Scott's royal pupils dwelt. 

At Tunbridge Mrs. Montagu joined Mr. and Mrs. 
West and their son, and lodged in the same house. At 
Tunbridge were Sir George Lyttelton, his brother the 
Dean, the famous Mr. Garrick, the Bishop of London, etc 
Then she wrote — 

" Monsieur t and Madame Mirepoix are come to pass 

* Frederick, Prince of Wales, died March 31, 1751. 
f The French ambassador and his wife. She was a daughter of the 
Princesse de Craon. 



I75I-] HILDERSHAM. 285 

a few days here, but I imagine they will soon be tired 
of us. The Justices of Peace have done great service 
to the imprudent part of our company by prohibiting 
gaming, and though you may suppose I do not number 
myself among them, I feel my obligations to them on 
account of the servants, who have one temptation less 
to be idle and bad." 

She then adds grateful words to her husband, who 
had written to say he had made a fresh will, and in her 
favour. Mr. Montagu was then in London, but on the eve 
of going north to attend to his own estates in Yorkshire, 
and the complicated business of regulating Mr. Rogers 9 
affairs in Northumberland. In this letter he says — 

11 1 this day, though I could ill spare the time, dined in 
Leicester Fields " (with the Scotts). " Being in the city 
I was informed by Dr. Middleton's bookseller that Mrs. 
Middleton has had the good luck to sell Hildersham for 
2000 guineas, it cost the Doctor, he said, £1600, besides 
what he lay'd out in building, so that if there should be 
some loss it cannot be much." 

Hildersham was some miles from Cambridge. Here 
Gray, the poet, loved to visit Conyers Middleton, and 
improved his friendship with William Robinson, who 
was preparing for Holy Orders, and whom Gray always 
called the " Reverend Billy." 

On July 23 Mr. Montagu writes from Huntingdon — 

" I lay last night at Cambridge. I dined with Mrs. 
Middleton in company with your brother, and the 
evening I spent with the Master of Clare Hall. Mrs. 
Middleton indulged me with the sight of some letters 
that passed between the Doctor and a great man * who 
formerly had a seat not far from Cambridge, and who is 
no more. . . . She very obligingly of herself promised 

* Probably the 1st Earl of Godolphin, who lived at Gog Magog, near 
Cambridge. 



286 MISS MARIA NAYLOR. [Ch. VIII. 

your brother all the Doctor's Sermons which she had in 
her custody, and promised also to keep it secret, which 
I think you and I should also do, even from the brother- 
hood. . . . The races are to continue 4 days. . . . 

" I desire when wheatears are plenty and you send 
any to your friends in London, you would send some 
to Monsieur de Moivre at Pons Coffee House in Cecil 
Court in St Martin's Lane, for I think he longs to taste 
them." 

Mrs. Montagu wishing to hear about the Huntingdon 
races, he says — 

" I can tell you little about the races, having no con- 
cern in the bets, but I heard Lord Trentham had lost 
£iooo, Captain William Montagu £200. Lord Sandwich's 
horse won a heat, but he did not tell me how much 
he won. 

"At the ball all the family of the Naylors were 
there, with Captain William Montagu's lady, who danced 
country dances. Miss Maria Naylor danced both kind 
of dances, and was, I think, the lady that outshone all the 
rest Her head dress was new and particular, and became 
her very well, and gave her the air of a shepherdess. 
. . . There was Mrs. Apreece and Mrs. Alstone, who 
married my relation with a fortune of £4000, and Miss 
Ascham, eta The distinguished amongst the men besides 
the Prince of Baden, and the Marquis de Bellegarde, were 
the Duke of Kingston,* Lord Montfort,t Lord Onslow,J 
Lord Goring,§ Lord March,|| Lord Eggletone,1T Mr. 
Alstone and Mr. Apreece. The members both of the 
county and town. Mr. Wortley from the Huntingdon 
races set out for those of Reading." 

This was young Edward Wortley Montagu. 

♦ The 2nd Duke. 

t 1st Baron Montfort, of Horseheath. 

X 3rd Baron Onslow. 

§ Viscount Goring, a Jacobite Viscount. 

|| 3rd Earl of March, afterwards Duke of Queensberry. " Old Q." 

1 10th Earl of Eglintown. 



I7$i.] MISS ASHE. 287 

Mrs. Montagu writes to say her father had arrived 
at Tunbridge in great spirits with a party of five, and 
she was, she adds, much better. 

" 1 have a great appetite. I think I shall be able to 
eat for a wager, with my brother-in-law. 4 I am glad Miss 
Maria Naylorhad an opportunity of shining in her proper 
sphere, the county of Huntingdon. Why should the 
Gunnings t of universal empire drive her from her little 
native land ? Do they want to add the epithet of great to 
their names ? Indeed I do not know why Gunning the 
great should not sound as well as Alexander the Great. 
I am afraid the eldest Miss Naylor is much dejected at 
the infidelity of our cousin Wortley, who is greatly 
enamoured of little Miss Ashe. All collectors of natural 
curiosities love something of every species. Mr. Wortley 
has had a passion for all sorts and sizes of women. Miss 
Ashe is a sort of middle species between a woman and a 
fairy, and by her rarity worthy to be added even to so 
large a collection of amours." 

Miss Ashe, or the " Pollard Ashe," as Walpole called 
her, eloped with Edward Wortley Montagu in the 
autumn of 175 1. He was soon after this put in prison 
with a Mr. Taafe in France for robbing or cheating a 
Jew. As he was married before, though separated from 
his wife, he could not marry Miss Ashe. She after- 
wards married a Mr. Falconer, R.N. 

It was in this year Horace Walpole had written to 
Sir Horace Mann — 

" Our greatest miracle is Lady Mary Wortley's son 
whose adventures have made so much noise, his parts 
are not proportionate, but his expense is incredible. 
His father scarce allows him anything, yet he plays, 
dresses, diamonds himself, even to distinct shoe buckles 

• George Lewis Scott. 

t The celebrated Irish beauties, afterwards one Countess of Coventry, 
the other Duchess of Hamilton and Argyll. 



288 DEATH OF MRS. PERCIVAL. [Ch. VIII. 

for a frock, and has more snuff-boxes than would suffice 
a Chinese idol with an hundred noses. But the most 
curious part of his dress, which he has brought from 
Paris, is an iron wig ; you literally would not know it 
from hair. I believe it is on this account that th^Royal 
Society have just chosen him of their body." 

Mrs. Montagu wrote the description of " our cousin's 
adventures/' and after several comments on Wortley*s 
conduct, she says, "Poor Miss Ashe weeps like the 
forsaken Ariadne on a foreign shore." 

The company at Tunbridge Wells had been increased 
by the Duke and Duchess of Newcastle, the Duchess of 
Norfolk, and, Mrs. Montagu writes, "we expect those 
goddesses called the Gunnings and Sir Thomas 
Robinson . . . My Father is very gay, but complains 
he never saw the place so dull I never said so to 
those about me, lest they should say to me as Swift 
to the fat man who complained of a crowd, 4 Friend, you 
make the very crowd you blame ! ' Mr. West reads to 
us in the evening, and the wit of the last age supplies 
us when we do not meet with any in this." 

At this period Mrs. Percival (Anne Donnellan's 
mother) died ; she had long been in bad health. Dr. 
Shaw, the celebrated traveller, died also, and Mrs. 
Montagu comments thus on August 29 on the two events 
to her husband, who was then at Newcastle — 

"As to poor Mrs. Percival I hailed her voyage to 
the realms of rest : the last page of life is commonly a 
blank. But for poor Shaw,* he might have lived and 
laughed and talked of the Deluge and collected cockle 
shells many years longer. The death of those we 
esteem afflicts us ; we are shocked at the death of those 
we have laughed t at and laughed with, as we never 

• Dr. Thomas Shaw ; traveller, antiquary, and naturalist 
f In former letters his merry and loud laughter in the Bullstrode circle 
is commented on. 



175 1.] DR. SHAW. 289 

looked upon them in so serious a light as to suppose so 
sad an event could happen to them. I would deck his 
tomb with emblems of all the wonders of the land and 
deep ; crocodiles should weep and tigers howl ; every 
shell should become vocal ; sea-weed should bloom im- 
mortal on his tomb, and moss, though petrified, lie 
lightly on his breast What signify voyages? What 
signifies learning! Hebrew Professor! Traveller to 
Memphis ! Sole witness living of the present state of 
the Ptolemies ! Must all these glories sink into oblivion? 
How gloriously had he been interred had he died in the 
perilous pass of the Pyramids, and succeeded Mark 
Anthony in the bed of Cleopatra ! I hope the poor man 
will have the satisfaction of being embalmed in the true 
Egyptian manner, for the more like a mummy his body 
be made, the more it will joy his gentle ghost Nature 
has lost the inventory of all works in losing Shaw, for 
he knew every plant from the Hyssop to the Cedar of 
Lebanon, and every animal from the pismire to the 
whale. I am afraid his sister Sarah must again dust 
down those cobwebs she has been taught to venerate, 
and kill the moths in a stuff turban, though it should 
have a horn more or a horn less." 

Another Dr. Shaw is frequently mentioned as a chief 
physician at Tunbridge Wells, but whether he was a 
relation of the archaeologian and naturalist, I have not 
been able to ascertain. 

In a letter from Newcastle of September i, Mr. 
Montagu, who with his steward, Mr. Carter, was regu- 
lating the business of his cousin, Mr. Rogers, mentions 
Denton Hall * for the first time, which was eventually to 
become one of his residences. 

" Yesterday Mr. Carter and I rid to Denton, which 
is about 3 miles from Newcastle. We first viewed the 
house which is a good deal worse than I thought, and 

* Note at the end of this work on Denton Hall. 
VOL. I. U 



292 DR. MIDDLETON'S WORKS. [CH.VIIL 

has travelled to the extremity of Scotland, for he is a 
man of infinite curiosity, and would have knowledge at 
no entrance quite shut out" 

To this her husband rejoins, "Whenever I come 
near London I will hire a guard, and if I can give you 
sufficient notice shall not be sorry to be met by 
Brunton. . . . " He says he has not heard of Brother 
Robinson since he dined with him, " If he has gone to 
Scotland, I have lately read in a book concerning the 
Rebellion, that barbarous part of our island may in 
good weather be seen with pleasure!" In return, his 
wife writes from London that she is going to Hayes 
"to enjoy quiet and my books till you arrive. I take 
Mrs. Isted with me." Mrs. Isted was a poor lady who 
acted as housekeeper to Mrs. Montagu, and had seen 
better days. 

The Scotts had been dining with her. They were 
then living at Chelsea, as London did not suit Sarah's 
delicate health. A scheme of education for the young 
princes had been drawn up and submitted to the King, 
who was much pleased with it It was also rumoured 
he was to take them to Hanover next year, "a step 
which will not be popular." 

"Dr. Middleton's works are to be printed by the 
booksellers by subscription. Mrs. Middleton sold the 
copies for £300: it seems to me an insolence in the 
booksellers that should not be encouraged. I should 
never grudge the guinea I could spare to a man of 
genius, but to a set of wretches that live by other 
people's wits, I am not so willing to part with that 
gold which the wise man allows to be better than any- 
thing except wisdom. It is strange malice in Apollo 
to make poor authors and rich booksellers, he should 
give his upper servants the best wages." 

From Hayes, on September 30, she writes — 



175 1.] MRS - DONNELLAN. 293 

" 1 am so well in health that I scarce know myself, 
and I think I am a little like the humorous Lieutenant 
that would run no hazards when he was well, though 
he was prodigal of life when he had a pain in his side. 
I am very desirous to preserve this comfortable state of 
health, and also my comely, plump and jolly condition ; 
my face is no longer a memento moru I am like one of 
the goddess Hebe's. elder sisters, 'Not ever fair and 
young, but not so wan and decayed as of late.' " She 
adds, "Lady Bab and my sister design to visit my 
solitude in a few days. She is much better for country 
air, but they do not enjoy many rural pleasures at 
Chelsea, it is too near London." 

Mrs. Donnellan, having let her house to Lord Holder- 
ness, was preparing to go to Ireland to visit Dr. and 
Mrs. Delany at Delville, and her relations. She was 
staying with her friends the Southwells, at King's 
Weston, and as her letters throw light on the then 
mode of travelling, I insert portions — 

" Delville, near Dublin, October 7. 

"My dear Mrs. Montagu, 

" I am sure will be pleased to hear I am got 
safe to the end of my journeys and voyage, and am with 
my good friend Mrs. Delany resting myself after a good 
deal of fatigue. I left London as I told you I should, as 
I informed you by a letter from King's Weston, which 
I hope you got Mr. Leslie, the gentleman who took the 
charge of conducting me to Ireland, came at the time 
appointed, but we heard so bad an account of the cross 
roads between Bristol and Chester that we were very 
near setting out again for London, and going from thence 
to Chester. However, I plucked up courage, and as 
my good friends would do everything to accommodate 
me, we set out on Thursday sen'night with Mr. South- 
well's coach, two post-chaises and Mr. Southwell's groom 
and double horse,* so that we had variety enough. The 

Means a horse trained to carry a pillion. 



294 JOURNEY TO IRELAND. [Ch. VHL 

road for the greatest part to Gloucester was so bad I 
rid most of it, but hearing it would rather mend I sent 
back the coach, and between the chaise and the horse 
got to Chester and on to Park Gate in five days, and 
Mr. Leslie my companion, being a very sensible, polite 
travelled man, made the journey as agreeable as such a 
journey could be. We found Lord and Lady Fitz- 
williams and many more waiting at Park Gate for the 
King's Yacht, but as I hate a crowded ship and am not 
a coward, I resolved not to wait, and the wind being 
fair, we hired a small ship for ten guineas and set saiL 
The next morning at six o'clock and with the finest 
weather imaginable made our passage and landed in 
Dublin in 30 hours. The Bishop of Clogher, who had 
been enquiring for me the morning tide, came to the 
house when I was landed, with his usual politeness, and 
carried me to their house, and as it was too late to come 
here, they kept me that night, and the next day Mrs. 
Delany came and brought me here, where I am ex- 
tremely happy, the most polite and hearty welcome, a 
large and convenient house, sweet gardens and a manner 
of living quite to my sober taste. Our only disturbance 
are visitors : we had yesterday seven coaches and six, 
mostly my own relations, my brother, sister, nephews 
and nieces. n 

On October 31 there is a letter dated from London 
to Mr. Gilbert West In this Mrs. Montagu is forwarding 
him patterns of all kinds of dove-coloured paper from 
Mr. Bromedge's shop, and Mr. Linnell was sending a 
marble chimney-piece for West's big room at Wickham. 
She says — 

" Poor Dr. Courayer notified to me that he was ill of 
a sore throat, and could not come to visit me, though he 
wanted to see me. I went to him, I was obliged to pass 
through all the gay vanities of Mrs. Chenevix,* and then 
ascend a most steep and difficult staircase to get at 

• Famous shop for bric^-brac and toys. 




■ 



5 



piei 

has 
Mo 
Ufa 



THE DAUPHIN. 

little Philosopher: this way to wisdom through the 
vanities and splendid toys of the world might be prettily 
allegorized by the pen of the great Bunyan ; the good 
man himself to an emblematizeing genius would have 
afforded an ample subject ; his head was en/once in a 
cap of the warmest beaver, made still more respectable 
by a gold orrace, 'a wondrous hieroglyphic!: robe he 
ore," in which was portrayed all the attributes of the 
id Fo, with the arms and delineaments of the Cham 
Tartary. ... I began to consider him as the best 
piece of Chinese furniture I had ever seen, and could 
hardly forbear offering him a place on my chimney- 
piece. He asked much after your health. . . . There 
is been a terrible fracas in the court of the grand 
onarque, the people,generallycredulous,have strangely 
en it into their heads that the Duke of Burgundy is 
not legitimate, and instead of acclamations and huzzas, 
murmurs and sighs have echo'd through the streets, on 
the days the feasts were made for the birth of this child ; 
besides this there was conveyed into the cradle some 
gunpowder and a match with an epigram expressing 
that they would serve to blow up the pretended Duke 
of Burgundy. Upon his Majesty hearing this, the 
gouvernante, sub-gouvernante, women of the bed- 
chamber, even to the toothless pap tasters, were all sent 
to the Bastille, one of the women who said she saw a 
hand reach over a screen to throw a paper into the 
cradle is since dead. A little knowledge is allowed to 
be a dangerous thing; had the lady been able to inform 
his Majesty at once who threw the paper, she had been 
safe, but it is supposed the hand that threw it, lest she 
should discover more, gave her a dose that has silenced 
her for ever. . . . 

"The Duke and Duchess of Portland and Lord 
Titchfield dined with us to-day, and staid till eight 
o'clock ; her grace inquired after you." 

The last letter of the year is on December 17, to 
Mr. West, from Sandleford. From this it appears Mrs. 



296 MR. NATHANIEL HOOKE. [Ch. VIII. 

Montagu was extremely unwell, but anxious for the 
health of Mr. West, who had had one of his periodical 
gout attacks, which had rendered his hands temporarily 
incapable of use. In this mention of Mr. Hooke is 
made. Mr. Nathaniel Hooke* wrote a "History of 
Rome/ 9 and other works. He assisted the old Duchess 
of Marlborough to write her " Memoirs of her Life," for 
which she gave him £5000. He was a Roman Catholic, 
a disciple of Fenelon's, and brought a Catholic priest to 
Pope on his death-bed. " Pray have you made a good 
Protestant of Mr. Hooke? If you cure heresy and 
schism, should you not have your doctor's degree in 
divinity rather than law ? " 

* Died in 1763. 



END OF VOL. L 



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