UMASS/AMHERST
312066 0332 1080 0
University of
Massachusetts
Amherst
B R A R Y
THE JOURNAL
OF
ELIZABETH LADY HOLLAND
(1791-1811)
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THE JOURNAL
OF
ELIZABETH LADY HOLLAND
(1791-1811)
EDITED BY
THE EARL OF ILCHESTER
WITH PORTRAITS
IN TWO VOLUMES
Vol. I. 1791-1799
LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO.
39 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON
NEW YORK, BOMBAY. AND CALCUTTA
1908
All rights reserved
PREFATORY NOTE
I HAVE not considered it necessary to include an ex-
tended preface in these volumes. The requisite words
of explanation have been given in the short introductory
sketch of Lady Holland's career, which follows. I should
like, however, to express my gratitude to Sir Augustus
Webster for the assistance he has given me on matters
connected with his family history, and for the anecdotes of
his great-grandmother's life at Battle. My thanks are
also due to Mr. Walter Sichel for allowing me to use
certain material relating to Sheridan which he has
collected for his forthcoming work.
Ilchester.
September, 1908.
INTRODUCTION
Fame is notoriously fickle. Her methods are many and
varied, and all do not receive a like treatment at her
hands. The names of those who have done the most,
by laborious and scientific pursuits, alike injurious to
their health and happiness, to smooth the thorny paths
of their fellow-creatures, are perhaps allowed to lapse
into utter oblivion. While others, whose claim to
immortality rests on a more slender base, are celebrated
among their posterity. Lady Holland's claim to renown
rests upon the later years of her life. She is known to the
readers of memoirs and historical biographies of her time
as the domineering leader of the Whig circle ; as a lady
whose social talents and literary accomplishments drew
to her house the wits, the politicians, and the cognoscenti
of the day. She is known as the hostess who dared to
give orders to such guests as Macaulay and Sydney
Smith, and, what is more, expected and exacted implicit
obedience. As yet, however, little has been written of
her earlier years, and on these her Journal will throw
much light. It is a record of the years of her unhappy
marriage to Sir Godfrey Webster ; and after her marriage
with Lord Holland the narrative is continued with more
or less regularity until 1814.
The chief point which at once strikes home in reading
the account of her younger days is an entire absence of
any system of education, to use the words in their modern
viii LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL
application. Everything she learnt was due to her own
exertions. She did not receive the benefit of any course
of early teaching to prepare her to meet on equal terms
the brightest stars of a period which will compare favour-
ably with any other in the annals of this country for
genius and understanding. ' My principles were of my
own finding, both religious and moral, for I never was
instructed in abstract or practical religion, and as soon
as I could think at all chance directed my studies. . , .
Happily for me, I devoured books, and a desire for
information became my ruling passion.' Her own words
thus describe how she gained the general knowledge
which was subsequently of such use to her. Lectures
on geology, courses of chemistry with the savants whom
she met on her travels, and hours of careful reading
snatched whenever practicable, seem to have been the
solace and the recreation of those early years of her
married life. By her own efforts she thus became fitted,
with the aid of undoubted beauty and a natural liveli-
ness of disposition, to take her place in Whig society, into
which her marriage with Lord Holland had thrown her.
Without the same opportunities, her salon in later days
succeeded and far surpassed in interest that presided
over by the beautiful Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire.
Thus said Charles Greville : ' Tho' everybody who goes
there finds something to abuse or to ridicule in the mistress
of the house, or its ways, all continue to go. All like it
more or less ; and whenever, by the death of either, it
shall come to an end, a vacuum will be made in society
which nothing can supply. It is the house of all Europe ;
the world will suffer by the loss ; and it may be said
with truth that it will " eclipse the gaiety of nations." '
But her sway over her associates was the rule of fear,
not of love ; and with age the imperiousness of her
demeanour to her intimates grew more marked. Each
INTRODUCTION ix
one of her visitors was liable to become a target for the
venom of her wit or the sharpness of her tongue.
But was it solely her exertions which, like a magnet,
drew that distinguished coterie to the old house in
Kensington ? In this we think that fame has in some
degree erred. Let praise be given where praise is due.
The genial presence of Lord Holland, with his endearing
personality, his sympathetic nature, and his ever-
engrossing flow of anecdote, was at least of equal value
in attracting those guests as were the fascinations of his
wife. ' I would not go to heaven with Lady Holland,
but I could go to heU with his Lordship,' said Ugo Foscolo ;
and the sentiment was echoed in the hearts of many
others, who had not the strength of character to tear
themselves from their accustomed haunts.
Elizabeth Vassall was born on March 25, 1771. She
was an only child, the daughter of Richard Vassall, of
Jamaica. Owing to a similarity in the Christian names,
the Vassall pedigree is somewhat difficult to trace with
any certainty. It appears, however, that they were
descended from one of two brothers, John and William,
who went to America from England and are mentioned
in the first Massachusetts Charter of 1629. The latter
of these brothers went to Barbadoes in 1650, and pur-
chased large estates there. Ticknor, in reply to Lady
Holland, who had just told him that New England was
originally populated with convicts, mentioned a house
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, built by a member of her
family, and a marble monument to one of them in King's
Chapel, Boston, Florentius Vassall, her grandfather,
was born in 1710, and married Mary, daughter of Colonel
John Foster, of Jamaica. By her he seems to have had
two sons and two daughters, the second of whom, Richard,
succeeded to the property upon his father's death in
1779. Richard was bom in 1731-2, and married Mary,
X LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL
daughter of Thomas Clark, of New York, They lived
almost entirely in England, and after her husband's
death in 1795, Mrs. Vassall married Sir Gilbert Affleck,
second Baronet, of Dalham Hall, Suffolk. She died in
1835, at the age of eighty-six. Florentius Vassall's will
contained a most stringent proviso that whoever succeeded
to the estates should take the name of Vassall immediately
after their Christian names. By its terms Elizabeth
succeeded to the whole of the West Indian property,
chiefly situated in Jamaica, at her father's death. This
amounted in 1800 to about 7000/. a year, but after the
suppression of the slave trade it deteriorated greatly in
value, and was of little account at the time of her death.
In 1786, at the age of fifteen, Elizabeth was married
to Sir Godfrey Webster, of Battle Abbey, in Sussex. It
was a manage de convenancc, and one which would probably
appeal to all parties except the young lady. Her parents
would doubtless welcome the alliance to a member of an
old and respected English county family ; while the money
which was to come to her at her father's death would
be of much service to her husband. The Websters came
originally from Derbyshire, but had settled near Waltham,
in Essex. Sir Thomas Webster, who was created a baronet
in 1703, was the purchaser of Battle Abbey. He sat as
member for Colchester for many years, and married Jane,
daughter of Edward Cheek, of Sandford Orcas, Somerset.
He died in 1751, and was succeeded by his eldest son.
Whistler, who married Martha Nairne, daughter of the
Dean of Battle. Upon his death, without surviving
issue, in 1779, the property and title went to his brother,
Godfrey, who died the following year, leaving by his
wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Gilbert Cooper, of Locking-
ton, CO. Derby, a son, Godfrey, and a daughter, Elizabeth,
who married Thomas Chaplin. Sir Godfrey was born in
1748, and was thus nearly twenty-three years older than
INTRODUCTION xi
the child he married. He was for some years member
for Seaford, and at the time of his death sat for Wareham.
Battle Abbey was tenanted by his aunt, the widow of Sir
Whistler Webster (she lived till 1810), and the Websters
were therefore obliged to take up their residence in a
small house close by. The old lady did httle or nothing
to keep up the place, and everything was falHng into a
state of ruin and disrepair. Ehzabeth seems to have
looked on her as a kind of usurper of her rights, and as
the dispositions and tastes of the two ladies were dia-
metrically opposed to one another, a constant friction
between them developed into open warfare. At one
time the young lady used to send across to the Abbey
in the mornings to inquire ' If the old hag was dead
yet.' At others she would set about devising ghostly
apparitions, rattling of chains, and other eerie noises
calculated to frighten the old woman, who, contrary to
her desires, appears to have thriven on these petty annoy-
ances, and more than once was able to turn the tables
on her persecutor.
On one occasion a dozen or more people were intro-
duced into the Abbey after dark and distributed about
the house. At a given time each commenced a kind of
drumming noise in turn increasing and decreasing in
intensity. After the din had gone on for some time,
and no notice was taken, the jokers came out of their
hiding places only to find that Lady Webster had left
the house with her servants and taken the keys with her.
There they had to remain till morning !
Another day, a crowd of panic-stricken countrypeople,
with carts and horses, fleeing from the coast, bringing
intelligence of a French landing, invaded the Abbey.
These were in reality led by friends of Elizabeth, many
of them in disguise. The old lady gave them all as
much food and drink as they wanted, and sent them
xii LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL
away to tell the French that she would treat them in
like fashion when they came, and that there she would
be found until the day of her death.
To a young and pretty woman, blessed with buoyant
spirits, of an age to realise the pleasures of life, and with
every wish to enjoy them to the full, this quiet country
life must soon have become irksome. Even with every-
thing in her favour she might naturally have desired to see
more of the world than she was likely to find in the green
fields of Sussex, varied by an occasional visit to London.
But circumstanced as she was, with a husband more than
double her age, and without the occupation and cares of
a large establishment to manage, her fancies and desires
were sure to wander further afield. She longed to leave
Battle, ' that detested spot where I had languished in
solitude and discontent the best years of my life,' and
she implored her husband to take her abroad after the
birth of her son. Their eldest, Godfrey Vassall, was
born in 1789, and another, who died soon after, was born
the following year.
Though a member of Parliament, Sir Godfrey had no
keen desire for political life ; in fact, he had lost his
seat in 1790. Nor did he care for society, but his tastes
and interests led him to prefer a residence in England ; and
the racket of the Continent, with its endless journeys and
discomforts, had no attraction whatever for him. He
did not care for the pictures and works of art in Italy
as much as for the pleasures of the country gentleman
of the day. He was immensely popular in the county,
perhaps partly on account of his liberality and extrava-
gance, which, combined with his gambling propensities,
greatly helped to dissipate the large sum of ready money
to which he had succeeded. He also took an active
part in all local matters of business. These interests,
however, he consented temporarily to relinquish, and
INTRODUCTION xiii
in compliance with his wife's constant entreaties they
set off abroad in the spring of 1791.
It will be unnecessary here to go at length into their
travels, as the Journal deals closely with their progress.
Another son, Henry, was born in February 1793 ; a
daughter, Harriet, in June 1794 ; and another boy, who
died soon after his birth, in October 1795. Sir Godfrey
was sometimes with his wife abroad, sometimes in England,
their final separation taking place in the spring of
1795-
All this time the relations between husband and
wife were becoming more and more strained. Every-
thing appears to have been perfectly amicable between
them until 1792, when, in a letter to Thomas Pelham,
Lady Webster mentions that his behaviour to her seems
to have undergone a sudden change, owing, she thought,
to money difficulties which were troubling him. It is
impossible to say what was the true explanation of the
reasons for this change. Her various friends were
certainly a trial to Sir Godfrey's jealous disposition, but
beyond a foolish levity of conduct consequent upon
youth, her flirtations do not seem to have been of a very
dangerous nature. Their correspondence, however, con-
tinued without break until her return to England in June
1796. Disparity in ages and a complete absence of any
similarity of interests was in all probability the base from
which the rift first sprang; and, once the edges were
parted asunder, an infinity of foolish misunderstandings
and trivial annoyances would too surely have assisted the
widening of the gulf.
Faults there were, and material faults too, on both sides.
Sir Godfrey's indifference to her tastes, his gloomy and at
times sullen disposition, his violence of temper, his fits of
depression which were the ultimate cause of his unhappy
end, and his love of gambhng and dissipation, cannot have
xiv LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL
nurtured, and, in fact, speedily blasted a youthful affection
which might have flourished in a more congenial soil. He
can never have properly fathomed the character and tem-
perament of the girl to whom he was united. Had he
married a nonentity, who was ready to sit at home and
trace out a colourless existence, obedient to his beck and
call, all might have been well. But his wife was not one
of these. She was essentially a woman of action. Her
ambitions could not be confined to any particular groove,
and her spirit would not allow her to stoop to a position
of dependence. Her increasing knowledge of the world
and its ways taught her to believe herself a victim to
her fortune, and, regarding her husband as the cause,
her respect for him became diminished and the recol-
lection of the kindly side of his nature was swallowed
up in her grievances. Thus it is that her references to
him in her Journal are tinged with even more than a
feeling of dislike. Throughout her life she was accustomed
to speak out her thoughts with an almost brutal frank-
ness, and her allusions to Sir Godfrey in these pages are
sometimes inclined to be hysterical and perhaps more
severe than circumstances always merited.
For he too had much to contend with. Once abroad,
the memory of her unhappy life in Sussex recurred with
double force, and the possibihty of a return to England,
even for a few months, became a nightmare. She loved
the bright sun and blue skies more dearly from the
contrast of her gloomy recollections of the northern
climate, and a growing taste for art and literature fanned
her reluctance to undergo again the thraldom of an
existence at home. Here was indeed an unpleasant
position for a man whose whole interests were centred in
England. Was he to leave his wife continually alone
in a strange country to follow her own devices, or was
he at all risks to assert his authority and take her back
INTRODUCTION xv
with him by force ? It was a situation which was hkely
to have but one ending.
In her sohtude she craved for someone to love and
cherish her, and one whom she might love in return.
' I strive to repress, but often feel a strong desire to be
dependent upon another for happiness ' ; but it was not
till 1794 that the ' other ' appeared upon the scene.
Devoted friends she had had, but none had touched
her heart before she met Lord Holland.
Henry Richard, third Lord Holland, was born in
November 1773. His father, Stephen, second Lord
Holland, died the year after his son's birth, and his
mother, a daughter of John, first Earl of Upper Ossory,
only lived until 1778. He was brought up by his uncles,
Charles James Fox and Lord Ossory ; while his only
sister, Caroline Fox, five years his senior, remained under
the charge of their aunt, Lady Warwick, and their great-
aunt, the Duchess of Bedford. He had been educated at
Eton and Christ Church, Oxford, and went abroad in
1791. He spent some time in Spain, and in the course
of his travels arrived at Florence in February 1794.
There he made Lady Webster's acquaintance ; friend-
ship ripened into mutual attachment, and both before
and after Sir Godfrey's departure for England in 1795
much of his time was spent with her. In April 1796
Lady Webster started for home from Florence, accom-
panied by Lord Holland, and reached England in June.
She met Sir Godfrey at his house in Albemarle Street,
but shortly after took rooms in Brompton Row, and went
to live there. In November a son was born — Lord
Holland's — christened Charles Richard Fox.
Sir Godfrey had taken into consideration the question
of a divorce as early as July 1796, but was not actually
prevailed upon to commence proceedings until the
following January. In those days this necessitated a
xvi LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL
case before the Civil Court and also an Act of Parliament.
There is no need to go into the transactions further than
is necessary to throw light on the allusions in the Journal.
Though he was the injured person, and was therefore
justified in making his own terms, Sir Godfrey's conduct
throughout the negotiations shows an indecision of
purpose, almost verging at times upon insanity. At one
moment he would refuse to go on with the proceedings
at all ; at the next he would state that he still adored
Lady Webster, and for her sake would only be too ready
to expedite matters, and would not even sue for damages.
At another he wished to fight a duel with Lord Holland,
not for running away with his wife, but because he had
offered to buy a picture of her, by Romney, which
belonged to Sir Godfrey. The case finally came up
before Lord Kenyon in the Civil Court at the end of
February, with a condition attached that Lady Webster
should give up her whole fortune to Sir Godfrey for his
life, keeping only 800/. a year for her own use ; besides a
claim of 10,000/. damages against Lord Holland, which
was modified by the jury into 6000/. This settlement
the judge described during the negotiations as iniquitous.
But Sir Godfrey seemed prepared to drop the case
unless he obtained these terms ; and as there seemed to
be little chance of securing the recognition of the court, a
bond was given to him, signed by the Duke of Bedford,
Charles Ellis, Sir Gilbert Affleck, and Lord Holland,
guaranteeing that these conditions should be reUgiously
observed, if he continued the proceedings. This was
accepted, and though minor difficulties arose as to the
payment of past debts, &c., the divorce was successfully
carried through the courts and both Houses of Parlia-
ment.
In April 1796 Lady Webster wrote to Sir Godfrey
announcing the death of their daughter, Harriet, who
INTRODUCTION xvii
had been born in June 1794. In her letter she stated
that the child had sickened of measles at Modena, and
had died of convulsions consequent upon that disease.
In all this there was not one word of truth. Harriet,
who afterwards married Admiral Sir Fleetwood Pellew,
was perfectly well all the time, but was concealed by her
mother, in order to avoid being deprived of all her
children whenever the time for the inevitable rupture
with her husband arrived. The girl was handed over
to the custody of an English nurse, Sarah Brown, and
was brought safely back to England some time later.
It was not until 1799 that Lady Holland, as she was
then, determined to restore her to her father. In
the Journal she mentions that scruples, and the fear
of involving Lord Holland in difficulties on her behalf,
had led her to decide to pursue this course. She
allows that she was very loath to make the sacrifice,
and it is probable that the knowledge that Sir Godfrey
had somehow received information of something being
wrong had more to do with her determination than any-
thing else. At the time he had no inkling that every-
thing was not as she had stated. Shortly after the
divorce, however, facts were brought to his notice which
led him to take action. A commission was appointed
to investigate into the whole circumstances, and the
grave, we believe, was actually opened ; for so thoroughly
had the matter been arranged in the first instance that
a mock funeral had taken place, and a kid had been
buried in the coffin instead of the child. Fear of dis-
covery would therefore have influenced her wish to make
a clean breast of the deception, before it was too late.
After Sir Godfrey's death Lady Holland made a
vigorous effort to gain access to her children. Her
request to be allowed to see them was refused, as Sir
Godfrey's brother-in-law, Mr. Chaplin, stated that he
VOL. I. a
xviii LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL
had been expressly enjoined, in the event of the former's
death, to see that the children had no communication
with their mother. The matter was taken before the
courts in 1801, but the judge's award does not seem to
have given her any satisfaction.
After their marriage the Hollands remained in England
until 1802, when they were compelled by the unsatis-
factory state of their son Charles's health to winter
abroad. It was during these five years that Lady
Holland laid the groundwork of those distinguished
gatherings for which Holland House was, in after years,
so justly famed. We have already seen that the sub-
sequent glories of their salon were as much due to
Lord Holland as to his wife ; but in the early days of
their marriage her personality, her beauty, and the
brilliancy of her conversational powers undoubtedly
attracted many of the men of culture and learning by
whom they were surrounded. Feminine society was
almost wanting in that circle. She received much kind-
ness from members of Lord Holland's family, but with
this exception and that of a few of her former friends,
the Duchess of Devonshire, Lady Bessborough, and
others, she was nowhere received in society. To a
woman of her ambitions this treatment cannot but have
been very galling, though it was only what she had to
expect ; and perhaps to this fact may be traced some
part of that bitterness of manner with which her name
is so generally associated.
She possessed to the full the gift of drawing out her
guests. Conversation never flagged at her table, and how-
ever diverse were the sentiments of those who met under
her roof, they felt that they were there able to fraternise
on neutral ground. Especially as she grew older her
desire to rule grew stronger, and her opinion on any
subject was not to be lightly contradicted. ' Elle est
INTRODUCTION xix
toute assertion, mais quand on demande la preuve, c'est
la son secret,' said Talle3rrand ; and it was characteristic
of the means she employed to state a fact or clinch an
argument. Her methods of government were essentially
tyrannical. Macaulay thus describes his first visit to
Holland House : ' The centurion did not keep his soldiers
in better order than she kept her guests. It is to one,
" Go," and he goeth ; and to another, " Do this," and
it is done ' ; and numerous are the records left by her
contemporaries of the insults and abuse from which the
habitues were never immune. Yet within that cold
exterior, with all her arrogance of demeanour and harsh-
ness of speech, beat as warm a heart as ever beat in
woman's breast. To her dependents she was kindness
itself, her old friends were never forgotten, and many a
struggling writer had reason to bless the assistance she
bestowed on his efforts unasked.
Her views on religion were indefinite, and her belief
in the principles of Christianity was probably not deeply
seated. Atheism, however, she would not tolerate, and
Allen's allusions in her presence to his disbelief in the
Godhead would always receive instant reproof. Super-
stitious she was, to a certain degree, but she seems to have
thrown off many of her fancies later in life. ' She died
with perfect composure, and though consciously within
the very shadow of death for three whole days before
she crossed the dark threshold, she expressed neither
fear nor anxiety, and exhibited a tranquillity of mind by
no means general at the time ' [Rogers and his Con-
temporaries). Yet to the end she was never entirely
free from fears of her own health, and her dread of
storms, and especially thunder, was almost ludicrous.
Macaulay relates how she would even have her rooms
shut up in broad dayhght and the candles lit, to prevent
her from seeing the lightning, which she dreaded so much.
XX LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL
In politics she was by no means an extremist, and
especially before she had tasted the sweets of office
her influence over Lord Holland tended to restrain
him from the more advanced principles of Whiggism
which he sometimes affected. Her views were essentially
those of a partisan, both in public and in private. No
exertion was too great for her, if it was to assist a friend
in need or to further any scheme which she considered
worthy of support. Her admiration for Napoleon and
her efforts to improve his situation when in exile are well
known, yet her personal intercourse with her hero was
limited to two or three words in one short audience. She
revelled in intrigue, and her desire to have a hand in all
that was taking place led her at times to assume a more
active part than was consistent with her own professions
or advantageous to her husband's position in the party.
Her reputation has always been that of an imperious,
downright woman, who said just what she thought,
without reference to the feehngs of her hearers. So it
is with her writings. Her likes and dislikes were very
marked, and led her into extremes which are reflected
in the delineations of the characters of her contem-
poraries. The task of editing her Journal has on this
account been a matter of some difficulty. To have
eUminated all passages in which her political bias or
personal feelings of dislike are apparent would be to
destroy the value of her chronicle, and would create a
fictitious impression of her real disposition and way of
speaking. Bearing in mind these peculiarities, therefore,
it has been thought fit to retain more of her critical obser-
vations than would otherwise have been kept. Some pas-
sages, however, have been necessarily omitted and others
have been somewhat softened, where it has been found pos-
sible to do so. It has also been attempted to point out
any inaccuracies wherever they appear in the text, which
INTRODUCTION xxi
has been altered as little as possible. Her sentences
are sometimes involved, and it seems difficult to credit
her with a complete command of the English language —
an attainment which her contemporaries relate that she
was fond of boasting she possessed.
After nearly two years, spent chiefly in Spain, the
Hollands returned to England in 1805. The following
year, after Fox's death. Lord Holland was included in
Lord Grenville's Ministry as Lord Privy Seal. They
went again to Spain in 1808, and returned in August
i8og. The narrative of these journeys has been omitted
from these pages, and is reserved for publication at some
future date, should it be considered to be of sufficient
interest. The Journal closes in 1814, but as nothing of
particular interest is recorded during the last few years,
that portion has been omitted. We need not therefore
concern ourselves here with Lady Holland's later career,
as it does not come within the scope of these volumes.
Suffice it to say that Lord Holland died in 1840, and
that after his death Lady Holland moved to their little
house in South Street, taking with her Dr. Allen, who
died two years later. Lady Holland died in 1845, and
was buried at Millbrook, in Bedfordshire.
The Journal has never been revised in any way, and
is therefore full of slips and omissions, which are now
corrected. The original spelling and punctuation has
not been retained, as it is unreliable and often varies,
especially in the proper names, except in a few cases
where the particular form was in vogue at the time.
Abbreviations remain as they appear in the manuscript.
In a few places names have been purposely omitted, but in
most cases a blank signifies that the word is illegible, or
has not been filled in by the writer. Certain sentences also
are somewhat obscure from the difficulty which has been
experienced in deciphering the handwriting ; these have
xxii LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL
been made as clear as possible. Some passages in the
earlier portion, relating to the travels abroad, have been
curtailed, and the sequence of the narrative retained by
means of editorial notes. Most of the descriptions of
collections in Italy have also been left out, except in a
few cases where Lady Webster's remarks are of interest
in showing her own appreciation of various well-known
works of art and the opinions of men of learning of the
day upon them. Extracts from books which she had
read are also omitted ; though in many cases the titles
of the books she read and her critical remarks upon the
contents are retained. By these it is possible to form
some opinion of her special tastes in literature, and dis-
cover by what stages she was able to prepare herself
to become the leader of Whig society.
LIST OF PLATES
TO VOLUME I.
Elizabeth, third Lady Holland, 1793 . . . Frontispiece
From a painting by Robert Fagan.
Richard Vassall, 1793 To face p. 132
From a painting by J . Hoppner.
Elizabeth, third Lady Holland, 1795 ... ,, 212
From a painting by Louis Gauffier.
JOURNAL OF ELIZABETH
LADY HOLLAND
In June 1791 I left England and went to Paris. During
my stay the King and Royal family escaped to Var-
ennes, but were brought back. I attended the debates
in the National Assembly ; I heard Robespierre and
Maury ^ speak. The Jacobin Club was then in embryo.
I wanted to hear a speech, and the Vicomte de Noailles
during dinner promised that he would gratify me by
making one. He accordingly took me to the box, and
went into the Tribune and began an oration upon some
subject trivial in itself, but made important by the
vehemence of his manner. The Wyndhams ^ joined me
at Paris ; Mr. Pelham " was also there, and several other
English.
Towards July I went by the way of Dijon through
the Jura Mountains to Lausanne. I lived for three
' Abbe Maury (1746-1817), one of the most violent members of
the Etats GJneraux. He obtained a Cardinal's hat in 1794.
- Hon. William Frederick Wyndham (i 763-1 828), fourth son of
Charles, second Earl of Egremont. He married, in 1784, Francis
Mary Harford, natural daughter of Frederick, Lord Baltimore. Their
son succeeded as the fourth and last Earl of Egremont.
■' Hon. Thomas Pelham, afterwards Lord Pelham and second Ear
of Chichester (i 756-1 826). son of Thomas, Lord Pelham, of Stanmer
(who was created Earl of Chichester in 1801). He married, in 1801,
Lady Mary Osborne, daughter of Francis, fifth Duke of Leeds ; and
was Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 1783-4 and 1795-8,
and Secretary of State for the Home Department, 1 801-1803.
VOL. I. B
2 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1791
months at Mon Repos, a spot celebrated as having
been the residence of Voltaire and the scene of much
theatrical festivity ; it was there he composed and re-
presented many of his chefs d'ceuvre, Zaire, I believe,
among the number.^ My society was composed of a
mixture of French and English to the utter exclusion
of the Swiss.
Gibbon had for several years withdrawn himself
from the turbulence and neglect of his own capital to
share the quiet and enjoy the adulation of the in-
habitants of the Pays de Vaud. He was treated by
them more as a prince than as an equal. Whenever he
honoured their goutees with his presence every person
rose upon his entrance, and none thought of resuming
their chairs till he was seated. His whim arranged and
deranged all parties. All, in short, were subservient
to his wishes ; those once known, everything was adapted
to them. The Sheffields,'^ Trevors, Mr. Pelham, Due
de Guines,^ Mde. de Juigne, and Castries. I knew Tissot.*
Having my residence at Lausanne I made frequent
excursions. I went through Geneva to the Valley of
Chamouny, saw the glaciers ; and at a small village in
the road stopped to look at General Phiffer's model of
Mt. Blanc ; it was curious but inferior to that at Lucerne.
Our party to Chamouny consisted of the Shefhelds, Mr,
' Zaire was written in Paris, not in Switzerland.
* John Baker Holroyd (173 5-1 821), created Baron Sheffield in
1781, and advanced to an earldom in 1816. He married, in 1767,
Abigail, only daughter of Lewis Way. She died in 1793, and Lord
Sheffield married, the following year. Lady Lucy Pelham, daughter
of Thomas, first Earl of Chichester. He married, thirdly, in 1798, Lady
Anne North, daughter of Frederick, second Earl of Guilford.
^ Comte Bonnieres de Souastres, Due de Guines (173 5-1 806),
Ambassador in London from 1770 to 1776. On the outbreak of the
French Revolution he left France, and did not return until Napoleon
became Consul.
* Simon Tissot (i 728-1 797), a celebrated Swiss doctor. He died
at Lausanne.
1 791] SWITZERLAND 3
Pelham, and some others whose names I have for-
gotten.^
Soon after my return to Lausanne I made a tour
through Berne to Lucerne. I was too great a coward
to go upon the lake, therefore I only saw the views
from the bridge and the high ground near the town,
as I was too indolent to ascend Mount Pilate. The spot
so celebrated by the heroic and incredible exploits of
Guillaume Tell I only knew by drawings, as it is not
to be seen but by going to the Lac des Quatre Cantons.
Phiffer's model of the whole of Switzerland is wonderful ;
it is an exact representation of every object, lakes, mts.,
rivers. Such representation of countries would be useful
for military posts. I returned by Soleure, Neuchatel,
and Fribourg and Vevey to Lausanne.
Towards the middle or end of September I began
a journey to Nice. I stopped at Geneva a day or two,
and went with the Messrs. Calandrin to see Ferney ;
it was in a desolate, ruined state, and showed few marks
of taste or comfort. We followed the Rhone to L'Ecluse,
where soon after that it loses itself for some miles under-
ground. The road is beautiful. Annecy, where Rousseau
lived, I believe we passed. Lyons is a magnificent city,
two fine rivers and broad, well-built quays with sump-
tuous houses. The manufacturers complained of the
revolutionary spirit which deprived them of orders and
workmen.
From thence I followed the Rhone to the Pont St.
' Miss Holroyd's description of Lady Webster on this expedition
is amusing : ' If anybody ever offends you so grievously that you do
not recollect any punishment bad enough for them, only wish them on
a party of pleasure with Lady Webster ! The ceremony began with
irresolution in the extreme whether they should or should not go !
How and which way they should go ? And everything that was
proposed she decidedly determined on a contrary scheme, and as
regularly altered her mind in a few hours' [Girlhood of Maria Josepha
Holroyd, p. 65).
4 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1791
Esprit. The bridge is singular and ingenious. The
rapidity of the river had thrown down the preceding
bridges owing to a strong current rushing with violence
against the piers : to obviate this the architect made the
bridge of this form. It has succeeded, and the building
is permanent. The Pont de Card is a magnificent
remnant of Roman grandeur ; it fulfilled the double
purpose of bridge and aqueduct. Orange, on account
of massacres at Avignon, we could not see. There are
fine remains of triumphal arches and other military
trophies, raised to the honour of Marius, who there de-
feated the formidable host of Northern barbarians, the
Teutons and Cimbri, though upon recollection I think
he fought them in the present Venetian territory. Upon
the road there are vestiges of triumphal buildings,
erected in the Middle Ages, if one may judge by the
clumsy taste. At Nismes, the amphitheatre and Maison
Carree. The latter is beautiful, and being the first
specimen of Grecian architecture I had ever seen I was
delighted with the richness and proportion of the edifice.
The amphitheatre is small, and disfigured by the filth
and closeness of the adjacent houses. Like St. Paul's
in London, it is impossible to judge of its magnitude or
graceful structure, as no exterior view can be obtained.
Marseilles is charmingly situated ; fine town, a forest
of shipping, busy quays ; and the hveliness of the pretty
Bastides, all white upon the surrounding hills, is de-
lightful. This was the first view I had of the Mediter-
ranean. The deep blueness of its waters and the constant
fulness of its shores struck me with increasing admiration,
as I always thought the variation of the tide was a de-
fect ; for pleasing as variety is, uniformity is preferable
to such change as the tide produces — mud and stench.
Aix is a pleasing town. Crossed the Esterelles, a
high ridge of granite mts. ; the passage was infested by
I79I-2] NICE 5
banditti, and we were obliged to take some marechaussees
to protect us. We passed without alarm or interruption.
Frejus, the See of Fenelon, well deserves all the dis-
approbation he bestows on it. Antibes, a gay pretty
town ; crossed at Gue the torrent Var, and 4 miles after
reached Nice. Some antiquaries have supposed that the
Var was the celebrated Rubicon, which once passed was
so fatal to the liberties of Rome.
I was left alone ^ at twenty years old in a foreign
country without a relation or any real friend, yet some
of the least miserable, I might add the most happy hours,
of my life were passed there. I lived with great discre-
tion, even to prudery. I never admitted any male
visitors (except to numerous dinners), either in the
morning or evening, with the exception only of two —
Dr. Drew, and a grave married man, a Mr. Cowper.
Drew used to spend the whole eve. with me, and give
me lectures on chemistry, natural history, philosophy,
etc., etc. I made frequent excursions about the neigh-
bourhood, to Monaco, Villa Franca, Monte Cavo, La
Grotte de Chateauville, the convent of St. Pons, old
Cemenelium, etc.
In Feb. 1792 the Duncannons,-^ Dowr. Lady Spencer,
Dss. of Devonshire, came to Nice : my friendship begun
there. I saw a Maltese galley with some wretched Turkish
slaves at the oar. The English society was too numerous
to be pleasant. I lived with a few only, — Dss. of Ancaster,
Ly. Rivers, Messrs. Ellis, Wallace, Cowper, etc. C. Ellis ■'
was a very old friend of mine ; we were brought up for
' Sir Godfrey Webster had returned to England late in 1791.
- Frederick, Viscount Duncannon (1758-1844), who succeeded his
father as third Earl of Bessborough in 1793. He married, in 1780,
Henrietta, daughter of John, first Earl Spencer, and Margaret
Georgiana, daughter of the Right Hon. Stephen Poyntz. Her sister.
Lady Georgiana, married, in 1774, William, fifth Duke of Devonshire.
^ Charles Rose Ellis (1771-1845), son of John Elhs, a large landed
proprietor in Jamaica. He was created Lord Seaford in 1826.
6 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL I1792
many years absolutely together. As I had experienced
such very cruel usage from the unequal and ofttimes
frantic temper of the man to whom I had the calamity
to be united, it was the wish of my mother, Lady
Pelham, Ly. Shelburne, and those I most respected,
that I should never venture myself in a journey alone
with him, therefore as Mr. Ellis was going part of the
journey we meant to make, he joined our party. We
also conveyed an emigrant of the name of Beauval, an
excellent, ingenious young man.
Sunday, May the 6th, 1792. — Left Nice for Turin.
We took the road across the Col de Tende. Just above
the Convent of St. Pons, we crossed the torrent Paghone,
from whence I took a farewell look at the lovely plain of
Nice. We dined at L'Escaleine, a small village prettily
situated in the mts. We wound for many hours the
numberless traverses of a steep and lofty mt., and at
night reached Sospello, a tolerable g^te.
jth. — Still among mts. Dined at Grandolla.
Wretched inn at Tende — no accommodation ; only one
room for us all.
On ye 8th the carriages were dismounted and carried
over the Col de Tende upon mules : I went over in a
chaise a porteurs, so did my child.
Snow was melting very fast, and made the footing
for the mules and guides very insecure. We stopped
at a small house at Borgo Limone as one of the carriages
was broken in getting it off the mule's back.
jitJi^ — Arrived at Turin. Ly. Duncannon and Dss.
were already arrived. In the evening I went to Tre-
vor's : ^ he was the Enghsh Minister. A celebrated
' John Hampden Trevor (i 749-1 824), who succeeded his elder
brother as third Baron Hampden in 1824, a month before his own
death. He was Minister at Turin from 1783 until 1798. He married,
in 1773, Harriot, only child of the Rev. Daniel Burton, Canon of
Christ Church.
1792] TURIN 7
performer on the violin attempted to render by sound
the story of Werter ; the imagination must have suppUed
greatly to assist the effect. All that I could understand
was the scene where he shoots himself ; the twang of the
catgut made a crash, which made one start, so it had
that effect in common with the report of a pistol.
During my stay at Turin I attended chemical lectures at
Bonvoisin's ; had I been able to apply more I might
under his care have advanced considerably in informa-
tion. Cte. Masin gave me a very fine dinner. Before
dinner he sent for one of the Professors, who exhibited
the cruel experiment upon a frog to prove animal elec-
tricity.
I went one morning with Ly. D., Dss. Devonshire,
etc., to La Venesia to be presented to the Prince and
Princesse de Piemont.' She is in person like her brother
the King of France. Since the downfall of the clergy
in France she has constantly worn the dress of a Sceur
grise. They are both bigoted and superstitious. I had
many pleasant parties to Montcalieri, La Superga, the
Colline, etc. The Vallentin is a singular old chateau
on the banks of the Po. It was built by Christina, Dsse.
de Savoie, one of the daughters of Henry IV. of France.
I made acquaintance for the first time with Mde. de
Balbi.^ Previous to my leaving Turin we were sur-
prised by the arrival of Ly. Malmesbury •' and G. Ellis.'*
' The Prince of Piedmont (i 751-18 19) succeeded his father as
King of Sardinia in 1796 under the name of Charles Emmanuel IV.,
but abdicated in 1802 in favour of his brother. He married, in 1775,
Marie-Therese de Bourbon, sister of Louis XVI.
^ Josephine-Louise, Comtesse de Balbi (i 763-1 836), a favourite
of the Comte de Provence (Louis XVIII.) and lady-in-waiting to his
wife for some years.
^ Harriet Mary, daughter of Sir George Amyand, Bart. She
married James, first Earl of Malmesbury in 1777, and died in 1830.
* George Ellis (1753-18 15), miscellaneous writer. A joint founder
with Canning of the A nti- Jacobin. He was the only son of George
Ellis, member of the House of Assembly in Grenada.
8 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1792
We left Turin on ye loth June, 1792 ; our route was
to Verona, and to see Lago Maggiore in our way. We
went to Arona that we might cross the Ticino at Sesto,
as there was a flood at Buffalora, the usual ferry. Slept
first night at Vercelli. After wading through very deep
water for a mile or two, caused by the overflowing of the
lake, we reached, on ye 12th, Arona, a small town
charmingly situated on the lake. The next day I sum-
moned up courage and went upon the lake to see the
Borromean Islands. Just above the town of Arona
stands the colossal statue of St. Charles Borromeo,
executed in 1650 by his family ; it exceeds 100 ft. in
height, allowing 64 for the figure and 46 for the
pedestal. This lake is longer than that of Geneva. The
islands are beautiful. The Isola Bella is the enchanted
spot, on which the fairy palace and gardens stand.
Since the days of Circe and Armida nothing has equalled
the magic land, and little worthy of detention would
be an Ulysses and Rinaldo who could repine at seclusion
in such a voluptuous abode. The Palace is on an
eminence, and pastures and terraces descend from it to
the water. Some of the apartments are made like
grottoes and are brought to the margin of the lake :
without exaggeration it is a spot apparently made by
magic art. Prince Augustus ^ was seeing the Palace.
I there met with him for the first time. He is handsome
and well-bred.
I'^th. — Left Arona ; crossed the Ticino and arrived
very late at Milan. The heat in the plains of Lombardy
in the summer is intense ; the thermometer varied from
92 to 96 degrees Fahrenheit. The Litta family live
' Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex (i 773-1 843), sixth son of
George III. He married at Rome, in 1793, Lady Augusta Murray,
daughter of John, fourth Earl of Dunmore. The marriage was annulled
the following year, as it violated the Royal Marriage Act.
1792] PAVIA AND MANTUA 9
with princely splendour. The Csse. Maxe, celebrated
in the annals of European gallantry, was very civil, and
showed me all that was worthy of notice. Padre Pini,
an old Barnabite monk, gave me many good specimens,
especially of his Adularia, a species of felspar he has
discovered. I went over to Pavia to see the celebrated
Spallanzani : ^ he is the great friend of Bonnet of Geneva,
and he is the man who has made some filthy experiments
upon digestion.
Pavia is a curious old town, formerly the capital of
the Lombard Kings, and in more modern times the
scene of the disaster of the French army, and the cap-
tivity of its monarch. Francis ye ist here became
prisoner to the unfeeling, politic Charles V. The
Cathedral is a specimen of very early Gothic, misshapen
and clumsy. The Po and Ticino join near the city.
Great preparations among the emigrants of Coblentz
for marching into France.
22nd June. — Left Milan for Dresden. We skirted
Lodi, famous for its cheeses and deep sands. A violent
thunderstorm came on at Pizzighettone, where I stopped ;
and notwithstanding abuse and threats I was resolved
to stay and not risk my life and my child's with hot
horses near a deep river during a heavy storm.
2'^rd. — Got to Mantua. The waters of the Mincio
being suffered to stagnate, the wells about Mantua are
unwholesome and bad. The Palais du T. [sic] is a pretty
villa belonging to the ancient Princes of Gonzaga. The
walls are painted in fresco by Giulio Romano, the best
of Raphael's scholars : the subject represents the ' Battle
of the Giants.' I looked around in vain for a beech tree
under whose wide spreading branches a Tityrus was wont
to recline and amuse his little lambkins with the soft
' Lazaro Spallanzani (i 729-1 799). Director of the museum at
Pavia.
10 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1792
notes of his pipe in the days of the Mantuan Bard, Tho'
Vergil was born, one might doubt much if he was bred,
here ; he seems to have described the pastoral manners
of some happier soil of Italy.
The party reached Verona on the 24th. ' The town is
handsome ; the bridge over the Adige very fine. The Corso
is very noble.' They left again two days later, and at Ala
entered the Tyrol.
The entrance is through a narrow gorge, apparently
opened by an earthquake, and probably v/idened by the
deep and rapid course of the Adige. The mts. are not
very high till Mt. Baldo, which does not exceed a 1000 ft.
Between Ala and Roveredo we passed among rocks that
have suffered some great convulsion ; at a distance they
resemble the ruins of a demolished city. A calcareous
mountain stood where the road now passes ; probably
in one tremendous night when all the elements were
waging war, the loud rolling thunder and the forked
lightning darting upon this ill-fated spot, the earth
trembled with the shock and the side of the mountain
was split and broken into a thousand pieces. The
falling of the mt., tho' no history records the event,
does not appear to have happened at an early period.
The fragments are still sharp and angular. Owing to a
fair at Trent we were forced to remain at Roveredo.
Since the league of Cambray Roveredo is no longer in
the possession of the Venetians.
2yth. — The road from thence is through a tolerably
well cultivated country of vines and mulberries, thro'
which the Adige moves along irregularly, sometimes
slowly, at other times rapidly. The road in many
places is very narrow with a precipice to the river
undefended by a parapet. Monr. de Calonne was over-
turned into the river, and but for the assistance of
1792] INNSPRUCK II
Messrs. Wallace and Ellis, in the year '91, must have
been drowned.
After passing Neumarck, the travellers arrived at Brixen
on the 28th.
Brixen is prettily situated in a very fertile vale ;
vines and corn appear in abundance. The hills are
cultivated and a more genial soil is the consequence.
The churches and castles built on the tops of craggy
rocks along this valley are singularly romantic. The
valley is extremely populous, and the younger part of
the inhabitants have extremely pretty faces.
At Innspruck we were compelled to remain two
nights, as we had not the plea of being Aulic Counsellors
or Ambassadors. It is a paltry restriction on travellers
that they must consent, unless privileged, to remain eight
and forty hours in Austrian territory — a sort of tax that
one must spend money in their dominions. In the
principal church there is a magnificent tomb erected to
the memory of the Emperor Maximilian, grandfather
to Charles V. He was a complying, weak Prince, of
whom Abbe Raynal says in his Mdmoires Historiques
' II n'inspirait point de reconnaissance, quoiqu'il accordat
presque tout qu'on lui demandait : on sentait qu'il ne
cherchait pas a obliger, mais qu'il ne savait pas refuser.'
Near the town is a castle, the residence of the Arch-
duchess, Governor of the Tyrol ; the arsenal contains a
curious collection of different suits of armour, which
belonged to some of the most celebrated of warriors.
I went to a German play, the pantomime of which,
tho' a deep tragedy, diverted me much, tho' I did not
comprehend a word of the dialogue.
2nd July. — Took the road to Munich. Immediately
. on leaving the town began ascending ; slept at Wal-
lensee, prettily situated among the mts., near a small
12 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1792
lake. The change of temperature was sensible : ther-
mometer in the morning at Innspruck was 75, at Wal-
lensee fell to 59.
-^rd July. — Large clumps of the spruce fir dotted over
rich plains and fertile hills, with a noble view of the
mts. we were quitting, made a view not altogether
insipid.
The approach to Munich is not imposing ; it denotes
little of the magnificence of a capital. The town is large
and irregular ; the houses are more substantial and
imposing than magnificent ; many are thatched, and
those that are not have high roofs, gable ends, and
garret windows. I was labouring under such low spirits,
that the prejudice I felt against Munich was owing to
the unhappiness I endured there.
Count Rumford,' an American of the name of Ben-
jamin Thompson, was the Prime Minister of Bavaria.
He has made some excellent reforms in the governt. of
that country, and created many beneficial institutions
for the poor. He was very civil, and showed me with a
degree of minuteness, with which I could have dispensed,
all his hospitals, manufactures, etc. I was compelled
to see what I did not wish, his beloved, a Mde.
NogaroUa.
Went from Munich to Ratisbon. Here I first hailed
the Danube, a mighty stream, the prince of rivers.
I purchased a gun and pair of pistols of the famous
' Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count von Rumford (175 3-1 8 14), was
born at North Woburn, Massachusetts. After suffering imprison-
ment in 1774, for lukewarmness in the cause of Uberty, he sailed for
England. He became Under-Secretary for the Colonies in 1780, and
also served in America against his fellow-countrymen. On his return
he entered the service of the Elector of Bavaria, and received the
honour of knighthood from George III. He came back to England in
1795, and devoted the remainder of his life to scientific research.
His experiments for the improvement of fireplaces and chimneys
have proved of lasting benefit to mankind.
1792] LORD HENRY SPENCER 13
Kerkenriiyter to make a present to Mr. Pelham. The
maker told me he had sold to Col. Lennox the identical
pair he used against the Duke of York. It was scarcely
fair to use such sure weapons.
Reached Dresden in ye night of the 21st. We found
a numerous society of English, Lord H. Spencer,^ Mr.
Robt. Markham, Mr. Emot,^ English Minister, Ct. Stop-
ford, and afterwards Lds. Boringdon and Granville
Leveson-Gower. Ld. Henry was there on his way to
Vienna, whither he was to carry the compliment upon
the accession of the Emperor. He was then Secretary
at the Hague under Ld. Auckland. His abilities were
spoken highly of ; at Eton he was known as a poet in
the Microcosm.^ His shyness embarrassed him, and
rendered his manner awkward. He was very witty,
and possessed a superabundant stock of irony. In short,
he became ardently in love with me, and he was the first
man who had ever produced the slightest emotion in
my heart.
I was received at Dresden with a degree of distinction
that was highly flattering, I would not go to Court ;
the Princesses sent a civil, reproachful message, and
begged me to see them eji particulier at one of their villas.
I went, and an embarrassing circumstance occurred.
The Prince Antony, by some mistake, took me for
Ld. Henry's wife, complimented him upon my beauty.
' Lord Henry Spencer (i 770-1 795), second son of George, third
Duke of Marlborough. He died at BerUn, to which court he had
been accredited as Envoy-Extraordinary. Lord Holland, in his
Miscellaneous Reminiscences, says of him : ' Notwithstanding his
constitutional shyness and reserve, he would have distinguished
himself by his wit and ingenuity, but died at the early age of twenty-
four, when employed on a mission to Berlin.'
- Hugh Elliot (1752-1830), brother of Gilbert, first Earl of Minto.
Minister at the Court of Saxony from 1791 until 1803.
^ An Eton publication, which first appeared about iy?,f>. Canning,
Frere, and ' Bobus ' Smith were among the chief contributors.
14 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1792
agrements, etc., and concluded by saying, ' I see by your
admiration and love for her you are worthy to possess
her.' This said before ten people was too painful to
bear. Had I been very accessible to vanity on the
score of person, I could not have resisted the flattery
I everywhere met with : dinners, fetes, etc., given to
me ; invitations sent to people on purpose to meet ' La
charmante Miladi ' ; my dress copied, my manner
studied.
The 2nd of August, 1792. — Very pleasant supper at
the French Minister's, Baron de Montesquieu. The
Duke of Brunswick's Manifesto filled everybody with
astonishment and alarm for the lives and liberties of the
Royal family.^ This rash and violent diatribe against
the Parisians was a precursor of an invasion of France.
Seventeen thousand of the Provincial troops were to
be assembled on ye 14th July at Paris, and it was said
that if the Prussians, etc., advanced into the country,
that the King would be conveyed to Blois ; then troops are
supposed to be already destined to that service, and the
Parisians are already jealous of them.
In England, the Association of the Friends of the
People alarm the steady, and the example of France
terrifies even the moderate innovators. ^ The Association
' The Duke of Brunswick's Manifesto, issued on July 25 in the
joint names of tlie Emperor and King of Prussia, was very unlikely,
under the circumstances of the case, to assist the French Royal
Family. Paris was ordered to submit to the King, under penalty
of instant attack, and all popular leaders were to suffer for their
misdeeds with their lives.
" The Association was formed largely to promote Parliamentary
Reform, a subject which was brought forward by Grey in that session
of Parliament. It was originated at a dinner at the house of Lord
Porchester, who refused to join as it was not sufficiently Republican.
A few months later he termed it a seditious movement, and was raised
to an earldom. Lord Holland relates that Mr. Fox said upon this
that Lord Porchester was right in saying that the Association was not
as Republican as he wished, otherwise he would probably have got a
marquisate.
1792] THE FRIENDS OF THE PEOPLE 15
was formed without the participation of Mr. Fox ; ' he
never was consulted about it. On the contrary the
Association seemed determined against all advice, but
most particularly against his. Thinking people appre-
hend more from the superabundant loyalty of the country
than from its Democracy. There are to be Addresses
from all parts of the Kingdom, thanking the King for
his Proclamation and professing attachment to his
Person and Governt. Extremes are dangerous.
Left Dresden in September ; went by Prague to
Vienna. I was much pleased with my residence there ;
I was feted enough to gratify the most unbounded
vanity. I went to Court ; a separate private intro-
duction to the Emperor and Empress. Sir Robert Keith
was the English Minister. The Countess Thuron was
the lady who went about with me. Made an excursion
to Presburg, the capital of Hungary. Ld. Henrj' was there.
We parted on September the 25th or 26th, not later.
From Vienna we went to Venice by the road of
Gratz, thro' Styria and Carinthia. On our arrival at
Venice Mr. Ellis was dangerously ill of a putrid fever.
He recovered by the care of a Jew doctor. We stayed
a short time after his recovery ; went by way of Mantua
to Parma. From thence to Bologna and Florence.
Mr. Ellis left us at Florence to return to England. We
went on by the road of Radicofani to Rome (where we
staid only two nights), then to Naples, which we reached
about the 2nd week in October.
' Mr. Thomas Pelham, in a letter to Lady Webster, dated June
15, 1792 {Holland House MSS.), recounts a conversation he had with
Mr. Fox about the Association : — ' He told me (what I knew to be the
truth, notwithstanding what is now said) that he had never been
consulted about it, and that, on the contrary, the Associators seemed
determined not to have any advice, and particularly not to have his.
This I know to be true, for Lauderdale told me that they were deter-
mined not to consult Fox until they saw the probability of success,
in order that he might not be involved if they failed.'
i6 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
As soon as I was a little rested after my journey I
began to see the wonderful environs, both of natural and
artificial curiosities. The English society was composed
of many of my friends ; the Palmerstons/ Miss Carter,
Sr. Charles Blagden, Dss. of Ancaster, Ly. Plymouth
with whom I became intimate. Soon came the Bess-
boroughs (the old Father died), Ly. Spencer, Dss. of
Devonshire, Ly. E. Foster, Mr. Pelham. In January the
French fleet came and menaced Naples with a bom-
bardment.^ They were moored in front of my house
on the Chiaia. I was brought to bed of my son Henry,
on ye loth Feb., 1793. I made my grossesse a pretext
for staying at home in the evening. I went out every
morning to see the objects most worthy of notice, and
the evening I always passed with friends who came to
see me. Drew, Mr. Pelham, and Italinski,^ a Russian who
grew much attached to my society.
March 22nd. — We set off for Paestum. Our party
consisted of the Palmerstons, Miss Carter, a Mr. Poor
(a very eccentric man), and Mr. Pelham. About two
miles from Pompeia the country begins to be pretty,
and we got more amongst the Apennines. The road is
excellent, it being made by ye King to go to a chasse of
his at Eboli. La Cava and Vietri are charmingly situated
in their different styles ; the first has all the beauties of
social life, small neat cottages interspersed amongst
vineyards, olives, and myrtles, upon the side of a hill
inclining towards a small torrent. The whiteness of the
' Henry, second Viscount Palmerston (i 739-1 802), who succeeded
his grandfather in 1757. He was twice married, his second wife,
whom he married in 1783, being Mary, daughter of Benjamin Mee, Esq.
She died 1805. The celebrated statesman was her son.
'^ Under La Touche Treville. Tlieir unwelcome presence was due
to the recent dismissal of the French Minister, Mackau. The Court
were ignominiously compelled to allow him to return.
^ Russian Secretary of Legation at Naples, and afterwards
Minister there. He was Minister at Constantinople for some years.
1793] ROAD TO PAESTUM 17
houses contrasted with the verdure of spring vegetation
in the foreground, and the boldness of the scraggy rocks
behind make a lovely picture and fill the mind with
pleasing sensations at the sight of comfort and tran-
quillity, a lot that rarely befalls the peasantry of France
and England, There is an aqueduct traditionally called
Abelard's bridge ; why, the learned must determine, for
I never knew that victim to love left his native France.
Vietri is situated upon a rock above the sea, into which
it abruptly ends ; it commands a noble view of the bay
of Salerno. With a glass from hence one may discern the
temples of Paestum on the opposite coast. Salerno is
a pretty little town upon the edge of the sea ; the detail
of the country is charming. On the right side of the
bay is Amalfi, remarkable for being the spot where
the Justinian Code was discovered. The Cathedral at
Salerno is curious ; in it are many sarcophagi brought
by Robert Guiscard from Paestum, and various columns
of fine marble and granite, which are placed to form a
corridor in the court of the Cathedral, but being of
different sizes the whole has an awkward appearance.
From Salerno ye country is less interesting ; except-
ing a few Baronial castles perched upon the tops
of scraggy, isolated rocks there is little worthy of
notice.
At Eboh we were obhged to change our carriages
for smaller ones on account of the roads, which to
Paestum were called abominable. We crossed ye Sele
in a ferry ; it is a torrent frequently impassable. Here
the wretched inhabitants by their emaciated and squalid
looks indicated the beginning of the malaria. Their
habitations were such that one could easier imagine
oneself in Siberia than in delightful Italy ! Dehcious
country ! as their homes, if they deserve such an epithet,
were an exact counterpart of a Tartar hut. Circular
VOL. I. c
i8 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
mud walls raised about three feet from the ground,
thatched with reeds forming a conical summit ; the only
aperture a door, which answered ye double purpose of
admitting the wretched owners and letting out the
smoke, which was very abundant from a fire lighted in
the centre of the hut. But even in this disconsolate
dwelling there was an attempt to drive away the melan-
choly which disease and penury must naturally inspire,
for on one of the poles which supported the roof and
came across the interior of the dwelling there hung a
guitar. I persuaded one of the peasants to strike it :
I immediately perceived an illumination of joy upon
the haggard countenances of his auditors. Happy
instrument ! to suspend for a moment the sensation of
misery, and banish by its tones the anguish of want from
the breasts of the forlorn inmates. As we approached
Paestum the dreariness of the country quite oppressive ;
plains filled with buffaloes, the most hideous of animals,
stagnant ditches, and stinted myrtles, were all the objects
that met the eye.
Paestum itself is situated in a plain about a mile
from the sea, dedicated to Neptune and built by ye
Phoenicians about 250 years after the foundation of
Rome ; 500 years before Christ. Near the amphitheatre
(which is much ruined) is the remains of a building with
fluted columns nearly as large as those of the temples,
more upright marks still existing of their bases ; the
capitals much worked in extraordinary designs. Parts
of the frieze lying about ; figures of men from 24 to 30
inches high worked on the frieze between the triglyphs.
The stone of this building is more of the colour of grey
limestone, and appears less porous than that of which
the temples are built, that is a stone formed by incrusta-
tion of water. Paestum formerly was famous for roses,
the sweetness of which is celebrated by several of the
1793] PAESTUM
19
Latin poets ; now alas ! brambles and malaria have
extinguished the fragrance of ye rose.
Our accommodation was but indifferent : I slept
upon a table, the repelling points of which rather annoyed
my limbs and would have convinced Boscovitch/ had
he been in my place, of the existence of hard matter.
However, I tried to sleep, tho' its ancient inhabitants,
ye Sybarites, would not have rested, if the story is true
that one of them complained that a curled rose leaf
destroyed their rest. The first view I had of ye temples
was in ye dusk of ye evening ; their appearance was
majestic, but precisely what I had conceived them to
be from the drawings I had seen. They are the only
remains in Italy of early Grecian architecture. The
Doric, to my taste, is too uneven. The columns are
squat and clumsy. The inhabitants are savage and
ignorant.
Fix'd like a plant on his peculiar spot,
To draw nutrition, propagate, and rot,
seems exactly their state. The cicerone assured us that
in one of the temples there was a prodigious treasure
inaccessible to men, as the Devil kept guard over it.
We saw the temples again in the morning, and then
proceeded to Salerno, where we slept. I walked upon
the terrace before my window and enjoyed the beauty
of the night ; the moon shone bright, which added to
the lulling sound of the waves filled me with every
pleasing and melancholy recollection. Tho' separated
by land and sea from some objects too dearly cherished,
yet I was tranquil. Prudence satisfied me that all was
for the best. I could not help casting an anxious thought
towards my dear father stretched upon a bed of sickness.
' Roger Joseph Boscovitch (1711-1787), mathematician and
astronomer.
20 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
perhaps to rise no more, but the reflection of never
having done anything that could disturb his peace, or
render his last moments painful from my misconduct,
was a relief that God grant my children may feel when
they think of me in a similar situation.
Delicious as Salerno is, yet like all the goods of this
life it is counterbalanced by a portion of evil, as half
the year it is untenable on account of the malaria. We
dined in the Temple of Isis at Pompeia, on which day
I completed my 22nd year ; so old and yet so silly.
On ye ist of April, 1793, we set off for Beneventum,
Lady Plymouth,^ Itahnski, Mr. Pelham, and Mr. Swin-
burne. Aversa is the first town of any consequence.
The polichinello of the Neapolitan stage, which resembles
the harlequin of the Italian, derives its origin from this
town, and the dialect of this place belongs to him, as the
Bergamesque does to the harlequin — which harlequin
is, bye the bye, a burlesque on Charles Quint. Arienzo
is the next town, only remarkable for the strange costume
of the women, their dress being only two aprons tied
behind and before, which leaves a considerable aperture
on each side equally unpleasant and indecent. The
country is a dead flat to within three miles of Arpaia.
Between Arienzo and Arpaia is the valley which is
supposed to have been the scene of the disgrace of the
Romans, when they were compelled by the Samnites
to pass under ye yoke. The weather towards evening
grew bad, and we could not get out and examine the
defiles with the attention and accuracy Italinski required.
The Marchese Pacca, to whom we were recommended,
received us with that hearty kind of hospitality, which
unfortunately for the good fellowship of society is totally
' Sarah, daughter of Andrew, Lord Archer. She married Other
Hickman, fifth Earl of Plymouth, in 1778, and after his death in 1799^
William Pitt, first Earl Amherst. She died in 1838.
1793] AN ITALIAN MENAGE 21
banished from our would he refined country. His time,
himself, and all he possessed, were at our disposal. The
interior of an Italian menage I only knew from buffa
opera ; it is worth seeing. Himself, his old palace, his
antiquated volantes, his equipages, his stubborn mules,
all were sights. The old Marchesa was also delightful,
not to the eye, for she was hideous, nor to the ear, for
she squalled, nor to the nose, for she was an Italian ;
yet, from her unbounded desire of pleasing, the tout
ensemble created more agreeable sensations than many
more accomplished could have inspired, as there is
something infinitely gratifying to our predominant
sentiment of self-love to see another solicitous to please,
even tho' the attempt should prove unsuccessful. Fruit-
less as it was, the goodwill supphed the failure.
In consequence of the birth of a son to the Empress
there was a brilliant appartamente at the Queen's.^
I went with joy.
ist May. — The whole proceeding was conducted
with the utmost magnificence.
The post of ye 2nd brought the melancholy news of
the death of one of my warmest friends, poor Ly. Shef-
field ! She loved me most tenderly, nor did the great
disparity of years prevent me from returning with cor-
diality her affection.
On ye fourth of May I went to see the celebrated
miracle of the liquefaction of the blood of St. Januarius.^
' Marie Caroline (1753-1814), daughter of Empress Marie Thert-se
of Austria, and sister of Queen Marie Antoinette. She married
Ferdinand IV., King of Naples, in 1768. One of her sixteen children
was married to her nephew, Francis, who had succeeded his father,
Leopold, as Emperor during the preceding year. He proclaimed
himself Emperor of Austria in 1804 under the title of Francis I., and
resigned the Empire of Germany altogether, two years later.
- One of the patron saints of Naples, more especially of the
Lazzaroni. The yearly liquefaction of the Saint's blood was said to
propitiate Vesuvius. Mr. Sichel, in his Emma, Lady Hamilton, states
22 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
The Due de Sangro, in whose house we saw the miracle,
gave us afterward a ball. The composition of the
material puzzles the chemists. The miracle, such as
it is, requires the vigour and warmth of a young hand to
reduce it from its concrete state to fluidity.
Sunday, ^th May. — Prince Esterhazy, the Imperial
Ambassador, gave a splendid fete in honour of the young
Archduke. The King, Queen, and Prince Royal were
present : the Queen came and sat by me the greater part
of the evening. She is lively and entertaining in con-
versation. It was whispered about the room that the
atrocious Marseillais were marching upon Paris to destroy
the Queen.
6th May. — Rode out as usual ; a very pretty retired
ride towards the Camaldoli.
yth. — Infamously bad weather, which made us delay
our project of passing the day at Baia. We therefore
confined ourselves within hail (?) of land, and dined at
Pollio's villa upon Posilippo. We rowed by the side
of the charming Colline. The whole detail of the country
is delightful ; the bright green of the vine contrasted
with the brilliant yellow of the tufa produces the most
pleasing effect. Pollio's villa is on the East side of the
Colline, from whence it commanded a fine view of the
chain of Apennines with the high point of St. Angelo
lowering above, the towns of Pompeia, Stabia, the pro-
montory of Minerva, and the whole of the bay including
an oblique view of Capri. We attempted to row round
Nisida, but a threatening storm prevented us. We
rowed to the Porto Pavone, a lovely little harbour formed
like a peacock's tail, which figure gave rise to the name.
We dined at Pollio's villa during a violent thunderstorm.
I conquered my fears and behaved with great intrepidity.
that the Saint was accused of Jacobinism at the outbreak of the French
Revolution, and that his statue was condemned in court.
1793] BAIA 23
The next day we embarked at Pozzuoli for Baia.
At Pozzuoli, a tolerable statue of Tiberius, orna-
mented with bas-reliefs representing 14 cities destroyed
by an earthquake and restored by him ; monster
as he was he could sometimes be betrayed into a good
action. We passed Mons Gaurus, on which grew the
Falernian wine so much praised by Horace, who either
did not know what good wine was or the quality of the
grape has changed, as the wine it now yields has no claim
to encomium. The next summit is Monte Nuovo, raised
by a terrible earthquake and eruption out of the Lucrine
Lake within the space of 24 hours ; its elevation de-
stroyed a small town situated on its banks. The crater
of Monte Nuovo gives one a very good notion of a vol-
cano : the hill composed of light volcanic ashes which
will soon become compact enough to be called tufa.
We passed by Nero's baths and villa.
On landing at Baia, the first object is the Temple of
Venus, an octagon building ; above it is a circular building
dedicated to Mercury and another to Diana, of which
only half remains, like the section of a building in archi-
tectural drawing. In the centre it had a cupola not unlike
the form of the Pantheon. The present castle of Baia is
upon the spot where Julius Caesar had a villa. Every
atom of this once favoured spot was either highly decorated
with fine gardens, fountains, porches, and terraces, or
adorned with luxurious villas. Marius was reproached in
the Senate for living in a spot so much the seat of pleasure.
Sylla, Cicero, Lucullus, Pompey, Caesar, Hortensius, all
had villas. The baths of Nero are between Baia and the
Lucrine Lakes ; the heat of the water is so great that
an egg is boiled in two minutes. The sand under the
sea is so heated that one could not with convenience
hold it for any time. This all proves the vicinity of
that powerful agent so destructive to this beautiful
24 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
country : hourly may one expect some dreadful explosion
that may perhaps lay the very spot I am now on many
hundreds of feet below its present level, or raise it to
the height of Vesuvius. The sea was rough, and the
periodical storm came on an hour later than the pre-
ceding day. It is singular the degree of accuracy with
which the people foretell the approach of bad weather,
and even the duration of it. We returned by land.
We passed the ruins of Cicero's academic villa. How
grand it must have been in its days of splendour. Atticus
procured from Greece the pictures and statues ; that
they must have been excellent one cannot doubt, both
from his fine taste and the facility with which he could
obtain the finest subjects.
We went next day from Pozzuoli to Misenum : Lady
Spencer declined going from a reason which I did not
know till afterwards, or it doubtless would have operated
in retaining me, viz., the length of the sea excursion, and
the probability of a storm. The sea was very rough,
and I, of course, was very nervous. We passed through
pieces of what are called Caligula's Bridge, but more
likely to have been a mole beyond which he carried a
bridge of boats over which he rode to fulfil a prophecy,
which was, " That it was as unlikely that he should come
to the Empire, as that he should ride across the Bay
of Baia on horseback.'
We landed at Bacoli, a place which receives its
name from the oxen brought by Hercules from Geryon,
King of Spain. Bacoli in Greek (if I spell it right)
signifies ox stall. Remains are shewn of a tomb of
Agrippina, Nero's mother, but antiquaries say it has a
stronger resemblance to a theatre than to a sepulchre.
We wandered amidst the Elysian fields, but saw no
blessed souls. All my gloomy cogitations at the prospect
of futurity, brought to my mind by the fiction of poets.
1793] PLINY'S DEATH 25
vanished at the sight of present danger, and the lowering
black clouds menaced a fierce storm. Nor was the
threat in vain, for shortly it was followed by the severest
thunder, lightning, rain, and hail I had ever witnessed.
We crossed the Stygian Lake in the height of it, and
Charon might have expected some passengers for his
infernal wherry. We landed and dined upon the ruins
of Misenum close to the port. It was from this spot
Pliny the elder beheld the burst of smoke from the
mountain, and even felt the cinders. What a magnificent
but dreadful sight it must have been. Unfortunately
curiosity impelled him to approach the yawning volcano ;
he endeavoured to land at Herculaneum, but was pre-
vented by the smoke and ashes, he tried Pompeia, and
from thence went to his friend Pomponius at Stabia,
near which he was overwhelmed and suffocated by the
cinders. Near Misenum Tiberius breathed out his
gloomy soul.
The next day we made an excursion into the country
on horseback to see the Convent of the Camaldoli.
Unfortunately the late hours of Devonshire House are
transferred to the Chiaia, so we did not begin our ex-
pedition till six o'clock ; when just as we arrived at the
Convent the last fiery rays sank behind the promontory
of Circe. What a view lay stretched at our feet ! Objects
that would rouse torpor itself, and call forth the energy of
the poet, philosopher, painter, historian. The Campania
Felix backed by the bold ridge of Apennines, with the
Lake of Patria, Linternum, etc., the distant islands of
Ponza and Ventotene, the nearer ones of Ischia and
Procida, Baia, Misenum, Capri, and Cape Minerva.
I cannot enumerate all the grand and pleasing objects.
We exhausted the patience of two planets ; the sun
first shunned us, and then palefaced Cynthia left us,
before we got home.
26 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
I never in my life experienced the degree of happi-
ness enjoyed : it was the gratification of mind and sense.
The weather was dehcious, truly Italian, the night serene,
with just enough air to waft the fragrance of the orange
flower, then in blossom. Through the leaves of the trees
we caught glimpses of the trembling moonbeams on the
glassy surface of the bay ; all objects conspired to soothe
my mind and the sensations I felt were those of ecstatic
rapture. I was so happy that when I reached my bed-
room, I dismissed my maid, and sat up the whole night
looking from my window upon the sea.
This frolick was unusually absurd, as I was to go
early with ye D. of Devonshire, etc. to dine at Belvedere ^
with the King. I was ready at seven, but ill and faint, and
obliged to eat diavoloni to keep alive. We arrived too
late : the King waited an hour. The King was very
pleasant and conversable ; he shewed us the whole
manufactory, the mechanical part I did not much com-
prehend. He was so gallant to me that they joked and
said I should be sent to Calabria, the common way the
Queen takes to remove her rivals, tho' she allows him
to people his own colony of manufacturers. Before we
quitted him he insisted on our promising to dine at
Carditello, and the Sunday after at St. Leucio to see
the wedding. From the Belvedere we went to the
English garden, which is very beautiful from being in
many respects unlike one. There is one of the prettiest
thoughts for an ornament I ever saw ; a large building
representing ancient baths, supposed to have been dug
out from a stratum of tufa which covered them. It is
done with the best taste and judgment possible, and is
as complete a thing as can be. I returned home at
night more dead than alive from fatigue.
' The King's hunting box, near Caserta.
1793] VESUVIUS 27
The next day after, we went to the mountain. I
invited poor Itahnski. I would not go higher than the
Cross, that is, I would go no further than my mule could
carry me ; the others went to the running lava. We
all wrote our names at the Hermitage, a retreat inhabited
by a man clothed in a holy garb,^ but whom report says
is not sanctified in his deeds ; many rendezvous are
kept in his neat, trim cell, and but for his paying he
would be expelled from his nominal solitude.
Saturday was the last morning I passed in Naples.
I quitted those scenes of tranquil pleasure and harmless
gratification with unfeigned regret. But ah me ! what
can please or cheer one who has no hope of happiness
in life. Solitude and amusement from external objects
is all I hope for : home is the abyss of misery ! I am
but as a zero in society, attached to none, belonging to
none I esteem. We passed the evening at Caserta with
the Hamiltons ; their house was not large enough to
hold us all, and I lodged in Hackhert's ' house. Mullady
sang Nina, Paisiello's music ; her vile discordant
screaming took off the whole effect of his simple melody.
On Sunday morning we went to the Belvedere to see
the ceremony of the St. Leucio marriages ; ^ as I went
with the Duchess I was, of course, too late. They were
' Alexandre Sauveur, who in a letter to Wilhelmine, Comtesse de
Lichtenau (1796), says that he retired from the world owing to his
unspoken love for Princess F . (He was engaged in Berhn to instruct
the latter in the Italian language.)
- Probably Jacob Philipp Hackert (1737-1807), a Prussian land-
scape painter, who with his brother entered the service of the King of
Naples in 1782.
^ Among Marie Caroline's favourite schemes for the social and
mental improvement of her people was the foundation of an ideal
colony of San Leucio, near Caserta. The inhabitants were sub-
jected to a most rigid code of laws and regulations for religious
and domestic observance. A copy of these ordinances, given to Lady
Hamilton on this very occasion by the King, with the names of the
party present in her own handwriting, is now in the British Museum
(Sichel's Emma, Lady Hamilton).
28 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
over. The King as soon as he heard of our arrival came
and met us upon the perron, and conducted us upstairs,
where we found the Queen : her coming was an un-
expected condescension on her part. The sight of the
manufacturers enjoying the Festival was very pretty
and gratifying. A thousand people were enjoying them-
selves among their families in their gala clothes, dining
under the prettiest rustic arcades ornamented in the
best possible taste : this number all fed, even existing,
by the bounty of the King, and each pouring out the
sincerest benediction upon him for his bounty. I wished
this picture of happiness of his own creation might excite
the disposition to extend the blessings of ease and
security by encouraging industry in Calabria and other
parts of his dominions, where the wretched peasant is
ferocious from ignorance and sloth. He conversed with
them with familiarity, and enquired into their family
details, all of which he seemed perfectly acquainted
with ; scandal says their establishment answers the
double purpose of seraglio and nursery. The Queen
was, as she always is, very conversable and clever, but
appears to have a most impetuous temper. We dined
at 12, a very good dinner, all off his own farm ; the wines
were from his vineyard. The evening was not tedious,
tho' long ; she brought all her children to us and shewed
off their talents. At night the Court was illuminated,
and the happy colonists danced tarantulas. We stayed
till the Queen withdrew about 10 o'clock. She was
very flattering in her compliments to me, and shook
my hand with cordiality ; her reason for liking me that
I had been at Vienna and knew many of her old friends.
The next day we dined at Carditello with the King ; it
is a small hunting palace in the centre of his farm. The
dinner was served upon a table of Merlin's construction.
No servants attend, but by pulhng a bell your plate is
1793] A ROYAL FARM 29
pulled down and a clean one sent up ; so with the dishes,
and all you ask for. In short, it is exactly like a trap-
door at a theatre. He showed us all his cows, hogs,
and pigs, and his breed of stallions. He occasionally
favours ladies with a sight of a strange operation to be
performed upon them before women ; but this we escaped.
His carriages conveyed us to Capua, where we found
our own. The Devonshires went on to Rome. Some
arrangements required my return to Naples ; Lady
Plymouth drove me in her phaeton home.
The evening previous to my quitting Naples,
22nd May, I walked in the Villa Reale after supper with
Ly. Plymouth, Ld. Berwick,^ and Italinski, The latter
was much dejected at my approaching absence, and
I really was affected by his sorrow, as he is not a man
to say lightly things he does not feel. He said when
I went he should imitate Mark Antony, who after his
defeat retired to Alexandria and wrote Timoleon [sic]
over his door, thereby declaring he was become a misan-
thrope. I was sorry at leaving Ly. P., because, tho'
I am not very prudent, I think she is less so, and I might
have kept her out of the scrape she is on the brink of
falling into, for Ld. Berwick remains the whole summer.
Lord Palmerston, comically enough, calls them ' Cymon
and Iphigenia,' for till their attachment began Ld. B.
was never heard to speak : love roused him.
On the 23rd the Websters left Naples for Capua, ' the
antidote to all pleasure at present from its filth and dulness,'
and continuing their journey crossed the River Garigliano.
The gayest scenes until Mola di Gaeta, the verdure,
the festoons of vines hanging between the trees, with the
glow of a crimson sun sinking into the Mediterranean.
' Thomas Noel, second Lord Berwick, of Attingham (1770-1832).
He married, in 18 12, Sophia, daughter of John James Dubochet.
30 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
Upon my arrival at Mola I dined, and in the even-
ing was tempted by the beauty of the moon' to row
upon the sea within the bay for a short time. Early in
the morning, by seven, I was again in the boat, and
examined the extensive remains of Cicero's Formian
Villa. The bath is the principal object ; it is beautiful.
It is in a covered recess dans le fond d'un beau salon, with
columns on each side : adjoining to it there are many
rooms, high and narrow, and very like those at Pompeia.
The fishponds are large.
I did not go to Gaeta, distant about three miles :
I regretted the impracticability of the disposition of him
who invariably checks all I wish to do. There are still
preserved unburied the bones of the Connetable de
Bourbon, his adherents not venturing to inter in con-
secrated ground one who had perished in a sacrilegious
act. He was killed in 1527, in the assault of Rome.
Benvenuto Cellini in his entertaining Life of Himself
assumes the honour of marking him with his scoppietto
and killing him, but this glory rests upon his own asser-
tion. There are few characters in history more deserving
of compassion and indulgence than this high-spirited
and unfortunate Constable. The caresses and revenge
of Louisa de Savoie offended and urged him to be a
traitor ; the one he rejected (?), the other he resisted.
Thus he became her victim beyond her wishes, for by
deserting his country and adding infamy to his name,
he deprived her of her hopes of making him yield to her
desires.
At the extremity of Mola, in a vineyard, they show
a circular tower, which is called the tomb of Cicero.
Beyond it are many sepulchral monuments on each side
of the road, which is made on the Appian Way. The
ancients always placed their tombs on the highway,
whence the common inscription ' Siste viator.'
1793] JOURNEY TO ROME 31
Fondi and Terracina were the next places of interest on
the road.
The Turks under Barbarossa made a descent on
Fondi. The prize they coveted was the haughty beauty
Juha di Gonzaga, wife of the Count of Fondi. She
escaped their designs by hiding amongst the rocks ; in
revenge they pillaged and burnt the town, in 1534.
From Fondi we soon reached Terracina, the ancient
Anxur. The situation is remarkably gay and pleasing.
The town is close upon the sea ; just above it rises an
abrupt rock on which are the ruins of a Gothic palace
forming a very picturesque view. The islands appear
very close. Ponza is the largest and most celebrated.
Stopped at Gensano to make Mrs. Hippisley ' and
her sister, Mde. Ciciaporcia, a visit. The road from
Gensano to I'Aricia is most beautiful, through thick
woods of chestnut trees, rich in foliage, and fine ilexes of
an immense bulk. The freshness and luxuriance of the
spring in Italy is far beyond anything we can have a
notion of in England.
Just at the Villa Barberini we met Jenkins,- who
came to meet me to beg I would dine with the Devon-
shires, etc., at his villa at Castel Gondolfo. The Villa
Barberini stands upon the site of Domitian's villa, the
remains of which are very great. Porticoes extending
above a mile, and substructions of three different rows
serving as a terrace to those above. The Lago di Albano
' Margaret, daughter of Sir John Stuart, Bart., of Allonbank,
Berwickshire, and first wife of John Coxe Hippisley, whom she married
in Rome in 1780. She died in 1799. Mr. Hippisley resided in Italy
from 1792 to 1796, and was engaged in negotiations between the
Vatican and the English Government. He was made a Baronet in
1796, for his services in connection with the marriage of the Duke of
Wiirtemberg with the Princess Royal of England. He died in 1825.
- Thomas Jenkins, the principal Enghsh banker in Rome at this
time. He died in 1798,
32 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
is excessively pretty : it is formed very evidently in the
crater of a sunken volcano. Ly, Duncannon ill, and
obliged to stay at Jenkins'. Got to Rome rather
late. Very good lodgings at the English tailor's in the
Piazza di Spagna. Mr. Hippisley came as soon as I
arrived, and we walked about the streets. I became
impatient for daylight, and was so full of curiosity that
I got no sleep the whole night. I could only think of
the moonlight peeps I had enjoyed of the Coliseum,
so stately, so awfully majestic.
On Sunday morning, 26th of May, I arose with
alacrity, and under the ciceroneship of old Morrison
began my course of virtu. The first place was the Colonna
Palace. . . . Raphael, ' Holy Trinity,' for a church at
Perugia, mentioned in his life. Its pendant, the Caspar
Poussin, is preferable to it in every respect. P. Veronese,
' Venus and Cupid,' in his very best manner. . . . Salvator
Rosa, ' St. John in the Wilderness.' The idea is taken
from Raffaelle's at Florence : the face is very ugly and
mean, the whole figure mean. Naked figures ought to
elevate the subject and give an idea of sublimity beyond
any drapery. This St. John looks like a man stripped of
his clothes.
We dined with the Palmerstons. In the evening
Morrison took us to the top of the Capitol that we might
have an idea of the topography of the city and adjacent
country. The view from thence is very grand.
May 28th. — Went to see some drawings in the posses-
sion of a Mr. Greaves, a person who accompanied Messrs.
Berners and Tilson in their expedition into Greece, Asia
Minor, and Egypt. The drawings are most accurately
executed, and are assured to be faithful portraits. It
was the opinion of those gentlemen after minute examina-
tion that the Pyramids are works of art, and not huge
masses of rock polished and shaped into their present
1793] VILLA BORGHESE 33
form. They met a young man of the name of Browne/
who flatters himself that he has discovered the long-
sought for Temple of Jupiter Ammon, situated in an
oasis in the dusts of Libya. He describes it as an oblong
building like the cell of a temple, ornamented inside
with bas-reliefs of ram's horns and the other attributes
of that Divinity. The remains inspire no idea either of
richness or badness. Cambyses was the last who
attempted to explore the sandy deserts in search of this
splendid shrine ; he and his army perished in the enter-
prise. Mr. Browne is now at Alexandria learning Arabic.
Mr. Hippisley dined with us and brought Count della
Walsh, an earl made by James IIL, the Palmerstons, etc.
The same dreadful derangement. I shall soon become
mad myself if I much longer witness his paroxysms. All
human miseries must have a termination ; this con-
soles, tho' at 22, it is a melancholy consolation. I am
almost choked, suffocated by my sorrow, I have
sobbed myself sick, I must to bed.
The Villa Borghese is a most delicious spot just out of
the city gates. The gardens are crowded with buildings.
The saloon is about the size of that at Blenheim, fitted
up recently in excellent taste, excepting that gold tissue
curtains are put in the niches behind the statues. In
this Hall is the famous bas-relief of the Dancing Hours.
The Borghese vase is here ; the form is beautiful, but the
sculpture is but moderate. The Gladiator is the finest
statue in Rome : his exertion is well contrasted to the
grace and composure of a pensive Muse, who is placed
near him. ... It would be impossible to enumerate half
' William George Browne (1768-18 13), who published his descrip-
tion of these journeys in 1800. He was murdered, in 1813, in Persia
while on his way to Teheran. Whishaw was approached in 18 17 on
the question of editing his papers, but the pubUcation did not take
place.
VOL. I. D
34 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
or even a tenth part of the different objects of my
admiration.
The Devonshires are arrived, Ly, Bessborough ill,
very ill. I met there Santa Croce ; ^ she is a singular
woman of her age, as she even possesses still some remains
of beauty. She has contrived to attach to her, without
any share of cleverness, many distinguished men, Florida
Blanca, Bernis, Azara, etc. She was instrumental in
assisting the Pope to become pontiff. She speaks
abominable French, and to this day calls Bernis ' Ma
chere Cardinal.'
The Vatican. — First court built by Bramante, reviver
of architecture in Italy ; the appearance too light. The
museum is too extensive to detail, and one is so over-
powered by the beauties of perfection that there is no
leisure for accurate observation, especially the first six
times of going. The Laocoon is terribly fine. Some have
objected that he appears more occupied by his own
sufferings than in those of his children, but the only
expression is that of a man writhing in the last agonies
of a painful death. It is one of the finest specimens of
the Greek school whilst at its best, supposed about
Alexander's time. His pursuits in the East left Greece
in peace, and the arts flourished. The Apollo deserves
its reputation. It was found at Hadrian's villa at
Antium. The Nile with 16 boys, very fine. Paris, with
a Phrygian bonnet on, reckoned very Hke me. There is in
the gallery at Florence a bust of Livia which is reckoned
to bear a most striking resemblance to me.^ . . .
I dined with the Senator, upon the Capitol, in his
palace. He is a Rezzonico, nephew to the late Pope.
' The Princess Santa Croce was one of the most celebrated of the
Roman ladies of her day. Her intrigue with Cardinal Bernis does
not seem to have attracted any attention, though well known to all.
- There is certainly a decided hkeness in both these cases to Lady
Webster's picture, painted by Fagan in 1793.
1793] CARDINAL BERNIS 35
Papal nepotism is suspicious. He possesses a fine portrait
of the late Pope,^ done by Mengs ; it will bear comparison
with many of the old pictures. The gold-flowered
curtain which forms the background is a tour-de-force
to show his skill in making a bad thing not spoil a good
one, but it offends the eye, and like most difficult things
surprizes without pleasing. I went often to see old
Bernis,^ a veteran in the school of poHtical intrigue and
love. He is a phenomenon, for age has not impaired
his faculties or misfortune subdued his liveliness. He
lodges the Mesdames, aunts of the unfortunate Louis XVL
Madame Victoire ^ is so strikingly like him that it makes
one start, and a paralytic affection, keeping her head
perpetually moving, fills me with painful sensations.
I declined going into any society, that my time might
not be too much taken up, but I went occasionally to
the Santa Croce's. Prince Augustus, a pleasing young
man, very like the Prince of Wales. Lady Augusta
Murray had just ensnared him : she is reported to be
with child.* The Royalists have got Nantes, it is said.
My evening walks were delicious, wandering over the
scenes of classical events.
Vatican. — Went to see the pictures. Loggia di
Raphaello. History of Old and New Testament, executed
' Clement XIII.
- Francois Joachim de Pierre de Bernis (1715-94), poet and states-
man. Taken up by Madame de Pompadour in Paris, he was made
Foreign Secretary by her influence. He only held the post for one
year (1757-8), and on his retirement became a Cardinal. He was
French Ambassador in Rome for many years, and was deprived of
that post for his refusal to take the oath of allegiance to the Revolu-
tionary Government. He spent the remainder of his days there.
^ Daughter of Louis XV. She was born in 1733, and leaving
France early in 1791, remained abroad until her death at Trieste in
1799.
* The Duke of Sussex and Lady Augusta Murray were married in
Rome by a Protestant Minister in April 1793 ; and again at St. George's,
Hanover Square, in December.
36 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
by his scholars from his designs. ' Lot's wife turned
into a pillar of salt, finely conceived : her whole figure
is a dead white,' which sufficiently tells the story, A
Dutch painter would have made her a pillar of salt.
The Stanze were occupied after the assault of Rome by
Bourbon's soldiers, and they treated the walls as they
would have treated those of the commonest barracks.
On them may now be seen holes in which they placed
hooks to suspend their kettles, and the trace of smoke
is even visible. In the garden of the Vatican the Pope
takes the only exercise he can with decency ; he rides
early in the morning on a little ambling mule. The extent
of the building is prodigious ; I have heard the number
of rooms called 7000, if not more.
Borghese Palace. — The best collection of Old Masters
in Rome. ' Virgin in the clouds ' : the best Tintoret in
Rome. Leonardo da Vinci, known generally by his
swarthy hue, sharp chins, high cheek bones, and drawn-up
mouths. ' Adoration of the Shepherds,' James Bassano,
good picture ; he understood both perspective and
colouring. Titian sent his son to study under him ;
his green drapery remarkably fine. There is always
something homely and disgusting in his compositions.
A ' Last Supper ' by him offends from unpardonable ana-
chronisms, as it generally consists of pickled herrings or
Dutch cheese. . . . Titian, ' Holy Family ' : fine, sober
hght. Modern artists are too fond of contrasting their
lights. The light of the sun being yellow, all objects
illuminated by it ought to partake of its hue. A fine
And7xa del Saiio, a very favourite painter of mine ; his
outline is so soft and his expression exquisite. . . . The
good pictures are so numerous that it vv^ould require
pages to enumerate them all.
The Doria Palace, very fine mansion, and very full
of fine pictures.
1793] ROMAN COLLECTIONS 37
4th June, 1793. — Villa Ludovici, on the Pincian
Hill. The collection consists chiefly of marbles. . . .
Mars reposing, I admired extremely, though it is not
in the purest manner. The figure represents the action
(if it is not an Irishism) so well of being per-
fectly at rest. A group called Papyrius and his mother.
The expression of inquisitiveness in the mother is
admirable ; curiosity with a tender sort of maternal
authority is happily united. The expression of Papyrius
is deficient. Pcetus and Arria, so called : a beautiful,
expiring, languid figure : the action of the man turn-
ing his head is well conceived. A fine ceiling by
Guercino.
Farnesina. — The ceiling of the hall is painted by
Raphael, but having suffered very much the ground or
sky was painted by Carlo Marat in order to give greater
effect to the figures, in which it is supposed that he has
succeeded, but the contours of many of the figures have
suffered in the attempt. It represents the story of
Cupid and Psyche. Nothing can exceed the composition
and variety of expression in most of the groups. This
ceiling and that at the Farnese would warrant a decision
that Raphael and A. Carracci are the first masters at
Rome.
Capitol. — In the court there are many fragments of
statues. A statue of Julius Ccssar in the military dress.
A group of a lion devouring a horse ; the flesh appears
in the act of being drawn by the teeth of the lion from
the ribs. The countenance of the horse is deficient ;
it does not express the anguish he should feel. A
beautiful bronze statue of the Boy picking out the
thorn in his foot ; a simple action, very justly expressed.
The Wolf belonging to the Capitol, which Cicero
mentions among the ominous portents as being struck
by lightning when the Republic was in danger. The
38 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
traces are still visible of the lightning upon it. Hecuba,
very fine, the exact portrait of a withered scold. . . .
A fine collection of pictures. ' The Sibyll,' of Guercino,
the composition is not simple, the drapery clumsy.
'Fortune,' by Guido, pretty subject, prettily treated, the
colouring very feeble. ' St. Sebastian,' by the same, and
with the same defect ; the countenance placid and
beautiful. An old witch, by Salvator Rosa, which might
be mistaken for a portrait of Lady Knight.^
In all the collections much escapes me, as I am always
accompanied by one whose impetuosity compels me to
hasten from objects I would willingly contemplate, and
whose violence of temper throws me into agitations
that prevent me distinguishing the objects when they
are before me. Much as I endure now, yet it is infinitely
more bearable than formerly ; experience and a better
knowledge of the world makes me laugh at menaces that
used to terrify me out of my senses. These threats
have been again and again held out ; they follow the
slightest difference of opinion between us.
The present reigning grievance is the being from
home, and my determined love for being abroad. The
truth is I suspect some great derangement in his affairs,
as his means are not proportioned to his expenses.
Lady Palmerston, who abhors him and sees his conduct
to me, is remarkable for speaking well, even to a fault,
of everybody ; she says that there are three people
in the world who prove that the common saying of,
* None are so bad but have some portion of good,' is not
true. The charming trio are Mrs. North, Duchess of
Marlborough, and Sir G. Webster.
I set off alone with old Morrison to see Tivoli. I was
' Phillipina Deane, wife of Admiral Sir Joseph Knight, and
mother of Miss Cornelia Knight, Princess Charlotte's companion.
A volume of her letters from Italy, 1776-95, was published in 1905.
1793] TIVOLI 39
to join Ly. Bessborough, etc., there. Saw the ruins of
Zenobia's villa ; Adrian's villa, which must have been
the grandest work in his dominions ; the Temple of Vesta,
which is in the garden of the inn ; the cavern of Neptune.
In the morning early I set off upon a somarello to see the
Cascatelle. The villa of Maecenas is a picturesque
object above them, but the present Pope is doing all to
destroy it, as it is to be converted into a gunpowder
manufactory. A beautiful group of cypresses in the
gardens of Este.
I have omitted making notes of more than half the
things I saw, Pantheon, Castle of St. Angelo, etc., etc.,
without end.
On the 14th of June, 1793, we quitted Rome : our
route was to Florence. The Perugia road is not fur-
nished with post horses, we therefore went with vet-
turini, a very slow, wearisome mode of conveyance, but
not without its advantages in a pretty country. We
crossed the Tiber on the Milvian Bridge,' on which the
ambassadors from the Allobroges (Savoy) were arrested ;
and their papers seized discovered the Catiline con-
spiracy. The Campagna on this side of Rome exhibits
much variety of hill and dale, but it is wretchedly cul-
tivated. In ancient times it was well shaded with groves
and forests ; towers and tombs and various remains of
Roman buildings are seen here. We crossed a bridge
about nine miles from Rome built upon a stratum of
lava. We then ascended the crater of a very large
volcano, descended into it, and traversed it, by an old
house thrown down about five years ago by an earth-
quake. On the right of the road to Monte Rosa are seen
the remains of the -^milian Way, made by Paulus ^Emilius
after his conquest of Greece, about 150 years before
' Now called Ponte Molle, a contraction of the original name.
40 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
the Christian era. Soracte we left greatly to the right ;
it appears an isolated mountain in a plain.
About sunset I got out and walked : delicious evening.
I partook of the serenity around, tho' my heart felt the
want of some object to open itself into ; for in spite
of my cold maxims of solitary comforts, I often detect
my wishes wandering to some imaginary happiness.
I strive to repress, but often feel, a strong desire to be
dependent upon another for happiness ; but circum-
stanced as I am the thought must be checked and selfish
independence alone encouraged. The want of passion
in my constitution will always save me from the calamity
of letting my heart run away with my reason, but what
will be my resource if both head and heart accord in
their choice ? Hitherto the only foible I have been
drawn into was of too short a duration to be alarming ;
besides absence interposed and drew me from a danger
I might have fallen into then, but could not now. A
revolution has happened in my whole system ; my
opinions are more formed, and tho' I am conscious they
retain stih a portion of absurdity, yet I have adopted
some that will be useful.
We met an Abbe with his pupils, who advised us to
take some water from the neighbouring town, as the
spring was famous for excellent water. Nepe, the name
of the town, showed itself through some trees ; a fine
ruined tower covered with thick ivy peeped thro' the
festoons of vines, a pretty foreground to the picturesque
ruin. The tower is part of a castle built by the Farnese
family, now fallen into decay. The wealth of that
house has sunk into the Spanish branch of Bourbon ;
the vixen Princess of Parma conveyed it by her marriage
with Philip V. It is at present vested in the King of
Naples. A modern aqueduct, not unhke the Pont du
Gard. Charming view up the bed of a river, in which
1793] SUNSET EFFECTS 41
there are large spacious caverns grown over with rich
foHage. The contrast of the luxurious verdure of the
leaves with the bright yellow of the soil produced a
charming effect. This lovely prospect was terminated
by Soracte, rising majestically behind some tall elms ;
the purple tinge from the last rays of the sinking sun was
strongly dyed upon it. The whole Western horizon
glowed with its lustre — a more glorious sight nature
never yielded to the eye of man. I remember, one
evening at Dresden, being enraptured by the beauty
of a pretty circumstance of the two lights. One fine
evening in August upon the bridge we walked to enjoy
the freshness : from the West the last rays of the sun
were darting upon the water, to which it had imparted
its glowing tints ; on the other side the moon had risen
from a pink cloud and her pale, silvery light was beaming
upon the glassy surface of the Elbe. There could not
be a more beautiful combination of lights.
Arrived at Civita Castellana at about nine o'clock.
It is situated on a steep rock, inaccessible on three sides.
It is by some supposed to have been the ancient city of
Veil in Etruria. Alexander VI. built a palace, which
has more the appearance of a fortress than a habitation
in peaceful times.
I got up at half-past five to examine the bridge and
castle. The morning was delicious ; the vapours were
still low, but the genial beams of the sun dissipated them
shortly. The luxury of a fine morning at that hour is
very great, and has the additional charm of singularity
to me, as I sit up in melancholy soHtude too late at night
to be in the habit of tasting the dews of the morning.
Crossed the Tiber over the Ponte Felice, the boundary of
Latium. We soon got amongst the hills, very beauti-
fully covered to their summits with brushwood and
forest trees. At Terni we took caliches to see the cascade.
42 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
We first went to the top ; in our way we passed the little
village Papigno, which in '86 was very near demolished
by an earthquake ; there were three shocks, which
successively destroyed the houses and church. From
the top of the Monte del Marmore the fall is very grand ;
it is reckoned the grandest in Europe and scarcely yields
to that of Niagara in America.^ Caius ^ Dentatus, a
Roman Consul, increased the cataract by turning the
waters from the country of Rieti into the Lake Luco,
by which the mass of water in the Velino was increased.
We saw several rainbows in the spray. The Velino like
the Anio has the property of incrustation, vulgarly called
■petrifying water. All the roots of the trees are petrified
by this deposition of selenite. The Velino is very rapid.
Just above the fall there is a ferry ; two intrepid
Cappuccini would cross when the flood was roaring ;
they paid the forfeit of their lives for their temerity.
The stream impelled the fragile bark to the brink, and
they were dashed to pieces speedily ; their cowls, rosary,
and patron saint could not save them. We went to
the foot of the mountain to look up at the cascade, a
magnificent sight. We rode upon somarelli through a
delicious grove of orange and lemon trees, and afterwards
through a small wood filled with nightingales. I was
enchanted : the melody of the birds, the tranquillity and
perfume of the air, and the beauty of all the objects
around, suspended for a moment my habitual discontent,
and I felt even happy. We dined in a little wood of
myrtle and ilex, but when we assembled together the
illusion of happiness vanished. How far preferable is
' Compare Byron's Childe Harold, Canto iv. Ixix.-lxxii.
The roar of waters ! From the headlong height
Velino cleaves the wave-worn precipice ; etc.
'^ Curius Dentatus, the Conqueror of the Sabines.
1793] ST. FRANCIS 43
solitude to the society of those who are too nearly con-
nected to be objects of indifference. Love or hatred
must be bestowed upon habitual inmates ! Alas !
Alas ! Would it were true what I say in public, that
my heart is shut to social affections. Every occasion
that calls forth dpanchement proves the hesoin I have to
belong to something that I can cherish, Mr. Hodges ^
travels with us as far as Florence. He is a good-tempered,
gentleman-like man, and full of readiness to do any little
services ; were he odious, I should rejoice at the society
of a tiers.
The road from thence begins to ascend the Apennines,
and oxen were hired at La Strettura. The travellers dined
at Spoleto, and crossed the river Trevi, ' the ancient
Clitumnus,' where ' there is a singular temple, very perfect,
upon the margin of the rivulet ; it is not in the purest taste
and is probably a fabric erected in the lower ages.' They
reached Foligno late that evening,
Monday, lyth June. — The morning was so rainy
that I imprudently indulged in a prolonged nap, which
threw us back on our journey. The road lay through
a rich and highly cultivated country, neither hilly nor
flat, abounding in trees. Assisi, the birthplace of the
celebrated St, Francis, whose fame is confined to the
legend that records his miracles, etc. At the age of 25
he, by his eloquence and example, induced multitudes
voluntarily to renounce the enjoyments of hfe and enter
a system of abstinence and self-denial in every shape.
All the mendicant orders owe their origin to him, as
Franciscan is the generic term for Capuchins, Carmelites,
Carthusians, etc. There is a new church built over his
humble dwelling. We crossed a torrent over a very
steep bridge,
' The Prince of Wales's friend-
44 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
We reached this place (Perugia) very late. I had a
letter to Mr, Molloy, an Irish priest at St. Augustin : he
was of use in showing me the town. This was the birth-
place of Pietro di Perugino, more known by the works
of his disciples than from his own merits. The town
is adorned by his first and finest works. In the Convent
of St. Augustin many paintings, but in a hard, stiff
manner. Four heads in crayons, by Raphael, char-
mingly executed. They preserve a letter from Pietro di
Perugino, written to the Prior of the Convent, begging
him to send him some grain : the writing is execrable,
which tempted a wag to write : —
Fu restaurator della pittura
* Ma guastator della scrittura.
A fine view from the church of St. Peter's out of the
city walls. The town is situated upon a very steep hill,
and is exposed to the fury of the winds.
Tuesday, 18th. — The road from Perugia to the Lake ^
very rough ; the jolts were insufferable,
A very fatiguing journey of 9 hours brought us to
Comania, which is composed of a few scattered houses
at the foot of Cortona. Cortona is en Pair, at the top
of a high, bleak, black, desolate hill composed of schistos
interspersed with sandstone and mica. Cortona is one
of the most ancient towns in Etruria ; there are still
slight remains of the Etruscan walls. We set off from
Comania upon somarelli. Our entry was in a grotesque
style, a drunken cicerone conducted us to a mad chanoine.
Aforesaid chanoine, Celari, is the master academician
of Etruscan antiquities ; he himself is the rarest and
greatest curiosity in the collection. In person he re-
sembled Gil Perez, ^ but was inferior in charms. His
' Trasimene.
2 Gil Bias' uncle, ' three and a half feet high, with his head sunk
well between his shoulders.'
1793] CELARI 45
dress was characteristic of the oddity of the wearer ;
a triangular hat squatted as fiat upon his head as a
Prussian soldier's and about as greasy and rusty, under
which a cotton night-cap vied in colour with it, jointly
setting off the features of a jaundiced, paralytic visage ;
his head tottering from disease and imbecility. The
rest of his person in unison with his upper story ; a
dropsical paunch gave him an uncouth waddle, his
scabby hands disgusting from their leprous indication.
A more disgusting assemblage I never met with before
in a single object. He showed nothing remarkable but
a bronze vase found in a sepulchre, a curious bas-relief
round the rim. When I escaped from his clutches, I
went to a very learned and civil advocate who has many
chosen antiquities. A pretty Cupid in terra cotta,
a shield embossed with figures, elephants' tusks found at
Trasimene probably Carthaginian, a medal of Porsena,
etc., etc.
We were too late to see anything in the cathedral.
I believe Pietro di Cortona was disgusted with his native
city, and preferred painting for Roman palaces.
Very late when we set off in the morn. Road rough
and uncomfortable. We arrived at Arezzo at 12. I
was in an agony for two hours and half after my arrival,
as my children did not come. I fancied every terrible
accident in the catalogue of travelling disasters, and had
got into a post caliche, alone, to set off and meet them,
when, God be praised, just as I was getting out of the
town I met their carriage and found them safe and well.
We could only reach St. Giovanni at night, June 19th ;
a most wretched inn, one scarcely ever frequented but
by pedestrians with their wallets slung across their
shoulders. The country to Florence through the famous
Val d'Arno very charming. Reached that beautiful
tho' gloomy town on the 20th. The Tuscan heavy,
46 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
massy, grand style of architecture spreads a solemnity
over the buildings, and the streets are not so filled as
those of Naples and Rome. I went in the eve. with
Ly. E. Foster and Ly. Hervey to the Opera. David ^
sang.
I saw there for the first time the celebrated Baron
d'Armfeldt.^ He was the ami de coeur of the late King
of Sweden.^ Immediately on his being wounded in the
ball room he sent for d'Armfeldt, who was not apprised
of the assassination till he saw his friend and sovereign
weltering in his blood. The King said, ' You, my
friend, have been wounded too often to be shocked at
this, but it is hard upon a man who never turned from
an enemy to be wounded in the back.' He attended
his last moments, and received every testimony of his
regard and affection. The was strongly attached
to him ; this rendered him obnoxious to the Regent,
who has exiled him by giving him credentials to all the
Italian states, with a Charge d'affaires who is a spy
upon his actions. He wears the silver sword embroidered
upon his coat under the order, a badge the most flatter-
ing, as it is a testimony of good conduct and popularity.
To be entitled to it a man must have the unanimous
approbation of the whole army ; a single soldier's
objecting invalidates the choice of the others. He must
have carried and raised a siege, and won a battle ; not
above two men in Sweden possess it. His manners are
' The celebrated Italian tenor (1750-18 30).
^ Gustavus Maurice, Baron d'Armfeldt (1757-1814). After Gus-
tavus IV. reached his majority he was appointed Ambassador at
Vienna. He retired to Finland in 18 10, and held office under the
Russians.
' Gustavus III. ( 1 748-1 792). He was assassinated at the instiga-
tion of certain nobles, who considered that he was interfering with the
rights of their order. Gustavus IV., his son, was only fourteen years
old at the time, and until 1796 the government was carried on by his
uncle, the Duke of Sudermania.
1793] D'ARMFELDT 47
mild and gentle, his person is like a soprano. He seems
to be a great favourite with the Herveys.' T. P.^ is
here. D'Armfeldt is toujours en fonction, as the eternal
Princess of Sweden "' is frisking about.
21st. — I went with my friend Mr. Brand to see the
Gallery, but I was not in spirits to enjoy anything.
I have received letters giving me a melancholy account
of my poor father's illness. He wishes me to return
and see him. I am perplexed about my children. The
weather is too hot for them to travel ; the youngest has
not had the smallpox ; besides that, I like to have a
pledge for my return. The Cascines very pleasant of
evenings. Ly. Elizabeth wishes Mr. Pelham to escort
her and the Duchess home. I think it is a bad thing
for him, as he imputes his late long illness entirely to
the worry he suffered from both of them in conducting
them from Lausanne to Florence. I shall advise him
to refuse, and persuade him to go quietly with Swin-
burne, who will consult his whims, and he, of course, not
be impelled to consult the whimseys of two capricious
ladies.
22nd. — Staid at home the whole morning to write.
Dined at Ld. Hervey's. D'Armfeldt and Prince
Augustus at dinner there. The latter is in a fidget to get
to England, as Ly. Augusta is gone, and scandal says is
' John Augustus, Lord Hervey (1757-1796), son of Frederick
Augustus, fourth Earl cf Bristol. He served in the navy, and was
Ambassador at Florence from 1787 to 1794. He married, in 1776,
EUzabeth, daughter of Colin Drummond, of Megginch Castle, Perth-
shire. Lord Holland in his Memoirs of the Whig Party (i. 56) states that
he was recalled for violently and indecorously insisting on the dis-
missal of La Flotte, the French Minister, and thereby causing the Grand
Duke to commit a breach of neutrality. Lord Holland mentions that
common report in Florence suggested that Lord Hervey's enmity to
his colleague was not entirely based on public grounds.
- Thomas Pelham, afterwards second Earl of Chichester.
' The Princess Royal of Sweden, who was travelling incognito as
the Princess of Wasa.
48 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
with child. Went in the evening to Mme. d'Albany.^
She is a Princess Stolberg, widow of the late Pretender ;
she lives in a state of dubious intimacy with Alfieri, the
great Sophocles of Italy. She is lively and good-
humoured. She told us some curious anecdotes about
Gaston,^ the head of the Royalist party. She is anxious
for the restoration of the King, as she has lost immensely,
indeed all that she possesses ; yet she does not fall into
the violent strain of invective she might be allowed to
feel.
Sunday, 2^rd. — I went to the Annunziata to see the
fresco upon the cloister walls by Andrea del Sarto,
' Madonna del Sacco,' a fine picture, well grouped and
coloured. In the evening Mr. Pelham set off with Swin-
burne for Genoa to Turin. Notwithstanding Lord Hervey's
enmity towards Manfredini,^ I availed myself of my letters
to him, and the ceremony of a formal introduction to the
Grand Duchess was waived ; in consequence of which,
as there was a chariot race at which their Royal
Highnesses were present,'* I went into their splendid box
' Louise de Stolberg-Goedern (1753-1824). She married Prince
Charles Edward in 1772, but after eight years of unhappiness left him,
and went to Florence. There she became the mistress of Alfieri,
and remained with him until his death in 1803. She subsequently
formed an attachment for Fabre, a young French painter, and possibly
married him.
- One of the insurrectionist leaders in La Vendee, formerly a
hairdresser. He was killed at Saint-Gervois towards the latter end of
1793-
'■' Prime Minister of Tuscany. Originally tutor to the sons of Grand
Duke Leopold, he accompanied the latter to Vienna on his elevation
to the Imperial throne. He returned as Minister to Archduke Ferdi-
nand, and continued in the same position in the Duchy of Wiirtzburg,
which the Archduke received from Napoleon as compensation for the
loss of Tuscany.
* Ferdinand IIL (1769-182.1.) became Grand Duke of Tuscany
in 1790 when his father succeeded as Emperor. He was ejected in
1801, receiving the Grand Duchy of Wiirtzburg in 1805, but finally
returned to Florence after the battle of Waterloo. His wife was Luigia
Amalia, daughter of the King and Queen of Naples.
1793] GRAND DUCHESS OF TUSCANY 49
and was graciously received. The Grand Duchess is an
unfortunate httle being, both in figure and understanding ;
she is crooked, lame, and unhealthy. Being designed for
a cloister, her education was neglected. Her extreme
ugliness made her hateful to her mother, the Queen of
Naples, but upon the death of an elder sister who was
destined to be Empress the next succeeded to that rank,
and this little wretch took her intended place of Grand
Duchess. When Leopold, seeing how frightful she was,
offered to send her back, the Grand Duke refused, saying
he could not mortify her so much. Her good nature has
conquered his disgust ; her being with child has probably
helped. He rarely visits her apartment ; but Manfredini
compels him. The Grand Duke is reserved and cold, his
manner not near so good as his brother the Emperor.
The chariot race is a stupid sport ; the form of the cars
is antique.
2.\th. — The Portuguese Minister, M. de Lima, gave us
a breakfast, that we might see the ceremony of the Grand
Duke receiving homage from his subjects. I should
like to have heard the deputies from Siena say, ' Soumise
par force ' — galanterie de certaine part which I could
easily dispense with. Nothing more distressing than
that species of admiration that keeps one in a fever to
bear, from the coarseness and indelicacy of the manner.
In the evening went to Prince Augustus' with Ly.
Elizabeth to see the horse races — a stupid and a cruel
sight. Went with Ly. H. to see the pretty opera of
/ Due Gohbi.
I asked d'Armfeldt why he wore the white hand-
kerchief tied round his arm : I asked the meaning.
When Gustavus made the revolution of 1772 he expected
a popular insurrection, and he desired all those who were
his friends to take their handkerchiefs and fasten them
on their left arms ; most everyone present did. An
VOL I. E
50 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
awful moment followed after his declaring his intention
of effecting a total change in the Constitution, such as
by levying taxes, abridging the power of the aristocracy,
and enlarging his own prerogative. He finished by
saying, ' I am either your prisoner or your King.' A dead
silence ensued. A lieutenant and grey corporal ex-
claimed, ' Le Suedois est loyal, Oui, Sire, vous etes le
Roi ' ; the assembly applauded, and the revolution was
confirmed. After the acclamations had subsided, he
enjoined a solemn silence, ordered them to kneel, and
uttered an extempore prayer of thanksgiving for the
great event. Hugh Elliot by a mad freak extricated
him out of a mauvais pas. He was at Gottenburg
with a small force, defenceless walls, and 6000 Danes
approaching to make him prisoner. Elliot, in his zeal,
called out and told the Prince of Hesse that unless he
immediately withdrew his forces, he should in the name
of Great Britain declare war, send off couriers to bring
a fleet to bombard Copenhagen, and others to fetch
30,000 Prussians. This foolish braggadocio frightened
the poor Danes, and they slunk away.
The revolution is censured as being a direct violation
of those oaths the King took at his coronation. The
whole power was lodged in the four estates, Nobles,
Citizens, Clergy, Peasantry. The kingly power was a
nulhty ; the Sovereign a phantom. The late King
was in the early part of his life in Paris, and Vergennes
was supposed to have planned for him the Revolution.
Russia harassed him by perpetual wars ; contrary to
her own practice, she espoused in his dominions the
cause of liberty. Rasoumoffsky was very active in
aiding the malcontents, and, being detected in bribing
many who had leading voices in the Diet, he was ordered
to quit Stockholm immediately. Upon his objecting,
he was told that unless he went within twenty-four
1793] FLORENCE 51
hours he should be ?nade to go on board an EngHsh
vessel.
D'Armfeldt told me a good many traits de chevalerie
of Sir Sidney Smith, alias Charles XII., who is now at
Constantinople. If d'Armfeldt's stories may be relied
on, his case is certainly a hard one, but he speaks im-
prudently in accusing the Regent in the manner he does.
He evidently is in greater favour with the Court of
Russia than a loyal S\yede ought to be.
2'^th. — I passed the morning with Fontana.' He is
a remarkable man, but below his reputation. The news
is that the Royalists have been defeated with great loss.
The English have taken Tobago. The Comte d'Artois
is returned to Ham ; he was not allowed to land in
England, as he could not be protected against his creditors.
Dined at Lord Hervey's : Prince Augustus, etc. I pre-
ferred the quiet of my own room to going to the Opera.
26th. — I went to the Museum. Fontana appointed
me at ten. The institution was founded by the Grand
Duke Leopold, and placed under the direction of Fontana.
Thirty-eight rooms are filled with objects in every
branch of Natural History, Philosophy, Physics, etc.
The anatomical preparations in wax are very beautiful.
The small representations of the ravages of the plague
at Messina are admirably executed ; the artist must
have had a considerable portion of sombre in his imagina-
tion.
I asked the real history of the tarantula, whether
he thought there was any foundation for the stories they
tell in Calabria of its producing such violent irritation
that motion, such as dancing, relieves the patient. He
says such a malady exists, and is ascribed to the sting,
' Felix Fontana (i 730-1 805), originally Professor at the University
of Pisa. He was appointed director of the museum at Florence by
the Grand Duke Leopold.
B3
52 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
whereas it proceeds from the imagination of young people.
Those who suffer chiefly are adolescents, just at the
period when the passions begin to develop themselves
and agitate the frame. Those who believe in the reality
of the disease tell the story of an incredulous bishop
who, resolved to convince the people of the absurdity
of the story, exposed his arm to the stings of five of
these animals ; the consequence was that the bishop
suffered like a layman, and the tambourine was called
to his relief to assist him cutting capers. Whether
this dignified prelate was imposed upon, or whether he
thought the superstition too valuable to eradicate, must
remain a secret between him and his confessor.
Bishop Burnet records a similar anecdote of Lord
Lanesborough, who upon the death of Prince George of
Denmark requested an audience of Queen Anne. He
obtained it, and advised her Majesty to dissipate her
chagrin by dancing, as he had always found that to be a
sovereign remedy against bodily and mental affliction.
Fontana has made numberless experiments upon the
poison of a viper. It is a glutinous mass in which he
has never discovered the noxious ingredient ; taken into
the stomach, it is not prejudicial, it only acts upon the
nerves. He has published in several quarto volumes
his opinions on the subject. He entered into a long
philosophical dissertation on the vital principle. He
has worms or eels in which hfe is suspended, but he
can bring them to existence. They came in diseased
corn from the Morea. He has drawn conclusions from
his experiments which prove too much for the Church
to allow him to publish. He is an apostle in the cause
of atheism and democracy, hence it is not likely he will
make the world happier or wiser.
In the evening I went to Lady Hervey's instead of
the Opera. D'Armfeldt was, as usual, the hero of the
1793] AFFAIRS IN FRANCE 53
conversation and of his own story. He begs compassion
so much that one is tempted to withhold it. The Regent,
by this post, has withdrawn 1800/. of his appointments ;
but why does he expect favours of a man whom he
accuses of an intention to poison the young King ?
He told several stories that prove him dans les hons
principes for a soldier ; he thinks every bullet has its
billet. He told of a young man skulking from fear
behind an ammunition waggon, yet killed by a random
shot. He made great use of this to encourage his men
not to flinch.
News of a bloody battle near Quesnoy : 6000 French
killed 4,000 Austrians.^ How dreadful ! This conflict
will not close until Europe is deluged with blood and
society destroyed. The trial of Orleans, or, as he
ridiculously styles himself, Egalit6, is about : the chief
accusation against him is his having voted for the King's
death. Bad as that was, yet he did poignard a la gorge.
Lyons is in revolt against the Convention. The poor
Royalists have been defeated in Brittany.
2yth June. — This fatal day seven years gave me, in
the bloom and innocence of fifteen, to the power of a
being who has made me execrate my life since it has
belonged to him. Despair often prompts me to a remedy
within my reach. ' To enjoy is to obey,' to be wretched
is to disobey ; if Providence interposes not for my
rehef, may I not seek it ? Nature is assisted to relieve
us in our diseases — why not to terminate those of the
mind ? My mind is worked up to a state of savage
' The war between Austria and France broke out on the Nether-
lands frontier in April 1792, and success in turn favoured each of the
combatants. Dumourie/'s treachery in March 1793 allowed the
Austrians to pass the French frontier, and the scene of action was
removed to that country. England declared war against France in
February, and despatched a force under the Duke of York to assist
the Austrians.
54 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
exaltation, and impels me to act with fury that proceeds
more from passion and deep despair than I can in calmer
moments justify. Oftentimes in the gloom of midnight
I feel a desire to curtail my grief, and but for an un-
accountable shudder that creeps over me, ere this the
deed of rashness would be executed. I shall leave
nothing behind that I can regret. My children are yet
too young to attach me to existence, and Heaven knows
I have no close, no tender ties besides. Oh, pardon the
audacity of the thought !
2W1 June. — In the evening, Ly. Spencer, Duchess,
and Ly. Bessborough arrived. They came the Perugia
road : rather discomposed at finding T. P. gone, but it
certainly was wise in him to decline the embarrassment
of a tedious, troublesome journey with them. I went to
the Opera ; it was the last night of the Pergola.^
2<^th. — Drew dined with me. He seems half dis-
contented with his new friends. Supped with Ly. B.
Three hundred cannon are playing upon Valenciennes.
St. Leger is with the D. of York, and besieging it with
the allied army. Marat has declared to the Convention
that Gaston is advancing to Paris ; there are three
Royal armies, and more than half France has declared
itself in a state of counter-revolution. But these are
but flying reports.
30;!/^ June, Sunday. — Dined at Ld. Hervey's : he
appeared much agitated, probably at the prospect of
his removal from this place, as it will be impossible
for Ministers to allow him to remain after his behaviour
to the Grand Duke. In those letters which he wrote
remonstrating against the exportation of grain from
Tuscany to France he calls the Grand Duke a fool and
Manfredini a knave. I went to the Opera with Lady B.
' The Opera House of Florence.
1793] D'ARMFELDT 55
and supped with her. She is much improved in her
walking ; but what cures may not be received from this
dehcious chmate ! She is to pass the summer at Lucca
Baths.
1st July. — Lady Shelley has promised to take care of
my children ; her husband, Dr. Stuart, is a very good
physician. Ly. Ann ^ is still invisible, at least to men.
She is a frolicsome Irish widow bewitched, very pretty,
very foolish, and very debauched. The French fleet
is in force at Toulon : where is Ld. Hood ? The Jacobin
Club here is in full exultation at the bad news from the
allies.
Armfeldt told us that Anckarstrom, as he was con-
ducting him to execution, implored his pardon, saying
he should die contented if he could obtain that, as he
was the person most injured, for in his sovereign he lost
a friend and a benefactor. The King refused to hear
the name of his murderer. Armfeldt had the command
of an army in a campaign against the Russians, in which
service the King accompanied him and shared the
hardships of the common soldiers. There was a victory
obtained by the Swedes upon the ice. Dangers of every
sort surrounded them ; the sun was very ardent and the
ice was cracking beneath the surface. The Swedes
had a great advantage, their horses being shod ; the
Russians had not taken the same precaution. Armfeldt
said that the King's aide-de-camps, unless they died of
the plague or indigestion, need not fear death ; they
hid themselves in the moment of peril. The King
would never settle a plan for retreat, as he would not
allow it possible that he could be defeated. Such
' Lady Ann Hatton. Daughter of Arthur, second Earl of Arran,
she married first, in 1783, Henry Hatton, of Clonard, co. Wexford ;
secondly, in 1800, John, first Marquess of Abercorn. She died in
1827.
56 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
courage as this is often ruinous to the country whose
monarch is brave. Portugal smarted from Sebastian's^
impetuosity ; in vain his old generals remonstrated, he
listened to his ardour. On his landing at Ceuta, the
musicians, instead of striking up a cheerful air to en-
courage the soldiers, played a solemn dirge : in super-
stitious times what a contretemps ! Besides this melan-
choly portent, he stumbled on a corpse as he got out of
his ship.
A fine ball in the evening at Lord Hervey's : Mme.
d' Albany introduced me to Alfieri, I took a final
leave of d'Armfeldt. I was sorry to bid a farewell to
my friends, but a very few months will bring us together,
I hope. La Flotte, the French Minister, was not invited
to the ball : this is a very marked insult at a neutral
Court.
July 2nd, Tuesday. — I parted from my children this
morning at eleven. I have left them comfortable,
established in a good house with proper attendants,
and Dr. Stuart and an Italian physician, Gianetti, to
take care of them. The day was delicious, ardent sun,
deep blue sky, everybody was gasping from the heat ;
I alone as cold as marble, but inwardly warmed by the
glowing sun.
Prato is the first post, a pretty little town ; put me
in mind of La Bonneville in Savoy. It is situated at
the foot of a range of calcareous hills forming the sides
of a crater of considerable extent. We continued in
this plain till we reached Pistoja. The heat being too
intense to remain in the carriage, we stopped two hours
at Pistoja. Two miles from Pistoja we began ascending
the high chain of Apennines, which runs across Italy
' King Sebastian (15 54-1 578), who succeeded to the throne of
Portugal at the age of three, and was killed fighting the Moors in
Morocco.
1793] CROSSING THE APENNINES 57
and divides it from Cisalpine Gaul, or Lombardy. About
half-way up the hill to the first post we stopped to look
back upon the valley. Florence, Pistoja, Prato, the
Umbrino meandering in the plain until it reaches the
sea at Leghorn, made a lovely coup d'ceil. The project
was to travel aU night, but my face pained me so much
that by an extraordinary degree of complaisance I was
allowed to stop at St. MarceUo, a delightful little inn.
Wednesday, July -^rd. — I was enchanted with the
prettiness of the environs of the inn : just opposite my
window there is a steep verdant bank shaded by tall
cypress. The hills above are studded with chestnut,
ilex, beech, the wild cherry, and vast assemblage of
pretty trees. Passed through a neat town, to which
our inn was a suburb. Kept ascending for miles.
A magnificent torrent roaring at our feet and the sharp
pinnacles of the Apennines springing above our heads.
The industry of the inhabitants is manifested by their
cultivating every little spot that is accessible to the
foot of man, and success warrants their enterprise, as
the production is abundant, and the walls prop up the
little field.
These mountains must have afforded a secure asylum
to those numerous predatory bands which infested this
delightful country in former days ; the bold robber
might bid defiance to the vigilance of the Holy Brother.
Indeed, the wretched state of society about the Middle
Ages must have rendered travelling a service of danger,
from the perpetual wars between each petty State, the
burdensome jurisdiction of the barons, and the outrages
committed by outlaws.
We dined at the post-house within 300 yards of the top
of the mountain which we had been crawling up all day.
The summit is the boundary of Tuscany and the frontier
of the Modenese State. We began descending this side
58 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
of the mountains ; much more beautiful than the other,
springs of very clear, cool water afford a delicious draught
to the exhausted, weary traveller. Torrents and cas-
cades tumbling from the heights between thick groves
of pines down the sides of the mountains till they reach
the torrent in the valley, which is there called the Scoltenna,
but soon after changes its name and becomes the Panaro.
Snow is still lying in the crevices of the mountain ; the
rays of the setting sun produce a pretty effect upon the
white masses intermingled with woods and sharp rocks.
The chaussee in these States as fine as any in Europe ;
indeed, except those in the Austrian dominions, I believe
no roads can be compared to those of Italy. The
peasants work in their agricultural toils armed — a sad
memento of the terrors of those times when such things
were necessary. How dreadful that the most useful
members of the community were exposed, whilst labour-
ing for the benefit of mankind, to outrages that demanded
self-defence !
At Barigazzo, a small volcano like Pietra Mala. A
flame issues from the ground and burns without having
anything to feed on, till extinguished either by a high
wind or by water ; it is used to burn lime. Muscovite is
found in large quantities in this mountain. To the S.-E.
of the village, upon the top of the mountain, a large lake,
called Lago Santo, because blessed by the Bishop of
Lucca ; it has most miraculous properties. The night
was heavenly : the splendour of the stars above and the
millions spangled upon the surface of the earth formed
by the Luccioli, produced a glittering scene that dazzled
the eye ; to add to the brilliancy, a black cloud, distant
in the horizon, emitted flashes of bright lightning. The
vivacity of the light almost too much. Such must have
been the splendour surrounding the God of Thunder
when he showed himself datis tons ses atours to the
1793] THE PLAINS OF LOMBARDY 59
astonished eyes of the curious Semele. We travelled all
night and reached Modena at 5 o'clock in the morning.
Thursday, 4th July. — I already feel the difference
between the heat of Lombardy and the refreshing breezes
of Florence. I am just going to see the Guercinos at the
Palace. Uhomme propose, Dieu dispose, the custode was
eating, drinking, or sleeping ; I could not gain admit-
tance. Arrived at Parma about 6 o'clock. Slept there.
I saw Parma last October. The ' St. Jerome,' the
* Madonna della Scodella,' the ceiling of a dome in a
church, are some of the finest of Correggio.
Marat has resumed his functions in the Convention.
We crossed a dozen ferries in the night, and reached
Placentia soon after daybreak.
^th July. — Saw the Ducal Palace, the equestrian
statue, Cathedral, and St. Augustin. Alberoni was a
native of this city. Crossed the Po at the gates of the
town. Very near meeting with an ugly accident in
getting out of the boat ; the banks were steep, the
mud very deep, the carriage rolled considerably back into
the water. Our cook we were obliged to pass as a Swiss,
Frenchmen being refused admittance into the Milanese.
Rice plantations and deep sands to Lodi. Arrived at
Milan at 12 o'clock. The Palmerstons, Sir Benjamin
Thompson,^ and Sir C. Blagden here.
Saturday, 6th. — The heat unbearable ; close suffocat-
ing feel, like a hot day in England. Miss Carter and
Sir Benjamin dined with me. After dinner, instead of
the custom of the country to take the siesta, I took a
long-winded discourse from Sir Benjamin upon politics,
happiness, morality, etc. He thinks Dumouriez was
bribed by the Austrians throughout his career. Saw my
old acquaintance Csse. Maxe. Her present cavaliere
' Count Rumford.
6o LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
servente is her husband's brother, and her husband is the
bon ami of his elder brother's wife, the Marchesina di
Litta. One must learn not to stare at these connections
in Italy ; they are not uncommon.
yth July, Sunday. — Left Milan at 10 o'clock. We
intend, if the Grand St. Bernard is free of snow and
French, to cross it, and get by that route into Switzerland.
Crossed the Ticino at Buffalora ; it was very low com-
pared to the floods of last year. Found letters pressing
us to stop at Chateau de Masin in the valley of D'Aost
on our way to the mountain. We shall there find the
Trevors, T. P., and Swinburne. We slept at Vercelli,
for though it was not late when we arrived, yet it was
too far to Masin to attempt to reach it by their supper
hour.
8/^. — Set off at 4 o'clock in the morning, changed
horses at Germano, and those horses conveyed us hither.
This antique structure is a baronial castle upon the
summit of a high, isolated rock, overlooking a rich plain
in which the Dora Baltea meanders fantastically. To
the north is the entrance into the valley D'Aost, backed
by the Alps, among which is St. Bernard. To the east
the Plain of Lombardy, with a distant view of Milan.
Villages, towns, lakes, rivers, hills, and all the beauties
of nature and art may be discovered from the lofty
towers of this venerable abode. This castle has under-
gone many sieges from the French ; before the intro-
duction of gunpowder it was impregnable, and even
since its use it has held out. In 1554 Mar^chal de Biron
received just under my bedchamber window the wound
which made him a cripple for life. The old walls in many
places are loaded with the cannon balls which have been
poured by volleys into them. The room we dine in is
vaulted and bomb proof ; the ceiling and cornices are
decorated by the arms of Masin quartered with those
1793] CHATEAU DE MASIN 6i
of the greatest families. I saw those of Austria in
several escutcheons.
The Count Masin is a well-bred man of a certain age,
hospitable, and doing with dignity the honours of his
house, where plenty and luxury are united. He is
proud of his high descent and alliances. He showed me
amongst the armorial bearings a stirrup with the motto
' Ferme toi.' An ancestor of his in battle lost all his
weapons, desperate he took his stirrups and assaulted
his antagonist, and his sovereign Lord in honour of the
achievement allowed him to take the quartering as an
emblem of his courage.
In the evening we drove about the alleys ; high, clipped
hedges on each side defended us from the evening breeze,
which in this high spot is more than a hreeze generally, but
was this evening insufferably hot, more from a stagnation
in the air than from the positive degree of heat. The
doubts increase about the passage of the St. Bernard ;
at all events we intend going to Aost. In the evening
the letters from Turin arrived. I had a letter from Ld.
Henry,^ and he writes out of spirits ; complains of soHtude.
He dislikes his appointment to Stockholm. A courier
saw Mayence in flames on the 27th June ; if it has fallen
it will facilitate our journey up the Rhine.
We retired early to our rooms. My apartment was
curious and magnificent. It consisted of a bedroom,
a dressing-room, a receiving-room, besides accommoda-
tion near for my valet-de-chamhre and my maid. The
bedroom is a bastion, which makes inside a delightful
circular room ; a balcony goes round it, and from the spot
where I was this minute, from it down to the fosse, is
upwards of 100 feet. A private door opens upon a spiral
staircase, which carries one to the porte-de-secours.
' Lord Henry Spencer.
62 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
I dismissed my maid, and sat me down to write, read,
and think. The wind rose and made a most furious
noise in my chimney, and in the vaulted rooms beneath.
I could not help thinking that if an ancestor of Masin's
were to appear and tell me some horrid tale of his un-
buried bones rotting in a dungeon in the towers of the
castle, a more hideous noise and crash would not usher
him in than what I have heard. In the midst of this
reflection I perceived upon the large glass on the left of
me, and which stands opposite to the doors of a long
suite of apartments, all open, a glimmering light, and
I heard at the same moment a noise from the rooms.
I am no coward with respect to supernatural appearances,
but I was out of spirits, and the solitude of my situation
apart from the rest of the family contributed at that
moment to give me a qualm. I looked at the glass, and
perceived the light stronger and some white drapery
flowing behind it. Pour le coup I trembled and hid my
face. A minute brought Swinburne with a night taper,
in his dressing gown, to my sight. I laughed at my
fears. He came from Mrs. Trevor, who was ill, to get
some camphor julep from me. I locked my door and was
courageous enough to go to bed without rousing any-
body.
Tuesday, gth. — We were to have gone this morning,
but our journey is deferred. Passed the day pleasantly
enough. Trevor went to Turin to meet General Gren-
ville. Mrs. Trevor crosses the mountain. We shall,
if it is possible for any of us to go across.
How much I detest the prospect of a residence in
England, even though it be but for a few weeks ; country,
climate, manners, everything is odious to me. // faudra
se rc'soudre a souffrir. Patience, pazienza. Left the
hospitable castle early in the morning. We descended
the steep hill, upon which rises majestically the castle,
1793] VAL D'AOST 63
into the plain towards Ivrea, an ancient fortified town
distant only five miles from Masin. The walls are now
repairing, and the whole is getting into a state of defence
with the utmost expedition. The King of Sardinia is
now making a progress through this part of his dominions.
This costs him 25,000/. in useless pomp, and he receives
a subsidy from England of 200,000/. To the right a
castle, very picturesque in its situation, called Mont'-
alto ; the hill upon which it stands is composed of cal-
careous earth from whence the lime used in the country
is drawn.
We entered the Val d'Aost at a narrow pass at the
Pont St. Martin, an old bridge across the Dora. The
weather was delicious, the change of the climate very
perceptible already. We dined at Donnaz, a small
village placed in an excavation of the rock, supposed
by some to be a work of the Romans. Our whole party
met at dinner. Trevor defers his return to Turin until
he has seen us all well over the mountain, as his inter-
position may be necessary to get us mules. Fort le
Bard, about half a mile from Donnaz, a strong moun-
tain pass, assisted by art. Nature has given it a
rapid river and mountains ; Vauban, ramparts and
cannon. The mode of training the vines is singular.
They are trailed upon a treillage horizontally placed
upon stone pillars ; they are from 4 to 5 feet and even
higher from the ground. It is admirably adapted for
catching the warmth of the sun. The valley is at the
widest half a mile, but it is generally narrower. The
oxen are very fine, and the manner of yoking them is
very picturesque. We went on six miles beyond where
their party slept to Chatillon, where M. Regis gave us
very good accommodation in his house, and his com-
pany. He is a friend of Masin, or rather a dependant.
On the road I got out at Monjovet, celebrated for fine
64 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
steatites and garnets imbedded in quartz ; I obtained
a few specimens.
The Piedmontese army are upon the Petit St. Ber-
nard ; the French are at the foot of it by the Isere.
Each army has not more than 3000 men. The troops
are very sickly, the hardships they have encountered
are incredible ; the barracks are absolutely upon the top
of the mountain, a post which is not much benefited by
the climate of August. Numbers are in the hospital at
Aost, and we are alarmed by hearing of an epidemical
disorder being among them.
Thursday. — Though the Trevors were six miles behind
me, they were diligent enough to pass me before even I
was out of my bed. The road from Chatillon lies by the
Dora. The Dora Baltea is a rapid torrent, which runs into
the Po near Turin. The Isere rises on the French side
of the mountain, and finds its way into the Rhone. The
Dora comes raving with great impetuosity and swiftness
— a just emblem of time, that rushes forward and never
is retarded. It gave me the vapours to think of the
many misspent hours I have irretrievably lost. Half
my time is spent in making resolutions to amend, but
the precious moments escape when to begin, for as some
ancient poet says, ' He that leaves for to-morrow that
may be done to-day is hke the countryman waiting
upon the banks of the river to cross when the waters
have run by and left it dry.' About five miles before
we reached Aost we caught a magnificent view of Mont
Blanc ; the whiteness of it was dazzling.
Aost or the Cite, as it is called here, is an ugly town.
We are lodged at the Baron d'Aviso's. I have this in-
stant heard that the distemper is contagious, and that
the master of this house is dying of the epidemical fever.
The intelligence is not pleasant, but I rejoice at my
children being out of the way. I am kept up from the
1793] MT. ST. BERNARD 65
melancholy that surrounds me ; the bell never ceases its
doleful knell of death, the muffled drums announce under
my window a funeral, and the stir in the room below
where I sleep is a proof that the poor invalid is still alive,
though probably in anguish. We are advised against going
out of the house, a precaution that probably is very
necessary. Mrs. Trevor fears we may be obliged to pass
another day here.
Friday. — The whole morning in making arrangements
about mules ; at last the Commandant gave an order,
and we have obtained some. The price they ask is
exorbitant, 70 louis for our carriages, both of which are
very light — one at least is. I have stolen some of the
Baron's specimens of minerals ; my conscience smites
me almost for the plunder. At six in the evening we set
off for St. Remy. My journey there was not pleasant
as to my monture, for my own saddle was broken, and
I was, after shifting from pack saddles, etc., obhged to
submit to be chucked upon a sack of wheat on a hcte-de-
somme. The muleteer considered me as a bale of goods
entrusted to his care to convey without damage, and
so far thought of me, but not the least as to my ease or
comfort. As much as I could see of the scenery by
daylight very beautiful. La Cluse very pretty, but we
did not reach St. Remy till twelve o'clock, all tired and
cold, and such an inn ! But it did shelter us from the
bleak wind, and that was a point gained.
We set off at half-past five o'clock to cross the famous
mountain of St. Bernard. It has only been used by travel-
lers since the Mont Cenis has been shut up by the neigh-
bourhood of the French. I went in a chaise a porteurs.
Our carriages were dismounted and placed by piecemeal on
mules. We began ascending from St. Remy. The moun-
tains are from their base bare and without much vegeta-
tion, the road so embarrassed with snow that I thought
VOL. I. F
66 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
it impracticable for the mules to bring the carriage.
Just above St. Remy there is a forest of larches, which
the inhabitants preserve with the most reUgious care,
as their own safety is interested in its preservation,
for it protects them from the avalanches or cMte des
neiges, so fatal in these coimtries. The path is very
narrow and rugged ; here and there immense blocks of
granite intercept the passage, difficult to be clambered
over, but no precipices to terrify and make the head
giddy. Little torrents running down like cascades, the
snow in many places very soft, yielding readily to the
pressure of the men's feet.
In about three hours from St. Remy I reached the
Convent. The plain on which it stands is about two
acres in extent ; a black-looking lake adjoining it was
frozen. Eternal snows surround this peaceful, melan-
choly dwelling, but the warmest charity issues from the
bosom of its inmates. Distress is claim enough to rouse
them to every action of spirited humanity. On a rock
close to the lake stood a temple to Jupiter, dedicated,
some say, by Hannibal in his passage across the mountain.
Numbers of ex-voto are found here, a proof that it was
considered as a perilous pass by the ancients. It is the
highest habitation in the old world. It is 1246 toises ^
above the level of the sea. A strong sense of active bene-
volence can alone induce men to abandon the charms
of the habitable world for this triste se'jour. The
clavandier or steward of the Convent offered us every
refreshment. I accepted willingly some strong wine, and
wrapped myself in eiderdown for a couple of hours.
The fine dogs known for their sagacity in seeking the
bewildered traveller lost under a mass of snow were not
at home ; they were ranging over the mountain.
' An old French measure. A toise is just over six feet.
1793] MT. ST. BERNARD 67
I turned my back on Italy with regret. The men
carried me backwards down the momitain. The snow on
this side very deep, and they waded through it with
great labour ; they often fell, but I was neither hurt nor
frightened. My intrepidity is more owing to an in-
difference about life than to natural courage. I have
nothing to love, so Hfe is not to me invaluable. Half-
way we stopped to look at the melancholy receptacle for
the bodies of those who perish on the mountains. There
is only one body ; it has been exposed for a year, but
the rarefaction of the air was such that the putrefac-
tion has not commenced. It was shrivelled, but the
features were perfectly distinguishable. The sun set. We
reached St. Pierre, a small village dependent on the
monastery we had just quitted. I lodged in the house
of a cure at Liddes, where I slept, who had formerly been
a monk in the upper region, but growing infirm he was
rewarded with half-freezing. He said he lived a happier
life among the community than in solitude. The small
house he has is pretty and fantastically covered with
some creeping plant over the walls. Early in the morning
I was awakened by the melody of the birds and the
fragrance of the plants ; the sun shone into my bed by
5 o'clock.
On the 14th, early in the morning, I set off. The
carriages were put upon the wheels, but the baggage was
conveyed on mules. The roads exceed anything I ever
beheld in point of danger. A narrow corniche without
a garde-fou, upon the brink of a precipice of many hun-
dred feet ; in some places I am sure the fall would have
been 1500 perpendicular feet.
The Drance gushes with the violence and noise of a
torrent in the valley. Orsieres is the first village ; the
houses are made of wood with immense high treillages
to dry beans upon them. The next village was Sem-
F 2
68 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
brancher ; about half a mile on this side of it the view
is delicious — I was quite enraptured. We got close to
the Drance, whose roar whitened its waters. We crossed
it frequently ; one of the bridges was very old and weak ;
they persuaded me to get out and walk over it. The
valley is evidently opened by violence, as the angles of
the mountains on each side correspond exactly. The sub-
limity of the scenery among these mountains inspires
one with a notion of the grandeur of our world, but this
thought is still dissipated on a starlight night, for then
we behold what a speck we are in the creation — a twinkling
orb like them.
We dined at Martigny, the capital of the Valois, a dirty
town abounding in loathsome objects, cretins and bugs.
The much celebrated cascade of the Pisse Vache was
in full beauty, but even so it is much inferior to Tivoli
and Temi. The Rhone is very fine and the adjacent
country beautiful ; we crossed it over an old Roman
Bridge at St. Maurice. Just on this side of the bridge
the Berne bear announced our arrival into its territory.
Upon my coming into Bex I met Prince Hatzfeldt
and my tiresome Scotch lover, Mr. Douglas. We supped
together at the inn, where I had a pretty terrace to walk
upon out of my bedroom.
Early in the morning, Tuesday, i6th, I set off in a
char-a-bande [sic] to see the salines of Bex. My com-
■pagnon de voyage was, as usual, ill-disposed and sulky,
and spared me the torment of his company. I went
into a subterranean gallery perforated for 3000 feet under
the mountain ; the smell of the lamps made me sick, and
I was obliged to return without seeing the cylinder which
is the film (?) of rock salt. The salt springs are fully
impregnated with the saline matter.
Left Bex at one o'clock. Dined at Vevey. Hodges
came out to meet us ; he brought me a packet of letters.
1793] LOST FRIENDS 69
My father continues ill, but less dangerously so than
by my former letters. The last time I was in Vevey
the Guiches dined with us in a pavilion belonging to the
Count St. Leger. Ludlow's ^ house is on the skirts of the
town ; the httle rampart round it formerly planted with
swivels is still to be seen. He lived in perpetual dread
of being taken by the Royalist party ; he was often fired
at. I felt melancholy at the sight of Lausanne now,
deserted by all the cheerful band who had assisted in
making me pass cheerfully some of the pleasantest hours
of my uncomfortable life. Gibbon's house is abandoned ;
he is in England. Poor Ly. Sheffield's apartment will
never again contain her ; she is no more. Mde. de Juigne
is again no more. All my friends are living in obscure
poverty, or have fallen in the field of battle. The
English here are the Cholmondeleys, the old Duchess of
Ancaster, Ld. Morpeth, his friend who travels with him,
and various other English, and the son of an Irish bishop.
The events in Paris are stiU disgusting and bloody,
Biron ^ is impeached ; the charge is having conducted
the war with insouciance. Those who know him say his
disposition is to do everything so, but he is humane and
gentlemanlike. He preserved all Lady Rivers' goods,
etc., when he entered Nice. Lord Beauchamp, now
Lord Yarmouth,^ is at Frankfort upon some political
mission ; hopes are entertained that it is to adjust a
general Congress for the termination of these horrid
scenes. Ld. Porchester is made an earl, as a reward
for deserting Mr. Fox, whose party is breaking up apace ;
some quit him from opinion, but most for the loaves and
fishes which are promised to them for their desertion.
' He took part in the trial and condemnation of Charles I.
2 Armand-Louis de Gontaut Biron (1747-1793)- He was guillo-
tined in December.
* Francis, afterwards second Marquess of Hertford ; at this time
Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Berlin and Vienna.
70 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
Mr. Fox's debts are to be paid by a subscription among
his friends ; he is to have an annuity of 3000/. per annum.
As he is not popular, people think it a mean transaction,
but formerly it was proposed as an honourable one.
Ld. Cholmondeley tells me that party runs very high
in England, disgustingly so.
1 have heard that my dear children are well ; Lady
SheUey has written me a satisfactory account of them.
I went to Mde. Cerjat's. She is very unhappy about her
sons ; one is besieging Valenciennes, From her gardens
we saw across the lake to Evian, where the detested
tricolor flag is flying on the tree of hberty ; we heard the
drums distinctly.
18th, Thursday. — A small dinner at home, Hodges, etc.
In the evening I went to the poor Duchess's, who has not,
I fear, many weeks to languish. Lord Morpeth ^ is clever,
very handsome, and very captivating. I see the Chol-
mondeleys ^ are trying to catch him for Miss L. ; he
appears indisposed to the project. He is evidently le
mieux possible with Mde. A. If I were addicted to coquetry
I beUeve I could easily become her rival, but I never
possessed a particle of the vanity necessary to such a
character, nor is there anything in my eyes flattering in
such proceedings. A pretty young woman is always
sure of as many lovers as she chooses, but to me there
would be more humiliation than glory in such a train.
I dined at the Cholmondeleys ; went to Casanova's
ball, and amused myself the few days I passed at Lau-
' George, Lord Morpeth (1773-1848), eldest son of Frederick,
fifth Earl of Carlisle, and Margaret, daughter of Granville, first Marquess
of Stafford. He married, in 1801, Georgina, eldest daughter of
William, fifth Duke of Devonshire, and succeeded to the titles on his
father's death in 1825.
2 George James, fourth Earl of Cholmondeley (1749-1827), who was
created Marquess of Cholmondeley in 181 5. He married, in 1791,
Georgina Charlotte (i 764-1 838), daughter of Peregrine, third Duke of
Ancaster,
1793] MARAT'S DEATH 71
sanne. Marat has been assassinated by a young woman
of the name of Charlotte Corday. She obtained admit-
tance whilst he was in the bath and pleaded for some of
the deputies, who are in prison ; she approached him,
drew a poniard, and stabbed him to the heart. She
was immediately seized, and the Convention are employed
in devising new tortures for her. This death will occa-
sion some change in their measures, as Marat was an
intrepid villain who had attached a party to himself.
The news from Valenciennes is dreadful : in an escalade
attempted by the allies 6000 men perished.^
La Fayette is still at Magdebourg.^ His confinement
seems both hard and unjust. The following lines are
written by Lord Camelford : —
D'un fanatisme aveugle oser braver la menace,
De ses vils oppresseurs oser punir I'audace,
Oser aimer son Roi, vouloir briser ses fers,
Proteger rinnocence, et dompter les pervers ;
Au noirceur de T intrigue opposer le courage,
La Constance a la mort, le mepris a I'outrage.
Favras, ce sont 1^ des crimes aujourd'hui,
Le supphce est pour toi, et le laurier pour lui !
Pour ce pale tribun, le tjn-an et I'esclave,
Le chef et le jouet du parti qui le brave.
Conspirateur hardi, timide pour le bien,
^Etouffant les remords qui germent dans son sein.
Ce Cromwell sans talents, ce Brutus de la Foire,
Qui par ses crimes au moins se consigne k I'histoire,
Qui salt fouler aux pieds les autels et les lois,
Ensanglanter le trone et le ht de ses Rois ;
Par de laches complots accabler 1' innocence,
Ce sont la de nos jours les vertus de la France.
' Valenciennes was invested by the allied troops under the Duke
of York, and capitulated after a siege lasting forty-three days.
- La Fayette had broken his connection with the Jacobins after
the execution of Louis XVI., and was forced to take refuge in neutral
territories at Li^ge. He was there taken prisoner by the Austrians,
and was kept in confinement at various places for five years.
72 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
Poor La Fayette, it overdoes his errors. I believe
he was compelled to go beyond his wishes, for as Dr.
Johnson somewhere says, * However faction finds a
man, it seldom leaves him honest.'
Dumouriez ^ went to England ; immediately upon his
arrival he informed Ld. Grenville, and begged to know
whether he might be permitted to remain. Ld. G. told
him he applied to the wrong person, as Mr. Dundas was
the proper one to address, but he would venture to assure
him permission would not be granted, and implied the
sooner he went the better.
I was extremely irritated to find a few miles from
Lausanne that Mr. Douglas had followed me. I knew
that a timely check might rid me of his company for the
journey. I therefore stopped the carriage, spoke to
him with cold civility, and gave him a message to Ly. C,
as I would not allow him to suppose I could imagine
that he meant to join me in travelling. He looked
embarrassed, took the rebuff, and returned back.
The Convention have satisfied themselves with ye
guillotine for Charlotte Corday, She behaved with the
utmost intrepidity to the last sad scene. Women have
appeared at the Bar of the Convention begging their
infants might take the name of Marat, adding that they
renounced any other evangile than his works, all creeds but
the Constitution ! Great reports of the success of the
Royalist army ; it is said to be within sixteen leagues
' Charles Fran9ois Dumouriez (i 739-1 823). At the outbreak of
the Revolution he was closely connected with the Girondist faction,
and held for short periods the offices of Foreign Minister and Minister
for War. He was appointed to the army of the north as Lieut. -
General, and inflicted a severe rebuff to the allies at Valmy in 1792.
After the execution of Louis XVI., however, he became lukewarm in
the cause, and when defeated by the Austrians at Neerwinden he seized
the opportunity of joining the Austrians, with a small portion of his
army. He Uved at Hamburg for some years, but finally settled in
England in 1804, and was granted a pension of 1200/. by Govern-
ment.
1793] STATE OF FRANCE 73
of Paris, but I confess, for one, that I am incredulous,
as the stories about it vary so much. Nantes was in
counter-revolution for thirty-six hours ; Lyons is hostile
to the Convention, but the inhabitants are arrant Re-
publicans, I believe General Ferraris will defeat my wish
of seeing the siege of Valenciennes, as he will take it
before I get thither.
Slept at Avenches. There is a curious mosaic pave-
ment, a vestige of it belonging to the Romans. Ld.
Northampton ^ has lived here for fifteen years. The old
town stood a mile further eastward. Some inscriptions
besides the tesselated pavement still remain, but the
corroding effect of time, and the still more destructive
hand of man, have left little to prove its former splendour.
24th July. — Set off at half-past seven o'clock. Just
before we entered the town of Morat we passed the chapel
which contains the bones of the Burgundians who fell
on this spot in 1476 ; which finally closed the long
contests between the Swiss and the Duke of Burgundy.
The awful sight of these remains at once raises melancholy
and pleasing thoughts, for here were doomed to fall by
the foUy of a tyrant several thousands of our species,
and here also the courage arising from a true spirit of
liberty secured the independence of this country.
Charles the Bold was defeated at Grandson and at
Morat. At this place he lost the famous diamond,
known since by the name of the Sancy diamond. It was
found on the field of battle by a Swiss soldier, who sold
it to a priest for a florin, who sold it again for half a
crown. It then fell into the hands of Antony, King of
Portugal, and from him the Baron of Sancy obtained it.
' Spencer, eighth Earl of Northampton (173S-1796). He was
twice married, and died at Berne. The Gentleman' s Magazine records
that he originally retired to Switzerland to recover from the expenses
of a Parliamentary contest at Northampton, for which he sat 1762-63.
He succeeded to the peerage in the latter year.
74 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
This diamond afterwards served as a pledge for a sum of
money lent by the Swiss to Henry IIL of France.^
We came here (Berne) at about two o'clock. This is
the neatest, dullest, coldest town I ever knew. I am sitting
in a south room on the 24th of July, and I protest I am
half frozen. This is the capital of the canton, and is a
far more magnificent city than might be expected in a
territory whose extent does not exceed much an English
county. It is situated on a hill, round which the Aar
winds its course, and protects the town from sudden
surprise : it might easily be destroyed by a bombardment
from the surrounding hills that command it. The streets
are wide, clean, and well paved. The houses, like those
in dear, dear Italy, built on arcades, an admirable con-
venience for the foot passengers in the rains of winter or
the heats of summer. I think it must fill the mind of a
true John Bull with envy to see the town of a province
like this, or a small capital like Turin, surrounded with
public walks, extensive avenues, and magnificent ap-
proaches, whilst their own metropolis can be approached
only by shabby, narrow turnpike roads. Ld. and Ly.
Robert Fitzgerald live in the faubourgs ; I shall call
upon them, and then pay my respects to the hears.
I suffer pain from the intense cold.
Leaving Berne at 9 o'clock on Thursday, July 25, the
travellers took the road to Hindelbank. Of the country
Lady Webster records : —
The soil continues the same ; hills covered with firs
and forest trees, rich pasture, clean farming. As wood
is more plentiful than stone, houses are principally
built of it ; the projecting roofs are useful for bams and
outhouses, but for habitations of human creatures they
' It was sold in 1830 for 20,000/. to the Emperor of Russia, and is
now in England.
1793] THE SWISS CHARACTER 75
must be unwholesome by excluding the rays of the
sun, and confining the smoke of the wood fires. Every
step that approaches me to England lowers my spirits.
Oh ! how I abhor the thoughts of living in that country.
No friends, few relations !
We slept at a little village the name of which I cannot
write. Set off at an eariy hour. The small Swiss inns
are delightful, so convenient, so well furnished with
excellent provisions. The people are passively civil,
which is all one requires ; they have neither the cold
neglect of a French inn, the indifference and clamour of
an Italian one, or the insupportable officiousness of an
Enghsh one. The Swiss have more junketing parties
than any other people. Arrive at any hour, day or night,
and one finds the inns crammed and the people stuffing
their belhes.
We dined at Lutzburgh ; ^ at the top of an isolated
hill there is an old castle, which commands the town.
This route is better calculated to please the farmer and
the quiet landscape painter than the mineralogist or poet.
The country is flat and rich, and the scenes are pleasing
and tranquil : not a study for the pencil of a Salvator.
About a mile from Lutzburgh we entered the canton of
Lucerne. The line of demarcation between the Catholic
and Protestant canton is more strongly marked by the
manners and habitations of the peasants, than by any
fictitious boundary prescribed by law. Poverty, dirt,
and misery are the visible attendants of the former, a
manifest and glaring contrast to the characteristics of the
latter, where wealth, cleanliness and ease abounds. The
politician must explain the causes of this melancholy
difference between the adjoining countries.
The road led past Mellingen to Baden, where they
passed the night. ' M. Barthel^my, formerly Secretary to
' Lenzburg.
76 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
the Embassy in London and now Minister from France to the
Swiss Cantons, resides at this melancholy place.'
On July 27th they crossed the Rhine at Kaiserstuhl and
went on to Laufen.
Sunday, 28th. — Schaffhausen is a melancholy, triste
town. The tinkling of the bells of the church close to
my room and the abominable psalmody distracted my
ears and shattered my nerves, I got up many hours
sooner than I intended, as rest was unattainable. I like
rather the bells of convents ; there is something cheerful
in Catholicism, but these dull Protestants make religion
frightful in their way of following it. The nasal melody
of these devout Schaffhauseners, who are at this moment
screaming themselves hoarse to chant the praises of
God, would have met with little mercy if the heathen
mythology were in force, as Apollo would have dispatched
their discordant souls to the regions below. We went
to the proper place to see the famous cataracts ; they are
tremendous, the noise is more powerful than artillery
could make, I believe. I think the fall is about 100 feet.
The river does not recover its stillness for some time after
the chute ruffles its waters.
Monday, 2gth. — Set off at 5 o'clock, and bid adieu to
the clean cottages and bold, craggy mountains of Swit-
zerland. We were advised against the Basle road, as it
approaches so very near the French frontier that we
might unwillingly have seen some skirmishes. Here the
dwellings of the inhabitants resemble those of Lincoln-
shire, mud walls, and the inhabitants as filthy as the
ground they tread on. The circle of Swabia is reckoned
to be a fertile and well-cultivated country and its popu-
lation proves that its peasantry are well fed. The hills
are well covered with fir and oak, the remains of the old
Hercynian Forest that once overspread this part of
Germany from the Danube to the Rhine. The wild boar
1793] RIVAL STREAMS 'j'j
and the wolf are the only savage animals that inhabit
these regions. The clearing of the forest has very much
influenced the climate of Italy ; Kirwan thinks by its
destruction Lombardy is become warmer. We crossed a
ridge of sand hills ; on the top of them I observed the
riUs of water to run in different directions, forming small
rivulets to the north and south sides. These continue
their course from their original direction. A lively
imagination might fancy their lamentations at the
impossibility of their ever meeting again in their native
country. ' I go,' says the northern drop, ' to join the
slow-flowing Danube, and quench the thirst of the
heavy-paced, mechanical German, the proud, independent,
but crushed Hungarian, and the lazy, ignorant, slavish
Turk. In my way I shall wash the waUs of Vienna,
Presburg, and Belgrade, and then in company with the
waters of Poland and of Russia will try to live in harmony
with the waters of the Euxine Sea.' ' And I,' says the
merry southern drop, ' will rush on to the rapid Rhine,
wash the coast of the brave and hardy Swiss, will then
avoid the once cheerful Frenchmen, and frisk down to
the North Sea,' and, if he is of my mind, will avoid the
chalky coast of England.
Arrived at midnight at Pallingen ; I slept in a billiard
room, a meuhle neither ornamental, comfortable, nor useful.
Tuesday, ^oth. — Hechingen, the first post from where
we slept, the seat of the King of Prussia's family, the
Counts of Hohenzollern. They possess a small prin-
cipality, the revenues of which are yoool. per annum,
yet the great Frederick was descended from a younger
branch of this petty prince. A lively Frenchman said,
' Parbleu, voila un cadet qui a fait fortune.' The castle
stands upon a high and steep hill. They tell a story of
one of its princes seeing from its terrace the rich country
of Wiirtemberg, and saying, ' What an addition would
78 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
the petit canton of Wiirtemberg be to the territory of
Hohenzollem.' We dined there. Just entering Tubingen
the country pretty : woods incUning to a valley, watered
by a little rill. Tiibingen appears to have been new built,
but still in that terrible taste which prevails all over
Lower Germany. Black beams placed crossways and the
interstices filled up with plaster, high roofs, gable ends,
and two or three stories of garret windows in the roof ;
the whole gives a mean appearance and disfigures a town
as much as the style of English architecture, though this
has the superiority, as the houses have the advantage of
being spacious. A filthy, disgusting practice prevails
here, that of placing the dunghills precisely in front of
their houses. In the towns they are in a line with the
bench before the house, on which they sit smoking and
regaling themselves after dinner ; in the villages, they
are in the middle of the streets, and it requires some
skill in the postillions to steer safely between them.
Beyond Tiibingen a noble forest of immense extent,
part of the Hercynian ; it is full of fine oaks. I cannot
make myself in the least understood in the language of
which Pope says : —
Language which Boreas might to Auster hold,
More rough than forty Germans when they scold.
I cannot connect two words so as to form the simplest
sentence. We reached Stuttgart at 12 o'clock at night.
Lord Mulgrave passed in his way to Milan : some
official business carries him. Custine is sent to the
Abbey [_sic], which is the first step towards the scaffold.^
Mayence fell on ye 25th.
' Custine was placed in charge of the northern army after
Dumouriez's defection, but found it in such a state of disorganisation
that he was unable to cope with the enemy. Cond6 and Valenciennes
fell without him being able to give them any assistance. His ill
success cost him his life.
1793] FALL OF MAYENCE 79
^ist July. — A Scotch gentleman of the name of
Stuart, brother to Mrs. Hippisley, showed me everything
to be seen. The Academy, a noble institution for yoimg
military. The Duke * was very extravagant formerly,
but he has adopted many salutary reforms. The palace
is very grand : it was made in his days of splendour. He
has now abandoned this place and Louisbourg ^ and
lives totally at Hohenheim, a chateau upon which he has
also spent immense sums. His cruelty is checked by his
Duchess, a good woman ; but his marriage with her was
a mesalliance.
Mayence surrendered upon capitulation : ye 22nd the
Prussians marched in. They endeavoured to persuade
the Elector to return, but he was afraid to trust himself
among his loyal subjects. Beauhamais had a bloody
battle with the army of observation. He was trying to
succour Mayence : victory was wavering for some hours,
but he did not attain his object, consequently was de-
feated. We slept at Louisbourg about twelve miles from
Stuttgart ; the palace and gardens are sumptuous, the
Opera house is the largest in Europe. Here in former
times Vestris and Noverre tripped upon the light fantastic
toe to the admiration and gawky imitation of the clumsy
German. To-morrow we shall reach Heidelberg.
1st August, Thursday. — Left Louisbourg at 6 o'clock.
Heilbronn, a free Imperial city, very dull, and decUning ;
the Neckar runs by it. Open com country. I did not
visit the Tun, so extolled for its size ; I passed a most
restless night on account of the myriads of little white
bugs. Got to Mannheim at 12. The whole town is
animated, a garrison in the town of 6000 men, bodies of
' Charles Eugene (1728-1793) who succeeded his father as Duke
of Wurtemberg in 1737. He was twice married, his second wife
being Franziscka de Bernardin, Comtesse de Hohenheim.
* Ludwigsburg.
8o LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
troops passing through, couriers coming and going.
All too evidently proves the vicinity to the seat of war,
but though a little alarming, yet one feels hurried on by an
interesting curiosity. The town is beautiful ; large stone
buildings, fine wide streets, and all the objects cheerful
and pleasing. The Gallery contains many fine pictures,
some charming Murillos ; and good Flemish artists have
contributed. The Cabinet has some beautiful specimens
of mineralogy. At Valenciennes poor ToUemache ^ was
killed in the trenches. He is Ly. Bridget's only son ; a
spent bomb struck against his bowels and he expired the
next day. We go to-morrow to Mayence, which I expect
to find a heap of ruins.
Saturday, Mannheim, '^rd August. — I have been reading
the sommation and articles of capitulation of Valen-
ciennes. The allies have accorded the garrison in it to
return to France but to be considered prisoners of war,
with a promise that they will not serve until they have
been regularly exchanged for other prisoners.- It is
very unlikely that they should abide by this convention,
and, to say the truth, were I the Government of France
they should not. Lord Yarmouth told me a trait of
French legerete that amused me. After the D. of York's
sommation there was a parley, during which many
people came out of the town. The first intimation the
Duke had that the terms were accepted was by the
director of the Theatre coming to ask what piece H.R.H.
would order the next day.
We left Mannheim at 10. The Elector's carriage
went out of the same gate with us ; it was going to Turk-
' Lionel Robert ToUemache, grandson of Lionel, fourth Earl of
Dysart, and son of the Hon. John ToUemache and Bridget, daughter
of Robert, first Earl of Northington. He was in his nineteenth year.
^ They were not to serve against the alUes for a year. This
condition, however, left them free to serve against the insurgents in
La Vendee, and there they were sent.
1793] THE SEAT OF WAR 8i
heim to bring the King of Prussia here. Turkheim is the
capital of the States of the unlucky Count of Leiningen
who was seized in his palace by the Patriots, who keep
him as a hostage for Camus, Beurnonville, and the
other deputies delivered by Dumouriez to the Austrians.
The road is all alive ; troops, recruits, baggage waggons,
ammunition waggons, sick and wounded, stragglers,
cavalry, all proclaim the direful din of arms is at hand.
At Worms we were forced to stop ; three long hours
have we already waited, not a horse to be had. The
Cathedral is a large, ugly brick edifice, in which a few
months ago 3000 patriots lodged. During their pre-
datory excursion they levied hard contributions upon
the townspeople to the amount of 12,000 florins.
^th August, Sunday. — Quitted Oppenheim at 6.
Followed the course of the Rhine : the roads almost
destroyed by the quantity of heavy artillery that had
passed to the siege of Mayence. A long file of ammuni-
tion waggons looked very pretty at a distance. I was
gratified with sight of pontoons to make a bridge. I shall
become very skilful in military tactics if I remain amidst
the clangour of war. A mile from Mayence upon the
road a small fascine battery to prevent succour getting
to the city. The faubourgs totally destroyed, not a
house with a roof on it. Cortheim is a complete ruin ;
out of 180 houses and two churches not a vestige except
the stones remain. The works at Cassel, the other
faubourg, are surprising. They were raised by the
French, who seemed as if they meant to fix there, as they
had begun to face the works with stone. A thick ahattis
remains all round the fortifications still. The town is
very much damaged : the Cathedral is almost a heap of
ruins, the front tower remains tottering without an
atom of roof. The Electoral Palace is converted into a
hospital where many victims to the folly and ambition of
VOL. I. G
82 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
their employers are languishing. La Favorita, a maison
de plaisance of the Elector, is razed to the ground.
We drove to Cortheim. It was a melancholy sight ;
scorched walls, fields of self-sown corn grown up with
weeds, unpruned vines trampled by cavalry, a house-
less town, and every symptom of desolation and solitude.
During the siege the French devoured horseflesh, and
have consumed so many that they are really scarce ;
we can get none to go on with. I talked with an
emigre, who seems well acquainted with many of my
friends. His prejudices are absurd ; he is as violent
against the first Assembly as he is against the atrocious
Convention.
5^/i of August, Frankfort. — The bridge of boats out of
Mayence would frighten a timid person to cross with
frisky horses ; ours did not answer that description. We
took the voiturins to Frankfort. We met a troop of
French prisoners, who looked more as if they were going
to take possession of the city than of its prisons. I sat
up very late from downright low spirits. I cannot bear
up whenever I am alone ; there is a desponding feel that
steals over my mind and prevents me from occupying
myself in any way. ' La mort ne vient jamais a propos,'
someone says ; I want to die, but I do not, and I shall die
(most likely) when I could dispense with it. The Maison
Rouge, a vast pile of buildings. The whole town has a
bourgeois air about it. It has not suffered by the
French. I do not care if it does or not. Custine only
took one million of florins : they can bear much more
squeezing. It is said that the English fleet is at length
in the Mediterranean : I have heard the report so often
that I doubt the truth of it.
6th August, Frankfort. — Obliged to stay dinner, as
horses were out of the question for some hours. The
common route is by Hattersheim, but we were advised to
1793] KONIGSTEIN 83
go by Konigstein, as the other had been destroyed to
retard the progress of the French. The road we went
was dreadful ; several times I thought the carriage would
have been overset. Obliged to sleep at this place
(Konigstein) for the old reason — want of horses. This
place has been destroyed by military rage ; the houses
are burnt and gutted. The French maintained them-
selves here two months against the allies, and then only
yielded to famine. It was quite touching to see some
of the hoary sons of St. Francis lamenting over the ruins
of their solitary cells, their untenanted convent, and
degraded altars. The hill upon which the fortress
stands is isolated, and commands a fine view of the
plain of the Rhine. The French surrendered to the
Russians. The common people detest their old masters,
and long for the return of their democratic friends,
whose principles are captivating to the lower classes :
every man enjoys the prospect of placing his humble
cot on a level with the proud palace, forgetting that the
equality can only be maintained by lowering the palace
to the cot. My companion in a paroxysm threw the
book I was reading at my head, after having first torn
it out of my hands.
yth August. — Set off at 7 from Konigstein ; the road
insufferably bad. Austrian soldiers marching from Linz
into Brabant. One poor fellow was lying on the ground
roaring from the torture of a colic. I gave him
money, and as we were going the same road had him
placed upon the second carriage, that took him on till
we overtook a baggage waggon : he was a poor Croat
not twenty years old. Slept at Montabaur.
8/^ August. — Passed through a noble forest of
enormous extent. Coblentz is charmingly situated upon
the Rhine. We crossed the river on a pont volant.
The emigres are no longer allowed to remain in the
G 2
84 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
town ; this foyer of counter-revolution is at present very
dull and democratic. Just out of the town we crossed
the Moselle, which there falls into the Rhine. We
followed the course of the Rhine to Bonn, the country
rich and populous. Just before we entered Bonn, I
was delighted at the sight of a very magnificent ruin
of a baronial castle, with a high tower, upon a solitary
rock. We slept at Bonn, which is now the residence of the
Elector of Cologne, who is the uncle of the Emperor.
()th August. — Stopped at Cologne, an ugly, dirty
town ; everything looked black, houses, water, faces,
trees. Road to Donningen ^ deep sand and bad. Three
miles from Dusseldorf crossed the Rhine, which is very
wide and begins to lose its transparency, on a pont
volant. The gates of Dusseldorf were shut, and we were
compelled to take refuge under a very comfortless roof ;
I lay upon the floor a prey to every sort of vermin, bugs,
spiders, earwigs — filthy. I never was really annoyed
at any gUe before this.
loth August. — The gallery contains some excellent
pictures.' Rubens, Vanderwerjs, and some Italian
masters. Twenty-five Vanderwerfs. Small cabinet
pictures his finished, detailed style suits, but he fails
when he attempts history pictures. His pendant to
Raphael's ' St. John ' shows that he did not understand
e_^ect ; the figure of Magdalen looks like a carving in
ivory, and the hair like a flaxen wig. A game piece
by Sneiders, a single figure in it done by Rubens, a chef
d'ceuvre. In general a picture painted by different
hands either fails in harmony or in composition, but
not this one, as each are perfect. Sneiders' high finishing
forced Rubens to give more force and less glare. This
' Dormagen (?).
^ The collection was removed for safety in 1805 to Munich by
Maxmilian Joseph, King of Bavaria, and was never returned.
1793] DUSSELDORF 85
picture makes one regret that Rubens had not always
some reason to paint in this energetic style. Two fine
Boths. Fine Berghem. The ' Charlatan,' by Gerard Dow,
a charmingly executed Dutch picture, as fine as the
celebrated ' Femme Hydropique,' by the same hand, at
Turin. The evening was rainy, and the weather very
unpromising, but the whim was to go on, and on we
went to Furth. When we arrived there were no beds ;
I and my maid sat up in a small room, and Sir G. and
the servants slept as they could in the carriages.
Sunday. — In the road to Juliers there are works upon
the road made by the French whilst they were in posses-
sion of this country. Juliers is an ugly town belonging
to the Elector of Bavaria. At Aix-la-Chapelle heard
the melancholy tale of the Queen's being sent to the
Conciergerie. Unhappy woman ! there is httle hope of
peace for her in this life. Gaston continues successful
in Brittany. He appears to rise by magic, suddenly
he advances at the head of thousands, and then as
suddenly they dissolve into air. It is a pity the emigrants
are not sent to succour him, but I confess I begin to
fear the liberal, generous, and gallant Englishman looks
at France with a mercantile, suspicious eye. Slept at
Aix-la-Chapelle.
12th August. — The road to Maestricht in a shocking
state. The town surrounded by works thrown up by
the French when they besieged it under Miranda, early
in the year, while Dumouriez invaded Holland. During
the siege the emigres worked the guns, and were as brave
as this nation have always been. The besiegers gave
up the attack. The strength of the town is prodigious.
It was the work of Crehorne [sic], a great military
tactician ; it now belongs to the Dutch, always garrisoned
by 8000 or 10,000 men. It is a pretty town, large, well
built, and paved. Dined at Maestricht, and should
86 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
have reached St. Trond, but want of horses compelled
us to stop at Tongres.
H'^th. — Straight long avenues and fertile country.
Stopped at Lou vain. In the courtyard saw English
carriages, belonging to some young men who are going
to Italy, Mr. Amherst, Beauclerk, and Comewall. Near
this town were fought the battles that expelled the
patriots from Flanders — Neerwmden and Louvain.
Bruxelles. — Found a budget of letters, from T. P.
and my father. Ld. H.' talks of coming to meet me ;
he can be absent from the Hague only by stealth. Wrong
as it will be, my inclination would get the better of my
reason if I had the measure to decide upon, but as I
have not, it must take its chance ; only I do not think
he can arrive before I go. My children are perfectly
well. Everything in this town is as it was nine years
ago, when I, a little harmless innocent, used to meander
among the groves of this delicious park. My father
lived a year at this pretty place when I was a very young
performer in life. I went to see the desolation made a
few days ago by a dreadful accident in the suburb.
Some ammunition waggons, to the amount of eight in
number, suddenly blew up. The explosion was fatal
to 100 persons ; a gentleman, lady, child, and three
servants were travelling past, and must have perished,
as no vestige of them or their equipage remains,
Madame de Balbi very friendly to me ; all the beau-
monde of Paris assembled here. Ld. Elgin - is the
Minister here ; he is hien fat, civil like a Scotchman, but
on the whole I liked him better than I expected. Poor
Ld. H. has a great prejudice against him. A gossiping
• Lord H. Spencer.
* Thomas, seventh Earl of Elgin and eleventh of Kincardine
(1766- 1 84 1), the collector of the ' Elgin Marbles.' He was at Brussels
from 1792 till 1795.
1793] COUNT FERSEN ^7
man, a Mr, Merrick, told me the scandal of London, He
says Carlo Dolce is annoyed at the violence of Mrs.
Potiphar's passion for him : she is vehement even in
public.
M. de Fersen, the lover of the unhappy Queen,
came to see me. He is tall and stately, and has the pre-
tension in his manner of a favourite : au reste, his devoted
attachment to the Queen, even more in her prison, makes
him interesting. On the 6th of October he disguised
himself as a democrate, and cried out with the mob,
' Vive la nation,' merely that he might keep close to her
carriage and protect her from any personal violence.
He planned their flight from Paris to Varennes and rode
postillion to the immense berlin ; had his advice been
followed the whole family would have been safe.
I called upon Madame Ferraris ; she thought me
grown since Vienna. Her husband is with the Duke
of York. She says the Duke submits to the advice of
his generals very readily, but there are two different
stories upon that subject. I dined with Ld. Elgin, etc.,
and passed my time pleasantly among the French.
Tuesday, 20th. — I rose in the morning fully per-
suaded that I should sleep at Bruges. Ld. Elgin (who
I have grown to like) very good-humouredly did his
utmost to facilitate my wish of seeing Valenciennes. He
gave us quantities of passports, and very sullenly we
set off. Saw A. St. Leger. He came over, as have done
many English, Mr. Windham, etc., to see the armies.
21st. Mons. — Passed over the plain where the dreadful
battle of Jemappes was fought, which obtained to
Dumouriez the full possession of Flanders. The plain
is covered with newly made graves ; no skeletons, except
those of a few horses were stretched about. The whole
country covered with waggons and ammunition. The
feeding and clothing of a great army requires skill and
88 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
combination, to the full as much as leading it on to
combat. Just out of Quievrain we entered part of old
France. The com was standing, and did not appear to be
in the least damaged. About a league from Valenciennes
lies the wonderful machinery that destroyed it, a
magnificent park of artillery, with immense magazines
of balls, etc., guarded by a small party of Austrians
encamped. A pretty sight enough.
Valenciennes is in a deplorable state, many streets
are quite uninhabitable ; scarcely a house standing that
has not been shattered by bombs. The streets are
choked up with rubbish ; beams of houses half-burnt
lying across. The quarter of the town through which
we passed first is the most destroyed ; it was the part
nearest to the globes of compression} The concussion
occasioned by their explosion finished what forty-two days
incessant hre had begun. The city walls and ramparts
are crumbling from the shattering made in them with
ball. We were shown very exactly by an intelligent
officer the military posts, and the chief occurrences at
them. The French went into the fossee when they
abandoned the hornwork ; the allies pursued them.
The panic created by the explosion of the globes of
compression made the assault very little perilous.
The danger was when the French recovered themselves
and found that all the mischief was done, they might
have blown up the homwork, as by some oversight
the besiegers had not undermined them there. Sir John
Shelley served as a volunteer, and gained himself credit
by his gallantry. In the camp of Famars, close by, is a
rude monument erected in honour of Dampierre, the
citizen general, who was killed. It consists of the tree
of liberty decorated with military trophies. If his fame
' Three of these were fired from covered mines, and the assault was
deUvered at the same moment, during the confusion caused by them.
1793] VALENCIENNES 89
does not survive the effigies, it will be but short-lived, as
they are withering already.
The loss of bourgeoisie in the town during the siege
is calculated at about 2,500 men, women, and children.
Thousands were crammed into the vaults of the general
hospital, and guards posted to prevent them from going
out that they might not by their complaints and sufferings
dispose the active bourgeoisie and the garrison to yield.
The house I am now in is above two-thirds of it untenable ;
the walls are perforated with balls and bombs, and there
is not from top to bottom a whole pane of glass in the
house. The appearance of the inhabitants denotes
what they must have suffered from famine, confinement,
terror, and the whole accompanying train of diseases.
Yet they regret the Carmagnols, and would to-morrow
assist their return. Mr. Hobart and Mr. Meyrick
joined us at dinner ; they brought news of an engage-
ment at Tourcoing, for the Duke of York was getting
on to Ypres without suspecting he could meet with any
impediment from the Camp de la Madeleine, but he
found to his cost that he was interrupted. His vanguard,
composed of Dutch, were attacked and forced to replicr ;
the detachment of Guards sent to reinforce them were
defeated with the loss of 200 ; Colonel BosviUe was
killed, and many others wounded.
Whilst I was walking on the ramparts at Valenciennes,
an Austrian grenadier intended to make a well-turned
compliment by wishing I was his wife for the sake of a
fine race of grenadiers. I received a similar compliment
from one of his description at Prague. Mr. Hobart
laughed mightily at the Swager's gallantry. When I
look at the scenes around and reflect that it is the deed
of man to man, how far more cruel does he appear than
the lion or the tiger. We saw smoke from Le Quesnoy ;
as it was invested we concluded it was a bombardment,
90 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
but as the trenches are not yet opened it could not be,
therefore it must have been the French employed in
burning their suburbs ! Prince Coburg is before it.
22nd. — Quitted Valenciennes at 3 o'clock. All the
villages partake of the ruinous ravage of war. About
a league is the superb ci-devant Abbaye de Vicoing,
which alternately belonged to the allies and the French ;
there are breastworks and embrasures in many parts
round it. It serves now as a garnison for Austrian
hussars. Very near it are the Baths of St. Amand, near
which the English were unwarily surprised and beat
unmercifully from a masked battery. Every cottage
that fronts the road has its walls perforated for muskets.
Poor wretched people ! What a condition is theirs !
friend or foe must be equally to be dreaded by them.
The road between St. Amand and Tournay was
covered with baggage waggons and troops. In the
dark, about 8 o'clock, I had an alarm that produced a
sensation of terror far beyond any power of description
to express. Just upon the plain where the battle of
Fontenoy was fought, I saw about a quarter of a mile
before me ten or twelve horsemen gallop across the road
and range themselves under the trees of the avenue.
They came from the French side of the road, and in the
dusk and indistinct manner in which I saw them more
than satisfied me that they were French hussars. I
gave myself up for lost, and in an agony of silent despair
hid my head. We approached, when, lo ! — my hussars
proved to be gleaners. The immense bulk of them on
the horizon and their quiet motion, aided by imagination,
made me see an enemy instead of a harmless band of
suffering countrywomen. When we reached Tournay
we found the inn full of English soldiers. Lord Huntley
in the house very dangerously ill.
It is very true that the nearer one approaches the
1793] MOVEMENTS OF THE ALLIES 91
scene of action intelligence becomes more imperfect and
contradictory. Every other man we met gave us a
different account ; some said the D. of York was at
Ypres, others that he was at Furnes, and yet it is possible
that he has been at neither place. We met the Dutch
troops who ran away on the i8th ; they are going to
garrison towns, as they cannot be trusted in the lines.
At Menin I saw Colonel Doyle walking upon the Grande
Place. He has a deep wound in his arm and a contusion
on his knee. An old Dutch acquaintance of Pierrot's ^
caressed him, the greffier Fagel's son, a great friend of Ld.
Henry's. The officers advised us against going on to
Ypres, as a severe cannonade had been heard that way
the whole morning, but we must either have returned or
gone on : I felt queer, not to say frightened. We passed
within two miles of the French lines, and that is the
distance for half a dozen desperate hussars to gallop to
plunder. We met a Mr. Lodge, an Englishman ; he has
just left Furnes, near which the armies are encamped,
but he reported that they were filing off to lay siege to
Dunkirk. I hear the Cabinet of Vienna are displeased
at the D. of York's terms of capitulation for Valen-
ciennes, especially as he gave up two of the deputies who
had voted for the King's death, and the troops, they say,
so far from abiding by their engagement of not serving
again, are hurrying down towards Dunkirk. At Ypres
the Austrians brought in twelve French prisoners, chiefly
lads from 14 to 20 ; one of them was quite a stripling,
he had been a button-maker at Lyons, but was forced
to serve as a Volunteer. It is astonishing when we see
their troops how it is they contrive to fight so well,
against the bravest and best disciplined armies in the
world. From Ypres the road to Furnes is within 100
' Ladj' Webster's spaniel.
92 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
yards of the French territory. We went close to the
advanced Dutch pickets ; their disposition to run away
did not allow me to rely much upon their protection.
At Rousbrugge, a small village, whilst we were in it, the
drum beat to arms for an outpost being driven in, and
the alarm spread of the enemy. In an instant all the
soldiers turned out ; a fine regiment called Loudohn
Verts [sic].
At Furnes the town was so full that I was obliged to sit
in the carriage in the middle of the Grande Place, and
had no prospect of other shelter for the night. For-
tunately, however, a charitable old woman who kept a
little tallow-chandler's shop agreed to let me pass the
night in a little sandy parlour, that literally had no
other furniture than a walnut great chair and a cupboard
decorated with Delft cups. There was a bedroom, but
to keep my companion from becoming outrageously
discontented I yielded it to him, and lay upon blankets,
etc, upon the floor. The room was really so small that
when I was extended my maid could not sit in the great
chair ; she therefore passed the night in the carriage.
The evening was very agitating : we heard very
plainly the roaring of the cannon at Dunkirk ; couriers
were perpetually arriving with some intelligence. The
whole day had been passed in attempting to dislodge
the French from a wood just before the town. The news
came of the death of General Dalton and Col. Elde.
At night I mounted the belfry of the church ; the light
from the cannon at Dunkirk was very strong, no less
than five villages near it were in a blaze, the horizon was
deeply dyed with a mixture of deep red flames and
smoke. I never passed a more wretched night ; the idea
of the bloody tragedy near, the recollection of the haggard
countenances of the dying soldiers, and the possibility,
even probability, that many of my friends were expiring,
1793] THE BRITISH CAMP 93
made me so nervous that I could not obtain a wink of
sleep. I got up unrefreshed and weary both in mind
and body.
Major Doyle and all the officers I have seen express
themselves with discontent at the prospect of the cam-
paign ; they think the measure of acting without the
Austrians very injudicious.^ They much doubt the
practicability of the capture of Dunkirk. With the
utmost difficulty we procured a vehicle, and with as
much we waded through the deep black sand to the
British camp. The distance was about six miles in all.
The road is a high, narrow chaussee with the dunes
between it and the sea. The first encampment is that
of the artillery, prettily placed on each side of the canal.
Thirteen dead horses lay stretched upon the road, victims
of the engagement of the day before ; we were obliged to
stop till they were dragged away, to let the carriage
pass. It was just thereabouts where Dalton fell ; he was
endeavouring to take a well-defended redoubt. The
English camp is making ; they only took the ground
yesterday. I slept in the tent of Capt. Cerjat, of the
Blues. I went to see the corpse of Dalton : he was lying
on his side with one pale hand upon his head and the
other upon his bosom, great expression of placid benignity
on his countenance.
The Duke of York, on hearing of my arrival, sent to
beg me to go to his tent and dine with him at head-
quarters. I saw poor Malbrouk, who was looking mighty
well. I dined with the Duke ; I felt odd being the only
female among such a party of men. AU the staff dined
with him. The place we dined in was a large grange ;
his own tent he kept for his private use. He is highly
' The English army was engaged at Dunkirk, while the Imperial
force besieged Quesnoy. A very large force was also required to
preserve the communications between them.
94 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
incensed against the D. of Richmond • for not sending
the ordnance, and to complete his vexation the artillery
officers at Ostend have sent down the canals the carriages
in one vessel, and the cannons in another, so that they
do not arrive together. His language of censure is
unqualified, and he is never much disposed to praise
the D. of Richmond. After dinner I attended with
H.R.H. the funeral of Col. Elde : it is an affecting
sight. I was at first startled at the firing in platoons
over the grave, but after the first discharge I did not
mind it. There was another English officer buried,
but I was low-spirited and would not go.
The Duke bid St. Leger show me the different
camps, and sent me in one of his light cabriolets. In
the course of the drive we were overtaken by the chaplain,
who galloped and called as fast and as loud as he could.
It was to make us return, for we had passed by several
hundred yards the spot where a Hanoverian vedette
had been killed by a sheU, a proof that we were within
reach of danger. We returned as fast as we could,
and were grateful to him for his friendly interposition.
We got out and walked upon the dunes, but were speedily
recalled, as the vedette advised me not to venture, the
French riflemen being such excellent shots that I might
be aimed at. I should not have dreaded French cruelty
to a woman, had I not the melancholy instance of the
poor Queen.
I went and sat some hours with the Duke in his
tent ; M. de Bouille was there. I heard a pattering
noise, like rain, upon the canvas of the tent, but the
' Charles, third Duke of Richmond (173 5-1 806), Master-General
of the Ordnance 1783-1795. 'The Duke of Richmond quitted
the Ordnance, ascribing the failure to the Duke of York, and the
Duke of York, or at least his friends, insinuated that it had arisen
from the neglect or the malicious delay of the Ordnance ' (Lord
Holland's Memoirs of the Whig Party, i. 68).
1793] DUKE OF YORK'S KINDNESS 95
eagerness of M. de Langereau to tell news soon destroyed
that tranquil belief, for he came out of breath to say
that the outposts were fighting, and were driven in,
and a general attack might be expected. The Duke,
who knew perfectly well what was going on, but had
prudently and considerately concealed it from me, was
quite angry at his indiscretion. I was panic-struck, and
fairly clung to the Duke for comfort : I have wondered
since how he could endure my tiresomeness. Whenever
an officer whispered him and he gave an order I was in
a tremor, upon which he said nothing should be done
but openly, and he really gave his orders in a way that I
might hear distinctly. He asked me to give the watch-
word, which I declined, and he with great gallantry
gave Elizabeth and Success, or something to that purpose.
The firing continued, and to prevent me listening to every
volley, he ordered his band to strike up ; they played
till I went. He sent me an escort of several light dragoons ;
I reached Furnes safely some hours after midnight.^
Dover, 1st December, 1793. — Occupation and vexation
prevented me from keeping anything like a journal
during the whole of my stay in this odious country.
I shall collect from memory all I can, whilst I sit watching
the weathercock, for we are detained here by adverse
winds and waves.
From Furnes we went to Ostend ; we embarked with
' It is interesting to compare a letter of Mr. Elliot, of Wells, quoted
in Lady Minto's Life of Sir Gilbert Elliot, and written on Nov. 2,
from Tournay, after a visit to the Duke's headquarters. ' Almost all
the persons immediately about the Duke are very young men, and as
they live at headquarters, they fill his table and prevent him from
inviting the general officers and colonels of regiments as frequently
as it is usual for a Commander-in-Chief to do. This is one source of
disgust. The youth of the circle which surrounds him occasions also
a levity of manners at headquarters, hence arises a lamentable deficiency
of discipline among the officers. The Duke feels this, and sometimes
expresses himself hardily, when he ought to act with severity.'
96 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
Messrs. Hobart and Meyrick, and had a good passage
of about twenty hours. Arrived at Grenier's Hotel on
the ist of September, and from thence went to my
father's at Windsor. I had the happiness of finding him
better, tolerably cheerful, but very weak. After staying
a few days with him, I went to my httle friends at Bignor,^
all well, and happy to see me. From thence I went to
Stanmer, where I was received with cordiality ; Mr.
Pelham was there, and of course enchanted at seeing me.
From thence I went across the country to Battle,
that detested spot where I had languished in solitude
and discontent the best years of my life. I lodged at
the Deanery, as I had a superstitious feeling as to passing
another night within the same walls which confined me
so long. I saw without a particle of satisfaction all
the well-known objects, and felt restless until I got
out of the place, for I felt half afraid of being detained
by some accident. I found Sheffield Place dreary
without my old friend ; her corner and chair was occu-
pied by her old favourite. Gibbon. The whole family
were affected at seeing me ; towards evening we grew
more comfortable.
Gibbon came out with some of his very tedious witti-
cisms. His joke was that Lady Beauchamp ^ was the
most unfortunate woman alive. She was for a day or
two wife to the most profligate man in the world, for
she was Lady Rochester ; she then was wife to a traitor ;
and was finally become an old German Countess, declared
' Mrs. Wyndham's house.
^ Better known as Lady Hertford. Isabella Anne, second wife
of Francis, Lord Yarmouth, who succeeded his father as second Marquess
of Hertford in 1704. The first Marquess, whose stepmother was a
daughter of Lawrence Hyde, Earl of Rochester, was created Viscount
Beauchamp and Earl of Hertford in 1750, and was raised to a Mar-
quisate in 1793. Lady Beauchamp was daughter of Charles Ingram,
Viscount Irvine, and married in 1776. She died in 1834, at the age of
seventy-four.
1793] IN ENGLAND 97
mistress to the King — the Countess of Yarmouth.^ All
these changes arose from Lord Yarmouth finding a
difficulty in the choice of a second title upon his father's
being made a Marquis,
I went to Brightelmstone ; the Prince chose to combler
me with every attention and civility. He gave me
breakfast in his tent to show me his regiment, of which
he is extremely vain. In London I passed all my mornings
and evenings with the Duchess of Devonshire. In the
morning we attended chemical lectures from Higgins,
and in the evening I passed my time at Devonshire House.
I went to Court with Lady George Cavendish. The
Queen spoke very crossly when she heard I was going
to return to Florence. The King talked about Dunkirk
and his son. I dined with Burke at Lady EUiot's. He
was full of delight at the capture of Toulon, and burst
forth in a grand strain of eloquence at the prospect of
our having again the Cocarde blanche and the standard
of royalty raised in one of the chief cities of France.
He said the allies were annoyed from a little fort still
held by the Repubhcans, but that once taken they
should become masters of the country. This fort
was called the Heights of St. Anne's. ' Aye,' said he,
' St. Anne's is always in the way,' alluding to Mr. Fox's
opposition to the war, and his residence being at St.
Anne's Hill, near Windsor.
I heard from Lord Henry, very miserable at not being
able to catch me anjrwhere on my return, but ordered
to repair immediately to Stockholm.
Lord Sheffield consulted me about marrying. I
recommended him to marry Lucy Pelham ; he begged
me to sound T. P., who appeared much pleased at
' Madame de Walmoden, George II. 's mistress, was created Countess
of Yarmouth.
VOL. I. H
98 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
the possibility of such an event. ^ I think it will hap-
pen. Our parties at Devonshire House were delightfully
pleasant. Lady Melbourne ^ is uncommonly sensible and
amusing, though she often puts me in mind of Madame
de Merteuil in the Liaisons dangereuses. The Duke of
Bedford is attached to her ; he is quite brutal from the
brusquerie of his manner. He is magnificently generous
to his younger brothers, and indeed to all who are in
distress. He is decidedly with Mr. Fox, a circumstance
that displeases the staunch courtiers. Mr. Grey is the
bien aime of the Duchess ; he is a fractious, exigeant
lover. Sheridan has lost his lovely wife. We made
friends ; he did behave abominably to me without any
question two years ago. I lived also a good deal with the
Duchess of Gordon ; supped with her, and went to the
play. I was really very much admired, improved in
my manner, and a sort of fashion and novelty by coming
from abroad.
My old acquaintance Sir Gilbert Elliot ^ is appointed
joint Commissioner with Lord Hood and General O'Hara
for arranging all civil concerns at Toulon and any other
towns that may offer to put themselves under ye pro-
tection of the English or allies.'* This Commission has
' Lord Sheffield married Miss Pelham, Thomas Pelham's sister,
in December 1794. She died early in 1797.
- Elizabeth, only daughter of Sir Ralph Milbanke. She married
Peniston, first Viscount Melbourne, in 1769, and died in 18 18. Her
second son, William, succeeded to the titles, and became Prime Minister.
^ Afterwards first Earl of Minto. As a follower of the Duke of
Portland he had ceased to co-operate with the Opposition when his
leader joined the Ministry.
* Toulon was handed over by its inhabitants to Lord Hood on the
condition that it should be held in trust for Louis XVII., and given
back to the Royalists on the restoration of the monarchy. It was
soon afterwards besieged by the Republicans under General Cartaux,
who appeared before the walls on August 30. Large reinforcements
swelled his force to over 30,000 men, while the numbers of the allies
never exceeded 12,000. After several sorties, in one of which General
O'Hara, the commander of the land forces, was taken prisoner, it was
1793] SIR GILBERT ELLIOT 99
occasioned much discussion. It is an event to engage
the attention of the pubHc, for the surrender of Toulon
and the fleet in the harbour gave the allies the entire
command of the Mediterranean, and it was the first place
in which the standard of royalty has been raised : for at
Valenciennes and other places that had been taken by
force of arms, there were no declarations in favour
of any party or description of that in France.
Sir Gilbert's former connection with Mr. Fox exposes
him to some animadversion upon this occasion, for
though I think myself that every person ought to show
a readiness to resist innovation, to which Mr. Fox seems
disposed to incline, yet such a disposition would be
manifested with equal, if not more effect by a disinterested
support of Ministers, than adding to that zeal the encum-
brance of office. Fox's friends impute wholly to Sir
Gilbert the rupture of the Whig party, as he used the
D. of Portland's name in supporting an opinion that
went against Fox ; from whence the schism sprung.
The D. of Portland assured Mr. Fox that Sir G. was
not warranted by his consent to quote what he did.
Sir Gilbert, on the other hand, declares that he was
expressly desired to do so by the Duke. That there is
a lie somewhere is certain, but whether it is from the
Duke or Sir Gilbert is only known to themselves. Sir
G.'s enemies say that it most probably is in him, as
the D. of Portland had his eldest son, Ld. Titchfield, in
the House, who had several times spoken the opinions
of his father from written instructions, and that in
a point of so much importance he would again have
been employed in preference to Sir Gilbert, who had no
other connection with the D. of Portland than that of
decided to evacuate the town, and the design was successfully carried
out after burning the majority of the stores and ships in the harbour.
H 2
100 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
belonging to the party as an adherent of Mr. Fox's ;
and also that it was so advantageous to Sir Gilbert to
usurp the post of delegate from the D. of Portland, as
it gave him a weight in the House, and entitled him to a
grateful recompense from Ministers, in being the first
to announce the disapprobation of the D. of Portland
to the scanty Opposition, a point very material to them
towards obtaining the public opinion, both in and out of
doors. Thus has the celebrated Whig party ended to
the ruin of Mr. Fox, and probably to the disadvantage of
the country.
Grey is a man of violent temper and unbounded
ambition. His connections were Ministerial, but on his
return from abroad both parties entertained hopes of
him. His uncle. Sir Harry, is a rich, old, positive,
singular man, leads a retired life, but was always eager
upon politics, particularly against the Coalition — an
infamous thing, by-the-bye. His father, Sir Charles
Grey,^ is attached to Government as a military man,
and is intimately connected with Col. Barre and Ld.
Lansdown, who at that time supported the Ministry.
Grey was elected whilst abroad, therefore not pledged to
any particular party. The fashion was to be in Opposition ;
the Prince of Wales belonged to it, and he then was not
disliked ; all the beauty and wit of London were on that
side, and the seduction of Devonshire House prevailed.
Besides, Pitt's manner displeased him on his first speech,
whereas Fox was all conciliation and encouragement.
Grey's talents were never fairly tried till the question
about the Regency ; the speeches he had made before were
' Sir Charles Grey, a distinguished general officer and K.B. (1783),
was created Baron Grey of Howick in 1801. He was raised to an
earldom in 1806, but died the following year at the age of seventy-
eight. His elder brother, Sir Henry Grey, died unmarried in 1808,
and the baronetcy devolved on Charles, second Earl Grey, the com-
mencement of whose political career Lady Webster here relates.
1793] MR. GREY loi
prepared declamations. He had shown his powers of
debating. Fox's iUness prevented him from attending
so constantly as he would otherwise have done, and
Grey was frequently obliged to enter the lists with Pitt,
and on that occasion he showed the strength of his under-
standing and his powers as a Parliamentary speaker.
Notwithstanding this great success. Grey was not gener-
ally popular ; his manner was supercilious, and Uke his
rival Pitt, they both considered their abilities so trans-
cendent that they seemed to despise experience, and
treated their elders with contempt and sarcasm. Grey
had often shown his ambition and impatient temper ;
he grew every day more violent against Pitt, and in
1791 he brought forward his plan of Parliamentary
reform, conceiving it to be a measure that would be
more pecuharly distressing to Pitt than any other he
could bring forward.^
Grey had contracted a great friendship with Lord
Lauderdale, who is one of those active, bustling spirits
that will rather engage in perils, and even mischiefs,
than remain in a state of insipid tranquillity. At a dinner
at Lord Lauderdale's, after having drunk a considerable
quantity of wine, a sort of roll of enhstment was signed,
by which they pledged themselves to bring forward
the reform of Parliament. Lord Lauderdale, Grey,
Maitland, Francis, Courtenay, Piggott, and others were
of the party. This was the origin of the Friends of the
People or Association. Two or three attempts had been
made for a reform ; ye first was by Lord Auckland,
but his apostacy put an end to it. This society was
previously formed upon the same plan as that in which
Pitt took such a conspicuous line in the beginning of his
political life, at the Thatched House.
' Pitt brought forward his plan for reform in 1785.
102 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
Grey was to make the motion for reform in the House
of Commons, and was weak and sanguine enough to
imagine he was to have the same success ; but the
times were different. Ye Administration was strong and
popular, and the extravagance of French patriots had
alarmed all English ones, and Pitt became as popular
in resisting Grey's motion for reform as he had been
some years before in proposing one himself. Pitt, who
knows what is called the people of England — a very
different thing from knowing mankind — better than
anybody, did not rest here, but determined to crush
his rival by sounding a general alarm and issuing a
proclamation, which indirectly was levelled at Grey and
the Friends of the People. Grey was alarmed and vexed
at the failure of this scheme and the loss of popularity.
Fox was professedly kept out of all concern in this wild
project, under a false and foolish idea, that if it failed he
would not be involved in any disgrace that might attend
its failure. However, when the motion was made and
the discussion upon the Proclamation was brought
forward, Grey and his friends were so overpowered in the
House, that they were obUged to fly to Fox for protection,
and some of them, particularly Erskine and Sheridan,
excused themselves from any bad intention by saying
they had professed no more than Fox had done on other
occasions, and were unfair enough to say that though
he had not signed his name with them, he had done
more, for he had pledged himself to the public to support
their principles.
These debates and those which followed upon the
progress of the French Revolution and its effects on the
minds of men in England, increased the schism in the
Whig party, which Pitt endeavoured to take advantage of
by proposing a coalition. Ld. Loughborough and Dundas
were the principal negotiators.
1793] LEAVES ENGLAND 103
William Wyndham, by dint of frequent applications
to Ld. Egremont to get him a foreign employment, is
named to Florence, in lieu of Ld. Hervey. Frederick
Hervey ^ is very unhappy at the suddenness and mystery
of the proceedings, and has set off to travel by day and
night to Florence. He is with us at this moment, and to the
full as impatient for a change of wind. I left town on the
29th of November, on Friday. Although I was going to
my children, yet I own I felt some severe pangs at leaving
behind me many to whom I am most sincerely attached,
■^oth. — Dined at Canterbury ; Captain Thomas dined
with us. Got late to Dover. We hear so much of
French privateers that we have sent off an express to
Admiral Peyton for a cutter to protect us.
Sailed on Monday, 2nd December, bad wind and bad
day. Towards night the sea grew rough and I grew
frightened. After a blowing passage, we got safe to
Ostend in fifteen hours.
Tuesday, "^rd December. — Tormented by the imperti-
nence and exactions of the people at the Douane. Set
off at five in the evening, a winter night, for Bruges,
which we reached with difficulty very late at night.
Wednesday. — We dined at Ghent, arrived at Bruxelles
at three o'clock in the morning, cold and uncomfortable,
and unnecessarily made to travel at these hours. We
could get no other accommodations but the same bad
ones we had before at the Belle Vue.
Thursday. — This place is crowded with people of my
acquaintance, the Cholmondeleys, etc. She is in a
low state, and really affected by the death of the Duchess,^
who died at Lausanne. I passed the evening there. Lord
Yarmouth gave us some curious details about the French
' Lord Hervey's brother, who survived him, and became fifth
Earl of Bristol upon his father's death in 1803.
^ Duchess of Ancaster.
104 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
prisoners ; 4000 are marched into Hungary to work in the
mines. He declaimed against the obstinacy of the French
who will not accede to any cartel, although the Austrians
have offered three French in exchange for one Austrian.
The hatred between the soldiery is so great that
in the hospitals the sick will not share their food, or
lie in the same room. He thinks Toulon quite untenable.
I went to supper at Ld. Elgin's. Nobody would credit
that W. Wyndham was appointed Minister to Florence ;
' Comment done, ce petit polisson, ce petit Jacobin.'
He passed last winter here, and belonged to the Jacobin
Club at Paris, and was very much shghted here. Ld.
Elgin frankly told me he doubted my story, it was
impossible that such a man could be employed.
I had a long conversation with Ld. Malmesbury,^
who is going to Ath to meet the D. of York. I de-
sired him to deliver my message, which was from T. P.,
to say that he would obey his instructions in ParUament,
what to say about Dunkirk, etc. Ld. M.'s private
opinion is that the Duke's friends ought to be silent, and
leave Ministry to fight for their own measures, as they
alone can be responsible. Whether the proposal originated
with the Duke or at home is not material for his public
character. I saw Ld. Damley,^ he is less farouche
than he was. He has married Miss Bourke [sic'\. I asked
him how the Dss. of G. let him escape her ; he said
he was naturally obstinate, and the pains she took to
prevent his marrying hastened it. He is going to Berlin
with Ld. M.
' James Harris (i 746-1 820), created Baron Malmesbury in 1788,
and raised to an earldom in 1800. He was originally a friend of Fox
and the Whigs, but severed his connection with that party in 1792.
He was at this time on a special mission to King Frederick WilUam at
Berlin.
* John, fourth Earl of Darnley (1767-1831). He married, in 1791,
Elizabeth, daughter of the Right Hon. WilUam Brownlow, of Lurgan.
:793] LORD MALMESBURY'S MISSION 105
Bamave is executed ; I am disposed to be sorry, as he
latterly showed great humanity about the Queen. When
condemned he spoke Uke a philosopher, * Citoyens, la
Revolution tue les hommes, mais la posterite les jugera ' ;
but he died Uke a coward, he scuffled when they tried to
fasten him to the fatal plank, Ld. Moira is sailed to
take the command of the army.^ Lord Howe is out,
and probably gone very far to the westward, as a frigate
was brought in that had been taken off Ushant. Ld.
Malmesbury thinks he shall not succeed in his attempts
to obtain La Fayette's release. He has no instructions
whatever from Ministry, and all must be done through
his own influence. The Duchess of Devonshire suggested
the measure to him : she did not intend writing a letter
herself to the Empress of Russia to beg her interference
on behalf of the poor captive, but all will be fruitless.
I went in the evening to the Baron de Breteuil's.^ He is
in excellent spirits, and very sanguine about Lord Moira's
expedition. He praises d'Hervilly, who is the chief in-
stigator of the scheme.
Saturday. — I had a narrow escape of being burnt in
my bed last night. A very strong smell of burning made
me uneasy, and I examined the room ; upon taking up
some of the floor we discovered that the beams near the
hearth were burnt to cinders.
I dined at Ld. Elgin's. Just as the dinner ended
Ld. Malmesbury returned from Ath with Lord Herbert,^
I went and passed the evening in Ld. M.'s apartments ;
' He was appointed to command the expeditionary force sent to
assist the RoyaUst insurgents in La Vendee. The undertaking was a
failure, and the troops returned without effecting anything decisive.
^ Ambassador at St. Petersburg and afterwards Louis XVI. 's
Minister for the Home Department. He emigrated at the time of the
Revolution, but returned under the Empire.
* George Augustus, afterwards eleventh Earl of Pembroke (1759-
1827). He was at this time in command of the 2nd Dragoon Guards,
but returned home on the death of his father in 1794.
io6 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
I wrote by a messenger just going off. It was odd
enough that Ld. Herbert sat tete-d-tete with me from
8 to 12. He joined with me in lamenting the Duke's
unpopularity, which he ascribes partly to his ungracious
manners, and partly to the bad character of many
who are about him. He is the first man I have yet
seen who seems to speak with candour about French
armies, neither with extravagant praise or censure : that
they may be hated is fair, but no military man can
despise them.
Sunday. — Wrote letters home and saw company ;
dined at the Cholmondeleys — very dull. Saw Prince
Coburg at the play — a heavy hero. Supped at Mde. de
Balbi's.
Monday. — Left Bruxelles. Slept the first night at
St. Trond. Ld. Darnley passed through and left me
a letter from T. P. : there is no official news of Lord
Howe's successes. The pave is intolerably rough ; I could
not hold a book to read in the carriage.
Saturday, 14th, Remagen. — Set off at 8 o'clock. Six
hundred Carmagnol prisoners had slept in the town,
and quitted it about the time we did. I never beheld
more miserable objects ; many of them were boys of
fifteen and sixteen years old, crying from cold and
nakedness, walking upon the hard flints barefooted ;
others, sick and wounded, were huddled upon each
other in small carts. I tried to convey them some
money, but the impitoyaUe Austrian corporal took all
for himself. Reached Coblentz to dine ; uncommonly
well lodged at the Hotel de Treves. This place, which
was enlivened a year ago by the residence of the Prince
and all Versailles, is now tranquil, even to dulness.
The situation of the town is pretty, and the fortress of
Ebrenstein ^ is finely placed.
' Ehrenbreitstein.
1793] A GERMAN ROAD 107
i^ih. — My early exertions seldom succeed : I was
up in time to rouse the lark. It was scarcely light when
we got into the carriages, but by the laziness of the
people at the pont volant we did not leave the city until
9 o'clock. Unfortunately, in quitting the town we
took the road to Nassau. I verily believe since the
Creation no four-wheeled carriage ever went upon such
a road, unless Pluto conveyed his reluctant bride in
his infernal car, for it seems to lead to his dominions
only. The country is ugly ; the want of population,
so unlike every other part of Germany, is remarkable.
Since I saw the Sussex downs I have seen nothing more
disconsolate. Upon a bare hill an immense flock of
sheep were feeding ; they relieved the eye from the
hopeless sterility around. The breed of sheep is remark-
ably small ; they are even less than those in Wales,
and it equals the Welsh mutton in flavour. After many
hairbreadth escapes we at length re-entered the habita-
tions of men : we descended a very steep hill upon a
narrow road, which was very slippery nor had it the
protection of a garde-fou, till we came to a smart little
town, charmingly situated upon the Lahn and surrounded
by fantastically shaped hills covered to the summit either
with vines, or what in summer must form thick foliage.
Just entering Nassau there are ruins of two such
picturesque castles ! How I longed for a pencil to
sketch their mouldering walls ere the rude blast of
winter shall destroy their antique forms ! Perhaps they
may have been the residence of a haughty baron with a
proud line of ancestry enough to make Dan Prior say : —
Can Bourbon or Nassau go higher ?
But, alas ! with the heroes he commemorates they are
gone by. Their ruined walls scarcely afford a shelter to
a wretched goatherd and his shaggy flock.
io8 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
The night of the 15th was spent at Neustadt, and from
thence the road lay by Schwalbach to Mayence.
Tjth. — We determined to go on to Mannheim without
resting, but I beUeve the lot of rash determinations is
to be controverted, for before we reached Oppenheim,
ye first post, the spring of my carriage snapped, and
I bumped into the town in that delahre'd state. That
place is now the Quartier-General of some Prussian
ofiicer. There are stores in abundance, and a bridge of
pontoons across the river for the facility of transporting
the troops. We tied up the springs and got to Worms.
i^th. — Reached Mannheim early in the day. The
fortifications are put in the most trim state, the embrasures
cut sharp and neat, the walls new-faced, and the ditches
filled. The prettiest toy in grown life is the whole
apparatus of military preparations, and I am not
astonished at all young sovereigns liking war. If they have
any sense, the evil is soon manifested, and they get cured
by it. The Palatines have made an alteration in their
dress : the crinihes to the helmets were formerly white,
but at the siege of Mayence when they worked in the
trenches at night the white betrayed them to the enemy.
Sir Benjamin ^ has certainly adopted many saving schemes
in his system, but he has dressed the Bavarian officers
like paupers.
i()th. — So fatigued from the roughness of the roads
that I lay down till dinner. The news from Toulon (if
true) is very bad. The French beat the allies in a sortie,
killed many English, and made prisoners of General
O'Hara ^ and the Spanish Lieut.-Colonel. Poor O'Hara
will end his merry life under the guillotine, as the savages
' Sir Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford. See ante, p. 12.
'^ General O'Hara was wounded and taken prisoner in the attack
on Fort Mulgrave. He was taken to Paris, and imprisoned in the
Luxembourg until his exchange for General Rochambeau in August
1795.
1793] THE ARMY OF CONDE 109
will retaliate upon him the murder of one of the deputies
from the Convention or army commissioner taken in
Toulon. Ld. Moira and the emigrants are waiting at
Jersey. It is yet a secret where the descent is to be
made in France. People are grumbling at Ld. Howe's
inactivity. The garrison of Landau, so far from intending
to capitulate, repUed to the summons, " Que les Fran9ais
ne cedent jamais.'
Met Mr. Nott, whom I formerly knew in Switzerland.
He came with an Irish Lord Longford ; they are going
to pass the winter at Neufchatel.
Brucksal, 21st. — The roads extremely bad from
Heidelberg. It was merely perverseness that made us
come on them, for we knew the road to Heilbronn to be
good.
22nd. — Met 800 Austrians, fine strong men, though
rather, for Germans, undersized. The interesting and
brave little army of Conde have done wonders, but
they are compelled to go into winter cantonments.
Three hundred gentlemen feU in the course of two months,
and nine out of one family are wounded. The Due de
Bourbon distinguished himself, and his son, the Due
d'Enghien, proved himself a worthy descendant of the
grand Conde. Alas, what strange vicissitudes in their
fortunes ! Reached the post before Stuttgart early.
22rd. — Detained at Stuttgart : the horses were all
employed with the army. The Duke of Wiirtemberg
died since I was last here. His successor ^ is wrangling
with his excellent widow about jewels, etc. The late
Duke's life would, if it were written, make an extra-
ordinary romance. His amours were numerous, and to
make them notorious he made the ladies who had
' Louis Eugene, brother of the preceding Duke. He only Uved
until 1796, when he was succeeded by a third brother, Frederick
Eugene.
no LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
received his homage appear at his Court in blue shoes.
Mr. Stuart read me some letters he has received from
France. The situation of the EngUsh at Nancy is
quite deplorable. They were much frightened about a
month ago ; there was an alarm about the French ; the
inhabitants ran off. The finest old hock might have
been purchased for four florins a bottle.
2-^rd. — Left Stuttgart with the intention of reaching
Ulm at night ; rather an arduous undertaking in December,
without a moon, and the distance of four and a half
German posts. We travelled on prosperously until
eleven o'clock, when I proposed stopping, as I suffered
much pain from my chest in consequence of a blow, and
it was sore from a blister Farquhar had put on. But
the fates were adverse and such good fortune as rest
was not my lot. Even though we could not get post-
horses, we set off with those belonging to some peasants,
poor wretched animals exhausted by the labour of the
day ; it was really cruel to drag them out of their wretched
shed, but it was as hard almost upon me. The con-
sequence was that they could hardly get on ; those to
the servants' carriage fell from weakness every five
yards. At the top of a bleak hill I'essieu of our chaise,
from a violent jolt, was broken. All hopes of advancing
were useless, so we adopted the only method of getting
on : we got into the servants' carriage and left Josephe
with the broken vehicle, and got on with the other as
well as we could to Ulm. A smart frost came on, and
the road, which was before soft mud, became a hard
incrustation of ice. Got to Ulm at seven in the morning.
The twenty-fourth of December I passed in my bed ;
as I only got into it at eight o'clock in the morning,
I thought myself entitled to a full twenty hours' repose.
From Ulm they took the road to Memmingen, which
they reached on the evening of the 25th.
1793] KEMPTEN III
A very neat, pretty town ; the inhabitants are free
and rich. The auhergiste had Hved seven years at Lyons.
With tears in his eyes he said upwards of forty of his
friends had been guillotined.
The next night was passed at Kempten.
The town is odd and pretty, and I have a fancy that
it resembles the German towns in America and other
colonies. Enclosures for cattle between the houses like
early settlers, and an air of frugality and neatness through-
out the whole. The houses in the neighbourhood are
very Swiss-like, being chiefly constructed of wood, with
shingle roofs, on which large stones are laid to prevent
their being carried off by high winds. So much wood
grows in the country that the inhabitants employ it in
building their cottages and fencing their enclosures.
The Bishop is a Prince of the Empire, and assists at the
Diet of Ratisbon. Flax grows in the neighbourhood,
and linen is manufactured. Much of what the soil
produces must be consumed by the inhabitants, as they
have no navigable rivers to transport their productions
to a distance. Perhaps they are happier without the
facility of intercourse ; for commerce introduces luxuries,
and they again create new wants, which to supply com-
merce must be extended, and the love of gain soon
destroys the love of ease. This goes to the destruction of
morality and that charming simplicity of manners.
Passing Fiissen, they entered the Tyrol, and reached
Innspnick on the 28th.
I have been very negligent in my journal ; the
intense cold benumbed my faculties in the Tyrol. I was
much shocked at Roveredo by hearing rather suddenly
of the death of the Duchesse de Polignac. She fell a
victim to her attachment to the Queen. Even her
112 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1793
rivals — for enemies she had none — admitted that her
affection was most disinterested ; that she loved the
person, not the dignity, of her unhappy friend. The
death of the King threw her into violent convulsions
that brought her into such a state of debility that three
attempts to quit Vienna were ineffectual. The murder
of the Queen filled up the measure of her grief : she
sank under it, and only languished in horrible sorrow a
short time. She expired in the arms of VaudreuU. At
Vienna when I saw her she gave me the idea of a person
labouring under the weight of woe, which she struggled
to conceal that she might spare her friends the anguish
of seeing she suffered. She was lovely, features and
countenance perfect, figure short and not light ; her
manner simple and serious, character rather grave.
The brilliant situation her intimacy with the Queen
put her into was always repugnant to her inclinations,
and she oftentimes, and with sincerity, regretted that
the difference of rank prevented her the enjoyment of
retired, unsuspected, and unenvied friendship.
Upon the road we heard rumours of the capture of
Toulon, but I could not and would not credit them.
However, at Trent it was confirmed with many particulars.
At Verona we found Ld. and Ly. Henry Fitzgerald ; ^
she was suddenly brought to bed there.
Hervey passed us in the night on his return ; he
carried back with him the dispatches relating to the
loss of Toulon. On the i8th the French made a general
attack ; the outposts were abandoned, and the allies
forced to fly. In the evacuation 8000 of the inhabitants
were saved and conveyed to the combined fleets. Previous
to their quitting the town a train was laid to blow up the
' Lord Henry Fitzgerald (1761-1829), fourth son of James, first
Duke of Leinster. He married, in 1791, Charlotte, Baroness de Ros
in her own right.
1794] CAPTURE OF TOULON 113
ships of war ; many were destroyed, but still many
remain.
Just beyond Mantua we met three Enghsh officers
who had been at Toulon, Messrs. Mathews, Wemyss,
and Featherstone ; they complained (as all English
officers do) of hard duty and bad commanders. They
said, what was likely to be true, that the retreat was
ill-conducted, and that not a fifth part of what might
have been destroyed has perished. O'Hara was taken
prisoner from his own inactivity and despondency.
He was deceived in his expectations : everything at
Toulon was represented in the most favourable light —
the valour, zeal, and unanimity of the allies, the strength
and excellence of the British forces, the loyalty of the
natives, etc. But how different was the truth ! The
allies all quarrelling ; the British army (if such a word is
not a satire upon a few hundreds) brave but refractory
and headstrong, as they all are when they have arms in
their hands ; the inhabitants so disaffected that at
every sortie great care was taken to prevent their shutting
out the allies whenever the Carmagnols gained an advan-
tage ; the peasantry equal Republican ; nor did the
allies possess an inch beyond the glacis of the town.
Florence, 10th January. — On the 8th of January
I arrived here, and found to my supreme deUght both
my dear children perfectly well. Webby surprisingly im-
proved. The baby is as perfect a lazzarone as the Chiaia
ever produced : in the first place, he has the appetite
and digestion of a NeapoHtan. He is a nice child, but
far from pretty. I found no less than five letters caution-
ing me strongly against going to Naples with the baby,
as there rages in the town a malignant species of small-
pox, to which 7000 infants have fallen victims, and
amongst them poor Lady Plymouth's infant.
In consequence of these warnings I have determined
VOL. I. I
114 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1794
upon performing the operation of inoculation here, and
Dr. Gianetti did it this morning. The consciousness
of being under the same roof with my dear children gives
me a sort of tranquil delight, that my mind and spirits
are quite calm : I even feel happy. The siege of Landau
is raised. The French are successful everywhere, and
will not be conquered by our vain taunts and boasts ;
they verify what they say of themselves : ' Que la
France ne sera jamais domptee, que par la France.'
This opinion is in the first page of my political creed,
hence I was sanguine when I heard they had raised the
standard of counter-revolution themselves.
The alarm here is very great ; in the same proportion
as that increases so does hatred and contempt for the
Enghsh, whom they justly accuse of having compelled
them to break their neutrahty, and then promised support.^
Manfredini told me that England will cause the ruin of Italy,
whereas he could have saved it by temporising measures.
T^th January, Florence. — The accounts from Paris
make one shudder. The guillotine is active, and hundreds
daily perish by that horrible machine of death. It is
reported that a body of 25,000 men are advancing to
meet Lord Moira. In consequence of this inteUigence,
the transports that came into Portsmouth are to sail
immediately, and the officers have received orders to
re-embark. The army that had taken possession of
Noirmoutier have landed on the Continent and are
marching up the south side of the Loire. Prince Coburg
is marching towards Landrecies and Maubeuge to keep
the army of the north in check.
Pondicherry is besieged and soon will faU into the
hands of the English.^ No official account from the
' See ante, pp. 47, 55.
' As soon as the news of the outbreak of war between England and
France was received in India, the English took possession of all the
1794] DISSENSIONS AMONG ALLIES 115
West Indies since the first landing at St. Domingo.^
It is said that the Spanish proclamation is totally different
from ours, in which they offer to take the island for
Louis XVIL The jealousy between the English and
Spaniards at Toulon was glaring, and violent enough
to impede the success of any undertaking that required
mutual exertions. As far as my feeble judgment carries
me, I do not think the alhes are taking the most effectual
means to obtain their object. The want of vigour and
consistency in our Ministry forces an opinion of their
feebleness upon the princes, and must make them dis-
trust their intentions. The declarations at St. Domingo
and at Toulon are certainly very different, and I hear
that Lord Moira's is different from either. He declares
in favour of monarchy, professing not to interfere in
internal arrangements, at the same time disclaiming
that monarchy which was established by that ' Risible
Constitution ' in 1789. Why call that constitution
risible which Lord Hood made in some measure the
ground of a negotiation at Toulon ? This declaration
Lord Moira read at dinner at Portsmouth, together with
a declaration from the British Army to their confreres
d'armes in Brittany.
The inoculation has not taken effect, therefore the
poor baby is again to undergo the operation. He is
too pure to be corrupted.
Sunday, igth January. — Ld. Hervey lives a good
deal with me. He seems to dishke his recall, and talks
of going again into the Navy, where, by-the-bye, he is
small French factories. Lord Cornwallis, the Governor-General,
also made preparations to besiege Pondicherry, but the fortress
capitulated to the troops under Colonel Braithwaite before he arrived
upon the scene. The town was restored to France in 1816.
' St. Domingo was taken over in September 1793, by a force
from Jamaica, at the request of the inhabitants of Jeremie and other
towns, to be held under British protection until the conclusion of a
general peace.
ii6 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1794
very unpopular. W. Wyndham's appointment is not
much relished, as the Court want a steady, reasonable
man, disposed to soothe matters, and, God knows, poor
W. is not capable of fiUing that post.
Ld. H. imphes his love for Ly. B. I shut my ears,
as I abhor those sort of confidences.
2/^th January. — Caught a violent cold, which con-
fined me to my bed several days.
-^rd February. — Henry has passed through the small-
pox very prosperously. The Austrians have been forced
to abandon Fort St. Louis, which they took in con-
junction with the Prussians last November. In less than
eight days the French have regained the whole extent of
territory the allies fought for inch by inch for this whole
campaign.
Pondicherry has surrendered, and shortly the French
flag will not fly in India. These distant successes alter
very little the public opinion. Great alarms are enter-
tained about Flanders ; the Carmagnols are gathered in
a point ready to invade it again.
Ld. G. Leveson-Gower ^ and Ld. HoUand came
here the day before yesterday. The first I knew at
Dresden. He is remarkably handsome and winning ;
a year or two ago he created a great sensation at Paris,
when Ly. Sutherland introduced him as her heau
beaufrcre ; she also initiated him in the orgies of gambling,
an acquisition he has maintained. Les mauvaises langues
de Paris said she was in love with him ; but that was a
' Lord Granville Leveson-Gower (i 773-1 846), afterwards created
Viscount and Earl Granville, son of Granville, first Marquess of Stafford,
by his third wife. Lady Susannah Stewart, daughter of Alexander,
ninth Earl of Galloway. He was Ambassador to Russia in 1804, and
married, in 1809, Lady Henrietta Cavendish, daughter of Wilham,
fifth Duke of Devonshire.
His half-brother, George Granville, who succeeded to the titles on
Lord Stafford's death in 1803, and was later created Duke of Sutherland,
married, in 1785, Elizabeth, Countess of Sutherland in her own right.
1794] LORD HOLLAND 117
calumny. Ld. H. is not in the least handsome ; he
has, on the contrary, many personal defects, but his
pleasingness of manner and liveHness of conversation
get over them speedily. He is just returned from Spain,
and his complexion partakes of the Moresco hue. He is
now in better health. He has a very complex disorder,
called an ossification of the muscles in his left leg.
Fontana says it is a malady of which there are many
instances in the brute as well as the human race. It
arises from the calcareous and phosphoric matter,
designed for the formation of the bones, being deposited
on the flesh and muscles. The original cause of the
malady is unknown, but it is probably from the weak-
ness of the vessels destined to secrete this substance
from the blood. When the ossification becomes general
it is, of course, fatal. There are instances of the brain
being indurated. A dissolution of the bones is likewise
a very dreadful thing. La Condamine died of it.
They dined with us, as did Capt. Montgomery, a
natural son of Ld. Pembroke's. We all went to the
Cocomero, and returned here to supper. Ld. H. quite
delightful ; his gaiety beyond anything I ever knew ;
full of good stories. He seems bent upon politics,
and, with his eagerness, I think it is lucky he is out of
the way of saying foolish, violent things.
^th. — I went this morning to the Cabinet Physique
with Fontana. He showed me the details of his astonish-
ing homme de hois. It is composed of 3000 pieces of
wood that take off from the surface ; beneath there are
a variety of others which mark the veins, arteries, etc.
In all there are 250,000 different pieces of wood.^ Prince
' Lord Holland, in his Miscellaneous Reminiscences {Further
Memoirs of the Whig Party), states that the work was said to be that
of Fabroni, the Sub- Director of the Museum, though Fontana always
exhibited it as his own.
ii8 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1794
Louis d'Arenberg passed the evening with me ; he is
very amusing.
6th. — An order is published this day that expels all
the French domiciliated here who have arrived since
the 15th January, 1793. The pretext is a scarcity of
com, the price of which has been considerably augmented
since the great exportation to France last year. Fontana
dined with us ; he tired me so much upon French
politics that I quitted the room from downright ennui.
In the evening Ld. Hervey brought Sir G. EUiot ; they
are just come from Leghorn. Sir G. was shipwrecked in
sight of port, but assistance was so near that no danger
ensued.^ He was on his return to Toulon. He is trying
to obtain from this Government a permission to allow
the poor Toulonese emigrants to reside here.
1.2th Feb. — The Toulonese are permitted to reside in
Tuscany. The King's speech is very warlike, though
nothing declaratory about the restoration of monarchy
in France. The Duke of Portland supports the war
most strenuously. Mr. Windham withholds himself
from office, much as his friends urge him to accept a
post that he may share the responsibility of measures
which he promotes and supports. This is the stale plea
of those who accept places and profess disinterestedness.
Windham, Tom Grenville, and Pelham, when I left
England, called themselves the Virtuous Triumvirate,
and determined not to take office, from the idea that they
could more effectually serve the Government by con-
vincing the public that they quitted Opposition merely
from a conviction of the wisdom of maintaining the
' The Amphitrite frigate was wrecked on its passage from Porto
Ferraio, in Elba, to Leghorn. Sir Gilbert writes on January 31, 1794.
to Lady Elliot, ' I was yesterday shipwrecked, but nevertheless I
arrived at Leghorn without even having wetted my feet ' (.Life and
Letters of Sir Gilbert Elliot).
1794] THE RETREAT FROM TOULON 119
measures of Administration than from the inducement
of holding a place.
i^h. — Surprise and embarrassment have completely
overset me. Oh ! what vile animals men are, with head-
strong passions. Now ! I have heard from the hps of
one who affects morality and domestic virtues maxims
that would revolt all but the most depraved. ' Pecher
en secret, n'est point pecher.' I told him it savoured of his
Jesuitical education. His justification was that a
singular combination of events arose to create a passion,
where, in truth, so httle could be expected in return.
His long absence from home, perfect seclusion, and the
strong impression of delight at meeting a coimtrywoman
who brought back the remembrance of past scenes —
this complicated feeling made him deck the object who
revived the recollection in glowing colours, and in him
created a violent and, I hope, a transitory alienation from
sense and propriety. Distress, awkwardness, and good-
nature united made me act hke a fool, but I was obliged
to be peremptory latterly, as he proceeded to downright
violence. One night coming from the Pergola I was
compelled to get out of the carriage to avoid his pressing
importunities. However, his last words were, ' Be kind
and discreet.' He is in great alarm at his wife's knowing
this ecart, as he affects great conjugal felicity.
According to Sir G. Elliot's account the retreat from
Toulon must have abounded with affecting situations
of distress and wretchedness. In the midst of the con-
flagration of the ships in the harbour, houses, magazines,
etc., three small boats heavily laden with women and
infants approached the Victory (Admiral Ld. Hood's
ship), near which they tossed up and down in speechless
agony, not daring to ask the relief which they needed
so much, but expressing their entreaties with uplifted
hands and deep groans. What anguish ! A merciless
J20 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1794
enemy behind, a vast expanse of dreary sea before, and
not a friendly shore to land upon. Although the ship
tvas already filled by hundreds of refugees, yet Sir Gilbert
persuaded Ld. Hood to admit these. He landed at
Corsica, which he describes as being in a curious situation,
unlike any country in civilised Europe. The whole
country up in arms, without discipline or officers, yet
alert and obedient. Paoli is their chief, who without
possessing any superior abilities has the talent of con-
ciliating and governing the people. His word is a decree,
his power patriarchal, a compound of sovereign and
parental authority. The natives have offered to put
themselves under the protection of England, and Sir
G. is occupied in promoting this, as he wants to be made
Governor. They offer to expel the French if they can
gain assistance. They are a hardy, bold, and intrepid
race, every Corsican esteeming himself equal to his
companions. This notion gives them a bold freedom,
especially when political affairs are discussed, when they
look upon themselves as entitled to be auditors at least.
I have again heard 's last words, ' I love you, for
my passions are stronger than my reason : your being
good, gentle, and handsome justify me : for the sake of
others be discreet.' I will indeed ! Rochefoucauld lay
upon my table : he opened it at the 514th maxim, which
he observed was fallacious, and gave himself as a con-
tradictory proof, ' On passe souvent de 1' amour a
I'ambition ; mais on ne revient guere de I'ambition a
r amour.'
On February 15, 1794, the Websters left Florence on their
way to Rome, taking the road which passes Siena and Lake
Bolsena. After a stay of two days at Rome, they left on the
22nd for Naples.
Florence, June 10th. — Reached Naples on the 26th
February. Lodged at Severino's. For the whole six
1794] LORD HOLLAND 121
or seven weeks I passed in that lovely spot I had
not activity enough to occupy myself in any way but
in lounging and talking. Ly. Bessborough and Ly.
Spencer were there. A numerous band of young English-
men from college ; gambling and gallantry filled up the
evenings and mornings. My favourite, Ld. G, Leveson-
Gower, used often to come to me in the evening, as I sat
at home a good deal on account of my grossesse and
disliking the card parties. His companion, Ld. Holland,
is quite deUghtful. He is eager without rashness, well
bred without ceremony. His disposition and turn of
mind are reckoned very like his uncle, Mr. Fox : his
manner resembles his maternal uncle. Colonel Fitz-
patrick. His politics are warm in favour of the Revolu-
tion, and his principles are strongly tinctured with
democracy. It is the brilliant side, and apparently
the honest one ; all young men are hit by it at first,
but when they see more of the world they cure of their
honesty and love of liberty. But he would lament with
all the reasonable men should revolutionary doctrines
obtain in England, as he thinks the actual form of govern-
ment the best suited to the country. Though so zealous,
he is totally without any party rancour ; in short, he is
exactly what all must like, esteem, and admire. His
spirits are sometimes too boisterous, and may occasionally
overpower one, but he is good-humoured enough to
endure a reproof.
His bosom friend, Mr. Beauclerk,^ is far from resem-
bUng him in any one amiable point of view : he is silent
and sulky, and when he opens it is to tease his friend.
' Charles George Beauclerk (1774- 1846), only son of Topham
Beauclerk and Lady Diana Beauclerk, daughter of Charles, second
Duke of Marlborough. He married, in 1799, Emily Charlotte, daughter
of William Ogilvie, Esq. and Emilia Mary, widow of James, first Duke
of Leinster.
122 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1794
I am told, however, that he is remarkably sensible,
good-humoured, and pleasing to those who know him,
but this must be taken upon trust, as he is the counter-
part of Lord Burleigh in The Critic. He is deeply
in love with Ly. B., and abhors Ld. Granville, who
is his rival. I understand that I am odious to him ;
je me venge in feeling as much against him as he possibly
can towards me. Mr, Marsh ^ is very sensible ; he is
one of the very few rational beings I met with. I carried
him to Italinski one day, who was mightily pleased
with his scholarship and conversation : he also lived
much with me. Ld. Morpeth improves the more he
is known ; I always liked him.
I never saw Lady Ann Hatton before, and to my
surprise found her in company with Ly. Plymouth,
who is the great retailer of anecdotes against this slippery
Hibernian, and whom she declared against receiving.
Her face is not regularly handsome, her figure enchanting,
an airy nymphlike form as youthful as a Hebe. She
is, however, past thirty considerably. Her sister, Ly.
E. Monck, is divinely beautiful ; her head is angelic.
Ld. Digby ^ fell in love with Ly. Bruce, who only
coquets with him. He is good-humoured, and full of
good useful sense. There was a bad lot of drinking
Irish, with Ld. Tyrone and Mr. Jefferies at their head,
but I knew little of them. Mr. Brand continues his
helle amitie for me, rather sentimentally tiresom.e when
he gets upon that topic. Italinski as usual. Drew
delighted to see me. He is discontented with the Bess-
' Rev. Matthew Marsh, a great friend of Lord Morpeth and his
family. He took orders in 1799, and became Chancellor of the Diocese
of SaUsbury and Rector of Brinkworth, and later of Winter slow, in
Wilts.
■^ Edward, second and last Earl Digby. He was born in 1773 ;
succeeded his father in the titles in 1793 ; and died unmarried in
1856.
1794] SOCIETY AT NAPLES 123
boroughs, Ld. Berwick behaved shockingly to poor
Ly. Plymouth : she is very imhappy. He speaks to her
and of her with the most disrespectful famiharity. The
Hamiltons were as tiresome as ever ; he as amorous,
she as vulgar.
I made an excursion to Sorrento with Ld. Holland
and Italinski : we slept there. I was terrified at crossing
the bay. On my return I was foolish enough to get
out of the boat on the Portici shore, and return home in
a calecino.
A book just published by Sir William Hamilton.
He got Italinski to correct the English, upon which
Mr. North said, * He has made the Knight as clear as
day.'
Ld. Henry took his seat in Parliament, and made
a maiden speech which I hear from other quarters was
esteemed very good. He said he was terrified at the
silence of the assembly. His friend Canning has decidedly
abandoned his patron and friend Sheridan, and is
coming into Parhament under the auspices of Mr. Pitt.
Ld. H. regrets this precipitation ; though he of course
likes him to act on his side, yet he thinks the xaw would
have been a more certain friend to him than the favour
of a Prime Minister. Wallace ' has totally failed in
speaking, and his principles out-Herod Herod, for the
Ministers could not support him in some assertion he
made as to the King's power of landing foreign troops
without the consent of Parhament. This heresy to the
British Constitution was in consequence of some Hessians
landing from the Isle of Wight.
During my stay at Naples I went, as I was told, at the
peril of my hfe, to see Baron d'Armfeldt, who it seems
' Thomas Wallace (1768-1844), created Baron Wallace of Knares-
dale in 1828. He was a supporter of Pitt, and at this time member
for Grampound.
124 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1794
is pursued by the Regent of Sweden, the Duke of Suder-
mania. He is accused of having formed a conspiracy
to murder him, and obtain the keeping of the minor
King's person. Be this as it may, he has been demanded
of the Court of Naples by that of Sweden formally to be
dehvered up as a fugitive rebel, but the Queen is inter-
ested about him, and has him concealed. The Swedish
emissaries are active in their search, and have several
times fired at him, and once at a person getting out
of his carriage, whom they mistook for this supposed
delinquent. The accusation is black, but the truth of it
uncertain. Ld. Henry laughs at me for calhng him
' The Victim ' : he is at Stockholm, and can judge of the
story. I passed a pleasant day at Cumse with the
Palmerstons. I took Italinski, Mr. Marsh, and Ld.
Holland in my carriage. We were joined by Count
Rumford, etc.
At Rome, which I reached early in May, or, I believe,
towards the middle of April, I hved in the Villa di Matta,
a charming situation upon the Pincian Hill overlooking
the city, and commanding a grand view of the distant
hills and Campagna. Almost the whole of our Neapolitan
set was there, with the exception of Lords Digby, Boring-
don, G. Leveson, who for reasons best known to them-
selves fled the enjoyments of Italy to fulfil some dull,
unimportant duties in England, where nothing short of
compulsion shall ever drag me.
We all made an excursion to Tivoli, Bessboroughs,
Ld. Grandison, and the young men. I conveyed Ld.
Holland, Mr. Marsh, and Beauclerk. We lodged at a
nobleman's villa, took our own provisions and cook, and
passed our time with jollity. Lord Bessborough grew
very cross, and from a fit of jealousy about Mr. Beau-
clerk, compelled us all to return to Rome, and disquieted
our mirth. We got back late at night. I had seen
1794] 'SAL VOLATILE' 125
Tivoli the year before : a charming group of cedars in
the garden of the family d'Este. In the course of our
evenings Ld. H. resolved to make me admire a poet,
of whom I had heard but Httle, Cowper : he is excellent,
and amply repaid the labour of reading many hundred
lines in blank verse, many of which are inharmonious.
Mr. Marsh used to read to me Murphy's translation of
Tacitus. A sharp fit of gout, brought on by drinking
Orvieto wine, did not increase the good temper of my
companion ; decorum, not inclination, made me keep at
home. My evenings were agreeable ; he, however, did
not mar my comfort by partaking of my tranquil society,
Went out every morning with Ly. B. Ld. Holland's
dehghtful spirits cheered us so much that we called him
sal volatile, and used to spare him to one another for half
an hour to enliven when either were melancholy.
I saw the Pope ' give his benediction to a kneeling
and believing multitude. The sight was imposing. He is
an excellent actor ; Garrick could not have represented
the part with more theatrical effect than his present
Holiness. I was grievously disappointed at the Miserere,
the composition of Pergolesi, sung by differently modu-
lated voices in the Sixtine Chapel. The illumination
of the great cross inside St. Peter's was very striking :
the effect of the light upon the monumental efftgies
raised the painful recollection of death, the sombre of
the objects and the locality inspired melancholy. We
went about to various chapels, where we found many
a debauched fair one in the comely attire of matronly
humility, expiating in penance and prayer many a dear
sin, for the sole purpose of beginning a fresh catalogue of
the cherished crimes. I saw occasionally the old Santa
Croce, Cardinal Bernis, etc., etc., but Ly. Bessborough,
' PiusVT.
126 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1794
Ld. Holland, Messrs. Marsh, Brand, etc., were those I
lived habitually with.
I became very eager to get to Florence, as I received
an account from Mrs. W5Tidham of her arrival, and her
being installed in her diplomatic functions. I parted
with regret from Ly. Bessborough, who is to return by
Loreto to England. I went the Perugia road to Florence,
and arrived late in the night at Florence.
My first impulse was to seek with eagerness my little
friend, but to my surprise I found her in a state of
despondency that checked my joy. She abhors the
prospect of residing here, and looks back with regret to
England, and even to Bignor, which, whilst there, she
detested. With some difficulty I contrived to make
my house tolerably comfortable. It is a palace belonging
to the family of Ginori, but not calculated for English
habits, as it contains only three fireplaces, and / have
not one of the three ; my tormentor has one, the nursery
and a sitting-room the others. Lord Holland and
Mr. Beauclerk passed a few days here on their way to
Venice. Ld. H. assured me he came merely to make
me a visit. The Palmerstons and Ly. Spencer came
for a few days. Sir G. Elliot came over from Corsica to
pass a few days.
On the twelfth of June I was brought to bed of a
little girl, christened by Mr. Penrose at Wyndham's :
her name is Harriet Frances.^ Lady Bessborough, Mrs.
Wjmdham, and Wyndham were the sponsors. A few
days before her christening Ld. Holland returned
from Venice ; he came to await the arrival of Lord
Wycombe,^ who joined him a few days after. Lord
' Afterwards Lady Pellew.
* John, Lord Wycotabe (1765-1809), eldest son of William, first
Marquess of Lansdown, by his first wife, Lady Sophia Carteret,
daughter of John, Earl Granville. Lord Wycombe became second
1794] LORD WYCOMBE 127
Wycombe is a very eccentric person. For the welfare
of himself and family it is to be hoped that his actions are
directly opposite to his sentiments ; if not, he must be
a scourge. Ld. H. tells me that the ladies who Uve
with Ld. Lansdown, Miss Vernon ^ and Miss Fox,
call him, * A Lovelace without his polish.' His style of
conversation is grand and declamatory, his humour
excellent. He is very gallant : he began by making
love equally to me and Mrs. Wyndham. We half thought
of a project of playing him a trick, and treating him as
Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page did the humorous knight, but
Ld. H. said it was playing with an edged tool.
The months of July, August, and September were
passed very pleasantly. Early in September I set off on a
solitary expedition to see Lucca Baths. I went through
the town of Lucca, and arrived at the Baths in time for
dinner. I dined with Ly. Rivers : I got up early in the
morning, and went in a portantine to see the hills, etc.
The Prato Fiorito was too distant for a morning excursion ;
I went from thence to , where I lodged in the house
of a Marchese ; they gave me a very good supper, good
bed, and received me with cordiality. I spoke no
ItaUan, and knew none of the party, which was very
numerous ; however, I got through the evening tolerably.
They must have thought me a strange person, young,
pretty, and alone, travelling merely to see the quarries
of Carrara ! It was perhaps an odd freak.
I dined the next day at Massa. I had a letter to a
Lord Lansdown on his father's death in 1805, and married the same
year Mary Arabella, widow of Sir Duke Giflford, of Castle Jordan, in
Ireland.
' Lord Lansdown's second wife was Lady Louisa Fitzpatrick,
daughter of John, first Earl of Upper Ossory, and Evelyn, daughter
of John, Earl Gower. After Lord Upper Ossory's death his widow
married Richard Vernon, and by him had three daughters. The one
here mentioned was the youngest, Elizabeth. Miss Fox, Lord Holland's
only sister, was Lord Lansdown's niece.
128 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1794
descendant of the Greek Emperor Paleologus, his name
is Paleologo. He is a single man ; to avoid a tete-d-tete
with a perfect stranger, the visit to whom was whimsical
in itself, I admitted my maid en tiers. I was in high
spirits and very jolly. I went in a chaise-d-porteurs into
the quarries at Carrara. They produce the finest marble
after that found at Paros. My royal Greek was very
careful of me. He escorted me through all difficulties,
torrents, chasms, precipices, etc. Upon the whole I
expect he took me for an aventurihe ; indeed, he well
might, though my suite rather imposed upon him, for
I went in my own chaise, my maid with me, and on the
seat my cook and a footman, and Andre was on horseback.
I am sure he thought there was something mysterious,
at least, about me.
I went from Massa to Pisa, where to my surprise I
found Lords Wycombe and Holland, and my farouche
companion ; they had not found a favourable wind to
cross to the Isle of Elba, and were on their return to
Florence. I walked about Pisa in the morning. It is
a beautiful town, and the quay has perhaps the advantage
of Florence in beauty. The Campo Santo, the Campanile,
and the church are very beautiful. The leaning tower
is still a problem among the curious, whether its deviation
from the perpendicular was accidental or intentional.
Monsieur de la Condamine measured it with a plumb Une,
and found that when let down from the top it touched
the ground at the distance of thirteen feet from the
bottom of the tower.
Lord Wycombe read us a sonnet he had just com-
posed ; it was very ingeniously written. I went to the
famous Vallombrosa, a Benedictine convent, about
sixteen miles from Florence. The road for the last six
miles is through a thick forest of chestnut ; the ascent
is steep. The monastery is placed on a verdant lawn
1794] VALLOMBROSA 129
round which the mountains form an amphitheatre ; the
darkest pines surround the whole building, and hanging
woods of that tree only decorate the steep sides of the
hills. No woman is admitted within the convent
walls ; I dined at the Mill House close to it. After
dinner the Padre Abate and many of the monks came
out and joined us. He is a lively, middle-aged man, with
apparently little love of devotion and a strong love of
pleasure.
In the month of October Lds. Wycombe and Holland
went to Rome and Naples ; the latter was unwell, and
wanted to consult with Dr. Thompson. My tormentor
went to Milan and Turin for some months. Mr. Amherst ^
and Mr. ComewaU ^ stayed some time at Florence. The
first is a quiet, sedate young man, full of proprieties and
all sorts of good things. The latter is good-humoured
and weak. Mr. A. fell in love with me and Mrs. W. ; he
was most in love with the one he saw last. We went to
balls, and were very gay. I quitted my house in the
Via Maggio, as it was too cold for winter, and took a
deUcious residence within the walls of the town, but in
the midst of gardens called the Mattonaia or Shuileries.^
The fitting up of the house was magnificent ; one room
cost four thousand sequins. It was made of rich japan,
' William Pitt Amherst {1773-18 57). He succeeded his uncle
in 1797 as second Baron Amherst, and was raised to an earldom in
1826. He was Governor-General of India from 1823 till 1828. He
married, first, in 1800, Sarah, widow of Other Hickman, fifth Earl of
Plymouth, and daughter of Andrew, Lord Archer. She died in 1838,
and he married, secondly, in 1839, Mary, widow of Other Archer,
sixth Earl of Plymouth, and daughter of the third Duke of
Dorset.
2 Probably George Cornewall (1774-1835), who succeeded his father
as third Baronet in 18 19. The latter changed his name from Amyand
on his marriage to Catherine, daughter of Velters Cornewall, of Moccas
Court, Hereford.
' Near the Porta alle Croce, at the south end of the town. Probably
it is a house still extant, the VilUno Ginori, just inside the walls.
VOL. I. K
130 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1794-5
fine black and gold, and the ornaments were appropriate
and superb.
I read as usual a good deal. About that time,
October, I began to relish the Italian poets, particularly
Ariosto. Read the Pucelle in a castrated edition.
Voltaire evidently imitates the Orlando, especially in
the beginning of his cantos ; there are some poetical
descriptive passages quite good. Targioni gave me a
course of experimental chemical lectures.
I rode about the environs of Florence ; nothing can
be more lovely than the villas. My children lived on
Fiesole till about October.
like the moon, whose orb
Through optic glass the Tuscan artist views
At evening, from the top of Fesole.^
Milton describes Tuscany often, and seems to feel a
proper love for it. They told me at Vallombrosa of his
having resided several months within their monastery,
and of his having written Italian sonnets — bad enough
they were, the critics say.
Thick as autumnal leaves that strew the brooks
In Vallombrosa, where the Etrurian shades
High over-arched embow'r . . .
Early in November Lords Wycombe and Holland
returned from Rome. The latter gave us a great ball
on the 2ist November (1794), the day he came of age.
Ld. Carmarthen and a few other English added novelty
to our parties. The Gallery afforded me a constant
source of dehght, the Tribune, &c. About Christmas
Sir G. W. returned from Milan. The masquerading
at the Carnival diverted me. In March, Ld. H., on
my birthday, wrote the following lines. * To a lady at
Florence, on her birthday, 1795.' ^
' Paradise Lost. * See Appendix A.
1795] MR. VASSALL'S DEATH 131
I went to Vallombrosa alone to pass a day or two.
I meant to live in solitude. I lodged at the hospice of
the Convent, a building made for the accommodation of
travellers, and used as a residence for the sick monks
during the rigour of the winter, but the overstrained
politeness of the Padre Abate defeated my projects of
quiet. He no sooner heard of my arrival than he came
from the sequestered cloister, and brought with him
six or seven of the Fraternity to keep me company ;
thus I never had a moment to myself, and was fairly
compelled to go to bed at seven o'clock to escape from
their civilities.
The French have taken possession of Holland this
winter, and compelled the Stadtholder to fly to England
with his family.^ The terror of the Republican arms
spreads everywhere.
I lost my poor father ; a nobler, better man he has not
left behind him. Towards me he was always fond and
affectionate. His only faihngs arose from an excess of
goodness. He was weak in character, as he idohsed my
mother and was completely subjected to her dominion.
His death puts me into the possession of great wealth,
upwards of ten thousand per annum. Detestable gold !
What a lure for a villain, and too dearly have I become
the victim to him.
My health was alarmingly bad, and I was liable to
sudden and frequent losses of blood. Not satisfied
mth Gianetti's opinion Mrs. W. wished me to get better
advice, and as Dr. Thompson was at Rome I went there
to consult him in April.
As I had never seen the Spada Palace I determined
' The French gained a foothold in Holland early in January 1795,
and so rapid was their advance that before the end of the month
Amsterdam and the Dutch fleet, frozen into the Texel, were in their
hands. The Duke of York had been recalled in November, and was
superseded in the chief command by General Walmoden.
132 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [179s
upon seeing it, and went with Ly. Plymouth and
Amherst. The great ante-camera contains the statue
of Pompey, supposed to be the one at the pedestal of
which Caesar fell, a retributive justice admired by
superstition. In the gallery, a charming Guido, the
' Rape of Helen,' beautiful colouring and composition.
It represents the moment of her flight from Sparta ;
Paris is conducting her to the ship. She appears modest
and apprehensive ; he bold and encouraging. Among
the female attendants there are several pretty faces,
particularly one with a blue head-dress ; also a pretty
figure of a Cupid in the comer. A ' Death of Dido,'
by Guercino ; the agonies of death upon a lovely face
finely rendered. The rest of the picture bad, the sword
thrust through the body is pitiful, but the composition
was sacrificed to pay this pitiful compliment to the Spada
arms.
Returned by the Siena road as I came. My health
did not allow me to engage in travelling, and to say the
truth I made as much as I could of that pretext, that I
might not be forced to return to England, as I enjoyed
myself too much here to risk the change of scene. In
May Sir G. W. set off to England, as he affixed an im-
portance to his own appearance there that I own I did
not strive to convince him against. In June I set off with
my children and Gely to Lucca Baths, where I had taken
Ly. Bessborough's former habitation. The situation of
the Baths is pretty, but the heat in the middle of the
day is intense, and at sunset the cold and damp begin.
It certainly is unwholesome, and I am surprised at it
being sought as summer residence either upon the score
of health or coolness.
Soon after I arrived Mrs. Wyndham came to make
me a long visit. She left her children at the Villa Careggi
in Florence, a villa built by Lorenzo di Medici, and
inay CUeuUtr^.a^6^
y/l/r/nn;/ /rr.>.rr//
1795] QUARREL WITH WYNDHAM 133
inhabited by him until his death. ^ Mr. Hodges came
and resided in my house also. Soon after, Lords
Wycombe and Holland came and lived near. They
dined and supped with me every day regularly. I went
to the illumination at Pisa, a festival in honour of the
patron saint of the city. I took up my abode at
Wyndham's at the Baths of Pisa, about two miles from
the town. Some trifling dispute happened between us,
which was not explained, and we have not yet spoken
and perhaps never may. From Pisa Mrs. W., Ld. H.
and myself went to Leghorn ; we were lodged at Udney's
house, the consul's. Lady Elhot and family stayed
at Lucca Baths. Wyndham came and had a serious
eclat with Mrs. W. ; she behaved romantically, and what
in a novel would be called feelingly delicate, but like a
very silly person for her worldly concerns. She is
determined to separate and quit him.
In July I set off from Lucca Baths to see Genoa, with
Ld. H. and Mr. Hodges. I left Gely with my children
and their nurses. Slept the first night at San Marcello,
a small village upon the new road to Modena, half-way up
the Apennines. The second night at two posts beyond
Modena, and the third at Parma. Correggio's ' St.
Jerome ' struck me this time as far more beautiful
than when I first saw it about three years ago. Whether
a more intimate acquaintance with the great masters
had taught me to appreciate their merits with more
judgment, or that I had not given myself much trouble
in the examination of this charming production I will
not pretend to say, but I beheld it with all the charms of
novelty.
The last post to Genoa is beautiful ; every step
denotes the splendour and riches of that tottering
' Vasari, in his Life of Jacopo da Pontormo, mentions that the villa
was built by Cosimo de Medici the elder.
134 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1795
republic. Magnificent villas, ornamental gardens, and
thick population, the houses of the meaner class inter-
mingled with the stupendous habitations of a haughty
aristocracy, mark strongly the immense difference power
and riches have placed between them, they being
wretched to an unusual degree of penury, most of them
being without the necessary accommodation of windows
or glass. The daily reinforcements arriving to the
Austrians, the fair, and the arrival of a Spanish flotilla,
crowded the town so much that I found it difficult
to get a lodging ; indeed the hotels were full, and we were
obliged to take up our quarters in a kind of restaurateur* s,
where lodgers never had been. Such a hell ! Only
two small garrets.
The Strada Balbi and the Strada Nuova are the
finest streets in Europe, from the stately palaces on
each side and their not being disfigured by any shabby
dwellings. The style of architecture is not chaste, but
too much crowded with heavy ornaments. The roofs
are high and filled with garret windows, much in the
taste of those buildings the style of which was intro-
duced into England by William IIL The palaces of
Genoa are more Uke what one expects an Italian palace
to be than any I have ever seen in other parts of Italy —
open corridors, porticoes, arcades, terraces, fountains,
orange groves, &c., &c.
The Durazzo Palace unites aU these beauties in
perfection. . . . There was a dispute about the genuine-
ness of the famous ' M. Magdalen,' by Paolo Veronese ; '
the family in consequence bought the other at Venice,
and considering their own as the original, keep the other
roUed up. In the same street is the Palazzo Balbi,
a spacious and grand mansion, evidently declining
' Now in the Turin Gallery.
1795] GENOA 135
from its past splendour. Many fine pictures, a catalogue
of which would be tedious.
Genoa is not to be compared with Naples, and is
superior to Nice ; the fanal has a pretty effect jutting
into the sea. I stayed only four days in Genoa, and set
off with Mr. Hodges, &c., to go across the Comiche to
Sarzana in portantines. I lent my carriage to Ld.
Holland, who went round by Turin, and was to rejoin
me at Lucca Baths.
Mrs. W5mdham joined me in a few days, as did Ld.
Holland. Amherst and Comewall passed a few days at
Lucca. Wyndham came over, and the rupture with me
was final ; he would not make me a visit, but sent to my
maitre d'hotel for some dinner, a cavalier mode of pro-
ceeding which I would not gratify him in, and he had
no dinner, as there was no inn, and provisions were
scarce, unless provided beforehand.
The end of August I returned to the Mattonaia.
Ld. H. had a set of Maremma ponies, and used every
evening to drive me out, either to the Cascines or else-
where. I went to see the Pratolino, a country house
belonging to the Grand Duke. There is an immense
statue of The Apennines, represented as an old man,
a colossal figure. The waterworks must have cost a
prodigious sum, and, though contrary to the present
taste of gardening, I confess I admire the jets d'eau
cind even the childish tricks which are made to catch
and surprise the unwary observer. I lived very much
with Mde. d'Albany and Alfieri. Don Neri Corsini,
Fabroni, and a few others composed my society. Ld. H.
read to me Pope's Homer, The Iliad. I was delighted
with parts of it, but the Odyssey I could not listen to.
Florence, October 4th, 1795. — The first and strongest
sensation one feels on entering Italy is the recollec-
tion of those historical events that from childhood are
136 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [179s
impressed upon the mind, and those classical sentiments
that one strives both from vanity and taste to bring
back to memory ; but when the turbulence of the imagi-
nation subsides, and a long residence in the country
familiarises one with objects so attractive, modem Italy,
her poets, historians, and artists, arrest the attention
very justly by the admiration to which they are entitled.
Florence of all places is the most calculated to inspire
a taste for the pursuit of modem hterature. Every
step reminds one that it was the seat of the Medicis,
which is synonymous with the arts, the sciences, and
taste ; its splendid monuments and useful works all
evince the beneficence of those patrons and restorers
of literature. . . .
I meant to have continued some anecdotes of the
Medici, but I have undergone too much affliction since
writing the above. I was brought to bed of a lovely
boy in October, but owing to the neglect of the nurses
he fell into convulsions and died. Never shall I become
mother to such an infant. Lord Macartney ^ came and
dined several times with me on his way to Rome.
November 2.2nd, 1795. — Set off at one o'clock past
midnight from my house, the Mattonaia, to accompany
Mrs. W. as far as Bologna, on her way to Turin ; Ld. H.
went with us. The weather was coldish, but when we
got upon the Apennines amidst the snow it was in-
sufferably rigorous. The road was very rough, being
spoilt by ye frosts and thaws. We accompHshed the
journey in twenty-three hours and a half, arrived at the
Pellegrino, where Lord Wycombe was waiting to join
our party.
' George, Earl Macartney (i 737-1 806). Ambassador to Russia
in 1764 ; Governor of Madras 1780-86 ; Ambassador Extraordinary to
China, 1792-94; and Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, 1797-9.
At this time he was on a confidential mission to Louis XVIII. at
Verona, and remained in Italy until the following year.
1795] BOLOGNA 137
As soon as I had refreshed myself with a few hours'
rest, I visited the Zampieri Palace. It is undoubtedly
the best and' most valuable collection here, not eked out
like the others with trash.^ ' St. Peter Weeping,' by
Guido, reckoned the first of his works and the most
faultless picture in Italy. It is in his strong manner,
and in the highest preservation. Two hoary-headed
old men, one crying and the other upbraiding, inspire
but a small portion of interest, and one is glad to quit
this perfect picture to contemplate the work of a more
faulty painter, who, however, eludes that censure in
this charming composition, Abraham, in compliance
with envious old Sarah, dismisses his youthful hand-
maid Hagar and her son Ishmael : Guercino. Agostin
Caracci is nowhere so great as in his mellow picture
representing the ' Woman taken in Adultery.' A lovely
little Guido, ' A Heavenly Concert,' done when he was
eighteen. . . .
25th. — Ld. Holland and Mr. Wyndham set off for
Turin. Lord Wycombe, M. Gely, Webby, and myself
remained at the Pellegrino. Lord W. dined with me
every day, and several learned Bolognese, among them
a lady who was reckoned a very good Greek scholar.
She wrote an impromptu Greek epigram upon me, but
for aught I know it might be as old as Homer.
' St. Agnes,' in the chapel of the monastery of that
name.^ It represents the martyrdom of that saint, but
fails in the effect that the principal object ought to pro-
duce. It is taken at the moment when the executioner
is plunging the sword into her bosom ; the countenance
is insipidly livid, without the dignity of resignation
nor the anguish of pain. This group is not enough
' Most of the pictures formerly in this palace are now in the
Brera Gallery at Milan.
' The picture is now in the Pinacoteca.
138 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1795
distinguished, as it falls in with a heap of dead saints.
Three women and a child form a pretty group on the
right-hand side. The upper part seems a separate compo-
sition, and very likely is done by a scholar of Domeni-
chino's. Ld. Holland read me a passage out of a letter
from Charles Fox, from which it appears that he reckons
this picture almost the best in Italy, and the masterpiece
of Domenichino.
I visited all that was remarkable in the neighbour-
hood, and saw much more than I did the first time
I was there. I read the Tragedies of Crebillon ; the
horrible subjects affected my imagination, and several
nights of restlessness and groundless terror I owe to their
perusal. He said to a friend who was lamenting the
sombre of his taste, that Corneille had exhausted all
historical subjects, that Racine had taken heaven, and
I'enfer seul remained to him. Ld. Wycombe left me
the day before Ld. Holland returned from Turin. Ld.
Bristol,^ with some wretched dependants, came to my
inn ; he dined one day with me. He is a clever, bad
man. He asked me to let him have a copy of my picture,
the one done by Fagan, and belonging to my friend
Italinski.^ I hesitated much, and implied, without
giving it, a denial. He told me of Ly. Louisa Hervey's
marriage to Mr. Jenkinson, a son of Ld. Hawkesbury's.
On our return to Florence we met with some diffi-
culties on account of the deepness of the snow. When
' Frederick Augustus, fourth Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry
( 1 730-1 803), who succeeded to the titles on the death of his brother in
1779. Father of Lady Webster's friend Lord Hervey, for some years
Minister at Florence. Lady Louisa, who married Mr. Jenkinson,
afterwards second Lord Liverpool and Prime Minister, was his youngest
daughter.
- The picture is now at Holland House. It was painted in 1793,
and was bought in Rome by Henry Edward Fox (afterwards fourth
Lord Holland) for his father in 1828. It belonged at that time to
Prince Gargarin, a Russian. See Frontispiece, vol. i.
I79S-6] A LITERARY COTERIE 139
we got to Scaricar I'Asino, a small inn used only by the
vetturini, we found Gely missing ; after great anxiety
for thirty-six hours on his account, he overtook us at
the Maschere.
I passed a delightful winter. About three times
a week I had dinners, to which I invited Fontana, Fabroni,
Don Neri Corsini, BaldeUi, Fossombroni, Pignotti, Delfico,
Greppi, besides the various English who passed.
Fontana is a man known among the scientific of
Europe ; his chief work is a treatise upon poisons. His
political principles are suspected. He is an intolerant
atheist, and is as eager to obtain converts to his own
disbehef as bigots are to make proselytes to their belief.
Fabroni ^ is a physician, and a sort of rival to Fontana.
Don Neri Corsini ^ is the brother of the Prince of that
name ; he is a pupil of Manfredini, and supporter of the
Tuscan neutrality. He is accused of being incUned
towards the French faction. Fossombroni ^ is a profound
mathematician ; he has given in a report full of learning
and science in favour of draining some parts of the
Val d'Amo. Pignotti ■* is a priggish Httle Abbe, attached
to the House of Corsini ; his fables are well known and
have much merit. Delfico ^ is a Sicilian ; he has written
• Giovanni Fabroni (1752-1822), Sub-Director of the Museum at
Florence under Fontana, whom he succeeded as Director. He was
appointed Overseer of the roads and bridges by Napoleon. The
commencement of the Corniche road was chiefly due to his exertions.
- Don Neri Corsini (1771-1845), a leading pohtician in Tuscany
under the Grand Dukes Ferdinand III. and Leopold II. His brother
was Don Tommaso Corsini, Prince of Sismano.
^ Vittorio Fossombroni (1754-1844). In addition to his scholastic
acquirements he was an active politician, and was Minister for Foreign
Affairs in Tuscany for many years.
* Lorenzo Pignotti (1739-1812), Professor of Physic at Florence
and Pisa, and afterwards Rector of the latter university. He wrote
poetry, though his fables are the best known of his works.
' Melchiore Delfico (1744-183 5). Historian and statesman with
liberal views which he openly avowed. He was President of the State
Council at Naples in 1806, and President of the Provisional Junta in 1820.
140 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1796
a dissertation upon the Roman law. His conversation
strongly savours of the new principles. Greppi ^ is a
Milanese. It was of his father that Arthur Young said
as a pubhc collector of the revenue the course he took
in that country conducted him to wealth and titles,
but would in England have brought him to the gallows.
He is a lively, mischievous man, full of laughable stories
against the governments he has Kved under.
The evenings I generally spent at home. Ld.
Holland used to read aloud. He read me Larcher's
translation of Herodotus, a good deal of Bayle, and a
great variety of Enghsh poetry. Madame d' Albany's
society was a pleasant relief from the sameness of the
Italians. Alfieri, when he condescended to unbend,
was very good company.
Feb. gth, 1796. — Set off with all my children, Gely,
and accompanied by Ld. H., to Rome, with the intention
of seeing Loreto. Slept the first night at Levane, dined
the next day at Arezzo. The effects of the recent earth-
quake were not so apparent as the exaggerated accounts
of it at Florence had taught us to expect ; the alarm
had been great, the injury shght — indeed none but the
fright occasioned to some old nuns, who ran out of their
convent, glad even to see the world upon such terms.
A few walls in the building were spHt. I went to see the
picture of the ' Martyrdom of St. Donato,' by a young
Aretin called Benvenuto,^ who studies at Rome, and is
admired and protected by the old compare. The picture
is weU coloured, but the artist is the most barefaced
plagiarist, for not content with taking from pictures,
he has pilfered arms, legs, and torsi from half the statues
in Rome. Reached Rome i8th. Ly. Plymouth had
' Carlo Greppi (1751-1811), dramatic author and poet.
" Pietro Benvenuto (i 769-1 844), Director of the Academy at
Florence at the time of his death.
1796] STATUES IN ROME 141
taken lodgings for me in ye Palazzo Corea (?), Strada
Pontifice.
The following day I went with Ly. Plymouth,
Amherst, and Ld. H., to see my old acquaintances in the
Museum Clementinum. Even since last year there are
alterations in the dispositions of the statues. The Laocoon
seems even grander than ever. The Apollo is always
miraculous, though it may be criticised, but its defects
are mere artifices to give more spirit to the attitude,
but nevertheless are deviations from correct truth. The
legs are allowed to be faulty, if not of modem restoration.
The new Antinous, discovered by Hamilton, and destined
for the D. Braschi's [sic] Palace, is among the finest things
in Rome. It is of colossal size, and almost perfect ; the
restorations are very judicious, particularly the drapery.
It is at present at Sposino's, the sculptor, a man who
has made a lasting monument of Ld. Bristol's bad taste,
and the merit of originaUty of thought is not his. Pitt
is represented as the infant Hercules strangling the
serpents, the heads of which are the portraits of Mr. Fox
and Ld. North, the Coalition ; Pitt's head is of the
natural size upon the body of an infant. The whole
performance is like some of the uncouth decorations in the
middle ages of our English cathedrals. The idea was taken
from a caricature. The English artists all to a man refused
to execute this puerile conceit. I went with Ly. Plymouth
and Amherst to Tivoh ; we stayed a couple of days.
St. Peter's contains a statue I never observed before,
but which for beauty is equal to any representation of
female perfection ; indeed, the effect it produced upon an
enraptured artist was such as to demand drapery. The
sculpture is not remarkable : the artist was DeUa Porta,
a scholar of M. Angelo's.' There is also another
' The figure is evidently ' Justice,' one of the two allegorical
figures on the tomb of Pope Paul III. by Guglielmo della Porta. After
142 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1796
female saint whose cold charms roused to passion the
imagination of a French artist.
Ld. Macartney came, and Ld. H. and I saw a good
deal of him. The first day of March, 1796, I set off to
go to Naples, merely to see my friend Italinski. I con-
veyed Smith, the American, an ennuyeux, in my carriage.
Slept the first night at Velletri, and the second at Terra-
cina, where both on account of the measles which prevails
at Naples, and the want of passports for the French
persons with me, I left Gely and my two youngest children
and my cook at the pretty inn, and pursued my journey
accompanied only by Smith, Hortense, and Webby.
The principal object of my excursion was to see my
old friend Italinski, who in consequence of the bad
conduct and dismissal of Cte. Golophin was appointed
sole Charge d' Affaires. I had the pleasure of finding
him well, and sincerely rejoiced to see me. The four
days I passed were totally with him. Ld. Bristol was
there dangerously ill. As soon as the physician declared
him in danger he sent to Italinski for my picture, adding
that though he had refused him a copy, he could not deny
a dying man anything. Italinski was embarrassed, but
sent the picture. As soon as it came he had it placed
upon an easel at the foot of his bed, and round it large
cires d'e'glise, and for aught I know to the contrary he
may still be contemplating my phiz. What makes this
freak the more strange is, that it is not from regard to me,
as he scarcely knows me, and never manifested much
liking to me ; probably it reminds him of some woman
he once loved, and whose image occupies his mind in his
last moments. j|
The change in the figure of Vesuvius is very dis-
advantageous to it in point of beauty. It is now lower
the sculptor's death ' his son Teodoro was employed to cover the body
with a bronze tunic ' (Perkins's Italian Sculptors).
1796] VESUVIUS 143
than Somma, and the crater is apparently flattened,^
Torre del Greco presents a curious spectacle, both to the
naturalist and ye moralist. The stratum of fresh lava
has raised the coast near fifty feet above its former level.
The lava is of a peculiar texture, more charged with
metallic particles than any of the other strata from
Vesuvius, though not equal in specific gravity to that at
Ischia. In many places it is still smoking, and the
cavities are filled by little beggars who seek warmth
there. After a fall of rain the evaporation is curious,
for the density of the atmosphere marks the course of the
lava. The infatuation of the people is wonderful ; they
prefer rebuilding upon that spot to accepting lands offered
by the King, and not content with that absurdity they
add to it by immediately commencing, and I actually
saw myself a house just finished, which was built within
three inches (for I measured them) of a hole from whence
the smoke issued, and upon which I could not bear my
hand from the excessive heat. This surely is verifying
that curious, novel, and true maxim of Adam Smith's,
that every man believes to a superstitious excess in his
own good luck.
The collection of Capo di Monte has undergone various
changes in the disposition of the pictures. The Queen
sent to desire I would visit her at Caserta, but she told
me the measles was in the palace among her children.
I therefore declined the honour, on account of exposing
Webby to the danger, I dined at Caserta with the
Hamiltons. I found Mullady altered, and Sir William
seemed more occupied about his own digestion than in
admiring the graceful turn of her head. I returned
' This eruption commenced in February 1793, and lasted almost
continuously till the end of June 1794. It reached its worst on
June 15, 1794. The cone lost height, and became flattened, as was the
case in the recent eruption of 1906.
144 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1796
day and night from Naples to Albano, where I found
Ld. Holland and Mr. M. waiting for me. The next
morning I went to see the lake and the emissary. The
emissary is an issue from the lake to carry off the super-
abundant waters. It is perforated through the hill. In
the evening we drove through the villas at Frascati, and
returned to Rome.
I quitted Rome, and went back to Florence by the
Siena road. Nothing very remarkable occurred during
my short stay at Florence. I set off from thence on
April ye nth. I bid adieu to that lovely spot, where I
enjoyed a degree of happiness for a whole year that was
too exquisite to be permanent. Ld. Holland drove me
in his phaeton the first post to Prato : he returned, and
I pursued my journey upon the Modena road.
For some reason, unrelated in the text, Lady Webster
seems to have changed her route. On reaching Bologna,
instead of turning west to Modena, she took the road to
Ferrara, which she reached on April i8th.
Ferrara is but the skeleton of its former grandeur ;
it is now deserted and thinly inhabited. The tomb of
Ariosto naturally attracted my veneration ; it is in the
Benedictine convent. The architecture of it is bad,
and the bust but moderately executed ; it represents him
very much in the dechne of life. His house, in which his
grotto, chair, and inkstand used to be shown, is now
pulled down and destroyed by the rapacity of the owner.
The public library is small, and contains no books of
value. There they preserve the original manuscript of
most of the books of the Orlando, chair, and inkstand.
The manuscript is written by himself, and in the margin
there are numberless emendations ; thus we discover that
those verses that seem so easy and to flow without
exertion, are precisely those that have undergone the
1796] RELICS OF ARIOSTO 145
most alteration. At the bottom of one of the pages
I perceived written in pencil : —
Vittorio ALfieri vede e venner6.
18 Giugno, 1783.
He might venerate, but the harmony he can never
imitate.
Early on ye 19th I set off and crossed the Po at
Lagoscuro, and from thence got to Rovigo, a dreadful
road and two bad barques, one over the canal Bianco,
and the other across the Adigio. Rovigo, the birthplace
of Manfredini, a wretched, straggling town. We reached
Padua at night. I have been there before, but I possess
a very faint remembrance of the place. I have just
heard that the unhappy phantom of royalty, Louis
XVIIL, has been compelled to quit the Venetian terri-
tory. I remained at Padua several days. Miss Bowdler
and Lady Herries lodged in the same hotel. Ld. Holland
overtook me from Florence.
We went to the monastery of Praia, a rich Benedictine
order. The heat of the weather and badness of the road
had fatigued us, and we asked permission to enter the
sacristy and refresh ourselves. The lay brother, who is
the porter, repulsed us with harshness, and refused us
admission within the walls, adding that water was the
only hospitality afforded by the monks. On my return
to Padua I wrote a letter of complaint to the Abbot,
who answered it with civility, and promised to reprimand
the insolence of the porter.
I went the next evening to see the Villa Quirini,
remarkable for possessing some of the oldest Egyptian
monuments in Europe if not coeval with the Pyramids
at least so Dancarville, the learned antiquary, assured me.
He pretends to be so much au fait of them, that he even
shows a mark made by a soldier of the army of Cambyses ;
VOL. I. L
146 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1796
but the reveries of antiquaries are absurd. The French
have broken into the plain of Pidmont by way of Nice,
and have gained a great victory over the Austrians.
Buonaparti [sic] is the French commander.
They left Padua on April 24, and took the road to Trieste.
From Trieste we went through Carniola, Carinthia,
Styria, by way of Laibach, Marburg, Gratz, and Bruck
to Vienna. I stayed a few days only at Vienna, dined
at Sir Morton Eden's,^ and saw some of my old acquain-
tances. Met Clairfait,^ who seems a mild, gentlemanlike
man. From Vienna I went to Znaym, Iglau, across the
famous field of battle at Kolin, to Prague ; from thence
to Dresden. The two posts at Aussig and Peterwald
were just as bad as they were the last time I went. I met
Lady Plymouth at Dresden, and dined with ye Duchess
of Cumberland.
From Dresden I went to Berlin ; tiresome deep road
through sands and thin forests of pines. At Berlin I
came in time to see a review, I dined with Ld. Elgin, ^
and at his house I saw the celebrated Pitt diamond,*
brought from Paris upon sale. Hugh Elliot insisted
upon bearing me company to Hamburg. Great diffi-
culty of accommodation at Hamburg : the town so filled
' Sir Morton Eden (1752-1830). Diplomatist, Ambassador at
Vienna in 1793 and 1794-99. In the latter year he was created Baron
Henley.
- Charles Joseph, Comte de Clerfait (i 733-1 798), a Belgian, who
entered the Austrian service and rose to high command in the army.
His successes and popularity, however, became too great for the court,
and he was superseded in his command by Archduke Charles two
years before his death.
^ Lord Elgin had been sent to Berlin as Envoy Extraordinary in
1795-
* The Pitt diamond was bought by Mr. Pitt, Governor of Madras
in 1702, for about 20,000/. He resold it in 1717 to the Due d'Orleans,
for Louis XV., for 130,000/. It was sent at this time to Berlin, but
appeared a few years later in the hilt of Napoleon's sword of state.
1796-7] HER MARRIAGE 147
with emigrants. Went to see General Dumouriez. I was
afraid of crossing the Elbe to Harburg, so went up
where it was narrow. Went through Harburg and
Stade to Cuxhaven : detained there some days on account
of contrary winds.
The 4th of June I quitted Hamburg. Crossed from
Cuxhaven to Yarmouth in six days and half. Came
straight to London.
An interval of a year here takes place in the Journal,
which Lady Holland, to use her new name, again resumes in
July 1797.
My wretched marriage was annulled by Parliament
on the 4th July. On the fifth I signed a deed by which
I made over my whole fortune to Sir G. W., for our
joint lives, for the insignificant sum of 800/. Every
mean device, every paltry chicane that could extort
money from us was had recourse to.
I was married at Rickmansworth Church by Rev.
Mr. Morris to Lord Holland, on July 6th, 1797. Sir
Gilbert Affleck,' my father-in-law, gave me away. As
soon as the ceremony was over we went to Richmond,
where I found my mother and my son Henry. They
came to this house the next day and stayed a week,
I was twenty-six years old. Ld. H. was twenty-three.
The difference in age is, alas ! two years and eight months
— a horrid disparity. All his family behaved to me with
the utmost kindness ; they came, those in town, and
those in the country wrote to me. I went to Bowood in
July, where I met with his two aunts. Misses Vernon,
and his sister, Miss Fox ; they were kind and cordial.
In the autumn I went to Margate.
' Sir Gilbert Affleck was Lady Holland's stepfather ; he married
her mother, Mrs. Vassall, in 1796. He succeeded his uncle as second
Baronet in 1788, and died in 1808 at the age of sixty-seven.
L 2
148 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1797
Having a very bad memory, and many odd irregular
half-hours, it has occurred to me to assist the one and
occupy the others by writing down any events, con-
versations, anecdotes, etc., that may interest me at the
moment ; and though my nature is too lazy to allow me
to hope that I can act up to anything like a systematic
pursuit, yet whilst the fit is upon me to be so employed,
I will yield. As I care too little about politics to talk of
them, I certainly shall refrain from discussing them upon
paper, nevertheless this moment is critical and anxious
even to my indifference. The second negotiation is just
broken off ; ^ hostilities beginning in Italy ; Mr. Fox de-
cidedly seceded from Parliament, and the session on the
point of opening ; fresh taxes, discontents, and the Dutch
fleet destroyed.^ My own individual happiness is so
perfect, that I can scarcely figure to myself a blessing
that I do not possess — indeed, the having such a com-
panion as I have is, in itself, everything without the
accessories of other advantages.
The 14th October (1797), Mr. Fox, D. of Bedford,
etc., dined here, and it was then finally concluded among
them that none of the shattered remains of their party
should attend the meeting of Parliament. As to the
measure of secession there are many different opinions
as to its expediency ; but all their discussions end in the
loss of time and temper, for Opposition are too unpopular
to have anything left to hope for, and the system of party
is obsolete. It seems astonishing to me that amidst the
number of very able men who still rally round the stan-
dard of Whiggism, not one should have discovered that
the temper of the country requires another species of
' The Treaty of Campo Formio, concluded between France and
Austria, embodying the prehminaries of Leoben, was signed on
October i8, but at the same time the negotiations between England
and France were broken off.
- At the battle of Camperdown.
1797] MR. FOX 149
resistance to Administration than the old scheme of a
regular Opposition with a Cavendish or a Russell at its
head. There is a bigotry in their adherence to their
ineffectual principles that borders upon infatuation.
Mr. Fox appears sincerely to rejoice at the prospect
of being able to give himself up to those pursuits that
amuse and, notwithstanding his powers as a statesman,
occupy him most. Literature, and especially the meta-
physics of grammar, and the cultivation of his plants,
are objects that engage the wonderful activity of his
mind. He has lately revived his Greek, and daily gets
by heart a given number of lines in Homer. Having
seen so httle of him, my opinion of him is chiefly taken
from public report and the very partial picture drawn
by his nephew ; however, his very enemies admit that
he possesses more estimable qualities as an individual
than falls to the share of scarcely any other. Perhaps
to a harsh observer his facility might be termed a weak-
ness and his good nature an indolent foible, but if extremes
are bad his bent is on the most amiable side. One cannot
but regret that such a man is lost to society, for so may
his retirement at St. Anne's be called, and the habits
of his hfe when there. Mrs. Armstead,* I understand,
possesses still those merits which, when united to the
' Mr. Fox married Mrs. Armstead in September 1795 at Wyton,
near Huntingdon, but the fact was not announced till 1802. She died
in 1842, at the age of ninety-two. Lord Minto, writing in 1805, says of
her : ' She has grown fat, and not younger, nor softer flavoured, but her
manner is pleasing and gentlewomanlike. I perceive that Lady
Holland does not admire her, and would willingly indulge herself
now and then with a fling at her.' And again : ' Mr. Fox has been
shopping with Mrs. Fox, an amusement they say he is very fond of ;
they had been buying china — cheap china, I mean, for they seem
great economists.' Miss Fox's (Lord Holland's sister) account of Mrs.
Fox's conduct in 1806, written to Lord Ossory, is also interesting,
to show the bias of Lady Holland's description. ' Mrs. Fox's patient
fortitude, her gentle piety, endear her to me every minute, and loving
her as I do for his sake, still I must do so for her own, for she deserves it.'
150 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1797
attractions of youth, a degree of beauty, and much
celebrity, placed her above her competitors for the glory
of ruining and seducing the giddy youth of the day.
She has mildness and little rapacity, but those negative
merits, when bereft of the other advantages, constitute
but an insipid resource in solitude. Besides, as she still
retains the immoderate love of expense which her
former life led her into, she may almost be called a
pernicious connection, as disadvantageous for his comfort
as for his reputation ; for after all that has passed, fresh
pecuniary embarrassments will be discreditable to him.
But I have often remarked that very superior men are
easier satisfied with respect to the talents of those they
live with than men of inferior abilities. Whether it
springs from a movement of vanity, that they despair of
meeting an equal and are therefore contented with gentle
accommodation, or that they are conscious that they
have little to learn, I cannot determine, but the fact is
certain.
I do not mean to compare Dumouriez to Mr. Fox,
but nevertheless I was astonished to find, in a visit I
made him (last June, '96), that the partner of his sohtude
was much the most trifling, insignificant personage I
had ever beheld. He was living in a wretched West-
phalian hovel or barn near Hamburg, with little money
and less estimation, and yet, contrary to what might have
been imagined from his inordinate ambition and vanity,
happier (I beheve) there surrounded by his brood of
well-disciplined ducklings than after the battle of Jem-
appes. I never saw him but once, and that in a way that
might have offended a man less vain. Hearing from his
relation, Chateauneuf, a bookseller at Hamburg, that he
lived in the neighbourhood, I proposed making him a
visit, that I might have the satisfaction of seeing one
of the most conspicuous characters that had flourished
1797] GENERAL DUMOURIEZ 151
in the Revolution. The motive excused the intrusion,
and he was flattered. He is short and fat, and in person
very unhke a Frenchman, but the deficiency in figure
to prove him one is amply made up the moment he
speaks. He is full of vivacity, esprit, and agrement,
expressing himself pointedly and even energetically ; and
he may be very justly placed among the best specimens
that remain of the genuine character of a Frenchman
under the Monarchy. His pecuniary circumstances are
very narrow — he is going to publish a 4th edition of his
works, from which he hopes to obtain a maintenance.
I believe he heartily repents the unlucky adherence to the
Constitution that causes him to be out of his country,
and prevents his rivalhng Hoche and Buonaparte, for he
could not conceal the envy excited by their glories. He is
a man of an enterprising genius and undaunted courage,
and would never incur the satire of Mr. Burke's appHca-
tion of the story of the two generals, one of whom used
to say upon a service of danger, ' AUez, mes amis,' and
the other, ' Allons, mes amis.' He would always be for
the latter.
The unfortunate La Fayette and his family are just
liberated from the dungeons of Olmutz, and mean to
embark at Hamburg for that country from whence he
imbibed those principles that have since deluged his
country with a sea of blood. ^ Whatever his errors might
have been by risking such a revolution merely to
distinguish himself from the common crowd of courtiers,
or to try to practise the theory of virtue and patriotism,
his cruel captivity has extinguished rancour even in the
breasts of his bitterest enemies. M. de Bouille,^ in
' La Fayette remained in Europe and took up his residence at
Wittmold, in Holstein. After the coup d'etat of 1799 he returned to
France, but hved in retirement on his property until 1814.
'' Francois Claude Amour, Marquis de Bouille (1739-1800). He
distinguished himself against the English in the Antilles during the
152 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1797
his Memoirs just published, mentions his intentions as
pernicious and his conduct as weak, but never represents
him as meaning evil ; and upon the whole the impression
given is more that of pity than any other. Poor man !
his faults are expiated in his sufferings. His character
is that of a phlegmatic, cold-hearted man, with much
vanity and slender abilities.
His cousin Bouille is of a very different turn : he is
quite the tete chaude of the Royalists, full of that fougue
and courage peculiar to his nation. Misfortunes have
softened his mind, and he allows his reason to conquer
his passion ; he is candid and impartial to others and
himself. I believe him to be very zealous and honest.
I first became acquainted with him amidst the noise
and tumult of a camp. In '93, returning from Italy to
spend a few weeks in England, I went from Bruxelles
to see Valenciennes, which had just fallen, and in that
tour I made a visit to the Duke of York, who was then
besieging Dunkirk.^ After dining at headquarters I
attended the funeral of General Dalton, who had been
killed the day before on the very spot over which I
passed. The melancholy scene and the noise of the artil-
lery discharged upon those occasions quite overcame
me, and I dechned attending the funeral that followed,
of Col. Elde. The D. of York very poUtely excused
himself from returning to headquarters with me, on ac-
count of his duty requiring his presence, but gave me
to the care of the Marquis de Bouille, who accompanied
me to the Duke's tent. Our conversation naturally
fell upon those events in France in which he had had the
greatest share, and he gave me a very interesting narrative
of the King's flight to Varennes, and the whole scheme as
War of Independence, and after Louis XVI. 's arrest at Varennes left
France and went to England, where he died.
' See ante, p. 92.
1797] M. DE BOUILLfe
153
conceived by him which he describes in his Memoirs.
He finished with tears, showing me his cordon bleu, which
was part of his ill-fated Sovereign's wardrobe that had
reached Luxembourg, and had been received by the
Marquis. He said it was the last and only reUc he had
of a master from whom he had received favours that
demanded his eternal gratitude and tenderness.
I saw him once afterwards at the Drawing-room,
and upon my asking him the name of a tall, gaunt figure
in the circle, he smiled at the singularity of a foreigner
showing to a native the Prime Minister of the country :
for the person was no less than Mr. Pitt himself. There
was afterwards a scheme in the city among the West
India planters and merchants for giving him a pension
on account of his noble behaviour in the islands during
the last war. My poor father promised to subscribe,
but I left England, and by hearing no more of it I presume
the affair dropped.
Just before the departure of Lord M. from Lisle,'
the Trevors, my old friends, or rather intimate acquaint-
ances, came through France. He is in a sort of way
driven from his post of Minister at Turin, as that Court
exhibited a curious jumble of bigotry and Jacobinism,
which must make a residence there awkward to a puncti-
lious courtier like Trevor. It was rather whimsical that
the morning she visited me was the precise one chosen by
Mr. Fox to come from St. Anne's, so the first object that
presented itself to her view upon entering the gallery
was her old admirer. Save a little blushing and stam-
mering the old lovers conducted themselves very ably.
The malicious say nous autres femmes get out of a scrape
of that sort with great ease ; this instance confirmed the
' Lord Malmesbury had been sent to Lille in July to negotiate for
peace. His efforts were fruitless owing to the ascendancy of the
Jacobin party in France, and he left for home on September 18.
154 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1797
calumny, as she possessed the greatest portion of the
sang froid of the two.
Mrs. Trevor's Ufe has been singularly passed, and the
latter part judiciously, circumstanced as she was. She
was the daughter of a rich canon, and was married partly
for her beauty and a little for her wealth. Soon after
her marriage she conceived a most insurmountable
disgust towards her husband. She was admired by
Mr. F., and, flattered by his preference, allowed great
scandal. She detained him one night at Ranelagh, whilst
the House was assembled and waiting for him to speak
upon a motion he had made : this gave an eclat which
perhaps she did not dislike. But the moment came that
was to separate her from the fashion of London. Trevor's
foreign missions drew her upon the Continent, where she
has remained mostly for these last eighteen years. The
first thing she did was to live apart from him, and keep
up a love correspondence with him ; hence to the world
they appeared enamoured of one another. She is a little
mad, and parsimony is her chief turn. She is good-
natured, and a little clever. Trevor has no judgment
and slender talents. His foibles are very harmless, and
his whole life has been insipidly good. His ridicules
are a love of dress coats, volantes, and always speaking
French, Au reste, he is very like other people, only
better.
His sister-in-law. Lady Hampden,^ is a woman of
a most extraordinary character, and a melancholy proof
' Catherine, first wife of Thomas, second Viscount Hampden, and
only daughter of General David Graeme. She died in 1 804. Colonel
Graeme was appointed Secretary to the Queen in 1761, and Con-
troller of her household in 1765. These posts he held until 1774, when
he left the Court and retired to Scotland. Jesse, on the authority of
the Rev. A, Carlyle, states that he became too presumptuous and
arrogant, and thereby forfeited the favour of the Queen. He became
Major-General in 1763, General 1783, and died in 1797.
1797] LADY HAMPDEN 155
of how much we depend upon others even for our virtues.
Her father was the man who first mentioned the present
Queen to Lord Bute, and was employed by him after-
wards to arrange the business, and he was, by-the-bye,
neglected by the upstart Majesty merely because he
knew the obscurity and poverty of her native Court.
Ly. H. was his only child, and was extremely young
and beautiful when first married. For ten years their
marriage was perfectly happy — the old Lord was living ;
they lived in retirement and were poor. His death
gave them riches, and the fond, domestic husband was
lost in the dissipated gambler. His house was amongst
the first where a faro bank was kept. Unfortunately
this has become prevalent, and many hold a share at
those houses where every allurement is held out to attract
and seduce. It was in this country that a man first
dared to deal at faro without a mask, so infamous did
they esteem the office upon the Continent.
It would be a curious subject to investigate and
write a book upon, to trace back the little points and
hazards upon which the fate of the world, its manners
and opinions, have depended. Had Carthage triumphed,
and Hannibal been a second Alexander, how different
in all probability would have been the genius and customs
of the world ! Commerce would have stifled the glory
of arms, and crushed the taste for the fine arts. Their
industry would have spread civilisation into the heart
of Africa, and that extent of country, now only a bar-
barous land, might have satisfied the wants of society,
and these miserable Northern latitudes might still
have been left to their Odins, their Druids, their fogs, and
their frosts. What a blessing to have been confined to go
no farther north than the Pyrenees ! I may be justified
in this wish, whilst at the moment of making it I am
wrapped up in flannels, and roasting by a fire, to keep
156 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1797
my blood in sufficient circulation to carry on the economy
of animal life. Another epoch that would have operated
even more powerfully upon the character of mankind
and their usages was the chance of the battle in France
between the Saracens and the Christians.^ What would
have been the effect had the former succeeded ? One
good would have been certain, the human mind would
not have been priest-ridden as it is, and the fear of death
would have been checked and not encouraged. The
worst part of the Christian dispensation is the terror
it inculcates upon a deathbed. The wisest dread it ;
no person who is strictly brought up in the principles
of Christianity can ever thoroughly shake off the fear
of dying. The Catholics supply instances of this
every day ; from infancy to manhood their minds are
debased by superstition in every terrific shape. When
capable of reflecting they shake off their shackles, and
become from bigots atheists. So they live, but in fact
the evil is but suspended ; a fit of illness throws them
back into the bosom of credulity, and like Gresset ^ they
die in sackcloth.
The claims of the Romish Church are stronger upon
the imagination than those of the more purified sects of
Protestants. The priests found it so much to their
interests to pervert the understanding, that the love of
power made them hold their empire beyond the grave —
hence their Purgatory.
The Christian priests, with all their subtlety and
policy, from vanity gave the staff out of their own
hands. Proud of the praise centred upon them for
being the preservers of learning, they weakly taught the
' Charles Martel's defeat of the Saracens near Tours in 732 a.d.
- Jean Gresset (i 709-1 777), French poet and writer of plays.
Educated by the Jesuits, he became well known for his satires against
the priesthood. Later in life he gave up his literary work under the
influence of the Bishop of Amiens, and retired to a monastery.
1797] EFFECT OF RELIGIOUS WARS 157
laity the valuable treasures they had preserved, and by
enlightening them the progress has been such as we see.
Had they, like the priests of Egypt, confined all know-
ledge to their own body, society would still have been
dependent upon them, and whilst there was no conten-
tion, they might have been a harmless theocracy.
Certainly during the middle ages they were serviceable
even to the cause of humanity, for those very Crusades
eventually benefited Europe. They drew forth many
turbulent spirits, who, had they remained at home, would
have fallen into intestine broils, and kept up the feudal
governments. Whereas, though two-thirds of the vast
armies that issued out never returned, yet the one-third
that did introduced a taste for foreign productions to which
commerce became the consequence, and the manners
of every country in Europe by degrees softened and
civilised. Yet this good they did was severely bought
by the horrors of the rehgious wars after the Reforma-
tion in Germany when Gustavus Adolphus was called
in. That embraces a horrid period in the annals of
history : it was an awful struggle between reason and
bigotry. Fortunately for the advantage (perhaps) of
mankind the former conquered to a degree, and but for
the absurd excesses which have disgraced morality in
this French Revolution, the cause of common sense
would have completely succeeded. But we are nearer a
relapse into old errors than a reformation.
Had the Saracens been masters of Europe the lot of
womankind would have been but indifferent, for it is
a very remarkable circumstance that all the institutions
in Southern countries are very degrading to the sex.
Morally and physically we are treated as beings of an
inferior class, and though it is not quite demonstrable
that we are supposed to be without a claim to immor-
tality of soul, yet the reward is but trivial, and we are
158 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1797
excluded the Paradise of men. On the contrary, the
natives of the North hold even the feminine gender in
respect, so great is their veneration for us : they fought
with us by their sides as tutelary angels, and submitted
to the government of a female chief. They called the
Sun the greatest luminary, to honour it with a feminine
name, and the moon, which is inferior, by a masculine
one. This spirit melted into chivalry, and it is to the
preux chevaliers, the Arthurs, the Orlandos, and the
Round Table, that we owe our present situation in society.
However, the Saracens were a great and enlightened
people, and till lately literature and science have never
fairly been grateful for what they owe them, and half
the world to this day even confound them with those
savages, the Turks. It is true that at first they fought
with the sword in one hand and the Alkoran in the other,
but once conquerors they cultivated the milder virtues.
Where is there a better government than that under the
Caliphs in Spain ? The University of Granada educated
our first literati, Friar Bacon, etc. It would be endless
to enter into their merits : Andres,' a Spanish Jesuit
who lives at Mantua, has written an excellent book in
Italian about them.
I have had so strange an education, that if I speak
freely upon sacred subjects it is not from an affectation
of being an esprit fort, but positively because I have no
prejudices to combat with. My principles were of my
own finding, both religious and moral, for I never was
instructed in abstract or practical religion, and as soon
as I could think at all chance directed my studies ; for
though both my parents were as good and as virtuous
people as ever breathed, and I was always an only child,
yet I was entirely left, not from system, but from fond-
ness and inactivity, to follow my own bent. Happily
' Juan Andres (1740-18 17).
1797] HER EDUCATION 159
for me I devoured books, and a desire for information
became my ruling passion. The experiment of leaving
a child without guidance or advice is a dangerous
one, and ought never to be done ; for if parents will
not educate it themselves they should seek for those
that will ; but I do not complain, as perhaps all is for
the best in this instance, though I should be bien
autre chose if I had been regularly taught. I never
had any method in my pursuits, and I was always too
greedy to follow a thing with any suite. Till lately I
did not know the common principles of grammar, and
still a boy of ten years old would outdo me.
But I never look back upon the early period of my hfe,
but I turn from the picture with disgust. At fifteen,
through caprice and folly, I was thrown into the power
of one who was a pompous coxcomb, with youth, beauty,
and a good disposition, all to be so squandered ! The
connection was perdition to me in every way ; my heart
was good, but accustomed to hear and see everything
that was mean and selfish, I tried to shut it to the calls
of humanity, and used my reason to teach me to hate
mankind. Fortune smiled, and made me ample amends
for seven or eight years of suffering, by making me know
the most favoured of her sons. At Florence, in 1794,
I began to think there were exceptions to my system of
misanthropy, and every hour from that period to this
('97), which now sees me the happiest of women, have
I continued to wonder and admire the most wonderful
union of benevolence, sense, and integrity in the character
of the excellent being whose faith is pledged with mine.
Either he has imparted some of his goodness to me, or
the example of his excellence has drawn out the latent
good I had — as certainly I am a better person and a more
useful member of society than I was in my years of
misery.
i6o LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1797
November isi, '97. — The peace with Emperor and the
RepubHc is certain, and a guerre d mort between this
island and all the vast power of the brave, conquering
French. How this country can get out of the mauvais
pas it is in remains to be seen, I think it is, from the
obstinacy and folly of the Government, lost, and that
completely by its own fault.
Le bien nous le faisons, le mal c'est la fortune ;
On a toujours raison, le destin toujours tort.
Unjust as mankind is, it can hardly rest the blame of
our destruction upon Fortune.
A propos of the simple, philosophical La Fontaine,
I either read or heard a touching trait of his simplicity
lately. He was wise enough to despise money, and
spent all he had from not knowing its value or caring
for its production. When reduced to nothing he lived
with a friend, who loved him and supplied the very
few wants he had. This friend died. One who had
known La Fontaine at his house immediately went to
invite him to come and live with him. He met La
Fontaine on the road to his chateau, and upon hearing
the invitation the poet replied ' J'y allais.' The
naivete of his reply is very striking : to a mind like his
the accepting money was no dependence, he wanted it
not for luxuries, but for existence. He paints his own
character in his epitaph.
The King has been to see the Dutch prizes. It is
supposed that the extreme fuss that has been made
about the victory proceeds from some dirty politics
of the King's own, as much less was done for Ld. St.
Vincent, and his victory was more brilliant ; ^ but
' Admiral Duncan had completely destroyed the Dutch fleet
under Admiral de Winter on October 1 1, 1797, off the village of Camper-
down. With sixteen ships of the line he captured eight Dutch ships of
1797] SIR GILBERT ELLIOT i6i
Duncan is a relation of Mr. Dundas's and a Scotchman,
and Ld. St. Vincent a member of Ld. Lansdown's, who
though he never voted against the war yet he never
did for it, and it was known that his opinion went
violently against that of the Court — a crime the paltry
Sovereign can never pardon even in the most distinguished.
So these rejoicings are meant to mortify him. It is an
odd circumstance that Ld. St. Vincent used to sign
' John Jervis ' for many months after the honour of the
earldom had been conferred upon him, and he only
ceased using it upon its being noticed from the Ministers.
Indeed, some of the new creations might well disgust
him of a dignity rendered now so contemptible.
Sir Gilbert Elliot was the man I used to esteem
the most for integrity and respectability among the
Opposition. He is the son of a poor Scotch baronet,
who was one of the King's men. He and his brother
were sent to Paris to be educated, and at the college he
formed a friendship with the celebrated Mirabeau,
and some years afterwards, when Mirabeau was tried for
his life in England upon the accusation of having robbed
his servant, Sir G. and Mr. Burke appeared in a court
of justice to give testimony to his morals. Sir G.
married a Miss Amyand (Lady Malmesbury's sister). He
was a sycophant of Burke's, and during the Regency was
as bitter against the poor mad King as his patron. All
the line out of a total of fifteen. His task was rendered more difficult
by the mutinous spirit which had affected many of his crews for some
months previously.
Sir John Jervis's victory had been gained on February ii off Cape
St. Vincent on the coast of Portugal. In his case the odds were greater
with respect to the number of ships engaged, i.e. fifteen English to
twenty-seven Spanish, but the ships of the latter were poorly manned,
and in many cases the crews were incomplete. Indeed, it is probable
that, had the English Admiral realised his superiority in this respect,
he would have been able to destroy the whole Spanish fleet. As it
was, four ships of the line were captured, and others destroyed.
VOL. I. M
i62 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1797
the papers at that time were drawn up by him, and he is
reckoned to be the choicest writer of his own tongue since
Addison. At the great crash among the Opposition he
is accused of having repeated conversations falsely, and
by so doing pledging each division to go further than
they intended. Each party tell a different story, but
I cannot decide upon the truth of the report. After
the great schism Messrs. Windham, Grenville, and
Pelham agreed to remain out of office, and they called
themselves the ' Independent Triumvirate.' Sir G. E.,
by intrigue and working upon W.'s vanity, persuaded
him that his not having a share of responsibility for the
measures he supported was cowardly, and worked upon
him to go into ofhce in '94. Sir G. then got the foolish
commission to Toulon, and when that affair ended so ill,
averse to giving up the emoluments (the full pay of
Ambassador) he and Ld. Hood together hit upon that
wild scheme of Corsica.
His display of domestic virtues reminded me of a
saying of Saint-Foix, who, talking of Lord A. said he
was a crafty, hypocritical man, with mceurs in his mouth
and sin in his heart, and that his whole system was
artificial, that his wife was the same, and that even ' les
petits enfants jouent aussi leurs roles.' His wife is a
sprightly, prating, gossiping woman, with a large share
of vanity and a moderate one of sense. She is the only
woman I ever saw that Ld. H. absolutely cannot endure.
The French made a lively sort of epigram against
Santerre,' the infamous brewer, who became General,
' Antoine Joseph Santerre (i 752-1 809). Though a violent revo-
lutionist, his influence seems to have been employed to obtain kindly
usage for the Royal Family. The well-known story of his order to
the drums to drown Louis XVI. 's speech to the populace when on
the scaffold is open to doubt. Even if he gave the order, which is
uncertain, he was only a subordinate, and the command would in
all probability have emanated from General Burruyer, the commander
1797] BOBUS SMITH'S MARRIAGE 163
and attended Louis XVI. to the scaffold. The sting of it
turns upon their popular liquor, ' La bonne bierre de
Mars ' :—
Ci-git le General Santerre,
Qui n'a de Mars que sa bierre.
The secession of Mr. Fox from his duty in Parliament
is a subject of great discontent to the Ministry, a strong
proof that it has in part the effect intended. It is
believed that if he would attend, this vexatious scheme
for Assessed Taxes would be relinquished.
A family event is upon the point of taking place,
which surprised us all when we heard of it, a union
with Mr. S.' and Miss V.^ In a worldly point of view it is
bad, as they will be excessively poor, but the worst part
is the great disparity of age ; he is twenty-seven, she is
thirty-nine, twelve years upon the wrong side. I shall
dwell upon his character some time or other ; and perhaps
hers, though it has few features beyond that of being
goodhearted and well disposed.
I am most unusually dull ! I heard a bon mot of
of the troops. His campaign in 1793 against the insurgents of La
Vendee was a complete failure, and he was arrested and imprisoned
on the charge of disaffection towards the Republic. On his release
he retired into private Ufe.
' Robert Percy Smith (1770-1845), better known as ' Bobus '
Smith. He was the eldest son of Robert Smith, and Maria Oilier,
the daughter of a French refugee. He was at Eton with Lord Holland,
and continued from that time in the closest friendship and intimacy
with him. He was appointed Advocate-General of Bengal, by Lord
Lansdown's influence, in 1803, and remained seven years in India.
He entered Parliament in 18 12, but never took much part in the debates.
The sprightliness and originality of his wit and conversation obtained
for him a fame to which he could never have attained by his perform-
ances in public life.
-■ Miss CaroUne Vernon was second daughter of Evelyn, first Countess
of Upper Ossory, and Richard Vernon, whom she married after the
death of her first husband. Her eldest sister, Henrietta, married
George, Earl of Warwick, in 1776, and the youngest, Elizabeth, died
unmarried in 1830. Robert Vernon Smith, the son of this marriage,
married Emma Mary, a natural daughter of the second Earl of Upper
Ossory, and was created Lord Lyveden in 1859.
M2
i64 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1797
Mr. Erskine's that I think is good. He was at dinner
sitting between (May 17, '97) Mr. Adam and Mr. Crewe.
He was attacking Mr. A. for his constant opposition to
Parliamentary reform when in Parhament, and sohciting
Mr. C. for his vote for the reform which was then coming
on. ' What company I am in ! ' exclaimed Erskine, ' a
Crewe in mutiny, and an Adam with original sin.' The
fleet was in mutiny at the Nore.
About the same time it was decided in a court of
justice that an affidavit must have a title. Erskine,
while his adversary was pleading for the necessity of
the title, wrote in court these lines : —
In times like these when 'tis the vogue
To title every fool and rogue,
Up starts a perjured affidavit
And swears that he must also have it.
Lord Lauderdale dined here and mentioned having
just left Ld. Thurlow,^ whose opinion he had asked
about these Triple Assessments ; ^ he answered in his
usual style of vehemence and imprecation, ' D — n seize
the whole set of them ; I look for Bonaparte, and expect
redress from him in London at the head of 100, 000
men.'
It is said that Mr. Fox's constituents insisted upon
his return to Parliament. He went there on the 13th
' Lord Thurlow (i 731-1806) was Lord Chancellor from 1778 till
1 783. After the fall of the Coalition he resumed that office, and retained
it until 1792, when he was compelled to resign on account of his opposi-
tion to Pitt.
^ This was Pitt's proposal to treble for a year the Assessed Taoses
payable on houses, windows, carriages, horses, &c. By this meams he
proposed to provide the necessary funds for the year without increais-
ing the national debt ; and by a system of graduation he considertid
that the tax would only fall on those who could reasCiaabljy
afford to contribute towards the revenues of the country. This tax^
in effect, did not nearly approach the figure Pitt estimated it ^^QU-l'^
produce.
1797] LORD MOIRA 165
of December and made an incomparable speech ; '
there are those who still hope the Minister will abandon
the scheme, but as it is one of his own he feels the greatest
parental fondness for it, and will relinquish it (if he
should) with the greatest reluctance. I have just got
from Ld. Lauderdale ^ the copy of a curious letter
written by Lord Moira to be shown to Mr. Fox. It
contains proposals for a motley Administration, but I
have not yet read the particulars.
Lord M., had he lived in the days of Rochefoucauld,
would have been the character to have furnished that
excellent observation that ' La gravite est un mystere
du corps pour cacher les defauts de 1' esprit,' as upon
the gravity of his deportment and the passive goodness
of his morals he has founded a sort of reputation that
neither his abihties or his conduct have entitled him to
possess. An attachment to his profession, which he
imbibed from beholding the military discipline of the
Austrians, and a desire of distinguishing himself by enter-
ing sooner that he might go to America, are the only
brilliant points in his character, Au reste, he is a con-
ceited, solemn coxcomb, with as much ambition as the
coldness of his disposition allows. Since the unpopularity
of the P. of Wales he has been the only man of
distinction, either of rank or reputation, who has sup-
ported him. He is his adviser, and certainly looks
forward to being at the head of affairs in this country
after the King's death, if not before. His farewell
' On the Assessed Taxes Bill.
- James, eighth Earl of Lauderdale (1759-1839), second son of
James, seventh Earl of Lauderdale, whom he succeeded in the titles
in 1789. He first entered the House of Commons in 1780, and was
elected a Scotch representative peer in 1790, but was not re-elected
during the next two Parliaments on account of his advanced views
on social questions. His ideas, however, underwent a marked change
later in life, and he even opposed the Reform Bills. He married, in
1782, Eleanor, cmly daughter of Anthony Todd, Esq.
i66 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1797
speech to the EngUsh troops in Holland deserved very
severe reprehension, as much for the in judiciousness of
inspiring at that moment despondency, and for his vanity
in implying that his going was sufficient to cause it.
He is a man of veracity, a quality strictly necessary
in him. It was his father who said he never used any
manure, or allowed his tenants to apply any other than
what came from silkworms. There are various other
extraordinary stories of his, much in the style.
His politics he conducts so that he may be in power
with either side — a shabby mode of proceeding, unless
it is founded upon indifference to both sides, and merely
to secure safety in commotions ; and even then the safety
of it is doubtful. Timidity in public life I own I despise,
for though I feel very lukewarm it is from the effect of
circumstances and reasoning, and not disposition ; for
were I to indulge my nature my principles are d la
hauteur de la revolution. I must either be one of the
greatest patriots or tyrants that have lived. But I
dread adding a spark to the flame already kindled in
Ld. H.'s disposition ; for every change must be the
worse for me, who already possess such unalloyed happi-
ness.
Mr. Lewis,' who is known in the literary world by
' Matthew Gregory Lewis (i 775-181 8), eldest son of Matthew
Lewis, Esq., and Frances Maria, daughter of Sir Thomas Sewell. He
was educated at Westminster, and passed some time in Germany, near
Weimar, where he learnt the language and imbibed that taste for
German literature which clung to him for the remainder of his life.
When only twenty he wrote the novel which gave him the nickname
by which he is best known. In addition to novels, he wrote numerous
poems and verses, and also plays, several of which were produced in
London. He sat in the House of Commons as a Whig from 1796 to
1802. His father, who was a large landed proprietor in the West
Indies, died in 1 8 1 2, and after his death Lewis took up very enthusiastic-
ally the question of the welfare of the slaves working on the property.
He twice visited Jamaica, and died on the return journey in 1818
from yellow fever.
1797] 'MONK' LEWIS 167
having written a very popular romance called The
Monk in which there are some very pretty verses, has
just given to the public a play not totally without merit.
He has borrowed very much from the literature of the
German, and his imagination, so schooled, is sometimes
extravagant and monstrous. It may not be very con-
sistent with chaste taste to admit that the German
pleases, yet there are specimens that are sublime and
touching, though in general the great affectation there
is of simplicity and honour are more revolting than
pleasing. The most fascinating part of the new play is
perhaps the acting, and the agency of a most graceful
female spirit, yet the two last acts may boast of intel-
lectual interest. I saw him to-day for the first time here.
He is little in person, rather ugly and shortsighted;
upon the whole not engaging, though better than I
expected from the picture made of him to me.
Lord Granville L.-Gower is going immediately to
Berlin to congratulate the young King upon his acces-
sion.^ It will require the pen and genius of another
Mirabeau to describe and detect the intricacies of the
intrigues going on there. The monarch is represented
to be obstinate, weak, and unfeeling ; the second brother,
who died two years past, was the one of the whole family
most favoured by natural endowments, though he may
perhaps only share that reputation in common with
all princes who die prematurely. The D. of Brunswick
is gone to Berlin, according to report, to govern the
' Frederick William III. (i 770-1 840) succeeded to the throne of
Prussia on his father's death in November 1797. The late King,
Frederick Wilham II. (1744-1797), was nephew and successor of
Frederick the Great. The boundaries of Prussia were largely extended
during his reign, but his methods of ruling the country, influenced by
unworthy favourites, did not commend themselves to his people. He
divorced his first wife, Princess Elizabeth of Brunswick, in 1769, and
married Princess Louise of Hesse-Darmstadt, by whom he had six
children.
168 Lady Holland's journal [179^
King. If obstinacy and folly are as much combined in
his character as they say it is, the Duke will find the
undertaking as difficult as that he engaged in when he
invaded Champagne.
I passed a few days at Berlin in '96, and was
fortunate enough (for I then thought it so) to arrive
the day before a review ; which, when I had seen I
found I had seen nothing. For, stunned by the noise,
choked with the smoke, and blinded by the dust, the
four hours spent upon the sandy plain were so many of
bodily sufferance, and the only instruction I derived
was that a man may easily evade and play the part /
should in a battle, viz., run away and not be missed.
Glad to escape from a scene, disagreeable in itself, and
made more detestable by reflecting upon the intention of
it, I went to a small house on a cross-road, which was
found filled with royal attendants, i.e. a seraglio. Shortly
after the unwieldy monster, for whose pleasures they
were assembled, appeared upon a horse of a proportion-
able size to himself. After hearing their names he
selected those he chose to have follow him to Charlotten-
burg. The royal wish being signified, three or four
ascended a carriage that was in waiting, and the whole
party, accompanied by the famous Bischoffsverder and
some other courtiers, set off to engage in the most dis-
gusting debaucheries that ever disgraced a court. When
he was dying he frequently asked of the physicians when
they thought it would be over with him, and expressed
great impatience for the moment of dissolution. This
desire of death in a timid, bad man was remarkable, for
such a contempt of life was not in his character ; but it
appeared that he firmly gave credit to the Illumines,
and believed he should return within eight days to life
in the form of a handsome young woman. Some of
his mistresses are under a suspicion of having embezzled
I797-S] FREDERICK WILLIAM IL 169
great sums, and the celebrated Mde. de Rietz ^ is under
confinement, and her goods, etc., confiscated — a paltry-
measure for a Sovereign, for if the money was given, how-
ever injudiciously, it is a reflection upon the memory of
his parent, and is a shabby robbery. Mde. de Rietz
was the Pompadour of Berlin ; no longer fit to please the
King she sought those that could. It is her daughter
that Ld. Bristol quarrelled with his son for not marrying
last year.
Ld. Malmesbury was to have gone to make the com-
pliments, but most likely Mr. Canning made him relinquish
it for the sake of his young friend ; and Ld. M. did it
more readily since the memento of mortality he has
lately had. His head is awry, and his whole appearance
indicates a universal shock.
Ld. H. made, on ye loth of January, his debut in
the H. of Lords, on the subject of the Assessed Taxes. ^
' Better known under the name of Wilhelmine, Comtesse de
Lichtenau (i 752-1 820), the title bestowed on her by Frederick
WilUam II. The daughter of a musician, she became his mistress
at the age of sixteen, probably under the promise of morganatic
marriage, and for the sake of appearances was married to one of his
body servants, Rietz. On the King's death she suffered eighteen
months' imprisonment, besides the loss of all her belongings. Some
of her property was restored to her by Napoleon in 1807.
Her daughter was called Comtesse de la Marche. Lord Bristol, in
several letters to Lady E. Foster, published in The Two Duchesses,
implores her assistance in persuading his second son, Frederick (who
succeeded him), to marry the lady, and enumerates the benefits which
would accrue to the whole family by the alliance. The young man in
question, however, thought otherwise, and married, in February 1798,
Elizabeth Charlotte, daughter of Clotworthy, first Lord Templetown.
^ Charles James Fox, writing to Lord Holland on January 16,
1798, says : ' I do assure you, my dear young one, that I do not flatter
you at all, if by flattering is meant saying more than one thinks, but
if praise is to be called flattery, then I beg that you will tell Lady H.
that I know enough of the family constitution to know that it is
remarkably good and wholesome for us all, and that, too, in good
doses. I think your speech, whether well or ill given, reads very
well indeed ; but it was not the goodness of the speech only that I
alluded to, it was the stoutness of fighting so well, all alone against
them all, and I really was delighted full as much as I said, or more.'
170 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
He spoke well in his first speech, but admirably in his
reply. His speech was precisely what a friend would
wish : argumentative and simple, evidently not a studied
declamation, and such as a first opening should be, more
because it promised success than that it possessed it.
I should have been sorry to have heard it was eloquent,
as almost all the speakers who have begun pompously
have stopped short, as for instance Ld. Hawkesbury,
Belgrave, and Mr. Canning. The wit and quickness of
his reply is an answer to those who probably would
have ascribed to Mr. Fox his speech. In answer to
Lord Grenville's repeated boasts of the excellence of the
Constitution, he said it reminded him of Prior's lines : —
When Harlequin extolled his horse
Fit for the road, the chase, the course ;
One fault he had, a fault indeed,
And what was that ? His horse was dead.
He entered a protest, but by some unlucky misunder-
standing the Duke of Bedford did not sign it, and Ld. H.
was too indolent to get the signatures of the other peers
who wanted to sign ; and unfortunately Ld. Oxford was
the only person who signed with him. The Assessed
Taxes have passed, and there is besides a voluntary sub-
scription open for those who have money enough left to
squander upon such an absurd donation.^ The Assessed
Taxes add to us 1000/. and fifty pounds besides the old
assessment — a sum added to the annual expenditure
that compels us to exceed our income, and nothing but
the desperate state of affairs can make me look upon
such a certainty as a moderate calamity.
Messrs. Grey, Tierney, and Erskine dined here last
' In the form of a National Defence Fund. Forty-six thousand
pounds were subscribed at an open-air meeting of bankers and merchants
held in the Royal Exchange. The Bank of England subscribed
200,000^.
1798] MR. GREY 171
week. Grey was placid in temper and pleasing in his
manner, a contrast to the general state of both, as he is
usually irritable and supercihous. His heart is warm
and excellent, and those few who do not detest him
love him with great affection, but he is universally
unpopular from the offensiveness of his behaviour. He
says he is dissatisfied with his political conduct, and
regrets having continued so long in Parliament after
seceding. He began his political career under the
auspices of Ld. Lansdown ; the beauty and attraction of
the Dss. of Devonshire drew him to the party of which
she was a most active partisan. His abilities and con-
nections secured him the flattery of the Whigs, and
more seduced by his heart than convinced by his reason,
he became an adherent of Mr. Fox's. For many years
he was discontented, for his ambition and vanity have
been checked and mortified, the first from the desperate,
unavailing opposition, and his vanity at being com-
pared with Sheridan and obliged to act in concert with
him. His eloquence is more pleasing and agreeable
than forcible and deep ; in private life he is very respect-
able. He has married the Duchess of Devonshire's
relation. Miss Ponsonby, a mild, insipid, pretty girl.'
They are very happy, and if he is satisfied it is no person's
business to express astonishment at it.
Tierney ^ is a man of whom everybody believes
something against, but I could never discover upon
what fact such a belief was founded, as he has never
committed any overt act. His birth is obscure, not to
say mean. He married a woman who brought him a
fortune, which his extreme parsimony will prevent him
' He married, in 1794, Mary Elizabeth, only daughter of William,
first Lord Ponsonby, of Imokilly.
- George Tierney {1761-1831) was son of Thomas Tierney, a native
of Limerick, and originally a merchant in London. He married,
in 1789, Miss Miller, of Stapleton, in Gloucestershire.
172 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
from squandering. He is shrewd and lively, and has
apparently a very bad opinion of mankind.
A person who was sent about two years ago to explore
the interior parts of Africa is just returned. He is a
Scotchman of the name of M. Park/ very much pro-
tected by Sir Joseph Banks, and esteemed a man of
veracity. He has neither fancy or genius, and if he
does fib it is dully. He has traced the Niger to its
source about a 1000 miles from the embouchure of the
Senegal. He describes it as falling into a vast medi-
terranean lake, from whence it probably issues, but that
he could not ascertain. He met with great difficulties,
and was frequently in danger of losing his life. In a
Negro district he was once imprisoned and condemned
to death. The Queen saved his life by proposing to
preserve him as a curiosity for his complexion, but at
the expense of his sight. He escaped, however, that
sacrifice. A Major Houghton, who preceded him in the
expedition, went laden with beads and toys, hoping to
engage the friendship of the inhabitants by his paltry
gifts. He succeeded for some time, but falUng in with
an intrepid, rapacious people, to obtain all his riches
they massacred him. This man lived with the Negroes
everywhere, shunning the Moors, whom he represents
as cruel and perfidious.
There is another adventurer wandering, whose history
is remarkable, and if what he says is true his discoveries
are curious. A student in the Temple of the name of
Browne ^ allowed his imagination to be heated by the
perusal of Quintus Curtius, and became convinced
that he could discover the Temple of Jupiter Ammon.
' Mungo Park (1771-1806). He lost his life in a second attempt
to solve the mystery of the sources of the Niger. An account of his
travels was published in 1 8 1 5 by Whishaw.
^ See ante, p. n.
1798] MR. BROWNE 173
With all the ardour of youth and the enthusiasm of a
proselyte, he quitted England, and arrived at Cairo
without the smallest equipment for a laborious journey,
or the least knowledge in the Oriental languages. He
there engaged with a caravan, which was going across
the deserts of Libya; after sixteen days' journey from
Alexandria they arrived at a fertile, verdant spot, insu-
lated in the sands, conformable to the description given
of the oasis on which the famous temple was erected.
Mr. B. has since returned to England, and received
great encouragement from the President. He is now
learning Arabic and the languages that will facilitate his
future enterprises. It is hoped that he will be de bonne
foi, and really study the originals, and not do what
poor Savary ^ was accused of, who instead of deriving
his knowledge from the genuine sources, translated
the history of a Caliphat from a bad Latin version. A
musty savant discovered the imposition in an ingenious
manner. In Savary's history a certain town in Egypt
is described as having its market filled weekly with oil.
Now as no olives grow, and consequently no oil can be
produced in such abundance as to furnish a regular
supply in that district, recourse was had to other trans-
lations, and the identical one copied by Savary was
found, and the error in the text that had led him into the
mistake, for there olium was used for olus [oleris) cabbages !
Thus fell the glorious boast of Savary's learning.
I have lately been reading a very entertaining book,
not the less so probably for being full of lies. It begins
with a bouncer, viz., that Henry VIII. put Wolsey to
death for his strict adherence to the Pope. The book
is Leti's Life of Sextus V., a pontiff whose history both
as a sovereign and a man is worthy of being recorded,
' Claude Etienne Savary (i 750-1 788), who spent some years in Egypt
and wrote, among other works, Letters on Egypt and Letters on Greece,
174 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
though the dignity of the first is degraded by cruelty,
and the latter by hypocrisy.
The King yesterday subscribed towards the exigencies
of the State and this ' just and necessary war,' 20,000/. !
A scandalous and contemptible proceeding. He has a
million annually, besides having Hanover, and most of
his family provided for. The subscription goes on
tardily, and there is not above 100,000/. raised, although
it has been opened above ten days.
At length my wishes will be accomplished, and if
life is granted to me for a few years, nay months, I shall
witness the downfall of the detestable government
of Rome ! When this generation shall have passed
from the face of the earth and no living witnesses remain,
posterity will yield a reluctant belief to the testimony
of history when it shall unfold the story of the Papal
sway. That priests have governed without control the
early history of every country shows, but then the
ignorance of the governed was proportioned to the
dominion of the governors ; but that such a power should
have lasted near four centuries after the destruction
of Constantinople, when the lights of philosophy were
diffused throughout Europe, appears incredible. The
truth of the existence of the governments, Venice and
Rome, will ever be problematical questions in future
politics. Most will doubt, and for the advantage of
mankind it is to be hoped none will ever try to revive
experimentally their forms.
This last commotion in Rome seems to have been a
contrivance of the French, aided by the inveterate
enemy to the See, Azara, for all (the Ambassador) Bona-
parte's steps in consequence appear to be the result of
a premeditated scheme.^ Tho' I abhor the treachery,
' During the autumn of 1797 various intrigues were on foot in
Rome, and all centred in the residence of the French Ambassador,
1798] INTRIGUES IN ROME 175
yet I cannot but applaud the effect, though it would be
a prouder thing for ye human mind if the holy jugglers
had received their destruction from the effort of reason,
than by the common intrigue of an enemy. The King
of Naples, unlike a faithful son of the Church, has marched
a large army to seize a share of the tottering State, which
the French will allow him to keep until it answers their
purposes to take it from him.
2(^th January, 1798. — Lord Lansdown, Misses Vernon
and Fox, Messrs Lewis, Jekyll,^ and Beauclerk dined
here. Ld. L. never dines out, so his coming was a
distinguished mark of favour. His character is a
monstrous compound of virtues and failings ; the world
has never done him justice for his ample portion of the
former. A simple, well-meaning man once said, ' What
a pity 'tis that Mr. Fox has no private character, and
Ld. L. no public one.' His temper is violent, and his
Joseph Bonaparte (Napoleon's eldest brother), who desired a means
of breaking with the Papal Government. His opportunity came at
last on December 28, when a revolutionary band sought refuge from
the soldiery and populace in the courtyard of the French Embassy.
In the tumult a member of the Embassy was shot by one of the Papal
soldiers. Joseph instantly quitted the Pope's dominions, and a
French army under Berthier entered the city on February 10. It
was received with acclamation by the multitude, and the Roman
Republic was proclaimed an accomplished fact. The Pope was
removed to Tuscany, and afterwards to Valence, where he died in
1799. In November 1798, Ferdinand issued a proclamation to the
Neapolitans that he was about to restore the Pope to his throne, and
immediately proceeded, with the help of an Austrian army, to try to
carry out his boast. The whole force, under the command of General
Mack, did indeed reach Rome, but were unable to maintain their
position, owing to lack of discipline and bad generalship. The French
closely pursued their disorderly retreat, and in their turn entered
Naples in January 1799.
' Joseph Jekyll, the celebrated wit. He practised at the Bar, and
was returned to Parliament for Calne in 1787 through the influence
of Lord Lansdown. He was a favourite with the Prince of Wales,
and it is probable that he owed his appointment as Master in Chancery
(181 5) to that fact, for he was barely qualified for the post. He died
in 1837.
176 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
disposition suspicious ; a man with whom it is impossible
to Hve upon an equahty, as he expects a deference to
his will that few are willing to yield further than his rank
and years demand. He is of a noble, generous inclina-
tion when he can serve a friend, and all who have been
connected with him have felt his liberality in some shape
or other. There are those whose fortunes he has made
and whose families he has provided for with splendour
even. His disputes with Ld. Wycombe ought not to
prove him unreasonable, for he has an eccentric and
impracticable character to deal with, who is to the full
as suspicious as himself and as jealous of control. The
collision of two such dispositions frequently kindles up
a furious flame, but at the bottom each loves the other
too well for the rage to settle into permanent estrange-
ment, but every moment of each of their lives is embittered
by interference on one part and resistance on the other.
Ld. L., in his old age, surrounded with dignities
and wealth, is helpless, and more an object of pity than
of envy. He has no friend. Colonel Barre, who went
through life with him, he has broken with ; the cause
of their quarrel is a mystery. He loves the society of
women, and has lost two wives. His son, whom he
meant to make a tool for his ambition and to live over
again in his political career, shuns the line he designed
him for, and is an alien to his country. The character
of his second son ' is not yet developed. His home is a
vast solitude, and but for the three ladies must be in-
sufferable. Old age and the whole train of infirmities
is coming on apace, and he must pass through many
wretched hours without hearing the tender, cheering
' Lord Henry Petty (1780- 1863), Lord Lansdown's only son by
his second marriage. He became third Marquess on his half-brother's
death in 1809.
The first Lord Lansdown always signed his name without the
terminal e, a practice not followed by his successors.
1798] DUKE OF NORFOLK'S SPEECH 177
voice of friendship to soothe him. He always makes me
melancholy, to fancy the anguish he must at times
endure. When he was in Ministry many of the squibs of
the day had compared him to the Jesuit Malagrida.
Goldsmith, with his usual simplicity, said to him,
' I wonder, my Lord, at their comparing you to Mala-
grida, for he was a very honest man.'
Nothing is talked of but the numerous meeting upon
Mr. Fox's birthday,' and the extraordinary factious
toast given by the Duke of Norfolk, the more extra-
ordinary as coming from him who is in general a chicken-
hearted, trimming sort of politician. He said, ' Gentle-
men, about twenty years ago two thousand men (about
the number in this room) rallied round one honest man,
Mr. Washington, to support their liberties.' Then, after
expatiating upon their patriotism, he said, ' I leave you
to make the application, and shall propose the health
of Charles Fox.' This seditious and, in my opinion,
very improper speech met with the most violent applause,
which alarmed him, and in a second discourse he tried
to do it away by an explanation. This not succeeding,
he grew frightened, and the next day asked for a private
audience of the King, in which he expressed his loyalty,
entreating his Majesty in case of an invasion to put him
forward in the post of danger, adding that he should
write a letter to all the officers of his regiment recom-
mending them to subscribe their mite towards the
defence of the country. He also had a contradiction
to the speech inserted in the papers, but this recanta-
tion has been of no service, for yesterday he was dis-
missed from the colonelcy, and is to be suspended as
Ld,-Lt. of Yorkshire. It is said that he is so popular
amongst his officers that they will resign in consequence
of his dismissal,
' At the Anchor and Crown.
VOL. I. N
178 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
There is still a rumour of a change in Administration
to be effected by Ld. Moira and a party in the House
of Commons headed by two Scotch Sir Johns, Mac-
pherson and Sinclair ; the Prince y entre pour quelque
chose in the management of it. He sent a message last
week to Grey to know whether he had any objection to
be reconciled (they have not spoken for many years). ^
Grey answered very properly that he had never pre-
sumed to imagine his R. H. supposed he would venture
to harbour resentment. He was then asked if he would
receive amicably the advances of the Prince. He replied,
* He should always be flattered by any notice or con-
descension.' A dinner was proposed at Mr. O' Byrne's^
(an Irish gambler's), where each party met, and the day
passed in riot and drunkenness. Ld. Moira proposed to
Mr. Grey to contrive an interview with Ld. Lansdown.
Grey said he would willingly bring them together, and
hoped as they agreed in opinion so they might in
conduct, but declined all further interference. During
the time all this was going on Ld. H. received frequent
messages from the Prince, intimating that he was coming
here, and begged we would give him a dinner ; however
he has never appeared.
March 1798. — Gilbert Wakefield,'' known to the world
' The estrangement between the Prince and Grey arose over the
latter's refusal to make a statement in the House of Commons concern-
ing the Prince and Mrs. Fitzherbert. At her desire the Prince wished
for a modification of Fox's outspoken denial of the marriage. Grey
would have nothing to do with it, and the business was handed over
to Sheridan, who made a confused and undecided statement.
- Wraxall relates of O'Byrne that he was an Irish adventurer
who amassed a considerable fortune at the gaming tables. He was
intimate with the Prince, who often dined at his house.
^ Gilbert Wakefield (1756-1801) was son of a Nottinghamshire
clergyman. He took the highest possible classical honours at Cam-
bridge, and was intended for the Church. He developed, however,
leanings towards Arian doctrines, which precluded him from taking
orders. He published a number of works on the classics, and his
1798] WAKEFIELD'S PAMPHLET 179
as a savant and editor of Lucretius, has just written a
most violent pamphlet in answer to one by Watson, the
Bishop of Llandaff.^ The Bishop from being a patriot
and Low Church man has suddenly become an admirer
of Ministers, and his book is in praise of the Triple
Assessments, and to recommend the subscribing for the
defence of the country. He rather implies that the
Triple Assessments are a divine idea. He compares
the body politic in this country to a well-constructed
fabric that is to sink down to a degree, but the basis of
the structure will continue firm and unimpaired, so that
the descent will be equally felt by all the inmates, but
without any shock. The learned commentator takes
the idea up facetiously, and describes with some humour
what the situation will be (and himself among the number
of the humblest) of those who inhabit the basement of
the building, who will, let the sinking be ever so gradual,
soon be below the surface of the earth ; whilst his rever-
ence and those in the upper stories will find little if any
debasement. The Bishop's zeal is quickened, if not
created, by the mitre of Carlisle in perspective, of which
he has a promise whenever it becomes vacant.
On Thursday, 8th, Mr. Tierney came to Ld. H. to
inform him of an important circumstance, which he
was desired by Grey and others to communicate to him.
It was that the P. of W. requested an interview with the
correspondence with Fox on those subjects appeared in Lord Russell's
work. His poHtical opinions became very advanced as years went on,
and brought trouble upon him on this occasion. He was convicted,
with his printer and pubUsher, of seditious libel, and was sentenced to
two years' imprisonment in Dorchester gaol. He died soon after his
release.
' Richard Watson, Bishop of Llandaff (1737-1816). His pamphlet,
Address to the People of Great Britain, was pubUshed in January, and
Wakefield's i?e/)/y was issued with such speed that it was finished for the
press in the compass of a single day. Wakefield's Reply stated ' that the
poor and the labouring classes would lose nothing by a French in-
vasion, and declared that if the French came they would find him at
N 2
i8o LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
D. of Northumberland ^ ; which he obtained of course
as soon as asked. He expressed great alarms about the
state of the country, chiefly arising from the desperate
measures of the Ministers, who were driving everything
on with great violence. He said the King's mind was
inveterate against the Opposition, especially towards
Grey, as he was the one about whom the greatest pains
had been taken to instil prejudices. That in a recent
meeting of the Council it had been resolved upon the
first alarm of invasion that military law should be pro-
claimed throughout the country, adding that he had
seen the instrument prepared and ready signed by
H. M. He therefore entreated the D. of N. to assemble
a meeting of Fox's friends, to propose to them to en-
deavour to persuade Mr. Fox to agree to sign a declara-
tion protesting strict adherence to the King and Govern-
ment, in which declaration a specific reform might be
stated. The D. of N. accepted of the instructions,
though giving it as his opinion that it would not be a
measure likely to be adopted or approved by Mr. Fox.
It was totally rejected by the whole party, but the
meeting assembled to discuss upon that declaration
suggested the drawing up of another, viz., to declare
unanimously why Secession had been adopted, and
why those who still attended Parliament meant to
secede — Tierney, Sheridan, and others ; but this scheme
could not be effected, as every individual differed as to
principles and motives. So the affair died away.
his post among the illustrious dead. It also contained charges of
corruption against the civil and ecclesiastical system of the day, and
detailed numerous accusations against the Bishop of Llandaff as an
absentee and a pluralist ' {Dictionary of National Biography). The
Bishop never obtained the See he coveted.
' Hugh, second Duke of Northumberland, of the third creation
( 1 742-1 8 1 7), who succeeded to the titles in 1786. He was originally
a follower of Pitt, but complained of neglect and went over to the
Opposition.
1798] HER HEALTH i8i
About this period we were obliged to go to Bath
on account of my health. I had an alarming com-
plaint in my stomach, the cause a total debility, the
effect a deathlike, icy coldness which suspended all the
functions of digestion, from which torpor nothing but
the strongest cordials could revive me. The physician
(Dr. Parry) ventured upon a bold remedy, and bled me :
success warranted the undertaking and I have been
getting better ever since. Bath did me little or no
good, and after a stay of three weeks we returned on
March ye loth to this delightful mansion.^ The Duke
of Leinster, who is attending his dying wife at Bristol,
came over to see Ld. H. and me.^ He told Ld. H.
that if he could go to town and take his seat, he would
leave his proxy with him, as he meant it no longer to
remain with Ld. Fitzwilliam, although he had had it
for twenty years. Ld. Fitz.'s acceptance of the Ld.-
Lieutenancy has lost him.^
April 1st, 1798. — Ld. Edward Fitzgerald is not
apprehended ; Pamela * writes to his mother that she
' Holland House.
'-' William Robert, second Duke of Leinster (i 749-1 804), married,
in 1775, Emilia Olivia, only daughter of Lord St. George. She died
on June 23. The Duke's mother, the Dowager Duchess, was a daughter
of Charles, second Duke of Richmond, and Lord Holland's great-
aunt.
' Lord Fitzwilliam accepted the Lord-Lieutenancy of the North
Riding in succession to the Duke of Norfolk.
* His wife, whose origin is shrouded in mystery. The probability
is that she was a daughter of Madame de Genlis and Philippe Egahte,
Duke of Orleans. Madame de Genlis, however, always declared that
when she adopted her in order to assist the Orleans children, whose
governess she was at the time, to learn English, she was the five-year-
old daughter of Nancy Sims, hving at Christchurch ; that she had been
born in Newfoundland, and that her father was one Guillaume de
Brixey. Lord Edward first met her in Paris in 1792, and married her
within a month. After her husband's death she went to Hamburg,
where she married, in 1800, Mr. Pitcairn, the United States Consul.
The marriage, however, was not a happy one, and they were soon
separated. After leaving Hamburg, she went to Vienna, and finally
settled near Montauban, in Chambord.
i82 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
is tranquil about him, knowing that he is au gre des
vents et des flots} The report in town now is that they
do not wish to take him, as they cannot prove anything
against him, but I would not, were I he, trust to such
vague assertions. It was believed he was in London ;
a Mr. Sheldon (a Catholic) fancied he saw him in Lan-
caster Fields [sic], and with a zeal becoming the fanatical
politics of the day immediately went to Burlington H.
to apprise the noble spy, for in fact his Grace's depart-
ment ^ is now but a bad imitation of that once headed
in Paris by the active and celebrated Le Noir. Of all
the truly contemptible public characters in England
among the many, surely his Grace of Portland stands
the foremost ; his friends even dare not say a word in
his behalf.
In the last month the D. of Bedford brought in his
motion for the removal of Ministers.
Oh God ! chance, nature, or whatever thou art,
receive the grateful thanks and prayers that flow from
my heart in acknowledgment for the health I now enjoy ;
a full week have I been free from suffering or alarm.
What are the gifts of fortune in comparison to the enjoy-
ment of health ! Grant that it may continue, and that
' A warrant had been issued on March 12 against Lord Edward
on the information given to Government by Thomas Reynolds, a man
intimately acquainted with the revolutionary counsels in Ireland. He
gave notice that a meeting of the conspirators would be held at the house
of a well-to-do merchant in Dublin, and important arrests were made
in consequence. Several of the leaders were not present, but were
taken soon after, and Lord Edward alone succeeded in eluding the
close search. He remained the whole time hidden in Dublin or the
neighbourhood, notwithstanding the rumours to the contrary, and
most of his relations had no certain knowledge of his whereabouts.
In the meantime preparations for a rising continued under his super-
vision, and the intelligence that May 23 was fixed for the outbreak
increased the desire of Government to secure his person. A further
act of treachery brought about his arrest, which took place on May 19.
- The Duke of Portland was at the Home Office from 1794 until
1801.
1798] THE HAPPINESS OF HEALTH 183
I may, whilst life lasts, feel no other anguish than what
is incidental to the gradual decay of mortality. Let
it be gradual, for I am too happy to bear with equanimity
the thought of being torn from the felicity of a life replete
with every blessing human nature is capable of relishing.
Formerly in the bitterness of sorrow I prayed for death ;
I looked to it as a relief to a broken spirit, and when
I viewed its approach with indifference I imputed to
philosophy that resignation and contempt, which despair
alone had caused. Now I am a coward indeed ; a spasm
terrifies me, and every memento of the fragile tenure of
my bliss strikes a panic through my frame. Oh ! my
beloved friend, how hast thou by becoming mine endeared
the every-day occurrences of life ! I shrink from nothing
but the dread of leaving or of losing thee, but alas I the
day must come : —
La Mort a des rigueurs a nulle autre pareilles ;
On a beau la prier.
La cruelle qu'elle est se bouche les oreilles
Et nous laisse crier.
Le pauvre en sa cabane, ou le chaume le couvre,
Est sujet a ses lois ;
Et la garde qui veille aux barri^res du Louvre
N'en defend pas nos Rois.
{Trad, d' Horace, par Malherhe?)
May '98. — He spoke upon the D. of Bedford's motion,
and his praises were sounded everywhere. His manner
is like his uncle's. The great features of his speaking
are eagerness, quickness, and argument. I saw a
critique in a letter from an enemy, that said he was the
counterpart of his uncle — full of abiHty, spirit, and
impetuosity, presumption in reply, rashness in assertion,
and arrogance in conclusion. But it was an enemy.
' Consolation a Monsieur du P/rier sur la mort de sa fille.
i84 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
At a supper after a great ball the other night at
Burhngton House, Sheridan and Lewis got into a dispute,
which the latter would have decided by a wager, and
said, ' I lay you the profits of my play (which, by-the-
bye, Sheridan, you have not paid me).' ' I do not like
high wagers,' rephed S., ' but I'll lay you a small one,
the worth of it.' The little author became as mute as
a fish from the rebuff.
May 2^rd. — Well may one ask the question, as Mr.
Fox does in a letter to Ld. H., whether Robespierre
was worse than the present state of things with regard
to O'Connor, Poor fellow, there seems to have been
a refinement in their cruelty towards him at the moment.^
He endeavoured to get out of the place where as a
criminal he had been standing before his acquittal.
The messengers jumped upon him. A scuffle ensued,
in which ye sabres that had been brought in in evidence
against them were used. O'Connor came forward, and
as he saw his fate was inevitable, made a most pathetic
appeal to the feehngs of the court ; he said that he did
not fear death, which to him was far preferable to the
prospect of languishing in a dungeon. He entreated
Buller to interfere, and that if he was to endure the
hardship of another confinement, at least to allow him
to be imprisoned with his brother, Buller behaved
with humanity, regretting that the court had no power
to interfere.
' Arthur O'Connor (1763-1852), born in co. Cork. He was called
to the Irish Bar in 1788, and entered the Irish Parliament three years
later. He became deeply imbued with the spirit of the French Revo-
lution, and resigned his seat in 1795. The year after, he joined the
United Irishmen and became chief editor of their organ, The Press.
After his release from prison he went to France, and was appointed
a general of division by Napoleon, but never saw active service. He
married, in 1807, Elize de Condorcet, and became a naturalised French-
man.
He was tried at Maidstone, before Mr. Justice Buller, on a charge
1798] O'CONNOR'S ARREST 185
O'Coigly ^ behaved heroically ; his countenance never
changed whilst the judge was passing sentence, except
that he smiled ironically to hear the heinousness of
treason was said to be aggravated when it was against
so just and beneficent a Prince as the one who now
graced the throne. He took snuff, and bowed when
all was over. The purport of the paper was absurd to
a degree. He is half enthusiast, half bigot. He did
himself an injury by confessing to a priest.
Very soon after I heard of O'Connor's second arrest,
when my heart was full of pity and commiseration, came
the sad intelligence of poor Ld. Edward's arrest. A per-
sonal misfortune could scarcely have grieved or shocked
one more, and though I should at all times feel strongly
for a man endowed as he is with every good and estimable
quality, yet I felt more acutely, because for the last month
I have been intimately with his mother and family and
had witnessed their love and anxiety on his account.
Excellent woman, I fear if the business ends fatally
for him, it will not do less for her. He is the child of her
heart, and the idol of his family. The circumstances
of his being seized are accompanied with many awkward
facts : the wounding the messengers, and even after the
warrant was shown, the resisting.
Mr. Fox came over to pass the day with the Duke of
of high treason, with O'Coigly and others, but was acquitted. Bow
Street runners were, however, in attendance to rearrest liim on a
second charge, and in the confusion which arose in court after judg-
ment had been dehvered, certain of his friends and one of his counsel.
Robert Fergusson, were said, rightly or wrongly, to be implicated
in an attempt to contrive his escape. Lord Thanet, Fergusson, and
Denis O'Brien were arraigned on this count some months later, and the
two first named were sentenced to imprisonment and fine.
' James O'Coigly, son of a Roman Catholic farmer in Armagh.
He was partly educated in Paris, and later took orders. He was found
at Margate in 1797 with papers in his possession implicating him in
correspondence with the French regarding a proposed invasion of
England, and in other treasonable practices.
i86 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
Leinster, He was extremely agitated about Ld. E.,
and intends doing everything friendly, such as going
over to the trial (as does Ld. H.) to make a show of
friends and family ; for a strong appearance in a man's
favour has its effect upon a jury, especially where there
are titles and celebrity. Ld. Henry came to see him
before he went. He was to have gone last night, but he
waited for an answer from the D. of Portland, to whom
he had applied for permission to see his brother. I
can hardly think, steeled as hearts are become, this
request can be denied, but bad times make bad men, and
one can't answer for one's best friend.
The general want of common humanity, both for
O'Connor and Ld. E., is disgusting. Party opinions
may, and always must, run high in critical moments,
but when things come to life and death, as in these
cases, one should think the speculatists might yield to
the man, and pity creep in and soften the rigour of the
politician ; but alas ! I find none made of penetrable
stuff. Ld. Morpeth thinks O'Connor guilty and un-
fairly acquitted, and is as violent against BuUer as they
are against Eyre who acquitted Hardy and the others.'
C. Ellis, who does not allow himself to form an opinion,
and if he could make the effort would stifle the embryo
of it did it not coincide with Canning's assertion, is
naturally mild, but upon the cases of these unhappy
men his bitterness is wonderful. I put it to him fairly
whether it did not at the first hearing strike him to be
a measure of unusual harshness. He would not reply
for some time, as he said it might make him commit him-
self in a way he did not mean if taken as an A and B case ;
but if I asked whether it was hard for O'Connor he should
' Thomas Hardy, Home Tooke, and others had been tried in
October 1794, before a special commission, for nine specified acts of
high treason. They were acquitted on each count.
1798] O'CONNOR'S TRIAL 187
not hesitate to say no, because the more cruel it was,
the stronger was the proof of its being necessary and
he being guilty, as Ministers were incapable of injustice,
I told him that I regretted he had not lived in the middle
ages and given his faith to orthodox points, as he would
have made one of the firmest pillars of the Church, instead
of being a milk and water politician now. Mr. Fox
was extraordinarily pleasant and full of acute and
judicious observations upon ye trial ; he came and
stayed here twenty-four hours.
June 10th. — Death has placed the gallant Ld.
Edward beyond the reach of his enemies. His confine-
ment and illness and all the previous transactions were
accompanied with circumstances so disgustingly cruel,
that for the sake of the human character one feels almost
inclined to suppress ye details, but as it is essential
for the unfortunate victim that all should be known,
I hope a faithful narrative will appear well attested. It
appears that he was sick with a bad sore throat, and
lying upon his bed, when Ryan fired at him through the
door, burst it open, and seized upon him. He naturally
(as any man would) resisted, wounded Ryan in the
scuffle, and was seized himself by Swan and a file of
musketeers ; not, however, until by repeated wounds he
had himself been disarmed. Those into whose custody
he was placed were violent against him, and did not
attend to his wounds for twenty-four hours. As he was
carried to prison six persons separately attempted to
rescue him, and, as might be expected, perished in the
endeavour ; the man at whose house he had been secreted,
on the first impulse of honest zeal and rage, flew with
his drawn sabre upon the soldiers. He was seized and
hanged.^
' Lady Holland's account of the arrest is not accurate. From
the account of eye-witnesses Lord Edward was the tirst to use weapons.
i88 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
Such was the winning character of poor Lord
Edward that without patronage, wealth, no very superior
abihties, he had the faculty of attaching men of all
ranks to his person. He was universally beloved both
among his family and country and acquaintances. His
loss has brought forth more genuine, unfeigned tears of
sorrow than would perhaps the death of fifty other
individuals, even in his own rank of life, and taken out
of a family as numerous. Ly. Edward was sent out
of the country upon his apprehension ; it was notified
harshly, intimating that unless she obeyed speedily
she would be arrested and tried for her life, as Govern-
ment could hang her from proofs they had against her.
She said she would stand ye trial, provided she might
be allowed to share the prison of her ever-to-be- lamented
husband. This was denied her, and she was compelled
to set off with her two children, one only a month old,
to this country, with a passport limiting her stay. Ld.
Henry, upon his arrival in Dublin, was peremptorily
refused an interview with his brother. I shall not give
the particulars of what passed when he did see him,
until I have heard it from himself, as he returned last
night. The D. of Richmond came forward in the
warmest manner. He had an audience with ye King,
and laid before him the letter he had written to Ld.
Camden.^
When the excellent Duchess set off full of hopes and
anxiety, she was overtaken at Coleshill, after travelling
night and day to reach Dublin as soon as possible. She
Lady Louisa Conolly, in a letter to Mr. Ogilvie, states that his wounds
were attended to at once by Mr. Stewart, the surgeon-general at
Dublin Castle, and that Lord Camden had ordered him a room, but
owing to the acts of violence he was removed to Newgate. No mention
is elsewhere made of the attempts at rescue, and Murphy, in whose
house he was taken, was not hanged, but was imprisoned, without any
trial, for over a year before he was released.
' The Lord-Lieutenant.
1798] LORD E. FITZGERALD'S DEATH 189
bore the dreadful news with composure and resignation.
Lord Henry is in such an agitated state, that he cannot
yet see any of his family. His state of mind is violently
affected by the shock of seeing his dying brother perishing
by wanton cruelty. Upon his first application to see
Ld. E. he was refused. On Saturday, the 2nd of June,
Ld. E. was roused from sleep by an unusual noise under
his window ; upon enquiring he was told that the military
were in the act of hanging a man just condemned by
martial law. The man's name was Clinch, a friend and
adherent of his. The effect upon his nerves was imme-
diate ; he became raving mad, and a keeper from a
madhouse was necessary to attend him. The next day,
the surgeons declared that the symptoms of death were
upon him.
The titled murderers, when they heard what had
caused his approaching dissolution, began to relent,
and acceded to the prayers of Ld. Henry. He was
admitted with Ly. L. ConoUy to see him ; they found
him almost expiring, but even at that moment anxious
to do what he knew would be acceptable to the opinions
of his mother and aunt. He entreated her to read him
the service for the dying. ^
Upon Ld. H.'s ^ arrival at Holyhead he wrote a
violent, reproachful letter to Ld. Camden of such a nature
that personal danger may be the effect ; no answer has
yet been returned, and Ld. C. is upon ye point of re-
turning to England, so it remains to be seen whether
another calamity will overtake ye unfortunate family
of Fitzgerald.
Upon ye Land Tax Ld. H. spoke, and I hear very
well : ye subject was dry.
' For Lady Louisa Conolly's account of this visit, see her letter
to Mr. Ogilvie (Moore's Life of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, ii. 135).
^ Lord Henry Fitzgerald.
igo LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
The explosion has at length taken place in Ireland,
civil war rages with all its fury ; the insurgents daily-
gain adherents and strong posts. ^ Ld. Camden is
recalled, and Ld. Cornwallis is to succeed him, but not
to conciliate. On Monday the D, of Leinster made a
motion, which was seconded by ye D. of Devonshire and
others ; Ld, H. spoke remarkably well. The division
would have been larger if the Opposition Lords had been
sent to in time. My friend Ld. Boringdon did as
shabby a thing as was ever done. He spoke against
ye Bill for sending out ye Militia, with much heat, and the
very next day he voted as readily as if it had been his
own measure. Ld. Carlisle did the same thing, but he
is so hackneyed in shabbiness that one neither is sur-
prised or angry. But in a young man it is a bad debut.
21st June, '98. — Yesterday H.R.H. came to dinner ;
all went off well. He was so desirous of being civil that
he was here exactly at six ; nobody hardly was arrived,
and he seemed uneasy, fearful that knowing he was
coming many might refuse, but by half-past seven our
party was complete, except of Sheridan, who did not
come till ten. Grey, Tierney, Whitbread, D. of Norfolk,
Ld. Suffolk, Bessboro', J. and W. Russell, D. of
Leinster, Ld. R. Spencer, Mr. Erskine, Francis, Adam,
and several others. After dinner ye Prince declared
that he was willing to do everything that could serve
the cause of Ireland, and that if after mature considera-
tion and consultation with Mr. Fox, it was agreed that
his going down to ye H. of Lords and making a motion
would be serviceable, he almost pledged himself to do it.
Grey said he applauded ye measure, and was of opinion
that it would turn the scale of the wavering loyalty of
the Irish, but at the same time that such a momentous
step was discussing he thought it but honourable to
' The insurrection broke out on the appointed day^ May 23.
1798] THE PRINCE AND IRELAND 191
apprise H.R.H. that the consequences might be to him
of ye utmost importance, as it was probable attempts
would be made to pass him by in ye succession. After
much argument and debating a meeting was fixed for
next Saturday, when ye whole will be finally settled.
The D. of Norfolk was comical in his serious manner of
entreating ye Prince to postpone all decision ; ' for,'
said he, ' one is always betrayed into some imprudences
after a bottle of wine.' It occurred to everybody that
he thought of his own toast which deprived him of his
Ld. -Lieutenancy.
Ld. Suffolk ^ is ye strangest looking mortal ; he had
just come from a two hours' audience of the King, who
did not reply a word to any of his statements. He told
ye King that the taking out of the Commons so many
new peers degraded ye Commons, without adding dignity
to ye Peers. The party broke up at 12, with very few
more than a little gay. Sheridan and ye D. of Leinster
supped, ye first having lost his dinner.
Ld. Lansdown passed some days here ; he is, I fear,
breaking quite up. His extraordinary son is still in
Dublin, where his conversation has procured him three
spies who watch every action of his life. Great as would
be his eventual loss should Ireland by continuing the
war waste the country or become independent, I am
convinced he delights in the turmoil, because it furnishes
events and matter for critical discussion.
When Grattan was taken up by mistake upon the
arrestation of Mr. Lawless, he was carried to the D. of
Portland's office and before the Duke.^ The meeting
' John, fifteenth Earl of Suffolk and eighth Earl of Berkshire
( 1 739-1 820). He succeeded to the titles in 1783 on the death of a
distant cousin. He became a general in the army, and married, in
1774. Julia, daughter of John Gaskarth, of Penrith.
''■ Grattan was arrested by mistake for Mr. Henry, of Straffan.
Lawless (afterwards Lord Cloncurry) wrote in a letter to Ireland, which
192 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
was humiliating on one side, as the conversation that
ensued to explain away the mistake was the first com-
munication that had arisen between them since the D.'s
famous letter to Mr. Ponsonby and the free party in
Ireland, assuring them that his principal reason for
taking office (upon the breaking up of Fox's party) was
that he might put his system of conciliation in practice.
There was a report that Grattan's steward had been
flogged into confession that his master was a United
Irishman. Somebody expressed anxiety to Grattan
about his returning, to which he replied, ' I can have
nothing to fear ; I am not an opposer of all law ; I do not
countenance torture, flogging, free quarters, and military
law.'
1 have read since Xmas the D. of Marlbro's
Apology, Burnet's History, ye XIII. Satire of Juvenal,
Hearne's Travels into N. America, Smith on ye figure
and complexion of ye human species, Bancroft on dying,
some desultory chemistry, Roderick Random, Lazarillo
de Tormes, Leti's Life of Sixtus V ., various German and
French plays, novels, and trash. Cook's Third Voyage,
Wolf's Ceylon, part of Ulloa's Voyage,'^ and some papers
in ye memoirs of ye Exeter Society. Frequent dippings
into Bayle, Montaigne, La Fontaine, Ariosto. Read ye
three first books of Tasso ; Ld. Orford's works.
The Dss. of Marlborough's vindication ^ is sure of being
interesting from ye high and distinguished characters who
figure in the piece — herself and sovereign. After reading
her history one feels the propriety of placing her name
fell into the hands of Government, the names of various subscribers
to a fund raised for O'Coigly's defence. Among other entries was,
' Little Harry has put down 50^.' ' Little Harry ' was taken by the
Government to mean Grattan ; hence the error.
' Voyage to South America, translated from the Spanish by John
Adams.
2 Account of conduct of D. of M. from her first coming to Court to
1 7 10, in letter from herself to my Lord 1742 (N. Hooke).
1798] DUCHESS OF MARLBOROUGH 193
first. She seems to have been a haughty, imperious dame,
full of ambition and that love of power which she was
determined to wrest by terror ; for it appears that she
disdained the meanness of intrigue, and when tottering
in her favour submitted sooner to disgrace than owe her
power to flattery. Her dominion over the mind of her
mistress was that of an esprit fort sur I'espHt faible, for
feeble indeed was our narrow-minded Anne.
There are stories in the Spencer family, which con-
firm all that her contemporaries said of the violence of
her temper. She had uncommonly fine hair which her
husband admired : in a lit of passion, upon his refusing
her a request she made, she cut off her fine tresses and
threw them in his face. One of her daughters offended
her beyond her powers of pardoning ; she immediately
flew to a portrait of her which was near, and smeared
over the features with black paint, saying, ' Now her
face is as black as her heart.' ' Her grandson, the D. of
M., ventured to differ from her in politics, owing, it was
reported, to the influence of the first Ld. Holland, of
whom she always used to say, ' He is the Fox who stole
my goose.' There is a letter or two of hers preserved
among the old correspondence of Ld. H. to him. The
present Lord Spencer owes his fortune to an adroit
joke of his ancestor Jack Spencer,^ who recovered from
her displeasure by jumping in at the window after she
had foiled his entering her doors ; for this she left him as
much almost as she gave the D. of M. Her apology
' Another account states that the Duchess thus treated the picture
of Lady Anne Egerton, her grand-daughter and daughter of EHzabeth,
Duchess of Bridgewater.
■' Hon. John Spencer, youngest son of Charles, third Earl of Sunder-
land, and Anne, daughter and co-heiress of the Duke and Duchess of
Marlborough. His only son was created Earl Spencer. His elder
brother Charles became Duke of Marlborough.
VOL. L O
194 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
was written by Mallet or Fenton ; ^ she paid him several
thousands for the work.
July 17. — Left Holland House to make a tour in
the Highlands of Scotland. As I was with child and
Charles had not been inoculated, the intended journey
on the Continent was delayed. We arrived, on the 19th,
at York, which little Marsh had reached before us. We
went that evening to see the Cathedral, which is certainly
both grand and spacious, but inferior to any Gothic
buildings I have seen. It is scarcely as fine as Salisbury,
and certainly not equal to that of Amiens. Those in
Italy again are in a different taste ; that at Pavia is, I
believe, anterior to any we have in England. It is very
ugly, and bears the rugged marks of tasteless cost and
unskilful labour. York is one of the oldest cities in the
island, and to a lover of Shakespeare all around it is
classical ground. The remains of the walls, the city
gates, and the ruins of an old nunnery near the river
make it altogether a place rather worth seeing.
On ye 20th we went with Marsh to see Castle Howard.'^
The road lies over bleak and dreary moors, which may
have charms to a sportsman's eye, but can afford nothing
but wearisome disgust to the traveller. The chateau is
' It was written by Nathaniel Hooke, who is said to have received
5000/. for his assistance. David Mallet, a writer of plays and mis-
cellaneous poems, was selected by the Duchess a short time before her
death to write a life of the Duke in collaboration with Richard Glover.
She left 500/. to each in her will to continue the work, but though
Mallet accepted the money he never carried out his contract, and the
task was practically uncommenced at the time of his death.
■^ The seat of Frederick, fifth Earl of Carlisle (1748-182 5), who
succeeded to the title on his father's death in 1758. He held the posts
of Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland 1780-82, and Privy Seal 1783. He
married, in 1770, Margaret Caroline, daughter of Granville, first
Marquess of Stafford. He was a well-known figure in society, and if
his verses are not of the highest merit, they were well spoken of at
the time. His eldest son. Lord Morpeth, who succeeded him, is
frequently mentioned in these pages.
1798] CASTLE HOWARD 195
a magnificent pile, surrounded with the appropriate
ornaments of woods and gardens, etc., but the sight of
a country residence inspires me with gloom. I feel escaped
from some misfortune when I get out of its precincts.
The most conspicuous object by way of decoration from
the windows and terraces of the mansion is the Mausoleum
intended for the sepulchre of the family.
To my fancy I had as lief have my rooms hung round
with death's heads and cross-bones, as behold in moments
of recreation that perpetual mementi rnori \sic], and I
have always entered into the feelings that actuated
Louis XIV. when he left St. Germains and built Ver-
sailles, because the pleasantest apartments looked
towards St. Denis, the last resting-place of the Royal
bones of ye Bourbons. I never could approve the
necessity of inculcating an eternal view of death ; we
daily feel that it is inevitable from the frequent derange-
ment of our fragile bodies, and as it neither makes us
wiser or happier to be in expectation of the event and
certainly embitters enjoyments, I disapprove of the
system. The opposite extreme is ridiculous, and the
great Empress of Russia showed her own littleness
in forbidding mourning and the sight of funerals,
especially as she was so prodigal of the lives of her
subjects.
Almost all the principal apartments are decorated
with a full-length portrait of the pompous possessor in
the most stately attitudes, in robes of ye Peerage,
Viceroyalty, and Knighthood, etc. ; whereas his wife,
who was one of the prettiest women of her time, is only
once represented in a small picture, in which he, by-the-
bye, is again the principal object. Not to be scandalous,
I could not, however, help remarking the recherche of
French luxury in the apartments dedicated to the use of
Ly. S., and called hers by name. We returned and dined
196 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
at York, and proceeded from thence to Knaresborough,
where we saw the Dripping Well, which is a small
stream issuing from the side of a calcareous hill. The
water, like that at Terni, incrusts whatever is exposed
to its action with a calcareous texture around it, commonly
called petrifaction.
We got at night to Ripon. The next day we went
to Fountains Abbey, the sight of which highly gratified
me. Nothing that I have seen in England bears any
comparison to the pleasure I received from seeing it.
The ruins are kept in such excellent preservation that in
many points of view one might give in to the illusion of
its being still tenanted by its venerable owners, and such
is the superstitious awe inspired by monastic gloom that I
almost wished it were possible to indulge in a serious mood.
Old Jenkins, who lived and died in the neighbourhood
of the Abbey, and whose life closed with the century at
the age of one hundred and sixty-nine years, remembered
the dissolution of the Abbey and spoke with emotion
of the clan it occasioned in the country. He remem-
bered a hundred and thirty years before being sent to
the Abbey to inquire how the Abbot was, and being
ordered roast beef and wassel in a Black Jack.
Travellers are carried to see Studley, but to me the
eight miles would have been tedious, as the beauties con-
sist in hold views. Now to a person glowing with admira-
tion for the Alpine views of Switzerland, Tyrol, etc., the
insipid tinkling of a puny stream gurgling over a few
large pebbles could afford but slender room for admira-
tion ; therefore I declined going. We intended going
to Sunderland to see the iron bridge,^ but as we overtook
Ld. Lauderdale upon the road we decided upon pleasant
' A cast iron bridge uniting Monkwearmouth with Bishopwear-
mouth. It was commenced in 1793, and was opened by the Duke
of Gloucester in 1796.
1798] ALNWICK 197
conversation in preference to a curious sight, so we
stopped at Newcastle.
The next day, 22nd., we saw the once proud seat of
the Percies. Alnwick, on the outside, revives the recol-
lection of all one has heard of baronial splendour, battle-
ments, towers, gateways, portcullis, etc., immense
courts, thick walls, and everything demonstrative of
savage, solitary, brutal power and magnitude. The
late Duchess built the present fabric upon the site of the
primitive castle, but much is from traditional guess.
The inside corresponds but feebly with the outward
promise ; the whole is fitted up in a tinsel, gingerbread
taste, rather adapted to a theatrical representation than
a permanent decoration. It must be an unpleasant
residence, as comfort, nay, even common convenience
is sacrificed to preserve the appearance of a fortress.
At some distance upon the coast is seen the crestfallen
towers of Warkworth, the usual residence of the Percies,
and from whence Hotspur issued to return no more in
his rebellion against the ungrateful monarch. It is in
that castle Shakespeare lays his scene in the 2nd part of
Henry IV., where Northumberland receives the tidings
of Hotspur's untimely end. One custom, probably de-
scended from the earliest days of the glory of their house,
is preserved at Alnwick. When the Duke is willing to
receive the visits of the neighbouring gentry, a flag is
hung upon the highest turret as a signal that he may be
approached. How far the democratic spirit that so
generally pervades all ranks submits to this aristocratical
summons I know not.
On that night we slept at Berwick ; the Tweed is
wide and handsome. Its width is more properly derived
from the waters of the sea than from its own mass of
tributary streams. From thence to Edinburgh the road
lies along an elevated coast ; the view of the sea is very
igS LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
pleasing. The colour was blue, unlike the green and
yellow streaks that disfigure the muddy channel. I was
gratified at quitting ye uniform features, both of towns,
villages, and country, that fatigue the eye in England ;
one enclosure is like another, and when you have seen
a street lined with red-brick, three-windowed houses,
you have seen the extent of their architecture and the
summit of their taste.
We reached Edinburgh on ye 23rd of July, 1798;
lodged at Dumbreck's Hotel in the square. The singular
contrast between the new and old town is very striking ;
the situation of the Castle upon a high rock, the sea
views, etc., make the whole a delightful prospect.
Holyrood House is at the bottom of the eminence upon
which the habitable residences are now placed ; the
Royal apartments have been modestly fitted up for the
reception of the poor, vagrant Monsieur,^ who is not only
compelled to seek an asylum in Great Britain, but is also
necessitated to keep within the precincts of the palace,
as his royalty is of no avail against his creditors. Report
speaks well of his conduct. He is affable in his manners,
and resigned to the rigour of his lot. In the upper
apartments we were shown into those occupied by ye
unfortunate Mary ; two or three moderate rooms were
all she had, such as a private gentlewoman in these days
would be dissatisfied with.
Ld. Lauderdale joined us a few days after our arrival.
From 23rd to 31st of July we remained in Edinburgh.
Ld. L. and Mr. Henry Erskine "^ dined almost every day
' Comte d'Artois, afterwards Charles X. He came over to England
in 1795, and lived at Holyrood for some years. Besides this resi-
dence he received a sum of 24,000^. from the British Government.
Most of this money was expended in intrigues and secret endeavours
to recover the throne of France for the Bourbons.
2 The Hon. Henry Erskine (1746-1817), second son of Henry,
tenth Earl of Buchan, and brother of Thomas Erskine, the Lord
1798] VOLNEY'S WORKS 199
with us. The mornings we devoted to seeing the town,
and generally drove upon the Leith sands. Lewis and
Ld. Lorne,^ Beddoes,^ and some others I saw. Every
morning we had a prodigious concourse of visitors, the
patriotic Scotchmen thinking it a due homage to Mr.
Fox to wait upon his nephew.
Nov. ^th, 1798. — Bonaparte's Egyptian campaign
has brought every book of travels into those countries
into requisition. I have again read with pleasure
Volney's account of Egypt and Syria. His work is the
more interesting, as it is imagined that his information
has been chiefly relied upon by the French, and that his
observations serve as guides to the expedition. He
finishes his account of Egypt with a wish that a revolu-
tion may take place there under the Go vert, of a nation
friendly to the fine arts, and expressly implies that such
an event may not be so remote as we may possibly
imagine. Ye Empress of Russia took the prediction to
herself, and upon some slight pretext gave him a pension
and an order, which he accepted and enjoyed. In the
first years of the democratic fury of the Revolution in
France he returned both, accompanied by an insolent
letter.
The present speculations whether or not the French
can maintain themselves in those countries are curious.-'
The Ministerial people assert the impracticability of their
doing so, but their arguments are chiefly founded upon
Chancellor. He held the post of Lord Advocate in the Coalition
Ministry, and again in 1806.
' George William, Marquess of Lome (i 766-1 839), who succeeded
his father as sixth Duke of Argyll in 1806.
- Thomas Beddoes, M.D. (i 760-1 808). Reader in chemistry at
Oxford for some years. He resigned the post in 1792. The last
years of his life were spent at Clifton, where he became a fashionable
physician.
^ The Battle of the Nile was fought on August i, with the immediate
consequence that the French force in Egypt was obhged to fall back
upon its own resources and those of the country.
200 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
the resistance they will meet with from the Turkish army
— a power that has hitherto been found ineffectual
against the ill-disciplined squadrons of their own Beys.
Sickness and ye want of wine and clothing are the chief
obstacles to a permanent establishment, but I hope and
almost believe the skill of Bonaparte will baffle even
those inconveniences.
I have been shown under the strictest promise of
secrecy copies of several of the private letters that were
intercepted after ye engagement of the ist of August.'
There is only one from Bonaparte. It places that
extraordinary man in a far more amiable point of view
than I had seen him in before. It is to his brother,^ to
whom he appears to be most tenderly attached ; he
describes himself as disgusted with life and mankind,
that at 29 he has exhausted the attraits of ambition and
glory, and that he has been deceived by those he trusted
most in. He says, ' Le voile est leve,' and that his
brother alone is left him to love, though he is unfortunate
in being compelled to love a person ' dans tons les cas.'
He desires him to get a small house in Burgundy, as his
means are too slender for a large establishment, and
that he hopes to be in Paris in two months, and that
his ' ame a besoin d'isolement.'
This letter would be unintelligible without the key
of Beauharnais' letter to his mother. After much
affection, he says the General has been tristc for many
days, but more so since an ' entretien particulier avec
Berthier.' His melancholy proceeds from ' chagrins
' The official letters were published in the course of the year, but
the private portions of the letters here quoted have no place in the
series.
^ Joseph Bonaparte. Bourrienne relates (i. 187) that he was the
eyewitness of a conversation between Napoleon and Junot on the
subject of Josephine's infidelities at Messoudiah in February 1798.
It seems doubtful, however, whether Junot was then with the army.
Bourrienne says that Berthier left Egypt for France in January.
1798] INTERCEPTED LETTERS 201
domestiques,' aggravated by stories told him by Berthier,
who informed him that Mde. Bonaparte had brought
' Charles ' (who is he ?) in her carriage from Plombieres
to within three posts of Paris, and that she had gone
* au quatrieme aux Italiens ' with him, and various
other little trifles amounting to ' confirmation, strong
as proofs in Holy Writ,' to a jealous mind. In short, it
appears that Berthier has acted lago, and that the con-
queror of Italy is as j ealous as a Turk. The son-in-law [sic]
adds that the only difference in B.'s behaviour towards
him is a redouhlement of kindness if possible. These letters
are not to be published ; it perhaps would be as handsome
if the Ministers sent them to their respective addresses.
6th Nov., 1798. — Ld. H. has been laid up for 5 days
by a very severe fit of the gout. It is a hard thing to
suffer thus before five and twenty, and it is the more
distressing as he lives at all times so reasonably that
diet can do little for him in future. Strong exercise
and frequent jaunts to a warm climate may mitigate
future attacks.
General Fitzpatrick and Mr. Hare are staying with
us a few days ; we have had the ladies constantly during
this last week. In point of society it is impossible to be
better than ours — enough, and that of the best sort,
and yet not too numerous.
The scandalous world are occupied with Lady Aber-
com's adventures. Ld. A.' seems to take the affair
' John James, ninth Earl and first Marquess of Abercorn (1756-
18 1 8), who succeeded his uncle in 1789, was raised to a Marquisate
the following year. He married, first, in 1779, Catherine, daughter of
Sir Joseph Copley, Bart. She died in 1791, leaving two sons and
three daughters, and he married, secondly, in 1792, his first cousin,
Cecil, daughter of Hon. and Rev. George Hamilton. This lady, here
alluded to, ran away with (and subsequently married after the
divorce) Joseph Copley (who succeeded his brother in the Baronetcy in
1806), brother of Lord Abercorn's first wife. He married, thirdly,
in 1800, Lady Ann Hatton. He received the nickname of ' Blue
Beard.'
202 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
coolly and is inclined to behave well. The first is a dis-
appointment, as people hoped his pride would be so galled
that he would afford some sport to the wags, but he
wisely enough seems of the opinion of La Fontaine,
' Quand on I'ignore, ce n'est rien, et quand on le salt,
c'est peu de chose.' His absurd vanity has made him
more conspicuous than he could have been otherwise.
Before he married the lady in question he loved her.
Some strange fancy induced him to wish her to have the
rank and title of an earl's daughter ; he obtained it for
her. Somebody asked Mr. Pitt how he would grant so
strange a request.^ He said he thought himself lucky
to be let off so cheaply, for when he came, he looked
so menacing and seemed so big with an important
demand, that he thought he meant to ask for the
Electoral vote for the Empire. (It was just upon
Leopold's death.)
Nov. 13th. — La Harpe is a pleasant, critical writer.
Admirable as Voltaire is, perhaps he is too servile in his
admiration, and, like a zealous friend he defends a weak
part as eagerly as if it were a perfection. One cannot
but smile at his praise of Voltaire for a merit he certainly
did not possess, di-ffidence} He attacks Piron with
severity and truth. Piron deserved every invective.
It was best using his own weapons against him, for his
epigrams deserve more to be reckoned scurrilous libels
than witty satires. He determined to write one every
morning before breakfast against Voltaire. In the
number some must be good ; those I have read are
coarse abuse, full of jeers at personal defects. They
tell a reply of his to Voltaire which is neat. They were
at the theatre together at the first representation of one
of Voltaire's plays which failed. In going out Voltaire
' Wraxall states she had four sisters older than herself.
^ In Les Muses Rivales, ox L' Apothcose de Voltaire, published in 1779.
1798] STATE OF OPPOSITION 203
asked Piron what he thought of his piece, ' Je pense que
vous voudriez que je I'eusse faite.' His epitaph upon
himself, when refused admittance among the 40 Aca-
demicians, is good : —
C'y git, qui ne fut rien,
Pas meme academicien.
Nov. 20th. — To-day Parhament opens. Ld. H.,
tho' still weak, is gone down, and will, I believe, speak.
In the Commons, Ld. Granville makes his maiden ora-
torical essay. These sessions will be diverting to a by-
stander. Tierney, notwithstanding his very superior
abilities, is more perplexed than any of them. He
cannot stand ridicule, and dares not alone without any
support encounter the flings, as he calls them, about
O'Connor. Therefore he means to begin first, and
declare his error in having thought favourably of him ;
in short, to say he is a rogue and deceived him. The
world are so illiberal that a recantation is more frequently
ascribed to timidity than it is to candour. He will not
gain one convert, but will excite many laughers.
True it is that those who are adverse to Ministry are
in a lamentable plight. The discussion among Opposition
and the crumbling of the whole party placed them in a
ludicrous situation, and the brilliant state of the country,
so contrary to their predictions, adds to the ridicule.
All opposition must be unpopular, for tho' in the ab-
stract the real griefs exist, yet the immediate successes,
both in Ireland and against the French, efface the gloomy
sight. The spirit of the Constitution, I sincerely believe,
is lost, and those who care about political liberty must
be contented and no longer struggle for what the majority
are disposed to yield up.
Tierney told me he was surprised to find Lord Moira,
in spite of his chevaleresque manner, at times betrayed
204 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
into merriment. He dined with him for the first time
lately. Ld. M. told a story that happened at his own
house, to illustrate the excess of French politeness.
After dinner he proposed to the Due de Luxembourg to
taste some excellent marasquin that had been sent him
from the Martinique, The Duke said, ' Volontiers.'
The bottle was brought, and a glass swallowed by ye D.,
upon whose countenance, however, there appeared strong
marks of disgust, tho' he bowed assent to all that was
said in praise of the liquor. His silent approbation made
Ld. M. taste it, and, to his astonishment he found it was
castor-oil ; the butler had mixed the bottles. Thus his
good breeding saved his vomiting.
Dr. Brocklesby's servant consumed a rare sort of
castor-oil in making the salad, and when the Doctor,
tortured by the colic, asked the relief, he was told he
had eaten the last drop at dinner.
Jekyll told a story of Lord Kenyon ^ that is in char-
acter with his notorious stinginess and meanness. A
ruined barrister was selling off his goods in his chambers
in the Temple. The learned judge sent his son to pur-
chase bargains. In a corner he spied two dirty globes.
He asked what they were. ' Oh,' said the decayed lieut.
of the law, ' they are good for nothing ; they are old, and
half the countries now known are marked with lions and
tigers as " Terra incognita." ' ' Never mind,' replied the
young K., ' my father is not wise about new discoveries ;
provided they are globes and have a Zodiac, they will do
for him.' Ld. K., has a filthy trick of sniffing, instead
of blowing his nose. Hare said the Assessed Taxes have
made him retrench his pocket-handkerchiefs.
There is a strange man in the House of Commons, who
is distinguished by being the particular object of the
' Lloyd, first Baron Kenyon (i 732-1 802), appointed Master of the
Rolls, 1784, and Lord Chief Justice in 1788.
1798] MR. NICHOLL 205
satire in the Anti- Jacobin and having devoted himself
most especially to Tierney during the last sessions, a
Mr. Nicholl. His opinions upon the state of Europe have
at least the merit of singularity. The Emperor of
Russia imputes it to shoe-strings and round hats ; Dr.
Ingenhousz to freemasonry ; but Mr. Nicholl ascribes all
the disorders to the great families. ' Aye, Sir,' said he
to Tierney, ' unless they are crushed nothing can be
done.' He has explicitly protested to Tierney that
unless he will bring forward a motion to that effect,
he must no longer count upon his support. He called
three times in one morning to obtain T.'s answer. Each
time, like Dick in The Confederacy, ' I'll call a coach,'
then, ' I'll call a coach,' he declared he would retire
to his farm, and cultivate sour land. ' I'll go ; I cer-
tainly will. Sir. These great families, this oligarchy,
destroy us. Sir. Yes, Sir, they oppress us. Why look at
them individually ? Have they any single merit ? Why,
there is Ld. Fitzwilliam, a flat retailer in dull prose of
Burke's poetical, mad flights : has he not plunged us
in this war ? There's Ld. Spencer recovering from
epilepsy, merely to squander thousands upon an early
edition. As to the house of Russell, Sir, Mr. Burke has
handled them properly. The Cavendishes, Sir, are so
notoriously stupid that they blunt satire ; but see the
head of them, Sir, the D. of Devonshire. Sir, why, I
assure you I am credibly informed, I have it from the
best authority. Sir, that he is a mere sensualist.' (I wrote
this to Chatsworth, The Duke, who, in fact, was paying
for this said sensuality, laughed on his sick bed heartily.)
This shows the travers of the human mind. Nicholl's
understanding has not kept pace with events. Sixty
years ago, when he first flourished in manhood, the cry
might have had some foundation. Sir Robert Walpole
and the great Whigs did monopolise, from the Cabinet
2o6 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
down to the turnpikes' keepers. But since Lord Chatham,
and, more particularly, his son's Administration, the
policy has been to annihilate all family unions ; indeed,
there is not a man of the Corresponding Society more
bitter against the aristocracy than Pitt and Canning are.
Pelham has resigned the Secretaryship, and the gentle
Castlereagh, at the recommendation of Ld. Cornwallis,
is to keep it as a principal, no longer as locum tenens}
I have been reading French literature of a desultory
sort and in a desultory way, both pernicious to the mind ;
for, by confusing the memory, it destroys the powers of the
understanding. I can speak from experience, as I have
completely obscured my faculty by too great an avidity
to read, or, rather, devour books, without any method
in my pursuits. My memory is seriously injured. I do
not complain so much of it, as I always bear in mind
La Rochefoucauld's sarcasm, that everyone ' se plaint de
la foiblesse de leur memoire,' but ' personne de celle de
leur jugement.'
Count Rumford, a celebrated man in the annals of
science, is come to England, but grievously disappointed
at the reception he has met with."^ He is by birth an
American. General Fox recollects his coming down from
the interior settlements to the English fort where he
commanded. The Indians had sacked his village, and he
flew for protection. He was a rude, gawky. Puritanical
colonial schoolmaster, astonished at seeing the number
of brick houses, and delighted with the splendour of the
style of living in the garrison ; but with all his simphcity,
he was slyly awake to his interest, for when he claimed
' Thomas Pelham was first appointed Chief Secretary by Lord
Camden when he became Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland in 1795. Owing
to ill health he was often absent, and early in 1798 Lord Castlereagh
temporarily took his place. Pelham finally resigned the post on
November 2.
^ See ante, p. 12.
1798] COUNT RUMFORD 207
a reward for his loyalty he chose a district full of red oaks,
saying he loved picturesque views. It was a lucky
coincidence of profit and beauty. Red oaks are the only
valuable timber in that country. When he came to
England he continued to ingratiate himself into Ld. Sack-
ville's favour. He soon became, from private secretary,
the most confidential person about him. It was either
on account of a quarrel with, or at the death of, his
patron, that he went upon the Continent pour chercher
fortune. He fell in at Munich with ye Elector, who
thought he might be useful in making reforms in his
government. In the course of a few years he was, in fact,
the sovereign in Bavaria. His establishments were
excellent, and he may boast of having been of more
essential benefit to mankind than most of those who
stand high in the records of fame. He corrected the
abuses which allowed an indolent, starving beggary, and
he fed and employed them all.
When I knew him at Munich he was in the zenith of
success. Subsequent to that period the Elector married ;
his interest clashed with that of the young Electress. He
solicited to be appointed Minister from thence to this
Court, and was. A quarter of an hour after he' arrived.
Canning called upon him, and informed him that he was
not to be received in the diplomatic capacity : first,
because he was an English subject, and 2ndly, because
having been in the Secretary of State's office, it was
contrary to the rules. He was horribly vexed, but the
case admitted of no appeal. He is going to America
for a short time. Whatever his failings may be, he is
a most useful member of society, and mankind are bound
to revere him. His last publications, a theory upon
heat, are warmly combated,
Browne, the traveller, who excited my curiosity, is
returned, I hope to see him here one day soon. He has
2o8 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
been into the interior parts of Africa : his observations
are said to be good, but are not yet made pubhc.
Lady E. Fitzgerald is returned to Hamburg. Her
late husband's family are to subscribe towards making
her up an income ; two of her children are left among
the family.
La Fayette is labouring under great pecuniary
embarrassments. Gen. Fitzpatrick is making up among
his friends ye sum of 3000/. : it will principally fall upon
himself, D. of Bedford, Whitbread, Ld. Holland, and a
few others. It is shabby in the Americans not to do
something for a man who deserved well of them, at least.
I confess there are many whose situation excite my com-
passion much more ; but I think we shall ourselves be
soon among the number of ye distressed, for the claims,
applications, recommendations, etc., upon Ld. H. are
too numerous to be thought of with common patience ;
besides that, the follies and extravagancies of those who
ought to know better fall upon him too.
Oh ! my dear children, fond as I am of ye all, I had
sooner at this instant hear of your deaths, than that you
should become gamesters and spendthrifts. No, not
even with the specious accompaniments of a good head
and temper, for of what avail is it to a parent that a
child possesses both, if their conduct is as abominable
as that of the vilest. If these walls could speak, how
would they resound with the bitter cries and tears of aged
parents, distracted in their last few years by the behaviour
of goodhearted sons, but more especially of one who is
still renowned for an excellent heart. I know of two
good-hearted persons who have been, and still are, a
curse to their connections by bringing ruin and distress
upon them.
It is difficult to be in a more embarrassed situation
with respect to Ld. Lansdown than we are in. Ld.
1798] LORD WYCOMBE 209
Wycombe is come to England, calls here, and lives at
Richmond, peremptorily refusing to see his father, that
he may, as he calls it, keep up a good understanding
between them. Mrs. W. is living at Richmond in a state of
melancholy and despair that borders upon intellectual
derangement, refusing to see anybody, even me.
Wycombe's behaviour to his father admits of no apology.
Slight and disregard towards a parent is at all times a
defenceless cause, but, under the present circumstances,
far beyond the power of an excuse. He has just obtained
from him all he wanted — independence, the sale of
estates to pay off debts, and getting rid of a borough,
and now he will not even pay to a father that respect
due to his age and infirmities were he but a common
acquaintance.
Ld. L., who has more tr avers in his understanding
than most men, and as many as his son, — et c'est tout dire,
imagines that Mrs. W. is a most artful, designing person,
and that she is the cause of Wycombe's estrangement ;
that I, as her friend, assist in the machinations ; and
that Ld. H. is a dupe to us both. He fancies that I
have great influence over Wycombe, and could persuade
him to call if I chose, as he knows I once made him go
to Bath to see him. Per contra, Wycombe believes that
his father has what he calls ' got me over,' and that
my entreaties that he should call upon him, instead of
arising from my own conviction of the propriety of them
for his character, are merely the effects of his father's
management. In short, they are both so wrong-headed,
and so far wide of the simple truth, that I have resolved
not to say another word. All I have done is proceeded
from my gratitude to Ld. L. for his good-nature to me,
and my regard for Wycombe. Ld. L., like all warm-
hearted people, can never suppose the error to be in the
person he loves, and he always shifts the fault to those
VOL. I. p
210 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
he is connected with at the time, Wycombe's conduct is
atrocious. He is revenging upon old age and infirmity
the Httle vexations he experienced in his youth.
Ld. L.'s notions upon many subjects are so extrava-
gant that, unless I had proofs about some of them,
I could not possibly credit that any person of common
sense or knowledge of the world could entertain them.
He looks upon Mrs. Smith's ^ marriage as a profligate
abandonment. What he admires is a woman of rank
marrying her equal whom she rather dislikes, and con-
quering a partiality to another, but fulfilling all her
duties scrupulously and punctiliously. Lady Warwick,
who is in that predicament, is his highest object of
admiration.
Smith and he do not harmonise exactly ; both lofty
tempers, one claiming a superiority the other is not
disposed to yield to. He is a most impracticable man
to act with in politics. He has had the merit of bringing
forward many distinguished men, but from his complaints
of their desertion and ingratitude one perceives how
much he exacts dependence, and how unreasonable he
is. He used always to complain that though he voted
with ye Opposition, yet they never told him what they
intended. Upon the breaking, or rather stoppage, of
the Bank, Messrs. Fox, Grey, and Sheridan went to him
to concert measures for the ensuing debate, ^ upon which
he said, ' I will tell you, gentlemen, very fairly, my
opinion, which has always been for publicity and sim-
plicity.' With these two words they were obliged to be
contented and extract from them what meaning they
' Mrs ' Bobus ' Smith. Lady Warwick was her sister (see
ante, p. 163).
■■^ In February 1797, when owing to the scarcity of specie the
Ministers issued an Order in Council prohibiting cash payments until
measures had been taken by Parliament to restore the credit of the
country.
1798] MRS. SMITH 211
could, if any they had. One day, when Grey was talking
confidentially to him, he burst out suddenly, and said :
' Aye, but I have had one, Mr. Grey, already slip through
my fingers.' Grey was in a great rage ; he meant Pitt.
Mrs. S. is a superannuated, prudish beauty. She
has survived her attraits without perceiving their derelic-
tion, and what seems as odd, those about her are equally
dim-sighted. Her sister, Ld. L., and even Miss Fox,
speak of her charms as they might have done 15 years
ago. She is what a lively Frenchman called ' demoiselle
froide,' She has no conversation, and her understand-
ing, like Ld. Burleigh's, must be taken upon trust, as she
is too profound to open. Those who live with her say
she has wonderful capacity, but as it is known to only
2 or 3 persons, she must submit to the aspersion of being
suspected of great dulness. Au reste, I believe she is a
good sort of person. Her eagerness to marry Smith,
and delight at having done so, betray more warmth than
by her cold exterior one may presume. She likes to be
suspected of feeling,
I suspect there is not a more inveterate lover of
pleasure than a well-matured prude ; great prudery
generally argues a more than usual warmth of constitu-
tion. The wearer of prudery, being conscious there is
much to hide, falls into the extreme of reserve, whereas
a naturally-disposed person is not troubled with any
forbidden temptations, and appears lively and sprightly
without fear of incurring severe observations.
The rage for German plays still continues. The stage
abounds with them, and the press is loaded with trans-
lations, and some, in point of morality, very question-
able. One of the causes that create them in Germany
occasions their being relished here. The same dull apathy
of character that demands something extraordinary to
rouse it subsists in both countries, as we have nothing to
212 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
boast on the score of liveliness beyond the good, dull
Germans.
The first German play I ever saw was at Innspruck.
I did not understand a word that was said, but the
incidents diverted me as much as the pantomime in a
harlequin farce. Ye first four acts were crowded with
murders by poisoning, strangling, stabbing, occasional
screams, starts, and trapdoors ; the fifth had all the
solemn parade of bourgeois death, the exposition of a
corpse in a coffin, with all the relations, just as Partridge
would have them, crying around. But mark the cata-
strophe. Just as the mournful attendants were going
to assign the apparently breathless heroine to her peace-
ful mansion, up she jumped, to the great discomfiture
of the surrounding parties, and to ye admiration of the
audience strutted about in her shroud.
The monstrous extravagancies of the German drama
would not have been endured at Paris. There they were
refined enough to relish wit and sentiment. The obtuse
faculties of the German are incapable of tasting the
raillery of Moliere or ye poetical harmony of Racine.
Perhaps something may be imputed to their political
situation, for there the limits or gradations are strictly
preserved between the difft. classes, and a bourgeois
knows nothing of life but the dull diary of his own.
Therefore fiction and bloody ribaldry is not more extra-
ordinary or untrue to his comprehension than would
be an ironical picture of the manners of his superiors.
Ye sphere of fiction and German nobility are equally
remote from his knowledge, one as the other. I do not
mean by this to justify the arrogance of a French
Academicien, who absolutely proposed the question,
* Si un Allemand pouvait avoir d' esprit.'
Ye theatre reminds me of a reply of Piron's to Vol-
taire in coming out from ye Semiramis, which had some
1798] LORD G. LEVESON-GOWER 213
nights before been hissed. V. said : ' You see, they have
not hissed to-night.' ' Comment, voulez-vous qu'on
siffle quand on bailie.'
20th Nov. — Parliament met. Lord G. Leveson made
his debut upon the Address ; he did it uncommonly well,
and was praised by the good judges on the opposite side
to him. He is a man of mild, popular manners ; without
great force of intellect, but sufficiently endowed to dis-
tinguish himself and rise in politics. His family are
accused of worldly wisdom, and have an uncommon share
of that indefinable, useful quality, only to be rendered
by the French word tacte. Ld. H. spoke, but was dis-
contented with himself. He said Ld. Lansdown's speech
hampered him, for he did not like to contradict him, and
yet he could not agree, as it breathed praise to the
Ministers. In it he said, ' Rebellion and party are dead.'
Mr. Hare said he coupled them like robbery and murder.
21st. — Lord H. completed his twenty-fifth year. His
sister, Ld. Ossory, General Fitzpatrick, Mrs. Crewe,
Tierney, Hamilton, and Ld. Boringdon dined. In the
evening Ly. Bessborough and Ld. Morpeth, and Ld.
G. Leveson came ; we were very merry.
I have been reading the Memoir, drawn up by the
African Association, of Mungo Park's journey. It is
curious, as it proves that those who wrote 2000 years
ago knew better the interior geography of Africa than
we do, altho' for many centuries their assertions were
disbelieved.
Dec. 8th. — D'Alembert's Eloges of the Academiciens
is full of excellent criticism, altho' he was a mathe-
matician, and might be suspected of requiring in a poet
more precision than taste. That of Boileau is very
entertaining ; it not only contains criticisms of his
works, but is full of philosophical observations upon
human character and lively anecdotes. The title is
214 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
disgusting. An c'loge implies a laboured panegyric upon
the person who is the object, but he has adopted it only
in conformity to the usage of ye French Academy, as,
in fact, he has not spared Despreaux where a lash was
called for. The futile prophecy of Despreaux's father
about him ought to serve as a lesson to parents not to
indulge in predictions favourable or the contrary with
regard to the abilities and character of their children.
Who that has read Boileau can hear without a smile
that it was of him that his father said, ' Pour celui-ci,
c'est un bon garyon qui ne dira jamais de mal de per-
sonne ' ? ' On sent,' says d'Alembert, ' a quelle medio-
crite sans ressource un pere croit son fils condamne, quand
il se borne a lui donner un eloge si modeste.' Disgusted
successively by jurisprudence and theology, he became
a poet ; and as if to belie his father he began by being a
satirist, and by a trait of adroit flattery he converted into a
friend the D. of Montausier, the declared enemy of raillery.
Mr. Fox came and slept here on ye 4th December to
attend the Whig Club. He made a speech which has, if
possible, added to his unpopularity. He was, in a way,
called upon by a man who talked of the deceptions of
O'Connor, to say something with regard to the evidence
he gave at Maidstone. What he said as to that point was
liberal and manly, but he unnecessarily added some sen-
tences upon the apphcation of those principles of Hberty
(which he professed maintaining in common with
O'Connor) against the Governt. in Ireland. Very
few of his friends attended ; Grey and ye D. of Bedford
would not go, thinking that as they did not take an
active part in Parliament, it was wrong to do anything
out of it. Ld. H. wishes, if possible, to abolish the
Whig Club, more especially as the reason for which it was
instituted subsists no longer, as Mr. Fox has completely
seceded.
1798] GREY AND SECESSION 215
Grey is the man who is placed in the most awkward
situation. He now regrets the secession, yet to him, ye
D. of Bedford, and Whitbread, is it owing, but most
especially to him. He was the first suggester of it, and
when Mr. Fox balanced (for he adopted the measure
unwilHngly, and now thinks it was very injudicious) he
urged it vehemently. At present he is tired of inactivity,
and wishes to attend, yet he feels a difficulty in doing so
after all he has declared upon its inutility ; besides that
to the world it will always have the appearance of being
a most deceitful line of conduct, to have gotten Mr. Fox
pledged to absence, and then become a leader. Unless
I knew him to be of an honest, open, warm-hearted
character, I should myself suspect a little fraud, but
I fully acquit him.
Grey, Tierney, Mr. Nicholl, and Francis dined here.
18th Dec. — The Jesuits, who kept in a register notes
upon the character and abilities of those whom they
educated in order to govern the world, said in the margin
on Crebillon the father, ' Enfant plein d'esprit, insigne
vaurien.' He belied the prediction, as he was an excellent
man in private life. His early passion for poetry,
especially dramatic, disposed the judicious procureur,
under whom he was placed to study the law, to encourage
his natural taste in cultivating the Muses, instead of
drudging through a mass of black-lettered folios. His
first piece was tolerably received, tho' ' le caustique
Despreaux ' said it was the work of ' Racine ivre.' Sar-
castic as he intended the observation, it was flattering
to a young author to have his name in any way coupled
with that of the harmonious Racine. Many years after-
wards he presented a tragedy to the theatre ; it was
objected to, as being too harsh and not suited to the
public taste, and they advised him to adopt the style of
Voltaire, which pleased everyone. He said, ' Monsr.
2i6 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
de Voltaire travaille en or moulu, et moi je jette en bronze.'
Rhadamiste is one, if not quite the best of his tragedies,
tho' it is rugged in its versification, and turgid in
expressions. The famous Hues,
La Nature, maratre en ces affreux cHmats,
Ne produit, au Heu d'or, que du far des soldats,
are very fine, and have been happily imitated by Gold-
smith in his Traveller on Switzerland,
No product here the barren' hills afford
But man and steel — the soldier and his sword.
On Sunday Marsh came. He intends staying a few days
only. He is one of the most excellent men I know, and
one towards whom I feel the most sincere friendship.
The extreme simplicity of his character is very delightful.
With a very good understanding and great information
he is as unassuming as the most modest youth could be ;
but he has some violent prejudices that are very divert-
ing. They are chiefly owing to the French Revolution.
He has so great a dread of French -principles that he
condemns everything that his ardent imagination can
torture into a tendency towards them. His fancy is
so good-humoured that it is more a scene of mirth than
disputation when he gets upon the subject of politics.
Yesterday the Bessbro's dined here, Ld. Boringdon,
and G. Leveson ; Beauclerk came in ye evening and
slept.
The Ministerialists praise Canning's speech in reply
to Tierney's motion ^ to the skies, but it is the fault of
friends to overrate, for as La Harpe says somewhere,
' On affaiblit toujours tout ce qu'on exagere.' Canning
is very lively, writes pretty verses, and has a good deal of
' On December ii, in favour of concluding peace with the French
RepubHc, whenever a suitable opportunity should occur. Pitt called
the speech ' one of the best ever heard on any occasion.'
1798] MR. CANNING 217
local wit, but I should suspect upon grave subjects which
require depth and argument he is a tres petit monsieur.
The Opposition, who have not forgiven his desertion of
them, exclaim at the venality of his politics.' I think
they are unjust in accusing him of desertion, and he was
wrong in point of judging the thing for his own reputation
to make a bargain so soon. It was hard upon him that
he was intimately connected with Sheridan, who chose
to announce him to the world as his eUve in politics,
and as a confirmation of his principles, repeated strong
expressions and youthful sallies of his, saying that he
should be pledged to Opposition before he was well of an
age maturely to decide. Principle, I believe, did not sway
him much. He found the party in a desperate, languish-
ing state, himself full of ambition and life, and that in
that party he must have contented himself with a very
subaltern post ; whereas the reputation that Sheridan,
in his over-zeal, had anticipated for him made him an
object worth getting to the others. He is, in his heart,
the veriest Jacobin there is, and would, if he were not
in power, manifest his principles in a most dangerous,
innovating Opposition. He abhors titles, and the aristo-
cracy of hereditary nobility ; the lowness of his own
extraction first made him envy, then wish to destroy,
those whom chance has raised above him. The worst
part of his character is his love of intrigue and manage-
ment. He has made a little detached party out of the
great party, that peculiarly belong to him. Over them
' Lord Lauderdale in a letter, written in 1809, to Lord Holland,
strongly upholds this view, and gives an amusing story of Sheridan's
groom's opinion of Canning. ' Sheridan's groom being told by his
butler many years ago that he had laid a plate too few at table,
enumerated the company he supposed was to dine, and on being
informed that he had forgot Mr. Canning, said, " D — n that fellow.
He has impudence for anything I What ! Come here and dine with
my master after deserting all the principles that you and I have heard
him so often hold forth upon "' (Holland House MSS.).
2i8 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1798
he exerts an almost despotic sway, not only in their
votes, but their opinions and conduct in the minutest
concerns, such as who they must see and live with.
In this little set there is a want of wit, and as the
topics are generally allusions to old jokes and practical
witticisms that have occurred among themselves, they
are quite unintelligible in mixed societies, where, unless
the catch-word is known, two-thirds of the company must
see them laugh without feeling the smallest tendency to
share in their mirth. The Ellis', Frere, Mr. Legge, Sneyd,
Mr. Sturges, Ld. G. Leveson, and a few others, complete
the select squad. Ld. Morpeth is of it also, but he
wisely chooses to conduct himself without being inter-
fered with, so he is not quite one of ye Elect.
Charles Ellis' ^ marriage was a blow upon his power ;
he ventured not only to fall in love, but to make his
proposals without a previous consultation with the young
Cato, the authority of whose little senate was infringed
upon by such an overt act. There were fifty little
ridiculous circumstances about that marriage that made
one laugh at the time. The ceremony was absurdly
pompous ; carriages full of her relations accompanied
them to the church. As soon as the ceremony was
finished, the bride, who had, according to etiquette,
been crying all the time, was kissed round by the family
to be wished joy. Ld. went up and consoled her,
saying ' Do not be frightened any longer, for now all is
over,' upon which the jokers say Ly. burst out
into a flood of tears, recollecting but too well that all
' Charles Rose Ellis (i 771-1845), son of John Elhs, of Jamaica,
and Elizabeth, daughter of John Pallmer, also of that island. He
entered Parliament in 1793 and sat continuously for various seats
until his elevation to the peerage, by Canning's influence, in 1826, as
Baron Seaford. He married, first, in 1798, EUzabeth Catherine, only
daughter of John Augustus, Lord Hervey, and grand-daughter of
Frederick, Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry. Their son succeeded
his great-grandfather in the title of Lord Howard de Walden.
1798-9] LORD BRISTOL 219
finished there with her, for Ld. has two projects,
equally impracticable, that of marching at the head of
a victorious army to Paris, and the other equally desper-
ate, that of obtaining a son. It is a bold undertaking
in C. Ellis to marry a Hervey, for they still keep up their
strangeness of character that made a celebrated wit class
mankind under the generic appellation of men, women,
and Hervey s.
That abominable, wicked old fellow, Lord Bristol,
is still kept prisoner at Milan.' I believe, even in his
confinement, he has contrived to make some miserable.
He bribed his guards to let him escape, and when the
moment was ripe for flight, he was unable to move, and
several who were involved in his scheme were instantly
shot upon being detected. He is very clever and full of
quickness and wit, and his reply to Voltaire was not
bad. He went to see him at Ferney. Voltaire, who did
not know his profligacy, and could not let the opportunity
go by of saying something distressing to an ecclesiastic,
stood upon his perron, and, pointing to a theatre on one
side, and to a temple dedicated to God on ye other side,
said : ' Ou joue t'on la plus grande farce ? ' ' C'est selon
les auteurs,' rephed ye Bishop. He called old, shrivelled
Sr. Wm. Hamilton a piece of walking verd-antique.
-^ist Jan., '99. — At half-past seven on Friday morning,
ye i8th January, I was safely delivered of a nice little
boy, who is going on perfectly well. Mr. Croft attended
me. He had passed 4 nights and days in the house
previous to the crash. Mrs. W. stayed, too, but was
obliged to go to her eldest child, who was ill. I was
sufficiently recovered by Sunday to receive company, and
have every day since seen all who have called.
' He was placed in confinement by the French, into whose hands
he had fallen, and at the same time a valuable collection of antiquities
which he was about to despatch to England was confiscated.
220 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
Ld. H. is this day gone down to attend the H. of Lds.
If Ld. Grenville brings on the discussion of ye Union,
he will speak. ^ Probably the last proceedings in ye
Irish Parlt. will deter Pitt from pressing the measure
here, altho' it is one he pledged himself to most
irrevocably, and one he is strongly attached to from
motives of ambition and vanity. I shall say but little
on ye subject, as it has so frequently worn out my
patience lately.
The conquest of lovely Naples is added to the proud
list of Republican triumphs. The Court have fled to
Sicily on board of Nelson's fleet. The happy States of
Tuscany will soon fall, and all Italy pass under the
despotic thraldom of the Directory.
Sheridan was expected to have made a capital speech
in the H. of Commons on the Union last week, but it was
reckoned very inferior to his usual style of excellence.
He offended the seceders by announcing that the
standard of Opposition would soon be unfurled.^ He
introduced it at the conclusion of an attack upon Ld. L.,
who had, he said, ' cut a clumsy caper over the grave of
party.' (In his speech at the beginning of the session,
he said, ' Thank God, party is dead and buried.') He
pursued a strain of irony, apparently levelled at Ld. L.,
but, in fact, intended for Tierney, who had, in a late
' On January 22 a message was presented to both Houses of Parlia-
ment from the King suggesting that their immediate attention should
be directed to measures for obtaining a closer and more satisfactory-
connection between the kingdoms of England and Ireland. A few
days after, a proposal for a Union was laid before the Irish Parliament,
but was rejected, Pitt, in the debate in the House of Commons on
the 31st, stated that he thought it proper to unfold his proposed scheme,
though he was fully aware that there was no chance of its adoption
unless the Irish Parliament were willing to alter their present views.
- On January 22. ' The banner of party is furled, but it is not
beaten down. I trust that it will again be displayed and that it will
assemble round it the steady friends to true liberty, hostile alike to
despotic rule, and to wild innovation.'
1799] SHERIDAN AND TIERNEY 221
speech, declared that he considered himself as an
individual belonging to no set of men. Sheridan said,
he did not wonder party was denied, for it required strong
intellect to command, and great virtues to attach for a
man to become the leader of party, and great humility
and sense to fall as a subaltern into the ranks of party.
Sheridan hates Tierney. That hatred was roused at
T.'s making a most excellent speech on ye Income Bill.
It was so good that everybody praised it. S. was at
Brooks's, and was so incensed at the applause that he
went to Tierney's house, whom he found just getting
into bed, insisted upon seeing him, and then said he was
quite shocked to hear that a part of his speech had given
great offence, that part where he hinted at the necessity
of squeezing the corporations, who were ' wallowing in
wealth.' This was said to worry Tierney, who is weakly
alive to all unpopularity. T. told me this himself.
Ld. Lansdown is just returned from Bath. He was
full of what Miss Fox calls effusion to Ld. H., who had
said that he regretted the probability of their voting
against each other upon the subject of the Union.
' Never mind,' said Ld. L., ' vote, speak against me,
abuse me. Do what you will. I should say, this is
what I can't hear, I can't see ; I won't see it. You are
like my sons who can't offend me, for I won't quarrel
with them.' In short, he was all tenderness and
warmth.
Sheridan offended the Prince extremely in his last
speech. I do not know precisely what he said, but it
was a quotation from Secretary Cooke's pamphlet. He
certainly intended it as complimentary, but it was not
probably faithfully reported by P. Ernest to ye Prince,
and before S. could tell his own story, the Prince, with
his usual intemperance and violence, abused him, calhng
him ' rogue, liar,' etc. This mal-entendu will vex S.
222 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
beyond measure, for he has ever since the Regency
courted the P., and anticipated in imagination much in-
fluence in a future reign ; besides that he has wished to be
considered as being as much the organ of the P. in the H,
of Commons as Ld. Moira is in the House of Lords. I
have mahgnity enough in my disposition not to feel much
sympathy for his afflictions. He has afflicted so much
real distress upon others, and one being dear to me, that
I have not a spark of compassion to bestow. His defenders
(and their number is but slender) say that all his bad
conduct has proceeded from his struggling against the
meanness of his origin and the littleness of his means. He
attempted to efface the first by distinguishing himself,
not only in the career of wit and politics, but also in that
of gallantry and fashion ; for such was his lust of praise
that :—
Women and fools must like him or he dies ;
The wond'ring Senates hung on all he spoke,
The Club must hail him Master of the Joke.
Enough if all around him but admire.
I shall note down a few anecdotes about him by-and-bye,
Ld. H. met at Sheridan's, one day lately, Mr. Pollen,
the man who dreaded invasion for the sake of the chastity
of the ladies : he had never seen him before. Ld. H.
was telling a story to prove the openness of the Irish
character, and how little suspicious they were of trust-
ing their lives to a person of tolerable character. The
story was told him by Ld. Wycombe as having happened
to an acquaintance of his -a Mr. Henry. A man arrested
him in the streets, and, without much prefatory dis-
course asked him if he would be of the Executive, adding,
he was a United Irishman, and was delegated by
those sitting in Dublin to ask him. Upon which Mr.
1799] 'PRODIGY' POLLEN. 223
Pollen immediately said : * The same thing precisely
occurred to me at Perth. A United Scotsman proposed
the same question, altho' I was in my regimentals,
and he knew I was quartered with my regiment.' The
coincidence was remarkable, but tho' Scotsmen are more
wary than Irishmen, yet it was possible there might be
an indiscreet Scot. They then talked of poor Ld. Lauder-
dale, who is dreadfully ill. His complaint is a horrid
one, a local dropsy, which he will not submit to have
properly treated, upon which Mr. P. said, ' There are two
modes of treating the disease : there is the palliative
and the radical. I first tried the palliative, but it was
troublesome, and ever since I used the radical I have
felt no inconvenience.' Ld. H. said he began to stare at
two such extraordinary things having been mentioned,
and that both should have happened to him. He is not
above 25 or 26, and that disorder is generally in old, worn-
out constitutions, and, if one may judge from Gibbon's
averseness to mention the complaint, is not one that
men are apt to boast of having. . . . Ld. H. was all
astonishment at these stories, but upon inquiry he found
Mr. PoUen's nickname was ' Prodigy ' Pollen.
Wednesday, i^th. Feb. — On Sunday, ye loth, Mr.
Hare ^ came to pass a few days. On Wednesday Bor.
and Amherst dined. On last Sunday Hare returned.
Grey and Tierney dined. Miss Fox stayed from
Saturday to Monday.
Hare was full of wit and pleasantry. I was expressing
surprise that a man so universally extolled for his
' James Hare (i 749-1 804), son of an apothecary at Winchester,
and grandson of Francis Hare, Bishop of Chichester. He was brought
up at Eton and Oxford, and there became intimately acquainted with
Charles James Fox and many others of the Whig circle. He married,
in 1774, Hannah, only daughter and heiress of Sir Abraham Hume.
He sat in Parhament for many years, but only once addressed the
House. He was sent as Minister-Plenipotentiary to Poland, 1779-82.
224 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
conversation and talents should not, to my taste, be plea-
sant, for the fact is, I never received the smallest enter-
tainment from Sheridan's convivial abilities. Hare said
what is true enough, that before women he is always
playing a game. His forte is at a club over wine, and in
debate. Among many things he told us of a reply of
S., in debate, to Dundas, who had asserted a falsehood
for a fact, and supported it by some well-known trite
joke. S. complimented the honble. gentleman upon
his abilities, especially upon possessing to a remarkable
degree a retentive memory and fertile imagination, but
that those faculties unfortunately were perverted, as
his memory was directed to works of imagination, and
his imagination to facts. S. himself, however, is less
tenacious about facts than he ought to be. There is a
story of his offering some stories to Mr. Fox, to assist him
in argument, but the latter, who is very strict as to what
he asserts, asked if they were well authenticated, and,
finding they depended upon report, declined using them ;
upon which S, said, ' He is so d d surly about
facts.'
S. was to have dined here on Sunday, but did not ;
probably to avoid meeting Tierney and Grey, as he hates
the former, and is displeased at not being supported by
the latter. His motion very nearly failed, as nobody
seconded it for full 10 minutes, and then an obscure man
jumped up and did it. All their squabbles are diverting,
for as to any good they can do, it is a farce to suppose any
can be done. This Union, they say, is to be carried at all
risks. Ld. H. is gone this morning to arrange with Ld.
Fitzwilliam, but the subject is so tiresome, and I have
heard so much of it, that I cannot enter into the merits
or demerits of the case.
The ' Monk ' Lewis consulted me whether he should
dedicate his translation of the 13th Satire of Juvenal to
1799] LEWIS' VERSES 225
Mr. Fox. I said he would take it as a compliment. It
was published yesterday, but is not so good as most of his
other verses ; 28 of the best lines are by Wm. Lamb/
a rising genius, who is to dine here for the first time to-day.
Those imitations of Juvenal ^ by Ld. H. crept into the
newspapers. I was extremely frightened and got Mr.
Hare, Tierney, etc., to exert themselves to get the re-
mainder suppressed, as I really feared Ld. Minto's being
wrong-headed.
24th Feb. — I have contented myself with skimming
carelessly enough over Lewis' paraphrase. The under-
taking seems above his means, and was done, as I under-
stand, at the request of his father, who was anxious
that he should give a classical turn to his literary repu-
tation, as he laments his ballad and green-room tastes.
Several of the lines are wofully bad : —
From morn's first languish to the death of day, —
but enough of what I have really found too dull to read
through.
I thought young Lamb pleasant, though supercilious,
as he shut himself up in his own thoughts as soon as he
saw Ld. G., Morpeth, Boringdon. He affects to hold
them cheap for being Anti- Jacobins, an affectation he has
caught from ye D. of Bedford. On the following Sunday
we had many of the same party, with ye addition of the
Bessboroughs, Canning, and Frere. Wycombe, being
present, annoyed Canning, and put him out of his natural
bias of ease and pleasantry. In the course of this week
' Hon. William Lamb (i 779-1 848), afterwards Prime Minister,
son of Peniston, first Viscount Melbourne, whom he succeeded in the
titles in 18 19.
^ Imitations in verse of two satires of Juvenal, which were entitled
Secession and The Yeoman. The subject of the latter, which was
addressed to Lord Wycombe, was the excesses of the military in
Ireland.
VOL. I. Q
226 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
we had several numerous parties of the Bessboroughs,
Fish Crawfurd/ etc., etc., Hare, Fitzpatrick.
Sunday, ^rd March. — Jekyll, Hare, Tierney, and
Fitzpatrick are now in the house. They dined here.
The latter has lost such a great portion of his ill-gotten
pelf in the same way as he acquired it, viz., at the gaming-
table. There is no one poison in the human breast that
operates so powerfully to the exclusion of every good
feeling, as that of gambling. It produces misanthropy,
meanness, and avarice, and I do not know a real amateur
and practitioner of the vice in favour of whom an ex-
ception can be made. Hare has genuine, quick feelings,
and his sensibility has not been totally blunted ; but I
can hardly admit as an apology for his inveterate pursuit
of fortune at the Hazard table his necessities. But I am
perhaps illiberally intolerant; the example in Ld. H.'s
family, and the scandalous expedients a certain Duchess
has, to my knowledge, been able to bring herself to resort
to, have inspired me with horror and contempt for the
class.
The news arrived to-day of Mr. Grenville's safety.^
The frigate is lost, and 15 persons, but he and his suite
got over the ice. As no mails are come (14 now are due),
the particulars are not known. It will be highly gratify-
' Lord Minto mentions him in Paris, in a letter dated 1793. ' Fish
Crawfurd, with whom Madame du DefEand, being bhnd, was in love,
was of the party the other day ' (Life and Letters of Sir G. Elliot).
■ The Right Hon. Thomas Granville (175 5-1 846), second son of
George Grenville and brother of Lord Granville. He was sent on an
embassy to Berlin in order to persuade the King to join England against
the French. He left Yarmouth on January 29 in the Proserpine
frigate, but in attempting to ascend the Elbe the ill-fated vessel was
driven ashore. Abandoning the ship the passengers and crew escaped
across the ice to Cuxhaven with only the clothes in which they stood.
An interesting account of their hardships is given in the Annual Register
for 1846. The delay proved fatal to the object of Mr. Grenville's
mission, for Sieyes arrived in time to persuade Frederick William to
remain neutral.
1799] LORD LAUDERDALE 227
ing when he hears how universal and sincere the sorrow
has been.
^th March, '99. — Mr. Fox is come hereto-day to dine at
the Whig Club ; he returns to sleep. Ld. Lauderdale is
so much better that he walks about. He told the D. of
Bedford that, being kept awake one night from pain,
he diverted himself by composing a speech and a reply
for him upon the Union. ' I can understand,' said the
Duke, ' that you may write a man's speech for him, but
how you can make a reply which must notice points in
the debate I cannot guess.' ' Why, the speech I intend
you shall make is calculated to put old Grenville into a
rage ; he will get up and abuse you, and lug in France,
French principles, localities, and all the old story. Then
you must answer him, and begin by an apology to the
House for the long speech you have been the occasion of
their hearing, as you know it must be very disagreeable
to the House ; but that, for yourself, it is of no conse-
quence, as you are used to noise, for in your agricultural
pursuits you are accustomed to the bellowing of beasts.'
This is what Ld. L. calls excellent raillery, and I only
note it down as a specimen of his talents in that line ;
no one so excellent as he is at a coarse joke, but polished
wit he not only cannot furnish, but is incapable of relish-
ing. Sheridan said, ' Don't tell Lauderdale, for a joke in
his mouth is no laughing matter.'
10th. — Mr. Fox dined at the Whig Club; in the
speech he made he did not supply materials for fresh
attacks. We sat up very late with him ; his conversa-
tion is always instructive and entertaining. He shuns
politics as much as I could wish. Criticism, literature,
and observations upon character are ye chief topics. It
is astonishing what a storehouse of knowledge his mind
is of every sort, from a fairy tale up to a system
of philosophy. A novel was mentioned, upon which he
Q 2
228 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
launched forth upon a discussion on the different merits of
the novehsts, in which he displayed as great a range of
reading as a miss who reads from a circulating library
could do. He knows, in short, every production of the
sort that has appeared. He professed liking fairy tales,
romances, novels, etc. The only sort he admitted were
dull are the old French ones of Mile. Scuderi — Le Grand
Cyrus, etc. — tho' he made a few exceptions, especially
for ye Princesse dc Cleves,^ as well he might, for that is
very pretty. He set off early the next morning. Mrs.
Armstead disapproves of his absence being extended
beyond the time she fixes.
On the 6th we dined at Lansdown House. Ld. L.
received me with cordiality. I hope his terrors of my
machinations are dissipated. Ld. Wycombe is gone to
Ireland. Thursday. — Dined with Mrs. Wyndham.
Friday. — Lds. Bor. and Digby, Mr. Adderley and General
Fitzpatrick dined. Saturday. — Mrs. W.
Ld. and Ly. Macartney called this morn. It is the
first time I have seen him since his return from the Cape.
He looks well, tho' he says he is confiscated. The climate
of the Cape, he says, is unfavourable to a gouty habit.
He told me the people at the Cape look upon Vaillant ^
as a vagrant, lying sort of a gentleman, who undertook
to describe places he never saw, and boast of friends he
never had : his secretary is going to publish his travels,
and has annexed an accurate map he made himself to the
work.
Ld. M. is remarkable for a retentive memory. He
remembers the minutest circumstance, tho' I half-
suspect he plays tricks, and frequently makes his recol-
lection dwell upon strange objects, that as you find he
' By Madame de la Fayette.
^ Fran9ois le Vaillant (175 3-1 824), author of Voyage dans Vintcrieur
de V Afnque par le Cap de Bonne Espe'rance, and Second Voyage, &c.
1799] LORD MACARTNEY 229
remembers them, you may give him credit for knowing
the commonest. When he went Minister to Russia,
Mr. Grenville, in giving him instructions upon com-
mercial arrangements, advised him to take the Navi-
gation Act, as it might be of service to him. ' To avoid
encumbering myself, as I knew its use, / have learnt it
by heart,' and true it was he could say every tittle.
Louis XVII L is remarkable for a strong memory ; when
Ld. M. went to Verona, somebody said, ' Ah ! quels
assauts de memoire il y aura entre eux.'
i^th March. — Sunday. Dumont ^ came and slept.
He has all the good, and none of the bad quahties of
a Genevois. A sarcastic person might ask, ' What are
the good qualities of a Genevois ? ' To-be candid, I
protest I know of none but their enthusiastic admiration
of Rousseau, and when I made that c'loge of Dumont by
giving them to him, I meant in truth to say he was a
Frenchman ; for all the agrements I bestow on him are
the due of an amiable, enlightened, polished homme de
lettres of Paris.
Tuesday, we died with Mrs. W. and went to the play :
I found Lewis in my box. Mrs. W. in her quaint manner
asked him, ' How he could have such a horrid imagina-
tion with such a comical face ? ' Thursday, Dr. Ash and
Mr. Moore dined here. To-day, the weather has been
horrible, and we have not seen a soul, but have stayed
snugly alone at home. I read two acts of Buonarotti's
Tancia. It is very difficult, and to a foreigner has no merit
' Pierre Etienne Louis Dumont (i 759-1 829), born at Geneva.
His family was French, but had fled to Switzerland in the sixteenth
century to escape religious persecution. He became a preacher,
and came to England about 1783 to superintend the education of Lord
Lansdown's sons. He there made the acquaintance of Bentham,
whose secretary he became later in hfe. He espoused the cause of the
French Revolution with enthusiasm at its commencement, but became
terrified by its excesses, and left France soon after his friend
Mirabeau's death.
230 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
but simplicity and poetry. Its wit and truth are lost where
the language and allusions are unknown, and the names
ideal ; for the vera lingua Fiorentina, as spoken by the
peasants, is a distinct idiom from the common Italian,
and the proverbs are local, nor is it possible for a foreigner
resident in the country to obtain so exact a notion of
the rustic manners of the contadini, as to be able to
judge of the justness of the picture. I have been reading
several of Kurd's ^ Dialogues ; his style is frigid, and,
though correct, insipid. It was of him and Warburton
that Dr. Parr said, ' He has blundered into sublimity ;
you have refined into littleness.'
22nd March. — On Friday, 15th, we had an uncom-
monly pleasant party — Mrs. W., Lds. Mor., Bor., Thanet,
General Fitz., Lord Robert, Mr. Hare, and (by chance)
little Lewis.
25th March, '99. — On Sunday, 17th, Ld. H. dined
with Mr. Francis. Mr, Marsh and Hamilton ^ dined here
with me. At Francis's they drank a good deal of wine.
The joke was to exhaust his cellar. It succeeded, much
to the mirth of Ld. Thanet, who is the promoter of all fun
and mischief. On Monday Ld. Bor., Misses Fox and
Vernon came to sleep, and some others.
On Tuesday the House of Lds. ; Miss Fox and I dined
at home with Hodges only. Ld. H. and Marsh went to
the H. of Lds. The debate was upon the Union. It was
conducted, as Ld. Carlisle said, in a very gentlemanlike
manner, which in plainer language means dully. Ld. L.
• Richard Hurd, D.D. (i 720-1 808), Bishop of Lichfield (1774).
and of Worcester (1781). He was offered the Primacy in 1783, but
refused to take it. The Dialogues were pubhshed in 1759, and introduce
historical persons, who are made to discuss the themes under considera-
tion.
^ Mr., afterwards Lord Archibald, Hamilton (i 770-1 827), youngest
son of Archibald, ninth Duke of Hamilton and sixth Duke of Brandon,
by Harriot, daughter of Alexander, sixth Earl of Galloway. He was
a close friend and frequent correspondent of Lord Holland.
1799] DEBATE ON THE UNION 231
spoke. The tenor of his speech was ambiguous, and none
could judge how he would have voted had the question
come to a division. He deprecated the principle of con-
fiscation, and urged strongly the injustice of the Fitz-
gerald Attainder Bill. He illustrated his argument
by several political cases, one of which the world say
he intended for his own situation ; but he certainly did
not. He said any of their Lordships might be cursed
with a Republican son, and by this system of con-
fiscation their grandchildren would be beggars. Ld. H.
spoke, but out of good nature he let the others speak
before him, so that he was obliged to curtail his arguments
on account of the lateness of the hour. We did not get
to bed until 6 o'clock.
The next day we dined at Mr. Crawfurd's. He had
all our own friends to meet us, Ld. and Ly. B., Mr.
Canning, Ld. Mor., Bor., Amherst, Ossory, and M. de
Calonne.^ The dinner was pleasant and cheerful ;
the Fish said something slighting of Ld. Fitzwilliam,^
which made Ld. Bessborough redden, and Canning in his
flippant way took it up, but a force of winks, shrugs, and
nods, we made them shift the subject.
Canning had on that day left the Foreign Department
for a sinecure under Dundas in the Board of Control.
I called on Ld. L. for five minutes, then went to ye Dss.
' Charles Alexandre de Calonne (1734-1802), Louis XVI. 's Minister
of Finance, His system of taxation was so arbitrary and unbearable,
and his statement of public accounts in 1787 so unsatisfactory, that he
was deprived of his honours, and banished to Lorraine. He came to
England, where he remained until 1802. Bonaparte then granted
his request to return to France, but he died almost immediately upon
his arrival in that country. Lord Holland relates in his Foreign
Reminiscences that Calonne's death was due to mismanagement,
and that he wrote in pencil to his doctor when no longer able to speak,
'Tu m'as assassine, et si tu es honnete homme tu renonceras la medecine
pour jamais.'
^ Lord Bessborough's brother-in-law. He married Lady Charlotte
Ponsonby in 1770.
232 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
of Leinster, and afterwards supped at Ld, Bessborough's.
On Thursday we dined alone. On Friday Ld. Robert/
Ld. Granville, Sir Lionel Copley,- and Sir Gilbert ^
dined, Sr. Lionel was, as usual, Jacobinical and tire-
some. His only merit in conversation (for in conduct
he has many) is that he surprises his audience by the
extreme accuracy of his knowledge of all the epochs in
the Revolution, the stations of the armies, and the names
of the members of the different councils.
On Saturday (23rd) we had a very numerous party, and
one person who never came before, who diverted us all by
his manner. I invited him, as I knew him to be good-
natured, and, therefore, likely to be of service about my
seeing my children. I knew him at the period of my
solitary confinement in Sussex : his name is Fuller.
His vulgar bluntness excited much mirth ; he thought
the laugh was raised by his waggery, so was delighted.
The others were Boringdon, G. Leveson, Lome, Amherst,
Digby, Mr. Cornewall Lewis, Hamilton, Adderley, Marsh,
and little Lewis. The day went off extremely well. On
Sunday we had Ld. Mor., Bor., G. Leveson, and some
strange people, Don Roberto Gordon, Baron de Baje,
Mr. Hodges, American Smith,' etc., etc. Dr. Drew
came to stay ; in the evening Ly. B. came. On Monday
I was 28 years old ! ! ! Alas ! Alas !
The Dss. of Leinster and family came yesterday to
stay some days. She is in very tolerable spirits and
health. Mimi ■' is ill, but is to come to-day. I was vexed
' Lord Robert Fitzgerald {1765-1833), sixth son of James, first
Duke of Leinster, and Emilia Mary, daughter of Charles, second Duke
of Richmond.
* Sir Lionel Copley, Bart., of Sprotborough. He was born about
1767, succeeded to the title in 1781, and died in 1806.
3 Sir Gilbert Affleck, Lady Holland's stepfather.
* A friend of Lord Wycombe, who introduced him to Lord Holland.
* Emily Charlotte {d. 1832), the Duchess's daughter by her second
husband, William Ogilvie. She married, in 1799, Charles George Beau-
clerk ( 1 774-1 846), only son of Topham Beauclerk and Lady Diana.
17991 LORD LORNE 233
at her not being here yesterday, because Beauclerk is
come on purpose to see her. I abhor the character of a
meddler, but I should be delighted at succeeding in
bringing two such dehghtful persons together. Ld.
Lome is a very old acquaintance of mine. He is very
handsome, well-made, and like a gentleman ; his manner
is remarkably simple and unaffected, and tho' his
abilities are not of the most brilliant order, yet he does not
appear in the least deficient. He has in his disposition
an uncommon share of indifference, almost to apathy,
and tho' in the possession of every requisite for happi-
ness, it does not appear that he enjoys anything.
2^th March, '99. — Ld, Thanet ' is in great alarm at
the approaching trial. He is indicted with Mr. Denis
O'Brien, Fergusson,^ and Brown,^ for attempting to
rescue Arthur O'Connor in the court at Maidstone. He
is apprehensive of imprisonment, and, indeed, it is gener-
ally thought he will be condemned to it. I really do not
believe he was at all riotous. The only strong fact
against him is his having said, when Judge Buller ex-
pressed surprise at such an idle attempt being made,
' Oh, he may as well have a run for it ! '
Poor Ld. Edward's little boy is here.'* He is a
remarkable child ; I cannot look at him without feeling
strongly. His pretty manner and liveliness saved the
' Sackville Tufton, ninth Earl of Thanet (1767-182 5), son of Sack-
ville, eighth Earl, and Mary, daughter of Lord John Sackville. He
married, in 181 1, a Hungarian lady, Anne de Bojanowitz.
'' Robert Cultar Fergusson (1768-1838), son of Alexander Fergusson,
of Craigdarroch, Dumfriesshire. He was called to the Bar in 1797,
and was counsel to Allen, one of O'Connor's fellow prisoners at Maid-
stone. After his release from prison he went to Calcutta, where he
became Attorney-General. He obtained a seat in Parliament in 1826,
and became Judge-Advocate-General in 1834.
^ Gunter Browne, Esq.
^ Edward Fox Fitzgerald (i 794-1 863). He was educated by his
grandmother, the Duchess of Leinster, and served in several cavalry
regiments. He married a daughter of Sir John Paul in 1827.
234 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
poor Dss.'s life ; her whole mind is occupied with him.
When he was two years old, after eating heartily, he
asked for more. His maid told him he had had enough.
' No, no, Eddy does not like enough ; Eddy likes too
much,' a sentiment he inherited from his poor father,
I fancy.
Mr. Dumont told us of a trick his friend Chauvet
played a German Baron at Geneva. The German came
from the heart of Germany, ' To adore,' he said, ' le grand
homme,' and had brought letters of recommendation.
It struck Chauvet that it would be a good joke to make
the Baron go away without seeing Voltaire. Chauvet
told him that the philosopher was so pestered with
visitors that, unless they were introduced by some of
his own friends, he did not receive them cordially. To
make the story short, he personated Voltaire, and put
many ridiculous questions to the Baron. One was,
' M. le Baron, avez-vous lu mon histoire par Rollin ? '
' Avec le plus grand plaisir, Monsr.'
10th April, '99. — The good Dss., Mr. Ogilvie, and Eddy
stayed exactly a fortnight, Mimi and Ly. Lucy ^ till to-day.
Mimi, indeed, is still here till to-morrow. My wishes
have succeeded. Mimi's beauty and charming character
have captivated Beau. He has obtained consent. The
settlements are drawing, and their union will soon take
place. Their dispositions suit exactly, and I never saw
a fairer prospect of happiness than they have before
them. She is uncommonly sensible, her temper is mild,
and her manner serene ; altho' cheerful, her turn is
rather serious. Her person is lovely, her complexion a
clear brown, black eyes, white teeth, and a very small
head, a fine-shaped throat and neck, pretty hands and
feet, and, altogether, she is as beautiful and fascinating
' Lady Lucy Fitzgerald, the Duchess of Leinster's daughter. She
married Admiral Sir Thomas Foley, G.C.B., in 1802, and died in 185 1.
1799] A CHRISTENING PARTY 235
as a woman can be. A very favourable proof of the
goodness of her understanding and temper is her being so
beloved by a numerous family, the interests of which
must oftentimes jar. The first week they were here we
had a great deal of company, but as soon as the love
began, we confined our society to those in the house,
and then it was pretty large — Hamilton, Beau., Drew,
Marsh, Miss Fox, Mr. Adderley.^
On Saturday, 30th March, we had the baby
christened; an immense party to dinner, Ld. and Ly. B.,
Ld. Duncannon, Ld. Ossory, G. Leveson, Sr. Gilbert
and my mother, ye Duke of Bedford, Miss Vernon, and
all those in the house. My mother, D. of B., and Lord
Ossory stood for him. To comply with the Dss. of L.'s
wish he was called Stephen, so we have now a Ste. Fox
in the family. Marsh performed the ceremony ; it was
his first clerical function. He is to come up for Beau.'s
marriage. Ly. Lucy is very clever, naturally very lively,
but the loss of her brother has affected her spirits ; she
is enthusiastic, and her affection for him was worked up
to a most romantic pitch. She was in his confidence,
and knew how deeply he was involved in that fatal
business in Ireland ; any reference to the affair agitates
her violently. At the time of O'Connor's trial at Maid-
stone (a few months after Ld. E.'s death) she was at
Goodwood ; he being but too intimately connected with
Ld. E., made her, of course, anxious about his fate :
in short, she was ill. Ye Duke of Richmond ^ worked
up his imagination, and fancied her grief arose from
fear for O'Connor's safety, she being in love with him.
He went to her in the most affectionate manner, and
' Son of Thomas Adderley, Esq., of Innishannon, Co. Cork, and
Margaretta, daughter of Edmund Bourke, Esq., of Urrey. His mother
married, secondly, in 1792, Robert, Lord Hobart.
-' Charles, third Duke of Richmond (173 5-1 806), Lady Lucy Fitz-
gerald's uncle.
236 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
proposed, if she would confide in him, to obtain O'Connor's
release, and assist their marriage. She assured him she
only felt the regard due to him as a friend of her own and
her brother's. He is a strange, odd man. His conduct
to Ly. E. Foster is very unaccountable. He is always
talking and writing as if he intended to marry her, and
yet the marriage is not more advanced than it was two
years ago. She came here the other morning. As soon
as ye Dss. of L. heard she was here, she immediately
begged to see her in her room, a thing that very much
flattered Ly. E., and added to her hopes.
I have had very little time for reading : I have,
however, contrived to read something, half Bernier's
Travels into Hindostan, and about as much of Pennant's
Hindostan, a part of a great work called Outlines of the
Globe.
12th April. — Mimi left us yesterday. Dumont dined
with me, a remarkable lively pleasant dinner. I re-
proached myself for being so cheerful without Ld. H.,
for I never am completely so if he is away. He went to
the House of Lords ; intended speaking, but was unwell.
He entered a protest, which stands a good chance of being
erased, as Ld. Auckland has found out that a sentence in
it reflects upon the H. of Lords. ^ I went in the evening
to Dss. of L., and Ly. Bess. To-day I had fifty visitors,
among them Ld. Hobart.- He is pleasing, sensible, and
well-looking, the finest teeth possible. He exhibited his
high sense of a point d'honneur in marrying Mrs. Adderley.
When her husband died Ld. H. fulfilled the promise
' The Protest was signed by Lords Holland, Thanet, and King.
It remains on the records.
- Robert, Lord Hobart (i 760-1816), son of George, third Earl of
Buckinghamshire, whom he succeeded in 1804. He married, in 1792,
Margaretta, daughter of Edmund Bourke, Esq., of Urrey, and widow
of Thomas Adderley, Esq. She died in 1796, leaving one daughter,
and Lord Hobart married, in 1799, Eleanor, daughter of Wilham,
first Lord Auckland.
1799] LORD HOB ART 237
made in the warmth of his heart, tho' she was old,
ugly, and vulgar. The heats of Madras released him of
his burdensome duty. About a year since she died.
He is very kind to her son, Mr. Adderley.
Ly. Bess., Morpeth, and Bor., dined here, very cheer-
ful and comfortable. The Hambro [sic] mail confirms the
report of Jourdan's being beaten by the Austrians.' The
Austrian troops are very much attached to the Arch-
Duke. Their cry is ' Live Charles and Francis ! ' I had
the happiness of seeing Webby three times, but by
stealth, at my mother's ; she insisted upon my hazard-
ing an interview. He was very affectionate. He seems
clever, but is not handsome. He is cold in his disposition,
and taught by his father to be a boaster. He is at
Harrow, From my window I see the church ; often do
I sigh to be nearer to him.
16th April, '99. — On Saturday, ye 15th, I dined with
Mrs. W., and in the evening went to the Opera with Mde,
de Coigny.^ On Sunday Ld. H. dined with Ld. Thanet.
Ld. Granville and Mr. Hamilton dined with me, a
pleasant«s/z day. Monday, dined with my mother, went
to the play ; Canning, etc. ; very pleasant. To-day
Ld. and Ly. Bess, dined, Ld. John Townshend,"' Ld.
Morpeth, Mr. Adderley. Hare was ill, and could not
come. The General said it was impossible — his constant
reply when he refuses. Ld. John married Mrs. Fawkener.
' Called in the Annual Register for 1799 the battle of Ostrach.
- Louise Marthe de Conflans d'Armentieres, the wife of Francois-
Marie-Casimir, Marquis de Coigny. She was celebrated for her wit
and quickness of repartee, and many anecdotes are told of her curious
tastes, and the hold she maintained on society at the time. Marie
Antoinette once said that she was only Queen of Versailles, but Madame
de Coigny was Queen of Paris.
^ Right Hon. Lord John Townshend (1757-1833), second son of
George, first Marquess Townshend. Lord of the Admiralty 1 782-1 783.
He married, in 1787, Georgina Anna, daughter of William Poyntz, Esq.,
of Midgham, Berks, the divorced wife of Everard Fawkener, Esq. His
second son, John, succeeded to the Marquisate in 1855.
238 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [i;99
He is one of the wittiest men there is ; his verses are
excellent. Like the rest of his family he is mad ; never
enough to be confined, but often very flighty. He is
admirable at mimicking, not only of a person's manner,
but invents a subject, and talks upon it as they would.
He did not shine particularly to-day. This morning I had
a prodigious levee ; among the many were two new ones,
Ld. Brooke ^ and Sr. Watkin. The first is rather hand-
some, talkative, like his father, but less tiresome, tho'
he promises a fair rivality. A few years of baronial
retirement at Warwick Castle, with the benefit of his
father's loquacious society, will secure his inheritance of
the taste. Sr. Watkin ^ is a Grenville in person and
manner all over him ; his tongue is immensely too
big for his mouth, and his utterance is so impeded by it
that what he attempts to articulate is generally unin-
telligible.
Ld. Morpeth is perfect in person and manner ; he
has the air noble without haughtiness, and his mirth is
cheerful, not boisterous. What Ld. Wycombe said of him
is very descriptive, ' He is an excellent specimen of aris-
tocracy.' He has inherited a considerable portion of his
father's love of fashion, but as it does not run away with
him, I see no fault in it, tho' he sometimes allows his
judgment to be guided by it. His understanding is
excellent ; he is fond of literature, and is reckoned a
good scholar. He has rather too much diffidence of
his own abilities, and will frequently be silent, tho' he
has a strong opinion upon the subject discussed, unless
• Henry Richard, Lord Brooke {1779-1853), son of George, second
Earl of Warwick, by his second marriage with Henrietta, daughter of
Richard Vernon, Esq., and Evelyn, first Countess of Upper Ossory.
Lord Brooke succeeded his father as third Earl in 18 16.
2 Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, fifth Baronet (i 772-1 840), son of
Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn (who died in 1789), and his second wife,
Charlotte, daughter of the Right Hon. George Grenville.
1799] LORD MORPETH 239
he has some established authority to support him. What
he says is always well expressed, with great neatness and
precision. He seldom enters into an argument at length,
but his observations are invariably correct and judicious.
He is a chaste poet, and has written many very pretty
things. His passions are not strong ; he can never
enjoy the extreme of delight, or suffer excess of sorrow.
Not that he is deficient of right feelings ; he can be angry,
but not vindictive. Lately he has given in to a love of
play, by which his temper is at times irritated. He is
exemplary as a son, and has such strong principles of
honour that he will excel in every station. He is very
much attached to Ld. H.
Canning was very entertaining, he can be extremely
so. I made him repeat his parody upon Lewis's Alonzo
and Imogene. It is comical, and goes very well with the
music : — ^
A Parson so grave and a Baron so bold
Conversed as the coach drove along ;
Many stories they heard, many stories they told,
Parson Legge ^ was the parson, his stories were old.
And ye Baron was Lord Boringdon.
There is more, but I forget it.
Ld. Lansdown came to see me yesterday. He looked
very well, and appeared more cordial to me than he has
done since Ld. W.'s affairs have worried him. There is
certainly something very whimsical in my situation with
respect to him and Ld. W. ; each suspect I prefer the
' Alonzo the Brave, first published in The Monk (vol. iii.).
' A warrior so bold and a virgin so bright
Conversed, as they sat on the green ;
They gazed on each other with tender delight ;
Alonzo the Brave was the name of the knight,
The maid's was the fair Imogene,' etc.
- The Hon. and Rev. Augustus George Legge (1773-1828), youngest
son of Wilham, second Earl of Dartmouth.
240 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
other, and both have taken an aversion to me on that
account, for Ld. W. is really so displeased with me that
in his letters he never names me, or does he write, as
he used to do, frequently to me. Arduous would be the
attempt to decipher Ld. W.'s character. The most pre-
dominant feature is the love of singularity. His success
in that aim is most favourably aided by his possessing
innately a large portion of it. He endeavours more to
surprise than to please. His sarcastic humour is excellent,
the gravity of his manner sets off his wit. It is difficult
to ascertain whether he is in joke or earnest, and he fre-
quently begins seriously a conversation which his love
of persiflage makes him end ironically.
21st April. — Wednesday, 17th, dined with the Dss. of
Leinster ; went to the play. Returned here. Thursday,
Lds. Digby, Kirkwall,^ and Mr. Adderley dined. Friday
we dined alone, went to the play with Mrs. Smith.
Saturday we dined alone ; went to the Opera. Smith
dined to-day. Lord Macartney came to see me ; he has
been very ill, seriously so with gout, etc., etc. I asked
him his opinion of Hastings, whether, tho' a tyrant, he
administered the Government of India with ability. He
said his testimony would be that of an enemy, as they
had quarrelled in India upon the subject of the Nabob of
Arcot ; but his opinion of him was that he was a man of
violent passions, who would stop at nothing where his
avarice, ambition, and revenge could be satisfied ; that,
as to his public conduct, had he not been recalled the
English settlements would have been ruined. He
deprecated politics, and lamented Ld. H.'s decided
opposition, and quoted a maxim of Ld. H.'s grand-
' John Fitzmaurice, Viscount Kirkwall (1778-1820), only son of
Hon. Thomas Fitzmaurice (brother of William, first Marquess of
Lansdown), and Mary, Countess of Orkney in her own right. He
married, in 1802, Anna Maria, daughter of John, Baron de Blaquicre,
of Ardkill, but predeceased his mother, who died in 1831.
1799] LORD MACARTNEY 241
father's that no man ought to be in Opposition above six
months, just to show what his abihties could do, that he
might be justly estimated. This conversation reminded
me of Hare's story of Ld. Macartney's reason for not
adhering to Mr. Fox. Hare asked him how it happened
that, connected as he had always been with the Fox
family, he never was politically united with them. He
said he loved consistency, for if he had once gone into
Opposition, he must always have continued so. ' Why,
no,' replied Hare ; ' if the Opposition got into power,
maintaining their principles, you would then not always
be in Opposition.' ' No, no. Once in Opposition, always
in Opposition. I love uniformity.' This was all the
answer he could extract from him.
Gilbert Wakefield pleaded again in person at the
King's Bench in behalf of his pamphlet. He first com-
pared himself to Paul pleading before Festus, and
throughout manifested a firm conviction that he was a
martyr to his principles, and endeavoured to show the
heroism with which he submitted to the persecution. In
the course of his speech he named Nero, Tiberius, and
Polypheme. Ld. Kenyon, in the summing up, said
an English jury would not be browbeaten, notwith-
standing all he said about the Three Roman Emperors.
Tierney said he was expected at dinner where he
dined, and that the effect was comical when his apology
came, giving for excuse his imprisonment. Ld. Thanet
is very apprehensive as the day approaches for his
trial.
The Dss. of Gordon • was laughing at Borino,"^
sa5ang he had sat by her for an hour talking of such
' Jane, daughter of Sir William Maxwell, and first wife of Alexander,
fourth Duke of Gordon, whom she married in 1767. She died in
1812.
- Lord Boringdon.
VOL. L R
242 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
strange things — morale and physique, upon which Ld. H.
said well enough that he certainly could only compre-
hend half his discourse. C. Ellis came to see me, the
first time since his marriage. I thought there must have
been something extraordinary to keep him so long away,
and Ly. B. let me into the secret, the origin of which
is Ly. Hawkesbury's extreme prudery. She is shocked
at the thoughts of my knowing Mrs. Ellis, and I suppose C.
felt an awkward shyness at coming without naming her ;
but he need not have been under any alarm on my
account. It is difficult to affront or mortify me. The
first I hope my sense and temper will always avert, and
the second I am insensible to, as I know the singularity
of my position too well not to be blunted to all occur-
rences that otherwise might humiliate. Prudery comes
with an odd and questionable aspect from a Hervey.
Lord Bristol is 'full of wit and pleasantry. He is a
great admirer of Lady Hamilton,' and conjured Sr. W.
to allow him to call her Emma. That he should admire
her beauty and her wonderful attitudes is not singular,
but that he should like her society certainly is, as it is
impossible to go beyond her in vulgarity and coarseness.'^
So much so, that the Austrian Ambassador's sarcasm
is excellent. After showing her attitudes, which she
' He said that ' her creation betokened a " glorious mood " in her
creator ' (Sichel's Emma, Lady Hamilton).
- Compare Letters of Sir Gilbert Elliot, ii. 364, 365. ' With men her
language and conversation are exaggerations of anything I ever heard
anywhere, and I was wonderfully struck with these inveterate remains
of her origin, though the impression was very much weakened by seeing
the other ladies of Naples.'
' We had the attitudes a night or two ago by candle-light ; they come
up to my expectations fully, which is saying everything. They set
Lady Hamilton in a very different light from anj^ I had seen her in
before ; nothing about her, neither her conversation, her manners, nor
figure announce the very refined taste which she discovers in this
performance, besides the extraordinary talent that is necessary for
the execution ; and besides all this, says Sir Willum, " she makes my
apple pies." '
1799] LADY HAMILTON 243
does by representing the finest statues and pictures, he
asked, ' Et quand est-ce qu'elle fera Miladi ? ' Her
vulgarity destroyed the ilhision when I saw her once.
She had worked one's imagination up to a pitch of enthu-
siasm in her successive imitations of Niobe, Magdalen,
and Cleopatra. Just as she was lying down, with her
head reclined upon an Etruscan vase to represent a
water-nymph, she exclaimed in her provincial dialect :
' Doun't be afeard, Sr. Willum, I'll not crack your joug.'
I turned away disgusted, and I believe all present shared
the sentiment.
Her extreme beauty attracted the notice of Romney,
the painter, in London, who had her to sit as a model.
Mr. Greville ^ took her into keeping, and, finding she was
tiresome, got rid of her by sending her to Sr. Wm. to put
her upon the Opera. Sr. Wm. was old and loving, and,
after living a short time with him, she persuaded him
into marrying her, which he did ; and by so doing cut Mr.
Greville out of the inheritance he had long expected.
Sunday, 28th April. — Wednesday 24th, dined with
Ly. B. ; only Ld. H. and myself ; went to the play
afterwards. On Thursday, 25th, we had all the Anti-
Jacobin wits to dinner, Ld. Hobart for the first time ;
he is facetious and convivial. I liked him very much.
Canning made a good joke upon Borino's comparing Mr.
Adderley to an ostrich, and enumerating the character-
istics of that very foolish bird, which did very well at
first, but grew tiresome. It is the fault of that set to
wear a joke threadbare. We had Frere, the first time
since his appointment to Canning's place. ^ Since
favoritism is a I'ordre du jour, I am rather glad he is a
' The Hon. Charles Francis Greville (i 749-1 809), second son of
Francis, first Earl of Warwick, of this creation, and Ehzabeth, daughter
of Lord Archibald Hamilton and sister of Sir William Hamilton.
'^ Frere succeeded Canning as Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs
early in 1799.
R 2
244 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
sharer, tho' I think he cannot make a good man of
business. He is distrait and poetical, and in Ueii of writ-
ing a dispatch may be tempted to pen a sonnet.
Saturday, Marsh came. Ld. H. dined at the Royal
Academy, and I dined at L. House, Ld. L. being very kind
and cordial. In ye evening went to ye Dss. of L. On
Sunday we had a large party here, Lds. B., M., L. G.,
Amherst, Adderley, etc., etc., and Bannister,' who was
very comical and burlesque. It being the eve of Mimi's
marriage, I slept at Ly. Bessborough's, that I might be
ready in time for the wedding. I invited my party to
supper ; the four gallants, the Dss. of Devonshire came,
and the Duke of Bedford. The change in former is pain-
ful to see ; scarcely has she a vestige of those charms
that once attracted all hearts. Her figure is corpulent,
her complexion coarse, one eye gone, and her neck
immense. How frail is the tenure of beauty ! Alas !
too true, too trite a saying. The next morning I went
to the wedding ; all parties behaved with propriety.
Ly. Pembroke ^ deemed it incumbent on her to hatch up
a whimper during the ceremony, but as it was evidently a
homage to her idol — decorum — it was received as such,
and affected none. The excellent Dss. felt the awful
moment of separation. The event took place in Harley
Street, and afterwards the married pair set off to Money-
hill. The whole of the Dss.'s family came here, dined,
and slept. Ld. Henry was one of their party ; they all
went to-day.
-^oth April. — Marsh made a proposal to Ly. Lucy,
which she accepted, but the Dss. rejected, on the score of
' The actor.
- Elizabeth, daughter of Charles, second Duke of Marlborough,
who married Henry, tenth Earl of Pembroke, in 1756, and died in 1831.
She was Charles Beauclerk's aunt. Her son, George Augustus, who
succeeded as eleventh Earl of Pembroke in 1794, married, in 1787,
Beauclerk's sister, Elizabeth. She died in 1793-
1799] MADAME DE COIGNY 245
there not being a competency. In refusing him they
know not the excellence they lose. He is in himself a
treasure, and his popularity will ensure him high pre-
ferment ; he is at the moment wretched, and goes
to-morrow in consequence of the unpleasantness of the
circumstance.
Adderley came and sat with me some time ; Ld. G. L.
has a nonsensical joke of his being smitten, mats je n'en
crois rien. The old compere ^ is quite reconciled to me ;
he has called twice to see me. Nobody dined here
but Mr. Morris, Mrs. Wyndham ; and Mde. de Coigny
came in the evening.
Mde. de Coigny is remarkably witty ; there are many
of her hons mots on record. This evening talking of
Ly. Pembroke's having still beauty, she denied it by
saying, ' Apparemment Milord aime les traditions.' When
young she was the rage in Paris ; her voice is horrible,
worse even than Ly. Malmesbury's. She said, ' Je nai
qu'une voix contre moi, et c est la mienne,' an assertion not
quite true, as a wit seldom has a friend ; at least, they
sacrifice any for a repartee. She lost a very intimate
friend's love by a sarcastic joke. The Duchesse de
Richelieu was a young, pretty woman, with red hair,
and her friend. At a petit souper it was remarked that
ye Duchesse was almost the only woman in Paris who had
not been accused at least of a galanterie, ' Oest vrai, mats
comme Samson elle trouve ses forces dans ses cheveux.'
Mrs. Fitzherbert has never forgiven the opinion
Mde. de C. entertains of a conspicuous part of her person —
an opinion she declared in her reply to a person who
observed that Mrs. F.'s neck was uncovered ' et qu'elle
avait besoin d'un fichu.' ' D'un ficlui ! Point du tout,
c'est une culotte qu'il faudra.'
' Lord Lansdown.
246 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
2nd May. — Yesterday little Marsh left us, with a
heavy, aching heart. Many visitors in the morning ; my
mother, Ly. Lucy, etc. to dinner. Adderley, Ly. L. slept.
The D. of Bedford and Ld. Thanet called in their way back
from St. Anne's, where they had been to consult with
Mr. Fox upon the propriety of the measure suggested
by Erskine. The measure was that Ld. Thanet should
write a letter to the Attorney-General, declaring upon his
honour that he was innocent of the charge against him,
etc., etc. Mr. Fox disapproved of that scheme, as it
seemed like begging mercy. The evidence was so contra-
dictory that even Kenyon, who is bitter against them,
acknowledged in his summing the difficulty of ascertain-
ing exactly the truth. There is no doubt whatever that
Ld. T.'s activity was merely defensive, nor is there any
more that Sheridan's evidence got him found guilty.
When questioned by Law,^ S., instead of answering
immediately, paused, and then replied satisfactorily to
the interrogation, but this silence of several minutes
previous to replying sufficed in the minds of the jury, and
it is allowed on all hands that their verdict proceeded from
their conviction that Sheridan was wavering between
falsehood and truth, and that the first triumphed. This
was confirmed by Law, in a solemn, impressive manner,
' Edward Law (i 750-1818), afterwards created Lord Ellenborough ;
appointed Attorney-General in 1793.
According to the published account of the trial, Law in his questions
to Sheridan tried to obtain the admission that in his opinion Thanet
and Fergusson meant to favour O'Connor's escape. This Sheridan
refused to answer, and he was justified in doing so. He stated, how-
ever, most clearly that he saw nothing which would lead him to that
conclusion, though perhaps they may have ' wished ' for the escape.
The fracas took place after judgment was delivered, which was
not until 1.30 a.m. Sheridan, in a letter to his wife, written at the
time, says that O'Connor had no thought of escaping himself, but that
' three or four injudicious friends ' were responsible for the attempt
to hustle him away. He also mentions that he himself was the means
of preventing ' some serious mischief ' after ' the soldiers got in,' for
which conduct he was thanked by the Judge.
1799] LORD THANET'S TRIAL 247
repeating, ' You will recollect, Mr. Sheridan, that you are
upon your oath.' The sentence is to be given to-morrow,
and fine and imprisonment is expected, but to what
amount and extent depends upon their notion of punish-
ing a peer for example sake. Ld, H, and ye D. of Bed-
ford are to be in court at eight, to give bail, in case the
sentence is deferred till next term. Fergusson they talk
of dis-barring. Those who were really the stimulators
of the enterprise were Sheridan himself and Dennis
O'Brien. It is even a doubt whether Fergusson was
apprised of the scheme. S. was adroit enough to persuade
him to suppress in his defence the truth of a circumstance,
that, as it appeared in the charge, made against him.
Just before the scuffle F. leaned across the table to
whisper to O'Connor; the truth of the whisper was an
endeavour to deliver unseen a note from S. to O'Connor,
the words of which were as follows : ' As soon as sentence
is passed, leap over the bar, run to the right, and we will
manage the rest.' Had this been stated F. might have
escaped, but he was persuaded it would have been unhand-
some to invoke an unsuspected person ; for so little was
S. supposed to have assisted, that in court he received
thanks from the Judges for having exerted himself to
quell the disturbance. S., since he gained such credit
as a witness in the State trials (Home Tooke's) by his
wit and repartee, can never give a direct answer, and is
always more occupied how to gain applause by his reply
than how to serve those in favour of whom he is called.
The Brest fleet is out, and the alarm is great. ^
Mile. Clairon's ^ Memoirs are published by herself.
' The French fleet lying in Brest was able to escape from the rigid
blockade maintained by the Alhes, and appeared in the Mediterranean.
There they remained until the beginning of June, when they returned
to Brest with the Spanish fleet, which had joined them off Cadiz.
- Claire Hippolyte Legris de Latude, better known as Mile. Clairon,
the celebrated French actress. Born in 1723 ; died in 1802.
248 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
She gives a few anecdotes of her own Hfe, suppressing the
unfavourable truths of her very private history. Her
remarks upon the different parts she has acted are good,
and show a great knowledge of the art she professed. Her
enthusiasm that it should be perfectioned is entertaining.
Sth May. — The Court would not accept any bail for
Ld. Thanet. Kenyon implied a reproach upon the
Attorney-General for having worded the indictment too
favourably. He aggravated the heinousness of the
offence, and gave some hints about the specific punish-
ment, which is imprisonment for life, confiscation, and
the loss of the right arm. It is said the court have no
discretionary power, and that the specific punishment
must be given, or one very slight. The first most pro-
bably will be given for the disgrace of it, but there is no
danger of its being enforced ; the King will remit the
whole.
Ld. T. is now resident in the King's Bench Prison.
Mme. Bonawitz is with him ; his friends all visit him, so
his time passes cheerfully. If he has society and honne
chtre he does not care much about anything else. Mme.
Bonawitz is a woman of whom I heard much when I was
at Vienna ; she was of the second order of noblesse, and
reckoned rather pretty, and very gallant. She eloped
with Ld. T. and came to England with him. Gilbert
Wakefield is also in ye K. B. till sentence is given. His
speech, nominally in mitigation of punishment, but, in
fact, as Bobus says, in aggravation of it, will probably have
secured him imprisonment for life. He is a singular
being, of the most primitive manners and uncouth con-
versation imaginable.
Ld. H. made a very good speech upon the case of a
man ^ called up and punished by theH. of Lords for a libel
' Benjamin Flower, of Cambridge, a printer.
1799] LORD THANET'S TRIAL 249
against the Bishop of Llandaff. As soon as he had done
speaking. Lord Kenyon came up to him and said, ' You
must give me leave, my Lord, to shake hands with you ;
I wish I could make a convert of you.' ' You would find
that rather a tough job,' replied Ld. H. ' Aye, I am
afraid so, but I should like to launch you from another
slip,'
I dined on Saturday at Lansdown H. ; Ld. H. dined
with Mackintosh. I took Tierney with me. Ld. L. was
not offended, but on the contrary seemed very much
pleased. I saw Sheridan in the morning, and told him
all that was said about his evidence ; he was in a great
rage. Someone at the theatre ran after him, to ask if
algebra was not a language. ' To be sure, an old language,
spoken by an ancient people called the Classics.'
May 18th. — We had a good deal of company in the
course of last week ; the Bessbro's dined, Ly. Anne,^
etc. Lady Lucy came and stayed several days. Mr.
Adderley frequently dined and slept. I once went to
L. H. ; very dull. Nothing very interesting occurred.
Been ill myself for 15 days with cold. Inoculated Ste.,
who has the smallpox very badly, not dangerously, but
suffers extremely ; still at its height. Misses Fox and
Vernon came yesterday, Ld, G. Leveson and Ly, B,
came unawares ; all parties annoyed at meeting. The
French are beaten in Italy; the French deputies to
Rastadt murdered either by their escort or the peasants, —
a sad violation of good faith in either case.
22nd May, '99. — Many of Ld. Thanet's friends have
recommended that he should write a letter to the King to
beg a pardon. Ld. H. is averse to the measure, as is
Tierney. I have persuaded the former to keep out of
the way, as he will with difficulty restrain himself from
' Lady Anne Fitzpatrick, Lord Upper Ossory's daughter.
250 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
delivering his opinion, and should it weigh in Ld. T.'s
mind sufficiently to make him regret the proposed scheme
and circumstances afterwards turn out harshly, the
reflection of having been instrumental in the making him
adopt a line of conduct that might be unsuccessful would
be distressing. Ld. H. thinks it will be better to allow
the business to take its course, as the Attorney-General
is almost pledged to drop the prosecution if there is
any chance that the specific punishment will be given ;
as he has already declared his intention in the drawing up
of the indictment was to avoid the possibility of that
obsolete law being revived. Fergusson is determined
against applying for a pardon. He rather seems to enjoy
the alarm of Ld. T., as he thinks his Jacobinical asso-
ciates in the Corresponding Society ^ will admire his
heroism and contrast it with Ld. T.'s anxiety ; per-
haps, in truth, it may be a sort of triumph.
The horrible murder of the French Deputies returning
from the Congress of Rastadt to France has made a great
sensation in the Republic.^ Their energy has gone,
and nothing could have revived it, but some outrage
similar to the one committed. I do not think people
here are as much shocked as might have been supposed,
which is singular, as such a violation of the faith of
nations ought to make a common cause. The French
have written an excellent address to all countries. I
think it is clear the Austrians sanctioned the robbery for
the sake of the papers, and the fury of the soldiers did
the murder.
2;^rd May. — A letter from Ld, Thanet just come to
' A political association founded under the guidance of Major
Cartwright to promote reform.
■' The French plenipotentiaries were assassinated on April 19 just
outside the town of Rastadt by some drunken hussars of the Austrian
regiment of Szeckler, only one of them escaping with his hfe.
1799] LORD THANET'S TRIAL 251
say that he has written to His Majesty to interpose against
the specific punishment. It has been graciously received,
and it will be complied with. He says he had so many
intimations that such a step was expected of him, that
he thought it impossible not to do it. I sincerely rejoice
at his safety. Fergusson, I believe, has not applied ;
he is left to stand the brunt of all the popular vengeance.
I cannot but feel for him. It has lately been told me con-
fidentially that Sr. F. Burdett would have been in the
indictment, if Coutts had not availed himself of his secret
influence with the King.^ He certainly was begged off.
On Saturday, i8th May, dined at L. House ; after-
wards went to the Opera. On Sunday a large party
here. Miss Fox and Ly. Lucy in the house. Went
to the play with Miss Vernon, Tierney, and Adderley,
Tuesday, a dinner at Ld. Robert Spencer's for the
Beaus. Wednesday, dined at the Smiths to meet
Mackintosh ; afterwards, Ld. B.'s. Thursday, a great
dinner here, the Beauclerks, Bessbro's, young Lords,
etc. Went to a masquerade at Mrs. Walker's after,
Friday, yesterday, dined at Ly. B.'s early, to be in time
for Sheridan's play of Pizarro.
26th May. — Mackintosh ^ is the man who wrote a
vindication of the French Revolution in the beginning
of it. He was then exclaimed against as a furious Jacobin.
Nay, two years ago he wished to come here, and I refused
seeing him on account of his principles, as I have always
dreaded this house becoming a foyer of Jacobinism, and
have invariably set my face against receiving all who are
' Sir Francis Burdett married, in 1793, Sophia, daughter of Thomas
Coutts (1735-1822), founder with his brother James of the banking-
house, and banker to George III. Sir Francis' advanced and inde-
pendent views on all the political questions of the day are well known.
^ Sir James Mackintosh (1765-1832), the celebrated writer and
conversationalist. It was a visit to Burke in 1797 which cooled his
revolutionary ardour, and led him to change his views so completely
upon the course of events in France.
252 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
suspected of being revolutionists, etc., etc. However,
since M. has regained his character, and is become a friend
of Canning's, etc., I admit him; and he yesterday dined
here with a numerous party — Ly. B. and Ly. Lucy, ye
young Lords, Sturges,^ Newbolt, Adderley, etc. The
conversation was entertaining without great brilhancy.
Mackintosh is deUvering pubhc lectures at Lincoln's
Inn, upon the law of nature and the law of nations. The
objects are, first, to get money, and, nextly, to usher
himself into public notice as a man convinced of the
fallacy of those doctrines he lately laboured to establish.
He manceuvres with dexterity and tade not too suddenly
renouncing them. The lectures are rather Scotch pro-
fessorships ; in his first he attacked with wit and sarcasm
Godwin's metaphysics and all the new system of bene-
volence and universal philanthropy.
Jealous people always defeat their object ; this
was oddly exemplified at the masquerade. The jealousy
of a person's wife suggested a sort of half love, half
confidence, that I am almost sure could never have arisen
but from that stimulus. I hope the fancy will subside, as
I shall lose, if it continues, a cheerful and frequent asso-
ciate. Another adventure, for which I warmly condemn
myself for having allowed to go on, has occupied me
lately ; half curiosity and half shame have impelled me
to continue what I ought to have checked. However,
absence will chill more than prudery, and that will take
place in a few days. Even that goiU, I suspect, originated
from the remark of a third person — Ld. G. L. Gratified
and blessed as I am in the full possession of my dear
husband's love, these idle affairs afford little or no grati-
fication, and the very little they do proceeds from a sort
of vanity to find that his liking is not merely the effect of
' William Sturges-Bourne (i 769-1 845), a follower of Canning.
A Lord of the Treasury 1807-9, and Home Secretary 1827.
1799] HUSBAND AND WIFE 253
blind partiality. The mystery I abhor, and my con-
science frequently smites me for having a thought, much
more an action, unknown to Ld. H. But, every circum-
stance well considered, I am satisfied by reason that I
ought not to disclose gouts passagers that are in them-
selves of no importance, but become so as soon as com-
municated ; and I have reason to believe that many a
woman has smarted from the mistaken point d'honneur of
revealing every occurrence without discrimination. The
principle is excellent, but ought to be modified with dis-
cretion, else the effects may be pernicious to both parties.
I do not think the propriety of restraint is applicable
to the husband towards the wife. If I were to say so
openly it would excite a smile, and might be construed
into licence for myself, tyranny to others ; but it is not
for that reason. A woman may be so confiding in the
affection of her husband, that were he to impart an
advance made to him by another, mirth and contempt
would be the only passion excited, and if the woman
happened to be her nominal friend, why, it would only
break the fragile link of female friendship ; whereas, so
delicate are the feelings of men upon those occasions,
that none could listen with composure to the tale of love,
his wife the heroine. Hatred and estrangement would
ensue, and a friend of some years' standing would be given
up for the fancy of desire and the babbling of a woman.
■^oth May. — I prevailed upon Ld. H. to go to Court.
Ld. Wycombe crossed the street to Mr. Adderley, and
said, ' So Holland has been at Court ; that is owing to
her Ladyship's activity.' Ld. L, went into the country
for a few days, and among some other clumsy jokes with
Mr. Tierney, such as the disappointment he would feel
at my not dining there, his own accommodating spirit
in inviting us together, etc., etc., ' It's quite strange,
one cannot retire for a short time without hearing such
254 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
strange events. " Lord Holland has gone to Court," and
" Sheridan has written a most loyal speech." ' If there
is anything with regard to the Court remarkable, it is,
as General Fitzpatrick says, that Ld. H. had not been
before. Miss Fox is, I believe, displeased ; it does not
accord with her metaphysical, philosophical, pure, philan-
thropic, etc., system of politics to reverence a Monarch.
The abstaining from going, as a measure, is perfectly
contemptible. If a man is in Opposition, he opposes the
Ministers and Government, not the King personally, and
a peer diminishes his own consequence if he does not
support the dignity of the throne.
On Sunday we dined at Ld. Boringdon's, a dinner
made forme. The Bessboroughs, ' theThree,' Adderley,etc.
Jekyll was an interloper, and offended me by his manner
of talking of Fergusson's being disbarred. God knows, I
have no liking to F. On the contrary, he is one I never
will allow to pass the threshold ; but it is disgusting to
hear a man in calamity trampled upon, and shows a
considerable want of delicacy in Jekyll, one of the pro-
fession, discussing before F.'s enemies the utility of
expelling him the profession. After dinner I went for a
short time to the Duchess of Leinster's ; afterwards
supped at Lady B.'s; the Dss. of Devon., Ly. Elizabeth,
and her own set.
It has happened comically enough that Lady Lucy,
who, by-the-bye, is amorously disposed, has fallen in love
with Mr. Adderley. The event of the amour does not
promise successfully for her, as he is in no ways inclined to
give a favourable ear to her passion, though probably,
like all persons beloved, his vanity would so far conquer
his natural good nature, that he would not object to her
making a fool of herself on his account. He wishes to
stay longer than originally intended, but he had better
go, and probably will. T. perfectly ridiculous, quite my
1799] MR. SHERIDAN 255
shadow. Went on Monday to Pizarro, Sheridan and
Tierney, Adderley, etc. The first came into my box
perpetually to explain whenever there was a failure in
the representation. I was surprised at his eagerness,
and glad to find that drinking has not so totally absorbed
his faculties, and that he is still sensible to fame. About
him my reason and impulse always are at variance;
reflection convinces me he ought to be despised for his
private life and doubted for his political, but whenever
I see him, if but for five minutes, a sort of cheerful frank-
ness and pleasant wittiness puts to flight all ye reason-
able prejudices that I entertain against him.
Francis ^ diverted me excessively the other morning.
I got up unusually late, and, whilst at my toilet, I was
told he had been in the library some time. Ld. H. was
still in bed, and as he is at times amusing, I sent to say I
would receive him as I dressed. He came to my door,
and there paused, saying, ' Are you sure the person you
sent for was me ? Can such a favour be intended me ?
What ? Will you really admit me into your private
room ? ' When I repeated the invitation, he was de-
lighted. He is very vain, and any distinction quite
turns his head, especially from people he rather calls
great folks. Ld. Ossory came soon, and asked what had
happened to put Francis into such spirits, as his eyes
glistened with delight.
We yesterday dined with the General in his new
house, early, that we might be in time to see Pizarro;
he is a very severe critic. He censured much, and
' Sir Philip Francis (i 740-181 8), the reputed author of the Junius
Letters. He was son of the Rev. Phihp Francis, a pYotegS of Henry,
first Lord Holland. He commenced life as a clerk in Government
offices, and in 1773 obtained a seat on the East India Council. On
his return to England he obtained a seat in Parliament (1784), and
became a staunch supporter of the Whigs. He was twice married,
first, in 1 761, to Elizabeth Macrabie ; and secondly, in 18 14, to Emma
Watkins, daughter of a Yorkshire clergyman.
256 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
admired some parts ; indeed, the most phlegmatic
censor must praise a good deal, however German rhap-
sody may occasionally burst out. My box was full, Grey,
Tierney, Whitbread, Lds. Lome, Bor., etc., and several
who could not gain admittance. There is a report,
not very improbable as to truth, about, viz., that Lord
Lansdown is to marry Miss Coutts. There is very little
doubt that, as far as she and her connections are concerned,
the alliance will be anxiously sought for, but whether
he will incur the risk and ridicule is more doubtful. As
far as my wishes go, I hope neither this nor any other
marriage will take place ; his marrying will destroy his
system of living. The ladies, who now accommodate all
their arrangements for his convenience, will become more
independent and have more leisure. Love for Ld. H,
and curiosity for our society will throw them more con-
stantly with us, and, tho' I do not approve Ld.
Wycombe's principle to the extent he urges it, that to
maintain a good understanding with his father he never
will see him, yet I am convinced that to keep well with
friends you should not live too much with them ; for
which reasons I deprecate the probability of long and
frequent visits, especially as one half of my male and
female intimates are placed at the top of Miss Fox's black
list, such as Ld. G. Leveson, Tierney, Mrs. W., Ly. Bess.,
Ly. Plymouth, Canning, Frere, etc., etc., without end.
The Beaus. returned to Moneyhill. The only possible
chance I foresee in that menage for disquietude, will be
his indolent, shy habits, which will rivet him more
strongly to the country. The inclination for retirement
will be aided by a half jealousy, a propensity he is
too prone to ; but children, qualms, and fright will soon
diminish her power and inclination to charm. Sr. Lionel ^
' Sir Lionel Copley. His brother, Joseph, succeeded him in the
Baronetcy, and died in 1838.
1799] AN OLD ACQUAINTANCE 257
came and passed the day here. His brother has married
the ci-devant Ly. Abercom. Ld. A. behaved very
shabbily ; he chicaned about stocks and pounds
sterhng. Sr. L. has been kind and friendly ; tho' he
is rough and selfish, he is capable of doing good-hearted
actions. Ld. Hobart, Mr. Adderley came to tell me, is
to be married on Saturday ; Miss Eden is the bride.
She is handsome and sensible.
A very old acquaintance called here yesterday : I
regretted not seeing him — Bob Markham,' a great friend
of poor Ld. Henry's ^ and as much a lover as his friend-
ship for his friend could allow. He is married, and
settled in Yorkshire. His chief merits are good-nature
and a willingness to oblige ; his talents are moderate,
for to say the truth he is rather dull, but the strongest
symptom I feel of age is a strong partiality for those I have
known in earlier days. A long acquaintance is with me
a passport to affection. This does not operate to exclusion
of new acquaintances, as I seek them with avidity ; not
so much, however, for my own gratification, as from a
notion that mixing with a variety of people is an advan-
tage to Ld. H., because as he, thank God, lives constantly
at home, unless I were active in collecting fresh materials
for society, he might be too apt to fall into a click {sic],
a calamity no abilities can fight against. Ideas ^e^t con-
fined, prejudices strong, and the whole mind narrowed
to the standard of your own set. Canning is an instance
of the badness of that plan ; his jokes are local, and
unless he * gives his little senate laws ' he is silent. Man-
kind are formed to live together; the more they mix
with each other the better able a man is to judge them and
' Probably fifth son of William Markham, Archbishop of York,
who was preceptor to the Prince of Wales from 1771 to 1776. Robert
Markham became rector of Bolton Percy, Yorkshire, and Archdeacon
of York. He died in 1837.
- Lord Henry Spencer, who died in 1795.
VOL. I. S
258 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
conduct himself ; otherwise it becomes what a priest once
said of the universal truth, ' Orthodoxy is my doxy.'
The Prince has given up Lady Jersey, and is now trying
to renew with Mrs. Fitzherbert. He ought to try and
make his peace with heaven if he has any account to
settle, as he does not look long for this mortal life.
Gilbert Wakefield was this day condemned to two
years' imprisonment in Dorset jail. The sentence is
severe ; one cannot but regret severities should fall upon
a man of learning. The Editor of The Courier was also
sentenced to 6 months' confinement and 200/. fine, for
calling ye Emperor of Russia a tyrant. He seems to have
been a fool to have been at the trouble of saying such
a platitude; 'tis like knowing that B follows A in the
alphabet.
ist June, '99. — Lord Belgrave,^ in consequence, as
Lord King says, of morality and the whole duty of man
being the haut ton, has taken up the Sunday newspapers,
and on the score of their diverting people from their
duty on the Sabbath wants them suppressed. Sheridan,
who never lets an opportunity escape where an allusion
can be made to Ld. B.'s Greek, finding Lord B. wanted
time before the division on the motion, observed that the
noble Viscount wanted it put off to the Greek Calends.
And of the war, when there came up petitions from the
country, Ld. Belgrave said that the signatures were not
to be depended upon, as he knew many places where
boys at school were made to sign — a scandalous proceed-
ing. ' Infamous,' said Sheridan, ' to take them from
their Greek.'
' Robert, Viscount Belgrave (i 767-1 845), only son of Richard,
first Earl Grosvenor, and Henrietta, daughter of Henry Vernon, Esq.,
of Hilton Park, Co. Stafford. He succeeded his father as second
Earl in 1802, having married, in 1794, Eleanor, only daughter of
Thomas, first Earl of Wilton. He was created Marquess of West-
minster in 1 83 1, on the occasion of William IV. 's coronation.
1799] CANNING AND THE WHIGS 259
Hare, Fitzpatrick, Francis, Tom Sheridan,^ Tiemey,
and, by chance, my mother and Sr. Gilbert, dined here
yesterday. Sheridan was to have come, but was detained
in the H. of Commons by Palmer's business. The wits
and humourists were in high spirits; nothing could be
pleasanter. We were persuaded to go to Ly. Heathcote's
masquerade. Some observations about me, jokes about
Tiemey and I conspiring together. Ly, Cholmondeley,
Dss. of Gordon, very cordial ; stayed most of the time
by the Dss. Devon., Ly. Bessborough, Ly. Melbourne.
Prince there, knew me directly; looking dreadfully iU.
yth June. — On Saturday, ist June, Canning, Bess-
bro's, Ld. Morpeth, Bor., G. Leveson, Adderley,
Sturges, G. Ellis, etc., dined ; rather pleasant. In the
library I had, after dinner, a long conversation with
Canning. He expressed great satisfaction at acting in
concert with Ld. H. about the Slave Trade, and said, from
the pleasure that it gave him, he could judge how great
it would be if they always agreed. He talked a good deal
of the folly of Whig principles and the great families, etc.
I thought I perceived, and that probably arose from some
circumstance that I knew of, from his inquiry as to my
politics, influence over Ld. H., etc., that he wanted rather
a confidential opening from me, but however I may
wish, I did not encourage it, as Ld. H. is too firmly
attached to the obsolete doctrine of Whiggism to be yet
open to persuasion. On Sunday I had persuaded Mr.
Fox to come, but as the object was to make him meet
' Thomas Sheridan (1775-18 17), only son of Richard Brinsley
Sheridan. He served for some time in the army, and died
at the Cape of Good Hope when holding the post of Colonial
Treasurer. He married, in 1805, Caroline Henrietta, daughter of
Colonel James Callender, and had four sons, and three daughters —
the three noted beauties, Mrs. Norton, Lady Dufferin, and the Duchess
of Somerset. Mrs. Sheridan wrote several novels which received
favourable notice.
26o LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
Porson/ and he was prevented coming, I sent an express
to stop his leaving St. Anne's till Wednesday.
On Sunday Ly. Lucy came, Adderley, the Smiths,
Hamilton, and Mackintosh. After dinner they had a very
metaphysical argument upon infinity, etc., etc. On
Monday Ld. H. went to the H. of Lords. Lady Lucy
returned home to be with the Duchess, as it was the
melancholy anniversary of poor Ld. E.'s death ; only
Miss Fox, Buonaiuti,- Drew, and self at dinner.
Tuesday, King's birthday, a review by him of the London
Volunteer corps in the park. Tierney came, sat the
whole morn, reading to me. He selected nonsensical
passages from old poets applicable he declared to his own
situation. I am afraid he will annoy Mrs, T., if he con-
tinues his devoirs so obsequiously. Instead of going
home to prepare himself for the Budget, which was to
come on next day, he returned to dinner here. We had
a lively party, Ly. Lucy, Miss Fox, Capt. Murray, Lewis,
Mr. Robinson, Drew, etc., Adderley. I had a violent
headache. Wednesday, Mr. Fox came, Ld. Robert, and
the General came to meet him ; the Smiths, etc., stayed.
I was obliged to go to the play, as I had promised to
meet mother. The King, etc., were there. Tierney,
Adderley, Lewis, and Sheridan in my box ; came home
and found Fox in delightful spirits. He went away the
next day early. I dined at two with Drew, and set off
' Richard Person (1759-1808), classical scholar. This is evidently
the occasion mentioned by Lord Holland in his Miscellaneous Recollec-
tions. ' When I asked him to my house he peremptorily declined
coming ; on my repeating my invitation, he sent me word that he had
" broken his leg and could not come," though he was frequently
met about the same time walking in the streets. Perhaps he was
affronted at my sending the invitation by a common friend, instead
of calling myself, or perhaps he was on that, as on other occasions,
extremely jealous of being invited as a show.'
^ An architect, who superintended structural repairs to Holland
House which were found necessary a few months later, and was
afterwards constantly staying there.
1799] HARVEY ASTON 261
to see sights ; my shadow came with us. I sent him off
to dine with his wife, and went to Co vent Garden. To-
day, 7th June, Borino dined. I passed great part of the
evening and night in the garden ; the weather is deHcious,
and the nightingales in full vigour of song. I have not
see any of my own appendages to-day.
Harvey Aston ^ was killed in duel at Madras ; it
was the only one out of the number he has fought in
which he was in the right. He fought successively with
two of his officers, I believe, on the same day. A man
to try O' Byrne's Irishisms asked gravely in which of the
duels was he killed, the first or second. ' Aye, by my faith,
I don't know,' replied O'Byme. No man was ever more
favoured by the ladies than H. Aston. His figure was fine
and manly, but to like him was a sensual taste. Naturally
good-humoured, he unfortunately was incessantly fighting ;
he never was angry, but always provoked others. From
what I knew of him I should have described him as a
vain, empty fellow ; but Mr. Adderley says he knew him at
Madras, and occupation brought out his understanding,
and he was becoming an able and useful officer and man
of business.
The loan has been raised very favourably. Stocks
have risen and are expected to get to 60. Wickham's -
journey to Switzerland encourages the hope of peace;
falsely, I fear, as I collect from my Ministerial friends that
the hope of placing a King upon the throne in France
is revived with ardour. The Directory are tottering,
' Colonel Harvey Aston was wounded in a duel with Major Allen,
and died a week later, having fought with Major Picton the preceding
day, on account of the same affair. Several stories of him are related
in Recollections of the Table Talk of Samuel Rogers.
''■ William Wickliam (1761-1840), Minister to the Swiss Cantons,
1 794-97- He was appointed Under-Secretary of State for the Home
Department in 1798. He went abroad again, while still retaining his
post at home, in June 1799 as special envoy to Switzerland and the
alhed armies, and did not return until 1802.
262 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
but their fall will only produce another revolutionary
government, perhaps as bloody and horrible as Robes-
pierre's.
The spring is very tardy, vegetation is now as it was
in the first week of May, '98 ; our garden is dehcious.
Drew and I have begun our lounging drives in the Green
Lane in the garden chair ; I have spent many a harmless,
cheerful, instructive hour so. I have been out of spirits
at the approach of a crisis very painful to my feelings,
but my duty and justice compel me to it ; I shall soon
be obliged to dwell on the particulars. Heaven knows the
anguish I undergo ; but the less I think, the better armed
with resolution shall I be for the event, let it take place
as it may.
Ld. Berkeley ' has entered his pedigree to prove
his marriage 14 years ago. He has had a public marriage
subsequent to that period, 7 years since. The clergjnnan
who married him is dead ; the witness is the lady's
brother, the register torn ; in short, the story is dark
and, I suspect, fabricated by himself, but I cannot but
wish he may substantiate his pretence and prove his
marriage.
H. H. 11th June, '99. — Yesterday sentence was given
upon Ld. Thanet and Fergusson. Considering the King's
answer to his letter, it appears extraordinary that so
harsh a judgment should be pronounced — a year in the
Tower, and a fine of 1000/.
' Frederick Augustus, fifth Earl of Berkeley (i 745-1810), who
married Mary, daughter of William Cole, of Wotton-under-Edge,
CO. Gloucester. The case came before the House of Lords in 181 1,
after Lord Berkeley's death. Lady Berkeley then swore that the
marriage took place at Berkeley in 1785, eleven years previous to the
public marriage in 1796. Little evidence, however, was forthcoming,
and as the entry in the Register was not in its right place, and was
in the opinion of several witnesses almost entirely in Lord Berkeley's
own handwriting, the marriage was disallowed. William Berkeley,
the eldest son (afterwards created Earl Fitzhardinge), was therefore
debarred from succeeding to the titles.
1799] HER DAUGHTER HARRIET 263
On Saturday, 8th June, passed the morning very
pleasantly in the garden ; many visitors. Dined at
Lansdown House, went with my mother to the Opera.
Walked most part of the way home ; the nightingales
delightful, weather serene. On Sunday our usual party
of the Smiths ; besides them some odd people, such as
Sir John Riddell, Mr. Gordon, Mr. Douglas, the Bishop of
Salisbury's son. Also we had Adderley, Ly. Lucy, Corne-
wall, Hamilton: stayed in the garden past midnight.
The harper played under the trees. Monday, my mother
and Sr. Gilbert came to stay some days with us. Misses
Vernon and Fox came and stayed all night. Ld. H. just
gone down to the H. of Lords; the Russian subsidy.
A note from Ld. Thanet to say Bob Adair is to come in
for Appleby.'
19^^ June, 1799. — On this day my mother left me.
During her stay I disclosed an event that has incessantly
occupied my mind for now 3 years. I restored to
her father my little daughter Harriet,"^ who I had con-
cealed, pretending her dead.
When I left Florence in '96 my situation was such
that a final separation with Sir G. W. was inevitable as
soon as I returned to England. The certainty of losing
all my children was agonising, and I resolved to keep one
in my possession, and I chose that one who, from her age
and sex, required the tenderness of a mother. Besides,
I was undetermined whether I could bring myself to
incur the eclat and anxiety that would arise from my
publicly avowing my situation, and among the visionary
' Sir Robert Adair (1763-185 5), son of Robert Adair, surgeon to
George III., and Lady Caroline Keppel, daughter of William, second
Earl of Albemarle. He was an intimate friend of Charles James Fox,
and was employed by him on a diplomatic mission in 1806.
- She married, in 1816, the Hon. Fleetwood Broughton Reynolds
Fellew (aften\-ards K.C.H., and Rear- Admiral), second son of Edward,
Viscount Exmouth. She died in 1849.
264 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
schemes that passed in my mind there was one I dwelt
upon during my dejection with a sort of pleasure. It
was to retire and bury myself in some remote corner;
what, then, would have been the comfort of possessing
such a little partner in my solitude ? In short, necessity
has compelled me to give her up. Here I will not
disguise a feeling, whatever tournure for worldly effect
I may give the proceeding— nothing but the dread of
discovery and involving Ld. H. in a difficulty on her
and my account could have induced me voluntarily to
relinquish all the schemes of happiness I had promised
myself in educating and possessing her. In short, my
mother avowed the whole transaction to Sir G. W.,
who immediately recollected and acknowledged her ;
he behaved extremely well. I have dwelt so long upon
the subject since I have determined upon the avowal
that my mind is wearied, and I shall reserve further
details. She was here with my mother for two days,
is now gone with her and Henry, and is without ex-
ception by far the most lovely I ever beheld. She has
all the beauties I had when I was very pretty, and fewer
blemishes. Her complexion is fine ; she has dimples,
fine hair, and thick eyelashes, open chest, flat back.
20th June. — The last week we had company. On
Friday the Ladies Fitzpatrick ' dined here, Lds. Morpeth,
Boringdon, Adderley, Tierney, Amherst, and some
others. Ld. Plymouth died: a great release to his wife,
who will be rewarded by marrying Amherst within the
year. His constancy is unparalleled. On Saturday
alone ; went quietly to the Opera. Sunday, the event
took place, and there was a sort of scene at dinner :
Smith, Miss Fox, Sydney Smith, Add., Wm. Lamb, Lewis.
Ld. Holland's speech upon the Russian subsidy was
' Lady Anne and Lady Gertrude Fitzpatrick, Lord Upper Ossory's
daughters.
1799] LORD HOLLAND'S SPEECH 265
reckoned excellent.' Ld. Grenville said it was the best
he ever made, and one or two traced a resemblance
to his uncle's manner. There is no doubt that if he
were to apply himself to a regular attendance in the H.
of Lords, he would distinguish himself as a first-rate
speaker. His power of mind is fully equal to excellence,
but he is indolent, and wants method in his arrangement ;
arguments crowd upon him whilst speaking, and an over-
stock of matter makes him confused. On the 19th, Sr,
Lionel, Mr. Add., Murray, and Mr. Dumont dined with
me. Ld. H. dined with Mr. Wm. Smith. Yesterday (21st),
Drew and I alone ; Lord H., House of Lords. About 8
Tiemey came from the H. of Commons (with Mr. Add.)
after having made an excellent speech upon the state
of the finances of the country; it was so good that
Pitt deferred replying till Friday next, and ordered his
statements to be printed. Canning is desirous of bring-
ing Add. into Parliament as a Treasury member, and is
now urging him to accept a seat for 1200/., to which he
will be recommended as a Ministerial man ; the price
is rather lower than the common market traffic, but Add.
judges the thing well, and is disinclined to come in with
a pledge of always voting their way. He is not decided
yet. A good post in India has not corrupted him ; he is
young enough in politics to think he may long continue
open to conviction. The feeling is honest, but not
durable. Canning will be glad to attach him to himself,
for tho' he is the great decrier of party, yet imper-
ceptibly he is forming one of his own, Ellis', Freres,^
Sturges, Microcosm Smith,^ Leveson, and one or two
more, most of whom he has brought in himself.
' In the House of Lords on June 1 1.
* John Hookham Frere and his brother Bartholomew.
' John or Joseph Smith is mentioned in Lord Holland's Mis-
cellaneous Reminiscences as a contributor to the Etonian publication,
266 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
Ld. Wycombe asked Tierney, ' If he had heard the
romance of our friend at H. House.' The story is very
much talked of, but as it is sure to be misrepresented,
I had rather hear nothing of the fables engrafted on it,
I only feel I have renounced a darling child, and my heart
aches afresh when I think of the separation. She is so
captivating. With her I feel amused, with my others I
feel gratified at seeing them healthy and intelligent, but
her winning manners convert the duty of maternal atten-
tion into a positive enjoyment. I delight in being with
her, and think her society sufficient. Would to God I
were allowed to bring her up ! To-day Ld. Digby and
Ly. Bessbro' dined. We went into the garden after ;
stayed late. Adderley came to pass the evening and sleep.
He ought for his own comfort to go to Ireland — at least,
away, as he looks ill and is unhappy. I have been to
blame. I delay from awkwardness, and not knowing
how to check the inclination. I myself was checked from
the dread of appearing to consider the matter in serious
light, and it has become more so to him than I could have
suspected. When not here he shuts himself up alone at
home, and reflects upon the foolishness of his own feel-
ings, for foolish and hopeless must any love to me be,
circumstanced as I am, loving and being beloved by the
most delightful of men. I fear in my conduct I may be
accused of trifling with his feelings, but I solemnly pro-
test I had no such wish.
23/^ June. — On Saturday Mr. Adderley took leave of
us, previous to his departure for Ireland. I was really
touched at saying adieu. We came afterwards to this
place — Sunning Hill, a charming little spot in Windsor
Forest, which belongs to General Fitzpatrick ; we
the Microcosm, in conjunction with Frere, Canning, Bobus Smith,
and others. Lord Holland mentions that he was known by the
nickname of Easley, and that he died in 1827.
1799] GENERAL FITZPATRICK 267
remain till to-morrow. Yesterday (Sunday) Ld. H. and
ye General went to St. Anne's ; Drew and myself stayed
here reading and talking. Little Charles ^ is come.
This is the first excursion he ever made out of his nursery ;
he is very tractable and happy.
To the tranquillity of this pretty retreat we owe many
of those correct and beautiful verses which the General
has written. It is much to be lamented that there is
no collection made, as in point of wit and real taste
they are unequalled. His epigrams are excellent ;
the one upon Ld. Carhsle's subscribing 4000/. to the
voluntary subscription - just after he had distributed a
poHtical pamphlet for sixpence is truly witty : —
My Lord subscribes four thousand pounds
Produced from rich domains,
While he for sixpence deals around
The produce of his brains.
Thus we the just proportion hit
Between his fortune and his wit.
On Pitt saying what he did not intend in the H. of
Commons, being drunk : —
The lying tongue, which t'other day
Proved Billy Pitt's disaster.
Was so accustomed to betray,
That it betrayed its master.
' Charles Richard Fox (i 796-1 873), born in November 1796 ;
Lady Holland's favourite child. He entered the navy in 1809, but
was later transferred to the army, in which service he rose to be General.
He married, first, in 1824, Lady Mary FitzClarence, second daughter
of Wilham IV. and Mrs. Jordan ; and secondly, in 1865, Katherine,
daughter of John Maberley, Esq. He sat in Parliament for some years,
and held several minor posts in the Ordnance Department. He
collected coins, and the result of his labours formed a most valuable
addition to the treasures at the Royal Museum at Berlin, by which
the collection was acquired after his death. He died at his house in
Addison Road, after a long illness, in 1873.
^ See ante, p. 170.
268 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
On Hayley's Triumphs of Temper ' : —
Your nymph her temper keeps six cantos thro',
By G — d that's more than half your readers do.
26th. — Yesterday, 25th, we left Sunning Hill ; Ld. H.
went round by St. Anne's. Mr. Secretary Windham
invited him to dinner, where he went, and met Charles
Sheridan.^ Mr. Francis dined with me. He was pleased
at being confidentially treated, as he called it. He is
soured against Mr. Fox for various reasons. Notwith-
standing he boasts that the violence of his temper pre-
vents his being vindictive, because he ' expectorates '
his bile at the moment ; he yet retains a very settled
resentment against him. One of his griefs is that he was
not summoned to the meeting previous to the measure
of secession. ' Secession, did I say. Madam ? Dispersion
I mean.' Of Fox's disposition, he says he is a man of
great ' facility,' but no ' cordiality.' Perhaps the remark
is not without point and justice. It is impossible to deny
Francis's great cleverness. His vivacity and fine sense
survived the rolling over of many years and tens of years.
' Published in 1781. Compare Lord Byron's English Bards and
Scotch Reviewers : —
Behold ! — ye Tarts ! — one moment spare the text,
Hayley's last work, and worst — until his next ;
Whether he spin poor couplets into plays.
Or damn the dead with purgatorial praise,
His style in youth or age is still the same,
For ever feeble and for ever tame.
Triumphant first see ' Temper's Triumphs ' shine !
At least I'm sure they triumphed over mine.
- Charles Francis Sheridan (i 750-1806), son of Thomas Sheridan
and elder brother of Richard Brinsley Sheridan. He went to Sweden
in 1772 as secretary to the British Envoy, and remained until 1775.
He entered the Irish Parliament the following year, and was Secretary
at War in Dubhn from 1782 till 1789, when he obtained a pension and
retired from politics. He occupied the remaining years of his life with
chemical experiments and fruitless attempts to discover the secret of
perpetual motion. He married, in 1783, Letitia, daughter of Theo-
philus Bolton.
1799] SIR PHILIP FRANCIS 269
His temper is irritable to madness ; indeed, he is more or
less always in a passion, for if he begins temperately the
ardour of his imagination works him to rage before his
sentence closes. He has a remarkable facility in writing
all State Papers, Protests, Petitions, etc., etc. It was
the desire of displaying that talent that made him advise
Ld. Thanet to write to the King ; at least, so those say
who disapproved of the proceeding. His great intimacy
with Burke enabled him to judge of the motives that
actuated him to quarrel with Fox; he assured me the
arrow was sped long before the French principles
became the test of morality and virtue. They were a
popular ground for attack, and upon them that venom
burst, which had been rankling in his breast since the
Regency ■; for at that period, in the partition of offices,
etc., it appears Burke asked something, either for him-
self or son, which Fox denied him. From thence the
enmity sprung, and was constantly fomented by a
jealousy of Sheridan and various other trivial occur-
rences that would have passed unnoticed between sound
friends, but were treasured up : ' All his faults observed,
set in a note book, leam'd and conn'd by rote, to cast
into his (my) teeth.'
2']th. — Instead of going to Cork, I found Add. still
remaining ; he came Tuesday eve., and yesterday to
dinner, and very imprudently did not go to Eden Farm
fete. This morning I went to the Tower ; Ld. H. made
a visit to Ld. Thanet, whilst Drew and I saw the
sights. Of the latter none are worthy of notice, except
the beasts, and those are very fine, Ld. Thanet came
down to the court to see me. He looks very well ; the
confinement will be of service to his health, as he is per-
force obliged to live regularly with regard to hours and
drinking, for the gates shut at eleven. He is allowed
to see whom he pleases and do precisely as he likes, but
270 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
not quit the precincts of the Tower. He has always
some company with him. It is very amiable in the D. of
Bedford being so attentive to him. He scarcely stays a
week out of town on purpose that he may visit him;
there cannot be a better natured man.
2'jth. — To-day D. of Bedford and Ld. Boringdon dined
here ; stayed late in the garden. Ld. B. stayed cozing
with me very late . The Duke has half a mind to attend the
H. of Lords, but secession hangs round his neck Uke a dead
weight. He and Grey are the two who repent the most ;
but as they were the two who urged Mr. Fox to it, a
dereliction from it in them would come with a bad grace.
Indeed, in Grey it would be suspicious, as it might be
inferred he had got Fox out of the way to make room
for himself as leader. That D. of B. should be un-
popular is not marvellous. His manner to all is rude,
and to acquaintances must be intolerable ; but exterior
polish is immaterial when the foundation is good, and with
him it is respectable : no man so just, so generous, so
true.^ The first may at times amount to harshness,
but the second never to ostentation, for with the slur
of penuriousness it may be asserted that his donations
to friends and family are unequalled by those reputed
highly liberal. His veracity is quite remarkable ; to the
most minute occurrence he applies a degree of accuracy
that is proHx : one would take upon trust what he con-
vinces you by proof is true. His understanding is good,
and so is his judgment, but he has given the latter into
Ld. Lauderdale's keeping too much. It is notorious
' ' His steadiness and zeal have been of the greatest use, and I think
he is a man that, having begun, is sure to go on. I look upon him to
be one of the main pillars of the party. You know I am one who
think both property and rank of great importance in this country
in a party view ; and in addition to these, the Duke of Bedford has a
very good understanding ; I wish I could add popular manners.'
C. J. Fox to Lord Holland, March 1794 {Memorials and Correspondence
of C. J. Fox).
1799] NATURE OF THE SOUL 271
that the secession never would have been dreamt of unless
Ld. L. had not lost his election as one of the sixteen Scotch
peers, and he, being out of Parliament, determined to
make those who were in as null as himself.
30^/f June. — On Friday, 28th, Ld. H. went to the Slave
business.^ I dined at home with Drew and Mr. Adder-
ley. When Ld. H. returned they fell into a long meta-
physical disquisition upon the nature of the soul. Add.
has applied himself to the examination of that inquiry,
and can reason fluently and technically upon those
abstract, incomprehensible points. He has adopted the
Platonician doctrine of spirit and matter, and conceives
that spirit is a quaUty endued with faculties indefinable,
that it is a particle of celestial origin, and secures to us
immortality. The other two supported the old Epicurean
tenet (for after all those old fellows were the first who
started the systems which our modem philosophers
appropriate to themselves) of materialism, that life and
intelligence were carried on by material objects only,
matter acting upon matter ; in short, that to a fortuitous
concourse of atoms we owed being as we are. I have
not the capacity to follow thro' a labyrinth of meta-
physical sophisms; the very little I could ever under-
stand I had no sooner been convinced was right than a
new system proved to me it was fallacious, and this having
happened above once, I have determined not to trouble
myself with endless speculations that neither make one
wiser nor happier.
Ld. Wycombe has neglected an eruption. He is under
the care of Adair and Hawkins, and is quite a cripple.
This disease gives him an opportunity of moralising upon
the want of moral justice among mankind. A pampered
debauchee writhing under the gout, a malady brought
' A Bill ' to prohibit the trading for slaves on the coast of Africa
within certain limits.' It was thrown out in committee on July 5.
272 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
on by his own excesses, is an object of general pity ;
all hearts are in union with his pangs and sympathetic
with every twinge, whereas he says a temperate, un-
offending person who acquires accidentally a disease con-
veyed by harmless, innocent contact, is shunned and
treated with disgust and contumely.
The D. of Bedford told a story of Ld. Lauderdale's
delight at reading a passage in Arthur Young, who says
the cattle, especially the sheep, in Lincolnshire, are
affected with a cutaneous disease upon their nose. This, he
says, is owing to their rubbing their snouts upon thistles.
' Aye, to be sure,' cried Ld. L., 'we pull the thistles in
Scotland between our fingers, so we catch the itch.'
On Saturday I went to town and did many duties in
the visiting way. T. has made his wife low-spirited and
unhappy by his foolish whimsies about me. Ld. G. Leve-
son came to dinner accidentally on his way from Win-
chester races ; Mr. Adderley dined also. In the evening
the Smiths came. She looked, as usual, cold and starch.
Nothing very interesting in the conversation.
4th July. — Sunday, 30th June, Lds. Ossory and
Macartney came ; the latter stayed 3 hours and
3 quarters. We drove up and down the Green Lane
in the whisky all the time ; he declares that he has
closed his peregrinations, that he always said he would
at 60. Mr. Richard Penn ^ called to see me upon the
score of an old acquaintance.
We had to dinner General Fitzpatrick, Mr. Charles
Sheridan, Tierney, Lord Ossulston,'^ Amherst, Mr. Weld,
' Richard Penn (1736-1811), grandson of William Penn, and
brother of John Penn, the writer. He acted as Deputy-Governor
of Pennsylvania for his brother from 1771 to 1773, and returned to
England in 1775 with a petition from Congress. He sat in the House
of Commons for many years.
* Charles Augustus, Lord Ossulston ( 1 776-1859), eldest son of Charles,
fourth Earl of Tankerville, and Emma, daughter of Sir James Cole-
1799] A FOOLISH SECRET 273
the Smiths, Hamilton. Adderley came in the eve. for a
Httle time. On Monday alone ; went for a short time
to the play, sat with Mrs. Wyndham. On Tuesday
Marsh arrived ; dined at Lord Digby's, went in the
evening to see Ld. Morpeth. On Wednesday went to
Boyle Farm to stay the day for the christening of Lord
Henry's ^ youngest son. Lord Holland is his godfather ;
he is christened Edward. Returned at night. To-day,
July 4th, Adderley called for a few minutes in ye morning.
Marsh and I drove in the whisky after dining alone
with Ingenhousz.- Ld. H. at the House of Lords, from
which he is just returned, and is now at dinner with Lds.
Bessbro' and Digby.
So many unpleasant observations have been made
upon the frequency of a person's visits to this house, and
the self-reproach I have felt at having anything mysterious
or hidden from Ld. H. was so great, that I resolved to
unburthen the foolish secret I had participated in con-
cealing (by allowing it to go on) by telling the whole affair
to Ld. H. A confidence in him is never misplaced ; his
head is so right, and his heart, where I am concerned, so
peculiarly indulgent that, delicate as the nature of the
subject is, I felt very Httle apprehension in disclosing the
whole. He considered the affair in a proper light, by
feeling more compassion than resentment. The circum-
stance that brought the noticing it among Adderley's
friends to a crisis was the following. Canning proposed to
bring A. in for a Treasury Borough, and he told me of the
proposal that was made. I inadvertently deprecated
brooke, Bart. He married, in 1806, a daughter of Antoine, Due de
Gramont, and succeeded to the titles upon his father's death in 1822.
' Lord Henry Fitzgerald (1761-1829), fourth son of James, first
Duke of Leinster, married, in 1791, Charlotte, Baroness De Ros. The
boy died at the age of eleven.
* John Ingenhousz (i 730-1 799), a doctor and intimate friend of
Lord Lansdown. He first came to England in 1765.
VOL. I. T
274 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
the patronage of Canning, alleging (by way of con-
versation, not for influence) all the mortifying objections
I conceived to subsist against such dependence. Thus,
what I said became a rule of conduct ; he rejected the
offer. Canning, who is full of intrigue, was surprised,
and immediately conjectured that the refusal was from
counter-movement, and went so far as to hint some-
thing about Holland House politics, and even particu-
larising the quarter. Hence I, without caring five straws
for the business, was involved into the thick of it.
Unluckily enough, Tierney proposed a seat to him at
Coventry, which he may be secure of provided the
Treasury won't oppose, to ascertain which Canning was
consulted. Thus this last measure will confirm his opinion
of my interference. I also told Ld. H. of Tierney's per-
secution ; we jointly laughed at his vain presumption,
and imputed it to his opinion of the depravity and
corruption he believes exists among women of fashion.
I confess I feel sorry that Add. should allow a romantic
love to interfere with his happiness, for I sincerely credit
it has done so, tho' I hope and believe it is rapidly
abating. Be it as it may, my mind is easier since I have
shaken off all reserve about it with Ld. H., for I have
a superstitious dread of keeping a secret from him.
Mystery between those who love is dangerous ; it may
begin upon a trifle, another trifle that may depend upon
that may grow to involve so much that one can never
too soon prevent the possibilities of such difficulties.
Charles Sheridan is Sheridan's elder brother ; he
was Secretary in Sweden at the time of the revolution
made by the late King in favour of the people against the
nobles. His history of that period is reckoned very good
and correct. The General told me that in coming here
he spoke strongly and freely with regard to the Union
between Ireland and this country, adding that he rejoiced
1799] CHARLES SHERIDAN 275
at having an opportunity of telling him his sentiments,
as he did not like speaking openly in mixed companies.
This sounded cautious ; but before dinner was over he got
into a long argument with Bobus, in which he not only
displayed his own opinion, but told that of all whom he
had consulted with. He told Bobus he would make
an excellent lawyer, as he was disputatious. He appears
animated, and inclined to embelHsh his narrative by
imagination where dry facts would not bear him out.
Lord Ossulston is insignificant and diminutive in his
appearance, and aims at thinking and judging for himself.
How far his understanding warrants the attempt I cannot
yet judge ; I am rather disposed to think favourably
of him for the effort, as it is without arrogance.
I got into correspondence with Maurice,^ the author
of Indian Antiquities, from reading his preface. I thought
him poor and neglected, and was willing by way of sub-
scription to do something for him ; I did, and obtained
him a few subscribers. His language is diffuse, and his
style unconnected, but the book is curious, as it assembles
curious facts from prohx, voluminous writers, which
otherv\dse I should never have got at.
6th July. — Ld. H. is said to have made a most ex-
cellent speech on Thursday night on the Forfeiture Bill.^
Last night he spoke on the Slave business, but the Limit-
ation Bill was rejected. Add. came and dined. I bathed
in ye evening ; when I returned to the library after ye
bath he made me some compliments upon my person,
freshness, etc. Being previously resolved to say some-
thing upon the continuance of his love, I thought the
opportunity these observations offered as good as any.
' Thomas Maurice (1754-1824), the author of several works on
India, and a writer of poetry. He was appointed Assistant Keeper
of Manuscripts at the British Museum in 1798.
^ A Bill ordaining Forfeiture of Inheritance for High Treason.
276 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
I represented to him the impropriety of allowing himself
to indulge an inclination that could only end in vexation
and annoyance ; that to him it had already been produc-
tive of unhappiness, by unsettling his plans and inducing
him to shun his friends ; that to me, in a worldly point of
view, it was materially injurious, but that was a secondary
consideration compared to the effect that might be pro-
duced upon Ld. H.'s mind, were any officious person to
suggest to him that his visits did not proceed from
friendship to him, but from love to me. I coloured as
highly as I could the statement of the deplorable con-
sequences that might ensue if Ld. H. should become
suspicious of me — of me, I who owed him every-
thing, more than a long life of tenderness and ac-
quiescence can repay. I diminished the possibility of
Ld. H.'s supposing it possible I could ever feel an abate-
ment of love for him, but noted the uneasiness he would
suffer, first, at finding his friend was acting ungenerously,
and, 2ndly, at the possibility of the world's supposing I
could encourage it ; for, idolising me as he does, he would
think me incapable of deceiving him. He was agitated,
and absented himself sulkily till yesterday.
On Saturday Ld. Morpeth dined. Tierney came in ye
eve. ; he asked to have a run for his horses, as the soil
seemed likely to suit their feet. Drew looked comical,
and whispered me that it would suit him for an excuse
to come and see after them. On Sunday Ld. Digby dined
and stayed till \ past 12. He is a man who has not yet
been fairly judged by the world ; he passes for a fool,
but, if I have any discernment. Men s'en faut. He has
sound good sense, great shrewdness in his understanding,
tho' downright in his manner, and I would as soon
abide by his opinion of a character or event as by that
of a more refined person. On Monday, yesterday. Add.
dined; he is less annoyed, and begins to see the advice
1799] LORD DARNLEY 277
I gave him as just and reasonable ; he goes the end of
the week.
lOth July. — Tuesday, 9th, Ld. Morpeth, G. Leveson,
Digby, Canning dined. Ld, H. brought Ld. Darnley '
from the H. of Lords. He had never been here before,
tho' I have known him for many years. His father
fancied himself made of glass, and imagined a par-
ticular part of his person essential to sitting the most
brittle ; besides, he had various other fancies. Ld. D.
has one great merit for a great man, excessive generosity ;
he has assisted with large sums, and even annuities,
young men of promising abilities in mean circumstances,
by which means they have got on in life, tho' as yet
he is too young to see the entire advantage of his bene-
volence. The Dean of Christ Church ^ has hurt him in his
own judgment, and in that of the world, by most dis-
proportionate praise ; he is himself intoxicated with
vanity, and the world, expecting much and finding but
a modicum, have fallen into the common extreme, and
deny him any ability whatever.
Canning asked me whether his suspicions had fallen
rightly when he accused me of advising Add. to accept of
the offer for Coventry. I declared the truth, that I had
nothing to do with it, and had only heard him converse
on the subject, but as it was one I felt little interest about
I did not even know the result. Ld. D. told with some
humour a remark of a Mr. W. Bootle or Boodle, who
has written several pamphlets and poems, and said with
great naivete that whatever people might say of the
' John, fourth Earl of Darnley (1767-1831), son of John, third
Earl of Darnley, and Mary, daughter of John Stoyte, of Street, West-
meath. He married, in 1791, Ehzabeth, daughter of the Right Hon.
WilUam Brownlow, of Lurgan. Lord Darnley presented a petition
to the King, in 1829, claiming the Dukedom of Lennox, but no decision
was given when the case was referred to the House of Lords.
- Dr. Cyril Jackson (1746-1819), Dean of Christ Church from
1783 till 1809.
278 LADY HOLLAND'S JOURNAL [1799
profits of books, he knew better, as they]' did not clear
the expense they incurred. His brother used to come a
good deal last year ; he had travelled into Arabia,
Persia, etc. He looks like a wild Arab.
On Wednesday, Tierney, Sr. Lionel, Mr. Adderley, and
those who are in the house. The news came on that day
of Suwarrow's victory over the French.' The citadel of
Turin seems evidently to have been surrendered by
treachery, as it was besieged but 3 days. If the skill of
Vauban can do no more, a clay fence a I'abri d'un coup
de main would be sufficient. One of the terms of the
capitulation is a tacit acknowledgment of bribery ; the
Governor who surrenders requires a safeguard from the
Austrians beyond the French posts, and he is to remain
as a hostage — both circumstances that denote fear.
I had a long walk upon the terrace with Tierney.
I was in an eloquent veine, and happily conveyed all I
intended to express without the rigorous exterior of for-
bidding prudery. I think I convinced him his attentions
offended and his hopes insulted me, that I was firmly
attached at home, and tho' I felt at present no resent-
ment towards him, yet I should if his pretensions con-
tinued. On Thursday Ld. H. dined at the Tower ; Ld. T.
is confined by a fit of the gout. Sheridan was of their
party ; he is just come from 'Peruvianising,' that is
from the country. He is so delighted with Pizarro that
his allusions are taken from it in everything he says.
He said ye loth of July was so delicious, something
in the temperature so bewitching and tempting to go
astray and follow ye dictates of nature, that if he were to
sit in judgment upon a cause of gallantry, if the indict-
ment stated it as committed on ye loth of July, he would
' The Battle of the Trebbia, which lasted from June 17 until the
19th, and resulted in the defeat of the French under Macdonald. The
losses were very heavy on both sides.
1799] COUNT RUMFORD 279
go into the evidence, but instantly bring in Guilty, by the
visitation of God.
In ye eve. I, Drew, and Marsh went to Astley's,
Ld. B., Ly. E. Foster, and some of the girls ; we had a
very comfortable chat. Friday, Add. and Cornewall and
ourselves in ye house. Saturday we were alone ; reading
Mr. Browne's book, Travels into Africa. On Sunday
Ct. Rumford, Ld. G. Leveson, Adderley, and ourselves
in the house. The first was entertaining ; he gave an
account of some experiments going on in France upon
ye tanning matter, by which it is ascertained that a
larger quantity of it is contained in willow and some
other aquatic plants than in oak bark, and that it is even
better, as there is less of ye gallic acid, which consumes
ye leather. His manner is soft and plausible ; it rather
excites distrust, and perhaps more than his intentions
merit, but there is something suspicious in a kept-down
manner. Ld. G. is going to his regiment at Winchester.
He praised me for my behaviour to Add., approves of
keeping friends, but checking the progress of an attach-
ment. He laughs at women's dexterity in letting a
man in love down gently. He, Add., goes to Ireland
immediately.
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